Celebrating 21 years of Blogging

 

Learning about an ancestor’s life entails much more than collecting the basic birth, marriage, and death records. To truly understand them, you need context, and that's where cluster research becomes essential. By studying the friends, associates, and neighbors who shaped their world, we can uncover deeper stories and connections that vital records alone can't tell us. This week, as I celebrate 21 years of blogging about my genealogy journey, I’m sharing a special project: a list of 21 Friends, Associates, and Neighbors (the "FAN club" a term coined by Elizabeth Shown Mills) of my 2nd great-grandfather, William Clifford Cook.  

21 Members of the FAN club of Wm C Cook

1. James Henry Waldo Jones--Wm. C. Cook sold him 140 acres in October of 1854 in Bedford Co., TN.  JHW Jones had married Hester Ann Augusta May two years before the purchase and was just starting his family.  He was a preacher in the Cumberland Presbyterian church in Obion and Weakley County, TN,  where he'd relocated by the time of the 1860 Census.  He was living in Wingo, Graves County, Kentucky, when he died. His son, Andrieus Aristieus Jones, moved to New Mexico and did very well.  He was an educator, a lawyer, and a US Senator.  As a senator, he was the chair of the Committee on Woman Suffrage.
2. Ivey Phillips--a neighboring landowner SW of the land where Wm. C Cook lived in 1846. He was also a witness for Thomas B. Carlton when he deeded the land for the Liberty Meeting house.
3. William Putman--Brother-in-law of Wm. C.  Doubly so, William was Elizabeth's brother, and William's wife, Anna G, was Wm. C's sister. Wm. C. Cook's deposition for the State Supreme Court case of Williams vs. Putman et al. was a great find.
4. Zephaniah Anglin--lived in the neighborhood with Wm. C. Cook and was also involved in the Williams vs. Putman State Supreme Court Case
5. Joseph S Cook--Wm. C. Cook was the administrator of his estate. Relationship not yet determined. He is frequently confused with Davidson County, TN, Joseph Cook.  Their probate files are combined in the Williamson County, TN, Archives folder.  You can tell them apart if you examine each document in the file because Jos. S. Cook died without a will, and Joseph Cook of Davidson County, TN, left a very detailed will and information about his children.
6. Wm G Hight--maternal 1st cousin of Wm. C.  They traveled together and are listed as staying at a Nashville hotel(likely a trip to KY or a Masonic conference).
7. Wm B King--His parents were neighbors of Wm. C., and his daughter married Wm. C. Cook's son. He is my 2nd Great Grandfather
8. Messinah Ann Bailey--1st wife of Wm. C.'s son James Polk Cook. Wm. C. went to court with James to help secure their divorce.
9. Tennessee Ferguson--step-granddaughter of Wm. C.'s son James Polk Cook through James' 3rd wife Susan Carson Ferguson Cook.
10. George Evans--Wm. C. bought a pair of shoes at his estate sale
11. William Gilliam--the depositions for Williams vs Putman were taken at his smith shop in Rutherford Co, TN.
12. Zachariah Little--He and Wm. C. Cook were at the courthouse applying for a marriage license(Zach to marry Mary Hill and Wm. C. to marry Elizabeth Putman) on 26th Sept. 1831.  They were each other's bondsman.
13. John W Maxwell--put up security for Wm. C. Cook(1849)
14. David Lemuel Manire--officiated Wm. C. Cook & Elizabeth Putman's marriage. My 3rd Great Grandfather.
15. David Young--He bought land that Wm. C. Cook's wife received from the estate of her father, Jabel Putman.  When David purchased the land, he was living in District 25 of Williamson Co. TN, and Wm. C. Cook and wife were living in Bedford County.(1837) David's wife was Elizabeth Reed(Dau of Josiah Reed & Mary Elizabeth Carson Reed)
16. Althy Elmore--He and Longshore Lamb were part of a Deed of Trust where Wm. C. Cook put up livestock and household goods as collateral for $50 loan from Elmore and $38 loan from Lamb.
17. Thomas B Carlton--Wm. C. Cook was a witness when Thomas deeded land for the Liberty Meeting House.
18. Jonathan Vickery-- bought a saddle and a saddle blanket at the estate sale of Jos. S. Cook. (1838)
19. Charles Pope--purchased 25 pounds of picked cotton at the estate sale of Jos. S. Cook.  Husband of Elizabeth Smith.
20. Alfred L  Little--purchaser at Estate Sale of Jos. S. Cook.  He married  Martha Emily Pope,  Charles Pope's daughter.
21. Renwick Adams(R.A.) Gault--He and Wm. C. Cook were selected as jurors from District 10. (1855) He lived just north of where Wm. C. lived in 1846. A contemporary of Wm. C., he was married to Elizabeth Floyd in Williamson Co., TN(1833)

I encourage you to try this exercise with one of your own ancestors.  Making a list of their Friends, Associates, and Neighbors, along with a timeline of their life, can reveal gaps in your research and highlight connections from different areas of their life you might otherwise miss. A heartfelt thank-you to all my readers and everyone who has supported and encouraged me over the years. I look forward to continuing to share my research and tell the stories of my ancestors for many more years to come. 

