Journeys Through Jackson 1999 Vol.09 No.01-02

Journeys Through Jackson is the official journal of the Jackson County Genealogical Society, Inc. The journal began as a monthly publication in July 1991, was published bimonthly from 1994 to 2003, and continues today as a quarterly publication. The journal issues in this digital collection are presented as annual compilations.c - ^ J o u r n e y s T h r o u g h J a c k s o n T h e O f f i c i a l J o u r n a l o f t h e J a c k s o n C o u n t y G e n e a l o g i c a l S o c i e t y , I n c. V o l . I X , N o . 1 - 2 J a n u a r y - F e b r u a r y 1 9 99 JACKSON COUNTY GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY, INC. 1999 Officers President RickL. Frizzell Vice Presidents Betty P. Foti Sharon B. Carnes Secretary Marilyn G. Morton Treasurer David C. Frizzell Librarian Dorris D. Beck Office Manager Ruth C. Shuler Computer Coordinator Kirk E. Stephens Chair, Publications R. Larry Crawford Journeys Through Jackson is the official publication of the Jackson County Genealogical Society. Members and non-members are invited to submit genealogical materials for publication, with the understanding that the editor reserves the right to edit these materials for genealogical content, clarity, or taste. The Society assumes no responsibility for errors of fact that may be contained in submissions, and except where noted, the opinions expressed are not those of the editor or of the Jackson County Genealogical Society. The Society accepts no advertising for this publication except for notices for other non-profit groups. From the Editor All we have to say about both sides of the impeachment mess, the millenium fanatics, Y2K agonizers, the NBA, professional wrestling, Saddam Hussein, and the Disney financial managers is that those people don't have enough to worry about. Why don't they concern themselves with something really important, like the identity of a fourth great-grandfather, or an elusive marriage record, or why those three great-uncles all moved to Nebraska, but only two of them were hanged? Seriously, folks, as we celebrate the New Year, or President's Day, or Black History Month, or anything else worthwhile, let's remember who we are. And what better way to do that than to do some good genealogical research? Start in this issue of Journeys with the second part of Anne Goodwin's outstanding account of the Hooper family, then see more of Shawna Hall's Owens, or be entertained by the work of Kirk Stephens. There's more, too, thanks to the fine work and generosity of your JCGS members. Let's break records again in 1999! ^y U V i s i t u s a t o u r w e b s i t e : h t t p : / / w w w . m a i n . n c . u s / j c g s/ y ! Journeys Through Jackson, January-February 1999 T a b l e o f C o n t e n t s Queries 1 JCGS Photo Album 2-4 Expanded Theory About the Hoopers .' 5-10 Jackson County Delayed Birth Certificates, Vol. 6 11-14 The Owen Descendancy of Shawna Green Hall 15-18 1935 Jackson County Death Certificates of Persons Born Prior to 1900 19-23 JCGS Library Acquisitions 24 Civil War Payment Records 25-29 Monteith Lineage Charts 30-31 Index 32-34 Q u e r i e s New JCGS member Debra L. Dotson, 353 North Pino Rd., Mocksville, NC 27028 or e-mail DebraD2823@aol.com, would like to hear from Mack Sutton or Dorris Beck. She is trying to determine Russell Sutton's parents. He married Rachael Turner. He appears in the 1850 Macon County census, Savannah, close to William Sutton, David Sutton, James Sutton, Joseph Sutton, and William Sutton. Debra has become confused by the book, The Suttons of Haywood County and Related Lines, and would like for someone to shed some light on this subject. Also, who were the parents of James Fisher and his wife Mary Gillon? Patty Gerhart, 2 O'Brian's Way, Asheville, NC 28803, is researching Matthews, Mathis, Phillips, Alexander, and Fortner. She is interested in knowing the reason for the surname spelling change with Mathis and Matthews. Has everyone checked out the Queries on the website? Do so, and help your cousins. Alberta Scroggs, 121 Lincoln St., Grafton, WV 26354, is trying to find information about her husband's grandmother and family. The grandmother was Nellie Hampton Scroggs who was married to William Connard Scroggs. Nellie was one of a family of nine girls, namely Florence, Nellie, Pearl, Lillie, Evelyn, Pauline, Georgia, Hebley, and