Freedmen’s Bureau

He never set up a claim to them until recently.

We read earlier of Violet Blount‘s successful attempt to gain custody of her grandsons, Oscar and Marcus Blount, who were first cousins to Samuel H. Vick. Though that battle played out in the Goldsboro field office of the Freedmen’s Bureau, George W. Blount’s statement was filed in the Rocky Mount office. In it, he gave details about the relationship between the boys’ mother, Margaret Blount, and Samberry Battle.

——

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Statement of G.W. Blount.

Margarett was the name of the mother of the children. Oscar & Marcus, two colored children bound to B.H. Blount their former master by Wilson County Court. The mother of these children is dead and has been for several years. Samberry Battle did have the mother of the children for a wife & by her begot one child who is now of age & whose name is William. After the birth of William the mother became intimate with another man, by name Hillman, by whom she had two children, James & [illegible]. After the birth of the first of these two Samberry left the mother on account of her infidelity and took another woman and never after had anything to do with the mother of these. Marcus has a different father from Oscar, and there is yet another child by a different father. It is notorious among negros & whites that Samberry is not the father of any of the children except William and never set up a claim to them, until recently. He has never mentioned the mother to B.H. Blount in whose custody the children have always been. The grandmother of the children is living under the protection of B.H. Blount who will not see her suffer and said Grandmother protests against the claim of Samberry Battle. The fathers of the two children referred to above if living are not in this country & if so could not claim them as they were both begotten illegitimately. Therefore the binding by the Court without Notice to them is valid. The binding was regular & in accordance to law.

Roll 56, Miscellaneous Records, Rocky Mount Assistant Superintendent’s Records, North Carolina Freedmen’s Bureau Field Office Records, 1863-1872, National Archives and Records Administration images, www.familysearch.org. 

 

Calvin Bone supports his claim.

More on the contract dispute with Jourdin Artis that Calvin Bone brought to the attention of the Freedmen’s Bureau:

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Black creek N.C., July 3 1867.

Mr. O Compton, I Received your note yesterday in closed you will find the am of my Acct against Jourdin Artis, allso an Acct he should of had to of settled with his hands. Jourdin has never bin to me for asettlement nor nor finished the contract he is oing me right smart Am. now. I thought all last fall he would come & complete the egagement you want the Am of labour done there has bin only 6423 bushels of marl thrown out & agreeable to contract he should of thrown out 26000 bushels. I would go down at once & see you but my crop is allmost ruined with grass I have narry dutiful Sevent or that will do to risk. if you request my going to your office let me hear from you again I shall be at this post office again in five or six days.  Verry Respectfully yrs., Calvin Bone.

Bone attached pages and pages documenting supplies advanced to Artis for laborers Artis employed — tobacco, flour, sugar, whiskey, herrings, mullet, shoes, clothing.

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Including documents that named the workers. Though Bone lived in Black Creek, Wilson County, Artis appears — per the 1870 census — to have hired most of his hands from nearby Wayne County communities.

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The contract itself:

 

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Witnesseth that the said Jourdin Artis agrees with the Said Calvin Bone that he will clear off dig & threw out twenty six thousand bushels of pure marl on the farm of the said Calvin Bones in the mill Swamp on or before the first of Dcr next

and the said Calvin Bone in consideration of the fourgoing agreement promises and agrees, to and with the Said Jourdin Artis pay one cent a bushel in Specie or its value in Something wee can agree on, and the said Calvin Bone do further to furnish the said Jourdin Artis with one hundred & eighty lbs of bacon or its adequate in herrings & ten bushels of meal during the time he is labouring & digging the above named marl, & the said Jourdin Artis is to give the said Calvin Bone his trade whilst he is performing the above named labour this the twenty third day of July one thousand eight hundred Sixty Six in witnesseth whereoff wee set our hands and seals 

This is a true coppy of the contract with me and Jourdin Artis there was only one ritten Ys truly Calvin Bone

 

North Carolina Freedmen’s Bureau Assistant Commissioner Records 1862-1870, http://www.familysearch.org.

 

 

 

The family is doing well.

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Bureau R.F. & A.L., Sub. Dist. Goldsboro, Goldsboro, N.C. Novr. 9th 1866

Bvt.Col. A.G. Brady, Supt. Central Dist. N.C., Raleigh N.C. 

