Texas Slave Families by Ruthe Winegarten

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the New Deal Works Projects Administration (WPA) employed writers and researchers from theFederal Writers' Project to interview and document the stories of African Americans who were former slaves. Most had been children when theThirteenth Amendment was passed. Produced between 1936 and 1938, the narratives recount the experiences of more than 2,300 former slaves. Some interviews were recorded; 23 of 26 known audio recordings are held by the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress.^[2][8] The last interview of a former slave was with Fountain Hughes, then 101, in Baltimore, Maryland in 1949.^[2] He was a grandson of a slave owned by President Thomas Jefferson at Monticello.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_narrative

A.M. Moore, 91

I read  " Texas Slave Families" by Ruthe Winegarten  nine years ago and some of the narratives I read ran chill down my spine after reading them. I would like to share a few of those narratives that educated me on what many enslaved Africans and African American families went through.

"One boy was traded off from his mother when he was young an' after he was grown he was sold back to the de same master and married to his own mother. How she found out this was her son, she had struck him in de head accidental an' after dey was married, she looked in his head an' saw de scar an' asked him why it was dere. He began to teller, an' she fainted 'cause it was her son."

---Wesley Burell

". . . I never know no mamma or no papa neither one."

---Adline Marshall

"I cheated Maser. I never did have any slaves... I kept cotton roots and chewed them all the time but I was careful to to let Maser know or catch me. So I never did have any children while I was a slave... Yes, after freedom we had five children.

--Dave L. Byrd

Abe Livington, 83

Notes: There are 11 volumes of The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, and two series. Series 1 (vol. 4-5) and Series 2 (vol. 2-10) are Texas narratives.  Ruthe Winegarten is a historian and writer for the Texas Foundation of Women's Resources and the editor of I am Annie Mae: An Extraordinary Woman in Her Own Words.

Bishop James Earl Gordon Obituary

Bishop James Earl Gordon

GORDON Bishop James Earl Gordon died on April 9, 2014 at Ochsner Hospital in Baton Rouge, LA. at the age 77.  He was the Pastor of GFL Cathedral Church of God in Christ and Prelate of Louisiana East Jurisdiction #1, Baton Rouge, La. He was a native of Amite, LA and a resident of Baton Rouge, LA. He leaves to cherish his memories: his loving wife; Missionary Janice Gordon, one daughter; Linda M. Woods, one son; Deldrick Sibley, 2 grandsons; Jarrett Woods and Byron Devore, granddaughter; Tra'Vaughn Bell, two brothers; Dr. Frank (Shirley) Gordon, 2nd  Administrative Asst. Supt. Charles (Wardine) Gordon, 1 brother-in-law; Samuel Payne, 3 sisters-in-laws; Glyiss Gordon, Priscilla Gordon and Joyce Gordon Dunn, also a of host nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends. Preceded in death by his parents: Bishop W.K. Gordon Sr., and Missionary Alma Richardson Gordon, 3 brothers: W.K. Gordon Jr., Robert Gordon, Supt. Adam Gordon, one sister; Missionary Barbara Gordon Payne, and also a host of other relatives and friends. Relatives and friends of the family, also GFL Cathedral C.O.G.I.C., Louisiana Eastern Jurisdiction #1, all Church of God in Christ and all interdenominational churches are invited to attend the Homegoing Celebrations: Local & State: Wednesday, April 16, 2014 at 7:00pm Saintsville Headquarters 8930 Plank Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70806 LAY-IN-STATE is from 3:30-6-30PM Wednesday only, 1st Administrative Assistant Alphonse Denson, Officiating National: Thursday, April 17, 2014 2014 at Saintsville Headquarters, 8930 Plank Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70806 The Most Reverend Charles Edward Blake, Sr., Presiding Bishop of the Church of God in Christ International, Officiating Interment: Gordon Family Cemetery, Hwy 1045, Amite, LA 70422 Arrangement entrusted to Richardson Funeral Home of Jefferson, Inc. 1111 Jefferson Highway River Ridge, LA 70123 (504) 469-2243.

Proud To Be The Granddaughter Of A Farmer

Antoinette Gardening

I descend from a long line of farmers on my paternal and maternal side of the family. The Harrell, Boykins, Dudley, Richardson, and Vining  were farmers by occupation, they purchased their land and fed their families from the land. I was a young child when my maternal great uncle Palmer Harrell taught me and my brothers how to plant and grow vegetables. I enjoyed it then and I still enjoy planting vegetables, fruit trees, and flowers up until this day.

Once you eat something so fresh and tasty out of your own garden its hard to eat anything else. There is nothing like eating fresh vegetables and fruit that isn't genetically modified or GMOs. This brings to mind men like cousin Henry Wheat,  Governor Harrison, Walter Wren, Sr., The Wheeler, Temple, Frazier, Coleman and Atkin's Families who farmed. Of course there are so many more families in Tangipahoa and St. Helena Parishes who made a living by farming.

