On 10 May 1913, Irving and Margaret Locus sold Susan Strickland five acres in Taylors township. The land had belonged to Robert Eatman and represented Margaret Locus’ one-quarter share in his estate. It lay adjacent to the lands of Gilbert Howard, Asa Locus, Wilmouth Eatman, and Mrs. J.E. Farmer.
Deed book 97, page 146, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.
Wilson Advance, 16 June 1892.
Judgment was suspended against Arthur Young, but James Eatman, Wiley Simms, and Mack Dozier were sentenced to serve two months in jail to be followed by a period in which jail officials could hire out their labor.
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In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: painter Mack Dozier, 60; wife Elibeth, 48; children Julia, 17, and Sid, 15; and mother Charlotte, 69.
Mack Dozier died in Richmond, Virginia, on 28 February 1905 at the City Almshouse. Per his death certificate, he was 64 years old; was born in Wake County, N.C.; was married; and worked as a painter.
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Image courtesy of Veterans of World War II Wilson County, spiral-bound volume, Wilson County Public Library.
I have written of my great-great-grandfather Willis Barnes and his daughter Rachel Barnes Taylor, my great-grandmother. Rachel’s mother appears variously in records as Cherry Battle or Cherry Eatmon. She shows up in the 1870 and 1880 censuses; in the death certificates of five of her children; and on the marriage licenses of three.
Today, I discovered a document that I believe identifies Cherry Battle/Eatmon’s father. Two Black men named Ned Barnes died in Wilson County in 1885. Their estate records, unfortunately, are commingled in a single file. One Ned Barnes, born about 1847, was married to a woman named Margaret Edmondson. The other, born about 1820, married Della Barnes after another relationship that produced several children.
Here’s what caught my eye:
“R.W. King, Administrator of Ned Barnes deceased vs. Della Barnes, N.B. Herring, Braswell Eatman, Cherry Barnes, Waity Eatman, Turner Eatman, David Hagans, Willis Barnes, James Moore, heirs at law and parties in interest.”
Della Barnes was Ned Barnes’ widow. Needham B. Herring was a party in interest by virtue of a claim to Della Barnes’ property. (N.B. Herring was a well-known white physician in Wilson.) Braswell Eatman, Cherry Barnes, Waity Eatman, Turner Eatman, and David Hagans were heirs at law — Ned’s children and/or grandchildren. Willis Barnes, as Cherry Barnes’ husband, was a party in interest. I’m not sure who James Moore was but, presumably, he was a party in interest.
Ned Barnes’ liquid assets were insufficient to cover his obligations, and his chief asset — a 36-acre parcel — was sold.
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In the 1870 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: Ned Barnes, 48, farm laborer.
On 19 October 1874, Ned Barnes married Della Barnes in Wilson.
In the 1880 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: farmer Ned Barnes, 66; wife Della, 37; and [step]son Allen, 18.
In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: farmer John J. Barnes, 49; Della, 26; and Allen, 8.
In the 1880 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: farmer Ned Barnes, 66; wife Della, 37; and [step]son Allen, 18.
On 4 April 1872, Braswell Eatmon married Louisa Boykin at Joshua Barnes’ in Wilson County.
Probably: in the 1880 census of Raleigh township, Wake County, N.C.: Braswell Eatman, 39, servant.
In August 1866, Willis Barnes and Cherry Battle registered their six-year marriage with a Wilson County justice of the peace.
In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: farm laborer Willis Barnes, 30; wife Cherry, 25; and children Rachel, 7, West, 5, Jesse, 2, and Ned, 5 months.
In the 1880 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: Willis Barnes, 42; wife Cherey, 20 [sic]; stepdaughter[?] Rachel Battle, 17; children Wesley, 15, Jesse, 13, Ned, 11, Eddie, 7, and Mary Barnes, 4; niece Ellen Battle, 2; and son Willey Barnes, 1.
[Note: Cherry Barnes’ children included a son Ned and a daughter Cintha. (See below.)]
In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: Cinthia Eatmon, 40, with Luke, 23, Turner, 20, Wady, 18, and David Eatmon, 6. [They did not marry, but was Cinthia Eatmon the mother of Ned Barnes’ children? (And thus my great-great-grandmother?)]
