Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - A Prolific Father

This is my first time participating in Randy Seaver’s, Genea-Musings, Saturday Night Genealogy Fun Challenges. The mission for Father's Day, if we chose to accept it, is

1) Determine who is one of the most prolific fathers in your genealogy database or in your ancestry. By prolific, the one who fathered the most children.


2) Tell us about him in your own blog post, in comments to this blog post, or in comments on Facebook.

My most prolific father was Jefferson Haynes (1852-1928), who had seven (7) children by his first wife Sarah Wilkinson (1855-1890) whom he married around 1875 in Leon County, Texas and (25) twenty-five children with his second wife Mattie Perkins (1867-1923) whom he married on 16 Feb 1893 in Leon County, Texas. Between his two wives, he had a total of (32) thirty-two children. Of the (32) thirty-two children, (26) twenty-six lived to adulthood.

 

Jefferson, the eldest son of Isaac and Adelaide (Brumby) Haynes, was born a slave in Alabama. According to oral history, the family along with the two other families (Brunson and Robinson) was owned by the Brumbys. They were brought to Texas during the Civil War around 1862. After the Civil War, Jefferson and his family eventually settled in the Friendship Community of Leon County, Texas. The community of Friendship is located about five miles south of Jewett and eight miles northwest of Centerville in northwestern Leon County. This was an African American settlement that was established after the Civil War. 

 

Jefferson was a farmer who purchased his first 50 acres from his father in 1880. Over the course of his life time, he would purchase over 800 acres of land with silver dollars because he did not trust paper money. He was also an active member of the community who was respected by both African Americans and Whites.

 

At the time of his death, the land was divided between his (19) nineteen living heirs. Each heir was given approximately 31.5 acres.  

 

Tombstone Tuesday

                                                    Nannie Simpson

                                          2 March 1869 - 10 Jan 1892

                                                   Moore Cemetery

                                            Jewett, Leon County, Texas

Nannie Simpson was the daughter of Essex and Amanda (Henry) Simpson. She is the younger sister of my great great grandfather W. L. Simpson (1868-1916).

The picture was acquired by Patricia Marburger of the Leon County Genealogical Society, Centerville, Leon County, Texas.

Walter and Iola (Simpson) Haynes

Today marks a very sad day for my family. On this day 33 years ago (2 April 1977), my great grandparent Walter and Iola (Simpson) Haynes were found murdered in their home located six miles south of Jewett, Leon County, Texas. Jadie Haynes (1909-1983), the younger brother of Walter, discovered their bodies. Law enforcement assumed that the murder was a result of a robbery gone bad as the house appeared to be ransacked. However my family has their own theories regarding the murder which included a century old struggle over land and mineral rights and racial hostilities. Despite the motives or theories the case was never solved.

Over the next several years following the incident, my grandmother, Luora Haynes-Patterson (1922-2008), sought the assistance of various organizations both nationally and locally to bring attention to the incident and apprehen the individual(s) responsible. Unfortunately, all the letters and phone calls did not produce any results. Eventually, her persistence and determination turned into frustration and helplessness with the passage of time. I remember talking with my grandmother many years later, after I started researching the family history, about the incident. In recounting this painful incident, she expressed frustration at the lack of assistance and interest the case was given. She felt that since the victims were an old African American couple that lived in a rural community in Texas, it wasn’t a priority.

Prior to researching my family history I knew very little about this incident outside of overhearing my mother telling a family member that my father’s grandparents were killed. Only after 15 years of researching would I feel ready to learn the details about my ancestors' death. So about six months ago, I started conducting my own investigation gathering information on the case. I have sent several inquiries to the Leon County 86th District Court, Sheriff Office, Justice of the Peace, Harris County Medical Examiner, and the Texas Department of Public Safety about the murders. On 7 January 2010, I received a letter and some documents pertaining to the case from the Leon County Sheriff's Office. In addition, I was informed that the case was being examined as a "cold case" due to my inquiry. I was overwhelmed with joy and excitement about the possibility of this case being solved after so many years. I immediately told my father of the news, he responded with “You have manifested the persistence and smarts that many of us have had depleted by the passage of time. Congratulations! I am very proud of you.” Although I do not know what the outcome will be of the re-opening of the case, I am hopeful that justice and peace will finally be rendered to my great grandparents Walter and Iola (Simpson) Haynes.

Walter and Iola passed away before I was able to meet them but their love for family and faith in God has been a constant presence in my life.