Andrew J. Stephens Military Mix-Up

I recently decided to re-examine a military pension file that I have for Andrew J. Stephens.  His pension packet is relatively small – only 8 pages.  When I ordered it, I was hoping to find that this was my GGG-grandfather, but instead found that this was another Andrew who had married my GG-Grandmother, Victoria Coffey.  I have spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure out who the parents of this “other” Andrew Stephens were, but I can find no family with an Andrew Stephens of the correct age.

When I read the file, I was disappointed to see that “other” Andrew had deserted from one regiment to join another.  His file indicated that he was home on a 48 hour furlough and his regiment received orders to move on before his furlough was over, therefore, he joined another regiment.

I noticed that in my file, I had 2 versions of the Index Card for Andrew – one from Ancestry and one from Footnote.  The cards were different and the Footnote card had a note on the bottom to see the file for Elias Smith – who was the first husband of Victoria Coffey.  The 2 different cards made me wonder if there was information on Footnote that wasn’t on Ancestry.  When I was comparing the available files on each site, I discovered that there were 2 listings on Ancestry for Andrew J. Stephens.  At first, I attributed this to Andrew being in 2 different regiments, but then I realized that the enlistment dates were so close together – one in July and one in August – and that pushed me to look a little further.

The first thing I realized was that both listings were for the 13th Kentucky Cav, but one was Company C and the other was Company G.  This caught my attention because in the pension file, Andrew had deserted from Co. G of the 19th Kentucky Infantry.  What??  Infantry?  More confusion!  Could I find records for THIS information?  One man was 24 years old and joined in Pulaski Co and the other was 19 years old and joined in Adair Co.  Footnote has SOME pension files scanned and put on their site, but no records for either Andrew yet.  So what could I find?  What I found was another index card for Andrew J. Stephens that shows he was in Co. G of the 19th Kentucky Infantry AND Co. G of the 13th Kentucky Cav.  And the certificate number on this card was different from the pension file that I have.

While I couldn’t find the pension file online, I COULD find the service records, so I spent alot of time downloading every card for Andrew Stephens from all 3 units.  As I read the cards, I noticed that there was a card for the Co. C 13th KY Cav Andrew that stated that “The notations of February 28, 1887 and March 2, 1894, are canceled for the reason that this man is not identical with the Andrew J. Stephens who deserted from Company G, 19 Kentucky Infantry.”  INTERESTING!  This is the man who I DO have the pension file for.  Why wouldn’t that be included in his file?  And who is the other man?  In my mind, I’ve been thinking that these might end up being the same way after all, but when I line up the dates on the cards, the men would have had to have been in 2 places at once, so they are definitely 2 different men.

What else can I glean from these card?.  I’m hopeful, but not very confident that “Co G” Andrew is “my” Andrew.  But his cards have a date of death at the bottom that says June 27, 1928.  My Andrew died in 1920, but his wife Lucy died 14 June, 1928.  Could the given date of death be the date of HER death?  There is no indication that a Widow’s pension was requested, only an invalid pension, so would there be a reason to have HER date of death?  I wish I knew more about these records!  If this isn’t “my” Andrew, who is it?  ANOTHER Andrew???

Here’s a brief summary of what I know from the cards (I can’t get this to line up on the page like I want…)

………………………………….Co. C 13^th Cav …………………………………..Co. G 13^th Cav

Enlisted                         8 July 1863                                           13 Aug 1863
Location                         Adair Co                                                 Pulaski Co
Age                               19                                                              24
Approx. DOB                 1844                                                        1839
Final Rank                      Pvt                                                           Corp
DOD                               Unknown                                              27 June 1928

My first inclination is to ORDER THE FILE NOW!  But I can’t afford that right now.  So come on Footnote!  Scan those files!  I have found the pension file for Welcome Stephens who had “my” Andrew J. Stephens (Welcome’s uncle) and his wife, Lucy, as the witnesses to prove the birth dates for Welcome’s children, so I feel like the records for my area of Kentucky are just sitting on a desk waiting to be scanned any day now!  It can’t be soon enough!

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Surfing for Surprises!

This morning, I had a couple of free hours before taking a trip to my mother’s where I’ll have no internet access.  Well, that’s not exactly true.  She has dial up access, which means waiting quite a while for pages to load.  But I digress…

I didn’t want to get out a bunch of binders or anything so I decided that I would do some “cold call” type of research.  I went to the Kentucky Digital Library and decided to search their copies of the Adair County News for any articles with the name “Stephens” in them.  As I was clicking through the options, I came across a marriage listing for Laura Ellen (Bennett) George and Uriah Stephens.

