Leap Year Birthday - Love You Gran

  Today, February 29th would have been Great Grand Mother Jessie Matilda Meek's birthday. Gran C. was born 29 February 1888 and died 16 October 1982. She and Orville Claude Carpenter married 1 March 1905. He was 23 and she was 17 or if you count actual birth days, about 4 yr's old.
  I remember Gran C.'s little house in Galt, Grundy County, Missouri. I remember she dipped snuff. I remember she had the most beautiful African Violets growing on her front porch. Today I have two beautiful African Violets growing in my kitchen, they are named Jessie & Jessica. She was our Mom's Maternal Grand Mother.
  Family lore has it that her mother Rebecca J. Parmer Meek [22 November 1857-26 September 1932] was one half  Native American. However, I've yet to find any verifiable documents.
Happy Birthday Gran. C.
Vicki Sue

Colored Men Personal Info.

I found a gold mine of Colored men info at NARA @ Atlanta from the late 1940's! Over 100 men's full name, occupation, address, and physical examination details.  If they were deceased, the info on their Administrator/Administratrix is in the file.
Mobile, Alabama Admiralty Cases are dated 1948 - 2412- 2419 - 2422 - 2423 - 2424 - 2425 - 2426 - 2430 - Civil Case 866.
These cases are about Colored men who received personal injuries while unloading cargo of poisonous mustard gas, on board the vessel "Francis L. Lee" docked at Theodore, Alabama.
I've attached a sample of the many Doctors physical exam reports.

Attached also is a list of some of the men's names from Civil Case 856.

My apologies for the poor quality of the documents but they are pretty old. Hope you have a good magnifying glass.
As always if you want more information about these cases, they can be found in the Mobile, Georgia Admiralty case files at NARA at Atlanta.
All comments are welcome.

Genealogy Abbreviations - For Dummies

Genealogy Abbreviations - For Dummies

Why?

I've been asked why this, ole white woman, has such a high concentration of African American history information on my blog.
There's three good reasons.

1. My God Son Nasir

2. My God Daughter, Nadiyah
3. As  a genealogist I have come to recognize the challenges it sometimes is to find our ancestors. If they were Black it can become even more difficult.
Hopefully this blog can be of use to all the above. Your comments are appreciated.
Peace & Love.
Vicki Root/Runk/Patton/Carpenter Evans

Cave Painting, Papua New Guinea

Benjamin Butler's New Orleans "Women's Order"

Moral of this story; Don't piss off a Southern Woman.

       One of the major problems that confronted by Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler on his occupation of New Orleans in April of 1862, was the abuse his soldiers endured from patriotic Confederate women. Bitterly resentful of the Union occupation, whenever any of Butler's men were present they would contemptuously gather in their skirts, cross streets, flee rooms, cast hateful glances, or make derisive comments. Some sang spirited renditions of "The Bonnie Blue Flag" and other Confederate songs, or spat on soldiers' uniforms, while teaching their children to do the same. One woman emptied a chamber pot on Capt. David C. Farragut from her window shortly after the mayor surrendered the city to him.
        The women hoped their actions would force a retaliatory incident serious enough to incite paroled Confederates to revolt against the occupation troops. Butler's men showed remarkable restraint against the insults, but he realized that it was only a matter of time until one of them, pressed too far, would arrest some female belligerent. Undoubtedly the men of New Orleans would attempt a rescue, and Butler feared his small force would be overcome. He dealt with the problem on May 15 by issuing General Orders No. 28, carefully worded to be self-enforcing:

"As the officers and soldiers of the United States have been subjected to repeated insults from the women (calling themselves ladies) of New Orleans, in return for the most scrupulous noninterference and courtesy on our part, it is ordered that hereafter when any female shall, by word, gesture, or movement, insult or show contempt for any officer or soldier of the United States, she shall be regarded and held liable to be treated as a woman of the town plying her avocation."

