Church Homecomings

Next weekend, I plan to attend a church homecoming at Antioch Baptist Church in Skippers, VA which is located in the county of Greensville. This will not be my first time attending this church because I have attended other homecomings as well as family funerals. Antioch is the church once attended by my paternal grandmother Hattie Moore Pair (1902-1956) and her maternal ancestors the Robinsons of Skippers, VA. Several living family members are still members of this church and I look forwarding to seeing them as well as meeting new family members.

Success in Attending Church Reunions
I have had much genealogical success with attending church reunions because it has enabled me to connect with living descendants of my ancestors as well as others who knew them.

Visiting Family Cemetery
Besides meeting family, I hope to also have time to visit the Robinson Family Cemetery which is adjacent to the church where several of my family members are buried including my paternal grandparents Matthew and Hattie Moore Pair and Robert and Mary Eliza Robinson Moore, who were the parents of my paternal grandmother.

Finding DNA Candidates
I also hope to find DNA candidates to test the 1) maternal and paternal ancestry of my great-great grandfather Joshua Robinson (abt. 1846-1935); and 2) maternal ancestry of Lucretia Providence Cook Greenway (abt. 1855-?)., who is believed to be a sister of my great-great grandmother, Ersie Jane Providence Robinson (abt. 1850-aft. 1900). Grandma Ersie’s maternal DNA has been tested twice; the results match the U6a1 Haplogroup, which is European.

DNA results from Grandpa Joshua’s maternal ancestry will provide more information into the heritage of his mother Maria Morgan Greenaway (abt. 1809-aft. 1900) and her mother, Lizzey Morgan, who was a slave freed in the will of Dr. James Greenway of Dinwiddie County, VA around 1795. As a result of her mother’s freedom by Dr. Greenway, Maria was born free in Virginia. At the time of Grandma Maria’s birth, if a mother was free, her children were born free. The status of the father did not matter according to this law.

Grandpa Joshua’s 1935 death certificate gives the name of his father as Moses Robinson. This is all I know about Grandpa Moses; therefore DNA results may give some clue as to his ethnicity. On several documents, Grandpa Joshua was listed as a “Mulatto.” Some of his grandchildren remember that he was very “light skinned’ in complexion. Therefore, it is possible that he had a European paternal ancestry.

If Grandma Ersie Jane Providence Robinson and Lucretia Providence Cook Greenway were sisters as was told to me by a granddaughter of Grandma Ersie, then the maternal DNA results should match. No written documentation has been found to indicate that these two women were sisters. They did, however, have the same maiden name, but Grandma Ersie’s marriage license does not name her parents. Lucretia’s marriage license names her parents as John and Eliza Providence.