Connecting the Bibles of Leonard D. Cobb and Will Williams

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William Lafayette Williams, born Feb 13, 1858
Eva Iris Williams, born July 29, 1896

Old Bibles that include genealogy information seem a little to me like a time machine that allows me to have a written connection to my ancestors. This blog entry, back in September, included the pages of an Outlaw family Bible. I've since been sent photos from a couple of other family Bibles and want to include them here as well.

I think about the men and women who took the time to write in these Bibles and their motivation for recording the milestones of their family. Of course, they were assuming someday someone would want to know the births, marriages and deaths that took place. By writing these things down, they were communicating with those curious family members who would come along many years later.

And here I am...taking what they wrote and hopefully preserving it here for present and future generations.

The Bible of Leonard Decatur Cobb

 
The first Bible I am sharing here originally belonged to Leonard Decatur Cobb. Two of his siblings are in my direct line: William Thomas Cobb who married Elizabeth Temperance "Bet" Outlaw (maternal third great-grandparents) and Morning Adeline Cobb who married Daniel Washington Watridge (paternal second great-grandparents).

Leonard Cobb, William Thomas Cobb and Morning A. Cobb were three of the 11 children of Hardy and Harriet Castellaw Cobb. Hardy and Harriet were both born in Bertie County, N.C. and departed for Haywood County, Tenn. on April 22, 1834.

According to Joe H. Cobb’s book, "Nicholas Cobb Descendants," another of Leonard's sons, John Monroe Cobb, was “quite a scholar but could never adjust himself to the practical things in life.” John died at Western State Mental Hospital on 24 Jan 1920 and was buried in Zion Baptist Church Cemetery. According to his death certificate, he died of Psychosis brought on by Pellegra, a niacin malnourishment, also called "poor man's diet."

It's sad to think he went to his grave with people thinking he was "impracticable" when his real problem could have possibly been solved with a balanced diet. Although, perhaps the malnourishment came after he was put into Western State.

It does sound like there was a little eccentricity running in the family.

One of John Monroe Cobb’s daughters, who was also recorded in the Bible, seems to have marched to the beat of a different drummer, herself. Lura Cobb, who was called "Miss Lura" by her Haywood County neighbors, never married and is said to have worn long dresses and, even in the summer, a long overcoat, galoshes, a scarf around her face and a bonnet. She was a member of Holly Grove Baptist Church and lived very close to my father, Bob Williams. He remembers being afraid of her as a boy and if he ever saw her coming down the road he would hide until she passed. My mother, Shirley Lovelace Williams, has fonder memories and remembers Miss Lura frequently expressing interest in what and how her family members were doing.

Back to the Bible...you'll notice Leonard and Mary's daughter, Mary Catherine Cobb married John Nowell Williams who was a son of George Solomon "Sol" Williams and Catherion A. Nowell, my third great grandparents. 

Their daughter, Zelma Aurene Williams married Roy Earl Simpson who was one of the sons of William B. Simpson and his wife, Mary Ann Belle Watridge (Mary Ann Belle Watridge is a daughter of my third great-grandparents Daniel Washington Watridge and Mourning Adeline Cobb Watridge). It's so confusing, I can't keep it all straight.

Leonard D. and  Mary Amanda Rooks are buried in Zion Baptist Church Cemetery in Haywood County.

Note: As closely as possible, I typed the information as it was written in the Bibles.

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Leonard D. Cobb was borned A.D. November 2nd 1825

Mary A. Cobb was borned November 24 A.D. 1830

Elizabeth A. Cobb daughter of L.D. and Mary A. Cobb was borned December the 5th 1850

John M. Cobb son of L.D. Cobb and Mary his wife was borned December 31 of 1852

Mary C Cobb daughter of L.D. Cobb and Mary his wife was borned April 8th 1857

Bonnie Lura Cobb daughter of J.M. and N.R. Cobb was born Feb 10th 1887

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Zelma Aurene Williams Daughter of John A. Williams and Mary C. Williams his wife was born January the 20th 1895

Mattie Evelyn Cobb daughter of John M. Cobb and Mary R. Cobb his wife was born September the 30th 1895 {Died Jan 13, 1929 Hay-Wood County Tennessee

Johnnie Bee Simpson son of Roy Earl Simpson and Zelma (A.) Simpson his wife was born Februray 14th, 1917 In Hay-Wood County Tennessee

Emma Lee Simpson daughter of Roy Earl Simpson and Zelma Arlene Simpson his wife was born April 4th 1919

Lelane Earl Simpson born March 9 son of Roy and Zelma Simpson in Hay-Wood County Tennessee

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L.D. Cobb son of J.H. Cobb and Harriet A. Cobb his wife was borned November 2nd 1825 Departed this life April the 9th 1906

John Monroe Cobb departed this life January 24th 1920

Elizabeth A Cobb departed this life on the XXth day of November 1854

Mary A. Cobb Daughter of John Rooks & C.C. Rooks his wife was borned Nov 24th 1830 Departed this life Oct. the 10th 1907

Herman Cobb was born Aug the 14th and died Aug the 15 1885 A.D.

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Mary Katherine Cobb was married to John N. Williams the 14th day of December A.D. 1881 Rev J.J. Turner officiating

John M. Cobb and Mary R. Sweeney was married Nov the 30th 1884 in madison co Tenn by Rev James Blackmun

Zelma A. Williams was married to Roy Earl Simpson the 14th day of Feb 1916. Esq. E.B. Bowen officiating near Jones Tennessee in Hay-Wood County

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John Nowell Williams and Mary Katherine "Molly" Cobb Williams' obits were also included in this Bible. Interesting to note, the obit listed John's middle initial as "A" rather than "N." John died in 1928 and Molly died in 1938.

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Also in this Bible were some pressed flowers and a piece of paper that noted, "'Cousin Hardy Cobb died Oct 18 1942 and was buried 20." John Hardy Cobb was the son of John Charles Warren Cobb and Penelope Trottman White. 

Hardy Cobb was a farmer, sawmill operator, store owner and school teacher. He lost one arm in a corn shredder and several of his fingers on the other hand at his sawmill. He donated the land for and taught at the Centerville Elementary School.

In his book, "Nicholas Cobb Descendants," Joe Cobb makes note of an incident that is a testament to Hardy Cobb's character. 

He and the son of one of his brothers, Carlos Cobb, purchased some land in Louisiana. During the depression, Hardy Cobb was heavily in debt because of the money he owed on the land and spent the rest of his life paying it off. He repaid the debt in full a year before he died in 1942.

