Monday Is for Mothers: Mary Warren (About 1810 - 1885), Survivor & Matriarch - Part 3, Her Children and Grandchildren

After Sandal, Rhody and Francis were listed in the 1832 inventory of Jeremiah Warren's estate, none of Mary Warren's children were mentioned by name in official records until July of 1867 when Daniel and Enoch Warren registered to vote in Smith County.

[Smith County, 1880. Portal to Texas History]

[County : Smith. Ancestry.com. Texas, Voter Registration Lists, 1867-1869 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: 1867 Voter Registration Lists. Microfilm, 12 rolls. Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Austin, Texas.]

The above images are taken from the left hand page of the 1867 Texas Voter Registration Rolls; the extracts below are from the other side of the roll book. Note that Moses Warren, listed right below Enoch, was the husband of Mary's daughter Sandal.*

Next we find Mary and her children and grandchildren in the 1870 U.S. Census for Smith County, Texas.**

Warren Daniel 27 1843 Male Black Georgia

[Year: 1870; Census Place: Starrville Beat, Smith, Texas; Roll: M593_1605; Page: 342B; Image: 187862; Family History Library Film: 553104. Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1870 U.S. census, population schedules. NARA microfilm publication M593, 1,761 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.Minnesota census schedules for 1870. NARA microfilm publication T132, 13 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.]

Warren Mary 61 1809 Female Black Virginia

Warren Livy 17 1853 Female Mulatto Georgia

Warren Ismael 15 1855 Male Black Georgia

Warren Martha 18 1852 Female Mulatto Georgia

Warren Eliza 30 1840 Female Black Georgia

Warren Mary 13 1857 Female Mulatto Georgia

Warren Thomas 6 1864 Male Black Texas

Warren Betsey 4 1866 Female Black Texas

Lewis Francis 16 1854 Female Black Georgia

Jackson Willis 25 1845 Male Black Ala

Jackson Sibley 25 1845 Female Black Georgia

Jackson Clem 6 1864 Male Black Texas

Warren Enock 28 1842 Male Black Georgia

Warren Sarah 26 1844 Female Black Georgia

Warren Eliza 5 1865 Female Black Texas

Warren Edmund 1 1869 Male Black Texas

Wright Wilford 18 1852 Male Black Georgia

Warren Moses 52 1818 Male Black Georgia

Warren Sandol 45 1825 Female Black Georgia

Warren James 21 1849 Male Black Georgia

Warren Smith 18 1852 Male Black Georgia

Warren Sarah 16 1854 Female Black Georgia

Warren Kesiah 34 1836 Female Black Georgia

Warren Cary 11 1859 Female Black Georgia

Warren Mary 4 1866 Female Mulatto Texas

Warren Lilly 2 1868 Female Mulatto Texas

Warren Rhody 48 1822 Female Black Georgia

As can be seen in the 1880 U.S. Census, ten years later Mary's family had spread out a bit through Smith County.

[Year: 1880; Census Place: Smith, Texas; Roll: 1326; Family History Film: 1255326; Page: 304C; ED : 102; Description: Justices Precinct No. 8 with its boundaries. Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. 1880 U.S. Census Index provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints © Copyright 1999 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. Original data: Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. (NARA microfilm publication T9, 1,454 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

