Last week I joined a Facebook group called Greene County Family Researchers. It’s been just about the best thing since sliced bread. Trisha Blount-Hewitt introduced me to the group. She’s the researcher who alerted me to Bailham Speight’s Confederate pension application. Tammi L., who told me the story of Daniel Artis’ service to Christopher Lane during the Civil War, is a member of the group, as are other Lane researchers. Mike E. pointed me to a photo of Cain Sauls’ hotel, and several other group members have provided invaluable leads and resources.

Perhaps the most amazing is a photograph from the William L. Murphy Collection (#746) at Joyner Library, East Carolina University, shared by Mike E. He believes the house to have been that of Jesse B. and Henrietta Baker Murphy family. Notes with the photo date it to about 1900 and identify the African-Americans at left and right as residents of Artis Town. I can’t wait to show it to my Sauls cousins.