|
|
|
|
THIS SITE IS A
WORK IN PROGRESS
This web page
provides information on my father's parents - James Alfred Hunter and
Nancy Jane Avants and their ancestors. It also provides information on
my mother's parents - William "Carl" Foster and Jesse Isabel Morris and
their ancestors.
I am putting up this site in the
hope that those who share some of my ancestry can not only obtain the
information and pictures that I have, but that those who have more
information
will contact me and help me fill out my family tree.
I want to thank my son, Glen, for
putting all this together. I can do some things
with the computer but he is the wizard around here.
|
|
|
|
|
CLICK ON A NAME BELOW
|
The links below will take you to the pages
where I've posted some of the family photos I've collected.
|
James Alfred Hunter
|
Born: August 1873 in Bolivar County,
MS.
Married: Nancy Jane Avants on August
16, 1894
in Choctaw County,
MS.
Died: April 23, 1923 in Luxora, AR.
Children: Ellen Victoria
William
Benjamin
James
Audie
Ambrose
Greenberry
Maggie
Leona
Tomas
"Jack" Jackson
|
James Alfred is my paternal grandfather and the source of my surname. I
haven't been able to discover who his father is, but I haven't stopped
searching. From what little I have learned about him, he was born on a
farm in Bolivar county, Mississippi to a woman named Nellie Griffin.
James married Nancy Jane Avants on
August 16, 1894 in Choctaw county, Mississippi. They had six children
together (Click
on a name to go to that person's page):
Ellen Victoria -
born Jan. 01, 1896 in Mississippi - died in Mississippi
county, AR. on
Apr. 12, 1937 and
buried in Sandy Ridge Cemetery in Luxora, AR. She
married Walker Blaylock
(age 21), on May 25, 1911 in Conway county, AR.
when she was 14. Then
she married Tom Wilson (Date unknown). Then
at age
30, she married Arthur
Mullins (age 23), on Dec 03, 1928 in
Mississippi county,
AR.
William "Willie"
Benjamin - born about 1900 - died - ? He married a woman named
Gertie
(Chitrum?) (age 16) on May 02, 1920 in Mississippi county,
AR. Then
he married a Shembry.
James Audie - born
about Feb.22, 1901 died - Jan. 10, 1985 in Lafayette,
AR. On Nov. 11,
1922 in Mississippi
county, AR. he married Nellie Rollins (born Jan 14, 1900 -
died Apr. 03, 1941 in
St. Louis, MO. and buried in Westridge Cemetary. - this
is her second marriage,
her first marriage was to William Horton in Oct. 1917) .
He then married Sarah
Mae Shembra (age 22) on Dec. 18, 1940 in Mississippi
county, AR.
Ambrose
Greenberry - born Mar. 14, 1909 in Ada, AR. - died Feb. 10, 1968 in
St. Louis,
Mo.- buried in St. Clair County Memorial Cemetery,
IL. He married
Mary Lula Pinkston (born about
1911 - died ? ) on Oct. 01, 1928 in
Mississippi county, AR.
Maggie Leona -
born Aug. 12, 1911 - died Feb. 10 1998. She married a John Marvin Hill
(age 30) on Oct. 18, 1925 when she was 14, then E.M.Allen (age
46) on
Sept. 26, 1931, then Hurbert Humbles (dates unknown).
Tomas "Jack" Jackson - born Jan 04, 1914. died May 26, 1993. He
married Julia Mae Foster.
Then He
Married Roxie Draper. Then He married Evelyn
Okane.
I have a copy of James's and Nancy's
marriage application and their marriage certificate (book C, page no.
324), which proclaims that they were married August 16, 1894 in Choctaw
county, MS.
by J. Watson, Minister of the Gospel. A mistake was made on
both documents in which Nancy Jane Avants was identified as M. A.
Avants.
The earliest record I have come
across is the 1880 census of district 3 in Yalobusha county,
Mississippi. It lists a Nellie Hunter (age 40) and a Jim Hunter (age 6)
as farm laborers apparently living with a woman named Amie Evans (age
40) along with Amie's son, Tom Evans (age 20), and her daughters K.
Evans (age 25), and Luticia Evans (age 16). Amie Evans is listed
as a farmer while the others are listed as farm laborers. Since Amie is
listed as a widow while Nellie has no listing, I think that Nellie's
husband was either dead or had left the family at this time. Either way
it seems that she and her son had moved in with
the Evans family (Who I believe were related to Nellie), perhaps
providing labor for room and board. The same census listing states
that Nellie, her parents, and James's father were all born in
Mississippi.
