Monday Is for Mothers: Frances L Turner (1827 - 1851)

When my third great aunt Francis Turner married my third great uncle Benjamin Blanton Freeman in 1844 the couple weren't the first members of their respective families to be joined together. Her older sister Elizabeth "Lizzie" and his older brother Henry Hill "H.H." had gotten married four years earlier and were to become my great great grandparents through their daughter Nancy Elizabeth, known as Nanny.

[Ancestry.com. Georgia, Marriage Records From Select Counties, 1828-1978 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: County Marriage Records, 1828–1978. The Georgia Archives, Morrow, Georgia.]

Francis only appears in one Federal Census record (in 1850) and she'd already had three children in the six years of her marriage.

[Year: 1850; Census Place: Subdivision 65, Newton, Georgia; Roll: M432_79; Page: 514A; Image: 440. 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.]

Another son was born in December, 1850, and it's believed that Francis died around that time but no date is known for certain.

A few days ago Christine and I was discussing how quickly the names of parents can be forgotten and the 1925 Texas death certificate of her son Josephus (J.C.) is an example of that, although his information is more complete than some. His father's name is recognizable while his mother's given name is correct, but her maiden name is listed as "Tonnel". The informant is listed as "Hosp Chart" so perhaps J.C. was the source?

[Ancestry.com. Texas, Death Certificates, 1903-1982 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Texas Department of State Health Services. Texas Death Certificates, 1903–1982. Austin, Texas, USA.]

The parental information for his brother Richard Turner Freeman's death certificate two years later is complete and correct, undoubtedly due to the source of information being his cousin (and my great grandmother) Nanny Freeman (Mrs. James Chappell Warren).

[Ancestry.com. Texas, Death Certificates, 1903-1982 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Texas Department of State Health Services. Texas Death Certificates, 1903–1982. Austin, Texas, USA.]

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Nannie Freeman (1857-1934) Writes a Letter to Mrs Abernathy

From an issue of the Finders Keepers publication, page 90.

Page 91.

As more things are digitized and put online, more cool stuff pops up.  My 2nd great grandmother Nannie (Freeman) Warren's letter to a Mrs. Abernathy is an example.  I found it at The Portal to Texas History, under the search term "Nannie Warren" and located in the Johnson County Genealogical Society's publication, "Finders Keepers" Volume VIII No. 3 and 4, starting on page 90 of the publication.

Nannie discusses her frontier experience, moving from a comfortable existence in the Cotton Valley, Alabama area to the rustic Johnson County, Texas in 1870:

South Bend Texas

August 24 1931

Dear Mrs. Abernathy
I'm very much afraid you will be disappointed in what I can write of our frontier experience of the long ago.  My Father and Mother Henry Hill Freeman and Elizabeth Turner Freeman were born in Ga. where they were married in 1840.  A few years later they moved to Tuskegee Alabama where they lived until they moved to Texas.
They arrived in Johnson County Texas Sandflat community in Feb. 1870. situated about equally distant from Cleburne Alvarado and Grandview.  Father Mother and daughters made the trip on train and boat--spending one night on the gulf.  The sons, J.C. and W.W. Freeman, came in a wagon in company with five other wagons.  We left the train at Calvert to complete the way in wagons as that was as far as the rail road extended.  There I heard my first cursing--the driver of the freight wagon cursing his mules.  We left a community of cultured people with lovely homes, fine churches and excellent schools--said to be an exceptionally good neighborhood.  At Sandflat we found few neighbors, primitive social companionship, inferior schools, poor church facilities, log cabins and many other provoking or laughable surprises according as one took them.  The country was being changed from a cattle range to homes and farms--some very small farms had been made a? log cabin with an enormous fireplace served both for church and school at Sandflat during winter, and brush arbors, or church services during summer.  Really the schools were very inferior often the teachers incapable and terms short.  The houses were open the seats uncomfortable.  It was not until time brought changes that our community produced some very fine people--none that I can recall that have achieved high honors but many good substantial citizens.  The farm wagons were the only conveyance for travel. At church everybody met, the people generally were helpful and kind--a custom I'm told always present in new settlements.  We got our mail from Cleburne until years later Cuba post office was established in the Millican and Donevant surveys.  Improving it was a task indeed--wire fencing had not come, rails from the trees had to be made for fencing, wells dug--land plowed with ox teams etc etc but the country was every new and healthy and every body was suffering almost the same inconveniences.  Our cotton had to be carried to the nearest railroad station at first over one hundred miles, which moved and got nearer as the years went.  When it was marketed supplies for family use were brought back.  Our family was always given somewhat to reading--news papers even taken and read and the church paper always.  We also had a lot of books.  Oh yes we had plenty singing schools where the young people met and sang and planned to get married.
I recall some of the people are found on arrival--The Laramores-Boatwright Boyd, Byars, Harrison, Powel and others.
My father was an intelligent christian gentleman and his influence for good was felt in the upbuilding of the community.  He attended faithfully to his church obligations and I think a church was hardly built in an adjoining neighborhood during his life there without a contribution from him--regardless of the denomin[ation].  I surely believe that if your own fine father was present he would bear me out in what I've said as my Father and he were each very appreciative of the other.  Mrs Abernathy Mary (my daughter) suggests that I tell you that our school seats were puncheons (I don't know how to spell it) and how we entertained our beaux in such small houses but we got married any way.  I think you will be tired of this and will close, with kindest regards,
Mrs. Nannie Warren
(nee Miss Nannie Freeman)

