Fourth Generation Inclusive

Historical Documents of Genealogical Interest to Researchers of North Carolina's Free People of Color

Category: Emancipation

April 6, 2013

An act to emancipate Sally Zimmerman.

An Act to emancipate Sally Zimmerman, a slave belonging to the estate of Andrew Caldcleugh, deceased, late of Rowan County.

Whereas the said Andrew Caldcleugh, in and by his last will, did devise that a female slave, called and known by the name of Sally Zimmerman, a child of tender years, should be emancipated and set free; and whereas the executors of the said Andrew Caldcleugh, by and with the consent of the heirs at law, and residuary legatee of the said Andrew Caldcleugh, have petitioned this General Assembly to carry the will of the said Andrew into effect as it relates to the said slave:

Therefore be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That from and after the ratification of this act, the said slave Sally shall be, and hereby is emancipated, and set free from slavery, fully and absolutely, and shall be called and known by the name of Sally Zimmerman.

Ratified three times and ratified in General Assembly, this 31st day of Dec. 1823

A. Moore, S.H.C.

B. Yancey, S.S.

A true Copy, Wm. Hill, Secretary

Chapter CLXVI, Public and Private Laws of North Carolina Passed by the General Assembly 1823-26, North Carolina State Library.

In the 1850 census of Northern Division, Davidson County: Sarah Zimmerman, 31, living alone. She reported owning $600 in real property.

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April 2, 2013

An act to emancipate Jerry.

An Act to emancipate Jerry, a slave.

Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That Jerry, a slave, the property of H.B Williams and S.A. Davis, of Mecklenburg county, be, and he is hereby, with the consent and at the request of his said owner, emancipated and set free; and, by the name of Jerry Bethel, shall hereafter possess and exercise all the rights and privileges which are enjoyed by other free persons of color in this State: Provided nevertheless, that before said slave shall be emancipated, the said Williams and Davis, or either of them, shall give bond and good security, to the Governor and his successors in office, in the county court of Mecklenburg county, in the sum of one thousand dollars, that the said Jerry shall honestly and correctly demean himself as long as he shall remain in the State, and shall not become a county charge; which bond may be sued upon in the name of the governor for the time being, to the use of the said county, and of any person injured by the misconduct of said slave hereby emancipated. [Ratified the 8th day of January, 1855.]

Chapter 108, Public and Private Laws of North Carolina Passed by the General Assembly 1854-55, State Library of North Carolina.

In the 1860 census of Western Division, Mecklenburg County: Jerry Bethel, 45, barber, “manumitted,” wife Mary Bethel, 40, and Robison Reid, 8.  Bethel reported $2300 of real property and $1250 of personal property.

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March 26, 2013

A faithful and affectionate husband.

To the worshipful the Justices of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions of the County of Warren. The memorial of Mouring Ivins humbly representing sheweth unto your worships —  that your memorialist is a free person of colour residing in the County aforesaid — that she early in life marryed and connected herself with a negro man that the property of William West — that by him she has eight children — that sometime in the year 1804 your memorialist by her sole care and industry accumalated money enough to purchase her said husband Nat of his then proprietor William West aforesaid and accordingly received from the said William West a Bill of sale which is of record, transfering to her your memorialist the absolute right & title to the said Negro Nat — your memorialist further states that the said Negro man Nat has ever conducted himself towards her as a faithful and affectionate husband — that in all circumstances as well in sickness and in health he has manifested to your memorialist & her children the most unceasing care & solitude — that by his industry & attention he has enabled your memorialist to support her children free from want and as respectably as any persons in their condition — your memorialist in consideration of the premiss and test upon the death of your memorialist the said negro man Nat should by the policy of the State or her children & their representatives be reduced unto a state of slavery prays that your worshipful body will free & emancipate the said Nat by the name of Nathaniel Ivins & your memorialist as in duty will ever pray

To Mr. Nathaniel Macon

———-

To the honorabell gentel men whome this may cum befor — there is a negro man by the name of Natt which said negro I ras’d from a childe until I solde him to Mouring Ivins and she the said Ivins has a disior all togeather to set him free if yor Honner gentel men pleas to take it in to consideraticion I will enform you on my honner the correcton of said negro Natt as wel as I can — he is a engenias hand and common about a plantaticion or as you genrally find and an extrodonary shue maker and verry endusstrus and while he lieved with me I entrusted abundance of buisness in his hands and he proformd his duty verry faithfully to me — so that I entended to sett him free at my deth but his haveing a free wife and childrean I solde him to her for butt trifeling — I am gentelmen your frend — given under my hand this 23rd day of august 1806     William West          

To Mr Nathanial Macon & other gentelmen &c in Warren County North Carolina

Nathaniel Macon Papers, Private Collections, North Carolina State Archives.

