The case first appeared on the dockets in late 1908 and drug through the courts over two years.
For those of us attempting to dig through old records for historical and genealogical purposes, the first decade of the 20th Century seems pretty recent, and in a way, it was, but in other ways, that decade was bucolic, life in rural areas of the South was still very rudimentary, and provincial. Dresses still drug the ankles, telephones were rare, spread out, and used mostly in government offices or businesses, and automobiles were a novelty. It was the age still of horses and wagons, and a long walk to a train station. Most notably, the mindset of the populace was still very much stuck in the 1800's. Things would soon change, but they had not changed yet. The main characters in this story, Albert Faggart and Mary Lilly, were very much the product of, and victim of, respectively, the times.
The state took up the Case of Mary Lilly, the Plaintiff, against Albert Faggart, the Defendant. The first page entered into evidence was the testimony of Mary Lilly.
The court transcriber was noticeably in a struggle, with lack of short-hand, to record the proceedings, often skipping connecting words and foregoing punctuation . I have inserted three dots between phrases in my own transcription to indicate a break in structure, but with lack of punctuation.
Mary's testimony began the proceedings. "Evidence State and Mary Lilly vs Albert Faggart"
"Mary Lilly introduced and says. The evening this thing happened I was sent over to aunt Esthers and was to come by the store to get home...Albert told his brother to wait on me...Albert got his gun and went down through the pasture... I went down that way...met Mr. Walker...went on a little farther and met Albert."
To summarize, the plaintiff, Mary Lilly had been sent (by a parent we may assume) to her Aunt Esther's house and to stop by the store on her way home. The defendant, Albert Faggart, had tasked his brother with watching for Mary while Albert went to get a gun. Mary was walking through a pasture on her journey and passed by a man named Mr. Walker. After passing Mr. Walker, she soon encountered Albert.
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On pages two and three, Mary's testimony continued. "he ask me to do some for me (him) and I told him I was too little...he grabbed the things out of my hands and ran down in the woods...he told me to come out there and get the things...when I got to him he caught me and threw me down...he told me if I hollered he would choke me to death so when I got to the house I was crying..mother ask what was the matter..saw leaves on my back and I told her Albert had done something to her (Mary)..I am thirteen years old...never had said anything like that to me and has never sense (Inserted) - saw him on Thursday evening after this happened- Albert talked to her and said he would get some drugs at the drug store to drive it off. Mother said no they would not do that..Albert and myself were down there in the woods about half or an hour. happened on or about third of July 1908."
What you have read is the testimony, in court, of a child who has been raped. An armed man, named Albert Faggart, had stolen items from her arms, that she had purchased at the behest of a family member, and ran with them to a secluded area in the woods, in order to lure her out of sight of a community path through a field. Once there, he pushed her down and raped her, but the naive child had not the words to accurately recount the heinous atrocity that had occurred. A few days after the rape, she again encountered her assailant. He suggested that he purchase an abortifacient, which her mother had no confidence would work. The event took place on July 3, 1908.
The case suffered continuance after continuance. It appears Mary was represented by James Long while Albert was represented by Truman Chapman.
Testimony began on January 18th, 1909, and then was continued a few more times before returning on June 11, 1909, when Albert Lilly began his testimony.
Witnesses for the Plaintiff were:
Mary Lilly, herself
Shelby Lilly, her mother
Horace Lilly, her stepfather
GM Cress
Witnesses for the Defendant were:
Albert Faggart, himself
DM Faggart, his father
John Colston
J H D Walker
It was noted that they were in Number 6, Township, Cabarrus County. After the testimony of Mary Lilly, the next attestant for the plaintiff was Shelby Lilly. Again, following the court transcriptionists omission of words for speed and inserting dots between phrases.
"Shelby Lilly sworn and says was over to Mrs. Faggarts..nobody at home by Miss Parlie, (Pearlie)...started on home met Albert over in the pasture..told him he was the one I wanted to see..ask him what he fooled with Mary for and get her in the family way for...Albert said that Mary was mistaken..I told him on the day he had dealings with her Mary came home and told it...I washed her clothes and she has never been sick since..she was sick the week before.
Albert asked how far along she was...told him about two months..ask me to come over to our (sic) house that afternoon...he said he would...He come over to the edge of the woods...took Mary over to where he was..ask him what he was going to do...said he was going to town but if he could send to town and get a bottle of medicine that would fix her and not let it be known as it would be a hanging crime...said he would pay for the medicine then we parted. Told me afterwards..saw him again and ask me to not let his father and mother know... on January 11, 1909 he came to my house..Hollowed (hollared or yelled)..asked Mary who that was..said it was Albert...said to me is there anything to matter with Mary for sure..told him there was..told him she had about two months to stand up..asking if it was his for sure..Told him it was his...ask if I had been off to see about it...said I had not..said Babe you know that will never do for it to get out..ask what we would do..make it up for..said could you not tell him herself. Ask for Horace..told him he was over in the old field at work...said you and Horace talk (or take, difficult to read)..He did not want it to go any further. He did not want Horace Lilly to find out. He did not want his mother and father to find out. Did not hear about it being anybody else's but Dock (probably Dock Faggart, a character in a coming story from the same area) ...who said that he heard it was Albert. Also, that he heard it was Mr. George Cress's. " G. M. Cress, a witness for the Plaintiff.
Albert's Turn
"Albert Faggart sworn and says tht he met Mr. Walker down next to Mrs. Dan Cliner's meadow and went home with him and met Mary up next to our wire fence...never offered to pay them anything or never offered to get them any medicine..never acknowledged that it was my (his) child.
D M Faggart " knowed nothing, only what John Colston told him..that he had dealings with her and that Wade Furr told GM Cress he heard it was his."
J H D Walker said the evening this happened I was coming up through the woods..I met up with Albert and we went on about 50 or 75 yards and we met Mary Lilly and we went on home together and if anything like that had happened it was over before I met up with her. It could have happened before I got there.
G. M. Cress said Mr. Faggart came to my house January 17, 1909. Mr. Faggart asked me if I knew about Horace going to Esquire Crowell to get a warrant for Albert..told him I heard he had. Mr. Faggart said he heard that others had dealings with this girl..I told him if that was the case Albert need not be scared...ask me if I had heard this talk...I told him I had and told him that I told the (N) when I heard that they were going to put it on Albert that the better go slow for it it should come black Faggart could give them a whole lot of trouble. He said he was going to town and was going to Esquire Crowell and see if Horace had been down there to get a warrant.
John Colston said he knew nothing about it at all. "
Summary: It appears that in the beginning, Albert was terrified to discover that Mary was pregnant. He begged her mother, Shelby, not to "tell it", to not tell her husband, Horace, or Albert's parents. He pleaded with her, because it was a "hanging offence". Albert offered to buy medicine that would 'fix her', or force an abortion, or miscarriage. That did not happen. Albert tried to get the word out to ruin Mary's reputation and insinuate that she had been with other men. There were really no physical witnesses, so it ended up being a case of "he said, she said." Horace had gone to the Magistrate to attempt to get a warrant. The charges were not for the assault, the taking advantage of a woman against her will, or the abuse of a child. Mary and Albert were in court simply because the act had resulted in a pregnancy and she was not married. Boy, have things changed for the better. Albert's heinous crime would have been a hanging crime if there was not another factor that had come into play.
Now that the trial was complete, it was time to discover who were the real, live people in this story, the foilable and fallible human beings who lived in this section of Cabarrus County.
Mary Lilly remained elusive for a while. There was no one in the area who matched her age and situation. Lilly was not a Cabarrus County name. There were numerous Lilly's in not-too-distant counties though, stemming from the long-ago settlement of the Edmund Lilly family, a wealthy landowner, along the Yadkin-Pee Dee River in Montgomery County. By the 1900's they were fairly common in Montgomery, Stanly, Anson and surrounding Counties, and remain so today, but with more of a twist to the story.
Finding D. M. Faggart, we easily find his son, Albert, shown in the 1900 census as a 12-year-old, meaning he would have been 20 in 1908. Albert was the son of Daniel Miller Faggart, (1859-1941), and his wife, Mary Rebecca Cress, (1859-1951). Albert was a member of the Cress family that were numerous in the community. The name of the community was Faggart's Crossroads.
Faggart's Crossroads is located just south of Concord, now part of the greater Concord area, where Miami Church Road meets Flowe's Store Road at Highway 601. A store known as Safrit's Country Store once sat at this intersection and plays a part in this drama.
Albert was the fourth of six children in this farming family, preceded by Virgie Missouri, (1879-1972),
Berry Barrier, (1882-1973), Pearl Mary Bell (1806-1909), aka "Pearlie", named in the court transcript, and followed by Hedrick Miller, (1890-1952) and Jennie Lee, (1892-1923).
The Faggart family seemed to be well-thought of and fairly prosperous and successful, as Cabarrus County farm families went, but they were not without their own tragedy's. During the turmoil surrounding their son's trial, another misfortune had befallen the Faggart's, the loss of their beautiful daughter, Pearl.
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The news reported the suicide of the young woman, only 22 or 23 years old. What had caused her so much misery to thrust her into such depths of despair? The article hinted at some mystery that may have been at the center of it, in that she was "held under serious suspicion" several years before this incident. What was the young sister of Albert Faggart suspected of? This intriguing detail is something I must look into later.
So next, a closer look at the characters in this real human drama, those who were mentioned or participated in the trial.
Daniel Miller Faggart, (1859-1941) was the easy find, and the father of Albert Faggart.
D. M. Faggart was a product of and seems to have spent his entire life in this section of Cabarrus County. He, and his relatives gave the area of Faggart's Crossroads its name. Nearly all descendants of the early Dutch Buffalo Creek Settlement of early German immigrants in Cabarrus County, they had settled the fertile rolling hills between Coldwater Creek and Irish Buffalo Creek. Yes, Virginia, there were Buffalo in North Carolina in those days and while German immigrants had settled upon one creek, a group of Irish had settled upon the more western-situated Buffalo Creek. Daniel Miller Faggart lived to be 82, and spent his life in Faggart's Crossroads. He is buried at the Cross of Christ Lutheran Church, on Rimer Road, in Rimer, Cabarrus County, NC.
Aunt Esther would turn out to be Sarah Esther Pless Meachum, the sister of Shelby Pless Lilly, Mary's mother. (1875 - past 1950).
