15 January 2010: A Friend Of Friends: Lessons From The Underground Railroad

For Sandra’s Hope. #TALIAFERRO

The TALIAFERRO Project

By sjtaliaferro

One night during the holidays I watched one of my favorite movies, Roots: The Gift. The movie stars LeVar Burton and Louis Gossett, Jr., in their roles as Kunta Kinte and Fiddler from the television series Roots. In this movie, Kunta and Fiddler accompany their owner to another plantation at Christmas time for a party, and become involved in a plan to help some runaway slaves escape via the Underground Railroad to freedom. A simple, yet powerful story. There are many messages and lessons to be learned from Roots: The Gift.

In one of my favorite scenes, Fiddler and Kunta are helping the group of runaway slaves get to the river where they are to meet a boat that will take them further on their journey to freedom. Along the way they make a stop to pick up other “passengers” on the Underground Railroad. When they come to…

View original post 639 more words

King’s DREAM. Sandra’s HOPE. A Community’s WORK. #DREAMFORWARD

On Wednesday January 15th, 2014 the world will pause in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 85th birthday.

As a Nation, we will never forget Dr. King’s life and civic legacy.

As a person of color, whose southern-born Grandparents vested in the hope of the Civil Rights Movement, I can never detach from King’s Dream.

A multi-hued, non-violent army [that included my Ancestors] marched, rode, stood, sat, walked and suffered for a shared Dream. Dr. King gave his life fighting for the People’s Dream.

As beneficiaries of The Movement, we’re often viewed as the fulfillment of King’s Dream. But I ask, are we really?

Are we the fruit of the Civil Rights Movement if we’ve dismissed its most fundamental principle – service to our community? In 2014, are we living or merely reciting Dr. King’s Dream?

What are we doing to help others?

On January 15th 2010, historian Sandra TALIAFERRO penned her favorite blog post, A Friend Of Friends: Lessons From The Underground Railroad.

Sandra’s Roots The Gift narrative is one of hope for descendants on either side of a blemished history to rise and work collectively beyond it.

AFoF sparked in all of us. It was a catalyst leading to racially-mixed discussions on the research responsibility of slavery’s descendants, black and white.

AFoF prompted me to create the Carnival of African American Genealogy (CoAAG) and host its 1st Edition Restore My Name – Slave Records & Genealogy Research, a cross-cultural sharing of slave-related records.  And with CoAAG’s success, we went further to keep the exchange flowing with the launch of A Friend of Friends, a repository of slave documents researchers could contribute to and access online.

We knew oft times overlooked and/or dismissed historic documents, are the key to our research-challenged Slave Ancestry. We hoped our efforts would make a lasting difference.

King a world changer. Sandra a culture changer. Both Dreamers in a society capable of self-correcting its flaws.

Be true keepers of King’s Dream and Sandra’s hope, today. Accept the truth, we must change the world from where we stand. The work is OURS.

On January 15th for the 6th Edition Carnival of African American Genealogy, we’ll pledge dreams for the future via our #DREAMFORWARD Tumblr. Dreams big and small we’ll marry with ACTION in the days and years ahead.

Sandra friends will carry her community hope forward by reblogging her A Friend Of Friends: Lessons From The Underground Railroad wish and continuing the work of fostering a research community where Ancestors of all descendants are acknowledged and respected.

Please join us for BOTH!:)

All RACES. All AGES. One PURPOSE. #DREAMFORWARD

A Simple Promise to Sandra

I was in my car on February 15, 2013 when I learned via a Genea-Traveler email from Felicia of Echoes of My Nola Past, Sandra TALIAFERRO had passed. It took my breath away. San and I hadn’t spoken in a long time. Too long really. I didn’t even realize Sandra had been ill.

Though the heaviness of her passing followed me for days, I couldn’t help feeling San was finally free. I could see her interviewing the TALIAFERRO and MIDDLEBROOKS Ancestors she’d spent countless hours searching for. I could see her getting to know her daddy, John Lawrence TALIAFERRO and reuniting with her Mama, Lillian MIDDLEBROOKS who passed on September 27, 2009 — San’s birthday.

I could see her walking and exploring and if she felt like it — probably running!:)

Many don’t know Sandra spent almost 45 years in a wheelchair. In route to student orientation on her first day of college at Clark Atlanta University, Sandra and friends were in a terrible car accident that nearly took her life. In spite of her physical constraints, Sandra rose — in every possible way.

