52 Ancestors - THIEF: True Confession

One of the thrills of being the family historian is finding a bona fide horse thief in the family.

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.

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.

52 Ancestors - SOLDIER: Mystery Man

Of all my photos of unidentified people, this is probably my favorite. It came to me in a box of photos belonging to my grandaunt Helen Killeen Parker. Since many of the other photos were of her mother and her mother’s sisters and their families, I assume this one is as well. But who is it?

Here is what I know: Helen’s mother, my great grandmother Mary Theresa Sheehan Killeen Walsh, immigrated to New York from Ireland in the late 1880s. Her sisters did as well. I know for sure that a brother Denis remained in Ireland. One brother, John Sheehan, might have immigrated to New York but I am not sure.

There are many photos of women who resemble Mary Theresa, but the few photos that are labeled are of children who would be Helen’s cousins. Photos of adults are not labeled, so I cannot tell for sure who is who.

As a result, I can identify NO ONE in this photo.

One problem I am having is determining age in the photo. Is this a set of parents with a son and daughter? Parents with a son and granddaughter?  Could it even be a 4-generation photo? The woman resembles Mary Theresa somewhat in body type, but if the photo is from the 19-teens, Mary Theresa and sisters would have been younger looking and probably thinner.  

Another problem is determining the place the photo was taken. Since I have seen none of these people in other photos, I considered maybe this was the family left behind in Ireland. However, the architecture of the house does not fit with what homes looked like in Ireland, or at least in photos I have seen. Could this house have been in New York? Massachusetts? Maybe it was taken in Portsmouth, Virginia where Mary Theresa moved following the death in 1905 of her first husband, John Joseph Killeen.

The soldier’s uniform might answer that question, in part, at least. The coat resembles this one identified online as a US army enlisted man’s tunic from 1912. Later uniforms also had buttons on the collar. I looked at World War I uniforms for other countries and am satisfied that this is an American soldier. I can rule out Mary Theresa’s brother and family in Ireland as candidates.

But who should be ruled IN? That is the million dollar question!

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.

52 Ancestors - POOR MAN: Caring for the Poor

Frazier Mountain School
photo courtesy John and Janet Thompson
Frazier descendants

Frazier Mountain was the stomping grounds of my 3X great-grandmother Nancy Frazier Shiflett and her many aunts, uncles and cousins. However, this photo of the Frazier Mountain School is not THAT old, more likely from the very early 1900s.

That is when the settlement movement made its way to the mountains of Virginia. The aim of settlement schools was to provide education for children in rural and mountain areas that were often not served by the county, usually for economic and logistical reasons. Churches often filled the gap building a school, a church, a clothing bureau, and sometimes even a hospital.

Frederick Neve Comes to Virginia

Frederick William Neve
1855-1948

Frederick William Neve was an Episcopal minister born and educated at Oxford in England who was asked to come to Virginia in 1888. He was based in the town of Ivy in Albemarle County, but he was drawn to the Blue Ridge Mountains just twenty-five miles away. He found someone to take him into those mysterious communities – Shifflett’s Hollow, Bacon Hallow, Mutton Hollow, Blackwell Hollow, and Simmons Gap – places that inspired stories of moonshine operations, backwoods justice and suspicion towards strangers.

There were probably 175 people living there, but reportedly only two of them could read and write. Neve inquired about the mountain community and learned that no school or church existed within miles of the area known as “Frazier Mountain” to the locals but previously as “Lost Mountain.” Neve actually liked that name because he reasoned that without religion and education, the people were indeed “lost.” (Today it is known as “Loft Mountain.”)

Ambitious Project

Neve bought some property straddling Greene and Albemarle counties where he could build a mission school. One of the families offered the use of two empty cabins – one for a school and the other to house a teacher. In advertising for a teacher, Neve provided full disclosure about the isolation and lack of amenities. He expected men to apply but instead 15 women came forward. Angelina Fitzhugh was selected and became the first of many women and men who taught the mountain families at the mission schools.

