GEORGE WOOTEN FAMILY HISTORY

I'm not saying all information in this site is 100% actuate. I do expect any family member who have any information that will help this site or to correct any of these pages to contact me, Audrey Caffey.

The map below is Surry County, Virginia. In my research, George and John Wooten were probably the last Wooten to leave Virginia before moving on to North Carolina, sometime in the early 1850's.

Are we related? Is your great-grandfather our mother's cousin's grandma's nephew once removed? There's only one way to find out . . . . A 1860 report from the Family History Library of the Mormon Church states that both father and mother of George Wooten were born in Virginia.

WOOTEN; George Wooten b.abt 1834 in Surry Co. Va.. By the late 1800's, m. Rebecca ? b. abt. 1845 from Missouri . Now.either George or Rebecca may have had children before they were married. The 1870 US Census Reports George being born in Surry Co. Va  in the township of Blackwater during the time the 1870 report was made. While researching Pinkney Wooten, one of the children, the  1900 census reports George, the father of Pinkney Wooten, was born in South Carolinia. So far I'm unable to find any other record of this. In the census report of his son Elijah the 1910 & 1920 reports two different birth places for George. One, that he was born in NorthCarolina and the other only states that he was born in the U.S. My personal beleif is that he was born in NC or Va. and it's most likely that it was Va. simply because that is what his (George Wooten) report says. I future believe that he did once lived and had a family in NC before he moved to Mississippi and started a family with Rebecca. BUT...you have to go to another page in this site to see why I believe this...

At a very young age according to the Va. report George was married to a woman named Dempsey and they had children. George was neighbors to the Hollaways while in Va. A John Wooten was aslo a neighbor.the the Mid 1800's most Wootens from Virgina had packed up and moved to NC. George and John was the last to leave. This is where you will find George living in the household of the Hollaways, yes the same names in the Va census are the same names here in Cabin Point, NC. John was there aslo, and so was Eliza Hollaway. You can find these same Hollaways in Tate/Marshall Co. Ms. as neighbors to Elijah Wooten, the son of George. Somewhere down the line Eliza became a Wooten....In the NC census report George is married to Eliza and they too had children. Now if this is so, what happened to wife #1, Dempsey? And is Eliza #3. Because the 1880 census reports from NC says that they had been married for 8 years and they too had children, looking at their ages a couple of her children were born before marrying George....Not to be funny..but maybe this is what drove Miss Fannie to the mental hospital. Contact me if you need a copy of any of my findings.

  However, the Children of George & Rebecca are as followed...in which all were reported to be born in Tate/Marshall County, Ms.

Children:
Mary b. abt. 1861 m. Lawrence Echols
Mollie b. abt. 1863 m. Bennie Wilson
Elijah b. abt 1869 m.Georgiana Walls
Pinkney (PK) b. abt 1871 m. Minnie Shand

Other children listed in the 1870 & 1880 US Census that we are researching for more info. are:

Elizabeth b. abt. 1857  birthplace could be Va.- Thomas b. abt. 1859 birthplace could be Va.    and Daniel b. abt. 1868 born in Ms.

US 1910 Census Report taken in Ms. states that George married now to Fannie Wooten. in 1910 George Wooten is now 75 years of age and has been married to Fannie for 8 years. The report also indicate that Fannie was born in Virginia. Fannie Wooten use to be married to Allen Wooten, born in ms. abt 1845. Their children were: Josiah 1866; Laura 1869; George P. 1870; Maggie 1872; Columbus A. 1874; Gracie A. 1876; Addie May 1878; Kate 1879; and Allen1866..notice Josiah and Allen is born in the same year, which means they were twins, or one could have been from a previous marriage...Also George and Allen were both Wootens living in the same area...could they have been related? The report states that his father was born in Va. and his mother was born in NC. I wonder???if Rebecca (George's wife) passed away and he decided to remarry so late in his years. This is one reason why it is so important to obtain birthand burial records of both George and Rebecca Wooten. I did a little research on Fannie Wooten and found out she was commited to a mental hospital in NC where she also died there. I wonder????what caused her to be there? What was the relationship between George and Allen Wooten. Was one of Miss Fannie's children George's...I this George OUR GEORGE? Check out the year that they were married..ater Rebecca, and after Eliza Wooten. Could Miss Fannie be the last woman George was married to? These are researchale answers. I'm asking for those Wootens of today who are interested in their family root to join forces and make our WOOTEN HISTORY TRUE AND COMPLETE!

SURNAMES OF GEORGE WOOTENS DESCENDENTS ARE AS FOLLOWED; Wooten - Walls - Shand - Echols - Wilson

 Surnames are the names of our basic roots. Researching the name Wooten can take you from state to state, it's like putting a puzzle together, the pieces gotta fit.I'm looking forward in working with any family member who want to join in on this fun-filling puzzle. But right now lets get together and make this tree grow. The list will get longer and for each additional surname, means more brances to our tree. More brances, more leaves, is a sign of a happy & healthy tree.

