Walking Through the Broken Brick Wall - Slave Research, Pt. 1

This post is one in a series on conducting slave research. It was drafted with the intent of assisting others in their efforts to locate the last slaveowner of their ancestors.

Beginnings - Obtaining Information to Lead to a Last Slaveowner

Clora (Evans) Atlas was the third and final wife of King Atlas, Jr.  She was also the mother of Susie (Lee) Atlas who married King Jr.'s son Louis Bareford/Balfour Atlas, Sr.  A large number of Atlas family members are descendants of Clora and Susie.  During the 2010 research trip, the genealogy research team had the wonderful fortune of being able to confirm the last slaveowner of Clora (Evans) Atlas and her ancestors. 

Research efforts into possible owners were initiated after the following had taken place:

1. Oral Interview with Annie Ruth Atlas, August 2005:  As one of only three living granddaughters of Clora (Evans) Atlas, Annie noted a great great aunt of hers through Clora named Caroline Carson.  She stated that "[Caroline] loved lemon drops and was blind.  She was receiving some sort of a pension, maybe a slave pension and would have you cash it for her in coins so she knew you weren't cheating her out of her money.  She was very old and was a slave.  She was my mother's great aunt."
   
   Caroline Carson was the maternal aunt of Clora (Evans) Atlas.  Caroline's sister, Susan (Russell) Evans, was the mother of Clora.
   
   
2. US Census Research:  Caroline Carson was found on the following census' with her husband Louis/Lewis in (East) Carroll Parish, LA:  1870 - Listed as Caroline Ross; Clara Evans (should be Clora Evans) also in household; 1880 - Listed as Caroline Carson; Chloe Carson (should be Clora Evans) also in household; 1900, 1910 - Listed with just husband.  No census records were located for 1920 and 1930.
   
   
3. Louisiana State Archives Research:  A death certificate for Caroline Carson was obtained and listed a death date of August 31, 1935 in Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, LA.  Her age was noted as being 120 years old.  The names of her parents were not known, but her birthplace was stated as being Baltimore, MD.  Louis/Lewis Carson was also stated to be her husband on the death certificate.
   
   
4. Online Research Into Pensions:  After submitting a query via Afrigeneas.Com, and conducting more research online, it was discovered that Caroline was most likely a widow of a Civil War veteran and received his pension.  A search of Ancestry.Com's Civil War Pension Index uncovered a pension card for Lewis Carson and listed Caroline Carson as his widow.  An order was then placed with the National Archives and Records Administration for the complete Civil War Service and Pension file for Louis/Lewis Carson.

Review of Available Records and Resources

Civil War Pension File,  Case #1066,472, Lewis Carson.  US Colored Troops 50th Infantry, Company E
Once the the pension file of Lewis Carson was received, a review was conducted on it.  The complete file was nearly 100 pages.  A few Atlas family members (Clora (Evans) Atlas, King Atlas, Jr., and Susie (Lee) Atlas) were deposed and made statements affirming the fact that Caroline was indeed married to Louis/Lewis Carson.  Information that was given by Caroline Carson proved to contain the most clues into her and her family's last slaveowner.
 

Snippet of the deposition of Caroline (Russell) Carson by Special Examiner JB Steed. 
Obtained from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Washington, DC; US Civil War Veterans Pension Files, Case #1066,472, Lewis Carson.  Deposition A: Caroline (Russell) Carson, Page 4, May 7, 1918

Caroline stated in her deposition that her parents were named John and Margaret Russell.  She also stated that she was raised "motherless" and was told that she was born in Baltimore, MD.  Her first memories with her owner were in Port Gibson, Claiborne County, MS.  From there, her owner took her to Yazoo County, MS and then to Bellemeade Plantation, which was in (East) Carroll Parish, LA.  Caroline stated that her owner was Miss Lucinda Bush.  This was corroborated with statements made by Caroline's niece, Clora, in reference to who her mother's owner was.

Search for Records on Eliza or Lucinda Bush via the Internet

Initial attempts at locating any information on Lucinda Bush were unsuccessful.  This was due to the variation in names used by those who made statements to the special examiner in the pension file.  As time went on, an 1870 US Census record was located that noted Lucinda and the husband that Caroline mentioned her having in her deposition; James Grace or Major Grace.

