The following are the Titles of the Acts passed at the Session of the General Assembly of the State of North-Carolina, held at the city of Raleigh, on the 1st of November, 1795.
…
To emancipate a mulatto boy by the name of Gustavus Adolphus Johnston, in the county of Chowan; and also a mulatto girl by the name of Amy Philips, in the county of Brunswick.
…
North-Carolina Journal, Halifax, 12 December 1795.
State v. Jarrott, a slave, 23 NC 76 (1840).
This case arose in Person County. Jarrott, an enslaved man, was indicted for the murder of Thomas Chatham, who was 18 or 19 years old. A 14 year-old white boy named John T. Brooks testified that he went with Chatham to a fish-trap in the neighborhood in a Saturday night and remained until “about two or three hours before day.” They were the only white people present. Jarrott and a free negro named Jack Hughes argued over a card game and called on Chatham to “keep the game for them.” After a second argument, Hughes refused to play anymore. Jarrott snatched up the handkerchief they had been playing on, knocking a twelve-and-a-half cent coin into the leaves. When he was unable to find it, he said “he saw his nine pence walk into a white man’s pocket, and that any white man who would steal a negro’s money, was not too good to unbutton a sheep’s collar.” Further, he charged Chatham with being raised on and living on stolen sheep, accused him of stealing his money, threatened to kill him if he did not give it up, and brandished a stick over his head. Chatham invited Jarrott to search his pockets, and turned them out when Jarrott refused. When Jarrott then accused Chatham of hiding the money in his shoes, he pulled off his shoes and socks. Another man got a light, searched among the leaves, and found the coin near where Chatham stood, which was “some six or seven steps from the spot” where Jarrott jerked up his handkerchief. Chatham sat down near the fire and Jarrott “continued to abuse him, using very indecent and insolent language.” Chatham asked Brooks for his knife, saying he wanted to cut his nails. He then told Jarrott that if he did not hush, he would stick it in him. Jarrott raised his stick and dared him, and Chatham chased him around the fire with a length of fence rail. Jarrott ran off, but returned and “said something.” Chatham picked up his fence rail and approached Jarrott with the knife in his other hand. Brooks heard two blows, then saw Chatham lying on the ground.
The testimony of Isaac, an enslaved man, essentially corroborated Brooks’, but he added that there was about a 15-minute gap between the argument about the money and Chatham’s renewal of the dispute and threat to stab Jarrott.
A free negro named Nathan Jones corroborated Isaac, but denied that Jarrott ever brandished his stick over Chatham. He also swore that Chatham said he would kill Jarrott that night or go to his master Monday and have him whipped, then would waylay him and shoot him with a rifle. Two other witnesses testified about Chatham’s wounds (two to the back of the head, about two inches in length); his size (“small and slender for a boy of his age,” said one, “not tall, but stoutly built,” said the other); and Jarrott’s stature (“about six feet high, and of the ordinary size of negroes of that height; and was about twenty-three years of age.”)
Jack Hughes testified that Chatham swung at Jarrott and missed before Jarrott knocked him down and struck him several blows.
The jury found Jarrott guilty of murder, and the judge pronounced a death sentence.
The appeal focused on the judge’s jury instructions. Though not agreeing with his every ruling, the Supreme Court upheld the verdict, establishing that “the same matters which would be deemed in law a sufficient provocation to free a white man … from the guilt of murder, will not have the same effect when the party slain is a white man, and the offender a slave ….”
Form of the estimate and assessment of agricultural products agreed upon by the assessor and tax-payer, and the value of the portion thereof to which the government is entitled, which is taxed in kind, in accordance with the provisions of Section 11 of “an Act to lay taxes for the common defence and carry on the government of the Confederate States,” said estimate and assessment to be made as soon as the crops are ready for market.
Adam Artis by wife
Cured Fodder Quantity of gross crop. — 1500 Tithe or one-tenth. — 150 Value of one-tenth. — $4.50
I, Adam Artis of the County of Wayne and State of North Carolina do swear that the above is a true statement and estimate of all the agricultural products produced by me during the year 1863, which are taxable by the provisions of the 11th section of the above stated act, including what may have been sold of consumed by me, and of the value of that portion of said crops to which the government is entitled. /s/ Adam X Artis
Sworn to and subscribed to before me the 3 day of December 1863, and I further certify that the above estimate and assessment has been agreed upon by said Adam Artis and myself as a correct and true statement of the amount of his crops and the value of the portion to which the government is entitled. /s/ J.A. Lane, Assessor.
The Confederate Papers Relating to Citizens or Business Firms, 1861-1865 (NARA M346), often called the “Confederate Citizens File,” is a collection of 650,000 vouchers and other documents relating to goods furnished or services rendered to the Confederate government by private individuals and businesses.
