Overview
Location
7 miles from Camden; Wilcox Co., Alabama
Date Constructed/ Founded
1816
Associated Surnames
Gee, Pettway
Historical notes
The first recorded white resident to live in the area was Joseph Gee, a planter from Halifax, NC, who established Gee's Bend (1816). Upon his death in 1824, Joseph's nephew Charles Gee (from NC) inherited the plantation along with 47 black slaves. It is believed that Gee's Bend accomodated a slave trading operation for the Gees between Alabama and North Carolina. To settle a large debt to his relative Mark H. Pettway, Charles Gee gave him Gee's Bend. The Pettway family brought their slaves with them (in a wlaking caravan from NC), increasing the slave population at Gee's Bend by 100 additional enslaved persons. While the 10,000 acre plantation retained the name "Gee," the slaves' names changed to "Pettway", a name that has prevailed in Wilcox County until the present day. After emancipation the black Pettways remained on the land as tenants or sharecroppers.
Associated Slave Workplaces
none
Associated Free Persons
- Charles Gee - owner; nephew of Joseph Gee; inherited Gee's Bend from his uncle Jospeh Gee
- Mark H. Pettway - owner; took Gee's Bend as settlement for debt of Charles Gee; relocated 100 slaves from NC to Gee's Band
Associated Enslaved Persons
1820 Slaves of Joseph Gee
From History of Gee's Bend by B.J. Smothers. 1820 Census
Research Leads and Plantation Records
Gees Bend - Songs From Beyond the River
Robert Sonkin. 1941. - A one-hour music documentary from Public Radio International, explores life in the isolated all-black farming community of Gee's Bend, Alabama...Working on front porches, in churches and in the community hall, Sonkin recorded the spirituals which were the backbone of Gee's Bend culture, but he also captures sermons, community meetings, people singing and talking for their own pleasure and the community's last peacetime Fourth of July barbecue.
Miscellaneous Information
- Sandy Hill: the main house on the plantation.
References
Users Researching This Workplace
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.