In Memoriam: Eliza Poindexter Turk - a former slave

Several years ago, when perusing some of the Tennessee Valley Authority cemetery relocation records, I chanced upon a particularly fascinating one. Among the records from the DeLozier Cemetery (located in Judson) was one of a former slave named Eliza - to my knowledge the only officially documented former slave buried in the entire Fontana Reservoir. In honor of Black History Month, I thought I'd share the little we know of her story.


Photo by Tracey McCracken Palmer

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Early Life
Eliza was born into slavery in the early 1830s (records vary and ages are notoriously inaccurate, particularly in the case of slaves), likely in Macon County. She is recorded in multiple sources to have been mulatto (half black, half white), and was almost certainly the daughter of a slave woman and a unknown white master. Her first documented master was Thomas Wentworth Pledge Poindexter, who had moved to Macon County from Surry County prior to 1830.

She first appeared on the written record in a slave transaction when she was 8 years old: on January 10th, 1838, Thomas Wentworth Pledge Poindexter (who by then had settled in the area known as the 'Parch Corn Flour' Indian reservation - close to the modern-day Alarka Boat Dock), sold to James Poindexter (likely a close relative), 2 "colored" girls. "Sally" was a black girl 10 years of age, and Eliza was a described as a "yellow" or mulatto girl 8 years of age. Their sale price was $1100, which is nearly $30,000 in modern currency. On January 11, 1838, he purchased them back. The purpose of this odd transaction is unknown.

By 1844, she had come back into the possession of James Poindexter. A deed records him mortgaging Eliza and Sally, along with 217 acres on the "Parched Corn place", a bay mare, and 19 cattle, in order to purchase some land tracts from one Tyra Davis. By 1850, she likely was back in the possession of T.W.P. Poindexter, as the 1850 slave schedule records a 19 year-old female among his slaves.

1850 Slave Schedule showing 3 slaves in the possession of T.W.P. Poindexter.
Eliza is likely the 19 year-old female.
Source: Ancestry.com

Young Adulthood
In 1851, T.W.P. Poindexter died and Eliza probably passed into the ownership of Edward "Ned" DeLozier, who had married Poindexter's daughter, Betsy, in 1834. This cannot be certain as I have been unable to locate Poindexter's will, however, a 25 year-old female is recorded in the 1860 slave schedule among his 4 slaves, as are a 12 year-old female, a 4 year-old male, and a 3 month-old female. Who were these children?

Between approximately 1855 and freedom, Eliza gave birth to at least 4 children (dates of birth are approximate): Jiff (b. 1855), Jonathan  (b. 1856), Arbazenia "Arvy" (b. 1860), and Caroline "Callie" (b. 1863). The identity of the father(s) of these children is unknown, however, as the children were all mulatto like their mother, it is almost certain that their father was white. Based on birth dates, 2 of the children listed in the 1860 slave schedule may have been Jiff or Jonathan, and Arvy.

After Freedom
It is highly probable that Eliza did not gain her freedom from slavery until sometime in December 1865 or early 1866. Abraham Lincoln delivered the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st, 1863, however, North Carolina did not approve the 13th Amendment  (that abolished slavery) until December 4th, 1865 - almost 3 years later. On October 1st, 1866, Eliza married (giving her last name as Poindexter) a former slave from Georgia, J. Clark Turk. Though how they met is unknown, he was likely among the many former slaves making their exodus from the farms and plantations of the Deep South toward the North during the early Reconstruction Period.

1870 US Census for Welch's District, Macon County showing Clark and Eliza Turk and children.
Source: Ancestry.com

Clark and Eliza Turk appear to have settled in the same district in which she had been a slave - the 1870 census shows them in the "Welches" district of Macon County and farming, with property valued at $125 and personal belongings valued at $100. Eliza's 4 living children born prior to her marriage were residing with them at the time, along with a son, Jesse, who had been born in approximately 1867. I do not think it coincidence that he was given this name, as Jesse was also the name of one of Ned DeLozier's sons (Jesse Ridings); he was born in 1847 and Eliza may have cared for him in his childhood.

