What happened to Aunt Hannah's Husband? (Solving a Family Mystery part 2)

After several visits to the library to scroll through the microfilm, I came across a May 9, 1924 article about the Colored Farmers Association picnic and barbecue (P.W. Williams, treasurer). This greatly decreased my timeframe for P.W/Priest Williams' death from 10 years to 6.

Lake City Reporter May 9 1924  P.W. (Priest) Williams

Along my journey through the paper, I copied interesting articles and added them to my flash drive. One such article was a June 20, 1924 notice about the 500 member Klan parade that had marched through town  the previous Tuesday. I found it interesting that no one knew who any of the participants were--at least that's what was said in the paper.  

                      Lake City Reporter June 20 1924 Klan Parade

Last Sunday, I dropped by the library again for a quick (2 hour) visit to browse the microfilm  and a November 14, 1924 article entitled "Negroes Attacked By Five Masked Men" caught my eye.  I started to read about the abduction and murder of W.L. Shaw, negro proprietor of a wood yard. As I reached the 2nd paragraph, I yelled out "Oh my God! I found him!"  There, right in the 2nd paragraph,  was the account of Priest Williams' beating  that my grandmother, as a little girl, had overheard being discussed.

I had expected maybe a short blurb or a mention, but I hadn't expected it to be front page news of the Lake City Reporter for 3 consecutive weeks! (Of course, the paper was only published on Fridays) There was a long article on the 14th about the abduction and severe beating of the two men, Shaw was found dead on Wednesday morning and Priest Williams was found alive but severely injured.  Priest told authorities that he had been ordered to leave town by noon Wed but couldn't do so because of  his condition  after the beating. The authorities assured him that he would be protected.

Lake City Reporter Nov 14 1924 

Nov 14 1924 article continued

According to the newspaper, "an enraged public sentiment (was) at fever heat over the terrible crime committed in this city..." Public meetings were held and 4 men were taken into custody and charged with the crimes.  An article on Nov 21 1924 gave the names: Steve Dukes, Norman Ives Jr., Cody Witt, and B.F. Eastman, of the perpetrators who were arrested for the crimes. At this point, it seemed as though the town was really serious at seeing justice done. Sadly, in the next issue of the paper ( November 29, 1924), Priest Williams is reported to have "succumbed to his injuries on Monday afternoon." It is also mentioned that a commitment trial was to be held the following Saturday for the "four white men now in custody."

                                          Lake City Reporter Nov 29 1924 Priest Williams Death

The December 5, 1924 edition of the paper notes that a $2000 appearance bond had been paid by each defendant in the case, who were released from custody pending action of the grand jury at the Spring Term (May 1925). I have scrolled through the paper page-by-page up to June 1928 and there is no more mention of the case nor what happened to the defendants.

According to the 1930 census, Cody Witt, 29,  is living in Jacksonville, FL. with his wife and two kids; he works as a stockman for an Auto Factory.  Norman Ives Jr., 26, lives with his mother and siblings in Lake City and he works as an agent for Seaboard Railroad. Steve Dukes, 24, lives with his siblings in Alachua, FL and is employed as a lumber dealer.  B.F. Eastman, 27, is boarding in a house in  Daytona Beach and works as a Steam Fitter. I have contacted the County Courthouse with a request for any information about the case or the defendants. Hopefully I will hear something soon.

I find it quite interesting that there appeared to be such an uproar over  the crimes, even going so far as to arrest the suspects and have them post bond, only to find them living free and unencumbered only 6 years later. I found accounts of the incidents in several newspapers both in Florida and as far away as Trenton NJ and Cleveland OH by searching Genealogybank for the names of the victims. Google brought no definitive results UNTIL I searched for "W.L.Shaw" "Priest Williams" and then the most informative accounts of the incident to date, were found in the Bradford Telegraph (Bradford Co. FL).

The first article describes in detail how the victims were both taken/lured from their homes/businesses. The second article tells of the public's "condemnation" of the attacks on the negro men. And again, it seems as though the perpetrators will definitely receive the full measure of justice but just like the Lake City Reporter, The Bradford Telegraph falls silent after a small mention of a preliminary hearing on  December 12 1924.  I sure hope there is some explanation of all this in the Court proceedings.

