THESE TWO LOVELY SLAVE LADIES ARE MY ANCESTORS. It took about six months to reproduce these pictures and put them in their final oval frame. I was working at Johnson Spacecraft Center (NASA). Uhh, a long time ago. We should cherish these photo for posterity - they are the Smith Family Descendants ancestors of Teal Prairie, Caldwell, Burleson County, Texas. Put a copy on your wall and label it for offspring ... grand and great grandchildren. Two of my ancestors who were born in slavery in Georgia; Dollie Winston Smith (L), born around 1847; and Amelia Palmer Smith, born 1838. They are on my mother’s (Juanita Smith Peavy) side and not my paternal side (the Peavy side). The story of this family is told in the book in I published in 1984, titled” The Smith Family From Virginia To Teal Prairie, Burleson County, Texas (1850-1980).” Two of my cousins (Lathan Johnson and Michael Crayton) have an ambitious project to update the Smith book from I left off 30 years ago. I hope them all the success because this huge family has more than double, from 1500 descendants to about 3000. Amelia and Dollie married two brothers: Amelia married Horace Smith, born around 1833; and Dollie married Charles Smith, born around 1838. When the Smith brothers were on the auction block being sold in Virginia, they had a sister. She was separated from them and they never saw her again - how sad, but thats the way it was throughout the slavery era. Horace and Charles slaveholders was named Benjamin (Ben) T.L. Smith and he hooked-up with a wagon train (with their slaves) heading to Texas – a place full of opportunities in the Lone Star State. On this wagon train is where Horace and Charles met their wives. They settled in Teals Prairie, a small enclave in Caldwell, Burleson County, Texas. Dollie Winston Smith Charles Smith took Dollie Winston to be his wife and they had twelve children. Dollie was purported to be the most influential woman in the Teal Prairie Community during her era. Dollie’s photo was in the possession of her youngest son (Oscar “Red” Smith, born in 1887) when I came in possession of it in the early 1980s. Dollie passed away in 1919 and was interred in the Teal Prairie Cemetery. Amelia Palmer Smith Horace Smith took Amelia Palmer to be his wife and they had seven children. She was born a mulatto. She’s wearing beautiful pearl-like earrings with a light blue scarf. Amelia Smith grandson, Noel Smith, had only a small pocket side cracked picture of his grandmother when I asked him “May I borrow it to reproduce it for the Smith Book Im writing.” Initially, he was hesitant, but with a little persuasion, he gave in. Then he told me his grandmother told him that whatever you do, don’t lost this priceless picture. After about a few months, I returned to him his priceless pocket size picture. You just dont know ecstatic I was - borrowing that small photo helped me so much in my quest to write the Smith Family Historical Book. Amelia passed away in 1905 and was buried in the local cemetery in Tunis, Texas in Burleson County Right now, these pictures are permanently etched in the Smith Book and I gave brother Noel Smith a full blown copy of his grandmother. Hopefully his children and/or grandchildren still has this copy. Noel was born May 16, 1897. I think he was 100 years old when he passed.
Posted on: Mon, 19 May 2014 16:48:24 +0000
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