Friday Newsletter: 10 October 2010

Ever since we returned from Greenville, it has been difficult to settle down and concentrate on one thing in genealogy. Now it’s time to get very serious about focusing and actually accomplishing something. And with all the different family projects vying for my attention (Brinlee, Smith, Moore, and Floyd), I have to make a list of priorities and stick to it.

On top of all of the information from my trip and new-found cousins, while the sale was on ($55 for a year’s subscription) I subscribed to Genealogy Bank, so I definitely want to take advantage of that resource. Actually, it’s just about the only genealogy that got done this week. Even though I previously subscribed to the Dallas Morning News Archives, I hit the 700-download limit without exhausting their resources as far as research is concerned. Genealogy Bank’s different options for tailoring searches have already yielded some new items for that paper.

1. Floyd

I am going to organize the material sent to me by my newly discovered Floyd cousins and transcribe the letters. This is the easiest task to handle, so it gets done first.

2. Smith

I did not finish the project for mapping Smith families in categories 1 and 2 and entering them into a worksheet before I left for Knoxville, so this needs to be completed.

3. Brinlee

This is the last family for which I need to systematize the information I have at the great-great grandparent level and enter it into my genealogy program. I started before the Greenville trip and want to complete this phase of my genealogy research.

4. Moore

Although the logical thing to do first would be to process all the material and information I gained from the trip to Greenville, there is just so much of it that I am going to leave it for a while until I get the first two items on the list done, then go through it gradually, interspersing it with other research. Printouts from microfilm and handwritten notes have been filed in a separate file box, and the images I made from some books on my wand scanner have been uploaded into iPhoto.

5. Lewis, Tarrant, and other families associated with the Moores

There is also a lot of material on these families in the Greenville stuff; proceed same as for item 4.

Smith Family Sunday: Martha Smith, Montgomery County, Tennessee

This is the sixth family in my list of "Category 1" Smith families (most likely fit) for candidates to be the family of my brick wall great-grandmother, Susan Elizabeth Smith Brinlee. I have very little information on this family, as I could only find them on the 1870 census:

Shiloh, 20th Civil District, Montgomery County, Tennessee, p. 4, 10 June 1870
Line 32, family 27, dwelling 27

Smith, Martha 29 F W Keeping house TN Cannot read or write
Sarah E. 13 F W No occupation TN Cannot write
Joseph R. 7 M W TN
Susan E. 1 F W TN

Despite the lack of information, I have classified this family in the first category because they were poor, a single-parent household, and because there was more than just "Susan," "Elizabeth," or "Lizzie" as the name for the relevant daughter - Susan E., which could be Susan Elizabeth.

(I forgot to add this information when I originally posted.)  On the 1880 census, I did find a Martha Smith, age 40, with a son named Joseph, age 18, living with father/grandfather John Hale in Parrotsville, Cocke County, Tennessee, but there is no Sarah or Susan.  I do not know whether this is the same family, but I could find no other than resembled the family I found in the 1870 census.

If you are researching this family and found this blog through a search, please contact me - I would like to know more about this family and whether or not it is actually the family of my great-grandmother. Even if all you know are a few details, they might help. 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).

Smith Family Sunday: Hugh Smith and Mary Ann Cavin of Hawkins County, Tennessee

This is the fifth family in n Group Number 1 (best fits) of “candidate families,” who could be the families of my great-grandmother Susan Elizabeth Smith (m. 1st Bonner, m. 2nd Hiram Carroll Brinlee, Jr.).

If you are researching this family and found this blog through a search, please contact me - I would like to know more about this family and whether or not it is actually the family of my great-grandmother. Even if all you know are a few details, they might help. 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).

Parents:

Hugh Smith, b. October 1840 at Church Hill, Hawkins County, Tennessee
Mary Ann Cavin, b. 15 August 1847 at Church Hill, Hawkins County, Tennessee

Children:

Elizabeth – b. ca 1867 in Tennessee
Mary Etta/Marietta, b. ca 1869 in Tennessee
Robert – b. April 1874 in Tennessee
Wallace – b. ca 1878 in Tennessee
James – b. June 1880 in Tennessee
Lucy – b. June 1883 in Tennessee
Melvin O. – b. February 1888 in Tennessee
Elbert Hale – b. July 1889 in Tennessee

Hugh appears to have been the son of Alexander Smith (1793-1880) and Mary Polly Goddard (1795-), with siblings Francis, Elizabeth (1814-), Joseph (1828-), Lucretia (1830-), George (1832-), and Rebecca (1840-).

Here is the family in the 1870 through 1910 censuses:

New Canton, District No. 5, Hawkins County, Tennessee, p. 2, 15 August 1870

Line 38 17 17

Smith, Hugh 29 M W Day laborer TN Cannot read or write
Mary A. 21 F W Keeping house TN Cannot write
Elisebeth 3 F W TN
Mary E. 11/12 F W TN Sept.

16th Civil District, Hawkins County, Tennessee, ED 78, p. 31, 1 June 1880

Line 17 280 283

Smith, Hugh W M 40 Laborer Cannot write TN TN TN
Mary Ann W F 30 Wife Married Keeping house TN TN TN
Elizabeth W F 12 Dau Single At home Attended school Cannot read or write
TN TN TN
Marietta W F 10 Dau Single At home Attended school Cannot write TN TN TN
Robert W M 7 Son At home TN TN TN
Wallace W M 2 Son TN TN TN

1900 US Federal Census, McPheeters Bend, Civil District 5, Hawkins County, Tennessee, ED 80, p. 10A, 16 June 1900

Line 45 160 161

Smith, Robert Head W M Apr 1874 36 M 5 TN TN TN Farmer 3 Yes Yes Yes R F 145
Parilee Wife W F Apr 1881 19 M 5 2 2 TN TN TN Yes No Yes
Bettie Dau W F Oct 1896 3 S TN TN TN
Baranchie Son W M Nov 1898 1 S TN TN TN
Line 49 161 162
Smith, Hugh Head W M Oct 1840 59 M 36 TN TN TN Farm laborer Yes No Yes
O F F 146
Mary A. Wife W F Aug 1847 52 M 36 10 8
James Son W M June 1880 19 S TN TN TN Day laborer 0 Yes Yes Yes
Lucy Dau W F June 1883 16 S TN TN TN Yes Yes Yes
Melvin O. Son W M Feb 1888 12 S TN TN TN Farm laborer No No Yes
Elbert H. Son W M July 1889 10 S TN TN TN Farm laborer No No Yes