When Nannie wrote this she was a widow (husband James Chappell Warren Sr had died in 1924) and lived with her youngest child, Mary (Warren) Nance (1899-1973) and her family.  Her first child, Mattie Lizzie Warren, had died in 1889 and her son James Chappell Warren Jr (my great grandfather) had died in 1923 (his child Tracy Warren, my biological grandfather, was living with his mother Letta Estella Porter and her family in Dallas, Texas).  Nannie's other son, Hill Freeman Warren (1891-1956), was a physician in New London, Connecticut.





© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Henry Hill "H.H." Freeman (1815 - 1887), Farmer

This paternal great great grandfather was born in Clarke County,* Georgia, but his family moved to Jasper County when he was very young. His father Josiah Freeman died when Henry was only nine years old and his mother Elizabeth Jordan Freeman, who never remarried, retained possession of the "Land & Plantation" where they were living.

[Map Of The State of Georgia Prepared from actual Surveys and other Documents for Eleazer Early By Daniel Sturges. Entered According to Act of Congress by Eleazer Early Proprietor. Engraved by Saml. Harrison 1818. Published & Sold By Eleazer Early Savannah Georgia and By John Melish & Samuel Harrison Philadelphia. Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.]

On November 12, 1840, H.H. and Elizabeth "Lizzie" W. Turner were married in Newton County and continued living in Georgia until about 1845 when they and their two oldest children, daughters Mary James (b. 1842) and Narcissa (b.1844), moved to Cotton Valley in Macon County, Alabama, part of a Black Belt Region known for its dark rich soil. Of their eventual nine children, my great grandmother Nancy Elizabeth "Nannie" Freeman Chappell Warren (1857-1934) was their second youngest.

[Alabama. Entered ... 1842 by Sidney E. Morse and Samuel Breese ... New York. (New York: Published by Harper & Brothers, 1845).

Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.]

In the 1850 U.S. Census for Macon County, H.H. listed real estate assets at $1000 and his occupation was "Farmer." Three little boys have been added to the family and there's a carpenter named Robert Good living with the family. Henry's name is not listed among the slave holders in the separate Slave Schedules of that enumeration.

[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.]

Lizzie's father Richard Turner died in 1852 in Newton County, Georgia, and besides his bequest to her, H.H. was able to buy two of his father-in-law's slaves on credit and they're probably among the seven enslaved persons listed in the Freeman household in the 1855 Alabama State Census.

["Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1971-30463-12657-62?cc=1999178 : 20 May 2014), Newton > Returns 1850-1856 vol 5-6 > image 233 of 665; county probate courthouses, Georgia.]

[Ancestry.com. Alabama State Census, 1820-1866 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. 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.]

The year before the start of the Civil War we can see how H.H., still a farmer, had increased the his holdings to $3000 Real Estate and $3000 Personal Estate (most of which would have represented the value of his slaves).**

[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.]

However we do know details about H.H.'s farm from the 1860 Federal Census Non-Population Schedule for Agriculture which I have excerpted below so that his entry is the last one showing.

[Locality : Southern Division. Ancestry.com. U.S., Selected Federal Census Non-Population Schedules, 1850-1880 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.]

