Mysteries Waiting To Be Solved....

This page is dedicated to finding true answers to those questions that remain a stumbling block in our family research.  Does anyone have records and/or facts that might furnish a long needed clue to solving the mysteries?  If you would like to post your mystery Contact Carol.

  • Who were the parents of Viola Munn?  What happened to Susannah E. Reece, wife of John B. Munn?

Who were the parents of Viola Munn born 14 March 1884 Newton Co, MS and Ross Munn born 7 August 1886 Newton Co, MS.  What happened to Susannah E. (Susan) Reece born 1 August 1834 in AL died 27 March 1869 Newton Co, MS.  She was the wife of John B. Munn born 15 June 1829 AL died 28 March 1865 in Alexandria, VA.

Contact:  John Munn  Query Posted May 13, 2005

  • What were the family origins of Mary Elizabeth Covington, born about 1850 in South Carolina, died 1923 and buried at Linwood Cemetery, Neshoba Co, MS.

In Linwood Cemetery there is a gravestone for Mary Elizabeth Covington.   In 1880 she is in the household of Solomon and Caroline Mason, listed as a niece, age 29, born SC.  In 1900 she is living with Warner Mason (Solomon's son) listed as a cousin, age 40?, born SC.  In 1910 she is again with Warner, cousin, age 65, SC.  In 1920 living with Warner and Bertha, cousin, again age 65, SC.   And according to the gravestone she died in 1923.  I have looked for her all over and have not been able to find her parents.  There were lot's of Covingtons in Richmond County, NC along with Solomon's parents and some intermarrying between the Masons and Covingtons but I cannot find her there or in South Carolina, nor in any written family histories of Masons or Covingtons.  Even though she is not in my direct line I really would like to know her story.   Was she a spinster ?  Did she marry a Covington who died ?   Was she Solomon's niece or Caroline's niece ?

Contact:  Steve Jones    Query Posted March 27, 2005

  • What was the origin of George Phillip Schuchmann who arrived in Savannah about 1864?

I am looking for the origin of George Phillip Schuchmann who came to America from Prussia and arrived in Savannah about 1864.   In German Immigrants: Lists of Passengers Bound from Bremen to New York, 1863-1867 with Place of Origin, there is a G. P. Schuchmann, age 19, from Modau, who embarked in 1863,  on ship Herzog.  The  death certificate in Savannah, Georgia of our George Phillip Schuchmann said that he died at age 30 having been  here about 15 years.  In the 1860s Savannah was receiving many immigrants who landed first in New York, so the information from the German Immigrant book appears to fit.  If anyone has knowledge of Prussian Schuchmanns, I would appreciate help.
Contact:  Marjorie Reagan    Query Posted:  12 March 2004

  • What was the maiden name of James B. Cumberland's wife Delilah?

I am trying to find out my great-grandmother's maiden name. None of her children ever told any of their children their mother's name. The only information I have been able to gather has been from census records. She was born about 1845-1848 in Alabama, or part of Alabama that later became part of Mississippi. Her name in census records is Delilah E. It is spelled differently in each census. She married James B. Cumberland about 1866. James was born about 1826 in Pickens County, Alabama and died in Neshoba County about 1910.  Delilah named her first child Mary F. Mary was the name of her husband's mother (Mary Cumberland). I believe that the "F" was possibly for Delilah's mother's name. Delilah named her second child George W. The W. was probably William. William Cumberland was her husband's father's name. George was probably the first name of Delilah's father. Since one of her grandsons was named Evans Martin Cumberland, her maiden name may have been EVANS, MARTIN, or INGRAM. I found a Delilah Evans whose father was George and mother was Francis.A lady in Texas, however, has census records that indicate this Delilah Evans moved to Texas. I would appreciate any help. Contact: Travis Fulton    Query Posted:  11 March 2004

We know from census records that Rhoda was born about 1814 in Georgia.  Based on the birth of their first child we estimate that Thomas P. Mills married Rhoda about 1839.  During that period of time he was living in Forsyth Co, GA adjacent to his uncle Thomas Payne.  Who was Rhoda?  How did they meet?

  • I am searching for documentation which proves that Isaac Russell was a child of Revolutionary War Soldier Enoch Russell.

Enoch Russell's Revolutionary Pension file furnishes details concerning his birth in Essex Co, VA.  Following the Revolution he lived for a time in Caroline Co, VA then removed to Rockingham Co, NC and Jackson Co, OH, where he lived the remainder of his life.  Isaac Russell lived in adjacent Gallia Co, OH and is reported by many genealogies to be a child of Enoch Russell.  This writer is looking for any type of documentation that proves the parentage.

  • I am searching for documentation which proves that Alvin Russell was a child of the above named Isaac Russell.

