The Mazingo Family

The Mazingos of Mississippi and Alabama have been a southern family for hundreds of years.

It appears that the name comes from "MOZINGO" faimly of Virginia in the 1600s, and changed to Mazingo in the early 1800s.

Rosa Lou Mazingo was born in 1943 in Union, Mississippi to William Lee Henry Mazingo (1912-1991) and Mary Emma Rowell (1912-2007), of Union.  Rosa Lou married Willard Leon Wiley, son to James and Jessie Wiley of Alabama.

"Lee" was an Army Veteran of WWII, and below is his draft card, with signature.

Lee was born in Decatur, MS, and worked as a farmer, and later as an auto mechanic.  He had black hair, blue eyes, and stood at 5'10".  His highest level of education was 4th grade.  In 1950, the family were living in the Sessums Hotel in Union, which burned down in the 1980s.  It was reputed to have excellent food.

Lee's wife, Mary Emma Rowell, was born in Neshoba County, MS to Robert Rowell (1878-1940), a farmer, and Rosa M. Masingo (1882-1927).  Robert was drafted into WWI, and on his draft card, he wrote that he should be exempted from service due to being "diseased", which may have been an attempt to avoid service so he could continue raising his large family of seven children.  

If the names are starting to sound familiar, it's because Lee Mazingo and Mary Rowell were actually first cousins.  Lee's father, Charley Mazingo (1879-1919), was elder brother to Mary's mother Rosa Mazingo (1882-1927).

Charley and Rosa were born in Chocktaw County, Alabama, but this whole family moved to Daleville, Lauderdale County, Mississippi by 1900.

Charley Mazingo and wife Ida Rowell, with daughter Mirtle Mazingo (1912)

In 1918, Charlie was drafted into WWI, about a couple weeks before the end of the War, so it's unlikely that he served.  Charlie worked as a blacksmith and lived in Decatur, MS.  Ida was the youngest of six children born to James Rowell and Elizabeth Sturdivant of Newton County, MS.

Elizabeth Sturdivant-Rowell

Back to the Mazingos...siblings Charley and Rosa Mazingo, each grandparents of Rosa Mazingo-Wiley-Clarke, were borh to Peyton Mazingo & Mary "Maggie" Tims of Choctaw Alabama.  Mary grew up in Mississppi, daughter to William Andrew Jackson Tims and Martha Allen, who were also originally from Choctaw.  William Tims fought in the Civil War in the 37th Mississippi Regiment and died in 1865 in Camp Douglas, at the end of the War.  He had been captured in 1863 in Chattanooga TN, and then held in various camps as a Prisoner of War for two years.  

Peyton "Harley" Mazingo (1850-1916) was born in South Carolina to George "Gilliam" Mazingo (1805-1929) and Anna Gordon (1820-1888).  He worked as a farmer and married three times.  Mary Tims was his second wife.  It doesn't appear that he fought in the Civil War.  He died in Chunky, Mississippi in 1916.

Harley Mazingo with his third wife, Laura Williams, and child (abt 1915)

Harley's father George worked as an overseer, and lived all his life in South Carolina.  He appears to have fought in the Civil War.  Geoge's parents were George Washington Mozingo (1787-1861) and Mary Skinner (1784-1852).  George lived in Darlington, South Carolina, and farmed.  He owned one slave in the 1820 Census.  In 1835, George received from the US a 40 acre tract of land in Alabama, in the SE Quarter of the NW Quarter of Section 30, Township 13, Range 11.  This is how the Mozingo family moved to Choctaw, AL, and it appears that the name changed to Mazingo during this time.  On the 40 acres George took to farming corn and cotton, and raising horses, cows, oxen, and pigs.

Mary Skinner grew up on a plantation in Darlington, South Carolina, which did have slaves.  Mary's father was Benjamin Skinner, a slave owner, and in his 1828 Will he gave Mary and George a negro boy named Nelson, on of ten such slaves he owned.  By the 1830 Census in Alabama for George and Mary, George appeared to then have two slaves.  This was the life as they knew it, and it carried forward to George Jr. and Harley.

GW Mazingo's parents were Pierce Booth Mozingo (1745-1819) and Sally Parrot (1750-1841) of Lenoir County, North Carolina.  They did own one slave in the 1810 Census as well.

Pierce's parents were George William Mozingo (1708-1772) and Carol Pearce (1710-1795).  George was originally from Richmond, Virginia, but moved to Lenoir, NC, where he married Carol.  It appears that Pierce was given some spelling of his mother's maiden name.

George William Mozingo's parents were Edward Mozingo Jr. (1685-1754) and Eliza Booth (1680-1754), from Virginia.  Eliza originally came from Cheshire England, but migrated in the early 1700s. 

Here is an excerpt from Edward Jr's will in 1753, where he provides for his sons George and Edward.

