More tales of North Carolina's 19th-century African American legislators
Part 3: The Reconstruction-era General Assembly
Earlier this year, I began introducing readers to a handful of African American legislators elected to the North Carolina General Assembly during the nineteenth century, among more than 125 black state legislators, all Republicans, who held office between 1868 and 1900.
This week, I continue my occasional series on North Carolina’s black public servants during the period, many of whom I have written about in previous articles for the North Carolina Historical Review and in other publications. Today’s post explores the lives of more of the legislators who served in the sessions of the General Assembly chosen during the last years of Reconstruction, between 1870 and 1877:
John R. Good (1819?-1880?), of New Bern, served one term in the N.C. House of Representatives from Craven County as a Republican, elected in 1874. Good was born in 1819/20, probably in Craven County, birth status unknown. He was a barber, possibly educated privately before the Civil War, and was free before the 1860 census was taken.
According to the NCPedia website, Good was one of a group of five black men from the Union-occupied portion of North Carolina—including at least one other future legislator, Abraham Galloway—who traveled to Washington, D.C., in late April 1864, to meet President Abraham Lincoln at the White House and promote suffrage for black Americans.
Their meeting was not widely reported at the time, but as the New York Anglo-African wrote in June 1864, “The five callers, North Carolinians all … were unpolished former slaves (a brick mason, a barber, a farmer, and a preacher), led by Abraham H. Galloway, a handsome, proud, fiery abolitionist and Union spy in his mid-twenties. … Lincoln [told them] ‘that he had labored hard and through many difficulties for the good of the colored race, and that he should continue to do so, and in this matter would do what he could for us, but as it was a matter belonging to the State it would have to be attended to in the reconstruction of the state. He was glad to see colored men seeking for their rights, and said that this was an important right which we, as a people, ought to have.’”
After the end of the War and Lincoln’s death, Good remain inspired, and became active in the Craven County Republican Party, and served as vice president of the new Equal Rights League in 1865. Appointed as a justice of the peace in 1868 and 1874, Good was he was one of three black citizens elected to the New Bern town council in 1869, and reelected in 1872. He owned $500 in property in 1870, according to that year's census.
In 1874, he was selected as a Republican nominee for one of the county's seats in the N.C. House of Representatives. Elected later that year to serve in the 1874-1875 session of the General Assembly, he was appointed to serve on the House Committee on Railroads, Postroads, and Turnpikes.
During the 1874 session, he joined eight other black legislators in protesting the enactment of the so-called “Amnesty Bill” passed by the House in November 1874. He was one of 10 black legislators—joining two other white Republicans—to sign a formal protest against the earlier expulsion of newly-seated Republican House member J. Williams Thorne of Warren County, on grounds of allegedly not believing in God; earlier, Good had been among 28 Republican legislators (11 of them black) to vote against expelling Thorne.
He married Letitia Washington of Craven County in August 1867. They had one son: Benjamin Good (mentioned only in probate); and one daughter, Roxanna/Rowena Good, born in 1857 and mentioned in the censuses of 1870 and 1880.
Good died in Craven County sometime before April 9, 1880, when his estate was listed as in probate. His place of interment is not known.
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Edward H. Hill (1831?–1888), of New Bern, served one term in the N.C. House of Representatives from Craven County as a Republican, elected in 1874. Hill was born in 1831/32, probably to an enslaved mother in Craven County. Little is known about his early life or education.
A farmer and merchant, Hill later became the presiding elder at his A.M.E. Zion Church. After the War's end, he became active in the Craven County Republican Party. He was a delegate from Craven County to the 1865 black convention, and also served as a Craven County commissioner in 1872 and 1874.
In 1874, he was selected by Craven Republicans as one of their nominees for the county's seats in the N.C. House of Representatives, and elected later that year. In the 1874-1875 session of the General Assembly, he was appointed to the House Committee on Education.
During the 1874 session, he joined eight other black legislators in protesting the enactment of the so-called “Amnesty Bill” passed by the House in November 1874. He did not seek reelection in 1875. In 1880, he was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the legislature.
He owned $1,000 in real estate, and $300 in property in 1870, according to that year's census. He was married to Mary Marimple, and they had at least one daughter, Maria Jones.
Hill apparently died in New Bern in early 1888; notices by his executor seeking claims against his estate had begun appearing in local newspapers by March of that year. His place of interment is not known.
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Joseph Corbin Hill (1844?-1911?), of Wilmington, served one term in the N.C. House of Representatives from New Hanover County as a Republican, elected in 1876. He was born in 1844/1845 in Wilmington, status unknown, but the son of M. C. Hill (father) and M. A. E. Hill. Little else is known of his early life or education.
After the Civil War ended, Hill became active in the New Hanover County Republican Party, and held several local and county offices during Reconstruction, including constable (1870-1871); register of deeds, 1874; justice of the peace and election judge, 1869; city clerk, 1871; and registrar, 1869.
In 1876, he was selected by New Hanover Republicans as a nominee for one of the county’s seat in the N.C. House of Representatives. Elected later that year, he served in the 1876-1877 session of the General Assembly.
After leaving the legislature, Hill reportedly lost a close election for the New Hanover County Commission. He did serve as justice of the peace in New Hanover County in 1880. By 1900, the Hill family had moved to Washington, D.C., according to that year’s U.S. census, where he is believed to have worked as a cook.
His wife's name was Mahalia A. Clark; they were married on March 3, 1869, and they had three sons, including one named Isaiah., who was married in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1901.
