Some Updates & The next phase in the life of Isaac Carter

On the question of a M. E. Church, South built in 1854/55

I am so thankful to be living in an age when we are able 

to have our questions answered in much less time 

than in my grand aunt Helen Beers Newton's era!

Tourneykill or Tanneyhill?
Victor Jones, Jr. of the New Bern-Craven County Public Library 's Kellenberger Room corrected the Tolson transcription, "Tourneykill's Branch" to Tanneyhill's Branch or Creek, named after an early settler.

The name has been mentioned in other deeds around Clubfoot Creek, but no specific location given, and it is not on current topo maps. . .

A search of the Early Settlers of Craven County database on the library's Genealogical Resources page reveals five (5) sources mentioning Jn. Taneyhill, Esq. between the years 1714 and 1720. His tithables, pole tax and land tax records reveal that he owned 1,400 acres in Bath County (formed in 1696).

The county formation map found at n2genealogy states that:

• Bath County divided into Wickham, Archdale and Pamptecough Precincts in 1705. 
• Archdale name changed to Craven in 1712.

Even though the county's name change preceded this document by seven (7) years, the original county name of Bath had been retained since the record had been obtained from the source: Miscellaneous Papers of Craven Precinct, 1714-1719: Bath County - Land List of Lands Surveyed, 1706 by John Lawson" (New Bern: C.R. Holloman, 1974). 

You can count that a further question followed . . .

Duke University's holdings: United Methodist Church records, 1784-1984

When I first came upon this record I felt for sure there might be something relevant here. My original question had been referred to Angela Mace, a PhD candidate in musicology at Duke's Rubenstein Library. After searching in the online and card catalogs, she requested that I look at the finding aid and narrow the search. 

I searched first for New Bern Circuit, and then the years 1854 and 1855. The only box of documents that showed any remote possibility was located in the Circuit, Charge & Station Index: Box NCC35: Newport & Trent Circuit, NC Conference, Carteret & Craven Cos. I remained hopeful, but today I received a reply:

I just pulled NCC35 and had a look, but there does not appear to be any item relating to Craven County. What I can suggest for you now is that you contact one of our free-lance researchers, who can come in and spend some quality time with this collection on your behalf.

I have to admit that I am disappointed, but not surprised. Rather than pay someone to conduct possibly fruitless research at a premium, I will postpone this evidence search for a time when I can do the work myself.

It is settled, then, that the writing of the church history phase 

will begin now... 

The next phase in the life of Isaac Carter

The Civil War broke out in April of 1861, and by October of that year, Isaac Carter turned 21 years of age and was released from his apprenticeship indenture. What happened to him between then and his induction is uncertain, except that in January of 1864, missionary James Walker Hood came to New Bern to start AME Zion churches in the area. 

On March 12, 1864 Isaac Carter enlisted in the 14th Heavy Artillery USCT. The following year Piney Grove AME Zion Church was founded in the community of North Harlowe, then referred to as Blades.

The Civil War Pension File of Isaac Carter, Documents #4 - #7

The following pages (3) illustrate how something as simple as careless penmanship could lengthen the duration of filing a claim. The first page appears to have been dated Aug. 25, 1888, and the number "7" written over the "5." Below is a transcription of document #4:

Department of the Interior.

BUREAU OF PENSIONS. 

SIR:
     I have the honor to request that you will furnish from the records of 
the War Department a full Report as to the service, disability, and hospital treatment of 
Isaac Carter, who, it is claimed, enlisted March 12, 1864 and served as Sgt.
in Co. [E], 14 Reg't U.S.C.H.A. . . . . 
and was discharged at Fort Macon NC, Dec. 11, 1865. 
    While serving in Co. [E], 14 Reg't U.S.C.H.A. he was disabled by 
Diarrhea & Piles, Asthma, Lung 
trouble, Shortness of breath, Swelling in 
feet and legs, pains in finger joints 
and Rheumatism in the  Winter of 
1864 and 1865 at Moorhead (sic) City, NC, 
and was treated in hospitals of which the names, location, and dates are as
 follows:
at Moorhead (sic) City and Fort [B]acon N.C. 
(date not given).


Very respectfully, 
    John C. Black,
    Commissioner
The Adjutant General, U.S. Army


On August 29th, the following communication (document #5) was made:

The next communication (document #6) on a form very similar to the first, which is transcribed above, indicates that Isaac Carter was a member of Co. G.

