Ordered that Francis McBride be cited to appear at this court tomorrow to show cause if any he can why he detains a mulatto boy named porch in his service when it is supposed he ought to have his freedom.
Minutes, August Term 1781, Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, Guilford County Records, North Carolina State Archives.
Lucy Harris was bound to Stephen Burrows in August 1847.
In the 1850 census of Halifax County: Lucy Harris, 14, spinster, living alone, but two doors from Stephen Burrows, merchant.
Saphronia Scott, daughter of Mary Scott, was bound to Matthew Weldon in August 1847.
In the 1850 census of Halifax County: Andrew Scott, 19, and Saphrona Scott, 8, in the household of Mathew Weldon, farmer.
Nicholas, son of Lucy Jones, was bound to Arther Pender in August 1847.
Ann Daniel, age 11 on 1 October 1848, “orphan child of Mary Daniel and a bastard,” was bound to Daniel G. Briggs as a housemaid spinster in November 1848.
In the 1850 census of Halifax County: Ann Daniel, 11, born in Halifax County, in the household of Wm. Whitfield, “in keeper,” as was Daniel Briggs and family.
In May 1848, Ann Peters was ordered to come into court at next term to show cause why her children, Jas. Peters, Isham Peters, and two other children whose names were unknown, should not be bound.
In the 1850 census of Halifax County: Ann Peters, 30, and children Menerva, 13, and Lewis, 6.
“Free children of colour” James Gaffin, born 15 December 1830; Mary Gaffin, born 12 December 1832; William Gaffin, born 29th October 1834; Margaret Gaffin, born 28 April 1839; and Elizabeth Gaffin, born 10 September 1845, were bound to F.A. Smith in February 1849.
In the 1850 census of Halifax County: six Gaffin children – Joe, 7, James, 20, Wm., 15, Mary, 17, Margt. 12, and Betsy, 5 – are listed in the household of F.A. Smith, farmer. All are described as white. Nearby, Betsey Gaffin, 50, and Fanny Gaffin , 28. Betsey is described as mulatto; Fanny, as white. In the 1860 census of Western District, Halifax County: Elizabeth Gaffin, 16, mulatto, farm laborer, remained with the Smiths. Frances Gaffin, 38, seamstress, and Joseph J. Gaffin, 18, farm laborer, were white. (As was the Joseph Gaffin, 19, probably the same boy,who worked as an overseer for Fred McWilliams, farmer.) On the other hand, James Gaffin, 31, farm laborer, his wife Betsey, 27, and son James,1, were described as mulatto.
In February 1849, Henry Pettiford, son of Lovy Pettiford, was ordered into the next court term “to be dealt with or bound out.”
Hezekiah Scott bound to Lazarus Pope, a free man of colour, to be a blacksmith in May 1849.
In the 1850 census of Halifax County: Lasrus Pope, 29, blacksmith, born Northampton County; wife Peggy, 27, born Halifax County; Elizabeth Pope, 8, and Olive Pope, 22, born in Halifax County; and Ezekiah Pope, 5, born in Northampton County.
Thos. Saunders, 15, was bound to Chas. N. Webb as a farmer in May 1849.
Blake Underdue, 13, was bound to John H. Panton in August 1849.
In the 1850 census of Halifax County: Blake Underdue, 12, born Halifax County, in the household of Wm. B. Pope, lawyer.
Thos. Underdue, 14, was bound to Charles Ferrall in August 1849.
In the 1850 census of Halifax County: Tom Underdue, 15, born Edgecombe County, in the household of Rich’d Sells, 28, merchant.
Minutes, Court of Pleas & Quarter Sessions, Halifax County Records, North Carolina State Archives.
Murrell Martin & Benjamin Jones assault on John R. Williams (free col’d man)
Kedar Raiford for cutting John Herring (free col’d man)
Undated. Wayne County Superior Court Grand Jury Presentments 1830-1850, Miscellaneous Records, Wayne County Records, North Carolina State Archives.
59th CONGRESS, 1st Session} SENATE. {DOCUMENT No. 471.
[Court of Claims. Congressional, No. 11397. Hardy A. Brewington, administrator of the estate of Raiford Brewington, deceased, v. The United States.]
STATEMENT OF CASE.
Senate Bill 4292, reading as follows, was introduced on February 10, 1904, and was referred to this court on April 28, 1904, by resolution of the Senate for findings of fact under the terms of section 14 of the act approved March 3, 1887, and commonly known as the Tucker Act.