Sandra TALIAFERRO was as stubborn as a mule, but she was truly amazing too! I hope she knows that now. So in October when San came and sat on my shoulders to say something had to be done to prevent her research from being lost, I knew better than to ignore her!:)

The timing stunk! I’d just loss Mama 8/5 and started AAGSAR 8/15. Small gestures of attempting to pay for her I Never Knew My Father domain or rescue research data from her old computer were unsuccessful. The only thing I could do, was re-post Sandra’s archived research work to a new domain.

So I promised Sandra [if she’d allow me to sleep] I’d complete our restoration project before the New Year. I added her last archived post penned January 7, 2012 – Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – Your Very Best 2011 Research Adventure to her new online home, The TALIAFERRO Project on December 31, 2013. Not even 1 day to spare!:)

There are 72 posts in all, and they tell us MUCH about who Sandra TALIAFERRO was as a daughter, sister, friend, human and researcher. The TALIAFERRO research is a meticulous body of record for any genealogist with connections to San’s family line. It’s also an EXCELLENT example for the methodical nature of good research — how it should be approached, documented and cited.

Without question, Sandra knows how much I love and respect her. We can’t bring her back but we can continue to champion the Ancestor work effort that was her lifeline. We can direct new researchers — connected or not — to the wealth of data and best practices it offers. We can continue working the leads to confirm the cousin connections either our hearts and/or DNA told us are there.

That’s how we honor Sandra — rise to whatever challenge is presented, live life without excuses, and be impeccable.

Do small things with GREAT ♥. The TALIAFERRO Project.

Happy New Year!:)

Luckie

07 January 2012: Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – Your Very Best 2011 Research Adventure

It’s time for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings.

Randy presents as your mission, should you decide to accept it:

1) Decide which of your (many?) genealogy research adventures in 2011 was your “very best” (your definition).

2) Tell us about it in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, in a Status report or comment on Facebook, or in a Stream note on Google Plus.

Here’s mine:

My very best genealogy research adventure for 2011 was finding the final division of slaves in the probate records for the estate of Edward Mobley who died in 1839 in Chester District, SC.  I discovered early in my research that my 2^nd great grandfather, Miles, was a slave in the Taliaferro family in DeKalb and Fulton County Georgia, but until last year I did not have a paper trail to document what I knew from circumstantial evidence to be true.  Thanks to the amazing records on FamilySearch.org I found the documentation I had long searched for – that Miles was one of the slaves allotted to Susan Mobley Taliaferro the daughter of Edward Mobley. Wait! There’s more.  I also discovered two very promising candidates for my 2^nd great grandmother Lizzie in that same document. It was a research-altering discovery.  You can read about this research triumph in my earlier post “Lizzie Taliaferro, My 2^nd Great Grandmother. Have I Found Her?

01 January 2012: It’s 2012 ~ Happy New Year!!

Wishing you good health, love, peace and happiness in the new year.  

From my family to yours.

 Happy New Year!

20 November 2011: Lizzie Taliaferro, My 2nd Great Grandmother. Have I found her?

In November 2009, I wrote about my 2^nd great grandmother, Lizzie Taliaferro.  You can read that post here.  As I stated there, Lizzie was the mother of my great grandfather John Wesley Taliaferro. I know nothing about her except that she was born in either Georgia or South Carolina, and that she was sold away or died prior to 1856.  The chances of finding any additional information on Lizzie were slim and I had pretty much given up.  I am learning more and more along this genealogy journey that you should never give up hope.

Background

As I am writing this post, it occurred to me that I need to give a little background before I proceed. Thinking about that, I realized that I have accomplished another research goal that I had not shared or written about and this needed to be talked about in order to properly lay out my case for finding Lizzie.

