Louisiana Creole Genealogy – Ancestral Pathways LLC

Finding Kin in the Civil War – Henry KING aka Henry Tatman (part 1)

October 24, 2017February 22, 2019 iyatee1 Comment

Unidentified Civil war soldier3 — Unidentified African American Union soldier in sergeant uniform holding a rifle

Early August 2017, I received a shaky leaf hint on Ancestry.com, alerting me to a military record. Note: The shaky leaf is an indicator that lets the user know that there is a possible record that may be a match to a person in your tree that is displaying the leaf. This leaf led me to a U.S. Civil War Pension index record for a Henry King.

Henry was a known relative on whom I had completed some research and included in my family tree. The US 1870 census indicates that 30-year old Henry King lived in Opelousas, Louisiana with his wife, 25-year old Isabella and several others who I know are his sisters. Living next door are Henry’s parents, Warren King and his mother, Temperance (Tempy). Tempy is the sister of my 3^rd great-grandfather, Moses Jason, and the daughter of my 4^th great-grandfather, Godfrey Jason.

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“Mama, it was true! Your Daddy was in World War I!”

March 22, 2017February 22, 2019 iyatee1 Comment

Last night, I found some information that I wasn’t exactly looking for at the time. Let me “go back a spell,” as the old folks used to say, and start this story from the beginning.

Growing up, my Mother would always state proudly that her father, Alsen Jason I, was in WWI; her brother, Alsen Jason II, was in WWII; her other brother, Clifton Jason, was in the Korean War; and her nephew, Alsen Jason III, was in the Vietnam War. She would continue with stories of her other uncles, nephews, and relatives that had also fought in wars. “They were very brave”, she would say, sometimes followed with a sly “I don’t know anybody on your Daddy’s side that fought in the war.”

Now, Mama, don’t go talking about my Daddy and his family, I would think this but, of course, I would never say out loud.

In 2010, my brother-in-law, John, who worked at The National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, announced that he would be retiring soon. I used this as an opportunity to finally get documentation on my grandfather’s WWI services so I could present this information to my mother.

I called John up and gave him my grandfather’s information. I eagerly awaited a response from John with the good news. I told my mother that I requested information on her father and, she too, was excited.

A few days later, John had news for me, but it wasn’t good. He told me that he couldn’t find any service record for my grandfather. I was devastated. I had to break this bad news to my mother. She was silent and didn’t say a word.

I know that hurt her. I chalked it up to maybe a name spelling, or a file that was destroyed in the fire or misplaced. I had no idea what to think. I didn’t want to believe the story was untrue. People generally don’t have stories in their family saying a person served when they didn’t, but I had no recourse to find out any information. Over the years, since then, I would occasionally go to military databases and see if I could find my grandfather. I would try different spellings of his name, but to no avail.

Last night, I hit pay dirt – and I wasn’t even looking for that record! As a normal practice, I like to conduct a wildcard searches, just in case I find I record that I haven’t seen before. Familysearch.org is probably my favorite online site to do these types of searches. My grandfather’s name, Alsen Jason, is one that have so many variations – I’ve lost count. Alsen, I’ve seen also written as Alcin, Elcin, and Alsin. Let’s night I did a random search for “Alsin Jas*” and I was hoping to find something new. Right across the page, indeed was something I had not seen before.

The third record on the page listed an “Alcin Jasson” Louisiana Service record! Could it be I had found an entry that proves that my grandfather was indeed in WWI?

familysearch March 2017 Alcin_Jas highlight

I quickly opened the record and saw information I had sought those many years ago. The record was from the Louisiana World War I Services and it listed that my grandfather, Alcin Jasson [Alsen Jason] was, in fact, enlisted in the Army and served in WWI. The record indicates that a 26-year old Alsen was inducted into the Army on June 19,1918 and served overseas starting September 18, 1918 through June 19, 1919. He was honorably discharged July 12, 1919.

