15 | May | 2014 | Fourth Generation Inclusive

The Schr. Dolphin, Samuel Salyear master of this port, left here 15 days ago bound for New York. Shortly after leaving the bar, the cook, James Corbell, a free colored man, seeing one of the crew, a colored man, frequently carrying water down the hold, suspected something was wrong and communicated his suspicions to the captain, who ordered the mate to make search; who on examination found a slave man secreted in the hold, named Edward, belonging to the estate of the late Mrs. Elizabeth Justice of this town. The boy had been concealed on board through the agency of two free colored men, Tom Fortune and Furny Moore, two of the crew. The captain immediately put into Norfolk Va., where the Dolphin arrived on the 10^th instant. The captain immediately brought the case before the Mayor, and upon examination Edward was committed to jail to await the requisition of his owner, and Fortune and Moore were committed for trial for the abduction of the slave. Their trial of course must take place here, and the Governor of our State will demand them from the State of Virginia, Much credit is due the captain and the cook for their promptness in this matter. The above particulars we gather mostly from the Norfolk Herald of the 12^th instant. Newbernian.

The North-Carolina Star (Raleigh), 28 July 1847.

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SUPERIOR COURT.

The fall term of Superior Court for this county was held last week. The most important case tried was that of a free negro sailor, Tom Fortune, for his life, charged with aiding a slave to escape into a free state. The slave was discovered in the hold of the vessel after she had got to sea, when the Captain put into Norfolk and lodged in jail the slave and the negros suspected of assisting him to escape. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty, the testimony not being sufficient to prove that he knew the slave was on board until he was discovered at sea. Messrs. Stevenson and Sparrow were employed on the defence.

Eastern Carolina Republican (New Bern), 3 November 1847.

May 15, 2014

Cooking was just as necessary.

A Veteran of the Civil War.

Henry Locus, 70 years of age, a subscriber to the Times, and a worthy colored man living near Bailey, N.C., was in to see us today and knowing that he was the cook with the company of volunteers raised by Captain Jesse Barnes, we had an interesting conversation. The company took with them two cooks, Henry and his brother Nathan. Nathan is dead but Henry is well and hearty and the father of 19 children, the youngest thirty.

To the question, “How many grand children have you?” Henry replied: “Lord, I couldn’t begin to tell. Some of them has as many as nine already and some of my children are way down South and others are somewhere else, and I just can’t keep up with them.”

Henry informed us he staid with the command for two years until “grub” became scarce and hard to get and “I signed by position” and came home to work in the iron mine in the upper edge of this county.

Henry thinks he is entitled to a pension, and when we suggested that he was not a soldier, he replied that cooking was just as necessary as fighting. [Remainder of article missing.]

Wilson Daily Times, 10 April 1911.

In the 1850 census of Nash County, Lucy Locust, 25, and children Nathan, 12, Henry, 8, Goodson, 6, Nelly, 4, and Mary J., 5.

[Sidenote: A hat tip to J. Robert Boykin III, who transcribed this article for the May 2014 issue of Trees of Wilson, the excellent journal of the Wilson County Genealogical Society. Boykin noted that the “company of volunteers” was known as the Wilson Light Infantry and mustered in as Company F, 4th Regiment, North Carolina State Troops.]

May 15, 2014

I received no bounty.

In the 1850 census of Greene County, Lemmon Lyntch, 32 year-old white farmer, and William Conner, 18 year-old mulatto. William was likely an apprentice.

In the 1860 census of Hookerton, Greene County, William Conner, 28, and Argent Conner, 50, both mulatto.

2 Cav. U.S.C.T. William Conner. Co. A, 2 Reg’t. U.S.C.T. Cav. appears on Company Descriptive Book of the organization named above. Description: age, 33 years; height, 5 feet 8 inches; complexion, tawny; eyes, dark; hair, black; where born, Green County, NC. Enlistment: when, 22 Dec 1863; where, Newberne; by whom: Capt. Hourd; term, 3 years. Remarks: Promoted to Company Farrior 1 Nov 1864.

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Image of letter to Freedmen’s Bureau supplied by Conner’s descendant, Trisha Blount Hewitt, whom I thank for bringing Conner to my attention. [Sidenote: According to Hewitt, Conner initially served as a “laundress” in Co. A, 3rd N.C. Infantry, Confederate Army.]