The Many Marriages of Amanda Barfield

     A year or so ago I got in contact with a "new" cousin, Johnny.  He had a lot of information on his grandmother, Amanda Barfield, who was my 3x Great-Aunt.  His family knew that her maiden name was Barfield, her mother was Sarah, she had a sister, Emma S, and a brother, William L (my Great-Great Grandfather).  He was able to provide information on Amanda that I didn't know, but he also had holes in his knowledge.

     The confusion with Amanda is that when she married David Lee Rich in 1911, her surname was Benton.  I was able to find a 1910 census record for Mandy Benton who worked as a servant for the Coleman family.  By this time she was already a widow, so we still didn't know who Mr Benton was and I could not find their marriage record.

     When we met for the first time at the Barfield Family Reunion this past Saturday, Johnny was able to tell me that the Rich family was connected to the Coleman family, which is probably how Amanda and David met.  As he said, "David just brought Amanda home" after the death of his first wife, and no one really knew where she came from.

     After the reunion, I started doing some more research.  I don't know if it was luck or new records being online, but I've finally got Amanda figured out.  Turns out, I couldn't find a marriage record between a Mr Benton and an Amanda Barfield because Benton was Amanda's second marriage!  She had been married three times in quick succession.

     I had seen a marriage between a JW Benton and a Mandy Wells in 1905, but I was looking for Barfield, so I moved on.  But then I saw a record for Maud Barfield and a William Wells in 1904.  Maud...? But the names Benton, Wells, and Barfield all together?  And Amanda's sister had married a Wells....  It made me wonder.  I clicked on the link for Maud Barfield and sure enough, someone had mis-transcribed Mandy to Maud (I don't know how, it was pretty clear)!

     So here's Amanda's timeline:
     • 1900 - living with mother, Sarah, in sister Emma Barfield Well's home in Glascock County, GA
     • 1904 - marriage of Miss Mandy Barfield and William Wells in Glascock County, GA
     • 1905 - marriage of Mrs Mandy Wells and J W Benton in Glascock County, GA
     • 1910 - living with Coleman family as a widowed servant in Glascock County, GA
     • 1911 - marriage of Amanda Benton to D L Rich

     I still don't know who William Wells or J W Benton really were, but at least I have their names.  There are no death records in Georgia for this time, so it might be difficult to learn more about them.  I think it very likely that William Wells was related to Amanda's brother-in-law, John Wells, so that's a place to start.  Yay!

First FHC Microfilm

     I received a voicemail yesterday, informing me that I had microfilm available. This would be the first microfilm I received through the local Family History Center (I initially ordered three reels four weeks ago).  The process to retrieve my film was simple: the new films are in one drawer and films ready to be sent back are in another. They also had numerous other drawers filled with "indefinite" microfilm reels with names of patrons on them.

     The film I received was Minutes and Membership Lists, 1842-1859 for Hawhammock Missionary Baptist Church in Swainsboro, Emanuel, Georgia. I know that multiple generations of my paternal grandmother's family attended this church. I was hoping to find mention of deaths, baptisms and perhaps births and weddings in this film.

     I didn't end up finding everything I was looking for, in part because the title of the film is misleading. It should be "partial" or "fragmented" Minutes and Membership Lists - because that's exactly what they are. At times 10 to 20 years were missing from the minutes. This was unfortunate, because the minutes did in fact include obituaries and baptisms, as well as other religious events. Of course, most of the years I needed were the ones that were missing.

     I did find a few things of interest however, including a membership list from 1938 which listed my Great-Grandmother (click the image on the right to see a bigger image). Her name, Ledora Britt, is crossed out and marked "dead," though no date is given.

     And you'll notice that the image has been stitched together from multiple images. I don't know if it was the older machines (hand crank) or the film, but I couldn't zoom out far enough to see the entire width of the image. I ended up taking multiple pictures of the screen and stitching them together.

     And while I was waiting on this film to arrive, I discovered that the Georgia Archive has a copy (c'mon GA-A, index your film on something more hi-tech than a physical card catalogue!). I'll be back there again on Thursday, so I'll take a look at this film on a newer machine and see if I can get a better view. Also, I'll be able to save to flash drive there.

     I have two more films coming in soon, so I'll see how that experience goes before deciding to order any more film.

Surname Saturday - Britt

My Britt family line is an interesting one. I can trace it back to William Britt, who was born on 1 Jul 1818 in Edgefield, SC (though some records indicate a birth as late as 1825). William was my 2x Great Grandfather. When compared to my other ancestors, his age places him in the same generation as many of my 5x Great Grandparents. William was 82 years old when he fathered his youngest child, my Great-Grandfather, Nathan Britt (a little suspicious, but not impossible). William was on his third wife at the time, the 44 year-old Amelia Parrish (who I believe was William's son's wife's sister).

