Shumate Foster Family Reunion

The Shumate Foster Family Reunion was held in Chicago on August 8 - August 10, 2008. This gathering of those descendants of Rebecca Barnes was phenomenal. I presented the family history along with a self produced family history documentary tracing the lineage of this remarkable woman. Rebecca was born circa 1810 of a Creek Indian mother and a father of African descent. She was kidnapped from the Creeks and made a slave to the white family who owned her father. She was later sold to Obadiah Barnes of Greene County Alabama. The two had four children together, Martha, John, a girl name unknown and Adam. Obadiah attempted to take Rebecca and his children to Canada where they could live free but he was poisoned by Rebecca's former owners. He died and Rebecca and her children were sold to Hiram Mahan. All four children were then sold to other slaveholders: John to a Washington family in Tennessee; Martha to Eli Shumate in Kemper County Mississippi, it is unknown where the other girl was sold. Adam was also sold but when Rebecca went mad with grief a local doctor convinced the slavers to return the child to his mother. He returned to the Mahan plantation and lived with his mother. Rebecca later had two additional children by an African slave named Granville Cole. Their children were Melissa and Joe Cole. The descendants of Martha and Melissa gathered at the reunion. It is my goal to find the other lost branches of Rebecca's Children by using the internet and other resources to connect with those who may be related. http://www.africanamericanfamilyhistory.com/