More Connections and a New Mystery

Earlier I posted about Dock Braswell and his father's petition to get him out of jail.  I had just posted this petition because it was in one of the Crawford County folders at the Georgia Archives.  While I knew that J.G. Braswell's daughter Virginia had married a family connection (Emanuel Horne), I hadn't paid much attention to Dock. 

Today I learned that Fannie Hause (or House) and Dock Braswell married in 1898, in Houston County.  They are tenuously connected in that Fannie is the granddaughter of John and Margaret Moore of Houston County and Emanuel Horne's sister Carrie married one of the Moores' grandsons, although of a different line.   In the 1900 census, Fannie and her daughter Bessie, age 2, are living with Fannie's parents Charles and Sarah Hause in Houston County.  Fannie is listed as married.

The mystery, however, is Dock himself.  Because of Virginia, I had already done some research on J.G. (Jacob Green) Braswell.  According to the census, he had two sons - Jacob Green and Isaac Luther.  However, his obituary only lists one surviving son "J.J. Braswell".   Both his sons appear to have gone by their middle names.  J.G. Braswell himself is seen as J.G., as Green, and as Pope.  His obituary confirms the nickname Pope.  As such, it is easy to imagine him nicknaming a son Dock as opposed to actually giving him that name.   Isaac Luther is documented as having married in 1894 and is living with that wife in the 1900 census, eliminating him as the possible "Dock" unless he was a bigamist, unlikely in a small community like that.   Green is living with his father in 1900 and is listed as single.   If J.G. was truthful in naming Dock as his son in his affidavit, then it would seem likely that Green is that son. 

I have not been able to find any Dock Braswell (with various spellings) in the census who would fit as either J.G.'s son or Fannie's husband.   I also have not found a Green Braswell of an appropriate age in the census after 1900.   It does seem unusual that a nickname would have been used on both the court record and the marriage record but never on the census.  Because of this anomaly, I think more work will need to be done on Dock, but for now I am tentatively hypothesizing that he is J.G.'s son Green.  

Pope Braswell's obituary does have one small fact that might provide some evidence - he is listed as having a daughter Fannie, but there is no other evidence of such a daughter in the household.  I wonder if this was actually a reference to a daughter-in-law?

John Moore, From Ireland to Georgia

John Moore is one of my brick walls.  I know that he was born in Ireland in 1812 (census) and that he married Peggy Powers  in Crawford County, Georgia in 1844.  I have not been able to find out anything about him between those two dates.  I don't know if he was brought over as an infant or was fresh off the boat when he got married.  He isn’t in the 1840 census, but of course as an unmarried man, he could have been a hired hand on someone else’s record. He lived in Fort Valley, which was then Houston County and is now Peach, near the border with Crawford County.  In 1850, there were a total of 17 people in Houston and Crawford combined who were born in Ireland. None of them were Moores, none of them lived near John, and only two of them were women (looking for sisters) and have been eliminated. He of course died just before the 1900 census when he would have been asked what year he immigrated, and  at least 19 years before Georgia had death certificates. When he signed the loyalty oath after the civil war, where the official was supposed to write how many years the person had been in the county, he put “more than a year” for everyone. I know John naturalized so now I’m looking for that record. Unfortunately, at the time he naturalized you could do it in any court of record. He is within fairly easy reach of 3 different county seats, with all the relevant courts that they have.

So what do I know -

  - He was born in Ireland in 1812 (Multiple census)
  - He married Margaret "Peggy" Powers in Crawford County, GA on12 April 1844.
  - He and Peggy appear in the 1850 Houston county census, District 9, dwelling 274, family 274, pg 324.  Also in the household were their children Charles (4), William (2) and Sarah (1), as well as Asa Powers and John English, both listed as farmers.  John Moore was listed as a farmer with real estate worth $200.  He was born in Ireland, Peggy in South Carolina and everyone else in Georgia.  This stays the same throughout the censuses.
   - In the 1860 census (Houston County, District 9, dwelling 69, pg 957) John is a well-digger with real estate worth $50.  Three more children have been added - Mary, and two listed in this census as Drewsena and Drewsilla.
   - In 1867, he took the loyalty oath to the Union. 
   - In 1870 (Houston County, no district given, dwelling 942, family 1042, page 110) John is again a farmer, now showing $200 of personal value, $200 real value.  Children William (farm laborer), Mary, and Francis were still at home.  Francis is the child shown as Drewsena in 1860.
  - In the 1880 census (Houston County, Fort Valley, dwelling 329, family 329, pg 65), William is the head of household with John and Margaret living with him.  William is a farmer and John is again a well-digger.   Mary is still living at home.

He presumably died between 1880 and 1900, when he disappears from the census.  At one time, a genweb posting stated that he was buried at Oaklawn cemetery, dying in 1898, but this is no longer on line and there is no tombstone for him there.  There are two unknown adults buried in the same plot as his daughter. 


This search is complicated by the fact that there were two John Moore families in Houston county, probably unrelated.  The other Moore families in the county were all from Georgia and North Carolina.

After John and Peggy married, they settled down near Fort Valley and lived there for the remainder of their lives, raising a number of children.  For the first 14 years of their married life, Peggy's mother Sarah Turner Powers reportedly lived with them.  They also lived next door to Peggy's sister Sarah Ann Powers Holly.   John's occupations varies between "farmer" and "well-digger".  He did own land but did not seem to have developed it much.

Their children were:
   1.  Charles L. Moore, born April 1846, married Mary Ellen Dize (Dies) on 28 Apr 1868.  Died in 1907 in Houston (now Peach) county, GA.  Served in the Confederate army.
   2.  William C. Moore, born 1848 in Houston County.
   3.  Sarah A. Moore, born abt 1849, probably married Charles J. House
   4.  Mary Moore, born abt 1852, so far no marriage found.
   5.  Drusilla Frances "Fanny" Moore, born 25 Dec 1853, married John Dies (brother to Mary Ellen), died 11 June 1926 in Macon, Bibb County, GA.
   6.  Drusena Arena or Irene Moore, born 1 Sep 1955, married Moses Thomas Wade, died 25 Sep 1941 in Macon.