Ruin of Pocosan Mission
at the end of a fire road in Shenandoah National Park

For quite some time, Neve and others like him were thwarted in their effort to help the mountain families. People were pessimistic and thought it was a waste of time trying to cure sinful behaviors like drinking and licentiousness among people that they viewed as not only ignorant but also primitive and untamed. Even when they viewed outsiders suspiciously, the mountain families saw the missions as a glimpse into another world that offered opportunities for their children.

Neve continued to draw followers and missionaries. Together they built mission schools and churches about every 10 miles throughout seven Virginia counties. Costs were sometimes double the cost of a building in a more convenient location. Transportation was still mostly by horse and wagon. There were no paved roads, and even the dirt roads were little more than paths winding through woods into the hollows.

BRIS

Neve’s most ambitious mission project was the co-ed Blue Ridge Industrial School. It was the vision of his missionary Rev. George Mayo who realized he could not be effective unless he lived among the mountain people. He saw that since most young people were likely to remain in a rural area, a school that provided practical training for farm life and related occupations would be the best chance mountain children would have to improve their condition. The school operated a demonstration farm, dairy, sawmill, orchards, kitchens, workshops. It even operated a cannery for a number of years. The school initially offered an elementary education but soon grew adding more advanced education. BRIS was the first accredited high school in Greene County.

Historic Gibson Chapel at Blue Ridge School
wikimedia commons

Between 1890 and 1912, Frederick Neve started twenty-eight missions, ten of them in Greene County alone, and sixteen schools. He is remembered today as the founder of the mountain mission movement of the Episcopal Church in Virginia, 1888-1948.

Today all of the mission schools have closed except for the Blue Ridge school which is still going strong as a college-prep boarding school for boys.

Sources:

Alvic, Philis. Weavers of the Southern Highlands. Lexington, KY: U of Kentucky, 2003. University Press of Kentucky. Web. 25 Nov. 2015. <https://books.google.com/books?id=G6geBgAAQBAJ&dq=southern+highland+weavers&source=gbs_navlinks_s>.

Campbell, Olive D. Southern Highland Schools Maintained by Denominational and Independent Agencies. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1921. 30 July 2009. Web. 25 Nov. 2015. <https://books.google.com/books?id=c4p6V571x2QC&dq=frazier+mountain+school+virginia&source=gbs_navlinks_s>.

Chretien, Kay Collins. “A History of Faith Mission Home.” Shiflett Family Genealogy Website.

http://www.shiflett-klein.com/shifletfamily/HHI/missionh.html

Covey, David D. Greene County, Virginia: A Brief History. Google Books. The History Press, n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2015. <https://books.google.com/books?id=kkzjkVKswewC&dq=neve%2Band%2Bblue%2Bridge%2Bschools&source=gbs_navlinks_s>.

"A Guide to the Frederick W. Neve Papers, 1854-1981 (bulk 1900-1940) Neve, Frederick W., Papers 10505." Virginia Heritage: Guides to Manuscripts and Archival Collections in Virginia. Virtual Library of Virginia, n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2015. <http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=uva-sc%2Fviu03549.xml>.

James, Phil. “Secrets of the Blue Ridge: George Mayo & the Blue Ridge Industrial Schools.” Crozet Gazette. 8 Sep 2017.   https://www.crozetgazette.com/2017/09/08/secrets-of-the-blue-ridge-george-mayo-the-blue-ridge-industrial-school/

“Settlement School.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.  Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 13 Aug. 2015. Web. 25 Nov. 2015.

Shifflett, Larry. "County Place Names." Shiflett Family Genealogy. <http://www.klein-shiflett.com/shifletfamily/PS/alpnames.html>.

Swenson, Ben. “Far Pocosan or Pocosin Mission.” Abandoned Country. 7 Jan 2013. http://www.abandonedcountry.com/2013/01/07/far-pocosan-wild-with-moonshine-whiskey/

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. 

52 Ancestors - RICH MAN: Richard Bruce

After struggling to find a “rich” ancestor, I gave up and decided to write about one named Richard. The irony is that he might actually have been “rich” after all.

My 5X great-grandfather Richard Bruce was born to George Bruce and Elizabeth Quinn in Albemarle County, Virginia, in 1754. He was surely old enough to have served in the militia during the Revolutionary War, but I have found no evidence of that on Fold3. However, his brothers served and received pensions. 

Richard must have come from a family of some means. His grandfather Darby Quinn left a will. Had he been a poor man, there likely would have been no will or estate to probate. Darby Quinn left a 400 acre estate to his son Richard Quinn. In addition, he stipulated that his personal estate be divided equally between his son Richard and daughter Elizabeth Bruce.

Without some wealth, Richard could not have become the educated man he was. He earned the respect of his family and neighbors. In fact, he was asked to seek the aid of Thomas Jefferson in settling a military claim: 

Albemarle 12^th Dec 1791

Sir,

Having repeatedly experienced favors of this kind from you it emboldens me still to intrude further on your goodness. David Owings & David Wood have got some military claim sent on by the Assembly to Congress to have them settled. And they have wrote to Mr. Madison to lay them separately before Congress. And as I was in some measure the instigation of their not being paid as you will see by the papers therefore beg you to be so good as to try to get them settled when they come to hand [not sure that’s what it says] and write me word their fate.

I am Sir your most obt [obedient] servant

Richd Bruce

Richard might have been a lawyer. In 1794, Richard’s brother William and his wife Ann Nancy, who were residing in North Carolina, appointed him to be their attorney to sell 300 acres of land in Albemarle County, Virginia [Deed Book 1, p. 34].

The many deeds and documents showing Richard Bruce as a grantor, grantee, or merely a witness suggest Richard was probably among the richest of my ancestors.

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.

52 Ancestors - TRICK OR TREAT: Those Pesky Ruckers

One of the TREATs of blogging is connecting with distant cousins and potential cousins. This past week I received two emails from Rucker descendants looking for more information. That was just the kick in the pants I needed to get back on my Rucker research.

DAR marker for Angus Rucker
photo courtesy Brian Gallagher
Rucker-Hoffman Cemetery, Madison Co, VA

Some time ago I was TRICKed into thinking my oldest known-for-sure Rucker ancestor was a descendant of Revolutionary War patriot Captain Angus Rucker of Madison County, Virginia. I had been advised by a well-respected Rucker researcher and then-president of the Rucker Family Society to prove that John Frank Rucker was son of Angus. Conventional wisdom was that he was son of Jarvis Rucker, not Angus.

It did not take long to discover that John Frank’s children named some of their own children “Angus.” Surely they were honoring their grandfather Angus Rucker. So it seemed a done-deal that John Frank was son of Angus. Even Daughters of the American Revolution agree; several women have joined this lineage society as direct descendants of Angus Rucker through his son John Frank.

I was lulled into thinking my known great-great-grandfather Frank Rucker was son of John Frank. I mean, after all, look at the name – Frank.

But not so fast.

John Frank Rucker died intestate in 1839. An abstract appears in the Rockingham County Guardian Bonds book: 15 July 1839, Parent, John F. Rucker; Orphans, Onslow, Angeline, and Eliza; Guardian Jared Powell, Bond was $2,000, bondsmen, John Cook and Honorias Powell. 

A daughter Sarah Jane had married James Frazier the year before and thus was out of the house and not in need of a guardian. It made sense to me that Frank likewise was of legal age and not in need of a guardian. I have lived with that thought several years.

Try as I might to ignore the numerous documents that refer to John Frank’s “four orphans,” now I am pretty sure Frank was not son of John Frank. The nail in that coffin was delivered by a chancery cause of 1857 in which Asa Baugher, administrator of the estate of Onslow Rucker, represented his wife Eliza Rucker and her sister Angeline Rucker Roach in a suit against their guardian Jared Powell. While details of the land dispute and proper accounting of how Jared Powell carried out his duties as guardian are interesting to ME, the clincher is this one sentence:

From Chancery Cause Rockingham Co, VA 1857
Adm Onslow Rucker vs Jared Powell

The heirs at law of Onslow Rucker are Mary Rucker, his mother, Jane Frazier wife of James Frazier, Angeline Roach wife of Mickleberry Roach, & Eliza Baugher wife of this complainant.

Frank Rucker was very much alive in 1857, so had he been an heir of Onslow Rucker, he would have been listed in that sentence.