There can be little doubt that Alvin Russell was a child of Isaac Russell.  Alvin is enumerated adjacent to Isaac Russell on the 1850 Gallia Co, OH Census.  This writer is looking for any type of documentation that proves the familial relationship.

Pleasant probably married Sarah Jane 1854-1855.  A child, Mary J. Eakes (born 1853-1854) was enumerated in the Crenshaw household in 1860 & 1870.  She was most likely the child of a first marriage of Sarah Jane.  Pleasant & Sarah Jane's first child, James Elias Crenshaw, was born January 27, 1856.  Sarah Jane was born between 1825-1830 in Alabama.  Rayburn researchers have indicated to me a marriage between Jane Porter Rayburn & Pleasant Crenshaw.  The age and birthplace of this Jane Porter Rayburn doesn't match our Sarah Jane.  They also have stated that Jane Porter Rayburn's name was NOT Sarah Jane.  And they indicate that Jane Porter Rayburn had several additional marriages after Pleasant.  This seems unlikely for a woman of her age.  The fact that they have Pleasant Crenshaw in their genealogies lends some credence to the theory that Sarah Jane was a Rayburn.  Possibly there was more than one Jane Rayburn and they have combined the information of the two women and lumped them into one. 

Sarah Jane is not buried with the Crenshaw's at Neshoba Cemetery.  I cannot find any further records concerning her.  Some family members believe she moved to Texas with her son, James Elias Crenshaw.  But the J E Crenshaw descendants with whom I have corresponded don't have any knowledge of this.  Did she move to Texas?  Did she remarry?  Or could she possibly have moved back to the area in which her family lived?

Sally Koestler and her sister Julia remember well the elaborate monument marking the grave of Colonel William Jones.  They grew up on adjoining land and descend from Col. William Jones' brother James.   Julia would climb on the tombstone base, holding to the obelisk with both hands, and taunt the younger Sally standing below.  The sisters report that, following the 1828 death of Col. William, his widow Sarah Eason erected the sizeable monument; planted a beautiful bush; and surrounded the two with a wrought iron fence.  She then sold the plantation to the Sessoms family and moved her family from their North Carolina home to Haywood Co, TN.   Engraved on the tombstone was information about the family.  The gravesite sat close to the road, near the plantation house.  At some time, between the girls' childhood and that of their nephew James Moore, all traces of the monument disappeared.  There was a road winding / straightening project by Hertford County which could have contributed to the monument's demise.  Residents of a tenant house in the cotton field surrounding the plantation site ruins, remembered seeing the county throw something into the "Old Sessoms Cemetery".  The Sessoms Cemetery is in an overgrown copse of trees that sits further back in the same cotton field.  I searched that area twice as best as could be accomplished in the overgrowth, but found no stone.   What happened to the monument?

New Hope Baptist Church (later Neshoba) was organized on the property of Pleasant Crenshaw.  He was never a member of this church.  There is no doubt that he was a religious man.  He was a member of the Golden Grove Masonic Lodge.   Pleasant must have had extremely close ties to another church if he never attended one whose early meetings were held on his land.  Church records may hold a clue to the mysteries in his past.

  •     Who were the sons of James Boulware that fought in the Revolutionary War?

The obituary of James Boulware's son Spencer, per Edgefield Death Notices and Cemetery Records, McClendon, pg 74, reads, "his father who was old and infirm furnished 3 sons for the Revolutionary War." It continues that "Impelled his other brothers to devote their lives to the cause of independence."

  •     What were the family origins of Mary Josephine Camber?

Please click the link to the Camber Family and read the discussion of her history on that location.    

  •  What church did the New Ireland Church dissidents attend after their  latter 1800's split with that church? 

There was a purported acrimonious split in the membership of New Ireland Church in the latter part of the 1800's.  A group of members are reported to have left for another church.   Were those members the group who organized New Hope Church (later renamed Neshoba Baptist) on the Pleasant Crenshaw property (Neshoba Community) in 1877?  Quite a number of the organizing members were residents of the New Ireland Community (in Newton County) rather than the Neshoba Community (in Neshoba County), where the new church was formed.  One founding couple (related to several of the founding families who lived in the New Ireland community) were residents of Kemper County.  Why would these individuals have chosen a location so far from their home?  The property owner, Pleasant Crenshaw, was not even a member of the new church formed, although a number of the founders were his relatives.  The name, New Hope, could be indicative of their hope for a fresh start.

 

 

  • Who were the parents of Neill McMillan of Bladen Co, NC & Neshoba Co, MS?

