August 6, 2016

The Tradition of A Family Bible


Elisha and Mary Josephine Marley's Family Bible is a treasured family heirloom.  Although not in my possession, the copied Births and Marriages pages are treasures and important documents in the research of my Marley Family Tree.

I wonder which of my great great grandparents did the record keeping.  If I had to guess, it would be Mary Josephine, judging from the neat precise and somewhat feminine penmanship.  Regardless of which one did the entries, it seems only one of them did so, again, judging from the penmanship.

Elisha and Mary Josephine were married on January 5, 1876, and perhaps their Family Bible was a wedding gift, as was often the tradition in the 1800's.  However, I like to think it happened this way....

December 1876
As Elisha stokes the fire in the stone fireplace, he glances over at his wife sitting nearby.  Her legs and feet are warmly covered in an afghan she finished just as the first frost fell in Calhoun County, Arkansas.  He watched her as the light of the fire cast it's warm glow on her face...intent on the knitting in her hands.

Mary Jo looked up from her knitting and smiled at her husband of almost a year.  They sat in comfortable silence for awhile.  Mary jo continued to knit on the blanket and thought of the baby it would cover in just three months time. 

Her thoughts turned to concerns of a first time mother.  Things like would she have time to finish the baby clothes and blankets she had started.  What about the crib she knew Elisha was making.  What about a Family Bible to record this birth...the birth that would make them a family.  It was then she broke the thoughtful silence and spoke to her husband.  "Elisha, we should start thinking about our Family Bible".

Elisha and Mary Jo had plans to spend Christmas day at her parents home for the traditional family gathering.  This being their first Christmas together, they decided to start their own family tradition of trimming the tree, sharing a special supper and exchanging gifts on Christmas Eve.  It was a Sunday, that Christmas Eve of 1876, the perfect day and time for Elisha's gift to his wife and soon to be mother of his first child....a Family Bible.

And so it was written on the first three lines in a neat and precise penmanship:
E.S. Marley was born May 25, 1849
Mary Josephen Leatherwood was born May 6, 1856.
Marthy Janne Marley was born March 4, 1877.
by one who spelled like it sounded to him.
 
As the years went by names were added to the Family Bible's Birth records.  After my great grandmother Marthy Janne...aka Martha Jane or 'Janie', her brother's name John Henry was added on October 27, 1878.  Then William Samuel in 1880 followed by Annie Etter in 1882...who always spelled her name as Anna Etta.  On line #7 was penned Zack Rier Marley was born Dec 15, 1883. This third son was named after his mother's grandfather Zachariah Perry Leatherwood...another clue to who's penmanship recorded births in the Family Bible.  Forever more 3rd son's name would be written as Zachariah Andrew Marley. 
 
There are now six lines left to record births.  Elisha and Mary Jo's family numbers six, including themselves.  All but Martha Jane were  born in Jack County, Texas, where they settled along with Mary Jo's Leatherwood family.  Three years went by before another name was written...George Holbert's on one of the six remaining lines.  James Benjamin got the fifth remaining line, and Lue Ida the fourth...another who changed the spelling as soon as she could write...Lou Ida.  Next came Wardie Bell in 1892 and Jesse Simeon in 1894.  With one line left, I wonder if Mary Jo thought it time for the recording of births to end.  It was not!
 
The names Alta and Albert were recorded on the last line on November 30, 1896.  And since this was a page of Birth records, the twins death on the same day was not noted.  All the lines were filled, but there would be one more birth...that of Eugene Edgar on March 14, 1899.  His birth was written in the space above the filigreed border.  Baby Eugene died  at 17 months old in August 1900.

 
Thank-you Elisha and Mary Jo for carrying on the tradition of a Family Bible.

August 3, 2016

Spinster Seamstress Sisters

At age 15 Mary Jane was declared a spinster by Assistant Marshal E.K. Walsh, enumerator of Wilkes County North Carolina's 1860 Census.  She was listed with her family of father-occupation farmer, mother-occupation housekeeper,  older single sister-occupation seamstress, older brother-occupation farm laborer and brothers Elisha 11yrs and baby William.

One could say Mr. Walsh may have jinxed Mary Jane's chance of ever becoming a bride, a wife, a mother and a grandmother by labeling her a spinster at such a young age.   Jinxed or not, it was her lot in life to be a daughter, sister and aunt.  The same life was in store for the older sister enumerated as a seamstress.

