Enslaved People, Free People of Color, Land, North Carolina, Other Documents, Paternal Kin

Confederate map tells all.

Years ago — 10? 15? — I ordered copies of two Confederate field maps from the fine folks at Wilson County Genealogical Society. (The originals are held at North Carolina State Archives.) The maps feature not only geographic markers, such as creeks and towns, but the names of landowners throughout the region. I remember intently scanning the area around modern-day Eureka, hunting for signs of my Artises and finding none. (Celia Artis is on one of the maps, but she’s not “mine.”) Disappointed, I folded them away in a box.

A couple of days ago, I stumbled across the maps while reorganizing some files. I let my eyes drift a little further afield and

SILAS BRYANT! JOHN LANE! DR. WARD!

jumped off the page.

Just like that, the locations of the farms on which Vicey Artis‘ children, including Adam, were apprenticed; Sylvania Artis‘ children were apprenticed; and Mittie Ward and Apsilla Ward Hagans were enslaved (by their father.) Not only that — with a little extrapolation from the 1860 census, I can determine approximately where my people were living during the War.

Here’s the first map (with my annotations in unfortunate grayscale, click to enlarge):

The left edge of the map is defined by the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad. (2) Nahunta, bottom left and now the town of Fremont, is exactly halfway between Wilson, seat of Wilson County, and Goldsboro, seat of Wayne County. Follow the road east out of Nahunta on what is now NC 222, and you’ll see (3) Martinsville, now Eureka. Angle southeast from Eureka on what is now Faro Road, then veer right at the fork onto what is now Lindell Road. (See “B. Mooring”? Frances Seaberry and her family are listed near his household in the 1860 census.) After crossing a north-south road, pre-Lindell takes a sharp turn north. Drag your finger straight across from the bend and you’ll touch two squared names — Silas Bryant and John Lane.

Here is Bryant’s household in the 1850 census of Greene County:

And on the next page:

As reflected on the map, Silas Bryant and John Lane lived in close proximity, and, on their land, sisters Sylvania and Vicey Artis, who owned no property. My great-great-great-grandfather Adam Artis and his sisters Charity and Jane are listed in Bryant’s household, which suggests that they served him as involuntary apprentices under North Carolina’s laws governing the labor of the children of unmarried free women of color. (Both Sylvania and Vicey were married, of course, but to enslaved men — relationships that were not recognized under the law.) The 1860 census suggests that John Lane also had apprentices, Sylvania’s younger children. Lane may also have owned their father, Guy, who adopted the surname Lane after emancipation.

[And remember this?: “On 20 Aug 1853, in Greene County NC, Silas Bryant sold Daniel Artis for $325 120 acres adjacent to the mouth of a lane at the dividing line between said Bryant and John Lane, the Bull Branch, and the mouth of Sellers Branch.” I think Daniel was Vicey and Sylvania’s brother.]

Where is this now? Just inside the Greene County line, dotted at left, Highway 58 crosses over Speights Bridge Road. The second road on the left is the same one shown on the field map and is still called Lane Road. (9) marks the approximate location of Silas Bryant’s home and (10), John Lane’s.

Due north of Lane and Bryant, across Contentnea Creek is another boxed name, Dr. Ward. This was David George Washington Ward, physician, wealthy planter, and owner of twin daughters, Mittie and Appie, whose mother was an enslaved woman named Sarah. (More about the Wards elsewhere.)

Just inside the Greene County line, a few miles southeast of Stantonsburg in Wilson County, (11) marks the approximate location of Dr. Ward’s house today. [Update: Actually, it’s the approximate location of Dr. Ward’s name on the map. His house was, and is, in Wilson County close to Stantonsburg.]

Back on pre-NC 222, about a third of the way between Martinsville/Eureka and Stantonsburg, a road leads off to the east toward Watery Branch Church. (It still does — and is called Watery Branch Road.) Barely legible is the name of one of the few free people of color marked on the map: Celia Artis. Though not related by blood, at least in any immediate way, Adam Artis and his family are listed next to her in the 1860 census, and their descendants intermarried. (And share a cemetery that lies next to the road about where the C is in Celia.) Here, then, is the approximate location of Adam Artis’ earliest farmland. He later accumulated property all along the highway.

