Thursday, August 11, 2016
Sardis and Prospect
While exploring the back roads of Harris County in the area that would have been known as Negro Heel in 1850, we passed a winding yet unassuming, tree-lined drive. Something called to me from the end of that drive. I asked my husband to back the car up and drive down. I could see a small rocky formation in a clearing at the end of it. In truth, I hoped it could be the ruins of a home or ancient church, but what we found was a cemetery. This cemetery seemed abandoned and partially destroyed. However, the freshly mown grass surrounding it and an empty beer can alerted me to the fact that someone knew it was here.
While looking around, I discovered some familiar names. Isaiah Jr.'s elder brother, Fleming, and his wife, Rebecca. This was a huge discovery. Before the probate records I hadn't paid much attention to Fleming because he was not in my direct line. I'm paying attention now though because after reading the documents we found in the court house, he seemed so much closer to Isaiah.
In the same year that Isaiah Sr. died, Georgia seceded from the Union. Fleming, who according to his gravestone, enlisted in the Confederate Army was also knee deep in court proceedings concerning his father's estate along with his younger brother. By the end of those proceedings, Isaiah had brought for himself a slave that he fathered 3 children with and intended to live with (illegally) as husband and wife. I can almost imagine the tension that might have been caused by such an act during that time.
Unfortunately, I could not locate any other blood relations in Sardis cemetery, although I did find Thomas, who married Fleming and Isaiah's sister. There was, however, a large number of unmarked rock graves. Could they contain Isaiah Jr. or his parents?
After leaving Sardis, we headed to Prospect Church. I remember visiting this cemetery with my grandmother as a child. Charity Ann and her eldest daughter, Virginia whom my grandmother is named after and who was the only surviving child Isaiah Jr. purchased in 1861, are buried there. My grandmother told me that because Charity Ann was not white, she and Isaiah could not be buried together. No one in my immediate or extended family knows where he rests.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment