Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – Who is Your MRUA?

Randy Seaver’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun this week is to tell about your Most Recent Unknown Ancestor and to identify what resources you might use to find him or her.

My Most Recent Unknown Ancestors are the parents of my great great grandfather, William M. Saunders. He is number 20 on my pedigree chart and his parents would be numbers 40 and 41.

William Saunders married L. J. (Louisa J.) Scarborough on the 15 Dec 1859 in Anderson County, TX. The 1860 Anderson County, TX census shows William M. Sanders, age 18, born in Texas and L. J. Sanders, age 20, born in Arkansas. Louisa’s brother, John Scarborough, age 18, born in Arkansas, is living with them.
Louisa’s parents have already moved on to Johnson County, Texas by 1860. There are no other Saunders/Sanders families living in Anderson County that could be the parents of William. I have searched at the Anderson County courthouse for deeds for William and found none. More than likely, he did not own land there.

William and Louisa had two sons: William Henry Saunders (my great grandfather), born in Feb 1862 and John M., born in Sept 1863.

I believe that William and Louisa moved to Bosque County, Texas between 1860 and 1866. William Saunders died sometime before July 1866, as Louisa married David Henry Eddleman on 12 July 1866 in Bosque County, Texas.

The only reference to William's death is found in the Probate Minutes of Bosque County, Texas, Volume D1, page 619. It reads as follows:

Thursday, Nov. 1st 1866
#95 D. H. Eddleman Guardian of the minors William H. Sanders & John M. Sanders heirs at law.
This case coming to be heard and the court being satisfied Petition had been filed and notice given as the law requires It is therefore ordered by the Court that D. H. Eddleman be appointed guardian of the Person and Estate of the Minors William H & John M. Sanders and that letters of Guardianship do issue as soon as he shall have filed in this Court a sufficient Bond. Ordered this case be continued until the next regular Term.
There were no other minutes on this case. Either David Eddleman never filed the bond, or it is missing from the records.

I have searched for records of Civil War soldiers, thinking that William may have been killed in the war. I have searched for deeds, probates and a Will and have not found anything telling me about the life of William, nor found even a hint as to whom his parents were.

I searched the 1850 census in Texas looking for a William Saunders born around 1842. I found one family with a William M. Saunders, age 8, which fits my William’s age exactly, as does the middle initial. The father in that family was also named William and he and his wife had several young children in 1850. I cannot find this family in the 1860 census, nor can I find any trace of them in Anderson County or Bosque County; therefore, I don’t know if this is the right family or not.

I have also searched in Arkansas where Louisa’s Scarborough family was living. That did not produce any results, either.

What to do now? I would like to go back to Bosque County and do more searching just to make sure that I didn’t miss something the first time. I also need to check the deeds to see if perhaps Louisa (Scarborough) Eddleman disposed of any land that could have belonged to her and William. In the meantime, I will keep doing periodic searches on the internet and on Ancestry with the hopes of finding another relative who is researching this line.

Copyright © 2009-2010 Deborah Blanton McCoy

Do not copy the articles or pictures in this blog without the consent of the author.

 

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Blanton Surname Distribution

Randy Seaver’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun asks participants to determine the distribution of their surname using the World Names Public Profiler.

I searched my Blanton surname and received the following results.

The United States had the largest concentration worldwide of the Blanton surname with 94.7 persons per million. Canada was second with 0.92 persons per million, then the United Kingdom with 0.9 persons per million and Germany with 0.11 persons per million.

In the United States, the three states with the highest concentration of Blantons were Kentucky with 520 persons per million, South Carolina with 518 persons per million and North Carolina with 415 persons per million.

Next, I looked at the distribution of Blantons in Texas. This was surprising. The highest concentration was in Clay County. One of David Blanton's sons, Charles Wesley Blanton, lived in nearby Wilbarger County, but his children moved to other counties. The second highest concentration was in Rusk County. These are possibly ancestors of a branch of Blantons from North Carolina who settled in Rusk County in the 1800's.

Thanks, Randy, for the interesting assignment.

Copyright © 2009-2010 Deborah Blanton McCoy

Do not copy the articles or pictures in this blog without the consent of the author.

 

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Your Paternal Grandmother's Patrilineal Line

Randy Seaver had another Saturday night fun at Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Your Paternal Grandmother's Patrilineal Line.

This week's challenge was:

Provide a list of your paternal grandmother's patrilineal line. Answer these questions:

* What was your father's mother's maiden name? Josephine Milam Saunders

* What was your father's mother's father's name? William Henry Saunders

* What is your father's mother's father's patrilineal line? That is, his father's father's father's ... back to the most distant male ancestor in that line?

