​Our Story

 

     George Yearby was born in Alabama in the 1830's, and his wife Luticia Poindexter Yearby was born during this same time in Mississippi.  Early on, Luticia was sold away from George and brought to Columbia, Louisiana by A. W. Faulkner.  It is here that she acquired the name Poindexter.  When she came to Louisiana, she had two sons, Melford and Monroe.  George and Luticia were later reunited during the 1860's and gave birth to another son, Allen (Poindexter).  

     By 1870, their family grew to ten children, Richard, Eliza, Angeline, Andrew, Annais, George Jr. and Charlotte.  The family rented a 150 acre farm in Ward 7 of Caldwell Parish. There was a host of farm animals that helped the family sustain during the post-Civil War era.  In addition to farming, George was a skilled carpenter.  It is reported that he was a key builder of the James Farm House on Poplus Grove Plantation also known as Andalusia, located below Ward 7.

     George was  man of great skill and strength, which caused him to be taken from the parish during the early stages of the Civil War.  While there is no legislation to use slaves as soldiers, he was forced into service to meet labor needs during Battle of Vicksburg.  Prior to the end of the war, George join a band of runaway slaves that sought freedom and the families they left behind.  They forged a brotherhood and embarked on their return, following the tracks of soldiers, surviving on what they could hunt and gather in the woods.  

  Upon his return, the brotherhood of Yearby, Payne, Williams and Allen became the founders of the Locus Grove Church on Long Lake.  They each established themselves well in the commerce of Caldwell Parish, developing the African-American community.  The Payne-Yearby home housed the first educators brought to teach nenwly freed slaves in the parish.  In addition, they were part of a group of farmers who worked with neighbors in adjoining parishes to build Grambling University.

     George, an occasional preacher, was affectionately called "Big Poppa".  He was a tall, large framed man who loved his family. He departed this life in 1889.  Although there is no information on the death of his beloved, Luticia (Lutreca), the love and life they built survives today in the legacy that survives in each of us, his decendants.