Col., I had the honor about ten (10) days since to receive through you a communication from a man in Boston inquiring about a family of freedmen in Wilson Co. which I sent to Mr. J.J. Lutts in Wilson and he replied that the family was then doing well etc. but I mislaid the communication so I cannot find it or it may have been taken or dropped from my pocket, or I fear most torn up and swep out with waste paper and you will much oblige by sending a copy of the breif with endorsements. The family inquire about was Taylor and Barnes. Your kind attention and early reply is respectfully solicited. Very respectfully, yr obt. Svt., Jas.W.H. Stickney [illegible]

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Bureau of Refugees Freedmen &c., Hd.Qrs. Asst. Commissioners, Raleigh N.C. Dec 14th 1866

Bell Jas B., Boston Mass

Sir, In answer to your communication of Oct 19th [illegible] in relation to whereabout of certain colored people. I quote language of Asst Supt at Goldsboro N.C.

“This family inquired for are living in the town of Wilson Wilson County N.C. are doing well and any communications for them can be addressed to Mr Benjamin Woods or to his care at Wilson”

Your communication having been mislaid the names of the family cannot be given.

Very respectfully, Your Obdt Servant, Jacob F. Ohm, Bt.Lt.Col. & A.A.A.G.

North Carolina, Freedmen’s Bureau Field Office Records, 1863-1872, http://FamilySearch.org.

Redding had two wives.

Wilson, N.C. Nov 25th 1865

Commissioner of Freedman at Goldsboro. Sir there is a Colored woman in prison in this County Committed by some Magistrate in Edgcombe County. I do not know any of the particulars. I have been told that she was in prison with one or two little children & they will certainly suffer with Cold if they remain there. Mr. John Smith of this County has in his care five orphan children have no near relations Mr. Smith has been a loyal citizen to the U.S. Government all the war, he is a good man clothes & feeds well, he wishes to have them bound. There names & ages are Samuel 17 years old, Caroline 15 years old, Symeon 13 years old, Princh 11 years old, Frank 9 years old. Mr. Smith can give the best of refference.

Respectfully

W.J. Bullock, Capt. L.P.F.

[Different handwriting] Roberson Baker put Redding Baker in jail and took his children.

——

Wilson N.C. Dec 26th 1865

Geo. O. Glavis

Sir, I received a Communication from you this morning in reguard to one Redding Baker (freedman) stating that he was put in jail by Rob Baker, and I ought not to permit such proceeding &c. I presume you know nothing or but little about the case or myself either, or you would not have wrote as you did. You said Baker had no authority for taking those children &c, if he had not of had an order to that effect he certainly would not have gotten them returned to him, and that authority was the highest in this state. I presume from Col. Whitlesy. The case is as follows Redding had two wives one at Mr. Bakers, and one at a Mr. Blows. He had discarded the wife who lived at Mr. Bakers, took the other one home, I assisted him in getting his children by his wife at home; he afterwards took the children of his other wife, she went to see them, and he whipped her very bad or as she stated to me, she said she wanted her children to stay at Mr Bakers, the case was sent to Raleigh and Col Whitlesy ordered the children carried back to Mr Baker’s. I was absent at the time, Mr Baker called on a Lt of the Police to return the children as the order requested him to call on the Police to return them. The Lt served the order on Redding he promised to return them by a certain day; he did not obey the order & when I came home the Lt sent me to know what course to pursue. I ordered him to return the children to Mr Baker according to the Order from Raleigh, and to send Redding to me for whipping Annikey his abandoned wife, he was sent late in the evening I lodged him in jail for investigation I investigated the case laid no furnishment, found it was a case of not sufficient importants to send to you & discharged him. I hope the above will be satisfactory. You see Mr Baker did not put him in jail. And besides the jailor of this County is a gentleman, and knows his duty, will not receive any one in the jail unless committed by a Magistrate or myself. There have not been any freedmen put in the jail who has not been reported to you or Gen Hardin, except in cases of minor importants upon investigation discharged. There are not any freedmen in jail here at all, the last who was there escaped before I got orders to send him off.