Warren Enoch Mulatto Male 34 1846 Self         Married Ga Ga Va

Warren Sarah Mulatto Female 36 1844 Wife Married Ga

Warren Edmund Mulatto Male 11 1869 Son          Single Tex   Ga   Ga

Warren Eliza Mulatto Female 14 1866 Daughter Single Tex Ga   Ga

Warren Mattie Mulatto Female 5 1875 Daughter Single Tex   Ga    Ga

Warren Delia Mulatto Female 10m 1879 Daughter Single Tex Ga     Ga

Warren Ishmael Black Male 28 1852 Brother Single Ga Ga   Va

Warren Eliza Black Female 38 1842 Self      Widowed Ga    Ga  Va

Warren Thomas Black Male 16 1864 Son         Single Tex Ga Ga

Warren Betsey Black Female 14 1866 Daughter Single Tex Ga Ga

Warren Mary Black Female 70 1810 Mother   Widowed Va Va

Warren Lora Mulatto Female 20 1860 Niece  }   Widowed Tex

Warren Raxton Black Male 7 1873 Son     }  Single Tex  Tex 

Warren Della Black Female 16 1864                Tex Tex

[Year: 1880; Census Place: Smith, Texas; Family History Film:]

Warren Moses Black Male 62 1818 Self         Married Ga
Warren Sondall Black Female 52 1828 Wife Married Ga
Warren Jacob Mulatto Male 35 1845 Self   Married Ga Ga Ga
Warren Mattie Black Female 32 1848 Wife Married Tex
Warren James Mulatto Male 16 1864 Son         Single Tex
Warren Thomas Mulatto Male 13 1867 Son       Single Tex
Warren Henry Mulatto Male 12 1868 Son       Single Tex
Warren Jessee Mulatto Male 9 1871 Son       Single Tex 
Warren Della Mulatto Female 6 1874 Daughter Single Tex 
Warren Samuel Mulatto Male 3 1877 Son       Single Tex 
Warren Babr. Mulatto Male 2 1878 Son       Single Tex 
Warren Smith Black Male 28 1852 Self       Married Ga
Warren Amanda Black Female 25 1855 Wife Married Tex
Warren Marion Black Male 4 1876 Son       Single Tex 

[Year: 1880; Census Place: Smith, Texas; Family History Film:]

Warren Daniel Black Male 38 1842 Self        Married Ga

Warren Ellen Black Female 35 1845 Wife Married Ga

[Year: 1880; Census Place: Smith, Texas; Family History Film:]

Warren Kiyzia Black Female 38 1842 Self Tex

Warren Carey Mulatto Male 18 1862 Tex

Warren Mary J. Mulatto Female 16 1864 Tex

Warren Lilley Mulatto Female 15 1865     Tex  

[Year: 1880; Census Place: Smith, Texas; Family History Film:]

Jackson Willis Black Male 34 1846 Self        Married Al

Jackson Sibbey Black Female 34 1846 Wife Married Ga

Jackson Clem Black Male 14 1866 Son        Single Tex Al Ga

Jackson Augustus Black Male 9 1871 Son       Single Tex Al Ga

Jackson Avonia Black Female 6 1874 Daughter Single      Tex Al Ga

Jackson Sarah Black Female 4 1876 Daughter Single Tex Al Ga

Jackson Willis Black Male 2 1878 Son       Single Tex Al Ga

Mary     Mary's Children     Their Spouses     Mary's Grandchildren     Her Great Grandchildren

This census also has a record for a Rhoda Warren but I'm not convinced that she's Mary's daughter Rhody because this woman's parents' birthplace was given as Mississippi.

[Year: 1880; Census Place: Smith, Texas; Family History Film:]

So we leave Mary Warren in 1880, five years before her death, a free woman surrounded by children, grandchildren and starting to welcome great grandchildren into the world. 

I do note that although she adopted the surname Warren after Emancipation, none of her descendants were named Jeremiah.

*Sadly the record that remains to us is obviously a transcription of the original done by someone with crabbed handwriting who didn't bother to include individual entries in the "Time of Residence" columns. As a side note, John Graybill's name doesn't appear in these Registration Rolls in either Rusk or Smith Counties.

**The transcriptions are (mostly) taken from Ancestry.com.

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Mary Warren (About 1810 - 1885), Survivor & Matriarch - Part 2, Her Life Between the Records

Mary Warren was born in Virginia in 1810 according to her 1870 and 1880 U.S. Census records. From Jeremiah Warren's probate records we know she and three children were living in Hancock County, Georgia, so Mary would have been about 22.

