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| Buford Dennis Boyd 1928 - 1983 photo courtesy Russ Boyd |
Wendy
© 2021, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.
Showing posts with label William Jollett. Show all posts
Showing posts with label William Jollett. Show all posts
Friday, September 10, 2021
Photo Friday - Buford Boyd
Wednesday, September 23, 2020
52 Ancestors: SHOULD BE A MOVIE: My Colorful Ancestor
Without a doubt, the life of William H. Jollett would play well on the silver screen. Several years ago I wrote a 4-part series about this Confederate soldier and horse thief who went on to commit some unspeakable crime which led him to create a new identity as William Preston Boyd.
William Jollett
(1847 Page Co VA - 1924 Monroe Co WV)
Please enjoy reading the Man on the Run series about William
Jollett, the nephew of my 2X great-grandfather.
Amy Johnson Crow continues to challenge genealogy bloggers and non-bloggers alike to think about our ancestors and share a story or photo about them. The challenge is “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.”
Wendy
© 2020, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.
Monday, November 25, 2019
52 Ancestors - THIEF: True Confession
One of the thrills of being the family historian is
finding a bona fide horse thief in the family.
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| William Boyd aka William Jollett |
My family’s Black Sheep is William H. Jollett, my 2x
great-grandfather’s nephew. William admitted to stealing a horse.
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| Staunton Spectator Sep 6, 1868 |
He served his time.
After he was released from prison, something terrible
happened that set him on the run. He changed his name to William Boyd and led a
quiet and relatively uneventful life after that. It’s a long story. Read about
it HERE.
Amy Johnson Crow continues to challenge genealogy
bloggers and non-bloggers alike to think about our ancestors and share a story
or photo about them. The challenge is “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.”
Wendy
© 2019, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
52 Ancestors - EARLIEST: Morris Jollett's Inventory
The earliest concrete sign that the Jolletts were in colonial
Virginia dates to 1732. On the 27th of September of that year, the
estate of Morris Jollett was appraised and entered into court. Two months
later, Morris Jollett’s son William signed upon oath and ordered the inventory
to be recorded. The order was recorded on February 7, 1733.
The record is not easy to read, but I submit it here as
an invitation for others to render an opinion on what poor ol’ Morris left
behind. One word that is particularly puzzling looks like “Joyron.” The context
and comparison to other letters, specifically the “r” in “Mortor” and “Grinding,”
make me think it is a terrible spelling of “iron.” What else could it be?
An Inventory and Appraisement of Morris Jollett Estate
Westmoreland
County, VA
September
1732
Two cows & two calfs
Two
cows & five heiffers
One
plow and a small grinding stone
??
of puter
??
of old iron
One
pair of old small stillards [? Not sure of that]
One
old halbord and old box iron
One
brass candlestick and small brass bottles
One
old spice mortor
[?]
iron pots old
Old
[?] plow old tables
One
old gun and weavers loom
Two
old cots [coats?] and a pair of breches
One
old Tub with a parcel of old feathers and other lumber
A
parcel of earthenware, [?] glass bottles
A
parcel of very old B???
Small
[ ? ]mpory
One
small cake of bees wax
A
frying pan, ax, roofhook all old
Old
pail old hoe old piggins
Two
old loads of beds loads old furniture
One
mare & old saddle
Herd
of hogs small goat
4
geese
TOTAL
VALUE was 22 pounds, 13 shillings, 4 pence
In
Witness to an Order of Court bearing Date this 27th Day of September
1732 We whose names are under written being first sworn by a Magistrate have
valued & appraised above Inventory.
Daneil
Gobbs
Charnock
Cox, Jr.
Daniel
Crabb
Westmoreland
County in a Court held for the County this 28th Day of November 1732
This
Inventory of the Estate of Morris Jollett deceased was returned into Court upon
Oath by William Jollett his son and Administrator and ordered to be Recorded.
Teste
G.
Turberville CCW
Recorded
the Seventh Day of February 1733.
GTCCW
A few EARLIER documents exist for Morris Jollett in transcription
form. They include records of a patent for his cattle brand in 1711 and again
in 1716. Three years later he was a witness in an
inquisition into the death of a man who had drowned.
A more difficult challenge will be to connect Morris and son William to John Jollitt who arrived on the Tristram and Jane in 1637. He was turned over as an indentured servant to Nathaniel Floyd. Interestingly enough, Floyd himself had come to Virginia in 1625 as an indentured servant. Sometime around 1627 he obtained his freedom and purchased land on the Warwick River.
Amy Johnson Crow continues to challenge genealogy
bloggers and non-bloggers alike to think about our ancestors and share a story
or photo about them. The challenge is “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.”
