My Migration from Florida to Utah



Ernest C. Davisson Family

A lot has happened since my last post...

In May, I attended the NGS 2011 Family History Conference in Charleston, South Carolina with my good friend Rhonda.  I truly enjoyed all the sessions...Elizabeth Shown Mills...Thomas Jones and ALL the vendors!  I can't describe the feeling of walking into the conference hall and being in the presence of so many genealogically obsessed people like me!  I felt like I belonged.

In June, my dear husband found a new job...in Salt Lake City! (The sky opened up and angels were singing!) See...miracles DO happen.

In July, we moved from Florida to Utah, sadly leaving our family behind.

On August 19th & 20th, with the unpacking almost done, I took a break to attend the 2011 Utah Genealogical Association Summer Family History Conference in Sandy, Utah at the Salt Lake Community College...two days of fabulous speakers presenting informative classes on my favorite subject!  At the end on the conference, the vendors and organizers gave away many prizes, including two computers!  It was a really great value for only $20. 

I have to give special kudos to Leland Meitzler, who's class on  State Censuses and Census Substitution was so rudely interrupted by a computer glitch!  But Leland, being the professional that he is, maintained his composure and continued on to enlighten us with his vast knowledge of the subject.

Now that I have relocated my Ancestors to a DIFFERENT Attic, it is time for me to begin my job search.  I am hoping that since I am now located at "ground zero" for genealogical research, I will be able to put my passion for genealogy to good use.  I love nothing more than solving a puzzle or finding the missing link and now I am in the perfect place to do just that. 

The Roberts Family of White Co., TN

Geo. D., Wm. Bonnell and Wm. Smith Roberts

Ah, Tennessee...steep, tree covered mountains with hairpin turns causing us to pull over more times than I care to remember.  Places with names like "Big Bottom", Butt's Bridge, Caney Fork River. Doyle. Sparta. Guy Mountain.  I was little in the 1960's.  Too little and car sick to take notes or ask questions.  But I have my memories;  Being cautioned not to hug grandma's neck to tight for fear that I might break it.  Grandpa, missing two fingers on his left hand from a sawmill accident as a young man, now entertaining the grandchildren by using the remaining thumb and fingers to imitate a "little old man chewing tobacco."  The blue veins in Grandma's hands visible under her crinkly, paper thin skin.

Grandpa was also know as William Smith Roberts, born  30 Nov 1880 in River Hill, White County, Tennessee.  He married Grandma, Mary Alvira McCormack, on 1 Sep 1900 in the Dodson Community, White County, Tennessee.  To this union eight children were born, Anna Lee, Elwood, Maymie, Mary Helen, Charlene, William Bonnell (my father), Jean and James Roberts.

Mary Alvira McCormack was the daughter of Joseph McCormack and Nancy Alsada Dodson.  William Smith Roberts was the son of George David Roberts, Sr. and Susannah Elizabeth Sparkman, the widow of George W. Stipe.  William's siblings were John and Mary Stipe from Susannah's previous marriage and George David Roberts, Jr., Thomas B., Fannie Lee, and Emmett G. Roberts.  George and Susannah's marriage suffered a slight detour in 1871.  While shooting an intruder, Thomas Dodson, who was making advances on his wife, George shot the intruder's nose off, thus maiming him.  If the intruder had been killed, it would have been self defense, but since he was merely maimed, George David Roberts, Sr. was charged with malicious shooting and severed two years in Nashville at the Tennessee State Prison.


A funny thing happened three months after Grandma and Grandpa were married...Grandpa's father married Grandma's mother! On 30 Dec 1900, widower George David Roberts, Sr. married Nancy Alsada Dodson,  who had previously been abandoned by her husband, Joseph McCormack.

George David Roberts, Sr.'s birth is a mystery to Roberts researchers.  He is thought to be born on 04 Mar 1850 or 1851 to William Roberts and Harriet Owens of McMinn County, Tennessee. He had fiery red hair and bright blue eyes.  He is believed to have siblings named Dock D. Roberts, Bart Roberts, Sarah Elizabeth "Sallie" Roberts, and possibly James and Samuel Roberts who lived in White County and Van Buren County in Tennessee. There is no record of them on the 1860 census in any county in Tennessee, but they are all listed on the 1870 census.

In Roberts family stories told by George David Roberts, Sr. to son William Smith Roberts and written down by my cousin, Marilyn Denman Eaton, George related how his father served in the Civil War and that his mother died during that time, so his father had to take leave to go home and bury his wife and find someone to take care of his children.  He married a woman who was greatly dislike by the children and was referred to as "The Old Heifer".  She forced George to "swim the Tennessee River to get her a plug of chewing tobacco while he was suffering from measles or chickenpox."  George said would lie in bed at night and he could hear the cannons being fired at the Battle of Stones River, knowing that his father was fighting there.

My Brick Wall: Andrew Davisson

The search continues for the identity of the father of my maternal great great great grandfather,   Andrew Davisson.  Andrew lived in Harrison County, Virginia (now West Virginia), where the Davisson name is very common.  In fact, every Davisson family seemed to have a son named Andrew.  His headstone in Hancock County, Indiana, gives his date of birth as 1785, but, as of this writing, no documentation has been located to confirm that date.