1910 US Federal Census, Civil District 6, Hawkins Co., Tennessee, ED 121, p. 6A, 22 Apr 1910

Line 29 94 94

Smith, Mary A. Head F W 62 Md 32 10 8 TN TN TN Eng Farmer Gen. farm Emp.
Yes No O F F 73
Lucy A. Dau F W 26 S TN TN TN Eng. None Yes Yes
Melvin D. Son M W 21 S TN TN TN Eng. Farm laborer Home farm W No 0
Yes No
Hale M W 19 S TN TN TN Farm laborer Working out W No 0 Yes Yes
Line 33 95 95
James N. Head M W 21 M1 6 TN TN TN Farm laborer Working out W No 0
Yes Yes R H
Mollie Wife F W 29 M1 6 2 2 TN TN TN Eng. None Yes Yes
Julius K. Dau F W 5 S TN TN TN
Charlie M. Son M W 2 S TN TN TN
Line 37 96 96
Wallis Head M W 32 M1 8 TN TN TN Eng Farmer Gen. farm OA No No
O F F 74
Alice W F W 26 M1 8 5 4 TN TN TN Eng None
Nellie Dau F W 6 S TN TN TN
May Dau F W 4 S TN TN TN
Daniel Son M W 2 S TN TN TN
Arthur Son M W 9/12 S TN TN TN
Hugh Father M W 75 M1 32 TN TN TN Eng None Was in Confederate Army

Smith Family Sunday: Littleton Smith of Putnam and Jackson Counties, Tennessee

This is the fourth family in Group Number 1 (best fits) of “candidate families,” who could be the families of my great-grandmother Susan Elizabeth Smith (m. 1st Bonner, m. 2nd Hiram Carroll Brinlee, Jr.).

If you are researching this family and found this blog through a search, please contact me - I would like to know more about this family and whether or not it is actually the family of my great-grandmother. Even if all you know are a few details, they might help. 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).

Parents:

Littleton Smith, b. ca 1820-1825 in Tennessee
Mariah, b. ca 1830 in North Carolina (Littleton was married previously to a woman named Mary whose last name may have been Bennett).

Children:

By wife Mary:

Ellander Jane, b. 4 July 1845
James C., b. ca 20 Dec 1847
Thomas, b. 11 May 1850
Ella, b. ca 1854
William Calvin, b. 1 March 1856

By wife Mariah:

Jacob Jack, b. 14 November 1859
John, b. 13 November 1861
Elizabeth, b. 15 July 1869 (this does not match the claimed month and date of birth of my great-grandmother – 4 April).

Here is the family in the 1850 through 1880 censuses:

1850 US Federal Census, District 5, Overton Co., Tennessee, 19 September 1850

Line 24 419 420

Littleton Smith 30 M Farmer $200 TN
Mary 29 F Ala.
Nelly J. 15 F TN
James 2 M TN
Thomas 4/12 M TN

1860 US Federal Census, Double Springs, District No. 7, Putnam Co., Tennessee, p. 99, 17 July1860

Line 9 658 658

Littleton Smith 45 M Farmer $200 TN Over 20 cannot read or write
Mariah 30 F NC
James C. 11 M TN
Thos. 9 M TN
Ella 6 M [sic] TN
William C. 4 M TN
Jacob 5/12 M TN

1870 US Federal Census, Gainesboro, District No. 10, Jackson County, Tennessee, p. 2, August 1870

Line 1 7 7

Smith, Littleton 53 M W Farmer $100 $300 TN Cannot read or write
Mariah 37 F W Keeping house TN Cannot write
Jack 12 M W TN Cannot read or write
John 7 M W TN Cannot read or write
Elizabeth 1 F W TN Cannot read or write

1880 US Federal Census, Tenth Civil District, Jackson County, Tennessee, ED 56, p. 13, 8 June 1880

Line 16 3 3

Smith, Littleton W M 65 Married Farmer Cannot read or write TN TN TN
Mariah W F 55 Wife Married Keeping house Cannot write NC NC NC
Jack W M 20 Son Single Farming TN TN NC
John W M 18 Son Single Farming TN TN NC
Elisabeth W F 10 Daughter Single TN TN NC

Back in the Saddle Again – SNGF and Smith Family Sunday: Brickwalls and Maps and Worksheets, Oh My!

Okay, on top of mentioning Randy Seaver’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun and some sort of new-fangled day-of-the-week-related theme, I’ve combined a C&W song with a takeoff on a line from the Wizard of Oz – so sue me.

The thing its, having finally started to recover from summer-heat-induced doldrums in my research, I have been taking care of some of the items on my Brick wall To-Do List. And Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings has challenged us in his latest SGNF to write about our brick walls. Well, I could have written about someone other than my “biggie” – Susan Elizabeth Smith Bonner Brinlee – so that I wouldn’t bore people with the same old information I have been posting, because I DO have plenty of other brick walls (aren’t all the end-of-lines-as-far-as-we-know-them brick walls?), but it would distract me from my main task right now. Instead of repeating this information, I’ll just link to all the related articles below.

- My Brick Wall: Susan Elizabeth Smith Bonner Brinlee
- Tearing My Hair Out Tuesday: More Information on my Brick Wall
- Family Newsletter Friday: Brick Wall Week!
- Featured Family Thursday: Hiram Brinlee and Susan Elizabeth Smith
- Smithquest
- Lizzie Smith Timeline
- Timeline Portrait of Lizzie Smith: Stitching the Gaps Together

And then I’ll tell you what I’m doing about this doozy-of-a-brick-wall.

My approach to the solution of Lizzie Smith has three main avenues:

1. Finding out everything I can about her during the “known” part of her life (= life with Hiram Brinlee, her second husband), to include trying to find newspaper items that might mention visits by relatives from Tennessee.

