Welcome to my World

Hello everybody!  This is my first blog.  I hope you like it.

Madison County Chancery Court

On June 13, 2018 Tony Bounds (the college archivist) and I visited the Madison County Chancery Court building to continue our search for maps and deeds for the Boddie Plantation.  I was able to get more information about transcribing the township information from the Boddie will that documents the extent of the 2000+ acres of the plantation.  Tony was successful in getting copies of some of the deeds prior to John Boddie's ownership of the land.  We plan to go back on Monday. We plan to store the information and pictures in the digital archive.

146 W Center St, Canton, MS 39046

The Church of the Highlands - Slave Graveyard

I spoke with Pastor Doug today about the slave grave yard. He was expecting my call. He was told that when the church was being built the site was moved because of a slave graveyard. He believes the graves were near where  they have a prayer garden. He suggested we my contact the construction company for more info. I will stop by the church after spring break. There is apparently nothing to see above ground.

Slave Graveyard

I recently received information from Dr. McGinnis about a slave graveyard near Tougaloo. Dr. Louise Jones is a member of the Christ of the Highlands Church in Madison who told Dr. McGinnis at it. I'll be following up on this info and hope to visit and document the find. I suspect that there maybe a connection to the Boddie plantation because of its close proximity to the campus.

Back to Boddie

On my way back to MDAH this morning. Hope I find more good stuff.

Taking a break

Had originally planned to go back to MDAH today but decided to take a break.  I slipped and fell when coming out of the building and skint my knee. I'm glad It was only a minor injury. I'm still getting over shoulder issues.

Boddie Family Papers

Wednesday July 20, 2016 - I went back to MDAH to continue my research.  I made copies of several letters from the Boddie Family papers that mention a John Boddie.  The main document that I was interested in was the family genealogy.  It lists several generations of the Boddie Family and most of them were slave owners. Many had large plantations in states across the U.S.

After printing the copies I began searching for John Boddie's will on microfilm.  The documents on the reel were in very poor condition some illegible.  The wills during that time were handwritten in books.  It is unlikely that any of the original documents are available. I was able to find his name in the index but the page number was unreadable.  So I had no choice but to go through each document on the spool and pray that I would find it and the one I needed would be readable. 

I took a lunch break with my sister who works downtown and came back and continued looking.  I got near the end of the reel and backtracked trying to find dates that were near his death.  My perserverance paid off. Around 2:30 I found the document.  Thank God!!! I was so relieved. I thought it would take me days to find it.  I was concerned that a portion of the page was very dark and the writing was faint.  I spoke with one of my former students who works at MDAH William Thompson (married to Laronda Fisher CS major from Tougaloo).  He suggested we use the scanner equipment to get a better image.  We had to wait for another patron to finish before we could use the machine.  It made a big difference. I printed several copies and different sections of the document individually.

My big find was a reference to some of his slaves.  He leaves instructions to give certain ones money for the rest of their lives.  This is exactly what I was hoping for.  The next step is to find out more about the other slaves and the property.  Tomorrow I will be looking at the tax rolls and deed books.