52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Week 21 – Dallas Carroll

52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Week 21 – Dallas Carroll

“Common lore in the Town Creek Alabama area is that there was a Cobb woman that loved him so much and after she married another man, named her daughter, Dallas.”

So was Dallas, my 2^nd great Uncle a lover?  His only known living niece, Dorothy remembers him as being of bronze coloring, not too tall but delightful to be around.

His Military Registration Card, dated September 12, 1918 records him as being medium height, medium built with black hair and eyes.

Dallas was the first-born son of Henry Carroll/Cal and Celia Sherrod  (married in 1882) born May 7, 1883.  Dallas was raised on the farmland where his father Henry was acquiring acres upon acres to secure the family’s future.  Henry was born during the enslavement period in 1858 to an enslaved mother, Emma Sims and stated his father was “A Dutch Sea Captain”.  Dallas’ father believe the way to success was landownership and exposed his first son, Dallas as well as his nine other sons and one daughter to farm life.   It has been told that Henry was a tough taskmaster and his son’s rebelled when they were grown.  At twenty years old, Dallas married Gertrude McDonald on Sunday, November 23, 1903 in Lawrence County, Alabama.  I was told that he loved horses and sure enough by April 18, 1910, he was living with his wife, Gertrude and working at a private stable in Town Creek.  Dallas appears to have been the first son to leave his father’s farm.

Dallas’ wife, Gertrude appears to have disappeared from the records and the 1910 Census show they had no children.  She may have died but we aren’t sure.  In 1918, Dallas is living in Chattanooga, Tennessee according to the city directory without a wife and working as a presser at Peerless Dry Company.  By the 1920 census, he is living at 3704 Chandler Avenue in Chattanooga with his new “wife”, Essie.  No marriage record has been found in Alabama or Tennessee.  Dallas was working on his in laws, William and Mariah Hawkin’s farm.  Back to what he knew from his father’s farm in Alabama but not for long.  By 1927, Dallas and Essie are living at 1105 W. 38^th Street in Chattanooga and he has become a Pullman Porter on the railroad.  Dallas and Essie are listed in the Chattanooga Directory through 1931.  There are no records showing that Dallas and Essie had any children, however Essie appears to have a daughter, Evira Abernathy, born about 1917.

Dallas’ work as a porter on the steamer railroads took him out west for April 5, 1930, he is renting a place on North Grand West in Salt Lake City, Utah.  The census records him as head of household 103 and paying ten dollars rent.  He is married but no wife his listed, born in Alabama.  Living around him are other Steam Railroad employees that are listed as Negroes most with Tennessee roots.  Various occupations listed are machinist helper, lubrication, porter and cook.  Some of these employees have wives listed with no occupation and perhaps they are on this census because they were on a stopover in Salt Lake City waiting for a train going East.  Dallas was working during the peak times of the Southern Railway System that developed a large company from a number of other companies including the Tennessee Railroad.  The company system had over 8,000-miles of track and ran through thirteen states.  The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters launched a successful effort that organized African American workforce made up of porters and maids.

Dallas was about forty-seven in 1930 and his occupation choice offered him an opportunity to be a part of the African American middle class.  His route was mainly in California according to his niece, Dorothy who remembers stories he told her when she was young.  You see, Dallas became ill (possibly TB) while working out west as a porter and moved back to Alabama living with his brother, Otis Cal and family.  Dallas’ wife Essie Carroll was found listed in the 1940 US Census, Chattanooga as a widow, which gives us a target time of his death because no death records for Dallas, has been located. 

Dallas’ story is a perfect combination of documented records, verbal history passed down in our family and tied to a very important part of migration, growth of Chattanooga as a city and introduced me to key roles of African American during a golden age of travel.  Loving the historical journey of finding family.

52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Week 20 Julius Copeland

52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Week 20 – Julius Copeland

Julius Copeland was born in Hanover, Virginia which is about five miles from Richmond in December 1844. Hanover’s population was about 15,000 at the time of his birth.  Somehow Julius ended up in northwest Alabama from Virginia. There were a few Copeland families living in the Alabama area that migrated from various areas. In 1850, one Copeland farmer in Franklin County own $4,000 worth of real estate and $800 personal estate.  In researching the surname in the area, some were born in Tennessee and Alabama.  No family stood out that connected my Julius who is my second great grandfather.  He is the father of my great grandmother Sallie Copeland that married my great grandfather, John Carroll/Cal.

