***DUE TO SEVERE WEATHER POSSIBILITY, THIS WILL BE A ZOOM ONLY EVENT***
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8706009895?pwd=cFhnWWlDWlFNR3l5YXVjcXh6Q1RVQT09&omn=84947670239
MGS is proud to welcome Dorla Evans and Nic Starr. Dr. Evans has published two books on the Guyton family of Kosciusko, Mississippi and we have invited them to share stories from the process around the second book, Aaron Whitaker Guyton of Kosciusko, Mississippi: The Journey of his African American Children.
From Dorla:
Over two years of effort in research and writing, the book documents the life of Aaron Whitaker Guyton (1808-ABT1882) and his known ancestors and descendants. Whit Guyton never married legally under the laws of his time. A Southern white man living during the times of slavery, Guyton had three African American partners with whom he had children in the period spanning the 1840s to the 1880s. His partners were Sarah (later Sarah Russell), Patsy Gibson, and Artie Rainey.
A chance meeting with two of his descendants (Nic Starr and Rickey Simmons) at a Guyton family reunion in Kosciusko, Mississippi led Dorla to study the nature of Whit's relationships with his partners and to research the identities of his descendants. The story can be told only because Guyton included his young children with Artie Rainey in his will, a highly unusual act in the 1880s in rural Mississippi and he gave property to his older children during his lifetime. With the help of Nic, Rickey, and other Guyton descendants, Dorla has produced a book that traces the outlines of the journeys that his children and their descendants have taken.
Dorla A. Evans, PhD is Emerita Professor of Finance from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. She is a widely published author in finance. Although she is a native of Texas, her family has deep roots in Alabama and Mississippi. She previously published Joseph Guyton Genealogy: From England to Maryland and across the American South. Her next project is the family of her Irish-born mother, which has spread across the world.
This event will be in-person at Christway Commons and via Zoom. Please check back for the Zoom link the day before the meeting. Light refreshments will be served.