the Haitian Claim Fact or Myth

It has been said by my Aunts and Uncles that their brother John Carlton Yeldell was the first person in our family to do research on our family.  Other than myself there are three more family members that I know of who have done individual research of their own.  None of us (to my knowledge) has gotten to where we have been told Uncle John did.  According to Uncle John we come from Haiti and we are direct descendants of the famous author Alexandre Dumas.  For those that don’t know he wrote the Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo.  So of course my goal is to prove the claims that

1. we are of Haitian descendent
2. we are related to Alexander Dumas.

How did my uncle come to these conclusions?  Now a days it is somewhat easy to find these things out.  I mean with places like ancestry.com, familysearch.org and DNA testing a few hundred dollars can help you find your very first ancestor.  But my uncle died in 1961 so being able to find out something like that in that time period had to be difficult probably even close to impossible.  I mean it took me about 20 years to get what I have.  Well in my research I have come close to how we may actually be of Haitian descendant.  John Brooks the great grandfather to Preston Brooks is said to have traveled from England and in his travels he stopped in Haiti to pick up supplies.  He then made his way into Virginia and finally settling in Edgefield SC.

It seems the slaves he had were passed down.  Sure some of them were sold off but they were famous for keeping some in the family.  My great great grandmother Martha Brooks for example had been with them as a little girl.  I know this because I have the will of Whitfield Brooks (grandson to John) and the will of Preston (Whitfield’s son).  Martha was handed down to Preston when Whitfield died and was sold to a family member named Lemuel when Preston died.  Was Martha parents bought as supplies from Haiti this is apart of goals and what is next for me to learn.

I know that I will never be able to learn the names of my twice great grandmother but to learn her origin and where she came from would be amazing.  Wish me luck as I gather this money and pray this DNA testing can help me solve this mystery.

Until Next Time…

A huge step in learning and another honor towards our grandparents written September 9, 2011

The below post was written when I found out I would have articles published I am placing it now because I wanted it to be apart of my blog.  the title has the original date this was written and posted in facebook.  Until next time…

 

My research on the Yeldell family has taken me through so many things.  It is oh so exciting to learn about our ancestors.  I know that I said I would not share anymore unless asked but this is something that honors our grandparents, our aunts, our uncles, moms and dads.  The story goes like this:

I was watching the Today show and they were honoring people over the age of 100.  The name Mamie Rearden popped up.  She turned 113 years old on September 7, 2011.  She is from Edgefield, South Carolina and attends Springfield Baptist Church.  When I saw and heard that I lost it.  I stated how great it would be for me to get to talk with her.  She was born the same year (1898) as our grandmother the late Annie Mae Senior Yeldell.  I knew that if I could speak with her she could give me so much information on our family.  So I went to the internet and started to read about her.  I got names of her children and learned that she is of sound mind.  So I thought some more and decided to contact the African American genealogist library to see if there is any way I could speak with her.

 

Tonya Browder who is the head of the African American genealogist research library and my contact for all things Edgefield gave me the number to a reporter with an Edgefield paper.  She told me that if anyone could get me an interview with Mrs. Rearden it would be her.  So I contacted this reporter.  I explained to her who I was and what I would like to do.  I talked about how our grandparents were born there and migrated to DC as well as spoke about how they attended the same church as Mrs. Rearden while living in Edgefield.  I told her once they settled in the DC area they founded their own Springfield Baptist.  This woman thought that was a wonderful story and is placing an article about our grandparents and their children in the Edgefield Advertiser.  She wants pictures of the Grandma and Granddad, a picture of Springfield Baptist church in dc, a picture of the cornerstone with granddaddy’s name and the names of their children.  My mouth dropped to the ground.

 

She will be writing this article and placing it in the paper the first week of February for Black History month.  She told me that she would send me a copy once it is done I thought about waiting but I decided to share this with all of you now.  The article will be written by Suzanne Derrick editor and owner of the paper.  I have sent her all of the info that I have found on our family so far and will be in contact with her until the article is written.  If you have any input (pictures, little known facts etc.) outside of what I already know please pass it on to me so that I can forward it to her.  Oh yea and she is going to get me the interview with Ms. Rearden.