Immigrating families

Here's a story about Rev. Elias George and his family who immigrated from Alabama to Louisiana, including perhaps my relatives.  The same road was traveled by them, at any rate, ending up in Union Parish LA.

Louisa (Lou) M. George Tompkins was the granddaughter of Julia Ann Holloman Bass, (yesterday's post here) so she was my first cousin 3 times removed.

Her mother was my great great grandfather's sister.  GG Grand was Col. Richard Bass.  His sister was Mosely (Molly Ann) Bass George, who's husband,  Rev. Elias George, led a group of families to Louisiana in 1848.  Their daughter, the author Louisa (Lou) M. George, married Thomas Brooks Tompkins.

1848 

"The caravan included about 50 covered wagons, carriages, carry-alls, and buggies."

This is the story, told by my 84 year old cousin in 1926.  Come on over and enjoy her tale of her life in the South before the Civil War.

(here)

I invite you to try some enjoyable historical reading about how those people living in Alabama trekked to Louisiana...with households and cattle and slaves, before the Civil War.  I think it starts when she was age 5, in 1847. It includes lovely descriptions of homes and surrounding land, friends, slaves, family members, sickness, schools, death and a life that she remembered well.

This was written by an elder at close to the end of her life, but speaks of how she had been a young girl.

Born: 8 FEBRUARY 1842 • Perry County, Alabama

DIED: 23 JULY 1936 • San Jose, Santa Clara County, California

The person who shared it onto Ancestry (Chuck Kinison) said:

"These should not be copied but read for information and pleasure.  Her memoirs are a treasure."
http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/union/bios/tompkins.txt

Lou George Tompkins and sister Linnie (Melina Elliot George Dirking)

(I don't know which one is which. but I think Linnie was 3 years younger than Lou.

Their sister Susan also has a portrait photo published on Ancestry.  

Susan Sophia George Thomas 1836-1928

Contributing to Sepia Saturday this week, in honor of many of my ancestors who left all they knew and loved, (and perhaps dangerous circumstances) and entered into the perilous adventure of traveling to a new place to live.

The prompt shows:

Sepia Saturday 416 : 28 April 2018

Finnish Museum Of Photography

Helsinki residents waiting for evacuation at the railway station. (1939)

TRAVEL  :  WAR  :  EVACUATION 

Julia Ann Holloman Bass Green 1785-1861

Julia Ann Holloman Bass Green born April 24, 1785

Mother of Col. Richard Bass (an honorific title), the father of my grandfather's mother.

(Here's the blog I wrote before about her, including some cousin's comments) I haven't followed their various suggestions yet. Maybe her parents were those that one comment gave instead of the ones currently on my tree.

(I'll be buried in Ancestry for the next hour...)

Thursday, April 24, 2014

My great grandmother's great grandmother

Julia Ann Holloman Bass Green (Julian?) was born on this day in 1785 in Wayne County, North Carolina, the mother of Col. Richard Bass. Death March 11, 1861 in Morehouse Parish, Louisiana,

What of Julia Ann's Holloman family?

Her father was Thomas Holloman (Holliman) - born in 1740 in Surry, Surry, Virginia, died in 1790 in Raleigh, Wake, North Carolina.  Records on Ancestry.com show he lived in Johnston County, NC in 1784.  These counties (Wayne, Johnston and Wake) are all in close proximity, and several were formed with shifting boundaries of neighboring counties.

Her mother is only known as Emaline, born in 1746.  

Julia Ann is the youngest of 5 children in the family.   

Julia Ann married John Bass on Oct. 8, 1805.  John was born in 1784 in Wayne County, North Carolina, and died in 1822 in Perry, Alabama  

His Bass family were early settlers in VA, with at least one marriage with a Nansemond Indian woman.  I spoke of some of her Bass relations HERE.    Of note is Dr. Andrew Bass (1698-1770) born in Norfolk Independent City, Nansemond County, Virginia, who donated the land for the court house of Waynesborough, Wayne County, NC.  He was the great uncle of Julia Ann's husband, just as a note of interest as to the family's status in the community.  However, history fluctuates a lot in a few generations, so perhaps that's a premature assumption of high standing of the Bass family.

