Fourth Generation Inclusive

Troublesome Escheats.

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A free negro had a daughter, the slave of another. He bought her, and she then became the mother of a boy. The woman’s father died without kin and intestate. His child and grandchild being his personal property became the property of the University. They were ordered to be sold. This sounds hard, but it was proved to the Board that they were in the lowest stage of poverty and degradation and that it would redound to their happiness to have a master. It must be remembered that slaves were considered to be as a rule in a better condition than free negroes.

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From Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina from its Beginning to the Death of President Swain 1789-1868 (1907).