Christmas Baskets

As usual, the holidays have put me in a nostalgic frame of mind. Pulling out the tree ornaments and decorations, some of which are a half-century old, (see my post "Ghosts of Christmas Past") and remembering past Christmases with family members who are no longer here always makes me sentimental at this time of year. After having a conversation with my sister-in-law about practical presents, I decided to make food baskets for my family, based on gift items my grandmother used to make and recipes I remember making with her. I called them Grandma Fannie's Christmas Baskets.

Ham Salad

I remember when my grandmother started making food baskets for her sisters for Christmas. I remember her saying that she couldn't think of anything they needed or wanted, but everybody could always use food. Now that I'm older, I know exactly what she meant. The conversation with my sister-in-law about practical presents put me in mind of this observation of my grandmother's.

She always started her sisters' baskets off with a ham. She would pick a fairly small one--they didn't need a lot--but fancy it up with cloves and a glaze. I decided to go the ham salad route with my family baskets. I hadn't made or had ham salad in a long time, but it was something my grandmother made a lot. I checked out a lot of recipes and finally came up with my own. It used to drive me crazy when I would ask my grandmother for a recipe, and she would say "a pinch of this" or "a dab of that," but that's exactly how this ham salad was made. She used to grind the ham in her meat grinder, but I used the food processor, then added finely chopped red onion and celery, mayonnaise, a little Dijon mustard, and a "dab" of dill pickle relish. It was a big hit.

Bread and Butter Pickles

My grandmother canned her pickles, but I made the easy refrigerator kind. Bread and butter pickles are sweet and sour. Honestly, I can't stand sweet pickles, so I had to ask my relatives if these turned out well, because I didn't even try them. The ones who like sweet pickles said they were good!

I have wondered for a long time about the name of these pickles. Google mentions several variations on the theme of the Depression--taking cucumber sandwiches for lunch, etc.--but the name actually became trademarked in 1923 by a couple of cucumber farmers from Illinois as "Fanning's Bread and Butter Pickles." Omar and Cora Fanning said they called them bread and butter pickles because before they were famous, they used to use them to barter with their neighbors for bread and butter.

Cinnamon Apples

I remember watching my grandmother make cinnamon applesauce. It was one of the items that almost always went in her baskets. I had a recipe from an old cookbook that my grandmother used, but I had recently watched the Pioneer Woman make cinnamon apple slices on TV, so I used her recipe. They were delicious! The hardest part of this recipe was finding the Red Hots. I thought maybe it was because they are old-school, but my friend reminded me that a lot of people use them for gingerbread houses. In any case, they weren't available at our local grocery stores, but I finally found them at Dollar General.

Cloverleaf Rolls

I am a good cook, and sometimes a good baker, but I cannot make bread. I was going to use my grandmother's roll recipe from her old cookbook (copyright 1953), but I decided maybe I needed a more modern version. It didn't matter. They still didn't rise. Don't tell my family, but I ended up making them out of Rhodes frozen bread dough. The whole point is that they are cloverleaf rolls, which is what my grandmother always made. 

Late in life--she was in her 70's or 80's--my grandmother decided to start baking bread from scratch. Now I imagine she had made bread before, but she decided she needed to perfect the process of making cloverleaf rolls. Now that I am retired myself, I think I know what she was trying to do. She wanted to stay busy and keep her mind and hands active, and that was what she did. She used a recipe from my mother's cookbook, which is the only one I ever saw her use. The only reason I know it was my mother's is because my grandmother wrote on the flyleaf, "Ida Belle's cookbook." It was called The Modern Family Cookbook by Meta Given, and you can see that my mother and grandmother made good use of it.

Hermit Cookies

My recipe for hermits also came from The Modern Family Cookbook. I remember making hermit cookies with my grandmother and by myself, when I was a teenager. Compared to the cookie varieties we have now, they weren't very special, made with ingredients that most cooks would have in their pantries. I guess the best way to describe them would be as spice cookies--they have both cinnamon and nutmeg in them--with raisins and nuts. I laughed out loud when I saw the directions--the cook was supposed to sift the flour five times--once for the flour itself and once each after the addition of salt, soda, the cinnamon, and the nutmeg. Can you imagine any busy woman now sifting the flour for cookies five times?

My grandmother had no problem with modern conveniences. By the time she started raising my brother and me at the age of 60, she had been cooking for a long time, and she didn't mind at all using store-bought foods or being taken out to eat. And my dad, after a long day at work, didn't mind at all taking us out to eat. I was luckier than most kids in that respect, I guess, and those dinners out at our favorite places are some of my best memories. To be honest, there were some things that my grandmother could cook really well--her roast and potatoes in the pressure cooker were something I have never been able to reproduce--but she was a better baker than a cook. She made cakes a lot, but I don't remember her ever using a recipe. Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines cake mixes with homemade frosting--buttercream or marshmallow--were often requested and enjoyed.

By the way, many have wondered how "hermit" cookies got their name, and there is no definite answer. One website suggested that the Moravians, sometimes called by the Dutch name "hernhutters," also baked a kind of spice cookie, and their name might have sounded like "hermits" to an English speaker. Hermit cookies have been known by that name in the U.S. since the 1870's. Apparently, they last forever (maybe hermits could keep them a long time in their caves) and were a popular choice for mothers sending packages to their sons overseas during WWII.

Divinity

I have no recollection of my grandmother making divinity, but I'm sure she did. Her sister Georgia was the divinity queen in our family. This was one of those "keeping your mind and hands active" things for me. I just wanted to see if I could do it. If I have ever made divinity before, it was so long ago that I have forgotten. Unlike the rolls, the divinity turned out wonderful! The first ones wanted to spread a little, so I googled that and found a suggestion to add a couple of tablespoons of powdered sugar. That did the trick. Scrumptious, if I do say so myself.

