1840s

Hardy Lassiter buys 81 acres in 1846.

This Indenture made this Twenty eighth day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred & forty six Between James Tomlinson of the county of Edgecombe & State of N. Carolina of the one part & Hardy Lasiter of County & State aforesaid of the other part. Witnessesth that I the said James Tomlins[on] for & in consideration of the sum of Two hundred & fifty dollars & fifty cents to me in hand paid before the sealing & delivering of these presents the receipt whereof I do hereby  acknowledge & myself feeling satisfied contented & paid have bargained sold & delivered unto the aforesaid Hardy Lasiter his heard & assigns forever one tract or parcel of land lying & being in the county of Edgecombe & the East side of Homony Swamp & bounded as follows (viz) Beginning at a pine in Benjamin Simms line then running with his line to the mill swamp then down the various of said swamp to said Simms line again & then nearly west with his line to an oak & pine then N. 8″ west to the beginning containing by estimation 81 acres To have & to hold the above land & premises with all the appurtenances thereunto belonging to him & his heirs forever. And I the said James Tomlinson do for myself my heirs & assigns warrant & forever defend the right & title of said Land & premises unto the said Hardy Lasiter his heirs & assigns forever. In witness whereof I the James Tomlinson have hereunto set my hand & seal the day & date above written  James X Tomlinson [witnesses] Edwin Barnes, Lewis Ellis

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In the 1850 census of Edgecombe County: Hardy Laster, 73, wife Beady, and children Mathew and Silas, 26, Green, 25, Hardy, 21, and Rachel, 20.

In 1851, Lassiter executed a will whose first provision bequeathed “unto my son Silas Laseter all that tract of Land where he now Lives known by the name of the Tomlinson tract containing Eighty one acres more or less adjoining the Lands of Benj Sims ….” I have not been able to identify the precise location of this property. Hominy Swamp arises near the Wilson airport and runs southeast through present-day Wilson into Contentnea Creek about a mile southwest of Beddingfield High School. Lassiter’s parcel was likely somewhere between Hominy Swamp and Toisnot Swamp north of present-day Raleigh Road.

Deed book 24, page 203, Edgecombe County Register of Deeds Office, Tarboro, North Carolina.

Observations on the estate of Josiah Vick.

Josiah Vick died in Nash County circa 1846. This detail from an “acct. of sale & Hire of Negroes” prepared by Vick’s administrator Benjamin H. Blount shows that Joshua Barnes purchased several enslaved people — Simeon; Lettice, her children Hines and Madison; and Jane — from Vick’s estate.

The connections between large slaveowners in Nash, Edgecombe, and (later) Wilson Counties formed a dense web, with surprising echoes decades later among Wilson’s  African-American elite:

  • Josiah Vick was the owner of Daniel Vick.
  • B.H. Blount, administrator of Vick’s estate, enslaved Daniel’s future wife, Fannie Blount, her mother Violet Blount, her siblings, and children, including Samuel H. Vick, born in 1863.
  • Josiah Vick’s daughter Susan Margaret Vick married John Routh Mercer of  Temperance Hall in Edgecombe County. Mercer likely enslaved a child named Della and her mother Callie; Mercer is believed to have been Della’s biological father. Della Mercer Hines‘ first two sons were William Hines and Walter S. Hines, neighbors and business contemporaries of Samuel H. Vick. In 1894, Della Hines married David Barnes, who had been enslaved in childhood by Joshua Barnes. Dave and Della Barnes’ youngest son Boisey O. Barnes was a prominent physician in Wilson.
  • Daniel, Fannie, and Samuel Vick, and Della and Dave Barnes are buried in Odd Fellows Cemetery, which was established around what was originally the Vick family cemetery. Benjamin Mincey, famed leader of the all-Black Red Hot Hose and Reel volunteer firemen, is also buried in Odd Fellows. Madison Barnes, sold as a boy to Joshua Barnes, was Ben Mincey’s father-in-law and the namesake of Madison Ben Mincey, who worked for decades to keep the cemetery clear.

