The Mitchell Line

Dancing with the Ancestors is a fascinating experience of highs and lows, brick walls, and paths that seem to stretch out before me without end. Such has been my experience when researching my Mitchell Line!

 

For the longest time, brick walls were all I seemed to encounter when searching for information on my Mitchell Line past my Great Grandfather Charles A. Mitchell.

 

I had hoped to find his death certificate and discover the names of his parents. Hope is a funny thing. I did find his death certificate but . . .

 

. . . only the surnames of his parents - Mitchell and Forrest - were listed. No! First! Names!

 

Great! Fine! Dandy! So much for that angle.

 

Did I give up? Of course not! I kept searching and searching and searching and searching and . . .

 

. . . then I came across a section in a book about Warren County, TN that mentioned the Forrest family. I read through the section and found the following notation: Martha Forrest married William Mitchell!

 

WOO-HOO!

 

Well, my excitement was short lived, because all that information did was cause a bunch more confusion as I searched Census Records and found . . .

 

The 1870 and 1880 Warren County, TN Census Records for a William Mitchell with a wife named Martha. Good! In fact, on the 1870 Census Record they had a son named Charles! Great! On the 1880 record, just initials, but for Charles were the initials C. A.! Ooooooohhhh, hot potato!! But . . .

 

. . . Charles had siblings and my father always told me that his Grandpa Charlie Mitchell was an only child!

 

Still, I copied the records because something told me that this definitely was his family. I came up with all kinds of scenarios in my mind why my Great Grandfather would tell people he was an only child, even though he obviously had siblings. I finally decided on the theory that he married outside the family religion and his family shunned him! I know, great concept.

 

Flash forward perhaps a year later and I'm in CA visiting my cousin, going through a trunk of family pictures and we came across a picture of Great Grandpa Charlie sitting next to a man who is obviously his brother. I say to my cousin "Dad said Grandpa Charlie was an only child". My cousin laughs, looks at me and says "No, he wasn't, he had siblings, and at least one of them went to Texas".

 

WOO-HOO!

 

So, now those 1870 and 1880 Census Records begin to have more meaning. Still, don't know for 100% positive.

 

Flash forward to a few months later, after I've submitted by DNA to Ancestry and I have a match with someone who is a fourth cousin. The only connection: Richard Albert Forrest, father of Martha Forrest who married William Mitchell. Woo-hoo! I have confirmation on the Forrest Line.

 

Flash forward to Thursday, May 30, 2013 and doing a search on FamilySearch, I come across a death certificate for William F. Mitchell, son of William Mitchell and Martha Forrest!

 

WOO-HOO! I've found my great grandfather's brother.

 

Move forward one day to Friday, May 31, 2013 and I go out to Blogger and find I have a comment on my post The Mitchell Line . . .

 

. . . that confirms Charles A. Mitchel, my great grandfather, is the son of William C. Mitchell.

 

. . . that confirms he had two sisters Martha Matilda and Amanda Josephine, names that match up to the 1870 and 1880 Warren County, TN Census Records I had found.

 

. . . that confirms he married Martha Tate, which I already knew because, well, she's my great grandmother!

 

The comment also told me the trail from TN to TX and the counties my great-grandfathers siblings lived in, one of which was Grayson County, TX. I have since found the Census Record for William F. Mitchell . . . living in Grayson County, TX at the same time as his sisters Martha Matilda Mitchell-Bunch and Amanda Josephine Mitchell-Offill!

 

WOO-HOO!

 

So, now, I can provide a bit more information about my Mitchell line . . .

 

William C. Mitchell married Martha Forrest, daughter of Richard Albert Forrest and Sarah Matlock, sometime in the late 1830s. They had the following children . . .

