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The Ancestors Are Guiding Us
A Success Story By Melvin J. Collier |
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Many people who diligently research their family histories firmly believe in the power of the ancestors’ guidance through their genealogical journey. Many claim to receive clues in their dreams, or many genealogy “addicts” claim to hear a “little voice” telling them to look at a certain record or research the records of a specific town or county where their ancestors may have lived. Though I initially had little doubt that my journey through time could be guided by my ancestors, that small amount of doubt was certainly shredded to pieces after a visit to the Mississippi town where my great-great grandfather was taken after his first enslaver in South Carolina sold him to another owner. Growing up, I often heard the family lore of my great-grandfather, Bill Reed, being enslaved in South Carolina before he migrated to Mississippi shortly after the Civil War. Grandpa Bill not only passed down to his children and grandchildren of the day the Barr Family sold him to their Reid relative, but he often relayed to his offspring of the day he watched his father being taken away in a wagon, never to see him again. Grandpa Bill was only 13 years old at the time of this separation. He told his family that his father’s name was Pleasant Barr, whose name he’d given to his youngest son, Pleas Reed. Grandpa Bill obviously loved his father and vowed to never forget him. But where did his father end up? Over a 10-year period, I gradually was able to piece together the history of Grandpa Bill Reed and his long-lost father who bore a peculiar first name. Upon looking at the 1870 and 1880 Censuses, I discovered that a man named Pleasant Barr was living in Tippah County, Mississippi after the Civil War. South Carolina was reported as his birthplace. My heart pounded fast. Was this my long-lost great-great grandfather? Tippah County was just 60 miles from where Grandpa Bill Reed had settled in Tate County, Mississippi. Could it be that father and son were that close to each other and they never knew it? I questioned my elderly cousin again about Grandpa Bill’s father, and he was adamant that Grandpa Bill Reed had told him that after Pleas Barr was sold away, he never saw him again because he never knew where his new enslaver took him. Sadly, when Grandpa Bill Reed, his sister, and others joined a wagon train that took freed slaves from Abbeville County, South Carolina to Panola County, Mississippi, he had no idea that the father he loved so much was right there in Mississippi too, a day’s journey away by horseback. More genealogical research revealed that William Barr, Jr. of Abbeville County, South Carolina sold Pleasant to a local, James Giles, who was preparing to join the exodus of planters to the west. Shortly after the transaction between Barr and Giles was made in 1859, Giles migrated to Ripley, Mississippi in Tippah County, taking Pleas and four other slaves with him. Pleas Barr never saw his mother, siblings, wife, and children again. However, shortly after he obtained his freedom there in Ripley, Pleas retained the Barr surname and remarried to Amanda Young, with whom he had another son. Amanda had been previously married to a Civil War soldier, Berry Young, who never came back home after the Civil War. In 1916, Amanda, now an elderly, widowed lady, applied for a widow’s pension since her first husband had fought in the Civil War. Her pension file was provided to me by Amanda’s great-great granddaughter, Angela Walton-Raji of Maryland, who I had met in a genealogy chat room and who had also been researching Berry Young & Amanda Young Barr. Amanda was required to obtain depositions from family members, neighbors, and friends who had first-hand knowledge about her first husband’s service in the Civil War. Most of the deponents talked about Berry Young, but one deponent chose to disclose more information about her second husband - my great-great grandfather, Pleasant Barr. This “diamond in the ruff” named Sam Edgerton relayed the following information in his deposition, “I knew Pleas Barr and Amanda Barr. I have known them since before the War. Pleas belonged to Giles about three or four miles from Ripley. I don’t know why he took the name of Barr after the War…” Sam Edgerton’s statement was a genealogical jewel, as it was the clue that had opened the door to uncovering details about Pleas Barr’s past by naming his last enslaver. If I could, I certainly would have given Mr. Sam Edgerton a huge hug! Having uncovered a lot about my great-great grandfather, the time had come to visit Ripley, Mississippi. Pleas Barr was one of the founders of a local Methodist church in Ripley; therefore, my cousin and I wanted to pay homage to our long-lost ancestor by visiting the church he helped to build in 1870. Members of the church were thrilled about our visit, as the weird-sounding name, Pleasant Barr, was a permanent fixture in their church history. How thrilling it was to tell the congregation that we were his great-great grandsons who had found his whereabouts. After church service, one of the church deacons, Mr. Johnson, offered to take us to the home of the church’s oldest-living member, Mrs. Myrtle Gray, who was not in attendance that Sunday. We happily agreed. Though our ancestor had died long before Mrs. Gray was born, she was very familiar with his name, and she greeted us with a gigantic smile when we told her who we were. As we were conversing with Mrs. Gray, we noticed on the television that bad weather was going to strike the Ripley area in about an hour. Although our day was still filled with lots of sunshine and pleasant temperatures, several severe thunderstorm warnings were popping in a number of counties to the west, and the approaching storm system was heading east towards Ripley. We then decided to shorten our visit with Mrs. Gray and hit the highway before the bad weather arrived. As we were leaving Mrs. Gray’s house, Deacon Johnson noticed the next-door neighbor, Mrs. Elizabeth Rogers, sitting on her porch. He asked us if we would like him to take us over there to visit with Mrs. Rogers, as she too was an elder member of the community. Just as I was about to decline his offer due to the approaching weather, my cousin and I quickly decided to talk with Mrs. Rogers for a few minutes. After introducing ourselves, Mrs. Rogers begged us to sit down with her on the porch. We expressed to her why we were in Ripley, disclosing the name of our great-great grandfather who had lived the remainder of his life there until his demise around 1889. Mrs. Rogers immediately said, “I heard that name before. My grandfather used to talk about him all the time.” My next question to her was, “Who was your grandfather?” Mrs. Rogers utterly stunned me when she replied, “Poppa’s name was Sam Edgerton.” Tears immediately flowed down my face as I sat there in complete awe. After pulling myself together, I eagerly explained to Mrs. Rogers that her grandfather was the very person who provided crucial information to the government in 1916 that enabled me to unearth more information about my great-great grandfather’s history. She was thrilled, but probably not as thrilled as I was! Not only did I get a chance to thank Mr. Sam Edgerton by giving his granddaughter a big hug, I felt that Grandpa Pleas Barr was guiding this visit to Ripley all along. He definitely was not going to let us leave Ripley without us talking to Mrs. Rogers. Undoubtedly, this visit was his way of saying, “You’ve found me!” Melvin J. Collier melvinjcollier@yahoo.com Atlanta, Georgia Would you like to share your success story? Please contact us at info@africanaheritage.com! |
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The USF Africana Heritage Project is Sponsored by the Africana Studies Department at the University of South Florida. Copyright 2005 The University of South Florida and The Africana Heritage Project. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. For more information, contact the Africana Heritage Project via e-mail . |
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