Dive into our family’s history through
stories & milestones
Pinckney Island, SC
The Pinckney family developed the islands into a plantation by removing much of
the maritime forest, and draining and tilling the fertile soil. By 1818, over 200 slaves were being used to work on Calhoun Plantation, Pinckney Colony produce fine quality long-staple Sea Island cotton on 297 acres; 386 slaves lived on the island by 1840. Eustace Pinckney married Martha Poroher. In the 1860’s`. They moved to the Calhoun Plantation, about 10 miles north, to care for her aging father.
They brought with them some slaves from the Pinckney
Plantation. Later, several slaves from the Calhoun plantation were sent to
Savannah, Georgia, to learn the blacksmith and boat-building trades. From Savannah, some of the slaves were moved to Eulonia, Georgia, only 50 miles to the south. It is surmised that this is how the former slave Semmee Pinckney came to be in Eulonia
First day of freedom
Big Mama (Thelma Thomas) loved to tell the story about the day her Grandfather learned they had been Freed. “Papa Steve told us that he was a 17 year old slave on a plantation in Eulonia, GA and they were in the field chopping cotton when he asked the overseer if he could get a drink of water from the creek. He said that he was drinking water, lapping it like a dog when the overseer hollered “come from down there at that creek boy.” Then he heard a voice say, “Stay long as you want nigga, you is free.” He looked up and saw a Yankee sitting in the tree waiting for the overseer to come down to the creek so that he could kill him. Being scared of the Yankee he asked “What you say, is you for sho?” The Yankee told him “Yah, Lincoln done freed the slaves and Masser gotta pay yall for working.”
Papa Steve ran back to the field and asked the overseer if this was so. The overseer told that it was true, anybody that want to leave is free to go and them that want to stay on, come to the Big House and Masser would have to pay them for working. He said they turned loose the horses, throwed down the hoes and shouted up all that
white man’s cotton.
Several of the young men left the plantation, headed Northwest and spreading the news as they went, putting down roots in such places as Waycross and Cuthbert, GA.
Steve Pinckney traveled to Eufaula, AL, and since he could not read nor write, he became Steve Pinkins. He got a job and started a family. We are proud to say that
PINKINS WAS NEVER A SLAVE NAME.
Eufaula, al
The site along the Chattahoochee River that is now modern-day Eufaula was
Occupied by three Muscogee Creek tribes, including the Eufaulas. By the 1820s the land was part of the Creek Indian Territory and supposedly off-limits to white appealed to the federal government for protection of their property rights. In July of that year, federal troops were sent to the Eufaula area to remove the
settlers by force of arms, a conflict known as the “Intruders War”.
Originally part of the Mississippi Territory, the Alabama Territory was formed in 1817. Like its “neighbors, the Alabama Territory was fertile ground for the surging cotton crop, and soon became one of the major destinations for African-American Slaves
Eufaula was the site of what may have been the South last battle of the Civil War. On May 19, 1865, at Hobdy’s Bridge near Eufaula a Confederate detachment attacked a 44-man detachment from companies C and F of the Union’s 1st Florida Cavalry Regiment, resulting in one soldier killed and three wounded.
By May 1865 the Daily Intelligencer of Atlanta reported that 10,000 Union troops had occupied Eufaula. In the immediate aftermath of the occupation there was a food riot and an “attempt to illegally distribute the public stores”.
Following the end of the Civil war during the Reconstruction era, freed slaves were technically allowed to leave the plantations they had been enslaved on, but they mostly were without land, jobs, or money. Many black laborers refused to continue working the plantations, and chose to migrate to southern urban areas in large numbers.
In March 1867, the United States Congress passed the first of four Reconstruction Acts and the Reconstruction Era began in earnest. Alabama, and therefore Eufaula, was placed in the Third Military District under the command of General John Pope.
By the time the first elections were held under the new regime, in October 1867, Barbour County had about 5,000 registered voters, with about 1,500 white and
3,500 black.