Julius at the young age of seventeen was caught up in the Civil War and joined the United States Colored Troops, Company E, 42^nd Unit in Chattanooga, Tennessee on 11 September 1864 for three years.  His military service came after the Battle of Chattanooga on the 24th November 1863 and not long after the company was organized 20 April 1964.  His military records show he was five foot three inches tall, yellow complexion with brown eyes and black hair.  Before the war his occupation was a waiter.  By today’s standards, he doesn’t seem to have been very tall and add to it his complexion was yellow.  Can’t help but wonder if he worked as a waiter, was he free or a slave?  Was his ancestry mixed and if so, with what type of people?    Julius name was spelled various ways as Julian Copelin, Julas Coupland.

He joined the United States Colored Troops in 1864 and was promoted twice during his service in the Civil War from a private to corporal.   The 42^nd Unit was mustered out 31 January 1866 and if Julius had previous been a slave, he was now free.  He became a farmer in Lawrence County, Alabama and married Pearlina Burt on 5^th of September 1871.   They had two children, Richard and Sallie.  His wife, Pearlina died about 1919 after many years of marriage.  Julius was the father figure to his daughter’s children, Minnie Pearl, Richard, Howard and Alvin Cal for Sallie separated and divorced her husband, John Cal in 1922.  Julius did not remarry and lived with his daughter the remainder of his life.  He filed and began receiving a pension from the US Military in 1896.  Julius collected that pension until he died in 1934.

It is an honor that Julius is part of the Civil War Memorial in Washington, DC.  This family historian had not thought much about African-Americans being such a significant part of the Civil War.  As we are coming up on the Memorial Day celebration, it does my heart good to know our family is represented by my second great grandfather Julius Copeland.

52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Week 19 – Missie (Missy) Austin

52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Week 19 – Missie (Missy) Austin

Missie was born according to most documents in Georgia between 1866 and1868.  This would be about ten years after her oldest brother, Henry Carroll/Cal was born in 1858.  Henry is my 2^nd great grand father, also born in Georgia.  According to the 1870 US Census for Lawrence County, Missie was the fourth born child (age1) of Emma Sims who married Joseph Austin about 1868.   The mystery of where Missy and some of her siblings were born in Georgia before migrating to northwest Alabama creates a brick wall in our family research.  Missy grew up in the small rural town of Town Creek, Lawrence County, Alabama on a tenant farm. 

Missie married Fred Sherrod 14 April 1888 in Lawrence County.  Fred died in 1894 and in the 1900 U.S Census, Lawrence County list Missie is a widow with five children;  Lela (1890), Velma (1892) William (1893) Gertrude (1894), Fred Ida (1895).  Fred would have been a young man of about thirty-five and not finding a death certificate makes me wonder whether he became ill or had an accident leading to his death.  Missie a young woman of about thirty-three with five children continued on the tenant farm to make a living and provide for them.  Missie knew the work of a farm after all that is what her parents Joseph and Emma did from the time they arrive in Town Creek shortly after emancipation. 

Fortunately, she met and married Hugh Jackson in Leighton, Colbert County on the 4^th of January 1903.  Missie and Hugh had a son, Emmett and a daughter, Beatrice Jackson.  Life must have been on the upswing  for the couple had seven children that of course would help on the farm along with them.  However, the forward movement lasted too short awhile for by 1920, Missie was back on her on living as a widowed head of house.  The house couldn’t have been too large yet Missie, her eighty-three year old mother, Emma along with some of her children and grandchildren lived in the home.  Can’t imagine how they managed but they did. Missie’s mother, Emma Austin died in 1927 and by 1930, Missie was living with her single younger son, Emmett who was twenty-seven.  This represents a culture of assisting family and making the best of circumstances.  No record has been found of where Missie was during the 1940 Census but we are fairly certain she remained in Alabama throughout her life. 

Missie Austin Sherrod Jackson died in Morgan County, Alabama in 1952.  My gg aunt Missie lived through difficulties with her parents being enslaved to beginning anew in a new state, tenant farming, becoming a new wife twice, having seven children, making it on her own and providing home a for her mother Emma Austin in her last years.  There is no question that each of stands on the shoulders of our ancestors.  The question now is will we leave enough strength for our descendants to stand on our shoulders. 

This family historian feels the responsibilities that have been passed on by our ancestors.

