All My Ancestors

One of the early lessons I remember learning in doing genealogy was to be careful about what places are called.  Someone was relating their experience of looking for their family in Yellow Bush, Mississippi.  Of course, the place name turned out to be Yalobusha county, Mississippi.

I thought of that lesson Friday when a friend and I stopped in the Oak Hill Cemetery in Water Valley, Yalobusha County, Mississippi.  I was going to visit the grave of more Mitchell relatives.  I knew they were buried there because I’d found them on Find A Grave.  But somehow that didn’t keep me from wanting to visit them in person.  And having a fellow genealogist along egging me on meant we were destined to find this place.

Mississippi is new research ground for me.  We originally thought we’d go through Jackson and visit the Mississippi Department of Archives and History on Saturday morning.  However, after dropping my car keys down the elevator shaft from the fourth floor, waiting for them to be retrieved, racing to campus in a downpour and finishing a tough course for the week, I just didn’t have the strength to search for the family of my Adaliza Ellis (1824 LA – 1898 TX) in Jackson.  So we decided to visit some of my family’s graves that were close to our route back to Oklahoma City, and then visit the Memphis Central library on Saturday morning so my partner in crime could pull some Tennessee land grants for her family names, which included James Smith!!  (Is it any wonder she has a presentation on tracking people with common names?)

According to the gate, Oak Hill Cemetery was founded in 1816.

In my experience, this is an old cemetery.  And, as might be expected for a cemetery of this age, there were lots of burials. We had a little trouble finding the graves. But using my iPhone to pull up the Find A Grave images, we located them based on the roofs and telephone poles in the background of the images on Find A Grave.

Oak Hill also a very hilly cemetery, with retaining walls and steps to get to some of the family plots.

Here is the step up into the Boyd plot, the target of my search.  I think there’s a worn image on the first, lower step but the name has been re-tooled on the top step.

And, seeing the grave of Mary E. Mitchell Boyd (1818-1893), wife of Robert Louis Boyd (1800-1868, buried in Byhalia, Marshall County), I have questions.

What are the side pieces?  Are they decorative only?  I took a couple of closeups, though not good ones,  and they have designs on them:

There were other graves that had similar “surrounds” and then there were the ones that were ovals–of various sizes–the small ones were very sobering.

Can anyone enlighten me about these types of cemetery markers?  Some of them, particularly the ones for children, had the names and dates incorporated into the ovals:

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Based on a comment from another Mitchell researcher, I went looking for the will of James Mitchell.  He’s the brother of my 4th great-grandfather John Mitchell (1788-1847), my current genealogical focus as I’m writing about his wife in my genealogical proof document for my ProGen 6 class.  I found John’s brother David Reed Mitchell who died in Corsicana, Navarro County, Texas in 1753.  I also found two letters in Andrew Jackson’s presidential papers (Google Books) that David Reed had written to President Jackson regarding some matters of his brother James’ estate.  David refers to James’ children, but until recently, I didn’t know who these children were.  I’m still not certain that these are his only issue, but his will does name two children: his son  John L. Mitchell and Mary Ann Doty, presumably a married daughter.

Last Friday, I checked our library holdings for an index to Alabama wills.  Sure enough, I found Index to Alabama Wills, 1808-1870, indexed and published by the Alabama Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1955.  The entry for James Mitchell who died in Montgomery County provided the book (2) and page number (28), so I called the Probate Judge’s office late Friday, which, by the way, also had the index online at http://pjr.mc-ala.org/weblandrecord.  The clerk was very gracious despite my late call just before a holiday weekend, took my credit card number ($2.00), and today, I received the copy of the will.  It is difficult to read, but here’s what I believe it says: [suggested corrections welcome]

In the name of God.  Amen.

I, James Mitchell of Montgomery County and State of Alabama Considering the uncertainty of this mortal life and being of sound and perfect mind and memory and bless the almighty God for the same do make and publish this my last will and testament in manner and form following that is to say, I give bequeath and devise unto my beloved son and daughter John L. Mitchell and Mary Ann Doty all my land tenements goods chattle debts and effects of any kind or nature ?? whether real or personal lying in this or any other of the United States to be equally divided between them to have and to hold the same unto the said John L. and Mary A., their heirs and assigns forever and for the just and true appreciation of this my lasd will and testament, I do hereby appoint John S. Bailey the executor of this same hereby revoking all former wills by me made.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal this sixth day of February in the year of our Lord one thougsand eight hundred and twenty five and in the forty ninth year of the American Independence.

James Mitchell {seal}

?? ?? published and declared by the above named James Mitchell to be his last will and testament in his presents to have ?? unto [inscribed] our names as witness in the presents of the testator:

David/Daniel F/T Fitchell?

John Wood

M. A. Blakey

Benj Lang

Personally appeared before me in open court Daniel T. ??, John Wood, Micajah Blakey and Benjamin Lang who being duly sworn deposeth and sayeth that they were present and saw James Mitchell sign and acknowledge the annexed testament of writing as his last will and testament and that he the testastor was of sound mind at that time and that he together with the above named witnesses subscribed their names in the presents of each other sworn to and subscribed in Open Court this the 21st day of the February A.D. 1825.

Benjamin S. Bibb                                              Daniel T. ?Fitchell/

Judge County Court                                        John Wood

 

So, now, of course, I have to figure out who these witnesses are and what happened to these children.

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This past month, I spent a week at the glorious Samford Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research.  This was my 5th trip there and this time I chose to take the course on Military History taught by Christine Rose.  Of course, I learned a lot!  It was wonderful to see all those examples of the types of records left by our ancestors when they provided military service.

But I am a little sad, too.  And I was reminded of this as I was reading through many fellow geneabloggers’ posts about their Revolutionary War ancestors.  As far as I know, I have no direct Revolutionary War ancestors who were soldiers during that War.  I haven’t given up finding one, but so far, none.

I have lots of ancestors who provided patriotic service, including a 6th great-grandmother, Amy Williams Jackson.  She filed in June 1783 from Union County, South Carolina for reimbursement for various supplies furnished to the troops.  Her petition is under her own name rather than her husband Ralph’s.  I am curious about this as women weren’t usually listed under their own names.  Her husband had died the previous month, so perhaps this is the reason.  Amy and Ralph has sons who served in the Revolution, but not my direct ancestor, Ralph Jackson, Jr.

There are others–the Mitchells who were in North Carolina and then Maury County, Tennessee, my 4th great-grandfather, Christopher Osborne in North Carolina.  My husband’s 4th great-grandfather John Spindle in Virginia.  All these persons are listed in the DAR database as having provided patriotic service–supplying everything from forage to beef and brandy.

I do have an War of 1812 vet–a 4th great-grandfather John B. Cromwell who served in the Georgia militia.  His son, John Wesley Cromwell, served in the Confederate Army–First Cherokee Mounted Volunteers, Co. A.  I also have a Mexican War ancestor–another 4th great-grandfather, John Mitchel who joined up at the age of 56 (!) from Texas and died in Mexico in 1847.  A second great-grandfather, John B. Cooper, died in the Civil War, along with 3 of his brothers.

None of my grandfathers or great-grandfathers, as far as I know, served.  I have to get to the great-great grandfather level before I find direct ancestors who served–and those all in the Civil War on the side of the Confederates.  [My then 8 year old son asked me years ago if I couldn't find any "winners" who were our relatives in the Civil War.  I told him he was born into the wrong family if he wanted northerners.  He's since reconciled himself to this sad fact.]  :-)

I am grateful for the service provided by ALL of our ancestors.  I have uncles who served in WWI, WWII, and Korea.  God bless them for their sacrifice and their service.  My dad always said my brother and I were his “deferments.”  His brothers just older than him and just younger both served.  So once again, I’ve missed having a direct ancestor who was a veteran.  I guess I’ll have to be happy with the older generations having served AND the fact that some of my relatives may have enabled some of yours to serve in NC, SC, and VA by providing supplies.

Happy Independence Day to us all.  God bless America, from sea to shining sea!

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I’m finally home from my Spring Break trek.  Last January my brother and I went to Shelby County Court House.

This year, we spent some time in La Grange in Fayette County, Texas, looking for our great-great grandmother Mary Mitchell Cooper.  She supposedly died there shortly after the Civil War, leaving her two children George C. and Rebekkah Ann, known as Annie, orphans.

I didn’t really expect to find anything about her there, but I had to try.  I’d found some court records regarding the guardianship of the children back in Johnson County, Texas, where their grandparents lived.  The family story is the children were surreptitiously taken from La Grange by their Uncle Job Cooper–the “escape” had been planned earlier in the day when Job had found young George and talked to him about the arrangements.  Because of the children leaving under these circumstances, I didn’t expect to find anything “official.”

And finding a marked place of Mary’s burial is probably hopeless.

However, as I said, I had to try.  I don’t count trips like these as a waste.  I always enjoy being where my ancestors lived–something about just being in that place provides me with some sense of being in touch.  It was a beautiful day–I was hoping to see more bluebonnets but I was a little early, according to the locals.  My brother and I had a good time traveling through the countryside and visiting about our families, past and present.

The county courthouse in Fayette County was remarkable–it had evidently been remodeled a few years earlier.  Restored might be a better word.  There was a beautiful atrium inside so it was not one of those dark places that late 19th century county courthouses often are. Wooden shutters were on all the windows and the floor inside was beautiful black and white marble tiles.

Here’s what I found on top of a small table in the ladies’ room:

I love Texas.

And I loved the old original wooden doors.  The door sills were wonderful–here’s one of the side doors.  See the worn limestone on the right?  The one on the front door was even more worn.

The people at the Museum and Archives were very helpful–they even remembered a letter I’d written earlier in the year.  They said they kept those types of requests on file in the event someone else wrote on the same subject.  Here’s hoping.

When I posted about my quest in La Grange, I did hear from two folks who know people in the area and they said they too would keep an eye out.  So maybe some seeds were planted that will produce something in the future.

My brother and I are already planning our next year’s Spring Break Court House tour.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 . . .

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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.

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