TOMBSTONE INSCRIPTIONS FROM BLACK CEMETERIES
IN BENTON COUNTY, TENNESSEE
(Revised Edition with Maps)
Compiled by Jonathan K. T. Smith
Copyright, Jonathan K. T. Smith, 1995
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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The black folk of Benton County have never been numerous as slavery, though a significant economic factor in the first forty years of its existence, did not institutionally support a large "cotton culture" and there has been little of industry to attract later generations of blacks into the county. Even in the mid-1990s the closely estimated population of Benton County was 15,770 of which only about 3% were black persons. (BENTON COUNTY, TENNESSEE, a profile, by the West Tennessee Industrial Association, 1997, page 4) Before the present generation, most blacks have been, as one of their own historians commented, "of the rank and file, the common people, comprising 70 per cent of the entire Negro population, who derived a living from domestic and personal service and common labor." (THE NEGRO IN THE UNITED STATES, New York, 1949, by E. Franklin Frazier, page 282) The black folk of Benton County have made a worthwhile contribution to its development through their labor, a record of which they should be proud.
Most black people in the county previous to 1860 were slaves, however throughout the years there had been a number of resident free-blacks. Due to the fear of slave revolt the state legislature had passed an act into law, December 16, 1831 (ACTS OF TENNESSEE, 1831, pages 121-122), which forbade persons of color to move into Tennessee and all emancipated slaves had to leave the state. This harsh legislation was somewhat mitigated when the legislature passed an act into law regarding "free persons of color," February 4, 1842 (ACTS OF TENNESSEE, 1841-1842, chapter 191, pages 229-230), stipulating that emancipated slaves who had moved into the state or had been freed by their owners before January 1, 1836 could petition the county court of the county in which they lived, explaining why they wanted to remain in the county and state; if the county magistrates approved the petitioners as being of "good character" and would not become a drain on the economy, they were allowed to continue to reside in their county; a bond of $500 was posted for each person applying and children under age fifteen could be represented by older relatives.
According to an act of legislation BENTON COUNTY became an established political entity as of January 1, 1836, taken from the territories of Humphreys and Henry counties. The first census taken after the county's establishment was that of 1840. In this census it was reported that the free-black population of Benton County was constituted in this way: one free colored male, aged 24-36; one free colored male, aged 36-55; one free colored female, aged under 10; one free colored female, aged l0-24; one free colored female, aged 24-36; two free colored females, aged 36-55; one free colored female, aged 55-100. (COMPENDIUM OF THE ENUMERATION OF THE INHABITANTS AND STATISTICS OF THE UNITED STATES: 1840. Washington, D.C., 1841, page 69)
In September 1842, EDY BLACKWELL, a free woman of color, then living in Carroll County, formerly a resident of Benton County, appealed to the Benton County magistrates to have her children declared free persons too; that they so approved this request for these individuals who were named JOHN WILLIAM CARROLL BLACKWELL, light rnulatto, aged about 20 years; ABEL HENDRICK WASHINGTON BLACKWELL, light mulatto, aged about 16 years; STEPHEN ANDREW JACKSON BLACKWELL, light mulatto, aged about 13 years; NOEL ALLEN RICHESON BLACKWELL, light mulatto, aged about 9 years. (Benton County Court Minute Book, 1842-1861, page 17)
EDY BLACKWELL had resided in what became Benton County by 1830(Benton County Land Entry Book, 1827-1849, page 68), later moved to Carroll County but returned to live, presumably for the rest of her life, in Benton County.
