Apologies for my tardy Madness Monday entry — I spent the afternoon with Mom & kids eating, window shopping &  just enjoying being together.

The above image was a part of the 100+ images returned to the WINGFIELD Family by Mingo WINGFIELD’S former neighbor, Annie HALL in Washington, Georgia.

After Mingo’s home was gutted, Ms. Hall held the images 35+ years until they could be rightly given to a Family member — my Cousin, Malinda CROSS!

For some reason the portrait of this family has always resonated with me. For a very long time the people in the image were unknown, but recently Malinda left me this note in the OGR Picasa Ancestor Image Gallery:

I am glad to provide you with the identity the female in this photo. Mingo’s daughter, Frances, was able to identify her as her mother Sarah COHEN (Mingo J. Wingfield’s second wife) in her younger years. Although there is no knowledge of a prior marriage, this looks to be a family photo. Sara did have an older son named Wembert. I “think” he could be the older of the two boys. I will do more research to find out more about the mystery “family”.

Unfortunately, most of the images returned to Malinda were unmarked, which in itself is MADDENING! I pray that one day ALL the identities of these Ancestors are known.

Luckie.

Ya’ll {yes… I said ya’ll!:-} may get tired of hearing it BUT if you have not taken your Slave Ancestry research online, you are smothering your ability to move your research forward! PERIOD!:-)

Recently, I’ve met two new Wilkes County Cousins, Farrel & Barrett – both on the COHEN/ARNETT side, online {thanks Ancestry!}. For the record, they too met online!:-)

Okay, so one of our questions has been where in the world did the COHEN surname {which the ARNETTS adopted in the late 1890’s} come from when it was not natural to Wilkes County families?

Then a few weeks ago, I was “guided” to an online abstract of an 1817 court case regarding the estate of John QUERNS & his desire to manumit his slaves upon his death.

Today Farrel had an epiphany that I think could be dead on the money – what if COHEN is a derivative of the surname QUERNS?

Given the time period & the circumstances this could very well be the case! The later day ARNETTS would have known it was John Querns intent in 1817 to free their Ancestors.

With the name change, could they have been reaching back to grab their freedom?

Chile, the Ancestors are speaking!:-)

Luckie.

Just when I thought I had the Wingfields of Washington-Wilkes all figured out!

Okay… recently, while searching online for more info related to my Catie’s manumission, I discovered the Digital Library on American Slavery, a collective repository of slave petitions.

Much to my disappointment, I did not find any evidence validating Catie had been freed by Rev. James Dickey in 1861 & after poking around, only discovered one Wilkes County WINGFIELD petition in the DLAS database -  Petition 20681714.

But what a doozy this one document turned out to be!:-)

Here’s the abstract…

In his will, the late John Querns bequeathed to his nephews, William and Samuel Arnett, property that included nine slaves, with the stipulation that some of them be freed at the age of twenty-one. He also set aside a small legacy for eighteen other slaves who were to be freed by his executors upon his death, and appointed several men Thomas Lasley and Thomas Talbot as trustees of the bequeathed property and guardians of the slaves’ interest. Samuel and William Arnett claim that the executors, Talbot, Lasley, and one John Wingfield, have taken no steps to execute the emancipation clause of the will, the legislation of the state of Georgia having made it unlawful to free slaves. The slaves are to remain slaves for life and the executors should render account of their executorship and settle the estate.

Why is this so interesting? Well…

• The John WINGFIELD cited in this petition is the father of James Nelson Wingfield {owner of my 4th Grandfather James Wingfield}, who in his will, bequeathed slaves to James Nelson.
• The 31 slaves listed in the petition, who were eventually bound to slavery for life {courtesy of Georgia legislature making it illegal to free slaves}, share a handful of [unique] names with slaves listed on the 1862 estate inventory of Archibald S. Wingfield. And as I’ve confirmed over the past few weeks, Archibald’s slaves were my new cousin Farrel’s ancestors & quite possibly mine {including an 11 year old “Katy”}.
• Although we didn’t know how until now, Samuel & William ARNETT came to eventually own some of Farrel’s Ancestors {ARNETT is also a known surname related to my WINGFIELDS}.
• Post emancipation, Farrel’s Ancestor, Peter Arnett/Cohen founded the city of Cohen Town in Wilkes Co, accumulating land & wealth over the years.

Questions to answer -

• How was the estate settled & who were the slaves awarded to?
• How did it come to be that the next generation of these slaves appear to be owned by Archibald Simpson Wingfield?
• Where are the wills/estates for the Arnetts, Talbot, Lasley, & John Wingfield? What will they reveal?
• How did Peter Arnett/Cohen come to purchase property after emancipation? Was his fortune connected to the “small legacy” bequeathed to his predecessors by John Querns?

I have a feeling that my questions are just the tip of the iceberg!:-)

Luckie.

Recently, I met a new Washington-Wilkes cousin, Farrel – descendant of Nuby (Newby) & Lucretia (Creasy) COHEN WINGFIELD.

In some respect I envy Farrel’s close-knit Wingfield clan (former slaves of Archibald S. Wingfield), who remained in Washington-Wilkes following emancipation & close to one another.

Selfish as this sounds, it makes the challenged slave ancestry research effort so much easier if your folks stayed put!:-)

Even before I met Farrel, I’d always marveled at the 1870 Census that shows this huge Wingfield family still living together & later was amazed to find them for the most part, being owned by Archibald S., as evident from his Estate Inventory ledger.

I have always been told by my Great Aunts that we were related to Cohen’s too, although they did not know how & have even found a THOMAS COHEN living with my other Washington-Wilkes Grandparents, Phillip & Annie CARTER on the 1900 Census.

Yesterday, I sent Farrel a copy of the COHEN Family Genealogy that was given to me several years ago by our elder cousin, Nancy COHEN GUNBY, in Washington-Wilkes. It really is an amazing documentation of the COHEN, WINGFIELD, ARNETT bloodlines!

Today Farrel tells me that she believes her NELSON (Nuby’s Father) & another cousin, Malinda’s JACK/JOHN (Mingo’s Father) Wingfield to have been brothers!

Why do I love the kernel of news? Because I have always believed Jack/John & my 4th Grandfather, James to have been brothers!

My James was lynched in 1885, so there are very records available. I am thankful to have his 1867 Voter Registration Card, 1868 Marriage License to my Catie Dickey & the 1880 Wilkes County Census showing him with wife Catie & children – Marrie (my 3rd Grandmother), John & Fannie.

Finding James brothers is only second to finding more information about my James!

I am totally stoked & can’t wait to hear your “theory” Cousin!:-)

Luckie