cohabitation registration

Iredell County Chronicles, no. 1.

A few weeks ago, I promised to go a teeny way toward carrying out my original plan for several one-place studies by turning the focus of Black Wide-Awake briefly to other beloved Black communities. This week I’ll be guest-blogging (though in my own space) from time to time about Iredell County, North Carolina, my maternal grandmother’s birthplace, two hundred miles west of Wilson on the western edge of North Carolina’s Piedmont.

I’ll start with an introduction to my great-great-great-grandfather Walker Colvert, who was born enslaved about 1819 in Culpeper County, Virginia. When Samuel W. Colvert died in 1823, Walker passed to his son John Alpheus Colvert, who had migrated to Iredell County and bought land on Rocky Creek, a South Yadkin River tributary.

Only four years later, John A. Colvert died. This excerpt from his estate records shows  “Negroes hired for one year,” that is, enslaved people leased to neighbors to earn money for Colvert’s estate and the support of his widow and children. “Boy Walker” was about eight years old. That he was listed without his mother may suggest that he was an orphan, though he was about the age to be separated from her and put to work on his own. Walker’s kinship to Jerry, Amy, Joe, Ellen, Meel, Anda, Charlotte, and Lett is unknown. 

Inventory of the estate of John Alpheus Colvert, Iredell County, North Carolina, 1827.

When he reached adulthood in 1851, John’s son William Isaac Colvert inherited Walker and held him until Emancipation on his farm in Eagle Mill township. The same year, Walker Colvert fathered a son, John Walker Colvert, by Elvira Gray. The boy and his mother were likely enslaved on a nearby plantation, perhaps that of William I. Colvert’s sister, Susan Colvert Gray. Around 1853, Walker married Rebecca Parks, a relationship that was not legalized until they registered their cohabitation as freed people in 1866. Their registration notes three children — John (Rebecca’s stepson), Elvira, and Lovenia. Rebecca also had a son Lewis Colvert, born about 1860, whom Walker reared but apparently did not father.

Iredell County Cohabitation Records, Register of Deeds Office, Statesville, N.C.

Walker Colvert and his son John Walker worked for decades after slavery for William I. Colvert, likely both on his farm and at his cotton manufacturing enterprise, Eagle Mills. Walker eventually bought a small farm in nearby Union Grove township, though he did not record a deed for it. On 16 March 1901, with the help of his neighbors he drafted a short will leaving all his property to his widow Rebecca Colvert, and then to his son John Colvert. Four years later, he died.

The Landmark (Statesville, N.C.), 10 February 1905.

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In the 1870 census of Union Grove township, Iredell County: farm worker Walker Colvert, 50; wife Rebecca, 25; and Lewis, 10.

In the 1880 census of Union Grove township, Iredell County: farm worker Walker Colvert, 62; wife Rebecca, 37; grandson Alonzo, 5; and niece Bitha Albea, 3.

In the 1900 census of Union Grove township, Iredell County: farmer Walker Colvert, 84, and wife Rebecca, 60. Both reported having been born in Virginia.

Marriages across the freedom line.
  • Solomon Andrews and Mary Woodard
  • Solomon Andrews and Emily Woodard

Solomon Andrews was a free man of color. Andrews was a carpenter who lived and worked on the farm of slaveowner Dr. Stephen Woodard. The death certificate of Benjamin Woodard, who was born about 1838, lists Solomon Anders and Mary Woodard as his parents. Benjamin, and presumably his mother Mary, were enslaved by Stephen Woodard. In 1866, Solomon Anders [sic] and Emly Woodard registered their eight-year cohabitation with a Wilson County justice of the peace. It is reasonable to assume that Emily Woodard was also enslaved by Stephen Woodard.

Arch Artis was a free man of color. Rose and their children, who included Tamar, Jesse, John, Gray and Ned, were enslaved by William Woodard’s family in the White Oak area of Gardners township. All of the children used the surname Artis after Emancipation.

Jesse Artis was a free man of color. Several Jesse Artises lived in southeast Wilson/northeast Wayne Counties during the late antebellum period, but he was most likely the Jesse H. Artis listed in the 1850 census of the Town of Wilson. He may have died prior to 1870. In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: Rebecca Rountree, 50, and children and grandchildren Henry, 20, butcher, John, 23, barber, Dempsy, 26, farm laborer, Charles, 15, Benjamin, 24, butcher, Mary, 30, domestic servant, Joseph, 9, Willie, 8, Lucy, 20, domestic servant, Worden, 2, and Charles, 1. Henry Rountree was Jesse Artis’ son.

  • Mahala Artis and Aaron Barnes

Mahala Artis was a free woman of color. She is listed in the 1860 census of the town of Wilson, with her daughter Sarah, who was not likely not Aaron Barnes’ child. In 1866, Mahala Artist and Aron Barnes registered their five-year cohabitation with a Wilson County justice of the peace. 

  • Wilson Artis, alias Hagans, and Obedience Applewhite

Wilson Artis, also known as Wilson Hagans, was a free man of color. In 1866, Wilson Hagan and Beady Applewhite registered their nineteen-year cohabitation with a Wilson County justice of the peace. Hagans and Applewhite are listed in different households in the 1870 census of Wilson County. They had at least two children — Sarah Jane Artis, whose 1930 death certificate lists her parents as Wilson Artis and Beedie Artis, and Rosetta Artis, whose 1869 marriage license lists her parents as Wilson Artice and Beedy Artice.

  • Toney Eatmon and Annie [Eatmon? Barnes?]
  • Toney Eatmon and Hester Williamson

Toney Eatmon was a free man of color. In the 1850 census of Nash County, North Carolina, Tony Eatmon, 55, farmer, in the household of white farmer Theophilus Eatmon, 70. Whether he married is unknown, but he is listed as father on the marriage license of Jack Williamson, born about 1835 to Hester Williamson, an enslaved woman, and the death certificate of Willis Barnes, born about 1841, to Annie Eatmon (or, perhaps, Barnes), an enslaved woman. 

Penny Lassiter was a free woman of color. She worked for James B. Woodard and married London Woodard, whom Woodard enslaved. In 1856, Penny Lassiter purchased her husband from J.B. Woodard. As Penny was free, all her and London Woodard’s children were also free-born. 

Delaney Locus was a free woman of color. Alex Taylor was enslaved by Henry Flowers and William Taylor. In 1866, Alex Taylor and Laney Locus registered their seven-year cohabitation with a Wilson County justice of the peace. In the 1870 census of Taylor township, Wilson County: Ellic Taylor, 34, farm laborer, and wife Lainy, 45; Nathanel Locust, 33; and Malvina, 11, and Duncan Locust, 4.

  • Gaines Locus and Zana Williams

Gaines Locus was a free man of color. On 9 August 1866, Ganes Locus and Zana Williams registered their seventeen-year cohabitation with a Wilson County justice of the peace. In the 1870 census of Oldfields township, Wilson County: Ganes Locust, 40; wife Zana, 35; and children Penny, 15, Hasty, 12, James, 9, Julius, 5, Sarah, 4, and Amanda, 1.

  • Patsey Locus and Harry Taylor

On the basis of her surname, Patsey Locus likely was a free woman of color. Harry Taylor was the brother of Alex Taylor above. In 1866, Harry Taylor and Patsey Locus registered their eighteen-year cohabitation with a Wilson County justice of the peace. In the 1880 census of Taylors township, Wilson County: Harry Taylor, 51; wife Martha T., 45; and hireling Margrett Locus, 21, “working out.”

  • John Pettiford and Catherine Hinnant

On the basis of his surname, John Pettiford likely was a free man of color. In 1866, John Pettiford and Catherine Hinnant registered their ten-year cohabitation with a Wilson County justice of the peace. 

Henrietta Thomas, daughter of Jordan Thomas below, was born free. She and Warren Rountree had at least one child, Charity Thomas.

  • Jordan Thomas and Rosa Woodard

Jordan Thomas was a free man of color. Rosa Woodard, daughter of London Woodard, above, and his first wife Venus, was enslaved by James B. Woodard. They had at least one child together, Peter Thomas.

Cohabitation register, part 1.

In March 1866, the North Carolina General Assembly passed an act establishing a means for formerly enslaved people to ratify their marriages.  Such persons were to appear before justices of the peace, who would collect certain details of their cohabitation during slavery and record them in the County Clerk’s office. Freedmen faced misdemeanor charges if they failed to record their marriage by September, 1866, a deadline later extended to January 1, 1868.

Wilson County’s original cohabitation register is said to be held in the Register of Deeds office, but I have not found it there. Brooke Bissette, Director of Exhibits at Wilson’s Imagination Station, recently found that East Carolina University’s Joyner Library has a copy of the cohabitation register on microfilm and is creating a print volume to be shelved in the Local History and Genealogy Room at Wilson County Public Library’s main branch.

I present the register in series, with transcription:

record-image_.jpg

Cohabitations, pt. 1.

In March 1866, in order to ratify marriages and legitimate children, the North Carolina General Assembly passed an Act directing Justices of the Peace to collect and record in the County Clerk’s office the cohabitations of former slaves. Freedmen who did not record their marriages by September, 1866, faced misdemeanor charges.

Here is the first in a series of abstracts of Wilson County’s cohabitation records. Where found, information from the first two post-Emancipation censuses is included.

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Cohabitation Records, Wilson County Marriage Records, Register of Deeds Office, Wilson County Courthouse, Wilson.

