Desperate times, desperate measures.

If you’re following this blog, you may remember my post entitled “Lydia’s Plight”. In it, I told of Lydia (Turbeville) Deason‘s failed attempt to secure her “fallen” son’s Civil War pension. Lydia is my 4th great grandmother. Her son, Milas Deason, was the Army bugler who went missing after the Confederate attack and massacre at Fort Pillow in 1864. The Army concluded officially that Milas had deserted his post; and, as such, neither he nor his dependents were eligible for a pension. Thirteen years later, his mother Lydia brought forth three “witnesses” to refute the Army’s claims and support HER conclusion: Milas had not deserted but had been captured and executed by guerrillas. Despite sworn affidavits from the three “witnesses”, the Office of the Commissioner of Pensions in Washington, D.C. ultimately rejected Lydia’s application.

Two the of the three “witnesses” – Benjamin M. Turbeville and Thomas Diggs – gave firsthand accounts of the execution itself; the third “witness” – George Dunn – described only the events leading up to Milas’ disappearance. By now you’re probably wondering why I continue to place quotation marks around the word “witness”.

It’s a matter of credibility and genealogy.

I am almost certain the Commissioner’s Office turned down Lydia’s application on the basis that her “witnesses” were not Milas’ superior officers. This requirement was outlined in their initial response to her. Not being able to secure testimony from officers, Lydia turned to the next best thing: testimony from two relatives and a soldier who didn’t actually see Milas get shot.

The first witness, Benjamin M. Turbeville, was Lydia’s nephew and my 1st cousin, 5x removed. An application clerk sitting in Washington, D.C. probably could not have known that Lydia’s maiden name was Turbeville. The second witness, Thomas Diggs, was not Lydia’s nephew. But he was the nephew through marriage of Lydia’s sister, Martha (Turbeville) Diggs. Both Benjamin and Thomas swore under oath that Milas had been shot and executed. They supposedly saw it happen. Hmm. Something is rotten in the State of Tennessee, methinks.

The third witness, George Dunn, was not related to Lydia that I know of. He was stationed at Fort Pillow and, as I’ve indicated, his testimony ended with Milas’ disappearance.

Lydia and her husband, John R. Deason, were elderly and poor when this application business came about. There’s no question they needed the money. They also had another mouth to feed given that they were raising their granddaughter, Effie Trantham. Desperation probably drove Lydia to convince her “nephews” Benjamin and Thomas to lie for her. She may have even promised them a cut of the pension. Who knows?

Have I mentioned that James Ray was the name of the court clerk in Weakley County, Tennessee who took Benjamin and Thomas’ testimony and prepared the affidavits? John R. Deason’s sister (or possibly cousin) was Jemima (Deason) Ray. If you’re going to commit fraud, why not involve as many family members as possible? Good grief.

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relation: 4th great grandmother
Common ancestors: Lydia’s parents, James and Mary (Fitzhugh) Turbeville, are my 5th great grandparents

Discovering one of my ancestors was characterized as a “lunatic” in court records was a bit unsettling. I am not sure why. I was okay with the idea that Rebecca Trantham had died tragically during childbirth (which didn’t happen) but not that she had been committed to an asylum for lunatics (which did happen). Weird. Not one to let sleeping dogs sleep, my research on Rebecca continued and I’ve learned a few new things since my last post.

Earlier court documents revealed that Rebecca’s younger brother, William Deason, was compensated for transporting her to the “State Hospital” in January of 1868. So now we know the approximate date of her departure from the home.

The “State Hospital” was likely the Central State Hospital for the Insane which was located in Nashville. This is where Rebecca was living when the 1880 census was taken. Understandably, the facility underwent a few name changes over the years. It was Tennessee’s second such hospital; the first being the Tennessee Lunatic Asylum.

The word “lunatic”, which undeniably has negative connotations today, did NOT mean the same thing back then: one was not born a lunatic; one became a lunatic because of a traumatic event, an injury to the head, a disease, etc. It is an important distinction: the afflicted was capable of making sound decisions before the event but not after.

Since Rebecca and three of her children all suffered with mental illness throughout their adult lives it leaves me wondering if a disease was the cause. Is it possible that a malicious malady entered the Trantham household, taking the life of the oldest son “H”, who was last seen in the 1860 census, and forever changing the lives of those who survived? Quite possibly.