William was, I believe, born in Edgefield County, SC. He appears on the 1850 and 1860 census records in Edgefield County. In 1870 he had trekked into GA and was living in the Lawrenceville, Gwinnett County area. By 1880, he had moved a little further south, to Newton County, GA. In 1900, he was living in Emanuel County, GA. There is no record of his death.

William had three wives and nine known children. His marriages and children were:

• Sometime before 1849 William married Sarah, born abt 1824 in SC. Sarah died in SC sometime before 1867. Their children were Levi Britt (1849-?) and Larkin Britt (1851-1936).
• Before 1867, William married his second wife Edie Dye. She was born abt 1839 in SC and died before 1885. William and Edie had one known child, William Britt (1867-?).
• About 1885, when William was 66, he married Amelia Rye Parish. She was born in 1857 in Edgefield, SC. Their children were John Wesley Britt (1886-1892), Rosa Britt (1889-1963), James Britt (1892-1892), George W Britt (1894-1968), Emma Britt (1900-1952) and Nathan Britt (1901-1965).

William's youngest son, Nathan was my Great-Grandfather, born on 9 March 1901. He married Ledora Barfield in Emanuel County, GA in 1922. Their daughter, Sarah Frances Britt, was my grandmother. She was born on 7 Dec 1925 and married Thomas S Craft of Elbert County, Georgia. To the right is a photo of Nathan with four of Sarah's sons (yes four - you can see another little boy just behind and to the right of Nathan's legs).

The History of Hawhammock

In 1958, the Hawhammock Baptist Church turned 116 years old! I recently re-subscribed to GenealogyBank, and found multiple interesting articles about the church and it's members. These articles confirm some information that I've seen floating around on the internet, including the fact that some of the founders of the church were my ancestor, Reuben Boatright and his first wife, Lacy Bishop.

The articles contain a lot of information, including names of current members, descendants of the original founders, the age of the building, photos of the building, and information about documents that the church held.

Specifically, I found it interesting that My Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather, Reuben Barfield, was said to have been living in Indiana. This could be an error, or it could be an opening into new avenues of research.

Because GenealogyBank.com uses OCR technology, I tried to keep my searches varied - and it paid off. For example, I searched for "Hawhammock" and "Haw hammock" and "Hawham ock." Because this church's name is so unique, I was able to simply search for one word. I broke this word up as it would have been broken up if the word reached the end of a line of type. This elicited quite a few new articles every time it tried something new.

Searching this way also turned up a number of obituaries of folks who were buried in the church's cemetery.

After finding these articles, I transcribed them and uploaded them to the GA USGenWeb Archives Project to share these articles with other researchers.

Tombstone Tuesday - Barfield

William Leander Barfield was my Great-Great Grandfather. He's one of my brick-wall ancestors. He was born in 1872, supposedly in Glascock County, Georgia. I married Frances Boatright in Emanuel County, Georgia in 1902.

William died in 1924 - a time at which death certificates were mandatory. I cannot find a death certificate for him in Georgia, though I have tried multiple indexes. He was a farmer with a large family, working on his "own account" on rented land in 1920. I find it hard to believe that he left the state - but who knows? I just know I'd really like to get a copy of his death certificate!

He's buried at Hawhammock Missionary Baptists Church near Swainsboro, Emanuel, Georgia.

Wordless Wednesday

Writing to Hawhammock

In an effort to expand my genealogy research strategies, I'm challenging myself to try a new, non-internet, avenue of research each month. This month, I'm going to contact the church of my Boatright ancestors. Hawhammock Missionary Baptist Church is located in Swainsboro, Emanuel, Georgia.

I started my inquiry by trying to research the best ways to contact churches. I didn't find much. From Family Tree Magazine, I found a list of Church Record Resources, including the American Baptist Historical Society (though FTM has the wrong link, I was able to find their site via google). From their website, I found that they, "have found that Baptist church records are generally not helpful for genealogical research." This is mainly due to adult baptism that is not recorded, the fact that marriage is not regarded as a sacrament and records are not often kept, and because there is no regulated administrative policy. They do, however, keep records of those who served the church as pastors or missionaries.

Well, regardless of this, I'm still going to attempt to contact the church to see if they have information. I read in someone else's research that my ancestor, Reubin Boatright, was a deacon of the church. Also, many of his family members are buried there, so the church might have some burial or death information.

Here's the letter I'm sending via the contact form on their website:

"Hello,

I'm contacting you to inquire about your church's history. I'm an avid genealogist and my ancestors were members of your church, many of whom are buried there.

I was wondering if your church kept records of your members? My ancestors include Reubin Boatright (1794-1878) and his wife, Demaris Boatright (1829-1900) and their son, Stephen Boatright (1863-1950) and his wife Dora Logue (1863-1935).

