DNA Circles: Champion Farris and Catherine Davidson

IF Joseph Wheat, my great-grandfather, is the son of Henry Clay Wheat and Caroline Farris, then my 4th great-grandparents are, according to most trees, Champion Farris and Catherine Davidson. It has been so hard to get started writing this post, as I must depend on an almost non-existent paper trail and only a little DNA evidence to determine if these two are, indeed, my ancestors.

I have described my research into Joseph Wheat's ancestors (and descendants) in a couple of previous posts: "The Mystery of J. Wheat" and "More J. Wheat Mysteries Solved." To summarize: The first evidence of my great-grandfather that I found was the 1880 census of Collin Co. TX in which he was enumerated as J. Wheat with his wife Cynthia Ming and two children. J. Wheat stated that he was born in Texas and that his mother was born in Mississippi. Later, I found a marriage license, dated 21 January 1877 in Grayson Co. TX for J.A. Wheat and Cynthia Ming. It took years, and the discovery of a previously unknown brother of my grandfather Wheat, to discover the given name of their father on his death certificate: Joe Wheat.

Thomas J. Wheat's death certificate showing his father as Joe Wheat

This is where the paper trail fails, and I have to use supposition to identify the parents of Joe Wheat. What I did was to thoroughly research and identify every Wheat family that lived in Grayson or Collin Co. in 1870 and 1880. Henry Wheat, a widower, and three of his daughters were living in Grayson Co. in 1880, near many other Wheat family members I already knew. In 1870 the family, consisting of Henry, Caroline, son Joseph and four daughters were living in Davis Co. TX. Joseph, age 13, is the only Joseph Wheat on the 1870 census in Texas. On the 1860 census the family lived in Titus Co. and Joseph is enumerated as J.F., born in Texas. On both censuses Caroline gives her birthplace as Mississippi.

Henry and Caroline Farris Wheat family on 1870 Davis Co. census

A few inconsistencies still bother me. Joseph is enumerated as J.F., not J.A., on the 1860 census. His birth date varies from 1855 to 1859, depending on which census you are consulting. His father's birthplace is given as Arkansas on the 1880 census, yet Henry consistently gives his birthplace as Alabama. Joe disappears completely after the 1880 census, and Cynthia remarries in 1890.

A further discovery just over a year ago involved a DNA match whose ancestor, Pearlie Wheat, was the daughter of a J.A. Wheat who married Alice Brink in Milam, TX in 1885 and was buried in Stephens Co. OK in 1906. The date of his birth on the headstone is 15 February 1859 which dovetails nicely with his age of 21 on the 1880 census, and his marriage to Alice and birth of their children comes after the birth of his last child with Cynthia in 1884. However, the DNA match knew little about his family beyond Pearlie Wheat, so he could not corroborate my theory about the parents of Pearlie's father, J.A. I really have no doubt that this is my J.A. Wheat, but I still don't know who his parents were.

The DNA Circle Ancestors

So, what do I know about Champion Farris and Catherine Davidson, in whose DNA Circles I have been placed? Farris researchers give Champ Farris's birth year as 1765 or 1766, probably because he first appears as an adult on a petition to form Russell Co. VA in 1785 and on a personal property tax list for Russell Co. in 1787. Another date for which there is no evidence--so again, probably an estimate based on the dates of their children's births--is a date of 1783 for his marriage to Catherine Davidson. Champion last appears in Russell Co. on a personal property tax list in 1803 and sells his land on "Mockeson" Creek in 1804. He next appears on a petition to form Warren Co. TN from Smith Co. in 1806. Most Ancestry trees give his death date as 1820 in Franklin Co. TN, but again no-one gives documentation or their reasons for thinking so.

Most researchers give the parents of Champion as Elisha and Charlotte Mary (Vaughn) Farris. Champion is not listed as an heir of Elisha on an 1823 Scott Co. VA lawsuit over his estate--not a problem if, as has been stated, Champion died in 1820. At the death of Elisha in 1791 he did sign as security for Edward Farris, son of Elisha and administrator of his estate--so there is definitely a close connection there.

The deaths of Elisha and Charlotte/Mary have an interesting, if sad, history. Elisha Farris owned a tavern "two miles from Mockinson Gap" (near present-day Gate City, VA.) The inn was attacked by the half-Cherokee raider, Robert Benge, also known as Captain Benge or Bench. Elisha was killed immediately; Elisha's wife Mary, his daughters, Mary Farris Livingston and Nancy Farris, and a granddaughter were captured. Nancy Farris managed to escape, but the others were killed. 

