Mary Margaret Herritage and Thaddeus Newton

Mary Margaret Herritage Newton (10 April 1815? - 18 February 1904), a free woman of color, and her husband, Thaddeus Newton (10 October 1810 - 15 March 1868), who was enslaved, exemplify the efforts of African Americans, enslaved and free, to sustain loving marriages and build strong family units. It is unknown if Mary was born free, or who her parents were. The death certificate of her son, Alexander Newton, states that her maiden name was Herritage.* New Bern, a seaport and former state capitol was North Carolina’s largest city. A little over half of the population, 1920 people, were enslaved, 1475 were white, and 268 were, like Mary, Free Blacks. Mary was just one of several free women of color in the community who chose to marry an enslaved spouse and took their husbands’ surnames, even though such marriages were not legal according to North Carolina law. Thaddeus’ parents are also unknown, and at some point, perhaps from birth, he would be enslaved in the household of Peter and Catherine Custis, distant cousins to Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s wife, Mary Ann Custis. Like many in New Bern’s Black population, enslaved and free, Thaddeus was an artisan with marketable skills: he was a shoe maker.

Mary and Thaddeus married on 14 February 1837. They would have several children - most notably Alexander Herritage Newton, born 5 November 1837 and Stephen Newton, born around 1845. (National Archives, 1861 - 1934). The US federal census for 1850 lists Mary Newton as an unmarried 36 year old, the oldest in a household including Alexander (12), John (9), Stephen (6), William (3) and Cornelia, (11 months). All five children have the surname Newton and are listed as Black, as is Mary. Thaddeus, because enslaved, is not listed in the census. There is another resident in the household, a 20 years old free Mulatto woman named Pleasant Braddock. While her relationship to Mary is not stated, it is possible Pleasant was an earlier child born to Mary with a white father named Braddock. Pleasant could also have been a boarder or a family relative in the Newton household. Another son, George, was born in New Bern in 1855.

The Newtons lived in the racially mixed Dryboro neighborhood of New Bern, in a property valued at $100, though some of their artisan neighbors, including free Black couples, owned houses valued at $300 to $500. Historian Catherine Bishir has suggested that Thaddeus’s earnings for hire as a cobbler may have contributed to the purchase of the home. Mary lived in her own home with her children, but had to travel to the Custis home to visit her husband. This arrangement was difficult for the Newton family. Their son, Alexander Newton, recalls an incident that occurred while joining his mother on a visit to see his father Thaddeus at his enslaver’s home. Park Custis, a male child of the enslaver, helped himself to a piece of pie on the table without asking. As she would have done with her own child, Mary Newton began to grab him with intent to scold him but fearing retribution, Thaddeus Newton grabbed her, allowing the child to run away with the pie. (Newton, p.37) New Bern was a dangerous and difficult place for Black people, whether enslaved or not. Their son, Alexander, although he was free, recalled that he was stripped down and whipped with 39 lashes by his employer because he decided not to carry a bench. He says his back was lacerated, taking 3 weeks to heal. (Newton, p.22) The city of New Bern subsequently passed an ordinance making it legal to whip negroes, whether free or enslaved. (Forbes, p.4, col. 1)

Still, his mother’s relatively privileged position as a free woman of color may have enabled Alexander to earn a favorable apprenticeship as a bricklayer around 1852. Upon completing that apprenticeship Alexander, a free man, made his way to the port of Beaufort, North Carolina, secured passage on a schooner headed North and arrived in New York, in the summer of 1857. Alexander Newton’s autobiography, Out of the Briars, states that on landing in Brooklyn, “I soon found my mother who had preceded me to the North.” (p. 26). Although it is unclear when Mary Newton left New Bern, she had used her time in the North productively, collecting money to help purchase her husband’s freedom. In so doing she engaged with a network of Black leaders, including Robert Hamilton and Rev. Henry Highland Garnet, and white abolitionists, including Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, and Arthur

Along with freeing her husband, Mary also helped in freeing the Caraway family. The Newton’s son, Alexander, would also engage in supporting abolitionist efforts to bring enslaved people from the south. Alexander would eventually marry Olivia Hamilton, the daughter of Robert Hamilton, the Black founder of the abolitionist newspaper, The Anglo-African

