In Memory

Joseph J Arrington VIEW PROFILE

Joseph Arrington was born on May 26, 1819 in North Carolina,  and passed on September 24, 1887 in Sumter County Alabama. Joseph's father and mother were born in North Carolina. Joseph Arrington came from a very wealthy family, and their holdings were from Virginia, North carolina, Livingston, Sumpter County Alabama,  and into the state of Mississippi. Joseph's ancestors consisted of elected officials, lawyers, judges, soldiers, law enforcement,  state and government employees, and because of their political connections,  and "Old Money" they were able to leverage thier power and influence that affected the lives of many.   Their main economic engine was driven by the ownership of Slaves in several states simultaneously, and the ability to acquire large tracts of land,  and acquire the capital to operate a very large agriculture enterprise with the use of free labor for many years.

 

Joseph Arrington was one of the largest slave owners in the state of Alabama. In the 1860 Census, Joseph Arrington was worth $27,000.00 and he owned more than Sixty (60) Slaves in Sumpter County. which included Henry and Pleasant Witt,  two brothers,  born into Slavery, and free sometime after the Civil War concluded. Obviously, Henry and Pleasant had parents who were enslaved,  and many siblings that we have not discovered as of today's date. Henry and Pleasant's mother,  known in the Census as Laura Hare, born in the state of Alabama, around 1820, and their father's name was Bill Witt, born in North Carolina. We were unable to locate any slave owners with the Sir name Witt in the mid 1800's that lived in Sumter County.

 

Our own United States Government acquired vast amounts of land and territories, starting in  Virginia over a few Hundred years,  with Indian (Genocide) Removal, but using milder terms that are a more socialbly accepted language, as settlements and discoveries of new land. Morning Jewell Clay-Witt,  born around 1856 in the state of Alabama, a Native American, registered Cherokee Indian, who appears in the 1860 Census, is one of the earliest ancestors  that we have a picture of at this time. Our United States Government declared  War and forcibly removed more than Six Million Indians from the state of Florida alone. As the original Native Americans were being forced West of the Mississippi River, the Soldiers that risked their own blood in the name of the Flag were given a deed of trust to the new land in exchange for the surplus land that the newly formed U. S. Government  acquired through the spoils of War. Joseph Arrington and his relatives, and many Europeans benifited by participating in the Slave Trade, extracting free labor by force and acquiring more land and bringing  more Africans into this country to build a new world with free labor, and by creating a system of oppressive laws that are still being lifted today as we are beginning to collectively learn and write our own history.

Native Americans and African  Americans, are still the most likely to be under employed, hold the fewest elected offices nationally, be an employer of more than Fifty (50) employees, have a second and third generation that has completed college, own less than one percent of all investment properties, and we are still having difficulty having our youngest generation  complete high school, remain focused and enter college.   

 

We have made great progress in the past thirty (30) years but we have not moved ahead as far as we think we have. There is much to be learned if you study the Arrington family and see what they did to keep us in Bondage for so many years. We have yet to learn how to work together to keep our next generation out of bondage. It is my hope that this Witt Web Site can become and enriching experience, that can bring all of our talents and experiences together as one, share our spiritual enrichment, our knowledge, and move the next generation forward in a tempered manner that does not loose ground to technology, politics, selfishness, lack of focus and lack of vision.





Click here to see Joseph J's last Profile entry.