Mariah's Zepher

Henderson's Everywhere: The Henderson Trail

2012-01-20T20:57:00.000-08:00

Not to long ago my daughters next door neighbor Lorie, born a Henderson was driving through New Mexico when she encountered snowy conditions. They did not have snow tires on the car and was concerned about being stuck on the side of the road.

She sent a text and asked for our prayers that they get though the storm and home safely. They had earlier that day left Oklahoma from attending the Home-going Celebration of her aunt LaFay "Tootie" Henderson McClendon. R.I.P. Ms Tootie.

Not long after coming home, Lorie who was born a Henderson got more news that her uncle Walter Henderson had joined the ancestors. Man I thought, these things do happen and sometimes in Succession. In talking with Lorie, who was born a Henderson stated that her father and the rest of the family was doing well and that is what is important.

After reeling from that bit of news I went on my computer and happened to click on some pictures that I had stored. There was a picture on my mother Zepher, my grandmother Essie, and what do you know Mr Turner a good friend of the family. Mr Turner was Henderson Turner.

I smiled to myself and thought of the Henderson's. All last names and here I come up with a name from the past but this time it was a first name.

The next morning I got a call to do Lorie who was born a Henderson a favor and take her son Goobi to school. On the way back the sun was rising and had a terrible glare in my eyes. I pulled down the visor and attached to the visor was a button touting the Dave Henderson Family Reunion 2011.

Ok, this Henderson thing is grabbing my attention now. I thought about my grandmother and her Henderson neighbors she had told me about as a child in Marshall Texas. Of course these Henderson's are no relation to Lorie, who was born a Henderson but I will tell the story anyway.

My grandmother was living with me at age 95. She had the stages of dementia but even before then she was very closed mouth when it came to her family. Even though I was her grand-daughter she did not trust me either. It was like pulling teeth from her to get any information.

One rare time in talking to my grandmother, she mentioned the name of her best friend as a child growing up. Her name was Laura. She said that they both attended Freedom Enterprise School.

I later found out that the school was Friend Enterprise a Rosenwald School and that was also the community in which it was located.

Friend Enterprise School

She also stated that Ms Mandy Henderson, the best friends mother, was her mother Frances best friend

I found Ms Mandy living next door according to the 1920 Harrison Co Texas Census. Actually you had to go down the road and make a sharp left to another road (The Joe Taylor Road) then go back up even with the Henderson's back yard.

I wanted to find Ms Mandy in more than one census so that I could verify what I was told. (click to enlarge all census images)

Elbert and Amanda Henderson 1900 Harrison Co Texas Census

When I got to the 1880 census I found Amanda and her husband Elbert living next door to Phoebe and Dave Henderson. This was not the Dave Henderson whose button Lorie, born a Henderson, had attached to her sun visor. Dave was the father of Elbert and father in law of Ms Mandy.

Amanda,Elbert,David and Phoebe Henderson 1880 Census

Phoebe was the same person who was listed in the Slave Narratives I had looked at so often.

This is a picture of Phoebe Henderson. She appeared to me to be a strong black woman. She had to be,she was one hundred and five (105)at the time of the interview. She and her husband went through slavery and persevered.

Phoebe Henderson

There was mention of Phoebe living in the Enterprise Friendship Community, and this matches what my grandmother stated about the school she attended.

Narrative of Phoebe Henderson

I have enjoyed going down the Henderson trail in this mind of mine. I would hope that its a testament of things that can maybe help not only myself but others who may have a story to tell.

Phoebe's story was told a long time ago and now perhaps she can be recognized once again to many others known and unknown.

As to Lorie who was born a Henderson, she's cool and I bet she has more than a few Henderson stories to tell.

see link for the rest of the Born In Slavery Narratives:

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/

Aunt Ponnie And Me; Altus Okla Made Three

2011-12-10T14:40:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid I used to listen to the poem starting with T'was The Night Before Christmas And All Through The House

Well let me tell you this was not the night before Christmas!!!!!

It was March and the night before the big Western dance at the Wm H Patterson Elks Lodge and I just got stood up!

Thinking fast, should I pick up the telephone and call or should I forget it.

I wanted to clear out my mind. No need in saying any bad words because that would make me more angry. I had never ever been stood up before.

The worse thing that I could remember happening to me was when that little boy who lived three doors down from us at the Lackland Air Force Base asked me to be his girlfriend. The next day after I said ok, he took my umbrella and broke it. I think he also quit me but I was so busy crying about my broken umbrella that I did not hear him.

The first thing would be is to stop looking at the clock. It seemed like all I heard was tic, tic tic, tic tic tic. Then, I need to get away from that dog-gone window. No reason to keep looking, Its not going to change anything one bit.Tic, tic, tic,tic, tic tic tic.

(I don't know what sound is worse the constant ticking or the buzzing of a fly that circles and circles all around your ear.)

My Aunt Ponnie used to say all the time,''Honey, haven't you heard that a watch pot never boils" I could hear her saying that now as I backed away from the window. I suddenly realized that my date was no longer important. That the realization should be on a person who had more of an impact on my life and that was Aunt Ponnie.

Although our time together was short, it was very meaningful to me. She kept me from being lonely when I missed my family back home, and she loved me as if I were her own.

Pauline was born November 30th 1899 to Joe and Nancy Cryor Mitchell in Hempstead County Arkansas. She grew up with two brothers Floyd and Wardell.

Here are two census records that reflect her and her family.

The first is a 1900 Census in Saline County Arkansas

The View:

Here is the 1910 census that depicts the brothers Floyd and Wardell Mitchell

The View:

Somewhere along the way Wardell ended up in Kansas City Kansas/Missouri area and Pauline and Floyd ended up in Altus Oklahoma. That's where I met her.

We spent hours and hours talking and laughing. Everyone called her Aunt Ponnie.
One thing about Aunt Ponnie was that she sure spoke her mind and 99.9 percent of the time it was the truth. She had her hands full with her grandson's Lawrence and Melvin who were just coming into their teens. Melvin was the outgoing one and Lawrence was more reserved.

I had driven down from Phoenix one year and stayed with them for about a month. I was on my way to Dallas but took a different route so that I could see them and also my Uncle Wright Cuney "Prof" Davis.

Every morning for about two weeks after getting up, I would go outside. The first thing that I saw was my car. It had been egged!

I was so upset. Number one because my car was egged and number two the paint on my car was being ruined. The boys Melvin and Lawrence and I tried to be look-outs for the culprits but to no avail.

Leave it to Aunt Ponnie, she found a way.

One night when everyone went to bed Aunt Ponnie got up, went to the refrigerator, took out all the eggs and carefully numbered them. She placed them back in the container upside down.

Well lo and behold the next morning, my car was egged. She called me and the boys in the living-room and told Melvin to get the eggs out of the refrigerator, and one by one read off the numbers. One number was missing.

Melvin confessed, saying that he was just playing pranks on me. All I could say was he had better be glad that he was not my child at that moment.

I think Melvin could not go out and play for about two days because he was put on punishment.
I asked Aunt Ponnie how she knew that it was Melvin. Well she said, " When it was lawrence's time to be the look-out, the next morning, no eggs!! When it was Melvin's turn, eggs !! That told me that one plus one equals two, so I got out the crayon."

Aunt Ponnie had a house with about four bedrooms. She rented out two of the rooms. One was to a soldier who was stationed at Altus Air Force base. His job on the base was a cook. So when he bought different things home from the base it was a welcome relief to Aunt Ponnie. There were big bags of flour and sugar, all kinds of fruits and veggies, spices and sweets.

One day I went over to her house and Aunt Ponnie was not really feeling that good. She was sitting on the couch and was a little out of breath. That did not stop her from puffing on those Pall Malls though. She asked me if I could finish cooking for her because her roomers would be home soon and that meals was a part of her contract with them.

Aunt Ponnie told me to look up under the cabinet and take out that big can of parsley that her roomer had bought home from the base and sprinkle some on the meat she was going to prepare.

I did so and opened the lid. Man oh man was I in for a shock. All I could smell was weed. That can was filled to the rim.

I was not a smoker of weed but being from the city I came from, I knew the smell.

I did not say a word to Aunt Ponnie. If I would have told her what she was unknowingly harboring I am sure her 65 years at that time would have been cut short by a heart attack.

Instead when the roomer soldier came home, I told him what I had found. He moved the next day. I think he may have told Aunt Ponnie that he was getting shipped out and had to leave for another assignment.

I learned several years later that he had been booted out of the service.

I moved back to Phoenix and called or wrote to Aunt Ponnie every chance I got.

One time she called me crying up a storm. She told me that someone was coming to take her refrigerator away and that she had to go to court. She begged me to come and go to the courthouse with her. Distraught, she said that she had no one else to go with her. Hating to hear that, I took time off my job, caught the bus and went back to Altus.

That following Monday we went down to the courthouse where we met with this lawyer who was in charge of her case. When he told me how much money her court case was over, I was too through. She was threatened with not only the loss of her refrigerator, but the threat that she could have her house taken away if she did not pay up.

They gave her a week or else.

She was in to them for a lousy eleven dollars. They had intimidated her with calls and threats that to her the eleven dollars seemed like eleven hundred dollars. I asked the lawyer what the total pay off was. With a smirk on his face, he told me thirty dollars which I promptly paid.

I asked him for a paid in full receipt and we left.

I know that Aunt Ponnie was relieved but she sure did try hard to get me to move back to Altus. God I loved that woman, but to live back there again, I just couldn't. Aunt Ponnie left this earth in 1979.......I drove down again for her home going celebration.

Rest In Peace Aunt Ponnie, Rest In Peace.

Big Time Texan Sticking To The Story

2011-12-04T23:00:00.000-08:00

Curses Foiled Again Or That's My Story And I'am Sticking To It

I had barely gotten to bed . The clock read 3:45 A.M. and only one eye felt drowsy enough to let me drift off.

With a start I jumped up, looked around and saw my daughter looking at me. My first question to her was, What time is it?

I had fallen asleep on the couch and she was sitting on the love seat reading the paper and sipping coffee. I keep saying "she" but my daughter's name is Latisha.

Anyway, she told me it was 9:30 A.M, took another sip of her coffee, and looked back down again at the paper.

Since I was still groggy I asked her if she had a pen. She reached down in her purse, pulled out a pen and tossed it to me.

I wrote down 147 then headed to the little room to get ready for the rest of the day.
I didn't want to seem so excited so I casually went to the computer, turned it on and waited for the AfriGeneas chat room to open.

Wondering If I made a mistake I went back to where I had placed the note that had the number 147 on it and expanded it to 149.

Finally, Art Thomas, Angela Walton Raji, Selma, Valencia, Seventies Soulchild and a few others came in. We started talking about topics like DNA, US Colored Troops, current research finds, All roads lead to Virginia with a few laughs thrown in.

I looked at the clock. Did I see a 145? Durn-it, I may have written down the number wrong again so back to my notes. I changed my number from 147 to 145.

After chat was over, I finally relaxed and went about my business of connecting my numbers to my jumbled thoughts. My jumping up out of my sleep was because of that number 147.

There was this book that I have by Vivian Lehman and Edith Smith called No Land,Only Slaves. Volume 4 Harrison, Hunt, and Kaufman County Texas. Deeds and conveyances are in in this particular book and I look at it quite often. This book was in my dream.

In my dream I saw the book opened and thrown out in the front yard all dirty and trampled on. This was not my front yard but a yard that was like a rolling hill with really green grass. I was heart broken and upset in this dream.

Looking around and screaming out, Who stole my book, Who in the ^%$^ stole my book?

I picked up the book and saw that half of the pages were torn out and the binding was ripped out in places.

Who tore out the pages in my book, I screamed!

I don't remember what happened next except there was a person who I had never seen before said something like " they left 147, see".

I looked down at the pages of the book,and that is when I woke up.

In my nervousness all I could think of at that point was Mariah, my elusive 3rd great grandmother. My brick wall Mariah, My Texas Wind Mariah, My Harrison County Grandmother the 3rd Mariah who loves to play jokes on me.

Was this the clue I had been looking for? Did I finally beat her at her own game? After all, I hear others say in this genealogy arena that the ancestors will speak to you when they are ready.

I started to stick out my chest because I now know that my dream was a sign. I am so Confident thatI think that was why I was taking my time to get my book and look at page 147.

It was quiet in the house as I slowly turned the page to 147.

The first thing I noticed when I turned the page was Book T. My heart started beating faster and faster because Mariah's last name was Taylor.
As I was scouring the pages there were no Mariah's that fit the bill. It was a good thing I expanded my page numbers because I read each and every entry up to page 149. I then went back down to page 145, then 144 all the way to page 140.

Nothing,zilch,nada which means I need another plan!

Now, I am looking at Book A : Starting with every H meaning Harrison County that has the number 140 - 149 in it until I get to the last book for this county.

Example:
Book A Har 145 2 Jan 1838 Hughes, Isaac of Johnson County Ark to his sister-in-law Kerzia Mason of Pope County Ark. Gift. Buck, m, 45; Hannah,F,45* for my love and affection. Wit. Walker,William and Rogers, Jacob of Johnson Co. ARK. Justice of the Peace for Johnson Co. Ark: Powers, Thomas (* Book A, Pages 162-163 Clarksville, Johnson Co. Ark)

Now that my eyes are tired and I need to take a break, I think I will bake some muffins. I just have to remember not to eat them all up in one sitting. Yummy!!

Next time I will go buy me a pick three lottery ticket, number 147.

The Help: Lady Bird's Zephyr

2011-09-11T02:31:00.000-07:00

Not my Zepher but it sure got me to thinking about the movie The Help:

I could have been considered a part of The Help for about one week-end in my lifetime. I had been looking and looking for a job to no avail. I was desperate to find anything.
I answered an ad in the paper and interviewed for a domestic helper and got the job. I worked that Saturday morning cleaning up this lady's house when it dawned on me to listen to my inner thoughts.

I never went back.

Not that I was too proud to do that type of work but this lady's daughter who was about my age or a year or two older dropped something on the floor that she did not make an attempt to pick up and I was NOT about to go down that road.
To this day I can't remember if I got my couple dollars pay.

Zephyr Wright was born in Marshall Texas, the same place as my mother Zepher. My mother's grandfather is Joseph Taylor and Zephyr Wright worked for Claudia Taylor Johnson who also was born in Marshall Texas.

Same name those Z's but spelled differently.

They even have another common given name. Her grandmother is Maria/Mariah and my mothers great- grandmother is Maria/Mariah. (Don't think I haven't checked this Mariah out lol)
Oral history has my Taylor's tied to the above Taylor's but that is another story at another time.

I see all of these little similarities so I decided to find out more about Ms Zephyr Wright doing a little research.

Here's Lady Bird's Zephyr:

Zephyr Wright was born in Marshall but was raised by her grandparents Tom and Maria/Mariah McKenzie until she was around twelve years old. This 1920 census puts her in the grandparents home listed as grand-daughter last name Blackmon or Blackman.

This is the bottom two lines of the 1920 census that shows the grandparents:

The 2nd page is continued here: Click on image to get a better look

I still have not determined who Zephyr's mother is but this is the family in the 1910 census.

While a student at Wiley College in Marshall Texas, Zephyr was given the opportunity to work as a housekeeper and cook for Lady Bird Johnson.
Dr. Dogan the president of Wiley recommended her after Claudia let it be known that she was looking for someone to work for her.
Ms Wright knew of the Taylor's plus her aunt worked for Thomas Jefferson Taylor Claudia's father.

