Fourth Generation Inclusive

Historical Documents of Genealogical Interest to Researchers of North Carolina's Free People of Color

Tag: Indian

May 29, 2014

Interesting cases.

STOKES COUNTY COURT.

…

… On Wednesday there was a case which excited considerable interest, the case of the State vs. Enoch Going. The State was represented by Mr. Solicitor Masten, and Going was defended by J.R. McLean and A.H. Joyce, Esquires. This was an indictment against the said defendant, who was charged in the bill as being a free negro, for migrating into this State from Virginia, contrary to our Act of Assembly. The defendant, through his counsel, denied that he is a free negro, and alleged that he is of Indian extraction. The Jury, on the testimony before them, acquitted him.

On the same day, Rowan Stewart and Harston Stewart, free negroes and brothers, were arraigned on a charge of having gambled with a slave, Calvin, the property of Alexander Martin. The State was assisted by J.R. McLean, Esq., and Mr. Morehead appeared for the defendants. The testimony showed that the free negroes and slaves played at a game of cards on the Sabbath day and directly on the side of a public road; that the three had liquor and were drinking; and that, after they were discovered by the witness, much abusive language passed between them, and that this ended in a fight. It was an aggravated case. The defendants submitted to a verdict of guilty and endeavored to beg; but the court, and very properly too, sentenced them to thirty-nine lashes each, a fine of $20 a piece,and to be hired out for the cost and fines, if not secured. These, however, were secured.

The Greensboro Times, 24 March 1860.

——

In the 1850 census of Stokes County, Harston Stewart, 15, in the household of white farmer Hugh Martin.

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April 26, 2013

Never guilty of any action to forfeit his freedom.

State of North Carolina, Craven County } To the Worshipfull, the Justices of Craven County

The Petition of James Manly an Indian humbly represents to your Honor that he was free born at Edenton and that he never has been Guilty of any Action by which his Freedom can be forfeited by any of the Laws of this or any other of the United States.

Your Petitioner further begs leave to inform your Worships that he has lived some Time past at Broad Creek and that on or about the [blank] Day of [blank] a Certain John Garland came to the dwelling House of the said James Manly and forcibly drove him away and sold him as a Slave to Colonel Levi Dawson for the Consideration of one hundred pounds Specie. Wherefore as your Petitioner is a Subject of this States; and under the present happy Constitution humbly moves that this worshipfull Court will pass an Order for liberating or Setting him free from the service of Colonel Levi Dawson aforesaid and restore him to his Freedom And as in Duty bound your Petitioner will ever pray.    Jas. Cooke Atty. For the Petitioner.

[On back.] James Manlys Petition  December Term 1782. James Gatlin & Levi Dawson  Read and Granted The Petitioner set Free   Chrisr. Neales C.C.

Miscellaneous Records 1757-1929, Craven County Records, North Carolina State Archives.

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April 9, 2013

Scuffletown avenger.