Julia Ann had 8 children.  The family moved to Perry County, Alabama between the births of Elizabeth on 9 Oct 1810 in Wayne County, NC and Molly Ann Moseley Bass on 18 Jun 1811 in Perry, Alabama.  Julia Ann's youngest 4 children were born in Alabama.  

My grandfather's mother's father was Richard Bass, Julia Ann and John Bass's youngest son.
I posted about Richard Bass earlier HERE.  To quote myself:

 His father's estate had a petition against it which gives Richard's birth as 1814.  This date is not corroborated by his census data as well as his grave marker which all reflect an 1819 birth.  So the legal petition in Alabama might have been wrong.  Another source has him born in NC rather than AL.  Wherever he was born, he was the youngest of 8 children of his parents, and his father died when he was very young, and he was raised by a step-father. His mother was Julia Ann Holloman Bass Green.  Father was John Bass, both from Wayne County, NC, which is near where I currently live.  His step-father was Jetson Green, who raised him from when he was around 6 years old.

When John died in 1822 (or maybe earlier) the widow remarried to Jetson Green who petitioned the courts to settle the debts.  The estate was inventoried at which time apparently there were slaves, household goods, land and 7 children. Jetson Green says he'd been married to Julian since 1821.  This is an interesting collection of documents to have survived, dated 1823 to 1830, regarding the debts on John's estate, how the widow needed guardianships for the young children, and another person (last name Holloman) signed Julian's name spelled that way, to one petition or letter.   Julia Ann had two brothers and 2 sisters, and I cannot make out the first name of the signature.

Julia Ann was now Mrs. Green, and she didn't stay in Alabama.  There was another westward move to Caldwell Parish, Louisiana where the Jetson Green family lived for the 1840 Census.

By 1850 she lived in Union Parish, LA as head of her own household with an overseer, L. Freeman and his family, but no Green family members listed.  The name Freeman may be that of a freed slave, I would surmise. However, also noted is that on the 1850 Slave census, Mrs. Julia A. Green is listed as owner of  8 slaves, of whom 2 were females over 55 years old.

At a stated 70 years of age in the 1860 Census, Julia Ann lived with the Barton family (her daughter Elizabeth perhaps? known as Lizzie?) in Morehouse Parish, LA.  She died there March 11, 1861.

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4 comments:

Where the Kennon/Cannon families settled next

I thought it would be easy to look at where Elizabeth Lewis Kennon's children were born, raised their families an died, to get an idea of how they came to North Carolina and Tennessee.

My big mistake.  But I've determined they were all born in Virginia.

John Cannon (the first  to spell it that way) born in VA 1744 died in 1806 someplace in TN.  He had a cemetery listed on Ancestry where his name is not listed but they do say 10% of the graves in Grassy Valley Baptist Cemetery, in Knox County, don't have markers.  So it's possible he was buried there (he's my 5th great grandfather.)  There seems to have been another John who is listed in some of the genealogies as being born in 1752 and dying in 1812, with similar parents, marriage etc.  This is the fun of the Cannon/Kennon family, there are so many of them all named the same, and living at the same time!

Charles Lewis Kennon b. 1750, in VA, d. 1820, Oxford, Granville County, NC

Mary Kennon who married Thomas Harrison, b. 1750 (twin of Charles? or just an approximate date?) d. 1782 Caswell County, NC

William Kennon who married Elizabeth (Betsey) Bullock, and then Betsey Harrison, b. 1751, d. 1804 Granville County, NC

Richard Kennon, b. 1752, d 1804 Chatham County, NC

Elizabeth Howell Kennon m. John Lewis (her cousin) b. 1754, d. 1825 Milledgeville, Baldwin, GA

Thomas H. Kennon, b. 1756, d. unknown

So mother Elizabeth Lewis Kennon could have lived with several of her adult children's families, and at this point, it really doesn't matter, does it?

It's been fun looking at various cemeteries and finding 20 or some Kennons buried in them.  There are obviously more descendants than just my family tree!

