USCT Pension Records and Genealogy Tell a Communitys Story with Tina Jones

Published: March 4, 2021, 6 p.m.

b'Tina Jones\\xa0research journey began in 2000 when she began working with the local senior citizens - many of whom were residents of two historically African American neighborhoods in Franklin, Tennessee.\\xa0 Franklin was the site of a significant Civil War battle and is the county seat of Williamson County, Tennessee. Several historic homes operate as museums and significant local attention is paid to the community\\u2019s Civil War history. The\\xa0genealogy program with 50 senior citizens soon had constructed dozens of family trees - many intersecting. She started compiling any information she could find about the experiences of enslaved people in Williamson County to\\xa0understand more fully the context in which the people she was researching had lived.\\xa0 Tina tracked down slave narratives of people with ties to the area, newspaper clippings, probate documents, and diary entries.\\xa0 It all helped paint a fuller story - and highlighted an aspect of local history that had been almost entirely overlooked: the contributions of black men who served in the\\xa0who joined the US Navy and the US Army\\u2019s Colored Troops during the Civil War. She now specializes in researching these men and telling their stories. She raises money to install brick pavers inscribed with their names in the County\\u2019s Veterans Park through her \\u201cSlaves To Soldiers\\u201d project. Inspired partially by this work, a local group called the \\u201cFuller Story\\u201d has formed to erect a statue depicting a local US Colored Troop soldier on the town square.\\xa0\\n\\n\\xa0\\n\\nOpening music: Sweet Mello Spice by AK Alexander Productions'