One of these curiously mixed people left his mark upon the history of the state — a bloody mark, too, for the Indian in him did not passively endure the things to which the Negro strain rendered him subject. Henry Berry Lowrey was what was known as a “Scuffletown mulatto,” Scuffletown being a rambling community in Robeson county, N. C., inhabited mainly by people of this origin. His father, a prosperous farmer, was impressed, like other free Negroes, during the Civil War, for service upon the Confederate public works. He resisted and was shot to death with several sons who were assisting him. A younger son, Henry Berry Lowrey, swore an oath to avenge the injury, and a few years later carried it out with true Indian persistence and ferocity. During a career of murder and robbery extending over several years, in which he was aided by an organized band of desperadoes who rendezvoused in inaccessible swamps and terrorized the county, he killed every white man concerned in his father’s death, and incidentally several others who interfered with his plans, making in all a total of some thirty killings. A body of romance grew up about this swarthy Robin Hood, who, armed to the teeth, would freely walk into the towns and about the railroad stations, knowing full well that there was a price upon his head, but relying for safety upon the sympathy of the blacks and the fears of the whites. His pretty yellow wife, “Rhody,” was known as “the queen of Scuffletown.” Northern reporters came down to write him up. An astute Boston detective who penetrated, under false colors, to his stronghold, is said to have been put to death with savage tortures. A state official was once conducted, by devious paths, under Lowrey’s safeguard, to the outlaw’s camp, in order that he might see for himself how difficult it would be to dislodge them. A dime novel was founded upon his exploits. The state offered ten thousand, the Federal government, five thousand dollars for his capture, and a regiment of Federal troops was sent to subdue him, his career resembling very much that of the picturesque Italian bandit who has recently been captured after a long career of crime. Lowrey only succumbed in the end to a bullet from the hand of a treacherous comrade, and there is even yet a tradition that he escaped and made his way to a distant state. Some years ago these mixed Indians and Negroes were recognized by the North Carolina legislature as “Croatan Indians,” being supposed to have descended from a tribe of that name and the whites of the lost first white colony of Virginia. They are allowed, among other special privileges conferred by this legislation, to have separate schools of their own, being placed, in certain other respects, upon a plane somewhat above that of the Negroes and a little below that of the whites.

Excerpt from Charles W. Chesnutt, “The Free Colored People of North Carolina,” The Southern Workman, vol. 31, no. 3 (1902).

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April 4, 2013

The largest of any Indian family.

The Brewington family is now the largest of any Indian family in Sampson County, most of which are the children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and even the great-great-grandchildren of the late Raford Brewington, father of Hardy A. Brewington. He had several other sons and daughters. Brewington is a pure English word, which means a brewer of drinks, and we would also add, one that likes such drinks after they have been made, which is one of the characteristics that followed this family for several generations, and even now the evil practice is overcome only by the very best of training. This name was first given to an Indian who was considered by the white settlers of what is now Sampson County, as an excellent maker of “fire water,” as the Indians called it. They called him Bill Brewington. His Indian name was dropped, and he was taught the language of the English.

Bill Brewington’s wife was a Cherokee Indian, by the name of Jane Brewington, who lived a good many years after her husband’s death. They had a daughter, Hannah Brewington, who if now living would be upwards of one hundred and forty years old. Hannah Brewington is well remembered by few of the oldest people of the county, namely John Emanuel, Jonathan Goodman, James Strickland, and others. They describe her as being a true specimen of the original Cherokee, she being of a copper-reddish hue, with prominent cheek-bones, straight black hair and black eyes. She bought land in the year of 1807, as the records in Clinton, N. C., now show, though before that time she and her people lived on the banks of Coharee, without any need of buying, as the land was held in common by the Indians of those days.

The above Hannah Brewington was the mother of Raford Brewington, who has already been mentioned in this section. She helped a poor illiterate bound white boy, who was, as we have been told, a son of a soldier who was killed during the Revolutionary War, while bearing arms for the independence of America. Soon after the death of his father his mother also died, leaving the child to provide for himself. His name was Simon, and as he was placed under the control of a man that owned a good many servants and slaves, he was given the title that has ever been known as his name, “White Simon.” Hannah Brewington proved to be a friend to this poor orphan boy, and in time, by early Indian custom, she and he were married. Soon after the marriage of this couple, Raford, a son, was born in their home. Simon having no real surname, adopted the name of his wife. Soon after the birth of the above Raford Brewington, his father left the State and went north. He has never returned, but was heard from a few times indirectly. Thus you see the beginning of the Brewington family of Sampson County.

One other son and daughter were born to Hannah Brewington, namely, Nathan Brewington and Nancy Brewington.

From George E. Butler, “The Croatan Indians of Sampson County, North Carolina. Their Origin and Racial Status. A Plea for Separate Schools,” (1916).

