There's More Leaves on the Tree

THERE’S MORE LEAVES ON THE TREE

Charles Lee Bilberry

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© 2011 Charles Lee Bilberry. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 09/26/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4634-0465-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4634-0464-2 (ebk)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011908650

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Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgement

Preface

Introduction of Heritage and Generations

Charles Lee Bilberry’s Pedigree Chart

Frank Bilberry’s Family Group

Three Generations of Frank Bilberry’s Descendants

CHAPTER ONE

Brief History of Union Parish

CHAPTER TWO

My Visit to the Old Home Place

CHAPTER THREE

The End of Jim Crow Education: My Educational Journey

CHAPTER FOUR

Daddy’s Smoking Caught up with Him

CHAPTER FIVE

Researching Family History:

Many Branches, Several Leaves, and Two Colors

CHAPTER SIX

Mama’s Death

CHAPTER SEVEN

What They Knew: Oral History Interviews

CHAPTER EIGHT

Adell and Johnny Bilberry’s Retirement Party

CHAPTER NINE

Remembering Our Heritage

CHAPTER TEN

Short Biographies

Conclusion

Appendix A

Family Death Certificate Collection

Appendix B

Family Marriage License Collection

Appendix C

Some Land Patents of Union Parish, Louisiana

Appendix D

Family Obituary Collection

Appendix E

Meridian Missionary Baptist Church Minutes:

Some Slaves (servants) and Members of the Church

Appendix F

Miscellaneous Documents of Family and Extended Family Members

Appendix G

Extended Family Photo Collection

Glossary of Genealogical Terms

Notes Within Chapters

LIST OF CHARTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

BIBLIOGRAPY

(L to R – Adell Bilberry with son, Charles Lee Bilberry, Peggie Joyce Bilberry, Mother Barbara Neal Bilberry with smallest daughter Jerry Joyce Bilberry [aka Fonda Deleon];

circa 1955-1956)

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my relatives of the past, present and future. It is my wish to remember the departed relatives with utmost fondness and love. I hope to document the past and the present so that future generations will be entertained as well as educated. I want to, especially thank my mother, Barbara Neal Brown-Bilberry who departed this life on July 19, 2009. She gave me life, raised me up in the ways of the Lord and instilled in my heart the value of an education.

I would ask those of the present, and especially those of the future to continue this work of love and dedication for all to enjoy. The past can never be recovered, but it can be preserved by those of us in the present and of the future. Hopefully, this book will allow all of us to remember those who have added to the history of this family, as well as create new histories with new families.

The family members we have lost are greatly missed; and those living, it is a blessing to know. It is my hope that this book becomes a legacy; and that each of the family members reading it will be proud and worthy of its legacy. My love goes out to all those relatives of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. May the Lord bless each and every one of us!

Acknowledgement

T here are a number of people I would like to thank in numerous ways. First of all, I want to thank my wife Taryn, who stood by me through all of the research paths that sometime led to dead ends. She transcribed the interviews I had with relatives and extended relatives. Taryn was at my side for the last 10 years of family reunions. I could never have accomplished this book without her encouragement and assistance. I cannot forget my deceased Aunt Luemmer Horn who believed in the unity of the family and therefore became the founder of the Bilberry-Horn Family Reunion in 1982. I give special thanks to my Aunt Loeast Watkins, who gave me the video tape recording of my father Adell Bilberry and Uncle Johnny Bilberry’s retirement party. I thank Barbra J. Bilberry of Baton Rouge, Louisiana for sharing with me over the years a plethora of historic knowledge about the family. Also, I thank Rev. Dr. Jesse B. Bilberry, Jr., of Baton Rouge, Louisiana for sharing with me his remembrance of the arguments his father Jesse B. Bilberry, Sr., and my grandfather Ladell Bilberry had over the interpretation of biblical scriptures. He is the oldest living grandchild of my great grandfather Frank Bilberry. I thank Charles Henry Bilberry, Jr., for the stories he shared with me of his visits as a child to his grandparents, Frank and Emma Bilberry’s home. He is the second oldest living grandchild of Frank Bilberry. I thank Deborah Reliford, the daughter of Luemmer Bilberry-Horn for interviewing her 94-year-old father, Seab Horn so that his story could be shared in this book with the rest of the family and generations to come.

