I Started an Online Tree Error, or (Mis)Using Blogs as Sources

Oopsie.

I never meant any harm. We were all having such a good time, back in February of 2010. It was the Geneabloggers Games: sources were being cited, data was being backed up - there was activity all over the geneablogging community.

 I was in the middle of work on the Norman family - the ginormongous family of J.M.C. Norman, to be exact. I started on the Newton Leonard Norman family. The oldest child was daughter Dissie.

My trusty guide in this endeavor was Inez Cline. Her Norman Family History, based on extensive interviews with numerous Norman family members, contained this one throwaway line on Dissie Norman: “b. Aug. 5, 1891 d. Oct. 9, 1908 m. Jack Norman, son of Jane. Her other son named Moore. No issue.” No one else had ever listed a husband for Dissie - because her last name never changed.

This led me to try to untangle an intriguing mystery - was Jack Norman related to “my” Normans? - and at every step of the way, another mystery would pop up, making the whole story almost Southern Gothic in its twists, turns, and possible scandals. Central to these mysteries was the identity of Sarah Jane “Aunt Jane” Norman: mother of Dissie’s husband Jackson Norman (apparently illegitimate), mother of Tom Peat Norman (most likely the illegitimate son of a member of a neighboring Moore family for whom Jane had worked as a servant), and finally, last wife of the colorful and oft-married Civil War veteran Zara Cotton.

I ended up writing an 8-post series on this for the Geneabloggers Games:

Mystery Normans and Source Citations - Part 1
Mystery Normans and Source Citations - Part 2
Mystery Normans and Source Citations - Part 3
Mystery Normans and Source Citations - Part 4
Mystery Normans and Source Citations - Part 5
Mystery Normans and Source Citations - Part 6
Mystery Normans and Source Citations - Part 7
Mystery Normans and Source Citations - Part 8

Part 5, dealing with my efforts to find Sarah Jane Norman’s family, is the misleading post: “I was starting to suspect that Norman was [Sarah] Jane’s maiden name. I went back to look at the entry for her in Findagrave, and was stunned to see a name there that I had somehow failed to see the first time: ‘Daughter of Louisiana Norman.’” “Not to jump to conclusions, but … Joseph Madison Carroll Norman had a sister named Louisiana.”

And this must be the origin of the error for which I am now responsible.

I found this error last night in someone’s Public Member Tree on Ancestry: Husband of Dissie Norman > Jack Norman. Mother of Jack Norman > Sarah Jane Norman. Mother of Sarah Jane Norman > Louisiana Norman. Parents of Louisiana Norman > Thomas S. Norman and Nancy Larue. Those are J.M.C. Norman’s parents. That makes this Louisiana Norman J.M.C.’s sister.

Uh-oh.

This is the only other public tree I have seen with a husband for Dissie Norman. And it is definitely the only tree listing J.M.C. Norman’s sister Louisiana as Sarah Jane Norman’s mother. And my blog is the only place where this relationship has ever been posited.

Note to person with this family tree. Honey, you need to read the entire series. Because in the last post I kind of busted this theory by finding a husband - John Norman - for this Louisiana/Lousa/whatever her name was: “And this John Norman was born in Alabama. That doesn’t mean that he was one of “my” Normans, but it doesn’t rule it out, either.”

So, for what it’s worth: Louisiana Norman, daughter of Thomas Norman and Nancy Larue, was not the mother of Sarah Jane Norman, mother of Jackson Norman who married Dissie Norman, daughter of Newton Leonard Norman.

That and a note to the owner of the Ancestry tree should fix it, right?

Who am I kidding. My half-baked (and busted) theory is going to be perpetuated for eternity.

Post-Conference Letdown

Post-conference letdown. I did not experience it. Because today, 15 May, was a perfect day.

Today we left Charleston and headed toward Orangeburg to meet my second cousin once removed, Rebecca, and her husband Danny.

I am so proud to be related to these people, both genetically and through marriage. We got a running start in exchanging information, and didn’t let up the pace for two and a half hours. Rebecca and I did a “fast talking” data swap: family stories, what we had found in research, and as much incidental information as we could pack in between all of that. Stu and Danny talked about their areas of interest. Our (Koehl) daughters observed and laughed. Daughter #1 later confided to me, “Mom, you and Rebecca have the exact same body language; it’s so funny to watch the two of you together.”

Rebecca is a first-rate researcher and brought a pile of copied documents with her to give to me. Prior to becoming really active in genealogical research, she obtained some bootcamp-intensity experience in going through courthouse records, and the stuff she had shows it. My friends, she brought me a goldmine. Not only lots of records, but also several family reminiscences. This branch of the family, the last one I found in that exciting first year of research, is really starting to come alive for me. I am so excited about the prospect of having Rebecca to exchange information with. I was initially disappointed when, after I found this branch of the family, I saw that it has been well researched. But Rebecca and I have some ideas on some of the broken off branches....

After saying farewell to Rebecca and Danny, we headed for Greenville. As we approached Main Street and familiar landmarks came into view, I realized that I was smiling and could not stop. I roused the girls from their slumber and started to point things out: “Look, here is Main Street; see how the trees shade it over?” It was the last day of Greenville’s annual art festival, Artisphere, and we could see a long line of tents along the street near our hotel.

Right after we had checked in and checked out our room, we headed down the stairs from the hotel to the Reedy River below and Falls Park. It was as beautiful as I remembered it. I had hoped that the girls would like Greenville and turned around to see their expressions: they were as enchanted as Stu and I had been on our first visit! We stood on Liberty Bridge, a long, curved pedestrian suspension bridge. At one point we watched a pair of jugglers on the rocks in the river below juggle and toss pins to one another (some landed in the river, but were confined to a small pool between rocks).

We walked over to the art festival, visited some of the booths, and spoke to craftsmen and artists from all over the United States. We checked out a bit more of the park and then walked down Main Street toward the far end to eat at our favorite Japanese restaurant in Greenville. The food was as good as we remembered it. Daughter #2 stated that she wants to live in Greenville some day. On the way back we spotted three of the legendary little bronze mice of Greenville that can be found along Main Street if you look carefully.

After dinner we showed the girls Linky Stone Park, the children’s park under the overpass that we visited last time, and they were enthralled. We spent a good bit of time playing the musical instruments (bells, percussion, and an instrument made with PVC pipes (difficult to describe, but there is a small round opening in the top of each one, and if you quickly pop your hand on the top of it, it will produce the musical note with which each pipe is labeled).

There were still many people out walking and enjoying the fountains: families with little kids who splashed through street-level fountains, artists, bicyclists, and lots of people with their pets, including a guy walking his rabbit. I stopped to talk with him for a while to see how his rabbit takes to all of the people (quite well) and told him about our daughters’ second-grade teacher and the beloved rabbit she often brought to the classroom with her.  He admitted that he has really spoiled his beloved rabbit, but I noted that she is certainly well behaved in public.

Here are a few pictures from our first day in Greenville:

Jugglers on the Reedy River

Some of the falls on the Reedy River

Rabbit out for a walk

Mouse with hat next to statue of Nathaniel Greene

View of Linky Stone Park

Bells in Linky Stone Park

"PVC pipe organ"

[This was written yesterday but not posted until today.]

The Civil War and My Ancestors

Bill West of the West in New England blog issued a challenge to all genealogy bloggers with Civil War-era ancestors:

“Did you have ancestors in America on 12Apr 1861? If so, where were they
and what were their circumstances? How did the Civil War affect them and
their family? Did the men enlist and did they perish in battle or die of illness?
On which side did they fight, or did you have relatives fighting on BOTH sides?
How did the women left at home cope, or did any of them find ways to help
the war effort? Were your ancestors living as slaves on Southern plantations
and if so when were they freed?  Or were they freemen of color who enlisted
to fight?”

All of my ancestral lines were in this country by 1800, so all of them were involved in or affected by the Civil War. The only family for which I know nothing about their experiences in the Civil War would be the family of my brick-wall great-grandmother, Lizzie Smith Brinlee.