Laura Ellen was the sister of my great-grandfather and Uriah was the brother of my greatgreat-grandmother.  I’ve always found this marriage to be interesting as it was one of multiple times that my great-grandfather and great-grandmother’s ancestral lines intersected.  Now I’ll have an exact date and the name of a minister that I can research.  Perhaps I’ll be able to find some church records!

I’m often surprised by the things that I find when I “surf” a site without looking for a specific record.  If I choose a site and just look for a surname, or even for a county, it’s not unusual to find something unexpected!

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Metcalfe County, Missouri Stephens Families

I really enjoy reading Randy Seaver’s blog at http://www.geneamusings.com.  I find it educational as well as entertaining!  Last May, Randy posted a list of databases at Ancestry.com that don’t have name indexes.  http://www.geneamusings.com/2010/05/finding-ancestrycom-databases-without.html There very first database on the list was the Missouri Still Birth & Miscellaneous Records, 1805-2002.  Because I haven’t had alot of luck finding records in Missouri, I thought I’d give it a try.  I used it to look for all Stephens families in Ripley County between 1950 and 1860.  Taking that information and combining it with census records, I thought I might be able to find a family with a Lucy Stephens of the correct age to match the Lucy who married Andrew Stephens in 1858.  Although I didn’t find a family with a Lucy, I thought I’d post what I did gather in case it helps someone else.  And who knows, these families just might be related…I just haven’t made the connection yet.

Ripley County is on the Southern edge of Missouri directly north of Arkansas.  It borders Clay Co, Arkansas, and Missouri Counties Butler, Clay , Carter, Randolph and Oregon Counties.

According to her gravestone, Lucy was born 16 Dec. 1842.  At the time of the 1850 census, she would have been about 8 years old and should show up in the census.

1850 Ripley Co. Census
Washington Stephens – age 73, born in Virginia

Juda Stephens – age 65, born in NC

Jackson Stephens – age 24, Tenn

Marshal Stephens – age 22, Tenn

George Stephens – age 17, Tenn

1851 “I do certify that I did solemnize the rights of marriage between Jackson Stephens and Elizabeth York on the 22^th day of June 1851 Griffin Eldridge JP (the images do NOT look like Eldridge, but web site http://tmsnyder.tripod.com/Ripley.htm_ has a list of JPs and ministers)  Recorded this 1 day of July  (Ancestry, Missouri Marriage Records, Ripley Co, Image 1)

1851 “Martial” Stephens and Samantha Smelser married 1851, returned Oct. 1851

“I do certify that I did celebrate the rights of matrimony between Martiel Stephens and Samantha Smelser in year 1851 Griffin Eldridge Recorded this October 1851 A. Dearmon JP Clerk. (Ancestry, Missouri Marriage Records, Ripley Co, Image 1)

1852 George Stephens and Sarian Kinsy – 10 Sept. 1852

“Be it remembered that I have this day solemnized the rights of matrimony between George Stephens and Sarian Kinsy the the 7^th day of Sept. A.D. 1852.  Recorded this the 10^th Sept. 1852. (Psonn?) W. Pennington minister the gospel. (Image 4)

1853 George Washington Stephens died intestate.  Marshal Stephens named administrator.  George Stephens mentioned, but difficult to read.  (Missouri Still Birth & Miscellaneous Records, 1805-2002 Image 534)

1853 William Stephens died intestate.  Marshal Stephens named administrator. (Missouri Still Birth & Miscellaneous Records, 1805-2002 Image 535)

1860 Ripley Co, Census

Marshal Stephens – age 30, Tenn

S. Stephens – age 25, Ark (Samantha Smelser)

S. Stephens – age 7, Missouri (m)

E. Stephens – age 3, Missouri (f)

Isaac Stephens – age 8/12, Missouri

Newton Smelser – age 18, Ark

M. Williams – age 12, Missouri (f)

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1850 Ripley Co, Census

ZW Stephens – age 24, born in Missouri  (Zebedee – son of George Washington and  Juda?)

Malissa M Stephens – age 25, Tenn

Wm T Stephens – age 3, Missouri

Selianne Stephens – age 1, Missouri

James C Stephens – age 2/12, Missouri

1860 Ripley Co, Census

Z.W. Stephens – age 35, Missouri

M.M. Stephens – age 36, Tenn (Mary Melissa Wood)

W.J. Stephens – age 13, Missouri (male)

S.A. Stephens – age 12, Missouri (f)

J.C. Stephens – age 11, Missouri (m)

S.T. Stephens – age 10, Missouri (f)

M.J. Stephens – age 6, Missouri (f)

M.E. Stephens – age 4, Missouri (f)

N.E. Stephens – age 2, Missouri (f)

(living near Pyburn family)

