Fourth Generation Inclusive

Historical Documents of Genealogical Interest to Researchers of North Carolina's Free People of Color

Tag: Cumberland County

November 30, 2012

All I have to make a living.

Nicholas Brown filed claim #17581 with the Southern Claims Commission. Brown was 34 years old and worked as a wagon maker in Fayetteville. He was “at Fayetteville NC up to March 1865. When Genl. Sherman’s army came I left here with a part of the army went to Wilmington NC.  From there I went to Washington City in a Government Steamer remained there about 2 months and returned home about the middle of June 1865.  My place of residence was about 2 miles from Town. I bought the land before I was of age and took the deed in my mother’s name in order to secure her a home.”  The place was about 12 ½ acres, and he farmed as much as he could. He was conscripted in 1864 and put to work making wagons at the Confederate states arsenal.  Before that, he “was at work with the man [John W. Welsh] that I served my apprenticeship with.  He made wagons for the confederate government which I worked on being in his employment.”

All his property was taken on 11 March 1865 at 10 or 11 in the morning.  Soldiers came to his house at several intervals to take the horse, some fodder and shucks. Witnesses included his mother; his brothers “Laurance”, Washington and Benjamin; and his father, now deceased.

Lawrence Brown, bootmaker, was Nicholas Brown’s brother.  When the soldiers came, “my Father and I was in Fayetteville with my brothers horse and cart hauling corn from the River, corn that my Brother had bought in Bladen County and brought up on the steam boat.  The officer said, “Old man I must have this horse and cart. We have some things to haul.” My father said, “If you take this horse you will take all I have to make a living.” The officer said he could not help that and took it all.  Lawrence then went to his brother’s place about two miles north of Fayetteville and saw the yard full of soldiers taking his property.

George W. Brown, another brother, age 26 and a laborer, testified that he also witnessed the depredation, as did their mother and sisters Mariah, Mary Eliza and Wm. Ann.

Edinboro Scurlock, 45, of Fayetteville, also a wagonmaker, testified that he worked in a shop with Nicholas.  “He always talked in favour of the United States Government said the Southern people brought on the war because they were afraid that their slaves would be freed at some day.”

John W. Welsh, 54, blacksmith, testified that he had known Brown since 1858.  “He has been in my employment nearly all the time since 1858 he finished his apprenticeship with me he worked in my wood shop at wagon making.” “I had no conversation with him about the war he was but a boy at work in my shop.”

The Commissioner of Claims noted that Brown’s father was a slave and his mother free, “so he was free born.”

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November 28, 2012

As free as colored men were allowed to be in this.

Lewis Bowen filed claim #8093 with the Southern Claims Commission.  He rented a place in Flea Hill township, Cumberland County.  He complained to a quartermaster that soldiers had taken everything he had.  The quartermaster replied, “Never mind old man you will get pay for it some time. We are oblige to forage on your country. We have no supplies.”  Soldiers from — he was told — an Ohio regiment, took his bacon, lard, corn, flour, rice, wheat, potatoes, peas, fodder and hay; ducks, turkeys and chickens.  They killed and carried off his ox, goats and hogs, and killed his cows and yearlings and left them in the field. Soldiers were part of Sherman’s army and were camped not over 100 yards from his house.

Robert H. Simmons, a 55 year-old merchant, lived about a half-mile from Bowen. “[T]he claimant being a col’d man he could not talk or take much interest in public matter though he was always a free man, or as free as col’d men were allowed to be in this.”

William Webb, 31, kept a bar and livery stables and had known Bowen more than 15 years.  “He and the claimant were born free bond and helpt out the confederate service as labour on fortifications principally by being employed boating on the Cape Fear river.”

Joseph McKay, 53, farmer, saw soldiers take goods off Lewis Bowen’s farm in March 1865.

Woodward Winn, 26, farmer, saw some things taken.  Witnesses included Bowen, “Perry, Berry, Joe, Wiliford.” He helped carry some of the bacon to the camp.

The 1850 census of the Eastern Division of Cumberland County shows: William Bowen, 57, with Lewis Bowen, 16, both laborers.

