Tag Archive for De Soto Parish

Black Confederates: Inconvenient Truth or Racist-inspired Revisionism?

March 10, 2010 Craig Family History, Genealogy

A Long-Sought Photograph, Discovered, Stirs the Pot

The photograph of my second great-grandfather was in a book titled Black Confederates (Pelican Publishing 2001), which its editors and publisher  tout as a compilation of historical accounts, photographs and documents relating to blacks who served with rebel forces in the Civil War.  Lewis LeJay (1835-1921) is described in the book through an account given by Francis Chandler Furman, a Missouri geologist, who says he heard the story in 1970 from his father Greene Chandler Furman, who in turn heard it from his father, Francis Scrimzeuor Furman, who is the white man in military uniform standing next to Lewis LeJay in the photo.

According to the Furmans, Lewis had been born a slave on the plantation of Henry Marshall (1805-1864) in De Soto Parish, Louisiana. Marshall was perhaps the largest landowner in De Soto parish. His major holding was Land’s End plantation.  Marshall was a state senator and signed the Confederate Constitution as well as the Louisiana Ordinance of Secession. In 1858, Marshall’s daughter Mary was wed to Scrimzeour C. Furman, M.D., who was an officer in the first De Soto unit to enter the Civil War.  When Mary died, Dr. Furman married her younger sister, Mattie.  They had three children, a daughter and two sons, one of whom was Francis (“Frank”) Scrimzeour Furman. Frank became a physician like his father.

In 1917, the now-Capt Frank Furman was preparing to go to Camp Beauregard, LA, to become the chief of gas defense.  At Land’s End Plantation, Furman visited with the black servant he knew as “Daddy Lewis.”  Lewis gave the captain some advice about how to handle himself in combat.  Lewis’ knowledge in this area was derived form his experiences in the Civil War as a wagoneer with the Confederate artillery. He was supposedly shot in the shoulder and carried the bullet the rest of his life.  After having been shot and thought to be dead, he drove a wagon laden with gunpowder through Federal lines to supply a rebel company.

So Lewis LeJay was a black Confederate~or was he?  Were there black Confederate fighters or this a revisionist racist idea that’s right up there with Holocaust denial?

A researcher at a Finnish university says that “the role of African-Americans who fought for the Confederacy during  the American Civil War . . . [is] [p]erhaps one of the most silenced topics today in American history, and politically among the most delicate . . . .”  Indeed.

On the one side of the debate are those who categorically reject the notion that any black man fought willingly for the Confederacy.  These individuals generally acknowledge that there were some blacks with Confederate forces, but they contend that these were merely slaves dragged along by their masters.  Those on this side of the debate excoriate  as ignorant, racist, and dishonest anyone who dares to suggest that blacks may have been consensual actors on behalf of the Confederate  states. This group can brook no possibility other than the coercion of slavery as the reason for military action by southern blacks.

On the other side of the debate are those who claim thousands of blacks voluntarily served with Confederate forces; many motivated by affection for their masters and for the South itself.  Many in this camp also point to evidence of “happy slaves” who believed themselves better off with slavery than without it.

So were  there or were there not consensual black actors with Confederate forces? Is it racist to say “yes.”?

Let’s have a look at the evidence.  We will discover first that studies of the topic are sparse.  Some say that’s because there is no evidence worthy of academic study; others say that politics has squelched attempts to get at the truth of this matter.

Most historians agree that the Confederate states from the outset had no intention of recruiting black troops. In this respect, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis were in apparent agreement.  Many  historians also agree that a number of enslaved blacks were present in battle zones often as “body servants” to their white masters who had joined the rebel forces.  But things get murky when the matters of black Confederate “volunteers” or formally organized black Confederate units are considered.

The book in which the picture of Lewis LeJay was found was edited by Charles Kelly Barrow, J.H. Segars, and R.B. Rosenburg. Barrow in particular has sought to “set straight” historical accounts of the Civil War and has authored or edited several works about supposed black fighters with the Confederate Army.  In 2002, the Southern Poverty Law Center, regarded as a near-iconic institution among a certain segment of civil rights activists, identified Barrow as holding several positions in the Sons of Confederate Veterans.  SPLC claims that SCV is run by individuals who are members of  “hate groups.”  In Barrow’s case, SPLC cites his membership in an organization called “League of the South.”

But the June 2005 Statement on Racism adopted by  the League of the South states:

We believe that Christianity and social order require that all people, regardless of race, must be equal before the law. We do not believe that the law should be used to persecute, oppress, or favour any race or class.
We believe that the only harmony possible between the races, as between all natural differences among human
beings, begins in submitting to Jesus Christ’s commandment to “love our neighbours as ourselves.” That is the
world we envision and work for.