There is no way to be certain of the date Mary found herself as part of Jeremiah's human property, looking at the census records it could have been by 1830 or even as early as 1820.*

[1820 & 1830 U.S. Census from Ancestry.com]

After Mary was mentioned twice early in Jeremiah's probate records she disappears from direct sight until we find her living near one of Jeremiah's executors, John Graybill, in Smith County, Texas, in the 1870 census.

The simplest explanation for that fact is that Graybill probably transferred Mary to his property sometime after 1837; he was still identified as Jeremiah's executor in Georgia's property tax digest lists for 1840 but only one enslaved person was included in the estate.**

[Detail of Militia District Number: 101; Year : 1840. Ancestry.com. Georgia, Property Tax Digests, 1793-1892 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Georgia Tax Digests [1890]. 140 volumes. Morrow, Georgia: Georgia Archives.]

If that's true Mary (who would have been 30 that year) could be one of two women listed in the 1840 U.S. Census.

Ten years later Mary is probably one of three enslaved women listed in the 1850 Slave Schedule for Hancock County, Georgia, most likely on lines 30 or 31.

[Township : District 101. 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.]

[Detail from aove]

Sometime between 1850 and the 1860 U.S. Census John Graybill moved his household to Rusk County, Texas,*** and here it's harder to locate Mary so I'm going to offer several possibilities.

[Township : Beat 8. 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.]

I think the two 52-year-old women listed on lines 13 and 14 are too old to refer to Mary, however the two 51-year-old women on  lines 4 and 8 are possibilities once we look at the Graybill household in 1860.

[Year: 1860; Census Place: Beat 8, Rusk, Texas; Roll: M653_1304; Page: 276; Family History Library Film: 805304. 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.]

I believe Camillus Graybill (1832-1899) is the badly scribbled slave owner listed on line 4--he was John Graybill's third son; Graybill's sister Elizabeth A. (the widow of Henry Saunders Jernigan) is obviously the person referred to on line 8. Neither of these people appear to have owned slaves in the previous censuses; I think it's quite possible that their human property came from John Graybill.

By the 1870 U.S. Census**** both John Graybill and Mary Warren were living very near each other in Smith County, just to the west of Rusk County. But does this proximity mean that there was any connection between them?

After John Graybill died in 1875 the inventory of his estate included a list of money he was owed and two of Mary's children are named: Daniel Warren (who had already paid $25 of his $63.36 debt, leaving a balance owed of $28.36) and Keziah Warren who owed "1 account" of $16.00.

[Texas, Probate Court (Smith County); Probate Place: Smith, Texas. Ancestry.com. Texas, Wills and Probate Records, 1833-1974 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Texas County, District and Probate Courts.]

Next time I'll focus on Mary Warren's children to see what we can find out about them in the various records available to us.


*An estimated 30% of slave children were separated from their families before they were ten. You can read more about what life was life for children born into slavery here and here.
**If there was only one enslaved person still remaining on the property Jeremiah had set aside for the benefit of Mary and the rest of the people he hoped could be legally freed one day, it seems likely it would have been either Coleman or John left as a caretaker.
***I had hope to learn when Graybill moved to the state through the Texas Voter Registration Lists, 1867-1869 but his name isn't there, although his son C. Graybill is. But the Smith County records are particularly unhelpful since the entries state that everyone on the list had been in the state for 12 months and in the county for 6 months.
****I covered this census in last week's post here.



© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Mary Warren (About 1810 - 1885), Survivor & Matriarch - Part 1, Her Life in the Records

Mary (who adopted the surname Warren after Emancipation) was one of the seven enslaved people who I first learned about from my fifth great uncle Jeremiah Warren's probate records, first in the Item 10th of his will (unsuccessfully contested by his sister Susan and her husband Joseph Johnson) and then in the inventory of his estate which was done in September of 1832.