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November 14, 2012

Surnames: Cumberland County, 1850.

ADAMS, ALLEN, ANDREWS, ARTIS, AVERITT, BAKER, BARNET, BASS, BEASLEY, BEBEE, BEGGS, BELL, BERNARD, BICE, BIRD, BISHOP, BLAKE, BOWEN, BOWZER, BOYDEN, BRABOY, BRIMAGE, BROOKS, BROWN, BRYANT, BURNET/BURNETT, CALVIN, CAMPBELL, CANADAY, CAPPS, CAREY, CARROLL, CARTER, CHAIRS, CHANCE, CHAVIS, CHESTER, CHESTNUT, COOKER, CORBIN, DANIELS, DAUGHTRY, DAVIS, DEAL, DEAN, DONALSON, DUNSTAN, EDIE/EDY, EMANUEL, EMMITT, EVANS, FLOWERS, FRANKLIN, FRAZIER, FREEMAN, GEE, GIBBS, GLASGOW, GOINS, GRAHAM, GRIMES, GROVER, HACKETT, HADLEY, HAGANS/HAGINS, HAMMONDS, HARRIS, HATCHER, HATHCOCK, HAWLEY, HAYS/HAYES, HAYWOOD, HEADSPETH/HEDGEPETH, HEGGINS, HENDERSON, HOLDER, HOLMES, HOSTLER, HUNTINGTON, INGRAM, JACKSON, JACOBS, JAMES,JASPER, JENKINS, JOHNSON, JONES, KADAR, KING, LANE, LEARY, LEE, LEVY, LEWINS, LOCKLIN, LOMAC/LOMACK, LOVER, LUCAS, MACKY, MANIER, MASON, MAYNER, McCULLOUGH, McDONALD, McDOUGALD, McKENZIE, McLEOD, MERRITT, MILLINER, MILLS, MITCHELL, MONROE/MUNRO, MORGAN, MUMFORD, MURCHISON, NASH, NELSON, NICHOLSON, NORRIS, OCHILTREE, OVERTON, OXENDINE, PAIN, PATTERSON, PEARCE, PETTIFORD, PINKINS, POTTS, POWELL, RAGLAND, RALSTON, RAY, REDDIN, REVELS, RISING, ROBERTS, ROBINSON, RUSSELL, SAMPSON, SCOTT, SEAWELL, SEDBURY, SIMMONS, SIMPSON, SMITH, SPEARS, SPENCER, STEPHENS, STEWART, TABON, TAYLOR, TECUMBSHIRE, TERRY, THIGPEN, THOMAS, TUCKER, TUTLE, TYLER, WALKER, WARRICK, WEBB, WHITE, WHITEHEAD, WILLIAMS, WOODS, WORLDS and YOUNG.

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November 7, 2012

A separate and distinct class.

The State v. Elijah Newsom, 27 NC 250 (1844).

The law: “Be it enacted, &c. That if any free negro, mulatto, or free person of color, shall wear of carry about his or her person, or keep in his or her house, any shot gun, musket, rifle, pistol, sword, dagger or bowie-knife, unless he or she shall have obtained a licence therefor from the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions of his or her county, within one year preceding the wearing, keeping or carrying thereof, he or she shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and may be indicted therefor.”

In Cumberland County, Elijah Newsom, a free person of color, was indicted for carrying a shotgun without a license on 1 June 1843.  He was found guilty in Superior Court and filed an appeal.  The Supreme Court held that the law violated neither the 2nd Amendment nor Article 3 of the Bill of Rights: “From the earliest period of our history, free people of color have been among us, as a separate and distinct class, requiring, from necessity, in many cases, separate and distinct legislation.” “Free people of color in this State are not to be considered as citizens, in the largest sense of the term, or, if they are, they occupy such a position in society, as justifies, the legislature in adopting a course of policy in its acts peculiar to them — so that they do not violate those great principles of justice, which lie at the foundation of all laws.” Judgment upheld.

In the 1860 census of Cumberland County, Elijah Neuson, 80, “turpentiner,” is listed with wife Clarisa, 60.

