Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Sunday Service......Rehobeth

                             Rehobeth

It would be a safe estimate to make that 90% or more of the people buried at the old Rehobeth Church cemetary in Southern Stanly County, North Carolina share DNA with me.

Rehobeth is an abandoned, but upkept property, with a substantial cemetary. Actually, the cemetaries are considered two different ones, the older and the younger. Some of the oldest graves were marked only with river rock or slate markers and can no longer be deciphered.
Reunions are still held at Rehobeth, grills and tables are ready still for 'dinner on the grounds'. Services have not been held at Rehobeth, however, for a very long time.

In a history of Green Memorial United Methodist Church, it states that Green Memorial was organized in 1924 as Aquadale Methodist Church when three smaller churches merged. These three were Cottonville Methodist Church, Aquadale and Rehobeth. Aquadale is a community north of Rehobeth built around the popularity of Rock River Springs, a nearby resort. The Davis family plantation abutted Rocky River Springs, the Aldridge and Floyd families, among others, had settled just northeast of there and the Murrays lived just south east of Aquadale. Today, Aquadale has a few businesses, a school, a fire station and a convenience store. Cottonville was located along the plank road heading into Anson County. Today, Cottonville only has an abandoned store in the forks of Plank Road and Gaddys Ferry road, with 2 churches and a handful of houses. It's ballfield and small playground at the Baptist Church remains well-used, however.
Tombstone of one of my Aldridge relatives.

Rehobeth began as a Lutheran Society around 1840 along the Cheraw-Salisbury Road and meant "broad places", the name of a well in the Bible, meaning there was room for everyone to draw water from. Genesis 6:22.

This southern section of the road would be known as Winfield Road, which only a small section remains  today with that name, cutting between Aquadale and Norwood, but at the time, went down to the Winfield Ford, which would later be named the Davis Ford.
The first Lot was bought from Ben Murray, son of Jesse and brother to Prussia Murray. It contained 9 acres and was purchased for $6.00. Records date back to 1852. Rev. E. M. Avett mentions camp meetings held there until 1885. Cabins and tents were erected and entire families would come every summer and spend a week to 10 days in revival, fellowship and worship. A cyclone took out the church in 1920 and it would be rebuilt in 1924, even after the merger.  A small delegation would continue to meet there until their numbers dwindled away.  The following article is from the October 5th, 1950 edition of the Stanly News and Press.

Mr. Tom Davis mentioned in the first paragraph was my great-grandfather Will Davis's brother and Mrs Mattie Holt, his sister Martha. Wesley Simpson who is mentioned played a big part in my family as well. He married Margaret the adopted sister of my great-great, great grandfather Garner Aldridge, he served as the administrator of Mariah Murrays estate, and he also recorded much of the history of area families in his bible, which gives us information other records never would have.



 A history of the church was prepared by Martha E. Price in 1965 for an assignment for the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

She states that in 1965 there were only 5 living members and that the church parsonage had burned in about 1928 and many records were lost.

The following is from this recollection of Rehobeth.

"The twentieth century has not changed Rehobeth Church from its historical course. There it stands painted white with a tin roof and a hand pump in front. Inside the church, right in the middle of the aisel there is an old black stove which provided heat for the congregation yesterday and today. On the walls between the windows there are crude handmade sconces for the candle that lit the church until  1964.  In the front of the church stands a piano, the pulpit and three chairs. So simple yet so meaningful of the past and their Christian Faith. Sunrays shine through windows that reach almost to the ceiling thus adding their beauty to this historical sight.  On the pulpit is the most remarkable thing to me, an old Bible which has an Apocrypha. Here are books of the Bible which filled the gap between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Here are Esdras I and Ii, Tabit, Judith, the rest of the chapter of the book of Esther which are found neither in the Hebrew nor in the Chaldee, The Wisdom of Solomon, The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach, Baruch, The Song of the Three Holy Children, The History of Suzanna, The History of the Destruction of Bel, and The Dragon, cut off from the end of Daniel, the first and second books of the Maccabees.
In the back yard of the Church silently rest the forefathers of this church. I saw hand carved gravestones carved out of the river rocks. G. W. Simpson, Caleb Simpson and John W. Puett were some of the names that I remember."

Further history of the church revels that worshippers were called with the sound of a trumpet to come to worship. At camp meetings, families would bring whatever they may need, including milk cows. They would build fireplaces to cook, meals would be shared by all and fresh water could be drawn from a spring just below the church.

