The 18th day of December in the year of 1845 in St. Clair, St. Clair County, Missouri - Edmun S Nance was born to parents William and Elizabeth Nance. Edmun was their (assumed) first son and fourth child. He lived with his parents and sisters Martha, Nancy and Mary.
When the census taker came around in 1850 the family had grown adding little brothers William and Pleasant - Edmun was about 5 year old at the time.
By the time the census taker came back around ten years later Edmun was about 15 and the family had grown again with the addition of sisters Elizabeth, Lesenby and Oney and also another brother, James. In 1860 Martha Nance had left the family home and the children of William and Elizabeth totaled 10 in all.
By 1870 Elizabeth Nance was a widowed farmer. She seemed to have shared the farm with her son James as both are listed as farmers in the census. A new child is living in the house by the name of Ignatius A Nance, a relation is not given and the child is marked down as 'female' so it is unclear if this was a son or daughter. James is also widowed with a young son living with Elizabeth. It is not 100% clear who's child Ignatius is.
Edmun Nance is living in his own place in 1870 at the age of 25 with his young bride 17 year old Matilda D and their 1 year old son William H Nance. Edmun like his mother is still living in Missouri at this time.
By 1880 however Edmun S Nance is in Scott County, Arkansas with a wife named Mary J. It is assumed that Matilda died some time between 1870 and 1880.
Edmun and Mary seem to be the parents of four children (William H. Nance is known to be Edmun's son by his first wife Matilda). These children are: James born in abt. 1871, Lorry born abt. 1874, William H. born abt. 1875 (not the same as Matilda's son) and Greeley/Goreley born abt. 1872. All the children are listed under the surname Nance and as sons and daughters of Edmun Nance. (It is known that William H. born abt. 1875 and his brother Greeley were Edmun's step-sons and had their own surname (GRAHAM) they are presumed to be the sons of Mary J. - My cousin in Oklahoma is working on getting a copy of Greeley's death certificate to find out more about his parentage.)
(Edit: No luck finding Greeley's death certificate though I have one for his brother William and their half-sister Elizabeth - neither give names for Greeley's parents.)
We jump over the burnt decade of 1890 to 1900 to meet up with the Nance family again.
Edmun is now a widower living in Indian Territory(later called Oklahoma) with step-daughter Mary Ridgley born abt. 1881, daughter Elizabeth Nance born 1883(known to be half-sister of the Graham brothers), step-son John H. Christ born abt. 1884, son Edmun Nance Jr. born abt. 1889 and step-son Greeley Graham.
Next door to Edmun is his grown son William H. Nance with his wife Arnie or Annie Bell (Ester) Nance and their children Tenie Bell, William, James and Albert. Also living with the farmer, William H. Nance, is his step-brother William H. Graham, and his brother-in-law William Ester.
Edmun S Nance, Sr. does not appear in the 1910 Census and is assumed to have died sometime between 1901 and 1910.
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Edmun(d) S. Nance, Sr. is known from Census records to have lived with a woman Matilda D. Nance as husband and wife and are assumed to be the parents of William H. Nance who at a year old lived with them in Missouri in 1870.
Edmun(d) S. Nance, Sr. presumably fathered son James and daughter Laura aka Lorry with Matilda or Mary J.
Edmun was living as husband and wife with Mary J. Nance in 1880 in Arkansas with all his known children plus the Graham brothers who are assumed to have been Mary J.'s sons from a prior marriage or relationship.
It is known that Elizabeth Nance (Edmun Sr's daughter) was a half-sister to the Graham brothers and it is assumed that she is the daughter of Mary J. Nance.
James and Laura Nance are assumed to be children of Matilda Nance as their ages are too close to the Graham brothers for them to share the same mother with them and Elizabeth. However IF it can be shown that Mary J. was not the mother of the Graham brothers she may yet be the mother of James and Laura Nance.
It is assumed that Edmun S. Nance, Sr. married two widows who later died thus leaving him with the step-children Mary Ridgely and John H. Christ (it is just as possible he married a widow and had children with her and some of his younger children are half-siblings to one or the other of his step-children named here).
It is assumed that Edmun's son Edmun S. Nance, Jr. was a half-brother to John, Mary or the Graham brothers as his birth date of abt. 1889 make is nearly impossible for him to be the child of Matilda D. Nance who is assumed to have died or been divorced from Edmun, Sr. before 1880. It is also assumed that Mary J. Nance died sometime between 1880 and 1900. Mary J. Nance was born abt. 1852 and so would have been abt. 48 years old in 1900. If she was the mother of Edmun, Jr. she would have been abt. 37 when he was born. This is plausible, but there is nothing yet to say who the mother of most of Edmun Nance's children and step-children were (to say nothing of the step-children's birth fathers).
(It is possible that some of the step-children had the same mother but different fathers but the closeness in their ages makes it seem less likely to me.)
In 1910 Edmun Nance, Jr. is living in McIntosh County, Oklahoma as a boarder of J. H. Crice and wife Josie Crice. It is assumed due to the similarity in name, age and birth place as well as occupation that J. H. Crice is the same as John H. Christ and thus a step-brother of Edmun, Jr. (more research needed - though the parents' birth places do not match those of John H. Cress son of John and Sarah Cress, who was born abt. the same time as J. H. Crice and John H. Christ ).
Sources:
1850 US Census Missouri;
1860 US Census Missouri;
1870 US Census Missouri;
1880 US Census Mountain Township, Scott County, Arkansas;
1900 US Census Indian Territory, Creek Nation;
An account of Edmun S. Nance, Sr.'s wives and children by Patsy Fink(a granddaughter of Greeley Graham) on the rootsweb message board;
1910 US Census McIntosh County, Oklahoma
Friday, January 16, 2015
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Those Darn GRAHAMs
Greeley or is it Grely or was it Greelie? - Harper Harlis GRAHAM's father. We'll just stick with calling him Greeley for now.
Greeley R GRAHAM who signed his name as G R GRAHAM was born roughly about 1872 in Arkansas to a woman probably named Mary J. and a man with the surname GRAHAM. Greeley also had a brother William Henry "Bill" GRAHAM. It is not clear what happened to Greeley and William's father as yet. Really I can't say for sure that Mary J. is the Graham brothers mother though she seem to fit okay and was one of their step-father's wives (he was widowed a lot it seems).
I know that Greeley R Graham who sometimes went by the name Horace Greeley Graham (though the family didn't call him that) had a brother named William Henry "Bill" Graham. I know that Greeley married Amanda Delina Davis a daughter of Addison White Davis and his wife Mahala Florence (Hemphill) Davis. I know that Greeley's step-brother John H. Christ (Edmun S Nance Greeley's step-father had many step-children) was at Greeley's wedding and is the boy standing next to Greeley and Amanda in their wedding photo.
