Surname Saturday

Confirmation of a Surname, a Marriage, and Family Lore

While I regroup and decide on my next plan of attack in trying to determine the last slave owner of my 2nd great grandparents, Jasper and Jane Pierce, I thought I would briefly revisit my great grandmother Fannie.

Since I’ve not written about Grandma Fannie in awhile, some of the basic background with regard to her various surnames is as follows:

Henry – This is the surname handed down by my grandmother concerning her mother’s maiden name.

White – This was the surname handed down by grandmom’s siblings, Ossie, Evelina, and Roy. Prior to 2009, I had never heard of the White surname.

Sanford – This was the surname that the descendants of my grandmother’s older half sister knew Grandma Fannie as.

Amazingly, I’m slowly confirming all of my great grandmother’s surnames.

First there was the White surname. This was Grandma Fannie’s surname at the time she married my great grandfather, Cornelius Pierce, in 1889. I wrote about this discovery in 2009.

During my research trip to Walton County, GA probate court (November 2010), I was finally able to confirm the Sanford surname when I found the marriage certificate for one Fannie Pierce and B. F. Sanford. I do wish that GA marriage certificates gave more information but based on research to date as well as the stories handed down by my grandmother and other descendants, I’m confident that this is my great grandmother and that she married B. F. Sanford after the death of my great grandfather.

To repeat the story handed down from grandmom, after Cornelius died, Great Grandma Fannie had stated that she was not going to marry again because of how great granddad had treated her. (Based on family stories, I think Great Grandpa Cornelius was a ladies man.). However, not too long after Cornelius’ death (14 May 1910), there was some man hanging around and Great Grandma proceeded to try to get her girls married off. However, grandma never did complete the story and never divulged this new man’s name or even if Fannie remarried although I guess it’s sort of implied. Years latter, and after my grandmother had passed, we learned of the Sanford surname when some of Grand Aunt Mattie’s children came to visit.

So, this only leaves one surname to prove or disprove and of the three, it’s the one that presents the biggest challenge and yet, based on family lore, and circumstantial evidence I believe it existed, too and while I’ll continue to try to find Grandma Fannie via the White surname, my gut still keeps telling me it’s the Henry or versions there of that will help me to locate her prior to 1889.

The picture of the marriage license for my Great Grandmother to B. F. Sanford was taken on November 15, 2010 by the owner of this blog. The marriage license is located in Book K, page 124, Walton County, GA Marriage Records, Colored.

Thinking Out Loud, Gathering my Thoughts

Today I decided to try to organize my thoughts, via the blog, by answering a few of my geneafrineds questions from this past Thursday's Trying to Build a Case.

This post will try to answer questions posed by geneafriend Michael Hait.

• Do you have death certificates and SS applications for your grandmother and ALL of her siblings?

Here is the breakdown of information for grandmom and her siblings. Grandmom and 2 of her sisters didn't work.
Grandmom's death cert - granddad was informant. Fannie's surname, Henry, is listed there, which matches what mom says grandmom told her and what I've been told all these years.
Grandmom's youngest sister, Ossie, no. The informants for her death certificate would have been one of her children. From this branch of the family is how I learned of the White surname for Fannie. Had never heard it prior to this year.
Grandmom's older half sister Mattie, no death cert. She died right on the cusp of Georgia beginning to keep death records. Have not been able to locate a death cert. for her. However, due to there also being some confusion about Mattie's surname, yesterday, I ordered the SS application of her daughter Sallie to see what it has for Mattie's surname. Should say that I'm not sure that Mattie is great grandmom Fannie's child but based on the census records, unaccounted for children, I believe that Mattie is ggrandmom's child. My grandmother didn't pass on which parent Mattie belonged to just that Matt was the oldest and a 1/2 sibling. Mattie is the sibling that none of the rest of the branches of the tree seem to know about.
Roy, grandmom's youngest brother - only the SS app, which was in previous post and indicates Fannie's surname as White. Did not obtain his death cert.
Evelina, grandmom's oldest full blooded sibling, death cert - informant her husband, indicates White. It was Evelina's death cert. that made me finally start paying attention to the White surname.
Effie, has been ordered and waiting on it's arrival. The informant will probably be her husband.
Brothers Claude and Willie Felton - don't know what happened to either one. Nobody in the family even knows of Claude. Mom remembers Felton visiting grandmom when mom was young and remembers seeing pics of him in WWI uniform. Outside of that nothing. Have tried checking online military records for him and come up empty.