Peppermint Herb
Harrell's Garden

I planted fresh herbs in my garden too. The taste of freshly squeezed homemade lemonade with a twist of mint is just what your taste buds call for on a nice breezy summer day. My herbal basil plants didn't survive the harsh winter.  I'm still waiting to see if my orange tree survive the freeze and snow we had this winter in Southeast Louisiana.

The rosemary plant survived to my surprise. When I want to relax and get away from the stresses of life. Working in my garden is very therapeutic for me.  Growing your home vegetables and herbs have many healthy benefits. Its appears that gardening and farming is dying in the African American communities. I find it necessary to teach my grandchildren how to plant vegetables and fruit.  

My grandson Connor learning about farming

Cilantro Herb
Harrell's Garden

Gathering of Hearts Donate School Supplies to St. Helena Parish School

I was going through my photo collection this afternoon and found photographs of the school supplies, books, and backpacks that Gathering of Hearts donated to St. Helena Parish School. A very warm hearted thank you Millie Droste, Nathaniel Nasi, and the Columbus High School Ambassadors, and the Columbus Rotary for donating these much need supplies. A special thanks to Photographer Walter C. Black, Sr., and the Gathering of Hearts Co-Founder Ines Soto.

Gathering of Hearts 

"Because We Care"

The Hart Family of St. Helena, Louisiana

Eliza Hart Randle
the daughter of Green Hart

My maternal 3rd great grandmother was named Rosa Hart Vining. She was the daughter of  George and  Celia Hart. Rosa was born in 1869 in St. Helena Parish. Her siblings were;  Mary, Emma, George, Margaret, Leonard, Green, Della and Oscar

According to the U.S. 1880 Census, Rosa was eleven years old and was attending school. Rosa met and married Allen Vining and too their union one child was born, Emma Vining. Rosa died while giving birth to Emma. Her husband Allen later married a woman named Pheoby Self.

No one in the family has a picture of Emma Vining or her mother Rosa Hart. Not much is known about grandma Rosa. I met offsprings of her siblings who lives in Arizona on Facebook.

Eliza Hart Randle would be the niece of my grandmother Rosa. Eliza's father was Green Hart. What history I have on the Hart family has been given to me by El Hutchinson.

Ocie Randle Smith

Funeral Programs Contains Value Genealogical Information

Doris Lloyd looking at African American Funeral Programs
Center For Southeast Louisiana Studies
Antoinette Harrell Collection

If you live in the South, you'll find that many people have a collection of funeral programs. My mother for one saves all of the funeral programs from the many funerals she attended, especially family members. I have met several people who lives in Tangipahoa and St. Helena Parishes that have an extensive funeral program collection. When I started researching my families history, I learned first hand just how important these funeral programs can be.

Genealogical information such at the person full name, place of birth, where they were born, when they died,  if they were married, the name of their spouse, children, the number of grandchildren they had, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles.  Also their occupation and if they were a member of any organization or association. Where they receive their education and their parents name.

Whenever I go to someone's home to look at their collection I alway bring my scanner, computer and camera to make copies of the ones that I don't have and added them to my collection. I created an index and put them in binders and donated them to the Center For Southeast Louisiana Studies at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana. You can find this collection in the Antoinette Harrell Collection. Some of them was donated to the Amistad Research Center in New Orleans. My childhood friend Doris went with me to look at the collection and she was amazed at how funeral programs can be preserved for genealogical study.

If you have a collection and would like to share it with Preserving Our History in Tangipahoa and St. Helena Parishes, Louisiana., please contact me by email at afrigenah@yahoo.com

African American Funeral Programs
Center For Southeast Louisiana Studies
Antoinette Harrell Collection

Links

http://www.southeastern.edu/acad_research/programs/csls/historical_collections/archival_collections/h_k/harrell_collection.html

http://tangipahoaafrican-americannews.com

Researching Your Slave Ancestors

Claretha Hughes Day

Slave schedules were added to the federal census in 1850 and 1869, but enumerator weren't required to list each slave by name. What you will find is the name of the slave holder and a description of each slave--age, sex, and color.

Researching your ancestors who were slaves and for genealogist and family historian can be a happy but emotional moment. Finding slave records with your family name on it makes you think about the moment they were being sold or purchased. You're  happy that you found them and you are sad because you know that this was a sad day for them or their children.

Researching your slave ancestor can be a challenging task, but it's possible in many cases.  Knowing the last surname of the slave holder, or the surname  that your family carries. My third great grandfather Thomas and his mother Carrie Richardson was appraised at eleven hundred dollars in St. Helena Parish.

If a free woman gave birth to a child, her child were free; if a woman were a slave, her child was a slave. Although little has been written and published on African-Americans who owned slaves, some did own slaves. The first records I found of a African-American man owning slaves were in St. Mary Parish was a man by the name Romaine Verdun.

Assumption Sale of Slaves Books

Some large plantations had as many as 1000 plus slaves. On the Benjamin and Celia Bankston Richardson  Plantation were my third great grandfather and his mother lived, there were twenty-three slaves on the plantation. Using your list of ancestral family members from the 1870 census, subtract 10 years from your subjects' 1870 ages to estimate their ages in 1860. Isolate the names and ages of those who were living in 1860 for the next steps.

