SHORT, ESAU

Of the roughly 2,000 souls buried in Geer Cemetery, only about 10 percent have headstones.  Others we know only through death certificates which begin to tell their stories. One such individual is Esau Short.¹Esau Short death certificate: Ancestry.com. North Carolina, U.S., Deaths, 1906-1930 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/411483:60090 : accessed 4 Aug 2021. Original data: North Carolina, Deaths, 1906-1930. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013.

While those who supplied the information on his death certificate estimated him to be 55 years old (born in 1871), a more extensive examination of available records shows Esau was born around 1849. He was likely born enslaved, possibly in Person County, NC. The first record that has been found for him is an 1870 census record from Woodsdale NC in Person County, where he was working as a farm laborer for white landowner James David Woody.²1870 US Census Woodsdale p14: Year: 1870; Census Place: Woodsdale, Person, North Carolina; Roll: M593_1154; Page: 664B. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/26372067:7163 : accessed 4 Aug 2021. Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. In the same community were his parents, Esau Short (Sr.) and wife Hannah, both born around 1810. They are listed with Esau’s sister Agnes (b.1836) and her three children: William (b.1861), Absolem (b.1865), and Robert (b.1867).³1870 US Census Woodsdale p19: Year: 1870; Census Place: Woodsdale, Person, North Carolina; Roll: M593_1154; Page: 667A. Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/34451522:7163 : accessed 4 Aug 2021. Original data:1870 U.S. census, population schedules. NARA microfilm publication M593, 1,761 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.Minnesota census schedules for 1870. NARA microfilm publication T132, 13 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.

Absolem as full name: 1880 US Census Holloway: Year: 1880; Census Place: Holloways, Person, North Carolina; Roll: 977; Page: 227D; Enumeration District: 208, Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. 1880 U.S. Census Index provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints © Copyright 1999 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. All use is subject to the limited use license and other terms and conditions applicable to this site. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6742/images/4243289-00461 : accessed 9 Dec 2022. Original data: Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. (NARA microfilm publication T9, 1,454 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. Agnes subsequently married a man named Isaac Satterfield in Person County in 1871, survived to be nearly 100 years old (dying in 1933), and left numerous descendants; Absolem alone had seven children.⁴Marriage: Ancestry.com. North Carolina, U.S., Marriage Records, 1741-2011 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/60548/images/42091_342560-00275 : accessed 9 Dec 2022. Original data: North Carolina County Registers of Deeds. Microfilm. Record Group 048. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC.

Death: Agnis Sattterfield death certificate: North Carolina State Archives; Raleigh, North Carolina; North Carolina Death Certificates. Ancestry.com. North Carolina, U.S., Death Certificates, 1909-1976 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1121/images/S123_1104-0881 : accessed 9 Dec 2022. Original data: North Carolina State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics. North Carolina Death Certificates. Microfilm S.123. Rolls 19-242, 280, 313-682, 1040-1297. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Descendants: 1870 US Census Woodsdale p19; 1880 US Census Holloway.

Absolem: 1910 US Census Allensville: Year: 1910; Census Place: Allensville, Person, North Carolina; Roll: T624_1106; Page: 14B; Enumeration District: 0141; FHL microfilm: 1375119. Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7884/images/4449183_00200 : accessed 9 Dec 2022. Original data: Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910 (NARA microfilm publication T624, 1,178 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. For details on the contents of the film numbers, visit the following NARA web page: https://www.archives.gov/research/census. Confusingly, Agnes used the surname Brooks on her marriage certificate, despite identifying her parents as Esau and Hannah Short. Given that Esau and Hannah are listed adjacent to an Asa and Frances Brooks in the 1870 Census, it is possible the family was enslaved by these or one of the other numerous slaveholders in Person County surnamed Brooks, but that both Esau and his father took on a new surname at emancipation (there were no slaveholders surnamed Short in Person County).

In 1876, Esau married Helen Warren in Halifax County, VA, which is just over the state line from Person County.⁵Esau Short marriage license: “Virginia, Vital Records, 1715-1901”, database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:68TL-FSKY : 21 June 2022), Esau Baird, 1876. Confusingly, Esau’s surname on the marriage document is Baird and not Short. In the 1880 census the couple appears in the community of Black Walnut, Halifax County, VA, with Esau doing farm labor and Helen keeping house alongside four other boarders in their household.⁶1880 US census Black Walnut 232C: Year: 1880; Census Place: Black Walnut, Halifax, Virginia; Roll: 1369; Page: 232C; Enumeration District: 117. Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/12165395:6742 : accessed 9 Dec 2022. Original data: Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. (NARA microfilm publication T9, 1,454 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. The closest landowner was a man named Jeff Lipscomb, so it is possible they were tenant farming on his land. Esau (Sr.) and Hannah also appear in Black Walnut in the 1880 census.⁷1880 US census Black Walnut 232D: Year: 1880; Census Place: Black Walnut, Halifax, Virginia; Roll: 1369; Page: 232D; Enumeration District: 117. Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. 1880 U.S. Census Index provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints © Copyright 1999 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. All use is subject to the limited use license and other terms and conditions applicable to this site. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/13577414:6742 : accessed 9 Dec 2022. Original data: Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. (NARA microfilm publication T9, 1,454 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. A birth record indicates that Esau and Helen had a daughter named Mary in Halifax County in 1885, but nothing further is known about her, indicating she likely died at a young age.⁸Ancestry.com. Virginia, U.S., Birth Registers, 1853-1911 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2022. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1249308:62153 : accessed 9 Dec 2022. Original data: Virginia, Birth Registers, 1853–1911. Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