Other landmarks on the field map: (4) Toisnot Swamp (marked Creek here), a tributary of the Contentnea that flows down from Wilson County; (5) Contentnea Creek itself; (6) Black Creek, another Wilson County tributary; (7) Aycock Swamp, another tributary, upon whose banks Adam Artis’ brother-in-law and Appie Ward’s husband Napoleon Hagans built his house; and (8) Turner Swamp.

Free People of Color, Land, North Carolina, Paternal Kin

Intersection.

Napoleon Road is a bent elbow of a dirt lane running north west of Eureka in Wayne County. At its southern end, it debouches into Reidtown Road, so named for the free colored Reid family who lived in the area as early as the 1830s. Napoleon Road is no longer than a mile or so, and there is one house on it. Napoleon Hagans built that house.

Rural roads did not have formal names until the county implemented its 911 system perhaps 20 years ago. It is a testament to Napoleon Hagans’ stature that, nearly one hundred years after his death and three-quarters of a century after his descendants left the state, the majority landowner along what had been his road chose to memorialize him permanently.

DNA, Free People of Color, North Carolina, Paternal Kin

DNA definites, no. 11: Artis & Aldridge.

I am descended from John W. Aldridge and his wife, Louvicey Artis Aldridge, via son J. Thomas Aldridge. Louvicey Artis’ parents were Adam Artis and Frances Seaberry Artis.
K.H. is also descended from John W. Aldridge and Louvicey Artis Aldridge, via daughter Nora Aldridge Henderson. At 23andme, K.H. and I show a 4.4% match, estimated as second cousins. In fact, we are first cousins, twice removed. (Calculated on the Aldridge side. We are also Henderson cousins, but much more distantly.)
W.H. is also descended from John W. Aldridge and Louvicey Artis Aldridge, via daughter Nora Aldridge Henderson. Ancestry estimates that we are 3rd-4th cousins; 23andme estimates 2nd cousins (2.51% match). In fact, we are second cousins, once removed. (We are also distant Henderson cousins.)
E.H. is also descended from John W. Aldridge and Louvicey Artis Aldridge, via daughter Nora Aldridge Henderson. At 23andme, E.H. and I show a 1.75% match, estimated as 2nd-3rd cousins. In fact, we are second cousins, once removed. (Ditto re the Henderson relationship.)
S.D. is also descended from John W. Aldridge and Louvicey Artis Aldridge, via daughter Nora Aldridge Henderson. Ancestry estimates that S.D. and I are 4th-6th cousins. In fact, we are third cousins. (Ditto re the Henderson relationship.)
G.J. is also descended from John W. Aldridge and Louvicey Artis Aldridge, via daughter Correna Aldridge Newsome. Ancestry.com estimates that we are 4th-6th cousins. (Ancestry does not provide percentage shared.) In fact, we are 3rd cousins, once removed.
B.L. is descended from Josephine Artis Sherrod, daughter of Adam Artis and Amanda Aldridge Artis. Amanda Aldridge was a sister of John W. Aldridge. B.L. and I are estimated at 2nd-3rd cousins and share 1.28% on 23andme. In fact, we are 3rd cousins, once removed, on the Aldridge side, and 2nd cousins, twice removed, on the Artis.
A.S. is also descended from Josephine Artis Sherrod. Ancestry estimates our relationship as 4th-6th cousins. In fact, we are 3rd cousins, once removed on the Artis side, and 4th cousins on the Aldridge side.
H.B. is descended from Henry J.B. Artis, son of Adam Artis and Amanda Aldridge Artis. Amanda was the sister of John W. Aldridge. Ancestry.com estimates our relationship as 4th-6th cousins. In fact, we are 2nd cousins, twice removed.
B.J. is descended from Mattie Brewington Braswell, daughter of Joshua Brewington and Amelia Aldridge Brewington. Amelia was a sister of John W. and Amanda Aldridge. B.J. and I estimated at 3rd-5th cousins and share .37%. In fact, we are 4th cousins. B.J. also matches G.J. at Ancestry, but not S.D.
R.M. is descended from Mathew W. Aldridge, who was John W. Aldridge’s brother. 23andme estimated that R.M. and I are 3rd to distant cousins and share .21%. In fact, we are 4th cousins. R.M. matches all the other Aldridge-Balkcum descendants on 23andme. She also matches D.D. at .46, 3rd-5th cousins. This is particularly interesting because the father of D.D.’s great-grandmother was said to be Jesse F. Baker, son of John Frank Baker and Mary Ann Aldridge. Mary Ann Aldridge was the daughter of John Mathew Aldridge, who I believe to have been the brother of Robert Aldridge. Assuming this to be the connection between R.M. and D.D. are, in fact, 5th cousins. (Also: D.D.’s great-grandmother and my grandmother were daughters of Bessie Lee Henderson, so she matches me, my father, sister and 1st cousin on 23andme, as well as K.H.)
H.A. is descended from Mary Jane Artis Artis, daughter of Adam and Lucinda Jones Artis. At 23andme, H.A. and I show a .15% match, estimated at 3rd to distant cousins. We are, in fact, 4th cousins. H.A. also matches K.H. and B.L.

