The Voices of My Ancestors 

The first time I read slave narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project I could almost hear the voices of my ancestors. I felt their presence. Their pain, their fears, their joys leapt from my computer screen. I immediately began to search for recognizable names and places. The three obvious ones were the brother of my paternal great grandfather. 

Emanuel and Washington Armstrong were the brothers of my paternal great-grandfather. Nora was the sister of my paternal great-grandmother. They narrated, in their own words, their lives as enslaved people.

Emanuel "Manuel" Armstrong was born in January 1858 in Jasper, Texas to Zilpah Hadnot and Jackson Armstrong. He married Tempy Byerly and they had eight children together. Tempy died in 1895. Manuel later married Nora Ferrell Brumley in 1897. They had two children together. Manuel died on April 8, 1941, in Jasper, Texas, at the age of 83. He is buried in Hadnot Cemetery in Jasper County, Texas.

Washington "Wash" Armstrong was born enslaved to Zilpah Hadnot and Jackson Armstrong on April 5, 1860 in Cherokee County, Texas. As a young man, he had two daughters, one with Angie Grant and another with Effie Mitchell. Wash later married Lula Seale and together they had nine children. Wash died on September 18, 1942, in Jasper County, Texas, at the age of 82, and was buried in Hadnot Cemetery in Jasper County.

More narratives

Born in Slavery: These narratives were collected in the 1930s as part of the Federal Writers' Project (FWP) of the Works Progress Administration, later renamed Work Projects Administration (WPA).

Lucky Limbrick

Lucky Limbrick
1910-1957

Lucky Limbrick was born on March 18, 1910 in Jasper County, Texas. His father, Doucette Limbrick, was 25 and his mother, Maggie Frazier, was 20. In 1927 he had one daughter, Grander Lee Limbrick, with Sarah Byerly. Three years later, in 1930, Lucky’s son, Willie Luckie Limbrick, was born to Helen Armstrong. Lucky and Helen were married shortly after the birth of their son. There are no records of how long the marriage lasted. Lucky later married Elnora Johnson on May 13, 1937 in Harris County, Texas. 

In 1932 Lucky lived in at 2811 Anita Avenue in Houston, Texas. He worked at Sears and Roebuck as an attendant changing tires. In 1937 Lucky lived at 3404 Bmaunue in Houston and worked for Hiresch Brothers as a porter (custodian). Lucky registered for the draft on October 16, 1940. At the time he was six feet two inches tall and weighed 178 pounds.

 

             U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men

His complexion was listed as light brown, eyes brown, and hair brown. His wife, Elnora Limbrick, was listed as next of kin. His address was 1219 Hill Street, Houston, Texas and his employer was Earl North Buick Company. 

In 1958 Lucky was living with his sister, Jeanette, in Los Angeles, California at 1368 East 48th Street and was a registered Democrat voter.

Lucky Limbrick died on his birthday, March 18, 1957, in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 47. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. 

Evergreen Cemetery
Los Angeles, California 

Doucette Limbrick 
Father of Lucky Limbrick 

Taft Byrdwell

 

Taft Byrdwell 
1906-1978

Taft Byrdwell (parental 3rd cousin 1x removed),  lived an interesting life. He was born in Magnolia Springs, Jasper County, Texas in 1906. In 1925 he and a friend committed a robbery on a Western Pacific train in Oroville, California. The two were  later arrested and charged. 

 

The Sacramento Bee
September 19, 1923

Byrdwell spent time in Leavenworth federal prison (presumably for the assault and robbery on the train). In the 1930 census he said he was a musician. 

He was again in prison in the 1940 census. This time in West Virginia. He is described as a coal miner in the prison census. 

 

According to the 1950 census, Taft was in Texas living in the Houston area and working as a “tavern manager”. His father, General Byrdwell, was also worked in the tavern. The 29 year old woman living with the two of them, Ora Brady, was listed as a maid in the tavern. 

 

Bardwell again found himself involved in the criminal justice system In March 1960.  He was charged with murdering Joe Bob in the tavern he owned. 

 

Corpus Christi Times
March 21, 1960

Taft Byrdwell died of labored pneumonia in Baytown, Texas in 1978. He is buried in Magnolia Springs, Jasper County, Texas.

Springhill Cenetery
Magnolia Springs, Jasper County, Texas 

My relationship to Taft Byrdwell is through his mother, Gerry Bluett Byrdwell. 

Gerry Bluett Byrdwell 
1884-1913

 

Jimmie Lee "Buddy Ace" Land (4th cousin)

 

Jimmie Lee "Buddy Ace" Land

 

Jimmie Lee “Buddy Ace” Land was born on November 11, 1937, in Jasper County, Kirbyville,Texas. His father, Thomas Land,  was 27 and his mother, Eddie Mae Booker Land, was 25. Jimmie Lee grew up in Baytown, Texas.

Jimmie Lee "Buddy Ace" was also known as "The Silver Fox of the Blues". He started his career singing gospel. However, in the 1950s he began to focus on blues and R&B. After touring with Bobby Blue Bland and Junior Walker, he eventually signed a record deal with Duke/Peacock Records in 1965. Buddy Ace's career lasted more than four decades. Two of his R&B hits: "Nothing in the World Can Hurt Me (Except You)" and “Hold On (To This Fool)".

While performing the song "Time to Move On" in Waco, Texas, "Buddy Ace" died of a heart attack on December 25, 1994. He was 57 years old. He is buried in Magnolia Springs Cemetery in Jasper County, Texas.  

        

Learn:

Texas State Historical Association

Wikipedia 

Buddy Ace Biography by Tom Demalon

 

Listen:

I'll Love You (If You Let Me)

It Don't Hurt No More

It's Time to Move On 

Damn Sho Get Over You

 

 

The Ancestors Keep Coming Back

Annie Mae Seale
1911-1990

This picture coming up on my Ancestry.com page frequently. I always have to look twice because she looks so much like my sister’s daughter. Her name was Annie Mae Seale. She was the daughter of my maternal 2nd great uncle, Arch Seale, and  his wife, Dora Limbrick (paternal 1st cousin 3x removed). That would make her a double cousin, so I guess the resemblance makes sense. 

Arch Seale
1881-1948

Dora Limbrick
1875-1937

Eddie Limbrick

Eddie Limbrick was born on November 13, 1883, in Jasper County, Texas. His father, Thomas, was 57 and his mother, Susan, was 32. He had seven brothers and five sisters. Eddie could not hear or speak. He graduated from the Texas Colored Dead and Dumb Institute in Austin, Texas in June 1903. 

Austin American Statesman, June 3, 1903

According to the 1930 Census, Eddie worked at a shoe shop doing leather work. In 1930 he was living alone in the South Quarters section of Jasper in a home he owned. 

1930 US Census Info

He died on July 1, 1933, in Jasper, Texas, at the age of 49, and was buried at Campground Cemetery. 

The

Campground Cemetery
Jasper, Texas 

Black History is Our History

Lorraine Hansberry 1930-1965 (3rd cousin 3x removed) was born in Chicago to Carl Augustus Hansberry and Nannie Louise Perry. She is famous for writing “A Raisin in the Sun”. Lorraine was the first African American woman to author a play performed on

Lorraine’s father, Carl Hansberry 1895-1946 (2 cousin 4x removed) was a real estate broker, civil rights activist, and the plaintiff it the Supreme Court case of Hansberry v. Lee. The case was about African Americans being restricted from buying real estate in white neighborhoods. 

The Settlement... Your Roots Are There

I grew up in Peach Tree Settlement. Some settlements were named for the most prominent families who lived there. Other took the names of the trees, vines, or creeks that dotted the landscape. My little settlement was named for the abundant wild peach trees that grew there.

If you didn't grow up in the South in the early to mid 1900s, you might not know what a settlement is. A settlement is a small, tight knit community of people who are in some way related biologically or socially. But settlements were much more than a neighborhood for African American families.

Settlements were often a maze of sparsely populated dirt roads, wooded trails, and narrow paths. Some families lived within eyesight each other. Others lived farther apart and more secluded. But, no matter the distance, everyone knew each other and in times of crisis, celebration, or worship they gathered together.

There weren't any fancy houses in the settlement. A few houses had paint, asphalt shingles, and a water well. Most, however, were small, unpainted, and tin roofed. Whatever condition or size of your house, the front porch and front yard were your living room. It was a gathering place where people shelled peas, snapped beans, and peeled pears. It was where you laughed and talked with your neighbors, where teenage boys courted their sweetheart, and where old men and women rocked and spoke in low tones about the troubles of the world. When the sun set the front porch was a quiet, cool place to gather your thoughts and unwind for the day. Sometimes in the distance you might hear someone singing a mournful hymn or a harmonica playing the blues. Almost everyone would stop to listen. Some hummed along and patted their feet while others fanned away the heat and wiped away tears.

Some houses in the settlement have been lived in by family members for generations. There is a comfort in sitting in a house where your grandmother was born, or playing the the creek where your father was baptized, and knowing where your ancestors are buried. You feel something deep inside you stir when you walk where they walked and when you smell the pine trees that rocked them to sleep at night and woke them in the morning with a peaceful soul.

In settlements people wave and say good morning or good evening when they see you on the front porch. And if they don't see you, they honk their car horn to say hello. When you haven't been seen outside for a few days they stop to check on you. No one is invisible in a settlement. 

There are some unwritten rules in a settlement:  If your neighbor doesn't have a car, you offer them a ride. When there is an emergency your phone is available for others to use. You feed whoever children are at your house at mealtime (and discipline them if necessary). When someone in the settlement dies you get to their house as quickly as possible. You cook, clean, comfort them, and you stay as long as necessary.

There are a lot of things about a settlement that aren't seen or heard; they are felt. You know you are loved and always welcome in the settlement you grew up in. The settlement takes your heart to a place of comfort, belonging, and a sense of peace. YOUR ROOTS ARE THERE  IT IS HOME