History

Millie Richardson known as “Big Granny” On our Great-grandmother’s side was born in slavery the year of 1800, in route from the north to the south at the Mason Dixie Line in a slave trader’s wagon. They camped there for three days during her birth. When they arrived in Mississippi, the first slave owner that purchased them did not keep them long. The slave master name is unknown. He resold them to a slave owner by the name of Lucinda Lewis. Big Granny stayed on her plantation until she was freed. Her mother was an African woman that was mated by a chick-a-saw Indian. During the time she was a slave up north or in route to the south.

Big Granny was the mother of Lucinda Richardson. After Big Granny was freed she lived on a farm with her daughter (Lucinda) and her husband, Meredith. Later in years was blind from old age. During her stay on the farm, she was given a blood test to see if she had any Indian blood in her. The test provide to be positive. Big Granny was tall, dark brown skin with high cheek bones. She lived to be 109 years of age. She was born in slavery but died a free woman during the year of 1909. 

Mary Holly known as “Little Granny” On our Great-grandfather’s side was also born in slavery and died a free woman. Her date and place of birth is unknown. Her mother and father is unknown. She was light brown skin, about 5 feet 4 inches tall. Her hair was fair, she had a broad face and weighed about 140-150 lbs. She was the mother of three children, all three were boys. Their names were Meredith Lewis, James holly and Brown. The only known mate of Mary Holly was Alfred Lewis, the plantation owner. On the plantation Mary Holly was the cook (They say a way to a man heart is to his belly). After Mary was freed from slavery, she lived on the farm with her son Meredith. Later in life she became blind also.

During the time she was living on the farm, people were traveling through the country side testing every one that came forward stating that they had Indian blood. Little Granny was given the blood test and was told that she had 40% Indian blood. From this blood test she was told that she would receive 40 acres of land in Oklahoma for proving evidences that she had Indian blood. Needless to say she never received any of the 40 acres.

When Little Granny died, she was 89 years of age. Her date of death is unknown. This all the information that could be gather on Little Granny. She was not a very talkative person during her life time. 

Meredith Lewis, Our Great-grandfather, was born in slavery, in the year of 1838. He died a freeman in 1938. He was the son of Mary Holly (Little Granny), the cook on the Lewis’ plantation, and the son of Alfred Lewis, the plantation owner. He had four half-brothers. Two of the brothers were white, which was his half-brothers, because they were the son of the plantation owner and his white wife. Their names are unknown. Two of his brothers were the sons of his mother Mary Holly. Their names are James Holly and Brown. The farther of these two brothers are unknown.

When Meredith was a young boy, his father, Alfred Lewis (The Plantation Owner) taught him how to count by using lumber, one a boor, two a boor, zincky boor Zen. Holly boor, ninety boor, crack boor ten. He worked around the house until he was a young man, then his father put him in charge of the field hands. Grandpa Meredith was a tall handsome man six feet in height with brownish blond hair, light shin with freckles. He weighed about 200 to 240 lbs. He married Lucinda Richardson, daughter of Millie Richardson, she was known as Grandma Cindy. Her father is unknown. She was a slave girl too. In those days when slaves got married, their mother and father held a broom up and the boy jumped over first and then the girl jump last. This was classified as a marriage ceremony.

While still in slavery his father, Alfred Lewis (The Plantation Owner), allowed him to make corn whiskey on his plantation and sell it to the white people on Sundays. By doing this he gave him a start in life and in business.

From his marriage to Lucinda were born fifteen children. Two of the fifteen were born during slavery. They were Molly and Henderson. When Meredith was freed his father told him if he could give him 35 bales of cotton he could own the land and everything on it. This would have consisted of a cotton gin, a corn mill and 365 acres of land which had four share houses on it. Cotton at the time was selling at four cents a pound. (As a side note 500 pounds of lint per bale. In 1938 a pound of cotton was 0.04, so if my calculation is correct the total cost would had been $700.00). Meredith paid his father with the thirty-five bales of cotton and this was how he became the owner of his farm. His farm was nine miles from Hazlehurst, Mississippi. His mail route was, route 1, box 21, Beauregard, Mississippi. Meredith sons and daughters worked the farm until they got married. After marriage, the ones that stayed on his farm, he built them a house on his land and they share cropped with him. They were furnished with all the equipment and tools needed to farm the land. Half of all they raised on the farm was given to Meredith each year, except potatoes and cane. The farmers in that section of the farm had their cotton ginned at his mill which took up space and they could not afford to pay him, so they gave him the seeds from their cotton after it was ginned. The gin mill, at that time was powered by horses and later on he turned it into a steam mill. The boiler was fired up by wood. He was very successful.

Of the fifteen children Meredith and Lucinda had only fourteen are known. They are Molly, Henderson, Sherman, Felix, Herman, John Henry, Laura, Eliza, Stevens, Fannie, Meredith, Amos, George and Curtis.

Grandpa Meredith and Grandma Cindy had a large family living with them this included Little Granny and Big Granny who were both blind in their later years. Later in their lives the two were known in their area as the two blind ladies. Grandpa Meredith ran a wire from the house to the out-house so Big Granny could take Little Granny to and from the house.

As Meredith and Lucinda children got older they married and developed families of their own.