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

Volte-face, no. 1; or 52 Ancestors: Daniel Artis.

[Though my format only infrequently focus on individuals, I’ve taken up the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge. This is week 4, so I have some catching up to do. We’ll see.]

I had an inkling, didn’t I? Here’s what I wrote in my notes when I found Mariah Artis Swinson’s death certificate:

MARIAH SWINSON. Died 6 Feb 1955, 500 Creech Street, Goldsboro NC, arteriosclerosis. Born 14 Feb 1849 to Daniel Artis and unknown. Informant, Mrs. Mary Swinson. Buried 9 Feb 1955, Elmwood cemetery, Goldsboro NC. [Daniel Artis? Is this an error or was Mariah Silvania’s niece rather than her daughter? I conjectured that Daniel Artis was a brother of Silvania and Vicey Artis.]

Up to then, I had firmly believed that Mariah Artis Swinson, wife of Jesse Swinson, was the daughter of Guy Lane and Sylvania Artis, so I was thrown when her death certificate listed her father as Daniel. I had a Daniel Artis in my file with a question mark behind his name — was he Sylvania and Vicey Artis’ brother? He appears sparingly in records, and here’s all I knew about him:

On 20 Aug 1853, in Greene County NC, Silas Bryant sold Daniel Artis for $325 120 acres adjacent to the mouth of a lane at the dividing line between said Bryant and John Lane, the Bull Branch, and the mouth of Sellers Branch. Henry Martin witnessed. The deed was registered 7 Jun 1882. [Silas Bryant apprenticed the children of Vicey Artis, who may have been Daniel’s sister. John Lane apprenticed the children of Vicey’s sister Sylvania and probably owned her husband, Guy Lane.]

and

In the 1860 census, Bull Head, Greene County NC, 40 year-old free man of color Dannel Artis, a ditcher, is listed next door to the household of white farmer John Lane, who reported $10000 personal property and $25000 real property, included Dannel, Mike, Penney, Dyner, Juley, and Washington Artis, who were Silvania’s children.

I have not found Daniel in earlier censuses. However, a few days ago, following up a request for assistance by a descendant of a Daniel Artis from Greene County, I examined the will and probate records of a Daniel Artis who died in early 1905. The will, in black and white, stated that Mariah Swinson, wife of Jesse Swinson, was this Daniel Artis’ daughter, not Sylvania Artis’.

So, is Daniel Artis the will-maker the Daniel Artis that I believe to have been a brother of Vicey Artis Williams and Sylvania Artis Lane?

What does his will tell us?

There were two, in fact. The first, dated 15 January 1905, was recorded at the Greene County Courthouse in Will Book 1 at page 514; the second, dated two days later, at page 524. The legatees are the same, but the gifts packaged differently, so I present both:

Item 1. Page 514 — to daughter Clary Edwards, wife of Henry Edwards, his interest valued at $172 in the tract of land on which Clary and Henry live. The tract was purchased from Debro Cobb with money advanced from Henry Artis. If $172 is more than the other’s children’s share, Clary is to make them even, and vice versa. Page 524 — to daughter Clara Edwards, wife of Henry Edwards, his interest valued at $172 in the tract of land purchased from Debro Cobb. His agreement with Henry Edwards has not been recorded.

Item 2. Page 514 — to son Henry Artis, 1/4 interest in his real estate. Page 524 — to son Henry Artis, 40 acres, including the house in which Daniel then lived.

Item 3. Page 514 — to the children of his son Lodrick Artis (Anna Randolph, Frank Artis, Lula Forbes, Madison Artis, Marcellus Artis, Ernest Artis, Dicey Batts and Hannah Artis) 1/4 of his estate. Page 524 — to the children of Lodrick Artis and his wife Mandy, 40 acres (land Lodrick resided on at the time of his death) and all buildings thereon.