2. Investigating Bonner families in Tennessee to find candidates for Lizzie’s first husband. I actually already have a family in mind, based on a marriage certificate I found on Ancestry for a W.T. Banner (I believe it is W. T. Bonner) to a Lizzie Smith at the right time for Lizzie to have been 17 (the age she listed for her first marriage on the census). The marriage took place in McMinn County, Tennessee.

3. Preparing, categorizing, and researching candidate Smith families connected to Tennessee. These candidates were identified by a process of examining Smith families on the 1870 and 1880 censuses who had a daughter with the right name (Susan, Elizabeth, Lizzie, or even initials), born ca 1866-1870, correlating them between censuses (some could be matched, others could not), and sorting them into categories from 1 to 4 based on closeness of fit.

For #3, and keeping the location of McMinn County in #2 and Lizzie’s reported birth in Knoxville in mind, I am subjecting these Smith families to a two-pronged map attack:

1. Paper map (mediocre picture below). This is a 18” by 24” historic map reprint of A.J. Johnson’s 1865 map of Kentucky and Tennessee. For category 1 and 2 families (closest fits), I am using little red tags with the number assigned to the family to show their location on the 1870 census (or 1880 census if that is the only information I have on the family).



2. “My Maps” on Google Maps to show the location of each of the above families on both the 1870 and 1880 censuses (size can be increased by clicking on it).



I like the paper map because it gives me the best overview and the Google map because I can put the most detail on it. While I don’t know that Lizzie was actually born in Knox County or that she married a Bonner in McMinn County, locations near those counties are like “plus points” in my system of calculation.

Then I made two worksheets – one for category #1 families and one for category #2 – in table form to sum up what I knew about each family: number assigned family, parents, location in 1870, location in 1880, siblings, and other information. Below is the table for Category 1 (size can be increased by clicking on it).



Right now there are eight families in Category 1 and ten in category 2. Originally there were more, but a little bit of checking of some databases and online family trees eliminated several families when I learned that the Elizabeth/Susan/Lizzie Smith in question had: died young, never married, married someone not named Bonner or Brinlee. I would like to reduce the numbers even more. Inspired by the success I have had in getting other researchers to contact me on the families that I post for Surname Saturday, I am going to be posting these Smith families on Sundays in the hope that someone familiar with a particular family will contact me with information that will either rule out that family or will perhaps make it an more likely prospect. The first Smith Family Sunday has already been posted (see preceding post).

This may seem like a lot of trouble, but I think finding Lizzie Smith’s family is worth it. And it’s like chicken soup: it may not help, but it couldn’t hurt.

(Pinky, are you pondering what I’m pondering? - I think so, Brain, but don’t you think it’s significant that Genealogy, Geek, and Greta all start with “G”?)

Smith Family Sunday: S. P. and Elizabeth Smith of Union, Jefferson, and Knox Counties, Tennessee

This is a new series of posts for Greta's Genealogy Bog: Smith Family Sunday. I am posting information on candidate Smith families that I believe are among the most likely to be the family of my great-grandmother Susan Elizabeth Smith (Bonner) (Brinlee). If you are researching this family and found this blog through a search, please contact me - I would like to know more about this family and whether or not it is actually the family of my great-grandmother. Even if all you know are a few details, they might help. 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).

1860 US Federal Census, Maynardville, District No. 1, Union County, Tennessee, p. 12, 5 June 1860

Line 34 91 90
S. P. Smith 26 M Day laborer $700 $200 TN
Elizabeth 24 F TN
William C. 5 M TN
James S. 3 M TN
Stephen P. 1 M TN
Nathan Monroe 18 M Day laborer M
Sarah Horrall 21 F TN

1870 US Federal Census, Strawberry Plains, Civil District No. 6, Jefferson County, Tennessee, p. 18, 29 June 1870

Line 25 118 118

Smith Elizabeth 34 F W Keeps house TN Cannot write
William 14 M W Farm labor TN
James S. 12 M W Farm labor TN
Steven P. 10 M W Farm labor TN
Cordelia 8 F W GA
John 5 M W GA
Elizabeth 3 F W GA

1880 US Federal Census, Third Civil District, Knox County, Tennessee, ED No. 151, p. 10, 7 June 1880

Line 8 77 77

Smith, Elizabeth W F 45 Widow Widowed Keeping house TN TN TN
William C. W M 23 Son Single Farmer TN TN TN
Pate W M 18 Son Single TN TN TN
Cordelia W F 17 Daughter Single TN TN TN
John A. W M 14 Son Single TN TN TN
Lizzie W F 12 Daughter Single TN TN TN
Robinson C. W M 7 Son Single TN TN TN

1900 US Federal Census, Second Federal District, Knox County, Tennessee, EB 70, p. 4B, 4 June 1900

Line 74 77 81
Frost, W. C. Head W M Nov 1857 42 M 7 TN TN TN House carpenter 4 Yes Yes Yes
R H
Cordelia Wife W F Nov 1863 36 M 7 3 2 GA TN TN Yes Yes Yes
Katie Dau W F Sept. 1895 4 S GA TN TN
Richard Son W M Oct 1898 1 S TN TN TN
Smith, Elizabeth M-in-law W F Mar 1833 66 Wd 48 7 6 TN TN VA Yes Yes Yes

Based on the fact that Steven and Pate appear to be the same son, I believe that S. P. Smith's name may have been Steven/Stephen Pate or Steven Payton.

I like this family for several reasons. For one thing, these Smiths were not well off, especially after Elizabeth was widowed (? - not clear in the 1870 census). For another, there is a daughter named Cordelia, and Lizzie named her only daughter Cordelia. And for a third, the family lived in the Knox County area from around the time of Lizzie's birth (though they might have been in Georgia for a short time, as indicated by the states of birth on the census).

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.

Family and Friends Newsletter Friday 26 March 2010

Tomorrow I’m going to the Fairfax Genealogical Society’s Spring Conference! Hope to report on it tomorrow night.

Research

Norman

Pretty much covered in “The Mushroom Factor.” I have found more sources this week and there is still a lot to do!

Smith

Although I’m going to stick with Norman research for another week or two, I have resolved to get as much Lizzie Smith research into shape as I can before the FGS Conference in Knoxville in August and I’m planning to do a Google Maps project to show the locations of the top Smith family candidates.