Molly, was the mother of eighteen children, she was born in slavery and died a free woman. 

Henderson had no children. He moved to the Mississippi Delta, taking all of his farm equipment along with his house, buggies, mules and wagons. He raised a big crop on some plantations there in the Delta. After doing so the plantation owner took all of his animals, equipment and his crop. Henderson return home with nothing but the clothes on his back and the shoes on his feet. 

Sherman had nine children, Antonio, Odie, (Arlie), Missy, Mollie, Joe, Ella, James and John (twins) and Willie. Sherman lived and died on his farm in Wesson, Mississippi. 

Felix had seven children, Joe, Elizabeth, Dora, Sadie, Felix, Willie Belle and Curtis. Felix lived on his father’s place until he bought a farm on the west side of Hazlehurst. 

John Henry, had three children, Tony, Sadie and Pinky. He moved from his father’s farm to Brookhaven, Mississippi. He found a large sum of money, and since he was not able to find the owner of the money he moved his family to Oklahoma. He never told anyone the amount of money he found.

Laura, had only one son, Robert Henderson. She passed in early in life. 

Eliza, had sixteen children. Ten died and six lived. Eliza children that lived were, James, Mary, Joe, Liddy, Judge and Steven.

Steven, had seven children, Samuel, Emma, David, Ester, Charles, Ruth and another in California. After marriage, he moved to Jackson, Mississippi and opened a blacksmith shop. After the death of his first wife he remarried. Steven’s second wife is the lady known in this country as “Aunt Jemima” on the pancake box. Her name is Della Lewis. Steven later moved to Indianapolis, Indiana. 

Fannie, was the mother of seven children, and was married four times. Fannie’s children are, Elizabeth, Roseanna, Idaline, May Robin, Luella, Albert and George Washington. 

Meredith, had five children, Charles, Hazel, Nathaniel, Frankie and Napoleon. He was married in McComb, Mississippi and opened a barber shop. He later worked for the Illinois Central Railroad as a Pullman porter. Whenever he was not on the road, he worked in his barber shop. He retired from the Illinois Central Railroad. 

Amos (Baby Boy), had four children, Leo, Cloote, Sherman and Hosey. Amos, moved from Hazlehurst, Mississippi to Oklahoma.

Herman, died early in life. 

George Lewis, had one child named Shirley Ann. 

Curtis, had no children. He died early in life. 

Sherman Lewis, was born in 1872 and died on July 28, 1941. He was 69 years old. He was one of Meredith and Lucinda’s 10 sons. When he was a boy, he worked on his father’s farm for him until he was married to Elizabeth Tyner. She was known as Grandma Lizzie. After marriage, they share cropped with his father for eight years. During this time, three of his children were born. They are Otis, Missy and Mollie. His father was not as strict on him about sharing as he was on the rest of his children, because he wanted Sherman to accumulate something for himself. His father took only a small portion of his crops. Sherman started his molasses making, giving his father one gallon out of every four. His father had a stick which had notches on it and one large notch. The large notch is the amount he would take. This stick was used to measure one gallon of molasses.

When Sherman started his own farm, he did not do much molasses making. He had a pair of small mules, but because he had what is called low land he needed large mules, so he sold his mules and bought larger mules. When he first moved on his farm, which was all gum trees, he began clearing the land. He would cut the trees in sections as logs, take them to Hazlehurst to sell to the box factory. (Most of the time, you would hear him say, “A Stitch in Time saves nine”)

Then he started buying cattle and letting them graze. He occasionally, would put Otis and George on a horse, letting them go to all the farms in the area taking orders for beef. They would write down the orders and give them to Sherman. He would kill the cattle on a Friday night, cut it as ordered and lay it in straw. On Saturday morning, the farmers would come and pick their orders up. He did not work in the fields to much because of his leg. He would ride a horse through the country side buying cow. sometimes he would not get home until midnight with the cows. This is just one of the things he enjoyed doing. The farm he purchased was nine miles east of Hazlehurst, Mississippi, in Wesson, Mississippi. It consisted of four share houses, blacksmith shop, corn mill, one large house he built for his family and 333 acres of land. (Sounds familiar?) He and his wife and their children, with sharecroppers, produced a large crop each year on his farm. He had a large fruit orchard which consisted of apples, peaches, pears, grapes and plums. He had pecan groves that produced a large crop of pecans. He worked black and white on his farm. These black and whites were sharecroppers. Whenever his son’s would get married and live on his farm, they would sharecrop also with him until they were able to go off for themselves.

                                                                                     Sherman

Sherman had a family which consisted of six boys and three girls.

Their names are:

Antonia. He died leaving no children.

Otis, Died in an automobile fire leaving no children.

Artemissie, Died leaving no children.

Mollie, had thirteen children. Joe Otis, Willie Fred, Elizabeth, Rachel Bell, Arteen, Eddie, Tommie, Lee Jefferson, Sherman, Shirley Marie, Fannie Delores,

Evangie, and David.

Ella died, leaving no children.

Joe, had five children. Harding, Marvel, Steven, Alfred Ray and Samuel.

James, had nine children. Velma, James Ellis, Freeman, Juanita, Eddie Charles, Hazel Jean, Kathleen and Melvin.

