This podcast is part of the Trask 250 series which documents the lives of more than 250 formerly enslaved of the Trask and Ventress families of Louisiana and Mississippi. This podcast is also available as a blog post.

Starting Points: The Cador/Haynes Group

Sago Haynes and family on the 1870 US Census in Pointe Coupe Parish, LA. Source: FamilySearch.

Connecting James Benjamin Sewell, Sr. to Easter Parker and Lettie Fountain

Obituary for James Benjamin Sewell, Sr., "Honey," as printed by Metropolitan Funeral Parlors, his employer, in the Chicago Defender on November 17, 1951.
Source: Ancestry
April 6, 1910 marriage of Honey and Theresa Holmes, aka Nannie, in New Orleans, LA. A witness, Anthony Holerman, was a Trask 250 descendant.
Source: FamilySearch
1900 Census in New Orleans. Honey, noted as James Sewell, is on line 100 and his sister, Elnora Spears, is on line 99. Both were living with their maternal grandmother, Lettie Fountain and her husband, Smith Reeder, a carpenter.
Source: FamilySearch
Easter Parker Williams death certificate, state file number 46-069630. California Department of Health, Vital Statistics.
1880 US Census, Concordia Parish, LA with Lettie Fountain and Easter Parker on lines 27 and 28 and Henderson Fountain on line 23. Source: FamilySearch
Marriage certificate for Easter Parker and Samuel Williams in Concordia Parish, LA dated August 6, 1904. Witnesses include two of the Trask 250 descendants: Albert Collins and Preston Collins.
Source: FamilySearch, Concordia Parish LA Marriages Book M, Page 6.

The Document in Question: The 1870 US Census

1870 US Census, Wilkinson County, MS with Lettie Fountain, Easter Parker on lines 35 and 37. Source: FamilySearch

Community Research: The Fountain Family

1880 US Census, Concordia Parish, LA with Henderson Fountain on line 23 and Lettie Fountain, Easter Parker on lines 27 and 28.
Source: FamilySearch
1870 US Census, Concordia Parish, LA with Henderson Fountain, line 30, with parents Isaac and Delpha Fountain. Next door is Patience Fountain with her husband, Taylor Hays.
Source: FamilySearch
1900 US Census, Pointe Coupee Parish, LA with Patience Fountain Hays on line 23 with her family. They moved from Concordia to Pointe Coupee between 1880 and 1900.
Source: FamilySearch
Top portion of the labor contract between A.T. Welch and the formerly enslaved of Grand Cut Off Plantation. Lines 38-41 note the Fountain family.
Source: FamilySearch
Death certificate for Delphine Hays Lewis, daughter of Patience Fountain and Taylor Hays. This helped confirm that Patience's maiden name was indeed Fountain.
Source: FamilySearch.

Making the Connection – Slavery Era Documents for the Trask 250

August 4, 1855: James Lawrence Trask gifts Prospect Plantation and 156 enslaved people in Wilkinson County, MS, including Sago Haynes and his parents Jim, Mata/Mater, and siblings Alfred, Sterling, Attena/Fatima, and Zacharina, to his niece Charlotte Pynchon Davis Ventress.

Source: FamilySearch. Wilkinson County, MS Deed Book Q, page 532.

August 27, 1855: The estate of James Lawrence Trask is inventoried following his death on August 25. Listed on page 407 (left) is the household of Isaac and Delpha Fountain along with their children Nathan, Amos, Patience, and Henderson. They would later be taken from Wilkinson County, MS across the river to Concordia Parish, LA where they would be documented on a labor contract with Trask’s nephew, A.T. Welch in 1867. Lettie Fountain Reeder is found in a household with Old Randall on the opposite page. Old Randall was born about 1773, making him approximately 82 years old and of little value to the estate. Hence, his monetary value of $1. Old Randall was the maternal grandfather of Delpha Fountain. 

Trask’s will, dated August 15, 1855, called for the land and the enslaved at Mount Pleasant Plantation to be divided evenly between his nephew, A.T., and niece, Charlotte.

Source: FamilySearch. Wilkinson County, MS Inventories, Volume 15, pages 107-108.

December 26, 1856: Charlotte and A.T. quit claim enslaved people living on their uncle’s Mount Pleasant Plantation to each other. A.T. relinquished his property rights to an infant child named Easter to Charlotte while Charlotte relinquished her property rights to a woman named Lettie. In doing so, Easter and Lettie, my 2x and 3x great grandmothers, were separated from each other. They were reunited by the 1870 Census. 

Source: FamilySearch, Wilkinson County, MS Deed Book R, page 107.

1852: Portion of the list of enslaved living at Prospect Plantation in Wilkinson County, MS. Jim, Mata/Mater, Sago Haynes, Alfred, Attina/Fatima, Sterling, and Zacharina are listed in family group 12. 

Source: Folder 332, List of Negroes on Prospect Plantation, 1852, family group 23, Jim, Mater, Sago, Alfred, Attina, Sterling, and Zacharina. Trask Ventress Family Papers, Z 0607.000 SM. Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH).

1852: Portion of the list of enslaved living at Mount Pleasant Plantation in Wilkinson County, MS. Isaac Fountain, his wife Delpha/Delphy, and sons Nathan and Amos are listed in family group 23. 

Source: Folder 332, List of Negroes on Mount Pleasant Plantation, 1852. family group 23, Isaac F, Delphy, Nace, Amos. Trask Ventress Family Papers, Z 0607.000 SM. Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH).

A Fresh Look at the 1870 Census

Below are census images shared above, but this time, additional highlighting was done to show the additional Trask 250 on the same page. The majority of the people enumerated on the same page in Concordia and Wilkinson were enslaved together by the Trask and Ventress families.

1870 Census, Pointe Coupee Parish, LA
Highlighted in yellow are Sago Haynes and his family.
Source: FamilySearch.
1870 Census, Concordia Parish, LA
Highlighted in yellow are the Fountains.
Source: FamilySearch
1870 Census, Wilkinson County, MS
Highlighted in yellow are Lettie Fountain and Easter Parker.
Source: FamilySearch
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