Life in the Queensborough Township: Data Recovery at Hannah's Quarter, Site 9JF195, Jefferson County, Georgia

Archaeological data recovery at the Hannah's Quarter site (9Jf195) in rural Jefferson County, Georgia was conducted by Southern Research Historic Preservation Consultants in 2001. This project was performed for the Georgia Department of Transportation through a contract with Earth Tech in Raleigh, NC as Section 106 compliance in advance of the Fall Line Freeway construction. The archaeological study uncovered a small residential compound from the late eighteenth through early nineteenth centuries. Three dwelling loci and one possible outbuilding locus were delineated. The occupation at this site was evidenced by a series of cultural features, including pits, posts, and cellars and extremely sparse material culture evidence. The settlement began as part of the Queensborough Township, which was populated by Scots-Irish Presbyterians from northern Ireland from about 1768 to 1772. William Hannah was identified as a strong candidate for being the original owner of the property at 9Jf195. William owned a small plantation that possessed at its perigee six African- American slaves. During the interpretation of the archaeological remains, the archaeologists pursued several possible explanatory trajectories: that the site was solely the dwelling of William Hannah and his family; that the site was occupied by the Hannah's and their African-American slaves; that the site was occupied solely by Hannah's African-American slaves; or that the site was occupied by parties unknown and was not associated with the Hannah family. Researchers concluded that the second explanation, that the site was occupied by the Hannah's and their African- American slaves, is the most reasonable based on archaeological and historical evidence. This research project offers a first glimpse at life in the Queensborough Township during the late Colonial period and the early days of Burke and Jefferson counties in the early Federal period.