My Mother's People

2010-04-24T21:12:00.000-07:00

There was another commenter asking me if I had a problem with Blacks. No, not really. They got their story, we got ours. I don't think I ever deny the fact that we have African genes. But we didn't get any of the culture from the genes. I grant you, it's our loss. I mourn that daily. We had some tough times, but we did not have the "Black experience." My ancestors in this country were

2009-07-17T10:04:00.000-07:00

Friday Cat BloggingLast September, I adopted a Maine Coon mix. He went without a name for about three months. According to his paperwork from the kill-shelter from which he was rescued, his name was Jack. However, he never responded to that name. The woman who fostered him for a couple of months called him Beau (because he's really a gorgeous cat), but he didn't respond to that either. My

2009-07-12T13:04:00.000-07:00

Bearhead Creek, Beauregard and Calcasieu Parishes, Louisiana There is no group of people known as the Redbones of Bearhead Creek, although there are plenty of Redbones living along Bearhead Creek.

2009-05-22T15:22:00.001-07:00

Louth, IrelandSomeone from Louth, Ireland has been visiting this blog on a fairly regular basis this past month or so. I'm just curious as to why. Hey there, visitor from Ireland. Introduce yourself.

2009-04-21T20:06:00.000-07:00

Terry JacksonWe buried Terry on Friday, April 17.It didn't rain until after we said our last good-byes to Terry. In the several hours between Good Hope and midnight, it rained six or seven inches. I sat out on Brenda's patio watching the lightning flashes and counting for the thunder the way I was taught to count as a kid, you know, "one Mississippi, two Mississippi, and so on." The lightning was

2009-04-15T11:38:00.001-07:00

Royce "Terry" JacksonAugust 5, 1958 - April 14, 2009 Rest in peace, dear cousin, rest in peace. The world is a poorer place now without you.

2008-12-26T20:24:00.000-08:00

If you're still not sure about whether or not you're a Redbone, here's a few Redbone faces with Hershel Frazier's song, "I'm a Redbone."Enjoy!

2008-08-17T09:25:00.000-07:00

Who are My Mother's People?I had an email the other day from someone who asked me what names are generally considered Redbone names. That question begins more arguments than it settles. To get to it, you first have to define what a Redbone is. Is it simply someone of mixed-race ancestry any where in the United States? Is it a combination

2008-05-08T14:52:00.000-07:00

A few things about Louisiana you may not have known.Little Known Louisiana Facts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Just in case Hurricane Katrina causing the levees to break in New Orleans is the only thing you know aboutLouisiana, here are a few more interesting facts about the Bayou State: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2008-02-05T12:14:00.000-08:00

The Beginning of a Dynasty?

2008-02-03T12:12:00.000-08:00

Another Voice Added to the ChoirLV Hayes, a respected elder of the Bearhead Creek Redbones has published his response to the blog posting by Jim Serra which he called "Mystery in our Midst." You will remember Mr. Serra once asked me to write a story about southwest Louisiana's Redbones, and when I didn't do it quickly enough for him, he did it himself. That was bad enough, but he relied on

2008-01-12T10:40:00.000-08:00

The Main Reason We Don't Believe We Have African Ancestry Is ...Because our ancestors told us we didn't. It's like that ol' time religion, if it was good enough for grandma, it's good enough for me. Besides, no one has ever shown us any proof of it. I ain't saying there's anything wrong with having African ancestry, but just as it would pretentious for me to claim to be descended from

2007-11-07T12:28:00.000-08:00

Drums along the BayouCousin Terry has a new blog which he calls My Redbone Roots. Today he takes aim at two of the most dispictable creeps ever to suck air from real humans, old (and near death) Tupperwear Two Feathers, who is known by more names than Carter has little pills, and Princess Pig Face, the president of that group of wannabe Redbones. You know those two, they're the thugs Don Marler

