Not cancer after all?

My family never talked much about Great-uncle Edgar Becham and I did not in fact know he existed until the census records.  On being asked, Aunt Louise talked about his widow and the fact that he died "young" of cancer.  The Georgia Death index gave me 1936 for his death, making him 28 or 29 when he died.  With the recent addition of Georgia death certificates 1930-1938 on familysearch.org, I finally looked him up.   According to his death certificate, he died on 29 Sep 1936 in Macon at the Oglethorpe infirmary where he had been treated for a week.  The official cause of death was listed as extensive ulcerative colitis, cause undetermined, with alcoholism as a contributing factor.  An autopsy had apparently been done to verify that cause.  He was listed as married but without his wife named and the informant was his brother Frank.  He was buried in Roberta City cemetery although he does not have a tombstone there. 

The alcoholism part certainly explains the family (Methodist and Primitive Baptist) reluctance to talk about him and possibly even the fact that they never gave him a tombstone, although that could have also been because he died during the depression.  The ulcerative colitis of unknown origin is even more interesting since his niece, Gladys, had major but undiagnosed stomach problems throughout her life and his great niece has been diagnosed with a condition that matches this description exactly.  The cause for hers is also unknown but it looks now like it may have been an unlucky draw in the gene pool. 

Ahnentafel #12 Franklin Lafayette Becham and #13 Sarah Lodelia Mathews

Franklin Lafayette (Fate) Becham was born in September 1871 in Crawford County, Georgia to Washington Becham and Ann Catherine Perry.   He was generally called Fate (short for Lafayette) but occasionally appears in the records as Frank.  He lived his entire life in the county and appears with his parents in the 1880 census. 

Sarah Lodelia (Delia) Mathews was born 26 February 1870 in Brooks County,  Georgia to Thomas Franklin Mathews and Susan Catherine Peterman.  The family had moved back to Crawford County, GA by the time she was 10, since she appears there in the 1880 census.  She is with her parents in both the 1870 and 1880 censuses.

Fate and Delia married on 22 December 1895 in Crawford County, Georgia, where he followed in his father's footsteps as a farmer and potter.  Fate's pottery has developed some reknown in Georgia and in fact an example of it is in the Smithsonian American Art Museum.  

 

This photo is of his great-great-

Granddaughter looking at the jug in the Smithsonian. It is the one on the far right.










 In 1900, Frank and Lodelia are renting a farm near Roberta, with their two oldest children Frank and Washington (generally known as W.P.).   This particular census is the first one I ever looked up as a genealogist, back when the only way to find one was at the Archives.  The magic of seeing my grandfather as a young child hooked me totally and I've never looked back.   In this one, they duly note that they've been married 5 years, and have had two children, both of whom were living.

In 1910, they are still on the farm, but the family is now up to 6 children, 5 boys and 1 girl.  Another child has apparently died since Delia states that she has had 7 children but 6 were living.  Their youngest child, another boy Walker, was born two months after this census was taking.   By 1920 they own their farm, although they do have a mortgage on it.  In this census, Frank and his 3 oldest sons were all listed as house carpenters.  The youngest 3 boys were in school and daughter Lucile was married.

About this time, Frank was apparently very involved with the Methodist church, since this is when he had the photo taken of himself and his sons, in the church group. Delia had been noted joining Old Bethel Methodist church in 1897. Fate may have already been a member there since that is where his father is buried. 

By 1930, all the children had left home except W.P., who continued to live there until his death in 1974.   Their son Frank was widowed by this time and had returned home with 4 of his 5 children.  The baby, Sarah, was living with her aunt Lucile.   Fate was listed as a farmer and W.P. was described as a laborer on his father's farm.  Frank was still working as a carpenter.   Fate owned the farm but no value was given for it.

In 1931, Fate and his son Frank went to a family reunion hosted by his sister Ophelia (Mrs. J.W.) Thomason, in Dry Branch GA, celebrating his brother-in-law's 71st birthday.  Also from Roberta were Fate's sisters Mrs Bill (Addie) Smith and Mrs. Virginia Smith.

In 1940, Fate, Delia and Washington are living on the farm they own, now valued at $4700.  Their son Henry lived next door.  Fate was listed as a brick mason laying brick, but not working and he had not worked the census week of 24-30 March 1940.  He had worked 10 weeks in 1939, for which he earned $50.

Fate died on 14 June 1958 age 86 and was buried in the Roberta City Cemetery.  His will left $300 to his wife with the remainder going to his son W.P. with the request that W.P. look after his mother.  The will added that this was just a request, not a stipulation, but W.P. did in fact look after his mother until her death.  Delia in turn died on 15 June 1965, age 95.  I was taken to see her a few weeks before she died and she was the only one of the great grandparents that I was aware of meeting.

