This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/AW.2ADE/992.1 Message Board Post: Morris Taylor, African American families who lived in Point Township, Woodruff Co., AR (Some of the following information is from the History Of Point Township In Woodruff Co., AR, by Adelia H. Kittrell, published in 1983). Mose and Abram Johnson, brothers, were tenants on the Harville farm. Mose Johnson's known children were ; Willie Mae, Mose Jr., Lee Willie and Eddie Johnson. Abram Johnson's known children were Abram Jr., Robert, Abbie and Leslie Johnson. (1) William H. Bledsoe, Sr., born in July 1833 in Tennessee, moved to Point Township from Tennessee in the 1870's. His wife was Mary A. Bledsoe, born about 1850 in Virginia, and these were his known children; (1-1) Carroll "Cal" Bledsoe, born about 1856 in Tennessee; (1-2) William H. Bledsoe, Jr., born November 6, 1858 in Tennessee, died May 26, 1925 and is buried in Watson Cemetery; (1-3) John Bledsoe, born in December 1869 in Tennessee, died 1947; and (1-4) Esther A. Bledsoe, born about 1872 in Tennessee. In 1900, William Bledsoe, Sr. and his wife (to whom he was married about 1884), Millie Bledsoe, born in 1852 in Alabama, were living in Point Township. (1-2) William H. Bledsoe, Jr. and his wife Julia Bledsoe, who was born in December 1862 in Arkansas and died in 1952, buried New Community Cemetery, had several known children; (1) Wilming Bledsoe (a daughter) , born January 13, 1883, died March 19, 1900, buried Watson Cemetery; (2) William F. Bledsoe, born March 1886; (3) Susie Bledsoe, born September 1887; (4) Ivory Bledsoe (a daughter) , born May 1890 married Creed Taylor, and died July 2, 1912, buried Watson Cemetery; and (5) Pearl Bledsoe, born March 10, 1895, married a Mr. Haynes. Pearl (Bledsoe) Haynes is buried in Watson Cemetery. There is also a Ella (Bledsoe) Washington, daughter of W. H. Bledsoe, born March 8, 1881, died August 1, 1898, buried Watson Cemetery. (1-3) John Bledsoe, born in December 1869 in Tennessee, and his wife Octavia, who was born in April 1875 in Tennessee, were the parents of a large family of children, including: (1-3-1) Leona Bledsoe, born September 1893; (1-3-2) Lillie Bledsoe, born November 1895; (1-3-3) Isom Bledsoe, born July 1896; (1-3-4) Harriet Bledsoe, born February 1898, married Gus Morris; (1-3-5) Ella Bledsoe, born August 1899, died young; (1-3-6) William Bledsoe, born in 1904; (1-3-7) Eva Fay Bledsoe, born in 1906, married R. B. Kendall; (1-3-8) Robert B. Bledsoe, born in 1907; (1-3-9) Orvenia Bledsoe, born in 1909; (1-3-10) Costella Bledsoe; (1-3-11) Frank Bledsoe; and (1-3-12) Ernest Bledsoe. (1-3) John Bledsoe's second wife was Mrs. Sallie Layne, who had been married to Frank Layne. They lived on a farm they owned a few miles east of Gregory. Their house was an unusually beatiful one, with a white pickett fence and a yard full of colorful flowers. (1-3) John Bledsoe weighed cotton at the Gregory gin and later clerked at the Conner Mercantile store. He was a director on the Gregory school board and one of the original trustees of the Vinegar Hill Cemetery Association when the New Community Cemetery was established in 1928. He was a deacon, Sunday School teacher and classs leader in the Guildfield Baptist Church at Gregory. Mrs. Sallie (Layne) Bledsoe was a class leader in St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church and always made a money report after each sermon. Josie Anderson took her place after she died . (1-3) John Bledsoe was struck by lightning, which hastened his death in 1947. Mrs. Sallie (Layne) Bledsoe died in 1975. Both were buried in the New Community Cemetery. (1-3-4) Harriet Bledsoe married Gus Morris in 1917. Gus Morris was the son of "Uncle" John Morris who lived on the Minor Gregory farm in Point Township for many years. He is said to have moved to the Point from Batesville, Independence Co., AR. The family picked their own cotton crop, which was hauled to the gin at Gregory. It is said that "Uncle" John had 21 children. These are his known children; (1) Mary Morris, who married Cap Gregory; (2) John Henry Morris, born in 1891, died in 1960; (3) Gus Morris, born December 18, 1894, died May 15, 1963, married Harriet Bledsoe in 1917; (4) Cincinnati "Rat" Morris (a daughter), born January 6, 1891, died March 10, 1953 (she had a daughter, Frog Ann, who died very suddenly at Revels about 1950; (5) Sonny Morris, died several years ago (his wife, Vicey Morris, was born January 18, 1900, and died May 27, 1975); and (6) Virgil "Bud" Morris, died September 1976. Many of the surnames you mentioned can be found on the 1900 and 1910 census. Hope this helps. Best regards, Gary Telford Family Roots Woodruff County Monitor wgt@centurytel.net