Four Brick Wall Breakers

Oh, the dreaded brick wall ancestor, the bane of every genealogist’s life! We all have them, those ancestors who refuse to cooperate and instead prefer to lurk just out of reach of our inquisitive minds. Luckily for us (not so much for the lurking ancestors), there are plenty of tricks to help researchers break down those brick walls. Here are four useful techniques:

Feature Friday: Two Marriages from the Franklin Observer, 16 March 1860

The following two marriages were extracted from The Franklin Observer, published in Macon Co., NC, and edited by C. D. Smith and L. F. Siler. Only two issues of The Observer are known to be extant: the March 16, 1860 issue, held at the Duke University Library in Durham; and the June 22, 1860 issue, held at the University of North Carolina Library at Chapel Hill.

Both marriages were taken from the March 16, 1860 issue (Vol. 1, No. 34). The first marriage deals with the first licensed marriage among the Cherokee East.

Married, On the Raven Fork of Oconalufta, in Jackson county, on the 17th of February, by Rev. W. W. Smith, John Ool-stoo-ih to Gin-she, grand-daughter of Standing Wolf. The ceremony was interpreted to the parties by Jefferson Hornbuckle.

This marriage may be worth of note from the fact that it is the first licensed marriage that has ever been solemnized among the Cherokees East. Under an Ordinance passed some months since, by a full council of the nation, a marriage to be made legal, must be licensed by a native Clerk, appointed for that purpose. This is the first marriage under it. The same ordinance abolished bigamy.

The second marriage was a little more run of the mill.

[Married] On the 11th of March, 1860, by M. Rhodes, Esq., Mr. Jackson Frady to Miss Caroline Scroggs, all of Macon county.

I apologize for not including page and column numbers. I transcribed the two issues for inclusion in a genealogical society publication, but the editor and I could not agree on terms. (He wanted me to place the surnames in all caps. I refused, politely.)

These issues are available on microfilm, for those interested.

Tombstone Tuesday: Wesley and Nancy Rowland

Father / Mother
Wesley / Nancy
Rowland / Rowland
July 27, 1823 / Apr. 9, 1825
Aug. 18, 1874 / July 6, 1903
At Rest. / At Rest.

Wesley and Nancy are buried at Fouts Cemetery in Macon Co., NC. This photo was taken August 27, 2010.

Directions to the cemetery: From the corner of Harrison Ave. and W. Main St. in downtown Franklin, NC, go about 3.6 miles on Harrison Ave. Take a left on Iotla Church Rd. Go about 3 miles then turn right onto Judd Duvall Rd. Go about 2/10 mile. Turn right onto a dirt road (141) marked with a sign that reads “Fouts Cemetery.” This road goes around the cemetery, which is on top of the hill.

North Carolina County Records Guide

One of my favorite resources for North Carolina research is the Guide to County Records in the North Carolina State Archives published by the North Carolina Office of Archives and History. The current edition was published in 2009 and constitutes a major update to the previous edition.

After a short introduction, the Guide goes on to describe both original records, bound and loose, and microfilmed records held at the Archives for each of North Carolina’s 100 existing and four defunct counties. The whole is rounded off by a Glossary where one can find short explanations for the various terms used.

Finding Parents for Ethel (Penland) Ritchie

Brick walls in our ancestry can come in many forms, but they usually boil down to the inability to extend a lineage. Often, a thorough search of extant records can help break down this barrier. Sometimes, however, the solution can be much less arduous. Such is the case with Ethel Lee (Penland) Ritchie.

Eli Pickett, Bartow Co., GA

The following item was published in the 8 August 1889 issue of the The Franklin Press of Franklin, Macon Co., NC (Volume 4, Number 21, 2nd page, 1st column):

Eli Pickett, of Bartow county, Ga., a negro Confederate soldier who was severely wounded in the Georgia campaigns, has appealed to the State of Georgia for a pension. He was free-born and fought bravely for the Confederacy.

