The Hale-Elzie Family: Weighing Oral Tradition Against Documentary Evidence

Much of the information for the Wm Taylor Hale & Adeline Elzie family was gleaned from a letter written by Phoebe York Hale McCormick to Oletta Cope.  Phoebe was one of the youngest children of John Nathaniel Hale, Wm & Adeline's youngest child.  The following is a summary of the information from that letter that pertains to the parents and the immediate family of William Taylor Hale & Wife Adeline.  The letter contains more info on the Ward line which I didn't include so that I could focus on the descendants of the couple. Text in RED are my notes.  If you are a Hale researcher and interested in this line of Wm Taylor Hale  I would love to hear from you.  

1. John Nathaniel Hale came to this country from England and settled in North Carolina. He was a carpenter by trade. [He died before 1840. I've never found anything that gave his occupation.]

   Phoebe's note: "My Dad's Grandpa Hale. Daddy was named after him."

2. William Taylor Hale (b. 1822, d. 1861 at 39) married Eliza Adeline Elzie (b. April 15, 1820, d. April 20, 1906) on June 29, 1843, when she was 23 years old [in Van Buren County, Tennessee, USA.]

   • William Taylor Hale: Son of John Nathaniel Hale.
   • Eliza Adeline Elzie: Daughter of William Elzie (a blacksmith from England).[I also have never found any information on the occupation of William Elzie.  It is not proved but I think Wm Elzie may have been part of the Elzie family who was in Marshall Co TN and originally from Virginia.  That doesn't explain Adeline's place of birth though although Marshall Co TN to Madison Co AL or other northern AL counties is a popular migration pattern. I did find a Rev War Pension for Wm Elzey who could potentially be Adeline's grandfather.  Part of the application file placed him in McMinnville, Warren Co. TN around the 1820s which would be very close to the area where Adeline's parents would have had to be by at least the late 1830s.]

3. William Elzie: A blacksmith who made wagons, shovels, hoes, cowbells, and many other things, selling them by the dozen to different companies.  [See note under Eliza Adeline Elzie above]

   • He had four children: three girls and one boy.
   • Adeline's tragedy: Adeline was feeding her baby sister maple syrup one day, and the baby strangled to death. This left two girls and one boy. Adeline was very young when the tragedy happened and never fully recovered. [This seems to fit the known family structure of Wm Elzie of Marshall Co TN and the presumed sister who didn't die in infancy gives AL as her place of birth]

4. Children of William Taylor Hale and Eliza Adeline Elzie:

   • First child: Sis (married a Bishop and later a Davis).
   • Second child: Bill (married Hettie Russ).
   • Third child: James "Jim" Hale (married Mary "Polly" Hillis).
   • Fourth child: Mary Hale (married a Johnson).
   • Fifth child: John Nathaniel Hale (named after his grandfather, married Nan Ward).

5. William Taylor Hale’s death: Drowned in 1861 while crossing Collins River on a skiff. The skiff capsized, and he drowned. His body was not found for nine days. Adeline discovered his body lodged in a drift of brush while on her way to the store. He was buried in Shellsford Cemetery.

6. Adeline Hale: Never remarried and raised five children alone. Last contact with Adeline’s family was from a first cousin in Rich Pond, KY, many years ago. [Rich Pond is a community in Warren Co KY.  I've tried looking for DNA matches who might have that location in their tree and that are maternal for Mom's match list but no real luck.Who is to say who that person was a 1st cousin to, Adeline, Adeline's children? But I do keep it in mind as I search for more info]

7. John Nathaniel Hale married Nan Ward on Nov 20, 1887, when John was 27 years old and Nan was 17 years old.

   • To this union were born:
     1. Eliza Adeline Hale (born Sept 8, 1888, died July 16, 1954, married to a Payne).[She married Thomas Heard Payne]
     2. Minnie Soda Hale (born Nov 10, 1889, died Jan 14, 1925, married a Breedlove).[She married George Edgar Breedlove]
     3. Arville Taylor Hale (born March 11, 1892, died Feb 5, 1962, married to Nancy Johnson).
     4. Willie Ann Hale (born July 10, 1894, died Nov 19, 1977, married to Ervin White).
     5. Phoebe York Hale (born Sept 19, 1901, married to Will McCormick). [Author of the letter with the family history.]
     6. Agnes Etoile Hale (born Sept 15, 1907, married a Breedlove).[She married William Nelson Breedlove]

