This first post is about my connection to the Campbell family. Later posts will explore who they were and where they lived, in particular their connection to Chesterfield County, South Carolina. My name is Chris Amaden. I’ve been researching my family since the mid 1980s. Most of my work was on my father’s paternal line and only in the last 10 years have I expanded my research to his maternal line and my mother’s lines. Over the last few years I’ve incorporated DNA testing to confirm (or deny) my paper research and to break through brick walls. More on the DNA angle later…
My paternal grandmother, Karonela (who went by Kay), was an adoptee. At some point in her adult years (~1940s or 1950s), she made contact with her biological mother, Robbye Henrietta (Strahan) [Johnson] Greenblatt. I suspect the contact was made as Kay was getting her Social Security set up and was trying to track down her birth certificate. I was told that the father was in the navy in World War I and never came back after serving, leading to Kay being put up for adoption. Fortunately Kay was able to update her birth certificate (she was originally listed as unnamed) in 1979. She was born in 1916 in Birmingham, Alabama. The original record identified her father as Oscar W. Johnson. The couple was married, their first marriage; he was age 30, born in Louisiana, and was a postal clerk. Note that the mother’s maiden name is spelled wrong – Stroud vs. Strahan.
One quick sidebar from the Campbell discovery. I was able to figure out who Kay’s father was
For years I had no traction on the Johnson line because the surname was too common – even with the relatively rare first name of Oscar. My breakthrough came with the release of the World War I draft registration cards. It was slow going because they were published state-by-state and so my Oscar didn’t show up for a while. Finally, his record became available. Here’s my transcription:
WWI Registration Card #1397
Oscar Watson Johnson, age 29
resident – Redus (st.), Hattiesburg, Miss.
b. November 7, 1887, natural born, b. Bastrop, La,
City Letter Carrier, US Post Office Dept, Hattiesburg
Mother & Father dependent on for support
single, caucassian, no military service,
exempt from draft – Postal service
signed – O. W. Johnson
Tall, Stout, blue eyes, dark hair, not bald, no damage
signed – M. Galbrath?, west side precinct, city, Ha Miss, 6/5/1917
It was pretty clear to me that I had the right guy since he was in the Postal Service. It didn’t line with the WWI navy story but I didn’t consider that a deal breaker.
I wasn’t convinced that Robbye and Oscar had married but familysearch.org posted transcriptions for Alabama marriage records a few years back. I haven’t ordered the original, but here is the transcribed version:
familysearch.org
Groom’s Name: O. W. Johnson
Groom’s Birth Date: 1912 [sic]
Groom’s Age: 4 [sic]
Bride’s Name: Robbie Strahan
Bride’s Birth Date: 1896
Bride’s Age: 20
Marriage Date: 14 Aug 1916
Marriage Place: Birmingham, Jefferson, Alabama
Groom’s Marital Status: Unknown
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: M74689-2
System Origin: Alabama-EASy
Source Film Number: 1064437
Reference Number: p181
To get back on the Campbell trail, we have to look at Robbye’s past. I was able to locate her using census records and her death certificate but the tidiest way to present her vital stats is through her Social Security application (SS-5), transcribed:
SS-5 Application for Social Security Account Number
262-30-1039
Robbye Greenblatt
11 N. K St., Pensacola, FL, Robbye Strahan
age 48, b. 1-26-96, Miss.
father Walter Strahan, mother Ella McGrew
female, white, not applied before
unemployed
July 25, 1942, signed Robbye H. Greenblatt
I’m not certain on Robbye’s birth city or county because Mississippi didn’t require birth records until 1912 and I’ve found nothing else to narrow it down. The 1900 census has the family living in Beat 2, Perry County, Mississippi. Her father, Walter Allen Strahan, was a farmer. One future project is to track down his land records from the 1890s to confirm they were living in Perry County at the time of Robbye’s birth.
Moving up to the next generation with Robbye’s father, Walter Strahan was a Mississippi native and apparently lived there his whole life, dying in Hattiesburg, Forrest County, Mississippi. Here’s my transcription of his death certificate:
Death Certificate Mississippi, state file # 19082
Forrest, Hattiesburg, inside, Methodist hospital, Edwards Street, 6days in hospital, life long in community
res Mississippi, Forrest, Hattiesburg
Walter Allen Strahan, not veteran, no ss#, male, white, married
wife Ella McGrew, b. dec. 14, 1869, 73 yrs, 6 mo, 16 dys
b. Mississippi, trade – Carpenter,
father William Strahan, b. don’t know
mother Don’t know, b. don’t know
informant sign – can’t read it
105 Redus St., H-Burg, Miss.
burial, 7/1/43, New City, H-Burg, Miss.
H-Burg Und’t Co., Hattisburg, Miss.
Registrar7-10-43, Ezra McInnis,
Medical – d. June 30, 1943, 1 am
attended on 6/30/43,
Cerebral Hemorrhage, 6 days
Hypertension, Arterio-Sclerosis – several years
signed S E Buter, Hattiesburg, Miss, 7-7-43
Interesting to see that Walter was living on the same street in Hattiesburg that Oscar Johnson was living on in 1917!
