Peter Johnson, 1866

       ©  Kathy Duncan, 2025

While tracking Elizabeth Jane (Johnson) Selvy, I took another stab at finding her brother, the elusive Peter Johnson. The only record of him has been the 1850 Pike County, Illinois census, when he was 16 years old and living at home with his parents, Samuel and Esther A. (Bryant) Johnson. 

Since he was not with the Johnsons or around them in 1860, it seemed likely that he died young or moved to another location. However, the U.S. census won't give up his location.

In a newspaper database, I tried to search for him one more time. I entered "Peter Johnson" and "Pike County, Illinois" in hopes that I would find an obituary that stated where he had come from. I have started entering my terms in the keyword search instead of the last name and first name fields because it helps with narrowing my search. I did not designate a state or dates for my search since I wanted to catch Peter Johnson living anywhere in the U.S. and anytime after 1850.  However, I sorted my results by the oldest publication. I was prepared to follow that search up with variations in abbreviating the words Illinois and county. However, I got lucky with my first set of search results.  

I found a newspaper clipping that related the death of Peter Johnson in Sutter County, California, on 30 June 1866. 

This Peter Johnson was the right age to be the Peter Johnson I was seeking, and he was certainly from the right location. All the other Peter Johnsons with Pike County, Illinois, connections that I have ever tracked down were either too old, too young, or Swedish immigrants. 

Besides telling me that this Peter Johnson was 31 years old and from Pike County, Illinois, this clipping tells me who he was working for, the events leading up to his death, where he died, and that he had served Co. G, 2nd Cavalry, California volunteers.

The next step was to locate Peter Johnson's service records on Fold3.

He is records confirmed his age and added that he was born in Pike County, Illinois. 

While in Sacramento, California, he had enlisted near the end of the war for a period of three years.

He was mustered out on 1 February 1866, just months before he was injured on A. L. Chandler's farm.

A.L. Chandler was a prominent farmer living west of Nicolaus, California, in Sutter County. His "ranch" and residence were featured in the 1879 History of Sutter County, California. This illustration of the ranch includes A. L. Chandler's farm equipment and thresher in use:

Chandler's house was substantial:

Peter Johnson had only worked for Chandler for a short time before his death. He probably was not well known by Chandler or the other farm hands. The fact that Chandler searched Peter's papers suggests that he was looking for information on family members to contact. I wonder if Peter's papers contained that information and if word made it back to Pike County that he had died, or was Peter Johnson another young man who went west and was never heard from again?

Peter Johnson's death in 1866 would explain why I've found no newspaper clippings about him or his children visiting the Brown family in Dewitt County, Illinois or the Lacy family in Kansas. This is also one less avenue for getting additional information about the Johnson and Bryant ancestors. 

Nancy (Johnson) Brown and Elizabeth Jane (Johnson) Selvy, sisters

     ©  Kathy Duncan, 2025

Finding Esther (Bryant) Johnson Lacy's death notice a couple of weeks ago, after seeking it for years, was exciting. That success prompted me to lean into the Bryant-Johnson-Lacy family for my Halloween project. 

My first step was to search Kansas newspapers for the Lacy siblings, who were the children of Esther Bryant and her second husband, Robert Lacy. That's where I found a "new" piece of information. C. Selby and his wife were visiting his uncle, A. C. Lacy, and his aunts, Mrs. Henry Pearmain and Mrs. S. C. Brown. Those aunts were Frances L. (Lacy) Pearmain and  Amanda (Lacy) Brown. 

Since the uncle and aunts were all Lacy siblings, my first thought was that Selby was the son of one of the Lacy sisters. However, as far as I knew, none of them had ever married a Selby. Searching for more information on C. Selby turned up nothing. 

Selby returned in 1916 and was still referred to as being a nephew of A. C. Lacy. This clipping from The Buffalo Blade added the given name Cade, but nothing turned up on Cade Selby. 

Fortunately, a different newspaper provided different information. The Fredonia Weekly Herald reported that Cade Selvy (not Selby) was visiting his uncle A.C. Lacey and that Selvy was a special officer for the Santa Fe [railroad]. Selvy was the "correct" spelling. Plenty of information about Cade Selvy turned up. He seemed to be everywhere in newspapers. 

