Ahnentafel #16 William Garner and #17 Sarah Johnson

William Garner was born on 27 May 1811 in Washington County, Georgia to Henry and Sarah Garner.    He was the second oldest of 5 known children, 4 boys and a girl.  Sarah was born on 28 February 1819 to Timothy and Judith Knowles Johnson.   She was the second child and oldest daughter, with at least 9 younger siblings.  She lived in Hancock County until her marriage.

William starts to appear on the extant tax records about the same time he got married.  In 1836 he appears next to his probable aunt Patience and his father.  He owns no land but pays a poll tax.  The same is true in 1837.  In 1838, William's father Henry paid for sons John, Joshua, and William as well as for his probable sister Patience.  Patience owned land but the 3 sons only paid poll tax.  

William and Sarah (Bill and Sally according to some descendants) married on 27 Jul 1837 in Hancock County.  They apparently lived with his parents after their marriage.  They do not appear on the 1840 census, but Henry's household includes both a male and female 20-30 plus two females under 5, which could be them and their daughters Minerva (born 1838) and Frances (1839).   All of his brothers are listed in their own households, again making it likely that William is the son still living with Henry.

William's aunt Patience Garner was a founding member of Union Baptist Church near Warthen in Washington County.  The church was founded in 1844.  William's parents joined in 1845, while he and Sarah joined in 1848 and he was made a trustee shortly thereafter.  Throughout the 1850s, he was frequently one of the men charged with investigating problems among the church congregation, including the fact that Sister Cherry was no longer attending. 

The next surviving tax record is 1848 with William again listed by his father, aunt, and two brothers.  He is the only one to not own land at this point, with his father having 600 acres, his aunt 200, and his brothers 150 each.  It is probable that he was in fact still working his father's property or possibly his Aunt's.   In 1849, he and Patience are still listed with Henry but John is further away in that same district and Joshua does not appear there at all.  None of them own slaves.

William and Sarah do appear in the 1850 Federal census, in Washington County.  William, age 38, is a farmer with no property listed.  Sarah appears to be 30.  The household includes their children Manerva (Minerva), 12, Frances - 10, John L. 9, Andrew J. 6, William C 4, and James T. 2.  Also in the household is John Bridges, 16, listed as a labourer.  Frances and Lawson (John L.) both attended school.  Everyone in the family was born in Georgia.  With no property, William does not appear in the agricultural census for that year, nor is he in the slave owner's census.

The last available pre-war tax record in 1851 is interesting because William again just pays a poll tax.  Patience, listed next to him, pays property tax but Henry is not listed in the records even though he was certainly alive and owned property at that time.  As noted previously, Patience probably died between 1851, when she is last noted paying taxes, and 1855 when William purchased from Nancy Garner the land she had inherited from Patience. 

In 1860, William (49) and Sarah (41) appear in the census with a whole flock of children:  Minerva - 21, Frances - 19, John L. - 18, Andrew - 16, William - 14, James T - 12, Levi (Lee Roy) - 10, Green L - 10,  Lavina - 7, Washington - 6, Linton - 4, and Elizabeth - 2.  Also living with them is George Barron, "mechanic", age 49. 

This census is the first document to reflect William owning any property, giving him a real estate value of $1200 and personal property of $1000.  William does appear on the 1860 agricultural census, immediately above his father.   That census shows him having 200 acres of land, of which 25 acres were unproductive.  This matches closely the 200 acres that Patience had been paying tax on.  At that time he had 4 horses, 2 milch cows,  2 oxen and 8 other cattle.  He produced 8 bushels of wheat, 350 bushels of Indian corn, and 7 bales of ginned cotton. 

Sarah died early the following year, cause of death unknown.  She was 42 at the time and her youngest child was about 2, so she might have died in childbirth or just from one of many diseases.  William did not remarry after her death despite having so many children to raise.  The 1860s turned out to be a hard time for him, not only with the war and Sarah's death but he lost his mother in 1865, his father in 1867 and probably also his oldest daughter Minerva in 1867.   And while their exact dates of death are not known, Sarah's father and mother apparently died during that period as well. 


