52 Ancestors - Week 12 - New Cousin, granddaughter of Nola Mae Yeakley

This is really exciting. I just found an entry on Family Search made by Jan. It's about my grandfather, Ernest Marvin Yeakley and says:

"Marvin lived with Dr. George Washington Yeakley and was educated by him. Marvin became a teacher, superintendent of schools in Iowa Park, Texas. He was owner of a newspaper in Brinkley, Oklahoma and a newspaper printer. "

That's something I didn't know so I wrote to her. She responded with some pictures of the family that I hadn't seen.

This is a picture of her grandmother, Nola Mae Yeakley. She was the sister of my grandfather. My cousin Christine looked very much like her. She had dark hair and eyes too. As a child, I always wondered who Christine looked like but now I know. 

Jan has a lot of family information so we can share what we know. It is very exciting to find someone else who has part of the family history and is willing to share! 

52 Ancestors - Week 11 - William Christian Shearer III 1759-1830

4th cousin DNA match with lgsM63. William Christian Shearer III was my 3rd great grandfather.

This side of the family is well documented but it doesn't tell us who they were as people. There is also a discrepancy on the birth and death dates that needs further research. Even the headstone does not have a death year but the birth year agrees with my records. It's interesting that it also shows both wives.

William Christian Shearer III married Sallie Walters. It was his 2nd marriage. Sallie and William had Solomon Shearer, my 2nd great grandfather.

He was an educated man and well liked in his community. He ran a transportation line moving household goods, machinery, and merchandise. He setup and conducted the first Bible study class in Wayne County, Kentucky and it was once said that all the teachers in the county were Shearer descendants.

52 Ancestors - Week 10 - William F. "Billy" Morris 1764-1840

Changing direction!

While I wait for Mayflower confirmation, I am going to start looking at my Ancestry DNA results. My 1st and 2nd cousins are a no brainer. We speak frequently and share the same passion for genealogy but the list shows five 3rd cousins and the relationship to them. 

Abitapumpkin comes up as a 3rd cousin match and Tdsimmons1950 comes up as a 4th cousin with William F. "Billy" Morris as our shared ancestor. However, it seems I have more information then they do. 

Billy Morris was my 4th great grandfather. He was the husband of Charlotte "Lottie" Warner. 

We actually have some documentation on Billy Morris. This is an excerpt from the book Kinsmen All: Descendants of Wettenhall Warner and Related Families. Pg 409. 

"Billy Morris, of Methodist faith, served as a Deputy Sheriff in St. Tammany Parish in 1811 & 1812. He lived in and ran a water mill on the Bogue Chitto on the Louisiana/Mississippi State Line.  He and his sons were cattlemen. Billy fought in the Battle of New Orleans along with his son, Whit, in the 12th-13th Consolidate LA militia, under the command of the brother-in-law, Thomas C. Warner. Served from Dec 1814 - March 1815, under the command of Capt. Thomas Bickham and Major John Wright. Also fighting in this Regiment were Willis Brumfield, Edwin Fussell (brother of two of his sons-in-law) and Stephen Richardson (his son-in-law). His son, Chess, served in the Civil War. 

Billy's daughter, Betsy and her 2nd husband, Tom Brassfield, lived and operated a mill on Lee's Creek (sometimes called Brassfield Creek).  Betsy Creek in Washington Parish is named after Betsy and is on the old homestead of her father-in-law, Hardy Richardson."

We also know he was a confederate soldier in the 12th Regiment, Louisiana Infantry in the Civil War. He enlisted as a Private and mustered our as a Corporal. 

52 Ancestors - Week 9 - Rachel Tinsley

My 6th great grandmother.

Rachel Tinsley was born in Antrim Parish, Virginia in 1718.

She married John Cargill in 1739 at the age of 21 and died on April 9, 1777 at the age of 59.

There are 252 connections on Ancestry.com I have not reviewed yet but for now, that's all the information I have. Like all of us researching family, it is a long and involved process. It took two years to really understand my great grandmother on my father's side and just when I thought I had it down, two pieces of important information appeared to change what I thought I knew. I know eventually I will find more clues but with that many people with her in their trees leads me to believe I am still on the right track to the Mayflower.

Now I begin to wonder if any of us have correct information. I guess the easiest way to determine what is correct is to mail in my descendant list and see if John and Rachel Cargill are the correct descendants from the Mayflower. There is a lot of information on John Cargill but there are several Cargill's that come up when researching.

Since I am doing 52 weeks and this is week 9 - I can change my focus and wait for the California Mayflower Society to get back to me.

One point that makes me suspect that there might be an error her is the death date for John and Rachel. It is the same date and it appears to be on everyone's tree. In his will, he left his wife comfortable. The will was dated 1777 and they both died on April 9, 1777. Looks a little fishy to me and there is no documentation to confirm the dates.