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This free-black matriarch lived just north of Camden as the 1850 census of the county (page 313) would indicate, reported in the census: EDE BLACKWELL, mulatto, aged 45, born Tennessee; NANCY BLACKWELL, mulatto, aged 43, born Tennessee. Her son, KENDRICK BLACKWELL, was listed in the household of JAMES WYLY, a large slaveowner, assisting in the operation of this man's farm (IBID., page 294). There were also two other adult Blackwells, ELIZABETH, mulatto, aged 50; MARTHA, mulatto, aged 40, given as natives of Tennessee (IBID., page 313) One NOAH BLACKWELL, 32 year old mulatto farmer, native of Tennessee, was listed with CAROLINE BLACKWELL, mulatto, aged 24 years; MARTHA BLACKWELL, mulatto, aged 12 years; WILLIAM BLACKWELL, mulatto, aged 7 years; DAVID BLACKWELL, mulatto, aged 4 years; NANCY BLACKWELL, mulatto, aged 2 years. In their household, also, were ABRAHAM WASHINGTON, mulatto, aged 83, native of South Carolina; WINNY WASHINGTON, mulatto, aged 18, born in South Carolina (IBID., page 300) The agricultural schedule for that year reveals that NOAH BLACKWELL raised 300 bushels of Indian corn and ample livestock on 20 acres of land while an additional 20 acres in his farm were uncultivated/undeveloped.
Some of the Blackwells continued to reside in Benton County and in 1860 EDY BLACKWELL, a farmer, gave her age as 64, born in North Carolina; She was living near Camden in 1870, then giving her age as 60, born in North Carolina, with NANCY BLACKWELL, aged 58, also born in North Carolina. Both probably died and were buried locally and while most of the Blackwells inferentially moved elsewhere some intermarried with other local blacks in the years after the war. NANCY BLACKWELL, perhaps a sister of EDY BLACKWELL, was a landowning farmer as late as 1882; she had received a state land grant for 90 acres on November 10, 1849 in the county. (Benton County Deed Book H, page 744)
Parenthetically, it may be noted that it is matter with which to contend in establishing the correct ages of most free-persons and slaves in the long antebellum period; most of them could not read or write and unless their masters or people with whom they were associated when they were young informed them of their birth-dates they had little means of knowing that information. Others, as many people of any race or condition, in any time in history, simply have a cavalier attitude towards such matters and would be just as apt to give their ages as first one number and then another as time passed.
In 1840 there were reported 244 slaves living in Benton County; of the 108 males, 43 were under ten years of age, 39 were aged 10-24, while the number of older males reporting considerable age were few indeed. Only one of the blacks claimed (or had claimed by the master) to be over a century old. Of the females, only 10 were reportedly over the age of 30.
Local people claiming less than 5 slaves in 1840 were Hugh M. Brown, Dawsey P. Hudson, James Gordon, Christopher K. Wyly, R. W. Altom, E. F. Wills, Etheldred Melton, Edward Lindsey, William Roe, William Stockdale, William McCutchen, James Reaves, Abraham Davidson, Wilie (pronounced wylie) Arnold, Thomas Petty, Mary Sarrett, James M. Camp, David Morris, Sarah Rushing, Harbert Haynes, John McIllwain, William Hubbs, Nancy Harrison, John Smalley, Dennis Rushing, Joseph Townsend, Richard P. Rushing, William Camp, James Hansel, John W. Utley, Henry Camp, Nancy Allen, Charles Williams, Mary Barnett, William Northington, David A. Askew, John McGlohon, James White, Richard Booker, Seth Utley, Ezekial Tippett, William Walker, Abner McCarroll and Thomas Richeson.
