Fourth Generation Inclusive

Historical Documents of Genealogical Interest to Researchers of North Carolina's Free People of Color

Category: Free Women of Color

April 6, 2013

He lives with a free colored woman.

Fifty Dollars Reward. For negro SHADRACK, who ran away from me in August last, 1823; he is twenty-six years old, five feet six or seven inches high, dark complexion, and has a sulky appearance. He was raised by Mathew C. Whitaker, Esq. deceased, of Halifax county; his parents belong to Henry Mason, Esq. and his wife belongs to the heirs of Benjamin Harriss, deceased, and at this time lives with a free colored woman, one mile and a half from Halifax town, on the main road leading from thence to Enfield. I will give the above reward for him delivered to me in Warren county, three miles south of Warrenton, on the stage-road, or confined in Halifax jail so that I get him. All persons are forewarned from hiring or harboring said boy. Rob. Ransom. Greenwood, Aug. 16, 1824.

Free Press, Halifax, 17 September 1824.

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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 5, 2013

Mary B. Greenfield.

ImageMARY B. GREENFIELD was the daughter of Johnson and Harriet Smith Greenfield. She is buried in the Budd cemetery near Dudley, Wayne County.

Photo taken by Lisa Y. Henderson, March 2013.

In the 1860 census of Indian Springs, Wayne County: Johnson Greenfield, 52, farmer, wife Harriet, 36, and children Budd, 15, Ingram, 11, Giles, 9, Luther, 6, Dellelo, 4, Mary, 2, George, 2, and Marshal, 4 months.

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April 3, 2013

Offerings.

A BARGAIN OFFERED.

The subscribers, (free persons of colour) being desirous of removing, offer their Houses and Lots for sale. They are situated on the edge of the East square of Salisbury, on the Bringle Ferry road, and contains one acre each, with buildings for small families. A bargain can now be had for cash. HARRIET STEELE, JEMIMA STEELE. Salisbury, July 16, 1849.

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BLANKS.

We have on hand and for sale at this Office, the following BLANKS, to wit: … For binding free negroes. … Any forms of Blanks which we may not have on hand will be printed to order without delay, if a copy be forwarded.  WATCHMAN OFFICE. May 1849.

Carolina Watchman, Salisbury, 19 July 1849.

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April 3, 2013

Find her mother and send her Wilmington!

Fayetteville, No. Carolina, Aug. 21st, 1792

Sir:

On my way to Charleston, I came across a free girl in this place, by the name of Sally Valentine. Her mother lives, I believe, in Norfolk by the name of Amy Valentine; she was stolen from that place about eight years ago by Jacob Abraham, a Butcher, and one James Bishop, and brought to this place and sold as a slave. I am well acquainted with the girl – having lived with my mother about three years. I apply’d to a Magistrate to get her liberated by my testimony and the testimony of a Lady in this place, who has known the girl ever since her birth, and is also well acquainted with her mother, but the magistrate informed me he could do nothing before Court, which is next October; and as it will not be in my power to be hear then, beg the favour of you to find out her mother if possible, and send her to Wilmington by water – from whence she can easily get to this place, and it will be necessary she should bring credentials of her freedom, and by which means she may recover her child. These people brought of some other young negroes at the same time, which in all probability are either free or stolen from their masters.

The people that have this girl in possession treat her in the most barbarous manner. If you will write to Mr. John Nevison or Doct’r Taylor at Norfolk to this effect, I make no doubt they will interest themselves in the affair, as they know the mother, and I believe the Daughter, and it will, I hope, be a means of bringing the villains to Justice. As soon as you can get any information respecting the matter, please write to Mr. Lee DeKeyson, of this place, who has promised me to see the Girl Justice done. Knowing your humanity and desire to do Justice, makes me trouble you on this occasion.

I am, sir, with Respect, Y’r ob’t Servant, DAVID MILLER

Col. Champion Travis, W’msburg, Va.

From Sherwin McRae, ed., Calendar of Virginia State Papers … from August 11, 1792, to December 31, 1793, v. 6 (1886).

For more on this crime, see http://www.norfolkhistory.com/Abrahams

 

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April 1, 2013

Joseph C. Price.

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Joseph C. Price was born in Elizabeth City, the child of a free mother and a slave father. When his natural father was sold away, his mother, Emily Pailin, married David Price. In 1863 the Prices moved to New Bern where Joseph was enrolled in St. Andrew’s School, opened by James Walter Hood, later the bishop of the A.M.E. Zion Church. Young Price, though late in beginning his formal education, made exceptional progress. After St. Andrew’s, he attended Cyprian Episcopal School and Lowell Normal School. After completing his own education, he taught in Wilson, becoming the principal at a school there in 1871. In 1873, Price enrolled at Shaw University to study law, but shortly thereafter transferred to Lincoln University (Oxford, Pennsylvania) to prepare for the ministry in the A.M.E. Zion Church. He was valedictorian of his class at Lincoln in 1879 and stayed on at the school to complete the seminary course.