• Nancy Mitchell - born about 1840, most likely in Warren County, TN
• Samuel Mitchell - born about 1843, most likely in Warren County, TN
• Elizabeth Mitchell - born about 1846, most likely in Warren County, TN
• Mary Jane Mitchell - born about 1852, most likely in Alabama
• William F. Mitchell - born July 5, 1855 in Alabama
• Charles A. Mitchell - born October 4, 1858 in DeKalb County, Alabama
• Martha Matilda Mitchell - born December 27, 1863 in Alabama
• Amanda Josephine - born January 1865 in Alabama

From what I found out about William C. Mitchell from a descendant through his daughter Martha Matilda Mitchell-Bunch, the family briefly moved to Alabama and then, as confirmed by the 1870 and 1880 Census Records, returned to Warren, County, TN. Sometime between 1880 and 1883, William C., his daughters Mattie (Matilda) and Josephine, and most likely his son William F., migrated to Blanco County, Texas. My personal guess is it was in 1880, not long after the Census was taken in June since Charles A. was living at home when the Census was taken, but had moved into the Tate Boarding House a bit later that year, most likely because his family had moved to Texas.

 

Both Martha Matilda and Amanda Josephine met and married their husbands, Erasamus Berry Bunch and John Oliver Offil respectively, in Blanco County. Martha Forrest-Mitchell died prior to 1893, since William C. Mitchell married Mrs. O. Hopper in Blanco County, Texas in 1893. William F. married Sallie (surname unknown) at some point, a woman twenty-five years his junior!

 

Charles A. Mitchell married Martha Tate, daughter of James Douglas and Mary Jane (McGregor) Tate, the owners of the Tate Boarding House where he was living, on December 28, 1880 in McMinnville, Warren County, Tennessee. He and Martha had the following children . . .

• John Francis Mitchell - born November 3, 1884 in McMinnville, Warren County, Tennessee; died May 27, 1959, Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee.
• Maud Thompson-Mitchell - born October 1, 1902 in Tennessee; died August 3, 1921 in Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee. Maud was Charles and Martha's adopted daughter, the child of a good friend whose wife died and he was unable to raise his daughter.

Martha's father James Douglas Tate died August 20, 1902. Her mother died October 3, 1911. Sometime soon after her mother's death, she and Charles sold the Tate House to the Brown family and moved to Nashville, Tennessee where they remained until they died.

 

Charles died on august 29, 1927 and Martha on January 7, 1948.

 

John Francis Mitchell married Osie Lee Smith, daughter of John Leonard Smith and Martha Ann Lane, on June 25, 1913 at the home of Dr. A. M. Trawick on Murphy Avenue in Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee. They had the following children . . .

• Mary Frances Mitchell - born April 29, 1914 in Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee; died August 23, 1996 in Hendersonville, Sumner County, Tennessee
• Vernon Smith Mitchell - born January 21, 1916 in Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee; died September 10, 2004 in Crossville, Cumberland County, Tennessee . . . just months after celebrating 50 years of marriage to his wife Mary Cecilia Sweat!

Of course, the Mitchell line doesn't end there. Mary Frances had two children with her husband John Shannon Long, and those children had children, as did their children. Vernon and Cecilia had four children and five grandchildren.

 

So, when dancing with the ancestors never give up, and switch up your search patterns, and start a blog to detail the various surnames in your family. If not for my blog, I wouldn't have the confirmation of what I suspected, which is now truth!

 

 

 

 

Charles A. Mitchell

Charles A. Mitchell is my great-grandfather. He was the son of William C. Mitchell and Martha Forrest, who was the daughter of Richard Albert Forrest and Sarah Matlock. Charles was born in DeKalb County, Alabama on October 4, 1858. He married Martha Ann Tate on December 28, 1880 in Warren County, Tennessee. They had one son, John Francis Mitchell. They adopted Maud Thompson after the death of her mother. Charles died August 29, 1927.

For whatever reason, Charles did not maintain contact with his siblings. From what I know for sure, he had a brother William F. Mitchell, and two sisters Martha Matilda Mitchell and Amanda Josephine Mitchell . . . more on them in a bit. If Census Records I've found are correct, he also had a brother named Samuel. 

The following comment was left on my post The Mitchell Line: 

I am a descendant of William C. Mitchell by his daughter Martha Matilda (Mattie) Mitchell Bunch. William C. Mitchell left Tennessee briefly in 1860 to live in Alabama and then returned to Warren County, Tennessee. Sometime between 1880 and 1883, he came to Texas to Blanco County... where Mattie Mitchell Bunch and her sister Amanda Josephine Mitchell Offill were married. William also remarried at that time to a Mrs. O. Hopper. Just two weeks ago I was in Blanco County to look up probate records for William C. Mitchell and Mrs. O Mitchell. Both were deemed in early 1900's to be unable to support themselves. Sadly William C. Mitchell at age of 90 was declared a lunatic and sent to Austin, Texas to the insane asylum. Mattie and her sister are in Grayson County, Texas married with children in 1900 and then on to Navarro County, Texas. William C. Mitchell did have a son named Charles A. Mitchell and somewhere I do have a picture of him upon which is written Mattie's brother, Charles A. Mitchell. I can also confirm his marriage to Martha Tate. 

