How does the conundrum grow?
So… did you play along with The Legal Genealogist and about half of the entire community of genealogists on Facebook this week in creating a color-coded chart of your ancestors’ birthplaces?
There are templates available online (try this one on for size and just change the birthplaces to match your family) and it’s fun to see the migrations of our families charted out in such a visual way.
California genealogist J. Paul Hawthorne came up with the idea, others picked up and ran with it, and the rest — as they say — is history.
Except that something a little strange happened when my first cousin and I prepared our charts of our maternal side. Her mother and mine were sisters, so everyone on the maternal sides of our charts should have matched.
And one didn’t.
Mary “Polly” Fore, we believe, is the daughter of Jesse and Nancy Fore; she became the wife of Mathew Johnson in 1839.1 She was born, if you can believe the census records, sometime around 1818.2
On my chart, as you see here, I recorded her as born in Georgia.
And, on my cousin’s chart, she recorded her as born in North Carolina.
Here’s the problem.
We really have no idea where she was born.
Evidence? Oh, we have plenty of that.
Just one hitch.
The evidence is utterly contradictory.
One reason I recorded her as born in Georgia is because that’s what’s shown on the 1850 census.3 One reason why my cousin recorded her as born in North Carolina is because that’s what’s shown on the 1860 census.4
But then we both have to deal with the 1870 census, where her birthplace is recorded as — sigh — Tennessee.5
Now you might think it’d be easy to just check and see where her parents were living at the time she was born.
Only that’s not such a simple matter either. It’s true that, on his application for a War of 1812 pension, Jesse said he had married around 1815 in “Bunkum County North Carolina”6 and that he can be found on the 1830 census in Buncombe County.7
But where was Jesse in 1820? We don’t know. We can’t find him in the census records. He didn’t own any land — or at least none recorded in any of the deed books. The tax lists don’t survive for that time period. There’s no record of that 1815 marriage either.
So did he live in North Carolina when Polly was born?
We don’t know.
We could look at the census records of her children, to see where they say their mother was born, but that won’t help one bit. Oldest son Napoleon Bonaparte Johnson was enumerated in Parker County, Texas, with his mother’s birthplace shown as North Carolina.8
But his sister Louisa Johnson Reynolds was enumerated in that same census with her mother’s birthplace shown as Georgia.9 Georgia was also recorded as the mother’s birthplace in 190010 and in 1920.11
Only once, in 1910, was Louisa’s mother’s birthplace recorded as North Carolina,12 and that’s then contradicted by the records of their next oldest brother James.
He was enumerated with his mother’s birthplace recorded as Virginia in 1880,13 as Kentucky in 1900,14 as simply the United States in 191015 — and so it goes.
Moving to Mary “Polly” Fore’s siblings doesn’t help either.
Her brother Jesse R. Fore, born around 1820, was enumerated in 1850 as having been born in East Tennessee,16 in 1860 as born in North Carolina,17 and in 1870 and 1880 as born in Georgia.18
Her sister Kate, born around 1823, who married Josiah Baker, was shown on the 1850 census and on the 1880 census as born in Tennessee.19 And their brother, George, believed to be Kate’s twin? The only two census records we can find for him don’t even have him in the same state as Kate — his records both say he was born in Georgia.20
See what I mean? Georgia. North Carolina. Kentucky. Tennessee or East Tennessee. Even Virginia.
Sigh…
Mary, Mary, quite contrary, just where the heck were you born???