(Pictured from left to right: John H. Christ - age abt. 17 (may be younger), Greeley R Graham - age 29, Amanda Delina Graham - age 16. Photo taken November 16th, 1901 at G R and Amanda's wedding, in Indian Territory - later known as Oklahoma. Back of photo names the people as John H Christ, Greeley Graham and Amanda Graham and gives G R and Amanda's marriage year and year of photo as 1901.)
1880 Census for Arkansas lists Greeley(though it's hard to tell just how his first name is spelled) and William H Nance along with the other children in the family of Edmun S Nance and his wife Mary J.
Both GRAHAM boys are listed with the surname NANCE, all other records list them under the surname GRAHAM and that is the name they themselves used and passed on to their children.
1900 Census for the same family lists Greeley and William H Graham now as E. S. Nance's step-sons when the 1880 Census had them marked as his sons. E. S. Nance is a listed as a widower.
1910 Census has Greeley Graham still living with his widower Step-father and step-siblings while next door William H. Graham is living with his step-brother William H. Nance and his family. (As is William Nance's brother-in-law Mr. Ester).
Greeley's grandson recalls that as a boy he'd heard his father (Harper Harlis Graham) and his grandfather (Greeley) talk about 'Old Man Nance' before but didn't know at the time who they were talking about. He thinks that Greeley and William thought a lot of their step-father and were ashamed of their birth father as no one ever mentioned him or talked about him. He also prefers to think that Greeley and William's birth father met with some fatal accident than the possibility that the man may have abandoned his wife and young sons.
Greeley R Graham was said to have died in the year 1942 in Oklahoma. So far my dear cousin back in Oklahoma who is trying to order a copy of Greeley's death certificate to see if it says who his parents were, has been told that there are no GRAHAMs at all that died that year in Oklahoma, but they will check the digital records against the old book records. Also said cousin will be asking Greeley's youngest and only still living child(at time of writing this) if he recalls where his father died and when.
Harper Harlis Graham moved from Oklahoma to California roughly around 1944/1945 (known from letters to Harper that it was before April 1945 and his wife Emma died 11 November 1944).
Harper's mother Amanda (DAVIS) GRAHAM died in Los Angles, California (having obviously moved there from Oklahoma).
Greeley died in 1942 according to his gravestone and both he and Amanda are buried in Oklahoma among family.
Greeley R GRAHAM who signed his name as G R GRAHAM was born roughly about 1872 in Arkansas to a woman probably named Mary J. and a man with the surname GRAHAM. Greeley also had a brother William Henry "Bill" GRAHAM. It is not clear what happened to Greeley and William's father as yet. Really I can't say for sure that Mary J. is the Graham brothers mother though she seem to fit okay and was one of their step-father's wives (he was widowed a lot it seems).
I know that Greeley R Graham who sometimes went by the name Horace Greeley Graham (though the family didn't call him that) had a brother named William Henry "Bill" Graham. I know that Greeley married Amanda Delina Davis a daughter of Addison White Davis and his wife Mahala Florence (Hemphill) Davis. I know that Greeley's step-brother John H. Christ (Edmun S Nance Greeley's step-father had many step-children) was at Greeley's wedding and is the boy standing next to Greeley and Amanda in their wedding photo.
1880 Census for Arkansas lists Greeley(though it's hard to tell just how his first name is spelled) and William H Nance along with the other children in the family of Edmun S Nance and his wife Mary J.
Both GRAHAM boys are listed with the surname NANCE, all other records list them under the surname GRAHAM and that is the name they themselves used and passed on to their children.
1900 Census for the same family lists Greeley and William H Graham now as E. S. Nance's step-sons when the 1880 Census had them marked as his sons. E. S. Nance is a listed as a widower.
1910 Census has Greeley Graham still living with his widower Step-father and step-siblings while next door William H. Graham is living with his step-brother William H. Nance and his family. (As is William Nance's brother-in-law Mr. Ester).
Greeley's grandson recalls that as a boy he'd heard his father (Harper Harlis Graham) and his grandfather (Greeley) talk about 'Old Man Nance' before but didn't know at the time who they were talking about. He thinks that Greeley and William thought a lot of their step-father and were ashamed of their birth father as no one ever mentioned him or talked about him. He also prefers to think that Greeley and William's birth father met with some fatal accident than the possibility that the man may have abandoned his wife and young sons.
Greeley R Graham was said to have died in the year 1942 in Oklahoma. So far my dear cousin back in Oklahoma who is trying to order a copy of Greeley's death certificate to see if it says who his parents were, has been told that there are no GRAHAMs at all that died that year in Oklahoma, but they will check the digital records against the old book records. Also said cousin will be asking Greeley's youngest and only still living child(at time of writing this) if he recalls where his father died and when.
Harper Harlis Graham moved from Oklahoma to California roughly around 1944/1945 (known from letters to Harper that it was before April 1945 and his wife Emma died 11 November 1944).
Harper's mother Amanda (DAVIS) GRAHAM died in Los Angles, California (having obviously moved there from Oklahoma).
Greeley died in 1942 according to his gravestone and both he and Amanda are buried in Oklahoma among family.
A Real Life American Girl
The Story of Mary (Carney) McKinsey
Mary was born the 7th of October 1911 in Plains, Seward County, Kansas.
She was the fifth child born to Gilbert Cheney Carney and his wife Annie (Miller) Carney.
Gilbert Carney was the second of seven children born to his parents John C and Susan Ada (Rowan) Carney, and their eldest son. Gilbert was born in Lagrange County, Indiana the 24th of Sepetember 1882.
The 18th of April 1903 he married Anna Elma "Annie" Miller the youngest daughter and 11th child of Joseph P and Martha (Wortinger) Miller. Gilbert was 21 and Annie was 18 when they married.
Gilbert was a farmer. The 5th of July 1903 Treva Carney was born. She was soon followed in 1905 by sister Opal Pauline Carney. In 1906 Gilbert and Annie moved their family of four (two adults and two children) to Seward County, Kansas.
In 1907 Bessie Belle "Bets" Carney was born and in 1909 son Russel J Carney joined the family making six CARNEYs in all.
In 1910 Annie's father Joseph P Miller died and his wife Martha according to the 1910 census was living with their youngest child Otis Miller and a granddaughter(not Otis's child) who's name 'Oyrial' may have been mus-transcribed. (The image is only available through ancestry.com).
I had thought that Martha (Wortinger) Miller had gone to live with her daughter Anna (Miller) Carney by that time but I was mistaken. It is possibly she visited the Carney's as family tradition says that she was present when their fifth child (Mary) was born in 1911. It is said that Martha named the child as Anna was too tired or busy at the time.
