Searching for the Furnace Branch Friday Furnace Findings

This is the year I plan to spend time researching my Furnace branch of the family, searching for Jane Furnace's parents and siblings from Copiah County, Mississippi, near Hazlehurst.

Jane Furnace was a great grandmother I have so little information. She was the mother of my paternal grandmother Gertrude Overton Durr. Jane died when my grandmother was 7 years old, so, I suppose that is one of the reasons little is known about Jane. I think Jane was born about 1860, in Mississippi. She was likely a slave on one of three intersecting plantations connected to my paternal family.

Lets take a look at the 1870 census for Copiah County, Mississippi. A Jane Furnace was found on the 1870 census, recorded as a ten year old. Relationships were not defined in 1870, therefore I am not sure of her relationship to the people in the Furnace households. I didn't find Jane in any other census that is recognizable to me.

The Furnace family was living near Hezekiah Brown, a known slave owner of paternal family members. Two households of Furnace family lived next door to each other. I suspect they were living in cabins formerly inhabited by slaves. In one household was Alexander Furnis 60, who might be Jane's father or grandfather. A 50 year old Charlotte lived with Alexander: Martha 24 and two children, Mariah and Ellic; Mary 28 and three children, Wallace, George and Josephine. The growing, maturing family extended next door with 21 year old Omar, Barbara 17, Elbert 15, Jane 10 and twelve year old Elizabeth. Skip the next home and we find Nathan Furnis 30, Susan 25, and children Willie and Martha.

The oldest two members were born in Virginia, all others in Mississippi. No one could read and write. The value of the family's real estate was $225.

Farmer was how Alexander Furnis was described on the 1870 census. Next week I will share whether he was a landowner or a renter of the land.

Rehobeth Methodist Church circa 1839

This church is located in an area where once wealthy slave owners were not timid in displaying their wealth. Church attire was a concern among members. Wealthier women wore their New York fashions and silks in contrast to their poor sisters who dressed in their long black calico dresses and bonnets. Should they had hid their wealth?

The church is located in rural Copiah County on Barlow Road in the Barlow Community.

"Rehoboth was Methodist church about four miles northeast of Somerset. The Taliaferros, Browns and Hawkins, and we went there on Sundays to church, and a good many other people...I think she (Cousin Melissa Taliaferro) always wore those "party dresses" to church for Bertha remembers her at Rehoboth in a light green silk with bare neck and arms."
Edwina Burnley Memoirs

Melissa Ann Brown Taliaferro

How does this church connect to my family?
The Taliaferro and Brown families, who were members of this church, were slave owners of members of my family.

Melissa Brown Taliaferro's husband, Richard H Taliaferro, owned 44 slaves; father Edwin Rice Brown owned 190 slaves, per the 1860 Copiah Slave Schedule.

Melissa's picture is courtsey of Suzanne Brown.
Religion in Mississippi

Pleasant Valley Methodist Church Erected 1840

Excerpts from Edwina Burnley Memoirs

Pleasant Valley Methodist Church is located in rural Copiah County, MS, near Hazlehurst. The church is in a peaceful setting surrounded by trees. The last few posts were about the Baker family who were owned by Edward Burnley. He married Maria Louisa Baxter of New Jersey, in 1852. Maria Burnley was a member of this church.

"Two years later, she wore for the first and only time in her life, a sunbonnet to the church at Pleasant Valley. When she was going down the steps, Mr. Gilmer said, “Miss Baxter, may I introduce Col. Burnley?” Col. Burnley was an ardent and persistent wooer and finally was successful."

"Ma was a Methodist, a member of the Pleasant Valley Church."

The church had a slave gallery that spanned the rear wall. It was removed long ago. Maybe, my people passed through those doors: Demyers, Furnace, Overton, and Usher.

"I remember seeing Cousin Melissa Taliaferro, (She was a daughter of Edwin R. Brown, married to Cousin Henry Taliaferro at Pleasant Valley Church wearing a pale blue silk ruffled to the waist, very low neck and short sleeves, showing her plump white shoulders, and such a big hoop skirt she could hardly get in the church door."

