The division of the Nannie Kirby Richardson property.

In 1973, William Kirby‘s widow Nannie Shaw Kirby Richardson divided their land among their heirs — Roxanna Kirby Exum, Hobbie Lee Kirby, William Henry Kirby, Willie Kilmer Williams, Sarah Kirby Wiggs, Nettie Kirby Forsythe, Queen Kirby Newsome, and Harvey Isaac Kirby. Each received two lots, e.g. 2 and 2-A. The Kirby family cemetery is represented by the small rectangle at the top of lot 4. Much of the land remains in the hands of Kirby descendants.

Plat Book 13, pages 38-39, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.

The estate of James Rentfrow (1856).

James H. Rentfrow, as administrator, handled the estate of James Rentfrow, who died in 1856 in Springhill township, Wilson County. J.H. Rentfrow filed an undated inventory that listed James Rentfrow’s assets as three tracts of land totaling 544 acres and 11 enslaved people — Abram, 50, Sara, 43, Harry, 27, Rose, 24, Dennis, 22, Lunnon, 19, Exum, 14, Haywood, 10, Albert, 7, Doctor, 2, and Isaac, 2.

On 5 November 1857, J.H. Rentfrow negotiated short-term hires for James Rentfrow’s enslaved people. The account, though somewhat vague, identifies some family groups. Rentfrow’s son-in-law Benjamin Parker paid $48 for “1 woman & 4 children.” The woman was Sarah, and the children, identifiable as Haywood, Exum, Albert, and Isaac, were likely her own. Renfrow’s son Hinnant Rentfrow leased “1 woman & 1 child,” otherwise identified as Rose and her son Dock.

On 1 March 1858, J.H. Rentfrow rehired the group, again mostly to Rentfrow’s adult sons and sons-in-law. Harry, Dennis, and Lunnon, as strong young men, commanded the highest least rates — between $81 and $86/year. Abraham, having endured back-breaking labor for four decades, went to Rentfrow’s son Mabry Rentfrow for $35. Rose and Sarah, each with a young child, went for $25, and boys Haywood and Albert, not quite ready to do a man’s work, were picked up for $10.

James and Lutory Renfrow had at least 11 children, and his estate remained open for several years for the benefit of his minor heirs. This receipt shows John T. Renfrow promising to pay $125 for the hire of an unnamed enslaved person, probably a man, in January 1861.

Though Rentfrow’s estate file shows accounts for two property sales, neither show the sale of enslaved people. Presumably, they were leased each year until Emancipation suddenly severed the Rentfrow family’s control.

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I have had limited success tracing forward the people enslaved by James Rentfrow:

  • Harry Renfrow

In the 1870 mortality schedule of Wilson township, Wilson County: Harry Renfrow, 46, farm laborer, died in October 1869. He had lived in household #73, which was headed by Sarah Renfrow, see below. [Note: a second Harry Renfrow, about the same age, left Wilson County to join the United States Colored Troops. I believe they are different men.]

  • Sarah Renfrow

Sarah Renfrow was the mother of Isaac and Albert Renfrow, likely Haywood and Exum, and possibly Rose Renfrow.

In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: Sarah Renfrow, 45, with Isaac, 14, Rosa, 30, and Dennis Renfrow, 4, and Lewis Kelly, 23.

In the 1880 census of Town of Wilson, Wilson County: Sarah Renfrow, 45; Albert, 28; and Isaac, 23.

  • Rose Renfrow

Rose Renfrow was the mother of Doctor and, likely, Dennis Renfrow, and may have been married to Dennis Renfrow.

In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: Sarah Renfrow, 45, with Isaac, 14, Rosa, 30, and Dennis Renfrow, 4, and Lewis Kelly, 23. [This Dennis was born after Emancipation, was likely Rosa’s child, and was almost certainly named after the elder Dennis, who may have been his father.]

  • Isaac Renfrow

In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: Sarah Renfrow, 45, with Isaac, 14, Rosa, 30, and Dennis Renfrow, 4, and Lewis Kelly, 23. [Note: also in the 1870 census of Cross Roads township, Wilson County: Penelope Renfrow, 29, farm laborer, and sons Jacob, 16, Esaw, 13, and Isaac, 10, all farm laborers. (This appears to be the family of soldier Harry Renfrow.)]

