When the Ancestors Just Leap Off the Page!

I received another 2013 Black History Month treat! But this time, the treat did not pertain to my ancestors.  Recently, a colleague mentioned to me how he and his family hardly know anything about his paternal grandfather’s father’s family. Anthony’s grandfather, David Penamon, was born in 1923, and the only piece of information they had was the name of David’s father, Charlie Kendall, and a location, Upson County, Georgia.  His paternal grandmother, Mabel Penamon, and Charlie Kendall never married, hence the lack of familial connection and knowledge of their Kendall roots.  So I took some time to see what I could find just sitting at my computer and accessing ancestry.com and other online databases.

Well, low and behold, Anthony’s ancestors started leaping off the page!  I was able to even break down the 1870 brick wall – at my computer!  It was amazing. Follow along to see what I was able to find out. I also hope that beginning researchers will learn from this post, and others will be inspired to see what they can uncover about their family history.

The genealogy rule of thumb in census research is to start from the known and proceed to the unknown. That is, start with the latest census available and keep proceeding back in time.  The 1940 census is the latest census which became available to the public in April 2012.  From 1940 to 1930, it was clear that David Penamon was being raised by his maternal grandparents, David Sr. & Mellie Penamon.  In 1920 in Upson County, just 3 years before David was born, the Kendall family was just several doors down from the Penamon family. Charlie Kendall was in the household! Based on experience, I ascertained beforehand that the Kendall surname may be spelled several different ways. I was right. In 1920, the surname was spelled KINDAL.

1920 Upson County, Georgia (Jug District): Charlie Kendall was found in the household of his father, Wesley Kindal, whose wife was Edna, and the children in the house were Robert (27), Jimmie (20), Charlie (18), and son, Willie (17).

I checked www.familysearch.org, a site containing an increasingly large amount of genealogical data provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and low and behold, the following information from Charlie Kendall’s death certificate was found:

Name: Charlie Kendall

Name of father: Wesley Kendall

Name of mother: Edna Davis

Death date: 28 July 1928

Death place: Yatesville, Upson County, Georgia

Age: 26

Birthdate: 1902

Certificate No: 19653

Charlie Kendall died when his son, David Penamon, was just 5 years old, hence the reason why David’s family knew little about him and his roots. 

Continuing back in time:

1910 Upson County, Georgia (Jug District):  Again, Charlie Kendall was in the household of his parents, Wesley & Edna Kendall, and their children in the house were: John (20), Robert (18), Ella (15), Lewis (14), Jimmie (12), Charlie (10), and Willie (9). Comparing the 1910 and 1920 censuses, the ages are off by a year or two, but age discrepancies in census records are common.

1900 Upson County, Georgia (Jug District): Surprisingly, Charlie Kendall was in Wesley & Edna’s household!  His death certificate reported that he was born in 1902, and the 1920 census reported that he was 18 years old. Therefore, this census revealed that Charlie was actually born Jan. 1896.  Also, in this census, the surname was spelled KENDAL. Wesley (38) and Edna (37) had been married for 14 years.

Most of the 1890 census was destroyed in a fire that occurred in the Commerce Department building in Washington, D.C. on January 10, 1921.

1880 Upson County, Georgia (Jug District): Wesley Kendall, reported age of 17, was living with his grandfather, Harrison Kendall (58)!  This census leapfrogged us up two generations! But, who were Wesley’s parents, and which parent was the child of Harrison Kendall and possibly his wife, Darcus Kendall?

Luckily, Wesley Kendall’s death certificate information was uploaded to www.familysearch.org.  It contained the following data:

Name: John Wesley Kendall

Spouse’s name: Edna Davis

Name of father: (not reported)

Name of mother: Betty Prayter

Death date: 18 October 1926

Death place: Yatesville, Upson County, Georgia

Age: 62

Birthdate: 05 Sept. 1864

Certificate No: 4179369

Now, I asked the question, where was his mother Betty Prayter in 1880?  Was Harrison Kendall the paternal or maternal grandfather of Wesley Kendall (aka John Wesley Kendall)?  Well, the following marriage information was found on familysearch.org, and it opened up more doors:  Bosan Prater to Betty Kendall, married Oct. 30, 1873, Upson County, Georgia.  Betty Kendall Prater was then found in 1880 living with her husband and their children. Apparently, her son, Wesley Kendall, chose to live his maternal grandparents, Harrison & Darcus Kendall, rather than reside with his mother and stepfather.

1880 Upson County, Georgia (Jug District):  Boss (Bosan) Prater (30), wife, Bettie (32), and children, Delia (7), Clara (5), Amos (2), and Paul (5 months).

1870 Upson County, Georgia (Thomaston District): Wesley Kendall was reported in his grandparents Harrison & Darcus “Darkess” Kendall’s household. However, a woman named Bettie Kendall with a 5-year-old John were living nearby. Perhaps, young Wesley (aka John Wesley) was reported twice in the 1870 census?

Also, a woman named Rhoda Chapman, age 60, was living with Harrison & Darcus? Was Rhoda the mother of one of them?  Perhaps, Rhoda would be another generation up Anthony’s family tree, possibly being his great-great-great-great-great-grandmother! 5 greats!

In the 1870 Upson County, GA census, I noticed other African-American Kendall families in the district. Could it be that there was a white Kendall slave-holding family in Upson County before 1865? The answer to that question was YES!  The 1860 Upson County slave schedule revealed one Kendall slave-owner in the county – David Kendall Sr., 61 slaves, 14 slave houses. See the following (the first page of Kendall's listing; only the age, sex, and color of enslaved African Americans were reported in the slave schedules.):

I then decided to google the following: Kendall “Upson County” Georgia.  The search results led me to two great findings:

(1)   A picture and biographical data on Dr. David Lane Kendall Sr. that was uploaded to FindAGrave. He was a physician in the county who built and resided at Bellwood Plantation.  He died in July 1860 in Upson County. The site contained the following picture:

Dr. David Lane Kendall Sr.