Sarah's death will have spared her the anxiety of seeing several of her sons go to war.  Lawson, A.J., Columbus and James all ended up either volunteering or being drafted into the Confederate army, although they all survived.  Lee Roy and Green Lee were just slightly too young when the war ended to have to serve. William was very fortunate in this regard, as two of his brothers did lose sons in the war.  William, his brothers and his sons took the Oath of Allegiance on 12 July 1867.  William and his brother John probably went together since they are sequential on the oath pages.  Both signed with their marks although their sons could write their names.

Despite the difficulties of the 60s, William was still doing fairly well in the 1870 census.  He is still a farmer, with $2305 real estate and $1200 personal property.  His children are growing up, but most are still at home.  Thomasa, age 30 (possibly Frances) is listed as a housekeeper.  Frances did not marry until late in life, so it would make sense for her to still be in her father's house.   John L. age 28 is next in the household, although he is listed as a farmer and has property in his own right, $1930 real property and $700 personal.  Andrew J. age 28 is also listed as a farmer.  He has no real property but he does list personal property of $1000.  The remaining children at home were James L. age 22, Leroy (Lee Roy), age 20, Greenleaf (Green Lee) age 20, Lavinia 17, Washington 15, Linton 13, and Sarah E 12.  James, Lee Roy and Green were all listed as farm laborers.  Lavinia was stated as having no occupation and the youngest 3 were attending school.   His sister Sarah (too many Sarahs in this family) does not show up in the census, but was probably living with him or possibly one of his brothers.  Family lore has it that she inherited property from her father which she eventually gifted to her niece Lavinia and her husband, but in 1870 Lavinia was still unmarried.

The 1870 agricultural census reflects William's relative prosperity as well.  He has more land now, having presumably inherited some from his father.  The number is hard to read, but he appears to have 280 acres of improved land, 231 acres of woodland, and 30 acres of "other unimproved" land.  His farm was valued at $1200 and farming implements and machinery at $200.  He had paid $400 in salaries the previous year, including any room and board offered.  He owned 4 horses, 2 mules, 4 milch cows, 2 oxen, 12 other cattle, 17 sheep, and 60 pigs for a total livestock value of $750.  The 60 pigs are interesting, that's far more than any of his neighbors.  He had produced 155 bushels of spring wheat, 800 of Indian corn, and 75 of oats.

There are 3 surviving tax returns for William between 1872 and 1877.  Unfortunately, they do not give the year on the returns but they are in sequence.  On the first, William has 3 children between 6 and 18, so this would have had to have been in 1872 since that is the year Washington turned 18.  He owned 706 acres of land, valued at $3580.  He had $643 in cash or solvent debts.  All other property was valued at $1032.  This gave him a total value of $5255 and a taxable value of $5055.  As a farmer, he did not have to pay the additional Professional tax.

On the next tax record he has 750 acres valued at $4641.  He did not pay a poll tax, presumably because of his age.  He owned household and kitchen furniture worth $300, livestock worth $810, and farm equipment worth $548, giving him a total value of $7554.

The final assessment for this set, so some point between 1874 and 1877, William's property has grown to 938 acres with a value of $4581.   His household goods are valued at $300, livestock at $805, and farm equipment at $440 for a total property value of $6833.

In 1878 or 1879, his property is assessed as 870 acres worth $4241.  His household and livestock have not changed significantly, $300 and $730 respectively, with  $395 of farm equipment. That made his total property assessment for that year $6666.

1880 is the final census where William appears.  He is a farmer, age 69, widowed.  He states he was born in Georgia with his father born in South Carolina and his mother in North Carolina.  He was not able to read and write.  Also in the household were Lawson, 40,  Andrew J, 38, Lee Roy, 30, Washington, 26, and Linton Stephens, 23.  Lawson and A.J. were listed as farmers.  Lee Roy and Washington were described as 'working on the farm' and Linton as a physician.  All were listed as single, although in Lawson's case that is only technically correct.  All were also listed as unable to read and write.  They could all certainly write their names but Linton in particular, as a university graduate, was highly unlikely to be illiterate.

