What a day, huh?! If you follow me on Twitter (@OurGeorgiaRoots) you know today I received an AWESOME surprise — an email from the Great, Great Granddaughter of Madison Derrelle CODY, the 1st owner of my Catie and other members of my CODY family from Warren Co.
So for the newbies, any search on OGR for the surname CODY produces a TON of genea-history, but here are the milestones:
- 1998. I knew this about my Warren Co. lineage — Catie left a Sister Allie in 1859-60 when she was sold and she spoke of being on the plantation with Master CODY. Really — that’s it! See my Top 10 Mysteries list from 2008.
- Sept 2009. Discovered Catie’s owner was Madison Derrelle CODY
- Sept 2009. Discovered the Claude Cody Collection (Madison’s Son) at Southwestern University, only to learn later that the extensive collection contains no references to the family’s earlier slave holdings, which were considerable.
- Feb 2010. Identified our Allie! She’d been hidden by a blemish on the 1870 census AND a surname change to DORSEY by 1880.
- March 2010. Confirmed Allie and family! I gained their parents Elbert (uncovering the mystery behind the long standing family name) and Allie – my 5th Grands, Rachael CODY – my 6th Grand AND a 1/2 Brother to Catie, Pierce CODY from the WPA Slave Narratives!
So literally the email from Alexis blew me away and speaks to the many reasons why it’s important to be online with your genealogy research and the necessity of PATIENCE. You did see my time line right?!:-)
It also reflects how descendants on both sides of slavery’s history can and do heal the present.
With permission, I am posting the communication from Alexis. I pray it serves as motivation to take the leap of faith and connect when a connection is possible. It can be life changing!
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05 June 2010
Dear Luckie,
First, I congratulate you on your discovery of your many greats-aunt Allie’s eventual whereabouts. I can imagine how very exciting that must be to know, at last. Also, I am sending a copy of this letter to William B. Jones as he so kindly prompted me to communicate with you after I first made contact with him a few days ago. I wouldn’t have known about him if it had not been for your blog. I have meant to communicate with both of you for a very long time. I was so excited to read about you. I hope that I have something to offer you.
I am the great-granddaughter of Claude Carr Cody, son of the Madison Derrell Cody who “owned” your four-greats-grandmother, Catie. First, I wish to apologize to you for taking so very long to correspond when I knew of your quest as of 10/15/09. My 20 year old daughter, Anna Cody Dell, happened upon your blog while idly researching the Cody’s. My excuse is that I’m a full-time physician, mother and medical director of my group. Finding the free time to do anything personal has been and is very challenging.
If I had found any thing that would have assisted you in your search, you can be guaranteed that I would have gotten in touch , long ago. Also, be assured that if, in the future, anything emerges that would be of interest to you, I will share it, immediately.
I did diligently search for all I could find about your family. Claude Carr Cody created a family journal for his 3 sons in 1916, long after he moved to Texas. He described many of his childhood experiences growing up in Covington and in Warren county. He listed only a few slave names. The ones I have are Reddick and Aunt Alice. He recalls several slaves fondly but they do not have the same prominence in how he writes as others do. However, there is some glimmer in his expressed thoughts that ” the Negroes” have importance, outside of financial commodities. His thoughts were probably no different from most white people in his position. I’d like to believe that had he developed in a different era, his attention and perception to the issue of believing that one can own other humans would be quite different. Of course, after he was 10 years old, the Emancipation Proclamation was enacted. He was not a slave-holder. He describes his father informing all the slaves on the plantation of the Emancipation – Juneteenth. You must remember that his memories are the memories of a child , recalled in adulthood. He was 4 years younger than your many greats-grandmother. They must have known each other.
If you would like me to make a copy of what he wrote and send it to you, I will. Frankly, my instinct is to hide parts of it and to expurgate everything that could vaguely be hurtful to you or to anyone else. Yet I know that honesty is more important than anything, no matter what the consequences. I understand him in the context of the times in which he lived. I hope that you do. I believe that he was a man of huge character. Like all of us, he was limited by the times that he lived in. His parents were even more limited. Yet I like to believe that they were wonderful people. I have his parents’ portraits, painted in the 1850’s. My mother has his portrait, painted as a 4 year old at the same time. What a possession! I know that you would like to have portraits of your own ancestors. Who wouldn’t?
By reading your blog, so long ago, you led me to even more information about my ancestors. I am the same as you. They call me and direct me, serendipitously. I have my own epiphanies. Maybe one day, I can share them with you, if you’re interested. I thank you for the role that you’ve played in my own search. I wish that I had more to give you.
I feel for your struggles to know your origins more fully. Oddly enough, I have been interested in the search of the descendants of slaves for their ancestors for at least 10 years. I went to an exhibition in Drayton Hall in Charleston around that time. On the floor was an attempt at tracing the lineage of the slaves that had lived on that plantation. It really touched me for reasons that I did not fully understand. I then discovered a book by Edward Ball, Slaves in The Family. You must be aware of the myth that is alive in all southern families descended of plantation owners. That myth is that “we were good to our slaves.” Edward Ball was from an old Charleston family. He set out to determine whether there was any truth to that family creed of “goodness”. He got quite the education. He also wrote a book, The Sweet Hell Inside:The Rise of an Elite Black Family in the Segregated South. I love it. If you have not read these books, I would enjoy sending them to you,as gifts, from across the centuries.
I’ve been a little wary of contacting you. I understand some of your anger and frustrations. I’m cowardly enough to not want them applied to me. I suspect that you’re growing deeper than that.
I’m very interested in your developing Buddhism and where it’s leading you.
I would love to hear from you. I know that you’re retiring from your blog as of Juneteeth. I hope that you might feel like writing me back.
If you would like to receive those books, please send me an address that I could use and I’ll send them right away.
Sincerely,
Alexis Dell
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As I said to Alexis earlier, when the Ancestors have something to say, they will open the path. This tells me, the CODYS are not finished talking. They have more of their story I need to tell and I am listening.
Thanks for sharing the joy with me today family!:-)
Luckie.
