Fourth Generation Inclusive

Historical Documents of Genealogical Interest to Researchers of North Carolina's Free People of Color

Tag: New Bern

April 5, 2013

New mode of swindling.

New Mode of Swindling. Two Hundred Dollars Reward For Apprehending the chief actor, RICHARD HARDEN,

Late of Pratt-street, in the city of Baltimore, Grocer, who left said city on or about the 24th day of October last. The publick would confer an obligation on a person from whom he purchased a large quantity of goods, which together with others purchased from different person, he sold to many others, chiefly a Mr. Shamway, to whom he sold upwards of 6600 dollars worth; (Shamway had been his clerk), and likewise on whom he prevailed to endorse notes to a considerable amount, if they would forward a few lines, mentioning where he may be found, to E.F. care of the Editor of the Federal Gazette.

The said R. Harden is about 28 years of age, 5 feet 7 or 8 inches high, stout made, black complexion, a mark on his jaw like than of an evil, down look, and is a taylor by trade. When in Baltimore he was dressed in black, with a crape on his hat; he seems to have a general knowledge of business, and of the country; is a native of New-England. He formerly lived in Charleston, S.C., and in Newbern, N.C. The person he has taken in as above stated, is a man with a large family, from whom he has taken nearly the whole means of support for them and himself, and therefore claims the assistance of the publick in detecting him. Should the person giving information (so that he can be arrested) require it, the above reward will be given by the writer of this, who may be known application to the Editor of the Baltimore Federal Gazette; and his name never be mentioned.

N.B. It is supposed that Harden has gone to New York, followed by several of his associates, at which place he will probably resume a trade to which he is no stranger. December 16.

Norfolk Gazette and Publick Ledger, 1 Jan 1808

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March 27, 2013

She has a free colored sailor for a husband.

$20 REWARD.

Ran away from the Subscriber, on the 7th inst., a negro woman named HAGAR. She is from thirty five to forty years of age, of a slim figure, in delicate health, and has had on one or both of her thumbs what is called a bone film.  She has lived for a number of years in the family of Charles Stewart, — and having a free coloured man, a sailor, for a husband, it is supposed that she has gone off with a view of getting to New York. All masters of vessels are cautioned not to take her away, under the penalty of the law.

The above reward will be paid to any person who will deliver the above named woman to me or secure her in jail so that I get her.    JOHN L. DURAND. June 13th, 1840.

Newbern Spectator and Literary Journal, 13 June 1840.

 

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March 23, 2013

He went immediately among free negroes.

$25 REWARD.

RAN AWAY from the Subscriber, on Saturday the 1st inst., my negro fellow named SHADRACH, he is about 21 years of age, five feet seven or eight inches high, well made and proportioned, a dark copper colour, talks rather slow when spoken to, is very likely, if any scars not remembered, and had on when he left an osnaburg shirt and pantaloons (considerably worn,) and old straw hat. I understood he went immediately on Neuse, Craven County, among the free negroes and called himself Jim Sampson and took passage in some boat for Newbern, no doubt he will try to get to the north in some vessel.

All persons are forewarned from harboring, or carrying him away under the penalty of the law, which will certainly be enforced against those who violate its provisions in such case made and provided. The above reward will be paid to any person for lodging him in any jail in this State so that I get him again.

DAVID L. JONES. Carteret County, August 5th, 1840.

Newbern Spectator and Literary Journal, 8 August 1840.

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March 16, 2013

A good deal of human interest.

There is a good deal of human interest to be found in many of the experiences of these colored slaveholders and in their relations with those whom they held in bondage. Rose Petepher, of the neighborhood of New Bern, N.C., was a free colored woman who was married to a slave named Richard Gasken, who had taken the name of his master. He ran away and was in the woods for years, when his wife finally bought him to take possession. When she could find him this change of owners brought him in at once. They lived together for many years afterward, raising many children whom they hired out just as slaves were hired out. Thus they all prospered. Near the town mentioned above, on their own land, some of the grandchildren are now living and doing well.

Judge William Gasken, who owned the man of whom we have just told, was thrice married, one of his wives being a daughter of Colonel McClure of New Bern. After his death, one of the slaves, Jacob, became the property of Mrs. Gasken. This Jacob’s wife was a free woman, and they had a son Jacob, then a young man and free of course, as the child of a free woman. Aided by his mother’s efforts, he managed to purchase his father at a very reasonable price as negroes were then held. All went smoothly for awhile, when young Jacob did not act as his father thought he should and his parent reproved him with fatherly love. Young Jacob was so disgruntled that he went off to a negro speculator named John Gildersleeve, who was from Long Island and was then in New Bern. This trader bought the father at a high price and at once sent him off south. Young Jacob afterward boasted that “the old man had gone off to the corn fields about New Orleans where they might learn him some manners.”

From Calvin D. Wilson, “Negroes Who Owned Slaves,” Popular Science Monthly, vol. LXXXI (1912).

In the 1850 census of Craven County: Richard Pettiford, 80, wife Rose, 69, children Dinah, 27, and Bryan, 25, and Elizabeth Pettiford, 100. (!!!) (Note that Richard adopted his wife’s surname. Wright Pettiford, 38, living alone nearby may have been another son.)

Perhaps: in the 1850 census of Craven County: Jacob Gaskins, 64, farmer, Penelope Gaskins, 88, Sarah Wiggans, 25, and her children Martha, 5, Elizabeth, 3, and Sabeah, 1 month.

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March 10, 2013

Lurking about John Stanly’s.

20  Dollars REWARD

RAN AWAY, from the subscriber, at Smith’s Creek, on the 23d of July last, his Negro Man SAM, He is about twenty years of age, black complexion, likely appearance, and has a pleasant look, — Has a scar, occasioned by a cut, on or near one of his knees.  SAM was at the late Camp Meeting, at Adams’ Creek, whence he ran away, after having been flogged for stealing several different articles.  It is supposed he is lurking about the plantation of Mr. John C. Stanly and between there and Kinston, near which place he has a sister. — The above reward will be paid on his being delivered at, the Jail in Newbern, or at any Jail, so that I get him.  GIDEON CARRAWAY. August 26th, 1820.

Carolina Centinel, New Bern, 26 August 1820.

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March 9, 2013

An Act to Emancipate Hannah.

CHAPTER LVIII.

An Act to Emancipate Hannah, Alias Hannah Bowers, a Person of Mixed Blood, Belonging to the Estate of the Late Alexander Gaston Deceased.

Whereas it appears to this General Assembly, That the late Alexander Gaston, of the town of New Bern, did in his lifetime frequently express a desire that the said girl Hannah should be set free, and did certify the same in his own handwriting, which certificate has been since found among the papers of the deceased: And whereas the widow of the said Alexander Gaston has also signified her desire that the said girl should in compliance with her husband’s wishes in his lifetime be set free:

I. Be it therefore Enacted by the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina, and it is hereby Enacted by authority of the same, That the said molatto girl called Hannah, alias Hannah Bowers, shall be, and is hereby declared to be emancipated and made free to all intents and purposes, and shall be entitled to all the privileges and benefits of a free person in as full and absolute manner, as if she the said Hannah had been born of a free woman. (Passed Jan. 6, 1787.)

Acts of the North Carolina General Assembly, 1786-1787, Colonial and State Records of North Carolina. 

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March 3, 2013

He is probably lurking around his wife’s.

Twenty Dollars Reward.

RAN AWAY From the Subscriber’s plantation in Jones County, on the 8th inst. a negro man named TONEY. He has a cut on his foot, which occasions him to walk lame — is of a black complexion, and has a wife in Newbern known by the name of Rhoda Dove. It is probable he is lurking about Newbern. The above reward will be given and all expences paid, for his apprehension and confinement in Jail. All persons are hereby forwarned from harbouring, and masters of vessels from carrying said fellow away under penalty of the law.   LEWIS SANDERSON, Jones County, April 8, 1821.