Who Do You Think You Are

My husband and younger daughter have been watching this show with me. This is the week my husband really, really got into it (getting out the books and checking out the units that Matthew Broderick’s ancestors served in). I knew the military aspect, especially the Civil War part, would get him hooked. He’s still telling me what further battles the 20th Connecticut fought in after Matthew Broderick’s great-great grandfather died.

Other TV of Possible Interest to Geneaholics

A new program that may be of interest to people who love History Detectives, Hoarders, and Antique Road Show: American Pickers. I caught the tail end of this show when my husband and daughter were watching it. Guys go around and buy “junk” at garage and barn sales, trying to get “deals” on items that are actually worth a lot of money. Occasionally they get the bad end of the deal.

Bad News for Maine and Massachusetts Researchers

At Upfront with NGS – Maine Bill May Close Vital Records and Mass. Records Closed to 1841?

Blog

In a fit of Texas and Aggie nostalgia inspired by Caroline Pointer’s post “Wordless Wednesday: Not Really Wordless” at Family Stories, I’ve added an “Aggie Joke of the Week” to the blog. I really miss those jokes.

Forgot to include an article in today’s Follow Friday:

Amy at We Tree in “I Once Was Lost But Now Am Found” relates the happy ending to her search for the “missing” graves of her great-great grandparents.

Timeline Portrait of Lizzie Smith: Stitching the Gaps Together

Lizzie with husband Hiram Brinlee, Jr. and sons Odell and Austin ca 1918 (courtesy of Edna S.)

Up until the time when Lizzie Smith Bonner married my great-grandfather Hiram Carroll Brinlee, Jr., every single bit of information about her – every single date – is a guess and an estimate.

It starts with her birth. If you go to the entry for her tombstone at Findagrave, you will see that the date given in the transcription section is April 4, 1860, whereas if you look at her tombstone, the year of her birth is given as 1856.

I don’t believe either one. The first date comes from her obituary and the second may have appeared in a family Bible. The age given on her marriage license and the age indicated on the earliest census on which I have been able to find her (1910) contradict these dates and indicate something closer to 1868 or 1869; the 1920 census age is consistent with this. And the birth of her youngest child Cecil Odell in 1908 makes those early dates a real stretch.

Lizzie’s age starts creeping up on her Application for a Confederate Widow’s Pension and continues through the 1930 census to her death in 1958. The Findagrave entry gives Knoxville as the place of Lizzie’s birth; I would love for that information to be accurate, so that I would at least have a starting point for my research, but I don’t know whether or not I can trust that piece of data, either.

As indicated by the note shown below, Lizzie was probably not trying to inflate her age for the pension application but had genuinely forgotten how old she was:


“leonard tex sep 10th, 1929
dear sir i will wright to yu in regard to my pension i have lost my corect age i am some where in 60 i am not 75 if you can help me any way i shure wood be glad i have no help a tall.
yore friend
susan E. Brinlee”

This uncertainty and confusion continues throughout her early life. You can see how often I have mulled this information over and run through the various permutations in two of my previous articles on Susan Elizabeth Smith “Lizzie” Bonner Brinlee: Lizzie Smith Timeline, which I will reproduce below for reference in this article, and Brickwall Workshops by the Fairfax Genealogical Society, which was a reproduction of the write-up I submitted to the brickwall workshop panel.

Based on a total of 24 Smith-tagged articles, you would think that I have covered Lizzie thoroughly enough; time to drop it for a while! But I will never feel I have done enough and I cannot drop it.

There are several bits of information about Lizzie that help keep this obsession alive. One is the date of her death: July 29, 1958. I was a little girl then. She was still alive when I was born – the only one of my great-grandparents who was – and yet she is the only brickwall great-grandparent.

The second piece of information that haunts me is this item, hidden among some online genealogies as a Post-It note submitted by a second cousin based on information she had heard from her grandmother (Cecil Odell Brinlee’s wife): Lizzie “was from Tennessee and had lived with a family that had taken her in to help work, where she washed dishes by standing on a bucket. Therefore, she had to have been fairly young.” This reveals an additional mystery for Lizzie: Why was she working out as a young child? Was she an orphan or a child of a very poor family?

The third item is merely a family rumor – that Lizzie was part Native American. It’s one item of family lore that I have always cherished and fervently hoped was true. But the genealogical myth-buster in me triumphed and after checking out the Dawes and Guion Miller Rolls with no success, I abandoned that avenue of research. However, at the Brick Wall Workshop sponsored by the Fairfax Genealogical Society that I attended, the first response I got was: What is she doing in Indian Territory in 1891? And especially with a name like Smith? Check those Rolls! So even though I had no success in finding her the first time around, there is a legitimate reason to suspect some Native American connection.

The timeline work for Lizzie has been particularly useful in following a possible lead on her first marriage (“to a Mr. Bonner” according to family researchers, probably based on her name as “Mrs. S. L. Bonner” on the marriage license with Hiram Brinlee). If she was born in 1868-69 and married at age 17 as indicated by the 1930 census, this would give a year of 1885-86 for her first marriage, and there is an 1886 Tennessee marriage record for a Lizzie Smith and a W. T. Banner (I have found no Banner families but did find Bonner families at the location given).

Some time between those years and Lizzie’s marriage to Hiram Brinlee, Mr. Bonner died. And Lizzie ended up in Indian Territory. Were the Bonners Sooners, or did her presence have something to do with Lizzie’s (possible) Native American background?

Between the first “known” date on the timeline, the date of Lizzie’s marriage to Hiram Brinlee, and her death in 1958, all the information falls into three categories: the births of her children, census information, and information provided on her pension application.

And between the birth of daughter Cordelia in 1895 and the birth of son Austin in 1904, there is a gaping hole right where the 1900 census should be. Oh, I have located where the family was, then – Britton Township in Oklahoma Territory – because Hiram, son Louis from his first marriage, and a hired hand are shown living there. But I can’t find Lizzie and the children anywhere else and I suspect they were actually living there, too. So my best hope for nice, juicy information on Lizzie’s month and year of birth is dashed. And one of the most tantalizing things is that, according to the 1910 census, Lizzie had had a total of seven children, of whom only four were living in 1910. Might one or two of those children have been alive in 1900 and have appeared on this census?

