Azariah Holcomb and Benjah Brown, 1826

 ©  Kathy Duncan, 2020

And now I have a brand new mystery. In the miscellaneous court records of Ste Genevieve County, Missouri is this 1826 record for Azariah Holcomb and Benajah Brown:

This document links Azariah Holcomb and Benjah Brown and strengthens my theory that Hannah, the widow of Nathaniel Holcomb had married Brown by about 1816. However, this leaves lots of questions unanswered. Samuel Bower had sued Azariah Holcomb and Benjah Brown. Why? Is Azariah acting with Benjah Brown because Brown is his step-father or his step-mother's new husband? 

Nathaniel Holcomb Died 1814

 ©  Kathy Duncan, 2020

I have been able to determine that Thomas Maddin of Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri did file a lawsuit against Nathaniel Holcomb and his wife Hannah in 1814. That suit, however, was not about land as I had previously guessed.

Thomas Maddin charged Nathaniel and Hannah Holcomb with trespassing onto his land on 13 January 1814 and destroying his sugar camp. He claimed that they destroyed two kettles and one pot, and then set fire to his trees. He requested that Enoch Holcomb and Robert Jameson testify on his behalf. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a record of their depositions. It is still impossible to be sure if Enoch Holcomb was Nathaniel's son Enoch or another Enoch Holcomb.

A quick google search reveals that early settlers were engaged in making sugar from sugar trees in the Ste. Genevieve, Missouri area.

 During the course of the suit, Nathaniel Holcomb died, so Maddin filed against Hannah, holding her responsible for the damages to the tune of about $30. Titus Strickland acted as attorney on her behalf. At one point Hannah claimed that she should not be held solely responsible for Nathaniel's actions and refused to participate in the process. She possibly lost the suit by default.

Later in the year, Thomas Maddin brought suit against Robert Jameson for trespassing, destroying his sugar trees, and stealing lumber earlier in the year. The suit against Robert Jameson reveals that Maddin's land was on the Saline River. 

All of these records can be found on Family Search in the Justice of the Peace Loose Papers, 1810 - 1820.

This is one of the key documents from this lawsuit:

In executing a subpoena on the Holcombs, it was found that Nathaniel Holcomb was found to be dead on 31 March 1814. 

This document indicates that Nathaniel Holcomb had died shortly before 31 March 1814 if not on 31 March and that Hannah was his wife. 

"Lost Friends" and Browning Duncan

   ©  Kathy Duncan, 2020

One of the disadvantages of being willing to jump from one family to another at a moment's notice is that nothing gets "finished," but in genealogy, nothing is ever finished anyway. The advantage of doing a little leaping from project to project is a bonanza of information that seems to be never-ending, so there is that. 

Yesterday, I took a break from laundry and going through the Harding/Dabbs Collection to read the novel The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate. Like many novels, there is a dual storyline that converges as the novel progresses. The Book of Lost Friends takes its title from the "Lost Friends" column of advertisements that appeared in the form of letters from freed slaves searching for family members and appeared in the Southwestern from 1879 until at least 1900. Facsimiles of their letters appear throughout the novel between storylines. 

As I was taking a break from reading, I wondered if there was really a "Lost Friends" column and if it might be accessible through an online database. The answer is yes and yes. That's all it took. I was off and researching like you do when you are receptive to shifting gears at a moment's notice. So far, I've only found one advertisement that pertains to my family.

This advertisement mentions my great-great-great-grandfather, Browning Duncan. After only a moment of puzzling, I realized that the "Peters" family members that Ned and Lucy Boyd were searching for were actually named Pettus. The name Pettus, especially when it is spelled Pettes, might be misinterpreted as Peters. 

This letter is especially difficult to decode, but here is what I have figured out so far based on what I know of Browning Duncan and the Pettus family. Browning Duncan, a native of Madison County, Kentucky, married Rebecca W. Pettus on 25 December 1823 in York County, South Carolina. She was the daughter of William W. Pettus, who died in 1818, leaving a widow, Mary Pettus. One of Rebecca's sisters was Mariah Pettus who married Stephen Partlow Sutton. Additionally, Rebecca had brothers Samuel Knox Pettus, William Watkins Pettus, and Thomas Newton Pettus. 