Look at the neighborhood where your ancestors lived in 1870 for white families with the same surname. Make your search parish wide,  countywide, or even statewide, if your ancestors' name was unique. Create a list of same-surname candidates for the slaveholding family. Include possible spelling variations: Harold, Harrell  Harrel, Harrell, and so on. Consider going back as far as the 1850 census, or that county's marriage and deed records, to look for white families of that surname.

Slave sale of Carrie and her
son Thomas Richardson

After you determine which of the white families on your list owned slaves in 1860 by looking at that county's 1860 slave schedule. You might be able to eliminate families whose names aren't there, but also check the 1850 slave schedules before you do. The 1850 and 1860 slave schedules are rarely indexed and name only slaveholders (with each slaveholder, they list slaves by sex, age and color, but not by name). 

I found books on the earlier white settlers who settled the parish or county to be very helpful to me. These books will give you a lot of information about the earlier settlers, where they came from, if they brought slaves with them.

Also I found the passport that was issued to Benjamin Richardson on September 23, 1807. He was requesting a passport to travel through Indian nations. He and others were traveling from Bullock County Georgia. I didn't find any slaves in the records. He was traveling with his family to settle in Washington Parish. 

Local Residents Trace Their History to St. Mary and Assumption Parishes

St. Mary Parish Verdun Genealogy
Research

We never know where our family history origins will take us until we start researching our family history. For Clara Robertson and her family, their roots run deep in St. Mary and Assumption Parishes, Louisiana. St. Mary parish was found in 181l and Assumption parish was found in 1807. The adjacent parishes are; Iberia Parish (north) St. Martin Parish (east) Assumption Parish (southeast) and Terrebonne Parish (south). Assumption parish was settled in the middle 18th century by French and Spanish settlers.

Clara contacted me several weeks ago and asked me to help her research family history in St. Mary and Assumption Parishes. This was the first time I researched in both parishes. Most of my research has been in St. Helena, Tangipahoa, Orleans, and East Feliciana Parishes, Louisiana. For the Harrell family, my genealogy research led me to Amite County, Mississippi, and Darlington, South Carolina. My first stop was the clerk office and the local library. Assumption Parish Clerk of Court office is located in Napoleonville, LA., The staff there were friendly and helpful. It's always good when you can locate the family records that you are searching for after driving two and a half hours to get there, you know I didn't want to come back empty handed.

The first books I want to look  was the oldest vendor and vendee records because the records that I

Singleton Family Historians Claretha Hughes Day
Clara Robertson conducting genealogy research 

was searching for was in the 1800s. I'm searching the Verdun's family sometimes spelled Verdine, Verdun, Verdan, Verden, and Verdin. The person I am researching is Malinda Verdun. Her mother was Mercelite Verdun and both women were free women of color. She lived in the 14th Ward ( Bayou Boeuf) according to the 1860 census. On this census she is listed as white and on the same census, her mother is listed as an eighty-year-old mulatto woman.  Mercelite Verdine owned 135 acres of land in St. Mary Parish.

Listed in the 1860 household are the following people;

Alexandre Verdine Male, 25., Wm Knight Male, 25., John Knight, M., 16, Auguste Barras M, 23., Theophile Tolmer, M, 22., Roselia Knight, F, 22., John Wesley, 1., Malinda Verdine, 50., Richard Verdine, 19.,  Lavina Verdine, 13., Rebecca Verdine., 10, Hyppolite Verdine. 7., William Verdine, 4., Elisabeth Verdine, 3., Mary Verdine., Marcelite Verdine, F., 80  and Felonise Verdine, 6.

It was good to see a family researching their family history. Clara's mother, aunt, and double first cousin traveled together. Her mother has been researching family history for many years. Whenever I see families like Clara Robertson and Leonard Smith lll working together collectively to research, record and document their family history is rewarding to me. It lets me know that some families do want to know about their own family history.

Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana Unidentified Photos of African Americans

Velma Civetta Ross 2 years old  &
Geralin Bernetta  Ross 1 yrs 3 month

Quite often I come across a collection of photographs and no one can identify the people in the photograph. If you live in Tangipahoa Parish or surrounding parishes and can identify anyone in the photographs in this blog post please do so by email me at afrigenah@yahoo.com.

Photographs are a reminder of special memories, events, places we've visit or memories of our family members through the years. Preserving these priceless photographs will help us to hold on to those precious memories. Its important to be able to identify the persons or people in the photograph. Every picture tells a story that family members and others would like to hear about or just simply revisit fond memories.

Here is a good example of having someone to identify the photographs. I took my childhood friend Doris Lloyd to look in my collection at Southeastern Louisiana University and she immediately identified pictures of students who went to school with her at Amite High School in Amite, Louisiana.