Edward's father, Edward Mozingo Sr., came from Gloucester England, and was married to Margaret Pierce of Virginia. Edward and Margaret, along with their children, grew tobacco and raised livestock as tenant farmers on a creek called Pantico Run.

Now, according to the Book "The Fiddler on Pantico Run" by Joe Mozingo, Edward Sr. was actually brought into this country as a slave from Angola, Africa to work the tobacco fields near Jamestown Settlement in 1644, but won his freedom 28 years later.  Apparently, his research brought him directly back to Africa, where he was able to generally verify this information.  If you simply Google search the name of this book online, there are many summaries of the information found within it.

So, it appears that the name "Mazingo" originally comes from Africa after all.  It just goes to show you that many of us, and our deep genetic ancestry, are more complex than we may think.  It's interesting to consider that Edward himself was an African slave, and his descendants themselves owned African slaves.

The Wileys of Alabama

While David Alan Wiley (1966-2001) was born in Union, Mississippi, his kin came from Alabama.

David's mother, Rosa Lou Mazingo, and her family, is discussed in a separate article here.  David's father, Willard Leon Wiley (1946-2001) served in the US Navy, and grew up in Morgan County, Alabama, to parents James Owen Wiley (1900-1973) and Jessie Swindell (1904-1995).

Jessie Swindell with brother, and parents (Alfred and Mollie Swindell)

James Owen Wiley served in World War I, and was also drafted into WWII ("Old Man's Draft").  On his enlistment records, it shows that he was 5'7", with blonde hair and blue eyes.

James worked as a millright in a sawmill in Selma Alabama in 1950, just 15 years prior to the famous March on Selma.  Did James witness this historical march first hand?  James & Jessie are buried at Cedar Creek Cemetery, in Hartselle Alabama.

James' parents were Simeon Lee Wiley (1868-1937) and Mary Ida Owens (1872-1966) of Morgan County, Alabama.

Mary Owens-Wiley

Mary grew up on a farm tended to by her parents, Cornelius Malone Owens (1848-1900) and Sarah Elizabeth "Betty" George (1856-??) in Morgan County, Alabama.  Cornelius' father, Solomon Owens (also a farmer), was of the right age to have fought in the Civil War, but records don't appear to support this.  Solomon's father James came from South Carolina to Alabama at some point between 1800-1817, when it was still part of the Mississppi Territory.  James served in the Creek War.

Sim & Mary Wiley

Simeon Wiley (nicknamed "Sim") was a farmer all his life, and eventually was able to own title to his own property in Morgan County, after many years of renting.  He died at age 65 of pneumonia at his home on Falkville Route Two, a suburb of Decatur Alabama.

Simeon's parents were James C Wiley (1826-1891) and Catherine Gibson (1830-1910), also of Morgan County.

James Wiley (on the right), next to his son Robert.

Like the generations that followed him, James was also a farmer in Morgan County, Alabama..

James' parents were Elijah Wiley (1795-1879) and Sally Malone (1795-1881), of Kentucky and South Carolina, respectively.  Elijah was also a farmer in Morgan County, but came originally from Kentucky.  He fought in the Kentucky Militia during the War of 1812 for six months, and was therefore awarded a land grant of 80 acres in Morgan County, which was the likely reason for his relocating there to start his family.

The Wiley Land Grant was deeded in 1835 to Matthew C. Horton, so they didn't have the land very long.

Elijah's parents were Eli Wiley (1773-1853) of Redstone, PA and Elizabeth Seals (1780-1855).  It appears that the Wileys have only been southerners since the late 1700s.  Eli ALSO fought in the War of 1812, in the same Kentucky Mounted Militia as his son.

Eli's parents were Major John Willison Wiley (1732-1831) of the Revolutionary War, and his wife Hannah Elizabeth Vernon (1735-1831).  John served in Captiain James Archer's Militia Company of Pennsylvania, and joined a migration to Mason County, Kentucky after the War.  History says he was a man of large frame, raw-boned, more than six feet tall, dark complexioned with heavy eyebrows, high cheek bones, and strong chin.  He lived to be a few days less than 100 years of age, and had ten children. (p 17-18 of The Tenmile Country and its Pioneer Families - Genealogical History of the Upper Monongahela Valley, By Howard L. Leckey, Volume VII).

It's unclear who Major John's parents were, but some family trees on Ancestry claim that he was son to Thomas Willey (1676-1760) from New London, CT, and was a Major General in the French and Indian War, who was married to Rebecca Ann Hough.  These same names appear in Pennsylvania Quaker Meeting Records.

From here, Ancestry trees point to Thomas' parents being Abraham Willey (1650-1692) and Elizabeth Mortimer (1655-1692) of New London and Haddam, CT,  and prior to that is listed an Allen Willey who arrived in 1633, with his father Isaac from Wiltshire, England.  Prior to that, several generations in England are included in these trees, but few records remain.

It's clear that the Wiley/Willey family goes way back through the entierty of American history, was involved in all the American Wars, and appear to have come from England just after the Mayflower.