Sunday, June 30, 2013

ESTHER (HOLCOMB) JAMISON

© Kathy Duncan, 2013

Very little is known about Esther (Holcomb) Jamison/Jameson, Azariah Holcomb's sister. The census tells that she was born in Tennessee about 1796. She died between the 1850 census and her brother Enoch's probate settlement in 1853.

Esther Jameson was the wife of Robert Jameson, who left a probate in Jasper County, Missouri in 1848. Esther Jameson's probate was filed in 1852. Jasper N. Jamerson, Anna E. Jamerson, and Charlotte Jamerson, minor heirs of Robert Jamerson, chose a guardian in 1854 in Jasper County.

Here is what the census reveals about her:

18 Sep 1850, Jackson Twp., Jasper Co., Missouri, p. 375:

216
Esther Jamison  54 F $800 TN
Amanda 26 F MO
Caroline 19 F MO
Robert 22 M Farmer MO
George M 20 M MO
Margaret 17 F MO
Jasper N 14 M MO
Anna E. 13 F MO
Charlotte 10 F MO

215 on page 374-375
Thomas W. Jameson 36 M Carpenter MO
Eliza A. 23 F KY
Cynthia A. 16 F MO
Eliza R 13 F MO
Alee R 12 F MO
John W. 10 M MO
Nancy C 2 F MO
Matilda M 7/12 MO
[This Thomas W. Jameson is living next door to Esther Jamison and is probably her son or the son of her husband.]

The following 1850 census record should also be noted--

25 Oct 1850 McDonald Co., Missouri p. 112:
Sanders Wheeler - 27 M Farmer TN
Mahala - 21 F MO
Henry - 4 M  MO
Hulda - 3 F MO
George Jamison - 21 M Farmer MO
Sanders Wheeler - 21 M Farmer MO

It is possible that George Jamison was enumerated twice? Mahala Wheeler, daughter of Azariah Holcomb, is George Jamison's first cousin. This may indicate that he had been in both households that year, and there was some confusion over which one he was in living for census purposes.

13 July 1860, Mineral Twp., Jasper County, Missouri, P.O. Carthage, p. 878:
792 - 769
R.F. Jamison - M W Blacksmith  0 - 120 MO
Emily - 24 F  W MO
George - 6 M W  MO
Florence M. - 1 F  W MO
George W. Pool - 39 M W Blacksmith 0 - 120 MO
Louisa - 24 F  W MO
Charles W. - 4 M W Kansas Territory
Laura F.  - 2 F  W MO

The R.F. Jamison above is probably the same Robert who is with Esther on the 1850 census. Note that his first cousin George W. Pool is living with him. George is working in the same business as his father James Pool--blacksmithing, as his cousin Robert.

11-21 June 1870, Flat Creek Twp., Barry County, Missouri:

R.F. Jameson - W M 42 Wagon maker MO
Emily - W F 36 MO
George - W M 16 MO
Florence - W F 10 MO
F. C. - W F 3

Note that Robert is working in the wagon making trade.

Update posted on October 14, 2017--Additional research has uncovered an additional daughter for Robert and Esther (Holcomb) Jameson: Eliza Mariah Jameson

Update posted on July 2, 2013-- Kate Renner contacted me with the following information: "I have Esther's death date as 1 Sep 1851 per England family data.  Esther's daughter Fatima married William England in 1861 in California."

This page last updated on April 3, 2016

ISAAC HOLCOMB

© Kathy Duncan, 2013

Isaac Holcomb, Azariah Holcomb's  brother, was born 1803 in  Missouri.

Isaac Holcomb married Marey/Mary Weaver on 11 Oct 1835 in St. Louis County, Missouri.

1840 census Merrimac, Jefferson Co Missouri:

Isaac Hocan's household contains the following:
one male under 5  = Starks?
one male 30-39 = Isaac
one female under 5  = Julian
one  female 30-39 = Marian (Mary Weaver?)

