Buried between two cotton fields on Locust Ridge Plantation

Dr. Antoinette Harrell
Photo Credit:  Annie Harnett

Annie Harnett and I was  introduced several years ago by a mutual friend, Steve Godfrey.  Steve is well aware of my passion for genealogy and thought it would be nice for me to connect with Annie.  I can't recall whether we spoke by phone or by email, it was  a while ago. We finally were able to meet, so that is what's significant here. In search of her ancestors, Annie took a genealogy road trip to Tensas Parish.  Louisiana's Tensas Parish is located in the northeastern part of the state. The parish is bordered by the Mississippi River. Approximately 4,147 people live in the city according to the 2020 census.  St.Joseph, Louisiana, is the parish seat. 

On that cold Saturday morning, I awoke at 6:00 a.m. to drive the two and a half hours to Tensas Parish.  My  GPS directed me to 1-55 North and the Natchez exit. In the back woods, the rolling hills and flat land were still covered with early morning frost. From the road, I  could see fog hovering over ponds giving it that ghostly look. Like that in a horror movie scene.  The beauty of these landscapes made me want to grab my camera and take pictures. In the end, I managed to take a few pictures. Besides, I didn't want to be late to meet Annie.  Annie's ancestors were the owners of Locust Ridge Plantation owned by her ancestor named  McGrudger Adams. She began researching her family's involvement in the slave society of the South in the Spring of 2021.

I was scheduled to arrive at 9:30 a.m.  This gave me an hour to explore the area. Waterproof, Louisiana was my first stop. After driving around the area for a while, I came across the cemetery that Annie and I would venture back to on our adventure. Annie and her guest walked the cemetery in search of her guest ancestors while I sat in the car saving my strength for the expedition ahead. After a delicious lunch at the "Walking Pig" restaurant, in St. Joseph,  a bowl of spicy collard greens, mac and cheese, with a nice cold glass of freshly made tea with a twist of lemon gave me an extra boost. 

Annie took me to visited a cemetery between two cotton fields on Locust Ridge Plantation.  We walked  a distant to get the thickets where the Wrights, Hatton, and Lewis families are buried. By this time the sun had warmed up and I didn't need the sweater I was wearing. I had to started shedding the layers of clothing due to the increase of heat.  It wasn't easy walking on crutches in the mud as an amputee. My crutches sank three and a half inches in mud. The thought kept repeating in my mind, "you can't quit" those fleeing for freedom couldn't quit. I heard a voice inside me telling me to keep walking. As I walked, I kept an eye out for cottonmouths and rattlesnakes. Not to mention hoping that we wouldn't run into wild boars. I was constantly reminded that this was the reality for those enslaved. 

The thought of the enslaved on the plantation trying to escape with someone with a disability like myself was on my mind at the same time as Annie and I were talking. The mere thought of staying behind to avoid slowing others down meant that my family may never see me again. As I thought about the dogs on the trails and the slave catchers pursuing them, I would have slowed them down. I was frightened, anxious, and sorrowful just thinking about them. A greater appreciation for those who escaped to freedom took over after processing the many thoughts about getting caught and the consequences of running away. 

Dr. Antoinette Harrell's Ancestor Charm Guider

Once we reached the cemetery, I had to cross over falling trees, avoid branches and endless wild vines to get the graves. Annie went on a head and scoped out the area while I made my way to where she was. After I saw the first headstone, the excitement grew stronger. I looked around for other between the palmetto trees and bushes. My eyes scanned the area carefully and I made my way to read each one. I always carry my good luck piece in my pocket when I'm searching for my ancestors or other ancestors. I waiting for the mystical moment to take it out. When I got to Rena Lewis Hatton grave it was time to take it out and place it on her headstone. I was reminded of Ezekiel 3: 1-10 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, "Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you come to life.  

We feel as if Rena is guiding us on this journey.  She is speaking to us in some spiritual form. The purpose of my search is to help Annie locate Rena's descendant. I used Ancestry. com to help me locate  Rena's descendants. I left a message for one of her descendants name Latoya. Latoya' mother Mattie  responded to my call and I couldn't contain my excitement. The news was a dream come true for Annie, I couldn't wait to share it with her. She wanted to meet the descendants of those her ancestors enslaved. I arranged a phone call and help to facilitate this meeting. It end up with information sharing and a plan of action to meet each other. 