Item 4. Page 514 — to the children of his daughter Prior An Thompson (Isaac Sauls, C.D. Sauls, Maria Edwards and Clara Lane), 1/4 of his estate. Page 524 — to Prior An Thompson’s children and their heirs, 40 acres that Willis Thompson lives on.

Item 5. Page 514 — $50 to daughter Mariah Swinson, wife of Jesse Swinson, to be paid from the shares of the others in the amount of $12.50 each. Page 524 — A committee to be appointed to assess value of shares and make Clara Edwards’ share equal to the others, difference to be paid within seven years.

Item 6. Page 514 — none. Page 524 — Each lot to be taxed $12.50 to pay daughter Mariah Swinson, wife of Jesse Swinson.

Grandson Isaac Sauls was appointed executor in both, Daniel Artis signed each with an X, and both were proved on 21 March 1905.

Whatever his intent at clarification, things did not go well with Daniel’s estate. A Notice of Sale ran four weeks from December 1923-January 1924 in the Greene County weekly The Standard-Laconic announcing the sale of “a certain tract or parcel of land devised to Henry Artis by Daniel Artis by his last will and testament, … containing 40 acres.” The sale was advertised pursuant to a judgment in Greene County Superior Court in the matter of Frances Hall; Bennett Hall; Bessie Woodard, infant; and Alice Woodard, infant, by their next friend Amos Woodard v. J. Settle Artis and Roumania Artis. Settle Artis, who was Henry Artis’ son, had purchased the parcel at a courthouse sale the previous July. Frances and Bennett Hall were Settle’s sister and brother-in-law, and Amos Woodard was another brother-in-law, widower of Settle’s sister Dillie.

I don’t know what Hall et al. v. Artis was about, but the allegations of the next suit over Daniel’s estate — filed in 1930 — are clear. The case caption alone is daunting: Isaac Sauls; Walter Sauls; Luby Sauls; Edward Sauls; Hattie Speight and her husband Walter Speight; Mariah Thompson; Lillie May Sauls, minor, George Sauls, minor, Sarah Sauls, minor, Lillie Lee Sauls, minor, Walter Sauls, minor, appearing by their next friend, Luby Sauls; and Nettie Sauls; Henry B. Lane; Lillie Maud Best and her husband Alex Best; John H. Lane and Carrie D. Lane, a minor, children and heirs at law of Clara Thompson; Penny Edwards, Silas Edwards, Prior Edwards and the Henry Pettaway children as follows: Hadie Pettaway, minor, Willie Harrison Pettaway, Georgia May Pettaway, minor, Minnie Clyde Pettaway, minor, grandchildren of Mariah Edwards, by their next friend Henry Pettaway v. C.D. Sauls and Duffrey Edwards. In other words, a fight among the heirs of Daniel’s daughter Prior Ann Artis Sauls Thompson. The crux of the matter is set out in paragraph 10:

10. That the plaintiffs, heirs at law of Isaac Sauls, Mariah Edwards and Clara Thompson are the owners of three fifths of the land devised by Daniel Artis in Item 4 of his will to the children of his daughter Prior Ann and are entitled to have the defendant Cain D. Sauls declared to have the same held in trust for them and are entitled to an accounting of the rents and profits of the same from the date of his purchase in 1908.

Instead, they alleged, C.D. Sauls had been keeping hundreds of dollars of rent for himself and, in 1928, had sold the parcel to Duffrey Edwards for $3000, with full knowledge by Edwards that Sauls was trustee for his relatives. C.D. denied all, of course. In 1937, his daughter and son-in-law, Willie Sauls Burgess and W.D. Burgess, were added as defendants after C.D. and his wife Ada allegedly tried to fraudulently transfer the disputed property to her. In 1939, the clerk of court entered a non-suit judgment noting that the parties had reached an amicable settlement. No details were included. The matter was over.

So back to my original line of inquiry: who was this Daniel Artis?