Should the above not be satisfactory, I will try to satisfy you when up to Wilson. As for my character I will refer you to the Union men of the County among them W. Daniel, W.G. Sharp, G.W. Blount & others.

Very respectfully

Your Obedt Servt

W.J. Bullock

Capt. L.P. Force

——

White farmer William Bullock, 38, is listed in the 1870 census of Town of Wilson, Wilson County NC. 52 year-old white farmer Roberson Baker is listed in Oldfields township. Neither Redding nor Annikey Baker nor their children appear in the county.

Freedmen Bureau Records of Field Offices, 1863-1878 [database online], http://www.ancestry.com.

They have urged me to take them from their father.

Bu.R.F.&A.L., Office Asst. Sub. Asst. Com, Rocky Mount N.C. Dec 3rd 1867

Brt.Lt.Col. C.E. Compton, Sub. Asst. Com.

Colonel

There is a colored man living in Wilson County by the name of Exum Joyner, who has five children, the oldest is about fifteen years of age.

The children have been to me twice and urged me to take them from their father & send them to some place where they could earn a comfortable support & protect them in so doing. I told them I had no authority to take them away from their father & sent them back to him.

I have made enquiries of both White & Black men who are neighbors, and know Exum’s character & the response has been, in every case, that he is Lazy worthless fellow & that he does not take [care] of his children.

They were certainly in a pitiable condition when they came to my office.

Would it be proper for me to ask the court in Wilson County to appoint a guardian for them

These children have a half brother who is twenty five years old, and he is an active, intelligent man; he is willing to take charge of them, providing he can be properly authorized.

I have the honor to be, Very Respectfully, Your Obed’t Svt.,

Wm. H. Culler, Brt.Lt.Col. & A.S.A.C.

Freedmen Bureau Records of Field Offices, 1863-1878 [database online], http://www.ancestry.com.

In which grimly bald-faced assertions of privilege are roundly rejected, and children are returned to their family.

Letters from the files of the Goldsboro Field Office of the Freedmen’s Bureau, which had jurisdiction over Wilson County:

Wilson N.C. 4th June 1867

C.C. Compton Major U.S.A.

Sir

In answer to your Order directing me to return the boys Oscar & Marcus who were apprenticed to me by the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions of Wilson County, to their parents or other kin, permit me to inform you that Samberry Battle pretending to claim them as his children has filed his Complaint against me, first before the Gentleman of the bureau at Rockymount, who made an Order on me to deliver them to him or show cause &c. I got my son G.W. Blount who knew most of the facts connected with the matter to go to Rockymount and make a statement of facts for the consideration of the Bureau and thereupon the case was dismissed. Some few weeks ago Samberry filed another complaint against me before your predecessor Capt. [blank] at Goldsborough who issued his order for me to deliver the boys to Samberry or report to him &c. Being unwell at the time and unable to attend in person I wrote to him and made a statement of facts which I requested him to consider before making his final decision. Which letter, my son G.W. Blount, who was well acquainted with most of the facts therein stated and was willing to swear to them, carried down to Goldsborough and delivered it to the Capt who considered the matter and expressed himself as perfectly satisfied and said that he would dismiss the proceedings and write to me in a few days giving me official information, which I was expecting up to the time I received your Order yesterday. I presume the Capt., your predecessor turned over to you all the papers belonging to his office and if so, be so good as to look at the statement made by me to him and I feel confident that your decision will be the same as his. The case decided by the Supreme Court of N.C. was different from this in many respects, but it is not my purpose to argue the matter but simply to present some facts showing the injustice of the claims set up by Samberry and others who never did any thing toward the support of the boys while I have worked night and day to feed and clothe them. I admit that the boys were not in court at the time of the binding, but they were in town and would have been carried into the Court room if it had been required by the Court. And as to notice — the mother has been dead several years and their fathers (they are different men) if living are not in this country and could not be notified. The boys were born mine and I have fed and clothed them until they were large enough to remunerate me in some small decree for their expenses it seems to me that it would be a very great injustice to deprive me of their services and to give them up to persons that never contributed one cent to their support. Their next of kin are too poor to provide for them and protect them properly and their means would be to hire them out as slaves and treated as such. Be so good as to look at my statement made to your predecessor, as that is more full and explicit. If you have any doubt about the truth my statement I would refer you to Mr. Dortch of your town who knows my character and has known it from his early youth. If you should decide that I must turn them out upon the cold charities of the world I shall do so promptly. Inform me of your decision at your convenience & Oblige very respectfully &c. /s/ B.H. Blount