I am not totally sure when Ms Wright went from Housekeeper to the lone family cook but she must have been a wonderful one. Her recipe's for the White House menu's have been in various newspapers and magazines. The Johnson's did however leave the fancy cooking to a White House Chef they attained for all those State Dinner affairs.

The Johnson girls threw a surprise birthday party for Zephyr. Growing up with a person through-out one's life is cause for deep affection.

Perhaps Zephyr knew Susan Bass Clardy when they both attended the wedding of Lynda Bird Johnson and Captain Charles Robb.

Ms Clardy is one of the links to Ms Angela Walton Raji.
see: http://myancestorsname.blogspot.com/ as Angela tells her story of those in her family who was The Help.

Ms Wright had much influence on Lyndon Baines Johnson. So much so that he used her knowledge when making a point to leaders of great distinction. (Rockford Register) 1966

Excerpts from Leonard H. Marks, director of the U.S. Information Agency during the Johnson administration.
He tells this story about how she may have influenced his work on civil rights reform.

"Many say that Lyndon, because he came from the South, didn't believe in civil rights. Lady Bird had two people as hired help, Zephyr and Sammy Wright. Zephyr was the maid and cook, and Sammy was the chauffeur.

At one of the luncheons I attended before Johnson became president, Zephyr was serving when Lyndon told her that she and Sammy should get ready to drive to Austin. The family would join them later.
She said, "Senator, I'm not going to do it." There was silence.

She said, "When Sammy and I drive to Texas and I have to go to the bathroom, like Lady Bird or the girls, I am not allowed to go to the bathroom. I have to find a bush and squat.
When it comes time to eat, we can't go into restaurants. We have to eat out of a brown bag.
And at night, Sammy sleeps in the front of the car with the steering wheel around his neck, while I sleep in the back. We are not going to do it again."

LBJ put down his napkin and walked out of the room.

Later, when Johnson became president and signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law Zephyr was there. Johnson motioned to her, gave her the pen that he used to sign the bill.
He said, "You deserve this more than anybody else."

Ms Wright passed away April 25th 1988 in Washington DC.
According to the Washington Post April 28th article Her husband, Sammie Wright, died in 1969. The post listed survivors that included two half brothers, James and Willie Black, both of Fort WorthTexas and two half sisters, Mary Yancy of Houston and Virginia Clemons of Dallas.

RIP Ms Zephyr Wright, You were more than just the HELP, you were a friend to those you helped and loved.

Mariah and Me Present: My First Presentation

2011-07-18T09:03:00.000-07:00

Presentation! What did they mean presentation? I don't know nothing bout birth'n no presentation!!!

A presentation at the Arizona Black Family Genealogy and Historical Society Meeting, you must be kidding me!

Later though I gave in and made a promise to Leafshaker my genealogy bud that I would do my best to comply. I didn't want to flub when one of Arizona's premier researchers was watching me.

The topic had to do with blogging and highlighted with the research technique I used to find and document a Clark family in Logan County Oklahoma.

I swear ggg- grandmother Mariah it had nothing to do with you.

My friend Angela sent me some information to guide me on my way and get started on the blogging side. I stayed up half the day and night trying to put the information in my own vernacular.

But noooo Mariah, you would not let me save it to my computer.

Every time I hit the save button, and went back all my changes I made did not take. After about 5 hours continuously I finally got it saved it to Power Point.

Now I can finally put my presentation on a CD. Smiling, I looked to my left and realized that the drawer/doors to the CD copier was broken.

This one I am not blaming on you Mariah because Tyler your 5th great grand-son had one of his CD's break off inside and we could not get it out.

We neglected to have the drawer replaced and now I really need it. I should have remembered and followed that saying "never put off tomorrow what you can do today."

My next trip was to go and buy a memory stick. I got one on sale at Fry's for nine dollars, bought it home and the durn thing would not even load up down or around.

Not to be undone, I went to Staples and got another brand that I was more familar with. I put it in the USB port and a dog-gone message came up saying "try again later." Heck it was already late!

I know it had to be you Mariah. I have felt you late at night in my presence before, and I know for a fact that you don't want to be found yet.

Time for me to take a break so I headed to the kitchen looking in every cabinet for that bottle of wine from five Christmases ago. You had been in that cabinet hadn't you? I am not getting smart with you, but its awful funny that I could not find that bottle that had your surname Taylor on it. Mighty Strange I must say.

Time was ticking: I started to type and my thumb on my right hand froze up like I had just been in the World Thumb Wrestling Championship and lost.

It was time for me to call a back-up now. I hurried up and got on the phone and called my friend Lil Leaf and asked if I could send my PP presentation to her and put it on a CD.

Yes, she said and with a sigh of relief I hit the send button.

Why thirty minutes later did she call me and say that she could not open it?

It was now around 9:30 at night and I was scheduled for the next day. Our only solution was to send her the slides one by one through the email.

I got my other unwelcomed call around 10 P.M.

As the old folks used to say after almost pulling out my hair, I took to my bed!

Armed with nothing on Saturday I went to the meeting with good intentions. My only solution was to go to my Mariah's Zepher site and read from my last Blog.

Mariah had to follow me there because the computer crashed just as I was getting ready to start.

With bated breathe I started to cold talk about my last blog entry, no power point, no slides, just those twelve pair of eyes looking my way.

Then the computer came back up. Whew!! Finally Mariah, you let me finish.
It was not what I planned but the presentation turned out okay. Thank you God.

Thank you too Mariah.

I also want to apologize for calling you by your first name. I was not raised like that and I kind of look around to the right and left to see if anyone saw me typing.

Oh one those memory sticks I bought that did not work. Well Taylor my grand-daughter came home that evening, put it in the port and the blankety- blank blank things worked on the first try.

Now quit playing with me granny number three and show yourself. (pretty please!)

Love ya!

A Little Girl's Bravery: Logan County Ok 1893

2011-07-07T10:53:00.000-07:00

Last month,a young lady by the name of Ruby came to The Black Family Genealogy and Historical meeting wanting to learn more about her family and wanted to learn more about the process of searching.

One of the comments she shared with me was oral history related to her ancestrial family who lived in Oklahoma. That family was frank and Meldia McGlory.

Ruby then mentioned that her grandmother Meldia's family had come to a horrible end but that the oral history was rather sketchy. She stated that there had been a robbery and her great grandmother's parents were killed.
Ruby in turn did not know the name of her grandmothers parents. She had also heard that her great grandmother was raised by family friends by the name of Sellers and later met and married Frank McGlory.

Here I go, nosey me again, loaded with the name of her family friend and the first name of the grandmother. I took to the 1900 census in Logan County Okla and after careful searching,there they were, Wilson Sellers and his wife Mary. In the household was Meldia Clark. (be sure and click on images for better viewing)

Another jewel was the state that this family came from. Since Tennessee was the state of birth, and the grandmother was born in 1879 I went to the 1880 census and found several Clark's. One of these families could have been Meldia's parents or other family members.

I decided to look for clues in the census by searching Meldie with her husband Peter McGlory. Perhaps then I could be able to help Ruby tie in the loose ends of the actual names of Meldia's parents.
I found Peter and Meldia in the 1920 census in Logan County Oklahoma and listed also were their children Lee and Gabriel.

The next step was to see if there may be a clue from a newspaper that was active in Oklahoma and had mentioned a family that had been murdered in Logan County or a surrounding county.

With tired eyes, I decided to continue my search the next day and shut down my computer for the night.

Just as I was about to get off I decided to look in the Guthrie Daily Leader an Oklahoma paper.

A heading caught my eye. "Negro Milligan Meets His Creator" I thought to myself hmmm this may be something to blog about in the future.

Reading on I realized this guy was the culprit in Ruby's Families massacre! Oh My Gosh!!!

The Milligan Hanging was the first legal hanging in Oklahoma. Oh, there had been plenty of hangings before then but Oklahoma was now a Territory and has been put in the books as such.

Dead,Dead Sheriff DeFord said as he pronounced his sentence on Milligan and asked if he had any last words.

Some of the other names mentioned I assume were friends who witnessed the hanging or were people involved in a church because there was numerous Reverends in attendance.

This is the story of what happened to the Clarks and Milligan's brutal role.

Clark had only been in the Deep Fork Settlement for a few weeks when his wife and child were bought to Oklahoma along with Milligan a youngster from their home town in Tennessee. Mr Clark had just built a log cabin for them to stay in.

Sometime after the ghastly deed happened a young girl came to collect money owed for her father and saw what had happened.

All for one hundred and seventy five dollars for a thief in the night.

After reading the story and finding the name Gabe and Hannah Clark, I went back to that 1880 census. Gabe could very well be Chester with wife Hannah. (that can be filed again for later.)I also went back to the 1920 census and saw that Meldia and Frank named one of her sons Gabe.

It is sad to read that a family was taken off the face of the earth because of greed
especially when they have tried to help you have a better life than what you had.

The one good thing that came out of the story was that the little girl Meldia lived to tell the story of what happened that day.

The little girl Meldia lived to grow up and have a loving husband and children.

The little girl grew up to have a great-grand daughter by the name of Ruby who wants to know her heritage and spread that heritage to others in her family.

The little girl had to endure those visions for the rest of her life but she was a brave little girl,one her ancestors must be very proud of.

Gently On The Tree: Zepher's and Zephyr's

2011-06-22T08:03:00.000-07:00

The Texas Zephyr was a train that ran the Denver to Ft Worth Route. (Museum of the American Railroad in Dallas Texas)

The Lincoln Zepher was a beauty of a car built back in the early 30's

I was talking with an AfriGeneas chatter friend Seventies Soulchild who is travelling to Mississippi for a reunion and to do some research. My thoughts went back to the day I found anotherZepher to add to my tree.

One summer in the late seventies, I went to Dallas Texas to visit my brother Richard. I had the chance to get in touch with my uncle Harry who came to the house, picked me up and took me back to his house to spend the day.

I loved talking to Uncle Harry because he always filled me in on family goings on. I did not grow up around my paternal family but always had the thirst for knowledge about the who, what, when where and whys.

Uncle Harry had this booklet that someone had given him that detailed the story of a celebration at the Fanthrop Inn. The name of the booklet was Fanthrop Days. I wish I had made a copy to take home with me. Years later after Uncle Harry passed away I inquired but no one seemed to know where it was or had ever recalled seeing it.
Henry Fanthrop was the proprietor of the Inn which was also a stagecoach stop for weary travellers and is now an historical site in Grimes County Texas.

Uncle Harry believed that Fanthrop should have been the name that we may have carried because of the association with the Inn. After all he said, it was in the days of slavery. He told me that his great grandfather used to take care of and doctor on the horses.
I automatically thought he was talking about James "Jake" Daviss because he ended up becoming a doctor after attending Meharry in 1891.

Many years later did it hit home who he was referring to.

While Uncle Harry was talking he told me that there another child who was sold off in Mississippi and that after freedom his great grandfather had a chance to go get her and bring her home to Grimes County. Uncle Harry mentioned also that this daughter had fell for this man from Mississippi, married and went back with him to his home state, but eventually came back to Grimes County Texas with their children.
Here I go with my assuming self that we were still talking the Daviss line so I looked and looked and looked for this estranged Daviss sister to no avail.

One night while I was searching the Texas Death Records one by one for Grimes County I ran across this name. I smiled rather melancholy because it was my mothers first name. My mother was named Zepher and she was just that,a cool gentle breeze and My heart of hearts.

As I clicked on the link and started to read,the name that caught my eye was
J.P. Daviss, Navasota Texas, my grandfather!! He was the informant on this death certificate.

My first thought was that since he was a minister he was perhaps helping someone with the heartbreaking chore of filling out the form.

Reading further was the name Lydia Zepher, daughter of Louis Cooper!!!.

Uncle Harry was right, there was another daughter. This daughter was not a Daviss but a Cooper. Louis Cooper was the father of Sallie White Cooper Conway my Uncle Harry's grandmother and his great great grandfather.

This is a picture of Sallie Conway and her husband James Conway in Navasota. I always chuckle when I see this picture because those yard birds look like they don't have a care in the world or either they figure there was no use in running when someone came near them.

Her birth date was 1851 according to the Death Certificate. So Uncle Harry was right again about her being born in slavery.

Lydia was buried in Millican Texas in Brazos County so I went searching for her and her Mississippi Husband.

Bingo there was Isham and Liddy in the 1900 census. They were married March 24,1892 in Bryan Texas.
(To get a bigger view and browse the entire page click on census)
Here they are again still living in Brazos County in 1910

This 1930 census tells me that hubby Isham is still alive when the enumerator came around but on her Death Certificate she is a widow. I am looking desperately for his record.

I am not sure if her nephew, my grandfather, went and got her to live out her days with him and my grandmother Gertrude Sims Daviss. The address on the certificate said near Piedmont and that was where my grandparents lived. I do know now that the puzzle was solved about the oral history that was told to me.

The only puzzle now was why the death certificate had a blank for the mother. My next chore was to find Lydia.link her to Mary White Cooper, Louis's Cooper's wife and my 2nd great grandmother.

I have only been able to find Mary Cooper in the 1880 census so I went back to study it over again.

Several doors down is a Lydia age 27 married to a Parham. I found an index where Robert and Liddy Cooper were married on August 30,1875. (I also found an indication that Robert had also married again after several years so it was not through death.) so I am sure this Lydia is the same person who is on the death certificate and also the same person who married Isham Zepher.

You never know how oral history plays in your plans and what route it will have you go. Its a good thing I eventually went down the right road after playing the assumption game in my head. I don't want to say that Uncle Harry wasn't clear because he could have told me the right great grand in the first place. From now on I need to carry a good pen,listen with a good ear and ask the right questions.

Civil War 150 Yr Anniversary:Honoring Bowser and Slaughter

2011-04-12T10:50:00.000-07:00

Mr William Bowser:

A native of Rye Neck Maryland, Mr Bowser was born on January 23,1842. He served in the 29th United States Troop Company A and fought in Peters burg Virginia and North Carolina. He was mustered out in 1865 after two years of service

According to the Newport Journal and Guide on their June 23 1939 newspaper addition Mr Bowser was 97 years old and expected to spend many more yrs living quietly in Philadelphia.

Mr Ephram Slaughter:

As a young boy Mr Slaughter ran away from home in North Carolina where he joined the 37th Regiment of the United States Colored Troops. He later moved to Dauphin Co Pennsylvania where he and his first wife Carrie resided for over 39 years. He later married Georgianne and celebrated his 90th birthday in 1936.

This Field Order issued by President Abraham Lincoln was in regard to maltreatment of troops regardless of color even though as we know it was not followed.

These two soldiers survived the war living too ripe old ages that the Lord had blessed them with. I am sure their stories of the war was told by them but we must make sure that their sacrifices are still being told.

Thank you Mr Bowser and Mr Slaughter for your service, for if it had not have been for you and others like you who fought for our freedom, I shudder to think where we may be today.

