52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Wk. 12 Whispers of Lillian D. Copeland

52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Week 12 Whispers along the Journey – Lillian D. Copeland

Lillian D. Copeland, birth 15 January 1902, Alabama.  You whispered to me yet I didn’t pay attention on more than one occasion.  I snapped a picture of your headstone at the Cal Family Cemetery in Town Creek, Alabama over two years ago and wondered who your where.  The carved words explained yet it didn’t fit what I knew so not too much attention was given to the engrave letters that spelled it out.

I hunted for your father, Richard W. Copeland born 20 Oct 1973 and found him living with your mother and wife, Lillian in the 1910 Town Creek Census yet you were not listed.  I figured he was one of the two living children of Julius and Pearlina (Burt) Copeland but wasn’t certain.  Your father, Richard Wallace Copeland listed your mother Lillian as the nearest kin in his Draft Registration Card of 1918.  I saw him living in Birmingham Alabama close other family members, Robert and Rose Carroll yet your mother wasn’t in that household in the 1920 Census.  I questioned and wondered but looked no further.  I hunted and hunted for the marriage record of your father and mother in the Alabama Marriage Index without results.  Yet the 1900 US Census for Precinct 22 ½ Town Creek, Alabama stated they had been married for fourteen years without any children.  Of course, it took awhile to find them for their names were recorded as Bichar and Lilin Copelan so at first I didn’t realize it was them.  Looking beyond the index at the written records noticed that Bichard was Richard and someone had no idea of how to spell Lillian.  The birthrates matched, the location was the same as 1910 and the birthplace of them and their parents matched.  Felt certain this was the Richard Copeland that I was looking to document. 

Along the way, at Family Search.org noticed a Lillian Copeland in the death index for Town Creek, Lawrence County, Alabama, a female that was 11 yrs. 10 mos. with a birth years of 1901.  Immediately wrote it down with the source for future reference.  Now my paternal grandmother’s brother Ocie Watkins adopted a Carroll in Indiana, Pennsylvania.  It was within the last couple of years that I learned his daughter was a Carroll and it was long after his death.  He called me ONCE a year since I moved to Atlanta up to his death in the 1980’s.  What amazed me was how much he seemed to know about the Carroll’s and the tidbits he would tell me.  Once I learned his adopted daughter was a Carroll, what he knew made sense. 

So yesterday and today, I found him whispering in my ear to a point that I had to stop and pay attention.  Mostly, what I heard was “Mr. Copeland was your Grandmother Sally’s brother”.  My response was I hear your Uncle Ocie but I loose track of him in 1927, the last document found where he was a miner in New Kensington, Pennsylvania.  So I went back again to learn what I could about Richard trying to document him as my great grandmother Sally’s brother.  Found his Draft Registration for WWI in Jefferson County Alabama where he listed his next of kin as Lillian in 1918 (good good thought I was making headway).  In the 1920 Census he is living alone and no signs of Lillian not even in the Alabama Death Index.  Okay for some reason he went on to Pennsylvania alone yet no record of death found in Pennsylvania or Alabama.  I know his father and sister visited Pennsylvania in 1930 so what the heck happened to him and where was Lillian, your mother.  Frustrated I pretty much decided to record what was found and leave it alone.  My great Uncle Ocie continued whispering in my ear as I was driving to and from an appointment.  My response was what is it what do you want me to know????  Came home got on my computer again and something told me to go to my records on the Cal Family Cemetery in Lawrence County Alabama.  Sure enough I found what Lillian D. and Uncle Ocie wanted me to find today.  A newly found cousin that died much too young.  So now how or what did you die of at such a young age? Thank you Lillian D. and Uncle Ocie for leading me to tie this much together.  Not sure I'm leading this Journey or following and with finds like this, I'll go with the whispers of my ancestors.

52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Week 11 Susie Mae Young 1897-1937

52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Week 11 Susie Mae Young 1897-1937

How I would have liked knowing you in person, Susie Mae Young. I could have called you grandma, grandmother, Nana or maybe granny.  It was not meant to be in this lifetime but maybe in the next.

On my journey, I’ve hunted for you and found: Your birth was 19 December 1897 in Jefferson County, Alabama. You married John Henry Woodard, on July 24, 1913 in Jefferson County, Alabama according to your Alabama Marriage License.   I interviewed our cousin, Henry Ross and our adopted aunt, Bertha Hodge who attended your wedding as six-year old children.  They both remembered your special day.   I forgot to ask why the memory was still in their minds in their senior years of life and they have passed on now.

