Wordless Wednesday Addie Markham Lenoir 1888-?

Daughter of Grant Markham and Mary Lyons
Wife of Oscar Lenoir
Mother of Archie Johnson and Lamar Lenoir

How is Addie connected to my family tree?
Addie's father, Grant Markham, and my great grandfather Monroe Markham were brothers.

Photograph Courtesy of
Lincoln-Lawrence-Franklin Regional Library
100 S. Jackson St
Brookhaven, MS 39601
601-833-3369

Swift Justice Negroes Lynched in Mississippi 1874

Rape is a horrible crime. All perpetrators should be fully prosecuted under the law. Justice in this case was swift, without a trial, and no jury of peers, which is what I wish they had.

Negroes Lynched in Mississippi
Brookhaven, Miss, Aug 22 - The three negroes, Dick Cooper, Anthony Grant and Silas Johnson, who, at 3 o'clock on Sunday morning last, forcibly entered the residence of Mrs. Burnley and violated her person, were taken from the jail at 4 o'clock this evening and hung by the citizens, about 1,000 of who were present. Johnson was captured on Sunday. The other two were captured at Trenton, brought here this morning and lodged in jail. They confessed their guilt on the gallows.
Newspapers
Alton Telegraph, 27 August 1874, Page 2

Maria Burnley was the wife of Edwin Burnley, who owned Somerset Plantation. Edwin's daughters, Edwina Burnley and Bertha Burnley Ricketts, wrote the memoir describing their family and their childhood at Somerset plantation, near Hazlehurst, Copiah County, MS. Their father, Edwin Burnley (b. 1798), moved to Mississippi from Virginia in 1832 and married Maria Louisa Baxter (1820-1907) of Persippany, N.J., in 1852. The couple married in 1852, together they had five daughters: Jean, Hardenia, Fannie, Bertha, and Edwina.

Newspaper Article Detailing the Crime

How is Somerset connected to my family?
Virgina Williams/Taylor was a slave of Somerset. She married John T Demyers, my 2nd great grandmother Alice Demyers Overton Usher's brother. The Burnley family also owned an Overton family whose connection to my 2nd great grandfather, Dave Brown Overton, is unclear.

Tombstone Tuesday Earlest Demyers

Earlest Demyers
Mississippi
CPL
Army Air Force
World War II
June 6 1917
June 13 1969

Earlest was the son of Thomas and Arena (Rena) Johnson Demyers
He is buried in the St John Community Cemetery.
Wesson, Copiah County, Mississippi

Earlest was my Dad's 2nd cousin once removed.

Calvin and Odessa Banks Lowe

Busy this afternoon looking at pictures Cousin Nate emailed me before the holidays. It was nice to see a picture of Cousin Odessa Banks, daughter of Archie and Janie Scott Banks. I had no idea who she married so it was an extra bonus to get a name and photo of her husband. His name, Calvin Lowe, was not on my family tree but his parents were, Robert Lowe and Dezine Kelly. Robert's siblings Fannie and John married into my extended family.

I do what I call community research but I think the correct name for it is cluster research, which is researching extended family members, friends and neighbors of direct relatives. The Lowe family was from Union Church, MS, a neighboring village to the family home place, Caseyville, MS. The Lowe families connected to my tree descend from Eveline Lowe born about 1830 in Virginia.

Cousin Odessa was born about 1927 which lead me to the 1930 and 1940 censuses searching for her husband. In 1930, Calvin was a 7 year old in the household of his parents with his siblings, Euniemay, Hudie Mann, Willis, Chalmers, Jessie May, and Marie. In 1940, everyone except Euniemay is still in the household. I found a family group sheet that a cousin sent confirming the names of Calvin's parents.

Calvin and Odessa married, adopted three children: Stephen, Vera and Christopher.

The Couple's Obituaries
1923-1987

1926-2001

Calvin is the son of Robert Lowe and Dezine Kelly
grandson of Lewis Lowe and Amanda Johnson, Calvin Kelly and Harriet Reed

Odessa is the daughter of Archie Banks and Jannie Scott
granddaughter of Joseph Banks and Mary ?, James Pearly Scott and Mary Viola Markham
Odessa is my mother's half 2nd cousin.

Photograph courtesy of Nathaniel Thomas.
Obituaries from Daily Leader Newspaper, Brookhaven, MS.

Amanuensis Monday Tax Receipt for Tenant Farmers

This is a tax receipt from Prentiss and Jane Buie in Caseyville, Lincoln County, Mississippi, of the men who were tenant farmers on their land. Most of the men listed were enslaved by the Buie family. The receipt was found in the personal papers of the Buie family. A date was not shown nor what the numbers next to the name means. The only explanation given was that this was a tax receipt. It was written before 1906, the year Jane Buie died.