Wendy
© 2019, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.
Tuesday, April 9, 2019
52 Ancestors - DNA: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
DNA is the big topic among genealogists and family
historians these days. Many of my colleagues spout words like “haplotype,” "downstream," and “centimorgans”
without flinching. I, on the other hand, just hear Charlie Brown’s teacher - “wah
waah, wah waah.”
GOOD
Admittedly, DNA solved one of the Jollett mysteries. Two
Boyd researchers who met online compared notes and learned that both grew up hearing
stories that their great-grandfather William Boyd had changed his name to avoid
punishment for some unnamed crime. Some letters had been burned while preserving
just enough to point the family to William’s identity as a Jollett while
keeping the secret a secret.
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| William Boyd aka Jollett and wife Hattie |
A DNA test solved the mystery when our Boyd matched with
a Jollett. Good news! It was time to celebrate because we no longer had to
wonder. If you want to read the story, click HERE.
BAD
When we had Daddy’s DNA tested, we looked forward to
being part of the Slade DNA group study. We were eager to learn more about the
great-grandfather who came to Virginia from Florida as just a child with his
widowed mother. We hoped to learn about the other Slades, where they were from,
where they went. I did not understand the early reports of those we match. None
of our chromosome numbers matched any of the seven main Slade branches. But I now understood one thing and one thing
only. A genetic distance of “0” means an exact match, definitely related within
four generations or closer.
Our exact matches are with the families of Calhoun. Even
matches with a distance of 1 or 2 match Calhoun. Not a single Slade match.
OK, I can accept a “non-paternal event” as a fact of
life. No problem. When that event occurred is still unclear. From
correspondence with two of my matches, it seems likely that my
great-grandfather’s father might have been the product of an affair. Read the
story HERE.
UGLY
I have one more mystery that I would LOVE to solve
through DNA since I do not think I will stumble upon a tell-all diary any time
soon. Since there are people still living who will be impacted by this story, I
am going to be vague on purpose.
I have a relative who was raised by an aunt and uncle but
thought they were his natural parents. He learned the truth when he had to
provide a birth certificate to join the Air Force. That is rather a long time
to be sheltered from the truth and a hard way to learn it.
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| Two "mothers" |
But his story gets worse. He was raised as a twin with
the couple’s son who was actually half a year older. The boys started school
together although my relative was not really old enough yet. Today we all are
much more aware of how maturity and school-readiness affects children, but not
so much in the 1930s. Maybe that is why this relative performed poorly, stayed
in trouble, and dropped out of school in the tenth grade.
To make matters worse, NO ONE in the family would tell
him who his real parents were. The birth certificate revealed that his beloved
aunt, a sister to the woman he called “Mom,” was his real mother. He believed
his father was the man he called “Dad,” that the two had had an affair.
However, those in the know said absolutely not. Even today the truth is a
carefully guarded secret. The one who holds the key says that descendants of
his birth father are still here in our community and it is not clear whether
they know their grandfather/great-grandfather played around with a 16-year old
girl.
Today this relative is just an angry man who has run off
two wonderful and devoted wives and alienated his children. Maybe his behavior
is genetic. Maybe it is the consequence of a lifetime of being let down and
lied to. A DNA test could at least answer his question if not solve his
problems. A DNA test could also turn the world upside down for another family.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Someone once said that we all have 2 genealogies: a legal
one and a biological one. As the registrar for my DAR chapter, it is my job to
compile the legal paper trail leading from an applicant for membership to a
patriot who aided in the cause for American freedom during the time of the
Revolutionary War. Sometimes though the legal documents conflict with what a
family knows or believes based on family lore and/or DNA. Currently DAR recognizes
paternity tests and Y-DNA tests only in a quest to join.
My experience with DNA testing makes me wonder how many
of us are not who we think we are. I have a trail of legal documents that PROVE
William Jordan is my ancestor who fought in the Revolutionary War. But I have
to wonder if a DNA test would agree. After all, I have lots of paper proving I
am a Slade with ancestors first appearing in Georgia in the late 1700s/early
1800s, but my DNA says otherwise.
How will such knowledge affect lineage societies like
DAR, United Daughters of the Confederacy, Mayflower Society, Colonial Dames,
First Families, etc? At least in DAR, once a daughter, always a daughter.
Anyone who learns today that they did not really descend from a verified
patriot will not have to worry about being kicked out.
Amy Johnson Crow continues to challenge genealogy
bloggers and non-bloggers alike to think about our ancestors and share a story
or photo about them. The challenge is “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.”
Wendy
© 2019, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.
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