[Sidenote: Though I have offered excerpts from Butler’s appeal without comment, here I think it prudent to advise that it, like all of the early written history reproduced here, should be considered carefully in the context of the time and place — and purpose — for which it was written. — LYH]
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March 11, 2013

Shuffer Tonies was free issues and part Indian.

MEMORIES OF UNCLE JACKSON, John H. Jackson, 309 S. Sixth St., Wilmington, N.C.

…

My mother was the laund’ess for the white folks. In those days ladies wore clo’es, an’ plenty of ’em. My daddy was one of the part Indian folks. My mammy was brought here from Washin’ton City, an’ when her owner went back home he sold her to my folks. You know, round Washin’ton an’ up that way they was Ginny (Guinea) niggers, an’ that’s what my mammy was. We had a lot of these malatto negroes round here, they was called ‘Shuffer Tonies’, they was free issues and part Indian. The leader of ’em was James Sampson. We child’en was told to play in our own yard and not have nothin’ to do with free issue chil’en or the common chil’en ‘cross the street, white or colored, because they was’nt fitten to ‘sociate with us. You see our owners was rich folks. Our big house is the one where the ladies of Sokosis (Sorosis) has their Club House, an’ our yard spread all round there, an’ our house servants, an’ some of the bes’ artisans in Wilmin’ton lived in our yard.

…

I mus’ tell you’ bout Gov’ner Dudley’s election, an’ the free issue niggers. They say Mr. Dudley told ’em if they’d vote for him he’d do more for ’em than any man ever had. So they voted for him an’ he was elected. Then he ups an’ calls a const’utional convention in Raleigh an’ had all the voting taken away from ’em. An’ that the big thing he done for em.

From Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves (1841).

In the 1860 census of Wilmington, New Hanover County: carpenter Jas. Sampson heads a household that includes his wife Francinia, 49; James, 30, shoemaker; Joseph, 28, carpenter; Eliza, 19; Jannie, 15; and Susan Sampson, 8; carpenters Ben Freeman, 19, and Wm. Campbell, 18; and “sv’t in house” Melinda Green, 72, Dave Miller, 30, Lucy Miller, 27, Virgil McRae, 60, and Maria McRae, 55, all mulatto. Sampson reported owning $26,000 real estate and $10,000 personal estate.

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March 8, 2013

In a few instances …

EASILY RECOGNIZED AS INDIANS

        The … Indians will be readily recognized from their general appearance, their intelligence, the color of their eyes, their skin, their straight black hair, their facial features, their erect carriage, their clannishness, their general habits and demeanor, that they are neither white people nor negroes. They do not resemble the negroes or mulattoes, in that their hair is perfectly straight. They have high cheek bones, they do not have flat noses, or thick lips. Many of them have grey eyes, and often have rose tints on their cheeks. They are usually tall and erect, they are cleanly in their habits and mode of living. They are usually land owners, and more thrifty and industrious. They live and congregate in certain localities, and are clannish, and in numerous ways show the Indian traits. 

THEY WERE NEVER SLAVES

        These people were never slaves and from the memory of the oldest white inhabitants have always been freemen. There is no record that they ever purchased their freedom from former white men. They were never born nor sold into slavery; they were found living in this country as free and separate people as long ago as we have any record of them. In a few instances there has been some mixture of white and negro blood in them. The whites and the negroes have not been so careful in guarding against the amalgamation of those two races as have these Indians, to preserve intact and prevent their Indian blood from mixture with the other two races. In a few instances these Indians have intermarried with mulattoes, but such intermarriages have been discouraged among them, and in most cases, the parties to such marriages have been ostracised socially from the churches and schools of these Indians. 

FORMERLY THEY WERE ERRONEOUSLY CLASSED AS FREE NEGROES

        Since 1868, the white people in Sampson County, as a rule, have classed these Indians with the negroes and refused to recognize them except as negroes. They have consequently been forced, in a measure, with the negro race, but they have steadfastly refused to be classed with the negroes. They have refused to attend the churches and the schools of the negroes or to co-mingle with them on terms of social equality. It is marvellous that they have been able to maintain their racial status so well under the adverse social and political status which has been forced upon them by the white people. It shows that they have an ambition to improve their condition and to build themselves upward, morally, socially, and educationally, rather than to be pulled down to a level with the inferior race, with whom they would be socially classed. It is nothing but common justice to these people that the white race, which has done so much and is now endeavoring to do still more, for the education and material progress and welfare of all the people of the State, of every race, that the efforts of these Indians to build up and maintain their superior social and intellectual status from the negro race, should be encouraged in every proper way, as they have been encouraged and recognized in several other counties of the State, in which they are less numerous. It will make them better citizens and at no substantial extra cost to the white and colored race, for them to have their separate schools and churches. They will feel that they have not been discriminated against and that they have been treated with the same fairness and consideration that their people of the same race and blood are given in adjoining counties.

From George E. Butler, “The Croatan Indians of Sampson County, North Carolina. Their Origin and Racial Status. A Plea for Separate Schools,” (1916).

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March 6, 2013

Those of negro blood have been excluded.

We have procured from the homes of these Indian families a few photographs, showing the type of these Croatan Indians today living in Sampson County. It will be readily seen that they are neither white people, negroes or mulattoes. They all have straight black hair, the Indian nose and lips, their skin a light brown hue, mostly high cheek bones, erect in their carriage, steel gray eyes and an intelligent countenance. Where the white blood predominates many of them have beards.

They are the true type of the Croatan Indian and have always resided and lived in this section and known as “free persons of color.” There are a few of these people that have intermarried with mulattoes, but all those of negro blood have been excluded from this sketch and no demands or claims are made in their behalf, as under the law they are properly classed with the negroes.

From George E. Butler, “The Croatan Indians of Sampson County, North Carolina. Their Origin and Racial Status. A Plea for Separate Schools,” (1916).

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February 28, 2013

Pure white and Indian.

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Enoch Manuel and wife live in Dismal Township, Sampson County. He is now 70 years old. His father was Michael Manuel and lived on South River and died in 1858. Michael’s father was Nicholas Manuel, a soldier in the Revolutionary War, in John Toomer’s Army. His father was Ephraim Manuel. The records of Sampson County show, book 5, page 222, that in the reign of George III Benjamin Williams conveyed to Ephraim Manuel 400 acres of land, lying on the east side of Great Coharie, charging annual quit rents to His Majesty. We find another deed from Solomon Hardin to Levi Manuel, dated October 10, 1778, for 125 acres on March Branch and Miry Bottom Branch in Sampson County, consideration 50 English pounds. There are numerous other old deeds to the Manuel family on record in Sampson County. The father of Ephraim Manuel was Nickey Manuel and came from Roanoke River and claimed to be half white and half Indian. There is no trace of negro blood known to exist in the Manuel family as far back as they have any record.

Enoch Manuel says that his ancestor, Nickey Manuel, raised Matthew Leary, father of Sheridan Leary, who was killed in John Brown’s insurrection at Harper’s Ferry. Sheridan Leary was a brother of John S. Leary, a lawyer of Charlotte, formerly of Fayetteville, N. C.  …  Sarah, wife of Enoch Manuel, whose picture appears above, was a daughter of Amos Hardin, a wheelright [sic] in Honeycutts Township, and was recognized as a Croatan Indian. This couple have seven children and numerous grandchildren. They have not intermarried with the negro race, and their children attend Shiloh Indian School in Dismal Township, of which school Enoch Manuel was the founder.

[“]My mother’s mother was one Lanie Jackson, a white woman. Therefore as you can plainly see, my father and mother were pure white and Indian. My wife was the daughter of Amos Harding and Cassie Lockamy, a white woman, of Irish descent.

