52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week 37: Mistaken Girl for a Boy in 1880

This is my second year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

Mistakes can happen when we make wrong assumptions. We misread an entry because of poor or fading handwriting. We think the woman in the 1860 census is the mother of the children listed, when she could be the second wife and step-mother.

The records we look at could have errors. The parish priest baptizes several children on one Sunday and then mixes up their parent’s names in the record book. The county clerk of deeds fails to copy all the items in a land description which makes it difficult to plat out because a call is missing. The census enumerator mishears a name or age or place of birth.

Have you ever had a person listed in a census that you couldn’t find again? Sure, they may have died between census years. Sometimes we find a burial record for them. Sometimes they are just lost and we never know what became of them.

In 1880, the James Madison Coor household had two young children: Martha J, age 7 and Anna, age 5.[1] The next census is twenty years later and Martha is married to William Carl Lancaster.[2] James M. Coor has died. These two children are adults now.



In 1891, S. O. Durham initiated probate procedures for the estate of James M. Coor in Erath County, Texas. Durham was named administrator. The heirs were D.P. Coor, Sallie G. Sones, Anna B. Durham, J.E. Coor, May Carr, J.R. Coor, Dollie Lancaster, and D.K. Coor.[3]  This is the order of birth for the children of James M Coor and his wife, Melissa Welch. Where was Anna and who was D.K.?

S.O. Durham was named guardian to minors, Doll Coor and D.K. Coor. Doll was Martha J. and was born about 1873.  In 1891, she was seventeen and D.K. Coor was fourteen.[4] Still no Anna, but a son named D.K.

I wrote about D.K. here, following him until his death on 5 July 1943 in Eddy Co., New Mexico. The death record named his parents James M. Coor and Malisa Welch. His wife, Ida, was the informant and his birth was listed as 15 February 1875 in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, the same location as the 1880 census.[5]



Anna has been found. This is likely a mishearing of the name Anna for Daniel in 1880. A mistake of confusing a girl for a boy.



[1] 1880 U.S. census, Copiah Co, Mississippi, pop. sched., Browns Store, enumeration district (ED) 27, p. 281d (stamped), family 164, James M. Coor, digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com  : accessed 23 Feb 2011), citing NARA T9, roll 646.
[2] The Wm Carl & Martha J Lancaster family has not been found in 1900 census. They were married 19 Mar 1892 in Erath Co, Texas. See Erath Co., Texas, Marriages, Bk F, p 65, W.C. Lancaster & Miss Mattie Coor, 1892, FHL film 1026025.
[3] For filing of Letters, see Erath Co, Texas, Probate Records, no. 241, J.M. Coor Estate, Book G, p. 458-9, FHL film 1428413. For list of heirs, see Ibid, Book H, p. 553-556, FHL film 1428414.
[4] Erath Co, Texas, Probate Records, no. 242, Guardianship of Doll Coor and DK Coor, Book G, p. 462, FHL film 1428413.
[5] "New Mexico Deaths 1889-1945," database & images, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 27 Mar 2011); image 2238 of 2623, Eddy Co, no. 3824, 1953, Daniel K. Coor.

Copyright © 2019 by Lisa S. Gorrell, Mam-ma's Southern Family, All rights reserved.

Comments

  1. Miss MerrySeptember 12, 2019 at 6:07 AM

    I have found this so many times with misheard or mangled girls names. And even once in a while substituting a male/female name for the opposite. It is a challenge! Glad you solved yours.

    ReplyDelete

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