treelines

Uncle Claude remembers stories

2011-10-31T06:27:00.000-07:00

Claude Brown of Noel, Mo “remembers stories”

[undated, unsigned transcript]

Old Joe Hendry who was a brother of great grandma Sarah Hendry

Brown [actually a nephew, son of William and Nancy Carter Hendry],

was shot in Henry hollow (4) by his son-in-law then some

say the son-in-law then shot himself in the yard. the family waited

untill daylight and found him. Others say he was shot by the family

after he shot Joe Hendry. Joe Hendry had a son named Jim and he

and Joe fell out. Jim went to hunt his dad down to kill him and

when he fired the gun blew up and Jim Hendry lost his arm because

of it. Joe Hendry and Uncle Henry Brown ran around together during

the civil war and made moon shine whiskey untill Uncle Henry came

to Arkansas. I talked to one of Uncle Henrys nieces and she said her

dad Uncle Will Brown told her that he and Uncle Henry were scouting

during the civil war and heard some southern soldiers comming so

they hid in the brush and waited then Uncle Henry shot both of the

soldiers and cut their heads off and hung them on a sapling. Uncle

will was just a small boy and was almost scared to death. A year or

two later he past the place and the limbs had sprouted and grew

around the heads still hanging there. I visited Hendry hollow and

saw the Hendry place. Uncle henry later lived on Brown’s mountain

(6) untill he came to Arkansas.

Uncle Henry’s boy Will got in to some slight misunderstanding with

the law and hit out for Kentucky wher he lived for some time. While

there he had a disagreement with a fellow and when Will was talking

to a neighbor one day this fellow come along and being drunk he

had a notion he would just cut Will’s head off or his liver out

and feed it to the dogs. Will run around the house while the man

he was talking to keep telling him that the man would kill him.

Finally the man threw Wll a gun and he killed the fellow. The man

talking to Will was afraid to testifie and will went to the penin

[blank] for life and died there. Either some one went and got him or

he was shiped back and burried on Brown’s mountain. I talked to his

son in Greenville about July 4, 1974 and he had just put a tumbstone

up for his dad. The Grave is at the point of Brown’s mountain the

back toward Baileyton at the head of a hollow. This is where uncle

Henry lived along with Ramsey Harris when he came to Arkansas.

The old timers still tell how mean old Joe and Jim Hendry were.

One of the old timers told me he found one of the old pistols

where Joe and some of his folks were having a battle years after

but after he washed it and oiled it years later someone stold it.

I would like to have had it. It was the old musle loading type.

Grandma Mathilda Brown’s old home place has been bulldosed down

for the new interstate 81 which has been finished to Bullsgap.

We saw it before it was taken down but the old house was long

since gone with a few of the chimney bricks left. It was reported to

us by a niece, Uncle Matt Pierce’s granddaughter that Great grandpa

Jimmy Pierce was a law-in-forcement officer at that time. We were

unable to find his burial place but all the rest of the emediate

family were buried at Mt.Carmel where grandma Brown went to church.

The following is a list of Pierces buried at Mt. Carmel:

W.E (Willie) Pierce-1884-1965 -Nephew Grandma’s

Ova Jeffer Pierce-1893-1918-Willie’s wife- I had meet both of these.

Joel N. Pierce -1882-1918

H.M (Matt) Pierce -1854-1924-Grandma’s brother

Louise Hendry Pierce -1862-1913

[handwritten]

Guy Pierce 1902-1966 - Teddy Pierce 1941-1965

Willie Pierce 1907-1957 Chas Pierce 1883-1959 wife Ida -1884-1952

Chas B Pierce 1887-1942

cemetery limbo

2011-10-20T11:18:00.000-07:00

How is it possible that no one is responsible for fixing this problem? Really incredible:

A concrete burial vault still protrudes from the bank near the top of the ravine. A 5-inch-high hole in the dirt shows where animals have been digging. A few yards down the steep slope, bits of rusty hardware, possibly from an old coffin, sit next to what appears to be the end of a human leg bone. A couple of pieces of other bones peek out from under fallen leaves.

“It’s just a heck of a mess,” said Phil Berglund, a Yell Township trustee who oversees the cemetery’s maintenance. Berglund said his little township can’t afford to stabilize the ravine, and a proposal to move graves away from the edge is snarled in bureaucratic red tape. “This is a problem that is beyond us,” he said.

Ahhhh, middle names

2011-10-07T18:25:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure why they are so important to me (and not just me).

As a way of confirming you have the right John A. Smith? Or in may case, the right Robert N. Scott?

But I'm still pleased as punch to have found that he is Robert Newton Scott. The only place he admitted it was an application to the Missouri Confederate Home that specifically said you could not abbreviate names on the application.

I also have the ancestor that we all thought was named Robert Walker Jackson, until a family bible turned up showing he was named Robert William Jackson. I'm still not sure when the idea that Walker was his middle name crept in. He was a man who liked to use R.W. Jackson for most everything he signed.

And then there's Martha A. Davison. One researcher's uncle said the middle name was Avarilla and she used it to mark her work (so she could see who was using her research unattributed) although she thought he was a pretty unreliable source. I had seen a family note that it was Ann, but now I can't find it again, so for now I leave it "A.".

Now, if only someone made my Elmer J. Gilbreath admit what his middle name was, maybe I can relax.

Finally found her: May Belle Green Inman

2011-09-29T06:22:00.000-07:00

Amongst the papers my grandmother shared with me about her family was this story written by her aunt:

"Belle married a Mr. Green from Fulton, [Fulton Co.] Ky. (His family raised race horses). They came to near Lamar, [Barton Co.] Mo. She died in child birth. Mr. Green took the baby girl and went back to Kentucky."

-Jessie Mae Jackson

Belle was Lucy M. Arabella R. B. "Belle" Jackson. Her full name will surely never be known as the family bible contained nothing but initials. The other names that filled in the gaps are all from census records. A little digging and I found her marriage to "J.R. Green" MAY 28, 1873 by J.M. Spence, M.G., in Weakley County, Tennessee.

I'd always wanted to track down Mr. Green and the daughter and thanks to one of my favorite databases, the Tennessee Death Records at familysearch.org, I finally have:

Tennessee, Death Records, 1914-1955
familysearch.org
noted 24 Sep 2011
name: May Belle Inmann
event: Death
event date: 28 Apr 1943
event place: Union City, Obion, Tennessee
gender: Female
marital status: Married
race or color: White
age: 64
birth date: 31 Aug 1878
birthplace: Joplin, Mo
spouse: W J Inman
father: Jim Green
father's birthplace: Mo Or Ky
mother: Belle Jackson
mother's birthplace: Mo Or Ky
occupation: Hw
street address: RFD #3
residence: Obion Co, Tenn
cemetery: Beulah
burial place: Union City, Tenn
burial date: 29 Apr 1943
additional relatives: X
digital folder number: 4184876
volume/page/certificate number: cn 8076

No question that it is her.

So, no special skill this time. No unravelled puzzle. Just diligently looking and never giving up. These databases are so amazing. It's hard to remember that you had to know where to look before you could really get started...

I'm having trouble finding out very much about May or her husband. I have found them in only one census, with May's half-sister Dolly living with them:

State Kentucky
County Hickman
McAlister Magistereal Dist
s.d. 1?, e.d. 50, Sheet No. 108?A/89A
20th? June 1900 James [smudged]
line 1, 196/200 INMAN W J head WM Dec 1875 24 M 1 Tennessee Tennessee Tennessee Farmer Rents Farm
M B wife WF Aug 1879 20 M 1 0/0 Missouri Kentucky Missouri
GREEN Dolly Sister WF Mar 1885 15 S Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky attended school 5 months
WILLIAMS Dolphus laborer WM about 26 S Kentucky Tennessee Kentucky Farm laborer unemployed 4 months

But I'm sure I'll find more. I'm just excited that one of my oldest and biggest mysteries is solved. Now on to a few others...

Hannah Stockwell Hamilton

2011-09-18T15:21:00.000-07:00

A new maiden name!

Such a rare discovery for me in my direct line at this point.

I've tried looking for the marriage record without luck, but I noticed a younger son with an unusual name and I thought I'd throw it in the Michigan Deaths and Burials index on familysearch.org.

Bingo!

Michigan Deaths and Burials, 1800-1995
familysearch.org
noted 18 Sep 2011
name: Simeon Hamilton
gender: Male
death date: 14 Sep 1901
death place: Bertrand Tp., Berrien, Michigan
age: 69
birth date: 1832
birthplace: Ohio
occupation: Retired Farmer
race: White
marital status: Married
father's name: Nathaniel Hamilton
mother's name: Hannah Stockwell
indexing project (batch) number: B51819-8
system origin: Michigan-EASy
source film number: 945406

Yeay and whew.

and then also his brother:

Michigan Deaths and Burials, 1800-1995
familysearch.org
name: Francis M. Hamilton
gender: Male
death date: 06 Jul 1915
death place: Bertrand, Berrien, Michigan
age: 73
birth date: 1842
birthplace: Mich.
occupation: Farmer
race: White
marital status: Married
father's name: Nathanial Hamilton
mother's name: Hanah Stockwell
indexing project (batch) number: B02571-0
system origin: Michigan-EASy
source film number: 1954721

Mary Palina Campbell Cox

2011-06-03T19:32:00.000-07:00

Mary P. Campbell Cox has been a funny little conundrum since I ran across her marriage to Anderson Cox many years ago when first working on my husband's genealogy.

Here was a Campbell clearly born in Georgia, but married and living in Greene County, Tennessee, and no other Georgia-born Campbells were in the area! Very odd...

So, with the vast new array of databases I started digging again. I found her death record that helpfully said her parents were Campbell and Campbell. No first names. Her listing was actually as "Mrs. A. Cox", so it had been awkward to find in the first place. But no matter. She married in 1872, so I threw a search into the 1870 census:

United States Census, 1870

Name: Mary Campbell, Event: Birth, Place: Georgia, Year: 1846-1848

Mary Campbell
birth: 1847 —Georgia
residence: Georgia, United States
Mary P Campbell
birth: 1847 —Georgia
residence: Georgia, United States
Mary Campbell
birth: 1847 —Georgia
residence: Tennessee, United States
Mary Campbell
birth: 1846 —Georgia
residence: Alabama, United States
Mary Campbell
birth: 1848 —Georgia
residence: Georgia, United States
Mary Campbell
birth: 1848 —Georgia
residence: Georgia, United States
Mary F Campbell
birth: 1846 —Georgia
residence: Georgia, United States
Mary Campbell
birth: 1846 —Georgia
residence: Texas, United States
Mary J Campbell
birth: 1846 —Georgia
residence: Florida, United States
Mary Gamble
birth: 1847 —Georgia
residence: Georgia, United States
Mary Jane Gambol
birth: 1848 —Georgia
residence: Georgia, United States
Mary Gamble
birth: 1846 —Georgia
residence: Georgia, United States

familysearch.org
noted 3 June 2011

The Mary P. and the Mary b. Georgia but living in Tennessee both sprang out at me.

As it turns out the Mary b. 1847 in Georgia but living in Lincoln County, Tennessee was not born in Georgia - but her husband was. So database transcription error there. And Lincoln Co., TN is not near Greene Co., TN, so off to check out the Mary P.

Pulled it up - Walker County, Georgia This was good! Walker County is not an uncommon place for my Tennessee folks to end up. Then I looked at the family. Blink, blink. I knew the family:

1870 Walker Co., GA Census
Page No. 12
Subdivision No 128, County of Walker, State of Georgia
17th June 1870 by Leander H Dickey
P.O. Frick's Gap
line 11, 80/77 CAMPBELL James 61 MW Farmer 1275/600 Tennessee
Sarah 62 FW Keeping house Kentucky cannot r/w
Mary P. 23 FW Keeping house Georgia
Eliza M 21 FW Teaching School Georgia attended school
Cardelia 18 FW At home Georgia
James C 13 MW Farm laborer Georgia cannot r/w [appears to be son of James]
William C 11 MW Farm laborer Georgia cannot r/w [appears to be son of James]
Martha 13 FW At home Georgia attended school cannot write [appears to be daughter of William]
Wiley W 10 ME Farm laborer Georgia cannot r/w [appears to be son of William]
Dora B 6 FW Georgia [appears to be daughter of William]
line 21, 81/78 CAMPBELL Andrew H 36 MW Farm laborer 1250/600 Tennessee
Mary L 32 FW Keeping house Tennessee
George F 7 MW Georgia attended school
Robert I 4 MW Georgia
Daniel W 3 MW Georgia
Landon A 7/12 MW Georgia Oct

That is Sarah Dodd Campbell's family. She and James were married in Greene County, Tennessee on 15 Oct 1828. She is the sister of my ancestor Massey Dodd Hendry.

Also threw Sarah and her husband into Find-A-Grave and found the most fascinating cemetery photos I've ever seen. There were only four grave (left?) and you had to know they were there to find them. They did a nice job of showing the whole layout. Well worth a look.

So, now we know. I did check a few more of the Mary's but it's pretty obvious how a Georgia girl ended up in Greene County, Tennessee: she had other family there.

And we have yet another case of my husband's cousin marrying mine.

Good grief. I should make a list some time.

Poweshiek Co., Iowa marriages online

2011-05-28T13:18:00.000-07:00

Had some nice luck with the Poweshiek County, Iowa marriage records at familysearch.org and found Margaret H. Hall, daughter of Elijah Hall and Rosetta Hamilton Hall, and Paulina J. Block, daughter of Martin Block and Anna Jeska Block.

Margaret was the more awkward of the two - her marriage record did not mention her parent's names. But it sure looked like my gal:

familysearch.org

noted 26 May 2011

record title: Iowa Marriages, 1809-1992

groom's name: Hiram Strong

groom's birth date: 1845

groom's age: 25

bride's name: Margaret Hall

bride's birth date: 1846

bride's age: 24

marriage date: 13 Mar 1870

marriage place: Brooklyn, Poweshiek, Iowa

bride's marital status: Single

indexing project (batch) number: M02559-0

system origin: Iowa-EASy

source film number: 1028402

I strongly suspect Hiram is related to Daniel O. Strong. They appear to both be from Niagara County, New York, though I've found no firm connection yet. Dan was married to Margaret's aunt Mary Hall Strong. She and Hiram were right in Brooklyn in 1870:

Page No. 14

Town of Brooklyn, County of Poweshiek, State of Iowa

16 August 1870 by A.J. Wood

P.O. Brooklyn

line 9, 109/115 STRONG Hiram 30 MW Day Laborer /100 New York

Margrett 24 FW Keepinghouse Michigan

line 11, /116 EARLEY Moses 34 MW Day Laborer Ohio

Hanah 22 FW Keepinghouse Ohio

Geo 1 MW Iowa

And here she is with two of her children in the 1900 census:

State Iowa

County Tama

Tama township, Tama city, Ward 1

s.d. 5, e.d. 146, sheet no. 22A/216A

15th June 1900 by Myrtle M. Mills

line 36, 493/514 STRONG, Charles Head WM Aug 1874 25 M 2 Iowa New York Michigan Coal bearer? Owns Mortgaged House

Julia Wife WF Feb 1880 20 M 2 1/1 Iowa Germany Iowa

Mildred Daughter WF June 1899 11/12 S Iowa Iowa Iowa

SHALLER Joseph F-in-law WM Apr 1828 72 D. Germany Germany German 1846/48/Na

B Franklin B-in-law WM Jan 1882 18 S Iowa Germany Germany Laborer unemployed 7 months

line 41, 494/515 STRONG Maggie Head WF Dec 1844 56 Wd. 5/4 Michigan Ohio Indiana Owns Mortgaged House

Ina Daughter WF Aug 1884 15 S Iowa New York Michigan at school 9 months

The final bit of proof for Margaret was discovering she was born in Berrien County, Michigan from a birth record of one of her children in the Iowa Births and Christenings, 1830-1950, database also at familysearch.org.

Paulina's marriage record notes her father's name was Martin, so it was a firm connection from the start:

familysearch.org

noted 27 May 2011

record title: Iowa Marriages, 1809-1992

groom's name: Add A J Myers

groom's birth date: 1861

groom's birthplace: Michigan

groom's age: 22

bride's name: Paulina G Block

bride's birth date: 1867

bride's birthplace: West Prussia

bride's age: 16

marriage date: 18 Feb 1883

marriage place: Malcom, Poweshiek, Iowa

groom's father's name: Orlando Myers

groom's mother's name: Lucilla Crill

bride's father's name: Martin Block

indexing project (batch) number: M02559-1

system origin: Iowa-EASy

source film number: 1028403

She passed away some time between 1896 and the 1900 census (a big part of the reason I'd been unable to track her down otherwise). Here is her family in the 1900 census:

State Iowa

County Hancock

Crystal Township

Crystal Lake

s.d. 10, e.d. 117, Sheet No. 1A/240A

1st June 1900 by James A. Johnson

line 14, 3/3 MYERS Add J Head WM Jan 1861 39 Wd Michigan New York New York

Grain Buyer Owns House Free of mortgage

Orlando Son WM Jan 1886 14 S South Dak Michigan Germany At School 7 months

Willis S Son WM June 1887 12 S South Dak Michigan Germany At School 7 months

Herold Son WM Feb 1889 11 S Iowa Michigan Germany At School 7 months

Irena Daughter WF Jan 1892 8 S South Dak Michigan Germany At School 7 months

Frank Son WM Oct 1896 3 S South Dak Michigan Germany

I was very excited to track them both down!

Robert N. Scott

2011-04-22T19:42:00.000-07:00

I finally tracked down and (essentially) verified my educated guesses about my Robert N. Scott.

