Echoes of My Nola Past

As a little girl growing up, I always heard my Mom say that she had a sister that died during Child Birth.

Of course when I started my Research, a lot of the stories I heard growing up were and are still not proven.

For sure now I am able to prove one.

I was on Ancestry.com and noticed that my Grandmother had a leaf and her information was bumping up against the information that someone had in their tree(actually it was the owner of Red River Sankofa) we are kin, just not sure how.

He had on his tree  Baby Girl Banks under a child for my Grandmother.

I immediately went to Cook County Death Index which lead me to Cook County Genealogy website and this is what I found:

When I told Mom she was so excited, knowing  1 of the stories that her mom told her as a child hold some “Truth’.

It is true, my Grandmother had 5 children!!! 3 by Augustus Banks(her 1st husband) and 2 by Robert L Smith(her 2nd husband).

There is no doubt in my mind that if my Aunt was still living she would be living with us and would have spoiled my Mom, Brother, our children, and myself Rotten.

Since there is no name on the Death Certificate, Mom and I decided to give her a name.

Everyone Please meet: Amanda Taylor Banks.



I recently had the pleasure of communicating with an “Amos” descendant. Thats right a “New Cousin”

Her Great Great Grandfather Daniel Amos was Father of my Great Grandfather James Manuel Amos.

Let me share what I know about James:

James Manuel Amos was born about 1870 in Minden, Louisiana. He had 4 children by my Great Grandmother Amanda Robertson from Cotton Valley, LA. Not sure if they were married or not, I have yet to find a Marriage Record.  There names were James, Willie, Joseph, and Odessa(My Grandmother).

The records show that James had another family also. He was married to a Woman named Ruth and had two children with her, their names were James and Rilla. Looks like there were 2 James Jr with Ruth’s son being the 1st.

In 1900 he was found in the census in Richland, Arkansas living with my Great Grandmother Amanda. Amos was mispelled as Amoes and Amons, but everything else about them matched up. The Census Records shows that they had been married for two years and had 1 child but was not counted in the census. I’m thinking that was my Great Grand Uncle James.

By 1910 Amanda was living with her sister Martha Bell and her Family with all 4 children.

From what my Grandmother told my Mom she never knew her Father and that he died before she was born. Not sure of this either because I was not able to find a Death Record for James yet.

My new found cousin had just about as much information as I did. She is just starting out on Ancestry.com and is trying to fill in the voids of what she was told by her Family. 

This is one Branch of my Tree that I have not done much Reaearch on, but I want to wish her much Luck in her Research and look forward to colleberating with her and putting the pieces to this line of our Family Tree together.

If you are a Descendant of this Amos line, or if any of these names look familiar to you, please contact me!! You probably have the missing pieces that both of us need. Thanks for Listening.

I have researched my Maternal and Paternal lines of my Ancestry back to 1870.

Sometime we as African American Researchers can get stuck at this point because prior to 1870 our Ancestors was considered property.

I refused to be stuck and pressed on in pursuit of a Slaveowner for my Nola Ancestors.

I previously did a post asking was the “Hodges” my Ancestor’s Slaveowner. I assumed this to be so because I was going on the theory that they were considering they were the nearest White Family living next to my Ancestors on the 1870 census.

Keeping that theory in my head I recently made contact with an “Hodges” Descendant that shared some very interesting information and took my Research in a totally different direction that leads to more questions.

According to the information that I recieved in the early 1840′s John and David Hamiter and several other families(including  Matthew Hodges and family which I am a descsendant from) moved to Louisiana. Altogether there were 30 Whites and about 200 Slaves. They departed Haynesville, Houston County, Georgia and arrived in Minden, LA on Christmas Day(the year is unknown).

By the time the 1850 Bossier Parish, LA 5th Ward Census was taken there were 11 Surnames listed that were from Georgia. They were: Hodges, Hortman, Carter, Codwell, Bryan(my Great Great Grandmother’s Surname), Cross, Lister, King, Boon, Wight, and McKine.

Then there was Edmund William Hodges son of Matthew Hodges that lived in Houston and Randolf Counties in GA. It is written that he invested all his available cash in 60 Slaves and moved with the Slaves, his Family, and Father to Cotton Valley Plantation, 20 miles North of Minden, LA. He arrived there February 1858.

It is written that Edmund William Hodges left Georgia because he was concerned about the potential for Civil War and did not want any part of it

By the time the 1860 Bossier Parish, LA Ward 6 Census was taken(this is the area that turned into Cotton Valley and where my Ancestors were found in 1870) there were 22 Surnames listed that were from Georgia. They were: Schesheir, Stanton, Sandlin, Robers, Dellafield, Mitchel, Lewis, Conutts, Cole, Okley, Hendricks, Martin, Mcdaniel, Jordan, Crownover, Bryan, Smith, Mathewes, Young, Jones, Tarey, and Hodges.