In the 1880 census of Town of Wilson, Wilson County: Sarah Renfrow, 45; Albert, 28; and Isaac, 23.

On 30 December 1880, Isaac Rentfrow, 23, of Wilson County, son of Sarah Rentfrow, married Bettie Hix, 20, of Wilson, at the bride’s residence in Wilson County. Baptist minister E.H. Ward performed the ceremony in the presence of Eliza Boyette, Alfred Boyette, and Eliza Tyson.

  • Albert Renfrow

In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: Sarah Renfrow, 45, with Isaac, 14, Rosa, 30, and Dennis Renfrow, 4, and Lewis Kelly, 23.

In the 1880 census of Town of Wilson, Wilson County: Sarah Renfrow, 45; Albert, 28; and Isaac, 23.

Seaman First Class Robert Locus, sent to New Guinea.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Wainwright, butler Luther Locus, 27, wife Eula, 23, and son Robert, 6.

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1108 Wainwright, cook Luther Locus, 37, wife Eula, 37, also a cook, and son Robert, 16.

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1108 Wainwright, owned and valued at $2000, cook Luther Locus, 47, salesman at own filling station, wife Eula, 46, tobacco factory laborer, and son Robert, 26, filling station laborer.

In 1940, Robert Locus registered for the World War II draft in Washington, D.C.:

The 13 July 1943 issues of the Evening Star reported that Robert Locus and Brownie Gibson had been issued a marriage license in Rockville, Maryland.

In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1108 Wainwright, Eula Locus, 56, widow; son Robert, 37, proprietor/automobile mechanic; daughter-in-law Brownie G., 31; grandson Robert Jr., born in March; and cousin Niecy Evenson, 73.

On 31 December 1959, Robert Locus, 46, married Agnes Angeline Harris, 28, in Nash County, N.C.

Image courtesy of Veterans of World War II Wilson County, spiral-bound volume, Wilson County Public Library.

Ayers goes on with her life.

When Harriet Ayers married John W. Proctor in Wilson County in 1894, the couple was prosecuted for “living together as man and wife, [Proctor] being a white man and [Ayers] being a colored woman.”

Despite their conviction in a Wilson County court, the two remained together and are found in the 1900 census of Cross Roads township, Wilson County: farm laborer John W. Proctor, and wife Hattie, 26. They described themselves as white and reported they had been married six years and had no children. John Proctor died four years later in November 1904.

In January 1907, Harriet Ayers Proctor crossed into Nash County to marry Allen Whitley, another white man, and no one blinked.

In the 1920 census of Oldfields township, Wilson County: Allen J. Whitley, 34, and wife Hattie, 44.

In the 1930 census of Taylor township, Wilson County: farm laborer Allen Whitley, 45, and wife Hattie, 48.

In the 1940 census of Oldfields township, Wilson County: farmer Allen Whitley, 56; wife Hattie, 60; and lodger Jhon Bardin, 67.

Harriet Ayers Proctor Whitley died  in 1953 and was buried in Maplewood Cemetery.

Oldfields enslavers.

The 1860 slave schedule is the only known surviving, contemporaneous list of the men and women who enslaved black people in Wilson County. It is not a list of the enslaved themselves, as none are named in that census. Rather, the schedule described people by “color” (black or mulatto), sex, and age.

Organized by township, this series will set forth these enslavers, the number of people they held in 1860, and the ages of the youngest and oldest people held. Where possible, I will also name people known to be enslaved by each person. They may or may not correspond to people described in the 1860 slave schedule. The paucity of such identifications is heartbreaking, and I continue to search.

Oldfields district was the southeast corner of Nash County prior to 1855. The 1860 slave schedule lists 47 enslavers in this section of Wilson County, the largest of whom — Bartley Deans, who traded enslaved people as a little sideline — held 44 people in bondage. Other than Deans, Oldfield township’s slaveholders were yeoman farmers, not plantation owners.

