Posts Tagged ‘mississippi’

Bluesin’ for my Kin – Bentonia Blues Festival

 

Two weeks ago, I shared some news on my Facebook feed that I’d like to share and elaborate on here as well. My post on Facebook read as follows:

After many, many months of visualizing a community kin connecting and genealogical event I’m so excited to be one month out from this project. Yazoo Mississippi area family, friends and members of the community, I hope that you will ALL join me in this unique Bluesin’ for my Kin endeavor made possible through funding provided from the We Shall Overcome Fund from the good folks at the Highlander Center.

 

Meet me at the Blue Front Café in Bentonia during the week or at the Holmes Farm on Saturday, June 15th during the 47th Bentonia Blues Festival. I will be sharing information about Sons and Daughters of the U.S. Middle Passage, a lineage society dedicated to the memory of freed and enslaved ancestors. The objectives of SDUSMP are Historical, Educational, Memorial and Patriotic. Additionally, I will be providing FREE genealogical assistance and guidance for recording and preserving your own family historical narrative. Joining me will be the amazing folks from the Ricks Memorial Library to provide insight on what the local library has to offer for your research quest.

 

In-kind partners include Ancestry and MyHeritage who have both provided free DNA kits as well as free annual subscriptions to their databases. FamilyChartMasters has tossed in some beautiful blank family pedigree charts and Arcadia Publishing Charleston is participating by providing some of their amazing Mississippi area historical books. Swing by for an opportunity to win some of these amazing prizes.

 

Whether you’re rooted in the Yazoo area or just trekking through I can’t wait to blues and rejoice in the memory of our collective Yazoo area roots and love of family research.

Allow me to break this down piece by piece and the importance of this project not only to me, but to the folks in Yazoo County, Mississippi, surrounding areas and any community wishing to host their own community kin connecting initiative.

During the third week and on the third Saturday in June the small rural community of Bentonia, Mississippi hosts one of the oldest blues festivals in the country. Started by Mr. Jimmy “Duck” Holmes and now in its 47th year – this particular festival is said to be like none other in the country and visitors come from all over to participate and enjoy a variety of blues musicians. This will be a first time for me attending this festival and while I enjoy live music of all sorts including the blues, my purpose for wanting to visit is because I’ve got the blues. I’m bluesin’ for my kin. Read more

fletchers of perquimans county, north carolina

Working Fletcher family DNA tree based off my research. Research is ongoing.

Working Fletcher family DNA tree based off my research. Research is ongoing.


If you have found your way to this blog and you have connections to the Fletcher family that once lived in Perquimans County, North Carolina I hope that you’ll stick around because I’m pretty sure we’re cousins. The only problem is I can’t quite tell you how or who connects us, but I will do my best to pave the way. A good many DNA clues have lead me to this hypothesis and in order to explain I’m going to have to start from the beginning.
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yazoo + warren county maps, DNA connections and more (part 1)

1900_CENSUS_MAP

Psst… Want to hear a secret? I guarantee this is going to rock your socks off when I reveal it you. Ready? Wait, no. Okay, here it goes. Way back when – a very long time ago our ancestors lived in very close proximity to their family. Say what?! YES! Now most of you already knew that or suspected as much for immediate family members and I know this isn’t true for everyone, but for the most part families stayed within arms reach more times than not. This little secret even applies for extended family members who could often be found nearby as well. This is something I myself continue to rediscover as I return to old census records I’d sworn I reviewed with a fine tooth comb. However, it is actually my ongoing efforts and waiting for new DNA matches (who are very slowly appearing) that is causing to re-review the records once more.

Because I enjoy sketching (it helps me to retain information better) I decided to draw out a map of the areas my 2x great grandparents, Stark King and Jeannie Gilliam King were residing in 1900 and 1910 to reflect this phenomenon of families living close by one another. These map sketches of mine are strictly based off of my imagination and are not drawn to scale or with any land surveys, so entertain me if you will.

Let me begin with the 1900 Census. Stark and Jeannie were living in the Enola area of Beat 1. I’m told Enola was once a plantation and in imagining a plantation I drew rows of houses to reflect data from four consecutive pages. In this case that would be pages 49-52 out of 67 pages from this enumeration district. Anyhow, back to Stark and Jeannie. At the time of enumeration they had in their household four children; Brucie, John, Riley and Miranda King. My great grandmother, Louise King, would be born a few months later that year. For the past decade all of the other names on the page they are listed and even a few pages forward and backwards were quite insignificant. The only exception being the Darwin Gilliam fellow who I suspect a sibling relationship to my Jeannie Gilliam, but have nothing to prove such.