On a note in each family's basket, I wrote:

Grandma Fannie's Christmas Basket
Ham Salad
Bread and Butter Pickles
Cinnamon Apples
Cloverleaf Rolls
Hermit Cookies
Divinity

And on the other side:
Making food for us was how she showed her love
Making her food for you is how I show you mine

Grandma Fannie's Christmas Baskets

William L. Sublette: 52 Ancestors #3 (Wheat side)

The subject of this post, William Lewis Sublette, has come to my attention lately, and not through genealogy. In fact, I heard about him while I was being trained as a museum volunteer. His uncommon surname jogged my memory, and I went home and looked him up in my family tree.  

William L. "Bill" Sublette is not technically my ancestor--at least, not my direct line ancestor. He is my 1st cousin, 5 times removed. His mother and my 4th great grandmother were sisters. His name might be one that you know, even though I didn't recognize it at first. He is among the group of adventurers known as "mountain men"--men like Jedediah Smith, Jim Bridger, and Kit Carson. His name and those of his brothers, as well, are written in the history books, and he was involved in many historic events in his short life of 46 years.

His mother, Isabella Whitley, came from an adventurous family. She came to Kentucky from Virginia in 1775 at age 1, riding horseback on the lap of her mother, Esther Fullen Whitley. Her sister, my 4th great grandmother Elizabeth, age 3, rode tied to Esther's back. In the 1780s William and Esther Whitley built the first brick house in Kentucky, and that is where Isabella, who had married Philip Sublette in 1797, gave birth to her first son William in 1798. They went on to have several more children: Milton, Sophronia, Pinckney, Mary, Andrew, Sally, and Solomon. 

Whitley House, Crab Orchard, KY

The Sublette family moved to St. Charles, Missouri, in 1817. William was appointed deputy constable of the township in 1820, and then constable. In 1822 he saw this advertisement in the Missouri Gazette and Public Adviser. 

General William Henry Ashley and Major Andrew Henry co-founded the Rocky Mountain Fur Company in 1822. Their plan was to compete with John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company by teaching young men to do the trapping themselves instead of trading for furs with the Native Americans. 

This was also the beginning of the rendezvous. From 1825-1840 in various pre-announced locations, the rendezvous was an annual meeting of the trappers with supply wagons brought in by the fur companies. In addition to selling furs and replenishing supplies, the trappers also swapped stories, competed in races and target shooting, and did business. After the rendezvous of 1826 in Cache Valley, Utah, William Sublette and David Jackson bought out Ashley's interest in his fur company. In 1830 they sold out to William's brother, Milton, and his partners.

Map of rendezvous sites from furtrapper.com

The 1832 rendezvous at Pierre's Hole, Wyoming, was attended by up to two hundred trappers from the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, led by William Sublette; trappers from the American Fur Company; small groups of independent trappers; and large numbers of Nez Perces and Flatheads. As the rendezvous began to break up, Milton Sublette's group of about 100 trappers headed towards Salt Lake. Within a day they were involved in a incident with a group of Gros Ventre. A battle ensued with about 250 Gros Ventre warriors, and riders were dispatched to bring reinforcements from the rendezvous site.

William Sublette arrived to aid his brother and coordinated an attack against the Gros Ventres' position. In this first rush towards the Gros Ventre camp William Sublette was wounded. Tricked by the Gros Ventre into thinking that the rendezvous site was being attacked, the trappers rushed back. Returning next morning they found the Gros Ventre position abandoned. The wounded Sublette returned to St. Louis to recover from his injury.

After recuperating for over a year, William returned to the West and built Fort William as a fortified trading post (later known as Fort John, then as Fort Laramie). Over the many years of exploring the area and organizing wagon trains to supply the rendezvous, Sublette was partially responsible for blazing the Oregon Trail. He found a shortcut through the Rocky Mountains which was named Sublett's Cut. Purchased by the U.S. Army in 1849 and renamed Fort Laramie, the fort founded by Sublette protected pioneers emigrating to the Northwest.

In 1844 William Sublette married Frances Hereford of Tuscambia, Alabama. In 1845 Sublette was desirous of obtaining the office of Superintendent of Indian Affairs at St. Louis. While on a trip back East to secure the position, he died in Pittsburgh in 1845. First buried in the family graveyard on his farm near St. Louis, his remains were later moved to Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis. Sublette willed his property to his widow on the condition that she never change her name. Four years later she married his brother, Solomon Sublette, thus preserving William's legacy in more ways than one.

William Sublette's grave in St. Louis

Contributions and namesakes of William Lewis Sublette:

• One of the first explorers of what is now Wyoming
• Given credit by some for naming the valley of Jackson's Hole for his partner, David Jackson
• While supplying the rendezvous, brought wagons across the South Pass of the Rockies, thus blazing this trail for future immigrants
• Helped found Kansas City, Missouri
• Built the first horse racing track in Missouri in the spirit of his grandfather and namesake, William Whitley
• For a time Yellowstone Lake was known as "Sublette's Lake"
• Sublette Street in Pocatello, Idaho, is named for him
• Sublette County in Wyoming is named for him (See www.sublette.com)
• Sublette, Kansas, is named for him (See sublettekansas.com)
• The Sublett Range is southeast Idaho is named for him
• Sublette Park and Avenue in St. Louis are named for him

Goldman Davidson Castle: 52 Ancestors #2 (Castle side)

From last week's biography of my 2nd great-grandmother on my Smith side, Elizabeth Simmons, I'm turning this week to my 2nd great-grandfather on my Castle side, Goldman Davidson Castle. Goldman being a rather unusual name, I have found his records under the names Golman, Solomon, his initials G.D., and his nicknames "Goolen" and "Gool." 

G. D. Castle was born 23 February 1824 in Scott County, Virginia. It's hard not to compare Elizabeth Simmons and Grandpa Castle since they were fairly close in age and in the same relationship to me--2nd great grandparents. I never met anyone who had met Elizabeth Simmons, although my dad once told me that he had heard a description of her from someone who saw her when she came to Oklahoma. (Another reason why I believe she did actually come to Oklahoma.) On the other hand I know quite a bit about G. D. Castle because my grandmother remembered him and told me about him. Can you imagine? An eyewitness description of someone born in 1824!!

