Census Insights
As the scope of my research expands, I become increasingly curious about the origins of families. While most of my ancestors converged in New Lebanon/South Mills (Camden County), they came from a number of surrounding counties. In order to establish a baseline (for myself and any others researching the same area) I decided to create a list of “all other free persons” in the 1790 United States Federal Census for Camden, Pasquotank, and Currituck counties.
To be clear, this list is not intended to suggest that people of the same surname are from the same family. It is merely a collection of individuals of potential interest. Due to restrictive marriage laws, free people of color formed many endogamous communities and many families became thoroughly interrelated. While this list is a starting point, many free people of color were not recorded in the census and many were recorded under a different race as soon as the following census year (leading to significant confusion among genealogists trying to trace individuals).
Note: I transcribed this list from record images and suspect there are a number of misspellings.
Camden County (30 Total)
| Name | White Males Over 16 Years | White Males Under 16 Years | White Females | All Other Free Persons | Slaves | Amount of Each Family |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lydia Spelman | 4 | 4 | ||||
| Timothy Spelman | 1 | 1 | ||||
| David Hall | 1 | 2 | 3 | |||
| Will a free Negro | 2 | 2 | ||||
| Aaron Spelman | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Enoch Sawyer | 2 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 17 | |
| Samuel Rhodes | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | ||
| Benjamin Jones | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 36 | 50 |
| Charles Oggs | 4 | 4 | ||||
| Jeremiah Sexton | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | |
| William Burgess | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| Silby Harney | 1 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 16 |
| Thomas Nash Junior | 1 | 2 | 3 | |||
| Demsey Sawyer | 1 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 18 | 28 |
Pasquotank County (79 Total)
| Name | White Males Over 16 Years | White Males Under 16 Years | White Females | All Other Free Persons | Slaves | Amount of Each Family |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Brown | 2 | 2 | ||||
| Robert Bone | 5 | 5 | ||||
| Tulk Bone | 3 | 3 | ||||
| Dick a free negro | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Susannah Everton | 2 | 2 | ||||
| Charles Hunt | 5 | 5 | ||||
| Solomon James | 1 | 1 | ||||
| James Jones | 4 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 22 |
| Daniel Lester | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Rachel Mitchell | 9 | 9 | ||||
| Will Morris free Negro | 3 | 3 | ||||
| John Needham | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 9 | |
| Samuel Overton | 3 | 3 | ||||
| Nathan Pinson | 2 | 3 | 3 | 8 | ||
| Thomas Redding Esquire | 3 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 17 | 28 |
| Joseph Richardson Esquire | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 14 |
| Joshua Samson | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Jesse Simons | 2 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 17 |
| Reuben Smithson | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | ||
| Thomas Sylvester | 4 | 4 | ||||
| Sylvester Turner free Negro | 4 | 4 | ||||
| Charles Turner | 4 | 4 | ||||
| Demsey Turner | 4 | 4 | ||||
| Joshua White (son of B) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | |
| Francis White | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| Winifred Winbery | 7 | 7 |
Currituck County (115 Total)
| Name | White Males Over 16 Years | White Males Under 16 Years | White Females | All Other Free Persons | Slaves | Amount of Each Family |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daniel Parr | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | |
| Charles Hunt | 6 | 6 | ||||
| James Boswell | 8 | 8 | ||||
| Sarah Bryan | 4 | 4 | ||||
| Thomas Dunkin | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | ||
| Price Bring | 4 | 4 | ||||
| Mary Basnett | 4 | 4 | ||||
| Robert Basnett | 1 | 8 | 9 | |||
| William Chandler | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| James Thomas | 8 | 1 | 9 | |||
| Jonathan Carr | 4 | 4 | ||||
| Nuram Hunt | 2 | 2 | ||||
| Demsey Hunt | 2 | 2 | ||||
| William Vever | 4 | 4 | ||||
| Matthias Towler | 3 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 13 | |
| William McCoy | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| David Lindsay | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Edom Fuller | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Thomas Jarvis Junior | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 18 |
| Elizabeth Hinton | 5 | 5 | ||||
| Peter Gordon | 10 | 10 | ||||
| Charles Duglas | 7 | 7 | ||||
| Bellar Turner | 5 | 5 | ||||
| Samson Turner | 6 | 6 | ||||
| Abi Jones | 3 | 3 | ||||
| Margaret Mekins | 3 | 3 | ||||
| Richard Mekins | 3 | 3 | ||||
| Lewis Cox | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Mary Bathoun | 2 | |||||
| Samuel Burham | 4 | 4 | ||||
| Joseph Ballentine | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 10 |
Descendants of the Great Dismal 