My 2^nd great grandfather Miles Taliaferro and his son John Wesley Taliaferro were slaves of Richard Taliaferro and his son Edward Mobley Taliaferro of Fulton County Georgia.  Richard was married to Susan Mobley and her father was Edward Mobley of Chester, South Carolina.  I won’t go into the details here, but through my research I can document that a slave named Miles was owned by Edward Mobley at the time of his death in 1839.  I can also document that a slave named Miles was owned by the Richard Taliaferro family here in Georgia in 1856, and that the family had a direct relationship to Edward Mobley – his daughter Susan.  Based on those facts, I speculated that Susan Taliaferro had received Miles in the final division of her father’s estate.  But, I did not have a paper trail to document this because there was no final division of slaves in the estate packet for Edward Mobley that I received from the South Carolina Department of Archives and History (SCDAH).  I emailed the Archives requesting any other records for the estate of Edward Mobley, but was told there were none. There were some loose paper files, but I would need to come to the Archives and search them myself.  Short of taking a research trip to South Carolina to search the records for myself, I had hit a brick wall.

I knew in my heart that the “Miles” in Edward Mobley’s 1839 will and the Miles in the 1856 inventory and appraisement of the estate of Richard Taliaferro was the same person; the same Miles living near Edward Taliaferro in the 1870 and 1880 census.  I just had this feeling I was right. But, feelings are not proof and that’s what I needed – proof.

The paper trail for Miles leads to finding Lizzie.  Maybe.

Earlier this year I was elated to read that FamilySearch.org had online digital images of South Carolina estate records. This was my opportunity to search for more estate records for Edward Mobley. After searching for less than an hour, I hit the jackpot! The documents in the estate packet that I received from the SCDAH were there, but there were also other records that were not included in the estate packet, including a final division of slaves. This was just what I needed to prove and document that Miles was one of the slaves received by Susan Taliaferro.  Here is the list of “Slaves Allotted to Susan Taliaferro” (click to enlarge):

Source: South Carolina Probate Records, Files and Loose Papers, 1731-1964, Chester, Probate Court, Files 1788-1866, Apartments 049-050, Packages 776-813, Estate of Edward Mobley, Images 159-203, (digital image, Family Search,  http://familysearch.org :assessed 12 May 2011).

There he is on the next to last line “Miles 775”. I was so excited. But, wait!!  Listed right next to Miles is “little liz” and then “Elizabeth”. Could one of them be my great, great grandmother Lizzie?  I know very little about equating the appraised value of a slave with their age.  Miles was born about 1824, so at the time of the final division, 31 December 1839, he would have been about 15 years old.  He is appraised at $775.  Little Liz is appraised at $500 and Elizabeth at $300.  It saddens me to think of my ancestors in terms of a dollar amount. It brings tears to my eyes.  It is a very, very uncomfortable feeling.  Unfortunately, it is a necessary element in the analysis as I try to determine an approximate age for Little Liz and Elizabeth to further narrow down which is more likely my Lizzie.  I am thinking that Little Liz was a little younger that Miles and then Elizabeth a bit younger than Little Liz.  Some of the slaves in this group are listed in terms of their relationship to each other.  Could Little Liz and Elizabeth be related?  I ruled that as unlikely since other relationships were indicated.  Hopefully, someone with more knowledge on this subject will comment with their thoughts.   I welcome your input.

Little Liz or Elizabeth – either one of them could be my 2^nd great grandmother Lizzie Taliaferro.  Of course I realize it might not be either one.  But, this is probably as close as I’m going to come to finding my great, great grandmother and it’s just too much of a coincidence to ignore.

27 October 2011: My 23andMe Results Are In!

In late September, I received a free DNA kit from 23andMe in conjunction with the Roots to the Future Project. Last week, I checked the date my sample was received (October 8th) and assumed it would probably be a few more weeks before I received my results.  Not!! Last night, I opened my email and there it was; a message from 23andMe stating that my results were back.  I was thrilled and quickly logged on to see my results.

My maternal haplogroup is L1c1d.  According to 23andMe, haplogroup L1c originated about 60,000 years ago most likely in western-central Africa and is extremely common among western pygmy populations such as the Biaka and Bakola. Today, this group is particularly common among the forest-dwelling Pygmies and the Bantu-speaking populations of central Africa.

My DNA origins are 80% African, 17% European, and 3% Asian (most likely Native American).

Here is my Ancestry Painting.

The majority of my DNA, 80%, is African.  No surprises there.  The 3% percent Asian, although a very small percentage, is interesting. This most likely represents Native American ancestry; from my reading this DNA test does not distinguish between Asian and Native American. My brother and I were just speculating about my results last week.  There are stories of some Native American ancestry on my paternal side.  We wondered if any of that would be revealed.  According to my brother and cousins, our paternal grandmother always talked about being part Native American. Honestly, the photo of her, posted here, looks European, rather than Native American. On the other hand, the photo of her mother, posted here, lends some credibility to the family stories.  Or, is it possible that 3% could be “noise”.  What the heck is noise???

