Richard Lewis in Jackson Co GA

I was back on the never-ending hunt again today for the origin of my great-grandfather, Richard Lewis. I have only been able to trace him back to 1910, when he first appears as a 60 year-old, widowed, laborer on the farm of John Thomas White in Maysville, Jackson Co GA. Richard Lewis married Minnie Bell (widow of Bill Cochran) shortly thereafter, and my grandfather, Sharp Lewis, was born to this union in 1911. It's a hard pill to swallow when you hit a brick wall with your great-grandfather. That just doesn't seem like that long ago, but Richard Lewis was 60 years old when he fathered my grandfather.

The only clue I've ever had to his parentage is his 1931 death certificate which lists his parents and Richard and Sallie Lewis, born in GA.

Today I decided to double-check the Ancestry.com census records again for any Lewises in Jackson County GA prior to 1900. I quickly found a hit where a 21-year old Richard Lewis was enumerated on the 1870 census on the farm of J. A. Braselton in the Cunningham District - Jefferson Post Office area of Jackson County. How could I have missed this earlier, I thought. My Richard Lewis was born circa 1850 and this would line up perfectly.

The excitement would be short-lived as soon as I noticed that this Richard Lewis was listed as a BLACK male. Now I know census enumerators make mistakes, but how many write down the wrong race?

I'm still going to keep the record as a possibility since the name and age are so in line with my great-grandfather's statistics.

Here is the household enumeration:

1870 US Census Jackson Co GA Subdv 71 Jefferson PO HH 349:
Braselton, J.A. 48 m w farmer $2000 $300 GA
Braselton, Sophia 41 f w keeping house SC
Braselton, James 22 m w at school GA
Braselton, Antnett 17 f w no occupation GA
Braselton, Benjamin 15 m w laborer
Braselton, Alfred 13 m w laborer GA
Braselton, Julia 9 f w at school GA
Braselton, Arena 6 f w at school GA
Braselton, Robert 5 m w at home GA
Braselton, Osker 2 m w at home GA
Lewis, Richard 21 m b laborer SC

Although I was initially reviewing this entry for my own family line, I was able to add several of these Braseltons to the Maysville tree. Some are buried at Pendergrass Baptist. Not all of the Braseltons were on the Braselton town side of Jackson County. John Amos Braselton and his brother Titus V. Braselton were both farmers near Maysville prior to 1900.