And, yep, it was Find-A-Grave that helped me pull it all together. (The love affair thrives...)

I had been trying to track a couple of other Scotts living near my ancestor Allen Scott in the 1830 Overton Co., TN Census. My Allen had just gotten married, so one would imagine he might be near family.

1830 Overton Co., TN
[in margin] Overton County State of Tennessee
Pg. 172, allotted to Robert Nevins,
[line 10] SCOTT Martin 000001 110001
[1M 30-39 (b. 1791-1800) Martin,
1F 30-39 (b. 1791-1800),
1F 5-9 (b. 1821-1825),
1F 0-4 (b. 1826-1830)
[could be the Martin Scott in Hart Co., KY in 1850]
pg. 174, allotted to Robert Nevins
[line 7] ASHLOCK Jesse 000000001 0000000001
[1M 60-69, 1F 70-79]
[line 11] BUFORD John 10002 1001
[line 13] Aggrippa CLARY 10001 0001
[line 15] JENINGS Ezekiel 0112001 0010001
[line 17] SCOTT Allen 001 0001
[1M 10-15 (b. 1815-1820) Allen,
1F 15-19(b. 1811-1815) Valeria]
[line 27] SCOTT John 01001 10001
[1M 20-29 (b. 1801-1810) John,
1F 20-29(b. 1801-1810),
1M 5-9 (b. 1821-1825),
1F 0-4 (b. 1826-1830)]
pg. 175, allotted to Robert Nevins
[line 1] SCOTT Samuel 212001 010001
[1M 30-39 (b. 1791-1800) Samuel,
1F 30-39 (b. 1791-1800),
2M 10-15 (b. 1815-1820),
1F 5-9 (b. 1821-1825),
1M 5-9 (b. 1821-1825),
2M 0-4 (b. 1826-1830)]]
[line 2] GREEN William Jr 1101 01101

It appears that the Samuel Scott nearby ends up in Lafayette County, Missouri in 1850. There was also a John Scott in Lafayette Co., MO in 1850 that could fit the bill for the 1830 Overton John Scott I am looking at. So, off I run to Find-A-Grave to see if any interesting Scotts pop up in Lafayette County.

But the first thing that pops out at me is R.N. Scott 1843-1919.

Okay, pops out is an understatement. It screamed at me.

This was the final clue in Robert N. Scott's long, fairly sad tale.

He was born in 1843 in either Tennessee or Kentucky. His brother Washington Scott said that the family lived in Overton Co., TN until he was 18 (abt. 1857), but Robert repeatedly (though not consistently) reports his birthplace as Kentucky.

Sometime between 1843 (his birth) and 1855 (when his father remarried the sister of is mother) his mother died.

As with most men of his generation, Robert N. Scott enlisted for the Civil War. His and his brothers Washington and John all joined the 11th Regiment Missouri Infantry (Confederate), Company K. It was his cemetery record that pointed me to the 11th Regiment and the fact that the three Scotts listed were himself and Washington and John that helped confirm that the Robert N. Scott buried in the Confederate Cemetery in Lafayette Co., MO was my ancestor.

In the 1880 census he is listed with the family I know:

1880 Jasper Co., MO Census,
State Missouri
County Jasper
Jackson Township, S.D. 4, E.D. 64, Page No. 15/434A
[noted on previous census page: Village of Scotland]
11 June 1880 by WB McNeel
line 13, 125/125 SCOTT Robert N WM 37 M Farmer Kentucky NC NC
Martha WF 27 wife M Keeping house Missouri Geo MO
Willam WM 11 Son S At home attended school Missouri Ky MO
Charley WM 9 Son S Missouri Ky MO
Robert WM 7 Son S Missouri Ky MO
Alice WF 5 Daughter Missouri Ky MO
Anna WF 2 Daughter Missouri Ky MO
[near father Allen Scott].

But by 1900 I cannot find Martha McRae Scott and the best record I had for him was:

State Arkansas, County Boone, Long Creek Township
S.D. 3, E.D. 22, pg. 19B/98B,
Sixth July 1900 by James S. Goodwin
line 100, 350/350 HUFFMAN George? Head WM June 1865 34? M 3 Missouri Indiana Missouri Farmer [rest of entry illegible]
Sheet No. 20A/98A
line 1, HUFFMAN Mary E Wife WF Mar 1875 25 M ? 1/1 Missouri Kentucky Missouri
Christene Daughter WF Dec 1897 2 S Arkansas Missouri Missouri
line 3, 351/367 SCOTT Robert N. Head WM Sept 1844 55 M 11 Kentucky Un Un Farmer Owns Farm Free of mortgage
Amanda Wife WF June 1849 50 M 11 9/8 Missouri Carolina Kentucky
HUFFMAN John H step-Son WM May 1874 26 S Missouri Indiana Missouri Farm laborer
PETTY Froney E step-Daughter WF Mar. 1879 21 S Missouri Missouri Missouri
Isaac R step Son WM Apr 1882 18 S Missouri Missouri Missouri Farm laborer attended school 1 month
SCOTT Alonzo V. Son WM Oct 1890 9 S Missouri Kentucky Missouri attended school 1 month

Martha McRae Scott died 17 Mar 1903 and was buried under her maiden name.

Martha Amanda Sisney Huffman Petty Scott died in 1906, after Robert had apparently abandoned her.

Further research on Alonzo V. Scott revealed a young man who claimed on his WWI Draft Registration form that his father was dependent on him. At that time his father was already being housed at the charitable Confederate Veterans Home in Lafayette County, Missouri. Unfortunately, when Alonzo was drafted he died of Lobar Pneumonia 11 Oct 1918 before even being deployed to Europe, leaving a widow.

Robert N. Scott died 8 Jun 1919 at his dressing table, probably of heart trouble.

In love with FInd-A-Grave

2011-03-16T15:18:00.000-07:00

While looking up the known gravesite of Margaret McRae Shuey McClelland in Stone Cemetery near Diamond, Newton County, Missouri, I checked the search engine for other McRae's gravestones and was thrilled to find the missing stone for her mother Catherine Gibson McRae!

We had a family letter that said she was buried next to her daughter Martha McRae in Carthage, Missouri.

Close, but not really...one of those little mistakes that crop up in oral tradition. But I should have guessed earlier - Catherine was living with Margaret and not Martha in her last census.

I also discovered the grave of Andrew Goas's wife Hannah Lewis Goas way over in Longs Run Cemetery, Columbiana County, Ohio. The only reason I found her was the good luck that they could still read her unusual last name on the stone. They thought her first name was "Fannah", but if you know what you're looking for you can see it's an H. It's so neat to actually get to see her gravestone.

So, it's official.

I'm totally in love with Find-A-Grave!!

Wilda May Taylor Hamm

2011-03-06T09:44:00.000-08:00

I have finally tracked down Wilda May Taylor, the daughter of William V. Taylor.

What astonishes me is that my guess based on nothing but census browsing was absolutely correct.

I wouldn't have even known she existed except that a cousin of hers died without heirs and without a will so a document was produced that listed all of her potential heirs - in this case her first cousins. Wilda was listed in the document as the deceased daughter of William V. I'd known from his 1930 census record he'd been divorced, but knew nothing of and offspring.

Here are her census records that I gathered while in guess-mode:

State Kansas
County Wyandotte
Delaware Township
Edwardsville City of 3rd Class Beginning Line 1
s.d. 2, e.d. 152, Sheet No. 16A/34A
4th February 1920 by Calvin L. David
line 30, 349/351 REEVES Albert Head OM MW 49 M /yes/yes Iowa Iowa IowaRock Road Patrolman
Sarah wife FW 58 m /yes/yes Indiana Ohio Indiana
Willis son MW 17 S yes/yes/yes Kansas Iowa Indiana Truck Driver/Rock Road
line 33, 350/352 TAYLOR Edna Lodger FW 37 M /yes/yes Kansas Kansas IowaServant/Housekeeper
Wilda Lodger FW 6 S yes/ Missouri Missouri Kansas

1930 Dickinson Co KS
State Kansas
County Dickinson
Herington city, Second Ward
Lyons township
e.d. 21-18, s.d. 3, Sheet No. 9A/153A
Apr. 30, 1930 by Mrs. Mildred Persinger
11 South 9 St.
line 41, 199/218 BERRY Edna Head H o $2000 R No FW 48 Wd no/yes KansasKansas Iowa
Johnnie Step-son MW 22 S no/yes Ohio Missouri Ohio Attendant/FillingStation
TAYLOR Wilda daughter FW 16 S yes/yes Missouri Missouri Kansas

At the time of her death she was divorced from her husband so his name was not given. The informant was her mother Edna May Berry - who said her maiden name was Berry, which was also her name from her second marriage. So that may not be correct.

Oh! I forgot to mention how I found her - I went to the Missouri Death Records online and looked at each of the death records for anyone named Wilda. Such a long shot! Glad I didn't have to do the whole 100, also glad I didn't start at the end of the alphabet!

And such a genealogy junkie thing to do...nice when it works out.

Margaret Elizabeth Baker Smith

2011-02-28T07:40:00.000-08:00

After having found Simeon/Semyen Perry "Perry" Smith and Margaret Elizabeth Baker’s marriage record online at Sevier County, Tennessee Genealogy and History:

Smith, Simeon P.-Baker, Margaret E.-1869 Sep 25-1869 Sep 29-Maples, P. W. - MG

I decided to try to track her down again. I’d been hamstrung by not having a definitive 1870 census for her and Perry. This was my best guess:

Page No. 16
The 3rd District, County of Sevier, State of Tennessee
15th August 1870 by N.M. Baker
P.O. Fair Garden
[near Andrew and Jane Dickey Smith - could this be Simeon P. Smith mis-enumerated?]
line 39, 110/110 SMITH James P 21 MW Farm laborer /350 Tennessee
Margaret E 16 FW Keeping house Tennessee

But as Perry’s family was from Jefferson County, TN I hadn’t really been convinced. I did all my looking for Margaret there. This marriage record in Sevier Co., TN really opened things up. I found two possibles in 1860 for her and very quickly one became my favorite:

1860 Sevier Co., TN Census, pg. 120

S034-26
BAKER -Dist 3, PO Fair Garden, Sevier Co., Tenn., June 28, 1860- 217/ 217
N. M. 40 M W Farmer 300 Tn
Dicey 34 F W Tn
Martha 11 F W Tn S
Nancy 10 F W Tn S
Margaret 9 F W Tn S
William 4 M W Tn
Melville 2 M W Tn

S034-33
MAPLES -Dist 3, PO Fair Garden, Sevier Co., Tenn., June 28, 1860- 218/ 218
Preston 40 M W Farmer 3000 1300 Tn
Cirena 25 F W Tn I
William 20 M W Farm Laborer Tn S
James 16 M W Tn S
Gilbert 14 M W Tn S
Martin 7 M W Tn S
Rachel 5 F W Tn
Preston BUCKHANNON 3M W Tn
Albert G. W.BUCKHANNON 1M W Tn

As you can see this Margaret Baker is enumerated next door to the man who performed my Margaret’s marriage.

So I began doing research on this Baker family and finally found this:

Bruce Baker, James Baker VA d bef 1742, desc TN, OH
“Nathaniel kept a family Bible where he recorded his
marriage and the birth of his children and the deaths of those
who preceeded him in death. Bobby Kirk Hamonson of Oddessa,
Texas had the Bible in November 1992 when I made photo copies
of the information from the Bible.”
170 iii. Margaret Elizabeth Baker was born in Sevier Co.,,
TN 6 APR 1851. Margaret died 1 JAN 1873 at 21
years of age. She married Smith.

Found her. And proof that my guess about which children were hers and which children belonged to Perry’s second wife was correct. This was crucial for me as my ancestor ended up being the first child of the second marriage. And I am now confident that the 1870 enumeration for James P. and Margaret Smith are actually Simeon Perry and Margaret Baker Smith: notice that they, like Margaret’s family, are enumerated in “Fair Garden”. But one really weird problem. Do my eyes deceive me? Or was it Margaret's dad who enumerated the 1870 census?!

Lucy [Maiden name unknown] Atchley Smith

2011-02-27T18:27:00.000-08:00

Maiden name known! Or at least a most probable guess...

This was a fun one to track down.

It was serendipitous as usual. I haven't done genealogy for a while, so when I noticed an ancestor missing a marriage record for (probably) Sevier County, Tennessee around 1870 I thought I'd see if anything new was available. And yes:

Sevier County, Tennessee Genealogy and History has a lot of great information and some very usable databases, including marriages. I quickly found what I was looking for:

Smith, Simeon P.-Baker, Margaret E.-1869 Sep 25-1869 Sep 29-Maples, P. W. - MG

This is the first marriage of my ancestor Simeon/Semyen Perry "Perry" Smith.

While I was looking around, I checked the immediate family for some of my other undocumented marriages without much luck. Most of this Smith family did its marrying and living in Jefferson County, Tennessee, including Perry's father Gilbert C. Smith:

1850 Jefferson Co., TN Census
The 13th District
26th October 1850 by James Baker
line 18, 1013/1050 Gilbert SMITH 25 "[M] Laborer " [Tenn]
Eliza 27 F " [Tenn]
Andrew 3 M " [Tenn]
Simeon 2 "[M] " [Tenn]
line 22, L. THOMAS 51 "[M] Laborer " [Tenn]
Nancy 17 F " [Tenn]
James 15 M " [Tenn]
George 13 "[M] " [Tenn]
William 11 "[M] " [Tenn]
Catharine 9 F " [Tenn]< John 7 M " [Tenn]

Here he is 50 years later still in Jefferson County, TN in 1900 with a second wife:

17 Cival District, S.D. 2, E.D. 55, Sheet No. 1B, 1st + 2nd June 1900 by Andrew J. Bush, [next door to his former son-in-law Martin Acton],
line 71, 14/14 SMITH Gilbert C Head WM July 1924 75 M 3 Tennessee Tennessee Tennessee Farmer Owns Farm Free of mortgage,
Lucy Wife WF Mar 1849 51 M 3 3/1 Tennessee Tennessee Tennessee,
ATCHLY Daniel B Stepson WM WM Dec 1888? 14? S Tennessee Tennessee Tennessee Farm Laborer

But when I got digging for this second marriage undocumented marriage for Gilbert and Lucy, I found this:

Atchley, Isaac T. / Maples, Burlenda 1867 Apr 27 1867 Apr 28 Atchley, William D. - JP

Atchley, I. T. / Hodge, Lucy 1883 May 30 blank blank

Nothing definitive there. The marriage is about the right time, Lucy having had a son Daniel B. Atchley in 1886.

But when I looked up this Isaac I found him married to Malinda Maples and among his children were Benjamin Ambrose and James P. Atchley. And in 1910 I had noted that Daniel had moved to Young County, Texas and was living near these two men and their families.

Still nothing definitive, and those blanks on the marriage bond mean no marriage was reported from the bond, so possibly the marriage never happened. But there's many a slip, and I know of one man who refused to turn in his marriage license to the court house after the minister had signed it because he "had paid 7 dollars for it" and he meant to keep it...

But for me, the coincidences have piled up way too high. I believe this is my Lucy Hodges Atchley Smith.

Still more work to do, but here is her 1880 census record:

1880 United States Census, www.familysearch.org
Calvin M. HODGES Self W Male W 62 TN Farmer TN TN
Lucy HODGES Dau S Female W 31 TN Keeping House TN TN
Lina HODGES Dau S Female W 29 TN Keeping House TN TN

Our Indulgent Father

2009-08-17T05:46:00.000-07:00

After a good long trudge up and down the rows, I finally found Horace P. Anderson and Louann Warder Anderson's tombstone in Riverton Cemetery, Riverton, Fremont County, Iowa.

It was next to a large plot that was empty except for a stone saying "Calfee", which was the name of their daughter Fannie's husband. It is probably the plot for Henry H. Calfee and his first wife Annie.

Elvira Wooddy Capps and Hasty Cemetery

2009-07-29T10:38:00.001-07:00

I was lucky enough to make it to the Capps family reunion in Carthage, Mo. last weekend and cousin Tom Capps shared this find: Elvira Wooddy Capps' tombstone.

Oddly enough, she is buried in the Agee or Hasty Cemetery near Hasty, Newton County, Arkansas.

I cannot find anyone else that she is related to buried in the cemetery, and it is well documented that she and her husband lived in the Bellefonte area of Boone County most of their adult lives.

Turnbo quotes William Eoff who places them among the "early residents on the left hand prong of Crooked Creek in Boone County Arkansas". A biography of her husband Robert Capps notes "Mr. Capps has been a resident of the section in which he now lives for nearly sixty years, has always tilled the soil, and besides the farm of fifty acres on which he resides, he is the owner of other valuable lands in Newton and Boone Counties." Possibly she died at another farm they owned and was buried near it.

In any case, it seems like it requires some explanation, but also certainly explains why no one could find her tombstone! It was rather far afield...

Census records run in a circular motion

2007-08-13T06:15:00.000-07:00

What fun.

I haven't had much of any time for genealogy but when I saw the 1935 Missouri Death Certificate images were now online I had to go check them out. I'd been guessing for some time that the "Lee Scott" and "R.L. Scott" living in McDonald, Jasper and Newton Counties, Missouri was my missing "Robert Lee 'Lee' Scott".

