Fourth Generation Inclusive

Historical Documents of Genealogical Interest to Researchers of North Carolina's Free People of Color

Month: June, 2013

June 13, 2013

Her condition will be better than at the present time.

North Carolina, Pasquotank Co.  } January 31st AD 1861

To the Honorable: the Senate and House of representatives of the State of North Carolina in General Assembly convened,

The petition of Kissiah Trueblood most respectfully showeth unto your Honorable body, That she is a free woman of color now a resident of State and County aforesaid, and has been during her life, being at this time about 23 years of age; that during minority she was Apprentised to the late William Charles and served her time faithfully with him, since his death she has exercised the privilege of a free woman of color, being borned of free parents. For the space of two years just passed, she has lived with one Dr. W.P. Ritter in the capacity of a servant, receiving wages for services rendered.  Your Petitioner further showeth unto your Honorable body, that after mature deliberation, upon her part, uninfluenced by any person, it being her own free will and accord, she desires to become the slave of the said Dr. Ritter, believing as she truly does after past experienced, that her condition in this life, will be for better, then, than at the present time. That in her present condition she is destitute and without protection, and in the condition of a slave, she would be cared for and have the protection of her Master, and to that end she prays your Honorable body, to enact such laws so as to enable said Dr. Ritter, to hold and possess your petitioner, in fee simple as his slave for all time to come, bothe your petitioner and children should she have any; governed only by such laws as have been enacted to regulate and govern the relations between Master and Slave. And your petitioner as in duty bound will ever pray.  Kissiah X Trueblood

Signed in presence of W.W. Grandy Jr.

General Assembly Session Records, November 1860-February 1861, Petitions Box 8, North Carolina State Archives. 

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June 13, 2013

140 acres on the waters of Island Creek.

Zachariah Robinson to Tabitha May

This Indenture made this 21st day of February in the year of our lord 1818, Between Zachariah Robinson of the State of North Carolina & county of Anson of the one part, and Tabitha May of the same county and State of the other part. Witnesseth that the said Zachariah Robinson hath for and in consideration of the sum of twenty four dollars to him in hand paid by the said Tabitha May, before the sealing and delivery of these presents the Receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, hath bargained sold & conveyed and doth by these presents bargain sell and convey unto the said Tabitha May a certain tract or parcel of land situate lying & being in the State of No Carolina and Anson County on the waters of Island Creek. Bounded as follows Beginning in Hamers line at a small pine one pine pointer and runs with Hamers line So 86 E 25 chains to Hamers second corner there So 15 chains to three pines & two black jacks pointers then East 10 chains to a stake one hickory & two pines pointers then So. 15 chains to a stake, two black jacks & one Spanish pointer then So 30 E. 2 chains and 50 links to a stake and two black jacks pointers then E. 19 chains to a large pine then So 24 chains to a hickory then  East to the Miry Branch then down said  Branch to a white oak in Phillips line then No. 30. W. 44 chains to a large pine one black jack and white oak pointers then No. 32 wt. 15 chains to a black jack one pine and post oak pointers then No. 87 W. 25 chains to a pine then North 5 East 20 chains to the first station with all and singular the appurtenances there unto belonging and I the Zachariah Robinson do for myself and my heairs disannul disclaim and disown any right or title to the said tract land, containing one hundred and forty acres more or less, and will warrant and defend the same unto the s’d Tabitha May against the lawful claim or claims of me and my heirs forever. But no others. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and Seal the day and date above written.    Zach. Robinson {seal}

Signed Sealed and delivered In the presence of Wm. Davis, Benjamin Moorman }

Anson January Term 1819: — Then the within Deed was duly proved in open court by the oath of Benjamin Moorman and ordered to be Registered.   Tod Robinson Clk.

Will Book 5, page 268, Register of Deeds Office, Anson County Courthouse, Wadesboro.

[Sidenote: Island Creek is a waterway between a large island in the Pee Dee River and the shoreline on the Anson County side. It is located south of present-day Interstate I-74 and between the towns of Morven in Anson County and East Rockingham in Richmond County.  — LYH]

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June 13, 2013

BOLO: muscular, broad-shouldered, narrow-hipped murderer with cleft chin.

$100 Reward.

A PROCLAMATION.

By His Excellency, WM. A. GRAHAM, Governor of North Carolina.

HAVING been officially informed, that John Brown, a free mulatto, late of the County of Halifax, did on the 11th, instant, in said County, commit murder, by killing one James Smith, of said County, and hath fled from Justice , and escaped probably beyond the limits of this State.