Alsen Jason I WWI information

“Louisiana World War I Service Records, 1917-1920”, database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2TY-588Y : 8 February 2017), Alcin Jasson, 1918.

You may notice that the person shown on the page right above Alsen, is also a Jason. Austen [Austin] Jason is Alsen’s brother!

I was delighted to find this record. But knowing the hardship that African Americans fared in the services during WWI, I could only imagine the trials he may have encountered.

I contacted, my now retired brother-in-law, John, and gave him the good news. John told me a website where I could request my grandfather’s records online. He also gave me pointers on information I should include in the request. The key, he said, was to make sure that I asked for the complete service and medical records. I’ve sent the request and I can’t wait to get a response.

I have limited experience with the military records, so I’m going to have to do more research in this area. That’s it for now. I will keep all of you updated.

Happy searching!

All FRANKS are Kin! Part Two

August 24, 2016February 22, 2019 iyatee4 Comments

While continuing to do research on the Franks of Ville Platte, I found a man named Julienne Frank, who could potentially be a sibling to Ephraim and Jean Baptiste. Julienne was born about 1835 and lived near Ephraim and Jean Baptiste after the civil war. There are two marriage licenses for Julien’s marriage to a Suzette VALMOND SIMON as noted in Father Hebert’s Southwest Louisiana Records (SWLR):

FRANK, Julien m. 30 Aug. 1869 Suzette VALMOND (Opel. Ct. Hse.: Mar. # 5491)

FRANK, Julien m. 25 May 1871 Susette SIMON (VP Ch.: v. 2, p. 67)

Together, Julienne and Suzette had five children: Edmond (b. 1855), Eugene (b. 1862), Emily (b. 1865), Marie (b. 1871), and Adam (b. 1864).

However, for the longest time, I could not make any headway in finding how Julienne Frank connected to the FRANK clan, so for a few years I put this part of my research on the back burner, focusing instead on tracing several of my maternal lines to specific slavery records.

Continue reading “All FRANKS are Kin! Part Two” →

All FRANKs are Kin! Part One

August 15, 2016February 22, 2019 iyatee1 Comment

When I was growing up in Ville Platte, it was common knowledge among my elders that, “all FRANKS are kin.”

This was especially interesting to me because my grandmother, Joanna DENTON, had married three different FRANK men: first, she married my grandfather, Chester FRANK, with whom she had two children—Felton and my father Welton. She then entered a common-law marriage with Orise ARDOIN, (whose mother was a FRANK, making him a part of the FRANK clan); together, my grandmother Joanna and Orise had seven children: Ophelia aka Toot, Preston aka Goo-lie, .Horace aka Poule, twins Mattie and Ethel (aka Toe-Toe), Albert, and Maryann aka Pinky.

Continue reading “All FRANKs are Kin! Part One” →

Calling All Loftons (Loftins)! Do you know my Grandmother’s People?

June 13, 2016 iyateeLeave a comment

I continue to struggle getting back to posting in my blog. On February 13^th, almost five months after the death of my mother, my eldest sister Irma Marie Frank passed. Needless to say, her death has also left me devastated.

Like my mother, my sister was a big proponent of my genealogical research. I’m so happy that I followed my gut and had both of them take DNA tests before their passing. Maybe it will be their DNA that will ultimately lead me to my grandmother’s maternal line.

Since my last post, I have received one additional hint about the identity of my maternal great-grandmother. For those of you that use ancestry.com for your family research, you may be aware that in 2015 Ancestry.com, added a searchable database that I found to be extremely useful. Last year, Ancestry.com added an addition to their Social Security Death Index (SSDI): U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index. This database provides more details about social security applicants, which may include their full name (including applicable maiden name), birth data, and place of birth. However, the most important information I’ve found in the database are the names of the applicant’s parents.

As you may recall from my last post, I found my grandmother Estella Rubin’s mother’s name on a marriage license, which was listed as Eva Laughtin. I wasn’t sure if the Laugh had a “Law”sound such as Lawton or a “Loff” sound like in the name Lofton, but at least I had a name.

