Fate and Delia Becham

Franklin Lafayette (Fate) Becham and his wife Sarah Lodelia (Delia) Mathews. Probably taken in the 1940s, in Crawford County, GA.   I had never seen this photo before, but a cousin dug it out of an old box at Thanksgiving..

The heirs of Nimrod Lewis

This is one of my favorite documents from the Crawford County records at the Georgia archives, because it provides proof that my ancestor, Martha Lewis Morris, was the daughter of Nimrod Lewis.  I had long assumed she was.  There were two primary Lewis families in the county (probably unrelated).   Martha and her husband lived near Nimrod right after their marriage.  Martha was born in SC, where Nimrod was known to have lived (the other Lewises in the county came from NC) and in 1930, he has a daughter the appropriate age to be Martha.  Most importantly, Martha named her 2nd son and 2nd daughter Nimrod and Pheraby respectively.  All of this made it likely that she was closely related to Nimrod and probably his daughter, but this record makes it conclusive, listing all the children of Nimrod.

 Georgia, Crawford County} The petition of Jonathan Wilder respectfully showeth that Nimrod Lewis late of said County deceased departed this life domiciled in said County intestate that he was possessed at the time of his death of property both real and personal to the amount of five hundred dollars, that his heirs at law are Stephen Morris in right of his [[wife]] Martha Morris, Samuel Smith in right of his wife Almira Smith, Jonathan Wilder in right of his wife Fereby Wilder, Nancy Walker, the children of Thomas Lewis deceased, and Marcena Lewis, that it is necessary for the winding up and distribution of said estate that there should be an administrator on said estate, that your petition hereby tenders a bond in the sum of one thousand dollars with G P Culverhouse & J W Avant as securities.  Wherefore your petition prays that citation may issue in terms of the law for letters of administration on said estate and for the appointment of your petitioner as such administrator & your petition will ever pray & e

Culverhouse & Avant
Petioners [sic] attys
Court of Ordinary at Chambers July 26th 1868

Leaving out Nancy

Turner Cates was born about 1811 in SC and died abt 1870 in Crawford County, GA.  Among his children, he had a daughter Nancy who married first Thomas Lewis and then, after he was killed in the Civil War, David Cumby.   She had 4 children by her marriage with Thomas and another 4 with Cumby.   However, something seems to have gone wrong in her relationship with her father, presumably relating to that second marriage.  His will, dated 24 Sep 1870, divides his estate evenly, except that the portion going to Nancy was to go to her 4 Lewis children and she herself was only to get $5.  No mention was made of the 2 oldest Cumby children who were already born by this time.   Turner had been very close to Thomas Lewis' father Nimrod and in fact was the guardian of the 4 Lewis children for their share of Nimrod's estate, so perhaps he did not want Nancy remarrying, even though that would have been common at the time.  Perhaps there was an issue with the fact that Nancy's new husband David Cumby was probably related to Turner's wife (not Nancy's mother) Matilda Cumby Cates.  It's impossible to tell at this distance why this estrangement, but it adds an interesting twist to the family story.

So Sad

My cousin recently scanned a bunch of photos in a box that our Grandmother had left at his father's house.  One included a picture of her old school and her commentary on her education.  I knew she hadn't had much chance to go to school, but never knew how much it mattered to her.