The church sat very near the Winfield road, one of the oldest in the area. Early ministers were often itinerant, and were paid in produce and livestock by the members, he and his horse cared for by the local families during his stay.

Green Wesley Simpson records that the church began as a German Lutheran Society. My family members were from long lines of Welsh Methodists, and they are the ones who surrounded the church, so this did not last long and soon Rehobeths name was changed to Rehobeth Methodist Church South and was in the Norwood circuit. The Rehobeth Society became a church from that day forth.

A local Tornado in April of 1920 destroyed the church building and dissention entered on the rebuilding plans. The Norfolk-Southern railway had built through the community prior and the nearest station was at the young community of Aquadale. Some members wanted to rebuild at Aquadale, others wanted it to be rebuilt in its original spot near the cemetary.

A deed of 1852 implied that the original church building had been built in that year and that early deeds were for the ground on which it stood. Some believe it began as a brush arbor. So large were the crowds that no small building  could hold them. Estimates would be between 400 to 500 people. In order to accomodate this many, a shelter was built to the side of the church with logs and seats made of pine slabs. The seats were arranged in rows and straw piled in between the seats for the children who would inevitably nod out during the long services. Older children were expected to sit quietly and reverently next to their parents. In the center would be built a platform to elevate the pulpit, so all around could see and hear the speaker. They had no PA systems in those days.

In the Register of Deeds Office, two deeds exist dated 1852 and 1854 which states that Benjamin Murry sold to John Poplin, James M. Davis, William Hendley, William R Randle and Caleb Aldridge as Trustees  of Rehobeth Episcopal Church South, for the sum of 6 dollars, a tract of land containing by estimation nine acres in one deed and six and 3/4ths in the second deeded to the same men but witnesses by A. J. Green and G. W. Simpson.

This list of names is significant to me in many ways. First, I am a direct descendant of Caleb Aldridge. His son Henry Garner Aldridge would marry Priscilla 'Prussia' Murray, sister of the mentioned Benjamin Murray. Their daughter Julina Aldridge was my great-grandfather Will Davis's mother. The above mentioned James M. Davis was one of the 4 sons of Job Davis, whom this blog is named for and the Uncle of Julina's husband Horton Hampton Davis. John Poplin's daughter Mary Ann would marry Ben Murrays son Jesse Murray II, named for patriarch Jesse Murray. His son Thomas Poplin would marry Judith Wilmartha Murray, daughter of Ben and Priscilla's oldest sister Jane Murray and his brother Richard Poplin had married Rebecca Murray, another sister. Ben Murray himself, would marry Martha Puett, one of the daughters of a long standing minister at Rehobeth.

to be continued.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Thank you Albert Murry

The first time Albert Murray shows up in records is in the November 1842 Session of Stanly County Court minutes. The record states briefly, "Albert Murray, a mulatto boy, bound to John Norwood as above vide bond filed. Also bond not to remove said boy from without this state filed in apprentice bond."

The second time he shows up is in the 1850 census, at age 11, in the home of Mr. John Norwood, an older gentleman, and his family and Albert is listed "m" for race, meaning Mulatto. Albert is not the only young Murray living outside of his immediate family. Tyson community, it seemed had a fad of having young Murrays in the households, some mulattos, some not. Even some adult members of the Murray family had little Murrays living with them.

Ever curious, I wanted to know why.

I will go into the Murray family records later, but a quick breakdown is that Jesse Murray had two Stanly County sons (there are a few more dashes in early censuses of sons who may have died or migrated to another area at adulthood. I believe another Jesse Murray who shows up in Randolph County near the intersection of Rowan, Cabarrus, Stanly, Montgomery and Davidson is his son, but no definitive proof ...yet.) He had many daughters: Jane, the eldest, never married but had at least 3 children. Keziah married, but did not stay so long. She had 3 daughters out of wedlock. Elizabeth married Malachi Stokes McIntyre, Sophia married Samuel Nelson Whitaker, Phobe married John C Turner, Rebecca married Richard Poplin, Winna Julina married John Adam Pless and Priscilla married Garner Aldridge. All of those daughters married or had children with Caucasian men.  The Murray's were actually tri-racial, accepted as white, but called Indians. Priscilla had one child with an (amended, after researching his family, it appears he was "Croatan" as his family first shows up in Wolf Pit, Richmond County in the 1850 census as 'Mulato') African-American after the death of her husband, Matilda.

