We, The G.C. and Frances Hawley Museum® are honored to have been gifted with the donation of "this 1830 Bill Of Sale For A Negro Named Peter in Bertie Co. NC", by Mr. J. Henderson, who has owned it for about 25 years, give or take. He purchased it from an estate sale in Harrison, AR.

He is now a retired history teacher and used this artifact in his classroom to help his students understand how horrible it was to be a slave on a plantation in America.

We have a translation of the bill of sale which we have posted below, though some of the words we are not able to make out. We are still waiting on a few researchers to help us out with the translation. We will update this post concerning the missing words in the translation as we are provided the information.
Here is what we have so far translated. The blank lines are holding spaces for words that aren't clear.

TRANSLATION:

"Received of John_____ Johnston for Saul G. Johnston four hundred and fifty dollars in full for the purchase of negro Peter and warrants the said negro sound and healthy. Also the rights and title of said negro to Saul G. Johnston, his heirs and ______ against the claim or claims of all persons.
Given under my hand and seal,

Feb. 12th 1830
_____ D. Williams L. S. Webb

State of No Carolina
Bertie Co, Court August ?Seven? 1830
This bill of sale from L. S. Webb to Saul G. Johnston was ______ in open court by the oath of ______ B. Williams.
The subscribing ______ thereto _______ to the registrar ______ ______. "

ON The Back Is Written:

"23rd August 1830 Then This Bill of sale was registered in Book ____ Page 429
Dfiyan (?) Register"

Also, On the Back Is Written:

"L S Webb
To
Saul G. Johnston
Bill Of Sale
1830"

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We have also been looking for information about the seller and buyer slavers, Lorenzo S. Webb (seller) and S. G. Johnston (buyer).
So far, we have found family background on the seller, Lorenzo S. Webb and have included it in this post.

Our next steps will be to look into public records that are available online pertaining Lorenzo S. Webb to see if we can find any information about "Peter" the slave that L. Webb sold.

We also are looking into Saul. G. Johnston's (the buyer of Peter) background to find out what we can from that about him and to see if "Peter's" name is mentioned in his records.
We do know that the Johnston family was also quite well known.

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We know that Lorenzo S. Webb descended from the "Rhodes" family.

"ELISHA RHODES (Thomas3, John2, Henry1) was born on Cashie Swamp in Bertie County, North Carolina about 1753. He died in the Indian Woods at Quitsney Swamp near the present community of Quitsna in 1789 when he was about 36 years of age. The son of Thomas Rhodes and Elizabeth Standley, Elisha was raised on land, which his family had worked since it had been granted to Elisha's great grandfather, Henry Rhodes, in 1723.

Henry was one of the early settlers of Bertie, migrating with many other families from Nansemond County, Virginia and obtaining a land grant of 640 acres on the north side of Cashie Swamp. Part of this land, as well as lands which were added to it, passed to Henry's son John.

When John died in 1771 it was passed to his three oldest sons, Thomas, Henry, and John. Just north of the community of Woodville, Cashie Swamp defined an area surrounding the Cashie River at its source. To the east of the Rhodes' lands was the Lumber Bridge which crossed the Cashie.
To the west was Sandy Run Swamp and the Roanoke River.

Bordered by Norfleet's Ferry Road which ran to Norfleet's Ferry on the Roanoke the Rhodes' plantation was bounded by the lands of Reuben Norfleet, one of the largest land and slave owners in the county during the last half of the 18th Century.

Toward the end of the war he married and with his wife Mary, whose family name is not known, no doubt lived and worked on his father's land on the Cashie or in the Indian Woods.

In addition to his land on Cashie Swamp Thomas Rhodes owned land further south in the Indian Woods near Quitsney Swamp and the road that ran from the town of Windsor to Oliver's Ferry on the Roanoke River, as well as two other tracts of land in this area one described as being in the ponds and the other as being across the river in Martin County in the low land of the Roanoke.