I had hoped that I would be able to confirm the name by using the Social Security application database on Ancestry.com. Unfortunately, my grandmother’s application was not online. I followed the instructions provided on the Ancestry site and submitted the request to the Social Administration office to get a copy of my grandmother’s application. Since I had her social security number, the cost of the copy was $27; the cost is $29 if you do not have the SSIN. Here’s what I received:

From the application, looks like my grandmother listed her mother as Evil Loffton. Do you have any other ideas what the mother’s name in the document? Maybe the name is Evie Lofton? I’m not familiar with any Loftons. Do you know any Loftons out of Mowata in Saint Landry parish in the great state of Louisiana? Hit me up with any information you can share on this subject.

Happy searching!

Another Brick wall Breakthrough

December 30, 2015June 19, 2017 iyatee4 Comments

In my last two posts, I asked for additional help in locating information about my maternal grandmother’s mother’s family. Though I recently discovered that that family’s last name is Laughtin, I still haven’t found any additional information on my grandmother’s maternal family. However, I did find that the brick wall of slavery has been broken for our Ruben family!

For me, genealogy is like a mystery game or puzzle, and as a genealogist, I spend my spare time trying to connect the puzzle pieces of my family together. If you are researching in Southwest Louisiana and you are familiar with the towns in the area, you typically can locate at least some of your relatives. If you use standard research methods—such as looking for multiple spellings of known surnames, looking in census records for neighbors of known relatives, or doing searches on usual given names—you’re bound to find some family connections.

When I first started researching, I really had no clue what I was doing and I didn’t have any person that was guiding me on this journey. I just knew that I wanted to research my family history and I would do that by any means necessary.

Since the first time I’ve gone to the archives in Opelousas and what I’ve done on every trip, I always look up the marriage records from known surnames of my family. If I recognized a person’s given name, I would make a note and get a copy of the marriage license. At this point, if I were searching a specific family line, I may even get a copy of the marriage license, even if I don’t recognize the given name. Now, I sort of know that to make a family connection you first gather evidence, examine the evidence, and then put together the “story” that one gleans from the collected evidence.

Gabriel “Gabe” Ruben, I knew, was originally from the Ville Platte area, but he had lived most of his adult-life in Elton, LA. Elton is also where my maternal grandmother was raised and where my mother were born. My mother told me that a lot of the Ruben family lived in Washington, Louisiana, which I later corroborated with another Rubin elder cousin.

I first found Gabriel on the 1870 census, living in Saint Landry Parish with his father Lastie, his mother Ellen, and siblings Louisa and Lovenia.

gabe rubin 1880

For Southwest Louisiana researchers, there’s a useful reference source called the Southwest Louisiana Records (SWLR) by Father Donald Hebert. SWLR provides some vital records that’s derived from various parish archives and Catholic Church records. Often you can find family connections, such as parentage, date of birth and date of death.

At one point, my late mother and Uncle James Williams told me was that the Rubens were kin to the Skinners and also kin to the Collins. The story is that the Skinners were at one point Rubens, but due to slavery, their names had been changed. So, one motive of my research was to determine if any of this family lore was true.

I found, during one of my research trips, the marriage license of Frank Collins and Eva Reubin. They married on January 26, 1907 and interesting enough, Lastie Reubin provided the security bond for the marriage. The bond issuer would generally be a male relative such as a father, uncle, or an of age brother.

eva rubin marriage

In this case, Lastie was more than likely an uncle of the bride. Eva was the child of John Reubin fils (junior) and Ernestine Thomy (Thomas). John is either incapacitated or deceased at the time of Eva’s wedding. John’s brother, then, would be next in line to represent the family and sign the bond, Lastie did in this instance. So, part of the family lore, is true in that the Rubins are related to the Collins. I’ve not found the connection, yet to the Skinners.

On the 1900 US Census, Eva is living with her parents John and Ernestine:

eva rubin 1900 census

From the SWLR, I found that John’s mother was Jane and because fils means junior, his father is John Rubin.

