My “Maury Povich Moment” with DNA

 

Three of 11 children of Bill & Sarah Partee Reed: Jimmy, John Ella, and Pleas Reed

Tate County, Mississippi

To date, June 2015 will go down in genealogy history as the month that I had the most discoveries, all within 30 days. I won’t go into details about all of them in this blog post. However, I will reveal my first one, which has still left me in utter shock. Not only that, this discovery has led to other mouth-dropping discoveries that I will present. Therefore, in an effort not to write an extremely long blog post and for better flow of information, I will present this discovery in four parts. Part 1 is what led to it all.

Part 1: Who’s the Daddy?

The father of my mother’s paternal grandmother, Sarah Partee Reed (1852-1923), has been a mystery for me for over 20 years! For years, I speculated that a man named James Partee, born c. 1825 in Virginia, may have been her father, although Grandma Sarah (or someone) reported to the census-takers that her father was born in Tennessee. I even wrote this August 30, 2013 blog post about my speculation of James Partee. In my mind, I had always pictured that her father was another person enslaved on Squire B. Partee’s plantation near Como, Mississippi. I was wrong as two left shoes!

Little did I know, family elders provided great clues all along, but I failed to see the answer. Let me briefly take you back to July 1994, the day I met the late Cousin Isaac “Ike” Deberry Sr., my mother’s eldest paternal first cousin, at the Reed & Puryear Family Reunion in Senatobia, Mississippi. At the time, he was 80 years old, and I was a college youngster deeply interested in my family roots. Cousin Ike was practically raised by his maternal grandparents, Bill & Sarah Reed. That day, during my conversation with him, he claimed that Grandpa Bill Reed (1846-1937) had two sisters named Louvenia Hunter and Hattie Whiting who came with him to Mississippi from South Carolina right after slavery. I soon learned that Grandpa Bill arrived in northern Mississippi from Abbeville, South Carolina in 1866. I was very excited because I now had more clues to take my research further.

During my next trip to the Mississippi Department of Archives & History in Jackson, I searched for those alleged sisters in the census records. My findings didn’t completely jive with what Cousin Isaac Deberry had told me initially. He was partially correct, which is the nature of oral history. In a nutshell, I realized that Louvenia Hunter was Grandpa Bill Reed's niece, his sister's daughter, and not his sister. Prior to marrying Allen Hunter, Louvenia was in the household of her parents, Dave & Mary Pratt, who were both from South Carolina. My Mom remembers the Hunters (Louvenia's children) as being her cousins. So the dots connected with Louvenia.

But what about Aunt Hattie Whiting? When I found Aunt Hattie in the censuses and marriage records, I became even more confused! I discovered that her maiden name was Edwards and that she was born in 1866 in Mississippi. I found her in her parents' household in 1880, before she married Sam Whiting in 1885. Her parents were Prince & Leanna Edwards. No one was from South Carolina. If someone is to be Grandpa Bill's sister, she had to have been born in South Carolina, too.

To make things even more confusing, other family elders corroborated what Cousin Ike said. One family elder recalled that Sam & Hattie Edwards Whiting's two children, Admira & Prince Whiting, were first cousins to my grandfather Simpson Reed and his siblings. What? How could that be? It could not be on Grandpa Bill's side. Hattie's siblings, Jeff, Bly, and Miles Edwards, were also considered to be "close family," according to Cousin Ike. So I began to speculate that the connection was truly on Grandma Sarah's side. Aunt Hattie's mother, Leanna Edwards, was born in Maryland, according to the 1880 census. No one in my family came from Maryland. North Carolina was consistently reported as the birthplace of Grandma Sarah's mother, Polly Partee (born c. 1832). So that left Aunt Hattie’s father, Prince Edwards.

In the 1880 Panola County census, Prince Edwards’ age was reported as 40 years old. Grandma Sarah was around 27 or 28 years old then. What is the connection? I wondered this for over 20 years. It didn’t dawn on me then that perhaps Prince Edwards may have been closer to 50, rather than 40. A rule in genealogy, especially African-American genealogy, is to never consider the reported ages in the census records as the absolute truth. Many formerly enslaved African Americans did not know their exact birthdates.

Part 2: My “Maury Povich Moment”

Now, let’s fast forward 21 years later, to June 25, 2015. DNA technology has entered the scene, and millions of people have utilized DNA technology via 23andMe, Family Tree DNA, AncestryDNA, and other DNA companies to tell them something about their ancestry. One of those persons is Kemberly Edwards-Morris, Ph.D of Atlanta. Her family is from Oklahoma. She is a new DNA match in my mother, aunt, and uncle’s GEDmatch databases. My uncle John Reed is presently her highest DNA match, at 87.1 cM across 4 segments (76.3 cM when performing an one-to-one comparison), with an estimated MRCA (Most Recent Common Ancestor) of 3.7 generations back. Not only that, their paternal first cousin’s granddaughter Caronde Puryear is Kemberly’s third highest DNA match in GEDmatch, sharing 59.5 cM across 3 segments. Therefore, our connection to Kemberly is via my grandfather, Simpson Reed.

I sent an e-mail to Kemberly introducing myself. I also explained that she is related to my maternal grandfather. She responded excitingly within an hour and included a link to her family tree on ancestry.com. In her response, she explained that her only link to Mississippi was via her paternal Edwards family, who left Panola County, Mississippi and eventually migrated to Oklahoma. My heart started pounding! Then, I clicked on her family tree. My heart skipped a beat when I noticed that her great-great-great-grandfather was Peter Edwards!

