Winn

They were sold for their father’s debts.

Tarborough Southerner, 13 March 1852.

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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.]

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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.

Where did they go?: Michigan World War II draft registrations, no. 1.

  • Rader Cone

In the 1900 census of Taylor township, Wilson County: farmer Willis Cone, 62; wife Sarah, 49; and children Willie M., 23, Lillie, 17, Jamerson, 13, Romane(?), 11, Aven, 9, Armencia, 5, and Rada, 1.

In the 1910 census of Taylor township, Wilson County: on County Line Road, farmer Willis C. Cone, 75; wife Sarah A., 61; and children Avon, 17, Amincy, 13, and Rader, 11.

Rader Cone registered for the World War I draft in Wilson County in 1918. Per his registration card, he was born 23 September 1899; lived at R.F.D #4, Wilson; farmed for Willis Cone; and his nearest relative was Sarah Cone. 

On 21 September 1925, Rader Corne, 25, married Victoria Hall, 21, in Wilson. Missionary Baptist minister John A. Mebane performed the ceremony in the presence of James W. Coleman, Sylvia Best and J.H. Moore.

Rader Cone registered for the World War II draft in Detroit in 1942. Per his card, he was born 20 September 1898 in Wilson, N.C.; lived at 929 Montcalm Street, Detroit; his contact was Fannie May Turner; and he worked at Cadillac Ginger Ale Company, Detroit. He was described as Negro,  6’1″, 204 pounds, with brown eyes, black hair and dark brown skin.

On 9 September 1943, Rader Cohen, 43, son of Willis Cohen and Sarah Glover, married Fannie Mae Turner Smith, 43, in Lucas County, Ohio.

Rader Cohen died 1 February 1989 in Detroit.

  • Jesse Winn

In the 1920 census of Brogden township, Wayne County: Alice Wynn, 56; daughters Myrtle, 21, and Alice, 18; and grandchildren Ernest, 3, Jesse, 2, and Mildred, 11 months. 

In the 1930 census of Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan: at 6321 Stanford, auto factory laborer Ernest Winn, 35; wife Almena, 37; children Ernest Jr., 14, Jesse, 13, and Mildred, 11; and lodgers Leslie, 28, auto factory laborer, and Ada Hinckle, 26, and George Griffin, 22, auto factory laborer.

In the 1940 census of Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan: at 5726 Vancourt, garage attendant Jessie Winn, 23, wife Agnes, 16, and daughter Betty Mae, 5 months, were lodgers in the household of Rev. Joseph Hankerson, 55, a Georgia-born barber.

Jesse Winn registered for the World War II draft in Detroit in 1940. Per his card, he was born 13 July 1917 in Wilson, N.C.; lived at 5610 – 23rd Street, Detroit; his contact was sister Mildred Perry, 3741 Moore Place, Detroit; and he worked for Detroit Waste Works. He was described as Negro,  5’8 1/2″, 160 pounds, with black hair and eyes and dark brown skin.

Jesse Winn died in Detroit 20 January 1981.

  • Ernest Carlos Winn Jr.

In the 1920 census of Brogden township, Wayne County: Alice Wynn, 56; daughters Myrtle, 21, and Alice, 18; and grandchildren Ernest, 3, Jesse, 2, and Mildred, 11 months. 

In the 1930 census of Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan: at 6321 Stanford, auto factory laborer Ernest Winn, 35; wife Almena, 37; children Ernest Jr., 14, Jesse, 13, and Mildred, 11; and lodgers Leslie, 28, auto factory laborer, and Ada Hinckle, 26, and George Griffin, 22, auto factory laborer.

On 26 June 1937, Ernest Winn Jr., 20, born in North Carolina to Ernest Winn and Anna May Richardson, occupied at factory work, married Mary B. Wilson, 18, born in Ohio to Robert and Rick Hicks Wilson, in Detroit.

In the 1940 census of Detroit, Wayne County: Ernest Winn, 23, crane man in auto factory; wife Mary, 18, born in Ohio; and sons Ernest III, 2, and Robert A., 6 months.

Ernest Carlos Winn registered for the World War II draft in Detroit in 1940. Per his card, he was born 26 March 1916 in Wilson, N.C.; lived at 527 Erskine Street, Detroit; his contact was wife Mary B. Winn; and he worked for Briggs Manufacturing. He was described as Negro, 6’1″, 168 pounds, with brown eyes, black hair, and light skin, with a scar on his forehead.

Robert Winn died 4 January 1943 in Detroit of suffocation after inhaling smoke in a house fire. Per his death certificate, he was born 17 February 1940 in Detroit to Ernest Winn and Mary Wilson and lived at 616 Erskine.

Mary Winn filed a divorce petition on 14 August 1944, and she and Ernest Winn were divorced 6 November 1944 in Detroit.

Ernest Winn died in February 1980.

  • Moses Taylor

In the 1930 census of Saratoga township, Wilson County: on an improved dirt road, farmer Hillard Taylor, 53; wife Annie, 48; and sons Walter, 24, and Moses, 14.

Moses Taylor registered for the World War II draft in Detroit in 1940. Per his card, he was born 4 January 1916 in Wilson, N.C.; lived at 2149 East Canfield, Detroit; his contact was mother Annie Vanleer, 1360 East Willis, Detroit; and he worked for E&B. He was described as Negro, 5’8″, 136 pounds, with brown eyes, black hair, and light brown skin.

  • John Walter Richardson

In the 1900 census of Mannings township, Nash County: day laborer Gid Richardson, 44; wife Milbra, 30; and children Josh, 8, John, 3, and Mary, 5 months.

John Walter Richardson registered for the World War I draft in 1918 while in the Ohio State Reformatory. Per his registration card, he was born 3 April 1898; his permanent address was Wilson, N.C.; and his contact was Mildred Richardson, Wilson.

John Walter Richardson registered for the World War II draft in Detroit in 1942. Per his card, he was born 3 April 1897 in Wilson, N.C.; lived at 742 Ionia Avenue S.W., Grand Rapids, Michigan; his contact was daughter Johnnie Mae Benney, Ann Arbor, Michigan; and he was an unemployed crane operator. He was described as Negro, 5’11 1/2″, 170 pounds, with brown eyes, black eye, dark brown skin, and a bent finger on each hand.

On 21 October 1942, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, John Walter Richardson, 46, crane operator, born in Wheeling [sic], N.C. to Gid Richardson and Mary Moore, married Sadie Mae Woods, 42, born in Chandler, Oklahoma.

Sadie Richardson filed a divorce petition on 20 April 1944, and she and John Richardson were divorced 25 July 1944 in Grand Rapids.

John Richardson died 3 June 1950 in Detroit.

U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947, [database on-line], http://www.ancestry.com.