Still, I had no clue exactly how he was connected to the Lacys. I turned to Family Search, where his mother was listed as Elizabeth Jane Johnson, married to George W. Selvy. Someone had added the information that she was born in Pike County, Illinois. 

It took a hot minute to realize that Cade Selvy's mother was the Johnson sister I started searching for a few years ago. Specifically, she was the daughter of Esther Bryant by her first marriage to Samuel Johnson; she was a half-sister to the children Esther Bryant had from her second marriage to Robert Lacy. Everything pointed to Elizabeth Jane (Johnson) Selvy being a sister to Nancy (Johnson) Brown, wife of John DeLoss Brown, and a half-sister to the Lacy siblings. 

However, I really wanted hard proof that there was a connection. The morning after Halloween brought this newspaper clipping from The Albuquerque Daily Citizen of 1895:

Mrs. J. D. Brown [Mrs. John DeLoss Brown/Nancy Johnson] had traveled from Wellington, Illinois [a misspelling of Weldon, Illinois] to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she met her sister E. J. Selvy [Elizabeth Jane], who had traveled in from Gallup, New Mexico. E. J. Selvy was the mother of Cade Selvy, who visited the Lacy family in Kansas. The two sisters had not seen each other since 1861. That's a post in and of itself. Mrs. J. D. Brown was also there to visit her son J.H. Brown [Joel Herbert Brown] who worked for the Atlantic & Pacific [railroad] shops in Albuquerque. From there Mrs. J.H. Brown planned to travel to Fresno, California to visit another son [probably Charles A. Brown]. 

I have to wonder how this reunion came about after 34 years. It is possible that the two sisters kept up a correspondence with each other over the years. It is also possible that their sons crossed paths in Albuquerque and realized that their mothers were sisters - Joel H Brown may have recognized the Selvy name and asked questions. Cade Selvy was also employed by the Atlantic & Pacific railroad at times, so it would have been natural for him to be in the yard and shops where he might run into J.H. Brown.  

Esther A. (Bryant) Johnson Lacy died 1881

    ©  Kathy Duncan, 2025

Esther (Bryant) Johnson married her second husband, Robert Lacy, 22 March 1848, in Pike County, Illinois. They had at least eight known children in addition to the four children that Esther had by her first husband, Samuel Johnson.

By 1868, Esther and Robert Lacy had moved to Kansas. After years of searching, I have finally found Esther's death notice in one of those "twenty-years-ago" newspaper columns. To be more precise, this column was news from twenty-two years ago. I have not yet found the original notice.

According to this notice, Esther A. (Bryant) Johnson Lacy died on 25 August 1881 in Clifton Twp., Wilson County, Kansas. To date, I have not found a place of burial for her. I suspect that she and her husband, Robert Lacy, are in unmarked graves.

Nancy (Johnson) Brown's Obit, 1911

   ©  Kathy Duncan, 2021

The obituary for Nancy (Johnson) Brown eluded me for a long time. I thought there should be one since the Browns were a prominent family in the little village of Weldon, Illinois, at the turn of the twentieth century. But repeated searches turned up nothing. I did find a few social notices that referred to Nancy's bad health, but nothing about her death.

To find this, I went to the Weekly Pantagraph of Bloomington, Illinois, a newspaper that routinely reported news from Weldon. Then I went to the newspaper issued right after her death and went through it page by page. When I found it, I saw that the problem was that the paper had her listed as "Mrs. John A. Brown" instead of Mrs. John D. Brown. Even though I had searched for her under just the name "John Brown," I had not pulled it up in my search results.

This obituary is woefully thin on information. Her given name Nancy is not included nor is her maiden name, Johnson. As is typical in that time period, her identity is submerged in her husband's.  Her children are only listed as numbers and genders, not names. Her husband's name is incorrect. The one piece of information that connects this obit to her is a birthdate that matches the one on her tombstone in the Nixon Township Cemetery in Weldon. The place of birth, Milton, Illinois, confirms my suspicions. 

I had hoped for information about her parents, Samuel and Esther (Bryant) Johnson. Searching later issues of the Weekly Pantagraph did not turn up more. 