        Except for a few isolated incidents, the insults stopped abruptly when the women learned they would be treated as common whores for demeaning a man wearing a U.S. army uniform. A few who persisted were arrested and imprisoned on Ship Island, notably Mrs. Philip Philips, who was confined from 30 June until mid-September for laughing when the funeral procession of a Federal officer was passing her house.
        The "Woman's Order" provoked criticism throughout the Confederacy and in Europe from people who considered his proclamation an unpardonable affront to womanhood. In defense of the order he emphasized the restraint his soldiers had shown civilians in New Orleans. Nevertheless, the infamous order excited indignation and personal animosity toward Butler. Many felt his nickname, "Beast" Butler, was well deserved.
        Immediately upon learning of General Orders No. 28, John T. Monroe, Mayor of New Orleans, wrote a scathing letter to General Butler decrying the order. Strangely, almost as soon as it was written, Monroe retracted it and issued an apology. However, one who did not issue an apology was Jefferson Davis. President Davis issued a "Proclamation" branding Butler and his officers as nothing more than outlaws that would be hanged if captured. 
Source: "Historical Times Encyclopedia of the Civil War" Edited by Patricia L. Faust

Free Webinar - Ga. Genealogical Society

Free Webinar

Monday, January 16, 2011

8:00 PM

Presenter: Liz Snow, GGSQ editor.

Topic: Using MSWord to Write Articles or Your Family History. 

 

For this demonstration, Liz, will be using MSWord 2007. Individuals using older versions should be aware that most, if not all, the items that she will be discussing are available on previous versions, but the process used to achieve automatice page numbering, styles, etc. on older versions will differ.

Register Now

 

I'll  be there. Will you? 

 

And What Do Your Last Names Mean?

What fun AND educational! 
This database contains 49,352 last names from Smith to Smiley and Aaron to Zywicki. Where does yours come from and what does it mean?
www.surnamedb.com

Colored marriage & funeral, Sillis, Sills, Williams, Seal

Admiralty case 2364.  Ryan Stevedoring co. et al vs Joseph H. Henderson Deputy Commissioner, et al 1943.  Transferred from Civil Action No. 337. 

Original of Marriage Licence & Marriage Certificate  in file of William M. Sillis (aka Sills) and Sarah Williams (aka Seal) – Colored of Jackson County, Alabama, on 17 May 1926. The license transcript document notes' "as it appears in Colored marriage record no. 23, at page 255".  Also, the invoiced charge of $608.60 for “service to the remains of William Sills, complete funeral” 2 oct 1941. Performed by Johnson-Allen Undertaking Co. Inc at 600 St. Francis St. Mobile, Ala.,  phone number dexter 295. Mrs. Sarah Sills address was 454 New Jersey St.  A Probate Court document states Colored Marriage License book n. 1925-1926 page 411.  

Jones, Kelly, Company, Bennett, Taylor, Burner, Bush, Rivers, Breeland, Long

In The District Court of the United States for the Southern District of Alabama.

Admiralty Case 2350 - Walsh Stevedoring Co., et al vs. Joseph H. Henderson Deputy Commissioner 1941 (includes Civil Action #169)

If you are researching “Negros” Synthia (Centry) Jones Kelly, Charles Kelly, Charles Company, Rosa Bennett Taylor Company, Elijah Bennett, Ora Mae Company, Lottie Bush, Mattie Rivers, Gus Company, Thesser Company Burner, John or Mary Company, Viola Company Breeland, Thelma Long, Lucia Terry Taylor or Robert Stevenson, hope this can help in your family history research.

The 164 page Court transcript has dates of birth, marriages, divorce, death and addresses!

The file also contains some photos, marriage license and marriage certificate.   I found this large case file fascinating reading, Charles had more than one wife at a time as well as two different last names.  Both wives were claiming wrongful death compensation.

[The above names are as spelled in the file documents.]

As always, for more info on my blogs about NARA @ Atlanta see below.