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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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
Weekly Raleigh Register, May 4, 1809
Antebellum Social Structure
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 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.
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, 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.
Image courtesy of Beth Ahabah Museum and Archives
'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 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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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An Interview with Essex Henry, 83, of 713 S. East Street, Raleigh, N.C.
To listen to this audio again, navigate away from and back to this page.
To listen to this audio again, navigate away from and back to this page.
'Leather shoe found in cellar wall of the Mordecai House'
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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 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
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.
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 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.
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
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.
"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, 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
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.
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.
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'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