Margaret (McConnell) Carpenter’s Date of Death

I’ve been working on an application to the Daughters of the American Revolution for several years now. The service of this particular patriot ancestor, Phillip McConnell, has already been proven (to the extent that the DAR requires such proof), as has his connection to his only son, William McConnell, as have the connections between William and most of his children.

I had already gathered most of the other evidence necessary to prove the lineage from myself to Margaret (McConnell) Carpenter, one of William’s children, lacking only a copy of my father’s birth certificate, which has gone mysteriously missing. While waiting for my father to locate that document, I happened across a petition for sale of the lands of William Carpenter, Margaret’s husband.¹ In it, William’s surviving sons and the heirs of his deceased sons petitioned the court to sell William’s lands so that the monies could be divided amongst all the heirs. In particular, I was delighted to find this:

[The petitioners] respectfully showeth unto your Honor that William Carpenter died many years since leaving a will which was duly admitted to probate and that in said will he devised the hereinafter described lands to his wife Margarett Carpenter for and during her actual life and at her death to his six sons in fee simple equally to be divided between them as tenants in common and that Margarett Carpenter died some time during the year 1866 [...]

Margaret’s tombstone has not survived the ravages of time (if one was ever placed), and so this may be the only extant evidence of her date of death.

One thing to note is that William wrote his will in January 1836.² He was deceased by the time the 1840 US census was taken in Macon Co., NC.³ Yet his estate was not completely settled until the death of his wife in 1866, some 30 years later. This example amply illustrates the need to search for records related or pertaining to an ancestor for a time period well after he or she was deceased.

* * * * *

1. Petition for sale of lands for partition, 1867; William Carpenter, 1868, file folder; Record of Macon County Estates, 1831 – 1920; North Carolina State Archives micropublication G.061.2317261.

2. Last will and testament of William Carpenter, 1836; Will Book 1 Macon County: 14 – 16; North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina.

3. William was not enumerated in the 1840 US census, while Margaret was. It is presumed, therefore, that William was deceased before that time. Margaret Carpenter household, 1840 US census, Macon County, North Carolina, page 152, line 22; NARA micropublication M704, roll 152.

The Estate of James M. Peek, Macon Co., NC

I have recently had the privilege of sorting through the loose estate records for Macon County, as held by the North Carolina State Archives in Raleigh, for an indexing project sponsored by the North Carolina Genealogical Society. Along the way, I’ve found several interesting items on my own family that I hope to share here over the coming months with other area researchers.

One of my more recent finds was located in the file folder for James M. Peek. According to Elizabeth Peek Crutchfield in the article “David Peek”, James was the son of David Peek and Mary Henderson.¹ They had the following children, including James:

1. Eda Peek, born about 1880 [sic] in Laurens Co., SC, married John Jackson Ammons
2. Phoebe Peek, born about 1804 in Laurens County, married James Holland
3. William M. Peek, born 12 January 1809 in Laurens County, married Polly Avaline Mull
4. James Peek, born before 1820 in Laurens County, “[...] with wife unknown. He migrated to Alabama.”
5. Ruth Peek, born in 1815 in Laurens County, married Milton Moss
6. Judy Elizabeth Peek, born in 1819 in Laurens County, married Milton McCoy
7. Jane Caroline Peek, born 10 February 1820 in Macon Co., NC, married Andrew Madison Bryson
8. Mary “Polly” Peek, born in 1821 in Macon County, married Martin McCoy
9. Louisa, born in 1822 in Macon County, never married
10. David Lee Peek, born in 1828, married Jane Moss

Wordless Wednesday: James Wesley Ledford

James Wesley Ledford, ca late 1930s

See also: Tombstone Tuesday: James Wesley Ledford, 1847 – 1940

Tombstone Tuesday: James Wesley Ledford, 1847 – 1940

James Wesley Ledford
May 6, 1847
May 3, 1940
We will meet again

James Wesley Ledford was my mother’s great-grandfather. He was buried in Coweeta Baptist Church Cemetery, Macon Co., NC, near his wife, Martha (Carpenter) Ledford, and her parents.