At this point I cannot connect Frank to ANY Rucker male. I have my doubts about whether Frank connects to Jarvis, which is the standard view. Jarvis was from Culpeper County and died in neighboring Madison County. If the death certificate of my great-grandfather Joseph Calhoun Rucker can be believed, his father Frank was born in Amherst County.

Amherst County research will be something new for me. But maybe determining Frank’s parents will turn out to be a TREAT. After all, there were only 10 Rucker families listed in the 1830 census for Amherst County, and only 2 of them had a son born about 1824. Let the search begin again.

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.

52 Ancestors - TRANSPORTATION: Streetcar Envy

I am jealous of the public transportation system everywhere in Europe. Getting from here to there is so easy and so inexpensive whether by bus, train, or subway. Here in Virginia, heavy traffic on city streets and interstates makes for a white-knuckle ride at any time of the day. Our local leaders are finally offering one solution to ease the crowded roads: light rail. However, there are so few routes to places anyone wants to go that everyone wonders if it was even worth the expense.

The Tide
wikimedia commons

Public transportation used to be better. When I was a teenager, I could hop on the bus right in front of our house. For 25 cents I could go downtown to shop at any number of department stores, go to movies at three different theaters, and grab lunch at Woolworth’s lunch counter. If that was not enough, for 10 cents more I could take the green tunnel bus to neighboring Norfolk for another world of shopping.

My parents often spoke of taking the ferry to Norfolk in the days before construction of the tunnel in 1952 made the ferry obsolete. About the same time, bus service was introduced putting cab companies and streetcars out of business.

I have only a vague recollection from my teen years of remnants of the streetcar system along High Street and Crawford Street in downtown Portsmouth. But many folks in the Portsmouth Facebook group have clear memories of where the tracks ran in various neighborhoods. They shared stories and pictures, some of which are included in this post.

View from the Professional Building - High Street downtown Portsmouth

 Streetcars in the News

from Virginian Pilot 10 Jul 1917
Annie Brown in her uniform
Badge no. 5110 on her straw hat 

The local newspaper, The Virginian Pilot, sometimes prints stories of happenings 100 years ago. One such story was about a streetcar strike in 1917. When men were needed to go to war, the Virginia Railway and Power Company hired women to serve as streetcar conductors. The men refused to train the women, and eventually the company decided to put that plan on hold.

Another story from 1897 falls under the “too much information” category. Apparently, there was a great deal of concern about people spitting on the floor of the streetcars, prompting the City Attorney to give the go ahead to the City Council to enact an ordinance prohibiting such a nuisance. Conflicts with the Health Department suggest such an ordinance might not come to fruition.

Headline in the Norfolk Virginian
13 May 1917

The Beach Route

As a young boy, my dad used to ride the streetcar to the beach in Ocean View. I never could picture how that was possible because today it requires traveling through a tunnel, over numerous bridges, and on the interstate. Thanks to memories of folks on Facebook I understand the route: first, they would have taken the ferry to Norfolk.

Postcard of the ferry terminals 1940s in Portsmouth 

1950s ferry between Norfolk and Portsmouth

From there they would have walked a short distance and through the Selden Arcade to the Monticello Hotel on City Hall Avenue. 

Streetcar stop in front of the Monticello Hotel 

That was the stop for the Ocean View streetcar which ran down the middle of Granby Street to Ocean View. People on Facebook remember it being a wild ride full of bumps and sways due to the uneven ground. 

Ocean View streetcar

Ocean View station 1930s

Granby Street in Norfolk

Granby Street TODAY - grass medians cover the old tracks

Streetcars in Cradock - Who Knew?

Growing up in the Cradock community of Portsmouth, I NEVER EVER heard that there used to be streetcars in our neighborhood. But it is true. The folks in the Portsmouth Facebook group posted copies of old mimeographed newsletters containing photos of the Cradock streetcar. The tracks once ran down the middle of Afton Parkway from Paradise Creek to downtown. 

Streetcar on Afton Parkway, corner of Decatur Steet
Photo courtesy of Bob Cutchins 

This is the same spot today - corner of Afton and Decatur.

