Looking for Stella's Roots

          Since Jim’s family tree was one-sided, he and I started investigating mother’s background earlier this year but with little success.  The family always thought she was adopted, but we could not locate any adoption papers on file in the state of Tennessee.  During the holiday break we hope to find out who Stella really was?

          Very little is known about her family, but this is what we know as of now. Stella remembered as a small child being taken to an orphan’s home (girls school) in Tullahoma, Tennessee by a man she believed was her father.  On the 1930 census Stella appeared in the household of Nora Francis as an adopted child. Her last name was listed as Francis.  They were living in Winchester at that time.

            At some point Mrs. Francis returned Stella to the girls’ school. Edith Holderfield of the Totty’s Bend area took Stella into her home. She did housework in exchange for room and board. During this stay she met Alvin and married.

            Stella always thought Mrs. Francis was her biological mother, but no paperwork was found after Mrs. Francis’ death to support her theory.

            As an adult, Stella was approached by Allie Mae Nolen who claimed she was a sister.  Allie Mae stated she and Stella had the same father but different mothers.   Also, Stella learned she had two half brothers in the Chattanooga area and met both of them.  Their last name was Goins. Stella referred to herself as a Goins.

If only the walls could talk!

    We finally made it back to Hickman County last week. Based on Cousin Jean's directions, we located the home place of  Robert Anderson, Jim's gggg-grandfather.  In the History of Hickman County,Tennessee this home is believed to be the oldest house in Hickman County.

   According to the History of Hickman County, Tennessee, Robert Anderson settled on the north side of the Duck River in the Little Lot bend near the river in 1804, but later relocated and built a house(the above house) on the other side of the river in 1805.

   Robert married Jane Shinn, daughter of Colonel Joseph Shinn.  Shinn served in a North Carolina regiment in the Revolutionary War.  For his service in the War, Colonel Shinn was given by the North Carolina Legislature 2,500 acres of land.  Robert inherited the lands from his father-in-law. 

    Robert and his brother, Richard “Kettle Dick”, bought other warrants granted by North Carolina for services in the Revolutionary War.  Their lands were in the area of what became known as Anderson’s Bend. 

    If this house is a part of the original Anderson home, I wonder if the original walls exist under the exterior.  Given the current condition and curb appeal of the house, I doubt anyone passing by gives this house a second glance.

Gone But Not Forgotten

   Today Windie and I  visited McGavock Cemetery at Carnton Planation in Franklin, Tennessee. The goal was to locate and take photos of Elijah H. Whitwell's stone.  Mission accomplished!  Elijah was my ggg-grandfather.  From what I understand he enlisted in Linden and was assigned to the 42nd Infantry Regiment.  Unfortunately, Elijah did not survive the Battle of Franklin on November 30, 1864.
  

Elijah was thirty-two years old at the time of his death. He was survived by his wife, Angeline, and four children ranging in age from 10 to 4.  The widow later remarried Joseph Dabbs.

  
   

Road trip to Shady Grove

     Today we spent the afternoon in Shady Grove visiting with Jim's distinct cousin, Jean, who shared her family notes and photos with us. Jim's great grandfather, William D., was Jean's grandfather.  William had lived with her parents as well as Jim's parents before his death.
      We know very little about the man other than he lived in Hickman County as well as Obion County during his life, and he was married twice. When we showed Jean our two photos of William and his wife at different time periods, she immediately replied the earlier photo was William and Mary, his first wife, and the later photo was William and Betty, the second wife. Hooray! That was a question we asked ourselves at the very beginning of our search.  Jean did note the second wife was reportedly mean. Betty who is shown in the second photograph, with her hands on her hips, gives the appearance of being a little cantankerous.

     We discovered Jim's great grandfather's middle name was Depree which was a nice surprise.  All the records we found referred to him as William D. Another discovery was William's first wife's name may have been Mary Carolyn instead of Mary Carlin, and she may have been called Carolyn instead of Mary.
    When we talked about the Anderson side of the family, she told us the house that Jim's gggg-grandfather, Robert Anderson, built was still standing. In the old edition of  History of Hickman County, Tennessee  Robert Anderson's house was reportedly the oldest in Hickman County. We were surprised to learn it is still standing. She gave us directions to the house, but we opted for sliced bologna and crackers at the country store saving the house for a future visit.  
     Before leaving, Jean gave Jim an old photograph of her and her sister, Clara, standing with William Depree around 1928.  We now have four photos of William.  In all of them he is sporting his signature mustache.
    Thanks Jean for your boost up the family tree!  We are a long way from the top, but we are enjoying the climb!

George didn't make it today!

    Jay did a wonderful job putting the three pieces of the George's headstone back together. He used stainless steel around the outside. With the new support it should last many more years.

    Unfortunately, George's headstone could not be placed today. We weren't prepared.  Windie nor I could remember exactly what the base looked like.  After probing around the base, we (the men) came up with a plan.  Sometime next month we will return to the cemetery to put George back where he belongs.

     After inspecting George's wife's headstone, it needs a little support at the base as well. Before we left, Jay noticed the words across the headstone of George's wife, Susan. I had overlooked it on my previous visits.  At the top it reads "AT REST" and beside the tree it reads "in hope" with a hand below it.

I said I wouldn't do it, but I did!

  When I first started researching the family trees, I regularly used ancestry.com, but one of the things I noticed with frequency was the amount of repeated misinformation in the public member trees.  Apparently, people copied the information from other public member trees without checking the validity.
   Yesterday, I came across some more misinformation, and I saw red. At that point I decided to develop a public tree with the correct facts. It won't be it a quick project, but the work will worth it in the long run.
    My luck, people will want to challenge my findings rather than copy it.

Do your ears hang low....

  I just love old photographs. It doesn't matter whether I know them or not.  In this case I do know the family.
  When my cousin, Windie, first looked at this photo, she burst into laughter over the Westmoreland ears.  Upon closer inspection, I realized she was right.  Everyone of the men had well defined ears.  I'm not sure, but  I bet the sister in the center wore her hair longer on the sides to cover her ears.
   For fyi, the father of this brood is the second man from the left on the top row.