On November 3, 1874, members of the White League instigated the Election Riot of 1874 in Eufaula on election day, massacring at least 7 black Republicans, shooting at least 70 more, and preventing over 1,000 others from voting. They hijacked the vote count, fraudulently electing white candidates by excluding votes cast by blacks. By 1876, with Reconstruction ended and black voters intimidated with lynching, there were just 10 black voters in the city, compared to 1,200 in February 1874.
After the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 the United States Department of Justice sent federal observers into 24 southern counties to enforce its provisions regarding voter registration for the Fall 1965 elections. Many of these counties saw a significant increase in black registration, but Eufaula, not having federal supervision, had comparatively low rates. For instance, on August 16, 1965, 600 black citizens waited in line at the County courthouse in Eufaula to register, but by the time the office closed, only 265 had managed to fill out the paperwork.
In 1966 the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) responded by appointing a local Eufaulan, Daddy Bone, to organize voter registration drives in Eufaula. Bone initiated a series of nonviolent protests and boycotts of local stores that refused to hire blacks which attracted SNCC supporters from around the Southeastern United States. The city of Eufaula, under some pressure
from the businessmen whose stores were targeted, passed anti-picketing laws and began arresting demonstrators en masse for violating them. Bone brought in civil rights lawyer S. S. Seay to defend the protestors, who were mostly convicted, and in such numbers as to overwhelm the county jail.
Pinckney to pinkins
We can trace our roots back as far as slavery to Eulonia, GA. In the 1860’s there was a named Semmee (not sure of the spelling) Pinckney. Semmee had at least 4 sons: Steve, Dave, Sam and Jesse and 2 daughters: Dolly and Maria. slave
We understand that when slavery ended between 1863 and 1865, Steve Pinckney left Eulonia GA and settled in Eufaula, Al. As Steve Pinckney established himself, he met and married Cora Brown and started a family. He was unable to spell his name and the people in the area not being familiar with the name Pinckney, spelled it the way it sounded PIN KINS. Steve never returned to Eulonia, Ga. He and his family established the first generation of “PINKINS”.
Several years later Steve’s sister, Dolly, found him in Eufaula, Al. and made him aware of the spelling of the original name. By this time Steve Pinckney had become established as “STEVE PINKINS” and chose to keep the new name. Later Steve’s younger brother, Sam, also moved to Eufaula and took on the name Pinkins. Steve and Cora had nine children – 8 sons and 1 daughter. Sam met and married Essie Mae and to their union was born 4 sons and 4 daughters. Their sister Dolly moved to Texas and took on the name of Pinkins, she later settled in California.
As the years passed Steve and Sam’s children grew up and went their separate ways, loosing contact with each other and the original family. One of Steve’s sons was named Henry. Henry met and married a lovely young lady by the name of Armada (Ermma) Ricks, he and Armada raised a beautiful family. They instilled in them the importance of real Christian Love and Family Unity. Henry’s wife, Armada, passed away in May of 1968. Shortly after their mother’s death, Armada’s children’s belief in Christian Love and Family Unity was renewed. They began to focus on the importance of family unity. Armada’s seven children: Willie Mae, Essie, Thelma, Armada, Rosie Lee, Henry and Robert decided to reunite the family. Thus the PINKINS FAMILY REUNION was organized.
The first Pinkins Family Reunion was held in 1971 in Atlanta, Ga. at the home of Clarence and Thelma Pinkins Thomas, there was no reunion in 1972. In 1973 the second Pinkins Family Reunion was held in Detroit, MI at the home of Archie and Armada (L’il) Pinkins Hardy. The Pinkins families have been celebrating with annual family reunions every year
since!!!