Rena's descendants saw their ancestors' headstones for the first time through photographs Annie shared. They didn't know where their graves were located. Annie has given the Lewis and Hatton families the gift of knowing where their loved ones are buried. They received photographs of the headstones from Annie. To some, it may seem insignificant. Consider for a moment that the bushes and trees are growing new leaves as spring approaches, making it impossible to visit the sacred burial grounds. Snakes, bugs and mosquitoes will keep you from entering the sacred place they share with those buried there.  They worked the cotton fields and are buried in the cotton fields like so many in Tensas Parish and other plantation through out the United States. 

The 4th great-granddaughter of whipped Peter discusses the movie Emancipation with Dr. Antoinette Harrell

Dr. Antoinette Harrell interviewing Bobbie Seymour 

I recently spoke with Kathe Hambrick, founder of the River Road Museum, about a woman named Bobbie Seymour, whois the 4th great granddaughter of Aaron Peter Jackson aka Peter Gordon. I was asked by Kathe if I would assist Bobbie in getting past her brick wall regarding her 4th great grandfather Peter. Our conversation briefly focused on Will Smith's upcoming film, Emancipation, and how the family wasn't consulted about Peter.

Like Bobbie, I felt the same way earlier this year when I watched the movie "Alice," which was based on a story I discovered 20 years ago. In 1963, a woman named Mae Louise Wall Miller escaped slavery with her family. Despite the fact that it was inspired by my research, no one from the production team contacted me to discuss my research.

Contacting the families or researchers would provide the film producers with so much information about the subject. The movie Alice was criticized for not adding up after Mae ran to her freedom, as many people pointed out. Mae's life after she escaped would have been more interesting if the producers had known more about it. 

Aaron Peter Jackson aka Peter Gordon
Library of Congress

The Jackson family is a very large family, and many Jackson family members still live in Port Hudson. "I wish they would have searched around to talk with some of Aaron Peter Jackson's descendants," said Bobbie. We weren't difficult to find if only they would have spent sometime searching for us she said.  I am happy to see that his tory is being told in the end said Bobbie

We talked for about an hour during our interview. Her coffee table was covered with pictures and documents of her grandfather Peter and other family members. Additionally, she showed photographs that she inherited from a family member illustrating her Cherokee heritage. During our visit, Bobbie showed me a picture of Ruby, her 5th great grandmother, a full blooded Cherokee. Ruby was Peter's mother-in-law. Ruby was from Summit, Mississippi.

I asked Bobbie if she thought she would be emotional watching Emancipation. I warned her that the reenactment of the beatings and inhumane treatment may be difficult to watch. There are movies that can make you cry if they touch you in a particular way. If a movie is about your family member and you are watching inhumane treatment, the experience is personal. In any case, that could be a very difficult situation. The Jackson's are strong people she said. We don't allow anything to hold us down. If something knocks us down, we get right back up. That was we inherited from Peter, determination, courage, and hold on to God no matter what we are faced with Bobbie said.

She described the Jacksons as strong people. There is  nothing that can hold us back. No matter what knocks us down, we bounce right back up. As Bobbie said, it was determination, courage, and holding on to God no matter what that we were facing that we inherited from Peter.  Her research revealed his name, something that has been a little confusing down through the decades. There are a few things that Bobbie want people to know first is his name. His name isn't Peter Gordon, his name is Aaron Peter Jackson.
Secondly he wasn't born in Louisiana. He was born in Virginia and came to Louisiana as a slave. He was owned by Andrew Jackson on a plantation in Tennessee according the research of Bobbie. Andrew Jackson owned The Hermitage plantation. 

Bobbie plans to watch the movie with family and friends. I will contact Bobbie after she see the movie and get her thoughts about the movie. I spoke with the editor of The Drum Newspaper concerning interviewing Bobbie about her family history and thoughts about the upcoming meeting.  There was a time when we didn't have the platforms to tell our own stories. The only thing Bobbie feels she has achieved is to tell her own story.

Teaching Others to Find Their Ancestors Before 1870

Eric Williams
Photo Credit: Antoinette Harrell

Anyone researching their family lineage can tell you that it could be very challenging and time-consuming. But it's all worth it because you want to know more about your family history. There is one thing for sure, and that is your research will never end.