Milton Holland: 5th United States Colored Infantry Congressional Medal Of Honor Winner

2011-03-08T13:02:00.000-08:00

Another true hero in the battle for freedom is Milton Holland. For his bravery at the battle of Chapin's Farm in Virginia he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor on April 6, 1865.
Milton took over command of the 5th United States Colored Infantry troops after all of the officers had been killed. Even though wounded he led his troops to victory

Milton Holland was an 18 year old when he registered to serve. He was born in Austin Texas around 1845. He states in this record that he was freed before 1861. Milton was formerly owned by Spearman Holland of the Holland Plantation. Milton enlisted in Athens Ohio on June 22nd 1863
****Milton is also one of three sons born to Bird Holland a confederate soldier and the half brother to Spearman.)****

Here he was listed as a First Sgt and served in that capacity for eleven months. His commanders were so impressed with his ability he was promoted.

On August 31st Holland was promoted to Sgt Major and in September 1864 was transferred out of Company C

Milton Holland was listed on the Muster-Out Roll in Carolina City North Carolina on September 20th 1865.

This is faint but it basically reads according to my eyes: Written on August 2 1865 Holland is requesting a hearing on the injustice of the case implying that he had been absent from roll call. Holland stated that he has commanded the entire time for the last last five months.

Adjutant General Report listing rundown of promotion and then demotion. Holland was promoted in the field but since the army did not recognize African Americans as officers Holland was stripped of his promotion.

After moving from Washington DC where Milton worked for the government he and his wife Virginia took residence in Maryland as evidence of this 1910 census.(click to enlarge)

Holland later in life. Milton left this earth on May 15th 1910 in Silver Springs Maryland and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Thank God for Men like these who fought for our freedom. Now our task is to get the word out about these men so that our children and children's children will know of the sacrifices that our ancestors made. I know that as a kid growing up, we were not privy to this information in school.

Saluting Thomas R Hawkins: USCT

2011-02-02T13:19:00.000-08:00

Thomas was born in Cincinnati Ohio around 1840. He must have really wanted to go into service. In August of 1863 he went in the place of a fella by the name of Henry Passmore. All 5'4 inches of him at Camp William Penn in Pennsylvania.

This may have been one of the announcements that Thomas may have seen to spur him into action.

He took out a declaration that he had not been discharged or had been given a court martial from service.

Here the Pennsylvania board signed off on his substitution for Henry Passmore

THE BATTLE:

Thomas R Hawkins fought a gallant fight at Petersburg Va but his biggest battle was at New Market Heights. On Sept 24-29th 1864 the United States 6th Colored Infantry and Sgt Major Hawkins were under heavy attack with both musket and artillery fire. Sgt Major Hawkins was wounded severely but he managed to come away with the banner of the 6th infantry also known as the Regimental Colors.

The 6th suffered and lost more than half of their troops. Sgt Major Hawkins had wounds to his hip,legs and feet and was given a medical discharge from service on May 20, 1865.

In the battle of New Market Heights there was also other companies that fought along side the 6th. Among those were the 4th and 5th United States Colored Infantry to name few. Soldiers from these brigades were among the eleven that were awarded the Medal Of Honor on April 6, 1865.

Sgt Major Hawkins was not one of these men. He had to petition the government with the help of Major General Joseph B Kiddo to become a recipient.

Finally on February 8th 1870 He was given his award.

Twenty days later Thomas R Hawkins died, leaving a wife and son.

* Much thanks is given to AfriGeneas Friend Selma and her connections in guiding me on this path in saluting this hero.

Plate to the Circuit: Chitlin That Is!

2010-12-28T10:47:00.000-08:00

I love me some chitlins! Throw some Maws in the pot too Um mm,Um mm Good!
Traditionally in my house when I was growing up, come New Years we always had a pot of Chitterlings. However, Lol we use the term just like everyone else in african american terminology "Chitlins".

When slaves were bought here from Africa they were given the least choice or the scraps of food to eat. Chitlin's was one of those choices in order to survive. I can imagine one of my ancestors threw in a little bit of this and a little bit of that to make them taste good. Ingredients like pepper, onions and spices.

Sprinkle some Louisiana hot sauce over them and I can go to town. As for sides, collard greens and potato salad will do. Now for bread, it can either be cornbread or hot-water cornbread. Then to wash it all down I prefer a cold glass of lemon aid or sweet tea.

If I were say in my twenties back in the early 1900's I may would have visited what blacks called the "Chitlin Circuit".
It was a huge list of clubs where black singers,bands and comedians performed during and after segregation. Good music, soul food such as chitlins and a place to see their favorites perform.

Artists like BB King, Ray Charles, Etta James, Lena Horne and so many others went that route. They came from Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, Alabama all wanting to play the blues and to be heard.

Comedians like Redd Foxx and Moms Mabley also worked the "Chitlin Circuits". Other artists like Ike and Tina,and Al Green worked those small country circuits too.
They sure made a name for themselves once they got the chance to cross-over.

Bo Diddly sang and played the guitar like no body's business

Another Guitar Player was Chuck Berry. He played small nightclubs with bands and singers like Muddy Waters.

He could sure play a mean guitar, sing and do that soulful strut across the stage. However this next man is my Navasota "Spotlight Man"

I have never heard or seen him play but I know he's a Texas Man and have read that he was one of the best, and has some of the best blues reviews from those in the music industry.

Many a small home town club or country porches deep in the heart Texas saw the likes of Bowdie Glenn"Mance" Lipscomb!

Lipscomb was born April 9,1895. My oldest living cousin Thelma on my fathers side stated that they were all good friends of the Lipscombs, especially the younger ones. They went to school together,chopped cotton together and played together.

In 1870 Mance's father Charles were found in Anderson in Grimes County as an eleven year old living with his parents George and Betsy. George was an Alabama slave that was sold to the Lipscombs in Texas. (click to enlarge)

Lipscomb spent most of his life working as a farmer in and around Grimes and Brazos County Texas. In fact Mance was known locally for his music talents playing his guitar early on in life. Mance's father Charles was also know as an excellent fiddler and he and Mance would play together.

Nationally he was a late bloomer as far as being discovered for his talents and making recordings.
Mance taught himself how to play the guitar and had a style all his own to compliment the way he sang the blues. He played in small venues all around Houston when he lived and worked there. He played with other greats such as Lightning Hopkins and Blind Willie Jefferson before moving back to Navasota.

It has been said that Mance had a friend by the name of Emancipation and when he passed away he chose to name himself Mance after him. I often wonder if he legally changed his name.

In this 1900 Brazos County Texas census Body is age 4 living with his parents Charles and Jane Pratt Lipscomb along with brother Charley and sisters Alice and Annie. (click to enlarge)

Mance passed away in 1976 leaving his wife of 69 years Eleanor Crimm Lipscomb. He is buried in Navasota Texas, the place where my paternal folks are from.

In Navasota Texas they have a yearly Blues Fest that is named in Mance Lipscombs honor. In fact the Texas State Legislature named Navasota as the official blues capitol of Texas. If you are in the mood for some good blues and you are in Grimes County in August, head over to Navasota.

Mr Charles Christmas : Buelah Mississippi

2010-12-16T20:50:00.000-08:00

Soon Christmas will be upon us once again. I know that times are hard because of the economy and I also know that we must think about the real reason for celebrating this time of the the season.

I also know what bought joy to my kids and now to my grand kids. It was "all those goodies under the tree!"

My grandchildren will not have a tree loaded with presents like they did last year. However,I have listened to some of the things that they wanted for Christmas. Some things they will get,some they won't. Yeah,I fixed my mouth to say that, thank you very much. (smile)

I also wanted to see what the children asked for back in the early 1900's,and boy things sure have changed. I went to some of the early papers and saw some of the letters that was written to Santa Claus.

Talk about hard times, this little kids parents were in a bad way

Look at Solomon, he had work on his mind and what he asked for may very well have been a way to help his parents out. And to top it off, that was all he wanted.

Now its "can I get an laptop,ipod or a car!"

"What about that new G4 phone that just came out!" or that "Wrestlers Ring with all the latest wrestlers"

For some reason while I was reading the letters the name Charlie infiltrated my thoughts and I put Charlie and Christmas together. Now Santa Claus was someone that has been around for eons and we were told that he came down the Chimney on Christmas Eve.
On the other hand, Charles T Christmas was a real person residing in Mississippi .

I followed him through several census where he lived his life as a laborer.

This is some of what I found:

I found him in 1870 living in Mississippi with his wife (click to enlarge)

and then again in 1880 (click to enlarge)

Curious, I searched around some more and found this man, this former slave does have a story to be told and it should not just be a footnote.

In 1880 this man had three patents.

One device simplified the bailing of cotton, one was an attachment to hand power the sewing machine and one was a bale band tightener. I was floored because I had never heard of Charles Christmas,and to have the name come across my vision was meant to be I'm guessing.

I knew about Granville Woods,Jan Matzeliger,Elijah McCoy and a few others but very little is said about old Charlie in the annals of history. I do wonder though if he were paid for any of his inventions. I wonder who his slave owner was and who were his parents.

this is an excerpt of the patents showing registration of the wire stretcher and where he resided which was Beulah Mississippi.

We must not forget the reason for the season but I do also want to acknowledge Mr Christmas and say this posthumous.

Merry Christmas Mr Christmas and thanks for the wisdom to use the tools the Almighty put in your hand to make life a little easier for those who toiled in that period of history.

Mr Mingo Speaker Of Wharton Texas

2010-12-03T08:22:00.000-08:00

When I went to the Daviss Family Reunion in Atlanta Ga my sis Joan relayed to me that I may have to look in Wharton Texas for more family clues. Of course to date I have not been able to find anything but I ran across some interesting articles while I was researching.

Wharton is located in Wharton County Texas and was named after two brothers John and William Wharton.

I found out that Bird B.B. Davis who was one of the African American Delegates to the Constitutional Convention after Reconstruction in 1875 was one of its residents. Brave man back in the day for all he and others had to go through to see that the African American was treated fairly.

Early settlers came from Alabama, Kentucky, Virginia, Georgia, and Mississippi which brings me to a name that I ran across. A gentleman by the name of Mr Mingo Speaker.

Curious I wanted to see if his Death Certificate would bear out who his parents were or perhaps his age if there was a death certificate. Luckily I found it.

I was fascinated by this Mr Mingo so I decided to see if I could find him in any other records such as the census.
Mingo and family are the second family on this 1870 census. He is 60 years old then and listed as a farm laborer from Va. Wife Emily is from Alabama.

Then we have the 1880 census where he is still married to wife Emily but has several grand kids in the home. A few of his children may be the ones living just above him.

I found him again at 98 years young in the 1910 census living with one of his daughters.

It sure makes you wonder why folks in those days lived so long as hard as they worked and not having the tools that we use today. Mr Mingo Speaker was blessed with living a long fruitful life. His children and grandchildren I am sure were so proud of him and his wife Emily.
**** for better read click on images to enlarge****
Mr Mingo Speakers obituary states he was sold by his sisters to pay the rent to a man named Wharton. I wonder if this Wharton was one of the settlers of the town.

The town of Wharton was blessed to have had Mr Speaker walk those grounds,no matter how he got there. Rest In Peace Mr Speaker!

When You Vote:

2010-10-29T00:21:00.000-07:00

I am mindful of all the turmoil that has been going on since the last election. It pains me to think of all the strides we have made now being turned into a fiasco that reeks of distruction.

I found this article in a Georgia newspaper which spoke volumes I am sure then, and speaks in my opinion volumes now.

Cobb County Times: August 22,1918

(Click article to enlarge)

The last paragraph in the article says it all for me.

A House divided will not stand. Think about it

Vote for the ones you know will be good for the country

Not for the ones that spew hatred instead of unity.

As a Nation we have come to far to go backwards in our thinking and in our governing.

Merry Gean Hamilton: Child Of A Strong Heritage

2010-09-24T19:48:00.000-07:00

1923 was a very good year for the residents of Ardmore Oklahoma. One more child had been born to the parentage of Herbert and Lillian Hamilton and one more child whose ancestry told a wonderful story.

That child was Merry Gean Hamilton!

Merry Gene and her family moved to Arizona in the late 30's and we claim her as our own. Those who knew her fell instantly in love. From her husband George Whitfield, her children and grandchildren, and to all those youngsters who were friends of their children.

I would venture to say her wonderful qualities came from a long ago people called the Hamilton's.

Merry's father Herbert was the son of William and Rhoda Abram Hamilton

Even though Merry Gean was not listed on this 1930 census, its a good bet she was with one of her grandparents while the parents took on employment.

Who would have believed that this little girl had ancestors that may have walked the Trail of Tears.

Merry's grandaddy Willy Hamilton was a Chickasaw freedman and his daddy and momma were all Chickasaw in one form or another.
Herbert was 15 years old the time they took the 1920 census in Carter, Berwyn Oklahoma

Marcus Hamilton is also living with his son Willy and is now a widow at the age of 72 on the 2nd continuation census sheet

As I was going back in time looking at the census I had to quickly call my good friend and genie angel Angela Walton Raji. The 1900 census was as far as I could go in Oklahoma and I needed her guidance. She steered me in the right direction.
I know she had to hear my voice filling with excitement as I started looking at all these wonderful gems located on the Dawes Rolls and Packets.

I thought I was playing 52 card pickup because everything I turned over had a match.

then there was this:

When Willie was 22 he enrolled his wife Rhoda and children on the Dawes rolls.

on the back of the card on the first line it tells you the name of Willie's father who is Marcus Hamilton and you can see Marcus owner
is a Chickasaw Indian. His mother is Barbary(Barbara) Hamilton!! Her owner is listed as Jane Grant

The second line on the back tells you the name of Rhoda's parents. My eyes see Benjaum Abram as being her father but I know that spelling does not count in this here old style writing (lol). His owner is Lena Thompson
Rhoda's mother is Lucinda Gaines. Lucinda's owner is James Gaines

Now Marcus the daddy of Willy solidified his right on the Dawes Rolls. Looking at his enrollment card, he was the slave of Holmes Colbert

He was also the son of Peter Hamilton

Peter's owner was not a citizen of the tribe. His mother was Louisa Hamilton and her owner was Holmes Colbert

This is another tidbit to behold: a birth certificate of one of Willie and Rhoda's children Taude from the Department Of The Interior, commissioned though the 5 civilized tribes. This document has Rhoda's signature and even has the mark of the midwife Susan Phillips

My feelings are really out on cloud nine even though these are not my ancestors. I would love to find these type of historical records for my own family.

I also won't begin to know the trials and tribulations these people must have felt.

I do know that they had to be strong to endure what they did through out their life time and to leave a legacy that their loved ones can take with them for generations to come.

Oh what a feeling!!

George Whitfield: Frank and Roxie's Son

2010-09-19T13:46:00.000-07:00

I was reading a post on AfriGeneas, a web site devoted to african american genealogy when a surname caught my eye.

The person was looking for an ancestor of theirs by the name of Whitfield. After trying my best to help find the family the poster was looking for I had to take a break. My mind kept going into a different direction back in time to another Whitfield family.

George and Merry Hamilton Whitfield

I remember as a teen I would go over and spend some week-ends with the Whitfields. We would all pile up in the bunkbeds and talk until we got sleepy.
Come to think of it, we were whispering until we got sleepy.

Usually the next morning the house was bustling with everyone doing what chores they had to do, and off to the kitchen for breakfast.

I am always in stitches because Patty was trying to sing while she cooked. I can hear her now singing this one song "Peanut,oh oh oh oh oh oh Peanut".

Uncle George, one of the nicest people in the world didn't have to much to say but had the nicest smile you could imagine. He was also a very compassionate person.

I remember the time when I wanted to move to California. I did not have a job yet but planned on staying with my mother until I found one. After his daughter Ernestine asked him if he could drive me, the only thing he said was that we would have to wait until the week-end because he had to work.

