Who Do You Think You Are?

What a week this has been.  Not much time for genealogy research, but I’d been looking forward to seeing the premiere episode of “Who Do You Think You Are”.  So tonight, I put my computer aside to watch.  What a delightful episode!  I knew I’d enjoy the show, but I wasn’t prepared for how it awakened such a deep desire to understand my ancestors in the context of their time.

My research for awhile has focused on my Stephens line and I’ve been concentrating so fiercely on finding those documents and adding locations to my notes that I hadn’t taken the time to “look around” to see where I was.  My ancestor, Welcome Stephens, was born around 1779, probably in Henry Co, Virginia.  Virginia in the midst of the Revolutionary War!  Ten years before George Washington became president!  So many questions running through my mind tonight and now a new path to add to my research!

I’m looking forward to the journey!

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Family Friday – Andrew Stephens 1837 – 1920

Andrew Stephens – 1860 – 1880

Continuing my notes for Andrew Stephens, son of William Stephens.

1860 -  Census – Franklin Co, Alabama – Western Division

William Steavens – age 53, laborer, b. in North Carolina
Dorothy – age 47, b. in South Carolina
Polly A – age 19, b. in Mississippi
Betsy C – age 15, b. in Mississippi
Martha J – age 12, b. in Alabama
John G – age 10, b. in Alabama
James S – age 7, b. in Alabama
Andrew J – age 22, day labor, b. in Mississippi
Lucy – age 18, b. in Kentucky
Nancy E – age 1, b. in Missouri

1861 -  Death of Nancy E. Stephens, 9 June, 1861, Metcalfe Co, Kentucky  (born in Missouri)

1861 -  Birth of William Dudley Stephens, 13 October, 1861, Metcalfe Co, Kentucky

Civil War – I ordered the Pension file for Andrew J. Stephens of Russell County, but I believe the man in this record is a possible cousin of Andrew’s instead.  Where is MY Andrew?

1864 -  Birth of Mary Elizabeth, Sept. 1864, Metcalfe Co, Kentucky

1866 -  Birth of George Howard, 13 May, Kentucky

1870 -  Cannot find census records.

1870 -  Birth of Cornelius, Oct, Kentucky

1873 -  Birth of Cortez, 6 Jan, Kentucky

1875 -  Birth of Andrew Jackson, 10 Mar, Kentucky

1877 -  Birth of Uriah, 13 June, Kentucky

1879 -  Birth of Dock Garfield, March, Kentucky

1880 -  Census – Russell Co, Ky – ED 103   sheet 26

Stephens, Andrew, age 41, farming
Lucy, age 36
William D, age 18
Mary E, age 16
George H, age 14
Cornelius, age 9
Cortez, age 7
Andrew J, age 5
Uriah, age 3
Dock, age 1
Pollie, aunt, age 70

• Not being able to find the 1870 census is frustrating.  Did Andrew fight in the Civil War?  It seems likely, but where?  There is an Andrew J. Stephens from Russell Co. in the war, but his pension file shows that he is not the correct Andrew. Perhaps I should begin looking at the locations of uncles.  On the other hand, they could be near someone Lucy’s family, but I haven’t figured out who is in her line.
• Census records indicate that all of Andrew’s children were born in Kentucky, but I know that at least for a short period of time, Andrew was in Alabama.  With a 20 year gap between census records, it is hard to be certain. Dates of birth for Andrew’s children come from tombstones and/or WWI draft information.
• Andrew’s grandfather, Welcome, appears in area (Adair Co) tax records around 1812. Andrew’s father, William, arrived between 1860 and 1870.  Did William and Andrew come to the area together?  If so, why isn’t Andrew in the census?  Tax records that are available at my library end in 1858.  What other records might indicate the arrive of Andrew?