John Cannon was the father of William Henry Cannon, who was the father of Cyntha Cannon Rogers of Sevierville, TN who moved to Texas with her husband Micajah Rogers.

Happy birthday 6th great grandmother Elizabeth Lewis Kennon

Elizabeth Lewis Kennon

1724–1799

Birth 23 APR 1724 • Goochland County, Virginia, United States of America

Death 1799 • Granville, North Carolina, United States

Born at Chemokins (a plantation in Coochland County, VA). Daughter of Col Charles Lewis and Mary (Howell) Lewis. Sister of Charles Lewis Jr.; Anne (Taylor); James B.; Mary and John Lewis.

Married Col. William Kennon on April 3,1744 in Goochland, VA. Some of her children included William Kennon 1745-1804, Charles Lewis Kennon 1750-1820, Mary Kennon 1750-1782, John Kennon 1752-1812, Richard Kennon 1752-1804 and Elizabeth Howell Kennon Nov. 13, 1754- Jan. 14,1825.

 Buried in unmarked grave and has no inscription. (Source William and Mary College Quarterly, Genealogy of Virginia, Vol III)

Another source states she was born on Col. Charles Lewis' plantation named The Byrd. (Source: Historical Genealogy of the Woodsons and their connections.)  Her father had been born on Chemokins plantation.

Her husband and father and even she herself, wrote wills, which are available to read on Ancestry.

She said she lived in Orange County NC at the time she wrote her will.  There is a "Find a Grave" notation that she was buried in Machpelah Cemetery in Townsville, Vance County, NC.  She is listed as having been buried there by their records, but having no marker or designation as to where she was buried.

PHoto of Machpelah Cemetery, Townsville, Vance County, NC.

Other graves in Machpelah Cemetery

I believe the county confusion about where she died is that the North Carolina counties boundaries and names changed several times during her lifetime. Elizabeth lived through the Revolutionary War.  Many revolutionaries were in the north part (near the Virginia border) of North Carolina, and I dare say her family was active.  I don't have time right now to check to see if her sons were involved, but at least one (or maybe a grandson) was part of the Mecklenberg Declaration, (of North Carolina) which was signed before the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia in 1776.

Since her husband died in 1759, she may have been part of one of her children's household the rest of her life.

So now I'm going to look at the lives of her children.  Be back tomorrow!

Happy Earth Day everyone

Three Family Trees will not have a post today.
I'll be back tomorrow...
Thanks for stopping by.

More info about Marion J. Phillips, great uncle of my grandmother

Marion J. Phillips

1823–1907

Birth APRIL 23, 1823 • Georgia

Death MAY 5, 1907 • Woodville, Tex

Uncle Marion never married.  But he was an educated man, as shown through some remaining letters to his niece, Ada Phillips Sweet.  He was my grandmother's grandfather's brother.

Selections follow with new edits, from a post on my "When I was 69" blog from Sunday, August 4, 2013

Finding Uncle Marion:

The data on my (Ancestry) site (in 2013) didn't have his death date or place.
I had his birth date and the state of Georgia, but no details.

Uncle Marion had lots of background material.  He was the elder brother of my grandmother's grandfather, William Phillips, who died as a Confederate soldier.  (I don't know why Marion Phillips didn't fight in that conflict).  Uncle Marion was old enough that when his mother remarried to Samuel Gainer, he might not have continued to be part of the household, however he did live with them in 1850 in Georgia, when he was 27.  The whole family gradually moved out to Texas.

Grave in Magnolia Cemetery in Woodville, Texas

Uncle Marion wrote letters between himself and his parents and brothers and sisters and their children from around the Civil War till afterward.  (Some of these letters are on my hard drive waiting for me to transcribe them.)

The Phillips/Gainer family moved to Texas, sometime around the beginning of the Civil War, at least by 1862.   Uncle Marion lived in Galveston as well as Tyler Texas, and I finally found his grave in Woodville, Texas.

Now I actually have a picture of the grave marker, so now I know when he died, and where.

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About Early County, Georgia (where Marion and his brother (GG grandfather) William were born...

