Sam
Born: unknown
Died: unknown
Worked: 1775–ca. 1790
Residences: Bethabara, NC; Salem, NC

Sam was first mentioned in Wachovia records in 1769 when he asked to learn German, considered an essential step for an enslaved African to become a Christian.[199] In 1775 he was listed as assisting Johann Heinrich Blum doing masonry work in Bethabara, along with a brickmaker by the name of Cornelius Sale.[200] Sam is recorded numerous times working with Blum, and it is likely that Blum held some ownership over Sam and used him on most, if not all, of his buildings. These buildings included the Bethabara Gemein Haus and several unnamed buildings in Bethabara.

Blum left Wachovia in 1775 to join the Continental Army. With whom and on what sites Sam was indentured to work during Blum’s absence is not known, however the records make it clear that he was still working on buildings in Wachovia during the American Revolution.

In 1780 the Aufseher Collegium minutes recorded in length that Sam was to be married. At the time there was only one enslaved woman who was suitable for him, a tavern worker by the name of Maria. The church administrators saw this union as a problem because a married woman was not allowed to work in the tavern and Maria was essential to running the business.[201]

The couple was allowed to marry, however, because another woman was brought to Salem in order to fill Maria’s vacancy at the tavern. Bethabara’s Single Brothers’ House was chosen as their home. Maria was tasked with keeping the kitchen while Sam was to maintain the building.[202]

Salem’s Aufseher Collegium in 1784 that, “The Negro, Sam, has helped for a few years with the constructions…”[203] No definite records exist as to which buildings he worked on, however it is safe to speculate that he aided in the construction on several of Salem’s major buildings in the 1780s.[204]

By 1785 Sam had accrued some debts, and the church administrators decided that “since [Sam] is going to help this summer again, it was suggested that monthly a certain sum of his salary be kept back so that, by and by, his debts can be paid off.”[205]

The administrators of Salem referenced Sam as an example to enforce the community’s regulations regarding slavery on more than one occasion. In January 1789 his presence was used to deter community members from buying more slaves instead of taking on apprentices as was preferred.[206]

In July of that year, after several attempts by Sam to sell wood and other goods in order to foster further income, a regulation was created to prevent white Moravians from purchasing goods from an enslaved person without permission.[207]

Sam continued masonry work for several years in the Salem area while still living in Bethabara. In July 1790 he was put forward for consideration to assist Friedland’s roadmaster.[208] In August 1790, the Aufseher Collegium noted, “there has been little repair of the ways on the whole all during the last season so that all the ways are in a very poor condition. The Negroes Sam and Scott, as well as a few others, have to take care only of a piece of road that gives them little work… .”[209]
This is the last mention of Sam in the records.
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ENSLAVED LABOR - MORAVIAN CHURCH, SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA

The Moravians of the Wachovia Tract had a complex relationship with slavery. In the eighteenth century, white Moravians did not see a conflict between owning and hiring enslaved Africans and African Americans while at the same time worshipping beside them as spiritual equals.

By the early nineteenth century, the chattel slavery and racial segregation found across the American South was also entrenched in Salem.

Enslaved workers were originally brought to Salem to help the Moravians in their initial efforts to construct the vital buildings in the town. The Moravians justified this decision because they were crucially short on labor during this time.

By 1800 the Moravians in North Carolina owned approximately seventy enslaved workers, about a tenth of the total workforce in Wachovia.

While many of those individuals worked on farms in Bethania and Friedberg, it was not uncommon for an enslaved African or African American man to be in Salem working on one of the many buildings being constructed. Most of these men were laborers, but some possessed skills in the building trades. By 1860, African Americans, both enslaved and free, comprised 22 percent the total population in the Salem District.

Source: The Enslaved Men Who Built Salem: A Biographical Look /Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts