Tearing-My-Hair-Out Tuesday: More Information on My Brick Wall

Just kidding, this is actually Madness Monday, only late.

I previously posted information on my biggest brick wall, Susan Elizabeth “Lizzie” Smith Bonner Brinlee, here. This brick wall fits quite well into the Madness Monday theme, however, so I’d like to add some information to that. (The information that I do have on her is so tantalizing and the information that I am missing is so aggravating, that it really does almost drive me to distraction.) This also fits the criteria for Blogging Prompt #12, "Use your blog to break down a brick wall" (late, of course).

Here is some basic information on the Hiram Carroll Brinlee Jr.-Susan Elizabeth Smith family group:

Hiram Carroll “Dink” Brinlee Jr.
b. Sep 1844, Red River County, Texas
d. 20 Jan 1920, Collin County, Texas
& Susan Elizabeth “Lizzie” Smith
b. 4 Apr 1868, Tennessee
d. 29 Jul 1958
m. 3 Dec 1891, White Bead Hill, Chickasaw Nation, OK
|--Lawrence Carroll Brinlee
|----b. 29 Jan 1893, String Town, Atoka, OK
|----d. 9 Apr 1953, Bonham, Fannin, TX
|----& Sallie Frances Norman
|----b. 5 Sep 1892, Talladega Co., AL
|----d. 8 Dec 1984, Ivanhoe, Fannin County, Texas
|-----m. 6 May 1911, Greenville, Hunt Co., TX
|--Cordelia Lee “Cordie” Brinlee
|----b. 8 Jun 1895, Oklahoma
|----d. 23 May 1961, McKinney, Collin Co., Texas
|----& Kingsley Levington Clinton
|----b. 18 Feb 1894, Putnam Co., Tennessee
|----d. 2 Nov 1955, Anna, Collin, Texas
|----m. 1911
|--Austin Franklin Brinlee
|----b. 6 Apr 1904, Farmersville, Collin County, Texas
|----d. 17 Nov 1976, Allen, Collin County, Texas
|----& Mary Katherine Clinton
|----b. 3 Aug 1912, Fannin County, Texas
|----d. 25 Aug 1993, Allen, Collin County, Texas
|----m. 24 Jul 1928, Fannin County, Texas
|--Cecil Odell Brinlee
|----b. 23 Sep 1908, Collin County, Texas
|----d. 30 Oct 1994, Quitman, Wood, Texas
|----& Amy Lorene Kent
|---- b. 12 Dec 1913, Arkansas
|----d. 11 Apr 2000, McKinney, Collin Co., Texas

I have used the above information, the censuses, Lizzie’s Confederate Widow’s Pension application, and her death certificate to put together a sketchy timeline of where Lizzie was at various times in her life:

?1868 to 1889: Tennessee. This is pure speculation. However, since Lizzie and Hiram got married in Oklahoma and appear to have met there, I am guessing that Lizzie and her first husband, Mr. Bonner, might have come to Oklahoma in the big land rush in 1889. Because she stated on the 1930 that she first married at the age of 17, I am putting the year of that marriage at around 1885-86 and probably in Tennessee.

1889 to some time between 1900, when Hiram appears on the US Federal Census for Britton Township, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma Territory (my guess is that Lizzie and the children were with him, but not reported to the census-taker) and 1904, when Austin is reported to have been born in Farmersville, Collin County, Texas: Oklahoma. The year of the move was most likely 1902, as reported by Lizzie on her Confederate Widow’s Pension Application. On Lizzie and Hiram’s marriage license, which is dated 1 December 1891, Lizzie’s residence is listed as White Bead Hill, Chickasaw Nation, and Hiram’s residence is listed as Davis, Chickasaw Nation. Their certificate of marriage was certified by R. H. Grimstead, Minister of the Gospel, and dated 3 December 1891. My grandfather Lawrence Brinlee was reported to have been born in String Town, Atoka, Oklahoma on 29 January 1893; on his World War I Draft Registration card, he lists the location as Paul’s Valley, Oklahoma. My information on Cordelia’s place of birth does not include a specific location in Oklahoma.