Johnsons in Samuel Johnson's Sphere

©  Kathy Duncan, 2020

This could just as easily be called the curse of the common name.

In my efforts track Samuel Johnson, who married Esther Bryant, who died in Pike County, Illinois prior to 1848, and who left four orphan children, I am been trying to locate ANY other Johnson associated with him. To date, I've found three possibilities.

First up is Martha Johnson, age 74 in 1860. She was living in the household of Isaac S. and Catherine (Hay) Brown. Martha Johnson was born in New York:

This Martha Johnson is worth noting because Isaac  S. Brown's son John Deloss Brown married Samuel Johnson's daughter Nancy Johnson in Pike County three years prior to this census in 1857. In 1850 Martha Johnson was living alone in her own household in the same community. That census showed her with $100 in real estate. It's also worth noting that Isaac S. Brown's mother-in-law Amy Hay who is also in the household in 1860 was born in New York, too. So far, I don't know how Martha Johnson might connect to Samuel Johnson. Since she is a contemporary of Amy Hay, I could speculate that she was Samuel Johnson's mother. The Brown's might taken in Nancy (Johnson) Brown's grandmother. She could be an aunt of Samuel's. If Samuel was many years older than his wife Esther Bryant, then Martha might be his old maid sister or his widowed sister-in-law. However, Martha Johnson's New York birthplace might indicate a connection to Amy Hay. They could have been sisters. Since they are the same age, could they have been twin sisters? The only thing I can figure out is that Martha Johnson had $100 in real estate that I need to locate in the deed records. Knowing how she acquired it and how she disposed of it may shed some light on her connection.

Next up is John A. Johnson, who witnessed this 1834 land deed transaction for Samuel Johnson in Pike County, Illinois:

Before I get into John A. Johnson, can I just say how sweet it is to see Esther's name on this deed? Since it is dated in 1834 and eldest son Pete Johnson was born about 1834, I feel more confident that Esther was the mother of all the Johnson children. That has been a question mark in my mind since Esther was only 34 in 1850 and Pete Johnson was already 16. That means she was a very young bride and mother.

This John Johnson seems most likely to be relative of some sort. Brother or father seems like the best possibility. Although, cousin or uncle cannot be ruled out. Now that I look at this, I don't think I can be certain that the middle initial is an A. So I just stopped writing and took a moment to search for capital As among this clerk's capital letters. As luck would have it, I did not have to look far. This deed was from Samuel Johnson to R. R. Green and Austin Barber. Here's what Austin Barber's name looks like earlier in the text:

Based on this, I'd say John Johnson's middle initial is an A. I have not had much luck tracking John A. Johnson. I need to look for him in the land deeds. Then what?

I've saved the best and most puzzling for last. William Johnson of Burr Oak, Kansas came calling on his cousin Nancy (Johnson) Brown in 1894. She was living in Weldon, DeWitt Co., IL at the time. I believe the clipping is accurate in identifying this William is a cousin. Nancy did not have any brothers named William, and as far as I can tell, she did not have a nephew named William.

In 1900 there was a William Johnson in Burr Oak, Jewell County, Kansas who was divorced and living with his grown son Edward C. Johnson. I've located William's ex-wife and his other children, and I've tracked William back to the 1880 census. However, I have not definitively linked this William Johnson to his parents. Knowing who is father was might provide the key to solving my Samuel Johnson problem.

Tracking Samuel and Esther (Bryant) Johnson Through Their Children

©  Kathy Duncan, 2020

Tracking the origins of Samuel Johnson and his wife Esther Bryant has been especially difficult, partly because I don't know where they married or where they were born. According to family tradition, Samuel Johnson was an early settler of Pike County, Illinois, and he and Esther were from Kentucky.

Samuel Johnson was mostly likely deceased by 22 March 1848 when Esther married Robert C. Lacy in Pike County, Illinois. In 1850, they were still living in Pike County with four of the Johnson children and their own first child.