I thank my son Jared Bilberry of Las Vegas, Nevada, who at the age of 14 waited patiently in the waiting area of the National Archives in Washington, D.C., while I researched my family’s history. I, especially thank Nancy Winans-Garrison of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, who contributed photographs and shared stories of her grandfather and grandmother Fred and Rosa Billberry’s migration from Union Parish, Louisiana to Oklahoma. I thank Sheila Rowland of Marion, Louisiana for sending to me photos and obituaries of her great grandmother and children Anna Bilberry-Holland, the sister of my great grandfather Frank Bilberry; it has helped me immensely. I thank Joyce Bilberry-Cofer, the great granddaughter Jordan Ellis Bilberry, who migrated with his family from Union Parish, Louisiana to Arkansas; the pictures and stories of her family helped tremendously.

Also, I want to thank Linda Evans, the granddaughter of Gordie Bilberry-Burch; the obituary collection and the genealogical research that she provided on some of the black family surnames in Union Parish is a treasure. I want to thank Lyndell Wesley for the software and the information she provided to me concerning Hannah Bilberry-Nelson and Branch Nelson. Special thanks are in order for Jessie Mae Bilberry, Leola Wayne, Lucy Nell Johnson, John Earl Ellis and Louie Morgan for opening their homes up to me for an interview. Their hospitality and kindness made the interviews a joy and a pleasure. More importantly, I want to thank God for blessing me along this tedious journey. During this research sometimes the roads got rocky and the hills seemed hard to climb, but God gave me the strength to press on.

There are others who have contributed in ways less tangible, but no less important. I owe a debt of gratitude to my parents who were both living at the start of this research, but have now answered the clarion call to come home to be with the Father. Like a relay race in the sport of track, our ancestors ran the race of life the best way they could, but have now passed the baton on to us. It is now our turn to handle the baton and run the race the best we can because one day we too must pass the baton. This poem by Dr. Benjamin E. Mays of Morehouse, the former president of Morehouse College said it best:

I have only just a minute.

Only sixty seconds in it.

Forced upon me, can’t refuse it.

Didn’t seek it, didn’t choose it.

But it’s up to me

to use it.

I must suffer if I lose it.

Give account if I abuse it.

Just a tiny little minute

but eternity is in it.

Finally, special thanks to my Editing Consultant, Carrie C. Johnson of BookPubCo.net for using her extraordinary knowledge in organizing the contents, and editing this book for our families. Again, thank you to all who contributed over the years!

Preface

T his book focuses on the Bilberry families and their extended families in Union, Parish, Louisiana. While perusing this book you will find that the Bilberry or Billberry surname is related to many other families such as the Bridges, Benson, Ellis, Burch, Montgomery, Morgan, Honeycutt, Douglas, Roberts, Andrews, Henderson, Wayne, Archie, Armstrong, Finley, Holland, Nelson and Horn. If your ancestry includes any of these names, it’s possible that you may be my paternal cousin. Also, there are variations of the surnames.

My great grandmother Emma Roberts-Bilberry would often say to her grandsons, Boy, that’s your cousin, when they would disclose to her their affection about a certain young lady in their life. It may sound far-fetched, but if you go back far enough, then you may find out that we are all cousins. Mathematically, most of us have two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, and so forth. By the time you’re back ten generations, you’ve got 1,024 ancestors. According to an article titled Genealogy in the Era of Genomics, Susanna C. Manrubia, Bernard Derrida and Damian H. Zanette, stated that, In a population of 1,000 people who choose their mates randomly, 10 generations are normally enough to guarantee that any two people have some ancestor in common.

While researching my family’s history, I found that there were more branches and leaves that fit on the Bilberry family tree than I originally imagined. In many cases I have included material contained in historical documents, death certificates, marriage license and obituaries. Some of the spelling and grammar in this book was left in its original state. The purpose of including this material is to support information I have provided as well as to familiarize the reader with observations from another era.

Many family histories are being lost because the leaves are falling and there is no one to tell the stories of the past. The Bible says that when Moses died the people mourned his loss. They asked among themselves: Who will tell the story? Later in biblical history a man name Joshua stood and said, As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. It is my hope that the narrative, interviews, biographies and appendices in this book will tell the story of the Bilberry’s early years in Union Parish of Louisiana.

