The life of John Beckwith tells the powerful story of a person born into slavery who ultimately lived to experience emancipation and life beyond bondage. What makes Beckwith’s story especially remarkable is the extensive documentation that traces his life from beginning to end. Such a record is uncommon, as many formerly enslaved individuals were left unnamed and undocumented before the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. Thankfully, many documents spanning John Beckwith’s full life have survived, allowing us to better understand both his personal journey and the times in which he lived.

The story of the Beckwith family starts with an 1848 mention in the Wake County Register of Deeds (Bk 18 Page 169) of enslaved boys Green and Henderson who were sold by Sarah Edwards to her son Joseph W. Edwards for a token amount of $1 and “for the natural love and affection which I bear unto my son...”

Just a couple of years later, the 1850 Slave Schedule for the Western Division of Wake County enumerated on July 27, 1850 noted the following individuals in the listing of the slave owner Joseph Edwards:

This appears to be Green (age 21) and Henderson (age 12,) both later with the Beckwith surname, along with Miley whom Green had married in the interim and two minors, most likely Miley’s and/or Green and Miley’s children. Note that over the years, John Beckwith’s mother was known as Miley, Millie and Molly.

A 2014 article on the dailykos.com website written by “edwardssl for Genealogy and Family History Community” provided a possible insight into John Beckwith’s father Green. This writer started from a different research point which led him through another line of the Edwards family and uncovered details about John’s father, Green. The research goes back to the white Edwards family and points to the assignment of surnames for the enslaved based on the slave owner’s surname. Different but related family members knew Green as Green Edwards. The assignment of surnames can be confusing and misleading, as is the case in this family.

Going back to Sarah Edwards (nee Woodward), this same researcher showed that Sarah’s mother Mary Woodward Turner received as the widow of Augustus Turner in 1829 a number of enslaved persons, including a boy Green, about 4 years old, meaning that he was born around 1825. The earliest census specifically naming Green Beckwith was 1870 with his age recorded as 47, born around 1823. It is entirely possible that Green Beckwith had been known in the family as Green Edwards and after being emancipated from the Beckwith family was assigned this surname, as was the case many times during this period. But these facts get slightly ahead of the changing circumstances of the family of John Beckwith.

The next mention of this enslaved family continues with Green and Miley. The May Term 1854 estate papers of Joseph W Edwards, (son of Sarah Edwards,) who died April 28, 1854 give a glimpse into the life of these two individuals. These papers name the enslaved persons owned by Mr. Edwards, and they would have been considered part of his estate. Named are Green (a man), Henderson (a boy of about 16), Miley (AKA Molly/Millie - no age given) “with the following children” with their age: Lydia, about age 6; Henry, three years old in August; Sam, age 2; and John about 6 months old. My view is that this is the family of John Beckwith, with John being about 6 months old at the time of this petition in May 1854. Again, it appears, based on age, that Henderson could have been the brother, or a relative, of Green.

NC Estate Files Wake Joseph W Edwards 1854

The document below explains what happened at this stage to the Beckwith family. On June 22, 1854, Martha Helen Edwards, widow of Joseph W Edwards, purchased the entire family. While the buying and selling of human beings is a harsh truth which cannot be reconciled, the family fortunately stayed intact, which was not necessarily the usual circumstance surrounding these types of transactions during this time.

North Carolina Estate Files, Wake County, Joseph E Edwards-1854

Moving forward to the 1860 Slave Census, we see that the census once again contains no names of enslaved persons. However, a female named Hellan Gulley [AKA Martha Helen and Martha H.] appears. After Joseph W. Edwards died, Martha Hellan Edwards married Francis Marion Gulley on May 2, 1855, but he died fairly shortly thereafter on July 10, 1860.

Martha Hellan Gulley was listed in the 1860 Slave Schedule with the following:

1860 Slave Schedule, Wake County, Southern Division

Note the ages of the two older individuals are listed as one year apart which coincides with the 1850 schedule, even if the actual ages are off - a common occurrence across the board in early census records. I believe the male age 6 is John Beckwith in the household of his parents. The number one in the right-hand column indicates one slave house. It appears that the male Henderson was not listed at this time with the family.

After Francis Marion Gulley’s death in July 1860, Martha Helen remarried once again on December 29, 1860. Her third husband was William Hilliard Beckwith. It appears that Hellan kept the enslaved family intact through her marriages. And it appears that the surname Beckwith became associated with this enslaved family, most likely after emancipation.

