Heir Property - A Tangled Web

It was probably a proud day for Washington Marshall when he scribbled the "x" on the deed. He could now provide for his family on his own ten acres, purchased in rural Copiah County, MS, about 10 miles west of Hazlehurst on 23rd March 1899, from Fred Rembert and his wife Hannah. Fred's father, Richard Rembert, purchased the land from the prominent Millsaps family in 1874.

In 1900, seventy-eight year old Washington was living with his wife Mary, 61, and their children: Willie, 23; Charley, 22; Henry, 21; Dan (my grandfather), 14; Annie, 23; and Alice, 19. Mary had given birth to 14 children, 8 were living. The couple had been married for 45 years. No one in the household could read or write. They were all farming the land.

10 Ac in NW Corner NW 1/4 SW 1/4 - Sec 12 - 9N - 6E
HWY 28

Washington and Mary were still alive in 1910, living with them were three of their children; Annie, Charley and Dan. By 1920, both Wash and Mary were deceased and neither left a will. Living on the land were the same three children from the 1910 census, Charley, Annie, Dan, plus their widowed sister Alice Goodwin. The land was not legally transferred.

Between the 1920 thru 1940 censuses, Charley left to marry Ola Smith Coleman and established a household, helped Ola to raise children from a previous marriage. Dan got himself a wife in 1927, my grandmother Alice Markham. They continued living on the place, added two children. Annie remained single, eventually living with her sister Alice Goodwin who had built a separate house, which she also shared with her daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren. The land was not legally transferred.

Annie Marshall died in 1937, leaving no heirs. Alice Marshall Goodwin died in 1941, leaving several heirs. Dan was the last of Washington's children to reside on the land. He died in 1955. His wife Alice remained until she developed dementia and left to live with a sister in the early 1960s. Dan's wife Alice died in 1966. Dan and Alice's two children are deceased, leaving several heirs. The land was not legally transferred.

Washington and Mary's children were: Collin, Esther, Margaret, Humphrey, Jessie, Willie, George, Annie, Charley, Mary, Henry, Alice and Daniel, leaving countless, unknown heirs.

The acreage remains in the family, unused. The acreage will likely remain heir's property, too costly to pursue unknown heirs to settle small acreage. I suppose one day the land will be sold for taxes when there are no longer heirs who have a memory of its history.

Part of the Great Migration circa 1925

Siblings
Thaddeus Howard b. 1920, Henry Samuel Howard b. 1923, and
Evelyn Louise Howard b. 1921

These little darlings were a part of the Great Migration. Between 1916 and 1970, more than 6 million African Americans left the rural south for the big cities of the Northeast, Midwest and the West.

They were the children of Henry Howard and Mary Goodwin Young. The two older children were born in Brookhaven, Lincoln County, Mississippi. The mother reported on the 1930 census that the youngest child, Henry Samuel, was born in Kentucky. The children were the youngest of their mother's nine children.

Mary Goodwin first married Willie Young and had five children with him: Cecil, Martha, Wilma, Jessie, and Ruby. In a previous relationship, she had given birth to a son, Arthur Carter.

Willie Young died 19 Feb 1917 of pellagra at the age of 48. Wikipedia defines the disease as a vitamin deficiency disease most commonly caused by a chronic lack of niacin (vitamin B3) in the diet. The disease is described as the "four D's": diarrhea, dermatitis, dementia and death.

The second husband was the younger children's father. He was Henry Howard born about 1879. Mary married Henry 26 Jan 1919 in Lincoln County, Mississippi. The marriage lasted almost eleven years. Henry died 21 Dec 1929.

Mary's older daughters had moved to Indianapolis during the early 1920s for better opportunities. After the death of her husband, Mary moved to Indianapolis. Pictured below is her home in Indianapolis. Note the tricycle in the yard for children.

Thaddeus married Mattie Frances Martin. The couple had two boys: Anthony and Barron. Thaddeus died in 1994 in Indianapolis.

Evelyn married Allen Lorenzo Parrish and Novirters Stubbs. Two children were born to Evelyn. She died in 1993 in Indianapolis.

Howard also known as Sam died 02 Dec 1943 in Indianapolis of pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 20.

Photos courtesy of Christi Young.
The children's mother Mary Goodwin Young Howard, and my grandaunt Alice Marshall Goodwin were sisters-in-law.

Darkis Goodwin vs Joseph Goodwin

Rubia Earnestine Goodwin Brown Powe
Granddaughter of Joseph and Darkis
1st Cousin of my Mother
Darkis married Joseph Goodwin about 1855 according to the customs of slavery and entered their freedom as a married couple in Copiah County, Mississippi. They didn't have a dollar to their name but manage through hard work to acquire about 600 acres of land and a well stocked supply of farm animals. Joe purchased his first land in 1869, 80 acres from Wesley L. Ainsworth for $500.

Descendants of Joseph Goodwin say he was a mean and cruel man. He had several intimate relationship with women outside of the marriage, which produced several children. He also required that the women who lived on his land submit to sexual intimacies with him. Darkis's divorce records appear to support those assertions naming two women, Martha Jenkins and Caroline Jones, as his concubines.

In 1891, the marriage fell completely apart. Darkis was about 50, she had given birth to eleven children and she had endured hard work, leaving her physically unable to provide for herself. Joe was ready to dissolve the relationship, forcing Darkis from the home by beating her unmercifully and threatening to kill her with an ax. She fled the home, never to return.

Darkis was now penniless and homeless. She realized that she and the children had worked just as hard as Joe for what they had obtained. She sought the courts for relief.

The land was legally title to only Joe, so, she would not receive relief in that area. The courts granted her $50 temporary alimony and all her legal fees would be paid by Joe. The courts recognized the couple's marriage based on Article 22 from the Mississippi Constitution of 1868.

Sec. 22. All persons who have not been married, but are now living together, cohabiting as husband and wife, shall be taken and held for all purposes in law as married, and their children, whether born before or after the ratification of this Constitution, shall be legitimate; and the Legislature may, by law, punish adultery and concubinage.

Joe and Darkis' children were: Elizabeth "Lizzie," Josephine, James, Lydia, Dinah, twins Cora and Dora, Joe, and Albert. The last four children were minors at the time of the divorce. Darkis were given custody of the twins and Joe received his sons, Joe and Albert.

My mother's aunt Alice Marshall married, Joe and Dorcas's son, James.

Joe died sometime between 1893 and 1900, Dorcas died in 1918.

Darkis fought for what was rightfully hers and won.