What I learned Part Two

AnestryDna  has been the gift that keeps on giving. It has helped me verify certain identified ancestors and provided clues to other potential ones. Last December it solved a mystery that had tantalized me for years.

Back in 2014, when I first received my DNA results, I noticed one of my matches had an ancestor, Ivory Lucinda Woods, who was born in Crockett County, Tennessee. This is where my maternal grandmother's people lived and some still reside. None of the other names on the tree looked familiar and only this one person was born in Crockett County. Ivie Woods is on the 1900 census living next door to my great-great grandmother Janie Koonce's sister.

I emailed my DNA cousin asking for more information but never heard back from him.  Until two years later, this past December!! He just saw the message. Although he didn't know how we were related, it piqued my curiosity enough to make me look at the connection again.

On my cousin's tree Ivory's father is listed as William Woods but her mother is listed as private. And my cousin never emailed me the mother's name. I had to search for Ivory born August 23, 1895, died 1970, in another family tree. Luckily, I found her and her mother. Her mother's name was Florence. Next I found Florence's death certificate. Her parents names were listed as William Roberts and Judy Clay. Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner. Judy is my great great great grandmother and William is the step-father of my great great grandmother Jane Roberts Koonce. I am on the right trail!

Now here comes the mystery. On the 1880 census, James and Jane list a daughter, Jenie Koonce. Jenie was born in 1871 but Jane was born around 1862 and married James in 1876. Mystery number one. Mystery number two--I could never find Jenie Koonce again in any documents online but I did find a Jenie Roberts that married William Woods in 1892. However, on the 1900 census, William Woods, the same William that is Ivie's father and who is living next door to Jane's sister, is married to Florence and had been married to Florence for eight years. Florence is Jenie!

After further searching, I found out that Florence married Albert P. Yancy after William died. She married Albert Sr. in December of the same year, 1905, that William died. Their tombstones are in New Cemetery, Crockett County, Tennessee, the cemetery of my Koonce and Roberts ancestors.

So I solved the mystery of Jenie Koonce and naturally, another mystery is born. Who was her father? Her mother, Jane, was not married to James when she had her and she also was only around 12 years old. I think this is a secret that was taken to the graves of many of my relatives but DNA has a way of bringing the truth back to life. Maybe I will be able to solve that mystery too in the future

Migrating

I've been blogging off and on here for several years. I wasn't even aware that today is the anniversary of my first blog. There are times I want to stop. Writing has always been very personal for me. It isn't about making money. It's about sharing my experiences and feelings and knowledge and possibly helping others who happen to read my stuff. So I will probably keep writing sporadically because sometimes I feel like it and sometimes I don't.


After many years, I have migrated my blog to another location. If you are interested in keeping tabs on my research, you can find me at Say My Name.


I have a lot of goals for this year. I'm updating my family history which I hope to publish in one form or another. My research will take me to Mississippi again, D.C. again, possibly to Fort Wayne and Virginia. If I am able, I may even go to Tennessee. I'm been blessed with time and lots of helpful relatives. They helped me last year. I hope it continues.


Last year was very fruitful but it was also crowded with so many events, I didn't have time to reflect. I hope to be able to do that this year but some times the doing gets in the way of the reflecting. God willing, it should be another productive year. Happy New Year and happy sleuthing!

How Far Back Can I Go?

(Prologue -Tapestry of Tangled Ties)

That is the question everyone interested in genealogy ask. It is my desire to go back as far as Africa. I probably need a genie in a bottle to complete that quest. As a Black American, my ancestry is hidden from me in a way that is not hidden from other Americans. Since my ancestors were slaves, their names were not on the census before 1870. It is not impossible to go back farther if I can identify the slave owners but that is difficult too. Many slaves wanted to distance themselves from their lives as property. They changed their names. They didn’t talk much about that time with their innocent descendants. White descendants of slave owners are also unwilling to share that part of their family history.

However, once the slave owners are identified, it is possible to find records on file because slaves were part of a financial transaction, as heinous as that is. I have the receipt of the purchase of my great-great-great grandfather Solomon Koonce who was sold to Isaac Koonce of Haywood County, Tennessee in January 1840..  I have also deducted that Solomon was owned for a period of time by Francis Nunn who died intestate in Lauderdale County, Tennessee around 1837.

I may be in the minority but I am also interested in my White ancestors. I am the sum of all of my parts. In looking for those ancestors I am learning more about my country’s history and psyche. That is also part of my history—slavery, the Civil War, the American Revolutionary War, the making of a nation. I plan on studying that too, to put my history into the larger context.