Why is Peter Edwards so important?  In the 1870 census, Prince Edwards' two oldest children, Harriett and Prince Jr., were in Peter's household. Perhaps Peter and his wife were babysitting when the census-taker came by in 1870, and the census-taker recorded them in Peter's household. In 1880, Harriet and Prince Jr. were in the household of their parents, Prince & Leanna Edwards, as well as other younger siblings. Harriet was Aunt Hattie Edwards Whiting. Prince and Peter appeared to have been brothers. Then, as I thought about it more and re-analyzed everything, a light bulb went off. In my mind I heard Maury Povich’s voice saying, “In the case of baby Sarah Partee, Prince Edwards, DNA says that you ARE the father!” lol Everything began to make sense after 20 years! Hattie and Grandma Sarah were half-sisters! That’s why Cousin Ike had claimed her as a “sister,” but he was apparently confused about whose sister she was. So indeed, Hattie’s children, Admira & Prince Whiting, would have been my grandfather’s first cousins, like the elders had claimed. They were right all along!

Part 3: Cousins Everywhere, Even in Alberta, Canada!

My excited newfound cousin Kemberly further communicated more about the history of her Edwards Family branch. Peter Edwards, his second wife Catherine, and his 12 children (Isaac, Patrick, John, Jeff, Peter, Katie, Henry, Lucy, Jerry, Paul, Silas, and Moses) left the Como and Sardis area of Panola County after 1880 and spent some time in Quitman County, in the Mississippi Delta, near the towns of Sledge and Maston. Even Uncle Prince Edwards, Jr. followed them to Quitman County, where I found him in the 1900 census with his wife and children.  Around 1907, scores of Edwards then left Mississippi and settled in Lincoln County, Oklahoma, in the communities of Wellston, Wewoka, and Lima. Cousin Kemberly further shared that the Edwards Family Reunion, which is held every two years, generates an attendance of 200-500 people! They are preparing for their 2015 reunion in Chicago this month. This is their website: http://edwardsfamreunion.com/.

Kemberly also relayed that there are a lot of black Edwards in Alberta, Canada. I then discovered through Internet sites that Peter’s grandson, Jefferson Edwards, spurned a migration of about 200 African Americans from Lincoln County, Oklahoma to an area outside of Edmonton, Canada in 1910-1911. From Edmonton, Jefferson walked a hundred miles north and staked a homestead east of Athabasca (source). He soon married his sweetheart, Martha Murphy, and the couple were two of the first settlers in the black settlement known as "Amber Valley". He was only 21 years old. They had settled in Amber Valley because Oklahoma Black farmers had been denied the same rights as others. They found the laws in Oklahoma to be more restrictive regarding Black rights (source). 

This was another mental "light bulb flashing” moment because the following new DNA match from Canada appeared in my Mom, aunt, and uncle’s relative database in 23andMe over a month ago! She lists Edwards as one of her surnames! She shares the most DNA with my aunt at 62 cM (0.83%) across 2 segments, with a predicted relationship of 3rd cousins. That’s fairly close kin, in my opinion!

Is Sandra a descendant of Jefferson Edwards? Presently, that question remains unanswered, as I wait for her to respond to my message. Based on my and others’ experiences, the wait could be days, months, unfortunately several years, or never. Hopefully, she will eventually respond. Nonetheless, I learned that Jefferson and Martha had 10 children, seven boys and three girls. He died in 1979, at the age of 90. He is remembered as a proud Canadian citizen who exemplified the strong spirit of the Black pioneers who settled the Canadian West. More about the Alberta, Canada Edwards Family can be read in this Alberta Council on Aging newsletter, ACA News Winter 2014.

Update (7/2/15): Sandra saw this post and confirmed that Jefferson Edwards is her paternal grandfather! Yeah! Her father also took the 23andMe test and shares 89 cM (1.20%) across 4 segments!

Part 4: Is Ogba(r) my “Kunte Kinte”??

Another reason why all of this is so shocking for me is because I have been aware of the Edwards Family of Panola County for a long time. My maternal grandmother’s oldest sister, Mae Ella Davis (1899-1975), married Johnny Edwards; they and their children left Como, Mississippi and moved to Benton Harbor, Michigan. Mom and her siblings have fond memories of visiting Uncle Johnny & Aunt Mae Ella Edwards. Uncle Johnny’s paternal grandfather, Jerry Edwards, is believed to be a brother to Prince and Peter Edwards!

In 2011, I learned a lot about the Edwards Family History from my cousin, Dr. Jeffrey O. Green Ogbar, never knowing until now that this is my family, too. Cousin Jeffrey explained to me why he changed his surname to Ogbar. You see, he had started researching the Edwards Family History some years ago. He was very fortunate to gain some invaluable oral history notes from his great-uncle, who had interviewed elderly relatives back in the 1970s. According to those elders, the father of Jeffrey’s great-great-grandfather Jerry Edwards was an African who was given the name Luke. He told his family that his real name was Ogba(r) Ogumba (or Agba Akumba). Cousin Jeffrey changed his surname to reflect his African roots. According to Cousin Jeffrey, geneticist Dr. Rick Kittles' analysis linked a male Edwards' Y-DNA to the Akan people of Ghana. The oral history also posits that the slave-owner, William Edwards Sr., purchased Luke off a slave ship in Virginia and transported him to Mississippi. Census records show that they were in Tennessee for at least two decades before coming to Panola County, Mississippi around 1837. Also, according to the oral history that Cousin Jeffrey was able to garner, Luke's wife was named Reedia (or Rita), with whom he had at least six sons.

We are trying to figure out who all of those sons were. Naming patterns strongly suggest that there may have been at least 8 sons: Jerry, Peter, Prince, York, Monroe, Jeffrey/Jeff/Jefferson, Jack, and Luke. Panola County census records show that there was indeed someone named Luke Edwards living in the vicinity up until after 1900. He was born around 1815/1817 in Tennessee. My theory is that this Luke was probably Luke Junior. The 1850 Panola County slave schedule shows that William Edwards’ oldest male slave in 1850 was a 60-year-old black male (born c. 1790). Of course, his age was estimated. We wonder if this elder male was Luke Senior [a.k.a. Ogba(r) Ogumba]? Is he truly my great-great-great-grandfather?!? I believe so! However, we have so much to figure out! Documents to prove our theories are currently being sought. Also, I think that further DNA testing will help solve the case as well. Nonetheless, all of this has been overwhelming but in a great way!

Last week, I was able to confirm that William Edwards Sr. was indeed the slave-owner. He died on Oct. 2, 1855, in Panola County, at the age of 75. Interestingly, his plantation wasn’t far from Squire B. Partee’s plantation, and he and Squire Partee are both buried at Fredonia Church Cemetery, eight miles east of Como. I was fortunate to find his estate file on FamilySearch.org, and the names of those 8 Edwards men were inventoried, including my Prince! Yes, it was another “Carlton Banks” dance moment for me. lol

The Slave Inventory of William Edwards’ Estate

December 15, 1855, Panola County, Mississippi (Source)

William Edwards’ gravestone at Fredonia Church Cemetery, Panola County, Mississippi

(Source: Find A Grave)

Me and Cousin Dr. Jeffrey O. Green Ogbar; Taken at the Tupac Amaru Shakur Collection Conference
Robert W. Woodruff Library – Atlanta University Center, Sept. 2012

UPDATE: Also, check out “Who’s the Daddy? (Part 2)” posted on July 7, 2015.

African-American Genealogy: Unearthing Your Family’s Past, From the Present to the Civil War

 

The Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) published my article in their latest newsletter, BCALA News, Spring 2015, Volume 42 Issue 2, pp 56-60. I am reposting it here on my blog. This article answers the question, "How Do I Get Started?" You can also read it at http://www.bcala.org/Winter2015/#p=56

The late Dr. John Henrik Clarke so eloquently stated, “History is not everything, but it is a starting point. History is a clock that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day. It is a compass they use to find themselves on the map of human geography. It tells them where they are but, more importantly, what they must be.”

The words of this great historian, scholar, and educator highlight why many people, especially the descendants of enslaved Africans who were disembarked on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, should research their family histories. Genealogy is life-changing; its effects have many psychological benefits. Knowledge of self is gained by unearthing and studying the ancestors of the past. Discovering how the ancestors contributed to the larger historical picture builds self-esteem and confidence. Additionally for African Americans, genealogy elevates our curiosity level and inspires us to read and learn more facts about our African-American history that have been omitted, distorted, or scantly told in many history books.

But how do we get started? That’s a question that I now hear often. Television shows like Dr. Henry Louis Gates’ PBS series, “Finding Your Roots,” and TLC’s series, “Who Do You Think You Are,” have heightened many people’s interest in digging up their own roots.  However, these shows and others typically present the mouth-dropping findings from genealogy research, which causes many people to ask, “How did they find that out?” Therefore, the purpose of this article is to answer those questions. These steps are how many people can get started in unearthing their families’ past, going back to the Civil War era.

Converse with Your Family

First, start building your family tree based on the information you know and the information you can garner from family members.  Blank family pedigree charts or family trees can be obtained from the Internet. Interview the older generations first. Record the names, dates, and places where your ancestors lived. Note any famous family stories. A beginner may be able to go back several generations in his family tree just from interviewing or conversing with parents, grandparents, aunts, great-aunts, great-uncles, cousins, and other relatives or even elder friends of the family. Some people may encounter family members who do not like to discuss the past. They will say, “Honey, let sleeping dogs lie.” Don’t worry. Hopefully, other family members may be willing to recall the past. Filling out your family tree or pedigree chart helps you to decide which family lines you want to research first.

Never rely on your mind to retain the information being relayed to you. At the very least, be equipped with a notebook and pencil. Advances in technology have allowed even our smart phones to be great recording devices. The key is to record the family information as it is being told. Therefore, choose the recording device that works best for you. Also, you can find numerous Internet articles about effective interviewing techniques. But one technique that has always generated great results for me is to just relax and generate conversations about the family elder’s young days rather than continually asking specific questions, like a news reporter. Allow the elders to talk, if they are willing, and sit back and listen, patiently. Pepper the conversation with great questions to get as much information as possible in a relaxed setting. Also, develop a rapport with older family members so that you will be able to reach out to them more as you travel on your genealogical journey. Keep in touch with them. Send them birthday cards or holiday greetings. As they become more comfortable with you, they will share more about the past. This is important because as you begin to research your family roots in the records, more questions will surface.

Gather Existing Records

Invaluable records could be right there, either in your house, your parents’ house, or in the possession of a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or cousin. You may stumble on a historical treasure trove by scavenging in basements, closets, dresser drawers, attics, trunks, file cabinets, and other places where old important papers are kept.  These records may contain genealogical information that will aid in your research.  These records include but are not limited to birth records, obituaries, newspaper clippings, wills, legal papers, old family papers that consist of divorce records, insurance papers, membership cards, military discharge papers, property deeds, and any documents with names and dates, as well as a family Bible, photographs, old photograph albums, school yearbooks, old church programs, old scrapbooks, etc. Old family obituaries are especially helpful because they provide names of deceased and living family members and the names of cemeteries where family members are buried. Your genealogical journey should also include a visit to those family cemeteries to gather names and data from tombstones.

Research and Study Federal Census Records

Census records are the most valuable resource and the nation’s largest record set for genealogy research. A federal census of the nation’s population was authorized and taken every ten years, from 1790 to the present day.  The plethora of data recorded in the census records allow researchers to capture a unique snapshot of their ancestors’ lives and the communities where they dwelled. This valuable data include but are not limited to the following: the heads of households, the people in the households and the relationship to the heads of households, the sex, race, age, and marital status of everyone, the number of years married, the age when first married, the place of birth, the father and mother’s places of birth, occupation, etc. The recorded information varies per census. However, for African-American research, one must rely on the censuses taken after 1860, unless your ancestors were free people of color. The names of all free people of color were included in the 1850 and 1860 census.

