Coincidences

Don't you hate it when you get into your research and you find these records which get you all excited and you think to yourself, "this has got to be her!". There are so many coincidences that you think, there's no way this can't be connected somehow...only to find out, it's not! Just when you thought you had the only (insert odd name here), you find that out there, someone else named their child the same. Then on top of that, you find that not only does the first name match, but the last name has a connection too! So was the case with me researching the Johnsons.

Thomas Johnson as a daughter in 1921 by the name of Mildred Woodard; Thomas and Mildred were from North Carolina. I came across a Mary ARLETHA Woodard. What's weird about this? My mother's name is Arletha...I mean come on! how many Arletha's are out there? Ok, so there may be a few Arletha's, but how many Arletha's have a half sister whose last name is Woodard? But wait! Mildred Arletha Woodard is also from North Carolina! So, now I'm thinking...here is a Arletha (could my mom have been named after her?); here is a Woodard (could she be kin to Mildred?); or could she be another daughter of Thomas' no one knew about? So now, Mary - Thomas' mother's name was Mary (could she have been named after Thomas' mother?). Now my brain is spinning...I look at Mary Arletha Woodard's North Carolina Death Record summary and they have an alternative name for her Mary Arletha JOHNSON! I don't need to spell this out to you now do I? OK...breathe...they have listed as her father's surname - Johnson. Could this be THOMAS JOHNSON?!?

I get on the phone to the Fayetteville Observer to see if I could find the obituary and find out if they list he father's full name and the mother's name and the siblings. The kind woman in the library told me the names on the obituary of the brother's and sisters, but no mention of the father. What it did list was that Mary Arletha Woodard's husband name was Edward Woodard...scccccrrrrrreeeeeettttccchhhh. Here is where I come to a dead-end and I realize these coincidences are something else! If Mary Arletha Woodard's husband was a Woodard, that means her maiden name was Johnson, which means that this is probably not Thomas' daughter, nor Mildred's sister - unless some coincidence would have it that Mary Arletha is Thomas' daughter and hooked up with Mildred's brother...what are the odds of that??? and wouldn't that be almost incest?

*sigh* back to the drawing board...

The Census

2010 is the year of the census. I can't tell you how important it is to participate in this year's census if you are at all interested in genealogy. Whether you are a resident of the particular house that is being surveyed or not, when the census taker comes to the house, or the person fills out the form, be sure to include yourself. Believe it or not someone who will be doing genealogical work will be looking for you in the future. The U.S. Census Bureau has a catchy phrase for this year's census: "10 Questions in 10 Minutes". It's that easy!

One of the problems I'm running into right now is interpreting the handwriting on the census report. It's very frustrating. I can't stress enough to please make sure you print legibly on your forms, and if someone comes to your house to take the survey, please ask them to show you what they have written so that you can be sure to make sure they have the correct spellings etc. Take a look at this example: 

Johnsons of NC - Part I

That man right there is my grandfather Thomas Johnson (with his daughter Gloria). Thomas was a good man my mom would say. He was father to all his children, and then some that weren't his. For example, many of my grandmother's children have the Johnson last name and they were born well before my grandmother and my grandfather even met! That is a good man.

Thomas' father was James Edward Johnson (Gloria would later name her son James Edward Johnson, but it's not certain if she named him after her grandfather James, or his own father whose name was also James). James married a woman named Mary Wilson. he family history says Mary was Indian. She was told to have long black straight hair and very light-skinned. In fact, Thomas used to be talked about among Mary's family because he was the darkest one in the family. They'd say things like, "why is he so dark, none of the other children are as dark as him". My mom said Mary used to also eat "funny", not like the rest of them. She would eat different cheeses, and foods that were not typical "black southern foods".

My research on James and Mary has led me to their birth place in North Carolina. There was a great historical research done on Free African Americans of North Carolina and Virginia by Paul Heinegg. http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/Acknowledge.htm. I had the pleasure of speaking with Paul Heinegg by email one day to discuss the findings on these light-skinned/mulatto/Indian people in the Roanoke area. The story goes, there were a bunch of light-skinned free people in North Carolina who no one knew exactly what they were. The could pass for Indian, Portuguese, mulatto, or just about anything but either pure Black or White. The myth tells that they are descendants of Sir Walter Raleigh's Lost Colony. A story which tells of Sir Walter's group of Europeans who landed on the shores of NC. They ran out of resources and Sir Walter chartered the ship back to Europe to return for supplies, leaving behind the Europeans. They were instructed to not go into the woods, but to stay close to the shore, but should they run into Indians or danger to carve in the tree their location. When Sir Walter returned, all the Europeans were gone and carved into the tree was an Indian name. When Sir Walter went into the interior of the shore, he came upon a group of people that were no longer European, but a mixed bunch. The theory is, the Europeans and the Indians had mixed.

In my great grandparents part of NC, it was not uncommon for Native Americans and Blacks to hook up. In fact, they did often. It also was not uncommon for Blacks and Whites to have relationships. This could contribute to the "confused" make-up of the race of the people in this part of town.

The Johnsons and Wilsons are listed as among those families living in Southeast. They lived in Plymouth, Washington, North Carolina on the 1900 census and later on the 1910 and 1920 census they lived in Harnett, North Carolina.

Imagine

Anyone who does genealogical research can tell you it's absolutely addicting! I would say I research something everyday, most times for hours! I can never seem to get enough of knowing who it is I am, where it is I came from, and who paved the way. Our ancestors are amazing! If we think we have it tough now, how do we think we would have scored back then where there was slavery, wars, and being poor. We think working 8 to 6 is modern day slavery, but imagine working from sun up to sun down in the field! Imagine being torn away from your children, and your mothers, not just here in the States, but imagine that they were way across the ocean away. Some of our ancestors never saw the world change and slavery end, they probably couldn't imagine it ever happening; some of them died in bondage. So every day that I do research I ask myself, why?  I am always directed back to this very wise quote: "Ifa teaches that we cannot know who we are if we do not know our ancestors going back seven generations.  If our understanding of our ancestors is distorted by our understanding of history, true self appreciation is not possible" (exerpt taken from Awo Falokun Fatunmbi"