I apologize for making this such a broad request, but I'm not sure what information you might have, if any. I would be grateful for information that your records may contain and would be more than willing to compensate your for your time.

Thank you for any assistance."

I'm not sure how good this letter is, but I guess I'll find out when (if?) I receive a response.

Surname Saturday - Barfield

One of my brickwall families is the Barfield family of Glascock County and Emanuel County, Georgia.

The family line can be traced to Sarah, the mother of my Great-Great Grandfather, William L. Barfield. According to her death certificate, Sarah was born 27 Aug 1851 in Glascock County, GA and died on 22 Dec 1936 in Emanuel County, Georgia. On census records, her name is often spelled as Barefield. Through 1900 to 1930, she is found living with her daughter, Susan Emma Barfield Wells. In 1900, she is also living with another daughter, Amanda.

I cannot find reference to Sarah before 1900. I do not know her parents' names and her death certificate lists her parents as "unknown." I do not know her husband's name.

This photo of Sarah was sent to me by a distant cousin, Mitch Keown, who is also a descendent of William L. Barfield.

--------------------------------------------------

In summery:

Sarah Barfield

- Birth: 27 Aug 1851 , Glascock, GA

- Census: 1900 Sheet 24, District 9, Militia District 1168, Glascock, GA

- Census: 1910 Sheet 14 B, District 10, Militia District 1168, Glascock, Georgia

- Census: 1920 Sheet 3 A, District 23, Militia District 1168, Glascock, GA

- Census: 1930 District 8, Militia District 57, Emanuel, GA

- Death: 22 Dec 1936 , Emanuel, GA

- Children: William "Bill" L (1872-1924)

Emma Susen (~1876-)

Amanda C. (~1888-)

Wordless Wednesday

Tombstone Tuesday - Britt

My Great-Great Grandmother, Ledora Barfield Britt is buried in Hawhammock Baptist Church Cemetery near Swainsboro, Emanuel, Georgia. She was the daughter of William and S. Frances (Boatright) Barfield. She married Nathan Britt and their children were Ollie, Sarah, Helen and Evoid.

looking for the death of William L. Barfield

I visited the Hawhammock cemetery down in Swainsboro a few years ago, in search of some Barfield and Boatright ancestors. I found quite a lot of them, including many of the folks in this photo:

William Barfield Susan Frances Boatright Barfield Sallie Ledora Barfield Britt J. B. Barfield

So, I have the birth and death dates for these individuals, as stated on their head stones. I'm particularly interested in William L. Barfield (the father in the photo). I have little information on his parents and would love to be able to extend the line.

• William L. "Bill" Barfield was born on 5 Jun 1872 and died on 22 Jul 1924 according to his headstone.

• The 1880 Census of District 52 (aka District 1208, Emanuel Co., GA lists him as living in the Logue household, (which is his wife's family) before his wife was born. It appears that he and his sister Susen were raised by his to-be grandfather-in-law.

• He is listed as "Bill" on the 1920 Census of Emanuel Co., GA (District 37, page 27A). The entire family is listed.

• In 1930, after his death, his mother, Sarah, was living with his wife, Frances and their children. This is the only information I have on his parents. Sarah Barfield is listed as a widow, although other researchers have suggested that she was never married and that Barfield is her maiden name.

So, in search of more information, I've been looking for his death certificate. I've searched Georgia's Virtual Vault, where death certificates from 1919-1927 are posted, but I can't find William's certificate. He died in 1924 - so it should be there. I've also searched Ancestry.com's Georgia Death Certificates and can't find anything that looks right there either. I don't know if he didn't have a death certificate issued, or if it's filed under a different name... This is the shortest brach on my tree, and I'd love to be able to grow it more.

I went to the local library today and used their Genealogy section. I took my computer with me and browsed the books while going through the index file of my gedcom.

I found two useful books. The first was Georgia Interstate Records. I found record of two children of Daniel & Maragret Boatright's children after their father's death.

“Boatright, Charles, orph of Daniel, decd, Margaret Boatright, gdn, Sion Kirkham, Edward Surrency, srus, 9/3/1821, Emanuel, GB”
“Boatright, Nancy, orph of Daniel, decd, Margaret Boatright, Sion Kirkham and Edward Surrency, gdns, 9/3/1821; Benjamin Sherrod, gdn, George Dekle, sec, 9/4/1826, Emanuel, GB”

The other book was Hart County, Georgia Marriages - 1854-1898. I found multiple marriage records in this book that fit my tree. Some of them were: James D. Craft & Emma Richardson, Martha Alice Powell & James S. Craft, and Thomas Craft & Roxie Fisher.