John had three children. Mackie Deloris, Johnny Beatrice and Gwendolyn.

Willie, had seven children. Johnny Edward, Barbara Ann, Lynda Clara Fay, Charles Terry, Cheryl Louise and Javem Stevies.

Sherman and Elizabeth raised many other children besides their own on the farm. The children on the farm were required to milk fifty cows in the morning and fifty cows in the afternoon, pick cotton, cut greens, chop cotton, pick fruit, gather pecans, feed the stock and operate the creamer separator. Sherman father taught him to count, just as Alfred taught Meredith how to count. Sherman was a small man in statue, he weighted about 170lbs, five feet nine inches tall. He was light brown skin high cheek bones with freckles in his face. He was soft spoken, easy going, not well educated but he was well respected by both, blacks and whites.

Sherman was a very religious man, with plenty of mother’s wit. He was a very fine man, a humble gentleman, Kindhearted and generous. He was a Sunday School Teacher at the Eastern Star Church. He later joined Sardis Missionary Baptist Church, where he became chairman of the deacon board.

Fannie Lewis, was born on March 8, 1879. She was the daughter of Meredith and Lucinda Lewis. The place and location of her birth was Beauregard, Mississippi. While growing up on her father’s farm, during her childhood days, she attended rural school in Hazlehurst, Mississippi. During her life-time, she was married four times. From these marriages she mothered seven children. She met William Rial and they were married in 1899. They moved to Utica, Mississippi on her husband’s farm which consisted of 40 acres. There she gave birth to one child, whose name is Elizabeth. She was born on December 29, 1899. Her husband died, the ninth of February, 1900. Only 2 months after Elizabeth was born. This left Fannie Lewis a widow with one child, living in Utica on this small farm which was supposed to have been William’s farm. She was able to take care of the farm, because she herself was raised on a farm. Then, the understanding at that time was the William had a previous wife who he had never divorced. At his death she came forth for her part of the money. She got all the land and all the stock. This only left Fannie with one mule, some chickens and part of her house furniture. Then she left Utica with her daughter and a few belongings headed to Edward’s Mississippi to live with her sister, Eliza Lewis Tyner. While she and her daughter were living there she met Robert Tuner, Eliza’s brother-in-law. She married him when Elizabeth was one year and eight months old. From this marriage, there were three children born. The first child born after this marriage was Albert, known as “Buddy”. The second child was Luella. She was expectant a third child when Robert Tyner (her husband) died with diarrhea. He had a very high fever which was something new in those days. She moved to her parent’s farm in Beauregard, Mississippi, there her child was born, Maerobin, known as “Sweet”. When Maerobin was three years old, Fannie taught school. Her father built a school-house on his land. Fannie Lewis was George Lewis and Elizabeth Rial’s second grade school teacher. After the school semester was out she met the principle of the Damascus School in Hazlehurst. His name was Wash Burns. They married that May, and after marriage, they moved to Hazlehurst, Mississippi. He had a large home and nine acres of land. Fannie Lewis and Wash Burns had three children together, two girls and one boy. Rosanna, was born, February 28, 1908. Idaline, was born, July 19, 1909 and George Washington, was born June 20, 1911 (known as, Rev. Geo. W. Burns).

Mrs. Griffin, a mid-wife, assisted in giving birth to Fannie’s three children. Later, she taught her the midwife profession, so Fannie, became a midwife. She would get fifteen dollars for each baby delivered, sometime only a promise. Wash Burns, was much older than Fannie when they married. When he was attending school in his younger life, he attended school with Booker T. Washington (schoolmate). He was a man well-liked and respected in Hazlehurst. Whenever the white people needed someone to explain something to them, they would always call on Professor Burns. He gave up being a principle and went to work at the Planter Mill, grading lumber because he made more money grading lumber than he did teaching school. At that time the pay was two-dollars and fifty cents a day. This was during the time the children were in or near their teens. The planter split up and moved part of their work to Canton, Mississippi. He went with them, after getting there the foreman gave him a makeshift job because he was a much older man. They gave a younger man his job. At the new location he was not able to support the family as he should. A man away from home, week after week not being able to come home, would stray a little. He never did quit Fannie, but he was not able to support her and the children. Fannin learned the hair dressing business (which is called Beautician). She dressed hair for fifty-cents a head. She made good money at the time according to the conditions. Every two weeks she would catch the train and go to Crystal Springs. She had plenty of customers there and she would work until Saturday night and on Sunday morning. Then she would return home. Her oldest daughter, Elizabeth, would take care of the children until she returned home. She would have a week at home to do the people’s hair before she would have to leave again. In that way, the children would live ordinarily, but they never had any luxuries. They managed just the same. During this time, her house burned down with everything in it. She moved her family to a house near the Planter Mill and rented from a white man called, Sachious Sarrone. The house was called “The house behind the store”.