After 1870, there is no further documentation of Eliza's life. Clark Turk is known to have remarried in 1874. Therefore, as single fathers with young children usually found new spouses quite soon after the death of a wife in that day and age, it is likely that Eliza died sometime around 1873. She was buried in an unmarked grave in the DeLozier Cemetery amongst her former masters, mistresses, acquaintances, and possibly children and former fellow slaves - seemingly lost to history.


Jesse Ridings DeLozier (1847 - 1886)
Source: Elise (DeLozier) Palmer

Bringing Eliza Back to Life
As is well-known, in the early 1940s, Fontana Dam was built by the TVA in order to help power Alcoa's wartime production of aluminum. Prior to the lake being filled, the vast majority of the individuals buried in the cemeteries to be flooded were removed to other cemeteries. The Judson Public Cemetery and the adjacent DeLozier Cemetery were among the cemeteries that now lie under Fontana Lake's waters. Tom DeLozier, son of Jesse Ridings DeLozier, was the individual who identified the graves in the DeLozier Cemetery for TVA. Amongst all the unmarked graves in the cemetery (many of whom were identified as "Unknown DeLozier" or "Unknown Poindexter"), Tom identified the grave of Eliza - noting that she had been a slave. Despite the fact that a number of former slaves are buried in Swain County, very few of their graves are actually known and/or identified. The fact that Eliza's was identified by a member of the family who had had been born in the same year in which she likely died, led the family and I to the supposition that she may have been seen as more of a family member than a slave.

Eliza's grave relocation record
Source: Ancestry.com and TVA

Kim Palmer and Scott Evans setting Eliza's stone. Kim is the great-grandchild of Jesse Ridings DeLozier.
Scott is the husband of Amy Palmer Evans, who is also a great-grandchild of Jesse Ridings DeLozier.
Photo by Wendy Meyers

After sharing this amazing finding with the DeLozier family (who has helped me enormously in my Judson research, who is exceptionally invested in their family's history, and of whom I am extremely fond), all agreed that Eliza's grave should have a permanent marker rather than the anonymous white cross currently marking it. After locating her grave via the TVA maps (many thanks to Don Casada) and obtaining a small headstone for her, several members of the DeLozier family (some coming from 2 hours or more away), Christine Proctor (head of the Lauada Cemetery Association and a cousin through the Woody line), and I gathered at the Lauada Cemetery on October 28th, 2018 - a gorgeous fall day - to place her stone. A base was prepared and the stone set, a brief overview of her life was given, a fitting poem was read (below), and flowers were placed on her stone. It was a simple memorial, but deeply meaningful to all those that gathered there.


In quiet contemplation, the life and dignity of this once-unknown former slave was restored, and she will now live on in perpetuity thanks to the family whom she served over 150 years ago.

Perhaps if Death is Kind

(read by Amy Palmer Evans at the dedication)

Perhaps if Death is kind, and there can be returning,

We will come back to earth some fragrant night,

And take these lanes to find the sea, and bending

Breathe the same honeysuckle, low and white.

We will come down at night to these resounding beaches

And the long gentle thunder of the sea

Here for a single hour in the wide starlight

We shall be happy, for the dead are free.
by Sarah Teasdale




Lily DeLozier Gray placing flowers at Eliza's grave. Her father, Joshua DeLozier Gray,
is behind her. Josh is the 2nd great-grandchild of Jesse Ridings DeLozier; Lily is the 3rd.
Several of the family members have old family names as part of their own.
Photo by Wendy Meyers

L-R: Tracey McCracken Palmer, Christine Proctor, Amy (Palmer) Evans, Elise (DeLozier) Palmer,
and Kim Palmer (Josh and Lily are behind him).
 Elise is the granddaughter of Jesse Ridings DeLozier; her children, Amy and Kim, are his great-grandchildren.
Photo by Wendy Meyers

L-R: Amy (Palmer) Evans and husband Scott; Asa Gray and wife Susan (Williams) Gray.
Susan is also a great-grandchild of Jesse Ridings DeLozier.
Photo by Wendy Meyers

Eliza's Descendants - A postscript for those interested
Jiff - disappeared from the records after the 1870 census. There is a remote possibility that he could be one "Jiff Harris" - a mulatto man living in the Durham area at the time of the 1880 census who was the same age as Eliza's son. This Jiff Harris had a 2 year-old daughter named Callie (and Callie was the name of one of Jiff's sisters). If this Jiff is one and the same, he had obviously changed his name upon departing the area.

