11 Mothers of Ike Ivery. Where have you Gone ?

Kevin A. Williams, Artist.

"Worst Sight"

Kevin A. Williams, Artist.

11 Mothers of Ike Ivery.....

I Often excogitate and ponder.

Who the 11 Mothers of Granddaddy Ike Ivery were?


They the slave catchers were Thieves, Hunters, Robbers. These Men Stole. They Stole and Sold my 11 Mothers. 

They have Robbed me over and over again. Hundreds of years later they are still stealing from me. 

Now they are in Their Descendants records, personal papers, bibles. Records torn and snatched from pages. Records burned to the ground. Non existent. No where to be found. Lost. Gone. 

Every time I get a chance. I take back what belongs to me in the way of research. I take it from them. I snatch it. I grab back, what BELONGS to Me. The Rightful Owner. 



 Where have you Gone? What happened to You?

Stories like these always pulls me out of my recrudescence. So this is where you find me Today on a Sankofa Journey for understanding on what happened to these 11 Mothers of Ike Ivery?

Sometimes no matter how many pictures or documents or sources I have. I have to veer off the road less traveled to let my thoughts ponder a bit or I'll get restless. 

There's always something deep in my soul. I can't put my finger on it when I'm researching. I just know I have to go to these moments when they call to my heart.
These are moments when I don't have any sources, citations, or genealogical standards. 

This is where a "NoTe To MySelF " is rendered.....


 It's a constant friend for My True Roots and I.

Usually because of the time frame you can start as young as 15 to start rearing children. I put a 20 year gap in between Granddaddy's Ike's Maternal Line. 

As of now, I know Granddaddy Ike's Mother was named Minta Ivey/Ivery. She was born in 1834. I think her name is a derivative of Arminta. 

Being a Slave child. They probably downgraded her Proper name as they so often did as to make her hear and know her Value. Which was not of a Proper Lady, calling her Minta. She has been recorded on all documents as such. 



 She was lawfully married to my 3rd Great Granddaddy William Ivey/Ivery  on November the 5th, 1865. Pike County Courthouse. By the state of Alabama. Before that they were Slaves in Pike County, Alabama having their 1st child in 1850. 

William & Minty Ivey Marriage: November 4th, 1865.

According to the 1870 Census when she was 35. With 7 Children already born. Charles Ford her Son in Law is living with them. He is married to my Aunt Rosanna. Grandma Minta was 15 when she had her first child. A Daughter. 

Hopefully one day I'll be reunited with My Aunties Descendants. Along with her other Sister Isabelle.  That gives me hope to finding their DNA-Haplogroup which hopefully leads back to Africa and I'll be pleased.  On line 30 is one Milford McTyiere. I'm assuming until I find out, he might of been part of a dowry to Mrs. Caroline McTyiere who was married to William Ivey, a Slave Owner at the time in that small town.  I dont' find it odd or coincidental a former Slave with a last name of the Bishop in town living with my Ivey's. 

What is his relationship to us? I'm still seeking.

Line 21- 31 of 1870 Bullock County, Alabama. Minta Ivey/Ivery

Source Citation

Year: 1870; Census Place: Ridgely, Bullock, Alabama; Roll: M593_4; Page: 271B; Image: 545; Family History Library Film: 545503

My last find on Grandma Minta, is 1880. After that she is lost to me. I don't even have a death certificate. If she passed away in Alabama they didn't start recording deaths until 1908.

Slavery was started here a long time ago. 


This is where I start to go in a World of my own. Trying to wrap my head around 215 Years of History Lost to the Ages, Gone in the Wind. 246 Years of Enslavement.... Yes, you can go ahead and ponder on that for a minute.

I'm realizing that in 1619 according to History is when Slavery started here. I'm guessing about this is when the 1st Mother arrived here from Africa was born. This is as far as I can wrap my head around. 

I don't want to comprehend the Mother's before that. With 20 years apart for each Mother after her. Even tho I know realistically child rearing started much earlier in age. I just tried to put a respectable age on them. 1619-1814. These are the Years that those 11 Mothers are not found by me. 

Beginning in 1619, there are 11 Mothers missing....

Ending in 1814. I placed as the time when Grandma Minta's Mother was possibly born. 

11 Mothers Missing from my Genealogical Paper trail. 

11 Mothers unidentified in my DNA. 

African American History

I read this book a lot to keep me in a mind set, a frame of mind. For all that was going on in this Country, on what my Ancestors were facing. 

It's a Time Line of History that I use to try to place my Ancestors in. It's a great resource in time travel for what happened through time. All the complexities to our Country's History here in the United States as African Americans. 

This book contains stories they don't publish in books for school. History I wasn't taught till I became an adult and even younger it was told in bits and pieces from my Elders that wasn't in a formal setting. 

This is what keeps me up at night. What I try to find all during the day. 

When I am hurt, confused, overwhelmed and full of Pride as the Sun goes down in Africa.....

Africa   

I have visions of torture, whippings, crammed cockleshells, Mother's being thrown overboard. Mothers jumping in the sea on their own volition, rather than face the life that awaits them. 

Bodies being over thrown from sickness or some barbaric reasoning, babies being left alone. Bed warmers. Breeders. Whipped. Raped and Ruined. Scrambling for air and food and water.  Stench. Sweat, Blood & Tears. They could only go so far in their treatment. They were Value in a Monetary form. 

 Cruelty of Life that we will never be able to imagine. 

I cry for who These 11 Women of mine are? Where are they from in the 54 Countries of Africa? What Language do they Speak? What Traditions did they have that I carry on without a knowing? Just because it's in my Blood. How many tears where shed for them losing touch with the Homeland? What happened to them? 

It's a piece of my heart that is broken knowing that I may never found out. Somehow I have to come to a personal peace within my Soul, I may never live to see that day.

Maybe God is trying to tell me something?....

For now. I will keep searching, keep trying, asking, fighting, scrambling, researching, wondering, seeking, praying....For those; 11 Mothers of Mine. 

Jeremiah 1:15 says:  "Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the Nations". 

Oh, 11 Mothers of Mine.....

God knew you first before You knew yourself. You are consecrated with much veneration!  

You are Speaking to the Nations through your Descendants. 

With Love, through Your Great Granddaughter, True.

11 Mothers of Ike Ivery