Tag Archive for African-Americans

Getting Back to Some Hard Genealogy

October 5, 2011 Craig Family History, Genealogy

It took a near-disaster in the form of a hard disk failure to bring me back to doing some basic genealogy. I took me a week to recover and reassemble my files, which had been backed up onto three different systems. The redundancy was a fortunate thing born out of some lethargy in organization. As a fortuitous happenstance, I lost not a single file.

But as I reassembled and reorganized my files (an ongoing project), I came across several items that I had not looked at in awhile. That fired up the research imagination and fueled a new round of seeking some of my MIA ancestors.

 Desperately Seeking Sarah

As my sole remaining Loyal and Constant Reader, you recall that I have spent years trying discover information about my maternal gg-grandmother, Sarah Gilbert Johnson, said by family tradition to be an Indian. Here’s what we know about her:

  • She seems to appear with her husband on the 1870 US Census in Liberty, Clay County, MO [The entries are for “Johnson” (no first name; male, black, farmer) and “-------”, female, black, “keeps house.”]. I think this refers to her because they are the only black Johnson couple in the county without any children and their ages are within an appropriate range.
  • She seemingly appears on no other census records after 1880, by which time she has six children, living with Ezekiel in Kansas City, MO.
  • “Zeke” marries one Irena Neal in 1885; suggesting that Sarah has died.

We then undertook the following search efforts:

  • Searched US Censuses 1850 & 1860, for “Sarah Gilbert.” We looked in Clay, Platte, and Jackson Counties, Missouri. We chose these counties for their proximity to the site of her marriage and where she lived in 1880. We didn’t find her in those places in those years.
  • We searched marriage records in Jackson County, Missouri and found that several “Sarah Johnsons” had married after 1880. A possible implication here is that Sarah did not die in the 1880s, but was divorced from Zeke. There is no further evidence that would allow a conclusion on that theory,
  • One clue I found tantalizing from the Kansas state census is a woman named Hannah Gilbert, married to one William Gilbert. This family is African American. Could they be Sarah’s parents? However, they appear for a brief while, then vanish from the records. There’s no reasonable path from them to Sarah.
  • We looked at marriage records for Clay County and Jackson County in Missouri. We found no Gilbert other than Sarah herself, marrying Zeke in 1867.
  • We examined a limited sample of newspapers from the appropriate times and locations; again we found no Gilberts.
  • We examined the pre-1910 Missouri Death Certificates from the Missouri State Archives. This was also unproductive (as it might be if our supposition that she died in the 1880s in correct; Missouri didn’t have mandatory death certificates until 1910).
  • We examined the post-1910 Missouri death records for Jackson County and the counties comprising the greater Kansas City area. There are several “Sarah Johnsons” listed. However, further identifying information is missing. For example, one “Sarah Johnson” had a unknown birthplace and unknown parents.

Part of our thinking about the methods shown above was to locate collateral relatives of Sarah’s who might lead to a clue about her. But the main assumption we made was that Sarah was born and lived in the greater Kansas City area her entire life. This theory would have Zeke perhaps having known her or known of her before he joined the Army and returned to marry her. Or the other possibility is that he met her upon his return from the Army.

Thinking about Zeke and Sarah marrying after his return from the war brought me back to the realization that he was mustered out of the Army in February 1866 in Huntsville, Alabama. He married Sarah in September 1867. What was he doing in that intervening year and a half? Well, for one thing, he was finding his way back to Kansas City.

So suppose Zeke met Sarah somewhere along his way back to Missouri from Alabama?

What route and what mode of travel did he take? How long did it take him to make the homeward journey? Did he perhaps stop in St Louis where he had been inducted? Did he meet Sarah there? A reasonable route on the nearly 700 mile trip would pass through Nashville and St Louis. The answers to these questions may shed light on the origins of Sarah Gilbert.

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Reference Review: African-American Genealogy at a Glance

September 19, 2011 Craig Family History, Genealogy

Just the other morning, a young protege was saying that her research seemed unfocused and that she thought she needed to go someplace other than her usual research venues. I talked a few ideas with her. Then, the next day, I received a review copy of Genealogy at a Glance: African American Genealogy Research. My protege’s dilemma was solved (almost)!

A 2011 addition to Genealogical Publishing Company‘s series, Genealogy at a Glance, this four page reference is by Michael Hait, one of the points of light in the sometimes foggy world of genealogical research. (Wait, did you say four pages? Yes, yes I did say “four pages!”).

Okay, so I was skeptical, too, that such a topic could be adequately and accurately reduced to just four pages of text. But as I studied it, I found it to be concise, easy to understand, yet accurate and comprehensive. Hait covers the field very nearly completely in the space allotted. From “Basic Research Sources” to “Free African Americans in the North and South” the author gives tips and reference citations. He tells where to find the records (many have limited availability).

This reference is useful for novice and experienced researchers alike. It certainly is a road map of sorts for the newcomer; for the old hand, it may jog a memory or inspire a new approach. For all experience classes, it can provide an organizing template for research.

The material really is usable “at a glance.” Hait’s writing is direct and active; the editorial lay out is easy to follow. At the end, he includes a short list of online resources and a “Further Reading” section.

A concession to space, no doubt, was the omission of special collections at academic research institutions such as the Louisiana State University Libraries or the University of Virginia, which house many files of slave-owning families.

But nonetheless, Michael Hait, who writes the African-American Genealogy Examiner column, scores again with this simple, but elegant reference guide. Check out Michael’s own websites at haitfamilyresearch.com and Planting the Seeds.

Genealogical Publishing Company is the world’s leading publisher of genealogical books and CD’s, with over 2000 titles in its catalog.

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African-Native American Research: A Chat with Author Nita Ighner

August 21, 2011 Craig Family History, Genealogy, Oklahoma

A few years ago, I came across a blog entitled “Diggin’ Up Bones.” It was extremely well done, recording the research odyssey of its author, Nita Ighner. Her journey took her to the Carolinas where she learned some very interesting things about her family history. She did archival research as well oral history–all quite impressive. Ighner is a college professor teaching American Sign Language at a college in Southern California. She is the author of an ASL study guide. She’s also an accomplished artist in several media and holds a patent on a doll that she designed.

More recently, Nita has started off on another path in her family history – exploring her Native American roots. On this journey she has provided us once again the benefit of her learning two new books published this summer.

GeneaBlogie recently had the honor and privilege ask Nita some questions about her research and her books.

GeneaBlogie: Tell us a little bit about how your own search for your ancestors got started. What was the one thing, if there was one thing, that compelled you to look for them?

Nita Ighner: I didn’t wonder too much about my mother’s side of the family because she always told us family stories and I knew my grandparents and all of my mother’s siblings. However, my father was an only child who was raised by his grandparents and we knew only knew his father. He later introduced us (I have two brothers and two sisters) to his mother, who he never lived with. My father’s side of the family was a mystery to us for years. That’s the reason I started my search 20 years ago.

Nita IghnerAuthor Nita Ighner

G: You had a terrific blog called Diggin’ Up Bones, which chronicled your search for ancestors on your father’s side of the family. It revealed some interesting things. Can you tell us about some of the most interesting parts about searching for ancestors on your father‘s side?

Nita: Thank you! On the 1880 Census for Newberry, South Carolina I found the names John and Nancey Ighner. I wasn’t sure how or even if they were apart of my family, but I was hoping that they were since we knew nothing beyond my small family. On that census record were listed three young mulatto granddaughters living with John and Nancey named Carrie, Clara, and Sophina. There was no indication as to who their parents were. For some reason, those girls became my obsession. I had to find out who they were and what had happened with them. Well, years later when I did make contact with family members in Newberry, S.C., I was invited to my first family reunion. My two sisters and I attended the reunion in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Just the sight of the family name – Eigner – on the marquee made me extremely proud and extremely emotional. After our first family meeting I was approached by a cousin who handed me a video tape. She told me that her 97 year old mother – Erleen Eigner Paschal – had heard that I was going to be attending the reunion and wanted me to watch the tape. Erleen also sent me a message inviting me to visit her in North Carolina as soon as possible because she didn’t know how long she would be with us. A few days after having returned home from the reunion I decided to watch the tape. On that tape Erleen narrated the family’s story. I could not believe my ears. It turned out that my 97 year old cousin was the daughter of Clara, one of the three granddaughters on the 1880 Census! Needless to say, I flew to visit her immediately. What a darling woman she was. It is because of her that I know so much about my family today. She was able to give me many names and tell me many remarkable family stories. I found out that the reason the three girls’ mother was not listed on the census record was because she had died of Consumption. Their father was not listed because he was white. Erleen remembered her grandfather very clearly. My cousin’s father – Asa Eigner – was my great uncle. He was the brother of my great-grandfather John Ighner Jr., and John Jr., was the grandfather who raised my father. I’ll never forget what Erleen told me after my visit. She said, “I loved you from the first time I saw you.” I truly felt the same of her. Erleen died at the age of 107. In addition to all of that wonderfulness, I found and ordered copies of my ancestors’ slave owner’s Will. In there I found the names of my g-g-g-grandparents John Eigner l and his mother Adeline.

G: You followed Diggin’ Up Bones with another terrific blog called Erma’s Roots or On the Other Side. As the name suggested, it was about the search for ancestors on your mother side of the family. What were some most interesting parts about searching for your mother’s ancestors?

Nita: Thank you again! I was amazed to find my great-grandfather Wesley Galloway and his brother Henry on the 1870 Grant, Arkansas Census. I also found my great-grandparents’ – Wesley and Josephine Galloway – wedding certificate application.

G: One of the things that I found interesting was that you seem to know a little more about your father’s African ancestry than his Native American ancestry, but on your mother’s side you know more about her Native American ancestry than you do her African ancestry. Can you tell us about about that?

Nita: There is a difference in my family search methods because even though I know that my g-g-grandmother Nancy Horsey Suber Eigner was half Native American and was brought to Newberry, SC on horseback by her father when she was age 5 then sold (tragic), no one knows which tribe she belonged. The only thing we have to hang onto is that Nancy remembered her father’s name, which was Horsey and that he would call out to his horse the word(s) “Gullapalucha”. Of course that’s phonetically spelled. I have been conducting my own study to try and find the tribe my father’s family is from by cross-referencing the word(s) with Native American vocabulary that might appear similar in its spelling. I’m still searching. Erleen was also able to tell me that my g-g-grandmother Harriet Darby Eigner was Ibo and Gullah.

As for my mother’s side of the family, it’s always been known that my grandfather’s line is part Choctaw. I’ve only gone up to 1870’s through my grandmother’s line. There’s still much to do.

G: Now, in the course of your initial research into your family’s history, you actually went to South Carolina and met people on the ground, so to speak. Did you meet any descendants of former slave owners, and if so, how did they treat you?

Nita: Yes. I did visit South Carolina many times for my research and to visit my newly found family. It has been FANTASTIC! They have been amazingly kind. However, I haven’t met any of the slave owner’s descendents in South Carolina. For several years, however, I did – at one time – keep up regular communications with one of the slave owner’s descendents by phone. She lives in Mississippi. She was very sweet and invited me to stay with her family for a vacation. I never did. She also sent me a photo of her ancestors.

G: I want to turn now to your two books which recently have been published. They’re available through Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble’s BN.com. We’ll talk more about the availability of your books in just a minute. The two books are first, “Choctaw Minor Freedman Enhanced,” which contains Choctaw tribal enrollment figures and a few other things we’ll talk about in a minute as well. And the second book is “The 1900 African-American census in the Seminole and Muscogee nations.” Let’s take the first book, the Choctaw enrollment numbers. There may be some who are not familiar as to what your title refers. What is meant by “Freedman” in this context?

Nita: The term Freedman – in reference to my books – refers to those of African heritage who were slaves owned by Native Americans such as the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole Nations.

G: And what is meant by “Minor” Freedman?

Nita: “Minor Freedman” was the term given to a child or children born to those freed slaves. They were born between the years of 1899 and 1906.

G: The title of the second book also alludes to “slaveowners.” Is it true that the Choctaw owned slaves?

Nita: A quick answer for your question is ‘Yes indeed! Choctaw Indians owned slaves.’ I must say that the Choctaws weren’t the only indigenous people to own slaves. In fact, all five tribes of the Civilized Indian Nations owned slaves. And as if that weren’t enough, many slaves marched the Trail of Tears along side their owners. Your question is very important. For years, many African-American families – including mine – have passed down little snippets of stories or the memory of physical features that allude to the possibility of sharing Indian blood. Sometimes those stories take us only so far then leave us wondering as did the ancient world maps that hinted at monsters beyond a certain point without one bit of proof. Due to the assimilation of European cultural behaviors, many Indian tribes proudly owned slaves. It doesn’t matter if only 3% or 8% of them owned slaves, it didn’t make a slaves life any better. And it doesn’t matter how they purportedly treated their slaves well, a slave owner is a slave owner. It’s important for us to know that it was the institution of slavery that most likely made it possible for us to claim Indian heritage.

There are a few people out there working hard to keep us informed about this part of our history. Angela Y. Walton-Raji has done an astounding job for years on the subject. She manages the African-Native American Genealogy Forum on Afrigeneas web site as well as taking on many other duties. The information is there for all who need it. We just have to look for it.

G: In the second book, you present the 1900 African-American census in the Seminole and Muscogee nations. Why is this particular census is important?

Nita: I chose the 1900 Seminole and Muscogee for my second book for two reasons. One, I’m simply chipping away at the massive amount of information that’s out there and trying to make it more convenient for those who are in need of it. Two, I find that family names from the 1900 Census seem to be easily remembered by our older family members than the names prior to that time.

G: Is there some present significance or relevance to the Seminole and Muscogee nations’ relationship with African-Americans?

Nita: From what I’ve read, the Seminole and Muscogee Nations were more culturally interactive with slaves to the point that some became leaders and scouts.

G: On your website which is www.soreheadbear.com, you seem to draw some parallels between indigenous North American tribes and African tribes. What do you think those parallels are and how have they informed the modern cultures of Native Americans and African Americans?

Nita: The earth exudes soul. I’ve found with indigenous groups around the world and particularly those of the Americas and of Africa that the reception of that soul speaks out in very similar ways. How many times have we said to ourselves and maybe to others, “Those guys are just like us!” when we recognize a sameness in one another indigenous groups? Whether people like it, believe it, or can’t even think about it, there is something of ourselves that we can readily see in others.

G: There seems to be a rift of sorts between some of the Native American tribes and their African ancestored members. What do you know about that and how do you feel about?

Nita: Simply said, assimilation is a bitch. It was all orchestrated and, boy, did it play out the way in which it was intended to. Andrew Jackson purposed a dilution of Native American blood by strongly suggesting that as many Europeans as possible marry into the Indian tribes. Why? For one thing, those European marriages assured the future ownership of American land. No treaties would need to be drawn for what would already be possessed by the right people. Also, by discouraging the mixture of Africans and Indians, the reservations would not become a safe haven for those who were brought here strictly for the purpose of carrying out the duties of servitude. And so, the idea was pretty much bought.

G: You are an artist by nature and profession. How have your artistic sensibilities influenced your search for ancestors?

Nita: That’s an exciting question. Beyond merely knowing my background, my art seems to bring forth the rhythm of my heritance without any conflicts. I can see that there is no fight in me as to who I am. There is only a truthful harmony that pours forth from my ancestors. If I want to know them, all I have to do is pay attention to what comes out of me. That is how they speak to me.

G: Have you met any Native American cousins over the years since you began your research? Tell us about that.

Nita: No I haven’t met any Native American cousins. That would be interesting. However, I have met several people of the Choctaw Nation that have asked me if I was part Choctaw. Confirmation does have a way of feeding the soul.

G: If you haven’t met any Native American cousins, do you expect to and what will you say or do when you do meet them?

Nita: That would be exciting. I think I want to be surprised by it.

G: I want to talk for a minute about the books – the logistics of the books. They’re published by your own imprint, sorehead bear press, only in e-book format. So they’re available for Barnes & Noble’s NOOK and Amazon.com’s Kindle. Did you have any trepidation about publishing only in the e-book format?

Nita: My initial intent was to publish them in hardbound. It wasn’t until I had already put my information in book form that I realized how convenient it would be to go eBook with them. I have a NookColor and LOVE being able to read books that would otherwise be much too heavy to carry around. I can do my research wherever I go. And needless to say, I can regulate the price and make my work much more accessible to the readers. It’s a great tool. I’m able to search specific names, highlight, bookmark, etc. EBooks are absolutely wonderful!

G: I have always admired your work ethic. What kind of discipline did it take to sit down and create these books and how long did you think about them before you got down to the business of researching and writing?

Nita: I believe my ability to do this kind of detailed work is just a part of my quirky personality. I do the same with very detailed art. I get an idea and I immediately go for it. I usually come right in from work and get on the computer. Sometimes it can be everyday for a month or several months. I tear away at my purpose until it’s done. And I have to admit that sometimes in the midst of it I say to myself, “WHAT WAS I THINKING?”

G: What kind of reception have you gotten in the African-American and Native American communities about your project?

Nita: To be truthful, only a couple of people have encouraged me with their admiration for my work. I don’t let a lack of support influence my desire to compile and publish as much information as I can. I’m meeting my own goals and that’s what keeps me going.

G: It’s quite apparent from your work that family means a lot to you; for example, the website is dedicated to your grandfather, the Bishop Joseph Galloway. And you’ve made mention in several places of your brother, the renowned composer Benard Ighner. Have you gotten lots of support from your family on this project?

Nita: My Uncle Alfred who is the last of nine siblings in my mother’s family is very supportive and excited about my projects. My own siblings are extremely supportive and though they might get lost in my genealogical ramblings, they listen anyway. We’ve all been blessed with talent of some sort and we adore one another’s work. My mother – who passed away 9 years ago – raised us to be supportive. My oldest sister Jo writes and paints. Benard, my oldest brother continues to leave the imprint of his musical genius on the world. My sister Sandy was the first African-American woman to sing with Sergio Mendes and has since sang all over the world. And my youngest brother Keith is a phenomenal bassist and composer whose work was recorded by Freddie Hubbard when he was just 17. So, when you look at it, this is probably just me doing my thing. And they are supportive even still. My mother had a saying when we shared our projects with her. She’d say, “I’m so far in your corner that you can’t even get in there.” And that’s how my siblings and I are to one another.

G: When can we expect more publications from Nita Ighner?

Nita: I’m working on three things right now. Two of them are genealogical in nature, concerning the Chickasaw Nation and the slaves in South Carolina. And I’ve just started a book of fictional short stories that will also be published on eBooks. So, you’ll be seeing something else from me soon.

Nita: Thank you so much for this wonderful opportunity to talk about my work. For someone whose work I have admired for such a long time, it is quite a compliment to be interviewed by you. Thank you again.

G: Thank you! It was a privilege.

Read Nita’s books

1900 African-American Census in the Seminole and Muscogee Nations

Amazon.com

Barnes & Noble

 

 

 

Choctwa minor FreedmenChoctaw Minor Freedmen Enhanced

Amazon.com

Barnes & Noble

 

 

 

Learn more about the black members of tribes in America:

Black Indian & Intertribal Native American Association

Cherokee by Blood

Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes

Afrigeneas African-Native American Genealogy Forum

 

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Smallpox, History, Genealogy, and Context

May 25, 2011 Craig Family History, Genealogy

This is a true story about science and public policy that should get the attention of genealogists and historians:

A little more than thirty years ago, the World Health Organization declared that smallpox had been effectively eradicated around the globe.  Smallpox was an especially nasty disease that in the 20th century alone killed half a billion people. Its demise was due to modern vaccines and a concerted effort by scientists, physicians, governments, and nongovernmental organizations to reach populations in every corner of the world.  This was one of the exceptional achievements of 20th century science and public policy.

There was a problem, however, after eradication of the disease: there were reference samples of the smallpox virus held in research facilities around the world. What to do about them?  The World Health Organization determined that they should be destroyed. The governments of both the United States and Russia argued vehemently against this idea, asserting that maintaining research stocks could lead to the development of new drugs to deal with other diseases. Eventually, all the smallpox samples on Earth except two were destroyed. One of the surviving stocks is held in a high security laboratory at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, USA; the other is resident in a similar facility at the State Center Research Center for Virology and Biotechnology VECTOR in Koltsovo, Novosibirsk, Russia.

The smallpox story came to mind recently as I read about and contemplated the circumstances of a cemetery in El Dorado County, California, just a few miles from my home in suburban Sacramento County. In 1848, just prior to the discovery of gold in the Sierra foothills, black miners worked an area of the lower American River, near what is now the city of Folsom. Soon, there was built up a thriving community of black, Chinese, Portuguese, and Irish miners.  The settlement was called Negro Hill. The mining was good. When the nearby town of Mormon Island burned to the ground, its residents were welcomed into Negro Hill. Among the citizens of Negro Hill were Leland Stanford and Charles Crocker, two of the men known later as “The Big Four” who built the transcontinental railroad east from Sacramento. (Stanford was later Governor of California and namesake benefactor Stanford University).

But within a few years, like so many other placer mining areas, the metal around Negro Hill was exhausted.  The community shrank into a near-ghost town.

In the late 1940′s the federal government decided to dam the American River just above Folsom. The resulting reservoir, now known as Folsom Lake, would flood many historic communities, including Negro Hill.  Efforts were made to remove and preserve historic artifacts, including a number of grave sites at the Negro Hill cemetery.  In 1954, the Army Corps of Engineers relocated thirty-six graves to another site in El Dorado County, providing new grave markers.

The new markers were stamped “Nigger Hill.”  The Corps of Engineers blamed the slur on locally-produced maps. No one seemed to take responsibility and no one knew who had jurisdiction over the site.

Just this week, after years of prodding by citizens, the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to replace the offensive markers with new ones. The decades-long debate had been quite contentious. Some advocated leaving the markers alone as a reminder of the wicked past–that it may never happen again. Of course, others strongly opposed that idea. Today the region seems to be united behind the replacement plan.

What should we do as genealogists, historians, and archivists with documents and artifacts which may be reflective of prevailing attitudes of a past era, but are gravely offensive today?

I once was in an antique store, really more of junk warehouse, and I came across a sign which once had been nailed to the door of a Sacramento restaurant.  It read, “No dogs, Negroes, or Mexicans.”  I bought the sign for $2.00.  I was at the time an associate professor at a prominent western undergraduate institution. For awhile, I hung the sign underneath my law degree on my office wall.  But it soon became apparent that only a very few people got the message I was conveying. For most people, the contextual juxtaposition had little effect and they were offended and dismayed. I took the sign down and today it is buried somewhere in my garage amidst the clutter of a thirty-five year career of pushing into places my ancestors of African descent were not allowed.

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Edna Micheau is 90 years old!

May 10, 2011 Craig Family History, Genealogy

Check out today’s special birthday slideshow to the right – – – – – –>

Edna Mary Micheau Penny was born on May 10, 1921 in St. Louis Missouri. Her parents were Joseph Perry Micheau (1888-1975) of Prairie du Rocher, Illinois, and Edna Julia Lewis (1890-1989), of Carbondale, Illinois.  From the time she was born until 2008 she lived almost exclusively in St. Louis. However as a child she did spend several years in Prairie du Rocher. She recalls that her father did gardening around St. Joseph’s Church in Prairie du Rocher which was diagonally across the street from the house. Her mother was the first black teacher in Prairie du Rocher, taking over at the colored school when the nuns left.

She is a seventh generation Catholic and her family historically has been very devout. They became Catholic in 1722, when their forebears were brought as slaves from Santo Domingo by Philip Renault to Upper Louisiana to find gold and silver for the King of France. Renault never found precious metals, but he did find lead, which is still mined today in southern Illinois and eastern Missouri.

Edna’s father Joseph had wanted to become a priest, but after meeting Edna Lewis, God showed him a different way.