Virginia historical marker about Indian attack on Elisha Farris family

It appears to me that many descendants on Ancestry confuse the Champion Farris who first appears in records in 1785 with a grandson with the middle initial T. who bought land in Missouri in 1853. A lot of them attach records for Champion T. to his grandfather, even when the events took place after the elder Champion's death in 1820. In fact, Champion appears to be a popular name for Farris descendants. On the 1870 census there is a Champion Farris, age 54, in Marshall Co. AL, married to Minerva, with children born in Alabama. On the same 1870 census there is a Champin Farris, age 55, living in Benton Co. AR with wife Luraney. I suspect he is our Champion T. Farris, as his older children were born in Missouri and his youngest in Texas. He also has a son, Champion, age 18.

Not much is known about Catherine Davidson. Most Ancestry trees show her birth date and place as 1770 in Franklin Co. TN, and her death date and place as 1802 in Russell Co. VA. Researchers may have good reason to give these dates and places, but I don't know what it is. Some researchers give her father's name as Col. George Davidson from North Carolina, but I think that is in error. His daughter Catherine was married to someone else. There was a James Davidson in Russell Co. who is often mentioned in the same documents with Farrises. I suspect that James or a possible brother is the father of Catherine, but I have no proof for that. In fact, I don't have any proof that her maiden name was Davidson, although she is named as Catherine in land documents with her husband.

Children of Champion and Catherine (Davidson) Farris

The following have been listed (with varying degrees of documentation) as children of Champion and Catherine Farris: Thomas, James, Nathan, Davidson, Levi "Kelly", Major, Elisha, William, and Mary.

Champion, James, and Thomas all signed the petition to form Warren County, TN. From January 1814 to May 1814 Sgt. Levi (Fearris), Pvt. Nathan (Farriss), and Pvt. Davidson (Farris) served in the Tennessee militia under the command of Captain James Tate (Tait.) The Farrises were no doubt close friends and perhaps even relatives, through marriage, of Captain Tate. Tate had grown up on Moccasin Creek in Russell Co. VA, married Ruth Davidson, moved to Warren Co. TN at the same time as the Farrises, and signed the petition along with them to form Warren Co. As militiamen, they fought the Creek Indians who were being supplied by the British with arms to fight the Americans, part of the wide-ranging actions we call the War of 1812. In 1855 Levi's widow, Margaret Nunley Farris, applied for bounty land due to Levi's War of 1812 service. The fact that Levi used the name "Kelly" came from this document.

James Farris moved to Jackson Co., AL where he appears on the 1830 census. Davidson and Levi lived in McNairy Co. TN in 1830. Davidson and Major Farris both appear on an 1837 territorial census in Mississippi. Davidson died in Tishomingo Co. MS in 1870, but Major moved on to Texas, where he appears on the 1850 census of Titus Co. I'm honestly not sure what evidence there is to connect this Major to Champion Farris, other than his proximity to Davidson Farris in Mississippi. Major does give his place of birth as Virginia on both the 1850 and 1860 censuses. Elisha Farris (born 1801) is also in Tishomingo MS by 1840. According to trees on Ancestry, Mary Jane "Polly" Farris married John Harris Woodley in Warren Co. TN, lived in Tishomingo Co. MS, and had a son named Levi Kelley Woodley.

1837 Mississippi Territory census showing Davidson and Major Pharis

Major Farris was the father of Caroline Farris, who married Henry Wheat and became the mother of a son I believe is my great-grandfather Joseph. While I can't definitely tie him to Champion Farris, I do have more evidence going forward. I got a lot of good information from the 1850 census in Titus Co. TX, but where was Major Farris before that? Good question. He appears on the 1837 Mississippi Territory census with just one name between him and Davidson Farris. Before that, there was a Major Farris in Pope Co. AR in 1830. If this is my Major Farris, then he has a lot of children that have not been accounted for. The parents of the family are between the ages of 30-39, and that is perfect for Major and his wife Lucy; there are two males under 5, 3 males 5-9, 1 female under 5, and 1 female 15-19. How does that match up to the 1850 Titus Co. TX census?