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1850 Ripley Co, Census

Robert Stephens – age 43, born in Tenn

Susan Stephens – age 41, Virginia

James Stephens – age 16, Tenn

Eliza Stephens – age 12, Georgia

George W.F. Stephens – age 6, Missouri

Wm L Russell – age 28, Tenn

Emaline Stephens – age 21, Tenn

John B Patterson – age 23, Tenn

John A York – age 21, Tenn

1856 I Joseph (Thomaseh?) a justice of the peace do certify that I did solemnize the rights of matrimony between James M Stephens and Lena Buckaloo on the 17^th day of January A.D. 1856 (Image 6)

1860 Ripley Co, Census

Susan Stephens – age 46, born in Va

J. M. Stephens – age 25, Tenn (head)

Emerline Stephens – age 25, Tenn

G.W. Stephens – age 17, Missouri

Robert Stephens – age 6, Texas

E Piburn – age 13, Missouri (female)

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1850 Ripley Co, Census

Benjamin Stephens – age 40, born in Tenn

Elizabeth Stephens – age 40, Tenn

Emaline Stephens – age 20, Tenn

Lucresa Stephens – age 16, Tenn

Orlena Stephens – age 14, Georgia

George W Stephens – age 9, Georgia

Wm L Stephens – age 7, Alabama

Basil Stephens – age 5, Missouri

Marshal Stephens – age 4, Missouri

1860 Ripley Co, Census

Wm Stephens – age 28, born in Tenn

Marinda Stephens – age 23, Tenn

George W Stephens – age 3, Missouri

Cintha Stephens – age 1, Missouri

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1858 This is to certify that I the undersigned a Justice of the Peace within and for the county of Ripley in the state of Missouri did in and at said county of Ripley solemnize the rites of matrimony between Andrew J Stephens and Lucy Stephens on the 25^th day  of April 1858 Given under my hand on the 27^th day of May AD 1858.  Paulsen M Smelser Justice of the Peace.  (Book C pg 56)  NOTE: Ancestry has this indexed as 1881.  (Image 8 )

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A Family for Lucy Stephens?

My search for Stephens answers continues!

Last week, I decided I’d try to see if there was any way for me to determine which Stephens branch Lucy Stephens – wife of Andrew Stephens – belonged to.  I have very little to work with:

1)  According to Lucy’s tombstone (Bernard Cemetery in Russell County, Kentucky) she was born 16 Dec, 1842 and died 14 June 1928.
2)  According to every census record I have found, she was born in Kentucky.
3)  The marriage of Andrew Stephens and Lucy Stephens took place in Ripley Co, Missouri on 25 Apr 1858.
4)  Lucy and Andrew lived with Andrew’s family for the 1860 census in Franklin Co, Alabama along with their 1 yr. old daughter, Nancy E.
5)  In the 1860 census, Nancy’s birthplace is listed as Missouri.  Ripley County seems likely, but birth records for that year don’t seem to exist.  (I have not been to Ripley County to research for myself)
6)  By 1861, the death of 1 year 10 month old Nancy is found in Metcalfe Co, Kentucky on June 9.  Her place of birth is listed as Missouri.
7)  Also in 1861, birth of first son, W.D. (William Dudley) is found in Metcalfe Co, Kentucky on Oct. 13.
8 ) Another birth for Andrew and Lucy is found in Metcalfe Co, Kentucky (although I have no source) in 1864 for Mary Elizabeth in September.
9) I cannot find the 1870 census for this family.
10)  Every other census after this shows the family in Russell County, Kentucky.

I thought I’d try to understand why Andrew and Lucy were married in Ripley County, Missouri.  Because Andrew’s family was not in the area during this time, I thought that might mean that Lucy’s family came from this area.  I did research on all Stephens families in Ripley County during this time and could find no connection.  (I’ll post these findings at a later date.)  Metcalfe Co, Kentucky was formed in 1860, so I turned to the parent counties and did a search for an 1850 census showing a Lucy at about the correct age.  In Adair County, I found 1 likely family.  The head of the home was Mary Stephens age 40.  Three children lived in her home –  Eliz. age 19, Lucy age 8 and A.J. age 3.  Could this be the family I was looking for?  How could I confirm this?

I began by looking at all marriage, birth and death records that I could find for Adair County to see if there was a Stephens married to a Mary around this time frame and I couldn’t find anything.  I then began looking at the tax records for Adair County, since my library has these on microfilm.  Beginning with 1850, I looked for a Mary Stephens who might be paying taxes on land left by a deceased husband.  No Mary was listed through 1858, the last year for the microfilm.

Working backward through the tax records from 1850, I found one person who could potentially be Lucy’s father.  Elijah Stephens appears in the Adair County taxes from 1844 through 1850 and then disappears.  There is no Elijah Stephens in the Adair County census for 1840 or 1850.  I have ordered the Court Orders film for Adair County to see if I can find a clue there.