That still leaves quite a few families to cover, so I am going to follow Susan Clark’s lead at Nolichucky Roots; she gave an overview of her ancestors‘ involvement in the Civil War and plans to cover each person’s or each family’s involvement in a series of posts under the theme “Civil War Saturday.” In this post I will provide an outline of all of my ancestors who fought in the Civil War and of the nature of involvement of the families, including some mysteries surrounding the deaths of some of the ancestors and what is known about some of these families’ views on slavery, the Union, and so forth. I have found quite a bit of material in the form of service records, pension applications, unit histories, and other items; some of it has been transcribed and analyzed and some has not.

To the extent possible, I will include both direct ancestors and “collateral” ancestors (uncles) in the participants in the war, except for the brothers, half-brothers, and brothers-in-law of my two great-great-grandfathers who fought in the war (I have not yet researched in depth beyond these two great-great grandfathers, although I know who their families were). So in addition to these two great-great grandfathers, there will be three great-grandfathers and those of their brothers and their wives’ brothers who were old enough to fight.

As far as I know, all of my ancestors who fought in the Civil War fought on the Confederate side. However, it appears that not all of them were wholeheartedly anti-Union. There is at least one family who owned slaves. Another family, according to family lore, also owned slaves, but I have so far not been able to find any proof of it. This seemingly small number of slaveholding families may be due more to financial circumstances than conviction, however.

So this post is essentially a research outline summarizing what I already know and setting out what I need to find more information on. I will organize it by family name.


Brinlee

The Brinlees are the known slaveholding family. In her article on Hiram Brinlee (Sr.), Bessie Sims Sheppard writes that the family is “recorded on the Slave census, Collin County, 1860, as having eleven slaves” (“Brinlee, Hiram” by Bessie Sims Sheppard in Collin County, Texas Families, Volume One, edited by Allison Ellis Pitts and Minnie Pitts, Champ, published 1994 by Curtis Media, Hurst, Texas; p. 42), but I can find only five listed. There is no record for this family on the 1850 Slave Schedule, although it is possible that one of the many misspellings of this family name make them hard to find. (See my post “Restore My Name - Slave Records and Genealogy Research”).

According to the family story, all five sons of Hiram Brinlee, Sr. and Betsy Ann McKinney fought in the Civil War, but I am not so sure about the youngest son, William Hiram Brinlee, who was born in 1848 or 1850, depending on the source you read (all agree that sources vary on his age). So far I have found no records of his service, though I do find reference to it in an article by Aurelia Borgan Brinlee in Collin County, Texas, Families (“Brinlee, William Hiram,” p. 48), wherein she writes that he “enlisted in the home guard unit under Capt. Tom Scottby” and that he later “officially enlisted at Mill Creek, Oklahoma in Company K of the 5th Cavalry, Martins Regiment under General Gano.” This appears to be the same group in which his older brothers Richard, David Francis, and Hiram Jr. (second tour) served in. Tracking these records down will be one of my Civil War research tasks.

Richard Mason Brinlee (1836-1911) (great-great uncle): Enlisted on 5 July 1862 at age 25 as a Corporal in Company K, Martins Regiment Texas Cavalry (5th Partisan Rangers) at McKinney, Texas and appears on a muster roll for 1 January to 1 July 1863. According to the Statement of Service Slip in his Oklahoma Pension Board file, there are no further records on him, including prisoner of war records. Another area to be investigated. My first stop will probably be to check pension records in Oklahoma, since his third wife/widow, Nancy Ann Herrell Brinlee, apparently received a pension for his service.

George Robert Brinlee (1838-1927) (great-great uncle): Company D, Sixth Texas Cavalry (Stone’s Regiment, 2nd Cavalry). The cards in his compiled service record indicate that he enlisted 13 March 1862 at Camp Mulberry, Arkansas.

Hiram Carroll Brinlee (1844-1920) (great-grandfather): I have his Confederate Pension Application, his widow’s Confederate Widow’s Pension Application, and his compiled service record for his first tour of service. The story goes that he enlisted near the beginning of the war, was discharged because he was found to be too young for service under the Conscript Act, and re-enlisted later when he was older. I used this hint to figure out a period of time within which his birthday should fall (see my post “Tombstone of Hiram C. Brinlee”). Hiram is also listed in Company D, Sixth Texas Cavalry (Stone’s Regiment, 2nd Cavalry). He joined on 10 September 1861 in Dallas, Texas at the age of 17. He is shown as having been discharged on 13 June 1862 on a Register of Payments to Discharged Soldiers. His pension application indicates that he had also served “under [General] Gano for about 1-1/2 years.” I do not have records of that service; they may have met the same fate as those of his brothers Richard, William Hiram, and David Francis in that group (Fifth Partisan Rangers).

David Francis Brinlee (1846-1893) (great-great uncle): I do not have service records for him, but according to the Confederate Widow’s Pension Application of his widow, Sarah Ann Hendricks Brinlee, he served in “Co. K; Martin’s Regiment, and Gano’s Brigade.” So, ditto the above on finding other records. Witnesses T. J. Cloyd and Dallas Sparin confirmed that he had served with them in D.C. Haynes’ Company in this unit for about a year and a half. I do find a Thomas J. Cloyd and George M. D. Sparlin listed as having served in the Fifth Partisan Rangers.


Moore

This family, which I initially regarded as “just a plain old farming family,” but loved anyway and wanted to research in depth, has turned out to be very interesting. One item of interest is that there appears to have been a big streak of pro-Unionism in this family. I had no inkling, but a genealogist who does a lot of research in Anderson County, South Carolina and nearby areas pointed this out to me; through several clues in names and associations and several articles in the local newspapers she found on my great-great grandfather William Spencer Moore, she indicated that the signs were that the family was pro-Union even before the war, and the fact that Spencer Moore ran for local office as a Republican after the war was not an aberration but a continuation of his beliefs from before the war. Spencer’s wife Emily Tarrant Moore was in all likelihood a member of the Greenville County Tarrants, one of whom was a well-known Emancipating Baptist named Carter Tarrant. When I finally found Preston Moore in Izard County Arkansas on the 1870 census, he had a year-old son named Ulysses. This will definitely be a major research focus for me.

Preston Moore (ca 1843-bef 1878) (great-great uncle): Covered in my posts “Searching for Preston Moore” and “The Two Preston Moores.” I have his compiled service record, a couple of prisoner of war records, and a unit history that includes his name.

Harlston Perrin Moore (1845-1921) (great-grandfather): I have his Confederate Pension Application and his widow’s Confederate Widow’s Pension application. His service is outlined in my post “Featured Family Friday: Harlston Perrin Moore and Martha E. ‘Mattie’ Lewis.”

William Brewster “Bruce” Moore (1851-1924): His obituary in The Greenville News, dated 29 July 1924, describes him as a “Confederate veteran, 73 years of age.” However, unless he was something like a drummer boy near the very end, he probably did not serve, as he was not quite fourteen years old at the end of the war.


Norman

The Normans do not appear to have owned slaves. I don’t know whether they were pro-slavery/pro-Union or anti-slavery/anti-Union.

Joseph Madison Carroll Norman (1833-1901) (great-great grandfather): He is listed with two different units (Company H, 25th Alabama Infantry and Company B, 3rd Alabama) and Company C at the Camp of Instruction, but I do not think he saw much service. I have his compiled service record, his Confederate Pension Application, and his widow’s Confederate Widow’s Pension Application. His service timeline, as far as I can reconstruct it, is as follows:

Company H, 25th Alabama Infantry: March-April 1862. He was admitted to the 1st Mississippi C.S.A. Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi on 19 March 1862 and discharged from service on 16 April 1862. He writes in his Confederate Pension Application: “At Corinth Miss I was taken down with Rheumatism and been a sufferer every since.” A physician, Joel Chitwood, testified that he suffered from “spinal affliction and rheumatism of the left arm and hand” and that he was “able to perform only one-fourth manual labor,” and neighbors Thaddeus Wheatly and Mitchell Blackburn confirmed that he was in “poor circumstances.” His Soldier’s Discharge gives the date 28 March 1862.

Company C, Camp of Instruction, Talladega, Alabama: 1 Sep 1862-6 May 1864

Company B, 3rd Alabama: 18 May 1865 (contained on a list of paroled prisoners of war). Either his unit had been rolled up into the 3rd Alabama or all of the prisoners were lumped together under this unit.


