Woodson

My mother-in-law, Sue Harris Moses, did DNA testing for me in November 2013.  I have explained her Harris connection in other posts as well as her Shelton and Johnson connections.  Harris is on her father's side; Shelton and Johnson are on her mother's side.  However, a match has been in touch this week that may be on her father's Woodson side.  I am going to explain the little bit that I know about this Woodson connection in this post.

I will start it by telling the story that Sue grew up at least part of her childhood next door to her Grandfather, Samuel Sterling Harris and her Grandmother, Louise Frances Woodson Harris.  This was after the couple had moved from Buckingham/Appomatox area of Virginia to the coal fields of WV.  Sue loved her Grandmother Lou!  Anytime she talks about her childhood, she tells something nice about this woman who according to Sue:  Married Samuel Sterling and raised his four children by his first wife as well as the 9 children they had together and then raised grandchildren in her home as well as caring for Samuel Sterling in his old age.  According to Sue he went to bed and stayed there for years while Grandmother Lou waited on him hand and foot.  Sue says that Grandmother Lou had everyone for Sunday dinner after church and that no one ever helped her ....so that it was always Sue who finished the dishes and the clean up with her grandmother.

It is Samuel Sterling and Lou who had the Harris family Bible that contained the family pages that son, Hewitt, tore from the Bible.   The pages are now have in my possession.  If you would like to see the pages for yourself, go to Gregg Bonner's site:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gbonner/bible/apperson.html

Now to the small amount that I know about this Woodson connection:

Louise Frances Woodson was orphaned very early.  Her father died of typhoid fever in 1862....the same year that Louise was born.  Her mother died sometime after she was the informant on her husband's death information in Buckingham County and the census of 1870.  In the census of 1870 the children are found in the homes of various relatives:

1870 census shows children in homes of the following Uncles:

Uncle James H. Routon caring for Richard and Louisa Woodson

Uncle George D. Woodson caring for George E. & Lucy Virginia Woodson in Appomattox Co.

Uncle Peter H. Routon caring for Samuel Woodson in Bedford Co

In the 1870 census Frances Louise is living in household of James Routon who is 50 years old.  Also in the household are Lucy Routon who is 76 (likely to be mother of James),  Eliza Routon who is 40, Finnet G. Routon who is 30 and female, Richard Woodson who is 10 and Louisa who is 8.  This would have been right after Louisa’s mother died.  This is located in Francisco in Buckingham County, Virginia.  

The above information came from Fran Hill who also  told me that the mother of Louise was Martha Routon,   Martha was a sister to Fran's 2-gr-grandmother.  I looked for Louise in the census of 1880 and it appears that she was living with her brother, George who was married and only 23 years old with a wife and two very small children living with him.  No old maids in that household.  They are in Lovingston in Nelson County, Virginia.  However, I may have found the household that Louise talked about in her story.  In the 1880 census there is a household headed by Jas. H. Woodson in which his mother, Lucy,  who is 86 and a sister, Eliza, who is 55 and single and four black persons who are said to be servants.  This is in Francisco in Buckingham County.  This is indeed the same household that Louise would have been in in 1870.  It was not two old maids...it was a grandmother and a maiden aunt.


The family folklore told by Lou's son, Hewitt Samuel Harris is:

Louise never knew her father. He was captured by the Yankees in the Civil War and died at Camp Lookout from Typhoid Fever.  I have a note that says that Louise was in the kitchen when Yankees came through--but I don’t know anything else about that episode.  She did not remember her mother as she died when Louise was two.  She was raised by two old maid aunts.  They were Baptists and they were so mean that she became a Methodist.

Pop Harris (Hewitt Samuel Harris) said that Louise raised 4 step-children, 9 of her own, and 4 grandchildren and had all of the family for Sunday dinner every Sunday.  He said that she was great.  Samuel Sterling was in bed for five years at the end of his life and she waited on him.

In my data base I have the following:

I do not have the marriage certificate in hand, but in a letter to Ollie Mae from a genealogist in Amherst, Va. he says:  in marriage register 3, page 120 bond secured on Aug 30, 1882, and return by minister, Jno N. Jones, Sept 3, 1882.  Groom S. Sterling Harris-age 34--widowed--born in Appomatix and lived in Amherst--white--son of Samuel and Nancy Harris.  Occupation--miner--bride: Louisa F. Woodson--aged 19--single--white--parents: George and Mahala Woodson. 