William has not been found on the 1880 agricultural schedule but neither have his sons.  The extant schedule for that area is not in good physical shape and there are several Williams for whom the surname cannot be read.

William's tombstone states that he died in 1894.  However, the tombstone appears to be much newer than the grave and may have been added considerably after the fact.  In his estate records, his son Lawson, the executor, states that he died on 6 January 1889. He died intestate but Lawson was granted letters of administration on the estate.  Lawson took out a $12000 bond for this, witnessed by 3 of his brothers.  He first estimated the value of the estate at close to that, including 1000 acres of land and personal property but shortly afterwards changed that to $6200.  Lawson quickly requested permission to sell all perishable goods as well as some of the land.

The land sale was to pay off debts and to facilitate dividing the estate among the children.   The land was described as The Home place, 250 acres, the Mathis/Mathews place 500 acres and the Watkins place 249 acres.  This was later revised to be as follows:

  The Mathews place - 310 and 3/4 acres bounded by J.C. Duggan and J.L. Garner on the North, A.M. Mathews and T.G. Duggan and T.J. Cummings on the East, and by his own land on the South and West.

  Also 20 acres  adjoining lands of J.M. Archer on the North, East by  T.T. Brown, South by J.J. Garner, West by John Garner.

  Also 33 acres of land near Union Church, bounded on the North by G.W. Garner, East by Duggan, South by Duggan and West by G.W. Garner.

  The Home place was 503 acres bounded on the North by S.A. Garner [his sister Sally Ann], J.L. Duggan, East by his own lands and T.J. Cumming; South by G.E Walker, J.E. Garner, A. J. Garner and J.C. Duggan; West by S.A. Garner and L. S. Garner. 

After the land, crops, and personal items were sold, each of William's heirs received $466 in January 1890, an additional $275 each in 1891, and $10 in 1892.   Sarah Elizabeth's share, which would have gone to her children, was dispersed to their father J.P. Carr, who was designated as the guardian.

William and Sarah Johnson Garner had the following children:

• Minerva.  Born 7 Nov 1838, supposedly died 8 August 1867.  Never married and no children. 
• Frances (Fannie), born 16 Dec 1839, died 6 Dec 1911, buried at Union Baptist Church cemetery in Washington county.  She married James Roberts in 1880 and her widowed brother-in-law John P. Carr in 1889.  She did not have any children. 
• John Lawson, born 18 Aug 1841, died 7 Jan 1897, buried at Union Baptist church.  He married Mary Victoria McCook on 18 Aug 1892, after they had already had four children. 
• Andrew Jackson (A.J.), 23 March 1843 - 23 Dec 1911.  Buried at Union  Baptist Church.  Never married and no children. 
• William Columbus (seen in some family records as Christopher Columbus or just Columbus), born May 1845,  married Mary Catherine Dutenhoefer 15 Dec 1867.  Date of death has not been determined.  He may be the W.C. Garner of the correct age who appears in the Milledgeville Asylum in 1910 and 1920.  When his brother A.J.'s estate was distributed in 1911, his son Hollifield signed as his guardian, indicating some sort of incapacity.  He had 7 children.
• James Thomas, 29 Feb 1848-17 Jun 1926.  He is buried at Balerma Baptist church in Hancock County.  He married Louise Victoria McCray on 27 Dec 1877 and they had 6 children. 
• Lee Roy, 4 Jun 1850- 3 Nov 1932.  Twin brother to Green Lee, buried at Union Baptist Church. He married Catherine Lou Dutenhoefer and they had 5 children. 
• Green Lee, 4 Jun 1850 - 14 Mar 1930.  Married first Amanda Lou Walker on 21 Jan 1879 and then Hattie Gheesling on 18 Jan 1884.   Buried at Union Baptist Cemetery. 
• Louvenia (also seen as Lavinia and her tombstone says Lounera), 6 Dec 1852 - 6 Nov 1897.  Buried at Union Baptist Cemetery.  Married Green Mills on 27 April 1879.  They had at least 3 sons but only one lived to adulthood.  
• Washington Moses, 11 Aug 1854 - 28 Sep 1896.  Buried at Union Baptist Church. He married Claudia May Hood on 2 May 1889 and they had 3 children.  She later married a second time to Lee Blount.  
• Linton Stephen, 16 Nov 1856 - 26 Sep 1893, Buried at Union Baptist Church.  He was a medical doctor.  He married Addie Lee Archer on 11 Sep 1881.  They had 4 children of whom one died as a young child.  After his death, Addie married a second time to Oscar E. Smith.  
• Sarah Elizabeth (Lizzie), 16 Jun 1858 - 19 May 1889.  Buried at Union Baptist Church.  She married John (J.P.) Carr, but date of marriage is unknown.  They had 5 children.  After her death, John married her sister Fannie.