Lewis

Three sons of Elisha Berry Lewis and Martha Poole served in the Civil War; two of them died. Martha died some time right before or during the war, and after the war Elisha Berry married Frances Eleanor Campbell Bailey, the widow of John Marion Bailey.  John Marion Bailey fought in the same unit as Elisha Berry's two oldest sons and died in the war.  I do not yet know what this family’s beliefs were regarding slavery and the Union. There is some evidence that two youngest sons (too young to serve) may not have been of the same opinion. William Henry Lewis, who served as Sheriff of Dallas County, was known to have prevented a couple of lynchings in Dallas, one of a black man and one of a man suspected of having a black mistress. He corresponded with relatives in Iowa who were known back home in South Carolina to have been abolitionists. On the other hand, the youngest son, John Sloan Lewis, is described in an article from the Dallas Morning News as a “Wade Hampton Man.”

James West Lewis (1835-1904) (great-great uncle): Served as a private in Company B, 4th South Carolina Infantry. I have his compiled service record.

Samuel D. Lewis (1840-1864) (great-great uncle): The details of his service can be found in my post “Transcription Tuesday: The Death of Samuel D. Lewis.” I have his compiled service record and some information from unit histories.

Manning P. Lewis (1843-25 March 1865) (great-great uncle): You can see that Manning Lewis’ death from wounds occurred only a few weeks before the end of the war. He served as a private in Company D of the 1st South Carolina (Orr’s) Rifles. He enlisted on 20 July 1861 at Camp Pickens. I have his compiled service record and some unit history information.


Sisson

I cannot find any evidence that this branch of the Sisson family owned slaves and do not know what their views on slavery and the Union were.

William T. Sisson (ca 1826-1894) (great-great grandfather): He served as a private in Company H, 25th Alabama Infantry. He enlisted on 24 November 1862 in Talladega, Alabama. He was paroled as a POW on 20 May 1865 in Talladega, Alabama. I have his compiled service record, his Application for Relief by Soldiers Maimed or Disabled during the Late War under Act approved February 28, 1889, and his widow’s Confederate Widow’s Pension Application. According to his service record, he did extra duty as a teamster. In his Application for relief he states that he was shot in the leg at Chickamauga in October 1864 [? the Battle of Chickamauga took place in September 1864]. In her Confederate Widow’s Pension Application, William Sisson’s widow, Susan Caroline Tant Sisson, indicates that a previous application (apparently the Application for Relief) was turned down because he owned too much property to qualify.


Floyd

According to family lore, the Floyds owned slaves, but I have not been able to find any records to back this up, yet. Some information on this is provided in my post “Memory Monday: A Family Story.” Another Civil War-era mystery concerns the cause of death of several relatives who died during this time (it was probably from illness, but we do not know for sure): Nancy Finley Floyd, wife of George Floyd, who died in 1862, and Absalom C. Matlock and Nancy Malvina Harris Matlock, parents of Angeline Elizabeth Matlock, who died in 1865 and 1864.

Charles Augustus Floyd (1840-1894) (great-grandfather): He served as a private in Company F, 6th Texas Cavalry. I have his compiled service record. He enlisted on 9 September 1861 in Dallas, Texas. Then there is the “Floyd Family Legend,” according to which one Floyd brother served as a Confederate and another served for the Union; after the war, they farmed side by side but never spoke to one another again. I think this legend is pretty much busted; you can judge for yourself by clicking on the link to the post.

As indicated in the “Floyd Family Legend,” I do not know whether either of the other two Floyd brothers who would have been old enough to serve did serve or not (for either side):

David Harriet Floyd (1836-ca 1867): No record.

Henry Oscar Floyd (1843-1862): See my post on “Henry Oscar Floyd.” He is The Big Question. If one of the Floyd brothers did serve for the Union, he would probably be the one (he reputedly died in Illinois in 1862), but I haven’t found any records for him.


Smith

I suspect the father of Susan Elizabeth “Lizzie” Smith Bonner Brinlee, my great-grandmother, may have served in the Civil War. But I don’t know, because I have not yet found her family.


I would love to have appended a beautifully written list of sources at the end of this post, but it is getting closer and closer to midnight and this is a big honking article with a whole bunch of sources. If you are interested in the sources for any of this information, just contact me and I will provide them.

Surname Saturday: Elijah Norman and Margaret Agnes Kinsey

Elijah “Lige” Norman
b. 11 Jan 1874, Alabama
d. 15 Feb 1953
& Margaret Agnes Kinsey
b. 26 Jan 1874
d. 28 Sep 1918
m. 18 Oct 1894
|--Walter Denton Norman
|----b. 7 Dec 1895, Meyers, Garland, Arkansas
|----d. 4 Mar 1968
|---& Viola Irene Buck
|----b. 2 Dec 1904
|----d. Sep 1987, Crossett, Ashley, Arkansas
|----m. 4 Jul 1923
|--Joseph Ellis Norman
|----b. 7 May 1898, Arkansas
|----d. 2 Oct 1979
|---& Ida Mae Johnson
|----b. 29 Jan 1904
|----d. 4 Jul 1990
|----m. 29 Jan 1920, Garland County, Arkansas
|--Mary Susan Norman
|----b. 18 Feb 1901, Meyers Creek, Garland Co., Arkansas
|----d. 13 Jan 1980, Dallas, Dallas County, Texas
|---& Gilford Elijah Powell
|----b. 20 Dec 1899, Montgomery Co., Arkansas
|----d. 4 Nov 1992, Richardson, Dallas Co., Texas
|----m. 3 Jul 1918
|--Elvia Prudence Norman
|----b. 15 May 1903, Meyer Comm, Garland Co., Arkansas
|----d. 8 Oct 2002, Mount Ida, Montgomery, Arkansas
|---& Isaac Lester Standridge
|----b. 8 Oct 1893, Arkansas
|----d. 17 Dec 1981
|----m. 2 Jul 1921, Montgomery Co., Arkansas,
|--Manuel Alexander Norman
|----b. 17 Jun 1905, West of Hot Springs, Garland Co., Arkansas
|----d. 30 Jul 1985, Norman, Montgomery, Arkansas
|---& Lydia Fryar
|----b. 17 Jun 1906, Arkansas
|----d. Oct 1983
|----m. 24 Dec 1925, Montgomery Co., Arkansas
|--Nancy Olive Norman
|----b. 8 Dec 1907, Arkansas
|----d. 15 Mar 1968
|---& William Elmer Milholen
|----b. 4 Sep 1904, Arkansas
|----d. 2 Mar 1961

This is the family of Elijah “Lige” Norman (son of Joseph Madison Carroll Norman and Mary Patterson) and his first wife, Margaret Agnes Kinsey (daughter of Jessie Sanford Kinsey and Susan Emeline Wacaster). Margaret’s sister Lillie Catherine Kinsey was the second wife of Lige’s brother Newton Leonard Norman, and two of the children of her sister Prudence married into the Norman family: Simon Peter Tallent married Josephine Rebecca “Josie” Cannon, a daughter of Susan A. “Sudie” Norman, and Caldonia Emeline “Callie” Tallent married Lige’s half-brother Jessie “Judge Spivey” Norman.

I would love to share information with anyone related to/researching this family; you can contact me at my e-mail address, which can be found by going to my profile page (there is a link to that page in the About Me section to the left).

