Henry Love, Tildie Aldridge, Prussia Murray and the Significance of Wolf Pit

PIn the 1850 census, Wolf Pit Township, Richmond County, North Carolina in Household #476 is the family of Ervin and Charity Love. Ervin Love is listed as 35 years old, a laborer and his race is listed as black. His wife Charity is listed as 40 years old and her race is listed as mulatto. Also living in the household is Charity's mother, Sallie Freeman, who is 60 and also listed as mulatto. There are 5 sons in the household of Ervin and Charity: Isaac, 16, Henry 14, James 12, Louie 8, and Thomas 5. Also, nearby is the oldest son John Love, 21, working for an Attorney, John Cameron, as a laborer. All of the sons are listed as black.

Twenty years later, in 1870, in Stanly County, North Carolina, the widow Priscilla Murray, aka Prussia, will be counted with her 3 year old daughter Matilda. Priscilla was rumoured to be an Indian, but accepted as part of the white community, as her husband Henry Garner Aldridge, was white. Matilda will be listed as mulatto for the rest of her life. Matilda was born 5 years after the death of Garner Aldridge and was an Aldridge in name only. In 1873, at the age of 5, she is bound to Henry Love, to learn the art of housekeeping.

There are 4 interesting observations about the 1850 census of Wolf Pit Township:

http://www.ncgenweb.us/richmond/1850wolfpit.htm

1) About 50% of the households are listed as mulatto.

2) A large number of professionals; doctors, lawyers, tradesmen, are in the area, which indicates a town forming.

3) Several carpenters and labourers are in the area, meaning things are being constructed.

4) There are a number of settlers listed as having been born in Scotland.

Also significant is the fact that Richmond County is next to Scotland County and part of the Carolina Sandhills, along with Cumberland County (Fayetteville) and Robeson County (Lumberton).

This link provides a map showing areas within 25 miles of Wolf Pit. Notice Albemarle (Stanly County) to the North, Fayetteville to the East and Lumberton to the Southeast.
http://www.ourfamtree.org/radius.cfm/state/NC/county/Richmond%20Co/city/Wolf%20Pit/id/19427


The early censuses of Sampson County notate that the county had a large number of 'Croatan Indians' in the area and that they were typically counted as Mulatto or considered "Free People of Color."

One of the most important things about the 1850 census of Wolf Pit is that it was taken in the year 1850, before the Civil War and emancipation. The families listed as black or mulatto were not slaves. People who had been slaves were not listed in the 1850 census, but were counted instead in a 'Slave Schedule'.

In Wolfpit, some families carried individuals listed as different races. It is if the census takers judged them, not by their ethnic inheritance, but just by the darkness or lightness of their skin. Several of the names in the area during this time: Chavis or Chavers, Jacobs, Locklear, are associated with the Lumbee tribe, the name taken from the Lumbee river, until this day. It is clear that the families listed as people of color in the 1850 census were not Africans or mulattos, but were 'Croatans' or Native Americans. The census takers did not have a slot to put them in and truly did not know what to do with them.
They were not black, but neither were they white, and indeed, there had been decades, even centuries of admixture in their ancestory. They were even rumoured to be descendants of the Lost Colony. The story goes that Scotch settlers stumbled upon a tribe of Indians living along the Lumber River inland, during the 1730's, using English building methods, some speaking words of broken English and even as being a 'mixt' lot, some having lighter hair or blue or grayish eyes. Several members of the early Lumbee tribe were also known to intermarry with African-Americans. The mulatto residents of Wolfpit echoed the same theme found in the Murray/Pearce-Pierce family, the Hedgepeths, the Bass and the Manuels, a trifecta of Scottish/Native American and African ancestry. 

In the Wolf Pit Township, Richmond County, North Carolina household #476, we find the first mention of Henry Love.

#476
Ervin Love, 35m, black, laborer, NC
Charity Love, 40f, mulatto, NC
Isaac Love, 16m, mulatto, laborer, NC
Henry Love, 14m, black, NC
James Love, 12m, black, NC
Louis Love, 8m, black, NC
Sallie Freeman, 60f, mulatto, NC
Thomas Love, 5m, black, NC

Also, nearby is a 21 year old John Love, mulatto, laborer, living in the household of a lawyer, John Cameron.

In 1860, Henry is working in the Turpentine industry and boarding with a Smith family.