I am not sure if the 17% European is coming more from my maternal side or if it is from my paternal side.  Could it be both? Again, looking at the picture of my paternal grandmother, it definitely could be coming from my father.  If I understand correctly, the position of the blue color on the chromosome has something to do with which parent that DNA is coming from. I just don’t know.  Someone help me out here – I need a “chromosome reading”!!

This was my first DNA test.  I am excited about the results even though I don’t fully understand them.  I will be doing a lot of reading and research in the days ahead.

08 October 2011: Minnie Toliver ~ The Rest of Her Story

In February 2010 I wrote about my ancestor Minnie Toliver and a disturbing incident involving her former employer’s children.  If you missed that post you can read it here.  I wondered what happened to Minnie, as did others who read the story. Was Minnie arrested and charged? Did she serve any time?  I had no answers.

In the summer of 2010 I was on the phone with a friend, and wishing I could find out more about what happened to Minnie.  The ancestors must have been listening.  At the time I was browsing through the 1900 census for East Point, GA and there two household down from my great grand uncle Alex Tolliver (Taliaferro) was a Minnie Farley with husband James Farley and children Dave, Ida, Viola, and James.  That was Minnie, I just knew it!  The census indicated that Minnie was the mother of five children, but only four were living in 1900.  Minnie and James (or Genes) were married in 1893. (I recently verified this when I found the marriage license for Genes Farley and Minnie Tolliver on Georgia’s Virtual Vault. They were married 3 August 1893.)  I also found Minnie and Genes in the 1910 census in Hapeville, GA and in the 1920 census in South Bend District. These places are areas that my Taliaferro/Toliver ancestors resided in. The 1910 census list Minnie as the mother of eight children with seven living. The other children shown in census records are Luther, Annie/Anna, Junior, and Minnie Lee.  I have not located the family in the 1930 census.

I was extremely excited when I discovered Minnie in these census records. A lot of questions were answered; I knew she married and had a family, and probably lived a relatively normal life. But, for some reason I could not write about my findings and answer the question so many had asked – Whatever happened to Minnie? I think it was because I still didn’t feel like Minnie’s story was complete.  And it wasn’t, until now….

A few days ago while browsing on Ancestry.com I discovered a newspaper article that tells the rest of Minnie’s story. Minnie was apparently arrested and charged with attempted murder. However, a judge determined that the evidence was “not conclusive” and the case was dismissed.

“The City Court” The Constitution, Atlanta GA, 13 April 1888, p. 13, col. 2; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: assessed 3 October 2011).

I will never know what pushed Minnie to such extremes, or if the incident, as told in the newspaper, actually happened that way.  What I do know is that things are not always as black and white as they may seem. What I do know is that my ancestor Minnie Toliver (Taliaferro) survived, got married, and had a family.  What I do know is that I can finally tell the rest of Minnie’s story with a smile on my face.

03 October 2011: National Black Genealogy Summit, October 20-22, 2011, Fort Wayne, IN

The National Black Genealogy Summit will take place October 20 – 22, 2011 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Fort Wayne is home to one of the nation’s most comprehensive collections of genealogy records, and an excellent source of documents pertaining to Black genealogy in particular. The three-day conference will feature a number of nationally-known genealogy and research experts, and a wide variety of workshops for everyone from beginners to experienced family researchers. The event is sponsored by the Indiana Genealogical Society; the Friends of the Allen County Public Library; and Ancestry.com. For more information, please visit http://www.blackgenealogyconference.info.

03 April 2011: March Madness ~ Two New Cousins and A Slave Owner Identified!

March Madness wasn’t just going on in basketball last month. March was a very exciting month for my genealogical research.  Ancestor mojo was in full force!

First, I was contacted by a new cousin who is related through my maternal line.  Esther saw my tree on Ancestry and contacted me through another researcher that we have in common who is also a cousin to Esther and probably to me as well.