We believe that the politics of race — baiting whites against blacks and blacks against white has been profitable for
politicians but catastrophic for the South and Southerners.

We believe that all Southerners – black and white – want and need the same things: a safe country for their families,
liberty, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Let’s suppose for a minute that SPLC is “correct” and that Barrow is a racist. Does  that impeach his research on the Civil War?   In other words, can one be simultaneously a serious scholar and a “racist”?  My answer is, “It depends.” One thing it does not depend upon is the content of the view taken by the supposed scholar. Are Palestinian or Israeli academics disqualifed from membership in the community of serious scholars because of their points of view?

But back to the main issue.  In the May 10, 1862 number of Harper’s Weekly, it is reported:

The correspondent of the New York Herald, in one of its late numbers, reports that the rebels had a regiment of mounted negroes, armed with sabres, at Manassas, and that some five hundred Union prisoners taken at Bull Run were escorted to their filthy prison by a regiment of black men.

The image below appeared in Harper’s on January 10, 1863, captioned “Rebel Negro Pickets Seen through a Field Glass.”

Negro Confederate pickets

A number of African-Americans actively promote the notion there were black Confederate soldiers who have gone unrecognized.  Prominent among them are Ervin L. Jordan, Jr., and Nelson Winbush.  Jordan is an archivist and scholar at the University of Virginia.  He’s written a book called Black Confederates and Afro-Yankees in Civil War Virginia (University Press of Virginia, 1995), which Publishers Weekly called an “exhaustively researched treatise.” Winbush is a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans in Florida.  His grandfather, Louis Napolean Nelson, is said to have served with Company M, 7th Tennessee Cavalry, rising from cook to rifleman to chaplain.

Both Jordan and Winbush are outspoken about the need to tell the whole story about black Confederate troops.  Professor Jordan has been quoted as saying:

“Numerous Afro-Virginians, free blacks and slaves, were genuine Southern loyalists, not as a consequence of white pressure but due to their preferences. They are the Civil War’s forgotten people, yet their existence was more widespread than American history has recorded. Their bones rest in unhonored glory in Southern soil, shrouded by falsehoods, indifference and historians’ censorship.”

University of Virginia Professor Ervin L. Jordan, Jr.

Estimates of blacks who served in Confederate ranks range up to 80,000, although 65,000 seems to be a widely accepted number.

What would motivate a black man to serve the Confederate cause if he were not coerced into doing so?  Perhaps he might think he had a greater chance of survival if the agrarian South survived.  A Northern victory would mean uncertainty, ambiguity, more discomfort.  Or perhaps he might believe that there were rewards for himself and his family to be had from grateful Southern authorities if the Confederacy prevailed. present Or perhaps black Confederates represent an early manifestation of that psychology now described as “Stockholm Syndrome.”

I think there is little historical doubt that blacks served the Confederacy and that such service in many cases extended beyond that of personal valet.  I think there were a variety of motivations.  But two things should be clear: (1) the fact that the world may not have been as tidy as we now would wish it to have been is not an excuse for the exclusion, revision, or distortion of history; and (2) the fact that blacks may have served the Confederacy adds nothing to the emptiness of its moral and constitutional accounts.

What do you think?

Photograph of Prof. Jordan by LuAnn Williams from Spring 2004 Newsletter of the Carter Woodson Institute;

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Lewis LeJay (1835-1921)

February 20, 2010 Craig Family History, Genealogy

There are some ancestors I have given up any hope of ever seeing in a photograph.  So it was with my second great-grandfather, Lewis LeJay of De Soto Parish, Louisiana.   He  was the husband of Syntrilla Brayboy and they were the parents of Sylvia LeJay. Sylvia married Richard William Gines, and they became my mother’s grandparents.

Researching the LeJays has been the biggest challenge of my genealogical excursion.  I have written  a number of times about how difficult it has been to find them. See here and here.

A couple of weeks ago, my cousin Karen Burney called with breathless news.  She had seen a picture of Lewis LeJay in a book!  I just about fell out of my (wheel) chair!

She told me to check a certain search term on Google Books to see the photograph.  And I did!   As excited as I was to see his picture, I did not at first realize  that the circumstances of the picture lay veyr near the core  of a roiling controversy about American history.  I broach that topic in the next post.  But first, the photograph:

Lewis LeJay (left) with Army Capt Francis Scrimzeour Furman, at Land’s End Plantation, De Soto Parish, Louisiana, 1917; ( Photo in C.K. Barrow, J.H. Segars, & R.B. Rosenburg, eds., Black Confederates, Pelican Publishing, 2001)

What’s controversial about this picture?  See the next post.