Persons with 5 to 9 slaves were Elisha Herrin, George Francisco, Willis Rushing, Edward Hatley, George Camp, Charles Barnes, Daniel Settle, Bird B. Barnett and Zachariah Barker. Those individuals with as many as ten slaves were Green Flowers, Thomas Jones, David O. Askew and James S. Sayles. Of 20 and upwards of slaves, were James Wyly and Ann Peacock. This means that 59 heads
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of household, in l840, claimed to be slaveowners out of a population of nearly five thousand people. The county's white population were yeomen, the farming folk that constituted most of the people in the South at the time. Slave owners and members of their families worked along-side their black servants. White masters were expected to provide moral leadership for their bondsfolk. As late as May 1860 Henry Bain was fined by the magistrates for having given whiskey to a slave. (Benton County Court Minute Book D, page 592)
George Cooper Camp (1836-1924), eldest son of James Madison Camp and his wife, Sarah, was a member of a family respected in the county; they owned about a half-dozen slaves; lived at old Chaseville near what is now Holladay, Tennessee in southern Benton County. When he was 86 years old, George C. Camp recalled (April 1922) that the Camp dwelling "was a log house with one room and up stairs." His father did "All kind of farm work. My mother worked in the house such as cooking, spining, weaving and making clothes for us kids. Thir was 7 of us and she had to cloth us all for thir was vary litle bought in stores. He /James M. Camp/ kept one negro woman at the house to help my mother." So it was that everyone lived plainly, some with more ostentation than others. (Civil War Veteran Questionnaire designed by John Trotwood Moore, director of the Tennessee Department of Libraries, Archives and History)
In 1842, JOHN FERGUSON, a "free man of color" was accepted by the county court as having lived in the county for years as a respectable man and he was allowed to remain a resident there. (Benton County Court minute Book A, page 20) In September 1842, Williarn Morthington freed one of his slaves, PETER. (IBID., page 21) Except for "an occasional owner of irascible disposition and an occasional black of incorrigible tendencies, good will prevailed and often deep attachments" were formed between persons of different "races." Certainly most blacks must have felt resentment due to their being enslaved, subject to the whims of others but peace was maintained over the years with occasional cruel exceptions.
James C. Perkins (1876-1978) of Big Sandy remembered hearing his grandmother, Sarah Jane Perkins, an adult, wife and mother during some of the slavery period, speak numerous times of a northern Benton County farmer whom she remembered would beat his slaves and if he thought it would make them more obedient, he would rub salt on their lacerated backs. Naturally his slaves hated him; he came close to being poisoned once. (Interview, Jonathan Smith with James C. Perkins, June 27, 1970)
In 1850, Benton County's total white population was reported as 5931, free-blacks 21 and slaves 363. (STATISTICAL VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES, 1850, by J. D. B. DeBow, Washington, D.C., 1854, page 302) There were some 87 slaveowners, most with modest holdings. James Wyly held 22 slaves, C. K. Wyly 13, Anderson Lashlee 14, Zachariah Barker 12, Robert Rushing 11, Drew A. Askew 10, and all were exceptions to the general rule of a few slaves per owner. The larger slaveowners had larger farm operations but none were planters as that term was applied in the antebellum period.
In the census of 1860 the black population of Benton County was given as 457 slaves and 11 free-black (4 rnales, 7 females). Of the slaves, 217 were males, 240 females, of whom 36 were designated as male mulattoes and 41 female mulattoes. Of the slaves only 28 were above age 50 and most of the blacks ranged from ages 5 to 20, similarly to 1850. (UNITED STATES BUREAU OF THE CENSUS, 1860, Washington, D.C., 1864, Page 466) A demographic background of the slave ownership for 1860 is provided in a separate addenda.
In 1870 there were 452 blacks living in the county, many single individuals working on white persons' farm or were young couples with families and they too were mostly tenants Civil district 5, the Camden area, had a heavier population of blacks than any other district, some 90 persons.
