Tag: slave ancestry

A Bitter Independence: The Story of Johnson Neal

On By RootsGenieIn Maternal Ancestors, Musings, NealLeave a comment

As a genealogist, I’ve spent decades searching for the stories of my ancestors, especially those whose lives were almost erased from history. Each discovery is both a victory and a heartbreak because the documents that prove their existence often reveal the injustices they endured.

This Fourth of July, as America celebrates freedom, I find myself thinking about Johnson Neal. Though I haven’t yet proven he is biologically connected to my family, I consider him part of our story. He was enslaved in Franklin County, Georgia, by a man named John M. Neal – the same name I found linked to my direct maternal ancestors. His life and service offer a stark contrast to the ideals of liberty we honor today.

Born Into Bondage, Fighting for Freedom

Johnson was born enslaved in Franklin County, Georgia. No record of his birth exists; like so many others born into bondage, his age was never documented. In his later years, Johnson swore under oath that he had no record of his age and could only name his master – John M. Neal – as proof.

As General Sherman’s army carved a path of destruction through Georgia in his infamous March to the Sea, enslaved people like Johnson watched plantations burn and felt the first tremors of freedom.

But liberation was uneven. Some enslaved men followed Sherman’s troops, seizing the chance to escape. Did Johnson do the same? Or was he carried North by other means, perhaps as a servant or laborer, until he found the opportunity to enlist?

His records are silent on how he reached Wisconsin, but there, he was drafted into the 51st Wisconsin Infantry, Company C – one of more than 450 serving in the state.

The Courage of Wisconsin’s Black Soldiers

When the Civil War began, African Americans were barred from serving as soldiers. Some worked as non-combatant laborers in Union regiments. That changed on January 1, 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation made it possible for Black men to enlist. Over the next two years, 272 Wisconsin men of color joined the Union army. Another 81 Black men from other states, enlisted in place of white draftees, were credited to Wisconsin’s rolls, bringing the total number of Wisconsin’s Black troops to 353.

These soldiers were often relegated to labor-intensive duties: guarding railroads, repairing supply lines, and policing the Reconstruction South. Yet they wore Union blue with pride, staking their claim to liberty in a country that had long denied their humanity.

Courtesy of the family of Frederick Douglass; US Department of Defense; https://www.defense.gov

A Life of Struggle and Resilience

After the war, Johnson settled in Covington, Tennessee, where he lived with his family until 1906. His health began to fail, and he entered a Soldiers’ Home in Ohio before transferring to Wisconsin’s Northwestern Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in 1907.

Black veterans were welcomed at the National Home, but segregation still ruled its halls. African American members lived in separate quarters and ate at different tables. By 1900, only 2.5% of veterans in the National Home system were African American, even though nearly 10% of Union soldiers had been Black. For many, the prospect of segregated facilities and the bitter reality of racism discouraged them from seeking refuge there.

In 1910, Johnson was one of only about ten African American veterans among more than 2,000 men at the Milwaukee Soldiers’ Home. Surrounded by men who could not have known the double battle he had fought – against the Confederacy and against racism – he must have felt profoundly alone.

The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Historical Register of National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938; Series: M1749

The Pension Fight

When Johnson applied for the pension he had earned through service, he faced a cruel irony. Sworn under oath, he explained that he could not provide proof of his age because he had been born enslaved and no record of his birth existed. To receive the recognition he had earned as a soldier, Johnson still had to rely on the words of the man who once owned him.

In 1912, Johnson chose to leave the Milwaukee Soldiers’ Home. His discharge papers read simply “OR”: Own Request. He returned South to live with his daughter, who cared for him in his final years and later paid for his burial when he died in 1915.

After his death, his daughter took up his fight, writing letters to the government, hiring a lawyer, and refusing to let her father’s service be erased.

A Legacy of Freedom Deferred

As I read the letter that first named him as a slave, I feel the weight of it all. For decades, I searched for proof that Johnson was part of my family’s story. Finding that letter was a triumph, but it was also a reminder that men like Johnson had to claw their way toward recognition – first as soldiers, then as citizens, and finally in the fragile memories of descendants like me.

Today, Johnson lies buried in Southern soil, near the daughter who loved him fiercely. And as fireworks light up the Wisconsin sky, I think of him marching in Union blue, a man who crossed Georgia’s burning fields seeking freedom, only to find it deferred.

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Are you interested in more stories like Johnson Neal’s – stories of resilience, discovery, and the hidden lives of our ancestors?

