I am sharing this information from my family tree
in order to help a specific group of people who are looking for
their ancestors in Alabama. I am not looking to sensationalize
the past, I'm not interested in being exploitative or salacious
or traumatizing for anyone. I know family history, no matter how
long ago, can be very personal and private for many folks. I'm
looking to provide answers to people seeking them and I'm
looking for some answers myself - how you feel about what is
discovered is entirely up to you.
Almost all of the information on this page
regarding names, dates, locations and parentage comes from
public sources - much of this information is also shared
publicly by others on ancestry.com and/or via official records
(census data, newspaper obituaries, government documents).
But I'm the only person that has pulled it together and
presented it in this form, all together. The only information on
this page that is new, per me posting it, is this: my
conclusions about the parentage of Mr. Ollis Shaw.
No identifiable information about living people,
other than me, is shared here.
Every person on Earth has 64 biological
great-great-great-great grandparents (fourth great grandparents)
- unless there has been intermarriage among family. You can also
say we each have 32 sets of biological forth great grandparents.
My ancestors were all white, as were all these
third great-uncles and third great-aunts. But my closest DNA
match on this branch of the family on ancestry.com - in fact,
for any of my family on my great grandmother's side - is black.
That person's adoptive father and I have been in contact, as I
have been with another close DNA match as well, also African
American. It's through contact with that latter match that I
have slowly pieced together that we share a common ancestor -
Charles Henderson Mansfield. We don't know is which of Charles'
descendants is the link we are looking for, but another
descendant contacted me in January 2024 with a likely candidate.
Through checking dates and descendants and
whereabouts, it's clear that the ancestral connection is a son
of Charles Bedford Mansfield, one of my third
great-uncles, who was a son of Charles Henderson Mansfield. But
the more I dig into the lives of these sons, the more mysteries
that arise.
So I decided to share profiles online, publicly,
of all of the sons of Charles Bedford Mansfield, one of my third
great-uncles, and hope that, someone, somewhere, has more
information that I've been able to find about them.
Charles Bedford Mansfield
was born in 1852 in North Carolina, when his father, Charles,
was 30 and his mother, Sarah, was 18. Between 1852 and 1859, his
family moved to Newtown, Greene, Alabama. In the 1870 census, he
and the family are living in Newbern, Hale, Alabama, and he is
listed as 18 year old and a student.
Charles married Laura Nelson Herran on November 16, 1876, in
Hale, Alabama. In the 1880 census, they were living in Scotts,
Perry County, Alabama, and had three children. He is listed as a
laboror. They had nine children in 16 years.
Charles died probably in Faunsdale, Marengo, Alabama. When his
wife died, the
Democrat-Reporter of Linden, Alabama for
Thursday, September 20, 1928, said that Charles had proceeded
his wife in death "a number of years ago." I cannot find Charles
Bedford Mansfield in the 1900 nor the 1910 census. I do not know
exactly when he died nor where he is buried. Laura is buried at
Saint Michaels Cemetery in Faunsdale, Marengo County, Alabama. I
assume Charles is there too. The formal name is St. Michael's
Episcopal Churchyard, and it was affiliated with St. Michael's
Episcopal Church in Faunsdale, Alabama.
The sons of Charles
Bedford Mansfield:
Charles Bedford Mansfield, my third great-uncle, had two
daughters:
- Minnie Ella Mansfield, 18841968. Never married.
In fact... well, I wrote a blog about "Uncle
Minnie."
- Sadie Elizabeth Mansfield, 18931953. Married, had
kids and grandkids and great grand kids, some of them on
ancestry.com - not much mystery there.
But the sons... there's a lot of to unravel. First, a quick
summary:
- John William Mansfield, 18771939. Never married.
Age in 1919: 42.
- Charles M. Mansfield, 18781908. Never married.
Died before 1919.
- Lucious Lamar Mansfield, 18791963. Married. Many
children. Age in 1919: 40.
- Andrew Arthur Mansfield, 18811958. Never married.
Age in 1919: 38.
- Walter Mansfield, 18831961. Never married. Age in
1919: 36.
- James Ethel Mansfield, 18861951. Never married.
Age in 1919: 33.
- Edgar Mansfield, 18881939. Never married. Age in
1919: 31.
