Credit or cash.

by Lisa Y. Henderson

“The terms of the Sale of the Property Belonging to Serril Newsom Deceased Was Solde on a Credit of Six Months or Cash Which Ever the Perchiser chose on the 29 of Decr 1864 By Jas. H. Smith his Admr” is a four-page document listing the contents of Serrell Newsome’s estate and its buyers.  Paying inflated Civil War-era prices with Confederate money, buyers included free men of color Zion Reed (“1 Cast Plow”), Aaron Sebary [Seaberry] (“1 Lot of Shovels, 1 Single Tres, 3 ½ Booshels of Oats, 1 Cart & Wheeles, 1 Lot of Seed Cotton”), and Rufus Artis (“1 Lot of Peas”).

In the 1850 census of the North Side of the Neuse, Wayne County: Serrell Newsom, 43, farmer, with sons Nathan, 18, Willie, 17, and William, 14.

Estate Records, Wayne County Records, North Carolina State Archives. US Federal Population Schedules.