Fate and Delia had the following children:

1.  Frank Jones Becham, 1897-1985, married 1) Ola Pauline Bryant and 2) Viola Elizabeth Wade.  
2.  Washington Perry (W.P.) Becham, 1899-1974, never married
3.  Henry Lafayette Becham, 1901-1989, married Edith Williamson.  Remained in Crawford County.
4.  Lucile Delia Becham, 1901-1994, married Robert Edward Hortman.
5.  James Alfred Becham, 1904-1971, married Cecile Laing while serving in the navy in California.  Eventually returned to Roberta after he and Cecile divorced.
6.  Edgar P. Becham, 1908-1936.  Married Verlin Hutto but died of cancer shortly after the marriage.
7.  Walker M. Becham, 1910-1987, married Gladys Johnston.

Fate and Delia Becham and some of their descendents, probably early 1950s.

Harriet, Anderson and other lost stories in the records

The Friend of Friends post that I did last Friday was particularly interesting to me because of the series of posts showing the changing fates of six slaves belonging to the estate (minor children) of Jonathon McClendon.  I presume there was an issue about how the estate was handled, since I can't think of any other reason that the annual accountings from 1825 to 1832 would appear in together in the Crawford county records of 1834, especially when they were originally recorded in Jasper County.   Three of the slaves were adults - Bill, Jenny and Milly.  Jenny had a daughter Harriet and eventually Milly had an unknown child.  Bill was originally the most valuable and could be hired out each year for the most money, but by 1832, when they were sold, the two women went for more.  In Milly's case this could be because her child was sold with her, but its also possible that Bill was simply getting old.   Milly was probably a teenager, since she is sometimes described as a girl and sometimes as a woman, as opposed to Jenny who is always called a woman.  There were also three children - Ben, Anderson and Harriet.   Ben grows up during these years, where he is first hired out for less than the women, but by 1829 is bringing in nearly as much as Bill and by 1832 is sold for more than any of the others.  Every year his hire increased significantly, as he got older.   Anderson must have been quite young when this first started, since he is hired for $1.   Old enough to do some work but not as productive as a man or even a teen.  Again, we watch him grow up and become more valuable, although not to the extent Ben does.  Based on the relative amounts received for hiring him out, the appearance is that he went from being a young boy to possibly a young teen.  There is no indication in the record as to who his mother was, either because he had already been separated from her or because he was not young enough when the records started to be listed with her.  It is possible that Jenny was his mother and he was old enough to be accounted for separately, that his mother was one of the two female slaves that went to the widow (Viny and Betsy), or that his mother was dead.  Harriet is definitely Jenny's daughter and is obviously quite young when these records started.   She is at first just grouped with her mother, then "hired" basically for the cost of keeping her.  She is definitely separated from her mother by 1829, when they are hired out to separate families and in 1832, when the slaves are sold, they both go permanently to different families.  Even assuming she was 7 or 8 when the records start (and she was probably much younger), this would have meant a permanent separation from her mother definitely by the time she was 15 and possibly as young as 10.  In fact, all 3 of the youngest named slaves were sold away from the adults they had grown up with, whether those adults were their parents or not.  The only child not to be sold separately was Milly's unnamed child, who was probably an infant since she/he had not been mentioned before. 

Unlikely to Pay?

While going through the Crawford County probate records, I found this entry on the inventory of the estate of Daniel Hicks.  His estate, one of the wealthiest in the county, showed a number of accounts owed to him, including this one:

Since those doing the estate inventory were presumably copying from Hick's records, this is apparently what he wrote.  So unless someone used this as a nickname, it looks like Hicks didn't actually expect to get his money back. 

Friend of Friends Friday, Crawford County GA part 4

As before, these are from the Georgia, Probate Records, 1742-1990, Crawford County, Inventories and appraisements 1833-1913, familysearch.org

Image 67, page 122
An inventory of the goods and chattels of Alexander B. Taylor, 8 Nov 1834
Negro man John $600
Negro woman Silvy $450
Negro woman Dorcas $450
Negro boy Isaac $350
Negro boy Aaron $275
Negro boy Doctor $250
Negro boy Charles $200

Image 69, page 126
December 1834, auction of the goods of Alexander Taylor

Lewis Mobley - negro John
James Roberts - negro woman Dorcas
Mary Taylor [wife] - negro woman Silvy
James M. Taylor - negro Isaac
Wm McMurray - negro Aaron
[Doctor and Charles are not mentioned in the sales records]

Image 73, page 134
Jasper County, Georgia, 30 Dec 1825 (No reason given for it being recorded in Crawford County 10 years later)

Valuation and partition of the negros of Jonathon McLendon
Lot nr one was assigned to Edna McClendon, widow of said deceased negros Viny, Betsy and Reuben valued at $950
Lot nr two was drawn by Elitha Ann McClendon one of the minors of said dec'd, negroes Ben, Haritta and Jinny valued at $825
Lot nr 3 was drawn by Jonathon McClendon the other minor of said deceased negros Billy, Milly and Anderson, valued at $900.