Surname Saturday: Newton Leonard Norman and Lillie Catherine Kinsey

Newton Leonard Norman
b. 15 Jan 1871, Alabama
d. 4 Jan 1959
& Lillie Catherine Kinsey
b. 22 Jun 1882, Arkansas
d. 20 Mar 1915, Arkansas
|--Carriel Sanford Norman
|----b. 8 Aug 1903
|----d. 14 Apr 1904
|--Dallas Edgar Norman
|----b. 11 May 1905, Arkansas
|----d. 2 Mar 1968, Hot Springs National Park, Garland, Arkansas
|---& Jewell Faye Dodson
|----b. 28 Mar 1913, Arkansas
|----d. 8 Apr 1997, Hot Springs National Park, Garland, Arkansas
|----m. 10 Jun 1929, Garland County, Arkansas
|--Joseph Seymour Norman*
|----b. 29 Dec 1907, Arkansas
|----d. 28 Aug 1994, Dallas, Dallas, Texas
|--& Estella Mable Vandevier
|----b. ca 1911
|----m. 6 Oct 1934, Garland Co., Arkansas
|--Joseph Seymour Norman*
|----b. 29 Dec 1907, Arkansas
|----d. 28 Aug 1994, Dallas, Dallas, Texas
|---& Mildred Inez Foster
|--Rellis Gradie Norman
|----b. 10 May 1910, Arkansas
|----d. 1 Dec 1961, Irving, Texas
|---& Susie Anna Ritchie
|--Horace Fay Norman*
|----b. 23 Oct 1912
|----d. Jan 1987, Lorenzo, Crosby, Texas
|---& Cora Gertrude Keen
|----b. ca 1916
|--Horace Fay Norman*
|----b. 23 Oct 1912
|----d. Jan 1987, Lorenzo, Crosby, Texas
|---& Emma L.
|----b. ca 1907
|--Jessie Lessel Norman
|----b. 8 Apr 1914
|----d. 6 May 1915, Arkansas

This is the family of Newton Leonard Norman, son of Joseph Madison Carroll Norman and Mary Patterson (and half-brother of my great-grandfather William Henry "Jack" Norman) and his second wife, Lillie Catherine Kinsey, the daughter of Jessie Sanford Kinsey and Susan Emeline Wacaster.

I would love to share information with anyone related to/researching this family; you can contact me at my e-mail address, which can be found by going to my profile page (there is a link to that page in the About Me section to the left).

Surname Saturday: Newton Leonard Norman and Rebecca Dulcenia Weston

Newton Leonard Norman
b. 15 Jan 1871, Alabama
d. 4 Jan 1959
& Rebecca Dulcenia Weston
b. 22 Aug 1870
d. 30 Jul 1899
m. 28 Sep 1890, Garland County, Arkansas
|--Dissie D. Norman
|----b. 5 Aug 1891
|----d. 9 Oct 1908
|---& Jackson “Jack” W. Norman (b. Mar 1891 Arkansas)
|----m. 30 Dec 1906, Montgomery Co., Arkansas
|--Mary Viola “Ola” Norman
|----b. 16 Nov 1893, Peak, Garland Co., Arkansas
|----d. 23 Dec 1969, Oden, Arkansas
|---& William Levi Powell
|----b. 1 May 1885, Peak, Garland Co., Arkansas
|----d. 8 Jan 1977, Benton, Bossier, LA
|----m. 5 Nov 1911, Garland Co., Arkansas
|--Henry Elijah Norman
|----b. 29 Apr 1896
|----d. 26 Sep 1945
|--Nellie Anne Norman
|----b. 24 Nov 1898, Arkansas
|----d. 10 Mar 1988, Mount Ida, Montgomery, Arkansas
|---& John Joe Powell
|----b. 5 Aug 1891, Myers, Montgomery, Arkansas
|----d. 2 May 1970
|----m. 25 Jun 1914, Garland Co., Arkansas

This is the family of Newton Leonard Norman, half-brother of my great-grandfather William Henry “Jack” Norman, and Newton’s first wife, Rebecca Dulcenia Weston. Newton was the son of Joseph Madison Carroll Norman and his second wife, Mary Patterson. Newton and Rebecca's oldest daughter, Dissie, and her husband Jackson Norman are part of the "Mystery Normans" about whom I have written in previous posts - was Jackson a distant relative or not?

I would love to share information with anyone related to/researching this family; you can contact me at my e-mail address, which can be found by going to my profile page (there is a link to that page in the About Me section to the left).

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: A Prolific Dad

Randy at Genea-Musings has assigned the following SNGF assignment for this Father’s Day weekend:

Your mission for Father's Day, if you decide to accept it, is to:

1) Determine who is one of the most prolific fathers in your genealogy database or in your ancestry. By prolific, I mean the one who fathered the most children.

2) Tell us about him in your own blog post, in comments to this blog post, or in comments on Facebook.

This is an easy one; I don’t even have to think about it. It would be Joseph Madison Carroll Norman, my great-great grandfather (father’s mother’s father’s father). By three wives he had at least 26 children (possibly 27, but there is uncertainty as to one of the children who died very young). You can see from the list below why I have been whining so much for the past few months over getting the basic information entered for this family; it has been a labor of love, but sticking with it was sometimes a real pain. Here are the 23 whose names are known plus three infants, names unknown, that family historians are pretty certain about:

Joseph Madison Carroll Norman
b. 8 Jun 1833, Alabama
d. 1 Apr 1901, Arkansas
& Rebecca Monk
b. 1837, Alabama
m. 4 Dec 1851, Talladega, Alabama
|--Cyntha Ann Norman
|----b. 1856, Alabama
|--William Henry “Jack” Norman
|----b. 15 Mar 1858, Alabama
|----d. 19 Dec 1939, Leonard, Fannin County, Texas
|---& Sarah Jane Sisson
|----b. 14 Feb 1855, Alabama
|----d. 25 Apr 1937, Fannin County, Texas
|----m. 1879
|--Leatha L. Norman
|----b. 3 Sep 1859, Alabama
|----d. 27 Sep 1909
|---& Thomas Wiley Huff
|----b. 29 Mar 1861, Alabama
|----d. 21 May 1931
|----m. 12 May 1879, Cave Springs, GA
|--Josephus James “J. J.”/”Joe”/”Jode” Norman
|----b. 1 May 1861, Alabama
|----d. 12 Jun 1924, Lamasco, Fannin, Texas
|---& Martha King
|----b. 5 Sep 1865, Arkansas
|----d. 3 Jun 1949, Bonham, Fannin Co., TX
|--Thomas Frank Norman
|----b. 1862, Alabama
|----d. ca 1912, Texas
|---& Letha/Lillie Brown
|----b. Oct 1873, Texas
|----d. ca 1906, Texas
|--Betsy Norman
|--Infant Norman

Joseph Madison Carroll Norman
b. 8 Jun 1833, Alabama
d. 1 Apr 1901, Arkansas
& Mary Patterson
m. 9 Mar 1864, Talladega, Alabama
|--Susan A. “Sudie” Norman*
|----b. 18 Dec 1864, Alabama
|----d. 20 Jul 1908, Peak, Garland Co., Arkansas
|---& William A. Cannon
|----b. 7 Jan 1862
|----d. 4 Mar 1890
|----m. 3 Oct 1882
|--Susan A. “Sudie” Norman*
|----b. 18 Dec 1864, Alabama
|----d. 20 Jul 1908, Peak, Garland Co., Arkansas
|---& Mitchell C. Blackburn
|----b. 25 Apr 1851, Missouri
|----d. 8 Jan 1916
|----m. 11 Jul 1892, Garland Co., Arkansas
|--Norman
|--John Norman
|----b. 1867, Alabama
|--Norman
|--Martha Rebecca Norman
|----b. 21 Sep 1871, Alabama
|----d. 18 Jun 1962, Albuquerque, New Mexico
|---& Enoch R. Fuller
|----b. Mar 1859, Arkansas
|----d. bef 1920
|----m. 6 Feb 1887, Pineland, Pike Co., Arkansas
|--Loney Norman
|--Voney Norman
|--Newton Leonard Norman*
|----b. 15 Jan 1871, Alabama
|----d. 4 Jan 1959
|---& Rebecca Dulcenia Weston
|----b. 22 Aug 1870
|----d. 30 Jul 1899
|----m. 28 Sep 1890, Garland County, Arkansas
|--Newton Leonard Norman*
|----b. 15 Jan 1871, Alabama
|----d. 4 Jan 1959
|---& Lillie Catherine Kinsey
|----b. 22 Jun 1882, Arkansas
|----d. 20 Mar 1915, Arkansas
|--Newton Leonard Norman*
|----b. 15 Jan 1871, Alabama
|----d. 4 Jan 1959
|---& Elsie Camilla Jones
|--Elijah “Lige” Norman*
|----b. 11 Jan 1874, Alabama
|----d. 15 Feb 1953
|---& Margaret Agnes Kinsey
|----b. 26 Jan 1874
|----d. 28 Sep 1918
|----m. 18 Oct 1894
|--Elijah “Lige” Norman*
|----b. 11 Jan 1874, Alabama
|----d. 15 Feb 1953
|---& Pellie Barthena Moore
|----b. 1 Oct 1877
|----d. 8 Jul 1970
|----m. 20 Aug 1919, Garland County, Arkansas
|--Mary Norman
|----b. 1876, Alabama