1850 Titus Co. census

One thing you can tell right away is that Major and Lucy (Family #122) moved around a lot. On the 1850 census Major gives his age as 52 and his birthplace as Virginia; Lucy is 50, born in Alabama. Enumerated with them are children L.G., age 24, born in Alabama; Reuben, age 18, born in Alabama; Thomas, age 16, born in Arkansas; Caroline, age 14, born in Mississippi; and Jasper, age 12, born in Texas. Just above Major's family on the census is M.P. Farris, age 26, born in Alabama; he is listed at the bottom of Family #121, Daniel and Dorothy McKinney. Daniel is 45, and Dorothy is 29. Could Dorothy be M.P.'s sister, and thus an older child of Major and Lucy? I believe she is. Subsequent censuses and Ancestry family trees show her name as Adeline Dollie (could be short for Dorothy); she had children named Lucy, Sallie Caroline, and Jasper; her daughter Sallie's death certificate lists her father as Dan McKinney and her mother as Dolly Farris. Family #124 has a head of household transcribed as Y.C. Farris (I think it's Z.C.); he is age 32 and born in Tennessee. Another child of Major and Lucy?

And how does this match up with the 1830 census in Arkansas? Not very well. If Dorothy and Z.C. are actually members of this family, their ages don't match up. We are missing both females, two of the males 5-9, and one of the males under 5. There is a gap in children between L.G. and Reuben, where two of the males might have fit. Could they have died or moved out on their own by 1850? Even though the ages of the children don't exactly match up, I do believe this is the same family. Thomas would have been born at about the time the family was living in Arkansas and Caroline at about the time they were living in Mississippi.

For more information on the family of Henry and Caroline Farris Wheat, see my original post about this family, "The Mystery of J. Wheat."

Caroline Farris Wheat headstone, Hall Cemetery, Howe, TX
from Findagrave.com

Members of the DNA Circle

Since my connection with Champion Farris hinged on the hypothesis that Joseph Wheat was my great-grandfather and his great-grandson, I have looked with anticipation for a DNA match and proof of a relationship to this family. Back before DNA Circles, when there were only individual matches on Ancestry, I was thrilled one day to find a DNA match with J.M., a descendant of Champion Farris. He is still my only known Champion Farris match, and he is also a member of the Champion Farris and Catherine Davidson DNA Circles.

Champion Farris's DNA Circle has 14 members, and Catherine's has 6. I'm guessing this is because not everybody shows Catherine Davidson as a spouse of Champion Farris. In fact, I have found no evidence for Davidson as her maiden name.

Seven members (all from the same family group) of the Champion Farris DNA Circle are descended from Levi Kelly Farris. Three members (all from the same family group) are descended from Mary. Two (including J.M.) come from Elisha. I am the only member of the circle that descends through Major Farris. Of the six members of Catherine Davidson's DNA Circle three descend from Mary, one from Davidson, one from Elisha (J.M.), and one from Major (me.)

Conclusions

As I have said before, putting information about these ancestors in narrative form is very helpful. I have found connections I hadn't previously noticed and discrepancies that have led to further research. I really thought my problem with this family was that I couldn't prove that my J.A. was Joseph Wheat, the son of Henry and Caroline Farris Wheat. What I found through writing this post was that there may be another disconnect in the ancestral line at Major Farris. I found absolutely no evidence that Major was the son of Champion and his wife Catherine. (I actually found no evidence connecting any children to this couple. I found people with the right ages in the right places to be their children but nothing that connects them definitively to Champion and Catherine.)

Another complication that I had foreseen was that my Farris family from Virginia might be related to my Pharris family from Tennessee, and that my DNA match reflected this connection. Many Farris family researchers show James Esom Farris as a father of Elisha; my Pharris family in Tennessee also had ancestors named Esom or Isham. If that is the connection, however, it is so far back that I would be surprised if any DNA slipped through. Also, according to a researcher named Elvin Farris on Ancestry, mutations in y-DNA results show that Elisha's father was more likely Joseph Farris than James Esom. This is another instance where it would be helpful to know just exactly how much DNA I have in common with J.M., my only Farris family match.

In conclusion, a thank you and a piece of advice for Ancestry users: Most Ancestry trees are just chains of names with hardly any evidence to support connections between the generations. When you find someone like Elvin Farris who has meticulously documented and noted each and every piece of evidence, it is very much appreciated. (Also thanks to a long-time researcher, Robbie Farris Glover, to whom Elvin gives credit for some of his information.)