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Neal Family slave owner research Part 2- Serendipity

On By RootsGenieIn Neal2 Comments

When I first began searching for my family’s owner I was focused on Thales Neal’s family. However, I was frustrated when I couldn’t find any documents related to Thales or his father John Mayfield that proved they were my family’s owners. What I realized is that I needed to widen my scope when researching this family, not just focusing on the last one before slavery ended. I believe my ancestors sent a sign that I was looking in the wrong direction.

I subscribe to a few different forums on African American genealogy on Facebook. One day I happened to open my page and it automatically opened to the “Our Black Ancestry” forum.  There was a post from a woman who had just started researching her African ancestry after discovering her 3rd great grandfather was a free person of color. She had been working with a lot of probate records and wanted to know if there was a place to record the names of slaves that she was finding among the records. I wanted to respond to thank her because I know how valuable that information is to those researching African ancestry, and there are quite a few that I have encountered who were not so friendly and forthcoming. As I scrolled through the many other responses and questions under her post I stopped dead at the last one that read “Yesterday I was researching my Neal side in Franklin County, GA and came across probate that had like 10 or 15 slaves names listed.” I couldn’t compose myself quickly enough to form a reply because I knew that was MY family she was talking about!

We exchanged information back and forth just to make sure, and she gave me a copy of the estate file that she had been looking in. It was for William Neal, who died in Franklin County in 1835. On the jacket of the file is a list of negroes: Terrell, Mahely (1844), Berry (12), Silvy (1842), Nancy (50), Reuben (28), Patience (27), Mary (19), Gabriel (12), Queen (8), Lewis (6), Sarah.

 

Neal Family-Slave Owner Research (part 1)

On By RootsGenieIn Allen, Maternal Ancestors, Neal37 Comments

I have been researching my family history for many years, yet the slave owners of my maternal Neal family line seem to be the most elusive.  I followed the suggested tips to locate them: searching for other than the “Neal” surname, searching military records, Freedman’s Savings and Trust records, and searching nearby families on corresponding 1870 census records. In this series of posts titled “Slave Owner Research” I will look for clues using the methods above, follow clues in estate documents, investigate alternate surname possibilities, and finally reach out to slave owners families to collaborate and share information.

My first tip when I began looking for slave owners was to search the 1870 census for 10 pages forward and backward from my known family. I didn’t find any Neal families that matched the age and genders even remotely close. That could mean they moved to a different county after emancipation, they were owned by a different surname, etc. However, one document that I found early on was sticking out to me. I knew my 3rd great grandfather Gabriel Neal was listed on the 1867 Return of Registered Voters in Banks County, Georgia. I found a man named Thales Neal who was listed in the exact same militia district, and had been living there for the same amount of time.

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The 1860 Slave Schedule showed that he owned about 27 slaves; only a few matching the ages of my ancestors on the 1870 census. When I started researching this family even more closely I found out that Thales’ middle name was Major after his grandfather, and Thales’ father was John Mayfield Neal. They married into families of Crawfords and Littles. I would later discover the custom of taking the mother’s maiden name as the middle name.

In my own family I found similar names of Major, Mayfield and Crawford. I thought they were unusual names and I had not found any other relatives they could have been named after. Aside from being geographically close and having some possible matches in age on slave records, I had no valid source to prove that Thales Neal was the slave owner. However, whenever I found new information on Thales Major or John Mayfield Neal I felt that tingle that meant I was on the right path.

I ran into a few road blocks along the way. I searched everywhere for a will or papers for Thales Neal. He is listed on the Muster-In Roll of the Confederate 4th Cavalry (State Guards) on August 15, 1863.  There he participated in Sherman’s famous March to the Sea, and was wounded during the skirmish at Griswoldville in late November 1864. He would succumb to his injuries approximately two weeks later.

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I finally located a will that was probated in February 1865, and in it he states “…I will and bequeath unto my beloved son John Nathaniel F Neal three negroes to wit Lucy Ann and her two children Floyd and Harriet. I will and bequeath to my beloved wife Therisa Neal a negro woman Mary known as the one given her by her father and all her increase…” What happened to the remaining slaves between 1860 and 1863, and why were these two women the only slaves mentioned in the will?

 

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I went back over the will and re-read the line that says “Mary known as the one given her by her father and all her increase”. Thales’ wife Therisa was given a slave named Mary by her father. Therisa’s maiden name was Holley, and all of a sudden I remember that my great grand aunt Clara Allen’s husband Judge was the son of Floyd Neal and Mary Holley! Could this possibly be the same Mary mentioned in Thales’ will? And could Floyd be the son of Lucy Ann mentioned in the will?

As of this point I cannot find a death date for Floyd or Mary to order death certificates, and when I do I am hoping that they will provide the answers to these questions. In my next post  I will search through Freedman’s Bank records, alternate slave owner surnames and connections through death certificates.