The Family Griot is researching several family lines. I have created contact e-mails addresses for the family surnames if anyone would like to contact me offline regarding family connections.

MISSISSIPPI FAMILIES
Washington & Rounds Family: washingtonroundsfamily@familygriot.com
Thompson & Galmore Family: thompsongalmorefamily@familygriot.com

ALABAMA FAMILIES
Lanier Family: lanierfamily@familygriot.com
Callins Family: callinsfamily@familygriot.com

The Family Griot

More Photos from the Genealogy on the Road Trip

While on my trip, I took several photos of historical records and locations that I just couldn't seem to fit into my blog postings. So some of the more interesting ones I'm posting about now. Enjoy the photos and the story behind them!


Port Hudson, Louisiana This is the post where my great-great grandfather Benjamin Thompson served while in the Army with the 10th Regiment Infantry Corp de Afriq, which later was changed to the 82nd United States Colored Troops. They were organized on 1 September 1863. To learn a brief history of all the Union colored troops visit http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/deafriq.htm


Ormonde Plantation, Mississippi This is the Ormonde Plantation I believe to have been owned by Dr. William Mercer and his wife where Charity Rounds and her family were enslaved for decades. Quick note this is less than a mile away from the Rounds Plantation which Charles and Charity Rounds purchased. These days the Ormonde Plantation is mainly used for hunting.


Mammy's Cupboard Resturant I'd seen this place as a child during our summer vacations to Mississippi. Even as late as the early 1980's 'Mammy' was pitch black. After some political rumblings a compromise was apparently made and Mammy was given a skin bleaching and miraculously overnight she became light brown. She didn't trade in her headscarf for a nicely done hairstyle, nor did she trade in that slave era outfit or that god awful name "Mammy". Its 2009 and this place still gets quite a bit of business. Sigh.


Welcome to Natchez, Mississippi Hwy 61 This is the sign that welcomes visitors into Natchez city limits. Or Natchez proper as it would be called if it were in the Northeast. This is a fairly new marker, added in the late 1990's. Its just a couple miles up from Mammy's Cupboard.


Marriage Bond of Edmund Brown and Harriet Bewitt dated March 1866, Woodville, Wilkinson County, MS This Marriage Bond was in the same book as many of my ancestors. This bond stood out immediately. The first thing I noted was that Mr. Brown signed his own Bond in cursive. The second thing I noted was the year 1866. This record is obviously a Freedman's record. What I also find amazing is the possibility that Mr. Brown learned how to sign his name either during his enslavement or shortly thereafter when teachers from the North came down to Mississippi to teach the former slaves how to read and write. Either way this makes for an interesting record. Again I have to give kudos to the Wilkinson County Clerks for maintaining such pristine and organized records! Thank you for making my research that much easier.

I will definitely have more stories and photos to come about my Mississippi family later this year. I'll also be getting into my Callins and Lanier families of Alabama in much greater detail. Thanks for reading!

Wilkinson County Chancery and Circuit Clerk Offices

After heading to the cemeteries, the very next locations I went to was the Circuit and Chancery Clerk's office in Woodville, MS. The county had their Independence Day holiday on Monday following so the offices were closed. I had to turn my lemons into lemonade. Fortunately for me, the Wilkinson County Museum was just around the corner and even more fortunate although they were 'closed', the curator was in doing some work and welcomed me in to her museum. She gave me quite a bit of information about the local plantation, Jefferson Davis (Former Confederate President) who had his home in Wilkinson County, and about genealogical information that was being collected by local researchers and compiled into a series of books entitled "The Journal of Wilkinson County History". I left her a business card and I plan on visiting there again later this year.
The next day I was able to get into the County Clerk's offices and found some interesting information, cleared up a mystery and looked into possible leads on Washington family members. The marriage license books at the Wilkinson county Circuit Court are meticulously maintained covered in cloth book protectors labeled clearly with the and the records were in nearly mint condition. It was clearly obvious that they cared about their records. As did many southern states, Mississippi kept seperate records on 'colored' marriages and 'white' marriages. Colored couples in Mississippi were required to complete a Marriage Bond in which the requirements were a bond of $100 by the prospective groom that had to be co-signed by another man, they had to find a reputable minister to marry them and return to the courthouse to document their completed marriage. I would imagine that those couples truly loved one another because $100 in the late 19th century was quite a sum of money! I located the marriage licenses of my great-great grandparents Scott Washington(Eliza McLain) and Roxana McFarland(John Earls), pictured below.




The bondsman for Scott Washington was Jack Westrope. It appears as if Scott Washington may have signed his own paperwork, which means he may have been literate.
The bondsman for John Earls was James M. Griffin. It also appears as if John Earls signed his own paperwork. Its worth noting at this point, both of these men are listed in the Mississippi census records as mulattoes. Which could mean that they were children of privilege who were able to learn to read and write.

