slave sale

The sale of Dover, Dinah, Bynum and Frances.

Deed book 22, page 209, Edgecombe County Register of Deeds Office, Tarboro, N.C.

State of North Carolina, Edgecomb County}  Know all men by these presents that I Amos J. Battle for and in consideration of the sum of Twelve hundred and fifty Dollars to me in hand paid by Weeks Parker have bargained and sold and by these presents do bargain and sell unto the said Weeks Parker and his assigns forever Four negro slaves named Dover, Dinah, Bynum and Frances aged about fifteen, thirteen, eleven and nine years the right and title to which said Slaves I will forever warrant and defend. Witness my hand and seal This the first day of January 1835  Amos J. Battle {seal}  Witness Simmons B. Parker

Edgecombe County February Court 1835  The foregoing Bill of Sale was exhibited in open Court and proved by the oath of Simmons B. Parker the subscribing witness thereto — ordered to be recorded.   Test. Mich’l Hearn Clk.

——

We have met Amos J. Battle and his father-in-law Weeks Parker before. In an earlier post, I examined the slaveholdings of the Battle family of Walnut Hill plantation. Amos J. and Margaret Parker Battle’s youngest son, Jesse Mercer Battle, published a memoir in 1911 that includes this passage: “Negroes were my companions. I played with them, and spent my time with them all day, till I was about seven years old, when I was started to school. I knew my alphabet and how to read a little. This start on my way to an education was given to me by a good old colored woman I called Mammy. (Her name was Dinah.) … This good woman remained with our family till 1865, when the Civil War ended, when she left us and moved down to Greenville, N.C., where her husband, whose name was ‘Shade,’ lived. After the emancipation of the slaves she said that she could never enjoy her ‘freedom’ as long as she lived with her master and mistress.” Jesse elsewhere mentioned that Dinah had lived with the family at a farm called Walnut Hill, “about three miles from Wilson N.C., on the railroad toward Rocky Mount.”

Was this Dinah the same Dinah that Amos Battle bought from Weeks Parker?

The estate of Gaston High (1863).

When Stephen Privett inventoried Gaston High’s estate in 1863, he listed “3 negroes namly Jinsey aged 28 32 years Joseph aged 11 Adaline aged 6 years.”

I don’t know for certain that Jinsey was the mother of Joseph and Adaline, but it’s more likely than not and, even if not, she was surely their surrogate mother.

Nonetheless, on 4 September 1863, Privett sold Jinsey and hired out the two children for $1200.

I have not been able to trace Jinsey, Joseph, or Adaline forward.

Gaston High Estate File, Wilson County; North Carolina Wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998, http://www.ancestry.com.

The sale of Mima and Lewis.

State North Carolina Edgecombe County} Know all by these presents that I Ephraim Daniel of the County and State aforesaid, for and in consideration of the sum of Three Hundred and Fifty dollars, to me in hand paid by Coffield Ellis of the same County and State afore said, at or before the sealing and delivery of these presents, the receipt whereof I the said Ephraim Daniel do hereby acknowledge, have granted bargined and sold, and by these presents do grant, bargin and sell unto the said Coffield Ellis, his heirs, Executors, Adm. and assigns, one Negro Woman by the name of Mima, also one Boy Child named Lewis; the woman about forty years of age, the Boy between one & two years of age. To have and to hold the above bargained negroes, to him the said Coffield Ellis his heirs, Executors, Adm’rs, and assigns for ever, and I the said Ephraim Daniel my heirs, Executors, Admr’s, and assigns doth and will for ever Warrant & defend, unto the said Coffield Ellis, his heirs, Executors, Adm’rs, and assigns the right title, claim or demand, of the above bargained negroes from all or any person or persons lawfully claiming the same, In witness of which I have hereunto set my hand and seal the 9th day of January 1823 Ephraim Daniel   Witness Reddick Barnes

Edgecombe County February Court 1823 The within Bill of Sale was duly exhibited in open Court _ proved by the oath of Reddick Barnes _ ordered to be Recorded   Test. M’l Hearn Clk.

