The Confusion of Family Connections

Almost every line of my mother's family have been in Crawford County, GA since the 1830s.  This of course means that over the years, different members of the family have interacted with each other in good and bad ways.  One of the challenges for me is to remember that these exchanges are not always anything more than neighbors interacting with each other, and that it is purely coincidental that their great-grandchildren married.  On the other hand, sometimes it really does indicate a connection between the families. It's hard when the names are so familiar to you to sometimes recognize the difference.

For example:  In November 1843 - Thomas S. Estis brought a case against John Perry, Abel Daniel & Thomas Stripling.  The verdict was listed as "debt & confession for plaintiff for $94.46".  The defendant (John Perry) being dissatisfied with the confession, paid all costs and demanded a stay of execution & brought Nimrod Lewis & tendered him as security.   John Perry's great grandson Frank Becham married Lewis's great-great-granddaughter Viola Wade.  Since I spend so much time on both men, I had to remind myself that this 1843 connection was that of neighbors, not family. 

On the other hand, In January 1900, M. T. (Moses Thomas) Wade accused Emanuel Horne of stealing $140 from him.  Horne was arrested and offered to return the money if charges were not pressed.  Wade agreed, but the court did not and ordered that the case proceed anyway.  The newspaper did not give the final verdict.   I had at first put this one down to coincidence, but then remembered that Wade's son Ed Wade was married to Horne's sister Carrie.  While this probably didn't affect the original robbery, it may well have been a factor in Wade's willingness to drop the charges.