Comments on: About Renegade South

By: Tap Roots movie prompts tapping into ancestors’ past | Poore Boys In Gray

Fri, 03 May 2013 15:23:35 +0000

[...] Historian Victoria Bynum has written extensively about Newt Knight in her book The Free State of Jones and her blog Renegade South. [...]

By: Turner Collins

Turner Collins — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:27:03 +0000

I do not comment here often, but could not resist the urge to respond when I saw your reference to Segno, TX. This is “old stomping ground” for me.” I grew up at Camp Ruby about 10 miles up the road. Went to school with some Stacy Collins descendants at Big Sandy H.S., Dallardsville. Over the years lots of attempts have been made to show a relationship between those Collinses and my line. Our family came from N. Alabama to Polk County in 1920, via west Texas. I’ve done the Y-DNA test and we fall into different haplo-groups. My roots now tract back to a Sylvester Collins of Rutherford County NC, ca. 1810. Enjoy the journey.

By: renegadesouth

renegadesouth — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:33:54 +0000

Thank you for your comments, Chris. Oh, how I wish I could have interviewed your grandfather for the two books I’ve written that contain so much on the Collins family–I’m sure his stories would have improved both! The Simeon Collins line is particularly interesting because its history is so enmeshed in both Jones County, MS, and the Big Thicket of Texas.

I hope you enjoy the books as much as you have the blog. I too wish we could find definitive proof of Stacy Collins’s ancestry.

By: Chris Collins

Chris Collins — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 20:01:00 +0000

Hi Vikki

Just wanted to let you know I really enjoyed reading your blog. I have been researching for years some of the stories my grandfather used to tell me when I was younger. May family comes from the Simeon Collins line see below.

Stacy Collins
Simeon Collins
Harrison Taylor Collins
Rev.Richard Monroe Collins
Watson Harrison Collins
Watson Harold Collins
Then Myself Chris Collins

My grandfather Watson Harrison was born in 1908 and passed away in 2009. He was born in Segno, TX in the Big Thicket. He actually knew many of the “Old Jayhawkers” that were still alive when he was younger and would pass on many of the stories that he was told about the Old Kaiser Burnout and “Uncle” Warren. I just ordered your books and look forward to reading them. I have tried gathering information for years about my family but it seems no one has been able to find anyone earlier that Stacy Collins. If oyu have any luck please let me know.

Thanks

Chris

By: renegadesouth

renegadesouth — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 01:41:40 +0000

I truly appreciate your ongoing support for Renegade South, Vikky. Thanks for your kind words.

Vikki

By: Vikky Anders

Vikky Anders — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 00:31:34 +0000

Hi Vikki,

Just wanted to let you know that I’ve spend the last hour re-reading many of the posts on your blog. BTW, Renegade South is a gift that keeps on giving. Made all the better due to your creative narrative style. One phrase comes to mind. “back yards ran red with blood.” Perhaps more people would bother to read history books if other historians posessed your narrative talent. In addition, I enjoy viewing the various pictures that appear on your website. Treasures indeed. Neat that so many people are eager to share their family stories and photos. Cheers to you, Vikki!

Another Vikky…(Vikky Lee Wilburn Anders) San Diego

By: renegadesouth

renegadesouth — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 16:33:20 +0000

It’s nice to hear from you, Mary. The Blackwell line is certainly integral to the Free State of Jones story. I myself have a great-aunt, Anna Bynum, who married into the Blackwell family, but I’ve never been able to determine who she married since she appears as a widow in the manuscript censuses.

In regard to the “Ausberry McDaniel” who appears on Ethel Knight’s roster (and on Newt Knight’s postwar roster as well) it is certainly possible that he was your great-grandfather, Hanson Ausberry McDonald. It would not be the first time that a Knight band member’s name appeared in more than one form. I will check my records at my first opportunity to see if I find any clues as to whether they are indeed the same man.

Vikki

By: maryt

maryt — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 00:37:15 +0000

In doing research on my Blackwell family line, I found your information on my great grandmother’s brother, Richard Montgomery Blackwell, a member of the Newt Knight gang and who had married Newt’s cousin, Zorada Keziah Knight. This info helped to explain some old stories about my great grandfather, Hanson Ausberry McDonald, who had joined the Confederacy, Co. E, 6th MS Infantry, was captured during the Battle of Port Gibson, imprisoned in Illinois, and eventually released in a prisoner exchange. He returned home to Covington County MS and married the neighbor’s daughter, Clarky Jane Blackwell. In “The Echo of the Black Horn,” page 67, is a listing of Newt’s company. It includes “Ausberry McDaniel.” I’m trying to find if this is really “McDonald.” Family stories are that Hanson Ausberry McDonald was a member.
Have greatly enjoyed reading this blog.

By: renegadesouth

renegadesouth — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:00:14 +0000

To Margaret Louise Miller, comment at http://renegadesouth.wordpress.com/wp-admin/comment.php?action=editcomment&c=6582

Nice to meet another Bynum cousin! Historically, Prentice and Benjamin are two of my favorite renegade southerners. My last book, The Long Shadow of the Civil War (which will be out in paperback in June 2013), covers much of Prentice Bynum’s political career after the Civil War, when he became a Populist.

Thanks for writing,
Vikki

By: Margaret Miller

Margaret Miller — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 14:19:38 +0000

Hi, Victoria,
I am your cousin on the Bynum side. My ggg grandfather was Prentice Bynum, my gg grandfather Benjamin Bynum, my grandfather Robert Earl Bynum. My mom (d.2009) was Nellie Kathleen Bynum Miller. Yes, that means I also am a Sumrall descendant. I have always been a renegade southerner but had no idea until a few years ago that perhaps it is genetic. My views drove my mother crazy and it was hard to understand why I was so different from most of the people around me until I read your “Free State of Jones” book. I look forward to reading more of your work.
Margaret Louise Miller
Jonesborough, TN