Mam-ma's Southern Family

Martha Jane Coor was born 10 May 1873 in Copiah County, Mississippi, to James Madison Coor and Melissa Ann Welch. [1] After her mother died, she moved to Erath County, Texas, with her father in the early 1880s. [2] She was nicknamed “Doll.” The story I got from my grandmother, Pansy Louise Lancaster, who was her granddaughter, was her grandfather called her that because she was so beautiful, like a doll. [3] Another researcher also told a similar story to me: “My dad, Ivey Coor, [nephew of Martha Jane, his father was James Rufus, brother of Martha], talked about Dolly numerous times. He said that the reason her nickname was Dolly was because she was so beautiful and looked like a Doll.” [4] Did her husband name her Doll or was she already called Doll before they were married? William Carl Lancaster and Mattie Coor were married on 9 March 1892 by minister, C.G. Kiker. [5] She was not named Doll in this document, but rather “Mattie,” a nickname for Martha. In 1880, she was name...

My 4x-great-grandfather, John Coor (1785-1838), lived in Copiah County, Mississippi. A part of Copiah County is named after him: Coor Springs. According to  Wikipedia , it is now a ghost town, but at the county's formation in 1823, it was the county seat. When Simpson County split off from Copiah, the county seat was moved to Gallman and then later to Hazlehurst. Like many towns that faded, the railroad had bypassed the town and instead went through Hazlehurst and Gallman. [1] John purchased land from the federal government along the Copiah Creek in Sections 27 and 28. [2] In 1825, John was elected sheriff in Copiah County, Mississippi, and on 10 August 1825, he posted a $4000 bond with John Sandifer and John E. Watts as sureties, payable to Governor Walter Leake or his successor. [3] His term was not specified in length but was stated according to the Mississippi Constitution, which stipulated a two-year term. [4] In 1825, the population of Copiah County was 2,010 white males, 1,8...

Calling All Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Nigh t Again -  Time For Some More Genealogy Fun!! Our assignment tonight from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is to:  1)   "Write a 100-word life sketch of one of your 2x-great-grandparents."  [thank you to Linda Stufflebean for suggesting this topic!]  Here's mine: A one-hundred-word story is not very long, but here goes. I did not use AI. Reuben Mack Johnston, born 18 April 1841 in Alabama,  son of Samuel and Elizabeth Johnston, lived in Mississippi as a boy and moved to Titus County, Texas when twenty.  He married twice, first to Catharine Skull and they had four known children. He married second to Olivia Jane Jones on 23 Dec 1879 in Comanche County. They had 13 children. Rueben worked as a farmer, growing Indian corn, cotton, flax, and potatoes, and raising swine, poultry, and cattle.  He died on 4 May 1924 at 83 years. The paper said “Uncle Mack” had been of feeble health and he was “not a me...

This past week, I have been on a research trip in north Texas researching my Coor, Lancaster, Loveless, Johnston, and Polly families in Comanche, Dallas, Erath, Montague, and Rockwall Counties. I have been successful in locating hints, background information on the periods in which they lived, and actual records of deeds and tax lists. I have also visited cemeteries and photographed my family’s tombstones. For the theme this week, I did an every-word search in my genealogy program and came up with a hint that I had forgotten about. In the Dublin Progress on 20 April 1889 was a “Resolution of Respect” printed about the passing of James Madison Coor. This resolution was given by the Dublin Lodge 504 of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons (A.F. & A.M.). [1] James Madison “Matt” Coor is my maternal 3x-great-grandfather. He was born on 13 October 1833 in Copiah County, Mississippi. [2] He married Melissa Ann Welch on 9 October 1856 and they had ten children. [3] Ann died in 1876...

This week at RootsTech 2024, FamilySearch announced a new feature that an every-word search was available for U.S. deeds and probates. It is still in the trial mode and can be found at https://www.familysearch.org/en/labs/ . This is the search screen. It clearly states it is for US land and probate records and Mexico notary records. You can do a keyword search or if you click on the “more options” you can add a name. My Find I immediately gave it a try and searched first for records of the COOR family using the keyword search. Up first came deeds from Wayne County, North Carolina.  At the top, you can filter using record year, record type, record place, and collection. For the past few days, I have mainly filtered by record place. I filtered down to Mississippi. You can even filter to the county. The first entry was a document I had not seen before. It was an 1826 agreement between John Coor and Joel Hoggatt to build a set of grist and sawmills. John Coor is my 4x-great-grand...

After locating the usual records for an ancestor at Ancestry and FamilySearch , I look for newspaper articles to fill in details about their lives between the tax, deed, vital, and census records found for them. Case in point. Many of my mother’s ancestors lived in Texas and I searched recently to see if there were newer articles in the newspapers in Erath County. I look for these at the wonderful website, The Portal to Texas History , which has many digitized records. One of the largest collections is the Texas Digital Newspaper Program. As of July 7, 2023, they have ten million pages. [1] This website is hosted by the University of North Texas Libraries. I learned something new about my 3x-great-grandfather, James M. Coor, by searching in the newspapers of Erath County. There were two articles in the same newspaper about his hunting abilities. On the front page, we learned that he shot a buck that weighed 160 pounds and that he saw three more bucks. [2] On page 4, he was referr...

There was no big catastrophic event that happened in my family, but I can think of several smaller events that would be nice to be portrayed in a movie, primarily so I could see their adventures visually. We don’t have many photos and certainly not photos of their travels. I would love to see a movie about the travels of my southern family as they traveled across the southern states, from North Carolina to Texas. Depending on the timeframe, the travel might have been accomplished using horses, oxen, or mules pulling a wagon of their goods while the family members walked alongside. Later, after the Civil War, once railroads were rebuilt, they may have journeyed by using trains. I do know that John Core, his mother, four sisters and two small children, along with some enslaved people, traveled from Richmond County in North Carolina through Indian Nation to the Western Country (which was what would be Mississippi Territory). Also traveling with his family were Mr. John Keayhey (which ...

There is a wonderful database available at FamilySearch if you have Mississippi ancestors called “Mississippi Enumeration of Educable Children, 1850-1892; 1908-1957.” [1] I have both Coor and Welch families who lived in Copiah County during that first time span and decided to check out this database. First, before using the search box, I clicked on the “How to this Collection” box, which takes me to the FamilySearch Wiki page about these records. [2] Anytime a new database comes up, it’s a good idea to read up about it. I’ll find out what localities are included, what I would learn from the records, and why the record was created in the first place. This is helpful in case I don’t find my family listed in the return hits. What I learned It was suggested that these records could be used as a substitute for birth records. These listed both white and black students and included the names of the parents and children. They were compiled yearly and helped local governments with fundin...

These themes are sometimes difficult to formulate a specific story about someone in the family. I often search for the word in my genealogy software and see what comes up. It is hit and miss whether that works. Today, I searched for “branch.” I found two people who have deed descriptions that mention “branch.” Land Description Knowing the name of a branch of a creek or river, can be helpful in place a piece of property that is only described as “north ten degrees west forty-three rods to an oak” etc. Having the name of a branch, creek, river, or other watershed type can help place that property, if not exactly, at least close to where it was located. To place it more precisely, locating the deed descriptions of all of his neighbors could be all that is needed. For example, Arthur Core of North Carolina received a patent from the Royal Governor, William Tryon on 4 May 1769 for 54 acres. [1] The description in the land patent book stated: “54 acres Dobbs the north side of Nuce [N...