Juneteenth Newsletter

Happy Juneteenth! I hope you do something special to celebrate this momentous holiday. This link gives you some suggestions on how to make your Juneteenth special: Juneteenth celebration.

Do you need help with planning your family’s reunion? I’ve got some helpful tips to hold a fantastic and memorable family reunion.

Thank you for subscribing to the newsletter. Make sure you add one or two of these items to your list of summer adventures:

• Visit a historic site in your town or in the town, city or state that your ancestor lived
• Research your great grandparents and create a narrative to tell their story
• Plan a trip to a museum that you’ve always wanted to go to
• See what your local library has in their local history or genealogy sections that could help you with your family’s history

---

SIGN UP FOR THIS MASTERCLASS!

Have you always wanted to research your family tree but didn’t know where to start? Another Genealogy MasterClass is being offered for beginning researchers on Saturday June 3, 2023 from 1pm-2:30pm. Sign up for this class! I promise to keep it interesting and fun. When you sign up, you will receive a free Family Matters Genealogy downloadable workbook. Also, we will have a free AncestryDNA kit giveaway during the class. Only a few days left to register so click here to sign up today!

---

Researching the 1940 census

---

Looking for Long Lost Relatives?

If you have an interest in researching your family history (and I strongly encourage everyone to do so) and don’t have the time or knowledge to do it yourself, I would be happy to assist.  I offer several affordable packages depending on your research needs.  If you are an amateur genealogist/family historian, I can create a research plan to guide you in the right direction.

---

Did You Know That Slavery Existed After Juneteenth?

Before 2021, many people did not know the significance of June 19, 1865, renamed Juneteenth. So when it became a federal holiday, EVERYONE learned the history and why it is celebrated. However, did you know that slavery still existed after this date? Let’s talk about this!

Juneteenth The Holiday

The Emancipation Proclamation declared that on January 1, 1863 all enslaved people in Confederate states were legally free. Unfortunately, many western Confederate states (especially Texas) did not abide by this rule and continued business (and slavery) as usual until June 19, 1865 when Union soldiers rode through the state on horseback declaring that all enslaved people were free. Surprisingly, slavery was still legal in the states of Delaware, Kentucky and New Jersey until the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery officially in all states on December 18, 1865 – another six months after Juneteenth! New Jersey had up to 400 enslaved African Americans after the end of the Civil War. Delaware did not ratify the 13th amendment until 1901; Kentucky would not ratify it until 1976!

Apprenticeships and Labor Contracts

Many African Americans men, women and children worked for their former enslavers after Emancipation. The signed labor contracts in which the former enslavers created terms with time limits under which their formely enslaved would worked for them. Their “employers” were supposed to pay fair wages for their work. These contracts were filed with the Freedmen’s Bureau. Many freed adults could not read so they were unaware of the terms and conditions that these contracts outlined. Often, freed adults did hard work for months but were denied wages because of unfair contract requirements that weren’t met or for many other bogus reasons.

Children worked for free as apprentices of their former enslavers, under the guise of teaching them a viable skill to be productive citizens. These children worked for several years, sometimes until adulthood, under these apprenticeship term.

Penal Labor As Allowed by the 13th Amendment

Penal labor or prison labor was allowed by the 13th Amendment, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” Police accused African American men and women of minor infractions and violations of Jim Crow laws, often being falsely accused in order to convict and imprison them. While in prison, they did hard labor – working farms, building railroads and other infrastructures and in manufacturing warehouses. Many prisons, like Angola in Louisiana, were former slave plantations. Penal labor became slavery reinvented.

---

---

FEATURED ARTICLE – RANDOMNESS IS MY SPECIALTY

I was talking to a historical society friend who is the county historian and genealogist recently about where I lived. When I told him, he stated, “that’s the Old Humphrey Plantation.” My interest peaked! I lived on a former plantation, converted to a family farm and now a new housing development.  You know me…let the research commence! Every day, I drive past a small cemetery about 1 mile from my house and had no interest. Now, my curiosity got the best of me. I wanted to know the connection of this cemetery to the former owners of my land. I decided to stop by after work one day to read gravestones and take pictures.