8. Nan Hale’s death: Nan Hale passed away on May 3, 1942, at 5:50 a.m., aged 71 years and 7 months.

9. John Nathaniel Hale’s death: John Nathaniel Hale passed away on Dec 2, 1946, at 4:50 a.m., aged 85 years and 5 months

Other Sources:

• Marriage Record (1843): Documents William Taylor Hale's marriage to Eliza Adeline Elzie on June 29, 1843, in Van Buren County, Tennessee.  Van Buren Co TN Marriages at FamilySearch IGN 5728414 Image 82 of 627
• Tax Records (1841–1859): A sequence of annual tax lists spanning nearly two decades that anchors William Taylor Hale in Van Buren County as an adult taxpayer before his disappearance around 1861.  Van Buren County TN Tax Records 1840–1862
• 1850 US Federal Population Schedule: Captures the household in Van Buren County, showing William, Adeline, their early children, and recording Adeline's birthplace as Alabama, while tracking William Taylor's age to a birth around 1822 in Tennessee (he and his parents were in Warren County by the time of the 1830 Census and his widowed mother, Catherine Hale is there in 1840 with he and Francis presumably the two males listed in her household. In 1850 Catherine is listed in Francis' household.
• The following table and my thoughts were pulled together with the help of Gemini to get in table format to discuss the claims, evidence, evaluation, thoughts and the "status" of each claim.

Narrative Claim (Oral Tradition / From the Letter)	Documentary Evidence & Evaluation	Status
Origin & Ancestry: John Nathaniel Hale came from England and settled in North Carolina as a carpenter.	Census data and regional timelines place William Taylor Hale’s birth around 1820-1822 in Tennessee, with the family living in Warren County by the 1830 US Federal Census.	Tale / Conflation: Likely a romanticized or confused account of an earlier generation's migration.
Marriage: William Taylor Hale married Eliza Adeline Elzie on June 29, 1843, at age 23.	Verified by Van Buren County marriage records.and the 1850 US Federal Population Schedule which further corroborates the household structure.	Fact: Appears to be accurate and documented.
Adeline’s Background & Father: Daughter of William Elzie, a blacksmith from England who made wagons, tools, and cowbells by the dozen.	Adeline's 1850 census entry lists her birthplace as Alabama, pointing to a different migration path than an immediate English origin, though the occupational lore reflects frontier trade life.	Mixed: The artisan trade reflects the era's lifestyle, but the direct English immigrant origin is unverified.
Childhood Trauma: Adeline accidentally caused her baby sister's death via maple syrup choking, leaving her traumatized for life.	Private domestic incidents of infant mortality and household accidents were rarely captured in official paper trails.	Plausible Oral Tradition: Highly specific family memories of this nature are frequently passed down faithfully through women, even if unverifiable.
The Drowning (1861): William Taylor Hale drowned at age 39 when his skiff capsized while crossing the Collins River.	Aligns chronologically with his sudden disappearance from tax rolls (which span 1841–1859) and the post-war transition. The geographical anchor (Collins River) fits their established residence in Van Buren/Warren counties.	Fact with Stylized Details: The core event and location are sound, though the exact duration of the "nine-day search" is typical of traditional lore styling. No newspaper account of the drowning and no probate info for Wm T Hale have been located.  Given his tax list records, it doesn't appear that he owned any land.
Posthumous Birth & Widowhood: John Nathaniel Hale was born a few months after his father's drowning, and Adeline raised five children alone without remarrying.	Supported by the absence of the family from standard 1860/1870 enumerations, their subsequent appearance in the 1880 census records, and surviving marriage/court footprints.	Fact: Supported by circumstantial census gaps and later household schedules.
William P. Hale's Marriage & Spouses: Second child Bill (William P. Hale) married Hettie Russ (as recalled in the letter).	Historical records show no indication that Hattie's last name was Russ. Instead, he married Hetty Bryant in 1887 Van Buren Co., Tennessee shortly after the death of his first wife, Nancy A. Hitchcock Hale (Hetty Bryant Hale died in 1916).His 3rd marriages was to Mary Martina Hillis 1 Oct 1917 in Warren Co., Tennessee, USA.  I do not have the place or an exact date for Wm P Hale's 1st marriage but given that the Hitchcock family was from the Bledsoe and Van Buren Co TN area it was likely in one of those counties.	Tale / Name Confusion: The letter misidentified Hettie's maiden/family name as Russ, whereas census records & marriage records tie her to the Bryant line.