The area was known as the Indian Woods because it had been the reservation of the Tuscarora Indians, set aside for them following the Indian wars of 1711-1713.

By the 1760s most of the Tuscarora had left for New York to join the Iroquois nation, opening the area to settlement by others in Bertie. Thomas began purchasing land in the Indian Woods in the 1760s. In 1788 and 1789 he sold 400 acres of this land to his son Elisha. The land joined that of his brother William who was also sold land by his father at about the same time."
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The areas of Bertie County, North Carolina that the Webb family-owned plantations on and resided in are mentioned in the genealogical records we found. They are, Indian Woods, Windsor and Salmon Creek near Merry Hill.

The Webb's plantations were known as Webb's Ferry and Merry Hill, the community of Merry Hill having been formed on the site. The family operated a ferry known as Webb's Ferry on Salmon Creek and also operated one of several fisheries on Albemarle Sound. By the 1830s the fishing industry was coming of age on the sound with huge quantities of shad and herring being seined from its waters.

We will update this post as we find information pertaining to these three (3) men.

Here is what we know so far about Lorenzo S. Webb (the slaver - seller of "A Negro Named Peter".
Background on L.S. Webb who sold a negro named Peter to S. G. Johnston.

Lorenzo S. Webb was one of seven sons born to John and Margaret Webb.

2. Lorenzo Stephenson Webb was born on Salmon Creek near Merry Hill February 19, 1806 and died in Windsor on February 28, 1895 in his 89th year.

In a lifetime which spanned almost the entire 19th Century he became one of the most notable citizens of Bertie County. In about 1828 he married Penelope Edward Watson, daughter of Edward Collins Watson and Martha Mason Shehan. Penelope was born in 1809.

Her sister Prudence married Lorenzo's cousin, Jonathan Standley Tayloe. Lorenzo moved to Windsor from Salmon Creek at about the time of his marriage. He apparently had little interest in participating with his brothers in the family farming, ferry, and fishing business, electing instead to pursue a life as entrepreneur, merchant, banker, and public servant in the town of Windsor.

Active in the affairs of the community in 1829 he became the first postmaster of Windsor and in 1832 was appointed as one of the supervisors to construct the town's new jail completed later that year. His business ventures included a mercantile establishment, a bookstore, and a hotel. In 1829 he and his cousin Elisha A. Rhodes operated a mercantile store under the name L. S. Webb & Company.

After Rhodes left the county Lorenzo partnered with George W. Capehart, yet another cousin, in the firm of Webb and Capehart. At some point he owned a book store. A few years later in 1835 he joined George W. Capehart and James L. Bryan in the purchase at a sheriff's sale of Watson's Hotel on Dundee Street between King and Queen.

He owned property both in town and in the country, buying and selling a number of town lots over the years. He owned land on Salmon Creek which had belonged to his father and property known as Springfield on the Windsor-Indian Woods road which was left to Penelope by her father.

In about 1838 Lorenzo became Clerk and Master in Equity of the Bertie County Superior Court in which capacity he served for many years, a good part of it during the time his cousin Jonathan Tayloe was Clerk of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions. These positions made them very influential, as well as very powerful, in the county.

During the 1850s Lorenzo was the cashier of a branch of the State Bank of North Carolina established at Windsor, working once again with his cousin Jonathan Tayloe who was the bank's president. He held this position at least into the 1860s and continued to find time to assume leadership roles in many other community affairs.

For example in 1850 he chaired the organizational meeting of the Bertie Lyceum established to allow the young men of Windsor and vicinity to enjoy the benefit to be derived from a free and frequent interchange of opinion on Moral, Scientific, and Literary subjects, and of acquiring an easy mode of expressing ourselves in public without embarrassment. In 1867 he was county coroner and in 1869 mayor of Windsor.

But despite his recognized achievements as public servant, merchant, banker, and community leader, he was probably best known for his association with St. Thomas Episcopal Church.