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The Process of Breaking Down a Brick Wall

August 6, 2009 Craig Family History, Genealogy, Tensas Parish

Second in a multi-part series

Here’s a synopsis of how I achieved my #1 research goal: finding the parents of my great-grandfather, Richard Gines of Shreveport, Louisiana.  Bear in mind that eahcof these steps took months or even years to complete and some ran concurrently.

Step 1:  The  Neophyte Phase.  I was new to genealogical research and had fairly easily made my way through the generations up to my great-grandparents and with respect to the next generation, I had not had much difficulty, either.  But getting past Richard Gines in Louisiana was proving difficult. In this first phase, I concentrated specifically on finding the father of Richard Gines.  I looked almost exclusively for people named Gines [remember this was my neophyte phase!]. Occasionally, I’d come across someone named Gaines, which seems to be thought of as the most likely variation on Gines.  Google, and other search engines, for example, will ask, “Did you mean Gaines?” if you search for Gines. Once in a while, my relatives have been listed in publications or records as Gaines; but it doesn’t happen that often.

To find Richard Gines’ father, I embarked several times on a study of collateral relatives.  As I mentioned in the prologue post, I
had made an assumption that the Ed Gines I had found in Bossier parish was Dick’s brother.  So I tried to find a father for Ed–also to no avail.  I then tried to compile a database of all blacks in the Deep South (LA, MS, AL, GA, SC) named Gines after 1870. Although it’s not complete and is not all that well organized, I have the semblance of such a database.

I used all the  “usual sources” to get there: census records, land records, military records, church and marriage records, tax records, ships’ manifests, deeds, slave bills of sale, etc.  My thought was that I could simply “connect the dots” of birth dates and places and that would lead to the imminent discovery of Richard Gines’ parents.   It didn’t work.

Step 2:  The Learning Phase.  At some point, I began to engage in a broader study of the history, geography, and sociology of Louisiana.  My original naive hope was that I would find the Gines name mentioned in one of the research materials.  That only happened only infrequently and in circumstances that “obviously” had nothing to do with Richard Gines. But it was during this phase that I got the hints that I would need to put it all together eventually.  For example,in a census record, I discovered a Caroline Gines in Catahoula Parish, aged 73 in 1910.  While I couldn’t make a connection to Richard Gines in Caddo Parish, I kept thinking about Caroline Gines and wondering where she had come from.

Then I found some tax records transcribed from Tensas Parish in 1899,  That listed a Rebecca Gines and a “Don” Gines [who I now know to be Dorsey Gines, son of Milford and Rebecca Gines] on Marydale Plantation in Tensas Parish and Elijah Gines and Caroline Gines on Evergreen Plantation.  [Yes, the same Caroline Gines as in the 1910 census!].  Again, no direct connection, but I kept these things in mind.

After thinking about the Tensas Parish tax records for a considerable period of time, I decided to look into those particular plantations.  I read several books about the planters in Tensas Parish.  I discovered that the Tensas planters were often the same people who owned plantations in western Mississippi.  Given the number of folks named Gines in that area, perhaps the slaves in western Mississippi were related in some fashion to those in Tensas Parish.

Significant Locations for Gines or Guynes Surname in Lousiana and Mississippi

Significant Locations for Gines or Guynes Surname in Lousiana and Mississippi

Key for unidentified jurisdictions:
Louisiana: 1-Madison Parish
2-Franklin Parish
3-Richland Parish
4-Catahoula Parish
Mississippi: A-Claiborne County
B-Copiah County
C-Pearl River County

Step 3:  The Spelling Bee.   When I was  about ready to concede defeat, several occurences came together to give my even more clues.  First, cousin Karen Burney related that she had met some one whose name was “Guynes.”  Second, I found a death certificate for one Egans Gines.  This latter individual had been born in Tensas Parish.   Putting the two together, “Tensas parish” and Guynes, led to the discovery of many black people named Guynes in Louisiana.  This led me to want to study further the geography and history of the Mississippi Delta region. I then began to come across people, mainly white, who were  named “Guynes.”

I tried to track “Guynes” slaveowners.  There were several, concentrated around Copiah County, Mississippi, in the southwestern part of the state, but not that many in Louisiana.  But as I continued to look closely at Tensas PArish, I began to find what appeared to be variations on the name Gines.  As I have described before, I found people identified as Gynes, Gions, Giones, Guynes, Gion, Guins, Guines and even a Gaynes.  They all appeared to be related and were concentrated  in an area surrounding Tensas Parish, which area includes parts of western Mississippi.