We had in our home several sons and daughters. Jonah Emanuel, who married Luberta Bledsole, daughter of W. J. Bledsole. W.J. Bledsole was the son of Mary Bledsole, a white woman, his father unknown. He is evidently a white man, with some trace of Indian blood. Enoch Emanuel, Jr., also married a daughter of the above W. J. Bledsole. Macy Lee Emanuel married Hassie J. Jones of Robeson County, a person of white and Indian descent. All of the above are descendants of the late Nicholas Emanuel and Jonathan Harding.

Many of the members of the Emanuel family have moved to other sections. They are now living in as many as seven different States of the Union. Some have spelled our name Manuel; others Emanuel. I have followed the latter form for our name in this pamphlet. [“]

From George E. Butler, “The Croatan Indians of Sampson County, North Carolina. Their Origin and Racial Status. A Plea for Separate Schools,” (1916).

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February 20, 2013

A distinct and separate race of people.

State of North Carolina – County of Sampson.

To the Honorable Board of Education of Sampson County, North Carolina:

The undersigned, your petitioners, a part of the Croatan Indians living in the County of Sampson, State aforesaid, having their residence here for more than two hundred years, as citizens and tax payers of the County and State, peacefully sharing all the burdens of our government, and desiring to share in all the benefits incident thereto, respectfully petition your Honorable Board for such recognition and aid in the education of their children as you may see fit to extend to them, the amount appropriated to be used for the sole and exclusive purpose of assisting your petitioners to educate their children and fit them for the duties of citizenship;

Your petitioners would show that there are, according to the bulletin of the thirteenth census of 1910, two hundred and thirteen Indians in Sampson County.  And, that there are of legal school age, for whom there [are] now no separate school provisions over one hundred Indian school children. That these children are not permitted to attend, and have no desire to attend, the white schools, and in no other section of the State are they required to attend the colored schools.

That they are a distinct and separate race of people, and are now endeavoring, as best they can, at their own expense, to build and maintain their own schools, without any appropriation from the county or state, notwithstanding, they cheerfully pay taxes for this purpose, and otherwise share in the burdens and benefits of the government.

That the Croatan Indians of this county are a quiet, peaceful and industrious people, and have been residents of this section long before the advent of the white man, with whom they have always been friendly, and with whom they have always courted and maintained most cordial relations.

There is a tradition among them that they are a remnant of White’s Lost Colony and during the long years that have passed since the disappearance of said colony, they have been struggling to fit themselves and their children for the exalted privileges and duties of American freemen, and to substantiate this historical and traditional claim, hereto append, and make a part of this petition such historical data as they have been able to collect to aid you in arriving at their proper racial status.

Your petitioners further respectfully show that they are of the same race and blood and a part of the same people, held by the same ties of racial and social intercourse as the Croatan Indians of Robeson County, many of whom were former resident of Sampson County, and with whom they have married and intermarried.  That since the State of North Carolina has been so just and generous as to provide special and separate school advantages for our brothers and kinsmen, in Robeson County, as well as in the counties of Richmond, Scotland, Hoke, Person and Cumberland, we now appeal to you for the same just and generous recognition from the State of North Carolina and from your Honorable Board, in Sampson County, that we may share equal advantages with them as people of the same race and blood, and as loyal citizens of the State.

And your petitioners ever pray.  Respectfully submitted,

Isham Ammons, H.A. Brewington, J.H. Brewington., J.R. Jones, Robbin Jacobs, R.J. Jacobs, Calvin Ammons, H.S. Brewington, Jonathan Goodman, Lucy Goodman, Jesse Jacobs, J.B. Simmons, Wm. Simmons, Sr., W.J. Bledsole, Matthew Burnette, Enoch Manuel, Jr., Gus Robinson, M.L. Brewington, R.H. Jacobs, J.W. Faircloth, Wm. Simmons, Jr., E.R. Brewington, W.L. Bledsole, Enoch Manuel (or Emanuel), G.B. Brewington, W.B. Brewington, Thomas Jones, C.O. Jacobs, J.S. Strickland, Myrtle Goodman, Enos Jacobs, K.J. Ammons, C.A. Brewington, C.D. Brewington, Martha Jones, T.J. Jacobs, J.M. West, Albert Jacobs, R.M. Williams, J.A. Brewington, Harley Goodman, W.E. Goodman, B.J. Faircloth, Percy Simmons, J.G. Simmons, J.H. Bledsole, H.J. Jones, Jonah Manuel.