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Timeline Tuesday – Jan 5, 1898

Printed on Jan 5, 1898 in the Adair County News, but written Dec. 23, 1897.  50^th Wedding Anniversary of Benjamin and Elizabeth Vaughan.  Names included:

Benjamin T. Vaughan, Elizabeth (Helm) Vaughan, Elmer Vaughan, Logan Vaughan, William H. Vaughan, John Vaughan, Bart Vaughan, Ruth (Vaughan) Depew, Mark Depew, Alice (Vaughan) Sharp, W.T. Sharp

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Following Clues or Reinforcing Mistakes?

I’ve been researching my Stephens line from Russell County, Kentucky for years now, but I’ve only been doing DEEP research (more than census records and birth registries) for the last couple of months.  My very first information on my line came from the book “Russell County, Kentucky: history & families” which gave names, a few locations and some dates, but no sources.  Do a search of families trees on Ancestry and there is no shortage of people researching this same line and the majority of the information matches among every tree, but again, few to no sources.  And that’s fine, I don’t enter all of my non-Ancestry sources either.

So I use the information that I see in other trees as clues for places to look and I’ve really been hot on the trail of tax records and deeds, but obviously, the further back I get (currently back to around 1800) the harder it’s becoming to find records.  But when I do find a record, what I’m really saying is “yes, there is a man named Welcome Stephens in this county at this time”.  Is that really proof of anything?  I can say, there’s a Welcome in Wilkes Co in 1800 and he isn’t there in 1810, while there is a Welcome in Buncombe Co in 1810, but have I proven that they are the same man? 

 The dates and locations kind of match the various locations that different trees have for Welcome’s children, but do they have some source to prove a birth in this location, or are they assuming a child born around this date must have been born in this county because there’s a Welcome Stephens in that census or tax list?  Granted, there aren’t a TON of men named Welcome Stephens out there during this time period (unlike Williams who lurk behind every bush!) so I feel like I’m probably on the right track, but can I say I’ve proven it?

I LOVE collecting records.  Do I really need a scan of EVERY tax record over a 25 year span when very little of the information changes?  YES! The more records in a surname file, the more satisfied I feel with my research effort.  On top of that, if I already have the scan, then I don’t have to wonder if I ever looked at it or not.  But I’m not going to fool myself into thinking that a “fat file” means I’ve proven any relationships at all unless I have a record that proves a tie.  Does the fact that only 7 of 10 children are mentioned in a will mean that perhaps some of the children in my file aren’t REALLY part of Welcome’s family?  I wish I knew.  But I suppose that until I have some type of proof otherwise, I’ll just keep collecting records and hoping that those clues I’m chasing are based on some record that SOMEONE has seen somewhere!  If they can find it, then so can I!

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Family Friday – Andrew Stephens 1837 – 1920

Lots of snow here in Indiana this week, so I’ve done a ton of genealogy research and totally neglected everything else – including my blog!  I’m deep into research on Welcome Stephens, the father of William Stephens from my previous Family Friday posts.  But my research is not organized in a way that will let me post about it yet, so I’m moving on to William’s son, Andrew.

1837 – 1860

1837 -  Birth of Andrew Jackson Stephens in Mississippi, Aug. 6 – parents: William Stephens and Dorothy Wiggleton

1843 -  Birth of Lucy Stephens, Dec. 16

1849 -  Accd. to 1850 census, 1 year old Martha was born in Mississippi.  (There is no Cooke Co. in Mississippi.  I’m researching Tishomingo Co,  Mississippi.  See William’s notes.)

1850 -  Census – Marion Co, Alabama – District 14

                        William Stephens, age 44, farmer, value 100, b. in North Carolina
                        Dorothy – age 36, b. in South Carolina
                        George W – age 14, b. in Alabama
                        Andrew J – age 12, b. Mississippi
                        Mary Ann – age 8, b. in Mississippi
                        Caroline – age 5, b. in Mississippi
                        Martha J – age 1, b. in Mississippi

1850 -  State Census for Marion County, Alabama

George W, Andrew J – William – William – Mary Ann, Caroline, Martha J – Dorothy
     ages – (@14)       (@13)        (@37)    (@37)        (@8)         (@2)          (@1)        (@35)

1858 -  Marriage of Andrew Jackson Stephens and Lucy Stephens, 5 Apr, 1858 in Ripley Co, Missouri

1859 -  Birth of Nancy E. Stephens, around August.  Birthplace, Missouri.  Ripley Co? 