Can you see Melissa trying to get through one of those doors in her big hoop skirt? Can you hear the rustling of her skirt?

The Brown and Taliaferro families owned members of my family. The Sinclair family was owned by the Joseph Brown family, and the Winston family owned by Peachy R Taliaferro. My 2nd great grandaunts Margaret Demyers Sinclair and Mary Peachy Demyers Winston married into those families.

Edwina Burnley Memoirs

Isaiah Seaberry Korea Veteran

Freedom is not Free

Isaiah Seaberry
CPL US Army
Korea
Jul 14 1926-Sep 6 1997
Burial in East Money Cemetery
Leflore County, MS

How is he connected to my family tree?
Isaiah was the son of George Seaberry and Mollie Brown.
Mollie Brown was the daughter of Smith P Brown and Lizzie Sinclair.
Lizzie Sinclair was the daughter of Isaiah Sinclair and Margaret Demyers.
Margaret Demyers Sinclair and my 2nd great grandmother Alice Demyers Overton Usher were sisters.

Photograph courtesy of Beverly Smith

Amanuensis Monday The Will of Philip Christmas 1904

Photograph Courtesy of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History

Phillip was born about 1840 in Mississippi. He may be the son of Richard Christmas. He was first seen in the 1852 inventory and disbursement of Peachy Ridgway Taliaferro. He was valued at $500 on the inventory and $1300 on the disbursement. After Peachy's death he was given to Peachy's eldest son, Richard Taliaferro.

Phillip married Ann Brown, 10 Jun 1871, in Copiah County. The couple had at least two children Artie and Richard.

State of Mississippi
Copiah County

Well knowing the uncertainty of this life, and desirous of arranging my property affairs, I, Phillip Christmas, being of sound and disposing mind and memory, do make publish and declare this instrument of writing, to be my last will and testament.

I, direct that my funeral expense and all my just debts be paid first paid by my executrix herein to be named,

I, give, devise and bequeath unto my wife Ann Christmas all the property real and personal and mixed of which I, shall die seized or possessed or in which I, have any interest what-ever.

I, hereby appoint my wife Ann Christmas as executrix of this my last will and direct that she be required to give no bond as such I, direct that she be not required to make any inventories of my estate or render any accounts to the court of her management of the same as such executrix.

In testimony of which I have hereunto set my hand and signed my name this the 30th day of April A. D. 1904.

Phillip x(his mark) Christmas

We the undersigned witnesses to the above instrument of writing at the request of Phillip Christmas witnessed his signature to said instrument and heard his declaration of the same as his last will and testament, and we signed the same at his request in his presence and in the presence of each other on this the 30th day of April, 1904.

John H. Long, Jr.
Hugh Barr Miller

Filled & admitted to probate & record 19th, August, 1904

J. H. Long, Clerk.

How does Phillip Christmas connect to my family tree?
Phillip Christmas' daughter, Artie Christmas, married Shelby Sanders.
Shelby Sanders' brother
Luther Sanders's grandson
McNesse Sanders married my paternal grandmother's sister, Alice Overton

Amanuensis Monday Lindsey Impressed by the Governor - 1863

Received of C. B. N. Rice one negro man slave named Lindsey aged 49 years with axe, impressed by the govenor(sp), the said C. B. N. Rice is entitled to one month's pay and commutation.

Hazlehurst Miss Febry 14th 1863
A P Barry Maj Com

Impressment was the informal and then, beginning in March 1863, the legislated policy of the Confederate government to seize food, fuel, slaves, and other commodities to support armies in the field during the Civil War (1861–1865). From Confederate Impressment During the Civil War

As a citizen of the Confederacy, Charles Benjamin Nicholas Rice was obligated to give his property for service. Lindsey was the property of Rice and was to do as he was told. Rice was to be paid, not Lindsey.

I searched the census records for Lindsey in 1870 and 1880 Copiah County censuses. I did not find a Lindsey of the right age in the county.

