Betsy Ann Young, Wife of Daniel A. Lewis

©  Kathy Duncan, 2019

The children of Betsy Ann Young and Daniel A. Lewis can be proven by examining the estate records of her father William Young who died in Marshall County, Alabama in 1857. Betsey Ann (Young) Lewis was deceased by the time William Young's will was written in 1856. This will was filed by William Young's grandson William S. Lewis and was contested by Rachel Arena Higgins and William Ira Young, the only surviving children of William Young.

This probate paper provides a list of William Young's heirs, both living and deceased:

This list of William Young's makes reference to his daughter, Betsy Ann Lewis, deceased, who married Daniel A. Lewis. Their children are listed as being

1. Cecily Louisa Lewis [b. c. 1829] who married John R. Inlow

2. William S. Lewis [b.c. 1831]

3. Charlotte T. Lewis [b. 14 March 1834]

4. Susan M. Lewis [b. 27 September 1835]

5. Mansel or Mansfield W. Lewis [b.c. 1837/38/39]

6. Betsy Ann Lewis [b. 23 March 1838]

William Young's daughter Betsy Ann Lewis had been previously married to Thomas Hughes. They married 8 November 1826 in Madison County, Alabama. Betsy Ann (Young) Hughes married Daniel A. Lewis a year and a half later on 4 May 1828 in Madison County, Alabama. There are no Hughes children listed in William Young's probate.

We can conclude that Betsy Ann (Young) Lewis was living as of 1838 when her daughter Betsy Ann was born and that she was deceased by the time her father wrote his will in 1856. However, Betsy Ann is also nowhere to be found on the 1850 census while her children are living with various relatives and neighbors, suggesting that she was deceased before 1850.

Charlotte T. and Susan M. Lewis are living with their grandfather William Young in the Hart household. Susan is listed on the next page.

Betsy Ann Lewis is in the Samuel Wallace household, along with John Higgins, suggesting that this is an extended family: 

William S. Lewis is in the Henry Martin household: 

Celia Louisa Lewis has already married John R. Inlow and is living in Franklin County, Alabama:

How much before 1850 did Betsy Ann (Young) Lewis die?

Neither Daniel A. Lewis nor Betsy Ann Lewis is on the 1840 census in either Madison County, Jackson County, or Marshall County, Alabama.

However, the 1840 household of William Young is very revealing. The demographics suggest that William and Catherine Young are raising some of their grandchildren. Betsy Ann (Young) Lewis is the only child of theirs who might have been deceased by 1840. 

1840 Marshall County, Alabama:

William Young 020000001 - 131000001

1 male 5 - 9 years old =

1 male 5 - 9 years old = William S. Lewis?

1 male 60 - 70 = William Young

1 female 5 - 9 =

1 female 5 - 9 = Susan M. Lewis?

1 female 5 - 9 = Charlotte T. Lewis?

1 female 10 - 14 = Celia L. Lewis?

1 female 60 - 70 = Catherine

While Betsy Ann (Young) Lewis may have been deceased by 1840, her husband Daniel Lewis seems to be alive and well on the 1840 Crittenden County, Arkansas census with another wife.

Jasper Twp., Crittenden Co., Ark., 1840

One theory is that Daniel Lewis had married Tempie DeSpain, daughter of the John D. Spaine, who is next door to them on the census. What makes this even more interesting is that John DeSpain's wife was Charlotte Daniel. 

Daniel's brother Wiley Lewis was also living in Crittenden County, Arkansas in 1840.

Jasper Twp., Critten Co., Ark., 1840

Daniel A. Lewis's father John D. Lewis seems to have expressed some concern for the welfare of Betsy Ann (Young) Lewis's children, his grandchildren when he provided for them in his will while leaving his son Daniel A. Lewis only $1. Did Daniel separate from Betsy before her death? Or did he wait a short time after her death before remarrying? That would not have raised many eyebrows. However, Daniel seems to have left his children to be raised by others while he headed west to make a new life. This seeming abandonment of his children may be what put him on the outs with his father, John D. Lewis.

Revised January 26, 2021

Charity, John Kelly Sr's Wife

©  Kathy Duncan, 2019

After years, dare I say decades, of trying to identify John Kelly Sr.'s wife, I have finally found documentation for her.

John Kelly Sr. died in Fairfield County, South Carolina in January 1842. He was a Revolutionary War soldier, who died intestate. His probate contains a list of his several children.