J H D Walker also seen as "Mr. Walker" in the testimonies of both Mary and Albert, was John Henry Donald Walker, (1856-1936), a farmer, and long-time resident of Faggart's Crossroads, who had married into the Cress family. He had met both Mary and Albert on that fated day of the 'event'. 'The day this thing happened', as he referred to it, an event so despicable to even Mr. Walker, that he couldn't name it for what it was.
Pearl Maribell Faggart aka "Miss Parlie", (1886-1909), who was the only person home, when Shelby Lilly went to find Albert Faggart to confront him, was the sister of Albert and daughter of D. M. Faggart. She is buried in Rimer with her father.
G. M. Cress was George Melonchton Cress, (1874-1938), another long-time resident of Faggart's Crossroads, and a member of one of its' founding families, the Cresses. He was a Grocery Merchant and farmer, son of Daniel Melanchton Cress, Jr. and wife, Martha Josephine Cunningham Cress.
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The Concord TimesConcord, North Carolina • Page 3 |
G. M. Cress had testified for the Plaintiff and had been approached by Albert's father, Daniel Miller Faggart, inquiring if he had heard about Horace going to the Magistrate, and any other rumors. George Cress was also one of the other men Albert had been trying to blame Mary's pregnancy on. He had spoken more plainly, and with common sense and integrity than many others in the trial. George M. Cress would pass away in Cabarrus County and is buried at the Cross of Christ Lutheran Church.
Mrs. Dan Cline, whose meadow both Mary, Albert and John H. D. Walker were crossing through, would have been Mary Jane Moose Cline (1859-1932), wife of John Daniel Cline, (1850-1929), a farm family who was living on the Concord Road in 1910, which I believe, roughly, is what we refer to as Hwy 601 today.
They are both buried at Saint John's Evangelical Lutheran Church.
John Colston, who testified that he didn't know anything about any of it, was a young, black man, (1884- 1960), who was a migratory farmhand and laborer, who traveled around Rowan, Cabarrus and Stanly Counties. He was from and lived most of his life in Salisbury, NC. I believe John was distressed about being dragged into the matter at all. John died at the age of 72 in Rowan County, and was the son of Fred and Mary Kendall Colston from Stanly County.
Wade Furr, had been a middle-man, and the source of the a rumor to tell D. M. Faggart that he heard Mary's child was that of George M. Cress. Wade Hampton Furr, ( 1872-1941 ), lived on Rimer Road in Faggarts, and was another resident of the farming community. In 1910, he was the next door neighbor of Albert Faggarts' older brother, Berry. He married Katie Rowe and they were also buried at the Cross of Christ Lutheran Church in Rimer.
Esquire Crowell referred to the Magistrate to whom Horace Lilly went to town to request a warrant from. This would have been James Lee Crowell, Sr., (1863-1942), who I found in my family tree, as he married Minnie Mauney, whose parents were Wincie Catherine Davis and Valentine Mauney. She was a granddaughter of my third Great Uncle, James M. Davis of Stanly County. James Crowell was an attorney, and originally from New London, in Stanly County. He was elected Mayor of Concord in 1893.
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The Concord Daily TribuneConcord, North Carolina • Page 4 |
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| Esquire James Crowell, Sr. |
Albert had plans. This untidy incident with Mary Lilly was a complication in his plans. It was getting in his way, in more ways than one. On January 3, 1909, in the midst of trial and testimony, Albert A. Faggart, 20, married Margaret M. Blackwelder, 17, daughter of Nathaniel and Mary Catherine Goodman Blackwelder.
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The Concord TimesConcord, North Carolina • Page 5 |
Just a little over a month later, Albert lost his sister Pearl on February 13th. On the 25th, it was reported that his wife, Margeret had returned to Faggarts Crossing to visit her parents. In the same community news column, it was reported that Albert had received a job, or position, with Carter Brothers, at Polkton, in Anson County. He was seeking a fresh start. Then he had to come home for his sister's funeral. Had Albert's marriage triggered Pearl's suicide?
So, we fully know who Albert was, but still haven't found Mary. However, it was easier to find her mother, Shelby Lilly, because of her more uncommon name, Shelby.
The story of Shelby Pless begins with her mother, Esther.
If you haven't figured it out by now, here's the fact that threw a wrench into the machine, the Faggart family was white and the Lilly family was black. Horace couldn't get a warrant against Albert because Jim Crow was in full force and a black man couldn't really testify against a white one. Technically, he could, but it was risky. Esther Pless had been born a slave. Their status hadn't changed that long ago from 1909. If Albert had committed the same crime against a white girl, it would have been a hanging crime, but little Mary? Her virtue really didn't matter to the people that had the power to do anything about it and the people it mattered to didn't have the power to do anything about it.
The neighborhood that Esther and Bettie were living in seemed to be a cluster of freedmen, or the recently emancipated former slaves. Several Partee families, but a collection of many surnames from several counties, Gilmer, Alexander, Phifer, Pickens, Cannon, Fisher, Harris, Allison, Walton, Hood, Ford, White, Linn, Biggers, Sumner, Kirk, Pless, Snead, Russell and others. Since they all worked as laborers, farm hands and housekeepers, it seems this may have been the beginnings of a segregated black community on the outskirts of Concord, at the time.
