Monday Is for Mothers: Timney P. Watts (1805 - 1863)

Although it took us years to discover the surname of my paternal great-great-great grandmother Timney P. Watts, a 1824 Morgan County marriage record from Georgia's Virtual Vault finally settled it*.

[Image Courtesy of Georgia Archives]

Her husband Jesse Warren Jr's obituary and her father-in-law's will, signed early in 1826, give us an insight into the drastic changes that had just taken place in Timney's life.

Georgia Journal, 21 Feb 1826**
page 3
"On the 6th instant, at his residence in Morgan county, Jesse Warren, Jr in the thirty-sixth year of his age, of a lingering disease, leaving a widow and infant son to lament their irreparable loss, and aged parents and brothers and sisters to lament the loss of a dutiful son, and an affectionate brother, and a number of friends and acquaintances who were conciention(?) to acknowledge him an honest man, a worthy friend and moderate(?) citizen."

Hancock County Probate Records (from FamilySearch.org)
"Item 9: I give unto my grandson (at this time without a name***) the only son of Jesse Warren decd one thousand dollars...should he live to legal age."

Further research showed that "Timmen" Warren married John Phillips in 1827 in Morgan County, Georgia.

[Image Courtesy of Georgia Archives]

In the 1830 U.S. Census the Phillips family were living in Troup County, Georgia, where where they were still located ten years later.

[Ancestry.com. 1840 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Sixth Census of the United States, 1840. (NARA microfilm publication M704, 580 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

The last of Timney's seven Phillips children was born in Macon County, Alabama, in 1846. As the 1850 U.S. Census shows, John Phillips owned real estate valued at $4,000 and the Slave Schedule that year lists his human property as 35 men, women and children ranging in age from 1 to 55.

[Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.Original data: Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

[Ancestry.com. 1850 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Seventh Census of the United States, 1850. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1850. M432, 1,009 rolls.]

1850 is also the year that Timney and John's youngest daughter Columbia died at the age of nine.

John Phillips died on March 22, 1852 and by the end of the year two more of their daughters, Elizabeth Ann (wife of Alanson Lockwood) and Tabitha had joined their father and sister in Fort Cemetery. My great-great grandfather J.T.S. Warren moved with his wife and children to Cass County, Texas, about that time.

In the 1855 Alabama State Census, Timney is the head of a household with seven white members and fifteen slaves.

[Ancestry.com. Alabama State Census, 1820-1866 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. This collection was indexed by Ancestry.com World Archives Project contributors. Original data: Alabama State Census, 1820, 1850, 1855 and 1866. Montgomery, Alabama: Alabama Department of Archives & History. Rolls M2004.0008-M2004.0012, M2004.0036-M2004.0050, and M2008.0124.]

By the 1860 U.S. Census only Timney's youngest child, 14-year old John C, is living with her along with Miss Molly Morgan (15) and Franklin T. Morgan (8), whose relationship to her (if any) is unknown. According to the Slave Schedule, she owned eight slaves who account for most of the $5,000 listed as her "Personal Estate" in the census records.

[Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1860 U.S. census, population schedule. NARA microfilm publication M653, 1,438 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.]

[Ancestry.com. 1860 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Eighth Census of the United States, 1860. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1860. M653, 1,438 rolls.]

In February of 1863 tragedy again struck with the death of John C Phillips at the age of 17. Timney herself died on September 5, 1863 and is buried along with most of her family in Fort Cemetery in Macon County, Alabama.

[Photo from findagrave.com Created by: Guy Rush Record added: Feb 26, 2013 Find A Grave Memorial# 105834645]

Timney's will and probate documents are waiting for us on a microfilm stored at the local Family History Center and we hope to view them after the first of the year.

*We still don't know what that "P" stands for.
**Source: Georgia Historic Newspapers
***My great-great grandfather Jesse Thomas Simeon Warren (J.T.S.).

© 2014 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.