Just who exactly was my great- great grandfather, James Winters, and who were his parents? Despite all of my years of research, it’s sad that I know so little about him, except the picture shown in this blog is of him in 1877. Yet, this is entirely understandable since he passed away in 1907, almost 60 years before I was born. And are just how are we connected to the Scales? Well, I’ve decided to write a summary of and share it in a simple, readable format. Lets check out the history of the Winters and Scales family.
The 13,200 Piece Puzzle
Genealogy is a large puzzle. And I have to let you know that my wife Antoinette, who loves to do puzzles, can finish a 1000 piece project in one day. She has quite the eye for that. Her masterpiece is a whopping 13,200 piece puzzle that measures 9.5 x 6.5 feet. The project was divided into six packages which took her a few months. The finished project now hangs on the wall in the gym section of our three-car garage. If puzzles are your thing, you can order this on on Amazon
As for me, I have always said that puzzles are not my thing. That is until I took a step back and looked at my genealogy research. As it turns out, I am into puzzles, but the pieces I’m looking to reassemble are human beings and their lives which I reassemble using paper documents and DNA. The primary issue is that I have so many missing pieces, unlike Antoinette’s hobby, which comes in a neat prepackaged kit. As of this writing, my tree on ancestry.com consists of over 8000 people, yet entire branches of relatives are still missing. The research is brutal.
Where We Began
As far as I know, James Winters was born between 1835 and 1843. He states as much on the census records. As was the case for many blacks after enslavement, he couldn’t read or write, and there were no birth certificates in those early 1800s. We find him registering to vote in Independence, Washington County, Texas, in 1867, with his age being between 24 and 32. He states that he had been in the county and state for six years, which coincides with the Hogan’s Texas arrival in 1861. Then we discovered that he married Senora Scales in 1865.
Per the 1870 census, James and Senora are shown living in a subdivision of Washington, Texas. James is 27 and states that he is from Alabama, while Senora is 24, from Mississippi. However, in later census records, James would also claim to be from Maryland and even Mississippi. This confused me to no end at first. It was only recently that I discovered that there are DNA matches with roots in Maryland. Their surnames are Young and Harrison. Could these be from his mother’s side if his father was the white slaveholder Thacker Winter? Mississippi and Alabama make sense because the slaveholder’s Hogan, and especially the Winters, have a strong presence in those states.
We learn that their three children were born in Texas; Mary, five years old, James Jr three years old, and Louise, who was only five months old in July 1870. Mary’s birthday was Aug 31, 1866, so she was conceived right at emancipation. She might as well be the Juneteenth baby. Well, one thing is for sure, they had no shortage of babysitters as they were nestled safely between Senoras’ family.
On one side, they had Senora’s grandfather Louis Smith, who is 80, and Katy, who is 60, and Charity, who is 45. On the other side are Senora’s parents, Julius Scales and Charlotte Smith-Scales. Charlotte is Louis’ daughter who goes by the nicknames of Lottie or Letty. James and Senora would name their 5th child after her mother’s nickname, Lottie, born in 1874. Louis Smith’s family has been well documented thanks to the 1828 Alabama supreme court case for his previous owner Arthur Hogan. You can read about that here.
Living with Julius and Charlotte are five of Senora’s younger siblings; Mary Scales who is 18, Charity, named after the elder, is 16; Phyliss is 15, Nelson is 6, and Julius Jr is 1. Besides them is Senora’s married 22 years old brother Richard Scales and his wife Dilcey.
These seventeen souls recorded in 1870, over 150 years ago, would grow exponentially into where we are as of this writing; the branches and roots are difficult to ascertain as I find more of us every day. This is why we are putting so much effort into the 2022 Family reunion.
The Paper Trail
In the 1880 Census, things have changed a bit. We find Julius at the age of 64, his wife Charlotte at 51, and their youngest children, Nelson, who is 13, and Julius Jr, who is 11. But the kicker is the identity of Louis Smith, who is revealed as Charlotte’s father. He is 89 years old, which places his birth in 1791, making him our oldest US Census documented relative.
Again, his life and that of his parents, Eli Smith and Charity (1764-1826), along with his siblings, Tempy, Richard (Dick), Mary, Alston, and Timpson, are written in the 1833 Alabama Supreme court case. It’s quite the story, from which we learn, among other things, that Louis was a very profitable shoemaker to his enslavers.
Along with his parents, Eli, Charity, and his older sister Tempy, Louis Smith was part of the original six enslaved people inherited by Arthur Hogan and brought Tenessee from North Carolina. If you take a quick glance at the 1870 census image in this blog, you will see that Louis is from NorthCarolina (NC), Katy is from Alabama (Ala), and Letty (Charlotte) is from Mississippi. This is indicated in the Arthur Hogan TimeLine shown in an earlier blog. Interestingly enough, multiple DNA matches related to Julius Scales are also North Carolina.