The gap in the early years, when Lizzie probably spent time working for another family, and the gap during which she probably gave birth to the children who died, haunt me the most. Why did her maiden name have to be Smith? Why didn’t she appear on the 1900 census? Why couldn’t someone have asked her more questions about her past when she was still alive? I am still trying to stitch those gaps together.


Lizzie with sons Odell, Austin, and Lawrence, sometime in the 1930s? (Courtesy of George B.)

Timeline

4 April 1868: Birth of Susan Elizabeth “Lizzie” Smith in Tennessee (state from US Federal Censuses 1910, 1920, 1930 and Susan E. Brinlee’s Widow’s Application for Confederate Pension, day and month by hearsay from family Bible, now believed to have been burned, and year based on age reported on marriage license of H. C. Brinlee and Mrs. S. L. Bonner).

1885/1886: According to the 1930 census, Lizzie first married at the age of 17; I would guess this happened in Tennessee. [According to Tennessee marriage records, a W. T. Banner married a Lizzie Smith in October 1886 in McMinn County, Tennessee.]

3 December 1891: Lizzie marries Hiram Carroll Brinlee, Jr., in White Bead Hill, Chickasaw Nation, Oklahoma.

29 January 1893: Son Lawrence Carroll Brinlee born in String Town, Atoka, Oklahoma (Paul’s Valley is given as his place of birth on his WWI Draft Registration Card).

8 June 1895: Daughter Cordelia Lee “Cordie” Brinlee born in Oklahoma.

25 June 1900: Hiram appears on the 1900 US Federal Census for Britton Township, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma Territory; Lizzie and the children may be living with him.

1902: The year Hiram and Lizzie may have moved from Oklahoma to Texas, as reported by Lizzie on her Confederate Widow’s Pension Application.

6 April 1904: Son Austin Franklin Brinlee born in Farmersville, Collin County, Texas.

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

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

22 August 1913: Hiram Brinlee files Confederate Soldier’s Application for a Pension in Grayson 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.

9 April 1953: Lizzie’s son Lawrence Brinlee dies.

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.”

Sources

- Marriage License of H. C. Brinlee and Mrs. S. L. Bonner, Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory, 1 December 1891. Photocopy.

- Certificate of Marriage of H. C. Brinlee and Mrs. S. L. Bonner, Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory, 3 December 1891. Photocopy.

- Widow’s Application for a Confederate Pension No. 41103 for Susan Elizabeth Brinlee, Collin County, State of Texas, 27 July 1925.

- World War I Draft Registration Card of Lawrence Carroll Brinlee. Registration Location: Fannin County, Texas. Roll 1953353. Accessed via Ancestry.com.

- Certificate of Death of Lawrence Carroll Brinlee, 11 April 1953, State of Texas, State File No. 24235. Digital image accessed via Family Search Record Search.

- Certificate of Death of Cordie Lee Clinton, 25 May 1961, State of Texas, State File No. 26177. Digital image accessed via Family Search Record Search.

- Certificate of Death of Austin Franklin Brinlee, 17 November 1976, State of Texas, State File No. 82039. Digital imaged accessed via Family Search Record Search.

- Application for Social Security Account Number of Cecil Odell Brinlee, 454-26-3341, 6 January 1940. Photocopy.

- Hiram C. Brinlee household, 1900 US Federal Census, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma Territory, population schedule, Britton Township, dwelling 191, family 191, Roll T623_1340, Page 10B, Enumeration District 158. Accessed via Ancestry.com.

- Harm [Hiram] C. Brinlee household, 1910 US Federal Census, Hunt County, Texas, population schedule, Justice Precinct Two, dwelling 283, family 288, Roll T624-1566, Page 19B, Enumeration District 119. Accessed via Ancestry.com.

- Hiram C. Brinlee household, 1920 US Federal Census, Atoka County, Oklahoma, population schedule, Farris Township, dwelling 295, family 297, Roll T625-1452, Page 15B, Enumeration District 7. Accessed via Ancestry.com.

- Austin F. Brinlee household, 1930 US Federal Census, Fannin County, Texas, population schedule, Precinct 3, dwelling 295, family 302, Roll 2331, Page 14B, Enumeration District 18. Accessed via Ancestry.com.



The above is submitted for the 91st Carnival of Genealogy, “A Tribute to Women!” March is women's history month and a great time to honor the women on our family trees. This is will be the 4th annual edition on this topic so we're going to change it up just a bit to keep it fresh... Write a biography about a woman on your family tree starting with a timeline of their life. Thank you to Jasia at Creative Gene for hosting and to footnoteMaven for the beautiful poster.

Family and Friends Newsletter Friday 5 March 2010

Research

Gradually getting back into my research routine after Olympics, GeneaBloggers games, and being away for a few days.

Smith

Had a “duh!” moment during the GeneaBloggers Games. I have been wanting to make a “pushpin map” of Tennessee for my Lizzie Smith project. The map would show the county lines and the pushpins would represent known 1870 residences of the families that are viable candidates to be Lizzie’s family. Since Knox and McMinn counties are of particular interest, I wanted to get an idea of which families are closest to those areas. My original idea was to create or locate a good paper map and use real pushpins. But during the GeneaBloggers Games it occurred to me – duh! – why not use the My Maps feature on Google Maps?

Blogs

Added 6 March: Ack! I see that I left out a post that I definitely intended to highlight: "The Walk Home" at Donna Pointkowski's What's Past Is Prologue. Donna illustrates an important part of capturing memories: it is not just individual events, but also rituals and routines that are important. And her description of the sights, sounds, and smells of that walk is very evocative. I'll have to use that prompt!

Bart at Stardust ‘n’ Roots has a great idea about where to display awards (in his case, he put his GeneaBloggers Games medals there): a virtual Fireplace Mantle, aka a separate page on his blog. Think I’ll steal the idea.

Kathleen Brandt at a3Genealogy talks about citation generators in “Evidence Explained Missing.” Gotta get me one of those.

Jasia at Creative Gene has a fascinating (and oh-so-true) article on genealogy as therapy.

