Fourth Generation Inclusive

Historical Documents of Genealogical Interest to Researchers of North Carolina's Free People of Color

Month: February, 2013

February 20, 2013

He was persuaded off by a free woman, his wife.

STOP THE RUNAWAY! DESERTED from the service of his employer on the 25th of December last, a Negro Man called CUPID, who belongs to Nicholas Arrington, Orphan of Gen. Wm. Arrington. Cupid is about 40 years old; six feet high; well made; common yellow; rather an unpleasant countenance. The middle finger of the right or left hand is off at the first joint. His clothes not recollected. He took with him Leather, Shoes, and Tools, suitable for his trade. He is one of the first rate Shoemakers.

Cupid was persuaded off by a free woman whom he had taken up with as a wife, by the name of Eliza Turner. Sometimes says her name is Eliza Toole, in her travels. She is a small yellow wench; perhaps 25 or 30 years old; — sly, timid countenance. She tells that she has made Newbern, Washington, and Tarborough places of her residence. I am persuaded they will make for one of those places. Cupid’s intention is to pass for a free man. He may have altered his name and procured a pass to that effect from some villain.

I will give Generous Reward to any person who will deliver to me the above named Cupid and Eliza and confine them in any jail so that I get them, to place him on his former standing, and bring her to justice. LAWRENCE BATTLE, Guard’n. Nash County, Jan 7th, 1817.

Raleigh Register and North Carolina Weekly Advertiser, 17 January 1817.

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February 20, 2013

A distinct and separate race of people.

State of North Carolina – County of Sampson.

To the Honorable Board of Education of Sampson County, North Carolina:

The undersigned, your petitioners, a part of the Croatan Indians living in the County of Sampson, State aforesaid, having their residence here for more than two hundred years, as citizens and tax payers of the County and State, peacefully sharing all the burdens of our government, and desiring to share in all the benefits incident thereto, respectfully petition your Honorable Board for such recognition and aid in the education of their children as you may see fit to extend to them, the amount appropriated to be used for the sole and exclusive purpose of assisting your petitioners to educate their children and fit them for the duties of citizenship;

Your petitioners would show that there are, according to the bulletin of the thirteenth census of 1910, two hundred and thirteen Indians in Sampson County.  And, that there are of legal school age, for whom there [are] now no separate school provisions over one hundred Indian school children. That these children are not permitted to attend, and have no desire to attend, the white schools, and in no other section of the State are they required to attend the colored schools.

That they are a distinct and separate race of people, and are now endeavoring, as best they can, at their own expense, to build and maintain their own schools, without any appropriation from the county or state, notwithstanding, they cheerfully pay taxes for this purpose, and otherwise share in the burdens and benefits of the government.

That the Croatan Indians of this county are a quiet, peaceful and industrious people, and have been residents of this section long before the advent of the white man, with whom they have always been friendly, and with whom they have always courted and maintained most cordial relations.

There is a tradition among them that they are a remnant of White’s Lost Colony and during the long years that have passed since the disappearance of said colony, they have been struggling to fit themselves and their children for the exalted privileges and duties of American freemen, and to substantiate this historical and traditional claim, hereto append, and make a part of this petition such historical data as they have been able to collect to aid you in arriving at their proper racial status.

Your petitioners further respectfully show that they are of the same race and blood and a part of the same people, held by the same ties of racial and social intercourse as the Croatan Indians of Robeson County, many of whom were former resident of Sampson County, and with whom they have married and intermarried.  That since the State of North Carolina has been so just and generous as to provide special and separate school advantages for our brothers and kinsmen, in Robeson County, as well as in the counties of Richmond, Scotland, Hoke, Person and Cumberland, we now appeal to you for the same just and generous recognition from the State of North Carolina and from your Honorable Board, in Sampson County, that we may share equal advantages with them as people of the same race and blood, and as loyal citizens of the State.