Like Granby Street, grass medians now exist where once there were streetcar tracks.

Someone in the group recalled a favorite prank pulled off by the boys of Cradock. When the streetcar reached its destination, in order to make the return trip, the conductor had to change the connecting rod to the overhead electric power from one end of the car to the other. He also had to reverse the position of the backs of the seats to face the front of the car. During this down time, the boys of Cradock would grease the rails with old oil confiscated from local gas stations. When the conductor pushed the lever to go, the wheels would spin. 

One Last Story

My sister recalls one interesting story about our dad’s experience with the streetcar. When he was in school, his basketball team rode the streetcar to South Norfolk to play in the gym. His team had 7 to 9 players but only 5 pairs of tennis shoes between them. They took turns wearing the shoes. Yes, little to do with the streetcar, but how many chances will I get to share this crazy story? 

How ironic that some forms of transportation made obsolete by progress might be one solution to the problems that progress created. 

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.

52 Ancestors - ADVENTURE: The Jollett Boy

One wild story of adventure has been passed down through the family. Not the Huckleberry Finn kind of adventure of exploring up and down the Mississippi encountering con men, slave traders and other interesting characters. Not the Jim Hawkins kind of adventure searching for buried treasure. Certainly not Ahab’s adventure seeking revenge on a great white whale.

It is a story of Indian capture and escape. It was recorded in a letter written by Rosetta Meadows Eppard, granddaughter of John Wesley Jollett, my 2X great-grandfather’s brother. The original was scanned and sent to me by a distant cousin Jan Hensley in 2007. My transcription preserves the peculiarities of spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.

Just the first page of 4

December 15, 1964

I am writing the true Story of the Jollett Boy the Indians stold Back in the days whin the Indians would be passing through this country thay would steal Boys and girls If thay could. So one day the Jollett Boy my mother would tell us about she always called him Grand Pa’s little Boy he was cutting down Bushes back of the house up on a Hill I don’t know the age of the boy probley any whare from 10 to 13 years old. Any way the Indians taken him he couldn’t help him self do nothing but go and whin thay got to there Indian home and stayed a few days they wint on a nother hunting trip and taken him with them and they would make him cary there wild game thay killed on his Back until the skin would come off but he had to go every time thay wint. Thay lived off of there wild game I don’t know what thay killed and eat but they didn’t cook it but half done. But the Boy learned to eat that way. So one day they were going such a long trip they thought he couldn’t make it and thay left him with 2 old Indians he was then 21 years old he was with them a long time. Then the 2 old Indians got to whispring so the Boy thought that were fixing to kill him so one of them sed to the Boy he had grown up and was a man then and they called him young man. And one of the old Indians sed young man would you like to see your old Father and mother but he didn’t say nothing and thay asking him again the same thing. Then he broke down crying. Thin thay sed we not going to Kill you we are going to let you go home he ses I don’t know how to get home we will tell you how to get home. You go out here Back of the house and get on that little Branch and wait it until it emptes in the creak then you travel fast as you can in the creak and don’t get out no more then you can help. Thin if you should hear them coming get under a Brush pile or log pile the Boy sed if that catch me they will kill me the 2 old Indians sed thay will Kill no to thay all ways Kill the old Indians and we will soon die any way so thay fixed him something to eat on his way and he left for home and he traveld fast as he could for a bout 3 days then he heard them coming hollering there head offs like the Indians holler but he had traveld in the water all he could and he was clost to a Brush and log pile and he crawled back under the log and brush pile the high water had washed and it wasn’t long until thay were on top of it hollering and they would run down the creak thin up the creak back down all over the Brush and log pile until thay give up and wint back thin whin the Boy didn’t hear no more of them he wint on until he got to his old home. It was all most dark whin he got thare and he nocked on the door of his home and his old mother came to the door he sed I am awful tired I have walked a long ways – could I come in and stay all night she sed yes indeed I never turn down strangers that wants to stay all night so they wint in she fixed him something to eat and while he was eating his mother set down at the table and she was looking at him she sed to her Husband old man that was what she called him. This young man looks like our Boy the Indians stold he has a scar in his forhead just like our Boy had then he couldn’t keep from crying any longer he ses I am your Boy the Indians stold. What a rejoycing time for him to get Back home a gain and see his old mother and father and for thim to see there son again back home. The story reminds me of the story in the Bible of the Prodal son.

