Blog 115: My Father Whom I Never Knew

By Vernon M. Herron

     The Biblical definition of marriage is a union between a male and a female. The traditional family consists of a father, a mother and offspring(s). I have written many times about my mother but today I write about my father, Samuel Joe Herron, Sr., who died at the age of Forty-seven and one year after my birth. Consequently, I never knew my father through a father-son relation, his character, nor his mental make-up. I did get a glimpse of him through family stories, an outstanding family griot (family historian), census records and a treasured picture which you now see.

     Through this blog, I will present my father whom I never knew, but like-wise, we will see and note genealogical techniques illustrated as a demonstration to show how we move from “the unknown to the known.”

     There are two ways to study family history. You may study in an ascent fashion or in a descent fashion. Family history starts with one-self and progresses upward to an ancestor. Genealogy is the study of the origin of family which descends from an ancestor.   

     In 1950, my father’s brother John Herron, a scholarly family griot (French- pronounced- gree-o), meticulously, methodically and orally gave this writer the outline of the Herron family in a descent fashion. It covered several generations. I will mention five of them.

     Here is a diagram of Uncle John’s revelation as recorded in my family history book.

     Here is how Uncle John’s revelation is recorded in my family history book.

 The Numbering System

     The backbone of genealogical information is its number system. There are three numbers which may be associated with an individual: the identification number, the generation number and the birth order number. Each individual discussed is assigned an individual Arabic number. Then, each head of family is given a generation number which appears in superscript following the first name. Finally, each child is listed under a head of household and is given a small Roman numeral indicating his or her birth order in that family.

     While I realize that many families may not be as fortunate as I in having an informed griot, there are the options of a City Directory and the census records. Try the census first, beginning with the last published year and work backward in ascent fashion.

     Now, let me tell you a bit more of what I learned about my father from the above mentioned sources. 

     First, he was the grandson of Richard and Minerva Herron who constituted the first known structured African American Herron family in the Piedmont of North Carolina in 1870.   

      Secondly, he was an entrepreneur, having at one time operated a café, a barber shop, and a pressing shop. Even though I found no will leaving capitol, he died leaving my mother with small children to rear alone. Father Samuel was active in the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church at the Brevard Street location, having served on the Usher Board. He is buried in the old Galilee Baptist Church’s cemetery on Nations Ford Road in Charlotte, NC.

     Family stories, a well organized family griot, census records and other memorabilia gave me a glimpse of my father whom I never knew,    but I am grateful for the glimpse I saw.