In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: Cinthia Eatmon, 40, with Luke, 23, Turner, 20, Wady, 18, and David Eatmon, 6. [Next door: Morrison and Martha Woodard, whose daughter Cherry married Turner Eatmon.]
On 9 April 1873, Turner Eatmon, 22, married Cherry Woodard, 18, in Wilson.
In the 1880 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: farmer Turner Eatmon, 30; wife Cherry, 23; and brother David, 15.
The Farmer and Mechanic (Raleigh, N.C.), 10 March 1881.
In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: Cinthia Eatmon, 40, with Luke, 23, Turner, 20, Wady, 18, and David Eatmon, 6.
In the 1880 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: farmer Turner Eatmon, 30; wife Cherry, 23; and brother David, 15.
Wilson [County, North Carolina] Special Proceedings, http://www.familysearch.org.
On 1 September 1881, attorney Frederick A. Woodard, administrator, filed a petition to sell Nelson Eatmon‘s personal property for cash. The sale went forward on September 30, netting $180.50 for an assortment of farm tools, household furnishings, and two mules.
Wilson County [North Carolina] Record of Accounts 1875-1884, http://www.familysearch.org.
We read here of half-brothers Jack Williamson and Willis Barnes, who were sons of Toney Eatmon. We now have evidence of another brother of Williamson, Arnold Peele.
Both Arnold Peele and his wife Hannah Eatmon Peele died in 1873.
On 10 July 1873, Jack Williamson renounced his intention to serve as administrator of Arnold Peele’s estate and requested that public administrator Larry D. Farmer serve instead.
The same day, Farmer applied for and was granted letters of administration. By his estimate, Peele’s estate was worth about $200 and his heirs were Jack Williamson, Charity Bynum, (who likely was his sister), and Joseph Farmer, executor of the estate of Hannah Peele. (Arnold Peele had no known living children, and the omission of Willis Barnes as an heir suggests that Peel and Williamson were maternal siblings.)
Receipt from L.D. Farmer to Isabell Eatman for “attending to stock &c of Arnold Peel,” dated 30 July 1873.
On 30 July 1873, L.D. Farmer offered Arnold Peele’s personal property for sale at auction. Isabella Eatmon, who may have been his stepdaughter, bid most often, winning numerous small household items. Among the neighbors who forked over small sums for various goods were John Kates [Cates], Sam Locust, Jack Williamson, Jacob Jones, and Orren Taborn. The entire sale netted only $215.55.
Hannah Peele died with a will, but I have not found a copy. Isabelle Eatmon, who presumably was her daughter, was her sole legatee and was paid out on 22 December 1873. (Hannah Eatmon Peele also had a son, Benjamin Eatmon, who seems to have predeceased her.)
On 26 September 1876, Sampson Bailey of Monticello, Arkansas, filed acknowledgement of receipt of the payout made to his wife, Charity “Cherry” Bailey.
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On 23 August 1866, Arnold Peel married Hannah Eatmond in Wilson County.
On 11 December 1868, Benjamin Eatman, son of Benjamin Winbun and Hanna Eatman, married Dina Locus, daughter of Gains and Zina Locus, in Wilson County.
In the 1870 census of Taylor township, Wilson County: Arnand Peel, 39, farm laborer; wife Hannah, 40; and Hannah Jr., 14.
Wilson Advance, 16 September 1881.
Nelson Eatmon, born free in what was then Nash County (and likely brother to my great-great-great-grandfather Toney Eatmon) died without a will in 1881. Attorney Frederick A. Woodard was appointed administrator of his estate, which included 300 acres of land in Old Fields township.
Eatmons (also “Eatman”) settled in what is now the Rock Ridge area of Wilson County by the mid-1700s. They are thought to descend from brothers John and Thomas Eatmon, but exact relationships between various Eatmon lines, which often intermarried, are murky.
This post is the second in a series featuring documents from Eatmon/Eatman family estate files. [Sidenote: Evidence suggests Theophilus Eatmon was my great-great-great-great-grandfather via a son, Toney Eatmon, he fathered with an unknown free woman of color. Unsurprisingly, Toney did not inherit from him.]