REUBIN, John fils (Janes —) m. 6 Feb. 1869 Ernestine Zenon TOMY (Opel. Ct. Hse.: Mar. #5224)

eva rubin 1900 census original

On the 1880 census a widowed Jane Ruben is found living in the Latour household as a servant. According to the census Jane was born in Louisiana at about 1815. Below is a snippet from the 1880 census:

jane rubin 1880 census

So, with these records, I’ve connected Lastie and John fils who we believe are the children of Jane and John Ruben. Finding Jane living in the Latour family household will be a key to breaking through the brick wall of slavery for my Ruben family.

Recently, a fellow Saint Landry Parish researcher and relative, Alex Lee, posted on his Facebook ancestry page information on some slaves that were being sold out of an estate sale for the Rosemont Doucet. What follows is the sale notice from the Opelousas Courier January 14, 1854:

rosemont public estate sale2

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83026389/1854-01-14/ed-2/seq-1.pdf

One of these slaves turns out to be Jane along with several of her children, Nerieth, Caroline, John, Julienne, and Elizabeth.

https://www.facebook.com/Alexgenealogy/photos/a.782188565134511.1073741827.544570968896273/989464044406961/?type=1&theater

jane rubin and children slave

This was an important find in my slavery ancestry. Although, Lastie is not identified in this record, we already concluded that Jane was his mother.

A few months before Alex published this data, we discovered a DNA match to my mother through 23andMe, but we had no idea how we were kin. Turns out she is a descendant of Caroline. Here’s some additional information Alex gives about Caroline:

caroline rubin notes from Alex

As for the other children, I found this entry regarding Julienne: REUBEN, Julienne (Marie JANIS) m. 11 Jan. 1877 Simon GUILLORY, Jr. (VP Ch.: v. 2, p. 206)

Below, I found Julienne on the 1880 census along with her husband and children:

julienne rubin

Elizabeth Ruben went on to marry Elie Joseph as noted in the following marriage license:

Elizabeth Rubin marriage

I’m sure there are other points to research with the Rubin family. Do you have any other connections to the Rubens? I look forward to continuing this journey.

Happy Researching!

The Name of my Great-Grandmother Is Found!

December 27, 2015January 3, 2016 iyatee3 Comments

It has been awhile since I’ve posted in my blog. This year 2015 has been really difficult, filled with a lot of sorrow and loss. My mother, Ella Mae Jason-Frank, passed away September 29, 2015, after battling declining health over the last few years.

She was a big supporter of my genealogical pursuits, and, as I’ve written in a previous post, she really wanted me to find out more about her maternal grandmother.

Amazingly, one month after my mother’s death, I found my great-grandmoterh’s name, almost as if my mother’s first task in heaven was to jumpstart my research. One of my first cousins, a fellow researcher, alerted me that the website familysearch.org had recently added the marriage license of [E]stella Ruben and Rodney Williams. On the license, my grandmother’s mother is listed as Eva Laughtin:

Stella Ruben and Rodney marriage license

So: Eva Laughtin from Mowata, Louisiana. Laughtin? Not a familiar name to me. I’m sure there are a lot of different spellings for this surname and below are a few variations: Lotten, McLaughtin, Lawton, and, Lawtin. Mowata is a small town outside of Eunice. Family lore has it that Eva, my great-grandmother was from Mowata. Do any of you have any Laughtins in your family? Any connection to Mowata? I would love to hear from you.

Happy searching!

Where Are You, My Grandmother’s People?

November 28, 2014 iyatee13 Comments

After my last post, I had to take a break from writing. I was too high from my last find and I didn’t know where to go for my next blog post. So, over the last month I’ve decided I’m ready to continue the adventure. Let me start be saying this is a mystery and I need help!

Growing up, I remember my Mother making comments about her mother, Estella Ruben, who we called Momí Stella. Unlike other people who have a hard time getting information for their elder relatives, my mother has never had any problem sharing. She always was willing to share family lore, often unsolicited. My mother was known for telling these enthralling stories—well, at least they were enthralling to me.

