Archive for the ‘African American Genealogy’ Category

SAMPSON WHITLEY – DEATH CERTIFICATE

TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
BUREAU OF VITAL STATISTICS
CERTIFICATE OF DEATH

Place of Death – County – Hill

1. Usual Residence:    State – Texas  County – Hill  City – Itasca, Texas
2. Name of Deceased:    Sampson Whitley
3. Date of Death:   5/8/54
4. Sex:   Male
5.  Color or Race:  Colored
6. Marital Status:  Married
7. Date of Birth:   Nov 8, 1890

Age:  64

1. 10a. Occupation:  Labor

10b. Kind of business:  None

1. Birthplace:  Texas
2. Father’s Name:  John Whitley        Birthplace:  Texas
3. Mother’s Maiden Name:  Unknown          Birthplace:  Unknown
4. Not filled in
5. Not filled in
6. Not filled in
7. Social Security No:  Not filled in
8. Informant:  Ida Whitley
9. Cause of Death:  Malignancy (Lung) type unknown       Interval between onset and death:  1 – 2 years
10. Not filled in
11. I hereby certify that I attended the deceased from Jan 1, 1954 to May 7, 1954, that I last saw the deceased on May 7, 1954, and that death occurred at 11 a.m. from the causes and on the date stated above.
12. Signature – Charles C Allen          Address:  Box 67, Itasca, Texas                  Date signed:  May 10, 1954
13. Burial, Cremation, Removal:  Burial    23b.  Date:  5/11/54    Name of Cemetery or Crematory:  Itasca Cemetery
14. Location:  Itasca, Texas  
15. Funeral  Directors Signature: Kentard Funeral Home – Richard Hemphill
16. Registrar’s File No.  226
17. Date Rec’d by Local Registrar:  May 10, 1954
18. Physician’s Signature:  G. Warnour (? – this was difficult to read.)

A three-day bout with a virus sent me to Ancestry.com to see what I could find to fill in the blanks in my family’s tree, and suddenly I was ‘on a roll’ finding my son-in-law’s and granddaughter’s ancestors!

Lucky me!  My oldest granddaughter likes genealogy!

by Sherry Stocking Kline
February 5th, 2010

When I found this wonderful Underground Railroad post from Sandra Taliaferro, we had just had our Sumner County Historical and Genealogical Society meeting, presented by children’s historical fiction author Jim Baumgardner. Baumgardner spoke about his latest book, “Sarah’s Escape” (www.SarahBooks.net) where Baumgardner’s orphan heroine Sarah becomes involved with her mother’s work on the Underground Railroad, and I learned bits and pieces of information that I’d never heard before.

A few days later, I read Sandra Taliaferros’ great post at “I Never Knew My Father” and she shared with us the ‘password’ that opened the Underground Railroad to escaping slaves:

KNOCK, KNOCK!?!

WHO GOES THERE?

“A FRIEND OF FRIENDS“

Taliaferro used such thoughtful and inspirational words, based on the people helping people concept of the Underground to encourage all of us, as genealogists and human beings, to help others along the way while we search and research our family trees.

Please, go read her post, you’ll be glad you did!