December 6 - Mary Ann Hellums Jeffrey

Mary Ann Hellums Jeffrey was born December 6, 1806 to John and Margaret Pruett (Pruitt or Prewett) Hellums in Knox County, Tennessee. She moved with her parents to Madison County, Mississippi Territory about 1809 and on to Tuscaloosa, Alabama about 1818.

She married James Bishop Jeffrey in 1821 in Tuscaloosa and had 14 children between 1822 and 1851.

    James Jeffrey and Mary Ann Hellums joined the Bethel Baptist Church in September and November of 1823, respectively.

 In the year of 1819, a church was constituted in the home of Jeremiah Jeffrey, 8 or 9 miles northwest of the town of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. They named this church, Bethel. John Fleming and wife [First wife- Abigail Jeffrey Fleming – ED] were charter members of this church and later were charter members of this Bethel Church at McMahan.

http://www.bethelpbc.com/History.htm

        In 1840, the Jeffreys requested letters of dismissal from the church and James sold his 104 acres of land to Stephen B. Russell. Most of the Jeffrey, Hellums, and related families moved to Tippah County, Mississippi, between 1837 and 1840.

The financial panic and depression that swept across the United States in 1837 resulted in banking problems that caused many Alabamians to lose their savings. Crops were ruined by drought, and several epidemics of yellow fever brought added suffering.

http://c.ancestry.com/cs/media/social-state-research-guide-alabama.pdf

Many left and a great number of emigrants settled in Texas.

James and Mary Ann, however, were in Arkansas from 1842 until about 1845, probably Montgomery County, and in Caldwell County, Texas about 1846. 

        James Jeffrey died 12 March 1860. The mortality schedule of the census shows that he died of pneumonia after three days' illness. According to that report he was 64 years old when he died and that he had been born in Tennessee.

After James' death in 1860, Mary Ann married John M. Fleming on 20 December 1863. John Fleming had been married, until her death, to Abigail Jeffrey, James Jeffrey's sister. The two families had probably been neighbors in Alabama and come to Texas together.  

 Mary Ann died in Caldwell County, Texas, on 29 July 1867 and is buried in the Jeffrey Cemetery in Caldwell County, Texas.

Three Birthdays!

Since I was away for the weekend, I got a bit behind. So today you get a three-for-one birthday bash!

December 3 - Jerry Jeffrey

Jerry is another shadowy relative. He was the son of Jeremiah C and Minerva Franks Jeffrey, and a younger brother of my great-grandfather, William Marcus Jeffrey and he would be my great, great uncle.

According to his death certificate, he was born 3 Dec 1867 in Caldwell County, Texas. He first appears on a 1870 census in Crockett, Texas with his family.

I suspect his birth date on the death certificate may be incorrect by a couple of years. Either that, or every census gives an incorrect age. He would have been two on this census but he’s listed as six. In 1880 he’s listed on the census with his mother and step-father, George Forrest. He’s listed as age 15 but his calculated age would have been 12. In 1900 there is a Jerry Jeffrey living as a boarder with the Sheldon family and age given as 21. He would have been 33 if born in 1867. It’s possible that this isn’t him.

Next we find him in 1930 with his niece and her husband, Joe and Ruby Brumbalow in Hamilton County, TX widowed, with age as 60. The calculated age would be 62. In 1940 he is still living with them in Coryell County age given as 74. Calculated age would have been 72.

The real puzzler is that the death certificate gives the correct father, and the informant was BF Jeffrey who could have been his nephew, Frank Jeffrey and while the birth date could be wrong, it would be strange to find the death date wrong. But the certificate gives the place of burial as Center Valley Cemetery in Hamilton, TX. The only Jerry Jeffrey I could find there was on FindAGrave and shows clearly a picture of the stone with the dates 1869-1944. His Death Certificate clearly states he died 3/5/1945.  If the date of birth on the death certificate is correct, he would have been 77 when he died, as stated on the death certificate. According to the tombstone, he would have been 75.

