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THE MORDECAI STORY

Faith, Family, and Community in Raleigh

Mordecai Historic Park

Intro

The Mordecai House and surrounding landscape were part of one of the largest antebellum plantations in central

North Carolina.

Five Generations of Lane and Mordecai descendants lived in the home between 1785 and 1964. In addition, over two hundred African American slaves lived on the property in the decades between the American Revolution and the Civil War.

The Mordecai Story

For nearly two centuries, those involved in The Mordecai Story experienced powerful social and political changes, including the formation of Raleigh as the Capitol of North Carolina in 1792 and the end of slavery in 1865. Today, Mordecai Historic Park stands as a testament to all of the people who once lived here. The Mordecai Story: Faith, Family, and Community in Raleigh examines their lives in context with their place and time, and allows their voices to once again be heard.

The pronunciation of the family name.

Pronounciation

To listen to audio again, navigate away from and back to this page.

Five generations of Lane and Mordecai descendants lived in the home between 1785 and 1964. Once one of the largest plantations in North Carolina, the Lane-Mordecai property was also home to more than two hundred African American slaves in the decades between the American Revolution and the Civil War.

People

Elizabeth (Ester) Whitlock

Married

1762

Martha Hinton

Joel Lane

Moses Mordecai

Married

1760

Jacob Mordecai

Mary Hinton

Judith Myers

Married

1772

Married

1784

Henry Lane

Married

1785

Mary "Polly" Hinton

+ 11 other children

Married

1798

Rebecca Myers

Moses Mordecai

Ann Willis "Nancy" Lane

Harriet Lane

Temperance Lane

Margaret "Peggy" Lane

+ 12 other children

Married

1817

Mordecai Family Tree

Married

1817

Jacob Mordecai

Margaret Lane Mordecai

Henry Mordecai

Ellen Mordecai

Martha Hinton Mordecai

Married

1845

MargaretMordecai

Moses Mordecai

Patty Mordecai

Dr. William Little

Mary Willis Mordecai

William Armstrong Turk

Married

Burke Haywood Little

Zoom in to view names and pictures

Billy Holmes

Zoom in to view names and pictures

Enslaved Community

Indicates Family Relationship

Betsy Holmes

Harriet

Harry Ruffin

Carriage Driver

Duke

Jim

Edith

Dilly

Davy

Caroline

Scott

Jenny

Libson

Lucy

George Scott

Sally Christmas

Joe

Henderson Mordecai

Christopher Christmas

Henry Christmas

Nancy Christmas

Louisa Christmas

Caroline Christmas

Milker/Weaver

Maid/Nurse Seamstress

Carriage Driver

Domestic Worker

Alice Mordecai

Joshua

John

Harriet

Sarah

Grandison

Moses

Venus Gorham

Hannah Mordecai

Chloe

Chaney Hinton

Pompey Gorham

Adam

China

Grizzy

Cherry Mordecai

Emanuel Mordecai

Charity

Domestic/Sewing

Chambermaid/ Cook/Nursery

Rueben

Grathan

Henry

Harriet K.

Ginney

Cely Mordecai

Isham Mordecai

Grant

Ananais Ruffin

Mittie Ann Ruffin

Bryan

Molly

Bozas

John

King

Silas

Laura Carpenter

Blacksmith

Laundress

Gardener

Rose

Jeff

Venus Saulter

Abby

Thad Mordecai

Charlotte

Aaron

George

Gilly

John Saulter

Allen

Jim

Adelaide

Silvy

Sydney

Leah

Alfred Mordecai

Nanny/Nurse

Cooper

Betty

Anthony

Frank

Joe

Austin

Fanny

Alia

Simon

Andy

Willis

Angelina

Annie Mordecai

Priscilla

Rose

Isaac

Augustus

Ben

Simpson

Blacksmith

Domestic Worker

Enslaved Community

Ellen

Fabius

Patsy

Peck

Harry White

Amy Mordecai

Lige

Bill

Bob

Nanny White

Altemire

Carter

Bins

Boston

Charly

Charles

Moses

Shoemaker

Sodrick

Louisa

Emily

Emma

Dilia Ann

Clary

Dempsey

Dick Rogers

Cynthia

Clarissa

Davy

Mary

Alice Mordecai

David

Lily

Ivy

Doctor Mordecai

Peggy Baucom

Gardener/Shoemaker

Blacksmith

Ellen

Eliza Mordecai

Soloman

Lucky

Edy

Lucy

Eliza

Davy

Essex Henry

Mary Henry

Lewis Henry (2)

