Africa in Fort Scott, Kansas [George Tivis]
(born: 1880 - died: 1900)There was a Negro colony near Fort Scott, KS from 1880-1900, according to H. V. Cowan in "Cattle now graze at site of early Negro settlement," The Fort Scott Tribune and The Fort Scott Monitor newspapers, October 22, 1960, pp. 1-2. The settlement, called "Africa," was established by former enslaved people and credited to Mr. and Mrs. George Tivis from Kentucky, along with their children Melinda, Richard, Alvin, George Jr., and Esther. According to the article, some of the children were married and had families of their own; by 1900, all had moved away from the settlement, with some going on to Oklahoma.
Looking at census records for the timeframe, there is a question concerning which George Tivis founded the settlement because there were three African American men from Kentucky named George Tivis who lived in or near Fort Scott (Bourbon County, KS) before the year 1900.
The first George Tivis is listed in the 1885 Kansas State Census as George Tivis, born around 1810 in Kentucky. His wife L. Tivis is listed as having been born around 1814 in South Carolina; two other family members, A. Tivis and W. Tivis, both born in Kentucky, are also listed in this household. The family lived in Marion (Bourbon County), KS in 1885. They were among the more than 500 African Americans living in Fort Scott between 1880 and 1885; about 77 of them were born in Kentucky.
There were four African Americans with the last name Tivis. Of the four, Harry Tivis was the only one born in Kentucky [source: 1880 U.S. Federal Census]; therefore, George Tivis (born around 1810) was either not included in the 1880 U.S. Census or had arrived sometime after that census was taken.
A George S. Tivis from Kentucky was living in Mississippi with his wife and two daughters in 1880, according to the U.S. Federal Census. He was born in April 1843 in Kentucky; his wife Mary Tivis was born in Georgia in December 1851. The couple had at least seven children: Lizzie Tivis; May Tivis White, who was married to George White from Missouri; James; George Jr.; Esther; Richard; and Elisha [sources: 1880 and 1900 U.S. Federal Censuses]. The older four children were born in Mississippi, the last three in Kansas. George, Mary, and their children did not arrive in Fort Scott until some time after George Jr. was born, around 1884; the family is not listed in the 1885 Kansas State Census.
A third George Tivis from Kentucky is listed in the 1905 Kansas State Census. Born around 1851, he was the husband of Amanda, born around 1853 in Kentucky. The couple had three children: Cordelia, John, and Dalia. The family may have been in Fort Scott as early as 1885, around the year that Cordelia Tivis was born.
In any event, by 1910 there is only one George Tivis listed in the U.S. Federal Census for Fort Scott, and he is the husband of Mary. In 1916, Mary and George Tivis lived at 707 S. Broadway [source: p. 204 in R. L. Polk & Co.'s Fort Scott City Directory, 1916]. George Tivis (also spelled Tevis), born in 1843, was a Civil War veteran; he served with the 122nd Regiment of the U.S. Colored Troops, Company G [source: U.S. Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865]. Born in Franklin [County?], KY, he enlisted in Lexington, KY June 30, 1864 [source: U.S. Descriptive Lists of Colored Volunteer Army Soldiers, 1864]; George Tivis was enslaved when he enlisted. The last of George and Mary's children to live in Fort Scott was John Richard Tivis, who died in 1966, leaving Elisha Tivis as the sole survivor of the children [source: "John Richard Tivis" in the Deaths-Funerals section of The Fort Scott Tribune and The Fort Scott Monitor, 4/4/1966, p. 6. Elisha Tivis lived in Kansas City, KS. It has yet to be determined if the three men from Kentucky named George Tivis were related.