SOURCES
- Union County, Georgia, Marriage Book 1-A: 43, Mathew Johnson-Mary Foore, no. 44, 1839; Office of the Judge of the Probate Court, Blairsville, Georgia; digital image, Georgia Virtual Vault (http://cdm.georgiaarchives.org:2011/cdm/ : accessed 25 Mar 2016). ↩
- See, e.g., 1850 U.S. census, Pulaski County, Kentucky, population schedule, p. 2(B) (stamped), dwelling/family 27, Mary Johnson, age 32; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 Mar 2016); citing National Archive microfilm publication M432, roll 217. ↩
- Ibid. ↩
- 1860 U.S. census, Pulaski County, Kentucky, Somerset, population schedule, p. 2 (penned), dwelling/family 8, Mary Johnson; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 Mar 2016); citing National Archive microfilm publication M653, roll 393. ↩
- 1870 U.S. census, Parker County, Texas, Justice Precinct 1, population schedule, p. 382B (stamped), dwelling/family 377, Mary Johnson; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 Mar 2016); citing National Archive microfilm publication M593, roll 1601. ↩
- Declaration of Soldier, 27 March 1871, Jesse Fore (Fifer, Capt. Gaffney’s South Carolina Militia, War of 1812), soldier’s pension application no. 4553, certificate no. 7041; Case Files of Pension and Bounty Land Applications Based on Service Between 1812 and 1855; Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files, 1800-1960; Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group 15; National Archives, Washington, D.C. ↩
- 1830 U.S. census, Buncombe County, North Carolina, p. 254 (stamped), line 6, Jesse Fore household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 May 2004); citing National Archive microfilm publication M19, roll 118. ↩
- 1880 U.S. census, Parker County, Texas, Justice Precinct 1, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 135, p. 355B (stamped), dwelling/family 8, N. B. Johnson; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 Mar 2016); citing National Archive microfilm publication T9, roll 1322. ↩
- 1880 U.S. census, Parker Co., Tex., Justice Pct. 1, pop. sched., ED 135, p. 367A (stamped), dwell. 203, fam. 208, L W Reynolds. ↩
- 1900 U.S. census, Whitley County, Kentucky, Court House, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 144, p. 239A (stamped), dwelling/family 48, Louisa M Reynolds; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 Mar 2016); citing National Archive microfilm publication T623, roll 555. ↩
- 1920 U.S. census, Whitley County, Kentucky, Wofford, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 280, p. 50A(penned/stamped), dwelling 69, family 72, Louisa M. Reynolds, mother-in-law, in George Copenhaver household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 Mar 2016); citing National Archive microfilm publication T625, roll 602. ↩
- 1910 U.S. census, Walnut County, Kentucky, Rockcastle, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 101, p. 189A (stamped), family 130, Louisa M. Reynold; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 Mar 2016); citing National Archive microfilm publication T624, roll 500. ↩
- 1880 U.S. census, Young Co., Tex., Justice Pct. 1, pop. sched., ED 167, p. 401D (stamped), dwell./fam. 489, James Johnson; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 Mar 2016); citing National Archive microfilm publication T9, roll 1334. ↩
- 1900 U.S. census, Parker Co., Tex., Weatherford Ward 4, pop. sched., ED 67, p. 16B (stamped), dwell. 321, fam. 322, James Johnson; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 Mar 2016); citing National Archive microfilm publication T623, roll 1664. ↩
- 1910 U.S. census, Parker Co., Tex., Weatherford Ward 1, pop. sched., ED 66, p. 46A (stamped), dwell. 38, fam. 39, J.J. Johnson; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 Mar 2016); citing National Archive microfilm publication T624, roll 1584. ↩
- 1850 U.S. census, Pulaski Co., Ky., pop. sched., Div. 2, p. 81 (stamped), dwelling/family 94, Jesse R Four. ↩
- 1860 U.S. census, Pulaski Co., Ky., Somerset, pop. sched., p. 170 (penned), dwelling/family 130, Jesse R Fore. ↩
- 1870 U.S. census, Clay County, Missouri, Washington, population schedule, p. 823A (stamped), dwelling/family 151, Jesse R Fore; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 Mar 2016); citing National Archive microfilm publication M593, roll 770. See also 1880 U.S. census, Clay Co., Mo., pop. sched., Kearney, ED 116, p.295(A) (stamped), dwell./fam. 205, Jessie Fore; citing National Archive microfilm publication T9, roll 681. ↩
- 1850 U.S. census, Pulaski County, Kentucky, population schedule, Division 2, p. 82 (stamped), dwelling/family 107, Catherine Baker. See also 1880 U.S. census, Parker Co., Tex., pop. sched., Justice Precinct 6, ED 139, p. 458(B) (stamped), dwell./fam. 12, Cathern Baker. ↩
- 1860 U.S. census, Pulaski Co., Ky., Somerset, pop. sched., p. 81 (penned), dwell. 572, fam. 560, George W Fore. Also, 1900 U.S. census, Young Co., Tex., Justice Prec. 5, pop. sched., ED 166, p. 285A (stamped), dwell. 24, fam. 25, George W. Fore; citing National Archive microfilm publication T623, roll 1681. ↩
A very interesting and intriguing piece! Kentucky and Virginia are certainly puzzling, but is it possible that Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee are all correct? Those three states all border one another in eastern Tennessee around Ducktown and Copperhill, TN (within what is now Cherokee National Forest). Is it possible that changing borders made the location of Mary’s birth change among these three states? I grant that even if this proves promising, Virginia and Kentucky are still a puzzle. Good luck with this. A solution would make for a fascinating read in the future! 😉
Your thinking parallels mine, John — except that Buncombe County in the 18-teens was a huge county that ran the whole distance from Tennessee in the north to Georgia in the south, so there wasn’t exactly one place where border changes would explain all three states.