State Missouri
County McDonald
McMillen Township
s.d. 13th, e.d. 96, Sheet No. 5B
12 June 1900 by Dan Huckins
line 57, 90/90 SCOTT Lee. R. Head WM May 1873 27 M 3 Scotland Scotland Scotland 1887/13/Na Farmer Rents Farm Free of mortgage
Sarah. E wife WF April 1877 23 M 3 2/2 Missouri Missouri Missouri
Alick Son WM Feb 1897 3 S Missouri Scotland Missouri
George son WM Aug 1899 10/12 S Missouri Scotland Missouri

State Missouri
County Jasper
Duenweg Precinct Joplin Township
s.d. 13th, e.d. 57, Sheet No. 12A/48A
22th 23th April 1910 by David L Sidman
West Duenweg
line 16, 228/228 SCOTT Robert L Head MW 34 M2 15 Missouri Tennessee Tennessee Shoveler/Zinc Mine Owns Mortgaged Farm
Sarah Wife FW 32 M1 15 3/3 Missouri Missouri Missouri
Alock Son MW 14 S Missouri Missouri Missouri
Georgie Son MW 12 S Missouri Missouri Missouri
Dixie daughter FW 9 S Missouri Missouri Missouri

And his death certficate confirmed it:

Missouri Death Certificates online
Missouri State Board of Health
Bureau of Vital Statistics
Certificate of Death
Registration District No. 611
Primary Registration District No. 6258
File No. 40458
Registered No. 47

Place of Death:
County Newton
Township Five Mile
City Seneca Mo RR2

Full Name:
Robert Lee Scott
Seneca Mo RR2

Male White Married
Date of Birth: 4 - 6 /1871
Age 64 Years 7 months 25 days
Occupation: Farmer
Birthplace: Scotland, Mo
Father: Robert N. Scott, Tenn
Mother: Not known
Informant: Elick Friend [name hard to read]
Seneca Mo RR2 box 99A
Burial: Forest Park at Joplin Date: 12/2/1935
Undertaker: Darnell, Pitcher Okla
Filed Dec 1, 1935, Merle Sparlin, Registrar

Cause of Death: Natival Causes
Contributory: Chronic Interstial Nephritis
[signed] Ashely Bigham, Neosho Mo

But the thing that caught my attention and sent me off on a tangent was the informant: Elick Friend.

Lee had a son named, in census, Alick and Alock, so I thought it likely Elick Friend was a friend of the family or relative that he had named his son after. But it turned out to be more interesting than that.

Looking around in various places for Ellick I wasn't having much luck, except for his Draft Registration form which gave me the correct spelling: Ellic Friend.

WWI Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, ancestry.com
Serial No. 110
Registration No. 75
Name: Ellic Friend
Address: 500 West 15th St Kansas City Mo
Date of Birth: February 10th 1897
Where born: McDonald Co, Missouri USA
Native of the United States
Citizen
Father's birthplace: Missouri, USA
Employer: Armour + Co, Kansas City, Kansas
Nearest Relative: Jaunita Friend (wife)
500 West 15th St Kansas City Mo
[signed} Ellic Friend

REGISTRAR'S REPORT
Medium Height
Slender Build
Eyes: Gray
Hair: Black
Physical disability? No
[signed] B B Anderson
Local Board, Division No. 2
City of Kansas City
State of Missouri
315 Gumell Building
Kansas City, MO

So then I did a general Google search and found this note:

http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/MONEWTON/2007-01/1168722699
noted 8 August 2007
MONEWTON-L Archives
Archiver > MONEWTON > 2007-01 > 1168722699

From: "Doug"
Subject: [MONEWTON] Friend Ellic - obit/information request
Date: Sat, 13 Jan 2007 13:11:39 -0800
References:

Just wondering if you, or anyone on this list, has an Ellic FRIEND in their
information? He has been reported to have been born in Sarcoxie MO (Jasper
Co) 10 Feb 1897 and has been found in only the 1920 census in Ottawa Co OK
as Ellis with wife Juanita. His parents were reported to be Joe and Dolly
but I have no further info.

His wife, Juanita Lucille SCOTT was reported to have been born in Granby MO
(Newton Co) on 4 Sep 1900. It is also reported that she later married a
Robert Lee SCOTT.

They were married 4 Sep 1917 in Newton Co MO and had 8 children, 4 sons, 4
daughters, between 1920 and about 1930. He died Jun 1978 and she Sep 1978,
both in Salisaw OK (They may have lived in Muldrow).

I would be appreciative of any information received pertaining to this couple.
Is there someone that looks up obits Salisaw OK?
Can the birth records in MO be examined?
Other suggestions?

Thanks,

Doug

Juanita Scott, Juanita Scott...familiar. Very, very familiar. Where had I seen a Juanita Scott before?

Right!

I'd been tracing a Charles M. "Charlie" Scott from Granby, Newton County, Missouri to Denver, Colorado as a possible for a missing brother of Lee's. I looked at my notes. Yup. He had a daughter named Juanita. And when you looked at her census record as Mrs. Ellic Friend she said her mother was born in Virginia. As this Juanita Scott's was.

So, Ellic Friend was Lee's nephew-in-law? Usually someone closer (or just a nurse) is the informant. This seemed odd.

But it also seemed odd that I could never find Lee's son Alec.

And then I noticed that Ellic's draft registration form said he was born February 10th 1897. And Alec's 1900 census notation said he was born Feb 1897.

Right.

Then I looked more closely at the 1900 census record. Lee and Sarah were married 3 years. "Alick" was 3, born Feb 1897. Doesn't quite fit. So, now the question seemed to be was Ellic adopted? Or was Sarah his natural mother and Lee his step-father?

I'd never had much luck tracking down Lee's son George, so I turned my attention to daughter Dixie. And after looking at all the women named "Dixie" in the Missouri Death Certificates database who died in McDonald and Jasper Counties, I found the right woman in Newton County: Dixie Irene Scott Reber.

Father: Lee Scott
Mother: Dollie Friend
Informant: Mr. Ed Reber, Ritchey, Mo [husband]

And then I looked at Doug's note again. Ellic's mother was said to be "Dolly". And although every single census said Lee's wife was "Sarah", Dixie, too, said her mother was Dollie. Dollie Friend.

Seems to me that Sarah E. Friend was nicknamed Dollie and was either married to a Friend cousin before she married Lee or Ellic was born out of wedlock. Since typically in those circumstances the child was adopted by his step-father, or at least took his name, my thought is that she was married before she married Lee. Although there is one oddity. The death record of Paul Joseph Friend:

Missouri Death Certificates, 1910-1955
Paul Josephine Friend [sic: record says Paul Joseph Friend] October 26, 1926 Jasper Joplin 31982 view image
Date of Birth: Nov 29th 1925
Father: Alex Friend
Mother: Juanita Scott
[signed] Alex Scott, 1931 Indiana Ave Joplin
Burial Forest Park, Joplin Oct 28, 1926

Is this Ellic Friend signing as Alex Scott? Or is this another cousin or the actual son of Lee and Sarah (who appears in no other record except census that I can find). Hard to say. Checking marriage records in McDonald Co., MO would probably settle the questions about Sarah E. "Dollie" Friend.

One funny last note.

Did you notice that Lee and his parents were noted as born in Scotland in the 1900 census? It even gave a date of naturalization. That threw me for a while, but it was so obviously the same family that I stuck with it. And it seems confirmed that this is the right family. So where did "birthplace Scotland" come from?

Did you notice his death certificate? Birthplace: Scotland, Mo. His family is noted as living there in the 1880 census:

State Missouri
County Jasper
Jackson Township, S.D. 4, E.D. 64, Page No. 15/434A
[noted on previous census page: Village of Scotland]
11 June 1880 by WB McNeel
line 13, 125/125 SCOTT Robert N WM 37 M Farmer Kentucky NC NC
Martha WF 27 wife M Keeping house Missouri Geo MO
Willam WM 11 Son S At home attended school Missouri Ky MO
Charley WM 9 Son S Missouri Ky MO
Robert WM 7 Son S Missouri Ky MO
Alice WF 5 Daughter Missouri Ky MO
Anna WF 2 Daughter Missouri Ky MO
[near father Allen Scott]

This was the community founded by his grandfather Allen Scott.

Ah, census records. So helpful. And so misleading.

Henrietta A.F.L. Fluxton Goas

2006-11-15T19:07:00.000-08:00

We have a lot of information handed down through the family concerning Henrietta Fluxton Goas.

Family tradition states that she was from "Huddleberg" where she lived with her wealthy grandparents. Her mother had married her father against her family's will, and when her husband died, they took in Henrietta but not her mother. When Henrietta was 14, her mother came for a final visit with her second husband before they were to come to the U.S. and Henrietta decided to go with them. So Henrietta came to the United States in 1852 with her mother and stepfather Weber on the ship Tennessee and landed in New Orleans before coming up the Mississippi to St. Louis.

Various maiden names have been given for her. It has been stated that her grandparents adopted her and their name was Boskey. Her husband gave her maiden name as "Puxton" on the death record of their daughter Mary Goas Hargett. Henrietta gave it as Fluxton for her marriage certificate, so that is what I use. That I have never heard of nor seen any name quite like Fluxton is a puzzler, but not one I can see how to resolve.

It is said that she was working as an interpreter at a hotel in St. Louis and met Lewis Goas there, who was working on the steamboats.

They were married on July 19, 1857 in Jefferson County, Missouri, just south of St. Louis. Since it is most usual for a young woman to get married in her own neighborhood, when I decided to try to find her family, Jefferson County is where I started.

There are several Weber/Webber/Weaver families in Jefferson County in 1860. One family is even in Meramec township with Henrietta and Lewis, but they were suspect because the census said they had had children born in Missouri before 1850. A check of the 1850 census confirmed they were there before 1852.

Another family had a wife old enough to be Henrietta's mother, and the birthplaces of the children generally fit the 1852 immigration.

Page No. 25/541
Central Township, County of Jefferson, State of Missouri
5th Sept 1860 by Albert G. Haile
P.O. Hillsboro
line 30, 183/184 Fr. A. WEBER 43 M Do[Farmer] 800/100 Prussia
Amelia 38 F "[Prussia]
Agnes 17 F "[Prussia]
August 15 M "[Prussia]
Alwena 11 F "[Prussia]
Adolp 8 M "[Prussia]
William 5 M Mo
Christoph 2 M "[Mo]

They stated they were from Prussia, which did not appear to meet our criteria, but the complicated politics in Germany/Prussia at the time were a leading reason for Germans to come to the United States at that time. This didn't rule them out. I decided to investigate this family further.

In 1870 they stayed put:

Page No. 32
Central Township, County of Jefferson, State of Missouri
16 July 1870 by Sam A. Reppy
P.O. Hillsboro
line 6, 225/237 WEBBER Augustus 53 "[M]"[W] Farmer 1500/658 Prussia
Amelia 45 F"[W] Keeps House do[Prussia]
Augustus 23 M"[W] Works on farm do[Prussia]
Elvina 20 F"[W] No Ocupation do[Prussia]
Adolph 18 M"[W] Works on farm do[Prussia]
Wilhelm 14"[M]"[W] do[Works on farm] Missouri attended school
Christopher 12"[M]"[W] do[Works on farm] do[Missouri] attended school
Sarah 9 F"[W] At home do[Missouri] attended school
Emma 6"[F]"[W] do[At home] do[Missouri]

Agnes had married Charles Heller in Jefferson County in 1866. By 1868 he has remarried Johanna Kasten. We can assume Agnes passed away before December 1868.

In 1880 this Weber family moves to St. Louis:

Page No. 44
S.D. 1
E.D. 165
St Louis, St Louis, State of Missouri
23rd June 1880 by GH. Wesseling
Watson Road
line 23, 316/344 WEBER August WM 63 M Farmer Prusia Prusia Prusia
Mollie WF 57 Wife M Keeping House Prusia Prusia Prusia
August WM 35 Son S Farm laborer Paralized Missouri Prusia Prusia
William WM 25 Son S Farm Laborer Missouri Prusia Prusia
Gustave WM 23 Son S At Home Missouri Prusia Prusia
Sarah WF 19 Daughter S At Home Missouri Prusia Prusia
Emma WF 17 Daughter S At Home Missouri Prusia Prusia

Here, things get complicated. The missing 1890 census being one problem, and everyone running off and getting married another. I managed to track them all down except for August. Since he was noted as paralyzed in the 1880 census, I imagine he didn't live very much longer.

One thing I noticed was that starting in 1880, several of their children noted that they and their parents were born in "Saxony" or "Sachsen". Prussia was dropped entirely and Germany substituted in all other cases. We can assume this was because of the political changes wrought throughout this period in Prussia and Germany. For obvious reasons, I found the "Saxony" reference heartening. Henrietta put her birthplace as "Saxony", "Baden" and "Germany" in various censuses. The whole issue is complicated by the fact that there are multiple Sachsen provinces, principalities and regions in Prussia and Germany. Heidelberg is found in Baden.

In 1900, I found August widowed and living with his daughter Alvina "Lena" Weber Horschmann in St. Louis:

State Missouri
City of St. Louis, 2nd Ward
s.d. 11, e.d. 20, Sheet No. 3B
Fourth June 1900 by Geo H. Marquard
1812 North Ninth Street
line 74, 44/60 HORSCHMANN John Head WM June 1848 51 M 28 Illinois Germany Germany Cooper yes/yes/yes Owns House Free of mortgage
Lena Wife WF Oct 1848 51 M 28 5/5 Germany Germany Germany unknown immigration no/no/yes
CURRAN Mamie A Daughter WF Aug 1873 26 Wd 4 0/0 Missouri Illinois Germany yes/yes/yes
HORSCHMANN Edward Son WM Sept 1875 24 S Missouri Illinois Germany Machinist yes/yes/yes
Mathilda Daughter WF Dec 1878 21 S Missouri Illinois Germany Envelope Maker yes/yes/yes
William Son WM Oct 1880 19 S Missouri Illinois Germany Stove Mounter yes/yes/yes
Theresa D. Daughter WF Jan 1887 13 S Missouri Illinois Germany at School 9 months yes/yes/yes
WEBER August Father in Law WM Oct 1817 82 Wd Germany Germany Germany 1852/47/Na yes/yes/no
line 82, /61 TOWNSEND Arthur Head WM Mch 1879 21 M Missouri Ohio Missouri Clerk (Comm) Rents House
Mamie Wife WF Mch 1881 19 M 0/0 Missouri Germany Illinois

Notice August's immigration imformation: arrived in 1852. The coincidences are now mounting.

Ancestry.com has recently augmented its immigration records, so I thought I would try to find them. I've tried to find our 14 year old Henrietta and the Tennessee many, many times, but with no luck. This time, I was looking for this Weber family and hoping Henrietta would be tucked in with them.

I tried several combination of searches before I tried: New Orleans / Weber / 1852. Simple, to the point, and effective:

List of all Passengers taken on board the Ship Elizabeth Dennison where of Carpenter is Master, at the Port of Antwerp + Bremen and bound for New-Orleans
Printed and Sold by J.B. Steel, No. 60 Camp Street, New-Orleans

32. F. Aug. WEBER 35 1*** Heidg ----- [farmer] 4
33. Amel. "[WEBER] 30 *1** do[Heidg]
34. Emil. "[WEBER] 14 **1* do[Heidg]
35. Agns. "[WEBER] 8 **1* do[Heidg]
36. August. "[WEBER] 7 **1* do[Heidg]
37. Ang. "[WEBER] 6 **1* do[Heidg]
38. Albert "[WEBER] 3 **1* do[Heidg]
39. Edwina "[WEBER] 1/4 ***1 do[Heidg]

Ship Elizabeth Dennison
Carpenter
Antwep, Brement
23d October 1852
pg. 404

AND THEY HAVE A 14 YEAR OLD.

For comparison, this is the family as they would have appeared in 1852:

F. August 35
Amelia 30
Henrietta A.F.L. 14
Agnes 9
August 7

Alvina 3
Adolph 3/12

No genders are noted on the manifest for children, but an adult "Emil." was noted as a female. On their daughter's death certificate, Henrietta's husband noted her name as "Henrietta E. Puxton". The "E." still fits if her second name were Amelia, which can also be spelled Emilia, which I believe they did for the manifest.

There are now simply too many coincidences to ignore. The final one being that the family's residence was listed as "Heidg". Clearly this means "Heidelberg".

I believe this is our Henrietta, whose second name must be Amelia.

The ship is not the Tennessee, but there was also a steamboat on the Mississippi that was launched in the 1840s called the Tennessee. It's entirely possible that there was confusion as to which ship she was talking about - the one on which they crossed the ocean, or the one on which they arrived in St. Louis.

So far, unfortunately, of the 3/6 available death records of Amelia's children that I have seen not one has even noted her first name, let alone her maiden name. Especially disappointing was that Lena Weber Horschmann's husband didn't know Amelia's name even though August came to live with them following Amelia's death. If John Horschmann didn't know it, I feel it's unlikely anyone else who would be reporting information for these death certificates would either.

I have also seen a tradition noted by other descendants of Henrietta Fluxton Goas that she traveled with "half-siblings Lena and August". That, too, fits this family. Alvina's name is given alternately as "Alvina/Alwina" and "Lena" on census records. There is obviously some confusion on the manifest with the youngest children. The ages are correct, but the names are wrong and imply the wrong gender. Mistakes of this nature are very common on census and other similar records. That the names of the parents and the eldest two Weber children are correct, as are the ages, strongly suggests that this is the same family.

To find Amelia's maiden name and have it match one of the names in the family tradition would be ideal, but I don't think we're going to get that lucky. And, frankly, even if it didn't match I'd probably still be convinced that Amelia Weber is Henrietta's mother. Henrietta's own death certificate was filled out by the local minister, C.E. Welch, and not a family member. He did not know her parent's names.