Carolina Centinel, New Bern, 11 August 1821.

In the 1830 census of New Bern, Craven County, Rhoda Dove was the head of a household of three free people of color.

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March 2, 2013

His mother lives near John C. Stanly.

TWENTY FIVE DOLLAR REWARD.

RAN AWAY, from the subscriber, on the night of the eleventh instant, a black Negro Man, named COT; twenty five years of age, five feet, six or seven inches high. I expect he will be lurking about Snow Hill, in Greene county, as his father has his time, and lives in that vicinity; and it is probable that he will also be part of his time in the neighbourhood of the plantation of Mr. John C. Stanly, near Newbern, as his Mother lives with Mr. B.D. Gray, within a few miles of said plantation.

The above reward, and all reasonable expences, will be paid to any person who will apprehend and confine said runaway in Jail, so that I get him again. Masters of vessels, and others, are hereby cautioned from harbouring, employing or carrying him away, under the penalty of the law.   FREDERICK FOY, Jones county, July 11, 1822.

Carolina Centinel, New Bern, 13 July 1822.

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February 7, 2013

He cannot go blow for blow, but he can defend himself.

State v. Lawrence Davis, 52 NC 52 (1859).

This indictment for assault and battery arose in Craven Superior Court.  Lawrence Davis was a free negro living in New Bern.  Edward Hart was a regularly appointed and qualified constable for the town. Hart had a notice directing David to show cause why he should not work on the streets as the penalty for not having paid his taxes. (A New Bern ordinance: “Ordered that all free negroes, who have not paid their taxes, shall be made to work on the streets two days for each and every dollar of tax due the town by them, and if he refuses to do the same, upon due notice being given him, he shall pay a fine, at the discretion of the Mayor, not exceeding $10.” Hart arrested Davis and, while he attempted to tie him, Davis struck him.

The lower court found Davis guilty, and he appealed.

The Supreme Court suggested that Davis’ conviction may have rested on the proposition that a free negro is not justified, under any circumstances, in striking a white man. “To this, we cannot yield our assent. Self-defense is a natural right, and, although the social relation of this third class of our population, and a regard for its proper subordination requires that the right should be restricted, yet, nothing short of manifest public necessity can furnish a ground for taking it away absolutely; because a free negro, however lowly his condition, is in the “peace of the State,” and to deprive him of this right, would be to put him on the footing of an outlaw.” So, though a free negro ordinarily was not to return blow for blow or fight with a white man, “as one white man may do with another, or one free negro with another, he is not deprived, absolutely, of the right of self-defense.” Rather, to justify a battery on a white man, the free negro is required to prove that it was necessary for him to strike in order to protect himself from “great bodily harm or grievous oppression.” In other words, if there is cruelty or unusual circumstances of oppression, a blow is excusable. 

In this case, a constable serving a notice on the defendant, without any authority whatever, arrested him and attempted to tie him.  “Is not this gross oppression? For what purpose was he to be tied? What degree of cruelty might not the defendant reasonably apprehend after he should be entirely in the power of one who had set upon him in so highhanded and lawless a manner? Was he to submit tamely? Or, was he not excusable for resorting to the natural right of self-defense?” 

Under these circumstances, the judge committed error, and a new trial was ordered. 

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January 27, 2013

Donum Montford.

“Donum Montford (Mumford) (1771-1838), New Bern brickmason, plasterer, and brickmaker, was prominent among the city’s early 19th century builders and became one of the wealthiest of the city’s free people of color. Memoirist Stephen Miller recalled that he was ‘copper-colored, and carried on the bricklaying and plastering business with slaves, a number of whom he owned. Whenever a job was to be done expeditiously, he was apt to be employed, as he could always throw upon it a force sufficient for its rapid execution.’