That makes my head spin! It’s almost worse than a brick wall ancestor.
It’s making mine spin too!
How about “The Southern States” or The South or South? This is the worst birth place question I have seen!
It is challenging, that’s for sure!
This sort of thing drives me BONKERS. It’s bad enough when it’s two states… I’d hate to have to guess between 3 or more.
And, of course, we can’t guess — we have to try to prove it!
I share your “pain.” My great-great grandfather, James Brown (why does he have to have such a common name!) reported he was born in a different place on each census: VA, PA, MD. His children routinely indicated he was born in VA. I sometimes wonder if the response he gave had to do with how the census enumerator phrased the question. Did the enumerator ask where the individual “was born”. . .or did the enumerator ask where the person “was from,” etc. That would make a huge difference. My guy was married before the 1850 census. . .no clue who his parents were and no luck with studying others in the neighborhood. Sigh. . .
You wonder why parents of a guy with a last name of Brown couldn’t have given him a first name like Melchezidek… 🙂
Ahhhh, those census takers! Or was it the census taker? Or was it the information giver? The chicken or the egg?…Almost the same thing about a week ago. Wife found a place where one of her aunt’s was born, I found another in and earlier census when her aunt was just 2 years old. I think that would be most likely but…that lingering doubt.
If I could find Jesse in 1820, that’d be the most likely, Stan — but I can’t find him then (at least not yet!).
At Ancestry.com I just searched the Buncombe Co, NC, 1820 census using the surname search term: *ore . The results included two Fore households: Louis “Fire” and Jones “Tere”. Just last month someone had corrected these mistranscribed surnames to “Fore”.
The household of Jones Fore, with 11 individuals, includes a male and female over 45 (Jesse’s parents?), a male 16-25 (Jesse?), a female 26-44 and a female 16-25 (one Jesse’s wife? one his sister?), four males and two females under 10 (one Jesse’s son Jesse Jr? one daughter Mary?).
Possibly Jesse and his wife were living with his parents for a few years after his marriage. (It’s also possible they were living with her parents!) In any case, the family of Jones Fore may be a clue to follow.
Already have those, thanks, and believe we know who they were — and at this point it doesn’t point directly to my guy. Sigh… couldn’t he at least have owned land? Or had tax lists that survived???
Oh me, oh my, that’s a conundrum and a half.
Sure is… but hey… if this was easy, it wouldn’t be fun.
Absolutely love it! Wondering what it says on Mary’s death certificate and who supplied that information. Church records or family Bible records may also add another state. What fun!
She appears to have died well before there were Texas death records kept, and we haven’t located church records or family Bibles with birth info on her. Sigh…
That’s a whole lot of confusion.
I just received the death certificate for my 3rd-great-grandmother hoping to confirm her parent’s names I obtained from her marriage record. I want to go back a hundred years and beat her husband with a wet fish because he informed them as “unknown.” Forty years of marriage and your wife never mentioned her mother’s name?
Yeah, I have a lot of ancestors who were members of that great “Don’t Know” and “Unknown” family too… Sigh…