Friday, February 7, 2014

John Becham

John Becham was born about 1790 and probably died in Crawford County, GA between 1845 and 1850.  He was taxed in 1845 but does not appear in the 1850 census, although his wife and children do.   I'm working on two mysteries regarding him now.  One is whether he was married once or twice. There is a marriage record for him and Susan Davis in Hancock County, in 1811.  However, in 1860 and 1870, his wife Susan gives an age that would make her birthdate 1800.  Even in Georgia at that time, 11 would have been too young for marriage.  The 1820 census has his probable wife at age 16-25, so she would have been young at the marriage, if not that young.  In 1830, she is probably one of the 3 females 30-39 in the household.  However, in 1840 his probable wife is still 30-39.   So, he presumably either married twice, both times to Susan, or possibly Susan made herself a little younger beginning with the 1840 census. 

The other is the mystery of what happened to his property.  In the last record for John, he is taxed for 202 acres of property in Crawford County.  However, 10 years later, all but his youngest son appear in the census but only paying poll tax, no property tax.  The youngest son was not of age yet. His widow does not appear on that tax list at all, so it looks as if the family lost the property.  So far I have not been able to find any probate records for John, nor any court notices concerning the sale of the property either after his death or for debt.   Next step will be to check the deeds in Crawford County. 

1 comment:

  1. Sharon, I believe we are cousins at some level. I have noticed your posts through the years and we have many ancestors in common. I descend from Johh Becham through Wash Becham etc. I am enjoying your posts. I will look through my notes to see if I have anything to add. Sherrie Owen

    ReplyDelete