2007-10-08T09:51:00.000-07:00

Nature or Nurture: What makes a RedboneThe nurture vs. nature debate is one the online Redbone-identified community dealt with ten years ago, at length. After vigorous research and debate, most of us concluded that there really isn't a cultural difference between people who might be called Redbones and their neighbors. There is no line separating the two.This conclusion was met with stiff

2007-10-06T09:23:00.001-07:00

Happy Redbone History Day!A lot of people are put off by the idea of celebrating a day dedicated to a lost Italian sailing on someone else's ships looking for one place while stumbling onto another. What a loser! A lot of native Americans say we should call it Indigenous People's Day, but why would we give what is probably the worst day in their historical experience a day dedicated to joyful

2007-07-26T14:35:00.000-07:00

Family PhotographsWhen I was home at Memorial Day, several cousins brought all of their photographs over for me to scan. I haven't had time to go through and identify everyone yet, but I will over the next week or so. Here's the link for them to be viewed as a slideshow: Bearhead Creek Redbones.Yeah, yeah, I know, there's no such thing as Bearhead Creek Redbones. We're a figment of an overactive

2007-06-28T08:37:00.000-07:00

A Point of ClarificationJust because someone is white trash with a bit of Indian in 'em, does not make that person a Redbone. I'm just saying, that's all.

2007-05-13T10:49:00.000-07:00

The MayhawCan you believe that people found something to do with mayhaws? In case you don't know, the fruit of the mayhaw i's a bitter, seedy, little thing sort of like a crabapple, but smaller and less tasty. It's supposed to be some relative of the hawthorne. I have no idea about what a hawthorne is, but I do know what a mayhaw is, and I have the utmost admiration for the first determined

2007-03-12T16:23:00.000-07:00

The Orange County War of 1856Here's a version of it I bet you never heard before.(From the Calcasieu Press)Madison, Orange County, TexasJuly 4th, 1856Mr. Editor: Your readers will perhaps be benefited by a knowledge of the present state of affairs in Orange County, Texas. If you think so, you are at liberty to publish in your valuable paper, the following statement which will be found

2007-01-15T09:11:00.000-08:00

A Letter from BearheadHey Cousins,I've got to share this with you all.This event happen yesterday to Erlene when she was leaving one of the stores here in Dequincy. It was right at dark, Erlene had gotten into the truck to leave the store, as she was backing up to turn around to enter the road, another truck passed. She heard a noise and looked around and this truck had slammed on its brakes and

2006-10-13T12:16:00.000-07:00

Bumper Sticker TimeThis is the first bumper sticker. It'll be ready for the Ashworth and Droddy gatherings in early November. If you want one before then, send me $2 each to cover cost and postage and I'll get one in the mail to you.My personal favorite, Red to the Bone! does not have the word Redbone in it, and no, close isn't enough in this instance. Likewise, I did not go with the RHF sloan,

2006-09-08T22:11:00.000-07:00

Redbone and ProudAcceptance of the word "Redbone" is not something imposed from outsideby others. We've rejected that approach for as long as we've heardthe word. Don and LV just reenacted the gunfight at Smokey Grove.Don uses the term like someone in the dominant culture as simply adescriptive noun. LV responds with the Al Pacino line, "you talkingto me?" Amos knew who and what the guy meant

2006-09-06T23:06:00.000-07:00

EldersAn elder is someone to whom you go for guidance, not necessarily information. I'm not sure how one earns the status, but when they're there, everyone knows.

2006-08-30T14:53:00.000-07:00

Drums along the BayouTuesday, August 29, the list "owner," Bill Farris, banned LV Hayes from the Redbone Yahoo Discussion Group. Last week, LV got into a contentious exchange with two other members of the group and exchanged strong words. At least two or three people quit the list ostensibly because of the bickering. Then things settled down. That is, until Bill cut LV off from the group without

2006-05-29T14:04:00.000-07:00

Going FishingThere used to be a tradition in our family of going out and camping for the week-end. The two I can remember were over the course of a July 4th week-end. There were at least two of my uncles, my aunt Lela and family, my aunt Elsie, Mama, Bubba and me. Lela's group consisted of husband Albert, sons Clebert, Donald Ray, Darrell and Buddy, daughter June and her husband, Bobby and

2006-05-20T21:07:00.000-07:00

Speaking in TonguesI hear in my head every story I was ever told. Most of the time it's a lot of mumble jumble. Sometimes it's in one of the "tongues of the spirit." My grandmother was a pentecostal. They spoke in tongues. She spoke in tongues. Sometimes I remember exactly what they said. Sometimes, I'm sure I understand what it was they were saying.

