Births Deaths Marriages, Land, Migration, Paternal Kin, Photographs

Where we lived: gentrified DC.

When she died in 1993 in Washington DC, the estate of Arnetta L. Randall, seventh of George and Fannie Aldridge Randall‘s nine children, included her home at 1377 Florida Avenue NE.

As has much of DC, Cousin Arnetta’s section of Near Northeast has undergone considerable change in the last decade. Her estate sold the house on 18 January 2001 for $12,000. Fourteen months later, it went for $135,000. Three and a half years later, the property again changed hands, this time for $191,000. Its owner held on during the real estate collapse of 2008, then sallied forth into a resurgent market in 2011. On January 25 of that year, he sold for $315,000. The climb continued: two years later, in February 2013, the house sold for $485,000.

There is surely no part of this Arnetta Randall would have recognized. Neither the astounding amounts that have changed hands over her small two-bedroom rowhouse nor the house itself, renovated in its every nook and cranny and painted a bright yellow on its way to a half-million dollars.

Births Deaths Marriages, Free People of Color, Land, North Carolina, Paternal Kin, Photographs

Where we lived: Adam Artis’ Eureka.

Adam Artis bought and sold hundreds of acres in northeast Wayne County in the last half of the 19th century. Almost 160 years after he filed his first deed, his descendants remain on pockets of his land strung along Highway 222. More enduringly, their family cemeteries cluster east of Eureka toward Stantonsburg — at the heart of his erstwhile empire.

#1 marks the location of Adam Artis’ grave. His many wives and children notwithstanding, until the mid-1980s, his was the only readily identifiable grave in the plot.

#2 is the self-proclaimed “Historic John I. Exum” cemetery. Adam’s kin intermarried considerably with Exums, including his granddaughter Cora Artis, who married John Ed Exum, and his sister Delilah Williams, who married Simon Exum. Delilah and Simon, however, are buried at #3, along with several of their descendants.

Red Hill Road debouches into 222 across from #3. Not a half-mile back up the road, at least two and possibly four of Adam’s sons rest. Noah and June Scott Artis are buried in #4 with several of June’s offspring, as well as their brother Robert‘s wife and their brother Henry J.B.‘s wife and children.

About a half-mile, as the crow flies, south of #3 is #5, which contains the graves of Adam’s son William M. Artis and his descendants, as well a daughter of Adam’s brother Jesse Artis.

The road snaking northwest out of Eureka becomes Turner Swamp Road past the city limits. Just off the edge of this map, perhaps a mile up the road, stands Turner Swamp Baptist Church, once led by Jonah Williams, brother of Adam Artis, Jesse Artis and Delilah Williams Exum. A sizeable cemetery lies behind the church, and it contains the graves of Magnolia Artis Reid, daughter of Loumiza Artis Artis, who was another Artis sibling, as well as descendants of Zilpha Artis Reid and Richard Artis, yet more siblings. Turner Swamp itself appears as a dark green curve bracketing the upper left corner of the photo. It is likely that the original location of the church was north along the banks of the waterway, at the site where the overgrown graves of Jonah Williams and his family lie.

Back in the other direction, east on 222 toward Stantonsburg, lies Watery Branch Road. (The branch itself is the dark green sword piercing more than halfway into the frame from the right.) Perhaps a quarter-mile, if that far, down the road on the right lies the Diggs cemetery, another small family graveyard. Celia Artis, born about 1800, the wealthiest free woman of color in Wayne County, was the Diggs’ matriarch. She and Adam Artis’ kinship, if any, was unknown even to them. Two of Celia’s great-granddaughters married a son and a grandson of Adam Artis. Leslie Artis, his wife Minnie Diggs Artis, and some of their descendants are buried here.

Births Deaths Marriages, North Carolina, Paternal Kin, Photographs

Family cemeteries, no. 6: another Artis brother.

Just south of Eureka, I crunch slowly up a gravel driveway toward a large, modern house. Three dirty-blond boys, alike enough to be brothers, stop their play in the garage to stare. I halt and ask permission to cross a small field to a cemetery marooned on a little island in its midst. They nod assent and return to their pastime, hip-hop blaring behind them. A lounging Rottweiler pays me no attention; a beagle mix wags greetings and accepts a head pat. I traverse perhaps 75 feet of damp soil to reach the hammock that holds the remains of William M. Artis and his family.

William and Etta Diggs Artis and children Doris, Tom and Elmer, mid-1930s.