The Bible of Will Lafayette Williams

This Bible belonged to my great-grandfather, Will Williams. I suspected from U.S. census records that he was called Willie as a young man but the earliest entries in this Bible confirm that.

There are several connections between the Bibles of Leonard Cobb above and this one, but one of the most interesting to me relates to Will's childhood. Will's mother, Martha Jane Watridge died in 1888 at the age of 36 leaving her husband a widower with five children.

Will, the youngest, was less than a year old at the time. Whether he began living with them right after his mother's death, or at some point during his childhood, according to the 1900 U.S. census, Will was 12 years old and living with his maternal aunt and uncle, George W. Castellaw and Mary E. Watridge Castellaw (his mother Martha Jane Watridge Williams and Mary E. Watridge Castellaw were sisters). 

However, his father wasn't far away.

Right next door was Will's father, George W. Williams, along with his third wife, Virginia Estelle "Essie" Cobb Williams and their 15-year-old daughter Elberta. Essie was a daughter of John Charles Warren Cobb and Penelope Trottman White.

Living next door to the George and Estelle Williams household were George's brother and his wife, John Nowell Williams and Mollie Cobb Williams, whose obits were in the Bible above.

All the families included in these Bibles, including Williams, Watridge, Castellaw, White and Cobb, migrated to Haywood County together from Bertie County, N.C. around 1834.

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This is to certify that Willie Lafayette Williams and Janie Elizabeth Williamson were united by me in the bonds of Holy Matrimony at my residence on the 6 day of Feb in the year of our Lord 1910 in the presence of  ? (W.L.) Russell and ? B. Castellaw

Sadly, Will Williams' marriage to Janie Williamson would not be a long one. She died just four years later on 19 Aug 1914. Their second-born child, a daughter they named Ruth, also died that year. I can find no indication of whether Ruth died when she was born or a lived for a short time. Janie died 17 days after her daughter.

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Jessie Lloyd Williams Born Nov 27 1910
Ruth Williams Born Aug 2 1914
Martha Ladonia Williams Born June 1 1916
Mary Elizabeth Williams Born Sep 4 1918
W.L. Williams Jr. Born Oct 28 1821
Douglass Maxwell Williams Born May 6 1920
Hardy Dempsey Williams Born Sep 15, 1929
Betty Iris Williams Born May 26, 1932
Billie Dean Williams Born June 13, 1935
Bobby Jean Williams Born June 13, 1935

Eva Iris Williams, born July 29 1896
William L. Williams born 2-13-88

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Willie Lafayette Williams and Eva Iris Overton were united by the bonds of matrimon at my residence on the 28 day of Feb in the year of our Lord 1915 in the pressence of Aulsey Byrum and Pearl Overton.
Signed Esq. T. J. Castellaw

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Will's first wife Janie Elizabeth Williams Died Aug 19, 1914
Ruth Williams Died ____________, 1914
W.L. Williams Sr. Died Apr 1, 1962
W.L. Williams Jr. Died June 5, 1966
Will's second wife Eva Iris Williams Died Sept 5, 1970
Martha Ledonia Williams Chandler Died Nov 1979
Mary Elizabeth Williams Hudgens 9-4-18 -- 6-25-99
Billy Dean Williams 6-13-35 -- 11-18-95
Jessie Lloyd Williams 11-25-10 -- 5-27-2008

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Inserted in this Bible was the Tennessee Public Schools elementary diploma of my grandmother, Elizabeth Williams. It was given to her at Holly Grove in Haywood County on 12 Apr 1929.

For more blog entries, visit my Blog Home Page or to check out the genealogy research about my specific family lines, go to Haywood County Line Genealogy Page.

Bertie County, N.C. to Haywood County, Tenn. Migration

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Mules and Wagons, Mule Day 2011, Columbia, Tenn.

As I continue to climb my family tree, one question continues to come up. Why did so many of my Bertie County, N.C. ancestors load up their wagons in the early 1830s and head west to Haywood County, Tenn.?

Settling a new area was certainly not new to them. Many had parents and grandparents who fought in the Revolutionary War and I suspect they heard stories about traveling to Eastern North Carolina, building the churches and schools, clearing the trees and starting the farms and plantations that could, by the 1830s, be seen all over Bertie County.

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The Capeharts Baptist Church, Merry Hill, N.C. in Bertie County.
The present building was completed in 1918.

The Williams, Cobb, Steele, Dempsey, Castellaw, Capehart and Butterton families, all in my ancestry line, joined with a few other Bertie County families to found the Capeharts Baptist Church in Merry Hill, N.C. in 1824, so they certainly all knew each other well.

Most of my ancestors owned a small number of slaves and they farmed cotton, corn, and tobacco. By the 1830s, cotton had replaced tobacco as the crop of choice and for that, they needed lots of land. As each father divided the land for his children, the farms had begun getting smaller rather than larger. 

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Marker located on the Court Square in Brownsville, TN

No doubt they were aware of how well two of their own had done in Haywood County.

Just ten years earlier, Colonel Richard Nixon migrated to the area to settle 3,600 acres his father, Thomas Nixon, received for his service in the Revolutionary War.

Nixon, born in Hanover County, N.C., migrated to Bertie County around 1811 where he lived until migrating to Tennessee in 1821. According to "The Life and Times of Elder Rueben Ross," published in 1882, while in Bertie County, Nixon sent his son, Richard W. Nixon, to West Point Military Academy.

Colonel Nixon settled in an area that would be named Nixon's Creek in his honor.

“Colonel Richard Nixon blazed out his course and cut his own road from the settled vanity of Jackson, to where he pitched his tent, on the creek which took his name (Nixon’s creek), three miles east of Brownsville. The red men of the woods were encamped on the same creek – the noble Chickasaws – with whom he cultivated kindly relations, and for many weeks shared with them the hospitalities of their camp.”
Williams, James S. (1873) Old Times in West Tennessee. Memphis, Tenn: W.G. Cheeney

Nixon quickly convinced his nephew, Jonathan T. Jacocks, to join him there where they both prospered and no doubt sent word to their friends and family back in Bertie County.

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Brownsville Courthouse built in 1844.
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I believe it certainly makes sense that Colonel Nixon worked with his friends back in North Carolina to help populate the new community he was helping to build. Colonel Nixon died in 1831.

Colonel Nixon's son, Richard W. Nixon joined his father and opened a store in Brownsville, Tenn. He later moved to Montgomery County, Tenn., made a "profession of religion," became an ordained minister and was the pastor of various churches until his death in March of 1881 at the age of 72.