2006-05-18T09:43:00.000-07:00

Redbone Clans and HomelandFor the most part, we Bearhead folk have been slow to embrace the notion of Redbones as a separate people. Our history is one of opposition to that idea. We were never taught that we had kinship to other similarly situated mixed-race people. To us it's always been about kinship. If I'm not kin to you then there's no connection.While we never thought of ourselves as

2006-05-14T09:09:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's DayMy mother, Dorothy Ruth Droddy, at 79.Still going strong with style and grace. We went to a dinner dance two weeks ago and danced the night away. She still rocks and rolls. We went to Paris back in '97 where she proceeded to jitterbug on the stage at the Folies Bergere. Since dumping her last husband back in '87, she's been to Europe a dozen times, toured China with a

2006-05-10T19:13:00.000-07:00

Searching for my Mythical Indian GrandmotherI read somewhere once that a majority of Southerners have a family myth of a great-to-some-power, grandmother who was American Indian. We certainly had a myth of an Indian grandmother in our family. In fact, I lived with her.I asked my grandmother point blank once if she was Indian. She said she wasn't but that her grandmother was. She knew her

2006-05-10T07:45:00.000-07:00

Well, There Goes the NeighborhoodI was going to say "homeland" but there was a discussion in the Redbone Yahoo group between Gabe and Joyce about the true nature of homeland which I found persuasive. LV also took issue with it from a classic LV way of eviscerating something with pure facts. Did you know that James Ashworth didn't even make it to the Neutral Zone until after it was no longer the

2006-05-03T09:56:00.000-07:00

HomelandI've used this term several times to describe the Bearhead Creek area between Singer and Starks, Louisiana, and have been politely corrected a couple of times for it. LV took me to task saying that neither Starks nor Singer were there until late 19th century. I should have included the entire Neutral Zone which came into being after the 1803 Louisiana Purchase when the American and

2006-04-27T12:07:00.000-07:00

Outhouse StoriesBefore my grandmother got indoor plumbing, we had to use an outhouse out beyond the chicken yard. Do people even have chicken yards anymore? We had one then. During the day this was precarious enough, given the obstacles. What obstacles you ask? Well, mean roosters for one. My grandma had an old Rhode Island Red rooster that wasn't afraid of dogs or kids. That damn thing attacked

2005-08-23T10:42:00.000-07:00

ChangesAlong with changing the blog's name, I've also changed my focus. From now on I'm primarily interested in the history and genealogy of the Droddys, Ashworths, Perkins, Bunch, Bass, Johnson and Dial. There are plenty of other researchers out there equipped to do a better job worrying about the interconnectedness of the other families than am I. Good luck to them.Part of my reason for

2005-04-29T18:16:00.000-07:00

Cold Mountain, the bookby Charles Frazier. Anyone out there who imagines himself or herself to be a Redbone would do well to read this book. Speaking for myself, I was not taught the history of the South, but rather, I was taught the Myth of the South. There's a helluva lot of difference. Most of our ancestors avoided the Civil War. Some of the bucks in Texas who never accepted nor

2005-03-31T20:21:00.000-08:00

Re-Reading Marler on RedbonesI used to think Don Marler was the most knowledgeable person I knew on the subject of Redbones. A cousin, LV Hayes, is the most knowledgeable person I know in terms of our interconnectedness. He knows how we're all related. LV has been very stingy with his opinion about who he thinks is or is not a Redbone, in part, I believe, because he does not like the word