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  • Simeon
  • Lettice and her sons Hines and Madison

On 9 September 1868, Madison Barnes, son of Ephraim Booses and Lettice Parker, married Mariah Strickland, daughter of Henry Strickland and Frances Strickland, at the Wilson County Courthouse.

In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: Hines Barnes, 30, farm laborer.

Ben Mincey, 21, of Wilson, son of P. Mincey, and Mattie Barnes, 20, of Wilson, daughter of M. and Mariah Barnes, were married on 12 January 1904. Berry Williams applied for the license, and Baptist minister Fred M. Davis performed the ceremony in his home in the presence of Harry Mercer, W. Aken, and E.M. Davis.

On 6 June 1907, Madison Barnes, 50, son of Eaton Booze and Lettice Harper, married Caroline Stewart, 40, in Wilson. A.M.E. Zion minister N.D. King performed the ceremony in the presence of Charles Thomas, Alfred Dew, and Eugene Canady.

On 7 September 1908, Lula Barnes, 17, of Wilson, daughter of Madison Barnes and a deceased mother, married William Donnell, 22, of Stantonsburg, son of Hamp Donnell, at the bride’s residence.

On 24 December 1919, Madison Barnes, 64, applied for a license to marry Dollie Barnes, 54.

In the 1920 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: on Saratoga Road, farm laborer Madison Barnes, 70; wife Dollie Ann, 53; and granddaughter Annie V. Vick, 8.

Madison Barnes died 18 September 1934 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was 90 years old; was born in Nash County to unknown parents; was a widower; and had worked as a laborer. Lillie Mitchell was informant.

Lillie Mitchell died 11 January 1936 in Wilson township. Per her death certificate, she was 42 years old; was born in Wilson to Madison Barnes and Mariah Barnes; was married to Henry Mitchell; and worked as a farmer.

Edward Barnes died 20 February 1945 in Wilson township. Per his death certificate, he was 49 years old; was born in Wilson County to Madison Barnes and Mariah Strickland; was married to Lula Barnes; was engaged in farming; and was buried din Roundtree cemetery.

Mattie Barnes Mincey died 9 February 1960 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 15 December 1886 in Wilson to Madison Barnes and Mariah [maiden name unknown]; was a widow; lived at 706 Wiggins Street; and was buried at Rountree Cemetery. [If she is buried with her husband and his family, Mattie Barnes Mincey is actually buried in Odd Fellows.]

  • Jane

Josiah Vick Estate File (1846), Nash County, North Carolina Estate Files 1663-1979, http://www.familysearch.org.

The estate of Arthur Bardin.

The fourth in a series documenting enslaved people held by the Bardin/Barden family, who lived in the Black Creek area in what was once Wayne County, but is now Wilson County.

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Arthur Bardin, born 1775, executed a comprehensive will on 8 September 1843 distributing his considerable wealth among his second wife Mary Howell Bardin and his 13 children. Among other items, 36 African-American men and women and children were earmarked:

  • wife Mary Bardin was to receive “four negroes,” Queeny, Sarah, Exey, and Exum, as well as life interests in Ben and Milley
  • son James Bardin was to receive Antoney and Creasey
  • daughter Sally Bardin Daniel, Tempsey
  • daughter Mary Bardin Yelverton, Abby and Rose, and the remainder interest in Milley, above
  • daughter Martha Jane Bardin, Bob, Cinthey, and Chana
  • daughter Susan Ann Bardin, Esther, Phereby, and Civil
  • daughter Mary Belinda Bardin [Barnes], Warren, Anakey, and Lizzey
  • son Arthur Bardin, Joe
  • son Benjamin H. Bardin, Wiley and Dennis
  • son John P. Bardin, Sam and Jerrey
  • son William H. Bardin, Nelson and Henry
  • son Jesse J. Bardin, Ben, Vinson, and Mike (the “three negro man shall remain and work on the plantation where I now live until [Jesse] shall arrive to the age of eighteen for the purpose of raising and educating my three youngest children.”)
  • daughter Penelope Bardin Stancil, a life interest in Bob and Charity, but if she died before they did, they were to be sold and the money divided among her children
  • and daughter Nancy Bardin Dew, Arch
  • also, Matilda; Limberne and Reuben, who had been purchased by the [general merchandising] firm Barnes & Bardin; and all other property not disposed of were to be sold to pay off debts.