So is the tombstone for another Jerry Jeffrey? There is almost no information given with the memorial so it’s impossible to tell.

In searching for a marriage for him, it gets even worse. Both the later censuses and his death record list him as widowed. But there are several Jerry and JC Jeffreys in Texas married to different women. Trying to find one that matches has been impossible so far.

Jerry is another brick wall at this time. Perhaps more information will come to light later on. Records are constantly being transcribed, indexed and put online. Maybe we’ll find out who his wife was and whether they had any children. But, for now, Happy Birthday, Uncle Jerry. Hope to learn more about you.

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December 4 - Joseph Baker Jeffrey 

Joseph was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama December 4, 1940 the son of James Bishop Jeffrey and Mary Ann Hellums Jeffrey. He was a brother to my second great grandfather, Jeremiah C. Jeffrey, making him my second great-great uncle.

In 1847 the family was in Caldwell County Texas. The 1850 census states that Joseph was 10.

He married Eliza Long in 1857 when he was only 17 and she was 15.

In 1860 they were living in Caldwell County with one son. Joseph enlisted in the Confederate army in May of 1862. In January and February of 1863 he was captured and held by “the enemy.”  Now it gets confusing since his papers say the prisoners were recaptured in 1862. He is listed as having been a prisoner of war. According to his pension application he served until the end of the war.

 In 1870 Joseph and his family were in Williamson, Texas and his son Nathan had married and was living next door. In 1880 they have six children

In 1899 he applied for and received a pension for his service in the civil war. He was indigent and disabled. His doctor signed an affidavit that he was almost blind.

June 21, 1910 he died of dropsicle iffusion, or as otherwise known, a secondary affection of Scarlet Fever in Pontotoc, Mason County Texas.

He was buried at Salem Cemetery in Llano County, Texas.

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December 5 - James Andrew Jeffrey

James was Jerry Jeffrey’s nephew, son of Andrew Bethel and Minnie Koehl Jeffrey born 5 Dec 1894 in Huntsville, Texas. He was an older brother to Benjamin “Frank” Jeffrey and my first cousin, twice removed.

He was five years old when the census was taken in Huntsville, in 1900.  He was 15 in 1910 and working on the family farm.

In 1917 he was drafted by the Harris County draft board at age 22. Information was given that he was single, living at Goose Creek in Baytown, Texas. He was working in the oil fields and had dark hair, brown eyes and was tall and slender.

By 1930 he was living in Hamilton County as a farmer, had married Alta Virginia Willis and had four children. (and yes, I did try to find a connection with our Willises, but no luck.)

In 1940 he is still in Hamilton with Alta and now six children and still farming.

He registered for the draft in WWII. I assume it was the “old men’s draft” which just was a list of resources, not that they would be sent to fight. There is no date on the document but as his age was listed as 47, it would have been around 1941.

The 1940 census was the last one available until 2022.  His death certificate states that he was living in Fort Worth, Texas when he died of cancer in August 22, 1966. He was working in the Civil Service and his son, Jimmy Dewain signed the death certificate. He was buried in the Memory Gardens in Weatherford, Texas.

Emma Graybill and Benjamin Jeffrey Birthdays!

Emma Gilliam Graybill was born Dec 1, 1845 in Cumberland Tennessee to Minyard and  Martha Harris Gilliam.

According to my genealogy program Emma isn’t a real relative. But I feel that the mother of my great uncle IS a relative. And Emma was the mother of J T Graybill, and J T was the husband of Mattie E Graybill, my great aunt. So she’s family.

 I have been fascinated by the name Graybill for quite some time. I was first aware of it as the middle name of my grandmother, Maud Graybill Jeffrey Pettey.

I later discovered a great aunt named Mattie Jeffrey Graybill. Mattie was married to John Tully, “J T” Graybill. From there, things just snowballed. It seems J T Graybill is related to a famous Civil War hero, but we’ll save that for another time.