After I reviewed this information here are my questions:

1. What year did my Ancestors move to LA?

2. What are the connections that the Hodges have with my Ancestors or is there a connection?

3. Did all the Surnames from Georgia have Slaves?

4. Is there a listing of the names of the 200 slaves and who has it?

5. The Robers Surnames on the 1860 census is it short for Roberson and Robertson? Are those Ben’s Slaveowners?

6. Should my next step be to Research those GA counties or Bossier Parrish, LA?

7. Are the Bryans my Great Great Grandmother’s Slaveowners and do they have any connections with the Hodges or Robers?

I’m sure there are more questions that I need to list. I will not give up until all my questions are answered.

One thing I know for sure, my Ancestors were among one of the groups that traveled from GA to LA and their Slaveowners are among the Surnames that is listed. I feel that I am on the right track and the Ancestors have guided me this way and I have to go by their guideness. Thanks for Listening.

Source cited: All information obtained in this post about the Hodges was given to me by Ken Hodges Descendant of Edmund William Hodges.  The Surnames were obtained from Ancestry.com 1850 and 1860 Census

I wrote this post in October 2010 and never posted. I now want to share what my thoughts were at that time:

WoW, it has been a while since I posted on my Blog.

In November of 2009, I became unemployed. At that time I knew I wanted to take sometime off, so I got to travel, read, and do some research.

When I started to look for work again, it turned out to be harder than I imagined and I had to take a break from doing anything with my Faimly’s History.

Although I have not done any Research, I have made some significant discoveries and made some connections. I will be Blogging about them in the future.

Now that I am somewhat settled, I want to get back into doing my Research, but I didn’t know where to start, especially since I can’t remember where I left off.

When I read the post by Lowcountry Africana about the project with Footnote indexing records, I thought hey this is something that I could do until I get back into my own groove.

It turned out to be much more than that for me. I didn’t have anything going on in my own Research, but now I have an opportunity to help someone in theirs.

We all come to some point when our Family Research is stalled, but why should someone elses be. I have a chance of helping a Descendant connect with an Ancestor. This is imortant to me. I have a  chance to pay it forward. I have been wanting to get involved in something for quite sometime.

Now I am working on my 5th set of records. I know there is more to be done and will stick with the project until it is complete. Until every record have been indexed.

If you are reading this and have not done you’re 10, “Please Volunteer”!! These records are so important and will become a great resource for Researching(especially for African Americans) once they are completed.

I have done my 10, have you?!!!

My Family research is in the NW part of Louisiana, but I’m starting to love all things Louisiana especially New Orleans.

I’ve grown to love the music and now starting to get into the food from the city.

I was speaking with a friend and he mentioned “King Cake”. I asked whats that and he challenged me to find out. “Do the Research” he said. So heres what I found out:

In the Southern United States this tradition was brought to the area by colonist from France and Spain and is associated with Carnival, which is celebrated in the Gulf Coast region centered on New Orleans, but ranging from the Florida Panhandle to East Texas.

“King Cake” parties in New Orleans are documented back to the eighteenth century.

The “King Cake” of the New Orleans Mardi Gras tradition comes in a number of styles. The most traditional is a ring twisted bread similiar to that used in “broche” topped with icing or sugar usually colored purple, green, and gold(the traditional carnival colors) food coloring.

“Cajun King Cakes” are traditionally deep-fat-fried as a doughnut would be and there are many variants, some with a filing the most common being Cream Cheese and Praline.

It has become customary in the New Orleans culture that whoever finds the “Trinket” must provide the next “King Cake” or host the next Mardi Gras party.

I’ve never been to New Orleans, but looks like I will be going real soon.

This is one of my favorite pictures of my MoM.

Thanks again to Footnote Maven for the invite to participate in Blog Caroling 2010.

A couple of years ago one of my co-workers heard me talking about this song and me saying how hard it was to find the CD.

I don’t know how she did it but she found the CD and gave it to me as a gift, which I was most grateful.

This is one of my family’s favorite Christmas Song and now that I have the CD my Mom plays it all the time not only at Christmas.

I want to share with you my family’s favorite:

The Christmas Song by Nat King Cole

This is a repost from last year. I will continue to post every year until I have the answer to my question!

I have been researching my ROBERTSON line for some time now, and when I read this story I thought “This could be one of my ancestors.” I found the story interesting and I hope you do too!!

On October 1, 1871, Nancy ROBERTSON a freed slave, was found dead at her home in South Bossier Point. Mysteriously, the house was locked from the inside. Neighbors could see her lying dead on the bed through a window and called for the parish coroner.

Earlier another freed slave had collapsed while plowing a field, from what white doctors diagnoised as fluid on the brain brought on by the heat of the summer. But fellow freedman were not convinced by the doctors diagnoses and remembered that the summer before this, Nancy had fell out with the man and had made vague threats against his life. The freedmen decided that Nancy had bewitched the man with a curse. The man lingered for a few days and died.

The local coloreds quickly arrested Nancy ROBERTSON and sent for Charles Steele, a freedman and a celebrated witch doctor to have her tested for being a witch.

Charles Steele had gained fame earlier for invoking a “miracle cure” upon another colored women. This women had been sick for months with chronic chills and fell into a general state of poor health. Charles informed her she was bewitched, and that he could cure her. He prepared a nauseous dose that caused her to vomit freely. Afterwards, he held up the vessel in which she had purged and showed her several lizards, toads, crickets, and such therein. He told her that they had caused her sickness, pronounced her cured and she did indeed become well.