Surprising Discovery

The cemetery has about 16 marked headstones. Thinking that the interned were Humphrey descendants, it surprised me to learn that they were not! They were Sanders descendants. I was not aware of the Sanders Family owning land in and around my area. I’m always testing my research skills so my goal was to determine the relationship of everyone buried in the cemetery. Birth certificates, death certificates, census records and/or marriage records were used to determine the dates and relationships. Here is what I found!

The Beginning of the Sanders Family

The oldest headstones marked the beginning of this branch of the family. Brothers Pvt. James E. Sanders (1826-1862) and (2) Pvt. Shepard Sanders (1825-1862) were Confederate soldiers. James was a turpentine farmer and Shepard was a farmer. Pvt. James E. Sanders died in Goldsboro during the Civil War. His wife (Mary Sanders – not buried there) filed a claim for his pay on Nov 1863 according to his military record. According to the 1860 census, James and Mary had three children – his son was Samuel E. Sanders.

The Main Ingredient

These are the direct descendants of Pvt. James E. Sanders:

• (3) Samuel Edens Sanders (Sept 27, 1859 – June 1931) married (4) Sarah Mandy Hansley (27 Sep 1859-29 Jun 1931) on 9 Mar 1879 in Onslow County. They had 9 children according to the 1900 census – Mary Milisie, John William, Deanie Laura, and Samuel Dolphus. Coy Roscoe appeared on the 1910 census.
• (5) Mary [Milisie] Sanders [Mobley Williams] was born 18 Mar 1882 and died 9 Apr 1962. Neither of her husbands (Ernest Mobley and S.J. Williams) were interned with her. 
• (6) John William Sanders (18 Dec 1885-10 May 1947) married (7) Queenie Caroline Whaley (9 Jan 1891-9 May 1989) on 5 Dec 1908 in Onslow County. They had a daughter, (8) Betty Gray Sanders (9 Sep 1923-24 Sep 1997). 
• (9) Deanie Laura Sanders (24 Aug 1889-8 Oct 1958) married (10) George Henry Taylor on 27 Nov 1907 in Onslow County. 
• (11) Samuel Dolphus Sanders (21 May 1892-16 Aug 1943).
• (12) Coy Roscoe Sanders (2 Apr 1901-23 Feb 1982) married (13) Emma E. Taylor on 13 Aug 1921 in Onslow County.
• (14) Darwin Edward Sanders, Sr. (15 Sep 1922-3 Feb 1987) was the grandson of Samuel Edens Sanders. His father was Thomas Francis Sanders (not interned in the cemetery).

The Unknowns

The connection between (15) Baby Boy Thompson (10 May 1936-10 May 1936) and (16) Pee Wee Sanders (2001-2014) could not be determined. Trust me, I tried every trick in my genealogy arsenal! To be continued…

---

Upgrading Your Family Reunion

I am looking forward to my family reunion this summer! I can’t wait to fellowship with my family and eat Cape Verdean food until I pass out from a food coma. Family reunions are more than just food and fun; it’s an opportunity to capture the living history of your elders and the family members that remember your ancestors. Take this time to upgrade your family reunion. How do you do this? Here’s some helpful hints.

• Do something different – create a Remembrance Ceremony that honors the past, celebrates the present and prepares the future.
• Family photo booth – hire a professional photographer to take a reunion picture and a group picture of each family. Have them hold a picture of the grandparents or great grandparents to make a generational photo.
• Interview sessions – using your cell phone’s video or audio, record a family elder answering questions about what their lives were like growing up. Have them tell stories about the family and upload it to Youtube for all the family members.
• Family cookbook – if you’re trying to raise funds for the next reunion, collect family recipes and create a cookbook to sell to family members. Try to get the elders to include all the secret recipes that they hold tight to the vest (it might be the only way they get passed down)! Make sure to include family stories and genealogical information.
• Reels and Tik Toks – have the youngest generation plan Tik Toks that everyone can participate in no matter what the age. Everyone will have a fun time being on social media.

Have fun, know your people and be inspired by them.

---