Beaufort NC's African-American History and Architecture

BEAUFORT & MOREHEAD CITY VENDORS

▪ BEAUFORT HISTORIC SITE . 130 Turner Street . 252-728-5225 . BUY NOW

Reviews

"As a long-time citizen of Beaufort and person of color, I took great joy and satisfaction in reading this delightful, highly factual but also moving description of people, events, accomplishments, and architecture of Beaufort's African-American community over the centuries. Complete with the names and stories of individual citizens and historical photographs of actual structures, this book does not just tell what Beaufort African-American history was; it puts you there. It is a must-read."

Sharon Harker – Mayor of Beaufort

"A source of impeccably researched facts and illustrations about a fascinating but heretofore missing chapter of North Carolina coastal history. Mary Warshaw paints an impressively comprehensive panorama of the consequential contributions and traditions of Beaufort's African-American community. This groundbreaking book, which supplements original research by historic preservation consultant Peter Sandbeck's 1995 report for the Beaufort Historical Preservation Commission, adds immeasurably to our knowledge and vision of our past. An immensely enriching, rewarding, priceless piece of scholarship and one that will inform future generations for ages to come!"

Kevin P. Duffus – Author of War Zone—World War II Off the North Carolina Coast

Excerpt from Sandbeck's Introduction

Woodcutter "Lorse" Anderson - Duke University Archives

From 1800 to 1990, Beaufort's black residents numbered at least 25% of the total population, with that number rising to as much as 50% during and immediately after the Civil War.

Despite such large numbers, the African-American society of this historic coastal port town has remained largely unknown and undocumented.

Few of the thousands of tourists who visit the town's historic waterfront every year are aware that blacks have been a vital part of Beaufort's maritime culture since the 18th century.

African Americans in Beaufort - An Overview

The history of African Americans in Beaufort goes back to the 18th century, yet remarkably little research or study has ever been carried out on the subject. Prior to 1800, when the town's black population consisted entirely of slaves, the records are virtually silent on their lives and the crucial roles that they must have played in the development and very construction of the town and its society. The labor performed by these slaves, from clearing land to building houses to working as domestics and servants in white households, made possible the very existence of the town during the difficult settlement period of the 18th century. Beaufort's slaves, like most, left no written history; as a result they are anonymous and will likely remain so.

With the growth of the free-black population during the early decades of the 19th century, the fascinating story of African Americans, and their contribution, begins to unfold. Beaufort's black population, which stood at 122—all slaves—in 1800 when the entire town numbered only 559, grew to include 59 free blacks and 579 slaves in 1860, in a town of 1,610. The federal census records for 1850 and 1860 list the occupations of free blacks for the first time, revealing a wide range of skills and trades including house-carpenter, shoemaker, fisherman, farmer, and even four musicians. Five free blacks in Beaufort had achieved the status of property owner by 1860. The great majority were still enslaved, all working daily to build and develop the town which was then in the midst of an antebellum heyday as a fashionable summer resort. MORE . . .

Stanton Family Bible included Births of Family Slaves

About 1732, Quaker Henry Stanton sailed to Beaufort from Newport, Rhode Island and established a shipyard in the new Quaker Colony, on Core Creek.

Son, Benjamin Stanton, born in 1746, was first to record information in the family Bible, printed in England in 1712. Benjamin had inherited slaves from his father, but these he had emancipated about the year 1787 when members of the Society of Friends in North Carolina. Benjamin Stanton, and his widow and children, succeeded in protecting the slaves set free by him and some of them emigrated to Ohio with the family in 1800.

One of the slave women set free by Benjamin Stanton once saved the life of his son Benjamin, then a very small child. A boat had been pulled upon the beach and into it the child had clambered. At high tide the boat started out to sea, but fortunately not so far but that the colored woman, who discovered the child's danger, was able, by wading almost her full depth into the water, to catch the boat and pull it ashore. Some of the colored people set free by Benjamin Stanton took the family name and their descendants still bear the name Stanton. (From Our Ancestors the Stantons, by William H. Stanton, 1922)

Excerpt from 1870 Census

The end of the Civil War brought with it the doubling of Beaufort's black population from 638 in 1860 to 1,242 in 1870, about half of the total population. Growth was fueled by the influx of Freedmen from the surrounding county.
Heads of households have been arranged in alphabetical order. When more research revealed other family records, that information was added. Unless noted, marriages occurred in Carteret County.

