Madness Monday - One More Clue in the Search for a Great Grandmother

Actually clue is probably not the right term. It was more of a confirmation of my research.

My Great Grandmother, Fannie "Of the Many Names," is one of the main reasons I begin this journey way back when. In fact she's the reason that most of the relatives on my maternal grandmother's side of my family want to begin searching.

I've not talked or researched Grandma Fannie for quite a while. I was having success on other lines and frankly, I had run out of ideas with regard to Grandma Fannie. But since hitting the proverbial 1870 brick wall on my other lines and not having much success breaking through those walls, it's only natural that Grandma Fannie would start calling out to me, again.

So, what the clue that dropped into my lap. Well, if you remember back in 2009, when I first started blogging about my research, I unearthed a new cousin, whom mom and I affectionately call Little Irene, to distinguish her from her Grandmother (mom's first cousin), who was also Irene. Irene's great grandmother, Mattie Lou Henyard Martin was my grandmother's older half sister. Based on the 1900 and 1910 censuses, Mattie never lived in the house with my great grandparents, my grandmother and the rest of her siblings. However, both censuses indicated that my great grandmother had other children that were still living. Therefore, even though my Great Grandfather had been previously married, I concluded that Mattie was my Great Grandmother's child. To date, I've not been able to document my Great Grandmother prior to 1900 and Aunt Mattie, who was born abt 1885 and died 10 Oct 1918 has been even harder. So, my only hope bringing some type of confirmation to the theory of Mattie's parentage was DNA. While I had asked Cousin Irene, early on about doing DNA, it wasn't until this year that she was finally able to do it thanks to 23andme's  Roots to the Future program, which was aimed at getting more African Americans into their database.

When Little Irene's results came in I was ecstatic!

Her mtDNA was L3e1a3. Strange as this may sound, since beginning DNA testing, the only other folks that I've come across with this assignment are known relatives, my mother and my cousin Nicholas who descends from my grandmother's baby sister, Ossie. So based on research, and a recently rediscovered letter from Cousin Ovella, Little Irene's Grand Aunt, to my mother, it appears that the DNA backs up the research.

The second part of the testing with 23and me is the Relative Finder, which shows mom and Little Irene share 1.50%, 8 segments.

Even better, in less than a month, I will finally meet Little Irene. She plans to bring her Grand Aunt Evelyn's photo album. I'm hoping that between the two of us we can finally crack the case of our mysterious Grandma Fannie.

And yes, I'm officially back on the hunt, for the time being, for Miss Fannie "What's Her Name," also know as Fannie "Of the Many Names," aka my great grandmother.

Tombstone Tuesday

Mattie Henyard Martin

25 March 1885 - 18 October 1918

Harris-Jones Cemetery, Walton County, GA

Mattie was my maternal grandmother's older half sister. Per conversations with my Cousin Irene, Cousin Ovella, Mattie's daughter, had this tombstone placed at her mother's grave many years after Mattie had passed.

The picture of my grand aunt's tombstone was obtained via photo request at FindaGrave. 



Tombstone Tuesday

Tommie Lee Martin (1909 - 1969)

Tommie Lee was the son of my Grand Aunt, Mattie Henyard Martin (the oldest of my grandmother's siblings), which makes him my second cousin once removed. Tommie Lee was the only one of Aunt Mattie's children that didn't remain in Ohio with his brothers and sisters after they migrated there from GA. Tommie Lee is interred in Evergreen Cemetery in Polk County, FL.

Tommie Lee had a son, Tommie Lee, Jr., whom the family has lost contact with through the years, so Tommie Lee Jr. if you or your son Chris come across this post, your family in Georgia, Ohio, and North Carolina would sure love to hear from you.

The pictures of Tommie Lee Martin's tombstone were obtained via photo request at FindaGrave.com.

Madness Monday - Grandpa Jasper and Grandma Jane Pierce (Part V)

Continuing the Hunt

A Possible Cousin Plus Another Lead?

I hope my readers didn’t think I had forgotten about my blogs, but June has been one of those months for me.

I started out the month with a sinus infection that began settling in during the Memorial Day weekend. I also learned about a few other health issues I have. (It was one of those doctor’s visits that became I know you didn’t come in here for this but we’ve been trying to get in touch with you to discuss the results of the blood work from your physical.)

