Elizabeth Loveless: Sorting Out 7 in my Tree
How many people with the same name do you have in your tree? I have seven women named Elizabeth Loveless. One is in my direct line, Elizabeth Nixon, who married Jesse Loveless, and the rest are collaterals. However, I need documentation to sort them out, and this post will help me find it.
Elizabeth Nixon, who married Jesse Loveless
She is my third-great-grandmother, born about 1810 in South
Carolina, according to census records. She married Jesse Loveless about 1828 in
South Carolina, but there is no marriage record.[1]
Possible parents are Abner Nixon and Mary Parthenia Medlock.[2]
The first record I have in which she is named is the 1850 Cass County, Georgia, census, with her husband, Jesse, and their children, Terry, James, Roxana, Sophrona, George, Mary, William, Elizabeth, and Jesse. All were born in South Carolina. Here, Elizabeth was 40 years old. The youngest, Jesse, was two[3]. So, the family moved from South Carolina to Georgia sometime between about 1847 and 1850.
Narrowing further, Jesse bought land in Cass County on 2 January 1847, bringing their arrival perhaps in 1846.[4] Cass County was created in 1821 from part of Cherokee County, and in late 1861, the name changed to Bartow County.[5]
In 1860, the family included Jesse and “Emily” with children R.A., M., Wm., E., J.M., and E. J.M. was twelve and born in Georgia, so this is the two-year-old Jesse from the 1850 census, and being born in Georgia makes more sense.[6] These census households with only initials as names is frustrating. I think that R.A. is likely Roxana, M is Mary, the first E is the younger Elizabeth, and the second E is Ebenezer. This seems like the right family, even if Jesse’s wife is named Emily. Either the enumerator misheard the name, made a transcription error as he copied the info into the federal sheets, or her middle name may have been Emily.
In 1870, they lived in Chattooga County, Georgia. Jesse is 63 and Elizabeth is 59. Children in the household were Jesse M., “Ebenezah,” and Sophrona Sims with three young Sims children.[7] They moved to Arkansas sometime after 2 October 1871, when Jesse sold land to Francis A. Kirby.[8]
Jesse died on 29 December 1873 in Faulkner County, Arkansas, leaving a widow, Elizabeth. His son, Jesse M. Loveless, applied for administrator of the estate.[9] Elizabeth appeared on one tax list in 1874.[10] She was not on the 1876 tax list. She probably died sometime between 1874 and the end of 1876.
Future research: make new searches on each of their ten children to see if any of their records name their parents.
Other Elizabeth Loveless in my Tree
Below are other Elizabeth Loveless members from my tree. I
have some information. For the ones that I don’t, their information may have been
told to me by other researchers back when I was a baby genealogist.
Elizabeth Loveless, born about 1792, was the daughter of John Milton Loveless. She married a man named Neighbors or Nabours.
Elizabeth Loveless, born about 1794, was the daughter of James Loveless and Linna Hughes. She is the older sister of Jesse Loveless. She married Peter Crawford.
Elizabeth Loveless, born about 1812, was the daughter of Isaac Loveless and Mary Hughes. Isaac was a brother of James Loveless above, and Mary was the sister of Linna Hughes, making the two Elizabeths double cousins.
Elizabeth Loveless, born about 1824, was the daughter of Levi Loveless and Temperance Jones. She was the granddaughter of James Loveless and Linna Hughes.
Elizabeth Loveless, born about 1843, was the daughter of Jesse Loveless and Elizabeth Nixon. She married a cousin, Thomas J Loveless. She is the same Elizabeth mentioned in the census above.
Elizabeth Loveless, born about 1879, was the daughter of Thomas J. Loveless and his second wife, Nancy Emeline Craig.
I don’t know much more about these other Elizabeths. Maybe someday, I’ll research their husbands more to get a better picture of their lives.
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#52Ancestors: Week 47: The Name’s the Same
This is my eighth year working on this year-long prompt,
hosted by Amy Johnson Crow (https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/)
at Generations Cafe. I write each week in one of my two blogs,
either Mam-ma’sSouthern Family or My
Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors
in new and exciting ways.
[1]
South Carolina did not mandate marriage records until 1911. See “South Carolina
Vital Records,” FamilySearch Wiki (https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/South_Carolina_Vital_Records
: accessed 16 Nov 2025).
[2] “Elizabeth
Nixon,” GC54-V8Z, FamilySearch Family Tree (https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/GC54-V8Z
: accessed 16 Nov 2025).
[3]
1850 U.S. census, Cass Co, Georgia, 12th Division, p. 202 (stamped), fam. 1445,
Jesse Loveless.
[4]
Cass Co, Georgia, deed, v. G, p. 409, Drury Walls & Aaron Godfrey to Jesse
Lovelace, 1847, imaged, FamilySearch
(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4N-X91S-M
: accessed 16 Nov 2025); citing IGN 007897600, image 511 of 599. I find records
for the Loveless family under both spellings: Loveless and Lovelace.
[5]
“Cass County, Georgia Genealogy,” FamilySearch Wiki (https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Cass_County,_Georgia_Genealogy
: accessed 16 Nov 2025).
[6]
1860 U.S. census, Cass Co, Georgia, 16th district, p. 804, fam. 9, Jesse
Lovless.
[7]
1870 U.S. census, Chattooga Co, Georgia, Summerville, p. 105, fam. 133, Jesse
Loveless.
[8] Chattooga
Co, Georgia, deeds, v. F, p. 193, Jesse Loveless to Francis A. Kirby, 1871, FHL
film 337236. These images are locked, so I cannot update the citation to the
current URL.
[9] Faulkner
Co., Arkansas, Estate Papers of Jesse Loveless, Letters of Administration, v.
A, p 4, Jesse Loveless, 1874, imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9W3-48KD
: accessed 16 Nov 2025); citing IGN 007117255, image 32 of 657; county
courthouse, Conway.
[10]
Faulkner Co, Arkansas, personal assessment, 1874, Hardin twp, Eliz Loveless, imaged,
FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSTL-8S9Z-4);
citing IGN 008339756, item 4, image 22 of 45.
In my grandfather's family it was tradition to name the first son after the grandfather. And every son did this. So John Smith could have five John Smith namesake in the same generation. In my line it is every other generation for quite a way back John Smith, son Dan Smith, Grandson John Smith (and four other grandsons John Smith), GGrandson Dan Smith (and four other grandsons Dan Smith, GG Grandson John Smith, etc. I have to use a birthdate cheat sheet when I even glance at this family. The most challenging was my great aunt Pearl Mae who had a cousin Pearl Mae, same last name, born a month apart and lived on the same road and attended the same school until they graduated from high school. After that it was even more challenging to sort which was which until her cousin finally married in her 20's.
ReplyDeleteOoh, I'm so sorry. That must be tough to keep track of.
Delete