Let’s go back through a few census records (obtained through ancestry.com):
1900, Mississippi, Perry, Beat 2, June 4, SD 6, ED 88, SH 3B, 40, 40
Walter Strahan, head, w, m, Dec, 1869, 30, m, 7, Miss, Miss, Georgia, farmer, 0, yes, yes, yes, O, F, F, 38
Ella, wife, w, f, Sept, 1871, 28, m, 7, 3, 3, Miss, Miss, Miss, yes, yes, yes,
Web, son, w, m, June, 1894, 5, s, Miss, Miss, Miss, no, no, yes
Robbi, daug, w, f, Jan, 1896, 4, s, Miss, Miss, Miss, no, no, yes
Ebb, son, w, m, Feb, 1898, s, s, Miss, Miss, Miss, no, no, yes
Here we can clearly see Walter and his daughter Robbi (Robbye) in the same record. The 1890 census is missing, so going back to 1880 we find Walter with his parents:
1880, Mississippi, Covington, Holleday Creek, SD 2, ED 124, page 1A/321, 2, 2
W. L. Strahan, w, m, 50, m, sheriff, Miss, Ga., Ala
Mary Ann, w, f, 48, wife, m, keeping house, Ala, Ga, Ga
Henretta, w, f, 16, daughter, s, attended school within the year, Miss, Miss, Ala
William, w, m, 14, son, s, attended school within the year, Miss, Miss, Ala
Walter, w, m, 11, son, s, attended school within the year, Miss, Miss, Ala
Albert, w, m, 8, son, s, attended school within the year, Miss, Miss, Ala
Victor, w, m, 5, son, s, Miss, Miss, Ala
Dora, w, f, 1, daughter, s, Miss, Miss, Ala
W C Bowick Jr., w, m, 26, s, laborer, typhoid fever, Miss, Miss, Miss
J. W. Strahan, w, m, 21, s, at school, Miss, Miss, Ala
Then 1870:
1870, Mississippi, Covington, Holliday Creek Beat, page 359/10, image 10, June 29, 66, 74
W L Strahan, 40, m, w, farming, 200, 300, Mississippi, cannot read, cannot write, male citizen>21 years old
Mary Ann, 34, f, w, keeping house, Alabama, cannot read, cannot write
Lija?, 16, f, w, attending school, Mississippi, attended school within the year, cannot read, cannot write
Lawrence, 13, m, w, farm hand, Mississippi, cannot read, cannot write
James, 11, m, w, farm hand, Mississippi, cannot read, cannot write
Henrietta, 6, f, w, Mississippi, cannot read, cannot write
William, 4, m, w, Mississippi, cannot read, cannot write
Walter, 6/12, m, w, Mississippi, Dec, cannot read, cannot write
I don’t have many primary records on this generation. One to-do item is to order the death certificates for Walter Strahan’s siblings to confirm their parents’ names and find any clues. So for now I’m relying on what others have reported. There was a self-published book written by John H. “Buster” Strahan entitled The Strahan Family History. Regrettably I don’t have a copy but apparently it includes this generation.
From Walter’s death certificate, the census records above and one from 1860, we can piece together than his full name was William Lawrence Strahan. His wife was Mary Ann Purvis/Pervis. From others’ work, I have that they married in 1852, further supporting that she was the mother of Walter born in 1869.
One other source I have is a copy of a letter written by a Strahan descendant discussing his ancestry. These were provided by my cousin Laurel Francis, who has been working with me on the Campbell and Purvis families. The letter is between Leonard S. Strahan and Charles E. Strahan, Sr. in 1947. This letter demonstrates that Leonard’s paternal grandmother was “Mary Ann Pervis Strahan.” Page 1 of the letter is below:
Mary Ann (Purvis) Strahan’s death has been reported as being in either 1919 (findagrave.com) or 1929 (online posted tree). In either case no death record has been found. Also mentioned in the above letter is Mary Ann’s sister, Henrietta Pervis Eaton. Henrietta died in 1925. Her death certificate is transcribed as:
Death Cert
Mississippi, #1890
Walthall Co., Tylertown, Tylertown, Reg dist 746, file #9, Pri Reg Dist # 9340,
Henrietta Pervis Eaton
female, white, widowed, b. Dec. 26, 1835, 91 yrs, 1mo, 4d, housework
b. S.C.
father Geo. Pervis, b. SC
mother Caroline Campbell, b. SC
informant: W.E. Collins, Tylertown, Miss.
filed 3-15-1925, B. Lampton Crawford
d. Jan 30, 1925
attended Jan 30, 1925 to Jan 30, 1925, death at 9pm, Cerebral Hemorrhage
A. B. Harvey, 2-16-1925, Tylertown, Mis
And finally here we find our first Campbell in my tree as the mother of Henrietta (Purvis) Eaton and her sister Mary Ann (Purvis) Strahan. In review:
my grandmother Kay was the daughter of Robbye Henrietta (Strahan) [Johnson] Greenblatt (1896-1979)
Robbye was the daughter of Walter Allen Strahan (1869-1943)
Walter was the son of Mary Ann (Purvis) Strahan (1836-1919?)
Mary Ann was the daughter of Caroline Campbell (1810-1873).
In my subsequent posts I will dive into the Campbell family of Wilcox County, Alabama and trace them back to Chesterfield County, South Carolina. I welcome any comments or corrections to this blog post.