Some wives suffered spousal abuse and adultery. An attorney who attended the couple’s wedding as a child was among those who corroborated the widow’s allegations.
Invalid — 942,788 / 1,008,185
Widow – 757,880 / 548,866, Mary King
General Affidavit, James Elliott and Jacob Campbell, 16 January 1891
[both] post-office address, Portsmouth, Virginia … “That they have known [the claimant] several years last past …”
General Affidavit, Cater King, 14 May 1900
“… no doctor attended him from [May 17, 1897 to July 12,, 1899] as he was unable to pay for the services of a physician; that his house has no number on it but is situated on Stonewall Street (Lincolnville), Portsmouth, Virginia …”
Sworn Statement, Mary Ellen Tatem, 11 April 1902
“I lived within less than one hundred yards of [the soldier and Caroline Mason]. I never heard of any marriage ceremony between them and if any such took place it was an unlawful one for the reason that he had a lawful wife living, that is his wife Mary King. I was not present when he and Mary were married but I was acquainted with them and knew all about it.”
Affidavit, Mary Ellen Tatem, 11 April 1902
about 65 years old; “I knew Cater King and his wife Mary King who was Mary Pierce before her marriage long before they were married. … I was not present at the marriage but knew all the circumstances of it at the time. It was well known among all of the colored people of their acquaintance in the city. … Neither of them had ever been married before nor has Mary King remarried since the death of her husband Cater King which occurred I think shortly before last Christmas, 1901. …. She lives in one room and works at an oyster house opening oysters for a living. …”
Sworn Statement, Mary King, 11 April 1902
“I was married to him in 1853 … About twelve or fourteen years ago he took up with a younger woman than myself, named Caroline Mason, and brought her to the house where we were living as man and wife. I do not know of any marriage between them but he beat me on her account and forced me out of the house. While they were living together they were living together in adultery … I know that they lived together for some time after I was forced out of the house … I have not claimed that I lived continuously with him until the day of his death. I have claimed and stated that I was his lawful wife and his only lawful wife from our marriage in 1853 until his death …”
Affidavit, Mary King, 11 April 1902
“I, Mary King, widow of Cater King of the City of Portsmouth … do certify that I was married to the said Cater King in this City in 1853 by Rev. David Owens … That I have no property, real, personal, or mixed of any description except about ten dollars worth of furniture in the room in which I am living; that the only real estate I ever owned was my widow’s interest for life in a small house and lot which my husband owned on Stonewall street in this City. The fee simple value of the entire property was about three hundred and fifty dollars and sold my life interest to my husband’s heirs for $122.65 …. Since the 26th of February 1902 I have been confined to the house with sickness nearly all the time under the care of Dr. Holladay, the City Physician, and have not been able to work. I have not made more than five dollars that whole time. When able to work I make at the oyster house from $1.50 to $4.00 per week according to the quantity of oysters they have on hand to be opened. The amount varies with the supply and we are paid according to the number of gallons we open. There is no work done in the oyster house during the summer and in the summer months I have to pick up job opening crabs and picking the meat, whenever I can. I am too old and weak to do any work that is hard or requires strength.”
Questionnaire (Form 3-442), Decator King alias Cater King, 15 May 1902
Please furnish the names and post-office addresses of officers and comrades of Company D, 1st USCC:
| Alexander Ackiss | Pvt. | Oceana, Princess Anne Co., Va. |
| {N. Butcher | Pvt. | Rutherglen, Caroline Co., Va. |
| {Dempsey Elliott | Sgt. | Suffolk, Nansemond Co., Va. |
| Thos. Frost | Cpl. | Nat. Mil. Home, Elizabeth City Co., Va. |
| Albert Foreman | Pvt. | 90 Newton St., Norfolk, Va. |
| Enoch Gordon | Pvt. | 263 Cumberland St., Norfolk, Va. |
| John Keeling alias Keenan | Pvt. | Harrellsville, Hertford Co., N.C. |
| John Pendleton | Pvt. | 173 St. Paul St., Norfolk, Norfolk Co., Va. |
| John Randall alias Randolph | Pvt. | Providence Church in Berkeley, Va. 716 Queen St., Portsmouth, Va. |
| Alexander Roper | Pvt. | Suffolk, Nansemond Co., Va. |
| James Sparrow | Pvt. | 1440 Glasgow St., Portsmouth, Va. |
| Dixon Williams | Pvt. | Suffolk, Nansemond Co., Va. |
[Note: A handwritten note above “N. Butcher” reads “Imposter. Real soldier died in Norfolk, Va.” — Leslie]
Letter from John W.H. Porter, Attorney-at-Law to J.L. Davenport, Commissioner of Pensions, 7 June 1902
“It seems that about ten or twelve years ago King got tired of his old wife and wanted a younger woman so he took summary steps to carry out his desires …. I am partially able to corroborate the testimony of these two colored women as to the marriage. I was a boy, eleven years old at the time and was a near neighbor of Capt. Buckner. He had a son about my age with whom I was intimate. Martha Sawyer lived on the premises as one of the servants. I remember very well that, about the time fixed by the witnesses, young Buckner told his playmates that there was going to be a slave marriage in the house and we all went to see it.
If you know anything about the South before the war you are aware of the fact that slave marriages were quite notable for the children. The yellow fever broke out here in 1855 and young Buckner was one of the victims. I remember the marriages about that time but am not able to identify the parties. I did not know King or his wife then and have no knowledge of them personally until about thirty years ago.
Mary King’s address in Portsmouth is N.W. corner of Greene and Caledonia Streets. If directed to her there your letter will be delivered by the carrier. I append a little sketch of the locality of my home and that of Captain Buckner in 1853.”
Deed, Mary King to Susan Johnson, 14 January 1902
“Mary King widow of Kader Cater of the City of Portsmouth in the State of Virginia party of the first part, and Susan Johnson party of the second part … in consideration of the sum of One hundred and Twenty two dollars and sixty five cents …. That certain lot, piece or parcel of land the south side of Stonewall Street in the said Portsmouth bounded as follows: Commencing at a point on Stonewall Street two hundred and twenty five (225) feet east from the Hospital Road, Running thence east on said street thirty (30) feet, thence south one hundred (100) feet thence west thirty (30) feet and thence north one hundred (100) feet to the beginning; it being the lot that was conveyed to Kader King by Jas. L. Hatton and wife by deed dated April 5, 1867, and recorded in the office of the Clerk of Norfolk County Court in Deed Book 93 page 339 …”
Affidavit, Martha Sawyer, 11 April 1902
about 67 years old; “I have known Cater King and Mary King his widow for more than fifty years. I knew them long before they were married. Mary and I were children together. I was at present at their marriage. I do not remember the exact day but it was in the summer of 1853. I am able to remember the year on account of the yellow fever which was prevalent in Portsmouth in 1855. They were married two years before the fever. It was near the time of my own marriage. They were married by Rev. David Owens, colored, a Methodist local preacher. No church record of the marriages of colored people in Virginia. Rev. David Owens is dead and, as far as I can recollect, I am the only person living who was at the marriage. …. Cater King is dead. He died I think, some time in December last, before Christmas …. Mary King has no real estate at all and the only personal property she has is a little household furniture in a single room, consisting of a bed and bedstead, a small pine table, four plain chairs and two kitchen safes, worth in all about ten dollars. Cater King left a small one story house with two rooms and a kitchen and worth between three and four hundred dollars. His widow had the interest in this house and lot that law gives to her on account of being his widow. She sold out her interest to his heirs. The house and lot are on Stonewall Street in the City of Portsmouth. Mary King has no means of support except her daily labor. She works in Captain Flemming’s oyster house and opens oysters and averages about two dollars a week. She has no children or any one whose duty is to take of her.”
Deposition, Mary King, 7 January 1903
about 70 years old; post-office address, Gas House Lane, Portsmouth, Va.; occupation, opening oysters … “He died on Stonewall Street, Portsmouth, Va. last December a year ago. I do not know the date of his death. He was seen on a Monday and was found dead on a Wednesday … He was born at Deep Creek, Norfolk Co., Va., was about 70 years old when he died … I knew him from a young man…..His last owner was Jim Richardson (dead) of Portsmouth, Va. He was called Cater Richardson during slavery time but King was his right name. His father was named _____ King, his mother was Lucinda King.
“I was freeborn in Portsmouth, Va., the daughter of Nancy Pierce and Solomon Elsinore [?] or Gaskins. My maiden name was Pierce. I was married to the soldier for two years before the yellow fever (1855). I was married in a gentleman’s house by the name of Mr. _____ Buckner, don’t know the street. … A ‘colored man’ David Owens read the ‘matrimony’ He was a preacher. We stood up before him in the presence of witnesses. Owens was a preacher, was a slave, not a minister, just preached once in a while. We had no license, did not allow license to colored people.