▪ AMBROSE, DAVID 36, with Minerva 35, Charity 12, and 1-year-old Ella.
Born about 1834, slave David Ambrose married slave Minerva Hasket in 1855; retroactively recorded August 7, 1866.

▪ ANDERSON, GEORGE (farm laborer) 35, Harriet 28.
By 1880, George was a widower with Elias 15, Lavenia 12, Isabella 9, Jacob 6, and 3-year-old son Castilla Anderson. By 1900, 65-year-old George was with new wife Mary E. 40, and children Alice, Jake, Castillie, James, John, Rosa, Lucy, and Lulu Anderson, with 1-year-old grandson Albert Quinn. . . .

From "Menhaden Fishermen" pages . . .

In the Galley
Food was hot and hearty―the coffee always strong.

Excerpt from "Menhaden Chanteymen"

In 1988, the "Menhaden Chanteymen," a group of retired black fishermen who had previously worked in Beaufort's menhaden industry, gathered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, in Beaufort, to sing some of their traditional work songs. That same year, the ex-fishermen performed at a public event sponsored by the North Carolina Maritime Museum. They later performed for the North Carolina General Assembly and the National Council on the Arts. They also appeared at New York City's Carnegie Hall and on national television and radio.

In 1990 the Chanteymen recorded a collection of maritime work songs, Won't You Help Me to Raise 'Em: Authentic Net Hauling Songs from an African-American Fishery, for Global Village Music. . . .

Beaufort's Black Citizens - Research Highlights (1 of 20 pages)

▪ BELL, DELIA (1900‒1975) was born Cordelia Gaskill, daughter of Mary Hawkins and Michael Gaskill. Married in 1923, Delia and Charlie Bell were renting the home at 314 Queen Street in 1930. Delia was a cook for the marine lab on Piver's Island in the early 1930s. She would often stop by the Duncan House to pick up little Lou Waters (daughter of Ernest Waters and Emily Frances Duncan). Lou would play and roller skate around the lab porch. Dr. Prytherch, director at the time, would row over to pick them up and bring them back at the end of the day.

▪ BLOUNT, SILAS A. was born about 1854. The 1880 census recorded him as a barber living alone on Broad Street. Silas served as Beaufort town clerk in 1882, and as a town commissioner in 1895 and 1896.

▪ BOYD, SOPHIA – The earliest known deed record for property ownership by a free-black woman in Beaufort dates to 1820, when Sophia Boyd purchased lot 126 in "Old Town" from James Gibble. This property was located at the northeast corner of Broad and Craven streets, former site of Beaufort Ice and Coal. Sophia Boyd was recorded on the 1840 Carteret County Census, alone in household.

▪ BOYD, MARY LOUISE TILLERY (1920‒2016), daughter John Randolph Tillery and Parmilla G. Gaskill, graduated from Queen Street High School. She then attended Bennett College, NC A&T University, East Carolina University, and Winston-Salem State. In 1944 she married Anthony Manuel "Toby" Boyd.
Until 1989, Mary Louise was a biology technician at Marine Fisheries on Piver's Island. She then spent four years at Carteret Technical Institute. Her service included appointment to the Carteret County Mayors Committee for Persons with Disabilities, membership on the NC Marine Science Council, and membership on the Block Grant Program in Morehead City. Mary was also a trustee at Carteret Community College. As a member of St. Stephens AME Zion, she served as Director of Christian Education.

▪ BURR, BURNEY DAVID (1870‒1956), drayman and "handyman," was born on Queen Street to Jane and William Lambert Burr.
On September 14, 1893, Burney married Sarah Yerkey Davis, daughter of Tom Forlaw and Nancy Davis; the marriage was performed by Minister Michael P. Jerkins. Burney and Sarah were parents of Margaret Henriette, William, Ethel Virginia, Jany E., and Burney David Burr Jr. (1911‒1918), who died of typhoid fever. By 1900, the family owned the home at 608 Pine Street. Burney Burr Sr. was buried in Ocean View Cemetery, with Burney Burr Jr., Margaret Burr Oden, and Ethel Burr Pickett.