Though he often managed to slip censustakers, the enumerator of the 1880 census found Daniel, his children Henry, Clara, Mariah, Prior Ann, and Lodrick, and their children living in a cluster in Bullhead district. (There was a marker for “Artis Town” at a spot in the road in Greene County. I think it’s in this area.) At #260, Henry Artis, 30, wife Mary, 27, and children Frances, 16, Didida, 8, Missouri, 7, Settle, 3, and Henry, 2. At #261, Henry Edwards, 40, wife Clara, 45, and children Thomas, 19, Wright, 18, Scott, 15, Eliza, 13, George, 11, Henry, 9, Daniel, 7, and William, 5. #264, Jessee Swinson, 23, wife Maria, 20, and son Charles, 1. #267, Willis Thompson, 28, wife Prior, 32, and his stepsons Isaac Sauls, 19, Cain Sauls, 18, and Richard Sauls, 15. #268, Timothy Edwards, 22, wife Maria, 21, and children Mony, 2, and Lilly, 7 months, niece Alice Wood, 15, and grandmother Maria Sauls, 60. #269, Lodrick Artis, 35, wife Amanda, 30, and children Hannah, 12, Frank, 10, Lula, 8, Sarah, 4, Monsey, 2, Lodrick, 1 month, and Marcellus, 1. #270, Daniel Artis Sr., 65, wife Eliza, 60, and granddaughter Ida, 9.

This Daniel is roughly the right age to be the one listed in the 1860 census and certainly old enough to have purchased property in 1853. [A future project: hunt for a plat or metes and bounds to compare that purchase with the land devides in 1905.] Daniel Artis and Eliza Faircloth registered their two-year cohabitation just over the county line in Wayne County. If they were, in fact, married in 1864, she was not the mother of his children, who were born circa 1835-1860. Like Eliza, though, their mother — or mothers — probably was enslaved, as were they. If Daniel was the brother of Silvania and Vicey, he followed in their footsteps by looking beyond the free colored community to find a spouse. (It is possible that the Daniel who married Eliza Faircloth was Daniel Artis, born in 1843 to Silvania Artis Lane. He and his wife Eliza appear in the 1880 census of Greene County with children Emma and James.)

It is time, I think, to adjust my files. Unlink Mariah Artis from Silvania and move her to Daniel, then enter all the new names I have for his descendants. The evidence is sparse and circumstantial, but sufficient to make a tentative determination that Daniel, Vicey and Silvania were siblings. They were born within about a ten-year span; they live in close proximity in Bull Head district, Greene County; they are the only Artises in the area (and among few in the county); they all had connections with Silas Bryant and/or John Lane; and there are some commonalities among the given names of their offspring (Silvania had a son Daniel; Silvania and Daniel had daughters named Mariah; and Vicey and Daniel had grandsons named Cain.)

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

Misinformation Monday, no. 6.

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

——

Again, from “The Adam Artis Family History” —

Adam Artis had about five wives and 39 children. His first legal wife was Frances Hagens of Eureka. She was very fair and had beautiful long black silky hair.

Frances Hagans. By the early 20th century, that this was Frances Artis’ maiden name was accepted wisdom. When four of her children — Vicey Artis Aldridge, Napoleon Artis, William M. Artis and Walter S. Artis — died, their informants replied “Frances Hagans” when asked the name of the mother of the deceased. Researchers find these records and dutifully set down her name this way in the innumerable family trees of her innumerable kin.

But Frances Artis was not born a Hagans. She was a Seaberry, as her earliest records attest. She is Frances Seaberry, daughter of Aaron and Levisa Seaberry in both the 1850 and 1860 censuses. Most tellingly, it is the name Adam Artis gave the registrar when he applied for their marriage license in 1861.

How, this mix-up? It is a case of transferral. Frances’ mother’s maiden name was Hagans and gave birth to a son, Napoleon Hagans, before she married Aaron Seaberry. Napoleon Hagans grew to become one of the wealthiest “colored” men in Wayne County, larger than life, feared and respected by black and white alike. Given the shadow that Frances’ brother (probably half-brother, in fact) cast, it is not surprising that 50+ years after her death, her descendants assumed that she was a Hagans, too.

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

A lot in Negro Town.

This convoluted case involves a dispute between two parties claiming title to a lot that once belonged to Needham Kennedy, Mathew W. Aldridge’s father-in-law. The ins and outs of the lawsuit are difficult to extract from the decision and, in any case, are not the most interesting aspects of the matter for me. Rather, my focus is on the evidence of relationships among Kennedy’s children (and their spouses) and the light shed on the affairs of a family that had quickly accumulated property post-slavery.

