Wilson County | Fourth Generation Inclusive

January 5, 2016

Nathan Blackwell’s will and desire.

this the 24th of January 1845 } this my desire and will that I give to Josiah and Nathan Axum Andrew & all my property to be Equally divided and I want Asberry Blackwell to take Andrew and see to his labor for my children to the best advantage also take my children and take care of them and satisfy himself for his troble out of my property this my Last will and testament whereunto I now set my han and Seal to Nathan (X) Blackwell {seal}

Test James F. Mercer, Thomas Mercer

Nathan Blackwell received a marriage license to marry Jincey Powell on 15 December 1838 in Nash County, North Carolina. Elijah Powell and Henry Bount were bondsmen, and B.H. Blount, a witness.

In the 1840 census of Nash County, North Carolina, Nathan Blackwell headed a household comprised of one free colored male, aged 10-23; one free colored female, aged 10-23; and two free colored males under 10. In the 1850 census of Nash County, Asberry Blackwell [likely Nathan’s brother] lived alone.

Nathan’s children are not found in the 1850 census. In 1860, Josiah Blackwell, 21, was listed as a steam mill laborer in the household of engineer John Valentine. On 27 March 1861, Josiah married Becky Mitchell at Wiley Lamm’s steam mill. In 1860, Nathan E. Blackwell, 20, is listed as a wagoner living in the household of farmer Robinson Baker in Wilson County.

North Carolina Wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998 [database on-line], ancestry.com.

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December 5, 2015

Did unlawfully live as man and wife.

State of North Carolina, Wilson County to wit:

Court of Pleas & Quarter Sessions January Term AD 1859

The Jurors for the State on their oath present that Benjamin Price a free negro late of the County of Wilson on the 1^st day of December AD 1858 and divers other days and times both before and after that day at and in the county aforesaid did unlawfully cohabit & live as man & wife with Easter a slave the property of Dempsey Barnes contrary to the form of the statute in such cases made & provided and against the peace & dignity of the state. /s/ B.B. Barnes Sol

[Reverse: State vs Ben Price A Slave for Wife / Gov Pros Wit Dempsey Barnes / Not a true Bill W.E.J. Shallington For’n Grand Jury]

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

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May 15, 2014

Cooking was just as necessary.

A Veteran of the Civil War.

Henry Locus, 70 years of age, a subscriber to the Times, and a worthy colored man living near Bailey, N.C., was in to see us today and knowing that he was the cook with the company of volunteers raised by Captain Jesse Barnes, we had an interesting conversation. The company took with them two cooks, Henry and his brother Nathan. Nathan is dead but Henry is well and hearty and the father of 19 children, the youngest thirty.

To the question, “How many grand children have you?” Henry replied: “Lord, I couldn’t begin to tell. Some of them has as many as nine already and some of my children are way down South and others are somewhere else, and I just can’t keep up with them.”

Henry informed us he staid with the command for two years until “grub” became scarce and hard to get and “I signed by position” and came home to work in the iron mine in the upper edge of this county.

Henry thinks he is entitled to a pension, and when we suggested that he was not a soldier, he replied that cooking was just as necessary as fighting. [Remainder of article missing.]

Wilson Daily Times, 10 April 1911.

In the 1850 census of Nash County, Lucy Locust, 25, and children Nathan, 12, Henry, 8, Goodson, 6, Nelly, 4, and Mary J., 5.

[Sidenote: A hat tip to J. Robert Boykin III, who transcribed this article for the May 2014 issue of Trees of Wilson, the excellent journal of the Wilson County Genealogical Society. Boykin noted that the “company of volunteers” was known as the Wilson Light Infantry and mustered in as Company F, 4th Regiment, North Carolina State Troops.]

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June 12, 2013

London Woodard & Penny Lassiter.

“Uncle London” Woodard (1792-November 15, 1870) was one of the most respectable black men of his area and time. Having been married about 1817 to James Bullock Woodard’s Venus, he was purchased by this planter on May 24, 1828, and became his overseer and distiller. London was baptized into the fellowship of the Tosneot Primitive Baptist Church on August 24, 1828, and Venus on August 4, 1838. This good woman died about the end of 1845, leaving several children to mourn her loss.

In 1846, he married Penelope Lassiter, daughter of Hardy Lassiter. She had become an indispensable part of the James B. Woodard household after the death of his first wife in 1837. “Aunt Pennie,” a free woman of light color, who worked hard, saved her money, and bought land. On September 18, 1854, she also bought “Uncle London” and made him a free man. He was “liberated to preach” on April 21, 1866, and in the following December Mrs. Elizabeth Farmer gave him one acres upon which he soon erected “London’s Primitive Baptist Church” which is still in existence.

From the introduction to Hugh Buckner Johnston, The Woodard Confederate Letters of Wilson County (1977).

Photo of London Church taken by Lisa Y. Henderson, May 2013.

[Sidenote: Actually, while London Woodard may have lived essentially as a free man after Penny Lassiter’s purchase, there is no evidence that he was in fact emancipated prior to the end of the Civil War. No record of such has been found and, while Penny and their children appear as Lassiters in the 1860 census, he does not.

The London Church congregation built a new edifice on the church’s original site on Herring Avenue in Wilson. The building above was saved and moved around the corner to a site on London Church Road, where it sits neglected. — LYH]

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June 10, 2013

Circuit preacher.

Church Directory “Fremont Items” —

Rev. Jonah Williams of Wilson filled his regular appointment at Turners Swamp last Sunday.

The Blade, Wilson, 20 Nov 1897.