If the person who made that comment could contact me at scott(dot)mitchell04(at)gmail(dot)com . . . I would absolutely love to get in touch with you about our family, and perhaps share pictures. Also, please see pictures below . . .

Charles A. Mitchell & Brother

Martha (Tate) & Charles A. Mitchell

Martha (Tate) & Charles A. Mitchell

It's been a banner week this week in actually verifying the siblings of my great-grandfather. When dancing with the ancestors, luck often pays the greatest part in finding more information. Okay, having a blog helps as well, because - as evidenced by the above comment - you just never know when a family member might stumble across your blog and leave the comment of a lifetime.

S

Martha Ann Lane

My paternal great grandmother was Martha Ann Lane, daughter of Hardin Smith Lane and Emmaline C. Halterman. She was born August 22, 1858 (the same year Minnesota, as the 32nd state, is admitted to the Union) in Warren County, Tennessee. She was the second of four children. Her father died in the Battle of Stones River on December 31, 1862 in Murfreesboro, TN during the Civil War. Her youngest brother - Hardin Smith Jr. - was born three months after the death of their father. Her mother Emmaline, unlike many woman of that time, did not remarry. In 1870, Emmaline and her children were living next door to her brother-in-law Richard Brooks Lane, his second wife Linda, and his children from his first marriage, and her mother-in-law Jane Campbell-Lane.

On the 1870 Census, Martha is living two doors down from . . . her future husband and his first wife! Yes, a wee bit odd, but that was life back in the day! And, little did he know it at the time, but John Leonard Smith was actually living next door to his future mother in law Jane Campbell-Lane.

At age 24, Martha Ann Lane married John Leonard Smith and became stepmother to his five children: Lucy, Mollie, Francis, Euphemia, and Herman. The children ranged in age from 2 to 12. Within a year, the youngest - Herman - would die.

Martha and John Leonard had six children - Olive Mae, Willie Octavia, Eunice Irene, Loveless L., Osie Lee (my grandmother), and Clara - two of which (Eunice and Loveless) would die before reaching the age of three. Of all her children, Octavia would live the longest, and outlive all her siblings. She died in 1984 at age 97.

Four Generations:

Mary Frances Mitchell (baby), Osie Lee Smith-Mitchell, Martha Ann Lane-Smith, Emmaline Halterman-Lane

In 1917, Martha's husband would die. In 1935, her oldest daughter. In 1945, Martha would pass from this life as well.

Elizabeth Hagan-Mattingly-Boone

Life isn't always easy when dancing with the ancestors. Those pesky brick walls just seem to build themselves up in a nanosecond. I mean, one minute, I'm searching along, discovery after discovery, and then in the next instant BAM - an Emeril moment at best - there's a brick wall blocking my path and towering high into the sky and, seemingly, deep into the ground.

Such is my dilemma with 4 x Great Grandma Elizabeth Hagan-Mattingly-Boone! 

Why? Oh, I'm so glad you asked that question. Okay, you probably didn't ask that question, but, it is an appropriate question.

The why of the situation is fairly simple: everything I've found out about her suggests that Benjamin Hagan, son of Thomas and Sarah (Mudd) Hagan is her father, and that Monica Blandford is her mother, but . . . other information suggests that a Randolph Hagan is her father.

Great! Fine! Dandy!

So, I had to take a step back from the situation and try and figure out Great-Great-Great-Great Grandma's parentage. It goes something like this . . .

Elizabeth Hagan - born about 1771 or between 1790 and 1800.

• 1830 Census - lists her age between 50 - 59, which suggests a birth year between 1770 and 1780, which would correspond with the born about 1771 information that is predominant regarding her birth
• 1840 Census - lists her age between 40 - 49, which suggests a birth year between 1790 and 1800. Okay, so, like many women before her, she lied about her age to the Census Taker! Okay, probably not, but, wrong birth dates on the Census Records are not uncommon. Still, this puts a different spin on her potential year of birth.