When I started looking into the lives of these seven brothers, I
was trying to find out which one was the father of one man:
Ollis Shaw, an African American man born in October 1919. I was
looking, because, as I noted already, my closet DNA match on one
side of my family is African American, and I know that this
relative is one of Ollis Shaw's grandchildren. I also have DNA
matches to Ollis Shaw's other descendants on ancestry.com, and
my maternal great-aunt, who is also on Ancestry.com, has even
more.
But what I have discovered is that no matter which of the
Mansfield brothers was the biological father of Ollis Shaw, at
least one other brother ALSO sired a black child out of wed
lock.
Here's more about each of these brothers:
- John William Mansfield, 18771939. Never married.
He was born in Scotts, Perry County, Alabama, probably
(Alabama, for sure - Scotts is where he was when he was 3,
according to the 1880 census). For his entire life, he
always lived with his parents or some siblings. According to
the 1900 Census, he was a farm laborer and living with
family in Faunsdale, Marengo County, Alabama. According to
the 1910, he was salesman at a general store and was living
with family in Faunsdale. In the 1930 census, he is listed
as being a foreman with the "county roads" and was living in
Faunsdale with sibings. He is listed as a living relative in
his mother's obituary in the Democrat-Reporter of
Linden, Alabama for Thursday, September 20, 1928. The Find a
Grave web site has his dying on October 26, 1939 - which
would make him 62 at the time of his death - and buried in
Saint Michaels Cemetery in Faunsdale.
IN ADDITION, there is at last one person on ancestry.com as
having John William Mansfield having children with Mag
McDonald. This African American woman was born 1882 in
Alabama and died January 12, 1937 in Faunsdale, Marengo,
Alabama. His children with her were born in 1918, 1921 and
1924. I am going to forgo naming the children, but if Mag McDonald is your ancestor and you
have any additional information about this connection,
or if you have taken the DNA test, I would love to hear from
you. And if you are a descendant of
John WIlliam Mansfield, please contact me - especially if
you have taken the ancestry.com DNA test.
- Charles M. Mansfield, 18781908. Never married. He
was born in Scotts, Perry County, Alabama, probably
(Alabama, for sure - Scotts is where he was when he was 2,
according to the 1880 census). The 1900 census has him
listed as a farm laboror and living with this family. He
died October 26, 1908, at 30 years old, in Demopolis,
Marengo County, Alabama. I don't believe he had any
descendents, but if you have info
that Charles did have children, please contact me -
especially if you have taken the DNA test.
- Lucious Lamar Mansfield, 18791963. He was born in
Scotts, Perry County, Alabama, probably (Alabama, for sure -
Scotts is where he was when he was 9, according to the 1880
census). According to the 1900 Census, he was a farm laborer
and living with family in Faunsdale, Marengo County,
Alabama. According to the 1910 census, he was married and a
farmer, living in Linden, Marengo, Alabama. He was still
there according to the 1940 census, but was a truck driver.
According to the 1950 obituary for his brother, James Ethel
Mansfield, he was living in Blalock, Alabama - which doesn't
exist anymore but I think its in Dallas County, Alabama,
south of Faunsdale. He died on 9 April 1963 in Demopolis,
Marengo, Alabama. He had seven children with his wife. If you are a descendant of LL Mansfield,
please contact me - especially if you have taken the
ancestry.com DNA test.
- Andrew Arthur Mansfield, 18811958. Never married.
He was born in Uniontown, Perry County, Alabama. According
to the 1900 census, the first he's listed in, he was 18 and
living in Faunsdale, Marengo County, Alabama and worked as a
farm laborer. He was still there and still a farm laborer in
the 1910 census. In the 1920 Laneville, Hale, Alabama, on
the Northest Hottis Plantations and was renting a house by
himself, and still a farmer. In the 1930, that was all still
true, but he was also living with "Lous Cooper". In the 1940
census, he was still there, now living with "Ben Bossy," age
80. And in the 1950 census, he was still a farmer, still in
Laneville, now living with his siblings. He died December
29, 1958 in Dallas County, Alabama.
IN ADDITION, there is at last one person on ancestry.com as
having Andrew Mansfield having a son, Johnny Allen,
19262005 with Hannah McPhearson Allen. This African
American woman was born about 1892 in Alabama. Her death
date is unknown to me - it was after 1950. Her son Johnny
was born 20 July 1926 in Hale County, Alabama, and died 03
March 2005 in Birmingham, Jefferson County. I am going to
forgo naming his children, or any of her other children, but
if Hannah McPhearson Allen is your
ancestor and you have any additional information about
this connection, I would love to hear from you.