Usually the transmission of family knowledge is passed onto succeeding generations by the parents or grandparents. They are the keepers of the family story. If our parents or grandparents did not tell the story, we would lose our connection with our past. The seniors of our families can tell the whole story. Most of them have sojourned a full length of life experiences. They have made the foolish mistakes of youth, meandered the maze of marriage, faced sickness, shouldered the burden of death of loved ones, and endured hardships, all while surfing the sea of life in their golden years. The seniors of every family have a full story to tell.

Today’s microwave mom cannot fully appreciate her microwave family unless she knows how far God has brought the family. When the story is told she’ll soon learn that there weren’t always microwaves, but there was a time when the family cooked on cast iron stoves, heated by freshly chopped wood. If she listens as the story is told, she will learn that there was a time when we didn’t shake and bake. But it was a time when she would cook and wake her family to a table of 15 minute grits, homemade biscuits soaked in freshly cured butter, fresh hen house eggs and cured bacon straight from the smoke house. When the family prayed over breakfast, there was no doubt that God made it all happen. The women of the family learned they were part of a long line of Christian women who remained faithful to their husbands and families and even pursued careers with success in proportion to their trust in God. That’s what she will learn when the story is told.

When dad drives away in his shiny new car, he won’t appreciate it fully until he knows how God has really blessed the family. When he begin to understand that God has moved the family from hitching up the mules to the wagon to loading everybody into Cadillacs, Lincolns, Toyotas, Fords and Chevrolets then he will better appreciate the work of God in his family. If he endures hard times and trouble in the world, he will gain faith in knowing that the men of the family have survived slavery, depressions, race discrimination and deprivation, with the help of God. That’s what he will learn when the story is told.

The challenge of every family facing the death of a patriarch or matriarch, who was the strong one for many years, is to answer the question: Who will tell the story? Who will rise to be sure that if they trust in the Lord, He will bless them? Who will champion justice and speak against sinfulness in the family with strength of conviction that will both inspire faith and discourage wrong doing? Who will tell the story?

Introduction of Heritage and Generations

I nitially, I perceived my research as being a direct path that would take me back to my family’s origin in Africa. I had a burning desire to put my finger on the exact place where the slave traders apprehended my ancestors. I have been researching my relatives’ family history since 1996 and it has opened my eyes to the doors that are being closed as family members depart this life. I learned while researching that the journey back in time was full of frustrations, pauses, disruptions and distractions. I often paused and pondered over the significance of my research. I was questioned by others and sometimes I even questioned myself as to why I continue searching!

While researching your family’s history, in some strange mystical way it will take you back in time. But as you immerse from the depth of your research you come back wanting to go back for more research and more study. That is what this research has done to me. As I continued to research over the years, somehow I seemed to have developed a deep connection with family members that I never met. In some unknown way, I felt I had at least a spiritual connection with them even though I was not familiar with their character or the personality that made them who they were.

There were times in my research I only knew a person’s name and sometimes their place of birth or perhaps where they died. Eventually, I would accumulate enough information where I could speak comfortably about people who are more and more being lost in the sand of time. I had developed a researcher’s relationship with them by my persistence and perseverance of knowing who they are; or had been! I found myself with the ability to connect my ancestors in an orderly fashion and develop an impressive pedigree chart. I knew who followed who in the lineage and where they branched off. Yet, pedigree charts and family trees did not do justice to the research. There seemed to be something missing. There seemed to be a story that needed to be told!

My research did not occur without some challenges. In this book, I have not attempted to include an all-inclusive genealogy of the Bilberrys, who resided in Union Parish, Louisiana. One purpose was to reveal the relationship between the slave master and the slave women in my family that resulted in light-skinned or fair-skinned children who were later classified as mulatto. This being said, no way implies that all black Bilberrys of Union Parish, Louisiana were of fair complexion. Many slave women, who birth mulatto children by the white slave master, later married and birth children by black men. The other purpose was to include a collection of photographs, death certificates, marriage licenses, obituaries and other documents to support the research and to show other extended families of the Bilberrys.

Every effort has been taken to ensure the correctness of the material offered in these succeeding pages. Valid information concerning black families was often difficult to obtain or it may appeared to be vague or contradictory. As a result, errors will inevitably surface. There were inconsistencies in the spelling of names, ages and grammatical irregularities. When this occurred, the author used the original source material in his writing. Regardless of these special problems, I sensed a need to document materials on the families in this book. It is hoped that families and friends will share additional data as the history of the Bilberry family continues to evolve.

I have