The second week of June, Mom and I took a much-needed vacation, cruise, with our almost Martin cousins (we have a set of cousins in common). Yes, I was still dealing with the sinus infection, plus pricking my finger 4 times a day, but it was nice to get away and mom and I made some new friends in the process. We also discovered that “cousin” Louise and “cousin” Sarah know some of our Cousins who are from Walton County, GA.

The R&R from the vacation was short lived. While we were gone, daddy was admitted to the hospital. In addition, the week after our vacation, one of my first cousins, maternal side, lost her battle with cancer.

This past week, things slowly started returning to some semblance of normalcy. Daddy is out of the hospital, although the symptoms that sent him there have not abated. And, while I still haven’t fully caught up on everything, I’m slowly getting back on the Genealogy, which leads me to the upside of this post.

Before going on vacation, I noted that I still had not written Second Baptist Church in White Plains, GA in order to try to see if there was a possibility they had any information on my 2nd Great Grandparents, Jasper and Jane Pierce. Well, I wrote Second Baptist Church right before I went on vacation. Second Baptist received my contact information and forwarded it on to Mary H., who attends Second Baptist Church but no longer lives in White Plains. Mary had called and left a couple of messages while I was away on vacation.

Well, Mary is a Pierce descendant (her mother was a Pierce) and was born and raised in White Plains. However, we couldn’t determine a connection. She confirmed what I had already determined, that there are no more Pierces residing in White Plains. Mary and I had a good conversation and here are some of the highlights.

1. The first highlight is a bit strange but in a good way. Mary had recently run into some Pierces in Atlanta, GA. Their ancestry also goes back to White Plains, Greene County, GA. The man, George, which she talked to happen to mention that when he was a boy he had come to NC to live with his granddad for a while. Well turns out he lived in my hometown, the area my maternal grandparents settled in after leaving GA. I asked Mary to please pass my contact information along to George the next time she saw him. So, keep your fingers crossed that I’ve perhaps discovered another descendant / cousin.

2. But that’s not all. Mary also gave me the name of another church in White Plains to contact. Are you ready for the name of the church, Pierce Chapel AME. How cool is that?

I realize the name of the church may have no connection whatsoever to my Pierce Ancestors as the church more that likely was named for Rev. Lovick Pierce, a prominent minister from the area who was instrumental in organizing some of the black churches. But I think it’s a sign. I feel the ancestors stirring. I’ve not felt them doing that in awhile and true to form, both maternal and paternal seem to be stirring at the same time. So, I could be in for a very adventurous genealogical summer. I sure hope so!

Well, you know what I’ll be doing this week, contacting Pierce Chapel AME.

Until Next Time!

Wordless Wednesday - Who is She?

Is this the infamous half sister, Mattie Henyard Martin, that only my grandmother seem to know about and thus only our line of my great grandparents descendants have ever heard about?

According to Little Irene, which is what mom and I both call our new found cousin, this picture hung on her grandmother Irene Martin Richardson's wall. There are no dates or names on the picture. Little Irene says some of the family says it's her grandmother's mother and others say that it's her grandmother's grandmother.

Both my mother and aunt Lucille recall seeing a picture of their Aunt Mattie but it's been so long ago that neither can say for sure whether the person in this picture resembles the person in the picture they remember seeing so many years ago.

This week, I talked with cousin Irene about trying to use the power of the internet to try to determine who the lady in this picture is. Both of us figured what have we got to lose. So, we are hopeful that somebody out there sees and recognizes this picture and can tell us who this pretty lady is.

21st edition of Smile for the Camera

Give Their Face a Place

Sallie or Sarah Robinson or Robertson

From the personal collection of L. Evans

I have a name and my aunt’s interpretation of who she was. The faint handwritten of no doubt my grandmother Mary can be seen in several places on the board of this picture card. I’ve blown it up several times and from what I can make out, the name appears to be Sallie Robinson. On the back of the card, the infamous Aunt Lucille has written Sallie / Sarah Robinson / Robertson, mom’s great aunt, ex-slave.