The name "Wooten" orginated from England about the mid 1500's. With many ways to spell it, Wootton, Wooton, or Wootten just to name a few, is sometimes pronounced "ooton". Tracing down the family's name I was suprise to find Wootens who had settled in Barbados even before coming to America.

We are starting our Family journey when the Wootens came into Americia and settled in Virginia around mid 1600's - mid 1700's. Durning this time Virginia was primary White, Blacks, and Indians. Mix marriages races at this time was no big deal and a whole new breed of free blacks, amd mulattoes was on the rise.I read that there were some white men of power came up with a plan to over take the land from the indians by marriage and child bearing with the indians. The plan didn't go smoothly because around the same time blacks had stared mix marriage and child bearing with the indians as well, but for different reasons. With no DNA testesting at the time, these white folks became confussed, they couldn't tell one from the other because the had already started race mixing with the blacks, and some mulattos were so bright in complextion, they could easily pass as white and most of them did just that and moved north out of Virginia. www.columbuslibrary.com .The African American Wooten's name first comes up in a list of families descended from white women. The name Wooten among free black orginated from 2 white women in Surry Co. Va. during the late 1600's. Elizabeth Lane and Mary Poore. this info came from Eleaor's List to African American Gen. on the internet of mixed race families from Virginia that were among the earliest settlers of Bladen Co. NC in 1754. By 1790 free African American were concentrated on the eastern shore of Virginia in counties just below the James River and northeastern part of NC. Some of the counties and the population of free African American are; 368 in Surry Co. Va- 391 in Sussex Co. Va. - 559 in Southhampton Co. Va. & 416 in Macklenburg Co. Va. In North Carolinia some of the counties were Northhampton Co. 438 - Halifax Co. 443 - and Bertie Co. 378, just to name a few. Some other names included  in the Free Black Americans were Carter, Clark, Cox, Lowery, Sweat, Walden, Willcins, Wilson, and Wharten.

Now some of the Wootens that are listed in the 1850 Surry Co Va. Census of African American are; Macklin age 75 - Elias,45 - Tisha,40 - Willis,22 - Cepholus,18 - Merit,15 - Mondouza,14 - Francis,12 - Elizabeth,10 - Durthula,6 - Winfield,5. I couldn't find George Wooten who would have been about 16 at the time to be part of this report. But the 1860 Virginia Cesus Report places George in Surry Co. Va in Cabin Point. in which he is recorded 28 years of age. In the household in Cabin Point Va. was Eliza Hollway age 40; Thomas Smith age 50. Bob/Bab Wooten 23; Hines Wooten 23; Sam Wooten 15; Miles/Mills 14. there were also two white men living there in the same household. On one side the neighborwas Macklin Wooten who was 65 at the time and living alone. On the other side as neighbors were William Wooten 33, wife Mary 25, their children Mahala  A. 8, Pelea A. 5, Allen M. 3, & William 2. One thing I found out about this report is the age of Macklin Wooten may be incorrect on one or the other reports. Yet to understand the earlier census reports, you have to allow up to a 5 to 10 year time frame.

In 1834 George Wooten was born, some say he was born a free man. There are stories claiming he was a Moore before being traded to the Wooten Plantation, other say he was a Boyd at birth. Well the US Census reports him as being a Wooten. So, until otherwise proven differently, he stands to be a Wooten, the Back Bone of us all! the Root of our Tree! the Beginning of our Beginning!

So, who was Mr. George Wooten? What type of man was he? Was he a provider, a leader, a follower? Was he a Mulatto, a Free Blackman, was he ever a slave? Was he a happy person, a sharp dresser, a good father? What made him laugh, or cry? These things we may never know, what we do know is that he was born of this earth and he had children and we are his off-springs.

My theory, (I'll call it audreyology) is based on the study of the early Virginia history of Wootens, Africian American, Mulattoes and Indians, their lifestyles in the mid 1800's, their role as a family, their struggles as "free blacks" and or as slaves.

So why is it so hard to trace the "Free Negros", Africian American,  and maybe  some of the Wooten? Could it be because in the early to mid 1800's ( Slavery in Antebellum southern industries,lexisnexis.com) has a report that they were being exported to Barbados, Bermuda, England, Africia, Germany and even New York, and Florida. The voyages included the ships named Ann Christina, Georgiana, Guerriere, Indian Chief, Jan Frederick, Louusiana Protection, and the Rising Star. Also in the early 1800's free blacks were being forced out of Va...in Mississippi free black men between the ages 16 and 51 were being exported out of the state, some being returned to Liberia. ( cross-collection search fulltext 10.fcla.edu)., but according to the antebellum of Ms., Between 1820 and 1860 that population of free blacks in Ms. grew from 300 in 1817 to 1,400 during the 1850's. It wasn't until the end of the Civil War that it declined to 773.

Many elderly family members say that they were always told that  we, the Wootens , were never slaves. Therefore our anscestors must have been among the "free blacks." In 1754, 51.60% of Surry County was black(wikipedia.org/Virginia 1800). A sworn statement made by Susan Wooten, in a Virginia court of law states that ...Sally Jefferies maried a Wooten, a free blackman of mixed race...(freeafricanamerician.com). Elderly family members supports this claim when they say we have both white, and indian blood that runs through our veins.

Now how did, and why did George Wooten get to Mississippi? Did he ever settle in SC long enough to start a family, and if so where are they now? Once again audreyology is hard at work. The 1870 Lenoir Co. NC places a George Wooten in SC as well as NC. as a shoe maker, and a family...wife, Caroline. Now the reason why I bring this up is because a lots of Wootens, including this George ends up in Marshall Co. Ms. at or about the same time that our George is there, and many of these Wootens from Lenoir Co. NC ended up in Oktibbeha Co. Ms, all in the same time frame. Could this be our possible link with the Wootens in NC? Could there had been two George Wootens born at the same time, in the same state and county that were African American, where one goes to SC and the other go to NC? Could they had been kin? It looks like the George Wooten who took the NC route is truely our Georeg. The reason I believe that is because some of the names in that household in Cabin Point, NC, the bithdates of the household members, and their birth puts them together in Va. & NC always neighbors or part of the same household all the way to Marshall/Tate Co. Ms.

Some of the Wootens from NC that ended up in Marshall Co. Ms. according to the 1870 Census Report are; Abe,58 - Andrew,45 - Charles,65 - Jesse,48 - Mary,48 - Thomas,45 - Julia,35 - Stephen,40 - and a female who is listed as Wooten Wooten,40. From Va. and ended up in Marshall Co. Ms. are ES,69  - Emily,24 - Frances,40 - Hasty(female),50 - Louisa,50 - and our very own George Wooten,36. From NC that ended up in Oktibbeha Co. that George would sometimes appear on the same census page are; Robert b. 1842, Needan b.1860, Pig b 1866 -  James b 1840 - Mary b 1830 - Daniel b 1835, just to name a few. Could one of these elderly Wooten been one of George's parents? Could any of the Wooten's from Surry Co. born around the same time as George been a sibling?What about John Wooten,(born only a few years different from George) who was George's neighbor in Va., and who later moved to NC when George did?

 Check out the story of Nat Turner, ( reason #1) they were running free blacks out of Virginia...but you had to have your "papers" in order. Free blacks were able to move about as skilled workers and they traveled with their boss's company from state to state.Check out the story about the Forks of the Road (reason #2) blacks were being sold for a higher price in Ms. than any other state. Some lighter-skin blacks passed as white, some darker-skin blacks made their homes among the indians, and moved to Fla.There were some free blacks and mulattos who took up the indians as they moved towards the Ms. River because the US govrn. was stealing their land and they were losing the battle to keep it (reason #3)..or (reason #4) ...Papa George was a "rolling stone". What ever the reason may be, he made Mississippi his home, our home.

Mississippi is the Home of the 4 Branches of George and Rebecca Wooten and their children. and they are :

Elijah & Georgia (Walls) Wooten, children are Pervia, Elijah Jr. James, Castor, Sidney, Sweetie, Loudella, Georgiana, Buster,Pandora,  and Junior.

Pinkney & Minnie (Shand) Wooten, children are Bennie, Rose, Lula, George, Mary, Loucious, Everlena, Merd, Arcener,  and Florence.

Molly ( married Bennie Wilson) Wooten, children are, Mary, John, Flarence, Corrie, Efrairm, Henry, Richard, Sam, Ellen, Jesse, Emma, and George.

Mary ( married Lawrence Scruggs Echols) Wooten children are Walter, Garfield, and Evalena.

Now we have our  "ROOT" George & Rebecca Wooten,( 1st gen)... We have the "TRUNK" their Children,(2nd gen)... We have that "MANY BRANCHES" thier grandchildren, (3rd gen )...Lets get started on the "LEAVES" their great-grand children, 4th gen)....these will probably be the Wootens born somewhere between 1925 to 1940... I need my family help on this one. I myself would be part of the 5th Gen. and Iwas born 1956. My children would be in the 6th Gen. My granddaughter would be part of the 7th, and so on and so on.On the home pages you will see custom pages. Each custom page will represent one of George and Rebecca Wooten's children Family tree information. These will be the pages used to keep our tree alive. At the time these pages are still under construction so you may have to come back at a later time to view them. In the mean time please sign my guest book and include any info. you want to be shared on this site. Thank you.