Allen Kendrick Manos, Son-in-Law of Daniel A. Lewis

 ©  Kathy Duncan, 2023

For those sitting on the fence about the identity of John D. Lewis's son Daniel Adams Lewis and whether he had one wife (Betsy Young) or several additional wives (Tempe DeSpain and Margaret Masters), consider this additional information. 

In 1870, Daniel's sister Jane (Lewis) Wardlaw was a widow, living in Hunt County, Texas with three of her children and a farm laborer named Allin Manos. Jane and Milton Wardlaw's married daughter Susan Ashmore was living next door.

For too many years, the identity of Allen Manos, the farm hand, was unimportant since he did not seem to have any family connection.

That is he was seemingly unimportant until he turned up again in connection with Daniel Adams Lewis's third set of children with Margaret (Masters) Digman Newby. Allen Kendrick Manos married Missouri Texana Lewis, the middle daughter of Daniel Adams and Margaret (Masters) Lewis. In 1870, Missouri Texana Lewis was living with her mother and step-father L. H. Newby in Johnson County, Texas.

How on earth did Allen K. Manos and Missouri Texana Lewis meet? There are a couple of possibilities. Missouri Texana may have gone to Hunt County to visit her aunt and met him there. Margaret (Masters) Newby's marriage disintegrated by 1880. If she was in need of reliable help and had communicated that to her sister-in-law Jane Wardlaw, then Allen K. Manos may have gone to Johnson County to work for the family. To date, I have not located the marriage record of Allen K. Manos and Missouri Texana Lewis, which might shed some light on a possible place for their meeting.

Allen K. Manos establishes that there was a connection between Daniel Adams Lewis's sister Jane Wardlow and the daughter of Daniel and Margaret (Masters) Lewis. I do not believe that was purely coincidental. 

Digging into the identity of Allen K. Manos turned up even more mysterious information and even more questions. 

In 1860 Allen K. Manos was living in Hunt County, Texas with his parents John and Mary J Manos. John C. Manos was born in Tennessee in 1815 and Mary J Manos was born in Tennessee in 1825. It is notable that they were living in Tishomingo County, Mississippi in 1850. Even more notable, among their many children were Wiley Manos born c. 1842 in Mississippi, Matilda Jane Manos born c. 1848 in Mississippi, and Joel Manos born c. 1859 in Texas. These are names used repeatedly in the Lewis family. 

Further digging revealed that John C. Manos married Mary Jane Lewis in Jefferson County, Alabama on 20 November 1839.

Who was Mary Jane Lewis??? The short answer is that I do not know. She does not seem to be an unidentified daughter of John D. Lewis. The lawsuit brought by the children of Green and Elizabeth (Lewis) Babb against their stepmother does not include any information about Mary Jane (Lewis) Manos and her children. She does, however, seem to have a connection to John D. Lewis. At this point, I think it is very possible that she was an elder, unidentified daughter of John D. Lewis's son Wiley Lewis. At the same time, I cannot figure out how she would have ended up in Alabama in 1839. 

I suspect now that the marriage of Allen Kendrick Manos and Missouri Texana Lewis was a marriage between cousins. More digging needs to be done, but this is a prime example of why it is important to research siblings and associates. It is admittedly tedious, but it pays off. 

Obituaries of the Children of Charles Henderson and Esther A. (Jernigan) Graham

©  Kathy Duncan, 2023

In the interest of leaving no stone unturned, I searched for the obituaries of the children of Charles Henderson Graham and his wife Esther A. Jernigan. This family was living in Johnston County, North Carolina in 1850 and 1860. Henderson Graham's origins are unknown other than he was born in North Carolina in about 1820. The Jernigans had been in Johnston County for decades. Esther had been previously married to Haywood Whitley and had three children with him. I was not able to locate their obituaries. 

This group of sibling obituaries was frustratingly lean on information. Parents were not named. Often spouses were not named. Children were rarely named. 

Birth order of the children of Charles Henderson Graham and his wife Esther A. Jernigan:

1. Martha E. Graham b. 1845, married Fredrick E. Wayne
2. William Henderson Graham b. 1848
3. Chloe Virginia Graham b. 1849
4. Edward Bright Graham b. 1852
5. Thomas Jefferson Graham b. 1854
6. Mollie Graham 
7. Esther Ann Graham b. 1860 m. Jackson Benjamin Smith

Obituaries were not found for Martha E. (Graham) Wayne or Esther Ann (Graham) Smith.