One Ichabod or Two?

Ichabod Martin seemed like a fairly simple find.  NH records show him as born on 5 Mar 1759 in Weare, NH, to Nathaniel and Mercy Goff Martin.  He enlisted in 1776 in the 1st NH Regisment, for 3 years and served out his entire enlistment.  He married sometime around 1788 (no record found so far).  He lived at first in NH, then in Vermont, and finally in Cortland County, NY, where he died in 1810.

And then he filed for a Revolutionary war pension in 1829.

This rather throws the  above knowledge into disarray.  We can be sure that "our" Ichabod Martin died in 1810 in Cortland County because his son Bishop Martin, as administrator of his estate, reported the date and place of Ichabod's death and listed himself as his son.   In the 1850, 1860, and 1870 censuses, Bishop lists his own birthplace as Vermont, matching one of the records for Ichabod there.   The 1790 census for Ichabod lists himself (presumably, 1 male over 16), his probable wife, and 2 sons under 16, possibly Bishop and Ichabod.

It is apparent that Ichabod who served in the 1st NH regiment cannot in fact be Ichabod the father of Bishop, assuming that Bishop did not fake administering the estate.   But which Ichabod was the son of Nathaniel Martin and Mercy Goffe?   Which one appears in the Vermont Census?  And did 'our' Ichabod serve in the revolution or not?   Lots of questions to answer.

The Reports of his death may have been exaggerated

When I first started looking at Tilman Gooch, all that was known of his death was that he had been one of the militia on the Trail of Tears and reports had come back that he had died en route.  That was accepted in the family for a century or so, then modern genealogy came along and a woman discovered that a Tilman Gooch of about the right age appeared in Mississippi, near Tilman's brother William, in the 1840 census.  There was also a Tilman, possibly the same one, who died in San Francisco in 1850.  None of these men overlap with each other so they easily could be the same person. 

His daughter's bounty land application adds to the interest.  She was only tiny when he died so on her first go says that he came home from the wars and died.  Then, after talking to her older siblings, she amends that to say that Moses Justice had been with him in the militia and brought home the report that when he (Moses) left him, he was on the verge of death.  Which is a very different matter altogether.

Adding to the interest here is that Moses is probably a relative by marriage since Tilman's wife was Elizabeth Justice.  No way to tell across this much time but Moses could have been reporting factually or could have been sparing his sister/cousin's feelings by not telling her that her husband had just decided to not come back to her. 

Nancy and Turner Cates administrative Bond

Transcription:
[Administrator's Bond]
Georgia, Crawford County
Know all men by these presents
that we, Nancy Cates & Turner Cates & Joseph Wilder & Isaac Mills securities, are held and firmly bound unto their Honors the Justices of the Inferior Court, sitting for Ordinary Purposes for said County, and their successors in office, and assigns, in the just and full sum of two thousand Dollars for the payment of which sum to the said court of justice and their successors in office we  bind ourselves, our heirs, Executors and Administrators, in the whole and for the whole sum jointly and severally, and firmly by these presents, sealed with our seals and dated this 7th Day of November 1842