One story that comes to mind is one my mother told me when I was young. When my mother was about 5 years old, she went to a local “roots worker” to ask her if she could fix up something to heal her sick mother. My Mother said Momí Stella had been crying and crying, in obvious pain. My mother laughed as she continued, “Mama was a drinker back then, and she would cry when she would get drunk. The roots lady knew my mother wasn’t sick, but had been drinking and she just told me that she would come by later to check on my Mama.”

“Momí Stella used to drink? I had no idea. Man, I would have never known that.” My grandmother lived a pretty wholesome life from my point of view – I never saw her drink.

“Yes, Mama kept us spotless, we had food to eat, she made sure we went to school, and she was a very attentive Mama. But, when she would have bouts of crying spells I thought she was sick. I didn’t know until later that she cried like that when she had been drinking.”

While cooking one day, my mother told me “Momma didn’t know her mother—not even her own mother’s name.” From my mother I learned that Momí Stella’s mother died shortly after she was born. My mother Momma said “my grandmother had other children and after she died, my grandfather, Gabe, sent her other children back to Mowata to live with my grandmother’s family”.

Estella Ruben

My grandmother died in 1974. According to my Mother, before Momí Stella’s death, she had attempted to try to find her siblings. She wasn’t successful and we, at this point, don’t have any leads to finding this part of my family. My grandmother did not even have a birth certificate. On her death certificate, her mother is listed as unknown.

Once I started being serious about genealogy, I knew this was one of the family mysteries I wanted to solve. Over the years, my mother would repeat this story from time to time. She would also ask if I had found any information yet on Momí’s missing siblings.

Bringing back together this long-ago torn family and enabling my mother to connect with aunts, uncles, their children, their children’s children is one of my greatest prayers. Maybe someone reading this blog post can help me.

So, let me sort out the information I do know about my grandmother’s family. Born July 9^th, 1905 in Elton, Louisiana, Estella Ruben, was the daughter of Gabriel “Gabe” Ruben. Gabe, per his death certificate, was born in Ville Platte, Louisiana in 1876. On the 1880 census, I found Gabriel listed as the 4-year son of Lastie and Ellen Ruben. Also listed are Gabriel’s sisters, 8-year Louisa and 2-year Lovenia.

1880 US Census – Lastie Ruben

Lastie, appears to have been the son of John and Jane Rubin. Lastie had a brother named John Ruben files [junior] who married Ernestine Zenon Tomy (Thomas) on February 6, 1869 in Saint Landry Parish, Louisiana. [Opel. Ct. Hse.: Mar. #5224]

As I continued to look at census records, genealogy enthusiasts know that most of the 1890 US census records were by a fire, so the 1900 census are the next set of records available. Unfortunately, I’ve not yet been able to find Gabriel in the 1900 records.

On the 1910 census, I not only picked up the trail of Gabe, it also is the first census on which I find my grandmother [E]stella.

So at the time the census was taken, April 1910, Estella is noted as being 4 years old, which means she would be 5 on her next birthday of July 9^th. As, mentioned earlier, Momí Stella did not have a birth certificate so 1905 could be accurate, although her obituary listed her birth year as 1906. The census shows that Gabe and his wife, Eliza, have been married for 5 years and that Eliza had given birth to one child who is alive at the time of the census.

Finding, Gabe, Eliza, and Estella on the 1910 census made me think I had not only found my grandmother, Estella, but I had possibly found her mother, Eliza. That seemed to be the only conclusion. Then, what of the story about the death of my great-grandmother and her children being sent to Mowata? Was that just a myth?

1910 US Census Gabe Ruben

My grandmother had a younger sister named Martha Ruben. On the 1920, Martha, 13, along with my grandmother [E]stella, 14, are both shown with Gabe and Eliza. If Martha is only a year younger than Estella, why isn’t she on the 1910 census in Gabe’s household?