Jonathan - disappeared from the records after the 1870 census. Despite much digging, I cannot locate him anywhere.

Arvy - married Wilkes/Wilson M. McCoy on November 22, 1877 in Macon County. They settled amongst the black community that was established (post-Civil War) in the Cowee area of the county. She had at least 7 children (birth dates are approximate): Lassie (b. 1879), Lulu (b. 1882), Charley (b. 1885), Fannie (b. 1886), "J" (b. 1890), Hettie (b. 1891), and Arie (b. 1893). She probably died sometime between 1893 and early 1900 (based on her husband's apparent remarriage in November 1900). She is likely buried in an unmarked grave in the cemetery of the Pleasant Hill African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church, based on the fact that her husband is known to be buried there.

Callie - married George Conley on December 22, 1883 in Macon County. They settled in the same community that her sister Arvy lived in. She had at least 1 child, a son, Gordia "Gordie" Leander Conley (1885 - 1971). As George was remarried in January 1893, Callie likely died in 1891 or 1892. Since her son is buried there, Callie is also likely buried at the Pleasant Hill A.M.E. church.

Jesse - only 5 or 6 when his mother died, he relocated to Jackson County upon his father's remarriage. Heartbreakingly, he can last be seen at the age of 12 in the 1880 census living in the Webster district and working as a farm laborer for another family. As with his half-brothers, he disappeared from the record after this time. He may be buried in an unmarked grave in the Parris Cemetery in Jackson County, where his father is buried.


Eliza likely has many hundreds of descendants throughout the country, however, as is so common when researching African-American families, most simply vanished from the written record. Sadly, Gordie Conley's line is the only one through which living descendants can be documented.

Mount Pleasant African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church in Macon County (West's Mill area)
At least one of Eliza's descendants is buried here - likely more.
Photo by Wendy Meyers

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Sources:
Ancestry.com
DeLozier family (including Malvary Morris Gamble and Lynn Morris Sullivan, who are not pictured above)
Don Casada
Macon County, North Carolina Register of Deeds
Tennessee Valley Authority records

A Tale of Two Slaves (Part 2)

Continued from the February 2014 blog entry, "A Tale of Two Slaves" (Part 1).........

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An Indentured Family

In October 1872, Ruffin indentured himself and his heirs to William and Ferebee Lovelace, an older couple likely known to the DeHarts for many years.  Per the deed, "Ruffin....binds himself and his heirs to furnish the said Wm. Lovelace and family with bread, meat, coffee, vegitables (sic), milk and surch (sic) other articles of food as may be produced on the farm and in case of sickness he is to furnish such articles of _______ as we Wm. & Ferebee Lovelace may require and can be procured.  The said Ruffin D. Hart....binds himself and his heirs to give all needful attention to the said Wm. Lovelace and his wife Ferebee Lovelace in sickness and in health to furnish them, the said Lovelace and wife ....with good substantial comfortable clothing.  ......to furnish Wm. Lovelace and family with firewood, to cut the wood up and place in the yard and makes fires when necessary.  This to take place during the natural lives of the Lovelaces ......" 

To be certain, this would have been a tremendous amount of work, however, in consideration of the Ruffin Dehart family's labors, the Lovelaces bequeathed them two tracts of land on the east side of the Little Tennessee River totaling approximately 124 acres.  Not only were the DeHarts to receive the land, but in addition, the agreement with the Lovelaces also provided them 24 head of hogs and 11 head of sheep.  William Lovelace also agreed to raise a colt for the DeHarts if Ruffin would feed her, ".....provided my mare lives".  In addition to the 100 acres they already owned, the start that this would have given Ruffin's family in a life would have been tremendous. 

