enslaver

The children of the estate of Thomas Williamson.

In an earlier post, we examined the will of Thomas Williamson and the sale after his death in 1856 of 16 boys and girls he had enslaved.

On 16 May 1859, nine men bought the children at top dollar:

Williamson lived in what is now far southwest Wilson County. These 16 children, some just toddlers, were pulled from their mothers, fathers, and siblings, and sold across three counties. It breaks my heart that I can trace only one of the children forward into freedom.

  • John T. Barnes purchased Nathan, 8, Denick, 7, Dillicy, 10, and Carolina, 7.

In the 1860 census of the Town of Wilson, Wilson County, John T. Barnes, 29, is listed as the sheriff of Wilson County. He claimed $5000 in real property and $18,000 in personal property. He was living in the household of Jesse H. Adams and presumably owned farmland out in the county. The bulk of his personal property would have been comprised of enslaved people, but I have found no record of their names.

  • W. Swift purchased Ben, age 7, for $800.00, and Harriet, age 9, for $950.00.

Wesley Swift is listed in the 1860 census of the Town of Wilson with his wife and daughter. Though no occupation is ascribed to him, he is listed with $6000 in real property and $30,000 in personal property. In the slave schedule the same year, he claimed 12 enslaved people.

  • Garry Fulghum purchased Amos, 5, and Catherine, 3.

Garry Fulghum does not appear in the 1860 census, but was a 16 year-old living in his parents’ household in Nash County (in the section of the county that would soon become Oldfields township, Wilson County).

  • Wright Blow purchased Joe, 5.

In the 1860 slave schedule of the district east of the Neuse River, Johnston County, North Carolina, Wright Blow claimed 12 enslaved people, including a six year-old boy who likely was Joe. In the federal census, Blow was described as a merchant with $1800 in real property and $12,225 in personal property.

Joe was the son of Charity, who went to Mourning Williamson Peele under the terms of Thomas Williamson’s will. Joe was reunited with his mother after Emancipation, and the family appears in the 1870 census of Black Creek township, Wilson County: Charity Blow, 32, domestic servant, and children Joseph, 18, Lenday, 9, Thomas, 3, and Lucind, 1. By the late 1880s, Joe Blow was serving as constable of Wilson township.

  • James Boyette purchased Allen, 3.

In the 1860 census of Oldfields township, Wilson County: James Boyette, 53, farmer, who claimed $2900 in real property and $9500 in personal property.

  • John Wilkins purchased Bethea, 8.

Of three John Wilkinses in the area in 1860, the most likely is the John Wilkins listed in Joyners & Gardners district, Wilson County, with $2400 in real property and $14,750 in personal property. In the 1860 slave schedule, he claimed 14 enslaved people. I have not been able to identify them by name.

  • Joshua Barnes purchased Chaney, 7.

Father of Wilson County General Joshua Barnes enslaved dozens and dozens of Black people. He claimed in $79,000 in personal property in 1860, and the slave schedule shows him with 66 enslaved people housed in ten dwellings on his plantation.

  • William Ricks purchased Renner, 5.

In the 1860 census of Collins township, Nash County, farmer William Ricks, 32, claimed $2000 in real property and $15,650 in personal property. I have not been able to identify the people he enslaved by name.

  • Ransom Hinnant purchased Dizey, 5.

Ransom Hinnant was an enslaver of relatively modest means, appearing in the 1860 census of Kirbys district, Wilson County, with a very precise $2023 in real property and $5487 in personal property. I have not been able to identify any of the people he enslaved by name.

  • A.J. Taylor purchased Lyddey, age 2.

Forty-two year-old farmer Alsey J. Taylor appears in the 1860 census of Bailey district, Nash County, owning $25,000 in real property and $42,850 in personal property. He appears in the slave schedule of Sullivants district with 35 enslaved people housed in ten dwellings. I have not been able to identify them by name.

The David Williams house.

David Williams is best known for his work in the state legislature with General Joshua Barnes create Wilson County from parts of Edgecombe, Nash, Johnston, and Wayne Counties. Williams’ house was in Edgecombe County during his lifetime, but a boundary adjustment in 1883 shifted it into Wilson. His enormous plantation sprawled into both counties, however.

The David Williams house, 1980. It has since been demolished.

Per the National Register of Historic Places Inventory — Nomination Form for Upper Town Creek Rural Historic District, prepared by Kate Ohno in 1982, the house was built between 1845 and 1860. “This square two-story double-pile Greek Revival house is typical of the kind of plantation house popular with the prosperous planters of this area during the fifteen years before the Civil War.

Detail of ceiling medallion, 1980. “The most outstanding feature of the interior is, however, the elaborate plaster ceiling medallions and cornices. The hall boasts the most elaborate round medallion, while the parlor has a simpler round one and an elaborate plaster cornice.”

Despite the dozens and dozens of number of people David Williams enslaved, I have only been able to identify a handful by name. The 1830 will of Drewry Williams, which entered probate in 1831, included bequests to son David of a “Negro girl by the name of Rose one Negro boy by the name of Amos and one Negro man by the name of George.” David Williams was also bequeathed a one-third interest in three enslaved people — Pink, Nan, and Peter — after the death of his mother.