The next documents I've found were
two certificates showing James Alfred being sworn in as Justice of the
Peace in the Petit Jean township in Conway county, Arkansas along with
an election ballot dated September 3, 1906 showing James Alfred running
for the office. (He won 44 to 37 with a write-in candidate getting 6
votes). He apparently won the office at least twice, since the
certificates show him being sworn in on 31 October 1902, and 4 April
1906.
By the 1910 Census, James is shown
as living in Griffin township, (the writing is indistinct, it
may be Higgins township.) in Conway county, Arkansas. With him are his
wife, Nancy Jane, and their children, Victoria, William, Audie, and
Ambrose as well as his
mother, Nellie. (Nellie's last name was now Sharp. Before the census
she had married a man named Jimmy Sharp. However, there is no
indication that her husband was living with James's family and I
believe he had died by the time of the census.
Regrettably, I don't have much more
information about my grandfather. What bits I've picked up include
photos of him with coworkers at a lumber mill in Mississippi, and
a couple of photos of him with his family. One interesting document
that a cousin found is an oath of loyalty dated August 2, 1865 issued
in Mississippi to a William Hunter which reads:
I,
William Hunter do solemnly swear ( or affirm ) in the presence
of
Almighty God,
that I hereafter faithfully support, protect, and defend
the Constitution
of the UNITED STATES, and
the union of the States
thereunder; and
that I will, in like manner, abide by, and faithfully support
all laws and
proclamations which have been made during the existing
rebellion with
reference to the emancipation of slaves. So help me God.
This document was found in our
family papers and is obviously an oath of allegiance by a confederate
soldier at the end of the Civil War. Some of my relatives think that
William is James's father, but since no one has any other information,
he may well be an uncle or other relative. With luck, and a little help
from others on the Internet, I may be able to find out more.
The last thing I have on my
grandfather is his death certificate. It identifies him as a white male
aged 49 years, 8 months, and 15 days. His occupation is listed as
farmer, and his cause of death as malaria. The date and place of his
death is April 24, 1923 at 2:30 am in Burdette township in Luxora, AR.(
the time is small and smudged, so I'm not certain if I read
it right ). His doctor is identified as Hunter C. Sims who
attended him from April 20 to April 24, and his son-in-law Walker G.
Blaylock is named as the one who provided personal information. The
place of burial is Sandy Ridge cemetery in Luxora. One odd thing on
this certificate is that under marital status, the word "single" is
written in and then crossed out, then the word "widowed" is written
over the typed listing of marital states. Since my grandmother was very
much alive at this time, and lived until 1958, I don't know what this
means, or for that matter why one of his son-in-laws provided grandpa's
personal information instead of his wife.
If anyone out there has any more
information on my grandfather or his family, please contact me.
|
Tomas
"Jack"
Jackson Hunter
|
Born: January 04,
1914
Married: Julia Mae Foster on July 03,
1933 in Mississippi county,
AR.
Married: Roxanne Draper (?)
Married: Evelyn Okane
Died: May 26, 1993 in Blytheville,
AR.
Children: Billy Thane (Faine) Hunter
|
Tomas Jackson Hunter was my father. Although his first
name was Tomas, everyone knew him as Jack. I'm not certain where he was
born, but I think it was in Conway, AR. or Bristol, TN. The youngest of
six children, his father James Alfred Hunter, died when he was nine
years old. He was then raised by his mother, Nancy Jane Avants-Hunter
and his siblings.
My father, Jack, worked on several
different farms in Mississippi County Arkansas with his mother.
In 1933, when he was 19, he married my mother Julia Foster in Osceola
Arkansas, and in 1934 I was born. They supported themselves by working
on farms until a major flood in Northeast Arkansas in 1937
destroyed where we lived. After the flood, my mom divorced him,
taking me to live with her. He then married Roxie Draper (born
about 1910 - this is her second marriage, her first was to Bruce
Rollins
on May 01, 1926 in Mississippi county, Arkansas.) in Poinsett county,
Arkansas, on August 06, 1937. Though they were married for several
years, they did not have any children which left me as his sole child.
He was married a third time to a woman named Evelyn Okane (dates
unknown)
but the marrage only lasted a few months.
He and Roxie worked on a farm until
the early 1940's. During this time, he entered the U.S. Army during WW
II, but he never saw any action. After he was discharged, he
and Roxie opened a department store in Osceola Arkansas. They divorced
in the early 1950's. Roxie got the store in the divorce and Jack moved
to East St. Louis, Missouri near his brother James Audie Hunter and
started working with him.