Most of the apparent variations I had not considered because most don’t occur in a Soundex search.  But there they were.  And I wasn’t sure how to deal with them.  Then the next bit of evidence fell into place.  I discovered that the Louisiana State Archives had a death certificate for one Ed Guynes, black male, born about 1843 in Bossier Parish.

At first, this did not strike me as significant, although interesting.  The  date of birth, 1843, was far earlier than I had placed any sibling of Richard Gines. The more I studied it, however, the more interesting it got.  Ed Guynes’ spouse was named “Adelaide” on the death certificate.  Ed Gines on the 1880 census had a wife identified as “Adlade.”

This was eventually interesting enough to cause me to set up an intermediate hypothesis: that Richard Gines’ parents and siblings would be found in Tensas Parish.  So I went back there to look for collaterals.  But this time, I was armed with a good knowledge of the name variants as well as  a knowledge of the plantations in the parish.  I began an intensive search in Tensas Parish, looking for men named Dick and running all the spelling variations. This yielded a lot more Gines people under various forms of the name. It also produced a certain feeling in my mind that I had located Richard Gines’ parents in Tensas Parish, even though I still didn’t know specifically who they were.  I had one lead in which I had only a little confidence.

But I could sense that I was so close, so close! I couldn’t let what I had slip away. I decided to make one major push on this issue. I decided to go page by page pf the census records for 1870 for Caddo, Bossier, and Tensas Parishes, searching for every known spelling variation.  That is what I did . . . and that’s how I found George Guion!

I could have searched page by page at the beginning five years ago, but I wouldn’t have known what I was looking for or where reasonably to search.  I would have been seeking a family named Gines and I would have not found them.  It was only when I had learned many other things in context that I was ready to find the answer.

Next: What Makes You So Sure You’ve Knocked Down A Brick Wall? (Remember “The Wrong Longs?”)

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Louisiana Public Records Online Access: Good and Ugly

May 1, 2009 Craig Uncategorized

I’ve written favorably about the vital records index at the Louisiana State Archives.  It’s easy to use to look up information and it’s set up to make ordering certified copies by snail mail easy.  Unlike Texas, Louisiana does not have an on-line ordering capability run by the state.  But since they make everything else so easy, I barely noticed.

Now the individual parishes are quite another story.   Two parishes in which I do a lot of research are Caddo and De Soto.   Here’s the unvarnished truth about their processes:

CADDO–The Caddo Clerk of Court has an easy-to-find website at www.caddoclerk.com.   On the site there is a marriage index which goes back to 1919.   I have find it to be very useful from a substantive point  of view.  My gripe with it is that it doesn’t work well with my Firefox browser.  It works fine with IE 6 and IE 7.

Copies of the marriage licenses may be ordered from as early as 1838.  The cost of a certified copy is $2.50; an uncertified copy is just $0.50!

Suppose, however, you want to view something other than the marriage index.  Perhaps you’re interested  in property records, or even in seeing the images of the marriage licenses (which are available back to 1838).  All of these things are accessible via the Internet.  The ugly part is that one must haqve a remote access account with the county.  To get such an account, you must sign two documents, an application and a contract.  You are charged a $100.00 set up fee and then $30.00 per month for unlimited access.

DE SOTO–The situation in De Soto Parish (much smaller than Caddo) is even worse.  First, the oldest records online are from 1958.  Most date from 1991.  But the fees are astronomical.  There is a one-time setup fee of $150.00.  Then, if you just want to search indices, that’ll cost $50.00 per month.  To actually view the records, you’ll have to fork over $100.00 per month!

This is a shame.  But De Soto’s clerk explains on his website:

No tax money is provided for the operation of the office except for residence, utilities, and some  modifications. The fees collected for recordings, certified copies, and services rendered in  connection with civil, probate, and criminal proceedings are established by statute.    All salaries  and expenses of the office are paid out of the fees. This makes the Clerk of Court’s office entirely self-supporting.

So there you have it!

I’m certainly not one who favors operating with no reimbursement for costs.  But, please, the maintenance of these records is a public function and it ought to be funded that way.  If you want to charge a higher fee for out-of-state
requests, that’s one thing. But to provide no public funding for a core governmental function is wrong.  It puts the  records at risk and ultimately may have dire consequences for the public.  It’s time for Louisiana to step up and pick up this duty.

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The UPS Man Cometh

April 28, 2009 Craig Uncategorized

Finally!  Back in January, I ordered from Amzaon.com the book, Biographical & Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana, originally published in 1890 by Southern Publishing Co.   For several months, I kept getting notices from Amazon that shipping would delayed and they would give a date range during which it would ship.  All truned out to wrong until the last notice, which suggested that I could expect to get the book by April 27.  And it arrived on that very day!

