Nancy Evelyn (Turner) Byrum

©  Kathy Duncan, 2019

This evening I was thinking that it was odd that the Bolivar, Tennessee newspapers did not note the passing of Nancy Evelyn (Turner) Byrum if she did, in fact, die in Hardeman County. I've searched for it several times and found nothing.

I decided to give it another go, but to search for it manually rather than using a search engine. Through Chronicling America, I was able to isolate the Bolivar Bulletin to the front page of each issue. Since Nancy supposedly died on 3 February 1882, I selected the 9 February 1882 issue and started reading. On page three, I found the following death notice from Clover Port:

The search function could not locate this notice because the name Byrum is on two lines and divided with a hyphen. Now I have my answer. Nancy Evelyn (Turner) Byrum, wife of Ralph Byrum did die in Hardeman County, Tennessee in February of 1882. Additionally, I have the added information that she died of typhoid fever.

I stumbled over this notice while looking for the marriage records of Margaret Enola Byrum, daughter of Ralph and Nancy, to Thomas Jefferson Graham. I was a year off in my search because some had entered their marriage date in FamilySearch as 21 December 1881 instead of 1880. That error led to this additional bit of information. By 22 December 1881, the Byrum household was already besieged by typhoid fever with most the member will.

Notice that this article has the search engine issue as the previous notice. The name Byrum is on two lines and divided with a hyphen.

This still leaves me with questions about where Nancy was buried? My best guess is that she is buried near her parents, Andrew and Levina (Chisum) Turner. What happened to her tombstone? It has never turned up any search for a tombstone record for her in Hardeman County.

Maggie Smith, Daughter of Abner and Martha Frances Chapman

©  Kathy Duncan, 2019

Margaret L. "Mattie" Chapman, daughter of Abner and Martha Frances (Meadows) Chapman, of Titus County, Texas was a loose end in my research for many years. Recently, she was revealed in newspaper searches which began tying her to her Chapman siblings.

The first of these newspaper clippings was a death notice for Vince A. Chapman who died in Mt. Pleasant, Titus County, Texas in 1942. This clipping turned up in a Red River County newspaper because that's where sister Maggie Smith lived. Maggie or one of her children placed this news item as a way of letting her community know that her brother had died. Not only does this clipping tell me that Maggie had married a Smith, but she was also still living in 1942 and was in Johnstown, Texas. That information helps me sort her out of all the possible Maggie Smiths living at the time.

Vince A. Chapman's full obituary appeared in a Mt. Pleasant, Texas newspaper in 1942. Exact date unknown:

Pioneer of County Dies Early Friday of Lengthy Illness - V.A. Chapman Passes Away at Age of 87 at Damascus Home - V.A. Chapman, pioneer resident of Titus County, passed away at his home in the Damascus community at 3:00 o’clock Friday morning at the age of 87 years. He had been in poor health for some time, and his death was not unexpected, because of his advanced age. Mr. Chapman moved to this county when two years of age, and spend [sic] 85 years of his life on the farm where he died. He was highly respected, and his death will [be] mourned by a large circle of friends.

            Besides his widow, Mr. Chapman is survived by two sons and a daughter--J.R. Chapman and Mrs. Lee Sinclair of this county and Abner Chapman of Grand Prairie. He also leaves a brother and sister, Ike Chapman of Texarkana and Mrs. Maggie Smith of Johntown. Eighteen grandchildren and twenty great-grandchildren are also survivors.

            Funeral services were held at the Damascus [sic] Baptist Church, of which he had been a faithful member for many years, at 4:30 o’clock Friday afternoon, under the direction of Rev. T.P. Lee and Rev. Don Rogers. Grandchildren acted as pallbearers and interment took place at the nearby cemetery. 

The next clipping appeared five years later. In this one, Ike Chapman, who was brother Isaac R. Chapman, was visiting his sister Maggie Smith in Johntown. At that time, he was residing in Texarkana. Now I have two clippings that link Maggie Smith to two known Chapman brothers.

The next newspaper clipping mentions Dezzie Bardwell of Oklahoma, visiting her aunt Maggie Smith. I know from my research that Dezzie Bardwell was the daughter of Georgia Ann (Chapman) Duffee, who was the sister of Maggie Chapman - now identified as Maggie Smith. Additionally, I know from my research that Mrs. John Brown was Lela Martha Duffee, a sister to Dezzie Bardwell and another daughter of Georgia Ann (Chapman) Duffee. As a bonus, Lela Martha Duffee had married the brother of my great-grandfather Toy M. Brown.

