Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Family Historian Stephanie Martin Locate Family Records in East Feliciana Parish



Stephanie researching, Amite, LA
This past Tuesday was a good research day for Stephanie Martin, she spent the day in East Feliciana Parish at the Clerk of Court office. She found marriage licenses for her grand parents and great grandparents. She know that her grandfather Owen Quiett was able to sign his own name on the marriage license. She spent $60.00 on copies, some that might help her and some that might help others. There are so many slave names on these documents She felt that she needed to get a copy because someone else could possibly use the record to further their research. As she transcribe them she will post. She also finally found the St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church and it's cemetery. The church was formed in 1804 and she took pictures of a large number of headstones. Again, she will post as soon as she can get them organized in a document. A big thanks to the ancestors for guiding and directing this research. She is  glad to be their granddaughter.

Stephanie Martin has transcribed and submitted many African American Genealogy
Stephanie in the
Amite Genealogy Library
database to the LAGenWeb Archives Project for the State of Louisiana. Her research has help thousands of families who are researching their Louisiana ancestry. I have found my family members in her database. You can visit her database at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/la/afamer.htm


Her databases consist of churches records, census records, obituaries, slave records, military records, vital records, school records, and newspapers articles.

Stephanie is one of  the project manager for the USGenweb Project. She has over 10,000 names in her databases. Her hard work and dedication has been vital to the state of Louisiana. Please visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/1425306081048516/ if  you have ancestry to the Florida Parishes. 



Copied Documents Pertaining to the Harrell Family

Documents from the courthouse in Clinton, East Feliciana Parish, La.
With connections to St. Helena Parish, La. 
Pertaining to the Harrell family, copied by Claude B. Slaton, Baker, La.
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm
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Document #1:

To the Honorable the Judge of the Parish Court of the Parish of East Feliciana, State of
 
Louisiana, and ex-officio Judge of the Court of Probates in and for the same, the Petition
 
of Hezekiah Harrell of said Parish respectfully shews:

That in 1808 or 1809 Jacob Harrell of the late Parish of Feliciana departed this life 

leaving a considerable estate, consisting of one settlement claim to land lying in the
 
now parish of East Feliciana, negroes, & personal property. That when said Jacob Harrell
 
died he left only collateral relation, towit, brothers and sisters of the whole blood, of
 
which your petitioner is one. That immediately after the death of said Jacob Harrell, his
 
heirs (one of whom was a minor) assembled and made an amicable partition of the succession
 
of said Jacob. That at said partition your petitioner received as a part his portion thereof,
 
the settlement claim to the land aforesaid. The heirs partaking were Samuel Harrell, Levi 

Harrell, Sara Ann Smith, wife of Joseph Smith, and your petitioner, who were of full age, 

and Lewis Harrell, who was a minor. That said Lewis Harrell has since attained the full age
 
of twenty-one years, and has approved of the partition aforesaid.

And your petitioner further shews that he has lately applied to the Registrar and receiver
 
of the Land office at St. Helena Court House, for an order of survey of the Land aforesaid,
 
who have declined giving the same, because there has been no sale of the Land aforesaid 

agreeable to the provisions of the Civil Code. By reason whereof your petitioner is likely
 
to be deprived of his part of the succession of Jacob Harrell aforesaid, dec'd.

And your petitioner further shews that since the partition aforesaid, Levi Harrell has
 
departed this life, leaving the following heirs, viz, Hezikiah R. Harrell, Mercy McClendon,
 
wife of Dennis McClendon, Anna Harrell, and Mahitabell Harrell. Hezikiah R. and Anna Harrell
 
are minors above the age of puberty, without curators ad liteum. Mahittabel is under tutorship,
 
represented by her tutor Morgan Bryan.

And your petitioner further shews, that Samuel Harrell and the heirs of Levi Harrell all
 
reside in the parish of East Feliciana aforesaid, and Lewis Harrell and Sara Anne Smith 

reside in the State of Mississippi.

Now, the premises considered, your petitioner prays that a curator ad litum for this
 
special purpose be appointed to the minors Hezekiah R. & Anna Harrell aforesaid, and
 
an attorney for the absent heirs, that the proceedings may be regular and conform to
 
the law. That the parties aforesaid residing in East Feliciana may be cited to appear
 
in this Honorable Court in manner pointed out by law. that they shew cause, if any can
 
be shewn, why the amicable partition heretofore made among the co-heirs should not be
 
confirmed by a decree of this Honorable Court. That the same be confirmed, and that the
 
land aforesaid be sold after the usual advertisements, to give your petitioner a title
 
to the same. That the title to the same be decreed to be in your petitioner, and that 

he recover from the defendants his costs of suit.

And your petitioner prays such other and further relief as the law will allow him.

[Signed] James M. Bradford, Atty. for petitioner

[written on back of last page:]

No. 59 (No. 38) Probate Court
H. Harrell vs L. Harrell, et als
Petition
Filed August 23, 1825
Thos. W. Scott, P. Judge

Ordered: let Solomon M. Brian be appointed Curator ad litum to Hezikiah R. Harrell and
 
Anna Harrell the minors mentioned in the within Petition & let the defendants be cited
 
as prayed for.

