This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Boatwright, Sasser Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/5d.2ADE/178 Message Board Post: Well, I took my second family search trip this weekend to Augusta, GA with a side trip to Screven and Jenkins Counties. Hit the jackpot at a family church directly between Sylvania and Millen, GA. Everyone buried in the cemetery there is related to my family. Most importantly, however, I found the burial site for the generation I've been searching fruitlessly for for months. My grandfather's grandfather, Julius, has been my mystery. According to census records, he was born in South Carolina, as were his parents, in 4/1868. In December 1897, he married into a very wealthy and influential family named Sasser. That is the first documentation I had regarding him. He did not turn up in any searches of selected SC and GA counties. So we went to where we knew they HAD been, which was Screven County and his wife, Mary Etta's, family's church, Little Horse Creek Church. What we found was wonderful and confusing all at the same time. I've posted in here about the military uncle, Wesley, and attempting to find him. He and my great-grandfather, DL, were Julius and Mary Etta's only known children. Julius died in 1917, Mary Etta died of a quasi-car accident in 1925, Wesley died while in service around 1930, and DL died in the early-70's. DL is buried with his wife near our home. That leaves 3 graves to find. And we did, sort of. At LHCC we found the family - or most of it. It lays out like this, right to left: A cement slab with a military memorial marker for my uncle, who died as a PVT in the Marine Corp in 1930. A tiny marker with bricks covering an infant grave that reads "Infant Son of Mr & Mrs. Grandparents", no dates. Then there is an empty space similar in size to a single plot and then another cement covered slab with a small metal marker for Julius. Where is Mary Etta? She's not in that cemetery. Could the unmarked uncovered place be her? Could Wesley's memorial stone sit about Mary Etta's cement slab? And who is this infant son? All census data shows that Mary Etta HAD 2 children with 2 LIVING. So, I have pictures and lots of questions. THEN my mother and I spent the morning at the LDS Family Center pouring over census files looking for Julius ANYWHERE. With the assistance of 2 missionary volunteers, we found A Julius Boatwright, IN GA, born IN 1868, IN SC. Wonderful, right? Almost. He's listed as black. Let me tell you, I'm not fair skinned, but I'm a far cry from looking African American. So begins the speculation. If Julius was not at home when his family was enumerated, perhaps the person who gave the enumerator information was black and the enumerator assumed that the entire family was black. If it was the mother, perhaps she was black and had a son by a white man, perhaps her former owner or a Union soldier (this would have been near the end of the Civil War). Then Julius would be Mulatto (two t's or one??). Perhaps Julius was an orphan they took in after the war and was actually white. Whatever the answer, Julius married someone they didn't approve of. Mary Etta was white and at least upper middle class. Julius passed as white in his church and in all censi(tm) after 1900. And while there are one or two cousins who are naturally dark skinned, there is no other evidence to believe we have any African American blood. Finally, I will say that the idea of having African blood and an Anfrican heritage to my family is wonderful. It will help inject a bit of character into my VERY British family. ~Michele