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On 4 October 1848, Theophilus Eatmon drafted a will that, among other things, distributed his enslaved property:
On 25 May 1849, Eatmon executed a codicil: Betty was to go his granddaughter Caroline Boykin, wife of Willie Boykin.
Theophilus Eatmon died in 1851 in what is now western Wilson County. As was customary, the community of enslaved people living on his farm were dispersed among family and neighbors under hire agreements. As the March 1851 account of hire of slaves below shows, Eatmon enslaved more than the eleven people named in his will; those unnamed, including Bob, Reuben, Willis, Anaca and her children, and Mary and her children, were to be sold. The estate file does not contain records of such sales, however.
The estate did not settle smoothly. A lawsuit by Theophilus’ granddaughter Aquilla Eatmon triggered a countersuit by Eatmon’s executor Absalom B. Baines against Aquilla and a neighbor named Hardy W. Boykin. Per depositions given by Boykin and Aquilla, Aquilla and her cousin Caroline Eatmon had cared for their grandfather in his old age. In 1844, Theophilus, who was illiterate, called Boykin to his house to write up two promissory notes. Though he had promised the girls “a negro each,” he decided to give them $400 instead, which “would buy a tolerable good one” or even “a pretty good one” once the amount accrued some interest. Believing they would be upset, Theophilus wanted to keep these gifts secret from his children. With some misgivings, Boykin drafted the documents and gave them to Caroline’s mother Charity Dalton for safekeeping. (Boykin was anxious not to antagonize the Eatmon children, but generally did Theophilus’ bidding. He described the old man as a competent farmer who owned more than 20 slaves and 2000 acres and only occasionally drank to excess.) A few years later, upset about Caroline’s choice of husband, Theophilus sought to pull the notes back. Caroline snatched her note, put in her bosom, and declared she had been promised a negro and did not think she ought to give it up. Aquilla also refused to return her note. Theophilus settled with Caroline per the terms of his 1849 codicil, but left nothing for Aquilla and never paid her note.
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In the 1850 slave schedule of Nash County, Theophilus Eatmon claimed 19 enslaved people: women aged 45 [Fanny?], 35, 24, 21, and 20; girls aged 15, 12, 11, 10, 8, 6, and one month; men aged 25 and 19 [Robert?]; and boys aged 15 [Jack?], 11, 10 [Willis?], 7 [Joseph?], and 5. The imbalance in the numbers of men and women suggests relationships off-plantation for most.
I have found relatively little evidence of the post-emancipation lives of Theophilus Eatmon’s enslaved community.
Jack Williamson was a son of Toney Eatmon. Born about 1835, his mother was Hester Williamson. Was he the Jack listed above? Likely not, as evidence established that Jack was owned by Thomas Williamson, then Thomas’ son Garry Williamson.
On 29 August 1866, Robert Eatmon and Viney Eatmon registered their seven-year cohabitation with a Nash County justice of the peace.
In the 1870 census of Chesterfield township, Nash County: farmer Robt. Eatmon, 38; wife Vinah, 35; Turner Eatmon, 65; Lannie [Fannie] Eatmon, 60; Willis, 30, Joseph, 18, Henry A., 10, Reuben, 6, and Mahala Eatmon, 3.
In the 1880 census of Bailey township, Nash County: farmer Robt. Eatmon, 52; wife Viny, 38; father Crawford Eatmon, 71; mother Fanny Eatmon, 82; nephew Rubin, 15, and niece Hellen, 13. [It does not appear that Crawford Eatmon, who may be the same person as Turner above, was enslaved by Theophilus.]
In the 1900 census of Bailey township, Nash County: farmer Robert Eatmon, 67; wife Vinie, 50; and niece Lizzie, 14.
In 1860, Theophilus Eatmon’s daughter Elisha Eatmon (also referred to in records as Selitia or Delitia) was accused harboring an enslaved girl named Violet who had run away from Berkley Cone. Is this the same Violet?
Or: in the 1880 census of Oldfields township, Wilson County: farmer Lewis Freeman, about 55; wife Katy, about 25; and Violet Eatman, about 78.
(My great-great-grandfather ) Willis Barnes, born about 1841, was also a son of Toney Eatmon. Is this him? Probably not. Though about the same age, my Willis was a married man with several children by 1870, unlike Willis Eatmon.