An 1830 Russell County census for Elijah Stephens shows that he was between 30 and 39 years old and his (probable) wife was between 20 and 29.  They had 5 children at the time.  By 1840 census, he listed his age as between 40-49 and his wife was between 30-39.  This could result in a 40 year old Mary Stephens by 1850.  In 1840, there were 8 children and one of the females was between 5-9 years old, which could be the 19 year old Elizabeth in the 1850 census.  Even if the age of Elizabeth was off in 1850, there is an older female and a younger female in the 1840 census that could still account for a 19 year old Elizabeth in 1850.  Could this be the correct family?

I decided to see if I could find a clue in the Stephens family deeds that I have scanned.  I looked through the cross-reference for Russell County deeds and did find a couple for an Elijah Stephens.  Since I don’t have a collection of Adair County Deeds yet, I thought it would be worth looking at the Russell County deeds because there are only a couple for Elijah.  I only had to look at 2 deeds before I found that I could rule out Elijah as being the husband of Lucy’s mother.  In one deed, Elijah Stephens of Adair County is purchasing land from a Russell County resident.  In the 2nd deed, Elijah and his wife Dicy/Diza (I’ve seen it both ways) were selling land to John Stephens.  Looking at my Adair County tax records, I could see that Dicy Stephens began taking care of the taxes the year after Elijah disappeared from the tax lists.  I’ll still be on the lookout for Elijah Stephens in the Court Order records that I’ve ordered, but I won’t be expecting a connection between him and Lucy’s mother, Mary.

Looking at the surrounding families in the census, I found that Mary and her children lived next to Sherwood Stephens and his family.  I have decided to follow Sherwood to see what I could discover.  More on that next time…

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Creating Group Sheets from Family Search Pilot

I’ve been working on my Stephens line for several months.  The branches of this tree extend far and wide and criss-cross all over the place!  This past week, I’ve been cleaning out my filing cabinet and various folders and notes and trying to make sense of things that I wrote when I was a new genealogist.  I already have quite a stack of group sheets for the various Stephens families, but there are gaps and lots of unsourced information from other researchers.

I love making group sheets by reading vital records books because so often, I find children that do not show up in census records because they were born and died between censuses.  Sometimes, I find spellings or nicknames that I hadn’t considered before and I can add that information to my notes.  The Family Search Pilot makes this “browsing” easier because the layout of the page allows me to read several names at once.  Husband, wife (often with maiden name) and child are much easier to catch on this site than they are while skimming microfilms of old record books.  It’s not unusual for me to notice a wife’s name on a line that I had missed when reading the list of husbands.

I decided to expand my group sheet collection because of some of the guesses I was writing about in my notes from years ago.  Could I make a connection now that I couldn’t make then?

I spent some time this morning on http://www.pilot.familysearch.org following up on a question I had written in my notes years ago.  Long ago, I ordered a pension file for Andrew Stephens and it was not the Andrew that I had expected.  There was information in the file about a 2nd marriage that ended up being with a woman in another line of mine (another criss-cross in my branches!), so I’m trying to determine the parents of this Andrew.  I had written a hypothesis in my notes, but was never able to prove it.

My hypothesis was that this Andrew Stephens was from Pulaski County.  Unfortunately, I didn’t write down my reasoning for this guess, but my sketchy memory is that I had tried to find a family in the Russell County area that had a son named Andrew around the correct age.  I’ve been focusing my search on Russell County and Adair County, so I decided to see if I could make a group sheet for this family based on information from familysearch.  Everything in the group sheet would be sourced, so I’d be confident with what I have and perhaps be able to have a better answer to my original question.  Then I found the census records for this family to fill in some other blanks.

My next step will be to get out the pension file that brought out all my original questions to see if I can rule out my hypothesis based on this information.  If I can’t rule it out with this easy to find information, then I’ll create a research plan and start ordering films from the FHL to see if I can get a breakthrough that way.

If you happen to be related to Andrew Stephens who married Susan “Preshy” Smiley, I’d love to compare notes!

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Ripley County, Missouri – Stephens Families

As stated this morning, I’m trying to gather all Stephens information that I can for Ripley County, Missouri between 1850 and 1860 in order to try to discover the roots for Andrew Stephens’ wife – Lucy Stephens.  I did find an additional marriage resource for Andrew and Lucy which I’d never found before because the index on Ancestry has the marriage listed as 1881 instead of 1858, so that was a pleasant surprise.  But I found no other clues at all in Ripley Co.  Here’s a list of what I did find.  These are notes as I typed them to myself, so citations are not “proper”.