Mainly for African-Americans whose ancestors were enslaved in the United States.  Most who are researching their enslaved ancestors say they hit a brick wall before 1870. Eric Williams has genealogical ties to Amite County, Mississippi, Tangipahoa, and St. Helena Louisiana Parishes. 

I received a phone call from Eric Williams about our DNA connections. After we spent hours upon hours talking by phone, we decided to schedule a trip to the Amite Courthouse to research slavery inventory. It was Eric's first time researching in the Amite Courthouse for slavery records. We spent the day looking at Probate records, marriage records, wills, and other records in the courthouse. 

Eric found his ancestors who were enslaved in the inventory of the person who owned them. Eric's emotions were written all over his face. I know that feeling because I experienced it when I started researching my family history. Afterward, we went to the local library to finish our genealogy research for the day. 

No Slaves Shall Occupy A Houses in the Corporate Limits In the Town of Greensburg

Sec. 5. Be it further ordained, & e., that no slave or slaves shall be allowed to occupy a house or houses within the corporate limits of the town of Greensburg, separate or apart from the premises occupied by their owner or person who may be hired; and any person or person who shall rent a house to a slaves or slaves, or suffer any slaves or slaves to occupy a house or houses other than as above stated, shall pay a fine of not less than ten nor more than thirty dollar, at the discretion of the Mayor. 

Source

The St. Helena Echo (Greensburg, Louisiana)  16 Jun, 1860, The Imperial (Board of Aldermen)

Finding My Enslaved Ancestors in the Inventory Records of the Slaveholder

Slavery Inventory of Jesse and Martha Vining
Dr. Antoinette Harrell ancestors, Courtesy of the St. Helena Parish Clerk's Office

It's very hard for me to comprehend why African American History is still a subject that most people do not like to talk about in Tangipahoa and St. Helena Parishes in 2020. My genealogy adventure has taken me down many dusty roads and busy interstate to learn about my direct family history. While driving down the dusty, lonely roads, my mind seems to drift off in a time and period. Looking on both sides of the road and looking at the trees and old wooden building is now falling. 

I can almost feel the stories that these trees and lonely roads want to tell me—driving on the land where formerly enslaved people of St. Helena Parish once worked from sun up to sun down in the blistering summer heat and the cold winter whispering days. Somehow I feel like Alex Haley felt when he went to Gambia, Africa tracing the "Roots" of Kunta Kinte. Kunta Kinte was born in 1750 in Gambia and kidnapped and sold into slavery in America. Kunta Kinte died in 1822.

My Richardson, Vining, and Bates family research ties to St. Helena Parish. There is something that pulls at me always to research their history. "Who was the first person in my family that touch the soil of America?" I know I had to search the Clerk's office records until I could find them. The painstaking research wasn't easy; I realized that. The pain causes the tears to stream down my face until I could see a

Dr. Antoinette Harrell
St. Helena Parish Clerk's Office

clearing. 

After going inside the vault and looking at the many files that seem to be at least fifteen feet tall, I look up and down, and somehow, I knew I would find them because they wanted to be found. The first slave records I found were Carrie and her child Thomas who was owned by Benjamin and Celia Bankston Richardson. I was looking at their names in this cursive writing, and a deep saddest hit my heart. "'I realized that on this day," my Carrie and her child was being sold. Who are the other people listed on the inventory? "Could this be people that are related to Carrie?

Soon afterward, I started looking at my Vining family and found that they were owned by Jesse and Martha Vining in St. Helena. I discovered my ancestors; One Negro named Frank age 18 of yellow color valued at $700.00, One negriss named Thursday age 20 years old and her child valued at $700.00, one negro woman named Judia age 25 years value at $600.00, and one negro man named Ben age 22 years old, yellow color valued at $700.00.

I'm so grateful to Alex Haley for the book called "Roots" and teaching African-Americans like me who are thirsty for knowledge of self and the history of family history. I feel enriched knowing that I have studied my own 

Sarah Nicholson Kidnapped and Sold Into Slavery in St. Helena, Louisiana

Edna Jordan Smith

Many people watched the movie "Twelve Years a Slave," or read the book. Over a decade ago I came across an article that was published in the Time Picyaune Newspaper. The article was written by Joan Treadway. Treadway has intereviewed Edna Jordan-Smith about her research discovery concerning a woman named Sarah Nicholson who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in St. Helena Parish, Louisiana in 1826. 

