TNMCNAIR-D-request@rootsweb.com wrote: > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > >TNMCNAIR-D Digest Volume 06 : Issue 6 > >Today's Topics: > #1 Research Data [RMccane@aol.com] > #2 HARRIS/HESTER/BRADSHAW/HICKS/SIMS [RMccane@aol.com] > >Administrivia: >To unsubscribe from TNMCNAIR-D, send a message to > > TNMCNAIR-D-request@rootsweb.com > >that contains in the body of the message the command > > unsubscribe > >and no other text. No subject line is necessary, but if your software >requires one, just use unsubscribe in the subject, too. > >______________________________ > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Subject: > Research Data > From: > RMccane@aol.com > Date: > Wed, 22 Feb 2006 16:05:05 EST > To: > TNMCNAIR-L@rootsweb.com > > To: > TNMCNAIR-L@rootsweb.com > > >I am planning a research triip to McNairy County later this spring. Can >someone tell me whether the pre-Civil War Probate; Land and Marriage records >have survived for this county? > >Thanks, >Ron in Illinois > >______________________________ > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Subject: > HARRIS/HESTER/BRADSHAW/HICKS/SIMS > From: > RMccane@aol.com > Date: > Thu, 23 Feb 2006 14:27:40 EST > To: > TNMCNAIR-L@rootsweb.com > > To: > TNMCNAIR-L@rootsweb.com > > >My ancestor, ISAAC HARRIS was a Private in Company A of the U.S. 6th Calvary >Regiment also called the 1st West Tennessee Cavalry Regiment. Company A was >organized at Bethel, McNairy County, Tennessee on August 11, 1862. ISAAC >HARRIS at age 23 enlisted on that date. ISAAC HARRIS died while in the >service on June 7, 1863. > >Based on his Civil War Pension Records ISAAC HARRIS was born in Hardeman >County, Tennessee on March 21, 1837. He was married to MINERVA BRADSHAW in >McNairy County, Tennessee on March 4, 1856. > >Based on the information provided in by the Census of 1860 for District #2 ( >P. O. Rose Creek), McNairy County, Tennessee, on page 50; ISAAC (age 23) >and MINERVA HARRIS (age 23)and their young children were residing in Dwelling # >365. Also residing in this household was KAZAH SIMS (age 62), mother of >MINERVA. > >Based on the information provided in the Census of 1850 for Second District >of McNairy County; Dwelling #755; KIZA SIMS (as mentioned in 1860 Census >above) age 50, is listed as head of household consisting of children SARAH SIMS, >age 20; DAVID SIMS, age 18; WALKER SIMS, age 16; and MANERVA SIMS (as >mentioned in 1860 Census above) age 12. > >Possibly you have noticed an apparent discrepancy here. I have previously >mentioned that MINERVA BRADSHAW was the wife of ISAAC HARRIS and yet in the >Census of 1850, she is known( at least by the Census taker) as "MANERVA SIMS." >I am reasonable confident that MINERVA'S maiden name was BRADSHAW based on >the Fayette County, Illinois marriage applications of two of her daughters >who refer to her maiden name as BRADSHAW in their marriage applcations. The >obvious explanation being that KEZIAH, mother of MINERVA BRADSHAW, was first >married to MINERVA'S father, MR. BRADSHAW, who was out of the picture at some >point after 1838 when Minerva was born at which time KEZIAH married a MR. SIMS, >who in turn was also gone by the Census of 1850. > >THIS IS RIDDLE #1 THAT I NEED TO SOLVE: I NEED TO IDENTIFY MR. BRADSHAW AND >MR. SIMS, HUSBANDS OF KEZIAH > >Referring back to the Census of 1850 in the household headed by KEZIAH SIMS >was "SARAH SIMS", age 20. This "SARAH" was married in about 1856 in McNairy >County, Tennessee to ALLEN Y. HESTER. Allen, age 28, and Sarah, age 28, >Hester and their children are found in the Census of 1860 in District #3 of >McNairy County on page 67. > >Now back to the beginning. Shortly after the death of ISAAC HARRIS in 1863, >his young widow, MINERVA along with her four young children move to FAYETTE >COUNTY, ILLINOIS. Going to Illinois with her is sister, SARAH and her >husband ALLEN HESTER. > >THIS IS RIDDLE #2: WHO IS ALLEN HESTER AND WHY DID THESE FOLKS SUDDENLY UP >AND MOVE HUNDREDS OF MILES AWAY TO FAYETTE COUNTY, ILLINOIS? > >After these families migrate to FAYETTE COUNTY, ILLINOIS in 1863, the young >MINERVA (BRADSHAW) HARRIS, widow of ISAAC HARRIS, marries JAMES WASHINGTON >HICKS, himself also recently a widower with a small child. JAMES WASHINGTON >HICKS is the son of CLAYBOURNE and LURENA (BULTER) HICKS of CARROLL COUNTY, >TENNESSEE. MINERVA has a daughter in 1867 by JAMES WASHINGTON HICKS and she >dies shortly thereafter. > >Living next door to JAMES WASHINGTON HICKS during the Census of 1870 for >Fayette County, Illinois is THE FAMILY OF ALLEN HESTER. But wait, SARAH, sister >of MINERVA and wife of ALLEN HESTER, has subsequently divorced ALLEN HESTER >and is now married to JAMES WASHINGTON HICKS. > >The only reason that I bring up the relationship that these two sisters had >with JAMES WASHINGTON HICKS is because there are some researchers who state >that KEZIAH, mother of MINERVA and SARAH, WAS ALSO THE WIDOW OF ELIJAH B. HICKS >who was supposed to have died in McNairy county in 1838. Since apprarently >the McNairy County Probate Records, prior to the Civil War, have been >destroyed possibly we may never know the answer to these questions. > >DO ANY OF THESE FOLKS RING A BELL WITH ANY OF YOU READERS WHO ARE STILL WITH >ME AND HAVE WADED THROUGH THIS MESS? > >Ron in Illinois > > Just about the only early records of that time are some deeds - they were in a deed book at a lawyer's office when the courthouse burned. We were just in McNairy Co. last week - just looking as areas where the family lived. Someone on the list a year or so ago had recommended< I think< Hagy's Catfish Hotel. We had lunch there - pretty good, and got to watch a tug and barges go by on the river. It is next to an amazing store -Shiloh Relics - which is, in turn, just north of the battlefield park. good luck in your search. Nancy Blackwell