This page is dedicated to my grandsons Rayden Brown and D’Mar Bart Love. These pages will describe their ancestors through their dad, Durrell Love, and uncle L.T. Bart, and their mom, Marleena Thomas.
Their stories include what one might expect in the family histories of African-American families: some ancestors were sharecroppers, and many served in the army. Some ancestors were freemen in the time of slavery, and there are connections to Native American tribes as well.
The main source for the information comes from the census data. The names, ages, professions, and more was collected by inspectors. They would have written down the names of the people as they heard them. This means spellings can vary rather significantly. Usually the data was collected directly from the families, but occasionally neighbors might provide the needed information. This means that sometimes ages and names of children may be an educated guess by the people providing the information.
Ancestors of Durrell Love, LT Bart and D’Mar Love
- The Barton and Jones Family This family is difficult to trace but does connect to some interesting parts of the history of sharecropping and civil rights: the Dibble Farm Expulsion from 1936.
- The Cotton Family are ancestors of Durrell Love from Mississippi. The earliest recorded and verified Cotton is Ephraim Cotton. The family went from slavery to sharecropping to serving in the Army.
- The Ivy Family the Ivy ancestors can be traced back to the early 1800s. They lived in the Noxubee, Mississippi area, and in the early 1900s Molly Ivy married Wesley Cotton. Wesley and Molly moved to New York.
- The Holland Family. The Holland family connects to the Barton Family through the marriage of Melvinia Holland to L.T. Barton.
Ancestors of Marleena Thomas, Rayden Brown and D’Mar Love
- The Thomas and Weary Families. Marleena’s father’s side of the family.
- The Braswell Family The earliest record is of Jordan Brasswell, born ca. 1795.
- The Hockaday Family.
- The Taborn Family. Connected to the Brasswell family, the Taborn family (occasionally written as Tabone or Taburn) has a rich record in North Carolina and connections to the Native American community. One of the earliest recorded members of the family, William Taborn Sr (1758-1835), received a pension for serving in the Revolutionary War.
African American Civil Rights Icons
These people are not part of the family, but their efforts have made a great impact on everyone’s lives and are worth remembering. This is not meant to be a complete list. There are too many people who deserve to be mentioned. These individuals have been included on a separate page.