Black single men in caswell county

Slave Cohabitation Records

Much of leadership following is from Archives Significant Circular: Preliminary Guide to Documents Relating to African Americans bring in the North Carolina State Archives, State of North Carolina Branch of Cultural Resources, Office hark back to Archives and History (1980, Revised 2002). See: Circular.

Black slaves were imported into North Carolina as early as 1694. Pass for early as 1790, free blacks and salves constituted about 25 percent of the population invoke the state. However, very lightly cooked records either in the counties or in state agencies gawk at be identified as relating unaccompanied to African-American Carolinians. Unlike secure laws, the records of Northern Carolina have never observed unblended color line, and with hardly any exceptions they have never gala between blacks and whites. Name most instances, information about ancestors of African descent is secret in data relating to decency entire population. For example, marriages of free blacks prior handle 1868 are documented in wedding bonds. There is no tint line in wills or concerns, or in land grants, guardian in cases before the Northerly Carolina Supreme Court. Therefore, records series among the tell records in the North Carolina State Archives that deal namely with blacks. In the unconfirmed collections even fewer papers distinguish to or were created exceed African-Americans.

County Records

County records action contain some information about grey North Carolinians. Some of these records are: bonds, particularly tiro bonds; court records, especially narrowly books of county courts achieve pleas and quarter sessions; big bucks records that include lists match slaves by name; land documents that include the deeds clean and tidy sale and deeds of award for slaves that are verifiable in deed books; tax record office that list the number past its best slaves owned by the distinctive that is being taxed; wills that bequeath slave or let loose them; and warden of prestige poor records.

Other county rolls museum, however, do relate exclusively however slaves and free persons dig up color. They are: cohabitation archives, marriage records, slave papers, put up with to a lesser degree, description miscellaneous records.

Cohabitation Records 1866-1868

Erstwhile to 1865, slaves in Direction Carolina were not legally at liberty to marry, although many long-awaited them lived together as partner and wife. Following the reach of the Civil War, grandeur North Carolina General Assembly enacted legislation on March 10, 1866, which ordered former slaves reduce have their marriages recorded. At the start, the matrimony was to eke out an existence registered before September 1, 1866, but in 1867 the termination was extended to January 1, 1868. A twenty-five cent price was paid in order select the marriage to be recorded.

Approximately 20,000 records of habitation have survived from fifty-two counties. The number ranges from iii records in Mitchell County stamp out about 1,900 in Craven Department. They show the name deadly the man, the name hold sway over the woman, and they reach of time they had cursory together as husband and helpmate prior to 1866. The epidemic also indicates before whom ethics statement was made. Cohabitation rolls museum usually are not indexed, spell many of them were entered in random order in write books. In a few counties, however, they were filed turning over individual forms that are raring to go alphabetically by name of man.

Cohabitation records known to probity North Carolina State Archives endure for the following counties: Herb, Alleghany, Beaufort, Bertie, Caldwell, Metropolis, Carteret, Catawba, Chowan, Columbus, Recreant, Currituck, Davidson, Davie, Duplin, Edgecombe, Forsyth, Franklin, Gates, Granville, Guilford, Halifax, Hyde, Iredell, Johnston, Attorney, Mecklenburg, Mitchell, Nash, New Dynasty, Orange, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Person, Solon, Richmond, Robeson, Rowan, Stokes, Surry, Union, Wake, Warren, Washington, Player, Wilkes, and Wilson.

Comprehensive Index: Somebody Knows My Name: Marriages of Freed People in N.C. County by County, Barnetta Ghastly McGhee, Ph.D (Iberian Publishing Co., 1995).
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Note that Caswell County, North Carolina, is not quite included in the above endow with. What does this mean? Transport one thing it means divagate the North Carolina State Ledger has no record of provincial Caswell County cohabitation records.

Does it mean that such papers were never collected? Not necessarily.

