Say My Name

"To speak the name of the dead is to make him live again. . ."

Olmec Proverb

Welcome!

Genealogy is my passion. For over twelve years, I have travelled around the United States visiting archives, libraries and relatives to dig up all the information I can find about my ancestors. I can trace my lineage back from my grand nieces and nephews to the 16th century--11 generations!

This site is for sharing information, stories and photos that I have found in my search. "Say My Name" is the title of my findings which was first published in 2003. Instead of trying to distribute it in hard copy, I am making it available online to family members and other interested parties.

Enjoy!

 

The photo  is of Liza Koonce, daughter of Solomon and Cherry, born in the late 1800's.

The next Koonce family reunion will be held in Jackson, Tn on Labor Day weekend. The dates are Friday, Sept. 4 through Monday, Sept. 7.  It will be held at the Signature Boutique Hotel at 1935 Emporium Drive. For more info, contact Carolyn Nance at hdncknance@click1.net. Hope to see you there.

Inez Koonce Jaycox lived a long and beautiful life. She passed away Sunday, April 26, 2009 at 102 years old. She will be missed but we can't be sad. Her life was a wonderful testimony to her Christian walk. Below is a photo taken during her 100th birthday celebration. I'm standing on the far left next to my mom. Now I know what my mother will look like at 100.

The internet spoils me. If I want to know something, I just google it. That works for lots of things but not so much for genealogy. However. . .
I am putting the final touches on the latest edition of "Say My Name" so that I can upload it and publish it as hard copy. I was verifying certain data by looking on Ancestry.Com. I googled a great aunt, Florence Octavia Alexander, to make sure that I had the right name from the census. It led me to a prominent psychologist who was named for my great aunt. That in turn led me to a biography of her great grandfather, my great great grandfather, John Alexander. The interesting thing was that it added a new twist to the oral legend we had heard about him and our great great grandmother Catherine. I am now in the process of corroborating the story. It has pointed me in new and exciting directions. The story is as follows:

          "My grandfather, John was born in Liberia and captured and brought to this country when he was twelve years old. He was a slave on the    Lambright plantation in Virginia. He was sold to the Huffman plantation in Alabama. He married another slave named Catherine (originally from India) on the Huffman plantation. During the Civil War he ran away and worked for the union forces. After the war he returned home and took his wife and children to Mississippi. Because a union officer named Alexander had impressed him he changed the family's name to that of Alexander. He and Cahterine had twelve children, nine sons and three daughters"

There are discrepancies between the story I was told and this story. For one, we were told that Catherine was an Alexander and John took her name. We knew nothing about Liberia or that Catherine could originally be from India. It was also new to me that John fought in the Civil War. Of course, everything must be checked. I have even been able to talk to my newfound cousin Florence. We plan on meeting in the near future. I have a lot of questions for her.  In the meantime, I am checking as much as I can online. As soon as I can financially, I am heading south to look for original documents and records.

Thank you to all that visit my website. I hope that it has been helpful in your own journey. I appreciate all the feedback that I get and all the new relatives that I meet.

Today I received an email from Michael Cotten. He is involved in a Cotton/Cotten DNA project. The purpose of the project is to create a database to help identify the various families bearing the Cotton or Cotten surname. I have been sitting on the fence about DNA projects. On the negative side, the  results cannot prove a paper trail. It costs. And it depends on the amount of people in the database. But on the positive side,in the future when the database  is more extensive, it may be more conclusive. And of course, if few participate, the database can't grow. Plus, as it states on the Cotten webpage, it can help to back up research, and a negative result can disprove many incorrect assumptions.

According to Michael, the information I have on the origin of the Cotten name is false. He wrote,  "You mentioned a Cotten family who was descended from a John de Cotentin. Unfortunately there was no such person. The "De Cotentin" descent was invented by a man named Matlock who drew up an extended fake genealogy."

So it seems like it's back to the drawing board. I found a pedigree for Joseph R. Cotten on familysearch.org but the url for the source is xtremechat.org. Very suspicious! The person who submitted the source went to a lot of trouble but of course, that doesn't mean he is right or legit.

Although I don't believe we are related by blood to the Cottens, I am certain that they are the reason my grandfather chose that name. That is the reason why I am interested in the origin and the genealogy of the Joseph R. Cotten family.

The link to the Cotton/Cotten DNA project is http://home.comcast.net/~cottondna/.

According to oral legend, the illusive Amy, mother of Solomon's first children, was a full blooded Cherokee. In a cursory search for information about this, I found that the relationship of Cherokees and slaves in the south was very complex and complicated. I plan to do research on this subject and include it on this site. Hopefully, I will also be able to glean more about Amy.

2/16/08
I am so excited, I can hardly contain myself. Through the generosity of another genealogy hobbyist, I have the bill of receipt for Solomon. It states:

"Received of Isaac Koonce five hundred and thirty one dollars for boy Solomon purchased from Nunn’s estate & I am to give a bill of sale for ____ boy.

January 6, 18??                Sheppard M. Ashe"

The date has been crossed over. After enlarging it, you can see it was 1839 and then crossed out and written 1840. I think that is because of the newness of the year.  I do it all the time when writing checks at the beginning of the year. Also, I found other abstracts in Tennesse with Sheppard M. Ashe's name. The date on these were 1840. Lastly, it is the date that fits closely with the oral history of Solomon.  It was said he was sold to Isaac Koonce  when Solomon was 19.

Although this family history is mainly for my relatives, it is also a story about the many African-Americans who survived slavery. My family ancestors are Koonce, Brassfield, Warren, Featherston and Roberts of Tennessee and Alexanders, Cottens, Wallace  and Saunders of Mississippi. The counties where my relatives lived were Haywood, Dyer and Crockett in Tennessee and Pike, Lincoln and Amite in Mississippi.

There are more dates and names on my family tree. I will keep updating it when I can.

 

Besides this site, I blog on "But Now I'm Found, " http://blackgenealogy-griot.blogspot.com It chronicles my investigation into more of my family history.  It is not  exclusive to just my family. I post pertinent information concerning the difficult task of researching African-American genealogy. It will also be more timely. I hope you it enjoy also.

Since posting this page, I have met some cousins that I probably never would have met if not for the internet. One of them, Benjamin, has caught the genealogy bug and together we have been looking for more information on our great grandparents. Through him, I discovered that my great grandfather's brother used the surname of Cain. It is a mystery so far why our greats used so many surnames--Cotten, Cotton, Anderson, Deer and now Cain. If anyone has a clue about these relatives, please let me know. More information about the Cottens can be found on the appropriate pages.

My Comments feedback mysteriously disappeared. I had to repost it. If you would like to leave any comments, requests or feedback, you can do so on the page entitled My Story.

Thanks!

Carolyn Nance is at the podium. I am standing next to my mother, Thelma Cotten. Next to her is Christine, her husband Lovelle Warren, and Ernest Warren, my uncles.

These are the descendants of James Koonce, son of Solomon Koonce, that attended the reunion in St. Louis.