52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Week 18 Mary Eliza Bailey Watkins

Mary Eliza Bailey is my great grandmother on my paternal mother’s side of the family.  Mary was born about May 1876 in Macon, Hale County, Alabama to Prince Bailey (1851-1930) and Adeline King (1852-1931).  Both of Mary’s parents appear from the records to have been born in Alabama.  Prince Bailey’s parents are recorded as being born in South Carolina.  Mary’s siblings listed in 1870 are all sisters, Caroline (1871), Lena (1879), Margaret (1883) and Anna (1885).  Mary was one of the middle sisters.  The family lived in Beat 8, Macon, Hale County, Alabama in 1880 and her father, Prince worked as a laborer.

So far on this journey, this is the first picture found from this generation and was taken in Indiana, Pennsylvania during the late 1930’s.

Mary met and married Wesley Watkins on 8 December 1892.  She appears to have been fourteen years old and in my mind very young to get married in our times.  By the 1900 census great grandmother Mary was married to Wesley, living in Gallion, Hale County, Alabama and had the following children: Lula, Smith, Floyd, Oather/Otis, Wesley and Lillie Mae.  She would have one more child in 1916, my grandmother Lois.  I find it exciting that I met all of my uncles and aunts with the exception of Lula (must find out what happened with her).

Mary’s husband Wesley worked as a coalminer and followed the coalmining industry to Ernest, Pennsylvania by the 1930’s.  One of her younger sons, Otis remembered growing up in Demopolis that is 9.72 miles from Gallion (Hale County) in Walker County.  Walker County was once ranked as the leading producer of coal in the country.  Our family verbal history is that Mary’s father, Prince Bailey was from Mississippi and sure enough I did find a record from Clarke County, Mississippi that supports him living there and working as a labor in the household of a Margaret Bailey. 

The life of a coalmining wife was surrounded with concern and worry of men going into the mines and possibly not surviving the workday.  The mining companies provided separate house for different groups of people yet underground in the mines the men took the same risk and endured the same hazards.  I’ve heard that Mary participated in bootlegging yet I’ve found no proof of the story.  Mary lost her husband in 1929 in Ernest Pennsylvania to a heart attack.  By the 1930 Census, she was living with her youngest daughter, Lois who was expecting her first child, my father.  Mary died in Pennsylvania about 1953 after a brief illness.

It is fit to write about Mary Eliza Bailey Watkins on this eve of Mother’s Day.  The journey will continue with hope and plans to learn more about my great grandmother.

52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Week 17 - Salina Sherrod Brooks

Salina Sherrod Brooks and as my cousin Dorothy reminds me it is Salina drawn out in the pronunciation.  It must be my northern accent not totally dissolved in my thirty seven years of living in the South.

Salina is a very interesting person in our family and why I have not absolutely proven her relationship, it exist without a doubt in my heart.  The dreaminess exist in the heart of most genealogist/family historians and in this case, it is not about a famous person by people's standards.  Records on Salina Sherrod were first found in the 1866 State of Alabama Census in Lawrence County.  Interesting she was found as head of household with a number of younger females living with her.  The census lists the head of household's name, sex and ages of others in the home.  The index lists her name as Selina Sherod.  This is one of the spelling variations of Salina Sherrod that has been found.  In this record, Salina had three female girls under ten years of age, three females 10-20 and one 20-30.  Oh how I wish I knew their names. [source is ancestry.com: Alabama State Census 1820-1866 for Selina Sherod]

From the 1870 US Census in Township 4 Range 8, Lawrence County, Alabama it appears that those females would have been Lydia (1855) Danella (1859) Rebecca (1864) Celia (1866) and Amanda (1868).   From 1870 US Census on, Salina is listed as a Mulatto.  Salina Sherrod married Lewis Brooks on the 19 Aug 1867.  Lewis was one of the black head of household listed in the 1866 Alabama Census.  Question is were any of Salina's daughters fathered by Lewis.  Various records show they used Sherrod as a surname and at other times Brooks.

Verbal family history is that Silas and Louisa Sherrod was Celia Sherrod's parents. Celia married Henry Carroll/Cal in Lawrence County, Alabama in 1882.  However, US Census show in 1900 that Louisa had one child and that son was Earen (Earnest) so it opens the door that Silas had some other relations and who knows it may have been with Salina that led to her daughters, Lydia, Danella, Rebecca, Celia and Amanda.  Celia Sherrod Carroll died in 1910 and her husband, Henry Carroll/Cal was administrator of Salina Sherrod Brooks' estate.  Later records show Salina as grandmother to Eva Bynum MacDonald Lewis.  I met Eva many years ago and she told me she was my cousin and grew up in Colbert County, Alabama.  My great uncle Robert and her argued whether it was Colbert or Lawrence County.  Both were born in Alabama in 1891 and grew up together as cousins.  Both of these family members as I found records on this journey were listed as mulattoes at times. While their race does not prove anything other than somewhere along the way there was a mixing of partners.

