Free People of Color

Noah Artis, as imagined.

I am ambivalent about using artificial intelligence to restore photographs. Or, more specifically, I’m concerned about manipulated photographs supplanting original images and further blurring the line between reality and misinformation. However, the allure of AI-enhanced images is strong, as I often contend with blurry, poorly lit photographs in unnatural sepia or black-and-white tones. Photographs whose condition sometimes exacerbates the distance between us and our ancestors.

I have been experimenting with ChatGPT lately, feeding it queries and images to be restored and colorized. The results are somewhat haphazard, with many images weird and off-putting. Other times, the images are breathtakingly sharp and … alive. Black Wide-Awake exists to resurrect forgotten lives, and I believe these images are valuable to help us connect with the men and women we read about in these posts. From time to time, I’ll share the better ones here, clearly marked as AI-generated.

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Noah Artis (1856-1952), farmer.

 

To have and to hold said land, no. 8.

Abstracts of deeds recording the purchase of real property by African-Americans during the first fifty years of freedom (or earlier):

  • On 8 April 1857, Noah Lynch gave a mortgage deed to Oswald Lipscomb and Edward A. Sherman, acting as the firm Lipscomb and Sherman, on a one-quarter-acre lot in the Town of Wilson at the corner of Spring and Green Streets. Lynch had purchased the lot from B.H. Bardin and J. Sauls on credit, and Lipscomb and Sherman had agreed to take over payments. If Lynch failed to repay Lipscomb and Sherman, the mortgage deed was cancelled. Deed book 1, page 268.
  • On 17 November 1866, for $101.50, W.T. Brewer sold Elijah Cox a 50-acre tract on the west side of Cabin Branch adjoining Zillah Lucas, Thomas Woodard, and others. The tract had been drawn by Obedience Tomlinson in the division of the land of Thomas Tomlinson Sr. Deed book 3, page 457.
  • On 15 May 1869, for $400, E.G. and Martha Clark sold Hardy Farmer and Wiley Short a lot on the east side of the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad adjoining Redmond Batts, Bailey Batts, and Guilford Horne and containing about 120 acres. Deed book 3, page 557.
  • On 12 November 1869, for $1275, R.J. Taylor and wife sold brothers Hilliard Ellis and Warren Rountree 245 acres on Little Swamp adjacent to Stephen Lipscomb and others. Deed book 3, page 467.
  • On 2 January 1870, Joshua and Matilda Barnes sold Hardy Farmer and Wiley Short an eight-acre lot on the east side of the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad adjoining Jordan Winstead and others. Deed book 5, page 479.
  • On 23 December 1870, for $150, John Williamson sold Alfred Jackson a six-acre tract on the east side of the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad adjoining Zilpha Privett, Washington Dew, and others. Deed book 5, page 293.

Sam Hall charged with B&E, theft.

Daily Journal (Wilmington, N.C.), 12 September 1871.

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In the 1850 census of North Side Neuse, Wayne County: Lucy Hall, 45, and children Sarah, 16, George, 15, Nathan, 13, Nicy, 10, Samuel, 3, and Esther Hall, 6, plus Alford Artis, 15, and John Artis, 14, and Rhoda Artis, 13, and her children Julia, 12, and Rheuben Artis, 10, plus Rufus Lane, 22.

In the 1860 census of Saratoga district, Wilson County: farm worker Noah Walker, 25; wife Polly, 21; and Samuel Hall, 13. The Walkers were white; Hall, “mulatto.”

In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: brick maker Samuel Hall, 22; wife Caroline, 20; and children Donas, 3, and John, 2 months [next door to Wyatt and Nicey Lynch.]

In the 1880 census of Speights Bridge township, Greene County, N.C.: laborer Sam Hall, 32; wife Caroline, 32; and children John W., 10, Jane E., 8, Sam, 6, and Baby, 1.

In the 1900 census of Bulloch County, Georgia: woodcutter Sam Hall, 50; wife Caroline, 50, washerwoman; children Sam Jr., 24, George, 21, Emma, 19, and Minnie, 10; and daughter-in-law Fannie, 23, washerwoman. All but Fannie were born in North Carolina.

In the 1910 census of Bulloch County, Georgia: farmer Sam Hall, 65; wife Caroline, 63; son-in-law John Kennedey, 31; daughter Maria, 19; and their children Pearl, 2, and John, 3 months.

Lucy Hall’s children.