…
FINDINGS OF FACT.
Filed May 14, 1906.
A true copy: Test this 32st day of May, 1906 [seal.] John Randolph, Assistant Clerk Court of Claims
United States Congressional Serial Set, Issue 4916, p. 41.
Febry the 10th 1802
Wm. Littlejohn Esqr., Sir
I am Informed by Mr. Domenick That Eli Wilkins a person of Coulour In the Town of Edenton hath been Taken Up Under Some of the Acts of Assembly & bound for his appearance to Chowan County Court at March Term 1802 where he is to Stand his Tryal for to be Sold as a Slave if my affidavit that I herewith forward to you is Not Sufficient to Extricate the sd. Boy & for you to Give Up the Recognizance of the sd. Domenick & Let the sd. Boy Stand Discharged I will forward any Other proof that May be Deemed Necessary to that Efect as I am duly able So to do & More Also bound by the Laws of Nature & humanity.
I am with Submition, Your Hu’le Serv’t Tamor Wilkins
———-
State of No Carolina, Martin County } Personally apeard before Me Ebenezer Seadons of The Justices for the County aforesaid Tamor Wilkins & Made Oath In Dew form That on The Seventh of July one Thousand Seventeen hundred & Eighty five She was Delivered of a Male Child which She Called Eli Wilkins a Natural Born & Child of Coulour which Child after Comeing of age to be bound She Bound as an apprintis to one John Edwards of Bertie County who Some Time Afterwards Removed to The then Cumberland Settlement & gave up the Indnturs of sd. boy to his sd. Mother She then put The sd. boy with one John Acrey to Learn The Hatters Trade the Boy as She this Deponat Has Since Understood Runaway from sd. Acre Better then Three years ago & as She has been Informed hath been Living with One Domenick Sinc that Time In the Town of Edenton which sd. boy Hath been brought to Her by this sd. Domenick on the 10th Day of February one Thousand Eighteen Hundred & Two In the County & State aforesaid & She this Deponant Doth Acknowlede & Swore him To be the Same boy In Testimony wherof She this Deponant Hath af[illegible] her hand & Declared the Same. Tamer X Wilkins
———-
Febry the 10th 1802 This May Certify That I have Known the within Mentioned Tamer Wilkins for Several Years & Believe ther is No Doubt of Her being free Born as will more fully appear By the Testimony of Many In the County of Bertie If it is Should be Necessary given – Under My hand and Seal the day & Date above written. E. Slade {seal}
Miscellaneous Records, Chowan County Records, North Carolina State Archives.
State of N Carolina, Chowan County } Court of Pleas & Quarter Sessions Aug’ts term 1859
The Jurors for the State upon there oath present that on the first day of January 1859 a free negro named Peter Cain did migrate & move from the State of Virginia into the County of Chowan in the State of North Carolina and from that time up to the time of taking this inquisition has continuously resided in the said County of Chowan State aforesaid Contrary to the form of the Statute in such case made & provided & against the peace & dignity of the State. /s/ Ms. S. Hawks Sol.
Records of Slaves and Free Persons of Color, Chowan County Records, North Carolina State Archives.
State of North Carolina, Robeson County } To the worshipful the Justices of the court of pleas and quarter-sessions for said county November term 1862
We John G. M’Lean Justice of the Peace of said county and Hector J. M’Lean Angus Wilkison and John McNair freeholders in obedience to the anexed order proceeded on the 17th day of October to view the estate of Hugh Chavous, deceased, and out of the crop stock and provisions on hand we have laid off and allotted Clarisa Chavous widow of Hugh Chavous (deceased) as follows that is to say one hindred bushels of corn eighteen hed of hogs one Beef all the peas, one Table four Bushels of Salt one Bible and Hym Book one Loom one pot one tray and sifter and these being not sufficient of the crop stock and provision on hand to make a comfortable provision for the Said Widow and family for a year We assess the deficiency to the sum of Thirty five Dollars in money to be paid to the said Widow by the administrator of the said Hugh Chavous (Decd) and we have further laid off and allotted to the said Widow one Bed and necessary furniture and Wheel and Cards as her absolute property and put her in possession of the same
Given in our hands and seals this 17th day of October AD 1862. /s/ John G. M’Lean, Hector M’Lean, A.D. Wilkison, Jno. McNair
In the 1860 census of Robeson County: Hugh Chavis, 50, farmer; wife Clarisy, 45; and children Benjamin, 18, Pinkney, 16, Preston, 16, Nancy, 13, Prissey, 13, Hugh, 9, Melinda, 8, Turner, 7, Murdock, 6, D. Richard, 5, Sallie B., 3, and Alston, 1; all described as mulatto.
