Tombstone Tuesday

The Gill Boys

Maggie Mae Edwards and Cecil Browne Gill buried three sons in 1929. The boys , Theron Manuel and Cecil Brown Gill, died less than a month of each other. In 1929 there were any number of causes for deaths and infants and small children were vulnerable to disease. Mortality tended to peak during years of strong economic expansion such as 1923, 1926, 1929, and 1936-1937. What was the cause of the deaths of the two boys in June and July? You can look at the headstone John David and read his death dates and deduce that he died at birth. 

The mystery of the deaths surrounding these two young boys may forever remain a mystery unless a living cousin with knowledge of the family and their circumstances stumbles across this blog and contacts me. 

Source
Findagrave.com

Monday’s Tip

What Happened to the Gill Boys?

Family history researchers look for all available records when researching family. When researching, we do a thorough search for the records that are available for the time for which we are researching. We also take the time to write down where the information came from, making sure that information is accurate so if we need to refer to it we will know where the information came from.  We also make sure that our information for an ancestor or relative is reliable and that we interpret it correctly. Also making sure the evidence too is resolved and there is no contradiction in the information. But what happens when you have done these things and you miss important information while researching a family. That is what happened when I was researching Aunt Maggie Mae Edwards recently.

John Houston and Dollie Edwards were married on 05 March 1899 in Elmore County, Alabama. By 05 September 1900 Tillman Lee was born in Tallassee.  There was another addition to the family on 11 January 1902, a daughter and they named her Maggie Mae. Then the family left Alabama about 1903 for Louisiana. There in Louisiana in 1904 Retha Cleby another daughter was born in the town of Eros. At that time Eros was the largest town in  Jackson Parish. It was the center point for the small surrounding communities. In 1906 the family continued to add new members and Marvin Alfred Perry was born on the 03 September 1906 in the neighboring parish to the north, Ouachita Parish. Then, by 1912 the Edwards family was back living in Shelby County, Alabama, and by 1923 there were six more children born to Dollie. Dollie had her last child when she was forty-four years old.  She was getting beyond the age to have children. Her last child Truman was born 19 November 1923 and he had Downs Syndrome.

The six other children born after they arrived back in Shelby County were: Twin sons named Leman who died at birth and Leonard, Robert Lawrence, John Emery, Dolly Odessa, and Truman. They now have ten living children and are settled back in their home state of Alabama in the county they left in 1903. Alabama is where the Edwards family lived the remainder of their lives. 

On the 1910 census along with their parents are Maggie Mae, Leonard, Tillman, Reathey, Marvin, and Noah living in Ward 1, Jackson Parish. They are living nearby Dollie's parents William Alfred and Emma, and Alice the youngest sister of Dollie. Also, living nearby is James William and Robert E. Lee and their families. They are Dollie's two brothers. Noah is the mystery child in the family. The family was living on Pine Bluff and Columbia Road in Jackson Parish. There are six children including Maggie on the 1920 census for Harpersville, Shelby County.

Maggie is still living at home in 1920 and preparing to get married on the 28 of March to the love of her life Cecil Browne Gill.  Cecil was seven years older than Maggie. Maggie probably had a lot of responsibilities being the oldest daughter. If that was the case then she was prepared for what she had to face as a wife and mother.

By 1930 Maggie Mae Edwards is married and living with her husband of ten years. They were living on Avenue F, Block 107, House number 510, Dwelling 183, and Family number 183 in Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama on April 1, 1930. Life is going well for Maggie Mae and her love Cecil. They had been married for ten years; and there were no children. She was married when she was eighteen years old to Cecil Brown Gill. She wasn’t working, and had not attended school. It stated on the 1930 census that Maggie could read and write; however, she was eight years old on the 1910 census; and Maggie had not attended school and couldn’t read and write. Apparently, she had taught herself how to read.  Maggie Mae and Cecil were married and hadn’t yet started their family.  Cecil was twenty-three years old when he and Maggie Mae married. He was working at a Railway Express Agency as a cashier.

By 1940 Maggie and Cecil were back in Shelby County, Alabama. They now had two children Maxine who was nine years old and James E. four years old. This census states that Maggie completed the eighth grade and Cecil four years of high school. Cecil is a Vehicleman with the R. R. Express. His income was $1,564 for fifty-two weeks’ work. Maggie did private work and worked forty-eight hours a week.

