Wilson County

The apprenticeships of William Ann and Richard Blount.

On 21 August 1869, a Wilson County Probate Court judge ordered 14 year-old William Ann Blount and 11 year-old Richard Blount bound as apprentices to Calvin Blount until they reached 21 years of age.

Neither William Ann nor Richard Blount appears in the 1870 census with Calvin Blount and family. However, William Ann was possibly the Ann Blount, 19, who married Parry Farmer, 24, in Wilson on 18 February 1874.

United States Indenture and Manumission Records, 1780-1939, database at https://familysearch.org.

The apprenticeship of Ashley Jordan (1870).

On 22 January 1870, a Wilson County Probate Court judge ordered Ashley Jordan bound as an apprentice to Jacob H. Barnes until he reached 21 years of age. At the end of his term, Jordan was to receive “six dollars in cash, a new suit of clothes and a new Bible.”

  • Ashley Jordan — Jordan is not listed in the household of Jacob H. Barnes in the 1870 census, and I have found no further information about him.

United States Indenture and Manumission Records, 1780-1939, database at https://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 obituary of Martha A. Modica.

Wilson Daily Times, 18 June 1945.

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In the 1880 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: farm laborer Willis Mordicai, 28; wife Martha A., 24; and children Katie, 6, Mary D., 4, and Dinksy A., 1.

In the 1900 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: farmer Willis Mordica, 53; wife Martha, 52; children Dinksy, 20, Etta, 16, Darcas, 14, and Hampton, 4; and grandsons Edgar, 2, and Fred, 3.

On 1 February 1901, Reddick Batts, 47, son of Mack and Anika Batts, married Dinkey Modica, 23, daughter of Willis and Martha Ann Modica, at “Fairview Plantation,” Toisnot township. Baptist minister Isaac Barnes performed the ceremony.

On 17 January 1906, Willie Barnes, 30, of Elm City, son of Bob and Hannah Barnes, married Etta Modica, 21, of Elm City, daughter of Willis and Martha Ann Modica, at Willis Modica’s residence. 

In the 1910 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: farm laborer Willis Modiky, 56; wife Martha, 53; and grandsons Jessey, 14, Edgar, 13, and Fred, 12.

On 28 October 1919, Edgar Modica, 22, son [sic] of Willis and Martha Modica, married Cora Hall, 20, daughter of Alex and Mollie Hall. 

In the 1920 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: on Wilson-Tarboro Road, Willis Modica, 65; wife Martha, 64; grandsons Fred, 22, and Edgar, 23, and Edgar’s wife Cora, 22.

Willis Modica died 26 June 1929 in Toisnot township, Wilson County. Per his death certificate, he was 85 years old; was born in Raleigh, Wake County, N.C., to Nowell Daniel and Millie Daniel; was married to Martha A. Modica; and worked in farming.

In the 1930 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: farmer Edgar Modica, 32, and grandmother Martha, 74.

In the 1940 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: Martha Modica, 82, living alone. 

Martha Ann Modica died 16 June 1945 at her home at 408 South Warren Street, Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 18 April 1856 in Granville County, North Carolina, to Harry Watson and Mariah [maiden name unknown]; was a widow; and was buried in Elm City, N.C. Kattie Jeffrey, 408 South Warren, was informant.

Fannie Ricks died 30 December 1945 in Elm City, Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was born 30 July 1884 in Wilson County to Willis Modica and Marthann Watson and was married to George Ricks.

Katie Modica Jefferys died 24 December 1968 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 7 February 1873 to Willis Modica and Martha Ann Watson; was a widow; and loved at 1402 Atlantic Street, Wilson. Bessie Lassiter was informant.

The apprenticeship of Amos Exum (1869).

On 2 October 1869, a Wilson County Probate Court judge ordered 21 month-old Amos Exum bound as an apprentice to Walter Lane until he reached 21 years of age.

I found neither Amos Exum nor Walter Lane in other Wilson County records.

United States Indenture and Manumission Records, 1780-1939, database at https://familysearch.org.

The estates of Jesse and Patience Aycock.

Revolutionary War veteran Jesse Aycock (1743-1823) lived in the Nahunta area of Wayne County, N.C., but owned property in what would become Black Creek township, Wilson County. This property included the land upon which Lower Black Creek Primitive Baptist church stood; he bequeathed the parcel to the church in his 1822 will.

The Aycocks attended Lower Black Creek P.B., as did their slaves. Church records mention a woman Hannah owned by Jesse Aycock, and Briton(?) and Peter, owned by Aycock’s second wife, Patience Aycock.

Jesse Aycock drafted his will on 7 November 1822. To his wife Patience, he left a lifetime interest in “four negroes by names Jacob Peter and two by name of Haner.” (In other words, the four were Jacob, Peter, Hannah, and Hannah.)

Aycock owned additional slaves, as evidenced by a subsequent provision: “I leave all my Negroes that I have not lent to my wife to be sold with Balance of my Estate.” The proceeds were to be used to pay off his debts, and any remainder was to be distributed among his children and grandchildren.

