Copeland Connections
 

 

 

COPELAND CONNECTIONS?

 
MYSTERY SOLVED!

I now know that my COPELAND ancestors from Halifax County were not related to John Copeland (1808-1893). My original musings can be read at the bottom of this posting, but now I am revealing what I have since found out about John's origins.

With the help of Vickie Copeland & Brenda Pitts, both descendants & longtime researchers of the John Copeland family, we were able to solve the mystery of who John was. In March 2018, Vickie found the 1817 Estate of Anthony Copeland, a white landowner in Bertie County, NC.  It included an August 1818 petition for the  freedom of a boy named John. The estate file is fairly large and covers several years, but it's apparent that Anthony's family was from Nansemond County, Virginia, he was an unmarried man, whose sole heirs were his 2 brothers, Benjamin & William (who also died within a short period afterwards) and a young nephew named Albert Daughtry, an orphan, the son of the deceased Derren Daughtry. I have transcribed the pertinent sections of the file referring to the emancipation of John:

From file of ANTHONY COPELAND, died Nov. 29, 1817 Bertie Co. NC.

Emancipation of JOHN COPELAND (1808-1893)

Among the list of Accounts, a small slip of paper for 1818 reads:
ANTHONY COPELAND's Exor.
Aug 1818 - on fee on Petition for manumitting boy} $4
Aug 1818 - Drawing Deed of manumission &c - $4


State of N. Carolina
Bertie County
Court of Pleas & Quarter Sessions
August Term 1818

To the Worshipful the Justices of the said Court.
The Petition of GAVIN HOGG & JOSEPH H. BRYAN
Therewith
That they are the legal owners of a negro slave named JOHN formerly the property of ANTHONY COPELAND dec'd. That he was a faithful & meritorius servant to his former master during the time he lived with him & for his meritorious conduct & the affection he bore him his late master was desirious of having him emancipated but was prevented by Death from carrying his intentions into effect. That your Petitioners, the present owners, of said slave are desirous of obtaining the permission of this Worshipful Court to liberate the said slave JOHN and are willing to enter into Bond & Security as divided in such cases by the Act of Assembly. They therefore pray your Worships to pass an order authorizing the emancipation of the said slave.

JA. IREDELL
Atto for Pet'r


The Court on hearing this petition order & decree that they are satisfied of the meritorious services of the slave mentioned in said petition and direct that a License be granted for his emancipation upon the petitioners entering into Bond & Security as the Act of Assembly directs and that these proceedings be entered of record.

78
G. HOGG, Petr.
The Court
Aug Term 1818


North Carolina Probate
Will of ANTHONY COPELAND,1818
Bertie County Will Book G, Pages 40-41 (Images 65-66)

In the name of God Amen,
I ANTHONY COPELAND of the county of Bertie in the State of North Carolina do make and ordain this my last will & Testament hereby revoking all former wills made by me.
Item the first my will and desire is that all my just debts shall be paid.
Item the second my will and desire is that after my debts are paid and five hundred dollars placed in the hands of JOSEPH AL BRYAN & GAVIN HOGG for the purposes specified in a certain Bill of Sale or trust given them this day shall be divided in the following manner Vizt To my nephew ALBERT G. DAUGHTRY I give and bequeath one half of my estate both real & personal to him and his heirs forever The other half I give and bequeath in equal parts to my two Brothers BENJAMIN COPELAND & WILLIAM E. COPELAND to him and their heirs forever.
Lastly I nominate and appoint my friends JOSEPH A. BRYAN, GEORGE OUTLAW & GAVIN HOGG Executors to this my last will & Testament. In testimony of all which I have hereunto set my hand & seal this 23d day of November A.D. 1817.

A. COPELAND

Witness
GEO L. RYAN
WHITMEL H. PUGH

State of N. Carolina
Bertie County Court

February Term 1818
This last will & testament of A. COPELAND dec'd was proved in open court by the oath of GEORGE L. RYAN one of the subscribing witnesses thereto let it be recorded.
test SOL CHERRY Clk

Images:

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My original questions about the possible COPELAND FAMILY Connections are below.

 

One of the things I've found in my research of the COPELANDs, is that there seems to be a resemblance between the Warren/Halifax County family of Benjamin Copeland and the Wake County family of John Copeland. I have been in contact with members of the Wake County descendants in the past and we have also noticed the same, but none of us have been able to prove what that connection may be. Below are photos of two of the sons of John Copeland (1808-1893) & Delilah Evans (1809-1888) and the son of Benjamin Copeland (1812-aft 1880) & Frances Hawkins (1822-aft 1880). John Copeland was said to have been the son of his slaveowner who freed him when he was 7 years old; no record has been found to prove this, but of note is that there were COPELANDs who were Free People of Color living in Wake County prior to John's birth, the earliest on record was Isaac Copeland in 1798, he disappears from the Census after 1830, where it was last listed he was aged 55-100. The story of Benjamin Copeland can be read on this website on the "Next" button at the bottom of this page. Could John have actually been a son of Isaac Copeland? Could there have been a connection between Isaac Copeland of Wake County, and Cato Copeland of Halifax County? Could these families all have been related to one another?  Take a look at them, and see what you  think.

 

John Anthony Copeland, 1834-1859

Oldest son of John Copeland & Delilah Evans, originally from Wake Co., North Carolina, family moved to Oberlin, Lorain County, Ohio in the 1840's.
John A. was hung in Virginia in 1859 for his participation in the Harpers Ferry incident, as one of the men who rode with John Brown in his effort to raise an army to free slaves.

 

 

 

William L. Copeland, 1845-1885

Son of John Copeland & Delilah Evans (next 2 photos).
William was one of the first African-American police officers in the South, and was the first one killed in the line of duty in 1885 Little Rock, Arkansas, while trying to apprehend a suspected criminal, when he was struck on the back of the head with a blunt object, and the suspect fled, leaving the officer to die.

 

 


 

 

Benjamin Franklin Copeland, Jr., 1855- bef. 1899, son of Benjamin Copeland & Frances Hawkins, who were both born in Halifax County, North Carolina.

Benjamin was descended from Cato Copeland, b. 1758, a Free Person of Color who served in the Revolutionary War and who lived in Halifax Co., NC, where he died in 1827. Benjamin and his family lived in Warren & Halifax Counties, North Carolina.

 

 

Were these families related?  No!


 

 

 

 

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