Goldman Davidson was the son of William and Margaret (Cox) Castle. He married Rachel Sergeant/Sargent on 1 September 1844. Sometime between 1840 and 1850 they all moved to Pulaski County, Kentucky, from Scott County, Virginia. The first time that Goldman appears by name is on the 1850 census in Pulaski County, on the page previous to the page on which his parents appear. Family #707 includes "Solomon" Castle, age 26; his wife Rachel, age 24; and son (William) Henderson, age 2. #708 is Rachel's brother, William Sargent, age 23. Family #713 includes William Castle, age 50; Margaret, age 51; William H., age 21; Margaret, age 17; Henry G., age 14; and Patton, age 8. Also in Pulaski County in 1850 is William's son and Goldman's older brother, James, age 35, enumerated with his wife and three children.

Kentucky Land Grant dated 28 May 1858

My branch of the Castle family was actually a little late to the migration from Virginia to Kentucky. In 1858 when "Goolen" Castle purchased 141 acres on Large Branch, Caney Creek, Morgan County had already been in existence for over 25 years. Enumerated in Morgan County, West Liberty Post Office, on the 1860 census were: G. D. Castle, age 36; Rachel, age 35; William, age 14; James, age 8; John, age 4; and Lilburn, age 1. Little John and Lilburn would not live very long; they both died of scarlet fever in 1861 within days of each other. 

Death Records for John and Lilburn Castle, 1861

By 1870 Goldman and Rachel's family was complete with the birth of daughter Sarah Frances "Sis," born in 1861; my great-grandfather, George Turner, born in 1863; and Nancy Anna, born in 1868. In 1867 the first of Goldman and Rachel's children married; William Henderson Castle married Nancy Jane Wells on 5 November 1867. Their first grandchild, John Seymour Castle, was born 3 July 1869.

My great-grandfather, George Turner Castle, married for the first time on 17 October 1884 to Mary Frances Nickell. Their daughter, Cora Lee, was born 10 March 1890. Mary Frances died 10 April 1893. Unable to care for his daughter, George turned to his parents who brought Cora into their home to raise. In fact, on the 1900 census Cora is enumerated with both her father and his new family and with her grandparents. George's new family consisted of wife Florida (Day); daughter Fannie (my grandmother), age 3, and son Forrest, age 1.

1900 Morgan County KY census, enumerating
Cora Castle with both her father and grandfather

G. D. Castle was first appointed Postmaster of Castle, Kentucky, on 21 March 1896 and kept the position for several years. He received compensation of $8.01 in 1897 and $23.68 in 1901. The post office was at one end of his house.

Record of Goldman D. Castle's Postmaster Appointment

What I know about my 2nd great-grandfather, Goldman Davidson Castle, I learned from my grandmother, who dearly loved him. He was 73 when my grandmother was born in 1897. I grew up hearing stories about how she stood on a chair and brushed his silver hair; how she tried on his "specs" (spectacles=glasses); how he saved the metal stars on top of his Star Chewing Tobacco and gave them to her; and how he so adored his wife Rachel that he would bring her "sweet crackers" after his visits to town--which she kept in her bureau drawer and did not share with the grandkids. You could definitely tell who her favorite grandparent was!

Here is my grandmother's description of her grandfather in her own words:

Sturdy type man--My first remembrance of Grandpa was about 1900-01. He let me try on his steel-rim specks (spectacles) and walk up and down their long porch to their log house of 4 or 5 rooms. The porch was boxed in on one end and contained the Castle, Kentucky Post Office. 

Large orchard back of house, cribs of corn, barn for horses, cows, sheep, hogs, chickens, and turkeys--Meadow for mowing in front of house. They lived there many years. I think all the children lived there as they grew up. After Frances Nickell died (childbirth), Dad brought 2-year-old Cora back to live at Grandpa's. About 1903 the Post Office was robbed and crib of corn burned. They were afraid to live alone and were getting up in years, so they moved in with us. I have some pleasant memories of the whole family sitting before a wood fire in Grandpa and Grandma's room after dinner listening to Grandpa talk.

He had beautiful, silvery, wavy gray hair and blue eyes--These words describe him: pleasant, independent, honest. He and my mother organized the first Sunday School at Stacy Fork, Kentucky. I think most of the Castles were (hard shell) Baptists. They held their association meetings once a year.

He chewed Star tobacco that he bought in 2-inch by 2-inch squares (sweet) with metal stars on it. He gave me the stars.

The Castles had the reputation of having well-filled larders (pantries)--canned and dried fruits and vegetables, a smoke house, the ceiling bristling with hickory-cured hams--Grandpa was an artist at preserving meat and sausage--a barrel of kraut, a barrel of pickles, a barrel of sorghum, pounds of homemade butter with the imprint of a little jersey cow on the mold, jars of honey from the beehives in one corner of the big yard.

In autumn large holes were excavated in one corner of the garden plot, these were lined with straw and filled with potatoes, onions, turnips, and apples, then covered with straw and dirt to a depth of no freezing. The whole family joined in this project of producing and preparing our daily bread.

Wood, coal and kerosene gave us heat and light. We bought flour by the barrel, sugar by the 50# bag, had corn ground for meal at nearby mill. These are a few happy memories of my old Kentucky home.

In February of 1907 Goldman Davidson Castle died and was buried in the little Castle cemetery on his own land where some of his grandchildren were already buried. I always wondered if my great-grandfather George held out until his father died before making the decision to move to Oklahoma in the summer of 1907. Rachel moved in with her son, James Harvey, who stayed on the Castle land, and George sometimes came back to visit, but my grandmother never saw her Kentucky home again.

