Neville, Joshua (1794-1840)
Neville, Joshua
Lisburn, Ireland then Charleston, South Carolina, USA; cabinet maker, timber merchant, sawyer, slave owner and trader (fl.1794-1840)
Joshua was the son of William and Anne (née Hancock) Neville, born in Lisburn, County Down in 1765. It is said that he immigrated to Charleston when he was about fifteen years old. He was married to Eliza (née Marrett), on the 10 March 1792 at the Trinity Methodist Church. Two children were born from the marriage, Henry (1796) and Kitty (1798). Eliza died in 1799, at the age of twenty-five; Joshua was remarried to Esther Ann (née Cox) in 1805. This couple had five children, Martha (1807), Thomas (1809), Harriet (1815), William (1818) and Mary (1822).
On 15 September 1814 he became a naturalised US citizen. His second wife, Esther died on 20 July 1823.
Neville was listed at the following addresses in Charleston: 6 Clifford's Alley (1794); 57 Wentworth Street (1800); 43 King Street (1802, 1803); 40 Tradd Street (1806, 1807); 43 King Street (1808); 30 Tradd Street (1809); 322 King Street (1816, 1819); 7 Wentworth Street and 282 King Street (1820); 260 King Street (1822); 7 Wentworth Street (1830); 98 Church Street (1840).
Three of his apprentices are known:
- George Seaman, who ran away in 1817: Twenty Dollars Reward Ran away on the 28th July last, my Apprentice Boy, GEORGE SEAMAN, about 18 years of age, about 5 feet 4 or 5 inches high, thick lips, speaks slow when spoken to: he has a weakness in his ancles [sic], from some natural defect, which causes him to shuffle when he walks: he has a mother and two uncles on Edisto where I expect he may be gone. The above reward and all reasonable expenses will be paid, by delivering him to the Subscriber in Charleston. If his uncle that bound him to me will come forward and give me what is reasonable for the time he has to serve, I am willing to give up his indentures, as he hinted some time before he went away he wishes to purchase his time [City Gazette and Commercial Daily Advertiser, 2 August 1817].
- Edward William Butler, who began his apprenticeship in 1821: Edward was apprenticed through an Orphan House in Charleston: 'Edward William Butler, age 7 years 29 March 1814, of Charleston, with consent of his mother, Maria Butler, entered the Orphan House for a period to end 29 March 1828. On 11 October 1821 he was apprenticed of Joshua Neville & Son of Charleston, to learn the occupation of a Cabinet Maker which they now use, with bond of $100. Both parties sign'.
- Henry Hatten Bolger, was a fellow countryman from Ireland, who began his apprenticeship c.1830. Apparently of great prowess, he was awarded a silver medal 'for the best specimen of Cabinet Work by the Apprentices Library Society in 1832:
Henry presented a miniature columned mahogany veneered sideboard below, which he had made the previous year.
Like many at the period in American southern states, Neville owned and traded slaves. As a financial asset, in addition to providing a labour force, enslaved people were also used for collateral: 20 March 1812: Neville, Cabinet maker of Charleston mortgages three Negroes named Joe, Jim and Mary to Thomas Blackwood, Esq. of the same place. The mortgage is made to secure notes indorsed of Thomas Blackwood for various banks in the city and if Joshua Neville repays the notes when due, this mortgage will be void. 2 June 1818: Edward Freer of James Island now mortgages a Negro slave named Mary to Joshua Neville in consideration of a bond in the penal sum of $800.00 with $400.00 plus interest to be repaid. In 1820 the Neville family were living in a household of twenty people that included four slaves, three male and one female.
One of Joshua's sons, Henry, setup as an independent tradesman in 1819. The venture was short lived, lasting only one year. In July of that year his father's cabinet-making shop in King Street was destroyed by a fire that broke out at a nearby baker's shop. The following year (1820), Joshua and Henry established a partnership business called Joshua Neville & Son:
The father and son expanded their business interests to supplying mahogany in boards, planks and veneers and furnishing funerals:
Business apparently thrived through the 1820s. By 1828 the Nevilles operated a mill and in that year also advertised for 'three or four BOYS, to learn the Cabinet Making Business; either white or coloured':
The Nevilles suffered another fire in June 1838. Two years later they had relocated to 98 Church Street:
There is no further evidence of Joshua or his son working in Charleston after 1840. At some point Joshua moved to Columbia, South Carolina. On 10 January 1851 he died of asthma, aged eighty-six:
His son, Henry, is thought to have given up cabinet-making at the time of his father's death. He passed away in late December 1857.
Sources: South Carolina Marriages, 1688-1799; 1800 United States Federal Census, 1800, 1810, 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850; Holcomb, Brent, H. South Carolina Naturalizations, 1783-1850, Genealogical Publishing Co., 1985, p. 255; A Directory of the City and District of Charleston, and Stranger’s Guide: for the Year 1813; U S Naturalization Records - Aliens Admitted as Citizens, 1790-1860, Vol.1; South Carolina City Directory, 1820; American Craftspeople, 1600-1995, The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Inc. Winterthur, Delaware; MESDA ID 26488; Orphan House, Indenture Book for Boys and Girls, 1812-1816; South Carolina Mortgages, No. N.N.N., 20 March 1812, No. P.P.P., 2 June 1818.