First Black Man to Own A Store

So I am not sure what the real story or the real legend is. I have always been told that my great grandfather was the first black man to own his own store. In an earlier post I talked about the conversation that I had with the old woman who remembered the story. The conversation that I had with her was in 2009. When I started tracing my family history again in 2012, she was already deceased. Instead, I spoke with her daughter who was in her seventies. I asked her if she remembered the story that her mom told me. She indicated that when she was growing up she remembered hearing talk of the first black man who owned his own phone. She told the same story of how he called down to the store on Military and asked for someone to bring him some food. He was calling from his own home from his own phone. He lived on a railroad. Now according to this woman, he sort of disappeared after that incident. No one really knew what happened to him because they didn't see him at the store anymore. According to her, the store was owned by White people and he simply worked in the store as a meat cutter. She thinks it was in the early fifties. Now, by this time, he was no longer the owner of the other store, but he was working at Dowdle and Moss Grocery in the meat department. So perhaps this is when she knew him. After 1952, he is no longer listed in the city directories. And by 1957 his wife is a widow. So what happened to Farris Moore?

If anyone has ever heard of this story please leave me a comment.

Military Rd (Military Road)

This is the address of the old store that my great grandfather supposedly owned. I am still trying to find out more information. The little store still sits in the same place at 1108 Military Road in Columbus, Mississippi. It is not being used right now. I don't think it has been used for a very long time. But, it looks like the building is still being maintained.

Susie Moore from Columbus, Mississippi

I am looking for the family of Susan Moore aka Susie Moore. Susan Moore was married to a man named Farris Moore in Columbus, Mississippi.

Blacks in Mississippi (1930's)

I was just making rough calls when I was directed to call a woman who might have been related to Farris Moore. The first person that I spoke with was a woman in her 60's who told me that she remembered hearing of a story about the Black man who owned his own grocery store. She told me that I needed to talk to her mother, but she would not give me the phone number. So, I called her brother, who gladly put me in touch with the old woman.The brother who was also up in age told me that it would seem very far fetched for an African American man to own his own store in Mississippi in the 1930's and 1940's. I told him that I thought it to be odd too.

Anyway, I called a woman named Eleanor, and I told her what I was looking for. She said that she remembered hearing talk of someone named "Forrest". I said, but his name is pronounced Farris.....like the state fair. She said that they ( black folks) pronounced it Forrest.  I realized at that point that I probably was doing myself a huge disservice, by pronouncing it Farris because no one in that age group would know who I was speaking about.

Anway, she told me that she heard the story about a man named Farris who had a grocery store up on Military....Military Rd. that is. The conversation continued this way:

the old woman: Did he run the sto?

me: He owned the store.

the old woman: I know you say he owned it, but did he run it.

I knew then, that this woman knew exactly the story that I was speaking of. My heart started racing as I felt that I was getting closer to some info about this man. In any event, I told her that I didn't know if he ran the store. But, that I was told that he owned it.  She continued:

"Well, when I was a little girl, my mother and the old folks would tell the story of the first Black man who owned his own sto and his one telephone in Columbus. It was a bit of a joke. They say the Black man decided he would call down to the sto on Military and ask for them to bring him some t'eat. And the White people told him what he better do, and the man was calling from his own house talking on his own phone."

She told me that was all that she knew, but I had the feeling that she knew more. I asked her if it was ok for me to call her again sometime to see if she remembered anything else about the old tale. She said it was fine. But, I didn't call back until 2012. By then, her daughter told me that she was deceased.

Mississippi Records Search

Tools to Use

Phone directories go back to the year 1905.

Property tax rolls and deeds go back to 1940's
Check the Chacery Clerk's Office at the courthouse.

Missing City Directories for Columbus, Mississippi

1947-1952
1952-1957
Nothing before 1931

Not even the State National Archives had records. We also checked the University of Women to see if they had the missing directories to no avail.

The Lowndes County Library only has city directories for the years
1912-1931
1928-1929
1936
1938
1940
1942
1947
1952
1957
1959
1961

Death Records for Family Tree

We cannot find a death record for him. I was hoping to find some free death records online, but it looks like I am going to have to use Ancestry. I think it is terrible that they have eliminated the Social Security Death index and now you have to pay for it on Ancestry. Ugh. I did find another place that is listing a record for some people named Farris Moore. It looks like the date of birth is correct and the date of death is right around the time that we are looking for. If not, I will see if I can order a record through Vital Statistics.

Books To Help Trace Family History

The librarian suggested some books for me to read to get a feel for the racial climate and way of living.

Suggested Readings

Woman of Color: Daughter of Privilege