Grandison D. Nevill's Teaching Career

       ©  Kathy Duncan, 2021

Before Virgil Nevill died, he was interviewed by a great-nephew about the Nevill family. In that interview, Virgil revealed that when he was a young boy, he had gone on a short trip with his grandfather, Granville D. Nevill [Grandison D. Nevill Jr.], from Avery, Texas to Mt. Pleasant, Texas. During their journey, they supposedly visited the grave of Granville's father, and the old man told his grandson that he had negative feelings for his father because of his parents' divorce, that his father had been a horse trader and harness maker, that he had a quick temper, that he had been a school teacher, and that they had run a freight line together from Mt. Pleasant, Texas to Jefferson, Texas. Virgil also recalled that his grandfather had a brother that he visited in Beaumont, Texas. Over the years, I have been able to document everything except the freight line.  

On the 1880 census in Crawford County, Arkansas, G. D. Nevill Sr's occupation was listed as being a school teacher.

Crawford County, Arkansas 1880

Teaching seemed to have been a fallback profession for Grandison D. Nevill Sr. Something he could do when he was not operating a tannery or farming or too old to do anything else. 

Many years prior to 1880, Grandison D. Nevill can be found in Stoddard County, Missouri when he was involved in a lawsuit against Ransom Ladd. That suit was in the courts from September 1851 to March 1853. This was in the immediate years after Grandison lost his tannery and property in Dickson County, Tennesse, and after the dissolution of his third marriage to Annette Travis. There were no other Nevills living in Stoddard County on the 1850 census, so he was likely the only Nevill in Stoddard County in 1851. 

The following information can be found in S. C. Turnbo's Early School Days Near Bloomfield: 

"In speaking of early day schools in Southeast Mo., Mr. Austin Brown who has lived many years at Peel, Ark. gives this account. "I was 12 years old [when] I received my first schooling. This was in 1847 and we lived near Bloomfield in Stoddard County. The school was taught in a little log hut by a man of the name of Macum. Some of my school mates were Anthony and Daniel Clubb who were brothers and there were 3 or 4 of the teachers sons and nephew of his was also named Macum. When I was 16 years old or in 1851 a man of the name of Neville taught on Delaware Creek 4 miles west of Bloomfield and I went to it. The only names other than myself that I call to mind who attended this school was Susan Chappelle and her brother Leiper. I studied my lessons in Noah Webster's old Blue Back speller and during the first school I got to Baker and the next one I reached the pictures which pleased me well." 

It is reasonable to think that this teacher was Grandison D. Nevill, and it indicates that he was teaching school as early as 1851. 

Then in 1873, a single man by the name of Nevill was teaching in the Black Fork Township of Scott County, Arkansas. Grandison D. Nevill Jr. had married the daughter of John C. Walker and Hannah Holcomb of Scott County, Arkansas around 1867, and they had moved to Titus County, Texas by 1870. They did not stay there long before returning to Arkansas, probably in the vicinity of her family. It is reasonable to think that Grandison D. Nevill Sr was also in the vicinity since he seems to have lived near his son from 1860 on. Grandison Sr. can be found in Sebastian County in 1863, where Grandison Jr's children married years later. Senior can also be found next door to his son in Crawford County, Arkansas in 1880. His exact location in 1870 is currently unknown. This may have been during the period that the Nevills were running a freight line from Mt. Pleasant to Jefferson. 

This description can be found in the book From Memory's Scrapbook: A History of the Early Days of Scott County, Arkansas vol 2 by P.M. Claunts:

"One of the early teachers of Blackfork valley was Prof. Nevills, to whom the writer attended school when a small boy. This was about 1873, not sure about the year. It was taught in a little log house which stood just north of the valley road about one mile west of the John M. Martin Sr. home and on the north side of Blackfork creek. It was made up of all ages and sizes none being larger than the teacher who weighed bout 200. It was a winter term beginning in September and continuing until the following March. Many children, ten or [?] years of age learned their alphabet at this school and the grown-ups all studied the old McGuffey's, a blue-backed speller and the readers from No. 1 and No. 4, and Ray's arithmetic. At intervals during the day he would have the whole school lay their books aside and sing a little sing-song ditty beginning with the words of two letters and continuing to words of three letters, for example: 'Except that I cannot give the tune---' Ba Be bi-biby-bi bo-biby-bi-bo-bu-biby-bi-bo. (One would have to hear it to appreciate it). Another sing-song was the states and capitals. Beginning at Wisconsin, following with the capital repeating each or since each twice; taking in all the states and capitals. This was not so silly as the "Ba's" for we learned these states and their capitals and the writer can yet repeat them in this sing-song way. Special:--(If any of the Waldron readers want this story verified and a sample of the singing, just make an appointment with Judge W.A. Bates and advertise it and you will have an audience and be well entertained for he attended school to this same teacher, at Vise schoolhouse on Jones Creek). The teacher boarded at the R.G. Richmond home and from this home two boys and three girls attended: Jerry, Ben, Lou (who later became Mrs. L.O. Day), Lila who later became Mrs. Bud Gist, and Mollie, who later became Mrs. John Allen and later Mrs. Aikin, the only surviving member of the Richmond family, at this writing. In this school there were bad boys and pranks as is found in modern schools of today. There was one boy in the school who was from a family where the father had died; the widow, in providing pants for the boy, made a pair shorter but no smaller from a pair of the father's trousers and they were supported by a string over one shoulder. This bad boy would be just behind him when he stood up for his spelling lesson as it was called. It was a warm day and the boy had on no coat; when [he] crossed his legs the string slackened and the bad boy from behind with a sharp knife clipped the string and the show started, with the trousers falling to the floor and the boy in his excited effort to pull them up, hobbled himself and fell, all the time making for the door. When he went out at the door he had only one foot in the trousers and was supporting them in his hand. The teacher like the pupils, could not hold himself and announced: 'recess for dinner.'