After living there for a while, she and her family got on their feet and got a few things. Then they moved to a larger house, which was called “The Jim Handy House”. This was in the Handy quarters. While living there, her oldest daughter, Elizabeth was married and later gave birth to her only child, named Vonado, he was born, September 25, 1917. Later, Elizabeth moved to Memphis, Tennessee. After living in the Hardy Quarters for a while, thing were pretty rough, Fannie could not support her family. In 1918, she moved to her brother’s (Felix’s) farm to make a crop there. She and her family stayed for about a year and a half on the farm. Then she moved her family back to town. She really had a struggle, trying to raise six children by herself. None of the children were able to work, and some of them were in school. She made arrangements to take her family and live with her brother Sherman on his farm. Her children stayed there for about three years. During this time she was living at the Baptist Church Home. Fannie decided to move her family back to town in a house next to the St. James Baptist Church, she stayed there for about five years. During this time the children attended the Hazlehurst Elementary School. George Washington, her son was going to school and working at the box factory. He was a fairly good worker, he was doing piece work and the conditions there were of such, that George made so much money, the company would not pay him. The only way he got paid, was that Mr. Shaw (the Boss man) would turn George’s time in with his time and collect his money and then turn the money over to George.

In 1921, during the time Fannie and her children were living in the house, her husband came home with failing health. He stayed there with her for a while. His mind was disturbed and she had him committed to a State Institution called the poor house. Her husband, Wash Burns, died in 1921. A few months after the death of her third husband (Wash Burns), their daughter Roseana, gave birth to her only child, Harding. Harding, was born on November 4, 1822 in the house next to St, James Baptist Church. From the time she was a young girl until the day she decided to leave Mississippi, She maintained her membership from Damacus.

Fannie moved her family from town to the farm, then back to the town. She was trying to keep them all together, Elizabeth, Albert, Luella, Maerobin, Roseana, Adeline and George Washington. One day she decided to move to New Orleans, La, since her daughter Elizabeth had left her husband and moved to New Orleans. Elizabeth was working and sending money to her mother (Fannie) to help out with the kids. Elizabeth would not have much money left for herself, so she wrote and told her mother to move to New Orleans with her children. Fannie did so, bringing Rosanna, George W., Harding (Rosanna’s son) and Vonado (Elizabeth’s son). This was in 1925 during the month of August on the 25th day. They moved in a house on Jackson Street. Her daughter, Elizabeth got the house prior to her arrival. The house consisted of only two bedrooms, which was not very large. One day a neighbor, came over and invited her to church. She went the following Sunday with her neighbor and later joined the church. The church was “Church of God”.

 After living in the house for 3 months, she and the family moved to another house on Second Street. In this house, her daughter Maerobin, gave birth to a child named Mary Louise. Mary Louise was born on Nov. 17, 1925. Before Fannie left Mississippi, her older children began to leave home. Albert went to the Delta, from there to Texas, then to Detroit where he later died there. Luella married and stayed in Hazlehurst. She gave birth to two boys, Samuel and George. Luelle move to New Orleans, then back to Hazlehurst where she died. Maerobin lived in Hazlehurst then moved to New Orleans, where she died. Idalene married and stayed in Hazlehurst. While living in Hazlehurst, Idalena gave birth to her oly child Amos. Both are now living in Detroit. Elizabeth married, moved to Memphis, then to New Orleans and then to Detroit. Her only son Vonado was deceased at the time of this writing.

Fannie’s oldest daughter, Elizabeth was also a beautician while working at this profession she continued to take care of her mother, two sisters, their two children, her brother and her child. During this time, while being a member of The Church of God, she met and married Joseph Thompson, in 1926. Mr. Thompson was a Chauffeur for McMahon Funeral Home. They moved to his home on Daubigny Street. She was very faithful worker in the Church of God in her later years. She organized a Society, known as “The Women Willing Workers”. As time went on the name was changed from the Women’s Willing Workers to “The Missionary Society of the Church of God”. Fannie served faithfully in The Church as a deaconess. She worked very hard in her church. In the year of 1948-49, she was ordained as a minister of The Church of God. Fannie, was a true and devoted wife to each of her four husbands during her lifetime. She was a mother and grandmother that was loved and still is loved by her children and grandchildren. She did everything in her God given power to provide for her children. She did without to be sure that they had whatever was needed. She was a midwife that assisted in bringing some of her grandchildren into this world. The grandchildren of Fannie are: Vonado (Deceased), Harding, Amos, Samuel, George, Mary Louise, George Burns Jr., Lois, Angelyn, Adrianne and Bobby Burns. She lived to see all of her grandchildren. She would always say that if the Lord would allow her to live to be seventy years, she would be very happy. She lived to within a few days of being seventy-one years of age. She was a very strict and religious person that based her life around religious beliefs. She was well loved and respected by everyone. Before she passed, she stated that she wished someone would write about the Lewis’s family. She died, February 20, 1950 and is buried next to her home church at “Damarcus”, in Hazlehurst, Mississippi. Mr. Thompson died in 1960. There were no children born to her union to Mr. Thompson. 