It is through the younger Johnson children that I know what I know about Samuel and Esther. One of Nancy (Johnson) Brown's sons-in-law, specifically A. F. Miller was featured in the Portrait and Biographical Album Sangamon County published in 1891 when both John D. and Nancy (Johnson) Brown were still living. That text details that Nancy's father was Samuel Johnson:

"John D. Brown, father of Mrs. Miller, was reared in Pike County, where he married Miss Nancy Johnson, a native of that county, and a daughter of Samuel Johnson, who was born in Kentucky, but is numbered among the early settlers of Pike County."

 Nancy's younger brother, Richard M. Johnson, died on 10 September 1923 in Lovington, Moultrie County, Illinois. His death certificate reveals that his parents were Samuel Johnson and Esther Bryant, and that is the source for Esther's maiden name.

That leaves the older two Johnson children to research: Pete Johnson, born c 1834 in Illinois, and Elizabeth Johnson, born c. 1836 in Illinois. They have proven to be more difficult. None of the Johnson children are still with Robert and Esther (Bryant) Lacy in 1860. That leaves limited possibilities for what happened to them. Either they died young, married, or branched out on their own to unknown locations.

My next step is to look for them in the marriages of Pike County, Illinois, since I am guessing that they may have married in the years preceding the marriages of their younger Johnson siblings in Pike County and before the Lacy family removed to Kansas. That narrows my search for them to 1850 - 1869. The following marital unions in Pike County are possibilities:

1. Miss Eliza Johnson married Isaac Dalbo on 12 February 1852 in Pike County.

The descendants of Isaac Dalbow have identified their ancestress as Eliza Mustard in various death certificates. Certainly, an Eliza Mustard had married an S.S. Johnson in Pike County in 1848. She may very well be the same Eliza who married Isaac Dalbow in 1852. She is tentatively ruled out.

2. Elizabeth Johnson married George W.  Burges on 5 January 1857 in Pike County.

Besides being unable to locate this couple on the 1860 census, it looks like George W. Burgess married Mrs. Elizabeth Johnson. This tentatively rules out this Elizabeth because the Elizabeth Johnson I am looking for would be a single woman.

3. Elizabeth E. Johnson married George W. Pine on 4 April 1867 in Pike County.

The Elizabeth Johnson who married George W. Pine may have been a Johnston. Her marriage in 1867 makes her an outlier because I would expect the Elizabeth that I am looking for to have married earlier. Although she was born in Illinois, multiple census years place this Elizabeth's birth in 1845, which would make her nine years younger than the Elizabeth Johnson I am seeking. This Elizabeth's father was born in Virginia instead of Kentucky.

4. Elizabeth Johnston married William R. Curry on 24 May 1860 in Pike County.

The 1860 Pike County census reveals that Lizzie Curry, wife of W. R. Curry, was only 16 years old. She is too young to be the Elizabeth who was the daughter of Samuel Johnson. Samuel's daughter would have been about 24 in 1860.

5. Peter C. Johnson married Nancy Seelock on 24 January 1861 in Pike County.

Nancy Johnson, wife of  P. C. Johnson, was born 19 January 1842 and died 3 March 1867. She is buried in Summer Hill Cemetery,  Martinsburg Twp. in Pike County, Illinois. That would account for the following marriage of Peter C. Johnson to Amanda Richardson.

6. Peter C. Johnson married Amanda Richardson on 29 November 1868 in Pike County.

On the 1880 Pike County census there is a Peter Johnson married to an Amanda. That Peter was born in 1838 in Illinois, but his parents were both born in New Jersey. If the census is accurate, he is a little too young and his parents were born in the wrong location. He is tentatively ruled out.

My take away at this point is that searching for the low hanging fruit in Pike County did not get me anywhere other than to rule people out. Should I consider that both Peter and Elizabeth went with the Lacy family to Kansas in 1869 and found spouses there? Then there is the possibility that they married in Illinois but in a neighboring county. But where? I am not ready to assume that they died young.

Elizabeth (Lewis) Babb's Children

©  Kathy Duncan, 2019

Elizabeth (Lewis) Babb was a daughter of John Lewis who died in McNairy County, Tennessee in 1842/43. It is possible to construct a list of Elizabeth Lewis and Green B. Babb's children based on the 1850 and 1860 U.S. census and on the 1871 lawsuit of  F.A. Bryant v. John Fitzpatrick.

