Phoebe Eason's mother

Tonight I literally stumbled on a little discovery. I was searching through the 1850 census records for Alexander E. Pridgen because I found him in 1860, but wasn't sure where he was in 1850. Well I did a search for Pridgen and was viewing the records that came up. And as I did, I found her name.

Annis Eason.

Annis Eason! This is Phoebe's mother! Well, maybe. I'll say i'm like 95% sure. Of course, Phoebe was listed as well since she was living in the household, and this is how I knew she had to be her mother. The age for Phoebe matched what I had. Born about 1831 which would make her 19 yrs old at the time.

I know why I couldn't find Phoebe before when I searched. They spelled Eason wrong, and Phoebe as well. They spelled it "Phebe Earon". Just like the other day when they spelled Pridgen with a B, one letter really does make a difference. But when you look at the record, it clearly says Eason. The transcriber just screwed up.

I'm very glad to have found this information. Just one more piece in the puzzle. And the funny thing is that I've actually suspected Annis before. (sometimes spelled Annice) I've seen her name in the bastardy bonds as having children that are illegitimate. There is one for 1831...could the guy listed beside an Annice Eason be Phoebe's father? I'm not sure. That's a question that will be researched later. But for now, I think I can find out a lot about Annice. She had a few more children, so sometimes if you reseach them, you can find out more info as well.

Now I get to add Annis (I'm not sure how to spell it yet!) to my tree! :)

Found John Hardy and my grandma in 1930

Now I know why I couldn't find my grandmother and great grandfather in the 1930 census. They've got his name down as John BRIDGEN!

One letter off really makes a difference. I managed to find this record the same way I found Ada. Just did a search using first name only. No luck with John but I tried Elsie. Sure enough, Elsie Bridgen appeared. I knew she had to be living in Coopers and I couldn't figure out why I couldn't find it. But now i know.

YAY! And now I can figured out the rest of John Hardy's children! :)

I think I found Ada in 1900!

I've been racking my brain and pulling my hair out trying to find my great grandmother in the 1900 census.

Well after repeated search attempts and a lot of frustration, I FOUND HER!!

Okay, not 100% positive but I'll say a good 95%!

I found an "Ada Baker" living in 1900, Coopers Township, Nash County. Her age is listed as 13 (and this would be correct at the time), birthday, Oct 1886.

As to why her last name is Baker...there's a simple explanation. Her relationship to the head of the house, who is Elijah Baker, is STEPDAUGHTER!

AND...her mother? MORNING! And Morning's year of birth matches what I had...1857. Morning was spelled wrong though, it was spelled "Moming" which explains why I couldn't find her before either. I've also found a record for Morning H. being the wife of Elijah. (Note her middle initial is H) It's got to be the same one as Morning H Davis!

The last census we saw Morning in was 1880, but a lot could have changed in 20 years. I figure Joel died and Morning remarried. Simple as that.

YAY! This is GREAT NEWS! And how appropriate I find out this info on Oct. 22, which happens to be Ada's birthday! :) Happy Birthday, Grandma Ada!

Found Parker family in 1930 census!

If you go to ancestry.com's 1930 census search page and do a search for William B Parker and Ada Parker, or any of the other Parker family members, you will not find them. But when i went through the census page by page, like all 40 or so of them, guess what? I found them.

I think for some reason, they didn't get indexed by the site. I mean, an exact search should find them. They're right there! I know they are in the census b/c i saw it with my own eyes. I saved that page. I don't want to lose it again.

But now to the point of this post. I've been having trouble finding other family members in the census. For one, I can't find John Hardy or my grandma in the 1930 census (and she should be living with him since she got married later in the year). Of course, I only searched Coopers so maybe they lived in a different township. I also cannot find Ada and her family in the 1900 census. I searched Coopers last night but turned up no Davis family of mine, so I'll have to search another township.