1880
In 1880, Esther Pless is shown with all four of her daughters, Bettie, (Elizabeth), now 17, Esther, 8, (Sarah Esther or Aunt Esther, who is mentioned in the court proceedings, Mozelle, 4 (Addie Mozelle who married Jesse Meachum, and Shelva or Shelby, age one.
The Daughters
Elizabeth "Betty" Pless was born about 1863, while her family was still trapped in slavery, and her father was unknown.
Sarah Esther Pless was born about 1875, and her father was named as Isaac Fisher. She would marry William Meachum, and her father was named on their marriage certificate. Isaac Fisher seems to have been a married man when Sarah Esther was born. His wife was named Julia Ann Dinkins Fisher and the first of their 10 children was born in 1848, and the last in 1868. Born in 1837, he was 15 years Esther's senior. He is seen living with his wife in the census before Sarah Esther was born, 1870, as well as the one after, 1880. In 1900, his wife Julia, is deceased, passing in 1892, and he is living with his daughter, Sarah Fisher Safrit, and her family. Isaac Fisher died in 1907 and was buried at the Bell's Mission Cemetery in Concord.
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| Tombstone of Isaac Fisher |
Addie Mozelle Pless was born in 1881. On January 27, 1894, she had married Jesse Meachum. Her marriage certificate only listed her mother, Esther Pless, with father unknown. Mozelle and Jesse are listed as the household directly beneath the Daniel M Pless family in 1900. I believe this was probably how Albert was so familiar with Mary.
Shelby Pless was born in 1882. She would marry Horace Lilly. Shelby was the daughter of Payton Luther. More on them forthcoming.
On April 24, 1889, Esther Pless, 37, daughter of Cain (aka King) Faggart and Selena Pless, married Tony Long Meachum, 50, son of Fraizer Meachum and Edith "Edie" Bennett Meachum. A year later....
October 27, 1890, Sarah Esther Pless married her now stepbrother, William Meachum, son of Tony and his first wife, Julia, (1845-1889), who passed away a few months before Tony married Esther.
January 27, 1894, Jesse James Meachum, 20, would marry his step-sister, Addie Mozelle Pless, about 18. Now, all of Mozelle's later records would give her birth date as April 2, 1887, but she is a perfect example of how women would get younger as she got older in those days, as Addie was 4 years old in 1880 and her marriage certificate declared her 18 in 1894, which would match a birth year of 1876 given in the 1880 census. A birth year of 1887, which is engraved on her tombstone, and written on other documents, would've made her 6 at her marriage. I don't believe a six year old could pass as 18.
Faggarts Corner was a bucolic, pastoral, and meagerly populated area. The white population of rural Cabarrus was small, and the black community within that community even smaller. It was no strange thing that two sisters had married the sons of their mothers new husband.
Tony and Esther would have one child together, Grace Pearl Meachum/ Mitchell Safrit, born around the time they were married or shortly after. Her birthdate would also migrate, as would the name Meachum, that would turn into Mitchell as time progressed.
Tony Meachem born about 1830 was from Union County. The 1870 census found him in the Beaverdam community. He had moved to Cabarrus County by 1880. He and his wife, Julia, had 8 children together, born between 1863 and 1878, namely, Charlie, Nora, Monroe, William, Jesse James, Henry, Willis and Lillie M. Meachum. He would also have a daughter, Katie, by a woman named Margaret "Maggie" Cruse in 1892, three years after his marriage to Esther. As in modern times, men roamed.
The marriage certificate of Tony Meachum and Esther Pless had revealed the names of her parents as Cain Faggart and Selina Pless, taking us back another generation in the family tree of Mary Lilly.
Cain Faggart's years upon the planet are unknown. It appears he was at least old enough to a father by 1850, and seems to have passed away before 1870. He and Selina are recorded as the parents of three people, Jordon Pless, Esther Pless, and Julia Pless.
Jordan "Jo" Pless was born about 1850. He first appears in Township 11 of Cabarrus County, south of Concord, in an area known as "Old Field", not far from where Esther was living. He was working as a farm laborer for a Mr. White who had married a Cress. On September 10, 1887, Jordan married Sarah "Sallie" Boger, daughter of Marcus Lafayette and Eliza Alexander Boger. Jordan and Sarah settled in Township 12, a place called John's River, Cabarrus County, before finally taking root on Prince Street in Ward 4, an historically black only neighborhood. They had a very large family of abut a dozen children and a long marriage. Jordan passed away on December 13, 1920 and was buried at the Old Campground Cemetery. His wife joined him in 1938. Esther Pless was the middle child, having been born around 1852.
Julia Ann Pless was born about 1853. She first appears in the 1870 in Township 11, Cabarrus County, as a 17 year old, in Old Field, the same as her brother Jordan. She married May 29, 1872 to Elam "Eli" Scott, son of Samuel and Millie Scott. Julia's line had the curse of brief lives, I wonder if there was a common medical issue behind it. She and Eli had three daughters: Mary in 1872, Margaret in 1873 and Sarah Jane in 1877. Julia died before January 8, 1880, when Eli married Lettie Ford, so sometime between 1877 and 1879.
Mary Scott had two children: Della Scott in 1892 and Eli Scott II in 1898 and died before 1900. Both children died young.
