Fantastic Find: Mississippi World War I Statement of Service Cards and Indices

Herbert W Porter's service card, from the Mississippi World War I Statement of Service Cards and Indices.

My great grandmother Letta Estella Porter's brother Herbert W "Dutch" Porter (1899-1975) was a World War I veteran, but I just couldn't find his service record anywhere (Ancestry, Fold3, or FamilySearch records).

He was a printer born in Mississippi and later lived in Chicago, where he also served as a chaplain for the Illinois Reserve Militia (World War II) association, but I suspected he didn't originally enlist in Illinois.  Following a lead in a Biloxi, Mississippi newspaper article that listed him among other local boys signing up with the Mississippi 2nd infantry (he spent much of his youth in nearby Gulfport), I went to the Mississippi archives, and sure enough found his service record!

This was a good reminder to me to always check state sources.

Thank you Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

A later picture of Herbert "Dutch" Porter with his nephew, sister Letta Estella's son Tracy Warren, in 1942, I think in Michigan. By this time Herbert was a Chicago resident.  Courtesy of Tracy Warren.

My cousin James Turnbull helpfully translated the service record:
Enlisted in National Guard Gulfport Mississippi

Company G 2nd Infantry Mississippi National Guard to Nov 19, 1917
Company D 140th Mechanized Battalion to March 6, 1918
Company D 142nd Mechanized Battalion to November 1, 1918
Company D 148th Mechanized Battalion to discharge

Private 1st Class 1/17
Corporal March 14 1918
Sargent June 21 1918



© 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.

Sunday Drive: Few Acres Jersey Farm - Bonita, California

My home was built in 1926 so it was 70 years old when I moved here. As necessary repairs and upgrades were completed over the years, some interesting objects were discovered. This battered milk bottle cap is an example:

[From my personal collection]

I loved the dairy's unpretentious name and always planned to do some research about it but somehow I never got around to it. So when the bottle cap re-surfaced during a junk drawer clean-out yesterday, I decided the time had come and here's what I found.

[Monday, May 4, 1931   Paper: Evening Tribune (San Diego, California)   Page: 25  

This entire product and/or portions thereof are copyrighted by NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004.

Source: GenealogyBank.com]

[Few Acres Jersey Farm - Bonita, California. Source: Chula Vista Public Library]

The proprietor F[rancis] M[arion} Brown was born in Kansas in 1891 and already had his dairy in 1917 when he registered for the World War I draft.

[Registration State: California; Registration County: San Diego; Roll: 1543758. Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: United States, Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. M1509, 4,582 rolls. Imaged from Family History Library microfilm.]

Here's a later picture of the farm trucks including a delivery van. I wonder if that's how the bottle cap got here?

[Few Acres Jersey Farm Trucks - Bonita, California. Source: Chula Vista Public Library]

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Dad Got His First Exact Y-DNA Match on 37 Markers

This TiP report is FamilyTreeDNA's time to the most recent common ancestor predictor tool. Solomon Hartley, my father's 3rd great grandfather, is our earliest known Hartley ancestor. 

And the last name is...Hogan, generally thought of as an Irish surname?

The tester didn't leave any other details as to ancestry or earliest known male ancestor, so I don't know if this represents a Hogan line or if the man was adopted?  So far this doesn't answer any questions as to my dad's Y-DNA.

What I do know is that my father was born a Hartley, his earliest known Hartley was Solomon Hartley (1775-1815), and that his haplogroup is R-M269.  I'm starting to suspect that Solomon Hartley's last name may have originally been something else.


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

From the Probate Files: The Watts Surname in Morgan County, Georgia - Part 2, Littleberry Watts

In last week's first dip into the Watts family in Morgan County in my attempt to discover who were the parents of Timney P. Watts Warren Phillips we were able to cross Conrad and Mary Watts off the list but a second look at the probate records turned up a name I'd missed before because the ink was badly faded: Little Berry Watts. And there are quite a few records for us to examine.

["Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G93L-5SFG?cc=1999178&wc=9SYY-MNY%3A267727201%2C267727202 : 20 May 2014), Morgan > image 18 of 441;

county probate courthouses, Georgia.]

Let's start at the beginning with the Administration Bond that required by the Probate Court in January/February 1818 because no will had been found.* The amount of the bond ($15,000) reflects the estimated value of the estate.

["Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L93L-59JG?cc=1999178&wc=9SYY-MNY%3A267727201%2C267727202 : 20 May 2014), Morgan > image 52 of 441;

county probate courthouses, Georgia.]

Georgia                    } Know all men by these presents that we
   Morgan County    } Archibald Watts & John Baliley & 
Thomas M Carton are held & firmly bound unto the Judges of the
Court of ordinary of Morgan County in the Sum of Fifteen
Thousand Dollars which payment well and truly to be paid maid
We bind our selves our heirs Do firmly by these presents Sealed
by our Seals and dated this 26 day of January 1818
Conditioned that the whereas the above bound Archibald
Watts & John Bailey have this day obtained letters of 
Administration [..?..] and the estate of Littleberry
Watts late of Said County Dec'd Now if the Said 
Archibald Wats & John Bailey Shal faith fully
discharge the Trust reposed in them as afore Said then
this obligation to be Void else to remain in full force
Leave
   Tert[?]                                  Archibald Watts  {Seal}
   John Nisbet Clk                   John Bailey  {Seal}
                                                Thomas M Carton  {Seal}

      Recorded the 26 January 1818
          John Nesbit Clk

Everything must have seemed in order after that and Littleberry's probate might have been expected to proceed but unfortunately Archibald Watts** died a few month later and another person had to post a bond before replacing him. That man was Pleasant Watts who later posted another bond as guardian of two orphan children of Littleberry Watts, Mahaley Ann and Emily Watts.

["Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-893L-5SS4?cc=1999178&wc=9SYY-MNY%3A267727201%2C267727202 : 20 May 2014), Morgan > image 73 of 441;

county probate courthouses, Georgia.]

I haven't seen any mention of any other minor children of Littleberry and since Timney would have been 15 in 1818 her name would have appeared in the probate files. Later records list annual expenses paid by Pleasant Watts on behalf of Mahaley and Emily only. On the basis of that I think we can add (this) Littleberry Watts to the list of people who aren't in my direct line.

As to the identity of the two other men who joined Archibald in the original Administration--there are several John Baileys to choose from in Morgan County and Watts men seemed to have a habit of choosing Bailey wives; I didn't locate a Thomas M. Carton.



*Much of the same wording is used today in the current bond form from the Georgia Probate Court.
**Possibly one of his Littleberry's sons or a brother but further research would be needed to confirm the relationship.



© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Two New Webinars on Using DNA at Legacy Family Tree Webinars

I am very pleased to see that Legacy Family Tree Webinars has two DNA webinars this week.

"Weaving DNA Test Results into a Proof Argument" (free for non-subscribers through February 28, 2017) presented by Karen Stanbary, is labeled as part of the webinar library's Board for Certification of Genealogists collection:

This lecture illustrates how to integrate each element of the Genealogical Proof Standard in a proof argument that relies heavily on autosomal DNA test results to answer a relationship research question. The examples are drawn from "Rafael Arriaga, A Mexican Father in Michigan: Autosomal DNA Helps Identify Paternity." National Genealogical Society Quarterly (June 2016).

"Finding Missing Persons With DNA Testing" (free for non-subscribers through March 1, 2017) presented by Diahan Southard:

Do you have an adoption in your line, or are you adopted yourself? Do you have an ancestor who just refuses to be found? DNA testing can be a very powerful tool to help fill in the blanks in your family tree. But how helpful can it really be when you know absolutely nothing about the person you are trying to find? As it turns out, with the right techniques and a careful search, your DNA might be able to tell you more than you think.

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Gone for Soldiers: Willet Orlando "Richard" or "Dick" Worden (1843 - 1912), Soldier, U.S. - Part 8

This week marks the 153rd anniversary of my great great grandfather Willet O. "Dick" Worden's enlistment in the Iowa Twenty-Fourth Infantry - Company G, the same company from which he had received a disability discharge the previous August at Carrollton, Louisiana after taking part in the Vicksburg Campaign. He had just turned 21.*

[Report of the Adjutant General and Acting Quartermaster General of the State of Iowa. Ancestry.com. U.S., Adjutant General Military Records, 1631-1976 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Original data: Various. Sacramento, California: California State Library.]

His 17-year-old brother John Henry Worden (whose name is just below his) had enlisted in the same company the previous month.