Armed with names, dates, and places, head to the place that houses census records. Advances in technology within recent years have allowed people to access census online from sites like Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, CensusRecords.com, and others. The most popular site, Ancestry.com, requires a fee-based subscription. However, many main city libraries allow library card-holding patrons to access Ancestry.com and others for free. Census records are also available on microfilms at the National Archives, state archives departments, large public libraries, some major university libraries, and family history centers.

The 1940 U.S. Federal Census is the latest census that was made available to the public on April 2, 2012. Work from the known to the unknown by starting with the 1940 census and continue to the 1930, 1920, 1910, 1900, 1880, and the 1870 census. If your ancestors were free people of color, continue researching the 1850 and 1860 censuses. Unfortunately, an enormous 99 percent of the 1890 census was destroyed in a fire at the Commerce Building in Washington, D.C. in 1921.

If you are viewing microfilmed census records instead of the digital images on Ancestry.com and other sites, a soundex is available for the 1930, 1920, 1910, 1900, and 1880 censuses.  The soundex is a phonetic index that was generated based on the sound of the surname.  Each surname has a soundex code. Locate your family in the soundex first, which will tell you exactly where to find them on the county census records.  The 1880 soundex only contains families with at least one child who was 10 years old or younger. If you can't find your ancestors in the 1880 soundex, then browse through the 1880 census to locate your ancestors.

The 1870 U.S. Federal Census is very important in African-American genealogy research. It was very often the first official record that recorded former enslaved African Americans by their first and last names. This census is also crucial because it was taken just five years after slavery. Therefore, most African-American adults in the 1870 census had been enslaved just five years prior.  Many African Americans on the same 1870 census pages had likely lived together earlier as a family group on their former enslavers’ farms and plantations. As late as 1870 and further, they continued to depend upon these relationships, even though some people were not blood-related. In 1870, you may often run across other families in the area with the same last names as your ancestors. Some of them may have been blood relatives, and some were not. Elder family members may be able to determine which families were blood-related.

When researching census records, here are some key things to remember:

(1)   A lot of county boundaries changed. Researchers may often find their ancestors residing in one county for one census year and in another county the following census year, but their ancestors never moved.

(2)   When you find your family in the censuses, study that page and several pages before and after. Pay attention to their neighbors. Family members often lived close to each other. Mimicking an African village, rural African-American communities were often filled with relatives or networks of extended kin. Ask older family members about the names of the other families living near your ancestors. They may be able to identify them.

(3)   You will find many discrepancies with names, ages, birthplaces, marital statuses, etc. That is common. Many people, especially former slaves, did not know their exact birthdates. Also, if a family was absent when the census-taker visited, he often retrieved information on that family from neighbors. The neighbors likely guessed the information.   

(4)   Chances are high that your family surnames may be spelled differently in the censuses. Do not disregard people in the censuses because their surnames are spelled another way. Consider all possible spelling variants of your names.

(5)   Be cognizant of the nicknames for official names. Many people were recorded in the censuses under a nickname. If you cannot locate an ancestor under his real name, try to search for him under a nickname. Many genealogical websites have lists of nicknames and official names. Some common nickname/official name variations include Lizzie/Liza/Eliza/Betty for Elizabeth, Mollie/Polly/Mae for Mary, Jack for John, Bill for William, Hank/Hence for Henry, Peggy/Maggie for Margaret, Mattie/Pattie/Patsy for Martha, Bob for Robert, Sally for Sarah, and many more.

(6)   If you find people reported as “M” or “Mu” in the censuses, which is an abbreviation for “mulatto,” do not assume that one of their parents was White or Native American.  A lot of census-takers wrote “M” or “Mu” for a person’s race/color if that person appeared to be of mixed ancestry.  Many of them likely did not inquire about the race of the parents but made assumptions based on appearances.  Older family members may be able to verify a person’s parentage.

Search for other records

Fortunately, for African-American genealogy research, the list of other valuable resources is lengthy. I will cover some of the main records researchers should seek in their genealogical quests. These main resources include marriage records, death certificates, birth certificates, land records, military service records, newspapers, published sources, draft registration cards, court records, church records, school records, Social Security Death Index and Social Security Application form SS-5, city directories, state censuses, and many more.

   

Maiden names can be learned from marriage records.  Marriage license applications can be found for some counties. The applications often give the parents’ names. Marriage records can be obtained from county courthouses and state archive departments.  Marriage dates may be found online on sites like FamilySearch.org or Ancestry.com. On the actual marriage documents, pay attention to the names of witnesses or bondsmen; they were often family members.

Death certificates are valuable because they contain information such as the name of the spouse, the father's name, the mother's maiden name, the birthplace, the birth date, the place of burial, etc. Birth certificates give the parents’ names and the place of birth.  Those records are typically found at state vital records departments and at state archive departments. Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org have increased their databases to include scanned death certificate for various states, including North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Tennessee, and more.

In 1863, the United States Army began to enlist free and enslaved African-American men into regimental units known as the United States Colored Troops (USCT). Nearly 186,000 African Americans served in the USCT volunteer cavalry, artillery, and infantry units during the Civil War. If you have knowledge that an ancestor or relative may have fought in the Civil War, request copies of his pension record; they are stored at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.  The USCT service records are indexed there. The pension records of many of these brave soldiers often contain a wealth of information. If a personal visit to the National Archives is not possible, you can order pension records online via the National Archives’ website.  NATF-80 applications are used to submit an order for a soldier’s record; these applications are also now online on their website. Not all soldiers have pension records.

