documenting my very southern genealogy from the plantation to the frontier
While digging around for Dicken deeds I ran across a deed from my 5th great-grandfather, Miles Bembry to James H Smith that I had somehow overlooked. It turned out to be an important part of the tangled tale of Kenneth Bembry, slippery politician, bits and pieces of which I have accumulated over the years, often … Continue reading More Bembry Shenanigans
So, as it turns out, Richard Dicken, my 5th great-grandfather was not quite as dead as I thought he was by 1819. And there's a moral to that story! I had assumed for years that since Richard Dicken's estate was found in Edgecombe county probate files that he must in fact be dead. Furthermore Thomas … Continue reading Richard Dicken: Not Quite Dead Yet
Richard Dicken wasn't considered trustworthy by his father in law. Apparently, he had his reasons.
John Bembry, oldest son of Miles Bembry, was a colorful character. In 1831 he stabbed a cousin, Littleton Bryan, to death, apparently over some kind of property dispute. Wanted notices were were posted all over Georgia and Florida by Littleton's father, Moses Bryan, who offered a substantial reward for his capture. However, there is no … Continue reading John Bembry: the Plot Thickens
Recently, I wrote about how Kenneth apprenticed a free boy of color named William Williams. Well, of course I had to find out more about his mother, Fanny Williams! Which led me into an entirely new (for me) area of genealogy: that of "free people of color" in the antebellum South. Fanny Williams deeded her … Continue reading Kenneth Bembry’s “Colored” Children?
Fanny Williams, a "free woman of color," indentures her eight year old son to Kenneth Bembry.
While running a search on Ancestry yesterday, I found something fun misfiled under "Wm Bembry." This is a stray account from William Bembry's estate file, paid by his administrator to a merchant or tavern keeper of some kind. William, it seems, was quite the tippler, putting away many "Drinks" of gin, cider, cordial, and the … Continue reading William Bembry’s Bar Tab
In which my 5th great-grandfather lives life to the fullest.
Where there is a widow there must have been a husband. Did Miles Bembry make a surprise move late in life?
A bastardy bond in Edgecombe, North Carolina.
A Long Way to Tennessee 