BALDWIN COUNTY, GA - BIOS Steel-Cooper family

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This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by:
Shelley Martinez   abqexile@hotmail.com 


STEELE - COOPER FAMILY

My grandmother was Belle P. Steele Shelton Screen,
born March 6, 1912 in Milledgeville. My grandmother
died March 12, 1999. Her parents were John Kennedy
Steele (b. Aug 30, 1890, d. June 1941) and Lorean
Cooper (b. Dec. 26, 1893, d. Nov. 1969). Both parents
were born in Milledgeville. The Steele's were very
light-skinned mulattos who worked in the building
trades (carpenters, bricklayers, etc.). 

My ggrandmother, Lorean Cooper was the daughter of
Belle Powell (b. July 1857, d. Jan. 1925) and Allen
Cooper. My family has named the females after those
two women. My mother was Lorean (Loraine) Shelton
Nuttall (b. 4/13/1941, d. 10/29/1989). I named my
daughter Loren after her grandmother. Belle Powell is
supposedly the daughter of a Cherokee slave,
Sarah/Sallie or Hannah Powell and a GA Congressman. I
have been trying to find out their names for nearly 2
years, which is how I got started on this genealogy
kick. 

The story as my grandmother told me was that her
grandparents, Belle & Allen, received a house at the
corner of Hancock & Warren St. from the Congressman.
In the summer of 1894, Allen supposedly ran off with
Belle's best friend and then sold the house out from
under Belle and the children. My gran was the youngest
of 7 children at 6 months. 

The next child was my great-aunt Marion Cooper Hulien
(b. 1889, d. 1978). Belle had to send all but the
youngest two children out to work for other families
while she became a nurse, trained by a cousin (on her
father's side) who had recently finished medical
school. Belle and this doctor worked in Chattanooga,
TN. The youngest two children, Lorean and Marion,
lived with Belle's sister, Mariah Crawford (b. 1848,
d. 1940). Eventually, Belle Powell Cooper ended up
working for Abby Crawford and George Fort Milton, Jr.
in Chattanooga according to the 1920 census. 

George Fort Milton, Jr., was the editor of the
Chattanooga News.  His wife, Abby Crawford Milton (b.
1881, d. 1991), was the daughter of Attorney Charles
Peter Crawford (the son of Hon. Joel Crawford) and
Anna Ripley Orme (father was Richard M. Orme,
publisher of the Southern Recorder & Milledgeville
Mayor). (See posts re: Abby Crawford Fort at this
message board on June 23, 2003.)


My grandmother told us how when the Milton's would
come to Milledgeville, she would play with their
children and they would pick her up in a limo. She and
her parents lived in the house at Warren and Hancock
St. Her grandmother had bought back the house. Anyway,
Joel Crawford was a slaveholder of 114 in Hancock
County. 

I don't think it is a coincidence that Belle Cooper
worked for the Milton's. I believe she, her sister,
Mariah Crawford, and mother had a connection to the
Crawfords. Mariah and Belle did not have the same
father. My guess is that their mother
(Sarah/Sallie/Hannah Powell) was owned by Joel
Crawford and had Mariah on the Crawford property with
another slave. She later had Belle with a prominent
politico possibly in Milledgeville. This is just my
guess but I think it makes some sense. I am searching
for evidence and hope to write a book about the
family.


To conclude - my grandmother's family moved to Wash,
DC in 1920, where my grandmother lived the rest of her
life. She married twice. First to Wendell Shelton of
Lynchburg, VA. He was my mother's father. He died
before I got to know him. They divorced when my mother
was 4. Later, in 1955, my grandmother married a
Milledgeville native, Lewis (Louis) Rogers (Roger)
Screen. Roger moved to DC around 1933. He retired from
the DC police force after 20 years. His mother was
Nettie Johnson Humphries Screen. His biological father
was James Humphries. James died before Roger was 2
when Nettie married Sol H. Screen. Sol adopted Roger. 

My grandparents maintained close ties to Milledgeville
and when I was a child we used to spend our summers
there. I recently went through my grandmother's old
papers and found a real treasure trove of information
about Roger. I came across several letters from Carl
Vinson to my grandfather and the president of GA
College. Roger had contributed money to the college
for the Carl Vinson chair. Carl Vinson refers to my
grandfather as a life long friend. Considering my
grandfather was Black and Vinson, White, I consider
this a significant acknowledgement. Anyway, I could go
on and on but these are some of the ties and relations
my family has to Milledgeville and some of its
prominent families. More than anything, I would like
to find out more about Wm. & George Steele and the
parents of Belle Powell Cooper.