Got Roots in Madagascar?

Note: This blog post has been updated on 8/7/2018 since its initial posting on 6/8/2014.

Source: TAST Database

How sure are you that your family's alleged Native American ancestry was really Native American?

Several years ago, I read a post on the AfriGeneas African-Native American Genealogy Forum board of someone seeking information on the “Matagascan / Malagascan / Matogascan Creek Indians” because family lore claimed that her great-great-grandmother was from this “Indian” tribe. Another poster commented, “My mother's father always described his mother as being a full blooded Malagaskan Indian woman with long black hair down her back.” I even found a slave narrative of a man who also claimed this heritage. James Brittain of Mississippi relayed the following in his slave narrative about his grandmother:

"My grandma came from Virginia . . . When my grandma died she was one hundred and ten years old. She said she was a Molly Gasca negro. That was the race she belonged to. She sure did look different from any the rest of us. Her hair it was fine as silk and hung down below her waist. The folks said Old Miss was jealous of her and Old Master. I don't know how that was." (Source)

I began to associate the name “Malagascan” and “Molly Gasca” with Madagascar, an island located 250 miles off the southeastern African coast of Mozambique in the Indian Ocean. Being one of the largest islands in the world, Madagascar is roughly the size of Texas. The sounds of the names were almost phonetically identical. 

Shortly afterwards, another poster in the AfriGeneas African-Native American Genealogy Forum soon wrote, “An elderly cousin told the story of my ggg-grandfather who was from a royal family of Madagascar Africa that was taken as a slave out of Madagascar Africa on a slave ship.” A third poster also recounted oral history of her ancestor being brought to Virginia from Madagascar. A fourth researcher, Monifaa, also communicated the following, “My mom's oldest brother has alleged to me that my ggg-grandmother was captured by slavers from the island of Madagascar and sold to cotton plantation owners in North Carolina.” Researcher Tracey Hughes discusses the discovery of her Madagascar ancestor in her blog post.

In Exchanging Our Country Mark, Michael Gomez wrote about the connection between "Madagascar Negroes" to Virginia; a small number of them were imported into Virginia during the early years of the transatlantic slave trade (p. 41). Gomez describes how those particular Africans were "yellowish" in complexion and had hair like a "Madagascar's." 

Madagascar’s inhabitants are called the Malagasy people, and they speak a language by that name. Sources note that many of the Malagasy people possessed light skin and facial features very akin to people in Southeast Asia and Indonesia. Many others possessed darker skin and curly hair. Geneticists have determined that all of the Malagasy people descend from ancestors from Africa and Asia, specifically Borneo (source). I began to realize that, as time passed in America, Africans from Madagascar were characterized as being “Indians,” or “Black Indians.” I also wondered if some of the alleged Native American ancestry that many African Americans claim is actually Malagasy ancestry from Madagascar.

According to 23andMe, I have a small amount of Southeast Asian DNA on five chromosomes, totaling 0.5% of my ancestry composition. Since I have tested both of my parents with 23andMe (and later with AncestryDNA), 23andMe indicated that I inherited my Southeast Asian DNA from my father. His composition includes 1.4% Southeast Asian that's scattered across six chromosomes. I began to speculate if our Southeast Asian DNA came from a Madagascar ancestor. Do I also have roots from Madagascar?

Well, I finally got my answer. A new DNA match, with the surname Ramalanjaona, appeared in my father's 23andMe database of DNA relatives. He shares 10 cM of identical DNA with my father on chromosome 12, with a predicted relationship of 5th cousins. They share a common ancestor at least six generations back. I didn't inherit this particular DNA segment, but one of my sisters did. Cousin Ramalanjaona indicates on his profile that he is Malagasy. I messaged him, and he confirmed that his parents are from Madagascar! 

23andMe shows an ancestry composition chromosome painting, and Cousin Ramalanjaona shares identical DNA on one of the Southeast Asian segments on my father's chromosome 12. See figure below. This confirms that Southeast Asian ancestry is a great indicator of Malagasy ancestry and that my father likely had an ancestor from Madagascar. DNA Historian Fonte Felipe asserts, “The very fortunate circumstance about tracing any possible Madagascar ancestry is that it can be confirmed much more easily by way of the unique Southeast Asian component in Malagasy genetics and the inheritance of these markers among their descendants in the Americas.” (source) In July 2018, my father also gained another distant cousin DNA match from Madagascar in Ancestry DNA. Her last name is Ralalanirina.

My father's ancestry composition chromosome painting from 23andMe. Cousin Ramalanjaona matches him on chromosome 12 in the gold region (Southeast Asian) indicated.