Mary Jane and Martha were the daughters of Henry and Jane Marley and sisters of my 2x great grandfather Elisha Smith Marley.   By all indications and records, Mary Jane and Martha were devoted sisters and aunts to their brothers and to their nieces and nephews except for one...Elisha. 

Elisha left Wilkes County, North Carolina in the early 1870's, and as the story is told by his siblings descendants...never to be heard from again.  Although, Mary Jane and Martha did not contribute to the Marley descendant pool, their Wilkes County brothers did.  And so did Elisha in Jack County, Texas.

As devoted daughters and sister, Martha and Mary Jane lived with their parents and brother William until their deaths.  After mother Jane's death in the late 1870's, the 'Spinster Sisters' became housekeepers and farm laborers...according to the 1880 Census.  After their father's death at age 91, not long after being enumerated in the 1900 Census, Martha and Mary Jane continued to live on the family farm with their now 'Head of House' brother William, 42 years of age. 

William, apparently a bachelor, died sometime between 1900 and 1910 as the two sisters were listed together without William in 1910.  According to Wilkes County Deed Records, spinster Mary Jane Marley bought 100 acres of land from E.K. Walsh. (what an ironic/coincidental twist of Census takers labeling)

By the time the 1910 Census was taken Mary Jane (64)and Martha (69) lived on Mary Jane's farm keeping house and most likely doing what they had always done, sewing and handwork.  They were still close to family with their brother George's son farming the land next to Mary Jane's.   It would be several more years before they would learn of the whereabouts of their last living brother.

The contact would have been sometime in 1914 when Elisha corresponded with his sister Mary Jane.  (This piece of information was jotted down on notes about Elisha taken in 1972 by family historian, Aunt Irene.)

Mary Jane Marley died on March  28, 1915 at age 69.  Her death certificate lists cause of death as 'Lagripe' or what is now called influenza.  Although the certificate places Mary Jane in Wilkes County and correctly lists her parents, the informant was not a family member and incorrectly states her burial site.  However, and interestingly, says the Undertaker will be 'home folks'.  Her unmarked grave is thought to be in the same cemetery as her parents, siblings, nieces, nephews and other family members in Beaver Creek Advent Church Cemetery, Wilkes County, North Carolina.

Perhaps of all the people who attempted to label Mary Jane from spinster to daughter, sister, aunt, seamstress to farmer and housekeeper, the informant on her death certificate stated her occupation perfectly....
....Handwork.
 
Martha died July 16, 1921, at age 81.  According to her death certificate, the cause of death was gastro intestinal related with the contributing factor of old age.  For whatever reason, Martha was not buried in the same cemetery as her parents, siblings and other family members including her lifetime 'Spinster Sister'.  Her place of burial is Mt. Zion Adventist Church Cemetery.  Her nephew and namesake of her father and brother was the informant...he stated her occupation as housekeeper.   Surely he meant to state....Handwork!
 
Sadly, Mary Jane, Martha and Elisha were not to see each other again on this earth.  However, he did return to North Carolina in 1929 at the age of 80.  He would live another 12 years and rests in peace in Borden County Texas beside his wife Mary Josephine Leatherwood Marley.  No doubt he remembered fondly and missed his sisters as he named his oldest and first born child after the both of them....Martha Jane Marley...my great grandmother. 
Like her namesake aunts, she too, did Handwork!
 
Photo Disclaimer:  Photos from Old Photo Collection of CollectInTexas Gal.  Not intended to be representative of any person named in this post.  Used as representative of the period and in the interest of the story line.

July 31, 2016

Abner Franklin Carroll BioSketch

 

Abner Franklin Carroll was the youngest of five sons born to Seymor Douglas 'Dee' Carroll and Julia Ann Akin Carroll. Brothers Charley and Eli were twins and just five years older, and like the second born son Joseph, all lived and raised their families in Dyer County, Tennessee, staying near their parents and grandparents, Solomon Douglas and Elizabeth Vannoy Carroll.

Frank Carroll came to Texas in the late 1890's and settled in Cleburne, Johnson County, Texas with his brother Stephen Bennett Carroll Stephen died in 1903 leaving Frank and their Aunt Palymyra Akin Thedford and her husband John Thedford as the only Tennessee connection and kin to Stephens widow Martha Jane Marley Carroll and four children.

Frank met and married Winnie Mary Griffin around 1918-19. It is believed that Frank and Winnie met through his Aunt Palmyra Thedford who lived on Wilson Street in the same neighborhood as Winnie's parents.

