BIOGRAPHY OF SARAH CRANFORD

IDENTICAL

by

Barbara Jefferson-Bonner

Family Historian

1995

In the year of our Lord, eighteen hundred and fourteen, it is believed that a young African American woman named Sarah Cranford gave birth to three children, two girls (Edith and Rebecca) and one boy (Samuel). These children were known by the last name of Boyce.

The children were blessed by God with the hopes and dreams of having a happy and wonderfully peaceful life. 

In her late teens Edith the oldest of the three children met and Jumped the Broom with Marsh Holland.  Holland was born in 1834 in Carthage, Leake County, Mississippi. 

The couple had two daughters (Lucy and Crelia) born in Texas.  Of these two daughters, they bore the couple 26 grandchildren.  

By the time Edith was in her late 20’s she had met and married Charlie Bryant, on July 6, 1868, in Panola County.  Charlie was born in the late 1830’s, in Vicksburg, Wilcox County, Mississippi.  The couple had eight children.

After the death of Edith, Charlie married Frankie Roston and had two addition children.  Frankie died soon after the birth of the children, so therefore Charlie married Gussie Keene in 1898, and had no additional children. Gussie was instrumental in raising the two small children of Frankie Roston-Bryant.

Marsh Holland in the meanwhile had married Rebecca Boyce.  Rebecca was Edith’s younger sister.  Marsh and Rebecca had eight children. Marsh had one additional child by Sarah Simpson. The child (Betty “Bet” Holland) were raised in the home of her mother and stepfather.

The 22 children thought of each other as brothers and sisters, and so did the community and family.  No one thought of them as Marsh’s, Charlie’s, Edith’s, Rebecca’s, Sarah’s, Frankie’s or even Gussie’s children.

The oldest child of Edith and Marsh was Lucy Holland (Lucy is my great grandmother).  Lucy was raised in the home of her mother and stepfather (Charlie Bryant). 

On August 19, 1873, in Panola County, Lucy married Cyrus “Ci” Holt, Sr., Cyrus is the younger brother of Charlie Bryant.  The couple had 15 children.  Nettie Holt was one of the 15 children, she was born about 1888 in Holland Quarters.

On January 8, 1911, in Panola County, Nettie married Tommy (Tom Horn) Jefferson, from Youngblood Bottom. Tommy Jefferson is the son of Peter Horn and Hester Jefferson. The couple had five children (4 sons and 1 daughter). 

Three years after the birth of Charlie Jefferson, Grandma Nettie died.  The children were raised by Aunts and Uncles in the Holland Quarters/Youngblood community.

One of the five children was my father Robert Jefferson, Sr.  Daddy was 5ft 11in tall, with curly hair and a medium complexion, what some would call a handsome young man. Robert roamed from place to place, until he met and married Nannie Mae Brown.  She was one of three children born to A.J. Brown and Romina Johns, but yet their only daughter.

Robert served in the U.S. Army from October 31, 1945, in Fort Bliss, Texas, until February 15, 1947, in El Paso, Texas, when he received an  Honorable Discharge.

Only five (girls) of the couples’ nine children lived.  On May 29, 1946, in Panola County, the couples’ 5th child was born.  That child was me Bobbian “Bobbie Ann” Jefferson.  I was the 5th child born, but the second one to live.  The old saying was, the 5th child is the scraps.

After Daddy served his time in the U.S. Army, he moved his family to Longview, Gregg County, Texas, about 32 miles from Carthage.

I began school at Rollins Elementary, on 16th Street.  From the first time I learned to write I wrote Bobbie Ann (two-words), my parents and others close to me called me Bobbian (one-word).

Being the scraps of the bunch, I was always the smallest.  I loved climbing trees, one of my favorite things I remember doing was swing from a tree limb, and jumping on the back of a large hog.  If I missed I would land in his slop, but I never missed.

In 1959, we were uprooted again, this time we moved to Dallas, Texas.

On August 21, 1971, in Dallas Texas, my father died.  He was returned to Holland Quarters for his final resting place.

The oldest child of Edith and Charlie was Henry Bryant.  Henry and Lucy were siblings, same mother, different fathers.

Henry married Bellzora Gray and had three children, the youngest of the three children was Claudie Bryant.  Claudie and Grandma Nettie Holt were 1st cousins, they were both the grand-daughters of Edith Boyce-Holland-Bryant.

Claudie married Robert Booty and had five children, of which Bonnie Sue Booty was one. Bonnie Sue married Jewell Brown, the oldest son of A.J. and Romina Johns-Brown.

Bonnie Sue and Jewell had five children (4 daughters and 1 son), Bobbie Jewel Brown was the oldest of these children.