There is astoundingly little in conventional records about Needham Kennedy. I assume he was native to Wayne County, perhaps the former slave of one of several Kennedy families in the area. However, to my confusion and dismay, I have found neither him nor his family in any census records prior to 1900. Where were these landowners???

All the more important, then, is the personal information that can be gleaned from the North Carolina Supreme Court’s decision in Bradford v. Bank of Warsaw, 182 N.C. 225 (1921). The main opinion in the case gives some information, but the fullest, clearest details are set forth in a dissenting opinion. A distillation of it all:

Needham Kennedy bought a lot measuring 42 feet by 210 feet in “’Negro Town,’ a suburb of Goldsboro,” on 12 January 1870 and registered his deed six years later. He also owned other property. Needham died intestate about 1898, leaving five children – Fannie Kennedy Aldridge, Ida Kennedy Darden, Bryant Kennedy, William Kennedy, and Levi Kennedy – and a wife, the children’s stepmother, who died in 1908. (Their birth mother was named Patience, maiden name possibly Kennedy.) After the stepmother’s death, the children arranged to divide the property so that William and Bryant, who lived in New Jersey, would receive cash and their sisters and Levi would divide the land. Ida was to get the contested lot (A); Fannie, lot B; and Levi, lot C.

In 1909 and 1910, William, Bryant and Levi conveyed their interest in A to Ida. The deeds from William and Bryant were not recorded until 1921, and Levi’s was lost and never recorded. On 21 March 1910, at lawyer A.C. Davis’ office, Fannie Aldridge and husband Mathew conveyed her interest in A to Ida and her interest in C to Levi. Levi and wife and Ida Darden and her husband John conveyed their interest in B to Mathew Aldridge. These deeds were immediately probated, and Fannie, Ida and Levi took possession of their respective lots. (Levi later sold his.)

To secure a sum of money that Ida owed Mathew, Ida gave him a mortgage on A dated 22 March 1910, which was recorded that day. Ida had received rents from A since her stepmother’s death and continued to do so until 20 May 1912. On that day, Mathew Aldridge sold the mortgaged property to Captain A.J. Brown, who recorded the deed on 11 June 1912.

Captain Brown, and later his heirs, received rents from A from the date of purchase until 27 March 1915. On that day, the heirs sold the lot to defendant Bank of Warsaw, which recorded its deed on 1 May 1916. The bank then began to receive rents.

In the meantime, on 14 July 1916, William, Bryant and Levi Kennedy conveyed their undivided 3/5 interest in lot A to J.J. Ham. The deeds were registered 24 August 1916. On 17 October 1917, Ham conveyed his interest in the lot to N.E. Bradford, who registered the deed 24 October 1917. Thus, both Bradford and the Bank claimed interests in the title to A on the basis of deeds executed by various heirs of Needham Kennedy.

My year of property law class is far behind me, and I won’t attempt to untangle the dense reasoning set forth in the majority opinion in this matter. Suffice it to say, the Bank of Warsaw lost its appeal.

——

Fannie’s husband Mathew W. Aldridge, brother of my great-great-grandfather John, died in 1920. Seven months later, Fannie married W.D. Farmer. (What’s the story there?) I have not found her death certificate.

Eliza Balkcum Aldridge and her daughter-in-law, Fannie Kennedy Aldridge, circa 1920.

Levi Kennedy died 6 February 1940 in Goldsboro. His death certificate notes that he lived at 310 W. Pine Street, that he was a clothing merchant, and that he was married to Anna Kennedy. He was born in 1875 in Goldsboro, and his parents were listed as Needham and Patience Kennedy. He is buried in Elmwood cemetery.

Ida Kennedy Darden Lamb died 18 December 1954 in Goldsboro. She was a widow and resided at 305 West Elm Street. She was born 18 March 1874 to “Needman” and Patience Kennedy.

I’ve been unable to trace William and Bryant Kennedy in New Jersey.

Free People of Color, Migration, Newspaper Articles

Rubbing a little too close.

Logansport Pharos Times, 8 January 1903.

Montraville (or Montreville) Simmons was, of course, the irascible husband of Anna J. Henderson Simmons. After many years in Ontario, the family settled in rural Cass County, Indiana, near the community of Kenneth. Not far away was an African-American settlement dating back to the mid-1800s, when southern free people of color began migrating to the Midwest. The Bassett family, originally from North Carolina, anchored that community, and two of Annie and Montraville’s daughters married into the family.