Name:	Henry Love
Age in 1860:	25
Birth Year:	abt 1835
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1860:	Wolf Pitt, Richmond, North Carolina
Race:	Black
Gender:	Male
Post Office:	Rockingham
Value of real estate:	View image
Household Members:	Name Age Eli Smith 36 Lucy Smith 29 Joseph Smith 10 Emily Smith 8 Paul Smith 5 Simeon Smith 2 Henry Love 25 Benjamin Jackson 19

He married Sarah in 1853, and his marriage license is on file. Remember that the year is 1853, prior to the Civil War. If he were a slave or descendant of slaves, his marriage license would not be on file or recorded, except perhaps in the diary of one of the family members he worked for. These were free persons, of equal status to whites. Ervin Love may have been the son of a Croatan mother and a black man, as children took the status of the mother. If she was free, so was the child, but they were still members of the tribe.

Name:	Henry Love
Gender:	Male
Race:	Black
Spouse:	Sarah Love
Spouse Gender:	Female
Spouse Race:	Black
Marriage Date:	1853
Marriage County:	Union
Marriage State:	North Carolina

Henry was a blacksmith. He even served in the Civil War. Lumbees did fight for the Confederacy. African-Americans did not. There were African units in the Union Army, but not the Conferate Army.

Name:	Henry D Love
Residence:	Rockingham County, North Carolina
Occupation:	Blacksmith
Age at enlistment:	28
Enlistment Date:	22 May 1861
Rank at enlistment:	Private
Enlistment Place:	Rockingham County, NC
State Served:	North Carolina
Survived the War?:	Yes
Service Record:	Enlisted in Company K, North Carolina 13th Infantry Regiment on 22 May 1861. Mustered out on 07 Dec 1864. Transferred to on 07 Dec 1864.
Birth Date:	abt 1833
Sources:	North Carolina Troops 1861-65, A Roster

In the 1880 census, the transcribers got it wrong. Looking at the original document, the last Long listed is James, with Long beside his name. They have Matilda listed as Matilda _ ( a dash), they did not record her surname at all. And Harriett, Sarah's mother, her surname is clearly Little on the original document. Why they made her a Long, I don't know. But the death certificate of Jonah, son of Henry and Sarah confirms that his mother's maiden name was Little.

Name:	Henry W. Love
Age:	44
Birth Year:	abt 1836
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1880:	Furrs, Stanly, North Carolina
Race:	Black
Gender:	Male
Relation to Head of House:	Self (Head)
Marital Status:	Married
Spouse's Name:	Sarah Love
Father's Birthplace:	Virginia
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Neighbors:	View others on page
Occupation:	Farmer
Cannot read/write: Blind: Deaf and dumb: Otherwise disabled: Idiotic or insane:	View image
Household Members:	Name Age Henry W. Love 44 Sarah Love 47 Jonah J. Love 16 Mary Long 48 Catharine Long 16 Druker Long 19 James W. Long 15 Matilda Long 13 Haiet Long 75 Alice Morgan 18

Henry is buried in Locust, Stanly County, NC at the AME Zion Church.

Birth:	Sep. 5, 1836
Death:	Jul. 24, 1897
Burial: Brown Hill AME Zion Church Cemetery Locust Stanly County North Carolina, USA
Edit Virtual Cemetery info [?]
Created by: William Poplin Record added: Nov 20, 2010 Find A Grave Memorial# 61920087

The significance of Wolf Pit.

The Significance of Wolf Pit Township and the Community of Cordova in Richmond County, North Carolina.

below: A 19th Century Wolf Pit.


While researching the Carpenter, Howell, Cox and other family histories, I found that in the late 1800's and early 1900's, many of them ended up in the Township of Wolf Pit in Richmond County, and specifically in the community of Cordova, which is located in Wolf Pit. I wondered what the significance of Wolf Pit was. An unusual sounding name, for certain, but why was it a draw to people from the surrounding counties of Anson, Stanly, Union, Montgomery in North Carolina and Marlboro and Chesterfield in South Carolina.

First, the name. Richmond is a county in which the topography of North Carolina changes. At the PeeDee River and the border of  Anson, and within its 'handle', much of it is rich farmland like Anson. Going east, Richmond becomes part of the Sandhills of North Carolina, the area between the Coastal region and the Piedmont. Richmond is a county wherein the Uwharrie dips her toes into the beach. Its 'ripples' are her foothills that later turn into a sandy soil.

According to Clark Cox, a writer for the Sandhills area news "The Pilot", the name of Wolf Pit comes from an old legend. The area near and around the PeeDee can be a bit swampy in places and according to legend, was one time overrun with wolves. An enterprising local farmer had dug a pit and covered it with brush in hopes of trapping one of these roving canines, as their hides carried a substantial bounty. The legend has it that he caught only one beast, his own mule. But the name for the area apparently stuck.