Example of helpful source notes by Ancestry user Elvin Farris

I'm going to try very hard to take this advice myself: When you have made a good guess about a piece of information, tell us why you reached this conclusion. For example, a jillion people show that Champion Farris died in 1820 in Franklin Co. TN. Why do you think so? Franklin Co. was formed from Warren Co. in 1807. Did Champion live in the part that became Franklin Co.? Why 1820 for a death date? Did you just copy that information from somebody else's tree, or do you have a reason to believe it's true--a will or transfer of property, for example?

If you have lots of notes to share or a letter or email from other researcher, click on Add Media/Add a story, being sure to give credit to the person who gave you the information, and attach the document. You can also attach Media to each individual fact in the profile. If you have short notes to add to an individual's profile, click on the type of information (Birth, Residence, Death) and add your notes in the box labeled Description. Of course, it's easy to attach documentation if it comes from Ancestry, but you can also click on Facts and Sources on the profile page, click the tab Source Citations and add information from other sources. I know it's a lot of work, but it's so helpful to other researchers and will also help you in the long run when you can't remember the origin or significance of a piece of information. 

New Ancestor Discoveries

I've been writing about Ancestry DNA's new wrinkle on autosomal DNA matching--DNA Circles. To be considered a member of a DNA Circle based on a particular ancestor, you must have that ancestor in your tree on Ancestry and you must match DNA with at least one other person in the circle. For example, I belong to the Daniel Reed DNA Circle. Daniel Reed is my 4th great-grandfather. Out of 23 members of the circle, I share DNA with 5 members. The other 18 members share DNA with at least one other person in the circle. We all have Daniel Reed in our public trees on Ancestry.

Recently, Ancestry DNA has added another feature that they call "New Ancestor Discoveries." These are ancestors or relatives suggested by DNA evidence alone. In this post I want to look at the 8 "new ancestors" that Ancestry DNA suggests for me, based on my DNA test results and the test results of members who already have these ancestors in their family trees. (See Roberta Estes's blog, dna-explained.com, for her take on the ancestors/relatives Ancestry DNA suggested for her. She calls them Bad NAD's.)

NAD #1 -- Hannah Elizabeth Embry

The following facts were compiled from 595 trees on Ancestry, according to her NAD bio. Hannah was born 10 May 1815 in Garrard County KY. She married on 22 October 1833 in Butler Co. KY. She died 1 September 1877. Her parents were Isaac Embry (1786-1850) and Martha "Patsy" Jameson (1780-1882.) Ancestry says, "DNA evidence suggests that you're related to a group of Hannah Elizabeth Embry's descendants." I match 3 of the 11 members of the Hannah Elizabeth Embry DNA Circle.

Oh, how I wish I could figure out how I am related to Hannah Elizabeth Embry! I feel certain that I have a connection to the Embry and Pharis families of Butler Co. KY, but I have been unable to identify the exact ancestor that connects me to these two families. I suspect he is James Pharis of Jackson Co. TN, whose mother was Delilah Embry. (Many of the families of Jackson Co. TN had ties to Butler Co. KY. Delilah's father John is supposed to have died in Butler Co.) If James is the unidentified father of my 2nd great-grandmother, Elzina Huff, I don't know how I will ever prove it. Hopefully, future DNA test results will point definitively to James or some other Pharis/Embry ancestor. I will definitely keep an eye on future DNA matches to this NAD.

NAD #2 -- Christopher Columbus Snodgrass

Christopher Columbus Snodgrass (1801-1877) was the spouse of Hannah Elizabeth Embry. If, in fact, I am related to this couple, it's to Hannah and not to Christopher; however, since Ancestry relies on family trees to create DNA Circles, they have no way of showing from which spouse the DNA comes. Since my 3 DNA matches are to descendants of this couple, they both show up as my NAD's. Since Ancestry is suggesting relatives, not necessarily ancestors, I guess it doesn't really matter to them that Christopher is not my relative by DNA.

NAD #3 -- William Jackson

Ditto William Jackson. He is the spouse of my 2nd great-aunt, Sarah Elizabeth Wheat. Sarah was the sister of my great-great grandmother, Susana Wheat Ming. William was born in 1812 in White Co. TN, married Sarah in 1834 in Madison Co. AR, and died in 1879 in Pilot Grove, Grayson Co. TX. On the 1860 census of Grayson Co. TX, William and Sarah and 6 of their children are living next to William F. and Susana Ming.