A dear friend of mine lives in Weakley County, Tennessee not far from the Yellow Fever Cemetery where victims of a mid-19th century epidemic are buried. Typhoid fever is another possibility. Psychiatric problems – hallucinations, paranoia, psychosis – are among its long-term complications, assuming of course, the victim survived.

Frankly, I may never know the truth of the matter. I suppose it’s why genealogy is so alluring to so many: it’s a jigsaw puzzle without the benefit of a picture on the lid of the box. You have to piece things together the best you can and then try to come to a logical conclusion.

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relation: 3rd great grandmother
Common ancestors: Rebecca’s parents, John R. and Lydia (Turbeville) Deason, are my 4th great grandparents

References:
https://historicnashville.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/asylum-for-the-insane
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/typhoid-fever/basics/complications/con-20028553
http://www.tngenweb.org/poor/

While browsing historic court documents from Weakley County, Tennessee this weekend, I stumbled across answers to questions I did not know I had. In the end, a heartbreaking story of a family that struggled with mental illness emerged.

Rebecca (Deason) Trantham is my 3rd great grandmother. She married my 3rd great grandfather, Robert Floyd Trantham, on May 10, 1855 in Weakley County, Tennessee. In the 1870 census, it is clear that an idyllic life was not meant for them. Robert Floyd, the head of the household, is living with five of his seven children. The youngest child, Effie, is living with her maternal grandparents. Wife and mother Rebecca was not listed as living in either home. I had assumed (logically) that Rebecca had died sometime after Effie’s birth in 1867 and before the 1870 census was taken.

My assumption was wrong.

Tragically, Robert Floyd died around January of 1877. He would have been about 50 years old. His will, which was likely written hastily on a simple piece of paper, was presented in court that same month and was ultimately deemed valid. Absent of legalese, he left his meager belongings to his daughters Notia and Delilah. I can only assume that Robert believed his sons were old enough to fend for themselves and that Effie would be taken care of by her maternal grandparents.

Two months after Robert’s will was vetted before the court, Robert’s father-in-law, John R. Deason, petitioned the court for guardianship of his daughter Rebecca Trantham, a “lunatic”. A wave of sadness and agony swept over me as realized what I had just read. That one word revealed why she was missing in the 1870 census. A “lunatic” was not a clinical diagnosis but simply the court’s method of indicating that the person’s mind was not sound. Clearly, Rebecca needed someone else to make important decisions for her. And because I believed Rebecca had died before 1870, I had stopped looking for her. But I found her again in the 1880 census listed as Rebecca “Bentham” age 40. She is “living” among rows and rows of strangers (other patients) in some facility or asylum in Davidson County, Tennessee.

Later court records revealed that Effie also struggled with mental illness. In 1888, her brother and my 2nd great grandfather, Campbell Jackson, was compensated by the court for transporting Effie to an asylum in Nashville. The court compensated him again when he fetched her home a year later. Effie and Campbell’s sister, Delilah, also battled mental illness according to my mother’s research; and Campbell himself died in an institution in 1935.

I debated whether or not I should share this information in this public forum. But Rebecca and her struggles are my heritage and her story is now part of my own. My paternal grandmother once told me that God never throws anything at you that he knows you cannot handle. I think she was right. The decision to separate Rebecca from her home and her family was probably agonizing. And yet they survived – she survived – and I exist because of it.

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relation: 3rd great grandmother
Common ancestors: Rebecca’s parents, John R. and Lydia (Turbeville) Deason, are my 4th great grandparents

Earlier this week I set out to better understand why the common ancestors of so many of my DNA matches on Ancestry.com are still complete mysteries to me. So I created a scorecard so I could keep track of the ancestral “holes” in my family tree. I’ve now completed my father’s side (scorecard below) which obviously represents 50% of the overall task. I suspect my mother’s side will look much the same.

A blue square represents a known male ancestor and pink square a known female ancestor. A yellow square represents an ancestor whose identity is unknown. Yikes. Although I have successfully identified 100% of my 2nd and 3rd great grandparents, 6 4th great grandparents, 19 5th great grandparents and a whopping 86 6th great grandparents are missing. Remember: this represents just HALF of my ancestors.

