GU272 Descendants Reunion

                                                      GU272 DESCENDANTS REUNION

I traveled to Iberville Parish, Louisiana, for the GU272 Descendants Reunion.

Nearly 600 descendants of 272 Jesuit slaves gathered in Rosedale, Louisiana, on June 9, 2018, to reconnect our families and to honor our ancestors. Descendants traveled to Louisiana from: Arizona, Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Korea, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington State, and Washington, D.C. 

Our story began in 1838, when 272 enslaved people were shipped downriver from Maryland to Louisiana. The slaves were placed on three sugar plantations in Ascension, Iberville, and Terrebonne  Parishes.

Several of the descendants gave two-minute speeches, and I was one of them. I talked about how the connection to the Jesuits was made. It was the planning of the Hicks/Estes Reunion that led to the discovery of my family's connection to the Jesuits. My ancestors, Nace and Biby Butler, and their 14 children were enslaved on the St. Inigoes Plantation in St. Mary's County in Maryland. I blogged about it, and my blog was discovered by Richard Cellini, founder of the Georgetown Memory Project, in mid-November 2015. My research revealed that we shared kinship with many descendants of GU272.

The reunion was a collaboration between the GU272 Descendants and the television show, "Finding Your Roots" by Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. The descendants were promised that a GU272 descendant would be present. The celebrity, S. Epatha Merkerson, an actress on the Law & Order TV show, was present, but she was not introduced to the audience. Many of the descendants were disappointed. I met her in the back of the hall, where she was surrounded by police, taking pictures with her.

Aside from that, the reunion was great.  Food was served. My only suggestion is to have the reunion over two days, allowing for a "meet and greet" where we can spend time talking to our new cousins.

AUGUST 25, 1619 - SLAVERY IN AMERICA

I cannot believe I didn't know about the memorial of  400 years of slavery in America when I booked a birding trip to southern Africa in 2019. Had I known, I would have added an extension to visit Ghana.

CELEBRATING JUNETEENTH!

On June 19, 1865,  enslaved people who were living in Texas got the word that they were free - two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. It is the oldest national celebration of the end of slavery in the United States. It was on this day that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas, with the news that the war had ended and the slaves were now free. 

General Granger read to the people in Texas General Order Number 3:

" The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation form the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer.

Today, a video was made of me talking about how our family's reunion led to the discovery of our connection to the Jesuit of Maryland Province. In 2004, our family, the Hicks/Estes family, was planning a family reunion when we discovered 272 people, including our Butler Family, had been enslaved by the Jesuits of Maryland Province. The video will be put on a website hosted by the New England Historic Genealogical Society:

http://gu272americanancestors.org/ 


If you think you descend from the 272 people enslaved by the Jesuits of Maryland, then check out this website to locate your ancestors. 

CELEBRATING JUNETEENTH NOT JULY 4TH!!!

source: Juneteeeth.com

HICKS FAMILY

     Rachel Butler Hicks (seated), James Henry Hicks, spouse (left), Beverly Hicks, son, (right)

courtesy of Katie Pool Primas, granddaughter of Beverly Hicks

After reading the New York Times article about the Jesuit slaveholdings, Katie Pool Primas sent me this photograph of my great-grandparents, Rachel and Henry Hicks, and their son, Beverly. Katy is the granddaughter of Beverly Hicks. I never thought that I would see the faces of my great-grandparents because they were deceased when I was born. With the photo, Katy included the message, "Hoping this will help you."  I was "over the moon" when I received this photograph. Beverly is the older brother of Nace Hicks, my grandfather.

Rachel Butler was born into slavery on Jesse Batey's Maringuion Plantation circa 1852. She was the daughter of two original enslaved people, James Scott, born in 1816, and Mary Butler, born in 1835. Rachel is also the granddaughter of four-enslaved people,  Bennett and Clare Scott and Nace and Biby Butler who were sold to Jesse Batey in 1838. This is a photo of Rachel, my great-grandmother, who was a child of two enslaved people and who was enslaved with them and her grandparents on Jesse Batey's plantation. Henry Hicks, my great-grandfather, was born in Virginia around 1851.  It is not known how and when he arrived in Louisiana.

Update: Beverly Hicks

William Beverly Hicks

1826-1901

I discovered more information about Beverly Hicks. I used the new Freedmen's Bureau records from Family Search which were indexed by more than 25,000 volunteers last year. There were 1,781,463 records released and they added significantly to Beverly Hicks' story.

One thing I learned from the records is Beverly had two wives. I was always conflicted about this because I have seen Beverly and Jane listed as parents in the Diocese of Baton Rouge Catholic Church records and I also have seen Beverly listed with Mary in the census records. The 1870 Federal Census enumerates Beverly with Mary Hicks. There is a marriage certificate for Beverly Hix (sic) and Mary Bird also known as Byrd. They were married on 27 Dec 1864. I have not found a marriage certificate for Beverly and Jane but there is a record that states they were married.

A letter was submitted for consideration and an opinion to Capt. McDonnell. It states:

• Beverly Hicks married a colored woman named Jane (also a slave). They lived together until 1863 when Jane was sold out of state.
• Beverly became free in 1847!!!
• After Jane was sold, Beverly obtained a marriage license in Halifax County and married a free woman named Mary Bird and they lived together since marriage.
• Jane returned to Manchester in 1866(?) where she was owned and lived with Beverly up to the present time. The letter is dated Oct 15, 1866.
• Jane and Beverly have 11 children and support was received from him.
• Mary and Beverly have one child and Mary received support from him.
• Both women claimed Beverly as their "lawfully" husband and want the Right of Possession be speedily determined.
• Beverly runs on the Danville R.R. (I assumed "runs" means work.)

Beverly and Mary were living together according to 1900 Federal Census for Midlothian, Chesterfield, Virginia. On a bank form,  Emma Jane Hicks, 15, and John Hicks, 12, and George Hicks, 10, indicated that Beverly Hicks, their father, left Jane Hicks, their mother, during the war.

The marriage certificate indicates that Beverly's parents are John and Amy Hix. A photo of a gravestone on Find a Grave is inscribed with the name of William Beverly Hicks, birth Apr 9, 1826 and death June 25, 1901. His spouse is Mary A. Byrd Hicks (1846-1927). Children: Thomas Rufus Hicks (1883-1965). Note: The 1900 Federal Census lists Thomas as 17 yrs. so I think that this is our Beverly. The other child who was listed is Alexander Hicks (1886-1950). This is the first time I have seen Alexander's name but they are the ones who buried Beverly. William Beverly Hicks is buried at First Baptist Church Cemetery in Midlothian, VA.

Our family did not know that Beverly Hicks' full name was William Beverly Hicks until I located the grave on Find a Grave.

DNA Links Adopted Child to Jesuit Slave

DNA kits were one of the Christmas gifts I gave to my husband, Jerry, and my daughter, Dana. I was in Cuba when Judy Riffel, the lead genealogist for the Georgetown Memory Project, sent me an email on April 12, 2017. I had no access to WiFi because it was scarce in Cuba. I arrived home on April 16th  , which was Easter Sunday, so needless to say, I didn't check my email until the next day.

Judy stated that a DNA kit I administered to D.J. was a match for Frank Campbell, a man who had been enslaved by the Jesuits of Georgetown and sold downriver to a plantation owner in Louisiana. She also asked me if D. J. was a GU272 descendant, which refers to the 272 slaves sold and the name of the association that the descendants formed. To say I was stunned by this news would be an understatement. 

I immediately sent Judy an email. I told her that D.J. was my daughter Dana Johnson, and I gave her the kit for Christmas. Then I dropped the bombshell: Dana is adopted!  Ordinarily, one would expect my child to be a GU272 descendant because I am a descendant. What are the odds that an adopted child who was born in California in 1971 would be a descendant of a GU272 slave??? We are both GU272 descendants, but descend from different ancestors! My ancestors are the Butlers, and Dana's are the Campbells. I learned of Dana's connection to Frank Campbell on April 17th, the same day an article by Rachel Swarms, published in the New York Times on April 17, 2016, drew worldwide attention to Jesuit slaveholdings.