Approximately 400,000 enslaved Africans were transported to America during the transatlantic slave trade, and only about 4,800 of them were from Madagascar. That is just 1%. They were transported via 17 documented slave voyages into New York and Virginia from Madagascar. Of that total, from 1719 to 1725, around 1,400 enslaved Africans from Madagascar were disembarked into Virginia through the Rappahannock and York River ports. Additionally, more were transported to the Caribbean, especially Jamaica and Barbados. Because my father had a number of enslaved Mississippi ancestors who were born in North Carolina and Virginia, I am theorizing  that his enslaved Madagascar ancestor was likely disembarked in Virginia. The Madagascar human imports into Virginia included the following:

     May 18 1719; Vessel - Prince Eugene; 340 Africans; Port of Entry – York River

     May 17, 1720; Vessel - Mercury; 466 Africans; Port of Entry – Rappahannock River

     May 21, 1721; Vessel - Gascoigne; 133 Africans; Port of Entry – York River

     June 21, 1721; Vessel - Prince Eugene; 103 Africans: Port of Entry – York River

     June 26, 1721; Vessel - Snow Rebecca; 59 Africans; Port of Entry – York River

     June 27, 1727; Vessel - Henrietta; 130 Africans; Port of Entry – York River

       (Source: Virginia Slave-Trade Statistics 1698-1775 by Minchinton, King, and Waite)

For more research on Malagasy ancestry, check out Teresa Vega's The DNA Trail from Madagascar to Manhattan and Fonte Felipe's Tracing African Roots: Southeast Africa.

In Season 3 of the TV series Finding Your Roots, actor Keenen Ivory Wayans learned that his African ancestor in his direct paternal line, who was brought to America, i.e. his "Kunta Kinte," very likely came from Madagascar.

Children of the Malagasy People

(Source; public domain)

I found this nice slideshow of images from Madagascar.

That Infamous 1890 Sinkhole

In 1921, a huge chunk of the stored 1890 census was destroyed in a fire at the Commerce Building here in Washington, DC. More can be read about that fire here. Genealogist Robyn Smith calls it “The 1880 Donut Hole,” as she brilliantly demonstrates its effect on her research in her blog post. However, I personally would like to call it “That Infamous 1890 Sinkhole” because it has the potential of swallowing up entire family branches, never knowing that they even existed. That “Infamous 1890 Sinkhole” caused a family branch in my Ealy family tree to go unknowingly missing for 20 years. Additionally, that omitted family branch even contains someone quite famous! This is how I stumbled across them and my famous relative.

Recently, I was browsing through an old Ealy Family Reunion booklet that a family member had given me some years ago. The Ealy Family has been having family reunions every two years since 1974. Much of the history and family tree included in past booklets were based on oral history and family recollections. To a researcher, this information can be hugely helpful in tracing the roots of the family. I compared the family tree to the one I had built. My family tree was primarily based on names I had found in census records. Not surprising, the family tree in that reunion booklet contained names that I was unaware of, or had missed, and I had additional names that were not listed. I soon realized that one of the missing from my family tree was a daughter of my great-grandmother’s sister, Annie Ealy Beamon. Her name was simply listed as Jessie Butler. How in the world did I miss Cousin Jessie?

My great-great-grandparents, Robert “Big Bob” Ealy & Jane Parrott Ealy, had at least 13 children, born between 1845 and 1871. Aunt Annie was their second oldest daughter, who was born around 1852. She was reported in their household in the 1870 Leake County, Mississippi census. Also, a marriage record revealed that Aunt Annie married Moses Beamon on January 20, 1874 in nearby Scott County.

I then found Aunt Annie and her budding family in the following 1880 Scott County census. There was no child named Jessie.

Moses & Annie Ealy Beamon with three young children when this 1880 census was taken – Lula (age 5), Edward (known as William Edward) (age 3), and an unnamed son (age 1)

Since the 1890 census was destroyed, the next available census was the 1900 census. Twenty years had passed. The following is Aunt Annie’s house in the 1900 Scott County census. Again, there was no child named Jessie in the house.

Moses & Annie Ealy Beamon with seven children in the house in 1900, including twins, Cora & Dora.

Their oldest son, William Edward Beamon, lived next door with his new bride, Jennie

Although seven of Aunt Annie’s children were in the house, with her oldest son living next door, someone from the house told the census enumerator that Aunt Annie was the mother of 11 children with all 11 of them living. I could only count 9 children. According to Scott County marriage records, her oldest child, Lula Bell Beamon, had married Lafayette (Fate) Ferrell on Dec. 15, 1894. They lived nearby. Therefore, who were the other two children who weren’t living in her house in 1900? Maybe one of them was Jessie?

Luckily, for Mississippi researchers, the Enumeration of Educable Children records are great resources and a great substitute for the missing 1890 census. A school census of all children was mandated by the state of Mississippi.  These records were started in 1878, and they reported the names of all school-age children between the age of 5 and 20 years old for each county.  The age and sex of each child were recorded.  Most of the records were taken every four years.  After 1878, the records were divided into districts and by household with the name of a guardian, typically a parent.  Also, after 1878, the records were racially divided.  Most of these records have been digitized and are now online here at familysearch.org.  The 1885-1896 records have proven to be a great substitute for the twenty-year “sinkhole” in the census records that was caused when most of the 1890 census was destroyed.

The earliest school record online for Scott County was for the year 1885. However, when I checked those 1885 school records, there was no school-age child named Jessie listed for Moses Beamon, who was noted in the following two separate entries. Instead, three school-age children between 5 and 20 were recorded: Lula (10), William (8), and Hassie (5). Maybe Hassie was Jessie? Or maybe Jessie was under the age of 5 and therefore not recorded? Which one is it?

