Tabitha Barnes, Mother of Treacy

      ©  Kathy Duncan, 2025

My husband's ancestor, Ralph Henderson Byrum, was the son of John Byrum and Lucretia or Treacy Barnes, who were living in Madison County, Tennessee by 1850. With them was an older woman named Tabitha Barnes, who was assumed to be Treacy's mother. Not much was ever found about Treacy even though researchers knew that the Byrums had come from Edgecombe County, North Carolina, since John Byrum and Treacy Barnes married in Edgecombe County, North Carolina on 17 January 1832. Enter the full-text search on Family Search to change all that.

On the 1850 census, John Byrum was 40 and born in North Carolina, and wife Treacy was 35 and born in North Carolina. Their children were eight children Justice - 18, born NC; Henry - 16,  born NC; Rhea - 14, born NC; Rufus - 11, born NC; Micajah - 9, born TN; Winneford - 7, born TN; John R. T. - 3, born TN; William F - 0, born, TN. In addition, there was Tabitha Barns - 58, born NC; and Amanda Barns - 14, born NC. 

The census reveals that the Byrums moved from North Carolina to Tennessee sometime between 1839 and 1841. That's a narrow window. Tabitha Barns is old enough to be Treacy's mother. Amanda Barns is old enough to be either Tabitha's daughter or granddaughter. Tabitha's husband has been a mystery. Additionally, a firm connection between Tabitha and Treacy has not been established.

Less than an hour with the full-text search answered most of these questions. 

This account record from Edgecombe County neatly ties together John Byrum, Treacy, and Tabitha Barnes:

Teresa Barnes, now Teresa Byrum, orphan of Jesse Barnes dec's, with Tabitha Barnes as her guardian. John Byrum signed this document, which was recorded in February 1832 - just a month after the marriage of Treacy and John. 

Earlier records in Edgecombe County reveal that Tabitha was the relict of Jesse Barnes. Her share of his estate was one-third and Teresa's was two-thirds. Those documents also reveal that he died in January of 1817. My takeaway is that he probably did not have any other children since no one else seemed to be entitled to a share of his estate.

On 23 August 1839, Tabitha Barnes, John Byrum, and Tracy Byrum joined together to sell the land that Tabitha and Tracy had inherited from Jesse Barnes. This would have been around the time that they were all preparing to move to Tennessee. My conclusion is that Tracy Byrum was the daughter of Jesse and Tabitha Barnes.

So who was Amanda Barnes? That's where it gets really interesting. Amanda Barnes is clearly not the daughter of Jesse Barnes. Jesse died in 1817 while Amanda was born in 1836. There is no indication that Tabitha remarried to another Barnes. Amanda cannot be the daughter of Tracy (Barnes) Byrum since she was born four years after Tracy and John Byrum married - that would make her a Byrum not a Barnes.

The full-text search cleared up this matter, too. In 1836, Tabitha Barnes was named in a bastardy bond action in the Edgecombe County Court Minutes:

Transcript: Ordered that George W. Luster pay until Court Fifteen Dollars & Ten Dollars annually for the next succeeding six years commencing from this Term for support of a Bastard Child begotten on the Body of Tabitha Barnes. 

This record corresponds to the birth date of Amanda Barnes - about 1836. At that time, Tabitha Barnes would have been about 44 years old - not too old to have another child.

There were a surprisingly large number of illegitimate children born in early Edgecombe County.  I am not sure that bearing an illegitimate resulted in a large amount of social stigma. There were several cases of young couples suing the father of the wife's illegitimate child for support - a child that she was either pregnant with or had born before or after her marriage to another man. Obviously, having an illegitimate child did not make a woman an undesirable marriage partner. 

At this time, I am still searching for Tabitha Barne's parents. There is a surprisingly large number of Tabithas living in early Edgecombe County, so I can't narrow much down that way. 

Tracy (Barnes) Byrum's formal name Lucretia might help me find a connection. There were several Jesse Barnes in Edgecombe County, and I don't have them sorted out yet.