Bardin died in April 1844. His estate quickly entered probate, and property was disposed of in a series of sales and hires out. In the first, held 30 June 1844, John Tyson purchased a woman named Matilda, (sold per specific directive), Larry Newson purchased a boy named Harris, and widow Mary Howell Bardin purchased a girl named Gatsey. (The children were not named in Bardin’s will.)

On 27 December 1844, 32 enslaved people from Arthur Bardin’s estate were hired out for one year to various family members and neighbors, “each to be furnished with three suits one of wollen one pare of shoes & stockings one hat & blanket.” “[I]f a woman should have a child in the time hired she is to have that attention paid her the nature of such case requir.” A number of people, most likely the elderly, infirm, or very young, remained with widow Bardin, who received small dollar amounts for their upkeep.

On 13 November 1845, the estate sold property that Bardin had left his daughter Martha, who had died that summer. Stephen Woodard purchased Cintha and her son Jack, as well as Bob, and Burrell Howell bought Chana.

Few African-Americans in Wilson or Wayne Counties adopted the surname Barden. however, we identified three women in the examination of Mary Howell Burden’s estate — Queeny, Sarah, and Exey. In 1866, Ben Barden and Quince [Queeny] Barden registered their 40-year cohabitation in Wilson County. Ben was probably the same man whose labor Arthur Bardin reserved for the care of his youngest children.

The child Jerry named in the hire document may be Jerry Borden.

Arch, who was bequeathed to Nancy Bardin Dew and sent to her husband Larry Dew for “keeping” in the hire document, may be the same Arch that is listed in Larry Dew’s 1861 will.

In 1866, Sam Barden and Nicy Sims registered their ten-year cohabitation with a Wilson County justice of the peace. In the 1870 census of Black Creek township, Wilson County: farm laborer Samuel Barden 41; wife Nicey, 30; and Louisa, 12.

The estate of Phebe Barden of Pontotoc County, Mississippi.

The third in a series documenting enslaved people held by the Bardin/Barden family, who lived in the Black Creek area in what was once Wayne County, but is now Wilson County.

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Phebe Barden was born in 1826 to William and Nancy Cook Barden. After their father’s death in 1837, Phebe Barden and her siblings migrated to Mississippi, primarily to Pontotoc County.

Phebe Barden died shortly after her 18th birthday in 1844. Her brother Jacob Barden was appointed administrator of her estate. On 8 February 1845, he sold Phebe Barden’s property — four enslaved people. Phebe had received Cherry and one of Cherry’s children in the distribution of her father’s estate. It seems likely the boys Addison, Jack, and Nathan were Cherry’s sons. Phebe’s brother William Barden purchased Cherry, whose price was either discounted or suggests poor health, and the children were parted from their mother (or mother figure) when Phebe’s brother-in-law John Smith (married to Penelope Barden Smith) bought Addison and brother James Bardin bought Jack and Nathan.

I have no further information about Cherry, Addison, Jack, or Nathan.

Book 2, pages 436-437, Pontotoc County, Mississippi Wills and Probate Records 1780-1982, http://www.ancestry.com.

The estate of Lemon P. Stanton.

On 12 October 1844, Lemon P. Stanton of the Stantonsburg area drafted a will that, among other things, bequeathed a man named Larry to his nephew George W. Stanton and an enslaved family to his niece and nephew, Louisa and Lemuel DeBerry.

