All My Ancestors

7 February 2010

Perspective and a Book Review

Filed under: Cooper Family, Mitchell Family, Texas — allmyanc @ 3:17 pm

I received and read this book this past week.


I discovered its existence last week.

As I’ve been blogging,  I’ve been working on my Mitchell line.  Mary Mitchell was the wife of John B. Cooper and they were the parents of George C. and Rebekah Ann Cooper.  Both of these children were orphaned by shortly after the Civil War.  I am descended from George C. Cooper–he was my great-grandfather.  The author of From Flour Sacks to Satin is the granddaughter of Rebekah Ann, or “Annie” as she was known.  I did not know my great-grandfather–he died almost 20 years before I was born.  But one of the chapters in this book is entitled “Grandma Hall,”–Annie, my ggrandfather George’s sister.  She knew her grandmother.

Some pages of this book were difficult to read.  It is illustrative of the point that we don’t all grow up in the same family.  My youngest  brother remembers events in our family much differently than do I, for example.  He wasn’t there for some of them, and I wasn’t there for others–his being 6 years younger and having siblings who essentially left home when he was 12, leaving him to be a type of only child, means we were reared in families essentially different in many ways.

That is the case with the story told in this book.  Her story is no less true or valuable or compelling for having been the descendant of Annie.  The bones of the story are the same–the children left Johnson County with their widowed mother after the War, were orphaned, were rescued from Fayette County, Texas from living with a Mr. Burns after the death of their mother, and were returned to Johnson County to live with their grandparents, Job and Elizabeth Landrum Cooper.

Other details and events vary.  According to Flour Sacks, George was offered opportunities to continue his education.  Annie was allowed to only attend school through the third grade, despite her thirst for more knowledge and formal education.  I do know that George was a school teacher–that’s how he met Sallie Duval, his wife.  Annie and her now-blind husband and children were “invited” to leave the Hall’s place.  The subtitle of the book tells the tale: The Story of a Sharecropper Family. These are events of which I have no knowledge–either from firsthand experience or from family lore.  And the author herself says in opening remarks,

“The purpose of this books is not to embarrass or slander anyone in recording the events of my early life, which I believe were unique in the circumstances I experienced.  Through the years I have come to dearly love all of my relatives and appreciate the people with whom I was associated, both living and deceased….”

I am indebted to her for writing this story.  It is on the shelf next to one of her books of poetry she gave me nearly 20 years ago–a collection that includes the thoughts of a young John B. as he looked out over his plowed fields, as the clouds of War approached.  They are treasures.  I wrote her a letter before I received the book, asking her if she wanted to know more about our Mitchell line.  Unfortunately, it was returned–putting it out on the mailbox for the postman to pick up evidently resulted in part of her address washing off the envelope.  I must revise and send it along again–none of us are getting any younger.

And I must express to her directly how grateful I am to her for putting down her story, which is, of course, part of my story.

22 January 2010

NEGHS, Patsy, and John

Filed under: Mitchell Family, Tennessee, Vital Records — allmyanc @ 12:18 pm

Since I never met a database I didn’t like, I took advantage of the New England Historical and Genealogical Society’s offer to WorldVitalRecord subscribers for 10% off the membership fee.  I’ve heard such good things about this society and its holdings, I thought it was a safe purchase.

I have no New England ancestors that I know of.  I do have that one line that was in New York City fairly early, so maybe that counts.  I tend to think of New England ancestors as being in places other than the Big Apple.  But I am a genealogy librarian, so I think of this as a work-related expense.  I need to know what’s out there for my patrons, right?

So imagine my surprise when I found something in the NEHGS’s manuscript collection that a cousin and I recently discovered and have been trying to find one accessible to us.  Short of a trip to Boston, this one is still not all that accessible, but I can at least check into having a portion of it copied and mailed to me.  I sent off the request this morning.  It’s only money.

I’ve documented my quest for documenting “Patsy McClain” as the wife of John Mitchell.  We believe we have definitely connected Martha “Patsy” McLean, daughter of Ephraim and Mary “Polly” Boyd McLean, Jr., as the wife of John Mitchell.  They probably married about 1810 or so in Maury County, Tennessee.  My cousin recently unearthed a Maury Co., TN bond of some sort between John Mitchell and John McLean–but there is no date and no mention of Patsy!  It was sent to her as a “marriage bond.”  Of course she is pursuing it further.  But it is as close as we’ve come to linking the two. What do the headings on this hard-to-read document mean?  As with any bit of information, this one engenders the need for still more data.

