19 March 2010 ... UPDATE ...The 1st CoAAG has been posted ... click here to read!
The 19th-century hand-written page featured in this collage is from a Bible thought to have belonged to the family of Josephine Wingfield Henry nee Davis (1842-1899). The column on the left has a hand-written heading -- Negroes Births.
On another website, I have posted what information I have accumulated that may pertain to this page of names and dates of birth. Included on that website is information from the 1850 and 1860 slave schedules that pertains to the 19th Century family members known to be connected in some way to the names mentioned in this Bible.
While I have posted information about this list on various websites in the past, it never hurts to mention it one more time, just in case it might help somebody make a connection with their own past. This list was first made available online back in October of 1998 on the DAVIS-L Rootsweb List. Since that time, it has also become viewable at --
And just an FYI . . . I have not yet (after more than 11 years) received a single query generated by the availability of these records.
The copies I have are photocopies of Bible pages that are said to come from a Davis family Bible. I have never seen that Bible, or the actual Bible pages, but the copies I have were given to me by a cousin, Georgia Faye Kaseberg nee Henry (1925-2001), probably 25 or 30 years ago. It is believed that Georgia probably acquired the photocopies from another cousin and family genealogist, Miss Laura Hamilton (1898-1987).
This post was prepared for the very 1st edition of a Carnival of African-American Genealogy, enthusiastically hosted by Top 40 Geneablogger, Luckie Daniels, at OurGeorgiaRoots.com
On this date in our family history . . . the 11th day of May . . . in the year 1810 . . . our very own America . . . aka America J Fears . . . is born somewhere in the state of Georgia, possibly in Greene County . . . she is the 3rd of eight children known to have been born to James Fears (1772-1857) and Mary Anthony Porter (1784-1826) . . . this America is the mother of our Josephine (1842-1899), who is a 2nd great-grandma to the Keeper of this family history blog.
The dates of America's birth and death are recorded on photocopies of Bible pages that are said to come from a Davis family Bible. I have never seen that Bible, or the actual Bible pages, but the copies I have were given to me by a cousin, Georgia Faye Kaseberg nee Henry (1925-2001), probably 25 or 30 years ago. It is believed that Georgia probably acquired the photocopies from another cousin and family genealogist, Miss Laura Hamilton (1898-1987).
We have scans (of the photocopies that were given to me) of four pages from this family Bible, including -- a page of births, a page of marriages, and a page of deaths (with additional family births listed on it).
The fourth page from this Bible has the hand-written heading, Negroes Births. On another website, I have posted what information I have accumulated that may pertain to this page of names and dates of birth. Included on that website is information from the 1850 and 1860 slave schedules that pertains to the 19th Century family members known to be connected in some way to the names mentioned in this Bible. While I have posted information about this list on various websites in the past, it never hurts to mention it one more time, just in case it might help somebody make a connection with their own past.
Research note . . . Many branches of this family have it in their records that *James* was her middle name, however, no contemporary record has been found showing what the *J* actually stands for.
On this date in our family history . . . the 10th day of May . . . in the year 1842 . . . Josephine Wingfield Davis is born to Milton Grant Davis (1811-1863) and America James Fears (1810-1857) in Morgan County, Georgia . . . and sometime . . . somewhere . . . somebody penned her name and date of birth on the pages of a family Bible . . . based on the timing of the changes in the handwriting on those Bible pages, it would seem that quite a few of these entries were made at the same time . . . which may well have been quite some time after the recorded events actually occurred . . . see also . . .
The date of our Josephine's birth fell on the 439th anniversary of the death of a historical figure who is currently believed to be one of Josephine's ancestors . . . that being Katherine de Roet . . . aka Katherine Swynford . . . aka Katherine, Duchess of Lancaster . . . who was the long-time mistress, and mother of the children of, and brief wife, and then brief widow, of Sir John of Gaunt, King of Leon and Castile . . .
It is a winter's Tuesday in Civil War Texas when Josephine Wingfield Davis becomes the bride of William Paschal Henry, then a young Confederate soldier . . . the ceremony takes place on the 1st day of March 1864 . . . somewhere in Brazoria County on the Texas Gulf Coast . . .
The youngest of five children of Milton Grant Davis and America James Fears, Josephine was born the 10th of May 1842 in Morgan County, Georgia . . . sometime after the death of her Mother in 1857 . . . and before the 1860 Texas census . . . Josephine and all of her siblings, along with their widowed Father, join the westward movement to Texas . . .
According to an entry on a photocopy of Josephine's Family Bible . . . William Paschal Henry was born on the 19th of February 1836 . . . it has been said that he was born in Greensborough [sic], Kentucky . . . the handwriting for said Bible entry is the same as on their marriage record, which was found in Brazoria County by Pam (Pounders) Bryan . . .
In October of 1876, Mr. and Mrs. W. P. Henry and their five surviving children arrive in Milam County, Texas for a visit with Josephine's sister . . . Mrs. Milton G. (Margaret Davis) Antony . . . the Wm. P. Henry family soon move to Milam County, settling on land in the Bethlehem Community north of Rockdale . . .
Josephine dies tragically in October of 1899 . . . and William P. dies in February of 1912 . . . they are buried side-by-side in the Murray Cemetery north of Rockdale, Milam County, Texas . . . this Josephine and Wm. P. Henry are 2nd great-grandparents of the Keeper of this family history blog . . .
- BeNotForgot.com
- GoneToTexas.proboards.com
- The Family Bible