——

Coffield Ellis’ 1854 will contained a bequest to his wife Penninah of enslaved people named Miney and Lewis, among others. Miney was described as “old” and a “faithful servant” and may have been Mima, who would have been about 70 years old at the time. 

However, the 1812 will of Coffield Ellis’ father William Ellis Sr. also contained, among others, a Mimah, who bequeathed to wife Unity Ellis, but was eventually distributed to son Jonathan Ellis. William Ellis Sr. also owned Isham, who had a son circa 1834 named Lewis. 

Deed book 17, page 559, Edgecombe County Register of Deeds, Tarboro, North Carolina.

The estate of Matthew Peel (1861).

By far, the most valuable “item” sold from Matthew Peel’s estate was “Negro man Sampson.” Ransom Hinnant paid $200 for him at auction on 28 February 1861.

Sampson was likely the 59 year-old male listed as Peel’s sole slave in the 1860 slave schedule of Kirbys district, Wilson County.

On 7 August 1866, Sampson Hinnant and Mary Boykin registered their marriage with a Wilson County justice of the peace.

Estate of Matthew Peel, Wilson County North Carolina Estate Files 1663-1979, http://www.familysearch.org

The estate of Hiram Forbes (1861).

We have read Hiram Forbes’ 1861 will here, in which he made arrangements for the distribution of enslaved people Mary Ann, Tony, Gatsy, Mace, Silvey, Tobey, Jim, Hannah and Minna.

Forbes died shortly after, and his estate file reveals more about the people he held in bondage.

On 15 September 1861, Dempsey Webb acknowledged receipt of fifty cents from Forbes’ executor, James Barnes, in payment for work Webb’s enslaved man Abram performed.

This undated receipt details hire arrangements for seven enslaved people for the year ending 1 July 1863. Forbes’ widow Milly Harrell Forbes paid the estate $50 to hire woman Mariam [Mary Ann], man Tony, girls Macy and Silvy, and man Jim. Britton Forbes hired woman Gatsey for $53, and Rufus Forbes leased boy Toby’s services for $61. (Where were Hannah and Minna?)

The bulk of Hiram Forbes’ personal property went to auction on 5 February 1862. That day, between sales of 50 bushels of cotton seed and four stacks of fodder, John T. Barnes bought a boy named Hector.

On 3 January 1863, of nine enslaved people, Milly Forbes hired all but Toby, who went to John Carter. Macy and Silvey are not named, but likely were two of the young children attached to Mariam and Gatsey, who also were likely the mothers of babies born during the previous year.

The five dollars paid to Polly Walston in 1863 for “Services rendered on attendance to negro woman” may have been for the birth of one of these babies.

Emancipation interrupted the final distribution of Hiram Forbes’ enslaved people.

——

I traced forward Hiram Forbes’ enslaved people in the post about his will, but here is one update.

An August 1867 marriage record reveals that Abram Webb was the father of Toby Forbes, who, with his mother Macy, was enslaved by Hiram Forbes. However, on 20 August 1866, Abram Webb and Marion Forbes registered their 34-year cohabitation with an Edgecombe County justice of the peace.

in the 1870 census of Otter Creek township, Edgecombe County: Abram Webb, 65; wife Miriam, 54; Hector, 18, and Hannah, 12. This appears to be Mariam, Hector that was sold to John T. Barnes, and Hannah mentioned in the will.

In the 1880 census of Auters Creek township, Edgecombe County: Abraham Webb, 75; wife Mary, 65; daughter Hannah, 25; and granddaughter Patsy Procythe, 25.

Estate File of Hiram Atkinson (1861), Wilson County, North Carolina Estate Files 1663-1979, http://www.familysearch.org

The estate of Dr. Lewis J. Dortch (1854).

Tarborough Southerner, 4 November 1854.

The death of a slaveholder generally portended devastating disruption for the enslaved. The 650-page estate of Dr. Lewis J. Dortch provides more chilling evidence.