Compare the 18 bales of cotton grown by H.H. in Alabama with the 40 bales produced in the same year by another of my great great grandfathers, J.T.S. Warren*** whose farming operations in Cass County, Texas, relied on the labor of 19 enslaved persons.

I have found no record suggesting that H.H. served in the Confederate Army but his oldest son, 16-year old Tom, enlisted as a private in Company H, 45th Alabama Infantry in 1862, was wounded on October 12th of the same year and died shortly afterward. The family was almost certainly in residence in Macon County when Union forces attacked the railroad lines (read about that here).

Back in Georgia, H.H.'s mother died on June 25, 1865, barely two months after Lee's surrender at Appomattox.

The Freemans remained in Macon County until the autumn of 1869 when they, together with a bunch of their kin, set out to make a new life for themselves in Johnson County, Texas, where H.H. bought 320 acres in December of that year.

[Colton's New Map of the State of Texas. Complied from J. D. Cordova's Large Map. (inset) Plan of the Northern Part of Texas. Plan of Galveston Bay. Plan of Sabine Lake. Published By G. W & C. B. Colton & Co. No. 172 William St. New York.

Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.]

In the 1870 U.S. Census for Johnson County, we can see the effect the Civil War had on the fortunes of the Freemans. H.H.'s personal estate had shrunk to $350. Five of the children were still living at home; 22-year old Josiah was farming with his father. Second-oldest daughter Narcissa and her husband John A. McBride and their young family were living nearby.

[Year: 1870; Census Place: Precinct 2, Hill, Texas. Township : Precinct 2. 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.]

Ten years later the 1880 U.S. Census for Johnson County showed the Freeman household had expanded--four of H.H. and Lizzie's children were still living with them (and William was farming with his father), but now farm laborers and servants (and their children) had been added.

[Year: 1880; Census Place: Johnson, Texas; Roll: 1313; Family History Film: 1255313; Page: 261A; Enumeration District: 081. All of Justice Precinct No. 1 out of the corporation of Cleburne and SouthW. of Cleburne and Weatherford County Road and the Cleburne and Grandview County Road. 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. 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.]

New additions to the household include a 40-year old Mulatto servant Salina Prickard and her two children, Anna W. (7) and Charles Guy (5), William C. Carmichael, a 29-year old White farm laborer, Elizabeth Baker, a 35-year old Black servant with three children, Adaline (7), Ellen (5) and Thomas (3), and two more White farm laborers, 20-year old Stephen H. Hester and 27-year old James H. Brandon. From the number of employees that have been added, I think it's safe to assume that the Freemans have prospered in intervening decade.

After serving as Johnson County Commissioner in 1880-1882, 1884-1886, 72-year old H.H. died of pneumonia on December 29, 1887, and was buried in the Cleburne Memorial Cemetery.

*Possibly near Athens.
**Unfortunately I haven't been able to locate the relevant Slave Schedule for 1860 so we don't know how many there were.
***J.T.S. became their daughter Nannie's father-in-law when she married his son James Chappell Warren in 1885.

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Where Were My Ancestors About 1796? Abraham Bradley's Map of the United States: Part 2

This is a continuation of my post earlier this week using Abraham Bradley's postal map of 1796.  This is just an exercise to get a handle on where all of my American ancestors were during the Federalist Era.  I can already see the fatal flaw of adding ancestors by going up and down my tree as opposed to grouping by location--for instance, I actually have a lot of people who were in the western Pennsylvania area, but there will be separate maps for the family groups in this iteration because they are on different branches of my tree.  I will put together a more concise version at a later date.

In Bertie County, North Carolina, possibly in the Salmon Creek area, John H Hardy, 23, was married to his first wife, Jamima Wilson, and they had a toddler Etheldred.  Jamima would die in the next year.  John's mother Sarah Sowell, 63, had been widowed 3 years before when her husband William Hardy died, and she would be listed in the 1800 Federal Census as head of household in Bertie County, North Carolina.   John's future second wife, Elizabeth Ward, 21, daughter of Thomas Ward (who had died the year before at about age 60) and Pheraby Sowell, about 47.  John Hardy and Elizabeth Ward were distant cousins--their mothers were both descendants of Richard Sowell (born c. 1659).

