Amy Johnson Crow of No Story Too Small has issued a
challenge: write one blog post each week
devoted to a specific ancestor. It can
be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem –
anything that focuses on one ancestor.
Tabatha JOLLETT.
So many questions. So little
information.
When I discovered Tabatha many years ago, I just
laughed. I thought Tabatha was a name
made up by the writers of “Bewitched.” I
had no idea that this name was fairly common in the early 1800s.
As best I can tell, Tabatha was the fifth daughter of
James and Nancy Walker Jollett.
Apparently she was born in Orange County, Virginia, sometime between
1797 and 1800. Her name appears only
twice in census records. In 1850, she
was living in Greene County in the household of Elizabeth King.
A young girl named Frances Jollett was likely Tabatha’s daughter.
 |
| 1850 Greene County, Virginia Census Tabatha Jollett age 50 could not read or write |
In 1860, the Greene County census taker must have been
lazy as names are listed with initials only. “T” Jollett and “FEA” Jollett were
in their own home.
 |
| 1860 Greene County, Virginia Census Tabatha age 63 valued her personal property at $40. She still could not read or write. |
And that’s it for Tabatha, as far as I know. Frances, on the other hand, in 1870 was listed as “cousin” in the household of Thomas and Columbia Marsh and Thomas’s mother-in-law Elizabeth King. That means Tabatha must have been Elizabeth’s unmarried sister OR the widow of an unknown brother.
Since there is no “Three Generations” possibility for
this family, I present a To Do list:
1. Search
for a death record for Tabatha Jollett.
2. Search
for any records for Frances Jollett, in particular birth and death.
3. Look
for Tabatha’s name on any deeds.
©
2014, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.
Wendy, I have come across several census reports that show only initials rather than first names. It is quite annoying!
ReplyDeleteIt IS annoying.
DeleteMore sleuth work for you. Interesting with the initials...I bet those census workers had no idea there would be relatives in the 21st century digging through the records cursing them!
ReplyDeleteHappy Sunday!
Evidently not. But there are a lot of 21st century researchers doing a lot of cursing.
DeleteHow frustrating to find a situation like this! Although...think of the sense of victory when you finally do snag that name in another document. I hope those deeds or a will or something turns up exactly the hint you need!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you'll be able to hear me shout when I do!
DeleteI think it is great you have found as much as you have with so little to go on!
ReplyDeleteTabatha and Elizabeth have always interested me. Looking forward to more.
Tabatha for sure is interesting. Who was her man??
DeleteMy thought was the same as M's above - I'm sure they never thought about others looking at their work hundreds of years later. I thought of that when my grandmother's maiden name was spelled wrong on my mom's death certificate - Fitzgerald without the Z. I snickered inside thinking of someone 100 years from now wondering what in the heck was up with that name?
ReplyDeleteI just read a granduncle's death cert today in which his mother - my dad's paternal grandmother - was listed as Mamie. Her name was Mary. I've NEVER heard anyone refer to her as Mamie.
Delete