bastardy actions

State vs. Jack Aycock.

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 11 May 1866, Amanda Aycock admitted to Wilson County justice of the peace S. Woodard that she had given birth out of wedlock and Jack Aycock was the child’s father. Woodard ordered that Jack Aycock be arrested and taken to a justice to answer the charge.

Jack Aycock married Letha Daniel on 17 December 1866 in Wilson County. In the 1870 census of Black Creek township, Wilson County: Jackson Aycock, 23; wife Litha, 26; and daughter Kate, 1.

I have not identified Amanda Aycock.

Bastardy Bonds, 1866, Miscellaneous Records, Wilson County Records, North Carolina State Archives.