johnsons
​The author of the diary entries, Mary Hutchinson, married into the Johnson family in 1872. John Johnson, her husband, was a descendent of the Taliaferro family. In the Green Folio, Francie notes, "The Johnsons were proud of their Taliaferro blood because it connected them with the prominent family by that name in Virginia.” Francie's middle name was Taliaferro, after the Johnson's relations who had immigrated to Virginia in the early 1600s.
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[I initially began my research with the Parks family because the Red Folio was the first family document I accessed. I began my projects with the Parks because the Red Folio's appendix of slaves was the first slaveholding document which I had seen. Over time, I read through each document in the cardboard box. I learned that the Parks were only one branch of the family that owned slaves. In every ancestor, every node, I found mentions of former slaves that worked for my family after emancipation and casual notes scrawled at the end of property valuations. It came to no surprise when Francie mentioned that John Johnson's father was a prosperous slaveholder who owned 30 slaves at the time of his death.]
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The Johnson and Hutchinson families were acquaintances, though, Mary made no mention of John in her diary before their wedding. John was a widower with two children from his previous marriage. John and Mary had several children, one of whom was my Gammy's grandmother, Annie Kate.
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Mary wrote in her diary that Annie Kate was, "A very good, sweet, pretty child and every body seems to love her" (Green Folio, 11). In 1893, Annie Kate attended La Grange Female Institute and was quite homesick as many of her friends had died. She liked to paint and my Gammy has a portrait that she drew of her mother, Mary.
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Annie Kate married George Edward Parks, who she called Mr. G.E., and they lived in Newnan, Georgia with their race horses. They had multiple children, including my great-aunt Francie and William Hutchinson, my Gammy's father. Mr. G.E. had a bad gambling problem and lost all of their money, silver, and furs. So they packed up their children and their cow and moved to Miami.
Mr. G.E.'s gambling problem persisted. Gammy's father and her Uncle Jack told Annie Kate that they would take care of her for the rest of her life if she left Mr. G.E, and she never went back. My Gammy said that Annie Kate never wanted for anything again. She went from house to house, staying with various relatives. Gammy loved when Annie Kate came over because she could sew buttons and fix her dresses. On Saturday mornings, they would sit in front of the radio and listen to the opera.
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Annie Kate Johnson lived with her daughter, Francie, in California until she died in 1974. ​​