Article Reflections: Slavery Descendants To Have First Reunion: Part 12

Article written about 1971 or so.

Some final thoughts on this article.

As I was going thought each sentence of this article, I wasn't aware of some things.
As I was going blog to blog, I noticed that I added more and more as I went along.

I was trying to see what the writer was trying to share. There were some generation gaps in the beginning of this article. There could have been a generation that came from Africa who were shipped to New Orleans in 1843.

I have no leads on that. I have found out the  family came from through corresponds with a cousin. One of the Yankton, South Dakota descendant said the family came from off the coast of Nigeria.

As for the mother and 5 children, they could have been a family in 1843. But not the one that matches up with the Isaac that ran off to join the Civil War.

I wasn't for sure about some things until I came across the slave ad that lead to more discoveries. And what a discovery that was. I was seeing the names of my 2nd Great Grand parents' names with some of their children. How aweful to be a slave and be sold.

1858 Ad

Andrew White was believed to have been the father of Julia's children.
Andrew or Julia may have had a mulatto child.

Here is a list the children that I have come up with.
Unknown child who had a child named Rebbecca
Mary WHITE,
Linda WHITE,
Lydia WHITE
Isaac BLAKEY who married Martha SCOTTt and Rachel LEPHRIDGE
Andrew WHITE
Ben (Benjamin) WHITE
Spencer WHITE who married Melinda BANKS and Lou
Josh (Joshua) WHTIE who had 3 daughters and a son named John BLAKE
David WHITE
Martha WHITE who was a widow
Mattie WHITE who was a widow with 5 children
Richard "Dick" WHITE who married Jane FERGUSON and Mary Belle BROOKS

Isaac was the only one who carried the BLAKEY surname.  There are many unanswered questions that we will never find. But the descendants of this union have some history to past down to the next generations.

I hope others will pass down what they know and or heard of on their family history. Each family has a history to share. May we learn to record what we know.

Thanks for reading,
Susan

My search continues....

Project: Julia WHITE Connections

Oldest Blakey Who Lived? ~ Part 11

This article was written after April of 1971.

The oldest in this article:
John Blakey was the oldest of Isaac Blakey and Martha
Mary Blakey Green was the oldest of Isaac and Rachel's children.
Isaac Jr was the 3rd child of Isaac  and Rachel Blakey.

I wondered out of the known Isaac Blakey's children birth that died, who lived the longest? It may have been Isaac. Don't know when some of his siblings pasted away.

The Guyton Families are from the branch of Isaac and Rachel's Blakey descendants.

Blog continues...

Isaac Blakey Jr. And Yankton, SD. Blakeys ~ Part 10

Isaac Jr., Henry, Blakey

Some of the Blakeys moved to Yankton, South Dakota in 1905.

Jordan who married Lizzie ? ,  and Flora Lawrence
Beecher,
John who married Jennie Bartlett
Archie who married and later moved to CA.
Lawhorn "Doc" who married and later moved to CA
Ollie "Deke" who married and later moved to CA
Spencer who married L. Mary Kinney
Lillie "Susie" who married Edward Hayes
Edna who married surnames Jackson and Bentley
Anne Mae ....?

Others who came...
Mary who married Ollie Green and perhaps were buried in SD.
Jordan remarried and moved to Michigan
Beecher moved further north

Blog continues

Isaac and Rachel Blakey ~ Part 9



Isaac and Rachel BLAKEY

This Isaac was the one who served in the Civil War.

Isaac's  first wife, Martha SCOTT wasn't mention in the article. Isaac married Rachel LEPHRIDGE / LEFTRIDGE / LEFEW in Wilkinson County MS on July 3, 1873. Isaac's surnane of the record was spelled BLAKER.

According to this article and oral history they had 18 children. On Isaac's pension record their were mention other names. They could have been nicknames. Here's a list of Isaac children and their off springs.

Blog continues

Blakey / Blakley Descendants ~ Article Part 8

Blakey descendants
This wasnt' the John Blakey brother of Isaac BLAKEY.

There was some confusion with this part: This John wasn't the slave John BLAKEY, brother of Isaac BLAKEY. His John was the son of Isaac Blakey. John changed his surname to BLAKLEY. He was also known as John BLAKEY.

Isaac Blakey married twice. His first wife was Martha SCOTT. They married in Wilkinson County MS. They had twin sons; John and Andrew.

John , the son of Isaac and Martha (SCOTT) BLAKEY married Jennie (BARTLETT) in 1902 in MO. They had at least 15 children. John and Jennie resided in St. Joseph, MO. John's son Isaac BLAKLEY lived in St. Paul MN and was the son of Dick who was Richard and Bob who is Robert BLAKEY who played football at the University of MN around 1960.

This blog continues.

Dick and Jane WHITE ~ Part 7




Dick and Jane (Ferguson) WHITE and some of their children

 Here are some more infomation.

Dick's real name was Richard WHITE. Dick was his nickname.
He was born in 1866 - 1943.

Jane FERGUSON WHITE was Richard's first wife.
Richard and Jane had 12 children
Willie Winfey did most of the planning for the first reunion.
That was held in Sioux City Iowa July of 1971.

Blog Continues

Empolyment , Homeland And Surnames ~ Part 6

They found worked on farms. And lived in Forest Green Missouri area.
They kept their own names. White And Blakey

 More clues and a mystery. 

They were employed and made their homes in Forest Green, MO.
Where did they work? As farmer or as farm hands?

What names did each family member take?
The mother in this article was unknown.
But later I came across her name in 1989.

What names did each one take?
The mother, WHITE
Isaac BLAKEY
John WHITE
Spencer WHITE
Matt WHITE
Dick WHITE

It appears that Isaac was the only one in his group that took the surname of BLAKEY. Don't know why Isaac kept the BLAKEY surname. Perhaps he was with the BLAKEYs for a long time. They may have helped him to his freedom. Two of the former slave owners gave affidavit of who Isaac was. Isaac applied for his pension records in 1890's.

Also for the mother, Did she have other children? Yes. She had about 12 or 13 children. Some of the children may have passed away before the turn of the century. Some of the family members may not have know about them.

The article states that Matt WHITE never married. As I searched for Mattie White, I came up with her as a widow with about 5 children. I don't know how this information got lost.


The big mystery to this part of the article: Who was the great grand mother? Was the writer in this article speaking of Ted Blakey's great grand mother? The mother of the slaves  or the mother's husband's mother?

The mother was believe to have passed away and was buried in Forest Green, MO. Most those who passed away in this family were buried in Forest Green, MO and area.
There are some descendants who still live in the Forest Green Area.

Blog continues

Isaac Blakey Reunites With Family ~ Part 5

Here are some more clues: Some time after Isaac was discharged from the army, he started to look for his family. Wonder how long it took him to find them? Note: Isaac was wounded in the War.

Isaac didn't know where his family was... But found out that they were shipped MS. Isaac had to have had some connections to where the where a bout of his family. Perhaps the info was from his former slave owners.

Isaac did located his family easily because he was familiar with the area where his family was. The article mentions the names of Isaac's other siblings. Spencer, Dick and sister, Matt.. 

The article states that Isaac's siblings were shipped to Natchez, MS. I wondered if they were ever in MO? Also if this Spencer, Dick and sister, Matt White were other relatives on the other generation? It was just a thought. However, Isaac did have siblings named Spencer, Dick and Matty White.

As for Isaac Blakey, he was born in Roanoak , Fayette or Shannondale Missouri between 1845 - 1847. The slave owner, John BLAKEY passed away in 1844. Most of the slaves where born after John BLAKEY passed.

John's widow, Frances (WHITE) BLAKEY and her children were the slave owners to Isaac, his mother and her children. The father of the slaves weren't mentioned in the article. I wonder why? Nor was the name of the mother.

 As for Spencer, Dick and Matty, they choose the WHITE surname. According to this article, John carried the BLAKEY surname. But through searching, John carried the WHITE surname.

Isaac somehow convinced the family to move back to MO. I think that other relatives may have been there. Why would some one what to move back to the area where they were once held captive as slaves? I think that there was some family connections in Chariton and Howard County Missouri area.
Blog continues....

John and Isaac Blakey: Civil War ~ Part 4



John in Forest Green MO.
While Isaac joined The Union  Army after Emancipation Proclamation was signed.

More clues: The Emancipation Proclamation which was signed on Jan 1, 1863. John remained in Forest Green, MO as a slave. And Isaac somehow ran away and joined the Union Army for three years and nine months.

I began to search more on my Blakey ancestors in 1980 - 1981. One of my sisters heard of some Blakeys living in South Dakota. We set out to find more information.

It wasn't until we visited some cousins in Yankton, South Dakota, we came across some news that we didn't know about. I was surprised to hear that Isaac was on my family lineage. I thought John, Isaac brother was on the direct line.

This information sparked my desire to find out.I was hoping there would be some record on Isaac. So I searched more.

As I searched for information on Isaac Blakey, I found out much more about on the family tree. I thought if Isaac served in the Civil War than there should be some record of it. I received that information through the mail. But it took a while. Isaac's surname was BLAKER.


In the military records: I  came across information that I thought was long lost. I pieced together some of what I discovered. There was listed the names of the slave owners; John and Frances (WHITE) BLAKEY. That explains the two family surnames. It appears that the WHITE slave owners was on Frances' side.


Isaac did joined the Union Army in Natchez Mississippi on Nov 1, 1863. He was between 16 -18 years old. He was honorable discharged on  May 13, 1866. Isaac date of birth was unknown. He's accepted birth was on June 30, 1847. Yet some records stated his birth year about 1845.