It was the next day before this boy showed up at school and he never did know the string was cut, but thought it broke."

It is interesting to me to note that years after Grandison D. Nevill Sr was teaching at Black Fork and Vise, Arkansas, his granddaughter Susan Gertrude Nevill married Richard E. Duncan, a nephew of Samuel K. Duncan who became a legal partner with the very same Judge W. A. Bates, who had been a student of Grandison D. Nevill Sr. 

Keywords: G. D. Nevill, G. D. Neville, Granderson D. Nevill, Granderson D. Neville

The Camera Never Lies

      ©  Kathy Duncan, 2021

This is my pride and joy. It's a solar enlargement or crayon enlargement of my great-great-grandparents, Isaac and Susan Poindexter (Reese) Duncan. Prior to her marriage to Isaac Duncan, Susan was married to Anson Hodges. 

Like many owners of one of these enlargements, I had never seen the original photograph from which it was made. Was the original actually two photographs or one? 

A few years ago, I saw another solar enlargement that was supposed to be of Isaac and Susan, but the woman looked very different. She was much older, and the enlargement had been damaged and repaired so that the left side of her face (the viewer's right) looked droopy, and the eye was very odd looking. While I was sure that the man in the photograph was Isaac Duncan, I did not recognize the woman as being Susan. 

This is the solar or crayon enlargement: 

Last week, Becky Roseman, a distant cousin of mine, emailed a photograph of Isaac and Susan to me. After being able to see the original photograph and comparing it to the enlargement, I can see all the liberties that the artist took with the enlargement.

They both look much younger. In fact, Susan looks fifteen to twenty years younger with smoother, firmer skin. Part of this is due to their darker coloring. 

I've also realized that the other enlargement that I saw was a more accurate rendering of the original below: 

Masked Dance in Allison, Colorado - 1923

     ©  Kathy Duncan, 2021

If you are going to play the genealogy game for the long haul, be prepared to be shocked by your ancestor's behavior. Be prepared to be disappointed. 

Keep in mind that they did not share our cultural sensitivities. 

In 1923, my husband's grandfather, Iley Nunn Selph, won second place for his KKK costume, which he wore to a "masked" dance given at the Grange hall in Allison, Colorado in the early days of 1923. Was it a real clansmen robe that he dredged up somewhere? Was it a parody of a clan robe? It's impossible to know, other than it was a costume, so it was likely recognizable as such and possibly out of character for him.

Note that a woman had gone in black face and another dressed as a homeless man. Both would be wildly inappropriate today. 

And the man dressed as a woman? That seems to be high hilarity in every generation. 

 

Andrew Hood Follow-Up

     ©  Kathy Duncan, 2021

When exciting turns to disappointing...

The clue that Andrew Hood of Kershaw County, South Carolina had removed to Chester County, South Carolina and that his wife Elizabeth was the granddaughter of Alexander Archer seemed so very promising in my search to identify who the sister of my ancestor Richard Owens married. If his sister Elizabeth Owens had married Andrew Hood and was the granddaughter of Alexander Archer, then that would mean that Richard Owen's father Archibald Owings had married a daughter of Alexander Archer.

My search got really exciting when I found that Alexander Archer and been a near neighbor of Archibald Owings in Kershaw County before he moved to Chester County.

However, an examination of Alexander Archer's will that was filed in Chester County revealed no connections to the Owings/Owens family. None. Not one.

Alexander Archer did have at least two granddaughters named Elizabeth, probably more than two. At this time there is no reason to think that Andrew Hood married Elizabeth Owings. Instead, I think he probably married Elizabeth Archer.

