Husband and wife Lewis and Agnes (Aggie) Thorpe were both born shortly after Emancipation. Their parents were freed slaves in the Oak Hill area of Granville County (northwest of Oxford). Lewis was born in 1868 to Micajah and Amelia (Satterwhite) Thorpe, while Agnes Daniel was born in 1870 to Lawson and Clemmie Daniel.¹Lewis: 1870 US Census Walnut Grove 404A: Year: 1870; Census Place: Walnut Grove, Granville, North Carolina; Roll: M593_1139; Page: 404A. Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/22872039:7163 : accessed 25 Aug 2022. 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.

Aggie: 1880 US Census Walnut Grove 446D: Year: 1880; Census Place: Walnut Grove, Granville, North Carolina; Roll: 964; Page: 446D; Enumeration District: 103. 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/14529146:6742 : accessed 28 Aug 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. Lawson and Clemmie had been enslaved on the Tranquility Plantation owned by the Nathaniel and Ann Daniel family (a picture of an enslaved Lawson exists in the Nathaniel Chesley Daniel Papers housed at The Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), while there were numerous slaveholders surnamed Thorpe and Satterwhite in the same area that might have enslaved Micajah and Amelia.²Photo: Nathaniel Chesley Daniel Papers #4251-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Slaveholders: 1860 U.S. Federal Census – Slave Schedules. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7668/?name=_Thorpe&count=50&residence=_granville-north+carolina-usa_1195.

Lawson and Clemmie Daniel were officially married by a Granville Co. cohabitation record in 1866, which stated they had been living together in this relationship for six years already.³Granville County Cohabitation Records: “North Carolina, County Marriages, 1762-1979 ,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99VS-ZN6B?cc=1726957&wc=QD8P-6Q1%3A1588772822%2C1588773236 : 19 July 2016), Granville > Marriage records, 1851-1868 > image 537 of 544; North Carolina State Archives Division of Archives and History. Aggie was one of 10 children born into their union between 1863 and 1880, as Lawson continued to farm, likely on the same property where he’d been enslaved. As a possible sign of his ambitions for his children, two of his sons were named “Judge” and “Doctor.”⁴1880 US Census Walnut Grove 446D. Census records show the family living adjacent to former slaveholder Ann Daniel and her son George.⁵1870 US Census Walnut Grove 406B: Year: 1870; Census Place: Walnut Grove, Granville, North Carolina; Roll: M593_1139; Page: 406B. Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/34366601:7163 : accessed 28 Aug 2022. 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. Micajah and Amelia Thorpe were married in 1866 in Granville Co., and had at least 5 children, including Lewis, who was the eldest son.⁶1870 US Census Walnut Grove 404A.

Lewis and Agnes Thorpe married in 1888 in Granville County, and carried on tenant farming while raising their family.⁷Series: Marriage Register (1867 – 1990). 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/discoveryui-content/view/1187535:60548 : accessed 28 Aug 2022. Original data: North Carolina County Registers of Deeds. Microfilm. Record Group 048. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC. In all, the family had seven children between 1889 and 1906—Helen (b. 1889), Cager (b. 1890), Annie Belle (b. 1892), Lewis Jr. (b. 1894), Ida (b. 1897), Titus (b. 1900), and Armelia (b. 1906).⁸1900 US Census Oak Hill: Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7602/images/4117825_00493 : 28 Aug 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.

Note that the youngest child on the 1900 census is listed as Robert, but later known as Titus.

1910 US Census Durham 0039: Year: 1910; Census Place: Durham Ward 3, Durham, North Carolina; Roll: T624_1108; Page: 9A; Enumeration District: 0039; FHL microfilm: 137512. Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/20479850:7884 : accessed 28 Aug 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.