1885 Educable Children records – Scott County (Harperville district), Mississippi

I then decided to check the Scott County, Mississippi History & Genealogy Network site to see if I can find a marriage record for a Jessie Beamon to a Butler groom. I hit pay dirt! There was a marriage for a Jessie Beeman to Sam Butler, and the marriage date was Feb. 20, 1900. Bingo! Next, I checked the 1900 Scott County census to see if I could find these newlyweds. Bingo again! I found them.

1900 Scott County, Mississippi Census - Sam (21) & Jessie Butler (17) (newlyweds)

According to the 1900 census, Jessie’s reported birth date was March 1883. Therefore, she was almost 17 years old when she married Sam Butler. She was too young to be recorded in the 1885 Educable Children records. She was born after the 1880 census, and she was married and living in her own house with her new husband when the 1900 census was taken. That’s why I had missed her, and she had been missing for 20 years in my family tree. Later censuses (1910, 1920, 1930, 1940) revealed that she and Sam Butler had at least 8 children: Willie (1903), Austin (1904), Johnnie Mae (1909), Robert (1912), Wilson (1914), L.A. (1917), Cora Lee (1919), and Elizabeth Butler (1920).

A Facebook friend, Davita Baloue, who I knew is connected to the Butlers from Scott County, informed me that this was indeed her family. We then realized that we are cousins! To add, she also informed me that Sam & Jessie’s youngest daughter, Elizabeth, was the maternal grandmother of the well-known gospel singer, songwriter, and minister, Pastor Marvin Sapp, of Grand Rapids, Mich. So not only did that “Infamous 1890 Sinkhole” caused me to miss this family branch for two decades, but it caused me to not even know until recently that Marvin Sapp is my 3rd cousin-once removed. I hope that one day, someone will alert Cousin Marvin to this blog post for him to learn more about his maternal grandmother’s maternal roots.

In 23andMe DNA, my father and I share 21 cM of DNA across 2 segments with
Annie Ealy Beamon's great-great-great-grandson, Raymond Beamon

Marvin Sapp with his three children, from left, Marvin Jr., Mikaila, and Madisson.

(Source; public domain)

The obituary of Marvin Sapp’s maternal grandmother, Mrs. Elizabeth Butler Stribling (1920-2000) of Forest, Mississippi, the daughter of Jessie Beamon Butler and the granddaughter of Annie Ealy Beamon

(Shared by Davita Baloue)

Marvin Sapp – “Never Would Have Made It”

A Mother’s Gift: Delivering the Next Generation With Her Bare Hands

For Mother’s Day, I want to dedicate this special story to all of the American mothers of African descent. This story is your story; the experiences are universal. We can’t forget the incredible strength and resiliency of our enslaved foremothers. It is upon their shoulders that we stand.

Louisa “Lue” Bobo Danner

Jan. 21, 1842 – July 5, 1921

On June 16, 1898, sitting in a lawyer’s office in Batesville, Mississippi, with her son Alfred by her side, my great-great-grandmother, Lue Bobo Danner, gave the following testimony as she persevered to get a Civil War widow’s pension from the federal government. Rejected two times, this once enslaved, strong-willed, "mulatto" woman, who worked in the "big house," who was my maternal grandmother’s maternal grandmother, was determined to get what she felt was entitled to her.

Grandma Lue stated confidently, “I claim pension as the widow of Edward Danner who served as a soldier in Company I 59 U.S. Volunteer Infantry . . . He died on a Saturday between midnight and morning about the 15th of September twenty one yrs ago last September.  It will be twenty-two yrs. this coming Sept . . . I have had eight children by said Edward Danner, all of them are living . . . They have had all the ages of my children set down in the Bible but it got destroyed and the little Bible I have now  got some of the ages in it.  I had no doctor when they were born.  My mother Clarissa Bobo was the midwife and is dead.”

After reading that last sentence, my first emotion was that of sheer excitement. Grandma Lue’s deposition identified my great-great-great-grandmother – my mother’s mother’s mother’s mother’s mother. My second emotion was of me feeling hugely blessed to find out through documentation that she was a midwife who delivered her grandchildren, including my great-grandmother, Mary Danner Davis (1867-1932). Grandma Clarissa had delivered the next generation with her bare hands.

Born into slavery c. 1823 in Laurens County, South Carolina on David Boyce’s farm, Grandma Clarissa became the midwife on the Bobo farm. African-American midwifery was deeply rooted in West Africa; African women transplanted their extensive knowledge of birthing, as well as medicinal botanical roots, into American society.  In many African cultures, one woman is commonly known as the midwife of the village. Perhaps Grandma Clarissa learned her techniques from her mother, Matilda, or her maternal grandmother Jenny, who was of Fulani ancestry maternally and was born around 1765 in Virginia. Grandma Jenny was also enslaved on David Boyce’s farm. Interestingly, Fulani girls throughout West Africa are taught at an early age that it is shameful to show any fear of childbirth (source). Clarissa took her unique skills with her when David Boyce gave her and others to his son-in-law and daughter, Dr. William & Margaret Boyce Bobo, who settled in nearby Cross Keys in Union County.