Below are ten "heads of households" in my direct ancestral line who made the journey from Bertie County, N.C. to Haywood County, Tenn. in the early 1830s:

John D. Castellaw

John D. Castellaw, my fourth great-grandfather, was 55 when he settled in Haywood County. Castellaw had descended from Bertie County aristocracy. His second great-grandmother, Penelope Johnston, was the second wife of Charles Eden who was the appointed Royal Governor of North Carolina. She later inherited his historically significant home, Eden House.

Castellaw married Zilpha Spruill in North Carolina on 21 Jan 1804. She was the daughter of Simeon Spruill, a planter from Tyrrell County, N.C.

John and Zilpha Castellaw were among the original members of Capeharts Baptist Church. There were 74 charter members of the original church who had received "letters of dismissal" from the Windsor and the Wiccacon (Colerain) Baptist Churches of Colerain, N. C. so they could begin the new church at the Capeharts Meeting House. They had their first service on December 10, 1824. John appears frequently in the minutes of the church.

According to family history, at some point, Castellaw began leading wagon trains to Haywood County, Tenn. In 1834, he finally stayed in the area along with his wife, children, Harriet Warren Castellaw and Thomas Jefferson Castellaw, and their families.

According to Neil Baker of Windsor, N.C., the Capehart Baptist Church minutes refer to the Castellaws' final move:

"February, 1834 Prayer by Bro Castellaw - Brother and Sister Castellaw petitioned for letter of dismissal."

When Zilpha died in Haywood County on 27 April 1842, it is thought she was the first person buried in the Cobb Family Cemetery.

More about the Castellaw family

William Steele Jr.

Among the first to load his wagons and head west was William Steele, my fifth great-grandfather. He married his second wife, Frances Cobb, on 12 December 1822 at Eden House in Bertie County. William, Frances and their 4-year-old son, Andrew Patterson Steele were living in Haywood County by 1831.

Unfortunately, William died only three years later. His son, Andrew Patterson Steele, later married Sarah Elizabeth Butterton and they became active members of Zion Baptist Church. Their daughter, Margaret Rebecca Steele later married Henry Day Brantley, the son of Augustus Brantley, referenced below (they are my third great-grandparents).

Dempsey Nowell II

Nowell's grandfather, Martin Nowell was one of the original settlers of Bertie County having arrived there and purchased land by 1736. Nowell, my fourth great-grandfather was 31 when he and his wife, Elizabeth Rawls, migrated from Bertie/Hertford County to Haywood County by 7 Mar 1833.

The Nowells had five children when they headed west and their sixth was born soon after they arrived. 

Nowell was ordained a deacon at Zion Baptist Church in March 1839. Zion was still a very new church at the time, having begun in Nov 1836. The first pastor was George Williams and five years after he was ordained a deacon, Nowell's daughter, Catherion Nowell, would marry George Williams' son, Sol.

More about the Nowell family

George Williams

George, another fourth great-grandfather, is first mentioned as a minister at Holly Grove Baptist Church in Bertie County in the church minutes of 13 Dec 1828. He is included many other times until 1836 when he was chosen to be the first minister of the newly formed Zion Baptist Church in Haywood County.

George and his wife, Nancy, headed for Haywood County with their son, George “Sol” who was 16 and Harriett Ann who was three. Harriett would later marry Andrew Jackson “Jack” Outlaw who is referenced below. Sol would marry the daughter of Dempsey Nowell, above.

More about the Williams family

John Hardy “Jacky” Cobb

John Hardy Cobb, my third great-grandfather was 36 on 22 Apr 1834 when he arrived in Haywood County. Jacky, as he was called, is remembered as being short and very “round.” Cobb’s family had lived in Bertie County since the mid-1700s when his grandparents migrated from Isle of Wight, VA and he and his relatives are mentioned in many documents.

Jacky Cobb had married Harriett Warren Castellaw, the daughter of John D. Castellaw on 28 Apr 1820 and they already had six children when they headed to Haywood County with her parents. According to a family Bible, the journey took 50 days in a covered wagon. John and Harriet Cobb did well and he became a town constable and later a school commissioner and magistrate.

More about the Cobb family

William W. Watridge

My third great-grandfather, William Watridge, was 38 in 1836 when he migrated from Bertie to Haywood County. He had married Millie Thompson on 31 Mar 1821. Millie’s parents, James and Rachael Thompson, are buried on the land on which Millie grew up on the Bertie/Hertford County line. I have been unable to determine William’s parentage...yet.

William and Millie traveled to Haywood County with their sons James, who was 13 and Daniel who was only one. In 1840, they had their third son Dorsey. In 1886, Dorsey Watridge donated the land for the Holly Grove Baptist Church.

When William and Millie moved to Haywood County, they became very active members of Zion Baptist Church.

More about the Watridge family

Augustus Brantley

Augustus Brantley, another fourth great-grandfather, was 26 in 1837 around the time he loaded up his wagon in Bertie County and headed to Haywood County. Augustus’ father, Edward Brantley had been born in Bertie County in 1760 and had died there around the time Augustus moved.

Augustus’ wife, Martha White was the daughter of Solomon White and Martha Ann Outlaw. Martha White Brantley's brother was John Bemberry White.

The Brantley's oldest son, Daniel, was born in Bertie County but their remaining children, Robert, Mary, Julius, Henry Day and Solomon Norman were all born in Haywood County.

They became active members of Zion Baptist Church and their son, Henry Day Brantley, married Margaret Rebecca Steele referenced above.

More about the Brantley family

John Bemberry White

My fourth great uncle was 32 around the time he traveled the road from Bertie to Haywood. It’s likely he was part of the reason his sister, Martha White Brantley, and her husband, Augustus Brantley headed to Haywood County a few years later.

Bemberry had married Penelope Trotman in Bertie County and they had two young sons and two young daughters when they migrated. One of their daughters, Penelope Trottman White married John Charles Warren Cobb, one of the sons of Jacky Cobb, referenced above.

George W. Outlaw

Another fourth great-grandfather, Outlaw was around 30 when he and his wife, Luday Perry left Bertie County and headed for Haywood County. They had a son and two daughters and by the time their third daughter (my third great-grandmother), Elizabeth Temperance Outlaw, was born on 3 Nov 1833, they were in Haywood County.

Sadly, not everyone who started out on the road from Bertie to Haywood made it. George's father, Jacob Outlaw died during the journey and was buried in Knoxville, Tenn.

George and Luday were very active at Zion Baptist Church and when the new church voted to elect George Williams as the new pastor, it was George Outlaw who wrote the letter letting him know.