12 Sept 1850 census of Bonhomme Twp., St. Louis Co., Missouri:
1376-1406
Isaac Hochum 47 M Farmer $200 MO
Marian 47 F MO
Starks 14 M MO
Julian 11 F MO
Minerva Weaver 19 M MO
Jane Wilson 27 F MO

Issac Holcomb married Mary Fuller 3 Sep 1856 Jefferson County, Missouri.

1860 census of Meramec, Jefferson County, Missouri:
672-662
Isaac Holcom 57 M Farmer $0 - $600 MO
Mary Holcom 50 F VA
Robert Fuller 25 M Farmer KY
______ Fuller 18 M Farm Hand MO
Eliza E Fuller 16 F Seamstress MO
Thomas Fuller 14 M MO
Emily A. Fuller 13 F MO
Saml H Fuller 12 M MO
Mary Fuller  7 F MO

Isaac C Holcomb married Mrs. Susan R. Briggs on 27 Nov 1866, St. Louis, Missouri. They had an elaborate prenuptial agreement.

Saturday, June 29, 2013

JAMES BROWN

© Kathy Duncan, 2013

James Brown was born in 1818 in Missouri. He is a brother to Phoebe (Holcomb) Pool born c. 1810 and Hannah (Holcomb) Skaggs born c. 1812. It is not known how many of the Holcomb siblings he connected to by blood. He is probably the son of Benajah C. Brown and a Holcomb widow since his half-sister Phoebe Holcomb married in the home of Benajah C. Brown in 1824 in Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri.

On the 1830 census of Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri, Benajah or Benaja C. Brown's household is comprised of one male age ten to fifteen, one male age fifty to sixty, and one female age fifty to sixty. If James Brown is the male age ten to fifteen, his estimated birth year is between 1815 and 1820, which is in keeping with the profile of James Brown. The older female in the household is likely to be his mother, and her age of fifty to sixty makes her old enough to be the mother of all of the Holcomb siblings. Living next door to this Brown family is that of the newlyweds James and Hannah Skaggs. Also listed on the same page is the household of Nathaniel Holcomb.

In 1838 James Brown was working as a striker for James Pool the blacksmith. He would be about 20 years old at this time. At this time period, James Pool is the blacksmith for the Senecas.

In 1840, a James Brown is living in Elk Over Township of Newton County, Missouri. His household is sandwiched between that of Nathan Holcomb and James Skaggs. James Brown's household is comprised of one male under age 5, two males ages 20 - 30, one male age 60 - 70, and one female age 20 - 30. These ages are consistent with the James Brown that I have pinpointed on the 1850 census. Could the elder man, age 60 - 70, be Benajah C. Brown? If so, then his wife is probably deceased, and he may have died in Newton County, Missouri.

Later, James Brown was named in the Jackson County, Missouri lawsuit of Samuel H. Woodson vs. Heirs of James Pool, 1853 as the brother of Phoebe Pool. He was acting as trustee for her property and that of her children. In one of the lawsuit documents dated September 1851 is the statement that James Brown had been absent from the state for several years and had neglected to perform his duty as trustee. The purpose of this statement was so that the minor Pool children could request that their older brother George Pool take over the duties as their trustee. Had he been gone for years or months? This lawsuit is Box 195, Folder 18, Location 16A 5/9 in the Missouri State Archives.

1850, McDonald Co., Missouri:
Brown, James - 32 M Farmer $120 MO
----, Nancy - 22 F TN
----, Thomas H. - 12 M MO
----, Henry S. - 10 M MO
----, unnamed - 2/12 F MO

The James Brown above has been pinpointed because he is living next to Azariah Holcomb in McDonald County. Plus, his age is consistent with previous census years.

1860
Thomas Brown b. MO, age 21 is next door to Nathaniel Holcomb in Soquel Twp., Santa Cruz Co., CA. Is this James Brown's son Thomas H. Brown?