Jacob

Lewis Henry

Edmund

Nancy Henry

Edy

Elliot

Blacksmith

Eliza

Mingo

Meoriny

Martha

Rebecca

Dick

Lunsford

Martin

Mack

Mattie Curtis

Jacob

Lucy Hinton

Missoura

Mary

Jerry Hinton

Matilda

Nancy

Carpenter

Cook

Wet Nurse/Child Care

Yard Worker/Gardener

Plaz Williams

Phillis

Primus Mordecai

Pherabee

Stephen Mordecai

Nely

Lizzy Mordecai

Paul Mordecai

Olive

Rachel

Margaret

Raiford

Penny

Rebecca

Phillis

Nora

Ned

William

Rose

Squire

William Mack

Sam

Walter

Wiley

Hercules

Hetty

Daniel Mordecai

Isaac

Nancy

Tom

Stephen Stephens

Nathan

Hinton

Sina Mordecai

Wood Cutter

Driver

Before the Mordecais

The Early Republic

1785-1820

The area surrounding Mordecai Historic Park was once part of a large tract of land owned by Joel Lane. A prosperous farmer and prominent political figure, Lane played a major role in the founding of Wake County in 1771 and Raleigh in 1792.

Plan for Raleigh, 1792

Plan for Raleigh, 1792

In 1792, Joel Lane sold 1,000 acres to the state for the purpose of establishing the capital city. William Christmas surveyed the land and designed the original plan for Raleigh. It included a series of square lots and parks which would eventually surround the State Capitol. Around 1785, Henry Lane - Joel Lane's oldest son- inherited a sizable portion of his father's land. Henry and his new wife, Mary "Polly" Hinton, were the first to live in the home that later became known as the Mordecai House. The original structure, which would have been very comfortable for the time, probably consisted of four rooms. The land surrounding it was rural.

Image courtesy of the State Archives of North Carolina

The Henry & Polly Lane Home

c. 1785

This illustration on the left portrays the

Henry & Polly Lane Home-later known as the Mordecai House- as it looked in the late 18th century. In short time, Henry and Polly became the managers of an active farm and household. They had four daughters, Margaret (Peggy), Harriet, Temperance (Tempie), and Ann Willis (Nancy). By 1797, the Lanes owned nineteen slaves. These individuals were considered property of the Lane estate.

The Henry and Polly Lane Home

Drawn by Sherry Yow. Research by Evelyn N. Goswick for Meredith College, 1985

Henry Lane Probate Inventory

The 1797 inventory of Henry Lane's estate lists each slave

by name.

Moses Mordecai Arrives in Raleigh

The Antebellum Era

1820-1860

Moses Mordecai acquired the Lane property in 1817

when he married Margaret "Peggy" Lane. Moses hailed from Warrenton, North Carolina where his father, Jacob Mordecai, operated the Mordecai Female Academy. A successful young attorney, he chose to establish his practice in Raleigh, a city on the rise. Moses and Peggy had three children; Henry, Ellen, and Jacob. Following Peggy's death in 1821, Moses married her younger sister, Ann Willis "Nancy" Lane. This marriage produced one daughter, Margaret. Moses died of illness, possibly malaria, in 1824 at the age of thirty-nine.

Portrait by William Garle Browne. Courtesy of Capital Area Preservation, Inc.

Image courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of History

Moses Mordecai, c.1820

Silhouettes, such as this one of Peggy Lane, were fashionable in the early nineteenth century.

This 1857 portrait is a copy of a much earlier painting by an unknown artist. The painting shown is on display in the Mordecai House.

Mordecai Property

Survey,1819

Moses Mordecai received a vast amount of land and property upon marrying into the Lane family. By 1819, he owned 958 acres surrounding the home, as well as nineteen slaves.

Mordecai Property

Maps courtesy of the State Archives of North Carolina

"The Current House"

Between 1820 and 1860, the Mordecai property grew, eventually becoming a sprawling plantation complete with a fashionable manor house. Moses Mordecai hired renowned architect William Nichols to design the impressive Greek Revival structure which still stands on the property.