With a multitude of other unearthed historical facts, I closed my eyes and imagined what could have occurred on that sunny Saturday on May 15, 1858, the day 16-year-old Grandma Lue, who had long, black hair that reached the floor, gave birth to her first child.

This is that mental picture.

As Grandma Lue walks slowly towards the dinner table to serve Dr. Bobo and his Saturday guests, she drops the contents in her hand on the floor, without caring at all that the broken dishes may anger Ms. Margaret. A contraction hit her like a bolt of lightning.

“Oh my! I think my baby is coming!” Grandma Lue expresses, holding her stomach and feeling water trickling down her legs.

Hearing the sounds of breaking dishes crashing against the floor, Margaret Bobo rushes in and shouts loudly, “Gal, did you just break my expensive dishes we had imported in from Europe?”

“I’m sorry, Ms. Margaret. I believe my baby is coming! My water just broke,” exclaims Grandma Lue.

Margaret responds uncaringly, “Well, Hannah can clean this up. Go on over to your Momma’s cabin. Hannah and Sallie can finish serving our hungry guests.”

One of the Saturday guests, Elijah Wilbourn, quietly observes from the dinner table. He owned and operated a small plantation nearby. However, quick stops to Grandma Clarissa’s cabin on his friend Dr. Bobo's plantation, away from his wife, resulted in the conception of her first two children, Grandma Lue and her brother, Eli. Not surprising, his nonchalance displayed his non-recognition of his arriving grandchild.

Pacing in pain towards her mother’s cabin, Grandma Lue prays incessantly, “Lawd, please don’t let me lose my first-born child! Please don’t let me lose my baby!”

Her mother sees her, runs to her aid and grabs her arm hard, and helps her back to her cabin. Uncle Eli and their brother Uncle Giles rush over to assist Grandma Lue over to their mother’s birthing sanctuary in her cabin, a hard wooden table.

“Jenny, run and go get your Aunt Caroline,” Grandma Clarissa instructs her daughter. Aunt Caroline is Clarissa’s sister.

She continues to yell additional orders, “Eli, take your sisters and brothers outta here now and make sure you feed Palina! George, go tell Massa to send word over to Mack that his baby is coming. Make haste now!” George is Clarissa’s husband.

Mack Ray is a 24-year-old farmhand enslaved on the plantation of Rev. Thomas Ray, a Baptist clergyman and Dr. William Bobo’s neighbor. Mack and Grandma Lue had been allowed to jump the broom months earlier, a marriage custom often associated with a Ghana, West Africa tradition of waving broom sticks above the heads of newlyweds and their parents. Rev. Ray permitted Mack’s many visits to his young, strong-willed wife.

With her sister Caroline’s assistance, 35-year-old Grandma Clarissa proceeds to do what she does so well – deliver babies. However, this birth was special – very special. She was delivering her first grandchild.

After several hours of labor, a baby boy enters the world, as Mack Ray sits outside the cabin door waiting patiently for the birth of his first child. The infant boy was named James Robert, who was called Jim.

Ten months later near Como, Mississippi, Grandma Lue’s water breaks for a second time on Tuesday morning, March 29, 1859. Her second baby is coming. They had recently arrived in Mississippi six months ago. Dr. William Bobo decided to sell his South Carolina farm and move to Panola County to be near other family who had been in Mississippi for several years.

Grandma Clarissa delivers her second grandchild into the world, another healthy infant boy.

Exhausted and wet with sweat from the delivery, Grandma Lue says, barely audible, “Let me hold my baby.”

She further expresses, with tears flowing down her face, “He is so beautiful. My heart breaks so bad that Mack ain’t here to see him. We gotta endure so many hardships as slaves. Breaking up families ain’t right and just plain mean! Oh, Mack!”

Grandma Clarissa nods affirmatively, as her eyes begin to water. She manages to respond lovingly, “I know, baby. I know. But we can’t let it break us. We was built to last. Freedom is a comin’. I sho believe dat!”

A brief silence follows. Then, Grandma Clarissa asks, “Whatcha gonna name this beautiful boy?”

“Imma name him Mack. He will neva lay eyes on his Daddy but at least he will have his name,” says Grandma Lue, smiling down at her new baby boy.

Mack Danner (1859-c.1910)
(Picture courtesy of the late Dorothy Danner West) 

Unfortunately, before Dr. Bobo, his family, and slaves packed up and left South Carolina, Rev. Thomas Ray, who considered himself a Christian, didn’t feel it was necessary to sell one of his valuable young male slaves so that a family would not be separated. Grandma Lue never saw Mack Ray again.

However, little did she know at the time that Dr. William Bobo would go back to Cross Keys, South Carolina later that year to handle some business and return to Mississippi with a 27-year-old, dark-skinned, regal-looking, 5 ft. 8 in. tall, brave man named Edward he purchased from Nancy Bates Danner, the widow of Thomas Danner Jr., before she and her adult sons moved to Grant County, Arkansas.

