CNN iReport

by Tom Livsey,

(pictured: l-r, Kevin,Yolanda, Tom with parents, Dorethia and Thomas Livsey)

WE ARE THE LIVSEYS---ONE OF GWINNETT COUNTY'S FIRST FAMILIES, 1840

In Snellville, Ga., a city about 25 miles east of Atlanta racial strives are being made by a prominent family mending their historic roots. White and Black Livseys becomes One Family...

Its our purpose to promote the heritage of Gwinnett County, Georgia. We feel its our duty to educate its citizens, students,and visitors of the influences and effects of the Civil War.

While history books illustrate grand battlefields, like Gettysburg, Vicksburg or even Chicamauga, where fathers and brothers fought to the death against each other. The bloody and the dead were left to rot where they laid.

For better or worse, today's history is left for the living. We must question our past in order to determine our own future...

This is the story of the racial divide and a reunion 187 years ago, of a proud American family that settled in Gwinnett County, Georgia in 1840.

Our Georgia history starts back in Virginia, with the birth of a son to an English family, the Leviseys'. They were still new to the American Colonies. After extensive research, they found their new home, in a small town named Culpepper, Virginia. Shortly after the Levisey family welcomed in a new-born boy named, Greene in 1794.

Although he was from English descent, he served in the War of 1812 from Virginia. After the war he moved to Georgia around 1815. On January 7, 1817, he married Barbara Ann Poss. The daughter of Henry Poss in Wilkes Co., Ga. The Poss family was of Dutch descent.

Green H. Livsey(name spelled as, Lipsey in Wilkes Co.1820-'39records), lived in Wilkes County about twenty-five years before selling his plantation there in 1838.

He served for two years as overseer to Sen. Robert Toombs Plantation, before he moved to the county borders of Gwinnett and Walton Counties in 1840.

Sandy Levisey was born 1821-22. He is allegedly the mulatto son of Green Levisey.

Sandy was the progenitor of the black Livsey family that were registered in the 1870 U.S. Population Census in Gwinnett County records. In the 1880 U.S. Census, both Levisey family parties were using the current spelling of, "Livsey".

1870 records show that Sandy maintained control of his family throughout all of the obstacles faced by most slaves during the 1820-1865. He was not faced with issues about separation of family, as in the historic fiction like, "Roots".

He was not included as a slave; however, he he did remain loyal and close to the white Livseys of Gwinnett Co., Ga..up to 1900's.

Until recently, like most American families, family records or family trees were primarily for the privileged and the powerful, as a record of how to allocate family jewels or power.

My name is Tom Livsey. I am just a brick in the wall. However, I am part of the wall Sandy Livsey built on the foundation Green H. Livsey started.

I have been researching our family tree for over the past ten years with my best assistant, my father, Thomas Livsey. Until then me and my daddy could only talk about work.

Now we have a hobby! No its not a "Rock, Coin, Stamp or even comic book collection.We are trying to put our family history together before we die.

It has been very challenging, due to our mixed nationalities. My forefathers were black, white and Cherokee Indian.

Melungeon is the term that describes a person of tri-racial descendants. Historical records were not always kept for freed blacks, slaves or Indians.

A lot of records sometimes were passed down through family members; however, much was lost because of the inability of the elder members that did not acknowledge the mixed blood.

Seems to me "You are either too young to know or too old to care", when it came to discussing family matters in the past.

My daddy only wanted to know about his grandfather, Hiram Livsey. Who was he? and Were is he buried? But my ability to research on line and at the Archives, hit a brick wall in 1870 census...

Up til then, I was able to find small bits of pieces of info about my forefathers. My father would quizzed me every other day. His questions went from..., Did you find something? To wishful thinking remarks like, '"Did you find anything?

The biggest and most important revelation of all, for both of us, was to realize that in order for us to find our forefathers beyond the 1870 census, we must make contact with the known white Livsey family from the same area during the same time.(Note: This is the most important aspect for mending slavery issues.

For only through researching plantation owners and slaves /or descendants, can we people of color learn to be able to honor our forefathers and mothers who strived to make this day possible for all of us black people.

Hold what you have in your mind. Now burn what hatred you might have in there, because if given the chance to raise from their graves, your forefathers would rejoice of the fact that YOU are free.

If pushed further they would chastise you for your lingering hatred and instead tell you of where the "Real Start of Slavery began, in Africa, by conquering Black African chieftains.

It was these African chiefs who traded our forefathers for trade goods. No White man ever went up the Congo River, because they did not have to go. They simply waited, anchored on the west coast shores of Africa, for the conquering tribes to bring them their prisoners of war for trade.

We Are The Livseys:

So, what followed was simply not imagined. My dad called Jack Livsey. They had joked for decades about being cousins. However during those times in the 60's in the south, that was nothing to joke about. He told us to contact their family historian Annette Livsey Merritt.

We did the following day, when we call her, she told us that she had something to show us. It was almost like the Wizard of Oz, we had followed the "Yellow Brick Road", and she was the Wizard.

Once we arrived at her house, we were both filled with much anxiety and apprehension, like an orphan would have felt, looking for he/her bilogical parents. She stood at the door the first thing that I noticed was that she reminded me of one of my known aunt , with a fairer complexion.

She welcomed the two of us inside, and on her dinner table was a huge plat book that took up the whole table. She directed my father to open it , as he did, all I could do was take quick glimpses of her as she did the same with me. Eventually, I heard my dad grunt out when he got almost half way in the oversized book.

His cheeks had turned a crimson red. I was startled and peered over to take a look inside the book, I was amazed...It was an Atlanta Journal Constitution article about my father from the 1970's.

At that very instant, Annette said, "Thomas you know that every time you or your family member made the newspaper, I cut it out and put it in our Livsey family book".

Shortly, after she told us that it might be a little resistance, but she wanted our family to attend their family reunion that year. The rest is history.

Our family gained news attention this past summer when for the first time, the white and black Livseys' celebrated a family reunion together. It was a wonderful occasion.

"No one owed no one an explanation or excuse for the past. No animosity... No guilt. The Only thing each and everyone left with,was a whole new family tree. How about that", exclaims Tom Livsey.

Since then we have become one family. The Livseys'.

The name meaning for "Livsey", is "Protector of the Island". Our origin is from Lancashire, England.

It must be true, because my new found cousin, FOUR STAR GENERAL BILL LIVSEY-WAS THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF IN KOREA.

Livseys' lead, apparently.

So, in order to maintain our new family legacy, we want to provide a template for other families, who perhaps share the same last name, even the same progenitor.

Get to know both sides of your last named relatives, with no hidden agenda, but love and knowledge.

We are the Livseys:

Most importantly, is to advocate and educate.......without hate. The past is gone. The future is from the mold we make today.

I am proud of my heritage.You have to understand, you are born into your heritage, your heritage is not born to you.

So I know that there are many families like mind, and I hope my struggles and successes might help and can be used as a template for those who yearn for their complete family history.

I urge those who are seriously considering doing a book on your family tree. Get to know your other family from the past.

No apologies needed, just love and understanding. We have before us, an enormous and monumental decision to make. Should we re- main apart or unite the families? We can take a democratic vote, or we can do nothing. We have no obligation, one way or another.

But for our name, we should do the former. Moreover, we would be committing a crime otherwise. It would be a sin against our forefathers, not to set the record straight. Green H. Livsey and Sandy Livsey would roll in their graves if we didn't take this opportunity to do the right thing, now!!!!

It's our DUTY to show the American People the way to a better day. "LIVE TO SEE A BETTER DAY!!! (i.e.LIVSEY) .

We are the Livseys.... PROTECTOR OF THE ISLAND.

###