Now to the end that the said John Brown may be arrested and brought to trial, for said offence, I do hereby issue this my Proclamation, offering a reward of One Hundred Dollars, for his apprehension and delivery to the Sheriff of Halifax County, or for his commitment to any Jail in the United States, to answer for the crime aforesaid, provided the same be more than a hundred miles distant from the Court House of Halifax aforesaid.

The said John Brown is represented to be a bright Mulatto, a Blacksmith by trade, about 35 years of age, about, (probably above) 6 feet high, with broad shoulders, but narrow hips, large limbs, particularly his arms and hands, weighs 175 or 180 lbs., has a considerable dent, more than a dimple, in his chin, very free and bold in his speech, has free papers from Northampton County Court, had on when last seen, and usually wears, brown homespun clothes, a green Blanket overcoat, much worn, and a high bell crowned hat. He had recently sold off his property, intending to remove to Indiana or Illinois, has relatives in Danville, Va., and will probably attempt to pass that place in his flight.

Given under my hand and the Great Seal of the State of North Carolina, at the City of Raleigh, this 14th of March, 1848.   WILL: A. GRAHAM

By the Governor: W.W. MORRISON, Private Secretary.

Raleigh Register, 15 March 1848.

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June 12, 2013

London Woodard & Penny Lassiter.

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“Uncle London” Woodard (1792-November 15, 1870) was one of the most respectable black men of his area and time. Having been married about 1817 to James Bullock Woodard’s Venus, he was purchased by this planter on May 24, 1828, and became his overseer and distiller. London was baptized into the fellowship of the Tosneot Primitive Baptist Church on August 24, 1828, and Venus on August 4, 1838. This good woman died about the end of 1845, leaving several children to mourn her loss.

In 1846, he married Penelope Lassiter, daughter of Hardy Lassiter. She had become an indispensable part of the James B. Woodard household after the death of his first wife in 1837. “Aunt Pennie,” a free woman of light color, who worked hard, saved her money, and bought land. On September 18, 1854, she also bought “Uncle London” and made him a free man. He was “liberated to preach” on April 21, 1866, and in the following December Mrs. Elizabeth Farmer gave him one acres upon which he soon erected “London’s Primitive Baptist Church” which is still in existence.

From the introduction to Hugh Buckner Johnston, The Woodard Confederate Letters of Wilson County (1977). 

Photo of London Church taken by  Lisa Y. Henderson, May 2013.

[Sidenote: Actually, while London Woodard may have lived essentially as a free man after Penny Lassiter’s purchase, there is no evidence that he was in fact emancipated prior to the end of the Civil War.  No record of such has been found and, while Penny and their children appear as Lassiters in the 1860 census, he does not.

The London Church congregation built a new edifice on the church’s original site on Herring Avenue in Wilson. The building above was saved and moved around the corner to a site on London Church Road, where it sits neglected. — LYH]

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June 12, 2013

It was for their own good.

Troublesome Escheats.

…

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.

…

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

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June 12, 2013

One that was free in the days of slavery.

The road at that time turned down the first branch and crossed the second one about where Tradd Street now crosses it. This second branch is alluded to in old deeds as Buffalo Branch, in later times and to our older citizens it was Free Nancy branch, from the fact that a free negro – one that was free in the days of slavery – lived near it.

P.F. Laugenour, “A History of Iredell County,” date unknown.

[Sidenote: There is now a Free Nancy Avenue in Statesville, a dead-end commercial street that runs for a short stretch just south of Interstate 40 at Sullivan Road.   Free Nancy Branch itself, which appears from on-line photos to be little more than a trickle, has been the subject of recent clean-ups and restoration.  http://www.keepiredellclean.org/news.htm  It is a branch of Fourth Creek. – LYH]

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June 11, 2013

Each shall have possession during his or her lifetime.

Be it remembered that I Zion Reid of Wayne County in the State of N.C. being of sound mind and memory, but being well aware of the uncertainty of this life, do hereby make this my last Will and testament

After the payment of my just debts and funeral expenses I bequeath and devise as follows. My wife Lucy Reid should she be the longest lived shall have full control of my property during her life and then all my land shall be equally divided among my children or their lawful heirs: provided that Billie and Zion Jr. shall each have eight acres of Land lying around the home and then an equal division with the other of the remainder. Of my other property in whatever it may consist Billie and Zion Jr. shall each have $150.00 Julius $100 and Bryant Smith $50.00 and James $10.00 after this each one of my children except Julius shall share equally in the remaining that I further devise that no one of the children have power to sell or in any way encumber any prt or parcel of said land. That each shall have possession during his or her life then the same shall be held only by his or her lawfull heirs during their life &c. James shall only be subject to hold that part allotted if his family be agreeable to the other children and neighbors. I further direct that my son Isaac and E.E. Smith shall be administrators of the estate.    /s/ Zion Reid

Signed in the presence of us who at his request and in his presence do hereby subscribe our names as witnesses thereto  Witness J.F. Dobson, J.A. Washington.

