In 1865 the United States Civil War officially ended with the surrender of General Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army at Appomattox, Virginia. This surrender signaled a transition in every aspect of American society. However, for the nearly 4 million enslaved Africans in slaveholding states and territories, a new era was beginning. This time in American history was known as Reconstruction and this is where the modern story of the Rounds family begins.
The progenitors of the Rounds Family of Adams County, Mississippi were Charles and Charity Rounds. They settled in Adams County, Mississippi after the Civil War. Charles was born in about 1811 to an African slave known as “Patsey” in the state of Virginia, according to Rounds family oral history and federal census records from 1870[1] and 1880[2]. Charles and his mother became the property of Benjamin and Mary Ellis-Farrar and worked on the Elliscliffe Plantation in southern Adams County, Mississippi. Charity Rounds was born in about 1815 to two enslaved Africans; Chism (abt. 1786) and his wife Maryanne (abt. 1785). Charity and her family, including her paternal grandparents Sandy and Jenny[3] and maternal grandparents Sam and Hannah had been enslaved by the Farrar family and their descendants. Sometime before the birth of their eldest child in 1840, Charles and Charity Rounds entered into marriage. The 1870 and 1880 federal census shows that they lived together as a family with five of their seven children; Chism aka Charles Jr., (1840-1863) Andrew (1843), Maryanne (1846 - unknown), Lucy (1849), Goliah (1854), Flora (1856) and Rose (1858), two grandchildren Joseph (1866), Minor Duncan (1868) and a grand nephew Harrison Holmes (1865).
Charles Rounds entered into eternal rest in 1881 and Charity Rounds followed in 1909. Both Charles and Charity are buried beside each other on the eastward side of the Glen Aubin (Rounds Plantation) home in Adams County, Mississippi.
Further reading on the Rounds Family:
[1] 1870. United States. Ninth Census of the United States, 1870. Washington, D.C. National Archives and Records Administration. M593, RG29, 1,761 rolls. Minnesota. Minnes), Year: 1870; Beat 1, Adams County, Mississippi ; Roll: M593.
[2] Year: 1880; Census Place: Helms, Adams, Mississippi; Roll: T9_639; Family History Film: 1254639; Page: 110.4000; Enumeration District: 54; Image: 0223.
[3] Book I Negroes 1847; Book II List of Negroes June 1848: Ormonde, Buckhurst and Elliscliffe Plantations Adams County, Mississippi Owned by Dr. William Newton Mercer Transcribed by Ray and Julia (Shields) Mills January 17, 2007.
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