2005-03-01T19:04:00.000-08:00

My Bones are Red, the book by Patricia Ann WaakThe best I can say about it, is that it has a great title. The worst I can say about it is that she mixes her own brand of religion and spirituality into genealogy and uncritically accepts myths that support her conclusions.Although she would be only about 1/8th Redbone if Redbone was a racially determined identity, she claims a larger spiritual

2005-01-06T14:53:00.000-08:00

LV Hayes has commented (scroll to bottom of page)on a couple of my posts. His comments are very important to the discussion about who and what is a Redbone. This is what LV has to say: Your commentary ignores some crucial historical facts. In 1888, DeQuincy, Starks, Lunita, and DeRidder DID NOT EXIST (I'm not sure about Singer, but think it probably also didn't yet exist). All of these

2004-09-13T13:45:00.000-07:00

I remember Mama Minnie Ashworth was born on September 13, 1888. She was never afforded much of a childhood. Her mother, Mary Heard, was only about 14 years older than she, and it fell to her to help her mother take care of her brothers and sister. Her life was not easy. Her father, Owen Ashworth, went to prison in 1898 and died the same year. Her mother married another man whom she subsequently

2004-08-29T21:33:00.000-07:00

Melungeons and Redbones I happened onto an article by Jack Goins writing about Micajer "Cajer" Bunch. "The first record ... on Micager was this 1749 tax list of Lunenburg County, Virginia (from Sunlight on the Southside) William Howard’s list; Gedion Bunch and tithe Cage Bunch. Note; Obviously, Cage is the son of Gedion Bunch. I am convinced this is the same Micajer “Caiger” Bunch who has such

2004-08-19T20:45:00.000-07:00

Checking Back In I haven't written much about our families recently, and the reading I've been doing has been more of a political nature and I try to stay away from politics on this blog. Politics is for my other blog. Also, I clean up my language a bit for this one. I have been keeping in touch with various branches of Ashworths and Droddys. A few months back I received a copy of the probated

2004-06-14T18:42:00.000-07:00

The Cane River Creoles of Color I just finished reading a romantic, historical novel about the Cane River creoles of color by Elizabeth Shown Mills, an imminent genealogist. She must have studied these people for years, so rich is her book in details of their lives in the late 18th and all of the 19th century. If you aren't aware of the Cane River creoles, they were a mix-raced group in the

2004-02-22T08:46:00.000-08:00

Hazel, we miss you already... They buried Hazel in Miller Cemetery in Starks on Wednesday. Hazel Gillis Standley was born October 30, 1925, at home on the old homestead according to her daughter Beverly Jackson, and died at home in the arms of her family, as it should be. Hazel was a no-nonsense, take-no-prisoners straight shooter, in the proud tradition of Redbone women. I did not know her as

2004-02-07T10:53:00.000-08:00

Introducing Myself My Christian name, as my grandmother would say, is Raymond Lawrence Bridges. If I were Mexican (and we almost were) it would be Raymond Lawrence Bridges y Droddy, which would be more fair because such a big part of my story comes from my mother. I think she ought to get more credit. Since I was raised by my mother's mother for so many years, I think I should also link to

2004-02-05T08:01:00.000-08:00

Meeting Cousins When I was growing up in East Texas, "cousin" was an almost magical word which filled me with joyful anticipation. My grandmother would say something about my cousins coming, and I knew that fun was imminent. I had the potential for having as many as 68 to 86 first cousins. (The number varies because I'm never sure when to count stepchildren. The Texan in me tends to go for

2004-02-02T09:52:00.000-08:00

Your Comments are Welcome I hope we can expand the conversation. Your opinion is always welcome.