Jack moved back to Arkansas about
1971 and
settled down in a town called Blytheville where he did odd
jobs until he became disabled. He lived alone and died at the age of 79
in 1993.
|
Billy Thane Hunter
|
Born: July 31, 1934 in
Osceola, AR.
Married: Daisy Catherine Brewster on
October
20, 1956 at Bunker
Hill AFB
Peru, Indiana.
Children: Glen Alan
Billy
Wayne
Jack
Randall (Randy)
Julia
Ellen
|
This is me, Bill Hunter. I was born in a small community called
Halltown near Osceola, AR where my mother and father worked on farms.
Since Halltown was washed away in the Mississippi flood of 1937, and
birth certificates were registered in Osceola, I usually tell people I
was born in Osceola.
After the flood destroyed our home,
my parents divorced and I lived with my mother as she worked on various
farms to support us. Eventually, she married Johnny Barker and settled
into the role of housewife while he made a living as a sign painter.
In 1951, when I was 17, I enlisted
in the Air Force and served during the Korean and Vietnam wars as an
aircraft mechanic and crew chief.
I met my wife, Daisy Catherine
Brewster (born
- Jan. 15, 1939 in Brewstertown, TN. to Jesse Washington Brewster
and Happy Ellen Crisp) in 1955, and we were married in October of 1956.
Together we have 4 children:
Glen Alan - born Feb. 12, 1959 in
Blytheville, AR.
Billy Wayne Hunter - born Oct. 21,
1960 in Blytheville, AR.
Jack Randall (Randy) - born Dec. 20,
1961 in Memphis, TN.
Julia Ellen - born Feb. 04, 1965 in
Seymore- Johnson AFB, NC.
After 20 years, I retired from the
Air Force in 1972 in Texas with the rank of Master Sergeant. After
trying my hand at different careers, I used the GI Bill to start
earning a college degree. In 1976 we moved to my wife's hometown
in Morgan county, TN. where I finished my degree in education at
Tennessee Tech University. I was then hired as a teacher
at Chestnut Ridge School in Morgan county and was eventually promoted
to vice principal. The county closed down the school and I started work
at Sunbright High School in Morgan county where I again was
promoted to vice principal, a post I held until my retirement.
Since then, I have remained active in the Morgan
county community, serving on the school board and the Morgan County C
Club, as a volunteer firefighter in Burrville, and as a member of the
Morgan county 911 board among others. My wife and I attend Brewstertown
Church of God where I teach
the boys Sunday school class.
|
William Carl Foster
|
Born:
Feb. 23, 1891 in
Germantown, TN.
Married: Jesse Isabel Morris
Married: Emily (Simpson?)
Married: Ira (?)
Died: April 11, 1968 in Shelby
County,
TN.
Children: Julia Mae
Vera Bell
James
Vester
Opal
Ophilia
Martha
Thene
William
Doyce
Danielle
Charles
William
Louise
Donald
Wanda Jo
|
This is my maternal grandfather, Carl Foster ( most people called him
WC ). From What I've been able to gather from talking to family members
and old records, He was born on Feb. 23, 1891 in Germantown, TN. I
don't know anything about his parents, but I think his father's name
was Samuel. He had at least 4 brothers named Erskin, Frank, John, and
Winston. He also had a sister named Essie.
Although grandfather managed a hotel
at one time, he spent most of his life working as a farmer outside
Memphis, TN.
He married my grandmother
Jesse Isabel Morris, in Guntown Mississippi, (I don't know the date)
and they had six children together:
Julia Mae - born Sept. 25, 1914 in
Baldwyn, MS. She married Tomas "Jack"
Jackson Hunter on July 03, 1933. She then
married John Barker in 1944
and then Charles Wilkerson in 1962.
(Twin) Vera Bell - born June 13,
1916. died ?
(Twin) James Vester - born June 13,
1916. died Oct. 1966. He married Sybil
Brawley.
Opal Ophilia - born Mar. 16, 1920.
died Feb. 10, 1990 in Memphis, TN. She married
Carl Francis Hale.
Martha Thene - born May 16, 1918.
She married Thomas Lee Todd.
William Doyce - born Oct. 4, 1922.
died April 01, 1967. He married Alice
Maybell Brawley.
After my grandmother Jesse passed
away in 1927, he married Emily Simpson (date unknown) and they had six
children:
Danielle - born?
Charles - born ?
William - born ?
(Twin) Louise - born ?
