52 Ancestors - 52 Weeks - Missing Bailey

The last couple of weeks my blog has taken me to the Bailey Branch of the family.  We had Mary Bailey daughter of Prince Albert Bailey, son of Peter Bailey who was born about 1810 in South Carolina.  Peter was found based on death certificates of Prince and Merritt Bailey in Marengo County Alabama.  Then we find Rebecca Carr living according to the 1880 US Census, Spring Hill, Marengo County with her father Peter Bailey along with her three sons, James H., Freeman and Aaron Carr plus a daughter Daisy.  Later Rebecca born about 1830 in South Carolina is listed as divorced.  Also, in the 1880 Census living with Peter Bailey is a daughter Ann Bailey, age 35, single with a number of children all listed as Mulattoes.  Peter's wife is Matilda born about 1835, certainly too young to be these children listed mother.

On this portion of the journey, the fog has set in no allowing me to see what direction to head.

Now Captain Robert Bailey was a land owner that found Faunsdale that was later know as Baileyton in Marengo County.  Records show that Bailey families moved to the area from Virginia and South Carolina.  There was or may still be the Bailey Plantation in Berkeley, South Carolina and some notations of Sumter County, SC as well as Edisto Island, South Carolina.  Freedman listed in this area in 1866 were Pheobe Bailey, Mary Bailey, Peter Bailey and John Bailey.  Checking on Bailey Slaveholders and their location we came up with the following areas:

Amelia Co., VA      Baker Co., GA    Dougherty, GA   Halifax Co., VA    Halifax Co., NC and Marshall, NC.

There is a ton of research on Bailey families but little information that refer to the slaves they own so far.  There are will that list owner like James Bailey who died in 1826 and was son of James Bailey.  The appraisal done for his Will list he had 10 Negroes (no names) valued at $3,225.00.

So it appears very quickly that I reached the notorious brick wall for African Americans.  No way will this be accepted for with all the research and information on Bailey families, there has to be something of value that will taken me back.

52 Weeks 52 Ancestors Week 23– Peter Bailey

52 Weeks 52 Ancestors Week 23– Peter Bailey

How did I meet Peter Bailey and are the documents found really for my 3rd great grandfather?  Last week I wrote about my 2^nd great grandfather, Prince Albert Bailey.  Prince fit the verbal history past down in our family as the father of Mary Bailey, my great grandmother who married Wesley Watkins in Alabama.

This family historian through the Alabama Deaths, 1908-1974 index on FamilySearch.org, met Peter Bailey.  The record for Prince Bailey of Demopolis, Marengo, Alabama list his death 04 Jan 1930 and in that record his wife is Adiline (Adeline) and his father is Peter Bailey, born in Virginia.  There was no information about his mother.  So now the journey begins to learn as much as documents will yield on Peter Bailey.

Peter appears to have married Ella Carter on 31 Dec 1870 in Marengo County according to Alabama Marriages on familysearch.org and on prairebluff.com, Marengo County Alabama Marriage Index, colored, 1866-1871, Black Families of Alabama Black belt.   It was necessary to pause at this finding for Ella is not listed as Prince’s mother and this marriage took place years after Prince was born about 1851 or 1852.  Was this because of the slavery period when Alabama didn’t permit enslaved people to marry or was Prince the child of another woman? In searching line by line in the 1870 US Census, Spring Hill, Marengo County with a P.O. Box Demopolis, there is a Peter Bailey on page 4, line 15, household 33 who is a 60 year old black male born in South Carolina working as a farm laborer. This Peter was born about 1810 and living with him is Martha Bailey, age 39 keeping house.  Prince, age 20, in 1870 was living in Clarke County, Mississippi, a few counties west of Marengo.  A record of one Peter Bailey, married to Ella was found in the 1880 US Census, Demopolis, Marengo with a birthdate of around 1839. 

If this is Prince’s father one must question Peter’s birth year for Prince’s is listed as 1851 or 1852.  Could this Peter be a brother of Prince for the birth state is listed as Alabama and in Prince’s death record, his father Peter’s place of birth is Virginia?

Fast forward to 01 Sep 1930, the date Lue Bailey age 90 died.  Her spouse in the Alabama, Deaths, 1908-1974 (familysearch.org) Demopolis, Marengo is listed as Peter Bailey.  Lue estimated birth year is 1840 and appears to be too young to be mother of Prince, born 1851 or 1852.  Next in Alabama Deaths, 1908-1974 Merriett Bailey, male, colored, age 75 (estimated birth year 1839) died on 25 Jun 1914 in Old Spring Hill, Marengo.  The record lists Peter Bailey as his father without any listing under mother same as Prince Albert Bailey’s record.

Bailey slave owners settled in the Faunsdale/Baileyton Lands during the 1800s. Further research shows there were Bailey slaveholders in Amelia and Halifax Counties, Virginia as well as Halifax County, North Carolina and there was the “Bailey Plantation” in Edisto Island, SC. In pondering and reviewing the documents found there are many miles to go in attempt to find out more about Peter Bailey and most of all to sort it all out on my Journey.