Image 74, page 135
1826
The negros belonging to the orphans of Jonathan McClendon hired on 30 Dec 1826 to the highest bidder
viz Bill a negro man to Wm Cleavland  $77
Jenny and child Harriett $25
Milla a girl $30
Ben a boy $17
Anderson a boy $1
[signed] Wm C Cleavland guardian in right of his wife

Image 74, page 136
1828
Hire of negros of said deceased for 1828
Bill a man hired to Wm C Cleavland for $50
Jinny and Haratt         "               "     for $35.50
Milly a woman to Allen McClendon for $25.50
Ben a boy to Wm C Cleavland for $41
Anderson a boy to T Hood $5

Image 75, page 137
(McClendon estate continued)
For the hire of negros for 1829
Bill a man to Lewellin Morgan $50
Ben a boy to Thophilus Truman (or Freeman) $26
Anderson a boy to Allen McClendon $5
Milly a girl to          "            "      $22
Jenny a woman to   "            "      $35
Harett a girl to Wm C Cleavland for victuals and clothes

The hiring of the property belonging to the minors of Jonathan McClendon, 28 Dec 1829
Billy a man [to] Allen McClendon $40
Jenny a woman    "          "            $21
Milly a girl         "           "            $25
Anderson a boy  "          "            $8.56
Benjamin a boy to Wm C Cleavland $37.25
Harett a girl to Isaac George    $5.56

Account of the sale of the negros belonging to the minors and orphans of  Jonathan McClendon sold 3 Jan 1832 and 25 Dec 1832
Negro man Bill to Allen McClendon $219
Negro woman named Jenny to "    $306
   "           "      Milly and child to A. McClendon $427
Negro boy named Ben to Henry Sills $577

Image 75, page 138
(continued from previous page)
Anderson [to] Jeremiah McClendon  $365
girl Harett to W.C. Cleavland $350

[Note that this is earlier than the previous sale record] The hiring of the negros belonging to the orphans of Jonathan McClendon for the year 1831

Bill a man to Allen McClendon $55
Jinny a woman to Hiram B. Jones $40
Milly a woman to Cleavland $20
Ben a boy to John True $35
Anderson a boy to [unreadable] McGhee  $24
Harat a girl to Elijah Williams $12

Another Lesson learned

Yesterday I posted about the Sullivan/Daniel deed selling land to the Perrys.  I started doing some research on the people involved to determine what, if any, connection there was between the families.  I found information which indicated that Mary Sullivan was originally Mary Shanley/Shunley/Shurley possibly the daughter of Aaron.  Went back and looked at the deeds and sure enough, the one before the sale to M.F. Perry is a deed between Berry Sullivan and Aaron Shurley.  However, since at the time I was photographing these I was only interested in the Perry ones, it never occurred to me to look at the deeds around them.  Therefore, I only have the very end of the previous deed and will need to go back to Crawford County to see the rest. 

Questions about some land

In April 1884, Mary Sullivan, widow of L. B. [Little Berry] Sullivan and her daughter Almyra Sullivan Daniel sold 101 1/4 acres of land in Crawford County, Georgia to Mattie Hatcher and Sallie B. Perry, for $300.  Mary and Almyra were described as the only heirs to the estate of  L. B. Sullivan, of Webster county, while Mattie and Sallie were described as the daughters of M.F. [Mark Franklin] Perry.   The deed was witnessed by John Daniel and Almyra's husband Alex Daniel.   There are several points of interest here.  First, M.F. Perry and his wife were still living, so it seems unusual that the property was sold to their daughters.  Secondly, Mattie was grown and married, age 22, but Sallie was only 13.  Mattie's husband was not mentioned.   Also, 1890 tax records duly show Mrs. Mattie Hatcher and Miss Blanch Perry paying taxes on 50 acres of land each, but also show their mother Mrs. Sarah Perry as having 200 acres in that same section.   M.F. Perry does not pay taxes on any real estate although he shows some personal property. 

Three years later, Mary Sullivan and Almyra Daniel sold a nearby lot to M.F. Perry.  In this deed they are again described as the sole heirs of L.B. Sullivan and the land being sold is described as "the land formerly owned by L.B. Sullivan in Crawford County".  Alex Daniel again witnesses the transaction. M.F. Perry promptly took out a mortgage on the land, which he paid off a few years later.

Finally, in 1893, S. Blanch Perry (Sallie) sold her 50 acres of the land above to her sister Martha Hatcher for $100.