Margaret Scott married Robert Anderson "Anse" Hayes on May 10, 1896, at age 23. She settled in Mount Pleasant, NC and had two children, Thomas "Tom" Hayes, (1891-1919), who died of Typhoid Fever, and Zeta Hayes, born about 1894. Neither Margaret or her daughter, Zeta, and found after 1910, but her son, Thomas, had married and left three children who lived longer lives than these. At this juncture, it appears both Margaret and her daughter died before death certificates became common in the area, about 1915. Her husband had passed before 1910, when she is seen as widowed.
Sarah Jane Scott married Edward G. Foil on December 17, 1891. She had two children, Viola in 1895 and Odell in 1898. They are all seen in the 1900 census, then the newspapers reported that both children died in a house fire, but did not mention Sarah Jane, aka Jenny. Edward G. Foil remarried on December 22, 1901, so it appears Jenny died between June 8, 1900 and December 22, 1901. To add to the curse, Eddie and his second wife, Alice Threadgill, had 4 daughters and it appears only one of them lived into adulthood.
Salina Pless, Esthers' mother, was supposedly born around 1832, and died in 1869 in Old Field, Cabarrus County. She appears to have been enslave by a Henry Pless and her family line might be traced back to the farm of his father, Jacob Pless in Cabarrus County.
Henry Pless in 1850 Rowan County Census Slave Schedule.
Paton Luther was the father of Shelby Pless and grandfather of Mary Lilly. He was born about 1851 and was a native of Montgomery County, NC. His first record there was his marriage to Sylvia Baldwin on December 10, 1868, which revealed he was the son of Jackson Harris and Julia Luther. He then moves to neighboring Richmond County, where he is found in 1870. A few years later, he is found back in Montgomery County, NC, where he marries for a second time to Mary Jane Christian on Februar 19, 1873. Sylvia, his first wife, had not passed away. Things didn't work out, as she is found in 1880 declaring herself single. She went on with her life.
Within the next few years, Paton had moved himself and his new family to Cabarrus County. Seems, he was quite the character. I can't say whether or not he was a bigamist or not, but there was a lack of records. That does not mean a divorce didn't happen as records of this time and this place were sometimes destroy and are spotty, at best.
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The SunConcord, North Carolina • Page 3 |
In 1880, Paton and his family are living in the city of Concord, where he is working as a laborer. He and Jane have three children and her teenaged sister, Josephine is living with them. Two years after that, he's had an affair with Esther Pless and fathers Shelby, if not Mozelle, who was just a year older.
Paton and Mary Jane will have a total of five children: Julia Luther Morgan, (1877-1938), Jeanette Luther
Twenty years later, Paton is back in Richmond County, alone and widowed. He was 54. It doesn't seem like he made it to 1910, or 64 years old. There is no more record of him. But he wasn't widowed. His second wife, Mary Jane Christian Luther, like his first wife, was very much alive. She is found living in Concord in 1900 and 1910, working as a washerwoman. In 1920, she is found with two of her daughters, and several grandchildren, living next to another daughter.
1900
In 1900, we find the Tony "Mitchell" household, as the Meachum and Mitchell surname seemed interchangeable. He and Esther claim to have been married 10 years. He's now 70, and she's 53. Esther claims to have been the mother of 5 children, with four living. The deceased one would be Bettie, as she's seen no more and the other daughters are all alive and accounted for. Her two youngest daughters are living with her. Shelby is 21 and Grace, her only child with Tony, is 15. And there, at 3 years old, is Mary, her granddaughter. This is our Mary Lilly. Just think, in less than a decade, little Mary will be sent to the store, and the nearly 20-year-old Albert Faggart will be lying in wait. I believe Mary was probably more like five here and this also reveals that Shelby was also a teenager when Mary was born. Mary wasn't actually a Lilly. Horace had not even moved to Cabarrus County yet. It is apparent that at some point, Mary was known by her stepfather's surname.
At this time, the family was living in Township 5, called New Gilead, not to be confused with Mount Gilead, the town in Montgomery County.
Shelby will get married on November 14, 1895, to Horace Lilly. Lilly was not a Cabarrus County name. It harkens back to an early settler along the PeeDee River in Montgomery County, right across the river from Stanly. By the turn of the century, most Lillies were found in Stanly, Anson and Montgomery, and one branch was barely represented anymore, if at all.
This is also the year she had a letter at the Post Office she needed to pick up. I wonder if it was from Horace. Horace was 22 and the son of Lewis and Alice Lilly. Shelby was 23 and the daughter of Paton Luther and Esther Pless. By this time, both of Horace's parents were still living, but both Paton and Esther had died between 1900 and 1905. The wedding took place at Justice of Peace's home, Esquire Crowell and members of his family were the witnesses.
Shelby and Horace did not have a long marriage, or any children. Someone has Shelby's date of death as 1907, however, that is impossible because she testified in Court in January of 1909. It appears Shelby Pless Lilly died sometime in later 1909, or early 1910. It is not known what she died of or where she was buried. Chances are, she was buried in the Old Campground Cemetery with many of her kin, but in a grave no longer marked. Something feels suspicious about it. Something does not feel right.
Rimer Road
In 1910, we find the whole neighborhood, almost, and a list of the witnesses in the court case, living in a row on Rimer Road in the Faggarts Crossroads Community.