“Born a slave, Montford was owned by the prominent Richard Cogdell family until 1804. During his more than 30 years as a slave, he mastered the related trades of bricklaying, plastering, and brickmaking. He gained his freedom in 1804, when the widow Lydia Cogdell and her daughter Lydia Cogdell Badger sold him to the wealthy free man of color John C. Stanly, who emancipated him the next day, doubtless carrying out a strategy planned by all parties. As a free man, Montford promptly established his shop and began acquiring property. Although he was illiterate, signing documents with his mark, he was successful in his business. In 1806 his former owner, Lydia Cogdell, gave him a young slave, Abram Moody Russell, to train as an apprentice, then to emancipate upon his maturity; Abram Moody Russell Allen, as he was later known, was identified by Montford as his nephew and also became his heir and executor. In 1807 Montford took the first of many free apprentices to his trade. In 1809 he married Hannah Bowers. By 1811 he was purchasing real estate, and he eventually owned several town lots and houses, plus a farm. By 1820, according to the United States Census, Montford was head of a large household of free people of color, and had twenty-two slaves in his employ; whether he owned all of these is not certain. In 1827 Montford petitioned to emancipate his only child, Nelson, a plasterer who had worked with Montford until he attained his majority.

“Both Hannah and Donum Montford were members of Christ Episcopal Church in New Bern, and their burial services were recorded in the parish register noting them each as a ‘colored communicant.’ Montford’s stature in the community was indicated by his appointment to a committee, along with the leading white brickmasons in town, Bennett Flanner and Joshua Mitchell, to inspect repairs to Christ Church in 1832. He was regularly employed to work on public buildings. Along with taking free apprentices to his trade, he also trained slave artisans, such as Ulysses, ‘a plasterer by trade, who served his time with Donum Mumford, in the town of New Bern afterwards worked at his business upwards of four years, in Hyde County,’ and who could ‘read and write tolerably well.’ Ulysses had run away from William S. Sparrow, who advertised for his return in 1818.

“Despite his long and active career, few of Montford’s projects have been identified. For the Craven County Jail (1821-1825), a handsome and formal civic building, detailed construction records show his versatility. Montford supplied 100,000 of the roughly 400,000 bricks, at $5 per thousand, and he and his workers accomplished the lathing and plastering, including laborers (probably slaves) Charles, Edmond, and Romey at 5 shillings a day, and skilled workers Tony and Lawson at $1 a day. He typically charged 12 shillings and sixpence per day for his own work and a few other skilled men in his shop. Montford also supplied many of the bricks for the John R. Donnell House (1816-1818), which was among the finest of the city’s Federal style, brick townhouses, where Wallace Moore was the chief brickmason and Asa King was the lead carpenter. Montford also did some work beyond New Bern, including an unnamed project for Tyrrell County planter Ebenezer Pettigrew, who paid him in 1819 for delivering bricks and lime, building the foundation for a smokehouse, and mending plaster.

“At his death in 1838 Montford had a considerable estate in land, slaves, and personal possessions. Illustrating accounts of the prosperity and gentility of New Bern’s leading people of color, he left to his wife, Hannah, such household furnishings as a secretary, a sofa, a mahogany candle stand, a dining table, and a breakfast table; numerous serving pieces, including two dozen plates of Liverpool ware, silver teaspoons and tablespoons, decanters and wine glasses, and two oyster dishes; and two pictures, one of Napoleon, and one of Christ on the Cross. Among the many items sold from his estate were a musket and a shotgun, window sash, brick moulds, shad nets, and farm implements. His estate also included slaves Bob, Dick, Jim Carney, Dinah, Alexander, and plasterer-bricklayer Isaac Rue (Rew). Montford stated in his will that Isaac was to be freed after Hannah’s death; Isaac Rue continued to practice his trade for many years as a free man and a property owner.”

Author: Catherine W. Bishir.  Published 2009.

As published in North Carolina Architects and Builders: A Biographical Dictionary,  http://ncarchitects.lib.ncsu.edu  (All rights retained.) This web site is a growing reference work that contains brief biographical accounts, building lists, and bibliographical information about architects, builders, and other artisans who planned and built North Carolina’s architecture.  

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