William Harrison's Conflicting Month of Death

The reprint of the Pension Roll of 1835(available on Ancestry.com) contains an error in the entry for Lt. William Harrison, a Bedford County, Tennessee pensioner. The same mistake appears in the original 1835 publication, which can be viewed on Google Books. Both sources incorrectly state that William Harrison died on 22 June 1833. However, in his widow Elvira’s pension application, she provides a sworn statement that William died on 22 January 1833. This date is supported by additional statements in the pension file.

It's unclear what caused the original error. Perhaps someone compiling information for the 1835 publication abbreviated the month of January, and it was later misread as June. We may never know for sure.

To further complicate matters, the summaries prepared by the pension office in response to requests for copies of William Harrison’s pension file also reflect this mistake. Several of these summaries, sent to different researchers over the years, repeat the incorrect date of 22 June 1833. In at least one response, the summary includes both dates, several paragraphs apart.

Another valuable detail found in Elvira’s sworn statement is her mention of a family record. She explains that the list of family births was copied from an original list kept in an old dictionary that had contained the family's records. That dictionary was later purchased by Stephen Lynch and ultimately destroyed.  😢

Sources:

Revolutionary War Pension Application File W463, Elvira Harrison, widow of William Harrison (NC service); imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9XY-YY8Q : accessed 20 April 2025), IGN 7584164, image 404 of 1123.

Ancestry.com, U.S., The Pension Roll of 1835, database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/60514/images/pensionroll1835iii-004091 : accessed 20 April 2025), image 37 of 118; citing The Pension Roll of 1835, Vol. 3, p. 557, entry for William Harrison, Lieutenant; reprint of U.S. Senate publication (1835), 1968 reprint with index (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company).

Bill of Sale--Enslaved man, Lewis --Maury County Tennessee(1821)

Maury County Tennessee--Recording of Bill of Sale--Enslaved Man named Lewis

William P Cook to James Hardison

(William and James on the same page of the 1820 US Federal Census in Maury Co TN.)

Timeline
6 Feb 1821 - Transaction
20 Jan 1823 - Bill of Sale Produced in Court 
28 Jan 1823  - Ordered to be certified
24 Feb 1823 - Registered in Deed book

Witnesses
John Wilson
Sally Smithwick(likely kin of James Hardison's wife)

Sources:

Maury County Tennessee Court Minutes, Vol 6, Monday 20 January 1823, Wm P Cook to James Hardison, negro man named Lewis; image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSKX-VQ4B-9 accessed: 14 April 2025) IGN 8151023, Image 788 of 830.

Maury County Tennessee Deeds, Deed Book, Vol K, p 98, William P Cook to James Hardison a negro man named Lewis, 24 February 1823; image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4F-XG2K : accessed 14 April 2025), IGN 7896936, Image 377 of 558.

1820 US Federal Census, Maury County, Tennessee, p 99, William P Cook; Database with Images, FamilySearch(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYB9-SKSQ : accessed 14 April 2025), IGN 5156987 , Image 74 of 242.

How I am using Ancestry's Network Tool

I have access to the Beta of Ancestry's Network Tool.  At this point, it's only available to those with the ProTools add-on.  Since my main research block is my Cook ancestry, I've created several networks dealing with William Clifford Cook to try and pull together what I have and hopefully make some discoveries.

William Clifford Cook(1811-1882) Networks

• Purchasers at the Estate Sale of Jos S Cook 1838
• Involved in Robert Williams vs Wm Putman et al
• 1830 Bedford County TN Dist 9 Neighborhood
• W C Cook Deeds--Note Involvement Regardless of Role

Within those networks, I use the Stickies to make notes.  In the W C Cook's Deeds network, I create a Stickie for each transaction, which allows me to tag people from the network involved in each record, along with the date and location. The Stickies remind me of Trello (I have used Trello for some genealogy projects to organize my work)

I'm continuing to add people, events, and notes to the network, but the image above is a screenshot of what I have done as of this date. As I add people to the networks, I will need to research them and use the protools tree checker to merge duplicates and check for other errors.  