• For death certificates, investigate the informants of each one. Who were they? Did any of them provide info on more than one of the certificates? Did any of the informants have first-hand knowledge?

The ggrandparents were already dead when her children started dying. Of the death certs obtained, all of the informants were the spouses, who were from the same area as their mates. For aunt Ossie, her husband was already deceased when she died so, more than likely, one of her children would have been the informant. For Roy, the informant more than likely was his wife. They had no children and she was still living at the time. Also, Aunt Ossie would have still be living when Roy died.

• Also, have you obtained SS apps for anyone not listed in the SSDI? SS numbers also appear on many death certificates and some military service files

Grandmom didn't work and was buried under granddad's SS benefits (granddad's SSN is what appears on grandmom's death cert). 2 of her sisters died before there was a SS system plus they didn't work. Sister Effie didn't work. Uncle Felton might have been in WWI but I haven't been able to locate any military records on him. Are there other places I should be trying to find WWI records?

• Do marriage records provide parents' names in Georgia, like they do in some other states? If so, get marriage records for your grandparents & all of her siblings - esp. if any were married more than once

No, at least not during the time period I'm looking at.

• Have you checked for birth records? (Not sure when Georgia started recording births.) But don't forget delayed birth certificates - many people recorded these in the 1930s so they would qualify for SS benefits

Georgia didn't start recording births until 1919. Grandparents and their siblings were all in the late 1800s. That being said, some counties have prior records. Oconee is one (started recording births in 1875). Since the great uncles indicated on their WWI draft cards, they were born in Watkinsville, I am planning to check there.

• Check for obituaries for all siblings

Have the one's for grandmom (1966), uncle Roy (1971), and aunt Ossie (1991). Will ask the cousins if they have one for Aunt Effie (died in 1951). Other 2 sisters died early 1900s and I've not come across any. The other 2 brothers, don't know when or where they died.

• (This one is obvious.) Check for all federal census records for grandmother & siblings, with her parents. Were there any families living nearby (within a few pages before & after) bearing the same surnames as those provided for your grandmother's mother in any of the other sources

Have checked and rechecked. 1900 and 1910 censuses for Walton County, GA - Unless I've missed them, there are no families in the neighborhood with any of the surnames I have for ggrandmom Fannie. Ggranddad, I can trace back to Greene County, GA and I've even checked there and have come up with nothing.
Based on everything my mother's told me over the years, grandmom never mentioned any aunts or uncles on her mother's side. She talked about her uncle Lon, ggranddad's brother, who also migrated to Walton county and lived beside them. Grandmom mentioned the ethnicity of her grandmothers or at least one of them but there were never names attached to the her grandparents, so I don't know if grandmom met her grandparents or if that was what was told to her.

More Bits of Information From the Peach State

Yesterday, in my excitement and delight at receiving Uncle JD’s social security application, I totally missed there was a big brown envelope with Walton County in the return address. The package was from the probate court and contained a a certificate (transcribed from the original) for Cornelius and Fannie’s marriage. As suspected, there was no information beyond my great grandparents name at the time of marriage and the date they were married. Based on my grandparents’ marriage certificate, I really wasn’t expecting much more than this. Unfortunately, early Georgia marriage certificates, at least the one’s that I have seen, don’t provide a wealth of information.

The probate court officer also informed me that they do have records on Cornelius’ estate; however, they cannot make copies from the book. I, or a foot solider, would need to go there and transcribe or photograph this information. The Probate court will now be a definite stop during the research trip.

Yesterday, I also received documentation from the Walton County, GA Superior Court on the sale of great-granddad’s farm. From a genealogical prospective, there wasn’t any information there but it did perhaps give a different insight into what may have been going on in my great grandmother Fannie’s mind after the death of ggranddad.