This is the birth county of Marion Phillips.  (His mother Mary Phillips later married Samuel Gainer, who raised his siblings.)    Here's info about Early County.  

From Wikepedia:

Early County is a county located in the southwest of the U.S. state of Georgia and bordered on the west by the Chattahoochee River. Created by European Americans on December 15, 1818, it was named for Peter Early.

Prehistoric and nineteenth-century history has been preserved in some of Early County's attractions. It is the site of the Kolomoki Mounds, a park preserving major earthworks built by indigenous peoples of the Woodland culture more than 1700 years ago, from 350 CE to 600 CE. This is one of the largest mound complexes in the United States and the largest in Georgia; it includes burial and ceremonial mounds. The siting of the mounds expresses the ancient people's cosmology, as mounds are aligned with the sun at the spring equinox and summer solstice.

The county area was territory of the historic Creek Indian peoples of the Southeast, particularly along the Chattahoochee River, before European-American settlers encroached and pushed them out during Indian Removal of the first half of the nineteenth century.

The Cohelee Creek Bridge in the county is the southernmost covered bridge still standing.

The only photo I've found of Cohelee Creek Bridge

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Uncle Marion lived in Tyler Texas at least by the 1870 census, where he lists himself as a farmer.

In 1880 he continued to live in Tyler, with a mulatto woman who was cooking for him and he was age 57.

By 1900 he was 77, still living in Tyler County, TX, with help from a widow housekeeper and a boy.  His occupation at that time..."Capitalist."  What a sense of humor he must have had!

At age 84 he died of old age (1907).

I've never seen the Cohelee Creek Bridge, but I have visited the Kolomoki Indian Mounds when living in Tallahassee, FL.

I better read those letters and start transcribing them now...while I can still see those little difficult letters.

Groups of people - the Rogers in the 30s

I just found an interesting old photo of my family.

This photo is a bit different than our usual full length ones (why did they think we had to see the shoes someone was wearing, I wonder!)

Pictured front, grandmother Ada Swasey Rogers, then two women behind her on left is Donah V. Pelphry Rogers, and on right, my mother, Mataley Mozelle Munhall Rogers...and the three men in the back are on l. Alex Rogers, then my dad George Rogers Jr, then on r, George Rogers Sr., my grandfather  But they really enjoyed this set-up, where my dad must be standing on something, and Ada (Gummy) is leaning down to get short enough for the camera.  And who do you think took it?

Another shot with same scenery, and this one includes information which we could have guessed, a Christmas gathering.  That snowman kind of helps.  Here my mother, Mataley, Ada (Gummy) and Aunt Sissy (Donah V.)

Same outfits, but now the happy family is standing out by the road.  My dad George Jr, Mataley my mom, Gummy Ada, and George Sr, Poppy.

My parents Mataley and George Rogers,  had been married about 1 month for this photo, with Gummy (Ada Rogers) approving.

And in 1938 there is another Christmas gathering.  Small tree, but these were all adults.  Men are from l. to r, George Jr, Alex, Chauncey, James, and George Sr (Poppy).  Women are l to r, Mataley, Donah V (Sissy) and Ada Rogers (Gummy.)

And assuming it's the same house it is now identified, 400 E. Myrtle.  Of course I'm guessing it's San Antonio, because that's where my parents met.  Aunt Sissy and Uncle Alex must have driven from Houston, where they were living (according to the census reports.) They had married in Oklahamo in 1933, then lived Houston by 1935.

 And thanks to Google, here is 400 E. Myrtle St. in San Antonio in 2016.

The lot to the right had a house demolished between 2011 (there's a photo of the neighborhood then) and 2016.  And wait till you see what is next door on the left!

I wonder if that building was built with 6 apartments in mind...I kind of think so.  Glad my grandparents didn't see it, the way it dwarfed their sweet little cottage.  I think it's nice that a ramp has been built for someone with a wheelchair.  But unfortunately, that shadowy thing outside the fence on the far right, is a pile of furniture including a mattress and a wood chair.  Google is fun to go up and down the street.  And how the trees have changed since 1937!



Another group of people, this time men concentrating on a chess game, for Sepia Saturday this week!