His son Hampton H. Kelly of Richland District filed a pension application on 29 July 1851, stating "his said father, John Kelly, deceased...left no widow, this Despondent's mother having died previous to his father. That after his father's death and at the sale of his father's property this declarant's brother, Frost Kelly, who has since moved to the state of Mississippi, bought an old trunk containing the old papers of his said father and a portion of his said father's horseman's uniform which he had in his lifetime declared was part of that which he wore in said service in said war."

Various secondary sources have stated that John Kelly's wife was Charity. The most notable source is Mary Collins Landin's book The Old Cemeteries of Hinds County, Mississippi: From 1811 to the Present. Her work seems to indicate that the tombstones of both John Frost Kelly and his sister Lydia (Kelly) Seastrunk's tombstones provide the information that they are the children of John and Charity Kelly. There are just one or two big problems with that. There is no tombstone for Frost Kelly in the Utica Cemetery. I've searched a large portion of the cemetery myself, and I've had a request for a photograph of the tombstone on Findagrave. I've been told by a volunteer that no tombstone could be found. Lydia (Kelly) Seastrunk's is buried on private property, that ironically was and may still be owned by...Mary Collins Landin. No one seems to be able to gain access to that little cemetery to take photographs.

Every time someone states that Charity was John's wife, I always contact them asking for documentation. Either no one responds, or they finally tell me that they don't have any.

Finally, I've pinpointed a primary source, other than Landin's work or a tombstone, to document that John Kelly Sr.'s wife was, in fact, named Charity. In 1839, Littleton Kelly filed the deed for property that he had purchased from his father John Kelly Sr. in 1825. Charity Kelly signed a release of her dower, with her mark, on 11 May 1826.

This deed can be located in Fairfield County, South Carolina deed Bk. NN, p. 205.

So, as of 11 May 1826, Charity Kelly was still living and signed her release of dower. It is reasonable to think that she was the mother of Littleton Kelly b. c. 1821 and Obediah K. Kelly b. c. 1823. It is impossible to state with any certainty that she is the mother of Hampton H. Kelly or any of the older Kelly siblings. 

In 1830, John Kelly of Fairfield District, South Carolina had a wife who was 10 - 20 years his junior:

John Kelly 020120001 - 1020001

The eldest man in the household, John Kelly, was 60 to 70 years old.

The eldest female in the household, John Kelly's wife, was 40 to 50 years old.

In order to be John Kelly Jr's mother, she would have to be closer to fifty. That would have made her a young 16 when he was born in about 1786. Plus, it would mean that she was bearing children over more than 30 years. It seems very unlikely to me that she was the mother of all of John Kelly's children.

More needs to be documented about Charity, and researchers need to be open to the very likely possibility that John Kelly had an earlier wife. 

Mary Ann (Vaughn) Mason

©  Kathy Duncan, 2019

One of the most frequently asked questions in general facebook genealogy groups goes something like, "Is there any point in including all of my ancestor's siblings on my tree? They are very distracting. Can't I just trim them all off and focus on my direct line?" Those who grudgingly include siblings suggest that including the sibling's spouse and children is just too much bother, too much minutia. Then they ask, "How many of the people do you include?"

The short answer: All of them.

For example, Mary Ann (Vaughn) Mason and her siblings.

Mary Ann Vaughn was the third wife of Wesley Randolph Mason, who was an uncle to my great-grandmother Mary Charlotte "Maggie" (Cawthon) Chapman. Mary Ann Vaughn is important because she and W.R. Mason had a daughter, Minnie Cordelia, who lived well into the twentieth century. That daughter's descendants might have information that I don't have. Information that I cannot get anywhere else. That might include photographs, letters, family bibles, oral stories. Information that I could not hope to get anywhere else.

Through census records, I had pieced together that Mary Ann Vaughn had a sister named Sarah (Vaughn?) Brasier and two brothers named Henry M. Vaughn and James R. Vaughn.

Then yesterday evening, along comes this death notice to confirm my findings:

This obituary names Mrs. Brazier [Sarah] of Blum, Texas as the deceased. It tells me that her husband was a Methodist minister who had predeceased her. It provides her death date and the general location of her burial in or near Palestine, Texas. It names her sister as Mrs. Mason [Mary Ann], who also lived at Blum. Additionally, their brothers are referred to as two bachelors who also lived at Blum - the youngest over 70 years old. Notably,  Mrs. Brazier's niece is Mrs. L. E. Spalding. That would be Louis Eugene Spalding. His wife was Minnie Cordelia Mason of Palestine, Texas, and she was the daughter of Wesley R. and Mary Ann (Vaughn) Mason.