Having picked the low-hanging fruit from my family tree, I am now faced with doing the kind of genealogical research that could easily and understandably take someone 30 years. Armed with enough Diet Dr. Pepper to choke a horse, I decided to buckle down this weekend and tackle one of the tougher items on my Trantham “to do” list.

The first item is to figure out how Henry Trantham and his descendants fit into my family tree. Right now, his branch is orphaned and not connected. It is très sad. About a year ago, I became aware through social media that my 2nd cousin, 1x removed (a Trantham descendant) was friends with a woman whose last name is Trantham. Not one to shy away from a challenge, I wanted to see if I could connect the dots between her family and mine. And I successfully traced her lineage back to Henry Trantham, her great grandfather. Henry’s son, Lonnie, died in Missouri after 1910 which means his death certificate is available online. It is from this document that I discovered the name of Henry’s wife: Mary Coleman. (Thank you, State of Missouri, for this genealogical goldmine.) Now, I could have easily stopped here – after all, there are lots of Tranthams out there and it’s unlikely that I’ll be able to connect all of us. But, Henry became relevant when I learned that he and Mary were married in Williamson County, Tennessee in 1851. After Weakley County, Williamson County is “Tranthamecca”. Martin Trantham, my 5th great grandfather, uprooted his family in South Carolina and moved them to Williamson County sometime shortly after or before 1800. It is in Williamson County where many of Martin’s children were married. 

Since Henry was born about 1823 there are a couple of plausible scenarios – he is either Martin’s grandson or Martin’s son by his second and much-younger wife, Rachel. But how to prove either one?

And so, this weekend I began the arduous task of scanning courthouse documents from Williamson County and its surrounding counties in search of evidence that might link Martin and Henry. I would like to report that I have solved this mystery but alas, I cannot. This is going to take time. But I can report that I found evidence linking Martin and a Henry Trantham who is NOT the Henry I am after. In 1837, Martin posted a bond in Tipton County, Tennessee as the administrator of the will of Henry Trantham,deceased. Zoinks! Perhaps the first plausible scenario just became a bit more plausible and this Henry was the father of the Henry I am researching.

Time will tell. Or it won’t. Either way, I have much work to do and I am out of Diet Dr. Pepper.

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relation: 4th great grand uncle OR 1st cousin, 5x removed
Common ancestor: Martin Trantham is a safe bet.