Finding Your Folks: Herndons in Bible records and personal notes

I hate to start off with corrections but I made some mistakes in last week's column which need attending to. Given the speed with which today's information is disseminated, those errors could be repeated hundreds of times in just one day. If you don't correct mistakes as soon as they happen the errors will spiral out of control. Genealogical errors are nearly impossible to correct once they get rolling. So, here we go ...

First correction: Edward Herndon (Jr.), father of all our Meriwether County Herndons, was born on Feb. 7, 1792, not Sept. 7. This date is from the family Bible of Preston Herndon, great-grandfather of Nell O'Shields. I'll tell you about Nell in a minute. She has copies of these Bible pages.

Second correction: Michael Herndon of Elbert County who won land in Lee County was thought to be the brother of Edward Jr. (our Edward) not Edward Sr. as I stated last week. This means that we believe Edward Jr. (ours) and Michael were both sons of Benjamin and Susannah Ahart Herndon. I have not proved or verified this but Michael is listed as Benjamin's son in the (partial) Herndon genealogy in the book, "The History of Elbert County." For the moment, and until I can find some official records, this is what I'm going by. Internet resources also show this lineage also but have no source information.

Third correction: Edward Herndon Sr.'s land in Coweta County (lot 102 in the 8th District, later Campbell County, now South Fulton County) that he won in the 1827 Land Lottery was closer to Rico than to Palmetto. I have checked this on a map of old Campbell County which shows the land lots and districts. Edward may have sold this land between 1831 and 1842 to members of the Guyton family according to records found in the Campbell County Grantor-Grantee Index. It is doubtful that he ever lived in Campbell County.

Now, about Nell O'Shields, a delightful lady I met at the Old Campbell County Historical Society's Christmas luncheon. I was sitting with Jackie Lambert and Jackie introduced me to Nell. Little did we know it would be the start of a family adventure. Nell, I found out later, is a Herndon descendant through her grandmother, Ethel Ona Herndon Gullatt. And not only that, we also share cousins because one of my first cousins married one of her Herndon cousins. Nell and I have spent many hours on the phone since our discovery and she has shared so much of her personal Herndon information. I am very grateful for her generosity.

One thing Nell has discovered in her genealogy searches is the old family Bible of her great-grandfather, Preston A.H. Herndon, which now is in the possession of one of her cousins. Nell took photographs of the pages and gave me copies. The contents are so very unusual in that Preston listed the names and birth dates of all his slaves in this Bible. The names of these slaves match up with the names of the 15 slaves listed in Edward Herndon's estate appraisement and add five more, for a total of 20. These slaves, apparently, had been with this family a very long time.

The Bible was printed in 1870 and published by National Publishing Company with offices in Philadelphia, Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis and Atlanta. Preston Herndon and his wife, Ann Amis (maybe not Amis, though) were married 11 June 1861, so the Bible apparently was purchased about 10 years later. Preston diligently recorded all family information - and more - in this precious family possession.
In the interest of African-American research and in hopes of helping members of the African-American Herndon family find their roots, I would like to give you the names of these slaves and their birth dates. We're also going to post this information online in the appropriate places and give a copy to the Georgia Archives in Morrow.

At the top of the page is written, "Births of Negroes." Here is the information as best as I can transcribe it: Rachel - Sept. 20th, 1833; Amanuel - April 22nd, 1836; George - Oct. 24th, 1838; Squire - March 8th, 1841; Prudence - March 15th, 1843; Fanny - March 18th, 1845; John - Dec. 25th, 1847; Truman - May 22nd, 1850; Disney - June 13th, 1850; Harriett - Aug. 31st, 1852; Leonidas - Feb. 2nd, 1853; Joseph - Oct. 1st, 1855; Evaline (line drawn out to side, no date); Joseph - ditto marks, no date; Biddy - ditto marks, no date; Osburn - ditto marks, no date; Abe - ditto marks, no date; Suckey - ditto marks, no date; Washington - ditto marks, no date; and Margrette - Nov. 24th, 1847.
On 23 Feb. 1855, 15 years before this Bible was printed, Robert McCrary, John Horn, James B. Glass and Lewis Pyron appraised the estate of Edward Herndon (late of Meriwether county, deceased) and listed the following slaves: Joe, Osburn, Avaline, Bidda, Amanuel, George, Esquire, Prudence, Fanny, John, Diznah, Washington, Margaret, Truman and Harriett. (Source: Meriwether County probate records.)

You don't know how good it makes me feel when we can pass on genealogical information that can only be found on a personal level. My heartfelt thanks to Nell for sharing her family's Bible information. In future columns, I will give you more from Preston's Bible, information from handwritten notes left by Nell's grandmother, and more from my courthouse research of this family, including Edward's will and court records on other family members. I was a little surprised to find that no one has placed queries on this family on any of the public message boards or mailing lists. Guess we'll be the first.

Stories and family histories about your ancestors who lived on Atlanta's south side are always welcome. Send them to jkilgore@thecitizen.com or JodieK444@aol.com. Mail to The Citizen, P.O. Drawer 1719, Fayetteville, GA 30214. All letters and e-mails I receive are subject to being used in the column.