This fifth child of Gilbert and Anna Carney was my great grand mother. I knew her as Great Grandma and Mary McKinsey. My great grandmother did not get a birth certificate until she was an old woman with grandchildren.
Interestingly Mary Carney's birth certificate has two interesting errors on it:
Firstly it gives her name as 'Annie Carney'. Now the woman the certificate belonged to went by Mary all her life though later documents add 'Anna' as her middle name.
The second error which might explain the first one is that in the box for the mother's maiden name someone wrote 'Martha Wortinger' then crossed it out and wrote 'Annie Miller' above that. I suggest that Martha (Wortinger) Miller filled out the form and accidentally filled it out for her daughter as the child and herself as the mother before realizing her mistake or alternately Anna (Miller) Carney filled it out and due to fatigue goofed the names. If my great grandmother was meant to be named Annie she never knew it as she was always called Mary and nothing else all her days. (While most of her siblings did go by nicknames they still knew their given names. So it seems unlikely that Mary was a nickname for Annie though not impossible given the family's nicknaming habits).
Going backward a bit. Over in Missouri in the late 1800s lived a coupled named John L and wife Winnie (Dunlap) McKinsey. John was the first son and youngest child of his parents Drury C and Lydia "Ducky" (Brown) McKinsey. After John's mother died his father remarried and John became the big brother of ten little half brothers and sisters.
By the time John's eldest half brother was 8 the older McKinsey brother had married a local girl named Altha Dunlap, better known as Winnie. The couple had eight children, the first died young.
The third of their seven boys Oren Orvile "Orville" McKinsey was born the 26th of April 1904.
The McKinsey family moved from Missouri to Oklahoma around 1901. Twelve years later in 1913 the Carney family also had the idea to move to Oklahoma. Mary their youngest at the time was about two. It is not clear how long the trip took each family. The McKinsey came from Missouri and the Carneys from either Kansas or possibly Indiana (no census records suggest that the Carneys lived in Kansas during a census year).
Mary Carney years later watched a popular television show called 'Little House on the Prairie' with one of her daughters-in-law I have been told (as this daughter-in-law is my maternal grandmother). In the episode the characters had to ford a river and little girls are inside the wagon getting bounced around. My grandmother says that her mother-in-law, my great grandmother, became upset watching the scene as it reminded her of the trip her family had taken when she was a child and how she had been frightened when they had forded a river by wagon when she was small. I do not know how old she was when the Carneys forded a river or which river it may have been. I do have a photo taken around the time they left for Oklahoma or shortly after they arrived there. I can't say for sure but I'd put Mary's age at between 1 and 6 years of age and leaning closer to the younger end than the older end of that. (She's the girl in the wagon in the middle with the hat on).
%2Bb%2B1907%2BMom(Anna)%2C%2BDad(Gilbert)%2BRus%2Bb%2B1909%2Band%2BTreva%2Bb%2B%2B1903%2Bon%2Bhorses.jpg)
(Left to Right: Opal, Mary, Bets, Anna, Rus, Gilbert and Treva Carney) taken - 191? (roughly 1912 -1916)
In Oklahoma the Carney family continued to grow adding son Raymond Gilbert (Dec. 1914 - Jan. 1915) who lived less than a month and two more longer lived sons.
Owen Leonard "Pete" Carney was born in 1918 and Lowell Emerson "Bud" Carney in 1921. And baby sister Retha Iola "Jean" Carney, born in 1925, was the last of Gilbert and Annie's 9 kids. Gilbert and Annie had a thing for nicknames it appears and I imagine they made sense to the family back in the day, but they don't seem to make much sense all this time later.
Now Orvile McKinsey and Mary Carney were both living in Oklahoma in the 1920s. Mary got two more siblings in that decade.
I do not know exactly when Mary and Orvile met or how they met or better yet who introduced them, but I do know they married each other.
My maternal grandmother told me when I asked her about Mary and Orvile(after they had both passed away) that:
'He would buy a pack of gum and they would sit on a bench and chew gum together'.
This was a typical date for the two of them.
It may seem cute or odd, and given the 7 year age difference and that she was 14 or 15 at the time and he was 21 or 22 it may have been for the best that their dates involved sitting on a bench sharing a pack of gum. Depending on when they met and how long they dated they may have been younger.
Mary was born the 7th of October 1911 in Plains, Seward County, Kansas.
She was the fifth child born to Gilbert Cheney Carney and his wife Annie (Miller) Carney.
Gilbert Carney was the second of seven children born to his parents John C and Susan Ada (Rowan) Carney, and their eldest son. Gilbert was born in Lagrange County, Indiana the 24th of Sepetember 1882.
The 18th of April 1903 he married Anna Elma "Annie" Miller the youngest daughter and 11th child of Joseph P and Martha (Wortinger) Miller. Gilbert was 21 and Annie was 18 when they married.
Gilbert was a farmer. The 5th of July 1903 Treva Carney was born. She was soon followed in 1905 by sister Opal Pauline Carney. In 1906 Gilbert and Annie moved their family of four (two adults and two children) to Seward County, Kansas.
In 1907 Bessie Belle "Bets" Carney was born and in 1909 son Russel J Carney joined the family making six CARNEYs in all.
In 1910 Annie's father Joseph P Miller died and his wife Martha according to the 1910 census was living with their youngest child Otis Miller and a granddaughter(not Otis's child) who's name 'Oyrial' may have been mus-transcribed. (The image is only available through ancestry.com).
I had thought that Martha (Wortinger) Miller had gone to live with her daughter Anna (Miller) Carney by that time but I was mistaken. It is possibly she visited the Carney's as family tradition says that she was present when their fifth child (Mary) was born in 1911. It is said that Martha named the child as Anna was too tired or busy at the time.
This fifth child of Gilbert and Anna Carney was my great grand mother. I knew her as Great Grandma and Mary McKinsey. My great grandmother did not get a birth certificate until she was an old woman with grandchildren.
Interestingly Mary Carney's birth certificate has two interesting errors on it:
Firstly it gives her name as 'Annie Carney'. Now the woman the certificate belonged to went by Mary all her life though later documents add 'Anna' as her middle name.
The second error which might explain the first one is that in the box for the mother's maiden name someone wrote 'Martha Wortinger' then crossed it out and wrote 'Annie Miller' above that. I suggest that Martha (Wortinger) Miller filled out the form and accidentally filled it out for her daughter as the child and herself as the mother before realizing her mistake or alternately Anna (Miller) Carney filled it out and due to fatigue goofed the names. If my great grandmother was meant to be named Annie she never knew it as she was always called Mary and nothing else all her days. (While most of her siblings did go by nicknames they still knew their given names. So it seems unlikely that Mary was a nickname for Annie though not impossible given the family's nicknaming habits).
