"What Were Their Names That We May Remember Them"

          “In Louisiana, black women were put in cells with male prisoners and some became pregnant. In 1848, legislators passed a new law declaring that all children born in the penitentiary of African American parents serving life sentences would be property of the state. 

          The women would raise the kids until the age of ten, at which point the penitentiary would place an ad in the newspaper. Thirty days later, the children would be auctioned off on the courthouse steps 'cash on delivery.' 

          The proceeds were used to fund schools for white children. . . many of [the black children] were purchased by prison officials.”


___________________

From Shane Bauer's excellent book of 2018: American Prison: A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment. Winner of the 2019 J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize. Winner of the Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism. Winner of the 2019 RFK Book and Journalism Award. 

Honey Leaper in 1957

          The last record I find of my 2d Great-Grandmother is January 28, 1893. "Mrs. Hannah Leeper" sold 126+ acres of land to "D. P. Cowsert" in Kimble County, Texas.

          To my knowledge, no one alive today knows when my immigrant ancestor died or where she is buried. Until a later source is found, I can only point to early 1893 as Hannah's "last known alive" date. 

          Her name pops up in papers all over Texas because of bounty land left to her when widowed in 1855. Land that Texas had awarded her husband Sam Leeper for having fought at San Jacinto and Bexar during the Texas Revolution. (Yay, Sam!). 

          Survey records of these original grantees, Sam or Hannah Leeper, can be found in old Texas newspapers. Today I found another mention of my Hannah.

          This has got to be my favorite misspelling of her name:  "Honey Leaper." 


          Fellow Wiser family historians will see other familiar surnames: Speights, Weaver, Moor, Frezia, Hankamer, Barrow, and Abshier in this article from The Baytown News, Wed., 5 June 1957, Baytown, Chambers County,Texas, page 3, via The Portal To Texas History at   URL:   https://texashistory.unt.edu/  

          If you find mention of our Hannah with the surname Leaper, Leiper, Leeper or as "Honey," please share, won't you?


November 2022 UPDATE:

1.  From The Baytown Sun, page 10, Monday, February 4, 1963 in Baytown, Harris County, Texas:



2.  This one from the same paper on January 28, 1960, page 12:



3. Lastly, from February 4, 1965, page 9, The Baytown Sun paper:






1890 and 1900 Marriages In Newton County, Arkansas

Familysearch.org has uploaded a copy of the Bond for Marriage, Marriage License, and Certificate of Marriage of Pleas H. Lovell and Samirah Coffee in Newton County, Arkansas in June of 1890. The license was obtained June 2nd, and the couple married in Cassville, Newton County, Arkansas the next day--June 3, 1890.




Familysearch is a free site--but requires registration. The direct link to the Lovell-Coffee marriage data is: 
  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NMRN-4XT


That marriage came to a bitter end, as Mr. Lovell was sent to prison. Samirah soon remarried William Curtis:


Familysearch.org has the copy of their marriage records here:  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NMBF-JM4 - as seen below:



Citation:  "Arkansas, County Marriages, 1837-1957," database with images, FamilySearch : 18 March 2019), 004331445 > image 663 of 686; county offices, Arkansas.


William Curtis was recently widowed when he married Samirah. The couple were together 23 years before he died in 1923 at age 63. Samira lived much longer. She died in 1955 at age 95. She is survived by many great-grandchildren who remember her still. 

 I appreciate Beverly Joe Vaughn for tempting me with her family stories on Findagrave.

Beverly shared lovely photos and history data on her direct ancestors' memorials that I found fascinating. It led me to search for married records to add to my family tree--as I too am a distant Coffee relative. A fun afternoon this hot August day during the Pandemic!

My 3x Great-Grandfather was a younger brother of Elijah Coffee (1799-1873). Elijah Coffee and his wife Peggy (Patrick) Coffee were the grandparents of Elijah "Bud" Coffee. Bud and Samirah Thomas married in December of 1879. They had three girls before Bud's untimely death in 1885 at age 29. 

UPDATE:  I found secondary proof of Samirah Thomas' first marriage. Here Elijah is listed by his initials, and poor Samirah's given name was frequently misspelled, as it is here:




How A Stolen Coverlet Was Recovered

In 1906 writer S. C. Turnbo spoke with Sarah Matilda Cowan of her experience when "robbers and guerrillas were overrunning the country in Madison County" Arkansas.

Thieves had once stormed her family's home and grabbed anything of value:

       https://thelibrary.org/lochist/turnbo/V3/ST097.html

Silas Claiborne Turnbo's many stories can be searched by keyword. If you have ancestors who once lived in Missouri, Indian Territory or northern Arkansas, put their surname in the search engine linked below. Or you might search by name of town, river, or occupation: 

       https://thelibrary.org/lochist/turnbo/  

Yes, I looked for "blacksmith" as several in my family once shoe'd horses.

The site with nearly 800+ stories by Mr. Turnbo is sponsored by the Springfield-Greene County Library in Missouri. #LibrariansRock

Wagoner, Keystone, Coweta, Fayetteville, Prairie Grove, are other words that return with stories from 150 years ago. Or try a phrase. 

He collected many stories from veterans of the Civil War. And panthers. A lot of panther stories:

      Late in the night our camp was aroused by the fierce screams of a panther which had ventured up in 100 yards of camp. I was only 4 years old and I well remember that the noise of the animal made me shiver like water frogs coming out of cold water and crawling up my back.  
From:  https://thelibrary.org/lochist/turnbo/V25/ST719.html

His stories are copied with very little correction or editing. You will see that Mr. Turnbo had no spellcheck app.

He wrote like many of us text.