freedmen

The last will and testament of London Woodard.

Acclaimed Primitive Baptist preacher London Woodard made out his last will and testament on 14 November 1870.

After directing a “decent burial,” Woodard itemized the household goods and farm implements left to his “beloved wife,” Penelope Lassiter Woodard.

His three sons, William, Hardy, and Haywood Woodard, were to divide his land equally and receive one beehive and one axe each.

Daughter Treasy Woodard received the late nineteenth-century equivalent of a bedroom set.

The rest of his property was to be divided among his children Howell, Elvin, Rose, Pharibee, Sarah, Amos, Harriet, London, Treasy, and Penina Woodard.

 

The estate of Prince Daniel (1889).

When Prince Daniel died about 1889, his modest estate reflected a life painstakingly built since the end of slavery.

Daniel died without a will, and a white farmer named Perry Renfrow, with whom he had a close relationship, was appointed administrator of the estate. On 29 February 1889, Daniel’s belongings went up for sale at auction. Among the family, friends, and neighbors that purchased farm implements, furniture, and utensils were David Rowe and his son Ruffin Rowe; husband and wife Gaston and Waity Barnes; Alford Jordan; Raiford Daniel; Mason Bass; and Condary Barnes.

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On 31 August 1866, Prince Daniel and Absley Simms registered their cohabitation with a Wilson County justice of the peace.

In the 1870 census of Cross Roads township, Wilson County: farm laborer Prince Daniel, 55; wife Absley, 40; and Isaac, 13. Daniel reported owning $100 in personal property.

In the 1880 census of Cross Roads township, Wilson County: farmer Prince Daniel, 67, and wife Absley, 44. [Next door: farm laborer Isaac Daniel, 23; wife Zilla, 24; and daughters Virginia, 5, Ella Jane, 3, and Mobelia, 3 months.]

On 9 June 1883, a Wilson County Probate Court judge ordered Jennie Daniel, 9, and Ella Daniel, 7, bound as apprentices to Prince Daniel until they each reached 21 years of age. Perry Renfrow was witness to the transaction. [These were Isaac and Zilla Daniel’s daughters. Why were they bound to Prince?]

Prince Daniel Estate File, Wilson County, North Carolina Estate Files 1663-1979, http://www.familysearch.org; United States Indenture and Manumission Records, 1780-1939, database at https://familysearch.org.

The apprenticeship of George Vick.

On 7 January 1870, a Wilson County Probate Court judge ordered 28 month-old George Vick bound as an apprentice to John D. Wells until he reached 21 years of age.

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George Vick is not listed in John D. Wells’ household in the 1870 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County.

Possibly, in the 1880 federal mortality schedule of Toisnot township, Wilson County: George Vick, 11, black, died in November 1879 of typhoid fever.

United States Indenture and Manumission Records, 1780-1939, database at https://familysearch.org.

The apprenticeship of Isaac Bynum.

On 11 January 1870, a Wilson County Probate Court judge ordered 14 year-old Isaac Bynum bound as an apprentice to Jolly Bynum until he reached 21 years of age.

  • Jolly Bynum and Isaac Bynum

In the 1870 census of Gardners township, Wilson County: Jolly Bynum, 60, farm laborer; wife Amy, 54; and Isaac, 15. [Was Isaac the grandson of Jolly and Amy Bynum?]

Perhaps, in the 1880 census of Garders township, Wilson County: Isaac Bynum, 27, farm laborer, living alone.

United States Indenture and Manumission Records, 1780-1939, database at https://familysearch.org.

The apprenticeship of John Ellis.

On 6 January 1871, a Wilson County Probate Court judge ordered 14 year-old John Ellis bound as an apprentice to Francis R. Ellis until he reached 21 years of age.

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In the 1870 census of Saratoga township, Wilson County, 14 year-old John Ellis is listed as a “farmer’s apprentice” in the household of William and Rebecca F. Ellis.

United States Indenture and Manumission Records, 1780-1939, database at https://familysearch.org.

The apprenticeship of Cassanda Locust, alias Cassanda Wiggins.

On 19 February 1870, a Wilson County Probate Court judge ordered five year-old Cassanda Locust bound as an apprentice to Redick Eatmon until she reached 21 years of age.

  • Cassanda Locust

Cassanda Locust’s surname suggests that she was freeborn, as does the name under which she is found in the 1880 census of Taylors township, Wilson County: farmer Reddic Eatmon, 49; wife Charity, 48; and hireling Casana Wiggins, 14.

The apprenticeship of Ashley Jordan.

On 22 January 1870, a Wilson County Probate Court judge ordered Ashley Jordan bound as an apprentice to Jacob H. Barnes until he reached 21 years of age. At the end of his term, Jordan was to receive “six dollars in cash, a new suit of clothes and a new Bible.”

  • Ashley Jordan — Jordan is not listed in the household of Jacob H. Barnes in the 1870 census, and I have found no further information about him.

United States Indenture and Manumission Records, 1780-1939, database at https://familysearch.org.

The apprenticeship of Amos Exum.

On 2 October 1869, a Wilson County Probate Court judge ordered 21 month-old Amos Exum bound as an apprentice to Walter Lane until he reached 21 years of age.

I found neither Amos Exum nor Walter Lane in other Wilson County records.

United States Indenture and Manumission Records, 1780-1939, database at https://familysearch.org.

The Spell family portrait.

Photographs of formerly enslaved people are relatively rare, and I am grateful to Roy S. Spell Jr. for sharing one that his family has cherished for well over a century. His grandfather Johnnie Spell, born about 1903, is at bottom left, leaning against his grandmother Chaney Spell, who was born into slavery about 1845. Other Spell family members surround them.

We met Chaney Spell here in the interview she gave a Works Project Administration worker in the late 1930s. (Annie Finch Artis can be heard giving voice to Chaney Spell’s words in an exhibit first staged at Wilson’s Imagination Station and now permanently housed at Freeman Round House Museum.) 

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In the 1900 census of Black Creek township, Wilson County: widowed farmer Chaney Spells, 55, sons James S., 19, Gray, 17, Walter, 16, and Charley, 13, grandchildren Unity, 14, Fannie, 10, Irvin, 7, and Chaney Farmer, 2, and boarder Harriet Killibrew, 45.

In the 1910 census of Black Creek township, Wilson County: widow Chanie Spell, 65, farmer; son Walter, 21; and grandchildren Yearnie, 20, Chanie, 13, Thomas, 5, and Louise, 3.