Edward and Lue fell in love. Dr. Bobo permitted a jump-the-broom marriage ceremony in front of the big house for them on Christmas Day, 1860. The slave minister on the plantation, named Squire Bobo, married them. Edward also claimed fatherless Jim and Mack as his own, and they took his surname. He and Grandma Lue together would have eight more children. Grandma Clarissa was there front and center for every birth.

On Wednesday, August 26, 1863, third child, Alfred Danner, was born.

On Thursday, June 15, 1865, fourth child, Alexander K. Danner, was born.

On Tuesday, November 12, 1867, fifth child, Mary Danner, was born. Mary was my great-grandmother and Grandma Clarissa’s first granddaughter. Mary was also the first to be born free.

On Friday, May 14, 1869, sixth child, Frances Danner, was born.

On Saturday, June 10, 1871, seventh child, Laura Danner, was born.

On Tuesday, May 13, 1873, eighth child, Martha “Mattie” Ella Danner, was born.

On Friday, July 16, 1875, ninth child, Phillip Isaiah Moseley Danner, was born. He was named after a Como, Mississippi school teacher.

On Wednesday, November 15, 1876, tenth and last child, Edward Danner Jr., was born. His father had recently died on September 15, 1876, exactly two months before his birth, from stomach ailments he contracted from fighting with the Union Army in the Civil War.

The Danner Daughters: Mary, Frances, Laura, and Mattie

As a man, I can’t even begin to imagine how painful natural childbirth must be, yet Grandma Lue endured it ten times, with Grandma Clarissa at the foot of the birthing table. Infant mortality rates among enslaved women were very high, but Grandma Lue didn’t lose a single child. I’d like to think that her mother, having the power of being the midwife, played a major role in that. All of Grandma Lue’s ten children lived to adulthood, married, and had families of their own, giving her 67 grandchildren, including my maternal grandmother Minnie, before she passed away at the age of 79 on July 5, 1921. What a mighty great gift Grandma Clarissa Bobo gave to her daughter! Happy Mother’s Day!

No Longer Forgotten: the Enslaved Laborers of “Brick House,” Union County, South Carolina

Tonight, I was browsing the Union County, South Carolina Inventories, Appraisements, Sales, 1845-1853 microfilm that has been digitized and uploaded to FamilySearch.org by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Although I didn’t find what I was looking for in researching more about the Danner slave-owners of that county, I was awestruck by the meticulous way the estate of John Jeffries, Sr. was inventoried on October 31, 1851. The appraisers took the time to record the enslaved people by family groups, names, and ages! As I browsed the names of the enslaved families, I kept saying to myself, “These are many people’s enslaved ancestors!” Rather than being buried and forgotten in that inventory, I decided to give them visibility on my blog, in hopes that a descendant researching for their Jeffries (or another surname) ancestors will one day find them here. This will undoubtedly be a genealogical goldmine!

I desired to see what I could find out about John Jeffries, Sr. from my most immediate source – the Internet.  Google can be your best friend, informationally (is that a word?). According to descendant and researcher Brenda Sparks, John Sr. was born on March 6, 1760 in Camden, South Carolina. Indeed, he is reported as being 90 years old in the 1850 Census of Union County. He died nearly a year later on January 29, 1851. John Sr. was a soldier of the American Revolution (1775 - 1783). He served as a private under his father, Captain Nathaniel Jefferies, South Carolina Troops. He purchased land in Union County from his father and started a plantation that became known as "Brick House." Known as “Brick House John,” he lived there until his death at age 91. Also, according to Sparks, some people had claimed that the bricks were purchased in London and shipped to Charleston, South Carolina. Really?? Nevertheless, she found documentation that proved that the bricks were made by John’s slaves.

The 1850 Census for Union County reported John’s property value at $30,000. Also, the 1850 Union County Slave Schedule reported 137 slaves for him. Unfortunately, no names were recorded in the slave schedules. However, the following images from his estate record revealed their names in family groups, described as Lots. Hopefully, from the following images, you can see their names.

The lots of enslaved families inherited by his heirs were also reported:

John Jeffries, Sr. also wrote a will eight days before his death, on January 21, 1851. The following will transcription was uploaded by Brenda Sparks.

Know all men by these presents that I, John Jefferies, of the State and District aforesaid, being weak in body but of firm and disposing mind, memory, and judgement do ordain and appoint this as and for my Last Will and Testament hereby declaring all former wills to be null and void and of no effect.

Article 1: I will and ordain that all my property both real and personal shall be equally divided among all my legal heirs -- that is my sons John, James and William Jefferies shall each receive one ninth part of my estate. My daughters Ann Smith, Sarah Smith, Ellen Wilkins, and Cynthia Graham shall each receive one ninth part of my estate and that the children of my son Nathaniel Jefferies, deceased, shall receive one ninth part of my estate to be equally divided between them also that the children of my son Samuel Jefferies shall receive one ninth of my estate to be equally divided among them and also that the Lucey and Frances Farr daughters of Ellen Goudelock, decd., shall receive the share to which their mother would have been entitled had she been living to be equally divided between them.