True to his word, Uncle George gassed up his truck and the three of us headed to California.

We pulled up to my mothers house, unloaded everything from the truck
and put all my belongings in the garage. Uncle George and Ernestine then headed back to Phoenix.

Well I made the mistake of making a long distance call back to talk to Stine two days later.
I was so homesick that Ernestine talked Uncle George into driving back and get me.
If I had rented an apartment and signed a lease I would have been in plenty of trouble because I was not there for a good week.

Curious about his life, here is a tad bit of what I found:

George Whitfield was born to the parents of Frank (Ms) and Roxanne (Rockey)Settles Whitfield (Ark) in Boley Oklahoma. The Marriage License for Frank and Roxie shows they were married in Arkansas.

According to the 1920 census the family lived in Depew Oklahoma

You have to always pick up and move when you have mouths to feed, and it must have been hard to leave the memories of home along with the ancestors that I am sure were in Frank and Roxie's vision.

George along with his parents,brothers Otto and W C came to Arizona and took residence in Liberty Arizona. Their father Frank worked at the Gillespie Dam and his son were laborers doing farm work.

After losing his wife Roxie in 1924 Frank re-married a lady by the name of Harriett and found work as a general farmer.

George's father passed away April 28th 1940 at the Booker T Washington Hospital in Phoenix Arizona at the age of 76.

Frank and Roxie raised a good man who left an impression on me and I am sure to all those who came in contact with Mr George E Whitfield.

Aunt Mary was just the opposite of Uncle George. She could always make you laugh.
In fact I never saw her without that wonderful twinkle she had in her eye or that ability to tell a little joke or two.
She was also a church going lady who loved getting on on Sunday and head over to
First Institutional Baptist Church where she was quite active.

I took a look at her ancestors. Whoa, Uncle George!! What have we here. This wonderful lady who caught your eye has some powerful ancestors with a story to tell in her line...Stay tuned for Awesome

Memories And A Cup of Coffee

2010-09-13T13:16:00.000-07:00

For the past 21 days my family and I have been on a fast. We were on a spiritual mission through our church ministry for those who wanted to participate along with our Pastor. We could pick something that we had or did daily that would be hard to do without.

My daughter and I picked sweet tea, bread and coffee. My grand daughter Taylor picked bread, sweet tea and vowed to be nice. (smile). My grandson Tyler chose to not play with his wrestlers, not watch wrestling on TV and refrain for the rest of his life to not tell a fib or be a bad boy.

When the day finally came to end the fast, my granddaughter and I headed for the local Quick Trip at 12:10 A.M. in the morning.

Sweet tea was the only thing on our mind. We each took a big gulp, put the lid back on and headed back home to get in the sack. We vowed to finish the next day, even if it was watered down tea.

That one gulp sure tasted good to me. LOL

The next thing I did when I got up this morning was to get my electric percolator, put it back together and brew me a good pot of coffee.

As that coffee aroma filled the room and the percolator made those sounds so typical of the brewing coffee hitting the top of the lid of the little glass fitting, you could see the coffee changing colors to a deep rich brown.

I suddenly started to smile because my thoughts went to two of my very favorite people who had graced my life at one time or another.

My Uncle John Morton and my ex - father in law Floyd Mitchell.

Now my Uncle John was my first exposure to how good breakfast was to a human being. He lived in Marshall Texas and worked for the Texas and Pacific Railroad.

When I was younger I went to visit for the summer. I would get up early in the morning just to eat breakfast with my Uncle John.

My Aunt Carmena would cook him rice, sausage and eggs with those good old home made biscuits.

Then there was his coffee. My oh My!! It was as if his eyes lit up when he took his sips. First he gently blew to cool and then he would sip.
I was intrigued because Uncle John would pour him a cup of coffee

He would then take that which he had just poured into the cup, transfer the liquid to the saucer and drink it like it was something special.

I asked him once why he did it that way. Was it to hot to drink,or what? Heck I figured if that was the case he could wait until it cooled down and then drink from the cup. His answer was short and sweet, "taste better this way" and as he smiled he then went back to his breakfast ritual, blow and sip, blow and sip.
My Uncle John was a man that was short with his words but those few words sure meant a lot to me.

Uncle John was born in Camp County, Pittsburgh,Texas on April 25th 1899 to the parents of Robert and Mollie Huff Morton. He passed away on June 15th 1975 in Harrison County, Marshall Texas.

Now my ex father in law Floyd Mitchell lived in Altus Oklahoma and he too loved his coffee.
In fact he could drink coffee all day long no matter if it was winter, summer, spring or fall.

The back burner on his stove at 720 West Wright stayed nice and hot as the old coffee pot slowly cooked to his perfection.

I called my father in law Dad. Now dad would pour him a cup of coffee into one of those old white thick cups which seemed to have an endless supply of strong black coffee.

I don't remember him pouring his into a saucer just from pot to cup to mouth. Hmmmm hmmmm,hmmmm.
I can see him now drinking that steaming hot cup of coffee as he was frying those delicious fried peach and apple pies he made to sell at the Cotton Compress.

Floyd Mitchell born 1901 in Saline County, Hempstead, Arkansas to the parents of Joe and Nancy Cryor Mitchell. He passed away in Jackson County, Altus Oklahoma in 1965.
I don't know when he arrived in Altus Oklahoma but thank God he did or I would not have met him.

I sure miss those two men and I am so glad that they were in my life.

Memories live on in our lives that cause us to smile and reflect. Especially the good Memories that tug at your heart.

A Labor Of Love And All Who Labor

2010-09-04T15:49:00.001-07:00

To All Those Who Labored And Labored

And Labored And Labored

To Those Who Helped Pave The Way For Them That Labored

A Phillip Randolph was born in Florida in 1889. He Organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925 and finally granted the rights to have a union in 1936. This bold and long venture helped the many black men working for the Pullman railway cars known as Pullman Porters.

Be They Female Laborers

Johnnie Tillmon was born in Scott, Arkansas,in 1926 to a migrant sharecropper.
After moving to California 1959 she went on to be a union shop steward in a Compton laundry. Tillmon organized workers and became involved in a community association called the Nickerson Garden Planning Organization which was established to improve living conditions in the housing project.

Or Male Laborers

Isaac Myers was born in Baltimore Maryland on January 13, 1865 to free parents. At the age of 16 Isaac went to work with a ships caulker and soon became a skilled worker. After a strike among white caulkers and carpenters against the black workers, Isaac helped to found the first union of Black Caulkers in the ship building Industry which eventually bought their own shipyard and railway.

The Proof is Undeniable

Nellie Stone Johnson a farm girl from Minn was born in 1905. She was a union organizer and the first African American Vice-president of Local 665 Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union in Minn.

And Selfless Beyond Measure

The daughter of a sharecropper, Moranda was born in 1915 in South Carolina but later moved to North Carolina where she helped to unionize the Tobacco workers to gain better working conditions.

To all those who fought for the rights of others so that they may have a better life, and better working conditions. To the American workers who no doubt are the best America has to offer be they union or non union.

Dime Box Texas to Good Old Arizona

2010-08-22T22:42:00.000-07:00

Dime Box is one of those names that I never forgot. I thought that it was a funny name when I first heard it years ago after finding out my friends mother was born there. Texas is a big state and has plenty of names that are intriguing.
I had a chance to dig a little to see where it was located and how the name came about.

Dime Box is a little town in lee County Texas. I am told that the name came from a local tradition before the federal post office was located there.
The small community was named Browns Mill at first and settlers deposited outgoing mail and a dime in a small box inside of Joseph Brown's office
for a weekly delivery to Giddings.

There was also a community by the name of Brownsville and mail was being mixed up between the two towns.

The post office in Browns Mill closed in 1883 and reopened a year later.
The Town so I am told was renamed Dime Box to eliminate the prior confusion regarding the mail deliveries. Old Dime Box transitioned into New Dime Box.

There was however no confusion when a little baby by the name of Christina was born in Dime Box to Homer and Ola Mae Haislip, the proud parents. Some folks spell the name Heslip.

Ma Stine is what I called her as well as everyone that knew her. I first met Ma Stine somewhere around 1956 or 57 when I went to her house in Mesa Arizona
with a couple of her children.

It was on a Monday and I went to hang out there until it was time to go skating.
Over time I met all of Ma Stine's children from the oldest sons Willie and Robert Lewis to the youngest son Arvis.
The girls were Ruth, Dorothy, Alice, Helen and Carrie.

Over the years the relationship grew, not only with the children but with the parents as well.

Ma Stine was married to a wonderful man known as "Chick" whose real name was Adolphus Hicks. He was also a character and he worked hard to feed his family. He also had a green truck and would use it to haul food scraps to feed the hogs that he raised.

From Mesa the family moved to Phoenix and so did all the laughter and good times.
In the household was Ma Price, Ma Stine's mother. She was a wonderfully spry lady who had us in stitches as well.

I do believe to this day that it was the camaraderie that the whole family had was the reason people loved being around.

I did not really know how to drive but in my haste to get over to the Hicks house,
I did the unthinkable when my mother went to sleep. I took her car!!

It was a white Chevy stick shift and I jerked all the way to Hadley street just so I could get in on the fun. When it was time for me to go back home, Carrie had to drive me back and Arvis followed in his car.

Needless to say I had stripped the gears and I can still see my mother trying to figure out what happened to her car. Did I own up? Noooo, No, Noway, not until many years later! You know how they used to say that they would knock you in to next week. Well,next week would have been to soon for me to try and make my way back to earth if I had confessed.

I gave Ma Stine my phone number just in case she needed me to take her somewhere if the kids were busy.

I got my call on several occasions when night time hit. I didn't mind one bit because I loved talking to her.
I found out later that she had me sneaking her over to the Po Keno House. I don't think she thought her daughters wanted her to go and play that poor mans bingo.
She loved going and playing even though she could not see very well later in life.
She would get her keno slips and her bottle tops and listen to the caller call them numbers out loud. B and that's a 5, or I and make that a 15. !!!

Most of the time when I would take her, I would sit back in amazement and watch the folks laugh and talk until the next time they met.

As I was thinking back and reminiscing, I decided to see if I could find them in Dime Box in the 1910. And boy did I hit pay dirt.

The 1910 Census for Dime Box Lee County lists Christina at age one enumerated with her grandparents Ruben and Mary J E Hornsby. There is another grandchild Henry who was two years old. The other children of Reuben's were Nelly,Dave,Isabella,Clinton and Henrietta Freeman. Also listed in the household was mother Christiana Mitchell who was eighty seven years old. I am not quite sure if this was Reuben's mother or Mary's mother because of a source I also found has Mary Elizabeth listed with a maiden name of Mitchell. I am wondering if this is who Ma Stine was named after.

I did not see Ola Mae and Homer in the house hold but they may have been out working somewhere.
I did find fifteen year old Homer though in the 1900 Census in the household with his parents Benjamin and Emily Heslip. Also listed were Benjamin Jr, Willie, Arther, Ida and Robert his siblings.

The next time I saw Christine was in the 1920 census. Since people traveled around for work it was no wonder that the Hornsby's were found in Fayette County Texas.

Same scenario but this time Christina is listed as nine years old, and in the household are children David, John C, Sylvia Davis and her son Willie. There is also a boarder by the name of Samuel Brazell living with them. The Hornsby's must have went looking for work in a group because there are several Hornsby families living several houses down.

When Christine's mother Ola Mae married William Price, her second husband, they moved to Arizona taking along nineteen year old Christine and her infant son William McDuffy. I found them living in Goodyear Arizona in 1930 where William J was a Laborer in a cotton camp. I was surprised, because I was thinking they would have been in Mesa.

Last stop Phoenix! The journey has been well worth it. Ms Christine Hicks sure caught my attention. She started off making a mark in Texas and ended up leaving a legacy in Phoenix Arizona. Well done Ma Stine, well done.

Sentimental Sunday: Gorgeous George and Aunt Carmena

2010-08-15T01:05:00.000-07:00

I am hard pressed to see what drives people to look at the World Wide Entertainment(WWE) wresting shows much less go to the more than expensive matches.
My daughter saved her money so that the thrill could be enjoyed by her son Tyler and daughter Taylor. My daughter did not tell Tyler that she had tickets and I missed the look of joy on his face when they pulled up to the arena and saw where they were going.

For some reason the other night wrestling came into my mind and my thoughts went back years ago when I was in Marshall Texas and staying with my Aunt Carmena Morton whom everyone called "Sister" and her husband my Uncle John.

The ritual at the house was, after dinner, we would retire to the living room, watch TV, read, or my aunt would sew, until it was time to go to bed.
I remember in the winter in order to save the heat, all the rooms were closed off and the space heater was turned on for us to keep warm.

First off, my uncle and aunt would get their section of the newspaper and when they were through I would get the entire paper.
This went on nightly except when Saturday night wrestling came on. Then the world stopped and the bustling noise of the fans and the announcers filled the room.
My aunt clapped and yay-ed all through the show. When the wrestler Gorgeous George came on my aunt would have a fit. He was her hero!!

I do believe that he would win most of the matches because it seemed to me all I heard was Gorgeous George, Gorgeous George!
I think my aunt was the main reason he would win because I am sure he heard her all the way through TV land calling," that's right Gorgeous, get him' or ' One,Two,Three" as she slapped the opponents out along with the referee.

Well me and my short lived enthusiasm asked one night if I could read the Marshall News Messenger newspaper first since they were tuned in to the TV. The TV was one of those old blond Hoffman's minus the red,blue and green filler paper to see the match in color.
Of course the answer was yes because they were too engrossed in the goings on and they could read the paper later.

I spread out down on the floor and read and read to my hearts content, story by story line by line. I have always loved to read be it newspapers or books.
When I had finished reading, I folded up the paper just like I got it so that when the wrestling match was over my aunt and uncle could pick up and read the news of the day.

Finally the match was over. My aunt picked up the paper, opened up to her section and I heard her say "what is wrong with this paper!!."
My uncle took a look at his section and looked down at me. My aunt asked me why in the world would I go through and mark out words in the paper.
I remember telling her,(I was crying and all I could envision was a spanking) that I could not pronounce the words that I blackened out,they were to big and to hard and I did not know what they meant.

She told me never ever ever to do that again. If I did not know what a word meant or how to pronounce it to ask her or Uncle John. Boy was I relieved!

That Monday when I came home from Dogan Elementary School,I had waiting for me a brand new Dictionary which I prized for many years.

I don't even know why I even thought that I would get a spanking anyway.
She nor Uncle John had ever given me a spanking. Not even that time in church when that man gave me the bowl full of crackers and all those little glass bottles of grape juice.

He handed it to me and walked away so I thought they were all mine. I had even shared with my friend Rosemary who was sitting next to me. How was I to know that something was wrong until I could not hear my aunts distinct singing voice in the choir. Her voice had gone silent and that man came running back and took the tray from me.
I bet those people at New Bethel Baptist Church thought I was starving for food.

Shoot, me and Rosemary Richardson were loving the taste. Rosemary lived across the street from my aunt and uncle on Whetstone Street and happened to come to church with us that night.

I just love my Aunt and Uncle John. My Aunt is the daughter of Joseph and Frances Taylor from Marshall, Harrison County, Texas and my uncle John Morton is the son of Robert and Mollie Huff Morton,Pittsburgh, Camp County Texas.

