Slave Owners in the Family Tree

 This month my Progen homework was to transcribe and abstract a will. I chose the will of my maternal 3rd Great Grandmother Charity Stafford.
  Charity was the wife of Joshua Stafford and lived in Sumter District, South Carolina. Charity's parents and birth are unknown. Her will was written in February of 1839 and proved on 9 November 1840.

Last Will and Testament of Charity Stafford

    The following is the transcription of Charity's Will:

  In the name of God Amen. I Charity Stafford, of Sumter District, South Carolina, being in sound health and disposing mind, do make and publish this my last Will and testament.
Item, 1st it is my will that all my just debts be paid by the sale of my two negroes, Viz, Judia and her child, Bluford and the balance of the money arising from the sale of said negroes after my debts are paid together with my household furniture and all my stock to be equally divided between my two sons Lunsford C. Stafford and Hartwell Stafford.
Item 2nd I give and bequeath to my beloved Grand Daughter Barbary E Stafford my plantation whereon I now Live to be for the benefit of her father J Stafford till she my Granddaughter B E Stafford becomes of age, but not to be subject to any debts already or hereafter to be contracted either by her or any other person or persons.
Item 3rd I give and bequeath to my beloved Barbary Jones my three negroes, Viz, Robert, Molly, and Elmirah; during her lifetime, but not be subject to any debts already contracted, or that may hereafter be contracted by her or any other person, or persons.
And at her death, It is my wish that the three negroes (To wit) Robert, Molly, and Elmirah, together with their increase be given to her three children in the following manner Viz, I wish Hartwell E Jones to have Robert; and. Charity E Jones to have Molly with her increase; and Mary F Jones to have Elmyrah [sic] with her increase, and in case either of the children die before they become of age or marry their part of the negro is to go to the surviving one or ones, and neither the negroes nor their increase is to be liable for any debts now contracted or that may hereafter be contracted by any of the heirs or any other person or persons-(Turn over)

 In witnesses whereof I the Said Charity Stafford have to this my last Will and Testament set my hand and seal this the 16th day of Feby in the year of our Lord One Thousand Eight hundred and Thirty nine
her
Charity x Stafford (SEAL)
mark
Signed Sealed published and declared by the Said Charity Stafford as her last will and Testament in the presence of us who in her presents [sic] and at her request have here unto set our names as
witnesses
Noah Graham
Samuel P Hatfield
Alfred China

Recorded in Will Book D-2, Page 32
Sumter, South Carolina

 Judia and her child, Bluford to be sold to pay debts.
Robert, Molly and Elmirah and any children they may have to be given to her grandchildren. Human beings being sold and given away as property. So hard to comprehend.
Further in the probate package is a page listing some of Charity's "property" and the worth of each item. Listed just above the cattle and hogs are Judia, Buford, Robert, Molly and Elmirah.

Property List
Charity Stafford
Probate Package
Bundle 132, Pkge 2 pg.3
Sumter County, South Carolina

The 1840 Sumter County, South Carolina Federal Census shows 

Charity Stafford in a household most likely with the enslaved named in her will-

1 Female 70 & under 80,  2 male slaves under 10, 2 female slaves under 10, 1 female slave 24 & under 36.

Placing the names of those in the will with the ages from the census, it is probable that Judia was between 24 and 36. Her son Bluford was under 10 as were Robert, Molly and Elmirah.

 There is no record in the probate file for a sale of Judia and Bluford.

In 1842 there is an auction and it appears that even though the will of her mother Charity left her children the slaves Robert, Molly and Elmirah, Barbary Jones buys them when they are, according to the document, "sold to the highest bidder".
   

Charity Stafford
Probate Package 
Bundle 132, Pkge 2 pg.7
Sumter County, South Carolina

What became of Judia, Bluford, Robert, Mollie and Elmirah? Did the three 10 year olds stay with the Stafford and Jones families as Charity's will instructed? Were Judia and her son Bluford sold together or were they torn apart?
 Perhaps further research will locate them in family documents.
 Until then, adding the information contained in Charity Stafford's probate package to  The Slave Name Roll Project may be one way to discover what happened to them and reunite them with their families.
  We can't judge our ancestors for actions we don't understand or times we didn't live in. We can only gather and share the information we find.

Do you have slave owners in your family tree? How do you deal with this difficult subject while still honoring your ancestors?
  I would love to hear from you.

Cheri

New Indexing Project Challenge...Gift of Love...African American Freedmen's Bureau Records

Today in celebration of the Juneteenth, there was a special news event announcing the Freedmen's Bureau Project. Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States.  Specifically it dates back to 1865. It was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. This was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. It was the end of southern resistance to President Lincoln’s proclamation. It is a Holiday in Texas commemorated every year.

