The Picture

Posted on July 31st, 2008 by Paul Bernish

The pictures of Jim and Sarah (Sally) Stallworth hung on our family room wall along with all of the other family members in our bi-racial family. Jim’s picture was especially intriguing to our visitors as they could not tell whether he belonged to my family or to my African-American husband’s family. Sally was very dark with Negroid features so there was no doubt as to her ancestry but Jim could have been English or Scottish with his straight hair and light eyes. Family oral history was not clear so there was no agreement.

As time went on I became more and more obsessed with the answer to this question. Was he white? Was he the son of a white slaveholder? Since there was no agreement in the family, I became determined to find the answer.

One of the known facts was that Jim had been born into slavery in South Carolina in 1842. Also known was that he had purchased land in 1895 in Alabama–land which remains in the family today. It was while visiting the property in Alabama that I began to identify with this man who had come from the depths of slavery to being a small land owner and the progenitor of eight children and numerous descendants.

Census record showed me where in Alabama the family had lived from 1870 to 1930. Since African Americans were not listed by name prior to 1870. I had to stop that search there. The mystery deepened and the puzzle became more complex. I had the edge pieces of my puzzle but now I had to delve into the more difficult center pieces.

Slave schedules of 1860 showed that there several slave holders in Monroe County that could have been the owner of Jim and possibly of Sally. The land records gave me the next clue. Only one of these owners had held land in Monroe County from 1840 in the same part of the county. As I narrowed the search I went back to the census of 1880 and took another look at the residence of Jim and his neighbors. There was another piece of the puzzle—Jim lived only five houses from the widow of his possible former owner! I had already learned that the former slaves frequently stayed on the same land where they had toiled as slaves.

Have I proven his origins? No, but the picture is getting clearer. My next task is to go back to Monroe County and revisit the courthouse to search for wills and estate inventories to find if the slaveholder left any other pieces to my puzzle. Perhaps there are descendants of the slaveholder in the area who can add more details to the picture. As I walk the land that Jim bought, he may yet lead me to other.

Margie Schwieterman

Family Search Center, Volunteer

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