Southeast Georgia
Non-White Ancestry
"Spanish Princess" Emma
Spanish Nobility?
Was Emma Malissie Sophia Ammons of early Wayne County, Georgia really
of Spanish Nobility? In Martha Mizell Pucketts book, Snow White Sands,
she writes In the early part of the 1800s there came to the home of Hon.
William Ammons (the keeper and tender of Ammons Ferry which is situated at the
crossing of the Great Satilla river where it turns to flow southward, living on the east
banks with his good wife Dicy Lewis Ammons) one dark stormy night a courtly Spanish
nobleman and the most beautiful Spanish princess that eyes ever beheld, dressed in the
most exquisite Spanish mantilla and the most elaborate Spanish shawl and all other apparel
in the same costly styles. The Spanish couple stayed the night with
the Ammons but they and their beautiful span of fine horses and the
handsome carriage were gone when they woke up the next morning. In
fact, they only found a baby in the bed they had been sleeping in (the couple had sneaked
the baby into the house). Martha goes into much detail about William Ammons tracking the
carriage tracks along the Old Kings Highway, now the Post Road, to the
Florida line (a very long trip in those days). He asked all the innkeepers along the way
whether they had seen the couple. One innkeepers wife apparently had seen them and
even had witnessed the Princess milking the milk from her breasts
and grieving over the child left behind. William finally gave up the chase when he found
that the couple had crossed the St. Marys River into Florida a full 10 hours before.
William returned to his home and he and Dicy raised the daughter as their own. They named
her Emmaline. She later married Riley Herrin in 1855.
When I first read this story I was very intrigued about this noble Spanish couple and why
they were in South Georgia in the early 1800s to start with, much less why they left a
baby behind with the Ferryman. But, after reading the rest of Marthas book I
determine that she was quite capable of spinning a yarn or two (or at least continuing one
that had been started a long time ago). So, I started wondering why such a story might
have been created to start with (although I will allow for the remote possibility that the
story is somewhat accurate). I believe it was an explanation as to why Emmaline had a
different ethnic look than most other Wiregrass folks. She probably had much darker skin
and different features than was the case most of the others. I did a little research and
found some Mark and Brands records for old Wayne County that show Emily Malicia
Sophia Ammons, the adopted daughter of John Ammons, Sr and Jemima, 6/7/1848,
formerly in Evans Pendarvis but he has left the country since.
What is the Pendarvis Family Connection?
Now, I havent done but a little research on the Pendarvis
family, but I do know they were definitely not Spanish Nobility. Perhaps Emmaline was
somehow a daughter(or a close relative) of Evan Pendarvis of Wayne Co., GA who moved to
Louisiana shortly after his marriage in 1830 to Caroline Brown in Leon Co., Florida.
Moving to Louisiana could have perhaps qualified Evan as having left the
country given that timeframe. Pendarvis family researcher Randy Floyd informed me
that Evan and Caroline had moved to New Orleans and that he was a carpenter.
Evan Pendarvis was son of Joseph Pendarvis and brother of Caleb and they migrated to Wayne
County, Georgia, between 1810 and 1830. Evans father Joseph was listed as Free, but
Non-White in the 1810 Colleton County, South Carolina census. This was due to Joseph (and
perhaps his wife Rachel also) being a descendant of Joseph Pendarvis (1675-1735) and his
mistress Parthenia, who was African. See the two sites mentioned in my previous posting
for more information on this Pendarvis family. Joseph was among the last of these S.C.
Pendarvis to be listed as Non-White in the census. This family, who is now
considered white, had become white again by the 1800s through intermarriage with
other white folks. Joseph and/or wife Rachel must have had features to cause the census
taker to note them as Non-White. The 1830 Wayne County, Georgia census shows Joseph
Pendarvis as being white. (I personally believe the mulatto population (black/white/Native
American/other mix) was not accurately noted in the early Southeast Georgia
census, perhaps because there was such a push for people to settle this newly opened
frontier that the government wanted as a buffer to Spanish Florida just my
opinion).
The 1830 Wayne Co., GA census shows only one son in the Joseph Pendarvis household (I'm
sure it was Caleb, since Evan had married Caroline Brown in Leon County, Florida in 1830).
The 1840 Wayne County, Georgia census shows Joseph and Caleb Pendarvis but Evan was still
elsewhere.
In 1847, Joseph Pendarvis died in Wayne County, Georgia.
John Ammons will dated 11/26/1849, in addition to his other children, bequeathed to
a foundling I have reared, Emma Malissie Sophia by name.
The 1850 Wayne County, Georgia census shows John and Jemima Ammons (both aged 70) with son
William (age 38), Emma (age 10), Stacy Causey (daughter, age 38). I'm not sure why Martha
Puckett thought son William had adopted and raised Emma. She also thought William was
married to Dicy Lewis whereas my records show William's brother John as married to Dicy
Lewis in 1856. William married Sloca Campbell in 1854.
One interesting thing is that back in the 1820 Wayne County, Georgia census, Sherod
Sheffield's household contained one "free colored male" 26 to 44 years old.
Shirard's wife was Jane Ammons (born 1805), niece of John Ammons, Sr. and Jemima
(who adopted Emma). I have no idea who the free colored male was or what circumstances
caused him to be in Sherod's household. Five slaves were also listed: 1 male under 16, 1
male 45+, 1 female 26-44.
In August 1854, records show that Evan Pendarvis of the state of Louisiana sold his Wayne
County, Georgia property to Caleb Pendarvis of Wayne County, Georgia.
Although she is referred to in some records as having officially taken the Ammons surname
after her adoption, I have seen genealogies showing her with a last name of Delispine and
Dekusoube but do not know the source of those names.
See Non-White discussions of the Pendarvis family at http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/Neal_Peters.htm
and http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/secret/famous/
Could Emma have been MINORCAN?
If Emma really were of Spanish descent, could she have been of the Minorcan group
of St. Augustine and New Smyrna, Florida? Although they weren't considered
"nobility", they actually arrived in the middle 1700s as indentured servants,
some of them were Spanish. I could see a scenario where travel took place between St.
Augustine and Georgia along the early Kings Highway (Post Road) route. Perhaps a Spanish
Minorcan family could have been travelling through Wayne County wearing traditional
Spanish clothing and indeed encountered the Ammons family at their Satilla River ferry. I
can't say why they would have abandoned Emma there as a baby. I guess there could be any
number of scenarios where this might have taken place.
I have read that the Savalla/Savally family of McIntosh County were "said to be"
Minorcan. http://home.att.net/~mmevans/
shows the Pacetti family of Camden Co., GA and St. Augustine, Fl as Minorcan as well
as http://www.camdencounty.org/ebooks/camden_years.html
. I would love to know more about any families of Southeast Georgia who had a Minorcan
background.
See http://menorcansociety.com/
and http://www.minorcanfamily.com