Edna Mary had five siblings: John Joseph Micheau, who died in infancy in 1915; Claude Alexander Micheau (1917-1991); Philip A Micheau (1919-2008); and Ottie Margarett Micheau Perkins, and Mary Anne Micheau Robinson, the latter two still living.

In St. Louis, Edna attended St. Rita School and Sumner High School.

On June 17, 1939, Edna Mary Micheau wed Ralph A Penny (1920-1983) at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Kirkwood Missouri. It was a double ceremony as her brother, Philip, at the same time, married Alquinston White (1921-1989).

Ralph and Edna had four children: Edna Mary Penny (1941-2008); David Joseph Penny (1942-2007); Claude Anthony Penny of Dallas Texas; and Margaret Ann Penny Manson of Carmichael California.

She has two grandchildren David Penny and Christopher Penny, who live in Washington state and a great-grandchild, Christopher’s daughter with his wife Melissa, Jacqueline Elizabeth Penny.  She has numerous nieces and nephews all across the USA.

As a young woman, Edna trained as a licensed practical nurse (LPN). She worked for many years at a neighborhood health center near the intersection of Cass Avenue and North Jefferson in St. Louis.

A shy but inquisitive woman, Edna would take her children on trips across the country by train. For example in 1962 she took her two youngest children Claude and Margarett to Seattle to see the worlds fair. Another time she took her children to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore.

For herself, Edna continually educate yourself about things that merely interest her. For example she once took an auto mechanics class, though she did not own or drive a car at the time. She learned to make her own soap and paper; and in the 1950s she made up virtually all of her children’s clothes, including a business suit for her eldest son David.

But it is her Catholic faith that defines Edna Micheau Penny more than anything. She attends mass every day of the week and prays the rosary multiple times during the day.. Her favorite television channel is the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN).

After she retired from the active workforce, Edna was a fixture at Birthright of St. Louis Inc. For nearly 30 years, she attended the March for Life in Washington DC, riding a bus on the 24 hour round-trip.

In 2008, the culmination of tragic events, including the second premature death of one of her children, led Edna Micheau Penny to come live with her daughter and son-in-law in California. Here her pastimes include rocking babies at Mercy women’s health Center while their mothers receive treatment. She still attends daily mass sometimes walking in the rain to make it there. When for some reason there’s not a mass, she will sit in the chapel with the Blessed Sacrament.

California has been somewhat of an adjustment for them. We drive too fast we talk too fast and we each strange foods according to her. She’s fiercely proud of her Catholic upper Louisiana heritage. Once when someone asked her what race she was, it not being particularly obvious, she said “I’m Illinois French.”

Family means everything to her. Lately thanks to a son-in-law she’s discovered genealogy. She’s intensely interested in her Micheau/Mischeaux cousins throughout the country, though most remain in St. Louis.

She spends time with her daughter and son-in-law (although at their house she’s more likely to see the Game Show Network than EWTN–Chuck Woolery instead of Mother Angelica; Lingo instead of Latin!).

Happy 90th birthday to the world’s greatest mother-in-law!

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Alfred E. Gines, 1930-2011

February 1, 2011 Craig Family History, Genealogy
Alfred Eugene Gines, Sr., was called home on Tuesday, February 1, 2011.  He passed away in the presence of his wife Icy, at the John Knox Rehabilitation Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri.

Alfred Gines was born on December 17, 1930.  He attended Lincoln High School in Kansas City, graduating in 1946.  He served in the United States Navy, and worked for John Deere Co. in Kansas City for  many years.  An active traveler, he ventured far and wide to visit family and friends.  He lived in Hawaii for a while in the 1970s.

He was the son of William Edward Gines (1898-1955) and Annie Florida Corrine Long (1902-1986).  His paternal grandparents were Richard William Gines (1857-1910?) and Sylvia LeJay (1863-1940) of Shreveport, Louisiana.  His maternal grandparents were Rev. James WIlliam Long (1866-1945) and Mary Elizabeth Johnson (1870-1946).

Alfred was preceded in death by a sister, Grace Gines Wedlaw (1916-2002) of Houston, Texas; two brothers, Richard Edward Gines (1926-1996), of New York City, and Perry Wesley Gines Sr. (1928-1986) of Anchorage,  Alaska; and a daughter, Althea Gines of Sacramento, California.

He is survived by his wife, Icy, and her daughters Joanie and Alinda; his sons, Alfred Eugene Gines Jr., and his wife, Felicia; William Edward Gines II; daughters Linda Gines Smith, and Pamela Hill.  Also surviving are his sisters,  Lillian Gines Manson, of San Jose, California, and Delorise Gines of Kansas City; and a brother, Kenneth B. Gines, also of Kansas City.
Additionally Alfred was much beloved by many grandchildren and nieces and nephews.

My uncle Alfred was the cheeriest person I’ve ever known. Even into his final illness, he was smiling, laughing and joking, enjoying his family around him.  When I last spoke to him about ten days ago, his mood was bright, though his prognosis was grim.

There’s a major snowstorm going on in Kansas City, so almost no one has been able get out to visit his wife and family.  Pray for a sunny day tomorrow, like Alfred would enjoy.

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Today is Kansas Day

January 29, 2011 Craig Family History, Genealogy

Kansas 150 Logo

Today, the State of Kansas marks its 150th anniversary of statehood.  Modern pop culture regards Kansas as quiet, flat, ordinary, and even boring; alternatively it’s portrayed as an idyllic land of sunflower fields.  But neither depiction reflects the reality of historical Kansas.

Statehood did not come easy to Kansas.  In the 1850′s, Kansas was the kindling ground that became a brush-fire that  became the conflagration known as the Civil War.   Kansas Territory attracted two polar opposite groups: ardent abolitionists, largely from New England; and staunch slavery supporters, many from Kentucky via Clay County, Missouri.  Kansans found themselves not only geographically in the center of the nation, but on center stage politically during one of the worst periods in US history.