(Twin) Unknown. Louise's twin, died at birth.
Donald - born ?
Grandfather divorced Emily in the late
1940's and married a lady named Ira when he was in his 50's. They had
one child named Wanda Jo (born - ?).
My grandfather passed away at age 76
on April 11, 1968 in Shelby county, TN.
|
Julia Mae Foster
|
Born: September 25, 1914
in Baldwyn,
MS.
Married: Tomas "Jack" Hunter on July
03, 1933
in Mississippi County,
AR.
Married: Johnny Barker in 1944
Married: Charles "Chuck" Wilkerson in
1962
Died: August 31, 2003 at Overton
Park
Health Care Center in
Memphis,
TN.
Children: Billy Thane Hunter
Donald
Eugene Barker
Wanda
Joyce Barker
Linda
Sue Barker
John
"Butch" Edward Barker
|
My mother, Julia Mae, was born in Baldwyn, Mississippi in 1914.
The oldest of William "Carl" Foster and Jesse Isabel Morris's six
children, her family moved quite often as she grew up, working on
various farms.
In 1933, when she was 18, she met
and married my father, Jack Hunter, in Mississippi county, AR. On July
31, 1934, I was born, and after a flood that destroyed our home in
1937, she divorced him, taking me with her while he went on to marry a
woman named Roxie Draper.
For a time, my mother worked in a
paper manufacturing company in Memphis, TN. and then went to work in a
shipyard as a welder during World
War II.
At age 30, in 1944, she
married her second husband John Joseph Preston Ray Barker (Born Oct. 4,
1909 in Bristol, TN. Died Mar. 26, 1956 in Memphis, TN.). She had four
children with him, my two half brothers and two half sisters:
Donald Eugene Barker - born Aug. 14,
1944 in Memphis, TN.
Wanda Joyce Barker - born April 13,
1946 in Memphis, TN.
Linda Sue Barker - born Feb. 26,
1953 in Memphis, TN.
John "Butch" Edward Barker - born
Feb. 23,1955 in Memphis, TN.
My stepfather supported us by working as a sign painter and raised me
as one of his own until I entered the Air Force in 1951.
While my stepfather was working on a
sign in 1956, he fell to his death, which left the family devastated.
In 1962, when in her late 40s she
married Charles "Chuck" Wilkerson, (Born Oct. 10, 1923 in Portland,
TN.). In time, they divorced and she moved backed to Memphis, TN.
My mother passed away in Overton
Park Health Care Center in Memphis, Tennessee on August 31, 2003 and
was laid to rest in Memphis Memorial Gardens in Memphis.
|
Peter Avant(s) |
Born:
about 1779 in North or South Carolina
Married: Mary Elizabeth "Polly" Sharp(s)
Died: about 1865 in Ackerman, Choctaw
county,
Mississippi.
Children: Joseph
John
William
Issac
Andrew Jackson
Thomas Warren
William Cary
Winney
Nelly
Peggy
Polly
Amy
Abby
|
Peter Avants is my maternal great-great-great grandfather, and since
I've received conflicting information on him, I'm uncertain about the
accuracy of most of the information I have on him. I'm sure some of it
is wrong.
Peter is reported to be the son of
an Isham Avent (born 1744 in Northampon, North Carolina, died - ?) and
a woman I know only as Mrs. Isham Avent. He
is also reported to be the son of a woman named Elizabeth and her
husband
Thomas Avent (born about 1742 in North Carolina).
Peter's Wife is Mary Elizabeth
"Polly" Sharp(s) (dates of birth and death unknown), daughter of Issac
Sharp and Elizabeth "Betsy" Ross of Laurens County, South
Carolina. I think Peter had 13 children with her:
Joseph - born 1816 in Tennessee.
John - born 1818 in Tennessee.
William - born ?
Issac - born ?
Andrew Jackson - born Oct. 05, 1826
in Tennessee - died about 1900
(Twin) Thomas Warren - born Sept.
05, 1830 - died bout 1902. He married Frances Elizabeth
Stoveall in 1849.
(Twin) William Cary - born
Sept. 05, 1830 - died about 1898. His first wife was Elizabeth W.
Higgins, and his second wife was Malinda Sharp.
Winney (or Winey) - born ?
Nelly - born ?
Peggy - born ?
Polly (Mary?) -
born ?
Amy (or Amey) -
born ? - died ? She is supposed to have had children out of wedlock
with a
Tom Neely who was killed in the Civil War. The children were named
Andrew Avants,
Cary Avants, and Margaret "Dink" Avants.
