Unearthing Hidden Jewels

Photo by Dennis Cox

Let me be frank. I cannot imagine going through life without having vast knowledge about the accomplishments of my own ancestors, the people whose blood flows through my veins.  In addition to having knowledge about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, and many other noted African Americans who are often commemorated during Black History Month, I want to know as much as I can about my past family members who made a difference in their communities in their own ways. I’ve been researching since 1993, and I realize that (1) I still have a lot to learn about their accomplishments, and (2) researching to unearth those hidden and untold “jewels” will be a life-long journey.  Recently, Angela Walton-Raji made these facts very evident!

While attending the AAHGS conference in Little Rock, Arkansas in October 2011, Angela, a renowned genealogist, historian, and my “genealogy buddy” for nearly 20 years, became fascinated by the buried accomplishments and life of Madam Martha “Mattie” E. Danner Hockenhull. Angela also happens to be the great-great-granddaughter of my great-great-grandfather Pleasant Barr’s second wife Amanda Young.  She had no idea that Mattie Hockenhull was my maternal grandmother’s aunt, my great-grandmother’s sister.  Instead of me sharing how researching Mattie Hockenhull led Cousin Angela back to me, check out her blog post, “The Search For and Discovery of Madam Martha Danner Hockenhull.”

I first learned about Aunt Mattie from my late and dear cousin, Vivian Ivory Jones, when I moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 1996. Cousin Vivian shared how Aunt Mattie had owned a beauty shop in Pine Bluff, Arkansas during the 1910’s and 1920’s. Aunt Mattie’s only child, Isaac Hockenhull, married the late great gospel singer, Mahalia Jackson, in Chicago, IL.  That was all that was basically shared with me about her. Then, Cousin Vivian, whose grandmother Frances Danner Howard was also my great-grandmother’s sister, pulled out the following picture of her.  Aunt Mattie was obviously a lady of style and elegance.

Madam Martha “Mattie” Ella Danner Hockenhull

(1873 – 1937)

Yesterday, I got a Facebook message from Cousin Angela. In addition to her findings that she revealed in her blog post, she recently found more about Aunt Mattie!  Not only did Aunt Mattie run her own beauty shop in Pine Bluff, Arkansas during the early 1900’s, not only did she publish a series of publications about beauty techniques in 1917 (see Angela’s blog post for pictures), not only was she the former mother-in-law of Mahalia Jackson, but this elegant lady, who was born just eight years after slavery near Como, Mississippi, also ran a correspondence school!  This additional fact was discovered in a 1917 edition of the Muskogee Cimeter, a black newspaper published in Oklahoma.  Excitingly, Angela also expressed the following, “Note that in 1917, she had a telephone! Most families did not get phones till the 1950’s! She was ahead of her time!” I am so proud to claim this lady as my great-grand-aunt!  One can only imagine what else will be unearthed, not only about Aunt Mattie, but about others with whom I share DNA. The same goes for you, too!

 1917 article from the Muskogee Cimeter newspaper; shared by Angela Walton-Raji

Many Thanks to Angela!

Unusual and Unexpected Research Findings: The Great Stuff We Stumble Upon!

Panola County, Mississippi Courthouse (northern), Sardis, Mississippi
 

Sometime ago, I called out sick from work (again!) and drove down to the northern Panola County, Mississippi courthouse in Sardis to conduct some research. I’d uncovered that my great-great-grandmother Polly Partee’s likely last enslaver was Squire Boone Partee, who had died in 1864. I used and underlined the word “likely” because I had found a preponderance of evidence that pointed to him which included the following:

(1)   Grandma Polly (born circa 1833 in North Carolina) and her children took the Partee name, and a white Partee family owned slaves in Panola County per the slave schedules: Squire B. Partee, 43 slaves (1850) and 71 slaves (1860);

(2)   Oral history from my late cousin Isaac Deberry, who remembered his mother telling him that Grandma Polly came off the “ole Partee place” where she had been a great cook during and after slavery;

(3)   In 1870, just five years after slavery ended, Grandma Polly was living adjacent to Squire’s widow, Martha Partee, per the 1870 Panola County census;

(4)   Grandma Polly named one of her sons “Squire”, but the family called him “Uncle Square”.

As you can see, I had very strong evidence, but I wanted documented proof. I wanted to find Grandma Polly's name in a pre-1865 document. Since Squire Boone Partee had died during slavery in 1864, my goal was to find his estate papers and hopefully find a slave inventory that recorded her and her children, including her daughter Sarah Partee Reed, my great-grandmother who was born around 1852.  Thankfully, I found his estate record, but a slave inventory was not found. I was terribly disappointed. However, as I browsed the papers in his estate record, I found something quite interesting!  Doctor visits to his plantation were recorded, and the entries included the names of some of the enslaved. 