George and Luday’s oldest son, Andrew Jackson “Jack” Outlaw was just eight when he migrated with his family to Haywood County. He later married Harriet Ann Williams, George Williams’ daughter.

Charles Butterton

My fifth great-grandparents Charles Butterton and Elizabeth Thomas were married in Bertie County on 1 Jan 1833 and departed for Haywood County in 1835 when Charles was 30. Their daughter, Sarah Elizabeth, married Andrew Patterson Steele above. They too were very active at Zion.

I soon plan to spend more time researching the Bertie to Haywood County connection and hope to find more information about these brave settlers.

For more blog entries, visit my Blog Home Page or to check out the genealogy research about my specific family lines, go to Haywood County Line Genealogy Page.

Death and the Civil War at the Library of Congress

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Ric Burns and Drew Gilpin Faust on stage at the Library of Congress

One of my favorite parts of working in Washington, D.C. is having access to so much history-oriented content. From events to panel discussions to exhibits, this city does love its American history.

On Wednesday, I was able to squeeze in a lunchtime panel discussion at the Library of Congress about death and the Civil War. As a bonus, it gave me a chance to check out their exhibit, “The Civil War in America.”

Filmmaker Ric Burns (the younger brother of Ken) along with the President of Harvard University, Drew Gilpin Faust discussed Burns’ recent PBS documentary “Death and the Civil War,” which was based on her book “This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War.”

You can watch the extended promo below, purchase it or rent it on Amazon Prime.

During their presentation, they discussed the many ways the deaths that took place during the Civil War permanently transformed the character of American society.

My family tree includes ancestors that fought on both side of the war and it greatly affected the social, religious and economic culture that was developing in Haywood County at the time.

The previous generation had migrated their families to the area just 30 years before and the Civil War forever changed the futures of those who survived.

If you calculate the number of Civil War dead using today’s population numbers, it would be as though seven million of our fellow American citizens were to die.

It was a short discussion and I had to bolt early so I would have time to run through the Civil War exhibit there at the library.

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Entrance to "The Civil War in America" exhibit
at the Library of Congress

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The exhibit includes many personal items from those who experienced the war, some of which have never been on public display. Of course, I was most interested in the aspects that most relate to my own genealogy research. There was so much to see and I was running so late, I had to cut my visit short. I plan on going back before it closes on June 1 so I can see it all.

You can view some of the items they have exhibited on CNN.com.

The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research arm of Congress. It’s also the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, maps and manuscripts in its collections.

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Waiting in line at Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building

It’s one of the most beautiful buildings in which I have ever been in the United States and, if you’re ever in Washington, I highly recommend putting it at the top of your list (after the Newseum, of course). I didn't even mind having to wait in line to get through security.

If you can’t make it to Washington anytime soon, you can always like the Library of Congress on Facebook.

Below are a few photos I grabbed while there.

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Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building

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Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building

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Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building

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Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building

Although I was hoofing it back to work as fast as I could, all the Civil War content made it impossible not to stop at the Civil War monument in front of U.S. Capitol. “Calvary Charge” is part of the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial.

Created by sculptor Henry Merwin Shrady, it can also be seen as a monument to those who work a little too hard. Shrady spent 20 years of his life working on the memorial and, according to James Goode, died stressed and overworked, two weeks before its dedication in 1922.

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Calvary Charge in front of the U.S. Capitol

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Calvary Charge in front of the U.S. Capitol

He should have slipped out of his studio occasionally and visited the Library of Congress.

For more blog entries, visit my Blog Home Page or to check out the genealogy research about my specific family lines, go to Haywood County Line Genealogy Page.

Sister C.A. Williams is Gone

That the was the first sentence of my third great-grandmother's obituary written by John Charles Warren Cobb and W.T. Morris.

They began with the ending. So here is a little about the beginning and some of the in-between.

Catherion Arthur Nowell Williams was born in Bertie County, NC on 6 Feb 1828 to Dempsy Nowell III and Elizabeth Rawls Nowell.

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The William Pugh House in Bertie County, NC is a great
example of the homes left behind as farmers
migrated West in the early 1800s.

Photo by Watson Brown

She moved with her parents, along with many other families in their community, from Bertie County to Haywood County, TN around 1833.

Cotton was becoming the primary crop for many southern farmers so Indians were being moved off the land west of North Carolina to make room for the growing nation.

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Plantation of the Speight family of Windsor in Bertie County, NC

Photo Source

 "As cotton began to replace tobacco, Bertie County moved from being a major tobacco producer to one of the state's leading cotton producers. Therefore the production of cotton dominated the antebellum period in the county. Slave owners, including the Pughs, Williams, Smallwoods, Outlaws, Spruills, Rascoes, and Gilliams, also began to clear and move into Tuscarora land. Between 1800 and 1840, cotton and the lack of unexausted farmland also caused more Virginians, North Carolinians, and South Carolinians to move farther west into what had been the Southwest Territory. This migration separated many Bertie County families. Loved ones, slaves as well, left Bertie County and joined the westward migration."
Smallwood, Arwin D., Bertie County: An Eastern Carolina History (Arcadia Publishing, 2002), 84.

Catherion was baptized and joined Zion Baptist Church at the age of 13 and remained a very active member there for the remainder of her life.

She married George Solomon “Sol” Williams, on 6 Feb 1844 when she was just 16 and he was 24.

Sol had also come to Haywood County from Bertie County as a young boy when his father, George Williams, became the first minister at Zion Baptist Church.

The same year she married, Catherion's mother died shortly after giving birth to a daughter.

Sol and Catherion would have eleven children together.

In the U.S. Census of 1850, Sol and Catharine were living in District 11 of Madison County, TN with their two young children, Elizabeth who was six and my second great grandfather, George, who was four.

The family was living next door to Sol’s parents Rev. George and Nancy Williams and their daughter Harriet Ann Williams who was 17.

Both families were very prosperous.

In the U.S. Census of 1860, Sol was 39, Catharine was 33 and they had moved to District Five of Haywood County. Elizabeth was 15, George was 13 and the family had added three more children: John who was nine, Edward who was seven and William E., who was two.

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1860 U.S. Census, Haywood County

The family was farming a large amount of land in 1860 with real estate that had grown in value to $12,500 and personal estate valued at $12,185. That figure most likely included a number of slaves and, in comparison to others in the census, they were quite well off. The "historic standard of living value" of that amount of money in 1860 was around $750,000.