Emma was the second wife of Camillus Graybill. Mary E. Willcoxen was his first wife married in 1853 in Georgia and they had one child, J T, in 1854. Mary has been a shadow. I’ve not found anything else about her. But Emma and Camillus married in 1868 in Smith County, Texas. I don’t know what happened to Mary or how they got to Texas but after that, I’ve been able to trace them pretty well.

In 1870 they were in Huntsville where their son, Horace Taylor was born. Michael J Graybill was born in 1877 and another son, Minyard C, were both also born in Huntsville.

The family is listed on the census of 1880 and they were all farming.

Camillus died in 1899 and was buried in the Oakwood Cemetery in Huntsville. The next census, 1900 shows the family living on the grounds of the Huntsville prison with Horace working as an engineer. The family includes Horace’s wife Mattie Lee and a four-year-old daughter. With them are Emma and Horace’s two brothers Minyard, driving an ice wagon, and Michael, working as a clerk.

In 1909 Emma applied for a Widow’s Pension for Camillus’s service in the Civil War. There are 15 pages of applications, letters and avadavats.

In 1910 Emma is living with Minyard and his wife Mattie and daughter but they’ve moved to Galveston where he worked as an Engineer at the Fisheries.

Emma died in the home of her son Minyard in 1939 and was buried next to Camillus in Oakwood Cemetery.

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Benjamin Franklin “Frank” Jeffrey was the nephew of Mattie Jeffrey Graybill as well as nephew of my great grandfather, William M. Jeffrey. Frank was the son of Andrew Bethel Jeffrey and Minnie Louise Koehl born December 1, 1909 in Huntsville, Texas, the youngest of 16 children, half of which were born to Andrew’s first wife, Aminda.

Frank was on the 1910 census with his family age 5 months. .He next appears on the 1930 census with his brother-in-law and sister, Joe and Ruby Jeffrey Brumbalow in Hamilton County.  Not long after, he married Lillie Mae Dolloff on September 24, 1932. In 1934 they had son, Billy Frank and in 1946, daughter, Donna Kay.

He is another relative who  disappears into the shadows. The only record found after 1946 was Frank’s obituary.

12/16/1993

B. F. "Frank" Jeffrey, 84, died Dec. 3 at Arlington Memorial Hospital in Arlington following an extended illness.

Services were Sunday, Dec. 5, at Riley Funeral Home Chapel. Rev. Billy Jeffrey, Jr. and Rev. Ed Wright officiated, with music provided by Derek DeCross. Burial was in he Center Valley Cemetery.

Mr. Jeffrey was born Dec. 1, 1909, in Huntsville to Andrew and Minnie Louise Koehl Jeffrey. He married Lillie Mae Dolloff, Sept. 24, 1932.

He was a farmer and rancher and a member of the Baptist Church. He worked 15 years for General Dynamics and had lived in Hamilton for 75 years.

Survivors include his wife of Hamilton; a son, Billy Jeffrey of Arlington; a daughter, Donna K. DeCross of Keller; a sister, Annie Smith of Huntsville; four grandchildren, Billy Jeffrey, Jr., Diana Mitchell, Darin DeCross, and Derek DeCross; and two great-grandchildren.

Pallbearers were Randy Dolloff, Michael David Dolloff, Jeff Cody, Mike Cody, Bill Schooler, and Jess Brumbalow.

Honorary pallbearers were Bud Johnson, Garland Anglin, Fred Pendleton, Scott Boyd, Danny Barnett, Doyle Barcroft, Gene Nicholson, Travis Johnson, and Rabbit Fuqua.

He is buried in Center Valley Cemetery in Hamilton.

Birthday Kids - Miles Arthur Johns and Gina Bernardi

November 30 

Miles Arthur Johns was a pretty interesting relative to research. I had nothing on him, except for his name and birthdate. I didn’t even recognize the surname “Johns.” But he was in my database because he was a grandson of Mary Elizabeth Power (Hall), a sister of Holloway Lee Power, my third great grandfather who was one of the leaders of wagon trains to Texas. This makes Miles my third cousin, twice removed. I didn't find all that much about his life, but chasing his parents and his wife's parents had me jumping hoops.