The condition of the above obligation is such, that if the above bound Nancy Cates & Turner Cates admors of the goods, chattel, and credits of Thomas Cates, late of said county, deceased which have, or shall come into the hands, possession, or knowledge of the said Nancy Cates & Turner Cates or the hands or possession of any person or persons for ?them? and the same, so made do exhibit unto the said Inferior Court, when sitting as a Court of Ordinary, when they shall be thereunto required; and such goods, chattel, and credit do well and truly administor according to law, and do make a just and true account of their actings and doings therein, when they shall thereunto be required by the Court:  Shall deliver and pay to such person or persons respectively, as they may be entitled to the same by law: And if it shall hereafter appear that any last Will and Testament was made by the deceased, and the same be proven before the said Court, and Executor obtain a certificate of the probate thereof, and Nancy Cates & Turner Cates in such case, if required, render and deliver up of the said Letters of Administration, then this obligation to be void, else to remain in full force.

Signed, sealed and acknowledged in open Court

Test E. W. Dennis ?C C D?

Nancy X Cates
      her mark
Turner Cates
Joseph X Wilder
   his mark
Isaac Mills

------------------

Nancy Cates was the widow of Thomas Cates and Turner his son.   Joseph Wilder and Isaac Mills were neighbors.  Joseph's son Jonathan would marry Turner's granddaughter Feraby Lewis, daughter of Nimrod. 

The other item of interest is that in the legal notices in the Macon Telegraph of August 30, 1842, so several months before this, Nancy Cates, Turner Cates and Nimrod Lewis had applied for letters of Administration on the estate of Thomas Cates.   There is no indication why he was removed nor why no apparent action was taken between August and November.  The assessment of the estate and estate sale occurred in late November and early December of 1842. 

Women's History Month and the ABCs of Women in the family.

I am copying a friend here, seeing how many letters of the alphabet I can fill with women from the family, as many as possible from memory because we're so much more likely to forget the women.  Most of the names (except Q, U, X, and Z) were from memory but I have gone back and doublechecked dates and places. 

A is for Agnes Petley, born about 1496 in County Kent, England.  One of 4 daughters (and no sons), she brought a portion of the Petley estate into the Manning family when she married John Manning.

B is for Betty Jean Becham my mother and most loved of my female ancestors.  She fought her family to go to college and ensured that her daughters knew that they could do anything they set their minds to.

C is for Catherine Chauser (or LeChauser).  She was born about 1342 in London.  Three hundred years later her descendants claimed she was the sister of Geoffrey Chaucer but that is highly unlikely.

D is for Delia (Sarah Lodelia) Mathews Becham, born 1870 in Brooks County, Georgia to T.F. Mathews and Kate Peterman.  She married Fate Becham and was the mother of 6 boys and 1 girl.

E is for Elizabeth Duggan 1 and 2.  Elizabeth 1 was born about 1795 to John Duggan and Mary Jane Joyce.  She married Samuel Gheesling in 1817 in Washington County, GA.  Elizabeth 2 was her niece, the daughter of Asa Madison Duggan and Susie Lord.  Elizabeth 2 also married Samuel Gheesling, in this case her cousin and the son of Elizabeth 1.  They married in 1851, again in Washington County.  Sorting these two out was a challenge.

F is for Feraby, the wife of Nimrod Lewis.  She may (emphasis on may) have been a Cates by birth.  She only appears in one record that I have found so far, the 1850 census in Crawford County, GA. However, her name and that of her husband helped me make the connection to her daughter Martha, who named her 2nd daughter and 2nd son Feraby and Nimrod respectively.

G is for Elvira Grizzle Gooch.  How can you not love that name?  The daughter of John and Sally Taylor Grizzle, the wife of James Gooch, and the mother of (among others) Lucinda Jane Gooch Hendrix.  A mountain farm wife who probably never had it easy.

H is for Harriet (Hattie) Gheesling, daughter of Sam and Elizabeth Duggan the younger, married Green Lee Garner as his second wife.  Raised 4 sons and a stepdaughter, who loved her enough to name her own daughter after her.

I is for Irene Moore Wade.  She went back and forth between Irene and Arena as her first name, doubly confusing because in that part of Georgia they would be pronounced much the same.  Married and had 14 children with Moses Thomas Wade, before finally kicking him out.  The descendant of several strong women and apparently one herself.  Born in 1855 to John Moore and Peggy Powers.