Note that Armelia is not listed in the 1910 census, but is found living with her sister Annie and Annie’s husband, John Hinton, in the 1920 US Census Durham 0055: Enumeration District: 0055; Description: Durham City, Ward 3 (part) including Lincoln Hospital, all between McManus and Fayetteville, south of the Southern Railway to the City limits. Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6061/images/4442122_00576 : accessed 30 Aug 2022. Original data: Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920. (NARA microfilm publication T625, 2076 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: NARA. Note: Enumeration Districts 819-839 are on roll 323 (Chicago City). In the early 1900s, the family likely started looking at Durham for its better economic opportunities compared with rural tenant farming. Son Cager appears to have been the first to move, listed as a porter in the 1907 Durham City Directory and living on the north end of the vibrant historic Hayti neighborhood.⁹Durham, NC Directory 1907-1908 (Durham, NC: Hill Directory Company, 1907-1908) p. 271, Thorpe surname; digital image, “North Carolina City Directories,” DigitalNC (https://lib.digitalnc.org/record/25126 : accessed 29 Aug 2022). The rest of the family followed by 1910.¹⁰1910 US Census Durham 0039. The tobacco industry provided the most common and steady labor opportunities for those coming from rural areas. Lewis and Cager eventually found steady work there while Aggie cared for the family. Two of their daughters also found jobs as a cook and a nurse in private homes, while the youngest children were able to attend school.¹¹Various years of the Durham City Directory, 1907–1926.

1910 US Census Durham 0039.

Two of the children got married shortly after the move—Annie married John Hinton in 1910, and Cager married Kate Cohen in 1911.¹²Annie: Series: Marriage Licenses – Colored (1809 – 1975). 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/discoveryui-content/view/13022995:60548 : accessed 29 Aug 2022. Original data: North Carolina County Registers of Deeds. Microfilm. Record Group 048. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC.

Cager: Series: Marriage Licenses – Colored (1809 – 1975). 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_331607-01111 : accessed 24 Aug 2022. Original data: North Carolina County Registers of Deeds. Microfilm. Record Group 048. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC. Their spouses were from Greensboro and Raleigh respectively, speaking to the larger community that moving to Durham afforded them. Sadly, Aggie died not long after from pellagra in 1913.¹³Agnes Thorpe 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/267452:1121 : 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. Pellagra was at epidemic levels in the South in the early 1900s, typically due to poor diet, especially lack of niacin.¹⁴A.J. Bollet, “Politics and pellagra: the epidemic of pellagra in the U.S. in the early twentieth century,” Yale J Biol Med. 1992 May-Jun;65(3):211-21. PMID: 1285449; PMCID: PMC2589605. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2589605/.

Lewis’s daughter Helen married Emmett Barden in 1913.¹⁵Series: Marriage Licenses – Colored (1809 – 1975). 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/discoveryui-content/view/9779719:60548 : accessed 30 Aug 2022. Original data: North Carolina County Registers of Deeds. Microfilm. Record Group 048. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC. After Barden’s death in 1941, Helen married again, to Vern Womack, in 1948.¹⁶Barden’s death: 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/1245514:1121 : accessed 30 Aug 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.

Remarriage: Series: Marriage Licenses – Colored (1809 – 1975). 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/discoveryui-content/view/9780602:60548 : accessed 30 Aug 2022. Original data: North Carolina County Registers of Deeds. Microfilm. Record Group 048. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC. Helen’s younger sister Ida married Vib Read in 1920.¹⁷Series: Marriage Licenses – Colored (1809 – 1975). 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/discoveryui-content/view/15278880:60548 : accessed 30 Aug 2022. Original data: North Carolina County Registers of Deeds. Microfilm. Record Group 048. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC.

After working a few more years as a laborer, Lewis became partially paralyzed and eventually died from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1920.¹⁸Lewis Thorpe 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/528244:1121 : accessed 30 Aug 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. Aggie and Lewis were both buried in Geer Cemetery, and were joined there by children Armelia and Cager who died in 1922 and 1926 respectively, both from tuberculosis.¹⁹Armelia: 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/143282:1121 : accessed 30 Aug 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.