There Dan Cress, followed by the Safrit home. While the Safrits were not mentioned in the Court testimony, their store was.
Rufus was the head of the family in the 1910 census, but his 64-year-old father, John D. Safrit was living in his home, and Merchant, of a Country Store. Safrit's Store was reported as being at the intersection at Faggarts Crossing, serving members of the Safrit, Faggart, and Cress families, along with other at this crossroads connecting Flowe's Store with Rimer and Concord with Georgeville.
After the Safrits, appears the home of Mr. John H. D. Walker, who had passed both Mary and Albert at different times on the path from the store to home.
After Mr. Walker's family is found that of George Melanchon Cress, a witness for the Plaintiff, who had been accused of being the possible father by Albert's own father, Daniel Miller Faggart. After George Cress's homestead comes that of Jesse Meachum and his wife, Addie Mozelle Pless Meachum, Esther's daughter, and Shelby's sister. After the Jesse Meachum family is the homestead headed by Sarah Esther Pless Meachum, Mary's "Aunt Esther" and another sister of Shelby Pless, who had married Jesse's brother, William, now deceased. Next in line is the household of Daniel M. Faggart and his wife, now empty nesters.
Taking a closer look at the home of "Aunt Esther", Sarah E. Pless Meachum, we see her 11-year-old daughter, and only child, Daisy, followed by her niece, Mary L.. This is Mary Lilly, at 14 years old.
And here we discover what the baby that Mary Lilly carried was. It's s a Girl! Also living with Mary Lilly in Aunt Esther's home was her year and a half year old Grand Niece, Ruth M., Mary's baby. Living right next door to grandparents whom I am certain didn't claim her. Also notice another interesting, or disturbing, whichever way you look at it, little detail. While both Sarah Esther and her daughter, Daisy, are listed as black under the race column, Mary and her daughter, Ruth are listed as "MU", short for Mulatto, or mixed-race. We know Ruth had a white father, as Albert's behavior certain spoke of guilt, no matter his lies to his parents. But so did Mary, as her mother was not mixed. Had a similar incident happened to Shelby when she was only 15 that resulted in the birth of Mary? Mary's unknown father was also a white man.
This makes Shelby's death shortly after her testimony, an angry mother who felt her child was given no justice, seem even more problematic, even dubious. What had Shelby done? And what had happened to her?
Horace Lilly
Horace Lilly had not remained in Cabarrus County after the trial, and after Shelby's passing. Horace had faithfully approached the Magistrate, Esquire Crowell, for a warrant for Albert. Esquire Crowell had kindly advised him that could foment calamity for the Lilly/ Meachum/ Pless family. He was not given one for her attack or ruin, but later, Albert had been brought into the farrago due to the conception of Ruth by an unmarried Mary. Horace had not failed Mary. He had no agency.
In the heart of Jim Crow, the rules were different for blacks and whites, unwritten rules, social rules. Mary's grandparents had been born into slavery and were freed as children. It had been that far erased from social memory. Accusing Albert of his own dastardly dead would stir up more anguish for the accusers than the accused and exacerbate the situation instead of appeasing it.
County lines were not barbed wire fences. Dirt paths through meadows became dirt roads and eventually paved ones. Some were later abandoned for straighter paths.
Horace Lilly was born on July 15, 1884, in Albemarle, NC. In the 1900 census, he was a 16-year-old farm boy, helping out on his father's farm in South Albemarle Precinct.
| Name | Horace Lilly |
|---|---|
| Age | 16 |
| Birth Date | Mar 1884 |
| Birthplace | North Carolina, USA |
| Home in 1900 | Albermarle, Stanly, North Carolina |
| Sheet Number | 10 |
| Number of Dwelling in Order of Visitation | 153 |
| Family Number | 157 |
| Race | Black |
| Gender | Male |
| Relation to Head of House | Son |
| Marital Status | Single |
| Father's Name | Lewis Lilly |
| Father's Birthplace | North Carolina, USA |
| Mother's Name | Alice Lilly |
| Mother's Birthplace | North Carolina, USA |
| Occupation | Farm Laborer |
| Months Not Employed | 0 |
| Attended School | 0 |
| Can Read | N |
| Can Write | N |
| Can Speak English | Y |
| Neighbors | View others on page |
| Name | Age |
|---|---|
| Lewis Lilly | 56 |
| Alice Lilly | 54 |
| Amos Lilly | 20 |
| Martha Lilly | 17 |
| Horace Lilly | 16 |
| Hannah Lilly | 11 |
| Henry Lilly | 8 |
| John Snuggs | 20 |
Horace had the privilege of growing up in a large, bonded farm family, intact and self-supporting, unlike Shelby. He was supported by his parents, Lewis and Alice Lilly and surrounded by his siblings, Amos, Martha, Hannah and Henry, and he was the very middle child of the five. Five years after this, he had made his way the 25 miles from Albemarle to Faggarts Crossroads and met and married Shelby Pless. It is unknown what had brought him to Cabarrus County.