Since this was a one day project, I concentrated on available records through Ancestry.  I’m grateful to Randy Seaver for posting a list of unindexed databased on Ancestry. http://www.geneamusings.com/2010/05/finding-ancestrycom-databases-without.html The very first database he listed was for Missouri – which inspired me to start this search.  I found a few items on there by searching Ripley County.   I also used federal census records and looked at birth, marriage and death records for Ripley County.  Only marriage records were available for the 1850-1860 time period.  I did a Google search for a list of the Justice of the Peace names because some of the records were very difficult to read.  That web site was http://tmsnyder.tripod.com/Ripley.htm_ and I also read there:

Ripley county was formed in 1833. Book “B” [1833-1852], the oldest book of marriage to be found in court house in Doniphan, Missouri  is in poor condition. The index is missing and the book is crumbling away. Book “C” beginning in 1853 has the following notation on the inside cover “The wreckage of this old marriage record has been collected and restored in so far as possible. Rebound and the last pages replaced and restored from the books own table of contents….”

According to her gravestone, Lucy was born 16 Dec. 1842.  At the time of the 1850 census, she would have been about 8 years old and should show up in the census.  I tried to find as much information as possible on each family that appears in the 1850 census through the 1860 census.  Ripley County is on the border of Missouri and Arkansas.  Quite a few people list below were from Arkansas.  (I did a quick search for Lucy Stephens in 1850 in Arkansas, but didn’t see anything that jumped out at me.)

Family 1:

1850       Ripley Co. Census

Washington Stephens – age 73, born in Virginia
Juda Stephens – age 65, born in NC
Jackson Stephens – age 24, Tenn
Marshal Stephens – age 22, Tenn
George Stephens – age 17, Tenn

1851 “I do certify that I did solemnize the rights of marriage between Jackson Stephens and Elizabeth York on the 22th day of June 1851 Griffin Eldridge JP (the images do NOT look like Eldridge, but web site  http://tmsnyder.tripod.com/Ripley.htm_ has a list of JPs and ministers) Recorded this 1 day of July  (Ancestry, Missouri Marriage Records, Ripley Co, Image 1)

1851 Martial Stephens and Samantha Smelser married 1851, returned Oct. 1851. “I do certify that I did celebrate the rights of matrimony between Martiel Stephens and Samantha Smelser in year 1851 Griffin Eldridge Recorded this October 1851 A. Dearmon JP Clerk. (Ancestry, Missouri Marriage Records, Ripley Co, Image 1)

1852 George Stephens and Sarian Kinsy – 10 Sept. 1852 “Be it remembered that I have this day solemnized the rights of matrimony between George Stephens and Sarian Kinsy the the 7th day of Sept. A.D. 1852.  Recorded this
the 10th Sept. 1852. (Psonn?) W. Pennington minister the gospel. (Image 4)

1853 George Washington Stephens died intestate.  Marshal Stephens named administrator.  George Stephsns mentioned, but difficult to read.  (Missouri Still Birth & Miscellaneous Records, 1805-2002 Image 534)

1853 William Stephens died intestate.  Marshal Stephens named administrator. (Missouri Still Birth & Miscellaneous Records, 1805-2002 Image 535)

1860       Ripley Co, Census

Marshal Stephens – age 30, Tenn
S. Stephens – age 25, Ark (Samantha Smelser)
S. Stephens – age 7, Missouri (m)
E. Stephens – age 3, Missouri (f)
Isaac Stephens – age 8/12, Missouri
Newton Smelser – age 18, Ark
M. Williams – age 12, Missouri (f)

Family 2:

1850       Ripley Co, Census

ZW Stephens – age 24, born in Missouri  (Zebedee – son of George Washington and  Juda?)
Malissa M Stephens – age 25, Tenn
Wm T Stephens – age 3, Missouri
Selianne Stephens – age 1, Missouri
James C Stephens – age 2/12, Missouri

1860       Ripley Co, Census

Z.W. Stephens – age 35, Missouri
M.M. Stephens – age 36, Tenn (Mary Melissa Wood)
W.J. Stephens – age 13, Missouri (male)
S.A. Stephens – age 12, Missouri (f)
J.C. Stephens – age 11, Missouri (m)
S.T. Stephens – age 10, Missouri (f)
M.J. Stephens – age 6, Missouri (f)
M.E. Stephens – age 4, Missouri (f)
N.E. Stephens – age 2, Missouri (f)
(living near Pyburn family)

Family 3:

1850       Ripley Co, Census

Robert Stephens – age 43, born in Tenn
Susan Stephens – age 41, Virginia
James Stephens – age 16, Tenn
Eliza Stephens – age 12, Georgia
George W.F. Stephens – age 6, Missouri
Wm L Russell – age 28, Tenn
Emaline Stephens – age 21, Tenn
John B Patterson – age 23, Tenn
John A York – age 21, Tenn

