HomeFAMILY RESEARCH
Hello family, my name is Felicia Freeman, I am a descendant of Eliza Martin and the family Historian. Eliza Martin was my third Great Grandmother through her son Irvin Earle Shell. The importance of family has always been impressed upon me from an early age. I have always had loving parents and grandparents. My sisters and I always attended family gathering with my parents. We had continued interaction with our families throughout the years. I knew that my family "home church", Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church and I knew where my great grandparents were buried. Vital information that your youth need to know today. As I grew older and was fortunate enough to sit in on my grandmothers' front porch when our relatives visited, which was mostly on Sundays after church. I came to understand at a young age the importance that they placed on family and the love that they displayed with one another. I would listen to my elders speak fondly about the "old days". They also talked about the things that they experienced during their childhoods and their interaction parents. My respite would always be the go into the Living Room at by grandmothers' home (Celeste Shell) and browse through the Family Bible. I would turn through the pages review to the section dedicated to the list of family members. Grandmothers' Bible had some names listed but there were also quite a few blank pages. I did not understand where my curiosity would take me until my later adult years. There have always been verbal accounts of our family history passed down from generation to generation. However, our official family research and documented of our family was first initiated years ago, back in 1989 and then more extensively in 1990.
Mr. Willie Boyd sat down and provided an invaluable wealth of information that assisted family members in documenting our family history. We are forever indebted to those family members who were diligent and persistent in initially documenting our family history. I have been researching our family history for the pass 17 years. I am focused and driven to find out as much information about our family and validate the information through documentation available at libraries, county courthouses, graveyards, verbal histories, books, online data and DNA matches. My research has taken me back to the 1870 U.S. Census where Eliza Martin was identified in Laurens S.C. in the home with her children (Clay, Ervin, George, Gabriel, Nellie, Nannie) and Lewis Irby, who was identified in the 1880 U.S. Census as her husband. It is my objective to journey further back into the history of grandmother Eliza.
In 2018, I discover that the final resting place of Eliza Martin Irby was at our home church, hidden in plain sight. Several of generations of relatives had been walking past it for years. The head stone was engraved "Eliza wife of Lewis Irby". Grandmother Eliza died Dec 12, 1918. Her headstone was identified almost 100 years from her death. It is with great joy and that I am able to identify our family Matriarch for future generations. An enslaved mother that was never able to see the results of her being able to endure the horrors of slavery and she was able to keep her family together.
My work is not done. There are thousands of descendants of our matriarch. My goal is to continue to pursue information about Grandmother Eliza, her children and her descendants.
"Discovering Family and Making Connections"
