52 Ancestors In 2022-March Week 9...FEMALES

Dear Janes outnumber Dear Johns

Dear John, John, John, John, John,+ Ten More,

As the 'Number One' most 'Given Boys Name' in the Pittman Family Tree, it is my duty as 'The Family's Genealogist' to inform All Fifteen of you, despite popular 'Moniker Statistics', Ya'll are NOT Number One.

Since the First John Pittman born in America in 1726, your name has been held in high esteem and an honorable tradition in the naming of 'First Born Sons' who are destined to be called Junior.

From Colonial John through Civil War John, the Pittman John's led the nation as the Number One Given Boys Name.  This trend continued through the 1920's.  During these Trend Setting years, William ran a close second in the US and in our 'Tree' with Eleven Williams.  True to Trend, James, George, Robert, Charles, Joseph, Frank, Henry and Thomas were 'Tree Toppers' as well as 'Chart Toppers ' across the nation.

Dear Jane, Jane, Jane, Jane, Jane + Fifteen More,

Ya'll are Number One in The Pittman Family Tree.  Never mind that Jane as a Given Girls Name only made Number Twenty-Two on the All Time Popularity List.

Jane The First, Jane Calvert Leatherwood 1746-1764, believed in the 'Family Namesake' tradition.   Her son's were John, William, James, George, and Thomas.  She named two of her daughters after herself or possibly her mother...one was Jane and the other Janey.

 The First Jane Calvert Leatherwood was the Direct Ancestor and 4XGreat Grandmother of Martha Jane Marley Carroll, my Great Grandmother.  

Janie as she was called, became 'My Family Tree Focus Female'.  Through her grandson, my father, Willard Carroll Pittman, I inherited her late 1890's to early 1900's  'Family Photo Album'.

The discovery and photo detective work of Janie's Album has led to many of

'The Johns, James and Janes in

The Pittman~Carroll~Marley~Leatherwood Family Tree

The Photo Album can be viewed HERE.

PS...In 1950 the Jane count increased to 21 with my sisters middle name Jane.  In 2021 my great niece got the honor of being Jane #22.  Being the first born she may have jinxed the naming of her future sibling brother John...except tradition won't matter...her Daddy's given name is John.  So baby brother will likely be John Junior.

52 Ancestors In 2022-February Week 8...COURTING

 Secret Second Wife

Their journey ended in a small West Texas community.  It looked as if they were the typical homesteading couple as they embarked from the covered wagon with a passel of children.  

Who they were, where they came from, why they chose this place to put down roots and what was the story behind a man named after the First President of America....not important in 1899.  

Also, not of great interest or importance to those living and dying through the years that stretched into decades and two centuries. 

Not until a granddaughter began 'Old School Research' in the 1960's-1980's did some of the 'Who, Where, What and Why' questions come to light. 

Then along came a great granddaughter's 21st Century Technology/Internet research and establishment of a Family Tree on Ancestry.  Not until then was the Second Wife Secret discovered.  A fact based timeline, 'Old School' notes, and my 'Factual Fiction' License put together George's Courting of Nancy Anne.

Like George, who was a widower with both grown and young children, Nancy Anne was a widow with children of much the same ages.  It is assumed...based on timeline facts...George and Nancy Anne met on the road, so to speak.  George and children traveling from Georgia to Texas and Nancy Anne and children living in Monroe, Tennessee.

In all likely hood, they met by chance or perhaps it was fate.  Monroe was a stopping over place for George.  Planning to stay long enough to make enough money and get supplied for the next leg of his trip.  Nancy Anne turned her home into a boarding house and her barn into a farm hand bunkhouse.  

We can just imagine their courtship as one of mutual survival that became more.  When it was time for George to move on...Nancy Anne and her brood moved on with him.  It's not known if it was all about just George and Nancy's courting days, but very likely that their respective oldest children had been courting as well. 

George and Nancy Anne were married in Texas on January 1, 1899.

John, Nancy's son, and Mattie, George's daughter, were married on March 11, 1901.