Year: 1870; Census Place:  Blackburn Plantation Ward 2,  Carroll,  Louisiana; Roll   M593_509; Page:  217A; Image:  437; Family History Library Film:  552008. Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1870 U.S. census, population schedules. NARA microfilm publication M593, 1,761 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.

Another record for Lucinda Bush was located during the 1850 US Census in Carroll Parish, LA.  She is listed enumerated with a man named Levi Beard. This would confirm Caroline's statement that her owner brought her to Bellemeade Plantation in (East) Carroll Parish, LA sometime before the Civil War.

Research Trip:  Claiborne County, MS Chancery Clerk of Court

Research efforts during the 2010 research trip lead to the following timeline of ownership (from the last to the earliest verified owner): 

Lucinda Bush
October 25, 1844 to 1865 

Sources of Information:  Claiborne County, MS Probate Court (Labeled Orphan's Court) Book K, Page 397, October 25, 1844:  Inventory of the Estate of William D. Bush - Slaves:  Susan, $125, John, $300, Caroline, $150; US Civil War Veterans Pension Files, Case #1066,472, Lewis Carson.  Deposition A: Caroline (Russell) Carson, Page 4, May 7, 1918 

Notes:  Until the 2010 research trip, it was not known that Lucinda Bush had been married a number of times.  This provided some complication in locating records for her in the Claiborne, Yazoo, and Warren County, MS Clerks of Court.  

Lucinda Bush's Names and Marriages:
Lucinda Bullock (maiden name)
Lucinda Brashears (marriage to Marsham F. Brashears on May 1, 1828 in Claiborne County, MS)
Lucinda Bush (marriage to William D. Bush on March 14, 1832 in Warren County, MS)
Lucinda Jacobs (marriage to Charles C. Jacobs on January 14, 1845 in Warren County, MS) 
Lucinda Grace (marriage to James Grace on November 29, 1866 in Carroll Parish, LA)

All marriages were discovered using Mississippi Marriages, 1776-1935 and Louisiana Marriages, 1718 to 1925 on Ancestry.Com


Claiborne County, MS Probate Court (Labeled Orphan's Court) Book K, Page 397.  Inventory of William Bush.

William D. Bush

January 8, 1838 to October, 25, 1844

Sources of Information:  Claiborne County, MS Book R, Pages 219-222, Sale of 540 acre plantation from Robert F. and Celeste Moore and Joseph and Elizabeth Nichols to William Bush on January 8, 1838:  Slaves:  John, age 34 years (born about 1804), Margaret, aged 22 years (born about 1816) and her two children aged from three to five years (born between 1833 and 1835); Claiborne County, MS Probate Court (Labeled Orphan's Court) Book K, Page 397, October 25, 1844:  Inventory of the Estate of William D. Bush - Slaves:  Susan, $125, John, $300, Caroline, $150. 

Note:  Slaves and property left to his widow, Lucinda, in his will. Lucinda remarried on January 14, 1845 in Warren County, MS to Charles C. Jacobs.  Widow listed as administrix under the name Lucinda Jacobs in later records. (Probate Book D, Page 126)

Source:  Year:  1840; Census Place:  ,  Claiborne,  Mississippi; Roll   70; Page:  213; Image:  145; Family History Library Film:  0014840.Ancestry.com. 1840 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Sixth Census of the United States, 1840. (NARA microfilm publication M704, 580 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Snippet of the 1840 US Census schedule for William D. Bush, Claiborne County, MS.  The yellow area represents the number of slaves he owned at the time of the census.  Caroline and her sister Susan would have been under 10 years of age (listed as two of 4 children in that group).  Their mother, Margaret, would have been one of the 6 women between the age of 24 and 35 while their father, John, would have been one of the 7 men between the age of 24 and 35.

Robert F. and Celeste Moore and Joseph and Elizabeth Nichols

January 19, 1837 to January 8, 1838

Sources of Information:  Claiborne County, MS Book R, Pages 219-222, Sale of 540 acre plantation from Robert F. and Celeste Moore and Joseph and Elizabeth Nichols to William Bush on January 8, 1838:  Slaves:  John, age 34 years (born about 1804), Margaret, aged 22 years (born about 1816) and her two children aged from three to five years (born between 1833 and 1835).

Note:  Most likely, the Moores and Nichols' were Caroline and her family's owners before 1837.

Tomorrow we will post the second installment, entitled "Looking Past the Brick Wall - Slave Research, Part II."