Going backward a bit. Over in Missouri in the late 1800s lived a coupled named John L and wife Winnie (Dunlap) McKinsey. John was the first son and youngest child of his parents Drury C and Lydia "Ducky" (Brown) McKinsey. After John's mother died his father remarried and John became the big brother of ten little half brothers and sisters.
By the time John's eldest half brother was 8 the older McKinsey brother had married a local girl named Altha Dunlap, better known as Winnie. The couple had eight children, the first died young.
The third of their seven boys Oren Orvile "Orville" McKinsey was born the 26th of April 1904.
The McKinsey family moved from Missouri to Oklahoma around 1901. Twelve years later in 1913 the Carney family also had the idea to move to Oklahoma. Mary their youngest at the time was about two. It is not clear how long the trip took each family. The McKinsey came from Missouri and the Carneys from either Kansas or possibly Indiana (no census records suggest that the Carneys lived in Kansas during a census year).
Mary Carney years later watched a popular television show called 'Little House on the Prairie' with one of her daughters-in-law I have been told (as this daughter-in-law is my maternal grandmother). In the episode the characters had to ford a river and little girls are inside the wagon getting bounced around. My grandmother says that her mother-in-law, my great grandmother, became upset watching the scene as it reminded her of the trip her family had taken when she was a child and how she had been frightened when they had forded a river by wagon when she was small. I do not know how old she was when the Carneys forded a river or which river it may have been. I do have a photo taken around the time they left for Oklahoma or shortly after they arrived there. I can't say for sure but I'd put Mary's age at between 1 and 6 years of age and leaning closer to the younger end than the older end of that. (She's the girl in the wagon in the middle with the hat on).
%2Bb%2B1907%2BMom(Anna)%2C%2BDad(Gilbert)%2BRus%2Bb%2B1909%2Band%2BTreva%2Bb%2B%2B1903%2Bon%2Bhorses.jpg)
In Oklahoma the Carney family continued to grow adding son Raymond Gilbert (Dec. 1914 - Jan. 1915) who lived less than a month and two more longer lived sons.
Owen Leonard "Pete" Carney was born in 1918 and Lowell Emerson "Bud" Carney in 1921. And baby sister Retha Iola "Jean" Carney, born in 1925, was the last of Gilbert and Annie's 9 kids. Gilbert and Annie had a thing for nicknames it appears and I imagine they made sense to the family back in the day, but they don't seem to make much sense all this time later.
Now Orvile McKinsey and Mary Carney were both living in Oklahoma in the 1920s. Mary got two more siblings in that decade.
I do not know exactly when Mary and Orvile met or how they met or better yet who introduced them, but I do know they married each other.
My maternal grandmother told me when I asked her about Mary and Orvile(after they had both passed away) that:
'He would buy a pack of gum and they would sit on a bench and chew gum together'.
This was a typical date for the two of them.
It may seem cute or odd, and given the 7 year age difference and that she was 14 or 15 at the time and he was 21 or 22 it may have been for the best that their dates involved sitting on a bench sharing a pack of gum. Depending on when they met and how long they dated they may have been younger.
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Edit: The same grandmother (daughter-in-law of Mary and Orvile) who told me about their chewing gum dates also implied that Orvile had originally had his eye on Mary's older sister, but Mary made it so he dated her instead - I do not recall the details of the story as there was not much said and my grandmother who told me this is unable to remember such stories clearly anymore.
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Mary Carney and Owen Orvile McKinsey were married the 23rd of November 1926 in Custer County, Oklahoma.
Now the paperwork clearly says that the girl in these situations has to have a parents permission to marry if she's under age.
Gilbert Carney, Mary's father, was it seems in poor health around this time and around 1929-ish(the news clipping is missing a date) he had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance after he had a bad turn while out visiting a Dr. for something. I'm summarizing what was printed.
It is possible that Gilbert's condition had been bad in 1926 and that his wife Anna had to take care of him. This of course is me guessing at reasons for things.
Whatever it was Mary did not have a signed permission slip from either parent to get married at age 15.
So she and Orvile fudged it and he being the one to fill out the form he put her age down as ... 20. I'm guessing the person filing the paperwork never saw the couple in person as I doubt15 year old Mary could have easily passed for 20.
The first of Mary and Orvile's four sons was born the following year (7 months after their marriage).
Gerald LeRoy McKinsey born to Orvile and Mary (Carney) McKinsey the 29th of May 1927.
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(Left to Right: Bessie Bell "Bets" (Carney) Sevier holding nephew Gerald LeRoy McKinsey, Owen Leonard "Bud" Carney standing in front of Bets, little Retha Lola "Jean" Carney between her brothers, Mary (Carney) McKinsey - girl in the pale shirt in back and mother of the baby,
Lowel Emerson "Pete" Carney standing in front of Mary.)
Mary would have been 16 - 18 at this time. (photo taken about 1927-1929).
Between 1929 when my late grandfather was born(in Oklahoma) and 1933 when the first of his two younger brothers was born (in California) Orvile and Mary moved their family of four to the west coast or near enough, settling for good in Stanislaus County, California. The family added two more sons ending up with a total of four sons in all and no daughters.
Their older two boys passed away in their 60s. The family has mostly stayed in California with only a few grandchildren and great grandchildren moving out of state(to my knowledge).
Oren Orvile McKinsey preceded his eldest son in death and followed my grandfather, his second son. Orvile, to my knowledge, was very ill for a very long time or at least it seemed that way to me.
I personally only knew him as a frail scary seeming old man that lay in a hospital bed at my great grandma's house. I remember only vaguely knowing that he was my great grandpa, but not knowing how to talk to him or if I should talk to him. I was maybe seven-ish at the time(I'm bad at remembering when things happened and I'm not all that old yet.) I recall that he couldn't talk and he didn't move. His head moved a tiny bit from side to side and he could move his eyes and his fingers a little bit. My sister and I had to squeeze past the end of his bed to get to the play room (a former guest bedroom) to play with the few toys Great Grandma kept at her house. There was an old night stand with maybe three kids books in it. I think one was an old Donald Duck or Micky Mouse comic book or something like that and one may have been a Little Golden book. The sliding closest had a few toys in it though I only remember the large tub of army men figures and some big toy army trucks that may have gone with them. The army men were mostly small, green and stuck in one pose. There were some that were a different shade of green and at least one that was not quite Barbie size and painted a bit more realistically. I can't remember now if he had moving limbs or was stuck in one pose. I also remember Great Grandma would have a plate full of different flavors of cheap wafer cookies the stick ones that are pink or yellow-white or chocolate with a thin layer of cream between the waffle print wafers. I would always pull mine apart and just eat the cream from the middles because I didn't(and still don't) like the wafer part. Great Grandma's house was very small and everywhere there were figurines of elephants. I remember crouching down beside Great Grandma's chair next to her little elephant case that held most of her collection (other bigger pieces sat on tables and on top of the boxy television set). I remember being a little kid and just looking at those elephants and being told not to touch them. I remember sitting in that spot and asking Great Grandma 'Great Grandma, in a long time, when you die, could I maybe have your elephant case? After you die.'(I was trying to word it in such as way as to not offend her or make her think I wanted her to die so I could get her stuff or that I was greedy). Those may not be the exact words I said but it's close enough. I recall saying something to the effect of 'when you die' and 'can I have your elephant case' and my mother making a breathing noise that suggested that I'd said something wrong. I also remember my Great Grandma not minding what I said in the least (which made me confused as to why my mother was upset if Great Grandma wasn't) and she smiled and I think maybe she chuckled and agreed. I must have mentioned that story to my mother ever so often over the years as nothing was written down, it was only a verbal agreement between an old lady and a little girl, something that could be easily forgotten over time.
