Ancestor Callings: Georgia and Mississippi Roots

Wednesday, December 27, 2023

Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Me

In July 2022, I started putting my family history information on WikiTree as one of the ways to validate my research and share my research with distant family.

WikiTree is a collaborative world tree with the Mission "to grow an accurate single family tree that connects us all and is freely accessible to us all, forever." The WikiTree site further explains its Vision as balancing "privacy and collaboration so that living people can connect on one world tree to common ancestors. . . Collaboration on deep ancestors is between distant cousins who are serious about genealogical research, careful about sources, and willing to see their research validated or invalidated with DNA." (www.WikiTree.com)

I was drawn to WikiTree because of the emphasis on documenting genealogy through sources. Also, important to me was the ability and encouragement to connect enslaved with enslavers -- whether it's a biological connection or not.

Once a week members get a WT News email with updates along with a "Featured Connections" to famous people. This week, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, was among my 12 connections. When I looked at the connection, it was through a marriage in my paternal line. I recognized the surname immediately -- Adair -- but the surname is connected to my maternal line.

Ms. O'Connor's third great-grandfather's brother, John Brooks, married Jane Adair who was the daughter of Whitmill Harrington Adair, who was the son of Bozeman Adair who was the enslaver of a branch of my maternal Washington family line (July 11, 2020 blog). Also, Whitmill's sister, Judith Adair married Elijah Williams who is the brother of John W. Williams, Jr. who is an enslaver in my paternal Williams line. John W. Williams, Jr. is the father of my great-grandfather, William Turner Williams. My blog of June 26, 2023 chronicles my paternal Williams enslavement.

So for me, WikiTree has proved it's point that we are all connected in some way or other. Below is the graphic of my connection to Sandra Day O'Connor.

Thursday, August 24, 2023

Family Death Records: Organization

More than once I have "found" the death record of a family member after sending (and paying) for the record I thought I didn't have. While I knew I had to organize what I have, I couldn't wrap my head around how to do it. It seems the universe was guiding me when I attended two separate virtual events within months of one another. At a Zoom meeting of the Afro-American Genealogical and Historical Society - Chicago (AAGHSC) member Alvin Blakes presented his Death Certificate database that he had created in a Google Docs format. Alvin has a family history blog, Almost Disappeared. Months later I attended a webinar of Robyn Smith who presented, "Putting It All Together", showing how she created a table format for her death records. Robyn has a genealogy blog, Reclaiming Kin.

I decided to use Google Docs/Sheets so I can have the information readily available for research trips. I merged and tweaked both of their forms to include headings that work for me. My spreadsheet has been very helpful in allowing me to compare and see what family members were serviced by the same undertaker, are buried in the same cemetery or area. More importantly, I have death records in one place, and I can easily add more as my research uncovers the information or I "happen to find" documents in my genealogy files.

While I present the spreadsheet headings here to accommodate the page, it's actually one continual form with cells from A to Q.

Death Records Spreadsheet Headings

Surname

First/Middle Name

Maiden Name

(Death) Certificate #

Date of Death

Place

Date of Birth

Place

Parents

Marital Status

Spouse

Informant (on death certificate)

Cause of Death

Cemetery

Date of Burial

Undertaker

Comments

In the Comments section I put whether the record is a death certificate, obituary, or funeral program. I also list where I physically have the record, as well as the source for newspaper obituaries and death certificates.

Monday, August 7, 2023

Honoring Ned Washington: My 2nd great grandfather

On March 30, 2023, I submitted my application to the lineage society, Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage (SDUSMP) and my application was accepted on May 8, 2023.

Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage was started in 2011 to recognize free and enslaved individuals of African descent who lived in the United States from 1619-1865. Descendents of such Ancestors are accepted into the Society with documentation of their direct lineal line.

Applying to the lineage society SDUSMP is important to me because my work was reviewed by genealogists specializing in the field of African American family history research. My research being accepted means it will be preserved and my Ancestor's name will live on.

My Honored Ancestor, Ned Washington, is my 2nd great grandfather on my mother's maternal Washington line. I was able to document him named in the 1857 will of his enslaver Bozeman Adair, along with Sylvia and Elijah -- ."To my son James L. Adair my three Negroes, to wit, Elijah about sixty years of age, Silva about fifty two years of age and Ned a man about twenty five years of age. . . the said Negroes are not to be separated." Sylvia (her name has been spelled many ways) is in Ned's household in the 1870 census.

Ned's birthplace is consistently listed as Georgia. However, his birth year varies.

Age listed as 50. Birth year approximately1820. 1870 census of Polk County, Georgia

Age listed as 56. Birth year approximately 1824. 1880 census of Barkers, Floyd County, Georgia

Age listed as 78. Birth listed as Feb 1822. 1900 census of Beat 1, Holmes County, Mississippi

Age listed as 85. Birth year approximately1825. 1910 census of Beat 1, Holmes County, Mississippi

Ned Washington and my 2nd great-grandmother, Darkis were married about 1866, probably in Georgia which is listed as their birth places in all of their census records. Georgia is also where they are recorded as living in 1870 and 1880 census records. They had six sons -- Clinton, Silas, Newton, Elijah, Peter (my great-grandfather), and Ned.

He spent most of his life providing for his family as a farmer; first in Georgia and later in Mississippi. Ned died in Lexington, Holmes, Mississippi on May 31, 1918, at the age of 98 years old. Mississippi State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Certificate #10163, filed June 1, 1918.

I believe my 2nd great-grandfather is the first Ned Washington because it appears the surname was taken or selected after emancipation. The name, Ned, became a family name as he named his son, Ned, and at least two of Ned (the first) sons had a son they named Ned.