That means that Andrew Hood and Richard Owens were not brothers-in-law through a connection to Richard's sister Elizabeth Owings, who married a Hood. Although if Richard Owens married Andrew Hood's sister Elizabeth, then they would be brothers-in-law. Got that? Not convoluted at all.

Another secondary source, has Elizabeth Owings married to Samuel Hood, so that needs to be followed up. Did they move to Pickens County, Alabama with the large contingent of Kershaw County, South Carolina neighbors who moved there? I'm not sure. I also found that there was a John Hood, who had a wife named Elizabeth, in Kershaw County. Is he the same John Hood who moved to Chester County? And why did all these Hood men married women named Elizabeth?! 

In any event, it's back to the drawing board for candidates for Elizabeth Owing's husband whose surname was Hood. In a roundabout way, I am hoping to figure out if Richard Owens was a brother-in-law to this Hood family. 

Richard Owen's Brother-in-Law, Andrew Hood, Provides Clues

    ©  Kathy Duncan, 2021

Sometimes, when I don't have a particular research plan in mind, or I just want to take a break, I cast my net out on Google to see what I can catch.

This morning I searched for Andrew Hood of Kershaw County, South Carolina with simple search terms: "Andrew Hood" Kershaw. He is of interest because he is supposed to be the son-in-law of my direct ancestor Archibald Owings who died in Kershaw County in 1826.  Archibald's daughter Elizabeth married a Hood, and most researchers name Andrew Hood, son of William and Jane Hood, as her husband. Elizabeth's brother Richard Owens, who is my ancestor, married an Elizabeth. His descendants have long thought that she was Elizabeth Hood, Andrew's sister. However, other researchers believe that Elizabeth Hood married Richard's brother William Owens and removed to Pickens County, Alabama. 

I noticed this morning that on family search there are no children for Andrew and Elizabeth (Owens) Hood, and only one source: the 1850 Chester County, South Carolina census. Working on Andrew Hood makes sense just because, for me, the path backward always goes sideways through sibling groups. Andrew Hood has the potential to reveal information about both the Hood and the Owens families.

What I found this morning, is exciting on the surface, but will take a lot more research.

My internet search turned up a tantalizing map of Chester County, South Carolina. Keep in mind that Chester County was not one of my keywords. 

In this close up, you can see why my search terms pulled this map up in my hits:

Andrew Hood of Kershaw and wife Elizabeth, granddaughter of Alexander Archer, were deeded land from John Cooper and wife Mary. This is interesting and odd all at the same time. Usually, the wife of the grantee is not named in the transaction, and certainly, having her grandfather named is unusual.

This raises a slew of questions for me because if Andrew Hood married Elizabeth Owens, then Alexander Archer was her maternal grandfather. That might mean that he was also my ancestor Richard Owens' grandfather.

Is there a record that documents Alexander Archer as Elizabeth Hood's grandfather?

Would that record also name Elizabeth's siblings, clarifying that she was an Owens?

Would that record name her mother, who is currently unknown? 

Then just to the southwest of this tract of land was another tract of land that Andrew Hood acquired, which had also belonged to Alexander Archer:

The later date of 1835 on this deed makes me think that Andrew Hood and wife Elizabeth probably had removed from Kershaw County, South Carolina to Chester County, South Carolina. 

Then a familiar name appeared on the tract just east of this one:

Daniel McMillian was on the early Kershaw County, South Carolina census living near Andrew Hood. 

A closer peek at that map reveals this little jewel:

An abandoned cemetery was located on Daniel McMillian's property at a reasonable distance from Andrew Hood's property. Of course, in that time period, people tended to bury on their own property, so there may not be any Hoods or Archers buried there.

My next step will be a review of Alexander Archer's records. I confess I am a bit hopeful since I know that after Archibald Owings left his father Richard Owings' home in Laurens County, South Carolina, he went to Lancaster County near the Hood family before he eventually ended up in Kershaw County. Since Chester County borders Lancaster County on the west, it is reasonable to think that Archibald may have lived there briefly - just long enough to woo Alexander Archer's daughter? 

Obituaries of the Children of Abner Chapman and Martha Frances Meadows

   ©  Kathy Duncan, 2021

Today's sibling obituary study concerns the children of Abner Chapman and his wife, Martha Frances Meadows who lived in the Damascus community near Mt. Pleasant in Titus County, Texas. Obituaries for Vince Chapman and his brother Ike Chapman only appeared recently in Portal to Texas. 

Abner and Martha (Meadows) Chapman moved from Georgia to Titus County, Texas just prior to the Civil War.

Their children in birth order:

1. John Thomas Chapman, called "Tom Chapman" by my grandfather, born October 1853 in Georgia

2. Vincent A. Chapman, born 20 November 1854 in Georgia

3. James Martin Chapman, born 15 May 1857 in Georgia

4. Georgia Ann Chapman, born 10 February 1859 in Titus County, Texas. She married Henry Edward Duffee. Alternate spellings: Duffey and Duffy.