Nathaniel Macon (1758-1837) was a United States representative from North Carolina, 1791-1815; speaker of the House of Representatives, 1801-1807; United States senator, 1815-1828; president pro tem of the Senate, 1826-1828; and trustee of the University of North Carolina.

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March 26, 2013

An act to emancipate Isaac.

An Act to emancipate Isaac, a slave

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That Isaac, a slave, the property of Robert Belden, of the county of Cumberland, be, and he is hereby, with the consent and at the request of his said owner, emancipated and set free; and, by the name of Isaac Belden, shall hereafter possess and exercise all the rights and privileges which are enjoyed by other free persons of color in this State: Provided nevertheless, that before said slave shall be emancipated, his said master shall give bond and good security, to the Governor and his successors in office, in the county court of New Hanover county, that the said slave shall honestly and correctly demean himself as long as he shall remain in the State, and shall not become a parish charge; which bond may be sued upon, in the name of the Governor for the time being, to the use of the parish and of any person injured by the mal conduct of said slave. [Ratified 14 December, 1836]

Chapter LXV, Private Laws of North Carolina Passed by the General Assembly 1836-37, State Library of North Carolina.

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March 26, 2013

If any slave is deserving of freedom, he is.

To the honorable the Judge of the Superior Court for the County of Wayne, the Petition of Benajah Herring of said County

Your petitioner sheweth that he is the owner of a negro slave Willis, and is desirous of being permitted to emancipate him. Your Petitioner sheweth that the said slave was raised by Michael Herring formerly of said County and after the death of said Michael belonged for many years to Ichabod Herring now of said County, that the said slave has been from his infancy up to this moment distinguished by his sobriety industry and faithfulness, that his services have uniformly been of the most meritorious kind, that he has been left in charge by his late master for months of his plantation and rural concerns and hath acquitted himself in the most exemplary manner, and that if any slave be deserving of freedom your Petiioner believes that the said Willis is. Your Petitioner saith that the said Willis hath by his industry and economy paid to his late master a considerable sum the price of his freedom and having secured the payment of the residue a conveyance of the said slave hath been made to this Petitoiner for the purpose of soliciting and endeavouring to effect his emancipation          /s/ Benajah Herring

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

The petition is undated, but Willis Herring is listed as a head of household in the 1840 census of Wayne County.

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March 23, 2013

He does all he can to keep me in slavery.

The Petition of negro man Dick Dingley to the worshipfull County Court of Chowan humbley sheweth that a certain Ichabod Jordan of the county aforesaid Redeem’d the said Petitioner of Mr. James Legett on Ronake for the Consideration of ninty five pounds & then the Said Petitioner made a bargain with Said Ichabod Jordan before witness that if the Said Petitioner was to be a full Liberty as will more fully appear the said Petitioner has paid Said Jordan his full Demand and Since that the Said Jordan has Let him have his Liberty for three years as agreed but so it is that of Late the Said Jordan has renewed his Clame & has most Cruely Beaten your Petitioner and does all he Can to keep him the Said Petitioner in Slavery this therefore is Humbley to pray your worships that as your Petitioner is without redress only through your worships that you will be please to Confirm the above bargain & Redress your Said Petitioner & as in duty Bound Shall Ever Pray.       Dick Dingle  March 8th 1798

Miscellaneous Slave Records, Chowan County Records, North Carolina State Archives.

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March 23, 2013

James, an industrious, sober and honest barber and hairdresser.

State of North Carolina, Chowan County  }   June Term 1795

To the worshipful the County Clerk of Please and Quarter Sessions for the County of Chowan the petition of John Cunningham Humbly Sheweth that your petitioners Father died when he was very Young leaving a Valuable but unproductive Estate for the Support of your Petitioner and his Mother, consisting principally of Young Slaves, among whom is a Mulatto Male Slave by the Name of James, the profits of whose labour, has greatly if not principally contributed to the Maintenance & Support of your Petitioner thru a long Minority and an expensive course of Education. Your petitioner further Sheweth that the great profit which he has derived from the labour of the said Slave James has been owing as well to the great assiduity and attention of the said James in acquiring & presenting himself in the Trade of Mystery of a Barber & Hair Dresser as to his Industry sobriety and honesty Your petitioner further Sheweth that during a very dangerous and lingering Sickness last Spring (1794) the attention of the said James was such as cannot fail to inspire the highest gratitude in him in consideration whereof and as a reward for the past faithful Services of the said James, your Petitioner is willing and desirous to Manumit or set him free conceiving that no less a reward will be commiserate to the Services rendered, but as to guard against the great injuries & inconvenienced which might result from the indiscriminate Manumission of Slaves the legislature have Wisely provided that no Slave shall be manumitted except for Meritorious services to be approved of by the County Court, your petitioner is prevented from effecting his intentions without the aid and assistance of your Worships. May it thereof please your Worships taking the past character and faithful and meritorious Services of the said James into consideration to order & Decree that he may be Manumitted & Set free agreeable to the Directions of the act of the General Assembly in Such Cases Made and provided And your petitioner as in Duty bound shall ever pray &c.     John Cunningham

Miscellaneous Slave Records, Chowan County Records, North Carolina State Archives.