Betty. None of the living grandchildren has a record of a birthday, but Mr. Scroggs remembers that his grandmother said she was born in this area. T e l l y o u r f r i e n d s a n d c o u s i n s a b o u t J C G S t o d a y. Journeys Through Jackson, January-February 1999 J C G S P h o t o A l b um U Ky JCGS member Ann Hampton Peters writes: "Enclosed is a group photo that includes my grandmother, Emma Jane Shelton Hampton Wike, second from right on front row. I believe the young man just behind her is my grandfather, G. Taylor Hampton (1866-1887). Emma's sister, Mattie Shelton Whitmire, is beside her, first on right. Can someone identify others in the group? Is the place the old school or church at Qualla/Shoal Creek? When was it taken? Any information will be appreciated..." The picture above shows two ladies at a contraption. Can anyone identify the ladies or the contraption? >KJ . ^ Journeys Through Jackson, January-February 1999 ^ J C G S P h o t o A l b um JCGS member Lester Hamilton shares this photograph with us, and needs to know the identities of the three persons above. Is this possibly in the Shelton, Hamilton, or Burrell families? These names are all associated with the Canada community of Jackson County. Help, members? C Journeys Through Jackson, January-February 1999 J C G S P h o t o A l b u m • J This photograph was of particular interest to the editor, because it was identified as "Norman School, 1902." In the third row, sixth from the left, is the editor's maternal grandfather, Edd Norman. His future wife, Hester Blanton, is second to the right from him as one looks at the picture. At least five of the children of Will and Depina Ensley Blanton are in this picture. Mariah Blanton Shuler is fourth from the right on the back row. Erastus Blanton is second from the right on the third row. Charlie Blanton is the first on the left in the second row, and Berry Blanton is fourth from the left on the second row. Their brother Houston Blanton might be the boy fifth from the left on the third row. Their nephew Posey Blanton, son of Hamilton Blanton and Sarah Norman, is second on the second row. The baby was from the Sutton family, who lent the picture to Brian McMahan, who shares it with us. Norman School would have been located very near where we associate the Ochre Hill Baptist Church. This is not the old Ochre Hill Church in the background, but might be an even earlier building of that congregation. Journeys Through Jackson, January-February 1999 Expanded Theory About the Hoopers1 ' This-second part of the discussionabout an 1853/54 Jackson County Equity case continues the effort to identify Margaret (Mrs. John) Hooper.2 Previously, the first part of this long article showed that Margaret Hooper of 1860 Jackson County could not be identical to the heir mentioned in the court minutes: The Bill of Complaint of Enos Hooper, James Hooper, William Most and wife Elizabeth, Abram Pickelsimer & wife Elenor, Benjamin Chastain and wife Nancy, Absolem Hooper, Mary Brown, John Hooper and wife Margaret, Milton Brown and wife Kisiah, and Jonathan , William, Andrew, Caroline, Sarah, and Mary Hooper children of Andrew Hooper, complainants against William Hooper of the County of Jackson and Isaac Hooper of the State of Georgia defendants. Part 2 Was there another Margaret Hooper married to a John Hooper? As shown by Part 1, we can determine some details about the life of Absolem Hooper's daughter Margaret. She was the wife of a John Hooper and retained the Hooper surname in September 1853. Neither she nor her husband appeared in 1854, as had her younger brother Enos, to give depositions in the Jackson County court dispute. By April of 1860, she was a resident of the western North Carolina congressional district served byZ. B. Vance. Also by 1860, she had acquired the surname Bell, and had suffered a life of misfortune. I believe there is evidence revealing the existence of a woman who matches these facts. The 1860 Cherokee County, NC census lists a woman whom I believe to be this daughter of Absolem: Fort Hembree District, 12 August 1860, page"196, household #1289 Robert Bell 74'b. Gilford Co., NC Miller $300/$200 Margaret" 57 b. Pickens Dist, SC Thomas Bell 56 b. Burke Co., NC laborer. This Margaret was bom about 1803 in exactly the area of South Carolina where Absolem lived in 1800 