Wilhite
How Grandpa Zeke Collected a Bounty on Himself
My great-great-grandfather Ezekiel Johnson collected a bounty for turning himself into the federal government in 1864. Actually, so did a lot of other folks earn such bounties. Zeke Johnson was held as a slave in Clay County, Missouri, fro the day he was born in 1847 until one day in May, 1864, when he was 17 years old. That day …
July 14, 2009 Tuesday at 8:44 pm
Cue the Twilight Zone Theme Music!
A little less than twenty-four hours ago, I learned for the first time that my great- great- grandfather was held in slavery in Clay County, Missouri by a man named Henry Wilhite. Tonight as I was going to bed, I grabbed a book off the shelf to read myself to sleep. I wasn’t looking for a particular book, just any …
June 6, 2007 Wednesday at 5:13 am
Today is "Zeke Johnson" Day
A week from this Thursday, which would be June 14, 2007, is the 160th anniversary of the birth of my great-great-grandfather, Ezekiel Johnson. I’ve written about him before (here, here, and here). For awhile, he was one of my very difficult brickwalls. And then one day, a sudden breakthrough gave me some special insight into his origins and at the …
June 6, 2007 Wednesday at 12:19 am