I can go back much farther on some of my white ancestors. So far I am able to go back at least 12 generations. I have found the link between me and one of my favorite writers, Jane Austen and even closer, the link between my family and Reba McEntire. This is exciting to me. I am not ashamed at embracing all my of heritage because I do not deny my ancestry regardless of color or nationality.

This is what I attempt to do in updating my family history. The surnames that I will be following are Koonce, Warren, Featherston, Cotten, Alexander, Brassfield,  Tarpley, Elmore, Alexander, Saunders, and Wright. There may be more as I learn more. I will also research the locations where they lived--Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi and maybe others as I learn of them. Hopefully, one of those locations will be somewhere specific on the continent of Africa.

Chasing Ancestors

I read some advice just in the past week that when researching Black ancestors, one should concentrate on one line. This advice was given because of the unique circumstances we face in trying to figure out who our ancestors are. I fundamentally disagree.

I've been researching now for 15 years. Sometimes I get so frustrated with the lack of results that I take a break. I take a break but I never quit and one of the things that keeps me going is that when I end up on a dead-end street for one line, another line still has many avenues I can explore. Finding even the most minute detail that had been hitherto hidden is enough to keep my genealogy juices pumping.

This is what has got me going right now. I always knew that I descended from Brassfields but very little else. My grandmother's mother, whose portrait hangs in my mother's home, is Lizzie Brassfield. Her father was D. Brassfield. Whenever I would try to find more about him I would get stymied by bad transcription. He had an unusual name. Now you would think that would make it easier to find him. Unfortunately not. When  20th century transcribers look at his name written in that archaic handwriting, they come up with modern names and that makes him hard to find in a search. I have looked at the original documents and see Domic or Danic. The transcribers on ancestry.com see David. This is the name picked up by familysearch.com. But I digress.

Since watching Who Do You Think You Are and its episode about Reba McEntire, I have been more curious about Grandpa D. Using information from tngenweb.org I think George Simpson Brassfield of Gibson County, Tennessee was his last slave owner.  Looking at the slave census for 1860, there is a male slave who is the right age for D living on George's farm. I have also found out that George's step-father had a larger farm with three times more slaves during 1850 and 1860 than George.  And the trail doesn't end there. I'm finding a trove of information about George that may eventually lead me to Grandpa D's origin.

So now I am energized once more. I feel like I'm one of those celebrities on WDYTYA except I am the one doing all the hard work and making the wonderful discoveries. And that feels good.

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!

Research tip

I discovered an important tip from Taneya Koonce (no relations?).http://tngenweb.org/blog/research-tip-check-original-records/

I have been loving that I can view death certificates, mostly for free, on familysearch.org. I finally found the death certificate of my great grandmother Katie Warren there on the anniversary of her death this past December. She died December 30, 1930. And according to the death certificate, she didn't remarry after my great grandfather died, as legend had it.

Another death certificate has puzzled me. Or should I say two? My great uncle Howell Brasfield has two death certificates. After looking at them again, I'm not sure they are for the same person. It's just hard to believe that there were two black men named Howell Brasfield was born in Tennessee and died within miles and a month of each other in the same year.  But then the certificates has different birth dates, marital status and dates of death. They had different burial dates but was both buried in the small city of Maury City, Tennesee.

While I was there last year, I mentioned it to the archivists on staff. One was amazed at the possibility of two death certificates for one man, while another said it happened all the time. Since reading the article from Taneya, I know I now must go back to the Tennessee Archives and look at the originals. It is still wonderful to be able to access the certificates online, but "ain't nothing like the real thing, baby."

Things I learned on my road trip

I'm home. My trip was relaxing, fruitful, hot. I'm glad I went but I didn't accomplish as much as I hoped.

We stayed in a very nice hotel in the Brentwood neighborhood of Nashville. We got a very good deal. Tip #1- The research is the priority, even over good hotel deals. Everything else is secondary. Tip #2 - if you can, stay closer to the libraries even if it may cost more. Traffic takes away time you can use in the library. Also, if you're with someone, you don't have to depend on them for transportation. They can leave or you can leave on your own time schedule.

From Nashville we went to Jackson, TN. My ancestors come from this area. At the Crockett County library I found a will for Joshua Nunn for 1831. This Joshua was Francis' brother and David's father. David Nunn was the administrator of Francis estate and the executor of Joshua's. He was also the brother-in-law of Isaac Koonce, the last slave owner of Solomon.

