NEVER say NEVER Redux

Rule:  Just because you have checked your research resources once, don’t stop looking in the same places over and over again, ever so often.

This was the “rule” I began with when I wrote my blog of April 7^th  2014 – NEVER say NEVER.  I explained how I had looked for YEARS for the parents of my great grandmother, Margaret ALEXANDER.  I won’t go into all those details here, you can read all about her in my blog of April 7^th  if you wish.  But I was so thrilled to have found (I thought) information on her, naming her father and a long line of ALEXANDERS back into the ancient past, that I committed the cardinal sin.  I wrote before I verified!

I had found a 3rd cousin on Ancestry who had all this information in her tree, we communicated, and I copied all her ALEXANDERs into my tree.  Of course I intended to verify the information, and I did.  My mistake was that I began with the furthest back ALEXANDERs – one ALEXANDER ALASDAIR CARRACH DONALD MacDONALD, King of the Hebrides, Ninth Lord of the Isles, Earl of Ross! Born 1369!  Doesn’t that sound “exciting?”  I was in seventh heaven! 

This line included several Barons of Menstire and Barons of Stirling – influential people who associated with kings, so it was pretty well historically documented.  I began checking at that point and came forward, verifying father and son, father and son, all the way down to ROBERT M. ALEXANDER, born 13 SEP 1807 in Mecklenburg County, NC who was the father of a MARGARET ALEXANDER.  Everything looked good. And I, at this point, wrote a blog!  WRONG!

And then I looked at Margaret (which I should have done FIRST!

I won’t make that mistake again! 

But let me first start with my MARGARET.

My MARGARET ALEXANDER first appears in the records when she marries my great grandfather Josiah (Jo, Joe, Joseph – you find all these names in his records) HAYWOOD in 1850.  Here is the marriage bond:

 

This gives the date of the marriage as 8 JAN 1850.

Next they are in the 1850 census, just married, no children yet.  Her age is stated as 19 making her birthdate “abt 1831.”   Consistently through all the censuses she appears in (1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880) her birthdate remains the same.

They are living right next door to Josiah’s mother, Catherine WENTZ HAYWOOD, who has all his brothers and sisters in her household.  This land was the HAYWOOD home place established by Catherine and BENTON HAYWOOD around 1831 when they moved from Lincoln County to Mecklenburg (now Union) County.  Catherine had her home there, Josiah, the first to marry, had his farm there, and eventually his next brother, John Franklin would have his farm there.  Remarkably, there are still HAYWOODs living on that land today!

1850 Census

Source Citation: Year: 1850; Census Place:  , Union, North Carolina; Roll: M432_647; Page: 43B; Image: 92.

1860 Census shows Josiah and Margaret with five children.  Mary Ann and Barnett

disappeared from the record after this.  I don’t know what happened to them, but I can follow all the others.  The Louisa A. at the bottom is the one I wrote about in my blog last time – DNA and Finding Louise Haywood.

1860 Census

NOTE: The 3 year old “George” should be listed as “John A.”

Source Citation:  Year 1860 ; Census Place: Union, North Carolina; Roll: M653_915; Page: 417

                                                 Image: 233, Family History Library Film: 803915

We next have the 1870 census showing Margaret with all the children.  Josiah has disappeared in the Civil war and is not heard from again.  The Thomas second from the bottom is Thomas M., my grandfather.

1870 Census

 (This image from two consecutive  pages)

Source Citation: Year: 1870; Census Place: Goose Creek, Union, North Carolina; Roll: M593_1161; Page: 517B; Image: 555; Family History Library Film: 552660.

We finally find my Margaret in the 1880 census.  She is listed as age 52, a widow, living alone, and is living next door to John Franklin and all his family, and Catherine 87 is now living with John Franklin.

1880 Census

Source Citation: Year: 1880; Census Place: Goose Creek, Union, North Carolina; Roll: 983; Family History Film: 1254983; Page: 446A; Enumeration District: 215.

Of course, there is no 1890 census, but I have a final notation on Margaret.  When Thomas M. took out a marriage license on 3 MAR 1884, his mother MARGARET ALEXANDER is listed as deceased.  So she died between 1880 and 1884.  She would have been between 53 and 56 years old.  She would have been buried at Morning Star Lutheran Church in Mecklenburg County, NC, because that is where she and all the WENTZS and HAYWOODs went at that time.  But unbelievably, sometime in the 1940s, MorningStar “destroyed” all the old original grave sites, to use the land for something else, I have read.  What a sad thing.

But it is evident from all these records, that my Margaret is well documented from 1850 to 1884.  Always on the HAYWOOD homeplace.  All these records readily available.

Now, for the wrong Margaret ALEXANDER, daughter of Robert M. ALEXANDER.  These discrepancies are so evident, it should have been clear to anyone researching that this was a different Margaret.  I realized it immediately!  (Once I got down to Margaret!)

She first appears in the records in the census of 1850 as a daughter in the household of Robert M. ALEXANDER  in Gaston County, NC.  She is 15 years old, making her birthdate1835.

1850 CENSUS

Source Citation: Year: 1850; Census Place:  , Gaston, North Carolina; Roll: M432_630; 

Page: 417B; Image: 445.

By the time of the 1860 census, Margaret is 25 years old, and has married Dr. Charles T. POWE of South Carolina, and they are living with her father Robert M. ALEXANDER in Memphis, TN, with one child.  It is listed as a “boarding house.”  They are on their way to Arkansas.

1860 CENSUS   ROBERT M. ALEXANDER

 Source Citation: Year: 1860; Census Place: Memphis Ward 6, Shelby, Tennessee; Roll: M653_1273; Page: 152; Image: 309; Family History Library Film: 805273.

By 1870 Margaret and Charles Powe are in Richland, Crawford, Arkansas, their final destination.  (It is the final destination also of her father and mother.)  They are living right beside her father ROBERT M. ALEXANDER and mother SUSANNA CROCKER "SUSAN" RUDISILL (1809 – 1880.)

1870 Census

BN Source Citation: Year: 1870; Census Place: Richland, Crawford, Arkansas; Roll: M593_51; Page: 229B; Image: 234; Family History Library Film: 545550.

By 1880, Charles had died (28 FEB 1878) and Margaret is a widow, head of the household, with four children.

1880 CENSUS   M. A. POE  (POWE)

Source Citation: Year: 1880; Census Place: Alma, Crawford, Arkansas; Roll: 42; Family History Film: 1254042; Page: 561B; Enumeration District: 049; Image: 0064.

Margaret died 2 FEB 1883 and she and Charles are both buried in the Alma City Cemetery, Alma, Crawford Co, Arkansas.  Her father and mother are also buried there.  You can find all their graves on Find a Grave.

This Margaret’s records are also readily available.  The mix up of the Margarets should never have happened.  Once I got through the fabulous ancient ALEXANDERS, and began checking out MARGARET, it was plain that there were Margarets on two different NC census records for 1850 – two different Margarets!  One in Gaston Co, 15 years old (1835,) unmarried.  One in Union County, 19 years old (1831), married.

Needless to say, I have removed all these illustrious ALEXANDERs from my tree, and my poor Margaret is alone again with no father and mother.  It’s so sad!  I hope someday this will remedy itself.

I still believe in my rule - Rule:  Just because you have checked your research resources once, don’t stop looking in the same places over and over again, ever so often.  Go back and look at records and trees over time.  Things do show up as new people come on line.  Just be sure to verify and start at the beginning not the end!

Good researching and

NEVER say NEVER!

 I have given the announcements and info their own special page. 

Always check out what is happening there.

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