In looking for Allen's Creek on the internet, I found the following:

http://pages.suddenlink.net/phelpsdna/Southern_Phelps_Research/VirginiaPhelps/PropertyTrailJohnOFGoochland.htm

This link mentions surnames of Woodson and Glenn which make me think that this is in the right area.  I also found work that someone has done to locate Allen's Creek which seems to have totally disappeared even as early as 1895:

http://www.roadsidethoughts.com/va/allens-creek-xx-nelson-genealogy.htm

http://www.roadsidethoughts.com/va/allens-creek-xx-nelson-map.htm

From reading the information on the roadsidethoughts site I lean towards the thought that Allen's Creek was very close to where the arrow is on the above map.  I have been unable to locate Francisco.  But it would have been on the Buckingham side of the James River ....not the Nelson County side as Allen's Creek.

There is a map of Buckingham showing some land that belonged to Woodson men at:

http://home.southwind.net/~crowther/Dibrell/Map-VA.html

Below map is one that I found in my Harris files.  I am embarrassed to admit that I do not know where I found it on-line, but I am sure that it is on-line somewhere:

I am viewing a map on the Library of Congress site that is a c. 1864 map of Amherst and Nelson Counties that shows some land owners.  I have clearly looked at a Harris Ferry on the James River and also a landowner in Amherst with surname Harris.

http://www.loc.gov/item/2002627457

I have also been viewing a modern DeLorme atlas that shows Allen's Creek.  It is clearly an area that is VERY close to all four counties:  Amherst, Nelson, Appomatox, and Buckingham:

Mueller and Miller

I descend from Jacob Mueller who founded Muellerstadt which later became Woodstock, Virginia.  A mention of a book came across a mail list the other day.  It was a Genealogy of the Carter family that could be read on-line.  Because there is a Carter in my ancestry in Louisa County, Virginia, I decided to take a quick look.

The descendants of Capt. Thomas Carter of "Barford," Lancaster County, Virginia : with genealogical notes of many of the allied families (1912)

The book is by Joseph Lyon Miller who was born in 1875.  

I did not find anything in my brief look about my own Carter family.  However, there were several  Pieces of information about my Miller family.  I suspect that the author also descended from my Jacob Mueller.

The first piece of information is on page 190:

https://archive.org/stream/descendantsofcap00byumill#page/190/mode/2up/search/190

There are a couple of the traditional stories about John Miller and there is also a portrait of Christian Miller of Woodstock on the facing page.

The search function is amazing!  I would like to spend more time searching through books on open library.org.

Family Finder Matches for Sara Ann Hawkins

I just received information on results for my mom's and my mother-in-law's FF tests.  They have been more fun that my own matches.  The three closest matches for my mother are clearly matches with Mom's Logan County, WV and Eastern Ky ancestors.  And I have filed our chats via e-mail on this in file labelled DNA my FF matches, since  all of mom's matches that are close are also matches to me.

However, I just received an e-mail from a man in Australia whose sister is a match...she is not a close match.  What is of great interest is the fact that he says that the match is on chromosome 6 which has shown to be a strong McDonald section of his sister's DNA.  As I began to answer his e-mail, I decided that I did not want to loose the ideas that he had sent nor the ideas that I was thinking about.  So here it is posted to the blog.

First I looked to see what I could find about McDonald.  First I looked at the area of Scotland from which the McDonald name is associated:

Map from:    http://www.clandonald-heritage.com

The website calls the map The Lands and Islands of Clan McDonald

Note that the lands include County Antrim in Northern Ireland as a stronghold of the McDonald Clan.

Next I looked to see what surnames are associated with Clan Donald:

http://www.clandonald.info/clandonaldnames2.html

Here is what I wrote back to Rob:

We live in West Virginia.  Mom's ancestors were on these shores very early.  They seem to have been mostly in the area of Virginia during the Revolution and then moved west into Eastern Kentucky and what is now southwestern WV just after the Revolution.  These people were very likely to have been Scotch-Irish .....Here are some of the surnames that are likely to have connected:

Salmons/Sammons
Mom's maiden name is Salmons.  A lady named Ruth Sammons Nassar who was a first cousin to my mother's father did a great deal of research on the Salmons family in the second half of the 20th C.  Ruth says in her book:  The Salmons came to America in the 17th C and were probably descendants of the Highland Scots who migrated across the North Channel into Northern Ireland as early as 1584....Ruth also suggest that it was possibly at one time McSalmon (Son of Solomon).

