State case: Joshua, Abner Tapp

A jury convicted enslaved Joshua of murdering Abner Tapp; the court ordered him jailed pending execution by hanging on the specified date.

Kind of business

State case

Court

February 1811 term, 28 February 1811

People

• Joshua (defendant; enslaved)
• Abner Tapp (deceased)

Jurors

Abram Craig; George Isley; George Reeves; William Kirk; George Albright; George Coble; Jeremiah Holt; James Nicholson; William Gant; Henry Trollinger; William Palmer; James Barbee

Other dates

15th day of Marsh next; between the hours of 10 & 3 o’Clock

Reading note: Joshua’s enslaver was not named. The sentence scheduled an execution; the passage did not record its completion. The date read Marsh.

Names and places are given as the source writes them. This record has not been checked against the original minute book.

Where to find it

• Minute book 8, page 165
• Transcribed by Mark Chilton, Orange County Register of Deeds: his transcription of the February 1811 term
• Original: State Archives of North Carolina, Orange County court minutes (CR.073.301).
• Microfilm at the Orange County Public Library, Wall Local History Collection: reel 30004, “County Court Minutes, 1805–1814” (State Archives film).