And finally, why am I getting the feed from some blog to do with Audi? It appears to have hijacked the defunct (I think) Graveyard Rabbit of Covered Bridges blog. Sploggers, blog hijacking (there is even a blog devoted to busting those guys that I discovered when I was trying to find out why my Comment Button didn’t work), spam comments – just sick of them all!

Family Newsletter Friday 1 Jan 2010

I love that my first Family Newsletter Friday post for the New Year is on January 1st!

Norman

Almost all my genealogy activity (and there has been some!) over the past couple of weeks has been devoted to inputting information on the Norman family. I am still working on the children of Joseph Madison Carroll Norman and Rebecca Monk, specifically J. J. Norman. Not exactly sure what “J. J.” stands for, as I have found varying expansions. Inez Cline has James J. “Jobe” Norman. I have seen “Josephus,” “Jode,” and “Joe” as well. He and Martha King had a large family (12 children, I think), so this will take a while. Right now I’m working on his son Joel T. Norman’s family, also a large family. Joel T. Norman would have been my Grandma Sallie Frances Norman Brinlee’s first cousin.

Smith

When I’m in the family room, I work on my laptop, which does not have my Reunion genealogy program loaded on it, so I tended to do all my Lizzie Smith brick wall research there. I have started a Bonner candidate database based on the 1870 and 1880 censuses (Lizzie Smith’s first husband was reputed to be a Bonner).

Blogs

If you have not already, you absolutely must visit Carol at Reflections from the Fence and see the picture story of a fantastic gift given by her.

Between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve I took a break from the somewhat intensive posting of December and went “visiting” to various blogs to have more leisure in reading them and commenting on them. While I want to keep up a good blog writing pace this year, it’s quite nice just to be able to read blogs and exchange comments with fellow bloggers for a while. Perhaps around mid-year I’ll try a break like this again.

Follow Friday

Look for a post updating the list of Texas-linked bloggers on the "Texas Team"; there are several new and newly discovered blogs. I hope to resume Follow Friday next Friday, but for this Friday I would like to mention some blogs that I have greatly enjoyed reading but have not had new posts for a while. Since I am well aware that there are many family and work circumstances that can sideline blogging, this is not a whine (I hope) but just a tribute and expression of appreciation:

They That Go Down to the Sea [This just just in: She's baaack! Someone must be listening up there.... But wait a minute. I realized that TTGDTTS was back because it was in my Blogger reader, which uses the follower function... but TTGDTTS is in Wordpress. Well, my daughters and I have been watching Twilight Zone all day. Now I'm in it.]

The Desktop Genealogist Unplugged

Wibbling Jo’s Genealogy Blog

We have also had fellow GeneaBloggers who have lost dear ones this year and have gone through other trials and challenges. To them I offer my prayers, hopes, and best wishes for a New Year full of good health, encouragement, inspiration, and beauty.

Below are some pictures of my cats taken during the holidays. No connection to anything here; I posted them "just because."

Lizzie Smith Timeline

The following is the timeline I will be using to find local resources (newspapers, court records, etc.) for researching my #1 brick wall, Susan Elizabeth "Lizzie" Smith Bonner Brinlee. I hope to obtain additional information so that I can "tweak" it a bit, but these are the basic outlines:

4 April 1868: Birth of Susan Elizabeth “Lizzie” Smith in Tennessee (state from US Federal Censuses 1910, 1920, 1930 and Susan E. Brinlee’s Widow’s Application for Confederate Pension, day and month by hearsay from family Bible, now believed to have been burned, and year based on age reported on marriage license of H. C. Brinlee and Mrs. S. L. Bonner).

1885/1886: According to the 1930 census, Lizzie first married at the age of 17; I would guess this happened in Tennessee. [According to Tennessee marriage records, a W. T. Banner married a Lizzie Smith in October 1886 in McMinn County, Tennessee.]

3 December 1891: Lizzie marries Hiram Carroll Brinlee, Jr., in White Bead Hill, Chickasaw Nation, Oklahoma.

29 January 1893: Son Lawrence Carroll Brinlee born in String Town, Atoka, Oklahoma (Paul’s Valley is given as his place of birth on his WWI Draft Registration Card).

8 June 1895: Daughter Cordelia Lee “Cordie” Brinlee born in Oklahoma.

25 June 1900: Hiram appears on the 1900 US Federal Census for Britton Township, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma Territory; Lizzie and the children may be living with him.

1902: The year Hiram and Lizzie may have moved from Oklahoma to Texas, as reported by Lizzie on her Confederate Widow’s Pension Application.

6 April 1904: Son Austin Franklin Brinlee born in Farmersville, Collin County, Texas.

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

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

22 August 1913: Hiram Brinlee files Confederate Soldier’s Application for a Pension in Grayson 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.”

Family Newsletter Friday: 23 October 2009

Smith

As I wrote yesterday, first part of SmithQuest is winding down, but I plan to complete the timeline and post some inquiries this weekend.

Moore

I have transcribed a few more obituaries from the last set.

Blog Highlights

Congratulations and kudos to Linda Hughes Hiser over at Flipside for getting her Linda Hughes Hiser Family Genealogy Page moved to its new spot at Yahoo. Sounds like this was an enormous and terribly difficult undertaking. It’s one thing to put our reams of information together once for something like this, but to have to redo it takes real dedication.

In a post entitled “He Had Me at ‘Detective’” over at Family Stories, Caroline Pointer writes about the unsolved mystery of the murder of her great-uncle Roscoe Benton Martin and his four children, a mystery which she intends to “own” and will be researching and writing about on her blog; she also solicits any suggestions readers may wish to offer. This sounds fascinating and I wish her success in her investigation!

SmithQuest

I decided to give my brick wall (Lizzie Smith) search a glam new name, so SmithQuest it is.

For a while I’ll be giving SmithQuest a rest, since trying to ferret out information on Smiths in Tennessee has become a little bit wearisome, even though I’ve made some progress on this front.

However, before I take a break to work on other families, there are some things I need to do to get set up for more searching in the future:

1. Get in touch with the people who have Ancestry trees on the Smith families that I have identified as good candidates or who have posted on these families in various message boards.

2. Put inquiries in the Smith, Bonner, and relevant geographic location message boards on these families. This may take a while to produce results, but hey, I’ve got time.