John Chappell, 33, had moved to Georgia probably in the mid to late 1780's from Sussex County, Virginia, likely with his parents, Revolutionary veteran John C Chappell, 58, and Nancy "Nannie" Harrison, 55.  Like Jesse Warren Sr he was in the area that would become Hancock County, Georgia. John and his wife, Sarah "Sallie" P Heath, 25, had several small children by the time the map was made.  Sallie was the daughter of Valley Forge veteran Abraham Heath, 56, and Winnifred "Winny" (??), 50, who had moved from Surry County, Virginia to Burke/Warren County, Georgia 10 years earlier.
Josiah Freeman, 33, was likely in Oglethorpe County, Georgia with his first wife, Susannah Hawkins, and at least 5 small children.  He had likely moved to Georgia sometime between 1786 and 1790.  He was originally from Virginia, possibly Sussex or Surry counties.  His parents William Freeman, 58, and Sarah Williams(??), about 56, were in Surry County, North Carolina, and may have originally been from Surry County, Virginia.  All these Surry counties!!  It gets confusing.  Elizabeth Jordan, Josiah's second wife, was only about 9 in 1796.  I have not yet figured out who Elizabeth's parents were.  Elizabeth was born in either Georgia or possibly South Carolina.
Richard Turner, 17, had been born in Cascade, Pittsylvania, Virginia, and had moved with his family to Wilkes County, Georgia (part of which became Lincoln County) when he was about 5.  His parents, Shadrack Turner and Margaret Hill, were both about 45.  Mary Henderson, 15, would marry Richard about 3 years later in Wilkes or Lincoln County.  She had Virginia as place of birth on the 1850 and 1860 Censuses, but I have not yet been able to determine who her parents were, although there were numerous Henderson families in Elbert County (neighbor county to both Wilkes and Lincoln) at the time she would have married Richard.

William Porter was born in May 1796 in Sheffield, Caledonia, Vermont, to Benjamin Porter, 24, and Lydia Wilcox, 21.  It is not clear why they were there, as they had married in Surry, Cheshire, New Hampshire the year before, and were back there by the 1800 federal census.  Benjamin's widowed mother Esther Carpenter, 57, allegedly didn't die until 1827 in Lyme, Grafton, NH, but apparently didn't head a household in the censuses and probably lived with one of her adult children.  Lydia's parents, physician Obediah Willcox, 72, and Sarah Talcott, 61, were likely living in Surry, Cheshire, New Hampshire.
Joshua Shepard, 43, and Lucia "Lucy" Farnsworth, 34, were living in Alstead, Cheshire, New Hampshire.  Joshua's parents, Jonathan Shepard, 87, and Love Palmer, 79, had divorced 32 years earlier (about 1764), and had both subsequently remarried.  Love had married a Mr. Heard or Herrick (date unknown), and she died 23 July 1796 in Alstead, Cheshire, New Hampshire.  Jonathan had married Mary Underwood in 1765 and lived in Windsor, Windsor, Vermont, where he died 2 years after this map was made (26 March 1798).  Lucy's parents, Thomas Farnsworth, 65, and Elizabeth Davis, 68, also lived in Alstead (they had moved there sometime between 1776 and 1790).








© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Hat Tip: The Legal Genealogist Says "Read the Directions"

The Legal Genealogist's Judy G. Russell recently encouraged her readers to read the directions (.PDF) that the Federal census enumerators had to read, so I did.  Actually, I've looked at them before, but I always see something new that I hadn't noticed before whenever I review them.

This time I realized the 1850 and 1860 slave schedules included a column to indicate slaves who had escaped within the year!  How could I have missed that? It's not like these are complicated forms.

But it is very satisfying to see the evidence that some were escaping.  I'm over here cheering them on.

And this lead me to discover that this affected some of my own ancestors. A close look at this 1860 US slave schedule in Georgia shows that my ancestress Mary (Henderson) Turner had lost her one slave (a 48 year old mulatto woman) and son Shadrack Turner had lost a total of 18.  Other neighbors were having the same problem.  That is something I didn't realize I was seeing before.

This is exciting, because I do know that Mary got 3 slaves from her husband in his will in 1851 in Newton County, Georgia:

""I give unto my beloved wife Mary Turner, during her natural life or widowhood Charles a negro man, Viney a negro woman and Mourning a negro woman."**"

So I'm not certain, but the runaway woman may have possibly been named Viney or Mourning.  I tried looking through the Georgia Historic Newspapers: Milledgeville database to see if the Turners advertised for these lost slaves, but that site is running really slowly and I will have to follow up on this lead later.


