Family History
TRACING ANCESTRAL ROOTS…
Our documented story in Mississippi begins with two slaves, John Batease Ramsey and his wife, Amy (Ammie) Fairley. The 1870 United States Census Records and grave markers at the Ramsey Springs Cemetery show that John Batease Ramsey was born January 12, 1822 and died July 10, 1903. John Batease’s nickname was “Bat.” His wife, Ammie was born 1826 and died December 31, 1910.
Bat was born into slavery. In the 1870 Census Records, Bat’s birthplace is recorded as Mississippi; however, resource material in the genealogy section of the Wiggins Library reports that in an interview with Bat, he states that he came from Georgia to Mississippi. In his book, “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness,” Jacob Reddix, indicates that Bat’s slaveholder was Andrew Woodside (AW) Ramsey, thus he was given the slaveholder’s surname of Ramsey.
Ammie was also born in slavery and given the surname Fairley. Ammie’s initial slaveholder was Judge John Fairley of Benndale, Mississippi. Since Judge Fairley resided in Benndale, we can assume that Ammie was born in the Benndale area. Judge Fairley was the father of Mary Fairley. Mary married William Ramsey III, who was the son of William Ramsey II and youngest brother of AW Ramsey. At the time of William III and Mary’s marriage, William III bought Ammie from Judge Fairley for Mary. Ammie had general charge of the house and children, and she spun and wove and dressed them (Wiliam and Mary’s children as well as her own).
In 1850, Bat and Ammie were married. To this union were born nine children, three daughters and six sons. In order of birth they were:
- Sam Ramsey (surname changed to Nicholson)
- Easter Ramsey
- Greene Ramsey
- Violet Ramsey
- Orther/Arthur (nickname was Bullet) Ramsey
- George Ramsey
- Arlina (Linnie) Ramsey
- Malcolm (Mack) Ramsey
- Warren Ramsey
What's In A Name...
As mentioned above, Bat and Ammie are buried in the Ramsey Springs Cemetery located near Highway 15 and Bethel Road in Ramsey Springs. The cemetery contains both white and black Ramsays/Ramseys. Inventory of the Ramsey Springs graves indicates that the black descendants either just misspelled the name and it just stayed “s-e-y” or they eventually changed the spelling to “s-e-y” to distinguish themselves from the slaveholder’s descendants. The change appears to have occurred with the first generation born after slavery. Bat and his sons, Greene and George are shown to have the last name of Ramsay (s-a-y) after the slaveholder.
Roots Run Deep...
Family names that have ties to the Ramseys through marriage shortly after slavery include the Reddixs, Fairleys, Graces, Carters, Burneys, Evans, Browns, Brelands, Whittles, Johnsons, Seymours, Nicholsons, Kennedys and Reids. Many of the black Ramsey descendants continue to own land and live in and around Ramsey Springs, Vancleave, Hattiesburg, Biloxi, Gulfport, Wiggins, Janice, Bond and Maxie well into today.
You will also find Ramsey Family descendants far and wide in many states: California, Washington, Michigan, Ohio. Washington D.C., Virginia, Florida, Alabama, Texas, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, New Jersey, Kansas, Arizona, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The widespread locations are very evident when various branches of the family connect through DNA.