The book covers Avoyelles, Bossier, Caddo, De Soto, Natchitoches, and Winn  parishes where I have identified ancestors, and Bienville, Claiborne, Grant, Rapides (misspelled “Rapids” on the cover), Sabine, and Webster parishes where I most likely will find ancestors.

I didn’t any family names in the index.  I did peruse the chapters on Caddo and De Soto; those parishes being where many, if not most of my Louisiana forbears lived.

What good are books like this if they don’t specifically mention one’s research subjects?   Well, books like this give a great deal of context to one’s record research.  Context is all important!  This book, published in 1890 (just eight years before my grandfather was born in Bossier Parish) describes the history of the parishes from their founding.  Historical events and famous people are put into context.

Fpr instance, on the 1900 census, my great-grandfather’s occupation is described as, “fireman, electric roundhouse.”  I surmised that this was some sort of railroad job.   The book reveals that in 1890, there were at least four intracity electrical street car lines in Shreveport.  Apparently, Grandpa Dick and his son, Frank, worked for one of them.

The book seems, on initial perusal, to be quite thorough in its detailed descriptions of each parish.  At various places, however, one is reminded of the context of the times in which it was published.  For example, in describing De Soto Parish, it states that the town of Keatchie was “named after some lazy Indian,”  who is not further identified.

I’m eager to get into the rest of it and I may post relevant passages here from time to time.

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The Mailman Cometh

April 25, 2009 Craig Uncategorized

“Was there anything in the mail today?” I ask.

“Yeah, a lot of stuff.  But nothing really exciting,” she replies.  “It’s there on the table.”

I look there on the table, and wade through the usual bills, sales flyers, charitable solicitations, junk mail disguised as first class mail, until I finally come to a big brown envelope marked “Louisiana Secretary of State.”

“I thought you said there was nothing really important here.”

“There isn’t.”

As every genealogist knows,  one of the most exciting times of the day is when the mail comes.   The envelope from the Louisiana Secretary of State contained five death certificates which I had found listed on their web site at http://www.sos.louisiana.gov/tabid/640/Default.aspx.  The five death certificates are for:

1. Syntrilla Brayboy LeJay, my great great grandmother who died on July 24, 1923.

2.  Sandy Lejay, Syntrilla’s son, who died on March 10, 1946.

3.  William Brayboy Sr., who died on January 14, 1933.

4.  Jane Jefferson who died on October 29, 1918.

5.  Egans Gines who died on March 8, 1948.

Each of these death certificates may hold the answer to particular secrets that I’ve been researching.  On first blush however they raise more questions than they answer.

Syntrilla Brayboy LeJay was my great-great-grandmother.  She was the mother of Sylvia LeJay, who was the mother of William Edward Gines, who was the father of my mother.  I’ve been trying for awhile to sort out Syntrilla’s paternity.  I had thought that her father was William (Billie) Brayboy (c.1795-?). The death certificate gives her father’s name as Jim.  So the first issue is: might William Brayboy and Jim Brayboy be the same person?

As I ponder that issue, I peruse another death certificate, that of Jane Jefferson. Karen Burney has written a number of times about Jane Brayboy Jefferson at Louisiana Lineage Legacies.  Jane would be Karen’s great-great-grandmother.  According to her death certificate, her mother was Phoebe Morris.  This was no surprise to me, because that’s what Karen’s research has shown. Phoebe Morris had been known as Phoebe Brayboy.  For awhile at least, Karen had the same thought that I did–namely that Phoebe’s first husband had been William or “Billie” Brayboy. But the death certificate gives her father’s name as Jim Brayboy, the same as Syntrilla’s father!  The informant was Issac Jefferson, Jane’s husband.  He certainly would be in a position to know her father’s name, having apparently lived in the same parish.

Another death certificate I got was for a William Brayboy Sr.  He died in Frierson, De Soto parish, on January 14, 1933.  The death certificate gives his age at time of death as 70. That would make his birth date sometime in 1863.  His father is is listed as Billy Brayboy and his mother is listed as “Feebie” Jones.  Could Feebie Jones be the same person as Phoebe Brayboy Morris?

Karen says that nobody really knew the name of Jane’s father, but many surmised it was Billy Brayboy because Jane had a brother named Billy.  Karen also points out that Jim Brayboy is also listed as the father of Boykin Brayboy (1900-1966).  Could the same Jim Brayboy have fathered children nearly 60 years apart?  Well, it is biologically possible.

Clearly, we have some issues that need further exploration.

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Names, Places & Most Wanted Faces

February 26, 2009 Craig Uncategorized

I started this with a note on Facebook and it was suggested that it would make a good meme for bloggers.  The idea is to publicize your surnames and locales to see if anyone elseknows something about them.  For me on Facebook, I got several research-helpful replies. So how much better to take it to a wider audience.