George's Granddaughter's 'Old School Research' never mentioned, much less documented the existence of a Second Wife.  However, the marriage of John and Mattie was well documented along with their history and life as early settlers in the same small West Texas community as their parents.

Nancy Anne, my Great Step Grandmother's life and death enriched our Family Tree in ways that my Old School Genealogist Aunt Irene would have loved knowing.  Especially Nancy Anne's life, death and burial in the same small West Texas community where she was born, raised and buried.

Fort Stockton Pioneer, August 23, 1918 (Microfiche Archives)

Mrs. G.W. Pittman, of Grandfalls, who only recently had come here for medical treatment, died very suddenly from organic heart trouble, at the Riggs Hotel, Saturday evening August 16th.  The remains were prepared for burial by Undertaker W.H. Bird, after which they were taken to Grandfalls, Sunday afternoon and interred in the cemetery at that place.  The funeral services were conducted by Reverand M.O. Williams, pastor of the Methodist Church, of which church the deceased was a devoted Member.  A husband and two children, who reside in Grandfalls, are left to mourn her loss.

PS...As you might guess, Nancy Anne's entry in our Family Tree opened a 'Whole-nother Can of Worms' including my Great Grandfather's THIRD SECRET WIFE....a story for a future 'Prompt'.  

52 Ancestors In 2022-February Week 7...Crash LANDING

February Week 7...LANDING

As a pilot and navigator, he was assigned to the 315th Bomb Wing in Guam.  He flew the first airlift into Japan after their surrender during World War II.  During the cold War he was assigned to the Strategic Air Command to fly converted B-29s to refuel U.S. Strategic bombers.  He was one of the first pilots to perform air-to-air refueling.

In 1955, this Command Pilot flying B47's for the Strategic Air Command Crash Landed.  His B-47 exploded in mid-air over the eastern Canadian wilderness.  One of the objectives of the flight was to test a new type of flight suit.  When he was miraculously found alive four days later, he had bravely used his parachute to fashion a tourniquet for his badly mangled leg and built a shelter.  A pack of wolves surrounded the crash site and the badly wounded pilot.  He later said the wolves had saved his life by protecting him from an aggressive moose.

  The test suit having been designed to endure the cold of high altitude flight played a major role in surviving the Canadian wilderness extreme conditions.  After being rescued he lost his leg to amputation.  He was the first Air Force pilot to be reinstated to fly with a prosthetic.  He was a Missle Man (Silo Launch) and Four-Headed Monster pilot, navigator, bombardier and radar man for B-47 Stratojet Bombers.

During his distinguished career he received many awards most notably the World War II Victory Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal and the coveted Aviator's Valor Award.  He commanded the AF Recruiting and Language Schools at Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas, before retiring as Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Leland Pittman.

Willard C. Pittman and Thomas L. Pittman 

Sons of brothers Chappo and Cobb Pittman and sisters Estella and Mary Ella Carroll Pittman

Making my Dad Willard and Tom...Double First Cousins

Willard Carroll Pittman 1927-1988

Thomas L. Pittman 1920-2006

 

52 Ancestors In 2022-February Week 6...MAPS

February Week 6...MAPS

My great grandfather traveled from Georgia to Texas in the late 1890's arriving in Ward County, Texas, by way of a more Eastern route not shown on map.  A survivor and Veteran of the Civil War, he lost all family farming land to Georgia's Reconstruction and taxes after the Civil War.  Without the hope of owning land, he settled his family in the Southwestern part of Ward County known as Grandfalls.

Excerpts from the Ward County History 1877-1977.   George Washington Pittman whose Civil War record includes Co. B 7th Infantry, Andersons Brigade, McLaws Division, N. Virginia's Army.  As a widower with 6 of his 10 surviving children settling in Grandfalls, Ward County, Texas, his farming skills were in high demand among the Emigrant land owners.  He and his children lived many years in Ward County, and became land owners of plats shown on the map. 

