Sometimes reading carefully is all it takes.
This week, I was able to enter the information from the 1870 census into my software program for the Hill family of Oktibbeha County, MS. At first glance, I was sure that it read Jessie Hill/M/B/23 with 5 children in the household. After carefully reading, I could clearly tell that the household extended to include Rida Jacobs/F/B/32, Betsey Jacobs/F/B/55 and Calib Jacobs/M/B/65.
This “new” information provided a possible maiden name to Rina shown as Jessie’s wife in the 1880 Census and has just added a new surname my search files!
My goal for the remainder of the month is to search for the last slave owner of Jessie Hill and Rida/Rina Jacobs. It will involve making a list of all households near the family both black and white from the 1870 census. Secondly, I will cross reference the white families with the 1860 slave schedules and slave contracts from the Freedman’s Bureau. Lots of work, but very excited about it.