                                                From  Grandma Eppard

Let’s consider the players in this story:

“Grandma Eppard” was Rosetta Meadows Eppard, the daughter of Matilda Jollett and Thomas Wesley Meadows. They lived in the Jollett Hollow community along Naked Creek bordering Rockingham and Page counties in Virginia. The community derived its name from the Jollett family who were early settlers. Rosetta was 81 when she wrote the letter.

 

Tally Walter Eppard and Rosetta Meadows Eppard
their children Ralph and Ethel
photo courtesy Jan Hensley

Rosetta says that her MOTHER, Matilda Jollett Meadows, told her the story. Matilda says the “Jollett Boy” was “Grandpa’s little boy.”

But who was Grandpa? First of all, we must consider that “Jollett boy” can be interpreted in two ways: either his last name was Jollett OR he was simply a boy FROM Jollett Hollow. Furthermore, “Grandpa’s little boy” could have been his own son or even a term of endearment for a grandson. Extending that endearment further, “Grandpa” could have taken a liking to some child in the neighborhood who was precocious and adorable or maybe did chores for him earning him the designation as “Grandpa’s little boy.”

But back to the question of Grandpa’s identity. If Matilda meant her own grandfather, then that was either Fielding Jollett OR Manson Smith. If Matilda meant Rosetta’s grandfather, then that was either John Wesley Jollett OR Mitchell Meadows.

Mitchell Meadows can be eliminated. He was killed during the Civil War. His children were born in the 1850s, so even if any of them had been kidnapped at age 10, they could not have been gone long enough for Mitchell to have forgotten what they looked like in his lifetime.

John Wesley Jollett had 3 sons: Artubine, John, and Charles. John and Charles can certainly be ruled out because they were enumerated in every census. There is a cemetery marker for Artubine showing he died in 1862 at the age of 9. I considered that maybe that is when he disappeared and the Jolletts simply THOUGHT he died. But surely they would have removed the marker on his return. Thus John Jollett can be ruled out as well.

Like John Jollett, Manson Smith’s sons were all present and accounted for at census time. I suppose it is possible one of the sons disappeared and then returned between census years. If so, surely they would have lived long enough to be enumerated eventually. There does not seem to be any NEW Smiths or Jolletts to attach to these families.

Looking at Matilda’s grandfather Fielding Jollett, though, there is one unusual tick mark in the 1830 and 1840 census records for males for whom I cannot account.

1830 Rockingham Co Virginia
MALES
Age 5 – 9	Emanuel and ?
Age 30-39	Fielding Jollett
FEMALES
Under 5	Margaret, Lydia
30-39	Mary Ann Armentrout Jollett

The wife in the 1830 census was Fielding’s second wife, Mary Ann Armentrout. His first wife was Ann Stoutemire. They had two known children, Emanuel and Margaret. A second male between the ages of 5 and 9 suggests maybe they had a third child. Ann died in 1828, possibly in child birth. In 1840, an unknown male in the household between the ages of 10 and 14 was about the right age to have been kidnapped according to Matilda’s story as retold by Rosetta. Fielding and Mary Ann both lived long enough for a child to return years later unrecognizable except for a scar.

1840 Page Co Virginia
MALES
Under 5	James Franklin
5-9	John Wesley, Henry
10-14	?
15-19	Emanuel
40-49	Fielding
FEMALES
Under 5	Lucretia
10-14	Margaret, Lydia
40-49	Mary Ann

But there are two problems with this theory. First of all, surely the returning son would have been enumerated in a census eventually. I have found no other Jollett men unaccounted for. Secondly and most importantly, had my 2X great-grandfather James Franklin Jollett had a brother who had been kidnapped by Indians, surely this is a story that my grandaunts and grandparents would have told. It is too good a story for the best storytellers in our family to have kept a secret.

The mystery of “the Jollett boy” remains just that.

  

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.