1790 – 1860

Posted by Alton Christie

(2)   Dr. David Lane Kendall's daughter, Loula Kendall Rogers, donated the family papers to Emory University here in Atlanta! According to the online finding aid, many of the documents date back during slavery, before 1865. Even some of the photographs date back to slavery, so who knows what may be in there!  

 

To go from knowing very little to knowing the names of ancestors going back to great-great-great-great-grandparents, a possible fifth-great-grandmother, the name of the slave-owner, and the name of the plantation in which the ancestors were likely enslaved would be a dream come true for many!  It was indeed a treat for me to take some time to uncover this information for Anthony – all at my computer!  When he and his family decide to pursue the Kendall research further, there’s just no telling what else will be uncovered.

Note: Technology and the digitization of pertinent records have greatly aided genealogical quests, but personal research excursions to state, local, and federal archives, courthouses, family history centers, libraries, ancestral cemeteries, and other places are still highly recommended to find more necessary documentation.

THERE'S MORE! Click here to read Part 2 of this research story!

Genealogy Workshop Tackles Family Murder

On Saturday morning, March 17, 2012, I welcomed another opportunity to facilitate a Developing Research Strategies workshop at the National Archives (Southeast Branch) in Morrow, Georgia.  This hands-on workshop was sponsored by the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society – Metro Atlanta chapter (AAHGS).  The room was packed with over 50 members and non-members, including six eager-to-learn college students who are Andrew W. Mellon interns in the Recruiting Tomorrow’s Library Leaders program at the Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library.  This program is designed to promote careers as librarians, library professionals, and archivists.  Archivists and librarians assist many genealogy patrons on a daily basis at countless archives and libraries throughout the nation. However, these six students were also keenly interested in learning how to trace their own family roots.  They certainly chose a great workshop that entailed a genealogical puzzle with an interesting twist.  You will see what I mean; the title of this blog post gives an indication.

Mellon Program Coordinator Neely Terrell (far left) with six of her interns: Anthony McCool (Morehouse College), Camille Vincent (Spelman College), Jahnesta Horney (Clark Atlanta Univ.), Anthony Kinsey (Morehouse College), Kendall Barksdale (Clark Atlanta Univ.), and Denzel Caldwell (Morehouse College).

All of the workshop participants were given a handout that contained the oral history of AAHGS member Bruce Ingram’s paternal family from Conyers, Georgia.  Mr. Ingram was able to provide the names of his paternal grandparents, great-grandparents, and even the names of two of his great-great-grandparents, Ned & Julia Sims.  He was particularly able to recall these great-great-grandparents' names because of a family story that was passed down by his father.  That story told the tragic tale of two brothers – sons of Ned & Julia Sims – who were in a gun shoot-out that led to one brother killing another brother over land disputes.  This family duel allegedly occurred sometime in the 1920's in Rockdale County, Georgia. 

Equipped with their laptops, notebooks, pencils, and a handout, the workshop participants were divided into eight groups.  Each group contained people of various levels of research experience.  Experienced researchers served as group leaders who were also responsible for explaining the basic steps of genealogy to the beginners in their groups.  Using Ancestry.com and other online sources, each group was assigned the following same questions:

1.     What did you find in the census records?  How far back were you able to go?

2.     Are there any clues about tracing his enslaved ancestors?

3.     What did you find from other online sources?  What were those sources?

A.    Who was the brother who got killed? 

B.    Where is the family buried in Rockdale County?

4.     What is your research plan? Write out your plan on the tablets on the easels. This plan should include what other records and strategies that can be employed to trace Bruce’s family.

The groups were given an hour and a half to answer the questions.  Each group assigned a reporter to relay their findings and their research plan to the audience. Collectively, many research strategies were learned from all of the eight groups, enabling the participants to gain valuable knowledge about research methodologies to utilize when researching their families.  Also, the participants were able to learn about a plethora of records that can be sought in conducting a reasonably exhaustive genealogical search for finding one’s ancestors, solving family mysteries, knocking down brick walls, and proving (or disproving) oral history.  The short video below contains pictures of some of the research plans. 

Nonetheless, the most riveting aspect of this genealogical puzzle was finding something to document the oral history about the Sims brothers’ shoot-out.  What on earth could they possibly find online that documents the story?  Of course, I had already located an online document to prove it, with high hopes that the workshop participants would find that same document. Brilliantly, some of the participants searched through online databases of digitized newspapers, including but not limited to: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/, http://newspaperarchive.com/, www.ancestry.com.  Indeed, searching through microfilmed or digitized newspapers about the incident is a great idea and should be part of the research plan.  However, the findable online document that corroborated the story was the following record that four of the eight groups found: 

The death certificate of Edd Sims, Rockdale County, Georgia

Cause of death: "Gunshot wound -- died in few minutes"

Date of death: May 4, 1921

This death certificate was found in the “Virtual Vault” on the Georgia Archives’ website.  Containing many historic Georgia manuscripts, photographs, maps, and government records that are housed in the state archives, the Virtual Vault also contains digitized death certificates from 1919 through 1927. The digital collection also includes a number of death certificates from 1914 – 1918. Edd Sims’ death certificate documented the name of the Sims brother who was killed (Edd Sims), the date of the shooting (May 4, 1921), the approximate time of the shooting (Edd had died within minutes of being shot around 2:00 PM), the county of the incident (Rockdale County), Edd’s place of burial (Sims Cemetery), as well as other genealogical information, such as Julia Sims’ maiden name --- which ironically was Gunn.

 

Short video of the workshop

iPad users: Click here to see the short video on YouTube.