My great grandpa Orvile McKinsey (alternately Owen Orvile McKinsey - though the old family bible has it written as Oren Orvile McKinsey by his mother) died the 6th of February 1994. I don't remember much about him dying or the funeral, I doubt I went as I was only 9 years old at the time. I do remember being told that he died and I remember the hospital bed wasn't in Great Grandma's house anymore which made getting to the play room much easier. As I hadn't really known the man during the short time that our lives overlapped I never really felt any strong emotions when he wasn't there anymore. In hindsight I can look back and think about how he may have felt in that bed and about how I treated him and felt sad about it, but I was very young back then and didn't know better, you could say. Half the time I knew he was my great grandpa and felt a bit bad about things, I remember trying once to talk to him when I was maybe 8 or 9 and I think he tired to reply as he made a noise with his mouth and looked at me. Before that the other half the time he was a stranger, a strange very old person that was in a hospital bed in my Great Grandma's house for reasons unknown to me that I had to sneak by to get to the toys in the play room and he was due to his illness which I then had very little knowledge of(not that it would have made a difference) and very scary. It didn't help that I was a timid child anyway and it had taken me a long time to warm up to my great grandma who was the oldest member of the family(other than my great grandpa Orvile though to very young me they seemed not that far apart in age).
My Maternal grandpa, my mother's father, was born in 1929 in Oklahoma and died in 1990 in California. I don't remember him at all. I do remember playing with a foil balloon my grandma had bought to take to him in the hospital. I was patting it and batting at it(it had a straw at one end, and hugging it and stuff and then it popped and I cried because I'd popped Grandpa's balloon and I assumed I'd get in trouble for popping his balloon. I was also upset that we didn't have a balloon to take to him - and that was my fault. I was 5 or 6 at the time, the idea of leaving the balloon alone, I'm sure, had not entered my head once that day. I didn't get in trouble. I suspect the constant crying prevented Grandma from getting too mad at me, though I know she'd told me not to pop the balloon earlier and to be careful with it. It, I think, it was maybe red? I do know it had a picture of a band-aid on it. There may have been writing but I don't remember any on it.
In 1998 I was in my last year of Junior High (I was 14/15). I remember getting called at home from school by my mom and then sitting in the van on the street Great Grandma's house was on. Mom wouldn't let me or my sister(I think she was there too) out of the car. I was told my great grandma, Mary McKinsey had, had a heart attack. Later I was told that she had died. The details came out slowly over the next week and I remember that funeral. I remember my mom and aunt crying and seeing relatives I didn't know I had (up until then I had though that my maternal grandmother was an only child which she wasn't as her older sister(Sara) was there - I think. So sister of a daughter-in-law to the then newly deceased). I remember people going up to talk about my great grandma during the funeral and some told stories. This was where I heard the story that:
'Mary had a horse that she'd ride to school every day. And she'd tie the horse up and he was a smart horse and he knew how to get his rope untied. And so she'd tie him up and go in to school and he'd untie himself and go home so she had to walk home everyday.' (paraphrased). I think the horse was named 'Pet', but that may have been a different horse Mary owned.
I did end up with the elephants that had filled my great grandma's house, but not the little case with the sliding glass doors they had been kept in when I was little. Someone else had got that. Instead I got the open wooden shelves they'd sat on when my mother was a child. My mother was very pleased with this. I was not. In hindsight I was big brat about it. I had thought that the case they were in came with the elephants so it took a looong time for me to get over that imagined injustice. I don't remember exactly when I got over it but it doesn't bother me now many years later. My dad made me a new case for my elephants which is more than double the size of the little case Mary had them in when I was a child and the figurines are far less exposed now then when they were on the small wooden shelf I got with them.
Mary Carney and Owen Orvile McKinsey were married the 23rd of November 1926 in Custer County, Oklahoma.
Now the paperwork clearly says that the girl in these situations has to have a parents permission to marry if she's under age.
Gilbert Carney, Mary's father, was it seems in poor health around this time and around 1929-ish(the news clipping is missing a date) he had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance after he had a bad turn while out visiting a Dr. for something. I'm summarizing what was printed.
It is possible that Gilbert's condition had been bad in 1926 and that his wife Anna had to take care of him. This of course is me guessing at reasons for things.
Whatever it was Mary did not have a signed permission slip from either parent to get married at age 15.
So she and Orvile fudged it and he being the one to fill out the form he put her age down as ... 20. I'm guessing the person filing the paperwork never saw the couple in person as I doubt15 year old Mary could have easily passed for 20.
The first of Mary and Orvile's four sons was born the following year (7 months after their marriage).
Gerald LeRoy McKinsey born to Orvile and Mary (Carney) McKinsey the 29th of May 1927.
%2Bholding%2BGerald%2BMcKinsey%2Bb%2B1927%2C%2BMary%2BMcKinsey%2BFront%2B-Bud(Lowell)%2C%2BJean(Reatha)%2Bb%2B1925%2C%2BPete(Owen)%2BCarney.jpg)
(Left to Right: Bessie Bell "Bets" (Carney) Sevier holding nephew Gerald LeRoy McKinsey, Owen Leonard "Bud" Carney standing in front of Bets, little Retha Lola "Jean" Carney between her brothers, Mary (Carney) McKinsey - girl in the pale shirt in back and mother of the baby,
Lowel Emerson "Pete" Carney standing in front of Mary.)
Mary would have been 16 - 18 at this time. (photo taken about 1927-1929).
Between 1929 when my late grandfather was born(in Oklahoma) and 1933 when the first of his two younger brothers was born (in California) Orvile and Mary moved their family of four to the west coast or near enough, settling for good in Stanislaus County, California. The family added two more sons ending up with a total of four sons in all and no daughters.
