To the General Assembly of North Carolina
The undersigned, Respectfully Petition, the Legislature, to pass an act, in favor of Sucky Borden (a woman of colour) vesting in her, all the rights, and privileges, of a free woman Your Petitioners have long known said Suckey, and believe her to be a worthy woman, who will duly appreciate all her privileges and your Petitioners will ever pray, etc.
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Twenty-six white Wayne County residents presented this petition to the state General Assembly in 1852. The only woman among them? M.A. Borden.
Maria Ann Brownrigg Borden, proprietor of the Goldsboro Hotel, was the daughter of George and Obedience Brownrigg. In the 1850 census, she reported $20,000 in real property and 67 slaves. She and her sister Eliza Obedience Brownrigg Wright (whose husband John Wright also signed the petition) had inherited all but one of their mother’s slaves in 1841. That one person was Suckey, who went to Alfred Brownrigg. As noted earlier, Alfred Brownrigg quickly sold Suckey to their brother Edwin Brownrigg. Edwin, however, had begun registering large land grants in Sumter County, Alabama, in 1837 and died there, without heirs, in 1843. It’s not too much of a stretch to conjecture that Suckey never left North Carolina, and her ownership passed to Edwin’s sister Maria Borden after his death.
The 1852 petition to manumit Suckey Borden was successful, and the 1860 census of Goldsboro, Wayne County, North Carolina shows baker Susan Borden, 70, with Angia Capps, 60, sewer, and Catharine Carrol, 7. Borden reported owning $500 in real estate and $100 in personal estate. She is not listed in 1870 and presumably died in the intervening years. Had Susan Borden spent most of her life on a lower Edgecombe (Wilson) County plantation, enslaved by successive Brownrigg family members until one felt moved to seek her freedom?
Petition of W.H. Washington et al. to General Assembly of North Carolina, 1852; Petitions; Papers of the North Carolina General Assembly, North Carolina State Archives.
Interesting there is Brownrigg Street in Goldsboro located of North George Street
Hi. I am a white descendent of the Borden family and came across Sukey while combing through the Ancestry files. I Googled and here I am.
Thank you for your work here, for continuing Sukey’s story! And an apology from across history. I’m sorry Sukey.
Of small consolation, I am retroactively shamed at the thought of how many people in my lineage owned other people. Horrified.
But I am also overwhelmingly moved by her success upon freedom. Moved and proud, as if she was actual family…which again, is a complicated and complex feeling. My family owned her. We didn’t grant her freedom, we took it away first and then said oh here have it back. Sukey was reclaiming what should have been hers from the start. However, she is a part of our story. Of our family history.
Regardless, here is a snippet from another website that made me smile, laugh, and cry in pride at this wonderful woman: “she worked as a baker and reported owning $500 real property and $100 personal property, placing her among the wealthiest free people of color in the county.”
Thank you again for keeping her flame alive!
Hi, Benjamin. Thank you for paying homage to the life of Susan “Sukey” Borden. She was indeed a remarkable woman. (Your quote is from one of my other blogs, http://www.ncfpc.net.) I’m always pleased when my posts connect with those who have personal connections to their subjects, even if remote.
Best regards,
Lisa
Mr. Borden, your words are thoughtful. I am so glad , however, that even as enslaved people we were never owned…actually human beings are born free.