He deserves a gun.

by Lisa Y. Henderson

Agreeably to an act of Assembly passed during the session of 1840-41 Chapter XXX. Hilary Coor free man of color petitions the worshipful Court of pleas and Quarter sessions for license to use a gun for one year from the date hereof.  August 17, 1841

We recommend Hilary Coor as deserving the benefit of the act cited above.

John G. Eliot, J. Martin, Harris Barfield, M.G. Harrell, Saml. Flowers, L. Cogdell, John Manly, Aaron Martin

Records of Slaves and Free Persons of Color, Wayne County Miscellaneous Records, North Carolina State Archives.

[Sidenote: According to the 1850 census, Coor (who was also known Hillary Croom)’s supporters were a collection of farmers and one school teacher, Eliot. Coor/Croom named Eliot as the executor of his 1843 will, which requested that Eliot free Croom’s wife Hannah and their children Charles, Ann and Tempie.  Lewis Cogdell, J. Martin, David Cogdell and Daniel Cogdell witnessed the will. In 1850, Hillery Crooms headed a household on the south side of the Neuse that included children Annie, 14, Charles, 12, Tempy, 10, and John, 9, as well as two slaves, one of which may have been his wife. Two years later, he filed a petition with the North Carolina legislature seeking to bring his freed wife and children back into the state. — LYH]