3. Compile as complete a timeline as possible for Lizzie’s whereabouts, starting with her marriage to Hiram in December 1891 (her first documented location with a specific date).

4. Survey all the online newspaper archives I can find to see if there are any that cover any of the places where Lizzie Smith lived and subscribe to any that cover the relevant areas (this is where the timeline comes in handy).

Hoping to get a good block of time to work on these items this weekend.

Using Ancestry Family Trees in Research

It is commonly accepted that while online genealogies may provide helpful hints, as a whole they tend to be unreliable or at least poorly sourced. I often use WorldConnect to find “leads” on families and also as an avenue to get in touch with other researchers. However, up until recently I had made only limited use of Ancestry’s Public Member Trees as a separate search function. They didn’t seem to provide any more information than any other online genealogies and often even less in the way of sources. The best contacts I made through Ancestry searches were with researchers who had made corrections to census transcriptions or other database entries or who contacted me through my corrections.

However, the tie-in to Ancestry trees that now appears on the image page as a function of the search parameters used has turned out to be far more helpful than I expected. This has been especially convincingly demonstrated by my most recent project, the compilation of a database of candidate families from Tennessee for my brick wall, Susan Elizabeth Smith. This is a fairly sizeable set of families selected based on the following criteria: last name Smith, a daughter named Elizabeth/Elisabeth, Lizzie, or Susan (or appropriate initials) born between 1866 and 1870, plus the family should be residing in Tennessee or at least Lizzie should have been born there. Right now there are 60+ families in the database, although a number of them have been relegated to the bottom (= least likely) categories based on the poor fit of certain data to the established profile.

And this is where the family trees come in useful – they often contain the additional information that reveals a poor fit; in other words, the “negative evidence” that I am looking for in order to narrow down the group of likely families: the daughter of interest may have died young, never have married, or married a different person. In deciding to whether or not to accept the information as provided I go by how complete and carefully presented the information on the family is: if the researcher has provided complete names (not just the names that appear on the census) and dates, has provided sources within Ancestry constraints, etc. And the sources listed add another benefit: they provide links to the databases – usually a census page – used as the source, so this is often an even easier way than doing a regular search for finding more information on the family. It has helped me confirm my “paired” families (families found on both 1870 and 1880 censuses and identifiable as the same families) and in one case revealed a mistake I had made in connecting an 1880 family to what I thought was the same family in 1870. This information has also helped me with a couple of families that I refer to as “Initial Families” – families with only initials and a last name. In only a couple of cases have I found what I believe are dubious connections.

I would sum up the advantages of the Public Member Tree tie-ins as follows:

1. Potentially useful researcher contacts
2. Finding family members in other censuses
3. “Negative” or supporting evidence for the identity of the family

So, while I will continue to approach online genealogies with caution, I have come to appreciate the usefulness of Ancestry Public Member Trees as an integrated research tool.

Family Newsletter Friday: 16 October 2009

Very little to report this week – over the long weekend we visited our older daughter in Philadelphia, and it took a lot of time to catch up on e-mail and so forth when we got back.

Smith (Brinlee)

I finally got back to working on the Smith candidate families yesterday. For now I’m done with #1 families (just doing some basic research on each family for now) and it’s on to Group 2 families. However, before starting on them, I spent a little time researching a Bonner family that might be the family of a mysterious W. T. Bonner who married a Lizzie Smith in McMinn Co., Tennessee in 1886.

Today the Social Security application of my great-uncle Cecil Odell Brinlee came in the mail. It is dated January 6, 1940 and lists his mother’s maiden name as “Susan Elizabeth Smith.” This is pretty decent evidence that this was her actual name, since she was probably living with Odell and his family at this time.

No reply, yet, from the person who set up the memorial to Lizzie on Findagrave; I’ll have to try contacting the person who maintains the site.

Lewis (Moore)

Chalk one up for GenealogyWise – I heard from a cousin who is descended from John Sloan Lewis on my page there. This is the first Lewis cousin in the Elisha Berry Lewis-Martha Poole line I have heard from, so I am pretty excited. However, I have not yet had a reply to my reply and am dying to hear more about the Dallas Lewises!

Family Newsletter Thursday: 8 October 2009

Smith (Brinlee)

Another all-Smith week, but this was not boring work! The method of finding a family by looking at all “eligible” families with that surname over a large area (in this case, Tennessee) may sound tedious, but it’s actually fun.

Last night my husband and I were sitting in the family room, each with our laptop, when I suddenly yelled out, “Another family knocked off!” My husband stared at me in surprise. “I thought genealogy was a gentle pursuit?” “No one killed them,” I replied. “They’re not even out of my database, but they just went from Category 1 (good fit) to Category 4 (very unlikely).” A Google search for “John Morgan Smith” + Fritz (one of John’s sons) pulled up a Rootsweb message board post by a grandson of Fritz, who wrote that his “great-aunt Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Smith never married,” but had spent her life taking care of another family member. So she’s out. The fewer candidate families are left, the closer I feel I’m getting to finding “my” Lizzie Smith’s family.

I also sent out an inquiry to the person who set up the memorial to Lizzie on Findagrave to see if she could provide me with the source for the information that Lizzie was “born in Knoxville.”

Moore

(Forgot to mention this last week.) I started on the last batch of Moore obituaries. These were getting pretty far down in the weeds. This doesn’t exactly wrap up this project, but will definitely complete the first stage. I’m thinking that next I’ll start over with Samuel Moore (d. 1828, Greenville) and go down the lines again, noting and trying to fill in gaps, put inquiries out on the message boards, and check Ancestry, Family Search Record Search, etc., to see if new information pops up, and from there -- ? I’m not really sure what to do with it next. What form should I put this information in and what should be done with it?



Blog

To the person or persons who nominated me as one of the Family Tree Magazine's 40 Best Genealogy Blogs – thank you so much! I am honored by the nomination and by the company that the nomination puts me among.

