Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (On Sunday Morning!)

Over at GeneaMusings, Randy Seaver posted a two part series of questions. I missed last week's, so this week I will answer all six questions.

What four places did my ancestors live that are geographically the farthest from where I live today?

 

• The Netherlands (Van Pelt)
• Germany (Beem)
• Wales (Thomas)
• Wisconsin (Beem, Dennett)

 

What are the four most unusual given names in my family tree?

 

• I guess I have to start off with mine! I was named after my grandmother, Marceline Jacoups Thomas, born in St. Clair Alabama.
• Laban Price (Melrose, Florida)
• Elbridge Beem (Ohio & Illinois)
• Florida Cail (Melrose, Florida)

 

What are the four most common given names in my family tree?

 

• William
• Elizabeth 
• James
• John

 

Name four places on my ancestral home bucket list I’d like to visit:

 

• Wales, where my Thomas family lived before coming to Virginia in the 1600's (Plus that has always been a place I've wanted to visit - even before I got into genealogy)
• Germany, where my Beem family  lived before coming to Pennsylvania in the mid-1700's
• Anderson and Campbell County, Tennessee, where my grandfather's family lived in the 1800's
• Maine, where my Dennett family lived in the 1700's and early 1800's

 

What are the four most unusual surnames in your family tree?

 

• Jacoups (Alabama)
• Mashburn (North Carolina & Alabama)
• Cail (North Carolina, Georgia, & Florida)
• Dennett (Maine, Ohio & Wisconsin)

 

Which four brick walls would you most like to smash through?

 

• Laban Price - He's puzzled many of us for years. Born in Marion County, South Carolina around 1827. Married Sarah Smith, daughter of Rev. James D. Smith, in 1848. Moved to Putnam County, Florida by 1860 and died there in 1876.
• Richard D. Horton - Born in Tennessee around 1831. Married 1) Rhoda Frost (ended in divorce) and 2) Mary J. Trail in Anderson County, Tennessee. Moved to Kentucky by 1870 and died there. I believe his mother is Rebecca, but all I have to base that on is the 1850 census.
• Margaret Jacoups - born in Alabama about 1825. Creek Indian. Her father has been identified, but we can find nothing about her mother - not even a first name. 
• James V. Thomas - Settled in Warrior, Alabama in the early 1800's. My mother thought she knew who his parents were, but recent DNA  testing doesn't back it up. We aren't even sure he was a Thomas now.

Finding a Family for Elizabeth: Part 2, Nancy's Death Certificate

In my previous post, I examined the death certificate for Martha Jane Adkins Horton, daughter of William and Elizabeth Adkins. For years, the only sources I had that linked Elizabeth to the Disney clan were the death certificates of Martha and her sister Nancy. A partial transcript, the full image, and a few notes on Nancy's death certificate are the topic of today's post.¹

Transription:

Board of Health, City of Knoxville
County of Knox
State of Tennessee
Certificate of Death
Full Name of Decased: Nancy Horton
Place of Death; Street: Morella Ave
If in Suburbs, State Locality: Oakwood
...
Age: 52
Birthplace: Tenn
Name of Father: Wm Adkins
Birthplace o Father: Tenn
Maiden Name of Mother: Bettie J Disney
Birthplace of Mother: Tenn
...
Date of Death: Aug 9, 1907
...
Place of Burial or Removal: New Gray
...

Death certificate for Nancy Horton (1907)

Notes:

1. The death certificates confirmed that Martha and Nancy were sisters. Both reveal that their mother went by the nickname "Betsy" or "Bettie," which needs to be included in searches.
2. Marriage records for Martha and Nancy were located, but they gave only the names of the bride and groom, and the marriage date. No other relationships were given.^2,3

References

1. Knox, Tennessee, death certificate no. 731 (1907), Nancy Horton; Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville.  
2. Anderson County, Tennessee, Marriage Records Horton-Adkins, 1876, page 52; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 2 Apr 2016).
3. Anderson County, Tennessee, Marriage Records, Horton-Adkins, 1876, page 58; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 2 Apr 2016).