Once you are able to uncover names of more ancestors and family members from these vital records, plan to search for them in the census records as well. Additionally, don’t just focus on your direct ancestors. Trace collateral lines or your ancestors’ siblings. You may be able to trace back another generation by doing so, especially if you discover a parent living with an ancestor’s sibling. Also, plan a research trip to your state Archives to research more records that are specific to that state and are not online. Genealogy requires a lot of time, money, and patience, but the rewards are great and life-changing, not only for you but for members of your family. There are many stories to be told and experiences to resurrect. 

Why Many African Americans Should Do the Genetic DNA Testing

 

My great-great-grandparents, Hector Davis & Lucy Milam Davis of Panola County, Mississippi

Since I started researching my family history in 1993, I have seen the interest in genealogy leapfrog! Many African Americans are actively researching to document the history of their ancestors. An attest to this rapid growth can be witnessed by the large number of people who are members of Black genealogy groups on Facebook like Our Black Ancestry, which currently has over 20,000 subscribers, like AfriGeneas, which currently has over 6,000 subscribers, and like the African-American Genealogy Forum, which currently has over 3,000 subscribers. There are more, and they all are growing.

Reading the genealogical accomplishments in these groups often leaves me in awe! I am often fascinated by what many have uncovered about their ancestors. Contrary to those “impossibility declarations” that Dr. Henry Louis Gates makes on Finding Your Roots on PBS, a number of people have successfully traced their families back to the first African ancestor to touch American soil.  Although many researchers and I have traced back five or more generations, we are looking to autosomal DNA to take us further or to help us prove if certain people were our ancestors. The more people that get tested with 23andMe, AncestryDNA, or other DNA companies, the more that connections can be proven and more ancestors can be unearthed.

DNA technology is especially beneficial for documenting our enslaved ancestors. Slave ancestral research is not an easy task. However, finding and utilizing the right records and the correct methodologies for slave ancestral research, many people are able to trace back to enslaved ancestors who were born in the 1700s. DNA can and has assisted greatly in these quests. These documented histories are a great legacy to the generations after us. Therefore, one’s willingness to participate in genetic DNA testing not only helps the individual to understand his ancestral background, but it’s conducive to the many active researchers who desire to leave that great legacy.

For this blog post, I am presenting another case in which I really need DNA to help to confirm potential enslaved ancestors. The last enslaver of my great-great-great-grandparents, Wade Milam (born c. 1825 in AL) and Peggy Warren Milam (born c. 1829 in TN), was Joseph R. Milam of present-day Tate County, Mississippi. After years of research, I was finally able to figure out how Joseph acquired Grandma Peggy, since she was not from Alabama. A DNA match from Arkansas even helped to confirm Grandma Peggy’s family from whom she was separated! You can read it HERE. Joseph Milam was born in Madison County, Alabama in 1811. He, his wife, his parents, and most of his siblings moved to Marshall County, Mississippi around 1835. The censuses confirmed that they brought slaves with them. Only one brother, James W. Milam, remained in Alabama and settled in Talladega County. (Remember that.) Once they landed in Mississippi, Joseph Milam decided to go about 8 miles further west, into present-day Tate County, where he established his plantation on the Tate-Panola County line by 1840.  

Since Grandpa Wade Milam was also from Alabama, I theorized that perhaps the white Milams transported him to Mississippi. So I decided to place some focus on Joseph’s father, Jarvis Jackson Milam, just to see if I can find out anything about his origins. Thankfully, the Milam Family is a well-researched family, and I learned that Jarvis died on July 4, 1849 in Marshall County, Mississippi. To my fortune, FamilySearch.org has digitized Marshall County Probate Records for the time period 1839 to 1871. You can access them HERE. I fortunately found an inventory of Jarvis Milam’s estate, dated March 30, 1850, and it listed 26 enslaved people by name, age, and value.

The slave inventory of Jarvis Milam’s Estate, March 30, 1850

Marshall County, Mississippi

(Source: See original scanned document here.)

I didn’t expect Grandpa Wade to be a part of Jarvis’s estate because he was enslaved on Joseph Milam’s plantation by 1846. That’s the approximate year when his first-born, my great-great-grandmother Lucy Milam Davis (1846-1927), was born. However, “Little Spencer, age 11” on the inventory caught my attention. This was likely Spencer Milam, who lived right next door to my great-great-grandparents, Hector & Lucy Davis, in 1870. Spencer and his first wife, Huldah (Hector’s sister), married on the same day as Grandpa Hector and Grandma Lucy; both couples married on July 7, 1866. It appears that they traveled together to the courthouse to get married.  I immediately wondered and suspected that Spencer Milam was somehow related to Grandma Lucy. But was he?

Spencer & Huldah Milam lived adjacent to Hector & Lucy Davis in 1870, DeSoto (now Tate) Co., MS.

Joseph Milam’s widow, Eunice Milam, was next-door.

Grandma Lucy’s mother Peggy was two households above Eunice.

“Spencer, 50” and “Lucy, 45” on the slave inventory also caught my attention. Interestingly, sleuthing through the 1850 Marshall County slave schedule, I discovered that the three older males, Spencer, Anthony, and Abraham, were all reported as 52, rather than 50 that was reported on the slave inventory. Lucy was reported as 54, instead of 45 that was reported on the slave inventory. Like any researcher would likely ask, were Spencer and Lucy the parents of Grandpa Wade? Had Grandma Lucy Davis been named after her paternal grandmother? Also, many researchers would understandably theorize that “Little Spencer” was probably their son. But was he?

I decided to scroll through the Marshall County Probate Records images on FamilySearch.org to see if I will discover more on other pages. I am so glad that I did that! I am also happy that I checked to see if there were probate records on FamilySearch.org for Talladega County, Alabama. Again, I hit pay dirt! You will see why the Alabama records were important. The following three important documents were found:

ESTATE DOCUMENT 1: The following slaves were sold from Jarvis Milam’s estate, April 29, 1851. This document verified that Spencer and Lucy were husband and wife. “Spencer and wife Lucy” were acquired by Joseph R. Milam. “Little Spencer” and Ann were acquired by Jarvis’ son, Benjamin L. Milam.

ESTATE DOCUMENT 2: Jarvis’ widowed son, James W. Milam, died in Talladega County, Alabama in Nov. 1841. In another estate document, Jarvis was named the guardian of James’ only child, James Clayton Milam. Shortly after little orphaned James moved to Marshall County, Mississippi to live with his grandparents, he died at a young age in 1844. Little James’ estate record was also found, and it included his slave inheritance from his father. The inventory was made on April 19, 1844. I discovered that “Little Spencer” and “Little Ann,” who were inventoried in Jarvis’ 1850 estate, had come from Jarvis’ son James, who was in Alabama! Therefore, “Little Spencer” was NOT the son of Spencer and Lucy.

James Clayton Milam’s Estate, April 19, 1844, Marshall County, Mississippi

Mariah and four children, Ann, Spencer, Amanda, Anderson

Lizzy and three children, Amelia, Fanny, Hampton

Riah and two children, Alfred, Edmund

ESTATE DOCUMENT 3: After finding document 2, I was also fortunate to discover that some of Talladega County, Alabama probate records had been digitized and uploaded to FamilySearch.org. I found James W. Milam’s will that he wrote on November 1, 1841. This will named the same slaves, and James desired for his father Jarvis to take them to Mississippi. See the following:

“Second. I give and devise and bequeath to my son  James Clayton Milam three Negro women and there children viz Mariah and three children, Ariah & two children, also Liz a yellow girl & two children, the above named Negroes I wish removed by my father Jarvis Milam to the state of Mississippi. Third, a Negro man Stephen and a woman named Sylvia with all my personal and real estate I wish sold on a credit of 12 months….”

(Source: See original scanned will here.)

If I had not found those estate documents, I would have continually theorized that “Little Spencer” (Spencer Milam) may have been Spencer and Lucy’s son. Now, I am asking the following questions: (1) Was Spencer Milam’s mother, Mariah, a daughter of Spencer and Lucy who Jarvis had given or sold to his son, James W.? I feel that it is more than coincidental that there’s an Elder Spencer and a child Spencer. (2) Again, was Grandpa Wade also a child of Elder Spencer and Lucy? (3) Were Mariah and Grandpa Wade siblings? If so, Spencer Milam in 1870 and Grandma Lucy were first cousins.

DNA would certainly help to determine if there’s a connection to Jarvis Milam’s slaves. I am in contact with a great-grandson of Spencer Milam and his second wife, Mollie. Some years ago, one of my elderly relatives (a granddaughter of Hector & Lucy Davis) stated that she thinks that Spencer and his family were a “different set” and weren’t related to Grandma Lucy. However, Spencer Milam’s great-grandson, who was born and raised in the area, knew my Davis Family as being his cousins, according to his family elders. Therefore, we are confused.

Spencer Milam’s great-grandson also took the 23andMe DNA test recently. He did not match me and my mother. Speculating that Mariah, his great-great-grandmother, may have been a sister of Grandpa Wade Milam, Mom’s great-great-grandfather, that theory would make them as possibly being 4th cousins. With 4th cousins, there's only a 45% chance that DNA will detect a kinship. This link explains the probabilities. Therefore, because of the higher probability of a non-match (55%), I am not ready to conclude that Grandpa Wade was not related to Mariah, Little Spencer, Elder Spencer and Lucy. Also, while he doesn't match my mother, he may match other family members. I am awaiting my aunt's 23andMe DNA results to see if he matches her. My mother and her sister likely inherited different chromosome segments from the same common ancestors. That's the nature of DNA transmission.

I found a number of those enslaved by Jarvis Milam in the 1870 and 1880 Marshall County censuses, including Dudley (who was also born in AL) and his family. They retained the Milam surname. To add, Jarvis Milam’s will, which can be read here on FamilySearch, identified Ann, who was the first slave on his 1850 inventory, as Dudley’s wife. The enslaved children inventoried after her and before Dudley were their children. Were Dudley, James, and Morgan Milam, who were all born in Alabama too, the sons of Elder Spencer and Lucy? Were they Grandpa Wade Milam’s brothers? Were they Mariah’s brothers, too? There were and are many black Milam descendants in Marshall County, Mississippi and elsewhere. It would be wonderful if some of them took the 23andMe DNA test (or others) to help determine if Elder Spencer and Lucy were our direct ancestors and my 4th-great-grandparents. I will maintain hope!

DNA Note: If you decide to take the AncestryDNA test, I highly recommend that after you get your results, please upload your raw data file to GEDmatch. See www.gedmatch.com. GEDmatch is a great online DNA program that allows you to further analyze your DNA results with their great analysis tools. It is also free. AncestryDNA does not offer any analysis tools. GEDmatch's analysis tools are essential if you desire to compare people in your relative list to figure out ancestral connections, which is known as DNA triangulation. The meaning of DNA triangulation is further explained HERE. 23andMe offers great analysis tools as well. However, I would also recommend that 23andMe users (and others) upload to GEDmatch as well. You will gain more matches in GEDmatch. 

Research Note: To date, I have been unable to find any court records showing Jarvis Milam deeding slaves to his children before they left Madison County, Alabama or after they arrived in Marshall County, Mississippi.

Mending Broken Ties: The Reunion Documentary

Recently, someone asked me about the reunion video documentary that my cousin Kristina Hayes produced of our commemorative family reunion in 2009. That groundbreaking event in Atlanta, GA and Abbeville, S.C. reunited branches of our family tree after 150 years of separation. This is the reunion that culminated the book, 150 Years Later: Broken Ties Mended. As promised, I am resurrecting the YouTube links of this reunion documentary on my blog. Totaling 30 minutes, the entire documentary was divided into five short clips which are below.

In a nutshell, the following is the family that was separated in 1859 in Abbeville County, S.C. That year, William Barr Jr., the son of the late Rev. William & Rebecca Reid Barr, decided to relocate to Pontotoc County, Mississippi. He took most of the family slaves with him which split the following family tree.

What happened to the family?

LEWIS & FANNY – According to a letter that Rebecca Barr wrote to her sister in 1847, Grandpa Lewis died in Sept., 1846 at an old age, possibly around 70. Born somewhere in Virginia around 1785 and sold down South to Abbeville, S.C. by 1810, Grandma Fanny was taken to Pontotoc County, Miss. in 1859. Her nearly 75-year-old body endured William Barr's wagon train journey to northern Mississippi, which took days. According to the 1880 census, her grandson, Rev. Jacob Beckley Jr., was taking care of her. She died after 1880 at nearly 100 in Pontotoc County. Lewis and Fanny’s African roots are revealed in clip 1 below.

Glasgow Barr – He was never taken away from South Carolina. He and his wife Rosa, who had been enslaved by a neighbor Lesley Family, were found in the 1870 and 1880 censuses in Abbeville County. Children and grandchildren of Glasgow were also found in the 1900 Abbeville County, SC census. After that, I haven’t found a trace of the family. Not sure what became of his descendants.

Sue Barr Beckley – William Barr Jr. took her, her husband Jacob, a “mulatto” slave he had purchased from the Lesley Family, and their children to Pontotoc County, Miss. in 1859. After slavery, the family took the Beckley surname. Sue Beckley and four of her children, Sina, John, Susie, and Patsy, lived in Oxford, Mississippi in 1880. Her sons, Edmond, Cannon, Lewis, Clay, and Jacob Jr., and her daughter Louvenia remained in Pontotoc County. Those sons became known as “The Beckley Five”. The Beckley Family has held large family reunions every year since 1957.

Cannon Beckley (1840-1903), his wife, and his 20 children, Pontotoc County, Miss.

Picture taken in 1900; shared by Diane Beckley

Pleasant Barr – Shortly before relocating to Pontotoc County, William Barr Jr. decided to sell Pleasant, my great-great-grandfather, to a man named James Giles. Giles relocated to Tippah County (Ripley), Mississippi around 1859, taking Pleasant with him. After slavery, Pleasant retained the Barr surname, remained in Tippah County, remarried to Amanda Young, and had another son, Elijah Barr. His older children, namely William (Bill) and Mary, had been sold to Rebecca Barr’s nephew, Lemuel Reid of Abbeville. They never saw their father again, according to oral history. Bill, Mary, their first cousin Glasgow Wilson (son of Glasgow Barr), and others migrated to Panola County, Mississippi shortly after slavery in 1866. Bill Reed (1846-1937), my mother’s paternal grandfather, married Sarah Partee, had 11 children, and the family tree grew by leaps and bounds.

Sawney Barr – William Barr Jr. took him to Pontotoc County in 1859. According to the Mississippi Historical Society, Sawney was a blacksmith who worked in a blacksmith shop in the town of Pontotoc, shoeing horses for both the Union and Confederate Armies during the Civil War.  After slavery, he became a prominent figure in the county during Reconstruction (1865-1876).  He was recorded in Pontotoc County’s history as the First Superintendent of Education for Pontotoc County. However, the political gains of African Americans during Reconstruction were wiped out.  The racist Klu Klux Klan increased their reign of terrorism across the South during the 1870s, and many African Americans were forcibly ousted from these important positions. I haven’t found Sawney in any censuses or records after 1870. He had married and had at least two children, Frank and Anna.

The paper trail that unearthed and documented my family’s plight and separation included but were not limited to the following:

- Census records

- Slave schedules

- Wills

- Estate records

- Slave inventories

- Old rare family letters from the slave-owning family

- Slave-owner’s diaries

- Slave-owner’s cotton-picking ledger (1860 & 1861)

- Church records (slave births, baptisms, and rare notations)

- Church histories

- Marriage records

- Death certificates

- Civil War pension files

In conjunction with oral histories from the Reed and Beckley families, 150 Years Later: Broken Ties Mended tells how all of these sources and more unearthed our family story.

CLIP 1

CLIP 2



CLIP 3



CLIP 4



CLIP 5

  Documentary produced by Kristina Hayes, great-great-granddaughter of Bill Reed, great-great-great-granddaughter of Pleasant Barr

This photo was taken on the steps of the Abbeville County, South Carolina Courthouse, August 8, 2009...150 Years Later.

A Runaway Slave in the Family Tree

Slave ad offering $100 reward for unnamed man, about 30 years old, Ripley Co., Missouri (Source)

The ancestors are working overtime! Within this past week, they have led me to two revealing court cases! The first one involved my paternal 3rd-great-grandmother Annie, the mother of Grandpa Robert “Big Bob” Ealy of Leake County, Mississippi. Last week, I found the 1832 North Carolina Supreme Court case of William Hunt vs. Edwin Bass et al, in which William Hunt, Edwin Bass and his brothers fought over the ownership of Grandma Annie, her youngest child Lazarus, and a man named Ned, all in Nash County, N.C. Elated about this genealogical discovery, I was also saddened from picturing the agony Grandma Annie faced while people fought over her and her infant child's fate. A published opinion of that case can be read HERE.

