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ARCHIBALD G BLACK & MARGARET PERRY Household

Sources

Sources include available marriage, military and census records as well as the book Origin and History of the Name of Black.

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Stories

As stated in the Origin and History of the Name of Black published in 1905, Archibald G. Black immigrated to the US from Scotland in 1832. We have not yet found any records that document his crossing the Atlantic, but we do know that he was living in Fayetteville, North Carolina before 1846. He may have come over within a family group, and there are a number of possible entries in the 1840 census records for North Carolina that may be pertinent to him.

Archibald married a North Carolinian named Margaret Perry sometime in 1846. Back in the day, in preparation to marry, a prospective groom took out a bond from the clerk of the court in the county where the bride lived as a guarantee that there was no legal obstacle to the proposed marriage. Below is the transcript of that marriage bond found in the files of the North Carolina State Archives.

Simply put, Archibald posted that $1000 marriage bond in the Cumberland County Courthouse in 1846. Amos Perry, about age 24 and presumed to be Margaret’s brother, acted as the bondsman for the family; as indicated by his 'mark', Amos was not literate. At the time Archibald was about 30 years old and Margaret about 18.

Although the 1850 census states Archibald’s age as 30 putting his birth year at about 1820, later census records put his birth year at about 1816 or 1817. Records put Margaret’s birth year between 1828 and 1830.

Archibald and Margaret had 10 children: John G (abt 1847), William H (abt 1849), Benjamin (abt 1850), Catherine (abt 1852), Frank (abt 1854), Archibald P (abt 1857), Mary M (abt 1861), Malcolm A (1862), James (abt 1865) and John H (abt 1867). William H only appears in the 1850 census record and is presumed to have died sometime before 1860. Catherine, Frank and James do not appear in the 1880 census, and their threads do not appear anytime afterwards. The threads for Mary M and John H are lost after 1880. It is not unexpected to lose the threads of the daughters since, if they married, they took on the surnames of their husbands. Lacking a parent or sibling’s move into the household, or their move back to their birth family, it is nearly impossible to pick up their threads. The same cannot be said for Frank and James, and so it may be the case that they died before 1880. John H may have died before 1900.

North Carolina entered the Civil War on the side of the Confederacy, but only after protracted effort to stay in the Union. In fact, Archibald and his older sons John G and Benjamin likely heard in Fayetteville in 1862 this sermon by a Presbyterian minister. Military records suggest that late in the war Archibald may have been drafted into the Confederate Army as a member of the Senior Reserves and John G as a member of the Junior Reserves. The National Archives was able to locate only one enlistment record for an Archibald G Black of Fayetteville, North Carolina. His name appears on the muster roll for Kelly's Co., 8th Regiment, North Carolina Senior Reserves. The record puts his birth in May of 1816 and describes him as a farmer with blue eyes, dark hair, fair complexion and about 5 feet 2 1/2 inches tall. It also identifies his place of birth as Cumberland County, North Carolina. Despite its reference to a farmer born in Cumberland, this record most likely belongs to our Archibald, since he is the only Archibald G Black of this vintage living in the Fayetteville region in 1860 and 1870. 

Archibald G. was employed as a Ship Carpenter even into his late sixties.He built both the steamers, "Cumberland" and "North State" at Fayetteville, NC in the early 1870s.Bill Gibson, who researches the Cape Fear River steamboats, describes these accomplishments in Two Boats of A. G. Black, Master Carpenter .

Archibald's sons John G, Benjamin and Malcolm A also worked in the boat building and carpentry trades. Their early work was clearly located in and around the Cape Fear River. This river extends from Cape Fear on the Atlantic coast far into the interior of North Carolina and is navigable as far as Fayetteville. In 1850 Archibald and the family were living on the Atlantic coast in Wilmington in close proximity to the river. Thereafter and later than 1880, they lived in Fayetteville always within a couple of streets of the Cape Fear River. Margaret’s brothers Amos and John also worked in the trade, and John lived within a few doors of them in Fayetteville. Interestingly, census documents indicate that Archibald G. maintained residences in both Fayetteville (with Margaret) and Wilmington (as a boarder).

Bill Gibson also located a story that appeared in the Wilmington Morning Star - Tuesday, May 30, 1882 about a Terrible Accident that resulted in Archibald's death (scroll to the bottom). Gibson also located Archibald's obituary in the Wilmington Morning Star of June 2, 1882 which reads as follows: 

Death of Mr. A. G. Black.

    After lingering speechless and unconscious since meeting with the terrible accident at the steam saw mill of Mr. A. Y. Wilson, in this city on Monday morning last, the particulars of which appeared in Tuesday’s STAR, Mr. Archie G. Black breathed his last yesterday afternoon about 2 o’clock.  Deceased came to this country from Scotland and worked in Wilmington for a number of years as a shipbuilder, having been the master builder in the construction of the North State, the Cumberland and other steamers running on the line between this city and Fayetteville.  He removed to Fayetteville some time previous to the war where he resided until within the last two or three years, when he returned to Wilmington, and has been since employed at the marine railway of Capt. S. W. Skinner.  He was a man of very industrious habits, of strict integrity and deep piety, being a consistent, useful and devoted member of the First Baptist Church.  He leaves a large family to mourn their loss, but they are consoled with the reflection that he was prepared for the great change.

    The remains will be taken to Fayetteville for interment, leaving on the steamer at 2 P. M. to-day.

[Wilmington Morning Star – June 2, 1882]

The threads for Margaret Perry Black are lost after 1880. Since there are no census records available for 1890, there is a 20 year gap in which she could have died. To date, we have found no death or court records that might indicate what happened to her. Based on Archibald's obituary, we can assume the family followed the Baptist tradition, but we have yet to find a church in Fayetteville or Wilmington that they may have attended.

While we lack documentation for the life Margaret after 1880, we have located many records that track the lives of their sons John G, Benjamin, and Archibald as well as Malcolm Amos.

Archibald G Black and Margaret Perry household