On line 17 of the 1870 census, it states that Dempse was 53 years old. This means that he had been
enslaved by the white Witherow family for approximately 48 years. Dempse was born in 1817 in
Buncombe County, North Carolina, near Asheville. At six months old, he was purchased by Ann
Ashworth, a wealthy widow who owned 2,250 acres of land. In 1832, Ann Ashworth died. She
listed everything she owned in an itemized record, and alongside wheelbarrows and pitchforks was
our grandfather, Dempse. John Witherow inherited Dempse through his marriage to Susannah
Ashworth. At that time, Dempse was valued at 413 dollars. John Witherow was a gunsmith, and in
1840, when Dempse was in his twenties, he moved to Ellijay, Georgia, with Dempse. Dempse’s
mother, Penelope, was given to John Breyer; her value was listed as 100 dollars. Dempse’s brother
was sold to William Merrill when he was sixteen years old, in 1832. When emancipation occurred in
1865, Dempse was living in Tails Creek in Ellijay, Georgia, which is adjacent to Mountain Town
Creek. After slavery ended, Dempse adopted the last name of the family who had enslaved him,
Witherow. Enslaved people did not have surnames. On line 18 of the 1870 census, Dempse’s wife is
listed as Julia. She is marked with an “M,” indicating that she was mulatto. It is believed that her
father was a white man. John Harshaw and I found her grave in a white church cemetery on Fort
Mountain in Murray County, near Chatsworth, Georgia. I took John Harshaw to the African
American cemetery located on the Roberts family land in Ellijay. I showed him the tombstone of our
grandmother, Georgiana, and he fell to his knees and began praying. Julia was 35 years old in 1870,
which means she was born in 1835. She had been enslaved for 30 years.