I have checked the 1870, 1880, 1900 and 1910 censuses and so far come up empty when using the name Sallie Robinson. But I do find a Sarah Robertson, age 56, and a widower on the 1900 census for Walton County, GA. Sarah is listed as head of household and has a niece, Mollie Hearnord (Ancestry interpretation) living with her, who I’ve always suspected was the older half sister, Mattie Henyard Martin, that my grandmother passed along to us. On the 1910 census, there is a Sarah Robertson, age 70, living with grand Aunt Mattie Henyard Martin and her husband Tom Martin and their family. However, the enumerator listed the seventy year old Sarah as the twenty-eight year old Tom’s daughter. What was he smoking? The problem is that due to the spelling / interpretation of the Mollie / Mattie on the 1900 census, do I dare say that that these two Sarah’s are one in the same. I think they are but proving it may be an altogether different story.

My gut tells me that Sallie / Sarah is great grandma Fannie’s, of the many surnames, aunt. And of course my untrained eyes see a certain similarity (the high cheek bones) between Sallie / Sarah and Grandma Fannie.

Great Grandma Fannie

From the personal collection of the owner of this blog.

What do you think?

I'm thankful for the picture of Aunt Sallie / Sarah as it's the only picture I have of any ancestor (direct or collateral) past my great grandparents generation.

The Unknown Sister

This year my great aunt, Mattie, became very important to me because I believe she holds the key to finding my great-grandmother Fannie prior to 1889, the year my great grandparents married. Yet she is even more a mystery than my great-grandmother.

Why is it that none of the other Pierce descendants seem to know about Mattie or her descendants except our branch?

I think I know part of the answer. My mother has always suspected that after her cousins moved north to Ohio that they were probably "passing" and acknowledging their "darker" kin that were still in Georgia / the South might have given them away, so there was very little contact. Even though that may be the case, our branch of the tree knew about them and had contact with them through the years with some coming to visit their aunt (my grandmother) and cousins in NC, my grandmother going to visit her nieces, and my mother and one of my aunts going for visits. My mom, although somewhat vaguely at this point, also remembers her aunt Ossie, grandmom's baby sister, visiting them, too.

What I know about Aunt Mattie?

1. She was my grandmother's oldest sister. She was a half-sibling. Although my grandmother never passed along whether she was her dad's child or her mom's, what I've been able to piece together would lead me to believe she was great-grandmother Fannie's daughter.
2. Based on the 1900 and 1910 census she never resided in the household of my great-grandparents.
3. According to her children, my mother's first cousins, Mattie's surname before marriage was Henyard. Now I know this doesn't match Fannie's other surname of Henry but there is a certain similarity between the two names. Perhaps through the years there was a slight changing of the name.
4. Mattie was born abt 1885 somewhere in Georgia and appears to have died sometime between 1918 and 1920 in Walton County, Georgia.
5. She married Thomas "Tom" Martin sometime between 1900 and 1910. I've only been able to actually identify Mattie on the 1910 census after she and Tom have married. The 1920 census indicates Tom was a widow. Approximate date of Mattie's death was derived from the approximate date of birth of their last child (1920 census).
6. The Martin family that she married into knows nothing about aunt Mattie either other than her name was Mattie.

Other tidbits of information

1. On the 1910 census, there is a Sarah Robertson, age 70, living with Mattie and Tom's family. The 1910 census list her as Tom's daughter, which is impossible since Tom is 28 at the time.
2. On the 1900 census there is a Sarah Robertson, age 56 and her niece, Mollie Hearnord is listed with her. I've been wondering if this Mollie could possible be Aunt Mattie and if it is who is Sarah Robertson. My mother doesn't remember ever hearing of a Sarah Robertson. The Martin family has no clue who she is. Is she another player in the mystery? If she is, how do I determine who she is and the connection?

Unfortunately, all of my great aunt Mattie's children are gone except one, her daughter Evelyn, who would be around 96. I talked to mom about trying to get in touch with Evelyn and mom said that cousin Evelyn wasn't doing too well and unfortunately with her being one of the younger of Aunt Mattie's children, she probably doesn't remember much of her mother before she died. Sometime between 1920 and 1930, aunt Mattie's older children rounded up all of their younger siblings and headed north to Ohio. The older ones looking after and completing the rearing of the younger ones.

I don't have a picture of Aunt Mattie, but do have pictures of some of her children. The picture at the beginning of this post shows 5 of her 8 children: Ovella , Evelyn , Harrison , Ruby Nell , and Irene.