and where he received a land grant 6n the Oolenoy in the 1790s. Neither Robert nor Margaret Bell were enumerated in Clay or Cherokee Counties in 1870.3 Robert Bell may be buried near his son James M. Bell in the Old Methodist Cemetery (Pine Log Cemetery) near the Georgia/North Carolina line. 1 Copyright 1998 by Anne C. Goodwin. Anne is a Hooper descendant and owner of A C Goodwin's Family Source Compass, a genealogical publishing enterprise (http://www.mtwestnet/angie/index.html). Correspondence or corrections may be emailed to . Evidence which provides the basis-for Anne's ponderings has been provided by several researchers. Hal Hooper, Ron Hooper, Clay Hooper, and Mary Crocker provided significant contributions of factual material regarding the Hoopers. Teresa Bell, Betty Jean Holmes, and Patsy Oehrlein have added insights about the family of Robert Bell. 2 Larry Crawford,. 1998, "One Theory About the Hoopers," in Journeys Through Jackson, VUI:3-4, page 46). A full transcription of the Jackson County Equity Court record appears elsewhere. 3 In 1870, Thomas Bell was enumerated in Clay County., NC at Hayesville on 18 Aug 1870, page 449b in the William Leatherwood home: Thomas Bell,74 NC "No occupation," "insane." In 1850 Cherokee County, this Thomas Bell was enumerated at household 163 within the home of Elizabeth Goode (aged 60), as Thomas Bell, 47 NC, laborer. Journeys Through Jackson, January-February 1999 No comparable Margaret Bell appears in 1850 Cherokee County, nor in adjacent Towns and Union County, Georgia, nor in Macon or Haywood Counties, NC. Two Robert Bells do appear in 1850 Cherokee County. One was a Robert Bell, aged 65, whose wife was Sarah. He lived closer to Murphy, NC. The other Robert Bell appeared thus: Cherokee County, Robert Bell Elizabeth Samuel Robert M. Sarah A NC, 30 June 1850, hous 64 NC Fanner 54 NC 22 NC 16 NC 13 TN ehold619 Samuel and Robert M. Bell both had married4 by 1860 and had their own households. Samuel was enumerated nine households before the home of Robert, Margaret, and Thomas Bell. Robert M. Bell was next door to his father Robert. Robert Bell, Sr. had lived in Cocke County, Tennessee in 1840 and in Buncombe County, North Carolina in 1830 and 1820. The 1850 and 1860 census records, then, show a Mrs. Margaret Bell living in North Carolina in 1860 who must have married her Bell husband sometime after 1850. This data matches what would be expected for Absalom's daughter. What is more, evidence does exist to show that this Margaret Bell had some sort of Hooper connection. The 1880 census for Polk County, Tennessee shows this intriguing family, wherein a Margaret Bell is positively identified as the mother of a Hooper son: Enumeration District 95, page 26,1" Civil District, 19 June 1880, household 224/225: Hooper, Andy J 54 • fanner, b. TN, father b. TN, mother b. TN, literate Mary C 28 wife keeping house b. TN (parents' blank), cannot write James B 4 son b. TN, father b. TN, mother b. TN Sarah H 2 daughter b. TN, father b. TN, mother b. TN Bell, Margaret 77 mother, widowed b. SC, father b. Wales, b. mother Germany This Margaret Bell in Tennessee exactly matches the 1860 information for the Margaret Bell in Cherokee County — same name, same birth year, same birth state. The son Andrew J. Hooper rails to fit into either of the two other Hooper lineages5 known to have lived in the Polk, Bradley, McMinn area of Tennessee from 1830. Polk County has suffered numerous courthouse fires, one happening as late as 1935. There are, alas, few remaining deed and probate records. Thus, the census is the major remaining source of data for families living there before this century. In 1870 Polk County, Andrew Hooper 4 Samuel Newton Bell (16 May 1827 Buncombe County, NC - 24 Nov 1902 Foard County, Texas) married Elizabeth Gribble (25 Sept 1834 Macon County, NC - 24 April 1904 Foard County, Texas). Elizabeth Gribble Bell was a daughter of Ezekiel Gribble and granddaughter of John Gribble and Margaret Black Gribble Montieth. Samuel's only son Thomas Jefferson (Jeff) Bell was born 6 October 1852. Robert M Bell was listed in 1860 with wife Sarah E and daughter Manda aged 3. 