Since Dick Worden was a veteran he wouldn't have needed training so was probably sent directly to rejoin his comrade of Company G in Louisiana where it was preparing to take part in General Banks' joint Army/Navy Red River Campaign. Here's what a regimental history says about that period:

The first of the year 1864 found the regiment encamped at Algiers, weather very wet, the mud and water rendering the camp almost impassable to man or beast. Recollections of Helena came forcibly to the men’s minds, but the 14th of January, quarters were obtained in warehouses. The 21st, the command moved, and the next day encamped near the northern shore of Lake Pontchartrain, By Madisonville. This was the most pleasant camp the regiment ever had, after leaving Camp Strong, near Muscatine. It was evacuated on the evening of February 26. The regiment was reviewed by General McClernand at Algiers on the 3d of March, and received the special commendations of that officer.

From Algiers the Twenty-fourth moved by rail to Berwick Bay, and Thence on the 13th joined the Red River Expedition under General Banks.

[Detail showing Algiers, Louisiana from LLoyd's new map of the Mississippi River from Cairo to its mouth; New York H. H. Lloyd & Co. (1863?). Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Washington, D.C.]

Next month we'll pick up the story of the Red River Campaign which was later characterized by General Sherman as "one damn blunder from beginning to end."



*He was born on February 4, 1843.

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Fantastic Find: Walking Through History, Season 2

AncestryDNA predicts me to be more British Isles than anything else (71%), even more so than average natives to the area!

Both my paper trail and estimated ethnicity strongly point to Great Britain as my ancestral center of gravity.  It's not even clear to me what part of this area the bulk of my ancestors came from--they seem to be from everywhere!  So I'm interested in seeing what kind of events and places my ancestors experienced.

My mom just alerted me to the series "Walking Through History," presented by Time Team veteran Tony Robinson, which shows him walking around some of the more iconic and historic areas of Great Britain.  I've added the Season Two playlist here, starting with "The Path to Stonehenge."

© 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.

Sunday Drive: Berthoud Pass, Continental Divide - 1951

On the way to South Dakota to visit Grandpa Grenfell in 1951, we crossed the Continental Divide on U.S. Route 40 at Berthoud Pass. 

[From my personal collection]

If you're wondering what the bronze plaque on the stone monument says, here's a better photo courtesy of Pass Bagger.

[Berthoud Pass, Clear Creek County; Colorado Historic Markers.© 2008-16 Randy Bishop]

And here's a recent picture of the same site from Wikimedia Commons.

[By Algr (Taken with my camera) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0

(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons]

I have no recollection of this place at all, unlike our earlier stay in Manuelito.


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

My Dad's Perplexing Minor Native American DNA: Percentage by Chromosome

Ugh, the less than 1 percent Native American is so frustrating.  Why is it there??

There are some on GEDmatch who consider Eurogenes K36 as a good indicator of any real Native American DNA.  My father has an infuriatingly small amount of such DNA on this test, as with most of the ethnicity tests.

Eurogenes K36 as Amerindian 0.23%

I decided today to check out where Native American DNA resides by Chromosome (which you can conveniently do on GEDmatch).

Eurogenes K36 by Chromosome over 1 percent
Chromosome 4 (2.7%)
Chromosome 12 (2.7%)
Chromosome 18 (1.9%)

compared to other readings:

Eurogenes K13 by Chromosome over 1 percent
Chromosome 4 (1.5%)
Chromosome 6 (3.6%)
Chromosome 9 (1.4%)
Chromosome 12 (4.3%)
Chromosome 15 (1.5%)

Eurogenes EUtest V2 K15 by Chromosome over 1 percent
Chromosome 2 (2%)
Chromosome 6 (2.7%)
Chromosome 12 (3.6%)
Chromosome 15 (1.5%)

Dodecad World 9 by Chromosome over 1 percent
Chromosome 1 (1.3%)
Chromosome 2 (1.5%)
Chromosome 4 (2.4%)
Chromosome 6 (3.8%)
Chromosome 8 (1.7%)
Chromosome 12 (6.2%)
Chromosome 18 (2.3%)
Chromosome 22 (1.4%)