Published obituaries of the Graham siblings in the order of their death:

1. Mollie F. (Graham) Mozingo died 5 October 1911. This obituary was found in The Times-Dispatch of Richmond, Virginia rather than in a North Carolina paper. Her obituary does not reveal that she was the widow of  Jonathan P. Mozingo nor that she had a surviving son, Foy Daniel Mozingo. 

2. William Henderson Graham died 27 October 1917 in Ingrams Township, Johnston County, North Carolina. His obituary does not name his parents or any of his nine surviving children. No siblings are mentioned. It does mention his two wives by name: Fannie Upchurch and Mrs. Lucinda Lee. This obituary appeared in the Smithfield Herald of Smithfield, North Carolina on 30 October 1917.

3. Chloe Virginia (Graham) Wayne died on 16 August 1928 at her daughter's home in New Bern, North Carolina. In her obituary, her parents, siblings, and spouse are not named even though she had at least two siblings still living. As was the custom of the time, her daughter is referred to as Mrs. H. M. Buntin of Bridgeton. Her obituary appeared in the News and Record of Greensboro, North Carolina.

4. Edward Bright Graham died on 3 January 1931 in Carlisle, Kentucky. His death notice appeared in The News and Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina because he had two surviving nieces in Johnston County, North Carolina. Even though Rev. E. B. Graham had a long and illustrious career, this is the only obituary I have found to date. It does not mention his own surviving son, William Bright Graham, or his surviving brother, Thomas Jefferson Graham. 

5. Thomas Jefferson Graham died on 20 January 1942 in Mangum, Greer County, Oklahoma. His obituary appeared in The Mangum Daily Star on Tuesday, 20 January 1942. It does not name his parents or his deceased wife. However, each of his six surviving children are named along with their residences: Thomas E. Graham and H.E. Graham of Oklahoma City, Carl E. Graham of Denver, Walter B. Graham of Albuquerque, Annie (Graham) Duck of Amarillo, J. M. Graham and H.H. Graham of Floydada, Texas. 

Iley N Selph, Spanish American War

©  Kathy Duncan, 2023

Records indicate that Iley Nunn Selph served during the Spanish American War. Various circumstances indicate that he was already in the Signal Corps when the war erupted in April 1898. He was stationed at Fort Sill Oklahoma as early as February 1898 when he purchased a beaded cane from Geronomo's wife and sent it to Col. W.C.P. Breckinridge of Lexington, Kentucky.

Iley was still at Ft. Sill in October 1898 when he was transferred to Fort Reno, Oklahoma. 

This means he served the duration of the Spanish American War, which ended in August 1898, at Ft. Sill.

By the time of the Spanish American War, the Signal Corps had progressed from sending communications with flags and bugles to communicating by telegraph. They both erected telegraph lines and worked as telegraph operators. Most of their communications were focused on the weather.

The skills that Iley N. Selph acquired during his stint in the military were put to use once he became a civilian. He worked for years as a telegraph operator, surveyor, and railroad agent. 

At some point during his military service, Iley contracted malaria, which affected his health for the rest of his life. I'm not sure where he contracted malaria. I researched malaria outbreaks in Oklahoma, and there were some. However, this "new" tidbit of information, that reveals he was transferred to Savannah, Georgia in November 1898, may indicate where he contracted malaria. There were several forts near Savannah, and I'm not sure where he was stationed.

Pedro Ygnacio Espinosa, Death Record

       ©  Kathy Duncan, 2023

Pedro Ygnacio Espinosa died and was buried in Rancho de Taos in January 1834. 

I located this record by noting the last record that I had that indicated he was alive, which was the 1832 baptism of his grandson:

4 March 1832 (baptized), age 5 days old, Casimiro Espinosa, son of Juan Ygnacio Espinosa and Ygnacia Gonzales, paternal grandparents: Pedro Ygnacio Espinosa and Juana Gertrudis, deceased; maternal grandparents: Juan Calletano Gonzales and Lorensa Rodrigues; godparents: Jose Dolores Tayfoya and Maria Dolores Tafoya, all residents of Rancho. [Source: NM Baptims (Taos) by Windham]

I went to the microfilm of Taos deaths on Family Search and started slowly scrolling from 4 March 1832 forward. One thing I have noticed is that a surprising number of people were baptized, married, and died in and around the little village of Taos every year. In spite of that, it did not take me long to locate the January 1834 death of Pedro Ygnacio Espinosa. Other than his death date, this does not reveal any new information. I already knew that he was the widower of Maria Gertrudis Gonzales.