I've already discovered some overlap and new information because of using the network and working to learn more about the connections. When you review your notes, you can sometimes discover that you have errors, and correcting those will help to clear the picture.  

I love the ability to focus on a Network with the Tree Mapper.

Things I'd like to see as far as improving the Networks

• The ability to move, sort, and save how I view Stickies.  
• An +ADD A PERSON button at the top AND the bottom of a list
• The page view amounts(10 is the default) seem too small, which can hinder productivity (it does in other areas of the site--list of people, DNA match list, etc.)
• The SORT of the items in the Tree Mapper is done by Fact or Event type, but I'd like to be able to arrange that by date overall or at least by date under each Fact or Event.

The Networks tool is a great addition. I truly wish they would work on a Find & Replace tool for locations. That would not only help to improve Ancestry Trees but also the functionality of tools that rely on those trees, such as Thrulines and the ProTools Tree Mapper.

Consider the Weather: Factoring Weather into Family History

This week has been full of dramatic weather across the southeastern U.S., where I live. As storms rolled through, I found myself wondering how my ancestors might have dealt with similar conditions without the aid of the tools and technology we rely on today.

These days, we often receive weather alerts days in advance. Radar systems, smartphone apps, and emergency alerts give us time to prepare, evacuate, or seek shelter. But for those living in the 1800s and even into the early 20th century, storm preparedness looked very different. While they might have consulted an almanac for seasonal patterns, my ancestors largely depended on nature to warn them. They watched the skies, listened to the wind, and observed animal behavior for signs of approaching danger. When it came to tornadoes and severe storms, the best they could do was be alert and ready to take cover.

Curious to learn more, I used the Full-Text Search feature on FamilySearch.org to track down newspaper articles referencing major weather events in areas where my family lived. Even as late as the 1920s, articles show that storm preparedness was minimal—focused mostly on reaction.

One article I came across was in The Gallatin Examiner, Vol. 118, No. 10, dated March 8, 1956 (page 13), from Gallatin, Tennessee. It offers suggestions about tornado behavior and stats along with information about what to do in the event of a warning.

For more on how weather forecasting has evolved, check out the History of the National Weather Service, which provides a fascinating timeline of developments that changed how we experience and survive storms today. While many factors influenced our ancestors’ lives, weather played a significant role—and it’s one we shouldn’t overlook when researching their stories. 

See also my blog post from May 2021:  Chapel Hill Tornado Tuesday 10th May 1921 4pm

Notes of Interest from Pine Bluff(Aug 1934)

NOTES OF INTEREST FROM PINE BLUFF

Andrew Hillis spent Tuesday afternoon with Will Rowland.

Ray Slatten visited Haze Miller one evening last week.

Rev. W. J. McElroy and family are spending a few days with relatives in this part.

Jo Acuff visited Fannie Barlow Sunday night.

John Bluford Witt spent Sunday with Elbert Acuff.

Leighton Hash and wife, Gladys, spent Saturday with his sister, Mrs. Bascom Chandler.

Mrs. Charlie Lee Acuff visited Mrs. Richard Moore Sunday.

J. Walter Davis and family of Chillicothe, Texas, spent last week with his sister, Mrs. L. D. Chandler.

Mrs. Ida Breedlove and daughter spent Sunday with Jim Breedlove.

Walter Davis and son, James, spent Monday morning with Andy Acuff.

Mr. and Mrs. Ivy Sparkman spent last Saturday with her mother, Mrs. Daisy Johnson.

Mr. and Mrs. Jim Deaton spent a few days last week with his father, Squire Deaton.

Notes:  A lot of Van Buren County connections in this article. Elbert Acuff and Charlie Lee Acuff are 1st cousins of my maternal grandmother Minnie Acuff Luna. I'm not sure if Jo Acuff was Sarah Josephine Acuff(Daughter of Andrew "Andy" J Acuff and Hannah Hash) or Margie Josephine Acuff(daughter of Wm H Acuff and Minnie Hash Witt.)  Both were named after their maternal grandmother, Josephine Potter Hash.

Source:

"Notes of Interest From Pine Bluff," Southern Standard(McMinnville, Tenn) 23 Aug 1934, Vol LV, No. 26, p 5, col 4; image, FamilySearch(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-13RM-16D7 : accessed 26 Mar 2025) IGN 8964042, image 1121 of 1152.