“Trainum” is the latest potential variation of the Trentham surname I’ve stumbled upon. (I am only going to use quotation marks once so bear with me.)
A Jeremiah Trantham, who was living in Williamson County, Tennessee in the early 1800s and about the same time as my ancestor, Martin Trantham, shows up in some documents as Jeremiah Trainum (and Tranthum and Tranum). I have no idea how we might be related (and that frustrates me to no end) but I decided to pull back the covers a bit anyway.
In June of 1814, Jeremiah Tranthum or Tranum is listed as the bondsman for a happily wedded couple. In October of the same year, Jeremiah Trantham was appointed constable. A bond of $1,250 was secured by Cornelius Wilson who is relevant to this tale and some other bloke who is not. Jeremiah Trantham apparently fulfilled his duties faithfully for at least nine months because he’s still a constable in July of 1815 as recorded in surviving court documents.
A few years earlier in 1810 a Jeremiah Tranum married the daughter of the aforementioned Cornelius Wilson. I suspect father-in-law Cornelius wanted his daughter’s husband to have a good paying job and he was willing to fork over some money to make sure that that happened. Jeremiah and his wife Elizabeth (Wilson) appear to have had at least two children – one of whom was named Cornelius Wilson Trainum.
With Cornelius Wilson (the son) the Trainum spelling of the last name finally stuck. Born about 1810, he shows up in the 1850 census of neighboring Maury County as “C. W. Trainum”.
I have to be open to the possibility that Trainum was the correct spelling of Jeremiah’s last name from the beginning and somehow it was erroneously recorded as Trantham and Tranthum. Big somehow. That said, Jeremiah’s Trainum descendants are still around today. I am just waiting for one of them to donate some saliva and show up on Ancestry.com.
When that happens, Jeremiah Whatever-His-Last-Name-Was will make a repeat appearance on this here blog!
References:
Wells, C. (1994). Williamson County, Tennessee Circuit Court Minutes, July 1812-October 1815. Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, Inc.
Whitley, E. R. (1982) Marriages of Williamson County, Tennessee 1804-1850. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc.
You now have an opportunity to verify a match with Trainum descendants (descendants of Cornelius Wilson Trainum of Maury County, TN). How are you listed in Ancestry? I will let you know if you appear as a match with our family.
Hi, Colleen.
Nice to hear from you. My profile on Ancestry is k_trantham52. Let me know what you find. Are there any male descendants of Cornelius Wilson Trainum still living? The Y-DNA test would tell us conclusively whether or not the Tranthams and Trainums were related. Cheers!
Ken
Hello, I just saw your post about my Trainum /Wilson family. There are many male descendants of Jeremiah Trainum in our branch. Two of my male first cousins did the DNA test through Ancestry. Charles Terry Rowland and Larry his brother. I am looking for documents connecting Jeremiah to his son Cornelius Wilson Trainum for DAR patriots Cornelius Wilson and Jeremiah Trainum.