The “Citizens File” was created by the Confederate Archives Division of the Adjutant General’s Office from records created or received by the Confederate War and Treasury Departments that were in the custody of the U.S. War Department. The Citizens File was created to aid in determining the legitimacy of compensation claims submitted for property losses allegedly inflicted by Union forces. The records were used by the Treasury and Justice Departments, Southern Claims Commission, Court of Claims, and congressional claims committees to determine whether the claimant had been loyal to the Union or had aided the Confederate government and thus not eligible for compensation.
[Sidenote: In 1863, Adam Artis was married to Frances Seaberry. They are my great-great-great-grandparents. — LYH]
In March 1873, the Messick pond was ordered surveyed and drained in the general cleaning up made in fear of the appearance of cholera. The contract for building a sewer or drain, with twelve-inch hard clay pipe, was awarded to Jennings Larter for twenty-nine cents a cubic yard.
From History of Lawrence and Monroe Counties, Indiana, B.F. Bowen & Co.
WELDON, Feb. 20.
Fatal Railroad Accident. – A free negro man, employed as a train hand on the Seaboard and Roanoke Rail Road, was killed at Garysburg today by falling from the Portsmouth cars just as the train was crossing the bridge which spans the track of the Petersburg Railroad.
Semi-Weekly Fayetteville Observer, 22 February 1855.
As we have already noted, according to the laws of the colonial period, illegitimate children acquired the status of the mother, and this ruling explains the predicament of John Oggs’ children. Oggs was a bachelor whose housekeeper and cook was his slave, a Negro woman named Hester. By her he fathered four offspring, two males and two females. To “my gairl Alley (Alice)” and “my boy Jesse” he devised an equal interest in the plantation whereon he lived. To “my gairl Prudence” and “my boy Charles” he bequeathed the “land on the Island.” The total acreage of his real estate was between two and three hundred acres. He had failed, however, to provide for the manumission of either the mother or her children and since the law prohibited a slave from owning real property, the complications produced by the will became immediately evident. Here were properties clearly intended for individuals who were unable to exercise the privileges of ownership.
This peculiar state of affairs continued for a period of eighteen years, the boy Jesse having died in the meantime, when John Hamilton solved the problem by sponsoring a special legislative enactment, doubtless at the behest of interested persons in Camden and in Pasquotank. Following are quoted pertinent passages from the act finally passed by the State Legislature: “And whereas, the within mentioned Hester, and her children Charles, Alley and Prudence Oggs, are recommended to this General Assembly by several very respectable inhabitants of Camden and Pasquotank, as worthy of being manumitted and set free agreeable to the intentions of their father John Oggs. . . . Be it therefore enacted, that the said Negro woman Hester, and her children Charles, Alley and Prudence Oggs, are hereby manumitted and set free to all intents and purposes, and to possess all rights and privileges as if they had been born free.”
Exercising their long-delayed rights of ownership, for a few years the Oggs heirs sold and bought real estate. The father had owned one tract located in a neighborhood now known as Wickham, and the other was on Indian Island. Prudence finally purchased fifty acres on Indian Island, where she apparently spent her last days. Hester and the other two children later assumed the surname of Dixon. Eventually they sold all their possessions and departed for parts unknown.
Excerpt from Jesse F. Pugh, Three Hundred Years Along the Pasquotank (1957).
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.
Eliza Hagans, 16, was bound to Lovet Peacock in 1843.
William Ayers, 13 was bound to Fred Hollomon in 1843.
In the 1860 census of Black Creek, Wilson County: William Ayres, 30, farm laborer, in the household of Stephen Privett, farmer.
John Q. Barfield, 12, Thomas Barfield, 11, and Henry Barfield, 7, were bound to John Hooks in 1843.
In the 1850 census of North Side of Neuse, Wayne County: Henry Barfield, 14, in the household of Mary Hooks. In the 1860 census of Nahunta, Wayne County: Thomas Barfield, 32 turpentine hand, with Charly A., 16, and Melvina Barfield, 2.
William Ayers, 13, was bound to Enos Rose in 1843.
Ruben Artis, 1, and July Artis, 1, were bound to John Exum in 1843.
In the 1850 census of Warren, Warren County: Reuben Pettiford, 50, stonemason, wife Judy A. Pettiford, 37, children Eliza Artis, 21, Alfred Artis, 15, Jack Artis, 13, Rhody Artis, 12, Ruben Artis Jr., 10, Julian Artis, 9, Mary Artis, 7, Elizabeth J. Pettiford, 5, and Virginia Pettiford, 3, plus Middy Artis, 60, and Isah Artis, 4 months. [Sidenote: This family appears in a number of permutations in the 1850 and 1860 censuses. Apparently, Reuben Pettiford and Judy Pettiford married late, if at all, and did not always cohabitate. –LYH.]
Simpson Artis, 14, Jordan Artis, 11, Henry Artis, 9, Duncan Artis, 7, Ned Artis, 7, Leonard Artis, 4, Nancy Artis, 2, Rasberry Artis, 1, and Levinah Artis were bound to Burket Barnes in 1843.