The document which followed (#7), and dated Oct. 10, 1888, outlines Isaac Carter's service record...disclosing yet another problem with the initial request: Isaac had enlisted as a Private on March 12, 1864 and was a member of Co. B, 14th Heavy Artillery U.S.C.T. It was at his mustering out that he was a Sgt. in Co. G.

In the mean time, Isaac has been waiting to hear from the 

Bureau of Pensions for four (4) months. . .

Starting Fresh for the New Year

It's been a month since my last post; 

but even though I've been silent, 

I have NOT been idle!

The Conclusion of Dark Salvation
In late December I finished reading Dark Salvation, by Harry V. Richardson.While I had been summarizing my gleanings on the formation of the AME Zion Church as related to the development of post-Emancipation churches in rural Craven County, NC, the final chapters outlined:

• the fight for ordination of black pastors 
• and the continual power struggles between Methodist groups -- both black and white,

so they were omitted from the series.

Books for 2012
Under Their Own Vine and Fig Tree: The African-American Church in the South 1865-1900, by William E. Montgomery, is the next book I'll be reading. I have not yet decided if I will post a series on this book, which focuses on the missionary efforts to rebuild the South following the Civil War.

After that I plan on checking the first-hand accounts of AME Zion Bishops Rush, Moore and Hood, as outlined below:

1. One hundred years of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, by J W Hood
2. A short account of the rise and progress of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in America, by Christopher Rush
3. History of the A.M.E. Zion Church in America, by John Jamison Moore

Old discoveries lead to NEW direction . . .

Around the same time I had finished reading Dark Salvation, I started looking through the TEMPLE family history, compiled by T. J. Tolson. A curious entry -- one I know I must have read several times and overlooked -- stood out for the first time. 

Records indicate that William bought one acre of land from Cilas (sic) Richards in June 1854 for $2.00. The deed described the land as Tourneykill's Branch and purchased for a church site (p. 5).

By the first week of the New Year, I held in my hands a copy of the deed shown below:

Craven County Register of Deeds,
Deed Book 1854/Page 353

You might remember that in 1860, the Rev. William Thomas was enumerated in the William Temple household. This deed dated 1854 . . . just one year after Isaac Carter and his younger siblings had been apprenticed to William Temple . . . marked the beginnings of a house of worship for the Methodist Episcopal Church South congregation in North Harlowe. 

When does the research end and the writing begin?

At this time, the bulk of the research is completed. I will begin focusing more on adding to the timeline, and asking myself probing questions about how events in our family history impacted the lives of individuals. My key focus will be on Isaac Carter, my husband's great grandfather. 

You might remember that Civil War Pension File I obtained earlier last year . . . 

more to come . . .

And you thought collateral reading was just for college students!

Collateral reading. . .
Have you ever noticed how one book flows into the next? I mean if you're serious about research, you're checking all the references and end notes and traveling along a path covered with titles and authors, which in turn could end up in an InterLibrary loan list a mile long! The trick is to know when to stop searching & start writing.

Before starting this part of the project, I outlined what information I already had and made a list of objectives. That list is growing smaller. . . but there still  is room to grow. . . . Today I returned two ILLs and requested one more: David Henry Bradley's A History of the A. M. E. Zion Church.

Amy Muse's The Story of the Methodists in the Port of Beaufort (1941) didn't offer much to help with details of the churches in Township 5; but I did pick up a bit of information on travel and living conditions of that era, as well as a sampling of insights about conditions in the church circuit.

Update on church charters in NC. . .
Both repositories questioned offered the similar answers:

1. The North Carolina State Archives' genealogy reference librarian referred me to Helen Leary's North Carolina Research: Genealogy and Local History's (with which I am already well acquainted): search Livingstone College's archives in Salisbury...however, we've already determined that the archives is closed, in disrepair, and lacking an archivist...
2. Both the North Carolina State Archives' and New Bern-Craven County Public Library's special collections librarians referred me to the church...however, it has already been determined that documents prior to 1913 were lost in a church fire...
3. The last and only option left would be to search the annual conference reports...as stated above, the AME Zion records held at Livingstone College are not available; however, the early Methodist Episcopal Church records, 1784-1984, are available at Duke University's archives. So, this last possible solution will have to wait until I can plan a research trip to Durham, NC...

Conclusions...
It seems that I have yet to complete my reading of Dark Salvation, followed by William E. Montgomery's Under Their Own Vine and Fig Tree: The African-American Church in the South 1865-1900 (1993), followed by Christopher Rush's A Short Account of the Rise and Progress of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in America, John Jamison Moore's History of the A. M. E. Zion Church in America, J. W. Hood's One hundred years of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and finally, Bradley's A History of the A. M. E. Zion Church.