I can say now that I may have gotten that line by line streak many years ago when reading that newspaper because that is one of the ways I use to look up those who I have a hard time finding in the Federal Census.
Who would have thought that the very people that I look for that way just happen to be in Marshall Texas.
And who would have thought it that Gorgeous George may be the reason that I stopped marking out words I could not understand in the newspapers.

Field Of Dreams, Knee Pads And All:

2010-08-06T13:05:00.000-07:00

Its Football Season and with that said, I got to thinking!! Field Of Dreams

Thinking about the equipment they had back in the day when some of our ancestors may have played.
Back in the day when there were no lights, the teams had to play in the heat of the day or the blustery cold.

What about water! Did they get enough to quench their thirst as they ran around huffing and puffing for their team and their fans.

How was the water stored to keep them cool.
I wonder if they were in number two tubs with a block of ice or in one of those galvanized ones. Did they drink out of tin cups or cans or one of those huge ladles.

The colleges especially the HBCU's were not equipped with the best of uniforms, helmets and other gear that was needed to protect these men as they played the rough and tumble game of Football.

I would imagine though that the uniform condition did not matter too much when playing the schools in the towns in their vicinity as they were in the same shape.

The playing fields were straight out bare. (No artificial grass there) Running, banging, crashing to the ground!!! Pick themselves up, sometimes with a grunt here and there and do it all over again.

Those boys had to be really hurting and full of pain when getting hit on the field.
Then after a hard day of playing the game they loved so well, they had to go home and relax after pouring a nice hot bath.

I can also imagine though that they played their hearts out with as much enthusiasm as they do in these days except they were not getting paid.

I ran across this Picture of these football players who went to Bishop College in Marshall Texas. This was the football class of 1930.

I wish the squad had names of all the players. I was trying to get as close to the computer to see if any of these guys resembled any one in my family. There were a couple of names like Nellums, fullback, Flournoy, guard who was the captain of the team and Watkins played halfback.

Not a Texan, but worthy anyway LOL is The Black Cyclone of Wooster as Charles Follis(1879 - 1910)is know was reportedly the first African American to play football. Charles W. Follis,born February 3, 1879, in Cloverdale, Virginia moved to Wooster Ohio

In 1904, Follis signed a contract with the Shelby Athletic Club, later the Shelby Blues. With that contract, he became the first professional African American football player. Follis played on the team with Branch Rickey, the Ohio Wesleyan University student and future Brooklyn Dodger owner who would sign Jackie Robinson to integrate major league baseball in 1947.

As the 2010 football season rolls around, my brother Bruce, my two nephews Brian and Bryan are no doubt getting ready to rag on me, my daughter Latisha,and grands Taylor and Tyler.

Don't be surprised if the Arizona Cardinals come looking for a good fight in the town near you.

Me, I am going to go bird watching. GO CARDINALS!!!!

Sentimental Sunday: The Man Who Crossed The Brazos

2010-08-01T17:10:00.000-07:00

Houston Texas July 8,1899. The Brazos River had reached its peak after flood waters put numerous towns under water. Negroes who lived between Brookshire and Fulshire were stranded. Relief parties were sent to pick them up and take them to dry land that was located in Brookshire.

In Navasota the water had receded about 7 ft and the tale of the ruined crops were evident. Crops teetering to the brink as they were choked by the rushing water. People were scrambling to the plantations where they worked because most were on higher ground and many of the Negroes lived on the bottoms.

In Hempsted there was an appeal to the governor and cities to send out food to the more than three thousand Negroes who also lived on the bottoms and were starving, because they had been without food for days. The same thing was happening in Richmond, and Calvert. The Railroads that served all these areas were washed out and under water, making life miserable for those who depended on them for various services.

While reading the story of the flood I ran across this amazing sketch of this rather handsome man.

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86071197/1899-07-08/ed-1/seq-2/
The Houston daily post. (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, July 08, 1899

The old man was rescued from his little cabin out on Peach Ridge near Brookshire. He had been water bound for three days. He claims that he is 106 years old and his appearance indicates the truthfulness of the assertion. This sketch was made by the post artist while the old man was being taken to Brookshire.

I went to the census to see if I could find him and also to compare the age that he claimed to be if possible. Even though the artist had a different view of the man whom he thought was every bit his age of 106. I thought that he looked more like a man in his late eighties.

I am pretty sure this is a distinct possible for the Frank in the paper. The age fits plus the area where he said he was rescued from and where he was living. The only different is the spelling of his last name and as we know " Spelling doesn't count" especially in those days.

1870 census
Ancestry:
Source Citation: Year: 1870; Census Place: Precinct 3, Fort Bend, Texas; Roll M593_1585; Page: 598A; Image: 591; Family History Library Film: 553084.

Name: Frank Spates
Birth Year: abt 1790
Age in 1870: 80
Birthplace: Louisiana
Home in 1870: Precinct 3, Fort Bend, Texas
Race: Black
Gender: Male
Post Office: Richmond
Household Members: Name Age
Frank Spates 80
Margaret Spates 50

Here is also another census that fits in with the areas that was under water and all located near each other but this is in Waller County. Spelling is off again but the age on the original census record fits whereas the index is off.

Ancestry:
Source Citation: Year: 1900; Census Place: Justice Precinct 5, Waller, Texas; Roll T623_1676; Page: 9A; Enumeration District: 52.Name: Frank Sperght
[Frank Speight]
Home in 1900: Justice Precinct 5, Waller, Texas
Age: 1
Birth Date: 1798
Birthplace: Virginia
Race: Black
Gender: Male
Relationship to Head of House: Father
Father's Birthplace: Virginia
Mother's Birthplace: Virginia
Marital Status: Widowed
Household Members: Name Age
Caesar Sperght 50
Laura Sperght 51
Eda Sperght 19
Delia Sperght 18
Elisabeth Sperght 13
Wealthy Sperght 11
Frank Sperght 1
Frank Sperght 1

It is rather amazing how and when you cross the path of an intriguing subject or article even though you know very little about them. But as we live and breathe we all have a story. No matter how insignificant it is to you, there is always someone else that can capture that story and be blessed.
Mr Frank lived to a wonderful age if his years on earth through this article told the truth. And whats more amazing is that his life was spared again through this horrible flood. I would love to have listened to all he had to share along his travels.

Harrison County Texas Courthouses: Then and Now

2010-07-28T20:08:00.000-07:00

Now this is what I call a beautiful structure. It was built in 1900 and designed by Riely Gordon. It was built after the last Harrison County Courthouse burned. I have seen several courthouses in Texas and this is one of my favorites.

The last time I was in Marshall I did not get to tour the part that I wanted to tour. They were at that time remodeling and getting ready to house the Harrison County Historical Museum as a permanent fixture.

This photo below shows the Harrison County Courthouse burning on June 7, 1899. According to the information in the Marshall County Library, materials left by a repairman working on the roof caught fire. A Marshall-lite James Higgins did the construction. The building was designed in the Second Empire style, with a 275-foot tower, brick walls, sandstone trim, and Italianate detailing.

I wonder what records that may have possibly been destroyed in that fire. My ancestors Charles and Elizabeth Tolliver Dixon were located in the 1870 and 1880 census. My 3rd great-grands Joseph and Lucy Tolbert were also listed in the census. Both couples may have had marriage records housed in that building. I have not been able to locate those records so it is quite possible.

This is the newest Courthouse. This is more of a modern structure. It is located across the street in walking distance from the old Courthouse.

I visited this courthouse twice. Each time I was overwhelmed by the amount of people using the facilities. I was told that the majority of people on both of those times were people looking through the land records trying to find heirs for oil leases. All the spaces to work were taken up and they were not about leave. LOL

I had to show my drivers license,(the counter person took a picture)in order for her to look up marriage records behind the counter. I for the sake of me can't understand that theory on records were we were not allowed to look in the index ourselves. The index book was for records in the 1890 plus or minus a few years era.

I found a marriage record/affidavit of a Mariah Wells and Lawrence Taylor who I believe are my gr-grandmother and her husband. The marriage was performed by Minister Daniel Morse. I would have paid dearly for that copy even though I found that copies were extremely expensive if you had more than a few that you wanted.

Maybe the next trip to Marshall I will be able to take a Digital Camera, visit both places and come out with a multitude of records reflecting the lives of my ancestors.

Beyond These Walls My Ancestors Stood

2010-07-10T13:49:00.001-07:00

These are my thoughts beyond these walls where my ancestors stood as if I were there.

Monday thru Sunday:

Very early in the morning, swing those legs out from under the cover and get prepared for a hard days work. All of you have chores to do.
The creaking of the wooden floor is getting louder and louder as the kids climb out of bed one by one.

Grandmother you have to start breakfast as soon as you put that apron on. Its hanging on that nail in back of the kitchen door.
I guess homemade biscuits would be the first thing to go into the stove.

One of you girls, go outside and grab a few of those eggs from the hen house while little Gert, starts making those sausage into patties.

Elo, grab that pail over yonder and get some water from the well.

Nannie, hand me that butter you churned last week and put some on the table along with a pitcher of milk.

Elena, you can set the table and use the red checkered tablecloth this time.

I hear that screen door shut more than once. Bang, bang, bang! It must be the boys going out to do a few chores before they sit down to eat.

Toot, quick chasing that tom turkey and bring me about two more pieces of wood to throw in the stove.

Harry, John and Spencer you all come on in here now, breakfast is ready!!
Call your daddy and James Edgar ! Be quick about it before the food gets cold. You know your daddy likes his food hot.

I see grandpa picking up his bible to read a verse before any fork, spoon or cup can be touched. No telling which verse it is because every word is his favorite. flip,flip flip go the pages until he finds the right one to suit this day. Now its time to say Amen!.

Isiaah, pass the biscuits please.

Monday thru Saturday:

Late in the evening sometime after dinner there are clothes to mend. The children have to get their clothes ready for school the next day.

Wright Cuney, you and Owen go in there and help your daddy! I know he has something for you to do instead of being underfoot.
Its enough with Jessie and James Eugene crawling and tugging on my dress hem. You boys could be filling up that number two tub so that your bath can be ready.

Whose turn is it to plait the girls hair?

I know its not Bernice's because she did it yesterday.

Bettie you are sitting there so quiet and looking around like you know whose turn it is.

Sunday:

Church and more church at Little Flock Baptist Church.

Will all family members at the sound of my voice say Amen and please stand and sing

"Onward Christian Soldiers" Amen!!

Those who said Amen were my grandparents James Penn Daviss and his wife Gertrude Sims Daviss.

My great aunts and uncles James Edgar, Owen, Wright Cuney, Bernice, Nannie, Gertrude,Bettie, Elena, Harry, John, Spencer, Isiaah, James Eugene, Jessie, and Elo.

My father Theodore

My great grandparents James and Sallie Cooper Conway, John and Sallie Jefferson Lewis

Plenty of cousins: Nelms, Scotts, Steptoe, Williams, Thompsons, White and others.

Can You Hear The Sounds in Texas?

2010-06-19T14:20:00.000-07:00

Can you hear the roaring thunder of horses hooves as two thousand riders rode into town on a hot dusty day. They gathered our ancestors y'all and told them the good news! Belated as it was, good news none the less:
By General Order number 3 that stated: 'The People of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.
They were Free! Free, Free, Free!
Can you hear the sounds of broken chains y'all? Free, Free, Free!

Can you hear the sounds of the voices y'all, and the thumping sounds of dancing on those dusty roads and on those old wooden floors . Free, Free, Free!

Yep Mentor You Deserve A Hand Clap !

2010-06-13T23:35:00.000-07:00

Yes, This is my Mentor!!!

A trusted and selfless person who has experience and will guide and steer you in the right direction.

A person who has passion and wants you to succeed in what ever your endeavor is.

Someone who has loads and loads on their plate but will take time to give you a nudge when you need it. Is patient when you are about to pull your hair out because you can't find what you need, or you have to be told over and over how to do certian tasks.

People generally associate a mentor with helping a younger person,but being such an old biddy, I have needed mentoring too.
Whether my mentor knew it or not I latched on to them. Wham!! before they knew it, I made them my mentor (lol)

So many roads,twists and turns to follow:

I have been tormented on which path to pick when coming to a fork or a pass in the road or even an ole dusty trail.

Then along comes my mentor, with a "did you look here?",or "try this link"and an amazing gesture when they tell you "I found this document and I thought you might need it for your records...
A mentor will do the happy dance with you when you have found something small or something monumental concerning your ancestors.

I am so amazed at the kindness! Those times have given me the where-with-all and have demanded me to give back what has been passed on to me.

I know also that a simple thank you is not nearly enough to say to those who have helped me along the way.
However,my heart is filled with a million thank-you's and my mentor(s) deserve every last one of them.
So for all those million thank-you's I have in reserve, I have taken and rolled them all up into one big Thank You!

Now, back to my research!

Treasure Chest Thursday: Enveloping The Past To Secure The Future

2010-06-10T10:50:00.000-07:00

There is no telling what you can come up with when you are looking for treasures. I was talking to Luckey from OurGeorgiaRoots and found her ancestor was Thomas Dorsey: The music man Thomas Dorsey!! I had been listening to some of his compositions for years.
I remembered that I had seen something in and old logbook that reminded me of Mr. Dorsey.

These worn envelopes found in an old church log book from Little Flock Baptist Church was an indication to me that the church knew good music, and invested in it to carry on their music ministry just before and after hearing good preaching. Thomas A Dorsey was the all time Father of Black Gospel music.

He wrote and sang "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" my all time favorite. Others from this list are "The Little Wooden Church On The Hill" and "Jesus Lives In Me".

You could get all these songs from 10 cents to 25 cents. Sheet music was mostly what was ordered in those backwoods churches. I can see them now playing that piano, shaking that tambourine and stomping their feet to the beat.

Now here is another set of worn envelopes found in that same old church log book. It says to me that that my grandparents and the church Community of Little Flock Baptist Church in Grimes County Texas thought about the future and put savings into a Retirement fund to have a better life.
I would also imagine that more than a few of my relatives knew the Boyd's in one fashion or another.

Boyd came to Navasota Texas right after emancipation from Mississippi. He eventually taught himself to read and write and found a church home that he eventually joined called Hopewell Baptist Church in 1869.
R.H. Boyd helped to organize the Texas Negro Baptist Convention. He also organized and served as pastor to several churches in Texas. He later moved to Tennessee where he founded the R.H. Boyd Publishing Company. After his death his son Henry took over the helm.

1880 Agri-Census: Oh Mary, I Can't Tell You Not To Weep:

2010-06-06T21:00:00.000-07:00

I had been looking and looking for my 3rd great-grandparents Louis and Mary White Cooper together in the 1870 Census in Grimes County Texas but with no success. I did find my grams in 1880 as a widow, and have been linking her children with wives and husbands since then.
I finally, without hurting these tired soles of mine, jumped for joy when I ran across the 1880 Agricultural Census taken in Anderson, Grimes County, Texas on June 1st 1880, and saw her name, Mary Cooper!!!
I would assume that she was a widow on this date because she is the only one listed on the sheet with the Cooper name. Two other persons listed are Henry Mathis the next door neighbor and Robert Parham the son in law of Louis Cooper's daughter Lydia.

According to the census my ggg-grandmother rented shares of land for a portion of the profits totaling 30 acres of pasture or meadow land,and another 100 acres of mowed lawn which probably was used to gather hay. The value of the land, including the fencing was around 150 dollars,and another 80 dollars for the livestock.
She didn't have use of a horse but she did have 4 oxen that she used to plow. I sure wish I knew who helped her with these chores. She had one son Jerry Cooper and the rest were girls.