Reproduction of the Emancipation Proclamation at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio from Wikipedia

If you do not have a good understanding of what the African American Freedmen's Bureau Records are the FamilySearch Wiki page will give you a greater understanding of what records are involved. At the end of the page are some great links to give you further information.

FamilySearch International, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Afro­-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS), and the California African American Museum are partnering to make the images available, and free for anyone to view and search.  The main focus at present is for volunteer indexers to join the effort to get the records indexed in record time.  Would you like to help?  Go to the Afro­-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS) website and click on the image of Juneteenth, or go to The Freedmen’s Bureau Project and click on the volunteer now button.

Volunteer Now page for the project.

This comes at a time that the United States needs a healing element of love. The gift of volunteering to make these records searchable will be just that a labor of love.  All help will be greatly appreciated,
See you next month. 

The Slave Name Roll Project

February is Black History Month in the United States. It seemed an appropriate time to write about DNA matches to two fourth cousins twice removed, who happened to be African-American. Here's how it all came about.

Dad had a fairly extensive tree built out with no sources. I spent a couple of years working backwards just sourcing his research, correcting the few mistakes I found, and extending his research when possible until I got to the period of time just after the Revolutionary War. It's about this time frame in the U.S.when you need to rely on different record sets with which I was then unfamiliar. So I started learning about the types of records I would need to use to learn about my family before and just after the Revolutionary War. These are primarily wills, property deeds, estate inventory lists, court records (it was a surprisingly litigious society) and old books about family genealogies. I learned my ancestors owned land and grew tobacco or cotton as cash crops. I suspected I would come face-to-face with slavery, which was known by many as the "peculiar institution." 

Image of a watercolor entitled "Old Plantation (Slaves Dancing on a South
Carolina Plantation) circa 1785-1795 attributed to John Rose; courtesy of
Wikimedia Commons

Just as I was sorting through my feelings about finding slave owners in my ancestry, I received a message through Ancestry.com about DNA matches with two people, whose tests were administered by their cousin. He was the one who contacted me. He believed the unknown shared ancestor must be from Bedford County, Virginia. I looked at the DNA matches he referenced and agreed. The geographic "hotspot" was definitely Bedford County, which made it likely our shared ancestors were from my Beard or Mitchell lines. These lines intermarried frequently. I had researched my great grandmother's Beard line extensively. Her mother, my great great grandmother, was Barbara Ann Mitchell (1841-1890), and I had done no research on the Mitchell family.

Wood engraving entitled "The Inspection of a Negro" originally published
in Captain Canot circa 1854; courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

I gave myself a somewhat successful lecture about not judging my ancestors by today's moral code and began researching my great great grandmother. As I worked backward to Barbara Ann's great grandfather, Robert Mitchell (1714-1799), the shaky leafs on my DNA results went nuts. Turns out, I'm loaded with Mitchell DNA.

The surprise was discovering William Armstead Claytor, a son of Barbara Ann's second cousin, Harvey Claytor (1800-1871). William was African-American and the likely son Harvey Claytor and the family's slave cook, Letitia. After the Civil War, William moved to Floyd County, Virginia, bought land, and raised a family of 13 children who all went on to become teachers and doctors. I was so moved by the family's accomplishments during a period when many laws were enacted which legalized discrimination that I started thinking about what I could do to help my African-American genealogy colleagues.

William Armstead Claytor and his wife with 10 of their 13 children;
courtesy of Ancestry.com member cclaytonarizona

At the same time I was thinking about how to help, Cather Meder-Dempsey, author of Opening Doors in Brick Walls, posted a story about her slave owning ancestor in three parts. Reading her story gave me a brainstorm (at least I think so). I would start a Slave Name Roll modeled on fellow Worldwide Genealogy blogger, Heather Wilkinson Rojo's Honor Roll Project. Heather graciously gave me permission to steal her format and we were off to the races.

Slave Name Roll Project

The project was launched on the last day of February with links to named slaves of two people. I honestly had no idea how it would be received. I tweeted a link to the page and posted the link on my genealogy bloggers community Facebook page. As you can see by looking at the page nearly a month later, the response has been gratifying. And keeps me incredibly busy keeping up with the contributions. It's a good thing I'm retiring at the end of May! I hope you will contribute if you are able.

The success has started me thinking about the long-term future of the project. Am I the correct curator? Would another group or person be a more appropriate? What else should be done to the foster continuous collaboration between slave descendants and those with slave owners in our ancestry? I'd love your thoughts.