Joseph Madison Carroll Norman
b. 8 Jun 1833, Alabama
d. 1 Apr 1901, Arkansas
& Mary Frances Karr
b. 22 Oct 1854
d. 17 Mar 1931, Arkansas
m. 1 Jun 1880
|--Sallie Norman
|----b. ca 1881
|--Joseph David “Wiley” Norman
|----b. 4 Jul 1881, Arkansas
|----d. 25 Jan 1957
|--& Fanny Gertrude “Gertie” Helms
|----b. 18 Aug 1886, Arkansas
|----d. 23 Feb 1971
|----m. 17 Dec 1905, Meyers, Garland, Arkansas
|--Jessie “Judge Spivey” Norman*
|----b. 5 Dec 1883, Arkansas
|----d. 26 Feb 1969
|---& Caldonia Emiline “Callie” Tallent
|----b. 3 Nov 1883, Arkansas
|----d. 4 Jun 1926
|--Jessie “Judge Spivey” Norman*
|----b. 5 Dec 1883, Arkansas
|----d. 26 Feb 1969
|---& Annie Butram
|----b. ca 1909
|----m. 5 Nov 1937, Garland Co., Arkansas
|--Margaret D. “Maggie” Norman
|----b. 11 Jun 1887, Arkansas
|----d. 24 Mar 1973, Hot Springs National Park, Garland, Arkansas
|---& Joel Boston “Boss” Weston
|----b. 28 Dec 1885, Arkansas
|----d. 9 Nov 1965
|----m. 21 Jul 1903, Montgomery Co., Arkansas
|--Sanford “Sam” Norman
|----b. 3 Mar 1888, Arkansas
|----d. 1 Nov 1960
|---& Isabelle “Belle” Hickman
|----b. 4 Sep 1891, Arkansas
|----d. 20 Mar 1966
|----m. 19 Mar 1911, Garland County, Arkansas
|--Benjamin Norman
|----b. 1891, Arkansas
|----d. 15 Aug 1916, Garland Co., Arkansas
|---& Jeanette “Nettie” Cearley
|----b. 12 Aug 1891, Arkansas
|----d. 1 Jun 1968, Vacaville, Solano, California
|----m. 25 Aug 1912, Garland Co., Arkansas
|--Abraham Norman
|----b. 10 Sep 1893, Meyer, Garland, Arkansas
|----d. 14 Jul 1965
|--Dora Belle Norman
|----b. Apr 1897, Arkansas
|---& Henry Alexander Patterson
|----b. 23 Mar 1883, Springtown, Texas
|----d. 2 Aug 1959, Vera, Knox County, Texas
|----m. 4 Mar 1923, Meyer, Garland Co., Arkansas
|--Reuben E. Norman
|----b. 14 Aug 1898, Arkansas
|----d. 19 Nov 1911

Did I mention that I tried to track down as many descendants of JMC Norman as I could? I have concluded that I must be related to at least half the people in the United States with Southern family connections. No, really.

Surname Saturday: Enoch R. Fuller and Martha Rebecca Norman Family

Enoch R. Fuller
b. Mar 1859, Arkansas
d. bef 1920
& Martha Rebecca Norman
b. 21 Sep 1871, Alabama
d. 18 Jun 1962, Albuquerque, New Mexico
m. 6 Feb 1887, Pineland, Pike Co., Arkansas
|--Manuel Fuller
|----b. Feb 1888, Arkansas
|----d. 24 Apr 1926, Wichita, Texas
|---& Lorena Talton
|----b. ca 1890, Lousiana
|--Dallas Demeld Fuller*
|----b. 11 Jun 1900, Arkansas
|----d. 6 May 1955
|---& Cecilia Cooper
|--Dallas Demeld Fuller*
|----b. 11 Jun 1900, Arkansas
|----d. 6 May 1955
|---& Annie
|----b. ca 1898, Texas
|----m. ca 1924
|--Hattie Pearl Fuller
|----b. 11 Sep 1903, Hill Co., Texas
|----d. Dec 1975, Albuquerque, Bernalilo, New Mexico
|---& Henry Russell Robertson

This is the family of Martha Rebecca Norman, half-sister of my great-grandfather William Henry Norman. She was the daughter of Joseph Madison Carroll Norman and Mary Patterson. Since Enoch and Martha Rebecca married in 1887 and Enoch died after 1910 (but before 1920), I am guessing that they may have had a number of additional children who died young.

I would love to share information with anyone related to/researching this family; you can contact me at my e-mail address, which can be found by going to my profile page (there is a link to that page in the About Me section to the left).

Family and Friends Newsletter Friday 18 June 2010

Since we spent last weekend taking B to Middlebury, time and energy have been a bit short this week. I did not do any real research, but I did play around a bit with Ancestry Public Member Trees and did do some “cousin correspondence.” This may be a full genealogy year, after all!

Norman

I was contacted by a Norman-connected cousin, who had apparently seen my posts on the Norman family on this blog. Add another hurrah! for blogging as a way to get in touch with other researchers. We talked about our connections and he was familiar with Normans who had moved to Baylor County. One of his cousins in Garland County does genealogy research, and I have seen her name connected with a lot of Norman family research. Maybe someday I can visit Arkansas….

Moore

It appears that a research trip to Greenville, South Carolina may be in my near future (maybe September?)! More on this later.

Brinlee and Smith

I have not yet gotten started on my next round of Brinlee research, but I mean to start soon. I also have to do some additional “brick wall” work on Susan Elizabeth Smith (Brinlee) before the Knoxville conference. And finally, I’d like to take a look into the Tennessee line with whom a DNA connection has been found to exist for our Brinlees.

Ancestry Public Member Trees and Footnote

As I mentioned in the article below, I have started to put up a little bit of information in a couple of trees I started on Ancestry. I’ll probably go ahead and add information on my father’s family tree, but I may not do as much on my mother’s side as yet. I’m very curious to see who, if anyone, contacts me based on these trees. I’ll probably go ahead and contact some of the people who have some of “my people” in their trees. I should also do some more work on my pages on Footnote and perhaps add a couple of pages, since that seems to have turned up a major contact for me.

Surname Saturday: Mitchell Blackburn and Susan A. Norman Family

Mitchell C. Blackburn
b. 25 Apr 1851, Missouri
d. 8 Jan 1916
& Susan A. “Sudie” Norman
b. 18 Dec 1864, Alabama
d. 20 Jul 1908, Peak, Garland Co., Arkansas
m. 11 Jul 1892, Garland Co., Arkansas
|--Cynthia Lydia Blackburn
|----b. 1 Sep 1893, Arkansas
|----d. 1987
|---& Marcus Lawson Kinsey
|----b. 7 Nov 1887, Arkansas
|----d. 1972
|----m. 20 Dec 1908, Garland Co., Arkansas
|--Rena Blackburn
|----b. 20 Jan 1896, Arkansas
|---& Marshall M. Burden
|----b. 1874, Arkansas
|----d. 20 Jun 1933
|----m. 19 Jul 1916, Garland Co., Arkansas
|--Una Blackburn
|----b. Apr 1899, Arkansas
|---& Benjamin Franklin Powell
|----b. 29 Oct 1895, Arkansas
|----d. 22 Feb 1966
|--Blackburn
|----b. 24 Mar 1902
|----d. 1902
|--Evander Blackburn
|----b. 19 Oct 1903
|----d. 12 Jun 1904

This is the family of my great-grandfather William Henry Norman’s half-sister, Susan A. “Sudie” Norman and her second husband, Mitchell C. Blackburn. This was also Mitchell’s second marriage; his first wife was Josephine Johnson. Sudie was the oldest known child of Joseph Madison Carroll Norman and his second wife, Mary Patterson.

I would love to share information with anyone related to/researching this family; you can contact me at my e-mail address, which can be found by going to my profile page (there is a link to that page in the About Me section to the left).