William Henry Saunder's father was William M. Saunders, born about 1842 in Texas and died between 1862 and 1866, probably in Bosque County, Texas. This is one of my brick wall ancestors. I have not been able to find any information about William M. Saunders' death or his parents.

* Can you identify male sibling(s) of your father's mother, and any living male descendants from those male sibling(s)? If so, you have a candidate to do a Y-DNA test on that patrilineal line. If not, you may have to find male siblings, and their descendants, of the next generation back, or even further.

My grandmother had 2 brothers:

John Saunders b. about 1885. I know nothing else about this brother. He only appears in the 1900 census and I have not been able to find him after that. I don't know if he moved somewhere else, or died at an early age.

James "Rex" Saunders, b. 1892, died after 1960. James moved to Arkansas and had at least 2 sons and a daughter. I need to do more research on his family. It might provide some clues.

My grandmother's mother died when my grandmother was only 5 years old. She had several half-brothers:

Gene Saunders, 1910-1982, no children

Edward "Red" Saunders, 1913-1960, 1 daughter

Milton Saunders, 1916-1970, no children that I have found

Hershel Saunders, 1922-1980, no children

After doing this exercise, I see that I need to do some work on the James Saunders line in Arkansas to see if I could possibly find a living relative. Thanks, Randy, that was fun and informative.

Copyright © 2009-2010 Deborah Blanton McCoy
Do not copy the articles or pictures in this blog without the consent of the author.

Saturday Night Fun

Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Fun this week was:

Here's your assignment if you want to play:

1) Go to http://www.wordle.net/ and create a Wordle with your surnames in it. As many as you want.

2) Post it on your blog or web page, and/or print it out and hang it on your wall. Show off your prowess!

3) Tell us what you've done - either in Comments to this post or in your own blog. Brag about your creation! If you want me to post it here, send a JPG file to me at rjseaver@cox.net.

4) Can you make something else really creative or pretty? If so, show us.

Here's my surname Wordle:

Leap Year Day Events

Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Fun this week was:

* Go into your genealogy database software program and determine which of your ancestors, if any, were born on 29 February.

* Do the same and determine if any of your ancestors married on 29 February.

* If you don't have any ancestors born or married on that day, are there any persons in your entire database born or married on that day.

I found two people in my database who were born on February 29th and no marriages. Who would marry on February 29th? You would only get an anniversary present every 4 years. My results were as follows:

Arabella Carter, Wife of my 1st Cousin 4 times removed
b. 29 Feb 1851 in Alabama
m. William Jasper McAnear 17 Jan 1871 in Red River Co., TX
d. 6 Sep 1938 in Nocona, Montague Co., TX

Sarah Margaret Prestridge, 2nd Cousin twice removed
b. 29 Feb 1908 in Roger Mills Co., OK
m. Preston W. George 8 Jul 1933 in OK
d. 18 Oct 1993 in Oklahoma Co., OK

Margaret, as she was called, was the mother of my good friend and cousin, Burnis, who has shared with me many wonderful stories and information about our Prestridge family.

Copyright © 2009 Deborah Blanton McCoy
Do not copy the articles or pictures in this blog without the consent of the author.

Who's Number 21?

Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings posts Saturday Night Fun every Saturday night. Last Saturday night he suggested that we find number 21 in our Ahnentafel list and post about that person. I didn't have a chance to do this Saturday night, but wanted to make sure that I wrote about that person, so I'm doing so now.

Number 21 on my Ahnentafel list is Louisa J. Scarborough. Louisa was born 6 Dec 1840 in Union County, Arkansas to John Scarborough and wife, Sarah. Sometime after 1850, the family moved to Texas. Louisa married William M. Saunders on 15 Dec 1859 in Anderson County, Texas. She and William and her younger brother were all living in Anderson County in 1860, but her father had moved on to Johnson County by then. Shortly after 1860, William and Louisa moved to Bosque County, Texas. They had 2 children together, William Henry Saunders, born 3 Feb 1862 and John Saunders, born in Sept 1863. I do not know the circumstances of William Saunders' death, but he had died by 12 July 1866 when Louisa married her second husband, David H. Eddleman. In Oct 1866, David H. Eddleman applied for guardianship of the minors William H. Saunders and John M. Saunders, heirs at law. This was the only reference I have been able to find pertaining to the death of William Saunders.

David and Louisa later moved to Hood County, Texas. Louisa died on the 11 Aug 1911 and is buried in the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Hood County. Her husband, David Eddleman, is buried beside her.

Louisa J. Scarborough and her husband, David H. Eddleman

Copyright © 2009 Deborah Blanton McCoy.
Do not copy the articles or pictures in this blog without the consent of the author.