The will entered probate in February 1846, and six years later, the court received this  petition to partition Negroes:

The takeaways:

  • Stanton’s will left the DeBerry siblings an enslaved woman named Phillis, her children Alford and Curtis, and any future children.
  • As the time of the petition in early 1852, Phillis had four children — Alford, Curtis, Romulus, and Laura. Another child, Haywood, had died.
  • Phillis and her children were in the care of Lemuel DeBerry Senior, guardian of Louisa and Lemuel DeBerry.
  • In November 1850, Louisa DeBerry had married Ferdinand H. Whitaker, the petitioner.
  • Whitaker sought the partition of Phillis and her children so that his wife could get the half owed her under her uncle’s will.
  • Lemuel DeBerry chimed in that he was “equally desirous” of partition. However, he later filed a memorandum with the court explaining that he was not certain, but Stanton’s will might have directed payout to the DeBerrys only when they reached age 21 — Louisa was 20 and Lemuel Jr., 18.

The digitized file contains no order in response to Whitaker’s petition. Inevitably, though, dividing the group in half would have meant that Phillis and one or more of her children were separated.

Will Book F, page 334, Edgecombe County Register of Deeds Office, Tarboro, North Carolina; Estate of Leeman P. Stanton, Edgecombe County, North Carolina Estate Files, http://www.familysearch.org.

The estates of Barnes and Roderick Amason.

It’s not a common surname in Wilson County anymore, but in the early 1800s a prosperous extended family of Amasons (Amersons) lived in the Stantonsburg area (in what was then Edgecombe County, North Carolina). They owned extensive real property and considerable slaves, and often left estates that spent years in probate as family members bickered, and heirs and administrators died.

This post is third in a series featuring documents from Amason family estate files.

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Roderick Amason was appointed administrator of his brother Barnes Amason’s estate soon after Barnes’ death in April 1844.

On 25 October 1844, at Joshua Wilkinson’s store, John A. Tyson testified in a deposition that on 10 June 1844 that he “happend in company with Roderic Amason & General Moye at Daniel & Rountrees store in Stantonsburg and that Mr. Gill had presented his account against Barnes Amason ….” Amason had run up credit with Andrew E. Gill, but a number of credits reduced the debt. For 1840, that credit included the  “Hire of 2 Hands” on December 22 for 80 cents. For 1843 and 1844, Amason’s credits included the hire of an enslaved man named Jerry to Gill.

At November Term of Edgecombe County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, Roderick Amason filed a petition for division stating that “the slaves belonging to the estate of … Barnes [Amason] will not be required for the purpose of paying the debts of said intestate, there being ample personalty besides them for that purpose. That of them, there are fifteen as follows — 1 Frank 2 Mourning 3 Stephen 4 Jack 5 Solomon 6 Jerry 7 Richmond 8 Lucy 9 Jinny 10 Hilliard 11 Judy 12 Rosa 13 Dyer 14 Patsy & 15 Sally,” and they should be divided among Barnes’ heirs, who consisted of his siblings and their children.

Roderick himself died in December 1844, however. Wyatt Moye — state senator and slave dealer — took over as administrator of both estates. His stewardship of both estates was contentious.

In October 1845, B.B. Bell complained to Edgecombe County court that Moye owed him $63.21 from the estate of Roderick Amason.

A justice of the peace sided with Bell and noted that Moye claimed that he had paid out sums greater than the cash at hand, but noted “there is four negroes yet to be sold.”

At August Term, the heirs complained to the court that Wyatt Moye was still holding on to Barnes Amason’s estate and had refused to make full distribution, a charge Moye denied.

I have not been able to determine the fates of the enslaved people held by Barnes and Roderick Amason.

Estate of Roderick Amason, North Carolina Wills and Estates, 1665-1998 [database on-line], http://www.ancestry.com.

The estate of Isaac Amason.

It’s not a common surname in Wilson County anymore, but in the early 1800s a prosperous extended family of Amasons lived in the Stantonsburg area (in what was then Edgecombe County, North Carolina). They owned extensive real property and considerable slaves, and often left estates that spent years in probate as family members bickered, and heirs and administrators died.