William, son of Adam T. Artis and Frances Seaberry Artis, was in his 30s when he married Etta Diggs (1888-1988), daughter of Margaret Diggs and an unknown white man. Margaret Diggs was the daughter of Frances Artis, born free around 1842, and William Diggs. Frances Artis’ parents were Celia Artis, a wealthy free colored woman, and, reportedly, James Yelverton, a white man. Celia Artis was not related, at least in an immediate way, to William’s father, Adam.

It’s hard to tell below, but the William Artis graveyard is completely encircled by plowed land.

It’s in tolerable condition. Weedy, but it’s clear that it is periodically mowed.

Up close, one finds William and Etta,

and several of their ten children, including:

Others buried here include Frances Artis Edmundson‘s husband John H. Edmundson; Beulah Artis Best‘s husbands Leslie E. Exum and George Best; Leslie Exum’s mother, Ada Artis Exum Rowe, who, as the daughter of Jesse Artis and Lucinda Hobbs, was William Artis’ first cousin; and William and Etta’s daughter Margaret Artis Thompson (1910-1981) and her husband, J. Leslie Thompson.

This house stands in front the graveyard, facing the road. Was it William Artis’?

Beulah and Margaret Artis on either side of their cousin, Helen Carter, probably 1930s. Helen’s mother, Beulah Aldridge Carter, was their first cousin.

Copies of old photos courtesy of the late Dorothy Carter Blackman; others taken by Lisa Y. Henderson, December 2013.

Births Deaths Marriages, Land, Newspaper Articles, North Carolina, Oral History

Bert’s estate.

She wanted a baby badly.

My grandmother: … that nephew, Dr. Lord’s son, that was Mr. Hart’s nephew. He got what Bert had. Yes, indeed. ‘Cause, see, it was heir property. And see that’s why Bert tried so hard to have a child. Because if she didn’t have a child, it was going to whoever had had a child. You know. And I guess Alonzo did, you know, he was a nephew. When Bert died, it went to him. See, all this property and everything that Mr. Hart owned there was his family’s stuff. Wasn’t Grandma Hart’s.

And in 1941, when she nearly 40 years old, Bertha Hart Murdock had one:

Statesville Landmark, 2 April 1941.

But little William Alonzo Murdock died the day after he was born.

Still, the situation for Bert and her property was not as critical as my grandmother had believed. In Alonzo Hart’s original will, made 15 October 1928 in Statesville, he devised “the home place to my daughter Bertha Mae Hart and her bodily heirs, for ever, never to be sold and if she dies without bodilies heirs. Then it must be in trust for my sisters heirs to hold but never sell same.” The remainder of his property went to his sisters’ heirs.

Thirteen months later, as he languished in the state sanitorium in Quewhiffle, dying of tuberculosis, Hart dictated a codicil. In somewhat opaque and ungrammatical phrasing, Hart “hereby enlarge[d] the privilege to and use at her own and released to her. In stead of one parcel or tract of land I do bequeath and devise to her following described lands, In Iredell North Carolina, 45 acres in Concord Township (Deatonsville) Also 2 lots with one house Statesville Township also 47 acres in Shiloh township and Crawford near Sumters place 22 acres in above township near home belong to the home resdue. I am in my right presence of mind and know what is best for my only and legal heir Bertha Mae Hart.”

In other words, Bertha’s inheritance was generous and unrestricted, and her cousin Alonzo Lord was not to receive anything at all. Things did not go smoothly, however. Hart’s unconventional wording opened the door to challenge, and Bertha was forced to defend her title.

Statesville Landmark, 21 November 1935.

Incredibly, this case went to the North Carolina Supreme Court: Murdock v. Deal, 208 N.C. 754, 756, 182 S.E. 466, 467 (1935).

By time Bertha died in 1955, her estate seems to have been much reduced, but still comprised some of Alonzo Hart’s land. The bulk of her estate went to Odessa A. Williams, who may have been her cousin. Her half-brother H. Golar Tomlin inherited only a half-interest in a lot. His daughter Annie LaVaughn Tomlin Schuyler received the other half. Another niece, Mattie Johnson, received the negligible sum of one dollar, which raises questions: who in the world was she? I only know of Golda’s one child. Was this in fact Mattie James, oldest daughter of Bert’s other half-brother, Lon Colvert? Why bother with a dollar? And why not give the other nieces, Louise Colvert Renwick, Margaret Colvert Allen, and Launie Colvert Jones, their own dollars?

Statesville Landmark, 8 June 1955.