The family was living one farm away from Joseph and Emily Rawls and their very large family. Joseph is listed as a “Physician and Farmer” and was from North Carolina. Joseph was likely part of the family of Catherion's mother.

Sol died at the young age of 44 in 1864. Was he killed in the Civil War? There are two Confederate soldiers named “Solomon Williams.”

One enlisted in Company D, 7th Infantry Regiment Tennessee and the other in Company E, Newsom's Cavalry Regiment. Many of my ancestors who fought in the war were in the 7th Tennessee Infantry so I do plan to look for more information about Sol there.

Catherion seems to have been a very strong lady. Right after her husband's death, she was 36-year-old widow, living in the post Civil War south raising a house full of very young children with a farm that was likely decimated.

In the U.S. Census of 1870, Catherine was 42 and was farming land that had dropped in value to $4,000 and a personal estate now only valued at $1,000. Living with her were her children, John who 19, Edward who was 16, William E. who was 11, Catherine E. "Katie" who was 10 and Rebecca M. who was 6.

Her oldest son, George D., and his wife, Martha Jane Watridge Williams (my second great grandparents), were living on the farm next door with their 9-month-old baby, E. L. who died before the next census.

In the US Census of 1880, Catherion was still going strong at 52. It was Catherion, rather than any of her sons, who was listed as the “Head of Household” and the family was still in District Five. Living with her were her children John N. who was 28, William E. who was 22, Katherine, who was 20, Rebecca who was 17 and a 50-year-old black male named Richard Traylor who was listed as a “servant.”

The 1890 Federal Census records were destroyed by a fire at the Commerce Department in Washington, DC on 10 January 1921 so I am not certain where Catherion was living then.

She was 62 and all her children were adults. Her son George, my second great-grandfather, had recently become widow with a house full of children when his wife, Martha Jane Watridge died. It's certainly possible she moved in with him and helped run his home.

Catherion died 3 August 1895 at the age of 67. She is most likely buried at Zion Baptist Church although it is possible she was buried next to her husband in the Williams Family Cemetery. Either way, her grave is unmarked.

Obituary of Catherion Arthur Williams

Sister C.A. Williams is gone. She was born in North Carolina Bertie County Feb 6, 1828. Her parents moved to Tennessee Haywood County when she was quite young. She professed faith in Christ and was baptised into the fellowship of Zion Church by Elder Hugh Coffen at the age of 13 years which she lived a consistent member til her death. She was married February 6, 1844, and was the mother of eleven children of whom 5 are living and members of the Baptist church. She departed this life the 3rd day of August 1895 being 67 years 5 months old. Our loss is her gain and we say to her relations and friends to strive to meet her in Heaven where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest. September 14, 1895.
Written by J.C.W. Cobb and W.T. Morris
Zion Baptist Church Book of Obituaries

In case you are researching your own ancestry and googled your way here, you may want some details about Sol and Catherion Nowell Williams’ children. According to her obit, she was the mother of 11 but only five were still alive when she passed away in 1895.

Laverna Williams
Most likely died as a baby.

Mary Elizabeth Williams Thomas
Born in 1844, she married John Ambrose Thomas and they had Laverna, George, Albert Thomas, Frances "Fanny" Marian, Victoria and Grover C. John and Elizabeth Williams Thomas were founding members of Holly Grove Baptist Church. She died 17 May 1924 at the age of 81 and was buried at Holly Grove Baptist Church Cemetery.

George D. Williams
My second great grandfather was born 27 Nov 1846. His middle name was most likely Dempsy after his mother's father, grandfather and great-grandfather. George married Martha Wateridge and fathered six children: E. L., James Solomon, John, George T., Elberta and William “Will” Lafayette Williams, my great grandfather. Martha Jane died when my great grandfather, Will, was born. George remarried first Mollie Collier and then finally, Virginia Estelle Cobb with whom he had a daughter named Mary Lorene Williams. He died at the age of 72 and was buried in the Williams family cemetery. You can read more about him and my search for the cemetery in this previous blog entry.
Will Williams was the father of Lloyd "Bo" Williams who was the father of Bob Williams who is my father.


John Nowell Williams
He was born 25 Jun 1851 and married Mary Catherine “Mollie” Cobb on 14 Dec 1881. Mollie was the daughter of Leonard Decatur Cobb and Mary Amanda Rooks Cobb. They had a daughter, Zelma A. Williams, who married Roy Earl Simpson. John died 30 Aug 1928 and Mollie died 13 Nov 1938.

Edward W. Williams
He was born Jan 1853. He married Martha Amanda Crowder 23 Dec 1873. Edward and Amanda had six children: Mark K, Edward, Henry Foster, Maggie S., Nellie Margaret and Lemuel Edward. Their daughter, Maggie, shot her husband Ellis on July 4, 1917. You can read more about her drama in this blog entry. Edward died in 1893 and Amanda died 05 Jun 1921.

William E. Williams
He was born in 1856. He married Eliza A. Chandler on 9 Jan 1889. The children of Will and Eliza were: Willie K., Lizzie W., Mable L., and Dan B. Like his sister, Elizabeth Thomas Williams who was mentioned at the top of the list, Will Williams was among the men and women who petitioned for a letter of dissmision from Zion Baptist Church so they could form Holly Grove Baptist Church.

Catherine E. “Katie” Williams
She was born in Aug 1860. She married William L. Booth on 28 Oct 1885. William was a brother of my second great-grandmother, Lena Booth.

Rebecca Manie Williams
She was born in 1863 and died 1 Oct 1890 at 27.

For more blog entries, visit my Blog Home Page or to check out the genealogy research about my specific family lines, go to Haywood County Line Genealogy Page.

How Harriett Ann Williams Became an Outlaw

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Will Williams, Lloyd "Bob" Williams and Bob Williams

While I've been able to track many of my ancestral lines back 10 or more generations, I have "hit a brick wall," as they say in genealogy, on the Williams line at the sixth generation.

After searching off and on for several years, I have still been unable to determine the parents of my fourth great-grandfather, George Williams of Bertie County, NC.

I do know George was born around 1797.

He was the father of George Solomon Williams
who was the father of George D. (possibly Dempsey) Williams
who was the father of Will Williams
who was the father of Lloyd "Bo" Williams
who was the father of Bob Williams
who is my father.

My third great-grandfather, George Solomon "Sol" Williams., had a sibling, Harriett A. Williams who became an Outlaw...by marrying one.

For the last few weeks, I've been researching her life to see if it would help me discover any addition information about my Williams ancestors.

From a variety of sources, I was able to pull together quite a bit about Harriett Williams Outlaw and her family so I thought I would share what I've found in case any of her descendants are looking for information about her.