G. D. Castle's gravestone in Castle family plot

All three of G. D. Castle's surviving sons named sons after him. William Henderson's son, who was named as Davidson on the 1900 census, was born in June of 1882. He died just three years after the census in 1903. James Harvey's son Goldman was born in 1884 and died in 1888. He is buried in the Castle family plot. George Turner named his next-to-youngest son Goldman Henry, but to me he was Uncle Harry. He used both the names Goldman and Harry, but a lot of family members and friends called him "Plute." He was born in 1905 and died in 1978 and is buried at Rose Hill Cemetery in Tulsa.

Elizabeth Simmons Mansell Cotton: 52 Ancestors #1 (Smith side)

In January 2014 a genealogist named Amy Johnson Crow issued a challenge to other genealogists that she called "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks." The challenge was to profile an ancestor every week for an entire year, beginning in January. 

For a couple of reasons I didn't jump on the 52 Ancestors bandwagon right away. I had started this blog in 2013 and many of the blog posts that I had already written profiled an ancestor or a family. For example, I had already done short posts about my parents and each of my grandparents, along with posts like The Smiths in Oklahoma, The Castles in Kentucky, The Wheats in Texas, and The Ming Dynasty about the ancestors of my four grandparents. 

Another reason I didn't take the 52 Ancestors challenge is that I found it hard to start in January. January was all about finishing the old year--taking down Christmas decorations and doing taxes--and going back to school after Christmas vacation ready to fill teenagers' heads with knowledge. I didn't have much time left in my schedule to write weekly posts.

Now it's 2019 and I'm finding it hard to find new things to write about. When I find a new relative or take a trip, I share what I've learned or experienced, but I need something that keeps me writing every week. 52 Ancestors is the inspiration I need, but I'm going to start and end the 52 Weeks with my birthday instead of the traditional January through December. My schedule is still pretty full--even though I'm retired--but I hope to meet the challenge of "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks."

I'm starting with my 3rd great-grandmother on my Smith side, Elizabeth Simmons. I have mentioned her in several blog posts, but I've never done an individual profile of her. I think she's a good example of how a hunt for primary documents can lead to surprising information about an ancestor.

When I started doing genealogy 30 years ago, I didn't know anything about Elizabeth Simmons, the mother of my great-grandmother, Fannie, who was the wife of Stephen Albert Smith and the mother of my grandpa, Weaver Harris Smith. I had always thought that Fannie's maiden name was Cotton. I had never heard the last name Mansell, the surname of Elizabeth's first husband. 

Then my brother and I were in Oklahoma City, looking for evidence that we had Cherokee ancestry. Yes, we had one of those families with a story about having a Native American ancestor. We had always been told that Fannie was Cherokee. What we found in Oklahoma City was Fannie's rejected application for Cherokee citizenship. That was the bad news. The good news was a lot of genealogical information that we didn't know. For this post I'd like to focus on what we found out about Elizabeth from this application.

Some of the information was in Elizabeth's own words. The application included a deposition that Elizabeth had given about her background and ancestry, and therefore her daughter's. Almost certainly, some of the statements in the deposition are not true, and consequently it throws the whole document into question; however, some of the statements have been verified by DNA results and other documents, and maybe someday proof will be found for other statements that Elizabeth made.

Here is a transcript of the deposition followed by further explanation of the numbered statements:

Exhibit "E"

Territory of Oklahoma
County of Cleveland  1

I, Elizabeth Cotton having first duly...and...[unclear, blot, and words marked out] and says. That I was born November 11 A.D. 1812 near Raleigh N.C. 2  That my maiden name was Elizabeth Simmons. That I was married to John Mansell in A.D. 1826 near Raleigh N.C. who died on or about the year A.D. 1850. 3  That I was again married to William Cotton on or about the day of _____ A.D. 1861 and that said William Cotton died in the year A.D. 1875. 4  The affiant further states that her mother's maiden name was Priscilla Soules and that she was born in North Carolina near Raleigh. 5

This affiant further states that her mother was a half breed Cherokee and so recognized by the authorities of the Cherokees, 6 and that the said John Mansell to whom I was first married was a Cherokee by Blood. 7 That I do not remember the names of any of the Principal [Minor?] Chiefs of the Cherokees.

The affiant further states that Frances [Sclania?] Smith is my daughter by my first husband John Mansell 8 and is the only child now alive 9 and further deponent saith not.

Witness to mark A. [Nicodemus?]                                          Elizabeth X Cotton
                           J. R. Shaver                                                         her mark

Subscribed and [unclear--same word as above] to before me this 12th day of January 1894. 10

                                                                                                J. R. Shaver Notary Public
                                                                                                Commission expires Oct 9th 1897

1. I have no idea why Elizabeth would have been in Cleveland County. The family story has Elizabeth coming to Indian Territory with the Smith family in 1894. Cleveland County is south of Oklahoma City, and as far as I know, the Smiths have always lived in northeastern Oklahoma. According to my grandfather's World War I and World War II draft registration cards, he was born in Catoosa, Indian Territory in 1895. His family later lived in Collinsville and Oologah. All of these locations are in northeastern Oklahoma. 
    
As Elizabeth would have been 81 at the time of the deposition, it is more than likely she was living with relatives. It has been suggested that Elizabeth came to Oklahoma with the Smith family and then traveled with her niece's family back to Alabama. Census records show that Elizabeth's niece, Joanna Mansell Webb, traveled back and forth between Alabama and Oklahoma before finally settling in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, which is closer to Oklahoma City than to Tulsa. 
    
Perhaps the Webbs were living in Cleveland County in 1894, maybe Elizabeth traveled there to make the deposition for some reason, or maybe there is another explanation yet to be uncovered. 

2. When I discovered this document many years ago, I didn't question Elizabeth's birth date or place. Who would know better when and where they were born than the person herself? In the years since I found this deposition, other information would surface to call both date and place into question. The date is all tied up with the identity of Elizabeth's parents. It took me a while to connect Elizabeth with the right family, because as you may have noticed, she does not give the name of her father in this document.