Oh Mary, I can't tell you not to weep! My mind is visually looking at you now and I don't know how you did it. Why did you have to become a widow now with all those mouths to feed and only one man to help you work the fields.
I know your girls had to help but my God, what you all went through. Cutting all that wood into cords and still had to split with someone else. Sheesh!!

I am also wondering what may have bought you the most money. I see you had only 12 chickens and 12 other types of poultry. It may have been turkeys or those little guinea hens. They only produced 12 dozen eggs in 1879. Well, you did plant acres of Indian corn and oats,Canada Peas and dry beans to acquire a little more money.

Oh Mary, I can't tell you not to moan either! I am hoping that all the things you needed to take care of your family was at home on your own piece of land. Things like a little garden, some cows for fresh milk and a few pigs or hogs. Maybe a pond out back where there was plenty of catfish and sunfish. And trees galore with peaches and pecans and black walnuts.
And above all, I am wishing that you had piece of mind My dear Mary, where you could look out at night and know your children were safe and sound.

Texas Tradition Arizona Style: Honoring Juneteenth

2010-05-27T23:11:00.000-07:00

The first Juneteenth in Phoenix Arizona was celebrated in 1911. One of the attendees at that celebration was Booker T. Washington. This event was held for several years before hard economic changes took over along with the death of a minister who helped to facilitate. This caused the tradition to be put on hold and eventually die out.
Several years later, a lady by the name of Vernell Coleman started Juneteenth up again over at a school by the name of Dunbar. Eventually, the gathering was moved to Eastlake Park where the very first event was held.

Ms. Coleman was born August 28,1918 in Henderson Texas to Robert and Berta McLemore Myers.
As a Texan, she knew about the 19th of June and the significance of why it was so important for blacks who finally heard that they were granted their freedom after years of being slaves. The Emancipation Proclamation drafted on September 22,1862 was to take affect January 1st 1863. A Union General by the name of Gordon Granger and his troops did not give the news to slaves in Texas until they reached Galveston on June 19th 1865.

Ms Myers-Coleman's mission and goal was to bring that celebration back to the fore-front. And that she did!
The crowds began to grow and grow into the thousands. Booths were set up and people could sell food, companies/venues would have a booth for causes like health care, child welfare, domestic violence help, voter registration drives or anything else involving the community.

There were marches,parades,talent shows basketball tournaments and the awarding of Scholarship's to deserving students. Other awards were presented to those in the community who contributed their time working with youth or the elderly through-out the year. One was the Spirit Award of which I am very proud of.

Ms Coleman was later honored for her many years of work not only for Juneteenth but for being a tireless leader in civil rights. I am proud to have known her and several members of her family. In fact her mother Ms Bryant was one of my lifelines in taking care of my daughter Latisha and Nephew Anthony when they were toddlers.

Ms Coleman, an inductee into the Arizona Women's Hall Of Fame passed away March 27, 1990 leaving a legacy all Arizonans should be proud of.
Geraldine McDonald, another warrior took over the helm as did others in the ensuing years.

Not So Wordless Wed: Still in Altus

2010-05-26T09:29:00.000-07:00

In Altus Oklahoma during the 1st week of May,Lincoln School has their annual May Day Festivities. My uncle Prof, W. C. Daviss was the school Principal. I was spending the summer there and my Uncle had invited me to watch the activities. They had sack races,rally around the flag pole,and of course the crowning of the King and Queen.

This particular year as everyone was laughing and enjoying themselves, I heard a loud noise that sounded similar to that of a railroad train. A loud whistle sounded out in the distance. Since I was watching the sack races and people were running anyway, I really didn't notice that the entire field was empty.
Empty except for me. Not being from there how did I know what was going on.
We were staying not that far from the railroad tracks so I am sure the train sound did not phase me

Suddenly it got still and real cold. I looked towards the north and noticed a large black cloud headed in my direction. It seemed like it covered the entire northern sky. It was then that I realized that this was stranger danger dressed in a black gloomy cloud. I was the only one left on the field. I froze dead in my tracks. The huge black cloud was getting closer and closer, picking up speed and whatever was in its path.
Finally I heard my name. Vicky, Vicky. Then louder, with more force Vicky Vicky Vicky, over here Vicky.
I turned around and there stood my uncle Prof frantically flailing his arms and screaming for me to come in his direction. Needless to say, I ran like Heck to that open shop door. As soon as the door was closed the school building shook a little and then calm settled in. When the door was opened, we looked around but could see no damage.

I had witnessed my first of many tornado's and have never been so afraid in my life, nor have I been so thankful that the LORD spared our lives and gave my uncle the insight to call out my name.

Tombstone Tuesday: Floyd Mitchell-Altus Oklahoma

2010-05-25T11:21:00.000-07:00

Floyd Mitchell is laid to rest in Altus,Jackson County, Oklahoma at the Altus City Cemetery. He was born in Hempstead County Arkansas to the parents of Joe and Nancy Cryor Mitchell. Floyd (My favorite one and only father in law) and his wife Mary Lomax Mitchell are both buried at the same cemetery but I have been unable to find a photo of her headstone. R.I.P. Floyd and Mary Mitchell!

My Monday's Sentimental

2010-05-23T20:39:00.000-07:00

Memories are awesome aren't they? A couple of years ago my sister and I were reminiscing about my mother who passed away in 1994. One of my moms favorite sayings was That's it,That's all!. We recalled what she used to say to each one of the kids. I sat down and wrote a poem. When I need a smile, I read that poem. Today May 24,2010 would have been her 86th Birthday. I am in my "mama mood" Happy Birthday Mama!

That's It, That's All!

Get in the house, Shut the door
Stay in the yard,You want some more
Put that guitar down its half past one
Finish your homework cause you're not done
Ronnie
I love you

Pick up your clothes. Hang them up
Wash your hands, its time to sup
Say your verse, slow down when you eat
Empty the trash, wipe your feet
Bruce I love you

Do you think money grows on trees
Put that money in church, don't forget to say please
You want to run away, I will help you pack
don't forget to put the brown coat in your sack
Richard I love you

What goes on in this house stays in here
Let me make myself perfectly clear
Always carry an extra dime
You better be home from school on time
Junie
I Love you

Just so you know you should be proud
God had a way of picking you out in a crown
Never be ashamed of the color of your skin
it all begins and ends from within
Theodore I Love you

You know this hurts me more than you
Stand up straight, hold your head up high
Love will come again now don't you cry
Get your butt up and don't be slow
Off to the hospital you must go
I have another grand baby on its way
You can see that your water broke
now don't delay
Grandchildren are precious as can be
for I am the root that's the Taylor in me
Vicky I love you

From her hospital bed we heard her say
"I'm so glad you came to see about me
Can't you just stay until three"
I just want all you kids to get along
as brothers and sisters that how you belong
Especially since my time is near
for the man upstairs to take me away from here
I am the Kings kid now don't forget
God is Love, He hasn't failed me yet

I love you

Now, That's It, That's All!

Words-A-Few Wednesday: Piano Playing Dudes

2010-05-19T13:19:00.000-07:00

Children playing a very old piano in a Texas church. I am wondering about the haze surrounding them and the image that looks like a vase with a willowy plume coming out of it. no one is holding it. Hmmmmmmm I'am just saying!

Mad Monday: Flipping Switches to Altus Oklahoma

2010-05-17T11:09:00.000-07:00

Devine records Altus black history

ALTUS—Did you know that at one time Altus had five black deputy sheriffs or that Ray Charles and B.B. King once played here?

One Altus woman, Monetta Devine, took it upon herself to record the black history of Altus in three volumes of books called “From the Black Side of Altus.”

“I wanted to do this because there was a book written about the history of Altus and not one black person was in the book,” she said. “Not one, so I said this is the time that something needs to be said about some blacks.”

Devine went to the newspaper and radio stations and asked for people to send pictures and stories of their families. She received hundreds of family portraits and told the stories that people sent stories that people who have lived here all their lives may not have known. She began the book in 1987 and completed it six years later. It was published and sold in 1994.

“People sent me photos from all over,” Devine said. “I just wish I would have had the money to have it published the way it should have been. I took the information that they gave me and I added to this information and made it something that was delightful to read. It’s some of the most hilarious stories that you ever want to read. It’s just so interesting that it will just keep you reading and reading and reading.”

In Volume One, Devine has a special section devoted to her experiences of growing up on Crain Street and how every adult looked out for each other’s children.

“You could sleep hot summer nights with your windows and doors open and you weren’t bothered at all. Some people slept on a bed at night under a tree. Crain Street persons were concerned about each other and showed that concern at all times,” she wrote.

Volume One also tells the history of early settlements of blacks in Altus starting in the 1900s. Stories were told of the first businesses in Altus that were operated by blacks and black doctors. Family stories include those about Mary Wright, the Oliver family, the Dagget family, the Crowley family and others that resided in the community.

“We had five black deputy sheriffs in 32,” Devine said. “Mr. Savage was the sheriff and Altus was a ‘Boomtown’ then. Boomtown meaning big, running, gambling, hustling. Ray Charles used to play out of Altus. B.B. King, Big Joe Turner, Mr. Melvin, who had lots of places. He had the Coconut Club. He had the Hideaway ... I at one time had a beauty shop down on Crain Street, hustling people were there. I did hair sometimes until 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning.”

Volume Two of the book tells the history of black churches, which include St. John Baptist Church, Macedonia Baptist Church, New Hope Baptist Church and the Church of God and Christ. Also in the second volume, it tells the history of Lincoln School.

Volume Three ends the collection with stories of local families and monthly calendars with historical facts about blacks. Hundreds of pictures are displayed in the books. Collages of family portraits are also on some of the pages.

Devine’s family history is told in the books. She was born in 1933 to Purthy and Beatrice Devine. She is the youngest of two siblings, a brother, Lonnie Allen and a sister, Jeanie Jackson. She graduated from Lincoln High School as salutatorian in 1950. She attended Langston University after she received a scholarship from the VFW Post Ladies Auxiliary with the help of O.B. Grimmit. She also attended Texas Southern University, Western Oklahoma State College and Eastern Oklahoma State College. She was married to Master Sgt. Herman Roberts. They had one child, Dr. Robbie Steward. She later married Climon Quarles. The couple had three children, Tina Quarles-McKinnis, Lonnie Quarles and Whitney Quarles. She and Quarles were married for 23 years.

Devine says that the books could not have been done without the efforts of Jodean McGuffin Martin, Phyllis Paul Williams and Jean Wilson. She would also like to thank the people that sent pictures and stories. The books are available to read at the Altus Public Library in the genealogy section, but cannot be checked out. Not all of the histories of black families in Altus are told because information was not sent in. She says that she feels it is very important for families to read about the history of Altus.

“People will find stories that they have never heard of before,” Devine said. “The stories are comical and sad. There are stories of white and black families. It will benefit them to take the time to read them.”

This article was found in the Altus Times about four years ago. The book can be found in the Altus Library. My interest stems from in Altus Oklahoma because of Floyd and Mary Lomax Mitchell and their son Alford Mitchell. Also Pauline Mitchell Martin. These are my daughter's line.

http://altustimes.com/view/full_story/1323161/article-Devine-records-Altus--black-history

Blessed Miracles: Delightful Donald's

2010-05-15T10:10:00.000-07:00

This little fella sure changed everything. He was tumbling along all warm and cozy, a kick here and a kick there when his mother, my daughter, went for her regular prenatal checkup.
I was wondering why it was taking so long for her to come out of the waiting room. I had already read all the books that was placed along the tables and racks.

Finally the door opened and a the nurse came and told me that they were sending her straight to the hospital via ambulance.
They were concerned about her blood pressure being extremely high and it needed to get under control and fast.
In fact so fast that the hospital she was supposed to go to when it was time to deliver was not an option. They sent her to the closest one that was near her clinic.

Decisions had to be made. My daughter had to deliver in order to bring her pressure down and the little man was only about seven months in the womb and no where near ready to face the challenges in the world. The doctor needed to accelerate little mans lungs in order for him to make his entrance.

On October 20th, 2002 Tyler Donald did just that without a whimper. Was he too tiny to cry? I don't know but he was among the living and for that I was grateful. His dad Victor, grand-dad Alford and me were all in the delivery room as our little miracle was gently whisked away to the confines of an incubator.
There was plenty of room in the incubator because he was the size of my hand. Taylor, his sister was upset that she was not allowed to see the delivery. It was however for her own good because of the uncertainty of her mothers condition.

My daughter Latisha got out of the hospital after about a two week stay. Her blood pressure was finally back to normal and she could hardly wait to do the baby to breast technique that mothers do to make them feel as if they are in the womb. She would place him to her bare chest for a limited time because he needed to get back into the incubator.

When Tyler was able to come home, he came weighing four lbs attached to a heart monitor that would sound off when his rhythm was off. He was also on plenty of oxygen to help him with his breathing.

Seven years later, all is well. He has a squeegie (the kids correct me when I say that instead of saying Inhaler) and a breathing machine at home in case he needs it. He is no longer on oxygen and the trips to the hospital late at night have ceased.

His sister Taylor who is ten years older than him are kinda like joined at the hip.
She is like my mama opinionated. Smart as a whip too. I claim naming her after the Taylor family name, no matter what her mother says.
Their mother and I jockey for position but that's alright. We know how it is when the power of God's goodness gave my daughter two miracles: Two beautiful children to love unconditionally.
And me as the grandmother, what else could they ask for!

Follow Friday: Tumbleweeds!!

2010-05-14T16:52:00.000-07:00

Thinking back to when I was young, tumbleweeds were all over the place. Later in life the tumbleweeds disappeared and was replaced with parking lots, housing developments and 7 Eleven stores. Now in the last few years and the economy has changed, those housing developments are littered with For Sale and Forclosure signs. Alas, the tumbleweeds are also back.

Sentimental Sunday: There Were Six

2010-05-09T00:59:00.000-07:00

Who could resist a warm smile, a hand to hold and a hug that is so consoling when need be and as spontaneous as you wanted it to be.

Who could resist that tug of your heart when your mother told you that you were special and that you are loved.

Who could resist being told that you looked very pretty when you knew that you yourself did not think so.

Who could resist taking a swipe of cake batter from a big wooden spoon and being asked your opinion as to whether it was good or not, knowing that each time it was the best you ever tasted.

Who could resist staring at the lady you called mom, mommie,or momma. Thinking how beautiful she was and how proud she made you feel.

Who could resist that laughter and the sound of a song that was sung while she snapped her fingers.

Who could resist knowing that she was your mama and you were her child.

Who could resist those tears that fell when her grown son ran out the room knowing she was on her way to another place better than this one.

Who could resist when she told the weakest one to go get that son because she knew in the end that weak one would become strong.

There are six who could not resist coming into the life of a wonderful person. A person who doted on them, who loved being around them, who protected and nutured them.

There were six who learned spiritual guidance through words and deeds. That it was as confidential as a mother's prayer.

There were six who knew that a Mother's Day celebration is just as meaningful today as it was yesterday.

There were six who knew without a doubt that they were loved.

There were six!!

African American Genealogy Carnival: They Served With Honor: In Memoriam African Americans in the Military 1914-1953

2010-05-07T10:47:00.000-07:00

THE DAVISS MEN OF NAVASOTA TEXAS

Upper left: Corporal Owens C Daviss U.S Army WW 11 served in France: Son of James Penn and Betty Owens Daviss.