Harriett was born in 1833 in North Carolina to George and Nancy Williams. It appears their son, Sol, (my third great-grandfather) was already 13 when she was born. I don't know for certain if there were any other siblings born to George Sr. and Nancy between the births of Sol and Harriett but can find no reference to any. If there were additional children, they likely died during childhood.

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Holly Grove Baptist Church, Bertie County, NC
Source

The family was living in Bertie County, NC, or one of the neighboring counties, in 1828 because there is a reference to George in the minutes of the Holly Grove Baptist Church in Bertie County on 13 Dec 1828.

I did go through the U. S. Census of 1830 for Bertie County and there were many "heads of households" with the last name of Williams: John B., Elijah and Elisha, two Johns, Samuel, William L., Areneth, Moses, Cornelius, William, Joseph, Davis and Lewis...but no George. Was he still living with his father in 1830? It's difficult to tell because, in 1830, only the name of the heads of each household and age ranges of those living there were listed.

On 20 Nov 1836, George Williams was chosen as pastor of Zion Baptist Church in Haywood County, TN. Many of George’s friends and relatives had migrated from Bertie Co., NC to Haywood Co., TN in the early 1830s to help settle that area of the country. One of the first things they did was start a church and George Williams became their first minister.

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Road to Zion Baptist Church, Haywood County, TN

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Notation above the entry of older sanctuary of Zion Baptist Church

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Older sanctuary of Zion Baptist Church

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Current sanctuary of Zion Baptist Church as seen from the cemetery

“Saturday before the 3rd Lords day in November, 1836, the church convened in their new building and conference was opened by prayer. The church then proceeded to elect a pastor. It was moved by brother Leggett and seconded by Brother Rooks that Brother George Williams be our pastor for the ensuing year. Brother (likely David) Outlaw was instructed to write Brother Williams informing him that he was chosen pastor of Zion Baptist Church and requesting him to attend the next meeting."
Cobb, Bernie. "A History of Zion Baptist Church" Nashville: Self Published

Harriett moved to Haywood Co. with her family when she was a small child.

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George Williams Census Entry, 1850

By the time of the United States Federal Census of 1850, Harriett was 17 and living with her mother and father in District 11 of Madison Co., TN, which bordered Haywood County.

The family was living next door to their son, Sol Williams, his wife Catherine Arthur Nowell Williams and their children Elizabeth and George D. (my second great-grandfather) who were ages six and four.

Catherine’s father’s occupation is listed as “Mip. Bapt. Min” and the family’s worth is about $3,700, which is quite a bit more than most of their neighbors.

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Marriage Certificate of
Jack Outlaw and Harriett Ann Williams

Harriett married Andrew Jackson “Jack” Outlaw on 28 Dec 1859 in Haywood Co. when she was 17.

Jack Outlaw was the son of George W. and Luday Elizabeth Outlaw who were among the original Bertie County settlers who arrived in Haywood County around 1833.

George and Elizabeth Outlaw are also my fourth great grandparents but on the maternal side of my family. One of their daughters, Elizabeth Temperance Outlaw was the mother of Mary Etta Cobb who was the mother of William Day Brantley, who was the father of Virginia Brantley Lovelace who was the mother of Shirley Ann Williams who is my mother.

Jack Outlaw served as the clerk at Zion Baptist Church and was the Justice of the Peace for the 5th District of Haywood County.

It appears Jack and Harriett had five children but only two, William and Elizabeth, lived to adulthood.

Sadly, two of their children, George who was five and Minnie who was two, died one day apart in March 1871.

The children of Jack and Harriett Williams Outlaw were:

William Price Outlaw
Born 25 Sep 1862 in Haywood County, William married Leanna Catherine Mann on 30 October 1894 and farmed the land originally settled by his parents, Jack and Harriett.  Their children were Dewey Schley Outlaw, William Henry Outlaw, Eunice Odell, Edna Earl Outlaw Stewart (Edna Earl married David Earl Stewart and was a close friend of my maternal grandmother, Virginia Lovelace), Harriett Ann Outlaw Sensing, Luther Jackson Outlaw, Sidney Johnston Outlaw and Flossie Outlaw (who died as an infant). In addition to running his father’s farm, William was the Public School Director of the 5th District in Haywood County and lead the efforts to build a school in the Allen community. Source

William and his wife both had the measles in the winter of 1917. He died on 8 Feb 1917 from pneumonia and she died the following day of “paralysis of the heart.” He was 54 and she was 41. Their youngest children, Sidney Johnson Outlaw and Edna Earl Outlaw, were still infants. William and Catherine are buried in the Zion Baptist Church cemetery.

William’s descendants, Jimmie Outlaw and his son Mark and his nephew, Gene, still farm the land originally farmed by Jack before the Civil War. Gene's son Taylor recently joined the family farm operation adding another generation to the farming legacy. Their farm was designated a Century Farm by the Center for Historic Preservation.

Solomon Andrew Jackson Outlaw
Named after his paternal grandfather and his father, he was born 5 June 1864 and died 24 Aug 1864 at just two months old.

George Arthur Outlaw
Born 6 Aug 1865, nearly a year after the death of his brother, George was named after his grandfathers and great-grandfather. He died 10 March 1871 at age five. His two-year-old sister, Minnie, died the following day.

Luday Elizabeth Outlaw
Born 17 Sept 1867 and named after her grandmother, Luday married W. Harrell White in 1900. Their daughter, Winnie White, married Isaac Castellaw, a brother of my paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Castellaw Williams. Elizabeth Outlaw White died 23 Feb 1917 at the age of 49.

Minnie Outlaw
Born in 1869, she died at the age of two on 11 Mar 1871, one day after her brother, George.

Harriett Ann Williams Outlaw died 6 Feb 1878 at the age of 45.

Her husband, Jack Outlaw, lived 25 more years and died 12 Nov 1903. I am not certain where he or his wife are buried but J. C. Davis and Sim and Callie Cobb wrote his obituary:

"Brother A. J. Outlaw was born in Bertie County, North Carolina on March 22, 1825. He left North Carolina with his father’s family in the fall of of 1831 and came to Madison County in the spring of 1832.

He was converted in August, 1842 and joined the church at Ararat which was an arm of the Big Black Church and was baptized in September by Rev. J. J. Smith.

In 1845 he came to Haywood County. Big Black split up and one part organized at Denmark and the other at Maple Springs. His name was dropped from the role. He was restored in 1851 in the church at Ararat and obtained a letter from that church and joined Zion Church by letter in July 1851.