[Turner Swamp Primitive Baptist Church still meets in a small church north of Eureka, Wayne County. Descendants of several of Jonah Williams’ siblings are buried there. — LYH]

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June 3, 2013

Julius & Bisco Hagans.

JULIUS HAGANS and BISCO HAGANS were sons of Richard Hagans and Alice Ann Faithful Hagans, who married in 1849 in Edgecombe County. They are buried in a family plot in Elm City’s black cemetery.

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, May 2013.

In the 1860 census of Edgecombe County: Rich’d Hagans, 33, wife Alley, 31, and children Laurence, 10, Laura, 8, Margaret, 6, Richard, 5, Neely, 3, and Charles H., 3 months.

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May 31, 2013

William Henry Hall, Sr.

WILLIAM H. HALL, SR. was the son of Eliza Hall and James B. Woodard, a white man. He is buried in Red Hill cemetery, near Stantonsburg, Wilson County. Beloved father farewell.

Photo taken by Lisa Y. Henderson, May 2013.

[Sidenote: The birthdate on William Hall’s headstone is completely different from that reported in the Lewis Ellis Bible. Of course, neither he nor his family had access to this Bible, and he may not have known his actual birthdate. — LYH]

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May 23, 2013

I am sorry that Mrs. Lynch is trying to be so large.

Camp near Kinston

Feby 22d 1864

Dear wife,

Your letter by Tom has been Read. I am glad to hear that you are all well. I am well & hearty. I am sorry that Mrs. Lynch is trying to be so large. I think the best way you can manage is for her to stay to herself. I want you to let her go Back to her house & stay there. If you & she can’t get along, there is no use trying to stay together. You may give her all that you think you can spare. I told Lynch when he came I could let him have what you could spare. You may tell Lynch that I had rather she would stay in her House as you & she can’t agree. I don’t see why she made such a bargain & then flew from it so quickly. The Best way you can do is to attend to your own Business. I think you will be better satisfied. I want you to tell Lynch that our Bargain shall all be right. I told Lynch his wife could have corn from my House & all the Bacon I could Spare. I left that to you to say what you could Spare & he & I were to settle that ourselves. You may tell Lynch that all will be right with me & him & tell his wife I rather she would not stay as one of the family. I think you had best attend to your own Business than to be run over by a negro. You know already she will not do to depend upon.

[The remainder of this letter has been lost.]

Footnotes: “Caroline Lynch was a free Negro woman born in 1837.” “Wyatt Lynch, an illiterate free Negro, was born in 1830. He was a plasterer and brickmason by occupation.”

In another letter written 23 May, 1864, Barnes told his wife, “Tell Lynch he must make my colt gentle.”

Hugh Buckner Johnston, Jr., ed., “The Confederate Letters of Ruffin Barnes of Wilson County,” North Carolina Historical Review, vol. XXI, no. 1 (January 1954).

In the 1860 census of Saratoga, Wilson County: Wyatt Lynch, 30, wife Caroline, 23, and child Frances, 3. [Sidenote: in the 1870 census, Lynch’s wife is named Nicey. Lynch married Nicey Hall on 5 June 1860 in Wilson County. It appears that Nicey and Caroline were the same woman. In the 1850 census of North Side Neuse, Wayne County: Lucy Hall, 45, and children Sarah, 16, George, 15, Nathan, 13, Nicy, 10, Samuel, 3, and Esther Hall, 6, plus Alford Artis, 15, and John Artis, 14, and Rhoda Artis, 13, and her children Julia, 12, and Rheuben Artis, 10, plus Rufus Lane, 22. – LYH]

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May 21, 2013

John & Delphia Taylor Locus.

MARTIN JOHN LOCUS (1843-1926) and DELPHIA TAYLOR LOCUS (1850-1923). Martin was the son of Martin Locus and Eliza Brantley Locus of southeastern Nash and later western Wilson County. Delphia was the daughter of Dempsey Taylor and Eliza Pace Taylor of northern Nash County.

In the 1860 census of Winsteads, Nash County: Dempsey Taylor, 46, wife Liza, 44, and children Margaret A.W., 10, Delphia A., 10, Rildy A.R., 8, and Joel R., 6.

John Locus. Died 22 December 1926, Taylors, Wilson County. Colored. Widower. Farmer. Age 83 years, 4 months, 19 days. Born Wilson County to unknown father and Eliza Locus of Nash County. Buried family cemetery, Wilson County. Informant, John Locus Jr., Wilson County.

[Hat tip to Europe Ahmad Farmer.]

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May 12, 2013

Free-Issue Death Certificates: THOMAS.

Adline Thomas. Died 30 March 1926, Gardners, Wilson County. Colored. Signle. Age 91. Born Edgecombe County to Jerdon Thomas of Franklin County and Chattie Thomas of unknown. Buried Rountrees cemetery, Wilson. Informant, Anderson Thomas.

Peter Thomas. Died 7 July 1929, Wilson, Wilson County. Colored. Married to Maggie Thomas. Age 78. Farmer. Born Wilson County to Jordon Thomas of Wilson County and Rosa Thomas of Wilson County. Buried Penders Family Cemetery, Wilson County. Informant, Sudie Barnes.

Jordan Thomas. Died 19 December 1932, Toisnot, Wilson County. Colored. Age 70. Farmer. Buried Wilson County to Henrietta Thomas and unknown father. Informant, J.T Barnes.

Alfred Thomas. Died 16 January 1933, Wilson, Wilson County. Colored. Widower of Lula Thomas. Age 70. Farmer. Born Wilson County to unknown father and Adline Thomas. Informant, John Thomas.

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