Their older two boys passed away in their 60s. The family has mostly stayed in California with only a few grandchildren and great grandchildren moving out of state(to my knowledge).
Oren Orvile McKinsey preceded his eldest son in death and followed my grandfather, his second son. Orvile, to my knowledge, was very ill for a very long time or at least it seemed that way to me.
I personally only knew him as a frail scary seeming old man that lay in a hospital bed at my great grandma's house. I remember only vaguely knowing that he was my great grandpa, but not knowing how to talk to him or if I should talk to him. I was maybe seven-ish at the time(I'm bad at remembering when things happened and I'm not all that old yet.) I recall that he couldn't talk and he didn't move. His head moved a tiny bit from side to side and he could move his eyes and his fingers a little bit. My sister and I had to squeeze past the end of his bed to get to the play room (a former guest bedroom) to play with the few toys Great Grandma kept at her house. There was an old night stand with maybe three kids books in it. I think one was an old Donald Duck or Micky Mouse comic book or something like that and one may have been a Little Golden book. The sliding closest had a few toys in it though I only remember the large tub of army men figures and some big toy army trucks that may have gone with them. The army men were mostly small, green and stuck in one pose. There were some that were a different shade of green and at least one that was not quite Barbie size and painted a bit more realistically. I can't remember now if he had moving limbs or was stuck in one pose. I also remember Great Grandma would have a plate full of different flavors of cheap wafer cookies the stick ones that are pink or yellow-white or chocolate with a thin layer of cream between the waffle print wafers. I would always pull mine apart and just eat the cream from the middles because I didn't(and still don't) like the wafer part. Great Grandma's house was very small and everywhere there were figurines of elephants. I remember crouching down beside Great Grandma's chair next to her little elephant case that held most of her collection (other bigger pieces sat on tables and on top of the boxy television set). I remember being a little kid and just looking at those elephants and being told not to touch them. I remember sitting in that spot and asking Great Grandma 'Great Grandma, in a long time, when you die, could I maybe have your elephant case? After you die.'(I was trying to word it in such as way as to not offend her or make her think I wanted her to die so I could get her stuff or that I was greedy). Those may not be the exact words I said but it's close enough. I recall saying something to the effect of 'when you die' and 'can I have your elephant case' and my mother making a breathing noise that suggested that I'd said something wrong. I also remember my Great Grandma not minding what I said in the least (which made me confused as to why my mother was upset if Great Grandma wasn't) and she smiled and I think maybe she chuckled and agreed. I must have mentioned that story to my mother ever so often over the years as nothing was written down, it was only a verbal agreement between an old lady and a little girl, something that could be easily forgotten over time.
My great grandpa Orvile McKinsey (alternately Owen Orvile McKinsey - though the old family bible has it written as Oren Orvile McKinsey by his mother) died the 6th of February 1994. I don't remember much about him dying or the funeral, I doubt I went as I was only 9 years old at the time. I do remember being told that he died and I remember the hospital bed wasn't in Great Grandma's house anymore which made getting to the play room much easier. As I hadn't really known the man during the short time that our lives overlapped I never really felt any strong emotions when he wasn't there anymore. In hindsight I can look back and think about how he may have felt in that bed and about how I treated him and felt sad about it, but I was very young back then and didn't know better, you could say. Half the time I knew he was my great grandpa and felt a bit bad about things, I remember trying once to talk to him when I was maybe 8 or 9 and I think he tired to reply as he made a noise with his mouth and looked at me. Before that the other half the time he was a stranger, a strange very old person that was in a hospital bed in my Great Grandma's house for reasons unknown to me that I had to sneak by to get to the toys in the play room and he was due to his illness which I then had very little knowledge of(not that it would have made a difference) and very scary. It didn't help that I was a timid child anyway and it had taken me a long time to warm up to my great grandma who was the oldest member of the family(other than my great grandpa Orvile though to very young me they seemed not that far apart in age).
My Maternal grandpa, my mother's father, was born in 1929 in Oklahoma and died in 1990 in California. I don't remember him at all. I do remember playing with a foil balloon my grandma had bought to take to him in the hospital. I was patting it and batting at it(it had a straw at one end, and hugging it and stuff and then it popped and I cried because I'd popped Grandpa's balloon and I assumed I'd get in trouble for popping his balloon. I was also upset that we didn't have a balloon to take to him - and that was my fault. I was 5 or 6 at the time, the idea of leaving the balloon alone, I'm sure, had not entered my head once that day. I didn't get in trouble. I suspect the constant crying prevented Grandma from getting too mad at me, though I know she'd told me not to pop the balloon earlier and to be careful with it. It, I think, it was maybe red? I do know it had a picture of a band-aid on it. There may have been writing but I don't remember any on it.
In 1998 I was in my last year of Junior High (I was 14/15). I remember getting called at home from school by my mom and then sitting in the van on the street Great Grandma's house was on. Mom wouldn't let me or my sister(I think she was there too) out of the car. I was told my great grandma, Mary McKinsey had, had a heart attack. Later I was told that she had died. The details came out slowly over the next week and I remember that funeral. I remember my mom and aunt crying and seeing relatives I didn't know I had (up until then I had though that my maternal grandmother was an only child which she wasn't as her older sister(Sara) was there - I think. So sister of a daughter-in-law to the then newly deceased). I remember people going up to talk about my great grandma during the funeral and some told stories. This was where I heard the story that:
'Mary had a horse that she'd ride to school every day. And she'd tie the horse up and he was a smart horse and he knew how to get his rope untied. And so she'd tie him up and go in to school and he'd untie himself and go home so she had to walk home everyday.' (paraphrased). I think the horse was named 'Pet', but that may have been a different horse Mary owned.
I did end up with the elephants that had filled my great grandma's house, but not the little case with the sliding glass doors they had been kept in when I was little. Someone else had got that. Instead I got the open wooden shelves they'd sat on when my mother was a child. My mother was very pleased with this. I was not. In hindsight I was big brat about it. I had thought that the case they were in came with the elephants so it took a looong time for me to get over that imagined injustice. I don't remember exactly when I got over it but it doesn't bother me now many years later. My dad made me a new case for my elephants which is more than double the size of the little case Mary had them in when I was a child and the figurines are far less exposed now then when they were on the small wooden shelf I got with them.
Guilty or Innocent?
