Mariah Hall the Wife of Hollis Wicker of St. Helena, Louisiana.

Mariah Hall Wicker, the wife of Hollis Wicker. They had four children; Mable, Ulyess, Reynold and ? Wicker. She was the daughter of Joe Hall and Ada Dudley. She died as a young mother on April 7, 1927 in Hammond, Louisiana, at the age of 32.

Source: JHoliday4045

Utilizing Ancestry DNA to Locate Missing Relatives

Karran Royal Harper and Henry Harrell DNA Testing

My great-grandfather, Alexander Harrell died in 1914, his youngest son Jasper was only two years old when his father Alexander passed away. Alexander was born to the union of Robert and Dinah Harrell. He had several siblings; John, Anow, Marrietta, Millie, and Margaretta. 

My mother Isabell is one of the daughters of Jasper. She said she recalled her father talking about family members in Clinton, Louisiana. Her family didn't visit Clinton, Louisiana because they didn't know their great uncles and aunts. But she and her brothers knew that we had relatives in Clinton. A lot of the family members want to know who are the other family members. Thanks to my Uncle Henry Harrell, who agreed to take the Ancestry DNA and 23 & Me with his newly found cousin Karran Harper Royal a couple of weeks ago. I asked my uncle did his father Jasper ever talk about the family members in Clinton. He told me that he didn't remember his father talking about the Harrell family in Clinton. 

Uncle Henry is first cousins to Karran's grandmother Marion Harrell Harper. Marion,  father Shelton Harrell, Sr and uncle Henry's father Jasper were brothers. Karran and uncle Henry met for the first time at the Jackson, Gordon, Harrell, Richardson and Temple family reunion. 

Jasper Harrell, Sr 

Since I started tracing our family history this had been one of those unsolved mysteries. Who are they?  What is the genetic resemblance,  what did they do as an occupation? Where are they now? Karran and I want to know. 

Stephen Harrell, Sr.  is a police officer in New Orleans, Louisiana and his roots are connected to Clinton. He is the offspring of Beauguard Harrell and we want to know if we are related. I met another young man by the name of Darius Harrell fifteen years ago, who's family lineage connects to Amite and Pike Counties, Mississippi. Because of social media, I meet a woman named Carolyn August-Robinson, who had Harrell family roots tied to Clinton, Louisiana as well.Are related, only the DNA can tell us at this point. After hitting a brick wall, utilizing DNA may help get the answers we are looking for. 

Alexander and his family lived in Amite, Louisiana. After his death,  no one in my immediate family went to Clinton to find out anything about his brothers and sisters. Finding our long lost relatives is what Karran and I want to do.  Hezekiah Harrell, the son of Levi Harrell, migrated down south with his family, livestock and slaves to East Feliciana and Amite, County, Mississippi. The mostly settled in the 7th Ward in East Feliciana.

"We want to know what happened to Alexander's brothers and sisters, did they stay in Clinton, or did they move to Tangipahoa Parish with their mother and father?"  Using DNA to locate them will help us to build family ties, find other photographs, gather new oral history and extend our family trees. 

Alexander Harrell

Karran, Stephen, Elton and I searched the Clinton Courthouse for marriage records and other records that could be helpful to our Harrell research. While in Clinton we stop by an auto mechanic repair shop to talk to a man named James Harrell who was the descendant of Beaguard Harrell.  Stephen's brother Albert kept looking at James." He looks just like one of my uncles," said Alton.  James got on the phone and call some of his cousins and they came over and confirmed that they were the descendants of Beauguard as well. Everyone was overjoyed to meet each other and make a new family connection.

We can't wait to get the results back to see if there are any family trees and connections in Clinton, Louisiana that will help us locate our long lost family member. The Harrell family would like to thank my uncle Henry Harrell for volunteering to help us solve this mystery. 

She Was One of Twenty Three Children

Ms. Maxine Knighten

I saw this petite and certainly neat lady several places in the community. She has strongly resembled by maternal cousin Wille K. Gordon, Jr., wife. One time I thought that was my cousin's wife. Mostly, I've seen her in the library with young children. Today I finally got a chance to sit down and talk with her.  Her name is Ms. Maxine Knighten.

After her church service, she stopped over to tell me about her experience at Tangipahoa Parish Training School for Colored. She graduated in 1952 from the school and went on to become an educator herself in Chicago. She was so beautiful in her blue suit and with her matching blue hat and happy to tell me that she was in her mid-80s.  "Could it be in the Kentwood water?" All the elders in the Town of Kentwood is very healthy and their mine are full of history.

When she started telling me about things that happen in the 50s, I could do anything but listen and write. She told me that she was one of twenty- three children and that she was one of seven sets of twins.  "Twenty-three babies, I said!" I thought about a classroom of twenty-three children.  Several of the children didn't survive and died during childbirth.

Mahalia Jackson

Ms. Knighten survived all of her siblings. I could imagine  being born in such a large family and surviving  all my sibling. She still has a lot of nieces, nephews, and other relatives.  She recalls  hearing Mahalia Jackson and gospel singer Joe May sing at Tangipahoa Parish Training School for the Colored. She remembered paying her dollar to get in to hear the concert.  That was one of the questions I had to ask her. "Mahalia song so beautiful," said Ms. Knighten. I never forget that day,
it was so nice.

We started talking about the teachers who worked there during her time at school. She talked about Mr. Thornton and how hard of a teacher he was because he expected only the best from you. I remember Mr. O.W. Dillon using that left hand because he was left handed. The subject of use books was the next things she pointed out to me. She couldn't understand why all the white kids got new books and the negro students had to get the used books. That was the way it was when I was in grade school as well.

Two other people said that they were there that day with Mahalia Jackson came to the school. As she reflects on days that she probably had forgotten about up until now. The hardship of life is one thing she stressed to me. "Yes it was hard and I mean hard," she said. "We alway had food, because daddy grew produce and we had milk cow," she said.

But sometimes we had to go and work in the fields picking cotton, beans, and other produce. "I hated and I mean I hated because I wanted to go to school," said Ms. Knighten.  But daddy did want us to go to school.

I can't wait until Thursday for another history lesson for Ms. Knighten. Click below to hear gospel singer Joe May and Mahalia Jackson youtube,

Joe May

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXtR5R6wp1c

Mahalia Jackson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXtR5R6wp1c