Then there was Moriah. Moriah had 4 sons and 3 daughters, all considered mulattos, and upon her death, the children were bound out, several to her siblings. They were named in her estate settlement: Ben, Mary Jane, Eliza, Albert, Lydia Adeline, William and Wesley. While I am still trying to track down the other siblings, some I may have, but with common names, I want a level of certainty. With Albert, I have that.

Albert ended up relocating to neighboring Cabarrus County with his Aunt and Uncle, Nelson and Sophia Murray Whitaker. So did his sister, Lydia Adeline. Adeline, as she was called, had 3 children, John, Malinda and Jenny. Malinda is only listed in one census, but I have been able to track John and Jenny. Both married, John twice, and both listed Pink or Pinkney Carpenter as their father on their marriage licenses. Pink Carpenter was the son of a Stanly County Tyson Township family, and shows up in 2 censuses and disappears. He may have died in his 30's, or relocated. I have not researched him well. Pink Carpenter was white, but John, Jenny (who married a Kirk), show up as mulatto's. Adeline later marries a man named Adam Faggart, who is listed as black.

Albert, on the other hand, marries his first cousin, Mary J Whitaker, daughter of Nelson and Sophia. And on his marriage license, his father is revealed.

Albert Murray is notated with a (col) beside his name. Mary Jane Whitaker is not. Mary Jane's parents are listed as Nelson and Sophia Whitaker. Albert's parents are listed as Henry Wilkerson and Maria Murray.

The thing about the Murray children is that they are listed in the 1850 and 1860 censuses. This predates the Civil War, when most people labeled mulatto were slaves, and not listed in the census. The Murrays were not the only family that the census takers did not know what to do with. The Manuels and Hedgepeths were also listed as mulatto's and they were related to the Murrays.

Mariah Murray was a free, racially-mixed but accepted as white, woman. She was not allowed to marry Henry Wilkerson, who we can presume was black, but they had 7 children over the course of about 16 years. Mariah's estate was settled in 1853, but I believe she died in the year 1850. Of what, we can only guess. Perhaps, like Sarah Kennedy, she was going against the grain. Perhaps someone did not like the fact of that. (New evidence seems to suggest Moriah died in childbirth).

Albert Murray must have had some features that caused people to take him as mixed, his cousin Mary Jane may have been a little dark-featured too, having Indian ancestry (that turns out to be tri-racial). I know of no photagraphs in extistence. Maybe if I can locate some living descendants, pictures will be available.

Instead, I do have pictures of John Adam Aldridge and Glennie Wilmartha Whitaker. Wilmartha is the sister of Mary Jane, and likely looked somewhat like her or favored her. John Adam Aldridge is not only the first cousin to his wife, the son of Priscilla (Prussia) Murray Aldridge and Garner Aldridge, he was a first cousin of Albert Murray too. As you can see, they look a little stalwart, but very Caucasian, if not somewhat Indian.
They too, ended up in Cabarrus County.
This is how the census listed Albert and Mary Jane, who by the way, lived right next door to her parents, who were listed as white.

Name:A Murry
[Albert Murry or Murray] 
Age in 1870:35
Birth Year:abt 1835
Birthplace:North Carolina
Home in 1870:Township 11, Cabarrus, North Carolina
Race:Black
Gender:Male
Post Office:Concord
Value of real estate:View image
Household Members:
NameAge
A Murry35
Mary J Murry25
A W Murry6
James H Murry4
Mumford Murry2
Thomas J Murry5/12

Name:Albert Murray
Age:11
Birth Year:abt 1839
Birthplace:North Carolina
Home in 1850:Centre, Stanly, North Carolina
Race:Mulatto
Gender:Male
Family Number:94
Household Members:
NameAge
John Norwood53
Lydia Norwood52
Elizabeth Norwood16
Albert Murray11
This was Albert's first census, bound to the Norwood family. By 21, he had found work with the Railroad across the River in Anson, by 31, he had married his cousin, lived next to his Aunt, her mother, and started a family.
Albert Murry
Age in 1860:21
Birth Year:abt 1839
Birthplace:North Carolina
Home in 1860:Wadesboro, Anson, North Carolina
Race:Mulatto
Gender:Male
Post Office:Wadesboro
Value of real estate:View image
Household Members:
NameAge
Julia B Leak46
Robert Byles42
H C Parsons36
Cornelia Parsons22
Wm P Leak13
Charlotte Leak11
Walter Persons1
Moses Kandell31
Jas Carpenter24
Henry Carpenter22
John Floyd26
Albert Murry21
John Fanner20

Then an odd occurance took place, Albert, who must have been born under a wandering star, moved just across the border of North Carolina (Anson and Union border South Carolina) and South Carolina and ends up living in Chesterfield County, a county many local families chose to get married in for decades. And there, he becomes a White Man.

