However, it was what the editor of the paper wrote at the end that held the most significance: "John was the son of Aaron Perry, a man who was well known in his day."
It had been sixteen years since Aaron had died. Who was this man "well known in his day"?
His descendants describe him from the memory of an old photograph at the end of his days, a photo currently misplaced, as tall and with a long, white beard...that he often rode a donkey or walked wherever he wanted to go.
One great-granddaughter said she was told that in his old age he loved to walk into town and hang out at the courthouse, talking with the other men.
Census records list him as a farmer. Family round out with more details - that he helped start a church, Philadelphia Baptist on Canal Road in the Lanes Creek township of Union County, NC. Other researchers found his name as a trustee for the Robinson Chapel of Marshville (in 1892). He also helped supervise the school at Philadelphia; the church and school, like many such buildings in rural areas of long-ago, made use of the same building - you can view a photo of the old church/school by going to the Horace Mann Bond papers at the Special Collections and University Archives of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries - Bond took a photo of it while touring the south for the Julius Rosenwald School Fund (Philadelphia was not a Rosenwald School) -- scroll down a little to the one that has the quote "Taught by an old man...". www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/story/bond.htm
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| Aaron Perry, c1870, rephotographed by Rick Crider |
During the war bond effort of World War I, Aaron was listed as a speaker for this effort at the Gulledge School. The long list of schools and speakers, mostly ministers and teachers, published in The Monroe Journal (Feb. 15, 1918) indicate the importance of this task. It would be safe to assume that only those with a good speaking ability coupled with the respect of their community would have been asked.
In "Memoirs of John Peter Parker: Experiences of Growing Up on a Union County Farm in the Early 1900s" it is learned that Aaron was referred to as "Lawyer" in his later years "because of his distinguished look and judicial manner."
It is the first 20+ years of Aaron's life -- what little bit that we know of it -- that may reveal the strength of his character -- the mold of the man he was to become.
Born a slave about 1838, the family was told he was "born to a Green and sold to a Perry". At this time we have no research to prove who originally owned Aaron but proof was uncovered of William Perry, aka Captain William Perry, as being the owner of Aaron during the Civil War.
This proof appeared in the October 1864 court minutes, page 375, Vol. D (1852-1867 Union County, NC, Court Minutes): Ordered by the Court that the County trustee pay D. Rushing [sheriff] Ten Dollars to be paid over to a Slave of Capn Wm Perry by the name of Aron for meritorious Conduct in arresting Some Yankeys and forty Cents for this Order. (transcribed as is, brackets indicate added information for clarification) I had placed an image of the original from microfilm at Aaron's Find A Grave record but it was removed (I suppose by Find A Grave since it really is not in keeping with the types of images they allow at those memorials). The 2018 link to his memorial is: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/45344044/aaron-perry
How or why Aaron accompanied John B. Ashcraft into war is not known but William Perry's 1870 estate papers showed that his lands did border the Ashcraft family. Census research reveals that William Perry was in Union County by the 1860 census - the slave schedule shows that he owned only one slave, a 22-year old black male. It is most probable that the 22-year old male listed is Aaron.
After the war, a record of cohabitation was taken from Aaron, that he and Charlotte [Ashcraft] lived as man and wife beginning about 1859. (Records of cohabitation were recorded for a brief time during 1866 for former slaves who wished to make their unions legal and binding marriages in the eyes of the law)
His Feb. 4, 1929 pension application (N.C.) for his service during the Civil War tells us that he was "property of Col. John B. Ashcraft [should be Lt. Col.]; that he accompanied his master, Col. John B. Ashcraft into the service of the Confederacy, Col. Ashcraft having been commissioned in the 37th N. C. Reg't [Co. D] of North Carolina Troops...".
Aaron was Ashcraft's body servant but also from the pension: "on one occasion he was engaged upon building fortifications at Fort Fisher, N.C." This would have been after Ashcraft mustered out in 1863 due to a disability.
Aaron's N. C. Confederate Pension can be seen, as of May 2018, at http://digital.ncdcr.gov/cdm/ref/collection/p16062coll21/id/113361.
Aaron's death notice from April 1, 1930 (Monroe Journal, page 1) revealed that the family sent a "petition" to the "command" of Ft. Fisher asking for the return of Aaron as he was needed at home. Per the obituary, published in conjunction with another pensioner of color, Weary Clyburn, Aaron was "an honorable and truthful man...solid, sober, and would have made a good New England Puritan had time and circumstances fitted."
We must "read-between-the-lines" about Aaron and his former master on the battlefields, John B. Ashcraft. The family agrees that most likely there was a relationship of mutual respect and friendship between the two - they do not believe that Aaron would have named a son John if he disliked his former master.
His death occurred on March 14, 1930 and his grave remained marked with a rusted stake and a few bricks for 82 years. Only his great-grandson knew the exact location in the Philadelphia Baptist church yard.
Revealing to the family their ancestor's service during the Civil War set into motion: doors opened for dialogue, family members rediscovering each other, a different view of the past, and a grave marker that would have his name upon it and his time in the war.
Who was Aaron Perry?
He was a slave, husband, farmer, father, advocate and supervisor of a school, church trustee, a Civil War survivor -- "a man well known in his day".
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| Donations from members of SCV groups & the family provided for this marker. The family chose the wording and installed it at Philadelphia Baptist Church on Canal Road in Marshville, NC, in Feb. 2012. (photo by Patricia Poland) |
Research on the other (local) men who served as body servants, teamsters, etc. during the war can be found in two booklets at the library: "Union County's Confederate Pensioners of Color" Volumes 1 & 2, R 973.7415 Union
This post revised with quote from John Peter Parker and the approximate year of Aaron Perry's portrait changed on 12-31-2012; this post has been revised yet again to correct a wrong date with the grave marker photo above, add slave owner information (William Perry), add Aaron's 'meritorious conduct' reference from the Un. Co. court minutes and add a couple of links as well. Research is never-ending! -P. Poland
