WHENEVER a heavy storm rips through this coastal city, Mary Witkowski, a local historian, immediately has the same worrisome thought: “Are they still standing?” So far, she has been both amazed and relieved to find that the two rickety structures known as the Freeman houses have indeed survived on their adjacent 161-year-old foundations. Thought to be the state’s oldest remaining houses built by African-Americans, the boarded-up homes are the only remnants of a south-end community of free blacks and runaway slaves who thrived here before the Civil War. Read More

The 200-year-old remains of three black slaves from Sussex County were reburied Thursday afternoon in a small graveside ceremony in Newton after being stored at Space Farms Zoo and Museum for 30 years. The three men, named Tom, Dan and John, were discovered in the 1970s when the land, once owned by Henry Simson Sr., was being developed. Read More

From North Carolina, Cumberland County Registry Book 56, Page 26
Thagard, James Estate Division of Slaves
Contributed by Elaine Kantor

The commissioners to value and make a division of the Negroes of James Thagard, deceased, beg leave to report that they have made division as follows:

The following is being provided courtesy of Don Johnson, Archivist for the St. Helena Parish site of the La. Gen. Project. The information contains the names of slaves sold in St. Helena Parish from May, 1811 - October 1812. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and/or archivist for St. Helena Parish.