This list handed in by Prentiss Buie
P Buie 237
Mrs Jane Buie 238
W H Gibbs 1047
Terry Brewer 392
Joe Buie 391
Cary Henderson not found
Davis Henderson not found
Munroe Marcum 1812
Henry Isrell 1331
Calvin Johnson 1437
David Harrison not found

Prentiss Buie's family was the last slave owner of my great grandfather Monroe Markham. Jane was Prentiss' mother.
William Gibbs was a slave of Daniel Buie, Prentiss' uncle. William's wife Martha was the mother of Newton Markham, a son of my 2nd great grandfather James Markham.
Terry Brewer was the slave of David Buie, Prentiss' father. Terry married Violet Markham, my 2nd grandaunt.
Joe Buie was a slave of John Buie, Prentiss' uncle.
Cary and Davis Henderson were brothers. Cary married my 2nd grandaunt Viola Buie. It is likely they were the slaves of David Buie.
Monroe Markham was my great grandfather. He was the slave of David and Prentiss Buie.
Henry Israel was the slave of David Buie, Prentiss' father.
Calvin Johnson and David Harrison were likely slaves of David Buie.

Wordless Wednesday Tommy and Irene DeMyers

Thomas (Tommy) Demyers, Sr
born about 1876 in Copiah County, MS
Son of Lawrence and Sallie Miller DeMyers

Arena (Irene) Johnson
born about 1878 in Copiah County, MS
Daughter of Lewis and Jane Williams Johnson

Tommy was my paternal grandmother's 1st cousin once removed.

Photograph Courtesy of Sonia DeMyers Cheatham

Informant to Soverenignty Commission

Love Temple Church of God in Christ
Jackson, MS
The Sovereignty Commission hired investigators and local informants to monitor and disrupt civil right activities across the state of Mississippi. The local informants were white and black. One of those informants was my grandmother's pastor, Reverend J. W. Johnson.

According to the commission, Reverend Johnson was well respected, had no previous record as a trouble maker, and he was well known to many prominent people in Jackson, MS. He was the pastor of Love Temple Church of God in Christ.

My grandmother Gertrude Overton Durr became a member of this church when she first moved to Jackson, in 1962, from her rural community near Hazlehurst, MS. The church was around the corner from her home.

Reverend Johnson came to the attention of the commission because he was soliciting funds for his church from white citizens he knew. One of those citizens reported him to the commission which resulted in Reverend Johnson being investigated. The investigator concluded Johnson used the funds for the purpose he requested.

After a lengthy conversation with Johnson, they hoped he would make a good informant and invited him to visit the Sovereignty Commission office the next day for additional conversation. He was to speak with the investigator and two more men associated with the commission. I wonder if he knew their intentions.

Reverend Johnson was investigated from May 16, 1963, until the report was made June 17, 1963. It was an intense summer of racial tensions in Mississippi. College students from across the nation converged on the state to assist African Americans with voter registration. It was the summer, June 21, 1963, three civil right workers were murdered.

Reverend Johnson was asked to attend a particular civil rights meeting. The report does not reveal any details about the meeting. He attended the meeting and brought back a short written report, which was not helpful. He did bring back a copy of the program and a pamphlet which the commission found beneficial. Johnson was asked to attend a second meeting. He brought back a short written report that had been previously published in the newspaper. The commission was not satisfied.

Reverend Johnson's file ends with the second meeting he attended. There is no additional information concerning his informant activities. I hope he found this type of activity defeatist and made the decision to not participate.

Other articles concerning Mississippi Sovereignty Commission
Mississippi Sovereignty Commission
Investigating the Tougaloo Nine
Teachers, Did You Sign Your Statement
Reverend J. W. Johnson "An Agitator"
Tougaloo Nine
Appeasing the Negro
Suspected Members of NAACP

Source:
Sovereignty Commission Online

There were three J. W. Johnson named in Sovereignty Commisson files. All three were preachers, two were black and one was white. One was a civil rights activitist married to a maternal cousin and the other one was my grandmother's pastor.

Teachers, Did you Sign Your Statement

The Superintendent of Education in Lincoln County, MS, was asked to submit their list of teachers to the Sovereignty Commission. Several teachers listed from Lincoln County, MS, were maternal relatives: Claudine Aultman, Ollie Bell Coleman, Clarence Johnson, Lou Vella Markham, and Novana Scott.

The Sovereignty Commission was concerned with the attitudes of public school teachers in Mississippi. Did teachers approve of integration of the public schools? Did they plan to encourage Negro parents to enroll their children in white schools?

The commission requested from Superintendents of Education in various Mississippi counties to give them a list of all school teachers employed through the county boards. The commission, also, requested that the Superintendents determine if all their teachers had signed the Employee Statement Under Subversive Activities Act of 1950, and that those statements were notarized.