Featured Family Thursday: Hiram Brinlee and Susan Elizabeth Smith

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, Plano, Collin Co., Texas
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

This is the family of my great-grandfather Hiram Carroll Brinlee, Jr., and his second wife, my great-grandmother (and great brick wall) Susan Elizabeth “Lizzie” Smith. Lizzie was also married previously, apparently to a man named Bonner. It is said that Lizzie and Mr. Bonner did not have any children, but Lizzie apparently had given birth to 7 children as of the 1910 census, of whom 4 were living. There is a space of 9 years between the births of Cordelia and Austin Brinlee, which would leave room for the three children who died, but it would also have been possible for Lizzie and Mr. Bonner to have had a child or two before he died.

Austin Franklin Brinlee’s wife Mary Catherine Clinton was the niece of Cordelia Brinlee’s husband, Kingsley Levington Clinton.

Here is the obituary of Lizzie Smith Brinlee, taken from the Plano Star Courier, July 31, 1958:

“Mrs. H. C. Brinlee Dies at Plano Home Tuesday

Mrs. Susan E. Brinlee, aged 98, died at the family home in Plano Tuesday afternoon after a month’s illness.

One of Plano’s esteemed pioneer citizens, she was born April 4, 1860, in Tennessee, but had spent most of her life in Collin Co. She was a member of the Methodist Church.

Prior to her death, there were five generations of her family living. Her husband, H.C. Brinlee, and one son preceded her in passing.

Surviving her is a daughter, Mrs. K. L. Clinton of Anna; two sons, C.O. Brinlee of Plano and A.F. Brinlee, Lubbock; 26 grandchildren and several great grandchildren.

Funeral services were to be held at 2 p.m. Thursday at the First Baptist Church in Plano, conducted by the pastor, Rev. A.J. Fineout, burial following in Restland with the Turrentine-Jackson Funeral Home of McKinney in charge of arrangements.

To all those upon bereavement has fallen we extend our heartfelt sympathy in their great loss.”

I believe the year of birth given here is about eight years early.

I would love to share information with anyone related to/researching this family; you can use the “Contact” button on the left side of this blog to get in touch with me.

Family Newsletter Friday: Brick Wall Week!

This has been a TBWW – that’s Totally Brick Wall Week – for me. The Fairfax Genealogical Society held a Brick Wall Workshop last Saturday morning, and my great-grandmother Susan Elizabeth Smith Bonner Brinlee was one of the cases considered by the panel of four experienced genealogists. Then on Thursday the bimonthly meeting of the New England Genealogy Special Interest Group of the Fairfax Genealogical Society was also devoted to brick walls.

Smith

The first piece of advice on finding Lizzie Smith came as a real surprise to me. The panel asked: What is she doing in Indian Territory in 1891? And especially with a name like Smith? > Check the Dawes and Guion Miller rolls. As it happens, that was one of the first places I checked when I started trying to find information on the Brinlees and learned about Lizzie Smith. I did not find anything at that time and concluded that the family story that she was part Native American might be a myth or a misunderstanding. The fact that it was the first thing that occurred to the panel (even though the Native American connection was not mentioned in my brick wall form) led me to believe that perhaps I had been hasty. In my original search I did not really do a thorough search or try to find out exactly how these rolls were compiled and what other information might be associated with them, so I should go back and check again.

The second suggestion was to do something that I have actually already started and have described here (but I hadn’t done it at the time I submitted the brick wall form): start checking out Smith families in Tennessee that might be Lizzie’s family and gradually narrow down the field of candidates.

These and other pieces of advice were not the only benefits of the workshop, however. Listening to the advice given on the other submissions was very instructive, and I took tons of notes. The regular programming offered by the Society is very educational, but these workshops are even more intense and specific.

Floyd

I did not submit my New England brick wall, George Floyd, since I cannot say that I have done enough research on him to declare him a brick wall, yet, but since I know so little about New England research I decided to attend this session of the New England Special Interest Group (SIG). The leader of the Special Interest Group knows tons about this subject and was able to suggest all sorts of places to look on the cases that were presented for consideration. Again, I took a lot of notes that I can use as I try to push the Floyds another generation back. SIG members presented their own brick walls, and some of the stories were quite intriguing. There was a lot of speculation in particular about a young woman of 28 who married a 65-year-old man who had abandoned a previous family.

Family Newsletter Friday: 25 September 2009

Smith

This has been a really “Smith” week. I have continued to prepare for the brick wall workshop tomorrow (wish me luck!). The presentation delivered at last night’s meeting of the Fairfax Genealogical Society by Sandra MacLean Clunies, CG, “Where is Great-Grandma Hiding? Finding Forgotten Females,” was a good preparation for the workshop. It more or less sounds as though I’ll have to dig up every document on all the children and every other known relative of my brick wall, Susan Elizabeth Smith (Bonner Brinlee).

This week I finished “matching” families in the 1870 and 1880 censuses and ended up with 45 families who appear on both censuses and 17 families who appear on only one census (although for three or four of these families I did find families who might be a match). Then I sorted them into categories based on how well they fit the profile information I have for Lizzie, coming up with 9 families in category 1 (“good fit”), 14 families in category 2 (“pretty good fit”), 19 families in category 3 (“not a very good fit”), and 20 families in category 4 (“poor fit”). Usually getting relegated to category 3 or 4 was due to information that showed up in the second census indicating something like Elizabeth Smith was the same as Matilda E. Smith or that an Elizabeth or Susan Smith from 1870 had probably died by 1880. Other “low category” information would be high property values (I don’t think Lizzie Smith came from well-off family), bad place of birth match (although not being born in Tennessee or not staying in Tennessee wouldn’t totally disqualify a candidate). Of course, the information in the censuses can be incorrect and/or I may have the wrong picture about some of Lizzie’s biographical data, so I don’t rule any families out. They remain in the database, but for now I probably won’t be doing as much to find out more about them as I will for families in category 1 or 2. This makes the task of finding more information on these families easier. I am hoping that I can narrow the 23 “good fit” families down as I find out more about them.

There are a couple of leads that look kind of promising. One is a family with a sister named Cordelia; Lizzie named her daughter Cordelia. This is also a family where the father died when the Lizzie in this family was young, so that could account for childhood poverty. The other lead is for a candidate for Lizzie’s first husband, whose last name may have been Bonner. I also sent off for a Social Security Application for one of Lizzie’s children that may provide reliable confirmation that her maiden name was Smith. (Two of her children's death certificates indicate that her maiden name was Smith.)