The Marriage Bond reads as follows:

The State of Mississippi, Wilkinson County
Know all Men by these Presents this
That we [groom and bondsman] of the county of Wilkinson and the state of Mississippi, are held and firmly bound unto the state of Mississippi aforesaid, in the sum of ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS, lawful money of said state, for which payment, well and truly to be made and peformed, we each of us do bind ourselves, our heirs, executors, administrators and assigns, jointly, severally and firmly by these presents.
Sealed with our seals, and dated this [day] of [month] 18[yr]
The condition of this Obligation is such that whereas a marriage is shortly to be celebrated between the above bound [groom's name] and [brides name]. Now, if there is no lawful reason to obstruct said marriage, then this obligation to be void, otherwise, to remain in full force and virtue.
Signed, sealed and delivered in presence of us [circuit clerk signature]
Signature of Groom and Bondsman

Genealogy Road Trip: Mt. Sinai Baptist Church Cemetery

Mt. Sinai Baptist Church in Sibley, MS is the family church of the Thompson Family of Adams County. Many Thompson family members have been baptized, married and interned at the church and the cemetery. My beloved grandmother Saint Arby Washington-Thompson and great grandparents Sarah Galmore-Thompson and Calvin Thompson Sr. are all interned there as well as many Galmore, Thompson, and Barnes family members. While on my trip I was able to photograph and document the headstones and markers of about 40 graves of church members and possible family members at Mt. Sinai Baptist Church cemetery.

Genealogy Road Trip: The Rounds Family Cemetery

In an earlier posting, I described a bit about my visit to the Mt. Sinai Church cemetery and to the Rounds Family Cemetery. Many of my Thompson-Galmore relatives are buried in the Mt. Sinai Cemetery and the Rounds Family Cemetery has interned the majority of the Rounds family. The Rounds cemetery is located a few hundred yards from the main house on the Rounds Plantation (Glen Aubin). While I was out taking photos of the headstones at the Rounds family cemetery, a group of cattle decided that they were going to visit the pond right behind the house and cemetery. Being afraid of a 1000lb side of living beef, I kept a very low profile.
This headstone is the grave of Surgetta "Suzette" Rounds, one of the grandchildren of Goliah and Dinah Rounds. This is the rearview which lists Surgetta's children and grandchildren. The front view is a traditional headstone included is a military photograph of Suzette. This was definitely one of my favorite headstones. I was able to finally visit the graves of Goliah and Dinah Rounds. The headstone has been updated by my family and its also one of my favorites. I was able to obtain the dates of their deaths for my family tree records. Unfortunately because the graves of Charles and Charity Rounds are so close to the main house, I wasn't able to get a look at them.

Genealogy Road Trip: The Reunion

I'm officially back from my family reunion/vacation/genealogy research trip! What an enjoyable yet busy trip it was. On Saturday the 4th of July, the Washington-Rounds-Earls family met on Ben's Corner to celebrate with barbecue, truck rides, swimming and meeting up with one another after two years apart. I must say that my cousin, Micki (Garland) threw down on the barbecue again this year. I packed some extra barbecued chicken & ribs and potato salad to eat during the week I was staying there. It was delicious!



The children and some adults went down to take a dip in the creek that runs through Ben's Corner.



Our family also celebrated the wedding of Mary Alice and Kenneth on the 5th of July. Kenneth married into the Washington-Rounds Family. Mary Alice is the granddaughter of
Saint Arby Washington-Thompson.








I also was able to meet a cousin who was raised by Jane Letcher-Ivory, my great-grandfather Will Washington's older sister.

Me, cousin Jane's daughter & my mom






And some other photos from the Washington Rounds Reunion. . .

Day1&2: Strolling through the cemetery

Mt. Sinai Baptist Church Sibley, Mississippi

My first couple of days in Mississippi, I was able to visit two cemeteries in Adams county. The first cemetery I visited was the Mt. Sinai Baptist Church Cemetery in Sibley, Mississppi. My grandmother St. Arby Washington-Thompson is buried there. I was also able to locate the grave of my Thompson family relatives, Galmore relatives and some other folks who shared those suranames. Quite a few of the older headstones have been weathered away. I also took a photograph of Mt. Sinai church, the second built sanctuary. A piece of the original sanctuary now hangs over the doors of the new building. The placard over the door is the image of two crescent moons with a star in the middle. Its a very unique piece that I will research the symbolism of at a later date.

The second cemetery I visited is the Rounds Family cemetery. This is the cemetery on the Rounds Plantation that came into the Rounds family by Charles and Charity Rounds. Charles and Charity Rounds were buried several yards away from the cemetery near the main house. I was able to locate and photograph Dinah Brown-Rounds, Goliah Rounds and many of their children in the cemetery. Also in the cemetery were other descendents of Charles and Charity Rounds.
All in all I think these first couple of days were productive and gave me leads in search of other family members.