 George Lewis 1972

  New York City

I George Lewis was born, May 18, 1900 on Meredith’s farm in Beaugard, Mississippi. As a boy around the farm I had to feed the chickens, bring in the wood chips and get water from the spring. The water was used for cooking and making soap. I attended school on the farm. Meredith built a school-house there. The name of the school was Pin Grove. My first school teacher was Mattie Brantley. My second grade teacher was Fannie Burns. From 1908 to 1914 I was a member of Sardis Baptist Church. The minister of Sardis was Elder Lee. Houston Longino was our Sunday school teacher. During the time Meredith lost his farm, he and Lucinda (wife) decided to move to Uncle Felix’s farm. I did not know his children well, so I moved to Brother Sherman farm. There I attended the Eastern Star School after seeing how white people was treating Sherman his son Otis and I decided to leave Copiah County. In September 1914, we left home with only the money we made working for my brother Sherman, cutting stove wood and house wood by the cord. I had only $0.50 and Otis had $4.50. We left the farm that night by walking all the way into Hazlehurst, which was about 8 miles. There we hid out because there was a fellow working around the train station by the name of Rev. Minor. He know us and we knew if he saw us around the station in town without a doubt, he would tell my brother Sherman, because we had no business in town at that time of night. Otis and I bought our ticket for Crystal Springs, which was ten miles away. It took about 15 minutes to get there. We did not know anyone in town, so we slept in a cow pasture. The ants almost ate us up that night. The next morning we went into town, there was what is known as a contractor, his name was Hewett McIntyre, and he was putting through what is known as “Good Roads” (straightening out curves, they had than put down gravel, making a gravel road through the country.

When this contractor was in Hazlehurst, my brother Sherman would rent a team to him to haul gravel. Otis drove that team. Sherman got $3.50 a day for ten hours work, furnishing a horse, mules, wagon and driver. So by Otis working with Hewett McIntyre, he know the driver of the supply wagon. This wagon would come into Crystal Springs, from the contractor camp and pick up the hay, grain and food and go back out. While they were loading the wagon he asked Otis what we were doing. We told him we had nowhere to go, so he said come go out to the comp you could get a job out there. Otis had drove a team before, but me, I knew nothing about it so we climbed on the wagon and went to the camp. There we met the foreman, Mr. Norfleet. Otis knew him so we got the job. Otis was getting $1.50 a day for driving a team and I got $1.25 a day for being a water boy. We worked there for about three months and everyone thought that we were brothers. Otis quit calling me Uncle George and this is where we became brothers.

Otis was the oldest and we were getting along pretty good until they split the camp up. One part of the camp went to Coude, Mississippi and the other part went to a little place on the Illinois Central by the name of Holly Springs. Otis went with one part of the camp and I went with the other part of the camp. I went up into the Mississippi Delta, when this happened. The owner would go from one camp to the other so one day he came to the camp where I was driving his ford car and told me, George, your brother Otis is real sick. I said Mr. Hewett, when you go back could I go back with you? He said yes. This was around the end of 1914, so I went to Holly Springs and Otis was sick. The doctor did not seem to do much good for him so I said to him, would you like to go home? He said yes, and I said alright. I was the kind of person who saved a little money. I had thirty dollars and three suits of clothes. I told him that I did not want him to go home looking bad, so he took the suits and money with the understanding that he would come back when he got well. He bought his train ticket to Hazlehurst, but he never came back and the camp moved again.

One part of the camp went to Memphis, Tennessee and the other part of the camp went to Coude, Mississippi, soon after that Christmas came along. That was the loneliest time of my life, everybody had some place to go but me. Nevertheless, I stuck it out and then the rains began to come and the water began to rise into the Delta so the Company decided to move out of there to Memphis. We went to work, putting a street under the L&N railroad there so I worked for a little while there and I had saved a little money so I decided to move on. I got my little money together and without saying anything to anybody, I left and went to Nashville, Tennessee and worked there for a little while. Then I decided I wanted to go to St. Louis. I got my little money together and left. When I got there, I did not know a soul in St. Louis. During this time, it was not very hard to get a job working for the railroads. They had an employment office and they would ship you out, so I went to the office and they shipped me to Kansas City. There I worked for the railroad for a while. Then I decided that I wanted to go a little further north and they shipped me to Spokane, Washington, in the dead of winter. I went with them as far as Omaha, Nebraska before I jumped off the gang. There were fifteen members of the gang while working in Omaha, before I jumped off. I left there and went to work for The Missouri Pacific Railroad for a while. Then I went to work for the American Smothering Refinery Company. I then went to work for a packing companies (Cudahy, Rex and Armour) which was a large company there.

When I went to work for Armour Packing Company I was a strong person lugging beef. I settled down there in Omaha for a while. Later on I got a chance to work for the City of Omaha, driving a truck, so I worked for the city for quite a while, as a truck driver. I got married in Omaha. Then I got an opportunity to go to work for the President of The Union Pacific Railroad as his private Chauffeur. He had a home in Thompson, Maine. This was in 1929. I was getting thirty dollars a week as a private chauffeur. He had a summer home in Thompson, Maine, that we would go to in May and stay until the latter part of September, then he would return to Omaha. I bought a home in Omaha and joined Zion Baptist Church. I enjoyed working there in the church very much. I stayed in Omaha as a private chauffeur until 1937. My boss told me that it was custom that when someone reached retirement age, he had to retire. He told me that he was going to retire to New York and he wanted me to go with him to live in New York. I said yes, after talking it over with my wife. In 1937, we came to New York, here I worked for him for about a year when he died. I continue to work for his widow, but she died a year after her husband.