The draw to the area for the families I researched, however, could be summed up in one word: TEXTILES.
You can see the village of Cordova indicated on the map south of Rockingham and the proximity to the Anson county communities of Lilesville and PeeDee. For large families like that of Philmore Carpenter, or for the fatherless ones like that of Ann Howell, the burgeoning industry of textile mills was a source of income and survival. Prolific, but unindustrious Philmore, sent his bounty of children to work in the mills, which could supplement his alchohol addiction and lack of sucess as a farmer. Other families, like the Coxes, did not own enough land to provide a substatial living. To other families along the Yadkin and PeeDee rivers in Montgomery and further south, on into South Carolina, the building of the damns had flooded much of their property and especially their fertile bottomlands, laying their farms underwater, or the back up from the flooding causing an outbreak of malaria and other diseases. Many of these displaced families sought work in the factories, and many sought a healthier existence away from the water and mosquitoes.

On February 16, 1895, Robert Leak Steele and others obtained a charter for the development of a textile company. The first mill was built about 4 miles or so south of the town of Rockingham and was named Steele's Mills for the family. Many members of the Steele family became involved in the textile business. A village was created for workers around the mill, as was going on in several other towns in the Carolina Piedmont about the same time. The village was named Cordova, most likely for the Provence in Spain. Why, I do not know, nor can discover. From the names in the early population of this community, it does not appear any of them were from Spain. Maybe one of the members of the Steele family had visited Spain and liked the sound of the name. We'll never know.

The Act of Incorporation lists the following members of the Steele family as the corporate body: Robert L Steele, Robert L Steele, Jr., Thomas W Steele, Thomas W Steele, Jr., Walter F. L. Steele, William H Steele and Stephen W Steele. Robert Sr died in 1895, before the mill and the village were completed and Robert Jr became the President of the Company and completion of the Mill and production began in early 1898.

Cordova Village was built as many Mill Villages were, with houses of a few different styles, but all wooden cottages, surrounding the Mill within walking distance for the employees. Small businesses that would supply most of their needs sprang up around and within the village, wherein it became its own little town.

The Cordova Post Office was establishe in July of 1899 and Mrs Lula Register was the first Postmistress.

A company store was established ran by the Mckenzie family for many years.

Originally, the houses were rented to the employees for $1.50 to $1.75 per week, depending on the size. The rental was about 50 cents per room and water and electricity was provided free of charge. For the former farm families, this was a luxury, as most of them came from dwellings without running water or electricity.

Mills ran in shifts and often times parents and older siblings would work different shifts in order to switch off childcare of the younger ones. Child Labor had not yet been outlawed and children were put to work as young as 6 or 7 in some families, while others sent their children to school until about the fourth or fifth grades, and then pulled them out to work in the mills. Supervisors were known to carry canes in which to beat insolent children who tarried or played and did not keep their production up.

The Company Store sold a wide range of merchandise, everything the employees would need. Doctors set up offices in the village. Some of the earlier doctors in the Cordova village were Dr. W. R. McIntosh and Dr. William P. Stancill Webb.

The citizens of Cordova are closely knit. Many of them have lived there for three or more generations and have intermarried. Descendants of the people who migrated away from the farms in search of a better life.

Wages were low at times, but that was the conditions all around. During the depression, these families of the mill village still enjoyed employment, a roof over their heads and meals to eat.

Recreational activities were provided for the families of Cordova. The schools and churches were the centers of the community. There were two churches, Cordova Baptist Church and Cordova Methodist Church. Services in the old days were held on alternative Sundays and many of the workers would attend both churches. There were clubs, such as 4H and Scouting for the children and a Busy Bee Club and Home Demonstration Club for the ladies. Men participated in sporting events, like baseball teams.

In 1945, Steele Mills was bought by R. S. Dickson & Co. of Gastonia and later leased the property to Burlington Mills. In 1957, Burlington changed the name to Klopman Mills.

The families of Cordova eventually bought their own homes. Descendants of Mill workers went on to diverse occupations within the county of Richmond or on to other counties or states. The textile industry in the Carolinas is almost, but not entirely dead by now, most businesses either closed due to competition or relocated to other countries where the companies do not have to pay a minimum wage, adhere to safety and health standards, and where child labor is not yet outlawed.

The society of the Mill villages still have their effects on the people of today, who may have once worked in the Mills, or whose parents or grandparents came from this environment. While the people of the late 1800's and early 1900's were in transition from an agricultural to an industrial economy, the citizens of the late 1900's into the 2000's are in a transition from an industrial  economy to the suffering economy we are living in today. I don't know what is coming next, an economy of technology and service, or if we will become a third world country ourselves, but America has a history of movers and shakers and survivors. Let's hope these traits will get us through.