Nash County-born, University of Pennsylvania-trained Dortch married Nancy Jane Adams in Tarboro, Edgecombe County, in 1844. The couple settled in Stantonsburg, and Jane Dortch gave birth to three children — Sarah, Isaac, and Mary — before dying of tuberculosis in 1849. The children went to live with their maternal uncle, merchant Jesse H. Adams,   and his family, who were listed between Dr. Dortch and slave trader Wyatt Moye in the 1850 Edgecombe County census.

Dortch married Martha Forbes in 1853, but died intestate in October 1854. Lawyer and politician William T. Dortch of Goldsboro, North Carolina, his close kinsman, was appointed administrator of his estate, which was heavily in debt. Shortly after, Robert S. Adams — also a slave trader and Dortch’s brother-in-law — was appointed the Dortch children’s guardian and moved them to Aberdeen, Monroe County, Mississippi. (When the children petitioned for their share of their father’s 2200 acres in Wilson County, the court asked for assurances that their guardian had sufficient assets to secure the estate. Testimony established that Adams was worth a modest $30,000, but was backed by Wyatt Moye, whose estimated net worth was no less than $250,000, and W.R. Cunningham, worth no less than $100,000.)

William Dortch’s first inventory report on 11 November 1854 revealed both the complexity of L.J. Dortch’s slaveholdings and the movement of his enslaved people into short-term hires in Stantonsburg and over the county line in Nahunta district, Wayne County.

  • Boy John was hired till 1 January 1855 to W.J. Exum [of northwest Wayne County] for $4.55
  • Rody and child Rosa were hired to Jno. Wilkinson [of Stantonsburg] for the same period for $2.25
  • Sarah was hired to W.J. Exum for the same period for $2.75
  • Frank and Allen to Jesse H. Adams “to keep” for $5.45
  • “in addition to the above slaves the deceased owned the following, viz.: Wash, Beedy, Warren, George, Ned, Tom, Anderson, Gray, Primus“
  • “and one half of nine slaves in the possession of Wm. T. Dortch, & owned jointly by them — whose names are Diza, Jinney, Louisa, Jim, Mary, Charles, Fanny, Nancy & Josephine.” [This appears to be the nine enslaved children and grandchildren of Wayne County free man of color Adam Winn, who were sold at auction in March 1852 to satisfy Winn’s creditors. A contemporary news account cites “Dr. Dortch” of Stantonsburg as the purchaser.]
  • “The deceased has an unsettled partnership between himself & John T. Barnes, in South Carolina, in the turpentine business — the firm own the following slaves, viz. Dance, Mintus, George and Anthony“

Further inventories reflected the first sales of enslaved people, as well as the instability created by movement each year pursuant to new hire agreements:

  • “Received for equality of division in wife’s negroes on the 29th day of January 1856, one hundred & fifty-six dollars 25/100 — the following negroes formerly belonging to intestate’s wife, & received in division viz., Pompey, Fox & Judah & two children, in Jany 1856″ [Martha Forbes Dortch had been a minor when her father Alfred Forbes died in Pitt County, N.C., and only 20 years old when she married Dr. Dortch.]
  • The hires from 1 January 1855 to 29 April 1855 of Sarah to Ollin C. Sasser for $8; Beedy and child Rosetta to Orpha Applewhite for $6; George to Jonathan Bullock for $7.50; Frank and Allen to Jesse H. Adams for $2.62; and Rody and Rosa to John Wilkinson for $6 [Sasser lived in or near Goldsboro, Wayne County; Applewhite and Wilkinson in Stantonsburg; and Bullock further north in Edgecombe County.]
  • An account of the 2 April 1855 sale of 14 enslaved people: John to Drue Daniel for $1000; Frank to Ollin Coor for $390; Warren to Robert Bynum for $705; Rody to John Wilkinson for $211; Rosa to Washington Barnes for $380; Beedy and child Rosetta to Orpha Applewhite for $535; Sarah to Drue Daniel for $841; Diza to John B. Griswold for $900; Jinney, Jim, Charles, and Mary to William B. Fields for $1507; George to Josiah Howell for $491 [I have not identified Drue Daniel. Wayne County sheriff Ollin Coor lived in Goldsboro, as did John B. Griswold, William B. Fields, and Josiah Howell. (As estate administrator, William T. Dortch likely steered hires toward his Goldsboro associates.) Washington Barnes lived in Saratoga district of what is now Wilson County, and Robert Bynum in what is now Gardners township.]
  • The hire of Wash to W.K. Lane from 1 January 1855 to 1 January 1856 for $202 [Lane lived in Nahunta district, Wayne County.]
  • The hires of Ned, Primus, Tom, Anderson and Gray to John T. Barnes for that period for $1050 [John T. Barnes was soon to be sheriff of Wilson County.]
  • The sale of Primus on 1 January 1856 to John T. Barnes for $1250.25
  • On 29 January 1856, the sales of Pompey to Stephen Page for $700; Fox to Joshua Barnes for $400; and Judah and two children to Redding Moore for $1200 [Probably Stephenton Page, who was a slave trader with Robert S. Adams and Wyatt Moye; Joshua Barnes of Wilson, who dabbled in the trade. Redding Moore’s identity is not clear.]
  • The hires from 1 January 1856 to 1 January 1857 of Wash, Ned, Tom, Anderson, and Gray to George W. Barefoot for $950 and Allen to William T. Dortch for $36.50 [George and A.J. Barefoot promised to provide each with two new suits of clothes, two pairs of shoes, a hat, and a blanket, feed them well, and return them to Goldsboro at the end of the term.]
  • The hires from 1 January 1857 to 1 January 1858 of Wash, Ned, Tom, Anderson, and Gray to B.F. Arrington for $950 and Allen to William T. Dortch for $30 [Arrington was a Goldsboro dentist.]
  • The hires from 1 January 1858 to 1 January 1859 of Wash, Ned, Tom, Anderson, and Gray to S.D. Barnhill & Company for $950 and Allen to William T. Dortch for $30 [Pitt County native Stanley D. Barnhill migrated to Horry County, South Carolina, about 1850 and established S.D. Barnhill & Company, a turpentine, rosin, and timber firm. Per E.S. Barnhill, The Beatys of Kingston (1923), the company heavily supplemented its own enslaved labor with hired slaves.]
  • The hires from 1 January 1859 to 1 January 1860 of Wash, Ned, Tom, and Anderson to B.F. Arrington for $800; Allen to William T. Dortch for $30; and Gray (“badly shot, & disabled”) to Dortch for $0 [Shot?? What happened to Gray down in South Carolina?]
  • The sale on 2 January 1860 of Wash to W.T. Dortch for $1750; Tom to S.D. Barnhill for $1725; Anderson to E.S. Valentine for $1000; Allen to J.H. Adams for $1166; Ned to S.D. Barnhill for $795; and Gray (disabled) to W.T. Dortch for $265 disposed of the last of Dr. Dortch’s 34 enslaved people — except the four in South Carolina in the Barnes turpentine partnership. [I have not identified Valentine.]

Receipt for advertisement of “Adrmr’s sale of Dr. Dortch’s Negroes, (twice)”

The file contains innumerable promissory notes from Dr. Dortch’s patients such as this consolidated bill for care for Vincent Artis and his daughter, who were members of small interrelated community of free people of color in what is now the Eureka area of Wayne County:

And this one for John Artis, Vincent Artis’ neighbor and kinsman:

And a bill to William Barnes for care of an enslaved man named Napoleon:

Probate dragged on for years as the minor heirs grew up. Not uncommonly for wealthy landowners, Dr. Dortch was entangled in a web of promissory notes, and more than William T. Dortch fought more than 30 lawsuits for and against the estate, even as parties charged that he was too busy with his other affairs to handle it effectively.