Winnie and Frank had two daughters:
Eloise Carroll Skinner - December 2, 1920-January 22, 2015
Mary Helen Carroll Kemp - April 8, 1923 - June 1990

Frank died in November 1926 at the age of 45 as a result of a construction accident in a railroad yard in Cleburne, leaving Winnie to raise their daughters. Winnie resided at 515 West Wilson Street in Cleburne which had been the home of Frank's Aunt Palmyra. She supported herself and educated her daughters by working as a Church Secretary.

His Memorial was first submitted by the Texas Confederate States Army...Tennessee Corporal 12th Cavalry I. At the age of 16 A. Franklin Carroll enlisted to serve in the Spanish American War/Conflict, April-August 1898.

 The application(4-24-1928) for his headstone verifies his service and Veteran Status. The headstone was verified and shipped to Cleburne Memorial Cemetery Sept. 9, 1930. 

 
The photo portrait is from Martha Jane Marley Carroll's Photo Album from the late 1890's early 1900's.

Obituary Mrs. Winnie Carroll
Dallas Morning News July 26, 1958
CLEBURNE, Texas - Mrs. Winnie Carroll of Cleburne, died at home of daughter, Mrs. Charls Kemp, in Dallas.  Funeral services will be held at 10 am Saturday at the First Baptist Church, Cleburne.  Interment will be in Restland Cemetery, Dallas.  Born in Bono, Texas, she was a member of Eastern Star, Magazine Research Club, Garden Club, active in civic, social affairs.  She was secretary of the First Baptist Church of Cleburne 15 years.  Graveside services will be held at 2 pm Saturday at Restland.  Survivors are daughters, Miss Eloise Carroll of Dallas;  Mrs. Charles Kemp; one sister, Mrs. John Leonard of San Francisco; one brother, Dewey Griffin, North Little Rock, Ark.; and three grandsons.


July 30, 2016

Hello Kitty....

...I found you!
After years of searching through thousands of names in my Family Tree on ancestry...I found 'Kitty'.   Not on ancestry, but of all places...in my Aunt Irene's notes...

..."Frank Carroll -Tennessee (probably) brother of Steve Bennitt Carroll, visited M.J. Carroll in Treadway, Texas.  He was selling white Rotary Sewing Machines.  He had a handwriting as that in a penmanship school book.  Frank Carroll, on this visit, spoke of sister 'Kitty' whom Mary Ella Carroll favored - (physical resemblance)."

There it was, the name 'Kitty'.  I have read and re-read that paragraph many times.  I missed 'Kitty' perhaps because I was so intent on researching and trying to identify Abner Franklin Carroll, who Irene referred to as Frank Carroll.

The photo of Kitty is from my Great Grandmother Martha Jane Marley Carroll's 1900's Album, and has been on my 'Unknown' list for years.  All along I felt she had to be related to Great Grandfather Stephen Bennett Carroll, but a sister?  Not on his ancestry profile along with Frank and twin brothers Ely and Charlie.  The closest name to Kitty was the Carroll brothers grandmother Katherine.  So who is Kitty?  It's back to ancestry's search!

She was....Katherine Elizabeth 'Kitty' Carroll Arnett.  Born in 1884 in Dyer County, Tennessee.   Married Joseph E. Arnett on Christmas Eve in 1903.  Mother of daughters Christine and Reba and son Corliss B. Arnett.  Listed in US Census from 1910 through 1940 (last Census released).   On Find A Grave, she Rests In Peace beside her husband Joseph in Fairview Cemetery, Newbern, Dyer County, Tennessee.  Inscription on stone...married Dec. 24, 1903...no birth date, no death date, no links to any Carroll Family.  Kitty's husband died in 1961, daughter Christine in 1974, daughter Reba in 1989, and son Corliss in 1978.  No mention of 'Kitty' in any of their profiles after the 1940 Census.

What a mystery!  Even knowing her full name and year of birth, I have not found a single clue as to who her parents were.  After hours of researching any and all Carrolls who could possibly be her parents, I am considering the idea that Kitty may have been adopted by Stephen and Frank's parents Seymour Douglas and Julia Carroll. 

Their youngest son Frank was born in 1881, and after four boys, perhaps they wanted a sister for Frank to grow up with as his brothers were all much older.  Somehow that scenario fits the time period, Franks mentioning of her, and Martha Jane knowing Kitty as her sister-in-law.