When I first began to search for Elizabeth Simmons' mother, Priscilla Soules/Soles, I found a few trees on Ancestry that showed her as the wife of Luke R. Simmons. Many more trees, however, listed his wife as Priscilla Hargette. (I have never found the source for that identification.) I also found a lot of trees that didn't even list Elizabeth as one of the children of Luke and Priscilla. My only paper source for the identification of Priscilla Soles as Elizabeth's mother came from Elizabeth's deposition.     

When DNA came into the picture, however, I found plenty of matches to Simmons and Soles descendants. One of them has done a great deal of work on Simmons lines--his website is sjcjr.com--and corresponds with me frequently. A few years ago he shared the transcript of births listed in Luke Simmons' Bible that he found in the Troy, AL Public Library. It is obvious that all of the births except the last one were recorded years after the fact, as the Bible was published in 1827. Here is the list of births (and one marriage) from the transcript:

Page 1 -- This Bible the Property of Luke R. Simmons

Page 2 -- Luke R. Simmons and his wife Priscilla was married January 24, 1811

Page 3 -- Luke R. Simmons was born May 20, 1791

                        Priscilla Simmons was born April 5, 1792

                        Elizabeth Simmons was born December 10, 1812

                        Jemima Simmons was born October 13, 1815

                        Susannah Simmons was born August 14, 1817

                        Patience & Nancy Simmons was born January 2, 1821

Page 4 -- Leonard M. Simmons was born February 20, 1823

                        Rebekah Simmons was born June 8, 1825

                        Elizar Simmons was born August 7, 1827

So here is another paper document verifying that Luke and Priscilla (why, oh why, didn't he list her maiden name?) had a daughter named Elizabeth, their firstborn, but her birth date is exactly 30 days late, according to the birth date she gives for herself. 
     
Elizabeth's place of birth is confusing, too. On the 1820 census the Simmons family is living in Columbus County, NC, over 100 miles south of Raleigh. Some family researchers have found it implausible that Elizabeth was born in Raleigh, a location not known to be associated with the Simmons or Soles families. 

I recently found a Findagrave entry for Elizabeth's sister, Eliza, born 1826, that said that she too was born in Raleigh. After doing a little research, that one is easier to explain. Their father, Luke R. Simmons, was first elected a delegate from Columbus County to the House of Commons of the North Carolina General Assembly in 1820 and subsequently served until 1834, first in the House and then in the Senate. The General Assembly met in Raleigh, the state capital, so for at least some parts of those years, Luke R. Simmons (and apparently, his family) lived in Raleigh. That still doesn't explain Elizabeth, born in 1812. 

3. According to the U.S. and International Marriage Records database on Ancestry, Elizabeth Simmons married John Mansell in 1826 in North Carolina. The first time that John Mansell appears on the census is 1830 in Columbus County when he was already married to Elizabeth. The assumption is that he is from Columbus County. Did he and Elizabeth marry in Raleigh as she stated? Her father would have been serving in the General Assembly there in 1826, so it's possible.

Have you done the math? John Mansell, born in 1800, was 26 when he and Elizabeth married. Elizabeth, born in 1812, was 14. 

Elizabeth stretched the truth a little with John's death date. He died in 1844, not 1850. I'm pretty sure I know why she did so. Fannie, her youngest child and only daughter, was born in 1849, so John Mansell's death date of 1844 means he is not her father. Elizabeth was claiming that Fannie's father, John Mansell, was also Cherokee by blood, in case it was not enough to claim that citizenship for herself. So the question is, who was Fannie's father? I may never know, unless I can someday determine it from DNA results.

4. Elizabeth married William W. Cotton on 26 August 1863. Her deposition states that he died in 1875. I have not found any document to verify this. Elizabeth's daughter used the maiden name Mancil when she married Stephen Albert Smith in 1868. The only name I knew for her until I found the deposition was Fannie Cotton.

5. While I have not been able to find verification that it was indeed Priscilla Soles who married Luke R. Simmons and was the mother of Elizabeth Simmons, my DNA matches with Soles descendants do seem to back it up. 

6. Elizabeth claimed to be half Cherokee, but given everything I have found out about her ancestry, that doesn't appear to be true. My Simmons cousin who has done so much research has yet to determine if our Simmons family was English or Swiss, but they certainly weren't Cherokee. It looks like Priscilla Soles descends from a Mayflower passenger. (See my post "DNA Circle: Timothy Soles.") The applications for Cherokee citizenship made by Fannie Smith, and later by Stephen Albert Smith on behalf of his children, were rejected as they could not make a connection to anyone on the Cherokee tribal roll. 

7. The Mansells who applied for Cherokee citizenship were also rejected.

8. Not true, as explained above. Fannie was not the daughter of John Mansell. There is an interesting tidbit in this statement though. Elizabeth refers to Fannie as Frances [Sclania?] I'm not sure I'm even reading the handwriting correctly, although that's what it looks like. On anything where Fannie used an initial for her middle name, it was "A." Again, if anybody knows, it would be Elizabeth. Maybe it's a misspelling of Selina, a popular name in those days, or maybe Elizabeth was trying to make up an Indian name. Who knows?

9. Sadly, I think this one is probably true. Elizabeth had 7 sons (more about them later). At least 4 of them died in the Civil War. One lived until 1876, and another until 1880. I can't find one of them after the census of 1860, so it's possible he died young or in the war.

10. Obviously, Elizabeth lived until at least 1894. In my great-grandfather's deposition attached to the application for Cherokee citizenship, dated 28 August, 1896, he stated that "my mother-in-law is now dead."

So those are the biographical details of Elizabeth's life--birth, marriage, death--in a document based on her own words. What else can we found out about her from census records?