“King had his master’s consent to marry me, told me so. My mother agreed to our marriage …
“He enlisted in Norfolk, Va.; don’t know the year or month. I used to go to the Regt. to carry him things, down to Ft. Monroe, then to Deep Creek where they camped. After he went to Richmond I did not see him. He came back after Richmond fell. Then they laid off Old Point on a ship and then went to Texas. I don’t know the month or year he returned. He came right back to me at Portsmouth, Va. as soon as he was discharged. I was living on Green St. then. He came right there and lived with me as my husband….
“[We lived together] fifteen or twenty years … It’s been fifteen or twenty years since I left him. I had to or get killed. He would have beat me to death, had so many women after he came out of the army,
“He married another woman before he left me, a Mrs. _____ Tarleton in Washington, DC, some 25 years ago. He went there to work he said. I never have seen her. I reckon she lives there now. I don’t know her full name or p.o. address.
“I reckon he also married one Caroline Mason in Norfolk Co. but got in a ‘divorcement’ from her a short time before she died in Portsmouth, Va. She married again, don’t know how long ago nor who she married, but she lives in Norfolk City, cannot state on what street. He tried to kill me about her. After I heard of his death I went to the house and they were shrouding him …. I have had but one child in my life, that was by the soldier, it lived but a short time.
“I have supported myself ever since I left him, working in oyster house and crab house….. I have lived in Lincolnville ever since I left….:
“I have his pension certificate … The only one of those men I know is James Sparrow, have not seen him for years. The soldier did not stay in Wash., DC a year. I heard from men who were with him — strangers to me — that he had married Mrs. Tarleton. I wrote there, had someone to write, and had to leave to keep from getting arrested.”
Deposition, Robert Jones, 7 January 1903
26 years old; post-office address, Effingham St. near Caledonia; occupation, merchant … “I knew Cater King all my life. He died between the 9th and 11th of Dec. 1901 on Stonewall St., Portsmouth, Va. He was at my store on Monday the 9th and was found dead in his home on Wednesday the 11th of Dec. 1901. I saw him alive on Monday and helped to shroud him on Wednesday. I believe that he died on Tuesday the 10th or early on Wednesday as he was found dead about dark on said day. Had not been dead long.
“The claimant Mary King is my aunt. When I was a child she was still living with Cater King as his wife. She left him about fifteen years ago.”
Deposition, Martha Sawyer, 7 January 1903
about 65 years old; post-office address, 106 Effingham St. (Lincolnville), Portsmouth, Va. … “I don’t know my age but I was married at the time of the yellow fever (1855). I have known the claimant Mary King since I was a girl. Her mother and my mother were good friends. I have known her well ever since….. I was at her marriage to Cater King. They were married on Dinwiddie St. just below County st. in Portsmouth, Va. in Mr. Buckner’s basement. I lived in the front basement and she lived in the back basement. We were both free. I do not know the month or year they were married but it was before the yellow fever (1855). I don’t know how long before. I think two or more…
“[The marriage was performed by ‘Brother’ David Owens, a colored preacher, who was a slave, but who had bought his time…. Cater belonged to Mr. Richardson, but he named himself Cater King, that was his right name. After they were married, he went to work in the swamp and when he came out he went home to claimant. I know that he was a soldier as I saw him dressed in a uniform during the war ….
“I moved in the country before the war but not near claimant… I used to call her Mrs. King. I don’t know that her given name was Mary. I would know her now if I was to see her I think but it’s been right smart years since I saw her. …. [He] lived with her after his discharge. I know that as I went to see them in Portsmouth where they lived several times. They had a kind of ‘split-up’ and after that I went no more. That was a year ago. …
“He was treating her bad, that was a long time after the war. They had then parted….. The last woman he lived with, he turned away, she lived near me. After that he was not married to her.
Deposition, John Powell, 9 January 1903
over 70 years old; post-office address, Effingham St. corner Carroll St., Portsmouth, Va….. “I have known Mary King since a child. We were raised together. Her maiden name was Mary Pierce….. I saw her married to Cater Pierce in Mr. Buckner’s basement. on Dinwiddie St on this side of County Street, this city…. after he came back [from the war] he lived with the claimant again for ten or more years, then they parted. No, they were never divorced, not that I know of. They lived close to me when they parted. …
“Her character is good, never heard anything against her character, that I ain’t.
