Wondering why I’ve not been posting much lately? It’s because I’ve been busy scanning microfilmed court records from 1741 to 1794 at the Library of Virginia every Saturday morning. (Well, almost every Saturday morning. Last Saturday, i was in Columbia, South Carolina for the South Carolina Genealogical Society’s Summer Workshop. That was a nice break but I felt very behind in my “work” yesterday.) Most Saturdays, I make my way to seat number 26 of the 2nd floor’s Reading Room where I spend the next four to five hours perusing court records. Yawn.

Shenandoah County, Virginia was formed from Frederick County – I don’t remember when. Having exhausted all records from Shenandoah and coming up short on the identities of my Hackney and Pearce ancestors’ parents, I turned to Frederick on a hunch that they might have lived there before it became Shenandoah. And, indeed, I found Daniel Hackney, my 6th great grandfather, witnessing a power of attorney document in Frederick County in 1764 – 20 years before he appeared in court records in Shenandoah. BINGO! He had to have been as least 20 to 21 years old in 1764 which puts his birth about 1743-ish.

While there are a smattering of other Hackney’s in the court records who are likely Daniel’s cousins, I have yet to be able to link them to Daniel. Thus, I’ve made no progress identifying his parents or those of his wife, “Jemima”. My Pearce ancestors of Shenandoah and presumably Frederick remain elusive as well. Hackney is not a common last name; Pearce/Pierce is. In Frederick County I have the added challenge of sorting through records from folks whose last name is Paris or Pearis. I haven’t been able to connect the two families. The country clerks used Pearce/Pierce/Perce/Pearis/Paris interchangeably. That’s so helpful. In any event, I believe that I am on the right track having found an Isaac and John Pearce living in Frederick County circa 1765. I suspect that this is the same Isaac and Jonathan Pearce who made their way to Sumner County, Tennessee before 1800. It is in 1799 that I found that scalawag, Robert Pearce, my 5th great grandfather, also living in Sumner. Charles Pearce, another 5th great grandfather, was a resident of Sumner County during that unfortunate lawsuit pitting grandchildren against their grandmother in1825. All roads seem to lead to Sumner County and it’s looking more and more like they started in Frederick County.

Kenfolk: Trantham
Relationship: 5th great grandfather
Common ancestors: I wish I knew

Discovering distant cousins who’ve achieved various levels of notoriety is part of what makes genealogy fun (for me). I openly admit that I enjoy the surprise of coming across a name that I recognize. That didn’t happen initially when I added Martha Sharp Crawford, my 5th cousin, 2x removed, to my family tree. After all, it’s a rather unassuming name. Martha and her mother are fellow descendants of my newly-discovered 6th great grandparents, Daniel and Jemima Hackney. Martha’s mother, Annie, intrigued me from the get go. She married a man who was 30 years older and who must have had quite a bit of money. In the 1920 census, I found them living in Philadelphia (a far cry from our Tennessee farming roots) with a valet named Joseph Joyce and two more household servants. Now, I could digress and focus on the coincidence of a “Joyce” living with them given that I am an insufferable genealogist and my first instinct was to figure how HE was related to my 2nd great grandmother on my mother’s side, Lucinda (Joyce) Turner, but I didn’t have the opportunity. The hints for Martha Sharp Crawford came pouring in on Ancestry.com.

I soon discovered that Martha Sharp Crawford was better known in life as Sunny von Bülow. Who knew? Unfortunately, her name was familiar to me because of Joan Rivers. I was a big fan of Joan’s and she made references to Sunny and Claus in her stand-up routines. I didn’t really understand the references because I wasn’t following the tabloids at the time. Sunny, it turns out, died 28 years after falling into a vegetative coma. That’s definitely not funny. Sunny’s husband, Claus, was accused and later acquitted of giving her the lethal dosage of insulin which put her into the coma. Even the word “tragic” falls short in describing Sunny’s life.

Sunny’s first husband was an Austrian prince (without a kingdom). Their grandchildren are my 7th cousins and carry the hereditary titles of “Prince” and “Princess”. And thus, I’ve finally found my connection to the Royal Houses of Europe by way of Tennessee!

Kenfolk: Trantham
Relationship: 5th cousin, 2x removed
Common ancestors: Cousin Sunny and I descend from Daniel and Jemima Hackney whose parents remain a mystery.

State and county boundaries were fluid up until the late 19th century. Most had settled down by 1900. Finding your ancestors in historical records requires an understanding of this genealogical principle to be successful. Sometimes you have to check multiple counties to find the records you need although your ancestor never moved. Dumb luck also helps. Yesterday, I visited the Library of Virginia in hopes of finding some mention of my newly-found Hackney ancestors in microfilmed records from Shenandoah County. Two hours into my search, which had yielded nothing but a list of grand jurors bearing the name of my 6th great grandfather, Daniel Hackney, (yawn) I decided to pack it up and return the two rolls of microfilm to the file cabinet from whence they came. Microfilm is organized by county at the Library of Virginia and the counties are alphabetized. Shenandoah County is in the third row. I know exactly where it goes and I didn’t have far to go because I had selected the microfilm reader closest to the first row of cabinets which is where the alphabet ends. I suppose it’s the last row. Placards adorn the end of the cabinets facing the aisles with the names of the counties. As I was putting on my jacket, I noticed the placard on the first/last row nearest to me bore not the names of Virginia counties but two states – “West Virginia” and “Kentucky”.

Kentucky?? Why would Kentucky records be at the Library of Virginia? (Blogger heal thyself and refer to the aforementioned principle.) I have ancestors who lived in Kentucky and finding them has been tough. I later learned that Lincoln County, Kentucky was formed from Virginia’s Kentucky County in 1780.

I traveled down the row of cabinets to where the Kentucky records on microfilm were stored. I opened the top drawer and gasped. The very first roll I noticed were marriage bonds and consents from Lincoln County. Bingo! I returned to my seat, powered up the reader again and loaded the microfilm. Here we go…

About 45 minutes later, I found the “smoking gun” I was after. Unbelievable. John and Margaret Boren, my 4th great grandparents, are elusive before 1810. Their children were born in Alabama before 1820. In the 1870 census, Margaret’s place of birth was listed as Maryland. John’s place of birth changed between 1850 and 1900 depending upon the census taken or the child who reported the birthplace of their father after his death – Alabama, Maryland, South Carolina…

I have suspected for a long time that Margaret’s father was the Revolutionary War soldier from Delaware, Joseph Greenwood. Circumstantial evidence lead me to this conclusion but I had no proof until yesterday. Scribbled on what appeared to be a torn fragment of parchment paper were these simple words: “I Joseph Greenwood has no objections that John Boring and my daughter Margret should be joined to gether.”

It’s been more than 24 hours now and I am still stunned. Finding Joseph Greenwood’s consent for the marriage of my 4th great grandparents was pure magic. Finding it at the Library of Virginia was dumb luck. Here was the smoking gun proving that Joseph Greenwood was Margaret’s father AND that John Boren (a.k.a. Boring) and Margaret were married in Lincoln County, Kentucky. The document was dated 2 March 1802. I have no idea why or how Virginia obtained this record seeing as Kentucky was formed in 1780 but I am glad they did.

Kenfolk: Trantham
Relationship: 5th great grandfather
Common ancestors: Joseph Greenwood’s parents are somewhere in Delaware methinks

Just last week I likened my microfilm reader to a slot machine minus the quarters. You turn the wheel and hope the next image is a winner. Most of the time you come up empty-handed. But I hit the jackpot big time yesterday. And I mean BIG TIME. Genealogical gold.

It happened like this: I decided to take a break from scanning court records from Lawrence County, Tennessee hoping to find evidence of my Boren and Pearce ancestors and switched to Williamson County, Tennessee hoping to find some mention of my Trantham ancestors. Thus, I randomly chose a roll of microfilm from Williamson County that I have not scanned. The roll I selected covers court records from 1826 to 1828; there are two volumes on it: Record Books #3 and #4. I scanned the index of Book #3 and found no entries for the Tranthams. That never deters me because many plaintiffs and defendants go unnamed in indexes and show up as “others”. So I started turning the wheel of my low-tech “slot machine” and perused the cases one by one. BOR-RING. About 45 minutes into it I decided I had better things to do and started rewinding the film. I had almost finished when I remembered that there was second volume (i.e., Book #4) on the same roll. I reversed course and quickly found my way to the index of said Book #4.

And there it was, the unfortunate lawsuit of my dreams: Pearce vs. Hackney.

This case involved some very ungrateful grandchildren who decided to sue their maternal grandmother and maternal uncle. To help you understand why this lawsuit is so genealogically important I have underlined the names of new family members who were revealed in these proceedings. The ungrateful grandchildren were Daniel Pearce (my 4th great grandfather) and his siblings: Joseph, Jesse, Elizabeth, Lucinda and George Pearce; AND Spencer Pearce (also my 4th great grandfather) and his siblings: Parisia, Mahala and Leroy Pearce. Also mentioned in the case were Daniel’s father, Robert Pearce, and Spencer’s father, Charles Pearce – a new 5th great grandfather! At issue were slaves bequeathed by Daniel Hackney (a new 6th great grandfather!) to his daughters Lavina Pearce and Betsey Pearce (two new 5th great grandmothers!) upon the death of their mother, Jemima (a new 6th great grandmother!). As Lavina and Betsey Pearce – the wives of Robert and Charles, respectively – were deceased by 1824, their children (the aforementioned ungrateful grandchildren) moved to the head of the line as the heirs of Daniel Hackney. The problem facing them was that their 80-year-old “infirm” Granny Jemima was still living and their irresponsible uncle, William Hackney, had control of her affairs – or so they claimed. Fearful that Uncle Bill might squander away their inheritance, the grandchildren decided to sue him and Granny Jemima.

But Jemima was anything but feeble at 80. She denied her grandchildren’s claims and stated emphatically that she – and not William – was in control of her fortune. Except, of course, that time when William got drunk and sent one of the slaves down river unaccompanied. (I hope he stayed free!) Spencer Pearce must have had a change of heart as he switched sides after the lawsuit was initially filed and asked to be removed as a complainant. (Good for him!) The judge subpoenaed him to get to the bottom of it but sadly, by that time, Spencer had passed away. His co-complainants did not inform the judge of his passing, I suspect, to keep Spencer’s heirs from getting his portion should they prevail. The grandchildren ultimately lost the case as it lacked merit and credible evidence.

In case your head isn’t already spinning, the revelation that Spencer Pearce and Daniel Pearce were 1st cousins means my 2nd great grandparents, John S. Boren and Mary Emma Goodger – grandchildren of Spencer Pearce and Daniel Pearce, respectively – were 3rd cousins.

My genealogical insufferable-ness continues.

This post is dedicated to my 1st cousin, 1x time removed-in-law Nancy (Almy) Ballard. I once told her that I doubted I would ever find any new information about my ancestors that my mother had not already uncovered. Nancy told me not give up and that I’d eventually find it. She was right.

Kenfolk: Trantham
Relationship: 6th grandmother
Common ancestors: Jemima’s parents are the next great brick walls

Another day, another brick wall. Neoma, the wife of Spencer Pearce, was my 4th great grandmother. She’s the latest edition to my family tree. I’ve known the name “Neoma” for some time. The inventory of her estate appears in a book of probate records from Lawrence County, Tennessee. It’s been collecting dust on my bookshelf. No other information about Neoma appears in said book. So I needed court records on microfilm to help me connect the dots – and that’s pretty much what happened. When Neoma died sometime before January of 1831, she left four children behind: Washington, Evelina (or Anna), Edward and Samuel. Barnabas Gabel, a neighbor to the Pearces, became the guardian of Neoma’s minors. For the next year five Barnabas went to court and filed the necessary paperwork for the “heirs of Spencer and Neoma Pearce”. I’ve already established that Spencer was the father of my 3rd great grandmother, Harriet Pearce, who was legally an adult when her mother Neoma died. She didn’t need a guardian. Two years later, Harriet was married to Absalom Boren. The tragedy in this is that neither Spencer nor Neoma died with a will which tells me their deaths – about five years apart – were unexpected. History has a cruel way of repeating itself sometimes. Spencer and Neoma died leaving small children behind and so did their grandson, John S. Boren and his wife, Mary Emma. And then their daughter, my great grandmother Lula Betty, died at the age of 32 leaving six small children behind.