List the surnames you are researching and the general localities.  Then tell the names of your “Most Wanted Ancestors,” that is, the ones you most want to find behind that brickwall.   (You can tag people if you want; I’ve chosen not to do that here so that all readers are included).   Let’s see your lists; maybe we can each help someone out!

Surnames & Locales:

MANSON: Georgia (Talbot, Taylor & Upson Counties) Texas (Milam, Midland Counties)
BOWIE: Louisiana (Cataholua, Avoyelles, Monroe, Rapides Parishes) Texas (Gregg, Harrison Counties)
BIRDSONG: Georgia (Talbot, Upson Counties)
BRAYBOY: Louisiana (Caddo, De Soto Parishes) South Carolina
BRYANT: Texas (Aransas, DeWitt, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio Counties)
GILBERT: Missouri (Clay, Jackson, Platte Counties)
GINES: Louisiana (Bossier, Caddo, Tensas Parishes) Mississippi (Claiborne, Hancock, Hinds, Pearl River, Walthall Counties) Texas (Harris, Nacogdoches Counties)
JOHNSON: Missouri (Clay, Jackson, Platte Counties)
LeJAY: Louisiana (Caddo, De Soto Parishes)
LONG: Kansas (Johnson County) Missouri (Jackson County)
MICHEAU/MISCHEAUX: California (San Mateo, Los Angeles County) Illinois (Randolph County) Missouri (St Louis)
SANFORD: Tennessee (Williamson County) Texas (Milam County)

Most Wanted Ancestors: Parents of Sarah GILBERT (b. 1849, Clay County, Mo); Parents of Richard William GINES (b. 1860, Bossier Parish, La); Parents of George MICHEAU (1813-1907; Prairie du Rocher, Ill.)

What about you?

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Can’t find a Louisiana Relative or Ancestor? Try Looking in California!

August 15, 2008 Craig Uncategorized

What?!

Yes, you heard right. If you’re having difficulty locating a Louisiana relative or ancestor from the 20th century, perhaps you should try looking in California . . . well, at least in some of the California databases on Ancestry.com.

During and after World War II, there was a huge movement of people from the South to California. They were drawn by the lure of high paying jobs, mainly in defense and aerospace industries. While some returned home after awhile, the vast majority remained in California. Perhaps your ancestor or relative was among them.

The California databases on Ancestry.com include several that are particularly useful in finding people–even women whose names may have changed after marriage.

Most useful is the California Death Index covering the years 1940-1997. The timeframe coincides nicely with the war/postwar period when many people arrived in the Golden State from the Old South. What makes this database useful is that it lists the decedent’s place of birth as well as the mother’s maiden name and father’s surname (if different from the decedent’s surname). This information can help pinpoint the decedent’s origins.

Here’s an example of how to use this database:

Suppose we’re looking for “Hattie LeJay” who was born and for sometime resided in Louisiana. We’ve lost track of her.  So let’s look in California! First, we can try searching for “Hattie LeJay” in California, but that turns up nothing. We don’t know if she got married and if so, what her married name was. How do we deal with this? In the California Death Index search box for mother’s maiden name, we type “LeJay”; put “Louisiana” in the “Birth Place” box and leave all the other fields blank. Here’s what we get:

Leroy Benjamin Gregge

Born: 18 Jan 1944, Louisiana

Died: 22 Jan 1987, Los Angeles County, California

Mother’s Maiden Name: Lejay

One individual whose mother’s maiden name was “LeJay” was born in Louisiana and died in California. What do we do next to connect this person to the LeJay family we’re researching?

Notice that this person was born in 1944. That means, of course, that he’s not listed on any currently available census. It may also confirm the basic hypothesis that his parents were part of the tremendous migration to California during World War II. There are two ways to proceed: (1) the hard way; or (2) the simpler way. I like the simpler way, so we won’t even touch the hard way.

How can we do this without having a first name for either parent? Well, the simple way involves constructing another reasonable hypothesis; namely that his parents stayed in California and perhaps died there. So we turn to the California Death Index once again. But this time, we put “Gregge” into the main name search box. Here’s what we get:

Leroy Gregge turns up again. But there are two other Gregges listed above him, Chester and Hattie. Let’s try to find Chester Gregge and Hattie LeJay in Louisiana. And we hit the jackpot in the 1930 census of De Soto Parish! On Sheet 1-A of the enumeration of De Soto Police Jury Ward 2, District 5, in household no. 7, 23 year old Chester “Gregg” resides with his uncle, John Morris. [Do you remember seeing Chester's mother's maiden name as "Morris" on the California Death Index? Go look again.]