Only one son, C.C. 'Chapo' Pittman, stayed on in Grandfalls for the remainder of his life.  And it is Chappo, my Grandfather, whose life and the lives of his descendants that have been impacted by the 1902 General Land Office Map.  

Born in 1875, Chappo was 77 years old when he came to live with us.  I was 4.  It was not until I was an adult and became 'The Family Historian' that I learned about his early life in Grandfalls and his occupations on the Pecos River.  It was humbling to be standing on the Brush Dam bridge where my two pioneer grandfathers had helped build and build a second time after a flood.  It was incredible to learn that stories had been written about their part in the history of Ward County.

Brush Dam is pinpointed on the map by the 'Red Arrow'...as far as I can determine.  According to the Ward County History 1887-1977, Chappo contracted with the water district to build Brush Dam and the Canals...Blue Arrow on the map.  In the following years Chappo was the canal 'Ditch Rider'.  On horseback he rode the long winding canals often for days and nights clearing the 'check' points of debris so the water could flow freely through the irrigation canals.

Along with the Ditch Rider work, my grandfather was literally a dirt farmer living along the irrigation canal.  There he raised his youngest two sons, my Dad and uncle...story Two Boys and A Donkey Makin' Tracks Down The Dusty Road.  

Perhaps the most incredible Chappo survival story happened when he was a 'Freighter'.  Once a team of mules ran away with him on the Pyote-Barstow road.  He was thrown from the wagon and suffered a broken neck.  The story goes he walked all the way to Pecos to Dr. Camp's office holding his head between his hands.

My grandfather lived out his life in Grandfalls with his youngest son, W.C. Pittman and family.  He spent many hours fishing on the Pecos River where the water still flowed and the irrigation ditches still had to be cleared of Tumbleweeds.

And so, with that...there's more to a map than rivers, canals, crossings and plats.

52 Ancestors In 2022-February Week 1...BRANCHING OUT

 February Week 1...BRANCHING OUT

Where did all these folks come from?   Who knew there would be so many people to acknowledge on a persons Family Tree?   Where does one start picking off leaves or chopping off brances?

And to think, when I first started growing My Family Tree, I never would have thought I'd find so many ancestors that I'd have to 'Trim The Tree'.

 I've always thought of 'My Tree' as a Mesquite Tree.  It's a hardy and prolific plant found in West Texas with deep tap roots and what can be anywhere from two feet scrubby shrubs to thirty foot trees.   I've often referred to myself as the 'First Bean' of my Dad's Branch/Twig and my Siblings as Beans Two, Three, Four and Five.

About those Mesquite Beans...they have been known as a food source.  Dried and ground beans have been made into flour which adds a sweet, nutty taste to breads or used in jelly or wine.  It is unwise to eat these beans raw unless you are a heifer or steer. They love those green beans and snap them right off the tree.  Now you know how they got to be the most prolific plant in Texas. 

Now don't misunderstand my 'Prolific Bean Theory' as a comparison to my 'Prolific Production of Ancestors'.  It wasn't until the 1890's that they were exposed to the Texas Mesquite Tree, and as you can see from the 'Grandparent Chart', just about any Tree can handle that number of Branches, Twigs and Beans.  It's the Great Great's To Infinity that have cluttered up my Tree.  There are so many 'GG's2InFin' that I have invented 'TAGS' that say Profile Done....after all you only need to DigEm Up Once.

So where do I draw the Family Tree Pruning Line?

How many 'Great Great's 2 Infinity' Ancestors do I need to know?

Finding Mary Polly Rowe's 5XGreat Grandparents in Scotland is tempting!

Just think...10X Great Grandparents...WOW!!!

NEVER MIND!!!!!

52 Ancestors January Wk#4...CURIOUS

 Week 4 ~ Prompt ~ CURIOUS

It's the nature of a 'Family Historian' or Genealogist...curiosity that is.  Are you curious to know what it means to be a 'Curious Person'?  I was!  Who knew it was definable and fitting?!!  