A portion of the Lovelace / DeHart Indenture
Source: Swain County Register of Deeds Office

Minor Land Barons

Ruffin was not content with a mere 224 acres, however.  In 1884, he purchased an additional 100 acres of land 'on the waters of the Tennessee River', perhaps adjoining the Lovelace property. In 1887, Ruffin went on to purchase 200 acres in the same area from the State of North Carolina, it 'being part of the land lately acquired by treaty from the Cherokee Indians'.  This land was located somewhere in the area of the old Macon County line. During the period between his indenture to the Lovelace family and his purchase of an additional 100 acres in the Little Tennessee river, Ruffin, along with some friends and relatives, purchased, for $115, a two-thirds mining interest in a 450 acre tract of land in the Peachtree and Canebrake-area drainages.  It is likely that some of the family (probably Ruffin and Susan included) moved to this vicinity sometime thereafter, as a nearby area is referred to in old deeds as 'Ni***er Mountain' and older residents of the area knew it as 'Ni***er Cove'. By the time Fontana Dam was constructed and those families residing along the North Shore of Fontana Lake were removed, Jesse DeHart was the only member of the family remaining in the Peachtree area.

 

How a former slave managed to obtain land holdings of this magnitude is not known, but was almost certainly a result of exceptionally hard work on the part of the DeHart family.  It is additionally possible that the Deharts' former masters provided some degree of financial assistance; some evidence in the historical record (discussed in the previous blog posting and in this post) indicates that there was much goodwill between these families.

Jesse DeHart Tract on Peachtree Creek - TVA Survey (circa 1942)
Source: TVA Digital Files and Carol Cochran

 A Colored Man Defended by Whites

During the Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras in the South, the defense of a former slave by white individuals would have been a bit of an anomaly, but it seems that Ruffin must have commanded enough community respect to be an exception.  He found himself in court in April of 1874 along with his sons Henry and 'Alf' on an unknown charge.  What is known, however, is that Martin and Nathan DeHart (most likely two of the sons of Ruffin's former master, John) put up a bond for them. In 1881, J.D. Buchanan pressed a suit (the nature of which is unknown) against Ruffin and William Bryson; the men were ably represented by prominent area attorney Kope Elias (who owned a large farm in the area of the 'Ferguson Fields').  Buchanan dropped the suit, and was also forced to pay Ruffin for expenses incurred in defending it.



Court Record from 1874
Source:  NC State Archives and Don Casada

Uneducated Educators

In her book, 'Swain County:  Early History and Educational Development", Lillian Thomasson noted that school district records for 1881 (kept privately by then-superintendent John Sadoc Smiley), indicated a total of 59 colored children of school age residing in the county.  However, district records also show that between 1889 and 1900, only one schoolhouse for colored students existed.  This almost certainly indicated that a significant number of Swain County's colored students were receiving no formal education.  For the DeHarts, who could neither read nor write and who would eventually have at least 23 grandchildren (census records are not definitive), this cause must have been felt deeply.  On 03 Dec 1887  Ruffin and Susan deeded one acre to the school committee for District #1, "for and in consideration of cause and in promotion of education of the colored race.....for the use and purpose of erecting a school house for the aforesaid colored race".  As all pre-1908 official school records burned in a courthouse fire, there is no way of knowing whether or not the schoolhouse was built for certain; it is not shown in any of the post-1908 school board minutes. Given that the 1900 census records indicate that several of Ruffin's grandchildren were able to read, I personally would like to believe that his school took root and that education allowed his descendants to forge a better life for themselves than they would have had otherwise.

A Black Schoolhouse / Church in the Rural South, 1903
Source:  The Atlantic Monthly (Story Written in 1899, picture added later)

An End to an Extraordinary Life

Ruffin's life came to an end in 1893 at the approximate age of 67.  We know nothing of his death other than that he died without a will. Evidencing the respect Ruffin must have held in the community is the fact that Bryson City mayor and prominent citizen, Epp Everett, was chosen to administer his estate, the contents of which are unknown. Rather than a simple fieldstone, a fine engraved tombstone was erected for him, and another for his wife Susan, who followed him to the grave in 1895.  Today they lie interred in the Watkins cemetery with many of their children and descendants buried nearby.



Identified as Epaphroditus 'Epp' Everett
Pete Prince Collection, University of Tennessee Libraries

A Legacy

The annals of Swain County history record the lives of many of the county's former citizens, both prominent and 'ordinary'.  The Ruffin DeHart family's story is not to be found in these annals, and may be pieced together only by the most painstaking of research.  Yet I find their story a compelling one, exemplifying the triumph of the human spirit over adversity.  It is also an extraordinary story of friendship and respect between African Americans and whites during a time in which racial segregation was the 'Law of the Land' and the Ku Klux Clan instilled terror even in these isolated mountains. 

 

May this 'Tale of Two Slaves' inspire you to develop and cultivate the qualities that led an impoverished slave family to achieve overwhelming success in life and to leave a legacy to those who have followed them.

 

 

The Tombstones of Ruffin and Susan DeHart, Watkins Cemetery

 

 

Note to Readers:  I have put together a partial family tree of the Ruffin and Susan DeHart family on Ancestry.com.  If you are interested in viewing it (as it is set to "Private"), please message me via my 'oldeswain@gmail.com' address and I will send you an invitation.

 

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Sources: 

Ancestry.com

Don Casada

Carol Cochran

North Carolina State Archives

Pete Prince Collection, University of Tennessee at Knoxville

Thomasson, Lillian: "Swain County:  Early History and Educational Development"

Swain County Register of Deeds Office

The Atlantic Monthly, January 1899

 



A Tale of Two Slaves (Part 1)



When I returned home to Swain County in the late 90's, my former husband and I purchased a log home at the very end of Licklog Road in the Needmore area.  It was 25 minutes from Bryson City and terribly inconvenient to our two jobs, but we were enchanted with the area.  Upon getting off Needmore Road and heading up Licklog, a gorgeous valley opens up, containing acre upon acre of beautiful pasture and scant houses.  Upon a hill overlooking the valley lies a small cemetery which I have always envisioned as a most peaceful resting spot for its tenants.  Along with several unmarked graves, the names on the stones include that of Breedlove, Ammons, Crisp, Grooms, and Burnett. 

A view up the Licklog Valley
(Source:  Point2 for homegain.com)

But the cemetery also holds the grave of Nathan Dehart, one of the most prominent and early settlers of the Needmore area .  He and his wife, Catherine, were among the founding members of the Brush Creek Baptist Church and eventually owned a tremendous amount of land in the area that later became Swain County.  Ownership of such vast amounts of land would have, by necessity, required help.  Much of their help likely came from their children and other family members, as well as from hired help. However, they also owned slaves.  This article is not meant as a sermon on the evils of slavery, for many of us, including myself, have slaveowners among our ancestors.  It is rather to shed light upon an interesting, but little known portion of Swain County's history (even though these events took place in what was Macon County until the formation of Swain in 1871).

Ruffin Darffin DeHart, and his wife Susan lie interred in the African-American section of the Watkins Cemetery among many of their children and grandchildren.  Their stones are old and crumbling, but their graves are marked - somewhat anomalous among many former slaves.  They were remarkable people, and much light will be shed on them in this series, but in order to appreciate their many accomplishments, it is necessary to take one back to their very beginnings.



Tombstone of Susan Dehart
Watkins Cemetery

Tombstone of Ruffin DeHart
Watkins Cemetery

The first mention of either Ruffin or Susan (that I have found to date) comes in a deed registered in Macon County, dating to November 26th, 1840.  In this deed, one Taylor McNabb sold a Negro girl, 'Suck', who was 8 years old and 'sound in body and health', for $400 (nearly $11,000 in today's currency) to Nathan Dehart.  On June 19th, 1853, Ruffin came to join 'Suck' as Nathan Dehart's property, sold by Elijah Revel for $700 (around $21,000 today).  Ruffin was described as having a deficiency in his hand, which was subject to cholic and pains.  Nevertheless, he was obviously well able to work, and work hard, for the price he commanded.  Ruffin and Suckey must have bonded and married quickly, for sometime around 1854 they had their first child - a son whom they named Henry.