2 June 1880, Dist. 258, Gilroy Twp (outside of town), Santa Clara Co., California:
19-19
Griffin, R. M. [married] - W M 53 Keeping store b. Indiana  fb. MD mb. VA
Brown, J. [married] - W M 62 Works in mine b. MO fb. KY mb. OH
Skaggs, Anna [widowed] sister - W F 68 Keeping house b. MO fb. KY mb. OH
Simmons, Lenora [single] ? - W F 12 At home b. CA mb. MO
Simmons, William [married] uncle - W M 44 Works in mine b. Iowa

In the above census, siblings J. Brown and Anna Skaggs are in the same boarding house. J. Brown states that he is married, but where is his wife? Even more frustrating, where is he in 1860 and 1870?

4 July 1887, Hollister, San Benito Co., CA:
Died - BROWN - In Hollister, July 4, 1887, at the residence of Mrs. J.A. Owens, James Brown, aged 62 years.
[Source: The Hollister Free Lance, 8 July 1887, San Benito Co., CA]

Mrs. J.A. Owens is Phebe (Holcomb) Owens, the daughter of Nathaniel and Sarah Holcomb, and is, therefore, the niece of James Brown. This Nathaniel Holcomb is Azariah's brother.

Friday, June 28, 2013

AZARIAH HOLCOMB'S SIBLINGS

© Kathy Duncan, 2013

The quest to identify Azariah Holcomb's parentage is ongoing. Azariah Holcomb was born in Missouri in 1800. According to his bible, Azariah married Susan on 20 April 1819, location unknown. He and his family are found in Newton County, Missouri on the 1840 census and McDonald County, Missouri on the 1850 and 1860 censuses.

To date, no documentation has been found to link Azariah Holcomb to his parents despite the fact that many researchers link him to Azariah Holcomb and Christina Shephard. In the absence of any documentation to link Azariah with his parents, it becomes necessary to link him to his siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, or in-laws in the hopes that these people will eventually lead to his parents.

For many years I suspected that James Pool, the blacksmith for the Senecas and Delawares, was Azariah's brother-in-law. Proximity suggested that Enoch and Nathaniel Holcomb who were also in the Elk Over Township of Newton County, Missouri might be his brothers.

As luck would have it, Enoch Holcomb died intestate and without a surviving wife or children so that his estate was divided between his siblings. That estate settlement was filed in the probate court of St. Louis County, Missouri in 1852, case #03827B, and is readily available on the Missouri Digital Heritage site in the Missouri Judicial Records.

The settlement lists Enoch Holcomb's siblings in the following order:

Isaac Holcomb, brother
Nathaniel Holcomb, brother
Azariah Holcomb, brother
Hannah wife of James Scagg, sister
Esther Jamison, sister - notation in margin reads "dead pay children"
Phoebe Pool's children - notation in margin reads "dead"

In addition to the sibling groups listed above, some or all of the Holcombs had a younger half-brother named James Brown.

Another page the probate papers provides locations for the Holcomb siblings:
"Isaac Holcomb brother of decd who resides in St. Louis County and Nathaniel Holcomb brother of decd who resides in California and Azariah Holcomb and Hannah wife of James Scagg and the children of Esther Jameson who was a sister of decd who reside in the South western part of the state of Missouri and the children of Phoebe Pool whose residence is unknown to me."

Research puts this sibling group in the following birth order (I will be opening links to each of these children, which will take you to more information. I will open them beginning with the siblings that I know the least about and work backward to those for whom I have the most information. The last to open will be pages for Nathaniel, Azariah, and Phoebe's husband James Pool):

Esther Holcomb b.c. 1796 in Tennessee
Enoch Holcomb b.c. 1799 in Missouri
Azariah Holcomb b.c. 1800 in Missouri
Isaac Holcomb b.c. 1803 in Missouri
Nathaniel Holcomb b.c. 1805 in Missouri
Phoebe Holcomb's exact birth year cannot be determined because she died prior to the 1850 census. On the 1840 census, she is 30 - 39 years old which places her birth between 1801 and 1809. Since Phoebe married James Pool in 1824, her birth date would be closer to 1801, making her between 24 and 14 at the time of her marriage.
Hannah Holcomb b.c. 1812 in Missouri
James Brown  b.c. 1818 in Missouri

James Brown is named as a brother of Phoebe Pool's in a lawsuit brought against her children and James Pool after her death. Brown was also a guardian for her younger children. When Phoebe Holcomb married James Pool in Ste Genevieve County, Missouri in 1824, she married in the home of Benaja C. Brown, who was most likely her step-father.