Abby - born ?
Peter is said to
have emigrated to MS. by 1840. I believe he passed away about 1865
in the town of Ackerman in Choctaw county, Mississippi.
|
Joseph Avant(s)
|
Born: 1816 in Tennessee
Married: Mary Sharps - (born 1816 in SC.)
Died: Unknown
Children: Henry
Sallie
Benjamin
Franklin
Mary A.
Nancy
Josiah S.
|
Joseph Avants is my great-great grandfather and as with so much of my
research, I have very little to tell about him, and the Avants I have
contacted on the internet are still trying to straighten out the
lineage of his descendants.
So far, the story I've gathered
together is that his father was named Peter Avants (born in North
Carolina around 1779 - died
in Akerman, Choctaw county, MS. about 1865.), and his mother was named
Mary Sharps (Dates and places of birth and death
unknown).
I've found a copy of the 1860
Choctaw county Mississippi census of township 17 dated July 23,
page 146 Which shows what I'm certain is Joseph's Family and gives the
following information:
Joseph Avants
- White male age 44, a Farmer bornn in Tennessee who cannot
read or write
and whose personal estate is worth 900.00 dollars.
Mary Avants -
White female age 44, a household (Mistrep?) born in (TN) who cannot
read or
write.
Henry Avants - White male age 23, a
farm laborer born in Alabama who cannot read or write.
Benjamin F. Avants - White male age
19, a farm laborer born in Alabama.
Sallie Avants
- White female age 18, a spinster born iin Alabama.
Mary A. - White female age 16, a
spinster born in Alabama.
Nancy Avants - White female age 14,
born in Alabama.
Josiah Avants
- White male age 11, born in Alabama.
Margaret Avants - White female age
8, born in Alabama.
Although I don't know the date or
place, Joseph Avents married Mary Sharp (born
1818 in TN.), and they had six children together as listed in the
census above:
Henry - born 1832
Benjamin Franklin - born 1841. He
married Mary E. Carver in 1865 in Choctaw
county, MS.
Sallie - born 1842
Mary A. - born 1844
Nancy - born 1846
Josiah S. - born 1849
Margaret - born 1852
I haven't found out where or when he
died, and would greatly appreciate any help I can get in filling out
Joseph's history.
|
Benjamin
Franklin
Avants
|
Born: 1841 in Alabama
Married: Mary Elizabeth Carver in 1865
in
Choctaw county, MS.
Died: In Choctaw County, MS.
Children: Andrew Jackson
Margaret
"Mollie"
Thomas
Henry
Benjamin
Joseph
Nancy
Jane Avants
Josiah
(Joseph Sire?)
|
Benjamin Franklin Avants is my paternal grandmother's father. He was
born sometime in 1841 in Alabama to Joseph Avants and Mary Sharps.
What I have on him consists of a
copy of the 1860 census of Choctaw county, township 17, in Mississippi,
and internet conversations with Avants descendants. In the census, he
is shown as the second of Joseph and Mary Avants's seven
children. His age is given as 19, his occupation as farm laborer, and
his birthplace as Alabama.
Benjamin married Mary Elizabeth
Carver in Choctaw county in Mississippi sometime in the year 1865 when
he was 24 and she was 22. Together, they had at least six children all
of whom I believe were born in Choctaw county :
Andrew Jackson - ( Pedru Rube Andrew
Jackson "Jack or Peter" ) - born March 15, 1867,
MS. - died March 01,1943. He married Laura Irene Jennings (1869 -
1915, daughter of James Franklyn Jennings
and Laura Ann Hughes) in Dec
of 1887.
Margaret "Mollie" - born Sept. 1868
died in 1943.
Thomas Henry - born Jan. 29, 1871 in
MS - died Dec 17, 1953 in Bolivar county, MS.
Buried in New Cleveland Cemetery in Bolivar, county, MS.
(Others say he
died in Orange county, TX.) He married Monnie/Money Eunice
Wiltshire
(born Feb. 9, 1884 in Carroll county MS.) on Sept. 24, 1902
in Bolivar
county, MS.
Benjamin Franklin Jr. - born Nov.
29, 1877 in MS. - died March 26, 1946 in Marigold,
MS. He married Alma Lucille Jennings (1880- 1920,
daughter of James
Franklyn Jennings and
Laura Ann Hughes)
Nancy Jane - born February 14, 1873
in MS, died July 31, 1958
in Belleville, IL.
She married James Alfred
Hunter in August 16, 1894.