What is even more promising from this scenario is the resemblance of Kitty's young picture (blurry as it is) to another 'Unknown' photo in the Album. Could it be that Kitty and her daughters came to Texas to visit Frank?
It could have happened! 

July 24, 2016

Tennessee Kin and Kitty

These Unknown's may only ever be known to Great Grandmother MJ Carroll.  However, I will continue to scrutinize, dissect, and research them from their facial features, clothing styles, photography studio sets and profile portfolios until.....whenever!  I do have some idea about the couple in the bottom right corner, and have narrowed their identities down to Great Grandfather Stephen B. Carroll's relatives.  Possibly his Aunt Palmyra with husband John Anderson Thedford and daughter Naomi. 

The most mystifying and I must admit, the most frustrating in finding even one clue as to who they are is the top left photo I have named 'Tennessee Kin'.  Because it was taken in the same studio, at the same time, and was included in the same Family Album, I feel confident they are related to Great Grandfather Carroll.  It's another 'Unknown' photo I have turned inside out, upside down, and every which way in researching possibilities that fit the ages and relationships of these three women.  Perhaps, one day a hint will turn up in the most unexpected place....like Kitty's did.

"Frank Carroll -Tennessee (probably) brother of Steve Bennitt Carroll, visited M.J. Carroll in Treadway, Texas.  He was selling white Rotary Sewing Machines.  He had a handwriting as that in a penmanship school book.  Frank Carroll, on this visit, spoke of sister 'Kitty' whom Mary Ella Carroll favored - (physical resemblance)."

There it was, the name 'Kitty'.  I have read and re-read that paragraph many times.  It was from notes my Family Historian Aunt Irene wrote on a visit with MJ and Steven Carroll's oldest son, Othello. I missed 'Kitty' perhaps because I was so intent on researching and trying to identify Abner Franklin Carroll, who Irene referred to as Frank Carroll.

What a priceless piece of information about Frank being a Rotary Sewing Machine salesman.  The statement about his penmanship...a keen and personal observation that gives insight to Frank's character and person from his nephew, Othello.

As for Kitty being the sister of Frank...I'm afraid either Othello was misinformed or Irene misinterpreted Kitty's relationship to Frank.  Never the less, after digging in Frank and Steven's Tennessee families, I have not found a single Kitty.  Frank and Steven were two of four brothers with Steven being the oldest, twins Eli and Charlie next, and Abner Franklin the youngest.

Could there have been a sister Kitty?  Is it possible I have missed her more than once?  Will I go back and scrutinize my Tennessee ancestors more closely?  Is it possible that Kitty is the woman in the photo 'Tennessee Kin'?  I aim to find out!!!

July 9, 2016

Great Grandmother's 'Brick Wall' Maiden Name

Come to find out Great Grandmother Martha Jane Carroll's maiden name was not the proverbial 'Brick Wall' I had made it out to be.  After inheriting her 1890-1910 Photo Album full of unidentified pictures...except for one where she had written her name and the names of her children, the search to identify these obviously related people began. 

After long hours of online searching for a birth record, marriage record and even a death record...none of which were found, I turned to my Aunt Irene's somewhat all over the place in time, hand written family history notes.

There it was...Martha Jane Marley (daughter of E.S. Marley and Mary Josephine Leatherwood ?)  Thankfully...no question mark after the name Marley. In addition...Married in Cleburne, Texas, Jack County.   Her notes included the names of Martha Jane and Steven B. Carroll's children, their birth dates, and the death date of great grandfather Steven and the fact that he was buried in Cleburne.

At last I had not just one maiden name, but two...Marley and Leatherwood.  Both names opened a flood gate of Family Histories dating back to the American Revolution and the establishment of
The Pittman-Carroll-Marley-Leatherwood Family Tree
 Tracks of My Texas Ancestors
and a greater respect for
Irene's Old School Genealogy Record Keeping!

July 6, 2016

Born On The 4th of July

Finding an ancestor born on the 4th of July took me back to Colonial America and my paternal 2x great grandmother's maiden name.  The name is fourth in line in my Pittman, Carroll, Marley, Leatherwood Family Tree on ancestor.com.  Out of 1,550 names there was just this one person born on the 4th of July.

Fannie Frances Leatherwood was born in the midst of turmoil leading up to the Revolutionary War.  Her parents, Zachariah and Mary Nancy Stone Leatherwood of Prince William, Virginia Colony, had endured the effects of the French and Indian War, the Sugar and Currency Acts of 1764.