The Act of 1950 was a result of the McCarthy Era, when fear of communist influence on American institutions was at its height during the 1940s thru late 1950s.

"The Act defines a subversive organization as an entity that engages in or teaches about subversive activities. The Communist Party is declared such an organization. A subversive person is defined as one who commits, aids in the commission of, or advises or teaches another to commit a subversive activity."

Civil Rights organizations and individuals who fought against racial segregation were label by the commission as subversive and communist influenced. Teachers could be terminated if it was determined they supported the integration of public schools. For my counties of interest, I did not see any documents that a teacher had been terminated because of activities in the Civil Rights Movement.

Other articles concerning Mississippi Sovereignty Commission
Mississippi Sovereignty Commission
Investigating the Tougaloo Nine
Informant to Sovereignty Commission
Reverend J. W. Johnson "An Agitator"
Tougaloo Nine
Appeasing the Negro
Suspected Members of NAACP

Sources
Sovereignty Commission Online
Bill Analysis Judiciary Committee HB 2251

Reverend J. W. Johnson "An Agitator"

Mississippian Fannie Lou Hammer spoke for many disenfranchised African Americans when she said, " I am sick and tired of being sick and tired." Reverend J. W. Johnson, a native of Brookhaven, MS, was sick and tied and begin to work for equal rights and opportunities. Johnson was labeled an "agitator" by the Sovereign Commission whose primary mission was to preserve the Jim Crow laws of segregation and he would be investigated for challenging racial segregation.

What were his activities that sparked investigation? He associated with members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The commission considered the NAACP a group of northern trouble makers who came to cause trouble among the content Negro people. Johnson attended meetings of FOCUS, another so called subversive Negro organization.

Johnson lived in Baton Rogue, Louisiana in 1961-63, and his wife Dora lived in Jackson, MS. The couple probably was separated. She told the investigator that her husband rarely came home. On Dec 15, 1961, approximately 2000 people peacefully marched through downtown Baton Rogue to protest the arrest of 23 Southern University students the day before for picketing restaurants that refuse to serve African Americans.

Johnson, along with others, placed an open letter to the citizens of Baton Rogue in a local newspaper criticizing the police department for the manner in which they handle the demonstrators. They used tear gas and police dogs to disperse the crowd.

The commission had in the Johnson file, his addresses to both homes, home telephone number, his wife's place of employment, his driver license number, make, model, color of the car he drove, tag number to the car. They knew of his two traffic tickets and how the tickets were resolved. The name and location of the churches he pastored were known by the commission. The above photo of Johnson came from his file.

The first amendment to the United States Constitution gives citizens, the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Johnson's constitutional right to peacefully protest against his government was violated. He was harassed by the commission and the police department. This should never happen.

Reverend Johnson was a native of Brookhaven, MS. He married Dora Mae Markham. She was born April 12 1907 in Caseyville, Lincoln County, MS, the daughter of John and Ida Blue Markham. The couple had one son. She died in 2001. Rev Johnson died before his wife but the date is unknown. Dora was my mother's first cousin.

Other articles concerning Mississippi Sovereignty Commission
Mississippi Sovereignty Commission
Investigating the Tougaloo Nine
Informant to Sovereignty Commission
Teachers, Did You Sign Your Statement
Tougaloo Nine
Appeasing the Negro
Suspected Members of NAACP

Sources:
Sovereignty Commission Online
SCR ID # 2-55-11-16-1-1-1
SCR ID # 2-55-11-16-2-1-1
Photos from "The Education of a Black radical"

Photograph re-scan id# 2-55-11-15-1-1-1ph
Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission Photograph
Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission Records
Mississippi Department of Archives and History

Our White House on Washington Street 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Week 31: Grandparents’ House. Describe your grandparents’ house. Was it big or small? How long did they live there? If you do not know this information, feel free to describe the house of another family member you remember from your childhood.

My memories of my maternal grandmother begin and end in this house.

This modest house was our house of comfort. I loved going to visit when I was a child in the 1960s, then, it was Aunt Bee's house. The childless Aunt Bee didn't have a room full of toys, in fact, no toys. There were no swing sets, no bicycles, but we felt free. Free to roam and run on three huge acres with pecan and fruit trees, and a vegetable garden. It was one of the few places where I saw a smile on my mother's face, where she was relaxed.

The house came into the family after my great grandfather Monroe Markham's death in 1932. Monroe and his wife Mary raised their family of 15 children on the land where Monroe had been enslaved in Caseyville, MS. Monroe rented land from the son of the last slave holder and his childhood playmate Prentiss Buie. Monroe b. 1852 was gifted to Prentiss b. 1850 when they were young children. When Prentiss died in 1926, Monroe, wife and three unmarried daughters were asked to leave, they went to live with their eldest son.

