Abram Guy

Abram Guy was a man on my family tree for whom I have found much written, but a man who did not live to see freedom. Abram was the son of George and Jenny Guy. It is difficult to know if Guy was George’s last name or Jenny’s last name. I know with a certainty that Abram’s last name was Guy because he was referenced as Abram Guy in a 1866 Freedmen’s Bureau complaint.

The beginning of what I know about Abram’s story is that his father George was a slave on the plantation of William Weeks sometime before 1817. On Oct. 2, 1817 William Weeks sold George and at least 48 other slaves to his son David Weeks. The sale was recorded in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, Parish Book A, Folio 491-492. In a separate recording of that same sale (Afro-Louisiana History and Geneaology), George was listed as George Elivin. This was a transcription error–George was valued at eleven hundred dollars. Two females named Jenny were sold in 1819 by someone by the last name of Weeks, most likely William Weeks who died Oct. 22, 1819 in St Francisville, LA. The sale is recorded in Estate Number: 26-A-088-033-1819.

George is recorded as a fifty-five-year-old Mulatto driver on David Weeks’ 1835 probate. Jenny, age thirty-four, is listed as his wife. Listed with Jenny are children Amanda, 9; George, 7; Abraham, 5; Lewis, 4; and Martin 1. Listed on successive lines beneath Jenny are Isaac, 17; Nancy, 15; and Bridget, 12.

This means that Abraham or Abram was born about 1830. His name next appears in the 1846 final partition of David Weeks’ estate. He is listed as eighteen-year-old Little Abram in the allotment to Harriet Weeks Meade. Also in that allotment are his brothers Lewis and Martin and parents George and Jinny (Jenny).

Abram’s name next surfaces in the plantation journal of William Taylor Palfrey. Palfrey’s first wife was Sidney Conrad, sister to Mary Conrad, wife of David Weeks. Palfrey’s plantation shared a boundary with the plantation of Harriet Weeks Meade. Palfrey wrote on June 9, 1861 that Abram was abducted while on Palfrey’s lane and about 100 yards from his sugar house, by 2 overseers who worked on the neighboring Bethel Plantation. Palfrey wrote that Abram was on his way to visit his wife and family who lived on Palfrey’s plantation, as he usually did without a pass. He detailed that he’d known Abram for fifteen years and found him to be a “harmless and inoffensive Negro.” Abram and 2 of Palfrey’s slaves were also taken and put in the stocks. Palfrey was able to secure the release of his own slaves, but not that of Abram. He described Abram as covered in his own blood, badly beaten and swollen.

William T. Palfrey kept an extensive journal that included slave births and deaths, weather reports, the comings and goings of neighbors including their slave births and deaths. It is from his journal that I know the names of Abram’s wife and children that lived on Palfrey’s plantation. He recorded 5 births to Elsy #1: Abram, Aug 27, 1854; Minerva, Feb. 10, 1857; Melissa, July 11, 1858; Ben, July 31, 1860; and John, May 29, 1863.

The last written report that I have found regarding Abram is the Aug. 14, 1866 Freedmen’s Bureau report in which Maria and son Sterling complain about the indenture of Richard and Tom Guy by Thomas H Weightman. Thomas H Weightman was the husband of Harriet Weeks Meade. Both boys are identified as the orphaned children of Abram Guy and Silvia. Silvia was the daughter of Maria and the sister of Sterling. I can not say with great certainty, but I think Maria and Sterling were listed on the 1870 St Mary Parish census as Maria and Sterling Ivah. In the household with them in 1870 were Delphine Garret and Roseline Ivah. I was able to find Delphine Garret in 1880 and a Roseline Isom in 1880. I believe Roseline Isom was the aunt of Richard and Tom but can’t verify it with any certainty.

I was able to find very little information about Abram’s sons, Thomas and Richard Guy. Thomas Guy married Martha Ann Burner January 13, 1875 in St Mary Parish. Tom Guy died Jan. 1880 in St Mary Parish at the age of 26. The cause of death was listed as heart disease. Richard ‘Dick’ Guy, 21, was listed on the 1880 St Mary census with wife Eliza age 20. The next record of a Richard Guy is the 1888 New Orleans marriage of a Richard Guy to Frances Brown. There is a death record for Richard Guy in New Orleans, dated Feb 6, 1890. His age was 28 and the cause of death was pneumonia phthisis (pulmonary tuberculosis). His widow Frances later married Mark Lawson and there seems to have no children from her marriage to Richard.

Abram’s wife Elsy was listed on the 1867 Freedmen Bureau work contract with William T Palfrey as the widow of Abram. Abram’s children with Elsy #1 appeared on the 1870 St Mary Parish census with the last name of Wilson. Henry Wilson was in fact their stepfather. Elsy Guy married Henry Wilson in St Mary Parish on Aug. 13, 1867. She last appeared on the 1880 St Mary Parish census when she is fifty-one years old.

Abram’s children were listed in subsequent census records and marriage records with the correct last name of ‘Guy’. Abram’s descendants and their spouses lived in St Mary Parish at least through 1900 and are listed below:

• Abram Guy Jr & Francis Williams
• Minerva Guy and Braxton Bolden Sr. & Stephen Manuel
• Melissa Guy and Wesley Harding & Allen Murray
• Ben Guy & Philomene Moore
• John Guy & Alice M Hall

Palfrey’s plantation journal recorded Elsy #1 birth of a son John on May 29, 1863 suggesting that Abram did not die as a result of the beating on June 9, 1861. But I can say with great certainty that Abram was deceased by time of the 1866 Freedmen’s Bureau complaint. April 1863 is on the timeline when Civil War skirmishes and battles began near Franklin, Louisiana.

William T Palfrey and slaves hunkered down on his various plantations (Isle Labbe, Cypremort and Franklin) throughout the Civil War. But neighboring plantation owners, including Harriet Weeks Meade Weightman, fled with their slaves to Texas. It is likely that Abram was removed to Texas and died or was killed while away. I have not yet found out his fate.

Bridget Guy’s Story and
Henry Jenkins’ Story (how many wives did he have?)
Martin Guy

Best,