In 1881 Price distinguished himself as an orator, speaking on prohibition and later on education and race issues. On a speaking tour in Europe, Price raised nearly $10,000 to establish a college for blacks in North Carolina. With the additional support of Salisbury residents, he became president of Zion Wesley College in 1882. The name was changed to Livingstone College in 1885. Price gained national attention during his tenure at the college. He was offered a variety of prestigious positions, but chose to remain at Livingstone. In 1890 Price was elected president of the Afro-American League and the National Equal Rights Association.

Price’s promising life ended abruptly October 25, 1893, after he contracted Bright’s disease, a disease affecting the kidneys. He was buried in a mausoleum on the campus of Livingstone College. He was survived by his wife, the former Jennie Smallwood, and their five children, one of whom was yet unborn at the time of her father’s death.

Adapted from http://www.ncmarkers.com

UPDATE, 8 August 2014: Joseph Price’s archives were recently unearthed at a yard sale in Cornelius, North Carolina.

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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

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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

I am but illy able.

To the Worshipful Court, Feby Term 1833

I beg leave to request that you would take into your wise consderation and bind my Son Sherard unto Exum Pike, as the said Exum has agreed to find & furnish me something towards my support for his labor, as I am but illy able now to support myself without assistance.  Druzilla X Hagans  Feby 18, 1833

Witness Nathan Davis       N.B. Sherard is about 17 years of age.

[Sidenote: Sherard Hagans was already a father when he was bound to Exum Pike. He and Nancy Hall eventually had nine or ten children. The oldest four — Mozana, Samuel, Winifred and Benjah Ann Hall, small children during their father’s term of indenture — were repeatedly bound until they reached adulthood.  When Sherard Hagins, age 63, married Serena Jackson, 35, on 26 September 1878 in Wayne County, their license listed his parents as Sam and Zilla Hagins. — LYH]

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March 23, 2013

Axey Jane Manuel Simmons.

ImageAXEY (or FLAXEY) JANE MANUEL SIMMONS (1823-1885) was probably born in Sampson County.  She married George Washington Simmons circa 1840. Their children were: Riley B. Simmons, Susannah Simmons, Simon Simmons, George Robert Simmons, Zachariah T. Simmons, Sylvania Simmons Sutton, Bryant Simmons, Hillary B. Simmons and General W. Simmons. She is buried in the First Congregational Church cemetery in Dudley, Wayne County.

Photo taken by Lisa Y. Henderson, March 2013.

[N.B.: She is called Axey (or some alternate spelling thereof) in every census record and on sons Riley and Zachariah’s death certificates, but Flaxy (or something similiar) on her headstone and the death certs of three other sons. — LYH]

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March 23, 2013

Green, country-looking man and woman without papers.

SENT BEFORE THE GRAND JURY. – Oswald Wright, the person charged with bringing Eveline Mills, a free negro of North Carolina, into the state contrary to law, was, yesterday brought the Mayor, and after an examination into the case was required to find security for his appearance before the Hustings’ Court Grand Jury, to answer any indictment that might be found against him for the offence. The amount of security ($150) was not given by him, and he was committed to jail. The punishment should he tried and convicted is a fine of not more than $500, and imprisonment not exceeding six months. The jury may vote the accrued guilty, fine him one cent, and put him in jail one hour. Eveline Mills, the woman who was held as an adjunct of weight in the offence, produced her certificate of freedom and discharged from custody.

The Daily Dispatch, Richmond VA, 27 August 1857.

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SENT BACK. – Oswald Wright, who stands accused of bringing Evelyn Mills, a free negro, into this state from North Carolina, contrary to the law, was before the Mayor yesterday, but the case was not gone into, on account of the absence of witnesses. The defendant was sent back to jail. – Wright, a green country looking individual, says he came from Rockingham county, and was on his way back when arrested. The woman, Evelyn Mills was likewise sent back to answer for coming into the State without free papers. It is not known with certainty whether she is free as she asserts.

The Daily Dispatch, Richmond VA, 3 September 1857.

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HUSTINGS COURT. – This tribunal commences its regular monthly term on to-day next. Below we give a list of cases which will occupy the attention of the magistrates during the session …. The misdemeanor cases … will be found in the following list:

7. Oswald Wright. Bringing a free negro from North Carolina to this city, contrary to the laws of Virginia.

…

The Daily Dispatch, Richmond VA, 9 November 1857.

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