Nathaniel Holcomb's Wife, Hanah?

© Kathy Duncan, 2018

Last night I continued scrolling backward on LDS film # 008114991 on FamilySearch, which are the Court  Records, 1815-1819 for Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri. It turns out that there are records in that group that are dated previous to 1815. Just something to keep in mind as you browse through the records in FamilySearch's catalog.

I was on a mission to find more records about Nathaniel Holcomb or his heirs after having found the guardianship for four of Nathaniel's children (Isaac, Nathaniel, Phebe, and Hannah) that was granted to Titus Strickland on 10 October 1817. I thought that I might find other references to this record or that I might find the older children (Enoch, Esther, Azariah) requesting their own guardians. It is important to remember that I knew Titus Strickland was a guardian to Nathaniel Holcomb's heirs because of this newspaper notice, which appeared in the National Intelligencer in Washington DC on Saturday, 3 January 1818:

It is likely that Titus Strickland became the children's guardian for the sole purpose of representing their land claim. 

Going backward on LDS film # 008114991, image 440,  I first found a reference to three lawsuits, which are repeated in image 437.

Thomas Maddin brought these three lawsuits--two against Hanah Holcomb and one against Robert Jamison, which were filed in the Court of Common Pleas on 16 July 1814. Thomas Maddin was a surveyor and one of the wealthest men in Ste. Genevieve County. He frequently brought suits against those who could not afford to pay his surveyor fees. These lawsuits may be indicative of land that belonged to Nathaniel Holcomb's estate. Robert Jamison may have been married to Esther Holcomb by this time. The Hanah Holcomb in these suits is too old to be Nathaniel Holcomb's daughter Hannah, who would have only been a small child at this time. This Hanah Holcomb is probably Nathaniel Holcomb's widow. (Another Hannah!!) It may be that Nathaniel Holcomb had arranged to have his land surveyed, and then died before paying for it. That would mean that he was deceased by 1814.

The next record of interest that I found was for an Enoch Holcomb:

This suit filed by the United States against Enoch Holcomb in 1814 also involves Thomas Maddin. However, my best estimate is that Enoch Holcomb, born about 1799, would only have been 15 years old in 1814. Would a fifteen year old be sued in that time period? Or is this another Enoch Holcomb??

The last item that I found was apparently a summons for Enoch Holcomb to give evidence before the grand jury in 1813. I do not think there were any age limitations for testifying. There is no indication what this testimony was about.

The only conclusion I can come to at this point is that this Hanah Holcomb is likely the mother of  Phebe Holcomb, Hanah Holcomb, and James Brown. There is no way to know at this point if she is also the mother of the older Holcomb siblings.

Nathaniel Holcomb of Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri

© Kathy Duncan, 2018

At long last, I've found documentation that Nathaniel Holcomb was the father of the Holcomb siblings. Early research revealed that Titus Strickland was acting as the guardian of the heirs of Nathaniel Holcomb, but those heirs were not named in any of the records to which I had access.

This evening, I was exploring Ste. Genevieve County in the FamilySearch catalog. Specifically, I went into the Court Records for 1815 - 1819. I knew that Strickland was acting as the guardian of Nathaniel Holcomb's children by 1818, so I located the end of 1818 and started scrolling backwards. Since these records are not indexed, and I don't want to wait until they are indexed, there was no other option. I found the record in the October Term of 1817. Four of Nathaniel Holcomb's children were listed in the record: Isaac, Nathaniel, Phebe, Hannah. This is exactly what I needed--a configuration of some of the Holcomb sibling's names. All four of these names are a fit.

These four Holcomb children are Enoch Holcomb's siblings as are Azariah Holcomb and Esther Jamison. My conclusion is that all of these Holcomb siblings are the children of Nathaniel Holcomb.

Now I will have to start referring to them as Nathaniel Holcomb's children.

"On application the Court have and do hereby approved Titus Strickland Guardian for Isaac, Nathaniel, Phebe & Hannah Holcomb orphan children of Nathaniel Holcomb of the County of Ste Genevieve dec'd and the said children being under the age of fourteen years."

This record can be found in LDS film #008114991, image 543. I stopped at this image, and I am looking forward to finding what else might be on this film.

Heirs of John Kelly of Kershaw County, SC

© Kathy Duncan, 2018

I have made some progress in identifying the mystery individuals in Nancy (Owens) Kelly's 1860 bill to partition husband John Kelly's estate in Kershaw County, South Carolina. Those mystery people were Thomas Thomas Jr., John K. Thomas, William Thomas, Frances Booth, Nancy Redding, and Charlotte Staggs. You can read about the mystery heirs here.

My breakthrough came when I dug back into my files and double checked John Kelly's probate records. I was looking for each of the individuals named in the bill. None of them were mentioned in the estate settlement by name. However, I did find a reference to the heirs of Mrs. Thomas. That was important and disappointing all at once because there was no indication of her name or her husband's name or her relationship to John Kelly.

Then I readjusted my theory. What if these people were not the children of John Kelly, but the children of Mrs. Thomas, who was obviously deceased? She could be a daughter of John Kelly, and they could be his grandchildren.