——

There were no African-American Dortches in Wilson County in 1870, but I have been able to trace forward a handful of the people Lewis J. Dortch held in bondage:

  • John (sold to Drue Daniel)
  • Rhoda and daughter Rosa (the mother sold to John Wilkinson, the daughter to Washington Barnes)
  • Sarah (sold to Drue Daniel)
  • Frank (sold to Ollin Coor)
  • Allen (sold to Jesse H. Adams)
  • Wash, born about 1830 (sold to William T. Dortch)

Probably: Washington Dortch married Winnifred Barron on 15 April 1866 in Edgecombe County.

In the 1870 census of Upper Town Creek township, Edgecombe County: cooper Washington Dortch, 39; wife Winifred, 23; children Marsilla, 5, Hetty, 2, and Charley, 5 months; and Briney Barnes, 28.

In the 1880 census of Upper Town Creek township, Edgecombe County: laborer Washington Dortch, 50; wife Winifred, 35; children Frances, 15, Hettie, 13, Charles, 10, and Bill, 7.

In the 1900 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: farmer Washington Dortch, 68; wife Winiford, 51; children Edward, 20, Luckey T., 17, Lucresy, 15, and Andrew G., 9; and granddaughter Emma, 16.

Tom Dortch died 7 November 1939 in Yale, Sussex County, Virginia. Per his death certificate, he was born 16 September 1882 in Wilson County, N.C., to Washington Dortch and Winifred [maiden name not known]; was married to Clara Dortch; and worked as a farmer. He was buried in Sharpsburg, N.C.

  • Beedy, born about 1830, and child Rosetta, born about 1852 (sold to Orpha Applewhite)

Orpha Pike Applewhite was the recent widow of Henry Applewhite. I have found no record of her ownership of Beedy or Rosetta. However, a Bedie is recorded in the estate of her brother-in-law Council Applewhite. This Bedie, who was born about 1807, was the mother of grown children who were also enslaved by Council Applewhite. She was alive as late as 1880, when she appears in her son’s household in Goldsboro, Wayne County, as Obedience Applewhite.

However, on 31 August 1866, Wilson Hagans and Obedience Applewhite (who was not the same woman as above) registered their 19-year marriage with a Wilson County register of deeds. Wilson Hagans, who was a free man of color, was also known as Wilson Artis, and Obedience took that surname.

On 21 September 1869, Henry Peacock, son of Haywood Edmundson and Ulrsa Peacock, married Rosetta Artice, daughter of Wilson Artice and Bidy Artice, in Wilson County.

In the 1870 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: farm laborer Henry Peacock, 18; wife Rosetta, 18; and children Henry, 2, and John W., 2 months.

In the 1870 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: Obedience Artis, 40, and daughter Sarah J., 9.

In the 1880 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: Bety Artis, 60; daughter Sarah, 20; and grandchildren Willie, 2, and Mamie Hall, 6.

On 29 December 1892, Henry Dortch, 52, of Wilson, son of Isaac Thorne and Bedie Artis, married Eliza Darden, 42, at Crawford Darden‘s in Wilson County. Free Will Baptist minister Daniel Blount performed, and Frank Woodard, Warren Darden, and Isom Sutton witnessed the ceremony.

In the 1900 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: Sarah J. Artis, 39; children Mamie Hall, 20; Tommie, 16, Emma, 14, Henry, 12, Hallie, 11, Eddie, 9, Mary S., 5, and Nursie E. Artis, 4 months; and mother Bedie Artis, 77.

Sarah Jane Artis died 23 April 1930 in Stantonsburg township, Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was born 23 December 1872 in Wilson County to Wilson Artis and Beedie Artis, both of Wilson County; she was single; and she was buried in Stantonsburg township.

  • Warren, born about 1840 (sold to Robert Bynum)

Probably: on 11 March 1869, Warren Bynum, son of Dick Rogers and Mary Rogers, married Elizabeth Applewhite, daughter of Theophilus Applewhite and Rancy Applewhite, in California township, Pitt County.

In the 1870 census of California township, Pitt County: farmhand Warren Bynum, 30; wife Bettie, 29; daughter Fanie, 1; and [mother] Raney, 60.

In the 1880 census of Farmville township, Pitt County: Warren Bynum, 38, farmer; wife Betsy, 32; and daughters Mary, 10, Fancy, 8, Marenda, 7, and Nellie, 5.