In the 1870 census of Chesterfield township, Nash County: farmer Robt. Eatmon, 38; wife Vinah, 35; Turner Eatmon, 65; Lannie [Fannie] Eatmon, 60; Willis, 30, Joseph, 18, Henry A., 10, Reuben, 6, and Mahala Eatmon, 3.
Fanny Eatmon had at least two children, Robert, born about 1832, and Margie Ann, birth year unknown. Robert reared Margie Ann’s children Reuben, born about 1863, and Mahala/Helen, born about 1867. Henry Eatmon also may have been Margie’s son.
In the 1870 census of Chesterfield township, Nash County: farmer Robt. Eatmon, 38; wife Vinah, 35; Turner Eatmon, 65; Lannie [Fannie] Eatmon, 60; Willis, 30, Joseph, 18, Henry A., 10, Reuben, 6, and Mahala Eatmon, 3.
In the 1880 census of Bailey township, Nash County: farmer Robt. Eatmon, 52; wife Viny, 38; father Crawford Eatmon, 71; mother Fanny Eatmon, 82; nephew Rubin, 15, and niece Hellen, 13.
On 30 November 1884, George Smith, 22, of Wake County, son of Lucy Smith (now Debnam), married Ellen [sic] Eatman, 17, of Wake County, daughter of Margia Ann Eatman (now [illegible]), in Marks Creek, Wake County. Robert Eatmon, Helen’s uncle, gave permission for the ceremony.
In addition to their blood relationship, Helen Eatmon had been bound as an apprentice to her uncle Robert Eatmon.
Reuben Eatman died in Bailey township, Nash County, on 4 June 1922. Per his death certificate, he was 57 years old; his mother was Margie Eatman; he was married; and he worked as a farmer. He was buried in Wilson County. Frank Eatman was informant.
Estate File of Theophilus Eatmon (1851), Nash County, North Carolina Estate Files 1663-1979, http://www.familysearch.org; North Carolina, U.S. Marriage Records 1741-2011, http://www.ancestry.com.
In August 1866, Willis Barnes and Cherry Battle registered their six-year marriage with a Wilson County justice of the peace. Willis likely had been enslaved by Joshua Barnes of Wilson County. Cherry had been enslaved by Alexander Eatmon of Nash County, then sold in 1860 to Margaret H. Battle of Wilson County.
The couple had at least nine children, most of whom lived to adulthood. An examination of the children’s marriage license applications and birth certificates reveals the varied and sometimes conflicting ways personal information, especially names, were recorded in official records.
On 21 Sep 1882, H.G. Whitehead applied for a marriage license for Mike Taylor of Wilson, aged 20, colored, son of John Taylor and unknown mother, both living, and Rachel Barnes of Wilson, age 19, colored, parents unknown, father dead, mother’s status not given. Whitehead was a wealthy white farmer for whom Taylor likely worked, and his utter lack of familiarity with the couple’s families (and disinterest in correcting the lack) is reflected in the bad information he provided. Mike Taylor’s father’s name was Green Taylor, not John, and his mother was Phereby Taylor. (It makes no sense Mike’s mother was described as living, but unknown.) Whitehead knew nothing at all about Rachel’s parents and described her “unknown” father as dead (Willis Barnes lived until 1914), and her mother as a complete cipher, though Cherry Barnes was alive into the 1890s.
On the same day, Louis Croom, Baptist minister, married Taylor and Barnes in Wilson in the presence of W.T. Battle and Edman Pool. [Was W.T. Battle related to Rachel? Was he the W. Turner Battle who married Louvina Knight in Wilson on 24 May 1875? A man named Turner was among the enslaved people Margaret H. Battle received from her father Weeks Parker’s estate. Edmund Pool, of course, was the legendary founder of the Red Hot Hose & Reel Company.]
Rachel Barnes Taylor died 2 October 1925 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, her parents were Willis Barnes and Cherry Barnes.
Wesley Barnes, called “Sylvester” Barnes on his marriage application, married Ella Mercer on 4 June 1885 in Wilson County. His parents’ names are not listed.
Wesley Barnes died 20 January 1919 in Wilson township. His death certificate lists his parents as Willis Barnes and Cherry Eatmon.