C. B. N. Rice was a slave owner in Copiah County, Mississippi, near Hazlehurst, owning over forty slaves in 1860. C.B.N. Rice was born in 1803 in South Carolina, died in 1868 in Copiah County. He married Mary Ann Macon. Two of the couple's daughters, Lucy Ella and Elizabeth, married into families who enslaved members of my family.

-------------------------------------------

Lucy Ella Rice married Lewis Bingaman Harris. The couple was associated with Gustavus family of Copiah County. Read about Andrew Gustavus and the Harris family here.

Elizabeth Rice married Joseph Brown. They owned members of my Sinclair and Overton family. See Elizabeth Rice Brown's 1855 inventory and appraisement listing of slaves here.

Source: Harris (Lewis Bingaman and Family) Papers
Z/0983.000/S
Box 1, Folder 3
Mississippi Department of Archives and History

Isaiah Demyers, First Born Son

A pecan tree on the land where Isaiah lived.
Photograph courtesy of Beverley Ballantine, Nov 1999

The name Isaiah means "the salvation of the Lord," He was the first born son of parents recently freed. I wonder if the parents knew the meaning of the name. Isaiah was born about 1867 in Copiah County, Mississippi.

His parents were John T Demyers and Virginia Williams/Taylor. Isaiah's father John lived next door to Hezekiah George David Brown per the 1870 census, a slave owner of the family. I believe the Demyers family was first owned by Peachy R Taliaferro. After HGDBrown's marriage to Peachy's daughter Mary Peachy Taliaferro, my family was split and some members went to live on HGDBrown's Lucky Hit Plantation. Isaiah's mother Virginia was a slave on the neighboring Edwin Burnley's Somerset Plantation.

The Demyers' household was filled with people. The couple raised the children of John's deceased sister and two sets of grandchildren. Census records described nephews/nieces and grandchildren as sons and daughters. Isaiah had five siblings but I am sure of only three of their names: Amanda, John Jr., and Dora and the other two may be Henry and Willie.

Isaiah, 10 years old, was listed on the 1878 Copiah Educable Children Lists. Per the census records he could read and write.

John and Virginia Demyers, Isaiah's parents purchased 200 acres of land in Copiah County from S. Kemp in 1890. Isaiah lived with his parents for much of his life

Isaiah married Lizzie Bonner 22 Dec 1887. By the 1900 census, the couple was divorced. Lizze was living alone and Isaiah was in his parent's household. The census record said Lizzie had two children, one living.

Matilda Stackhouse Matthews was living a few doors from Isaiah. She was the widow of Charles Matthews with a young daughter, Maybelle. Matilda and Isaiah married during the Christmas holidays, 24 Dec 1902. The couple had four children: Ellison, Dora, Josephine, and Eula Mae.

The patriarch of the family, John T Demyers, died between December 1909 and April 1910. Per John's 1909 will, he left one third of his property to his only surviving child Isaiah. Isaiah would enjoy the fruits of his parents' labor for just a few years. He died in 1916 of pneumonia.

How does Isaiah connect to my family tree?
My 2nd great grandmother Alice Demyers Overton Usher's brother
John T Demyers had a son who was Isaiah Demyers.

Death Certificate for Isaiah Demyers

Sunday Obituary Matilda Stackhouse Demyers Brown 1868-1974

Matilda Stackhouse Brown, the older of two children born to the late John and Mary Stackhouse, was born in Crystal Springs, Mississippi, on March 31, 1868. She joined the church at an early age while in Mississippi

Matilda met and married Print Brown. The family moved to Chicago in 1900. Upon their arrival in Chicago the family joined the Olivet Baptist Church under Reverend L T Williams and continued under the present pastor Reverend Joseph H Jackson. To this union were born seven children, Hugh Brown, Maybelle Shannon, Lucinda Spanks, Dora Demyers, Josephine Best, Eula Mae Demyers and Elson Demyers deceased.

She was a member of the Willing Worker's Circle at Olivet Church until poor health prevented her active participation in her latter years.