1820 census -- Columbus County, NC. Three females under 10 are enumerated with head of household, Luke R. Simmons, two females 26-44, and one male under 10. Elizabeth is presumably one of the females under 10, along with her sisters, Jemima and Susannah. Some trees show Luke R. Simmons, Jr. as a son in this family, and he might be the male under 10 on this census; however, he is not listed in the Bible record. I don't know who the second female 26-44 is.

1830 census -- Elizabeth would have been enumerated with her husband, John Mansell. I cannot find him on the 1830 census.

1840 census -- Pike County, Alabama. John Mansel, head of household, is listed with family as follows: 1 male, 15-19; 2 males, 10-14; 1 male, 5-9; 2 males under 5; 1 female, 15-19; and 1 female under 5. With varying birth dates for Elizabeth's sons in other documents, these figures might fit with her known male children. However, Elizabeth should be listed as a female, 20-30. The female under age 5 must not have survived until adulthood.

1850 census -- Pike County, Alabama. Elizabeth "Mansfield," age 37, is listed as head of household (John Mansell having died in 1844) with sons William, age 25; Samuel, age 22; Daniel, age 18; Simeon, age 14; Benjamin F., age 10; John, age 9; Amos, age 6; and daughter Frances, age 1.

1860 census -- Pike County, Alabama. Elizabeth Mansill, age 47, is listed as head of household with sons Wm. A, age 34; Samuel J., age 27; Simeon C., age 15; daughter Francis, age 11; Pugh and Nancy J., age 7. As far as I know, no one has ever been able to verify the identity of twins, Pugh and Nancy. Were they Elizabeth's grandchildren, possibly children of William or Samuel who were living with her at the time? Were they Elizabeth's own children? In any case, they seem to disappear after this census.

1870 census -- Pike County, Alabama. William A. Mansell, age 44, is listed first at residence 110 along with William W. Cotton, age 57, and Elizabeth, age 58.

1880 census -- Lauderdale County, Alabama. Elizabeth "Lizzie" Cotton, age 69, is head of household. Her son William A. Mansell, age 55, is living with her.

We know that by the time Elizabeth made her deposition in 1894 she only had one child living, her daughter Frances/Fannie. What happened to her seven sons? Let's take them one by one.

William, the oldest, was born when Elizabeth was 14 years old, and he was still living with her in 1880 when he was 55 years old. A strong bond must have existed between mother and son. The William A. Mansell who enlisted in the 60th Alabama Regiment in 1864 in Montgomery, Alabama, may or may not be our William. (Brother Daniel also enlisted in the 60th Alabama.) A marriage license between a William A. Mansell and Elizabeth Hancock in Pike County, Alabama, is dated 25 March 1866. If this is our William, the marriage dissolved or Elizabeth died before the 1870 census when William is living with his mother and stepfather.

Samuel J. married Eliza Ann M. Tharp on 30 June 1854. He enlisted in the 15th Alabama Infantry in September of 1861 and died of disease in Richmond, Virginia, in November of 1862. In the document by which his mother claimed his final pay she stated that he left "neither child or children or father or wife." My cousins, who wrote a history of the Mansel family called "Pages from the Past," have a hypothesis about Samuel and his wife, involving the mystery twins, Pugh and Nancy, who appear on the 1860 census. They wonder if perhaps Eliza died giving birth to the twins. Samuel left them with his mother when he enlisted, and they subsequently died before Elizabeth made the statement that Samuel left "no child or children..."

Daniel Monrow/Monroe Mansell married Margaret Brooks on 21 December 1854. Daniel enlisted in the 60th Alabama Regiment, Company C, in 1863, and survived engagements at Chickamauga, Bean's Station, and Drewry's Bluff. He and his wife raised a large family, and he died in 1876 in Waterloo, Alabama.

Simeon C. is a little bit of a mystery. He appears on the 1850 at age 14 and the 1860 census at age 15, then he disappears. No records of Civil War service have been found for Simeon, but it's possible he died in the war or during that decade.

Benjamin Franklin Mansell enlisted in Company G, 1st Regiment, Alabama Infantry, and died as a prisoner of war at Camp Randle in Wisconsin on 14 May 1862. He is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, Madison, Wisconsin.

John E. joined the 15th Alabama on 15 August 1861 at age 19 and died of measles on 6 December at Hay Market, Virginia, before he turned 20.

Amos P. enlisted in the 15th Alabama at age 18 on 15 August 1861. He was wounded at Cold Harbor, Virginia, in 1862 but rejoined the fighting and was killed by a minie ball through the head on 2 July 1863 at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Elizabeth died in 1896 with only one child still living, her youngest and only daughter, Frances "Fannie." Fannie died in 1905, leaving a 10-year-old, my grandfather, motherless. She is buried at Oakhill Cemetery in Oologah, Oklahoma, the only one of her family buried there.

So much loss. When I think of Elizabeth, it is with compassion at all she lost: two husbands and seven sons--four or maybe five, too young, in the violence and ruin of war.

There are two competing stories about Elizabeth's burial place. I had heard that she was buried in an unknown location in Oklahoma, until my cousins showed me the place where she is thought to be buried in Alabama. If she is in Alabama, she lies next to her eldest son, William, who was so close to her throughout his life. I hope that's where she is.

Cousin Communication

Well, summer is officially over. One thing you can say about summer is that people seem to slow down a bit. Maybe they have time to check their Ancestry account, or to answer an old email, or to read a blog. In any case, over the last couple of months I have heard from more cousins--from all branches of my family--than I have in the whole rest of the year. Here are some of the things I learned:

From the Pharris/Farris family: 
I'm still trying to figure out how I am related to the Pharrises. My 2nd great-grandmother, Elzina Huff, was born on the Dry Fork of Martin's Creek in Jackson County, Tennessee, in 1826. I have never been able to document the names of her parents, although a lot of trees say they were William Huff and Susannah Toney. The Pharrises were close neighbors, so I have long suspected that Elzina (or her husband, Stephen Roberts, also of undocumented parentage) were somehow connected to this family of Pharrises. Since I also have lots of Embry DNA cousins, I had considered that Elzina might be the daughter of James Pharris, whose mother was an Embry.