J is for Judith Knowles or Noles, known as Judia, a name which has lead some folks to transcribe her as Julia.   She was born abt 1801 in Georgia and married Timothy Johnson in Hancock County in 1817.

K is for Kate (Susan Catherine) Peterman, mother of Delia above.  Born and raised in Georgia, 1849-1933, she married T.F. Mathews in 1866.  Although both of them were from Taylor County, GA, the disruption of the war meant that they actually married in Madison County, Florida.  They stayed in southern GA for some years but finally settled back in Crawford County, GA.

L is for Lucinda Jane Gooch.  I fell in love with her name at a young age.  She was the daughter and James and Elvira Gooch, the wife of Warren Hendricks, and the mother of many children, 9 of whom lived to adulthood.  She and her husband also raised at least one foster child.  She was known in later life as Jane but I like the Lucinda too much to leave it out.

M is for Mattie Hendrix Garner.  Daughter of Lucinda Jane and Warren David Hendricks, she married Charles Gordon Garner.  She was a graduate of North Georgia Agricultural College, as it was known at the time, and worked for several years as a teacher and home extension agent in Emanuel County, GA, until forced to give up that job after her 1921 marriage to Gordon Garner.  She was very proud of her education and career.

N is for Nancy Whitaker Horne.  Born in Georgia about 1806, she married Nathan Horne in Wilkinson county in 1821.  Her parents and her life before that point are a complete mystery.   She was left a widow with at least 7 kids in 1840 but made a success of the farm and had considerably enlarged it by her death about 1870.   She was unusual among my earlier Georgia female ancestors in that she could read and write.

O is for Ola Pauline Bryant Becham, my grandfather's first wife and mother of his 5 oldest children.  Like so many women historically and even some today, she died from complications of childbirth.

P is for Peggy (Margaret) Powers Moore.  Peggy was born to a white father John Powers and (free) black mother Sarah Turner Powers in South Carolina about 1816.   Her husband John G. Moore is the only ancestor I have who emigrated to the United States rather than the colonies, being an Irishman who settled for some unknown reason in central Georgia.   She and her full siblings successfully sued her younger half-siblings over their father's estate after his death in 1868.

Q is for Queen Victoria Pyles who is actually a cousin rather than an ancestor, born in 1860 to William Piles and Susan Becham.

R is for Rebecca Douthit Keith, born abt in Pickens County, SC in 1799  to Solomon Douthit and his wife Mary.  She lived her entire life in Pickens County, marrying Allen Keith and raising 7 children.  Her youngest daughter Jane (Jenny) married George Washington Hendricks.

S is for Sarah Turner Powers although there are many, many Sarahs in the family to choose from.  Sarah (Sally) Turner was the daughter of a former slave, John Turner, and his freeborn wife Patience and was born in Marion County, SC.  She married a white man, John Powers, by whom she had 4 children before she kicked him out for wasting away her inheritance.  She later moved with her children first to Alabama and then to Georgia.

T is for Trenilla Patrick Becham - my aunt by marriage.  Another loved memory.

U is for Ursula Thompson, born about 1745 in Virginia, she is the sister to my ancestor Patience Thompson Glenn, so my 7X great-aunt.  Not that she was memorable but it turns out that she is the only woman in the family I can find whose first, last or nickname starts with U.  She married Thomas Ray.

V is for Viola Wade Becham, my grandmother and mother to my grandfather's youngest 3 children.

W is for Sarah Wooten, who was born about 1729 in Somerset County, MD.  She married John Lord in 1745 in Sussex County, DE, which was at the time a neighboring county.  Her parents were John Wooten and Margaret Davis.

X - Stretching this one but the only person in the tree who starts with X is a Xavier.  Next best is EXie Dickson Carr, who was a cousin by her marriage to my grandfather Garner's 2nd cousin Linton Stephens Carr.