For me, it rests with that Ship Elizabeth Dennison manifest. August and Amelia Weber and family were in Jefferson Co., MO in 1860, as was Henrietta. They arrived in the U.S. in 1852 via the port at New Orleans, as did Henrietta. That they had with them the 14 year old child I had hoped for, and by the time I got to the record expected, was the final necessary coincidence to convince me this is the Weber family with which our Henrietta traveled and are her mother and step family.

1850 Jackson Co., MO Census transcription

2006-11-09T04:42:00.000-08:00

Since we moved into our new life I have been too busy to do much genealogy, and since things look to get busier I decided I had to buckle down and get the 1850 Jackson Co., MO Census transcription done. I had already done the overwhelming part (Blue Twp.) and it was really the easy bit left to go, the small townships of Ft. Osage, Sni-A-Bar (or Sni Bar as the enumerator wrote) and Van Buren.

So I did. And I'm done. What a relief. It's kind of cool, seeing it all online. And such interesting people.

Probably the most interesting recently was also sad:

Crawford Jeptha 39 M Farmer 1,200 Ky
Crawford Eliz 36 F V'a
Crawford Laura 17 F Mo
Crawford Susan 15 F Mo attended school
Crawford Ann E 14 F Mo attended school
Crawford Armena 12 F Mo attended school
Crawford W'm 11 M Mo attended school
Crawford Mary E 9 F Mo attended school
Crawford Marshal 7 M Mo attended school
Crawford Marion 5 M Mo attended school
Crawford Riley 3 M Mo
Crawford Lurana 2 F Mo

In 1862, Jeptha Crawford was taken from his home and shot by Jayhawkers. Elizabeth took her 14 year old son Riley to William Quantrill and asked him to make him a guerilla. He did, and Riley was eventually killed in Cooper County, Missouri in 1864.

I got pretty good at guessing which families stayed in Missouri and which moved on to Oregon or California. Quite an interesting project, Kansas City being such a crossroads at the time.

Newton family, Pittsford, Monroe County, New York

2006-04-13T07:16:00.000-07:00

Amasa D. Newton and his family are a particularly difficult one to trace. They were from Pittsford, Monroe County, New York (right along the Eric Canal) and his parents were apparently both dead by 1860 as the children are scattered.

The original family in 1850:

Pittsford, County of Monroe, State of Newyork
7th August 1850 by J. K. Buell
pg. 204A/407
line 32, 518/518 Alva NEWTON 32 M Laborer " [Newyork]
Sarah NEWTON 29 F England
Fanny E NEWTON 9 F Newyork
Nathan NEWTON 8 M " [Newyork]
Amasa NEWTON 4 M " [Newyork]
Sarat NEWTON 2 F " [Newyork]
Charles NEWTON 6/12 M " [Newyork]

In 1860:

1860 Monroe Co., NY Census, the town of Pittsford, Page No. 45/225
27th Nov 1860 by Levi L. Fulton
P.O. North Chili NY
line 17, 1702/1781 William A. RAY 33 M Farmer 7000/6750 New York
Miranda 31 F " [New York]
Florence 2 F " [New York]
Betsey LAKE 54 F Vermont
Byron 28 M Farm Laborer " [New York]
Murray 24 M Teach Com. School " [New York]
/1782 Ann MILES 64 F Housekeeper " [New York]
Sarah NEWTON 12 F " [New York]
Nathan 17 M Farm Laborer " [New York]

Interestingly, next door to the Newtons in 1850 is the John S. Agate family, including his sister Ann Agate, who is the Ann Miles listed above who apparently has my Sarah and Nathan living with her.

My ancestor, Amasa, is in Indiana:

1860 St. Joseph Co., IN Census, Clay Tp., Page No. 55,
18 June 1860 by John Gallagher,
P.O. So. Bend,
line 13, 392/392 J FARRAN 30 M " [Farmer] /250 Mich,
Henry 32 "[M] " [Farmer] 1800/ Ohio,
WH SMITH 47 "[M] " [Ohio],
Catharine FARREN? 61 F Conn,
Amsey NEWTON 13 M NY.

These Farrens and Amasa are in Berrien Co., MI in 1870. The Farrens, in fact, were in Berrien Co., MI in 1850. No idea how he ends up with them. They were in Ohio, then Berrien Co., MI, then St. Joseph Co., IN and then back to Berrien Co., MI. Some of them end up in Iowa, as does Amasa, though not in the same area.

In 1870, there is no sign of Nathan Newton, but Ann Agate Miles's household looks like this:

Page No. 20
Pittsford, County of Monroe, State of New York
22 June 1870 by Daniel Kingsley
P.O. Pittsford NY
line 28, 175/175 MILES Ann 70 FW Farmer 5000/300 New York
WILDER William 23 MW Farm laborer New York
Sarah 21 FW Domestic serv't New York

Of course, I think that this Sarah is my Sarah, but I couldn't pin her down until browsing the cemeteries at the Monroe Co., NY genealogy site, where I found this:

Anah B. Yates from the Honeoye Falls Times 24 March 1921
Monroe Co., NY, East Street Cemetery
WILDER Sarah A. Newton, wife of W. W.; d May 29, 1871 æ 23.

I can't believe they put her maiden name. So, my guess was correct! But unfortunately, she died quite young.

But this reinforces my idea that Sarah and Ann Agate Miles were related: why would Sarah live with a stranger for that long? And in 1880 Ann has another relative, Miranda Lake Ray, her nephew's widow, and their children living with her. She seems to like taking people in.

So far there has been no trace of Nathan or Charles Newton (after the 1850 census record), and Fanny could easily be disguised by marriage.

I feel very lucky to have traced Sarah. I just hope I'm on the right track about their relationship with Ann Agate Miles.

And I've had no luck trying to trace backward from Alva Newton.

It's all very interesting

A Maiden Name Puzzler: Too Much Evidence

2006-02-23T08:03:00.000-08:00

I started with this:

1870 Saline Co., MO Census, Saline County, MO
Grand Pass Township, Page No. 40, 26th Aug 1870 by G.W. Gilmore, P.O. Brownsville,
line 26, 291/306 EDWARDS M. 55 MW Farmer 4800/960 N Carolina,
M. 57 FW Keep House Tennessee,
H.R. 19 MW Farm work Missouri attended school,
R.B. 18 MW " " [Farm work] " [Missouri] attended school,
A.A. 16 MW " " [Farm work] " [Missouri] attended school,
L.M. 14 FW " [Missouri] attended school,
KESTERSON Wm 29 MW Farm Laborer " [Missouri],
line 33? 292/307 EDWARDS E.F. 35 MW Farmer 1000/493 " [Missouri],
M.M. 25 FW Keeps House " [Missouri],
G.A. 7 FW " [Missouri] attended school,
M.E. 2 FW " [Missouri]

I thought the "R.B." - who frustratingly appeared as "R.B" in the 1860 Johnson Co., MO Census as well - must be this fella:

Missouri Marriages, 1851-1900, ancestry.com, Name: Richard B. Edwards
Spouse: Matilda Jane Weddell
Marriage Date: 17 Jan 1878
Performed By: W. Purcell
Title: J. P.
Comment: Page 231
Marriage Records of Saline County, Missouri Volume IV Book D 1874-1881.

And the same guy here:

Grand Pass Township, S.D. 6, E.D. 59, Page No. 19/366A
tenth June 1880 by WL Purcell
line 11, 143/145 EDWARDS Richard B WM 28 M Laborer Mo N.C. Tenn
Angeline M WF 20 Wife M Keeping House Va Va Va

But the "Matilda Jane" and the "Angeline" didn't seem to match...

I did manage to find this:

Saline Co., MO Cemetery Records, ancestry.com, (Cemetery Records of Saline County, Missouri Volume II), Name: R. B. Edwards
Birth Date: 11 Dec 1851
Death Date: 07 Dec 1889
Cemetery: Grand Pass.

and in the same cemetery record this:

Name: Julina M. Edwards
Birth Date: 21 May 1860
Death Date: 02 Feb 1940
Cemetery: Grand Pass

And I wasn't having any luck finding "Matilda Jane Weddell" anywhere, so I tried to find this Julina M. [Edwards].

Found her in 1900:

State Missouri
County Saline
Grand Pass Township
s.d. 7, e.d. 127, Sheet No. 2B
4 June 1900 by John H. Hughes
line 62, 35/35 EDWARDS Julina Head WF May 1860 40 Wd 12/7 Virginia Virginia Virginia Owns Mortgaged Farm
Rosie P Daughter WF Oct 1886 13 S Missouri Missouri Virginia attended school 7 months
Myrtle? L Daughter WF Mar 1888 12 S Missouri Missouri Virginia attended school 9 months
Goldie A Daughter WF Mar 1890 10 S Missouri Missouri Virginia attended school 9 months
Addie C Daughter WF Feb 1892 8 S Missouri Missouri Virginia attended school 9 months
Gracie D Daughter WF Jan 1894 6 S Missouri Missouri Virginia attended school 9 months
James F Son WM Mar? 1896 4 S Missouri Missouri Virginia
Oscar T Son WM Dec 1897 2 S Missouri Missouri Virginia
EDWARDS Charles Brother WM Mar 1874 S Missouri Virginia Virginia R R Laborer unemployed 6 months

And why oh why couldn't they have gotten her brother's last name right?! It would have saved steps...but there still seemed to be a problem: Richard B. Edwards was dead by 1889.

But throwing in Julina b. Virginia brought up this:

Page No. 48
Jacksonville Township, County of Floyd, State of Virginia
6 July 1870 by BP Elliott
P.O. Floyd CH Va
line 32, 363/345 WEDDLE Elijah 33 MW Farmer 200/180 Va
Mary J 28 FW House Keeping "[Va]
Julina M 10 FW "[Va]
Almodoris 5 FW "[Va]
Leveretta 3 FW "[Va]
Fulks 1 MW "[Va]
DICKERSON Amanda C 16 FW Domestic "[Va]
[next door Andrew and Barbara Weddle]

and tracing Elijah brought up this:

www.familysearch.org, 1880 United States Census
Elijah WEDDELL Self M MW 43 VA Farmer VA VA
Mary J. WEDDELL Wife M FW 38 VA Keeping House VA VA
Amanda WEDDELL Dau S FW 15 VA No Occupation VA VA
Feagan WEDDELL Son S MW 9 MO At Home VA VA
Charles WEDDELL Son S MW 7 MO At Home VA VA
Lula W. WEDDELL Dau S FW 3 MO At Home VA VA
Source Information: Census Place: Grand Pass, Saline, Missouri, Family History Library Film: 1254716, NA Film Number: T9-0716, Page Number: 368D

Bingo, it had to be our girl.

Julina Matilda Weddle Edwards.

And I believe the tombstone record is mistaken. Richard B. Edwards would have died in 1899.

No longer blue about Blue

2006-01-26T01:17:00.000-08:00

It's finally done! My transcription of Blue Twp., Jackson Co., MO 1850 Census, it's been proofread and is online.

For "Blue" you can read Kansas City/Westport and environs. Quite populated. Quite interesting.

It dragged on and on and on...it took me over a year. I got busy, and it was so long I couldn't get motivated. Once I got past the halfway mark it was much easier.

Probably the most interesting household in this township was the Tubee family:

1850 Jackson Co., MO Census
Blue Township
Page 290A

line 37, 833/833 Tubee Okah 39 M Physician Al'a
Tubee Lucele 32 F NY
Tubee Seraphine 13 F Mo
Tubee Celestine 12 F Mo
Tubee Mashola 1 M Mo

Who I thought Okah might be French (looking at his daughters' names, thinking perhaps it was a mis-heard 'Duby') but it turns out he was Choctaw (though you will notice no race is mentioned here).

I've finished Kaw, Washington and Blue, and have only three rather small townships left to go: Sni Bar, Van Buren and Ft. Osage.

Won't it feel good to be done!

Wily Twyla

2005-11-17T06:49:00.000-08:00

We don't really know much about Twyla.

Daughter of Elmer and Alice Scott Gilbreath, born April Fool's Day, 1893 in Jasper County, Missouri.

Most of what I do know I got from her daughter Charlotte, who was a wonderful person. Really funny and lively. I saw her take an umbrella out of her drink and put it in her hair, like it was the natural thing to do.

As she told the story, when Charlotte was 5 and Georgina was 3, Twyla divorced Everitt so she could run off (marry? that's unclear) with a man who was an acrobat in the circus. Circuses did (and still do) winter in the Newton/Jasper Counties area of Missouri.

She took Charlotte and left Georgina (to become Georga) behind. Georga lived at first with her father and later with her grandparents and Aunt Jessie.

Twyla and Charlotte headed to Europe, where she and Charlotte performed in the acrobatic act of the man they left with. Later, she left him for another man, leaving Charlotte with this step-father. Charlotte was in Paris during World War I.

Twyla apparently lived in California, but we know nothing about this period of her life.

She died in 1948 at the age of 55 and is buried in Carterville Cemetery in the same plot as her parents under the name "Twyla Blevins".

We have no idea who her last husband was.

I've tried to do some research on this, checking Ellis Island for their comings and goings (none that I could find). And no sign of them in the 1920 census.

I did manage to find Charlotte in 1930, when she was living with Everitt's second wife's twin sisterJewel Innes Stipp in Pittsburg, Kansas and "dancing" in a "Theatrical troup". This is probably why Georga wasn't allowed to speak to her, though this wasn't explained to Georga. Her aunt made it clear that Charlotte wasn't "good enough" to talk to, but Georga never understood why. She simply did as she was told.

But I finally got a proper breakthrough the other day when ancestry.com put the World War I Draft Registration Cards online.

Twyla had a brother named Levie Sutton Gilbreath (she had a Great-Uncle named Levi Sutton). Levie later went by "Leroy", but in 1917 he was living in Chicago and his form reads like this:

WWI Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, ancestry.com
REGISTRATION CARD
Serial Number: 3662, Order Number: 5082
Name: Levie Sutton Gilbreath
Address: 63 W. Shiller? Chicago Cook Ill
Age: 20, Date of birth: Mar 10 1898
White
Native born [citizen]
Occupation: Salesman, St. Clair Refinery Co
Place of employment: 35th + South Park Av. Chicago

Cook Ill
Nearest relative: sister Mrs. Twyla Cuby
64 W. Schiller Chicago Cook Ill

[signed] Levie S. Gilbreath

REGISTRAR'S REPORT
12-2-18-C
Medium height
Slender build
Eyes: Blue
Hair: brown
Disability: no

[signed] Mathilde Jacqer
Sept 12 1918

Chicago Local Board No. 46
Newberry Library, Chicago.

The alert reader will notice "sister Mrs. Twyla Cuby" who lives in Chicago. I did. My eyes nearly bulged out of my head!

And in 1920, Twyla still did:

1920 Cook Co., IL Census
State Illinois
County Cook
s.d. 1, e.d. 1153, Sheet No. 4B
Chicago City, Ward 21
January 1920 by Arthur Hanssen
1357 North LaSalle Street
line 88, 38/87 DUCKWORTH Hannah Head R FW 45 S 1912/Pa /yes/yes England/English England/English England/English Keeper/Rooming House
[other roomers]
line 93, /89 CUBY Clement Roomer R MW 30 M 1900/Na/1910 France/French France/French France/French Acrobat/theater
Twyla Roomer FW 23 M 1904/Na/1910 /yes/yes England/English England/English England/English Acrobat/theater
Georgenia Daughter FW 7 S yes/yes/yes Missouri France/French England/English
Charlotte Daughter FW 5 S no/yes/yes Missouri France/French England/English
[other roomers]

There they are. A slight mix up with the daughters ages, and Twyla claims (*cough*cough*) to have been born in England.

And just when you were convinced that the story was far to interesting to be true notice:

Occupation: acrobat/theater

Also of interest is Clement Seraphin Cuby's draft registration form that notes he is from Lausanne, Switzerland (not true - he's from the Haute Pyrenees in France, near Toulouse) and that he is single, claiming only his mother in Switzerland as a dependent (also untrue, she is actually working as a maid in New York City). It's not surprising Clement claimed to be from (neutral) Switzerland and not France while the war was raging. But I think we can assume he would have claimed Twyla, Charlotte and Georgina if he'd been married. Since he fills out his form on 5 June 1917, and Levie filled his out on 18 September 1918, that narrows down the marriage date signifcantly.

By 1930 Clement and Twyla are no longer married.

Clement is living in Nassau Co., NY:

State New York
County Nassau
Hempstead Township
e.d. 30-102, s.d. 36, Sheet No. 9B
Baldwin Village
Apr 10, 11, 1930 by Bessie H Betts
39 Ashland Avenue
line 79, 208/220 CUBY Clement Head O 10000 R no MW 41 M 35 no/yes France France France French 1900/Pa/yes Actor/Theatrical
Frances Wife FW 48 M 42 no/yes Scotland Scotland Scotland English 1903/Pa/yes Sales-lady/Real Estate
Idalie Mother FW 70 Wd 28 no/yes France France France French 1900?/Na/yes

I'm not sure where Twyla is. There is a Twyla Shaw in California who is about the right age and born in Missouri, but there's no reason to assume it's her.

Wily Twyla.

So, Twyla really was an acrobat. I thought perhaps just Charlotte and her step-father were in the act (from what Charlotte said I wasn't sure).