Tragically, Martha dies almost 4 years later of cardiac dropsy, which is edema due to congestive heart failure. At the time of her death, the death certificate says she was 14, giving her a birth year of around 1910. Martha’s mother’s name is illegible on the document and I’ve been unsuccessful in making out the full name. The last name looks to me to be “Antwine”. What do you think is the name?

Marth Ruben’s Death Certificate

So maybe Eliza is the birth mother of Momí Stella, but I don’t think so. At the age of 14, my grandmother would have known the person listed as Liza on the 1920 census. Assuming Liza is the same as the Eliza that is on the 1910 census, it is unlikely my grandmother would have said that she did not know her mother if in fact Liza (and Eliza) was her mother, right?

There’s also a discrepancy with the age of Martha. The 1920 census, it has that she is 13, which means that she was born around 1907. However, her death certificate have that she was 14 when she died in 1924, means that her birth date was about 1910.

On a World War I draft registration dated September 12, 1918 I found Gabe’s significant other as Eliza Harrow.

The trail ends and I still have no information on who could be the mother of Momí Stella. I welcome your ideas on where I should look next to try to solve this mystery.

Jason Family of Ville Platte, LA – Brick wall knockdown

May 28, 2014September 6, 2017 iyatee32 Comments

The Jasons, like most of the families in Bayou Chicot and the surrounding area, were farmers, and each of the Jasons had a brood of children, ensuring their family’s presence in future generations. That’s how I was going to start part two of my Jason’s blog post. However, with my recent big find, that part of the story will have to wait!

I started doing family research hoping to learn more information about my ancestors, including finding out who held my ancestors as slaves. For several years now, I’ve been visiting the archives in both Opelousas and Ville Platte. Opelousas is the parish seat for Saint Landry, whereas Ville Platte is the seat for Evangeline Parish. Established in 1805 and, once, much larger Saint Landry Parish has since been carved up, forming separate parishes, including Evangeline Parish, which was established in 1901.

I remember how nervous I was going into the Opelousas archives for the first time. It was daunting, seemingly insurmountable. I was doing something that was important for my family, something that my ancestors were pushing me to do, but I didn’t even know where to start. And, I was alone. So, I took that step in. There were hundreds upon hundreds of huge books that weighed easily 25+ pounds spread across the room. No one offered to help me. No one pointed me to the starting place. I didn’t even know that I could do a search on the computer that was in the archive room. There were just these books, walls and walls of big books. Saw sections labeled marriage records, probate and succession records, notarial records’, conveyances, miscellaneous records. I ventured into reading one of the succession records – everything was in French. Okay, this is not going to work, I said to myself. I have to get some information. I took a deep breath and that’s when I decided just to start with the marriage licenses and see if I can pull licenses for the people I did know. I just started looking up surnames, and if I recognized a given name I would get a copy of the marriage license. Simple as that.

In discussing family ancestry with others, it has been my Jason family members who have had the most interest, and it’s with the Jasons that I also have the most passionate fellow family researchers. One of my researcher-cousins, Patricia, connected me to Moses Jason’s sister Hannah and their father Godfrey Jason. Patricia is a descendant of Hannah and she made me aware of the 1870 and 1880 census, which showed Moses and Hannah living as next-door neighbors.

Through the years, they were proud and close knit family, often living in clan clusters a rocks-throw from one another. That’s a tradition that’s persisted. When my family moved from Louisiana to California in the 1970s, for the first year, we lived with my uncle near the San Francisco Bay. The next year, we moved—right next door to my mother’s first cousin. Researching enslaved persons can be challenging – one reason being the propensity of slavery to split families and possibly sell family members to unknown or faraway plantations. Another reason is that ‘slaves’ had no surnames, so when do typical genealogy research you’re looking at both the given name and the surname. So if you don’t know the name of the slave ‘owner’ it can be difficult to find your ancestors under slavery.

