Good Hope, MS Newton County, Mississippi
The Freedmen who settled communities were largely ignored in the “telling” of America’s history. They were either omitted from historical documentation or portrayed in imagery that lacked depth or accuracy. Many early historians did not see relevance in the experiences of emancipated men and women. This book is a modest attempt to bring light to these events and pay the early settlers of Good Hope Freedmen Settlement in Newton County, Mississippi their due. The book will attempt to explain the historical links and ties of the first two Good Hope Communities and the role the original Good Hope Baptist Church played in the development of Good Hope Freedmen Settlement. The Good Hope community on Fellowship Road was known during that period as the “White Good Hope Church Community” and will be referred to in this book as the original Good Hope Community on Fellowship Road, unless necessary to the telling of the story when “White Good Hope Church” may be used. Freedmen Settlement, Colored Community and Good Hope Community, will be used interchangeably throughout the book.
To offer scope and content to the book, biographical and genealogical sketches of the early settlers and their descendants are presented, which will include correspondence, obituaries, funeral notices, tax receipts, United States Census information, journal entries, church records, Indian Daws Roll, wills and other documentation pertaining to the emancipated Freedmen and those who held them enslaved.
The genealogical research done on my great grandfather, Filmore Johnson/Petree, his ancestors and his many descendants from 1860 until present will make up a large portion of the information in this book. The lives of the families of Good Hope Freedmen Settlement will reveal novel information pertaining to the history of the settlement from its beginning to present. Plus it will review historical information that pertains to the areas surrounding the settlement towns such as; Union, Chunky, Coneahatta, as well as Hickory, Newton, Leake, Scott, Jasper, Lauderdale and other surrounding counties in Mississippi. Another so called “Slave Town” known as Davis Bend, Mississippi will be reference in this book because of its close ties to the ancestors of my paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Levy Johnson and her father, Simon Levy.
The facts documented in the book concerning the Fillmore and the Johnson/Petree families and their descendants were discovered through researching and gathering information over many years from the few remaining descendants of the pioneer founding families. Some of the material in the book regarding Filmore Johnson/Petree is from family elder’s recollections, as well as memories and stories from community elders. A small part of the book will pertain to what I remember about my great grandfather and what was told to me by my elders as a young girl. With the help of the oral historians and the family elders, I will also make an effort to identify the slaveholding families: the Levy’s, the Petrees, Suttles and the Johnsons. Some information in this book regarding the Hardy Salter family was obtained from my book “In search of Hardy Salter” published November 2011. Information pertaining to the Great Migration was gathered from my book “The Early Black Settlers In Stephenson County, Illinois 1830 - 1930” published in 2009 by the Stephenson County Historical Society, Freeport, Illinois.
