Mimy and Sally, Women on My Family Tree

Mimy

Mima or Mimy was the mother of Sally Riggs, my fourth great grandmother; the grandmother of Ambrose Morgan, my third great grandfather; the great grandmother of Martha Morgan, my second great grandmother; and my mother’s great great-grandmother.

Mima or Mimy as she was most often called was born about 1796. She was recorded on the March 9, 1811 slave purchase by John Palfrey with husband Sam and daughters Anna and Sally. A young girl named Maria was included in that sale and identified as Mima’s niece. Maria was most likely among the slaves returned to Relf & Chew in 1816 when Palfrey experienced financial problems. I have often wondered how Maria came to be separated from her parents. I sometimes think about how she and Mima may have felt when they are sold away but purchased together in 1811. Maria was then separated again in 1816 from what family she had and sold again. I have not been able to trace Maria in her next journey to Isaac Baldwin’s plantation.

I wonder what thoughts filled Mima’s mind about the family she may have left behind and of Maria? Mima apparently did not have long to think on these things because she was mentioned in John Palfrey’s Nov. 4, 1812 letter to his son Henry. Palfrey wrote that “Attakapas has been uncommonly sickly … my people have generally good health… Mimy had a child three weeks since, a girl.”

Mima’s birth of a daughter was mentioned in Pafrey’s letter. Although he does not provide the child’s name in the letter, there was only one female born in 1812 that was listed on Palfrey’s 1843 probate. A thirty-one-year-old Betsy was listed along with her five-year-old son, Ralph. Betsy and Ralph were among the slaves in the allotment given to Palfrey’s son John Gorham who lived in Boston. Betsy and Ralph were supposedly freed and shipped to Boston. I have found other slaves that were also freed by John Gorham Palfrey living in Boston and in New York in 1850, 1860 and beyond, but I can not say definitively that I’ve found Betsy and Ralph yet.

Mima or Mimy was next mentioned in his letter of June 12, 1833. He wrote that she was “taken unwell about day light, she at that time had considerable fever with pain about her back, shoulders & stomach. Dr. Thomas is with her & thinks it to be a case of rheumatic fever & does not consider her dangerous, the last alarm now affects me very much.”

Mima’s condition does not seemed to have improved much at the time of Palfrey’s June 19, 1833 letter. By January 18, 1834, Sam and Mima both were on the sick list. Palfrey mentioned that the severe cold weather may been the cause for what he suspected were rheumatic symptoms.

Mima was again on the sick list at the time of Aimy’s death on April 14, 1839, but she was reportedly doing better.

Palfrey’s will is probated Nov. 1, 1843 and Mima’s name was not included. But her 65-year-old husband Sam, 27-year-old son Sam, daughters; 37-year-old daughter Sally, 36-year-old Anna and 31-year-old Betsy were listed on the probate.

Mima’s daughter Anna and grandchildren: Moses, 9; Charley, 6; Caroline, 4; and William, 2 were among those slaves that were emancipated by John Gorham Palfrey. Anna was reported to have been in bad health at the time. I have been able to find her children living in Rochester, New York and Ontario County, NY in the 1850s-1860s and later living in Michigan with the last name of Woodlin. I have not been able to determine if Anna was also shipped East or if she stayed in Louisiana.

Read about my Woodlin kin

Sally Was a Runner

Sally Riggs was my fourth great grandmother; the grandmother of Ambrose Morgan, my third great grandfather; the great grandmother of Martha Morgan, my second great grandmother; and my mother’s great great-grandmother.

She was named on the March 11, 1811 Relf & Chew sale of slaves, but her age was not given. Sally was the daughter of Sam and Mima (Mimy) and the sister of Anna.

Our next glimpse at Sally was Palfrey’s 1843 probate. She was recorded as being 37 years old, with three children Mimy, 6 years old; Haley, 3 years old; and Phoebe, 1 years old. Sally’s oldest daughter was named for her mother. The probate seems to be arranged in a sequential, family group order. The person listed immediately before Sally and children was Jim, age 36. And the names following Sally were Jack, age 16; George, age 13; and Ambrose, age 11. Ambrose Morgan appeared in the household with his father, Jim Morgan, on the 1880 census. So, I theorized that Jack and George were also children of Jim and Sally. I have not found Jack or George since seeing their names of the 1843 probate.

Sally was next mentioned in Palfrey’s son’s plantation journal. She gave birth to a daughter on July 24, 1849. That child died. According to the plantation journal, Sally ran away on Sept. 21, 1850 and returned the following day.

The journal also recorded that a slave named Anna died on Sept. 5, 1850. I have not been able to find out if this was Sally’s sister Anna, who was reportedly freed by John Gorham Palfrey in 1843. I wondered if perhaps this Anna was Sally’s sister and if her death was the catalyst or the last straw in Sally’s decision to run. I have not found mentions of previous attempts of Sally to run away. But something shifted and Sally ran in 1850.

Sally’s father was freed in 1843 by John Gorham Palfrey. I found him on the 1850 St. Martin census listed as Sam Riggs, 70, in the household of Henry Dorsey. Sam’s death was also recorded in Palfrey’s journal. He wrote, “Negro man Sam (free) died.” April 8, 1862.

Several Civil War skirmishes occurred around Palfrey’s Cypremort plantation. His journal detailed gunner boats traveling up the Teche and cannon balls landing in his cane fields. On Nov. 8, 1863, Palfrey wrote that Union soldiers appeared in his fields and took away 13 men including George and Ambrose, both sons of Sally. He also recorded that troops camped on his plantation, “plundering me & my Negro cabins.” On March 22, 1864, Palfrey wrote that a very large number of Negroes ‘absconded’ from neighboring plantations and followed the Union army. He wrote repeatedly about carts being loaded with foodstuff and driven by Bob, Ambrose, Perry, Willis, Grandison and Jacob to his Cypremort plantation.

Palfrey wrote January 10, 1863 that “the measles had broken out badly among my Negroes in Cypremort.” Sally died April 2, 1864 at the age of fifty-eight. Fifteen days later her 24-year-old daughter Mahaley died in Franklin, LA. Sally’s 21-year-old daughter Phoebe died on the Cypremort plantation on May 27, 1864. Undoubtedly, Sally and others undoubtedly experienced many emotions as they found themselves on the brink of great change while at the same time standing in the midst of chaos, fear and upheaval.

Best,