Irvin & Louisa Brumfield

         Irvin Brumfield and wife Louisa McEwen (Ellzey)  born about 1846 and 1849 respectively are thought to be former slaves in Mississippi.  In the Federal 1880 Pike County, Mississippi census, Irvin Brumfield is listed as Louis Brumfield.  I have been unable to verify if Irvin and Louis Brumfield is the same individual.  It was not uncommon for former slaves as freedmen to change their names and Irvin may have become the preferred name.   I was able to identify Irvin (Louis) based on the family members listed.  Irvin and Louisa are listed as a family in the Federal 1880 census with 5 children Martha Ann, Sherman,   Irvin Jr., William and Louis.  The quality of the census record is very poor and I cannot read all the details recorded. HIs occupation was a farmer.   Irvin Brumfield and both parents place of birth are listed in the 1880 census as Mississippi.  Louisa McEwen was born in Mississippi and parents were born Virginia.    I have not been able to find Irvin or Louisa in the 1870 census for Pike County, Mississippi but a  22 years old Louis Brumfield is listed.   Their oldest child Martha Ann was born in 1872 therefore Irvin and Louisa may have not been together in 1870.

         My older relatives told me that my Brumfield ancestors owned over 300 acres of land known as the Brumfield Settlement.  This was initially incredible to me. During slavery the family structure was destroyed.     In 1865, Irvin may have been probably 19 years old and Louisa 16 years old.  After the Civil War, former slaves without money, housing, clothes or food of their own were freedmen.  They had nothing to start a new existence apart from life experiences and a will to survive.    How could a former slave buy land?    It took more research to determine if the information was fact or fiction.

------Tree Gardener

Wisdom Wednesday

My father gave my sister and I the following advice concerning saving money prior to marriage " Two can live as cheap as one but only half as long. "

--- The Tree Gardner

The Most Important Things You Can Do

I have had the opportunity to hear internationally known genealogist Tony Burroughs author of Black Roots speak several times.  He suggests the most important things you can do is record your personal history and interview your oldest family member.  I am in the process of writing my personal story.  Recording my story for me is more difficult than researching family genealogy!  My story will be a subject for a different time.

I have through the years “talked to” my older relatives.  I unfortunately, did not have the interviewing skills to ask the questions to provide a full picture of their lives. My  questions consisted of who, what, when, where and how.   I began my research of Brumfield and Bearden families because my older relatives were their descendants. I was told that my Brumfield and Bearden ancestors were former slaves.  My  initial  research started with the Brumfield tree from Pike County, Mississippi  the  first home of my relatives.  I would like to begin with my ancestor Irving Brumfield.

 Irving Brumfield was born in August, 1846 Mississippi  as listed on census records. Through my research he has multiple spelling of his first name Irving, Ervine and Irvin.  He is thought to be part or all Choctaw Indian and mother is listed as Norma Lilian as told by descendants.  This information has not been verified.

I have link to family group sheet.  Will give more information latter.


https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BxDJ-PeOTwHrR244ZDlwbVJ1NXc

Memorial Day Cemetery Graves

Memorial Day was initially a federal holiday to commemorate the dead soldiers after the Civil War.  It later developed into a day to remember deceased relatives. Memorial Day for me as a child symbolized the beginning of summer.   My family would have a cookout and invite friends over for a barbecue.  My deceased relative’s graves were hundreds of miles away.  I rarely visited a cemetery.     

As I became older, I attended more funerals--- immediate family members and close friends were dying.    This Memorial Day I will not be going to a cemetery.  I will be working.     I plan however to visit cemeteries to find ancestors' and friends graves.  I want to know that their remains have not been desecrated.  These people who were dear to me are not forgotten.  

Look at the Burr Oak Cemetery incident. 




My father was buried in a Chicago, Illinois cemetery not  Burr Oak Cemetery.  I have his plot number but his headstone is missing.   I will plan this year to investigate what can be done. If someone has had a similar problem and or solution let me know.

BillionGraves.com has a mobile telephone camera app that allows you to photograph a headstone, transcribe the information and locate the grave in the future.  I plan to use this app when I find locate my friend's and family tree graves.

The Jones Genealogist: To Genealogist Everywhere: We are the Chosen

Why Genealogy is important to me.... The Tree Gardner

THE STORY TELLERS

We are the chosen. In each family there is one who seems called to find the ancestors – to put flesh on their bones and make them live again, to tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve.

To me, doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but, instead, breathing life into all who have gone before.

We are the story tellers of the tribe. All tribes have one.

We have been called by our genes. Those who have gone before cry out to us: tell our story. So we do. In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have I stood before now and cried? I have lost count. How many times have I told the ancestors you have a wonderful family you would be proud of us? How many times have I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love there for me?

I cannot say.

It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to who am I and why do I do the things I do. It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds and indifference and saying I can’t let this happen. The bones here are bones of my bone and flesh of my flesh. It goes to doing something about it. It goes to pride in what our ancestors were able to accomplish. How they contributed to what we are today. It goes to respecting their hardships and losses, their never giving in or giving up, their resoluteness to go on and build a life for their family. It goes to deep pride that they fought to make and keep us a Nation.

It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us. That we might be born who we are. That we might remember them. So we do. With love and caring and scribing each fact of their existence, because we are them and they are us. So, as a scribe is called, I tell the story of my family. It is up to that one called in the next generation to answer the call and take their place in the long line of family storytellers.

That is why I do genealogy, and that is what calls those young and old to step up and put flesh on the bones.

Written by Della M. Cummings Wright  Rewritten by her granddaughter Dell Jo Ann McGinnis Johnson  Edited and Reworded by Tom Dunn, (in) 1943. Bob Dunn aka “The Storyteller” of Houston, TX., Author