1.Eager to learn or know; inquisitive (okay that's reasonable)

2.Prying; meddlesome (oops, that's a bit negative, but has some merit) 

3.Speculative interest (yes, otherwise wouldn't bother)

4.Attention to the inexplicable, highly unusual, odd, strange and done with painstaking accuracy and focus on detail.  (Nailed It) 

Meet my Second Great Grand Aunt Palmyra J. Akin Thedford. 

This photo of her was in my Great Grandmother Martha Jane Marley Carroll's Photo Album, and even though her  name was barely legible on the back, I somehow couldn't bring myself to admit that anyone could be named Palmyra.

Honestly, I really wanted this photo to be of my Great Great Grandmother Mary Josephine Leatherwood Marley, as I didn't have and couldn't find a photo of her anywhere. 

You would think Martha Jane would have at least one picture of her own Mother.

Finally, I resigned myself to the fact that it was not Josephine, and put it in the back of the 'Old Photo Album'.  However, the name really stuck in my head and Curiosity got the better of me and I decided to give it a Google! 

Did you know that Palmyra was an ancient city in Syria?  

In the age of antiquity, it was an important city of central Syria located in an oasis northeast of Damascus and southwest of the Euphrates.  

It had been a vital caravan city for travellers crossing the Syrian desert and was known as the 'Bride of the Desert'.

Interesting, right? But still who was she and what was this portrait doing in my Grandmother's Album?  

Curiosity did not kill this 'Cat', and eventually her kinship and non-Syrian heritage was revealed..in an odd, prying, meddlesome manner through Ancestry.  If nothing else, I can chew a single waving leaf to pulp.

She was the Aunt of my Great Grandfather Stephen Bennett Carroll.

Born Palmyra J. Akin on November 7, 1845 to Stephen B. and Catherine Ann Akin Carroll.

Raised in Dyer County, Tennessee

Married John A. Thedford on January 9, 1867

Mother of Naomi B. Thedford born in 1876

Moved to Cleburne City, Johnson County, Texas

Died June 17, 1912

Buried Cleburne Memorial Cemetery, Cleburne, Texas

Brick Wall chiseled down one brick at a time 

leading to Great Grandfathers Carroll ancestors and my Tennessee Roots.

And to Cousins now Friends on Facebook...pays off to be Curious!

52 Ancestors-January Wk#3...FAVORITE PHOTO

 Week 3 ~ Prompt ~ FAVORITE PHOTO

In 2004 I inherited my Great Grandmother's Photo Album from her Grandson, my Dad's first Cousin.  He inherited it from his Mother who was the youngest daughter of Martha Jane Carroll.  That name was the only thing he knew about the Album which was more than I knew about her or any of her ancestors, parents, siblings and families with the exception of my Dad's generation.

The entire Album was a Genealogists 'Brick Wall'.  

The 1890-1910 Photo Album was full of unidentified pictures, cards, and a few fragile clippings.  One photography studio setting photo had her name and description of children on the back....obviously written by the photographer. 

After long hours of online searching for anything in her name, a birth record, marriage record and even a death record...none 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. One of those children was my Grandmother who had given her Maiden name Carroll to my Dad, Willard Carroll Pittman.  The pieces began to fit together.

Her studio setting Portrait became my FAVORITE PHOTO. 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 identities of people from the inherited Album. 

And in turn led to the establishment of my Ancestry Family Tree

The Pittman-Carroll-Marley-Leatherwood Family Tree

 My first Genealogy Blog

Tracks of My Texas Ancestors

and a greater respect for

Irene's Old School Genealogy Record Keeping!

52 Weeks-January Wk#2...Favorite Find

 Week 2 ~ Prompt ~ FAVORITE FIND

There have been hundreds of surprising even shocking 'Finds'.  It's hard to narrow down to just one, but in keeping with Irene's research done before the Internet, I'm going with her positively, no question about it identification of her Great Grandfather....my 2XGreat.  

First, though, she made me take an Oath of Truth and Dedication as the next Family Historian.  So on a stack of Bibles I swore to continue her research and stay true to the Family History.  I swear I tried, but some things just did not add up.