Now behold the power behind DNA testing for the purposes of Ancestry or genetic genealogy. On my 1900 map I sketched all the households listed in pencil and then I went back on made bold the households where a DNA tested descendant or living representative has appeared within my list of matches. All of these particular matches have appeared within my matches at Ancestry.com. Since I’m dealing with a number of families this may become a little messy, so I will do my best to keep it tidy by assigning a letter to house in bold with a their DNA match. Here goes:

Match A: Represents a descendant(s) from the line of Sonny Hawkins
Match B: Represents a descendant(s) from the lines of Lewis & Delia Bell Miller
Match C: Represents a descendant(s) from the lines of Stark and Jeannie Gilliam King
Match D: Represents a descendant from the lines of both Rena Crockett Johnson and Albert and Cassie Ann Morris Lewis
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current research interests

I recently shared in detail my connections and research interests related to Yazoo County, Mississippi. The King and Gilliam lines out of Yazoo from which I descend can be found on my mother’s maternal side. I made a commitment this year to focus on my mother’s maternal lines first and foremost. That is the part of my family tree with the least amount of information. Still, I would like to summarize some additional interests across my entire pedigree. Without further delay here they are:

PATERNAL LINES

Surname(s): ROBERTS, ROBINSON
Location(s): Franklin, Lincoln & Bolivar Counties, MS

Celia Ann Robinson Thomas, formerly Celia Ann Roberts is my 2x great grandmother who resided in Bolivar County, MS. When I requested her 1913 Death certificate from the MDAH I had no idea how it would propel me into seeking free people of color (FPOC) in Franklin and Lincoln County. Per the information provided on her death certificate, my Celia Ann was the daughter of a James Roberts from Franklin County, MS. With the information found on the death certificate I was finally able to locate Celia Ann in the 1870 and 1880 Census years living in Lincoln County with her father James Roberts and mother, also named Celia. I noticed from the 1870 Census that Celia Ann’s father James was listed as a mulatto which prompted me into seeing whether he could be found in 1860. And wouldn’t you like to know what I found?! I found a mulatto James Roberts (presumably the same one that is Celia Ann’s father) living free in 1860 and 1850 with his family. Free People of Color!

Actually, on these two census years I see that James’ father, Dread Roberts, is a mulatto man married to a white woman, Elizabeth Mitchell Roberts. Say what? Yes. Here is where my troubles and questions arise. If James was a FPOC living comfortably in Franklin and later Lincoln County, why did he and several of his children turn up living in Bolivar County with the last name Robinson? Well a couple thoughts come to mind. Come 1870 Dread Roberts and the rest of his children are now passing for white. This trend continues into 1880 and onward for all of Dread Robert’s children. They marry white people and their children become white as listed on every Census record post 1870. The only exception is my 3x great grandfather, James Roberts. So did he move to the Mississippi Delta and change his name because he married / partnered with a woman of color? Or was he himself phenotypically of defect to his own family?

So far I’ve located a number a of Dread Roberts white descendants a.k.a. my distant 4th and 5th cousins, but none are too familiar with their family history that far back. Hmm, I wonder why? I’m certainly not trying to ask anyone who obviously looks white to redefine who or what they are. I only want to have a complete and accurate history to pass down to my own children. This is one of my research areas where I am hoping DNA testing will prove most useful.

Surname(s): HENDERSON, GREEN(E)
Location(s): Mississippi Delta & King George, VA

Anderson Henderson, my 2x great grandfather, was always said to be the son of Hardie and Susan Dandridge Henderson. I accepted it. I rolled with it until I decided to order the pension record of Hardie Henderson. Boy did that muddy the water! Hardie, a Civil War veteran, has a pension file that is 90+ pages long. Long story short: Hardie does a good job including information on his spouse and their children. The first issue I came across was Susan, his wife, was a war widow. The documents state she was previously married to a Bob Green(e) who perished in Vicksburg. My next observation was that Hardie never lists Anderson as one of his children unless Anderson has another name unbeknownst to me. It would seem to me that my 3x great grandfather, Anderson Henderson was adopted by Hardie and took on his surname. However, his biological father is a Green(e). That naturally changes the whole ball game.
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yazoo county connections: paper trail problems + genetic findings

Yazoo Roots

They are laughing again. My ancestors. Perhaps I’m mistaking laughter for their cheering me on, but in either case their presence is heavy these days. And it is rather intense. I can not imagine how anyone can go about pursuing those who have walked before them without quietly holding conversation with them. I find myself whispering into the winds, so that they may hear my soft and gentle pleas for a clue. Maybe, just maybe, they are starting to hear me…

