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COPELAND CONNECTIONS? |
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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: Images:
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. |
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John Anthony Copeland, 1834-1859
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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.
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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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