First Lady’s Roots in Georgia
Our first lady’s roots have been traced to a slave girl named Melvinia who lived on a plantation in Rex, Georgia.
Our first lady’s roots have been traced to a little town named Rex in the state of Georgia. It was found that a slave girl named Melvinia gave birth to Michelle Obama’s great great grandfather. The town is said to be named for a settler’s favorite dog. Rex is located on the east side of Clayton county and runs on over into Henry county. The village has about 4,000 residents that live in a mile radius of town, mostly African Americans. Rex is only a few miles from the worlds busiest air port but has few visitors and nothing to attract visitors, but with this small town gaining the world’s attention, business leaders plan to restore the 100 year old buildings, including the cotton gin, a mercantile building, and the mill. With its small size and bucolic setting they hope to bring tourists to the place where Michelle Obama’s first known roots began.
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Information uncovered by Megan Smolenyal, genealogist and the New York Times proves what Mrs. Obama called a long standing rumor about a white forbear. Information was discovered in public records that a slave girl gave birth to a son, Dolphus T. Shields, with a white father around 1859 on a plantation in a little town near Atlanta, Georgia. That slave mother was Melvinia, no other name. Her owner David Patterson owned a plantation in South Carolina and when Melvinia was six years old he died. Her value at that time was appraised at $475.
In his will Patterson left Melvinia to his daughter and her husband,Christianne and Henry Shields. They owned a 200 acre plantation in Rex, Georgia. It isn’t known who the white father was. Shields was in his 40s and had four sons ages 19 to 24, other white men also visited the plantation. Melvinia was about 15 when Dolphus was born and by 1870, three of Melvinia’s four children, including Dolphus were listed on the census as mulatto. So it must have been a long standing relationship. She gave her children the Shields name which might and might not have anything to do with their paternity. It was a common practice at the time for slaves to take their owners name.
Melvinia left the Shields plantation when she was in her 30s or 40s and went to Bartow County, located in Northwest Georgia, to join Mariah and Bolus Easley whom she had know as a child from the Patterson plantation. While there Dolphus married Alice Easley,one of the Easley daughters. Alice was Michelle Obama’s great great grandmother. Sometimes later Dolphus and Alice moved to Birmingham Alabama.
Bobbie Holt was raised by Dolphus Shield and his fourth wife, Lucy. Holt said, Shields didn’t like to talk about the past. He was a forward looking man. He died at the age of 91 and as his descendants moved on they lost touch with the past. Can anyone imagine what Melvinia would think if she could know her great great great granddaughter is the wife of the president of the United States?
http://socyberty.com/people/top-ten-millionaires/
http://socyberty.com/education/the-story-of-one-child-in-georgias-alternative-schools/
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29 Comments
Frances Lawrence, posted this comment on Oct 16th, 2009
A very interesting read, thank you.
Francois Hagnere, posted this comment on Oct 16th, 2009
Both a very touching and great tribute to the First Lady. Bravo Ruby!
Eunice Tan, posted this comment on Oct 16th, 2009
Interesting story. Well presentation.
ken bultman, posted this comment on Oct 16th, 2009
I saw this on TV. What a great story. Go Rex.
Michael Eboh, posted this comment on Oct 16th, 2009
Fun and lot fun. Thanks for sharing.
Frosty Johnson, posted this comment on Oct 16th, 2009
Very interesting Ruby and well researched.
unown971, posted this comment on Oct 16th, 2009
Great article!
Christine Ramsay, posted this comment on Oct 16th, 2009
I bet Melvinia would be so proud. An interesting read.
Christine
martie, posted this comment on Oct 16th, 2009
nice write up Ruby. The only way this story would have been more interesting would have been if Melvinia had been owned by a past president.
MMV Abad, posted this comment on Oct 16th, 2009
Interesting post as usual. Thank you, Ruby.
Lostash, posted this comment on Oct 16th, 2009
She would be incredibly proud I’m sure! Great article.
Michelle OLeary, posted this comment on Oct 16th, 2009
love the last line–I’m guessing she wouldn’t believe it! interesting article, thanks for posting
James Tiger, posted this comment on Oct 16th, 2009
Keep it coming! Great read!
K.Reshma, posted this comment on Oct 16th, 2009
Great article
Sharazad, posted this comment on Oct 16th, 2009
I love genealogy. Such an interesting article, Ruby.
Vikram Chhabra, posted this comment on Oct 16th, 2009
Its so amazing. Most of us hardly know anything about where we came from and who our ancestors are…
Mystify, posted this comment on Oct 16th, 2009
Excellent write as usual Ruby! It is amazing what people will do for a town because the first lady is a descendant! Also rather disgusting to think that people could have actually been appraised like cattle. I loved your ending,I think that Melvinia would never have thought that anything like that was ever going to be possible and to be honest up until the last 30 years I don’t think anything like that could have been possible due to peoples own ignorance. Very interesting, informative and wonderful read!We as humans are actually taking a step forward recognizing that mistakes have been made.
clafleur, posted this comment on Oct 16th, 2009
Great black history lesson.
Ruby Hawk, posted this comment on Oct 16th, 2009
Thank you my friends. I appreciate everyone who stopped by and I am honored to have your support. Melvinia just touched my heart. I love this kind of story.
Shirley Shuler, posted this comment on Oct 16th, 2009
Great article, Ruby, thanks for sharing!
Judy Sheldon, posted this comment on Oct 16th, 2009
Ruby, it just goes to show that we never know someone’s potential.
SharifaMcFarlane, posted this comment on Oct 17th, 2009
Very informative.
Thanks for this Ruby!
goindia, posted this comment on Oct 17th, 2009
Thanks for the information. I liked it.
athena goodlight, posted this comment on Oct 17th, 2009
I love your story. I learned something about American history here. Thanks
lillyrose, posted this comment on Oct 17th, 2009
lovely story, so interesting. I love to hear about the history of people.
wonder, posted this comment on Oct 17th, 2009
A great post, exactly what we’d like to read now , even the way of writing is inspiring. Wish I also improve.
chitragopi, posted this comment on Oct 18th, 2009
Wonderful write. Can’t believe it.
Jane Jane, posted this comment on Oct 18th, 2009
well done.
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Teves, posted this comment on Oct 16th, 2009
Nice written….Thanks