——

I Violet Blount do hereby certify on oath that Oscar & Marcus Blount are my grand-children that their reputed father is a resident of another county & that he has no controll of them, that they were apprenticed to Mr. B.H. Blount without their knowledge or consent, that they were not in Open Court at the time of such binding, as the records of the Court will show. I further certify that I am old & infirm & am dependent upon the labor of my grand daughter & husband for support. I further certify that Marcus & Oscar have a younger brother who is unable to support himself, being only about ten years old. I further certify that I am willing that Daniel Vick should have said boys apprenticed to him that they may assist him in my support.    Violet X Blount

Sworn to & subscribed before me this 25th day of June 1867   /s/ Elisha Barnes J.P.

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State of North Carolina, Wilson County   }

Court of P.&.Q. Sessions July Term A.D. 1867

On motion it is ordered by the Court that the Indentures of Apprenticeship between A.G. Brooks Chairman of the Court and Benj. H. Blount binding of Oscar and Marcus col’d children is canseld & it is further Ordered that the said Oscar age 16 years and Marcus age 18 years be apprenticed to Violet Blount colard woman all parties being in open court and consenting.  Witness B.F. Briggs Clerk

——

  • Daniel Vick and Fannie Blount registered their six-year cohabitation in Wilson County on August 31, 1866.
  • Sambery Battle married America Vick in Nash County on 2 May 1867. Wallace Battle served as bondsman.
  • Violet Blount, described as a 70 year-old, married mulatto woman, is listed in the 1870 mortality schedule of Wilson township, Wilson County. She had died of cancer in July 1869.
  • Benjamin Harrison Blount (1804-1876) lived and worked as a merchant in the Castalia area of northwest Nash County. It is clear that he had held Marcus and Oscar Blount, and most likely their mother and grandmother, during slavery. The 1860 federal slave schedule records him as owner of 16 enslaved people, who lived crammed in two houses. Per a biography published at Findagrave.com, “After the Civil War, hard times saw the [Blount] family remove to Wilson where eldest son George W. Blount had married and established himself as a successful attorney.” I have not found the detailed letter Blount said his son G.W. sent to Major Compton’s predecessor. [Update: see here.]
  • In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: baker Samuel Williams, 30, carpenter Daniel Vick, 25, wife Fannie, 24, children Samuel, 8, Earnest, 3, and Nettie M., 5, plus Violet Drake, 52. Oscar Blount is not found, but, also in the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County, domestic servant Eliza Milton, 41, and children John, 13, Robert, 12, and Francy, 8; Susan Benjamin, 2; and Mark Blount, 18.
  • Marcus W. Blount, 26, and Frank O. [Oscar] Blount, 20, appear in the 1880 census of Wilson, Wilson County, in the household of their brother-in-law Daniel Vick and sister Fannie Blount Vick. I have not found the younger brother referred to in their grandmother’s letter.
  • In the 1880 census of Nashville, Nash County: Sambery Battle, 57, farmer, with wife Ann, 54, daughter Bettie, 15, and grandchildren Sambery, 10, and Laura, 5.
  • On 18 January 1880, Henry Battle, 26, son of Samberry Battle, married Cornelia Boddie, 19, in Nash County. Henry was the (half-?) brother of Marcus (and maybe Oscar) Blount. On 13 August 1887, Henry married again to Mary May, 21, in Nash County.
  • As a skilled carpenter, Daniel Vick was unlikely to have been as destitute as Benjamin Blount charged. He amassed considerable property just outside Wilson’s eastern city limits, sent at least three of his sons — Samuel, William Henry and J. Oscar — to college, and probably paid for F. Oscar Blount’s schooling, too. (For more about Oscar Blount, see here.)
  • Unlike his brother, Marcus Blount spent his entire life in Wilson. On 27 December 1888, Mark Blount, 35, son of Sebery Battle and Margaret Blount, married Annie Smith, 27, daughter of Louisa Bryant. F.O. Blount applied for the license on his brother’s behalf. The couple were married at the A.M.E. Zion church in the presence of F.O. Blount and their nephews S.H. and W.H. Vick.
