Our Roots

Six generations in Mississippi soil

Our family line runs from a woman born in 1830, a generation before freedom, to the children who will inherit the homeplace. This is who we are and where we come from.

Explore the family treeAdd to the story
Generation1

Rider Wyche

Born around 1830

Rider Wyche is the oldest ancestor on our tree. She raised a large family of Wyches: Bill, Jim, Mary, Jeff, Tom, Susie, Mattie Avant, Sallie and Hellen, born between about 1860 and 1877.

Mississippi then: Born in 1830, Rider lived most of her early life before emancipation. Her children were born across the Civil War, the end of slavery in 1865 and Reconstruction, when freed families in Mississippi first worked to own the land they farmed.

To add: Where Rider Wyche lived, and any stories passed down about her.

Generation2

Mary Wyche & Isaac Barnes

Mary born 1863 · Isaac born 1838

Rider’s daughter Mary married Isaac Barnes, and the Barnes family grew from there: Emmitt, Susie, Sela, Jane, Ida, Luther, Lilly, Isaac, Pearl and a baby recorded only as Baby Barnes.

Mississippi then: Mary was born in 1863, the year of the Emancipation Proclamation. Her children came of age as Black landownership in the South climbed toward its peak around 1910.
Generation3

Emmitt Barnes & Beulah Wyche, and Malachi & Lucy Turner

Emmitt 1882–1968 · Malachi born 1882

Emmitt Barnes married Beulah M. Wyche, a daughter of Mattie Avant Wyche, Rider’s daughter, so the Wyche name runs through this family twice. Emmitt’s household was one of the biggest on the tree, including Edward, Beulah Mae, Willie Mae, Florice, Samuel, Lucillie, Curtis, Cellistine, Thelma and Virginia.

On the Turner side, Malachi Turner and Lucy Turner were the parents of Osborn.

Mississippi then: In 1903, when this generation was young, the Utica Normal and Industrial Institute opened in Utica to educate Black Mississippians. It’s now the Utica Campus of Hinds Community College.
Generation4

Osborn Turner & Virginia “Virgie Mae” Barnes

Osborn 1908–1981 · Virginia 1907–1988

Osborn, son of Malachi and Lucy Turner, married Virginia Barnes, daughter of Emmitt Barnes. Together they made the home on Lee Davis Circle in Utica that we now call Turnerosa: the house, the land and the pond out back. Every heir traces back to them.

Mississippi then: They raised their family through Jim Crow and the civil rights era, years when millions of Black Southerners left for the North. Osborn and Virgie Mae built their life in Utica and left their descendants a home and land, at a time when most Black families in the South were losing theirs.

To add: When they married, when they came to the homeplace, their work, their church home, and a photo of them.

Generation5

Their children

Including Jessie Mae Turner-Robinson (b. 1926) and James Turner (1928–1999)

Jessie Mae married James D. Robinson. James Turner is the anchor of the family tree record this site draws from. Their cousins included Curtis and Annie Mae Neal, children of Beulah Mae Barnes and David Neal, and Harold Yancey, son of Lucillie Barnes and Albert Yancy.

To add: The rest of Osborn and Virgie Mae’s children, so every branch of the heirs is represented.

Generations6+

The heirs and the generations to come

Today

The grandchildren of Osborn and Virgie Mae now hold the homeplace together, with about two dozen households sharing the taxes, the upkeep and the work. Their children and grandchildren are the reason we’re rebuilding.

Take your place

Timeline

Our family and our state

  1. c. 1830

    Rider Wyche is born

    The oldest known ancestor on our family tree.

  2. 1863

    Mary Wyche is born

    The same year as the Emancipation Proclamation.

  3. 1865

    Slavery ends

    The 13th Amendment is ratified. Mississippi itself didn’t formally ratify it until 1995.

  4. 1882

    Emmitt Barnes and Malachi Turner are born

    The two family lines that will meet in Osborn and Virgie Mae.

  5. 1903

    The Utica Institute opens

    William H. Holtzclaw founds the Utica Normal and Industrial Institute in our hometown.

  6. 1907 & 1908

    Virginia Barnes and Osborn Turner are born

    The couple who will build the homeplace.

  7. c. 1910

    Black landownership peaks

    Black Americans own an estimated 16 to 19 million acres of farmland. Most of it will be lost over the next century.

  8. 1926 & 1928

    Jessie Mae and James Turner are born

    The next generation of the Turner homeplace.

  9. 1981 & 1988

    Homegoings of Osborn and Virgie Mae

    The homeplace passes to their descendants.

  10. 2025

    Agricultural classification approved

    The land’s working use cuts annual property taxes by about two-thirds.

  11. May 2026

    Phase I work weekend

    The family comes home over Memorial Day weekend to work on the restoration together.

  12. Fall 2026

    Phase II begins

    Work starts on the addition.

To add: When the homeplace was established, marriages, reunions, and other family milestones.

Help us tell it

Share a memory, a name or a photo

Every branch of the family holds part of the story. Elders especially: what you remember is what the children will know.

Have photos, obituaries or funeral programs? Mention it here and we’ll reach out to collect them.