- Walter Mansfield, 18831961. Never married.
According to the 1900 census, he was born in Alabama and, at
the time of the census, was living in Faunsdale, Marengo
County, Alabama, where he was a farm laboror and living with
his parents and siblings. This was all still true of 1910 as
well. In the 1930 census, he is listed as being a foreman
with the "county roads" - same was true for his brother,
John William - and was living in Faunsdale with sibings. The
1950s says he owned his own business and was still living
with his siblings. According to the 1950 obituary for his
brother, James Ethel Mansfield, he was living in Uniontown,
Alabama, with his brother, Andrew.
- James Ethel Mansfield, 18861951. Never married.
His obituary says he was a "well known citizen of Uniontown"
and that his funeral services were held at the residence of
his brother, Walter Mansfield, and that the Rev. D.L.
Folsom, pastor of the Methodist church of Uniontown,
officiated. He was buried in St. Michael's cemetery
near Faunsdale. Pallbearers were H. C. Long, B. O.
Massengale, Robert Bradford, Ben Wilkins, Paul Gresham,
McKnight Buck, Frank Mansfield and Earl Dean. The obituary
says "Mr. Mansfield's death occurred Thursday night at the
family home, following an illness of several months. He had
spent his life in Marengo and Hale counties and engaged in
farming and cattle raising."
IN ADDITION: Based on conversations with a grandchild of Ollis
Shaw, who spoke with an adult child of Ollis Shaw and
who recalled him telling stories of visiting his father, I
think James Ethel is the best candidate for being the father
of Ollis Shaw (see below).
- Edgar Mansfield, 18881939. Never married. World
War I veteran. According to the 1900 census, he was born in
Alabama and, at the time of the census, was living in
Faunsdale, Marengo County, Alabama. In the 1910 Census, he's
20, but doesn't have a profession listed. For World War I,
he is listed on departing St Nazaire, France on 9 Jun 1919
on a ship called the Manchuria. His Military Unit is listed
as CO G 321ST, COMPANY "G", 321ST INFANTRY, his rank is
Private First Class and his Service Number was 3206483. In
the 1920 census, he's listed as a policeman and living with
his sister, Minnie and his mother. He was, in fact, a deputy
sheriff, like his uncle James Arthur Mansfield, but in
Northern Marengo County. In the 1930 census, he's a farmer,
living with his siblings. He died in 1939, at the age of 51,
and is buried at Saint Michael's Cemetery in Faunsdale. I
don't believe he had any descendents, but if you have info that Edgar did have
children, please contact me - especially if you have taken
the DNA test.
And now more about
Ollis Shaw. He was born 12 October
1919 in Uniontown, Perry County, Alabama, USA. He died in 2008
in Bessemer, Jefferson County, Alabama. His mother was Bettie
Mason, born 1894 in Uniontown, Perry County, Alabama. She died
in 1930 in Brighton, Jefferson County, Alabama. I cannot find
her in the 1920 census (but then again I can't find most any of
my family in the 1920s census). A few of his descendants have
taken the DNA test on ancestry.com and have come up as related
to me - and far more have come up as related, and more closely
related, to my aunt (my mother's sister).
Based on cross referencing DNA matches and residences in the
census,
Ollis Shaw is the biological son of one of these
seven brothers. It cannot be Charles M. Mansfield, because
Charles died in 1908. So that leaves the other six. As mentioned
before, I think it's probable that it's James Ethel (but I'm not
entirely certain).
Two of the descendants of Ollis Shaw have contacted me on
Ancestry.com because the Ollis Shaw tree I made on Ancestry.com
is public (I am so happy they contacted me and others are
welcomed to do so). Both of them have taken the DNA test and
show up as DNA matches to me. Both knew only that Ollis Shaw's
biological father was white and that all of this took place in
Alabama. One of them said "I remember my aunt telling me that my
elder aunt would sometimes go to the 'country' where my grandpa
would sometimes visit his bio father." That was a surprise to me
- Ollis had a relationship with his father, they knew each
other, and that means it's highly likely more than just the
father in the Mansfield family knew about Ollis and his
parentage.
She also said:
After finding your page and finding DNA matches between some
of our descendants I started focusing on the Mansfield sons
with E somewhere in the first letter of their names and
narrowed possibilities down to Edgar or James Ethel... I think
its highly plausible with the research that you have done and
stories I have been able to retrieve that James Ethel
Mansfield was Ollis bio father.