And hopefully the manuscript will help as well.  IF portions can be copied.

If not, a trip to Boston may be in order.

3 January 2010

Irish Roots at Last. Probably.

Filed under: Carnival of Genealogy, Mitchell Family, Tennessee — allmyanc @ 5:55 pm

This is my post for the 17th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture:

The upcoming 17th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture will be a Genealogy treasure “show and tell”.   Here are the details:  Genealogists are treasure hunters of a different kind. Instead of searching for riches, we dig for information. Instead of prizing gold, we value documents – the visual proof of the life stories of families that have passed before us.

Share with us the image of and the story behind a document (or documents) that have been valuable to you during your search for an Irish branch of your family. How and where did you find these documents? What are their significance to your research and/or why are they special to you? Here’s your chance to show off some of your genealogical “loot” at our online “show and tell”.

I joined the “Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture” on faith.   When I signed up, I didn’t know of any specific Irish ancestors–I suspect I have quite a bit of Scots-Irish heritage but I have not jumped the pond, as they say.

In September of 2007, I went to Ireland and, like thousands before me, fell in love with the country.  I wanted to have relatives from this beautiful, pastoral, verdant place.

Lately I’ve been on a Mitchell quest, and those who follow my blog who are not all that interested in the particulars of my ancestral research, may be tempted to stop reading now from Mitchell overload.

But supposedly, the Mitchells are from Ireland.

I don’t know this from any primary resource so I have no document to share.  yet.  However, I have seen it in enough other sources that it makes me want to believe it, and of course, to continue my search.

In her “Let the Drums Roll: Veterans and Patriots of the Revolutionary War who Settled in Maury County, Tennessee,” Marise Parrish Lightfoot indicates that

John Mitchell, born in Orange County, North Carolina in 1760, was a brother of James and Andrew Mitchell, discussed above.  They were the sons of Andrew and Mary McGowan Mitchell, who emigrated from Ireland in 1752 . . . .

So my document for this carnival is not a precious marriage record or even an online passenger list.  It is instead a mention in an apparently well-researched, documented book.  It provides the beginning for a search for documentation that my this line were indeed from Erin.

I don’t have a firm plan yet for how to affirm this hope.  I feel the need to first explore the immigration history from that time period–I have read some pertinent histories but need to re-read portions now with this date in mind.  A quick check of my well-thumbed copy of “Voyagers to the West” by Bernard Bailyn indicates I may have to search for a resource that covers an even earlier time.   Were there lots of Irish who came to America during this early time period?  The same source that says the Mitchells were from Ireland also say the first settled in the “Scotch-Irish Colony” in western Pennsylvania.  What was this colony?  Somewhere else I read that Penn’s agents were traveling through Ireland talking up the benefits of the new country, and that they were so successful, they had to eventually “shut the door,” they had so many takers .  I do remember going by one castle ruin while we were in Ireland that our guide told us was that of William Penn’s father or grandfather.  William Penn lived 1644-1718, so if my Mitchells were influenced by his messages, it was not first-hand.

So it’s not a primary document but it is a clue.  And I’m very happy to have a semi-firm connection with Ireland.

31 December 2009

It Was A Very Good Mitchell Year

Filed under: Cooper Family, Military, Mississippi, Mitchell Family, Tennessee, Texas — allmyanc @ 12:11 pm

I began knowing only the unexceptional name of my great-great grandmother–Mary E. Mitchell–and that her first child was born in Texas in 1859.  I have yet to find any sort of marriage record for Mary E. and her husband John B. Cooper.

By consulting Texas school census records and comparing them to the federal census, I found her father’s name –Ephraim M. Mitchell.

This helped me make contact with others who were researching Ephraim and his wife Rebecca R. Jones, and their 13 children!

There is family lore about Rebecca being the daughter of Sam Jones and Itee– Sam, aka Arpeika, the fierce Seminole leader and Itee, 1/2 Irish and 1/2 Choctaw.