Aunt Irene's family history was gathered the 'Old School' way...through libraries, historical societies, court and city records and passed down word of mouth from family members. 

At the TOP of the Pittman Family Branch, Irene had traced as far back as Rene Marion Pittman from Alsace Lorraine, France who came to America and married a Black Dutch woman...no name. Right off the bat, I'm wondering how a Frenchman...which could be with a name like Rene, got a surname like Pittman which I knew was not French, and how his wife could be Dutch and black. 

Finding Rene Marion Pittman's information on Ancestry was not only a favorite find, but blasted an opening in Irene's Old School Brick Wall that led the Pittman Ancestry all the way back to Colonial America.

Rene Marion Pittman Myth .... Debunked

Rene Marion Pittman was Born, Raised

 and Died in Georgia, USA!

His wife, Mary Anne Howell Pittman was 

Born, Raised and Died in Georgia, USA..
.was not Dutch or Black. 

Link To

Rene Marion Pittman ~ Notable Ancestor

52 Ancestors-Jan Wk#1...Foundation

JANUARY 

Week 1 ~ Prompt ~ FOUNDATION

In an Interview the year Tracks of My Texas Ancestors was started,  I was asked, "What got you interested in or started your family history/genealogy?

It was my first Genealogy Interview and, I thought the questions were going to be harder to answer.  I was prepared to fess up to questions about having ancestors that might have been Wild West Texas Outlaws.

So the question about how I got interested and started was an easy one to answer.  I even have a photo of the two people who inspired, motivated, and gave me my start as 'The Keeper of My Family's History'.

 Meet the 'Foundation First Keeper' aka as the 'Barefoot Genealogist'...my Aunt Vera Irene Pittman Sinks.  She's sitting beside the 'Cowboy Inspiration' for Tracks of My Texas Ancestors...my Dad...Willard Carroll Pittman.

Irene was the oldest of the six siblings and Willard the youngest.   There was ten years difference in their ages with two brothers and two sisters between them. They were Texas born and raised with an appreciation for their Texas Pioneer heritage.

Irene spent much of her lifetime in search of our Family History.  She loved to talk and write about our ancestors, and the information she found in her research.  Her hours of note taking in libraries and the inquiries from Genealogical Societies from Georgia to Texas gave me an abundance of information on which to build our Family Tree in the Technologically Advanced Genealogy Community of the Twenty-First Century.

About Tracks of My Texas Ancestors...Copyrights and Disclaimer

 Welcome to Tracks of My Texas Ancestors
A Collection of Family History and Genealogy Research 
of my
Father's Texas Pioneer Families
Pittman~Carroll~Marley~Leatherwood

Our Family Mesquite Tree has grown deep roots in Ward County Texas where my

Great Grandfather George Washington Pittman journeyed from Georgia in the 1890's.

Mesquite trees grow in twisted and intertwining branches, survive in a difficult environment and produce a bountiful crop of beans, so the comparison to the Pittman/Carroll/Marley/Leatherwood Family is appropriate. Two of these Family names became intertwined with the marriage of Pittman Brothers to Carroll Sisters which produced a bountiful crop of 'Double Cousins', and a long line of descendents throughout the state of Texas and the Southwest.

 

My siblings and I are the 5th Generation of these West Texas Pioneer Ancestors. We were raised where our great grandfather, grandfather and father put down roots. Our Family Geneaology Study and Documentation began with my Aunt Irene who spent countless hours researching Historical Societies from Georgia to Texas. Her many pages of 'Family Group Logs', notes, letters and memorbilia have given me an unprecedented head start.

The primary reason for 'Tracks of My Texas Ancestors' is to have a
Journal/Record for the Present and Future Decendents to:
Always regard with esteem the name they were given with praise and renown that it should endure.

You are invited to read the stories, view the photos, and enjoy the Posts!

Please do not copy or reproduce any part of 'Tracks of My Texas Ancestors'!

