North Carolina Standard (Raleigh, N.C.), 2 May 1855.
Wilson County’s earliest appointed officials included some of the largest slaveholders in the county:
Elias Barnes’ 1856 estate included 55 enslaved people.
- Washington Barnes
In the 1860 slave schedule of Saratoga township, Wilson County, Washington Barnes claimed five enslaved people.
- Macon Moye
In the 1850 slave schedule of North Side of the Neuse, Wayne County, Macon Moye is listed with eight enslaved people. Though he does not appear in the 1860 slave schedule, in the 1860 population schedule of Saratoga township, Wilson County, Moye claimed personal property valued at $95,000. This estate would have been comprised overwhelmingly of enslaved people — and many dozens of them. Moye was a younger brother of county founder, sheriff, and slave trader Wyatt Moye.
In his father Etheldred Sauls’ 1859, Lawrence J. Sauls was bequeathed two enslaved people, Patrick and Jane, as well as control of four other enslaved people on behalf his sister Elizabeth E. Sauls Becton. Lawrence Sauls is listed in the 1860 slave schedule of Davis district, Wayne County, with two enslaved teenagers.
In the 1860 slave schedule of Wilson township, Wilson County, Joshua Barnes (brother of Elias Barnes above) claimed 66 enslaved people.
- Dr. Alexander G. Brooks
In the 1860 slave schedule of Black Creek township, Wilson County, Dr. A.G. Brooks reported 29 enslaved people.
- Robert Bynum
The 1850 federal slave schedule of Edgecombe County lists Robert Bynum with 19 enslaved people. In 1858, Robert Bynum inherited three enslaved people from his father Turner Bynum. By 1860, as reported in the Wilson County slave schedule, he claimed 46 enslaved people.
- J.D. Rountree
In the 1860 slave schedule of Town of Wilson, Wilson County, J.D. Rountree is listed with 12 enslaved people.
- George Howard Jr.
In the 1850 slave schedule of Edgecombe County, George Howard is listed with 11 enslaved people. In the 1860 slave schedule of Town of Wilson, Wilson County, Howard claimed eight enslaved people.