Shortly before his death, Neill McMillan applied for a pension for service in the War of 1812 in Capt. John Nicholson's Bladen Co, NC Militia Company.  Capt. Nicholson's Bladen Co, NC tombstone inscription is detailed under Neill McMillan's listing in the Old Carolina Cemetery section.  McMillan is known to have migrated to Alabama, prior to becoming one of the earliest Neshoba County settlers.  He married Mary Ann McDonald 1831 in Perry Co, AL.  Their oldest son, John M., was born 1832 in Tuscaloosa Co, AL.  But one of Neill McMillan's earliest Neshoba County land grants shows him "of Madison Co, MS."  Other early Neshoba County McMillan's removed to Jasper Co, MS.  One family group, that of Daniel W. McMillan & his wife Catherine Nicholson, had moved back to Neshoba County by 1860.  How was Neill McMillan related to these families?

  • Why did Edmund Chisman Goodwin, brother of Mary Garland Goodwin Jones, change his name to John W. Goodwin when he moved to Arkansas?

Why did Frank & Mary Garland Goodwin Jones move to White Co, AR from Haywood Co, TN? One can only assume that after the 1852 death of Frank’s mother, he might have been looking for new, cheaper land to make another family fortune. But there are some strange unexplainable mysteries about his brother-in-law. Evidently the B F Jones family was quite close to Mary Garland Goodwin’s brother Edmund Chisman Goodwin, Jr.. There are many Haywood Co, TN legal records where both men are mentioned. E C Goodwin also was a large buyer in the estate sale of Frank Jones’ mother Sally. The two families appear to have moved to Arkansas about the same time and lived in adjoining households. But when they moved to Arkansas Edmund Chisman Goodwin started using the name John W. Goodwin. His descendants in the Arkansas only know him as John W. Goodwin. There is no doubt that the two men are one and the same. If you compare his 1850 Haywood Co, TN census and his 1860 White Co, AR census the families are identical, even to the fact that older sister spinster Elizabeth Doswell Goodwin, is living with him. The only difference is his name changes from E C Goodwin to John W. Goodwin. The handwritten family history Sue Johnson Young copied from her grandmother’s notes shows him as Edmund C. Goodwin.  Why did he change his name when he left Tennessee? That is a mystery waiting to be solved.

Edgefield District, SC deeds recorded during the time that Wesley Boler's mother would have been alive show William Boulware (Bowler, etc.) and wife Rachel.  Wesley Boler's 1880 census indicates that both his parents were born in Virginia.  As per the Wesley Boler Bible, he named his oldest son William Riden Boler.  "William" was his father's name.  Was "Riden" the maiden name of his mother? 

Per deeds J. K. Winfield was the son of John B. Winfield, who died abt. 1841 in South Carolina.  John B. Winfield is known to have had a 2nd wife.  From the History of Lowndesville, S. C.: "After the death of Samuel Hutchison, his widow, Elizabeth Hutchison, married second (time) to John B. Winfield. They possibly had children. He had children by a prior marriage. They seem to have gone west to Mississippi."  What was the identity of John B. Winfield's first wife (the mother of J. K. Winfield)?  Is the middle name Kennedy indicative of the maiden name of either his mother or grandmother?  Does anyone have knowledge concerning the South/North Carolina Kennedy family?  

  • Where did Jeremiah Neal, Revolutionary War soldier, live following the Revolution?  Who did he marry?

The Nicholas Co, WV history book indicates that county pioneer John Neal was a son of Jerry Neal, Revolutionary War soldier, who never moved to the county.  The only Jeremiah Neal this author has found in the portion of Virginia that became West Virginia is the following enlistment record located at the Library of Virginia: Jeremiah Neal "Enlisted in the Albemarle VA Company, Virginia Line of the Continental Army at age 18 on 12 July 1782, Culpepper, VA for a term of 3 years. He is described as 5ft 5 1/2 inches tall, Hair: Bn, Eyes: Br, Complexion: Bn, born in Hampshire Co, VA."  Is this the same Jeremiah Neal, who fathered John Neal?  Where did he live following the War?  Who did he marry?

  • Who were the parents of Roseanna Brown, wife of Jonathan Neal (b. 1814) of Nicholas Co, WV?

Alexander Brown was born in Augusta Co, VA and "came to Laurel Creek, then in Kanawha County around 1803-04. Alexander purchased land from Capt. George Fitzwater, Edward Hughes and others, and patented several tracts in what is now Nicholas, Clay, and Kanawha Counties." (Pioneer Families section of "The History of Nicholas County, WV")  Alexander Brown had two children who married children of Jonathan Neal's parents, John Neal & Ann O'Dell.   Margaret "Peggy" Brown married Jeremiah Neal 8 Mar 1827 in Nicholas Co, WV.  John Wesley Brown married Susannah Neal.    What relationship was Jonathan Neal's wife Roseanna Brown to this family?  Who were her parents?

  • I am searching for any information on the following couple who married in Autauga Co, AL:

    John D. Wiggins & Minerva Crenshaw, who married April 23, 1839 in Autauga Co, AL

02/08/2007 08:52:30 PM