"Plan of the Stage Road," 1822

Perched atop a slight elevation and surrounded by cleared land, the Mordecai home would have been visible to those traveling alond the Louisburg Road in the early 19th century.

Jacob Mordecai operated a well-respected female academy in Warrenton, NC from 1809 until 1819. By this time Moses was a practicing attorney, but several of his siblings lived in Warrenton and assisted with the school.

Female Education

Weekly Raleigh Register, May 4, 1809

Antebellum Social Structure

Antebellum Social Structure

Planters

Planters were wealthy landholders who owned twenty or more slaves. Only 6% of North Carolinians were considered planters in the antebellum era. Nevertheless, planters held the bulk of the economic and political power in North Carolina and across the South. "Planters" are also referred to as the "gentry" or "elites" due to their elevated social status.

Yeomen

Yeomen were landowning farmers who were below planters on the class scale. Some yeomen were relatively well-to-do and even owned a few slaves. Mostly yeomen families, however, were of modest means and did not own slaves. About 65% of North Carolinians were non-slaveholding yeomen. "Yeomen" were also sometimes referred to as "plain folk" or "common whites".

Poor farmers & laborers were individuals that did not own land. Most were tenant farmers who rented land. Around 10% of antebellum North Carolinians fell into this category.

Poor farmers

Free blacks

Free blacks were African Americans who were not enslaved. Some purchased their own freedom, while others were born free. According to antebellum laws, the child of a free mother is also free. About 10% of the black population in antebellum North Carolina was free.

Slaves

Slaves, according to antebellum laws, were people of African ancestry who could be bought and sold as property. In the late antebellum era, approximately 1/3 of North Carolina's population were slaves.

Faith

Image courtesy of Beth Ahabah Museum and Archives

Faith

'Virtue in Whatever Garb it Appeared'

The Mordecais descended from Jewish immigrants who left Bonn, Germany for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania around 1750. Philadelphia had a thriving Jewish community which allowed the first generation of Mordecais in America to live and worship among brethren. A generation later, in the late 1700s, the Jacob Mordecai family moved to North Carolina. In the rural South they were distanced from a synagogue to fellow Jews. Jacob insisted that his family observe to Sabbath and Jewish holidays within their home, but encouraged them to follow "virtue in whatever garb it appeared" in their daily lives. Jacob Mordecai

recommitted himself to Judaism in the early 19th

century. Yet most of his children eventually

embraced Christianity.

Courtesy of Capital Area Preservation, Inc

Kahal Kadosh Beth Shalome, Richmond, Virginia

After his children were grown, Jacob reaffirmed his commitment to Judaism. He moved to Richmond in 1819 and was instrumental in the construction of Kahal Kadosh Beth Shalome, the first synagogue in Virginia. Jacob delivered the keynote address at the opening of Beth Shalome in 1822.

Jacob Mordecai, 1826

The 'Unfortunate Situation of Our Sisters'

The dilemma was not lost on Jacob's sons. In an 1834 letter likely penned at Mordecai House, George Washington Mordecai confided to his brother Samuel.

Southern Women & Marriage

Marriage in the 19th century was often a family decision where fathers had ultimate authority. Fathers expected their daughters to marry men who could provide a comfortable home. Many also expected their daughters to marry into families that shared similar religious and cultural backgrounds. This occasionally proved to be a burden for Southern women, including some of the Mordecai daughters. In the early 19th century, Jacob Mordecai insisted that his daughters marry Jewish men. Jacob's intentions were noble. He was determined to observe Jewish law, as well as fulfill his duty to family and community. Still, the expectation put pressure on some of his daughters. On one hand, they wanted to honor their father and their religious obligation to marry within the faith. On the other hand, however, they wanted to

marry according to their own wishes.

"There is no one thing that I have felt more sensibly than the peculiarly disagreeable and unfortunate situation of our sisters in this respect. They are either obliged to lead a life of seclusion and celibacy, marry a man whom they cannot admire or esteem...or they must incur the certain and lasting displeasure of their parents by marrying out of the pale of their religion... It does seem very unreasonable in them to acquire their daughters to do what no one can do- control their affections and direct them in a particular channel."