But what about the Mitchells?  No one in my family knew anything about them.  Mary Mitchell’s husband was killed in the Civil War and she died shortly thereafter, leaving my great-grandfather George C. Cooper and his sister Rebecca Ann.  The children were reared by their father’s family and very little was known about their mother Mary, much less her family.

But this year, with the help of some other Mitchell researchers, we have connected the dots, as one of them so aptly put it.  With all the apparent relationships so obvious after the fact.

Ephraim’s father has been identified, as have some of his uncles–indentifying the uncles is part of how we got to Ephraim’s father John Mitchell.  And, we found his mother, identified in Lightfoot’s “Let the Drums Roll” about Maury County Tennessee Revolutionary War veterans, only as “Patsy McClain.”   Just this week we not only found her name to be McLean, but we likely found her father and mother and more.

Of course the path was not straight.  John Mitchell apparently died in 1847 in Mexico as the result of illness contracted during his service in the Mexican War.  The probate file for settlement of his estate is missing from the Shelby County, Texas, courthouse.  (of course it is!)  There is another younger John Mitchell enlisted in the same unit–but he cannot be found after the war in 1850–at least not yet.  And is he even the son of John Sr. or is he a nephew?

Gratefully, someone saved some family letters and shared them with the rest of us.  It’s only the transcription of a letter John Mitchell wrote in 1847 from Austin Texas where he’s awaiting deployment to Mexico.  He talks about having stopped by Corsicana to visit his brother D.R., he mentions his horse Charley, and he admonishes his son Ephraim to take care of his mother.  D.R. turns out to be John’s brother David Reed Mitchell, living and working in Corsicana, Navarro County, Texas, and early correspondent from Maury County Tennessee with President Andrew Jackson regarding his deceased brother James’ estate.  Charley the horse is mentioned later in another preserved letter written to Ephraim by an attorney on behalf of his cousin “H. R. Mitchell”–H.R. had evidently traded the sorrel horse Charley for 100 acres of John Mitchell’s head right land  in Rusk County.  H. R. turns out to be Hiram Reed Mitchell, probably the son of David Reed Mitchell.  Researching his family takes us back to Mississippi where there are indications that the Mitchells were between the time they were in Tennessee and Texas.

When a Patsy or Martha Mitchell who would be a good candidate for John’s wife cannot be found in the 1850 Texas census, I go looking in Mississippi.  Sure enough, there’s a good possibility living in an R. L. Boyd’s home, listed as “mother-in-law” and R. L.’s wife’s name is Mary E.  The longer I examine this family, the more convinced I am that this is John Mitchell’s “Patsy McClain” and Ephraim M. Mitchell’s mother.  The name Boyd keeps appearing, too, as a middle name for Mitchells–both Hiram and Ephraim have children with Boyd middle names.  Robert Louis Boyd dies too early for them to be named for him, so where did this name come from?  My search for more info on R. L. Boyd ends up in a dead end, but I believe the Mitchell search has yielded some more clues.

I am grateful that Martha “Patsy” McLean and John Mitchell broke out of the Mitchell’s inclination to name sons John, James, Andrew or David, and named my ancestor for his maternal grandfather, Ephraim McLean, Jr.  And Ephraim McLean, Jr. is married to Mary “Polly” Boyd.  The McLean line is well-documented–there’s even an DAR chapter named for Ephraim McLean, Sr., a Revolutionary War vet who lived to be +90, living in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee.

So it’s been a very good year for Mitchell research.  Of course, I still have questions–and this is still a challenging search because all of the Mitchell families apparently named their multitudinous sons for their relatives–John and Andrew and James with an occasional David thrown in.  But it feels like a brickwall has come down, and much of it since the 4-days-ago Mad Monday post about the Mitchells.

It’s a great way to end one year and start another.

Still digging.

28 December 2009

Madness Monday: Mitchell Family

Filed under: Cooper Family, Memes, Military, Mississippi, Mitchell Family, Texas — allmyanc @ 1:53 pm

I’ve written about my Mitchell quest before.