I’ve been doing genealogy for over a year now. When I first started I encountered people who said they’ve been researching their family trees for 30 years or more. I remember thinking at the time: what on Earth is taking you so long?

Silly me.

Happy Birthday, Mom. Thanks for inspiring me to uncover the yellow squares!

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relation: Ancestors
Common ancestors: 7th, 8th, 9th, etc.

Disputing my theory that Werner Heisenberg, my 4th cousin, 3x removed, had anything but a big brain would be futile. In 1932, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics “for the creation of quantum mechanics”. He was 31 years old. When I was 31 years old, I won $3 because I correctly matched the Powerball.

In 1928, Werner and two of his colleagues were nominated for the same prize but did not win. The competition must have been really tough that year because Albert Einstein had nominated them. Werner was not just smart; he was also wise. A scientist, author and philosopher, Werner’s most memorable quotes are floating around the internet. I am particularly fond of this one:

“Not only is the Universe stranger than we think, it is stranger than we can think.”
– from Across the Frontiers by Werner Heinsenberg

Werner’s appearance on my blog is special for a few reasons. Notwithstanding his big brain and the Nobel Prize (which deserves mentioning again), Werner’s the first and only distant cousin I’ve written about who was not born and raised in the United States. Although we have common ancestral roots, Werner’s ancestors stayed in Germany while mine ventured off to America back in the late 1840s.

I have my newly-discovered distant cousin Günter to thank for helping me discover Werner as a leaf in my family tree. Danke Schoen!

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relation: 4th cousin, 3x removed
Common ancestors: Werner’s 3rd great grandparents, Gerhard and Regina (Meyer zu Strohen) Wessel, are my 6th great grandparents

Reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Heisenberg#Honors_and_awards

This last weekend I had very sobering genealogical experience followed by an uplifting genealogical experience. The reality check came when I started looking more closely at my father’s DNA matches and realized about halfway down the 2nd page of results (out of 129 pages) that I had no clue how the DNA match and my father were related. Keep in mind that a lot folks have taken the DNA test offered by Ancestry.com but haven’t built out a family tree. Naturally, I skipped those folks and focused on matches who had at least 50 people in their family trees. Not that that made a difference.

In fact, I asked myself: how is it possible that someone who is genetically related to my father in the 4th to 6th cousin range can have 2,000+ people in their family tree (true story) and NOT ONE of their ancestors’ surnames appears in my family tree? This bugged me so much that I decided to get organized and identify the direct-ancestor “holes” in my family tree back to my 6th great grandparents’ generation. Each of us has 254 6th great grandparents. That’s a lot of ancestors and a lot of potential holes. So I created my own scorecard so I could keep track of them. I am not even halfway through this experiment on my father’s side but I can clearly see the problem – I have too many “holes” who are unknown ancestors. That would explain why so many DNA matches are complete mysteries. Ugh.

After consuming an entire bag of oatmeal raisin cookies (which helped), I decided to end my self-inflicted great grandparent pity party and get back to work. My missing ancestors were not going to find themselves after all. Using the portion of the scorecard that I completed, I started looking at family lines that ended with a 5th great grandparent.

One of these is Mary Nalle, my 5th great grandmother and the great grandmother of Isadora (Sims) Trantham, my 2nd great grandmother. I’ve done virtually no research on Mary’s parents, grandparents, etc. But other people – my distant cousins – have done quite a bit of research.

Assuming their research is correct, Mary appears to be a direct descendant of King Edward III of England. I did the math and he’d by my 19th great grandfather. His father, King Edward II, my 20th great grandfather and so on.

I am going to need a bigger scorecard.

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relation: 2nd great grandmother
Common ancestors: It appears that Isadora Sims is a descendant of many of the royal houses of England and Europe which have yet to be explored.

Many years ago I came to the realization that I have (self-diagnosed) ADHD-like tendencies. I am easily distracted and often start things that I never finish. The fact that I’ve managed to keep this blog up for ten months is not like me at all. Thusly, I realized recently that while I had introduced John Harding Peach a long time ago in another post, I had never gotten around to giving him his full due. And as I continue to find “new” information about the early Tranthams (which has me twitterpated), I decided to rectify this situation and finish what I started. After all, the Tranthams and the Peaches were thick as thieves at one time methinks.

