… a bill to allow Leah White, a free negress, to enslave herself to Morris McDaniel of Jones County; … a bill for the relief of James Moore, a free negro – allows him to enslave himself; …
The Raleigh Register, 27 February 1861.
Beware of a Swindler.
WALTER BARROTT, of Moore county, N.C. eloped from his father’s house on the 11th December last, taking with him sundry articles of clothing and a large Sorrel Horse, belonging to his father, also a very likely bay horse, which he had just purchased from a man in Stokes county, and for which he gave a $100 counterfeit note. It is thought that he took about $4000 of counterfeit money with him. He also took away with him a free mulatto man named Berry Walden, and said that he intended to sell him and one of the horses, and then go low down in Georgia and So. Carolina, where he thought he could pass some of his counterfeit notes. Walden is about 5 feet 9 inches high, of a light copper colour. Barrott is about the same size, 30 years of age, of a dark complexion, down look, very curly black hair, black eyes, and think lips, hump-shouldered, knock-kneed and goller-headed. It is hoped the public will be on their guard against him, and that he may be arrested, and the stolen property restored. Moore County, January 1828.
Fayetteville Weekly Observer, 17 January 1828.
…
Mr. Cheek introduced a bill for the relief of Sythia Chavis, a free colored woman. (Allows her to sell herself into slavery.)
…
Weekly Raleigh Register, 19 December 1860.
“Freeman, community in ne Columbus County. Believed to have been named for free Negroes living in the area before the Civil War.” — William S. Powell, The North Carolina Gazetteer: A Dictionary of Tar Heel Places (1968).
State of North Carolina, Pasquotank County } Decem’r Term 1793
To the Worshipful the County Court of Pleas & Quarter Sessions for the County of Pasquotank aforesaid.
The petition of Jeremiah Alias Jeremiah Burges Sheweth
That he was Born of the Body of Nancy Alias Nancy Burges a Free Woman of Colour late of the said County of Pasquotank that some evil disposed person during the Infancy of your Petitioner sold him as he hath been informed to Edward Everigain late of the said County of Pasquotank Esquire deceased as a Slave in who Service he has since remained and that David George administrator of the said Edward Everigain since his death continues to hold your Petitioner in Slavery all which Actings & doings are contrary to the Law of Land & of Equity & good conscience In tender consideration whereof may it please your worships to grant to your Pet’r a Writ or Writs or Subp. Commanding the said David George adm. as aforesaid to appear & answer & to grant to your Pet’r such other & further relief as under the Act of Assembly in such case made & provided & in Equity he is entitled to receive & your Pet’t as in duty bound shall ever pray &c /s/ Will Blair Atty
Records of Slaves and Free People of Color, Pasquotank County Records, North Carolina State Archives.
Ten Dollars Reward.
RUNAWAY from Nixenton, Pasquotank County, some time in January last, a negro woman by the name of BECK, formerly the property of Mr. Morris of said county, who emancipated her and two children. She was apprehended and sold, agreeable to an act of Assembly of North Carolina. I expect she had a free pass, and will endeavor to pass for a free wench. I suppose she will go to Norfolk, as she has a free husband that is acquainted there. She is very large, rather light complexioned, about 22 years old. Any person apprehending and securing her in any jail, to that I get her again, or delivering her to me in Halifax county, North-Carolina, shall receive the above reward. JOHN PONS.
N.B. I have got the two children from Mr. Morris, since the wench went away.
April 8, 1794
Virginia Chronicle, Norfolk, 12 May 1794.
The 1,000th post!
To the worshipfull the Justices of Craven County Court March Term 1785
The humble petition of Dorcas Brinson Sheweth That she is illegally held in Servitude by William Clark when she conceives she is entitled to her Freedom & the Liberty which Free persons in a Free Country are entitled to, and as her Complaint is returned to your Worships, she humbly hopes you will take her case into Consideration and Discharge her from Servitude.
And as in duty Bound she will ever pray &c Dorcas Brinson
Records of Slaves and Free People of Color, Craven County Records, North Carolina State Archives.
