The goal of TCGHS has always been to preserve the history of Tate County.
In an effort to achieve that goal, we often enlist help from its citizens or those who have family roots here. In an effort to provide more resources for those tracing their black ancestors, we need that kind of help again. Several years ago, we reached out to churches to get their help in documenting who is buried in their cemeteries, but we only had a minimum response. Also, there are cemeteries that aren’t connected with a church, and we would like to add that information to our resources. To do that, we would appreciate being put in contact with the people responsible for maintaining the records in hopes they will share the data.
Schools were another important part of everyone’s life and there were many independent black schools in Tate County, and we can only get that information from those who were part of that school system. We are also trying to obtain information on the teachers and principals who were part of those schools as well as the Senatobia Colored School System and Melvin Cathey High School.
Was your ancestor a part of a group or organization? That information is of value as well. It tells us what groups were active in a certain period of time and ways they sought to serve the needs of the community.
Another area we’d like to cover is information on the men and women who served in the military (with pictures, if available) --- WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, etc. We have just added Tate Co. Veterans of WWI which includes both blacks and whites and would like to provide information on other servicemen and women.
Your help in accumulating any of this information would aid researchers who want to know about their ancestors. With each passing day, the history of those citizens who made their home in Tate County will be lost if we can’t document it for future generations who will want to know where their ancestor lived, how they lived, the career they chose, the members of their family, where their final resting place is and any other details of their lives that tell his or her story.
If you are willing to help by providing data or if you have questions, please contact Lanelle Samuel (lanellesamuel@aol.com) or Tony Sharpe (tonysharpe49@outlook.com). If you know someone who could help us with this project, please pass this information along. If you want to compile a history of your family, church or organization, we will be glad to offer suggestions on how to begin.
The data we obtain is solely for genealogical research purposes. It will be made available in our library to people who wish to trace the roots of their family.
If someone wishes to have us conduct research on your family, we offer the first two hours for free. After that we charge $10.00 per record (cemetery, census, court, death, marriage, military, surname-family, tax). You may send your request with name, dates, locales to our email address or call and leave a voice message so we can call you back. We have almost three hundred books on the shelves that hold data on Tate County citizens as well as books with data on the surrounding counties and other counties in the state. We also have books that cover certain areas of other states.
We invite you to visit the library located in the Crockett Building, 107 Court Street (second floor), to investigate. Due to the courthouse parking lot renovations, we recommend you use the WEST entrance to the Crockett Building (911 office entrance) and use the elevator to the second floor. Our entrance is to the right of the elevator. Ring doorbell and Librarian will let you in. The downstairs door is accessible since a sidewalk has been poured from the south entrance to the courthouse to our door. Knock and the librarian will let you in.
We are open on Thursday and Friday (except prior to a holiday) from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (please call if you’ll arrive after 3 p.m.).
You may contact us at: tatehistory@hotmail.com or call 662-562-0390 and leave a message on voice mail with brief details of your request and we will answer.