1856 I Joseph (Thomaseh?) a justice of the peace do certify that I did solemnize the rights of matrimony between James M Stephens and Lena Buckaloo on the 17^th day of January A.D. 1856 (Image 6)

1860       Ripley Co, Census

Susan Stephens – age 46, born in Va
J. M. Stephens – age 25, Tenn (head)
Emerline Stephens – age 25, Tenn
G.W. Stephens – age 17, Missouri
Robert Stephens – age 6, Texas
E Piburn – age 13, Missouri (female)

Family 4:

1850       Ripley Co, Census

Benjamin Stephens – age 40, born in Tenn
Elizabeth Stephens – age 40, Tenn
Emaline Stephens – age 20, Tenn
Lucresa Stephens – age 16, Tenn
Orlena Stephens – age 14, Georgia
George W Stephens – age 9, Georgia
Wm L Stephens – age 7, Alabama
Basil Stephens – age 5, Missouri
Marshal Stephens – age 4, Missouri

Family 5:

1860       Ripley Co, Census

Wm Stephens – age 28, born in Tenn
Marinda Stephens – age 23, Tenn
George W Stephens – age 3, Missouri
Cintha Stephens – age 1, Missouri

My family:

1858 This is to certify that I the undersigned a Justice of the Peace within and for the county of Ripley in the state of Missouri did in and at said county of Ripley solemnize the rites of matrimony between Andrew J Stephens and Lucy Stephens on the 25th day of April 1858.  Given under my hand on the 27th day of May AD 1858.  Paulsen M Smelser Justice of the Peace.  (Book C pg 56) NOTE:  Ancestry has this indexed as 1881, which is why I had never found it before.  (Image 8 )

I wish I had a great list of research ideas to follow up on, but I’m at the proverbial brick wall.  When did Andrew arrive in Missouri? Why did Andrew go to Missouri where he married Lucy?  Was she related in some way?  To do a generic search for a Lucy Stephens of this age turns up a few listings in 1850, but without some clue to follow up, it’s just a list of names.  Perhaps it’s time to start another Excel file to keep track of possibilities, but I’d really prefer to find a cousin to work together with on this!

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Mother’s Day Research!

Ah, Mother’s Day!  A day when I’m forced to do things I enjoy!  I worked extra hard yesterday so that I could do some genealogy today.  But I have been out of “genealogy mode” for a couple of weeks and know I won’t be able to jump back in too deep for another 2 weeks, so I decided to work on something totally new.

I know that 13 year old Andrew Stephens was living with his father in Marion County, Alabama for the 1850 census then married Lucy Stephens in Ripley Co, Missouri by April of 1858.  They had daughter in Ripley Co. around August of 1860 (based on information in her death record in 1861 in Metcalfe County, Kentucky) but were listed in the 1860 census living with Andrew’s family in Franklin Co, Missouri.

But I know nothing about Lucy’s family.  Who were Lucy’s parents? My only clue is that for some reason, Andrew and Lucy were married in Ripley County, so she probably lived there for a time.

So today, I’m working on a study of the Stephens families that I can find in Ripley County between 1850 and 1860.  Since this is a one day project and my family probably wouldn’t appreciate me spending the day at the library, I will be focusing items I can find using Ancestry – and if time permits, web sites for Ripley Co. genealogy.

I hope to post the results later this evening!

Happy Mother’s Day to all you “GeneaMoms”!

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Family Friday – Who were the children of Welcome Stephens?

When I first began doing genealogy research years ago, I was excited to find book at my library that had the family trees for several of the families in my line. The Stephens family was one of those. The book had a list of children for Welcome Stephens and I entered them into my genealogy software.

In the recent months that I’ve been doing extensive research on this family, I’ve often questioned whether some of these children actually belong with Welcome Stephens.  Some of the names from the original list I saw appear to be duplicates. I began with this list:  Thomas, Andy, JB, John, Lettie, William, Dudley, Sherwood, Joshua, Polly and Andrew. I believe that Andy and Andrew were probably the same person and JB could be John or Joshua. I have never found a document that lists a J.B. Stephens. So my updated list became: John, Elizabeth, Andrew, Dudley, Joshua, Thomas, Polly, William, Sherwood and Lettie. I have been attempting to follow each of these children through time in order to positively connect them to Welcome Stephens, but I have several questions. Many of these questions come as a result of Welcome’s will and estate settlement. Here’s my transcription of the will:

I Welcome Stephens Russell County and State of Kentucky do hereby make my last Will and Testament in manner & form following that is to say

1^st I desire that my blacksmith tools shall be sold immediately after my decease and out of the monies from all my just debts and funeral expenses be paid.