-George Washington Mordecai

letter,1834

Selecting the right marriage partner was particularly important to the Southern gentry. A "good" marriage- such as the 1842 union between Margaret Mordecai and John Devereux Jr. -combined family wealth, increased land holdings, and strengthened kin networks. By all accounts the Mordecai-Devereux marriage was a happy one. Yet diaries and letters suggest that women were occasionally trapped in unhappy marriages. Some chose to never marry.

Margaret Mordecai Devereux, 1846

This portrait of Margaret Mordecai Devereux was painted approximately four years after she married. The couple inherited "Runeroi Meadows,"

a Devereux plantation on the Roanoke River in Bertie County. They spent summers at family plantations in Raleigh.

Margaret Mordecai

Original portrait by John Henry Brown. Courtesy of Frick Art Referece Library

Will's Forest, 1897

Marriage allowed the Raleigh plantation known as Will's Forest to pass from the Lanes to the Mordecais and eventually to the Devereuxs. Ann Willis Lane Mordecai built Will's Forest in 1840 when her eldest son, Henry, took over management of the Mordecai plantation.

Will's Forest later passed to John and Margaret Mordecai Devereux. The main house at Will's Forest stood approximately one mile west of

the Mordecai House, near today's intersection

of Peace Street and Glenwood Avenue.

Will's Forest

This photograph is in Plantation Sketches, a memoir written by Margaret Mordecai Devereux about her early life in the plantation South. The memoir was published in 1906.

Image courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of History

A slaveholding family

Slavery

By the end of the antebellum era, the Mordecais were one of the largest slave-holding families in North Carolina. Moses Mordecai acquired approximately twenty slaves and 950 acres in Raleigh when he married into the Lane family. At the time of his death in 1824, Moses owned approximately thirty slaves, as well as land in several North Carolina counties including Wake, Johnson, Wayne, and Edgecombe.

The Moses Mordecai Place

Raleigh plantation

A century after his death, locals still referred to the

house and plantation as "The Moses Mordecai Place."

The Mordecai plantation reached its height between 1830 and 1860. After Moses's death, his younger brother, George Washington Mordecai, purchased more land and slaves on behalf of the Moses Mordecai estate. Henry Mordecai, Moses's son, inherited the plantation in 1840. By the Civil War the plantation included a number of structures such as a mill, a blacksmith shop, a cotton gin, and a cotton press. Slaves lived in a line of cabins which probably stood about a quarter of a mile northwest of the Mordecai House.

The Mordecais owned several plantations in Wake, Johnston, and Edgecombe counties. The "Johnston Plantation" was located along the Neuse River about fifteen miles southeast

of Raleigh. Their plantation in Edgecombe county was

"on the North side of Tar River, half way between

Rocky Mount and Tarboro."

Images courtesy of Capital Area Preservation, Inc.

Moses Mordecai

Moses's Mordecai's Final Will

In his final will, Moses Mordecai requested that his land and slaves be divided among his widow and children. Moses died in 1824.

"The Johnston Plantation [had] a nice log house with two rooms and comfortably built...The house sat under a magnificent whiteoak [sic] tree...There was a garden down there behind the house, in which there were always fine tomatoes in season and plenty of lavender...The wagon used to go up every Saturday night and always had something good in it; pears, cherries, or apples; honey, and beautiful butter."

-Ellen Mordecai recalled in Gleanings from Long Ago

Johnston Plantation

Slave Inventory

"Tall picking in Old Edgecombe"

The Standard, Oct. 29 1859

The Mordecais raised livestock and grew a variety of crops, particularly corn, here in Raleigh. The Mordecais may have focused solely on cotton production in "Olde Edgecombe."

"My Land in Edgecombe county...containing twenty-six hundred and fifty (2,650) acres...is considered one of the best cotton farms in the country." -Henry Mordecai, The Tarboro Southerner, 1869

Edgecombe Plantation

Image courtesy of Capital Area Preservation, Inc.

Henry Mordecai, 1861 Slave inventory, 1840

Henry Mordecai inherited the Mordecai plantation in 1840 when he reached the age of twenty-one. This inventory indicates that the Mordecai estate owned 122 slaves at that time. As the inventory suggests, slaves were considered property.

In their own words

In the 1930s federal employees with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) interviewed thousands of former slaves. The WPA conducted a number of interviews in Raleigh, and a few of these shed light on the experiences of Mordecai slaves. Rather than remembering the old times fondly, they recalled a life of uncertainty, pain, and hardship.

In their own words

We have chosen to leave the interviews in

dialect as they were originally transcribed in the 1930s. Due to the sensitive nature of the content, only

a portion of the interviews are on display and some words have been edited. WPA narratives are an important primary source. Yet inaccuracies exist, as they do in any memoir or recollection. Various factors are responsible, including the effect of time on memory—the WPA conducted these interviews more than 60 years after slavery ended. One inconsistency is found in Mattie

Audio

Curtis’s description of Moses Mordecai, a man who died in 1824, years before she was born. This is not pointed out to challenge Mattie’s powerful story, but rather to

illuminate a known discrepancy in fairness to Moses’s

memory and his many living descendants.

[Interviews and accompanying images

courtesy of the Library of Congress]

An Interview with Mattie Curtis, 98 years old, of Raleigh, North Carolina, Route #4

Mattie Curtis

To listen to this audio again, navigate away from and back to this page.

An Interview with Essex Henry, 83, of 713 S. East Street, Raleigh, N.C.

Essex Henry

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Plaz Williams

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'Leather shoe found in cellar wall of the Mordecai House'

Leather Shoe

In her memoir entitled, Gleanings from Long Ago,

Ellen Mordecai recalled "Ung Charles" making shoes

in his cabin which was located near the spring.

Ellen also remembered that Nanny spun the thread needed to piece the shoes together. Although no evidence confirms who made this shoe, it is representative of the type of work that a slave cobbler and weaver may have produced. The shoe is fascinating on another level as well. Hiding shoes in walls was a British folk custom that colonial settlers

brought along to America. Superstition held

that a concealed shoe would ward off evil

spirits. It is quite possible that the shoe dates

to the 1780s when the Lanes contructed the

earliest portion of the house.

Mittie Ann at the Spring c. 1900

While most slaves worked in the fields, domestic workers, such as Mittie Ann, labored in the plantation home and surrounding yard. Mittie Ann would have been an important link between the Mordecais and the slave community. Information obtained while on duty often initiated a "grapevine" that kept the slave community current on news and gossip.

Mittie Ann

Image courtesy of the State Archives of North Carolina

Documents

"Runaway Notice." The Star and North

Carolina State Gazette, Feb 18, 1820.

In February of 1820, Moses Mordecai posted

a reward notice for the return of a fugitive slave named Jim Gundy. Running away was a common form of slave resistance. Some escaped to freedom, but most remained local and only stayed temporarily. As the notice indicates, Moses assumed that Jim was attempting to visit his wife in Franklin County. Notices such as this were common in antebellum newspapers.

Documents

George Washington Mordecai c. 1845

"Bill of Sale for Primus"

In 1835, George W. Mordecai purchased a man named Primus for $800. The bill of sale states that Primus would henceforth be "bound [to Mordecai] in both body and mind & sol and for life."

A War Over Slavery

The Civil War

1861-1865

During the early republic and antebellum eras, Americans debated- often violently- the meanings of liberty, independence, and citizenship.

Slavery was the primary issue tearing the nation apart. Northern and southern politicians began clashing over slavery at the Constitutional Conventions in the 1780s. The struggle intensified as the United States started expanding westward after 1820. By the mid-19th century, some Southerners were suggesting that the South should withdraw-or secede-from the United States.

The 1860 election of President Abraham Lincoln proved to be a breaking point. Believing that Lincoln was a threat to slavery and the South, eleven southern states seceded from the Union and

formed the Confederate States of America in 1860-61. North

Carolina was the last southern state to secede on

May 20, 1861.

On October 1, 1863, Henry Mordecai supplied the Confederate Army with 250 cords of wood and 100,000 clapboards.

Henry Mordecai

Portrait by William Garle Browne.

Courtesy of Capital Area Preservation, Inc.

'Important Movement'

The Wilmington Daily Herald, April 22, 1861

Henry Mordecai, 1861

Image courtesy of the U.S. National Archives

In April of 1861, Henry Mordecai and other prominent men in Raleigh donated $20,000 to establish a Confederate artillery company.