Bobbie Jewel and Bobbie Ann are 1st cousins from the Brown side of the family.  Because Jewell and Nannie Mae are siblings.  The young cousins are 3rd cousins on the Jefferson/Booty side of the family. Because Robert and Bonnie Sue are second cousins.

While attending Franklin D. Roosevelt High School, I met and later married my high school sweetheart Jimmy Smith Bonner, on August 27, 1967 in Coronado, California.  Of this marriage two sons and one daughter were born in the State of California. In 1988, God blessed me with a fourth child.

Bonnie Sue took her children to California to live.  After her death in 1964, the children returned to Texas to live with their father.  Bobbie Jewel met and married Joe Lee Preston, from Royce City, Texas, and had three sons.

The second son of Bobbie and Jimmy was born on July 7, 1970, in Fairfield, California.  His name was Michael Anthony Bonner, he was a happy health baby with sandy brown hair, light complexion, and brown/hazel eyes.

The second son of Bobbie and Joe Lee was born on July 25, 1970, in Dallas, Texas.  His name was Derrick Preston, he was a happy health baby with sandy brown hair, light complexion, and brown/hazel eyes.

Michael and Derrick are the descending grand-sons of Edith Boyce-Holland-Bryant.  

Several months after the birth of the babies.  Bobbie Ann and her family went to Dallas on vacation. 

While on vacation, Bobbie paid a visit to the home of her uncle.  From Uncle Jewell’s home we went to visit Bobbie Jewel and her family.

The babies were left in the front room, with their fathers and other family members.

The mother’s had not seen each other for a number of years.  Both being married and the mother of two boys each, we had a lot to talk about.  We had a long visit in the kitchen.

When we returned to the front room to care for our babies, each of us picked up what we believed to be our baby.

Each of us had a strange feeling, that something was wrong.  As we looked at the babies.  The babies we were holding looks like ours.

Instinct said,  “This is not your baby”.  We looked at the babies together, side by side.  They both had sandy hair, light complexion and brown/hazel eyes.

We were amazed, to see that our babies were identical.

We finally realized we each had the wrong baby, because of the clothes they were wearing.

Jewell and the babies fathers sat in amazement as they looked at these two identical cousins.

Jewell said he could not believe a set of 1st cousin could have identical babies.  But he reminded everyone of the old saying, that everyone had a double.  And he knew from looking at Michael and Derrick that they were definitely doubles.

After I moved back to Texas. Uncle Jewell was amazed to see that the boys still looked alike.

Every chance Uncle Jewell got he would bring Derrick to visit with Michael.  And every where he went he would tell people how much his grandson and his grand nephew looked alike. 

As the years passed Michael grew to be 5ft. 8in. And Derrick grew to 6ft.  Their faces grew to manhood, but the resemblance and their personalities were still the same.

In August of 1994, my family and I had been invited to attend the Henry/Lucy Jane Brown Family Reunion in Carthage. The first person I saw was Bobbie Jewel, she was very concern with how Michael was doing.  Then all of a sudden she looked up out of the corner of her eye and said,  “Come here, Mesha”.  I asked her, “Who are you talking to?” She said,  “I am calling my grand-baby”.  The child never moved a muscle, Michael said, “Come here Retha”.  The little girl was Michael’s daughter, my grand-daughter.  For the second time in Bobbie Jewel’s life she couldn’t say a word.  She called over a cousin of ours that lived in Fort Worth, near her. She asked Linda, “Who’s baby is that?”  Linda said, “How did Mesha get down here?” Bobbie Jewell said, “That ain’t Mesha, that’s Bobbie Ann’s grand-baby.

At that time I didn’t know what she was talking about. She explained everything to us by saying that she though the little girl was Derrick’s baby.   

Strange as it may sound the young men each have a daughter.

Michael’s daughter is KaRethia Marie Bonner, born March 31, 1990, in Dallas, Texas

Derrick’s daughter is KaMasha Marie Parker, born October 5, 1991, in Fort Worth, Texas.

According to Bobbie Jewel, who has now seen both little girl, says that they would pass for sisters instead of cousins.  And they had the same little attitude problem, she said because the same way Retha wouldn’t come when I called her.  Mesha, would not have come to you, if you had called her.

Their is no way to explain the identity of these two young men. Nor is there any way of explaining their daughters. Except to say that families are so intertwined, there lives are like spider webs.

Sarah Cranford, the mother of Edith Boyce started this chain of events, well over 150 years ago.

To my son Michael, Rest in Peace.  KaRethia, Granny will always love you.

To Derrick and KaMesha, you will always have a special place in my heart.

The Mother’s

Bobbie Ann and Bobbie Jewel

May we always have that special connection