We loved our beloved Matilda, but God loved her best...Sleep in, dear Matilda, and take your rest. Matilda departed this life Sunday morning, June 2, 1974 at her home at 7:30 a.m.

She leaves to mourn her passing: One son Hugh Brown; five daughters, Maybelle Shannon, Lucinda Spanks, Dora Demyers, Josephine Best and Eula Mae Demyers; one daughter-in-law, Bertha Brown; one son-in-law, Benny Best; ten grandchildren, forty seven great grandchildren, twenty great great grandchildren, three great great great grandchildren, and a host of other relatives and friends.

How does she connect to my family?
My 2nd great grandmother Alice Demyers Overton Usher had a brother
John T Demyers who had a son
Isaiah Demyers who married Matilda Stackhouse.

Photograph courtesy of Matilda's direct descendant Katherine Addison Evans.
Matilda is the one in the long coat with her daughter Dora Reeves and the little girl is unknown.

Matilda Stackhouse married Charles Mathes(Matthews) 03 Jan 1893 in Copiah County.
Matilda Stackhouse married Isaiah Demyers 24 Dec 1902 in Copiah County, MS.

Tombstone Tuesday Albert Gallatin Brown

He was the son of Joseph and Elzabeth Rice Brown
Husband of Elizabeth Frances Thornton Taliaferro &
Roberta Eugenia Young
Governor of Mississippi 1844-1848
Governor Brown's headstone is in the middle.

He was born May 31 1813 in the Chester District of South Carolina.
Died June 12 1880 at his home near Terry, Mississippi.
Buried in the Greenwood Cemetery
Jackson, Mississippi

In 1823, when Albert was only 10 years-old his family moved to the new State of Mississippi. The Brown family settled in Copiah County, Mississippi. Raising cotton in the new frontier state of Mississippi proved to be lucrative for the Brown family. The Brown family owned members of my paternal family.

Picture of Albert G Brown from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History

Watch Night Richmond and Jane Furnace Overton

...shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free...
Emancipation Proclamation
January 1 1863
Celebrating the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Richmond Elijah Overton
Born About 1856
In 1863, he was a slave on Hezekiah G D Brown Plantation
Near Hazlehurst, Copiah County, MS

Grandpa Richmond was the only child of Dave Brown Overton and Alice Demyers. Grandpa did not remember his father who left the plantation following Union troops, never to return home. Grandma Alice wrote poignant letters to the Pensioners Board requesting a pension for herself and son. During slavery, Richmond was trained as a carpenter. It was said the master saw his intelligence and knew an extar dollar could be made.

Richmond married Jane Furnace who was born about 1860 in Mississippi. Census records indicate that HGD Brown may also be the slave owner of the Furnace family. Richmond and Jane had about 10 children. Jane died about 1902, Richmond died in 1928.

Richmond and Jane were my father's maternal grandparents.

Wordless Wednesday The Lady Wears the Hat

Sarah Spencer
Born 1911 in Hazlehurst, Copiah County, MS
Daughter of Albert Benjamin Spencer & Mary Brown

Photograph courtesy of Albert B Spencer, Jr.

Three Intersecting Plantations

My father's maternal side of the family were slaves on these three intersecting plantations in Copiah County, MS. The slave owners were related and slave marriages were formed among the plantations.

Peachy Ridgway Taliaferro owned (yellow)Spring Hill Plantation. At the time of Peachy's death in 1852, he owned over 90 slaves. Peachy's daughter Mary Peachy Taliaferro married Hezekiah George David Brown who owned (blue)Lucky Hit Plantation. HGD Brown enslaved 46. Edwin Burnley, cousin to Mrs HGD Brown (Mary Peachy Taliaferro). HGD, owned (pink)Somerset Plantation. Per the 1860 Copiah County slave schedule, Burnley owned 60 slaves.