This post is first in a series featuring documents from Amason (Amerson) family estate files.

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Isaac Amason was born about 1755. When he died in 1828, several of his children were young minors, resulting in a drawn-out estate settlement. At November term, 1843, the Clerk of Edgecombe County Court ordered finally ordered that notices be placed for the thirty days around the county, advertising the sale of enslaved people belonging to Amason’s estate “on a credit of six months, with interest.”

Lemuel DeBerry filed a report with the court detailing his activity pursuant to the order. He posted notices “both in and out” of the county (likely because Amason lived close to the borders of Greene, Wayne, and Pitt Counties) for more than thirty days informing the public that the sale would take place in the Town of Stantonsburg on 27 January 1844. At auction, Isaac Amason’s son David Amason paid $25.50 for “One Old Negroe Man by the Name of Lewis” and $553 for “a Young Woman & Child by the Names of Exelina & her Child,” and son Isaac U. Amason paid $7 for “One Old Woman by the Name of Phillis.”

Note that in the 1820 federal census of Edgecombe County, the last in which Isaac Amason was enumerated, he reported owning three enslaved boys under age 14; one enslaved man aged 14-25; one enslaved man aged 26-44; and one enslaved woman aged 26-44.

In the 1830 federal census, Isaac’s widow Delona [Delana] Amason reported one enslaved man aged 36-55; one enslaved girl under the age of 10; and one enslaved woman aged 36-55. It seems likely that these three people were Lewis, Exeline, and Phillis.

Delana Amason made out a will on 4 September 1841 in which, among other items, she bequeathed to her daughter Jemmima Amason “one negro man named Ned.”

I have not been able to trace forward Ned, Lewis, Phillis, or Exelina and her child.

Estate File of Isaac Amason, Edgecombe County, North Carolina Wills and Estates, 1665-1998 [database on-line], http://www.ancestry.com.

Recommended reading, no. 8: the Second Middle Passage.

You cannot understand the men and women who emerged from slavery to appear in the 1870 census of Wilson County without understanding who was not there — the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, and children sold South in America’s domestic slave trade, known as the Second Middle Passage. 

I have no ancestors from Alabama or Mississippi or Louisiana or Texas, but my DNA matches scores of African-Americans who do. They are descended from the close kin of my North Carolina and Virginia ancestors, and the bits of identical chromosome we share is the only evidence of the crime that befell our common forebears.

To understand the depth and breadth of this trade, please study Edward E. Baptist’s The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism. 

To glimpse how this trade unfolded among our own Wilson County people, see:

To see how buying and selling men, women, and children even locally devastated families:

An interesting heritage.

We have read here of Kingsberry and Charity Jones Taylor, who migrated to Indiana in the 1840s. The pages below are excerpted from “My Grandmother, Sarah Ann Taylor Maxwell,” a transcribed memoir by the Taylors’ great-granddaughter Bessie Chandler Van Dyke (1907-1994). As with many such recorded recollections, some of the details are off, but others provide incredibly rich insight into the lives of two free people of color with roots in what is now Wilson County.

Per Europe Ahmad Farmer, the principal historian and genealogist of the Locus/Lucas family and related free families of color of Nash and Wilson Counties, Kingsberry Taylor’s mother was Zelphia Taylor Brantley, who was white, and his father was a free man of color who was a Locus. Kingsberry was not enslaved, though he likely was indentured as an apprentice until he was 21. He did not live in Randolph County, but in Nash County, and he married Charity Jones (who lived in what is now Wilson County) prior to their migration to Indiana.

The Taylor family in the 1850 census of Madison County, Indiana.

Transcript courtesy of Ancestry.com user samjoyatk.

A dispute over the estate of James Scarborough.

We revisited James Scarborough’s early nineteenth-century house outside Saratoga last week, and we examined the contents of his will here. Scarborough died shortly after executing his will in 1835, and his estate entered a lengthy and contentious probate.

To wife Martha and daughter Zilly Scarborough, along with his home and other property, Scarborough left “A Parcel of Negros that is to say Nan Aggy Sen’r Silvey Lemon Washington Sumter and Young Aggy and Haywood these Eight negros with the in Creas I lend them Jointly to Geather to my wife & daughter Zilly but by no means to be Hired out but to Remane on the Plantation to labour for them …”

To his son John R. Scarborough: “I also gave him three Likely negros when he went a way and now I give him four more after my death there names is as follows Luke Guilford Orange and Willis the above negros is not to be carryed away without a Lawful authority or Either by himself or his Heirs or Executors….” (In fact, John Scarborough took the men to Alabama even before the estate was opened, claiming that they were a gift to him rather than part of the estate.)

Scarborough died 1 March 1836. Nan, an enslaved woman, barely outlived her master:

Screen Shot 2020-05-06 at 9.29.29 PM.png

Rec’d the 28th Oct 1836 of Richard T. Eagles one of the Executors to James Scarboroughs will the sum of three Dollars & fifty Cents in full for making Coffin for Negro Nann.  William J. Lewis

The estate paid for the care of Silvey and four children for the year 1837.

Rec’d the 9th Decr 1837 the Sum of forty Dollar of Stephen Wooten and Richard T. Eagles Exer to the Estate of James Scarborgh decst for keeping Silvy and 4 children for the year 1837.  R.T. Eagles for Martha Scarbrough    Witness [illegible] Edwards

Despite James Scarborough’s express directive that “by no means” should his enslaved people be hired out, they were. Immediately.

On behalf of herself and her daughter Zilly, Martha Scarborough repeatedly challenged the terms of the will and the handling of the estate. In March 1839, pursuant to court order, a committee prepared an inventory of the enslaved people in Scarborough’s estate. They were: Aggy, age 55 ($100); Silva, age 37, and her two-month-old child Bunny ($650); Milly, age 3 ($250); Haywood, age 5 ($350); Aggy, age 7 ($400); Sumpter, age 9 ($550); Washington, age 14 ($725); and Lemon, age 16 ($850). Sumpter was “set apart” for widow Martha Scarborough.

record-image_-3.jpg

Martha Scarborough immediately sold Sumter to her son Jonathan T. Eason. Or did she? See below.

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Rec’d of Jonathan T. Eason five hundred and fifty Dollars in full for negro Sumter whitch was aloted to me in the Devishion of the negroes of the Decst James Scarborough my Late husbun this the 3th of April 1839  Martha (X) Scarborough      J.B. Eason

On 5 March 1840, Jonathan T. Eason received sixty dollars from the estate for caring for Silvey and three of her children during the previous year. Silva’s children appear to have been Bunny, Milly, Haywood, and Aggy. As a seven or eight year-old, Aggy would have been considered old enough to hire out separate from her mother.

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In 1843, Martha Scarborough filed petition charging her son Jonathan T. Eason with having taken advantage of her by convincing that the boy Sumpter, also known as Tom Sumpter, who was eight or ten years old in January 1840, was “badly grown for his age,” and the land she’d received as dower was “poor & much exhausted by cultivation.” She claimed she had eventually given way to Eason’s solicitations to manage her property — “he had acquired in a little time a complete ascendancy over her will” —  and he had sold it away in bits and pieces. “When he obtained consent to  sell the slave Tom Sumpter which was the only one she possessed he promised that she should have another to wait and attend upon her during her life ….” In a deposition of William W. Edwards taken pursuant to Scarborough’s litigation, Edwards testified that “I was well acquainted with the negro Sumpter. He was sold by Jonathan T. Eason to John Harrell Sr. at Eagles’ store for the sum of $560.00.” (This was probably Richard T. Eagles’ store in Edgecombe County.)

The outcome of Martha Scarborough’s suit is not clear.

The James Scarborough house.

James Scarborough Estate Records, North Carolina Wills and Probate Records 1665-1998, ancestry.com; photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, September 2020.