....More informaton on Mother's side of the family

As I write this short account of the descendants of Great Grandma Mandi, in my imagination I can visualize what may have happened over two hundred years ago somewhere in Africa. As a young girl in her mid-teens, she was perhaps going about some daily routine or maybe participating with others in some village activity when she was set upon by scouters for slave buyers, captured, bound and brought to some place in South Carolina, leaving forever her parents and 13 brothers and sisters.

I remember Papa (Dennis), saying that she told them she was bought by a man named Rayner for $250.00. Being tall, dark and heavy, she was put to work in the fields. Later, as often happened to defenseless slave women, she gave birth to a half-white baby, after the master (or some other white man) had forced himself upon her. It was from this baby, named Harriett Elizabeth, that Mandi’s lineage expanded.

My oldest brother, Rozelle, is the oldest living family member, who remembers Grandma Mandi. She was bedridden, as he remembers her. He recalls one day, while in her room, he stepped on a board in the room and that it made a loud noise. He remembers that she had a heavy voice as she scolded him for making the noise and told him to go out or stop that noise. She frightened him and he told his mother “that woman scared me”. His mother told him “that’s not just a woman, that’s your grandmother.” He also remembers that he was 6 or 7 when she died. He said that grandma Harriett said Mandi was 96 years old when she died.

Sometime during the early 1840’s Harriett married Harmon, a light skinned man, probably of the same plantation. He was a man of large stature, very strong and proud. Dennis said that he remembered his mother describing him as a very intelligent man with high ideals, and that in spite of the danger, he did not hesitate to speak out against the injustices placed upon them as Black people. He was a natural leader who found it difficult to accept the position forced upon him as a slave. It was because of his bravery and strong sense of manhood that he would later have to leave his family.

Grandma Harriett was a very quiet person. I remember her very well, since I was 8 years old when she Harriett died. She often played with us and talked about things that happened long ago. I also remembered that she liked to cook.

About the middle of the 1850’s, a slave holder by the name of Williams from Henning, Tennessee (Lauderdale County) came to South Carolina and purchased them from Rayner. They were brought by a 7 or 8 wagon train caravans with their 2 small boys, Jerry and Wash and Great Grandma Mandi. The Williams owned a plantation and general store in Henning. There, at the big house Grandmamma Harriett was the cook. Grandpapa Harmon and Grandma Mandi worked in the fields.

Grandpapa Harmon and Grandmamma Harriett were the parents of 3 sons; Jerry, Wash, and Dennis and one daughter Hannah. Another son, Burl was born to Harriett later by another marriage.

After Hannah was born, it was obvious that she had been fathered by a white man (probably the master). Grandpapa Harmon , being the proud man that he was, apparently in some way, protested this abuse of this wife. As a result, one day seven white men went to the field were he was plowing to whip him. But, since he was a very strong man and also alert, he outwitted them, quickly took the single tree from the plow, beat all seven of them off and ran away. He eluded the captors for many weeks, through fields, woods and across waters. Later, news came that he had been overtaken and slain near the Ohio River as he attempted to cross.

In 1865, the Civil War ended and slavery was over, Harmon, the father and head of the family was now gone. Slain because of his rebellion against the degradation of slavery, he had missed the victory that was to come so soon after his death. Now freed, Harriett moved her family from the Williams plantation into Haywood County to a section called “the Watkins Quarter”. They would now begin their lives as freedmen.

Sometime later, Harriett married a man named Rivers, the father of Burl. All of the four brothers and one sister lived to adulthood, married and lived full lives, raising their families through hard work and devotion. They were all farmers and some possessed other skills as well.

Jerry, the oldest, was born in 1848 in South Carolina. He was a brown-skinned man of medium height and very stock build. He was a member of St. John Baptist Church where he was a deacon and a devout worker. He lived near Stanton, Tenn., where he and his wife, Sallie (Miller) brought up their twelve children: Nellie, Liza Jane, Melissa, Emmaline, Anna, Mary Helen, Lucy Harriet, Sam, Eugene, Jerry Jr., Roger and Japser. In Later years, his children brought him to Memphis, where he died in October, 1923 at the age of 75. All of his children lived to adulthood, however, all are now deceased.