Now that I am comfortable in my identification of Maggie Smith of Johntown, Red River County, Texas as my grandfather's aunt Margaret L. Chapman, I can dig into researching her further.

Next, I located Maggie Smith's obituary. Maggie died a few months after Ike's visit. In her obituary, he is the unnamed brother living in Texarkana. From her obituary, I am able to gather the names of her surviving children. They present the usual challenge of women whose identities are masked by their husband's names.

Her obituary does confirm that Maggie (Chapman) Smith's formal name was Margaret L. Smith and that she was born in Titus County, Texas on 1 May 1873, which fits with what is known about the daughter of Abner and Martha Frances (Meadows) Chapman.

Abner Chapman and Martha Frances Meadows - Titus County, Texas

©  Kathy Duncan, 2019

My great-great-grandparents were Abner and Martha Frances (Meadows) Chapman of Titus County, Texas. After my great-grandmother Maggie (Cawthon) Chapman was widowed, she and her children lived off-and-on with her mother-in-law Martha Chapman. My grandfather recalled fishing with his grandmother Chapman. He grew up surrounded by his aunts and uncles.

Here's a short rundown of the Chapman household:

Abner Chapman, son of Ambrose Chapman of Marion County, Georgia, was born 30 November 1833 in Georgia. Ambrose Chapman's wife was Elizabeth Griggs, but I cannot document that she was Abner's mother. Abner married Martha Frances Meadows, daughter of Vincent T. Meadows and Martha E. King. She was born 24 June 1834 in Georgia.

Martha Frances Chapman

My grandfather always said that the Meadows were from Troup County, Georgia, but I'm not sure that Martha Frances was born in that county. I have never found a marriage record for them, but they must have married by 1851 or 1852. The Chapmans were in Texas, probably Titus County, by early 1859 when daughter Georgia Ann (Chapman) Duffee was born.

A list of their known children:

1. John Thomas "Tom" Chapman b. c. 1853 in Georgia
2. Vincent A. "Vince" Chapman b. 20 November 1854 in Georgia
3. James Martin Chapman b. 15 May 1857 in Georgia
4. Georgia Ann Chapman b. 10 February 1859 in Texas
5. Susan A Chapman b. between 1859 and 1860 in Texas
6. William Sargent Chapman b. 23 February 1868 in Texas
7. Martha L. "Mattie" Chapman b. 20 February 1869 in Texas
8. Margaret L "Maggie" Chapman b. 1 May 1873 in Texas
9. Isaac R. "Ike" Chapman b. 29 February 1876 in Texas

Of these children, Martha, or Mattie as the family called her, died young when her dress caught on fire because she ventured too close to the fireplace. She died as a result of her burns on 30 June 1881 and is buried in Damascus Cemetery in Mt. Pleasant, Titus County, Texas.

Damascus Cemetery at Mt. Pleasant, Titus County, Texas

One of the aunts who I don't remember my grandfather speaking much about was Margaret L. Chapman. She was a loose end in my records for many years. However, recently I have been able to figure out what happened to her. It is startlingly to have found her in such close proximity to my grandparents. All of them were living in Red River County, Texas. More on Maggie Chapman in a future post.

Ambrose L Babb et al

©  Kathy Duncan, 2019

In 1878, Sarah E (Berry) Babb took the precaution of having herself named as the guardian of her own children. She took this measure because they were the heirs of their deceased father's estate, and she wanted to take control of their legal interests. Normally, we don't think of parents being named guardians of their own children, but this practice was not uncommon. This frequently happens when the deceased parent is the heir of another estate. In this case, Ambrose L. Babb and Johnie Ann Babb were the heirs of their grandmother Elizabeth (Lewis) Babb, the daughter of John D. Lewis of McNairy County, Tennessee. In 1872, thirty years after the death of John D. Lewis, the children of Elizabeth (Lewis) Babb were suing their step-mother and her children over land bought on Elizabeth's behalf with the money she inherited from her father. That land happened to be land owned by her father John Lewis. Bryant v. Fitzpatrick names the children, grandchildren, and siblings of Elizabeth (Lewis) Babb. Among those named are Lafayette A. Babb and Johnie A. Babb and "their next friend S.E. Babb." Evidently, in 1878, Sarah E. Babb is still expecting her children to collect their father's share.

The guardianship was filed in Waxahachie, Ellis County, Texas under Ambrose L. Babb's name rather his guardian's name.