Article 2nd: I will and ordain that five competent persons or a majority of them shall proceed appraise and divide all my Negroes among my Legatees herein before mentioned as equally as may be and if in their judgement the chair allotted to the heirs of Nathaniel Jefferies and Samuel Jefferies, decd., cannot be divided without injury to the parties there and in that case my Executors are hereby empowered to expose the same to public sale for the benefit of said heirs.

Article 3rd: I will and ordain that the above mentioned appraisers shall appraise all my land contained in a recent survey by John Gibbs, Esq. and if in their judgement, it cannot be equally divided among my heirs, herein before mentioned, they shall divide it into suitable tracts and my executor shall sell the same for the benefit of all Legatees aforesaid.

Article 4th: I will and ordain the Executers shall expose to sale all stock of all kinds, plantation tools, wagons, carts and all other effects of which I may be possessed with the exception of my notes, bonds, credits and accounts which they are to collect for the benefit of my heirs aforesaid.

Article 5th: Whereas I have heretofore made considerable advance of property to my children and have taken receipts for the same, I will and ordain that each one shall account to my estate for the value of said receipt without interest in receiving his part of my estate as it is my will that each Legatee as before named shall ultimately receive an equal portion of my estate.

Article 6th: And I hereby appoint my sons, James Jefferies and William Jefferies and my grandsons John Jefferies and William Jefferies sole executors of this my last will and testament.

Given under hand and seal this 21 January 1851. John Jefferies L. S.

Wit: James Farr, M.M. Montgomery, H. Goudelock, Jas. B. Smith, Zachariah Tate

John Jeffries, Sr. had married Rachel Barnett in 1782, and they had the following nine children. The places of death of the children may give a researcher indication where some of the enslaved "Brick House" families were probably taken after 1851. Interestingly, I am aware of a number of Jeffries families of Tate and Marshall County, Mississippi! Some of them lived near my ancestors in Tate County, which is adjacent to Marshall County. Hmmm....

Their nine children were:

     (1) Nathaniel Jeffries, b. 1783, Union County, SC; d. February 28, 1842, Union County, SC

     (2) Ann Jeffries, b. 1785, Union County, SC; d. February 13, 1874, Union County, SC

     (3) Samuel Jeffries, b. 1788, Union County, SC; d. December 08, 1845, Union County, SC

     (4) Sarah Jeffries, b. 1790, Union County, SC; d. December 20, 1873, York County, SC

     (5) John Barnett Jeffries, II, b. 1793, Union County, SC; d. September 08, 1869, Elmore Co., Alabama

     (6) Ellen Jeffries, b. 1795, Union County, SC; d. November 16, 1854, Marshall Co., Mississippi

     (7) Cynthia Jeffries, b. 1798; d. 1881.

     (8) Colonel James Boyd Jeffries, b. 1802, Union County, SC; d. April 29, 1866, Union County, SC

     (9) William Barnett Jeffries, b. 1805, Union County, SC; d. August 05, 1852, Marshall Co., Mississippi

If you read this post and are aware of someone researching for their enslaved Jeffries ancestors from Union County South Carolina, Marshall County Mississippi, or Elmore County Alabama, feel free to share this blog post.

Kissing Cousins: It Happened

Recently, a subscriber to the Our Black Ancestry Facebook group generated a lengthy discussion when she posted the following question, “Is anyone finding cousins marrying cousins in their tree? Or one set of family & another set intermarrying & being connected in other ways?” The lengthy dialogue that followed was definitely an indication that “kissing cousins” occurred much more often than what people think. I thought of ten reasons why this can happen. If you have other reasons, feel free to share in the comment section.

1)     Back in the day, rural communities became populated from couples having large families. After several generations and numerous marriages (or relations) between others in the same community, many people ended up being related, knowingly or unknowingly, as time passed. Many of the following generations even were double related. To me, it seems like it was an unavoidable phenomenon.

2)     Adding to no. 1, travel back then is not like travel today. Therefore, long distance relationships were more difficult then, especially if the family didn’t have a good car (or a healthy horse). This added to the likelihood of consanguineous marriages.

3)     I grew up hearing some people say that if a person is beyond a 3rd cousin, then the blood is not there anymore. That was absolutely false, and DNA technology is proving that. I find it fascinating that DNA can detect if two people are related.  If these marriages between “distant” cousins were occurring often in the area, then I think that it may have become a norm, in a sense. Nonetheless, some people still didn’t play that; they considered it as “incest”. Grandma and/or Grandpa had to meet your date and ask them that famous question, “Who yo people?” That was to ensure that their grandchild wasn’t marrying their cousin. According to a family elder, before my maternal grandmother married my grandfather, she started “courting” a man named Ben Dean of Coldwater, Mississippi. When my great-grandfather got a wind to this burgeoning courtship, he stopped it immediately, informing my grandmother that she and Ben were cousins. I have since figured out that Ben Dean’s maternal grandfather, Sam Milam, and my grandmother’s paternal grandmother, Lucy Milam Davis, were first cousins.

4)     In addition to no. 3, people’s definition of cousinships was often inaccurate. For example, someone who was deemed as a 4th cousin, as far as they knew, may have really been a 2nd cousin-once removed. Therefore, that person may have been considered “safe” to marry without much objection in families where distant-cousin marriages weren’t a big issue. For me, I didn’t start understanding cousinships until I started doing genealogy research. Presently, most people erroneously think that their parent’s first cousin is their second cousin. However, a parent’s first cousin is one’s first cousin-once removed. The term “removed” in cousinships is still largely misunderstood. Also, your child and your first cousin’s child are second cousins to each other. Most people would consider the two to be 3rd cousins. This is a good diagram that further explains cousinships.

5)     Family quarrels and broken relationships among earlier generations could easily result in future generations not even knowing that they are related. A deceased family elder shared how one of my great-great-grandfather’s brothers, Uncle Sampson Davis, changed his religion, angering members of his family who were Baptist. Uncle Sampson decided to move to the next town, where he married and had a large family. Sadly, he severed ties with his angry siblings. Generations later, better transportation evolved, allowing for more frequent interactions between people in both towns. Consequently, several of Uncle Sampson’s descendants married (or had relations with) several of his siblings’ descendants. They did not know that they are related because of religion issues several generations back.

6)     People may have been influenced by the actions of other groups of people, such as the Scotch-Irish, who often married people as close as first cousins to "keep it in the clan."

7)     For African Americans (descendants of enslaved people in America), the chances that we may be distantly related to people we know, whose family roots may hail from different states, are amplified by the fact that many families were permanently separated during slavery. Sadly, many of these broken links will never be traced genealogically. While as a member of the Atlanta chapter of AAHGS (Afro American Historical and Genealogical Society), I interacted with another member that I later discovered through DNA technology is a fairly close maternal relative. For more about that, read An X-chromosome Match Provides Needed Clues.

8)     Not possessing much knowledge about your family history can easily result in the possibility of marrying (or having relations with) a close or distant cousin.

9)    The non-disclosure of the paternity of a family member could result in two people, who are unknowingly related, marrying (or having relations).

10)   Last but not least, some people fell head over heels in love with a “distant” cousin, especially in situations where they didn’t know beforehand that their “ray of sunshine” was a cousin. The attraction and love were so strong, that it overshadowed the fact that they were cousins but not first or second cousins. Cupid hit them hard. Believe it or not, one can’t simply turn off an attraction to someone at the snap of a finger. We can only wish that it was that simple.

If someone starts to research their family tree, and both their mother and father’s families were from the same small community in the South, chances are pretty good that they might figure out that their parents are “distant” cousins (or close cousins). I have seen this numerous times. It happened. There’s nothing to be ashamed about, in my opinion. It makes for an interesting family tree and great conversation. “Great-granddaddy is my 2nd cousin-twice removed” would capture some attention, I imagine.

Blown Away But Not Forgotten

 

Albert Kennedy (1857-1928) and Martha “Sissie” Ealy Kennedy (1865-1895)

While home in Mississippi during the Christmas holiday, I had to make some time to drive out to Lena, Mississippi, my father’s hometown, to find the grave of his grandmother, Martha Ealy Kennedy. An elderly relative recently confirmed for me that she was also known as “Sissie”. Indeed, the FindAGrave website had an entry for her with a picture of her stone that was in Harmony Baptist Church Cemetery, Leake County, Mississippi. I was stunned. I didn’t know it existed.  I had to find it and see it for myself. I have walked Harmony Cemetery many times, but I never saw it. This time, I found it! 

After marrying my great-grandfather Albert Kennedy on December 28, 1881, Grandma Sissie had five children: Dora (1882-1940), Will (1884-1977), Robert "Rob" (1885-1977), Hulen “Newt” (1888-1970), and Wilson Kennedy (1891-1988). However, she died shortly after Uncle Wilson was born. When I was a teenager, my grandma Willie Ealy Collier, my father’s adoptive mother who was a double first cousin to his natural father Hulen Kennedy, first told me the story about Grandma Sissie. She was her aunt – her father Paul Ealy’s sister – who was blown away by a tornado. I had always ascertained that this sad and tragic day occurred "around 1895". My cousin Mavis here in D.C. remembers her father, Uncle Wilson Kennedy, talk about how his mother was found miles away from home in a ditch. Therefore, I always noted that Grandma Sissie died “around 1895,” because Grandpa Albert had remarried on July 19, 1896, ironically to a lady whose official name was Sissie Walker.  Her gravestone confirmed that 1895 was indeed the tragic year.

I can’t even imagine how my grandfather Hulen, his brothers, and their big sister Dora felt to lose their mother so suddenly and tragically on that stormy day in 1895. I am sure that Grandpa Albert was distraught to have his wife of 14 years taken away forever within minutes.  Then, to find her body miles away from home lying in a ditch must have added more “rubbing alcohol” to the open wounds. Grandma Sissie was laid to rest on top of Harmony Hill, as it was called, in Harmony Cemetery next to the church.  Words can’t express the joy in finding her grave with a nice headstone that withheld the test of time.  I don’t know the exact date in 1895 when that dreadful tornado hit the Lena community. Maybe one day, I will find some type of documentation that confirms it. Nevertheless, Grandma Sissie is being remembered. She is not forgotten.

R.I.P. Grandma Martha “Sissie” Ealy Kennedy

The inscription says, “She was the sunshine of our home.”

Daughter of Robert “Big Bob” Ealy and Jane Parrott Ealy

My grandfather Hulen "Newt" Kennedy - my father had recently placed those beautiful flowers on his grave earlier this year.

The African Americans, Many Rivers to Cross – Episode 4: Gone to Oklahoma

Last night, the fourth episode of The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross aired on PBS.  This episode, entitled Making a Way Out of No Way (1897-1940), highlighted the relocation of more than 6 million African Americans from the rural South to the cities of the North, Midwest, and West from around 1910 to 1970.  This mass relocation became known as the Great Migration. African Americans left the South in droves, removing themselves from the harsh and racist climate of Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, and Texas.  Even in my own family, my maternal grandmother, Minnie Davis Reed, who was the youngest child of nine children born to John Hector Davis and Mary Danner Davis, had six of her own siblings to relocate to Chicago Illinois, Evanston Illinois, and Benton Harbor Michigan. Grandma Minnie and her brother, Uncle Fred Douglas Davis, were the only two to remain in the South. They both opted to live their last years in Memphis, Tennessee, just 35 miles north of their hometown of Como, Mississippi.

Conditions were so volatile in my home state of Mississippi, that from 1910 to 1920, the state experienced the largest migration of its African-American citizens to northern states than any of the ten southern states.  Sources note that of the approximately 473,000 African Americans that left the South in that decade alone, nearly 130,000 were from Mississippi.  From 1940 to 1960, about a million other Mississippians, nearly 75 percent of them African-American, departed the state permanently.  Many of them relocated to Chicago and Detroit, especially.  So many Mississippians had moved to Chicago that I often heard the city being called “New Mississippi.”  Chicago’s African-American population tremendously grew from 40,000 in 1910 to over 230,000 in 1930.

However, little is spoken about a small sector of the migrating African-American population who chose to go west to Oklahoma during the 1889 Land Rush of Oklahoma, occurring about 20 years before the start of the Great Migration.  On March 3, 1889, President Benjamin Harrison announced that the government would open the 1.9 million-acre tract of Indian Territory for settlement at noon on April 22nd. Anyone could join the race for the land, but jumping the gun was not permitted. During those 7 weeks after Harrison’s announcement, over 50,000 land-hungry Americans quickly began to gather around the borders of Oklahoma to take advantage of the new land.  By nightfall on April 22, they had staked thousands of claims either on town lots or quarter section farm plots. The towns of Norman, Oklahoma City, Kingfisher, Guthrie, and others sprung into being almost overnight.  This is considered to be the largest land rush in American history, and within a month after April 22, five banks and six newspapers were established. By 1900, African-American farmers owned about 1.5 million acres of land in the Oklahoma territory. A number of African-American towns in Oklahoma were also established, such as Boley, Langston, Lincoln, Taft, etc.

One of those many land-hungry settlers in 1889 was my great-grandmother’s second oldest brother, Mack Danner (1859-c.1910).  Whether or not Uncle Mack was one of those 50,000+ who setup a tent on the border the night before April 22 is a matter of speculation, but he, his wife Annie, and their children had settled near Guthrie, Oklahoma sometime between 1889 and 1892. This was evident from the 1900 Logan County, Oklahoma census. Their son, Alexander (Alex) Danner, was born in Panola County (Como), Mississippi in Jan. 1889, but their next child, Laura Danner, was born in Oklahoma in May 1892.

1900 Logan County, Oklahoma census

The census-taker erroneously spelled the family’s last name as “McDanna”. Also, it was noted in this census that Uncle Mack Danner owned land.

I have been fortunate to meet and get to know a number of Uncle Mack Danner’s descendants after learning of their existence. The family had settled in Omaha, Nebraska by 1918. One of those descendants is my cousin, the late Dorothy Danner West, a granddaughter of Uncle Mack Danner, who shared the following photos of the family that were taken in Oklahoma and Nebraska.

Uncle Mack Danner (1859-c.1910)

Picture taken before 1910 in Guthrie, Oklahoma

Uncle Mack Danner’s wife Annie McGee Danner and their 10 children

Guthrie, Oklahoma

Two of Uncle Mack Danner’s sons who were killed in Oklahoma by a man who feared for his life from the two brothers

Uncle Mack Danner’s son, Alex Danner, who was the last child born in Mississippi in Jan. 1889 before the family moved to Guthrie, Oklahoma

Uncle Mack Danner’s daughter, Laura Danner Lowe, and her son, Artis Lowe. She was their first child who was born in Oklahoma in May 1892.

Uncle Mack Danner’s in-laws, Mack Henry McGee & Julia Hinkles McGee, who accompanied them to Oklahoma from Panola County, Mississippi

Omaha Sen. Edward R. Danner, youngest son of Mack and Annie Danner, was the lone African-American legislator in the Nebraska Unicameral during the U.S. Civil Rights era of the 1960’s.

Pictures by the late Dorothy Danner West

The African American Blogging Circle is a group of genealogy bloggers who are sharing their family stories, seen through their own personal lens, from the PBS series, The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross.  Click here for a list of the participating bloggers and check out their stories.

Watch Episode 4