Anyway, thought you'd find this of interest. Oh, and Georgina/Georgia is also listed in the 1920 census in Neosho:

1920 Newton Co., MO Census
Neosho City
S.D. 13, E.D. 148, Sheet #16A/165A
13 January 1920 by J.S. Sutherland
Cemetery Road
384/409 JACKSON, George W. Head 60 TN TN TN Farmer
Ida Wife 58 MO MO MO
Jessie Mae Daughter Divorced 31 MO TN MO Needlework
Everitt Son Divorced 29 MO TN MO Mail carrier
Percy Son 22 MO TN MO Home Laborer
Georgia Grand Daughter 4 9/12 MO MO MO

Since Clement fills out his Draft Registration Form in St. Louis, Missouri but it gives his home address as being in Chicago, we can assume there was a lot of traveling back and forth. It's the only explanation I can think of for her dual listings. He mentioned specifically on his Draft Form that he's with a traveling show and that their next stop is in Jacksonville, Illinois.

It's the best explanation I have for the dual listing.

One striking thing is that although they were raised apart and saw each other infrequenly as adults, Charlotte and Georga have many of the same mannerisms, speech pattern and the same joie de vie.

Today in Family History: The burning of the Potterstown Bridge

2005-11-09T18:59:00.000-08:00

Jonathan Morgan of Greene County, Tennessee tells the story of his involvement in the burning of the bridge and the consequences of the brutal Confederate response.

You can read his account, transcribed by Donahue Bible, at the Greene County, Tennessee rootsweb website.

Today in Family History: death of John H. Brown, Andersonville prisoner

2005-10-28T01:34:00.000-07:00

On the 28th of October 1864, after 3 months of imprisonment at Andersonville, my ancestor John H. Brown died.

John H. Brown, memorandum

Several of his records say that he died at Andersonville Prison, but apparently he actually died while being transferred from Andersonville to the prison at Florence, SC. It is not known where he is buried.

He and several men from his unit, including his cousin Sgt. Oliver M. Brown, were captured at the Battle of Utoy Creek, Georgia on the 6th of August 1864. Another cousin, Sgt. Jotham Brown, was killed that day. They had all three mustered for service out of Greene County, Tennessee into Company D, 8th Tennessee Infantry Regiment on 15 May 1863.

The battle itself was not an important battle, just a small part of Sherman's Atlanta Campaign.

Battle of Utoy Creek, Georgia: After failing to envelop Hood’s left flank at Ezra Church, Sherman still wanted to extend his right flank to hit the railroad between East Point and Atlanta. He transferred John M. Schofield’ s Army of the Ohio from his left to his right flank and sent him to the north bank of Utoy Creek. Although Schofield’s troops were at Utoy Creek on August 2, they, along with the XIV Corps, Army of the Cumberland, did not cross until the 4th. Schofield’s force began its movement to exploit this situation on the morning of the 5th, which was initially successful. Schofield then had to regroup his forces, which took the rest of the day. The delay allowed the Rebels to strengthen their defenses with abatis, which slowed the Union attack when it restarted on the morning of the 6th. The Federals were repulsed with heavy losses by Bate’s Division and failed in an attempt to break the railroad. On the 7th, the Union troops moved toward the Confederate main line and entrenched. Here they remained until late August.

Result(s): Inconclusive

[Emphasis mine. -tkp]

Oliver Brown is listed as having "survived Andersonville", but he, too, had simply been transferred to Florence, SC Prison and he died there.

To quote from the diary of Samuel Elliot who was also among the majority of prisoners being transferred out of Andersonville because of the proximity of General Sherman:

Monday [October] 31.-While at Andersonville I did not suppose the rebels had a worse prison in the South, but I have now found out that they have. This den is ten times worse than that at Andersonville. Our rations are smaller and of poorer quality, wood more scarce, lice plentier, shelters worn out, and cold weather coming on. I have stood my prison life wonderfully, but now I am commencing to feel it more sensibly, and am getting too weak to move about. To add to my misery I have the scurvy in the gums.

John H. Brown's first wife, Sarah W. Hendry, had passed away in 1861 and he had remarried Eliza Starnes. At his death he left 8 children, 5 of them minors (though the other 3 were just 13, 15 and 17, they were all over 16 when the pension was created).

children by Sarah W. Hendry:

Nancy C. Brown
Joseph Henry "Henry" Brown
William Amos Brown
Massey Jane Brown
Sarah Ann Brown
John Emerson Brown
Alfred Wilkerson Brown

child by Eliza Starnes:

James Leonard Brown

The pension received by John E. Hendry was $2.00 per child per month, ending when they turned 16. Eliza Brown, as widow, received $8.00 for herself as long as she remained a widow and $2.00 additional for James. Some of Eliza's documents give also a Dec. 1864/Jan. 1865 death date for her husband, but the rest of the documents say that he died the 28th of October.

You can search a database of 32,000 Andersonville prisoners at the Macon County, Georgia website. They can be quite detailed. John H. Brown's entry looks like this:

Andersonville Prisoner Profile
Code No: 37321
Grave No: NOT BURIED AT ANDERSONVILLE
Last Name: BROWN
First Name: JOHN H
Rank: PRIVATE
Company: D
Regiment: 8
State: TN
Branch of Service: INFANTRY
Date of Death: 10/28/1864
Cause of Death:
Remarks: REPORTED TO HAVE DIED AT ANDERSONVILLE. LISTED AS GEORGE H. BROWN, [105].
Reference*: PG145[105]
Place Captured: UTOY CREEK, GA
Date Captured: 8/6/1864
Alternate Names:
Status: REPORTED TO HAVE DIED AT ANDERSONVILLE
More Information
Available: YES

Ghost Goas

2005-10-20T23:29:00.000-07:00

I finally found the Andrew Goas family in the 1850 census:

Liverpool Township, County of Columbiana, State of Ohio, pg. 249/125A
11 July 1850 by Wm Gellundieck
line 2, 245/247 An'd GHOST 34 M Labourer " [Pennsylvania]
Mary 15 F " [Pennsylvania]
Lewis 14 M " [Pennsylvania] attended school
Joseph 8 M " [Pennsylvania] attended school
Milnor 2 M Ohio
Christian 19 F Pennsylvania

But, of course, it almost raises more questions than it answers.

It confirms my guess about the young man "Millener R" in the 1860 census being a brother and not someone named "R. Millener".

But Mary's name was supposed to be "Hannah", according to family tradition, and who is Christian?! A second wife? Not correctly placed, if so. A sister helping out with the family?

And the way I found it...

Goas is a horrible name to research. Even if the census person writes it down correctly (and it is Goos, Ghost, Goas in the records I have) the 'search engines' that are my bread and butter have the addition handicap of a secondary interpretation. So, and I swear I've tried this before, I typed in "Lewis" as a first name, said he was born 1837 +/-2 years in Pennsylvania. I got 871 hits. And then I started scanning.

Lewis Ghest came up, and bingo!

Upgrade

2005-10-19T03:35:00.000-07:00

I've upgraded my Experience's Children website and I'm really impressed with the improvements.

Darrin Lythgoe's Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding is completely fabulous. The new capability to differentiate between documents and histories is very helpful.

And it even has a new "Today in Family History" feature that I've been wanting very badly.

After a lot of annoying fiddling with my .css I finally got the links to look like I wanted them to. Always the little things are the big hassles...

Elvira and Martha Taylor

2005-10-16T03:30:00.000-07:00

I haven't had much luck with my Taylor family of Pulaski Co., MO until Ina Tipton found me and sent me, among other things, this lovely photograph of her ancestor Elvira May Taylor Mitschele and Elvira's sister Martha F. Taylor:

Elvira and Martha Taylor

She also sent me a scan of Elvira and Martha's parent's bible record:

Hayden and Mary Jane Boston Taylor Bible Record
transcribed 17 October 2005 by tkp

Hayden Taylor son of John and Nancy Taylor born
Hart Co Kentucky Feb. 8 1822
Mary Jane Boston Daughter of James + Biddy Boston was
born Green County Kentucky Jan 1829

BIRTHS

Hayden Taylor + Mary Jane Boston
were married at the home of her Fathers
by the Revd W.C. Privets? Feby 12 1851

Hayden Taylor born hart Co Ky Feb 8 1822
Mary Jane Taylor born green Co. Ky Jan 18 1829
James Washington Taylor born hart Co Ky Jn 27 1851
ransom Lane Taylor born hiart Co. Ky Dec 18. 1852
William Adair Taylor born heart Co Ky Feb 2, 1854
George Alexander Taylor born heart Co Ky April 5, 1855
Elvira May Taylor born heart Co. Ky Oct 14, 1856
John Franklin Taylor born pulaski Co mo March 1 1858
Benjamin smith Taylor born pulaski Co mo nov 16 1859
Zacariah harrison Taylor born pulaski Co mo Feb 14, 1861
Martha francis Taylor born pulaski Co mo Jan 23 1863
Mary Jane Taylor born pulaski Co mo Feb 4 1865
Hayden Jackson Taylor born pulaski Co mo Jan 24 1867
Willis Randall Taylor pulaksi Co mo Nov 22 1870

Fantastic stuff!

All my thanks to Ina.

Happy McNeely Hunting

2005-08-04T04:00:00.000-07:00

Recently, a fellow McNeely researcher, Pat McNeely, had the opportunity to travel to Washington, DC and do research at the National Archives.

We were both looking into the family of the Rev. William V. McNeely of Blount and Hamilton Counties, Tennessee and Scott/Logan Counties, Arkansas. Pat researches John C., and I research Mary M., his surviving children from his first marriage and his only known surviving children. Unfortunately we haven't been able to track his first wife, Louisa, because the Hamilton Co., Tennessee no longer exist for the period they would have married.

She did find his pension record:

"He is listed with pension file #575906, certificate #724643. His widow, Augusta S. McNeely, collected widow's pension upon William's death, widow's pension file #700384, certificate #504878. His service was from 15 Nov 1863, discharged at Clarksville, Ark., 8 August 1865. He entered service as Private and was discharged as Sergeant with the Company "C" 2nd Arkansas Infantry."

But that wasn't the interesting part. The record included the pension application of his third wife Augusta White McNeely, and to file for this she had to document ALL of his wives.

We already knew his second wife was Lucinda B.M. Cannon Chambliss Land and his third wife was Augusta White.

But in an affidavit from William's daughter Mary, she noted that her mother's maiden name was Louisa Fitzgerald and that she died in 1865. Pat tells it best:

"If you can imagine, I was in the "Reading room" on the second floor. I now have an official researcher card from there. Pretty heady stuff!

"Anyway, there wasn't a seat for me, so I was hovered over the end of a table slowly turning pages over from the file. When I saw the one from Mary, I almost whooped out loud! Could not stop grinning and tried to regain my composure. I was on a high from having discovered there was a file that morning! I nearly tripped getting to the copy machine. If I had had to wait, I guess I would have peed my pants!!

"While looking at microfilm on the first floor, I overheard another group talking. There was a man who was a pro and he was talking to two other researchers. He was talking about one client who was looking for a grandfather in her line but he didn't have any Rev. War pension file. He urged her to look at the brother's file. She was reluctant to spend the money for the research. She finally broke down and in the file were pictures of the parents and their names on the back. She was ecstatic when she called him. It just shows you never know what would be in those files until you get them."

The thrill of victory. Congratulations and thanks to Pat!

Reuben Jackson, Obion Co., TN Court Records

2005-07-17T02:40:00.000-07:00

I've recently arranged for someone to send me copies of the estate records of Reuben Jackson of Obion County, Tennessee.

I already know quite a lot about Reuben.

That he lived in Wilson County, Tennessee in 1820.
Obion County, Tennessee in 1830 and 1840.
That he was a saddler in the War of 1812.
That he had owned a lot of land in Obion Co., TN.
That he'd been married twice and had 15 children.

So I wanted to see if he had a left will, etc.

As it turns out, he died intestate and there are lots of interesting documents to be seen. One of which reads:

[Pg. 537, Dec Term 1844]

It appearing to the satisfaction of the court that Reuben
Jackson, Jane Jackson, Samuel Jackson, Robert Jackson and
George W. Jackson are minor orphans of Reuben Jackson
Deceased and that they are under the age of Fourteen
years and that they have an estate that needs attention +c
thereon James N. Cullum moved the court to appoint him
guardian of said minor children. It is therefore ordered
by the Court that said James N Cullum be appointed
Guardian of said minor orphans upon his entering
into Bond, and security as the Law directs. Whereupon the
said James N Cullum came into court and entered into
Bond in the sum of Twenty four Hundred Dollars. con=
ditioned as the law directs, with Thomas Sales Alfred
McDaniel and Everett H Verhin his securites all of which
was examined and recieved by the court and ordered to be
recorded which is done accordingly

I was excited to see "George W." listed.

I had guessed that the Jane and George Jackson living with Mary Jackson Davis in 1850 were her siblings, though George was not listed in the family bible. This document seems to have proven my guess to be correct. I transcribed it eagerly.

But upon further reflection the whole thing seems quite strange.

In terms of transcribing, the only difficulty was the word "Fourteen" which really couldn't be anything else, but doesn't look too terribly much like Fourteen. It looks like Toyrteen. Or Toynteen. But I think there's an superfluous mark under the "u", so, Tourteen? In any case, the Reuben mentioned was actually 22.

I can't imagine under what circumstances he could have been declared a minor orphan.

Their actual ages in December 1844:

Reuben 22
Jane 23
Samuel 17
Robert 15
George W. abt. 12

There's an older daughter Mary who must have still been at home who isn't mentioned. She was 23 and unmarried.

The estate sale was in November 1844. All of the children but George bought things at this sale. So did the security Thomas Sayles and, of course, James N. Cullum who was also the estate administrator. Thomas Sayles is listed with Reuben as one of the early settlers of Obion County. Everett Verhines and Thomas Sayles both lived in the same district as the Jacksons.

They had to know that most of those children were not minors.

What the heck was going on?

An adventuresome relative

2005-07-06T03:37:00.000-07:00

Meet Lewis Jasper Whittington Jefferson Powell.

Here's a nice piece I just found on his life:

"L. J. W. J. Powell, farmer, Booneville, Ark. One of the men who has contributed much to the development of Logan County is Mr. Powell, a prominent agriculturist of the same. His parents, Isaac and Sarah (Jones) Powell, were both natives of Georgia. They moved to Arkansas in 1844, bought land in Logan County, and there made their home. The father served in the Florida War, and was also in the War of 1812, fighting under Packinham at the battle of New Orleans. The educational advantages of our subject during his boyhood were limited, receiving only about ten months' schooling altogether, and in the spring of 1854 he went to California, where he was engaged in mining and farming for eleven years. He then returned home by way of the Isthmus, after stopping for some time in New York and five months in Illinois. He began work on a mill, and after-ward bought, in partnership with his brother, 120 acres of land, where he remained about six years. He improved about eighty acres, erected a house and other buildings, and made many other important changes. He then sold this land and bought 160 acres of Government land, having at the present time about sixty acres of this cleared. Aside from the large crops of cotton, corn and oats that he raises, he is also engaged in raising a good grade of cattle and hogs. Mr. Powell was married in December, 1868, to Miss Frances T. Lyons, a native of Arkansas, and the daughter of John and Rebecca Lyons. Mrs. Powell died in 1869, leaving one daughter, Rebecca Endora, now the wife of H. H. Ozier. In 1871 Mr. Powell was wedded to Miss Mary Jane Cox, a native of Missouri, born in 1847, and daughter of Joseph and Caroline Cox. The fruits of this union have been ten children, eight of whom are living: Alice May, Oceola Mark, Arthur Lee, Alberta, Louisa Ellen, Rosa Viola, Oscar Randolph and Ernest Lester. Mr. Powell is a member of the A. F. & A. M., Lodge No. 247, at Booneville, and he and his estimable wife are members of the Christian Church, of which he has been deacon."

After the long overland journey there, he made the same choice coming back from California that Mark Twain did: to take the boat.

The sad part of the story is his first wife dying so young. The really pleasing part about his mentioning it here is that, falling as their marriage did between censuses, I had no record of her name.

See Lewis's entry at Randall Powell's Powell Family Pages.

WWI Draft Registration Cards

2005-06-30T03:30:00.000-07:00

Well, ancestry has actually done something really, really fine.

They seem, in a lot of ways, to be rather clueless about proper genealogical research, but they sure do throw a lot of wonderful resources on the web (if you're willing to pay for them).

But these Draft registration cards take the cake.

I just wish they'd get Missouri up.

The great thing about them is that they cover about 95% of the adult male population in the US in the 1917-1918 time period. And they include birthdates and signatures. Sometimes the birthdates are wrong, but I'm using the signatures as best evidence of how these guys really spelled their names.

Lovely.

Statistics of Ancestry

2005-05-30T06:18:00.000-07:00

So, just in case J. Brad DeLong's blog and entries ever go poof, I want to post this lovely story he wrote here.

December 08, 2003

One Hundred Interesting Mathematical Problems, Puzzles, Diversions, and Amusements: Number 21: Ancestors

"Dad?"

"Yes?"

"Were my ancestors... famous back in the Middle Ages?"

"Your ancestors? Which ancestors? You have a lot of them."

"Well, most of them."

"There is a tradition that your Ridgeway ancestors--part of the English wave of conquest of Ireland under the Angevin kings--were descended from an illegitimate daughter of William the Conquerer, and that they were also descended from Earl Leofric and his wife Godiva, of the well-known story about Coventry. This was possibly the first supply-side tax policy in history: she asked her husband to lower taxes, and he replied 'Sure, I'll lower taxes when you ride naked through the streets on a white horse'."

"Nobody knows that story, Dad."

"No?"

"I asked people in my class. They all agreed that Lady Godiva was the inventor of a kind of chocolate."

"Oh."

"But what was my typical ancestor like?"

"Well, first let's calculate how many ancestors you had. You were born in the 1990s. Let's suppose that there is a generation born every twenty-five years. That means that a century ago you had 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 ancestors born in the 1890s. How many is that?"