Smith reseach didn't reveal who kidnapped Sarah, her research revealed that white people and free people of color was involved. It was through a lawsuit that was filed on August 20, 1826 in St. Helena Parish Courthouse that Smith learned of the case. While looking through a summary of abstracts of cases during her employee at the Bluebonnett Library genealogy department in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 

An attorney named Thomas S. Lloyd, whom Smith believed to have been based in New Orleans. The document stated that Sarah had been kidnapped from the Pine Stree Wharf in Philadelphia and taken on board a hermaphrodite rig, they then transferred her to a oyster boat. "A storm rose in which the boat sprung a leak," Sarah said in the lawsuit. Sarah and nine other African descent people was but back on the rig. A total of fifty-people was enslaved there. She was put in irons, around her right foots, and a rope was fastened around her neck to the neck of another.

The ship made several stop while  enroute to Louisiana, where Sarah was transported to land, in St. Helena Parish. "A slaveholder by the name of Presley Stephenson a cotton farmer possibly used her for a field hand," said Smith. I research his name in Ancestry, I found him in St. Helena in the 1830 United States Census. His name was spelled Stevenson. Stephenson later sold her to a "Captain Thompson," who was a slave dealer on the corner of Canal and Camp

Sarah talked about how Thomspon beat her and was very mean and cruel. He beat her at the police station in the New Orleans for saying she was a free person. In her suit she wanted to be paid for unspecfied amount of damges she recieved from Thompson. 

I went to the St. Helena Parish Courthouse searching for the lawsuit. I will make a visit to the library in Baton Rouge to look at the abstract and have it transcribed.  Preserving Our History in Tangiphaoa and St, Helena would like to thank Edna Jordan Smith for this ground-breaking researh and bring it to the forefront.

Edna Jordan Smith holds a Masters of Education Degree with emphasis in Historical Research. She taught Genealogy Research at the Bluebonnet Genealogy Library in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 

Major Bibligraphical Sources: 

Time Picayune Newspaper " Woman Fought for Her Freedom in La.

http://www.alhgs.com/tours.html

http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/communities/east_feliciana/article_77b04384-84a5-5042-8153-50ea8255946e.html

https://www.gofundme.com/2h4p9szg

Dr. Antoinette Harrell Analyzing Plantation Records on

Dr. Antoinette Harrell reviewing records on a plantation
Photo Credit: Walter C. Black, Sr.

Genealogists and family historians understand the terminology leaving no stone unturned. I'm continually looking for new records that have clues for genealogy and historical research anywhere I can find any paper or documents with someone's name, date and location. 

We are familiar with marriage records, death records, school records, and so on. But finding new records can be informative, and rewarding when you are researching. New genealogical and historical resources  can provide more details about the lives of our ancestors and our family history.  Just recently I went to a plantation in Louisiana to analyzing new records. The records that I analyzed were receipts records from the commissary store on the plantation. Some of the records were burned and couldn't be saved. A plantation in the Mississippi Delta recently demolished a commissary store. I hope that all the records were removed from the commissary store.  Sometimes the family who owns the plantation will keep the records. Others will donate them to a university or State Archives.

Most people in America assume that all African-American people left the plantations after the    Emancipation Proclamation was signed.  Some newly freed enslaved Africans stayed on the plantation, and some moved on other plantations because they didn't have anywhere to go.  Many former slaves were too old and tired to move. They felt  they were better off staying on the plantation where they would have shelter and food.

In 1865, the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Land often called the Freedmen's Bureau was created at the end of the Civil War to supervise relief efforts including, health care, education, food and clothing, refugee camps, employment, labor contracts, and the legalization of African-American marriages.

Sharecropping was created out of the Freedmen Bureau Contracts. The landowner rented land to the the former slaves in return for a portion of their crops. Sharecropping practices took place for decades.  Many types of agreements still exist to this very day.   Many former slaves who  couldn't read or write were taken advantage of by the landowner. They were forced to stay and work on the plantation in a new form of slavery called peonage and involuntary servitude. Thousands had to flee for their lives sometimes leaving their family behind.

