This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: ALLGOOD, CHAPMAN, DAVIDSON, DECKER, MORRIS, NEWSOM, NEWSOME Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/Xd.2ADE/449.2 Message Board Post: I'm wondering if you were able to learn more about these folk. I have an Andrew DECKER who was a witness in a murder trial in January 1871. The murder took place in November 1870 in the Columbus Factory village, several miles north of Columbus, so I suspect Andrew was employed at the Columbus Factory (a.k.a. Clapp's Factory) cotton and woolen mill and residing at the mill village at that time. I believe he may be the Andrew DECKER, age 27, b. GA, single, relationship to head listed as "other," in the household of Corry YARBOROUGH, a widow, on p. 419D of the 1880 federal census of Girard, Russell Co, AL. Andrew and most others in the household are working in a cotton mill; I suspect he was boarding there. He may be the Andrew DECKER (1853-1883), buried at Linwood Cemetery in Columbus. Also buried there are Amelia DECKER (1858-1885) and Edith Lucile DECKER (1905-1914), but I don't know what, if any, kinship these two have to Andrew. I see in your postings that Nancy DECKER (d/o Young Allgood & Nancy (CHAPMAN) DECKER) m. 1854 in Muscogee Co, GA, to Stillman DAVIDSON. There are households of Elizah DAVIDSON and John DAVIDSON indexed on p. 359 of the 1860 federal census of Muscogee Co - this is part of the Clapp's Factory community. John E. DAVDISON m. 1856 in Muscogee Co. to Martha Elizabeth ABNEY, sister of Mary Ellen ABNEY, first wife of my gg-gf Henry M. NEWSOME. However, I'm not sure Stillman is kin to these DAVIDSONS. He seems to be the head of household transcribed "Tillman" DAVIDSON, age 54, b. MA (both parents b. MA), working as a house carpenter, on p. 488B in the Nances District of Muscogee Co. in 1880. This is not far from Clapp's Factory, which was also in Nances District. With him are wife Nancy (45, b. GA, keeing house, both parents b. GA) and children William (19, GA) and Allice T. (17, GA). Next door is Eddie DAVIDSON (10, GA), father b. MA, mother b. GA), listed as the "nephew" [rea! d "brother-in-law"] of James CHEEK (27, NC, buther, bother parents b. NC). His wife is Allice T. CHEEK (17, GA, keeing house, father b. MA, mother b. GA). Alice P. DAVIDSON m. 09 MAY 1878 in Muscogee Co, GA, to James H. CHEEK (according to the LDS IGI NA), so evidently she was counted twice on the census. These folks were residing near the Clegg Manufacturing Company in Columbus. Stillman DAVIDSON, age 72, employed as a mechanic, residing at 1712 First Avenue in Ward 7, appears on a Registry of (White) Voters in Columbus, GA, in 1896-97. Back to the 1860 census, Louisa DECKER is indexed on p. 360 - I suppose this is Louisa (CHAPMAN) DECKER, widow of John F. Have you been able to determine if she is kin to John's mother Nancy (CHAPMAN) DECKER? Also on p. 360 are Marshall CLEGG and my kinsmen, the NEWSOME family. There is a William CLEGG on p. 362, an Elias CHAPMAN on p. 365, and a John DAVIS on p. 369. It is worth noting that my NEWSOMES were kin to a MORRIS family at Clapp's Factory. The MORRIS family came from Elbert Co. and were related to the ALLGOOD family. Joseph MORRIS (b. 1793 Wilkes Co, GA) m. Nancy ALLGOOD (b. 1781 Mecklenburg Co, NC). They were in Elbert Co, GA, when their two known children were born: Richard Ivey MORRIS (b. 1818, m. 1839 in Meriwether Co, GA, to Mary Joice CHRISTIAN) and John S. MORRIS (b. 1821, m. 1846 in Muscogee Co, GA to Martha A. COOK). The Ivey MORRIS family was in Harris Co, GA, ca. 1842, then in Muscogee Co, GA; they later went to Randolph Co, AL. The John S. MORRIS family settled in the part of Muscogee that in 1854 became Chattahoochee Co, GA, where they intermarried with my mom's maternal family (the NEWSOMES are her paternal side). Also, Daniel MORRIS (b. 1781 Kent Co, DE) m. 1807 in Elbert Co, GA, to Patsy Jane ALLGOOD (b. 1783). They had eleven known children and were still in Elbert Co. when their son Henry MORRIS was born in 1820. They were in Walton Co, GA, in 1822; Newton Co, GA, in 1826; and Daniel was the bridge keeper at Clapp's Factory on the 1850 census. He died in Coosa Co, AL, in 1866, and Patsy Jane in 1869 (place not known to me); at least some of the family settled in St. Clair Co, AL. According to information I've been sent, Joseph who m. Nancy was a nephew of Daniel who m. Patsy Jane. She and Nancy are supposed to be kin, perhaps as sisters. In later years, I believe there was a connection between the HEARN family and some of the NEWSOMES who settled in Phenix City, Lee (now Russell) Co, AL. Many of these were the family and descendants of James Carter & Nancy Eliza Jane (MORRIS) NEWSOME - she was daughter of Richard Ivey above. I'm curious about whether you know in what type of occupation (agriculture, commerce, or manufacture/trade) Young Allgood DECKER was engaged on the 1840 census in Elbert Co? Also, do you know if the tax he paid in Muscogee Co. in 1845 was merely a poll tax, or was it on property? I'd like to find out where in Muscogee Co. he lived. If his family was at Clapp's Factory when he died, he may be buried in the cemetery there. Also, if John F. DECKER was living there in 1850, there's certainly a chance he is buried in the Clapp's Factory Cemetery. In 1850, I find a DECKER household indexed on p. 411A there (don't have the data on them); also on this page are CHAPMAN and NEWSOM. MORRIS and NEWSOM households are indexed on pp. 410A and 410B. There are an estimated 400-500 graves in the Clapp's Factory Cemetery, although only one is now marked. It was in use from the 1830s until at least 1904. If any records of burials were kept, we have been unable to find them. We have compiled from various sources the names of about seventy individuals who are known or believed to be buried there, and we are working to try to identify others. Some of your folks are good candidates. I would be interested to learn more about your DECKER family and their kin, and I'll be glad to share what I have on the MORRIS/ALLGOOD folk and about the Clapp's Factory community in general. Thanks for your time, and I will look forward to hearing more from you. John Mallory Land