In the 1900 census of Speights Bridge township, Greene County: farmer Warren Bynum, 55; wife Sarah, 35; and daughters Elsie, 12, and Lizzie, 8.

On 7 October 1908, Warren Bynum, 65, of Greene County, married Ellen Bynum, 55, of Saratoga township, Wilson County, in Saratoga township, Wilson County.

In the 1910 census of Saratoga township, Wilson County: farmer Warren Bynum, 66; wife Ellen, 55; and niece Appie, 38. (Warren reported having been married four times.)

Warren Bynum died 16 February 1918 in Saratoga township, Wilson County. Per his death certificate, he was born in 1854 to Dick Rodgers and Mary Ellis and worked as a farmer. George Bynum was informant.

Marenda Barrett died 18 July 1919 in Farmville, Pitt County. Per her death certificate, she was born 2 July 1873 in Pitt County to Warren Bynum and Betsy Ward and worked in farming. Garfield Shirley was informant.

Mary J. Shirley died 14 September 1931 in Farmville, Pitt County. Per her death certificate, she was born 25 May 1870 in Pitt County to Warren Bynum of Wilson County and Mynie Bynum of Wilson County and was married to Buck Shirley.

  • George (sold to Josiah Howell)
  • Ned, born about 1810 (sold to Stanley T. Barnhill)

Perhaps: in the 1870 census of Conway township, Horry County, S.C.: day laborer Edward Dorch, 60, and wife Mary, 58.

  • Tom (sold to Stanley T. Barnhill)
  • Anderson (sold to E.S. Valentine)
  • Gray (sold to William T. Dortch)
  • Primus (sold to John T. Barnes)
  • Diza (sold to John B. Griswold)
  • Jinney (sold to William B. Fields)
  • Louisa, born about 1850 (remained with William T. Dortch)

Perhaps: in the 1870 census of Goldsboro, Wayne County: Louiza Dortch, 20, “h. servant,” in the household of W.T. Dortch, 46 year-old lawyer.

On 18 July 1878, Louisa Dortch married Needham Smith in Wayne County.

In the 1880 census of Little Washington, Goldsboro, Wayne County: Needham Smith, 63; wife Louisa, 30; children Henry, 9, Hattie, 6, and Julia, 4; and stepchildren Lizzie, 11, and Adam Dortch, 9.

  • Jim (sold to William B. Fields)
  • Mary (sold to William B. Fields)
  • Charles (sold to William B. Fields)
  • Fanny (remained with William T. Dortch)

Perhaps: on 17 January 1867, Fannie Dortch married Grandison Dawson in Wayne County.

  • Nancy, born about 1852 (remained with William T. Dortch)

Perhaps: on 28 March 1874, Nancy Dortch married Joseph Adams in Wayne County.

In the 1880 census of Little Washington, Goldsboro, Wayne County: cook Nancy Adams, 28, and children Georgianna, 11, David, 8, Edward, 4, and Rowena, 2.

In the 1900 census of Goldsboro, Wayne County: widow Nancy Adams, 48, and children Roena, 22, Fannie, 19, Woodley, 16, drayman, and Elijah, 13, day laborer.

Nancy Adams died 27 November 1911 in Goldsboro, Wayne County. Per her death certificate, she was 57 years old [born circa 1854]; was born in N.C. to [no first name] Dortch and Lula Winn; was married; and was buried in Elmwood Cemetery. Elijah Adams was informant.

  • Josephine (remained with William T. Dortch)
  • Dance
  • Mintus
  • George
  • Anthony
  • Pompey (sold to Stephenton Page)
  • Fox (sold to Joshua Barnes)
  • Judah and two children (sold to Redding Moore)

L.J. Dortch Estate Record (1854), Wilson County, North Carolina Estate Files 1663-1979, http://www.familysearch.org

They were sold for their father’s debts.

Tarborough Southerner, 13 March 1852.

