Intersection.
by Lisa Y. Henderson
Napoleon Road is a bent elbow of a dirt lane running north west of Eureka in Wayne County. At its southern end, it debouches into Reidtown Road, so named for the free colored Reid family who lived in the area as early as the 1830s. Napoleon Road is no longer than a mile or so, and there is one house on it. Napoleon Hagans built that house.
Rural roads did not have formal names until the county implemented its 911 system perhaps 20 years ago. It is a testament to Napoleon Hagans’ stature that, nearly one hundred years after his death and three-quarters of a century after his descendants left the state, the majority landowner along what had been his road chose to memorialize him permanently.
Fourth Generation Inclusive 
Lisa, this might be a stretch, but I hav to at least ask. Do you know if you might’ve had a Susan Reid, who married Simon Dunstan of Franklin County? My interest is piqued because you mentioned that the Reid’s were FPoC; the Dunstan/Dunstons were, also. Simon and Susan were my 4th gg-parents. Other than their marriage certificate, which gave me Susan’s maiden name, I know nothing about her. There was one letter that referred to her as “white”, but it was from someone outside the family. She could have been very, very light (or just looked white).
Any chance of this Susan being one if your Reid’s?
Renate
I’m not a Reid, but I’ve researched them extensively — initially, for my master’s thesis and later because they intermarried so heavily with my Artis family in northern Wayne County. They appear to originate in southern Edgecombe County. (There is no definite proof of a link between the contemporaneous Wayne and Edgecombe County Reid/Read/Reeds, but considerable suggestive evidence.) The Wayne County bunch descends from two sisters, both of whom married enslaved men. The children of Rhoda Reid in particular went on to become some of the wealthiest FMC in the area. I have not run across a Susan Reid and would be a little surprised to find a Franklin County marriage among them, as they tended to marry within a very focused group of FPC families. I’ll keep my eyes open though.
[…] manumitted. Rhoda, who recorded her first deed in 1821, amassed considerable property in the Nahunta area of Wayne County north of present-day Eureka. Rhoda and David Reid’s children included Tabitha “Bitha” (born circa 1811), […]
Did they originally come from a Washington “Wash” Reid (Reed, Read) fourth generation granddaddy? He had about twelve children, some are probably in Turner’s Swamp. The Reid’s owned that land, Wash Reid.
Actually, Washington Reid’s mother Rhoda and her sister Tabitha Reid were the first Reid landowners in the Nahunta area.
Hello Lisa, I see here that JD and Elijah Reid, were Cousins to William Reid…Therefore, He is my great Grandad…My Granddad Council Reid is my Father’s dad (Sedrick Reid Sr.) But who is William Reid’ Dad? “I am trying to gather the link between William and (JD and Elijah). thank, Anthony Earl Reid
Which William Reid, Anthony? There were several. (By the way, was Ruby Jean your sister? I was her childhood playmate on Carolina Street.) https://afamwilsonnc.com/2016/10/18/the-reid-family/