So, I had to look at things a bit differently. If Elizabeth was born in 1771 . . . 

• she would have been 41 years old in 1812 when she married her first husband Joseph Mattingly
• she would have been 43 years old in 1814 when she gave birth to her first child Joseph Mattingly II
• she would have been 46 years old in 1817 when, after the death of her first husband, she married Walter Boone
• she would have been 49 years old in 1820 when she gave birth to her second child, my 3 x great grandpa, William Henry Boone

Okay, I'm sorry, but giving birth at age 49 in the year 1820 was probably not going to happen and, even if it did, the chance of a) a healthy baby and b) the mother surviving the birth, were highly unlikely.

So, if looking at the 1840 Census Record, and giving her a birth year between 1790 and 1800 . . .

• she would have been between 12 and 22 years old in 1812 when she married her first husband Joseph Mattingly. 
• she would have been between 14 and 24 years old in 1814 when she gave birth to her first child Joseph Mattingly II
• she would have been between 17 and 27 years old in 1817 when, after the death of her first husband, she married Walter Boone
• she would have been between 20 - 30 years old in 1820 when she gave birth to her second child, my 3 x great grandpa, William Henry Boone

These age ranges make much more sense, especially if you consider she was born in 1795, which would make her ages . . .

• 17 in 1812
• 19 in 1814
• 22 in 1817
• 25 in 1820

These ages definitely make a lot more sense, than having her born in 1771 and popping out a second child, no complications or anything, in 1820.

Still, no proof one way or another, and her age doesn't answer the question of her parentage.

What does that leave me? Well, for now, looking at three potential parents: Benjamin and Monica (Blandford) Hagan, Benjaim (jr.) and Nancy Ann (Cissell) Hagan, and Randolph and Aliege (Hagan) Hagan

Benjamin and Monica (Blandford) Hagan

• In 1771, would have been 50 and 47 respectively. It is doubtful Monica was having children at age 47 in the year 1771
• In 1795, Benjamin and Monica would have been 74 and 71 respectively, so . . .
• In 1810, in Nelson County, Kentucky, a document lists the heirs of Benjamin Hagan as: Nicholas, Edward, Wilfred, Elizabeth, Christopher, Rachel (Hagan) Beale, and Eleanor
• In an indenture document from 1810, Nelson County, Kentucky, the same heirs are listed
• A John C. Hagan (most likely John Christopher Hagan, son of Benjamin and Monica) signed the marriage bond between Elizabeth Hagan-Mattingly and Walter Boone. Since Benjamin and Monica were deceased by this time, and if they were Elizabeth's parents, it would fall on an older/younger brother to sign the marriage bond.
• Determination: depending on 4 x great grandmama's actual date of birth, Benjamin and Monica (Blandford) Hagan might or might not be her parents. 

Benjamin II and Nancy Ann (Cissell) Hagan

• They did not marry until 1804. If Elizabeth was their daughter, she would have been 7 at the oldest in 1812 when she married Joseph Mattingly.
• Determination: Benjamin II and Nancy Ann (Cissell) Hagan cannot by 4 x great-grandmother Elizabeth Hagan's parents.

Randolph and Aliege (Hagan) Hagan

• They were married in 1795. It is possible they could be Elizabeth's parents; however . . .
• In Randolph's last will and testament, he names all of his children and . . . Elizabeth is not one of the listed children, nor are the married names of any of his daughters Boone
• Determination: Randolph and Aliege (Hagan) Hagan cannot be 4 x great gran Elizabeth Hagan's parents

So, I'm back at that lovely brick well. 

The next step in the process is to figure out other potential Hagan parents - trust me, a lot to choose from, because the Hagan family took the biblical saying go forth, be fruitful and multiply quite seriously - for Elizabeth.

My next step was to look at the naming patterns. Trust me, this helps. Back in the day, the first born son was often named after the grandfather, and the second born after the son. So, I went to look at the naming of 4 x great grandpa Walter Boone's children by his first wife Mildred Edelen . . .