Here's how I have interpreted the "Lost Friends" letter above. Enslaved persons Ned Sutton and Lucy Peters [Pettus], who was owned by the widow Polly [Mary] Peters [Pettus] of York County, South Carolina were the parents of Martha Peters [Pettus]. Manda and Peters [Pettus] went off with Browning Duncan at the same time. Does this mean Manda and Martha Pettus left with Browning Duncan? When?

By 1827, Browning Duncan and wife were in Madison County, Kentucky, when Mary Pettus deeded a slave man named Frank to her daughter Rebecca (Pettus) Duncan. By 1850 Browning Duncan and his wife were living in Dyer County, Tennesse near the Gibson County, Tennessee border where Rebecca's brother Samuel K Pettus lived. Additionally, brother William Watkins Pettus lived near the Duncan's in Dyer County. Brother Thomas Newton Pettus remained in York County as did their sister Mariah Pettus who had married Stephen Partlow Sutton. 

Then we learn through the letter that Manda was the daughter of James Greer and Liberty Peters [Pettus] who belonged to the widow Polly [Mary] Peters [Pettus]. The reference to Mary Pettus being a widow encompasses the timeframe from 1818 to her death in 1855. 

Then it looks like Emeline Peters [Pettus] was a cousin to Manda and Lucy Peters [Pettus]. Is Emeline a mother to Peggie, Annie, and Lucy? Then Watkins Peters [Pettus] moved to Tennessee, taking Annie and Fannie with him. All the indexers of this letter have Watkins Peters [Pettus] as an enslaved person. However, that's not how I read this. Rebecca W. (Pettus) Duncan brother William Watkins Pettus had removed to Dyer County, Tennessee by 1850. Browning and Rebecca Duncan can be found there in the same year. From Dyer County, the two families removed to Sebastian County, Arkansas by 1860. 

The William Peters [Pettus] who was in Nashville, Tennessee in 1880, is most likely to be a relative of Ned and Lucy's. 

It makes sense to me that the Sutton who sold Ned and Lucy to Louis M. Boyd was Stephen Partlow Sutton who administered William and Mary Pettus's estate for many years. 

One way to begin untangling this is to look at the Pettus estate papers. One document, in particular, was created in 1855 when Mary "Polly" Pettus died and is indexed as being her husband William Pettus's estate.

Among the inventories and appraisements of William Pettus's estate is a list of enslaved people, their ages, and who they were sold to. Those names coincide with most of the names in the letter above.

A girl Amanda age 15 sold to S K Pettus

A girl Martha age 11 sold to S K Pettus

A woman Peg age 35 sold to C L Clawson

A woman Lucy age 28 sold to T N Pettus

A woman Ann and two children sold to S P Sutton

A girl Emmeline age 14 sold to B Dunkin 

You can see from the estate records of the sale of these people how closely the name Pettus looks like Peters:

This sale was held in December 1855 at the home of S P Sutton, so that is the point at which some of these enslaved people were taken away from York County, South Carolina.

My takeaway from the letter in the "Lost Friends" column, combined with the William Pettus estate records, is that in the turmoil and trauma of separating these enslave families there was some resulting confusion over where people went and with whom they went. This combined with the fact that the Pettus name appears erroneously as Peters in the newspaper, that Browning Duncan and wife and been deceased since the 1860s, that S P Sutton is named only by his surname, that Ned and Lucy have been using the Boyd surname unbeknownst to their surviving Pettus family who had been carried off, and I believe it would have been next to impossible for Ned and Lucy Boyd formerly, known as Ned Sutton and Lucy Pettus, to be successfully reunited with their family.

In all likelihood, they invested 50 cents in having their advertisement placed in the Southwestern only to have the information become so garbled as to make it useless. Neither Ned nor Lucy could read. They would not have known that the names were published incorrectly until someone read the newspaper to them. The 50 cents they invested in this effort would be equivalent to nearly $13 today. Since it only appeared once, it is evident that the newspaper did not run a correction, and they could not afford to make a second effort. 

Manda and Martha Pettus were most likely taken to the Samuel Knox Pettus home in Gibson County, Tennessee. It is possible that S K Pettus did not attend the sale in 1855 and that Browning Duncan transported these girls to Tennesse for his brother-in-law. That would be why Lucy believed they were taken away by Browning Duncan. Instead, Browning Duncan purchased Emeline Pettus and would have transported her to Dyer County, Tennessee as well. At age 14, she seems unlikely to have had more than one child. That sentence in the letter about her relationship to Manda and Lucy is still confusing to me. 

