Many Rivers To Cross1: Rivers of Life Rolling On The River

Living in the Jonah’s of my imagination are the proud women and men who would rather die than be taken from their home leaving countless families alone weeping and crying.

I can hear them saying, "You tried to break me down here in this hell hole of a hull, thinking I would join my aunts and uncles on the bottom of the deep blue ocean." 

Some of our own from one Continent we know, huge and vast coming from the past.

How many I ask are the bones that lie in the deep are a reflection of 

me when they were in the flesh?   

After watching Many Rivers To Cross; the first episode on PBS, my mind 
wandered back and forth between my Texas counties and my ancestors
who may have taken the same route shown. So far I have no documented verification.

                                                                                                                    

Everyone that knows me has been told that I am stuck in Texas with my

research and that I have a million billion trillion bricks and blocks

that have fallen in my way.

Okay I admit I am exagerating about those trillion or so bricks and blocks but I do have 1024 direct descendants who fit in there somewhere.

I am not going to call them walls because I do have human Walls that are in my shared DNA with names like Thelma, Steven and Crystal that I have come to love sight unseen.

This show bought home, that I have had very few rivers in my life to cross.

My Ancestors bore the brunt of that.

Just because I have not found Mr and Ms Elusive does not mean that I have to jump off the top of the roof of my house.

The front porch step will do just fine.

Does Texas have many rivers?  You bet she does; they are long, they are wide and they are wild.

With that being said, Mariah Taylor my elusive 3^rd great grandmother

and her parents may have crossed the Sabine River which snakes all the way from the Gulf of  Mexico up to East Texas.

The Sabine River:

I have not gotten a handle yet on where Mariah was really born but her son

Joseph was born in Harrison County reportedly in Jonesville Texas.  Near

Jonesville there was Swanson’s landing. It was a port that was used

to deliver goods and slaves from New Orleans.

Did Mariah’s ancestors come that way?  

My paternal greats on my Daviss side could have gotten off somewhere 

around Galveston Texas, crossed over the Brazos River or the Navasota River not knowing that one day two of their offspring may meet up one day just like the mighty rivers that kiss the ocean.

The Brazos River

The Navasota River

What about Captain John Taylor who steered the Hannah Elizabeth in 1836 from Barbados. He brought a boat load of slaves to what was known as 

Brigs landing,  a port in Orange Texas. Some he left  and the rest he headed towards Galveston to sell.

Was Mariah’s family on that brig?  Were they shuffled off and transported

to Harrison County Texas? 

(excerpt found in the Gateway to Texas: The History of Orange and Orange County)

In order to stay off that front step, I tend to piddle and hope that my piddling 

will lead someone else to find their family with little nuggets and gems

one step at a time. 

I have no idea if this 34 year old man (they referred to him as a boy)

that was found on the north side of the Sabine was my ancestor; but he was someone's child husband or brother.  His name was George

                                                                                                                                   

            How many rivers does George have to cross to be called a man?

  

                           

                               The Standard Clarksville Texas October 25, 1856 

In the 1870 Census in Albany New York , 27 year old Kate Rivers was listed as a servant. Ms Rivers was born in Africa.

How many Rivers Lord, How Many Rivers To Cross?

                                This is the excerpt of the 1870 census

I went looking for any Davis that I could find to tie into my Daviss.  Even though this particular Davis was not mine he was living in a levee camp in Missouri.

Since we are talking about rivers,  Davis’s next door neighbor

was a Teamster by the name of Red River. He and his parents were from Tennessee according to the 1910 census.

                 How many rivers did Red have to cross to work at the Levee?  

                      Here is a excerpt of  Red listed on the 1910 census

When I lived in Dallas Texas in the early 1970's I used to cross over the

Trinity River Bridge. The area I lived in was dry. You were not able to buy 

beer or liquor. The trip across the bridge was the only way we could secure a 

happy week-end with spirits especially during football season. 

Need I say more?

The Trinity River

Try crossing over this bridge

Yes, Yes, Yes, there are still waters!!