State v. James N. Floyd, 51 NC 392 (1859).
James N. Floyd was indicted for the murder of Richard Martin, a free man of color, in Gaston County, and the case was removed to Mecklenburg County.
David McCullough testified that he went to Martin’s blacksmith shop about dusk on the evening of 17 December, 1858. A few minutes later, Floyd came to the shop and remained talking with him and Martin in an apparently friendly manner. The three men drank a dram of liquor each, and Floyd told Martin that he wanted something to eat. Martin pointed to a piece of meat hanging up in the shop, told the prisoner to cut some of the meat, and handed him a knife. Floyd cut off a piece of the meat and broiled on the coals of shop hearth. Martin took two biscuits from a box and gave one to McCullough and one to Floyd. About a half hour later, Martin asked Floyd for his knife. Floyd claimed that he did not have it, and Martin replied that he had given it to him to cut the meat, and Floyd had not returned it. Floyd denied again that he had the knife, and the two quarreled angrily for half an hour. Martin said, “Floyd, you must be a damned rascal, for you have got my knife and won’t give it to me.” Nothing more was said for about five minutes, when Martin remarked, “damn the knife, I don’t care anything for it, no how.” Another five minutes passed, then five minutes more. McCullough got into his buggy, and Floyd on his horse and, when they got 50-75 yards away, Martin came out of his shop and said, “in a mild, friendly tone,” “I’ll give McCullough a dram, but I won’t give Floyd any.” McCullough reigned up his horse and stopped, and Floyd turned his horse across the road. Martin handed McCullough a small glass bottle, from which he took a drink and handed it back to him. Martin then went up to Floyd and extended the bottle towards him. Floyd immediately got off his horse, and, without a word, the two began to fight. McCullough tried to reach them, but when he was about ten steps from them, he saw Martin fall on his back. In a few minutes, he was dead. Floyd rested with his hands on a fence for a few minutes, then rode off. This took place about 10 o’clock on a bright moon-lit night.
Martin’s body was found about one hour after he died. He had six wounds, three on the top of the right shoulder “from which blood was running next morning;” another on the right side extending into the stomach; a deep fifth one on the outside of the thigh; and a sixth a little to the right of the center of his body, ranging from the right to left, passing through the lungs and nearly through his body. A large bowie knife belonging to Floyd was found near Martin’s body, covered with blood nearly up to the hilt.
Witness Costner stated that, “about two hours by the sun,” he saw Floyd at Neagle’s store, about half a mile from Martin two’s blacksmith shop. As Costner started for home, Floyd told him not to leave because that he (Floyd) might need friends that evening. A short time later, Floyd repeated the same comment as he pulled out a bowie knife. (The knife proved to be the one found at the scene of the homicide.) Costner asked Floyd if he would sell the knife, he said no, he expected to have a use for it that evening. He also said he had bought it in Yorkville for ten dollars.
Floyd’s nephew, who lived with him in York district, South Carolina, testified that on the morning after the homicide, he saw a wound on Floyd’s forehead, near the eyebrow, about an inch and a half long, and two or three wounds on the top of his head. In addition, Floyd’s right thumb was either broken or disjointed.
Other witnesses swore that there was a lot of blood at the murder scene, and a stone weighing almost three pounds was found about five feet from Martin’s body. There was blood and hair and something like skin on it. The bowie knife was also found, and its blade had two gaps in it, which were not there when Costner and Neagle saw it.
The Gaston County sheriff testified that he asked Floyd how he got the wound over his eye, and Floyd said, “I reckon I did it with my own knife; or I did it with my own knife; they say I had a fight with Dick Martin and killed him, but I know nothing about that.”
Floyd’s counsel offered testimony to prove Martin’s temper and disposition for violence, but the Court ruled to exclude it, and they filed exceptions.
