G2G: Seeking Info On Beaufort County Free People of Color: Cohen, Bing, Orr, Ferrell families

Question

 I’m confused and kind of stuck so I’m hoping someone knows why/how so many free people of color were living around the Cowpen area of Jasper/Beaufort County, South Carolina in the early 1800s. Is this typical? They were all farmers as far as I can tell. 

I’m not great at researching emancipation records so I can’t say for sure if Harriet Bing (abt.1830-aft.1900) was born free or was freed after birth. Same with her husband, James Bing(abt.1828-aft.1880), although I at least know his last name at birth. [[Ferrell-2942|Laura (Ferrell) Bing (1859-1939)]] married into the Bing family and may have been born free as well. 

[[Cohen-6414|Bartemus Cohen (abt.1806-aft.1870)]] was free by 1840. His children were born free, including my direct ancestor, [[Cohen-6413|William Cohen (abt.1840-aft.1900)]], and that’s really all I reliably know about the Cohen line’s relationship to slavery. I know there was a Dutch American  family of prominent slavers by the same surname operating in Jamaica and Savannah, but I’ve found no evidence of a connection. Family lore implies a love match between a German immigrant and a mixed woman from the area but family lore is unreliable at best. 

Much of my family is buried at Good Hope Baptist Church, on Cohen Rd. We seem to have intermarried with most of what’s now called Pineland. 

Thanks

Answer 1

Hi Y! It's great to see you in g2g. I wanted to add a quick summary of what we talked about in the US Black Heritage Project about this question you and I were discussing. There were a surprising large number of free people of color living in South Carolina, partly because of the high population of African-Americans in the state in general. In 1860, there were over 300,000 free people of color and over 400,000 enslaved. Some of your family was living in a community of free people of color in Beaufort County. The question still remains, how did they become free in the first place.

Answer 2

Because of the history of laws made after the Nat Turner Rebellion in 1831, my money is on Harriet being born free.

I assume that if you think there is no DNA connection to the Cohen family it is because you have scoured the distant DNA cousins in your DNA results and not found a commonality with that family, but I would suggest finding what commonality is there and dig deep into it. DNA doesn't lie. If they are linked as a cousin, they are a cousin. You are related regardless of whether you know why right now or not.

Also, if Ancestry's Thru Lines links you to any euro families, dig into that as well. An ancestor of yours may link to a Cohen neighbor or a Cohen employee or a recorded visitor.

I would also recommend looking at GEDMatch matches that are less than 7cms. This distance, looking at people born in the late 1700's/early 1800's (Harriet's ancestors would be), is right where that 7cms dips into the 3-5cm range. I know lots of people think that is an insignificant amount of DNA, but if you are researching ancestors of someone who is listed in your DNA matches, you are not looking at someone random, and that low level of matching DNA is not statistically insignificant for you. Don't dismiss it.

If you have a relative named Idanae Bing (granddaughter of a Nish Bing), please let me know. She shows up in my tree as a DNA cousin.

Hope that helps.

Comments

Thanks for that advice! My DNA results haven’t come in yet. So far I’ve just been hunting through records.

I’ll check my trees and ask cousins about Idanae and Nish Bing. If there’s any match, I’ll let you know!

Answer 3

I do a lot of work in South Carolina but have not run across these names as I record the enslaved.  I will check on these families for you and let you know what I find.

Michelle

Comments

Thanks! Thanks for that note on James’ profile too. It’s hard to see any information beyond the name. Doesn’t look like the census worker checked any age boxes but could they be because the form didn’t intend to record that information for POC or White women?

I’m also looking into the Garvins and Greens, who have some ties to Magnolia plantation. Ring any bells?

Answer 4

I added a note to James Bing profile.

Michelle