In 1990 the LDS Church started a project to index the Freedman’s Bank Deposit records. Inmates in the Utah State Prison transcribed, indexed and automated the records. FamilySearch released a CD-ROM of the Freedman’s Bank Deposit records in 2001. The database contained on the CD was searchable.
I purchased the CD in 2001 hoping to find records for my family in the Mobile, Alabama Freedman’s Bank records. Within minutes of accessing the CD I had located deposit records dated 1867. Record 1118 was for my great-grandfather, John H. Franklin Willis. Record 1119 was his sister Carrie Elizabeth Willis. It was a monumental moment to finally break through the “1870 Brick Wall”. I printed copies of the two deposit records for my Willis binder. After entering a source in Family Tree Maker, I blithely moved on to find the next record on my list. My modus operandi at that time was the 3-G’s: “Get it? Got it. Good.”
Fast forward to 2021. Researching a DNA match led me back to the Freedman’s Bank Deposit records. I revisited the records of John H. Franklin Willis and Carrie Elizabeth Willis. Being older and a bit wiser, this time I extracted the information in the Deposit records. Both records state that Lucy H. George made the initial deposit. This was an obvious clue that I overlooked. Usually only a close relative opens a bank account for a young child.
Lucy H. George was a FAN Club member on steroids. She was a significant clue overlooked for two decades. Details about my research of Lucy are in my blog post 1% DNA and Caroline Walker Willis. All indications are that Lucy H. (Walker) George is my 2nd great-grandaunt. If this hypothesis is correct, it expands my family tree by another generation.
The mission tonight on the Genea-Musings blog by Randy Seaver is: “1) Who is a mysterious person in the family tree you’d like to learn more about? [Thank you to Linda Stufflebean for suggesting topics!]. 2) Write your own blog post…”.
Ned Walker is my mysterious person. Thanks to Ancestry ThruLines®, I believe that Ned Walker is my 3d-great-grandfather. My DNA match had 19cM over two segments and ThruLines® postulated that Ned Walker was our common ancestor.
Working my DNA match’s tree backward from her visible ancestors to her 2nd-great-grandmother, Emily ( ) Gibson, I was able to determine that my 2nd-great-grandmother, Caroline ( ) Willis, was Emily’s sister. Freedman’s Bank Records provided confirmation of the relationship and also revealed the names of the siblings of Caroline and Emily. Best of all, the records indicated that Walker was the maiden name of both Caroline and Emily. Finally, the death record of Caroline (Walker) Willis (1839-1910) confirmed her father’s name as Ned Walker.
Who is Ned Walker? The only information I have so far:
Name: Ned Walker Wife: Jane or June Birthplace: Virginia Children: William Walker, Caroline (Walker) Willis, Emily (Walker) Gibson, Lucy (Walker) George, Harriett Walker
Ned Walker is a common name and none of the known facts are unique. Unless 3G-Grandpa Ned wants to be found he will probably remain a mystery.
I have recently been researching Sam Walker to determine if he is the father of my husband’s great-grandmother Hattie (Walker) Scovil.
In the 1880 U.S. Census, Sam Walker was a 20-year-old farmer living in Clayton, Barbour County, Alabama.1 In 1899 Sam Walker, was a 40-year-old farmer living in Midway, Bullock County, Alabama. The digital image of the Convict Record ledger shows that Sam was convicted by the Bullock County circuit court on a charge of burglary in August 1899 and sentenced to 6 years in prison.2
The mid-1880s was the worst of times to be a prisoner in the deep South. Even though the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, it also states “….except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted…”.3 This exception in the 13th Amendment was a loophole which Southerners found to be a convenient tool in controlling the formerly enslaved population. It also enabled deep South counties and states to monetize prisoners and transform convict leasing into a business from the mid-1940s until 1928.