To make things even more complicated, I may also have a Farris ancestor. I say "may," because this is another relationship I can't document. However, much research into the puzzle of my great-grandfather, J. A. (Joseph) Wheat, has convinced me that he was the son of Henry Clay Wheat and Caroline Farris. Caroline was the granddaughter of Champion Farris, an early resident of Russell County, Virginia, and Tennessee. Since I had never been able to discover if these Farrises were related to the Jackson County Pharrises, I had decided it was much more likely that my ancestry went back somehow to the Pharrises that were neighbors to my Elzina.

Then I got a message on Ancestry this summer from a DNA match who is a Pharris descendant. We had corresponded years ago when we were both new to DNA. She wondered if I had considered the possibility that my DNA connection to her was through Champion Farris. She had found a reference to Champion Farris that indicated he was in Smith County, Tennessee, the parent county of Jackson County, in 1800-1805; she had some y-DNA results for a Pharris descendant that indicated he also matched some Farrises; and she drew my attention to one of my Ancestry Thru-Lines that indicated that the mother of William Huff was a Pharris. 

This cousin communication definitely gave me several lines of inquiry to consider.

From the Simmons family:
I regularly hear from my Simmons cousin, Sam Casey. This time he shared a newspaper article from the Troy (AL) Messenger, dated July 6, 1921, that he had found on Ancestry. It  read, in part, "T.B. Floyd, 67, youngest son of George Floyd, was in Troy...[and] gave the following sketch. His grandfathers, Luke Simmonds and William Floyd, came to Pike in the Pioneer days, when Indians were still in this section. They had been neighbors in the Carolinas, the state line coming between their residences. Simmons lived in North Carolina and Floyd in South Carolina. Their residences were almost on the line. When they moved to Pike [Co.] some of the children intermarried."

T.B. Floyd article in Troy Messenger
Originally shared to Ancestry by W. Tucker

Sam added, "For this to be accurate, one of Luke Simmons' daughters would have to have married a son of William Floyd. I don't have the Floyds in my data and don't know which daughter this would have been."

So, again, I did a little research. I found Thomas B. Floyd, born 1855, with his father George and mother Patience on the 1860 census in Pike County. I concluded that Patience must have been a child of Luke Simmons (and therefore a sister of my 2nd great-grandmother, Elizabeth Simmons) that I didn't have in my tree. The 1860 census stated that she was 35 so must have been born in 1825, although with her first daughter born in 1838, that didn't seem reasonable. In my list of Luke's children I had a big gap between Jemima, born 1816, and Eliza, born 1827, so there was plenty of room in there for Patience, even if her birth date was earlier than 1825. It turns out I had room for several children in that gap!

Floyd family on 1860 census, Pike Co. AL

When I emailed Sam with the info, he sent back the transcription of the family page from Luke Simmons' Bible with children: Elizabeth, born 1812; Jemima, born 1815; Susannah, born 1817; Patience and Nancy (twins), born 1821; Leonard M., born 1823; Rebekah, born 1825, and Elizur, born 1827. Apparently, when Sam had shared the Bible entries (years ago!), I had never entered the names in my tree. [Maybe because I wasn't sure of the dates? The copyright on the Bible is 1827, so all these birth dates, except maybe for Eliza's, were entered after the fact.]

Because of Sam's email, I was able to add four siblings of my 2nd great-grandmother to my tree.

From the Wheat family:
Actually, this information did not come from a cousin. I got an email from Lee F. who wanted to share information he had received as a result of a purchase of Confederate documents. I am not even certain how he got my email address, but the information he shared helped me add a previously unknown spouse  and children to a 3rd great-uncle on my family tree.

His email read, in part, "A few years ago I bought off ebay some Confederate notes from an old gentleman named John Wheat. He told me the notes came from Robert Wheat and his 2nd wife of Wheatland, Titus County, TX...He said Samuel Wheat was Robert's father and Samuel Wheat founded Wheatland, TX. Samuel was ex-military before coming to TX. Robert was in charge of the home guard during the war. Robert's wife had died. His new wife was the widow of the officer in charge of the regular military in Titus County. Anyway after the war the family moved to Sherman, TX..."

I set about trying to corroborate the information that came from this unexpected source. First, I do have a 3rd great-uncle named Robert Wheat (1819-1901) that served with the Confederacy in the Civil War. I have been to his grave in Grayson County, TX. As a matter of fact, he is the brother of the above-mentioned Henry Clay Wheat. Their father was not Samuel Wheat, but Samuel's brother William.

Next, I tried to find out what I could about Wheatland, TX. I remembered that years ago I read about a community in Texas that had been named for my Wheat family, but I didn't remember where I had read that information. Google to the rescue--although I didn't have much luck at first. There were two communities named Wheatland--one in Dallas County and one in Tarrant County. So I tried Titus County--but neither the Wikipedia entry nor the Handbook of Texas Online mentioned a town named Wheatland in the county. Then I tried "Wheat family Titus County TX," and I found this article about Wheatville, a community founded by William Wheat, that previously existed in the area now occupied by Naples, TX. (The creation of Morris County in 1875 meant that by the time Wheatville ceased to exist in the late 1870's, it was in Morris, not Titus, County.)

The article, prepared by Glenda Brown Scarborough, corroborated many of the statements made by John Wheat. Others, such as the name of the community and its founder, were almost right but not completely accurate. From that article: "Wheatville was indeed the true beginning of present-day Naples, Texas. It received its name from the William Wheat family sometime before 1852." On September 12, 1860, R.S. (Robert) Wheat was living in Mount Pleasant, the county seat of Titus County, with his first wife, Elizabeth (Finn), and their children. Elizabeth must have died not long after. Robert fought as a Confederate in the Civil War with the 33rd Cavalry, Duff's Partisan Rangers.