Further, after Patience Aycock’s death, Jesse Aycock’s enslaved people were to be sold, with “Peter and Haner to be sold together.” (Presumably, they were a married couple and perhaps were elderly.)

Jesse Aycock died in 1823, leaving many dozens of heirs by his first wife and an estate whose settlement dragged on for decades.

Patience Aycock drafted her will on 4 June 1824. Though she had life estates in her husband’s slaves, she could not devise them to anyone, and her will only mentions a woman named Rose, who was to go to her son Joel Newsom.

The inventory of Patience Aycock’s estate, made in November 1827, confirmed that she owned only one enslaved person outright:

“An Inventory of the Property of Patience Acock Deecast Late of Wayne County Taken the 3rd of November 1827 by Hardy Williamson”

Will of Jesse Aycock (1822), Wayne County, North Carolina, U.S. Wills and Probate Records 1665-1998, http://www.ancestry.com; Estate of Patience Aycock (1827), Wayne County, North Carolina, U.S. Wills and Probate Records 1665-1998, http://www.ancestry.com.

African-Americans dismissed or excommunicated from Lower Black Creek P.B. church, part 6.

Lower Black Creek Primitive Baptist Church, founded in 1783, was the second church organized in what is now Wilson County. (It closed its doors in 2010.) The church’s nineteenth and early twentieth-century records includes names of enslaved and freed African-American members, who worshipped with the congregation as second-class Christians even after Emancipation.

This page continues with names of members “dismissed by letter,” i.e. voluntarily, to join another church, as well as members excommunicated for serious infractions. The page includes references to 14 enslaved African-Americans, including one man cast out for disobeying his mistress. (Bless his heart.) As Primitive Baptists did not practice infant baptism, the 14 were, if not adults, then nearly so, and thus were all born in the 1700s or early 1800s. Some may have lived to see Emancipation, but even if they remained in Wilson County, I have no way to identify them further.

Dismissals by letter:

  • Haywood, a servant of John Sherrod
  • Hanah, a servant of James Aycock sen’r
  • Hannah, a servant of James Aycock sen’r
  • Hannah, a servant of Godfrey Stancil 
  • Rose, a servant of W. Fort

Excommunications:

  • Harry, a servant
  • Kedar, a servant
  • Moses, a servant
  • Samuel, a servant
  • Harry, a servant
  • Peter, a servant of Patience Aycock charged with Disobedience to his Mistress
  • Ann, a servant restored to fellowship
  • Kedar, a servant
  • Harry, a servant

Copy of documents courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III. Originals now housed at North Carolina State Archives. 

The last will and testament of Zealous Howard Sr.

We have read here, here, and here of Zealous “Deal” Howard Sr., who was born a free person of color in what was then Nash County, N.C., and developed relative wealth as a farmer and landowner in Taylor township, Wilson County. Howard died in 1911, leaving a detailed last will and testament executed in 1905. Some of the land he owned still remains in the hands of his descendants.

After directing payment of his debts and funeral expenses, Howard bequeathed:

  • to son Ira Howard, five dollars, noting that Ira had already received 37 acres of land;
  • to son Dock Howard, five dollars and nothing more (though he noted that Dock had previously received “advances”);
  • to daughter Anner Blackwell, a lifetime interest in a 4 1/4 acre tract of land, with the remainder to Anna’s daughter Lydia Blackwell and any other children;

  • to son Zelius Howard, a lifetime interest in a 38 3/4-acre parcel of land on Cabin Branch, with the remainder to his children;
  • to son Kenyon Howard, his “home tract” containing 50 7/8 acres on Cabin Branch, with the remainder to his children if he had any, and if not, to be divided equally among Anner Blackwell, Zelius Howard, Jesse Howard, and Mary Taylor (or their children, if they are deceased);

  • to son Jesse Howard, a lifetime interest in a 42 1/2-acre tract, with the remainder to his children;
  • to son Allison Howard, a lifetime interest in a 42 1/2-acre tract, with the remainder to his children if he had any, but if not to daughter Mary Taylor (or her children if she were dead);

  • to son James Gilbert Howard, a lifetime interest in the rest of his property, consisting of the 27 1/2-acre “Nelson Eatmon tract” on Big Branch and the 25 1/2-acre “Wood Eatmon land,” with the remainder to his children;
  • all his personal property to daughter Mary Taylor or her children.

Lastly, Zealous Howard appointed Devit Moore executor of his will.

About five weeks after executing this will, Howard executed a codicil that added a provision for his son George Howard, leaving him one dollar in addition to property he had already given him.

The will was not well-received. Kenyon Howard, Anna Howard Blackwell, and Allison Howard filed a caveat in order to challenge the validity of the document.

Receipt filed for publication of notice re estate action.The caveat filed to contest Zealous Howard’s will.

A jury heard In re Will of Zelius Howard during Wilson County Superior Court’s February Term, 1915, and Judge George W. Connor issued a judgment finding the will valid.

Will Book 4, page 406, Office of Clerk of Superior Court, Wilson County Courthouse, Wilson; Estate of Zelius Howard (1911), Wilson County, North Carolina Estate Files, http://www.familysearch.org.