Deborah Scott Brooks Almost 200 people attended the DeVeaux- Neal Rally at First Nazareth Baptist Church in Columbia Sunday, October 26, 2008, the first reunion since 1996.

This article is the first of a series about stories that have been handed down about this Lower Richland family.

Jim and Tina DeVeaux were brought from Africa (c. 1800) and eventually settled on a Kingville, SC, plantation down Highway 601 where the Wateree and Congaree Rivers meet. After emancipation, six of Jim and Tina's children kept the DeVeaux name, and two sons assumed the plantation owner's name of Neal. The DeVeaux- Neals eventually migrated to Columbia, Eastover, Hopkins, and Sumter. Today, kin live all over, including abroad.

This is the story of a typical family who overcame slavery, acquired farms, and educated themselves and their children. Descendants served on boards of banks and historically black colleges and universities, were elected officials, earned titles of emeritus, supplied the steel, built the buildings, and had their names carved on cornerstones.

This 1895 map of Richland County shows Kingville at the railroad junction for the lines from Camden and St. Matthews. Many other Lower Richland descendants of former slaves such as the Alston, Barber, Clarkson, Johnson, Lowman, and Sumter families have successful histories, too. The DeVeaux- Neal legacy is generally typical.

Fortunately, most area family histories are not synonymous with traditionally negative stereotypes.

Jim and Tina's children, Joshua (b. 1840) and Penny DeVeaux (b. 1850) and Caleb (b. 1840) and Ephraim (b. 1844) Neal are traceable through scant records and colorful hand- me- down stories. We are still searching for more information about Jim (b. 1857), Peter (b. 1857), Ransom, and Summer (b. 1862).

Summer may have had the given name of Emma. The 1880 SC Census lists a daughter Emma in Tina DeVeaux's household. There are new clues that Emma married a Hamilton from Sumter.

Sadly, older kin did not talk about certain family situations. It was don't ask, don't tell. Also, many South Carolina records were famously or infamously burned.

What happened to Ranson DeVeaux might be gleaned by learning census enumerators went from house- to- house and then noticing on two census periods that Ranson Hinton was Jim and Peter DeVeaux's neighbor. Next, one could have the good fortune of communicating with the plantation owner's descendant and discovering Jackie Neal inherited his plantation from an uncle, surnamed Hinton. We believe Ransom Hinton belongs to our family.

Also, there is the "handed- down" story about Aunt Penny around 1850. Story goes that Aunt Penny was the plantation cook and, as commonly practiced, kept a slop bucket - strike that - she kept two. If baked chicken was ordered, Aunt Penny roasted two over the hot coals. One chicken was served to the plantation family and the other placed in the "special" slop bucket.

DeVeaux children emptied those buckets nightly. One bucket's scraps fed the hogs and the "special" slop bucket's contents were dropped off at the DeVeaux slave cabin. Aunt Penny existed. A 103- years- young Neal kin and Enoch DeVeaux in his late 80s both chuckle and speak of her fondly. The DeVeauxs are known to be physically hefty. Maybe the slop buckets are the reason.