The Civil War ended in 1865, creating a new environment for newly free African-American citizens. Yes, freedom was welcome, but life after the war was challenging. Formerly enslaved persons had no land and no money to purchase land. In the Cary area, there were few work opportunities outside of agriculture, being what many formerly enslaved persons in the immediate area knew. The Freedman’s Bureau records following the war give us a glimpse of hardship.

In 1865-1867 Freedman’s Bureau records, Miley Beckwith is listed with the following information: former owner Hilliard Beckwith, eight people in the family and five days of meat and hard bread.

NC Freedmen’s Bureau Records July 21, 1865

The next month, Miley Beckwith is listed with the following information: former owner M E? Beckwith, two in the family [perhaps listing just the two adults], five days of rations and amounts of meat and hard bread issued.

NC Freedmen’s Bureau Records August 23, 1865

The family continued to survive and was enumerated in the 1870 Census, White Oak Township, Wake County, page 35.

Neighbors at this time included white families such as Rufus Jones, who would soon join Frank Page in his bid to formally establish the town of Cary in 1871. Note that the family includes Alice Beckwith in 1870. It is unclear if Alice is the same person as Lydia, noted in previous, pre-emancipation papers, or simply a close relative.

As it happened, John Beckwith’s future wife was living in the area. Jenny Jones is listed with her family in the White Oak Township, Wake County, page 22 in the 1870 Census.

According to John’s slave narrative captured by the WPA in the 1930s (more on this later), he stayed at the plantation until he was 16, around 1870 after enumerated in the census, when he was harassed by Klu Klux Klansmen, in his words, “’bout fightin’ wid a white boy. Dat night I slipped in de woods an’ de nex’ day I went ter Raleigh. I got a job dar an’ ever’ since den I’se wicked for myself…”

Although he worked in Raleigh, by 1878 or earlier, John was back in the Cary area. At age 23, he married Jennie Jones, age 17, daughter of Thomas and Emaline Jones whose family was noted above as being in the area.

The marriage took place in the home of Rev. George Dowell, a white Baptist minister living nearby.

And by the 1880 Census, a daughter had been added to the family.

1880 Census, Cary Township, Wake County, NC

John Beckwith’s parents continued to reside in the Cary Township of Wake County. This is the information recorded for them in the 1880 Census.

1880 Census, Cary Township, Wake County, NC

Because the 1890 Census was destroyed, there is a gap in knowledge about people across the country during the 20-year period between 1880 and 1900. However, there are some records that give glimpses of John Beckwith’s life during this period.

In 1891, Beckwith co-signed a deed for the advance of money “to be used on my farm,” a tract of land adjoining the lands of Wiley Baucom who lived near Chapel Hill and SE Maynard Road. At this time, he was growing “cotton, corn, and other products…” There is no deed listed for John Beckwith in this area, so he may have been a sharecropper at this time.

Wake County Register of Deeds Book 112 Pg 537

On a sad personal note, John’s wife Jennie Jones Beckwith died January 31, 1896 and was buried in the historic Cary First Christian Church Cemetery.

Findagrave photo

Another record pertaining to John Beckwith during the year 1896 is a church record found in the publication “Proceedings of the Twenty-ninth Annual Session of the North Carolina Christian Church Conference” which was held in November 1896 in Cary, NC. John Beckwith’s name appears among the names of church members at the time of the conference.

In the 1900 Census, John Beckwith was listed as a widower, age 40, living with his children and his mother Miley, by this time a widow, age 60. The full listing shows that Beckwith owned the home with a mortgage. Again, ages recorded remain inconsistent. Unfortunately, there is no death record or burial information for Green Beckwith. It is noted that Miley/Molly was the mother of four with only three surviving at this time. John was working at a local saw mill, of which there were several in the Cary area and two children were receiving schooling.

1900 Census, Cary Township, Wake County, NC

On January 10, 1907, John married into another local Cary family. His bride Rosa Satterfield was the daughter of Louis and Hawkins Satterfield, and the couple was married at her family home by W. H. Horton, a white minister in the area.

But before this marriage, John Beckwith began work as a custodian at the historic Cary High School, then a stockholder-owned school which became a public high school in 1907.

Here is a photo of John Beckwith with the boarding students of Cary High School.

Dormitory Boys in Session 1908-1909 from Cary High School Archives

John Beckwith on the back right

Beckwith was a beloved figure on the school campus and was honored with a tribute in the Cary High School yearbook, the CHSite, in 1921. The tribute celebrated his 16 years of service to the students and the school. In part, it reads:

A 1916 Cary High School graduate, Miss Elva Templeton, recalled:

“…he used to ring the school bells for us. We had a bell and I wished they’d put it up in the yard at school where it should be. And so he’d watch while we’d go down to the store on down the street to get candy and then the last bell started ringing. Uncle John would ring that bell until we got there so we wouldn’t be late.”