"16"

"In exponential notation: you're studying exponents in math this week."

"24"

"And a century before that? Another four generations, with your number of ancestors doubling as we go back each additional generation?"

"You'd multiply by two four more times."

"Which would give you?"

"28, two multiplied by itself eight times."

"That's 1790. How about 1690?"

"212."

"And what is 212, approximately?"

[Silence]

"Well, 212 is 210 times 22, and 210 is about 1,000--1024 exactly, but we'll say 1000."

"1000 times 4 equals 4000."

"Yep. About 4000 ancestors born in 1690. Now let's take it back to 1490--eight more generations. 212 times 2 eight more times is?"

"220"

"And back to 1240--another 2 1/2 centuries, another ten generations?"

"230"

"And that is? Remember, 230 is 210 x 210 x 210."

"1000 x 1000 x 1000... is a billion."

"Excellent! Now consider that there were only 400 million people alive on the earth in 1240. What does that mean?"

[Silence]

"Well, it means that you must be descended from a lot of people by a lot of different lines of inheritance--a lot of distant cousins marrying each other. I mean, there are a billion ancestral slots that have to be filled, and only 400 million people back in 1240 to fill them. So a lot of people have to be filling multiple slots on your ancestral family tree."

"So does that mean I'm descended from everybody alive in the world in 1240? That they are all my ancestors?"

"Not quite. There were a number of people alive in 1240 who have no descendants living today. And mixing between European populations and the Amerind, sub-Saharan African, Indian, southeast Asian, Chinese, and Japanese populations over the past millennium has been very slow. But if they (a) have any living descendants at all, (b) were alive in 1240, and (c) lived in Europe, on the south or eastern shore of the Mediterranean, or in Mongolia, odds are that you're probably descended from them."

"Mongolia?"

"Your mother's maternal grandfather had Tartar eyes. Mongolia. Chingis Khan. The Mongol Empire."

"So when I read about the history of Medieval Europe, I should think that everyone's my ancestor?"

"Yep. The Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa of the House of Hohenstaufen, and also the peasant Ludovico il Pazzo from Caserta outside Napoli. Pope Innocent III, or at least one of his close relatives. William the Conqueror and a number of his knights, but also Aethelraed Illraed and Harald Hardrada. Lady Godiva, but also Brunhilde the washerwoman, and Thraxa the house slave back after the Roman and before the Saxon conquest of Britain. Rich and poor, noble and serf, pretty and ugly, smart and dumb--all of them, at least all of them who have any living descendants at all today."

"Kind of stupid that they spent so much time fighting each other, isn't it?"

"Yep."

Website problems

2005-05-17T06:32:00.000-07:00

I've having problems with my beautiful new website - I have to change the way I've done my sources to get them to be fully visible. Right now most of them are truncated to the point they are useless. Fortunately once I've made the adjustments (one by one!) they will be even more useful because you can look at all people who are linked to any given source.

A nice thing to be able to do.

But I have a LOT of sources.

Sigh.

At least it'll be amazing when I'm done!

Meet Augusta S. White McNeely

2005-04-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

I don't know much about Augusta yet.

I finally have proof that she was the third wife of my ancestor William V. McNeely

I know that she was born in November of 1845 in Onondaga County, New York to Truman and Phebe Harris White.

I know that in every census from her first (1850) to 1880 she was living there with her parents and her brother Jonas.

What I don't know is how she ended up in Christian County, Missouri to marry W.V. McNeely on Christmas Day 1889.

William died in 1899 and in 1900 there she is in Christian County, Augusta S. McNeely, widow, with her brother Jonas T. White.

Somehow I think that's a story I'd like to know.

Today in Sivils family history

2005-03-31T11:44:00.000-08:00

31 March 1863

102 years ago today, Solomon W. Sivels, son of Absalom Sivils and Sarah Trotter Sivils, died during his service for the Union in the Civil War.

There is some discrepancy in his service unit. His online Civil War record says that he served in the 2nd Tennessee Infantry and his burial record that he served in the 2nd Tennessee Cavalry (Union). If he served in the Cavalry, it is possible that he was killed during their "Operations against Pegram March 22-April 2", though of course disease was the big killer. In this unit, 16 men were killed in action and 208 died of disease. His wife's 1890 Special Veterans and Widows Census record confirms that his service was in the Infantry. In the 2nd Tennessee Infantry 27 men were killed in action and 613 were killed by disease. Both units were serving near Murfreesboro, Tennessee in early 1863, but the Infantry was ordered to Lexington, KY on March 11. If this was his unit, one can be fairly sure that he was already ill and in hospital when they were ordered out and he was left behind.

Obviously I haven't obtained his Civil War record yet. It would answer all of these questions.

See his Civil War Record notes online:

Solomon W. Sivils

See the Record of Interments in the National Cemetery at Murfreesboro, TN, noted 24 August 2004

SIVELS, S. W., Co. A 2nd Tenn Cav March 31, 1863, Grave Mark: O 6104.

1890 Union Veterans Census, 13th District (Rockwood), compiled by Robert L. Bailey.

SIVILS, Mahala (widow of Solomon W.). Pvt. 2 TN Inf. Post Office: Rockwood, Tennessee.

Solomon's widow Mahala never remarried and she and their son lived in Jefferson County, Tennessee from the War until they moved to Roane Co., TN just before 1890. She died there sometime before 1900.

Joseph M. Sivels married Lena Headrick the 22nd of September 1877 in Morgan County, Tennessee, where she was raised.

Joseph died in Roane County, Tn in 1919 and Lena moved in with her sister. They had no children. Lena died in Morgan Co., TN in 1920.

Hobos

2005-03-29T21:52:00.000-08:00

I've never seen anything quite like this in a census record, so I thought I'd share:

Berrien County, Michigan
City of St Joseph, Ward 2, St Joseph Township, S.D. 4, E.D. 77, Sheet No. 17A/205A
14 June 1900 by Grant C. Bort
Broad Street

line 18, 345/371 DOUNY John Head-Hobo WM Aug 1876 23 S Illinois Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Berry Picker 9 months unemployed in the last year
THOMSON John Hobo WM June 1866 33 S Kentucky Virginia Virginia Day Laborer 9 months unemployed in the last year
JOHNSON Charles Hobo WM Dec 1879 20 S Illinois Illinois Illinois Laborer 9 months unemployed in the last year
DRUMMOND Frank Hobo WM Mar 1874 26 S England England England 1872/23 Painter 4 months unemployed in the last year
STEVENSON Walter Hobo WM Nov 1884 15 Texas Scotland Scotland Tragier? 6 months unemployed in the last year
KISSANE Richard Hobo WM May 1880 20 S Illinois Illinois Illinois Berry Picker 9 months unemployed in the last year
HANKS Thomas Hobo WM Nov 1864 35 S Ohio Ohio Ohio Stationary ???????? 7 months unemployed in the last year
SNYDER William Hobo WM Mar 1884 16 S Indiana Indiana Indiana Varsman? 4 months unemployed in the last year
ELMRIS? John Hobo WM Dec 1864 35 S Maryland Germany Germany Butcher 3 months unemployed in the last year
HEITZ William Hobo WM Feb 1871 27 S Pennsylvania Germany Germany Shoemaker 0 months unemployed in the last year
SNYDER Fred Hobo WM Oct 1885 14 S Texas Missouri Iowa Boot Black 5 months unemployed in the last year
SAWYER Thomas Hobo WM Jan 1865 35 S Ohio Ohio OhioCigar Maker 2 months unemployed in the last year
KAMP Claud Hobo WM Apr 1883 17 S Indiana Ohio Ohio Labor in mill 6 months unemployed in the last year
WELCH James Hobo WM July 1849 50 S Virginia Ireland Virginia Labor 4 months unemployed in the last year
QUIN Peter Hobo WM Dec 1839 60 Wd England England England Labor 8 months unemployed in the last year

Smith

2005-03-07T22:49:00.000-08:00

Ahhhh, the lovely surname Smith. I suppose we all have one: a very common name hard to trace. I have some Browns as well, but my Smith research was hampered by the untimely death and far too common name of "William A. Smith".

I had an awful lot to go on to begin with. Family tradition was that his name was "William Alexander Smith" and he was born 11 December 1874 in Tennessee. He married Eva Anna Keeney 24 June 1903. They quickly had three children: Della Mae, Myrtle Marie and Floyd R. Smith. Then on the 4 of December 1909 in Willard, Missouri, William passed away. He was 35. No one has mentioned what he died of and Missouri didn't start issuing death certificates until 1910.

A cousin I was in touch with who descends from Eva's second marriage told me Floyd's name was William R. Simeron Floyd Smith. Quite a name. One guesses that the "R" stands for "Richard", Eva's father's name. But I expect we'll never know.

A very nice researcher named Gail Erickson sent me Eva's family's 1900 census record (this was before I was on ancestry.com). I was shocked they were in Greene County (they'd lived near Kansas City in every other census both before and after 1900) but that was a bit silly of me, since Willard is in Greene County. I'd rather imagined William and Eva took off to the mines in that part of Missouri, but actually both of their fathers farmed there.:

Cass Twp., S.D. 8, E.D. 45, Sheet No. 7B
16 June 1900 W.A. McGuin
line 64 124/125 KEENEY, R.B. Head WM Mar 1849 51 M 19 MO Pen Pen Farmer
Louanna Wife WF Nov 1863 36 M 19 9/8 MO Ky MO
Eva A. Daughter WF Aug 1883 16 S Kan MO MO
Elmer R. Son WM Mar 1885 15 S Kan MO MO
Edward F. Son WM Feb 1887 13 S Kan MO MO
Clarence H. Son MW May 1889 11 S Kan MO MO
Clide Son WM June 1891 8 S Kan MO MO
Claud Son WM June 1891 8 S Kan MO MO
Roy V. Son WM Dec 1893 6 S Kan MO MO
Fred Son WM Jan 1895 5 S MO MO MO

Gail also pointed me to a Smith family nearby with a son "William A.", but he was traced and found alive and married in 1910. So, not my William.

Then yesterday I noticed that the 1900 index on ancestry had been updated (I've had a long hiatus from genealogy, moving will do that to you). So I stuck in Smiths in Greene Co., MO born in TN. Quite a list. And one was:

William E Smith Cass, Greene, Missouri abt 1875 Tennessee White Son

So I had a gander:

1900 Greene Co., MO Census, Cass Township
S.D. 8, E.D. 45, Sheet No. 15A/48A
2 and 3 July 1900 by W A McGuire
line 29, 272/272 SMITH Semyen P. Head WM April 1848 52 M 29 Ten Ten Ten Farmer Owns Farm Free of mortgage
Margaret Wife WF Deb 1857 43 M 29 11/7 Ten Ten Ten
William E Son WM Dec 1874 25 S Ten Ten Ten Farm Laborer
Luiza T Daughter WF Mar 1880 20 S MO Ten Ten
Elven B Son WM July 1882 17 S MO Ten Ten at school
Charles E. Son WM Sept 1884 15 S MO Ten Ten at school
Dollie J. Daughter FW Oct 1886 13 S MO Ten Ten at school
Bennie H Son WM Aug 1892 7 S MO Ten Ten

Dec 1874. Boy, did I get excited.

The "E" bothered me not at all. Lots of A/E names get 'misheard' for census: Albert/Elbert, etc. Of course family tradition had it that William's middle name was "Alexander", so, "Elexander?!". But, too, I knew Alexander was an unusual name that the time.

So, I sprinted to the lds 1880:

www.familysearch.org, 1880 United States Census
S. Perry SMITH Self M Male W 32 TN Farmer TN TN
Margaret SMITH Wife M Female W 23 TN Keeping House VA NC
Jas. C. SMITH Son S Male W 9 TN TN TN
Wm. A. SMITH Son S Male W 4 TN TN TN
Sarah E. SMITH Dau S Female W 2 TN TN TN
Louise T. SMITH Dau S Female W 3M MO TN TN
Source Information:
Census Place: Cass, Greene, Missouri
Family History Library Film: 1254687
NA Film Number: T9-0687
Page Number: 24D

"Wm. A." Well, I'm totally convinced. But still, no proof.

Looks like Floyd's name might be William R(ichard) Simeon Floyd Smith. But still, not proof.

Then I found Betty Miller. This is her 1998 query on the Greene Co., MO website:

Smith; Baker, Allen
Searching for information on Semyen Perry Smith, b. 6 Apr. 1848, in Sevier, TN, m. 1st. Margaret Elizabeth Baker then m. 2nd. Margaret Jane Allen on 15 Jan 1875, d., 3 Feb. 1930, Cass Township, Greene Co., MO. and buried at Willard, MO (Wesley Chapel Cemetery). Three childen by 1st. wife: William Alexander, John Gilbert, Sarah Elizabeth and eight children by 2nd wife: Louisa Theodocia, Elvin Beecher, Charley Edward, Dollie Jane, Roy, Julia, Benjamin Harrison, Mary.
Betty Miller--Tue Dec 15 14:54:58 1998

"William Alexander". I consider that independent confirmation.

And it was always likely that the Smith family living near Eva in 1900 (she and William married in 1902) would be related to her husband. Even if Smith is a very, very common name.

Tracking down Reuben Jackson's first wife

2005-01-20T03:17:00.000-08:00

The identification of Reuben's wife as Barbara Dice is entirely circumstantial. I had a lot of fun doing it, so I thought I would recount the current state of affairs here.

Let me lay out my "evidence" as it stands:

First of all, the Jackson family bible lists a "Barbara Jackson" who died 20 Oct. 1821. This is the only woman listed as "Jackson" who wasn't listed as a child of Reuben in the "births" and this timing works with both James Madison Jackson's 1819 birth and Reuben's 1822 remarriage. So I started there: what if she were his first wife?

Secondly, I wondered about the birth of William Harpole b. 1 December 1800 appearing in the Jackson family bible. His lineage is clear and established: he is brother to the John Harpole who was Captain of Reuben Jackson's regiment and this whole family, too, moved to Obion County, TN. His parents were Solomon and Anna Christina Dice Harpole. Why was he there? So, guess No. 2: this boy could have been Reuben Jackson's first wife's nephew.

So I began looking into the Harpole and Dice families, which are well documented on the internet. No luck with the Harpoles, but the Dices had a plum: Anna Christina had a sister named Barbara who married a "Joseph Jackson" in 1797 in Pendleton Co., (W)VA. But there was a funny note attached to some peoples notes on this marriage: he may have been named "Reuben Jackson". None of these people list any sources for their materials, so I have wrote them for clarification. I received no responses.

Later, I found this gem on ancestry.com message boards:

>Reuben Jackson - late 1700s-early 1800s
>Author: Julia Clay Date: 30 Jul 2002 9:10 PM GMT
>Surnames: Dice, Jackson
>Classification: Query
>
>Reuben Jackson married unknown Dice. Thier daughter Phoebe
>Deborah was born near Staunton VA in 1802 and raised in Wilson
>Co TN. If you have information on this family please contact
>me.
>Thank you,
>Julia

This Phoebe Jackson married Hugh Curlin (appears in Wilson Co. 1820 census), his line, too, is well-documented and though he moved on to Texas, his brothers all ended up in Obion Co., TN.

Further research has comfortably linked Phoebe Jackson Curlin and Reuben Jackson of Wilson Co., TN.

The Curlin's and Harpole's both migrated to Obion County, Tennessee at the same time that Reuben did.

I have since been contacted by another family member whose family had recorded their relationship with Phoebe Jackson Curlin - they descend from Reuben's son Jesse Harper Jackson - the 'Harper' seeming to be another possible connection with the Dice family, since Anna Christina's mother was Catherine Herber/Harper.

There is my evidence in a nutshell.

Please see Experience's Children if you would like to see more.

Lost and Found

2004-11-05T23:07:00.000-08:00

The only record of what happened to John McCafferty had been a letter written by his great-nephew sometime in the 1940s. In it, William T. Painter wrote:

John McCaferty was a big strong man. Went to Alaska in the Gold Rush 1898, most likely died on the Chillcoot Pass (where many failed to get over the terriable mountain) never heard from.

I had always wondered what happened to him. It would have been unusual for someone to make that trip by themselves, why hadn't his companion(s) written to say what had happened?

Today I randomly put "Montgomery County, Missouri" and "McCafferty" into Google and I found this listing of an unmarked grave:

John John McCafferty
From Montgomery County, Missouri
Died during the week prior to March 12, 1898, of "Tuberculos fever".
Death and burial at Dyea reported in 2 sentences in The Dyea Trail of March 12, 1898.

and with him:

Thomas E. See
From Montgomery County, Missouri
Died during the week prior to March 12, 1898, of "Tuberculos fever".
Death and burial at Dyea reported in 2 sentences in The Dyea Trail of March 12, 1898.

I guess he didn't go alone.

"Strange but true this rare circumstance"

2004-11-03T05:19:00.000-08:00

Not my relative, but...

Grandmother Sample:

"Mr. S.'s mother came to this county, and lived to the remarkable age of one hundred and two, being the oldest person buried in the Gilboa Cemetery. "Grandmother Sample," as she was usually called, could read fine print without glasses for sometime before she died, and the most remarkable circumstance occurred just three or four months before her death. As perfect a set of teeth as ever filled the mouth of any person came through her gums. Strange but true this rare circumstance."

My most wanted

2004-10-24T13:29:00.000-07:00

I expect we all have our favorite ancestor.

Mine is Experience, though she went by "Spiddy", and she had eight children. Not an expecially high number, but varied. The first two were Mitchells, the next a Cox, and the last 5 Pierces. She apparently died with a year or two of her last child's birth, her husband remarrying when the boy was about 2 1/2.