I am female. I was born in 1984. I have very pale skin coloring which in generally called 'white'. I was born, raised and still reside in California. Each of my four grandparents' families moved to California from other states in the East, usually called Southern states or the South. My maternal Grandmother's family moved a lot and left Arkansas to settle in California. Her husband was born in Oklahoma but his family was previously from Missouri some generations back. My paternal Grandfather's family moved from Missouri to California (their forefathers having left Maryland to settle in Missouri many many years before). His wife's family was from Oklahoma. Both my parents and my two siblings were all born in California and as three of my four grandparents are deceased it is doubtful my nephew will ever pick up the old Missouri/Oklahoma speech patterns I annoyed my mother with from spending so much time around my paternal grandparents.
I and my siblings have never owned another human as a slave nor is such a practice legal anymore in the country we live in at the time of writing this.
My parents never owned slaves nor did their parents or grandparents or great grandparents.
I suspect that most 'white' people don't know their family's history as far back as the Civil War. If this is true they would have very little knowledge if their ancestors had ever owned slaves or not.
I could make assumptions about strangers ancestry but instead I will use my own real known ancestry via my paternal line as it is the most researched and I feel more connected to it since those ancestors share my last name.
As stated I have never owned slaves, my father has never owned slaves, my paternal grandfather has never owned slaves and his father (my great great grandfather) never owned slaves.
So that's me, my father, my paternal grandfather, my great grandfather and great great grandfather who never owned slaves.
My paternal grandfather, who is deceased, was Maurice Glen Bradford (1926 - 2012) was a son of Glen James and Clara Mae (Foster) Bradford. (Maurice - we pronounced it as 'Morse'.)
Glen James Bradford (1891 - 1974) was the son of James Andrew Bradford (1848 - 1932), my great great grandfather.
James Bradford never, on paper, owned slaves. James was never the legal owner to my knowledge of any slaves. James was a son of Isaac Neely Bradford, Sr. (1805 - 1872), my great great great grandfather. That's five generations from I. N. Bradford to me the author.
Isaac Neely Bradford like his father Adam (1775 - 1849) and his grandfather (Samuel Bradford 1744 or before - 1811/12) before him - owned slaves.
In the 1850 slave census I. N. Bradford owned 13 humans as his personal property. One of which Louis Bradford was bought from the estate of the deceased Samuel Vance (Isaac's father-in-law) at the age of about 6 months with his 30-ish year old mother Hannah. After the law of the land required all slaves to go free, Louis Bradford - note freed slaves picked their own last names and Louis' parents picked a different last name for themselves than he did according to his death certificate - Louis stayed in the same area his former owners lived in and was good friends with the grown children of his former master (I. N. Bradford). Louis himself was quoted as saying that his former owners were good people. And other accounts from slaves born into slavery and raised as slaves did not automatically think well of their masters so it should not be assumed that Louis said these things only because he was born and raised as a slave.
I personally do not approve of slavery. This is because of how I was raised, which factors in that the practice is illegal and has been for many generations now.
Isaac Neely Bradford, Sr. was not just a slave owner. He was a well respected member of his community in Missouri and his father Adam was one of the brothers which Brafordville, Kentucky was named after (the other being Adam's older brother Peter).
Isaac Neely Bradford was a hard working business man and he, also with his close friend Lindsely Coppedge, had a school built and hired the best teachers from back East to teach in it.
Isaac also had a mansion house, but so did many others of his position in those days.
Isaac Neely Bradford was named after his maternal grandfather Isaac Neely who along with his wife was killed and scalped by an unspecified group of Native Americans. Isaac Neely was noted as a redhead in the news clipping about his death. His son was also with Isaac Neeley and his wife at the time and fought back killing one of the Natives and getting away with his life. (Interestingly my father's sister was born with red hair.)
Adam Bradford the father of Isaac Neely Bradford was a settler and he drank too much. He also owned slaves.
Samuel Bradford, Adam's father, was a Private in Squad 6 of Captain William Purnell's Company in the Sinepuxin Battlion of Worcester County Maryland during the Revolutionary War (the American Revolution). He was born roughly between 1730 and 1744 possibly in the colony/state of Maryland. His date of birth and place of birth are unknown. It is not know who his parents may have been either or when his family first came to the New World. Samuel fathered 13 children. Sam is no relation (DNA says so) of Governor William Bradford though his eldest was named William.
John, Deliah, Lida, Comfort and Mary Bradford were all minors and unmarried (under 18 for the girls and under 21 for John) when their father made his will in 1811.
Samuel Bradford died sometime between August 24th 1811 and February 11th 1812. Sam is known to have owned at least one slave and, given that both his son Adam and grandson Isaac owned several slaves, it is not a big stretch to think that Samuel may have owned several as well though I only have proof for one slaved owned by him and it is from a second or more hand account.
It is unlikely that Sam ever saw battle and at one point it was rumored that the group of men he was with were among those that sympathized with the British. If this is true Sam at least stayed with the Colonial side and never to my knowledge sided with the British publicly. However his great grandsons through Isaac joined the Confederates during the Civil War. (Not the grandson through which I am descended as he was too old to fight compared to his half-brothers who did serve).
I've yet to find a Union man in my ancestry.
(Edit: Found a Union man - on my mother's side of the family. Still none on the Bradford side).
Getting back on topic, I am white and the first three earliest known generations of my paternal line owned slaves. If you count the children of slave owners as part owners of their parents' slaves even if they never legally owned any themselves as slave owners then that makes four generations.
That is five generations back from me and six from my nephew who was born earlier this year(he's not even 'white' he's a 1/4 Chinese - culturally he's somewhere in between the two).
My thoughts:
Did my ancestors own slaves?
Yes.
Is slavery wrong?
Yes.
Am I ashamed of my ancestors for owning slaves?
No.
I'm not crazy about Adam Bradford for being a drunk, never going to Church with his wife and kids and being a nut in his older years riding about the countryside on his favorite horse Rachel in his bathrobe while drunk or not so sober and generally being a pain to the point his wife split time living with her kids and not with him.
I am proud of Isaac Neely Bradford for building a school and being a respected man so many people though highly of.
I am proud that Samuel "Sam" Braford (sic) was willing to fight against the British for America's freedom (even if he never fought anyone).
I am not proud nor ashamed of any of these three men for owning slaves. It was wrong of them to do it and nothing much can be done to change what has been done. (I do not have a time machine nor the talent to talk someone into changing their world view so much even if I did have one).
I am not responsible for the actions of people I never met who died centuries before I was born. Their actions do not carry down to me as if they left debts unpaid that I was expected or required to deal with.
I have not as yet found anything to strongly suggests that any children were born between my ancestors and any of their slaves - which I am glad for. Should I find this to be so at some later date either in this line of the family or another line I would be a bit upset but not surprised as such things did happen in those days - they were not right but they did happen.
Most white people back in the day did not own slaves. Less than 10% if I recall correctly owned slaves, my ancestors just happened to be in that minority - most of my ancestors so far have not and did not to the best of my knowledge own slaves - they were too poor or too living in Europe and poor (most likely) to own slaves. I've read that the German when they came over (in the 1700s - 1800s at least) were very against slavery.