When the iron and steel industry came to Birmingham the state of Alabama, with the blessing of the state legislature, began leasing convicts in 1883 to three large coal companies located in the Birmingham area.4 A majority of leased convicts were sent to the mining companies who operated their own private on-site prisons. The exclusive contracts with the coal companies turned contract-leasing into a highly profitable business for the state of Alabama. At the end of 1883, convict leasing accounted for about 10% of the total state revenue.5 The profitability of convict leasing motivated the state to increase the number of convicts by arresting and convicting as many men as possible, sometimes on spurious charges. By 1898, almost 73% of the state of Alabama’s revenue came from convict leasing.6
Upon his sentencing on 11 August 1899, Sam Walker was caught up in the infamous crime and punishment system of convict leasing. After being processed into the Alabama prison system on 15 August 1899, Sam Walker was leased to the Pratt Mines division of Tennessee, Coal, Iron, and Railroad Company (TCI) who operated the Pratt Mines Prison on the site of their slope mines.7
On 28 September 1899 Sam Walker died in a mining accident in shaft no. 1 at Pratt Mines. His official convict record noted death by “falling rock”. 8 The newspaper account of the accident said that three men were digging coal when the roof fell in crushing two convicts, Sam Walker and George McCoy “almost beyond recognition, death resulting almost instantly.”9
A newspaper article published on 22 December 1899 in Montgomery, Alabama illustrates how lucrative convict leasing was by 1899. The article detailed how a bill introduced in the United States Congress to limit the sale of good produced by convicts would adversely affect Alabama and stated “There are about two thousand convicts in this State who are under the present lease system, bringing in a revenue of $150,000 less expenses.”10 (The inflated value of $150,000 in 1899 would be around $4.7 million in 2021.) Before convict leasing was abolished in Alabama in 1928, it was bringing in more than $1 million in revenue to the state.11
SOURCES
1 “United States Census, 1880,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4J9-H85 : 19 February 2021), Sam Walker, Clayton, Barbour, Alabama, United States; citing enumeration district ED 16, sheet 252A, NARA microfilm publication T9.
2 “Alabama, Convict Records, 1886-1952,” database and images on-line, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1742/ : accessed 10 Sep 2020), entry for Sam Walker; citing Vol. 04: 1895-1899 Alabama State Convict Records. Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, Alabama; Archive Roll no. SG7460.
8 “Alabama, Convict Records, 1886-1952,” database and images on-line entry for Sam Walker.
9 “Two Convicts Met A Horrible Death,” The Age-Herald(Birmingham,Alabama), 30 September 1899, p. 5, col. 5; digital images, GenealogyBank (https://www.genealogybank.com: accessed 4 May 2021), Newspaper Archives.
10 “Would Effect Alabama”, The Weekly Advertiser (Montgomery,Alabama), 22 December 1899, p. 8, col. 7; digital images, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/272333916 : accessed 6 May 2021).
11 Mary Ellen Curtin, “Convict-Lease System”, Encyclopedia of Alabama.
This is the story of how an AncestryDNA match provided potential additional avenues of research on my maternal 2nd great-grandmother, Caroline (Walker) Willis.
Caroline Walker, daughter of Ned Walker and Jane, was born Dec 1839 in Virginia, USA.1 She married John H. Willis.2 Caroline (Walker) Willis died on 19 March 1910 in Mobile, Mobile, Alabama, USA at age 70.3
My DNA cousin and I have < 1% shared DNA with 19cM in common. However, they had a Public linked tree which shared the surnames of Walker and Willis with my tree. According to AncestryDNA our Common Ancestors potentially were Ned and Jane Walker, my 3rd great-grandparents. The Ancestor Birth Location revealed that my DNA cousin had one person in her tree in Mobile, Alabama named Emma T. Gibson (1872-????).
In my DNA cousin’s tree, Emily Walker was the mother of Emma T. Gibson. Ancestry ThruLinesTM suggested that Emily Walker was the sister of Caroline Walker, my 2nd great-grandmother, and the daughter of Ned Walker, my 3rd great-grandfather.
A search for “Emily Gibson” on the Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org websites found records for her in the 18704, 18805 and 19006 U. S. Censuses.
According to the 1880 Census, Emily Gibson was a 45-year-old Black female who was born in Virginia. She is enumerated as the wife of Cato Gibson, age 45, and the mother of Emma T. Gibson, age 8. The household lived in Enumeration District 144, the southern half of Mobile’s 8th Ward, Mobile, Alabama.7 In 1900 Emily Gibson is listed as 67 years old, born on March 1833 in Virginia. She is in the household of her husband Cato Gibson, living in Mobile Ward 8, Mobile, Alabama.8
The census data only confirmed that Emily Gibson and Caroline (Walker) Willis lived in the same area of Mobile, Alabama and both were born in Virginia. The real gamechanger was in the Freedman’s Bank Records for the Mobile, Alabama branch.
I first searched the Freedman’s Bank Records in 2001 using the CD-ROM released and sold by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The records on the CD-ROM had been transcribed and indexed by prisoners at the Utah State Penitentiary.9 When I found the records for John and Carrie Willis, the children of John and Caroline Willis, on the CD-ROM, I failed to really look at all of the information on the records.
13 July 1867—Record 1118 for John H. Franklin Willis, age 3; Caroline Willis and John Willis are listed as his parents.10
13 July 1867—Record 1119 for Carrie Elizabeth Willis, age 1; Jno and C Willis are listed as her parents.11
Both records state that the deposit was made by Lucy H. George, a bit of information I had previously ignored. Now my immediate quest was to find out more about (FAN club member) Lucy H. George and hopefully discover her connection to my 2nd great-grandmother, Caroline (Walker) Willis.