Brick walls are fun to knock down but frustrating at the same time. One comes down and two more rise to take it’s place. Now begins the hunt for Spencer and Neoma’s parents. Hugh McIntyre was appointed Executor of Neoma’s estate. Could he be related? A brother, a brother-in-law or a cousin? Or, was he just an upstanding guy in the community who volunteered? I checked my DNA matches on Ancestry.com to see if McIntyre blood might be flowing through my veins. Maybe, but not enough to convince me that Hugh is a blood relative.

Oh, Neoma. Who are you?

Kenfolk: Trantham
Relationship: 4th great grandmother
Common ancestors: Neoma’s mysterious parents????????

Another brick wall came tumbling down yesterday and I am ELATED. Buried in the deeds of Lawrence County, Tennessee from 1831 was a transaction between the “Heirs of Spencer Pearce” and Barnabas Gabel. Listed among the heirs was Harriet Pearce, my 3rd great grandmother. Ironically, I had been toying with the idea that Spencer might have been the father of my 4th great grandfather, Daniel Pearce, who was also a resident of Lawrence County. I hadn’t really considered that Spencer might have been Harriet’s father. I had dismissed him as her father early on because he did not appear in Lawrence County until 1818 and Harriet was born in Tennessee in 1811 per later census records. Spencer’s land grant in Lawrence County happened in 1818 and I thought he must have moved there from outside the state. Not so apparently! It did not occur to me that Spencer might have been living in another part of Tennessee before moving to Lawrence County.

And if this tweren’t big enough news this week— I found another court record from Lawrence County – this time from 1824 – naming Daniel Pearce the Executor of the Estate of WILLIAM Pearce.

Busting brick walls this week fer sure!

Kenfolk: Trantham
Relationship: 3rd great grandmother
Common ancestors: Harriet’s father was Spencer Pearce!!!

Daniel Pearce, my 4th great grandfather, is a “new” old ancestor. He is the recently-discovered father of the illusive Matilda Jane Goodger who stymied me for two years. Daniel shows up frequently in county court records in Maury and Lawrence in Tennessee and Itawamba and Prentiss in Mississippi. But I wasn’t expecting to find him in records in Williamson County, Tennessee (which is a bit further north) when I was perusing criminal cases of said county on microfilm.

Something tells me if he could do it over again, Daniel might wish he’d not been found in Williamson County either.

In February of 1826, Daniel was indicted in Williamson for passing counterfeit bank bills to the Nashville Bridge Company. His accomplice, Joshua Sturman, was indicted for forgery. It didn’t end well for either of them. Daniel was convicted a year later; Joshua the following August. For his crimes Daniel received 20 lashes at the whipping post (ouch!), time in jail and a fine of $49. He also had to pay court costs which he couldn’t as a twenty-something-year-old young man with a growing family.

In those days, courts,were not in session as frequently as they are now – especially in pioneer communities. Williamson had a February session and an August (later July) session. Because Daniel was indicted he was thrown in jail where he would have waited six months had it not been for three men who came to his rescue in May – each putting up $250 for his release on recognizance. Unfortunately, Daniel continued to make bad choices and was a “no-show” at the next term.

As a result, the bond money of good Samaritans George G. Crunk, Isaac Hobbs and Ambrose Pearce (!!!) was temporarily forfeited. I am sorry for them but elated for me because here are THREE NEW NAMES associated with Daniel. $250 was a lot of money in 1826 and folks just didn’t throw it around recklessly. They must have known him.

I have since learned that Isaac Hobbs and Ambrose Pearce, who was recorded as “Abner” in a later filing, were living in nearby Lincoln County, Tennessee and that Isaac had married a woman named Anna Pearce!!! She is likely Daniel’s sister and Isaac his brother-in-law. But who is Ambrose?? Father? Brother? Uncle? Cousin? In the 1820 census, Ambrose is old enough to be Daniel’s father. But then who is Robert? Did I vote for Robert irresponsibly? It happens.

As for Daniel and his crime and punishment: his pain is my genealogical gain.

Kenfolk: Trantham
Relationship: 4th great grandfather
Common ancestors: I am narrowing the playing field on the Pearces

References:
Williamson County, Tennessee, Circuit Court Minutes, Civil and Criminal Roll #27, Volume: 5-8, Aug 1825-Jul 1837. Microfilm, personal collection.