In 1880, Lucy Boyd, wife of Ned, was aged 55 on the Kemper County, Mississippi census, and had been born in South Carolina. She was the same age as the Lucy who was listed in the William Pettus estate and sold to T N Pettus. Evidently, at some point after 1855, she must have been sold to S P Sutton, who later sold Lucy and Ned to Louis M Boyd. 

It is possible that additional information might be found in deed records, but anyone seeking the extended family of Ned and Lucy Boyd should be looking for the Pettus family not the Peters family. 

 

Unidentified Photograph

  ©  Kathy Duncan, 2020

This is an unidentified photograph found in the Harding/Dabbs Collection. 

My best guess is that it is a photograph of Rev. Thomas Treadwell Eaton, who was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee in 1845. This photograph was taken in Lexington, Virginia by M. Miley. Michael Miley had a photography studio in Lexington, Virginia by 1872.

Thomas Treadwell Eaton attended Washington College in Lexington, Virginia in 1866 - 1867. I think, though, that this unidentified picture was not taken then for two reasons: the M. Miley studio was not open yet and he looks older than 21 - 22 years old.

By 1867, Eaton was back in the Murfreesboro area and was a professor at Union University. 

In September of 1875, he returned to Virginia to pastor a church in Petersburg. He remained there until March of 1881 when he penned his tribute to Lavinia B. (Murfree) Burton. I think this photograph was made of him at some time during that nearly six-year period from 1875 to 1881 when he would have been 30 to 36 years old. It seems reasonable that he would have had friends in Lexington along with having other reasons to visit there and have his photograph made. 

That means this photograph was probably sent to either Lavinia B. (Murfree) Burton while she was living or given to her daughter Lavinia Emily "Lily" (Burton) Selph - possibly as Rev. T. T. Eaton traveled from Petersburg, Virginia to his new appointment in Louisville, Kentucky in 1881.

Here is an identified photograph of an older Rev. Thomas T. Eaton for comparison:

Tribute to Lavinia B (Murfree) Burton

 ©  Kathy Duncan, 2020

One of the exciting items in the Harding/Dabbs Collection is this period tribute written to honor Lavinia B (Murfree) Burton, who died 24 January 1881 and is buried in Old City Cemetery in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. This tribute was written two months later on 23 March 1881 in Petersburg, Virginia. It seems reasonable to attribute the initials "tte" to baptist minister Rev. Thomas Treadwell Eaton, son of Dr. Joseph H. Eaton who ordained Lavinia Burton's son-in-law Rev. Duncan H. Selph. 

My guess is that Lillye Harding, daughter of Priscilla (Selph), copied this from its original source, and it was then copied by her nephew Hardy Dabbs in 1953 since it was folded together with other items from that date that were typed on the same type of paper, using the same typewriter. At this time, I don't know if it was copied from private papers or a newspaper clipping.

It reveals information that was gathered by one who obviously knew Lavinia (Murfree) Burton and provides some insight into her relationships with her children.

Transcript:

BURTON - Mrs. Lavinia B. Burton was born in Murfreesboro, N.C., April 3, 1795, and died at Smithfield, Ky., Jan. 24, 1881. Her father was Col. Hardy Murfree, who gave his name to her native town. When seven years old she lost her mother and was carried by her father to Salem, N.C., to be educated. After leaving school she made her home with Col. Hilliard, near Halifax, N.C., her father having died. On Feb. 23, 1814, she was married to Col. F.N.W. Burton, of Granville Co., N.C., and in 1823 they removed to Murfreesboro, Tennessee. They both there professed faith in Christ, and joined the Presbyterian church. But Mrs. Burton was a Baptist in sentiment, and so soon as a Baptist church was organized in the town she joined it. Along with four of her children she was baptised by Dr. R. B.C. Howell. 