John Beckwith in the CHSite Yearbook 1920

Miss Templeton also added to our knowledge of the Black community in Cary by recalling where families lived around 1900. The resulting hand-drawn map showed the location of the John Beckwith household around this time and earlier. It also shows the location of Cary First Christian Church near Beckwith’s home and the church cemetery somewhat farther away.

Excerpt from Elva Templeton Map of Cary circa early 1900s

This land on which John Beckwith lived had apparently been purchased from Frank Page and the deed lost or not registered. In 1906, Frank Page’s second wife, Lula B. Wynne, who remarried after Frank’s passing, made a quit claim deed for property that she had inherited from Frank after his death. A number of quit claim deeds were made for land in the same area. The survey map of the land referred to in the deed has not been located.

Although written records in the early years of Cary First Christian Church are scant, there is a Wake County deed dated January 22, 1909 from Rev George Dowell and his wife Tranquilla who deeded additional land to the historic African American church cemetery, now called Cary First Christian Church Cemetery. John Beckwith was named one of the trustees of the church. The cemetery was located south of the home of John Beckwith, as shown on the map above, along with the church which was closer by. Rev. Dowell had performed John Beckwith’s marriage to his first wife, Jennie.

The 1910 Census shows John and Rosa and a baby living near Handy and Martha Jones, shown on the Templeton map living near the Beckwiths.

Sadly, Rosa Beckwith, a mother of two, died on April 21, 1917 around the age of 35. Her death certificate states she was buried in Cary, and Cary First Christian Church Cemetery would have been the cemetery in Cary in which African-Americans would have been buried at that time.

In the 1920 census, we find John Beckwith, a widower living with two children. His occupation is listed as “wash” which may allude to the 1921 CHSite tribute which also stated, “…he comes round and collects the laundry and carries it away.” According to this account, Beckwith also ran mail back and forth from the post office, ran errands, helped the teachers, and if he had time, would split wood and perform other tasks. The writer noted, “He always worked cheerfully and with a wide, wide smile on his face. “Uncle John” is growing old, but we hope he will live many years yet to spread his sunshine about the campus of Cary High School.”

By the 1930 census, Beckwith was 75 and didn’t have an occupation listed. He was living with his daughter, son, and two grandchildren.

During the Great Depression, the Federal Writer’s Project of the US Work Projects Administration captured the stories of surviving formerly enslaved persons. John Beckwith talked with Mary A Hicks who recorded his memories. A photograph was also taken.

John Beckwith, age 83, Federal Writer’s Project

Photograph courtesy of the Library of Congress

John was a child during his enslavement. One researcher stated about John Beckwith’s narrative, “In any case, the narrative was very interesting, containing detail about life with the Beckwiths as an enslaved boy.  One should keep in mind while reading what are at times John's rather "rosy" descriptions about life on the plantation, his narrative was given during the Great Depression when poverty and hunger were at its peak.  Also, John was a very young boy when enslaved and likely not subjected to the harsher treatment that other older slaves suffered.” Food for thought.

To read the full article and comments:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2014/5/2/1295447/-GFHC-After-All-They-Were-Only-Part-of-the-Inventory#comment_53303359

The story of John Beckwith ends with his death and burial. His death certificate listed his date of death as September 21, 1939 in Cary. His occupation was listed as Janitor of Cary High School, father Green Beckwith, mother’s name unknown, and the informant was Effie Holmes of New Haven, Connecticut, a daughter of John and Jennie Beckwith. Raleigh Funeral Home provided services and the burial was in Wake County, not in Cary specifically. The burial posed a question which Haywood Funeral Home (which was also known as Raleigh Funeral Homes) was able to solve. According to their records, John Beckwith was buried at the Wake County Home Cemetery on Noble Road in Raleigh. Mr. Ray Haywood explained that many years ago most African Americans were buried in either Cary First Christian Church Cemetery, where John’s first wife Jennie was buried, or at the Wake County Home Cemetery. Unfortunately, most of the burials at the Raleigh location were unmarked. It will never be known why John Beckwith was not buried in the cemetery of his local church. The death certificate brings to a close the documentation of the life of John Beckwith.

With recent emphasis on telling the wider, more inclusive history of Cary, it’s time to tell John Beckwith’s story. His is a story of resilience and strength, a story of facing harsh circumstances throughout life and moving forward, overcoming with humor, good will, and honest labor. It is truly a remarkable story to tell.