More on the Brassfields

So Reba McEntire and "Who Do You Think You Are" breathed new life into my genealogical research for one of my ancestors I had mostly ignored.

My grandmother Posie Koonce's grandfather was D. Brassfield. In 1865 D. Brassfield and Susan Buck, both of Gibson County, Tennessee, married through the auspices of the Freedmen's Bureau. That license gave me very few although juicy details. D, and I keep saying D because I don't know what the heck his name is, was copper in color while Susan was bright mulatto. All other questions were answered with "unknown."

So I looked for any Brassfields on the 1860 census in Gibson County. I came up with a George Simpson Brassfield in 1850. He is the only Brassfield listed in Gibson County. He owns 10 slaves, one of which is the right age and gender for my ancestor. However, there is no listing for slaves on the 1860 census. George is still alive and according to the census has a land value of $7,500 but I can't find the slave census. This may be a blessing if there were transactions during that time. I'm pressing onward.

Oh, and by the way, George is a direct descendant, according to the Brassfield/Brasfield.net, to Reba's ancestor George of Chester, England.

Me and Reba McEntire

I watch "Who Do You Think You Are" faithfully. Although I am extremely jealous of the research done for the celebrities, I watch because I learn something in every episode. On a few there have even been connections to the research I'm doing.

When the Reba McEntire episode aired, I figured I'd watch just for the genealogy tips, not expecting too much of a connection with the country western star. It was a great surprise then to find that there is a huge connection between our families.

Reba is a descendant of a George Brassfield. I am a descendant of a Brassfield. Her ancestors were slave owners. My ancestor was undoubtedly a slave. Watching the show renewed my interest in learning more about that line.

According to the episode, all Brassfields in America come from that first George who came over as an indentured servant at the age of nine  from England on the ship Loyalty. I have been able to trace my ancestor back to 1865 in Gibson County, Tennessee. So far I have found precious little about him even though his name is very unusual. In fact, I'm not sure what his name is. When I look at the original documents it looks like Danic or Domic. It has also been transcribed as David and Derick. That's part of the problem in finding him. But I do know that he was copper in color because I found the Freedmen's Bureau's marriage license when he married my great great grandmother Susie!

This week has been one of those where I find things that have been there all along, right under my nose. I have searched the Freedmen's Bureau many times looking for ancestors' surnames. I ran across Brasfield early and wanted to claim it but knew I didn't have enough information to do so.

This week I looked at D. and Sue Brasfield up close on ancestry.com. I was determined to figure out what my ggrandfather's name was. Looking at the census for 1880, I'm still unsure. It looks like Domic which is a name I've never heard of. Could it be short for Dominic? Or could it be misspelled?

Next I looked at the marriages at the Freedmen's Bureau site for Tennessee. There is a D. Brassfield and a Susan Buck. Looking again on ancestry at the original document and I observed the same strange spelling of Brassfield's name. Therefore this must be the marriage of my gggrandparents!"Donic Brasfield of Gibson Co., Tenn and Sousie Buck of Gibson Co., Tenn."

At Quincy, TN the two were united in matrimony on Dec. 22,1865. He was said to be a copper color, she a bright mulatto. No other details are given except neither had previous children.