The Reed Family 'Back Home' Trip to Abbeville, South Carolina

Picture was taken on the courthouse steps of the Abbeville County Courthouse.


 Picture was taken at the Abbeville Civic Center with the Susie Reid Lee Family and the Lemuel Reid Family.

Grandpa William "Bill" Reed was born into slavery here in 1846 on Dr. William H. Barr's farm. He was later sold to the Barr Family's relative, Lemuel Reid.  At the age of 19, Grandpa Bill left Abbeville on a wagon train pulled by mules with other recently emancipated African-Americans.  Someone who had been to Mississippi came on the Reid Place, just north of Abbeville, and told everyone that Mississippi was the "Land of Milk and Honey with Fat Pigs Running Around With Apples In Their Mouths".  Grandpa Bill Reed, his sister and brother-in-law, David & Mary Reed Pratt, his niece, Fannie McKee, his cousin, Glasgow Wilson, and several others followed this person to Como, Mississippi in 1866.  Before his death in 1937 in Senatobia, Mississippi, Grandpa Bill talked about his early life in South Carolina a lot to his children and grandchildren underneath his sycamore tree.  He never got a chance to go back to visit, as he desired, but his descendants went back to honor his memory on July 8, 2004.  It will be a day they will never forget.  

As we entered downtown Abbeville, we were greeted with a welcome sign on The Rough House, owned and operated by the Reid Family, the descendants of Lemuel Reid.

Our "new" cousins, the descendants of Susie Reid Lee of Abbeville, greeted the family at the Gathering to the Opera House in downtown. Their ancestry can likely be traced back to the Lemuel Reid Plantation.

In Downtown Abbeville, South Carolina

The Descendants of Lemuel Reid greeted the family at the Gathering at the Opera House in downtown.

The Gathering at the Opera House

The Gathering at the Opera House

The Reed Family Homecoming Program at the Abbeville County Courthouse, Abbeville, South Carolina

Mayor Harold McNeil presented the Reed Family a Key to the City and a Proclamation!  Left to Right: Dr. Leroy Frazier of Atlanta, Armintha Reed Puryear of Senatobia, MS, the Mayor, Isaac Deberry of Senatobia, MS, and Melvin J. Collier of Atlanta, GA. Armintha (82) and Isaac (89) are the oldest living granddaughter and grandson of Bill Reed.

Mr. Claude Thomas, Chairman of the Abbeville County Council, welcomes the Reed Family.

The Reed Family Homecoming Program
in the Abbeville County Courthouse

Bill Reed, Jr. of Crenshaw, MS (great grandson of Bill Reed), Dr. Bill Reid of Clemson, SC (great grandson of Lemuel Reid), and Dr. Leroy Frazier (great-great grandson of Bill Reed).

Renee' Wright of Southaven, MS (great-great granddaughter of Bill Reed) & James A. Reed of Little Rock, Ark. (great grandson of Bill Reed) as they view the original will and slave inventory of Dr. William H. Barr, which was written in 1843. Bill Reed's parents, Pleasant & Isabella Barr, are recorded in those 161-year-old documents. Right is Judge Carol Speer.

Written on the fourth line (Dr. William H. Barr's will) was our ancestor, Pleasant Barr - (No. 6 entry)

Susie Rutherford, a descendant of Pleas Barr's sister, Sue Barr Beckley, who was taken to Pontotoc, MS in 1859, greets Catherine Willis and Ruth Howland, the granddaughters of Susie Reid Lee.

Angela Walton-Raji of Catonsville, MD and Melvin J. Collier  
(great grandson of Bill Reed)
The Upper Long Cane Presbyterian Church was the church that Dr. William H. Barr was the minister of from 1809 to 1843.  Before the Civil War, Pleasant Barr, his parents, and other family members were documented members of this church.  Angela is the great-great granddaughter of Amanda Young, who married Pleas Barr shortly after he was taken to Ripley, Mississippi in 1859.

The Family Tours "The Session House" at the Upper Long Cane Church. During slavery, the slaves of the slave-owners who were members of this church were allowed membership. Before they were admitted, they were "examined" in the Session House and had to profess their Faith.  According to the church records, Bill's father, Pleasant, was "received May 17, 1856 on examination". Other family members were also recorded in the Session Record books.

Inside the Session House
Family members retracing the steps of their ancestors. Looking towards the camera are Nancy Reed Payne of Coldwater, MS (great granddaughter of Bill Reed) and John W. Reed Sr. of Memphis, TN (grandson of Bill Reed)

The Reid Place
Lemuel Reid's House, built in 1860, during a time when Bill Reed was living as a slave on this farm. Bill Reed was sold from the Barr Farm to the Reid Place shortly before 1860.  This is where he was living when he and others from this farm and nearby farms were enticed to migrate to Como, Mississippi in 1866.

Isaac Deberry and Armintha Reed Puryear, standing on the front porch of "The Reid Place". During their childhood, Isaac and Armintha heard their grandfather (Bill) talk about his days on this place. Cousin Ike stated, "I never thought in a million years that I would actually get to step foot on this place."  Cousin Ike recalls the story that his grandfather told him of the day shortly after the Civil War when Lemuel Reid came out on this porch, standing on those steps, and announced to all of the slaves, "Y'all are as free as I am."

Standing on the Reid Place viewing the Lemuel Reid House.  
Many were in awe. Many stared in wonderment, thinking about Bill Reed's life on this farm during slavery.  Many felt the ancestor's spirit.

To our surprise, the descendants of Susie Reid Lee who we met for the first time, prepared a wonderful dinner for us at the Abbeville Civic Center.  The food was delicious!

The Reid Place

Ruth Howland and her cousin, Lacorsha Turner
Descendants of Susie Reid Lee

Dr. Martin Luther King stated in his 
"I Have A Dream" speech,
"I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood." 

That happened in Abbeville, S.C.
on July 8, 2004.

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