Family and Friends Newsletter Friday 4 June 2010

It has been a busy couple of weeks (I see it has been three weeks since I have written a newsletter – too busy and too tired).

Research

As far as genealogy goes, busy in a good way.

Norman

I have finally finished up the current stage of Norman research (not that it’s complete, but I have a good framework for “Descendants of Joseph Madison Carroll Norman”). What a relief!

One interesting item that popped up in this last bit of research was that in addition to the two cousins that I attended high school with – a first and second cousin on my mother’s side (and, of course, I was aware that they were my cousins), I have found a second cousin once removed (on my father’s side) who also attended the same high school, a year before me. Joseph Madison Carroll Norman was her great-grandfather and my great-great grandfather; her grandmother was the youngest of JMC’s children to have descendants and my great-grandfather was the oldest one to have descendants and was about 40 years older than her grandmother.

Another item that turned up when I logged onto Ancestry was a note under “Recent Member Connect Activity” that someone had downloaded a document on Rhuea Mae Brown, my great-uncle Oby Norman’s second wife, whom I always knew as “Aunt Rhuea.” When I clicked on the connection, it took me to a Public Member Tree with lots of pictures of Aunt Rhuea when she was younger. What a treat!

Brinlee

Now it’s onto Brinlee research, and a number of things have been happening to tell me that it’s time to work on the Brinlee line!

I have been contacted by a gentleman who grew up near Bun and Square Brinlee, colorful cousins of my father about whom there are quite a few stories. They lived very interesting lives, and as they lived their later years on the family farm without electricity or other type of power, were viewed as being a bit eccentric. From this gentlemen’s memories, as well as those of another man who actually wrote a book based on the conversations he had with the brothers when he was growing up, they were apparently quite beloved figures in the area. I have really enjoyed the memories that the two men have shared about the brothers.

To see if any of my other cousins on the Brinlee side had any information to share on Bun and Square, I sent out an e-mail. So far no additional information on this account, but one of the cousins did have some fabulous Brinlee research news: a DNA match has been found for one of “our” Brinlees among the descendants of a line of Brinleys/Brindleys/Brindlees in Tennessee – there had been some interest in these families, but we could not prove any connection. This is a whole new avenue to research, quite a bit more than what we had before.

Moore

I have been contacted by two Moore researchers this week, one through Footnote (from the descendant of a heretofore unknown brother of my great-great-grandfather William Spencer Moore) and one through an old GenForum post. I guess this shows that it is a good idea to have “cast a wide net” for information on ancestors. So, along those lines…

Ancestry Public Member Trees

I have not made a definite decision, yet, but I may go ahead and start some PMTs on Ancestry, probably four – one for each of my parents and my husband’s parents. I will not upload any GEDCOMs, but instead will just gradually add information.

So, in short – this has been a great week for finding new contacts and adding information from them!

Surname Saturday: William A. Cannon and Susan A. Norman Family

William A. Cannon
b. 7 Jan 1862
d. 4 Mar 1890
& Susan A. “Sudie” Norman
b. 18 Dec 1864, Alabama
d. 20 Jul 1908, Peak, Garland Co., Arkansas
m. 3 Oct 1882
|--Mary Ellen Cannon*
|----b. 22 Nov 1883, Arkansas
|----d. 24 May 1960
|---& George Mitchel Milholen
|----b. 16 Oct 1881, Montgomery Co., Arkansas
|----d. 27 Oct 1966, Hot Springs National Park, Garland, Arkansas
|----m. 31 May 1900, Montgomery Co., Arkansas
|--Mary Ellen Cannon*
|----b. 22 Nov 1883, Arkansas
|----d. 24 May 1960
|---& Wacaster
|--James Wallace Cannon
|----b. 9 Aug 1886
|----d. 6 Jul 1973
|---& Myrtle Mullins
|----b. 5 Sep 1893
|----d. Jan 1988, Hot Springs National Park, Garland, Arkansas
|--Josephine Rebecca “Josie” Cannon
|----b. 13 Oct 1888, Arkansas
|----d. 17 Aug 1966, Merced, California
|---& Simon Peter Tallent
|----b. 26 Dec 1881, Meyers, Garland, Arkansas
|----d. 19 Feb 1953, Yountville, Napa, California

This is the family of my great-grandfather William Henry Norman’s half-sister, Susan A. “Sudie” Norman and William A. Cannon. Sudie was the oldest known child of Joseph Madison Carroll Norman and his second wife, Mary Patterson. After William’s death, Sudie married Mitchell C. Blackburn; that family will be featured next week.

I would love to share information with anyone related to/researching this family; you can contact me at my e-mail address, which can be found by going to my profile page (there is a link to that page in the About Me section to the left).

Playing Around with Online Trees - Part 2

Here are a few more things I tried and found out:

4. Click on the name listed as “Owner.” This brings up a box that includes the following information:

- Profile (including other Family Trees they have on Ancestry).
- Contact information. I have found many tantalizing clues on GenForum and the Rootsweb mailing lists, only to find that the researchers’ e-mails were no longer active. I am hoping for a bit more success through contacts here.
- Last log-in. This is important to me because I want to know if they are still interested and are keeping their research current, or perhaps this was just a passing fancy.

5. You can find pictures of your ancestors. Ancestry also has a page where you can also do a name search for pictures, but if the name is common, it may be easier to pull up the trees and then see what is there.

6. If you have published some of your own original research, see how much of it has made it into these trees and how it is being used. My two main contributions would be with the Moores (identifying Samuel Moore as the father of William Spencer Moore and Bud Mathis Moore) and the Lewises (putting together the Elisha Berry Lewis-Martha Poole family and identifying E. B. Lewis as the son of Elisha Lewis and Rosannah Dalrymple). The former shows up in a couple of trees, one erroneously, and the latter shows up in one tree, that of a researcher with whom I have corresponded (and he cites my e-mails in his WorldConnect tree).

7. Surprises. No, not necessarily eye-popping revelations or brickwall solutions, but something you may not have expected. I kept getting hits on a family tree called “Heartland of Texas” and finally, after inputting a few names from all over my family tree, realized that this database included both a significant branch of the Floyd family tree (my mother’s side) and part of the Norman family tree (my father’s side). There were even some Moores here and there (though not as a family unit, but rather as spouses of other families that were associated with the Floyds and Moores, such as the Lathams and Rainwaters). A few Normans did live in Baylor County (where my mother’s family settled and she grew up), but there was no obvious connection. What was going on?

I did a search on “Heartland of Texas” and the family name of the “home person” and pulled up information on the person to whom the tree belonged: a “native and lifelong resident” of Baylor County who is apparently also involved in research of other (sometimes non-related) families. When I clicked on the link to view the page on Ancestry, there was a list of e-mails of contributors. It appears to be one of those “combined tree” databases that researchers in certain localities create. This piqued my interest, and I am going to contact the lady and let her know about my own research that fits in here; it would connect many of the names that appear. Baylor is one of those “small population” counties, and just based on my mother’s family I have always thought a combined database of this type would be doable and interesting.

So, although aside from a relatively small number of researchers who put up detailed and well-sourced family trees, many of the trees do not contain a whole lot of new information that would significantly advance our research, we may still find material that contributes building blocks here and there. It’s just one of those bases you gotta touch – just in case.

Surname Saturday: Family of Thomas Frank Norman and Letha/Lillie Brown

Thomas Frank Norman
b. 1862, Alabama
d. ca 1912, Texas
& Letha/Lillie Brown
b. Oct 1873, Texas
d. ca 1904, Texas
|--Vina Mable Norman
|----b. Sep 1896, Texas
|---& James Edward “Ed” Vance
|--Jessie Norman
|----b. Mar 1899, Texas
|---& Earnest Elbert Wheeler
|----b. 13 Dec 1897, Texas
|----d. 18 Jun 1927, Hunt County, Texas
|--Joseph M. C. Norman Jr.
|----b. 1900, Texas
|--Donald Barret Norman
|----b. 4 Mar 1902, Texas
|----d. 21 Oct 1988, Athens, Henderson, Texas
|---& Dorothy Gage

This is the family of one of the brothers of my great-grandfather William Henry “Jack” Norman. Thomas Frank Norman’s parents were Joseph Madison Carroll Norman and Rebecca Monk. My great-grandfather named his oldest son Thomas Frank, probably for this brother.