On this will is listed many of the same names of slaves found on the inventory of Francis' estates. Joshua died in North Carolina. In 1830, Francis bought land (over 1000 acres) in a part of Dyer County that became Lauderdale County. I think Francis may have acquired some of Joshua's slaves from his nieces and nephews for his land. One of the slaves name was unique-Britton. That's what made me think this. One of the other slave is named Sall. I think this may be Solomon. It's a leap, I know, but it makes sense to me.

Tip #3 - It sucks when the persons you're looking at have no heirs. Heirs want to know their heritage. Without them the trail goes cold. Isaac Koonce had no heirs. This Francis Nunn had no heirs. It is more difficult to find background information concerning their lives but I trudge on. It also makes me work harder to leave information for future generations.

Ready for a road trip

I haven't been to Nashville, TN since 2003. A random stranger told me yesterday that it has changed so much and for the better. Nashville is one of the cities I have thought of relocating to.

Most people think of music when they think of Nashville. I think of genealogy. I found the state archives there to be so fruitful. It spoiled me for Mississippi's archive. I found so much more information in the Tennessee archives than the Mississippi archives. I expect another Tennessee bounty now that I am more experienced in genealogy research. I'm getting excited.

Before I go, I will look up what records I will find at the archives that relates to my ancestors. I also plan to watch episodes of "Who Do You Think You Are?" again. The episodes with Lionel Ritchie made me aware that I should also go to Nashville's public library. I didn't watch all of the Tim McGraw episodes but I remember that his ancestors had a similar story to Solomon's slave owner Isaac Koonce. I will also check out Vanessa Williams just to get some helpful hints. Although that show gave me extreme genealogy envy, it also had lots of good information and tips.

The road trip begins after the Fourth. Look out Tennessee.

A Little Detective Work

I didn't make any real resolutions for this year but in my mind I vowed to figure out more of my ancestry. The year is nearly half over and I'm still chipping away at that brick wall.

I'm so glad I have this blog to remind me--to remind me of those silent vows, of promises to keep, of avenues to follow. I was rereading some of my entries and found this from a couple of years back.

"Negro boy, Ben, age 14, sold to John Koonce by Abner Green - Jones Co, North Carolina , January 1814

Negro woman, Betty age 20 from George Mitchell to John Koonce - March 1808, North Carolina

Gorge and Hanah from John Koonce to son Isaac Koonce, Jones Co, NC December 1822

Elijah, age 20, sold to Isaac Koonce in Haywood Co TN (not Transcribed) 1829

Mariah, age 12 – to Isaac Koonce from Alfred Kennedy, Haywood Co, TN - August 1832."

I don't even remember receiving this information let alone writing about it. This was given to me by a relative of Isaac Koonce along with the receipt of the sale of Solomon. It is possible that this holds important clues to Amy, my great-great-great grandmother. Here is how I break it down.

Isaac Koonce came to Haywood County, Tennessee in 1828 with brother-in-law David Augustus Nunn. Along with David's brother John (Jack) Nunn and uncle Francis (Frank) Nunn, they settled into western Tennessee. All of the North Carolina natives came with slaves. Isaac only had a few. Two of them, George and Hannah, were gifts from his father John Koonce.

On the 1830 Haywood census, Isaac claimed six slaves--three males and three females. The three males were between the ages 10 to 23. Two of the females were of those ages with one being younger than 10. Looking at the information given me, I deduce that the two adult slaves were George and Hannah and that the child was probably their daughter. Also, Elijah was one of the male slaves.

On the 1840 census,Isaac Koonce still has 6 slaves, but only two males. One male is under 24 to 10. I thinks this is Solomon who he just bought in 1839. The other male is between 24 and 35. This is either Elijah or George. I speculate that it is George because he was a gift but I know this is just speculation. Something may have happened to one of the men and that is why he bought Solomon. Of the four female slaves, two are under 10, one is between 10 and 24, and one is between 24 and 35. Isaac bought 12-year old Mariah in 1832. Is she the one between 10 and 24? I deduce that the one between 24 and 35 is Hannah. The two under 10 are possibly her daughters.