  • In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: the widower Mark Blount, 38, a cook, and his children Coneva, 10, Dotsey, 9, and Theodore W., 6, were lodgers in the household of George Faggin, just a few households away from Samuel Vick.
  • On 4 March 1903, Mark Blount, 50, married Alice Black, 23, at the residence of Thomas Johnson in Wilson. Baptist minister Fred M. Davis performed the ceremony in the presence of Willie A. Johnson, John Battle and Mamie Lucas.
  • On 14 November 1906, Coneva Blount, 21, daughter of Mark Blount, married Boston Griffin of Farmville, 24, at the residence of George Faggin in Wilson. Fred M. Davis performed the ceremony before Dotsie Blount, S.Y. Griffin, and Annie Taylor.
  • In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: cook at cafe Mark Blount, 60, wife Mary, 29, children Allen, 2, Frances E., 1, Dotsey, 19, a nurse, and Walter, 17, a tobacco factory laborer. Next door: Boston Griffin, 27, brickmason, and wife Coneva, 21, a private cook.
  • On 24 June 1916, Dotsie Bount, 24, daughter of Mark and Alice Blount, married A.B. Barnhill, 27, of Greenville. Rev. H.B. Taylor performed the ceremony before G.W. Joyner, Mrs. M. Ada Perry and C.C. McCoy.
  • On 16 August 1918, school boy Allen Blount, son of Mark Blount and Allice Black, died of pulmonary tuberculosis a month shy of his 12th birthday. (Oddly, Mark reported his birthplace as Asheville. Should this have read “Nashville”? Alice’s birthplace was listed as Fayetteville.)
  • In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Mark Blount, 67, cook at cafe; wife Alice, 31; children Florence, 10, and Hellen, 7; divorced son-in-law Boston Griffin, a furniture delivery man; and roomer David Carrol, a tobacco factory worker.
  • On 12 February 1928, Walter Mark Blunt (as his death certificate reads) died of kidney disease in Wilson. He lived at 113 East Street, was married to Mary Alice Blunt, and worked as a chef. He was 69 years old and had been born in Castalia, North Carolina, to Samberry Battle and Margaret Blunt.
  • On 11 May 1927, Florence Blount, daughter of Mark and Alice Blount, married James Hollingsworth of Norfolk, Virginia. E.H. Cox, a Freewill Baptist minister, performed the service before James Tinsley, John Lennards and Lee Lennards.
  • On 15 April 1932, Helen Blount died of the same disease that killed her brother Allen, pulmonary tuberculosis. Her death certificate noted that she was born in 1915 to Mark Blount of Nash County and Mary Alice Black of Fayetteville and lived at 113 South East Street. Sister Florence Hollingsworth was the informant.
  • On 8 February 1941, Corneva Gaston died in Wilson, though she was a regular resident of Warsaw, Duplin County. Her death certificate notes that she was born 18 July 1899 to Mark Blount and Annie Blunt and was married to Theodore Gaston.
  • On 16 January 1988, Florence English, a resident of 113 South East Street, died. Her death certificate lists her parents as Marcus Blount and Mary Alice Black.

Freedmen Bureau Records of Field Offices, 1863-1878 [database online], http://www.ancestry.com; North Carolina, Freedmen’s Bureau Field Office Records, 1863-1872, Goldsboro (assistant subassistant commissioner) > Roll 17, Letters received, Jul-Sep 1867 , http://www.familysearch.org 

He drove the old woman off and kept the boy.

Wilson County NC, Oct 1st, 1867

Lt. Col. Stephen Moore

Sir

I have as you will see by the enclosed indentures three orphan children bound to me in Dec 1865 soon after that time the Grand mother come to see them & insisted that I should let her take one of them (Edwin) home with her for a short time as he would be company for her I consinted. She took him to William Flanigan of Pitt county there he has been every since I heard a short time since he had driven the old woman off & had kept the boy & was treating him badly I sent for the boy Flanigan refused to give him up Saying he had had him bound to him I wish you to cause Flanigan to give him up. I applied to Major Compton not knowing that he was out of his district he referred me to you.