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March 16, 2013

A good deal of human interest.

There is a good deal of human interest to be found in many of the experiences of these colored slaveholders and in their relations with those whom they held in bondage. Rose Petepher, of the neighborhood of New Bern, N.C., was a free colored woman who was married to a slave named Richard Gasken, who had taken the name of his master. He ran away and was in the woods for years, when his wife finally bought him to take possession. When she could find him this change of owners brought him in at once. They lived together for many years afterward, raising many children whom they hired out just as slaves were hired out. Thus they all prospered. Near the town mentioned above, on their own land, some of the grandchildren are now living and doing well.

Judge William Gasken, who owned the man of whom we have just told, was thrice married, one of his wives being a daughter of Colonel McClure of New Bern. After his death, one of the slaves, Jacob, became the property of Mrs. Gasken. This Jacob’s wife was a free woman, and they had a son Jacob, then a young man and free of course, as the child of a free woman. Aided by his mother’s efforts, he managed to purchase his father at a very reasonable price as negroes were then held. All went smoothly for awhile, when young Jacob did not act as his father thought he should and his parent reproved him with fatherly love. Young Jacob was so disgruntled that he went off to a negro speculator named John Gildersleeve, who was from Long Island and was then in New Bern. This trader bought the father at a high price and at once sent him off south. Young Jacob afterward boasted that “the old man had gone off to the corn fields about New Orleans where they might learn him some manners.”

From Calvin D. Wilson, “Negroes Who Owned Slaves,” Popular Science Monthly, vol. LXXXI (1912).

In the 1850 census of Craven County: Richard Pettiford, 80, wife Rose, 69, children Dinah, 27, and Bryan, 25, and Elizabeth Pettiford, 100. (!!!) (Note that Richard adopted his wife’s surname. Wright Pettiford, 38, living alone nearby may have been another son.)

Perhaps: in the 1850 census of Craven County: Jacob Gaskins, 64, farmer, Penelope Gaskins, 88, Sarah Wiggans, 25, and her children Martha, 5, Elizabeth, 3, and Sabeah, 1 month.

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March 15, 2013

An Act to Emancipate Phillis.

CHAPTER XVIII.

An Act to Emancipate a certain Negro Slave named Phillis, late the Property of George Jacobs, of the town of Wilmington, Deceased.

Whereas it is represented to the General Assembly that the aforesaid George Jacobs, deceased, in his last illness, did earnestly request that his negro slave named Phillis should be liberated for her great attention to her said master during her continuance with him, and more especially for her care and assiduity in his last illness: In order therefore to carry into effect the dying request of the said George Jacobs, deceased:

I. Be it Enacted by the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina, and it is hereby Enacted by the authority of the same, That from and after the passing of this Act, the aforesaid negro woman named Phillis, shall be emancipated and forever discharged from her bondage, in as full and ample manner as if she had been born free; any law, usage or custom to the contrary notwithstanding: And the said negro woman shall forever hereafter be known by the name of Phillis Freeman.

Acts of the North Carolina General Assembly, 1788, Colonial and State Records of North Carolina. 

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March 12, 2013

Setting free Maria and her four children.

State of North Carolina, New Hanover County  } Court of Pleas & quarter Sessions, June Term 1797

Know all men by these Presents that We John McLellan, George Hooper, Henry Urquhart and John Allan all of the County aforesaid, are held and firmly bound unto his Excellency Samuel Ashe esq’r Governor, Captain General and Commander in Chief in and over the State aforesaid in the just and fill sum of One thousand Pounds, for the which payment will and truly to be made to his Excellency the Governor aforesaid his successors or assigns We do hereby jointly and severally, firmly by these presents, bind our seves and each of us our Heirs Executors and Administrators, Sealed with our Seals and dates as above –

The Condition of the above Obligation is such, that Whereas, the Justices presiding in the Court aforesaid at the Term aforesaid have on the Petition of the aforesaid John McLellan, emancipated and sett free, as fully and amply, as by the Laws of this State they are entitled, a certain female Negroe Slave, belonging to the said John McLellan named Maria and her four Children named William Elizabeth Margaret and Mary; And in case the said female Negroe Slave Maria and her four Children William, Elizabeth, Margaret and Mary or either of them shall not in any manner whatsoever become chargeable to or on this or any other County within this State, then the above Obligation to be void otherwise to remain in full force and Virtue.   /s/ John Mclellan, G. Hooper, Henry Urquhart, John Allan

Signed Sealed & Delivered in presence of /s/ James W. Walker

Slave Records, New Hanover County Records, North Carolina State Archives.

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