By Matt Arthur, Living History Program Coordinator
March 12, 1795, began a new chapter in the life of John Carruthers Stanly. On this day, the twenty-one-year-old, considered the son of local merchant John Wright Stanly and an enslaved Igbo woman whose name was not recorded, received his freedom through a petition by his enslavers Alexander and Lydia Stewart. John built a fortune through his barber shop. This allowed him to buy real estate in town and multiple plantations making him one of the richest men in town.
To ensure that his freedom was recognized by the state, in 1798, John Carruthers Stanly petitioned the General Assembly to pass an act declaring his freedom. Two years later, Stanly secured freedom for his wife, Kitty Green, and two sons. John and Kitty later had more children who were born free. Along with his family, Stanly assisted many enslaved individuals to achieve their freedom, some by working with white slave holders, such as his former enslaver, Lydia Stewart. The Stanly family became a prominent family in town. Kitty becoming a founding member of the Presbyterian church in New Bern and the family purchased two pews when the church was built.
Like many well-off Southern families, the Stanlys’ fortunes were built on the back of enslaved labor. After he stopped working at the barber shop that began his fortune, John Carruthers Stanly relied on Brister and Boston, two men he held in slavery, to keep the shop going. His plantations, largely focusing on turpentine with some cotton, required large amounts of gruelling work to operate. At one point, Stanly enslaved around 160 individuals, and records show he rented the labor of more. Stanly was one of the largest slaveholders in the area as well as one of the largest slaveholders of color in the South.
In the 1820s, fortunes began to change for Stanly. Kitty had become ill with an unknown but completely debilitating condition and needed constant care. After she passed in 1823, Stanly freed Nancy and Money, the two enslaved women who had provided her care. This period also saw the movements of white individuals to limit the rights of free people of color, leading to freemen losing the right to vote and other rights. In the 1830s, Stanly’s half-brother, John Stanly, suffered a stroke. Due to his medical needs and less than upstanding practices running the Bank of New Bern, the white Stanlys asked John Carruthers Stanly to co-sign on a promissory note that required Carruthers Stanly to put up a large portion of his estate as collateral. The note was defaulted on, and John Carruthers Stanly was financially ruined. When he passed on November 2, 1841, Stanly owned only a small plantation with seven enslaved servants and a few parcels in town.