Once securing her husband’s freedom, Mary and Thaddeus moved to New Haven, Connecticut.  Thaddeus Newton had spent the first 50 years of his life enslaved.  While in the south, Thaddeus was diagnosed with Consumption (Tuberculosis) and told that he would not live. Therefore, on arriving in New Haven, he was unable to perform in his trade as a shoe maker. To help support his family, Thaddeus became a peddler, selling fruits from a cart during the summer, sometimes assisted by Mary and son Stephen. (National Archives, 1861 - 1934). He also was a Trustee in the First AME Bethel Church of New Haven, working to secure the property for their building on Sperry Street in New Haven, a building that still stood as of 2024. (Town Clerk, v.216, p.451). Mary also pushed a wash car, used to offer clothes washing services on the street. She said she washed clothing for soldiers. Doing this, the family was able to save up $100, which they used to get a $300 mortgage on a home at 18 Winter Street in New Haven, in 1863. During this time, Mary also used homeopathic methods in an attempt to treat her husband’s illness, giving him herbal drinks as medicine. (National Archives, 1861 - 1934). She would continue to work in homeopathy, later listed as a physician in the New Haven city directory, sometimes as a nurse. She also became part of the New Haven Homeopathist Society (Morning Journal-Courier, p.2, col. 3).

Hearing that the government was allowing Black Men to fight, Mary and Thaddeus’ son, Stephen, enlisted in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment on 18 April 1863. The 54 was the second Black regiment to be mustered, a few months after the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment, and would later be memorialized in the 1989 film. Sadly, Stephen would die in the regiment’s assault on Fort Wagner, South Carolina, on 18 July 1863, exactly 3 months later (National Archives, Muster Roll for Stephen Newton).

Shortly after his brother’s death, Alexander Newton enlisted in the 29th Connecticut Colored Volunteer Regiment. He brought along his 15-year-old brother, William, who served as a servant to Captain Griswold. Serving honorably, Alexander was discharged in 1865, returning home to New Haven (National Archives, Muster Roll for Alexander Newton).

Having tasted less than 10 years of freedom, Thaddeus Newton passed away from his long illness on 15 March 1868 (Hale, v.32, p.723). His wife Mary would live out the rest of her life in the same New Haven home they bought in 1863; a home that would become a symbol of comfort and stability for the Newton family for many years. In 1870, just after Thaddeus' death, Mary was sharing the house with her son George, her elder brother William Herritage, his wife (also called Mary) and their three children. Mary and Thaddeus Newton’s son William would move away, then move back to this home, listed as his residence in the 1900 census. Also, their grandson James C. Newton (son of George Newton) would marry his wife Harriet Ceasar in this home on 15 March 1899. James and Harriet had a daughter named Ethel that same year. This must have been an exciting time for Mary Newton, on becoming a Great Grandmother. Her grandson’s new wife and her great-granddaughter are both listed as living in her home in the 1900 census. James and his wife would have another daughter in 1902, giving Mary another great-granddaughter.

In 1903, while visiting her grandson James C. Newton who now lived in Derby, Connecticut, Mary Newton upset a kettle of boiling water and was severely burned. The stress of this incident caused her health to decline. Aware of the imminency of her death, Mary proceeded to plan her own funeral. She set aside a sum of money for the services, selected the style of her casket, selected the area of the family plot where she wanted to be buried and even made her own shroud (Boston Globe, 1904). She died on 18 February 1904 (Hale, v.32, p.724). Her son, Alexander, would write his autobiography, Out of the Briars in 1910, honoring his beloved mother’s memory within the pages.

The story of Mary and Thaddeus Newton is a love story; one that began with their marriage on Valentines day in 1837; a love strong enough that Mary found a way to free her husband through the Underground Railroad network. Theirs was a love story of family and the country, three of their sons serving during the Civil War in the fight for freedom, one dying for it. Theirs is a love to be honored and remembered.

*Mary Newton’s death certificate states that her mother’s maiden name was also Mary M. Herritage. This certificate was completed by her son, William, who was asked to provide the name of Mary’s parents, that is, William’s maternal grandparents. William left the name of his maternal grandfather blank. For his maternal grandmother, he wrote Mary M. Herritage. It is unclear whether this was an error, in that he wrote his name, instead of her mother’s name, or whether both William’s mother and Mary’s mother were named Mary M. Herritage.