Yours respectfully, Wm. Thompson

——

Farmer William Thompson, 62, appears in Black Creek township, Wilson County, in the 1860 federal census. Farmer William Flamikin, 37, appears in Pleasant Mount post office district, Pitt County, in 1860.

Freedmen Bureau Records of Field Offices, 1863-1878 [database online], http://www.ancestry.com.

You ought to know you have no right.

Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen & Abd Lands

Office Asst Supt Sub District of Goldsboro

Goldsboro N.C. April 20th, 1867

 

Benjamin Simpson Esq.

Near Wilson, Wilson County

Sir,

Complaint has been made at this Office by Harry Simpson, (colored) that on or about the 1st of February last, you entered the premises of said Harry Simpson without his permission & taken from thence some forks & other articles. You ought to know that you have no right to enter any persons premises against his will & remove things by force. You will immediately return to the said Harry Simpson (col) all articles taken from him or report to this Office & show cause why you should not comply with this order.

Very respectfully,

Your obdt. servant, H.D. Norton

Captain V.R.C. & [illegible] U.S. [illegible], Asst Supt Bur. of R.F.& A.Lds.

——

Benjn. Simpson, 65, farmer, is listed in the 1870 census of Oldfields township, Wilson County. No Harry Simpson is listed in the county.

Freedmen Bureau Records of Field Offices, 1863-1878 [database online], http://www.ancestry.com.

He pointed the gun directly at him.

Wilson N.C., Sept 7, 1867

Lt. J.F. Allison, Goldsboro N.C.,

Sir, Yours 2nd Inst. asking information as to the particulars of the Complaint made against Calvin Barnes Col’d & the circumstances causing his arrest & imprisonment. In Reply the warrant issued for this arrest was granted upon the oath of Edward Gordon a young man of respectability that he was assaulted by Calvin Barnes with a Gun while on his way from school to his place of residence some three miles in the Country, the provocation upon his (Gordon’s) part being that he ordered this man Calvin Barnes off the land of Joshua Barnes, the gentleman with whome he lives, having discovered him in the act of trying to shoot some of the said Joshua Barnes’s hogs, his attention being drawn by the hogs hurdling up & eating some corn that had been thrown to them to attract them & seeing this man Calvin Barnes standing by the field fence near the hogs, he asked him what he was doing there, whereupon the said Calvin leveled his Gun at him as in the act of shooting when Gordon jumped behind a tree. Calvin advanced upon him he ran off towards home & Calvin pursued for some distance threatning & abusing. He (Gordon) testifies that he has known Calvin for 3 or 4 years that he lived upon the farm adjoining the one on which he lived for this length of time & that he is positive as to it being him. Upon the trial of the case before the Magistrate, Calvin denied the fact of its being him, & reported that he was at the shop of one Isaac Strickland Col’d. in this place from 10 or 11 o’clock AM of that day until about two hours in the night which he proved by the oath of the said Isaac Strickland, whose testimony was slightly varied upon cross examination, E. Jennings Piggott Eqr. testified that Calvin Barnes whome he recognized as the person under arrest, worked at his house until 12 o’clock of that day & Edward Gordon upon second Examination testified that he returned to town immediately after this occurrence & called at the shop of Isaac Strickland (above refered to) about twilight & made Enquiry for Calvin Barnes & was informed by some one whome he did not recognize, and in the presence of Isaac Strickland that Calvin Barnes had just come up from the Rail Road & had gone on home some fifteen minutes since, (the assault was made on the Rail Road about 1 ½ miles from this place). The Magistrate committed him to jail for the lack of security on a Bond of One Hundred Dollar for his appearance at the next term of our Court. He gave Bail on yesterday & was was discharged from jail. Any other information that may be desired I shall be pleased to furnish.

I am Very Respectfully Your Obdt Servt., Jos. W. Davis, Shff, Wilson Co

——

Calvin Barnes 1Calvin Barnes 2

Wilson N.C. Nov 14 1867

Major C.E. Compton, Goldsboro N.C.