I've always wanted to know what happened to those people--were they ever free? Since I didn't find any other mention of them in later probate records available online, it seemed I would never know.

However, thanks to research shared by Marco, one of the descendants, we can trace Mary to Smith County, Texas.

[Family Search.com]

We know the names of her three children from the inventory: Sandal, Rhody and Francis.

[Family Search.com]

[Texas. Published by J.H. Colton & Co. No. 171 William St. New York. Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1855, by J.H. Colton & Co. ... New York (insets) Plan of Galveston Bay -- Plan of Sabine Lake. Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection]

The first record naming Mary Warren was in Starrville Beat in Smith County, Texas, in the 1870 U.S. Census. Her age is given as 61 so she was born about 1810 in Virginia. She was definitely the matriarch of the rest of the Warrens whose names that follow hers down the page. Only one of the three children who were named in the inventory is listed here--#27, 48-year-old Rhody Warren.

 [Year: 1870; Census Place: Starrville Beat, Smith, Texas; Roll: M593_1605; Page: 342B; Image: 187862; Family History Library Film: 553104. Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1870 U.S. census, population schedules. NARA microfilm publication M593, 1,761 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.Minnesota census schedules for 1870. NARA microfilm publication T132, 13 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. ]

Mary's name is at the top of the page and looking back at the previous one, you can see that she was "Keeping House" for her son 27-year old Daniel Warren, a farm laborer whose personal estate was valued at $220.

 [Year: 1870; Census Place: Starrville Beat, Smith, Texas; Roll: M593_1605; Page: 342B; Image: 187862]

And a significant clue to Mary's presence in Texas is the name of the head of the nearest household: John Graybill who along with Jesse G. Butts had been named executors of Jeremiah's will and put in charge of Mary and the other six people singled out in Item 10th. It's almost certain that Graybill brought Mary and her children to Texas when he left Hancock County, Georgia,

Ten years later Mary was living with her daughter Eliza* and other family members in Precinct 8 in Smith County.

[Year: 1880; Census Place: Smith, Texas; Roll: 1326; Family History Film: 1255326; Page: 304C; Enumeration District: 102. Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. 1880 U.S. Census Index provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints © Copyright 1999 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. Original data: Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. (NARA microfilm publication T9, 1,454 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

According to findagrave, Mary Warren died in 1885 and is buried in the Warren Chapel Cemetery in Smith County, Texas.

[Find A Grave Memorial# 137497116. Photo: Heather (#46785492)]

Next time I'll use John Graybill's records to see what can be inferred about Mary's life between 1832 and 1870.



*Although Eliza's occupation is listed as "Farming" I didn't find her name in the 1880 Non-Population Schedule for Agriculture.



© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

From the Probate Files: Jeremiah Warren's Executors vs. Jesse T.S. Warren

If you've been following Great Great Great Uncle Jeremiah Warren's probate in the blog, you may recall that in his will's seventh bequest was to his nephew (and my great great grandfather) Jesse T. Warren. Let's let the Georgia Supreme Court explain the situation:

The next paragraphs (which I'm not including here) quote from Jeremiah's Item 10th, then we're given more information about the matter which we weren't aware of.

I assume Lott Harton, his uncle by marriage to Susan Warren, was named his guardian in 1833 because John P. Phillips had moved his family which included young Jesse T. to Troup County, Georgia, by then.

Returning to 1848:

Jesse T. won his original suit and this appeal was brought by Jesse G. Butts and John Graybill. What follows in the text are several pages of legal argument brought by the lawyers for both sides. Fortunately the index to the book clearly states the result although if you're really interested you can find the whole thing here.

I wonder how much my ancestor received as a result of this decision?

We do know more about what happened to Amy's son Mat* who may be one of these two men listed in the 1850 Slave Schedule.

[Township : District 21. 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.]

All Supreme Court extracts in this post are taken from Georgia Reports, Volume 4, published in 1848 and available as a free e-book from Google.