After Monroe's death, the women decided that their future was in owning their own home. The land was purchased in 1933. Prentiss' daughter Hallie Buie came to visit Grandma Mary and this is how she described the house in a letter she wrote to her sister in 1936.

"Mrs. Thompson took me to see Aunt Mary. She lives with her three daughters who bought three acres of land just outside the city limits, Brookhaven, and have put up a nice house, everything is so neat and clean about the place and so many flowers were blooming in the yard and their ferns on the front porch, in nice pots, are so pretty, the house faces the east. Willie Markham, Uncle Monroe’s son, lives in the next house."

The original house was a living room, dinning room, kitchen and two bedrooms. The outhouse was in the back yard, which I have a vague memory. Later they would add a small pantry, small sitting room and an inside toilet with running water.

The women in the house were Grandma Mary, Aunt Bee(Beatrice), Aunt Louella, and Aunt Inez. Grandma Mary went to glory in 1937, Aunt Inez in 1938, their wakes were held in the house. Aunt Louella left and married Elijah Howard, and Aunt Bee and her brand new husband Silas Johnson would have the house to themselves.

By the early 1960s, Luella and Bee's husbands were deceased. Aunt Bee was taking care of her two sisters, my grandmother Alice and Aunt Luella, both stricken with senility or Alzheimer's Disease.

Grandma, Aunt Luella and Aunt Bee's faces would light up with joy when we, my mother and her three to five children, went for visits. There was a small gate to the left side of the house and when the taxi driver would toot the horn, they would all come to unlatch the gate. We would run into their arms for hugs. They smelled clean, sunshine clean with a hint of lemon. They wore long dresses with aprons, thick cotton stockings on their legs and black or brown shoes with the laces neatly tied. They would ha and ho over us, made us feel so special.

Aunt Bee was the cook, she was a great cook. She would set the table with pretty rose pattern dinnerware. Bowls filled of southern main stays was put on the table; grits, ham, fried chicken, field peas or butter beans with okra, buttered rice, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, homemade canned fruits and jellies, homemade biscuits, corn bread and chocolate cake from scratch.

My mother was frugal with the food. I think her philosophy was to leave more food on the table than was presented. Aunt Bee would be in the kitchen and would hear one of us ask our mother for some more of something and mama would tell us we had enough. Aunt Bee would tell mama to let us children eat. Mama word was law and when she said no, no was no.

One of my last memories of my grandmother is her sitting on this back porch in a cane backed chair. She didn't talk with us but would smile and play hide and seek games with her hands, hiding a leaf, plum, whatever we put in her hands. We would run up and down those steps and jump off the porch. From a child's perspective, the steps were steep and the jump from the porch was daring.

When it was time for us to go home, back to Jackson, Aunt Bee would load my mother with the fruit of the land. She would have pecans, peanuts, vegetables from the garden, canned fruit and jellies. We would nibble from these gifts, remembering the visits for a long time.

I remember once when we were in the taxi cab headed to the bus station, looking back toward the house, I saw my grandmother and grandaunts walking back to the steps. Their heads were slighted bowed and the shoulders stooped. I knew then they were missing us as we were already missing them. I also knew they would be okay to settle back into their routine.

Aunt Louella died in May 1966, Grandma in August 1966, and Aunt Bee in May 1989, all of Alzheimer's Disease.

The house remains in the family.

Wordless Wednesday - Twin Sisters

Missouri and Beatrice Markham were the second set of twins born 1899, to Monroe and Mary Byrd Markham. Missouri was a teacher in Lincoln County, MS. She never married nor had children. She died in 1925 of brights disease (kidney disease). Beatrice was a domestic. By the standards of her generation, Beatrice married late in life to Silas Johnson in 1938. The couple did not have children. Beatrice died in 1989 of Alzheimer's Disease.

Church Record Sunday - The Singing so Beautiful

Union Church Presbyterian Church of Jefferson County, Mississippi, was organized in 1817. The main building was built during the 1850s.

Church services were held once a month. On that Sunday two services were held, one for the whites and later in the afternoon one was held for the slaves. The singing of the slaves was said to be so beautiful that the people of the village would come outside to hear the singing.

Descendants of those singers married into my family and they continue the tradition of gospel singing.
The Jonestown Crusaders Gospel Group
Seated: Nathaniel Johnson, Jr., and Nathaniel Johnson, Sr.
Standing: Joe Johnson and Philip Johnson
The senior Nathaniel's 1st cousin twice removed Atty Whalum, an infant slave, was baptized 17 May 1840, at Union Church Presbyterian Church.