I went to Detroit after that to work in a defense plant (Revere Copper Co.) making war material. I lived at 6001 Hartford St. this was over on the west side of Detroit. I worked there for about a year and a half. The war was over then and the work at the plant slowed down. The company was going to keep the older men with seniority so I moved back to New York, City. I then went to work for the New York Central Railroad. I worked there for a short time, then I got a job at the Superior Shade and Awning Company in April of 1945. I stayed with that company for twenty-three years, then I retired because I was getting along in age. At the time of my retirement I was sixty-nine years old. I stayed retired only for a little while because I did not enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I went back to work. (It is unknown who he went back to work for)

Now I had been away from home many years, nobody know where I was or what I was doing or what was going on with me. I was the president of Sunday Morning Bible Class at Abyssinian Baptist Church. I was president for fourteen years. One day a lady came from Mississippi by the name of Annie Davenport. She had heard me teaching in a class at the church. She had heard me talk about when I was a boy, I used to go to Sunday school down in Mississippi. I would leave home bare footed and put my shoes on my shoulders, because I did not want to get my new shoes dirty before I got to church. Right before I would get to church I would put my new shoes on. She heard me telling this so after class one morning she asked me, do you have some people in Mississippi? I said yes, I have some people down there and she said, why don’t you write them? I told her that I had been away so long that I did not think they would know me. So I just did not write them. She said I am going home soon and I am going to tell them where you are so they can contact you. When she went home, one Sunday she was giving a lecture and Mollie (My brother’s daughter) heard her telling about this boy in New York by the name of George Lewis, so when she finished the lecture, Mollie went over and talked with her. She said yes, George is in New York City, he is on the Board of Deacons there at Abyssinian Baptist Church. She said if you want to write him, you can send the letter to the church c/o George Lewis, he will get the letter. Since I was the vise chairman of the board, I would check the mail.

One day a letter arrived from Mollie Longino. I couldn’t remember for the life of me who Mollie Longino was. Houston and I were boys together, but I had no idea he had married Mollie. Anyway, I answered the letter and Mollie wrote back and told me who she was and who her husband was. We were corresponding back and forth with each other. She had two daughters in Chicago at that time, so they said, mother why don’t we go over and see Uncle George? Mollie and her daughters were not quite sure I was the one they were looking for, but Houston has an Uncle here out in Long Island on Springfield Blvd. So she said we’ll go visit Houston’s uncle and while we are there we’ll get in touch with George.

They called me from Chicago and said “Uncle George, we are coming over to New York to visit Houston’s uncle, when we get there we will contact you”. I said, “I will be waiting for your call”. When Mollie and I first started to correspond with each other, she thought that I should come home. I guess she thought that I did not have the fare. She said in a letter one day “Uncle George, if you come home, we’ll see that you get back to New York”. I laughed, but I said alright. When they got in it was Friday night, they called me around 11:00 pm. I said that I would be out that next morning to see them. So the next morning, I drove out to Long Island, but when I got there, they were not up so Houston’s Uncle and I talked a while in the yard. He said that they would be up soon, so Let us go into the house. Mollie’s daughter got dressed first so she came out and saw me. She said, mother, he is a Lewis, we laughed so Mollie came out, oh what a time we had. They got themselves together and they all came over to my house with me.

When we drove up and got out of the car Mollie said, we’ll never send you back to Mississippi if you live in that building. We all laughed and went inside. They met my wife and daughter so that night Mollie spent the night with me and my family. That Sunday we went to Abyssinian Baptist Church. The two girls met us there and after service we went to our house and had dinner. We enjoyed ourselves that day, but they were leaving the next day so Mollie said, “When are you coming for a visit?” I said I don’t know, she said, “I have a large family and every other year they have a family reunion. This year we will be having one. Then she told me that the next year she would celebrate her fiftieth wedding anniversary and at that time you will get to see all the Lewis. I told her to make plans for me to attend the anniversary. She said alright and when she got home she wrote and said Uncle George, we don’t have a minister every Sunday, we only have a minister once a month, so the Sunday you are coming I would like for you to be my guest. Would you like to speak that Sunday? I said yes, I would get service thoughts together for that Sunday. I wrote my speech out and caught a plane which we changed in Memphis. When I got there, they changed me onto Southern Airlines, but did not pick up my bags so when I got to Jackson, Mississippi Houston Longino met me and I did not have any bags. My speech was in my bags so I told Mollie, if I don’t get my bags I will not be able to speak tomorrow because everything I was going to say was on that paper in my bags. Mollie said, Uncle George, I’ve heard you talk and I am sure you’ll decide on something to say.

While we were sitting at the breakfast table the radio was playing and they announced that I would be speaking at the services on Sunday at Sardis Baptist Church. I listen and they said that Sardis is having a guest speaker at the church this Sunday all the way from New York City. (Laugh) Stephen Lewis

Stephen Lewis was born on April 9, 1877 in Hazlehurst, Mississippi Copiah County. He was the ninth child of Meredith and Lucinda Lewis. He worked on the farm with his father as a blacksmith until he was grown. In 1899, he became a member of the church of Christ (Holiness), USA. Later, while still a young man he moved to Jackson, Mississippi and started a blacksmith business of his own. In 1907 he married Emma Rosella Jones. To this union were born eight children. Their names are: Irba Tabitha, who died in infancy, Samuel, Stephen, David, Daniel, Esther Mary, Emma Gertrude and Charles Price.