——

There are levels of terribleness to this report of the sale of nine enslaved people at a Wayne County, N.C., auction.

The nine people sold were the grown or nearly grown children of an enslaved woman and a free man of color, plus four grandchildren of that couple. They were purchased by enslavers in three different counties, including Dr. Lewis J. Dortch, who lived in Stantonsburg, in what is now Wilson County but was then Edgecombe. I have not been able to discover the names of the woman and children Dr. Dortch bought.

Adam Winn was born about 1805 into a large free family of color, most likely in Duplin County, North Carolina. He was a prosperous farmer who was also a slaveowner — with devastating consequences. Wynn, who never legally married, took two white women and an enslaved African-American woman as common-law wives. His children by the former were free, but his children by the latter were, like their mother, enslaved. He lived openly with his children and, in the 1850 census of North Division, Duplin County, Adam Winn, 45, is listed with William, 13, Marshal, 11, John, 9, Woodard, 7, and Woodley Winn, 5, as well as Moses Simmons, 18. The Winn boys were his sons and, despite their census appearance, were not free.

Adam Winn was land-rich, but cash-poor, and mortgaged his property heavily. In April 1849, for example, he borrowed money from a neighbor named Benjamin Oliver and put up enslaved people Bethana, Martha, and Oliver as security, along with 133 acres of land. In the early 1850s, his financial affairs crashed down around his head, and he lost not only the nine people whose sale was reported above, but several others. Winn had mortgaged six enslaved people to secure debt to Furnifold Jernigan (who purchased a 22 year-old man at the sale above) and, after Jernigan’s death, Winn’s fight to regain them reached the North Carolina Supreme Court in William K. Lane v. Jane Bennett et al., 56 N.C. 371 (1858).

By valid will, Furnifold Jernigan had made several provisions for the disposal of his slaves.  To his wife Jane Jernigan (who later married Thomas Bennett), he left 13 people, including Bill Winn, John Winn, Simpson, and Anne. To his daughter Mary Anne Kelly, he left eight people, including Olive. He also provided for the liberation of “negroes, Dave, Tom, Morris, Lila and Mary” and their transport to a free state and directed that ten additional enslaved people be sold. John A. Green and William K. Lane were named executors.

Before Jernigan’s legacies were distributed, Adam Winn filed suit to recover John Winn, Bill Winn, Simpson, Anne, Olive, and Dave, claiming that (1) he had mortgaged the slaves to Jernigan to secure payment of money Jernigan loaned him, and (2) he had a judgment attesting that he had repaid the money, and the slaves had been reconveyed to him.

The executors filed a “bill” with the court seeking guidance on the will’s provisions.  Jane Bennett and Mary Anne Kelly claimed the full value of the slaves bequeathed to them or, in the alternative, the amount paid by Winn to redeem them.  The court found that each was entitled to the amount of the redemption. (And Dave, having been redeemed by Winn and returned to slavery, lost the freedom Jernigan  intended for him.)

[Do not mistake Jernigan for a benevolent man. In 1834, Furnifold Jernigan and David Cole were charged in Wayne County Superior Court with taking Kilby O’Quinn, a free boy of color, from Wayne to Bladen County for “their own use.” In 1837, Jernigan was indicted for selling Betsy Dinkins, the free “colored” daughter of a white woman. In the three years between, Jernigan and at least four co-defendants appeared on the Wayne County docket ten times on charges of selling free negroes, but never vent to trial. Despite Jernigan’s notoriety (he had fourteen other unrelated court appearances in the same period,) the state’s solicitor in the Dinkins case was compelled to complain to the judge that “the defendant by the influence of several men of standing … has … so many of the Court yard, in his favor, that it would be a mere mockery to enter upon this trial in Wayne.” The case was ordered removed to Greene County, but never appeared on the docket there. In 1850, Jernigan, still living in Wayne County, owned $5000 in farmland and 43 slaves.]

——

In the 1850 census of Edgecombe County, N.C.: Dr. L.J. Dortch, 32, physician, and L.H. Moye, 32.