Jesse Barnes, 21, son of Willis Barnes and Cherry Barnes, married Mary Mag Mercer on 3 April 1889 in Wilson. Mercer was the sister of Jesse’s brother Wesley’s wife Ella Mercer Barnes. The official witnesses to the marriage were Jesse’s brothers Wesley and Ned Barnes.
Jesse Barnes died 25 January 1916 in Wilson. His death certificate lists his parents as Willis Barnes and Cherry Barnes.
Ned Barnes appeared in the 1880 census and on his marriage license as “Edward,” but by 1900 he is invariably referred to as “Ned,” the name he passed on to his son. On 29 October 1891, he and Louisa Gay were married in Wilson. Their marriage record does not list their parents’ names.
Ned Barnes died 1 December 1912 in Raleigh, Wake County, N.C. His death certificate lists his father as Willis Barnes and his mother as unknown. His wife Louisa surely knew her mother-in-law’s name, but their daughter Mattie Barnes was informant, and she apparently did not.
Mary Barnes, 18, daughter of Willis Barnes and Cherry Barnes, married Pearce Barnes, 26, son of Robert and Hannah Barnes, on 14 September 1893 at “Gen. [Joshua] Barnes Plantation” in Wilson County.
Mary Barnes and Henry Jones, both 41, were married in Wilson on 24 December 1917. Almost exactly two years later, Mary Jones was dead. Her death certificate lists her parents as Willis Barnes and Cherry Battle. Her sister Rachel Taylor was informant.
Willie Barnes married Hattie Best on 31 December 1902 at Hattie’s father Orren Best’s house in Grabneck, Wilson. Per their marriage license, Willie Barnes was the son of Willis Barnes and Cherry Barnes; his brother Jesse Barnes applied for the license.
Witness Charles B. Gay was the brother-in-law of Willie’s brother Ned Barnes.
Sentha Barnes married Henry S. Perry on 14 September 1899 in Wilson. Their marriage license lists her father, Willis Barnes, but applicant F.A. Fenderson described her mother as unknown. This marriage was reported in the Wilson Daily Times.
Cintha Perry died about 1909.
Edgar Barnes, 21, of Wilson, son of Willis Barnes and Cherry Barnes, married Mary Hill, 19, daughter of Joe Hill and Anna Hill, at Saint John A.M.E. Zion in Wilson on 4 October 1909.
On 24 September 1921, Edgar Barnes, 27, of Greenville, son of Willis Barnes and Cherry Barnes, married Delia Hawkins, 22, daughter of Will Hawkins and Ella Hawkins, in Greenville, Pitt County.
Edgar Barnes died 6 April 1940 at the Veterans Hospital in Kecoughtan, Elizabeth City County, Virginia. His death certificate lists his parents as Willis Barnes and Cherry Eatman, both of Wilson County.
I’ve been at this a long time, folks. And sometimes it takes a long time to make the dots connect.
In 1986, renowned local historian Hugh B. Johnston Jr. told me he believed (1) Willis Barnes had been enslaved by Joshua Barnes (or some of “that set” north of Toisnot Swamp; (2) he was “suspicious” of Toney and Annie Eatmon as Willis Barnes’ parents; and (3) Cherry Battle Barnes “no doubt” had been enslaved by Amos J. Battle and lived on a farm owned by Battle’s wife.
This week, I made the connection that supports (3). In 1860, as a result of litigation arising from the settlement of the estate of Weeks Parker, a wealthy Edgecombe County planter, a trustee purchased from Alexander Eatmon an enslaved young woman named Cherry, who joined a group of enslaved people bequeathed to Parker’s daughter Margaret H. Parker Battle — Amos J. Battle’s wife. I found the bill of sale in deed books at the Wilson County courthouse.
The jury’s still out on (1), as the only evidence I have at this point is the proximity of Willis Barnes’ household (#180) to Joshua Barnes’ (#188) in the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County. As to (2), I have discussed freeborn Toney Eatmon elsewhere, and the strong DNA links I have to descendants of both Theophilus Eatmon, his putative father, and Nelson Eatmon, his putative brother. Annie was an enslaved woman who apparently died before 1870 and about whom I have no additional information.