This painting, which is on display in the Mordecai House, shows Henry Mordecai around the start of the Civil War.

Receipt for goods sold to the Confederate States

Split Family

"The Gunboat Fund" Semi-Weekly Standard, May 24, 1862

Martha Hinton Mordecai and other women in Raleigh raised money for the construction of a Confederate ironclad.

Divided family

Portrait by Thomas Sully.

Courtesy of Mary Miley Theobald

Major Alfred Mordecai, 1836

Not all of the family supported the Confederacy, Alfred Mordecai- a brother of Moses- was a career military officer who graduated top of his class from West Point in 1823. During the Civil War he refused to bear arms against either side. He resigned from the United States Army and declined a commission in the Confederate Army.

Martha Hinton Mordecai, c, 1980s

This postwar image, currently on display in the Mordecai House, shows Martha in the late 19th century.

Image courtesy of Capital Area Preservation, Inc.

British Army bridle, c. 1855, owned by Alfred Mordecai

Bridle

In the 1850s, just a few years before the Civil War began, Alfred Mordecai had been part of the U.S. Military Commission to the Crimea. While there, Alfred traveled with the British Army and compiled a report on European warfare. Alfred likely purchased the bridle or received it as a gift from a British officer.

So how did Southerners view the Civil War?

We often imagine the Civil War as a struggle between North and South. Yet, in reality, Southerners were divided.

Many black southerners viewed the war as a fight to end slavery. Finding inspiration in the Old Testament, they believed that God was leading them out of bondage, just as he had left the ancient Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. Both slaves and free blacks were active participants in the struggle for emancipation. Often slave men fled the plantation and joined the Federal army.

Image courtesy of the U.S. National Archives

Southern Perspectives on the Civil War

Image courtesy of the Libarary of Congress

Map of the Rebel Lines at Raleigh, N.C.

Notice the "H. Mordecai" property just north of town.

The Confederate breastworks were approxiamtely a quarter of a mile from the main house.

White southerners were not of a single mind. Some supported the Confederacy. Others showed little enthusiasm for secession and the war. The divisions ran largely among class lines. Yeomen and poor farmers were the most

reluctant to support the Southern war effort. Planters

including the Mordecais were often staunch defenders

of the Confederacy.

Company E 4th US Colored Infantry, c. 1863-66

The 4th Colored Infantry included former North Carolina slaves. The regiment participated in the capture of Raleigh in April 1865.

Civil War at Mordecai Plantation

Image courtesy of the U.S. National Archives

The Civil War at Mordecai Plantation

The Mordecai plantation was an active place during the Civil War. In 1863, slaves from across the state were sent to Raleigh to dig entrenchments and build a wall around the city. The fortification, known as the Raleigh breastworks, ran through the Mordecai property. Hundreds of workers would have passed to and fro on a regular basis. Thousands of Federal Troops under William T. Sherman reached Raleigh in the final

days of the war. They occupied the city for several weeks following the Confederate surrender in the spring of 1865.

Major Hazen c. 1865

" I have the honor to report that I... am now camped one mile and a half northeast of the town of Raleigh; headquarters near the house of Mr. Mordecai." Hazen led the Fifteenth U.S. Army Corps which occupied the vicinity of the Mordecai plantation in April 1865.

The North Carolina government called in slaves from across the state to help construct the breastworks. Mordecai slaves such as Stephen Stephens, pictured here, were among those forced into service. Many years later,

he recalled his wartime experience in The News & Observer.

Reactions to the Union occupation were decidedly different depending on who you were. For instance, many slaves cheered the arrival of Sherman's army. They embraced the opportunity to abandon the plantation and seek shelter in Union camps. However, planters feared Sherman's arrival. Some, such as Jacob Mordecai, fled into the country for safety.

"hyar comes de Yankees a ridin', an dey sez dat dey had tentions o' hangin' Mr. Jake on de big oak in de yard iffen he'uv been dar, but he ain't. He an' his family had flewed de coop."

-Henry

Sherman's Arrival

Image courtesy of the Library of Congress

Essex Henry at age 86, c. 1930s

This photo was taken approximately seventy years after the Civil War. By this time, slavery had ended. Essex and his wife Milly owned a "shack" located at 713 S. East Street in Raleigh.