If you would like to share your family history or photographs with  Preserving Our History in Tangipahoa and St. Helena Parishes Blog or be a guest on Nurturing Our Roots Television or Radio Talk Show you can email me also.

If you want to donate or share  your unidentifed photographs to me from Tangipahoa and St. Helena Parishes, I'll gladly accept them and will post the photographs with others in the community to see if someone can identify the person or people in the photographs.

Everyone wants to know; Who are the people in the photographs? Where these photographs taken?When where they taken? How can I get a copy?

Unknown African American Club
Fluker, Louisiana

"We can develop and tell our history, by preserving our family photographs and history.  Every family has a family album or box of photographs with no mention of who the people are in the photographs. There maybe no one living or around that can tell you who the people are. If you have an older relative that is still living in your family and their memory is still very sharp, this is the time to take out the family album(s) or the box of photographs and have them identify it for you.

Kentwood High School

Irene Morris Collection

Irene Morris Collection

People Unknown



Links 
http://www.southeastern.edu/acad_research/programs/csls/historical_collections/archival_collections/h_k/harrell_collection.html

http://tangipahoaafrican-americannews.com

Plantation Owners Minted Their Own Coins and Money

Sharecropper's Coin 

Some larger plantations in the the South printed their own money and minted their own coins. The plantation owners would advanced the coins to their tenant farmers against next year's crop rather than give them real cash.  After working long hours in the blistering heat and the cold winters to earn money that wasn't even U.S. currency.  The sharecroppers coin could only be spent and used at the plantation stores and at their price. Most plantation stores always charged extremely higher prices.

If one of the tenant farmers decided to move away, they couldn't because they didn't have real U.S. currency.  Lumber towns generally emerged in isolated locations far removed from main route of commerce. Taking advantage of the scarcity of local merchants, timber companies often paid their workers in company script.

If the tenant farmer tried to leave the plantation he didn't have any money to move with, travel with or provide for him or his family. In all reality they had nothing after working hard all week long. When taking a deeper look into the study of poverty, we must the sharecropping that only benefited the plantation owners. Most tenants remained in debt and fell under at system called peonage.

Sharecropper's Coin

Natalbany Lumber

in Natalbany, Louisiana 

Hiram Brumfield of Kentwood, Louisiana

Hiram Brumfield

Hiram Brumfield was born in 1882 in Tangipahoa Parish. He was married to Dixie Brumfield. Dixie died on Jan 21, 1938. In 1910 he and his wife only had two children, Edcor and Daisy. Hiram is listed as a mulatto. Hiram couldn't read or write but he had sharp business skills and was self-employed. In the early 1900s he made regular rounds and was very dependable in his wagon that could have been  possibly the earliest garbage collector in Kentwood.  He raised pigs and he would gather discarded food and scraps to feed his pigs.  He  passed away on September 18, 1956 and was buried at the original Sweet Home cemetery according to his daughter Daisy Brumfield.

The Brumfield's has a long genealogical history in Kentwood, Louisiana and they are a large family. Names of Brumfield's in Kentwood included; Jim, Mattie, Melvin, Della Mae, James, Doris, Nathaniel, Mamie, Ira, Pecola, Irena, Arlie May, Walter, Hazel, Shellie, Doris, Dock, Lucinda, Oscar, Dixie, Minnie, Jim, Rosa, Eula, Collie, Lizzie, Chas, Merridth, Bailey, Robert, Lulsa, John, Fannie, Alma, Vernie, Selma, Kermit, Willie, Wessie, Bessie, and Laura are just a few names found in the U.S. Census.

WWII Registration Card

Hiram Brumfield

Towns and Incorporated Towns in Tangipahoa Parish

Here are the Unincorporated towns and towns that was Incorporated in Tangipahoa Parish, (* indicated incorporated). The name "Tangipahoa," is an Indian word meaning "ear of corn". The parish was formed from in 1869 form parts of St. Helena, Livington, St. Tammany, Washington parishes. Amite has always been the parish seat. The parish contains 500,000 acres of land.

Greenlaw
Kentwood *
Oak Hill
Tangipahoa *
Day
Newsom's
Fluker
Arcola
Roseland *
Graves
Amite*
Shiloh
Velma
Millards
Independence*
Tickfaw*
Genesee
Hammond*
Pumpkin Center
Natalbany
Torrego
Campbells
Ponchatoula*
Abel
Strader
Manchac
Loranger *

Source: Center For Southeast Louisiana Studies

The Obituary of Mrs. Verdie P. Dillon

Mrs. Verdie P. Dillion

Mrs. Verdie P. Dillon was born to Hilery and Laura Powell, Oct 15, 1885 in Mound Bayou, Mississippi.  She was married to the Mr. O.W. Dillion who preceded her in death. At an early age, Mrs. Dillon united with the Methodist Church and since then has been an active member of St. James United Methodist Church, Magnolia, Mississippi.

She was a faithful member of the choir, United Methodist Women Organization and a dedicated Sunday School teacher. Although Mrs. Dillon's public service to education was in Louisiana, she remained a loyal citizen of Magnolia and surrounding areas of Pike County.