A search on FamilySearch.org for “Lucy H. George” had the following results:
13 July 1867—Record 1116 for Lucy H. George, age 20; listed her parents as N. Walker and June Walker. She also listed a brother, Wm. Walker and the names of several sisters including Emily Gibson and Caroline Walker.12
13 July 1867—Bank Record 1117 for Clara E. Woodward, age 9: Father Elias Woodward; Mother M Woodard; Place of Birth Mobile; Residence Conception & Govt.; Occupation School Girl; Remarks: Brother—Elias Woodward, Benj. Woodard—Mobile—; Deposit made by Mrs. Lucy H. George.13
A search of the Freedman’s Bank Records, Mobile Alabama Branch for “Emily Gibson” found the following:
24 September 1867—Record 1277 for Emily Gibson, age 35, with the following information: Father N. Walker (dead); Mother Dead; spouse Married? Cato Gibson; Place of Birth Fredericksburg, VA; Residence St. Louis bet. Warner & Cedar; Occupation Washer. In the Remarks Emily Gibson listed her brother, William Walker; and listed several sisters including Caroline Willis.14
Eureka! The contemporaneous information on the Freedman’s Bank record cards provides convincing evidence that Caroline (Walker) Willis, Emily (Walker) Gibson and Lucy H. (Walker) George are sisters. Thanks to the family tree of my 4th Cousin 1X Removed, with whom I share < 1% DNA with 19 cM, I was able to expand my family tree to include my 2nd great-aunt Emily (Walker) Gibson, and document her descendants to within one generation of my DNA Match.
More importantly, I have the following items to explore and document:
The city of Fredericksburg, Virginia as a possible origin of the Walker family;
the family branch of Lucy (Walker) George
the names of the siblings listed on the bank records of Emily Gibson and Lucy George;
Clara E. Woodard (FAN Club Member due to Bank Record 1117, deposit by Lucy H. George).
Sources
1 “United States Census, 1900,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M9DJ-6F1 : accessed 28 October 2011), Deliah Willis in household of John H Willis, Mobile city Ward 8, Mobile, Alabama, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 112, sheet 33A, family 707, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1240032 / digital file 1240032 > Image 371.
2 “United States Census, 1880,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4V7-4N5 : accessed 31 January 2011), Caroline Willis in household of John Willis, Mobile, Mobile, Alabama, United States; citing enumeration district ED 144, sheet 512C, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL digital file 5157243 > Image 31.
41870 U.S. census, Mobile, Alabama, population schedule, Mobile, Ward 8, p. 142 (written), 388 (printed), dwelling 951, family 995, Cato Gibson household; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 Aug 2020); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M593, roll 31; FHL film 545530.
51880 U.S. census, Mobile, Alabama, population schedule, Mobile, enumeration district (ED) 144, p. 33 (written), 513A (stamped), dwelling 305, family 347, Cato Gibson household; digital images, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 9 Aug 2020); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T9, roll 25; FHL film 5157243, Image 33 of 72.
61900 U.S. census, Mobile, Alabama, population schedule, Mobile, Ward 8, enumeration district (ED) 111, sheet 12B, dwelling 221, family 262, Cato Gibson household; digital images, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 10 Aug 2020); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T623; FHL film 4120002, Image 24 of 45.
71880 U.S. census, Mobile, Alabama, pop. sch., Mobile, ED 144, p. 33 (written), 513A (stamped), dwell. 305, fam. 347, Cato Gibson household.
10John H. Franklin Willis, bank card 1118, Mobile branch; “United States, Freedman’s Bank Records, 1865-1874”, digital images, FamilySearch (http://FamilySearch.org : 25 October 2020) ) FHL film 4098142 > Image 53; citing “Registers of Signatures of Depositors in Branches of the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company, 1865-1874, M816, roll 2.”
11Carrie Elizabeth Willis, bank card 1119, Mobile branch; “United States, Freedman’s Bank Records, 1865-1874”, digital images, FamilySearch (http://FamilySearch.org : 25 October 2020) ) FHL film 4098142 > Image 53; citing “Registers of Signatures of Depositors in Branches of the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company, 1865-1874, M816, roll 2.”
13Clara E. Woodard, bank card 1117, , “United States, Freedman’s Bank Records, 1865-1874”, digital images, FamilySearch (http://FamilySearch.org : 28 August 2020) FHL film 4098142 > Image 53; citing “Registers of Signatures of Depositors in Branches of the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company, 1865-1874, M816, roll 2.”
14Emily Gibson, bank card 1277, Mobile branch; “United States, Freedman’s Bank Records, 1865-1874”, digital images, FamilySearch (http://FamilySearch.org : 8 August 2020) FHL Film 4098142 > Image 73; citing “Registers of Signatures of Depositors in Branches of the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company, 1865-1874, M816, roll 2.”
GeneaJournals 