96 years ago, yesterday:
Logansport Pharos-Tribune, 23 October 1917.
Dock Simmons was the son of Montreville (or Montraville) and Anna J. Henderson Simmons.
Category Archives: Paternal Kin
DNA Definites, no. 8: Casey.
In the olden days, you sat and waited. In some mimeographed newsletter or erratically published journal you’d run across an address to pin your hopes on, a descendant on the same track you’re plodding, a grande dame with access to caches you don’t. Or: you’d pressed your own address into the palm of a kind, but wary, librarian, hoping she would be able to crack the reserve of the stingy local historian. Either way, you sat and waited for the mail to arrive.
In late 1994, I reached in my mailbox to pull out a letter forwarded from my parents’ address in North Carolina. The writer was K.K., and she’d run across a query I’d posted in the North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal. K.K. is a descendant of Micajah Casey (1748-circa 1800) of Dobbs and Wayne County, whom I believed to be my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather. K.K. was living abroad at the time, and correspondence was slow and expensive, but we exchanged a few letters about Caseys, Herrings, Jernigans and Lewises before exhausting our mutually meager information and losing touch.
A few days ago, my cousin D. received her 23andme results. She is the granddaughter of my father’s first cousin, and I was interested in comparing her DNA matches to his and mine. As I scanned her nearly 1000 matches, a name leapt to my eye — K.K.! My father and I didn’t, but D.’s chromosomes retain a tiny piece of Casey that K.K. has held onto, too. I ripped off an excited message, and K.K. responded immediately. More then 20 years after her first letter arrived, our relationship is confirmed.
Keeping it in the family.
James N. Guess operated a funeral home that served Goldsboro, North Carolina’s black community for at least 40 years. (He also ran a barbershop for a half-century and, in the early years, a billiards and pool hall.) Guess’s father Matthew Guess, father-in-law Isham Smith, nephew Kennon Guess and son James N. Guess Jr. worked for or with him to build his business.
Goldsboro City Directory, 1916-17.
Hill’s Directory of Goldsboro, NC, 1950-51.
Not surprisingly, Guess provided services to members of the extended family of his wife, Annie Smith Guess, daughter of Isham and Nancy Henderson Smith. Among those he buried were:
James N. Guess was born 2 May 1882 in Goldsboro to Matthew and Martha Guess. He died 28 November 1957 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, after a lengthy illness.
Zilpha’s will.
State of North Carolina, Wayne County } I, Zilphy Wilson, of the County and State, aforesaid begin of sound mind and memory, but considering the uncertainty of my earthly existence to make and declare this my last Will and Testament in manner and form following, that is to say: — That my Executor hereinafter named shall provide for my body a decent burial, suitable to the wishes of my relations and friends, and pay all funeral expenses together with my just debts out of the first money that may come into his hands as a part or parcel of my estate.
Item 1. I give and bequeath to my daughter Bettie Reid 7 acres of land to be cut off the North East corner of the tract of land on which I now reside for and during her natural life, and after her death to be equally divided between all of her children that she may have now, or may have living at the time of her death, the said Bettie Reid not to have possession of said Land until the debts against my estate are paid.
Item 2. I give devise and bequeath to my son Adam Wilson and my daughter Vicey Wilson, share and share alike all of the tract of Land on which I now live, with the exception of the seven acres given away in Item first of this will, with all the priviledges and appertances thereunto belonging for and during their natural like, should they both have heirs, then they to have their mother & Father part, and should Adam or Vicey only one of them leave heirs, then and in that case I give said land to the surviving heirs of that one to them and their heirs in the fee simple forever.
Item 3. I give and devise unto my son Adam Wilson and Vicy Wilson, share and share alike, all of my Household and Kichen furniture of every description Farming implements of every description, Tools of Mechanics &c &c, Stocks of all kinds, and all the poultry of kind to them and their heirs in fee simple forever.
Item 4. It is my will and I so direct, that my son Adam Wilson to retain possession of the whole of my land at yearly rental of seven hundred lbs. of lint cotton which is to be applied to the payment of the debts against my estate, as soon as said debts are paid, I direct that Bettie Reid be put in possession of the seven acres of land given to her in a former Item of this Will. I also desire that my daughter Bettie Reed become an equal heir in my household and kitchen furniture with my son Adam and daughter Vicey. Changes made in Zilphia Wilson’s Will Oct[?] 4, 1893
Item 5. I give and devise unto William and Jonah Wilson children of William Wilson Sixty dollars to be paid to them when they arrive at lawful age.
Item 6. I give and devise unto Johney, Lominary, Levy, Laronzo Locus, Children Louisa Locus Sixty dollars to be paid to them as they arrive at lawful age.