Since she's my favorite ancestor, and has such a great name to boot, I've decided to call my genealogy website "Experience's Children".

It's currently going through a face-lift, thus the serious lack of posting here.

Matilda Catherine

2004-10-15T11:07:00.000-07:00

Matilda Catherine Pierce Brown

I found another one today.

Another girl named after Matilda Catherine "Tilda" Pierce Brown...

This is Tilda Evans, my Tilda's niece. I finally found the 1900 entry for Sarah Pierce Evans' family the old-fashioned way: I browsed for it. Fortunately her family was in the same township they'd been in in 1910 and 1920 or I'd have had a long, fruitless day. :)

I just found Sarah recently, married to Granville Evans in Greene Co., TN, and later living near Tilda and Sarah's brother Dan Pierce in White Rock Twp., McDonald Co., MO.

So, some girls named after her:

Nancy Matilda Ellen "Tildie" Pierce

Matilda "Tilda" Evans

Mary Katherine Brown

Mary Katherine Zeilinger

and me. :)

Great Scott

2004-10-05T03:24:00.000-07:00

Oh my, the Scotts.

I've been dealing with them a great deal, but haven't had the heart to mention them here (you might have noticed a lack of blogging).

Did you know that the name Scott is extremely, extremely common? Especially in Kentucky?

Well, it is.

I had started off with a slight handicap with the Scotts because all I had was a vague family tradition. There was my ancestor Alice and a list of siblings (in no particular order): Allen, Charlie, Lee and Anna. Their mother's name was Martha Harrietta McRae and their father Robert Lee Scott.

I was a bit hamstrung until I discovered the marriage record online and it said that his name was Robert N. Scott. As did the only census records I could find, the 1880:

Jackson Township
S.D. 4, E.D. 64, Page No. 15/434A
11 June 1880 by WB McNeel
line 13, 125/125 SCOTT Robert N WM 37 M Farmer Kentucky NC NC
Martha WF 27 wife M Keeping house Missouri Geo MO
Willam WM 11 Son S At home attended school Missouri Ky MO
Charley WM 9 Son S Missouri Ky MO
Robert WM 7 Son S Missouri Ky MO
Alice WF 5 Daughter Missouri Ky MO
Anna WF 2 Daughter Missouri Ky MO

A very close fit, though no "Allen", but since "Lee" was probably "Robert Lee", the first child could be "William Allen".

Nearby was a "Allen Scott" the right age to be Robert's father, but his birthplace didn't match Robert's reporting, and there was another Robert nearby whose did, so I thought he was probably Allen's son and my Robert a nephew or something. In any case, I needed to find Robert in 1850, where he would certainly be with his parents.

Yeah, no.

I found a couple likely fellows, and then quickly found them later with wives and children...it seemed my Robert was not in the 1850.

So I realized, "I should be working backward". That's the right way to do these things, step by step from the known to the unknown. So I needed to find Robert with is family in 1870.

Yeah, no.

Yeah, I'm frustrated.

So I start in on the 1860. Not finding much, not finding much...Roberts born in KY are surprisingly rare... give up on Robert and try finding this "Allen Scott" in the 1860.

Bingo:

1860 Dade Co., MO Census
North Township
Page No. 110/113, 31st July 1860 by Thomas S. Coffee
P.O. Sons Creek
line 6, 734/734 Samuel LAWRENCE 26 M " [Farmer] /50 Illinois cannot r/w
Clarinda 21 f Tennessee cannot r/w
Allen SCOTT 48 M " [Farmer] 500/5700 Kentucky
Judith 40 F Tennessee
Philip WL. 21 M " [Farmer] /75 " [Tennessee]
Judith C 19 F " [Tennessee] attended school
Robert N. 17 M " [Farmer] " [Tennessee] attended school
Mary W. 4 F " [Tennessee]
Sarah F. 2 F " [Tennessee]

The crowd roars.

There is Robert N., not born in Ky, but born in TN. That's the problem with having only one census reference. So many details can be wrong.

Nicknames

2004-09-25T13:10:00.000-07:00

I once had a woman point out that I needed to "clean up those nicknames" in my database. I always include nicknames, such as Robert Milton "Bob" Hamby. She really complained, thinking it was quite silly to say someone named "Robert" had the nickname "Bob"...

Well, she chose an awkward example there, since in my family I have Roberts who go by, respectively: R.W., Bob, Rob, Bobby, and one who has gone by Robin. And what about Elizabeth? Lizzie, Liz, Beth, Bessie... and there's the confusion so many people have over "Eliza". It was not a nickname for Elizabeth (generally speaking) and it was very common to have one daughter named "Elizabeth" and another named "Eliza". I frequently see people try to conflate the two or to call both "Elizabeth". Nope. One is Elizabth and the other Eliza.

In any event, not only do I like noting what they actually went by (this is really all about finding out what their lives were like, and a big part of that is what name you use!) but it helps with searches. If you put "Bob Hamby" into the rootsweb database, you get my grandfather.

It gets really helpful if someone only shows up in census records with their nickname. I know of a man named Oliver Scott (as his name appeared in his marriage record) who shows up in every census as "Olly" or even "Olla". If you put that nickname into the search engine you will find the right fellow...

But I think she got the idea you were supposed to "fix" the nicknames from Family Tree Maker, which tells you in no uncertain terms that it is a "Data Entry Error" if you put a nickname in quotes with the name. They have an AKA line for that - but you can't see that AKA from the main page and it creates an annoying second entry in the database, making it look as if you've got the person twice.

Family Tree Maker is just bossy anyway. If you accidentally type over a name it will note:

By changing this name you are making Scott the child of Daniel McRae. Is this what you mean to do?

At which point I hit the "No" button and wait, annoyed, for its final chiding:

If you are trying to fix individuals who are incorrectly shown as related, use the People-Fix Relationship Mistakes commands.

To which I have to meekly agree, "OK", before it will let me go on.

The whole thing is incredibly frustrating because it is always a mistake. I will click the button for the Index and start typing without noticing that it hasn't come up and that my cursor is in the "name" box, so I'm already annoyed with myself, and then it points out that ridiculous possible reason for the error: I can't even imagine how someone would think that typing over someone would fix a 'relationship mistake'. Not to mention that I've got some new idea or document, etc. concerning said 'Scott' and having to wait while the program tells me I'm a bad little girl can make me completely forget what I was doing...

Really, really dumb.

Elizabeth Alice/Alice Malinda

2004-09-19T13:04:00.000-07:00

It's one of those annoying problems of genealogy caused by the very people you are tracking down.

They change their names, or at least what they go by.

My first problem with this was the girl known in my Brown family as Ethel, who in her first census is called Kattie E., is in her second as Catherine E. (not that different...), so I'd always called her Catherine Ethel "Ethel" Brown. But then her sister Alice (in a letter) comes out with this one: Catherine Ethel Elizabeth Brown. Okay, that's a solution, add another 'random' name just to confuse the issue. This sister Alice is listed in every census as a young person as "Sarah A.", but otherwise seems to have never used the name "Sarah" at all.

It is extremely common to see a child go by one name in one or two censuses and then pop out with a new one for the rest of their lives. Most frequently they are going by a middle name as a child and then as adults they 'revert' to their 'first name', though the whole idea of a 'first name' doesn't seem to have really been important. These people lived at a time when such things as birth certificates did not exist and names could be changed readily.

I see them all the time: Cleo William/William Cleo, Raymond Bert/Bert Raymond, etc. used interchangeably to the point that you can't even tell for sure what they went by, which is part of the point.

I came across another example today. Young Edwin Capps is listed with his parents in Tahlequah County, Oklahoma in 1910 and 1920, but come 1930 and he's married and on his own and he's suddenly Edward! And it apparently stays that way, as it is the name on his tombstone, though he obfiscated the whole thing with Social Security by going as "Ed".

One of the most frustrating ones was a girl who is clearly listed as Elizabeth Alice or E.A. in her father's Civil War pension file, but on subsequently (and on her tombstone) her name is given as Alice Malinda. And you can see the lack of birth certificates created problems: the family bible was considered (for purposes of these pensions) a legal document. Elizabeth Alice/Alice Malinda's father's name was Horton Cox, but his uncle Horton Cox actually died (of disease) during the Civil War. His wife had to reproduce the children's names from the Bible record and when she misspelled one she nearly lost her pension.

"in and for said county [Greene Co., TN] Personally appeared Nancy Cox widow of Horton Cox and makes oath that this only explenation she can give in regard to the discrepency in the name of her Second child named in her decleration for pension is she is no schollar herself, and did not know how the name of sd child was written wither in the original decleration or Suppemental affidavit she first gave the name of sd child to the person who made out her decleration did not know how he spelt it, and when her Supplemental affidavit was made up she handed the person who made it up her family Record and from that the names of the children was taken, and on now being called on for this explination she has the name cearfully examined, and find it Spelt Manday which is the way the father of said child did Spell it as he did write the names in the family Record the affiant further swers"

I do like to know what they 'went by', but the practical problem is how to refer to these people so that other people, other researchers, have some idea who you're talking about. Someone who came across the records in the later half of her life might never make the connection between Alice Malinda and Elizabeth Alice.

Generally, I steal Sarah Alice "Alice" Brown Wiley's solution and list all the names. It gets long sometimes, but at least it's (somewhat) clear.

So, some 'stand outs':

Elizabeth Alice "Alice" Malinda Cox

Nancy Matilda "Tildie" Ellen Pierce

Catherine Ethel Elizabeth "Ethel" Brown

Laura Pearl "Pearl" McRae

More about sources

2004-09-16T02:07:00.000-07:00

So much of genealogical research is based on instinct and guesswork, but so many people completely fail to cite their sources. I don't know if it's just ignorance, or if it's an attempt to obfiscate, in which case the whole thing is made personal: "Trust me, I wouldn't lie to you."

But it's not about 'trust', it's about relative value.

I mean, if I want to say that I had a dream in which my ancestor convinced me that her middle name was 'Shazam', fine, but if I want to tell other people that her middle name is 'Shazam' then I'd better say that my source was a dream.

What I find over and over again is that people don't then cite either my source or me and then it begins to look like 'fact'. What's that old saying? If you say something three times it's true? What does publishing it online make it? That you've said it 1,000 times?

I discovered today that I'd made a mistake in my database - typed "David J. McRae" when all my sources said "Daniel J. McRae" (and it was the name of his uncle), so I fixed it. And then noticed that three other database on rootsweb had the same 'spelling' error. Obviously they had used me as their source and not even looked at my sources. They did not note a source at all.

Sigh.

That's how mistakes get passed on...

Such a geek

2004-09-10T13:38:00.000-07:00

Here it is!

The Census Update Report from Ron and Kathy at CENSUS-L@rootsweb.com:

MO / Jackson / 1850 (Partial)
Dist/Twp/City Kaw Township
Transcribed by Tara Painter
Proofread by Bill Painter
http://ftp.us-census.org/pub/usgenweb/census/mo/jackson/1850/
3 census files
2 index files
partial.txt

Yeay!

I am such a genealogy geek.

What's wrong with this picture?

2004-09-07T02:29:00.000-07:00

50th Wedding Anniversary, 1907

Standing L-R: Ferrell Taylor, Ernest Cox, Lewis Taylor, Myrtle Taylor Gladden, Hannah Goas Taylor, Thomas Cox, Melinda Goas Cox, Nora Taylor, Verna Cox and Sylvia Taylor
Front row: Ethel Gladden, Henrietta Fluxton Goas (seated), Lela Cox

This is the family picture from Lewis and Henrietta Fluxtin Goas' 50th Wedding anniversary. This picture would have been taken in Pulaski County, Missouri on the 19th of July 1907.

Lewis and Henrietta are an interesting couple.

Henrietta A. F. L. Fluxton (her name according to her marriage license) was born in Saxony (then a Kingdom) the 23rd of August 1838, and is said to have arrived in the U.S. from Germany in 1852 on the "Tennessee", coming with her mother and step-father to St. Louis, Missouri.

Lewis is said to have been working on the steamboats, and she working in a hotel in St. Louis when they met. They were married in Jefferson County, Missouri, near St. Louis, in 1857. Henrietta died in Pulaski County, Missouri the 27th of March 1919 and was buried in Colley Hollow Cemetery.

Lewis Goas was born in Pennsylvania to Andrew and Hannah Lewis Goas. Family tradition is that his family was Scottish living in a predominantly German area. This is extremely unlikely. Not only is the name 'Goas' normally German, it is not normally Scottish. It is amusing to note that the probable 1840 census of Andrew Goas in Beaver County, Pennsylvania shows him nearly entirely surrounded by families with traditionally Scottish names.

See my genealogy report for current guesses on Andrew Goas's origins.

Lewis died in Pulaski County, Missouri the 10th of April 1920 and was buried in Colley Hollow Cemetery.

Lewis and Henrietta had five children, 3 of whom lived to adulthood. Standing behind Henrietta in this picture are two of them: Hannah Goas Taylor and Melinda Goas Cox. The young Taylors in the picture (Ferrell, Lewis, Myrtle, Nora and Sylvia) are all Hannah's children, and the Coxes (Ernest, Verna and Lela) are Melinda's children. The adult man in the back is Malinda's husband Thomas Cox. Neither Hannah's husband nor their sister Mary Agnes Goas Hargett are there.

Family tradition is that Lewis Goas had his name spelled 'Goss' instead of 'Goas' on his tombstone because he was so upset at having no surviving sons to pass his name on. According to the online transcription, however, it's his son Willie's tombstone on which the name is 'misspelled'. Willie was his final surviving son.

But, back to our picture. Isn't something missing? I mean, we have Henrietta and Lewis's death dates confirmed by their tombstone readings. Lewis didn't die until 1920. Henrietta died first, just the year before. In fact, he is in the 1920 census, living with his daughter, and listed as widowed.

So, my questions is, this is his 50th wedding anniversary: just where is Lewis Goas?

It's online!

2004-09-04T01:37:00.000-07:00

My transcription of the Kaw twp., 1850 Jackson Co., Missouri census is online!

And isn't it a pretty thing?

Washington's ready to go, once Bill proofreads it. Blue will take a lot longer...

But, whew!

And, how fun!

-berry names

2004-09-03T03:28:00.000-07:00

I've just added 10 new- berry names.

I like to save them up and add them in bunches.

My favorite right now is the brand-new "McGilberry", which has the distinction of being my first Mc-berry name.

Here they are:

Mecklenberry
Broadberry
Haughinberry
Sandsberry
Tafernaberry
Faleanberry
Ortonberry
Ortenberry
Gooseberry
McGilberry

Having a Ball

2004-09-02T01:12:00.000-07:00

I started out with the 1860 Bureau Co., IL Census:

Center Twp., Wyanett, Ills
Pg. 199/204
5 July 1860 by James S. Eckely
lne 26, 1446/1474 Daniel BALL 27 M do [Farm laborer] do [Ohio]
Mariah 26 F do [Ohio]
Laban 8/12 M Illinois
line 2, 1447/1475 Frisbe ANDERSON 42 M Farmer 3000/327 Maryland
Clarrissa 26 F Ohio
William A. 11 M do [Ohio]
Emmor 9 M do [Ohio]
Daniel 6 M Illinois
Eliza J. 5 F do [Illinois]
John W. 10/12 M do [Illinois]
Barbarie TRIPLETT 32 F Ohio
Arrilla 4 F Illinois

Daniel Ball is the brother of Clarissa Ball Anderson, next door, and their sister Celia Ann was married to Luther Triplett, but my question was, who is this Barbarie Triplett?

My first guess was that she was their sister Barbara Ball, although Barbara would have been 22, not 32. That didn't fuss me too much since census taking is a messy business, and I was really pleased to find a marriage record in Illinois for Barbary Ball and James Triplett in 1853, but then I found this biography of Charles Johnson written in 1915.

It was great, laying out Barbara's parents (Vachel and Fanny Bailey Ball), and her marriage date (1858) and their various moves in Illinois and Iowa, and listing their two children: Charles and Eugene. But it was the marriage date that proved problematic. She couldn't have been Barbary Triplett with a daughter in 1860 if she was busy being Mrs. Charles Johnson...

So now I'm thinking, aunt?

And I'm thinking I'd better set this aside. So I did.

Recently ancestry.com has added a partial index to the 1900 census (yeay!) and Iowa was one of the early accessible databases, so I started collecting the data. One of the useful questions they asked women in the 1900 census was how many children they had had and how many were still living. And I found Barbary and Charles in Audubon County, Iowa:

Melvill Township
S.D. 9, E.D. 30
Sheet No. 6A/320A
15 June 1900 by Walter F. Hoyt
line 4, 92/92 JOHNSON Charles Head WM Feb 1835 65 M 39 Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Farmer
Barbary Wife WF Sept 1837 62 M 39 6/3 Ohio Virginia Maryland
Monroe Brother WM Nov 1847 52 S New Jersey Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Farm
Laborer
BROWN Jennie Servant June 1881 18 S Iowa Scotland Pennsylvania
Servant

Barbary had had 6 children, 3 of whom were still living.

All right now, hold the phone, that biography was very clear. She and Charles had two children. Okay, so maybe one of their children had died between 1900 and 1915 so that they weren't listed in the biography, but usually such a child would have been mentioned. So I thought, fine, I'll go find the happy couple in 1860.

I couldn't find them right off the bat, so I decided to collect their 1870 census record. No problem. They and their two sons were in Macon County, Illinois, as the biography had predicted. Er, told us they had been.

So back to the 1860.

Well, I found Charles right about where you'd expect him in Putnam County, Illinois (where they set up housekeeping after their marriage, as his biography described). But he was single. And there was no "Barbara Ball" to be found.