In the 1850 slave schedule of Edgecombe County, L.J. Dortch is listed with 8 enslaved people — women and girls aged 35, 32, 29, 11, and 1 month, and boys aged 11, 6, and 4.

Lewis Jackson Dortch died 28 October 1854 in Stantonsburg. More about him later.

Deed Book 21, page 215, Duplin County Register of Deeds; Minutes of the Superior Court of Wayne County, Spring Term, 1834, and Minutes of the Superior Court of Wayne County, Spring Term, 1837, Records of Wayne County, North Carolina State Archives; State Docket, Superior Court of Wayne County, vol. 1, 1834-1843, Records of Wayne County, NCSA;Petition from Edward Banly to Superior Court, April 6, 1837, Box 4, Records Concerning Slaves and Free Persons of Color, Records of Wayne County, NCSA.

Important sale.

Tarborough Southerner, 2 December 1854.

Both Jonathan D. Rountree and William D. Thorne were merchants in Wilson. When Thorne failed to repay a large loan, Rountree forced the sale of, it appears, everything Thorne had, including “three young Negroes.” Day in, day out, the lives of enslaved people were upended by their owners’ bad decisions.

10 or 12 likely Negroes for sale.

Tarboro’ Press, 29 January 1833.

William Davis Petway’s plantation was well east of Elm City just inside what is now the boundary of Wilson and Edgecombe Counties. His father Micajah Petway lived nearby. In the winter of 1833, as trustee for a loan that his father, presumably, had failed to pay off, W.D. Petway advertised the sale of 10 or 12 enslaved people to satisfy the debt.

The estates of Barnes and Roderick Amason.

It’s not a common surname in Wilson County anymore, but in the early 1800s a prosperous extended family of Amasons (Amersons) lived in the Stantonsburg area (in what was then Edgecombe County, North Carolina). They owned extensive real property and considerable slaves, and often left estates that spent years in probate as family members bickered, and heirs and administrators died.

This post is third in a series featuring documents from Amason family estate files.

——

Roderick Amason was appointed administrator of his brother Barnes Amason’s estate soon after Barnes’ death in April 1844.

On 25 October 1844, at Joshua Wilkinson’s store, John A. Tyson testified in a deposition that on 10 June 1844 that he “happend in company with Roderic Amason & General Moye at Daniel & Rountrees store in Stantonsburg and that Mr. Gill had presented his account against Barnes Amason ….” Amason had run up credit with Andrew E. Gill, but a number of credits reduced the debt. For 1840, that credit included the  “Hire of 2 Hands” on December 22 for 80 cents. For 1843 and 1844, Amason’s credits included the hire of an enslaved man named Jerry to Gill.

At November Term of Edgecombe County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, Roderick Amason filed a petition for division stating that “the slaves belonging to the estate of … Barnes [Amason] will not be required for the purpose of paying the debts of said intestate, there being ample personalty besides them for that purpose. That of them, there are fifteen as follows — 1 Frank 2 Mourning 3 Stephen 4 Jack 5 Solomon 6 Jerry 7 Richmond 8 Lucy 9 Jinny 10 Hilliard 11 Judy 12 Rosa 13 Dyer 14 Patsy & 15 Sally,” and they should be divided among Barnes’ heirs, who consisted of his siblings and their children.

Roderick himself died in December 1844, however. Wyatt Moye — state senator and slave dealer — took over as administrator of both estates. His stewardship of both estates was contentious.

In October 1845, B.B. Bell complained to Edgecombe County court that Moye owed him $63.21 from the estate of Roderick Amason.

A justice of the peace sided with Bell and noted that Moye claimed that he had paid out sums greater than the cash at hand, but noted “there is four negroes yet to be sold.”

At August Term, the heirs complained to the court that Wyatt Moye was still holding on to Barnes Amason’s estate and had refused to make full distribution, a charge Moye denied.

I have not been able to determine the fates of the enslaved people held by Barnes and Roderick Amason.

Estate of Roderick Amason, North Carolina Wills and Estates, 1665-1998 [database on-line], http://www.ancestry.com.