Hill may have have died in Washington, D.C., in April 1907, according to local records. His place of interment is unknown.
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Hanson Truman Hughes (1835?-1910?), of Oxford, served two terms in the N.C. House of Representatives from Granville County as a Republican, elected in 1872 and 1874; and one term in the N.C. Senate from 21st District (Granville County), elected in 1876. Hughes was born in 1835/36, perhaps in Franklin County, where he was listed as a free resident in the 1860 census; he became a barber.
After the end of the Civil War, Hughes moved to Oxford, where he became active in the Granville County Republican Party. He was appointed as a magistrate for Granville County in 1868, and as a justice of the peace in 1873. He also served as a registrar. In 1870, he owned $1,000 in real estate, and $250 in personal property, according to that year's census.
In 1872, he was selected by Granville Republicans as one of their nominees for a seat in the N. C. House of Representatives, and was elected later that year to his first term, serving in the 1872-1874 session of the General Assembly. Hughes was reelected to that seat in 1874, serving in the 1874-1875 session.
In 1876, he became the party's nominee for the 21st district of the N.C. Senate, and defeated Democrat Rufus Ames in that year's race by 140 votes. In the 1876-1877 session of the General Assembly, he was appointed to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Mechanics, and Mining.
Hughes was married by 1860 to Delia Ann Reid Hughes. According to the 1880 census, they had seven children: daughters Margaret and Leonia, and sons William, Eugene, Durward, Albert, and Edward.
His wife, Delia, who died in October 1897, is buried in Raleigh’s Mount Hope Cemetery. He may have married a second time, to a Lucy Friday Hughes, who died in 1905 and is buried in Greensboro’s Union Cemetery, and whose grave marker lists H. T. Hughes as her husband.
Hughes’ death date and interment site are not certain, although probate files for Guilford County indicate that he hay have died there before July 1910.
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Richard M. Johnson (1837?-1899?), of Tarboro, served one term in the N. C. House of Representatives from Edgecombe County as a Republican, elected in 1870. Johnson was born in Edgecombe County in 1837/38, presumably to an enslaved mother. Little is known about his early life or education. He became a barber.
After the War ended, he became active in the Edgecombe County Republican party, and was appointed as a justice of the peace in Tarboro in 1868. In 1870, he was selected by Edgecombe Republicans as one of their nominees for a seat in the N.C. House of Representatives, defeating incumbent Representative Henry C. Cherry.
Elected later that year, Johnson served in the 1870-1872 sessions of the General Assembly. He reportedly worked between legislative sessions as a barber, perhaps in Richmond, Virginia.
He was one of 17 black legislators to sign the “Address to the Colored People of North Carolina” protesting the impeachment of Gov. William W. Holden, dated December 19, 1870, and published in the Raleigh Sentinel on December 30, 1870. He did not seek reelection in 1872, and does not appear to have held public office again.
He was married in November 1879 to Fannie O. Burwell, aged 25, of Granville County, and afterward lived and worked in Henderson, according to the 1880 U.S. census. In 1920, Fannie Johnson, now widowed, was recorded as living in Caswell County with her son, Allen, by the U.S. census.
Neither Richard Johnson’s date of death nor place of interment is known. He is believed to have died sometime before 1900, possibly in Henderson.
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Burton H. Jones (1824?-1877), of Jackson, served one term in the N.C. House of Representatives from Northampton County as a Republican, elected in 1872. Jones was born in 1824/1825, probably to an enslaved mother in Northampton County. Little is known about his early life or education. He became a carpenter and farmer.
After the end of the Civil War, he became active in the Northampton County Republican Party. In 1866, he was a delegate to the State Equal Rights League Convention of Freedmen in Raleigh. A Northampton County school committeeman in 1870, he was listed in that year's U. S. census as owning $178 in real estate and $400 in property.
In 1872, Northampton Republicans selected him as their nominee for the county’s seat in the N.C. House of Representatives. Elected later that year, he served in the 1872-1874 sessions of the General Assembly. He did not seek reelection in 1874.
Jones was one of 17 legislators to sign the “Address to the Colored People of North Carolina” protesting the impeachment of Gov. William W. Holden, dated December 19, 1870, and published in the Raleigh Sentinel, on December 30, 1870.
Jones and his wife, whose name was Caroline, apparently had no children. He died in Northampton County in March 1877. His place of interment is not known.
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John A. Jones (1837?-1899?), of Halifax County. served one term in the N.C. House of Representatives from Halifax County as a Republican, elected in 1874. Jones was born in about 1837, probably to an enslaved mother in Halifax County. Little is known of his early life or education. He was a farmer.
After the end of the Civil War, he became active in the Halifax County Republican Party, and served as a Halifax County justice of the peace in 1873. In 1874, he was selected as the party's nominee for one of the Halifax County seats in the N.C. House of Representatives. In the 1874-1875 session of the General Assembly, he was appointed to the House Committee on Corporations.
During the 1874 session, he joined eight other black legislators in protesting the enactment of the so-called “Amnesty Bill” passed by the House in November 1874. He was also one of nine black legislators who joined white Republicans to sign a formal protest against the earlier expulsion of newly-seated white Republican House member J. Williams Thorne of Warren County, on grounds of allegedly not believing in God; earlier, he had been among 28 Republican legislators (11 of them black) to vote against expelling Thorne.
His wife, whose name is believed to have been Lucinda, bore him at least four children.
Jones’s death date and place of interment are unknown. He is presumed to have died in Halifax County sometime before 1900.
Next time: Part 4: More Reconstruction-era General Assembly members