"Our Fathers' Fields" is Meant to Recount the Southern Story, but It Reveals Formerly Enslaved

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I have written about Our Father's Fields: A Southern Story more than twice. Some might ask, "Why do you need to tell this story again?" This is what I learned: I bought the book back before 2012. This is the second book. I repurchased the book because a cousin has the first book. I found the Chick's who owned Liza (read page 229), my third great grandmother.

This book recounts the former plantations and former enslavers with some former enslaved. It mentions churches where they both attended back before 1865.

The Author, James Everett Kibler, purchased a dilapidated plantation in Union County, South Carolina in 1989. He does an excellent job of talking about the life of the different families from the area.

This time I need to talk about Tuckertown. This is where George Epps Tucker (1859-1927) is buried. Again, some people might ask, "Why do you need to tell this story again?" Well, I was on Twitter this morning, and I follow @SayTheirNamesIr. Martine Brennan M. A. has a website called ENSLAVEMENT-TO-CITIZENSHIP.

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Comer and Tucker

She has a post called "Irish-Overseers in South Carolina 1850." She has this entry listed for Union County, South Carolina: Comer or Connor, Jesse c1822 in the household of C S Sims (Farmer) 1850

Jesse Comer is the last name of a cousin who was the informant on George Epps Tucker's death certificate:

"South Carolina Deaths, 1915-1965," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-XC8Q-TGZ?cc=1417492&wc=M6YD-T29%3A30575501 : 12 March 2022), 004177631 > image 1458 of 1714; Department of Archives and History, State Records Center, Columbia.

In the book I cited, a section on page 252 is called "Comer (Tucker) House and Vicinity" which was built around 1830 "from trees sawn on the place" as the seat of a large plantation. The Comer's owned the house, but because Kibler referred "to Tucker's in the title, I am looking to find some relationship between Tucker's and Comer's.

On the next page, a paragraph starts: "A note on Santuc and Fish Dam (Carlisle) is in order here. Four large Great Houses still stand there: the Tucker house (1859)." I believe one of the houses Kibler is describing belongs to the Tucker family. I need to get an old map from the public library which has the names of families from the area to decipher what Kibler reveals.

Same Surnames

I do not know if my readers realize this, but some of the last names of the people in this book are Chick, Eppes, Ashford, Hunter, Jeter, Lyles, Maybin, McCracken, Renwick, Sims, Tucker, and Whitney. These are the names that are carried by my family. For example, my third great grandfather, Henry Sims was somehow affiliated with Sims Plantation. George Ashford was a grandfather to George Epps Tucker. Eliza Maybin had some connection to the Maybin's. My grandmother, Mrs. Otis E. Tucker-Vance said the Whitney's were cousins. Her uncle's wife's name was Janie Hunter Chick, and Janie's ancestors had been enslaved by the McCracken's.

Lastly, I suppose I will share with you the fact that George had another death certificate:

"South Carolina Deaths, 1915-1965," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-XC87-CYX?cc=1417492&wc=M6YD-T29%3A30575501 : 12 March 2022), 004177631 > image 1475 of 1714; Department of Archives and History, State Records Center, Columbia.

This informant on this death certificate is George Cofield. It was not as important to me as the other death certificate that I posted above because I finally realized the Cofield family has been recorded in the book. I can learn whether he was African American of not. There is so much in this book. I just need to decide who to research.

Thanks so much to Martine for mentioning Jesse Comer. I have no idea if this is the same person or not, but I do know George was related to a Jesse Comer.