"No, really?" I thought, "back to Barbarie Triplett?!"

So I revisited the 1860 Bureau Co., IL census and saw, lo and behold, that the 32 was really a smudgey 22 and I checked the Illinois marriage records and found the marriage of the daughter Arilla Triplett:

Illinois Marriage Records online,
BARNES, William G m. TRIPLETT, Arilla Jane 07/22/1869 /00003763
SANGAMON

Well, Sangamon County isn't very near to Macon County (the state capitol, Springfield, is in Sangamon), but how many Arilla's can there be?! So I started looking for William Barnes and wife Arilla in the 1870. And guess where I found them:

Hickory Point Township
Page No. 5/468A
11th July 1870 by Mad. S Collins
P.O. Decatur ILL, line 28
105/118 BARNS William G. 23 MW School Teacher Ohio
Rillis J. 16 FW Keeping House Illinois
line 30, 106/109 JOHNSON Charles 34 MW Farming /1000 Pennsylvania
Barbary 34 FW Keeping house Ohio
Charles 7 MW Illinois attended school
Eugene 3 MW Illinois
CAMPBELL John 27 MW Working on Farm Ohio

Right next door to Mom.

How fun is that? Oh, and married to the schoolteacher... Hmmmm. Wonder why they got married in Sangamon County? She would have been what, 15 when they got married? The same age her mother was at her first marriage.

So the marriage date listed in the biography had to be wrong. Good thing everything else was right. With a name like 'Johnson' it was very, very helpful to know where they had lived before. I suppose that Arilla wasn't mentioned in his biography because she wasn't his child.

I have not been able to find a marriage record for Barbary Triplett (as she would have been listed) and Charles Johnson. It appears that there are no Putnam County, Illinois marriage records for this period (although they said they were married in Bureau County). I can't find anyone mentioning it, but I'm afraid those records were destroyed. I've some other marriages that I'm missing from that area at that time.

I've got a bunch more on Vachel Ball's family on my website.

Transcribing the 1850

2004-08-28T03:03:00.000-07:00

I'm a confirmed genealogy nut and have been since the age of 8.

It was about that time that my grandmother started doing genealogy, and while I didn't ever go with her when she did her research, I did get to look at all the "Family Group Sheets" that she shared with my mother.

I would sit and stare at them, trying to memorize the names, and then write out the family relationships in different ways on yellow legal pads.

First of all, FGSheets are a very limited way of looking at the information (thank goodness for genealogical databases!) and secondly I have a very complicated family - with an ancestor who married his uncle's granddaughter.

That's a complicated thing to "see".

Later, I got a Master's degree in History and worked at a State Historical Society as a librarian. That was a lot of fun, but I didn't start doing real research until a few years ago, and the advent of internet resources has completely facilitated my work. Without it, I wouldn't have much more than family stories, so I'm a big proponent of free, online genealogical resources.

So now I'm transcribing the 1850 Jackson Co., Missouri census for USGenWeb.

I've always wanted to do something, and when I noticed that not one single census year for Jackson County had been transcribed, I decided that that was what I had to. I have one line of my family in Washington and Kaw Townships, but they rest of them are strangers to me...

I've just turned in my first township, so I'm a bit nervous, I guess. It took me forever to do it because I'm such a perfectionist. Ah, well. No such thing as perfection in transcribing! But that doesn't mean I won't try...

You can see the images that I'm working with at Ed and Sandy Mackley's wonderful Missouri census images page, without which I would not be able to create my (soon to be searchable) transcription.

The most interesting thing I've found so far is a young man named "Fleury Fontenelle", born in Fort Laramie about 1834. He might be an undocumented son of Lucien Fontenelle, the famous trader. Lucien did have a son named Henry Fontenelle, but he is said to have been born in 1832 in Nebraska. That's not far enough "off" to discount the possibility they are one and the same, but it tends to support my thoughts.

So, I hope his name is Fleury. It's a common French name and seemed to be what I was reading. It did not look like "Henry" to me.

You can judge for yourself, if you'd like. He's on Page 230B, line 26.

Human nature

2004-08-27T01:17:00.000-07:00

One of the odd ideas I run into all the time is that 'back then' things were different.

I've actually had a woman argue with me that a man convicted of killing his daughter couldn't have done it because 'fathers didn't kill their daughters back then'.

So when I found this page of notes from the County Court Minutes in McMinn Co., TN in the early 1860s, I had to chuckle.

I found a "cousin" of my husband's recorded there:

p.530, Apr 1861; Jeptha Sivils guilty of being father of illeg. child of Malissa B. Only which was orn 11 Jan 1860.

He wasn't the only one. You should take a glance at the webpage. Here are a few excerpts:

p.482, Nov 1860; James Montgomery denies that he is guilty of bastardy on Mary J. Dixon.

P.454, 2 July 1860; Petition of James Lamar in 1857. He was accused of being father of illegitimate dau. of Hersula Pearce named Sarah Virginia Pearce born 1 Nov 1856; he has been supporting child; mother is loose woman and he wants to legitimatize child and change name to Sarah Virginia Lamar.

p.473, 2 Oct 1860; Thomas Grisham age 15 bound to Wm. W. Porter. Thos. is illegitimate child of Ursula Pearce and John Grisham, dec'd was his reputed father.

and then there were the divorces:

p.76, Dec. 1852; Divorce granted Mary Dunlap. Married John Dunlap in Bradley Co. early 1849. John abandoned Mary.

p.112, Ar 1853; Divorce granted Matilda McCarver from Wm. McCarver who abandoned her.

p.141, 11 Aug 1853; Lewis Erwin granted divorce from Barbara Erwin, married about 29 July 1845. Barbara has deserted Lewis and is guilty of adultery with on Elijah Largent.

p.222, 5 May 1863; The State VS Thomas J. Cate. Bigamy, married on 9 Nov 1830 Mary Cate, married on 8 Aug 1862 in McMinn Co. Tabitha Ledbetter while still married to Mary, who was still alive. Eli Cate the prosecutor. John Neil & E. B. Cate witnessess for State.

And half this was going on during the Civil War:

p.543, 27 May 1861; Called Session of County Court - voting upon the organization of a home guard - postponed for the present - vote to lay a tax to support the indigent families of volunteers in the service in the Southern Army during the continuance .

p.552, July 1861; A man in each district paid for ascertaining no. of guns, rifles, & shotguns.

p.206, Nov 1862; Martial law existing.

Even in war time, life goes on.

Back to Jeptha, who's been a special problem, which this record helped to resolve.

In 1870, he's shown in Bradley County, TN with wife Eliza and four children. His brother and mother are next door.

the Ninth District, Page No. 13/100A
24 June 1870 by R.T. Engledow
P.O. Athens
line 34, 95/95 SIVELS Jepthy 41 M"[W] Farmer 2000/800 " [Tennessee]
Eliza 29 F"[W] Houskeeping " [Tennessee]
Susan 12 F"[W] " [Tennessee] attended school
Sarah 10 F"[W] " [Tennessee] attended school
William 9 M"[W] " [Tennessee] attended school
Albert 5? M"[W] " [Tennessee]
SIDWELL William 16 M"[W] Working on Farm " [Tennessee] attended school
Page No. 14/100B
line 1, PARKER Ella 15 FW Asst Houskeeper Tennessee attended school
line 2, 96/96 SIVELS Jack 35 M"[W] Working on Farm /400 " [Tennessee]
Jane 80 F"[W] Asst Houskeeper NCarolina
Louisa 30 F"[W] Tennessee
PARY John 16 M"[W] " [Tennessee]

Most researchers seem convinced that the 1860 Bradley County census of this family, which shows the husband's name as "Levi" is simply a mistake.

Dist. Thirteenth Dist., pg. 230/278B
31 July 1860 by James
Donohoo
P.O. Cleveland
line 5, 1521/1521 Levi SIVELS 33 M Farmer Painter
1000/100 " [Tenn]
Liza 18 F " [Tenn]
Susan M. 3 F " [Tenn]
Sarah C. 1 F " [Tenn]
Sarah 60 F " [Tenn]
Telitha 19 F " [Tenn]
Timothy 15 M " [Tenn]

The problem is that Jeptha is still in his mother's household in McMinn County in 1860. And McMinn is where Malissa's daughter California was born in January of 1860. It seems clear that Jeptha needed to be in McMinn County for that.

The 9th Civil District, Page No. 32/277B
19 June 1860 by Thos Rogers, P.O. Calhoun
line 18, 228/228 Teeman SIVILS 65 F Farmer 1000/350 Va
Rebecca 29 F Seamstress Tenn
Jeptha 27 M Farm Laborer " [Tenn]
Jane 25 F " [Tenn] cannot r/w
Andrew J 23 M Farm Laborer " [Tenn]
Sirena 20 F " [Tenn]

The whole issue would seem to be resolved by their marriage record:

http://www.familysearch.com/, Marriage records, 1808-1958 Rhea County (Tennessee). County Court Clerk: Jeptha CIVILS married Ruth E. SIVILS 20 Nov 1866 Rhea, Tennessee.

Ruth's maiden name is well known as Gibson. And she started having children named "Sivils" in 1857. Clearly there is a missing marriage record. A marriage to Jeptha's cousin Levi.

The problem is that the only record that exists for Levi (except this 1860 census record) is a note made out by descendants of his brother Timothy's family, but since Timothy is living in Levi's household with his/their mother in 1860, and Jeptha is living with his, I'm confident that the family tradition is correct. Levi is not to be found in 1850, nor are most of his siblings. These Sivils seem to have a special gift for disappearing...

Oh, did I mention that Malissa and her daughter are enumerated just a few pages over from Jeptha in McMinn County:

The 9th Civil District, Page No. 29/276A
18 June 1860 by Thomas Rogers
P.O. Calhoun
line 26, 205/205 Levi ONLY 55 m Farmer 1500/400 N.C.
Mahala Jane 47 F S.C.
Melissa 21 F Tenn
Thomas J. 17 M " [Tenn]
Sarah J. 15 F " [Tenn]
Mary 12 F " [Tenn]
Amanda 4 F " [Tenn]
E. JOHNSON 19 M Farm Laborer N.C.
Texanna 2 F Ten
California 6/12 F " [Ten]

I've found California in 1870 working as a domestic servant in McMinn County. I think she is the "Callie Onley" who married S.A. Hartsell in Bradley County (a neighboring county) in 1884, but I haven't been able to find them.

Malissa herself got married in 1874 in McMinn County, Tennessee to Ezekiel Swafford. I haven't been able to find them either.

Tag, you're it

2004-08-24T01:48:00.000-07:00

I think I've found another one. I don't know that I have, but it sure looks like it: another tag.

The first "tag" I ever bumped into had been attached to my great-great grandmother Martha A. Davison Boyd.

I got started in genealogy with the Boyds because it was Martha's daughter Ida and granddaughter Jessie who largely raised my grandmother, so she felt a special closeness to the Boyds and had started her research there. I found a woman doing work on the Boyds and shared information. She told me that Martha's middle name was "Avarilla". I thought "how fun!" and put it in my notes.

A few years later, I found a typescript made by Jessie in 1943 of the family bible, and in a handwritten note at the bottom she said that Martha Davison's middle name was Ann (her middle name wasn't specified in the record, just the initial). I told this to my Fellow Researcher, and she wrote back that she hadn't thought that Martha's middle name was really Avarilla - that a relative had told her it was, but that she didn't think he was a very reliable source, but that she wasn't going to change it in her records because she used it as a "tag", that is to say, she would know if someone was using her work without giving her credit if they had Martha's middle name as "Avarilla".

I was flabbergasted. I'd never heard of such a thing.

But what made it unforgivable (to me) was that once she had access to a more reliable source, she refused to change it! Her "tagging" being more important than the (likely) truth!

As a genealogist it can be so hard to get accurate information that I really couldn't believe what she was saying. She must have felt that same frustration of knowing you were dancing around a 'truth' you couldn't prove. Her work is really good, and she was always very generous with it. A lot of people use it. In fact, I can't find anyone using "Martha Ann", though I cite my source and she did not, but her vast research lends crediblity that I cannot outweigh.

People really should read and cite sources.

But now I may have another.

For years I've dealt with "Jane Telita Cox" and I've been trying to find her in the 1930 census without any luck. I was chatting about her to my husband, about how humorous it was that in every census her first name was different: in 1900, "Jane", in 1910, "Runer? J.", in 1920, "Eurma? J." It was one of the reasons I wanted to find her, to see what name her husband had 'made up' next...then Bill said, "Well, those names are kind of similar, aren't they?"

As he said later, "I thought you got a funny look on your face when I said that..."

I was thinking that I had never seen one record that suggested her name was "Jane Telita" except a family group sheet. Not even "Jane T."

So I sat down immediately to really find her in 1930. I did. I was willing to look at every record in Arkansas in which the first name of the husband was "James", but I didn't have to go that far...they were still in Boone County (the first place I looked).

This time the record was perfectly clear: Arranna J. Ewards (should have been Edwards). Looking at the 1920 census again it looks like "Errana". She had an aunt named Rena (now I'm thinking Arrena?). In any case, clearly the "Telita" (which was her mother's name) is completely wrong.

As I said, I don't know that her middle name was a tag, but I have had some communication with descendants of Janie (as she was apparently called) and they were the first ones to raise the issue with me. Again, the researcher who said her middle name was "Telita" was a good researcher with lots of stuff and she shared it. It lent credibility to her statement, though I had not seen even a "T.", suggesting that she would be on the right track. She certainly hasn't admitted it to me nor refused to change her work (I've lost contact with her), so I don't want to disparage her unfairly. She might really think Jane's middle name was Telita.

In any case, the real lesson is that incredulity is always a good trait in a genealogical researcher...

But you can almost understand the impulse. I can't count the number of times I've seen people use my conclusions as their own without giving me any credit. It doesn't bother me, but it is rude, disingenuous and counter-productive. I always put my sources online, so sometimes people will say that my sources were their sources (though the citation style is clearly the one that I worked out myself). The only accurate way for them to have cited, say, the John H. Brown 1850 Greene Co., TN census record from my notes is to have noted that it had been transcribed by me. They don't.

If people would always state their source not only would other people be able to judge the quality of assertions for themselves, but they would also not feel the urge to 'tag' their work. If you source is your Aunt Judy, put her name (or initials) with it. And the date. If it's a will, put that. And the county it was written in and the date. It will help everyone who works on that line.

Read the sources, people. And put them in your own work.

Found William V. McNeely

2004-08-22T12:41:00.000-07:00

I had an awfully good day today.

I found Wm. V. McNeely in the 1850 census.

Now, I know you don't know that that's a big deal, but it is...

The first step was to find William in the 1860 census. I've known where he was in 1870 for some time: he was living in Scott County, Arkansas where six years later his daughter, Mary M. McNeely, married Edmon S. Hamby.

Mary and her older brother James were both listed as being born in Georgia, so that's where I've focused for 1850, but their younger brother was born in Tennessee in 1856, so I was going back and forth for 1860. His second wife Lucinda was also listed as being from Georgia, but I finally found their marriage record by pure chance in Sebastian Co., Arkansas in 1864. I was looking for the record of another family entirely and noticed the "McNeely, W.V." marrying a Lucinda. She was too young to be the mother of any of these children, but I'd imagined they'd gotten married in Georgia at any rate. They didn't.

After finding that record I began looking a little closer to Ft. Smith and Sebastian Co. and finally found a "William McNeely" with children James, Mary and John, all the right ages, in Iron County, Missouri. The birthplaces weren't spot on, but they never are, are they?

That was the original relief: finding them all together in 1860. And not too far away was John C. McNeely and living with him and his large family was "Jane McNeely 75 born in Pennsylvania". Since William reported his parents as having been born in PA in the 1880 census, I felt I had enough to move forward...

And then there was the key, John C.'s son and William's (probable) nephew, William V. McNeely.

John and his family eventually ended up in Newton County, Missouri, where William the younger married Lucreasy Trent. It was in an old query posting that I found a woman looking for "William Lance and Lucresy Trent McNeely". Now, I had seen his many census listings, and they were invariably "William V. or W.V.", so I thought, huh, must be William Vance...that's kind of unusual...

So today when I tried YET AGAIN to find William and his mother Jane and her other son James in Tennessee in 1850 (John C. having already been in Madison Co., MO by 1850) I was sure I'd have no luck. I've searched and searched and searched...but today I tried the *wildcard* trick yet again, but this time I noticed "McNeelea, Vance"...

Knowing leads seeing, as usual.

That was it. 1850 Hamilton Co.,TN Census:

Dist No 27, pg. 911/459A, 24th Oct. 1850 by R.P. Jones
line 4, 1232/1232 Gincea McNEELEA 45 F N Carolina
Vance 18 M Laborer Tenn, James 10 M " [Tenn]
line 7, 1233/1233 George McNEELEA 22 M Farmer Tennessee married in the last
year
Rhoda 18 F " [Tennessee] married in the last year

"Gincey" was a nickname for Jane...very, very tricky of them! So, yeay! I found another brother too, but, unfortunately they all probably got married in Hamilton Co., TN, where all marriage records of this period have been destroyed...this is especially frustrating because the most likely woman to be William V.'s first wife is Louisa Gardenhire, daughter of George Gardenhire, and I love the name "Gardenhire".

Sigh.

I like William V. quite a bit. He eventually became a minister. Here is a link to part of his work for the Missionary Baptist Church of Shiloh, near Ione, Scott County, Arkansas.

And another with the current "full story" of his family: Descendants of James McNeely and my database (think, searchable!) for the Hamby-McNeely families.

So, I had a good day!

And decided to share my joy (and my research) by starting this blog.