Journey Through the Generations
Uncover Your Roots: Exploring Ancestry & Family History
My great grandfather, Wayman Alexander Denson, was born on January 21, 1896 in Lauderdale, Alabama to John and Charlotte Denson. He was the middle of three sons and the father of three children. He moved to Newport, Arkansas with his mother and two brothers in the late 1910s. He moved to St. Louis in the... Continue Reading →
Dr. Evelyn McDowell presenting me with my Sons and Daughters of the US Middle Passage lineage acceptance certificate in 2018
My maternal grandmother, Ernestine Wright Hatchett was born on January 1, 1926 in Grays, Arkansas to Oscar and Nona Wright. Being the youngest girl in the family afforded her the opportunity to attend a private high school, Cotton Plant Academy. She went on to attend Shorter College in Little Rock after she graduated high school.... Continue Reading →
My maternal grandfather, Gus Hatchett, was born on May 25, 1905 in Newport, Arkansas. He was the husband of Ernestine Wright Hatchett. He was also the father of six children. He worked for the Southern Oil Mill as a seed cleaner in Newport. He was a deacon of Morning Star Baptist Church and also a... Continue Reading →
My paternal grandmother, Gladys Denson Mays was born on June 11, 1913 in Newport, Arkansas. She was the oldest of her siblings. She decided at a young age that her education was important, and she wanted to become a teacher. She moved to Little Rock, Arkansas at the age of 14 to complete grades 10-12... Continue Reading →
My paternal grandfather, Booker Mays, was born on February, 10, 1910 in Mississippi. He lived in Mississippi until the 1930s when he moved to Missouri. He worked for the Missouri Pacific Railroad while in Missouri and after he moved to Arkansas. He married Gladys Denson in 1939 and started a family in Newport, Arkansas. He... Continue Reading →
My Mother was born February 12, 1952 to Gus and Ernestine Wright Hatchett. She is the youngest of her father's six children and the only child of her mother. She graduated from W.F. Branch High in 1970 and attended the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. After she married my Dad, Wayman Mays, she moved to... Continue Reading →
My father, Wayman Allen Mays, was born February 28, 1951 to Booker and Gladys Denson Mays. He was the youngest of their three children. He graduated from W. F. Branch High school in 1969 and Philander Smith College in 1973. After graduating with a bachelors in education, he worked in Little Rock for the Boys... Continue Reading →
St. Paul AME Church; Newport, AR 116th Church Anniversary Program 1996
My grandfather (second from the right) and his singing group in the 1940s - Photo courtesy of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies
Photo courtesy of Jackson County Historical Society
My Aunt and Uncle (my father's siblings)
Journey Through the Generations 