Name:Albert Murray
Age:43
Birth Year:abt 1837
Birthplace:North Carolina
Home in 1880:Old Store, Chesterfield, South Carolina
Race:White
Gender:Male
Relation to Head of House:Self (Head)
Marital Status:Married
Spouse's Name:Mary J. Murray
Father's Birthplace:North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace:North Carolina
Neighbors:View others on page
Occupation:Farmer
Cannot read/write:

Blind:

Deaf and dumb:

Otherwise disabled:

Idiotic or insane:
Household Members:
NameAge
Albert Murray43
Mary J. Murray35
Mumford Murray12
George A. Murray11
Franklin Murray4
D. Jackson Murray3
Mary L. Murray3
He has also fathered a set of twins, a sure sign of being a Murray. Twins run in the Murray lines. My great-great grandmother, Julina, daughter of Garner and Prussia Murray Aldridge, was a twin.


Twenty years later, the family has relocated to Florence, South Carolina and are still white.

Name:Albert Murray
Age:50
Birth Date:Jan 1850
Birthplace:North Carolina
Home in 1900:Florence, Florence, South Carolina
[Florence] 
Race:White
Gender:Male
Relation to Head of House:Head
Marital Status:Married
Spouse's Name:Mary J Murray
Marriage Year:1874
Years Married:26
Father's Birthplace:North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace:North Carolina
Occupation:View on Image
Neighbors:View others on page
Household Members:
NameAge
Albert Murray50
Mary J Murray50
Daniel Murray22
Sevaan Mclean1
 Albert does not show up in the 1910 census, but Mary Jane does, living with their son George. Everyone has still became part of the white world.
Albert was a "Passer" and crossed over. His living descendants may have no clue as to their African heritage. Albert was born at a time when it was MUCH better to be white than black or mixed. Better jobs, better treatment, the whole shumoozy.

Name:Mary J Murray
Age in 1910:60
Birth Year:1850
Birthplace:North Carolina
Home in 1910:Hartsville Ward 3, Darlington, South Carolina
Race:White
Gender:Female
Relation to Head of House:Mother
Marital Status:Widowed
Father's Birthplace:North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace:North Carolina
Neighbors:View others on page
Household Members:
NameAge
George W Murray36
Armline Murray18
Hattie Murray16
Mary J Murray60
Lizzie Miller22
So, thank you Albert Murray, for being searchable, for naming your father and for marrying your cousin, I could keep track of you. Rest in peace Cousin Albert the 'Passer'. You were light enough to have moved to another state and live as white. Now to find who Henry Wilkerson was.