Her interest in mankind, civic and educational organization were reflected in her active affiliations in the Lillie Mae Bryant Federated Club and the Local, State and National Retired Teacher's Association.

Even though Mrs. Dillon had no children of her own, she became a mother to countless of children in the surrounding areas of Louisiana and Mississippi, included among them is a devoted son, included among them is devoted son, Melburne Dillion, and his wife, Mrs. Louise Dillon. Other survivors are six grandchildren, nine great grandchildren, Mrs. Bonita Ratliff, Mr. Austine Dillon, brother-in-law; Mrs. Ollie Lawrence, sister-in-law; and a host of other nieces and nephews.

"Like a stalk of corn that ripen in its seasons, she enjoyed the spring of life, endured the toil of summer, culled the fruits of autumn and passed through the rigors of winter, all to embrace the joy and bliss of eternal years."

And Now She Rests




Source: Center for Southeast Louisiana Studies
              Irene Ried Morris Collection

The Wheat's Where Our Neighbors

Antoinette Harrell researching at the
Louisiana State Archives

Growing up in Amite, Louisiana at Rte Box 306, the Wheat's lived at Rte Box 303. Henry Wheat married my great uncle's Palmer Harrell's daughter Doris Harrell. Henry Wheat was a farmer, I remember him mostly in the field planting vegetables or picking and pulling them. He was a very quite man and enjoyed working on his farm. He was very kind and nice to our family. I remember him sharing vegetables from his garden with my family. Sometimes he would let the cows out in the pasture for grazing. I guess you can say we had a live lawn mower.

Henry was one of many children born to Saul and his wife Corrine;  Booker, Rosa, Beatrice, Melisa, Bernice, Mytrle, Bertha, Monore, Hattie, Mattie, Roy and Bertha. Saul was born in 1875 and died on Sept 5, 1954,  his wife Corrine was born in 1880 and died in on Sept 19, 1944. My mother use to say that cousin Henry was a good neighbor to have. He lived next door to his brother Roy Wheat and his son Bobby Ray Wheat and his family.

 My brothers and I spent long hot summer days playing with his youngest son Bruce. One of my childhood memories playing with Bruce is the time he, my brother and I busted watermelons in the field to see which one were the sweeties. When cousin Henry came out to the field and saw what we had done. He never raised his voice nor did we get a good whipping. I can't say my mother didn't want to give us a good whipping. Cousin Henry told her not to whip us because we were just being children. Not only having the Wheat's as neighbors but they were kind relatives as well.

His sister Melissa Wheat married my maternal grandmother's brother Alexander Richardson. My great uncle Theodore Harrell married Carrie Wheat. If you wasn't related directly, "perhaps one of your family members married into the many families in Amite." The Wheat still live in the same community up until this day. One of my cousin Ernest Wheat, Sr., still plant and grow food just like his father Henry Wheat and grandfather Palmer Harrell.

His wife Doris Harrell Wheat passed away before him. Henry was born on June 9, 1919 and died in April of 1992 in Tangipahoa Parish at the age of seventy-three.

Registration Card
Saul Wheat

Note: Saul Wheat couldn't read and he made his mark

The Genealogy of Ernest and Mary McKay Boykin of Fluker, Louisiana

Antoinette Harrell and her father
Walter Boykin

I woke up this morning thinking about my paternal ancestry and called my dad to get some information from him about his side of the family. Talking to my dad is like talking to a living history book. My dad can recall events that took place when he was just a child. Most of my genealogy research has focused on my mother side of the family.

The time has come for me to focus on my dad side of the family. In my last blog I said that I didn't know much about my paternal grandmother Mary McKay Boykins. My dad changed all that this morning in our conversation. He told me that his mother was born in Mississippi.

Jake and Martha Boykin

I went to the census on Family Search and found my grandmother Mary and her parents Charlie and Florence McKay. Charlie was born in 1884 and he was a mulatto, his birthplace was Mississippi. Florence was born in 1884. After Florence and Charlie were divorced, Florence moved to Tangipahoa Parish and later married a man named John Allen. According to the U. S. 1940 Census, John and Florence had two children living in the household at the time--a daughter named Jessie May who was twenty-year old and a son named Lonnie who was eighteen years old at the time this census of taken. In 1910 they lived in Beat 5, in Pike County, Mississippi, I have yet to trace the migration between 1910 and 1940.

My great grandmother Florence was born April 29, 1884 and passed away on June 1966 at age of eighty-two years old  in Tangipahoa, Louisiana.  My paternal grandparents Ernest and Mary Boykins had six children; Ernest, Jr., Florence, Francis, Walter, Lonnie, Jerry, and Ellis Boykins.  Grandmother Mary was born in 1913 in Pike County, Mississippi and she passed away in 1996.

I'm grateful to my dad for sharing our family genealogy with me. He's a true treasure besides being funny and most importantly motivating me to keep moving forward. I know he had so much more to share with all the Boykins offsprings.

