Figure 18: In 1860, many of Gooding’s slaveholders were connected to one another. These connections were usually formed through marriage. It also appears that slaveholding families regularly married into non-slaveholding ones, and vice-versa. The close relationship between slaveholding and non-slaveholding families might explain why support for the slave system existed even among those who did not own slaves themselves (“Craven County December 1860 resolutions”). It also calls into question the idea that Craven County slaveholders were an elite social class, entirely set apart from the rest of society. This indicates that the narrative may be flawed in its implication of a hard separation between Craven’s wealthy land and slave holders, and the rest of society.