According to Ancestry DNA, once I put William Jackson in my tree, he would disappear from my New Ancestor Discoveries, and that is exactly what happened. He and Sarah are now in my DNA Circles, the only circles I have that are not direct-line ancestors or their spouses. In the case of this NAD, Ancestry DNA did make a helpful suggestion.

NAD #4 -- Martha Jane Kendrick

According to her bio compiled from 104 trees on Ancestry, Martha Jane was born on 22 May 1854 in Kinderhook, Virginia. She is found on the 1860 census in Washington Co. VA. She married first in 1871 to Joel Kaylor and later to Wyndham Clark. By 1900 she was living in Madison Co. AR. She died in Pettigrew, AR in 1947. Her parents were John Kendrick (1831-1865), born in Washington Co. VA and Phoebe D. Morgan (1829-1882), born in Scott Co. VA.

Both the name Kendrick and her mother's birthplace in Scott Co. are clues as to how I could be related to Martha Jane. I do have a Kendrick in my family tree. She is Isabelle Kendrick, my 5th great-grandmother. She is the ancestor of Rachel Sargent, my 2nd great-grandmother, wife of Goldman Davidson Castle. Isabelle was born in 1754 in Stafford Co. VA and died in 1822 in Russell Co. VA. Her parents were Patrick Kendrick (1725-1803) and Jane Fox (1730-1805).

As you may have noticed, Martha Jane and Isabelle were born a century apart. Since there appears to be no direct-line connection between them, common sense would dictate that the connection between them has to be at least a generation or two before Isabelle. The way the NAD's work is that Martha Jane already has a DNA Circle. The fact that she shows up as a NAD to me is a suggestion that I would show up in her circle if I had her in my tree. Of the 4 members of Martha Jane's DNA Circle, I have DNA matches to two of them. Maybe one of their trees will give me a clue to how, or if, Martha and Isabelle are connected.

One of the two DNA matches, Azkjo55, has an extensive tree. In fact, we have two "Shared Ancestor Hints," symbolized by Ancestry's little green leaf. One of our shared ancestors is, sure enough, a Kendrick--two generations back from Isabelle. He is Thomas Kendrick (1699-1770), my 7th great-grandfather. My tree only includes my direct-line ancestor, Patrick Kendrick, son of Thomas, and Azkjo55 only shows her direct-line ancestor, John Kendrick, son of Thomas. However, if Patrick and John were, indeed, brothers, that could definitely be my DNA connection to Azkjo55 and to Martha.

Here's where genetic genealogists (and to be honest, even serious paper genealogists) have problems with Ancestry.
1) There is little evidence on most people's trees that Thomas Kendrick had two sons named Patrick and John. That's not to say that there isn't evidence, but a lot of Ancestry users borrow names from other users without documentation, or with documentation for a completely different person with the same name. Just because 104 people say that Martha Jane Kendrick was a descendant of Thomas Kendrick through his son John doesn't mean that's necessarily true.
2) To really prove a DNA relationship, according to genetic genealogists, you must have triangulation. Three descendants must match on the same DNA segment and show paper evidence (wills, census records, etc.) for the same ancestor. First of all, Ancestry doesn't give segment information, and second, Azkjo55 and I have another possible shared ancestor couple, John Barker and Martha Snead. Without segment information, we will never know if our DNA match is through the Kendricks, the Barkers, or both.

I understand why people might prefer Ancestry DNA to one of the testing companies that show matches along with segment information. It's a lot of work to match up segments with an individual and then find your common ancestor, especially when many of the people who test on Family Tree DNA, for example, don't even upload their family trees. Ancestry does all of that for you. In fact, their viewpoint is that "it's almost impossible for you to find enough matching segments with other users to have confidence that you have a common ancestor. To solve this problem, we created DNA Circles, where we collect evidence across millions of trees and DNA from all Ancestry DNA members. Because of this power of numbers, the evidence that you really did inherit DNA from the same ancestor as everyone else in the circle can increase."

I'm not sure I completely agree with them, but I've decided I'm going to try to use the information they provide, with reservations, and hope that it can help me. I think they can make a unique contribution because they do have a great number of users who have contributed trees and DNA.