2^nd after the payment of all my just debts and funeral expenses I give to my beloved wife Nancy Stephens one bed and furniture and for her to give the same to who she pleases at her death and shall have her support in manner hereafter mentioned only she shall have the use of my farm or so much of them she needs for her and John Baily and the kitchen furniture

3^rd I give unto my son Dudley Stephens all the ridge tract of land including the Racoon Springs and the tract on which he now lives included in the deed to me from Thomas Wilson so high up the creek as to take square across the bottom at the lick at the upper end of the old field, to him and his heirs forever also my clock and my five dogs.

4^th I give to my son Andrew Stephens the tract of land where he now lives containing one hundred acres more or less to him and his heirs forever.

5^th I give to my son Joshua Stephens the home tract of land that is including where I now live and the place where he settled at the Lisha[?] place only he shall contribute to my wife before mentioned a reasonable support in the following manner, she shall have choice houses on the land for own self to live in and as much ground as she can tend herself during her life or her widowhood and my sons Dudley Stephens and Joshua Stephens shall contribute to her what she lacks of making in manner before mentioned.

6^th I give to my son Sherwood Stephens the tract of land where he now lives to him his lifetime and to his heirs forever also my bureau

7^th as far as John Ard and the children he had by Elizabeth his first wife my daughter I have given them all that I intend for them to have

8^th, all the rest of my estate both real and personal of what nature or kind so-ever it may be not herein before mentioned and disposed of I desire that it may be equally divided all my children only I want John Baily to have my young mare when he is 21 years old or one that is as good as she makes when he is 21 years of age provided that he continues to conduct himself as well as he has done heretofore and lives at home as he has always done until he is free.

And lastly I hereby appoint Dudley Stephens and Joshua Stephens Executors to this my last will and testament in witness whereof I do hereby set my hand and affix my s—[?] the 14th day of July 1840.

The will was witnessed by George and Aaron Harris. The bond was signed by Simco Popplewell and was dated 12 October 1840.

The estate settlement was dated 12 November 1840 and includes a list of the children dividing the estate. Those who are listed as obtaining items are: Joshua, Sherwood, Dudley, Andrew and Polly. The will mentions that Welcome’s daughter, Elizabeth, was deceased. In the final paragraph of the settlement, it says, “We, the heirs and representatives of Welcome Stephens, deceased, do hereby jointly agree the the personal property of said decedent shall be sold to the highest bidder and the highest shall be the purchaser & that when a copy of the Will shall be obtained & shall be proportioned & we bind ourselves to pay William Stephens his part when called by the Administrators…” signed by Dudley, Andrew, Joshua, Sherod and Polly.

So based on this will and the settlement, I have accounted for 7 of the 10 children who are in my current list of children. I know that William was in Alabama at the time of his father’s death which explains the final paragraph in the settlement. The question then is – Where are John, Thomas and Lettie? Were they really children of Welcome Stephens? If so, why were they not mentioned in the will? William did not arrive in Russell County until after 1860, so distance does not seem to be an issue. When Welcome mentions that he has given his deceased daughter’s family all that he intended to give to them, would he not also list other family members who were to receive no more? I can follow John and Thomas Stephens of Russell County for many years. I do not have a single record that mentions Lettie. I also have no records that connect Joshua to this family other than the will. In the 1860 census, there is a 49 year old Joshua Stephens living with John Bailey in the house next to Andrew Stephens and his wife Elizabeth Perry. Is this proof that this Joshua is Welcome’s Joshua?  I have found no other census records for Joshua Stephens that I feel confident in.

There are dozens of online trees that show all of these children connected to Welcome with dates and spouses for John and Thomas so has everyone else found records that I have not found or is this an example of information that gets passed on and on with no sources?

I would love to correspond with other researchers who are also part of Welcome Stephens’ line!

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Working It Wednesday – Linking Group Sheets

I have groups sheets written in Excel – which I love.  But I’ve moved more to group sheets written in Word because I love the ability write my citations easily and to keep them well organized.  But since my group sheets in Word are sized to fit in my planner, I do still use my Excel group sheets when I want to print a full sized version for my folders and binders.

My focus lately has been completely on my Stephens line.  I’ve been working on 4 generations of Stephens families who scattered near and far and I get so frustrated with the number of William’s in each family!  A man has a son named William and he and most of his siblings name a son William as well! They also tended to continue the tradition so before long, I’m looking at these different group sheets with Williams all over the place and I get confused on the relationships between them all.  I ended up taping my group sheets to the wall so that I can see them all to find how each William is related! How much easier it is to look at a group sheet, click on a name, and go directly to HIS group sheet without searching the wall!  Hyperlinks allow me to do this.  I can link to group sheets for any name on the group sheet – siblings, wives or parents.