 Five years before her birth violent demonstrations against the Stamp Act occurred.  These demonstrations resulted in the Virginia Resolve and ultimately in the Stamp Act Congress which petitioned Parliament and King George to repeal the Act. 

In the months before her birth in 1770, were two major conflicts between the Colonist and the British in what would become the American Revolution.  The Battle of Golden Hill in January 1770 between British soldiers and the colonists known as the Sons of Liberty took place in New York. The second incident which was widely propagandized by leading Patriots like Paul Revere and Samuel Adams was the Boston Massacre.  On March 5, 1770 British soldiers killed five civilian men and injured six others after a mob formed in protest of Parliamentary Legislation. 

The Leatherwood family survived the American Revolution as residents of Prince William, Virginia, and in the late 1790's migrated to Spartanburg, South Carolina.  Frances along with husband John Edwards and their children followed her parents to South Carolina then to North Carolina and eventually settled in Jackson/Bartow County, Georgia.

Their settlement in Jackson County is somewhat of a Family Tree coincidence as this was one of the home counties of the Pittman's, who five generations later would become related through the Texas marriage of my paternal Leatherwood-Marley-Carroll grandmother to my Georgia born Pittman grandfather.  Jackson County was changed to Bartow County in 1861 in honor of Colonel Francis S. Bartow.

Frances Leatherwood married John Edwards on October 6, 1871 in Prince William, Virginia, a veteran of the American Revolution.   Frances and John had eleven children.  John died in 1838, just three years after settling in Georgia.  Frances was last listed in the 1850 US Census when she was 81 years of age.

Although her exact death date is not known, she and John's burial markers are most likely lost in the abandoned grave yard at Pettite Creek Cemetery near what is now Bartow County, Georgia. 

Only one grave marker remains...that of their son Colonel Zachariah Edwards who was celebrated as the most popular man in Spartanburg on July 4, 1832...his mother's 61st birthday. 

On this July 4, 2016 I honor and celebrate my 6x Great Aunt Frances' 246th Birthday.  Thanks for the remarkably patriotic Family History, Fannie Frances Leatherwood Edwards.  Rest in Heavenly Peace and know you are remembered in the Pittman-Carroll-Marley-Leatherwood Family Tree.

PS...As was the tradition, children were often named after family members.  Fannie and Frances/Francis were given names of both girls and boys in the Leatherwood Family.  In the realm of the 'Meaning of Given Names',  Fannie/Frances/Francis means FREE, and people with this name value truth and justice.  What a fitting name for a child 'Born on the 4th of July'.

March 3, 2016

Behold The Rumbling Clods

Another REVOLUTIONARY Patriot Gone!
He was a brave soldier in the Revolution, participating in a small skirmish at or near the Cedar Springs in this District, as well as the siege of Stoney Point, Savannah and Augusta, Georgia. 

The writer of this imperfect tribute of respect, constituted one of the number that surrounded his grave at his interment, and while he behold the rumbling clods, as they fell upon his coffin, he thought how strong the admonition to prepare for death,  judgement and eternity. (OBITUARY-Greenville Mountaineer Newspaper, Greenville, S.C. Friday, June 25, 1841)

Never in his wildest dreams would the writer of my 5x Great Grandfather's Obituary have thought that his words written in 1841, would be read through a media that had the potential of reaching millions 175 years later.  His words of respect were certainly meant to comfort the family and friends of one of Spartanburg's earliest settlers as he wrote...
...was an affectionate parent, kind master, a good neighbor, and for many years a pious member of the Baptist Church.  He died in full assurance of a blessed immortality beyond the grave, giving full and clear evidence to his surrounding friends that his soul would be happy after death.

"The writer of this imperfect tribute"....such humble and thoughtful writing...it struck such a cord with this writer and 5th Great Granddaughter of Paul Castleberry. 

Paul was born on March 1, 1761, in Tar River, Virginia, to William (25) and Sarah Elizabeth Martin (20) Castleberry.  As American colonists they were setting the foundation of a burgeoning new country in the years before the American Revolutionary War.  Paul was only four years old when the Stamp Act of 1765 spurred the colonies to revolt against British rule.

As referenced in his Obituary, Paul at the age of 18, fought in the Battle of Stony Point.  He was part of a well planned and executed nighttime attack of high trained select group of George Washington's Continental Army under the command of General 'Mad Anthony Wayne'.   The quick and daring assault on the British took place about 30 miles north of New York City at the British outpost in Stony Point, New York.  Victory over the British not only gave Washington's Continental Army a much needed morale booster, but gave them a key crossing site over the Hudson River and their victory over the British.

Within my 'Monthly Theme' this year, I have included at least one ancestor who in someway related to the month.  My 5x's Great Grandfather Castleberry's March 1st birthday made him my 'Ancestor of the Month' and an opportunity to reveal why my ancestor.com tree is named...Pittman, Carroll, Marley, Leatherwood Family Tree.

The union of Paul and Agnes Chesney in 1785 began the line of descendants through the women in my Pittman, Carroll, Marley, Leatherwood Family Tree.  Paul and Agnes' eleventh and last child, Agnes S. Castleberry became the first Leatherwood with her marriage to Zachariah in 1828.  Her granddaughter, Mary Josephine began the Marley line when she married Elisha in 1876.  Mary Josephine's daughter Martha Jane's marriage to my Great Grandfather Stephen Bennett Carroll contributed the last of the female line in their daughter Effie Estella Carroll, my paternal grandmother. 

Estella married C.C. Pittman on August 11, 1916.  From this union, six children were born with the youngest being my father.  He would be the only child through all the generations to be named a matrilineal surname...Willard Carroll Pittman, born March 6, 1927....5 days and 166 years after his 4x Great Grandfather Castleberry.

Time marches on as we prepare for death, judgement and eternity.

 Behold the rumbling clods.

January 16, 2016

January Born 9x Great Grandmother

Martha 'Mollie' Kitteu Leatherwood
 Jan.19, 1658-Jan.20,1705
9th Great Grandmother born in Brenchley, Kent, England

"Miss Mollie Kitteu/Kitten, a half Indian girl, married John Leatherwood in 1679 in Ann Arundel, Maryland.  John and Mollie's livelihood was sustained by raising wheat and corn enough to bread the family and feed the hogs for meat and the horses while raising another crop."  (letter written in 1892 by William Leatherwood)

Martha Mollie Kitteu was born Jan. 19th...the day before my birthday on Jan. 20th...289 years later.  She died on my birthday at age 47...242 years before my birth.

 I met Mollie through research on my Family Tree on Ancestry.com where 'Discovery US' is my limit.  Thanks to Ancestry's 'Lifestory, Gallery and Leaf Hints, I can share the 'Facts' recorded on Mollie's life.  With those facts, and my fact to fiction writer's license, here is my version of my January, 9x Great Grandmother.

On January 19, 1658, Martha, age 20, gave birth to her namesake. Her husband Peter, age 28, called his daughter Mollie, a nickname she had for the rest of her life.

Mollie's father Peter, lived in Scotland in the mid-1600's when Royalists and Parliamentarians raised arms in one of the bloodiest battles in British history. 

Peter Kitteu, age 19, a Scotsman and supporter of Charles I, found himself at odds with Oliver Cromwell's newly established Commonwealth of England.  With the beheading of Charles I in January 1649, Peter, along with his Scottish countrymen, found themselves under the rule known as a Council of State.  Fighting continued particularly in Scotland and Ireland between the parliamentary forces and those opposed to them, as part of what is now referred to as the Third English Civil War.

By 1653 when Oliver Cromwell was declared Lord Protector of the united Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, Peter fled Scotland.  After a long and arduous trip across the Atlantic, Peter landed in America.  There he married a young Indian girl who he called Martha.  Still loyal to his Scottish roots and political ideals, Peter yearned for his homeland.  In 1657 he booked passage for himself and Martha who was with child. 

They arrived in England on January 19, 1658.  Mollie was born aboard the ship 'Janus' just before they embarked.  Peter Kitteu returned to Scotland with his wife and new daughter.  Life in Scotland was vastly different under the Commonwealth rule, and even after the Monarchy was restored in 1660, Peter decided America, the homeland of his wife, was where their future lay.

Once again, Peter and Martha made the journey across the Atlantic to the land of freedom and opportunity. This time with their young daughter Mollie, who's Scottish-American Indian bloodline would flow through the veins of future generations.

Mollie Kitteu and John Leatherwood's first born son Samuel (2-13-1681) began the line of my Direct Descendants 152 years later with the birth of my 3x's Great Grandfather John More Leatherwood.  With the birth of his daughter Mary Josephine, the Direct Descendant line continues through female descendant Martha Jane Marley Carroll, my Great Grandmother whose daughter Estella Carroll married C.C. Pittman.  My father W.C. Pittman was their youngest son.