Please help me connect this family

Question

A while ago Katie Bryant posted about black jockeys who had won the Kentucky Derby. https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1413126/help-us-black-heritage-with-kentucky-derby-winner-profiles

I became fascinated with one particular jockey, James "Soup" Perkins. So, I created his profile. Then I created profiles for all his siblings. And their wives. And their children. I even went so far as to create his Wikipedia page.

But I have been unsuccessful at connecting them to the tree. So, I'm asking for help. Would interested WTers please take a look and see if you can find a way to connect this family?

James' parents were slaves until emancipation, so tracing their roots is no small feat. Perhaps even impossible without DNA.

I'm out of ideas. So please, if you can help, take a look. The patriarch's profile is linked below. Any one of the children, wives, or grandchildren might be the key to getting this family connected.

Soup deserves it. He was treated so unfairly in his life. Nothing would give me more pleasure than to see him connected to the tree.

Comments

Paul, tag your question with BLACK_HERITAGE

That will send your message to members of the US Black Heritage Project.

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Thanks, Michael.

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Ok, so I see his profile is already part of the Project.

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Wow, you work fast!

Answer 1

To make connections with Black families, you often have to work downward instead of backwards in time. That means add his siblings, his parents siblings, his siblings' children, the spouse of those children, children of those children etc, working your way sideways, then forward in time.

Comments

I've thought of that, but I've run into dead ends. So far as I know, only one sibling had children, and all three of them were stillborn. It's a tough nut to crack.

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I see you haven't added "Soup"'s wife or son yet.  You might connect the line to The Tree through one or both of them.

Edited to add: The Willie Perkins, 15, enumerated with them in 1910 may not be his son. That said, Frankie's entry indicates she has one living child.

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I puzzled over that for a while.

I noticed that Walter's obituary said he left behind "nieces and nephews" but the Census records are blank.