This is a tough search because it’s a common name, the given names are also common (John, James, Mary, Martha), the family was apparently quite mobile, and most of what I want to know occurred before 1850 so the luxury of the every-name census records are not available.   Add that this family was often in territory before statehood (e.g., probably Mississippi) and in a state I have not extensively researched, and the result is a family that drives me a little mad.

Plus, I also have to question the sanity of a man 56 years of age (according to his service record) who joins up to fight in the Mexican War.

So while I’ve written quite a bit recently about this family, it still fits the Monday Madness meme for Geneabloggers–both because they drive me mad and I do think John Mitchell, Sr. might have been a little off his rocker.  :-)

Here is the latest information I’ve received on a person named John Mitchell, Jr.  I’m still not certain that he is the brother of my 4th great-grandfather, Ephraim Miles Mitchell, son of John Mitchell and probably Martha “Patsy” McClain.  I’ve mentioned before that I have a copy of a letter written by John Mitchell from Austin, Texas, as he is awaiting deployment to Mexico.  He mentions his brother “D. R.,” and his horse Charley, but no mention of a son in the same unit.

He does enlist on the same day in the same place as John Mitchell, Sr–20 May 1847 in Rusk County, Texas.

He enlists in the same unit–1st Texas Mounted Volunteers, Co. I.

Unlike John Sr., he apparently survives the war and he one muster roll card indicates he was mustered out 1 May 1848 by Captain Washington near Vera Cruz, Mexico.

His service record gives no other clues that I can see.  Do you?

I posted most of this info in my 20 Dec post, but by writing about it again, I guess I think I’m emphasizing how frustrated I am with these guys.

Through the years I have found pieces of information on this family that all started from my trying to search for info on my mysterious great-great grandmother, Ephraim’s daughter Mary.  I knew nothing about her family when I started, so with some perspective, I have learned quite a bit about this mysterious bunch–I knew her grandchildren but they knew practically nothing about her.  John B. and Mary are a bit of the “lost generation” in my family since both Mary and her husband John B. Cooper died young–he in the Civil War and she shortly thereafter.

Here’s hoping . . .

20 December 2009

John Mitchell, Jr. in the Mexican War

Filed under: Military, Mississippi, Mitchell Family, Texas — allmyanc @ 9:16 pm

I know, I know.  We’re supposed to be blogging about Christmas.

But I received the second Mexican War service record I’ve ordered.  Ever.  And I’ve written before about my lack of confidence in dealing with military records–mostly because of my ignorance of them, particularly any record other than ones from the Civil War.

This one is for a man named John Mitchell, Jr.  He enlisted in Rusk County, Texas on 20 May 1847.  He is 30 years of age and he enlists in what becomes Co. I, 1st Regiment Texas Mounted Volunteers.  The commander for this unit is the colorful Capt. John “Jack” Coffee Hays.

In this same unit, also as previously posted, is John Mitchell, Sr.  Because of a copy of a letter passed down through the family, I am relatively certain John Mitchell Sr. is my ancestor.

But who is John Mitchell, Jr.  Can I safely assume he is the son of John, Sr.?  They enlist on the same day in the same place into the same unit and for the same length of time.  John Sr.’s horse was evidently of better quality as it is valued at $130.  Jr.’s is valued at $75, goes up to $100 by November and then at the time of mustering out, May 1848, is valued at $50.  Wonder what the process is of valuing the horses?

I looked for a John Mitchell, born about 1817, in Rusk County, Texas in the 1850 census.  I did not find anyone who fit this description.  So I went back to  Mississippi looking for such a person.  There is J. B. Mitchell who is the right age in DeSoto County in both 1850 and 1860.  The Mitchells are variously in DeSoto and Marshall Counties in northern Mississippi–I suspect they came into Mississippi from neighboring Tennessee.  I am stymied by the initials the census taker used for this family–John Mitchell is way too common a name to depend on initials.  I was hoping for a wife’s name that might help me track this John Mitchell.  It appears that J.B.’s wife’s name was Susan–in 1860, the oldest child in the household is Martha.  Wife Susan is not in the household by 1860.  Martha is the name of John Mitchell Sr’s wife.