Sometime after the war Robert married Mary E. (Corprew) Sheppard, the widow of W.B. Sheppard. According to the Wheatville article, "W.B. Sheppard was Captain of the Titus Rangers, a unit organized in Wheatville during the Civil War...W.B. Sheppard died or was perhaps killed in the war and his widow later married R.S. Wheat. R.S. Wheat was a widower and a member of the family from which the town received its name. The couple and their families later moved to Grayson County, Texas." The 1870 and 1880 censuses show Robert and Mary and various children living in Grayson County. The 1870 census included a daughter named Mary Sheppard and the first of Robert and Mary's children, James, who was 3. Two more of their children were listed on the 1880 census, ages 8 and 6.

Robert S. Wheat family on 1870 census, Grayson Co. TX
with step-daughter Mary Sheppard

Before receiving this summer's surprising email from Lee F., I was not aware that Robert S. Wheat had a second wife and a second set of children. Using the information I learned in the Wheatville article, I found the marriage of Mary E. Corprew to Williamson B. Sheppard on January 15, 1885, in Chambers County, Alabama. I had always wondered who Mary Sheppard was and how she was connected to Robert Wheat's family.

Robert's end was rather sad. The 1900 census shows Robert, age 81, living at the North Texas Hospital for the Insane in Kaufman, Texas. His "insanity" may have been no more than senile dementia, but I can't help wondering how he was treated at the hospital. He died in 1901 and is buried in the Hall Cemetery in Howe, Grayson County, Texas, along with his wife Mary, who had died in 1897, and many other Wheats.

Robert S. Wheat grave in Hall Cemetery, Howe, TX
Originally shared on Ancestry by Jan Elaine Biard Thomas

From the Walker family:
Not exactly my family, although my last name was Walker for over 30 years. No, this is my son's ancestry. Several years ago I bought him a DNA test, and this summer he got an email from a Walker cousin, Jimmy. He has a very ambitious goal--to document all the branches of Walkers that descend from Thomas Walker and Marian Sara Jeffries of Fairfield County, South Carolina, and he wanted to know on what branch my son fit.

I had taken my son's Walker ancestry back several generations, and I was able to add a couple more. With the information Jimmy had already collected, he was able to take my son's ancestry back to Thomas and Marian.

In the process of searching for Jimmy's tree on Ancestry, I also discovered that he and I share a little DNA, as well! We think the connection might be with our Reynolds ancestors. On my side my Reynolds ancestor was Priscilla, who was married to Zachariah Wheat. They were the parents of William and Samuel, mentioned above.

This summer I also got emails or Ancestry messages from:
A professional genealogist helping a descendant of my 4th great-grandfather, Benjamin Bell and his wife, Elizabeth Ledbetter. I referred her to my blog post, "Laying Out the Facts." She promised to share anything they discover.

A cousin from my Day/Reed/Patrick side, asking about the Scots heritage of our Patrick ancestors. She still lives in the Chandler/Davenport area, where my grandmother grew up. Contact with her may lead to meeting some of our other remaining cousins who live there.

A first cousin of my dad's on the Smith side, who offered to share some old photos. He shared a story that I also researched. My grandfather grew up in Oologah, Oklahoma, the birthplace of Will Rogers. When I was a kid, I remember being told that the older Smith boys ran around with him. As I grew older and did more genealogy and read more history, I tended to doubt the story. Will Rogers grew up on a big ranch, attended school in Missouri and then a military academy, and quit school in 10th grade. I just wondered where he would have met any of the Smith boys. 

However, my cousin had a variation on that story that I'm sure is true and maybe the origin of the Will Rogers story that my family told. He shared that "Johnny Yokim, a cousin to Will Rogers, was a buddy of Dad's [his father was Albert Smith, my grandfather's brother] and both attended a one-room Indian school. There is a good story here about riding horses to school and they both had six-shooters in their holsters."

Albert was born in 1889, so I tried looking for a John Yokim born about the same time. There are so many ways to spell that name that I didn't have much luck narrowing it down. So I thought of a different way to go about it. I searched Ancestry for Will Rogers' family tree, then searched for John Yokim. Sure enough, Will Rogers' sister May (Mary), was married to Matthew John Yocum, and they had a son named John, born 1893.

So we do have a connection to Will Rogers' family, if not the man himself! And the Smith boys were in Wild West shows too.

Albert and one of the other Smith boys (?)
in Wild West show
Shared by John Smith

The moral of this story: It pays to put your name out there in the genealogy community. Sometimes you reap some unexpected rewards. Check your Ancestry account, answer an email, check out a blog you've been meaning to read (or catch up on.)

Just a couple more summer things before I wind this post up.

I've always been interested in diseases and their prevention since my dad introduced me to a book called Microbe Hunters by Paul DeKruif when I was a teenager. So this summer I have been listening to a podcast called "This Podcast Will Kill You." In each episode the two female podcasters describe a disease, its history, how it operates, and how it's treated. It's been fascinating. In the episode on hookworms, poison dew was mentioned, and I remembered that my grandmother would never let me walk barefoot in dew because I might get some unspecified disease. I still feel guilty when I walk on wet grass barefoot.

Well, guess what? The unspecified disease is hookworm infection, because hookworms are right there on the ground/in the grass (but only where infected animals or people have pooped) and they can burrow through any bare feet that get close enough. Hookworms were especially prevalent in the South for many reasons and while not fatal, the anemia that resulted from hookworm infection was debilitating. John D. Rockefeller started an education and sanitation campaign in the early 1900's to reduce the incidence of the disease, and it must have made quite an impression on my grandmother. Now that I know why, it's made a big impression on me. I'm going to wear my shoes outside from now on.

The other thing that happened this summer is that this blog passed 100,000 page views. Thanks for reading!