Friday, December 14, 2012

Friend of Friends Friday—Alfred Dunlap, Successful Freedman

I came across this interesting newspaper article about Alfred Dunlap, a successful Freedman in Thomas County, Georgia, while I was researching Moses Waddell Linton, whose son John Linton is the son-in-law of my maternal 3rd great grandparents Thomas Clarke Wyche (1801-1870) and Catharine Barry MacIntyre (1809-1864).

Alfred Dunlap was a slave of Moses Waddell Linton who became a successful farmer after emancipation.  I found this article via the Georgia Historic Newspapers: South Georgia website. It’s from the 16 October 1886 Thomasville Times. [1]

DjVu Document
Below is a transcription:
Alfred Dunlap, one of the most successful and trustworthy freedmen in the county, was the first man who ever ran a steam gin in Thomas county. He was then the property of the late Moses W. Linton, and the gin was put up on the old Linton plantation, now owned by the Messrs. McIntyre, in 1854. Alfred continued to run the gin till freedom, and since that time has been farming for himself. He now owns a good plantation of some five hundred acres, makes a plenty of everything, has a good credit, enjoys the esteem of his white friends and is gradually growing rich.
I found through searching the Georgia Historic Newspapers website for Thomas County, that Alfred’s wife was named Jennie and that he died sometime before August 1, 1900.[2] I found an “Alford” and Jennie Dunlap and their 11 children in the 1870 U.S. census for Boston, Thomas County, Georgia (see below).[3] His was a farmer, and he was born around 1814 in South Carolina. This is probably Alfred Dunlap.

1870UnitedStatesFederalCensus cropped1
1870UnitedStatesFederalCensus cropped2
Above is the 1870 U.S. Census Boston, Thomas County, Georgia,  for “Alford” and Jennie Dunlap. Click on image for a larger view. It’s hard to tell from this copy, but it looks like he had real estate worth over $400 and a personal estate worth $600 which is quite a bit more than what his neighbors had.

I wasn’t able to find the Dunlaps in the 1880 census or find out anything else about Alfred in the newspaper or on ancestry.com. Jennie died sometime before March 4, 1912.[4]

Catherine
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[1] Thomasville Times, 16 October 1886, p. 3. Article about Alfred Dunlap. Presented online by the Digital Library of Georgia. http://sgnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/sgnewspapers/search
[2] Thomasville Times, 18 August 1900, p. 2. Legal notice for Jennie Dunlap widow of Alfred Dunlap. Presented online by the Digital Library of Georgia. http://sgnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/sgnewspapers/search
[3] Ancestry.com. 1870 U.S. census for Militia district 754, Thomas County, Georgia; Roll M593_177; Page 83A.
[4] Daily Times Enterprise, 4 March 1912, p. 3. Ordinarys Court. Legal notice about the estate of Jennie Dunlap. Presented online by the Digital Library of Georgia. http://sgnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/sgnewspapers/search

5 comments:

  1. Went to pinterest as well. Your profile says easily distracted. I think those of us who do genealogy have that trait. Interesting articles. Newspapers are a great source. Geneabloggers is an awesome community of bloggers. If I did it right, I'll have an article in Funny Friday later in the day--that is if I did it right. :-)

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  2. Hi Grant,

    I love reading old newspapers. It's one of the many ways I get distracted--while looking for one thing, I find so many other interesting things to read :) I agree, Geneabloggers is a great community! I look forward to your Funny Friday post!

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  3. Thanks so much for sharing I was wondering how he aquired all those acres. His daughter Georgia ann married my great great grand uncle named Robt. Mayweather of Thomasville Ga

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  4. Hi Tioga,


    I love it when something I've posted is helpful to someone else. I'm so glad you found this!

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  5. So far, I've only seen Lucy Lanier listed as Moses' wife. (Whoops. I got the Lintons mixed up when I wrote this post. Moses' and Lucy's son John is the one who was the son-in-law of Thomas Wyche and Catharine MacIntyre. I'll make a correction in my post.)

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