Then on the next page, Sheet 1-B of De Soto Police Jury Ward 2, District 5, we’ll see Hattie LeJay, age 15, in household no. 21, with her parents, John and Ella. So in a few short searches in California records, we’ve found a probable marriage and at least one other LeJay descendant.

Naturally, we’ll take this further by getting the birth, marriage, and death certificates involved here.

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Where Was Your Family in 1908?

January 9, 2008 Craig Uncategorized

Lisa, who has the energy to write several interesting blogs, posed the question, “Where was your family in 1908?” on, appropriately enough, her 100 Years in America blog.

A century ago, neither of my paternal grandparents had been born yet, although one, my grandmother Jessie Beatrice Bowie, was just a year away. Her parents, my great-grandparents, Hattie Bryant and Elias Bowie, Sr., had recently met and were living in San Antonio, Texas. Hattie’s and Elias’ parents were also in Texas. Guy Bryant and Maria Martin lived in Rockport, Aransas County, Texas, in 1908. Guy was a butcher. John Wesley Bowie and Amanda McCray made their home in the east Texas town of Longview in Gregg County. They lived at 114 Morgan Street and 63 year old John did “odd jobs.”

My other paternal great-grandparents, Otis Manson and Bettie Sanford, lived on a farm near Rockdale, Milam County, Texas. My great-great-grandmother, Matilda Manson, lived near them. Bettie’s father, Billie Sanford, a 98 year old former slave, was still alive, also in Milam County. Billie would live to be 106 years old.

My maternal grandfather, Eddie Gines, was 10 years old and lived with his parents, Richard William Gines and Sylvia LeJay, at 1540 Ashton Street, Shreveport, Louisiana. Great-grandpa Dick was a fireman at Shreveport’s electric powerhouse. I know nothing of Dick’s parents. Sylvia’s parents were Lewis LeJay and Syntrilla Brayboy. By 1908, Lewis had probably passed away. Syntrilla, however, still lived in De Soto Parish, Louisiana, not far from where she had been held in slavery.

My maternal grandmother, Annie Florida Corrine Long, was six years old and lived with her parents, James William Long and Mary Elizabeth Johnson. Their house was at 2711 Wyoming Street, on the west side of Kansas City, Missouri. Great-grandpa James was a Baptist preacher and in 1908 was the pastor at Kansas City’s Sunrise Baptist Church. His parents, Richard and Pauline Long, were deceased. My great-great-grandfather, Zeke Johnson, was still alive and well in Kansas City. My great-great-grandmother, Sarah Gilbert, may have been alive in 1908, but this is not certain. Zeke’s father, Dan Carpenter, was alive at age 83, in Clay County, Missouri, just north of Kansas City. He died at age 95. There is some evidence that Zeke’s mother, Harriet Mitchell, was alive and living in Johnson County, Kansas, but this is not certain. She would be about 83 years old as well.

In 1908, none of these ancestors could have foreseen me and life as it is today.

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A Brayboy Challenge

October 5, 2007 Craig Uncategorized

One genealogical feature that I’ve come to enjoy recently is Chris Dunham’s “Genealogical Challenge,” which appears from time to time at The Genealogue. Chris challenges readers to find some interesting or obscure genealogical information about an historical or pop culture figure.

These challenges and their solutions serve to refine research skills and open up many sources that one might not ordinarily look into. [And the subjects of the challenges are always interesting!]

Since I’m a West Coast resident (and a late-rising one, at that!) I’m seldom among the first few to get the right answer. But I take the challenges on without looking at the solutions in the comments anyway!

It occurred to me that perhaps a “challenge” would be a way to have folks weigh in on a difficult actual research problem. Sooo, here we go . . . .

A few days ago, I heard from one of my New England Brayboy cousins. She was trying to figure out the paternal lineage of one Earley Brayboy, who was born in South Carolina on July 10, 1888, and died in July, 1956. He was born in Williamsburg County, South Carolina, and died in nearby Lake City in Florence County, South Carolina.

I’ve written about the Brayboys before. My Brayboy line originated in South Carolina on the Darlington plantation of Boykin Witherspoon. In 1854, Boykin Witherspoon re-located his family and slaves to De Soto Parish, Louisiana. In South Carolina there remain a large number of the Witherspoon family and the Brayboys. The descendants of some of the South Carolina Brayboys found their way to the Northeast.

Anyway, in the 1930 census of Williamsburg County, South Carolina, I found Earley “Braboy,” age 43, with wife, 33 year-old Elma, living in the town of Sumter. Their children with them at that time were Vernell, 18; “Rolley,” 16; Darby, 14; “Blanch,” 12; Willie, 9; “Rush,” 7; Harold, 5; “Cotell,” 3; and “Earl,” 2. [An issue researching the Brayboys is the shifting spelling of the surname].

