The Darnell-Teague Connection

Harrison Darnell was my great-great-great-great grandfather. He was born by his own statement on 15 April 1815 in Wilkes County, North Carolina.¹ His mother was Catherine Darnell,² a somewhat mysterious woman who moved her small family from Wilkes County, North Carolina, to first Spartanburg District and then Pickens District, South Carolina, before settling finally in Rabun County, Georgia.

Harrison was supposedly the son of Catharine’s first husband, whose name is unknown. She married second to a Darnell, whose name Harrison took, and then a third time to Benjamin Grist, a veteran of the Revolutionary War who was himself a widower. Of these suppositions, the only one that has thus far been documented is Catherine’s marriage to Benjamin Grist, which took place on 2 April 1834 in Pickens District, South Carolina.³

Tombstone Tuesday: Some Kell Markers, Head of Tennessee Baptist Church Cemetery, Rabun Co., GA

The following grave sites in the Head of Tennessee Baptist Church Cemetery, in Dillard, are grouped together.

Tombstone Tuesday: Some Teague and Hamby Markers, Hale Ridge Cemetery, Rabun Co., GA

Three grave markers for members of the Teague and Hamby families at Hale Ridge Cemetery off Warwoman Road in Rabun Co., GA.

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:

Step by Step #8: Summarizing and Continuing Research on the Teague Family

In the last two posts of this series (Part 1 and Part 2), we identified the parents of Roy S. Teague of Rabun County, Georgia. Today, we will continue working on the Teague family by first summarizing what we know of William Stephen Teague, Roy’s father, and then trying to determine the identities of Stephen’s parents.

Step by Step #7: Roy S. Teague’s Parents, Part 2

In Roy S. Teague’s Parents, Part 1, we began to explore census records in the hopes of determining the names of Roy’s parents. Today’s post is a continuation of that discussion.

Step by Step #6: Roy S. Teague’s Parents, Part 1

After a long break to make ready for the FGS 2010 conference in Knoxville, and then to recover from the trip and catch up on other work, it’s time to resume our study of the ancestry of Roy S. Teague and Hattie (James) Teague Watkins. We’ll begin with Roy’s parents. To summarize what we know about Roy’s parents and siblings to date:

• Roy was enumerated in the 1930 US census, Clayton, Rabun Co., GA, next to Lina S. Teague (a widow, born about 1875), and four of her children, namely Faye C. Teague, Lucy Teague, Louie Teague (who was divorced), and Reba Teague.¹
• Roy was buried in the same plot as Lina H. Teague, C. C. and Faye T. Barron, Paul C. Teague (Roy’s known son), and Louie and Fannie Q. Teague.²
• Roy’s obituary does not name his parents, but it does give his brothers as Louie Teague of Clayton and Grady Teague of Pontiac, Michigan; his half-brothers as Ulyus Teague of Rabun Gap and Melvin Teague of Canton, North Carolina; and his sisters as Mrs. Faye Barron and Mrs. Lucy P. Ramey of Clayton, and Mrs. Felton Sullivan of Tallulah Falls.³

21 January 1943: Outrage Over the Cessation of the WPA Hot School Lunch Program

A recent search for an obituary led to the discovery of an entire issue of The Clayton Tribune (Clayton, Rabun Co., GA) devoted to a pressing problem: the loss of the hot lunch program in local schools. The issue included several articles written by the editors and local concerned citizens of note, as well as letters sent in to the Tribune from parents, students, and other community members. The published letters ranged from one or two sentences to several paragraphs; some appeared to be excerpts of longer letters, including the following:

It provides many necessary food elements which the children would not otherwise get. The Free Lunch Project is a great help to many children who cannot afford to pay. –Mrs. Hattie Teague¹

Hattie was amongst many parents who were concerned about malnutrition and the availability of hot lunches for their children during the coldest parts of winter.

* * * * *

1. “What the Parents Think About the W. P. A. School Lunch Room”, The Clayton Tribune, 21 January 1943, Volume XLVIII, Number 3, 7th page, 3rd column.

Tombstone Tuesday: The Warren Clint James Family Plot at Antioch United Methodist Church Cemetery

As promised, here are the photos of the James family plot at Antioch United Methodist Church Cemetery in the Warwoman community of Rabun Co., GA. They are presented here in the order they’re found in the cemetery, from right to left as described in the post Step by Step #5: Hattie (James) Teague Watkins.

Step by Step #5: Hattie (James) Teague Watkins

Our previous research on the Roy and Hattie (James) Teague family revealed very little about the female half of this couple. To date, we know the following:

1. Hattie James was born about 1906 in Georgia; both of her parents were also born in Georgia¹
2. She married Roy S. Teague in 1924 in Rabun Co., GA; the marriage was performed by M. H. James, a Justice of the Peace²
3. She and Roy were living in Clayton, Rabun Co., GA, with three children in 1930³
4. They had probably seven children during the late 1920s through the 1930s⁴
5. Between 1937 and 1967, Hattie remarried to a Watkins; she was still living as of the latter date⁵

What we haven’t found in our research is any record connecting her to her parents and possible siblings. While she and Roy were married by M. H. James, we have no clue who that person was or how he might otherwise be connected to Hattie. We don’t know when she died, or who her second husband might have been, nor can we even say for certain that she was the mother of all of Roy’s children. With so little to go on, how can we learn more about Hattie, and in the process extend her lineage backwards?