5. Susan A. Chapman, born c. 1860 in Texas.

6. Abner A. Chapman, born April 1862 in Texas.

7. William Sargent Chapman, born 23 February 1868 in Texas.

8. Mattie Chapman, 20 February 1869 in Texas. 

9. Margaret Lee Chapman, called "Maggie," born 1 May 1873 in Texas. She married Gifford Marion Smith.

10. Isaac Roger Chapman, called "Ike," was born 20 February 1874, in Texas. 

Their obituaries in death order:

1. Susan A. Chapman - no death notice or obituary found. She only appeared on the 1860 census and it is thought that she died before 1870.

2. Martha L. "Mattie" Chapman - no death notice or obituary found. She died 30 June 1881 and is buried in the Damascus Cemetery near Mt. Pleasant, Titus County, Texas. My grandfather told me that she got too near the fireplace and her skirt caught on fire, and she died from her burns. A death notice for her might still materialize.

3. Abner A. Chapman - no death notice or obituary found. He died sometime between the conception of his last child in 1888 and the 1900 census. Searching the Titus County tax list would possibly give me a better idea of when he died.

4. William Sargent Chapman - no death notice or obituary found yet. He was killed in a hunting accident on 18 September 1893 and was buried in the Damascus Cemetery near Mt. Pleasant, Titus County, Texas. He had gone raccoon hunting with his uncle Simeon Meadows, among others. Uncle Sim had climbed up in a tree and was trying to shake the raccoon out of tree, causing a tree limb to break, falling on William Sargent Chapman and killing him. 

5. John Thomas Chapman - no death notice or obituary found yet. He supposedly died in 1907, probably in Texas or Oklahoma.

6. James Martin Chapman - no death notice or obituary found yet. However, there was an obituary for his wife. This obituary verifies the names of James M. Chapman's children who were surviving in 1930: Henry Chapman, Will Chapman, Luther Chapman, Jim Chapman, Mrs. Will Scarbrough, and Mrs. Ben Hensley. Like the other Chapmans, she was buried in the Damascus Cemetery.

7. Georgia Ann Chapman, died on 11 May 1939 and was buried in the Bogata Cemetery in Bogata, Red River County, Texas. There must have been a death notice or obituary in the newspaper at the time of her death. However, there was a reference to it ten years later in one of those columns about what had happened 10 years before.

A similar record appeared for Georgia's husband Henry Edward Duffey in a "ten years ago column," but, again, the original death notice or obituary has not been found yet. 

8. Vince A Chapman died 2 October 1942 and was buried in the Damascus Cemetery near Mt. Pleasant, Titus County, Texas. His obituary reveals that he came to Texas at age two, which would be around 1856 or 1857, and that he had lived on his farm for 85 of his 87 years. That indicates that he lived on his parents' farm all his life. Therefore, deed records involving Vince A. Chapman would be very revealing.

This obituary reveals that his surviving children in 1942 were J.R. Chapman, Abner Chapman, and Mrs. Lee Sinclair.

Also of importance, is that his obituary links him to his two surviving siblings: Ike Chapman of Texarkana and Mrs. Maggie Smith of Johntown [Red River County, Texas]. 

9. Margaret Lee "Maggie" Chapman died on 21 May 1947 in Johntown, Red River County, Texas, and was buried in the Bogata Cemetery, Bogata, Red River County, Texas. 

Her obituary reveals that she was born in Mt. Pleasant, Texas. She had nine children who survived her: Mrs. Nettie Thomas, Mrs. Eva Cooper, Mrs. Letha Dowell, Mrs. Joe Herring, Mrs. John Miller, Mrs. Vera Watts, Mrs. Nell Franzen, Mrs. Georgia Smith, and Oscar Smith. It also mentions that she was survived by a brother living in Texarkana, but does not name him. 

10. Isaac Roger "Ike" Chapman died 9 February 1958 in Texarkana and was buried in the Damascus Cemetery near Mt. Pleasant, Titus County, Texas. His obituary revealed that he was survived by three daughters: Mrs. Lennie Regain, Mrs. Ollie Moore, and Mrs. Mildred Traylor.

Catholic Records of Durango, Mexico

  ©  Kathy Duncan, 2021

I am writing this post more for myself than for any other reason. The records of the Catholic Church, including images, of Durango, Mexico are now available on Family Search. The date range for these records is from 1604 to 1985. 

May I just say how much hope that gives me as a New Mexico genealogy researcher?

Most often, records from New Mexico were forwarded to Durango. Pre-marriage investigations and marital dispensations came from Durango. One can hope that marriage and baptism records that were later lost or destroyed might exist in duplicate in Durango. Since most of the records prior to the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 were destroyed, my hope is that they are duplicated in Durango's records.

Those records can be viewed here.