Miles was born November 30, 1891 in Luling, Caldwell County, Texas to Perry C Johns and Martha Eliza Hall (daughter of Mary E Power).

In 1900 they were living in Guadalupe County and about four houses down there was a family named Smith with a young daughter named Berta, Miles’s future wife, who was just about a year old. Miles, or Arthur as he seems to have been called, was eight years old when the census was taken.

One odd thing about this census for the Smith’s is that the wife and mother (presumably) of the children is listed as Nettie (Talitha Antoinette Holland), born 1877, age 22 and married 5 years. The oldest child is listed as born 1879 also age 22. I haven’t figured out what went wrong there. And Husband Clifton Smith is listed as 52. Oddly enough, that seems to be correct. I can't find any record of Clif having another wife before Nettie. 

In 1910 the Johns are still living there, but I couldn’t find the Smiths anywhere.

Arthur was living in Galveston County in 1918 when he was enlisted into WWI. He only served a year and was honorably discharged in February of 1919. The war ended on November 11, 1918.

Soon after,  Arthur and Berta found each other and married.

In 1920 they were living in Harris County, probably Humble. In 1930 they were in Humble with two children, Arthur’s brother Carl and Nettie, Berta’s mother, living with them.

In 1842 he registered for the “Old Man’s Draft” in WWII. He was 50 years old and wouldn’t be required to fight, but records were kept to record the availability of manpower and resources.

Miles died in 1961 and is buried in Rosewood Park in Humble Texas. Berta applied for, and received a military plaque for his grave.

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Gina Bernardi is familiar to many of you, but for those of you who don't know, she's my grandmother, my nonna, on my mother's side.

Born Georgina Sardini 30 Nov 1899 in Villlimpenta, Mantova, Italy to Antonio and Maria Adele Elena Sardini, she married my grandfather, Pietro Bernardi in Verona, Italy. Pietro worked in the printing trade. They had four children in Verona before relocating to Rome.

I was told that my grandfather liked to put on sporting events, particularly bicycle races. Rumor has it that they had to leave town rather suddenly.

My grandparents separated but never divorced. He came every week and gave my grandmother money to support them.

During Mussolini's reign during WWII, my grandmother was chatting with some neighbors on the street and she made a joke about Mussolini. It wasn't a particularly outrageous joke. But not long after, some men came to the door and arrested her leaving her four children alone in the apartment. She was sent to a work camp up north. My mother recalls it as a really bad time. The neighbors wouldn't help them or even speak to them. Everyone was afraid.

But Gina wasn't away too long. Mussolini gave a pardon to some prisoners and Gina came home.

After the war, my mother married and moved to the United States. Gina came to visit on more than one occasion. She had a real flair for comedy. She could have the most serious poker face and crack the funniest joke. She could sing like an angel as well. She had always wanted to sing in the opera in Italy but wasn't able to.

Gina singing accompanied by son-in-law, Jesse Pettey on flute.

Gina died 31 March 1983 in Marina Italy. She's buried in Grottaferratta, Italy. I think all my relatives who knew her would agree that we all miss her very much.

[If I have any of this wrong, please let me know and I'll correct it.]

Happy Birthday, William T Petty

William Thornton Pettey/Petty,  my third great-great uncle, brother to John Wright Pettey (my third great grandfather) is one of those relatives who just didn’t leave many records. I’ve found more about his wife than about him, but there are clues there.

An old family bible that belonged to William Eli and Lucretia (Lucy) Wright Pettey lists the date of birth of son William Thornton Pettey as November 29, 1789 along with the birthdays of 12 other children. Most researchers think all the children were born in Wilkes County, NC. The family moved to Madison County Alabama around 1817. William met and married Abigail Bayless on December 6, 1821. They had six children between 1826 and 1833.