With the new idea that these individuals were younger than I originally thought, I went to FamilySearch and searched through the trees. The flood gates opened when I entered the following fields--

First Name: Frances
Last Name: Thomas
Spouse last name: Booth
Father's last name: Thomas
Mother's last name: Kelly.

As a result, I found Frances Emaline Thomas, wife of John Thomas Booth, Jr, daughter of William B. Thomas and -----Kelly. Frances Thomas and John Thomas Booth had married in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama in 1858. In the online tree, she was the only child of William B. Thomas. However, when I went to William B. Booth and began looking for additional matches, I pulled up a William B. Booth of Pickens County, Alabama who in 1850 had children: Frances, Charlotte, Thomas, and William. There is also a Jane A. Thomas in the household but it is hard to say if she is a young second wife or a daughter. In the 1860 census I found a Charlotte Staggs in Pickens County. In 1880, I found a Nancy Redding, niece of William Thomas Jr. This younger Nancy Redding is evidently the daughter of the Nancy Redding I am looking for.

1850 Pickens County, Alabama Census

This is a very good fit for the mystery people I am seeking. I still have questions about Mrs. Thomas. Was she a daughter or sister to John Kelly? My best guess is that she was a daughter from a previous wife. Based on the probate settlement, she was probably the only "surviving" child from that marriage with children. What was her name? Where was she born? Who was her mother? Answers to all of these questions would shed more light on John Kelly.

Keywords: Nancy Missouri Owens Kelley; John Kelley

Sarah Owens, daughter of Richard Owens

© Kathy Duncan, 2018

Nineteenth century women frequently fall through the record cracks. Many of them simply cannot be found. Did they marry and move away? Die young? They are the biggest challenge in trying to do whole family research.

Sallie Owens was my great-great-great grandmother Nancy Missouri (Owens) Kelley's sister. They were both the daughters of Richard and Elizabeth Owens of Kershaw County, South Carolina. In 1850, Sallie was still living at home with her parents.

On 24 February 1859, Sarah Owens, daughter of Richard Owens married Daniel Coats. Since South Carolina did not maintain marriage records, we are lucky to have this information from the Charleston Mercury:

This obituary for Sarah (Owens) Coats appeared in the The Camden Weekly Journal just ten months later. The heart breaking entry indicated that Sallie died shortly after her newborn babe died. I have not been able to locate a tombstone for either one of them. Hickory Head Baptist Church is now known as the Bethany Baptist Church at Westville, where Nancy Missouri (Owens) Kelley is buried.

Browning Duncan's Family Tree

This is my great-great-great grandfather, Browning Duncan's family tree. I have not found any primary documentation to support that his grandmother Sarah Duncan, wife of Charles Duncan was a Browning.

Children of Browning Duncan:

Mary (Knox) Pettus and Daughter, Rebecah W. Duncan

© Kathy Duncan, 2018

It is always nice when a single document links two generations after the younger generation has married and relocated to another state. This deed of conveyance from Mary Pettus of York County, South Caroline to her daughter Rebecca aka Rebecah W. (Pettus) Duncan in Madison County, Kentucky does just that. Included in the deed was Rebecca's sister Maria aka Mariah (Pettus) Campbell, who was living in Lancaster District, South Carolina.

The deed was recorded 19 September 1827 in York County, South Carolina Deed Bk L, p. 103.

It is interesting to note that Mary Pettus signed with her mark. Things between Rebecah and her mother and sister seem to be lacking in tension at this point, except for the fact that the two sisters have to negotiate the deed from a considerable distance.

Dora Alice Duncan, Wife of John W Gray

© Kathy Duncan, 2018


Between census years, the family of Dora Alice (Duncan) Gray experienced tragedies that were recorded in local newspapers. Dora Alice Duncan was the daughter of Isaac and Susan (Reese) Duncan of Sebastian County, Arkansas and the wife of John W. Gray.

Early in the morning, on April 27, 1916, a chicken incubator in the basement of the house caught the house on fire. At that time, they were living near Little Rock, Arkansas. Dora was in the backyard while her daughter Bertha (Gray) Jung and her grandchildren, Vincent and Rose Mary Jung, were asleep in the house. They were only able to save the youngest grandchild, Rose Mary. Walter Vincent Jung, who was only three, died of his burns. Both Dora and her daughter Bertha received burns in the fire. Walter Vincent Jung was buried in Bayou Meto Cemetery in Pulaski County, Arkansas on the following day. The house was a total loss.

Records of house fires are important in doing in research because they may indicate when family documents and photographs were destroyed.

Dora (Duncan) Gray died nearly thirty years later at the home of her granddaughter Rose Mary (Gray) Cuttings.

In 1955, Walter Jung, Dora (Duncan) Gray's son-in-law, who was a railroader, found the body of  Theodore Hubert Morris, another railroader, along the Rock Island tracks in Little Rock.

Two years later in 1957, Walter and Bertha (Gray) Jung were scammed by phony tree trimmers.

Googling the Jung's address, 2901 State Street in Little Rock, Arkansas, turned up their house as it looks today. Some of these trees, no doubt, were there in 1957.

Then  Bertha (Gray) Jung died in 1965.

Finally, Walter Jung died in 1975.