Josiah (Joseph Sire?) - born Dec 23,
1878(9) - died Oct. 22, 1946 in Pine Valley, Yalobusha,
MS. married
Sally Catherine Wiltshire (b. Feb. 23, 1886 MS. - d. Dec
14, 1976) in Choctaw
Co., MS. on July 22, 1946.
After his marriage, He seems to have
spent most, if not all, of his
life in Choctaw county, where he finally passed away
at a date I haven't been able to discover.
|
Nancy Jane Avants
|
Born: February 14, 1873
Married: James Alfred Hunter on August
16, 1894
in Choctaw County,
MS.
Married: C.F. Froshour on August 09,
1924 in
Mississippi County, AR.
Died: July 31, 1958 Belleville, IL.
Children: Ellen Victoria Hunter
William
Benjamin Hunter
James
Audie Hunter
Ambrose
Greenberry Hunter
Maggie
Leona Hunter
Tomas
"Jack" Jackson Hunter
|
Nancy Jane Avants is my paternal grandmother and I'm sure she could
have told me quite a few stories about my family if I had thought to
ask back then. Unfortunately, the time for that is past.
Her parents were Benjamin Franklin
Avants and Mary Elizabeth Carver, the fifth of six children. at the age
of 21, she married my grandfather, James A. Hunter (Their marriage
license shows that
they were married by a J. Watson, Minister of Gospel). Together they
had six children. (I have them listed under James Alfred Hunter's
entry).
On August 09, 1924, at the age of
50, she married a man named C.F. Froshour (age
44) in Mississippi county, Arkansas.
On July 31, 1958 at the age of 85,
she passed away in Belleville, Illinois.
|
Mary Sharp
|
Born: 1816 in South
Carolina
Married: Joseph Avants
Died: Unknown
Children: Henry
Sallie
Benjamin
Franklin Avants
Mary A.
Avants
Nancy
Avants
Josiah
S. Avants
Margret
Avants
|
Mary Sharp is my great-great grandmother. The wife my great-great
grandfather Joseph Avants. Interestingly enough, she seems to have the
same first and last names of Joesph's mother and was probably a distant
cousin (which was common at that time). I have practically no
information on her, aside from the fact she was born in South
Carolina sometime in 1816, married Joseph Avants, and had
six children with him (The children are listed under Joseph Avants's
entry).
I would very much like to know more
about her and I'm asking anyone who knows something to please contact
me.
|
Josiah
C. Carver
|
Born: 1806 in Tennessee
Married: Selina
Died: 1890 Choctaw County, MS.
Children: Mary Elizabeth Carver
Josiah
Jr.
James
Nancy
Lucinda
|
Josiah Carver is my paternal great-great grandfather, the grandfather
of my grandmother Nancy Jane Avants. All I have on him is that he
married a woman named Selina. A cousin has sent me information stating
that she was born
in 1815 and died in the 1860's in Tuscaloosa county, Alabama. (I have
no last name for her, although a paper sent to me shows her name as
Selina Selina and the 1860 census spells her name as Serlenia).
I've found a copy of the 1860 Tuscaloosa, Alabama
census that shows what I believe to
be his family. It lists Josiah Carver, age 54, as a farmer
born in Tennessee whose value of real estate is 1,000 dollars, his
personal value is 13,461 dollars, and he is described as a white male
who cannot read or write. the other people
in his household are described as follows:
Serlenia- white female age 50 born
in South Carolina. (She was also described as not
being able to read or write.)
Mary - white female age 16.
This is probably my great-grandmother,
Josiah Jr. - white male age 14.
James - white male age 12.
Nancy - white female age 8 .
Lucinda - white female age 7.
All of the children are shown as having been born in Alabama and notes
that they attended school within the year. The rest of the information
I have on the children is as follows:
Martha Jane - born in June 1832 in
Tuscaloosa county, Alabama - died ?
Reuben - born about 1834 in
Tuscaloosa county, Alabama - died ?
Mary Elizabeth - born April 15, 1843
- died Feb. 25, 1920. She married Benjammin Franklin
Avants.
Josiah Jr. - born about 1845-6 -
died - ?
James Edward - born Apr 30, 1847 -
died Jan. 21, 1933 (in Los Angeles?). He married
Delilah Margaret "Puss" McKnight (born - ? - died July 14,
1931) on March
17, 1867 in Chester, MS.
Nancy K. - born about 1852 - (died
in TX?) .She married James Avants Sr (born
in South
Carolina about
1812.)
Lucinda - born about 1853 (Feb. 11
?) - died June 19, 1939 in Richland county, Louisiana.
