Explain yourself young lady…
Minutes of the General Court of North Carolina
North Carolina. General Court
August 02, 1716
Wee the body of the Grand Jury for Albemarle County in the Province of North Carolina do present Charity Brown for that she hath a Bastard Child at the House of Mr Thoss Rogers in this Precinct of Chowan
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3 years later…
#1789 pgs. 53-55 (Hofmann) Chowan- Att a Court held for the sd. Prect. at the house of William Branch the 21 Apr.1719…..
… Ordered that Charity Brown appear at the Next Court and answer an Information against her for having a bastard Child.
———-
…21 July 1719… ( same court house)
Thomas Rogers Indemnifys Aaron Oliver from all Manner of Troubles etc, and any further charges that may accrue by reason of a Complaint made before Edward Howard, Esquire by Charity Brown.
So… who knocked up Charity Brown around 1715? Who was she and what the hell did Thomas Rogers know about it?
Thomas and William Brown each leave wills around 1718 and neither mention a daughter Charity… I suspect another father John Brown in the neighborhood who may have been a brother to these guys…
Andersons of Colonial N. Carolina 
Marc,
See this really long link for more than you ever wanted to know: http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2966&context=wmlr&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Dillegitimate%2520child%2520law%2520born%2520colonial%2520virginia%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D5%26ved%3D0CEEQFjAE%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fscholarship.law.wm.edu%252Fcgi%252Fviewcontent.cgi%253Farticle%253D2966%2526context%253Dwmlr%26ei%3D3HefUbrcGYvO9ASuhoDABg%26usg%3DAFQjCNFtMtu1D9MMrwIB_D6sHW0mvl1xZw#search=%22illegitimate%20child%20law%20born%20colonial%20virginia%22
Particularly page 419: “The law imposed the duty of denouncing such women on any person in whose house the child was born. The punishment for failure was severe: the same fine as the mother and in the event of non-payment or refusal to give security, twenty-five lashes.”
It sounds like Thomas Rogers would have been legally bound to report Charity since the child was apparently born in his house. The July 1719 court entry sounds to me like Aaron Oliver is the reputed father and Thomas Rogers is his security – as indemnify, according to Black’s Law Dictionary, is “To save harmless; to secure against loss or damage; to give security for the reimbursement of a person in case of an anticipated loss falling upon him.” Sounds like they expected “further charges” to “accrue” against Oliver.
Traci
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Traci Thompson
May 24, 2013 at 8:26 am
Interesting article… a while back I “Googled” some info on Pitt County bastardy bonds (probably still online somewhere)… it dealt with the payments of fathers (pressure to fess up and assume responsibility) so my take is these old folks took this business pretty seriously!… Your article confirms it pretty much.
It does seem that Charity ratted out Mr. Oliver. tsk tsk… I did not realize that Thomas Rogers also had his neck on the line (or back in this case… ouch).
Thanks for sharing!
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anderson1951
May 24, 2013 at 10:27 am
ZZZZxxxsssssss My rememery not being what it used to be! Really Mr. Anderson you keep bringing up old court cases. In case it was never settled do not mention my name.. Thomas Rogers I was dead and Aaron Oliver rings a loud bell. I’ll bet a barrell of pitch that this is Thomas Rogers Jr.. there were about 4 Ths Rogers in succession. Jr. I think moved to Cashy Creek bottom and they were there for a while. Maybe he was trying to get south as far as he could from that harlott. There are not rumors back in Northern Bertie about the Rogers causing the Browns any trouble so what my momma’s sister used to say, “hurmph- those were not our Brown’s”??????????? maybe Thomas took some charity. freebe
Go pick on someone else. RS I don’t dare spell out the R part.
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Benjamin Rogers Smith
May 24, 2013 at 4:20 pm
Ha! If there is any dirt I’m gonna find it. Show me a family without a drunken uncle and an occasional horse thief and I am bored to tears. Hell, didn’t you ever wonder about sheriff Andy of Mayberry and that girlfriend… not to mention marshall Matt Dillon and “Miss” Kitty. LOL
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anderson1951
May 24, 2013 at 4:46 pm