Who is Frank Campbell? On March 12, 2017, Swarms wrote an article, "A Glimpse Into the Life of a Slave Sold to Save Georgetown," in the NYT. The article was about Frank Campbell, who was a part of the 1838 sale of slaves to Jesse Batey. Frank's photo was discovered in a scrapbook belonging to the Barrow family, a prominent slave-owning family. What is the significance of this photo? It is the only photo that exists of a Jesuit slave who was sold in 1838.

As soon as I learned of my daughter's connection to Frank Campbell, I asked Janette Birch, a member of the Butler Team, to assist me in researching the Campbells in California. I finally had a name to research! Janette sought assistance from Barbara Brazington, another Butler Team member, and a Campbell descendant was located in California. This Campbell is too old to be Dana's father, but he has three sons. The father does not bear the Campbell name, but his mother's maiden name is Campbell. Now all I need to do is determine which of these sons was 20 years old in 1971. 

Another article was published about Frank Campbell on May 24, 2017, "Echoes of Injustices: The image of a slave brings closure to a Terrebonne parish family." This article provided me with the names of the descendants of Frank Campbell. My first reaction was to call, but I decided a letter would be less intrusive. I chose a descendant featured in the article and on TV news, and wrote a letter about my daughter and her connection to their grandfather. I was a little anxious while I awaited a response. Finally, after an agonizing week, I received a response. The descendant agreed to assist me in the search for Dana's father, but needed more information. I looked for my copies of the adoption documents and couldn't find them. They are around here somewhere, probably in one of the boxes in the garage, where it has been since my move to Spokane 12 years ago. I asked my daughter to send her copies, and they are on their way. By the time this article is printed in the Digital Digest, I will have an answer. 

Finding Nace Butler, Jr., The Runaway Jesuit Slave

In November 1838, the Jesuits of Georgetown sold 272 slaves to two plantation owners in Louisiana.  Fifteen of my family members were sold and were shipped downriver on the Katharine Jackson of Georgetown. My great-great-great-grandparents, Nace and Biby Butler, and their 13 children were on that ship, except one, Nace Butler, Jr., who ran away.

Our connection to the Jesuit slaves has been known for approximately 12 years. It was first discovered in the spring of 2004 as the family planned a reunion in New Orleans. I continued to look for Nace, Jr.,  having found a person I suspected was my ancestor buried in the St. Ignatius Church Cemetery, St. Mary's County, Maryland, online on the church's website in 2007.  The website included photos of the church, St. Ignatius, and a list of the people buried in the cemetery.  An Ignatius Butler was listed on parchment in the church, as were Gladys Butler, Lucinda Butler, and Johnston Butler.

The search for Nace, Jr. took on a new life after the Georgetown Memory Project(GMP) was formed. In November 2015, Richard Cellini, an alumnus of Georgetown University,  founded the GMP to identify the enslaved people sold in 1838 and to locate their living descendants. As a member of that organization, a new search was launched, first by me and then by a member of the Butler Research Team. We came to the same conclusion: Ignatius Butler, buried at  St. Ignatius, is our Nace Butler, Jr., the runaway.

I thought we were on the right track when Ignatius "Nace" Butler and his family were located on the 1870 census in St. Inigoes, St. Mary's County, Maryland. His birth date was estimated to be 1818. In the Jesuit Plantation Project records, which include the profiles of the enslaved people, Nace Butler's birth- date is 1818.  

In December 2016, I was contacted by Glendon Stubbs, the great-great-great-grandson of  Ignatius Butler.  He provided me with a descendant chart for Ignatius Butler constructed by Malissa Ruffner, a professional genealogist hired by the GMP. Her research confirmed what we found: Ignatius Butler is the runaway who was born in 1818 and died



  to be continued