I told this story when I first began this blog and hope that you don’t mind hearing it, again. This is from my grandmother’s perspective as relayed to my mother and on to me. Per my grandmother, after the death of great granddad Cornelius, great grandmom Fannie stated that she wasn’t planning to marry again because of the way great granddad had treated her. (Ggranddad reportedly left his family for a brief period, chasing after some woman. But I guess the grass was not greener, so he returned home.) However, as the story goes, some 'ole “Negro” started hanging around shortly after great granddad’s death and next thing you know, great grandmother tried to get all of her children from under foot by marrying off all her daughters that were of marrying age and still in the home. My great aunt, Ossie, was still a child at the time of her father’s death and ended up living with my grandparents, who married a few months after ggranddad's death, for a while.

Now having read about the sale of my ggrandparents’ farm, I wonder if great grandmom might have actually been trying to protect herself and her family from an uncertain future. At the time of his death in May of 1910, the bank and ggranddad owned his farm (i.e. he had a mortgage). Back in those days, I know even for white families, the death of a spouse / dad typically meant, they lost everything. I’m sure that it was even worse for African-American families who, even in the midst of Jim Crow, were trying to have a little something for themselves and their descendants. As best as I can tell, ggrandmom Fannie didn’t work. In Nov. 1911, the farm was sold, probably to pay off the mortgage. In my way of thinking, maybe, just maybe, what my grandmother interpreted as her mother selling out her family for the sake of a man was actually ggrandmom trying to secure a future for her family, especially her girls. Perhaps she knew her boys, although young, would be okay and thought the best way for she and her girls to be okay was to be attached to a man. Either way, things seem to have worked out okay for my grandmother and her two younger sisters.

Now that I know there is documentation of my ggrandfather’s “estate,” I pray that I can get down to Walton County soon to view it. I’m also praying that there may be that little nugget of information is there that will help me to continue on to follow the footsteps of both of my ggrandparents.

Until Next Time!

Trying to Build a Case - Bit by Bit

I received Uncle Roy "JD" Pierce's SS Application today. All I can say is that right now, the "White" Surname is wining out for ggrandmom Fannie. My grandmother and the Martin cousins appear to be the outliers. Does that make their knowledge wrong, I don't think so but it does raise a lot of questions.

1. Based on the documentation I've assembled to date, why is my grandmother the only one of her full bloodied siblings that handed down a different surname? Did my grandmother know something that the rest of her siblings didn't? There does appear to be one thing that she knew that no one else seem to know (at least no one else handed it down), her older half-sister Mattie.
2. Another peculiarity noted on Roy Pierce's SSN Application is that on the SS Application, Uncle JD states that he was born in Monroe, Walton, GA. However, his WWI Draft card says he was born in Watkinsville, as did his brothers. Oconee and Walton county are neighbors. Uncle JD applied for his SS card in 1940, 23 years after his WWI draft card.
3. Lastly, I noted that the SSN application says corrected application. Would appreciate comments and insight into what that could mean.

For now, until I can find something to document the other surnames, I will concentrate on White since that is the only one that I can actually document. By the way, I'm still waiting to receive a copy of the marriage certificate for Cornelius and Fannie. I'm really not expecting it to reveal a lot (my grandparent's just had their names and the date of marriage).

So I make this decision with the surname but it feels like it doesn't help because I don't know anything about Fannie's family. There is a Fannie White, age 2, listed on the 1870 census in Walton County. This could be her but without having a clue as to her other family members, I'm just guessing. And for some reason it just doesn't feel like her (but that could just be me). There has never been a mention of any relatives on Fannie's side of the family. I am still waiting on the death certificate of my grandmother's cousin, Claude Durden to see if that can shed any light on the mysterious one.

So Luckie, Felicia, Allum, Sandra and all my fellow genealogist, where should I go from here? Should I wait until I hopefully receive all the other items requested (Aunt Effie's death certificate, cousin Claude's death certificate, the ggrandparent's marriage certificate, etc.) Do I continue to look in Walton county?

HELP!

Mrs. Fannie Pierce (part 2)

How does one begin to explain all the mysteries that are clues to a great grandmother but to date, have not helped her descendants locate her. Perhaps you just jump in and rattle them off as they come to mind.