Montraville, occasionally his sons Dock and Edward, Annie (once), and Montraville’s second wife Eliza (often and dramatically) popped up in the pages of nearby Logansport’s newspaper much more regularly than one might expect. He had a penchant for clashing with his neighbors, for lawsuits, and for violence, and local reporters gleefully recounted his mayhem and mishaps.

Free People of Color, Land, Newspaper Articles, North Carolina, Paternal Kin, Rights

A win for Uncle Mathew.

Goldsboro Headlight, 5 March 1890.

I don’t know why Matthew W. Aldridge sued Calvin Foy, but I’ll try to find out next time I’m in Raleigh. “Little Washington” was a black neighborhood south of Pine Street and west of Virginia Street, just outside Goldsboro city limits. The community was largely lost to urban renewal projects.

Births Deaths Marriages, Free People of Color, Migration, North Carolina, Other Documents, Paternal Kin

Misinformation Monday, no. 5.

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

——

What’s right with this death certificate? Annie Simmons‘ name — more or less, as she seems to have been called Anna in her youth. Presumably, her date and place of death. Her birthday may be right, though the birth year is probably three or four years late. She was certainly female.

But she was not white.

Annie Simmons was mixed-race, described as “mulatto” in early life and “colored” (and even “African”) thereafter. She is consistently classified in census records in two states (North Carolina and Indiana) and a province (Ontario), as well as her marriage license. The local newspaper avidly carried news of her husband Montraville Simmons’ antics and was quick to point out his non-white status. (She was certainly married, if unhappily.)

(By the way, Basedow’s disease is more commonly known as Graves’ disease, or hyperthyroidism.)

Annie was probably 54, rather than 50, and she was certainly born in North Carolina, but not to “James Harrison” and “Eliza Henderson.” Rather, as is clearly set forth in her application for a marriage license in Duplin County NC, her parents were James Henderson and Eliza Armwood. Montraville Simmons probably had not seen his in-laws in more than 40 years when he gave this information. His errors are perhaps excusable, but there they are, enshrined as “fact” and forever leading researchers astray.

Free People of Color, North Carolina, Paternal Kin

Sisters?

The case for Nancy Henderson and Patsey Henderson as sisters is circumstantial, but strongly suggestive.

(1) With a handful of exceptions, they and individuals who appear to be their children are the only known free “colored” Hendersons in Onslow County, North Carolina, in the early 1800’s. I have not found record evidence of any colored Hendersons prior to 1809. (The exceptions: three Henderson girls apprenticed circa 1810 who may have been too old to have been Patsey or Nancy’s children. I have not been able to trace them forward from their apprenticeships.)

(2) Nancy and Patsey are named in Onslow County court records as mothers of children bound out as apprentices, and Nancy may have apprenticed two of Patsey’s. (Between February, 1821, and November, 1824, seven Henderson children were shifted from master to master nine times. In the 25 years between 1809 and 1834, 14 Hendersons — sisters, brothers, cousins, nieces, nephews — appeared before the bench on 17 occasions. A group of white families dominated the apprenticeship of Henderson children — Richard, Adam, and Houston Trott; Jesse and Jason Gregory; James Glenn sr. and jr.; Lewis, William, and Uzy Mills; John and Steven Humphrey, William and Jesse Alphin. I know no familial relationship between Nancy or Patsey and any of these families, but Millses gave evidence concerning Nancy’s parentage.)

(3) Nancy’s children (Durant, Willis, Miranda, Patsey, Gatsey, Minerva, William and Betsey) and Patsey’s children (James and Bryant) were roughly the same age and were occasionally apprenticed together.

(4) Several names recur among the grandchildren of both women. Nancy’s son Durant Dove (alias Henderson) had children named Lewis James, Julia, Susan, Eliza, Edward and Nancy. Patsey’s son James Henderson had children named James, Lewis, Susan, Julia, Edward and Nancy. Durant reared his family in Onslow and Lenoir Counties NC. James reared his in Onslow and Sampson. James left Onslow in the 1850s. Despite the physical distance and probable lack of contact, both men drew from the same pool of names for children born well into the 1870s.

Scuffalong: Genealogy.

Category Archives: Free People of Color