Hugh Dobbin/Dobbins Sold Free Black Children: 1788
"There were free blacks in Caswell County by the late eighteenth century, but they sometimes had difficulty proving their status. At the county court session of January 23, 1789, Hugh Dobbin was ordered to appear before the Hillsborough Superior Court to answer a charge that he had taken into his possession 'and conveyed away three free born Negro Children.' The children were those of Cuzza Tiner (or Tyner). Dobbin was ordered to post sufficient securities in the amount of £500 for each of the children and £1,000 for himself 'payable to the State but to be void on condition that he shall do his utmost endeavour & if in his power to find the three Negro Children.' He was given until the April meeting of the court to recover the children. There appears to be no further mention of this case in the court records, and it can only be assumed that the matter was settled promptly and to the satisfaction of the justices."
Source: Powell, William S. When the Past Refused to Die: A History of Caswell County North Carolina 1777-1977. Durham (North Carolina): Moore Publishing Company, 1977, p. 525.
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