North Carolina. To the Senate & House of Commons, Your memorialists, citizens of Currituck County, respectfully petition your honorable bodies to take immediate steps to relieve the people of this State of the free negro population, which has always been a nuisance, and now become an element of great danger. Scattered over the State, having at all times free communication with the slaves, the free negroes furnish a ready and safe medium for the diffusion of incendiary doctrines which we have abundant reason to believe have, especially of late, been instilled into the minds of the slaves, and they thereby rendered insubordinate and ripe for any wicked enterprise to which they may be instigated by Northern Emissaries. The minds of our people have for several years past been directed to this source of danger, but recent events have produced a deep and settled conviction of the necessity of guarding against it, either by expelling the free negroes, or reducing them all to the condition of slavery. Your memorialists are [page torn] with us qualms as to the right of the Legislature either to expel them from the State, or to reduce them to a condition of slavery. Disfranchised in this State by the convention of 1835, the Supreme Court of the United States, the highest judicial tribunal in our country, by a late decision has decided that they are not citizens under the Constitution; and it must be admitted that here, the only rights to which they are entitled are strictly & solely legal, and therefore subject to revision or change by act of the Gen’l Assembly. Whatever diversity of opinion, however, may be Entertained in reference to this question, it strikes your Petitioners that there is one view of the subject that cannot fail to impress the mind of Every good citizen; all must admit that the present is a time of great danger; such in fact as never before Endangered the peace & safety of the Southern States, and threatened the institution of slavery; it is unnecessary to enter into any statement of facts to prove the truth of this declaration, what is the first duty of the people of North Carolina? Surely, to provide all necessary means to ward off the threatened danger – your Memorialists, firmly believing the removal of the free Negroes from the State, or their reduction to the same condition of the slave population, one of the necessary means, hold that the plain right of self defense would justify such action on their part through their Legislature, and that such legislation at this time would meet the approving voice of the whole body of the Southern people & challenge the approbation of all others throughout the country who properly appreciate our position & respect our rights. But your Memorialists do not design submitting any argument upon the subject to your honorable bodies, either as to the right or the expediency of the policy they recommend; nor do they propose to advise any particular plan for the accomplishment of the object in view, being content to leave the matter to your own good judgement, guided as they believe it will be by sound patriotism and a just sense of your representative duties. They cannot refrain, however, from suggesting that according to their own judgements the wisest and most judicious policy would be to provide for the removal of all such as might choose to go to the Northern States within a certain fixed time, and to authorise the several county courts to sell as slaves all such as remained after the Expiration of the time named in the act and believing that sound policy requires that all proper means should be resorted to to strengthen the institution of slavery by increasing the number of slave holding citizens and otherwise, your Memorialists would recommend, in case the above policy be adopted, that the right of purchase should be confined to these citizens of the state who are not already owners of slaves; that no one person should be allowed to become the purchaser of more than one, except in the case of mothers and small children, that all negroes so purchased shall be exempt from execution for debt, and not transferable by sale and purchase for a term of years. Trusting that your honorable bodies will give this subject that serious attention which its importance entitles it to, your petitioners will ever pray &c
General Assembly Session Records, November 1860-February 1861, Petitions Box 8, North Carolina State Archives.
This is to certify that Simeon is a free boy of colour son of Alson Brothers & Favourite his wife given under my hand and seal Dec 13th 1841 E.L. Hinton JP
Slave Records, Pasquotank County Records, North Carolina State Archives.
In the 1850 census of Camden County: Alson Brothers, 62, farmer, and wife Farvur, 60, both of Pasquotank County, with children James, 17, John, 15, Milly, 13, and Lucy, 11, all born in Camden County. In the 1860 census of Camden County: Simeon Brothers, 30, “insane,” in the household of Martha Thornton.
John A. Philips v. Patrick Murphy, Adm’r, 49 NC 4 (1856).
This action arose in Cumberland Superior Court.
Robert Mills, a free man of color, entered into this written contract with Louis A. Nixon:
“Know all men by these presents, that I, Robert Mills, for and in consideration of sixty dollars, to me in hand paid, at and before the sealing and delivery of these presents, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, have given, granted, bargained and sold, and by these presents do give, grant, bargain and sell unto Louis A. Nixon, his executors and assigns, my active services, as a servant, for the full and entire term of five years, and the full and entire control of my person and labor during that entire time.”
Nixon died, and his administrator entered into a contract with plaintiff Phillips: “Six months after date, we, or either of us, promise to pay Charles D. Nixon, administrator of Louis A. Nixon, or order, the sum of one hundred and twenty-five dollars for value received, in hire of a certain negro, Robert Mills, for the term of four years, or so long as Louis A. Nixon was entitled to the services of the said negro.” Phillips then put Mills “against his consent … into the possession of” a Barksdale.”
The suit contended that this bond was void as being against the policy of the law because “no man could sell himself into a state of slavery …” The Court disagreed, stating, “There is nothing in the transaction against the policy of the law. The legal effect of the deed executed by Mills to Nixon, was not to make a slave of Mills, or in any way vest in Nixon a title to him as property, but simply to give Nixon a right to his service for five years, upon an executory agreement, for a breach whereof an action of covenant would lie. The fact, that Mills is a free negro, makes no difference, for a white man may bind himself in the same manner. Indeed, it is common in some portions of the State, for white men to hire themselves during crop time, or for a year. The peculiarity about this contract is, that it is for five years, and is extended, by express words, to the assigns of Nixon. …”
Fourth Generation Inclusive 