However, a quick look on-line tells me that the name could also be associated with England or Wales.  So while this is a possibility, it is not certain that this is the link.

Wooten

Don't know yet about origin of Wooten/Ooten name.  Websites on-line associate it with English:  The Anglo-Saxon name Wooten comes from when the family resided in the county of Kent.  Their name is derived from the Old English words  wudu meaning wood and tun meaning enclosure or settlement.  This family is first found in Kent where they had a family seat at Marley before and after the Norman Conquest in 1066.  Hensley

Hensley
  
Hensley seems to be English in derivation when one looks on-line

Osborne

I have recently been in touch with a lady named Betty Harrell Gerlack who wrote a book (that I have ordered from her) connecting my Edward and Sally Burchett Osborne to the Thomas Osborne who moved from to Virginia in 1619.  Others on-line tie this line in with an English Thomas Osborne.  I will correct this when I read the book if Betty does not agree with the English ties for this line.

Webb

Websites say that this is an English and Scottish occupational name for a Weaver.

Family History Monthly (http://www.familyhistorymonthly.com/surnames/surname-detail/10) says:
The surname Webb is England and Wales’s 79th most popular surname. This isn’t surprising as it was an occupational surname for a weaver and without weavers our ancestors wouldn’t have had clothes. Weaving required skill and also fairly complicated equipment, in the form of looms, and these were passed down in families for generations – in fact, this is how we derive the term ‘heirloom’.

Morrison

Other researchers tell me that my Morrison line moved to Pittsylvania County from County Donegal in Northern Ireland in the last half of the 1700's.  Morrison is clearly a Scots name from looking at Wikipedia and other websites.

above map from:  http://cmsna.x10host.com/public_html/clanorigin.htm and also paragraph below:

There is little in the way of historical information on the origins of Clan Morrison. It is generally accepted that the hereditary judges, or brieves, of the Isle of Lewis were chiefs of the clan until that office disappeared in the early 1600's. The seat of the brieves was at Habost in Ness, near the Butt of Lewis. One tradition is that this line of brieves were descended from a Morrison heiress of the original line and a Macdonald of Ardnamurchan who married her in the 1300's. The Morrisons of Harris claim to be of the original line.

Ward

Ward seems to be English according to casual google search.

Castle

Again a brief google search shows Castle to be a Norman-English name as well as having French and German associations. Wikipedia

Carey

Wikipedia suggests that Carey is likely to be Irish in derivation:

Carey is a surname arising from: 1) at least five distinct patronymics in Ireland,^[1] and therefore numerous;^[2] 2) a habitation/topographic name in both Somerset and Devon, and possibly also Cornwall, occurring also as Cary;^[3] 3) a habitation/topographic name in Normandy, Burgundy and Franche-Comté in France, occurring also as Carrey and Cary;^[4] 4) less frequently a habitation name from Dyfed, Wales, which normally exists in the formCarew.^[5]

and on Ancestry the Irish connection is corroborated:

Carey Name Meaning

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Ciardha, a midland family name meaning ‘descendant of Ciardha’, a personal name derived from ciar ‘dark’, ‘black’.Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Fhiachra ‘son of Fiachra’.English: habitational name from Carey in Devon or Cary in Somerset, named for the rivers on which they stand; both river names probably derive from the Celtic root car- ‘love’, ‘liking’, perhaps with the meaning ‘pleasant stream’.English (of Norman origin): habitational name from the manor of Carrey, near Lisieux, Normandy, France, of uncertain origin.Welsh and Cornish: variant of Carew.Possibly an Americanized form of German Gehrig or Gehring.

