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. 

Cluster Research in the Revolutionary War Pension Files

I've been digging in the Revolutionary Pension files at Fold3 lately and reading some of the files of the FAN club of my ancestors.  There is much information in those files about when the soldier and his family moved on to other areas.  Kimbrough Ogilvie's(my 4th great granduncle) file contains details of his move from Granville Co NC to Bedford Co TN and then on to Kentucky.

Source: https://www.fold3.com/file/25355335/kimbrough-ogilvie-page-1-revolutionary-war-pensions
Veteran: Ogilvie, Kimbrough  Service: N.C.  Pension Number: S. 14050
Record Group 15: NARA M804. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files.

Blackwell researchers might be interested in the Revolutionary Pension file of John Blackwell. I'm interested in his file because Blackwells married into the Shem Cook(e) YDNA line and that line is the one our Cooke YDNA most closely matches. According to John Blackwell's statement he was born abt 1755 in Culpepper Co VA.  When he went into service during the Revolutionary War, he was living in Burk Co NC.  He moved from Burk Co NC to Abbeville Co SC in 1784 and from there in 1797 or 1798 to Franklin Co GA.  John's statement which was given in 1836 says that he removed from Franklin Co GA to Hickman Co TN about 18 years ago which would make the move about 1818.

Source:  https://www.fold3.com/image/12026579/john-blackwell-page-1-us-revolutionary-war-pensions-1800-1900

Veteran: Blackwell, John   Service: N.C.  Pension Number: S. 2083

Record Group 15: NARA M804. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files.

Check out the Revolutionary War page of the FamilySearch wiki.  The time period prior to 1850 Census records can be difficult to research but finding where your family was in the early 1800s can help you to locate more records and further your research.  

Finding Nancy--Answers and More Questions

Yesterday I took a break from writing my article about my Jakes/Frizzell Great Grandparents and started "Framing out" Part 4 of my 6 post blog series about 1836-1840 Williamson Co TN Dist. 25 folks which include my Putmans(this portion covers surnames M-P).  As I was gathering my Putman information, I wondered why Nancy Putman(widow of Jabel Putman) is not enumerated in 1840.  She's known to be still living and was on the tax list in previous years.  Where is Nancy Putman in 1840?

My plan was to look for her in one of her children's households if I couldn't find a separate listing in another county(she was not showing up in Williamson).  I started in on that and noticed that there was a Noah Putman in Dyer Co TN.  Hmmm not where I'd expect him to be.  Let's check this out! No older female in Noah's household but the person listed right before him on the 1840 US Federal census of Dyer Co TN is Wm C Kook  👀

Could this be Wm C Cook, my 2nd Great Grandfather that I've never been able to find in the 1840 Census?  The ages for all the folks that should be in his household line up perfectly....except there are two extras--an older female who is most likely his Mother in Law, Nancy Putman and a yet unidentified female (15-20).  

While I realize that Cook is a common name, evidence seems to suggest this is most likely him.  

• He is next door to his Brother in law, Noah Putman
• Household composition matches
• Familiar surnames(Call, Hendrix/Hendricks, Harrison, and others) from Williamson Co TN District 25 around him. 
• DNA:  The descendants of Wm C Cook & Elizabeth Putman have a cluster they are in with descendants of a Lightfoot family who is in Dyer Co during the same time period.

I checked the USGW's 1840 Dyer Co TN Census Transcription (pg 104)  just to see how his entry was transcribed.  It was listed as HOOK there.

So now I have my answer to my original question: "Where is Nancy Putman in 1840?"  Nancy is most likely the older female living within the household of Wm C Cook(listed as Wm C Kook) in Dyer Co TN in 1840.  With every answer comes new questions and hopefully answers, documents, and evidence. The circle of research.