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.

Back to MDAH

I'm going back to MDAH today. I want to get copies of the Boddie family tree and those letters that mention a John Boddie. The letters may be useful one day. I do have a plan for the family tree. I will have Billy Hall my student researcher create it on the viseyes software. I will also have Jessica or Jonathan do a GIS map of the plantations they owned where they were born, lived and died. I also need to expand my research to include the Rosehill plantation in North Carolina. I believe his father was the owner of this plantation. I may be able to find some connections to the Tougaloo property.
This plantation does not appear to be as prominent or successful as the other family plantations due to the fact that it was not named or at least we have not found any evidence that it was named. Also John Williams Boddie as history tells us was never married and had no children that we know of.

Researching the Bodie Plantation

I finally got the chance to follow through on the leads sent to me by Joe Wise. I had been reviewing some material online last week. Got there around 10:30 and began looking at the slave schedules from 1850 on the FamilySearch website. It seems to be affiliated with the Church of Christ Latter Day Saints. Since this info is online I decided to focus sheet lunch to documents at MDAH. I took a break at 11:30 and went to lunch atthe Mississippi Museum of Art with my sister Pamela Taylor. After lunch I requested the Boddie family papers. I found a couple of references to a John Boddie in some letters.  I also found the family tree that shows several generations of the Boddie family. Most of them owning slaves. I saw Dr. William Woods while at MDAH. We spoke briefly about the research.

MDAH Research

July 12, 2016 - Today I am using the MDAH website to research contracts from the Freedman's Bureau.  The site gives you the location of the microfilm in the reading room. I will also be searching the Madison county wills, deed books and Boddie Family papers. Happy hunting!!

Field Trip to MDAH

I am beyond excited about the Boddie Plantation research. We had a great time at MDAH.

We arrived at the building shortly before 9:30 and were able to find parking behind the War Memorial building.  It was a beautiful spring day.   Cool and partly sunny.

We were directed to a meeting room where Joe  gave us an overview  presentation on what they do and some of the procedures for using the website and requesting info from the archives.

The most interesting conversation I had was with Joe Wise prior to the presentation. In Forrest's email she mentioned that he had begun looking for information for our project. He indicated that he had already found some documents from the Freedman's Bureau that may actually have the names of some of the slaves from the plantation.

He also said that there are documents concerning the handover of the Boddie Plantation to the missionaries.  He's also had some other leads on information that will be helpful in my research. I knew we would find something if you follow the money. Business people keep good records and slavery was big business.

After the presentation we filled out forms to get our research cards that will allow us access to the archives.  It can also be used for printing documents like putting money on a debt card. Next Ms.  Forrest began the tour. 

We learned all the proper procedures for accessing materials. It seemed like a lot of rules but I understand and appreciate the need for the security measures. 

I was pleased to see one of my former students William  (married to Laronda Fisher ) who works there. After the tour I have a much better understanding of the archival process. I look forward to working with the MDAH stag to find hidden gems about the Boddie Plantation. I'm sure it will be this summer before I get back down 

Everyone was ready for lunch after touring the whole building. We had lunch at the Old Capitol Inn.  The food was excellent. Jessica, Billy and Jonathan seemed to enjoy the trip.

MDAH - Mississippi Department of Archives and History

Tomorrow is the big day. My research students ( Jonathan Zuniga-Hernandez, Jessica Gutierrez, Billy Hall) and I will visit the Mississippi Department of Archives and History March 17, 2016.  I am so excited about what we could find. I hope we can find some maps but I am not confident we will find any.  Ms. Forrest Galey is our contact person and will be our guide tomorrow.

I am also interested in exploring is the economics of the Boddie Plantation.  When it was a working plantation there had to be some records of transactions.  Maybe we can find evidence of the actual slaves.  That would be a significant find. 

Historical Plantations

Today I am researching historical slave plantations.  I found this interesting site http://ashlandbelle.com/plantations.html. The plantations are in Louisiana and Mississippi. I will be reviewing these sites and possibly making visits for additional research.

http://genealogytrails.com/ala/slave_plantations.html

http://www.whitneyplantation.com/interactive-map.html

http://www.neworleansonline.com/neworleans/attractions/plantations.html

Mellon Digital Humanities Master Class

**Note**  I had to recreate this post because it mysteriously disappeared.

For the past two weeks I have participated in Tougaloo College's first Digital Humanities Masterclass June 15 - 26, 2015.  The first week consisted of lectures from experts.  I learned so much.  The presentations opened a whole new world of possibilities for the Boddie plantation research. This blog is a direct result of the workshop and the ideas I got from the speakers.


Dr. Bryan Carter


 












Dr. MaryEmma Graham



Ms. Ira Revels




Dr. Adam Banks


Dr. Howard Ramsby



Dr. Kenton Ramsby