In the 1850 census of Monroe, Howard County, Indiana: Simpson Artis, 22, laborer, born NC, and John Owens, 24, born Indiana. In the 1850 census of North Side of Neuse, Wayne County: Henry, 15, Duncan, 13, Lenoard, 10, and Ashberry Artice, 7, in the household of Burkett Barnes, farmer. In the 1860 census of Saulston, Wayne County: Olive Artis, 60, Elizabeth Artis, 20, Jordan, 27, and infant, 1 month.
Apprentice Records, Wayne County Records, North Carolina State Archives; federal censuses.
A Homicide. – On last Sunday morning a free negro named Locklier was found dead about eight miles north of Lexington, North Carolina, dead, shot through the breast. John Shoaf has been arrested on suspicion, and is now in jail. Patriot & Flag, Greensboro.
People’s Press, Salem, 24 April 1857.
NEGRO JUSTICE MARRIED WHITE COUPLE IN 1874
George Riley Midgett, the windmill owner, married Nags Head couple
Coming to Roanoke Island on January 24, 1874 and anxious to be married was one Solomon Beasley, 19, of Nags Head. His bride too, was anxious to get married and get back home across the wintry Roanoke Sound as bad weather was making up.
As luck would have it there wasn’t a preachers or justice on the place they could locate except the late George Riley Midgett, colored Justice of the Peace, and to him they went in their troubles. He performed the ceremony which is believed to be the only known instance of a negro officer marrying a white couple in Dare County.
Solomon Beasley was the son of S. Beasley and Lydia Beasley, and has been dead for many years. He married Senia O’Neal who was the daughter of Isaac O’Neal and Sylinda O’Neal.
The record of this marriage may be seen in the office of Melvin R. Daniels, Register of Deeds of Dare County.
George Riley Midgett was born about 1845 and was never a slave, but always a “free” Negro. He was highly respected and called “Uncle George” by both races. Having become a magistrate, he was entitled under the laws of the time to elect in union with the eight or ten other magistrates, the members of Commissioner himself. He was, in time, elected to the Board of County Commissioners. He was, politically speaking, one of the most prominent Negroes ever to have lived in this region. After being a Commissioner of the County, he entered the Life Saving Service and stayed there until disabled. He is remembered as being somewhat fat, walking as if hobbled, and interesting in appearance especially when dressed in his white service uniform. His wife was called “Old Aunt Nancy” as familiarly as he was called “Uncle George”. She died about 16 years ago. They lived on the east side of Roanoke Island. Of their two sons, George Harvey lives near Manteo, and Clay is a lawyer in Phoebus, Va.
“Uncle George” did perform at least four marriages which were recorded, between members of his own race. There was the marriage of Pierce Toler, son of Dick Toler and Cynthia Davis, to Harriet Allen, daughters of Hallory and Harriet Allen, on Roanoke Island November 1, 1873. Pierce Toler was sensible, entertaining and a convincing talker. His living reputation says that in a business deal, he could talk the average white man out of $10 in as many minutes.
Then “Uncle George” married Monday Dough, son of George Dough, to Martha Midgett, daughter of Monday Midgett and Fanny Midgett, on Roanoke Island, January 10, 1874. About the best memorial Monday Dough left when he died was “Monday Dough Field” which is reached by a road which leads into the woods north of Manteo. It is now owned by Z.V. Brinkley. “Uncle George” next married Jeremiah Farrow, aged 23, son of Henry and Sarah Farrow, to Mary E. Jarvis, aged 20, on Roanoke Island January 24, 1874.
The fourth and last marriage accorded to “Uncle George” was that of Noah Simmons, age 21, son of Mary Simmons, to Amelia Allen, age 18, daughter of Harriett Allen, on Roanoke Island February 13, 1875. Noah Simmons was respected for his energy, common sense and truthfulness. He made a good living and built a comfortable home. After the recording of this final marriage by Uncle George, there was written by hand into the record the following:
North Carolina, Dare County Office of Register of Deeds
I, R.W. Smith, Register of Deeds, do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and accurate copy of the register of marriage licenses issued in said County from its formation as such to December 7th, 1903, the same being transcribed and copied from former marriage register for whites and colored by order of the Board of Commissioners of said county by reason of the torn and dilapidated condition of former register. This December 15th, 1903.
There were no further recordings of ceremonies performed by “Uncle George” Riley Midgett, magistrate, county commissioner and one among the most distinguished Negroes in the County.
In more recent years George Riley Midgett was famed more for the huge windmill he owned near Manteo. It has been blown down and demolished now for over 35 years and prior to that time had long been inactive but it was a great curiosity and was visited by many people. A picture of the old ruins was sold widely as a souvenir postcard. In the old days it ground all the grain used on the island for meal.
Coastland Times, 25 July 1952
[Sidenote: Evidence suggests that George R. Midgett had, in fact, been enslaved, but I share this story until proof comes in. — LYH]
Fourth Generation Inclusive 