The path to Kansas conflict was set upon in 1820, when the United States Congress decided to link what had been several separate measures to admit Missouri (a slave state) and Maine (a free state) to the Union and to prohibit slavery in the territories north and west of Missouri. This legislative package was known as the Missouri Compromise.  The idea was to maintain a balance between the slave states and the free states while stopping any further spread of slavery in the country. However, in 1854, Congress enacted the Kansas-Nebraska Act, organizing Kansas Territory and Nebraska Territory. The legislation effectively overturned the Missouri Compromise by providing that the issue of slavery in the territories would be decided by the people of those places. The result in Kansas was voter fraud and violence. The fuse to the Civil War had been lit.

Hundreds of transplanted southerners from Missouri poured into Kansas and elected a territorial legislature and other civil officers.  That first territorial legislature adopted a slave code that bore remarkable similarities to that of Kentucky.

Missourians openly cast fraudulent ballots in Kansas elections and unabashedly intimidated legal residents of Kansas.  These crimes were seldom investigated because, among other things, the responsible officials often were  dual officeholders from Missouri. For example, the District Attorney of one Kansas county was actually the DA of Clay County (“Little Dixie”), Missouri. The sheriff in another Kansas county was the sheriff of another Missouri county.

Slaves ran away from Missouri to Kansas; free blacks were kidnapped from Kansas and taken into bondage in Missouri. As the “Free-Staters” struggled with “Border Ruffians,” the territory became known as “Bleeding Kansas.” Such historical figures as Henry Ward Beecher and John Brown rose to national attention in Kansas. The violence actually spread from Kansas to Washington, DC. On the floor of the Senate in 1856, Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts delivered an angry speech called “The Crime Against Kansas” in which he verbally attacked southern senators, including Sen. Andrew Brooks of South Carolina, calling them “hirelings picked from the drunken spew and vomit of an uneasy civilization.” He accused them of “cavorting with the harlot, Slavery.” In retaliation, Sen. Brooks’ nephew, Rep. Preston Brooks, went to the Senate and beat Sumner unconscious with a cane. Sumner was unable to return to the Senate for more than three years.

In the end, the “Ruffians” failed to prevail.  And by 1861, the secession of several Southern states appeared likely and Congress swiftly granted statehood to Kansas on January 29, 1861.

During the war, Kansas was one of the first states to enlist black men.  The First Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry regiment was organized in 1862, consisting mainly of runaway slanes from Missouri.  The regiment acquitted itself well both before  and afetr its muster into Federal service in July 1863.

A century after the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Kansas was again center-stage in an American controversy.  In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the United States Supreme Court held that racially segregated public schools were “inherently unequal” and therefore unconstitutional. The decision changed the destiny of future generations of children as well as changing relationships and attitudes in America.

Kansas Day honors the state and its people who have been, often without appropriate recognition, at the center of  American life and history.  I’m proud to claim Kansas ancestry.  My great-grandfather, Rev. James William Long, was born in Shawnee, Kansas, in 1866.

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On this King Holiday, Some Personal Memories

January 17, 2011 Craig Family History, Genealogy

Half a century ago, in 1961, my family lived in West Germany (a name of a state now washed away  by history), as my father, an Army captain at the time, finished a tour of duty there. It was time for him, in Armyspeak, to “rotate back to CONUS” (i.e., to return to the continental United States). By early summer, he had received orders to report to Fort Lee, Virginia, by  15 September 1961.

The tides of history were about to exert a very personal force. To understand this force we have to look back to May 17, 1954, and understand how life in America changed that day.

In the spring of 1954, my father was in his junior year at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, a college which had been founded by members of the 62nd and 65th Infantry Regiments of the United States Colored Troops. My mother had graduated a year before. Like nearly everyone else in America, they were awaiting the the decision of the United States Supreme Court in several consolidated cases, collectively known as Brown versus Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. On May 17, that decision came.

Chief Justice Earl Warren, writing for a unanimous Court, held that racially separate  facilities in public education were inherently unequal and therefore unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The court directed that states end segregation in public education.

One of the consolidated cases was called Davis versus County School Board of Prince Edward County, Virginia. It arose from the segregation of Moton High School in Farmville, Virginia. In reaction to the decision of the Supreme Court, Virginia state officials instigated what they called “Massive Resistance.” The campaign, led by Democratic Senator Harry F. Byrd, Sr., was intended to keep Virginia schools segregated. Byrd signed on to what was called the “Southern Manifesto,” a tract sponsored by more than 100 members of Congress from Southern states. The Manifesto asserted that the Supreme Court had abused its power.

This unwarranted exercise of power by the Court, contrary to the Constitution, is creating chaos and confusion in the States principally affected. It is destroying the amicable relations between the white and Negro races that have been created through 90 years of patient effort by the good people of both races. It has planted hatred and suspicion where there has been heretofore friendship and understanding.

Most of those “90 years of patient effort” had been characterized by the passage and enforcement of “Jim Crow” laws.

Local officials in Virginia were especially willing to take the Manifesto to heart and vowed to do all they could to prevent integration of their schools. Indeed, in Prince Edward County, the school board vowed to shut the schools completely rather than comply with the laws requiring integration. And they did so in 1959.

My parents were certainly aware of this situation. And so when my father got orders requiring him to be posted to Virginia, let’s say he was something less than enthusiastic about going. He would rather risk is Army career than go to Virginia. He emphatically told his commander that he could not go to a place where his children could not go to school; that he would not go to a place where his children could not go to school. For awhile, nothing happened. It caused my father much anguish contemplating what he would have to do, possibly resign from the Army. But one day, a friendly white NCO told my dad about a place called to Sandia Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico. My father had never heard of it; not surprising because it was at least semi secret and had only existed for less than 15 years. It was not an Army base, per se; it was run directly by the Department of Defense and had members of all services as well as numerous civilians to support the military’s nuclear weapons program. The friendly noncom told my dad than Albuquerque’s high altitude and dry  climate would help a chronic respiratory condition that my father had had for years. There was his escape hatch. With the NCO’s help, my dad requested to have his orders changed to Sandia Base, New Mexico. Providentially, the request was granted, and we arrived at Sandia Base in time for school to start in September 1961.