6 April 1904: Austin born in Farmersville, Collin County, Texas

23 September 1908: Cecil Odell born in Collin County, Texas

4 May 1910: Hiram and Lizzie appear on the US Federal Census for Justice Precinct 2, Hunt County, Texas.

30 January 1920: Hiram and Lizzie appear on the US Federal Census for Farris, Atoka Co., Oklahoma. Hiram had died on 20 January, but the census-taker must have been following the instructions, which indicated that “individuals alive on 1 January but deceased when the enumerator arrived were to be counted.”

27 July 1925: Lizzie files her Confederate Widow’s Pension application from Collin County, Texas

10 Sep 1929: Lizzie writes a letter requesting assistance with her Pension application; the location is given as Leonard, Texas (Leonard is in Fannin County).

21 April 1930: Lizzie appears on the US Federal Census living with her son Austin in Fannin County, Texas.

29 July 1958: Lizzie dies in Plano, Collin County, Texas. She apparently had lived for some years with her youngest son, Cecil Odell, who signed the application for her mortuary warrant and her death certificate. Her death certificate indicates her stay in Plano as “several years.”

Much of this is guesswork and there are sure to be inaccuracies here; however, these would be the locations in Oklahoma and Texas where I would want to check local resources (courthouse records, newspaper archives, etc.). I have often wondered whether or not Lizzie had any siblings, and if she did, whether she was ever in contact with them. There are so many things I wonder about Lizzie.

Madness Monday: My "Bad Boys" - The Brinlee Brothers

I have a lot of ancestors who drive me crazy. How do they drive me crazy? Let me count the ways … no, better not. It would drive me crazy.

I’ll start will The Brinlee Brothers. The originals – Hiram Brinlee Sr., my great-great grandfather, and his brother, George Brinlee. (The spelling of the family name is believed to have changed from Brindley to Brinlee starting with these two brothers.) My Brinlee research began with the family legends: we are related to Collin McKinney (true), there is a strain of German in the Brinlees (true, via the McKinneys), there is a strain of Native American in the Hiram Brinlee Jr.-Susan Elizabeth Smith line (don’t know), and Legend Number Four, obliquely related by my father and his brothers: “Grandma started family research but got disgusted and quit when she kept finding criminals.”

After my initial research revealed that the first two items were true, I began to think the criminal part might be as well, but as I turned up what I could on George and Hiram Sr., they appeared to be ordinary farmers who had led an adventurous youth. In 1824 (or possibly 1823) they came to Texas (George serving as scout) with Collin and Daniel McKinney, and later married Daniel’s daughters. A search for the Brinlee brothers on the Texas State Archives website turned up a number of documents dating to Republic of Texas times; some of these revealed that George had fought with General Edward Tarrant, while others were receipts for serving subpoenas to witnesses and performing other services in connection with murder trials. So, I thought, George and Hiram must have served as officers of the court. Only they didn’t. Their names appeared following “Republic of Texas vs.” They were the accused. Oops. Legend Number 4 – proven.

The Brinlee Brothers have led researchers on some crazy chases: now you see them, now you don’t. They disappear in various ways, often through inconsistent spelling of the last name. George is reported to have died of cholera in the early 1850s while on a trip to New Orleans to sell cotton. He and Hiram Sr. were apparently born in that nebulous area where the dividing line between Kentucky and Tennessee was not firmly established in the early part of the 19th century (their father may have been a squatter on the Indian Lands). They are just plain old hard to pin down.

(This is the first in a new series introduced by Amy Crooks at Untangled Family Roots. I'll have no problem coming up with ancestors who drive me crazy, so you can expect to see more. Since I also post Memory Monday, this feature may be posted slightly earlier - as it is today - or slightly later. But I'll still call it Monday Madness because I don't pay much attention to the calendar, anyway.)