She married Oziah A. "Oze" McKnight (born -1850 -
died -? ).
The census also shows that the next
household visited was headed by a Reuben Carver who is obviously
Josiah's son, age 25, described as a white male unable to read or
write, who was born in Alabama and worked as a farmer whose personal
value is 150 dollars. Also in his home are Hepsie, a white female age
25 who could not read or write. She is listed as a farmer and is almost
certainly Reuben's wife. With them are two girls, Mary J. age 5, and
Sarah A. age 2.
The only document I have on
him is a Homestead certificate issued to a Josiah Carver as
follows:
Homestead Certificate no. 1230-
May 10, 1881, section 24 in township eighteen north, of range ten east
of Choctaw Meridian in Mississippi, containing one hundred and sixty
and thirty-eight hundreds of an acre.
Signed by US president James A
Garfield
I hope to find out more about him,
and his wife.
|
Mary Elizabeth Carver
|
Born: April 15, 1843
in Tuscaloosa
County.
AL.
Married: Benjamin Franklin Avants
Died: Feb. 25, 1920
In
Choctaw County, MS.
Children: Andrew Jackson Avants
Margaret
"Mollie" Avants
Thomas
Henry Avants
Benjamin
Franklin Avants Jr.
Nancy
Jane Avants
Josiah
(Joseph Sire?) Avants
|
Mary Elizabeth Carver is one of my paternal great-grandmothers. The
daughter of Josiah Carver and a woman I only know as Selina, she was
born in 1843 in Tuscaloosa county, Alabama.
The 1860 census for Tuscaloosa,
Alabama shows what I believe to be her family when she was 16 years
old. I have a longer description of the census under the listing for
her
father Josiah Carver.
In 1865 at the age of 22, she
married Benjamin Franklin Avants in Choctaw county, Mississippi and
together they had six children. (I have them listed under the
entry for Benjamin Avants.)
On February 25, 1920, at age 77, she
died in Choctaw county, Mississippi.
|
James "Jim" Ervin
Morris
|
Born:
March 16, 1864-5 in MS.
Married: Tinnie Whitaker on May 09,
1883,
probably in Marietta, MS.
Died: November 23, 1939. buried in
Methodist
Memorial Gardens,
Marietta,
MS.
Children: Bertha
Zennor
(or Zenna) Alice
Jesse
Isabel
James
Burton
John
Riley
Rubin
Hodge
Zennor
Roxie
Doctor
Wheeler
Zela Mae
Mary
Elsie Lee
|
Jim Morris was my mother's maternal grandfather, my great-grandfather.
As is so often the case with researching my ancestors, I know very
little about him.
One of my relatives found a listing in the
1910 Prentiss county, Mississippi census (beat 3, north and east of
Baldwyn, MS. page 35) that appears to be him. It describes a Jim Morris
married to a
woman named Tinnie. Other information states that they had been married
21 years with 11 children (with 7 living). His
father was from North Carolina and his mother was from Alabama.
The information I have on their
children is as follows:
Jesse Isabel - born Jan.
28, 1889 - died Oct. 5, 1927. Married William Foster.
James Burton - born July
6, 1892 - died - ?
John Riley - born Oct. 10,
1893 - died Feb. 11 (or Nov. 02), 1977
Rubin Hodge - born Oct. 05,
1894 MS. - died April 1967 in Fulton MS.
Zennor Roxie - born Oct. 14,
1896 - died ? Buried in Marietta Church Cemetery.
Prints county,
MS.
Doctor Wheeler - born Oct. 05,
1898 - died Nov. 1970
Zela Mae - born Sept. 24, 1900
- died Apr. 1946, buried in Priceville CCemetery,
Tupelo, MS.
Mary Elsie Lee - born Oct. 05,
1902, in Guntown - died Dec. 04, 1991, Memphis,
TN. She married
Bolivar Lawrence Long (born in Bladwyn
(Guntown?)
Sept. 09, 1898 died May 24, 1954) on Apr 29, 1922
in
Marietta, MS.
Bertha - born June 16. 1886 -
died 1887. Buried Marietta Church Cemetery,
Prentiss co. MS.
Zennor (Zana?) Alice - born July 01,
1887 - died 1889. buried in Marietta Church.
Jim Morris died on November 23, 1939
at about the age of 75 in Mississippi and
was laid to rest in Methodist Memorial Gardens in Marietta, Mississippi.
As with all my ancestors, I would
appreciate more information on him.
|
Jesse Isabel Morris
|
Born: January 28, 1889
in Marietta,
MS.