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In 1870, a group of blacks lived together near Cowell's Chapel not far from court square in Camden. They were WILLIAM SIMPSON, a native of Kentucky, who died early in 1892, with his wife, ANN and daughter, LIZZIE HENRY SIMPSON, aged 17; MARIAH SIMPSON, aged 15; TENNESSEE SIMPSON, aged 12; JULIA SIMPSON, aged 4. DILSEY NAPIER, born in Virginia, was a blind 105 year old; MICHAEL JOURDAN was aged 22; PETER STRICKLAND was aged 25; KEE WATSON was aged 28; CHARLEY VAUGHN was aged 23; LEWIS SWIFT was aged 18; LIZZY SHEALDS was aged 20. (U.S. Census, 1870, Benton County, civil district 5, page 27)
Sometime before 1880 several of these black folk had moved to the farm of Willis C. Thompson on the Perryville road, just to the southwest of Camden. They had a title bond agreement with Thompson, eventually to be replaced by warranty deeds. However, Thompson died in 1888 with the titles still not clear, creating an unfortunate situation for the blacks. Among the persons living in this settlement called Edgefield were SOLOMON DONLOE, and wife, ANN; CHARLEY BARNES and wife, LOTTIE; JACK PERKINS and wife, TENNIE; CHARLES GRANBERRY and wife, MARIAH; BILL SIMPSON and wife, CHARITY. (Interview, Jonathan Smith with William C. Branch, 1890-1981, of Camden, grand-nephew of W. C. Thompson who remembered well numerous ones of these black folk)
Leaving this settlement several of these people moved a short distance, back towards Camden, to the ridge overlooking the town and Cane Creek, below which also the railroad had been laid through the area in 1867, and established the community called Tip Cup for a similar settlement near Nashville, Tennessee. This is still an area called home by numerous local blacks. Perhaps the oldest congregation for local blacks, called Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church, was organized at this location in 1869; its frame meetinghouse was replaced in 1954 with a brick structure. In the days of bondage blacks generally attended the churches of their "white folks." For instance, the man, RICHARD, a servant of Levi Kirkman, who operated one of the nearby Tennessee River ferries, was admitted into membership of the Cypress Creek Baptist congregation in October 1833. While the blacks and whites did not sit together they worshipped together in the same building. Blacks were also allowed to have their own worship ceremonies and for a man to become a minister of the gospel was generally an honored role among the black citizenry.
A larger black settlement was located in northeast Camden called Black Center, just east of Charlie Creek, a community that extended out Flatwoods Road. Another black congregation, Toles Chapel, Methodist, was established in this area, on a portion of Dobson Hill, and here the town cemetery for the blacks was laid out; later this congregation was followed by a successor of sorts, with a building on Wren Avenue. The newest developed black cemetery, Calvary, adjoins this site.
The first regular barber in Camden was JOE COLEMAN, a mulatto, whose box-shape shop stood on the north side of the public square. He was in business there for years. His only child, SAMMY COLEMAN, moved away to the north and none of their descendants are known to live in Benton County now.
In the years following the Civil War several of the blacks in southern Benton County, including several families that moved over from northern Decatur County, lived in an area with a generic name of Flatwoods where McIllwain, a village, would later develop. A black Methodist congregation, Moore Chapel, was housed in a humble building in this area, its sometime successor being Friendship C.M.E. Church.
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For many years black children whose parents saw to it that they had some "schooling" attended classes, taught by blacks, sometimes in the same buildings that were used on Sundays for church services; it was a social injustice that more aspiring black youth did not have a school higher than what was called elementary school to attend regularly. However, early in 1965 with acceptance of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964, school integration in Benton County became a fact, a gradual process which resulted in few if any conflicts. The county's first black deputy, ROBERT HARRIS, was sworn-in before sheriff Jerry Phifer early in 1975.
The black population of Benton County reached its smallest numbers in the 1920s and 1930s when the lure of industrial jobs in the north drew them away locally as well as many whites, all looking for a better standard of living. Most of the past inequities based on racial bigotry have disappeared and "feelings" between the blacks and whites are genial although one will find an occasional person of either color ill-disposed towards members of the opposite color, a few even with a pathological outlook. The county's black citizens enjoy their individual and collective lives, like the whites, in a time of improved living conditions and circumstances.
REVEREND ROBERT L. MONTGOMERY
Courtesy, Ms Doris Montgomery, Detroit, Michigan
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B>A Letter of Gratitude "I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith, and now the time of departure has come. In my Father's house there are many mansions. He has prepared a place for me, and now I must join Him. I will meet you there." |
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