Harriet Wilkinson Barnes died in Wilson in 1916. She was survived by her husband Austin Barnes and a slew of nieces and nephews, but left no will. This set of documents related to the disposition of her property — a house and lot at what is now 702 East Green Street — is among the most astonishing I’ve ever encountered.

The lot was auctioned pursuant to court order. George H. Edmundson bought it for $1550 and requested that the deed be made out to his parents Jerry and Zillie Edmundson. Distributing the proceeds of the sale, however, required that Harriet Barnes’ heirs be identified, and W.H. Lee, a court-appointed referee, conducted an investigation that is breath-taking not only for the effort it represented for so small a reward, but for the range of matters it touched upon — slavery, fractured families, Exoduster and other migration, repeat naming patterns. Not to mention surprise witnesses and the fallibility of memory and family stories. In the end, the referee produced a report which, though flawed, outlines three generations of descendants of a woman who was born into, and barely outlived, slavery.

The petition and order of sale are below, and the referee’s report starts on page 459.

I’m going to try to summarize his findings, but I urge you to peruse the document for yourself. The referee interviewed the family of Harriet Barnes’ former enslaver, as well as numerous relatives, to determine which of Barnes’ siblings’ descendants had legitimate claims to her estate. An annotation of the named parties will need a follow-up post. There’s just too much.

First, Harriet Bynum was the daughter of Edna Bynum, who “was a slave woman owned by Mrs. Elizabeth Bynum or her husband.” There was no clear evidence as to the identity of Edna Bynum’s husband, but all their children were born prior to 1 January 1868 (which, apparently, was when Edna died.) Those nine children, including Harriet, were Louis Bynum, Arnold Bynum, Isaac Bynum, Ben Bynum, George Bynum, Sylvia Bynum Best, Chanie Bynum Mitchell, and Mary Bynum Dupree Bynum.

Also, as Harriet Bynum and her second husband, Austin Barnes, had no children, he was not entitled to inherit property she brought to the marriage.

The conclusions re Harriet Barnes’ brother Louis Bynum

Louis Bynum died leaving six children — Lawrence Bynum, Rennie Bynum Farmer, George Bynum, Isabella Bynum Best, Ida [Ada] Bynum Aycock, and Teda Bynum Bynum. Per George Bynum — an 81 year-old man who lived near Saratoga, had also been enslaved by Elizabeth Bynum, but was no relation to Harriet — Louis never married.

The referee relied on evidence in a letter received by John Edwards [the husband of one of her nieces, but who was the letter from?] to conclude that Lawrence Bynum was dead; that he had lived with Rachel Newsome, but never married her; that “he left here many years ago and went to Arkansas”; and that his many children — James C., Louis, Charlie, Lawrence Jr., Mary, Rachel, and Ada, who lived in Scott, Arkansas — were “illegitimate.” Louis’ son George Bynum of Mount Olive, N.C., and his daughter Isabella Best of Stantonsburg also gave testimony about their uncle. (The report refers to them incorrectly as Lawrence Bynum’s children. The substitution of “Lawrence” for “Louis” appears to happen several times in the first paragraph of page 460, as when the referee discounts George’s testimony about having a brother named Scott Bynum who had not been heard from in 28 years.)  [The referee’s conclusions were incorrect several ways. First, we’ve met the Lawrence Bynum family. Lawrence Bynum married Edna Bynum in Wilson County in 1878; they migrated to Lonoke County, Arkansas, with their elder children. Second, Louis Bynum very much had a son Scott. Census records establish his children (and their approximate birth years) as George (1859), Ada (1860), Scott (1862), Marenda “Rennie” (1863), Pet (1865), Isabella (1867), Charles (1869), and Tedy (1871). ]

Rennie Bynum married Robert Farmer and died before 1916. Her surviving children were Nealy Farmer Edwards of Stantonsburg; Maggie Farmer Brown of Stantonsburg; Ida Bynum Hall of Stantonsburg; Katie Farmer Hall of Stantonsburg; Hattie Farmer Wynn of Dudley [Wayne County, N.C.]; Robert Farmer of American Expeditionary Forces, France; and Bessie Farmer Brown of Stantonsburg. [Personal note: my grandmother’s first cousin, Mildred Henderson, married Katie Farmer Hall’s son Louis Hall. Louis Hall founded a vault company in the 1950s that is now a third-generation operation. When I began researching gravestone artist Clarence B. Best, I spoke with Louis Hall Jr., who told me his father had taken over Best’s business when he retired in the early 1970s. I had no idea that Louis Hall and Clarence Best were cousins. See below.]

The conclusions regarding her brother Arnold Bynum

Per Louis’s son George Bynum and Clarence Best, Arnold Bynum died without children.

The conclusions regarding her brother Isaac Bynum

Isaac Bynum was deceased. Per George Bynum, Isaac had a son Ben Bynum. Per witness Calvin Bynum, Isaac “left here 30 or 40 years ago.” As neither Ben nor any other descendant had put in an appearance, the referee determined Isaac Bynum had no descendants who were heirs at law.