Mystery Monday: Sarah Kennedy

Sarah Kennedy, of Stanly County, North Carolina during the mid-1800's, was a woman ahead of her time. I consider her somewhat of a pioneer, yet somewhat of a freak, because she was so out of place for when and where she lived. Sarah was not an ancester of mine, but the mother of a great, great, great aunts husband. Her family lived in the same country township as most of my ancesters at the time, making them both adversaries and enemies.
My 3 great grandfather was a judge during the mid-1800's and his younger brother sheriff. They were constantly at odds with the brothers of Sarah Kennedy, particularly John B. and Jordan. WC Kennedy, a carriage maker, seldom showed up in court records, unless it was for jury duty or paying taxes. Jordan, in his day, populated nearly every page. If he wasn't in court for affray, he was in there brought up on bastardy charges. Jordan, you see, was a lover and a fighter.
On one page, right under one of Jordan's affray charges, his sister Sarah came to court asking permission to build a Mill.
Sarah was a businesswoman in the realm of most men of her day. She ran a large farm without the benefit of a husband, as well as a number of businesses.
Sarah and her brothers were the children of John Kennedy and Mercy McDaniel Kennedy. Descendants of this family have traced them back to Perth, Scotland,
.
The other remarkable thing about Sarah Kennedy is that she was the mother of 4 children. Not just any children either. Sarah Kennedy had four racially mixed children over the span of 14 or 15 years.
I first came across her in the marriage record of my great, great grandmother's sister Matilda and Sarah's oldest son Robert D Kennedy. They were married in 1884 in Stanly County, NC. While both Bob and Tildie are noted as 'Col' for 'colored', both mothers are listed as white.
Bob and Tildie suceeded in establishing a beautiful and sucessful family just a few counties away. (see my post on Cola Holman)
The fate of Sarah Kennedy is much more uncertain.
In the 1870 census, Sarah is shown with a 13 year old daughter, Harriett and two little boys, Robert and Alexander.
I have the apprenticeship records where in 1873, 9 year old Robert and his 2 year old brother James, are bound to a farmer named Michael Dry to learn the art of farming. Alexander, in turn, has been sent likewise to a Hartsell family. They are referred to as orphans
. That means sometime, in late 1872 or early 1873, Sarah passed away. Harriett, being in her teens, may have married or gotten work on her own. The boys are all shown in the 1880 census in the homes they were assigned and labeled 'M' for mulatto.
The more I study this and the surrounding counties in the years during and following the civil war, the more lawlessness, tragedy and devastation I find. Desparate orphans and widows did what they must to survive. Some families lost all that they had. A deserters camp numbering in the thousands was just across the river in Montgomery County, and according to legend, they were pillaging fools.
By the early  1870's, many surviving men had lost all they had ever worked for. Farms went to ruin. Lands confiscated for taxes. People were hungry and desparate and angry.
Sarah may have died an accidental death. She may have contracted a disease, but her small boys were healthy. She may have died in biryh of another child.
Then again, she might have been the victim of foul play. Angry farmers may have seen her as something they could not tolerate, a woman who did not need a man to run a farm and businesses. A woman who chose a man of African decent to father her children. I do not know.
I have found no records of Sarah's death and may never. But it is certainly worth a search


Stanly County Selected Deeds: Kennedy

2:108  17 Feb 1845  David Cagle to Sarah Kennedy, of Anson County; nothing further in abstract. Comment:  William G. Kennedy was first married to Rebecca Cagle, daughter of Benjamin Cagle and Judith Simpson.  David Cagle is probably some of that family.

2:397 15 Mar 1852  William G. Kennaday (/s) to A. C. Freeman, both of Stanly, for $1300; an undivided interest in Negroes, money and a life time estate in a mill which I acquired in right of my wife Rebecca and now, in the hands of Solomon Hathcock and David Kendall, Executors of Benjamin Cagle and I do hereby direct the said Executors to pay over to the said A. C. Freeman all and every thing which I may have in said Estate ; witn: Shelby Crisco, Sarah Kennedy; Sarah proves before David F. Caldwell, Judge, 10 Sep 1852 (date recorded)

5:165 5 Oct 1852 Jordan C. Kenneday, of Anson County to Sarah Kenneday, Stanly; nothing further in abstract (C White note: Sarah was the landholder, evidently set, in Stanly.  Jordan was evidently still floating.)

Sarah Kennedy
Age in 1870:31
Birth Year:abt 1839
Birthplace:North Carolina
Home in 1870:Big Lick, Stanly, North Carolina
Race:White
Gender:Female
Post Office:Albemarle
Value of real estate:View image
Household Members:
NameAge
Sarah Kennedy31
Harriet Kennedy13
Robert Kennedy5
Alexander Kennedy1


Name:Robert Canady
Age:16
Birth Year:abt 1864
Birthplace:North Carolina
Home in 1880:Furrs, Stanly, North Carolina
Race:Mulatto
Gender:Male
Marital Status:Single
Father's Birthplace:North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace:North Carolina
Neighbors:View others on page
Occupation:Servant Works On Farm
Cannot read/write:

Blind:

Deaf and dumb:

Otherwise disabled:

Idiotic or insane:
Household Members:
NameAge
Michael Dry57
Catharine Dry58
Safrona A. Dry14
Robert Canady16
James Canady9
Alexander Canidy
[Alexander Kennedy] 
Age:9
Birth Year:abt 1871
Birthplace:North Carolina
Home in 1880:Furrs, Stanly, North Carolina
Race:Black
Gender:Male
Marital Status:Single
Father's Birthplace:North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace:North Carolina
Neighbors:View others on page
Occupation:Servant
Cannot read/write:

Blind:

Deaf and dumb:

Otherwise disabled:

Idiotic or insane:
Household Members:
NameAge
James L. Hartsell63
Elisabeth Hartsell66
Molly M. Hartsell32
Elam S. Hartsell24
Alexander Canidy9