And here’s another big question–what were the Mitchell men doing in Texas, signing up for the Army, when their homes and families were in Mississippi? Granted, one of John Sr.’s sons, Ephraim Miles Mitchell, had come to Texas by this date, but why were his father and perhaps his brother there as well?  This family seemed to move as land opened up in various places–but unlike Ephraim, these two men do not appear to have brought their families with them.  At least John Sr. did not–his wife Martha/Patsy is found back in Mississippi living in the household of her daughter Mary E. Boyd, wife of Robert Louis Boyd.

I still don’t have enough information to unravel the Mitchells.  But I’ll keep working.  I’ve put off working on this family–a common surname, common given names and much movement prior to 1850.  I keep trying to collect bits to fill in the puzzle, but so far, I don’t even have enough to build the outside edges.

6 December 2009

Still More Mitchell Musings

Filed under: Cooper Family, Mississippi, Mitchell Family — allmyanc @ 10:53 pm

I’m still working on untangling Mitchells in Mississippi.

I believe I have found more information on a daughter of John Mitchell (and Martha “Patsy” McLain) that strengthens the connections.  As yet, I have very little actual documentation that these are the people I seek, but circumstantial evidence is mounting.

This started with wanting to know more about John Mitchell, b. about 1790, perhaps in Orange County, North Carolina.  This family seems to keep moving south and west as land opens up, and I believe he marries Martha “Patsy” McClain in Tennessee about 1810.  One of his brothers, James, dies about 1825 while working as a merchant in Alabama (I believe James may have been living in Charleston, SC).  Another brother, David Reed Mitchell evidently has guardianship of James’ children and attempts to recover some monies from a Creek Indian chief named Opothohola, according to two of his letters found in Andrew Jackson’s papers.  I believe this is the same David Reed Mitchell who is documented as one of the founders of Corsicana, Texas, though I have found nothing (online) in this documentation that mentions David R. Mitchell’s “previous life.”

One of the next, and last times, we hear from John Mitchell is his aforementioned letter penned from Austin, Texas in 1847 as he awaits deployment to Mexico.  (I just checked when I wrote about this letter and it was the first day of this year–guess this is an appropriate way to end the year–still chasing John Mitchell.)  He is addressing his son Ephraim M. Mitchell and tells him to take care of his mother. He also mentions having stopped by Corsicana to see his brother “D.R.”

This makes me wonder where “mother” is located.  She does not appear in Ephraim’s household in Texas, but I believe I found her in a daughter Mary E.’s home back in Mississippi.  Again, I wrote about this daughter being married to Robert Louis Boyd, son of Mississippi state senator John D. Boyd.  I’ve been in contact with some Boyd researchers, and evidently, there are as many brick walls in Boyd research in Mississippi as there are in the Mitchells.

This evening, however, I found some additional information on Mary E. Mitchell Boyd.  Much of the Oak Hill Cemetery in Water Valley, Yalobusha County, Mississippi is online at www.findagrave.com.  Mary and Robert are in Marshall County, Mississippi in the 1850 and 1860 censuses.  Robert dies in 1869 and is buried in the Byhalia Cemetery in Marshall County.  Then in 1870 and 1880, Mary is listed as living in Water Valley, Yalobusha County.  In Oak Hill Cemetery in Water Valley, I found Mary E. Boyd, “wife of R. L. Boyd” buried, along with 3 of her children and some of her grandchildren.  One child, Rachel Lula Boyd Cunningham, died in 1883.  When I started looking for her to find a husband’s name (there were no Cunninghams in Oak Hill), I found a possibility in the 1880 Camp County, Texas census. I remembered that an older brother James and sister Rowena were in Camp County in 1870–James was working as a photographer and Rowena was a teacher.  This 1880 census had H. D. Cunningham and his wife Lula with two sons, listed with only initials–M.B. age 1, born in Mississippi, and H. E., aged 4 mos., born in Texas.  I thought these were good candidates for Mary E. Mitchell Boyd’s daughter and grandsons.

Sure enough, some more sleuthing showed a 1937 Texas death certificate for Howard E. Cunningham, whose parents were listed as Howard D. Cunningham, born Tennessee, and Lula Boyd, born Mississippi.  Howard E. is buried in Waco, McLennan County, Texas.

cunningham

So, like John and his son Ephraim, it appears that his daughter Mary E.’s children also came to Texas.  I had previously located Rowena and James and Lilly and now here’s Lula, as she was apparently called.