The 1850 McNairy County, Tennessee census implies that Green and Elizabeth Babb's children are

1. Susan Babb age 17 born in Alabama
2. Terry Babb age 16 born in Alabama
3. William Babb age 15 born in Mississippi
4. John Babb age 13 born in Mississippi
5. Milton Babb age 11 born in Mississippi
6. Jane Babb age 9 born in Mississippi
7. Ann Babb age 2 born in Tennessee

The Bryant T. Babb, age 21, is the son of Celia (Lewis) and William Babb. Matilda Babb, age 17, is either Bryant's sister or wife.

By 1860, Green Babb had married Mary Jane Broom. Two of Green and Elizabeth (Lewis) Babb's daughters are living in this household along with three of Green and Mary J (Broom) Babb's children.

Children of Green and Elizabeth (Lewis) Babb:

6. Jane C. Babb age 18 born in Mississippi

7. Matyann Babb age 12 born in Tennessee

Children of Green and Mary Jane (Broom) Babb:

8. Martha O Babb age 4 born in Tennessee

9. Thomas J. Babb age 3 born in Tennessee

10. James Babb age 1 born in Tennessee

The Bryant v. Fitzpatrick lawsuit helps to further identify these children. F.A. Bryant was representing the heirs of Elizabeth (Lewis) Babb. They are named as "F A Bryant and wife Jane C Bryant Franklin P. Christopher C Elizabeth J. Sarah V. and May Josephine Mitchell the last five of whom are minors under that age of twenty one years who file their Bill by Jos M Mitchell their next friend Lafayette A. and Johnnie A Babb who are minors under the age of twenty one years and sue by their next friend Sarah E Babb residents of said State of Tennessee, Joel M Babb, and Witty A Anderson (formerly Witty A Babb) residents of the State of Texas Complainants."

They sort out to be the following (with the same numbers as above):

 1. Susan (Babb) Mitchell, dec'd. She married James Mitchell. Their children represented in the suit are Franklin P. Mitchell, Christopher C. Mitchell, Elizabeth J. Mitchell, Sarah V. Mitchell, and May Josephine Mitchell.

5. Joel Milton Babb

6. Jane Catherine Babb married Francis A. Bryant

7. MatyAnn Babb married Edwin Taylor Anderson and lived in Hunt County, Texas

Three of Green and Elizabeth (Lewis) Babb's sons are missing from the lawsuit: Kibble Terry Babb, William Babb, and John Babb. Given the wording of the lawsuit, it seems likely that all three of them are deceased, but only one of them left children. Those children would be Lafayette A. Babb and Johnnie A. Babb, who are represented by "their next friend" Sarah E. Babb - likely the widow. 

The minor children represented by John Fitzpatrick, the second husband of Mary Jane (Broom) Lewis Fitzpatrick are Martha, Thomas, James, Samuel, & Joel Babb.

Those children correspond to the 1860 census:

8. Martha Babb

9. Thomas Babb

10. James Babb

11. Samuel Babb born after the 1860 census

12. Joel Babb born after the 1860 census

John Lewis's 1843 Will Follow Up

©  Kathy Duncan, 2019

The period copy of John Lewis's will that was filed in Tishomingo County, Mississippi prompts me to make several observations in comparing it to the documents in the F.A. Bryant et al lawsuit against Mary Jane Fitzpatrick et al. One of those documents being the will as remembered by Joel D. Lewis in 1871.

First, a few key dates:
1. The original will was dated 14 January 1840 in Jackson County, AL
2. The original will was proven 18 October 1843 in McNairy County, TN
3. A copy of the will was filed 16 November 1843 in Tishomingo County, MS
4. The copy of the will was recorded 16 December 1843 in Tishomingo County, MS
5. Son Joel D. Lewis wrote the will at his father's direction and tried to recreate its
contents for his niece Jane Catherine (Babb) Bryant on 15 March 1871
6. The McNairy County, TN courthouse burned 1881, destroying probate records prior to 1871 so that there are no period records of the type that provide valuable information about family connections: the inventory of John Lewis's property, the two day auction with a list of purchasers, a thorough list of legatees, and the list of expenses which sometimes reveal if a tombstone was purchased among other possibilities.

