Draft:Fanny Breeze

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Fannie Breeze (1831-1911) was a slave and midwife who served the communities of Eno River and Pleasant Green, near Durham, North Carolina. She attended numerous births for decades, attending the births of black, white, and Native families, many of whom referred to her as "Aunt Fannie".

She became the first non-white member of the Pleasant Green United Methodist Church in Durham after the congregation decided to allow this, largely due to the fact that in the mid-1850s, it was understood that she had attended the birth of most of the congregation.

Early Life

Fannie Breeze was born Frances Thompson in Orange County, NC, a slave that was part of the Samuel Thompson family, to Sina Brown Thompson and Dennis Thompson. She was later conveyed to Samuel Breeze and at age 11, Fannie and her mother Sina were sole by Samuel Breeze to his daughter, Phoebe Clancy, for $214.

Family

Fannie Breeze married Stanford Breeze in 1866. The couple had already been together for many years, but could not legally marry until the Emancipation Proclamation made it possible. Their marriage is recorded in the book for Freedmen's Marriages in Orange County, NC.

Fannie and Stanford had three daughters.

Little is known about Sarah, it is believed that she died between the ages of 12 and 22. She is identified in the United Census only once.

Harriet was deaf and died at the age of 27.

Maggie is not listed in the household with her parents, and so it is assumed that she went to work for another family at a young age. Maggie later married James Pinking Williamson, the first minister of Mount Gilead Church in Durham, NC.

After the death of Stanford Breeze in 1903, Fannie moved into a home with her daughter Maggie and James Pinking Williamson.

Fannie Breeze died in 1911 and is interred at the Pleasant Green United Methodist Church, along with Stanford and her daughter Harriet. Maggie and her family are interred at Mount Gilead Missionary Baptist Church.

Other

Homestead in the Eno River State Park

In 1866, Anthony Cole, a local mill owner, conveyed a 55 acre tract to Stanford and Fannie Breeze. Fannie and Stanford spent many years in the home they built there. There is evidence that in her later years, Fannie and Stanford moved to Hillsborough, North Carolina and settled near the river, near the current courthouse, where there is now a trail known as the Riverwalk. This is thought to be a community of midwives.

Stanford Breeze sold the land to James Pinking Williamson, one of the first pastors at Mt. Gilead Baptist Church, who had married Maggie Breeze. Williamson sold to Grover Cleveland Shaw in 1926. Grover Cleveland Shaw sold this land, along with additional lands to the NC State Park system in 1977.

This land is now part of the Eno River State Park, and some remnants of the old homestead are still visible, including a rock wall and the stones from two chimneys. Within the park, Fannie is remembered by having the specific ford that Fannie used to cross the river to travel to births named after her. There is also a trail named after the ford

Membership in the Pleasant Green United Methodist Church

Fannie was so beloved by the congregation at the Pleasant Green United Method Church (PGUMC) in Durham, N.C that they allowed her to become the first black member of the congregation. She later approached the leaders of PGUMC about starting a new church for the local African Americans to worship together, and one of the members, the Cook family, gifted land that later became the location for the Mount Gilead Missionary Baptist Church. It is understood that Fannie Breeze worshipped at both of these churches.

When Fannie herself was buried, the grave was initially marked with a simple fieldstone, as were many of the graves of slaves and former slaves.

The present headstone was provided by Hugh Conway Browning, whose birth was one of many attended by Breeze.