Upper Right: Carpenter Mate 11 Henry/Harry E Daviss U.S. Navy WW11 served in British West Indies and beyond: Son of James Penn and Gertrude Sims Daviss.

Center: Sgt Spencer Daviss US Army WW11 and Korean Conflict served also in India: Son of James Penn and Gertrude Sims Daviss.

Lower Left: PFC Isaiah T Daviss US Army WW11 served in Africa Italy and France: Son of James Penn and Gertrude Sims Daviss.

Lower right: PFC Theodore R Daviss US Army WW11 served in England and the Pacific: Son of James Penn and Gertrude Sims Daviss.

And on the right is S-Sgt James Parker Daviss WW11: son of James Penn and Gertrude Sims Daviss.

Treasure Chest Thursday: AZ State March on Capitol

2010-05-06T13:49:00.000-07:00

The March to the Arizona State Capitol re: Imigration Reform reminds me of myself over twenty years ago when we marched to the same capitol for the Martin Luther King Holiday. The Holiday was rescinded by Evan Mechum. He was as he should have been Impeached!!

Thats me to the left of my friend Joanne who is in the middle.

Wordless Wednesday: Water From the Well to the House

2010-05-05T10:47:00.000-07:00

This well located on my Daviss grandparents property in Navasota Texas bought years of cool refreshing water.

Mondays Madness: Teshan Young, A Texas Turmoil For Me

2010-05-03T11:31:00.001-07:00

I first became interested in Ms Young and her family when I saw that there was a Ida Dickerson listed in the household on the Harrison County Texas Census. I went on a search looking for who this Ida was because my great grandfather Charlie Dickerson/Dixon had a daughter named Ida. So the best way to do that was to see if I could follow the Youngs in case this would lead to a tie.
The next thing I came across was a Texas Slave Narrative where I found Ms Young. Here is a snip-it of that narrative:

Teshan Young , 86, was born a slave to Easkner Scott , who owned a plantation in Harrison County, Texas, and had over one hundred slaves, Teshaw married Moses Young in 1867 and lived near her old home until 1916, when she moved to Fort Worth. She lives in a negro settlement on the catskirts of Stop Six, a suburb of Fort Worth.

The rest of the narrative can be found listed here:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ewyatt/_borders/Texas%20Slave%20Narratives/Texas%20Y/Young,%20Thesan.html

I then went in searching again and found a Death Certificate for Ms Young. The cause of her death caused my heart to sink. She died in a house fire!

I am now trying to find a newspaper article that may give more insite to what may have caused the fire and perhaps have some mention of the great aunt Ida Dickerson Anderson.

Surname Saturday: JP's and JD's Taylor and Daviss

2010-05-01T12:25:00.000-07:00

Joseph Paul Daviss and James D "Jake" Daviss
The Maternal and Paternal side of it all.

Joseph Paul Taylor, the handsome man on the left is from Marshall Texas.
He is the father of my maternal grandmother Essie Dean Taylor, and son of Mariah Taylor and step-father Lawrence Taylor. According to several sources he was born btw 1865-1867 in Jonesville, Harrison County Texas. Known as JP, he passed away in Kaufman County Texas in 1951.
He is buried in Marshall Texas at the St. Johns Baptist Church Cemetery.

James D "Jake" Daviss, the handsome man on the right was born in North Carolina around 1856. The city and county is unknown. He is the father of my paternal grandfather James Penn Daviss and the son of Hubbard and Elizabeth Davis (oral history). When and how James D Daviss came to Texas has not been established but his footprints stretch from numerous counties as a doctor. James D passed away in Houston Texas in 1921 and was buried at the historically black Evergreen Cemetery.

Wordless Wednesday: Wade Spann of Marshall Texas

2010-04-28T10:44:00.000-07:00

Wade Spann born around 1849 somewhere in Alabama shows up in Marshall Texas when he registers to vote in 1867 according to the Harrison County Texas Voter Roll. He married Jane Norris. They were the parents of ten(10)children, one being my great grandmother Sallie Spann Burks.

Sentimental Sunday: Zepher Lee Dones/Burks

2010-04-25T00:01:00.000-07:00

My mother Zepher Lee Dones/Burks born May 1924 in Marshall Texas to Richard Burks and Essie Dean Taylor. She and my father Theodore R Daviss married in Houston Texas by Rev. Moses Leonard Price at Greater Zion Baptist Church.

There are sooo many memories that I could share about my mother. I miss her terribly. I never could figure out how she would know things that I did until I had children of my own. (Mother's are like that you know).
I went to school across town and every day mom would give me two nickles to ride the trolley to and from school.
This one particular day I wanted some candy real bad, so I spent my fare. I started out walking and had to go through town to get to where we lived.
I walked past the courthouse and something told me to turn around a go up the stairs to the jail.
I sat down and proceeded to tell the sheriff that I had somehow lost my money and that if he could please spare a nickle so that I could get home. I told him that I would pay him back the next day.
When the sheriff asked my name I was smart enough not to give him my real name. He told me that he would be right back and left the room. I guess about 10 minutes passed and in walked my mother.
You talk about eyes that got as big as the moon! Well, those were mine. My mother sweetly smiled and said lets go home. All the time, I was wondering how in the heck did she find me.
I found out years later that because I took that walk from the school to town those were minutes that caused her to wonder why I had not arrived from school.
So she set out in our car to see if she could see me. As she was driving past she saw me go up the courthouse steps.
I am intentionally omitting what happened when we got home because when I think back,the pain in my rear end seems to re-appear along with those words about it hurting her more than me. Ha!!

My mother loved the heck out of her children, four boys and two girls. When we were little, each one of us had a hand to hold so that we could stay close, three on each side with mom in the middle. We sure felt warm,secure and loved.
People didn't believe that we were her kids because she looked so young herself.

I remember when the principal of the school that my younger sister and brothers went to, tried to fail all the black kids. The NAACP was called and also Edward Banks, the owner of the Arizona Tribune Newspaper.
They set up a meeting with the principal and several of the parents. The parents,and several members of the NAACP met at our house to go over the rules that they wanted everyone to abide by.
One thing they stated was to remain calm and let them do the most of the talking. During the meeting all the parents listened, some on edge. Mrs Worthum the principal said that she would not change her position and that negro kids were not as smart as the white ones. The next word that came out of her mouth was that they were a bunch of picaninnys. Thats when my mother struck!!
They had to pry my mothers hands from around Mrs Worthum's neck.
I don't know what happened after that but I do know that all the black kids were reinstated in school,and put back in their proper grades. Mrs Worthum remained the principal for some ungodly reason and my mom, well she was the neighborhood heroine

Mom was in a terrible car accident caused by a drunk driver who had been out celebrating his graduation from College and ran a red light. She was hit directly on the drivers side causing the car to spin and wrap around a railroad crossing pole.
The drivers side of the car was pushed in to the middle of the car, and the front of the car was pushed in to the seat. That's how bad the impact was. My mother was taken out of the car somehow. I was told that she was found under the dashboard on the passenger side.
I don't have to imagine who placed her there,I already know. The man upstairs had other plans for this fiesty mother of mine. And plans he had. He made it possible for her to see more grandchildren born, return to her hometown of
Marshall Texas and visit with her Aunt Carmena,and her uncles Shug,Bud and Leslie. Laugh and cry with her mother Essie, and play with her pride and joy a terrier she named Mister after the character in The Color Purple.

My mother passed away on December 4th 1994 in Phoenix Arizona. Not a day goes by that I don't think of her.
All my thoughts bring smiles and sometimes watery eyes. The kids and I bring up memories that have us laughing so hard.
Like the time I was wondering why she was wearing a scarf for so many days. I caught her with it off about a week later. Mom had cut all her hair off hoping it would come back in a curl so that she could put it in an afro.
She was in her room trying to use curl activator hoping that would make her hair nappy.

My Mother was a classy lady, GOD rest her soul. After she passed away, I picked up her Bible and found all of our pictures resting between the pages. There was also a letter asking GOD to take care of her children.

Surname Saturday: Texans Williams and Williams

2010-04-24T10:21:00.000-07:00

The Williams Williams Two

Alex Frank Darling Williams was born in San Jacinto County Texas to the parents of John Williams and Meckie(unk maiden name)Williams.

Mary Louise Williams born in Cold Springs,Liberty County Texas to the parents of John Williams and Easter Thornton Williams.

Alex better known as Darling and Mary married and made their home in Cleveland Texas.

Treasure Chest Thursday: James Penn Daviss Teachers Certificate

2010-04-22T09:20:00.000-07:00

My grandfather James Penn Daviss received his Texas Teachers Certificate in 1903. The Certificate was obtained from the Summer Normal Board of Examiners for Colored Teachers and recommended to the State Board Of Examiners by the Summer Normal School. This allowed him to teach the 2nd grade in Grimes County Texas for a period of Five years.
Classes were held in the Little Flock Baptist Church.

WordlessWednesday: James Penn Daviss

2010-04-20T22:51:00.001-07:00

James Penn Daviss was born in Piedmont,Grimes County,Texas to James D. "Jake" Daviss and Sally White Cooper July 22,1878. He passed away on April 17,1953 in Houston,Harris County Texas. He first married Bettye Owens,then his second marriage was to Gertrude Sims.
James Penn Daviss was a Minister and Teacher in Grimes County Texas

Monday Madness: It Happened on a Sunday

2010-04-18T06:31:00.000-07:00

My Aunt Carmena had the kind of voice that you would recognize anywhere. I think she had one of those high soprano singing voices that when she sang in church you knew she was there. I went to stay with my aunt one year in Marshall Texas. I guess I had to be in the 4th or 5th grade. Every sunday we went to church. My aunt lived in the section called New Town,and did not attend the home church (I bet her parents are still rolling over in their graves lol) located in the country on Blocker Road called St.John Missionary Baptist. She went to New Bethel Baptist Church which was much closer to where she and my Uncle John lived.

This one sunday, in fact it was the 1st Sunday of the month when they were having Communion. Me and my friend RoseMary Richardson was sitting in the next to the last pew. Well, this man came up to our row and handed this lady a tray and she passed it down. Shoot, I thought she was giving it to me because it was full of crackers. Me and Rosemary reached in and got a handful and what do you know they were giving us something to wash it down with too. About the same time, Rosemary and I heard this commotion. This man that gave us the goodies wanted his trays back. I did not hear that familiar voice so I knew something was up. When I looked up with a mouth full of crackers I saw the biggest scowl on my aunts face. I didn't know if she was mad at me for stuffing my mouth full of food or mad at that man for taking away the tray he had given us in the first place.

Needless to say when I got home, my aunts finger shook faster than a speeding bullet. I thought my face was gonna take a direct hit.I guess she was too mad to give me a spanking. LOL Anyway, she explained to me later what communion meant and what the proper way was if I would ever take it.

The next day on our way to school at Dogan Elementary, Rosemary and I said that we would never eat at church again no matter what they tried to give us. LOL

Carmena L.Taylor Morton: Parents Joseph and Frances Dickerson Taylor was born in Marshall,Harrison County,Texas on February 14,1905 and passed away Jan 30,1985 in Longview,Gregg County Texas.
Aunt Carmena was the sister of my grandmother Essie Dean Taylor.

Surname Saturday: Dixon/Dickerson,Tolliver, Tolbert

2010-04-17T07:58:00.000-07:00

Charles Dixon born abt 1834 in either Ala or Ga: resided in Marshall Texas according to the Texas Voter Rolls when he registered to vote in 1867.

Elizabeth Tolbert/Tolliver Dixon born Abt 1839 in Ky.: resided in Marshall Texas,wife of Charles Dixon. They had three children. Silas, Frances and Charlie Jr.who later was known as Dickerson.

Lucy Tolbert: Born abt 1805 in Maryland according to the 1900 Harrison County Texas census. She is the mother of Elizabeth. Lucy was the mother of 15 children with 4 children still living. Besides Elizabeth one another child Robert has been identified. There are other possibilites of other Tolberts living around the same area.
Lucy was found on the 1870 census taken in Harrison County Texas was the wife of Joseph Tolbert was born in Indiana.

Wordless Wed: John and Sallie Jefferson Lewis

2010-04-14T09:24:00.000-07:00

John Lewis born about 1840,unknown Location and Sallie Jefferson Lewis born about 1856 in Fayette County Texas. Lived in Grimes County,Navasota,Texas.

Sentimental Sunday: A Young Affair

2010-04-11T14:23:00.000-07:00

I first found Teshan Young in the 1900 census living about two doors up from my gggrand-uncle Silas Dickerson in Harrison County Texas. She and her husband Mose and their children. I was looking for more Dickerson's and Dixons going five pages up and back.
In 1920 I spotted her again when I was looking for Dickerson's. There is a Ida Dickerson living in the same household. This time Matthew is the head of the household and according to this census, Tishe Ann is the widowed mother and Ida is the 15 year old niece.
I wanted to make a connection because I have a tie to a Ida Alexander who is the daughter of my ggrandfather Charlie Dixon/Dickerson. I have been unsuccesful in finding a death certificate for Ida so that I could find out her mothers name. I am not sure that this is my Ida or that she had the Dickerson name. My Ida married Earnest Alexander. I have an oil lease signed by Ida Alexander and her husband Earnest in 1951. This tells me that a Death Certificate should be somewhere.

The picture above was found on the Texas Slave Narrative site:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ewyatt/_borders/Texas%20Slave%20Narratives/Texas%20Y/Young,%20Thesan.html

The search continues.....

Surname Saturday: Pierce, Grimes County Tx

2010-04-10T08:31:00.000-07:00

Grandfather Charlie Pierce born around 1875 in Texas was first married to Gertrude Sims in Grimes County, Texas. They had two children Elo and Jimmie Ethel. Charlie's parents were John and Nancy (Johnson)Overstreet Pierce. The 1880 census tells me that Johns parents are from Alabama. John was born between 1825 and 1832 according to the census and Nancy was his 2nd wife. I am in the process of trying to locate John on the 1870 census possibly with his first wife,name unknown. I have been unable to find a Death certificate for John,Nancy or Charlie.

Wordless Wed: Gertrude Sims Daviss

2010-04-07T07:59:00.001-07:00

My paternal grandmother Gertrude Sims Daviss,daughter of Fletcher Price and Sallie Jefferson Sims was born in LaGrange,Fayette County,Texas. Gertrude became a blessing on January 14,1886 and eternally rested June 13,1966.

Tombstone Tuesday: James and Gertrude Sims Daviss

2010-04-06T11:18:00.000-07:00

My Question is why are the tombstones sinking?

Is the ground so soft that something like this happens is bound to happen. It seems to me if that is the case something could be done to keep this from happening.

These are my paternal grandparents James Penn Daviss and Gertrude Sims Daviss. They are buried in The Little Flock Cemetery located in Navasota Texas.