Jumping to the 1850 census slave schedule, Isaac now owns eight slaves. One was a male, 23 years old. That would be the right age for Solomon. There was also a 38 year old male (George?), a 40 year old female(Hannah?), a 28 year old female(Mariah?), and an 18 year old female. I think that the 18-year old may be the elusive Amy, mother to Solomon’s first set of children. There were also a twelve, a nine and a two year old female slave. If the 18 year old female is Amy, then she could have been one of the slaves under 10 on the 1840 census. I don't think she is the 28 year old female because Amy's oldest daughter was born around 1849. Twenty-eight is kind of old during this time to bear your first child. The 2 year old female is probably Mosella.

On the 1860 slave schedule, Isaac now has twelve slaves. There is now only one male who has to be Solomon at 35 years old. The 48 year old woman is probably Hannah. Here comes the tricky part. There is a 32 yr. old female and a 22 yr. old female who is designated a mulatto, the only one of the slaves that is so. I know that the ages are usually inaccurate and change from census to census. Amy is definitely there. She has born at least two more children--James, my great great grandfather that correlates with one of the nine year old males on the census, and Solomon Jr. who correlates with the 6 year old male. The 12 year old female has to be Mosella. So which one is Amy? Is Mariah still there? Is she the 32 year old? Is Amy the 22 year old? One oral legend says she is part Cherokee. Could she be called mulatto because of this?

I do plan on going to Tennessee this summer. Haywood County is a must see stop now to see if there are any records that corroborate any of my conclusions.

It's Hammer Time

I don't even know what that means but I'm using it to mean time to research at my leisure.

I am taking the summer off once again to do some in depth research into my family. The goal is to go to Tennessee with my cousin Barbara. So I am watching the news with some trepidation. It is horrifying to watch the slow flooding of the area where my ancestors lived and some relatives still live. I am praying for them.

In the meantime, I will continue my armchair research. It's cheaper. I wanted to go to D.C. and look at the records at the archives but it was too pricey for just a couple of days. Instead I will send off for the civil war pension records of a John Alexander and a Sylvester Ames and hope they are my relatives. And I will also travel to Ft. Wayne and look at their records.

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.

More on Solomon

This blog is my way of keeping up with my research into my family. It records my first impression of data I find. Instead of keeping a written journal that I may lose, I write here. I don't mind sharing what I find so that it can help others and also so it can help connect me with others. That's just a benefit.

I'm concentrating on going back farther on Solomon Koonce, my great-great-great-grandfather. I am looking into whether he was sold from the estate of Francis Nunn of Williamson, Tennessee. The information should be in the court records according to "Nunns of the South," an old book written about the Nunn family. I'm looking into having those records sent here from the Tennessee state archives through the inter-library program.

While looking up Solomon on ancestry.com, I noticed for the first time that Solomon claimed he was a mulatto. How did I miss that? Of course, I'm not sure what that means. Sometimes Blacks were called mulatto because of the color of their skin. Sometimes because the person was acknowledging that his or her parentage was part white. In the photos, Solomon does not have a light complexion. However, his features are somewhat keen. As one of my cousins noted, the nose the family calls the Koonce nose didn't come from Solomon. His nose was more aquiline. Our family nose actually came from Lizzie Brasfield, Willie Koonce's wife and my great grandmother. So it is really the Brasfield nose.

The mulatto designation is on the 1880 census. Solomon also says he was born in 1828 in South Carolina and that his parents were born in North Carolina. I am seasoned enough to know not to believe everything I see on the census. I know the birth year is probably wrong but are the other things wrong as well?

New Year, New Decade

New beginnings mean new starts. So of course, I resolve to do better than before. My resolutions include:

* First of all, posting more.

* Solving at least one mystery of my family's ancestors.

* I intend to visit Featherstone Castle in Northumberland County, England. This castle may have some connection to my Warren/Featherston roots. It will be mostly a trip of curiosity. I do not expect to have some profound epiphany while there.

* I hope to go to Mississippi once again but this time I will venture into the county courts. The trip to the state archive was monumentally disappointing.

* I will make at least one pilgrimage to one of the genealogy libraries, probably Fort Wayne, although I would love to get back to the Tennessee state archives and the national archives in D.C.

I realize resolutions are often broken so I'm trying not to reach too far beyond my grasp.

Road Trip

It's the Memorial Day Weekend, the unofficial start of summer. The thing most on my mind is getting out there and physically digging for my roots. Not literally, of course, but I am getting off my comfy chair and going into the archives and libraries of Mississippi and Tennessee.