Per the 1870 census, Godfrey Jason was born in South Carolina and this same researcher-cousin surmised that Godfrey Jason may be one and the same as ‘Old Uncle Godfrey’ mentioned in the book Old Families and Tales of Chicot; or Miss Emma’s Memoirs , where Godfrey is noted as a slave owned by the Griffith family. Using the censuses, I was able to find Moses’s and Hannah’s other likely siblings: Winifred, Phoebe, and Temperance, also known as Tempy. In this family, as in other enslaved families, it was common to name children after their grandparents and their parents siblings. This was used as a code. It helped implicitly connect families, even if they were sold and separated. Moses named two of his daughters, Winifred and Hannah; Winifred named one daughter Temperance; two of Tempy’s children were named after her sisters Phoebe and Winifred; Godfrey Tatman, found in the 1900 census, is potentially Hannah’s son—named him after her father, Old Uncle Godfrey Jason.

Three or four years after my researcher-cousin first mentioned Hannah to me, I pored through census records to find links to her brother, my direct ancestor. In 1900 and 1910, Moses Jason who was living in the same household with Tempy and her family. Then, I had no idea who Tempy was. In 1900, Tempy and Moses are living in the household of a John Brown and his wife Harriet. Tempy is listed as John’s mother-in-law, making her Harriet’s mother. Moses is listed as John’s brother, which I thought was a mistake. I wasn’t able to pinpoint the relationship between John and Moses until the 1910 census. On this census, Tempy King is listed as the head of household, living with several people, including her brother, Moses Jason. King was probably Harriet’s last name, too, I thought.

Using Rev. Donald J. Hebert’s Southwest Louisiana Records (SWLA) CD, a couple of significant marriage references, I found out a couple of things:

Temperance Jason [Jacena] married Warren King on April 2, 1870
Harriet King married John Brown March 30, 1891.

The Louisiana Death records on FamilySearch shows that Tempy passed on March 29, 1921, had a deceased spouse named Warren King… and that her father was Godfrey Jason! Unfortunately, no mother is listed.

Familysearch.org Louisiana Death Index entry for Tempy:

I traveled with my cousin Geraldine to the Opelousas court house, doing computer index searches and surveying marriage licenses. Then, I decided I wanted to look up sale records. MY ancestors were bought and sold. There may be a record of it. I remembered what Patricia said, about Old Uncle Godfrey and the Griffith family. So, we looked up in the vendor/vendee index several of the conveyance records for Griffiths slave transactions. Two of these references broke down the slavery brickwall.

Per the conveyance document recorded December 17, 1833, Daniel Ferguson received nine hundred dollars from Isaac Griffith in exchange for a negro male slave, age 36. The slave’s name was Godfrey. My great-great-great-grandfather!

My excitement continued when I found, in another document dated April 18, 1848. Marie Ann Ferguson [Furguson], wife of Isaac Griffith, is transferring ownership of several slaves to her daughter Hester Griffith, wife of C. D. Tatman. These slaves were a negro male named Warren, 28; a negro woman named Tempy, 23; children Bob, 6, Henry, 4; Louis, 2; and Rachel, infant. The children are listed as only Tempy’s children, but Warren may indeed be the father. Not only had a found a daughter of Godfrey, but it so happened to be the one daughter where I had proof per the death certificate that Godfrey was her father.

I did not have Bob, Henry, Davis, nor Rachel in my tree, prior to finding Godfrey and Tempy in the slave records. However, on the 1870 census in the domicile right next to Warren and Tempy, we find Henry [one of the children on the Tempy slave document] and his wife, Isabella, living with several of Henry’s siblings—including Harriett!