The Two Surnames

First Surname

The two different surnames is the most recent discovery about my great-grandmother and may be the most revealing in finding out more about her. The branch of the tree that descended from my grandmother, Mary Magdalene Pierce, was told through my grandmother that my great-grandmother's surname was Henry. So, prior to the 1900 census, I've looked for a Fannie Henry that matched the description of great-grandmom but to no avail. No one in our branch ever questioned this and always thought that was what the other branches of the family were told.


Second Surname

I met my second cousin Deborah about 10 years ago, shortly after I had moved back home to North Carolina from Colorado. Seeing as I'm a firm believer in the ancestral guidance in doing this research, perhaps the ancestors brought us together for a reason. Deborah is a grandchild of my great-aunt, Ossie Pierce, grandmom's baby sister. Deborah had also been researching the Pierce family's history and we had both gotten to the same point but couldn't get any further. Every so often we would ask each other about our research but I think even though we kept looking, we had both given up on finding out anything else. You would think somewhere during this time the surname oddity would have come up but it didn't until this year.

This year, through Deborah, I've come to know one of my younger cousins Nicholas (great-great grandchild of great-aunt Ossie Pierce), who contacted me to find out more about the family. I didn't pick up on it when he said Fannie's surname was White, didn't pick up on it again when he questioned me inputting Henry into my tree on Ancestry (had been on Ancestry for awhile but hadn't put my info in until Nicholas contacted me). It's only been within the past month that I fully took notice about this difference in surnames. It came about when I started searching death certificates of other ancestors not in my direct line. Great-aunt Evelina Pierce's, grandmom's older sister, death certificate listed Fannie's surname as White (information submitted by her husband Jim Jackson). Interesting!

After making this discovery I double checked my own grandmother's death certificate, surname listed was Henry. What's strange about this is that after great-grandmom remarried, aunt Ossie, who was 9 when my great granddad died, moved in with my grandparents and grandmom and granddad finished rearing her, so logically, you would think the sisters would have handed down the same surname but they didn't.

What I've been able to confirm

This past week, through the, marriage index for Walton County, GA, http://www.sos.georgia.gov/archives/what_do_we_have/online_indexes/pdi/RG247/247-02-011.htm, I've been able to determine that at the time my great grandparents got married, my great-grandmother's surname was White. The index indicates that a Cornelius Pierce (colored) and Frances (Fannie is a variation of Frances) White (colored) married on 10 Aug. 1889. The 1889 date confirms years of marriage that was given in the 1910 census.

The Henry surname

From information I've been able to gather, I believe that my great-grandmother more than likely had a marriage prior to her marriage to my great-grandfather.

Evidence that points toward a possible prior marriage

• Both the 1900 and 1910 census indicate great grandmom had other living children that never appeared to have resided with my great-grandparents (they weren't listed with them on either census).
• My grandmother knew of an older half-sibling, Mattie, whose surname was Henry or Henyard (more on that in my next post).
• The marriage between my great-grandparents occurred when they were in their mid-twenties. In today's world that wouldn't phase me but in the late 1800's when most marriages occurred by the time you were 20, it does seem a bit odd. (By the way I also think this was great-granddad's second marriage, too, but more on that later.)

When I hopefully go on my research trip later this year, I hope to be able to obtain a copy of my great-grandparents marriage license. If it's anything like my grandparents, there probably won't be a any additional information outside of what's on the index but I can hope that there is some small tidbit of information to point me in the right direction.
Until next time.

The Introduction to Ms. Fannie (Part 1)

The bulk of the stories handed down on my maternal grandmother's side of the family always seem to center around my great-grandmother Fannie.

First, there is her possible lineage that I mentioned in my last post.

But my favorite story that has been handed down is that after my great-grandfather died, great-grandmom said she wasn't going to remarry because of how great-granddad had treated her. Well, next thing you know some man comes along and great-grandmom tried to get all her daughters out of the way by marrying them off. Based on the 1910 census, my granddad lived two houses away and I've always imagined my great-grandmother saying to my grandmother "Mary, there's that nice Hosch boy over there that's about your age."

I don't know if there is any truth to the story but I can say that great-granddad died on 14 May 1910 and my grandparents were married on 9 Oct 1910.

Great-grandmom is also my most mysterious ancestor. The more info I find out about her, the more questions that are raised, which is why I've decided to introduce her somewhat slowly.