Madness Monday - Back to Ms. Fannie Pierce, my great-grandmother (1867 - 1889; 1910 - 1916)

I want to discover solid evidence of my great-grandmother's life prior to her marriage to my great-grandfather including her parents and whether she had any siblings. I'm also hoping to have solid evidence of her date of death including where she is buried.

Timeline

abt. 1867 - Fannie Henry or Henyard or White born somewhere in GA (date of birth determined from 1900 and 1910 censuses)

10 Aug 1889 - Frances White, colored, married Cornelius Pierce, colored, in Walton County, GA (Walton County, GA Marriage Index)

20 Feb 1892 Claud Pierce born in Watkinsville, GA (World War I Draft Registration Card)

25 Nov 1893 Willie Felton Pierce born in Watkinsville, GA (World War I Draft Registration Card)

11 May 1895 Roy Pierce born in Watkinsville, GA (World War I Draft Registration Card)

1900 Federal Census - living in Mountain Township, Walton County, Georgia as the wife of Cornelius "PIERCE." Fannie "PIERCE," Black, born Jan 1867, age 33, married 15 years, mother of 10 children, 9 living, born in Georgia, Father born in Georgia, Mother born in Georgia.

The following children are listed with Fannie and Cornelius

Evilela, daughter, born Apr. 1889, age 11 born, Georgia

Mary, daughter, born June 1890, age 9, born Georgia

Claud, son, born Feb 1892, age 8, born Georgia

Effie, daughter, born Dec. 1893, age 6, born Georgia

Felton, son, born Nov. 1896, age 3, born Georgia

Roy, son, born Sept. 1898, age 1, born Georgia

1910 Federal Census - living in Militia Dist. 419, Walton County, Georgia as the wife of Cornelius "PIERCE." Fannie "PIERCE," Mulatto, age 43, married 21 years, mother of 13 children, 8 living, born in Georgia, Father born in Georgia, Mother born in Georgia.

The following children are listed with Fannie and Cornelius

Mary, daughter, age 19, born Georgia

Clara, daughter, age 18, born Georgia

Effie, daughter, age 16, born Georgia

Felton, son, age 13, born Georgia

Carl, son, age 10, born Georgia

Ossie, daughter, age 9, born Gerogia

14 May 1910 - Cornelius Pierce dies (Tombstone)

1910 - 1916 - Fannie remarries (oral history handed down from my grandmother, Mary Pierce Hosch)

abt 1916 - Fannie dies (oral history handed down from my grandmother, Mary Pierce Hosch)


Additional information handed down - stated previously in an earlier post

1. Fannie's surname handed down through her daughter Mary, my grandmother, was Henry.
2. From Fannie's daughters Evelina and Ossie, her surname was White, which is what her surname was, as indicated on the Walton County Marriage index, at the time she and Cornelius married.
3. Mary Pierce always talked about her older sister Mattie, who was a half-sibling. I believe the unaccounted for child / children noted on the 1900 and 1910 censuses is Mattie. Mattie's descendants have always stated that their mother's surname was Henyard, which could be a change / variation of the name Henry or vice versa. If Mattie is Fannie's child, why didn't she live with my great grandparents.

Addition information / oral history not previously stated

My mother recalls that when one of Mattie's children, Ovella, was visiting her NC cousins that upon seeing the picture of Fannie, she said oh there is grandmomma Sanford. Knowing that Fannie remarried after Cornelius' death, we have always assumed that Sanford was her surname after she remarried.

Haplogroup M / L3

I start this discussion on Haplogroups by stating that ancestral DNA tests should never replace traditional approaches to finding and documenting your ancestors. However, it can be a valuable tool to help point the way or to confirm or reject data.

When it comes to completely understanding ancestral DNA and all the Haplogroups, subclades, etc., I could definite use a few experts. In real life, I'm a scientist, chemist to be exact, but DNA, genetics, biology, etc. are definitely outside my knowledge based.

mtDNA was done on my mother, Fannie's granddaughter, through Ancestry.com. The Ancestry.com results show Haplogroup M with no subclads. Their database showed no matches. The results from Ancestry include both the HVR1 and HVR2 region results.

I've taken mom's results and plugged them into a few other databases: Mitosearch (mitosearch.org); Mitochondrial Database (smgf.org); Genebase's indigenous database (genebase.com); and the Human Mitochondrial Genome Database (www.genpat.uu.se/mtDB). The following is a summary of the info from those databases.

Mitosearch

If you exclude the HVR2 region data, there are 4 matches indicated as L3. Sadly, none of the participants in the database have HVR2 data.

Mitochondrial Database

After inputting all of mom's information into this database, it was indicated that her Haplogroup was L3 and that her subgroup was L3e. Compared to the results from Ancestry, this actually makes sense, since Haplogroup M is thought to come from L3e. Once again though, no exact matches.

Human Mitochondrial Genome Database

This database was really interesting in that it did not matter whether I only included the HVR1 data or both HVR1 and HVR2, the results were the same, no matches.

Genebase Indigenous DNA

Similar to the others, when on HVR1 is analyzed, southeast Africa - Bantu speakers, but when both regions are included, no good matches.

I've searched the 1880 and 1870 census and have not come across any one that I think is a good candidate for being Fannie at a younger age. I've also searched the 1880 and 1900 censuses trying to find Mattie Henyard, but have been unable to locate a Mattie Henyard or a Mattie Henry.

I have searched Georgia's virtual vault for a death certificate for both Fannie and Mattie who die sometime between 1910 and 1920

If I can ever get my mother to set a date, I do plan to do a research trip later this year. I hope that some probate records can shed some light. Per the 1910 census, my great-grandfather owned his own farm. There should be records regarding the property after his death. I'm also hoping to locate a copy of the farm schedules

Where else to look?