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This is the
beginning of a new avenue of research. Mrs. Jamie
L. Walker Harris and Ms. Dorothy Powell have
volunteered to head this work. Mrs. Walker's family
came from TN and were owned by Johns there, took the
surname, and went on to Texas. Ms. Powell's family
was owned by my ancestor, Thomas P. Johns, of
Lawrence Co., KY and stayed pretty much in the
area.
You can
find lineages in the genealogy portion of this
website. For the time being their eldest ancestor
is linked as a child with a note to the true story.
I couldn't figure out any other way to link them at
this point. This is not to suggest that they were
in fact blood relation. I wanted to show the
ownership and the genealogy programs do not have a
way of doing this.
The
beginning of this project is by Jamie Harris. I
think you may find it informative. There will be
more to come in the near future.
The Search for
Our Enslaved JOHNS Ancestors
Jamie L. Walker Harris
The search for
our enslaved ancestors can be very difficult.
Because our enslaved ancestors were not considered
citizens and most were illiterate, they left
practically no written records that depict their
lives during the period prior to 1870.
Initially, we follow the basic genealogy principles
- going from the known to the unknown. We research
our homes, interview relatives, research cemeteries,
churches, libraries, courthouses, and the censuses.
This is relatively easy back to the 1870 U.S. census
where our formerly enslaved folks are first listed
by name - by both first name and surname. At this
point, many of us hit the proverbial brick wall.
It is at this point we begin our research of the
slaveowning family. Records kept by the slaveowner
are frequently the only clue to our ancestors,
particularly during the period 1619-1869. Some of
these may be birth, marriage,and death records;
plantation, court, pension, tax, Bible and church
records. Others may be inventories, manumissions,
slave sales, apprenticeships, and bills of sale.
Also important are wills, cohabitation,
diaries/journals, day books/logs, advertisements,
legislative acts, and voter registration records.
The identity of the slaveowner is made easier if we
have inherited family stories and oral history. It
is also made easier if our ancestors adopted their
last slaveowner¡¯s surname. If not, we note as
possible slaveowners, those with identical surnames,
who are residing near our ancestor on the
1870 U.S. census. We also consider as a possible
slaveowner, the person from whom our freedman
ancestors purchased their first land.
Often we have none of these clues. What steps does
this African American researcher take when there are
no inherited family stories, no oral history, no
JOHNS neighbor listed near her Moses JOHNS ancestor
on the 1870 U.S. census of Guadalupe County, Texas?
?1999 Jamie L. Walker Harris
¡¡
Jamie's 2nd Installment
Luck and Skill
Since there
are no standard rules for slave research, I will
recount some successful experiences. Always
research all counties that surround your primary
county. As a result, I found 3 generations in a
household on the 1870 U.S. census of Guadalupe
County, Texas. My great grandfather, whom
I remember, was an eight-month old baby. The
marriage record of his parents -my 2d great
grandparents - showed the head of this 1870
household was the minister who performed the wedding
ceremony. At this point, I had new evidence: (1) The
names and residence of my possible 2d and 3rd great
grandparents (Isaiah JOHNS and Moses JOHNS,
Guadalupe County, Texas), (2)
The states in which they were born (Texas and
Tennessee), and (3) their occupations (farmers and a
Missionary Baptist minister), and (4) names of a
boarder and 2 other males.
No birth records existed for these formerly enslaved
persons. Marriage, death, census and land records
were utilized extensively. The death certificate for
great grandfather Isaiah JOHNS, Jr. confirmed these
persons as his parents. A check of the 1880 U.S.
census in Wilson County showed
the mother as a widow in the household of her
parents. Their 4 children were also listed.
The Baptist minister married more than 30 freedmen
in one county. Usually his sons were witnesses.
Checking the list of marriages to which Isaiah Sr.
served as a witness, and noting the last wedding he
was listed as a witness, gave a date when he was
alive. Between that date and the date of the 1880
census enumeration gave an indication of when he
died.
For the lack of any other explanation, Luck must get
credit for some of our major breakthroughs. For
instance, a Hays County genealogist, whom I had met
once, sent me a newspaper clipping about a local
church . The article mentioned that the congregation
had been founded by my Baptist minister
ancestor in 1866. This new evidence gave me a new
county and a church to research.
In another instance, friends introduced me to a
Chicago attorney whose wife was descended from a
Guadalupe County family. To my delight, The Boarder
in the 1870 household was the ancestor of this man¡¯s
wife. I was given a copy of The Boarder¡¯s 1901
deposition for a Civil War pension where he named my
3d great grandparents and two sons. The boarder
noted that the parents were dead.
New evidence: Since the 1870 U.S. census does not
list relationships, this document named 2 occupants
of the household as "sons" and the title "Mrs"
indicates there was a spouse. My ancestor is
referred to as "Reverend." My 3d great grandparents
died before 1901.
The death certificates for the sons, Aaron and
Abraham, confirmed their parents names and places of
birth. The sons and their families were traced in
each subsequent U.S. census (1880-1920). This now
involved 3-4 counties - Guadalupe, Wilson, Bexar and
Hays. If available, delayed/probate birth, marriage
and death certificates were obtained for each
sibling/descendant in the direct blood line. Each
new clue sent us back to again search the U.S.
censuses and other materials and documents.
After 20 genealogy years, I had found my earliest
ancestor - the farmer and Missionary Baptist
preacher who had lived, and performed marriages, in
Guadalupe County, Texas; who had organized a church
in Hays County, Texas; who had grandchildren in
Wilson County, Bexar County, Hays County and
Guadalupe County, Texas.
¡¡
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Mrs. Jamie |
