GREENE COUNTY ARCHIVES BULLETIN NUMBER FORTY-FIVE

BLACK FAMILIES

OF

THE OZARKS

RECORDS ARE AVAILABLE FOR USE BY THE PUBLIC

AT THE ARCHIVES FROM 1 TO 5 PM

MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY, EXCEPT LEGAL HOLIDAYS

GREENE COUNTY ARCHIVES & RECORDS CENTER

OFFICE OF THE COUNTY CLERK

1126 BOONVILLE AVE.

SPRINGFIELD, MO 65802

(417) 868-4021

FAX (417) 868-4816

Originally, Black Families of the Ozarks started out as an article for the Greene County Historical Society Newsletter. It consisted of a slave census for Greene County. Discussion of the article led to further interest in other county records.

Although it is difficult to trace Native American ancestry, that is not the case for someone doing genealogy of black ancestors. County, city, state, and federal records have all at some point defined people by race. In Greene County, many records carried a racial designation. Tax records, court books and documents, poor farm accounts, and other materials were marked with either "black" or "colored."

Black Families outgrew the boundaries of current Greene County due to the discovery of two Negro City/County directories; one for 1936 and another for 1937. These two booklets included Greene County and Jasper County. Many of the surnames seen in the Springfield or Cave Springs sections were also in the Carthage and Joplin sections. This developed into a joint effort with the Jasper County Records Center.

Steve Weldon, Jasper County Archivist, and Marjorie Bull, former Jasper County Clerk, joined the project, uncovering and assembling a virtual black history of Jasper County. They included records from many sources, among them, Lincoln School in Carthage, Knell Funeral Home records, and material from the Marvin L. VanGilder Collection in the Jasper County Records Center.

As the project grew, many other people made contributions. Thanks need to be given to Jim Lobbey, Jasper County Clerk, Jean Blackwell of Joplin, and Doris Wardlow and Marvin L. VanGilder of the Jasper County Records Center.

Mrs. James M. Graham of Springfield and Mrs. Elaine Graham Estes of Des Moines, Iowa, provided a great deal of biographical information on students in 1906 Springfield, and on World War I soldiers from Greene County.

Ken Winn, at the Missouri State Archives, and Lynn Morrow, from the Missouri Local Records Program in Jefferson City, provided valuable assistance. Through Mr. Winn, I was put in touch with Margaret J. Durham of The Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society in St. Louis. Ms. Durham received a review copy, as did many others, including Samuel Knox of Unite. in Springfield, and Barbara M. Holley of Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Addison Williams, a member of the Missouri Historic Records Advisory Board, also provided helpful suggestions.

We were lucky to enlist support from surrounding counties. Melinda Gumm, Cedar County Circuit Clerk, and Bob Phillips from the Cedar County Historical Society lent assistance with black marriages and other Cedar County black history. Vesta Seiner, Polk County Circuit Clerk, through the help of Jennie Springer of the Polk County Genealogical Society, provided another separate "Persons of Color" marriage book. Jan Gallagher of the Webster County Historical Society allowed the Greene County Archives to copy Webster County materials that include two biographies connecting Greene County families to other counties. Mabel Phillips, Director of the Christian County Library, was an early supporter of this work. Kathy Bloomer, from the Dade County Historical Society, made us aware of ongoing black history projects in Dade County. A member of the Taney County Historical Society, Bob Miley, provided Taney and Stone County census information.

William B. Landers offered to provide census slave schedules he had abstracted from Southwest Missouri counties. Although living in Pocasset, Massachusetts, he has ties to several area counties.

Many other Greene County residents volunteered information. Jeff Patrick of Wilson's Creek National Battlefield provided a photo of E. C. Curtis, a World War I soldier not pictured in the Honor Roll book. He also provided the roster of the 1^st and 2^nd Kansas Colored Infantry. Grady Manes, administrator of the Nathan Boone State Historic Site, offered references to slaves belonging to Nathan Boone. Ted Higgs of Springfield had genealogical information connecting a Greene County family with Barry County. As always the Ozarks Genealogical Society in Springfield has given much encouragement. Marsha Hoffman Rising of the Society allowed an abstract of her work on early Southwest Missouri newspapers to be used. She also had some intriguing background on an 1850s Greene County mass manumission.

Greene County Archives staff and volunteers have been most helpful with this lengthy project. Carolyn Snider worked many hours abstracting hunter's licenses and Hazelwood Cemetery Records. Gordon McCann and Marian Demore have uncovered many obscure slave references. Jean Rayl, of the Union Campground Cemetery Association, and Gail DeGeorge, a volunteer at Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, unearthed additional material related to the Battle of Wilson's Creek. Staff Chris Poynter, Clare Momot and Chris Gordon have all played a part in the production of Black Families.

Two people have added greatly to this genealogical guide. George Armstrong of Springfield offered a copy of the 1937 Negro City/County Directory belonging to his mother, Rosa Bell Adams of Springfield. This directory, along with that of 1936, gives a broad picture of both the black community in Springfield and Greene County and black families in Carthage, Joplin and Jasper County.

Without the work of Judy Reustle of Springfield, many of the photographs included would not have been made available. Quite probably, without her intervention, few of them would have ever been saved or made public. Much of the family information in Part Two of this guide would have been lost without Ms. Reustle's compilation of Anderson Family materials.

Special thanks go to my colleague Amy Langston for her patience as well as her talent in seeing this guide to fruition. Her ideas and editing have been invaluable as I have sought to gather the information and arrange it for publication.

Thanks again to all who worked on Black Families of the Ozarks. My apologies go out to anyone whose efforts I have inadvertently overlooked.. My intention, as I began to collect materials on black families of the Ozarks, was to provide a source of information not readily available in one location. I am certain that this guide only touches the surface, but it is my hope that it will encourage all, in southwest Missouri and beyond, to discover an important history often hidden or neglected..

Robert Neumann, Archives Supervisor