On 17 February 1821, Jonathan Ellis sold John Farmer “one negro girl about Sixteen or Seventeen years of age by the name of Teresea ….”
Recall that in 1853 John Farmer’s widow Nancy inherited a woman named Treasy from her husband’s estate. The Treasy named in John Farmer’s estate is likely the Teresea above, documented at the time of her purchase.
Dempsey and Jesse Barnes Papers, Hugh Johnston Collection, North Carolina Memory, lib.digitalnc.org.
Deed book 1, pages 612, Wilson County Register of Deeds, Wilson, North Carolina.
Whereas at the Spring Term A.D. 1860 of the court of Equity for Wilson County NC a decree was made in the suit of Sabra Parker & others to the Court confirming the sale of Slaves Syphax Jim & Mose & ordering James W. Davis as trustee of the plaintiff another slave in the stead & whereas the said James W. Davis by & with the consent of the plaintiff has contracted with Alexander Eatman for the purchase of a slave by the name of Cherry as a substitute which bargain & purchase has been approved & confirmed by the said court of Equity Now therefore the said Alexander Eatman for & in consideration of the sum of twelve hundred Dollars in hand paid the receipt of which by the said Eatman is this day acknowledges has bargained sold & conveyed & by these presents doth bargain sell & convey unto the said James W. Davis trustee as aforesaid slave Cherry to have & to hold according to the decree of the court of Equity aforesaid & the said Alexander Eatman does hereby warrant the title to said Negroe & that she is sound June 19th 1860 Alexander Eatman {seal}
P.W. Barnes
The Execution of the foregoing Bill of Sale is proven before me by P.W. Barnes the subscribing witness thereto August 14th 1860 T.E. Davis Clerk of Wilson Court
Record for Registration August 14th 1860 A.J. Brown Regr
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Some context for this transaction is provided in this post and post, but it is difficult to fully understand what is happening here. Edgecombe County planter Weeks Parker died in January 1844, leaving a widow, Sabra Hearn Parker, and three children, Margaret H. Parker Battle, Simmons B. Parker, and Henrietta Parker Battle. (Another son, Dr. John H. Parker, who had migrated to Florida, died while his father’s estate was in probate. Syphax, Jim, and Moses were among the 30 enslaved people Weeks Parker bequeathed to Margaret Battle, wife of Amos Johnston Battle. The Parker heirs fought amongst themselves and with the estate’s administrators over the handling of the estate, and Emancipation eventually intervened to prevent a final distribution of all of Weeks Parker’s immense wealth. In the meantime, there were partial distributions here and there, as well as sales of unsatisfactory slaves and purchases of replacements. That appears to be what happened in this situation, though it’s not clear who Cherry replaced.
What I am fairly certain of, however, is that Cherry was my great-great-grandmother.
In 1986, I wrote legendary local Hugh B. Johnston Jr. for help tracing my enslaved ancestors, Willis Barnes and Cherry Battle, who registered their six-year cohabitation in Wilson County in 1866. Johnston wrote back promptly, opining that Cherry had been “a slave belonging to the noted Reverend Amos Johnston Battle of Wilson, whose wife owned a small farm north of Wilson not far from the [Joshua] Barnes plantation.” [More about this letter later.]
Willis and Cherry Battle went on to have at least nine children, whose marriage licenses and death certificates list their mother’s maiden name as Cherry Battle, but just as often name her as Cherry Eatmon.
In 1860, Alexander Eatmon, a Nash County farmer, sold 18 year-old Cherry to Margaret H. Battle. The young woman went to live at Walnut Hill, Battle’s farm just north of Wilson. Shortly after, Cherry married Willis, who is believed to have been enslaved on Joshua Barnes‘ neighboring plantation. Their eldest child, Rachel Barnes Taylor, was my great-grandmother.
James B. Woodard registered the receipt he issued to free woman of color Penny Lassiter for the $150 she paid to purchase her husband London Woodard in 1856. Though not legally manumitted, London lived essentially as a free man for the next ten years until Emancipation.
Deed book 1, page 155, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.
In February 1858, James H. Barnes registered a bill of sale signed by Alfred Boykin upon Barnes’ purchase of an enslaved man named Wesley. I have not been able to identify Wesley post-Emancipation. Barnes may have been the J.H. Barnes of Joyners and Gardners township in the 1860 slave schedule who reported owning 15 enslaved people, including four boys and men, aged 11, 15, 19 and 30, who may have been Wesley. [Based on his valuation, I am inclined to believe he was one of the younger two.] Alfred Boykin appears in the same schedule in Oldfields township owning five enslaved people.
Received of James H. Barnes Six Hundred and twenty dollars in full for one negro boy named Wesley. The right and title of Said negro I will forever warrant and defend also I warrant the Said negro to be young and Healthy January 12th 1858 /s/ Alfred Boykin, Wm. H. Bardin [witness]
The reverse of the receipt: The execution of the within Bill of Sale is proved before me by the oath & examination of W.H. Bardin the subscribing witness thereto. Let it be registered Jany. 29th 1858 /s/ T.C. Davis
Registered foregoing Bill of sale Feb 16th 1858. R.J. Taylor Regr.
Bill of Sale, Miscellaneous Records, Wilson County Records, North Carolina State Archives.