All this began because I wanted to know more about the Mitchells–Ephraim’s daughter, also named Mary E., died shortly after the Civil War, leaving two children.  One of those children was my great-grandfather George C. Cooper.

The circle keeps widening, but I keep learning more.  I have also ordered John Mitchell, Jr.’s Mexican War service record.  We’ll see what it brings.

10 October 2009

John Mitchell and the Mexican War

Filed under: Military, Mississippi, Mitchell Family, North Carolina, Texas — Tags: — allmyanc @ 3:39 pm

Military records scare me.

There.  I said it.

I am finally somewhat comfortable with Civil War service records–more comfortable with Confederate ones than Union, probably because of the number of Rebels I have in my own family than Feds.  I’ve worked more with Civil War records–many of them are now available on Footnote.com and I ordered many of them from NARA before that kind of access was available.

But then comes John Mitchell, born about 1790, probably in Orange County, North Carolina.  His family moves to Tennessee, and I believe to Mississippi, and in May 1847, at the age of 56, John Mitchell joins the army in Rusk County Texas to fight in the Mexican War.  One of my fellow Mitchell researchers shared a letter written by John from Austin, Texas, while he was awaiting deployment.  He mentions his horse Charley and assures his son Ephraim that both he and Charley are getting plenty of food.

I found John Mitchell, Sr. indexed in Charles D. Spurlin’s Texas Veterans in the Mexican War:  Muster Rolls of Texas Military Units.  The first time I ordered his record from NARA, I got a reply that the record was not found.  (The good news is that I did not get charged for the search and it was all done electronically, so the pain was quickly over.)  I took the opportunity to pick Craig Scott’s brain a little after his presentation on the Mexican War and its records at FGS in Little Rock.   This conversation convinced me that the record was probably indeed held at NARA, but it also planted the seed of wondering if it might be held in Austin.  So I wrote the Texas State Archives and received a wonderfully educational and thorough response.  The author of the letter notes all the inconsistencies in Spurlin’s abstracts of John Mitchell’s records–not because of Spurlin’s work, but, I suspect, because of the common name AND, perhaps, the enlistment of a Mitchell son also named John.  At any rate, the record was indeed at NARA, and a second attempt with a note that it was the second effect, I finally got the file.

It is slim.  Only 4 muster cards–for June to August,  September and October , and November and December for 1847.  The final card is for January and February 1848.    Spurlin notes that Mitchell died in Carmargo in Mexico.  The muster roll cards confirm that he was left sick in Camargo as of 4 Sep 1847.  None of the cards confirm his death using that actual term.

JMitchellMexWar2

JMitchellMexWar3

So what other records might exist for this man?  And what about those other John Mitchells who could also be relatives? or not relatives but from the same general area of Texas?

I’m considering hiring a researcher in DC to look into this.  I think I need someone who can look at all the records at one time and make some decisions.  On the other hand, if I had access to them, I could do it myself.  Dallas Public has good military holdings.  Maybe I’ll try them first–

The search goes on.  A pension record would be so helpful, but as far as I can determine, no one applied for a pension based on John Mitchell’s service.  I believe his wife was in Marshall County, Mississippi, living with daughter Mary E. Mitchell Boyd.  John admonishes son Ephraim to “take care of your mother” in the letter,” but so far, I cannot get beyond this point.

19 September 2009

Ahnentafel Roulette: Saturday Night Fun with Randy

Filed under: Cooper Family, Dad, Grandmother O, Memes, Mitchell Family, Texas — allmyanc @ 5:02 pm

Here are Randy’s instructions for this week, should we decide to accept.

1) How old is your father now, or how old would he be if he had lived? Divide this number by 4 and round the number off to a whole number. This is your “roulette number.”

September 4 of this month my dad would have turned 80.  Given the Osborne genes, he’d probably still be with us if it hadn’t been for an unfortunate meeting with a staph infection after a hospital stay.  So 80 divided by 4 is 20 and that’s my roulette number for this exercise.

2) Use your pedigree charts or your family tree genealogy software program to find the person with that number in your ahnentafel. Who is that person?

Number 20 on my pedigree chart is my great, great grandfather, John B. Cooper.