Your older children remembered you loving flowers and planting them in your garden.  I wonder whether I acquired my love of flowers from you. They recalled you hating West Virginia, the soot and dirt of the Fairmont mining community.  I wonder whether your dislike came after the death of your husband due to black lung in 1932.  You bore him eleven children, seven girls and four boys.  Your youngest child, my mother was born six months after his death and missed the relationship she could have had with both of you.

You moved to Pennsylvania to begin again within a few years of your youngest child’s birth.  The death of your husband left you without a home since you could no longer live in the Coal Mining Company’s house at 26 Franklin Street, Fairmont, WV.  Eli, and his wife, Carrie Woodard, a miner and in some way related to your husband took you in along with your seven minor children.  Somehow and in someway you amazingly made the courageous move to New Kensington with your underage children around 1935.

Your youngest son remembers that you spoke with your eyes and the look clearly communicated approval or disapproval.  He remembers you being a tall woman with a kind firm manner and a religious mother.  Proof is in all of your children’s names coming from the bible and your participation in a Christian camp outside of Pittsburgh.  While I’ve hunted and hunted no picture of you has been found. 

It has been on this journey where I learned you and your husband, John along with your children visited New Kensington, Pennsylvania in 1920 and stayed with John Williams and his family.  Were they related or were you all exploring opportunity to move to New Kensington, PA?  Labor issues were going on in the West Virginia mines and that certainly could be a consideration.  Later I learned there was a John Young born in Alabama same as you that might have been related.  Moving to Pennsylvania with underage children meant being away from the only parents you knew, Matildia (Harris) and George Freeman that lived in Idamay, WV.  You moved, lived on Eighth Street and worked as a domestic in a private home.

Who knew that you would leave your underage children much too soon?  You came down with pneumonia shortly after your move.  According to your son, Bill, who went to get Dr. Harris to attend you, Dr. Harris didn’t come in time to treat you.  During your illness, you designated a middle daughter, Naomi to care for and raise the younger children.  You saw something special in her and were right for she fought to keep her orphaned younger siblings together.  You died on the 6th of January 1937 and are buried at the Union Cemetery in New Kensington, PA.

So while I haven’t uncovered your biological parents or a picture, I know more about you through my journey.  I’ve become the family storyteller and feel compelled to share what I know of you.  The journey continues and think I will call you, Grandma.  You’re more than dates and places and have a place in my heart.

52 Ancestors 52 Weeks #10 – Wiley Woodard I

52 Ancestors 52 Weeks #10 – Wiley Woodard I

The question is could Wiley Woodard (1) be the gggrandfather of this branch?  Twenty-four years ago, my family journey began with a focus on my maternal side of the family.  I quickly learned that often assumptions would be shared that were generalities and not necessarily facts.   A genealogist with a master’s degree told me that being African American more than likely I would have success on the maternal side.  Being new to the family history journey, I followed his lead and began with Susie Mae Young, my grandmother who died in 1937 when my mother was four years old.  I secured her death certificate and found the documented listed both her parents as unknown.  The informant was the first cousin, Charlie McClendon, of her husband John Henry Woodard.  Interviewing my mother taught me that Matildia (Harris) and George Freeman raised my grandmother and were somehow related.  They were grandparents to my mother and her siblings.  I began interviewing my mother’s siblings and learned Matildia and George raised Susie Mae since she was an infant.  Some said they heard her mother died in childbirth yet no one knew her name.  On that leg of my journey it was a dead end back in the day so I took the path to my mother’s paternal side, Woodard.

I quickly learned about my grandfather’s family, the Woodard’s from Georgia.  Guess the genealogist with a master’s degree didn’t mention the exceptions of the African American family.  Found the Woodard family in the 1900 US Census living in Meriwether County Georgia.  Learned my grandfather was the youngest of Wiley (2) and Josephine (Martin) Woodard that were married in 1868.   Wiley was born in 1925 in Virginia and one of their sons was name Wiley (3).  The search was on to find out information about Wiley’s (2) parents.  While standing in line at the Georgia Archives, I happened to look up and saw a bookshelf with oh about ten books on the ledge.  A large red book caught my attention titled 1860 US Georgia Census Index.  Going with strong feelings, I reached for the book and before opening it wondered what the heck, no African American are listed in this index, this was before freedom.   Flicking through the pages to Woodard, I landed on Wiley Woodard in Baldwin County Georgia.  Thoughts were that this couldn’t be my Wiley for surely he was a slave.  I headed to the microfilm files that would have more details, found the film and loaded on the machine.  This was a black man, Wiley Woodard(1).  More research led to the learning of this Wiley being a free person of color, brick mason living in Baldwin County Georgia that was born in Brunswick County Virginia with Thomas Crowder also born in Brunswick County being his sponsor.  Further exploration led to Thomas’ death and a will administered by Charles Malone in 1836.  Charles Malone purchased in a private sale, one Negro, woman Lucy and children, Wilson, Sally and Mill for $1,350.  Charles died shortly after acquiring this slave family.  Interesting enough, I found Gilbert Malone in Meriwether County (1803-1838) who married Amanda Leveritte in 1821.  Is there a tie could Gilbert have inherited the slave Lucy with her children Wilson, Sally and Mill?  Gilbert’s widow Amanda own thirteen slaves in the 1850 census.

