Sentimental Saturday: Saint Arby Washington - Thompson

The headstone of Saint Arby Washington - Thompson at the Mt. Sinai Baptist Church in Sibley, Mississippi. Saint Arby was the second child born to Will and Alice (Rounds) Washington. St. Arby was raised on Ben's Corner with her nine brothers and sisters. She married James Thompson (Calvin and Sarah) in 1939. She passed away from complications of a stroke on May 13, 1980. She left behind her spouse of nearly 40 years, six daughters and ten grandchildren. A vibrant life ended far too soon.

The Family Griot

The Family Griot wrapping up. . .

Due to life circumstances, The Family Griot will be suspending this blog until further notice. It has been a wonderful journey researching and writing about my family, developing research techniques and connecting with other African-American genealogical and historical researchers and most importantly, learning about myself. In the upcoming weeks I will be posting papers and records that I've collected over the past few years, mainly for family members who would like to see the documentation from my research. I would like to express a heartfelt "Thank You" to everyone for their support of my research and The Family Griot blog.

Regards,
Elle T. Lanier
The Family Griot

The Mercer Connection. . .

In a previous entry I briefly talked about Dr. William N. Mercer and his ownership of my great-great-great grandmother, Charity Rounds. I came across this information from an excerpt of the book "African American Historic Places" published by the National Register of Historic Places.
As I usually do, I started with a general search ofgoogle and Ancestry.com. One of my first significant finds was to learn that Mercer and his wife's family (Ellis-Farar) had donated their family papers to Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, LA. I immediately contacted the staff at the LSU Special Collections and arranged to recieve a copy of the slave lists from all the plantations in Mississippi owned by the Farar and Ellis families. I will be recieving copies of the listings from the Ormond, Laurel Hill, Natchez and Presleigh plantations, which cover southwestern Mississippi and Louisiana. I'm excited as to what I will find, whose names will be listed. Of course I'm looking for my relatives, Charity and possibly Charles Rounds.
More to come on this research. . .