As with a lot of history there are conflicting stories. One source has William born in Alabama; others claim he was married to Bethany Bagley in December of 1821. But after reading as much on the subject as I can find, I’m sticking with the facts given above.

More Genealogy pages on William Thornton Pettey

William is mentioned in the wills of Abigail’s parents. A letter from her father mentions that she was living with them in 1834. In 1850 she is living with three of her children in Paris Texas. I would guess that William had died before 1834 but can’t find any record of his death. I haven’t given up looking for him, but it may take some time to find more clues.

Where did you go, William? Happy Birth Month.

I've written about my great grandfather William M. Pettey before, but it's his birth month!

William's older sister, Mary, was born in Arkansas in 1851. But before he was born, in 1852, the family had moved to Texas. He's on the 1860 census, age 8, for Prairie Lea, in Caldwell County and Texas is given as his birthplace.
In 1870 he is on the census, age 18, for Crockett, Houston County with parents Jeremiah C and Minerva Franks Jeffrey and six brothers and sisters. Mary is is missing, but she was old enough to have been married.  Without knowing her married name, she has been impossible to trace.
In the 1880 Census for Crockett, Minerva is still living there but she had married a neighbor, George Forest. The assumption is that Jeremiah C had died during those 10 years. With Minerva are three remaining children but William is gone.
There is a William Jeffrey in Milam County, living with the Harvey family and the relationship is listed as Laborer. This William is also from Texas and his age is given as 28, the correct age for our William. It's quite possible that this is the same William Jeffrey and that he was at an age where he could easily be working and living somewhere other than in the house with his mother, especially since she had remarried.

There are no 1890 censuses due to a courthouse fire. But William is on the Tax Rolls for Leon County from 1883 to 1897. He didn't own much land, or livestock. I'd guess times were pretty hard for him. In 14 Oct 1894 he married Ellen Crane.  In 1900 they were living in Montgomery County with four daughters and William is on the tax rolls for that year and the census taken in June. This is the last record we can find for him.

We can only guess that William died since Ellen married Albert Moore May 4, 1902 in Walker County, Texas and I've found no record of a divorce or for his death either. I suspect that, out of necessity, she had moved in with some of William's plentiful number of relatives living in and around Huntsville where she met Albert.

This has become a brick wall that we just can't seem to get over. What happened to William and where is he buried?

William and Ellen are my great-grandparents, parents of Maud Jeffrey Pettey, my grandmother.

Happy Birth Month Mathias!

Mathias A Myers has been a tough one to find. There just don't seem to be many records out there.
According to later censuses, he was born November of 1854.

He was the son of Perry Myers from Mississippi and Perry's first wife, Sarah Price. The first 3 sons were born in Mississippi, but by 1854 they had moved to Nacogdoches, Texas where Mathias was born. His mother, Sarah, died in 1860 in Nacogdoches. I haven't been able to find where she was buried.
Perry remarried to Susan A. Spivey and had more children.

Mathias married Sarah Francis (Fannie) Welch, our Eliza Jane Welch's half sister. By 1900 Eliza Jane had moved in with them and later met and married my great grandfather, William Holloway Pettey.
Mathias and Sarah Francis moved to Shelby County, Texas where they lived out the rest of their lives.

While searching for clues to the Welch-Willis line, I discovered that there was a gentleman named David Myers who had come to the same point in his research. I gave him a call and had a great conversation with him. He knew about Mathias and Fannie, but didn't realize that Fannie had a sister (listed on the 1890 census) - Eliza Jane Welch.
He did tell me, however, what he knew about the Myers.

He told me that he placed the combined stone on Fannie's grave so that his father, who wanted to visit it, could see them together - although they were not actually buried together.
Fannie is buried in the Ramah Cemetery in Teneha, Shelby County, TX. Mathias's name is on the same stone, but below it are the words, "buried North Jericho Cem." which is located in Center, Texas.  I can't find any record of his burial.

According to my genealogy program, Mathias was the husband of my "half great great aunt."