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Robyn’s Family History

Harbour/
Bradley

My grandfather's mother was Vannie Lee Harbour, and she was born on November 13, 1901 in Hardin County, TN. Little is known about her early years. The child of another woman, Vannie was nevertheless brought home to her father’s wife Lula, who raised her lovingly as her own child. She grew up in a farming family, but did have the opportunity to attend the Tennessee State Normal School in Nashville for some time before marrying her first husband Lawson Holt and eventually having her first son Luther Holt on October 10, 1921. 

Vannie later married Elroy Roberson with whom she had four more children. Vannie (or “Mama Vannie” as we all called her) was a gentle, soft-spoken woman who seemed to have had two great loves: her children and her church. She worked much of her life as a domestic like the majority of black women in those days. Later in life, she would take in boarders. She eventually moved to Dayton, Ohio where her son Luther had moved earlier, but she went back to Tennessee to visit extended family members and friends when she could. After all, in a small Southern, rural town, everybody was “cousin this” or “cousin that”—everybody was family. Vannie passed away on October 1, 2000, at the age of 98, in Ohio.
 

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Vannie's father was Doss Harbour (born January 27, 1878, photos on left). Vannie lived with him in his house until her second marriage. Doss was a farmer like most of the other local blacks. He was strong-willed and aggressive--known throughout town as someone not to be played with. He was playful with the local children, but fierce in his loyalty to his community. In a flare-up of racial violence in the 1920s, he grabbed a gun and defended his neighbors and family.

Doss' parents were Joseph Harbour and Hannah Barnes. Joseph Harbour (shown below right) was probably a slave, born in about the year 1852. This picture was on a piece of tin, which is how photos were made before they were put on paper. It dates from the late 1800s. Hannah Barnes, on the other hand, was one of the few free blacks in Hardin County.

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It is unknown how Hannah and Joseph met. Free blacks, here as in elsewhere, formed relationships primarily with slaves, as their lives were never very different. In addition to son Doss, Joseph and Hannah had a daughter Oda, born about 1876.

Joseph Harbour’s mother’s name was Marge Harbour. She appears in a Hardin County Court Record, dated August 6, 1866, where her son Joseph, along with his brothers Alexander, Wesley, Calvin and Wiley, were being apprenticed out to white men in the community until they turned twenty-one years old. Joseph was 14 years old at the time. Marge most likely had been a slave. Although the record states that this action was taken with Marge’s consent, the years after the Civil War often saw black children “taken” from their parents and apprenticed to whites.

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One of the wealthy Harbour brothers in Hardin County probably owned Joseph and his brothers, his mother Marge, and possibly their father. Elijah and his brother Elisha were two of the larger slaveholders in Hardin County in 1850 and 1860, each owning more than fifteen slaves in those years. The Harbours were a multigenerational slave owning family originally from Kentucky. Shown at left is part of an 1860 census for Elijah Harb(our), showing the ages, sex & racial categories for the slaves he owned.

Joseph's wife, Hannah Barnes (born abt. 1856), on the other hand, was a free black woman. Hannah Barnes is remembered as always having a large garden and being an avid churchgoer and devout Christian woman who attended the local New Zeal Missionary Baptist Church. She loved to cook and was especially proud of her light bread and other types of bread. “She was always churning her milk and butter,” a granddaughter remembers.

Sometime between 1880-1894, Joseph Harbour apparently died. Hannah Barnes later married John Bradley and had the following children:

Magnolia Bradley, born about 1883
Alma Bradley, born about 1885
Pearl Bradley, born about 1887

Shown at right is a photograph of Magnolia Bradley. “Nola”, as she was called, was a beloved member of the community, a  business-owner whom elders still remember vividly today. I believe the photo above hers is of her sisters, Alma and Pearl:

 

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Hannah Barnes was free, because her mother was free. Her mother Margaret Barnes is shown as a free mulatto (one black parent, one white parent) on the Hardin County census in 1860 living with a white woman , Elizabeth Barnes and her family. Margaret is listed as being a Servant. Margaret also is shown as a free black on the 1850 census, living in the Barnes household and 21 years old, which would put her year of birth at around 1829-30.  Elizabeth’s husband John Barnes is still alive and in the household at this time. Margaret’s name in 1850 is “Margaret Roberts”.

Hardin County Court Minutes refer to Margaret Roberts. Sadly, it says that she was “badly treated” by one Washington Turner and was now to be bound out to John Barnes until she turned twenty-one years old (see transcription on left). John won the right to Margaret’s services with the winning bid of $197.00. John Barnes was a local politician; he served as a state legislator from 1823-1825. It is unknown who Margaret ’s parents may have been and how Margaret came to be an apprenticed free black and not a slave. From oral history, Cherokee Indian blood existed in the Barnes line.

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Census records indicate Margaret having many children. The law stated that children assumed the status of their mother. Because Margaret was free, this meant that all of her children were born free. Margaret was one of the fortunate few in that respect; the majority of the time the law worked to ensure the opposite—that children of slave women were born as slaves also. This was an important distinction, especially since untold thousands were fathered by white slaveowners. Margaret Barnes had the following children, according to the 1850 and 1860 free census records (all dates are approximate):

Campbell Barnes, born about 1845
Louisa Barnes, born about 1849
Lucy Barnes, born about 1850*
Green Barnes, born about 1851*
Samuel Barnes, born about 1854
Hannah Barnes, born about 1856*
Martin Barnes, born about 1859
Nannie Barnes, born about 1864*

I have only located more information on the children with astericks by their names--the fate of the others remains unknown at this time.

What Am I Currently Researching On The Harbours/Bradleys?

1) Where did Margaret Barnes come from and how was she made a free black woman?

The fact that Margaret Barnes was listed as Margaret Roberts in 1850 is a powerful clue, but one that is almost impossible to follow since I have no idea what specific county or state to look for such a common state. The Washington Turner is also similarly elusive--I have trouble finding him in Hardin County at all, and I’m unsure if other Washington Turners I’m following are the same one. But, that’s the best lead I have and that’s the lead I’m currently exploring.

2) Are there other Harbour/Bradley ancestors?

I also would like to connect with other Harbour or Bradley ancestors--I’ve discovered very few at this point.

My search for my Harbour/Bradley ancestry continues. Please email me with comments, questions or tips

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