Bradford Telegraph Nov 21 1924  Article 1 

Bradford Telegraph Nov 21 1924 Article 1 cont.

Bradford Telegraph Nov 21 1924 Article 2

On a good note, my grandmother was overjoyed that I was able to uncover this mystery based on her memory of a "grown folks" conversation. She doesn't think that anyone in the family who is alive now knows this story so she is excited to tell her brother and sisters. This is one of the great "rewards" of the pursuit of family history, being able to find "lost" stories and prove the "unprovable."  And even though this is a difficult story to find and tell--especially about my own family--it did happen,  it is history, and it is OUR story.

What happened to Aunt Hannah's Husband? (Solving a Family Mystery part 1)

A few years ago, my grandmother mentioned to me that her father had an Aunt Hannah who owned a hotel on Railroad Street in Lake City FL. She said that, as a little girl, she had overheard the "old folks" talking about Aunt Hannah's husband being taken off into the woods and killed by some white men. Of course it immediately piqued my interest and I wanted to know more! Sadly, that was all she knew. She didn't know Aunt Hannah's last name nor the name of her husband. But I was intrigued, so my quest began.

Without a last name for Aunt Hannah I was hard-pressed to find her in a census index. So I had to resort to looking page by page through the 1930 census for Lake City (In-Town) since my grandmother had been born in 1925. I successfully found Hannah Williams age 65, widowed Hotel proprietor living with her daughter and 2 boarders. Great! Now all I had to do was follow her back to 1920 and earlier. Easier said than done! Apparently a great many black families in Florida in 1855-1860 had decided to name their new baby girls, Hannah; and many of those Hannahs were either born with the Williams surname or married men named Williams. So I had no luck distinguishing my Hannah Williams from all the rest. And since I didn't know her husband's name, marriage records weren't much help.

1930 Census Hannah Williams

Somewhere along the way, I found a listing of prominent people in Lake City which included a man named Priest Williams who was a black hotel owner. Excited, I tried to find a definitive connection between Priest and my Hannah but try as I might, I just couldn't connect the two. Priest's wife was named Mave on the 1900 census and I couldn't find him on the 1910 or 1920. Once again I had hit a roadblock.

1900 Census Priest and Mave Williams and children

Fast forward to 2 weeks ago.  I used Inter Library Loan to order 4 rolls of microfilm from the George A. Smathers Library at the University of Florida. While scrolling page-by-page through my first roll, I came across a notice of a property sale by one "Hannah Williams and her husband and next friend, P.W.Williams owners of a negro hotel" against a former boarder who had failed to pay his rent, dated Feb 14, 1919. The constable was selling off the boarder's property to cover what they were owed. With an actual name for Aunt Hannah's husband, I quickly searched Familysearch.org for anything on P.W. Williams in Lake City. BINGO! I found a marriage record for Hannah Ashley and P.W. Williams dated 29 Dec 1911.  Now I recognized Aunt Hannah! Her first husband, Noah Ashley,  was the brother of  Frances Ashley Bryant who was my grandmother's great grandmother. (Got that?!)

Hannah and Priest Williams Property Sale 1919

After finding that article, pieces suddenly began to fit together. I found Hannah and "Preasy" Williams on the 1920 census, listed with his kids from his first wife (both Mave and Noah were deceased by 1910.)

1920 Census Priest and Hannah Williams

So now I knew who Aunt Hannah's husband was and that he was still living as of 1920; so his death had to have occurred sometime between 1920 and 1930. I was hoping to possibly find some mention of his death since he appeared to be a rather prominent citizen of Lake City but I was totally unprepared for what I actually DID find!

To Be Continued...

                                 

                                                 

                                             

                                                                             

Ellis Smith and the Inheritance

Eight years ago I created this "letter" so that all of the family members who were benefiting from the sale of the Smith-Vaughter Homestead would know exactly where their monetary windfall was coming from. Unfortunately, the letter was never sent out-- "life" just got in the way.