My maternal great, great grandparents were Albert Middlebrooks and Malinda [?] of Woodbury, Meriwether County, GA.  They had a daughter Laura Middlebrooks.  Albert and Malinda also had a son, Alexander “Alex” Middlebrooks who was my great grandfather.  Laura and Alex were siblings. Laura Middlebrooks married Salis Stinson and they had a daughter Leola Stinson.  Leola was Esther’s grandmother.  So, Esther and I have the same great, great grandmother. Yes, I said great, great grandmother, not grandparents.  Therein is the mystery.

Esther’s brother did very extensive research on the family.  According to his research, Malinda’s maiden name was Gill.  I had assumed that Malinda’s maiden name was Guise because that is the name listed on the death certificate for my great grandfather, Alex Middlebrooks.  According to family lore, Malinda was part white (probably by a slave owner) and had a child or children fathered by her Gill slave owner.  We don’t know which child or children, but one could have been Laura.  There are notes in the research that Malinda would go up to “the house” and say things like “here, take it, it ain’t mine no way” referring to her child who was fathered by the slave owner.  Fascinating stuff!!

Esther is full of family stories, and our conversations never fail to release another piece of the puzzle.  I am anxious to visit her and go through those “six big binders” of information that her brother complied during his 30 years of research.

During our first conversation, I told Esther about my 2011 resolution to find a slave owner for my Middlebrooks line.  So far, that has been a major brick wall.  Recently, I found my great grandfather, Alex Middlebrooks, in the 1880 census for Woodbury, Meriwether County working as a laborer on the farm of R.T. Powell.  His name was enumerated as “Elic Middiebrok”.   I didn’t tell Esther any of this, thinking it could wait for another time.

I guess the ancestors thought differently because…….

Later that night Esther called me back and said I have something I want to read to you.  She had found it in her brother’s research. Then she read this one sentence… Alex Middlebrooks was a slave on the Powell plantation.  I was speechless. Of course, there is much research to come before I can confirm this statement, but for now all I can say is WOW!!

And then…..

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by a lady, Debra, who is a cousin on my paternal side.

Debra stumbled upon my blog when she googled to find information on Greene County, GA in preparation for an upcoming family reunion.  Debra is responsible for writing up the family history.  Reading my blog, she noticed that we had the same surnames in our tree, Brewer and Lawrence, and that my ancestors, like hers, were also from Greensboro, Greene County, GA.  After a few emails and a phone conversation we easily made the connection.

My grandmother was Fannie Mae Lawrence and her mother was Lessie Brewer.  Lessie’s mother was Fannie Mae Brewer.   Fannie Mae Brewer also had a son Whit Brewer who had a daughter Hester Brewer.   Hester was Debra’s grandmother.  So, Debra and I have the same great, great grandmother – Fannie Mae Brewer.   We were both thrilled to make this connection and quickly arranged to meet.  Debra is just starting her journey into genealogy and her enthusiasm is refreshing.

Debra was raised by her grandmother, Hester Brewer, and has breathed new life into my Greene County research, and the Brewer line in particular.  A few years ago while researching through some Greene County records at the GA Archives I found court papers concerning a custody battle for a child – Hester Brewer.   Along with Hester, the other parties involved were Fannie Brewer and Whit Brewer. My focus was on something else at the time, so I made copies of the papers and filed them away for another day when I could examine them more closely.  Of course, I never got back to them and they remained in that file until a few weeks ago when I met with Debra.  She was thrilled to receive this piece of history about her grandmother.  Debra had heard bits and pieces of the story, but the court papers pulled it all together.   What a great story to begin her family history!

As Debra and I have discovered, it seems the ancestors have been working their mojo in our family for years through the generations.  Follow along….Debra’s grandmother, Hester Brewer, was raised in the household with my grandmother, Fannie Mae Lawrence, whose mother, Lessie Brewer, was Hester’s aunt.  Debra has an Aunt Ruth –Hester’s daughter.  I have an Aunt Ruth – Fannie Mae’s daughter. Debra’s Aunt Ruth was told that she is named after my Aunt Ruth.  It gets better.  Follow along….I have a cousin Zelphyr.  Debra has a cousin Betty (who would be my cousin as well).  Betty has a daughter, Zelphyr.  Debra’s cousin Betty named her daughter after someone she worked with whose name was Zelphyr.  Betty and this Zelphyr became really good friends, so she named her daughter after that friend.  As it turns out, that friend, Zelphyr, is also MY cousin Zelphyr!  They were coworkers who became good friends, and never knew they were also cousins.  As it turns out….We are all COUSINS!!