• Mary - name of Walter's mother, so named after grandma
• Charles - name of Walter's father, so named after grandpa
• John - name of Walter's grandfather, so named after great-grandpa
• Christopher - name of Mildred's father, so named after grandpa
• Henrietta - Walter had a brother named Henry
• Joseph - don't have a clue

As you can see, there is definitely a naming pattern here, so, at least to me, it made sense that perhaps there was a naming pattern with Walter and Elizabeth (Hagan-Mattingly) Boone's only child: William Henry Boone.

As I've already pointed out, Walter had a brother named Henry, but not one named William. Which . . .

. . . means my latest theory is that perhaps Elizabeth is the daughter of William Randolph Hagan. Now, I only have to figure out if a) there was a William Randolph Hagan, b) who his parents were and c) if he had a daughter Elizabeth. 

Oh, the joys of dancing with the ancestors and trying to solve the riddles left behind by, well, a bunch of dead people!!

Labeling Pictures

As anyone knows, or should knows, writing on pictures in pen is a definite no-no because, after time, the ink begins to a) fade or even worse b) fade through the pictures. And, as anyone dancing with the ancestors should know, labeling pictures is highly important because . . .

. . . after you die, yes, it's going to happen one day, someone is going to go through your stuff, find all these photos and they may or may not know the ancestors in the photo.

So, I have a process, which goes something like this . . .

Catherine Delana Langdon-Sweat

Oct 15, 1837 - Oct 15, 1925

Daughter of Roswell Lee & Chloe (Richradson) Langdon

Wife of Alexander Sweat

Great-Great Grandmother

That, is the label which will go on the back of the photo so that, someday in the far distant future, after I'm gone, my niece or nephews who inherit the photos will know that the photo in question is that of their 3 x great grandmother. Woo-hoo!

Yes, I know, should have thought of this sooner. Do you have any idea how many photos I'm going to have to take out of frames to place labels on the back of the photos? Far too many, dear readers, far too many.

So, when dancing with the ancestors, don't write on your photos, but label the photos so future generations will know the who-who of your ancestry.

Paper, Paper Everywhere

When dancing with the ancestors it is not possible to not accumulate multitudes of paper. Trust me on this one. Before you know it, you'll have paper, paper everywhere.

The first step in this paper not overwhelming your life, or the closet in my office, as the case may be, is to get some file folders and a sharpie! Any color will do. 

Then, you print off that Census Record for your 3 x great grandfather. Get a file folder and . . .

. . . label it!

For example ~ Maternal: Sweat

Now, this can get out of hand if you have a folder for every ancestor. The further back you go, the greater the number of ancestors. For me, I create a surname folder only, stick everything for members of that surname in the folder, and label as indicated above. Next, on the inside of the folder, I include the descent from that surname down to me.

So, for example, my Boarman line. The folder label would be ~ Maternal: Boarman

On the inside of the folder I would write out the descent as follows . . .

Boarman - Halswell

Boarman - Linle

Boarman - Pile

Boarman - Edelen

Boarman - Boone

Boone - Hagan

Boone - Hagan 

Boone - Duvall

Boone - Watson

Boone - Sweat

Sweat - Mitchell

So, when next I pull out that folder, I can easily trace the descent.

The second step of file storage is digital. SCAN EVERYTHING! Or, just save the file rather than printing it off and save a tree or two!!

Once you have everything in a digital format, you need to save it in some semblance of order so as not to drive yourself - short drive with me sometimes - insane trying to find the document you know you saved, but just can't find.

First, I create a Folder called: Family Tree

Then, I create four folders within that main folder using my grandparents surnames: Mitchell, Smith, Sweat, and Boone.

Now that I have the main branches of my family tree, I then create folders within those folders. For example . . .

Mitchell: Forrest, Tate, McGregor, McGee, Clendennin, etc. 

Smith: Lane, Halterman, Sevier, Campbell, etc.

Sweat: Morris, Langdon, Hare, Page, Hussey, etc. 

Boone: Watson, Duvall, Hagan, Edelen, Blandford, Bevan, Boarman, etc.

Anytime I find a document, picture, or whatever related to a particular family, I save it to the appropriate folder.

First, this makes things much more organized and easy to find. Second, when doing a blog post about a particular surname, or deciding to work on a family history book, the source information is in two locations: the paper file and the digital file.

