Madness Monday – Looking for Ewell Slave Owners

What They Say

They say you shouldn’t try to find more than one slave owner at the same time. They say you should follow one line through to completion. They say. Who is this they? And why do I have to follow what They say?

Conventional Thought - Not

There is nothing conventional about African-American Genealogy. I should follow the rules THEY hand out, but both my ancestors and I say screw it. So it’s that attitude that says, yes, I will follow both my Ewell ancestors and my Pierce Ancestor,  Georgia Black Crackers at the same time into slavery.

They don’t realize that my Georgia Ancestors and my North Carolina Ancestors seem to feed off of each other. By researching in two different states, I get ideas from one to facilitate the research of the other and vice versa.

Slam Dunk – I don’t think so

As I’ve matured in my genealogical research, I’ve learned that there is often no rhyme or reason in trying to determine the last slave owner. I learned early on, through reading Black Southerners 1619 – 1869 by John B. Boles that what history had always taught us, that former slaves always took the last owners name, simply was not true. Sometimes, a family’s surname is a clue, especially if former slaves were within a given family throughout slavery, but often times the surname is not a clue at all. Could this possibly be the case with my Ewell ancestors?

1870

In 1870, in Martin County, NC, there were all of 27 people with the surname Ewell. My family accounts for 18.5% of those Ewells. The majority of the Ewells are Black. However, there is no cluster of Black Ewells around a White Ewell. In fact, the Black Ewells are not even clustered around each other. And interestingly enough, it rather seems to be that way with the Black families of Martin County regardless of surname.

Although there is no clustering, the possibility still exists that my Ewell family might have been owned by a Ewell, so I will still check the 1860 slave schedule for slave owners with the last name Ewell.

More so than with my maternal Pierce ancestors, I canvassed the neighborhood looking for someone with enough wealth that may point toward them being a former slave owner. By doing this, I’ve come up with 13 candidates. These candidates will be evaluated in future posts.

Might My Ewell Ancestors Have Been Free?

I first check the 1860 census to determine if there were any free persons of color with the Ewell Surname. In 1860, there are very few White Ewells in Martin County or North Carolina for that matter and no Black Ewells are enumerated.

Ewell Slave Owners

The 1860 slave schedule for Martin County, North Carolina, indicates there were two slave owners with the surname Ewell.

Comparing their slaves against Grandpa Isaac and Grandma Penny’s 1870 enumeration and assuming that both of my 2nd great grandparents were owned by the same person, neither listing provides a good match. J. M. Ewell’s slave holdings show a female that could possibly be Grandma Penny but no male that might be Grandpa Isaac. J. L.’s Ewell’s holdings are just the opposite.

I do wonder if these two Ewell owners might be related. Could it be possible that one owned Grandpa Isaac and the other owned Grandma Penny? Should I do further exploration with these two Ewells, first, or should I finish my evaluation of the other candidates?

To be Continued

Ancestral Homes and Google Maps

For those of you that have been following Georgia Black Crackers, you know that I'm participating in the Winter 2010 Geneabloggers Games.

One of my goals for today was to learn a new task. So, I decided to take on Google Maps (Task A in the Expand your Knowlede Category). Until I read Google Maps and Carnival Posts at Bootcamp for Genea-bloggers and more!, I actually thought I new all there was to know about using Google Maps. It turns out that while I did some what already have an idea how to use this tool, I had not realized it's potential of incorprating it into my research and geneablogging. So let's get started.


View Jones Ancestral Home in a larger map

The big green house with the basement that terrified me is no longer there but this is where my grandparents settled after leaving their home county of Martin in North Carolina. It’s where dad and all my aunts and uncles grew up.


At a time that I can barely remember, there were frequent trips from the hometown to Winston-Salem to check on Grandma Jones. There are only two things I remember about those trips, the noxious fumes that seeped up through the holes in the floor of daddy’s old Ford and root beer floats. Root beer floats were a special treat I always got whenever we went to grandma’s and the trips to grandma’s was the only time that I ever drank them.

Eventually, grandmom’s health and mind begin to fail her and she was moved to my little home town where she stayed with her daughter, Aunt Martha, until her death in 1969, after which she was returned to Winston-Salem to be interred alongside granddad and Uncle Thomas.

Through the years, trips were made back to Winston-Salem for various reasons and activities but rarely ever included a trip by the ‘ole home place.

Eventually the big green monster that terrified me was torn down. I’m not exactly sure when it was torn down (I think it was after grandmom’s death) but I remember it coming down about the same time the “highway” was being build. The highway came right in front of the house. At the time, I remember being mad at whoever had the audacity to forever change the family home and even though no family home has been there in a long while, it still makes me sad.

For years, Aunt Martha, dad and my other aunt and uncles held onto the property thinking one of us grandkids would want it. By then, most of the Jones clan was far removed from Winston-Salem and had no desire to live there. Although my cousin Valerie lived in Winston-Salem for awhile, neither she nor the rest of us grandkids wanted the property. So, eventually, the property was sold.

The trips back to dad’s hometown aren’t that frequent any more, usually dad’s high school class reunion or an occasional football game at his undergrad alma mater. But whenever we go, time permitting, I usually have but one request, can we go by the lot?

