Biographical Info

Ned was born around 1813 and bequeathed to John B. in Zachariah’s 1832 will. An 1841 list of enslaved people who were hired out describes him as 6’ tall and “large.” Trained as a carpenter, Ned was frequently hired out. By the mid-1840s, however, John B. had lost patience with Ned’s fiery spirit and complained to his sister, “My man Ned the carpenter is idle or nearly so at the plantation. He is fixing gates & like the idle groom in Pickwick trying to fool himself into the belief that he is doing something. But on considering his general character for intemperance & disobedience & quarrelsomeness I have concluded it would be best to pay a little too much for the house, rather than inflict him on you at this time. While I was gone I had him in town & on returning found that he had been drunk & fighting and misbehaving in every way, so that I had banished him to rural life. He is an eye servant. If I was with him I could have the work done soon & cheap, but I am afraid to trust him off where there is no one he fears. He is doing literally nothing at home, and sparing him would not be a cents [sic] expense as to that, but I conclude that you do not feel like being annoyed, just now, as I fear & almost know he would annoy you, by getting drunk & raising a row on the lot. I shall sell the rascal the first chance I get.” There is no indication that Lamar carried through with this threat. While there are no further references to Ned the carpenter in the records, there are multiple mentions of enslaved people named “Ned” in surviving plantation documents through the 1860s.

Sketch written by James Howard, Plern Pibuldham, Luke Rhodes, Chancellor Tanner