When I first became a Professional Genealogist, one of the first lessons I learned was how I could get to know my ancestors.
I know a lot about many people I have never met. We can get to know people by learning what they say, what is written by them or about them, what they do, and by learning other details of their lives without ever meeting them. A good example of this is a political candidate.
When I am trying to determine who I should vote for I try to do research on that candidate. I read their position papers. I read news stories about things that they did. Sometimes I will access their voting records to determine how they voted on important issues. I listen to how they react to and answer questions put to them. By collecting these facts, I can begin to understand who the candidates are what they truly believe.
How do they answer questions? Are they articulate, do they give a direct answer or do they spew out a bunch of political gobledy-gook? How do they treat others? Are they respectful or do they act like winning is the only thing that matters? Are they ever caught in a lie? You get the idea. You can do the same thing with your ancestors. Read books about the town or county where they grew up. If they owned property, find it on a map. Was their a local newspaper where they might have been mentioned? Did they move around a lot or did they establish a home and eventually die there? Did they show up on every census and tax roll, or did they “disappear” for years at a time? Each of these facts can tell us things about our ancestors personalities and help us “get to know them”.
For the Seales, their move to Marion County, Mississippi gives us the first among many clues about Joshua’s personality. Joshua was an opportunist. He was not a pioneer. He did not blaze trails into new frontiers, but he did take advantage of opportunities when they arose. Moving to Mississippi was one of those opportunities for Joshua.
Mississippi Territory was formed in 1798. For the next several years, the US Government, Spain, and the State of Georgia wrangled around to determine where the borders were and who owned what. Finally, in 1812, the US declared that all of the area that we now know as Mississippi was part of United States[1. Wikipedia (https://wikipedia.org), “Mississippi Territory”, rev. 15:38 June 14, 2017.]. This was an opportunity for Joshua to move his family into an area that was new and undeveloped, but also had the advantage of being part of the US.
Above is a Google Earth image of the location of Joshua’s land. The border of the township is in orange, while Joshua’s approximate property boundary is in purple. Looking at his property, you will notice several advantages in the property that he selected. The property touches the Pearl River, giving Joshua a continuous supply of water. You can also see the circular shape in the upper right hand corner. This is an indication that this property floods temporarily when the river is high. Temporary flooding can bring moisture back to the soil as well as added nutrients[2. National Geographic Society, (https://www.nationalgeographic.org/ : accessed 7/19/2017), “Silt”.]. Both of these are opportunities that Joshua embraced.
Moving across the county lets us know that Joshua was adventurous. Now we know that he took advantage of opportunities that came his way. Let’s see what other things we can discover about Joshua!