Ingram Coman was listed on the 1834 Report of the Commissioners appointed to superintend the re-building of the State Capitol. Ingram was listed on the Capitol project as a “laborer” and was compensated $.50 per day.
Most likely the money that Ingram earned went entirely to his enslaver James Coman. Ingram, along with Sam, John, and Henderson Coman, are also listed on receipts detailing payments for labor in the construction of the Capitol.
James Coman was an affluent merchant who owned a store and a house in downtown Raleigh. A map from 1834 shows that James owned a lot directly west of the Capitol’s square. It is likely that Ingram lived on this property and walked to the Capitol. James Coman enslaved at least six men who worked at the Capitol.
James Coman died without a will in 1842 and his three children divided up his considerable estate of land and enslaved people. Ingram was noted specifically in the inventory of James Coman’s “property” as being one of “two negroes sold because they were unmanageable and it was thought best to sell them by all the Distributors under all the circumstances.” We do not know what those circumstances were or what happened to Ingram after James Coman’s death.
References:
- Map of the City of Raleigh, 1847. Surveyed and drawn by J.W. Johnson. Entered according to act of Congress in the Year 1847 by J.W. Johnson in the Circuit clerk office of the district of North Carolina. Accessed in the Raleigh History Collection, State Archives of North Carolina.
- Plan of the city of Raleigh first published in the year 1834. Map printed by Walters, Hughes and Company, Raleigh, N.C. From the book, Early Times in Raleigh Addresses Delivered by the Hon. David L. Swain, 1867. Accessed in the Raleigh History Collection, State Archives of North Carolina.
- Report of the commissioners appointed to superintend the re-building of the State Capitol. Philo White, Printer to the State, Legislature of North Carolina, 1834. Accessed in the Raleigh History Collection, State Archives of North Carolina.
- State Capitol: Laborers’ Pay and Enslaved Labor. State Archives of North Carolina.
- Tangled Histories Blog. “Lost Ancestors: People Enslaved by the Coman Family.” Published June 12, 2016.
- Will of James Coman, 1842. Wills and Estate Papers (Wake County). State Archives of North Carolina.
