Whedbee Freedmen Papers, 1854 - 1882, PC.1762

[Identification of item], PC.1762, Whedbee Freedmen Papers, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, NC, USA.

These are the files of Judge William Armistead Moore, receiver of so much of the estate of James P. Whedbee of Perquimans County, N.C., as had been bequeathed to his slaves in 1852. They include correspondence, lists of slaves and freedmen, affidavits of identity, powers of attorney, receipts from freedmen for distributive shares and so forth. Upon suit by Whedbee's heirs at-law in 1866 to prevent distribution of a portion of the estate among Whedbee's former slaves, the Supreme Court of North Carolina ruled there had been no lapse in the terms of the will and that distribution was to be made. The papers with their various files show that Judge Moore, as receiver, and his two sons, Augustus Minton Moore and John A. Moore, searched out the original slaves and their heirs (scattered in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Yorktown, Va. and various North Carolina towns) in order to pay them their share of the bequest. It appears from these papers that the original Whedbee slaves had numbered 104, and that 104 equal shares of the residue of the estate, after Civil War losses and post-war depression, came to $70.00 per share.

James P Whedbee (ca. 1803-1852) was born in Perquimans County, N.C. to James (ca. 1767-1831) and Mary Mullen Whedbee (ca. 1763-1825). Whedbee, whose children had all predeceased him, died at the end of 1852 leaving an estate worth in excess of $200,000. In addition to specific bequests, he left a class bequest of 2/7ths of his property to his slaves, who were to be manumitted upon Whedbee's wife's death, outfitted for carrying on an agricultural life, and transported to Liberia. Whedbee further provided that if his wife remarried she was to take the same share of the property as if he had died intestate. Lavinia Whedbee dissented from the will and remarried, consequently removing certain of the slaves from the class to be manumitted. Because of these complications, Whedbee's executor failed to carry into effect the provisions in the will concerning the slaves to be freed before the outbreak of the Civil War which, naturally, halted efforts n the slaves' behalf. The effect of the Emancipation Proclamation was to restore to freedom those who had been re-enslaved and handed over to Lavinia Whedbee (then Mrs. Abram or Abraham Riddick, as of March 20, 1855).

Whedbee's heirs-at-law brought action in 1866 to prevent execution of those provisions of the will touching the slave beneficiaries, but the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that there had been no lapse in that part of the will, that the slaves handed over to the widow were to share equally with those whose status in the manumitted class had remained unchanged, and ordered a decree for equal distribution among the original slaves and their Heirs according to those principles. Judge Moore, as receiver, employed his sons, Augustus Minton Moore and John A. Moore, to track down the original slaves and their heirs (now scattered in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Yorktown, VA., and various North Carolina towns) so that their share could be paid them. It appears from these papers that the original slaves had numbered 104, and that 104 equal shares of the residue of the estate, after Civil War losses and post-war depression, came to $70.00 per share.

Collection Contents

Moore, William Armistead.

Whedbee, James P., d.1852.

Slave records.

Freedmen

Slaves

Perquimans County (N.C.)

Liberia

Gift of Elizabeth Vann Moore, Edenton, N.C., and Mary Moore Rowe, Boston, Mass., 19 January 1989.

Processed by George Stevenson, March 26, 1991. Encoded by Fran Tracy-Walls, July 17, 2002. Revised and updated by Fran Tracy-Walls, March 28 2020, for publication in Discover Online Catalog (DOC).