James Brown, even though he was living at the time of Enoch Holcomb's death, is not named as his brother in Enoch's probate papers. This may be because James Brown was not his brother. This would happen if they had different mothers. The minimum five-year gap between the births Nathaniel Holcomb in 1805 and Phoebe Holcomb who was born no earlier than 1810 suggests that their mother was either having a series of miscarriages or stillbirths, or it suggests the death of their father's first wife and a remarriage. The gap between Hannah Holcomb and James Brown's births suggests that Hannah's father died during or after 1812, and her mother remarried to Benaja C. Brown by 1817.

So who is the father of the Holcomb children? For starters, this group of siblings does not belong to Azariah and Christina (Sheppard) Holcomb, nor can Azariah and Christina Holcomb be placed in Missouri from 1799 to 1812. However, a Nathaniel Holcomb is in Missouri during that time period and is deceased prior to 1819 when Titus Strickland petitioned the U.S. Congress for confirmation for a title to land in Missouri on behalf of his guardians, who were the heirs of Nathaniel Holcum. This Nathaniel Holcomb is my best candidate.

I contacted the archives which houses the American State Papers and spoke to a researcher who checked all of the appropriate files and found no surviving documents from this petition. He stated that this was understandable since Congress took no action on the petition.

The next step in this search should be for documents that link Nathaniel Holcomb and his heirs. This might be through probate papers or the guardianship records between Titus Strickland and the minor children. Since Titus Strickland his their guardian, is he also a relative?  My hope is that this blog entry will bring together a collective of researchers who did not previously know we were connected to each other and that we can work together to solve this problem.

The Two Azariah Holcombs



DAUGHTERS OF AZARIAH AND SUSAN HOLCOMB


© Kathy Duncan, 2013

Below are photographs of two of the daughters of Azariah and Susan Holcomb of Missouri.  Azariah Holcomb was born in Missouri in 1800, and his wife Susan was born in Tennesse in 1796.

Daughter Mahalath Holcomb was born 25 March 1830. She married first Sanders Wheeler. After his death, she married Allen Painter. She is pictured below with Allen Painter.


Allen  and wife Mahala (Holcomb)
Wheeler Painter
John and Huldah (Holcomb) Carroll
and children





Daughter Huldah Holcomb was born 10 August 1830 and is pictured above with her husband John Carroll and children.


Saturday, June 8, 2013

WALTER BALLARD GRAHAM and BEULAH FRANCES GALT

© Kathy Duncan, 2013


Walter Ballard Graham and Beulah Frances Galt, courting in 1913
click image to enlarge

Walter Ballard Graham and Beulah Frances Galt, courting in West Texas c. 1913. Walter Ballard Graham was the son of Thomas Jefferson Graham and his wife Margaret Enola Byrum. He a was born 8 May1891 in Denton County, Texas. Thomas and Margaret gave him the middle name Ballard in honor of the minister who married them. Beulah Frances Galt was the daughter of Thomas Resin Galt and his wife Florence May Brown. She was born 7 Sept 1891 in Farmingdale, Sangamon County, Illinois.



Walter Ballard Graham and Beulah Frances Galt
click image to enlarge

Walter and Beulah married on 6 April 1913 in Floyd County, Texas.


Marriage license of Walter Ballard Graham
and Beulah Frances Galt
click image to enlarge


Wedding Picture of Walter Ballard Graham and Beulah Frances Galt
6 April 1913
Floyd County, Texas
click image to enlarge