In the Tishomingo County copy of the will, the eldest son is named as William instead of Wiley. Based on the collective group of documents in the lawsuit and on other documents that show Henry's full name as William Henry Lewis, I would say that the name in the Tishomingo County copy is miscopied and should have been Wiley. My guess is that one of the county clerks assumed that Wiley was short for William and switched the name to what he perceived to be the formal version of the name. Joel D. Lewis's version makes a distinction between his brothers' names that I think can be trusted. Significantly, Wily was left five dollars just as Joel recalled. We know from the Sharp deposition that John Lewis considered his son Wiley to be irresponsible and "reckless," so this was his way of both providing tough love and disinheriting Wiley.

Celia is not designated as being deceased in the Tishomingo County copy, which leads me to believe that she was not deceased at the time John Lewis was writing his will, but that she may have predeceased her father so that her brother Joel D. Lewis remembered her as being deceased at the time of the will's writing even though she apparently was not. This would probably put her death as occurring between the writing of the will in January 1840 and its date of proving in October 1843.

None of the daughters in the Tishomingo County copy appear with their married names. Fortunately, Joel D. Lewis provided these in his version. Joel also seemed to think that the will provided the names of some of the grandchildren, which it did not.

Then there is the matter of Daniel A. Lewis. The will makes clear that Daniel A. Lewis is being disinherited. It leaves him one dollar and gives his child's share to his first wife and children. It is clear from the will that Daniel A. Lewis is living at the time. John Lewis seems to be under the impression that daughter-in-law Betsy Ann (Young) Lewis is still alive at the time he wrote his will even though she does not seem to be on the 1840 census. Her parents' 1840 household contains several children young enough to be grandchildren, but there is not a tick mark for a woman old enough to be Betsy. Logically, it would seem that the grandparents would need their adult daughter to be living with them to help in caring for all those children. Here is a short list of possibilities for what has happened to Betsy: 1.) she died between the writing of John Lewis's will on 14 January 1840 and the beginning of the census on 1 June 1840; 2.) she is living but the census taker neglected to put a tick mark for her in her father's household; 3.) she is working elsewhere as a servant and is included in another household; 4.) she is ill and being cared for in another relative's household; 5.) she is deceased before the writing of John Lewis's will, and he is not aware of it.

In any event, it is clear that Daniel A. Lewis has done something to cause a serious rift between him and his father. Since only Betsy's children are to inherit from John Lewis's estate it would seem that Daniel has committed some transgression against her or her children that John Lewis finds unforgivable.  That behavior was so unforgivable that no future children of Daniel's are to inherit. What could he have done? He may have divorced Betsy and remarried. He may have deserted Betsy and his children by her. He may have compounded that by taking up with another woman and starting a new family. It's possible he that abandoned his children after Betsy's death without the entanglement of another woman. With the record loss in Jackson County, Alabama, the only way this might be cleared up is through a newspaper record since divorces and desertions were often reported. Whatever Daniel did, John Lewis must have regarded it was worse that Wiley's recklessness since Wiley received five dollars but Daniel only received one dollar.

The original will does not provide a middle initial for John Lewis; however, several documents in the Bryant v. Fitzpatrick lawsuit name him as John D. Lewis. The middle initial for John's son John seems to be an N in the will.

A daughter named Harriet, wife of Kibble T. Daniel, does not appear in this will or in any of the documents included in the Bryant v. Fitzpatrick lawsuit. That suggests that she was not a daughter of John D. Lewis although she may have been a niece or cousin.

There is the question of residence. When exactly did John D. Lewis take up residence in McNairy County, TN? He seems to be living in Jackson County, AL in January 1840, but in McNairy County, TN by 1 June 1840 when the census was taken. However, his daughter Emily seems to have been born in Tennessee in about 1838. Is he moving back and forth?

The will does not mention specific pieces of property, but John D. Lewis at the time of his death John D. Lewis seems to have owned land in Jackson County, Alabama; McNairy County, Tennessee; and Tishomingo County, Mississippi. The land records need further research.

