To stave off responsibility for caring for poor women and their children, unwed mothers were regularly brought before justices of the peace to answer sharp questions about their circumstances.
On 19 November 1875, Susan Mitchell admitted to Wilson County justice of the peace T.C. Davis that she had given birth to a child whose father was William Smith. Davis ordered that Smith be arrested and taken to a justice to answer Mitchell’s charge.
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In the 1860 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: Susan Mitchell, 26, washing, and children James, 10, Annie, 7, and George Mitchell, 2.
In the 1870 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Susan Mitchell, 35, and children Anna, 17, George, 12, Lucy, 9, Louisa, 7, Edwin, 4, and Joseph, 4.
In the 1880 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Spring Street, washerwoman Susan Mitchell, 47, with children Lucy, 19, and Louiza, 15, both house servants, Eddy, 12, and Joseph, 9.
In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: widow Susiana Mitchel, 65, a “grannie,” and son Edd, 33, a barber.
In the 1908 Wilson city directory: Mitchell Susan laundress h 604 Park av
In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Susan Mitchell, 75, lived alone in a rented house on the N&S Railroad.
- William Smith
Bastardy Bonds, 1866, Miscellaneous Records, Wilson County Records, North Carolina State Archives.