Map courtesy of Beverley Ballantine

Burials at Lucky Hit Cemetery

If all you have is circumstantial evidence when researching for the slave owner of ancestors, anything you discover can be a clue to add to your mound of evidence. I came across a few death certificates that list the burial place as Lucky Hit for a few members of my father's maternal family. The suspected slave owner, Hezekiah George David Brown, settled at Lucky Hit Plantation after his marriage.

"Hezekiah married Mary Peachy Taliaferro (born March 3, 1831) in a wedding that must have been planned well in advance with many attendants, including two sisters of Jefferson Davis. Hezekiah was 24 and Mary Peachy Taliaferro was 16 when the wedding took place on December 23, 1847, and was a major social event in plantation life of that day. After Christmas he returned to Annapolis and, as a married man, he was allowed to resign honorably, to the delight of Mrs. Taliaferro who urged the young couple to live with her at "Spring Hill" near Hazelhurst. His declining this invitation was a masterpiece of diplomacy and they settled at "Lucky Hit", a nearby plantation."
From Research Notes of Suzanne Brown

Today, Lucky Hit Cemetery is nonexistent. I contacted descendants of Hezekiah George David Brown and they have no idea where cemeteries are on the Brown property. Was Lucky Hit the burial place of former slaves on HGD Brown's plantation or was it a cemetery established after slavery ended?

Virginia Williams/Taylor Demyers - buried at Luckey Hit 18 Aug 1930
Virginia was born to Hardenia about 1850 in Copiah County, MS. Virginia and family were slaves on Somerset Plantation, a neighboring plantation to Lucky Hit. Virginia married John T. Demyers, my paternal grandmother's granduncle.

Albert Brown Spencer - buried at Lucky Hill 07 Apr 1927
Albert was born to John Spencer and Mary Trueheart (Hart) 05 Aug 1858, likely in Copiah County, MS.

Pedro Spencer - buried at Lucky Hitt 17 Apr 1927
Pedro was born to Albert Brown Spencer and Mary Brown in 1904 in Copiah County, MS.

Felix Williams - buried at Lucky Hit Cemetery 06 Mar 1923
Felix was born to John Weldon Williams and Emma Demyers about 1859. John Weldon Williams was a slave of Joseph and Elizabeth Rice Brown who were the parents of HGD Brown. Weldon was allotted to HGD Brown after his mother's death in 1855.

Felix is a nephew of the above Virginia, and a cousin of Pedro's wife Emsley.

Wordless Wednesday Two Brothers - Same Name

This is their first meeting, circa 1980s

Left - Albert Spencer
Born 1917 in Copiah County, MS
Son of Albert B Spencer and Mary Brown

Right - Albert Spencer
Born 1927 in Copiah County, MS
Son of Albert B Spencer and Hannah Jones-Gary

Photograph Courtesy of Albert Spencer, Son of Albert on the Left

My 2nd great granduncle John T Demyers had a relationship with Albert on the left's grandmother Mary Trueheart that produced one child, Petro Demyers.

Amanuensis Monday Excerpt from the Will of Elizabeth Rice Brown 1855

Elizabeth Rice was born 12 April 1787 in Union District South Carolina. She married Joseph Brown 29 March 1810. They moved to Copiah County, MS, between 1821 and 1824. She died 17 Nov 1855. She had about 19 slaves. A few of her slaves were the ancestors of members of my paternal family.

Here is an excerpt from Brown's will concerning the Sinclair family.
03 November 1855
...To my youngest & beloved son, Hezekiah G. D. Brown...Sinclair, a yellow man aged about forty years and his wife, Kisiah and their children, Isaiah, Jim, Louise (reserving Archy, their youngest child to the singular use & bequest of grandson, Joseph Brown, son of son Hezekiah.

Isaiah Sinclair married my gg grandmother Alice Demyers Overton Usher's sister, Margaret Demyers. Isaiah was born about 1844, died in 1917. Margaret was born about 1845, died in 1936.

Elizabeth Brown's last will and testament was found in Copiah County Probate Court Cases
Microfilm Number: 8183
Record found at MS Department of Archives and History
Federal Pension Records for Dave Overton Brown