2004-02-02T08:03:00.000-08:00

Forgotten Past, Remembered Stories I resist writing in the "our people" voice because I'm not sure we have such a voice. If we are a people, we are a people with amnesia. We remember bits and snippets, but not the big story. I should have grown up with stories of my ggggrandfather and his brothers forging into Texas. Even with the Texans marginalizing us to the extent they did, we should

2004-01-27T21:36:00.000-08:00

Lonie and the Bear Since I quote Terry a lot, and Terry's always talking about his great-grandma, I want to make sure anyone who just stumbled into this conversation knows about whom we speak. My grandmother and Lonie were best friends all of their lives. They were also cousins. Lonie married my grandmother's brother, Buster (he's the one standing behind the right shoulder of my

2004-01-27T09:54:00.000-08:00

A Letter from Bearhead on the Origin of Names Terry writes: Your letter brings a couple of more short stories to mind. Whenever my birthday would come around my Great-grandmother and my Grandmother would give me a yearling. By the time I was 10, I already had about 10 head of cattle. My brand was this: RTJ, The R and J were turned backward and placed against the T. And oh my Lord yes.

2004-01-26T20:32:00.000-08:00

Grandmothers Peoples My cousin Linda and I were talking about the particular nature of our collective culture, and we both agreed that if we are a people, we are a people created by grandmothers. If we ordered words according to their sanctity, God, Jesus, Holy Ghost and Grandmother would appear in just that order.

2004-01-26T20:16:00.000-08:00

Cattlemen and women Terry writes from Bearhead that his grandmother, Estelle Ashworth Yarborough, remembers when her grandfather, old Josh Perkins, would drive cattle from one part of a pasture to another, and the number of cattle would be so great that they would stretch out over seven miles. Driving cattle through the woods is a little different from the way Hollywood shows it. First off,

2004-01-18T10:40:00.000-08:00

The One-Drop Rule, or Black Like Me I went to a party last night and in the course of conversation with a charming and attractive African-American woman about my age, I said I was Black. She just smiled at me and said, "Yeah, right." Earlier in the day I had googled the word "Ashworth" and among the several hits was the good old Online Handbook of Texas History telling us that William Ashworth

2004-01-16T19:37:00.000-08:00

Smokey CoveNear Singer is the site of the old C.V. Logging Camp. Since August 4, 1891, it's been referred to as "Smokey Cove" because of the amount of gunsmoke that hung in the air down in hollow, or "holler" as my people say. My cousin, Linda Bass Clark, just told me that in response to the plea below. Other cousin, Terry, wrote to me about it because he's a double descendant of those Redbone

2004-01-14T21:57:00.000-08:00

The Gunfight On August 4, 1891, my great-grandfather and his brother Austin, apparently got into a gunfight with some other men. Below is a story from a Lake Charles paper as printed in Redbones of Louisiana by Don Marler. There's another version from a Galveston Paper that W.T. Block used as the basis of his story. He doesn't have it on line, so I can't link to it. It's similar in its

2004-01-10T08:37:00.000-08:00

Panthers I was reading the paper yesterday and read where the authorities had killed a big mountain lion down in Southern California that had killed and eaten one man, attacked a woman bicyclist, and fought with another woman who was with the attacked bicyclist. That brought to mind my own experiences with mountain lions or, as we call them down in Louisiana, panthers. My daddy died when I was

2004-01-09T14:43:00.000-08:00

The Homeland: Bearhead A friend called and asked me what was a Bearhead. Well, Bearhead is a creek that runs north to south (mostly, in a meandering sort of way) in western Louisiana. It starts up in what is now Beauregard Parish just below DeRidder and becomes Houston River just south of old highway 90, but we know it only as Bearhead Creek. The Ashworths and their related families live

2004-01-08T14:57:00.000-08:00

A Letter from Bearhead My second cousin, Terry Jackson, who lives in DeQuincy, Louisiana (very near Bearhead) has become a loyal correspondent, often writing to me after visiting with his grandmother, Estelle Yarborough, the daughter of Lone Perkins and R.E. (Buster) Ashworth. I've been fretting over how best to present the stories, and it came to me that all I had to do was to just post them

2003-12-08T20:32:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, Cousins I've been busy. When I'm busy, I'm not being comtemplate nor am I writing. Bear with me, and sustain me with your prayers. When I can see clearly again and hear the voices inside my soul, and from a place of quiet, then again I'll write. Till then, the beauty of silence over the squawking of noise.