At right is a map of the counties of Alabama. You can download
it to see it much bigger and be able to see the counties. The
counties that are named earlier on this page are:
- Perry
- Hale
- Dallas
- Marengo
- Jefferson
As you can see, the first four counties, which are where all of
the people named on this page spent most of their lives, are all
right together in the Western Central part of the state. Four of
the cities named above - Uniontown, Faunsdale, Demopolis and
Linden - form a triangle and are within 30 miles of each other.
I cannot find Scotts in Alabama, but there was a Scotts Station
post office in Perry County, GPS: 32.608333, -87.439167, between
Newbern and Marion, 20 miles from Faunsdale.
Some of the newspapers for the area during the early 1900s were:
- The Demopolis Times (available on Newspapers.com.
It was a weekly published by J.C. Welch).
- The Canebrake Herald (published in Uniontown,
Alabama from 1887 - 1914, available on Newspapers.com,
focused on Perry County. The newspaper was named after the
Canebrake area of Marengo County).
- The Greensboro Watchman (focused on Hale County)
- The Linden Reporter (focused on Marengo County)
More
newspapers for the area are listed here.
I haven't contacted any of the public libraries or
county offices in any of these counties to see if they could
help solve this mystery because, the reality is that they
probably can't: before the 1950s (and probably after), black
Americans are regularly left out of Census data, their marriages
of that time were often not officially recorded, their births
from the era I need aren't officially recorded, they often don't
have obituaries in newspapers of the time I need, and
Newspapers.com doesn't always have what used to be called
"Negro" newspapers scanned in its archives - because neither do
many libraries. It's both sad and anger-inducing. It's deeply
unfair and unjust - and I don't mean to me.
Someday I may organize a vacation to this area of Alabama to
visit churches that my family members attended and see what
records they have have, to read through whatever newspapers the
Perry County library, or other county libraries, have on file
that aren't on newspapers.com, and to visit Saint Michael's
Cemetery in Faunsdale, just to see it for myself, and otherwise
drive around this area to get a sense of what it looks like. But
I have many other travel and personal priorities, so this is
probably not happening any time soon. If YOU are in this area
and want to visit for me and take photos, I would beyond
appreciate it.
If you want to contact me about the information on this page,
especially if you have some specific insights into someone
named on this page, please contact me at
jcravens42 "at" yahoo "dot" com.
Why Am I Doing This?
I do NOT believe I am my ancestors, not entirely and not
mostly. I'm me mostly because of my own experiences, my own
life and my own choices. I believe that about everyone - if
you closely identify with the culture of your parents, or
grandparents, or other ancestors, that is absolutey fine, you
do you, but I still think that's a choice you made.
But I also am a very curious person, and I find it fascinating
to read about the past of my family members: where they lived,
what they did in their lives, how they lived, how their lives
may have been affected by major historical events, and what
circumstances ultimately lead them to live where they did.
These are less abstract figures from the past than famous
people in a history book - their choices absolutely affected
where I ended up being born. Whether biological or adoptive,
family members made choices in their lives that landed my
family in Henderson, Kentucky, and I like researching how that
happened.
A disappointment is that there doesn't seem to be any
traditions handed down through my family over generations:
family members changed locations and changed religions, and
most of my family branches go back at least seven generations,
but never in the same place. What I do see: choices and
traumas of parents affected their children. I've discovered
traumas and dramas that have explained some of the character
traits I saw and heard about in the great-grandparents and in
my grandmothers. This knowledge has created a lot of sympathy
on my part for some family members.
Also, upon finding a branch of people - strangers to me - that
had no idea at all they had any connection to the Mansfield
family, and seemed, per their participation in Ancestry.com,
that they wanted to know more about their biological
ancestors, I decided that, since I had information that could
help, and I seemed to be the ONLY person with the info, that I
would share it. How could I not?
I do this, I share all of this, in the spirit of hope that
someone will emerge for me, for my quest, that someone will
come forward to tell me more about a branch of my family I
cannot find anything about, the branch of my family that was
the primary reason I joined Ancestry.com -
the Beasley's,
on my father's mother's father's side, as well as the
Cauthens and
and
the
Smiths or Schmidts (the only branch of my famiy from
"recent" immigrants).
