bill of sale

The sale of Dover, Dinah, Bynum and Frances.

Deed book 22, page 209, Edgecombe County Register of Deeds Office, Tarboro, N.C.

State of North Carolina, Edgecomb County}  Know all men by these presents that I Amos J. Battle for and in consideration of the sum of Twelve hundred and fifty Dollars to me in hand paid by Weeks Parker have bargained and sold and by these presents do bargain and sell unto the said Weeks Parker and his assigns forever Four negro slaves named Dover, Dinah, Bynum and Frances aged about fifteen, thirteen, eleven and nine years the right and title to which said Slaves I will forever warrant and defend. Witness my hand and seal This the first day of January 1835  Amos J. Battle {seal}  Witness Simmons B. Parker

Edgecombe County February Court 1835  The foregoing Bill of Sale was exhibited in open Court and proved by the oath of Simmons B. Parker the subscribing witness thereto — ordered to be recorded.   Test. Mich’l Hearn Clk.

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We have met Amos J. Battle and his father-in-law Weeks Parker before. In an earlier post, I examined the slaveholdings of the Battle family of Walnut Hill plantation. Amos J. and Margaret Parker Battle’s youngest son, Jesse Mercer Battle, published a memoir in 1911 that includes this passage: “Negroes were my companions. I played with them, and spent my time with them all day, till I was about seven years old, when I was started to school. I knew my alphabet and how to read a little. This start on my way to an education was given to me by a good old colored woman I called Mammy. (Her name was Dinah.) … This good woman remained with our family till 1865, when the Civil War ended, when she left us and moved down to Greenville, N.C., where her husband, whose name was ‘Shade,’ lived. After the emancipation of the slaves she said that she could never enjoy her ‘freedom’ as long as she lived with her master and mistress.” Jesse elsewhere mentioned that Dinah had lived with the family at a farm called Walnut Hill, “about three miles from Wilson N.C., on the railroad toward Rocky Mount.”

Was this Dinah the same Dinah that Amos Battle bought from Weeks Parker?

The sale of Mima and Lewis.

State North Carolina Edgecombe County} Know all by these presents that I Ephraim Daniel of the County and State aforesaid, for and in consideration of the sum of Three Hundred and Fifty dollars, to me in hand paid by Coffield Ellis of the same County and State afore said, at or before the sealing and delivery of these presents, the receipt whereof I the said Ephraim Daniel do hereby acknowledge, have granted bargined and sold, and by these presents do grant, bargin and sell unto the said Coffield Ellis, his heirs, Executors, Adm. and assigns, one Negro Woman by the name of Mima, also one Boy Child named Lewis; the woman about forty years of age, the Boy between one & two years of age. To have and to hold the above bargained negroes, to him the said Coffield Ellis his heirs, Executors, Adm’rs, and assigns for ever, and I the said Ephraim Daniel my heirs, Executors, Admr’s, and assigns doth and will for ever Warrant & defend, unto the said Coffield Ellis, his heirs, Executors, Adm’rs, and assigns the right title, claim or demand, of the above bargained negroes from all or any person or persons lawfully claiming the same, In witness of which I have hereunto set my hand and seal the 9th day of January 1823 Ephraim Daniel   Witness Reddick Barnes

Edgecombe County February Court 1823 The within Bill of Sale was duly exhibited in open Court _ proved by the oath of Reddick Barnes _ ordered to be Recorded   Test. M’l Hearn Clk.

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Coffield Ellis’ 1854 will contained a bequest to his wife Penninah of enslaved people named Miney and Lewis, among others. Miney was described as “old” and a “faithful servant” and may have been Mima, who would have been about 70 years old at the time. 

However, the 1812 will of Coffield Ellis’ father William Ellis Sr. also contained, among others, a Mimah, who bequeathed to wife Unity Ellis, but was eventually distributed to son Jonathan Ellis. William Ellis Sr. also owned Isham, who had a son circa 1834 named Lewis. 

Deed book 17, page 559, Edgecombe County Register of Deeds, Tarboro, North Carolina.

The sale of Harry, Alfred, Elias, Gray, and Jensey.

Deed book 1, page 46, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.

Received of Willie Daniel payment in full for the following Negroes viz for Harry Aged about nineteen years Eight hundred & seventy five Dollars Alfred aged about Eighteen years Eight hundred & Seventy five Dollars Elias aged about Eighteen years Eight hundred Dollars Jensey aged about Seventeen six hundred & Seventy five Dollars Gray aged about fourteen Seven hundred Dollars amounting in all to the sum of three thousand nine hundred & thirty five Dollars, And I hereby bind myself my heirs and assigns to warrant and defend the right and title of all of the above named Negroes to Willie Daniel his heirs and assigns forever in testimony of which I hereunto set my hand and Seal this the 27th June 1855    Burket Barnes      Test Amos Horn Larry Newsom Wilson County N.C. A.D. 1855

The Execution of the foregoing Bill of Sale is duly proven Before me W. Barnes Clk of the County of please & Quarter Sessions by the Oath of Amos Horn one of the subscribing witnesses thereto & is ordered to be Registered July 30th 1855.  W. Barnes Clk

This bill of sale was received for Registration the 31st day of July 1855. L.J. Sauls Register

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I have not been able to trace Harry, Alfred, Elias, Jensey, or Gray forward.

The sale of Teresea, aged 16 or 17.

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.

Bill of sale for Syphax, Jim, Mose, and Cherry.

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 a trustee, who passed her on 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.

Penny Lassiter purchases her husband.

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.

Bill of sale for one negro boy named Wesley, 1858.

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.