201 in Eufaula Request Transport to Liberia

19 July 2006 at 8:48 am · Filed under Alabama, Author: S C Jordon, Barbour Co., emigration

Below is a transcription of a letter found in The African Repository, the journal of the American Colonization Society. This was one of many sample letters to the ACS requesting transportation to Liberia. 

Eufaula, Ala., December 25, 1867.

We, the undersigned, colored people, take this method to inform you that we would like to embark in may, 1868, for Liberia, if we can be accommodated.  We request that you furnish us with free transportation from this place to Liberia.  We are all poor, and have not any money.

A E. Williams

and two hundred others, with their families.

 

I ordered a copy of the letter from the microfilm owned by the  Manuscript division of the Library of Congress.  The letter has additional information not contained in The African Repository.  This transcription will be the subject of another blog.

 

Source: American Colonization Society, The African Repository, {Washington: Colonization Society Building, 1868).  Volume XLIV-1868:121: digital image, Google Book Search, (http://books.google.com/books?as_brr=1&id=ZDUfaNo7HOgC&vid=LCCN05039691&dq=eufaula+alabama&jtp=178 :accessed 19 July 2006)

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Negroes Returning

17 July 2006 at 10:51 pm · Filed under Alabama, Author: E Davis

   Notwithstanding that many of the Southern negroes who went North last winter, literally “caught fits” in the cold climate, and many died of pneumonia and other ailments, still some in the South are yet inclined to leave the only place where they will ever be treated kindly, and go North.  It was last Saturday that one or two Alabama counties reported that “labor agents” had worked up crowds of negroes who would go North as soon as those agents came with the transportation and “other inducements”  but read here a report which came out from Atlanta on the same date.

   The exodus of negroes from the south to the northern cities, where they have been lured by immigration agents holding out false promises of high wages and social equality with white people, seems to have reached the high water mark and is now receding, with a backswing of negroes, toward the south.  But hundreds of the poor victims will never return and extremely pitiful reports come from the chairity and social service organizations in northern cities, telling of the suffering and hardships endured by southern negroes who went from the warm climate of their native land to the bitter winter of the north.  The accounts of these hardships told by negroes who have been so fortunate as to get back to the south will probably do more than anything else to stop the northern exodus.

Union Springs Herald, 1917

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On An Ancestral Journey

9 July 2006 at 11:03 pm · Filed under Alabama, Author: E Davis, Barbour Co., Bullock Co.

In 1992 if anyone had told me that I would spend the next thirteen years on an ancestral journey I would have laughed at them. Like everyone else in
America, I too had watched the 1976 movie Roots by Alex Haley. The movie caused me to experience many different emotions; however, none of them ignited a desire to follow in the footsteps of Mr. Haley. As a matter of fact, I probably did not think it was a possibility for the average person. 

I’m not sure what it is about one’s personality that draws them to the art of genealogy and family research because it can be tedious, discouraging, dirty and expensive.  However, it can also be full of surprises and very rewarding. Whatever the reason, there is a very strong desire to discover who your ancestors were and to share information about them that no one else knows.  You begin to wonder if you look like any of them, did you pick up any of their personalities or skills, and what were their lives like during their lifetimes.  Read the rest of this entry »

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From Eufaula, Alabama to Liberia

29 June 2006 at 8:22 pm · Filed under Africa, Alabama, Author: S C Jordon, Barbour Co., emigration

On 14 May 1868 the ship Golconda set sail from Savannah, Georgia.  Onboard were 39 Eufaula residents heading for Bexley, Grand Bassa County, Liberia.   According to letters received by the American Colonization Society (ACS), there were hundreds of African Americans from the Eufaula area requesting passage to Africa.  Below is a transcribed list of Eufaula emigrants originally published by the ACS in The African Repository. Read the rest of this entry »

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Coosa County Orphans Court Records (ca. 1842- ca. 1853)

5 June 2006 at 8:26 pm · Filed under Alabama, Author: F Taylor, etc., Slave Inventories

This section will include inventories of slaves, etc. found in the  Coosa County orphans court records:  Some of the names were hard to read and the best translation was used, however all records can be viewed on microfilm at the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery,
Alabama or the original books at the Coosa County Court House.  Records of accounts in the Orphans Court of Coosa County Alabama, Lettered F  & Numbered 4. (ca.1842- ca.1853)

  • The following is a Bill of Appraisements of goods chattels and effects of the Estate of Robert W Smith late ofCoosa
    County dec[esed]:

1          Negro Man named Isaac     $   550

1          Woman named Dysy                400

1          Woman Named Milly               450

1          Negro Girl Named Caroline      200

1          Negro Boy Named Joe            600

Page 36-37,  4 July 1843  

  • Appraisements of Estate of Robert Martin De[cesed] Continue

1          Negro Boy Named Richard  $  275 

Page 47, 11 December 1843

  • Return of sale made our the 1st Monday in April 1843 of one Negro girl about 9 or 10 years old Named Linda belonging to the Estate of D K Smith decd- Malcome Smith being the highest bidder purchased said girl for Two hundred & fifty seven dollars – the 19th April 1843.