When I research relatives or ancestors I analyze census records and all other records carefully gleaning all the information from the record that I can possibly glean from it. It is vital to talk to family members to get family stories, Bible records, or any nugget of information you can about the family you are researching. Not all vital information will show up in census records or other records. That was the case with the three children of Maggie Mae. Sometimes you will just overlook vital information, not purposely but we get so involved in analyzing the record that we get tired.

Yesterday I was researching Maggie Mae Edwards, daughter of John Houston Edwards and his wife Dollie. Maggie was the oldest daughter and next to the oldest child of the couple. Maggie was born 11 January 1902 in Tallassee, Elmore County, Alabama. She was born before the Edwards migrated to Eros, Louisiana.

All of us as researchers have overlooked vital information, only to go back again and see information that we had overlooked previously.  Recently as I was looking through the information recorded in the family tree on the Family Tree Maker Program for Maggie Mae and her husband Cecil Brown Gill, I noticed something that I had not noticed before. Maybe I did notice it, but it didn’t catch my eye as it did this time.

Maggie had five children Maxine, James E., Theron Manuel, John David, and Cecil Brown, Jr. As I looked through each child’s information I noticed one child died at birth. Two of Maggie’s son died in the same year a month apart. They died in June and July 1929. Theron Manuel Gill died 25 Jun 1929 and Cecil Brown Gill Jr. his father’s namesake died 07 July 1919. What happened to those two boys? Did they get sick and die? 

Maggie’s family visited my family in Louisiana several times as I was growing up in Louisiana. Did they talk about these two boys deaths? These three boys did not show up on any census records. How was I to know that Maggie Mae had three sons? All that I saw were two children, a daughter Maxine Elizabeth and a son James E., on the 1940 census. Maxine was married 29 December 1948 in Jefferson County, Alabama. She was eighteen years old when she married Quincy A Bearden. Maggie would have been expecting her daughter when the 1930 census was taken. James E. was born in 1936. How did I find out about the three boys that were not listed on the census with their parents? On a Findagrave Memorial for Maggie Mae Gill.

A volunteer had taken the time to add the family information to the memorial for Maggie Mae Gill. I will forever be grateful for this genealogical act of kindness. I went to Maggie's memorial on Findagrave and all three of her young sons had gravestones on their plot. Without the information provided by the volunteers, I might not have ever known about these three precious boys who died at a young age.

Thank you volunteers for your genealogical acts of kindness. 

Sentimental Sunday Maggie Mae Edwards and Cecil Brown Gill

This morning I was working on my family tree on Ancestry to make sure the data that was added to each family member was accurate and sourced. The John Houston Edwards family caught my attention. John Houston is a paternal grandfather; and my father’s biological father. He married Dollie Ophelia Lee, sister of Alice Lee, Daddy’s mother. Somehow, I overlooked adding Uncle Johnny and Aunt Dollie’s ten children to my family tree on Ancestry. So, this task took priority over the task at hand, which had lead me to logging in to Ancestry; and that was to look through the Ancestry DNA Circles.Those fascinating cousin Circles! 

I looked through the records for John Houston and Dollie and everything was in order; All available records that Ancestry offered for them was already added. Then, the next task was to add the ten children of John and Dollie starting with the oldest child Tillman Lee Edwards, Sr. All available records that Ancestry offered for Tillman, his wife Stella, and their known children were added to their family tree. The next child was Maggie Mae Edwards the oldest daughter. As I was working on her information and looking through records for her something caught my attention. This information was new to me and wasn’t a story shared by family members as I was growing up. What a sad thing for a family to have to experience! The loss of their children. 

As most of you know if you have researched for long, it is easy to get off the task at hand and get off on a "rabbit trail.” That is what happened this morning while working on the family tree on Ancestry. The rabbit trail took me through the records of the children of Aunt Maggie Mae Edwards and Uncle Cecil Brown Gill.  I recall Maggie coming to Louisiana to visit my family when I was a little girl growing up in West Carroll Parish. Maggie was tall “stocky” built, with a sturdy form,and a cheerful lady. She had brown hair and a pretty smile. She always seemed happy, as did her husband Cecil. Her husband Cecil was a nice looking older man and well dressed. They also drove a very nice car for the late 1949 and early 1950. Remember, I was a young girl of about ten or eleven years old. Little did I know that Aunt Maggie and Uncle Cecil had gone through plenty of heartbreaks before I was born. Now, I grieve for them thinking about it.

