Image is from emmausroadfc.org.
It took a while, but I was able to obtain a copy of Mary’s certificate of death from the Georgia Department of Public Health. My grandfather, Lish Askew, is indeed documented as the spouse of Mary, who’s maiden name is likely Hayes, and he was also the informant for her death. His signature is recorded on the document.
Through a combination of census records and city directories, I’ve pieced together a rather troubled relationship between my grandfather, Lish Askew, and his first wife, Mary.
Using information from the 1930 census, I estimated that Lish and Mary were married in about 1926. Whether or not it was a legal marriage, I cannot say. From past conversations with older family members, common law marriage in the Black community during the Jim Crow Era was not uncommon. This meant the woman could use the man’s last name without having a legally binding document or ceremony. If the relationship went sour, they could pack up and go their separate ways without the need for messy divorce proceedings. Most of us back then didn’t have a whole lot of possessions to fight over in the first place. It’s possible that this could have been the arrangement or understanding between the two of them.
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The search to find who the parents of my maternal great-grandfather, Robert Lee Terrell, Sr. are and what happened to them is still ongoing.
I turned to the few remaining family members that may have recollections of conversations, or anything. The numbers of these family members are dwindling rapidly and I’m grateful for anything that I can get.
I’m diving deeper into the rabbit hole by adding my maternal great-grandfather to my A Second Look project. What can I say? I’m a sucker for puzzles, problem solving, and investigating! A journey like this one practically demands it. Whenever I discover something new, I feel like I’ve hit a ridiculously enormous lottery jackpot.
I’ve decided to start with creating a timeline or chronology, as it seems to be most commonly called.
In May of 1815 Edgecombe County court records recorded Artis Clark (Clark Artis), an eight-year-old “girl of color” as being bound as an Apprentice to Josiah Askew. He entered into a bond of $500.
Skinfolk and Kinfolk 