Y is for Eva Lou Young Ward, since the only woman I have with a name beginning in Y is still living so does not qualify.  Eva Lou was not really my family, but she is the grandmother of many of my cousins, so she goes here.  She died in 2009 at the age of 94, having survived her husband Fletcher Claude Ward by 25 years.

Z is for Zelma Evans, a cousin.  Born in 1919 in Irwin county, GA to Carrie Morris and Robert Evans, making her my 2nd cousin 2x removed.  She died in 1967 and is buried near her parents. She is like so many unmarried women in the records.  I know when she was born, when she died and where she was buried but find nothing in between.   She was listed in 1940 as not having attended school and being unable work, so it is likely that she lived at home her entire life. 

Dorothy Bird Lord

I have thought about doing some blog posts on my favorite female ancestors since so much research is centered on the men.  While that is not the point of this post, if it were, Dorothy would definitely be on the list.  She is surprisingly well documented for someone who lived at her time - or at least surprising when most of your family is in the South.   She could not have had an easy life, immigrating to the early colonies, but she survived.

Dorothy was born about 1588 in England, baptised on May 25th of that year in the St. Laurence church, Towcester, Northhamptonshire.  Her parents were Robert Bird and Amy Hill.

In February 1610/11, she married Thomas Lord in the same place.  Between 1612 and 1629, they had at least 8 children, including our probable ancestor John.  In 1635, their oldest son Richard, then about 22, went to the new world.   Thomas, Dorothy, and their younger children left from London in April 1635, aboard the ship "Elizabeth and Ann".  At this point, Dorothy was 46, which was not elderly but unusually old still to leave everything behind for such an uncertain adventure and to risk her own life and those of her family on the North Atlantic voyage.   The trip back then averaged 60 days.

The family joined son Richard in Newtown, now Cambridge, Massachusetts, but they did not stay there long.  In 1637 they joined a group of approximately 100 men, women, and children, lead by Puritan minister Thomas Hooker and marched overland to the present-day site of Hartford, Connecticut.  This was yet another strenuous journey for a woman who was approaching 50.  

Dorothy died in 1676 at the age of 87, having survived numerous childbirths, an Atlantic crossing, a trek through the wilderness, and the general hardship of setting up a brand new community.  Her husband and at least two of her children predeceased her.  Her will survives and shows that she had considerable property as well as personal goods worth about $187.

Laura and Grace

At one point I looked at the estate of Thomas Cates, the possible father-in-law of Nimrod Lewis, and noted that the two slaves he owned were not accounted for in the estate settlement.   In the 7 March 1843 Macon Messenger, there is a notice that the young girls Larey (Laura), age 9, and Grace, age 7, had been levied on as the property of Thomas Cates to satisfy several Fi Fas issued by the court in favor of H. B. Troutman. 

Grandma and Pa Mathews

This is a photograph discovered a while back by a cousin in a box left at his father's house by our grandmother.  It is labeled as "Grandma and Pa Mathews", indicating that it is probably Thomas Franklin (T.F.) Mathews and his wife Susan Katherine (Kate) Peterman.   T.F. lived from 1841 to 1922, while Kate was 1849 to 1933.  Considering her dress and the fact that they are older but not old, I would make a preliminary guess that this was taken around 1900, but that's speculation at this point.

Nimrod Lewis property tax lists

The published property tax lists of Crawford County list Nimrod Lewis six times.

In 1840 he is in Captain Hortman's district.  He payed one poll, and payed taxes on two lots.  One, in district 2, Crawford county was 101.5 acres.  The other, lot 46, District 16, section 2 in Habersham County, was 125 acres.  He had no luxury items listed.  This tax form is not alphabetized, from which it can be inferred that the lots are listed in at least partial neighborhood order, although the lot numbers are not sequential.  Those closest to him, therefore, were probably Jeremiah Hatcher, William Dickson, Joseph Wilder, Robert Martin, William Causey, James M. Sanders and Turner Cates on one side and David Worsham, Simpson Walker, Simon Johnson, Thomas Barran, and Martin Cloud on the other.  Thomas Cates also appears on the same page, though further down.  Thomas also paid taxes on land in Habersham although the lot and district nr were not listed on his property to compare their locations.