[For those of you who read this blog and don't have the faintest what an ahnentafel is, don't worry.  All groups have their own lingo, and I suspect ahnentafel is one that is not all that familiar outside genealogy.  Here's the definition from the Encyclopedia of Genealogy, where you will learn that it translates to "ancestor table."    It is the listing of one's direct ancestors--no aunts, uncles, cousins--just parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc.  These folks are numbered, with the males being assigned even numbers--their associated female, usually a wife, has odd number obtained by adding 1 to the male's number.  So on my chart, my dad's number is 2 and my mom's his 3 (2 + 1).  Typically, each male's father's number will be double his number--the numbers double for each generation, in other words.  My paternal grandfather's number is 4 and his wife's, my grandmother's is 5, etc., etc. ]

3) Tell us three facts about that person with the “roulette number.”

  • John B. and 3 of his 4 brothers all died in the Civil War.  He survived Camp Douglas only to die at the end of the war, probably in the Battle of Atlanta.  They were the sons of Job Cooper and Elizabeth Landrum Cooper.
  • John B. married Mary Mitchell, daughter of Ephraim Miles Mitchell and Rebecca Jones Mitchell sometime in 1857, probably in Shelby County, Texas.
  • He mustered into the 18th Texas Cav, Co. A (Darnell’s)  in Johnson County, Texas on 15 Jan 1862.  The value of his equipment is listed as horse, $125, horse equipment, $20, gun $35, and pistol, $5.

4) Write about it in a blog post on your own blog, in a Facebook note or comment, or as a comment on this blog post.

Done!

5) If you do not have a person’s name for your “roulette number” then spin the wheel again – pick your mother, or yourself, a favorite aunt or cousin, or even your children!

Didn’t have to spin again.  :-)

22 February 2009

Saturday Night Fun with Mary Mitchell

Filed under: Cooper Family, Memes, Mitchell Family, Texas — allmyanc @ 1:13 am

Randy’s at it again.  And I stayed up late enough this week.

He asks for tonight’s “fun,” who is #21 on my ahnentafel.  An ahnentafel, as most of you probably already know, is the list of your direct ancestors–no uncles or aunts or cousins, just parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc.  The number of persons in generation doubles.

Number 21 on my ahnentafel, as it is with all ahnentafels, is one of my second great-grandmothers–my father’s mother’s father’s mother  Morrison—>Rachel Cooper Osborne—>George Charley Cooper—>Mary Elizabeth Mitchell.

Mary Elizabeth Mitchell, daughter of Ephraim Miles Mitchell and Rebekah Jones, married John B. Cooper about 1857, probably in Shelby County, Texas.  Mary was born about 1840 and died about 1865.  Randy links to a picture of his #21–I don’t even have precise dates for mine, much less a photo.

Mary is an enigma in my family research.  My second great-grandfather, her husband, survived prison camp at Camp Douglass in Chicago (2 of his brother died there), was paroled, promoted to 2nd lieutenant in his 18th Texas Cavalry unit, and then was killed right at the end of the war, probably in the Battle of Atlanta.  That left Mary with two young children–George C. who had been born in 1859 and Rebecca Ann, born 1861.  The family story is that Mary took her two children and left Johnson County, Texas and went to LaGrange in Fayette County Texas “with a man named Burns.”  She died there shortly afterward and I found court records documenting the childrens’ grandparents being awarded guardianship of George C. and Annie, as she was known.

So many questions–why did she leave and go to a place away from both her inlaws and her own parents?  Who was the man or the family she left with?  How did she die?  Where is she buried?

I have very little documentation for Mary.  I found published school records in Shelby County which helped me identify her parents and siblings.  She is listed in her parents’ home on the 1850 Shelby County census and living with her husband John B. and baby George C. in Johnson County, Texas, on the 1860.  The courthouse in Shelby County burned and that probably explains not being able to locate a marriage record for her.  I have not gone to Fayette County to look for court records or any other trace of her–one day soon, I hope to make that trip.

So, Mary Elizabeth Mitchell Cooper, your short tragic life is noted and honored by this great, great granddaughter.  I hope one day to find primary evidence of your days on this earth–beyond the 6.67% of my DNA I owe to you.

Older Posts »

Powered by WordPress