In Search of Shadrach

ACT I

In the 1950’s when I was a boy growing up in Cincinnati, my mother, sister and I traveled to the family farm in Marion Junction, Alabama. Every summer, like migrating birds returning to their place of birth, we also returned to the homestead. In my mind, the farm was where the maternal side of my family began. As I grew older, the farm became an incubator for questions about the past.

The farmhouse had a fireplace in the living room, and over it hung portraits of two “old people.” I knew that they were important because of the premium location that their portraits occupied. I learned that they were my maternal great-grandfather Amos Roscoe, and great-grandmother Amanda Toodle Roscoe. I would often look up at them as I walked over the creaky floor, wondering what they were like.

As an adult, I was inspired by the movie “Roots” to do some serious family research. So at a family reunion in the summer of 1985, armed with notepad and tape recorder, I began interviewing my oldest family members about family history. I heard great stories, but it became clear that depending exclusively on my family to trace my roots back to at least the slavery period, would to be difficult. The relatives who knew the history were gone, and my living elders either didn’t know, or didn’t want to talk about it. And there was one more thing: the stories were focused on the Roscoe family. I knew little about Amanda Toodle Roscoe, and the Toodles. In time, learning about the Toodles would become a passion, if not an obsession.

ACT II

Years later, I decided to dust off those 1985 notes and tape recordings, with a renewed commitment to pursue my family history. In 2005 I began attending seminars at Cincinnati’s National Underground Railroad Freedom Center on genealogy. These were sponsored by the John Parker Library (also called the Family Search Center). I also took road trips to Kentucky and Alabama with my sister and brother-in-law. We visited and interviewed our eldest relatives; some whom we had never known. When my youngest son began asking for periodic updates on our progress, I realized that our work could impact future generations. I made a pledge that my generation would stop the erosion of family history, and recover our rich past for future generations. Nice vision, but how?

In 2007, I began using the free services of the Family Search Center. While I was comfortable with e-mail and the internet, I had no idea how to navigate through the various census research tools for maximum advantage. I had great help from the Search Center volunteers. With each discovery I became more determined to unearth my family’s history. I was now addicted to the objective of uncovering its secrets. Some of those discoveries confirmed and contradicted information that I had grown up with. For example, my research showed that my great grandfather Amos Roscoe was born a slave. DNA testing supported previous suggestions that his probable father was the slaveholder. Research also confirmed oral history that Amanda Toodle Roscoe came from a family of “free people of color.” But how did the Toodle family manage to become an island of freedom in a sea of slavery?

Amanda Toodle’s father was Shadrach Toodle, who according to census records, was born in 1799 in North Carolina. Our family never ventured beyond Alabama in talking about family however. These tidbits of Toodle family history, along with unanswered questions, beckoned me to focus my attention on the Toodle line. If I could find evidence of Shadrach Toodle in North Carolina, and match him to his parents, it would be like finding the family holy grail that lay hidden for 200 plus years. To accomplish this, it became increasingly evident that a trip to North Carolina would be necessary.

ACT III

Going to North Carolina wouldn’t be productive without a plan. I targeted April of 2008 for the trip, and began planning in the fall of 2007. I focused most of my spare time on the history of North Carolina, coupled with census and other informational resources available to me through the Family Search Center. I made excellent contacts with people at the North Carolina State Library and Archives in Raleigh N.C., and the Joyner Library at East Carolina University in Greenville N.C. I read any book that I could find on Free Blacks. Also, I randomly selected Toodles from the phone listings in North Carolina, and called them.

It was not long before some pieces of the Toodle puzzle began to fit. During a visit to the Cincinnati Public Library, I checked the index of a book on free African Americans in North Carolina. I noticed the “Tootle” name, which is also spelled “Toodle.” This was an exciting discovery. It provided transcribed court minutes of testimony pertaining to the free status of an “Elizabeth Tootle” (born abt. 1759) from Bertie County, N.C. Elizabeth was the offspring of a white female and black slave. This explained the “free person of color” status of Shadrach, since freedom descended from the status of the mother. This however was not proof that Elizabeth was Shadrach’s mother. The court minutes named children of Elizabeth who were bound out into apprenticeship arrangements (a common practice of the period). Those children however were born several years before Shadrach’s birth year of 1799. The search for the Shadrach connection to Elizabeth would have to continue.

In January of 2008 my phone calls to Toodles in North Carolina led to the adopted daughter of a deceased Toodle. She was owner of the Toodle funeral home located in Plymouth, N.C. I placed Plymouth on my itinerary as Toodles were buried in the cemetery behind the funeral home. The head stones could provide valuable information. Here is part of what I learned from the April trip to North Carolina:

• The Toodle cemetery in Plymouth N.C. yielded seven Toodle headstones.
• The New Bern N.C. National Cemetery provided the headstone of a Toodle who fought for the Union Army during the Civil War.
• The State Library and Archives in Raleigh N.C. provided wills, and background information, of key whites who impacted the life of Elizabeth Tootle and her children.
• The 1816 Bertie County, N.C. tax records showed Shadrach and Wiley Tootle (Wiley is listed in court minutes as a son of Elizabeth Tootle) listed as “white.”

This gave clues to Shadrach’s appearance and possible father. It also hatched theories to explain the different paths that Wiley and Shadrach took when they migrated to Alabama. Wiley and Shadrach lived several counties apart in Alabama. Shadrach was consistently listed as a “free person of color” while Wiley appears as the head of a household of eight; all are listed as white.

Did Wiley decide to pass as white?

• On Feb. 22, 1828, Ann Parker offered a five cent reward in an Edgecombe N.C. County newspaper for the return of a 17 year old “indented” (apprenticed) negro girl named “Betsey Tootle.” Since one had to be free in order to be apprenticed, this told me that Betsey was probably a descendent of Elizabeth Tootle. Is this another untold Tootle family story?

Questions are the common denominator of family research. Even when you meet with some success, new questions pop up like dandelions on a lawn that you thought was free of weeds. I did not find the family holy grail. There was no solid proof that Shadrach was the son of Elizabeth. One of Elizabeth’s children was a daughter who was old enough to have been Shadrach’s mother. I concluded that Shadrach was either Elizabeth’s son, or grandson. He was either Wiley’s brother, or nephew.

I will eventually conclude my research and consolidate my findings. For now, my plans are to research Wiley Tootle. How could he disappear after the 1830 census?

My sister and I will attend an Alabama Toodle family reunion in August. It will be the first Toodle reunion in 26 years, and obviously one that I cannot afford to miss. On the way to this reunion in Selma, we will stop in Jackson County to research any court records that might breathe fresh life into Wiley Tootle’s cold trail.

I don’t know if I will ever find that family holy grail, but I do know that continued effort will likely yield some additional family history treasures along the way. The accumulation of these treasures may indeed be the family holy grail.

Tags: Amos Roscoe, Daily, Free Blacks, John Parker Library, North Carolina, Toodle, Tootle

Posted on Thursday, June 5th, 2008 at 2:24 pm in Genealogy & Family Search.
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