MDLP World-22 by Chromosome over 1 percent (combined Mesoamerican/Arctic-American/South-America Amerind)
Chromosome 1 (1.8%)
Chromosome 4 (1.7%)
Chromosome 6 (1.5%)
Chromosome 7 (4.0%)
Chromosome 12 (3.7%)
Chromosome 15 (4.1%)
Chromosome 16 (1.5%)
Chromosome 18 (2.6%)
Chromosome 22 (2.1%)

puntDNAL K15 by Chromosome over 1 percent
Chromosome 2 (1.2%)
Chromosome 6 (1.5%)
Chromosome 12 (1.3%)
Chromosome 18 (3.9%)
Chromosome 22 (2.5%)

Eurasia K14 by Chromosome over 1 percent (combined N Amerindian/S Amerindian)
Chromosome 2 (2.2%)
Chromosome 4 (3.4%)
Chromosome 5 (4.5%)
Chromosome 6 (1.1%)
Chromosome 8 (4.2%)
Chromosome 9 (4.2%)
Chromosome 11 (7.4%)
Chromosome 12 (4.8%)
Chromosome 13 (6.5%)
Chromosome 14 (2.9%)
Chromosome 16 (2.5%)
Chromosome 17 (7.8%)
Chromosome 18 (9.7%)
Chromosome 19 (10%)

I notice that Chromosome 12 always has some Native American.  Chromosomes 6 and 18 usually come up as well.  I wonder what I can now do with that information?



© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

From the Probate Files: The Watts Surname in Morgan County, Georgia - Part 1, Conrad Watts

According to her obituary in the Southern Christian Advocate, my great great great grandmother Timney P. Watts Warren Phillips was born in Morgan County, Georgia, in 1803. Since Morgan County wasn't carved out of Baldwin County* until 1807** that's not historically correct but in any case her family would have been living on what was then Georgia's western boundary facing what were still Creek Indian lands.

[Indian land cessions in the United States, comp. by Charles C. Royce, with introduction by Cyrus Thomas.

Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Washington, D.C.]

[Madison became the county seat of Morgan County in 1809.Detail of above map.]

The first U.S. Census in 1790 lists a number of Watts households in Georgia in several different counties (which may be helpful when and if we have a better idea of who we're looking for). There are no known records from Georgia for the 1810 U.S. Census.

I decided to look at Morgan County probate records to see if I could sort out the various Watts households.

There's a probate record for a Conrad Watts--an 1821 inventory and sale of his goods and property-- whose widow's name was Mary/Polly. I think this 1820 census record for Captain Pace's District in Morgan County probably refers to her.

[1820 U S Census; Census Place: Capt Paces District, Morgan, Georgia; Page: 148; NARA Roll: M33_10; Image: 85. Ancestry.com. 1820 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. 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.]

Because Mary Watts is named as the head of household, Conrad must have died before the date of the enumeration.*** And here's how Ancestry.com transcribes the members of her household by age. Timney would have been almost 17 at this point, a year or two older than the girls living with Mary so I think we can cross Conrad and Mary off the list of her potential parents.

[Ancestry.com]

When I began this post Conrad Watts was the first and only Watts I saw on the index to this set of probate records. But on closer inspection you can see there's another Watts near the top of the page which I overlooked because the ink recording his name is very faded: L[ittle] Berry Watts.

["Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-893G-79RL?cc=1999178&wc=9SYB-MNL%3A267727201%2C267750401 : 20 May 2014), Morgan > image 17 of 501;

county probate courthouses, Georgia.]

And there are a lot of probate records relating to Little Berry Watts' estate. Come back next week and we'll give him a closer look.




*Baldwin County was formed May 11, 1803, out of Creek Indian land that had been ceded in the 1802 Treaty of Fort Wilkinson.
**Along with Jones, Putnam and Randolph (later changed to Jasper) Counties.
***The "Free White Person - Males - 45 and over:' is probably an older relative who doesn't qualify as the household's head.


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Thursday Night Webinar from Legacy Family Tree Webinars: "Be Your Own Digital Archivist: Preserve Your Research"

The vast majority of my research resides at my tree on Ancestry.com.  Not printed out.  Not really saved elsewhere.

Bad, bad genealogist!

Cyndi Ingle (of the amazing Cyndi's List, which was already around when I first started my research in 1997) has some ideas in her webinar "Be Your Own Digital Archivist: Preserve Your Research" that I can start using to preserve my work for future generations to use:

Are you doing everything you can to safeguard your genealogical research? Your documents? Your data? Your scanned images? We will talk about the importance of taking charge of your own materials and making sure they aren't going to disappear.

