David Pitman(Apr 1838-11 Feb 1922)--52 Ancestors

David Pitman(Apr 1838-11 Feb 1922) is my maternal 2nd Great Grandfather. This week's 52 Ancestor prompt was "branching out" and I can think of no other ancestor of mine who fits that more than he does.  He was born near Paint Rock Alabama in 1838 to Daniel & Comfort Hatfield Pittman.  His family was in Dekalb Co TN by the 1850 Census which is where he was living when he met and married his first wife Mary D. T. Adcock(1842-1902) 22 DEC 1859.  I descend thru their daughter Nancy Florence Pittman(my Mom's Paternal Grandmother).

David's surname is spelled several different ways:  Pittman, Pitman and Pitmon.  It's also "butchered" in the 1920 census and several other documents a few times. Also, nicknamed Dave.   There are some online trees that have his name as David Harlin Pitman but I've never found anything to indicate that.  He did name one of his sons David Harlin Pittman but I've never found a record showing that name for the elder David "Dave'" Pitman.

David was in the Civil War with the Co A 16th TN Regiment(Confederate) and is listed among others that served with him in an article in the Southern Standard from 1884.  I have a copy of his 2nd wife's confederate pension application which was approved.  

There had been some tails passed down thru the family that he had made his own alcohol but I'd never found any proof until I located several Federal court case announcements at Newspapers.com.  These were spanning the years from 1873-1876.  I haven't yet been able to get copies of the cases but that is one of my top items on my to-do list in my research on him.  

In 1870 he and his wife Mary are enumerated in the Florence District of Rutherford Co Tennessee.  Next door are his Mom, Comfort(likely widowed) and several of his siblings with their children.  I have no idea what brought them to the Murfreesboro area unless it was the war.  David and Mary would go back to Dekalb County.  Several of his sister would marry in Rutherford Co TN and move on to Gibson Co TN before moving on to other parts.  I don't know if Comfort moved on to Gibson Co TN with them or died before the move because I can't locate her in the 1880 census.

David and Mary had at least 12 children together according to the records which I have found.  They also helped to raise several of their grandchildren before Mary's death in 1902.  After Mary passed,  David remarried to a much younger woman, Florence Alabama Prater(Widow of Leonidas Poss) and had 4 more children.  Avorilla Poss, a step daughter from his wife's previous marriage also lived with them until she married in 1915. David passed in 1922 at the age of 83 and is buried in Young Bend Cemetery in Dekalb Co. Tennessee.  Several branches of his descendants moved to Alabama, California and Texas and there are some who still live in Dekalb, Warren & White Co area of Tennessee.  I see many of them among my maternal DNA matches. I don't know if this is because of the shear number of them or if they are more interested in DNA testing than cousins from other of my ancestors.

Sources:

"Tennessee, County Marriages, 1790-1950," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKH3-XYL5 : 10 March 2021), David Pittman and Mary D F Adcock, 22 Dec 1859; citing DeKalb, Tennessee, United States, Marriage, p. , Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville and county clerk offices from various counties; FHL microfilm 593,050.

"United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCD8-MSV : 23 December 2020), David Pitmon in household of Daniel Pitmon, DeKalb, Tennessee, United States; citing family , NARA microfilm publication (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

"United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8TH-ZY6 : 18 February 2021), David Pittman, 1860.

"United States Census, 1870", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MD8M-DHH : 29 May 2021), David Pitman in entry for Comfort Pitman, 1870.

“The Courts,” Republican Banner, 19 Nov 1873, p. 4, col. 5 ; digital images, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 30 Jan 2022).

“The Courts,” The Tennessean, 25 Oct 1874, p. 4, col. 4; digital images, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 30 Jan 2022).

“The Courts,” The Tennessean, 21 Oct 1876, p. 3, col. 7; digital images, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 30 Jan 2022).

"United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MD79-LNM : 15 January 2022), David Pitman, Civil District 11, DeKalb, Tennessee, United States; citing enumeration district , sheet , NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm .

“Roll Company A 16th Tenn. Regiment.,” Southern Standard, 21 Jun 1884, p. 4, col. 4; digital images, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 30 Jan 2022).

"United States Census, 1900", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MS8Z-4V1 : 29 January 2022), Davis Pitman, 1900.

"Tennessee, U.S., Marriage Records, 1780-2002" imaged at Ancestry.com,  Dekalb > 1899 Jan-1909 Aug: Marriages Image 525 of 843 (pg 427) David Pitman to F. A. Prater: accessed 30 Jan 2022.

"United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MGFM-J8B : accessed 31 January 2022), David Pittman, Civil District 7, DeKalb, Tennessee, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 57, sheet 2A, family 21, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 1497; FHL microfilm 1,375,510.

"United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNPL-G3Z : 3 February 2021), David Pinon(should be Pitman), 1920.

"Tennessee Deaths, 1914-1966," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N9BD-BM2 : 1 March 2021), Dave Pitman, 11 Feb 1922; Death, Smithville, DeKalb, Tennessee, United States, Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville.