[Proved 3 December 1890.] Will Book 1, page 539. Office of Clerk of Superior Court, Wayne County Courthouse, Goldsboro.

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June 11, 2013

Runaway bound girl may try to pass.

NOTICE.

ALL persons are forbid harboring my bound girl SUSAN, as the law will be enforced against all such. Susan ran away on Saturday evening last, the 10th inst; she is a bright mulatto, about 13 years old, and may try to pass for white. I expect she is making towards Raleigh.  WM. McLEOD.

Goldsboro’, Sept. 14, 1853.

New Era, Goldsboro, 27 October 1853.

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June 11, 2013

I ordain that my wife and seven children shall be free.

In the name of God, amen, I Abraham Jones of the County of Anson in the State of North Carolina, farmer, being very Sick and weak in body, but of Perfect mind and memory, thanks be given to God; calling unto mind the mortality of my body and knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die do make and ordain this my last will and Testament; that is to say, principally and first of all, I give and recommend my Soul into the hand of Almighty god that gave it, and my body I recommend to the earth to be buried in decent Christian burial, at the discretion of my executors; nothing doubting but at the General Resurrection, I shall receive the same again by the mighty power of God, and as touching such Worldly estate wherewith it hath pleased God to bless, me in this life, I give, demise, and dispose of in the following manner.

And first of all as my wife Lydia was the purchase of my money: lest any person should after my death take advantage of my family to indeavor to bring them into bondage, I do hereby will Ordain and Establish that my wife Lyddia, and Seven Children which she hath had by me which she hath had by me which I own as the offspring of my body, viz Isaac, Jacob, John, Thomas, Abraham, Lewis, and Sucy Shall be free from any slavery servitude bondage or any incomberance whatsoever as touching anything that might arise from the adore sd purchase of my wife Lyddia, and I do hereby release relieve and diliver them and each of them, from any claim or demand whatsoever of any person or persons claiming under any right or title from me  ___ otherwise giving them their freedom and that forever. And as to the division and distribution of Lands and other property I demise in the following manner.

I will and bequeath to my son, Isaac the sum of thirty Shillings Sterling, money of South Carolina, I will and bequeath unto my son Jacob fifty Acres of land where he now lives to be so laid off as not to cross the Big branch it to include his house where he now lives.

I will and bequeath to my daughter Suckey one horse of the value of twenty pounds N.C. Currency a side sadle, and one Cow and Calf to e delivered to her  in two years after my death.

I will and bequth unto my beloved wife Lyddia, all my moveable property, together with the use and full possession of the remaining Part of my land, to wit 200 acres (to have the sole command of all my Real and personal Estate) after my Lawful debts are paid) during her life or Widdowhood

I will and bequth unto my Children, viz John, Thomas, Abraham, Lewis, and Suckey, at the death or marriage of my wife, an Equal division of all my moveable Estate, and the land to be divided equally amongst my sons, John, Thomas, Abraham and Lewis, and lastly I appoint, my wife and my trusty friend Stephen Thomas as my sold Executrix and executor, establishing this my last will and testament disannulling all other wills and bequests whatsoever                  Abraham X Jones

Signed pronounced Sealed and established in the presence of us

Frame Woods, John X Martin, Benjamin X Thomas

—–

State of North Carolina

Anson County          July Court 1805

Then the within will was duly proved in open court by the oath of Benj. Hinson one of the witnesses thereto and Ordered to be recorded    Ted Robinson Clk

Will Book 2, page 77-78. Office of Clerk of Superior Court, Anson County Courthouse, Wadesboro.

Abraham Jones appears in the 1790 census of Anson County as the head of a household of nine free people of color.

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June 11, 2013

He was formerly a slave and wants to free his wife.

To the Worshipful the Justices of the Court of Pleas & Quarter Sessions for the County of Craven

The Petition of Robert Lisbon humbly sheweth. –

That your Petitioner was formerly a slave, and in consequence of his meritorious services was on the petition of his master emancipated under the license of this worshipful Court. Your Petitioner further sheweth that being married to a negro woman slave the property of John C. Osborn usually named Venus, your Petitioner purchased the said Venus and is now in law her master. Your Petitioner sheweth that the conduct of the said Negro woman Venus has been highly meritorious and exemplary and that your Petitioner is anxious to be permitted to emancipate her. He prays that your Worships on being satisfied of these facts will graciously accord him a licence to set her free. And your Petitioner will ever & gratefully pray.  Robt Lisbon by Will: Gaston

[Judgment granted.]

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

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