I also save the digital files to three locations: hard drive, flash drive, and external hard drive. Better safe than sorry!

Last, but not least, is naming the files. You don't want to just save a file as 1850 Census Record or a picture as Tombstone. I actually do the following: James D. Tate - 1850 Warren County Census or James D. Tate - Tombstone. This way, I can easily go to whatever file I need at the moment, without having to open up a bunch of files to find what I'm looking for in the first place. Yes, I wasn't so good at labeling in the beginning. I learned from my mistakes. Ha!

So, when dancing with the ancestors with paper, paper, everywhere, organization is important!!

S

Ancestral Mysteries

Dancing With the Ancestors is rarely a dull endeavor. A person never knows what they might find as they dance into the past. Yes, a few nuts fall out of every family tree. There's a skeleton or four lurking here, there, and everywhere. It's an adventure. 

There are stumbling blocks, i.e., brick walls you can't seem to get around, along the way. Luckily, the family tree has more than one branch, so when one branch abruptly ends, there's always another branch to explore. 

I've had my share of abruptly ending branches in my quite extensive family tree. Frustrating, doesn't even begin to cover it when that happens. Still, with so many branches to explore, I just leap here, there, and everywhere, and, eventually, came back to that abruptly ending branch.

There are also mysteries . . .

• Why wasn't 2 x Great Grandmama Elizabeth Hall-Morris on the 1860 with her husband and children?
• What are the actual ages of 2 x Great Grandparents Alexander & Catherine (Langdon) Sweat? Why do they have different birth years on every Census Record?
• Why did Great Aunt Euphemia Smith marry multiple times?
• Who is the father of 2 x Great Grandpa James Douglas Tate?

On and on the mysteries appear before me as I dance with the ancestors. In many cases, bit by bit, I peel back the layers and discover some, if not all, of the answers.

Great-Great Grandmama Elizabeth Hall-Morris was actually at her parents house, who lived next door to her and her husband, when the census taker came to take the information. Thus, she appears on the record at her parents house, while her husband and their children appear on the census for her house. Mystery! Solved!

Great-Great Grandpa Alexander Sweat, from what I and a distant cousin have theorized, altered his age when the census takers came because he didn't want to go to war. He needed to be at least ten years older in order to avoid the Civil War draft so . . . he and his wife both lied about their ages, and never stopped lying. Great, talk about a skeleton in the family closet: Great-Great Grandpa Alexander Sweat was a draft dodger. Note to self: omit that fact from the family history book. Ha!

I don't have a clue why Great Aunt Euphemia married multiple times, but she did. At first, since she was on the 1900 census with her husband and children, but not the 1910, I thought she had died, until . . . I found a marriage record for her that stated she was divorced. The Horrors!! Ha! Then, every death notice for a member of her family seemed to have her with a different last night. Obviously, the woman could just not commit!

And now, the mystery that I probably won't ever solve, but have come to a definite conclusion about: the parentage of Great-Great Grandpa James Douglas Tate.

My belief has always been that, due to popular theories, he is not the son of John Tate and Leodicia Hogg-Tate, but rather their grandson. He was born in 1839. Leodicia, his alleged mother, was born in 1783. She would have been 56 when he was born. I seriously doubt, back in the 1800s, a woman was still having children at the age of 56. So, my theory has always been that James Douglas was the child of John and Leodicia's daughter Sarah (aka Sally) Tate. This supposition was upheld by the fact that in 1870, Sarah Tate was living with James and his family. 

Well, my mind being what it is, and traveling down varied paths as I attempt to reach a conclusion, suddenly hit upon another idea: What if Sarah/Sally was not in fact a child of John and Leodicia, but the widow of one of their sons? It would have made sense that, after the death of her husband, she moved in with his family, since that often happened back in the day. Then again, she could be his older sister-mother who had him out of wedlock. 

Still, my line of thinking now is that his father was a Tate, the son of John and Leodicia, who died prior to 1850. Sarah and her child, potentially children, moved in with Leodicia and, eventually, with her son James Douglas and his family. 

So, when dancing with the ancestors, don't let a mystery stump you, just keep digging away, even if you have to leap to other branches for a bit!

S