At some point in the next decade Esau and Helen made their way to Durham, likely looking for better economic opportunities compared with farm labor in rural Virginia and North Carolina.  They first appear in the 1897 Durham City Directory, with Esau (last name shown as Shaw) working as a gardener and Helen as a cook.⁹Mangum’s Directory of Durham and Suburbs 1897 (Durham, N.C.: D. C. Mangum, 1897) p. 185, Short surname; digital image, “North Carolina City Directories,” DigitalNC (https://lib.digitalnc.org/record/25139 : accessed 9 Dec 2022). In the 1900 Census, the couple is listed at 807 Cobb Street, neighbors with the families of William and Lillie Bullock and Harriett Coleman who they likely had ties with from Person County/Halifax County.¹⁰1900 US Census Durham: Year: 1900; Census Place: Durham, Durham, North Carolina; Roll: 1193; Page: 7; Enumeration District: 0030; FHL microfilm: 1241193. Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/68142817:7602 : accessed 10 Dec 2022. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1900. T623, 1854 rolls Harriett Coleman was one of the boarders living with the Short family in the 1880 census as an 11-year old. Additionally, Lillie Bullock and Harriett Coleman’s mother were both surnamed Warren which was Helen’s maiden name, indicating possible family connection.

After 1900 only Esau appears in city directory listings, indicating that Helen likely died early in the 1900s. Because this was before the advent of death certificates, it is possible she is one of the undocumented souls buried in Geer Cemetery. By 1905 it appears Esau had put down roots in the Peachtree Alley community of Durham alongside Harriett Coleman and her children, working as a laborer and waiter.¹¹Durham, NC Directory 1905-1906 (Durham, NC: Hill Directory Company, 1905-1906) p. 228, Short surname; digital image, “North Carolina City Directories,” DigitalNC (https://lib.digitalnc.org/record/25118 : accessed 10 Dec 2022). Esau does not appear in any records between 1907 and 1917; however, the Coleman family lived at the same address on Peachtree Alley for this time period so it is possible he was still living with them. 

Harriett Coleman died in 1915, and it appears that after her death her daughters Amy, Anna and Helen moved to 1005 Willard Street in the Bottoms Neighborhood of Durham.¹²Harriet Coleman death certificate: North Carolina State Archives; Raleigh, North Carolina; North Carolina Death Certificates. Ancestry.com. North Carolina, U.S., Death Certificates, 1909-1976 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/227646:1121 : accessed 10 Dec 2022. Original data: North Carolina State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics. North Carolina Death Certificates. Microfilm S.123. Rolls 19-242, 280, 313-682, 1040-1297. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Willard Street: Durham, NC Directory 1917 (Durham, NC: Hill Directory Company, 1917) p. 170-171, Coleman surname; digital image, “North Carolina City Directories,” DigitalNC (https://lib.digitalnc.org/record/25155 : accessed 10 Dec 2022). Esau reappeared alongside them beginning in the 1917 city directory, working as a laborer and butler. He lived at this address with the Coleman women until his death on 2 December 1926 of hypertension and heart disease, and was buried in the City Colored Cemetery (Geer Cemetery). The informant was H.J. Bullock (Harvey), who was the manager of the Durham Negro Business League and whose family Esau had been neighbors with during his early years in Durham.¹³Esau Short death certificate. Esau was around 77 years old when he died, having labored in a myriad of capacities in both rural areas and urban Durham. While it does not appear he left any direct descendants, he was clearly a community-minded man who formed family-style ties with families like the Colemans and Bullocks and no doubt left his mark on their descendants. Members of both the Bullock and Coleman families join him in Geer Cemetery, as well as possibly his wife Helen.

BORN: 1849.¹⁵1870 US Census Woodsdale p14.

DIED: 2 December 1926.¹⁶Esau Short death certificate.

BIRTH PLACE: Person County, NC.¹⁷1870 US Census Woodsdale p14.

DEATH PLACE: Durham NC.¹⁸Esau Short death certificate.

SPOUSE: Helen Warren.¹⁹Esau Short marriage license..

PARENTS: Esau Short (Sr.) and Hannah.²⁰1870 US Census Woodsdale p19.

CHILDREN: None.

OTHER FAMILY: Sister Agnes Satterfield.²¹1870 US Census Woodsdale p19.

FAMILY BURIED IN GEER CEMETERY:  N/A

OCCUPATION: Laborer, waiter, butler.²²Various years of the Durham city directories.

CHURCH:  N/A

AFFILIATIONS:  N/A

ADDRESS: 1005 Willard Street, Durham NC.²³Esau Short death certificate.

MILITARY SERVICE:  N/A