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.