The drama did not end with Bert’s death. In what looks to be the family’s own Bleak House saga, City of Statesville v. Credit and Loan Company, a corporation of the State of North Carolina; W.S. Nicholson and spouse, if any, and if they be deceased, then their unknown heirs, and if any of said unknown heirs be deceased, then their respective heirs, devisees, assignees, and spouses, if any; and the unknown heirs of Minnie Brawley, Florence Camp, Mollie Alexander, and Lula H. Lord, Deceased, and if any of said unknown heirs be deceased, then their respective heirs, devisees, assignees, and spouses, if any; and all other persons, firms and corporations who now have, or may hereafter have, and right title, claim or interest, in the real estate described herein, whether sane or insane, adult or minor, in esse, or in ventre sa mere, active corporations or dissolved corporations, foreign or domestic, 294 S.E.2nd 405, was not decided in the North Carolina Court of Appeals until 1982.

The first sentence of the decision: “The sole issue is whether plaintiff has a valid avigation easement over land owned by defendant.” An avigation easement is a property right acquired from a landowner for the use of air space above a specified height. Alonzo Hart’s home property was located a few miles west of Statesville, adjacent to land now home to Statesville Regional Airport. (Brawley, Camp, Alexander and Lord were his sisters.) The City of Statesville’s claim that it held prescriptive easements was rejected, and partial summary judgment entered for the defendants.

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Births Deaths Marriages, Free People of Color, North Carolina, Oral History, Paternal Kin, Photographs

Family cemeteries, no. 5: Artis brothers.

I found this small cemetery down a little lane just off Red Hill Road, outside Eureka in Wayne County. A cleared section with several vaults abuts an appalling jungle of viney catbrier, completely impenetrable, in which several large headstones loom. Beyond the thicket is the neatly fenced graveyard of the Bectons, related to a set of Artises by marriage.

The graves of Noah Artis and Patience Mozingo Artis. Noah was one of Adam T. Artis‘ oldest sons, born in 1856 to his first legal wife, Lucinda Jones Artis. Patience was the daughter of Wiley and Agnes Allen Mozingo.

The grave of Amanda Aldridge Artis, who married Adam T. Artis in 1880. She was the daughter of Robert and Mary Eliza Balkcum Aldridge and died days after the birth of daughter Amanda Alberta Artis. Daughter Josephine Artis Sherrod told me that she, 12 years old at the time, found her mother’s lifeless body in bed.

June Scott Artis, son of Adam and Amanda Aldridge Artis, and half-brother of Noah Artis. His wife Ethel Becton Artis is buried beside him.

The grave of Christana Simmons Artis, wife of Adam and Amanda’s son Robert E. Artis, who presumably is also buried here.

Other family in this cemetery: Mary W. Artis, 1 Jan 1917-5 Oct 1994, wife of Edgar J. Artis; Edgar Joel Artis, 1914-1988, son of June and Ethel Becton Artis; James Brody Artis, 20 Nov 1912-10 Mar 1963, son of June and Ethel Becton Artis; Ethel Becton Artis, 3 Oct 1892-14 Oct 1994, daughter of William and Phoebe Taylor Becton; Dorena Artis Watson, 2 Sep 1925-30 Jul 1968, daughter of Henry J.B. and Laurina House Artis; Laurina Artis, 24 Feb 1895-29 Jul 1961, “wife of J.B.Artis,” daughter of Julius and Hattie Locus House; Roosevelt Artis, 11 Dec 1916-15 Sep 1918, “son of H.J.B. & Laurina Artis.” (Given the number of his children here, it also seems likely that Henry J.B. Artis lies in this cemetery.)

Photographs by Lisa Y. Henderson, December 2013.

Births Deaths Marriages, North Carolina, Other Documents, Paternal Kin, Photographs

Misinformation Monday, no. 3.

The third in a series of posts revealing the fallability of records, even “official” ones.

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The “true facts”: Jesse “Jack” Henderson was the son of Loudie Henderson and Joseph Buckner Martin. He was born about 1893.

But …

On 3 Dec 1914, Solomon Ward applied for a marriage license for Jesse Henderson of Wilson, age 21, colored, son of Jesse Jacobs and Sarah Jacobs, both dead, and Pauline Artis of Wilson, age 18, colored, daughter of Alice Artis. They were married later that day.

Jesse and Sarah Henderson Jacobs, in fact, were Jesse’s foster parents, and both were very much living at the time. Sarah Henderson Jacobs was Jack’s maternal aunt.