My Soldier Boy

Soldier Boy

Local women helped care for soldiers suffering from sickness and war wounds in Raleigh hospitals. The inscription surrounding this c. 1880 photograph, which was found in a Mordecai picture album, reads:

“Robert R. Johnson, my soldier boy in the Confederacy where he lost his left arm. I nursed him till he could go home to Georgia. When he was a man he sent this photograph and in a grateful letter he told me he was a Methodist preacher.”

Image courtesy of Capital Area Preservation, Inc.

The South Facing Emancipation and Confederate Defeat

Reconstruction

1865-1877

The period of Reconstruction ushered in an era of change in America. Major legislation passed during Reconstruction as Congress adopted the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments which outlawed slavery, guaranteed citizenship, and protected civil rights. During the late 1860s, black men voted and held office for the first time in the nation's history. Still, Reconstruction was a challenging time for many Southerners. Though the Civil War ended in 1865, Federal troops occupied Raleigh and other southern cities until 1877. Some Southerners felt threatened by the military presence. Plantation mistresses, such as Martha Hinton Mordecai, occasionally lashed out in anger. At the same time, the end of slavery was troubling to planters and their families. Planter

women, such as Ellen Mordecai, found it difficult to face

household chores once assigned to female slaves.

Former slaves- or freedpeople- embraced emancipation in a number of ways. Many left

the plantation and hoped to never return. Some freedpeople had marriages recognized by law.

Freedpeople also tried to find family members who had been "sold off." Between 1830 and 1860, thousands of North Carolina slaves had been sold to cotton planters in Deep South states such as Alabama and Mississippi. Some families were able to reunite, but others were less fortunate.

Claiming Freedom

Mattie Curtis c. 1937

This photo was taken approximately seventy years after slavery ended. Mattie was still living in Raleigh.

"Right atter de war northen preachers come around wid a little book a-marrying slaves an' I seed one of dem marry my pappy an' mammy. "My parents tried to find dere fourteen oldest chillums what wus sold away, but dey never did find but three of dem."

-Mattie Curtis, former slave of Henry &

Martha Mordecai

Cohabitation Record of Isham and Cely Mordecai.

Although Isham and Cely had considered themselves husband and wife since 1852, they had their marriage recognized before a Wake County Justice of the Peace in 1866.

Betsy Holmes

Betsy

Holmes

Purchasing land and a home was perhaps the ultimate expression of freedom. Billy and Betsy Holmes-both former Mordecai slaves-eventually bought a farm located near Marsh Creek, just a few miles north of present day Mordecai Historic Park. Betsy Holmes traveled by bull and cart to City Market where she sold produce. In the 1930s, Alfred Mordecai remembered that Betsy sold common vegetables and herbs from a stand. On the side she sold folk remedies that locals bought for medicinal purposes.

"In winter she had holly with pretty red berries; sometimes mistletoe and teaberries. In the spring there were little posies of trailing arbutus. In the summer big bunches of daisies; and, in autumn, goldenrod and bunches of brightly colored autumn leaves along with a few pumpkins...[Betsy Holmes also] ran the more serious business of crude drugs,

such as Snake-root, Pink-root, Lions-tongue, Indian-physic,

Cramp-bark, Cat-nip, Golden-seal and the like."

-Alfred Mordecai, writing in the early 20th century

"Betsy Holmes Obituary"

The North Carolinian,

Feb. 15, 1906.

Local newspapers such as The North Carolinian, paid tribute to Betsy Holmes following her death in 1906. She was buried "in the Jacob Mordecai grounds," located near her farm on Marsh Creek.

"Aunt Betsy Holmes and Her

Horseless Carriage"

Betsy Holmes and her bull, Joe, were known around Raleigh. They were featured on several local postcards in the early 20th century.

Image courtesy of the North Carolina Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Billy Holmes standing in a cornfield around the turn of the 20th century. This photo may have been taken on the Holmes farm on Marsh Creek.

Betsy and her carriage

"Billy Holmes" & Betsy Holmes

Betsy Holmes in her bull drawn carriage. Perhaps she was on her way to City Market.