The 1920 census of Williamsburg County shows “Early J. Braboy,” age 31, with wife Elma, 22; and children, “Vernel,” 8; “Raleigh,” 6, “Darbie,” 4; and “Blanche,” 2.

Then I found the World War I draft card for Earley Brayboy. This document, dated June 5, 1917, indicates that Earley Brayboy had a wife and three children at that time. His occupation is listed as farmer.

After the draft card, records got tougher to find. I went to the SSDI and found death dates for six of Earley Brayboy’s children. Then I went to a newspaper archive and found an obituary for Vernell Brayboy. The obit said that Vernell, the son of “Earl J.” and Elma Montgomery Brayboy, was survived by six brothers, Harold, David, Willie, Darby, Earl, and Kotell; and two sisters, Blanche Burgess and Annie Laura Dupres. I found in the Connecticut marriage records that Annie Brayboy had married Dupres Branch. [Thus, the obit was in error as to her name.] Then I found in the SSDI death dates for Blanche Burgess and Annie Branch.

None of this was leading back to the main issue–the paternal lineage of Earley Brayboy. So I started going back through the census records. No Earley Brayboy turned up. But in the 1880 census, I found a Jacob Brayboy, age 39, in Williamsburg County, South Carolina. He was married to 23 year old Dora. The age of the children listed suggests that Dora was a second wife to Jacob. The children were: Jessie, 20; Ellis, 19; Billie, 18; George, 15; Margaret, 13; Betsy, 11; “Jennett,” 8; “Lela,” 7; “Sofronie,” 6; and Martha, 1. There is also a step-daughter, Sarah Dinckins, age 7.

This Jacob Brayboy would be old enough to be the father of Earley Brayboy, born in 1888. A way to check if this is the right family is to go to the 1900 census, when Jacob would be 59 and Earley about 12 years old. Unfortunately, no Braboy or Brayboy on the 1900 census seems to match up with Jacob or Earley. And the disadvantage of not having an 1890 census becomes apparent right away.

Not only is Jacob old enough to be Earley’s father; he’s old enough to be Earley’s grandfather. Additionally, in 1888, when Earley was born, Jessie would be 28, Ellis would be 27, Billie would be 26, and George would be 23. Thus any one of them might be Earley’s father.

There is one potential hint: in the 1920 census of Williamsburg County, Earley’s family lives next door to one James Braboy and family. James is either a year older or a year younger than Eraley. On the other side of Earley’s house, Dora Braboy lives as a boarder. Then, in the 1930 census, Dora lives with a 32 year old Sam Braboy and is listed as his mother. In 1930, neither Earlery nor James is old enough to have a 32 year old son. So the suggestion here is that Dora is the mother of Sam, James, and Earley. This would make Jacob their father.

Now who is Jacob’s father? The hint is that in the 1850 census, Jacob is listed as a seven year-old in a household headed by Mary Braboy, 52. Also in the household are Samuel Brayboy, 22; Martha Brayboy, 28; Margarett Brayboy, 9; William, 5; and Polly, 3. The 1870 census does not show relationships. There is a strong inference here that Mary is Sam’s mother and that Sam and Martha are the parents of the children.

So with this information, one might surmise that Earley Brayboy’s father was Jacob Brayboy and his grandfather was Samuel Brayboy.

Am I right? How would you bring this within the Genealogical Proof Standard?

UPDATE (10/06/07, 1:45 PM PDT): In the comments, Teresa says:

I think I’ve found your folks on the 1900 census in Williamsburg County, SC (HeritageQuest, Series: T623 Roll: 1544 Page: 286) – Jacob must have passed away by then, but Dora is listed as “Dora Braveboy”, living with son Elliot. On the next page are: Lela Pendergrass, daughter; Samml B?boy, son; James B., son; Early, son; and Lila (or Lula?), daughter.

Thanks, Teresa! I have a couple of comments on the comment. First, I think Teresa is right. This appears to be the family of Early Brayboy. Second, let me eat some crow here. I certainly knew that “Braveboy” was an alternative name (some say it was the original name from which “Brayboy” and “Braboy” were derived). But I had gotten into the mindset of thinking that by about 1900, the spellings and names had somewhat stabilized and that it would be unusual for a family that had been “Brayboy” to go back to “Braveboy.” So much for thinking how smart I am! Third, Ancestry.com does not index “Dora Braveboy” or any of her children on the 1900 census, although as Teresa says, HeritageQuest does!

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