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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Tombstone Tuesday The End of the Road

Greenwood Cemetery
Jackson, Mississippi

Added a Steeple to Providence Baptist Church

Providence Baptist Church
HWY 28
Copiah County, Mississippi

Providence was one of the churches my paternal family attended in rural Copiah County, Mississippi. My branch of the family left the area beginning in the early 1950s. The church was mentioned often and they would go back when they could, especially for funerals. Stopping by for a quick visit to a place where change is slow, is comforting now that the family members of my youth are gone.

Improvements have arrived at Providence. A steeple has been added and there is a new tin roof and porch, and fresh paint. The building looks more like a church and is easier to notice on the rural highway. I suppose my paternal aunts and uncles would like the new look and the grandparents wouldn't recognize the place.

Change is good.

Freedmen's Bureau Labor Contract - 1865 James R Godbold

List of Freedmen Residing on James R Godbold's Plantation
in Franklin County, Mississippi
Oct 7th 1865

NAME	AGE	SEX	COLOR	FORMER OWNER	FORMER RESIDENCE
Silvester Crossley	47	male	2/3 white	James R Godbold	Woodside
Louisa Crossley	46	woman	black	do do	do
Andrew Crossley	11	male	1/3 white	" "	"
Kate Benton	45	woman	black	" "	" "
Jane Crossley	22	do	copper	" "	" "
Mathew Benton	11	boy	do	" "	" "
Missouri Benton	16	do	do	" "	" "
Hannah Benton	7	girl	do	" "	" "
Charlotte Pettis	18	woman	do	" "	" "
Jeni Pettis	1/2	girl	do	" "	" "
Robeson Monan	28	man	black	" "	" "
Clorinda Monan	21	woman	do	" "	" "
Joseph Monan	1/2	boy	do	" "	" "
Silvy Dixon	32	female	do	Departed from	the place
Clorinda Dixon	7	do	do	" "	" "
Therisa Dixon	4	do	copper	" "	" "
Davidson Dixon	2	male	black	" "	" "
Harriet Morris	34	female	do	" "	" "
Patsey Morris	6	do	do	" "	" "
Elec Morris	4	male	do	" "	" "
Elizabeth Morris	1	female	do	" "	" "
Nora Morris	1	do	do	" "	" "
Betty Morris	48	do	do	" "	" "
Isabelle Morris	13	do	do	" "	" "
Mary Morris	7	do	do	" "	" "
Rose Wells	45	do	do	" "	" "
Macdaniel Wells	15	male	do	" "	" "
Jinney Wells	9	female	do	" "	" "
Racheal Guthrie	22	do	do	" "	" "
Will Guthrie	3	male	do	" "	" "
Harrison Guthrie	1	do	yellow	" "	" "

Source: Record Group 105 - NARA Microfilm M1907: Records of the Field Offices for the State of Mississippi, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands 1865-1872
Roll #35
Natchez Office - Registry of Freedmen, August to October 1865

Happy 103rd Cousin Allie Mae

Allie Mae Markham Moncrief
Born September 29, 1911
Allie at her 100th Celebration

Allie is my 1st cousin once removed.

Tombstone Tuesday Thomas and Luisa Crossley

Thomas Silvester Crossley
Born 1819 - Died June 4 1899

Luisa Crossley
Born 1830 - Died July 12 1900

Pleasant Grove M. B. Church Cemetery
Smithdale, Amite County, Mississippi

Photograph Courtesy of Nathaniel Thomas

Time Line for Crossley Family Named in Lewis Weathersby's Will

Pleasant Grove M.B. Church
Crossley Family's Church
Smithdale, Amite County, Mississippi

1843 Jul 05 - Lewis Weathersby's will was signed on this date bequeathing the slave family in trust to his son Lodwick Weathersby. Thomas and his wife Lucy and their children Matilda, Sylvester, Andrew, and Dicey were to be given land, house and other provisions. The couple two daughters, Matilda and Dicy, were to be purchased by their parents for $300 each so they could tend to their parents in their old age.

Lewis' sons Lodwick Weathersby and Hatton Weathersby, and friend James M Smiley were appointed executors of his will.

16 Sep 1843 - Lewis Weathersby died.

1843 Nov- Lodwick Weathersby died.

1846 Mar 26 - Lodwick's widow Elphanie Obier married John Martin. Elphanie and John became guardians of the minor children of Elphanie and Lodwick.

1846-1847 - Lodwick's siblings, with the exception of Hatton, asked that the Negroes remaining in their father's estate be sold. Various petitions were presented to the courts concerning the property of their father Lewis Weathersby.

Hatton Weathersby, the guardian of the slave family, tried to have his father's wishes fulfilled but lost in the courts because he could not prove meritorious service. The section of Lewis Weathersby's will concerning the slave family would not be executed.

1849 - The six slaves who were to be freed were now a part of the estate of Lodwick Weathersby who had died without a will. Lodwick's daughter Missouri Ann and her husband James R Godbold complained how her mother and her mother's new husband had handled her father's estate. Missouri wanted her father's estate divided among his children.

The Crossley family were separated into lots to be given to Lodwick's children. Yellow Thomas and his wife yellow Lucy were given to Virginia Ann; yellow Sylvester went to Missouri Ann; yellow Andrew, Matilda, Dicey, and Dicey's child Leland were given to Solomon C Weathersby.

1855 - Virginia Ann Weathersby died without a will. The court divided her estate, which included Thomas and Lucy who were described as Old Tom and Old Lucy valued at $500 together. Thomas and Lucy were given to Virginia's brother William Weathersby.

Oct 1865 - Sylvester (Thomas and Lucy's son) and his wife Louisa and their son Andrew were named in the Freedmen Bureau Labor Contract on the Woodside Plantation of James and Missouri Weathersby Godbold.

1870 - The Crossley family was living in Summit, Lincoln County, MS.

SOURCE
A Genealogist's Guide to Discovering Your African American Roots
by Franklin Carter Smith and Emily Anne Croom
The Slaves of Liberty, Freedom in Amite County, Mississippi 1820-1868
by Dale Edwyna Smith
Amite County Chancery Court Records, Case Number: 4588, Lewis Weathersby
Amite County Chancery Court Records, Case Number: 4598, Virginia Ann Weathersby
Freedmen's Bureau Labor Contract of James R Godbold
Mississippi Department of Archives and History
National Archives
Photograph Courtesy of Nathaniel Thomas