Genealogy isn't a cheap hobby although the internet has made it more accessible. I had my own personal recession 5 years ago so I am looking for the most frugal strategies to make my trip possible. For example, this July I am taking a bus to Nashville and Jackson and McComb, Ms. I am buying my tickets 21 days earlier. My trip will cost me around $143 round trip! By traveling overnight I will save one night in a hotel. Of course, some may think I'm crazy going by bus. I look at as an adventure and a small price (really small price) that I pay for my hobby.

Unfortunately there are no bus stops near the cities I need to visit in Tennessee except for Newbern. It stops there at three am. That's not a good time to be stopping in a strange southern city. I do draw the line somewhere. The Koonce reunion is supposed to be in Tennessee this September and I will try to get ro some libraries and/or courts around during that time. I'm hoping to get enough new information at the archives in Nashville to update my book in time for the reunion.

All in all, I'm excited about my road trip. It will be interesting. No doubt.

Lost

I'm back from my short journey to Tennessee. It was an eye opening experience but not in the way I had hoped. Several things hit me and I'm still processing them.

First, the area where my maternal ancestors lived is still very rural and sparsely populated. For example, my grand aunt Inez lived a few feet from the church where she was eulogized (and a few blocks from Alex Haley's birthplace). However, we traveled 45 minutes and through two counties to get to the cemetery where she was buried. My sister, who was driving, was concerned about running out of gas. She was advised to get gas when she went through downtown Maury City. Unfortunately, we didn't recognized downtown when we went through it. It was one short block of family businesses.

My aunt lived in this area all 102 years of her life. That had to shape her vision of the world. I see that same vision in my mother even though she has lived in an urban area most of her life. The viewpoint is narrow, comfortable and void of inquisitiveness.
That speaks to the other thing that struck me. All the knowledge my aunt had of my side of the family has now gone to the grave. I had accepted that my aunt did not want to talk about her family because that's what my mother and my aunt Adrene told me. Then at the funeral, a woman, a niece of Inez's husband, talked about how she asked questions about the family and how Inez gladly recited family stories to her. It makes me so mad and sad at the same time. I asked my mother if she ever asked my aunt anything to which she said never. My mother is now one of the oldest living Koonce so I will have to unearth whatever I can through circumstantial evidence not oral stories.

I can't imagine not wanting to know everything about my family history. My mother is interested and satisfied with her minute knowledge. She doesn't understand my thirst and my endless questions. I don't understand her nonchalance and acceptance. The worst part and the best part is that I seem to be "that one" in the family that pursues the answers. It's a lonely job but, I believe, somebody's gotta do it.

This summer, I will go back to Tennessee and delve into court documents and look up books in the local libraries and talk to people who may know about my family history. Too bad I wasn't able to do it before my aunt passed away.

Back to the Beginning

When I first started my research, I built it on oral legends and previous research. My aunt was told that Solomon was sold to Isaac Koonce when he was 19 years old. Some places say he was born in 1822 and others say he was born in 1826. According to the 1870 census, his birth year was around 1828. The following census, however, claim 1826. This is important because I'm trying to find him and Amy on the slave census.

I know that he was sold to Isaac Koonce in 1839. On the 1840 slave census for Haywood County, Tennessee, Isaac owns 6 slaves - one male between 10 and 24, one male between 25 and 35, two females under 10, one female between 10 and 25 and one between 25 and 35.

On the 1850 census slave schedule for Haywood County, Isaac Koonce owned eight slaves. One was a male, 23 years old. Is that Solomon? There was also a 38 year old male, a 40 year old female, a 28 year old female, and an 18 year old female. I'm not sure if Amy is the older or younger of the females. There were also a twelve, a nine and two year old female slaves.

On the 1860 slave schedule Isaac owned 12 slaves. There were five adults and seven children. One was designated as a mulatto while the others were listed as black. The ages don’t match the 1850 schedule. There is now a 48 year old female, a 35 year old male, who I believe is Solomon, a 32 year old female who I believe is Amy, a 22 year old female mulatto, and an 18 year old female. The children range in age from one to 12. Three of the children correspond with the ages of Solomon’s oldest children.

I have to remind myself that back in those days, people weren't so concerned with accuracy. It's just another hindrance in finding ancestors.

Cemeteries in Tennessee

I'm finding little tidbits of information, adding more flesh to the skeletons. Ironically, the information I am finding is from cemeteries which can be a wealth of data.