The conclusions regarding her brother Ben Bynum

More confusion, as Ben Bynum is described as “son of Lawrence” rather than son of Edna Bynum and brother of Harriet Barnes. Further, the referee noted that the evidence he received was contradictory. George Bynum of Saratoga said Ben was one of Lawrence Bynum’s children [sic]. George Bynum of Mount Olive (Louis Bynum’s son) said Ben Bynum’s descendants were not related to him. A white man named B.A. Scott testified that a Ben Bynum who belonged to Elizabeth Bynum married a woman named Charlotte, who had been enslaved by Scott’s father. Calvin Bynum, age 69, son of Moses Bynum and averred first cousin of Edna Bynum’s children, who had been enslaved by the same family as Edna, said Harriet Bynum’s brother Ben Bynum married Charlotte Scott. “He says that his father, Moses, always told him that this Ben Bynum was a brother of Harriett, and that Harriett was a daughter of a sister of this father.” Other witnesses claimed to be Ben Bynum’s children and said they had visited Harriett and called her “aunt,” and she recognized them as her nieces and nephews, and Ben always claimed Harriett as his sister.

The referee concluded that Ben Bynum, deceased, was Harriett Barnes’ brother and his children were her heirs at law. They included Riley Bynum of New Bern, N.C.; George Bynum of Bonnerton, N.C.; W. Randal Bynum and Ida Bynum of Royal, N.C.; Lina White of Greenville, N.C.; and Mary Jane Jackson of 421 Green Street, Wilson.

The conclusions regarding her brother George Bynum

Per George Bynum of Saratoga, this George Bynum died in childhood.

The conclusions regarding her sister Sylvia Bynum Best

Per Robert E. Bynum, son [actually, nephew] of Eliza [sic; Elizabeth] Bynum, who had enslaved Edna and her daughter Sylvia, Sylvia had been married and had a child named Ben Best, born before the Civil War. Ben Best was deceased, leaving children Jenetta Newsome, Junius Best, Ollie Best, and Clarence Best. (Who had their own legal representative in this matter — attorney E.J. Barnes.) George Bynum of Saratoga and John Edwards testified that Sylvia had two more children, Lou Ellis and Cora Deans, born out of wedlock after the Civil War.

The referee concluded that Ben Best’s children were entitled to their grandmother’s share as heirs at law, and Ellis and Deans were not entitled to anything. [Clarence Best was the well-known grave memorial cutter featured in multiple posts here.]

The conclusions regarding her sister Chanie Bynum Mitchell

Chanie Bynum married a Mitchell and had two children — Fannie and John Mitchell — who were believed to be living.

The conclusions regarding her sister Mary Bynum Dupree Bynum

Again, contradiction among witnesses and confusion created by the referee’s sloppiness. (He calls Mary “Annie” at one point.) The petition to sell Harriet Barnes’ land stated Mary was married to a Dupree, but George Bynum of Saratoga said she married Hack (or Jack) Bynum. Clarence Best testified that Annie [sic; Mary] Dupree married Sam Ward, “went South about ten years ago and has not been heard from.” Isabella Best said Mary Bynum first married a Dupree and had two children, Ben and Sam. Ben migrated to Arkansas; Sam lived and died near Wilson. No known children for either. But: after witness testimony concluded, “a negro man came in who claimed to be Ben Dupree, the son of Mary Bynum by her first marriage.” Ben Dupree testified that he had moved to Leesburg, Florida, many years before; that he had lost touch with his brother Sam Bynum [sic; Dupree]; that he had come to “see about it”; that he had found that his brother had died; and that his brother had seven living children — Ed, 21, Mary, 18, Sam, 13, Minnie Bell, 12, Sallie, 9, Maggie, 8, and Bennie Dupree, 6. Having been fetched, Ed Dupree confirmed that he and his siblings were Sam Dupree‘s children, and Sam had died five years earlier. Ben Dupree also stated that his mother Mary had married Jack Bynum and had two or three children; that about thirty years after Mary died, the children “left and went to the far South or South-west”; and that they had not been heard from since, and no one knew if they were living or dead. The referee thus concluded that Ben Dupree and Sam Dupree’s seven children stood to share Mary Bynum’s share of Harriet Barnes’ estate.

“These parties are negroes,” the referee stated, “and many of them without Counsel.” He acknowledged that the strict rule of procedure had not been followed in collecting evidence from witnesses who testified in multiple hearings and lived in various places around the state of North Carolina, “but I have collected the facts from any and whatever sources available, calling witnesses whenever it was learned that their personal knowledge might throw some light upon case pertaining to the relationships of the parties ….” He then broke down the interest to which each person was entitled, ranging from 1/20 to 1/175. Even if the full $1550 from the sale of Harriet Barnes’ lot were available — which it wasn’t, as court costs had to be paid — the payouts would have ranged from $77.50 down to $8.85.

Wilson County, North Carolina, Property Settlement Records 1905-1923, http://www.familysearch.org.