This finding was quite revealing to me because I had assumed that nearly all enslaved African Americans on plantations throughout the South had their root doctors who used their own remedies to care for the sick.  As I discussed in the last chapter of Mississippi to Africa: A Journey of Discovery, when Africans were forcibly extracted from Africa, they brought with them their experience working with roots and herbs as healing agents.  Principally due to slavery and the unavailability of some traditional African plants, the remedies of root doctors, who were also called conjurers, root workers, and herb doctors, were a combination of some Native American and European folk remedies and the extensive African knowledge of medicinal root use.  In many cases, midwives were often the root doctors of the slave communities. 

Well, from 1860 to 1864, doctor visits to the white Partee family and their slaves were recorded, and the cost of each visit was charged to the estate. Visits to Grandma Polly were recorded numerous times!  Like Grandma Polly, some of the slaves were named, while a number of entries were “medicine for four negroes”, or “visit to Patsy and three negroes”, or “visit to Negro woman". One entry even stated, “Visit at night, woman in abortion”, who was apparently an enslaved woman who was losing her unborn child, a common occurrence. The doctor’s name was noted as Dr. H. B. Dandridge, who was recorded as a physician in the 1860 Panola County, Mississippi census.

The following are just 3 scanned pages of over 15 pages of recorded doctor visits. Slave names are underlined in red.  One should never wonder why people become quickly addicted to genealogy research when many of us encounter unusual and unexpected findings that add to the thrill of the search!

From March 2 to March 10, 1860, daily visits to Grandma Polly were made.

1861

1864

Grandparents Day 2012: Remembering My Grandmother

Willie Ealy Collier

(1904 – 1990)

Youngest daughter of Paul Ealy & Adeline Kennedy Ealy

Over two decades ago, God called you into His kingdom. I was devastated because I was losing the best grandmother a boy could have ever wished for. But after the river of tears, I realized that I wasn't losing you at all. You are always with me. How do I know? Because you are often in my dreams, and every time I wake up after seeing you in my dream, the day is already starting off great.

It brings me so much joy to remember....

...when you, me, and Granddaddy would go fishing on Mr. Swayze's pond in Yazoo County. That would be the only time when I couldn't wait to wake up at 5 AM in the morning. How I loved our fishing trips!

...the many talks you shared with me about your family and its history. I credit my love for genealogy to your stories about your parents and grandparents. And I still remember how you said that you being the youngest child of your parents' nine children, you were a spoiled brat.

...when we would go to Carthage, and as we were walking around the town's square, one of your former students would come up to you and greet you. You'd laugh and talk with them as if you were truly glad to see them after all of those years. Then, once they walk away, you'd look at me and say, "Baby, I don't remember her/him to save my life!" I am laughing now just remembering how you'd say it.

...when I was 12 years old and had just learned how to drive, you let me drive you and Granddaddy to the Ealy Family Reunion picnic 50 miles away in Scott County.  No learner's permit, no driver's license, nothing but Faith.  You had me to sit on a pillow so I would be high enough in front of the steering wheel, and you placed your life and your new Chevrolet Impala in my hands.  I don't know if you ever realized how grown I felt that day!

...your elegant strut as you walked in church because you knew you were sharp. And you were!

...when I was 13 and getting off the Amtrak train from spending two weeks in Chicago, you were right there at the station to make sure that I arrived back home safely. The train stopped but started to move again to a better spot so people could get off safely, and you thought the train was leaving. I heard your voice from inside the train, "Stop that train!! My grandbaby is on there!!" Oh yes, I remember how happy I was to hear your voice!

...how you'd buy me whatever I wanted. You made a 15-year-old teenager so happy when, without hesitation, you agreed to buy me that red Honda Elite motor scooter I desperately wanted. My friends teased me that you were the one who spoiled me. I guess they were right.

...how you and Granddaddy would encourage me, give me guidance, and always would let me know when I was doing wrong.

...how when Mom or Dad would cook something I didn't like, I'd jump on my bike or scooter, head to your house, and begged you to buy me a Big Mac from McDonald's. Every time I eat a Big Mac now, I remember those times.

...how much you loved and respected my Mom, your daughter-in-law; you'd think that she was your child rather than Dad.

...the many times when I went with you to your hometown church in Lena, Mississippi.  On one of those times, after church, while everyone was gathering outside, you saw this young girl and tried to hook me up with her.  Then minutes later, you learned that she was your first cousin's granddaughter!  LOL

...how you loved Tube Rose snuff, and I am still laughing about how you'd say that you'd die if I didn't run to the store to get you some snuff.

...how you showered us with so much love. So much so, that twenty-two years later, it seems that you haven't been gone from this earthly setting for over two decades.

When I need an uplift, all I need to do is sit back and remember the best grandmother in the world! I thank God for the memories.

I love you, Grandma. Somehow, I know you're reading this.

Your "Buster" (and you were the only person who could call me that without me getting mad. LOL)