Their other son John David Gill was born 05 September 1929 and died the same day. Then, they had a third son, Cecil Brown Gill, Jr., his father's namesake, born 24 June 1924 and died 07 July 1929 in Harpersville, Shelby County, Alabama. What happened to the seven and five year old boys?  There are no older family members living to ask. I would love to know  the circumstances of their deaths; however, the two boys deaths will remain a mystery

You can view a picture of Aunt Dollie Edwards and her daughters Maggie Mae, Odessa, and Reathey here.

Sibling Saturday

Willie Grace Edwards was the daughter of Marvin  Alfred Perry Edwards. Marvin Alfred Perry Edwards was the son of John Houston and Dollie Ophelia (Lee) Edwards. Marvin was born 03 September 1906 in Monroe, Ouachita Parish, Louisiana. He was one of ten children of John Houston and Dollie. Marvin died 16 June 1994 in Columbiana, Shelby, Alabama. His wife Lorene died Dec 1974. Willie would be a paternal half first cousin. 

Friday's Faces from the Past

Willie Ellzey Jones born January 13, 1913- died February 28, 1990

His parents are William Morris Jones born 08 Feb 1856 and Maggie Lucinda Ramsey

born 27 Apr 1889 in Pike County, Mississippi.

Willie Ellzey Jones 

Circles and NADs

Genealogical research is a hobby that I enjoy immensely. There is so much to do and so many relatives to find. Some of those relatives are out in the open and easy to find. Others are hiding and a bit more difficult to find. But they are all important and are a part of family. There just isn’t enough time to find all of them. Then you throw in another tool, genetic genealogy or genealogical DNA testing, to use with traditional genealogical research with a goal of answering genealogical questions, and the work goes on and on and on.

Genetic genealogy is tool for family historians and is time consuming, continually changing, and is a great tool to use if you have difficult family lines you are researching; and you have hit the ultimate brick wall.  The work will never end! With just genetic genealogy one could stay busy for a very long time. However, I keep plugging along one relative at a time using the tools available such as Ancestry DNA Circles and NADs. Ancestry DNA offers subscribers DNA Circles and New Ancestry Discoveries or NADs. Each is laborious, and to add more work to that, the shared matches are added. Each member of the circle shares DNA with at least one other member in the circle, and each member in that circle have the same ancestor in their family tree. Ancestry does provide the centimorgans for DNA matches; however, it would be great if Ancestry provided members with a chromosome browser. I have several members from the Coon and related families who have DNA tested. I would love to look at our DNA segment on a chromosome browser to see if we match on the same chromosome and DNA segment; however, that option isn’t available on Ancestry.  

There is the possibility that you have members of a circle with whom you share DNA through another ancestor couple. Shared matches can be used for that, but again that is a laborious job. It takes a bit of reading to understand DNA Circles, NADs, and using the shared matches to triangulate. New Ancestry Discoveries are research tasks that is done one cousin at a time. Research continues until I find a common ancestor couple. Some NADs can be challenging, but is worth the time put into identifying a common ancestor couple.  

My sister tested with Ancestry DNA, and I manage her DNA account. She has fifteen NADs. Why she has more NADs than I have is a question I have yet to find an answer. She has thirty Ancestry Circles and I have twenty-eight. She has fifteen NADs and I have six. She has eight hundred and one fourth cousins or closer matches and I have one thousand and seventy-one. I have one hundred shard ancestor hints and she has one hundred forty-one. My sister has matches in her DNA results list that I don't have and she shares DNA with them; and vice versa – I have DNA matches she doesn't have in her test results.  

A NAD is created when Ancestry finds that you share significant amounts of DNA with several members of a DNA Circle; and this means that you may be related to the ancestor for which the DNA Circle is created. Remember, a DNA Circle is a member of a group who have well documented family relationships to a common ancestor in their Ancestry family trees; and the members in the group share DNA with at least one (that is the key-at least one) other member in the DNA Circle. I have found with my DNA Circles I usually share DNA with more than one member unless it is a very small circle. I have a DNA Circle that has four members and all four are DNA matches. There is another circle with four members and two out of four are DNA matches.

I can research the NAD and find a new relative and connect that person to a common ancestor couple. I have six New Ancestry Discoveries and looked through each and didn’t recognize any familiar names. The fifteen NADs on my sister’s account are more promising than my six. I found two new relatives, Stephen Alford Edwards and Mary Ann Emma Bates, from her NADs.

