Hello,

Thanks to persistent research on AfriGeneas, I "believe" (am pretty confident) that I have knocked down a wall in my research. Back in 2007 I posted about my Harris-Williams-Westmoreland family...I mentioned that my grandmother (Pearl Westmoreland) and two of her siblings, Hattie and Jim...were fathered by a White farmer named Gilbert Sandifer...I received some VERY STRONG push back in the Brick Wall forum as to the validity of this parentage...Well,I got a tip to check the Educable Children's list from Mississippi--Quitman County, and believe I just hit the jackpot in validating Sandifer's connection to Jimmie and Hattie. The Educable Children's List of 1992 shows GW Sandifer as the "Parent/Guardian" for Hattie and Jim,(aka: Uncle Jimmie) who were registerd for school. Now, that being said, there are only a couple of minor errors..."GW" should actually be "GM", (for Gilbert Moach Sandifer) and Hattie's age is shown as 11...when in actuality...I believe Hattie would have been about 14 years old in 1892. It was well-known in our family that Hattie was 5 years older than Jimmie, and about 19 to 20 years older than my grandmother Pearl. We believe the age difference has alot to do with the family rumor that Lucy was about 13 yrs old when she became pregnant with Hattie. Absent the minor discrepancies, I do believe that this new data is a very "credible" connection of this Gilbert Sandifer as the father of Hattie and Jimmie. So, thanks to Afrigeneas for being the great resource that you are!
Jeannine