Repeating our oral history which has reported that Jack said to his daughter Jane (Johnson) Turner, “We are really Kimbrew’s- Kimbroo’s.” Also, that Jack originated in the Bahamas. Is Kimbroo an African or Carribean tribe? Or as understood by descendants a family slaveholder name of Kimbro or Kimbrough?
We have documentation of Jack and several children in 1856 with slave owner John Caldwell Johnson. Where do we go before that date?
In going further back to the Carribean and Jack’s birth range the names are endless. Therefore to be definitive one needs to find the middle.
In 1850 our John Caldwell Johnson ‘s census does list Jack’s three children’s ages as slaves (same?). Jack’s age is either misrepresented or he is elsewhere. In 1840 it is not known whether John C had Jack or not.
We look at other Johns(t)on family, marriages, and neighbors in contact with John Caldwell Johns(t)on in Alabama and South Carolina. So far after reading thousands of probate records relating to the family nothing has bore fruit except a few leads with affiliated wills noting a distributed slave named “Jack”. These are possibilities.
Exploring the Kimbrough name has proven to be a strong possibility. The family origins and migrations had coincided with Jack’s reported path of Virginia, TN, NC, Alabama, and Mississippi. Interesting is that many branches of the Kimbrough family have noted the slaves they have owned as being kept in the family. Protecting the slaves from the selling block. Using affectionate terms in will documents. If that is the case of the Kimbrough legacy how did Jack and his family become Johnson’s? or were they Johnson’s first ? Many speculations.
We do know that several Kimbrough’s lived in and near Greene County, Alabama.
The closest being half brothers George and Marmaduke Kimbrough from North Carolina (Jack’s listed census’ origin of birth) In fact Marmaduke lived less than 19 miles from John Caldwell Johns(t)on. John C. was in district 15 in Mt. Hebron, Alabama and Marmaduke district 13 in Union, Alabama. George Kimbrough and his wife Esther Love Steele moved again from Greene County, AL to Kemper County, MS .
(Please note in researching these Kimbrough and Johns(t)on names many given names repeat themselves due to the practice of naming rights.)
Another relationship of interest is Whitt, Witt, and DeWitt . These are surnames of our Y DNA. Several Kimbrough’s had married Witt’s .
In the near future we will have a page outlining our Y, MtDNA and autosomal kits results.
