The Family Griot Blog Network

I appreciate the support I've received since I started actively blogging about my family lines in Alabama and Mississippi.  I've recently decided to start two new blogs to be included in a network of blogs called The Family Griot Network. One blog is specifically devoted to telling the story of The Rounds Family of Adams County, Mississippi . Additionally through my research I have found that the availability of online records regarding African-Americans in Wilkinson County, Mississippi  are difficult to find. My second blog, The Family Griot Repository will be a central resource for records I've located in Wilkinson County and Adams County, Mississippi pertaining to solely to African-Americans.

Thanks again!

The Family Griot
                                                              

Road Trip Countdown: Goliah Rounds

Goliah Rounds 1854 - 1931

Goliah Rounds was the middle child of Charles and Charity Rounds. He married Dinah Brown in October 1877. He took over the stewardship of the Rounds Plantation where he and Dinah raised their ten children. Their daughter, Alice Rounds-Washington is the Family Griot's great-grandmother.

Call for Descendants: Rounds Family

This months Call for Descendants is calling for the Rounds Family of Mississippi.
There are two branches of the Rounds family originating from the state of Mississippi, one in Adams County and one in Humphreys County.

If you think that you are a descendant of either family, please respond to this call. There are people looking for you to help build their family tree.

The Family Griot

Tombstone Tuesday: Goliah and Dinah Rounds

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

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.

The Rounds Sisters Part I

The Rounds branch of my family has been an area of great interest for me in my genealogical research. The Rounds family of Adams county, Mississippi is my mother's grandmother's paternal line.

I was able to locate my oldest known ancestors to date, Charlie and Charity Rounds in the 1870 Federal Census. They are listed with their children and some grandchildren. The names are as follows: Charles Rounds, Charity Rounds, Andrew Rounds, Lucy Rounds, Goliah Rounds, Flora Rounds, Rose Rounds, Harrison Holmes, Minor Duncan and Joseph Rounds.

As any genealogist knows regardless of skill level, women are the hardest to track down in census records because of their change in surnames once they marry. I opted to take the challenge on of making a reasonable attempt to find my great-great-great aunts. Fortunately enough, I was able to find some information about my aunts by looking over census records in their county of origins.

I was able to locate my aunts by checking in their county and town of origins, comparing their birth years to make sure they were the same people, and seeing how far they lived from known male relatives. The tricky thing with the date is this, sometimes birth years were estimated on federal census records on some records they were very accurate. You have to use your best guess in order to figure out if it is that person or not. The clues are there, use your intuition.

I was able to find the follwing sisters and their families. They are listed below.

1880 Census:
Flora (Rounds) Shepherd b.1857 married Jeremiah Shepherd b. 1836
Children: James Shepherd & David Shepherd
I tied her to my great great great grandparents because of her father being born in Virginia like Charlie Rounds and her being neighbors to them as well.

Rose (Rounds) Hayes married Henry Hayes on 15 October 1881
Children: Charity Hayes/Hays and Henry Hayes/Hays Jr.
I tied her to my great great great grandmother by the name of her daughter and her proximity to the family homestead. Unfortunately, she was deceased by the 1900 census

I'm still searching for sister Lucy, I know she's in the census near by her brother Goliah. Hopefully, I can find her again. My fingers are crossed.