Item 7. It is my will and so direct that the Legacies mentioned in Items 5 & 6 of this Will be assessed by my son Adam and my Daughter Vicy Wilson, and I direct that they pay to each one of the above mentioned heirs, as they arrive of lawful age their proportionable part of said Legacies with interest on the same from the time the debts of the estate are settled.
Lastly, I hereby constitute and appoint my brother Jonah Williams and my son Adam Wilson Executors to this my last Will and Testament, hereby revoking all the Wills heretofore made by me. Zilphy X Wilson
Signed and sealed in the presence of Fred I. Becton and Thomas Artis, who witnessed the same at her request. /s/ Richard H. Battle, Fred I. Becton
——
Zilpha Artis Wilson was born about 1828, the first known child of Vicey Artis and Solomon Williams. About 1855, she married John “Jack” Wilson, a free man of color of completely unknown origins. That year, Jack bought 55 acres in Wayne County from Zilpha’s brother Adam Artis and settled his family close to the Artises.
Zilpha and Jack Wilson’s children were William Wilson (1856), Louisa Wilson Locus (1858), Elizabeth “Betty” Wilson Reid (1864-1947), John Adam Wilson (1865-1916) and Vicey Wilson (1869).
Zilpha Wilson’s will was proved 17 December 1902 and recorded at page 421 of Will Book 2, Wayne County Superior Court.
Anna’s children succumb.
Kokomo Tribune, 13 April 1936.
Kokomo Tribune, 13 September 1937.
Kokomo Tribune, 7 August 1942.
Edward Simmons, Susan Simmons Bassett and Muncie Simmons Bassett Palmer were children of Montreville and Anna J. Henderson Simmons. Susan’s age was seriously overstated. (She was about 60.) And Muncie’s obit completely elides the years the family spent in Ontario.
[By the way, Second Missionary Baptist Church in Kokomo remains active.]
Napoleon’s sons.
Napoleon Hagans had four sons. William Coley was born to Winnie Coley, an enslaved woman who lived on a nearby farm. Henry E. and William S. Hagans, were born to his wife Apsilla “Appie” Ward Hagans. Joseph H. Ward was born to Appie’s sister, Mittie Ward. By virtue of their father’s wealth and foresight (Henry and William) or their own pluck and good fortune (Joe), three were well-educated and accomplished men.
Though I knew the names of Appie’s boys, for many years I was unable to trace them beyond the early 20th century. (I didn’t know of Joseph’s existence at all.) A stroke of luck led to me to one of William’s granddaughters, then to a grandson, then to Joe’s granddaughter. My collaborative research (and development of “cousinhood”) with B., the grandson, has been one of the highlights of my many years of genealogical sleuthing.
Church home, no. 6: Turner Swamp Primitive Baptist, Eureka NC.
Church Directory “Fremont Items” – Rev. Jonah Williams of Wilson filled his regular appointment at Turners Swamp last Sunday.
The Blade, Wilson NC, 20 Nov 1897.
Turner Swamp Primitive Baptist Church still meets in a small church north of Eureka, Wayne County. Jonah was a brother of my great-great-great-grandfather Adam T. Artis, and descendants of several of their siblings are buried in the church cemetery.
This deed.
This is the deed for Jesse Jacobs‘ purchase of 303 Elba Street. He bought the house (in which he was already living) and lot for $725 from E.L. and Ietta R.M. Reid on 4 May 1908. (Elijah Reid, a veterinarian, was born into a free family of color from the opposite end of Wayne County than Jesse and Sarah Jacobs.) The same day, Jacobs gave George W. Connor, Trustee, a mortgage on the property, perhaps to secure a $400 loan he used to buy it. Jacobs was to repay Connor at the rate of $2.50 per week.
On 10 April 1917, the Jacobses arranged another mortgage on their Elba Street home, this time promising to repay W.A. Finch, Trustee, $395 at 6% interest. Circumstances intervened. By about 1922 or ’23, Jesse Jacobs was too ill to work. He died in 1926. Sarah and Hattie Jacobs, her great-niece (and my grandmother) paid what they could from their meager earnings as laundresses. When Sarah Jacobs died in early 1938, the house remained encumbered. Finch’s loan was not repaid until September of that year, most likely from the sale of the property.
Napoleon & Apsilla Ward Hagans.
Napoleon and Appie Hagans’ grave marker stands in a cornfield several hundred feet west of his house. One side of the plinth memorializes his life; the opposite side, hers.
Photographs taken by Lisa Y. Henderson in July 2010.
DNA Definites, no. 7: Price.
Just a couple of weeks after I discover the names of Polly Ann Price Martin‘s parents, I find a match with a Price descendant at Ancestry DNA. J.W. is a great-great-grandson of Polly’s sister Margaret “Peggy” Price Williams (1840-1920). Ancestry estimates that we are 5th-8th cousins. My calculation is 4th, once removed.
Scuffalong: Genealogy. 