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Touching My Roots: Links to the Past Revealed
Joyce Reese McCollum |
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Researching: Alabama/Mississippi Kidd Kolb Hollis Wells Families Hello all, I have just returned from Alabama and want to share with you some of my experiences while there. I spoke before the Lamar County Genealogy Society on researching "slave genealogy" and was warmly received. Some of those present related to me that they had black ancestry and presented documentation to that effect. As my family surnames are shared by both black and white in the community I was overwhelmed with the information provided to me. Some even remembered my great-grandparents and told me of events in their lives. We went to my family cemetery and recorded all of the tombstone inscriptions, my family and I spent a day as guests at the 100+ year old homestead of the Bankhead's (the actress, Tallulah's grandfather was a senator from Alabama). The great great great grandson of the man who owned my great great great grandmother came to meet us and we took photos. The end of my trip was a great meal at an all you can eat Southern style buffet in Columbus, Mississippi. The catfish was cooked like Mama's. I have had some negative experiences with name lists and queries but this trip and the warmth and hospitality of the people more than made up for them. My advice to all is to join those hometown societies, correspond with the members and share surname information whether it relates to white or black and know that true genealogists will aid you. My family's connection to the Bankheads is through slavery as are most of the black/white pedigrees of the South. In many instances, I find familial relationships that continue long past slavery. My mother's grandmother Amanda Arnett and her white half sisters remained close throughout their lives. And her family did have more latitude and opportunities than those without white antecedents. Offspring of the slaveowner usually were landowners and had skilled trades if not some formal education. This system also created some animosity towards those of mixed heritage from both white and black. Mixed heritage African Americans like the Creoles of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama often became middle class blacks during and after Reconstruction and at one time were quite close knit and isolated sometimes by religion - Catholics mostly, and by language and tradition some speaking Creole and/or French. Some isolated themselves for legal reasons. The Melungeon people are a good example of how some mixed raced communities have set themselves apart and maintained their unique heritage (some are called tri-racial isolates). Believed to be originally of Mediterranean descent, they were designated as FreePeopleOfColor and intermarried with those of African and Indian heritage thus becoming tri-racial. Creoles are usually thought to be of African, French and Indian with perhaps a pinch of Spanish. The large numbers of these people listed on older census records as mulattos attest to the numbers of blacks and whites in the South who are related by blood. Keep in mind that many local genealogy societies have been in existence for many years, the members are usually lifetime residents of the community and most of all, that not all Southerners were slaveowners or racists. Folk whose lives depend on Nature have to be neighborly and share regardless of color and social custom. I have found also that children did not practice segregation until it was imposed upon them. They played together, ate in each others homes and the adults did cooperate with each other. It was related that my great-grandfather Bud Wells and a Mr. Sid Moore were business partners and made their fortunes "in liquid corn." The gentleman who hosted us at the Bankhead house told me that his people were Quakers and never owned slaves and that his uncle fought for the Union. Southerners for the most part take their religion seriously and tend to "do unto others" more than their Northern counterparts. I prefer the Southerners because they are upfront with their feelings and you know where they are coming from -- those that don't like you, leave you alone and those that do will overwhelm you with kindness. I realize that enclaves and pockets of the old bigoted south are still around after all I am from Chicago and remember Cicero quite well. Another factor maybe that many folk in my age group of 50+ are returning south after living and working in the North and bringing new concepts and attitudes home. I hope I have conveyed the historical and social complications of that "peculiar institution" of the South and its impact on the present. The white southerners know this hidden history as well as the blacks do but many have been reluctant to share for fear of recriminations or even lawsuits for reparations! My motivation is to aid in bridging the gap and opening dialogue so that genealogical materials that are secreted somewhere can be shared. Doing "slave genealogy" really requires the information on the slaveowner and input from his descendants. I am working now on my Kidd, Kolb, Culps Great Wall. I have the will of Silas Kolb but can't reduce it enough to read the name of his bequeathed slaves, and he lives in hollering distance of a Silas Culp. The Kidds are also there in South Carolina and they all migrated and settled in Lowndes County Ms. Now I just need to know who owned whom. Anyway, please don't overlook an opportunity to advance your research because of preconceptions or stereotypes. Everyone won't have the same measure of success but those that try have a 100% better chance than those who don't. |
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