Married: William Carl Foster
Died: Oct. 05, 1927 in Prentiss
County,
MS.
Children: Julia Mae Foster
Vera Bell
Foster
James
Vester Foster
Opal
Ophilia Foster
Martha
Thene Foster
William
Doyce Foster
|
Jesse Isabel Morris is my maternal grandmother. She was born in
Prentiss county, MS. Although she was the third child of Jim and Tinnie
Morris, she grew up as the eldest daughter of the family. (Their first
two children, Bertha and Zenner Alice died before either one was a year
old).
I don't know the date or place, but
she married my grandfather William Carl Foster and spent her life as a
farmer's wife in Mississippi.
She bore their first child, (my
mother, Julia Mae) in 1914 when she was 25 years old. Altogether, she
and grandpa Carl had six children. I have listed all them under William
Foster.
A copy of her death certificate that
I have shows that on October 05, 1927, at 3:50 AM, in Prentiss county
MS., she died from cancer at the age of 38. She was attended to from
March 01, 1927 to October 05, 1927 by a doctor whose name I make out as
R. D. Cummingherm at the Booneville, MS. Sutherland Clinic. Her place
of burial is given
only as Marietta, MS., with W. K. M Millan of Booneville listed as her
undertaker.
|
Nellie Griffin
|
Born: April 08, 1838 in
Mississippi
Married: Unknown Hunter
Jimmy
Sharp
Died: June 20, 1917 in Luxora, AR.
Children: James Alfred Hunter
|
Nellie Griffin was my paternal grandfather's mother. I know very little
about her, such as the first names of her parents or the name of
her first husband. That his last name was Hunter is evident from
the fact that her married name was Nellie Hunter, and she had at least
one son with him. (My grandfather, James A.
Hunter).
I've found a listing that may
be her in the 1880 census in district 3, Yalobusha county,
in Mississippi. It shows her and her son James (listed as Jim, age 6)
living with a woman named Amie Evans along with Amie's children,
Tom Evans, K. Evans, and Luticia Evans. I
think that Amie Evans and Nellie may have been related, but I have no
evidence to back that up. Nellie is described as being a 40 year old
farm laborer who was born in Mississippi, and whose parents were also
born in Mississippi, but does not show if she was married, divorced, or
widowed.
By the 1910 census, Nellie is shown
to be living with her son James and his family in Conway county,
Arkansas. By this time, her last name was Sharp. From conversations
with my cousins, and an old photograph, it turns out that she had
married a man named Jimmy Sharp. Some of my cousins think that she may
have had a child with her new husband before he died. After that,
she moved in with her son, and was still with the family when they
moved to Mississippi county, Arkansas, near Luxora.
I have obtained a copy of her death
certificate showing that she died in Mississippi County, Arkansas, in
the Fletcher township when she was 79 years old. Her cause of death is
listed as dysentery, with no doctor in attendance. Her son James (whose
address is given as Burdette, AR.) provides the information that she
was widowed, her father's last name is Griffin, and her mother's
maiden name was Avant. She was laid to rest in Sandy Ridge cemetery in
Luxora.
|
Tinnie Katherine
Whitaker
|
Born: May 02, 1860 in
Marietta, MS.
Married: Jim Morris in May 09, 1883,
probably
in Marietta, MS.
Died: August 01, 1939. Buried in
Methodist
Memorial Gardens,
Marietta,
MS.
Children: Bertha Morris
Zennor
(or Zenna) Alice Morris
Jesse
Isabel Morris
Burton
Morris
Riley
Morris
Ruffin
Morris
Roxie
Morris
Wheeler
Morris
Zela
Morris
Elsie
Morris
|
Tinnie Whitaker is my maternal great-grandmother. Again, she is one of
my ancestors about whom I know very little. She was born in Marietta,
Mississippi on May 02, 1860. I have been told that her father was from
North Carolina and her mother was from South Carolina, but I don't know
their names.
On May 09, 1883, at the age of 23,
she married James "Jim" Morris, most probably in Marietta, Mississippi,
and bore ten children. ( Her first two children, Bertha and
Zennor Alice, died before either one was a year old.) The
children are listed under the entry for her husband, James.
She passed on in August 01, 1939 at
the age of 79 and was buried in Methodist Memorial Gardens (also
known as Marietta Church Cemetery), in Marietta. Mississippi.
|
|
|
THIS PAGE HAS BEEN VISITED
TIMES SINCE MARCH 24, 2004
|
|