I could put Martha Kendrick in my family tree, as I did with William Jackson, and see her NAD disappear to be replaced by a Martha Kendrick DNA Circle; however, since I can't prove to my satisfaction that John and Patrick Kendrick were brothers, I'm going to hold off for now.

NAD #5 and #6

Based on almost 1200 trees, Benjamin F. Burden was born in 1783 in Baltimore, MD. He married Elizabeth Tully on 6 November, 1801, in Nicholas Co. KY. He appears in Butler Co. KY by 1810 and died there on 12 May 1862. Out of 23 members of the Benjamin F. Burden DNA Circle, Ancestry says I match 10 of them by DNA. I match 9 of 21 members of the Elizabeth Tully circle.

I have absolutely no idea how I am connected to Benjamin F. Burden and Elizabeth Tully. While many of the DNA matches to the Burdens include an Embry in their trees, not all of them do. I guess it's possible that I am picking up Butler Co. KY in each of the matches but don't have a true connection with the Burden/Tully descendants. With that many matches, it's worth trying to figure out how we are related.

NAD #7 and #8

My last two New Ancestor Discoveries, at least for now, are Sabrina Cutbirth and David Wilcoxson. Sabrina was born in 1800 in Maury Co. TN and died in 1877 in Farmersville, Collin Co. TX. David was born in 1796 in Rowan Co. NC and died in 1883 in Farmersville. They married in 1825 in Tennessee.

I match 4 of 23 descendants of Sabrina and the same 4 of 20 descendants of David. Two of the 4 matches are in the same family group and administered by the same person. They are both direct-line descendants of Sarah E. Wheat and William Jackson. K.D., the administrator, is a member of four of the same DNA Circles that I am a member of: Zachariah Wheat, Elizabeth Whitley, Robert Stephenson, and Samuel Wheat. Easy, huh? Our connection is with the Wheats or their ancestors--except that the other two matches don't have Zachariah or Samuel Wheat, Elizabeth Whitley, or Robert Stephenson in their trees. 

Even Ancestry's DNA Circles and New Ancestor Discoveries don't always make things easy.

Sugar Camps, Stills, and Saltpeter Caves

If you have researched Jackson County, Tennessee, you have probably heard the name of Betty Huff Bryant. I knew she had written a couple of books about Jackson County, but I had never seen them and didn't know if I could find them. I recently discovered that they were available from a genealogical book store and finally broke down and bought them. Thank goodness for her and the people that she calls Specific Historians--the volunteer researchers that "want to know how things really were and who was really there." (From Building Neighborhoods, 1992.)

The two books that she wrote make it possible for those of us unable to travel (for the moment) to Jackson County or to the Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA) in Nashville to have access to court cases and land records of the 1800's. In addition, she has done the hard work for us--deciphering the handwritten entries and abstracting the important details.

One book, titled Jackson County, Tennessee Chancery Court Minutes 1840-1861, contains abstracts of the minutes of the Chancery Court. According to the website of the Tennessee State Courts at www.tncourts.gov, “Chancery Courts are courts of equity that are based on the English system in which the chancellor acted as the ‘King’s conscience.’ A chancellor, the judge who presides over chancery courts, may modify the application of strict legal rules and adapt relief to the circumstances of individual cases. Chancery Courts handle a variety of issues including lawsuits, contract disputes, application for injunctions and name changes. A number of matters, such as divorces, adoptions, and workers’ compensation, can be heard in either chancery or circuit court.”

You can see why details from these court cases could be very helpful to a genealogist. In addition, her notes on various cases are instructive, and her explanation of the various men of Jackson County named James Pharis might have actually, finally, straightened them out in my mind.

The other book, the one I want to talk about in this post, is Building Neighborhoods, in which she abstracts early land records (prior to 1820) of Jackson County. In her introduction she tells readers that she did this research in "an attempt to discover exactly who were the earliest settlers on Martin's Creek." One of the few things I know about my Elzina Huff is that she said in her 1874 divorce complaint that she had lived her entire life on Martin's Creek. Luckily for me, the very records researched by this Specific Historian are the ones I am specifically interested in. If you want to know "how things really were," there are certainly clues in these land records.

Each entry in Building Neighborhoods describes the piece of property involved in a land transaction. Prior to the Revolutionary War, the metes and bounds system was used to describe the boundaries of lands being surveyed. The thirteen original colonies and the state land states, such as Tennessee, used this method. Metes are measures, like poles (16.5 ft.), rods (26.5 ft.), and furlongs (664 ft.) and bounds are physical features that are used as boundary markers. (It reminds me a little bit of the softball games we used to play when I was a kid. “First base is that tree over there, second base is the swing set, third base is the lawn chair, and home base is this rock.”)

That example is not as ridiculous as it sounds. Listen to this description of a piece of land registered by Samuel Huff in 1812: “100 acs Beg on a black oak about 20 poles SW of a spring on waters of Brimstone Cr on N side of Cumberland…” I’m really surprised that the Chancery Court minutes are not full of people suing each other over the boundaries of their properties.

What I found interesting were the references to features that are quintessentially 19^th century. Several entries described land that was valuable because it contained a spring, a turnip patch, a cleared field, or a “mill seat,” a location suitable for a mill. Many, many entries included a reference to a “sugar orchard,” or more usually, a “sugar camp.” For example, the book includes this abstract, interesting to Huff researchers: “Enoch Carter…8 acs…dry fork of Martin’s Cr…to include William Huff’s old sugar camp.” Mrs. Bryant doesn’t give a definition of “sugar camp,” although a Google search turned up lots of definitions of “sugar camp”: places in or near orchards of sugar maples where sap is collected to make maple syrup.

The trouble is, that's not the definition I had heard from one of my Huff cousins; she said "sugar camp" was a nice 19th century eumphemism for "still." This definition seems more likely when you read another land description in Building Neighborhoods: “Beg at a sugar tree running east then south…so as to incl William Huff’s Sugar Camp in the dark Cave.” Okay. You surely wouldn’t have an orchard of sugar maples in a dark cave, but you might have a still. (And to give William Huff the benefit of the doubt, the cave could also contain the equipment needed to turn the sugar maple sap into syrup.)

Now maybe there’s some other information that I don’t have that would make this all clear. However, as it often happens, I recently heard a radio story on NPR about a legal battle over the definition of “Tennessee whiskey” that I think might explain why a sugar maple orchard could also be the site of a still. Tennessee whiskey, according to the Jack Daniels distillery which markets 90% of the stuff, is made mostly from corn, filtered through maple charcoal, and aged in oak casks; hence, the location of a still near a sugar orchard would be a definite advantage.

Lynchburg, Tennessee

Jack Daniels Distillery
Lynchburg, Tennessee

I visited the Jack Daniels distillery in Lynchburg on a trip to Tennessee a few years ago. It was a last-minute detour from our itinerary, but it was really interesting, and I was glad that we went. Jack Daniels definitely promotes the idea that their whiskey is Tennessee born and bred. The beef that some other distilleries have with JD’s definition of Tennessee whiskey is that it is JD’s recipe, and there are other ways to make Tennessee whiskey that are just as authentic. The artisanal whiskey makers of Tennessee apparently pride themselves on the spirit of the moonshiners that lives on in their products.

Jack Daniels

Another important feature in many of the land descriptions also required a Google search. “Cave fork of Knob Cr of Cumberland R…the north side of said fk…mouth of salt petre cave formerly worked by…Anderson who erected furnaces several years past at sd cave…”

“On a fork of Knob Cr of Cumberland…to incl Huff’s and Givin’s old salt petre cave.”

“One ac…Brimstone Cr…to include a salt petre cave out of which a hole goes out at the top of the mountain.”

What was a saltpeter cave?

Saltpeter is potassium nitrate and can be extracted from the soil of limestone caves, like those found in Kentucky and Tennessee. It is an essential ingredient in the manufacture of gunpowder. Saltpeter mined in east Tennessee was used to make gunpowder for the Revolutionary War; by the time of the land transactions in Building Neighborhoods, saltpeter from Jackson County was being turned into gunpowder to fight the War of 1812. An apocryphal story has gunpowder processed from Jackson County saltpeter making it to Andrew Jackson’s troops at the Battle of New Orleans.

In 2014 you can buy maple syrup in a bottle at the grocery store, order a Jack & Coke at your neighborhood bar, and pick up some ammunition at the closest Walmart, so it’s hard to imagine making any of this stuff from scratch. This is the beauty of a book like Building Neighborhoods; it gives you a clearer picture of who your ancestors really were, what they thought was important, and what kinds of tasks took up their days.

I've learned more than I ever thought I would from Betty Huff Bryant. I hope you are lucky enough to have a Specific Historian for your neck of the woods!