And your petitioners ever pray.  Respectfully submitted,

Isham Ammons, H.A. Brewington, J.H. Brewington., J.R. Jones, Robbin Jacobs, R.J. Jacobs, Calvin Ammons, H.S. Brewington, Jonathan Goodman, Lucy Goodman, Jesse Jacobs, J.B. Simmons, Wm. Simmons, Sr., W.J. Bledsole, Matthew Burnette, Enoch Manuel, Jr., Gus Robinson, M.L. Brewington, R.H. Jacobs, J.W. Faircloth, Wm. Simmons, Jr., E.R. Brewington, W.L. Bledsole, Enoch Manuel (or Emanuel), G.B. Brewington, W.B. Brewington, Thomas Jones, C.O. Jacobs, J.S. Strickland, Myrtle Goodman, Enos Jacobs, K.J. Ammons, C.A. Brewington, C.D. Brewington, Martha Jones, T.J. Jacobs, J.M. West, Albert Jacobs, R.M. Williams, J.A. Brewington, Harley Goodman, W.E. Goodman, B.J. Faircloth, Percy Simmons, J.G. Simmons, J.H. Bledsole, H.J. Jones, Jonah Manuel.

From George E. Butler, “The Croatan Indians of Sampson County, North Carolina. Their Origin and Racial Status. A Plea for Separate Schools,” (1916).

 

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February 19, 2013

William & Pennie Winn Simmons.

ImageWILLIAM and PENNIE WINN SIMMONS. William Simmons was born about 1837 in Sampson County to James Simmons and Winnie Medlin Simmons.  Pennie Winn, born about 1844, probably in Wayne County, was the daughter of Gray Winn and Sallie Greenfield Winn.

In the 1850 census of Northern District, Sampson County: James Simmons, 52, ditcher, wife Winney, 40, and children Nancy, 17, Bryant, 15, William, 13, and Martha, 11.

In the 1850 census of South Side of the Neuse, Wayne County: Sally Winn, 30, and children Betsey, 14, Edw’d J., 12, Eliza, 10, Penny, 6, Ally, 4, and Washington, 1.

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February 19, 2013

Free Colored Inhabitants of the Town of Wadesboro, Anson County, 1860.

#598. Adaline Revel, 30, servant, in the household of James Grimsley, hotelkeeper.

#616. Evander Conrad, 29, mason, wife Margaret, 23, and children Francis, 5, Emma, 3, and Mary, 7 months, plus Martha Reid, 45.

#617. Thomas Conrad, 22, plasterer, and wife Elizabeth Conrad, 25.

#618. Delany Conrad, 48, seamstress, and Sarah Conrad, 18.

#619. Elizabeth Lomac, 27, servant, in the household of R.T. Hall, clk. of court.

#629. Basil Bunting, 36, painter, and wife Mary Bunting, 25.

#662. Elizabeth Baker, 70, washing, and Sidi Brown, 45, day laborer.

#665. Hannah Willoughby, 83, baker, and Victoria Robinson, 18, seamstress.

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February 19, 2013

He craves the privilege of carrying a shotgun.

State of North Carolina, Edgcomb County   }

To the Worshipful the Justices of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sestions May Term 1841 – The Petition of the under Signed Cizens of Said County Humly requesting:

Your Petitioners respectfully Shew unto your worships that Basdill Thomas of the State and County afore said having been a Citizens of Destrict No 7 of the 1 regiment of the Edgcomb Militia, he being a free person of color and having been debard by the Laws of the State of keeping Fire armes Except in Case of having a proper License from the worshipful Court of the County wherein he resides whare as he the said Thomas Craves the privilege to geather with his assigners of being Impowered with the authority of Carrying or using a Shot gun or musket in his neighbor hood or about his Dometical afares and also the said Thomas to gather with his assigners wish to shew to your worship in order that you may be Staisfied that he has been a resident of said District above mentioned and that he is a peaceable & quiet Citizen and Stands fare as an honest man and as & unblemished a character as any man in the neighbourhood for the Last for or Five years Whareas we the under signd are willing and do assigne our names with the same Thomas to be granted the above named privilidg this 24th May 1841

/s/ Basdill Thomas, Wm. R. Dupree, R.F. Eagles, John A. Pin[illegible]

Rejected – By order, May term 1841 – Louis D. Wilson

Slave Records, Edgecombe County Records, North Carolina State Archives.

Basdill Thomas married Sally Young in Franklin County on 13 March 1833. Benja. Long was bondsman; S. Patterson, witness.

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February 19, 2013

Piety — cook, seamstress, weaver, baker, brewer, runaway — passed as a free woman for 16 years.