| Name | Horace Lily |
|---|---|
| Age in 1910 | 26 |
| Birth Date | 1884 |
| Birthplace | North Carolina |
| Home in 1910 | Township 5, Cabarrus, North Carolina, USA |
| Sheet Number | 6b |
| Race | Black |
| Gender | Male |
| Relation to Head of House | Laborer |
| Marital Status | Widowed |
| Father's Birthplace | North Carolina |
| Mother's Birthplace | North Carolina |
| Native Tongue | English |
| Occupation | Farm Laborer |
| Industry | General Farm |
| Employer, Employee or Other | Wage Earner |
| Able to read | Y |
| Able to Write | N |
| Enumeration District Number | 0039 |
| Out of Work | N |
| Number of Weeks Out of Work | 0 |
| Enumerated Year | 1910 |
| Neighbors | View others on page |
| Name | Age |
|---|---|
| Charler S Dry | 27 |
| Maud E Dry | 22 |
| Horace Lily | 26 |
The 1910 census for Cabarrus County that Horace appears in as a 26-year-old widower was taken in April of 1910, meaning Shelby died between July of 1909 and April of 1910. He was working on the farm of a young couple, the Dry's, and had learned to read in the past decade. Shelby could have died in childbirth of their first child together. She could have passed from Typhoid or Influenza, or any other of the horrible diseases that plagued the land back then. Or she could have just mysteriously disappeared in a way that may have been a warning to others.
Horace Lilly would not linger in the evil hills of Cabarrus County. On January 13, 1917, Horace, now 32, married Miss Bessie Kendall of Tyson Township, near Norwood, age 25 and daughter of George and Mary Nelvina Douglas Kendall.
In 1920, Horace would buy a lot in the newly established neighborhood of Kingville, one of the first landowners in one of the first subdivisions in town. Just a quarter acre lot, next to the Baptist Church, and next to his own mother. Kingville was platted out on the property of Dr. O. D. King, who had married into the Hearne Family, upon whose property the town of Albemarle had been platted out. Mr. King had noticed the long distances that black families who worked in town had to travel to get to work, so he wanted to create their own neighborhood convenient to town, but still on the edge of town.
Many small towns around the south had their own such neighborhoods, with separate churches, separate schools, and black-owned businesses within them. The neighborhoods grew and expanded, although the schools closed during intergration, many of them were repurposed, and inside the city limits now. Norwood had Bennettsville, Badin had West Badin, New London had Isenhour. Some neighborhoods have thrived, while others were mostly abandoned and gone to ruin.
In 1920, Herman was working as a Drayman, or wagon driver who delivered goods. He and Bessie had two little girls and his closest neighbors were Fletcher Parker, Charlie Bruton, the Frank Clegg family from South Carolina, Richard Wall and Henry Morgan, all African-American families working as brickmasons, ministers, farmers, running a steam laundry, working in the cotton mill, or building industry, driving teams (horses or ox-carts transporting items, while women were mostly employed as cooks, nurses, washerwomen, seamstresses, or in some other capacity for a Private family, or working in the Cotton Mill.
Josiah Davis ran his own Grocery Store. William Martin worked at the Aluminum Plant all the way in Badin, while living in Kingville. Dargan Pennington delivered furniture. Dock Kendall was a laborer for a Marble Yard. William Curr and Jones Harris Jr. were both Pressers at a Pressing Club, while Jones Harris Sr. worked at the 'Bottling Works'. Horaces' next door neighbor, Fletcher Parker, was a Fireman for a Steam Boiler. Miss Lilly Wall was a teacher. Frank Cregg was a Chauffeur and David Cross worked at a Lumber Plant. Lincoln Harris was a Cook at an unnamed Cafe. Lula Parker worked at the Drug Store, while her son Clyde, 16, was a Sweeper. William Jones, who was from Arkansas, but had married a local woman, Drucie Wall, was a brickmason, also. Clifton Speller, still a teen, was a machinist at a garage. Fifteen year old Henry Ledbetter was a boot black at a barber shop, while his father, Eli was a woodchopper and his mother, Martha, was a Washwoman. Everyone worked. Jacob Davis did Plastering. Mary Barringer was a Dishwasher at a Hotel. Horace Lilly's 72-year-old mother, Alice Lilly, no longer worked, but she boarded two of her grandchildren who did, Rufus, 14, who worked in a Cotton Mill and Johannah, 17, who worked as a Cook for a Private family. Several families had their entirity over 12 working in one of the Mills.
Sam Lilly was a school janitor. Henry Bruton was a Porter at the Hotel, while his neighbor, Casey Coggins was a Waiter at the Hotel. Chester Heilig and several others also worked at the Pressing Club.
The Press Club was something unfamiliar to me so I had to look that one up and was given the following definition by Google:
"Pressing Club" refers historically to early 20th-century, often African American-owned, subscription-based dry cleaning shops. Modernly, it refers to specialized businesses like The Press Club Dry Cleaners in Charlotte, NC, which offers non-toxic cleaning, alterations, and home delivery.
Basically a dry cleaning establishment. The community of Kingville seemed to be a vibrant, bustling neighborhood, full of industry and activity.
Horace, like all men of his generation were registered for the Draft in WWI. This revealed in the years before the 1920 census, he had been a laborer for the company, or merchantile, of Morrow Brothers and Heath. I wonder if this was the company he was a Drayman for. By 1930, Horace, now 40, had bought a little farm possibly near where he grew up, just a little ways out of town near Rock Creek, and was farming at this own 'General farm'. He and Bessie now had six children, ranging in age from 12 to 1.
Sadly, Horace did not live a long life. At only 46, he died of mitral insufficiency. He left a wife and seven children: Ira, Vanilla, Florence, Cleora, Gladys, Mary Alminer and Dorothea.
The Verdict
A more indepth recitation of the verdict on the charge of Bastardy, found for the defendant declared, "At a Superior Court held at the Courthouse in Concord, N.C., on the 31 day of Jan 1910 present Hon. E. B. Jones, Judge,
This action having been called and the Plff. and meeting through her atty. L. T. Hartsell that the Deft. in not the father of the child and requesting that the action be dismissed at her cost. In this now motion of L T. Hartsell counsel for the Plff. adjudged that this action be and is hereby dismissed and cost of action to be taxed against the said Mary Lilly by the clerk of court.
E. B. Jones, Judge."
I ask myself, where would this 14 year old girl in 1910, with a poor family, a deceased mother, and no known father get the money to pay a fine, court cost and attorney fees? I don't know, but I can surmise.
I believe the money surreptitiously transferred from the Faggart family to Attorney Hartsell to pay the expenses in order to clear Albert of this nasty blight to his reputation. Albert had promises of a career and an acceptably virtuous and blanched bride. This unfortunate incident was standing in the way of his reputation. There may have been other threats, or promises of actions if the charges were not dropped. Albert had but one day of temerity and the life and virtue of this fatherless, and motherless, mulatto girl was no measure to sully Alberts future.
Albert Faggart
We saw that in the 1910 census, Mary and her daughter Ruth were living with her Aunt Sarah Esther Pless Meachem, and next door to Alberts parents. Where was Albert?
Well, by this time, he was in his own home with his 18-year-old wife, Margaret, and their two months old son, living in Township 5, Cabarrus County. He wouldn't remain in Cabarrus County long. After his aquital, he would move to Stanly County and get a job in the new Aluminum plant, then ran by Tallahassee Light and Water Company. This factory would become Alcoa and the village built around it was named Badin. Albert worked there in the Pot Room during the 1920, 1930, 1940 and 1950 census, where he and Margaret would raise their seven children. Two of their sons would die young, in their forties, and appear to have had down syndrome, as they were decribed as "Mongoloid Idiot", the terminology of the times. Albert Faggart lived into my lifetime, as is with the circumstanes of researching people who lived into the20th century. As I looked into his passing in July of 1964, and briefly at his family, I made the startling discovery that they were people I knew. One child and spouse had been friends of my grandparents, that I remember from childhood, others I had went to church with and called friends. Some live to this day on property that had been purchased by Albert in his later years.And at least one inherited his mephistophelian personality.
Mary Lilly
I am sad to say that I was unable to descry the fate of Mary Lilly. I can not with any amount of confidence say what happened to her after 1910, nor have I discovered any further record of her daughter, Ruth. This is disheartening to me since having such a scripturient draw to find her after reading the court transcripts. This little girl went through such a onerous situation of which she had little remedy. There is a chance that she married back into the Meachum/Mitchell family, but one of the children of that Mary gave a maiden name to her mother that was not one that Mary had worn, Pless, Lilly or Meachum. I can't help but think that three generations of unfortunate women had befallen something malicious and evil, that was categorically swept under the rug.
I followed Mary's known family to see if she had lived with any of them. 1920 found some of them living on Spring Street in the City of Concord, working in the Cotton Mills. Her Aunt Sarah Esther's only daughter, Daisy, had married her first cousin, Earl, son of Mozelle and Jesse Meachum/Mitchell. Both mothers/sisters were living with their double-cousin offspring and their family. Mary was not with them.
Mozelle outlived Jesse and remained in Concord until her death in 1941 at the age of 54. She was buried at the Old Lutheran Cemetery.
Sarah Esther was living, at 75, with her daughter, in Concord, in the 1950 census. Surprisingly, there seems to be no record of her death, despite the fact that one of her Grandsons was a Funeral Director.
Grace Pearl Mitchell, the only child of Tony and Esthe together, married a John Safrit, lived in Mount Pleasant, Cabarrus County, and had a large family, living nearly 100 years, from 1887 to 1986. She was a beautiful, very honey-skinned lady and labeled a mulatto, although neither of her parents were. It makes one wonder what the actual ancestorial makeup was of this family.
I road out to Faggarts Crossroads, just to get a sense of the place, to feel the energy near Safrits old store, and to see if I could reimagine the area of Rimer and Faggarts and what it was in 1908.
It was just that , a Crossroads. While Rimer is just a beautiful, rural bump in the road, with a store, a church, a volunteer fire department and a spattering of houses, and lots of cows.
The church holds lots of names of the people whom I've mentioned in this post.
The area is rustic, bucolic and haunting. I wonder if it holds the ghosts of that horrible day in 1908.
Several of Mary's cousins moved to larger towns, and other states, improving themselves, completing their education, furthering their careers and making a nice life for themselves and their families. I kept thinking, that could have been Mary
I hope that whatever the future really held for Mary , past that 1910 census, where she's 14-years-old, with an 18-month-old daughter, living with her Aunt, that she found peace. Something emotionally dragging, tells me that she didn't.