Henry King, wife and siblings living next to Mother and Father (Tempy and Warren)

Daniel Ferguson, born in South Carolina in 1774, was the fifth son of Moses Ferguson and Elizabeth Lively. In South Carolina, Daniel married Esther (Hester) Peak(e), where five of their eight children were born; the remaining being born in Bayou Chicot. Their daughter, Mary (Marie) Anne Ferguson, married Isaac Griffith in 1815 and their daughter, Hester, married Cornelius D. Tatman in 1842. More than likely, The Ferguson, Griffith, and Tatman family records may hold additional documentation on my enslaved family members. Information obtained using this link: http://dna.cfsna.net/GEN/USA/SC/Moses_Ferguson_and_Elizabeth_Lively.html. Here are a couple of entries on the family from Rev. Donald J. Hebert’s Southwest Louisiana Records entries:

CLARK, Elisabeth – native of this parish (major daughter of dec. John & Marie STEVENS) m. 13 July 1830 Daniel FERGUSON – native of South Carolina (major son of Moses & Elisabeth LIVELY) Wits: Francis D. SMITH, James MORGAN, Uriah FERGUSON, Edward FAHEY. Fr. Flavius Henri ROSSI (Opel.Ch.: v.1-B, p.558-B)
GRIFFITH, Hester m. 15 Dec. 1842 Cornelius D. TATMAN (Opel. Ct. Hse.: Mar. #5) W

With these findings, I expect that it will lead me to find other enslaved relatives. Recently, I’ve been in contact with a number of DNA cousins that have known ancestors only in South Carolina and are not aware of any connections of ancestors in Louisiana. Wouldn’t it be great if I would be I able to trace my Louisiana family to our long ago- separated South Carolina family members, once again uniting them? That’s a wonderful dream…and, dreams do come true.

Happy searching!

Jason Family of Ville Platte, LA – Part 1

April 12, 2014April 13, 2014 iyatee12 Comments

Back in 2011, I was the lead coordinator for the Jason Family reunion in Ville Platte. On July 9^th, 250 people from around the country converged in that small, southwestern Louisiana town. This event provided a unique opportunity; my family had lived in the area for at least 200 years.

The Jason clan’s patriarch and matriarch are Godfrey Jason (who was born in South Carolina around 1797) and his wife Laura, (who was born in Louisiana circa 1810). The Jasons made their home in the Bayou Chicot area of Saint Landry Parish.

Godfrey and Laura were legally married December 31, 1869, though Laura died of dropsy (edema) a short time later, in April 1870. It’s unfortunate that she did not live to be counted on the 1870 census. That year is monumental for those of us that conduct African American genealogical research because the 1870 U.S. census is the first on which formerly enslaved persons would have been mentioned by name.

Godfrey and Laura Jason Marriage License pg 1

Godfrey and Laura Jason Marriage License pg 2

Godfrey and Laura Jason Marriag Licence pg. 3

Although, Laura wasn’t on this census, we’re able to glean a little information about her from the Federal Mortality schedule. At the time of her death, Laura was sixty years old.

Laura Jason 1870 Federal Mortality Schedule

I often wondered how Godfrey made his way from South Carolina to Louisiana. I’m sure it was an advent of slavery, but did he get sold with his parents? How old was he when he left? Did he leave any of his close relatives tolling in South Carolina? Or, was he sold as a slave alone, without any family? At least I know, after his wife’s death, Godfrey, a Southern farmer, wasn’t living alone. According to the 1870 census, eight other people are living in the household from 31-year old Phebe Jason to one-year old Robert Jason. All members of the household have the surname Jason, but the 1870 census doesn’t clarify any relationships.

What we do know is that Godfrey had at least four children: Winifred (1827), Moses (1830), Hannah (1832), and Temperance (1839). Laura isn’t definitively the mother of all, if any, of the children, but it’s feasible.

I’m a descendant of Moses Jason. My first cousin’s research had substantiated our connection to Moses and we kept busy finding our fellow Moses’ descendants. With information from my first cousin’s research, he had traced our family to our two times great-grandfather, Moses Jason (abt. 1830). However, in 2009, I started collaborating with descendants of Hannah and I learned she was the Moses’ sister and I was told that Godfrey more than likely was the father of both Moses and Hannah. Making this connection was my first breakthrough for tracing family to the 1700s.

I want to continue in the next few posts talking about the Jasons and some of the genealogical finds.

Happy searching!