$100 REWARD. RUN AWAY, or was stolen from the subscriber on the night of the eighth instant, a bright mulatto woman (slave) and her child, a girl of about four years old. This woman ran away from the subscriber, executor of John Hunt, dec’d, in the summer of 1808, and passed as a free woman by the name of Patsy Young, until about the first of June last, when she apprehended as a runaway. On the 6th of the same month I obtained possession of her in the town of Halifax; since which time, by an order of Franklin county court, she and her child Eliza have been sold, when the subscriber became the purchaser. She spent the greater part of the time she was run away (say about sixteen years,) in the neighbourhood of and in the town of Halifax; one or two summers at Rock-Landing, where I am informed she cooked for the hands employed on the Canal. She has also spent some of her time in Plymouth, her occupation while there not known. At the above places she has many acquaintances. She is a tall spare woman, thin face and lips, long sharp nose, and fore-teeth somewhat decayed. She is an excellent seamstress, can make ladies and gentlemens dresses, is a good cook and weaver, and I am informed is a good cake-baker and beer-brewer, &c. by which occupations she principally gained her living. Some time during last summer she married a free man of color named Chrael Johnson, who had been living in and about Plymouth, and followed boating on the Roanoke. Since his marriage, he leased a farm of Mr. James Cotton of Scotland-Neck, Halifax county, where he was living together with this woman, at the time she was taken up as a runaway slave in June last. I have but little doubt, that Johnson has contrived to seduce or steal her and child out of my possession, and will attempt to get them out of the State and pass a free persons. Should this be the case, I will give sixty-five dollars for his detection and conviction before the proper tribunal, in any part of this State. I will give for the apprehension of the woman and child, on their delivery to me, or so secured in jail or otherwise that I get them, thirty-five dollars; or, I will give twenty-five dollars for the woman alone, and ten dollars for the child alone. The proper name of the woman is PIETY, but she will no doubt change it as she did before.

I forward all owners of boats, captains and owners of vessels, from taking on board their vessels, or carrying away this woman and her child Eliza, under the penalty of the law. NAT. HUNT. August 15.

Raleigh Register and North Carolina Weekly Advertiser, 20 August 1824.

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February 18, 2013

Sufficient meritorious-ness?

To the Worshipful the County Court of Chowan now Sitting

The Petition of Zachariah Webb humbly sheweth That he your petitioner has A Negroe Man by the name of Jack who is now far advanced in years and has been a faithful and orderly Servant ever since your petitioner was first acquainted with him which has been upwards of thirty years being raised with him. It being the wish of the said Negroe Jack to obtain his freedom, and having paid me a valurable consideration for his subsequent time induces your petitioner to apply to your worships to set free the said Negroe Jack agreeable to the laws in that case made and provided. Altho your petitioner has it not in his power to point out any very meritorious Services yet he humbly conceives in submission to your superior Judgment that a servitude of upwards of sixty years being faithfully discharged without once being accused of any misdemeanor whatever to sully his character as A slave, may be deemed meritorious services sufficient for your worships to exercise your humanity and goodness in the manumission of said Slave.   Zachariah Webb

———-

We the Subscribers believe the facts stated in the above petition to be Just & true, we have for a long time been acquainted with the said Negro Jack, & always understood that he demeaned himself as a faithfull, Sober, obedient, & orderly Servant. And we do most cheerfully Join the Petitioner in Petitioning your Worships, to set free the Said Negro Jack.

/s/ E. Norcom, [illegible] Hasell, William Webb, Geo. W. Akins, Joshua Perkins, Thos. Rea, John Simons sen’r, Frederick Creecy, Jonathan Haughton jnr., Job Pettijohn, Ann Blount, James Sutton, Frederick Norcom, Joseph Standin, John Beasley, James Beasley, John Haughton, Thomas [illegible], T. Vail

[On the reverse: Petition of Sundry persons for the Emancipation of Negroe Man Jack, March Term 1799 — Granted]

Slave Records, Miscellaneous Records, Chowan County Records, North Carolina State Archives.

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February 18, 2013

Anticipating the sudden dissolution of body.

