1850 Hancock County Georgia Statistics

**Hancock County 1850 Slave Schedule Study – Key Highlights**

(Posted February 22, 2026)

It’s been a while since my last census study!

I always return to the original documents because indexing on well-known genealogy websites is often inaccurate, incomplete, or duplicated. Correlating the 1850 Slave Schedule with the full 1850 Federal Census takes months of careful work.

Important note: Published counts for Hancock County’s enslaved population or enslavers may differ from mine because I reviewed the original microfilm/images directly, without relying on secondary aggregates or automated indexes. Those sources frequently miss split entries for large owners or contain duplication errors. My figures come from line-by-line review and my own deduplication method (using “Slave Owner@” flags in Excel).

Standout discoveries:

Most enslaved people in Hancock County are listed only by age, sex, and color—no names. But this transcription includes two rare named individuals:

- LH Lewis Brantly (enslaved by WH Brantley, District 112)

- Erasmus Alford (enslaved by John Pinkston, District 113)

What a treasure—these could connect to someone’s family tree.

William Shivers was the wealthiest enslaver in District 112 (39 enslaved, $60,000 real estate), but Seaborn Lawrence held the most: 173 enslaved (combined from split entries in cells A2731, A2785, and A2828 of my sheet—larger owners often appear in chunks).

Quick stats from my transcription:

- Enslaved individuals: 7,285

- Male: 3,720 (51.1%)

- Female: 3,565 (48.9%)

- Race of enslaved: Black 6,801 (87.3%), Mulatto 484 (6.2%)

- Unique enslavers: 484

- Male: 421 (87.0%)

- Female: 63 (13.0%)

Most enslavers were from Hancock County, with a few in neighboring Greene County.

I hope this helps your research! If LH Lewis Brantly, Erasmus Alford, Shivers, Lawrence, or any of these details connect to your lines, please comment below—I’d love to hear about it.

Thanks for reading!

Lana Reed

@ltas411

Teaser for my next blog: Free People of Color & More Hancock County Demographics

Stay tuned!

I’ll be sharing my findings on the free people of color (free black and mulatto residents) in Hancock County from the 1850 Federal Census and related records—names, households, occupations, and some surprising details I uncovered through my own line-by-line review of the originals.

I’ll also include additional demographics I discovered while cross-referencing the population schedule, slave schedule, and other sources—no reliance on published summaries this time either.

If you have ancestors who were free people of color in Hancock County (or nearby Greene County) during the mid-1800s, this one might connect some dots for you.

See you tomorrow with the full post!

Lana Reed

@ltas411