The nation was in the throes of change when it came to issues of race and civil rights. A new president had been inaugurated that year and civil rights advocates had high hopes that he would push legislation to end Jim Crow laws throughout the South. And  a young minister from Georgia, the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., who continue to show bravery and resolve through difficult situations, always urging nonviolent responses, to achieve the goal of racial equality in America.

Growing up in Albuquerque, the civil rights movement was more like a TV miniseries to me than anything real. Albuquerque was a a city of barely more than 200,000 people as of the 1960 census. According to the Census Bureau, there were just 3,568 blacks living in Albuquerque at the time of the 1960 census, comprising only 1.8% of the population. [Today as a city of more than half a million, Albuquerque has something less than 20,000 African-Americans making up 3.8% of the population].

There was no particular place in town where black people lived although there were racial covenants and restrictions in deeds. There did seem to be a concentration of blacks in the southwest area of town, where Lincoln Junior High School was located. The perception was that that area was the black part of town, but with less than 3500 like people in town, how could there be a black part of town? Nonetheless, I remember  trepidation expressed by some of my white classmates when Van Buren Junior High School went to Lincoln to play a basketball game.

One of the few racial incidents that involved our family I recall very vividly. Soon after we arrived in Albuquerque, my parents were told that it would be a long wait for base housing. So they decided to look for a place to rent off the base. My mother found in the newspaper a quite suitable place in the relatively desirable neighborhood called Princess Jeanne. She called the landlady on the phone and inquired about the place and was told that she could have an appointment to come see it. So we all loaded into the 1961 Rambler and went out to the Princess Jean neighborhood in the Southeast Heights. The four of us children stayed in the car as my parents approach the house. I could see the door opened just a crack and saw an elderly white woman talking to my parents. They talked for a while and then my parents came back to the car, and it was clear that we would not be renting that place. The woman had said “You didn’t tell me you were colored.” The woman said, “You didn’t sound like a colored woman on the phone.” She said, “I would not have wasted your time and mine if I’d known you were a colored woman.” So ended our adventure to live off-base. Once again, providentially, base houisng was soon opened.

From the peace of the ultimate gated community my siblings and I watched the civil rights movement on television. We saw Bull Conner and his policemen in Birmingham release dogs after firehosing a crowd. We saw the aftermath of the bombings in Birmingham. In 1963, we watched the March on Washington. All along the way our parents tried to give us a sense of context of what was going on, because nothing like that happened to us in Albuquerque.

In 1964, we watched television news reports of the reopening of the schools in Prince Edward County, Virginia. There were children 10 and 11 years old who had not been to school a day in their lives and were starting first grade.  As I watched this, it occurred to me that the people hurt the most by the school closure were not the black people, but the poor white people. The middle class white people had opened so-called “segregation academies”,  private schools where they educated their children. The black people using survival skills that stemmed from slavery educated their children in their churches and in the homes of others. The poor whites went without school. That’s one of the ironic contradictions of institutionalized racism.

The Albuquerque public schools were completely integrated. The two schools on Sandia Base certainly were. But if there were few black people in Albuquerque itself, there were even fewer on Sandia Base. I don’t recall seeing a black child in school with me who wasn’t one of my siblings until I was in sixth grade.

It took a trip to Texas in 1962 with my grandmother [Jessie Beatrice Bowie, 1909-1973] for me to see firsthand the effects of Jim Crow. I’ve written about my Texas vacation in this space before, but I left out one significant incident.

We were primarily visiting in Rockport and Corpus Christi, but my Aunt Pansy [Pansy Emely Manson Warren, 1911-1990] owned café and motel in the town of Taft, Texas, a distance away from Rockport. One afternoon and evening, we took a bus to go to Taft from Rockport. It was a stormy night, with rain and wind like only the Gulf Coast can experience in late summer. At some point, the bus driver stopped and announced a break of about 15 minutes. We were in front of a small café in some town between Rockport and Taft. My grandmother and my sister and I went into the café with the other passengers. My grandmother went to the counter to order Cokes. A young white girl behind the counter brought her three Coca-Cola’s in the classic Coca-Cola bottles. We stood at the counter and began to drink. The white girl came back over and said politely, “Colored people are not allowed to sit at the counter.” My grandmother said, “Come on, let’s move away.”

I was outraged. I thought to myself, my Daddy is a captain in the United States Army. What do you mean I can’t sit where I want to sit. I didn’t say it aloud, however, because I didn’t know how my grandmother would react. We found a table and sat there and continue to drink our Cokes. Then I had to go to the restroom. My grandmother said, knowing what I would find, “It’s right through there,” indicating an arch opening at the rear of the cafe. I went “right through there” and was confronted with not two restrooms, but four: one that was labeled “White Men,” another labeled “Colored Men,” and two others signed “White Women” and “Colored Women,” respectively.  I was so dumbfounded that I wasn’t exactly sure which one I should go into.  After a couple of minutes of thinking over the situation I went into the “colored” bathroom.

There were two drinking fountains outside the bathrooms: one marked  “Colored People,” and one marked “White People.” Fortunately I didn’t have to get a drink of water since we’d been drinking Cokes.

People began drifting back to the bus, and my grandmother said we should go finish our Cokes on the bus. And we did. Soon more passengers drifted back to the bus, including the driver. It was still seriously raining in the Gulf Coast storm. Just as the bus driver was about to pull out of the parking lot, I saw a huge fat white man, come running out of the café with his belly barely covered by his T-shirt, barefoot, and  yelling something. As he got closer, I could make out what he was agitated about. He was yelling, “Don’t let them niggers run off with my bottles.” His  5-cent deposit bottles.

Late that night we got to Aunt Pansy’s place in Taft. It had been a long day so we went right to bed. In the morning, we went to to breakfast at Aunt Pansy’s cafe. I noticed in her café there was a sign that said, “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.” And I immediately thought of my experience the previous night. I asked Aunt Pansy, “Does that mean you can refuse to serve white people?”  She chuckled, and she said, “It means I can do anything I want.” Somehow, that didn’t ease my troubled mind.