My great grandmother Louise King

My great grandmother Louise King

Mama Ease. She died 11 years before I was born so I never had the opportunity to know her personally. She was my mother’s maternal grandmother. And before she was Mama Ease, grandmother to my mother and her siblings, she was Louise King, born on the 12th of August in 1900 to parents Stark King and Jeannie Gilliam King. Her place of birth was likely in the Enola community of Yazoo County, Mississippi, but I’m not 100% certain. With the exception of one Census year, 1930, the life of Louise was documented very well. Since my mother knew her I know her through my mother’s memories of her. She isn’t much of a mystery. Old family photographs captured her beauty. Oral history provided me with details of her ability to make an exceptionally palatable pound cake. Furthermore, she worked for the famous Tropical Hut restaurant in Chicago as a Cook. One of my cousins who knew her well often describes how Louise would share with her and show her the doughboy uniform of her brother Riley King, who died in WWI. Of course all that was after she left Mississippi sometime in the early to mid-1930’s. No, Louise King is not a mystery, but her parents and their vague ancestral lineage mark the beginnings of my brick walls.

My 2x great grandmother Jeannie Gilliam King

My 2x great grandmother Jeannie Gilliam King

Incredibly little is known about Mama Jeannie or Jeannie Gilliam, so I will describe what I do know – most of which I learned through Census records. Jeannie was born about 1872 in Mississippi. Unable to successfully locate her in 1880, the first true and solid documentation I have is her 20 July 1888 marriage record to spouse Stark King. They married in Yazoo City, Mississippi. By 1900 Jeannie and Stark have established a nice growing family and can be found residing in the Enola Precinct in Yazoo County. In 1910 they’ve moved over the Yazoo County line into Beat 5 of Warren County on Ball Ground Road. From 1920 to approximately 1934 Jeannie and her family can be seen living in the Choctaw community of Shaw, Bolivar County, Mississippi. Like her daughters, whom she had sent away from the Mississippi Delta into Chicago, Illinois, Jeannie later made the bustling city her home during her later years of life. Mama Jeannie perished in 1951 leaving no information behind about her parents. This lack of information has made her difficult to locate prior to her 1888 marriage record despite her uncommon surname.

Stark King on the other hand is a bit of a different story. I can’t begin to describe how much sleep has been lost over figuring out the life of my 2x great grandfather, Stark King. Unlike his wife, Stark can be located on the 1880 Census. It is on this record that I find him living with his mother listed as Nora and his siblings, Mose King, Mary King and (half-siblings?) twins John and Susie Williams. Stark is said to be 17 years old at the time which would place his birth date in the year 1867. He should have been enumerated with his family in 1870, but I’ve had a terrible time in all my attempts to locate them in Yazoo County or surrounding areas. The rest of Stark’s life and his whereabouts for the most part are as clear as day and as follows: 1900 – Beat 1, Enola Precinct, Yazoo County, 1910 – Beat 5, Warren County, 1920 – Beat 5, Bolivar County, 1930 – Beat 5, Bolivar County. He was deceased as of September 23, 1932 in Shaw, Mississippi. Although his daughter, Brucie King Johnson provided names for both of Stark’s parents for his death certificate, I remain skeptical about the John King noted to be his father.

The real trouble I have with my ancestor Stark King lies within his own name. While the last name King was quite common in Yazoo, the first name Stark wasn’t common at all in Yazoo or elsewhere. Strangely enough there is a white doctor by the name of Thomas Stark King residing in Yazoo County as well. This doctor had only one son whom he named Stark King and his son was born a few years give or take from the date of my Stark King. To make matters even worse the white Dr. Thomas Stark King had a wife named Lenora, but she can also be found simply listed as Nora. I did mention that my Stark’s mother was also named Nora too, right? Besides racial designations the only other difference I can establish between the two families is that they were residing on different sides of the county from 1880 onward.

1880_ TS_King

1880 U.S. Census record with the family of Dr. Thomas Stark King

1880_Stark_King

1880 U.S. Census with the family of Nora King and children including my 2x great grandfather, Stark King

So where does the name Stark come from and where am I really going with this? In regards to the name your guess is as good as mine. In regards to every other matter I can’t help to wonder and cling to the idea that the two families could have been connected biologically or other. Dr. Thomas Stark King had a brother named John King who was of the right age to be my Stark King’s father. However, I have very little to support that theory of parentage. I’ve had the kindest volunteers in the world to collect wills and probate records on the white Thomas Stark King family and related individuals. Sadly, those documents did very little in solidifying a connection. My Stark King was listed as a mulatto only on the 1910 Census year and I’m not even sure if his father was white or black. So I’m stuck in regards to paper records here.

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