1860 -  Census – Franklin Co, Alabama – Western Division

                      

                        William Steavens – age 53, laborer, b. in North Carolina 
                        Dorothy – age 47, b. in South Carolina
                        Polly A – age 19, b. in Mississippi
                        Betsy C – age 15, b. in Mississippi
                        Martha J – age 12, b. in Alabama
                        John G – age 10, b. in Alabama
                        James S – age 7, b. in Alabama
                        Andrew J – age 22, day labor, b. in Mississippi
                        Lucy – age 18, b. in Kentucky
                        Nancy E – age 1, b. in Missouri

•  Why did Andrew go from Ripley Co, Missouri to Franklin Co, Alabama to Metcalfe Co, Kentucky within 2-3 years?  Does it have anything to do with Alabama seceding from the Union in 1861?  A peek ahead shows that Andrew and Lucy were in Kentucky by 1861.
• Did Andrew Stephens have family in Missouri?  Is that how he met Lucy Stephens?  Who were Lucy’s parents?

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Working It Wednesday – Tax Slips

I’m taking a bit of a turn this week.  I feel really good about the “regular” genealogy forms that I’ve created for my Genealogy Planner but this week, I’ve created something specifically to help my current research.  I don’t know if other researchers will find this as helpful, but I’m posting it anyway.

I’ve been working with a recently discovered cousin to find out all of the information we can on the various Stephens families in Russell County, Kentucky.  There is alot of information on the web about the Russell County Stephens, but very little of it contains sources, so we are collecting sources for everything that we can and using any other information as “hints” to help in our research.  Bottom line – no source means not confirmed.  We’ve collected tons of census records and we’re working on the vital records, but this family line goes back before census records included information forindividual family members.  So I’ve started looking at and analyzing tax records.  I’ve been working backward with the goal of determining when our Stephens family came to the Russell County area. We know they were in the area before Russell County was formed, so I’m also looking at Adair County – the parent for most of Russell County.

What I’ve discovered is that there are several Stephens families and they all seem to LOVE the name William!  In order to keep them separeated, I need to track them based on the information on the land that they were being taxed on.  Because I’m such a visual person, I’ve created slips that let me keep track of the year, the watercourse, number of acres and the names that the land was entered, surveyed and patented in.  I also have a box to help me group the names into families.  This should help me to be sure that I’m looking at the correct names as I work my way backward.  The Kentucky Secretary of State has an excellent web page on reading these early Kentucky tax records.  I learned a lot about these numbers that I’ve been giving myself a headache reading!

These pages will be kept in my planner, but not hole punched as I don’t plan to keep them in the planner for long.  Whenever I have a few free minutes, I’ll open the files that I keep on my flashdrive and fill out slips for the Stephens listings that I see.  Each page has 8 slips.  My plan is to cut apart the slips so that I can organize them into family groups through the years on my kitchen table and to make sure that each William stays with the correct family group.

The slips are meant to be filled out by hand as I look through the tax pages that I have scanned at my library, although the information could be typed in if I thought that would be helpful.  As I complete a sheet, I’ll cut the slips apart so that they can be arranged. After I feel confident that I know which Stephens men belong in my line, I’ll start looking for the deeds that go with each parcel of land.

Nothing fancy this week!  No border or anything, just a page to print out and copy, if you’d like.

Good luck in your research!
Lisa

Tax Record Slips

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Timeline Tuesday – Dec. 22, 1897

From the Adair County News, the following names were included in the weekly letter from Jamestown:  

E.O. Stone, Mrs. E.S. Falkenburg, Ida Triplett, Mrs. Acres, Emma Perryman, Mrs. O.B. Vaughan, Chas. Heyman, Berry Buster, Ella Payne, Willie Warren, Nona Winfrey, Mrs. James Wolford, S.A. Sampson, Sol Stone, Willis Acres, Judge Willis, Estus Barger, prof. N.W. Miller, J.F. Montgomery, Marshall Markham, J.W. Warren, Judge Falkenberg, J.H. Barger, Prof. Shelby Rowe, Prof. Huffaker, Judge A.P. Simpson, Amanda Stone.