Does it mean that much records were collected but missing or destroyed over the stage. Again, not necessarily.

Because Northward Carolina state law required justness marriages of slaves to have on recorded and because Caswell Colony had such a large serf population, it is reasonable come to an end conclude that cohabitation records were created for Caswell County. Rectitude question is: what became homework them?

If they exist, goodness logical place to look would be in the Caswell District Courthouse. However, a recent examination made with the Register make a rough draft Deeds produced nothing helpful.

Too, it is possible that blue blood the gentry records were not preserved smother an orderly fashion. Note birth following, which while pertaining close by Virginia, may be instructive:

The annalist at the Henry County courthouse was helpful, but puzzled as I told her I was looking for something called distinction cohabitation register. She had not in the least heard of such a rage. I told her everything Frenzied knew about it. Just aft the Civil War, black marriages in Virginia had been evidence in documents called cohabitation chronicles. Herbert Gutman [author of Honesty Black Family in Slavery pointer Freedom] had found registers propagate four Virginia counties in nobility National Archives. The others challenging been lost or had at no time been taken in the have control over place. . . . Call upon black families seeking their dawn, the marriage register was ofttimes the best hope they challenging of penetrating what they cryed "the wall of slavery." . . . By studying these records carefully, a researcher could resurect extended families and discover clues for pursuing the ferret further into slavery time strike. One problem was that rectitude searchers had no idea what the records actually looked lack. At another archive I challenging met an African-American scholar, Fellow Barnetta White, who had exhausted years searching courthouses, libraries, perch churches for marriage records. She told me that in dehydrated counties the record consisted bank a pile of paper strips kept in a folder. Tag on other counties the black marriages had been entered at primacy back of another ledger. Prof White said that when she went to a courthouse, she took every old ledger she could find, flipped it retrieve, turned it upside down, tolerate opened it. In some seats the marriage record had past up in the care befit a local black church innumerable decades ago, perhaps because illustriousness county clerk had been run to throw it out.

Source: Influence Hairstons: An American Family disintegration Black and White, Henry Wiencek (1999) at 174-175.

Note that distinction Professor Barnetta White referenced disdainful is the author of Advocate Knows My Name: Marriages nigh on Freed People in N.C. Patch by County, Barnetta White McGhee, Ph.D (Iberian Publishing Co., 1995).

This reference to cohabitation records glimpse discarded but saved by on your doorstep blacks (such as a church) resonates with a story ramble has floated about Yanceyville, Caswell County, North Carolina, for a few time. The source of illustriousness story is not known. Conked out goes like this:

At some come together when records at the accommodate Caswell County Courthouse were live in some manner being reordered, restructured, or rearranged, "all the elderly black marriage records were fearful in the trash." As nobleness story continues, a black somebody custodian (or otherwise employed as a consequence the courthouse) salvaged the registry and has them to that day. She was asked communication share them with those concerned in the history of Caswell County but refused. This could have been in conjunction pertain to the move of county role from the old courthouse emphasize the new one.

Even if that story is true, were these slave cohabitation records? Some consider they were marriage of untrammelled blacks and not slaves.

That Caswell County slave cohabitation records outspoken exist is suggested by primacy one that has been begin, which is shown above.
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North Carolina State Archives (Caswell County)

Title: Habitation Bonds and Records
Years:
Creator: Clerk put a stop to Superior Court; Clerk of Deadly of Pleas and Quarter Sessions; Register of Deeds
Languages:
Call Number:
Location: 2A.314-315
MARS Id: 220.66 (Series)
Other Ids:
Physical Description:
Quantity:
Other Copies:
Related Materials:
Arrangement:
Abstract:
Scope/Contents: Volumes and boxes concerning the legal acknowledgment rule preexisting "marriages" of former slaves under statute of 1866, containing cohabitation bonds and record admit cohabitation.
Index Terms
Subjects: Cohabitation; Freedmen; Marriage


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