Phebe Boykin — 3, ages 1 to 62 years

Garry Williamson — 8, ages 8 months to 31 years

Bartley Deans — 44, ages 1 month to 55 years

  • Hester, Jerry, Bunyan, Sithey, Zilley, Mosey, Hack, Ben, Isaac, Molley, Patty, Matey and her youngest child Amos, Creasy and her youngest child June, Mendy, Linda, Charity, Pashey, Lear and her child John, blacksmith Harry, Mingo, Virgil and Rachel and their children Henry and Louis, Thaney, Jason, Nisey, Louisa and Edmund, Darkes, Rhuben, Peter, Silvey and her children Louisa and Piety, Bryant, Ransom, Joseph, James, Randel

Stephen Boykin — 10, ages 8 months to 55 years

  • Anthony, Nancy, Rose, Henry, Chaney, Thom, Jason

Willie [Wiley] Deans — 11, ages 2 months to 33 years

William Haynes — 1, age 14 years

Jesse Haynes — 2, ages 11 and 36 years

Bithel Haynes — 1, age 5 years

Jethro Harrison — 1, age 20 years

Bennett Flowers — 5, age 4 months to 70 years

Temperance Eatmon — 2, ages 18 and 22 years

Elizabeth Simpson — 1, age 65 years

Bennet Bullock [Jr.] — 1, age 45 years

William Peele — 5, age 3 to 30 years

Henry Stott — 6, ages 1 to 40 years

Nancy Flowers — 3, ages 7 to 90 years

Adam Flowers — 1, age 9 years

Alfred Thompson — 5, ages 10 to 75 years

Alfred Thompson, in trust — 9, ages 1 to 35 years

Benjamin Parker — 3, ages 1 to 25 years

Arthur Thompson — 4, ages 1 to 38 years

Hilliard Boykin — 8, ages 1 month to 33 years

Williamson Fulghum — 1, age 16 years

Dempsey Peele — 2, ages 1 and 32 years

Bryant L. Bunn — 1, age 35 years

John Morris — 3, age 3 months to 21 years

Theo Parker — 9, age 2 to 37 years

Stephen Peele — 1, age 17 years

James Boyett — 8, age 2 to 28 years

William Taylor — 7, age 6 to 80 years

Jarman Eatmon — 6, age 1 to 25 years

Thomas Eatmon — 1, age 50 years

Hackney High — 1, age 26 years

Ephraim Davis — 1, age 7 years

Peter Eatmon — 4, ages 11 to 30 years

John Peele — 1, age 50 years

Alison High — 1, age 26 years

Richmond Boykin — 2, ages 14 and 21 years

Stephen Morris — 1, age 56 years

Thomas Mercer — 2, ages 1 and 18 years

Josse Peele — 3, ages 7 to 50

Selitia Eatmon — 5, ages 7 to 60

John B. High — 6, ages 3 months to 28 years

Levi Bailey — 11, ages 1 to 60 years

Needham Bailey — 4, ages 3 to 27 years

Alfred Boykin — 5, ages 7 to 26 years

Robert Simpson — 1, age 70 years

The obituary of Robert Wilkinson of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Wilson Daily Times, 31 March 1949.

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In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: brickmason Smith Bennett, 47; daughter Addie, 20; and lodgers Robert Wilkerson, 36, cooper, born in Virginia, Archie Williams, 34, carpenter, and Samuel Wooten, 18, farm laborer.

On 20 November 1900, Robert W. Wilkerson, 31, son of Henry and Eliza Wilkerson, married Addie Eatman, 19, daughter of Barbour Eatman, at Smith Bennett’s residence. Baptist minister J.T. Deans performed the ceremony in the presence of Willie Rountree, Sidney Bradley, and Jacob Tucker.

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: box factory laborer Robert Wilkerson, 50; wife Addie, 30; and children Carrie, 8, Addie, 7, Robert Jr., 5, and Maggie, 2.

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: fertilizer plant laborer Silas Edwards, 48; wife Addie, 44; and children Addie, 25, housework for private family, and Roland, 15, lumber plant laborer.

In 1942, Robert Wilkerson registered for the World War II draft in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Per his registration card, he was born 10 July 1904 in Wilson, N.C.; lived at 1639 Webster; his contact was Margaret Wilkerson, Brooklyn, N.Y.; and he was unemployed. He was described as having a “gray streak at part in hair.”

Robert Wilkerson died 23 March 1949 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Per his death certificate, he was born 10 July 1904 [crossed through and 1907 substituted] in Wilson, N.C., to Robert and Ruth [no surnames listed]; was married to Ruth Wilkerson; lived at 1938 Christian Street; worked as a laborer; and his body was removed to Wilson for burial.