From George E. Butler, “The Croatan Indians of Sampson County, North Carolina. Their Origin and Racial Status. A Plea for Separate Schools,” (1916).

 

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January 12, 2013

Malaga Moll’s great-grandson sues for freedom.

William Dowry ag’t Francis Thomas   } Pet’o for freedom in the General Court.

The deposition of Ann Ridgely of Anne Arundel County aged between fifty seven and fifty eight years being first sworn on the holy Evangely of Almighty God, saith that she has seen William Dowry the petitioner but does not know much of him; that she knew Fanny who it is said, is Mother of the petitioner, very well; and this deponant also knew Mary Dove, the Mother of Fanny ever since she knew her own Mother, and she knew Fanny who is of about the age of the deponant from the time she was a child until she was a woman; this deponant is the daughter of Eliazar Burkhead who was the son of Abraham Burkhead, to whom Mary and Fanny both belonged when this deponent first knew them; and he gave Fanny to his daughter Frances Shekell the wife of John Shekell; this deponant further saith that Mary was a tall spare woman, of a brown complexion, and was the grand daughter of the woman, who came, or was imported into this Country and belonged to this deponants great grand Father as she has been informed and understood from her mother and her grand Father beforementioned: that her grand Father was the only child of his Father and possessed the whole estate; that this deponant has always understood that the Grand Mother of Mary Dove was a yellow woman and had long black hair; but this deponant doth not know whether she was reputed to be an East Indian or a Madagascarian, but she has understood that she was called in the family Malaga Moll, her name being Mary; and Mary Dove the Grand-daughter claimed her Sirname from her said Grand Mother; this deponant further saith that the Mother of Mary Dove (whose name she does not remember) died before her Mother, and whilst her daughter Mary Dove aforesaid was a small girl; and this deponant saith after the death of her father, her Mother intermarried with Leonard Thomas and the aforesaid Mary Dove then lived in the family and belonged to this deponant’s Brother James Birkhead, and upwards of forty years ago she sued for her freedom, and before any determination of the suit the aforesaid Leonard Thomas moved with his family and effects to North Carolina, about twenty miles from New Burn and carried the aforesaid Mary Dove with him, this deponants Brother James being then about five or six years of age: that the said Mary Dove prosecuted her claim to freedom at Newburn in North Carolina soon after she was removed there, and obtained her freedom upon trial at this deponant understood, together with three of her Children and two of her Grand Children and they were all discharged from the possession of the said Leonard Thomas; that the Children were named James, Nell and Sue, and the Grand Children, Will and Sal; that this deponant has heard her father in Law Leonard Thomas say that a certain Alexander Sands, who was the Son of an East Indian woman; and was commonly called Indian Sawny, was a Witness for the said Mary Dove, and that he proved that the Grand Mother of Mary Dove was an East Indian Woman; that this deponant does not recollect to have heard her father in law mention any other witness in particular who was sworn for the petitioner, but thinks he mentioned that one John Wells was sworn on her behalf; that the said Mary Dove had a brother named Dowry who belonged to this deponants uncle. That the aforesaid Leonard Thomas removed back to Maryland in a few years and sometime afterwards returned to North Carolina near the Yadkin and died about twelvemonth ago: — sworn to in open Court 16 Octo. 1791.    True Copy     Jno. G. [illegible]

Miscellaneous Records, Craven County Records, North Carolina State Archives.

[It is a reasonable conjecture that Mary Dove was the forebear of all the free colored Craven, and later Onslow and Jones, and later still Lenoir County Doves.]

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