One of the key documents of the guardianship names S.E. Babb as the mother of Johnann Babb and Ambrose Lafayette Babb. It further states that they were entitled to a small estate in Tennessee. Unfortunately, it does not name their father, their grandmother, their great-grandfather, or the location of the estate in Tennessee. However, it does tie together these three individuals to an inheritance in Tennessee and suggests that S.E. Babb's husband was deceased before 1878.

Sarah E (Berry) Babb Pension

©  Kathy Duncan, 2019

It turns out that Sarah E (Berry) Babb did apply for a Texas Confederate Widows Pension based on the service of her husband John M. Babb. This is the only document that I've found for her, and this is Sarah's death record. Missing are the documents concerning her husband's military service and their marriage. Without those documents, it is still difficult to pinpoint exactly which John M. Babb, who died during the war, was her husband.

Sarah E. (Berry) Babb, wife of John M. Babb

©  Kathy Duncan, 2019

Lafayette A. and Johnnie A. Babb, minors under the age of twenty-one, were represented by "their next friend," Sarah E. Babb in the 1871 lawsuit of Bryant v. Fitzpatrick. That suit involved the children of Green and Elizabeth (Lewis) Babb against their step-mother Mary Jane (Broom) Babb, their half-siblings, and Mary Jane' second husband John Fitzpatrick.

Green and Elizabeth (Lewis) Babb seem to have three sons who died during the Civil War: Kibble T. Babb, William Babb, and John Babb. Sarah E. apparently married one of them and had two surviving children by him. The question was to figure out which one. The following documents indicate that the son was John Babb.


In 1860, eighteen-year-old Sarah E. Babb, born in Alabama, was in the same household as twenty-three-year-old John W Babb, who was born in Mississippi. This John is the same age as the son of Green and Elizabeth (Lewis) Babb's son John. It is interesting to note that they live next door to another John Babb.

Next, S. E. Babb and children Ambrose and Johnie A Babb appear on the 1880 Ellis County, Texas census. Next door is a boarder named James Berry, who later documents revealed to be Sarah's brother.

The next reference is to the tragic death of Ambrose Babb. He was struck by a train near Greenville County, Texas on 1 September 1890. The initial report confused him with J. G. Babb, a long-time resident of Hunt County. J. G. Babb was John Green Babb, who was a first cousin to Ambrose Babb and near to him in age. John Green Babb was the son of Ambrose's uncle Joel Milton Babb, another participant in the Bryant v. Fitzpatrick suit.

In addition to reinterring Ambrose Babb in East Mount Cemetery in Greenville, Texas, his mother purchased a tombstone for him which revealed his name to be Ambrose L. Babb. Therefore his name would have been Ambrose Lafayette Babb.

The following November, Sarah E. Babb decided to file a lawsuit against the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas railway for wrongful death.

In July of 1899, The Dallas Morning News indicated that Sarah E. Babb was among the widows and veterans applying for a pension based on the service of her husband John M. Babb. So far, I have not found that application.

Almost exactly three years later, Sarah E. Babb joined with her mother Emaline (Brookshire) Berry Conn, her sisters, and her many nieces and nephews to seek citizenship in the Mississippi Choctaw based on the notion that her grandfather James Brookshire was part Choctaw. Their applications were denied, but their family connections were revealed.

Sarah E. Babb stated that she was born in Marshall County, Alabama then moved to Tishomingo County, Mississippi, then moved to McNairy County, Tennessee, then back to Mississippi and back to Tennessee again before removing to Texas. She would have crossed paths with Green and Elizabeth (Lewis) Babb's son in either McNairy County, TN or Tishomingo County, MS. Her statements in this application clarified that her husband was John M. Babb and that her one surviving child was daughter Johnie Ann (Babb) Cox of Ferris, Texas. Her parents were Martin H. Berry and Emaline Brookshire.

Sarah E. (Berry) Babb died on 4 July 1923 at the home of her daughter Johnie Ann (Babb) Cox in Ferris, Ellis County, Texas. In her later years, Sarah lived sometimes in Dallas and sometimes in the home of her daughter. She was buried in the Grove Hill Memorial Park Cemetery in Dallas, Texas.

G. D. Nevill, Maryland News Item

©  Kathy Duncan, 2019

Genealogy happens in tidbits, and it often flows in dribbles.

This newspaper item about G. D. Nevill being arrested for the murder of L. C. West in Arkansas in 1879 is not necessarily new information. It is interesting that the news item made it as far as the Cumberland Times of Cumberland, Maryland paper.

What is most interesting is the information that someone tried to burn the jail down a few days before Grandison D. "Granville" Nevill was in it!