Carter

According to Wikipedia:  

Carter is a family name, and also may be a given name. Carter is of English origin and is an occupational name given to one who transports goods by cart or wagon.^[2] It is the 64th most common surname in the United Kingdom.^[3] Within the United States, it is ranked as the 40th-most common surname.^[4]

Burchett

Quick google search shows at least three sites agreeing that Burchett is English

McNeely

Much to my disappointment McNeely is not one of the names associated with Clan McDonald.  It seems that McNeely is not Scots as one would guess with the "Mc" prefix.  Surname Database says that it is generally recorded in Ulster and translates as son of the poet to the clan.  There seem to be McNeely's named in County Down and County Antrim.  House of Names says that they are first found in Armagh and Monaghan where they held a family seat from ancient times.

Ancestry site says:

Scottish (Galloway) and northern Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac an Fhilidh ‘son of the poet’.Irish: Anglicized form of the Connacht name Mac Conghaile ‘son of Conghal’ (see Connolly).

So it seems that the most likely connections would be with Mom's surnames of Salmons/Sammons, Morrison, and McNeely.  How to explore these ideas?

1.  we might look to see if the known McNeely, Sammons, and Morrison matches with Mom share the Chromosome #6 match that Rob's sister shares with mom.  I have to stop for today, but I'll try to look at that possibility later.

2. I might find a Morrison male to test for both yDNA and also FF while the FTDNA test is going on.

3.  I might zero in via Chromosome browser to see which of Mom's other matches might share this match by putting in Mom and Rob's sister and then checking against other matches.

Osborne family connections

I spent some time straightening the cubby on the chest in the office that is labelled Hensley/Webb.  In the cubby is a file that is labelled Ruth Sammons Nassar's book My Begetters Vol II Osborn and Hensley.  I am not doing major research on either family this fall, but I don't want to loose some thoughts about this family.

Ruth highly recommends a book by Elizabeth J. Harrell on the Osborn family.  I tried to access it digitally via the Family Search website....but I was not able to sign into the site on which the book was said to be available.  Family Search tells me that it is because it is copyrighted and that I can view it through a LDS FHL.  However, much to my delight, I was able to get in touch with the author by using the information at the below website and White Pages.  I have ordered the book.

http://www.osborne-origins.org/contrib/dave-osborne/osborne_reference_literature.htm

While chatting with the author, I was very excited to hear that she was able to connect the early Thomas Osborns by using names of slaves.  I can hardly wait to read Betty's book!  Betty gave me permission to add her e-mail to the blog in case someone else would want to have a copy of the book:
bhgerlack@gmail.com

This site also mentions a book by Donald Lewis Osborn that I would like to view that is said to be available at the Boyd County Library.  I have filed this information in a file that is labelled Boyd County Library.

I also viewed information on the FTDNA site that seems to indicate (if I am interpreting it correctly) that there is a DNA participant who believes that he descends from Edward and Sally Burchett Osborne who is a match for DNA group #1.  This group seems to have research that indicates a connection to the Five Thomas Osborne generations whose family migration took the family from England to Henrico County, Virginia.  I have sent an e-mail in hopes of contacting this possible cousin.  I tried using the e-mail address on the site to contact the participant but the e-mail was returned to me.  I will contact the Osborne DNA administrator to see if he/she can put me in touch.

My own connection to this Osborne family is through the first wife of Rowland Salmons:  Edna Osborne.  Rowland and Edna were married in Floyd County, Kentucky at Prestonsburg 7 June 1821.  I descend from their son Rowland (Bud) who married Lucinda Hensley.  Edna's parents were Edward and Sally Burchett Osborn.

Webb families in Warren County, Kentucky

What do I know about Warren County and area in Kentucky?  The area must have been growing quickly in the time period of 1796:

In June 1796, all of Western Kentucky was either in Logan or Hardin County.  Logan was the southern part....Hardin was the norther part.