Then in 1983 an act of fate reunited the family of Steve and Sam Pinkins through his oldest daughter Ruby Lee. Rev. Robert Pinkins of Maryland was on a work assignment in Michigan when a family medical emergency resulted in treatment at the same hospital and, amazingly enough, by the same doctor that had treated Robert Pinkins of Detroit for similar injuries a year before. Through a medical bill mix-up, Rev. Robert Pinkins of Maryland was united with Robert Pinkins of Detroit. Following extensive reviews, interviews, and a search of the family background, it was established that these two Robert Pinkins were 3rd. cousins! Through the cousin (Robert Pinkins of Maryland) we have been able to reunite with the original family in
Waycross and Eulonia, Ga.
In 1993, while living in California, Vickie Pinkins happened to meet another young lady with the last name of Pinkins. Vickie knew how rare the name Pinkins is, so she decided to find out a little more about the young lady’s family. Through Vickie’s determination, we have been united with other descendants of Great-Uncle Sam Pinkins (Steve Pinkins brother). Sam Pinkins’ family was elated to find out about the Pinkins Family Reunion and have been a dedicated participant every since. We have been able to identify family members in Florida, Alabama, North Carolina, Mississippi, Nevada, Colorado, Louisiana, California, Texas, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and Indiana.
The information that you hold in your hand contains over 150 years of your family history. We have traced the family back more than 150 years. This July 2023, we will celebrate the 53rd. Pinkins Family Reunion. There is still a lot we don’t know, and we can develop the future just by knowing the past. You can contribute to our effort to shape the future of this family. We have united with 3 of the 6 children descended from Semmee Pinckney. However, there is no information regarding the descendants of Jesse, Dolly, and Maria Pinkins. Any information you have or can find out will help us continue to unite the families.
FIRST PINKINS FAMILY REUNION - 1971
In May of 1968 my grandmother, Armada Ermma Pinkins (Ma Mada), died. She and husband Henry Pinkins Sr. (Gramps), lived in Detroit, MI with their daughter, Armada Hardy (L’il). Thelma Thomas (Big Mama) and several of her children went to the funeral. On the way there Jesse got sick and had surgery for his Appendix. Mary was in a full body cast but she went to the funeral on the Greyhound bus. This was the first time all the Pinkins sisters and brothers and their children had been together at the same time since they left Alabama. They decided it was a shame that it took the death or their mother to bring them together and they should make sure they see each other regularly on a happy occasion. This is when the idea of a reunion was born. It still took 3 years for the first reunion to take place.
The first reunion was held the 4th of July weekend in 1971, at 1594 Rogers Ave, the home of Clarence and Thelma Pinkins Thomas. I don’t know why it was decided to hold the reunion in Atlanta, maybe Big Mama was the only one willing to host such large group. Besides, she had the most children and grandchildren and it was easier for the rest of them to bring 2 or 3 children and grands than it was for her to take 12 childrer and grands anywhere else. I just know it was hot and we didn’t have A/C. People started arriving in the middle of one week and didn’t leave until the middle of the next week.
We slept wherever there was couch and floor space at different relative’s homes. Gramps and 8 of his children and their families came. Among them were Henry Pinkins Sr. (Gramps), Arthur Pinkins (Big Boy), Willie Mae Conner, Essie Ollis, Thelma Thomas, Armada Hardy, Rose Kendry, Henry Pinkins Jr., and Robert Pinkins.
woman and child for themselves. We had plenty of food but when you have 20 to 30 Breakfast each morning was where ever you stayed the night before and every man, folks all trying to eat at the same time we discovered it was easier to eat in shifts. The first night we had a Spaghetti Dinner at Louise Turner’s home in Decatur. The next day we had a reunion dinner at the bowling alley on Chapel Rd. in Atlanta. After that we
had 2 cook-outs. One at Jesse Thomas’ and the other at Mary Peek’s.
Although this was the first Pinkins Reunion there was close ties with other people who came and fellowshipped with us. Among them were Doris Moore, Janice Hawkins and several members of the Thornton family and folks from Locust Grove. I am sure there are pictures somewhere, video cameras didn’t exist, and we didn’t write it down because nobody thought it would get this big. So for more details you need to ask the Aunts and Uncles because I was only 16 at the time and just wanted all these folks to
leave so I could get some rest.