The Pittman/Carroll/Marley/Leatherwood Family Tree

is registered on Ancestry.com.

Living Family members names are protected there and here from viewing.

 

The Family Stories are fiction based on fact.
 by
Sandra Sue Pittman..all rights reserved.

The Photographs are from the Author/Photographer's Personal Collection...all rights reserved.

Geneaologist doing research on this Family Lineage please contact

collectintexas@gmail.com

I welcome the exchange of Family History information and photos!

Please direct comments to:
collectintexas@gmail.com

 My Texas Ancestor Post are Archived through
Family Name Label Tabs...Under Header
Titled Tags...On Sidebar
{click on Tabs and Tags and follow the Links}

More Pittman Ancestor History on

All text, illustrations, charts, photographs, etc., property of

 Sandra Sue Pittman McPeak,©all rights reserved.

Updated January 2022

Irish Birth Blessed with Health, Dreams, Kindness and Featherbed

A few years ago I spit in a tube and sent it off to a DNA project on ancestry.com.  What a surprise to find out I am 29% Irish.  As they say in ancestry.com ads, "I had no idea". 

Really, 29% is a wee bit more than 'A Wee Bit Irish', and again to quote the 'Ad'..."I wanted to know more". 

The search began on my ancestry DNA Story with two family names.  Both from my father's maternal line.

It starts with my Great Grandmother Martha Jane Marley Carroll and her Mother, Mary Josephine Leatherwood Marley.  Neither of the names Carroll or Leatherwood to my ear had a ring of Irish.  As it turns out the Leatherwood line lead through at least five great grandmothers maiden names to reach an Irish descendent.  That's the 'Wee Bit Irish' DNA accounting.

Carroll, which is my father's middle name and the last name of his grandfather Stephen Bennett Carroll, lead to a 'Whole Lot More Irish'. 

William I. Carroll immigrated to the Virginia colonies with his parents. His father Thomas Edward Carroll died when William was 9 years old.  Records in ancestry.com state he married Elizabeth Spencer, daughter of neighbors William and Elizabeth Spencer in 1748.

The first records of William and Elizabeth show he leased two hundred acres of land with a payment agreement of 630 pounds of tobacco over a period of three years.  With that he became a tobacco farmer committed to a three year lease in Fairfax County, Virginia.

William and Elizabeth's son Thomas Carroll was born July 16, 1753, in Goochland, Virginia.  According to records and a yearly timeline, the family migrated to North Carolina around 1755.  Along the Catawba River, during the years of 1755 - 1763, the French and Indian War drove hundreds of settlers out of the area.  The Carroll family ultimately settled in Granville County, North Carolina, about 100 miles from the hostile Indian territory.

In 1762 William is listed in the Taxable's for the Bare Swamp District in Granville County.  Over a period of years, that county changed districts and county's several times, and in 1780 became part of Franklin County, North Carolina.  It is thought that William and his family resided there for about 20 years where he owned 240 acres of tobacco farm land.  Changes in county boundaries  made for difficulties in tracking land and counties, but the Carroll family were lastly recorded in Granville County.

William and Elizabeth Spencer Carroll had at least 9 children...all named in his 'Will'.  Of the five daughters and 4 sons, my direct descendant and 5th Great Grandfather Thomas received a small inheritance of 5 pounds in cash. The largest part of Williams estate went first to his wife Elizabeth until her death or remarrying, and upon either of those instances, son Jesse was to inherit the 240 acre plantation and his heirs forever. 

As for Thomas, along with his 5 pounds in cash and upon the death/marrying of his mother he stood to inherit a Featherbed.  Why only 5 pounds in cash to my Great 5x Grandfather Thomas...perhaps could be related to an Irish Birthday Blessing.

Telling Williams story in honor of Saint Patrick's Day 2018 seems a 'Wee Bit' incomplete without knowing his exact month and day of birth.  Therefore, I invoke my 'Fact to Fiction Writers License' and declare his birth month as March and his birth day as the 17th.  How else could it be for someone born in Limerick, Ireland?