In 1918 Stephen and his family moved to Indianapolis, Indiana where his two youngest children, Harry Johnathan and Lillian Ruth were born. He worked at the Malabar Casting Company and purchased a home there in Indianapolis. Stephen Lewis was one of the founders and pillars of the First Church of Christ (Holiness) USA in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was a faithful servant for many years. He was a main stay of righteousness in the church. In April, 1945, Stephen’s wife, Emma passed.

In March, 1946, Stephen married Della Camel. In 1953, Stephen and wife moved to Detroit, Michigan. Stephen served as a deacon of the church for over fifty years and was an honorary deacon of the Zion Chapel Church of Christ in Detroit, Michigan until his death. Stephen Lewis passed on the 25th of January, 1968. His wife, Della passed on the seventh of February 1968.

At his death Stephen left seven children, ten grand-children and one great gran-child. 

Felix Lewis died before his wife, Ella. They had a large farm when he built his house. It was a large house, and he wanted to paint it white, but the white people did not like the idea, so Felix had to use white wash. Felix was a Minister at the New Salem Baptist Church in Hazlehurst, Mississippi. One day a white man came by his farm selling medicine. So Felix purchased this medicine. Later, after taking it he became sick and died. When his father and mother gave up their farm they moved to Felix’s farm, where he built them a house to live in.

Felix was the father of seven children; Joe, Ellebeth, Dora, Sadie, Felix, Williebelle and Curtis. Joe was the father of Elizabeth, who was the mother of Dora, the hairdresser. One day while doing hair at the Graves house, her clothes caught on fire and she died. She had no children. Sadie was the mother of children. Felix also fathered children. Williebelle mothered children and Curtis fathered children.

Felix built a two-room house for his wife’s mother on his farm. There she died. In her later in life, she had a mental breakdown. He later moved his wife into this same house for the same reason. He passed away before she did.

Meredith Lewis Jr. was born July 18, 1880, near Tillman Town, nine miles east of Hazlehurst, Mississippi. He attended the Sardis Public School. He later moved to McComb, Mississippi in 1899. He married Emerline Bullock in 1904. They had six children; Charles Samuel, Hazel, Batty, Natty, Nathaniel H., Frankie and Napoleon Bonaparte. Shortly after moving to McComb he was employed by the Liberty White Railroad Company, where he worked until 1914. The company became inoperative. He took employment with the Illinois Central Railroad Company as a Porter-Brakeman the same year, 1914. He stayed employed for the Illinois Central Railroad Company until he reached the age of 65. He retired on July 18, 1945.

Soon after coming to McComb he joined the Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church where he remained until his death. He maintained a consistent Christian and civic life in his community throughout his life time. During most of the years of his membership at Sweet Home Baptist Church he held such offices as Chairman of the Deacon Board, Superintendent of the Sunday school and Chairman of the Trustee Board.

He demonstrated unusual civic pride and leadership in his community. He always took the initiative in presenting community grievances from the black community during the teens, twenties, thirties and forties. It was not a very popular thing at the time in Mississippi. Yet he registered to vote in 1920, at the Pike County Court House. In 1928 he organized the McComb Independent Lodge #846. Improved Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of the Word. With the hope that through this organization’s Civil Liberties Department there could be a breakthrough in Pike County for Black voter registration. In the year 1946, June 21, he called 60 World War II Veterans together and organized the Pike County Voters League. This was done in order for those veterans who were exempt from the Mississippi Law that required a potential voter to present to the County register two Poll Tax Receipts of consecutive years before one could register to vote. This exemption was extended only to those veterans who had received honorable discharges within the year 1946.

This meeting resulted in a vigorous effort being made by Blacks in Pike County to register to vote. There were 8 volunteers in this meeting to make the effort to register to vote the following day. However, all 8 of these were summarily turned down for the reason with which history is familiar. Several months lapsed after these 8 volunteers had been turned down by the Pike County Voters Registrar when Meredith Jr was visited by a Representative from the Committee on the investigation of the late Senator Theodore G. Bilbo. The Representative extended an invitation to all 8 of those veterans who had been turned away from the Pike County Registrar’s Office, to a hearing that was slated for December 3, 1946, in the Federal Building, in Jackson, Mississippi. This invitation was accepted by Meredith on behalf of all 8 veteran from Pike County who attempted to register to vote. The 8 veteran appeared at the hearing on December 3th and 4th 1946 in Jackson, Mississippi. Consequently, the voter registrar’s books in Pike County were opened for Blacks in December of 1946 and have remained opened to this day.

Meredith Lewis Jr, at the time of his death, he was chairman of the Deacon Board at Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church. He was chairman of the Southeastern Louisiana-Mississippi Baptist Church Deacons Institute. He was the President of the Pike County Voters League which he organized. President of the Citizens League of McComb, which he also organized.

Eliza Lewis was born on her father and mother’s farm (Meredith and Lucinda Lewis). The place of her birth was Beauragaurd, Mississippi. During her childhood, she worked and lived on the farm and attended rural, school in Hazlehurst, Mississippi.