The Registration Card
of Ernest Boykins, Sr.

Click on the link to hear the oral history of my father Walter Boykins http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f4evPVINl8

Slaves of Williams Boykin of St. Helena Parish

Williams Boykin,  1829   File B-3

July 30, 1829- Petition of late wife of Williams Boykin decd. He left property and the following heirs; Susan Boykin, wife of Simpson Hutchinson; with two minors James 19, Frank 17. She requests that here son John Boykin be appointed curator with petitioners, that and inventory be made.
July 10, 1851-In a suit Daniel Weston VS John Boykin et el: by s writ of geri facies issued, the sheriff J.J. Gormon has seized and will sell at the courthouse door at Greensburg on the first Saturday in Sept. 1851, all the title of John Boykin in the following: 540 acres bounded W. by Joiner Greek, N. by Mrs. Rachel Boykin, C. by Pearson Celis, S. by Leonard tract; also the interest of John Boykin in the succession of his decd father William Boykin, viz; the undivided interest in the following: 340.2. acres, being S.5. T 2, S 4, also slaves. (No further papers found.

Souces: St. Helena Conveyance Book

Slaves in George W. Fluker Family

James Fluker Kent

James Fluker Kent was born on January 17, 1843, he was the second child of twelve children and the oldest son of Amos and Susan Fluker Kent of Kentwood, Louisiana. He died August 18, 1886. James Fluker Kent grew up in Kentwood, and worked in his father’s brick factory. In 1860, his father sent him to Alexandria, Louisiana, to attend the Louisiana Seminary for Learning, a military-style college founded in 1860, which later became Louisiana State University. Fluker Kent was in the first class. The Superintendent was an ex-army Major named William Tecumseh Sherman.

He settled there on Cool’s creek, and built a sawmill and brick factory in an area which became known as Kent’s Mill. Later, when the town was developed, it was named Kentwood, in honor of old Amos Kent.

File  F-2

George W. Fluker, 1854

Dec. 8, 1854- Mrs. Martha A. C. Collinsworth represents that she is the surviving widow of George W. Fluker who died leaving minor children: Robert Fluker, Anna J. Fluker, Amos Kent Fluker, Elizabeth C. I. Fluker, and Georgiana Fluker. She is appointed natural tutrix with Robert Fluker under tutor. 

Inventory: Separated property, $174.50: Community, 224 acres bounded W by 700 acres on Amite River bounded W by the river, S. by land of the estate of C.W. Fluker decd, C by B. Pipkin, N by Mrs. Nettles: slaves, cattles, etc. Total $3649. 

March 8, 1856-224 acres purchased by Robert Fluker $100

July 30, 1858-Mrs. Martha A.C. McCoy, adm, of the estate of her decd husband Georege W. Fluker, filed her final account.

Richard Amacker Kent was born at Kentwood, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, June 28, 1871, a son of James Fluker Kent and Delilah Amacker Kent, and a grandson of Amos Kent. He comes of fine old Colonial American stock, originally from Scotland (sic) and the founder of the family in Louisiana was his grandfather, many generations later. Amos Kent was born in Massachusetts (sic), probably about 1811, and engaged in lumbering and brick manufacturing in New England until about 1840 (sic), when he came to Louisiana and married Susan Fluker, who was born at Clinton, Louisiana, in Feliciana Parish. In 1850 he came to Tangipahoa Parish, and recognizing great business opportunities here, founded the town of Kentwood, where he engaged in lumber and brick manufacturing and lived to be ninety-four years old.

R.A. Kent Merc. Co. Inc. Fluker, LA

Sharecroppers Coin

Sources: File-2, St. Helena Parish, Louisiana Conveyance Book B

               thoseflukerkents.com/RichardAKentSr.htm

               thoseflukerkents.com/kenhomes.htm

The Boykin Family History of Fluker, Louisiana

Jake and Martha Boykins
Photo Courtesy of Linnie Walls

Today my colleague Leonard Smith lll of L3S Studios and I decided to conduct genealogy research on my father's side of the family. I searched the Louisiana Statewide Death Index at the Louisiana State Archives and found my 2nd great grandfather Jake Boyins death record. On the death records, they called him "Jack" Boykins. Leonard searched the U.S. Census from 1940 back to 1870. He found Sam Boykins, wife and children living in St. Helena Parish.

Grandfather Jake died in Fluker, Louisiana. He was born in 1860 according to the 1870 census. According to his death record, he was born July 3, 1868, and died on March 29, 1941, at the age of 72. Jake is the son of Sam and Catherine (Elleneria), Boykin.

Jake and Martha were the parents of my grandfather Ernest Boykins and Johnnie Boykins according to the 1930 census. There may be other children, I haven't yet found on the census.

One day while talking with a man named Roy Curtis and his brother J.C. Curtis from Fluker-- they both told me that Jake was the kind of man that stood up for himself and the community. According to the 1930 census, Jake could read and write. His wife Martha couldn't read or write.  Jake's occupation was a truck farmer in Fluker, Louisiana. Records show that Jake didn't fight in any war. The Boykins always lived in Fluker, Louisiana up until recent years. Many of my father's siblings moved to California.