John Harding is without question the world’s foremost authority on the Peach family and he’s written several books to prove it. I mean it. He knows a lot of about folks named Peach or Peche and that family name goes back a ways. I happened to come across a preview of one of his books online when I was preparing for my grand lecture at our now quinquennial Trantham family reunion. The passage in this particular book dealt with Sealy Trantham who had married John Peach. Together they brought forth a bushel’s worth of more Peaches – ten, in fact.

I emailed John Harding and asked him if his books were still available and, if not, did have any other information about Sealy Trantham that I might be able to share at our upcoming family reunion. She was “kenfolk”. His reply took me by surprise: “Yes, the book(s) are still available…” followed by “Where is your reunion going to be held and when?”

I had not considered the possibility that John Harding was a distant COUSIN. Technically, he is a descendant of John Peach and his first wife. Sealy was John Peach’s second wife. But as John Harding put it, Sealy raised John’s first seven children and gave him ten more. She was mother to them all. I agree.

Just how thick were these thieves? Thick like jam. Sealy’s brother, Jesse Trantham, my 4th great grandfather, even named one of his sons Hardiman Peach Trantham.

Volume 2 of John Harding’s The Peach Genealogies (autographed!) is now a treasured part of my growing genealogy library. Most of the book is devoted to the descendants of John and Sealy (Trantham) Peach.

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relation: 5th cousin, 1x removed
Common ancestors: John Harding’s (step) 4th great grandfather was Martin Trantham of Williamson County, Tennessee who is also my 5th great grandfather

As far as finding distant and not-so-distant cousins is concerned, it’s been an eventful week.

Two new DNA matches popped up on Ancestry.com – both from the Boren branch of my family tree and both 3rd cousins. “Darlene” is the great granddaughter of Christine Boren, one of my great grandmother Lula Betty Boren’s sisters. “Christine” is a name I have known for quite some time as I have memories of my grandfather talking about his “Aunt Christine” who lived in Texas. The second match (“L.B.”) is the great grandson of Thomas Boren – one of Lula Betty’s brothers. Thomas was a wanderer for sure. After leaving Mississippi where he was born, he and his family show up in the census records living in New Mexico in 1910 and 1920 and in Colorado in 1930. Thomas died in Yakima, Washington in 1942. “L.B”‘s wife is Ivana. She is the one researching the Boren family tree and we’ve exchanged emails.

Now, while I am quite content connecting with any and all of my distant cousins, I must say that I was a bit shocked and delighted when another distant cousin reached out to me this week FROM GERMANY. I can officially cross this off my list – make contact with a distant German cousin. Done.

Günter, my 6th cousin, 1x removed, is a descendant of the Wessels who lived in Osnabrück, Germany in the 18th and 19th centuries. My 3rd great grandparents, William and Maria (Brömstrup) Wessel were married in Osnabrück before coming to America in 1845. Like me, Günter is into genealogy (duh) and he’s graciously given me a copy of his family tree back to our common ancestors. I reciprocated and gave him the American side of the family – all 55 pages of it covering (only) 4 generations of Wessel-Brömstrup descendants! You see, here’s the deal. Germans came to America many times to avoid having to fight battles for the warring princes of Deutschland. (The irony, of course, is that many German-Americans got swept up into the War Between the (American) States after they arrived.) They also came because of America’s untamed and promising farmlands which provided an abundance of food. More food meant bigger farms which required bigger families to take care of them. But I digress.

One of Günter’s 2nd great grand aunts married one of my Brömstrup 3rd great grand uncles. How grand! So there’s a connection there as well. This couple came to America seven years BEFORE my 3rd great grandparents and settled in Wheeling, West Virginia. Ta-dah! That’s the reason William and Maria stopped in Wheeling, West Virginia first before moving further west to Missouri – Maria’s brother and his family were already living there!

Trust me, now that I have found the connection to the Branstraps/Branstroops/Bronstrups of West Virginia and Cousin Günter. I’ll have more to say on all of them in future posts.

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relation: 6th cousin, 1x removed
Common ancestors: Günter’s 5th great grandparents, Gerhard Engelhardt and Regina (Meyer zu Strohen) Wessel, and are my 6th great grandparents