August 23, 1825
Thos. W. Scott, P. Judge
J. M. Bradford

We the undersigned accept service of this petition and all [one word?]
[signed]
S. M. Brian
Lewis Harrell
Joseph Smith (his mark)
Sara Smith (her mark)
Dennis McClendon
Marcy P. McClendon
Samuel Harrell

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Document #2:

State of Louisiana, Parish of East Feliciana

Be it remembered that on the day of the date hereof before me, Thomas M. Scott, Judge
 
of the Parish aforesaid, came and appeared Hezikiah Harrell, Hezikiah R. Harrell, Hugh
 
Barfield, William Reitzell, and Denis McClindon, all relations to Mahatabell Harrell,
 
a minor under the age of puberty, and the relations aforesaid being duly assembled and
 
sworn, for the purpose of deliberating on the subject matter of approving the petition

of the Estate of Levi Harrell, dec'd, made amicably among the heirs of said dec'd on the
 
26th day of January 1819, they are of the opinion that it should be to the interest of 

the minor Mahatebell Harrell...that the said partition should be confirmed. In witness 

whereof the relations aforesaid sign hereunto in presence of me, said judge, and in that
 
of William P. Satterfield and Andrew W. Higby, assisting witnesses this 8th day of January 1827.

[signatures]
Hezekiah Harrell, H. R. Harrell, Hugh Barfield, William Reitzell, Dennis McClendon, 
W. P. Satterfield, A. W. Higly
Th. M. Scott, Parish Judge

[on reverse]
No. 39
I certify the foregoing family meeting has [been] truly recorded in Book A, page 105. 

Witness my hand and seal official this 27th Januy. 1827
Th. M. Scott, Parish Judge

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Document #3:

To the honorable the Judge of the Parish of East Feliciana and of the Court of Probate in 

and for the Same, the petition of Denis McLendon & Mary McLendon his wife, Respectfully 

represents that Mary McLendon is one of the heirs of Levi Harrell, dec'd, that said dec'd 

has left a considerable property consisting of Land that has nevarr [sic] been divided and 

has left Hezekiah Harrell and Anna & Mehitibel Harrell, minor heirs of said estate, 

represented by their tutor S. M. Brian and Hezekiah Harrell.

Your petitioners pray that said Land bee appraised and that a partition of the land of 

said Estate take place according to law and that Such other and further [one word?] be 

had in the premisis as the law Requires.

August 29th, 1825

[signed]
Dennis McClendon, Marcy P. McClendon

*********************************************************

Document #4:

[the following are written on one sheet of paper, one over the other]

State of Louisiana, Parish of East Feliciana

To John Rentz and Richard Taylor:

You are hereby appointed Experts to make an Inventory and partition of the Landed 

Estate of Levi Harrell, deceased, among the heirs of said Levi Harrell, deceased, 

towit: Mercey McClendon, Hezekiah Harrell, Anna Harrell, and Mahitabel Harrell.

Given under my hand and Seal official this 6th day of Sept. A.D. 1825
Th. M. Scott, P. Judge

State of Louisiana, Parish of East Feliciana

Each of us do solemnly swear that we will act faithfully and truly, as experts in 

making an Inventory and Partition of the Landed Estate of Levi Harrell, dec'd, amongst 

the Heirs of Said Levi Harrell, dec'd.

Sworn and Subscribed before me this 6th day of Sept., A.D. 1825

[signed]
Th. M. Scott, Parish Judge
John Rentz (his mark)
Richard Taylor


http://www.usgwarchives.net/la/sthelena/sth-est.htm

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.


Bishop James Earl Gordon Obituary

Bishop James Earl Gordon
GORDON Bishop James Earl Gordon died on April 9, 2014 at Ochsner Hospital in Baton Rouge, LA. at the age 77.  He was the Pastor of GFL Cathedral Church of God in Christ and Prelate of Louisiana East Jurisdiction #1, Baton Rouge, La. He was a native of Amite, LA and a resident of Baton Rouge, LA. He leaves to cherish his memories: his loving wife; Missionary Janice Gordon, one daughter; Linda M. Woods, one son; Deldrick Sibley, 2 grandsons; Jarrett Woods and Byron Devore, granddaughter; Tra'Vaughn Bell, two brothers; Dr. Frank (Shirley) Gordon, 2nd  Administrative Asst. Supt. Charles (Wardine) Gordon, 1 brother-in-law; Samuel Payne, 3 sisters-in-laws; Glyiss Gordon, Priscilla Gordon and Joyce Gordon Dunn, also a of host nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends. Preceded in death by his parents: Bishop W.K. Gordon Sr., and Missionary Alma Richardson Gordon, 3 brothers: W.K. Gordon Jr., Robert Gordon, Supt. Adam Gordon, one sister; Missionary Barbara Gordon Payne, and also a host of other relatives and friends. Relatives and friends of the family, also GFL Cathedral C.O.G.I.C., Louisiana Eastern Jurisdiction #1, all Church of God in Christ and all interdenominational churches are invited to attend the Homegoing Celebrations: Local & State: Wednesday, April 16, 2014 at 7:00pm Saintsville Headquarters 8930 Plank Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70806 LAY-IN-STATE is from 3:30-6-30PM Wednesday only, 1st Administrative Assistant Alphonse Denson, Officiating National: Thursday, April 17, 2014 2014 at Saintsville Headquarters, 8930 Plank Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70806 The Most Reverend Charles Edward Blake, Sr., Presiding Bishop of the Church of God in Christ International, Officiating Interment: Gordon Family Cemetery, Hwy 1045, Amite, LA 70422 Arrangement entrusted to Richardson Funeral Home of Jefferson, Inc. 1111 Jefferson Highway River Ridge, LA 70123 (504) 469-2243.