Brother Outlaw was elected clerk of the church and served very faithfully for a good many years. He departed this life on November 12th 1903.”

Cobb, Joe H. Nicholas Cobb Descendants. Nashville: M. L. W. Publishing Company, 1983.

For more blog entries, visit my Blog Home Page or to check out the genealogy research about my specific family lines, go to Haywood County Line Genealogy Page.

Haywood County High School Class of '39

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Haywood County High School
Class of '39

Source: Vicky Morrow Hutchings

This great photo of the Haywood County High School Class of 1939 was posted on the Haywood County Genealogy Facebook page managed by volunteers from the Genealogy Room at the Elma Ross Library in Brownsville, Tenn.

Vicky Morrow Hutchings found it in a corn crib at her father-in-law's house. I am personally very grateful she shared it because it does include some of my relatives.

Included in the photo is:

Top row: Marilyn Wilson-Rooks; J.T. Jacocks, Marie Willis, Faye Rauls, Kenneth Gagland, Elise Escue

2nd row: Elsie McCool, Judson Patton, Thelma Hendron, Marion Powell, Charlene Larde, Hargrove Wateridge, Willie Joe Carraway, Glenn Covington, Lois Jeter

3rd row: Louise Herris (Harris)?, Robert Johnson, Rebecca Tyus, S.L. Edwards, Jane Braley (Bailey)?, Ron Cozart, Martha Williams, Haskel (Hasreal) Hooper

4th Row: Lila Williamson, Sherman Taylor, Doris Evans, Lloyd Wilson (in center, under HHCS), Virginia Ragland, Louis Burford, Ovida? Haynes

5th Row: Mary Lou Beak, Tom Frekland, Margaret Hopkins, Gene Cregton? (President), Wm Bush (Vice Pres), V. Suddeth, J M Holland, Martha Fletcher

6th Row: Mary Jarrett, Homer Webb, Mary Taliferro, Edward Wenden (Wenders), Jack & Jewel Kimory? (couple below the 1939), Henry Duggan (Dugger), Sarah Chapman, Jack Seymour, Nellie Harris

7th Row: Laura Verrell?, Sara Carrell (Currell), Frank Fletcher, Dorothy Richardson, Virginia Richardson, Wm A Chapman, Mary G Smith, Jas F. Merrill, Jr.

8th Row: Deveraux Rudolph, Chas Moore, Doris Drake, Vernon Moore, Eloise Williams, Ted McWhirter (is this our ex-governor?), Marjorie Warren, R.C. Hawkins (Hankins), Dorris Allen

9th row: Wade Ouser?, Martha Moore, Joe Dickenson, Jennie Powell, Charlie Drumwright?, Betty Rothschild

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My Great-Uncle, J.T. Jacocks

J.T. Jacocks, pictured second from left on the top row of the high school class photo, married my grandmother's sister, Cordelia Brantley. I have a copy of a letter written by Aunt Cordelia to my grandmother the same year the above photo was taken.

Bells Tenn
June 15, 1939

Dearest Virginia,

How are you all getting along? I haven’t heard from you in all in so long I thought I would write to you. I had to write a letter because no one in this county had a postal card.

I guess you know by now that I’m an old married lady now. I don’t feel so much older though. Maybe I just haven’t had time yet.

How is Bobby? Tell him I said Hello and that he has a new uncle. I guess he thought that J.T. was already a member of the family though.

Are you all through chopping cotton? Daddy is going to try to get through by Sat. J.T. and Mr. Arthur have been chopping for hire while it was too wet in theirs. I haven’t chopped any since I married. I am celebrating. They are ? here this ? but they won’t let me help.

I mean they really are nice to me here. They treat me just exactly like they treat J.T. and Solan. Aunt Clara said to tell you she thought about you every day and would surely like to see you but that was a little too far to walk.

When have you seen Aunt Gladys? I haven't seen anyone in a long time.

Tell Bobby J.T. said tell him “hey.”

How is Guy? I’m so sorry he isn’t doing well. Daddy said he looked mighty bad last Sun. aft. when they went by there. They said Aunt Mabel was sick too. I guess our family has a curse over it. Something is always happening to us.

I aimed for us to go up to mothers Sunday but we messed around and didn’t even get up until nearly eleven o’ clock. Aren’t we lazy?

Didn’t it rain hard Sat night? J.T. and ? and I got wet all over. We went to Bells and were coming back when it started raining so hard. That lightening scared me. I never saw it lightening so hard in all my life. I better get up from here. I’ve got to wash out some things and finish cleaning up the house. I clean up the house and ? the kitchen every morning.
Well I’ll see you when I can.

Lots of Love,

Cordillia

For more blog entries, visit my Blog Home Page or to check out the genealogy research about my specific family lines, go to Haywood County Line Genealogy Page.

Sarah Booth Brantley, From Civil War Widow to Living in Tomato

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Sarah Brantley's signature on Civil War pension application in 1865

For a long time I've been curious about Daniel E. Brantley, the brother of my third great-grandfather, Henry Day Brantley. Many members of their family fought in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, but I found Daniel listed as having fought as a Union soldier.

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I hit the jackpot with the digital contents of "Box 32714, Cert 101338" during a recent visit to the National Archives and can now share much more information about Daniel and his wife, Sarah.

As it turns out, Sarah is also a sibling of one of my direct ancestors.

Daniel was born in 1833 in Bertie Co., N.C.  but traveled with his parents, Augustus and Martha White Brantley to Haywood County, Tenn. where the Brantleys were among the earliest settlers. Daniel was the first child born to Augustus and Martha. 

From information later supplied by his youngest brother, Solomon, we know the Brantley family farmed 320 acres, lived in a frame house with four rooms and their father owned five slaves. Solomon wrote, "My father run the farm. My mother run the house and was boss over the negro women who done the cooking, spinning and weaving. I was an expert with a hoe. We cut wheat with a cradle. Tramped it out with horses and cleaned same with a fan by hand." When asked what he did after the war, Brantley wrote, "Building up what the Yankees tore down on my father's farm."

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l to r: Henry Brantley, Preston Brantley,
Willie Brantley and Virginia Brantley Lovelace

In the U.S. census of 1850, the Augustus Brantley farm was in District Five of Haywood Co. and Daniel was 17 years old. Augustus and Martha White Brantley are my fourth great grandparents (Another of their sons who was Daniel's brother was Henry Day Brantley. He was the father of Henry Preston Brantley who was the father of William Day Brantley who was the father of my maternal grandmother, Virginia Brantley Lovelace).