In 1845, Nimrod was in Capt Jones district and paid one poll and owned 2 slaves.  He claimed 101 acres in Crawford county and 125 in Habersham.  For this he paid $1.56 in state tax, 19.5 cents in poor tax, and 39.25 cents to the Poor school.  This is the only tax list that breaks out the payments. 

In 1851, Nimrod was listed as being in district 497, Osent's district.   This tax list is semi-alphabetical in that the names beginning with the same letter are grouped together.  Nimrod did not pay a poll, presumably too old, but his son Thomas did.   Nimrod is listed as having 2 slaves, 50 acres of 3rd quality oak and hickory upland, 101.5 acres of pine land in Crawford County, and 125 acres of the same in Habersham County.  All told he paid $1.08 in taxes plus Thomas' .25 poll tax.

In 1854, he is in still in district 497, now Castlebury's area.   He again is not responsible for a poll tax but Thomas is.   He does claim to have two children between the ages of 8 and 14.  This would have been Marsena and Almira.  This time he asserts 125 acres of 2nd quality land and 150 acres of 3rd quality for a total value of $700.   He has two slaves valued at $800 and other personal property valued at 106, for a total taxable amount of $1606.

1856 is still Castlebury's district.  Nimrod's son Jeremiah is now old enough to pay the poll tax as well as son Thomas.  Neither son shows property of their own.   Nimrod has 227 acres of pine land, in Crawford only, worth $700.   He now has 1 slave worth $400, $250 worth of other personal property, so $1350 worth of taxable property in total.

In 1857, still in Castlebury's, his land is again split by county with 100 acres in Crawford ($600) and 125 in Habersham ($200).   He does not list any children between 6 and 18 although Marsena definitely qualified and Almira possibly did.  Son Thomas lists one child in that range although his oldest known child Feraby was only 4.  It is possible that their two entries were confused.  Nimrod still had one slave, worth  $500, and personal property worth $175.  Interestingly, Jeremiah is shown as having cash or solvent debts of $110. 

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

I am going to try out Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks to see if I can't get myself back on track blogging.  Since we are obviously already in the 3rd week of the year, I'll have to do some backtracking. 

The first prompt - Start

This got me to thinking about where I started doing genealogy which is surprisingly easy.  I was in Georgia for my 16th birthday and my grandmother (who had shown no previous interest in the subject) had received an answer to a query she had sent someone about her ancestor Washington William Buchanan Horne and his confederate service.  The answer showed that he had fought at Vicksburg, was wounded at some point, and had died in the State mental asylum.  This turned out to be a great learning experience for me because almost at once the family started 'remembering' that their ancestor, his daughter, was not really his.  Since they obviously couldn't have an ancestor in the Asylum. 

Years of research have shown that he was in fact paroled at Vicksburg but this was not where he was wounded.  He was exchanged and went back into the service and was wounded (lost an arm) later while fighting in Georgia.  His full name - not on the records - has been determined.  The Asylum records and reminiscences of his grandson showed that he was probably suffering from what today would be called PTSD.  And both paper research and DNA have fairly conclusively proven that he was the father of Carrie Horne.  There are still members of the family who are 'sure' that Carrie's father was a mailman (didn't exist at that time in rural areas) named Campbell (of whom there were none in that county.) 

The other and to me more interesting document in the file was the Confederate pension application for his wife Mary Ann Morris Horne.  I talked my grandmother into giving me that and it was the starting point for much of my research on her family.  Without it, I would never have known or guessed that she was born in Wilcox County, Alabama which turned out to be key to finding her father's family.  I was also fascinated by her description of her goods (nothing but what she could earn working in the fields). 

So I started off with a family tale that was not true - and even at the time I was pretty sure they were making it up - and with a pension application that may have occasionally fudged the truth but gave me a lot of good useful information.  Both of these hooked me on finding out more about these people, something I've been working on ever since.   My grandmother, on the other hand, never again showed an interest in the topic.  I think that asylum was just too much for her.