Originally aired February 15, 2017.  Runs 1 hour 46 minutes.  Free to non-subscribers through February 22, 2017.


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Coleman Warren in Alabama, 1870 & 1880

Of the seven individuals my 3X great uncle Jeremiah Warren hoped to have freed some day, the person with the most uncommon name was Coleman so I decided to search for a Coleman Warren in the 1870 federal census. There turned out to be only one in the whole country. A resident of Lawrence County, Alabama, he was born in about 1804 and like Mary Warren* in Texas, he was born in Virginia. From Alabama marriage records we know that Coleman and Lottie (Wright) were newlyweds, having married on January 11th.

[Year: 1870; Census Place: Township 7 Range 7, Lawrence, Alabama; Roll: M593_22; Page: 89B; Image: 150538; Family History Library Film: 545521. 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.]

I don't know what connection to Coleman there was, if any, of the next household headed by Lucy Warren who was 45 and born in Alabama. There was an enslaved woman with that name in Jeremiah's estate who was described as "aged" in the 1837 appraisal of Jeremiah's slaves** so this Lucy can't be that person.

That same year Coleman Warren's name (#5 below) appeared in the Federal Census Non-Population Schedule for Agriculture so we know a bit more about what his 20-acre tenant farm was like. 

[Census Year: 1870; Census Place: Township 7, Lawrence, Alabama; Archive Collection Number: M279; Roll: 27; Page: 3; Line: 1; Schedule Type: Agriculture. Ancestry.com. U.S., Selected Federal Census Non-Population Schedules, 1850-1880 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.]

As of June 1, 1870, five years after emancipation, the personal estate of $10 (also listed on the census) represented the value of his farm equipment and he owned a horse, a mule, two milk cows and two "other cattle" as well as six pigs all of which were valued at $140.***

[Detail of above]

Ten years later Coleman and Lottie's were still in Lawrence County, Alabama, and their household had expanded to include a 4-year-old daughter Jane, George who was 5, and a 10-year-old adopted daughter G.A. Chenault.

["United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YB6-96RP?cc=1417683&wc=QZ2W-DMM%3A1589394746%2C1589394779%2C1589394776%2C1589396018 : 24 December 2015), Alabama > Lawrence > Moulton > image 15 of 27; citing NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.:

National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).]

The agricultural schedule in 1880 was much more detailed, giving us a clearer view of what Coleman's farm was like and even get an idea of what the family's diet was like.**

Fifteen years after Emancipation Coleman Warren was modestly successful as a hard-working tenant farmer, able to support his wife and their child along with a grandson and an adopted daughter. And he was a free man.

But the question remains--do these records refer to Jeremiah Warren's slave Coleman whom in 1832 he hoped would be freed some day? Sadly I don't think so.

It would be a great story but there's a serious problem. There happened to be a wealthy, slave-owning Warren family living in Lawrence County headed by Thomas Jackson Warren (1831-1906) who has no known connection to my Warren ancestors in Georgia and I think it's far more likely that this Coleman had formerly been his human property.

[Year: 1860; Census Place: Southern Division, Lawrence, Alabama; Roll: M653_12; Page: 914; Image: 272; Family History Library Film: 803012. 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.]

Coleman Warren died sometime between 1880 and 1900 when his widow Hattie was residing in the Lawrence County household of her daughter Lottie Jane and her husband Henry Gibson. She died in 1933.

*The identification of this Mary Warren as one of those seven people was made by her descendant Marco who had traced her back to John Graybill, one of Jeremiah;s executors, and shared his discovery with us.
**That Lucy formed part of Jeremiah's sister Mary (Polly) Warren.
***There's a problem with the second page of this schedule. When the enumerator turned the page to enter the rest of the information he got his lines mixed up and Coleman is clearly not the farmer referred to on line 10. Forty bales of cotton on 20 acres of land? No. But I can't be sure if Coleman was left out completely or if his totals are on line 4.

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

Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.]

****All the 1880 images are from Ancestry.com U.S., Selected Federal Census Non-Population Schedules, 1850-1880 [database on-line]. I've enlarged only those sections of the schedule that relate to Coleman's farm.






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