An Appalachian slave cabin
(Source:  The Museum of Appalachia)

The conditions in which this young family would have lived will forever remain unknown.  Slaves in Appalachia typically lived in the same type of mud-chinked log homes in which poor whites resided - small, one room, dirt-floor dwellings that were cold and drafty in the winter.  They would have had little in the way of furniture - probably one bed and a table and chairs or log stools.  Their food would have been the typical mountain fare of the time - beans, cornbread, probably some pork from a hog they raised for the Deharts, perhaps some milk, and whatever else they were able to raise.  It is unclear as to whether or not the Deharts were kind or unkind slaveowners, but it is likely the case that impoverished white settlers in the area resented them (for they took away work opportunities) and treated them poorly. Frederick Law Olmstead, who is best known today for creating the lovely grounds of the Biltmore House, traveled about the mountain south as a newspaper correspondent during slavery's later years and noted this stong anti-Negro sentiment in a short article, which may be read here.

John Dehart, son of Nathan Dehart
(Source:  Swain County Heritage Book)

We shall now return to the Deharts.  Around 1855, Nathan moved the household to the Shooting Creek area of what is now Clay County, and at some point either sold or gifted Ruffin and Suck to his son-in-law, James Allen Shearer. Ruffin and Suckey welcomed a son, Alfred, around 1856, and a daughter, Sarah Jane, in August of 1857.  Their joy over the birth of their daughter was to be short lived.  On June 18th, 1858, the family was torn apart when Ruffin and Suckey were sold by Allen Shearer  to Nathan Dehart's son, John, for $1800 (almost $51,000 today), and returned to the Swain County area, apparently without their sons. 

In the 1860 slave schedule, John is noted as owning 5 slaves:  a 30 year old male, a 27 year old female, a 15 year-old female, a 3 year-old female, and a 6 month old male.  The identity of the 15 year-old girl is unknown, however, it seems likely, based on birthdates that the identities of the others are Ruffin (born circa 1828), Suckey (born circa 1830-1832), and their children Sarah Jane (born in 1857) and Thomas (born in 1860).   The whereabouts of their sons Henry and Alfred are not entirely clear. The 1860 slave schedule shows a 6 year-old boy in the ownership of Nathan Dehart in Cherokee County.  Nathan's will, also drawn up in 1860, contains provision for his 'negro boy, Henson', to go to no one but his children. It seems likely that 'Henson' and Henry were one and the same.  The same slave schedule records that James A Shearer had retained a 5 year old male slave, who may well have been Alfred.

In January of 1863, Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation ordered the immediate freeing of all slaves in Confederate-controlled areas.  This was widely disregarded by many slave owners, and not until the passage of the 13th amendment, abolishing slavery, did the remainder gain their freedom.  We do not know when Ruffin and Suckey were freed, and much of what they did in the early years after emancipation are unclear.  We do know that Suckey changed her name to the more dignified 'Susan', and Henry and Alfred returned to live with their family.  The family may have stayed on and worked as tenants for John Dehart for a time, but by 1870 had moved down the Little Tennessee River with their 8 children and had acquired $200 worth of personal property.  They counted among their neighbors the William Crawford and Frank Leach families, and were the only black family in the immediate area.

'The 'Narrows of the Little Tennessee River' circa 1900
(Source:  Senate document 84, published 1902)

Upon the death of a neighbor, Alexander Crisp, in 1871, the Deharts purchased a 100 acre tract from his estate for $12.  Thus began a period of great prosperity for Ruffin and Susan, whose remaining 20+ years of life will be discussed in the next blog entry.

Postscript:  Those interested in reading more about the institution of slavery in the Appalachian mountains might find the following books of interest:

"Appalachians and Race:  The Mountain South from Slavery to Segregation" by John Inscoe
"Slavery in the American Mountain South" by Wilma Dunaway
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Sources:
Ancestry.com:  1860 Slave Schedule and Census Records
Cemeteries of Swain County
Homegain.com:  Point2
Learnnc.com
Macon County Register of Deeds
"Senate Document 84:  Message from the President of the United States Transmitting A Report of the Secretary of Agriculture in Relation to the Forests, Rivers, and Mountains of the Southern Appalachian Region."  Available at: http://www.foresthistory.org/ASPNET/Publications/region/8/southern_app/index.htm
Swain County Heritage Book
Will of Nathan Dehart at http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/SCSPARTA/2001-02/0982542940
Swain County Register of Deeds