So it really does pay to read the instructions.  Even, maybe especially, if you have been working with these records for a while.  It is easy to get lazy and complacent.




**"Georgia, Probate Records, 1742-1990," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-30463-13550-21?cc=1999178&wc=9SBS-YW5:267728901,267884801 : accessed 30 March 2015), Newton - Wills 1823-1871 vol 1-2 - image 167 of 350; county probate courthouses, Georgia.


© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Soon to be Sherman's Neckties: The Montgomery and West Point Railroad

The Montgomery and West Point Railroad (M and W P RR).  My ancestors Timney (Watts) Warren Phillips, Henry Hill Freeman, his wife Elizabeth (Turner) Freeman, and their daughter Nannie Freeman, among other relations, were in Cotton Valley at this time.  Closeup from "Colton's Alabama" by Joseph Hutchins Colton, published in New York by Colton and Co. c. 1861, from the W. S. Hoole Special Collections Library, available through Alabama Maps. 

If you don't know where Cotton Valley, Macon County, Alabama is, just think Tuskegee (now famous for its university, George Washington Carter, and courageous airmen), which is about 10 miles directly up the road.  Macon county had two railroads crossing through about 1861, the Mobile and Girard Railroad, and the Montgomery and West Point Railroad.  Not surprisingly, the main crop in this county was cotton.

The railway (found between Montgomery and La Grange) in context with other Confederate railroads.  Railroads of the Confederacy, from The West Point atlas of the Civil War / compiled by the Department of Military Art and Engineering, the United States Military Academy; chief editor, Vincent J. Esposito. Image from wikipedia.

"Local News Items: Company D," Columbus Daily Enquirer (Columbus, Georgia), 9 Apr 1861, issue 165, vol III, page 3; digital images, GenealogyBank (http://www.genealogybank.com/ : accessed 1 Sep 2015).

Since it could transport soldiers and supplies, the M and W P R.R. was targeted for destruction by the Union during the Civil War.  According to the Wikipedia article:

During the Civil War, the railroad was raided in July 1864 by 2,500 Union cavalry troops under the command of Lovell Rousseau. Staged out of Decatur, Alabama, Rousseau's force managed to take or burn a large quantity of supplies at Opelika, to destroy 30 miles of track, and to burn railroad stations and warehouses at Montgomery and West Point, by July 17.[2]
In April 1865 a far more destructive raid, Wilson's Raid, wrecked all of the remaining rolling stock of the railroad.[3] After the war, the railroad was repaired and reopened for traffic. The M&WP was merged into the Western Railway of Alabama in 1870.

Destroying the railroad tracks included tying the metal into what became known as Sherman's neckties, which ideally left the material unrepairable.

"Atlanta, Georgia. Sherman's men destroying railroad," photographer George N. Barnard, from negatives : glass, stereograph, wet collodion, Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/item/cwp2003005432/PP/ : accessed 1 Sep 2015).

A much more exciting depiction of Sherman's men destroying a railroad.
Felix Darley and Slexander Ritchie, "Sherman's March to the Sea," digital image from engraving, 1868, Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/item/2003679761/ : accessed 1 Sep 2015).

Since we didn't grow up knowing this side of the family (my mom was adopted), I unfortunately have no family stories that were passed down to me about my ancestors' experience with this part of the Civil War.  Timney died in December 1863.  Henry Hill Freeman was on the Macon County census list in 1866, so I think he and his family were likely in the area during the destruction of the railway.

I couldn't find Alabama newspaper articles covering these events, but Georgia still had functioning newspapers:

"Raid on the Montgomery and West Point Railroad," 29 Jul 1864, Macon Telegraph (Macon, Georgia), issue 1360, page 2; digital images, GenealogyBank (http://www.genealogybank.com/ : accessed 1 Sep 2015).

cont'd from above

By 1865, the Boston Evening Transcript reported the following:

"Gen. Wilson's Raid in Georgia," 1 May 1865, Boston Evening Transcript (Boston, Massachusetts), page 4, col. 2; digital images, GenealogyBank (http://www.genealogybank.com/ : accessed 1 Sep 2015). 

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Mary Henderson (About 1781 - After 1860)

The records we have tell us very little directly about this paternal great great great grandmother; most of what we do know is from inference, since only the head of each household was named in federal census records before 1850.