I found the burial place of Charles R. Featherston, my great-great grandfather. The cemetery is listed on the Dyer County page of the tngenweb site. Charles is buried in Shaw Cemetery in Dyer County. The vital information is also listed there. He was born Aug 6 1824 and died Jan 12 1873. His father, William Featherston, which would be my great-great-great grandfather, is buried there too. He died Jan 21 1870 at age 76. The cemetery is in danger of being abandoned. I can't find where or when Matilda, the mother of Charles' children, died and was buried although by sleuthing on the same website I found out she married Henry Hall in 1883 and was dead by 1900.

There was a sad notation about one of the abandoned cemeteries in Crockett County. According to Jonathan K. Smith, who compiled the cemetery inventory for the county, the African-American Nunn cemetery began as a slave burial ground. There are many graves here, some marked with cedar trees, but only one tombstone. The tombstone is for the daughter of my great-great aunt Mosella Koonce Dodson. It reads:

Fannie L. Dodson
30 Apr 1883 - Nov 11 1885
Daughter of J.D. & M. Dodson.

That means that the unmarked graves could very well be for other relatives of mine and I will never know who they are. It is also another piece of information that connects my family to the Nunns in some way.

My family maintains the New Cemetery (that's its name) in Crockett County. It was formerly known as Nunn Cemetery. This is where Solomon and his wife Cherry Koonce, my great-great grandparents James and Mary Jane Koonce, great-grandparents Willie and Lizzie Koonce are buried as well as several other relatives. I am very proud of the fact that the cemetery is still being used for family. I love the continuity. Mosella, mother of little Fannie is buried here and is the oldest grave. There are also graves as recent as 2005.

I must make a note to speak with my cousins who maintain the cemetery to see if they know anything about the old Nunn cemetery.

Faith Leaping or Conclusion Jumping

It is a cardinal sin for any genealogist to jump to conclusion. Everything must be collaborated and documented. It makes it real, real hard for those of us researching our African-American ancestors. There is very little documentation readily available and much of that is inaccurate. It is so tempting to jump to conclusion.

For example, my cousin Juanita found her grandmother Rosa Nance listed on the Tennessee census as the daughter of Harvey Dunnagin. She immediately claimed that we were not related based on that information. However, it turned out that Dunnagin was Rosa's grandfather. The census was taken during a time when Rosa and her siblings were living with their grandparents. Rosa's mother Malessie was living in Memphis while Rosa's father, my great-grandfather Ike Warren, was living elsewhere. The information was there in black and white but it was wrong.

Right now I'm on the trail for Amy, mother of Solomon's children. I already mentioned my theory in a previous post. After searching the 1900 census, I found an "Emmie Nunn" living with Joe Dodson and his family. She is listed as a widow and "G-mother." I checked other Tennessee censuses and could not find an Emmie Nunn. I want so much to believe that Emmie is mispelled for Amy. Joe's children would be her grandchildren since his wife was Mosella Koonce, Solomon and Amy's oldest living daughter. Mosella had passed away ten years earlier. I want to believe but I have to keep digging for actual proof.

There is also evidence this is not my Amy. First of all the name is wrong. The birthdate is listed as March of 1819. And she had 10 children but none of them are living in 1900. So there is a good chance she isn't who I hope her to be. I plan on taking a trip to Tennessee soon to find out more. No matter what I wish, it has to be verifiable proof.

Looking for the Paper Trails of Slavery

I went through the material my aunt had gathered during her research. She shared much of the information verbally with me but not the documents. Unfortunately, she passed away four years ago due to complications from diabetes. I claimed her documents since she always promised them to me.

One thing that she never found during all her hard work was a paper trail about Solomon Koonce while he was a slave. There is a lot of oral history. He was supposedly sold at 19 to Isaac Koonce, a farmer in Haywood County, Tennessee. We do have anecdote about Isaac's brother-in-law David Nunn buying or receiving slaves for unpaid debts in North Carolina and transporting them to Tennessee. My aunt Adrene believed that Solomon was one of those slaves.

I am more of the mind that Solomon was inherited or sold after being inherited. Of course, I have no proof. It's just a hunch. We're not sure when he was born. The sources purport his birth to be anywhere from 1822 to 1828. The year 1828 is when Nunn and Isaac came to Tennessee from North Carolina so they probably didn't bring him during the move. If he was born in 1822, he would have been 19 around 1841. Between 1841 and 1842, an aunt of Nunn died. She didn't have any children so her property went to her nieces and nephew. Some of her property were human and she was from North Carolina. I'm going to follow this trail and see if I can find documents with names or at least ages that coincide with Solomon.