In a previous post, I wrote about the wide time span of birth years for my great grandmother in various documents (Mary Lane Button -- I'm trying to do the math!) After several searches on different sites, I find no records for Acey Carrington in Georgia for the appropriate time period -- mid to late 1800s. However I find several records for Asa Carrington.
Asa Carrington is listed as residing in Hancock County, Georgia on 30 July 1867 according to the Georgia Returns of Qualified Voters and Reconstruction Oath Books, 1867-1879.
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| Ancestry.com. Georgia, Returns of Qualified Voters and Reconstruction Oath Books, 1867-1869 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. |
During the November 3, 1868 elections in Sparta, Hancock County, Georgia a number of "colored" Republican voters were either turned away from the polls or their votes were torn up and substituted by Democratic votes. Asa Carrington was among the group of those colored voters who was listed in a formal complaint to the chairman of the Republican Executive Committee of Georgia on November 30, 1868.
from Shivers, Forrest. The Land Between: a History of Hancock County Georgia to 1940, pp 177-178.
In the 1870 U.S. census, Asa Carrington, age 29, is still in Sparta, Hancock County, Georgia living in the household of Emeline Green, age 28 and her five-year-old son, John. Also in the household was Edward Casero, a 60-year old white man who was a clerk in a hotel. Asa is a day laborer.
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| Year 1870; Census Place: Sparta, Hancock, Georgia; Roll: M593_155; Page: 485B; Family History Library Film: 545654 |
Asa Carrington testified to the voter suppression that occurred in Hancock County, Georgia in a Congressional hearing on February 7, 1871. The section header for Asa Carrington's testimony is February 7, 1861; however, it is sworn and sealed to on February 7, 1871. What a time for a document to have an incorrect date! I'm going with the 1871 year since the election was in 1868 and Asa was probably not allowed to vote in 1861.
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| United States Congress. United States Congressional Serial Set, Volume 1463. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1871, pp 90-92. |
It seems good ole Asa was full of himself. The paragraph below is listed in three separate newspapers in 1877: the Cuthbert appeal. (Cuthbert, Ga.) November 23, 1877; the Georgia weekly telegraph and Georgia journal & messenger. (Macon, Ga.) 1869-1880, November 27, 1877; and the Columbus daily enquirer-sun. (Columbus, Ga.) December 04, 1877.
In 1879, Asa Carrington's name was among dozens of individuals listed by Postmaster Henry S. Glover in a public notice that uncalled-for mail held at the Macon, Bibb County Post Office would be sent to the Dead Letter Office after thirty days. From The Macon telegraph and messenger. (Macon, Ga.) April 12, 1879.
Newspaper articles information from The Georgia Historic Newspapers database, a project of the Digital Library of Georgia
https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu
In 1880 I find no records for Asa Carrington in Georgia. I find myself concerned about his safety and his possible death, especially since in the year before he had mail piled up in the post office.
I am LOVIN' the spirit and boldness of Asa Carrington after touching the surface of his life and I so want to claim him!
I present my case that Asa Carrington is my 2nd great grandfather with additional information from the 1870 census of Hancock County Georgia. (1) Henrietta Davis, my 2nd great grandmother, is living in Sparta, Hancock County Georgia at #1515 with her two daughters, one of which could be my great grandmother Mary (possible birth year 1868). (2) My great grandmother, Mary, named one of her daughters Anna.
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| Year 1870; Census Place: Sparta, Hancock, Georgia; Roll: M593_155; Page: 484A; Family History Library Film: 545654 |
(3) Living at #1540, was Asa just down the street, around the corner? Was he tippin'?
I rest my case. But I also can't help but wonder . . . Did he break Henrietta's heart? Did he support his children? Did he abandon his down-the-way family?
