Descendant of enslaved woman may be owed land in Jacksonville, TX

JACKSONVILLE, Texas — Some far-flung cousins with Texas roots have been astounded by a family tree search and are discovering out they may be entitled to land apparently left to an enslaved ancestor.

It’s land they are saying their ancestor by no means truly received.

“I took the Ancestry DNA and I discovered what happened and it was just unbelievable,” stated Candice Hammons.

Hammons claims to be the great-great-great granddaughter of an enslaved woman named Gracie, or Gracy, with whom Albartus Arnwine, her white slaveholder, had youngsters.

Old data and a grandson’s oral historical past recommend Arnwine left lots of of acres close to present-day Jacksonville, Texas to Gracie when he died in the 1850s.

“His household and his neighbors didn’t approve of his relationship with Gracie as a result of she did reside in the home with him as, mainly, his mistress,” stated Hammons’s cousin, Mary Tucker.

The cousins and others are actually pushing a web based petition Hammons began to try to doubtlessly fulfill a will that was by no means honored.

“These have been court docket methods and authorized methods that have been extremely prejudiced towards African Americans, both enslaved or just lately emancipated,” stated Sam Houston State University History professor and slavery professional Nicholas Crawford, Ph.D.

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Crawford stated neither intimate relationships between slaveholders and the enslaved have been unheard of nor was the bequeathment of land.

He added that some relationships in the Antebellum South may have been extra nuanced than we are inclined to suppose.

“As this case reveals, the type of household lore and oral transmission of the situation of slavery and agreements between slaveholders and enslaved folks can cross down by means of household timber and nonetheless form legacies of society in the present day,” stated Crawford.

Neither Hammons nor Tucker, who reside in Phoenix and Los Angeles respectively, have been to Jacksonville or Cherokee County.

And, based on previous maps, the land in query lies alongside the Neches River and now could be underwater because of Lake Jacksonville’s building in the Fifties.

So far, members of the family do not need authorized illustration to assist wade by means of difficult data and proper a possible improper, but it surely’s one thing they’re exploring.

“We basically want to share this and get our support from everyone, the world and government officials,” said Hammons. “We need to flip an injustice right into a justice.”

Hammons has began a Change.org petition in her seek for justice.