And this …

First, by reporting his first name as “Jack,” rather than Jesse, to the Social Security Administration, Jack effectuated a legal name change and ensured that few would remember the name he was given at birth. (He was Jesse or Jessie in the 1910 and 1920 censuses, and when he registered for the draft in World War I, but Jack in the 1930 census and thereafter.) The names he gave for his parents are mystifying. Lewis Henderson was, in fact, his grandfather. “Ludy” (or Loudie) was his mother’s name, but she was Loudie Henderson, not Jacobs. Jacobs was the surname of the uncle and aunt who reared him after Loudie’s death in childbirth. And note his birthdate: 16 Sept 1892. (His draft registration card listed 1893, month and day unknown.)

And this …

Jack Henderson’s death certificate, with information provided by a daughter, lists his parents as an unknown father and “Lucy (?) Henderson” and his birthdate as 21 April 1898.

“Lucy” certainly was Loudie. My grandmother remembered her great-grandmother’s name variously as “Loudie” or “Lucy,” but a church record and a single census entry, in 1880, confirm that it was Loudie. God only knows Jack’s birthday, but the year was probably late 1892 or 1893, as reflected in the 1900 census and on his Social Security application.

Births Deaths Marriages, Free People of Color, North Carolina, Paternal Kin, Photographs

Family cemeteries, no. 4: the Exums.

Solomon Williams and Vicey Artis‘ youngest daughter, Delilah Williams, married Simon Exum around 1870. The couple settled on a farm near both of their families and reared seven children: Ora Exum Artis (1871-1933), Patrick Exum (1873-??), Mollie (1875-??), Alice Exum Finlayson (1877-1961), Alice Exum (1879-??), Loumiza Exum (1879), William Exum (1881-??), and Simon Exum Jr. (1884-1963).

Last summer, I drove up and down Highway 222 searching unsuccessfully for this family’s graveyard, which should have been just up the road from both Delilah’s brother Adam Artis’ grave and the larger Exum cemetery containing the remains of Simon’s parents, John and Sophronia Exum. Later, using GPS coordinates, I found it in the backyard, more or less, of a house whose occupants erected a six-foot fence to block the view. I returned yesterday and, across a plowed-under field, immediately spotted several stones, including:

Delilah Williams Exum (1851-1939), and

Simon Exum (1842-1915).

Other kin buried in this cemetery: grandson John Brogdus Artis (1903-1979), son of Ora Exum Artis; Emma E. Exum (1884-1978), wife of son Simon Exum Jr.; Estelle Exum (1910-1988), daughter of son Simon Jr.; Simon Exum Jr. (1884-1963); and daughter Alice Finlayson (1875-1961).

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P.S. After posting this, I found this obituary in the 10 July 2009 edition of the Goldsboro News-Argus:

WASHINGTON D.C. — Simon Devon Exum, 59, formerly of Wayne County, died Tuesday at Washington Center Hospital.

His life will be celebrated Saturday at 11 a.m. at St. James Christian Church in Fremont, with minister James Earl Bunch officiating. His mortal remains will be laid to rest in the historic John C. Exum I Cemetery in Eureka.

Warm memories are cherished by his siblings, Larry Exum and Timothy Exum of Upper Marlboro, Md., Ray Exum and Brenda Mills of Goldsboro, Diane Exum of Chicago, Carol Packer of Eureka, Sherla Exum of Fremont and Gloria Exum of Wilson.

He will lie in state Saturday from 10:15 a.m. until the funeral hour at the church.

The family will receive friends at the home place, 3073 NC 222 East in Stantonsburg, where they will also assemble in preparation for the funeral procession.

John C. Exum was Simon Exum Sr.’s father. John and “Fraunie” Exum’s gravestones note that they were born free, but I’ve found no evidence of either pre-Civil War. 3073 NC 222 East is directly across the street from the house in front of the Simon Exum cemetery (which is probably now closed to burials,) and Simon Devon Exum was a son of M.R. Cornell Exum, son of Simon Exum Jr. 3073 caught my attention as I pulled my car off the road; it has recently been reduced to a pile of rubble.

Births Deaths Marriages, Maternal Kin, Newspaper Articles, Virginia

Remembering John C. Allen Sr. on the 60th anniversary of his death.

They sat rather stiffly side by side, each with hands clasped in lap. The occasion was their 50th anniversary, and granddaughter Marion captured the moment in the only photograph I have seen of them together.

Three years later, family gathered again on the day after Christmas to pay respects to John and Mary Agnes Holmes Allen. Papa Allen retired to bed after dinner and never woke again.