52 Ancestors -- Week 9: Melissa Ann Welch Coor

Amy Johnson Crow of No Story Too Small has created a new theme called 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. I think it’s a great way to write about one person. This will help me see what I have and what I’m missing for additional research.
Melissa Ann Welch was born 8 May 1840 in Crystal Springs, Copiah County, Mississippi.[1] Her parents were Dempsey Welch and Elizabeth Rebecca Young. She was enumerated with her parents in 1850 in Copiah Co, Mississippi.[2] She was 10 years old with three older brothers, Jenkins, Thomas, and Augustus and one younger sister, Martha. Dempsey was a planter from Georgia and had $2400 in property value. All of the children had attended school in the past year.
Melissa Welch with family in Copiah Co, Mississippi, 1850
From this record it appeared that her father, Dempsey was well off. The 1852 tax list confirmed it, when it showed he had 37 slaves under the age of 60.[3] This was way more than the other men listed on the same page.

On 31 October 1855, Melissa and J.T. Pittman were married by the Justice of the Peace, John Terry.[4] But nothing else is known about J.T. Pittman.  Nearly a year later, Melissa married James Madison Coor on 9 Oct 1856 in Copiah Co, Mississippi. 
1856 Marriage between James Madison Coor & Melissa Ann Welch Pittman
Together, they had 10 children: Dempsey P, Sarah Gertrude, William O, Irma Anna, Isaac Henry, John Eugene, Mary E, James Rufus, Martha Jane, and Daniel K. Isaac and William died in childhood.
1870 Copiah Co Mississippi census for James & Melissa Coor
Melissa died about a year and a half after the birth of the youngest son, Daniel K, on 20 Sep 1876 and she was buried in the Coor Cemetery near Coor Springs.[5]  

It must have been hard for James with so many small children. Most likely the two oldest daughters helped out with the raising of the youngest children. After 1880, the Coor family moved to Erath County, Texas. James died 26 Mar 1890 and was buried in Lower Greens Creek Cemetery.

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[1] Mississippi Genealogical Society, editor, Cemetery & Bible Records Vol 1 (Mississippi: n.p., 1954.), 1, Melissa A. Coor in Coor Cemetery.
[2] Mississippi, Copiah, 1850 U.S. census, Ancestry.com, Digital images (http://www.ancestry.com: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), M432, roll 371, p. 268b, dwelling 898, family 898, Dempsey Welch, accessed 21 Mar 2011.
[3] Copiah Co, Mississippi Tax Rolls, 1852, p 33, Dempsey Welch, familysearch.org (http://familysearch.org : 4 Mar 2014), citing database "Mississippi, State Archives, Various Records, 1820-1951"
[4] Copiah County Marriages, Chancery Clerk, Copiah County, Mississippi, FHL film 904433, bk G, p 382, 1855, Pittman-Welch.
[5] Mississippi Genealogical Society, editor, Cemetery & Bible Records Vol 1 (Mississippi: n.p., 1954.), 1, Melissa A. Coor in Coor Cemetery.

Copyright © 2014 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, Mam-ma's Southern Family

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