Mam-ma's Southern Family

My maternal fourth great-grandfather, Nathaniel H. Osborne Polly is one of my brick walls. I have written a little about him before when I wrote about his wife, Lydia in this post . I know a little about his life but not who his parents were. His tombstone photo shows a birth date of January 27, 1820. [1] According to the Find-a-Grave memorial for him, he was a “medical doctor, a Judge, a farmer and a gospel minister.”  That’s a lot of occupations. Let’s look at what I know from records I have found. In 1850, he was listed as a “C. Bap. Minister” living in Dallas County, Texas. [2] The “C” might stand for Christian. The Bap. is probably for “Baptist” and the minister is clear. From most of the records I have found on him, he was a minister. In 1860, he and his family were living in Montague County, Texas. The occupation on the census was listed as “M.D.” [3] I can see where the creator of the Find of Grave memorial might think that he was a medical doctor. This M.D.

One hundred and twenty-three years ago, my maternal great-grandfather, George Warren Lancaster was born, 19 January 1893. [1] His parents were William Carlton Lancaster and Martha Jane Coor. George was the eldest of six children. His delayed birth certificate, dated  6 July 1942 and signed by his father, William C Lancaster, stated he was born in Victor, Erath County, Texas. According to The Handbook of Texas , Victor was settled shortly after the Civil War and was located in western Erath County on Farm Road 2156 a mile south of Desdemona. During the 1890s there were general stores and a post office that was later discontinued in 1907. [2] Here is a satellite map of the area today. All that is left is the Victor Cemetery which is located at the corner of roads 2156 and 357. As you can see, it is clearly farming country and George’s father, William was a farmer. Victor was in the area of Roads 2156 & 357. According to his World War I Draft card, he stated he

Today is a big milestone. This is the 100th blog post I have written and the 6th anniversary of the beginning of this blog. I began the blog on January 15, 2011, through a blog writing class I took at California Genealogical Society, taught by Craig Siulinski. It was something I wanted to do but wasn’t really sure what I would focus on. I finally settled on writing about my grandmother, Pansy Louise Lancaster’s family and this was my first post . In the beginning it was hard to get started. I learned from the Geneabloggers website, that there were blogging memes I could use and I have done that off and on, especially at the beginning. But I finally learned that what worked best was to write about my discoveries as I researched my grandmother’s family. So what have I written in six years? I discovered I have only written four posts specifically about my grandmother: “Mam-ma was a Tomboy” “Fearless Females – Day 12” “Mam-ma 1913-2013” “My Grandpar

Elizabeth Rebecca Young was born 8 Jan 1804 [1] to unknown parents. According to the 1850 census in Copiah County, Mississippi, Elizabeth was born in Georgia. [2] She married Dempsey Welch on 21 January 1821 in Clarke County, Alabama. [3]    Their daughter, Melissa Ann Welch, was my fourth-great-grandmother, who married James Madison Coor. 1821 Marriage of Dempsey Welch & Elizabeth Young, Clarke Co AL I have thirteen children born to the couple with six of them dying as young children and seven living to adulthood. This information came from the book Welch Family  compiled by Mary Helen Sims. As I review the page about Dempsey and Elizabeth, it does give the name of her mother as "Elizabeth Young, daughter of Col. James Welch, brother of A. Dempsey" Welch. The information might have come from a Family Bible.   Elizabeth died 1 Jul 1852 in Copiah County, Mississippi and was buried at the Welch Plantation Cemetery. The tombstones were read and the informati

In the January Term 1843 of Shelby County Court, the land of the Robert Lancaster estate was divided among the heirs of Robert Lancaster. [1] Robert’s estate was entered into probate on 12 October 1840 with Josiah Lancaster, John Lancaster, Creath Neel, Robert Myers, Wm Lancaster, and Wm Price as bondsmen. Josiah Lancaster was appointed administrator. [2] I haven’t discovered yet why they waited over two years to divide the land between the heirs. The division begins, “On motion of John S. Lancaster, Ellis W. Lancaster, Josiah R. Lancaster and Wm T. Lancaster who filed their notice herein to Creath Neill and Lewis Mary Ann his wife, Robert N Myers and Elizabeth his wife and Creth Neill as Guardian to Eliza Jane Lancaster, heirs of Robert Lancaster dec d which notice was proven in open court to have been executed on the parties. It is ordered that Wm A. Hamblin, Arthur Chambers, James Maguire & John Crawford or any three of them being first sworn do appraise the lands of