Ellen Mordecai

"The day that she (Sally) left my house for the first time after the surrender I shall never forget, and I said, 'I can never keep house without Sally.'"

-Ellen Mordecai, recalled in Gleanings from Long Ago

Ellen Mordecai

Ellen Mordecai, c. 1900

This image shows Ellen approximately

thirty-five years after the end of the Civil War.

Gleanings from Long Ago, 1933

Prior to her death in 1916, Ellen Mordecai recorded “reminiscenses” of her youth and young adulthood at Mordecai House. Family members published Ellen’s memoir in 1933 under the title, Gleanings from Long Ago.

"Raleigh As Is." Janesville Weekly Gazette, May 4, 1865

This article printed in a Wisconsin newspaper sheds light on the resentment felt by "female rebels" in Raleigh- including "Mrs. Mordecai"- following the Confederate surrender.

Freedpeople

Unlike Billy and Betsy Holmes, not all freedpeople were able to purchase land. Many rented farmland or worked as sharecroppers. Some even remained on the plantation and accepted wage work with former masters and mistresses.

Photo courtesy of the State Archives of North Carolina

Freed-people

Servant with Carriage

c. 1880

Domestic servant, possibly

Chaney Hinton, with a carriage in front of Mordecai House.

"Big House Personnel" c. 1900

Several freedpeople remained on the Mordecai plantation after emancipation. From left to right are Ananias Ruffin, Mittie Ann Ruffin, Jerry Hinton, and Chaney Hinton. The Ruffins spent their lives at Mordecai plantation. Both died in the early 20th century and were buried at Mount Hope Cemetery near downtown Raleigh. Jerry and Chaney were possibly siblings or cousins.

"Obituaries of Chaney and Lucy Hinton"

The Evening Visitor reported the death of Lucy Hinton (wife of Jerry Hinton, pictured in "Big House Personnel") in June 1890. The Raleigh Times reported Chaney Hinton's death ten years later in May 1900.

Hintons

Investing in the Future

20th century

In the decades surrounding 1900, the Mordecai family profited from the sale of one of their greatest assets: land. Raleigh landmarks such as Oakwood Cemetery and the Oakwood neighborhood, as well as neighborhoods along Glenwood Avenue, were built on former Mordecai land. Much of the turn of the century business transactions can be attributed to Patty Mordecai, the daughter of Henry and Martha, who received full title of the property in 1914. In addition to selling land, she invested in stocks and bonds with companies such as R.J. Reynolds Tobacco and Carolina Power and Light.

Courtesy of the North Carolina Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

"Advertisement for Mordecai Place"

In 1922, Patty Mordecai contracted with noted Raleigh developers Gavin Dortch and Daniel Allen to create Mordecai Place Inc, a residential area that is now the Mordecai neighborhood.

Map of Raleigh showing Mordecai Place, 1945. Mordecai Place was one of Raleigh's first suburb neighborhoods.

Mordecai house and interior

c. early 20th century

Most of the objects are still on display in the home today.

Mordecai House

Margaret Mordecai married William Little, a respected surgeon and Confederate veteran. After William's early death, Margaret and her five sons lived at Mordecai House. The Little brothers were Henry, George, William, Alfred, and Burke (second from left)

Mordecai Place street sign,

c. mid-20th century

Images courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of History

Patty Mordecai

In some ways, Patty, who did not work outside of the home, was bound by tradition. In other ways, however, she was a "modern" woman with business savvy. Patty Mordecai enjoyed entertaining, and was known for her sense of style. This photo was made by William Eckardt in Baltimore, MD.

Patty Mordecai

Patty Mordecai's life spanned a period of significant

change in the United States. Born in 1860, she came of age during the Civil War and Reconstruction. As an adult, she lived through the Influenza Epidemic of 1918 and along with other women gained the right to vote with the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920. She watched prohibition come and go, survived the Great Depression, and experienced two World Wars. Patty's generation witnessed major transformations in transportation as well, including the development of airplanes and automobiles in the early 20th century. Patty Mordecai died in 1949. Having never married, she willed the Mordecai House and her property to her nephew, Burke Haywood Little, who lived in the home until the early 1960s. Burke was the last person

to occupy the home as a private resident. The City of

Raleigh purchased the house in 1969.

Patty Mordecai c. 1880s

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