BLACK-L Archives

From: "Gordon E. Case" <>
Subject: Possible son of Mitchell Black of Roane TN
Date: Mon, 2 May 2005 14:09:40 -0700

ANDREW JACKSON BLACK, teacher, preacher and farmer, was my g-g grandfather,
who I had come to think was of immaculate conception. I know he was married
in Benton County, AL 12/30/46 to Mahaley Blair. Census records indicate he
was born in TN about 1827. He and Mahaley had a my g-grandmother Sarah
Percy Black in Benton County on 12/20/47 and then they were in Arkansas for
the 1850-1870 census. Andrew Black used variously A.J., and Andrew as his
name. Deeds in Hot Springs county, AR verify his middle name was Jackson,
and that Mahaley's middle initial was M. The 1870 census of Hot Springs
shows they had another daughter Alice, born about 1867 in AR.

The only family that could be mine that I have been able to find after the
1870 census, is in Brown County, TX:

Head, Andrew I. Black, Farmer, 55 years of age born in Tennessee, Father
born DE, Mother born NC
Wife, "Mergerry" Black, 56, born IN, Father born TN, Mother born GA
Daughter Eliza Black, 13, born AR

My experience with the census records, leads me to believe the Brown County
Andrew could well be my A. J. It would be logical for his family, including
daughter Sarah and her husband Charles Spencer, to migrate together to
Texas. Transcribing the permanent records from field notes could easily
mistake his middle initial as I instead of J. and TN could easily be
mistaken for IN. Mergerry could be the middle name of Mahalia, and Eliza
could be the middle name of Alice Black.

Now, I know it is a GREAT leap, but in searching through Genforum and the
Black mailing list archives, The most logical parents of AJ Black would be:

Mitchell Black and wife who show on the 1830 census in Roane County TN and
then in 1840 in Benton Co., AL and in 1850 in Cherokee Co., AL. Sarah Black
and Charles Spencer used what I would guess are "family names" for their
children, which seem common in Mitchell Black's descendants.

AJ and Mahaley's daughter Sarah Percy Black married Charles Edward Spencer
in Hot Springs, AR 4/26/1868 and moved to Decatur TX about 1875. Their
children were:

George Alexander Whitfield Spencer, 2/26/1869 Little Rock, AR
Octavia Lavatia Spencer, Sept, 1870 Hot Springs, AR
Belle spencer, 1872 Hot Springs, AR
Mary Alice Spencer, Oct, 1874 Hot Springs, AR
Harriet Rita Maria "Hattie" Spencer, December 23, 1876 in Decatur, TX.
Alonzo Walter Spencer, born December 9, 1878, Decatur, Texas.
Horace Edward Jackson Spencer, born November 1, 1880, Decatur, Texas.
Margaret Etta Spencer, Born April 22, 1883 in Decatur
Pearl Mae Spencer, born September, 1885 in Decatur
William Mitchell Spencer, born August, 1887 in Bell, Texas. (No part of the
Black family seemed to be there in 1880 or 1900)
Frederick Henry Spencer, April of 1889 in Decatur
Myrtle Glen Spencer, born April of 1891 in Decatur

I have been to Brown County TX to study the deed records, cemetery
inscriptions, and marriages, but no one in the Andrew Black family in the
1880 census showed up in my search.

Does anyone out there know the children of Mitchel Black and/or does an
Andrew or Jackson or AJ show up in anyone's research?

HELP, HELP, HELP

Gordon Case
Yuba City, CA

This thread:

• Possible son of Mitchell Black of Roane TN by "Gordon E. Case" <>