Lomax | Fourth Generation Inclusive

August 10, 2015

He offered the boy for sale.

Kidnapping. — On Thursday last, a free boy of color, named Josiah Lomax, was abducted from the house of his parents, near this place, by an unknown white man, well dressed, of genteel appearance, and riding a good bay horse, with new Saddle and Bridle. In the absence of the boy’s father, this man told the mother that he had hired the son from her husband, and that he lived in this county. She thereupon permitted him to take away the boy. He has since been heard of in Richmond County, near Laurel Hill, about 45 miles S. West of this place, where he had offered the boy for sale, but refused to sign a bill of sale, or permit any conversation with the boy. Handbills having been forwarded in all directions on Friday morning, it is hoped that the man has ere this been taken up. We learn that before the above occurrence, an unsuccessful attempt was made to carry off a boy from another family. — ib. [Fayetteville Observer]

Tarboro’ Press, 23 May 1834.

May 28, 2013

Application for a licence for a marriage.

The marriage license of Josiah Hagans and Anna Lomack of Cumberland County.

Marriage Bonds, Cumbelrand County Records, North Carolina State Archives.

In the 1840 census of Cumberland County: Josiah Hagans heads a household consisting of 1 male aged 36-55, 1 male aged 55-100, 5 females under age 10, and 1 female aged 24-36; all free people of color.

April 23, 2013

Thoroughly imbued with the patriotic sentiments of his white friends.

One morning, while the army of Cornwallis was marching through this section, Mrs. Gee was intent on household cares in her kitchen, when she was startled by the entrance of an armed Negro in British uniform, who ordered her to cook breakfast for him. There was no resisting the command, for she was alone in the house, and on the premises were only two or three young Negroes. She set about preparing the meal, making it as elaborate as possible, in order to secure delay; and, while it was cooking, she managed to slip out, and give this message to an intelligent boy: ‘Run to John Lomax and tell him to come here just as quick as he can, and to come with his gun!’ But it seemed to her that bread and meat never baked so fast before, and do what she would — the Negro all the while urging her with brutal words to hurry up — she was obliged to dish up the food. But just as her unwelcome guest had seated himself at the table, his musket across his knees, John Lomax, strode through the door, and presented a gun at his head. Lomax kept the British Negro captive till all the army of Cornwallis had passed, and then gave him up to the authorities at Fayetteville. John Lomax was a free Negro thoroughly imbued with the patriotic sentiments of his white friends and neighbors, and devoted all his life to the Gee family.

From W.J. Fletcher, The Gee Family (1937).

March 29, 2013

Fayetteville State founders.

Fayetteville State University, now part of the University of North Carolina system, was the first normal school for African Americans in North Carolina. The university’s founding dates to 1867, when David A. Bryant, Nelson Carter, Andrew J. Chestnutt, George Grainger, Matthew Leary, Thomas Lomax and Robert Simmons paid $140 for a lot on Fayetteville’s Gillespie Street and named themselves into a board of trustees to maintain the property as a permanent site for the education of black children. General O. O. Howard, an early supporter of black education, erected a building on the site, and the school was named the Howard School in his honor.

The education center was chartered by the legislature as the State Colored Normal School in 1877. In 1880 Charles W. Chesnutt was appointed principal of the school after the death of principal Robert Harris. Chesnutt served the institution for three years before resigning and moving to Cleveland, Ohio.

Ezekiel Ezra Smith was appointed as Chestnutt’s replacement in 1883. E. E. Smith had a long and distinguished career at the school. During his span as principal (and eventually president) at the institution, he served in a host of other positions. Smith was appointed Minister Resident and Consul General of the U. S. to Liberia by President Grover Cleveland in 1888. George H. Williams assumed the duties of principal in Smith’s absence. After serving in Liberia for two years, Smith returned to North Carolina to organize the state’s first newspaper for African-Americans, The Carolina Enterprise, in Goldsboro. During Smith’s tenure, he saw the school the school move to its permanent location on Murchison Road in 1907. The high school curriculum was discontinued by the state in 1929 and Smith’s title change to president. He retired in 1933.

Adapted from http://www.ncmarkers.com.

In the 1850 census of Fayetteville, Cumberland County: Angus Carter, 45, boatman, wife Dezda, 38, and children Nelson, 16, Angus, 15, John, 13, Margaret A., 12, Betsy, 10, Jane, 8, Alonzo, 5, Mellissa, 2, and Ann, 2 months.

In the 1850 census of Fayetteville, Cumberland County: John Terry, 13, Ellen Terry, 16, Sally Lucus, 12, and Thos. Lomack, 18, in the household of Jesse W. Powers, merchant.

In the 1850 census of Eastern Division, Cumberland County: Griscilla Simmons, 35, Robert, 12, Samuel, 8, and Mary A., 2.

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