I've been on several plantation were people still live, and some people still work on the plantation. There is one plantation in Mississippi that I visited and had the opportunity to look in the records. I saw the names of the people who worked on the plantation, how many pounds of cotton they picked. There were some photographs of African-Americans on the plantations in the early 40s to the 70s. 

When we have exhausted our search in our homes, libraries and internet database such as Ancestry, Family Search, Ancestry and Cyndi's List any other genealogy sites that could be helpful. There are new genealogy resources made available every day that the universities, State Archives, and on genealogy sites.

Commissary Store Records
Photo Credit: Walter C. Black, Sr.

Educating individuals who had a rich photograph collections, funeral obituary programs, church records,  and other vital records that can be helpful to genealogy is essential. Every genealogy or family historian whose ancestors were held as slaves on a plantation would like to find records about their ancestors.

On the commissionary store receipts you will find the name of the person who lived and worked on the plantation. The date and year,  the name of the store, and what the person purchased and the price they paid for the items.  Some of ther receipts proved how long the person worked on the plantation and how long they purchased items from the store.

There were some payroll and medical records in the boxes too.  As long as I have been conducting research, I wish I could find other records for ancestors Robert Harrell,  Carrie Richardson or Frank Vining. They were on the Harrell, Richardson and Vining Plantations in East Florida Parishes, Louisiana

Texas Slave Families by Ruthe Winegarten

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the New Deal Works Projects Administration (WPA) employed writers and researchers from theFederal Writers' Project to interview and document the stories of African Americans who were former slaves. Most had been children when theThirteenth Amendment was passed. Produced between 1936 and 1938, the narratives recount the experiences of more than 2,300 former slaves. Some interviews were recorded; 23 of 26 known audio recordings are held by the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress.^[2][8] The last interview of a former slave was with Fountain Hughes, then 101, in Baltimore, Maryland in 1949.^[2] He was a grandson of a slave owned by President Thomas Jefferson at Monticello.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_narrative

A.M. Moore, 91

I read  " Texas Slave Families" by Ruthe Winegarten  nine years ago and some of the narratives I read ran chill down my spine after reading them. I would like to share a few of those narratives that educated me on what many enslaved Africans and African American families went through.

"One boy was traded off from his mother when he was young an' after he was grown he was sold back to the de same master and married to his own mother. How she found out this was her son, she had struck him in de head accidental an' after dey was married, she looked in his head an' saw de scar an' asked him why it was dere. He began to teller, an' she fainted 'cause it was her son."

---Wesley Burell

". . . I never know no mamma or no papa neither one."

---Adline Marshall

"I cheated Maser. I never did have any slaves... I kept cotton roots and chewed them all the time but I was careful to to let Maser know or catch me. So I never did have any children while I was a slave... Yes, after freedom we had five children.

--Dave L. Byrd

Abe Livington, 83

Notes: There are 11 volumes of The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, and two series. Series 1 (vol. 4-5) and Series 2 (vol. 2-10) are Texas narratives.  Ruthe Winegarten is a historian and writer for the Texas Foundation of Women's Resources and the editor of I am Annie Mae: An Extraordinary Woman in Her Own Words.

Plantation Owners Minted Their Own Coins and Money

Sharecropper's Coin 

Some larger plantations in the the South printed their own money and minted their own coins. The plantation owners would advanced the coins to their tenant farmers against next year's crop rather than give them real cash.  After working long hours in the blistering heat and the cold winters to earn money that wasn't even U.S. currency.  The sharecroppers coin could only be spent and used at the plantation stores and at their price. Most plantation stores always charged extremely higher prices.

If one of the tenant farmers decided to move away, they couldn't because they didn't have real U.S. currency.  Lumber towns generally emerged in isolated locations far removed from main route of commerce. Taking advantage of the scarcity of local merchants, timber companies often paid their workers in company script.

If the tenant farmer tried to leave the plantation he didn't have any money to move with, travel with or provide for him or his family. In all reality they had nothing after working hard all week long. When taking a deeper look into the study of poverty, we must the sharecropping that only benefited the plantation owners. Most tenants remained in debt and fell under at system called peonage.

Sharecropper's Coin

Natalbany Lumber

in Natalbany, Louisiana