Will not Sell Lumber for a Radical's Coffin

Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records are disclosing that some folks don't like change, even death would not bring a compromise. Making the Negro an equal in the political, economic and legal system of America was too much for some to endure. In the eyes of Henry Maxwell, Elisha Massey was a Radical. When Massey died, Maxwell would not loan tools or sell lumber for Massey's coffin.

I didn't find why Massey was accused of being a Radical. Voting for a Republican or voicing an opinion of equal rights would have been enough to put him in the hot seat with his neighbors.

Read below how it was recorded in the Freedmen's Bureau records.
September 12 1868

Died Elisha Massey an old citizen, 78 years, of Lawrence Co., Miss. on Fair River about 1/2 way to Monticello died on the 4th inst.

Henry Maxwell also an old citizen refused to lend tools with which to make Massey a coffin because Massey was a radical & also refused to sell the lumber (having a sawmill) for the coffin.

These two men do not connect to my family.

Source:
Mississippi, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1971-45819-4954-45?cc=2333768&wc=9L33-MNR:1078469102,1078469104 : accessed 15 January 2015), Brookhaven (subassistant commissioner) > Roll 12, Register of contracts, Jun 1865-Oct 1867 > image 78 of 101; citing NARA microfilm publication M1907 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d

Photograph Courtsey of Library of Congress

So Proud of Edmund Baker

Farming Near Tupelo, Mississippi
Photograph Courtesy of Library of Congress

I am so proud of Edmund Baker fighting to get his children returned to him. Baker contracted for one year, in 1866, for his minor children to labor on the land of John H Davis. Once the year had expired, Edmund expected his children to return home. Davis refused to return the children because he said the children did not want to return to their father and the children had made contracts to remain with the Davis family. All three children were under the age of 21 years and could not make a legally binding contract. Baker's attorney sought the help of the Freedmen's Bureau with the case since the Mississippi courts refused to return the children to their father.

The Civil War brought devastation to the area where my ancestors lived. They lived in small villages, towns between Union occupied Natchez and Vicksburg. The Federal armies took what they needed from the farms and in some cases destroyed what they could not take. Southern Commissions depositions, letters, federal pension depositions, slave narratives gave accounts of the military actions in the area. All that was left, hidden or had been squirreled away was what the folks had for survival.

I can imagine my people discussing the future. I know they dreamed of owning land, land to make their living. They were skilled in making the land prosperous for their former masters and I am sure they looked forward to working for self. There was plenty of work in an agriculture economy and they were to be paid for their labor.

Edmund Baker was born about 1810 in Kentucky, described as a mulatto, His wife Mary was described as a large woman and very religious. The couple was not seen in the census records living together. In 1870, they were living as next door neighbors on the Somerset Plantation. Edwina Burnley wrote in her memoirs that Edmund was the only slave who never left the plantation.

Two of Edmund's three children had returned home by 1870, Wilson and Elijah. Julia who should be about 18 is not with the family. She may be married, dead or left the area. Elijah married Lucinda Smith in 1873 and settled in Lincoln County, MS. Wilson married Betsy and remained in Copiah County, both became farmers. The 1900 census is the last census for Edmund Baker. He was a widower living alone tho Mary the mother of his children was still alive. Mary was alive in 1910, no record for her in 1920.

Wilson died August 15, 1919 in Copiah County of dropsy. His was the only death record found for the family of five.

I hope the descendants of Edmund Baker discover his story so his name can be remembered.

Tombstone Tuesday James Lynch 1838-1872

James Lynch was Secretary of State during Reconstruction, and held other positions of honor. He died December 18, 1872. At the time, he was the only African American in the history of Mississippi that ever laid in State in the capitol.

After remaining in his coffin two days in the rotunda of the capital, he was buried with great ceremony. A handsome monument for which the State of Mississippi paid in part, was erected over his grave.

Funeral Obsequies of James Lynch The late Secretary of State was interred from the Captiol yesterday. The funeral oration was delivered by the Rev Mr McDonald, and the remains were escorted to the grave bt the State authorities, the city authorities, Hope Fire Company No 3 (colored) of Jackson, United States Fire Company No 1, (colored) of Vicksburg, the Friendly Brothers, (colored) of Vicksburg, a delegation from Vicksburg Fire Company No 2 (colored) and a large concourse of colored people.

James Lynch was buried in the Greenwood Cemetery, Jackson, Mississippi.
His monument reads 'True To The Public Trust".

James Lynch, Mississippi's Secretary of State During Reconstruction

Source: Subject File for James D Lynch - File found at Mississippi Department of Archives and History

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James Lynch Mississippi's Secretary of State During Reconstruction

Lynch, Jas (1870 U.S. Census) Mississippi, Hinds County, Jackson

I came across James Lynch, an interesting figure during Reconstruction in Mississippi while researching the surname Lynch in my family.

James Lynch was born in Baltimore in 1838. He was the son of a slave woman, and his father was a white merchant and minister. James became a preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church in Illinois and Indiana. He married in 1860, and moved to Philadelphia, where he edited a Methodist newspaper. During the War he followed Sherman through Georgia as a missionary to freedmen. In 1867, he came to Mississippi to preach and teach. He also entered politics soon after his arrival, working fervently toward black voter registration.

Lynch was elected Secretary of State. By all accounts, he was an effective political speaker and administrator. He also served on a three man board of education, administering sixteenth section lands, which had been poorly managed. He developed Rust College in Holly Springs, which was run by the Northern Methodist Church.

He failed to gain the nomination for Congress in 1872, losing to John Roy Lynch, not related. Apparently stories of alcoholism began to surface, and blacks lost faith in him.

He died December 18, 1872, at the age of 34 of Bright's Disease. He was buried at the all white cemetery in Jackson, Greenwood Cemetery.

Source: Subject File for James D Lynch - File found at Mississippi Department of Archives and History

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