Amos Livsey, 83, pioneer of Gwinnett family dies

By Bill Hendrick

For the AJC

Born in an antebellum “plantation house” called the “Promised Land” in Gwinnett County that originally was the home of slave owners, Amos Livsey dropped out of school after third grade to help support his large family and worked hard his entire life.

Mr. Livsey was known as a master bulldozer operator who could work miracles with granite. He died Aug. 1 of complications from prostate cancer “after a long, caring, life,” said his daughter, Theresa Livsey-Lemons, 58, of Snellville. He was 83.

“He grew up hard but never complained,” Mrs. Livsey-Lemons said.

She said he dug the foundations for half the houses in Snellville, Lithonia and what is now a whole community called the “Promised Land,” gingerly moving rocks so that basements would be solid.

“Every house around here is on a solid foundation,” Mrs. Livsey-Lemons said.

The “old homeplace, the big house, the whole area, the house and acreage, is known as the Promised Land,” she said.

When Gen. William T. Sherman was doing his worst in nearby Atlanta during the Civil War, Confederate soldiers and people who lived in the area hid in a secret compartment in the house “to keep from being harmed,” Mrs. Livey-Lemons said.

By whom? “Yankees, of course,” she laughed.

Many descendants of slave owners and slaves in the area are related, and sometimes hold joint family reunions, she said, adding: “A lot of the descendants look a lot alike.”

Long-time friend Willie Mitchell Anderson, 77, said Mr. Livsey could “do things with a Caterpillar that other folks couldn’t. He made areas fit for building houses in places you wouldn’t expect that to be possible, and for extra large buildings like schools.”

Mr. Anderson said his father and Mr. Livsey’s dad “owned a lot of land in this area, seven miles east of Snellville, recognized as the Promised Land.”

“Old man Maguire was a slave owner and he sold that land to Amos’ daddy, Robert Livsey. They were kinfolks. Older slave owners would have kids by the slaves. It’s quite a history.”

Mr. Anderson said his grandmother, a midwife, delivered eight or nine Livsey children, including Mr. Livsey.

“It’s ironic,” Mr. Anderson said. “He was born in a plantation house of a man who had slaves.”

Recently, when Gwinnett County decided to build a school in the “Promised Land” area, “they wanted to name it Snell” after long-time educator Grace Snell, but Mr. Anderson said he and Mr. Livsey “threatened to boycott” because it would have been built on black property.

“So now it’s going to be the Anderson-Livsey Elementary School and will open next week,” Mr. Anderson said.

The Livseys and Andersons are recognized as pioneers and early African-American landowners in southeast Gwinnett.

According to tradition, the slave owner’s diary, depicting Sherman’s activities in the area, attracted the late author Margaret Mitchell to the area when she was seeking inspiration for her novel, “Gone With The Wind.”

“My father never really retired,” Mrs. Livsey-Lemon said. “About seven years ago he became legally blind and could no longer drive. But he used to go to the land sites and tell them what they needed to do. He was an amazing man who would help anybody regardless of color or condition.

Until diagnosed with cancer, she said, “he had never in his life been sick or in a hospital.”

Mr. Livsey is survived by his widow, Willie P. Livsey, 81, three other daughters besides Mrs. Livsey-Lemon, Pamela J. Williams, Vernessa Livsey-Singleton and Caroline Livsey Thames, nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

The funeral will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday at New Bethel A.M.E. Church in Lithonia. The family will receive friends there from 6-8 p.m. Mr. Livsey’s remains will be buried in the church cemetery.

“He is leaving a powerful legacy,” Mrs. Livsey-Lemons said. “He taught people to love.”