Wash(ington) was born in South Carolina about 1855. He was light complexioned, of average height and well-built. He was a ferryman on the Big Hatchie River. He married Alice Stotts(first cousin of Jerry’s wife, Sallie). They had four sons and four daughters: Willis, Dave, Joe, Ned, Zoda, Betty, Lucy and Parthenia. At the time of his death, between 1915 and 1920, he was almost 59 years old. Two of his children, Dave of Jackson, Miss. And Betty King of Brownsville, TN. are still living.

Dennis (Papa, as we, is children called him) was born April 6, 1862, in Henning TN. I often remember him saying that he was 3 years old when slavery ended. He was of reddish-brown hue and of medium height and weight. A skilled and resourceful man, he was a timber contractor, sorghum mill operator and carpenter. He built his home, as well as two other houses, on his 95 acre farm, for tow of his children after their marriages. A philanthropist, he assisted other farmers in building their houses and helped many people financially and otherwise. He was an active, respected leader of the Koko community (between Brownsville and Somerville) and belonged to the order of Knights of Pythias. He was an outspoken man and an avid reader. He subscribed to various periodicals and newspapers, including Marcus Garvey’s Negro World. He was a member of Prospect C.M.E. Church where he held various offices. He was a devoted family man and a good provider. He had a daughter, Lucy, whose mother, Leona Miller, died in childbirth. He and his first wife, Ella Woodson were the parents of three sons and seven daughters: Luevester, Jim, Minnie, Ella, Albertine, Burl Thomas and Annie (twins), Rozelle, Magnolia and Mattie Ester. His wife, Ella, died in 1899 when the youngest child, Mattie Ester was 3 years old. He married Luella Short (my mother) `on November 19, 1904. She was a second cousin of Sallie and Alice, the wives of Jerry and Wash. To this union 9 children, 7 sons and 2 daughters were born. They were: Eodes, R.T., Donald, O.Z., Alversa, Velentine, Lemuel, Semuel and Harmon. Dennis died on July 12, 1947, at the age of 85. Of his children, 6 are still living: Rozelle, St. Louis, MO., Mattie Ester Turner, Pontiac, MI., Alversa Lee, Memphis TN., Velentine Carr, Humboldt, TN., Semuel, St. Louis, MO., and Harmon of Haywood County, who still lives, with his family on the farm his father purchased in 1905, and in the last house that he built there.

(MY BLOOD LINE)
Hanna, the only daughter, was born in Henning about 1864. She was of such light complexion that she could have passed as white. She was short and heavy in stature. She was loved by everyone, was always kind and ready to do a good deed. She lived and raised her family near Koko and belonged to St. John Baptist Church which she loved and attended as often as she could. She and her husband Green Perry, were the parents of 6 sons and 2 daughters: Trealeus (Trip), Jessie, John, Mattie, Tom, Arch, Leora, and Granville. She died in 1939 in Brownsville about the age of 75. All of her children lived to adulthood, but are now deceased.

Burl was born June 10, 1870. He was darker browned skinned and very tall. An avid hunter and sharp shooter, he wood often go to the woods in the morning and bring back 15 to 20 squirrels. He was a trapper of raccoons and possum, as well as a good fisherman. He was a jovial man, full of fun and often playing pranks with the children. He lived and raised his family in Haywood County in a section called “over the creek”. He belonged to Hope Baptist Church. Burl married Harriet Miller. To them 6 children were born, four daughters and 2 sons: Evelyn, Mannie, Walter, Willie, Alcesta, and Marth Ann. Later, he married Canzada Turner. One daughter, Edna, was born to this union. In later years, Edna took him to St. Louis to live with her. He died there in 1963 at the age of 93. All of his children reached adulthood and three are still living: Evelyn Rivers, Detroit, MI, Mannie Hines Chicago, IL, and Edna Williamson, St. Louis, MO.

The children of Harriett and Harmon Williams’ offspring have multiplied, raising their own children and those in turn their own, and so on: until now there are 7 (nine 9 currently) generations since Mandi. These Descendants have made and are making their contributions in may ways. Having inherited the spirit of resistance that fired the souls of our forefathers, some have made an impact on society as participants in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960;s, continuing the fight for the principles of justice and freedom. Some have entered such professions and occupations as: business, industry, law, education, ministry, farming, nursing, real estate, music, entertainment, social sciences, government services and other fields, - carrying on the tradition of the family as a unit of strength, holding to the values and ideals set forth so long ago.