Bristow McIntosh [Gullah Informant]

The settlement of Harris Neck, McIntosh County, Georgia, began when on September 2, 1865, Margaret M. Harris donated her land to Robert Dolegal (the name is also spelled as Delegal and Denegal), who she had formerly enslaved. According to Mrs. Harris' will, she had raised Robert and trusted him to take care of her and of her mentally disabled son Bright Harris until their death in exchange for the lands. Mrs. Harris appears in the 1850 Census slave schedule as being the enslaver of 59 individuals. In the 1860 Census slave schedule, she appears as the enslaver of 66 persons. Robert Dolegal must have sold parcels of his land immediately after he took possession of it. In the Census of 1870, there were 87 African American households and 21 white households in Harris Neck.

Bristow McIntosh appears in the 1870 census as a 14-year old working as a farm laborer and living in the household of Martha Woodruff. According to the interview he gave to Dr. Turner in 1933, beginning in 1866, he had attended school for a few months each year and had been able to learn how to read and write. By 1880 Bristow McIntosh was married to Nancy King Mctinosh (also known as Annie and Nannie), and they had two children and owned 20 acres of land valued at fifty dollars. The previous year his farm had produced corn, peas, and beans. Bristow also owned milk cows and chickens. The value of his production in 1879 had been $100. During his life, Bristow worked his land, which was valued at $200 in 1930. He also, at some point, ran a store and kept a mail route. By 1930 he was already in his seventies but still working as a family servant. Bristow and Nancy would have eleven children, and only three survived childhood. Nancy passed away in 1922 after a long illness, and two of her surviving children followed her within a few years. Leonard passed away in 1926 and James in 1928. Bristow McIntosh was one of Dr. Turner's principal informants when he came to Harris Neck in 1933. He passed away four years later, on November 25, 1937. Thus, Bristow McIntosh was not alive when the Federal government took the land at Harris Neck through eminent domain to build a military airport. The residents were given two weeks to move out. On July 27, 1942, all the community's houses were bulldozed and burned down.