How it looked then (1961)*

Aunt Martha and my grandmother are sitting on the steps. Cousin Lafrieda is holding me and cousin Valerie, who is two months older, and the lady picking up Valerie is her mother, Aunt Emanuline. Notice, I was the good baby!

*From the collection of O. Jones, mother of the owner of this blog.

 Until Next Time!

Surname Saturday – Ewell

I never ever thought of the Ewell surname being unusual until one of my geneabuds, Amy, A_Cain on Twitter, begin asking me about my Ewell line and commented that it was an unusual surname.


Of my paternal lines, my Ewell ancestors are the only line that I’ve been able to trace back to 1870 and yet for some reason it doesn’t fascinate me nearly the way the my other paternal lines do. That is until now. My Ewell line is as follows:

1. Mavis Jones

2. Earl Jones

3. Iola Luvenia Everett Jones, born abt May 1895 in the Crossroads section of Everetts, Martin County, NC; died 5 Apr 1969 in Shelby, Cleveland County, NC. Internment Evergreen Cemetery, Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, NC

4. Edith / Eadie Ewell Everett, born abt 20 Nov 1865 in Martin County, North Carolina; died 25 July 1917 in Everetts, Martin County, North Carolina. Internment – unknown.

5. Isaac and Pennie Ewell

Isaac was born abt. 1840 in North Carolina, probably Martin County; died between 1870 and 1880 probably in Martin County, North Carolina. Internment unknown.

Pennie was born abt 1840 in North Carolina. Her date of death and interment are unknown at this time.

In searching online for information on the Ewell surname, it appears that the best online information can be found at Ewell Family History and Genealogical Society. (I just discovered this terrific site today.) A great many sites suggest that the name finds it’s origins in Wales; however, the researcher, Paul Jensen, states that during his research of the Ewell name and its various phonetic spellings he didn’t find a single Ewell in Wales. Further research showed that the name most likely derived from the Wales name Llewellyn. It appears that for whatever reason, that upon arrival to the US, the name was shortened to its various spellings.

I also decided to check out the Ewell surname on Public Profiler. The top country for the Ewell surname is the United States at 17.78 FPM, with Utah being the top state, and Virginia Beach, VA being the top US city for the surname. In fact, three of the top five cities for the Ewell surname are located in Virginia. Brief readings on the history of Martin County as well as the eastern part of my home state, have always lead me to believe that not only does my maternal grandmother’s Everett side go back into VA at some point but her Ewell side probably does so as well.

On my paternal side of the family, I’m just now beginning to push into the slavery era on any line, so I’ve not done a lot. I’ve only briefly looked at candidates who possibly could be the last slave owner. In the coming weeks, I plan to explore these possible candidates more in depth. I hope you’ll join me on the journey.



Until Next Time!

Wordless Wednesday - the Jones Family

From the collection of Mavis Jones

Believe or not, at the point in time that this picture was taken, abt. 1973, this is almost all of the descendants of my grandparents. The only ones missing are three of my first cousins, and of course my oldest uncle, who was already deceased. When talking descendants, daddy's side of the family (6 grandchildren) stands in stark contrast to my mother's side of the family (26 grandchildren).

Sentimental Sunday - Reel-to-Reel Tape Recordings

Picture obtained from devicepedia.com

In today’s digital world the reel to reel tape recorder is considered an antiquated piece of technology. But back in the day, that was the way we Joneses kept in touch. More specifically, tape recordings were the way daddy and Aunt Martha stayed in contact with their brother, Uncle Claudius, who lived in Florida.


When I think about all the recordings going back and forth between North Carolina and Florida, the thought of them brings a smile to my face and warms my heart. It always felt like we were right there with Uncle Claudius and my cousins. However, as a shy and sometimes withdrawn child, those reel to reel recordings were pure torture for me, also. Daddy and Aunt Martha always had me talking on them. I can still hear it today, “Come talk to your Uncle.” I never said much, usually only saying “Hi Uncle Claudius. This is Mavis.” Of course daddy and Aunt Martha were always standing there telling me to tell him about this or that (my good grades, playing the piano, whatever else was going on in my young life.) Whatever I said definitely had to be pulled out of me.

Like so many things that would be a treasured piece of the past, I’m afraid that none of those old recordings are left. As we moved from reel-to-reel to cassette tapes, the tapings became less and less frequent. The cassette tapes just weren’t the same and right now, I don’t ever remember us sending any of those back and forth. In addition, we never did keep the recording that was received. It was always taped over when doing the return tape. But wouldn’t it be fun if my cousin LaFrieda and I could figure out who sent the last recording and better yet, discover that it didn’t get taped over.



Until Next Time!

Yele Haiti

Earlier this week when discussing the tragedy in Haiti, I pointed out that donations could be made through Wyclef Jean's orginazation, Yele. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that since that time, there has been information that has come out with regard to Yele's accounting and financial practices. Like others, I do find the timing of the release of this information questionable given that Yele has been around for 12 years. I will also state that wrong is wrong.

So, as in everything else in life, investigate any organization that you plan to make a donation to and through.

Until Next Time!

The Will and Spirit of a People - Haiti Continued