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<br /> acres in northern Orange County where he and Elizabeth established a farm. Twelve
<br /> slaves lived on the farm in 1830 and fourteen in 1840.1
<br /> The 1850 agricultural census for Orange County reported that just over half of
<br /> Nicholas Hester's nearly 600-acre farm was under cultivation in 1849. Hester
<br /> owned a variety of livestock including horses, cattle, sheep, and swine and he grew
<br /> wheat, rye, corn, oats, sweet potatoes,hay and 5,000 pounds of tobacco. The Hester
<br /> farm also produced wool and butter.That year, Hester owned sixteen slaves.z
<br /> Ten years later, Hester's farm was larger by over 100 acres,but only 150 acres was
<br /> under cultivation. However,the cash value of his farm nearly quadrupled from 1850
<br /> to $4,000. The types of livestock he raised remained the same, as did the crops he
<br /> produced. Tobacco continued as Hester's major cash crop with 6,000 pounds
<br /> produced. Twelve slaves lived and worked on the Hester farm and the census
<br /> reported one slave house on the farm in 1859.3
<br /> The Civil War impacted the Hester Farm, as it did all of the county's farmers.
<br /> According to the 1870 agricultural census, Nicholas Hester's farm,which was valued
<br /> at only$1,600, contained 60 acres of improved land and 400 acres of woodland.
<br /> Hester's livestock herd decreased, as did his crop production. That year,the farm
<br /> yielded only 1,000 pounds of tobacco and smaller amounts of wheat, corn, Irish and
<br /> sweet potatoes, and hay.4
<br /> Nicholas Hester's will from 1867 distributed land to all of his children and
<br /> grandchildren. Upon his death in Mississippi in 1875, Nicholas Hester's son,
<br /> Nicholas Corbett Hester, received 109 acres where he built his house in 1881. Born
<br /> in Orange County in 1836 (d. 1891), Nicholas Corbett Hester enlisted as a sergeant
<br /> in the confederate army on March 11, 18.62.5 After he inherited a portion of his
<br /> father's farm,he lived in the surviving log house with his wife, Sarah (Sallie) Thomas
<br /> (1838-1913).6 The couple had two daughters, Sarah (Sallie Bet) (1877-1951) and
<br /> 11830 Slave Population Census, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC; 1840
<br /> Slave Population Census, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC.
<br /> Z 1850 Census of Agriculture, microfilm, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC;
<br /> 1850 Slave Population Census, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC.
<br /> 3 1860 Census of Agriculture, microfilm, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC;
<br /> 1860 Slave Population Census, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC.
<br /> 41870 Census of Agriculture, microfilm, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC.
<br /> 5 U. S. Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865 [database on-line],viewed
<br /> on Ancestry.com, 2009, accessed June 16, 2015.
<br /> 6 U. S. Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line],Ancestry. corn, 2012,
<br /> accessed June 16, 2015.
<br /> 6
<br /> October 26, 2015
<br /> Orange County Local Landmark Application: Nicholas Corbett Hester House
<br /> 9501 NC 86 North
<br /> Cedar Grove, NC 27231
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