Savannah, Georgia  ·  Est. 2026  ·  Primary Source Research
DEEDHISTORY
Every address has a past.
Original primary source research · Census records · City directories · Voter registrations
Read the Stories View the Registry
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Fredi Washington · 520 East Gaston Street · Hosea Williams · 3115 Gilbert Street · Rose Clark · 519 East Liberty Lane · Lucius E. Williams · 1509 Montgomery Street · Walter Sanford Scott · 540 Taylor Street · Miriam Hopkins · 1701 Whitaker Street · Florence Martus · 162 Falligant Street, Thunderbolt · Al Jaffee · 119 West Gaston Street · Benjamin Van Clark · 519 East Liberty Lane · Fredi Washington · 520 East Gaston Street · Hosea Williams · 3115 Gilbert Street · Rose Clark · 519 East Liberty Lane · Lucius E. Williams · 1509 Montgomery Street · Walter Sanford Scott · 540 Taylor Street · Miriam Hopkins · 1701 Whitaker Street · Florence Martus · 162 Falligant Street, Thunderbolt · Al Jaffee · 119 West Gaston Street · Benjamin Van Clark · 519 East Liberty Lane ·
27 Addresses confirmed or under research
20 Primary source confirmed addresses
1760 Earliest documented finding — Yamacraw burial ground
0 Ghost tour claims — every finding is primary source
The Stories

Hidden histories.
Confirmed addresses.

Every profile in the DEED registry is confirmed by a primary source document — a census image, a city directory entry, a voter registration record, a signed document. Not a ghost tour. Not a travel blog. The actual record.

001 / East Gaston Street
Fredi Washington
520 East Gaston Street, Savannah, GA
Hollywood actress. Civil rights pioneer. Co-founder of the Negro Actors Guild. Grew up on the same street as a US Army General and a Mad Magazine legend. Address confirmed by 1910 census image — house number 520 read directly from the page.
1910 Census confirmed No marker
005 / Gilbert Street
Hosea Williams
3115 Gilbert Street, Savannah, GA
MLK's chief field lieutenant. Led Bloody Sunday. First Black research chemist at USDA south of Washington D.C. His children were refused lunch counter stools near this house — the moment that radicalized him. House built 1954. Still standing. Grandfather of Porsha Williams.
City directory confirmed Built 1954 — still standing
013 / East Liberty Lane
Rose L. Clark
519 East Liberty Lane, Savannah, GA
Maid. Single mother. Six children in 750 square feet. Her son Benjamin Van Clark led three marches a day during the 1963 civil rights protests — what he called the Second Siege of Savannah. She does not appear in any published history of the movement. The park named for her son covers more square footage than the house she raised him in.
1950 Census confirmed No recognition anywhere
015 / Montgomery Street
Lucius E. Williams
1509 Montgomery Street, Savannah, GA
Founded the first Black bank in America to hold one million dollars in deposits. W.E.B. Du Bois wrote to him personally. His voter registration record — bearing his own signature — confirms his address. His house is now a discount mart. He has no marker anywhere in Savannah.
Voter registration — own signature House now a discount mart
011 / West 38th Street
Alicia Rhett
18 West 38th Street, Savannah, GA
Played India Wilkes in Gone with the Wind. Great-granddaughter of Senator Robert Barnwell Rhett — the Father of Secession. Margaret Mitchell named Rhett Butler after her family. She grew up one block from Ralph Mark Gilbert — the man who organized the movement that dismantled everything her great-grandfather built. Her home is now a bed and breakfast.
City directory confirmed Now a B&B
019 / Johnson Square
Gracie Perry Watson
Pulaski House Hotel · Johnson Square, Savannah, GA
The most beloved child in Savannah tourism. Died age 6, two days before Easter 1889. Her marble statue at Bonaventure Cemetery is visited by millions. The hotel where she grew up was demolished in 1956. Regions Bank now stands on Johnson Square where she lived. Not one ghost tour mentions this.
Documented Hotel demolished — now a bank
View All 27 Entries in the Registry
" The index is a finding aid. The image is the truth. "
DEED Research Methodology  ·  Marquea Folston  ·  April 2026
The Method

Property as primary source.

DEED does not repeat what ghost tours say. Every address is confirmed by a primary source document. Every claim is traceable to a specific record that anyone can verify.

The index is a finding aid. The image is the truth. When the FamilySearch index said Fredi Washington lived at 13 West Gaston Street — DEED pulled the actual census image and read house number 520 directly from the enumerator's handwriting. That is the difference.

01
Start with the address
DEED does not start with famous people and find their addresses. DEED starts with addresses and asks who lived there — and what that address means today.
02
Pull the primary source
Census image. City directory entry. Voter registration record. Signed document. The actual page — not the transcription, not the index, not the summary. The image.
03
Read what is there
The enumerator's handwriting. The house number. The occupation column. The street name. Every detail in the record is information. Read all of it.
04
Ask what is there now
The founder of the largest Black bank in America lived on Montgomery Street. His house is now a discount mart. That gap — between what was there and what is there now — is the DEED story.
05
Connect what nobody has connected
Alicia Rhett — great-granddaughter of the Father of Secession — grew up one block from the man MLK called the lion of civil rights in Savannah. Those two addresses have never been publicly connected before DEED.
The Founder
Marquea
Folston
CEO, Trill Magazine  ·  Licensed Realtor, Savannah GA
Publication
CEO, Trill Magazine — independent underground publication, Savannah, Georgia
License
Licensed real estate agent, Savannah, Georgia — the credential that makes property records readable as history
Research
Primary source research in US Census records, city directories, voter registration rolls, slave schedules, marriage certificates, and property deed chains
Location
Savannah, Georgia — three blocks from W.W. Law's childhood home, one block from Alicia Rhett's childhood home
Founded
DEED History — April 2026 — deedhistory.com
The Mission

A publication built on primary source documents.

DEED History is a historical research publication that treats every property as a primary source document. Founded by Marquea Folston — CEO of Trill Magazine and a licensed Savannah, Georgia real estate agent — DEED uses the tools of property research to uncover hidden American history.

The method is simple and unprecedented: start with an address. Pull the census image. Read the city directory entry. Find the voter registration record. Then ask what is standing on that address today — and document the gap between what was there and what is there now.

That gap is always a story. The founder of the largest Black bank in America lived at 1509 Montgomery Street. His house is now a discount mart. The man who led Bloody Sunday lived at 3115 Gilbert Street — a house built in 1954 that still stands unmarked. The great-granddaughter of the Father of Secession grew up one block from the man who organized the movement that dismantled everything her great-grandfather built.

None of these connections appeared in any published history before DEED. All of them are confirmed by primary source documents that anyone can verify. DEED does not repeat what ghost tours say. DEED publishes what the records actually show.

Every address has a past. DEED finds it.

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