Our Story: As We See It

(L-R) Enfield Walker Perry Descendants, Minnie, Louis and Daisy enjoying a research trip to the Harris County Courthouse, Hamilton, GA.

OUR STORY: AS WE SEE IT

Being an enslaved daughter of an enslaved Black Mother, which was born with the blood and looks of her mother’s white enslaver, Enfield was her given name and Walker was her enslaved family’s name. The key players in this very interesting and adorable story are the fourth and fifth generation descendants. This strong, powerful and educated Walker-Perry family went from being enslaved to owners of approximately one-hundred acres of land. This land was purchased in the late 1800’s in Bullock County (Suspension, Alabama). Today it is literally a ghost town in Bullock County, Alabama. In our story we will set a stage of events in your mind that will portray the David and Enfield Walker Family. We will do so by compiling research which we found through writings left behind by our fore fathers. They wrote about our family history as they saw it. We are very fortunate and grateful for our fore parents in the Perry Family that wrote about certain events which occurred because now we can put “Our Story” together as we see it.

Enfield Walker Perry 1845-1917 Daughter of Enslaver, Virgil Walker Jr and an enslaved woman, Margaret.

Enfield’s enslaved mother was Margaret Walker and Enfield’s father was her enslaver Virgil Walker, Jr. He is listed as her Father on Enfield’s death certificate. Enfield and her mother Margaret were enslaved on the Walker’s plantation located in Harris County Georgia. Enfield was born in Barbour County (Salem), Alabama on August 20, 1849, and she died at the age of 67 on May 25, 1917. Enfield had one brother whose name was Newell. Unfortunately, we found that Newell died from burns in a fire at the age of 13 in Barbour County, Alabama. The Mortality schedule indicates that because of complications from his burns he suffered for 120 days. Newell was listed as being mulatto. It is also written on one of the census reports that Enfield was listed as mulatto also. Through our research we also found that Margaret and Enfield were enslaved in Harris County, Georgia.

1868-A LOVE STORYS’ BEGINNING

Registered in the Harris County Court House Records that Enfield and David Andrew Perry applied for a marriage license in Harris County on March 20, 1868 and was married in Harris County. Enfield Walker and David Andrew Perry, Sr. were married on March 21, 1868 in Harris County, Georgia. They had nine children, James William Perry (Minnie Lawson), Bradwell Perry (Fannie Johnson), Mary Ella Perry (Daniel Anderson), Lula Bell Perry (Frank Dorsey), John Mitchell Perry (Palestine Lawson), David Andrew Perry, Jr. (Florence Fisher), Olden Oliver Perry (who became a medical doctor), Henry Allen Perry (Annie Whittaker), and Benjamin Luther Perry (Annie Gordon). All of Enfield’s and David’s children attended college at Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama. All but two graduated and some of the other siblings went on to obtain advanced degrees. Olden Oliver Perry became a medical doctor. Some became teachers, while others had to remain on the farm to care for the land.

Enfield Walker and David A Perry

For all formerly enslaved people in the US, the 1870 census is the first government document that lists the former enslaved by first and last name.

1870-A FAMILY FOUND A MYSTERY DEEPENED

In the 1870 census David and Enfield Perry are found living in Pulaski County, Georgia (East of the River). There they had their first child, a son named James William Perry. (This was our Grandfather). I noticed also that his middle name was the name-sake of one of the Walker’s Family enslaved first name, William Walker. Could this be a clue?

1880-ROOTS ONCE UNCOVERED BEGIN TO SETTLE

David and Enfield moved to Union Springs, (Bullock County, Suspension) Alabama where they settled and raised eight more children. David could read and write but Enfield could not read nor write. However, Enfield ensured that all nine of her children were to be educated and prosperous. She had this vision of her children as educated farmers and school educators with college degrees from Tuskegee Institute. As a short story of the family’s history, first written by one of Enfield and David Perry’s younger sons, Reverend Henry Perry, Sr. wrote, the family of eleven lived in a small house in Bullock County, Alabama (Suspension Community).

Later, his father and mother bought a large, beautiful, white antebellum home which had stained glass windows imported from Germany. The home also had tall, large columns supporting the upper porch’s roof. He wrote that when he would stand in the long center hallway of the home, he would stare at the stained glass windows. As he stood there staring at the stained glass windows, the sun rays generated reflections against the window panes and he felt as if he was looking through the fires of hell. He also wrote history of himself as well as his brothers and sisters leaving home, attending school and moving on to the next chapter in their lives after school and into adulthood.

1900-DIGNITY AND GRACE

Rear: L-R: John Mitchell Perry; Mary Ella Perry-Anderson; David Andrew Perry, Jr.; Lula Bell Perry-Dorsey; James William Perry

Front Sitting: L-R: Henry Allen Perry; Enfield Walker-Perry; Benjamin Luther Perry, Sr.

little Girls: L-R: Lillian Perry; Margarette Perry-Cheatham (Daughters of Lula Bell Perry-Dorsey)

Picture Frame Photo: Dr. Olden Oliver Perry (Younger son of Enfield)

One thing for sure is that Enfield seemed to have been a key player in the family. We often talk among ourselves now and subjects arise as to how the Perry Family originated as enslaved individuals. They started out with nothing to claim but their dignity and grace. Their endurance enabled them to become land and property owners within a few years. After the Emancipation Proclamation, David and Enfield raised a family of nine children that later became farmers and educators for a Black Family in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. One son became a Medical Doctor, (Olden O. Perry) and another son became Dean of Agriculture at Florida A&M College, (Benjamin Luther Perry), (Middle name the same as one of the enslaved brother’s name), (*Luther Walker). Bradwell, Lula Belle, Mary, Henry and Benjamin became educators. Enfield’s husband, David was an African Methodist Episcopal Church’s Minister in Bullock County and established the Hardaway A.M.E. Church in Bullock County, Alabama. He was also a share cropper that leased land in order to help other Black Famers in Bullock County get a start in raising crops of their own. Looking back and acquiring a lot of research on our family has really been a thrill and experience that really can’t be described. Each time we discover a new portion of history, or stumble upon something that is a part of our history which happened over one-hundred years ago, and is now sitting in front of us is priceless. We are grateful as a family to have all this magnificent history. As we talk to other black family members, they would say things like, “Your family has photos and written history, wow!” Therefore, we are always praising our family members who wrote and saved priceless memoirs for us to write “OUR STORY.”

Perry Family Ancestral Home, Union Springs Bullock County, AL

2023- A LEGACY OF LOVE

We continue to have biannual family reunions with more than 100 in attendance in order to keep Enfield and David’s legacy alive. We feel it is important to share this with our young family members so that they know their rich family heritage, so we compile a booklet that includes all the new information we gather. This is priceless to us, and hopefully our young family members can look back and understand that they have “a leg to stand on” when it comes to accomplishing their dreams. Clearly Enfield and David had a dream, and it lives on in all their descendants. We have published authors, educators, technical engineers, military men and women, ministers, many family members with advanced degrees, those in the medical field, those attending college, and the list goes on and on. In our family history, our generations past did not allow anything to come in their way to thwart them from accomplishing their goals, and this is the legacy we want to leave with our young family members. We also want them to proudly say, this is “Our Story”!

Perry family reunion-