We’ve met Nicey Caroline Hall Lynch, the free woman of color whose refusal to kowtow to his wife so irked Confederate soldier Ruffin Barnes. What of her siblings though?

In the 1850 census of North Side of Neuse, Wayne County, Lucy Hall, 45, appears with her children Sarah, 16, George, 15, Nathan, 13, Nicy, 10, Samuel, 3, and Esther Hall, 6, plus Alford, 15, John, 14,  Rhoda, 13, Julia, 12, and Rheuben Artis, 10, and Rufus Lane, 22. (Read here of Lucy Hall’s legal battle to have her children apprenticed as she saw fit.)

Lucy Hall apparently died before 1860. I have not been able to trace Sarah, George, or Nathan Hall. However,

  • Samuel Hall

In the 1860 census of Saratoga township, Wilson County: farm laborer Noah Walker, 25; wife Polly, 21; and Samuel Hall, 13. [Samuel had likely been apprenticed to the Walkers by a Wilson County judge.]

In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: brick maker Samuel Hall, 22; wife Caroline, 20; and children Donas, 3, and John, 2 months [next door to Wyatt and Niecy Lynch.]

In the 1880 census of Speights Bridge township, Greene County, N.C.: laborer Sam Hall, 32; wife Caroline, 32; and children John W., 10, Jane E., 8, Sam, 6, and Baby, 1.

In the 1900 census of Bulloch County, Georgia: woodcutter Sam Hall, 50; wife Caroline, 50, washerwoman; children Sam Jr., 24, George, 21, Emma, 19, and Minnie, 10; and daughter-in-law Fannie, 23, washerwoman. All but Fannie were born in North Carolina.

In the 1910 census of Bulloch County, Georgia: farmer Sam Hall, 65; wife Caroline, 63; son-in-law John Kennedey, 31; daughter Maria, 19; and their children Pearl, 2, and John, 3 months.

  • Esther Hall

In the 1860 census of Davis district, Wayne County, James Yelverton [Jr.], 40, shared a household with Hester Hall, 20, and her children Fanny, 7, and Puss, 5. [Yelverton was the father of Esther’s sister Nicey Caroline’s first child, Susianna Frances Hall, alias Yelverton.]

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As to the children Lucy Hall sheltered other than her own, Alford, John, Rhoda, Julia, and Reuben were the children of Julia Artis and Reuben Pettiford. The couple apparently did not marry until after they had had about ten children together, exposing the children to involuntary apprenticeship as “baseborn,” i.e. born out of wedlock. In 1850, they, like Lucy Hall’s children the following year, were apprenticed to William J. Exum, the white man on whose farm they lived. Curiously, in the 1850 census, the children are also listed with their parents and siblings 70 miles away in Warren County, North Carolina: stonemason Reuben Pettiford, 30; wife Judy A., 37; children Eliza, 21, Alfred, 15, Jack, 13, Rhody, 12, Reuben Jr., 10, Julian, 9, and Mary Artis, 7, and Elizabeth J., 5, and Virginia Pettiford, 3; [Julia’s mother] Middy Artis, 60; and Isah Artis, 4 months.

In 1860, the family — by then all using the surname Pettiford — was intact in Halifax County. Per Freedmen’s Bureau records, Alfred and Jack Pettiford were in Plymouth, Washington County, during the Civil War, and other family members followed.

Note that the Alford Artis who appears in Wilson County records by 1880 is not the same man as Alford Artis alias Pettiford:

  • Alford [Alfred] Artis

In the 1880 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: farm worker Alford Artis, 45; wife Eliza, 40; and children Luvinia, 18, John, 16, Edwin, 14, Lee, 10, George, 9, Lila, 8, Frank, 5, Delia, 2, Marcellus, 10 months, and Annie, 2.

In the 1900 census of Black Creek township, Wilson County: farmer Alfred Artis, 69; wife Liza, 68; son Patrick, 16; and grandchildren Jennie E. Artis, 14, and Luther Best, 13.

In the 1910 census of Black Creek township, Wilson County: laborer Alfred Artis, 80, widower.

William Frank Artis died 27 November 1949 in Black Creek township, Wilson County. Per his death certificate, he was born 10 May 1876 in Wilson County to Alfred Artis and Eliza Artis; was married; and was a farmer. [Note that his Social Security application listed his parents as Alford Artis and Eliza Felton.]