Although we aren't sure who her parents were, we know that Mary was born in Virginia and her family was living in Georgia when she married Richard Turner in Wilkes County*, probably about 1799 because their first child was born the following year.

Unfortunately Richard Turner is an extremely common name and we haven't identified the right one in U.S. Census records until 1820 by which time the family was living in Jasper County, Georgia, now numbering thirteen free white persons and three slaves. Five members of the household were engaged in agriculture.

[Ancestry.com. 1820 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Fourth Census of the United States, 1820. (NARA microfilm publication M33, 142 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

In the next two U.S. Census enumerations, the Turner family expanded its holdings in human property from seven in 1830 to twelve in 1840** by which time they were in Newton County, which had been created in 1821 out of parts of Henry, Jasper and Walton Counties.

At last in the 1850 U.S. Census, Mary had her own listing which names her birthplace as Virginia.

[Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. 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.]

Beginning with this census, "Slave Inhabitants" were enumerated but not named on a separate schedule. Richard Turner was listed as the owner of fifteen persons--four adult males, four adult females and seven children no older than ten.

[Ancestry.com. 1850 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules [database on-line]. 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.]

In his will signed on January 3, 1851, and presented in court for probate on April 5, 1852, Richard Turner's first bequest was to ensure that his "beloved Wife Mary Turner" had a comfortable home "during her natural life or widowhood." To that end he not only gave her household and kitchen furniture but also three slaves: "Charles a negro man, Viney a negro woman and Mourning a negro woman" along with "horses, cows and hogs."

["Georgia, Probate Records, 1742-1990," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-30463-13550-21?cc=1999178&wc=9SBS-YW5:267728901,267884801 : accessed 28 April 2015), Newton > Wills 1823-1871 vol 1-2 > image 167 of 350; county probate courthouses, Georgia.]

Richard's estate was valued at $10,479.49 in the appraisal filed with the court on April 14, 1852. Charles was judged to be worth $500; Viney, $450; and Mourning $100.

The final record we have referring to Mary Turner is on the 1860 U.S. Census - Slave Schedule for Pike County, Georgia, where S. Turner (almost certainly her son Shadrack) is named as her agent in regard to two enslaved persons. Charles is undoubtedly the 53 year old mulatto man but we don't know if the 48 year old mulatto woman is Viney or Mourning.

[Ancestry.com. 1860 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules [database on-line]. 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.]

Mary is not part of Shadrack's household in Pike County in the U.S. Census for that year and I haven't been able to find any record for her anywhere else.

We don't know when or where Mary Turner died, nor do we know where either she or Richard are buried.

*Possibly in the part of Wilkes that is now Lincoln County.
**You can see these census records in my post about their daughter Lizzie Turner Freeman.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Elizabeth W. "Lizzie" Turner (1823 - 1890)

Unlike those of my other ancestors, this paternal great great grandmother's gravestone erected by her children in Cleburne Memorial Cemetery in Johnson County, Texas, tells us a lot about her, confirming what we find in the usual records.

[Created by: Weldon Collins, Find A Grave Memorial# 102531895]

Her parents, Richard Turner and Mary Henderson, were both Virginia natives whose families had moved to Georgia sometime after the end of the Revolution. Richard and Mary were married in Wilkes County* in about 1799 and that's where their oldest children were born. However by 1811 the Turners had moved to Jasper County where Elizabeth W. was born on January 27, 1823, and was counted in the 1830 U.S. Census as a free white female 5 - 10. There were 18 people in Richard Turners' household, seven of them slaves.

[Ancestry.com. 1830 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. 

Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Fifth Census of the United States, 1830. (NARA microfilm publication M19, 201 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record ]

Since Lizzie was still single at the time of the 1840 U.S. Census, she's one of the 2 free white females 15-20 enumerated in her father's Newton County household which now included 12 slaves.

[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.]

On November 20, 1840, Elizabeth W. Turner and Henry H. Freeman were married by Elisha G. Crawford, Justice of the Peace for Newton County.

[Ancesrty.com. Georgia, Marriage Records From Select Counties, 1828-1978 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: County Marriage Records, 1828–1978. The Georgia Archives, Morrow, Georgia.]

