“Monroe” — the last known African-born resident of Lincoln County, NC in 1895
Some possible new clues about the “negro boy Monroe” referenced in John E. Keener, Sr.’s last will and testament in Lincoln County, North Carolina (1822).
When my vierte Urgroßvater (fourth great-grandfather) died in 1823, he left one-third of his plantation and the “negro girl Fannie” to his wife, the remaining two-thirds and the “negro boy Monroe” to his son, Martin.
According to the March 15, 1895 edition of The Lincoln Courier there was a “small boy” named “Monroe” born in Africa around 1800, who was brought to Charleston, S. C. and sold as a slave to “a Mr. Keener” and later to the Grahams. For reference, the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database (TASTD) indicates that the number of slaves disembarked from ships arriving in North American (including South Carolina) ports peaked at around 20,000 (300) in 1807.
Monroe (Keener) Graham was the last known African-born resident of Lincoln County when he died on March 13, 1895. He would have been in his early twenties when he became the property of Martin Keener, assuming this Monroe is the same one mentioned in John E. Keener Sr.’s last will and testament of 1822. On April 5, 1895 The Lincoln Courier also reported on a meeting of the Lincoln County Commissioners in which J. A. Nixon was paid $4.30 for “coffin &c” for Monroe Graham.
Unfortunately, nothing else is currently known (by me) about either Monroe or Fannie. The research continues…
For additional information about my family’s connection to “America’s original sin”…
These posts contain information that will be included in my next book, which will feature an expanded and updated narrative about my family’s history in the Catawba Valley of North Carolina.