To be or not to be..
Now let’s talk about the elephants in the room, namely Julius and Louis. Julius Scales was born in 1814, and his oldest recorded child was Senora Scales, born in 1845. That’s a 31-year difference. Louis Smith was born in 1791, and his daughters Charlotte and Charity were born around 1825. That’s a 34-year difference. Did either of them have any more children before being moved to Texas? That, my friends, is the million-dollar question. And from my research, the short answer is Maybe.
The challenge is that the formerly enslaved chose their surnames upon emancipation. And even with that, they would do that multiple times. Although I can see the verified DNA matches, the names in their trees are not the same. And what if a person who they THINK is a grandparent is not the biological grandparent? We’d end up going down a rabbit hole. This makes tracing our lineage even more complicated. The good news is that all of the pieces are there, but the bad news is I need to figure out how they fit together.
This is why genealogy is a very complex, time-consuming puzzle. Its also why the hit TV show, Finding your roots has an army of researchers for each client. So, until someone in our family becomes famous enough AND wants to be featured on the show, we will have to forge ahead.
Scales, Scales and More Scales.
Ok, let’s get this out of the way. If you thought the Scales family in Washington, Texas was large, You aint’ seen nuthin’ yet. The family that remained in North Carolina was even more extensive. They lived in Madison, Rockingham, North Carolina and Stokes County, North Carolina, and similar surrounding areas. Mapping them out is difficult because the names were passed down from generation to generation. It can be done but is even more time-consuming. Fortunately, for the Scales side, they seemed to have retained their name. Also, there are already researchers that have done a great job. I need to connect with them and share notes.
There are a few Scales relatives born in the 1800’s that you might have never heard of. These are Stephen, Ransome born 1824, John born 1830, and Alexander Scales, born 1837, North Carolina. Their family trees and DNA matches are astounding. But Joseph Henry Scales, born in 1765 and passed away in 1832 in Sandy Ridge Stokes, North Carolina, might be ground zero. Why? Because he was white. And so are the DNA matches in that tree. I’m still working on that.
There are quite a few ancestry trees based in Washington, Texas, but several omit Senora. It’s easy to understand why as she went by her married name of Winters in the 1870 census. And since she seems to have passed away without a trace, she doesn’t have a death certificate that names her parent.
James Winters & Senora
As I mentioned before, in the 1800 census, pictured is where James list Maryland as hi spalce of birth. At first, I thought I had the wrong family, but I could read their children’s names in the census record. Mary, 15, Jimmie, 12, Louise, 10, Scott 8, Lottie, 6, and Bettie 4. Who knew that DNA could help clarify two letters on a census record; MD (Maryland). This is why DNA is so crucial in African American genealogy research. Also note that James ‘ occupation is shown as a laborer.
However, on Dec 29, 1882, he purchased those 100 acres situated on the Andrew Miller League from Newton Harrison for $1750. He put $300 down in Jan 1883 and paid four payments of $362.50 due in Jan of 1884, 1885, 1886 and 1887. The 1900 census was destroyed in a fire, but sure enough in the 1900 census, he is shown as owning land free and clear. How did he get the money when so many blacks were poor sharecroppers?
$1,750 in 1883 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $48,713.76 today, an increase of $46,963.76 over 139 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 2.42% per year between 1883 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 2,683.64%.
This means that today’s prices are 27.84 times higher than average prices since 1883, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index. A dollar today only buys 3.59% of what it could buy back then.
So 18 years out of slavery, James pays the cash equivalent for his property which in today’s dollar is $48, 713. And he did it in 4 years. This is despite him not being able to read or write, extreme racism after emancipation, KKK, and everything else in between.
By the 1900 census, James is now 64, and Senora is 55. They have been married for 35 years and have 11 children together. Mary, Jimmie, Louise and Scott have all moved out and they have their own families. Left in the house are Lottie, 26, Bettie, 23, Malissa, 18, Thacker, 16, Nora 14, and Nelson, 11.
To note, Jame’s son John Alexander Winters, born in 1881 is not shown in the census records as he would have been living with his birth mother, Sarah Bratcher.
From that same record, we see that James’; occupation is now a farmer and that the property is now shown as Owned “O”, Free from mortgage “F”, and that it is listed as a farm “F”. In addition to this, James now states that he and his parents are from… Mississippi??? Ay Caramba…
As for the rest, most of you know the story of each of their children. My great grandfather Nelson for example would eventually move from Washington Texas to Galveston in 1933.
Tracinglineage.com is all about the lineage & history of the Winters & Scales family, some of which peeks into the 1700s. Here are a few links from this site that provide more information.
Winters Family Historic Timeline
James Winters Descendants from 1845-1954