After their two oldest daughters, Mary James (1842-1900) and Narcissa A. (1844-1871) were born, the Freemans moved to Cotton Valley, Macon County, in the fertile Black Belt region of Alabama in about 1845. Their oldest son, Thomas D. Freeman was born there as were the rest of their nine children including my great grandmother Nancy Elizabeth (1857-1934)**.

The 1850 U.S. Census shows the Freeman family, H.H., Lizzie and their five children. A 23-year old Tennessee-born carpenter is staying with them at the time of the enumeration. The 1850 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules for the district and the Alabama State Census for the same year do not show the Freeman household owning any slaves.

[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. Alabama State Census, 1820-1866 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA. 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.]

Lizzie's father died in early 1852 in back in Newton County and in his will he left her $750 to be held in trust by her brother-in-law Benjamin Freeman***, something he did for all his daughters' bequests so that their inheritance would be preserved for them and their children and not become the property of their husbands. Her mother was still alive at this point but sadly we don't know when or where she died.

["Georgia, Probate Records, 1742-1990," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-30463-13550-21?cc=1999178&wc=9SBS-YW5:267728901,267884801 : accessed 30 March 2015), Newton > Wills 1823-1871 vol 1-2 > image 167 of 350; county probate courthouses, Georgia.]

In January of 1853, H.H. bought two of his late father-in-law's 17 slaves, John for $1,160 and Ann for $922, who were sold by the estate "on a credit untill [sic] the 25th of Dec 1853." Presumably they are among the seven enslaved people listed in the 1855 Alabama State Census.

[Ancestry.com. Alabama State Census, 1820-1866 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. 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.]

Lizzie must have been pregnant with her youngest child at the time of the 1860 U.S. Census as Julia was born in October of that year. Note that the enumerator got both parents' names wrong (Hugh H. and Mrs. Ellen) but their children's names are correct.

[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.]

During the Civil War, H.H. and Lizzie's oldest boy, 16-year old Tom, enlisted as a private in Company H, 45th Alabama Infantry in 1862 and was wounded on October 12th of the same year at the Battle of Perryville in Kentucky. He died shortly afterward.

The next record we have for the Freemans is the 1866 Alabama State Census which finds them still in Macon County.

[Ancestry.com. Alabama State Census, 1820-1866 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA. 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.]

In the Fall of 1869, the Freeman family, together with a lot of their relatives, left Alabama forever and moved to Johnson County, Texas, where in December of that year H.H. bought 320 acres.

The 1870 U.S. Census shows Lizzie with five of her children still at home and daughter Narcissa and husband John A. McBride and their two children living next door. Josiah, her oldest surviving son, is farming with his father.

[Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA. 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.]

By the 1880 U.S. Census, it's William's turn to farm with H.H. New additions to the household include a 40-year old Mulatto servant Salina Prickard and her two children, Anna W. (7) and Charles Guy (5), William C. Carmichael, a 29-year old White farm laborer, Elizabeth Baker, a 35-year old Black servant with three children, Adaline (7), Ellen (5) and Thomas (3), and two more White farm laborers, 20-year old Stephen H. Hester and 27-year old James H. Brandon. From the number of employees that have been added, I think it's safe to assume that the Freemans have prospered in intervening decade.

[Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA.© Copyright 1999 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. 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.]

After serving as Johnson County Commissioner in 1880-1882, 1884-1886, 72-year old H.H. died of pneumonia on December 29, 1887, and was buried in the Cleburne Memorial Cemetery.

A little over 2 years later, Lizzie joined him.

Dallas Morning News Jan 24, 1890 

Cleburne, Tex., Jan 23.--- Mrs. E. W. Freeman, aged 67 years, died last night at her residence seven miles east of the city. She was in her usual health upon retiring last night. When her daughter went to call her to breakfast this morning she found her dead in her bed. She had been troubled with heart disease for several years, The remains will be interred in the Cleburne Cemetery.

Her will was probated on March 5, 1890, and her estate, valued at $4,000, was divided among her four surviving children: Josiah C., Watts William (W.W.), Mary (Glass) and Nanny (Warren). Although there were four heirs, the estate was divided into 5 shares with W.W. receiving two shares.

I would like to know what her middle initial W. stands for. Maybe someday I will.

*Possibly in what is now Lincoln County.
**Known as Nanny she married J.T.S. Warren.
***Also one of the named executors of Richard Turner's will.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.