Also included in this newspaper was an account of an interesting wedding that took place in a Den of Lions!  Enjoy them both!

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Timeline Tuesday – Dec. 8, 1897

From the Adair County News – Dec. 8, 1897

Russell County Kentucky names:  

Mrs. G.G. Jones, Ethel Patterson, Arthur Carter, Isa Dowell, Mrs. S.A. Gann, W.L. Dowell, Haidee Rowe, Mrs. T.J. Winfrey, Mrs. J.C. Walford, Pro. J.W. Warren, Stanley Baugh, Dr. A. Baugh, J. Shelby Rowe, Rev. Bell

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Family Friday – William Stephens part 2

William Stephens:  1813 – 1885

1850 – 1859

In 1850, there are 2 census records for this family.  The Federal Census for Marion Co, Alabama (just across the state line and slightly south of Tishomingo Co) shows William Stephens, age 44, farmer, value 100, b. in North Carolina; Dorothy – age 36, b. in South Carolina; George W – age 14, b. in Alabama; Andrew J – age 12, b. Mississippi; Mary Ann – age 8, b. in Mississippi; Caroline – age 5, b. in Mississippi and Martha J – age 1, b. in Mississippi. 

By 1860, Martha J. is listed as being born in Alabama, but because the birth of Martha would have been relatively new in the 1850 census, I believe Mississippi is correct, which would indicate a move from Mississippi to Alabama around 1849 or 1850. It is important to note that there is a 2^nd William Stephens family in Marion County as well.  In the Federal Census, the names and ages of all children are given.  In the State Census records, only the number of males and females are given.  The “William Stephens” in the State census has a total of 12 people in the household, while “W C Stephens” has 7 members, all of the appropriate age range for “my” William Stephens family. 

John G. Stephens was listed as 10 years old and born in Alabama in the 1860 census, but was not listed in the 1850 census.  I would look for his birth late in the year 1850 in Marion Co, Alabama. It could be helpful to see the instructions to enumerators about the date to use for age calculation.  James S. Stephens was born around 1853.

There was a state census taken in Alabama in 1855.  No census exists for Marion County, but there is one for Franklin Co, where I find William’s family in 1860.  I cannot find William in this census, so I believe the family must have moved between 1855 and 1860.

1860 – 1869

In the 1860 Federal Census, William Stephens and his family are found in Franklin Co, Alabama.  (Franklin Co. is directly North of Marion Co. and directly West of Lawrence Co.)  This was a tricky one to find because of the name being spelled “Steavens”.  William’s five youngest children are still living at home as well as his 2^nd son, Andrew with his wife, Lucy and their daughter Nancy E. who had just come from Missouri.  (Andrew and Lucy were married in Ripley County, Missouri.)  I would love to find George Stephens in the 1860 census, but I have had no luck finding him after the 1850 census.  This family is not found in the 1866 state census for Franklin County or in the 1867 voters’ registration for Franklin OR Marion County.   At some point during this decade, the Stephens family moved to Russell County, Kentucky, where William’s father and siblings had been living since before 1830.  Russell County tax records are pretty consistent as a yearly resource between 1826 and 1858 with only 3 years missing.  Because I know where the family was in 1860, these tax records will not help me.

Next week, I’ll wrap this up and develop my research plan for moving forward in my research.

 

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Timeline Tuesday – Dec. 1, 1897

From the Adair County News.  Household hints from the day plus the news from Jamestown.  These are the Russell County names mentioned:

Ethel Patterson, J.B. Patterson, Olga Gann, Charlie Dowell, Sidine Gann, Will Warren, Effie Falkenburg, Isa Dowell, S.A. Gann, W.L. Dowell, Mrs. G.F. Jones, S.A. Gann, Mrs. Texas Rowe, Haidee Rowe, Maggie Jones.

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