While on their way to get the infamous witch doctor they came across a fellow white neighbor who warned them that they may face consequences for taking the law into their own hands. The white neighbor told the freedmen to have a post mortem examination to see if the man was poisoned. When physicians examined the man, they announced that poison had nothing to do with the death (they believed it had been caused by fluid on the brain.)

Apparently the freedmen were not happy with this explanation and still presumed the death to have been caused by Nancy ROBERTSON and her “bewitching.”

When the coroner, with his jury and physician arrived, the mystery of the locked house murder was solved. They broke into the house and quickly deduced that the woman had been shot through a crack in the wall with a shotgun. Indeed several of her neighbors had heard that shot, but had failed to investigate. Three of the pellets penetrated her heart and killed her instantly. An arrest warrant was soon issued for Anthony Williams for the murder of Nancy ROBERTSON.

Although Nancy was murdered, I can not dismiss the fact that she was suspected as being a witch and her last name is ROBERTSON. My research on this family is not complete, but I feel like she is apart of my family and in some way in me. How may times have we just wanted to say to people “Drop Dead” in this case Nancy would say it and it would happen.

It kind of makes since to me since my mom said someone had put a root on my great grandmother Amanda for messing around with married men or a married man, not sure which one. I know someone has the true story and would love to meet the ancestors of the person that put the root on Amanda, and ask why?

I know there are some that don’t believe and are skeptical, but it is always the unknown that gets the most none believers. Thats why we research, to make the unknown known.

(Disclosure: The article is from Bossier Parish History The first 150 years 1843-1993 by Clifton D. Cardin pg. 204-Witch Found Dead in a Locked House. Sources; Buried Treasure; Atlanta Times, (Georgia) February 13, 1872, Sunday Edition, Ray B Fults and Witch; Bossier Banner, October 7, 1871.)

Mom and Me June 1980. Happy Mother’s Day!!

I previously did a post with all my Ancestors Surnames that I knew about up until this point.

I have some more information that I want to share.

Looks like my Robertson Line used two other Surnames: Robinson and Roberson.

I knew about the Roberson Surname because on the 1870 Census the Family was listed as Roberson, but by 1880 and beyond it was Robertson.

Now on the 1870 Census there was a Charity Roberson that was listed as a daughter and she was age 10. Never thought anything of it, just thought Mandy started having children a little early. By 1880 Charity had moved on and married Edmund Livingston. Charity and Edmund had seven children: Frank, Aurela, Emanuel, Mary, Ella, Hattie, and John.

Frank married Ida and had 7 children: Rosie, Artis, Isie, Frank, James E, Cora E., and Monroe.

Ida passed away sometime between 1910 and 1920. Frank then married my Great Grandmother Amanda and had a son: Amos Livingston. (Supposedly)

Not really sure what happened to Amos, just asked my Mom and she said “No one ever mentioned Amos”. Her Mom or Uncle Joe never mentioned him. What happened to Amos?

Frank Livingston passed away January 26, 1919. I checked his death record on Family Search.org. His father was listed as: Edmund Livingston and his mother was listed as: Charity Jackson.

Jackson, where did this Surname come from? If my Great Grandmother Amanda was the Informant for Frank, she would have known Frank’s Mom Surname since they grew up in the same household maybe.

Was Charity kin to Ben or Mandy or was she just someone that they took care of? Who knows I know I have to find this out since the Ancestors guided me here.

For the rest of the Family I found and obtained Death Certificates for:

Minerva Roberson Lewis: who was married to J D Lewis(Nickname was Babe). Babe was connected to the Longs. Minerva passed away March 08, 1940. Babe was the Informant for her death and her Mother and Father was listed as Amanda Roberson and Ben Roberson both from GA. Minerva and Babe had one son named Son and he was Mentally Challenged.

Reverend Cornealous Robinson: son of Ben and Mandy. Cornealous passed a way July 24, 1943 and his wife Angeline was his Informant.

Babe Roberson: daughter of Ben and Mandy. Babe passed away October 12, 1954. She was listed as a widow and no information on a husband or her parents was listed on her Death Certificate.

Amanda Bryan Roberson/Robertson: My Great Great Grandmother herself. Mandy passed away March 19, 1926. Was able to obtain her Death Certificate from the information obtained from Minerva’s Death Certificate. She was listed as Roberson not Robertson and that is  why I was unable to find a Death Record for her. She died from Influenza and she suffered from it for at least a month or so.

Looks like Babe was buried at New Zion Cemetery in Minden and no burial information for Mandy, but looks like she passed away in a Hospital somewhere in Minden(rural).

I am slowly but surely putting some puzzle pieces together, but each one leads somewhere else and where ever these pieces lead me to I’m going to put my Tree together one piece at a time!

Source cited: Louisiana Secretary of State, Family Search.org, Cousin Eddie McMurray(Sam Long’s Nephew), and Cousin Clarene Long(Sam Long’s Granddaughter)