Wakefield Plantation

I recently acquired this photo of theWakefield Plantation while visiting St. Francisville, Louisiana. It is also referred to as the Stirling Plantation. Lewis Stirling and his wife, Sarah Turnbull Stirling resided in a 1807 log house until 1834 when the present house was built.

Members of my Morgan and Weathers families were slaves on this plantation.  Many of them were born, raised and died here. Lewis Stirling is their last slaveholder.

Wakefield plantation was originally two and one-half  stories, but in 1877 the house was divided by the heirs and two other houses were built from it. Those two houses later burned, leaving the original diminished house.  The current owners are Dr. Eugene and Jolie Berry. 

During the 42nd Annual Audubon Pilgrimage, March 15, 16, 17, 2013, eight homes will be opened  for tours including the Wakefield Plantation. This pilgrimage celebrates John Audubon's stay at the Oakley Plantation where he tutored a child and painted birds.

Wakefield Plantation

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom 1750 -1925

The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom 1750-1925 by Herbert G. Gutman is a valuable resource for any one researching the origins and culture of the African American families on number of southern plantations.  Information in this book led me to the slave birth registers and family papers of the slave holder of my ancestors. Paying it forward, here is the list of all of the plantations that are studied in Gutman's book:

• Stirling Plantation, West Feliciana Parish, Lousiana
• Carlisle Plantation, Concordia Parish, Lousiana
• Good Hope Plantation, Orangeburg, South Carolina
• John C. Cohoon's Cedar Vale Plantation, Nansemond Couty, Virginia
• Benehan-Cameron Plantation, Orange County, North Caroina
• Henry Watson Plantation, Alabama

Gutman includes charts and tables of family and kinship structures, naming patterns and a few illustrations of birth registers. There was a copy of the birth register which contained complete birth record - day, month, year- for my great-grandmother and two of her siblings.

Stirling Papers - Record of the Births of Negroes

On June 30, 2012, Judy Riffel went to the library at LSU to examine the records of Lewis Stirling, the owner of a cotton and sugar plantation, to look for the births of my ancestors.  She found them on Reel 25 and sent me two TIF files consisting of 24 pages of births records.  I found the names and  birth records for my second and third great-grandparents and their children and a few death records.  Listed below are the entries from the registers:

Major and Fortine; my great-great-great grandparents

George, the son of Major and Fortine, was born Aug 1807; my great-great grandfather
Linder, daughter of Leven and Big Judy, was born Feby 1814; my great-great grandmother
Cecile*, daughter of Linder & Long George, born 17 of Jany 1833
Primus*, son of Linder & L George, born August 21 1834; died of Port Hudson July 1864
George, son of Linder & Long George, born Dec 9th 1836
Lewis, son of Linder & Long George, born October 24th 1838
David Williams, son of Linder & Long George, born Sept 7 1840; died Nov 29 1840
Roseale, daughter of Linder & Long George, born Feby7 1842; died 1847
Luke, son of Linder & Long George, born Feby 14th 1844
Ann, daughter of Linder & Long George, was born July 28th 1845
Jim, son of Linder & Long George, was born October 11th 1847
Wilson, son of Linder & Long George, was born Feby 10th 1849
Martha, daughter of Linder & Long George, was born July 8th 1851; my great grandmother
Roseale, daughter of Linder & Long George was born Oct 5 1855
* some records list Linder as mother and the father is not listed



Leven; my great-great grandfather
Big Judy; my great-great grandmother
Ervin, son of Leven and big Judy, was born May 1810
Linder, daughter of Leven & Big Judy, was born Feby 1814; my great-great grandmother
Eveline, daughter of Leven & Big Judy, was born March 1816
Leven, son of Leven & Big Judy, was born Jany 1820' died jany 23 1857
Caroline, daughter of Leven & B Judy, was born October 1st and died of same 1821
Mary, daughter of Leven & Judi, was born 13 Sept 1822; died Jany 20 1853
Maretta, daughter of B. Judy & Leven, was born May 10th 1825
Henrietta, daughter of Leven & B.Judi, born Jany14th  1829

Gussie's Peony

IN MEMORY OF AUGUSTA HICKS BAYONNE

Today, June 23, 2012, is the one year anniversary of my mother's death.  Our friends, Jack & Sandee Buss, gave me the peony plant last year when I returned from her funeral. Jerry planted it in the strip along the driveway in front our home.  On Wednesday, the single flower on the plant opened and it is still open and in good shape.  What a beautiful way to honor my mother's passing and I hope next year that there are more blossoms.  Mom would loved flowers and would have been especially attracted to this beauty.

The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom 1750-1925

I have had this book for years and did not know that my ancestors were included until a couple of weeks ago. As you can see, it is a used book that I purchased from Half-Price Books in Berkeley, California. I bought it as a reference on plantation life for an article I was writing.

On May 31, 2012, I received an email from my cousin, Michael Willis, that had been written by Shawn Taylor, another cousin. Shawn related that excerpts from The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom 1725-1925 by Herbert G. Gutman contained the names and birth dates of our Morgan family.   This is what I learned from Shawn's email and the book:

• My ancestors resided on the Stirling Plantation in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana. The owner of the plantation was Lewis Stirling.
• My second great grandparents are George Morgan and Linda Weathers. George was also known as Long George. Linda's name was spelled Linder.
• George and Linda had ten childen. Their names and births were listed in a registry. They are George 9 Dec 1836, Lewis 1838, David 1840, Roseale 1842(deceased), Luke 1844, Ann 1845, Jim 1847, Wilson 1849, Martha, my great grandmother, 8 July 1851, and Roseale 1855.
• Leven and Judy Weathers are Linda's parents and my third great grandparents.

The following children were listed on the registry as children of George and Linda  but in other places in the book, they are identified as Linda's children and no father was listed:

• Cecile, daughter of Linder & Long George, born the 17th of Jan 1833.
• Primus, son of Linder and & Long George, born 21 August, 1834.

FINDING THEODORE

I have been searching for grandfather, Theodore Bayonne, since 1999 and was finally successful a couple of weeks ago.  I have the following documents for him in my files:  baptismal record, 1900 census,  reconstructed service record for WWI and a death certificate. 

Every now and then, I  search for my ancestors who lack adequate documentation.  Carrie Taylor, my grandmother and wife of Theodore, is one them.  I looked for Carrie that night and found her in a post of the 1949 City Directory for New Orleans. There he was, listed not as Theodore Bayonne, but as Ferguson F. Bayonne. He was using his middle name! I found six more listings in the New Orleans City Directories ranging from 1916 to 1956, five for Ferguson and one for Theo F.

When I was a little girl, Grandma Carrie told me that my grandfather did not like Noel, his given name, and he never used it. Many years later after I got hooked on genealogy, I found his baptismal entry in the Diocese of Baton Rouge Catholic Church Records, 1886-1888, Volume 17, page 46. Man, as we called him, was  recorded as Noel Ferjus Theodore Bayonne. We knew him as Theodore but most people knew him as Ferguson. Theodore Bayonne is the name on his 1918 draft record and his death certificate.  He is identified as Faragard on the 1900 census, apparently a nickame which I concluded because he was born in December.

No other census records were found for Theodore, so the search goes on.