As I looked through my sister’s NADs to see if there were familiar names, I recognized Edwards and Bates surnames.  I looked through the members who were a DNA match to see if anything was promising. The first DNA match was a descendant of Stephen Alford Edwards.  Now I was getting excited because there were two clues here that helped me to know which family line this member belonged and our common ancestor. Those two clues were the given name Alford and surname Edwards. Alford, the name of a third great grandfather, Alfred Edwards, on my paternal line.

This NAD was a keeper and further research to verify him gave me a collateral relative to add to my family tree. For the era that I was researching there were census records for 1880 through 1940; a marriage record; and Findagrave death and burial information.

My plan of action in identifying these ancestors in the NADs was to first look at the names; then look at the members who are DNA matches going through each until a common ancestor was known, and the locations.

Another familiar name that I recognized as I looked through the NADs was Mary Ann Emma Bates (1836-1902). I had seen the surname Bates before when researching. Bates is not a direct line ancestor’s surname, but I had seen the surname come up while researching collaterals. I looked at the location and it was Big Fork, Polk County, Arkansas. My Edwards families lived in that area. Further research revealed that Mary Ann Emma Bates was the mother of Stephen Alford Edwards. So, she was the wife (a FAN) of a second great uncle (a collateral relative).

DNA Circles and New Ancestry Discoveries are hints that are relevant to your research since members are related to you in some way. Since I never know if circles and NADs will be there indefinitely, I do a screen shot of the circles and NADs and save for future research. They will disappear, but they may eventually reappear.  

You may be a direct descendant of a NAD, you may be related through a marriage, or through a collateral line. You may be related to the ancestor of the DNA circle through more than one line. They are relatives waiting to be discovered. 

Tuesday’s Tip

More About Ancestry’s New Ancestry 

Discoveries 

Ancestry Discoveries are potential new ancestors or relatives that are not in my Ancestry family tree. These are folks that I need to research to see how they connect to the people in my family tree. As of this morning I have six of those potential new relatives. My sister has tested with Ancestry DNA and she allows me to manage her DNA test results. She has fifteen New Ancestry Discoveries. I have gone through her NADs and recognized names in some of them. The ones that I recognized I researched them and found a common ancestor couple. When I look at the names in the six NADs on my account there are no familiar names, and as I look through the information for these NADs there is still nothing familiar.

How do these NADs show up on the DNA homepage? Almost without exception the NADs are somehow connected to my maternal Coon family line. These NADs are collaterals. The ones that don’t have familiar names, I just leave those for the time. I will snip a picture of them and save it for future reference.

New Ancestor Discoveries come from members of a DNA Circle with whom you share a lot of DNA. You share DNA with the descendants of a particular ancestor. New Ancestor Discoveries is a feature where Ancestry uses historical records, Ancestry family trees, and Ancestry DNA results to give you a potential new ancestor or relative. I will remind you, this is one important reason why family historians need to not only research the direct line ancestors, but the direct line ancestors’ siblings, children, grandchildren, etc. Research the family unit – parents and children, and parents’ siblings. Then the work begins. You must research the NAD to determine if there is a link to a common ancestor couple.

One of the six New Ancestry Discoveries on my account had twenty members and five DNA matches. I went through each member match, and didn’t recognize any names. This NAD has the DNA evidence that links them to me in the circle. The five members have shared DNA matches of 7.4 cM, 6.6 cM, 7.0 cM, 9.3 cM and 7.3 cM. This is not saying the members who did not share DNA aren’t related to me, they possibly are related; however, due to recombination of the DNA, they didn’t receive any DNA from that particular ancestor couple. These aren’t large enough segments of DNA for me to take the time to research these members. That will be another project for a rainy day when I don’t have anything else to do. As far now I will let those remain as NADs.

New Ancestry Discoveries are another hint that I use to find collaterals. If my DNA matches the DNA members of the New Ancestry Discovery then, there a seventy percent chance that I will either be a descendant of the NAD or relative. Also, two of the NADs on my sister's account that I have done the research on was related through marriage. That was an interesting one to research. Two separate NADs and they were the sons-in-law of two descendants of a maternal third great grandfather. I have also found that I am related to others in the DNA Circle through more than one ancestor couple.

New Ancestor Discoveries are there for you. You can use them or you can ignore them. It is left up to you what you would like to do with them.