As Warden he was a member of the first vestry and in 1840 he sold the land at the corner of Queen and Gray Streets to the vestry on which the church was built and stands today. On November 15, 1840, at the consecration of the church he was among the first group to be confirmed. He played an active role in the church continuously until hi s death in 1895.

The family home was located at the corner of King and Pitt Streets for many years and was here that several of their children came of age. Lorenzo and Penelope had eight children, four of which died in childhood or as young adults. Penelope Webb died on November 20, 1871 at the age of 62. Both she and Lorenzo are buried in the churchyard of St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Windsor.

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HERE is the background on Lorenzo's father and mother.

John Webb was the son of Thomas Webb and Mary Nicholls whose families had resided on Salmon Creek, often referred to simply as the Creek, as neighbors since the time the county was settled in the early part of the 18th Century.

Thomas Webb and Mary Nicholls were married on December 3, 1867.

Thomas had purchased 200 acres on Salmon Creek in 1765 and this was probably the site of John Webb's boyhood home. As a member of the Sandy Creek Baptist Church, Thomas ostensibly tried, apparently with little success, to uphold the tenants of his religion. In 1772 he was suspended from the church for drunkenness and misbehavior.

A few months later he was received back into the church upon repentance only to be suspended again, received back again, and finally suspended in July, 1773 with no indication that he regained membership in the congregation.

He died in 1777 and his widow, Mary, was appointed administrator of his estate by the county court. Their son John was born sometime in the 1770s. His other children, if any, are not known.

The Webbs and the Nicholls were closely allied as a result of the marriage of Thomas Webb and Mary Nicholls for over 100 years. The relationship between Mary's brother Jehu Nicholls, her cousin Benajah Nicholls, and her son John Webb and his family was particularly close. The families prospered on adjoining plantations and by the 1830s were well established in the area.

An 1833 map of North Carolina identifies the Nicholls plantation on Salmon Creek. The Webb's plantations were known as Webb's Ferry and Merry Hill, the community of Merry Hill having been formed on the site. When her brother Jonathan passed away in 1804 Margaret and her husband John inherited several of his Negro slaves and a portion of the lands which he owned in the Indian Woods.
This acreage was small in comparison to the 667 acre plantation John Webb owned on Salmon Creek and it was soon sold to Margaret's brother Thomas.

The couple was blessed with seven sons and when Margaret passed away very suddenly in 1820 the oldest was but 15 or 16, the youngest a mere infant. By this time John had prospered and added to his plantation by purchasing several additional tracts of land.

The family operated a ferry known as Webb's Ferry on Salmon Creek and also operated one of several fisheries on Albemarle Sound. By the 1830s the fishing industry was coming of age on the sound with huge quantities of shad and herring being seined from its waters.

On December 2, 1830, ten years after Margaret's death, John Webb married Sarah M. Norfleet Wills of Edenton. A widow, Sarah had lost her first husband, James Wills, in 1826. Wills was the editor and publisher of the Edenton Gazette and following his death Sarah edited the paper for about a year. She has the distinction of being the first woman editor of a newspaper in North Carolina and perhaps the first in the United States.

John and Sarah had no children. John Webb died on April 27, 1837. A month to the day before his death he sold 150 acres of his land on Salmon Creek known as Webb's Ferry to his sons Thomas and Jonathan. Even after this sale he owned at least 1,250 acres on Salmon Creek at the time of his death. He also owned many slaves.

He was also the postmaster of the nearby community of Merry Hill, a post he held for several years. And so John Webb closed out a life as planter, ferryman, fisherman, postmaster, and father of seven sons, all of which survived him, Thomas, Lorenzo, Jonathan, James, Jehu, William, and Lewis.

In May following his death his son Thomas was bonded as administrator of his father's estate and his widow Sarah petitioned the court for a year's provisions and allotment.
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