A Follow-up on Sylvester Brown Gaskill: Bastardy Bonds

Following my last post, Ministers and preachers of Township 5: 1900, a cousin asked about the disclaimer at the bottom of the page concerning a message board post RE: black Gaskills and Amanda Gaskill's bastardy bond for the birth of Sylvester (July 1829).

Desiring to know how a person could conclude paternity from a bastardy bond, without the full transcription of the case (which this descendant claimed to possess), I searched for additional information on North Carolina bastardy bonds. In the book of transcriptions written by Betty & Edwin Camin they explain:

The "Bastardy Bonds" of North Carolina contains bonds posted because of the birth or impending birth of a bastard child. These bonds were intended to protect the county or parish from the expense of raising the child. When the pregnancy of a woman or birth of a child was brought to the attention of the court, a warrant was issued and the woman brought into Court. She was examined under oath and asked to declare the name of the child's father. The 'reputed' father was then served a warrant and required to post bond. If the woman refused to name, the father, she, her father or some other interested party would post the bond. In some cases, the mother and reputed father together posted the bond. If the woman refused to post bond or declare the father, she was often sent to jail. The records are indexed by county and complimented by a full-name index at the back of book for easy references. 

In light of the above information, Amanda Gaskill's specifics were transcribed as:

Carteret County:
Amanda Gaskill     July 1829   Bondsman: John N. Hamilton, Bondsman: John H. Styron, Bondsman: James Nelson.

It is possible that she named one of these men . . . the first bondsman listed, as the father of her child; but, it is also possible that these men got together to pay her bond because they had some other interest in the case. Without the full transcription of the case, it is impossible to know for sure.
For more about Betty Camin, see her home page.

My curiosity has led me to request a copy of the bastardy bond and a transcript of the case, if available, from the North Carolina State Archives. I'll keep you posted . . . .

Ministers and preachers of Township 5: 1900: Sylvester B. Gaskill & Martin Davis

Sylvester B. Gaskill;
1900; Township 5, Craven, NC;
Roll: T623_1190; page 9A;
Enumeration District 46.

The 1900 Census for Township 5 produced two clergymen. While Sylvester B. Gaskill, a very light-skinned mulatto*, had been enumerated as a preacher in 1880, here he was recorded as "minister." One might think that the current enumerator, Edward D. Bangut, merely chose another title for the position, however . . . .

. . . . Martin Davis, who was also enumerated by Mr. Bangut, was recorded as a preacher. Possibly there was just an inconsistency.

Martin Davis:
1900; Township 5, Craven, NC;
Roll: T623_1190; Page: 11B;
 Enumeration District: 46.

Looking at the progression of Gaskill's enumerations:  1800: Preacher; 1900: Minister, I began to wonder if perhaps some other clergyman had a progression of titles shown through consecutive enumerations. 

*Disclaimer: While Sylvester Brown Gaskill had been enumerated as  "mulatto" (1850, 1870, 1880), "black" (1900), and "colored" on his marriage record, I recently received a response to my Rootsweb Message Board post RE: black Gaskills from a descendant of his daughter, Missouri Gaskill . . . .

The family legend was that Sylvester too was mulatto, however I was able to locate the bastardy bond from when he was born where his mother, Amanda Gaskill, gave the name of Sylvester's father. That man was white, the son of a Scottish family living in Sea Level (his name was John N. Hamilton).

This photo was posted on Ancestry.com
by member: pvw321
White/Purcell Family Tree

Ministers and preachers of Township 5: 1870 - 1880: Sylvester Brown Gaskill

In 1870 there were still no black ministers in the post-Emancipation churches of Township 5, Craven County, NC. That is not to say that there were no sermons delivered by black exhorters or preachers, but the occupations of the majority of men in the township were related to an agrarian society.

In 1870, James Walker Hood was living with his wife and three children in Raleigh, NC.

By 1880, however, one black preacher 

emerges in Township 5: 

Sylvester Brown Gaskill. 

1880: Township 5, Craven, NC:
Roll: 959; FHF: 1254959; Page 190B;
Enumeration District 37; Image: 0548.

In 1900 he was enumerated as a Minister in Township 5. By 1910 he was deceased, his family had moved to Beaufort (Carteret County), and his name sake -- the son of David E. and Lessie (Davis) Gaskill -- was born (about January 1910).

One interesting note: after the 1860 Census, no more white Methodist Episcopal Ministers nor Free Baptist Ministers were enumerated in Township 5.