A great wonder would be, how did a young teenage slave travel to MS?  It would have been hard to escape without help. Perhaps he was sold to some of the WHITE / BLAKEY relatives in MS.

According to Isaac BLAKER's pension records, Isaac and his mother were sold about the breaking out of the War and they went south. That could explain how Isaac ended up in the army.

There was no mentioning of where the other slaves were . Oral history states that they were in Natchez, MS. What a coincident? Isaac was there too.

Question: Was John the only slave relative left in Missouri? There could have been other relatives with John. As for John, his surname was WHITE. That was the confusion in the article. John took the WHITE surname.

I thought to myself. Who was John BLAKEY, the slave? I came across that answer. He was John WHITE (1858- 1918).  There was a John Blakey mentioned in the article. He was the son of Isaac Blakey, brother of John WHITE.

Blog Continues

The Arrival And Names Taken ~ Article Part 3




The next three sentences

When they arrived in New Orleans, the slaves were sold at slave auctions and given a bill of sale.
The slaves were given the slave master's name.

The two oldest brothers, Isaac 12 and John 10 sold to a man by the name of BLAKEY.
He took them to Forest Green, Missouri.

Here were some more clues. There should have been a record of the bill of sale for these slaves. I don't know if the records still exist. So we can figure out about what year Isaac and John were born. I assume that the year was 1843 when the slaves were sold. Here's the math.

1843 - 12 = 1831 the year about when Isaac was born
1843 - 10 = 1833 the year about when John as born

Assuming that the year was 1843, the years don't match up with the John or Isaac BLAKEY. There may have been another generation with a mother and her 5 children. According to this article Isaac was the oldest. As I searched on I found out that Isaac had older siblings. Isaac was born about 1845 - 1847. John was born about 1858.

There was a slave owner named BLAKEY. I search for the slave owners. They moved to Missouri about 1835 from Virginia. The slave owners did live in Forest Green, Missouri. Chariton and Howard County Missouri Area.

As I searched more, I came across more leads. Those leads led to more questions. I was surprised by what I stumbled across. Oh, I wouldn't have though of this. The question to the mystery began to unfold.

Blog Continues.

Part 2: Blakey - White Families: The Year 1843

The first two sentences of this article:  

The introduction of the article gives some good information: the families surnames, a year, a name and the place; Riverside Park. The date of the article was not listed or the State where the reunion took place. I later found out the reunion was held in Iowa around 1971.  

According to one of the descendants, Ted Blakey from Yankton, South; a mother, and her four sons and a daughter came to New Orleans on a ship in 1843. I don't know where Ted Blakey got this info -

Ted could have been oral history from his father, Henry Blakey who passed down what he heard and or what others said about the family history. After researching, I came across the list of some of the slaves' names and the Blakey slave owners' names.

The article mention the year 1843 and a place. I can trace back to the year 1843 through information that I came across. But the article raises some questions about when the family came to New Orleans.
This article states that the mother and her children can on a ship from some where to New Orleans. That somewhere was perhaps Africa or from another State in America?  

Question: Did the mother and 5 children remain in New Orleans for a while before they were moved to MS? (There were some things in these two sentences that didn't match up with the other records that I have come across.)

By this article, the reader can assume that the mother and her children weren't born in America. Over the years, I wondered. Could there have been another generation that came from Africa? After researching, I did discovered that the mother of Isaac (and the other children) was born in VA. One of the mother's or father's children was born in VA. The mother's other children were born in MO.

I'm not trying to disprove any thing stated in the article: Slavery Descendants to Have First Reunion. I see some things in the article that brings questions. The reporter could have wrote down  incorrect information. Still there was a lot of information in this article. (That was what inspired me to began to search out what I could find.)

Blog Continues:

Part 1: Thoughts: Slavery Descendants to Have First Reunion

  

I can't recall when I first came across this news clipping. I think it was in the late 1970's.  Through the years, I began to search. I searched and I searched. I was trying to find information on the people in the article.

Through the years, I keep reading the article over and over. I gathered up information. I found some clues as I reread the article. But as I gathered more info, some things were mixed up and brought confusion.

Indeed there were so many same name relatives. I wondered, who was who? And questions that made me wonder. Why Blakey? Why White?

I made some interesting discoveries along the journey. Some discoveries, I thought; could never have been found out. I believe what I came across were blessings from God. I was so excited to find out more and more. So, I kept searching.

I couldn't have discovered what I know so far without assistance from others. I'm thankful for the people who God put in my pathway to help me. Thank You, Jesus!

I was hoping to find more people along this journey. And I did come across some contacts with family members through family reunions and some who kept in touch through corresponding through the mail.

What a journey it has been!
Thanks for reading.
Susan

Article: Slavery Descendants To Have First Reunion

 Updating and Correcting some things in this Article.
Introduction: The Article as it was written.





Article written in the early 1970's.
Taken from a Iowa newspaper