Finally, it was thrilling to see John Lewis's son-in-law and my 3x great-grandfather William Mason acting as surety for John's will.

John Rentfro and the Mysterious Katherine

© Kathy Duncan, 2018

When John Rentfro (also spelled Renfro) died in Gibson County, Tennessee in 1860, he left a brief will naming his children: Joseph D Rentfro, Elizabeth Yarbrough, John N Rentfro, NEH Witherspoon, Mary Ann Harrison, Elan B Rentfro, and Jasper N Rentfro. His will was proven in the July Term 1860 and was recorded in Gibson County, Tennessee will book volume F, page 391.

His will named one additional heir who has been a mystery for many years: Katharine Long aka Henley. His bequest to her included one bedstead, four quilts, one blanket, two sheets, two pillows, undercurtains, one cow, one calf, and $75. In addition, she was to remain in possession of his house and property until it was legally disposed of. John Rentfro had gone to great lengths to ensure that Katherine Long was cared for to some extent. The question is why? At the very least, John Renfro was in need of assistance as of 14 August 1858. It's hard to say if he just needed a housekeeper or if he was ill at this point.

Who was Katharine Long aka Katharine Henley? Theories have ranged from a daughter to a mistress to a housekeeper. John Rentfro's probate case file in Gibson County, Tennessee reveals a great deal about Katharine and about his last days.

In November of 1860, Catherine Smith sued the John Rentfro estate to recover $500 for her labor and for her $75 inheritance:

The following sheet in the probate case file details that Catherine was attending to and nursing John Renfro in the late 1850s. Regrettably, there are no specific dates. 

In August of 1864, Dr. R. M. West sued the estate for medical care for John Renfro. His visits began in September 1859 and increased in frequency in the spring of 1860. His last billable visit was 23 June 1860. It is reasonable to think that John Renfro was in declining health and in need of a caregiver, which is the role Catherine Smith aka Katherine Long aka Katherine Henley filled.

Even John's son John D. Renfro filed an invoice against the estate to be compensated for the care he gave John Renfro. This does not seem outrageous. Instead, he is attempting to recoup some of the estate. J.D. Renfro's invoice, however, adds one important tidbit of information. He attended his father from 4 May 1860 to 12 July 1860. His claim was filed 16 July 1860. I think it is reasonable to say that J.D. Rentfro attended his father until the day of his death - 12 July 1860.

The following is a bill for merchandise from a local merchant. The purchases of shoes and a hat for an ill man seem unusual. The calico seems like it might have been purchased for a woman. The June 28, 1860 charges for burying clothes and coffin linings are telling. It would seem that by June 28, the family had given up hope that John Rentfro would improve. In his spare moments, J. D. Rentfro was probably building his father's coffin while the old man lingered until July 12th. He was about 75 years old when he died.

Jincey (Bryant) Rentfro is not mentioned in either John Rentfro's will or his probate case file. She has evidently predeceased him. 

The following is a promissory note from John Renfro. It shows him still able to attend to his own business in late 1858 and contains his signature.

Catherine Long aka Henley aka Smith has been difficult to identify in the records. In 1860 there is Catherine Smith living with a six-year-old male named James on the Gibson County, Tennessee census. She is living next door to several Henley families. At this point, she is probably still living in John Renfro's house.

Florence May (Brown) Galt's Family Tree

This is the family tree for Florence May Brown, wife of Thomas Reason Galt:

Click on Image to Enlarge

BEULAH FRANCES (GALT) GRAHAM'S CHART:

© Kathy Duncan, 2011

Beulah Frances (GALT) GRAHAM, wife of Walter Ballard GRAHAM 1891 - 1989 Thomas Resin GALT 1860 - 1953 James Junius GALT 1835 - 1923 Thomas GALT Sarah HAPPER Mary Ann BROWN 1838 - Rezin D. BROWN Rachel EARNEST Florence May BROWN 1870 - 1934 John Deloss BROWN 1835 - Isaac S BROWN Catherine E. HAY Nancy JOHNSON 1838 - Samuel JOHNSON Esther BRYANT

Pedigree generated by PedigreeQuery.com