I have combed the online census schedules and come up with this theory: On the 1860 slave schedule a white man named Edward H"e"nshaw owned one black male age 35 (this would put the slaves DOB in 1825). This slave could have taken on the name Henshaw. Starting with the 1900 census for the Vancleave, Fort Bayou area I begin to find H"a"nshaws that could have been sons of the unnamed slave. Samuel Hanshaw b. 1858, Alexander Henshaw b. 1854, Harry Hanshaw b. 1850, Elliot Hanshaw b. 1849, and John Hanshaw b. 1872. Samuel, Alexander, Harry and Elliot all named their own sons after each other which is what leads me to believe that they are brothers, but only Alexander has the spelling variation in his name. Also, Alexander reported on the 1900 census that his father was born in Virginia but the rest say Mississippi. I also find a John Hanshaw b. 1871, with marital ties to the Martin family but I cannot tie him to my Hanshaws. The odd thing is that I do not find a Nathaniel (my great grandfather) as a child in any of these households. He shows up in 1910 as a border in Biloxi. I believe that this family are decendant of the slave owned by Edward Henshaw.

Ethel's parents were Jerry and Annie Plump. The only info that I can get for Jerry is that he was born in either Demopolis, Al or GA around 1889. On the 1920 census Annie is listed as a widow. Annie was born is GA around 1898. Annie and Jerry had one other daughter, Cora, I believe her nickname was "Plum", born in MS also in 1916. Annie's parents were Chas and (?) Brown. In analyzing the 1920 Harrison county census, Annie listed her father born in SC and mother in TX. Chas Brown listed that he was from SC and deceased wife from TX. In Annie's household was herself and her two daughters, two brothers, C.C.(b.1901) and J.(b. 1891) and sis-in-law, Nellie.(b. 1901). In Chas's household were: dau Lilli(b.1896), son Napolian (b.1894) and son Frank (b. 1901). Also, Lilly's son and daughter. She is listed as Rodgers. On the WW1 Registration I found a Christopher Columbus Brown who I belive is C.C. In yet another household I found Holly Brown(b.1884) living with Peter Slack and his wife, Holley's sister, Lizzie (b.1888). I belive that C.C., Frank, J., Napolian, Holley, Lilly, Lizzie, and Annie are all the children of Chas Brown. When and why they came to MS I can't tell. I know that Chas was born in SC, Lizzie and Holley were born in SC and the rest of the children were born in GA so they migrated at some point. The question is since the mother was from TX, did they meet in SC or GA. There is also a family rumor/myth that the singer James Brown is fom this family's line of Browns. I have not been able to verify the story but from his bio his father and aunt migrated from Barnswell, SC into Augusta, GA just as my Browns had done. There could be a connection.

When Jerry Plump died Annie remarried to Walker Graphton, said to be a rich farmer from Jackson, MS. They had Yvonne Graphton Nash born Aug 24, 1929 and Shirley Graphton Uttley of Califonia. Yvonne has two children Brenda and Reggie who now live in Biloxi.

As Aunt Yvonne told me this story she mentioned Fannie Mae Brown and Thomas Franklin Brown(b.1900) who she said were her aunt and uncle.

Help I'm Stuck!!!!!!

My search of Social Security Death records have turned up other familiar names from the area but I cannot make a link yet. Werthel Hanshaw, born 18 Aug 1884.

Another spelling variation is Han"d"shaw. Samuel Hanshaw (son of Alexander) is listed in 1920 in Biloxi as Han"d"shaw. He is listed as married but there are no others in his household.