Our Somers Family Heritage

  Mose and Mary Ann Jones have been somewhat of a mystery to me. As you can see in this image of Grandma's Bible, she didn't have much information to record. However, due to today's interest in genealogy and technology, I have found some additional information on her great grandparents. According to Geni.com , Mary Ann's maiden name was Ballard. She was born on July 13, 1839 in Henry, Tennessee  and died December 13, 1929 in Ripley (County?) Missouri . (See also:  Mary A Ballard Jones (1839-1929) - Find a Grave Memorial ) She was the wife of J. Malachi Jones (Mose?) who was born March 26, 1826 in North Carolina and died in Ripley (County?) Missouri August 17, 1897 at 71 years of age. (You can view his gravesite at:  J. Malachi Jones (1826-1897) - Find a Grave Memorial ) Their daughter Nancy E. Wright was my grandmother's grandmother. Nancy's daughter Maggie Leona Weaver was grandma's mother.  I remember as a young child grandma telling me that we were Bla...

Grandmother Lillian Mae Weaver/Somers Grandmother Lillian Mae Weaver/Somers told me as a child our ancestry was "Black Welsh" and "Blackfoot Indian."  I remember asking her what is a "Black Welsh"? And Grandma replied that it simply meant we had dark hair and dark eyes. Here are my notes regarding Grandma's family surnames and their origin: Weaver - English origin. (Father's surname) Wright (Mother's surname) - English or Scottish origin. Casteal or Casteel (paternal Grandmother) - Dutch or Spanish origin. Jones (maternal Grandmother) - Welsh origin. Burdett (paternal Great Grandmother) - French or English origin. The Jones name certainly points to our Welsh ancestry, but what does "Black Welsh" mean?  Wikipedia has a stub article which says: Black Welsh people are inhabitants of Wales who have an African or a Caribbean background. Wales is home to one of the United Kingdom's oldest Afro communities, an...