The Hinnant sisters give all.

in the name of God Amin

I, Mary Hinnant of the County of Wilson and State of North carolina being of Sound mind and memory but considering the unscertainty of my earthly existence do make and declare this my last will and testament in manor and form following that is to say

that my exutor (hereinafter named) shall provide for my Boddy a decent burial sutable to the wishes of my Relations and friends and pay all funeral expenses together with my Just debts howsoever and to whom ever owing out of the moneys that may first come into his hands as a part or parcel of my estate

Item – I lend to my sister Martha Hinnant sixty two Acres of land the plantation whereon I now liv during the turm of her natural lif also I lend her five negro slaves namly Samuel Martha Hilinda Gray & Charita also one gray Mair also all my house & property of every description during her natural life.

Item. I giv to my Sister Rhoda Atkinson sixty two Acres of land which I heretofore lent to my sister Martha to her and to her Heirs forever

Item – I giv to my Neffew James T. Atkinson one negro man Sam to him and to his Heirs forever

I giv to my neffew Alvin H. Atkinson my bed and furniture to him and to his Heirs forever

I giv to my Brother Hardy Hinnant Children fifty Dollars in money each namly William Ransom & Aby to them and there Heirs forever

I giv to my nease Polly Atkinson one pine Chest to her and to her heirs for ever

and further it is my will and desire that after my death that the ballance of my property not heretofore given away be sold and after all my Just debts is paid that the money arising from said Sale be equally divided between Rhoda Atkinson Jessey Hinnant James Hinnant & Alvin H. Atkinson to them and to their Heirs for ever

and lastly – I do hereby constitute and appoint my trusty Friends Alvin H. Atkinson and James Hinnant my lawful executors to all intents and purposes to execute this my last will and testament according to the true intent and meaning of the same and every part and Cluse thereof hereby Revoking and declareing uterly void all other wills and testaments by me heretofore made in witness whereof I the said Mary Hinnant do here unto set my hand and seal this the twenty Second day of February A.D. one thousand eight hundred and fifty five     Mary (X) Hinnant

Signed sealed published and declared by the said Mary Hinnant to be her last will and testament in the presence of us   Willie Deans Hardy H. Williamson

005277096_00365

Inventory of Mary Hinnant’s “personable” property.

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State of North Carolina, Wilson County

In the name of God amen I Martha Hinnant being weak in body but in perfect health & memory & calling to mind the mortality of my body and knowing it is appointed for all persons once to die do make and ordain this my last will and testament in manner as follows

In the first place I give my body to be buried in a decent and christian like manner and my soul I commend to God that gave it

Item 1st After my death I give and bequeath to my beloved brother Jesse Hinnant one stear and cart one [illegible] Ten head of hogs Twelve Barrels of corn and two blade stacks of the crop now on hand and the first part of wheat now on hand also one hundred and fifty Dollars in money to him and his heirs forever

Item 2nd After my death I give and bequeath to nephew Jas. H. Hinnant one negro boy by the name of Amos also one Bed Bedstead & furniture and fifty Dollars in money to him & his heirs forever

Item 3rd After my death I give and Bequeath to my nephew James T. Atkinson one bed & furniture to him and his heirs forever

Item 4th The ballance of my property after my death consisting of three negroes namely Hardy Henry & Allen also my stock of all descriptions and my crop and every thing that is not given away in legacies I leave to be sold and the money arising from the sale of my property with my notes and accounts I leave to be equally divided after having my just debts and legacies between my beloved sisters Rhoda Atkinson and her six children viz, Alvin H., Martha, Patience, Polly, James T. & Mourning

I constitute and appoint my beloved nephew and worthy friend James T. Atkinson Executor to this my last will and testament

In witness whereof I hereunto to set my hand and affix my seal this 10th June 1858   Martha (X) Hinnant {seal}

Assigned sealed and acknowledged in the presence of us Jesse Fulghum, Riley Rentfrow

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In fact, Martha Hinnant sold Allen to her brother Jesse Hinnant in 1861 for $800. He was 13 years old.

Hinnant BOS_Page_1

Amos, the only enslaved man not to be sold per Martha Hinnant’s will, is likely the man who is listed in the 1870 census of Spring Hill township, Wilson County: black farm laborer Amos Hinnant, 30; wife Linday, 25; and sons Haywood, 9, and Burruss, 3. (The last three are described as white, which was almost certainly an error.) Amos Hinnant, son of Thomas and Charity Hinnant, had married Malenda Barnes, parents unknown, on 5 March 1968 in Wilson County. (Amos’ mother Charity may have been the woman referred to in Mary Hinnant’s will. On 14 July 1866, Charity Hinnant and Allen Williamson registered a cohabitation that had begun only the previous Christmas. Was this the same Charity? She does not appear in later records.) In the 1880 census of Spring Hill township, servant Haywood Hinnant, 16, lived in the household of Bryant R. Hinnant next door to his parents Amos, 45, and Lendy Hinnant, 34. In 1897, Malinda Hinnant filed for a Civil War widow’s pension on the basis of her husband’s service in Company K, 14th United States Colored Heavy Artillery.

North Carolina Wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998 [database on-line], ancestry.com; Records of Slaves and Free People of Color, Wilson County Records, North Carolina State Archives.