State of North Carolina, Wilson County }
Be it remembered that on the 28th day of July 1871 I H.W. Peele Coroner of Said County attended by a Jury of good and lawful Men (viz ) W.D. Whitehead, W.J. Harris, L.D. Tomlinson, R.S. Barnes, Wm. M. Gay, A.J. Brown, S.P. Clark, B.B. Roads, I.B. Farmer, E.S. Walton, B.S. Ward, A. Bynum col’d, by me Summoned for that purpose according to Law, after being by me duly Sworn and empanelled at the house of Bally Farmer in the County aforesaid did hold an inquest over the dead body of Ruben Farmer col. and after inquiring into the facts and circumstances of the death of the deaceased from a view of the corpse and all the testimony to be procured, the Jury find as follows, that is to Say, That the sd. Ruben Farmer came to his death from natural causes unknown to the Jury. Given under our hands and seals day and date above written /s/ L.D. Tomlinson, B.B. (X) Rhodes, B.S. Ward, Isaac B. Farmer, R.S. Barnes, Allen (X) Bynum, E.S. Walton, A.J. Brown, W.D. Whitehead, S.P. Clark, W.M. Gay, W.J. Harris.
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- Ruben Farmer — in the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: Reuben Farmer, 68, wife Nancy, 71, and probable grandson Luke, 11.
- Allen Bynum — on 25 August 1866, Allen Bynum and Gatsey Bynum registered their 16-year cohabitation in Wilson County. In the 1870 census of Gardners township, Wilson County: Allen Bynum, 30, wife Gatsey, 45, and children Adeline, 18, Ann, 16, Lucy, 12, Ethelbert, 15, Ranson, 7, and Harbert, 2.
Coroner’s Records, Miscellaneous Records, Wilson County Records, North Carolina State Archives.