Ned

Born: ca. 1780s, Brampton Plantation on the Savannah River
Died: Sometime after 1828 (lived to be apx. 50-60 years old)
Family members: Ned (father), Minty (mother), Joe (younger brother), Prince (younger brother)

Ned was born into bondage in the 1780s on Brampton Plantation, by the Savannah River. He was owned by Jonathan Bryan, a colonial founder of Savannah.  It was at Brampton Plantation that the first meetings of the African Baptist movement were held, under the direction of Andrew Bryan, one of Ned’s fellow bondmen. Although only a young boy when the first worship services of the African Baptist Church were held on the plantation, Ned was at the forefront of the movement, along with his father, Ned, mother, Minty, and two younger brothers, Joe and Prince.

Jonathan Bryan died in 1788, and left his enslaved workers, including Ned, to his children. Jonathan stipulated in his will that his enslaved carpenters, including Ned’s father, were to remain intact with their families and continue working to pay the remainder of Jonathan’s debts. Ned does not again appear in records until his sale to the Davenports in 1813 by Jonathan Bryan’s widowed daughter, Mary Wylly. Ned appears to have been sold because of Mary’s financial hardship. Ned was not sold with his family members.

Just prior to Ned’s sale to Isaiah Davenport, Ned was incarcerated by Mary Wylly for “safekeeping” just two days after Christmas. Ned remained in Savannah’s jail for 19 days. It was common for slave owners to jail their bond people prior to a transfer in ownership. The description of “safe keeping” could also mean that an enslaved individual was considered a flight risk, although this doesn’t seem to have been the case with Ned. He received no punishment while he was in jail. Notorious for their ramshackle, insecure, and horrid conditions, southern jails were oftentimes no more than single room buildings where both men and women, free and enslaved, were held. Although jails were meant to be instruments of the slave-owners power over their bond people, incarcerated enslaved persons like Ned often utilized their time in jail to learn to read or write; or, increase their knowledge of religion, politics, and information about their communities. One author has deemed southern jails as “universities of social and political change.”

Like his father, Ned became a carpenter, and joined the Davenport household sometime in his thirties. He worked to build the Davenport House, as well as many other homes in Savannah, as part of Isaiah’s crew of builders. After spending 15 years with the Davenports, Ned was placed into public auction in 1828 following the death of Isaiah. He was one of the few bond people not repurchased by Sarah Davenport. It is unclear what became of Ned after 1828.

Ned’s lived experiences illustrate the uncertainties faced by enslaved individuals in their daily lives as a result of the ever-looming prospect of sale to another owner. The death or financial hardship of a slave owner could mean the abrupt uprooting of an enslaved individual’s life, and the painful separation from family. The terms of Jonathan Bryan’s will, however, indicate that Ned and his family may have remained intact for many years after his Bryan’s death. Ned’s experience in Savannah’s jail illustrates a commonplace means by which slave owners sought to exercise power and control over their bond people. Ned, however, may have used his time in jail to converse freely with the free and the enslaved and to increase his awareness of his local surroundings and knowledge in various areas.