The declaration of Bryant Oxendine of the County of Robeson & State of North Carolina to Trimegan Thompson of said State & County on the 10th February 1836 who being on that day weak of body but in perfect mind & memory but anticipating a sudden dissolution of body, personally related unto the above Trimegan Thompson the way and manner which he would wish to dispose of his goods & chattels which was in manner & form as follows (To wit) To his his wife one horse & mare, nine head of cattle fifteen head of hogs, all his corn & fodder, nine geese one bale cotton, together with all his household and kitchen furniture with the exception of as much of said property as would be sufficient to pay all just claims or demand against him, in testimony whereof I the above Trimegan Thompson do set my hand this the 11th February A.D. 1836 Robeson County. Trimegan X Thompson

Feby Term 1836, Then was this will duly proven in open court by the oath of Trimegan Thompson it appearing the widow & next of kin were notified of the intention of offering the same for probate. Ordered that it be recorded.  A. McEachern, Clk

Wills, Robeson County, North Carolina State Archives.

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February 17, 2013

A plea for the repeal of a tax on free colored wives and daughters.

To the Worshipful the Speaker and Gentlemen of the Assembly.

The petition of Sundry of the Inhabitants of the Counties of Northampton Edgecombe and Granville.

Humbly Sheweth That by one Act of Assembly passed in the year 1723, Intituled “An Act for an Additional Tax on all free Negroes, Mulattoes, Mustees and such Persons Male & Female, as now are or hereafter shall be intermarried with any such Persons resident in this Government.” Amongst other Things it was enacted That all free Negroes &c. that were or shou’d thereafter be Inhabitants of this Province Male & Female being of the Age of twelve Years & upwards shou’d be deemed Tythables and as such should yearly pay the same Levies and Taxes as other Tythable Inhabitants.

That many Inhabitants of the sd Counties who are Free Negroes & Mulattoes and persons of Probity & good Demeanor and chearfully contribute towards the Discharge of every public Duty injoined them by Law. But by reason of being obliged by the sd Act of Assembly to pay Levies for their Wives and Daughters as therein mentioned are greatly Impoverished and many of them rendered unable to support themselves and Families with the common Necessaries of Life.

Wherefore your Petitioners would humbly pray in behalf of the sd Free Negroes &c. That so much of the said recited Act as compels such of them as Intermarry with those of their own complection to pay Taxes for their Wives & Daughters may be repealed or that they may be otherwise relieved as to your Worships in your great Wisdom seem meet.

And your Petitioners as in Duty bound shall pray &c.

Granville County: Will’m Eaton, John Hawkins, Phil. Hawkins, George Jordin, Tho’s Lowe, Jno. Sallis, Patrick Lashley, Phil. Pryor, Fra’s King, Jno. Bowie, Aaron Fassol, John Jones, Tho’s Dulany, John Wade, Zack Bullock, George Cuttlor, John Williams Jun’r, Thomas Woodlief, John Gibbs, William Forkner, And’w Hampton, Marton Dickson, Moses Coppack, Amanwall Forkner, Wm. Johnson, Leopold Fallon, Jonas Parker, James Smith, Rich’d Harris, Wm. Smith, Amos Newsom, Jos. Brantley, Shurley Whatley, James Brantly, Jno. Glover, Edw. Young, John Martin.

Edgcomb County: Jos. Jno. Alston, Wm. Irby, Will’m Anderson, Joseph Strickland, Thos. Wood, Benj’n Sherrod, John Jones, Jacob Strickland, Augustin Curtis, Nathan Joyner, John Noland, Ebenezer Folsom, Benj. Nevill, Wm. Adams, John Cheney, William Richason, John Fish, Richard McKinne, James Brown.

Miscellaneous Records, Office of Secretary of State, North Carolina State Archives, as transcribed in Colonial and State Records of North Carolina, http://www.docsouth.unc.edu

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February 17, 2013

Nathan R. Brewington.

ImageNATHAN R. BREWINGTON, born 1 April 1859 in Sampson County, was the son of Raiford Brewington and Bashaba Manuel Brewington.  He married Abbie Jane Jacobs, daughter of Jesse A. Jacobs and Abigail Gilliam Jacobs, and died 11 December 1910 near Dudley, Wayne County.  He is buried in the Congregational Church cemetery there. “We loved him but Jesus loved him best.”

Photograph taken by Lisa Y. Henderson, 2010.

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