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October 28, 2012

Threatened me with punishment if I done so again.

Daniel Manuel filed claim #5535 with the Southern Claims Commission.  He was 54 years old and had lived 10 miles west of Fayetteville for the previous 5 years.  Sometime during the war, he moved about 30 miles from Bladen County, where he was free-born, to a place about 6 miles west of Fayetteville.  Before the war, he lived in Sampson County.  He was a farmer and cooper, but only farmed during the war.  

He worked for 4 months at the Confederate arsenal in Fayetteville “very much against my wish.”  He was “on the union side all the time but could not say anything being a col’d man not entitled to a vote or allowed to talk.”

He named Hardy West, Arch’d Buie and John Buie, all white men, as witnesses to his loyalty, but all refused to testify.  “So,” he said, “I have to call on my own col. for that proof.”

“While I was at work at the arsenal I was arrested and taken before the com’d officer and examined on the charge of talking in favour of the union cause with some of my own col. I confessed that I had expressed myself in that way the officer threatened me with punishment if I done so again.  He turned me loose and I went back to work” in the blacksmith shop.  His nephew George Manuel was also forced to work at the arsenal.

Marshal White, aged about 47, lived about 5 miles west of Fayetteville and worked as a cooper.  For the last two years he had lived on the the same plantation as Daniel.

Peter Owen, aged about 40, had lived 8 miles west of Fayetteville for 4 years.  Before that, he lived at 3 different places.  During the war, he lived with William Owen and farmed.  He had known Daniel since he was a small boy and lived on the same plantation as Daniel about 2 years before the war.

Richard Lovitt, 51, had lived in Beaver Creek, about 6 miles west of Fayetteville for over 19 years.  He farmed and distilled turpentine.  He had known Daniel since 1861.  

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October 26, 2012

Slightly tinged.

Ann Revels, formerly Ann Chesnutt, filed claim #20191 with the Southern Claims Commission.  She was 55 years old and lived near Fayetteville, where she cultivated 15 acres of land.

“I had one son that left Fayetteville about 1852.  He went to Texas.  I had not heard from him for 2 years before the war commenced. … I then had a letter from him in Kentucky he said he had been in the confederate army but he did not say whether by compulsion or how.  I did not contribute anything for his support or military equipments.”

“I was not married during the war but I married in 1867. … I have 6 children: George Washington aged 42 years today if living.  Andrew Jackson aged 40 years he was 2 1/2 years in the United States Army during the war he went in the Army from Ohio.  Sophia aged 37 years.  Mary Ann aged 30 years.  Dallas aged 25 years.  Amanda Chesnutt aged 17 years.  George Washington I have not heard from for about 3 years.  The balance of my children are living in and within 10 miles of Fayetteville.”

“I owned the property before I married my husband.  I was born free.  I made what I had by my hard work.”

Witnesses were: David A. Bryant, 50, Fayetteville farmer; Albert Hammons, 58, Fayetteville carpenter; William H. Haithcock, 46, Fayetteville carpenter (who testified that Ann “prayed the United States government might whip out the south and liberate the slaves.”  Ann’s husband, Jonathan Revels, a 51 year-old farmer, testified that he and Ann were married in 1867 and stated that he was employed by Ann “pretty much all the time especially farming season from 1861 till the Army came.”

William S. Taylor, 25, painter, and Mary B. Taylor, 53 and a second cousin to Ann, who lived about 300 yards away.

“The claimant was a single woman during the war and owned the property in her own right.  She has since married Revels who is a white man. She was slightly tinged with negro blood.”

Ann Chesnutt Revels was the grandmother of writer Charles W. Chesnutt.

The 1870 censustaker of Cross Creek township, Cumberland County, considered Jonathan Revels to be colored and listed him, wife Ann and stepdaughter Amanda Chesnutt as mulatto. 