My father's brother Lonnie Boykins was elected to the City Council as Councilman of District A. Lonnie Boykins, Sr., died Saturday, Jan 31, 2004, at St. Tammany Hospital.  He was survived by his wife, Paulette Boykins; one daughter Shellean Daniels of Covington; three sons, Lonnie Boykins, Jr., John and Malcolm. Two sisters, Florence Basby of Gardenia, California., and Frances Sibley of Gardenia, California who is now deceased; 15 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Walter  Boykins

Uncle Lonnie was preceded in death by his father, Ernest; his mother Mary; and two brothers Ernest Jr., and Jerry. Many Boykins are buried in Community Baptist Church Cemetery in Fluker, Louisiana.

Jake and Martha are buried on the Kent property in Fluker. My father told me where they were buried. I tried to access the cemetery but because it's on private property I couldn't get to their graves. Most of the older people who lived in Fluker in the late 1800s and early 1900s is buried in this cemetery.

My father's mother Mary was a McKay from Mississippi. Not much is known about her side of the family. My father remembers staying with his grandmother Martha as a little boy. I can't wait to interview him again. It's very important to document our own family history. If we don't who will?

State of Louisiana 

Bureau of Vital Statistics 

Certificate of Death

Jack (Jake) Boykin

"United States Census, 1930," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XMT4-326 : accessed 06 Apr 2014), Ernest Boykin in household of Jake Boykin, Police Jury Ward 3, Tangipahoa, Louisiana, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 0008, sheet 18A, family 336, NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 822.

Grant Chapel A.M.E. Church Black History 2014 Event

You and your family are invited to Celebrate Black History Month at Grant Chapel A.M.E. Church in Amite, Louisiana. In honor of Black History, Vera Wheeler has invited Antoinette Harrell to be the keynote speaker, an activist, author, and community organizer will address the issues that African Americans face today in their communities. History will be brought alive by re-enactment of  Slavery, Jim Crow and Affirmative Action by the church youth. Mark your calendar to attend this upcoming event.

New Book Released by Author Antoinette Harrell " Department of Justice"

Antoinette Harrell has spent counting of hours in the National Archives in Washington, D.C., conducting peonage research in Class 50 (Peonage) Litigation Case Files, 1907 - 1973. The cases and documents in the book is directly from these files. 

These Class 50 litigation case files were created or accumulated by the Civil Rights Division in carrying out the Department of Justice's (DOJ) responsibilities in matters arising under statutes implementing the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. 
This series consists of litigation case files that cover matters arising from violations of statutes implementing the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which outlaws slavery and certain forms of involuntary servitude. The files pertain to complaints made by persons (victims) who were being held against their will or forced to work off debts through threats and intimidation by employers or others (subjects). Most of the victims were Negroes who were physically forced or sometimes beaten to return to former employers to work off their debts. 

The files contain correspondence, memorandums, telegrams, newspaper clippings, transcripts of testimonies, FBI reports of investigations, and indictments.So why don't you know anything about slavery in the 20th Century. The U.S. Government knew, the FBI knew, the NAACP knew, Governor Earl Brewer of Mississippi knew, President Calvin Coolidge, President Franklin D. Roosevelt knew, local sheriffs, elected officials knew, and the Supreme Court knew. You didn't know because the truth of this American nightmare--for those who lived it--has been buried in an unnamed darkness in dusty courthouse attics and the National Archives "Department of Justice" files in Washington, D.C.

I am available for speaking engagements, lectures, and open discussions. Hundreds of thousands of African Americans were held in slavery by chains, gunpoints, and beatings. Some where even murdered on some plantations in the south. This book will expose some terrible atrocities that took place. 

Antoinette Harrell conducting peonage research at the National
Archives in Washington, D.C.
Photo Credit: Walter C. Black, Sr.

Real Taste of NOLA with Chef Bergeron A Native of Amite, Louisiana

Chef Bergeron was born to Catherine Harrell and George Cheree' Bergeron in 1973 in New Orleans, LA., he came from a large family, seven girls and seven boys. His mother wanted to remove her sons from the violent streets of New Orleans by returning back to her hometown of Amite, Louisiana., where she knew her sons would be safe.

She passed away within the first six month. "I returned back to New Orleans," said Bergeron. My siblings went their separate ways and had their own families to raise. Bergeron said that he found  family in the streets. I did things that I am not proud of to this day. Life was hard on the streets "I played the hand that was dealt to me,"said Bergeron.

Like most of the African American men in the United States, Bergeron had a dream, a dream of becoming successful. Bergeron father was a chef, he decided to spend as much time as he could with his father to learn all about the art of creole cooking. Creole cooking is a part of Bergeron's heritage. On my maternal side of the family no one couldn't tell him that his mother Catherine wasn't the best cook in the State of Louisiana. The legacy of cooking was given to Chef Bergeron by both of his parents.