Irish Birthday Blessing

May you live a long life full of gladness and health.

With a pocket full of gold as the least of your wealth.

May the dreams you hold dearest be those which come true.

May the kindness you spread, keep returning to you.
 

Happy 287th Birthday 6th Great Grandfather William Carroll.

Thank you 5th Great Grandfather Thomas Carroll for your long life,
your less than a pocket full of gold, the dreams you held dear,
 the kindness you spread and a Featherbed.
If not for you I would not be me.

MD Pittman...Favorite Uncle

MD Pittman 87 of Odessa passed away April 2, 2011 at Parks Methodist Retirement here in Odessa. He was born March 6, 1924 in Dona Anna, New Mexico to Chapel Columbus 'Chappo' and Effie Estella Carroll Pittman. Mr. Pittman was a Christian, who loved the Lord dearly serving him with all of his heart a true prayer warrior and a man of God.

Mr. Pittman was a proud US Army Airforce Veteran serving his country proudly during the WWII Era with tour duties to Germany, England and France eventually co… Read More ming back home only to re-enlist and touring to Japan, after his final Military Discharge.
  

Mr. Pittman was a very respectful oilfield industry truck driver for GQ Salmon and after more than 40 years of dedicated service he retired. He was a very proud family man with the knowledge in how to instill family values, but on the lighter side a jokester and a good prankster.
  

He is survived by Wife Georgia Pittman, Daughter Mary Helen Jacobs of Odessa,Texas. Son Charles Sterling and wife Joyce of Tenaha, Texas, Granddaughter: Stella Jacobs and husband Clayton Creech, Great-Granddaughter: Chelse Creech, Granddaughter: Misty Williams and husband Stanley Williams all of Odessa. And a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and many friends.
  

He was preceeded in death by his parents, first wife Betty June Buford Pittman and infant daughter, second wife Pearl Hardy Sterling Pittman. Siblings Willard Carroll Pittman, Chapel Bennett Pittman, Ruth Beatrice Sanders,Vera Irene Sinks and Maudie Mae Hutchinson.
Services by Odessa Funeral Home.

 

Pearl Demarist Sterling Pittman
Headstone beside MD in Tamarisk Cemetery.

 

Georgia Barber Pittman

November 12, 1924-2016?

 

Betty Buford Pittman

June 3, 1926-November 19, 1953

Burial Cedar Lawn Memorial-Sherman, Texas

Find A Grave Memorial

 

MD's Stories in Tracks of My Texas Ancestors Post

Two Boys and a Donkey Makin' Tracks Down The Dusty Road

Bronc Buster, Flyboy and Ditch Rider

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.

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.

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.

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! 

Kitty....IT DIDN'T HAPPEN THAT WAY!!!

UPDATE:  Ten Years Later

            January 2026

Hello Kitty...I found your Parents. They were ther all along...it was a Census release timing and not having a death date.  Which is still not known.  Everything stated previously has been confirmed.  You are the youngest child of Seymor Douglas and Julia Ann Akin Carroll.

It is likely my Great Grandmother Martha Jane Marley Carroll included the picture in her 1900's Album along with other Carroll family pictures. Including your brothers Abner Franklin and my Great Grandfather Stephen Bennett Carroll. 

If none of these three women are not you, Kitty...who are they?!

In the last ten years of researching the Carroll Family Tree, a distant cousin contact believes they may be the great granddaughter and great great granddaughters of John Madison Carroll...your Father Seymor Douglas Carroll's brother. One thing for certain...they had their photo made by J.A. Lindgren Studio in Cleburne, Texas.  Where your brothers Stephen Bennett and Abner Franklin lived.  By the way, your Aunt Palmyra Thedford lived in Cleburne, too!

Tennessee to Texas!!! Confirmed in the 1900 Census.  Stephen B. Carroll 27, married 3 years to Mary Jane 'Jennie' Marley Carroll with 2 boys Othello 2yrs. and Merrett Douglas 1 yr.