Honey Hush

2010-04-02T14:32:00.001-07:00

Honey Hush by Ms Vicky

Sit'n on the front porch, minding my own business
When a friend of mine came by
What cha' doin she said sitting out here by your lonesome
You look like you bout to cry

Oh I am fine I told her
I was just thinking
How it will be when I am grown
Will I pick up cans on the side of the road
Will I have to clean other peoples homes

Will I be the one to cry all night
Till my pillow gets soak’n wet
Worrying bout my children when things ain’t right
And the bills ain't been paid yet

Will I regret being married to a man
who changes like the wind
Stayin out all night reeking of wine, beer and gin
One who gets home in time for dinner
Then back out again

And then she said “Honey Hush”

Carnival Blog: GrandMa's Hands

2010-03-28T14:42:00.000-07:00

I was an air force brat who unfortunately did not grow up around my maternal or paternal grandparents.
I can however tell you about the last years of my maternal grandmothers life when I brought her to come live with me at the ripe age of 92.
Oh, how I wish I had been around her in my growing up years.
My grandmother Essie Dean Taylor whose nickname was "Nig" was one of the funniest people I have ever been around.

One morning we went to breakfast at Denny's Resturant. I knew she liked bacon or sausage and eggs so I ordered that along with some hash brown potatoes and toast.
Well, sitting next to the salt and pepper was a bottle of Tabasco Sauce. She reached for the bottle but I gentley pushed it back,telling her that it was way to hot and was not at all like the regular louisiana hot sauce she was used to.
I think in her mind this young whipper snapper could not tell her what to do. She looked at me, squinched, and rolled her eyes at me. My grandma grabbed that bottle,and shook and shook and shook.
There was not one spot on her plate that was not red. She then took a big bite.
The next thing we heard was a loud Oh Blankety,blank,blank blank!!! This hot sauce must have been made in hell.!!
Everyone in the vicinity including the waitress laughed so hard that tears ran down all our faces.
The waitress eyes still full of water gave her a fresh plate,no charge.
My Grandma never used her hands to pick up another bottle of Tabasco sauce again.

Another time I laughed so hard was when I took her to the casino.
I really wanted to go that evening and had no one to watch her. I figured that a couple hours would not hurt her or me.
She expressed to me and a friend that went along that this was the first time in all of her 94 years that she had ever been in a casino,
let alone let two women drag her someplace she did not want to go.
She shook her finger at me, then folded her arms and started to pout.
I put a dollar in the machine where she was sitting and hit the spin button.
The next thing I know money started to come out. I reached in to get the winnings and got hit with a hard slap on my hand.
A voice said "If You touch my money,young lady"! My grandmother picked up all those quarters, put them in her purse,folded her arms again but this time no pout in sight.
I'am telling you I could not help but to laugh.

My Grandmother could cook the best seafood gumbo in the whole wide world. I can see those blue crab, lobster and shrimp right now with that touch only she had. My mother Zepher could attest to that because hers was the second best.

My grandmother Essie Dean Taylor Jamison passed away quietly in Phoenix Arizona in 2002.She was 96 years old.
She was the daughter of Joseph and Frances Dickerson Taylor,the granddaughter of Mariah Taylor and her husband Lawrence, and Charles and Elizabeth Dickerson all of Marshall Texas.

Treasure Chest Thursday: 1936 Census Letter

2010-03-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

This letter was found in an old logbook from The Little Flock Baptist Church in Navasota Texas. It is from the census bureau stating that they would like all Religeous Bodies in the United States to fill out a report of their congregation, meetings, missions and chapels. I wish that I could have found the schedule that was included on the back of this letter. I also wonder where these records are kept and can they be obtained. Were they destroyed after so many years.

It is so fitting that this letter was found at the time we are asked to send in our 2010 census information.

Wordless Wednesday: J.P. Taylor of Marshall Texas

2010-03-24T08:24:00.000-07:00

Joseph P Taylor 1865-1951 Harrison County Texas , son of Mariah Taylor, step-father Lawrence Taylor, husband of Fances Dickerson, father of eight, one of which is Essie Dean Taylor whose daughter Zepher is my mother.
Finding out the name of the natural father of Joseph is an ongoing project with the prospect of finding Mariah in the 1870 and 1880 census or through other means.

Two Cousins, Two Peas in a Pod

2010-03-22T13:50:00.001-07:00

L.K. and Zepher Lee: Two cousins, two Peas in a pod. Mama, thats Zepher Lee knows she is just like a gentle breeze on this picture. L.K. knows that when he is through taking this picture he would love to get his hands on that big bow and pull the end, just to see how long it really is.

They grew up, went their seperate ways but still remained best of cousin/friends.

In fact they even kept the same spitfire ways about them. Mischievous, funny, played to their own tune, and lived life to the fullest.

This picture was taken in Marshall Texas in the late twenties. I wish I knew who took them to the photography studio. It may have been Aunt Carmena, L.K.'s mother or mabe my grandmother EssieDean who is the mother of Zepher Lee.

I however would put my money on Frances Taylor their grandmother and my maternal great-grandmother. Oh, not that the parents of these two would not have done it but my instinct tells me who the real boss was.

Lummie Glenn Russel, Sr

2010-03-13T16:27:00.000-08:00

My longtime neighbor who we call Big Daddy passed away on the 6th day of March 2010. Big Daddy was a wonderful person who was loved by all the folks in the neighborhood. His family lived diagonally across the street from my house. For years on a Thursday morning this gentle soul would come in my yard and wheel the trash barrel out to the front of my house and bring it back after the trash truck passed. When Big Daddy got a little older and could not take his daily walks he would sit out in front of his house and wave as I drove on my way to work or back home.

Big Daddy married Bernice McCoy in Warren Arkansas and later moved to McNary Arizona to work in the lumber industry. Two of his brothers Jesse and David came with them. After 32 years when the industry slowed down, they packed up and moved to phoenix.

Lummie Glenn Russell Sr was born in Warren Arkansas on the Bradley Lumber Camp. His parents, Dave Washington and Sula Bradley Russell welcomed him on September 26,1907. This man had eleven children. He leaves behind nine of them along with 40 grandchildren, 91 great grandchildren, and 25 great, great grandchildren.

Big Daddy lived to be 102 years old. Can you imagine how much love this man gave, how much wisdom and knowledge he shared with others, and how great his reward is in Heaven.

RIP Big Daddy

Edwin Nelms Will and Inventory

2010-03-09T12:47:00.000-08:00

Nelms in Navasota Texas is one of the lines I am researching. My great-grandmother Sallie White Cooper's sister Anna White Cooper married Fred Nelms. Fred's son Archie married my other great-grandmother Sallie Jefferson's daughter Jessie Lewis. I am trying to make the connection particularly with Alfred on this list.

Edwin Nelms*** Northumberland Va
Edwin Nelms*** Edgewood Plantation - Grimes County Tx

Edwin Nelms will dated 10th day of May 1860. Filed at the Grimes County Courthouse,State of Texas.

Excerpts from will:

I have heretofore given to my beloved daughter Edwina Moss Reagan the following property. The negro woman Ann and her three children(boys) Beverly, Isaac, and Hiram. To my grandson John Edwin Reagan the negro girl Mariah, and to my granddaughter Edwina Reagan the negro girl Texas. To my grandaughter Bettie May Reagan the negro girl Emiline. To my daughter Elizabeth Downing Nelms the negro woman Amanda and her three youngest children boys Gray, Turner, and Moses and all her future natural increase. To my son Everett Presley Nelms my negro boy Dennis. Daughter Catherine Ann Nelms the negro woman Mima, negro girl Esther and their natural increase, Also the negro boys Daniel and Hiram, to my daughter Mary Dianna Nelms negro woman Fanney and her three boy children,Raleigh, Abe, Beverly and all her future increases.

Edwin Nelms Inventory:

An inventory of the property real personal and mixed belonging to the Estate of Edwin Nelms died in Grimes County Texas as given by Mrs Diana M Nelms Executrix of said Edwin Nelms dec'd and appraised by W.R. Thomas and I.H.P. Hill.

Lands: 1362 2/3 acres of land including Homestead Title deeds from Ann L Mitchell for 256 from Y.B. Black for 37 acres from U.F.Base for 1000 acres from O.H.P. Hill for 69 2/3 acres valued at $15.00 per acre.$24,440. 375 acres of land title deed from T.L.P. Moffett valued at $4.50 per acre. 1687.50

Negroes:

Negro woman Malinda about 40 yrs old 000.00
" Margaret 21 " 1250.00
girl Emma 1 " 150.00
boy Anthony 15 " 1000.00
girl Amey 11 " 700.00
boy Isiah 6 " 400.00
" Aaron 6 " 250.00
The above negroes belong to E.M. Reagan
Negro girl Texas 9 years old belongs to 700.00
Edwina Reagan,Jr

Negro man Isaac about 70 years old 000.00
Negro woman Molly " 57 400.00
Negro man Primus " 26 " 1500.00
Negro man Peter " 22 " 1400.00
Negro man George " 20 " 1400.00
Negro girl Esther " 15 " 1250.00
Negro man Alfred " 36 " 1600.00
Negro woman Robertoo " 30 " 1000.00
Negro boy Daniel " 10 " 750.00
Negro boy Hiram about 6 years old 450.00
Negro boy Jerry " 3 " 300.00
Negro man Gordon " 40 " 2000.00
Negro woman Eliza " 38 " 800.00
Negro man Jim " 19 " 1400.00
Negro girl Jenny " 11 " 800.00
Negro boy Litchin(sp) " 5 " 350.00
Negro boy Bomy(sp) " 5 " 350.00
Negro boy Ferdinand " 2 " 250.00
Negro man Jim Bronson " 24 " 1400.00
Negro woman Frances " 20 " 1200.00
Negro girl Martha " 3 " 200.00
Negro girl Cornelia " 1 " 150.00
Negro woman Amanda " 40 " 600.00
Negro man John " 26 " 1500.00
Negro man Joe " 21 " 1500.00
Negro woman Mima " 19 " 1100.00
Negro boy Hamir(sp) " 16 " 900.00
Negro boy Gray " 9 " 500.00
Negro boy Peter Taylor " 11 " 800.00
Negro boy Tinnor " 6 " 400.00
Negro man Sam " 60 " 000.00
Negro woman Eliza " 18 " 1100.00
Negro boy Bill " 16 " 1200.00
Negro woman Fany " 30 " 1000.00
Negro boy Rolly " 8 " 500.00
Negro boy Abe " 6 " 375.00
Negro boy Beverly " 5 " 325.00
Negro man Peter Nelson " 49 " 1200.00

***excerpts from inventory dated October 28, 1863 ***

2010-03-08T11:30:00.000-08:00

Stumped Again

2010-03-01T19:12:00.000-08:00

Today I again went over the task of going line by line on the 1870 and 1880 census for Harrison County Texas. I think if I don't do this at least once every three or four months I will lose my own personal Guiness record in searching for Mariah Taylor and her son Joseph in the same household.
I was told by more than one person to look outside the box for her. I know that all the information that I have all say she only had one son. The 1900 census and the 1910 census state that. Oral history has also stated that Mariah only had one son. But....I went ahead and looked at all the Mariah's/Maria's and followed them the best I could. I elimated all the ones that I found in and around Marshall. I even looked in Gregg and Panola Counties as well as Caddo Parish in Louisiana. Either all the census records show that both Mariah and/or Joseph was to young or to old.
I cruised Family Search for a Death Certificate and found none. I guess the next stop would be Footnote. Mabe just mabe they may have picked up a missing one from somewhere.

Open Letter To Mariah Taylor of Marshall Texas

2010-02-24T10:40:00.000-08:00

I originally posted a letter similar to this on Afrigeneas in 2004 and thought I would revisit even though she is is on my mind daily.

Hello,
I am your ggg-grandaughter and I have been looking for you for years. I know I am a little off but some folk tell me that as an ancestor you are just waiting to be found. Just so you know, I have spent countless hours on the internet looking at census records for Harrison County Texas. I know I have gone page by page, line by line at least fifteen times looking for you in the 1880 and 1870 census and came up blank. I stay up in the wee hours of the night looking at records on Ancestry and Heritage Quest. I call that my Pajama Time.

I do want to thank you for letting yourself be found in the 1900 and 1910 census. It was awesome when I located you several houses down from your son Joseph aka JP and his wife Frances Dickerson Taylor. I am still trying to figure out who that young man Edward Davis was that was living with you and your husband Lawrence Taylor in 1900 and Ben who was with you in 1910. I wonder if they were natural links to Lawrence and not to you since you were his third marriage and both of the census I found you on said you had married only once and that you only had one child and that child was living.

That doggone enumerator even tried to trick me when I saw he said your name was Maria. If I had not listened to those people at AfriGeneas about spelling not counting, I would have passed you by.
I know you are out there so would you please do me a favor so I can get a good night's sleep. Give me a hint or show yourself in 1870 or 1880. Every indication tells me that you and your son Joseph should be in the census together, and I would love to see you two .

I love you and thanks for all the sacrifices you made for your family that came after you.

Your ggg-grandaughter Vicky

On the Hunt

2009-11-18T08:24:00.000-08:00

I happened to be scrolling thru the net last night and came across an old posting from a cousin of mine. I have never met this cousin but I do know that he was on my paternal fathers line. His father and my father are brothers but have different mothers. Any how the email addy for him has changed but I will try and see if I can locate him through other means.

The post that I am speaking about is a reach out for his mother whom he is trying to locate. The name for her is very unusual. Prascovie Sedimenta Hutton. I believe that she was married to Wright Cuny Daviss/Davis but have not verified this as yet. Boy what a name she has! I piddled around last night on Ancestry but with out success.
I know that my Uncle lived in Altus Okla and I am sure that was where she resided. Where she is now is the mystery.

Why Mariah's Zepher

2009-11-15T09:43:00.000-08:00

Mariah is my elusive gg-grandmother and Zepher is my mother, Mariah's g-granddaughter. It is amazing to me that both names have a little to do with the wind. There was a song "They called the wind Mariah", and Zepher is a gentle breeze.

Mariah the wind I imagine is all over the place. That's probably why I can't find my gg grand on the 1870 and 1880 census. One day she will calm down and blow right into that page that I have overlooked, ease my mind, then watch me do a happy dance.

Now Zepher was something herself. A gentle lady who knew how to calm your nerves, made you laugh gently or laugh where your whole body would shake. Make no mistake though, she did not play when it came anyone taking advantage of her kids. She was then like a Nor'easter.

I started this blog in their honor. Mixing in a little Texas genealogy and history, a few funny stories as I go along as well as other tidbits.

Ain't That Sad

2009-11-14T14:18:00.000-08:00

I can’t help but wonder
what will become of the children of color
especially when they have parents like none other
none other than the mother whose habits span beyond
50 bucks a day
replacing that with the love that could have gone
her childs way.
Now Ain’t that sad !

Then we have the man-child who says he’s the baby’s dad
but refuse to spend
one moment, one cent, one smile,
one pat on the back, one I love you,
one hold of a hand,
Now tell me, A’int that sad,
Dad!!!!.

How do you expect that child to get to Church and stay
if parents like you don’t show them the way
Now, Ain’t that sad !
Look way back in time,
you saw your mama go
Grandma too
Give them kids a chance
The same way they gave you

You won’t be sorry you should know
With Christian experience
you can watch them grow.
He never expects us to be perfect
but be obedient to his Word
Listen to that song from long ago
in case you have not heard

“Jesus loves me this I know
For the Bible tells me so”
it also says “We are weak but he is strong”
Let Him come into your life where he belongs
Now turn that weakness to a strength
You will find blessings that are heaven sent

Give those kids and yourself a chance
then don’t look back for a second glance.
Then you will see
Time will reveal a brand new you
And take away that “Usta” be Me
Take away “aint that sad”
Change it to Peace, Joy, love
Now, ain’t you glad!!!!!
　
　
　
　