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l to r: Lena Booth Marbury, Allie Marbury Lovelace
and Virginia Brantley Lovelace

Next door to the Brantley's farm was the home of James and Nancy Mulligan Booth. Their youngest child, Sarah Louise Booth was also 17 in 1850. The Booths are my fourth great grandparents from my grandmothers paternal ancestry. Their oldest son, Billy, was the father of Sarah Evelena "Lena" Booth Marbury (she was likely named after her aunt) who was the mother of Allie Marbury Brantley who was the mother of my maternal grandmother, Virginia Brantley Lovelace).

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Marriage certificate of Daniel Brantley and Sarah Lousia Booth

Daniel Brantley married Sarah Louisa Booth on January 17, 1854 and Daniel purchased a farm in Ripley, Tenn. which is in Lauderdale Co. and very close to Haywood Co.

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Daniel enlisted in the Union Army in 1863 and fought in Company G., Indiana Infantry, 52nd Regiment.

The Brantley family literally became a case of brother fighting brother when Daniel's sibling Julius enlisted in the Confederate Army seven months after his older brother on July 10, 1863 and fought in the 12th Tennessee Calvary, C.S.A. He died on Dec 18, 1863 in Ft. Pillow, TN, only five months after enlisting.

Daniel and Julius' brother Solomon N. Brantley enlisted in the Confederate Army on October 1, 1863 and was a member of the 7th Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry Regiment. Solomon was discharged in Gainesville, Ala. in May 1865. At the age of 75, he filled out this questionnaire which was sent out to all living Tennessee Civil War veterans.

But what happened to Daniel and Sarah Booth Brantley?

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Sarah Louisa Brantley Claim for Widow's Pension

At the National Archive I found a very large pension file regarding the couple that fills in a lot of blanks and, unfortunately, they don't live happily ever after.

Declaration and identification in due form.
PROOF EXHIBITED

Adjt. Genl. Of Ind. Reports him enrolled May 1st 1863. Died at Tyler, Texas Rebel Prison Aug 23rd 1864 of Diarrhea.

Adjt General U.S.A. reports him missing in action Apr 9th 1864 at Pleasant Hill, GA.

Com Genl. Of Prison reports that on Q. M. Genls report of U. S, soldiers buried in National Cemeteries, it appears that Daniel Brantley, Priv. Co. G. 52nd ind. died at Camp Ford, Tyler Texas, Sept 23rd, 1864.

Surg. Genl. Reports D. Brantley Co. G. 116th Ind. Vols as having died since Sept. 16th 1864 at Camp Ford, Tyler Texas.

Daniel E. Brantley and Louisa Booth were married Jany. 17th 1854 by J. W. Rawls, Justice of the Peace.

Certified copy of public record by the county clerk

Children:

Nancy E. Brantley, born Mar 20th 1859

Laura Evangeline, born Feb 16th 1861

Established by the affidavit of the attending midwife

From this we know Daniel and Sarah had two daughters, Nancy and Laura. Daniel enlisted in the Union Army in May of 1863 when Nancy was four and Laura was two.

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Battle of Pleasant Hill, 9 April 1864, by Charles E. H. Bonwell
(or Bonwill), as illustrated in Frank Leslie's
illustrated newspaper (Frank Leslie's Weekly), 14 May 1864, pp. 120-121.

Daniel was reported "MIA" on April 9, 1864 after The Battle at Pleasant Hill.

He was taken, along with other prisoners, to Camp Ford in Tyler, Tex. where he would eventually die, most likely from dysentery. This Confederate-run prison, which had, up to that point, experienced a very low death rate, suddenly quadrupled in size when 2,000 Union prisoners of war, including Daniel, were placed in captivity after The Battle of Pleasant Hill.

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Non-commissioned officers, 19th Iowa Infantry,
exchanged prisoners from Camp Ford, Texas.
Photographed at New Orleans on their arrival.
Source

During the war, the total number of prisoners who were held at the camp was slightly more than 5,500. Only about 327 prisoners died in captivity, giving the camp a mortality rate of 5.9%, one of the lowest of any Civil War prison. The deceased prisoners, including Daniel Brantley, were reinterred to the Alexandria National Cemetery in Pineville, La. in 1867.

Daniel is buried in plot: B O 1027.

If you are passing through Tyler, they have a small roadside park where Camp Ford was, although, the latest TripAdvisor review is, "Dilapidated."

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Sarah Louisa Brantley Declaration for Army Pension

After filling out many forms and supplying afidavits and documents like those above, Sarah received a pension of $8 per month until she married Green B. Jennings on Nov. 2, 1882.

She became a widow again when Jennings died ten years later on Jan. 29, 1892 at which time she began receiving her pension checks again.

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Legal Request Regarding Sarah Brantley Jennings

After a move to Arkansas "she got dropped off somehow" and, in 1903, enlisted the services of Ripley attorney, Thomas Steele, Jr.

Sarah really needed this pension.

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Statement from Sarah's daughter

On March 7th, 1913, her daughter, Laura E. Nicholas (married to Charles H. Nicholas) provided details on Sarah's real estate transactions. Together, mother and daughter had traded the land they owned for 44 acres near Barr, Tenn.  By 1913 the land was nearly gone. According to Nicholas, "It has all nearly washed away by the Miss. river. There are only about 12 acres left."

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Report to Commissioner of Pensions, Washington, D.C.

On March 10, 1913, William Sullivan, Special Examiner, sent a report to the Commissioner of Pensions in Washington, D.C. that included the information that Sarah had moved with her daughter's family to "the banks of the Mississippi River" in Tomato, AR. At the time, Sarah was "feeble, so much so that she is at present time confined to her bed." He described the home in which they lived as "a hovel on land that overflows at every high water" and he described them as being "very poor class."

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Tomato, AR on Google Earth

During this time, Sarah's neice and my second great-grandmother, Sarah Lena Booth Marbury was 44 and living in Haywood Co. with her husband and children, which included my great grandmother, Allie Marbury, who was 18 at the time. I wonder if they knew what had become of their Aunt Sarah? I actually remember my great grandmother well and sure wish I could go back and ask her now.

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Approval for Payment of Pension

It appears that after the report by William Sullivan, on March 29, 1913, Sarah was finally approved by the Bureau of Pensions to receive the money she was owed.

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Certification of Death

The last document in the file reports that Sarah died on July 23, 1915 at the age of 79.

For more blog entries, visit my Blog Home Page or to check out the genealogy research about my specific family lines, go to Haywood County Line Genealogy Page.