All My Ancestors

Photos of a few of the “treasures” I found in a file at the library at Samford University.  Christopher Osborne (1784 NC -1854 AL), the younger brother of my 3rd great-grandfather went to Dallas County, Alabama about 1817.  Some of his descendants’ papers are held in the archives at the library.  The first time I went to Samford Institute, I didn’t realize that was my Osborne line that had some materials in the collection.  I was a pretty happy camper when I found that it was indeed my family.

The day book of Robert Emmett Osborne (1828 AL -1910 AL)  or his son Herbert Walton.  I’ve seen pages like this in my dad’s papers–farmers are always “figuring” something–bushels to the acre, dollars per bushel,  calves per spring or some such.

A promissory note?  For rent for the month of June 1897 for Mrs. C. J. Gaye, $10 per month.

What appears to be a running tab at the local general store for one of the sons-in-law.  I had to do a little research to find out about “osnaberg” cloth.  I found it was probably the rough coarse cloth known as Osnaburg.

1 Comment »

I’ve been obsessessed with searching Mitchells these past few days–probably because I have a class I’m supposed to be getting ready to teach.  I call it “productive avoidance.”  I set out to try to find out more about my 3rd great grandparents, Ephraim Miles Mitchell and Rebecca Jones.  I found Ephraim’s father’s name was John and that he probably has a brother also named John.

I’ve been working in the “Eggleston-Ford Connections” database at RootsWeb’s WorldConnect.  There wasn’t much info on any John Mitchell that precisely matched the information I have on Ephraim’s father.  There are 3 John Mitchells in the database, one born in NC in 1760, one born in 1788 [place unknown], and one born about 1856 in Tennessee.  From Spurlin’s Mexican War index, I figured John’s birthdate at about 1791, so 1788 isn’t all that far off.  The database has the 1788 John Mitchell marrying Patsy McClain with no dates, no places and no offspring listed.

I spent a lot of time entering Mitchells into my database today and searching and reading about the people they married and the places they lived.  They appear to have moved from Orange County, North Carolina to Middle Tennessee–mostly Maury County, and then on to Mississippi–northern Mississippi when that area opened up–Yalobusha County and probably Marshall and maybe Grenada County.

Now, here’s the leap, and I’m still not sure I’m not looking at two different John Mitchells.  I decided I’d look for a Patsy Mitchell living in Mississippi.  I knew that John Mitchell’s wife was still alive in 1847 when he wrote a letter to his son Ephraim.  I’d searched for a likely person for Ephraim’s mother in Texas but didn’t find a good candidate.  I also knew that Patsy was a nickname for Martha so when I wasn’t successful with searching for Patsy, I looked for Martha.

The most likely candidate turned up in 1860 in the household of a man named R. L. Boyd age 59, b. MS), witha wife named Mary d (age 42, b. TN) in Marshall County, Mississippi.  There was a Martha MItchell, age 67, born in TN living in their household in both 1860 and 1850.  A definite possibility.

Then I went to find out more about R. L. Boyd.  Turns out he’s Robert Louis Boyd, son of William A. Boyd and brother to Mississippi senator John D. Boyd.  I could find nothing about Robert Louis, but I did find that his brother married in 1821 in Maury County, Tennessee.  Still no direct connection but this all looks interesting in that the same places are still in play.  I checked the land patent records for Marshall County, Mississippi and found one for a John Mitchell in August 1838 (as well as Robert L. Boyd).  Again, absolutely no idea if it’s “my” John Mitchell, but another piece to consider.  I also found several John Mitchells listed on the 1846 Marshall Co. MS tax list–at least 4, so who knows?  (I also found that at least one of John D. Boyd’s children ended up in Johnson County, Texas–where my line lived prior to the Civil War.)

Then I went back to RootsWeb to do a little more specific searching for a John Mitchell and Martha McClain.  I have found a likely candidate and have written him.

In fact, I’ve written several folks this weekend and can scarcely leave my computer, hoping for a return email.  Even if this isn’t “my” John Mitchell in Marshall County, Mississippi, I believe he’s bound to be related and that will help as well.  Here’s hoping–

2 Comments »

After wondering about the use of the term “nephew” in an 1875 letter to Ephraim M. Mitchell on behalf of Hiram Reed Mitchell, a nephew of Ephraim’s father John Mitchell, I have more questions than answers.  I cannot find a link between Hiram Reed Mitchell’s father David to John Mitchell, though I have not looked in primary or original resources.  Maybe the term is not used literally in the letter, or as we would think of its usage today.

There is another interesting twist in the letter, however.  The letter mentions that the transaction in question was the trade of 100 acres of John’s headright land in Texas for H. R.’s sorrel horse named Charley.  There was a title to the land given over to H. R., according to the letter, but the title had been lost in a fire.  The letter states that John MItchell went to Mississippi “many years before before the War.”  My assumption is that this reference is to the Civil War, but since the letter is authored in Texas, might it not also have referred to the Texas Revolution (1835-36) or perhaps the Mexican War (1846-1848)?  The trade did take place, however, before the Mexican War because another letter exists that mentions Charley the sorrel horse.

In a letter dated 14 July 1847, John Mitchell writes his son Ephraim in Shelby County from Travis County.  John is in Austin awaiting deployment to Mexico.  He refers to Captains Ferguson, Johnson and Rap and Lieutenant Wills.  These names match the leaders of the units where John Mitchell is indexed in Spurlin’s index.  And then he mentions Charley–”Charley is fat we get plenty for ourselves and horses . . “  So there’s another confirmation of the connections between John and Ephraim and Hiram R. Mitchell.

This letter also contains the only mention I’ve seen anywhere to his wife.  John tells Ephraim that if any of his pay gets sent to Ephraim’s, he should “send it to your mother”.  I had made the assumption that John was a widower given that he was in the Mexican War at a fairly advanced age–he is listed as both aged 45 and 56 in the Spurlin book.  I believe the 56 is more accurate–it matches more of the info I’ve found on John.  But evidently he was not a widower and the other clue that this letter provides is that he mentions a brother “D.R.”  (assuming his meaning of brother is the same as our meaning of brother)    So is this David, Hiram’s father?  and could the R stand for Reed in both Hiram and David’s names? And what does he mean by “I have not seen him he sent me word he was so engaged he could not leave his office”?  What type of office did D. R. have?  and where?*

The version of the 1847 letter I have is a typescript–I’d love to see the original as much of the letter is marked “illegible” or “missing words.”  I’d like to have a shot at translating what is illegible.

So back to the search–who is the John’s wife and who is his brother D. R.?  This family is a challenge because the name is common and I have no idea where to find original records.  But I’ll keep working and narrowing the focus–I’m grateful to have copies of these letters as places to begin.  I don’t have much experience researching in Mississippi records, but this is the third family I’ve discovered as having spent some time there on their way to Texas, so it will be another “learning opportunity.”  And I also see a trip to East Texas in my future.  Any advice?

*update:  I found a David Reed Mitchell, born about 1797 in North Carolina, in Corsicana, Navarro County, Texas.  There’s a historical marker for him–says he was married to Mary Ann Higgins and that they had 5 children.  This David Reed Mitchell was a surveyor and a land speculator, which might account for his having an office. Other resources say consistently that Hiram Reed Mitchell’s parents were David Reed MItchell and Mary Susannah Buchannan.  Was there more than one David Reed Mitchell born in this time period?  Was there only one and he had more than one wife?  (I’ve also seen his wife listed as Lucy Higgins)  AND, is this the same David R. Mitchell writing Andrew Jackson in 1829 from Alabama, talking about needing to get home to Tennessee?

3 Comments »