Here are the facts in a nutshell:

• On 28 June 1821, Andrew Davisson was joined in the Holy State of Matrimony to Sarah Wilkinson, daughter of Charity Stout and Nathan Wilkinson. The marriage was solemnized by A.C. Holden, Minister of the Gospel, in the Simpsons Creek area of Bridgeport, Harrison County, Virginia. They had four children, Franklin, b. 1822, Nathan, b. 1828, Mary, b. 1830, and William Eldon Davisson, b. 1832.

• In the fall of 1834, Andrew loaded up his wife and kids and headed to Harrison Township, Henry County, Indiana, where he purchased land in 1839.

• Andrew’s sons, Franklin Davisson and Nathan Davisson moved on to Clinton County, Iowa in 1844.

• Andrew died 29 August 1858 and was buried in Harlan Cemetery, Brown Township, Hancock County, Indiana.

• Andrew Davisson’s will was probated in 1859, and in the codicil he mentions his “other children”: Abigail Davidson, wife of Charles Posten, Abner Davidson, and Benjamin C. Davidson. They had also been living in Clinton County, Iowa, but had preceded Andrew in death. Andrew apparently had one or two previous wives.

If you have connections to the Davisson, or Davidson line and are missing an Andrew, I would love to hear from you!  If you live in Harrison County, West Virginia or Clinton County, Iowa and would like to assist me in demolishing my brick wall, I would REALLY like to hear from you!  Thanks for stopping by!

Teri

Tombstone Tuesday – Sophia Ann Carroll Davisson

Sophia Ann Carroll Davisson

At Harlan Cemetery, in Brown Township, Hancock County, Indiana stands the headstone of my great grandmother, Sophia Ann Carroll Davisson (1868-1900).  Sophia was the daughter of Philip Carroll (1839-1898) and Mary Hedrick (1834-1878).  Sophia married my great grandfather, Charles, son of William Eldon Davisson (1834-1890) and Rebecca Madison (1839-1913), on 2 Jan 1886 in Kennard, Henry County, Indiana.  Sophia and Charles were the parents of Viola Ethyl (1887-1970), Alonzo Forest (1889-1969), Nellie Mabel (1891-1932), William Claude (1892-1959), my grandfather, Ernest Clementine (1895-1953), William Howard Davisson (1897-1900) and an unnamed child in January 1900 which resulted in Sophia’s death at the age of 31.  Charles remarried in December 1900 to Sarah Jane Coon Gipe and died in 1924.  

Welcome to "Ancestors in the Attic"

“Ancestors in the Attic” is about the cyclone of genealogy topics which constantly whirls through my mind.  The surnames Davisson, Hendricks, Hedrick, Carroll, Madison, Kendall and Wilkinson of Indiana; Roberts, Wheeler, Dodson, Harmon, Sparkman and McCormack of  Tennessee;  subjects such as The Orphan Trains, the Civil War, WWI and WWII; research using the latest internet databases; genealogy certification; prison records; cemetery records and whatever my convoluted brain thinks of TOMORROW.  Thanks to Lisa Louise Cooke of “Genealogy Gems” for motivating me to blog about it and Thomas MacEntee  of “Geneabloggers” for including me in his New Genealogy Blogs post.

Gard Cemetery Headstones - Brown Township, Hancock County, Indiana

Gard Cemetery - Brown Township, Hancock County, Indiana

Off a county road in East Central Indiana, a stand of trees surrounded by a patchwork quilt of corn and soy beans fields interrupts the flat country landscape. My sister, Stephanie, our cousin, Donna, and her husband, David, and I, are in search of the graves of our ancestors. David, our determined driver, veers to the left, off the road and up the hill. Over fallen branches and leaves we go. When our van can carry us no farther, two of us continue on foot. Ahead is the wood pole fence that we must squeeze through to reach our destination. 

Under a canopy of leaves, filtering the late afternoon sun, we are greeted by a concrete monument from the recent renovation, so new that it appears out of place. “Gard Cemetery”, it proclaims, and continues to list those who were interred here long ago. As we gaze past the monument, we realize we are ill equipped for what lies ahead. Waist high overgrowth covers all but the tallest headstone, as if to say, “We are at peace here. Leave us be.” But we are on a mission. 

David begins trampling the weeds with his size 12s and creates a path for me and we work our way through the cemetery. The serenity of the hidden cemetery is interrupted by the “moooo” of a distant cow. David locates a long stick and begins tapping the ground through the weeds until he hears the “clink...clink” of stone. He tramples the weeds around the headstone to uncover our treasure. We revel in our victory, photograph the headstone and move on to the next one, hoping that it isn’t worn smooth with time. 

Sadly, many of the stones are broken and lying flat on the ground, as if the earth is reaching up to claim her prize. David finds a short stick and pries a broken headstone out of the ground, to the dismay of all the bugs and worms living beneath it. The stone is illegible, so he props is up under a tree with other stones in much the same condition. We are losing the light and have to end our visit to this timeless sanctuary.