By June 1797, the southern part that had been Logan had been split into (going from east to west) Greene, Warren, Logan, Christian

By June 1799, Barren had been carved out of Warren and  Greene

By 1810 there had been no more huge boundary changes in Barren, Warren, and Logan counties.  The below map shows in pink where Warren County is located today:

The following Webb males are found in tax lists in the following years in Warren County: 

1802 Martin Webb, Sr  Green River

        Lazarus Sinking Creek

        William Webb

1803 Merry

        Martin Green River

        Henry Beaver Dam

1804 Martin Sr. Green River

        Merry

        Lazarus

1805 William

         Martin Green River

        Martin Jr.  Green River

        Lazarus

1806 Martin

        Henry

        Henry

1807 Martin

        Henry

        William

        Lazarus

I have a note in my files that says:  Lazarus and Eli Webb lived in Warren County until they moved to Illinois about 1815-1818.  Lazarus was here as early as 1797. Lazarus and Eli have two younger brothers:  William b. 17 Dec 1776 and Charles.  My notes say information from dianmah@juno.com   This same lady says that Elizabeth and Lazarus moved to Franklin County, Illinois which is quite a bit south of Clay County.

In 1810 there is a William Webb with a young family (2 males and 1 female) in Logan County, Ky.  There is no William Webb in Illinois.  William Webb seems to be in Warren County in 1820.

Coleman surname associated with my Hawkins line

I want to do a bit of a study on all possible connections with the Coleman surname in Orange County, Virginia in the time period between 1750 and 1850.

Sarah Coleman is named in the will of Benjamin Hawkins (proved in Orange County, Virginia 1857)

3rd AFter the decease of my wife, I give to Sarah F. Coleman my negro woman Judy (?) and her children to her and her heirs forever.

and

8th All of my stock of horses, cows, sheep, hogs and plantation utensils, I give to be divided equally between Sarah F. Coleman and Mary Marshall to them and thier heirs forever.

and 

9th It is my desire and wish that my executor sell my negro men Jack, Bill and Carter (?) and that these said negroes be allowed to choose their master that the monies arising from the sale of said negroes be divided equally amongst Thomas R. Hawkins (heirs?), Sarah Coleman and Matilda W. Marshall to them and their heirs forever.

Matilda Marshall was the daughter of Coleman and Joanna Bickers Marshall.  Matilda is actually found living in the home of Benjamin and Mary/Polly Bickers Hawkins in the census of 1850.  She is 15 years old at the time.

Thomas R. Hawkins is also a nephew of Benjamin Hawkins.

So the question is if Benjamin Hawkins is uncle to these three people is Sarah Coleman also related as a niece to the couple?  She is not a niece on the Bickers side...so if she is a niece, she is a Hawkins female married to a Coleman.

What else do I know about the Coleman name?  Coleman Marshall was best buddy to both Benjamin Hawkins and to my Thomas R. Hawkins.  Not one of these men ever went to the courthouse that the other two did not tag along to sign as a witness.

Don't forget the comment in the margin on a tax sheet that .....hmmm....I think that it might have been James Hawkins.....but it was definitely a Hawkins male who was described as being a son-in-law to Coleman.

The entire night, I have been remembering that Moses Hawkins' widow, Susannah, married Thomas Coleman.  However, I don't think that this is likely to be where Sarah Coleman comes from because this entire family moves to Kentucky.  They are not likely to be around in Orange County.  Thomas had been a good friend of Moses Hawkins and a neighbor to Moses and Susannah.

Marriage between James Hawkins and Betsy Coleman 3 September 1799.  Wit Joseph Bledsoe and Reuben Scott,  bondsman Joseph Bledsoe, and Parent James Coleman.  Wonder who this James hawkins is?  Wonder who this Betsy Coleman is?

Alexander Hawkins of Orange County, Virginia

I pulled out a few books this evening.  The first one that I looked at is Marriages in Virginia Spotsylvania County, 1851-1900 and Orange County, 1851-1867 by Therese Fisher.

I looked at a marriage between Alexander Hawkins and Ann Hume.  I wanted to make a note to myself on this man, but I absolutely do not know where to make that note....so here it is:

Hawkins, Alexander s/o Nicholas and Betty Hawkins age 74 W Farmer POB Spotsylvania  POF Orange  and
Hume, Ann d/o Francis and Lucy Hume age 34 S POB and POR Orange, POM Orange, 27 May 1859.OMR (OMR stands for Orange County Minister's Return.

going by reported age and date of marriage, Alexander Hawkins was born c. 1783.  This makes this man somewhat older than my Thomas R. Hawkins but probably younger than Thomas' uncle Benjamin.

An Alexander Hawkins married Anna Scott 17 Oct 1807.  bondsman was George Scott and minister was Nathaniel Saunders.