Well, two days ago, I received an e-mail from a descendant of John & Anna Burnett, the last enslavers of my maternal 3rd-great-grandparents, Jack & Flora Davis (both born c. 1815 in S.C.), and their children of Panola County (Como), Mississippi. This descendant had found my blog post, Ain’t Gonna Take Massa’s Name, and realized that her ancestors owned slaves. I hadn't researched the Burnetts in a while. Therefore, because of our e-mail exchanges, I decided to do some "googling" just to see what else is out there about the Burnetts. Around 1861, they left Abbeville County, South Carolina and settled on land located on the now Tate-Panola County line, transporting Jack, Flora, their children, and others with them.

Before I go into the “juice” of this discovery, I must first mention a man named Wesley Johnson. He was born around 1852 in Abbeville County, South Carolina. The Burnetts also brought him to Mississippi. Years ago, I found my maternal grandmother’s parents’ marriage record. Poppa John H. Davis married Grandma Mary Danner in 1892 in Panola County. I noticed the name Wesley Johnson as being the bondsman. Learning that bondsmen are often family members, I asked my maternal grandmother's first cousin, the late Cousin Sammie Lee (Davis) Hayes, about him. Immediately, Cousin Sammie Lee relayed, “Oh, that’s Cutin’ (Cousin) Wesley! He and Grandpa Hector were first cousins, but they were real close like brothers.” Obviously, Poppa John was close to him too because he named his first son John Wesley Davis, who was my grandmother's oldest brother.
 

1910 Panola County, MS census: My great-great-grandparents, Hector & Lucy Davis, lived adjacent to Wesley & Evaline Johnson, solidifying my cousin’s claim of their closeness. Neighbors were often family members.

Poppa John’s father Hector Davis (1842-1925) was one of the sons of Jack and Flora. Therefore, somehow Cutin’ Wesley Johnson was Jack or Flora’s nephew. Fortunately, I had found Cutin’ Wesley’s death certificate at the Mississippi Dept. of Archives in Jackson. It reported that his father’s name was Ale Johnson. The mother’s name was not reported, but I had surmised that his mother was probably “Old Nelly,” who was inventoried in John Burnett’s 1863 estate, along with Jack, Flora, and some of their children. Cutin’ Wesley was “boy Wesley,” who was valued at $700. That slave inventory can be seen here.

What was particularly interesting about Cutin’ Wesley was that he took the surname Johnson. Since his death certificate reported Ale Johnson as his father, I realized that he chose his father’s surname. But where was Uncle Ale? He was not listed on that 1863 slave inventory. Interestingly, Johnson was also the maiden name of John Burnett’s wife, Anna. Could there be a connection here? For a while, I have theorized that either Ale Johnson or “Old Nelly” may have been Grandma Flora’s sibling. That’s why I have chosen to call him “Uncle Ale.”

Now, let's get to the “juice” of this discovery. Please remember that effective google searches can be your doorway to many genealogical clues! Yesterday while googling for more information about the Burnetts, I found the 1851 court case of Joseph M. Alexander vs John Burnet, Abbeville, South Carolina. A published opinion of this case was found here. To my surprise, the case involved the ownership of a “mulatto” slave named Ail, who was also known as Caleb. I had found Uncle Ale Johnson! The details of this court case revealed the following chronology of Uncle Ale Johnson’s eventful life during slavery, and eventful is an understatement!

1821: Uncle Ale was born the "property" of Benjamin Johnson in Abbeville County, South Carolina. He was noted as being “mulatto” in the court case.

1831: As a young boy around 10 years old, he was living on John & Anna Burnett’s farm. On June 13, Anna, with young Uncle Ale in tow, went to her brother Benjamin, and they agreed to make her his legal owner. So on that day, he wrote out a deed of gift giving Uncle Ale to her for one dollar, and he will become her legal property upon his death. Anna paid Benjamin the money that day, and then she and Uncle Ale went back to the Burnett farm. The deed of gift was never recorded in court records.

1832: Young Uncle Ale remained on the Burnett farm for another year, and then he went back to Benjamin Johnson’s place. He remained there until Benjamin’s death in December, 1836.

1836: Immediately after Benjamin’s death, his widow instructed their son, John Johnson, to take Uncle Ale and sell him. She clearly wasn’t interested in him being around. I wonder why? So at night, John clandestinely took Uncle Ale, who was now 15, and sold him to James Caldwell, who was visiting South Carolina and on his way back to Marengo County, Alabama.

1837: Shortly after arriving in Alabama with Uncle Ale, Caldwell sold him to Joseph M. Alexander on January 12. He remained with Alexander for 12 years.

1837 – 1845: Alexander took Uncle Ale with him on his many trips back to his birth home, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, passing through South Carolina in 1837, 1841, 1844, and 1845. I wonder if Uncle Ale had been his carriage driver?

1849: On October 31, Alexander and Uncle Ale stopped off in Pendleton in Anderson County, South Carolina, on their way to North Carolina. Since Abbeville County was just south of Pendleton, Uncle Ale seized the opportunity and ran away. He made his way back to the Burnett farm. Alexander learned of his whereabouts, sent an agent to retrieve him from the Burnetts, but they refused to relinquish him. They considered themselves as Uncle Ale’s legal owner, so Alexander took them to court.

1851: Alexander initially won the case, but after an appeal to the Court of Appeals, the court overturned the decision and decided that John Burnett, husband of Anna, was the rightful owner.

Currently, I haven’t figured out what became of Uncle Ale “Caleb” Johnson, but he fathered Cutin’ Wesley (and likely more) on the Burnett place. Cutin’ Wesley and Grandpa Hector Davis grew up like brothers, were transported to northern Mississippi together shortly before the advent of the Civil War, and their descendants grew up together as blood cousins. One never knows where diligent genealogy research will take us and what stories will be unearthed. And like genealogist Nicka Smith recently expressed in her post, The Magic Door Should Not Be Televised, we all have fascinating stories in our family trees just waiting to be unearthed, not just celebrities. This one adds to the many mouth-dropping stories that I have been fortunate to capture. Thank you, ancestors!