Summary is that Salina born in 1841 Alabama was a mulatto and own land.  It leaves one to wonder whether she was fathered by a Sherrod plantation slave owner.  How did she acquire land so soon after slavery in 1866?  Silas was a slave among Colonel Benjamin Sherrod as well as his grandfather. This is documented in the US Claim Commission that he filed in 1871 with Walter Sherrod (grandson of Col. Benjamin) being a witness.  The journey continues to prove or disapprove any possible theories by this Family Historian.

52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Week 16 - Charlie McClendon

Charles McClendon was born in Odessadale, Georgia, a little town in Meriwether County, Georgia on the 8 of June 1888.   His mother, was Sylvia Martin who married Cornelius McClendon.  Sylvia was the younger sister of my great grandmother, Josephine Martin that married Wiley Woodard in 1868.  Sylvia and Cornelius married  in 1879,  had eight children and the two families grew up in the small community of Odessa.   Charles/Charlie McClendon and John Henry Woodard grew close as first cousins while growing up and that relationship continued through their moves working as coalminers, marriages and raising their children.  Charlie and John Henry's companionship went on until the death of John Henry in January 1932 with Charlie being the informant on John's death certificate.  Charlie maintained close to John's children after his death.  I remember my mother who was born in 1932 talking about him.  She spoke of a picture of Charlie in a white suit that I wish that I could find.

Cousin Charlie was the fourth child of Cornelius and Sylvia.  His siblings were Lula Belle (1870), Leanah (1880), Cornelius Jr. (1882), Mattie (1891), Savannah (1893), Jermiah (1894) and Tobe (1898).  This information was found in the 1900 US Census for Odessadale, Meriwether County, Georgia.  This family was also found in the same area in 1910.  I visited the area in 1990 and met a 92 year old, Ida Strozier who was very familiar with the McClendon and Woodard families that lived in the area.  She particularly recalled Sylvia and that Cornelius had died before Sylvia.  Two census records, a local cemetery without well marked headstones and the word of a senior member of the community were excellent resources on my search.

The challenge of not finding either cousin Charlie or grandfather, John Henry Woodard in the 1920 Census to date still stands.  John's sister, Hannah Woodard Rosser and her husband, Henry Rosser moved to Etowah, Alabama and I believe influenced Charlie and John Henry move to Alabama.  John Henry met and married his wife in Jefferson County. Records show they married in 1913 and so it is pretty safe to say the move took place after 1910.  On 5 June 1917, cousin Charles registered in the World War I Draft Card files.  He was working as a coal miner, had a wife with two children, was tall with medium built and registered in Marvel, Alabama.  While I couldn't locate him in the 1920 Alabama Census by the 1930 Census he was living in Fairmont, Marion County, West Virginia.  Three of his six children were born in Alabama from 1920-1926, he registered for the draft in 1917 so these fact pretty much place him in the area.  Now his other three children born between 1914-1919 were recorded as being born in Georgia.  This leads me to believe, he married his wife Sarah in Georgia; left Georgia for Alabama to work as a miner and moved his family to Alabama later.  It appears that since John Henry Woodard married Susie Mae Young in Jefferson County in 1913, they may not have  moved at the same time to Alabama.  Interesting the census record show cousin Charlie and his wife, Sara, married when they were twenty-eight years old so it was about 1916 and perhaps in Georgia.  Sara's maiden name may have been Ludon and she may have been born in Terrell County Georgia.  More research is needed on Sara.  

By the 1930 US Census, Charlie and his family along with his cousin, John Henry Woodard and family all lived in Fairmont, Marion County, West Virginia working as coalminers.  Charlie and Sarah lived at 1221 Field Street and own their own home.  Five of their children, Ann D., Mabel, Theodore, Charles Jr. and Earl R. were living with them by the 1940 US Census in Fairmont.

Charlie registered for WWII Draft in Marion on 27 April 1942.  He is listed as working for Kingston Pacs in Hemphill, West Virginia.  The card describes him as about 5'11" tall, medium built and weighting about 174 pounds with brown eyes and black hair.  He signed the form.

The last I remembering hearing was Charlie lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and so did several of his children.  The Social Security Death Index records his death as 1 June 1966.  It always excites me when the records and verbal history fits well.   The records reveal a great deal of information yet I would love to sit on a bench with him to discuss his experience. More to be found on cousin, Charlie McClendon and I can't wait to continue my journey.