Dora (Brewer) Franks (abt. 1858 - abt. 1941)

Born about 1858 in Choctaw County, Mississippi, United States

Ancestors

Wife of Pet Franks — married 4 Jan 1875 in Monroe County, Mississippi, United States

Died about 1941 at about age 83 in Monroe County, Mississippi, United States [uncertain]

Biography

Dora (Brewer) Franks is a part of US Black heritage.

Dora and her husband Pet were both interviewed as part of the Federal Writer's Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Much of the information in this profile comes from these interviews.^[1][2][3]

Dora was born about 1858 in Choctaw County, Mississippi in the United States of America. Her mother was Harriet Brewer, an enslaved woman, and her father was her "young marster", George Brewer.^[1]

After the American Civil War, Dora's brother Frank found work for her and other family on Davis Cox's place where they worked in the fields. Dora wasn't used to working in the fields and the heat, and she would often faint around eleven o'clock.^[1]

While working on the Cox place, Dora met Pet Franks and they married on 4 Jan 1875^[4] They had eight children,^[1] including:

• Joe Franks (b.1876)
• Lucien Franks (b.1878)
• Dee Franks (b. 1880
• Franklin Franks b.1884)
• Carrie Franks (b.1886)
• Nannie Franks (b.1897)

After their marriage, they lived for a time near Hamilton, Monroe County, Mississippi on the Troup place. Both Dora and Pet remembered a lot of Ku Klux Klan activity in the area there.^[1][2]

When Dora and Pet were interviewed by the Federal Writer's Project of the Works Progress Administration in about 1937, Dora said that they hadn't gotten along well and had been separated for about 23 years (since about 1914).^[1] At the time of the interview, Dora was living in town in Aberdeen with their daughter Nanny and Pet was living 14 miles north of Aberdeen at Ackers' Fishing Lodge where he was employed as the cook.^[2]

She probably died in 1941.^[5]

Research Notes

• Birth Date: Dora's birth date is uncertain. About 1858 seems most likely to be correct - this is the date given on her earliest census records (1870 and 1880). From her WPA interview,^[1] it seems that she married at about the time she became old enough to marry (usually 18 for women), and since she married in 1875,^[4] that gives an estimated birth date of 1857. Her later census records give a great range of birth dates - anywhere from 1839 to 1878.
• Possible census records for her brother Frank:
  • "United States Census, 1870", Township 20 Range 11, Choctaw, Mississippi, USA; p, 7, family 46, dwelling 46, lines 9-16, Frank Brewer household; 30 Jun 1870; NARA microfilm M593, Roll 725; https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MF33-S4H
  • "United States Census, 1880," ED 42, Beat 1, Clay, Mississippi, USA; p. 45, family 519, dwelling 519, Frank Brewer household; https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4GQ-219

Slave Owners

• Brewer family, including: Osborn "Bill" Brewer, his wife Emeline (Hill) Brewer and their son George Brewer^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7} The Federal Writers' Project, Slave Narratives; A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves, Vol. 9, Mississippi, p. 49-55, Dora Franks narrative, Washington, District of Columbia : The Library of Congress, 1941; image copy, Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/resource/mesn.090/?sp=53 : accessed 26 Oct 2021).
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} The Federal Writers' Project, Slave Narratives; A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves, Vol. 9, Mississippi, p. 56-60, Pet Franks narrative, Washington, District of Columbia : The Library of Congress, 1941; image copy, Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/resource/mesn.090/?sp=60 : accessed 26 Oct 2021).
3. ↑ Between 1936 and 1938 approximately 2,300 former slaves were interviewed as part of the Federal Writer's Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The results are presented in narrative form, most, allegedly, in the first person, and made available by the Library of Congress. Please be aware that this project took place in the Jim Crow Era and some scholars believe that the narratives themselves may be, in part, adulterated. You may find that in the narratives many of the freedmen actually have praise for the institution of slavery and/or their slave holders. The vernacular in which the narratives are written can be cringe inducing and are most certainly contrived. Their value is that many of the narratives include names of relatives and slave holders, dates, places, and other genealogically important information.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Mississippi, Monroe County, Marriage Records, 1867-1875 Vol. 4, p. 450, Pet Franks and Dora Brewer, 4 Jan 1875; image copy, "[Monroe County, Mississippi] Marriage records, 1821-1825, 1834-1918," FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9BJ-839B-C?i=659 : accessed 26 Oct 2021).
5. ↑ Full death certificate should be examined to better determine if this record corresponds to this Dora Franks.
   Mississippi Death Index, 1941, Dora Franks; image copy, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/Mississippi_Death_Index_1941_lighter_version/page/n30/mode/1up : accessed 26 Oct 2021).
   Note: Given information from the Coogan Research Group, the codes in the index give the following information: Name: Dora Franks, Death County: Monroe, Color: non-white, Death Certificate Number: 1442.

• "United States Census, 1870", Township 20 Range 11, Choctaw County, Mississippi, USA; p. 7, family 48, dwelling 48, lines 26-31, Dora Brewer in Jno. T Shaffer household; 30 Jun 1870; NARA microfilm M593, Roll 725; image at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MF33-SHM
  Note: Frank Brewer, probably Dora's brother, is higher on the page - family 46, line 9.
• "United States Census, 1880," ED 129, Beat 3, Monroe County, Mississippi, USA; sheet 106A, family 475, dwelling 356, lines 34-38, Dora Franks in Pettit Franks household; 23 Jun 1880; NARA microfilm T9, Roll 658; image at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4G5-4BW
• "United States Census, 1900," ED 73, Beat 3 Ross Mill Precinct, Monroe County, Mississippi, USA; sheet 14A, family 312, dwelling 292, lines 7-12, Dora Franks in Pet Franks household; 20 Jun 1900; NARA microfilm T623, roll 821; image at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M9XK-LPT
• "United States Census, 1910," ED 64, Hamilton, Monroe County, Mississippi, USA; sheet 4A, family 59, dwelling 59, lines 38-45, Dora Franks in James Bashum household; 22 Apr 1910; NARA microfilm T624, roll 752; image at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MPDH-L7W
• "United States Census, 1920", ED 68, Beat 4, Ward 4, Aberdeen, Monroe County, Mississippi, USA; sheet 5A, family 93, dwelling 89, lines 24-30, Dora Franks in Peter Franks household; 29 Jan 1920; NARA microfilm T625, roll 887; image at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNT9-TVD
• "United States Census, 1930," ED 19, Ward 4, Aberdeen, Monroe County, Mississippi, USA; sheet 3B, family 64, dwelling 64, lines 58-61, Dora Frank in Nannie Frank household; 15 Apr 1930; NARA microfilm T626, roll 1159; image at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XM1Y-HHB
• "United States Census, 1940," ED 48-21, Beat 4, Ward 4, Monroe, Mississippi, USA; sheet 12B, family 280, lines 42-45, Dora Franks in Nannie Franks household; 24 Apr 1940; NARA microfilm T627, roll 2050; image at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VBSJ-XSD