There are quite a few “mysteries” (that is, gaps in my knowledge) connected with this family. Inez Cline (author of the Norman Family History) says that Thomas Frank’s wife’s name was Letha Brown; on the only census I have seen for her (1900, since she died before the 1910 census), her name is given as Lillie. Inez Cline also says that Thomas Frank and Letha had nine children, but only four lived to maturity.

I do not actually know when Lillie died. Some researchers say that triplets were born in 1904 who died, and one of her sons said that he was two years old when she died, which would have been around 1904.

Inez Cline also has a cryptic note for Thomas Frank’s son Joseph M. C. Norman Jr. (one of many grandsons of Joseph Madison Carroll Norman who was named for him): “Left home at age 18, NFR [no further record].”

I would love to share information with anyone related to/researching this family; you can contact me at my e-mail address, which can be found by going to my profile page (there is a link to that page in the About Me section to the left).

Friends and Family Newsletter Friday: 21 May 2010

Research

Spelling is important!

We all know that our ancestors’ names could and usually were spelled every which way imaginable, and that it’s important to be able to use the various tools such as Soundex and wildcard searches to be able to find them with any success. But it’s also important to learn the actual spelling of a name used by the person, no matter how strange. This is especially important when it turns out that the “actual spelling” is quite different from the “expected spelling,” because the algorithms used to produce variant spellings may not work.

In researching the Norman family, I was looking up information on a Geraldine Norman who married Elzie Savage – or so I thought. I found it difficult to find much on either one, and neither Geraldine Norman nor Geraldine Savage in Arkansas brought up the right person for me. I got lucky in searching Arkansas County Marriages on FamilySearch Record Search, as it brought up Elzy Savage when I input “Elzie Savage.” And the record indicated that he married Gearldean Norman. I didn’t pay much attention. I did not even give it much notice when I saw that the handwritten entry for her name on the marriage records in the image also used the spelling “Gearldean.” But when I found her handwritten signature as witness on another relative’s marriage document with this same spelling, it finally got through my thick head: “That’s how she actually spelled it.”

And then – surprise! – the proper spelling finally brought up a death record for her in Ancestry – in North Carolina, where I did not expect to find her (most of the family stayed in Arkansas or moved to the West Coast).

Brinlee

I am very excited this week about being contacted by a gentleman who knew Bun and Square Brinlee, the “eccentric” Brinlee brothers that I have mentioned previously on this blog a couple of times (which is how he found me).

He knew them when he was a child and teenager and had quite a bit of information on them, some of which confirms the family (and newspaper) accounts and some of which does not quite support the legends; it appears that a few things may have been exaggerated in the original stories. However, his information does confirm that they were indeed real characters, and in a nice way, too. He had been planning to write an article on them, and in the course of trying to find additional information found my blog.

I shared what I knew – what I had heard from other family members and found in research – and he shared some of his rich memories. He was also able to provide me with the correct name of the author who wrote a short book based on their adventures, and I may try to dig up a copy on Amazon, though apparently it’s rather expensive. One area I may try to pursue is whether Bun actually married a woman named Mary Josephine McDonald. The story goes that he did and that he was too scared to tell his parents, so he just came back home to live. Now to find out what other information some of my Brinlee relatives may have!

FGS

Finally sent in my registration materials. Knoxville, here we come!

Surname Saturday: Family of Joseph James Norman and Martha King

Joseph James Norman
b. 1 May 1861, Alabama
d. 12 Jun 1924, Lamasco, Fannin, Texas
& Martha King
b. 5 Sep 1865, Arkansas
d. 3 Jun 1949, Bonham, Fannin Co., TX
|--Letha Christian Norman
|----b. 28 Jan 1883, Arkansas
|----d. 17 Nov 1958, Snyder, Scurry, Texas
|---& Maron Don Clement
|----b. 28 Sep 1876, Texas
|----d. 22 May 1967, Precinct 1, Bonham, Fannin Co., TX
|----m. Jun 1898
|--Emma E. Norman
|----b. Feb 1885, Arkansas
|--Joel Thomas Norman
|----b. 15 Apr 1887, Pike, Arkansas
|----d. 14 Aug 1959, Sherman, Grayson Co., TX
|---& Linda Ellen/Helen Jones
|----b. 1 Oct 1894, Missouri
|----d. 6 Jun 1983
|--Mary Cordelia Norman
|----b. 12 Sep 1889, Arkansas
|----d. 1978
|---& Joseph Riley Williams
|----b. 12 Nov 1887, Beebe, Arkansas
|----d. 11 Apr 1952, Denison, Grayson Co., Texas
|----James Alford Norman
|----b. 26 Jan 1892, Arkansas
|----d. 1962, Houston, Harris County, Texas
|---& Tennie Moody
|---b. Jan 1893, Texas
|--Rebecca Norman
|----b. Aug 1894, Arkansas
|--Sallie/Dolley L. Norman
|----b. Dec 1896, Arkansas
|--Ola M. Norman
|----b. Apr 1900, Arkansas
|--Joseph Madison Carroll Norman
|----b. 17 May 1903, Texas
|----d. 11 Oct 1970, Bonham, Fannin Co., TX
|---& Susie Lee Martin
|----b. 7 Sep 1908, Fannin Co., Texas
|----d. 5 Jan 1969, Tyler, Smith, Texas
|--Betsey Norman
|----b. 1905, Texas
|--Wylie Norman
|----b. 1907, Texas

Joseph James Norman, a son of Joseph Madison Carroll Norman and Rebecca Monk, was my great-grandfather William Henry Norman’s brother. This family also ended up in Texas, but based on the states of birth of the children, somewhat later than the other Norman families who ended up in Texas – some time between 1900 and 1903.

There are quite a few gaps in my information, mostly that I do not know what happened to a number of the children. I would love to share information with anyone related to/researching this family; you can contact me at my e-mail address, which can be found by going to my profile page (there is a link to that page in the About Me section to the left).

Surname Saturday: Thomas Wiley Huff and Leatha Norman Family

Thomas Wiley Huff
b. 29 Mar 1861, Alabama
d. 21 May 1931
& Leatha L. Norman
b. 3 Sep 1859, Alabama
d. 27 Sep 1909
m. 12 May 1879, Cave Springs, GA
|--Mary Emmer Huff
|----b. 10 Oct 1880, Savoy, Texas
|----d. 6 Feb 1967, Tulsa, Oklahoma
|---& John William Barrett
|----b. 17 Oct 1872
|----d. 21 Feb 1946
|----m. 26 Jan 1895, Trenton, Fannin, Texas
|--Thomas Joseph Huff
|----b. 15 Jul 1882, Texas
|----d. 9 Mar 1931, Seymour, Baylor, Texas
|---& Myrtle May Carter
|----b. 1 Sep 1888
|----d. 29 Jun 1959, Borger, Hutchinson, Texas
|----m. 29 Oct 1905
|--Charlie Wright Huff
|----b. 29 Jan 1885
|----d. 4 Mar 1895
|--William Franklin Huff
|----b. 16 Nov 1886, Trinity, Texas
|----d. 12 Mar 1919, Baylor Co., Texas
|---& Emerit Lillian Thurman
|----b. 11 Feb 1884
|----d. 5 Apr 1962, Wichita Falls, Texas
|----m. 16 Jan 1906
|--John Carl Huff
|----b. 4 Mar 1889
|----d. 30 Nov 1964, Seymour, Baylor, Texas
|--James Henry Huff
|----b. 16 Dec 1891
|----d. 3 Sep 1896
|--Benjamin Wylie Huff*
|----b. 3 Mar 1894, Trenton, Fannin, Texas
|----d. 17 May 1972, Bonham, Fannin Co., TX
|---& Eula May Houch
|----m. 6 Jun 1915
|--Benjamin Wylie Huff*
|----b. 3 Mar 1894, Trenton, Fannin, Texas
|----d. 17 May 1972, Bonham, Fannin Co., TX
|---& Cora
|----b. 6 Nov 1904
|----d. 29 Jun 1996, Bonham, Fannin Co., TX
|--Rebecca Valadie Huff
|----b. 19 Feb 1896, Texas
|----d. 13 Aug 1952, Jones, Texas
|---& Chester Lee Thurman
|----b. 8 Mar 1890, Sidney, Comanche, Texas
|----d. 22 Jul 1974, Anson, Jones, Texas
|----m. 1919
|--Leatha Annie Huff
|----b. 3 Jun 1898, Texas
|----d. 9 Nov 1984, Orange, California
|---& Huiet Herbert Williams
|----b. 25 May 1897, Texas
|----d. 23 Mar 1989, Los Angeles, California
|----m. 27 Aug 1916
|--Officer Harris Huff
|----b. 13 Jan 1901, Anson, Texas
|---- d. 19 Jul 1910

This is the family of Thomas Wiley Huff and Leatha Norman, who was the sister – and I believe that she was the younger sister – of my great-grandfather William Henry “Jack” Norman. Like Jack Norman, they appear to have ended up in Texas. As a matter of fact, it seems that they were the first to go out to Texas, because they appear on the 1880 census in Grayson County, Texas, whereas the rest of the family apparently came a year or two later.