Page 48, 19 apirl 1843

  • Appraisment of the personal property belonging to the estate of Robert Harda:

1      Negro Man named Adam 75 years old—$            $   100

1      Negro Man named Frida 65 years old                        100

1      Negro Man named Sam 50 years old                           100

1      Negro Woman named Charity                               nothing

1      Negro Woman named Pleasant 50 years old               100

1      Negro Woman named Moning  45 years old                325

1      Negro Woman named Caroline 30 years old                400

1      Negro Woman named Viney 30 years old                    450

1      Negro Woman named Hanna 25 years old                   500

1      Negro Woman named L Charity 25 years old               500

1      Negro Man named Jefferson 30 years old                    750

1      Negro Man named Nelson 25 years old                       700

1      Negro Man  named Rie 32 years old                           700

1      Negro Man named Spencer 30 years old                 nothing  

1      Negro Girl named Juley 11 years old                           350

1     Negro Gil name Martha 10 years old                           350    

1     Negro      

      

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Finding Green Stanford

8 May 2006 at 5:12 am · Filed under Author: S C Jordon, Barbour Co., Census, Obituaries, Stanford

I fell in love with Green Stanford the first time that I found him in the census records.  He was 74 and living in the 1930 household with his son Will Stanford.  Family members did not talk about him so his name was new to me.  What a cool name, Green.  Because of his unique name, I was able to find his father, William Stanford, and trace the family back to 1870.

Green StanfordMy second Green surprise was finding his picture on the internet, the day that I was flying to Birmingham, AL to attend IGHR.  My cousin, whom I have never met, published the picture on the family web site.  Finding a photo is an amazing thing, especially when it is unexpected.  The eyes of Green, my 3x great grandfather staring back at me. Read the rest of this entry »

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William and Kitty Stanford of Barbour County

26 April 2006 at 11:29 am · Filed under Author: S C Jordon, Barbour Co., Stanford, Vital Records

William Stanford is my oldest known Stanford ancestor.  Direct evidence of his vital information remains a mystery. Census records lead me to believe that he was born in the Carolinas about 1820 and died in Alabama between 1900 and 1910.  The 1870 census shows that most people with the Stanford surname, in Barbour county, over the age of 40, were born in the Carolinas.

The power of writing this blog about my 4x great grand father and divine intervention has shown me that I indeed have direct evidence.  I just found marriage evidence.  Folks, it is strange and delightfully overwhelming at the same time.  Here is the blow by blow: Read the rest of this entry »

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Emancipated. Now Leave the State.

25 April 2006 at 10:42 am · Filed under Author: S C Jordon, Dallas Co., Gov Docs, Manumission

Below is an extract from the Acts of Alabama, 1818 to 1828, found online.  This is one of many Acts pertaining to people of color that will be posted on this blog. The original documents are at the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery, AL. 

AN ACT To authorize Leonard Abercrombie to emancipate certain slaves therein named (1821).

Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Alabama, in General Assembly convened, That Leonard Abercrombie of the county of

100 Dallas be, and he is hereby, authorized and empowered to manumit and set free, a woman of colour named Fanny (alias Fanny Martin) and her ten children, Moreau, Jane, Emily, Morgan, John, Maria, Eliza, Betsey, Fanny, and Lavinia, so soon as the said Leonard Abercrombie shall have executed to the Judge of the county court of the county in which such slaves reside, and his successors in office a bond with sufficient security, to be approved of by said Judge; conditioned that said slaves, Fanny Martin, Moreau, Jane, Emily, Morgan, John, Maria, Eliza, Betsey, Fanny, and Lavinia, or either of them, shall never become chargeable to the State of Alabama, or any county or town therein; that such emancipation shall not in any manner become prejudicial to the creditors of the said Leonard Abercrombie; and that he shall remove said slaves out of this State: Provided, that if any of the persons emancipated by this act shall return into this State and remain as residents of their own accord such person or persons shall be considered to be in the same state of slavery as if this act had never passed. (Approved, Dec. 8th, 1821.)

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Daniel Reid Emancipates His Children

24 April 2006 at 10:31 am · Filed under Author: S C Jordon, Gov Docs, Manumission, Washington Co.

Below is an extract from the Acts of Alabama, 1818 to 1828, found online.  This is one of many Acts pertaining to people of color that will be posted on this blog. The original documents are at the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery, AL. 

 

An Act to authorize Daniel Reid to emancipate certain slaves therein named (1820).

 

Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Alabama in General Assembly convened, That Daniel Reid, a man of color of Washington county, be, and he is hereby authorized and empowered to emancipate his two children Judah and Eliza so soon as the said Daniel Reid shall have executed to the Chief Justice of the county court of Washington and his successors in office, a bond with sufficient security to be approved of by the county court conditioned that the said slaves Judah and Eliza or either of them shall never become chargable to the state of Alabama, or any county or town within the same.

[Approved, December 11th, 1820.]

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Emancipation of Tom of Lawrence County

23 April 2006 at 10:22 am · Filed under Author: S C Jordon, Gov Docs, Lawrence Co., Manumission

Below is an extract from the Acts of Alabama, 1818 to 1828, found online.  This is one of many Acts pertaining to people of color that will be posted on this blog. The original documents are at the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery, AL. 

An act to authorise Killis Walton to emancipate a negro man named Tom (1820).

Session: Annual Session, Oct – Dec 1820

Page: 80 

Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Alabama, in General Assembly convened, That Killis Walton, of Lawrence county, be, and he is hereby authorised and empowered to emancipate and set free a negro man slave, aged forty years, named Tom, so soon as the said Killis Walton, shall have executed to the chairman, or chief justice of the county court of Lawrence, and his successors it office, a bond, with sufficient security, to be approved by the county court, conditioned, that said negro man slave Tom, shall never become chargeable to this State, or any county or town within the same.

 [Approved, December 11, 1820.]

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