                                         

The Smith-Vaughter House

I have spent the past several years "kicking myself" for not taking pictures of my great-grandparents house before the property was sold to the government as part of  the Stones River Battlefield. My Mom, aunts, and I went up to get anything we wanted from the house before it was sold. They, of course, wanted all of the furniture--antique beds, a dressing table and stool, chairs; I snagged all of my great-grandparents' old "paperwork" --letters, cards, receipts, etc. But the one thing that none of us thought to take, was pictures.

Recently, while chatting with "The Afrigeneas Lunch Bunch," I mentioned my regret at not having any pictures of the house. Someone suggested I check Google Maps, but the house had been torn down. Then I suddenly had the idea to contact the Battlefield and ask if maybe they had taken a picture of the house before it was torn down. So I called. The lady I spoke with said that she thought there might be pictures, but the man who would know for sure wasn't in yet. She took my name and number and I figured I might hear back in a few days. Wrong! He called me about 2 hours later and told me "Yes, we have several pictures (SEVERAL?!) and I had an intern scan them all and would like to send them to you." I started to give him my e-mail address but he said there were too many to send via e-mail so he was going to send me a cd!

I was ecstatic! And also slapping myself for not having thought to ask earlier. Duh! Well, the cd came a few days later and there were 22 pictures of the old Smith-Vaughter Homestead--both inside and out! What a goldmine!
The original 173 acre property had been purchased by my great-great grandfather, Ellis Smith, in Sept.1932 for $6000 (in "cold cash" according to a newspaper account of the purchase) which he had received as part of an insurance settlement from the death of his son, William Smith. Unfortunately, the house was in bad shape  when the photos were taken but you can still see the character of it and imagine what it once was.

The Smith-Vaughter House
Rutherford Co., TN

Why "Same To Ya?"

Woodrow Landrum 1925-2007

Welcome to my genealogy blog! I was "challenged" to start a blog by some of the members of the Afrigeneas "Lunch Bunch"  chat a few weeks ago, so I decided now was a good time! I'm planning to use this blog as a place to share with family and friends about my research progress (and lack thereof) and also some of the pictures, stories, and family sayings I've come across.

You're probably wondering about the name of the blog aren't you? Well, it started when I went away to college in 1985; I would come home on breaks and holidays to visit my mom and my paternal grandparents. ("Home" at that time was Memphis--I guess it always will be "home"...) My grandfather was always rather stoic--having grown up in the late 20's and 30's--He was a "man's man", strong, silent, and you just didn't mess with him! Anyway, whenever it was time for me to leave, I'd always hug and kiss everyone and say "I love you."  Mom and grandma always said it back but granddad never did. When I was younger and would visit every weekend,  he'd just kind of grunt after I said it and say something like "See you later" or "You be good!" Now that I wasn't able to visit as often I guess he figured he needed to say something so, when I'd hug and kiss him and say "I love you, Grandad"; he'd say "Same to ya."

Now  Grandma, Mom and I thought this was immensly funny! "Same to ya?" Who the heck says that?! So we'd laugh about it (out of Granddad's earshot mind you, we weren't stupid!) and sometimes when I talked to Grandma on the phone I'd say "I love you" and she'd whisper "Same to ya" and we'd crack up laughing at our own private little joke.

I never moved back home after I graduated from college so there were quite a few years of "Same to yas" when I visited. One time, maybe 2 or 3 years after I graduated, I was home for a visit and was saying my usual goodbyes to Grandma and Granddad and when I hugged and kissed him and told him "I love you, Granddad." He said "I love you too." I was speechless! I didn't say anything but when Grandma walked me out to my car we both started jumping up and down and hugging each other! Neither of us could believe he had actually said the words.

He never said "Same to Ya" again. From that day on he ALWAYS responded with "I love you" and many times he even said it first. Granddad mellowed quite a bit as the years went on and we had no doubt about how much he loved us. He passed on in 2007 and while we miss having him with us, we enjoy remembering all the fun times we had, things he said, and the private little "jokes" we shared between us.

Same to ya, Granddad!