HARRIET: ARE YOU MY MOTHER?

Harriet Gore is listed as the mother of Big Ma on her death certificate (witnessed by her daughter Almeta Campbell Ray Mason Bunting). Consistently across multiple census records, Georgia is listed as the birth location of the mother of Carrie Carroll.

Referencing Paul A. Cimbala’s book “The Talisman Power: The Freedmen’s Bureau and Free Labor in Reconstruction Georgia, 1865–68,” Civil War History XXVIII, No. 2”, the research guide for the Records of the Field Offices for the State of Georgia, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands 1865–1872 (M1903, pg.8) states that General Tillson made transportation for Freedmen who were not given fair treatment under his order of October 3, 1865 (Circular Number 2) to areas such as southwest Georgia and the Mississippi Valley where wages were higher.

U.S., Freedmen's Bureau Records, 1865-1878 for H Gor - Records of the Field Offices - M1903 - 85

REFERENCES

Paul Cimbala, Under the Guardianship of the Nation: The Freedmen’s Bureau and the

Reconstruction of Georgia, 1865–1870, pp. 98–104; See also Todd L. Savitt, “Politics in

Medicine: The Georgia Freedmen’s Bureau and the Organization of Health Care,

1865–1866,” Civil War History XXVIII, no. 1 (March 1982)

United States. National Archives and Records Administration.

Records of the field offices for the state of Georgia,

Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands,

1865–1872.— Washington, DC: U.S. Congress and National

Archives and Records Administration, 2003.

Census records consistently show that her birthplace was Mississippi and her mother's birthplace was Georgia.

1. 1900 Census: "1900 United States Federal Census", database with images, Year: 1900; Census Place: Palarm, Faulkner, Arkansas; Roll: 58; Page: 2; Enumeration District: 0028; FHL microfilm: 1240058, Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 7602 #35351516 (accessed 20 February 2023), Carrie Benton (33), wife, in household of Cebron Benton (28) in Palarm, Faulkner, Arkansas. Born in Mississippi, USA.

2. 1910 Census: "1910 United States Federal Census", database with images, Year: 1910; Census Place: Cadron, Faulkner, Arkansas; Roll: T624_49; Page: 6A; Enumeration District: 0020; FHL microfilm: 1374062, Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 7884 #181044262 (accessed 20 February 2023), Carrie Benton (43), wife, in household of Coburn B Benton (39) in Cadron, Faulkner, Arkansas, USA. Born in Mississippi.

3. 1920 Census: "1920 United States Federal Census", database with images, Year: 1920; Census Place: Conway, Faulkner, Arkansas; Roll: T625_62; Page: 21A; Enumeration District: 27, Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 6061 #2131512 (accessed 20 February 2023), Carrie Benton (52), widowed mother-in-law, a housekeeper, lived in household of Uless Lee (24) in Conway, Faulkner, Arkansas. Born in Mississippi.

4. 1930 Census: “1930 United States Federal Census", database with images, Year: 1930; Census Place: Cadron, Faulkner, Arkansas; Roll: 74; Page: 12A; Enumeration District: 11; Image: 249.0; FHL microfilm: 2339809. Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 2442 #101176660

5. 1940 Census: "1940 United States Federal Census", database with images, Year: 1940; Census Place: Pine Mountain, Faulkner, Arkansas; Roll: m-t0627-00135; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 23-30, Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 2442 #101176660 (accessed 20 February 2023), Carrie Benton (72), widowed head of household in Pine Mountain, Faulkner, Arkansas. Born in Mississippi.

6. 1950 Census: “United States of America, Bureau of the Census; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790-2007; Record Group Number: 29; Residence Date: 1950; Home in 1950: Pine Mountain, Faulkner County, Arkansas.