Court Records

COURT RECORDS




New Bern District Court Abstracts involving DOBBS Co. Residents Interesting Northeastern N.C. Court Cases NewBern District Court notes
New Bern District Court notes Abstracted by Francis R Hodges Dobbs County1788-1790 - Graves Bright appears to have been quite a hellion. He was often summoned to appear in court on charges of assault, sometimes alone and sometimes in the company of others, including Groves Sharp and Stephen Shepard. Among those he was accused of assaulting were Jesse Skeen, James How Hutchins, and Joseph and Richard Tilghman (the latter assault occurring in Kinston). I suspect these incidents had to do wth the strong disagreement between fedralists and anti-federalists over the ratification of the US Constitution. (Remember how the ballot box was seized in Kinston by the losing federalists in 1788, before the results could be determined?) I suspect Graves was a federalist, as the Brights were apparently allied with Caswell. These findings are consistent with the reference in the NBDSC Estate Papers (see Steve Bradley's book) which records Graves's involvement in a fight at Rainbow Creek in 1794, when he was sheriff of Glasgow. Wonder if his death in 1803 was the result of violence? He would only have been in his thirties at the time. I found the now well-known case of Sarah Herring Wiggins murdering her mulatto infant. (I sent a copy of this to Grimwood for "Herring Highlights" a year or so ago, but never received a response). Sarah was probably a first cousin of Graves Bright (her mother was Mary Bright Herring). March, 1782- Case of Thomas Vause, accused of murdering Hardy Powell (quotation marks and punctuation marks added for clarity): Vause swore "that he was at Mr. Oates the evening of the murder and then went to Mary. Young's two miles distant where he stayed late, then went to Thomas Barfield's where he stayed til morning." Frederick Baker deposed that tracks were found at Powell's which were similar to Vause's, as "Vause's walk is rather uncommon on account of the lameness of one of his legs and walks with the toes rather more inclined inwards than the other." John Silleven testified that he was present as ". . . he and Powell had been washing their feet by the fire in the house and as Hardy was siting (sic) by the fire Hardy was shot willfully by somebody and that he then raised up and went to the bed, fell on it, and was dead in two or three minutes." William Falkner deposed ". . . that as he and Thomas Vause were riding towards Kingston on the day that Hardy Powell was to be tried by a Court Martial, Vause said to the deponent 'If Hardy Powell is not turned into the Continental Service, where is he to live?' The deponent answered ''At his own place, where should he?' Vause sayed if he would give him bond and security not to settle nearer than one hundred mles from him, he might do so, but if he stayed on his old place, he would kill him." Others suummoned in this case were William Hooker, J. P.; John Bright; Joseph Bruton; Shadrick Campble; Martin Caswell, Jr.; Hannaritta Vause; James Glasgow; Matthew Moseley; John Hartsfield Here's another interesting (to say the least!) deposition: 1785 - Dobbs County - William Ormond, J. P., claimed he saw James Holland ". . .on or about the twentieth day of May last past. . .in the detestable act of buggering a mare in the woods in the said county near the line of Craven County. . ." (More details follow!) NOTE: Holland apparently owed Gov. Caswell 200 lbs. He later agreed to pay, and. the case appears never to have been brought to court. Quite a way to put the pressure on a debtor! Is this blackmail, or what? February 17, 1782 - Dobbs William Williams and David George were accused of assaulting James Hobbs. Hobbs was accompanied at the time by Catherine Butler, wife of William Butler of Dobbs, and she was assaulted as well. She had a daughter who married George Turnage of Craven. September 5, 1781 - Dobbs Rachel Ann Loftin swore before C. Markland that on 15 August, William Ferrel "did commit a rape on her body." (NOTE: Wonder if this is the same William Ferrel whose 1823 will is posted on the Lenoir Arhives Site?) John Stancill of Dobbs accused of assaulting George Turnage of Craven. He ". . . did then and there cocke and present a loaded gun at his breast and threatened to kill him and kept him in great fear and dread some time." 1770 - Dobbs Thomas Blake and John Curlee, felons, were pursued into a swamp, where Blake shot James Lindsay. Simon Bright, Jr. was sheriff. March, 1794 Anne Kennedy, formerly of Lenoir County, N. C., and now of South Carolina deposed that John Hill was dead. March, 1791 - The State vs. Groves Sharp, Major Hardy(ee?), Walter Kennedy. and Gray Westbrook (NOTE: I found a ticket summoning the accused to court. Not sure of the charge. Walter Kennedy was probably a brother-in-law of Major Hardee). * Other incidents (I took less detailed information--think these are around 1790-1800) John Shepard murdered by Martin Gardner Shepard. Depositions taken in the home of Martha Jones Shepard. Robert Argoe - murdered There is a good bit of information on the murder of Jesse Farmer by William Aldridge, including the size and nature of the wound inflicted in the groin with a knife. Aldridge was found gjuilty and hanged in 1794. * Interesting information which caught my eye from other counties: Apparently, countefeiting became a problem in New Bern around the time of the American Revolution. One con artist had a real racket going. He would get involved in a game of whist, lose his bet, then pay his losses with a large counterfeit bill. His change, of course, was in real money. In this case, it was likely easy to be a cheerful loser!) Craven County 21 August, 1780, Craven County - Edward Boucher Hodges summoned to court for "taking into his possesssion, and refusing to deliver, a mare, which had been impressed into the Continental Service." (NOTE: Wish I could tie this Edward Hodges to my Dobbs County family. He was indicted for misprision of treason and later left the area). Carteret County Carteret County. 22 February, 1779: Nancy Walker of Beaufort swore that ". . . on the night of the 21st of February a certain Molatto named Peter Smith late belonging to the 'Spitfire' made a violent assault on the house of said Nancy by breaking open the door. . . and then and there by force ravished and carnally had knowledge of her body. . ." A similar deposition says that Nancy was a spinster.
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