I decided to write this and include it on my web page as a motivator.  Many times, we hit the 1870 brick walls in our research, and we wonder if we are ever going to find out some vital information/clues to further our research, such as the name of the last slave-owner.  After this memorable experience, I realized that patience and determination are vitally important.  I also realized that some information and clues will come to us when we least expect.

I've spent a lot of days at the Mississippi Department of Archives & History in Jackson, Mississippi turning miles of microfilm.  Of those many days, this is one of my most memorable one.  On one spring day in 1995, I was home from college during the spring break and as usual, I used some of the free time to do a little research.  Fortunately, my hometown was just a twenty-minute drive from the MDAH.  The night before, I had listed several things I was going to look up.  After spending several hours in the MDAH the next morning, I had completed my list.  Some information I was able to find and some I didn't.  However, before I got up and headed home to enjoy the rest of the day, a "little voice" told me to stay put and take a look at the DeSoto County marriage records of the early Black marriages (1866-188?).  I'd researched that microfilmed record several months before in search of the marriage certificate of my great-great grandparents, Hector & Lucy Davis.  The 1900 Panola County census had reported that they had been married 33 years, so I was hoping to find their marriage certificate, but I couldn't.  They were found living in Tate County (which was part of DeSoto County prior to 1873) before 1880.

     Although this was not on my agenda, I got the microfilm again, placed it on the microfilm reader, and started to browse through the marriage records again.  This time, I noticed that I had missed the bride's index.  Before, I just looked at the groom's index without any success and didn't noticed that there was a bride's index.  Well, minutes later I came upon a name, Lucy Milam.  I knew my great-great grandmother's maiden name was Milam and I quickly got excited.  So I quickly turned to the page the marriage certificate was on and found the marriage of Hector Burnett to Lucy Milam, July 3, 1866.  I immediately was elated and confused at the same time.  "My great-great grandfather's name is Hector Davis, not Hector Burnett!  Where in the world did this Burnett name come from?  Somebody made a huge mistake!!", I said to myself.  So I sat there for a while staring at that document, wondering why was Grandpa Hector's name recorded as Burnett.  Another amazing thing, the next certificate was of Huldah Burnett and Spence Milam.  They all married on the same day, possibly two relatives marrying siblings.  Wow!

     After finding that certificate, I just couldn't leave there without taking a look at the 1870 & 1880 DeSoto (Tate) and Panola County census again to see if I could find any persons with the last name Burnett, a name I had never heard of in my family history.  To my surprise, I found Grandpa Hector's brother in the 1870 DeSoto County (now Tate) census recorded as Jack Burnett!!  No wonder I couldn't ever find Uncle Jack prior to 1880 because I had been looking for a Jack Davis.  In 1870, Grandpa Hector and his parents, Jack & Flora Davis, had already changed their names to Davis, but Uncle Jack Davis was still listed as Burnett.  However, by the time the 1880 census was taken, all of the family had changed over to Davis.

     When I found Uncle Jack Burnett/Davis and his family in 1870, guess who they were living beside?  You guessed it, their former enslavers, the white Burnetts.  The head of household was an old woman named Anna Burnett and they were all born in South Carolina.  Grandpa Hector Davis, his parents, sisters, and brothers were all born in South Carolina too, so I knew I had hit the jackpot with this one.  After finding this, I was later able to determine the place in South Carolina they all had come from, and the 1863 inventory of John Burnett's estate listing my ancestors by name.  Now I just have to figure out why they changed their name to Davis.

     After sitting back and thinking, I realized that the "little voice" that told me to take a look at that microfilm again had to be God leading me into the right direction!  Don't ignore the "little voices".  You are not crazy, but you are just receiving a great lead from above.

Estate record of John Burnett
DeSoto County, Mississippi (now Tate County)
March 20, 1863
 

1 Negro man named Jack	$700
1  "        "          "      George	$1400
1  "        "          "      Young Jack	$1400
1 "         "          "      Hector	$1200
1 "         "          "      Cato	$1300
1 Negro girl Nancy	$1100
1 old Negro woman Flora	$400
1 girl Julia	$1100
1 boy Wesley	$700
1 boy Jim	$800
1 boy Lewis	$700
1 girl little Nelly & old Nelly	$800
1 boy Bob	$1200

Jack (born c. 1815) was my great-great-great grandfather, Jack Davis.
Flora (born c. 1815) was my great-great-great grandmother, Flora Davis, the wife of Jack Davis.
Their son, Hector Davis, was my great-great grandfather.
George, Young Jack, and perhaps Cato too were sons of Jack and Flora.
Wesley is Cousin Wesley Johnson, a first cousin to Jack and Flora's children.

Copyright © 2007 Melvin J. Collier. All rights reserved.
Do not reproduce without the permission of Melvin J. Collier.