I'm starting to wonder how many other ancestors I can't find when I do a search are actually there but the person indexing the names forgot them. I was really surprised to see my family there in 1930 and seeing no record of them in the search.

And the mother is...

Phoebe!

I'm very excited! I can finally take one of my goals off the list. I found out who the mother of John Hardy is. It's funny b/c the answer was so obvious, right in front of my face.

To Recap...

A while back, I had stumbled across a census record with Alex Pridgen and his wife, Cleta N. Well one of their sons was a "hardy" and this made me wonder if Phoebe was really John's mother after all.

Well everything that I had pointed to Phoebe being his mother, but this census record really threw me off, and there's even a record that says Cleta is Hardy's mother.

Today, I decided to research all of John Hardy's children and wives, and as it turns out, the 1900 census is very revealing. It lists a "Phoeley Pridgen" (obviously someone butchered her name) and guess what her relationship is to the head of the house? MOTHER! This tells me that Cleta can't be his mother, b/c number one, if she was, Phoebe would have been dead by now (since I assumed before the possibility that Phoebe died and Alex remarried). Number 2, the census lists her as his mother, and there's no reason to assume she's not. If she wasn't, why would she be living with him anyway?

This also answers another question I had. When Phoebe died. I still don't know the exact year but it had to be sometime after 1900 and possibly before 1910.

I still have no clue who this Cleta N. is. Perhaps I pulled up the wrong record? After all, I did find it a bit odd that it listed him as "Hardy" but I know he went by "John Hardy". Hmm, so maybe it's a different one?

Who knows. For now...I have my questioned answered. Phoebe is John Hardy's mother. Now as for Phoebe's parents...that I still don't know.

Oh, and one more thing I found out today. Guess why I couldn't find Della in the 1910 census? They have her named as Dillot! That's crazy. I looked at the record and it looks like they tried to spell Della "Dellah" but whoever transcribed it thought the E was an I and the A was an O and the H was a T, and it does kind of look that way.

Now I found John Hardy in the 1900, 1910, and 1920 census. Why can't I find him in the 1930? Maybe his name was butchered too.

too many Edward Cobbs!

Someone replied to my post on the message board about Dawson and Edward Cobb. She said there were two Cobb families in Edgecombe and Pitt Co. and they were related. Well sure enough, I pull up the 1790 census/tax lists and there's and Edward Cobb in Pitt, and an Edward Cobb in Edgecombe.

Too many Edward Cobbs!!! This is looking more and more like the Winstead line.

So now i'm wondering if the Edward Cobb I've been researching is really the one from Pitt. I think i'm decended from the one in Edgecombe.

The lady on the board also gave me some additional children. Researching them could help. I'll have to sort all of this out later. Right now, it's just all too confusing (and it's too early in the morning to think about this ;) )

Back to Ada

I decided to start back with my research for Ada again. I can't understand why, but I cannot find her in the 1900 census! It's the strangest thing!

I've searched every Davis in Coopers Township, then every Davis in the entire Nash county. Many Davis, but my Ada nowhere to be found. I'm starting to wonder if the census taker missed her family.

Of course, I tried the tricks. I searched by initials only. Nothing. I searched in the neighboring county Edgecombe. Nothing. I looked for the neighbors and tried to see if they were on the same page. Nothing.

And here's the main problem. Everything I have listed says she was born in 1886. Now there is a possibility she was born before that (There's a one year old Ida in the 1880 census) but until then, I have no proof. So the main problem is that the first census I have to go on to find the Davis family is 1880. And then the one that I really need, the 1890 census, was BURNED! So then, i turn to the 1900 census. Maybe they moved b/c i can't find a record of them.

But here's the other thing...Ada married Wm. Burse just a few years later because in 1906 (I think, or is it 1907?) they had my great aunt Bertha. And if they weren't living in Nash County in 1900, how did my great grandparents meet?

How can I prove Joel and Mourning are Ada's parents if I can't find her with them in the census?