2003-11-09T08:28:00.000-08:00

Prayers placed gently upon the wind A long time ago when my life was in a period of extreme turmoil, I was touched by an angel. Out of nowhere, I ran into a wall of calm. It was a profound experience. I never forgot the name of the person in the center of all that calm. I've always wondered what became of him. Last week I asked the gods of Google if they knew. They did. I think the year

2003-11-07T06:51:00.000-08:00

The Right Christians This is my favorite new blog this week. I'll tell more when I know more about them. Obscure Bible Passage of the Day: Jeremiah 12:1-3 You will be in the right, O Lord, when I lay charges against you; but let me put my case to you. Why does the way of the guilty prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive? You plant them, and they take root; they grow and bring

2003-10-25T13:48:00.000-07:00

A Fusion of Cultures Walking to work the other morning, a light went off in my head, suddenly. Oh. I can couch it it buddhist terms, christian terms, California-new-age-let's-all-feel-good terms, but in the language of my people, I figgered something out. I figured out how to let go of some of the struggle. A weight was lifted off of my shoulders. A close friend dismissed it by saying it

2003-10-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

Remembering My maternal grandmother, Minnie Ashworth Droddy, did not tell stories as much as she "remembered." Living with her all of her life was her eldest daughter, Elsie, who was simple. I want to remember Elsie also, but that's for another story. My grandmother and Elsie could remember the most incredible details of their lives. Because mostly what they remembered occurred in the late

2003-10-02T11:34:00.000-07:00

Passing After the Civil War, the dominant White society lost its impetus to keep expanding the definition of Black. Since we had never identified ourselves with Blacks, we continued to identify ourselves as White. Another generation and the core was not quite as dark as the generation before it, and the edges were lighter still. By the time of the birth of my grandmother in 1888, the only

2003-10-02T11:33:00.001-07:00

The Civil War Since almost all of my first 17 years of education were in the South, I was never taught anything that resembled reality regarding the Texas Revolution, the Mexican War of 1845, or the Civil War. Nothing. Nada. Zip. I was taught mythology as history. There was always a right and wrong side, and we were always right. There's something to be said for creating mythologies. Damn

2003-10-02T11:33:00.000-07:00

Redbones I'm going to start refering to the different generations of Ashworths and their cousins simply using the word "cousins" instead of the Ashworths, their cousins, and their friends. There are some who would call this group of cousins and friends "Redbones." I prefer the word cousins because I'm not sure when people started calling us Redbones. And since even to this day it is considered

2003-10-02T11:32:00.000-07:00

Sam Ashworth In the summer of 1856, tensions between the Ashworths and those Whites who felt the Ashworths should be eliminated came to a head when an Ashworth was accused of stealing hogs by a White man. The young man's cousin, Sam Ashworth, when getting the young man out of jail, had an exchange of words with a White man. Family tradition says the man, by the name of Deputy, called Sam a "

2003-10-02T11:31:00.000-07:00

Colored Outside the Lines When Texas was a part of Mexico, the Ashworths were no different from their American neighbors. They obtained land, managed herds of cattle and hogs, and lived in relative peace with their neighbors. Some of their neighbors may have considered them "Not White," but few mentioned it to their face. Racism as a state institution may have been coming into being, but its

2003-10-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

Genealogy I saw you when you rolled your eyes. I say "genealogy" and you roll you eyes. Did you read where in Palo Alto, California, they're going to make it against the law (or at least against the rules) to roll eyes in response to someone speaking. Aren't liberals cute? You know the goodie-two-shoes making the proposal is a liberal, you just know it. I'm not endorsing conservatives, but

2003-09-08T16:08:00.000-07:00

Re-Writing Texas History Sometime in the early 1830s, half a dozen or so riders crossed the Sabine River into Texas.