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/93245425/david-pitman : accessed 30 January 2022), memorial page for David “Dave” Pitman (Apr 1838–22 Feb 1922), Find a Grave Memorial ID 93245425, citing Young Bend Cemetery, DeKalb County, Tennessee, USA ; Maintained by Walela (contributor 47310007) .

"Tennessee, Confederate Pension Applications, Soldiers and Widows, 1891-1965", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q571-M9LP : 31 October 2018), Florence A Pitman in entry for David Pitman, 1891-1965.

James Polk Acuff(12 Jan 1872-23 Nov 1939)--52 Ancestors

In the early 2000s, my maternal grandmother's 1st cousin, Sarah Josephine Acuff Woodlee and I exchanged letters.  I still have a large envelope of the letters she wrote to me.  In a letter written in Oct of 2001, she also included a small tin type picture of my Gr Grandfather James Polk Acuff(1872-1939) sitting on his Dad's lap.  It is one of my favorite and my most treasured possessions. I thought for sure I'd lost the picture in my move back to Tennessee in January of 2012.  Thankfully, I had not.  In packing up my desk, I'd inadvertently knocked the envelope into my box of backup discs and that was where I found it when I was going thru those discs in 2018.  

Polk looks to be around the age of 2 in the picture which would mean it was likely taken around 1874.  I have a copy of a picture of  Polk's parents, William Leon Acuff and his wife Sarah McElroy Acuff which would have been taken around the same time.  I can tell this because Polk's Dad looks exactly the same in both pictures(groomed and clothing wise.)  Polk grew up in Van Buren Co TN and later moved to Huntsville AL in the Dallas area of Madison County as many folks did in search of work. His oldest daughter(my grandmother) was living there in 1920 with her husband and his family and their two sons.  Many folks who moved to that area went to work in the Dallas cotton mills.  Polk and and his wife moved there some time after 1927. He is listed in the 1929 City Directory of Huntsville along with 4 of his children, his brother and nephew, all employed by Dallas Mills.  Polk and family are in the 1930 census there as well.  Polk's wife, Fannie Hale Acuff died in September of 1939 and Polk died that same year in November.  Any time I hear Rison Avenue mentioned I think of my Acuffs  I believe the section of Rison Avenue they lived on no longer exist after the Interstate 565 exchange was built 

To give you an idea of how small the picture is, I'm including a photo of it in my hand below.

James M. Jakes(b. 02 May 1857-d. 15 Aug 1941) --52 Ancestors

My favorite find happened when the 1940 US Federal Census was released in 2012.  I located my paternal grandparents living exactly where I knew they would be in Old Hickory. To my surprise, my grandmother Pearl Jakes Cooke's dad, James Jakes was living with them.  I didn't even know he was still living and that time.  I'd searched for James' death certificate but did not have access to many records in my early research.   I knew that he had outlived his wife and I'd had her death certificate(from 1920) and information about her stone in the Willow Mount Cemetery.  His gravestone did not have his date of death either(and still doesn't.)  So I assumed he'd passed and went on to easier research for the time being.   I wonder what surprises the 1950 Census will bring me when it is released in a few months.  This also serves to remind me that I need to get his probate file which I have not found yet. He died the following year and I found his death certificate shortly after finding him in the that 1940 census.  I hope to do more research on him and also his children as we have some Jakes cousins showing up in our DNA research that I've not been able to place on the tree just yet. 

Source: "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K44V-H7Q : 11 January 2021), James Jakes in household of Thomas D Cook, Civil District 4, Davidson, Tennessee, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 19-9, sheet 10B, line 56, family 193, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 3884.

John King(b. 11 Feb 1770 d. 18 Aug 1814)--52 Ancestors

John King(1770-1814) is my 4th Great Grandfather.  I know very little about him other than what has been written in the Rover / Bedford Co TN book for the family.  My DNA and that of others in the King family back up our connection to him and his wife--- John King & Nancy Brandon   According to that article, John King married Nancy Brandon in Buncombe Co NC and had land in Barren Co KY. They had 3 children who were born there in KY before the family began buying land in what is now Wartrace, TN.  The family moved to Bedford Co TN abt 1807 after clearing land and building a small cabin. Four more children were born after their move to Tennessee.  John would also operate the first grist mill in Bedford Co. which was built using a set of mill stone he had gotten out of the Cumberland Mountains and brought (using logs to move)to the area where they lived. It was known as the Garrison Mill after the area in which they lived(Garrison Fork area of Duck River.) 

I really need to work on this family as I do not have any documentation for what is mentioned in the Rover book.  It's also been the family story that he was a brother of Samuel King(one of the founders of Cumberland Presbyterian Church)  I need to find more on that.  John's son John(my 3rd Great Grandfather) was a preacher and did help to organize Jackson Ridge Cumberland Presbyterian Church. I'm hoping that this post will remind me(and other King researchers) of the need for further research on this ancestral line.  There is a question of his death year being either 1811 or 1814 which needs to be resolved.

Source: History of Rover and the 10th district of Bedford County: lest we forget the people and things in our corner of the world. 1986. Paducah, Kentucky: Turner Pub. Co. p.245 "The King Family" by Gladys Wheeler Farris.