Researching
Lost and Found
Searching for Artifacts of New Bern’s African American Artisans
Judge Donnell House, formerly on the east side of the 700 block of Craven Street, built 1815-1819,
destroyed by fire in 1972. Photograph ca. 1910 by the Wootten-Moulton Studio.
New Bern Firemen's Museum.
By Catherine W. Bishir
“LOST: A few weeks ago, between the
Subscriber’s House and Mr. Hall’s Book
store, a DIAMOND for cutting glass
with a white bone handle, on which are
inscribed the letters D M— A reward of
one Dollar and fifty Cents will be given
to any person who shall restore it to the
owner.”
This advertisement, which appeared in
the New Bern True Republican on April
2, 1810, described a valued personal
object in vivid detail that suggests much
about its owner. It was a specialized tool
used for a single purpose, indicating
that the owner or one of his workmen
installed glass panes in windows and
probably glazed them as well. Moreover,
the diamond, coupled with the bone
handle, showed that it was a tool of high
quality; ordinary glass cutters might
have wooden handles and metal heads.
And the inscribed initials denoted its
owner’s attachment to this tool of his
craft and perhaps a degree of pride in
its possession. The reward of Si. 50 was
a generous offer— at least three days’ pay
for a laborer, and a day’s pay for a skilled
tradesman.
I came across this advertisement
while exploring the research files at the
Museum of Early Southern Decorative
Arts in Winston-Salem, a trove of
information as many readers of The
Palace already know. It was an exciting
find, because the man who signed the ad-
-the “DM” who lost the diamond glass
cutter— was one of New Bern’s leading
artisans, the brick mason and plasterer
Donum Montford (1771-1838), who
had gained his freedom only six years
before, in 1 804, and became a substantial
property owner. Although we know
other facts about Montford's life, his
advertisement and his glass cutter evoke
much about him as a tradesman and an
individual.
We don’t know whether anyone found
the diamond glass cutter or returned
it to its owner. Perhaps it still survives
somewhere in a family collection or a
museum— and perhaps after two centuries
it may be “found” again.
This little lost object captures much
about the challenges and rewards, the
“lost” and the “found” of my current
research project for Tryon Palace Historic
Sites & Gardens. With a generous grant
from The Wachovia Foundation, I have
been exploring the history of African-
American artisans in New Bern from
before the American Revolution to the
turn of the twentieth century. The project
is planned to produce a book on the
subject. New Bern is an ideal place for
such a study, because of the city’s tradition
of craftsmanship in all trades and because
of its strong African-American heritage
from colonial times onward. Vital
resources include the extensive research
already done on New Bern history and
the excellent local history collection at the
Kellenberger Room of the Craven County
Public Library.
In New Bern as in other locales,
African American artisans worked
in a full range of skilled crafts. Most
numerous were carpenters and coopers,
but there were also many brick layers
and plasterers, shoemakers, tailors and
tailoresses, blacksmiths, boat-builders,
chairmakers, carriage makers, wagon
makers, wheelwrights, and others. Before
freedom came, these artisans included
both enslaved people and free people of
color. New Bern artisans, whether born
free or manumitted by their owners,
figured among the antebellum city’s most
successful free people of color. Many of
these artisans and their families left New
Bern for better opportunities, especially
in Cleveland and New Haven in the
1850s.
During and after the Civil War, scores
of artisans of color worked in the city
in all the essential trades, including
many who had learned their skills
during slavery. These artisans became
important community leaders in politics,
civic organizations, and churches. They
included legislators, city' council men, and
founders and leaders of key organizations
such as King Solomon Masonic Lodge,
the first black Masonic lodge in the state.
6
Ш.С
ice
Fall 2009