This family historian has hunted for the documentation and found nothing definite yet something led me to find the 1860 US Census in Baldwin County that led me to Wiley Woodard, born 1784 in Brunswick County Georgia.  Perhaps Wiley (1) belongs to my family and the questions remains will I ever be able to prove it?

Happy hunting and my twenty four year journey continues.

52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Week 8 John Henry Woodard

John Henry Woodard is my maternal grandfather and the ancestor for this 8th week.   John was born on February 2, 1889 in Meriwether County Georgia to Wiley and Josephine (Martin) Woodard.  He was the youngest child of this couple that married in 1868.  They had nine children and by 1900 five were living in Odessadale, Georgia.  Odessa Township is a small farm community that is five miles west of Lagrange Georgia.  The Woodard family lived near the Meriwether Troup County Line and worked as tenant farmers. 

It would have been easy to miss this small community when I visited Odessadale in 1990.  Upon entrance to the area we found ourselves going back in time for this old area seems to have stood still from long ago.  The evidence of farming could be seen in the open fields just beyond some of the houses.  We stopped to ask a few children playing in the street whether they knew of any people named Woodard.  Without hesitation they advised us that the Woodard section was just down the road.  The road they directed us to was about one mile long before ending at a small trailer and an old two story seemly abandon shingled house with the upper window open and a lace curtain blowing out towards the empty field.  An older man was in the yard where the trailer sat.  We waved at him and he waved back.  His features came in focus as he approached our car.  It was startling how much he looked like the Woodard family members that I known all of my life.  He introduced himself as Henry Woodard and I explained who I was telling him some basic family information that led me to Odessa.  Henry was open and friendly advising me that his father was Henry Woodard Sr.  He did not really know his father having grown up and living in Troup County (five miles away) most of his life.  Henry shared that his aunt, Ida Strozier lived on the main road in Odessadale and knew more of the family history.  After our short visit with Henry, we went to the main road and knocked on Ida Strozier's door.  She was an older woman and later I learned she was ninety-two and her maiden name was McClendon. She was a little leery at first of this stranger.  Yet as I shared what I knew about the Woodard family, she opened up about where the family lived, which Woodard’s where related and remembered my great grandparents, Josephine and Wiley, when they died and remembered my great grandaunt, Sylvia Martin and her husband Cornelius McClendon.  Ida was a treasure chest of information, sharing information of where my grandfather, John Henry was born and information about his parents.  Ida told me I didn’t look like a Woodard then looked at my sandaled feet and said my feet were not like the Woodard’s.  I explained my feet were like my father’s.  Finally, she looked at me and said there is something about your eyes that remind me of the Woodard’s (I do have eyes like my mom).  Interesting enough when we met Henry, he had no shoes on and my husband said his feet look like my mother’s feet. 

John Henry left this area with his first cousin, Sylvia and Cornelius’ son, Charlie McClendon and followed his sister, Hannah and her family to Sayre, Alabama.  The male family members worked in the Alabama coalmines, followed the industry to West Virginia and on to Pennsylvania.  John married Susie Mae Young in Jefferson County Alabama on July 19, 1913.  Their first two children of eleven were born in Sayre, Alabama and the others were born in Fairmont, West Virginia.  John Henry worked as a coalminer most of his adult life and supplemented his income by taking on a second job as a butcher.  The results of working in the unhealthy environment of underground coalmines led to his death from black lung disease.  He died six months before his last child my mother was born.  John Henry and his cousin, Cornelius McClendon remained close all of his life.  Cornelius was the informant on John’s death certificate in January 1932.

My grandfather’s story was shared by his children and gave me the first steps on my family history journey.