Petition From the Inhabitants of Granville County, 1771
Hello folks!
Today's post is a transcription of a petition that was filed with the General Assembly in 1771. The petition was "rejected or not acted on" and was from citizens in Granville County who opposed a new law that required a tax paid on all wives of free Black citizens (unless the wife was a slave). Many of the signers I know to be free Blacks, but others are either white or unknown to me as of yet. An "*" replaces an unreadable letter and "(x)" is the person's mark
Petition from the inhabitants of Granville
1771, Entd.
To the Honble. the Speaker and Gentn. Of the house of Assembly
The Petition of the Inhabitants of Granville County Humbly Sheweth that by the Act of Assembly Concerning Tythables it is among other things enacted that all free Negroes & Mulato Women and all wives of free Negroes & Mulatoes are Declar'd Tythables & Chargeable for Defraying the Public country & Parish Leveys of this Province which Your Petitioners Humbly Conceive is highly derogatory of the Rights of Freeborn Subjects.
Your Petitioners therefore Pray that An Act may pass Exempting Such free Negroes & Mulatoe Women and all wives other than Slaves of free Negroes & Mulatoes from being Listed as Tythables & from Paying any Public County or Parish Leveys and your Petitions Shall ever Pray &c.
| John Smith | John Wilkerson | Charles Moore |
| James Norris | Christopher Thims | Thomas Head |
| William *ingson | John Head | James Caudill |
| Isom Caudill | Carter Hedge Beth | Martha Knight |
| Frances Davenport | Nathan Chiles | Benjamin Hendrick |
| Cubird Hudjons | Willis Roberts | Isaac Head |
| James Williamson | Joseph Hill | William Thims |
| William Cawthon | Thos. Loew | Wm Wallis |
| Isham Johnson | Isac White | JnoTudor |
| Jno Badget | William Head | Groves Howard |
| George Fagans | Charles Spaulding | Henry Spaulding |
| Gibea Chavis | William Matthews | Benjamin Bass |
| James Downey | Richd Burton | Benjamin *aze |
| John Davis | Lewis Anderson | Davie Mircoll Negroe |
| William Chavis | Samuel Huckaby | Lewis Collins |
| Thomas Butler | John Gwin | George Witlock |
| Humphrey Davis | Josiah Stovall | Ben Bearden |
| Lovet Gates | Shadrach Roberts | Thomas Wittington* |
| William Whorton | John Harris | Robert Down |
| John Hart | Edward (X) Bass | Rubin (X) Bass |
| Lawrence (X) Pettiford | Agula (X) Snele |
1. The following a free Blacks that I'm currently/actively researching:
- Gibea Chavis (see the previous post for a land deed of his)
- Benjamin Bass
- Lewis Anderson
- Davie Mircholl (this should be "Mitchell")
- Wiliam Chavis
- Edward Bass
- Rubin Bass (often spelled "Reuben")
- Lawrence Pettiford (sometimes speclled "Laurence" and surnames variations include Petiford, Pettyford, and Petitford)
- Thomas, John, and William Head
- James and Ison Caudill
- George Fagan (I've come across this surname many times in connection to free Blacks in NC, but nothing definite one way or another. There was a line of free Blacks surnamed Fagan in VA and George could be a descendant)
- Charles and Henry Spaulding (Spaulding is a surname I see a lot in connection with free Blacks in NC)
- Samuel Huckaby
- John Gwin (this could be John Gowen)
- Humphrey Davis
- John Harris (both Davis and Harris are surnames of whites and free Blacks in Granville County. I don't know about these two individuals)
- Agula Snele (This is actually "Aquila Snell" or "Aquila Snelling". I've seen Aquila [both as Snell and Snelling] mentioned numerous times in connection with free Blacks in Granville County, and Aquila Snelling most likely married into the Chavis family according to research done by Paul Heinegg [Chavis, person #15, child v.])
NEXT BLOG: We're gonna move over to Craven County and I'll transcribe some apprenticeship records from the Spelman family.