“The way I came to see her married was this: my sister Martha Sawyer lived in one end of the basement, and she came and told me that claimant was going to get married and I and my sister Mary went along with Martha and saw them married.”
Deposition, Mary Davis, 9 January 1903
over 60 years; wife of Thos. Davis; post-office address, cor Carroll & Effingham Streets, Portsmouth, Va. …”I have known the claimant Mary King all my life … I saw her married to Cater King in Mr. Buckner’s kitchen … David Owens, a colored man, and a deacon of North Street Church married them. I don’t know the date of said marriage but I was a young girl at the time.and ran to seem them married….They separated about 20 years ago, while they were living on Stonewall Street…..She had to leave him on account of his bad treatment of her. She could not live with him. I know that for a fact. Cater King was found dead but I don’t know the date.”
Deposition, Thomas Davis, 9 January 1903
about 67 years; post-office address, cor Carroll & Effingham Streets, Portsmouth, Va; occupation, grocer … “I have known the claimant Mary King for many years. When I first knew her I was single…. She left him [Cater King] on account of trouble between them. She has lived in my immediate neighborhood ever since she left Cater King, at one time lived in a house of mine …. I knew Cater King for some time before he became claimant’s husband … I knew him as Cater King not Decatore King…. I understood that his house was sold after his death and I heard that the claimant got some part of the money
Deposition, James Sparrow, 12 January 1903
“in my 73rd year”; post-office address, 1440 Glasgow St., Portsmouth, Va.; occupation, laborer … “We were tentmates. I knew him before enlistment. We both lived in Portsmouth, Va. before and after our discharge from the army. His correct name was Cater King. I never knew him as Decatore King. He had a house and lot in ‘Lincolnville,’ and I heard that he died there…. I have been to his house many times after discharge … I know [King and his wife] separated some years ago and were not together when he died. He was by himself when he died.
“No, I never heard that he married Caroline Mason, I know that she staid [sic] with him. I don’t know where she lived. She was a woman of bad reputation. She told me that she was married years ago in Norfolk, Va. but I did not believe her.”
Deposition, Enoch Gordon, 12 January 1903
about 57 years old; post-office address, 236 Cumberland St., Norfolk, Va.; occupation, driving a cart … “I did not know him before enlistment but after discharge I saw him often, worked with him at a coalyard. He was a stevedore and lived in Portsmouth, Va. ‘Lincolnville.’ I was at his house several times. He owned the house. … He had a wife. I got acquainted with her at Old Point. After we enlisted she used to come there to see him, and while we camped in Portsmouth the latter part of 1864 and early of 1865 there and at Deep Creek, she came to see him nearly every day. I forget her name. I used to call her Mrs. King.”
“I went to see them in Portsmouth where they lived several times. They had a kind of “split up” and after that I went no more. I heard he got a divorce from his first wife, don’t know how true it is, and they had him in jail on her account.I heard. . …. I never called him Decatur King. We bunked together.”
Deposition, Mary Ellen Tatem, 14 January 1903
about 60 years; post-office address, 21 Carroll St., Portsmouth, Va.; occupation, washing & days work … “I have known the claimant Mary King since I was a young girl. ….She, Mary King, told me she had to leave him, he beat her so bad. He had another woman there afterwards, several of them. One was named Caroline Mason, don’t know the names of the others. I don’t know whether he married Caroline or not. I did not associate with her and do not know where she is. …The claimant, Mary King, has lived around and about here ever since she left Cater King. … The claimant and Cater King always lived in Norfolk Co., Va.
“Cater King was a soldier. I used to see him with soldier clothes on when he would come home on furlough.”
Deposition, Lavinia Powell, 20 January 1903
about 55 years; post-office address, Gas House Lane, Portsmouth, Va.; occupation, servant . … “I became acquainted with Mary King the claimant 30 or more years ago. I then lived on Queen St. and she was then living on the same street a few days away with Cater King as his wife. Soon after that they moved to ‘Lincolnville‘ on Stonewall Street….The y separated years ago, don’t know what year, don’t know the cause. They both continued to live in Lincolnville. The year before last I moved in this house with her, that was before the death of Cater King. We have lived together ever since. The house has but two rooms, upstairs and down and I have to go through her room to get to mine. No one else has lived in the house.”
[Note: This pension application folder contains an original payment voucher for Cater King dated August 6, 1900 — Leslie]
1st U.S. Colored Cavalry 