I would love to share information with anyone related to/researching this family; you can contact me at my e-mail address, which can be found by going to my profile page (there is a link to that page in the About Me section to the left).

Surname Saturday: Family of Joseph Madison Carroll Norman and Rebecca Monk

Joseph Madison Carroll Norman
b. 8 Jun 1833, Alabama
d. 1 Apr 1901, Arkansas
& Rebecca Monk
b. 1837, Alabama
m. 4 Dec 1851, Talladega, Alabama
|--Cyntha Ann Norman
|----b. 1856, Alabama
|--William Henry “Jack” Norman
|----b. 15 Mar 1858, Alabama
|----d. 19 Dec 1939, Leonard, Fannin County, Texas
|---& Sarah Jane Sisson
|----b. 14 Feb 1855, Alabama
|----d. 25 Apr 1937, Fannin County, Texas
|----m. 1879
|--Leatha L. Norman
|----b. 3 Sep 1859, Alabama
|----d. 27 Sep 1909
|---& Thomas Wiley Huff
|----b. 29 Mar 1861, Alabama
|----d. 21 May 1931
|----m. 12 May 1879, Cave Springs, GA
|--Josephus James “J. J.”/”Joe”/”Jode” Norman
|----b. 1 May 1861, Alabama
|----d. 12 Jun 1924, Lamasco, Fannin, Texas
|---& Martha King
|----b. 5 Sep 1865, Arkansas
|----d. 3 Jun 1949, Bonham, Fannin Co., TX
|--Thomas Frank Norman
|----b. 1862, Alabama
|----d. ca 1912, Texas
|---& Letha/Lillie Brown
|----b. Oct 1873, Texas
|----d. ca 1906, Texas
|--Betsy Norman
|--Infant Norman

This is the family of my great-great grandparents, Joseph Madison Carroll Norman and Rebecca Monk, Joseph’s first wife. The list of children is based on Inez Cline’s History of the Norman Family (which is based on extensive interviews of family members as well as document-based research) and censuses. Betsy and a child who died in infancy do not appear on the censuses. I believe my great-grandfather William Henry Norman’s date of birth is given incorrectly on a number of sources and that he was likely born in 1858, rather than 1859 as many sources indicate. The 1860 census shows him as being two years old and he is listed before his sister Letha (who is often listed as the older child).

I do not know what happened to Cyntha Ann. She may be the “Nancy” listed in Inez Cline’s History. She appears as “E.” (age 4) on the 1860 census (which would seem more likely to be Betsy) and as “Cyntha Ann” (age 14) on the 1870 census.

The 1850 census for Talladega County, Alabama lists Rebecca’s parents as Silas Monk (age 40, born in Georgia, Primitive Baptist Minister) and Nance Monk (age 41, born North Carolina). Rebecca Monk died sometime between 1862, when her youngest child Thomas Frank was born, and 1864, when Joseph Norman married his second wife, Mary Patterson.

Joseph Norman, his third wife Mary Frances Karr Norman, and a number of the children moved to Pike County, Arkansas in the early 1880s (based on the state of birth of the children), from there to Grayson and Fannin Counties Texas, and then back to Arkansas, this time Garland County, by 1895. All four of Joseph and Rebecca’s surviving children appear to have remained in Texas.

I would love to share information with anyone related to/researching this family; you can contact me at my e-mail address, which can be found by going to my profile page (there is a link to that page in the About Me section to the left).

Family and Friends Newsletter Friday 30 April 2010

Research

This started out as a bad research week for me, but it got better.

1. For a while I thought that the FamilySearch Record Search pilot page had gone away when all I could pull up from the main page was census information. I found links directly to the databases on Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings, and was able to access the them, but many of the databases I use (Arkansas Marriages, Alabama Deaths, among others) did not have images (Texas Deaths did). Then later the images were back and new databases were added. Sigh of relief!

I was even able to find a few new items on some of the new databases.

2. We installed a new version of Microsoft Office for Mac on my computer, and Reunion has decided it does not want to use it for generating reports. It is telling me that we have to buy iWork. I’m doing the 30-day tryout for now, but really…. Oh, yes, and I don’t like this version of Office – palettes gumming up my screen, among other things. Why is it that some people can only feel they have accomplished something when they have completely redone something that didn’t really need to be changed?

Norman

Norman research earlier in the week did not go as swimmingly without the Arkansas Marriage images, but I’m back to work on them.

Brinlee

This has been a great Brinlee week and I haven’t even been doing any Brinlee research! Earlier in the week a second cousin once removed, a granddaughter of Clarence Brinlee (see A Noble Life) got in touch with me and has sent me information and pictures! I am so thrilled that I can find out more about Clarence and Ethel Brinlee.

Today another researcher, who is not part of my Brinlee family but descends from Brinleys who are not related and has been involved in keeping track of the various Brinlee/Brindley/Brinley families I this country, sent me some material he had received from a couple of Brinlee researchers. I was familiar with a little bit of it, but there is a lot of detail and some good information supporting the theory that John T. Brindley (m. Ann Twitchett) of Christian County, Kentucky was the father of George and Hiram Brinlee Sr. (my great-great grandfather), with whom the spelling “Brinlee” apparently started.

There is apparently a Brinlee family legend that Hiram Brinlee Sr.’s older brother George ran away from the family home in Kentucky to Texas when he was sixteen years old; by my reckoning, that would put him in Texas at the same time or earlier than Stephen Austin!

I also tried Google News Archive for "Brinlee" and there were a lot of hits; I'll have to take some time to go through all of them. One of the first things I found was an article on my father's death in a car accident.

Late Acknowledgement

For some reason I forgot to include Dee Akard Welborn at Funeral Cards & Genealogy in my acknowledgements for the Ancestors Approved Award. Thank you so much, Dee! Funeral Cards & Genealogy has also been added to my “Texas Team” list. I would also like to thank Jennifer at La Mia Familia for this award. You all are the greatest!

Family and Friends Newsletter Friday 23 April 2010

There is not much to report on this week. I am still plodding along with Norman family research. However, a few interesting tidbits continue to pop up here and there.

Research

Norman – Mystery Normans again

More on Arkansas Marriage Records and more on Mystery Normans: I found two sets of marriage records for Jackson “Jack” W. Norman – first for his marriage to Dicey D. Norman, daughter of Newton Norman and Rebecca Dulcenia Weston, and second to Mary Alice Karr (1913) – I’m guessing that she is a relative of Mary Frances Karr, Joseph Madison Carroll Norman’s third wife.

As for Zara L. Cotton, the only known husband of Jackson Norman’s mother, “Aunt Jane” Norman, the records I found for him on Ancestry included a record (no images, though) for “1884 Crime PO Fraud.”

Naming Patterns

So in the course of Norman research this week I encountered a couple of interesting examples of naming patterns. One guy, whose father’s last name was Richardson and mother’s last name was Richards, was named Richard Richards Richardson. Another guy was named Billy Ray (and a last name). His first son by his first wife was named Billy Ray Jr. His first son by his second wife was Billy Ray II.