5 The two Hooper lines come from another younger Absalom Hooper and his brother Andrew Hooper, both probably nephews of the Absalom Hooper who was the Revolutionary War soldier. In 1880, George Hooper, whose parents were bom in Tennessee, was just two doors away from Andy J. Hooper. George was a younger son of Polk County, Tennessee's Absalom Hooper and his first wife Elizabeth Rymer. j Journeys Through Jackson, January-February 1999 i ^ (age 40, b. TN) was working as a farm hand in a household next door to that which included the ^ ^ Andrew's 1880 neighbor George Hooper).6 Andrew's mother was not enumerated in Polk County in 1870. The 1860 census shows Andrew Hooper with an earlier wife. That wife and family probably died during the 1860s from war-related problems: Polk County, Tennessee, 26 June 1860,10th District, Benton Post Office, page 186 Andrew Hooper 35 farmer (no land or personal estate values) b,NC literate Martha 30 NC Sariah 8 NC John 6 NC Jane 4 NC Dovey 1 NC This identification of Andrew as a farmer rather than as a farm laborer suggests he owned or rented a farm. Perhaps the enumerator acquired information about this family from someone other than the Andrew and Martha. The North Carolina birthplaces (whether correct information or not) are significant in hinting that this family recently had spent some time in North Carolina. As in 1870, the 1860 Polk County, Tennessee has neither a Margaret Hooper nor a Margaret Bell with appropriate data to be Andrew's mother. Of course, a Margaret Bell, who had married between 1850 and'1860, was apparently in Cherokee County, NC in 1860 in the Robert Bell home. / Again, in 1850, Andrew Hooper appears in Polk County, Tennessee. Of real importance ^ ^ is the fact that fie was living next door "to Benjamin Chastain, Jr. (who probably also was newly wed, since his only child was just seven months old).7 Polk County, Tennessee, 5m Civil District, 28 October 1850,-household #619/625 Andrew J. Hooper 30 b. TN fanner $800 real estate, married within the year Mahaley 17 b. SC married within the year Andrew Hooper's mother, as either Margaret Hooper or Margaret Bell, is missing from the 1850 Polk County, Tennessee census. No Andrew Hooper at all appears in 1840 Polk County. However, Andrew may have arrived in Polk County about the time of his marriage to Mahaley. Or, perhaps he moved to Polk County, Tennessee when he acquired his land that was valued at $800 in 1850. Ocoee District patents show that an Andrew Hooper in 1842 obtained a grant of land lying between what is now Duektown and .the border with North Carolina.8 * 1870 Polk County. Tennessee, 9th Civil District, page 5, households #34 and #35 7 Benjamin Chastain, Jr. was a son of Benjamin Chastain, Sr. and Nancy Hooper (daughter of the Revolutionary War soldier Absalom Hooper). Parents Benjamin and Nancy Chastain were nearby, but had moved into Polk County from their 1840 residence in Union County, Georgia. If Andrew J. Hooper was a grandchild of the Revolutionary War soldier Absalom Hooper, then Andrew J. Hooper and Benjamin Chastain, Jr. were, first cousins. 8 Book H, page 765 shows a patent to Andrew Hooper for 80 acres in section 36, partial township 3S, range 5E, tract 4798, granted 29 January 1842. Microfilmed Ocoee District land records are housed at the Tennessee State Library and Archives in Nashville. Journeys Through Jackson, January-February 1999 So census searches for Andrew J. Hooper in 1850, 1860, and 1870 seem to offer scant \y additional data on his parents. Since the county-level records in Polk County have burnt, there seems little hope of learning more. However, there is a most significant record in adjacent McMinn County: Elizabeth Presly v. John Presly. Filed 30 Oct 1850. Elizabeth of Polk County by next friend Andrew J. Hooper. John Presly and Elizabeth Hooper married 1841. John abandoned her in September 1850 when she was pregnant with their fifth child, going to Georgia with Lucinda Carter. Petition for divorce and for injunction to prevent Presly from selling land which bet father John Hooper entered in their name. As a married woman, Elizabeth Presley lacked the legal status to bring her own lawsuit. The term next friend means that Andrew J. Hooper was the complainant who actually brought the case for Elizabeth Presley. Usually, the male acting in behalf of the married woman was either her father or brother. In all probability, Andrew J. Hooper was a brother to Elizabeth Presley. If so, then his father would have been John Hooper. And if Andrew J. Hooper and Elizabeth Hooper Presley