This is convenient because the more group sheets I make in the Excel workbook, the more clicking I need to do to find the tab for the sheet I’d look to look at next.  I have 22 group sheets in this particular workbook and to quickly switch back and forth between two group sheets that don’t happen to be next to each other on my tabs can be a bit of a pain.  By hyperlinking my group sheets, I can switch quickly to any group sheet that I’d like.  Here are the steps for linking group sheets in the same Excel Workbook.

For my example, I will show my group sheet for Andrew J. Stephens and his wife, Lucy Stephens.

Let’s say that I want to make a link to Andrew’s son-in-law, William George.  First I will right-click on the cell with William’s name.

A list of options will appear.  I will click on “Hyperlink”.

A box of choices will appear.  Since I want to link to an Excel page within this workbook, I will be sure to choose the “Place in this document” selection on the left and then a list of my various groups sheets will appear in the larger box on the right.  I will find William George in my list and double click.

Now William’s name in the original group sheet is “hypertext blue” and I know that if I put my cursor over William’s name, the cursor will become a hand. When I click, I will go directly to his group sheet.  (If I want to edit the text in the box, as long as the cursor is not a hand, I can click on the cell and edit the text.) From William’s group sheet, I can then make a hyperlink for his wife, Elizabeth and it would bring me right back to the group sheet I started from.  I can hyperlink any name in my group sheet to move directly to their group sheet. Handy!

Next week, I’ll write about other ways that I use hyperlinking in my genealogy work.

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Family Friday – Andrew Stephens 1837 – 1920

Andrew Stephens – 1880 – 1920

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  (I believe this is Andrew’s father’s (William) sister.)

1881 -  Birth of Armilda Jane, June.

1890 -  KY Veterans Census – ED 125

Andrew J. Stephens, Private, Company C, 13th KY Cav.  1863-1865 (This is NOT my Andrew. Who else had an Andrew J. Stephens as a son? Potentially the son of Andrew Jackson Stephen and Elizabeth Perry)

1899 -  Marriage of Mary Elizabeth (Stephens) George to John Flanagan.  15 Jan.

1899 -  Guardianship of Ollie B, Lucy J, Luther and Lela “minor children and William George, deceased” (husband of Mary Elizabeth Stephens)
given to A. J. Stephens with Hannibal McBeath, W.D. Stephens and Cornelius Stephens as sureties.  15 June 1899

• Why did guardianship go to the Grandparents instead of to the mother?

1900 -  Guardianship of George Children to John W. Flanagan.  Oct. 24, 1900

1900 -  Census – Russell Co, Ky – ED 158   sheet 11

Stephens, Andrew J, Aug. 1839, age 62, m. 25 yrs, born in Miss, father in S.C.
Lucy, Dec. 1842, age 58, born in Ky.
Uriah, June 1877, age 23, born in Ky.
Dr. Garfield, Mar. 1879, age 21, born in Ky.
Milda J, June 1880, age 19

Where are George, Mary Elizabeth and William?

• William Dudley – in Lucas Mill, RC with wife and 2 kids
• Mary Eliz. – in Jamestown, RC with John Flanagan & 10 kids
• George – in Jamestown, RC with wife, 2 kids and 1 adopted son

@1905- Death of Mary Elizabeth Stephens George Flanagan.

1905 -  Guardianship of George Children to WD Stephens with AJ Stephens as surety.  22 Feb. 1905

1910 – Census – Russell Co, Ky – ED 215   number 192

Stephens, Andrew J, age 72, married 52 yrs, born in Miss, father in Ky.
Lucy, age 67, married 52 yrs, 12 children born, 6 living
George, Luther, grand-son, age 16
George, Leiler, grand-daughter, age 13  (my great-grandmother)

Who are the 6?  Where are the gaps for children who may have died young?

• 6 are:  George, Cornelius, Cortez, AJ, Uriah and Armilda
• 6 additional are:  Nancy E (d. 1861) William Dudley (1909) Mary Eliz. (1905) Dock Garfield (?) plus 2 unknown.
• Perhaps 2 unknown born between 62-63 and 67-69 (based on age gaps)

1920 -  Census – Russell Co, Ky – ED 251  sheet 12

Stephens, Andrew Jackson, age 82, born in Miss, father in Ky.
Lucy, age 76
Nancy Brock, age 53 (servant)

1920 -  Apr. 23 – death of Andrew Jackson Stephens  Buried in Bernard Cemetery

1928 -  June 14 – death of Lucy Stephens  Buried in Bernard Cemetery

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