Dear sir, Your favor 2nd Inst just read. In reply to a communication from Lieut. J.F. Allison dated Sept’r 2 1867 I gave the particulars of the arrest & the evidence upon the preliminary examination of Calvin Barnes Col’d & of his committal to Jail. He remained in jail only a few days, was discharged on the 4th Sept. upon giving bond for his appearance at the Oct. Term of our County Court. The case was called on Thursday 31st & the only Witness introduced was Edward Gordon the young man upon whome the assault was made & who is a gentleman of unimpeached veracity of the highest respectability. He testified that as he was going to his place of residence about 4 miles distant from this place in the latter part of August (probably the 28th) his attention was attracted by a number of hogs that was hurdled in the field near which he was passing belonging to the gentleman with whome he was living (Genl. J. Barnes) & while his attention was drawn to them he saw corn thrown to them by some one concealed in the briars & bushes about the fence & upon closer examination he saw some body squatted in the bushes with a gun in hand that he spoke to the person and asked what he was doing there, whereupon the boy Calvin Barnes came out and pointed the gun directly at him & in a threatning manner. He (Gordon) thereupon jumped behind some bushes & ran off & was pursued some Two Hundred yards by Calvin Barnes, that soon thereafter he heard the gun discharged & he shortly returned to town & learned that Calvin Barnes had just returned from the direction where this thing occurred.

I will take the liberty of saying that there can be no doubt about the identification of this defendant as young Gordon has lived on the adjoining plantation to where he lived for several years & is familiarly acquainted with him & also that he (Calvin Barnes) does not where he is known to bear a very enviable character.

I have embodied in a report made out this forenoon the particulars of his Escape from the Custody of the Jailer after his conviction & sentence, which will reach you with this.

I am Very Respectfully, Your Obdt. Servant, Jos. W. Davis, Shff, Wilson Co.

[I have not yet located the report of Barnes’ escape.]

North Carolina, Freedmen’s Bureau Field Office Records, 1863-1872, http://FamilySearch.org; Records of Assistant Commissioner of the State of North Carolina, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, Record Group 105, National Archives; Freedmen Bureau Records of Field Offices, 1863-1878 [database on-line], Ancestry.com.

A lazy indolent virago.

Stantonsburg July 8 1867

Mr J F Allison

Sir, Yours of July 1 has been received for several days. I have delayed answering it to get all the particulars concerning Lenard Forbs & Serena‘s his wife case. I have inquired of both white and colored persons living on the farm and from the information that I can gather She left Lenard. I understand that she has been threatening leaving him for some time & she has not cooked or washed for him in some time although she lived in the same house with him. Lenard has been sick for a month & I understand that she would neither cook nor wash for him during his illness. I understand that she goes off at any time & stay sometime for a week without his knowledge or consent & the last time she went off & returned she swore that would never cook or wash for him again. Although Lenard tried to persuade her to go home and chore herself. I am personally acquainted with the dispositions of Lenard & Serena. Lenard is a good natured fellow & is willing to get along in any way without a fuss but Serina is a lazy indolent virago compounded with saltpeter & brimstones. She has not earnt ten dollars since she became free. Lenard has her clothes to perchase from store & Lenard has carried to his house this year 200 lbs N[illegible] Mess Pork 174 lbs G[illegible] pork & he raised a hog weighing 102 lbs & I understand that she has made way with all except one p[illegible] weighing (20 lbs) twenty pounds. She has been suspicious of caring his provisions off to other parties. I think Lenard would live with her again provided he could make her stay at home and attend to his domestic affairs & if you wish any more information conserning the case I will furnish you with all that I can or you can find out all about them from the Col men living on the farm which I will  give you any information you may want &c. Hoping that this will give you the necessary information concerning this I remain yours truly  J.B. Stallings

To Luit J.F. Allison, Goldsboro N.Car.

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Junius B. Stallings, 39, farmer/physician, appears in the 1870 census in Stantonsburg township, Wilson County. Neither Lenard nor Serena Forte appears in the county.

Freedmen Bureau Records of Field Offices, 1863-1878 [database online], http://www.ancestry.com. Original documents in Records of Field Offices, State of North Carolina, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen & Abandoned Lands 1865-1872 (National Archives Microfilm Publication M1909, Record Group 105, National Archives, Washington, D.C.)