JP Johnson interview

I recently e-mailed J.P. Johnson-Volunteer & coordinator of the Muhlenberg county KYGenWeb project.

http://muhlenberg.genealogenie.net/

I have been a fan of the website (sorry JP for calling it a blog) every since I started researching my family tree.  I had tons of questions for him & he was awesome enough to answer me.

Me:  What inspired you to get into genealogy?

J.P.:  I started doing my own family's genealogy in 2001. My friend David had been doing his genealogy for several years and he said I should start my own. Sometime around that time I volunteered to do the Muhlenberg County website for the organization KYGenWeb which is a part of the USGenWeb which is a group of volunteer amateur genealogists who maintain websites for each county of every state. I think there is also WorldGenWeb too, but I'm not sure.

Me:Did your family come from Muhlenberg County?

J.P.: I was born in Muhlenberg County and lived there until I left for college in 1994. My family still lives there. My Dad's family was from Butler County and Ohio County Kentucky but my Mom's family has been in Muhlenberg since the early 1800s. The Noffsingers (my grandfather's family) is considered a pioneer family.

Me:Are you a genealogist?

J.P.:I am an amateur genealogist. I do not have my certification. But I consider myself a genealogist. At the library where I work, I get to work some in the Kentucky Room which is mostly Kentucky history and genealogy.

Me:What advice do you give to new bloggers?

J.P.: I don't consider the website a blog. It's just a website. I do have a blog where I talk about books, politics and just whatever else interests me, but I haven't been updating it regularly. My advice is to find your voice and blog about what interests you and your audience will find you. Start out doing it for yourself, don't worry about who is reading it and eventually you'll find that people are reading it.

Me:How do you have records available on your site that haven't even made it to Ancestry.com or Familysearch.org?

J.P.As for the records, like I said, I work at a library but I also have access to the special collections and newspaper microfilm at the University of Kentucky, so if something appears on the website that isn't on either Ancestry or Familysearch, it probably came from my library or UK. Everything I have on African Americans in early Muhlenberg comes from Deeds that UK has on microfilm in their special collections or in the example of the first African American marriage book, I copied that directly from the courthouse in Greenville.  But then also, people contribute information too, and that's always a big help.

THANKS AGAIN J.P FOR ALL YOUR HELP!

Alney McLean-was he my 4 times great grandfather

My 3 times great grandfather, Alney is a huge brick wall for me.

On his death certificate, it states that his father was Lee McLean & his mother was Harriett Silvey Hayden.

I can not find a Lee McLean, but I did run across the name Alney McLean.

Alney McLean started as the surveyor & played a significant part in laying out the town Greenville, where he died.  

He also was a captain in the War of 1812. Which is why McLean County was named after him.

He & his wife Tabitha married & had 10 children.  They did live in Muhlenberg & he did own slaves.  Unfortunately, the slave schedule doesn't name his slaves.

What are the odds that my ancestor was named after a complete stranger?

I know that being named after a president was common back then, but he wasn't president.  He was a judge until his death & he was elected to congress twice, but why would Harriett name her son after him?  If it were just the first names that they share, I probably wouldn't guess he was his father, but I wonder why my ancestor has his first & last name. 

Also, did they call Alney McLean Lee?  

If there are ancestors of Alney McLean out there, who may have knowledge of his slaves, I could really use some help.

35 ancestors

I've recently started following an awesome blog called No story to small by Amy Johnson Crowe.

She came up with the brilliant idea to feature a different ancestor every week & start a challenge for others to do the same thing.

Why didn't I think of that?  And why didn't I see this 4 months ago?

Unfortunately for me, the challenge is well underway. As a matter of fact, they are 16 ancestors in.  

So I had an epiphany (if you know me, then you know I am famous for them) I may have missed the challenge, but I can hopefully do something similar.  I love the idea & I wish I'd come up with it myself.  Why not focus on one person every week. BRILLIANT! That's pretty much what I do anyway.  I just had not put a title to it yet.

Thanks a lot Amy!

1790=Mulatto 2014=biracial

If you are like me, the term mulatto was not one taught in a high school history class.  
I first started to notice the terminology searching through early census records.  I had to look it up because I'd never heard anyone called that before.

Early in history, (1790 until about 1930) If a slave owner raped or carried on a relationship with a slave & the product of that interaction was a child=the child was considered to be mulatto.

If a slave & a Indian had a child together=that child was considered a mulatto.

The term was not a popular one with black people.

It wasn't like being lighter put you in a better place back then.  Being lighter meant you weren't excepted by either group.  The act of passing for white became popular.  

To make matters worse, the practice of skin bleaching also became just as popular.  An act that continue even today.

Since I started researching my tree, I've always had a fascination with how fair my mother's family was.  (My great grandmother Probie & my grandmother Bessie clearly were not just black women. Both woman reflect clear white or Indian features, but had parents that were classified as black.)

The use of mulatto faded in the 1930 & today the term biracial is all that you will hear. 

Mixing races is the norm now, but at one time, it was almost a sin.  Everything that I've read speaks about the negativity of this term & it's use.  However, similar to other terms used to classify black people, we were forced to use it. Certain census records recorded only 3 races: white, black or mulatto. There was not in between.

Central city: a town with so many names

Central City didn't start out with that name.

Charles S Morehead owned a steam powered gristmill on the land that would become Central City.  

When I first read that, I wondered what a gristmill was.  I found out that back then grinding corn & flour was done with a horse powered mill to turn it into grain. 

Morehead's horse mill was incorporated around 1870.

However, 3 years later it was renamed after another landowner, John Stroud.  At that point it was known as Stroud City.

With the rapid growth of the railways & coal back then, Stroud City grew quickly.

The Central coal & iron company had the most impact on their town at the time, which is why it was ultimately known as Central City.

Still just another small town, but the largest city in Muhlenberg county.

Measuring a total of just over 5 miles, Central City is what is known as a 4th class city in Kentucky.  Which means over 3,000, but less than 8,000 people reside there.

Only a little over a mile from South Carrollton, I see how both sides of my Wickliffe family ended up here. 

Who were the other children?

My three times great grandparents, Alney & Laura Wickliffe had 6 children, but only 5 were living in 1900.

My two times great grandfather, James, was the oldest-born in 1863.  5 years later, my great, great aunt Dinah was born.  Charles, the youngest wasn't born until 1886.  

The only other child I can find affiliated with them, was a son born in July of 1876.  He died within 2 days of his birth & the death certificate does not state why.  

I can't find birth or death records for any other children.  

Who was the other child?

I assume he/she would have been born before Charles/1886. (The 1900 census does not mention any other children other than Charles, but that's where I found the info that they had 6 children, 5 living.)

Unfortunately, the 1880 census is torn & I can't make out any other names other than the one's I am already aware of.

I wonder if there is another 1880 census or tax record that I could look at that may tell me more?????????

Henry Wickliffe-Insane or sick

Henry was the older brother of my Great Grandmother Odie.

Although Henry lived with my great grandmother Lou most of his life, he did spend a few years in Indiana (I think I found him in Warrick, IN in 1920.)& also spent some time in Illinois.

Where did Henry live in Illinois?  

Anna state hospital for the Insane

Yes, a mental institution.  

When I first saw his name on the 1920 census record in a mental institution, my first thought was:

Was he mentally ill?

I did a little research on the ancestry.com message board & I found out that it wasn't just the mentally ill that stayed here.  If a patient had cardiac or stroke related issues, they may have been sent here too.  

It's still makes me curious about why he never married or had children.  

Was he mentally ill?