Lila Reid died 22 April 1953 in Fremont, Wayne County, N.C. Per her death certificate, she was born 25 March 1870 in Greene County, N.C., to Alfred Artis and Liza Artis; was the widow of Frank Reid; and was buried in Hooks Grove Cemetery.

Of Rufus Lane, we know only that he was bound out multiple times in Wayne County — to James Forehand in 1837, to Joel Lane in 1836, and to William Exum in 1837.

Hardy Lassiter Jr. sells brother land.

In 1854, Hardy Lassiter Jr., then about 26, sold his brother Green Lassiter, about 30, 16 acres of land in what was then Edgecombe County, N.C. By time the deed was recorded, Wilson County had been established.

This indenture made and entered into this day between Hardy Laster Jr. and Green Laster both of the County of Edgecomb & State of North Carolina witnesseth that I hardy Laster have bargained and sold unto Green Laster for Sixty six dollars Sixteen acres of Land in the County & State aforesaid adjoining B. Simms Lemon Ruffin & others beginning in Ruffins line thence across the Piney woods thence in a direct line with the crop fence & then with said fence to the Mill Pond to a water oak then across the mill pond to Green Lasters line then with said line out in the piney woods to the beginning a Stake containing sixteen acres more or less together with all the appurtenances thereon and I Hardy Laster do forever warrant & defend the wright & title unto Green Laster forever free and clear from any and person or persons whomever claiming the Same in witness whereof I hereunto set my hand and seal this day 16th Sept. 1854. Hardy (X) Laster Witness J.W. Farmer, Josiah Farmer

Deed Book 1, page 56, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.

Lynch vs. Odenheimer.

In 1856, Noah Lynch, a free man of color, pressed charges for trespass on the case against German immigrant Falk Odenheimer, claiming one hundred dollars as damages. (“Trespass on the case” was a common law action brought to compensate negligent harm.) Virgil Stephens, Isaiah Rawls, and H.L. Williford were subpoenaed as witnesses, but I have not found the outcome of the suit.

Civil Action Papers (1856), Wilson County, North Carolina Court Records, http://www.familysearch.org

Jacob Jones conveys 171 acres to his sureties.

Benjamin and Robert Simpson stood surety for Jacob Jones on two notes for debts Jones owned Robertson H. Baker totaling $557.37. On 2 April 1855, “desirous that the said Benjamin & Robert should not suffer any loss,” Jacob Jones conditionally conveyed to them a 171 1/2 acre tract that Jones had bought from Baker. However, if Jones paid off his notes, the deed would be void.

Deed Book 1, page 32, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.

Tarrell Parker binds himself.

In 1855, when he was about 18 years old, free man of color Tarrell Parker voluntarily apprenticed himself to Gilbert Parker for six months. What could have driven him to this arrangement?

Know all men by these presents that I Terril Parker of the County  and State aforesaid for and in consideration of the Sum of Fifty Dollars to me in hand paid do bind myself to Gilbert Parker until the first day of January next given under my hand & my seal June 15th 1855    Terril (X) Parker Witness L.J. Sauls

Deed Book 1, page 31, Wilson County Register of Deeds, Wilson.

The apprenticeship of Wright Mitchell.

Fourteen year-old Wright Mitchell, a free boy of color, was apprenticed to serve John A. Lane until age 21. Lane had married Sarah Applewhite in 1852 and likely lived in the Stantonsburg area.

Minute Docket, Wilson County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, October Term 1858, Wilson Court Dockets 1855-1868, http://www.ancestry.com

Teresa Parker’s son.

The 1840 census of Black Creek district, Wayne County (which largely became Black Creek district, Wilson County, in 1855) includes a type of household that may surprise some — white women with mixed race children. Though rare in antebellum Wilson County, such households were not uncommon in neighboring counties like Wayne and Nash.

Teresa Parker was the head of a household that consisted of one white male aged 10-14, one white female aged 30-39, one white female aged 70-79, and 1 free colored male under age 10. Teresa was likely the woman in her 30s. The elder woman was probably her mother or grandmother. The younger boy was Teresa’s son Tarrel W. Parker. The elder boy probably was, too.

Teresa Parker apparently died between 1840 and 1850. Tarrel Parker is not found in 1850, but appears in the 1860 census in Black Creek township as a 23 year-old farm laborer in the household of white farmer Elias Farrell. (The other boy has not been further identified.) Tarrel Parker named his first child, Trecy, born about 1874, after his mother.