| Kathy Lander is studying
these families who were mainly from St. Simons Island. Her earliest
proven ancestors are her great grandparents William and Annie
(White) Baker. According to family lore and the census, Annie
White may have been the daughter of Lymus and Eva (Wiggs)
White. From knowing local
history, Lymus may have been a slave on the Kelvin Grove
Plantation, this is unfounded though. The assumption came from
Margaret Davis-Cate's book "Early Days of Coastal Georgia", where she
interviewed a Floyd White who stated that his mother Victoria
was from Retreat Plantation, and his father, Jupiter, was from
Kelvin Grove. In the 1870 Glynn County census, Jupiter is 23
years old, a possible Lymus is 24 years old, and there is also a
Saunders White who was 21 years old. In the 1870 Glynn census,
Jupiter's wife may have been an Eliza. But in 1880 he
has a wife named Estoria. There is a 10 year old Victoria
to be found in Anna Matilda Page
King's slave inventory.
From
Benjamin F. Cater's slave
inventory, we learn that there is a Jupiter who is 4 years old,
too old to be the Jupiter in the 1870 census, however, census and
slave inventories are never accurate in regards to ages and spellings of
names. Unfortunately, no Lymus was found amongst the
listings, which means he either changed his name, his age is inaccurate,
or he was part of another plantation.
Finding his origins has proven to be very
hard, the family lore states that he was from St. Simons, and that he had
run away at one time and survived off of acorns. An account of a
slave named Lymus bought by Thomas Butler King, was found in
the book "Runaway Slaves; Rebels on the Plantation" by John Hope Franklin
and Loren Schweninger on pg. 54. This man named Lymus was 28
years old and bought in Charles, South Carolina. When he was brought
to St. Simons, he found that he had a hard time adjusting to "country"
folks, and could not understand the language of the island slaves, nor
their customs, therefore he ran away. He was last seen on the road
from Darien to Savannah, probably heading back to Charleston.
The only Lymus found by me, to be of
the right age, was found in the
slave inventory of James M. Troup. The original inventory made
in 1849 only lists one Lymus, however, the division of estate,
which was made a few years later, shows two men named Lymus,
suggesting that one was just born or purchased. This second Lymus
was listed in the family of Abram, Fanny, Charlotte, Anthony, and
Elsy. The 1870 Glynn census shows a Lymus White age 24
years with a Charlotte age 19 years and a John age 2 years.
This suggests that Lymus and Charlotte may be married and if
they are the ones from the Troup slave inventory, then maybe this
Lymus was purchased onto the Hofwyl estate.
Unfortunately we can not confirm that this
is the same man. However, the story of the runaway Lymus from
the book mentioned above, we know can not be the same man because that man
was 28 years old in 1831, when this event happened. The Lymus
White of this family was born sometime in around 1850.
Lymus and Eva may have had 8
children, six have been confirmed through the 1880 Glynn Census. The
children are as follows:
Affey born about 1875
Annie 1879 Lucy Oct.
1885 Mary Jane Nov. 1889
Andrew J. Feb. 1894
Rosie L. Nov. 1895
Rebecca? Essie?
no information has been found to confirm these two.
Rebecca married John W.
Wilkerson and lived her adult life in Jacksonville, Duval Co.,
Florida. The census records, however, do not show Rebecca in the
household of Lymus and Eva. From family lore there was an
Essie but the census records do not confirm. Could it be that "Affey"
from the census is the same as "Essie" from family lore?
Eva (Wiggs) White was born in Sterling, Glynn Co., Georgia,
she was the daughter of John & Rebecca Wiggs of Pennick.
Most of her family are buried at
Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church on Pennick Road in Glynn County.
William Baker was the son of
Charles and Rina (Pyles) Baker of Camden County, Georgia,
Rina was from Georgia or South Carolina, depending on the census. The 1870 Camden census,
and the 1880 Glynn census shows this family, however they contrast greatly
concerning the children and ages of the family members. On 3
November 1896 William Baker and Annie White were married in Glynn County.
To this union 9 children were born:
Patsy 1895
Annie Louise 1896 Henry J.
1897 Johnny B. 1901
Essie Mae 1904 Maybelle/Mabel 1905
Gertrude 1910
Willie 1913
Geneva 1913
On 20 November 1920, William Frederick
Moses married Mabel Baker, and from viewing the census, you can
almost ascertain how they met. They were both laborers in the Prawn
Factory. According to immigration papers, William arrived in
America from Annapolis, Canada and his mother was a Georgianna Owens.
Together William & Mabel had 15 children:
William 1921
Ernest H. 1923 John
H. 1925
Robert J. 1927 Arthur L.
1929
Annie L. 1931 Andrew C.
1934 Margie M. 1936
Anthony 1939 Barbara
J. 1939
Ernestine 1939 Gerome 1939
William F. 1939 Mary
1943
Richard 1947
If you have any information, i.e. dates,
names, etc., please contact Kathy Lander at the above email
address.
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