That we know about this case is due to the generosity of our commenter Marco, who first directed my attention to it. Thanks again, Marco.

*We know this relationship from the inventory of Jeremiah's estate.



© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

From the Probate Files: What We Learned from Jeremiah Warren's Probate Records

I was initially surprised to see that the "heirs of Jesse Warren" (e.g. my great great grandfather J.T.S. Warren, who was 11 in 1837) got an equal share with the other legatees but rereading Item 10th of Jeremiah's will it's clear that was his uncle's wish (as expressed in the second part of it).

["Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-893G-8N1K?cc=1999178&wc=9SYB-7M3%3A267654601%2C267802801 : 20 May 2014), Hancock > image 78 of 376;

county probate courthouses, Georgia.]

All the residue of my property I will to be managed
by my executors for five years in a profitable manner having
regard to humanity in there treatment not hiring them to
any person who will abuse them if they cannot have
them freed by the Laws of our Country in that time are
to be equally divided by my brothers and sisters or
their heirs except Epps Warren and James Warren and Eliza-
beth Smith and Susan Johnson as I do not wish them
to have any part in said division.

Also from the above paragraph it seems that Jeremiah hoped that "the residue" of his slaves (those not specifically included in bequests to his relatives) could be freed but he set a five year time limit for the possibility. So that's why the appraisal and division of them took so long.

But regarding Coleman, Mary and her three children, Pat and John, there was no such limit.

["Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-893G-8N1K?cc=1999178&wc=9SYB-7M3%3A267654601%2C267802801 : 20 May 2014), Hancock > image 78 of 376;

county probate courthouses, Georgia.]

Item 10th    I give to Jesse G Butts and John Graybill jointly negroes
Coleman Mary and her three children and Pat and John
one choice Horse four Cows and Calves two beds and furna-
ture and all my household furnature except my clock two
Spinning Wheels two pare of Cards and four thousand dollars
in money if the money is in hand if not the amount in
notes the above also the Track of land I purchased of Parker
which land is not to be subject to be sold for the debts of
they or either of them nor shall the negroes be sold by them
or subject to pay any debt of there contracting the money
to be loaned out at Interest for the support of the negroes
and if they can at any time be freed by the laws of the
Country it is my will it shall be done

The only time I have found mention of Coleman, Mary and the other five people outside of Jeremiah's will is in the inventory of his estate. Thereafter they disappear from probate records (at least those available online).

As Jeremiah thought possible, immediately after his death there wasn't enough cash in the estate to cover the $4000 he directed be set aside "for the support of the negroes" but we can see in the Account Current of August 1834, Graybill and Butts had "retained" the money by then.

   "      am't retained by J. Graybill & Jesse G. Butts under the}

                        will of Jeremiah Warren**                                             }  4000.00

I think there must be more probate records that are either lost or not online because there should be documents relating to court approval of the proposed division, receipts from the six legatees and court orders winding up Jeremiah's probate and giving Graybill and Butts dismission from their responsibilities as executors.

However in the Georgia Property Tax Digest for Hancock County in 1840 I was able to find out a bit more.

[Militia District Number: 101; Year : 1840. Ancestry.com. Georgia, Property Tax Digests, 1793-1892 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Georgia Tax Digests [1890]. 140 volumes. Morrow, Georgia: Georgia Archives.]

[Detail of above]

So in tax records John Graybill was still acting as Executor for Jeremiah's estate which at this point was comprised of 1 slave* and 40 acres, presumably the Parker property referred to in Jeremiah's will. John Graybill himself was listed as the owner of 34 enslaved persons. (Jesse Butts is in the same Tax Digest but wasn't recorded as acting as executor for anyone.)

Since we know that Mary (who adopted the Warren surname after emancipation) appeared in the 1870 U.S. Census living very near John Graybill, in Smith County, Texas, next week I plan to look at his life.


*Who?


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.