A man of many skills and talents, before following his dream of becoming a chef after abandoning the street life, he started his own plumbing and heating company. Although he mastered the skills he wasn't content because his hopes and dreams of becoming a chef was calling him. He shut his business down and moved to South Florida to be with his girlfriend.  After proposing to her and getting married with her support, he enrolled in a culinary arts program at one of the local colleges

where he  received by A.S. degree in culinary science.

Bergeron hosted many parties and events that displayed his culinary skills and good cooking. Presently he is working on his first book is be released this fall with some of his tasty recipes. He opened his first restaurant in Tampa, Florida called the "The Real Taste of New Orleans," he is also the owner of Bergeron's Catering and Vending company.

His plans for the future is to start a multiple sclerosis foundation for help others who has been diagnose with this disease. Bergeron was recently diagnose with the disease himself. He's grateful to God for all the many blessings he has blessed him with.

Black History Month " Civil Rights in Tangipahoa & St.Helena Parishes"

Jo-Ann Lewis Frazier
Pioneer for change in Amite, La.

Before I can actually think about "Civil Rights in America" I must first think about "Civil Rights in Tangipahoa Parish." Chronicling the important milestones by African Americans in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana. This past August, we commemorated the 50th anniversary March on Washington, D.C., It was pioneers like Jo-Ann Lewis Frazier,  Adam Gordon, Deloris Harrell-Washington, Dr. Willard Vernon, and Kingsley Garrison who stood up against the forces of hatred and racism. 

They protest for change in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana. But somehow I think we have forgot about that part of our history. I am a child from the 60s and can remember segregation and the conversation about the lynchings, KKK, and other racism acts against people of color. 

On, 23 August 1967, After the march, A.Z Young president of the Bogalusa Civic and Voters League announced plans for a second march. The first march, a 10 day trek from Bogalusa to Baton Rouge to present a petition of grievances to Governor John McKeithen supposedly drew over 500 participants.
source: 23 August 1967 p. 10-A, no byline

The 1953 bus boycott in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Baton Rouge was the site of the first successful bus boycott of the 1950s. This event became a blueprint for the more publicized boycott to take place two years later in Montgomery, Alabama, and it set the stage for desegregation in the Deep South.

This month everyone should reflected on a family member, neighbor, community leader who fought and stood up for change. This month I chose to celebrate family members who had the courage to make a difference and change the course of history.

Jim Crow Segregated Water Fountains

Just how many people in Tangipahoa and St. Helena Parishes know that in 1963, what was suppose be a summer project to register blacks voters in Iberville, Pointe Coupee, St. Helena, Tangipahoa and East and West Feliciana parishes turned into something that would change the voting history for African Americans. More than 300 people was jailed, most of them were teenagers. 20 Children was injured during this demonstration. 

Yet, we forgot about the moments and time in our history, we soon forget about the struggles of our ancestors and family members who experience the Jim Crow south. We forgot about the strange fruit hanging for the trees that whispered during the night. We forgot about the times that we couldn't walk on the sidewalks in town. These are history lessons that can help us better shape our presence and future, if we only take a moment to remember. 

http://crdl.usg.edu/collections/batonrougeboycott/?Welcome

http://www.examiner.com/article/louisiana-civil-rights-legends-bogalusa-s-deacons-of-defense

http://theadvocate.com/home/6834219-125/plaquemine-civil-rights-drive-remembered-50

Tangipahoa African-American News

http://tangipahoaafrican-americannews.com

Sharecroppers Contracts or Lease Agreements

My great grandfather Robert Harrell was determined not to spend his life working as a sharecropper or tenant farmer. He and his son Alexander Harrell purchased two hundred acres of land in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, to farm and work their own land. I often heard some of the elderly people in our communities talking about horror stories associated with tenant farming. Some said that you couldn't get out of debt no matter how hard you worked. At the end of the year you still owed the landlord.

I researched the "Freedmen Contracts" in the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and found contracts of many newly freed slaves who signed the contracts my making their mark (x) to work on plantations in exchange for shelter, clothes, tools and money. In many cases tenant farmer didn't received what they were promised according to the contract. "Children as young as five years old made their mark bonding themselves to an agreement that they couldn't read or understand just like their parents and other newly freed slaves on the plantation who signed the contract."

Many had no idea that they was entering into a new form of slavery called peonage and involuntary servitude. A new system of credit was created and some of your family members had to borrow against the crops. Crop liens was a system equal to that of sharecropping.

Freedmen Bureau Contract/Yazoo, Mississippi

Crop Lien of Jasper and Emma Harrell

My grandfather Jasper Harrell, Sr., and his mother Emma Mead Harrell borrow $110.00 dollars from Amite Strawberry Company 1938 against their crops, using their land to secure the loan. They worked hard to repay the loan to keep from losing the family land. My great uncle Palmer Harrell couldn't say the same. He borrowed some money to purchase a mule and was told that he defaulted on his loan, he lost his land. This wasn't unusual for many blacks and white who was cheated out of their land and money.