were siblings, then their parents would be John Hooper and a woman named Margaret who later became Margaret Bell! The fact that the father John Hooper failed to participate in the case may indicate that he had died by October 1850, was too enfeebled to aid his beleaguered daughter, or was no longer in Tennessee. The 1850 census has no John Hooper of sufficient age in east Tennessee, so perhaps he had already died. The land which John Hooper entered in his son-in-law's name was granted to John Presley on 8 October 1841. This grant lay about ten miles north and west of Ducktown, Tennessee.10 On the 1850 census of Polk County, in the same civil district as Andrew J. Hooper, ^y were the Presley family and their first four children: Polk County, Tennessee, 5th Civil District, 6 November 1850, household #736/743 John Presley 26 b. GA farmer $250 Real estate Elizabeth 23 b. TN Margaret lOb.TN Geo. W. 9 b. TN Marion 6 b. TN Mary 4b.TN Notice that Andrew J. Hooper's first son was named John, and that Elizabeth Hooper Presley's first daughter was Margaret. Perhaps they were honoring their own parents with these given names. The 1850, 1860, and 1870 listings for Elizabeth Hooper Presley vary a bit regarding her birth year. Polk County, TN 1st District, 6 June 1860, Post Office Benton, p. 16 household 114: John Pressly 44 b. TN, farm laborer, no personal or real estate, illiterate Elizabeth 40 b. TN Margaret 19 b. TN 9 Reba Bayless Boyer, 1980, Chancery Court Records Of McMinn County, Tennessee, page 60, entry 107. 10 Two 40-acre patents to John Presley were tracts 3837 and 3838 in section 7, township 2, range 4E. ^ Journeys Through Jackson, January-February 1999 GW. Marion Jasper McD John 16 b. TN, farm laborer 9 b. TN, farm laborer 7 b.TN 1 b.TN The gap between the ages of Jasper and the son John suggests that the parents John and Elizabeth may have remained separated until nearly 1859. The lack of land, in comparison to the 1850 listing, suggests that John had squandered his father-in-law's gift. John Presly's abandonment of Elizabeth and her children could have been part of the 1860 reference (by Vance) to Margaret Bell, as "this 'old worn out pilgrim' whom misfortune has been so heavy upon." By 1870, John Presly was nowhere to bp found. He may have been a casualty of the Civil War. Son G. W. Presley married Simanthia Owen on 21 January 1869 in McMinn County. George and his mother Elizabeth Hooper Presley are the only representatives from the 1860 household who were enumerated later in McMinn: McMinn County, TN, ? June 1870, household #32/35 George Presley 25 b. TN laborer, no real or personal estate values Cemantha 23 b. TN Housekeeper Elizabeth 45 b. TN Asst. housekeeper What is especially interesting that same year is that there is a Margaret Hooper living in the 10th District of McMinn County: McMinn County, TN, 30 June 1870, household #137/141 James Smith 51 b. SC Minister, $2000 Elizabeth 36 b. TN Housekeeping James 11 b. TN attended school Margaret Hooper 70 b. SC Perhaps this is the same Margaret who was Margaret Bell in 1860 and 1880. Maybe Margaret was married to Robert Bell so briefly that everyone thought of her as Margaret Hooper. Or perhaps James Smith had been Margaret's minister before her interlude in North Carolina. Samuel Newton Bell (Robert Bell's son and thus Margaret's stepson) was a Methodist minister." This association of Margaret Hooper Bell with men known to be deeply religious may explain the exclamation made by Vance at the bottom of his 1860 cover letter: i She has been a professor for twenty years! J Combining these records yields an initial idea of what family composition to expect when searching for Margaret before 1850. Margaret herself probably was bom between 1800 and I 1803. Son Andrew J Hooper's birth should be sometime between 1820 and 1830. Daughter i Elizabeth Hooper Presley may have been born anytime between 1820 and 1827. j The marriage record for John Presley and Elizabeth Hooper gives a logical location for the 1840 family. The two were wed in Monroe County, Tennessee on 19 April 1841. Later that • 11 Patsy Oehrlain (personal communication 1 Oct 1998) states that Bell's Texas grave is marked by a bronze Methodist preacher emblem. A stained glass window in the First Methodist Church in Crowell, Texas is dedicated to Samuel Newton Bell. Journeys Through Jackson, Ja