During her lifetime she was married to Edward Duncan Tyner. They married and move to Utica, Mississippi, stayed there for a while and then moved to the Moore’s place. From there they bought a farm which was one and half miles from the township of Edwards, Mississippi. It was a large farm which consisted of sixty-five acres of land. From this marriage, sixteen children were born. Of the sixteen children who were born on the farm only six of them lived. They are: James born in 1906, Joe, born 1907, Lydia, born 1914, Judge, born 1912 and Steven, born 1910.

Eliza brother, Sherman, was married to her sister-in-law Elizabeth Tyner. Eliza sister, Fannie, was first married to her husband’s cousin, William. After his death she (Fannie) later married her husband’s brother Robert Tyner, who also died.

Eliza was a quite person and very easy going. She did very little field work. All she did around the farm was the cooking, keeping house and a little work in the field every now and then and picking peas. She also canned fruits of all kinds, churned butter, quilted and took very good care of her children. She had a way with her that no one could ever understand. Whenever her husband or anyone would drive the cows up from the Pasteur, she would look at them and tell you how much each of them were worth. She was in a sense, a horse trader. Their house had three rooms with an L shape porch, kitchen and dining room which set off from the house.

Eliza would take her canned fruits and vegetables to the county fair and put them on exhibit. The fair was held in Hinds County. She would win first prizes often for the most canned goods and the best to include the largest variety. They had a large orchard with all kind of fruits. They raised a large crop of peas each year and a small amount of cotton.

Eliza and her husband were very religious. Her husband was a minister and they belonged to the “Pleasant Green” Church of Christ. (Holiness), which was located in Edwards, Mississippi. Her husband, Edward Duncan, was a straight and forward man with a quick temper. He was a good farmer and gathered a good crop on the farm each year, mostly peas. He had a pea thrasher on the farm which was powered by hand. The thrasher took two people to hand crank it. Edward raised a little cotton, corn, sugar cane, sorghum, walnuts, pecans, chickens, Guinee, ducks, turkeys, Geese, cows, mules and horses. Every year, they would have a large dinner at Christmas time.

Eliza’s husband died one year before she died. Each of their children had a family of their own. After marriage, some had children, and others did not.

Lydia, mother of nine children.

Velma, James Ellis. Freeman. Juanita. Eddie Charles. Hazel Jean. Kathleen. Melvin. ???? mothered eleven children, Eliza, Paul, Howard, Annabel, Willie, Albert, Ison, Joseph, Ruby, Phillip. Judge, had no children. Steven, had no children. Joseph, had six children. Hazel, Hardy, Marylee, Melvin, Joseph and another child who name is unknown.

James, was known to have fathered some children, but their number and names are unknown.

Eliza, lived as she died, a good mother, devoted to her children, a wonderful housewife. She was well loved and respected by everyone. She was a strict and very religious person who based her life around religious beliefs. Her husband, Edward Duncan Tyner, died in 1928 and Eliza died one year later 1929. They both are buried in the “Tyner Cemetery in Edwards, Mississippi.” 

The Longinos' great-great-grandmother from their maternal side was named Easter. She belonged to the Greece Tribe in Africa and endured life as a slave. Presently, the available information about her is limited, including details about the father of her two children. Her only known son was Hardie, but unfortunately, no further information about him is accessible at this moment.

Our great-grandmother, Zilpah, was the second child of Easter. She bore six children: Wardell, John Henry, Zilphie, Lou, Mandy, and our grandmother Rachel. Their father was Joe Montgomery. After emancipation, Joe married Caroline, and they had a prodigious family of 24 children. However, only a few are known to us: Blanche, who became a preacher; Peter, a singer; and Joe and Frank. Joe Montgomery, beyond his role as a father, was a preacher. He was a landowner in Fair Hill, Mississippi, and lived a long life, passing away at the age of 104. Of his 30 offspring, details about many remain unknown. Presently, there is a lack of comprehensive information about our great-grandmother Zilpah, including her birth date, date of passing, and burial site.

Rachel, our grandmother, was born in 1886 to Zilphie and Joe Montgomery. She married Jacob Longino, and together they had six children.

• Joe had one son, whose name we unfortunately do not know. Tragically, this son met an early death in Laurel, Mississippi at the Eastman Garden Sawmill when a piece of wood fatally injured him. He rests in the Calhoun Cemetery.

• Tommy didn't have any children. He was married to Flo Swily and worked on the railroad. Tommy passed away in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1962 and was laid to rest there.

• Willie also did not have any children and never married. As far as the records show, Willie left home in 1936. The last familial contact with him was a letter he sent to his sister, Ida, from Baltimore, Maryland.

• Ida, in contrast, was a mother to nine children. She married Abram Wells and worked as a school teacher. Gifted in craftsmanship, she was also known for her ability to create various items. Tragically, she lost her eyesight and also faced the loss of her father when she was just twelve. Ida passed away in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1981 and was buried in the Sardis Cemetery. The children she brought into the world are Phillip, Samuel, Rosie Lee, Alice Max, Houston, Mary Lyn, Rachel, James, and Abram Jr.

It's evident from this recounting that the family has a rich tapestry of stories, spanning across multiple states and experiences.