Wordless Wednesday Family Portrait: Be Fruitful

The family is unknown to me. I hope someone can identify the family likely from Lincoln County, MS, or a surrounding county.

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

Inez Markham's Photographs Child ~ Woman

Inez was the youngest of fifteen children born to my great grandparents Monroe and Mary Markham. She was born in Caseyville, MS, in 1903.

The childhood picture of Inez was always displayed in the family's living room. The building in the background of the adult photograph is similar to the one in the background of the 1931 class photo of the Brookhaven Colored School.

Inez worked as a house cleaner. She didn't have children and never married. She died in 1938 of general peritonitis, which is an inflammation of the membrane which lines the inside of the abdomen and all of the internal organs.

In Remembrance Jimmie Leola McDaniel Sanders

03 Dec 1920 - 20 Dec 2012
Daughter of Preston McDaniel and Revella Ephraim
Wife of Paris Sanders, Sr
Mother of Paris, Jr and Velma Lee

Photographs Courtesy of Anthony Neal, Sr

A Tribute To A Wonderful Cousin
Lovingly called
"Aunt Jimmie"

God saw that you were getting tired, so he softly said it was time for the day that your precious soul would begin it’s heavenly flight to that great promise land beyond the sky. We always knew that this day would come, the day we all would have to say goodbye, the day of your home going. Our hearts are heavy with grief because it hurts so deeply. We never ever imagine it would feel this way. We will truly miss all the great stories that you would tell us about our many relatives, friends, acquaintances and many family incidents that took place in Mississippi, Illinois, Michigan and California. You were always there for us when we needed family information and we will be eternally grateful. But, through all our remorse and sadness, we know we are not alone, for you will always be deeply entrenched within our hearts and mind, and we will forever hold tightly to those precious moments and memories. For when our day shall finally come, the day when we all shall meet again, we know you’ll be waiting for us with arms wide open, to welcome us to our wonderful new Heavenly home.

WE Love You, Aunt Jimmie
Tony and Bettie McDaniel-Neal

Howard Divinity of Copiah County, MS Slave Narrative

Howard Divinity is on the right.
Photograph Courtesy of Mississippi Department of Archives and History

Copiah's best known ex-slave was Howard Divinity, or "Uncle Divinity," who, since the close of the war until a few years before his death in 1930, attended practically all of the National Reunions of Confederate veterans and of World War veterans. Richmond, New York, Washington, and many other cities of the nation knew him as a familiar figure when the veterans gathered there. He always wore the gray uniform of the Confederacy, the coat being literally covered with reunion medals. Uncle Divinity was born early in the 1820's and served from 1861 until the close of the war as body slave and cook with Bob Scott, of Copiah County, in Company D, of the Twelfth Mississippi Regiment. While in the Confederate army, Divinity acquired the reputation of being the champion forager in the whole Confederate army and was called the chicken provider of the Confederacy. In 1926 Uncle Divinity made a speech before the Mississippi Legislature in behalf of the Confederate soldiers, their widows, and servants. It is said that when in Washington some years ago, Uncle Divinity learned the difference between a senator and a congressman in the following way:

He went to the senate office building and asked to see his senator. When he was admitted to see John Sharp Williams, the Mississippi senator asked which he would rather have - five dollars, a toddy, or straight whiskey; Divinity came away with five dollars. A short while later Uncle Divinity met up with Congressman Percy E. Quin, representative of the Copiah District. Mr. Quin gave him a silver dollar. Shortly afterwards, Divinity remarked to a group of veterans that he had learned the difference between a senator and a congressman. They asked him what the difference was, and of course he answered - "Four dollars."

Uncle Divinity and his wife Susan lived on the old Rembert place, near Bayou Pierre, until Susan's death some ten years ago. Divinity, who was blind his last years, survived his wife by only a few years.

Census records indicate he was born between 1832-1850, likely around 1845. He was married to Susan and the couple had at least three children: Marilla, Joe and Beulah.

Although the narrative mentions he wore the gray uniform of the Confederacy, I note he has on a regular man's suit, possibly gray with a hat which appears to be one worn by Confederate soldiers.

Divinity's Pension Application

Unknown Photograph

This photograph was among the collection of my great grandmother Mary Byrd Markham of Lincoln County, MS. The woman in the photograph is unknown to cousins. She may be kin or a neighbor to my ggrandmother. I would love to know her identity.

Wordless Wednesday Jace's First Haircut

Jace, the one getting the haircut.
Neil the Barber
Jarret the Dad

Mary Winston's Headstone

In Memory of Mary P
Wife of Andrew Winston
Born Dec 22 1828
Died Dec 27 1884
Hunters Cemetery
Smyrna, Copiah County, MS.
Apparently Mary's headstone was provided after her death. According to her will, she died in 1895.

Picture from Find a Grave.