[Bizarre Side Note No. 1 — Amanda Chesnutt married Robert Holliday and had a son, Robert Sumner Holliday, in 1873.  Robert graduated Shaw University, then medical school at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.  He set up practice in Statesville NC, where he met and in 1918 married Mary Charlton of West Virginia, a Hampton Institute graduate who served as Iredell County’s supervisor of colored schools.  Mary Charlton Holliday became an abiding mentor to my grandmother, Margaret B. Colvert Allen (1908-2010), and encouraged her to attend her alma mater.  My grandmother met my grandfather at Hampton Institute (now University) and all five of their children, plus three grandchildren, matriculated there.]

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October 26, 2012

You will get paid for it.

William S. Taylor filed claim #19425 with the Southern Claims Commission.  He lived in Fayetteville, where he worked as a house painter.  During the war, a major, two lieutenants and chaplain came to his house, took what they wanted and said, “Oh! Sam you will get paid for it.”

Harry Clark, age 60, a Fayetteville housepainter; George D. Simmons, 38, a merchant; and Taylor’s wife of 30 years, Mary B. Taylor, testified for him.

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October 24, 2012

They intended to come beat me.

William H. Haithcock, age 56, filed claim #20604 with the Southern Claims Commission.  He lived in Fayetteville and worked as a carpenter.  Haithcock testified that he was born in Johnson [sic] County and moved to Fayetteville about 1850.  He lived in Fayetteville up to 1863; then in the country 4 miles from Fayetteville, where he had a farm; then, in 1864, to another plantation one mile from Fayetteville, where he made another crop.  He was living there when the United States Army came through.  He moved back to Fayetteville after.  He worked his trade as a carpenter until he went into farmer.

When he was living on the east side of the Cape Fear River, the Confederates took corn, fodder, chickens and other property.  He was living on the west side of the river when the Union army came.  His house was robbed once by Confederate deserters.  “I talked about it, they sent me word that they intended to come beat me and take what money I had but they never came.  Some of the white men up the river above me.  I understood that I should not make another crop at the place I was living and that I ought to be in the war.”

Lucien Bryant, age 50, testified to Haithcock’s loyalty.  Bryant was a farmer and lived in Fayetteville.  Others who testified were: William S. Taylor, 58, painter; Jonathan Revels, 52, farmer; and son James Haithcock, 19, a farmer and wood hauler.

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October 22, 2012

Looked for and prayed for and expected to see the time come.

Lewis Dunn filed claim #17583 with the Southern Claims Commission.  He was 56 years old, lived in Fayetteville (“in my own house, my lot is 1/2 acre”) and worked as a drayman.  The Confederate Army conscripted him to work at an arsenal for 12 months.

“I was free.  I bought myself.  Finish paying for myself about 20 years ago.  I was the last col’d man in the state that the legislature emancipated. … My former master was James England.”

Dunn did not see his property taken.  He was hauling provisions for the United States Army and when he returned “cattle drivers came and camped all around my stable and made a slaughter pen of my lot….”

William S. Bryant, 58, testified that he lived in Fayetteville and worked as a blacksmith.  He was not related to Dunn, but had known him about 40 years.  Bryant reported that Dunn said “the war was brought on an account of slavery and he looked for and prayed for and expected to see the time when all his race would be free.”

Carpenter Jere Husk, 40, and butcher Tom Drake, 57, both of Fayetteville, also testified on Dunn’s behalf.

Dunn’s wife Harret Dunn, 30, testified: “My grandmother was present [when Dunn’s property was stolen.]  She is now dead.  Also a col’d man name Prince McNeill.  He is not in this section of the county now.”

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October 21, 2012

Rachel’s remand.

State v. Rachel Freeman, 49 NC 5 (1856).

Rachel Freeman, a free colored woman and an indentured servant to Abraham Whitfield, was indicted for burning his dwelling-house in Cumberland County.  There was no direct evidence, but the lower court admitted circumstantial evidence, including the fact that Rachel had been a servant during two earlier arson attempts.  The Supreme Court noted that this evidence no more fingered Rachel than another servant and held that she was entitled to a trial with a new jury as she had been convicted on the basis of irrelevant testimony and circumstantial evidence.

Rachel Freeman appears in neither the 1850 nor 1860 censuses of North Carolina.

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