Col. Burton died before the writer's recollection, but there are no more pleasant memories connected with his childhood, than those which cluster around that home of which Mrs. Burton was the soul and center. For years my father was her nearest neighbor, and one of the chief delights of his children was to go over to see "Auntie Burton," as she kindly allowed us to call her. It was a bright and gladsome home. She was fond of flowers and they grew in her yard as they grew nowhere else in town. She was never too busy to fill little hands with joy by filling little hands with flowers. And as we grew older and learned to appreciate other things than flowers and cakes, t at home lost none of its attractiveness to us. Everything about it was delightful. In its atmosphere the best in us expanded, care dropped away and friends enjoyed life to the utmost.

Affliction came often to that bright home. Mrs. Burton reared ten children to manhood and womanhood and there was not one mediocre mind among them all. They seemed to inherit the unusual ability of their gifted mother, but they did not all inherit her vigorous physical constitution; and she was often called to mourn over her early death. Her eldest son, named for his grandfather, after achieving most brilliant success as a lawyer, died at the early age of 32 years, in the island of St. Thomas, where he had been sent as United States consul. Scarcely had she recovered from that blow, when her oldest daughter, Mrs. Goodwin, died, leaving a family of small children to mourn her loss. Then passed away another daughter, Mrs. Dodson, so bright, so beautiful, and for so short a time a bride that the hearts of the whole community ached as they followed to the grave. Afterwards Mrs. Burton was called to mourn the loss of still another daughter, Mrs. Crosthwait, who died in her childhood's home after long and terrible suffering. But God had yet a heavier stroke in store for the child of his, when he was fitting for Heaven. The youngest daughter, Finie, was her earthly idol. Her other daughters were married and gone, some to distant homes, some awaiting her on the further shore, but her youngest, Benjamin, was with her mother. Miss Finie might well have been her mother's idol, with a man's clear brain and a child's sunny heart. She was a lovely woman and it seemed her mother's heart would break when the fell disease attacked her young life. In her affliction, Mrs. Burton drew nearer to the hand that smote her. She was a Christian before God took her idol, but from that h our she lived a deeper spiritual life, and a holier. For months after Miss Finie's death, it was feared that her mother would not survive the stroke; but she lived nearer and nearer to God for eighteen years longer, till she came to say of this severest of her trials, "O! that God's people could receive his stripes in her spirit!" Her mind retained its vigor unimpaired till within a year of her death. And while she enjoyed life and never murmured at her long pilgrimage, she yet often said on retiring at night, "How glad I would be to awake in heaven!"

Few mothers have been so loved by their children as was Mrs. Burton. As an illustration of this, when her husband died, one of her sons, a boy of sixteen, slept in the hall by her chamber door every night, and if she stirred, he was instantly by her side to see if he could do anything for her - trying to shield her as far as he could do, from the loneliness of her widowed life. Through boyhood, manhood, and middle-age her sons have loved her with a chivalrous devotion which proved exceptional qualities in a mother who could win and hold such love. She has awaked in Heaven at last, and none of the hearts that loved her can sorrow, as they think what that awaking was to the aged saint to whom God has given rest, after her long and faithful service. 

Petersburg, Va., March 23, 1881.                                            tte. 

Selph Cemetery Card

 ©  Kathy Duncan, 2020

This is one of the more curious items from the Harding/Dabbs Collection, a cemetery burial card.

It appears to be written in ball-point pen sometime after 1956, so it is not period to the lot's purchase in perhaps 1888.

From it, we learn that Mrs. L.E. Selph was the owner. That would be Lavinia Emily Selph, wife of Rev. Duncan Hyder Selph. It encompassed ten grave plots in lot no. 73 in Section A of Evergreen Cemetery in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Included is the notation that it is deed number 117. 

Then there is a record of each burial in the plot with the year of burial and relationship to the plot owner:

1. Selph, Frank B 1892 Son

2. Selph, Lily 1899 Owner

3. Selph, Wash B 1888 Son

4. Selph, Hardy B 1918 Son

5. Selph, Anna M 1940 [relationship not noted but she was son Hardy's wife]

6. no burial?

7. Selph, Asa 9-1956 Grandson

8. Harding, Dee Selph 1921 Daughter

9. Sallie Selph McLain 1925 Daughter

10. McLain, Dr. Joe M. 1906 Son-in-law

The last piece of information is that they had a certificate of perpetual care. 

I can't help but wonder who space 6 might have been intended for. Perhaps, it was meant for no one in particular.