The Digital Library on American Slavery

The Race and Slavery Petitions Project was designed to locate, collect, organize, and publish all extant legislative petitions relevant to slavery, and a selected group of county court petitions from the fifteen former slaveholding states and the District of Columbia, during the period from the American Revolution through the Civil War. Try this resource at: http://library.uncg.edu/slavery/help.aspx

Found this record pertaining to the Evans family in Adams county, MS. Not my family but all signs indicated they were for a time.

PAR Number 21084916 (Petition Analysis Record)
State: Mississippi Year: 1849
Location: Adams Location Type: County

Abstract: In May 1840, the Planters Bank of the State of Mississippi recovered a judgment against Eliza, Robert and Thomas Evans for $2274.45, which was levied on three slaves. The slaves were scheduled to be sold, but the Evanses did not deliver them up for sale; another judgment issued and was levied on a tract of land. The petitioners, as assignees of the bank, are owed "the balance of said judgment" and since the bank has been dissolved, they ask that "the property levied on, or so much thereof as is necessary to pay the balance of said judgment" be sold.

Handbook of African American Texas

The Texas State Historical Society has started a new section for the Handbook of African American Texas. It has a lot of information to browse about African Americans and their experiences in Texas. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/african-americans

African Americans in American Revolution

The DAR has put together a downloadable book about African Americans, Native Americans, and those of mixed blood who contributed to the success of the American Revolution.  Female descendants of these individuals are eligible to join the Daughters of the American Revolution and there are over 6,600 individuals identified in the book.   Check it out at:  http://dar.org/library/fp.cfm#Project

Other records

Still in search of I. Dotterys maiden name, I searched death records. There were no Dotterys listed in the Montgomery County Cemetery book. Of course it would be a long shot that her maiden name would be listed on her gravestone, but it does happen sometimes. I also checked the Choctaw co. Cemetery book at the Dallas Public Library. And I checked the 1887 newspaper index for Montgomery county for an obituary. That is the only year I found at the library.

So why did I check Choctaw County in particular? I found a Nimrod Dottery in the Choctaw County, MS census record of 1860 with a son, Thos Dottery who was the right age to be the T. Dottery who married I. If they are the same person, it is possible that T & I married in Choctaw before moving to Montgomery County.

I need to check the slave census in 1860 for a female the right age near the Dotterys.

I Dottery

The first thing that I want to know is "What is I. Dottery's maiden name?"

What I know about her:
1. She was born about 1856 in MS
2. She was married to T. Dottery
3. She had a son, Odum E. Dottery born about 1877 in MS
4. She had a daughter, Minnie Lee Dottery, born about 1880 in MS
5. She was in Montgomery co., MS in 1880 with her husband and 2 children.

From that information I am assuming she married in MS around 1875-1877. Since a marriage record is the easiest way to find a maiden name, I first concentrated on finding a marriage record for I and T Dottery.

I searched the marriage records at the MSGenWeb county site for Montgomery County, the MSGenWeb and the USGenWeb archives. I also searched ancestry.com.

Then I spent two days at the Dallas Public Library searching for their marriage record in microfilm and in books on both the county and state level. Dallas owns the MS state marriages index which you would think has all of the marriage records for MS. I'm not convinced. If I Dottery really was 1/4 black, their marriage may be recorded in the colored books. I don't know that all of the colored books have been included in that index.

She may have been born into slavery and they moved from somewhere else to Montgomery county where no one knew her so she could pass as Indian. The marriage record may not even be in MS. At one time, it was illegal for interracial marriages in MS and some went to LA to get married. I need to investigate the laws during the 1870s to see if it was illegal then.

My next step is to do some research on the MS Marriage index. I plan on contacting the state archives in MS to see what they have to say about it. There are also other places that marriages might be recorded.

African American Genealogy

I did a program on African American Genealogy last week at the DeSoto Public Library. I was a little concerned since I don't look like I have the creditials or knowledge to do a program on AA genealogy. I was pleased with the response though. Besides going through the major records sources and explaining how they are different for African Americans, I also laid out a research plan for a line that I am working on. Unfortunately like many AA lines, I have it back to 1880 and have hit the brick wall. I haven't given up yet as there are some avenues that I just haven't had time to research yet.

To lay out the problem. I am researching a woman named I. listed on the 1880 census in Montgomery County, MS. She is with her husband, T. Dottery. According to her age on the 1880 census, she would have been born about 1856 and she and her parents were born in MS. Family stories passed down say she was Indian, wore Indian clothes and was even known to do Indian rain dances in the yard. I've always admired her because how many Indians during that time period flaunted their race. However DNA has pretty much ruled out that she was Indian. Her great granddaughter and great great great grandson's DNA results indicate she may have been about 1/4 Black. At least she seems to be the most likely candidate of that generation. This opens up some record searches that I hadn't thought about exploring before, so I'm hoping that one of them reveals more information about I Dottery. I'll let you know how it goes.