This was more venting than anything with a little genealogy mixed in.
I and my siblings have never owned another human as a slave nor is such a practice legal anymore in the country we live in at the time of writing this.
My parents never owned slaves nor did their parents or grandparents or great grandparents.
I suspect that most 'white' people don't know their family's history as far back as the Civil War. If this is true they would have very little knowledge if their ancestors had ever owned slaves or not.
I could make assumptions about strangers ancestry but instead I will use my own real known ancestry via my paternal line as it is the most researched and I feel more connected to it since those ancestors share my last name.
As stated I have never owned slaves, my father has never owned slaves, my paternal grandfather has never owned slaves and his father (my great great grandfather) never owned slaves.
So that's me, my father, my paternal grandfather, my great grandfather and great great grandfather who never owned slaves.
My paternal grandfather, who is deceased, was Maurice Glen Bradford (1926 - 2012) was a son of Glen James and Clara Mae (Foster) Bradford. (Maurice - we pronounced it as 'Morse'.)
Glen James Bradford (1891 - 1974) was the son of James Andrew Bradford (1848 - 1932), my great great grandfather.
James Bradford never, on paper, owned slaves. James was never the legal owner to my knowledge of any slaves. James was a son of Isaac Neely Bradford, Sr. (1805 - 1872), my great great great grandfather. That's five generations from I. N. Bradford to me the author.
Isaac Neely Bradford like his father Adam (1775 - 1849) and his grandfather (Samuel Bradford 1744 or before - 1811/12) before him - owned slaves.
In the 1850 slave census I. N. Bradford owned 13 humans as his personal property. One of which Louis Bradford was bought from the estate of the deceased Samuel Vance (Isaac's father-in-law) at the age of about 6 months with his 30-ish year old mother Hannah. After the law of the land required all slaves to go free, Louis Bradford - note freed slaves picked their own last names and Louis' parents picked a different last name for themselves than he did according to his death certificate - Louis stayed in the same area his former owners lived in and was good friends with the grown children of his former master (I. N. Bradford). Louis himself was quoted as saying that his former owners were good people. And other accounts from slaves born into slavery and raised as slaves did not automatically think well of their masters so it should not be assumed that Louis said these things only because he was born and raised as a slave.
I personally do not approve of slavery. This is because of how I was raised, which factors in that the practice is illegal and has been for many generations now.
Isaac Neely Bradford, Sr. was not just a slave owner. He was a well respected member of his community in Missouri and his father Adam was one of the brothers which Brafordville, Kentucky was named after (the other being Adam's older brother Peter).
Isaac Neely Bradford was a hard working business man and he, also with his close friend Lindsely Coppedge, had a school built and hired the best teachers from back East to teach in it.
Isaac also had a mansion house, but so did many others of his position in those days.
Isaac Neely Bradford was named after his maternal grandfather Isaac Neely who along with his wife was killed and scalped by an unspecified group of Native Americans. Isaac Neely was noted as a redhead in the news clipping about his death. His son was also with Isaac Neeley and his wife at the time and fought back killing one of the Natives and getting away with his life. (Interestingly my father's sister was born with red hair.)
Adam Bradford the father of Isaac Neely Bradford was a settler and he drank too much. He also owned slaves.
Samuel Bradford, Adam's father, was a Private in Squad 6 of Captain William Purnell's Company in the Sinepuxin Battlion of Worcester County Maryland during the Revolutionary War (the American Revolution). He was born roughly between 1730 and 1744 possibly in the colony/state of Maryland. His date of birth and place of birth are unknown. It is not know who his parents may have been either or when his family first came to the New World. Samuel fathered 13 children. Sam is no relation (DNA says so) of Governor William Bradford though his eldest was named William.
John, Deliah, Lida, Comfort and Mary Bradford were all minors and unmarried (under 18 for the girls and under 21 for John) when their father made his will in 1811.
Samuel Bradford died sometime between August 24th 1811 and February 11th 1812. Sam is known to have owned at least one slave and, given that both his son Adam and grandson Isaac owned several slaves, it is not a big stretch to think that Samuel may have owned several as well though I only have proof for one slaved owned by him and it is from a second or more hand account.
It is unlikely that Sam ever saw battle and at one point it was rumored that the group of men he was with were among those that sympathized with the British. If this is true Sam at least stayed with the Colonial side and never to my knowledge sided with the British publicly. However his great grandsons through Isaac joined the Confederates during the Civil War. (Not the grandson through which I am descended as he was too old to fight compared to his half-brothers who did serve).
I've yet to find a Union man in my ancestry.
(Edit: Found a Union man - on my mother's side of the family. Still none on the Bradford side).
Getting back on topic, I am white and the first three earliest known generations of my paternal line owned slaves. If you count the children of slave owners as part owners of their parents' slaves even if they never legally owned any themselves as slave owners then that makes four generations.
That is five generations back from me and six from my nephew who was born earlier this year(he's not even 'white' he's a 1/4 Chinese - culturally he's somewhere in between the two).
My thoughts:
Did my ancestors own slaves?
Yes.
Is slavery wrong?
Yes.
Am I ashamed of my ancestors for owning slaves?
No.
I'm not crazy about Adam Bradford for being a drunk, never going to Church with his wife and kids and being a nut in his older years riding about the countryside on his favorite horse Rachel in his bathrobe while drunk or not so sober and generally being a pain to the point his wife split time living with her kids and not with him.
I am proud of Isaac Neely Bradford for building a school and being a respected man so many people though highly of.
I am proud that Samuel "Sam" Braford (sic) was willing to fight against the British for America's freedom (even if he never fought anyone).
I am not proud nor ashamed of any of these three men for owning slaves. It was wrong of them to do it and nothing much can be done to change what has been done. (I do not have a time machine nor the talent to talk someone into changing their world view so much even if I did have one).
I am not responsible for the actions of people I never met who died centuries before I was born. Their actions do not carry down to me as if they left debts unpaid that I was expected or required to deal with.
I have not as yet found anything to strongly suggests that any children were born between my ancestors and any of their slaves - which I am glad for. Should I find this to be so at some later date either in this line of the family or another line I would be a bit upset but not surprised as such things did happen in those days - they were not right but they did happen.
Most white people back in the day did not own slaves. Less than 10% if I recall correctly owned slaves, my ancestors just happened to be in that minority - most of my ancestors so far have not and did not to the best of my knowledge own slaves - they were too poor or too living in Europe and poor (most likely) to own slaves. I've read that the German when they came over (in the 1700s - 1800s at least) were very against slavery.
This was more venting than anything with a little genealogy mixed in.
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