Cager: 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_188-2324?pId=2238822 : accessed 24 Aug 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. All but one of the couple’s remaining four children died in Durham (Annie in 1937, and both Ida and Helen in 1977).²⁰Annie: 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/425524:1121 : accessed 29 Aug 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.

Ida: “North Carolina Deaths, 1931-1994,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9P2-BH3G-9?cc=1584959 : 2 September 2014), > image 1 of 1; State Department of Archives and History, Raleigh.

Helen: “North Carolina Deaths, 1931-1994,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9P2-BH3G-9?cc=1584959 : 2 September 2014), > image 1 of 1; State Department of Archives and History, Raleigh. Titus died in New Jersey in 1976.²¹New Jersey State Archives; Trenton, New Jersey; New Jersey, Death Indexes, 1904-2000. Ancestry.com. New Jersey, U.S., Death Index, 1848-1878, 1901-2017 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/4693802:61260?tid=&pid=&queryId=92c32c2e81578513ed3d0b751a10b460&_phsrc=Are1395&_phstart=successSource : Original data: Death Indexes. New Jersey State Archives, Trenton, New Jersey. None appear to have had children of their own. While it does not appear that Lewis and Aggie had any grandchildren to carry on their legacy and no headstones remain for them or their children, the story of their family’s transition from enslavement to economic opportunity is one worth retelling to better understand their lives and so many like them during the time period.

LEWIS THORPE

BORN: 1868.²³1870 US Census Walnut Grove 404A.

DIED: 23 September 1920.²⁴Lewis Thorpe death certificate.

BIRTH PLACE: Oak Hill, Granville County.²⁵1870 US Census Walnut Grove 404A.

DEATH PLACE: Durham, NC.²⁶Lewis Thorpe death certificate.

SPOUSE: Aggie Daniel.²⁷Granville County Cohabitation Records.

PARENTS: Micajah and Amelia (Satterwhite) Thorpe.²⁸1870 US Census Walnut Grove 404A.

CHILDREN: Helen (b. 1889), Cager (b. 1890), Annie Belle (b. 1892), Lewis Jr. (b. 1894), Ida (b. 1897), Titus (b. 1900), and Armelia (b. 1906).²⁹1900 US Census Oak Hill; 1910 US Census Durham 0039; 1920 US Census Durham 0055.

OTHER FAMILY: N/A

FAMILY BURIED IN GEER CEMETERY: Wife Aggie Daniel, son Cager Thorpe, daughter Armelia Thorpe.

OCCUPATION: Laborer.³⁰Lewis Thorpe death certificate.

CHURCH: N/A

AFFILIATIONS: N/A

ADDRESS: 612 Branch Alley.³¹Lewis Thorpe death certificate.

MILITARY SERVICE: N/A

AGNES THORPE

BORN: 1870.³²1880 US Census Walnut Grove 446D.

DIED: 6 June 1913.³³Agnes Thorpe death certificate.

BIRTH PLACE: Oak Hill, Granville County.³⁴1880 US Census Walnut Grove 446D.

DEATH PLACE: Durham, NC.³⁵Agnes Thorpe death certificate.

SPOUSE: Lewis Thorpe.³⁶Granville County Cohabitation Records.

PARENTS: Lawson and Clemmie Daniel.³⁷1880 US Census Walnut Grove 446D.

CHILDREN: Helen (b. 1889), Cager (b. 1890), Annie Belle (b. 1892), Lewis Jr. (b. 1894), Ida (b. 1897), Titus (b. 1900), and Armelia (b. 1906).³⁸1900 US Census Oak Hill; 1910 US Census Durham 0039; 1920 US Census Durham 0055.

OTHER FAMILY: N/A

FAMILY BURIED IN GEER CEMETERY: Husband Lewis Thorpe, son Cager Thorpe, daughter Armelia Thorpe.

OCCUPATION: Tobacco worker.³⁹Agnes Thorpe death certificate.

CHURCH: N/A

AFFILIATIONS: N/A

ADDRESS: 411 Proctor.⁴⁰Agnes Thorpe death certificate.

MILITARY SERVICE: N/A