52 Ancestors - Week 8 - Elizabeth Sarah Cargill

Elizabeth Sarah is my 5th great grandmother. At this point, I am related to a lot more people. There are over 300 connections for her on Ancestry.com. 

John Cargill and Rachel Tinsley had 10 children. John was very fair in dividing up his property. He made sure that his "beloved Rachel" got what she needed to survive without him but for some reason it appears that he and Rachel died on the same day. I can't find any information that says differently but I suspect the information may be incorrect. 

The other thing I find interesting is that Elizabeth is not mentioned in the will. She was married to Wettenhall Warner and the land went to him. Wettenhall was the Justice of the Peace in the Orangeburgh Distict during the Revolutionary War. There is a side note here, it is mentioned that he may be a possible descendant of Pocahontas. There is no information to back that up so it's one of those legends that gets passed down. It may or may not be even close to the truth.

Wettenhall and Elizabeth were charter members of the oldest Baptist Church in South Carolina. Several of their sons and son-in-laws were ministers.

Elizabeth was born in Lunenburg, Virginia on February 4, 1749. She married Wettenhall at the age of 17 on July 29, 1766.

She passed away on March 17, 1787 at the age of 38. She had given birth to fraternal twin on March 5, 1787 so one has to guess that her death at such a young age was related to the birth of the twins although there is no documentation to support the theory. What a loss for her children.    

52 Ancestors - Week 7 - Charlotte "Lottie" Warner

Charlotte "Lottie" Warner is my 4th great grandmother. The further back I go, the more connections I find. On Ancestry.com, I have connected with 300 more people who also have her in their tree. That good but they don't seem to have much more information than I have. Still, it tells me that I am related to a whole lot more people.

Charlotte was born in Craven, South Carolina on July 10, 1775. I don't have a copy of the birth record but there is a transcribed note:

"The following bible record is found on the LAGenWeb Archives at: http://files.usgwarchives,net/la/state/bible/ This record is "bible1-4.txt" in the list of records Bible Records Published by Louisiana Genealogical and Historical Society."

The letter was written by J. T. Warner, son of Thomas Cargill Warner, brother of Charlotte.

It says: "Their daughter Charlotte born April 10, 1775 and married Billy Morris. They settled on Pearl River southeast Louisiana."

The note goes on to talk about their children, one of course, was Mary B. Morris. The records indicate that she died in 1826 in St. Tammany, Louisiana.

Now, on to Elizabeth Sarah Cargill, Charlotte's mother.

The A to Z challenge is coming up - April 2014

I did this challenge last year with my California blog. I did a California destination for each letter of the alphabet. On the challenge, you post every day but Sunday which works out to 26 days.

This year, I am doing my Yeakley/Jones family. I am already doing the 52 ancestors in 52 weeks which is hard to do because while I know things about this side of the family, I am woefully ignorant about ancestors beyond my immediate family. Fortunately, I have had two cousins miraculously appear this week which has given me new material to research.

When I originally decided to do the A-Z, I thought I'd go back in time and pick ancestors who had interesting stories. Then it occurred to me, with all my aunts and uncles gone, it would be a good idea to put down what I remembered about them. My perspective is that of a child growing up with these people. 

The problem with genealogy and family history that we tend to overlook the obvious. We quite often lament that we didn't ask the questions when we had the chance. With this challenge, I have the opportunity to share what I remember and the photos I have. So for part of the 26 days, you will get to meet my family. It probably won't be all that interesting as they were all nice people (for the most part). No one divorced and they were all happily married when they died.

What I am going to do for the other 18 days is open to what comes my way. Ernest Marvin Yeakley and Nancy Ellen Jones had 8 children. Some of them I knew well and some, not so much. Still, that gives future family historians a little bit of personality to go along with the boring and sterile birth and death dates for my aunts and uncles. 

52 Ancestors - Week 6 - Mary B "Polly" Morris

Mary B "Polly" Morris, my 3rd great grandmother. This is uncharted territory and I don't know much about her.

She was born in 1798 in Craven, South Carolina. She married William B. Fussell in September of 1821 in Louisiana. She moved around a lot because in 1840, they were living in Rankin, Mississippi.

The first five children were born in Louisiana and the other eight were born in Mississippi. They lived in Mississippi until at least the 1850 census but in 1876, when she died at the age of 78, they were living in Woodville, Texas.

There is a write up in a book about the family that mentions that she was the wife of William B. Fussell. That's an encouraging tidbit because it verifies the marriage record.

Even more exciting, while I was writing this, I got my DNA results back from Ancestry.com. I find several 3rd and 4th cousins with a DNA match who are also related to Mary Morris and they have some sources I have not seen. Tells me I am on the right track.

With that, I am moving to Charlotte "Lottie" Warner, the next in line to the Mayflower.