In the 1850 federal slave schedule of Edgecombe County, North Carolina, David Williams is listed with 17 enslaved people.

In the 1860 federal slave schedule of Edgecombe County, North Carolina, Williams reported an astonishing 128 enslaved people, making him one of the largest slaveholders in the area. The quarters on his plantation included 20 houses, none of which was standing at the time the house was nominated for the historic register.

On 13 August 1866, Preston Williams and Betty Petteway registered their 15-year cohabitation with a Wilson County justice of the peace. W.D. Petway was a close neighbor of David Williams, and the couple may have been enslaved on their adjoining plantations.

In the 1870 census of Joyners township, Wilson County: farmer Preston Williams, 46; wife Bettie, 34; and children Samuel, 17, Warren, 14, Rose, 11, William, 6, and Virginia, 2. On 18 August 1870, Dicey Petway, daughter of Bettie Williams, married Red[mond] Braswell, son of Preston Wilson, at Joyners township. [Braswell was the surname of another slaveholder who lived near Williams and Petway.]

A Google Maps aerial showing the former site of the David Williams house at A. (William D. Petway’s house was located at B. The Edgecombe County line runs parallel to and a couple of hundred feet east of Orchard Road.

The William D. Petway house.

We’ve met William D. Petway here (advertising the sale of several enslaved people) and here (placing an ad for a runaway enslaved man). His home and plantation lay near and across the boundary with present-day Edgecombe County in Wilson County’s Upper Town Creek Rural Historic District.

William Davis Petway house, 1980.

Per the National Register of Historic Places Inventory — Nomination Form for Upper Town Creek Rural Historic District, prepared by Kate Ohno in 1982:

“The oldest house in the district is the William Davis Petway house. Petway was born on October 1, 1799, and was the son of Major Micajah Pettaway, a veteran of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, and Mary Sugg. Major Pettaway was a prominent planter and in July 1819, he deeded 435 acres on the north side of Poplar Branch to his son. It seems likely that this tract formed the core of Petway’s holdings and was most likely the tract upon which he built his home. He married Cinderella Cromwell, daughter of Elisha Cromwell, prior to 1823. Petway continued to add to his landholdings in the 1820s, receiving 112 acres from the division of his father-in-law’s estate and other tracts adjacent to his property. By the time of this death on October 18, 1858, he owned in excess of 2,270 acres.

The parlor mantel of the Petway house.

“Petway was involved in business and civic matters as well as in farming. He served as sheriff of Edgecombe County from 1835 until 1851. He was also associated in the mid 1850s with W.M.G. Sharp and John T. Sharp in a mercantile business which also sold liquor at Joyner’s Depot [Elm City]. By 1850 Petway was in the turpentine business. He employed four male laborers and produced $800 worth of turpentine and other pine products annually. Petway was an extensive farmer as well. In 1836 he purchased the real property in his father’s estate amounting to 1,364 acres. By 1850 he owned 2,400 acres of which 500 acres were cultivated. Although his real property was valued at only $7,381 he owned forty-eight slaves in 1850. … [Petway’s listing in the 1850 slave schedule of Edgecombe County actually credits him with 49 slaves. Curiously, 43 were reported as women or girls, and only six as men or boys (and none of these above age 18). This is an improbable ratio that suggests a recording error.]

“Petway died intestate in 1858 leaving his widow and seven children ….

“The home tract thus came under the managements of Cinderella Petway for nearly 13 years. At first the plantation prospered; in 1860 Mrs. Petway is listed as a sixty-year old farmer owning real property valued at $25,000 and personal property valued at $16,000. She owned only fifteen slaves due to the division of her husband’s slaves among his heirs. Six slave houses (no longer extant) were on the property. Her son Oliver, age twenty, lived with his mother as well as Ezra Bullock, a farm overseer, and a white female domestic servant. Oliver’s personal property, including slaves, was valued at $18,000 and his slaves were probably used to cultivate and maintain the home tract occupied by him and his mother. …” [Senda Petway appears in the 1860 census of Edgecombe County with women and girls ages 50, 40, 28, 27, 18, 7, 2, and 1, and men and boys ages 70, 45, 28, 19, 8, 7, and 4. Son O.C. Petway claimed women and girls ages 40, 25, 18, 5, and 5, and men and boys ages 50, 13, 8, 8, and 1.]

The Petways enslaved dozens of people, but the surname is now uncommon in Wilson County. I have not been able to identify by name any of the enslaved except freedom-seeker Miles.

The historic district nomination form includes a map pinpointing the Petway house on State Road 1414.

That road is now White Bridge Road, and the Petway house and its outbuildings have been demolished.

A close-up of the site:

Photos courtesy of nomination form, above; aerials courtesy of Google Maps.

A guide to the wills and estate records of Wilson County enslavers.

Wills and estate records contain some of the most useful material for researchers of enslaved people. Here, a running list of enslavers’ wills and estate records featured in Black Wide-Awake.

Wills

Detail from 1860 federal slave schedule of Wilson County, North Carolina.

Estate records