The Court explained to the jury the difference between murder, manslaughter, and excusable homicide and charged, that if Martin had assaulted Floyd, with a stone, bottle, or in any other way, or had attempted to pull him from his horse, and they immediately got into a mutual combat, and during the fight Floyd killed Martin, he could not be convicted of murder, but only manslaughter only. However, “the law would excuse no one for killing another, unless there was an absolute necessity for so doing to save his own life from destruction, or to prevent great bodily harm.” So, if the jury found that Martin had not assaulted Floyd before Floyd stabbed him to death, then Floyd was guilty of murder, even if Martin had used “offensive language” toward Floyd in the shop and as he approached him with the bottle. Floyd’s counsel excepted to these instructions.
The jury found the defendant guilty of murder. Floyd appealed, and the Supreme Court ruled that the lower court had erred by barring evidence of Martin’s reputation. “It is error in a Judge, in a trial for murder, to make a hypothesis omitting the leading fact which goes to the exculpation of the accused. It seems that when it is necessary for the accused to account for the fact that he began a sudden mutual affray with the use of a deadly weapon, in order to repel the inference of malice arising from that fact, he may show that his adversary was a powerful, violent and dangerous man.”
Haywood Musgrove v. Wm. J. Kornegay, et al., 52 NC 71 (1859).
On a writ of habeas corpus, Simon and Lucretia Musgrove, colored children, were brought into Wayne County Superior Court upon the petition of their father, Haywood Musgrove. William J. Kornegay, in his defense, presented a deed that Musgrove had executed to Kornegay, purporting to bind the children to him as apprentices. It appeared that Simon was over twelve years old at the time of the transaction; assented to the binding, but did not sign the deed; and served Kornegay three or four years. However, Lucretia was only three or four years old at the time and did not assent to the binding in any way.
The court ordered Simon and Lucretia returned to Kornegay, and their father appealed.
The Supreme Court: “A father is entitled to the services of his child until he arrive at the age of twenty-one.” He has a right of property in the child’s services, may enforce them by reasonable correction, and if the child absconds or is taken away, may recover custody by habeas corpus. However, a father cannot assign this interest to a third person, unless the child is old enough to enter a contract (age twelve at the time) and assents to the assignation by executing the contract with his father. In this case, Lucretia was too young to be sign a contract and should be returned to her father. And though Simon was more than twelve years old, he did not sign the deed, “the proper order is to discharge the infant and permit him to go where he pleases. Order below reversed. This order will be entered, and judgment against Kornegay for costs.”
James Henderson and Bryan Henderson were bound to Jason Gregory at February term, 1823.
Betsy Henderson was bound to James Glenn Jr. at February term, 1823.
Betsy, Nancy and Appie [no surnames] were bound to David Mashborn in 1823.
Miranda Henderson, James Henderson, Martha Henderson and Bryant Henderson were bound to James Glenn at February term, 1824.
Miranda Henderson was bound to Elizabeth Williams at August term, 1824.
William Henderson was bound to Lemuel Williams at May term, 1824.
James Henderson and Bryan Henderson, “the baseborn children of Patsey Henderson,” were bound to James Glenn Sr. at August term, 1824.
James Jarman, son of Charlotte Jarman, was born to 1824.
Amos Pittman, son of Sally Pittman, was bound to Edward Erwin in 1824.
Betsy Henderson and Gatsey Henderson, daughters of Nancy Henderson, were bound to Lewis Mills at August term, 1824.
Gatsy Pittman, daughter of Sucky Pittman, was bound to Jesse Humphrey in 1824.
In the 1860 census of Half Moon, Onslow County: Edmund Marshall, 25, cooper, and wife Martha, 20, “serving,” Gatsey Pittman, 45, domestic, and D.R. Ambrose, 23, merchant.
Needham Potter, son of Alice Potter, was bound to Charles Cox in 1824.
Patsy Henderson was bound to Amos Askew at November term, 1824.
Apprentice Records, Onslow County Records, North Carolina State Archives.
[Sidenote: All these Hendersons are my kin. My great-great-great-great-grandfather James Henderson and his brother Bryan/Bryant were sons of Patsey Henderson. Miranda and Martha “Patsey” Henderson probably were their sisters. I believe Nancy Henderson was Patsey Henderson the elder’s sister, and her children above were Betsy, Gatsey and, possibly, William. Apprentice records show a dozen or so free colored Henderson children in Onslow County in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. It seems likely that they were from one extended family, but proof is thin. — LYH]
Fourth Generation Inclusive 