What is known about the Tyson Family begins with the United States Census, Agricultural, and Slave Schedule records of 1860 and 1870. From these records, it is revealed that the Tyson family lineage began on an 1,800-acre plantation owned by James G. Tison, a Slaveholder in the city of Eufaula located in Barbour County in the state of Alabama. It is in the 1860 Productions of Agricultural Record where we find an account of James Tison’s agricultural production and inventory. Similar to most plantations, Tison owned livestock consisting of horses, mules, cows, and swine. The primary annual harvest produced on the plantation was Indian corn, rice, oats, and ginned cotton. It was estimated that during that time, the cash value of the farm was noted to be worth $30,000 in addition to a total value of $4,800 in combined livestock.

Unfortunately, prior to the Emancipation Proclamation and the end of the Civil War in 1865, US Census records taken in previous years did not include the names of slaves. At best, the earliest record of our ancestors can be found on the Slave Schedule of August 17, 1860 recorded in the Eastern Division of Barbour County, whereby James G. Tison owned 90 slaves, all of whom were simply enumerated as inventory and only distinguishable by sex, age and color. It wasn’t until the next Census of 1870 after the Civil War do we find a more factual account of the “Tison” lineage and surname, which was later changed to “Tyson” as we know today.

Starting with the 1870 Census do we find the beginning or our ancestral roots through John “Captain” Tyson Sr. John Captain lived on the Tison plantation along with 89 other slaves. John Captain was born in 1822 in the state of South Carolina. He later married a women named Harriet. Harriet was also born in the state of South Carolina sometime during 1827. Together, John and Harriet had fourteen children; Benjamin, Captain Jr., Isabella, Jasper, Mollie, Will, Charlotte, Edmund, George Ann, Wesley, James, Abraham, Lucy, and Anna.