HenrysHistories

 Lucy and Pinkie were sisters. They had been born in Nash County, North Carolina.  Their mother was named Mary Jane Brewer and everyone called her by her middle name of Jane. Jane had been born a free person of color in 1835 to David Wilkins and Penelope Merritt, also free persons of color in Nash County, North Carolina. They had married on Nov. 20, 1833 in Nash County. Jane's mother died young and her father David remarried to another free woman of  color, named Martha. In 1850, Jane and her family are living in Nash County, NC. David Wilkins, her father, was listed as head of the family and 43 years old. He is a free person of color. With him are Martha aged 29, his wife. The following children are listed: William 14, Jane 11, Martha 9, George 6, David 4, Matilda 2 and Louis one month old.  In 1860, Jane is living in Dortches, Nash County, North Carolina. She is listed as 24, mulatto and a housekeeper. She has two children named Isadore aged 3 and William aged...

  It has been a very busy time for me and I apologize for the delay in getting to the rest of the story. However, I have had time to look over all the documents and also research what became of some of the other people involved in the story. So let us begin.  First, I would like to say thank you to the NC State Archives located on Jones Street in Raleigh, NC for helping me find the NC Supreme Court files for this case. For documentation purposes cite the case as follows: Supreme Court Original Files State v. Calvin & Thomas Coley Case No. 17,772 Franklin County Box #836 1894 In total, 55 pages were copied for me by the NC State Archives. Here are some of the highlights of these 55 pages.  ------------------------------------------------------ Bill of Indictment State of North Carolina, Franklin County Superior Court January Term 1894 The jurors for the State upon their oath Present: That Calvin and Thomas Coley late of the County of Franklin on the 1st day of July in ...

I have been able to get my hands on the original trial transcripts. I will be reading through those the next few days and then I will continue the story of the trial and its aftermath.  July 16, 2024: I had to have surgery and recover from it, so in the next few days I will get around to telling the rest of the story. 

 In the last post we left off with Calvin and Pinkey in Norfolk, Virginia and Sheriff Kearney had sent word to the Norfolk police to have them arrested for the murder of Samuel Tucker. They were arrested on December 30, 1893. Sheriff Kearney went to Norfolk to bring them to Louisburg on Tuesday, January 2, 1894. They arrived in Louisburg on Wednesday January 3, 1894 and were promptly taken before Dr OL Ellis for their hearings.  As you remember this is the very jail where Lucy and Thomas are being held. According to trial transcripts, Pinkey was put on the second floor of the jail, while Lucy remained on the first floor of the jail.  They had not seen each other since September of 1892. (This will be important later.) As you may recall, Lucy was arrested on Christmas Eve of 1893. This was a Sunday and courts were closed for Christmas Day, which fell on a Monday that year. Lucy was brought before the Justice of the Peace; Mr. J B Denton on Monday January 1, 1894. She pled ...

 So I have mentioned before how my paternal great great grandmother West Duck Lewis was murdered by Ben Collins around 1877 and how my great grandmother Sarah Jane Lewis was then sent to live with an uncle who then turned her over to Oxford Orphanage.  Now I find that I have two people who committed murder in my family. On my maternal line, I found two first cousins 4 generations removed who committed murder. One of them was also probably responsible for this twin brother's death as well. Their names were Calvin Coley and Thomas Coley. Thomas was the older of the two and he had a twin brother named James.  In 1890, James Coley was murdered. The house he was in was blown up using dynamite. No one was ever charged with this crime but it was believed by a great many people that his twin brother Thomas was the one who had killed him. Incidentally, the house belonged to their father Samuel who was not killed.  Then on June 30, 1892 Thomas and Calvin Coley killed a Jewish ...

Found the marriage record of former slaves Mike and Mary Thigpen. They had been married since 1835. It was recorded in 1866 in Pitt County, North Carolina.