Biographies
Sandy Addison was born in Sumter County, Alabama, sometime around the year 1839. He was likely an enslaved person before the war. He attended the pre-war wedding of Harrison and Martha Hodges in Tippah County, Mississippi. He lived a short time in Memphis, Tennessee, in the immediate postwar years but later relocated to Wrightsville, Arkansas, where he died on September 30, 1913.
Enoch Agnew was born October 30, 1808, in Abbeville County, South Carolina. In 1830, he graduated from the Medical College of South Carolina and engaged as a physician. Around 1852, he moved his family to Tippah County, Mississippi. There, he kept at least forty-eight persons enslaved as of 1860.
Isaac Agnew was a "colored preacher and pillow servant" that was most likely enslaved by Dr. _____ Agnew in Tippah County, Mississippi. He performed the wedding of Harrison and Martha Hodges sometime before the war.
Samuel Andrew Agnew was the son of Dr. Enoch Agnew, of Tippah County, Mississippi. He was a minister and kept a thorough diary of the Civil War period that is available through Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina.
Abram Allen was a Methodist minister in Craven and later Beaufort County, North Carolina. He officiated the wedding of Ephraim and Rosetta Crandall at Rosedale Plantation in 1844. In an 1894 affidavit, Elizabeth W. Blount described Allen as "a highly respected colored man . . . always free who lived in this town."
Daniel Anderson, born circa 1824, was present at the Fort Pillow massacre and was detailed to assist in burying the Federal dead after it ended. It is unclear if he was a soldier or laborer in government service at the time.
Blunt got his start as Blunt Poland, carrying the surname of his first enslaver Dick Poland. At some point, Blunt was sold to John O. Askew—a Hertford County farmer who held an astonishing $82,145 in personal wealth and who enslaved one hundred people in 1860—and his surname changed to match that of his new enslaver. On Christmas Eve of that same year Blunt married Adaline Harrell, a enslaved woman then held in bondage by John’s father-in-law Abner Harrell, of Harrellsville in Hertford County.
Blunt got his start as Blunt Poland, carrying the surname of his first enslaver Dick Poland. At some point, Blunt was sold to John O. Askew—a Hertford County farmer who held an astonishing $82,145 in personal wealth and who enslaved one hundred people in 1860—and his surname changed to match that of his new enslaver. On Christmas Eve of that same year Blunt married Adaline Harrell, a enslaved woman then held in bondage by John’s father-in-law Abner Harrell, of Harrellsville in Hertford County.
George Askew was born circa 1845. Before the war, he resided in the Pitch Landing community of Hertford County, North Carolina, where he was enslaved by John Outlaw Askew. In the winter of 1863 (as best as George could remember), he and about eighteen other enslaved people left the Askew plantation, boarded a gun boat, and escaped to Plymouth, North Carolina, where the men joined the 2nd United States Colored Cavalry. In July 1876, he was a resident of Mill Creek, Elizabeth City County, Virginia.
John Outlaw Askew was born on October 11, 1813, the only son of George Askew and Anne Outlaw. Askew was a prominent and wealthy farmer in Pitch Landing, Hertford County, North Carolina. He kept several dozen people enslaved over the course of his life: 4 people in 1840, 50 in 1850, and 100 in 1860. He died on July 9, 1878.
William Blunt Askew was the son of Blunt and Adaline Askew. He died around 1872.
Daniel W. Atwood was born enslaved December 18, 1843, in Wilcox County, Alabama. His father was also his enslaver, a man by the name of Henry S. Atwood. In October 1864, Atwood joined the 100th U.S.C.T. He attained the rank of sergeant major and was mustered out in September 1865. Following the war, he was a public school teacher until 1872 when he accepted a position as a clerk with the Pension Bureau. He remained in this position, working his way up to special agent (special examiner), until ill health forced his retirement around September 1886.