Life is different in America today; different for the better, mainly. And we, all of us regardless of race,  owe a debt of gratitude to the civil rights pioneers, exemplified by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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A Little Bit Closer to Charlotte Manson

January 13, 2011 Craig Family History, Genealogy

Sometimes it seems as if ancestors choose to reveal themselves a little bit at a time.  The records and evidence may be out there somewhere, but they may not be apparent for years.

We have noted in this space several times before that I trace my paternal lineage to a Scots woman  named Charlotte Manson.    But she remains a figure shrouded in mystery.  We know of her because of a gift given to one of her granddaughters, Mary C. Manson, in 1856.  Mary and her sister Matilda (my direct ancestor) were daughters of Jane Manson, a so-called “free woman of color”  in Georgia before the Civil War.

The chain of evidence looks like this:

1. Me (my birth cert., marr. lic., mil. recs., newspaper articles, other state & fed. recs.)

2. My father (birth cert. marr.lic., mil. recs., newspaper articles, other state & fed. recs)

3. Quentin V.H. Manson (1913-1987) (school recs., census, city dir., death cert., other gov recs.)

4. Otis Manson (1874-1950)(census, city dir., death cert)

5. Matilda Manson (1843-1910?)(census records)

6. Jane Manson(1826-1880?)(census records, land records, court records)

Then comes Charlotte (1797?-?).  How do we know she existed and was the mother of Jane Manson?

I mentioned above that we know of her through a gift given one of her granddaughters, Matilda’s sister Mary (1846-?).   In 1852, a man named Nathaniel Brown deeded a piece of land to  Mary Manson, who was then a minor.

Nathaniel Brown to Mary Manson deed

Nathaniel Brown to Mary Manson deed, page 2

The deed, recorded in the Taylor County, Georgia, Superior Court, a (less-than-optimal) copy of which is reproduced above, reads as follows as I can make it out:

State of Georgia.
Taylor County.
Know all men by these presents that I Nathaniel Brown of the county and state aforesaid for and in the consideration of the love, good will and affection, which I have and now bear towards Mary C. Manson, daughter of Jane Manson of the County aforesaid do give and grant to the said Mary C. One-half acre of pinelands, where Jane Manson now lives it being in the Southwest corner of that lot of land conveyed to me on the fourth day of this June by J.C. McCants, A. McCants, and J.T. Gray, containing three acres of land, which lot of land as aforesaid I do hereby [unreadable] Mary C. Manson with the following caveat: that [unreadable] shall have the [unreadable] and control of the Land for and during her natural lifetime, but the aforesaid property is not at any kind to me subject to the debts, nor contracts of the said Jane Manson, which property I hereby give as above-mentioned, and that I do hereby relinquish all my claims, interests, right and title to the above named land against myself, my heirs, and assigns forever. In witness whereof, I the said Nathaniel Brown have here unto set my hand and seal this 8th day of October 1853.

N. Brown {seal}.

Signed, sealed and delivered in presence of us

W. W. Wiggins

Isaac Mulkey J. I. C.


Recorded on the 14th day of November 1853
John A.W.M. McCants, Clk

[notes: "J.  I.  C." stands for "justice of the inferior court."  The McCants family was quite large and quite prosperous, apparently, as they appear in many, many land transactions in several counties in central and western Georgia in the mid-19th century.]

So how does that put us closer to Charlotte Manson?  Well, three years later, the affidavit which appears below was filed in Taylor County Superior Court.  My transcription follows.

Nathaniel Brown affidavit Re: Jane Manson

State of Georgia

Taylor County

This is to certify that Jane Manson, commonly called Jane Brown is and ever was a free born person her mother being a white woman married to James Curington of Marion County formerly now Taylor. Her mother’s maiden name was Chalotte [sic] Manson.  Jane is I suppose about Twenty Six or seven years old from the best information I can get and that the said girl’s color came from the father’s side who was the Creole or Indian race as information says which her appearance indicates references Starling Barlett, Eliakim Rhodes, Absolem Rhodes, former Tax Receiver of this county and many others of Taylor County who knew her mother and Jane before I did.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

N. Brown

John Sturdivant, JP

Button, Taylor County
May 30, 1856

Recorded 30th day of May 1856

Isaac Mulkey, Clerk

This is the first record mention of Charlotte Manson that I found.  For years it was the only record mention of Charlotte Manson that I could tie to Jane and her children.  It was the only record that I hand that Charlotte Manson even existed.  Then a few days ago, over at FamilySearch.org,  I discovered the following in the Georgia Marriages 1808-1967 collection:

Groom’s Name: James Curington

Bride’s Name: Charlotte Mansel (sic)

Marriage Date: 12 February 1837

Marriage Place: Sumter, Georgia

So who was Charlotte Manson?  Who were her parents?  Where was she born?  There are bits and pieces of evidence that suggest that she may have been born in either the Savannah, Georgia, area or in neighboring South Carolina.  There are hints that she may have been born sometime between 1790 and 1800. There are wisps and strands that seem to say she was born a first-generation American to Scots immigrants. But none of these things can I take to the bank and get any credit.

I may never know in my lifetime just who Charlotte Manson really was, but today I’m a little bit closer.

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I Never Knew . . . .

December 31, 2010 Craig Family History, Genealogy, Sacramento

As a kid growing up, I knew very few of my cousins.  In fact, I can recall meeting just three of them, all on my mother’s side, before I turned eighteen years old.  This was a consequence of the fact that our military family lived in places far away from where my parents grew up.  I used to wonder sometimes if I could be passing by some cousin walking down the street and not even know it.

Since I began genealogical research about eight years ago, I’ve met many cousins online and in person, near and far removed (yes, that does have a double meaning).  And that has only increased my belief that some relative is always nearby, whether one knows it or not.

On Monday, 27 December 2010, I learned that my cousin Candy Gines had lived for several years just a few miles from me. I had met her just once, years ago back in our ancestral homeland of Kansas City. I would have eagerly welcomed the chance to get to know her.

Althea “Candy” Gines passed away on Monday, 27 December 2010 in Sacramento, California. She was in her fifties.   She leaves two adult children, Brian and Christina, and is also survived here by a nephew, Christopher.

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