Heirs of Thomas Jones(1812-1896): White County, Tennessee Chancery Records

I found a court case at FamilySearch that involved land that Thomas Jones of White Co., Tennessee, owned at the time of his death. The land was being sold, so there was a need to confirm his heirs. This was not taking place a few months after his death, but over 25 years after he had passed. Some of his children were deceased by that time as well, which necessitated naming their children, and—in cases where a grandchild was deceased—their surviving children.

This is a lot of great information for anyone researching this family. Thomas' wife, Rebecca Hitchcock Jones, was a sister to my 3rd-great-grandfather, James P. Hitchcock. The file includes 12 children, 22 grandchildren (representing the 6 deceased children), and 10 great-grandchildren (representing the 2 deceased grandchildren).

I extracted the information on the heirs from the file and have organized it in a spreadsheet, in which I also included the source citation. I plan to save it as a PDF and attach it to Thomas Jones' profile within my family tree at Ancestry.

Winston Family-Notes

Found a will for a William Winston Sr. in Franklin Co NC(written 20 Jan 1810) who I felt was the father of Hannah Winston Cooke and his will confirms he has a daughter named Hanna Cooke.  Left a Comment on the record file of the image at Ancestry so I can tell which one it is without having to click thru.  Saved the image to my Cook Study working tree.

North Carolina, Wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998-- Franklin--Wills, 1787-1838
Img 515 of 552 
https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/9061/images/004755054_00515?

In the process of looking at William Winston's will I found the will of a Benjamin Winston who had a C ? Cook and a Joseph Cooke as witnesses.  There was a Benjamin Winston listed among the purchasers from the John Cook estate sale in 1814 neighboring Wake Co NC

Benjamin Winston(Franklin Co NC) Written 3rd Apr 1835
Wife: Elizabeth
Children: Mary Ann Winston, Linton Winston, Carline Wall, Glatha Jackson Winston, Calvin Winston
Gives to Elizabeth Tamer Cook one bed and furniture.

Witnesses

Bartholomew Fuller

C ? Cook 

Joseph Cooke

George Winston 

Codicil added Aug 17 1835

Will of Benjamin Winston(1835)
Source: North Carolina, Wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998-- Franklin--Wills, 1787-1838
Img 504-514 of 552

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/9061/images/004755054_00504?

Also found the will of Bartholomew Fuller who it appears was married to a Sarah Cooke.  Their daughter Nancy married into the Winston family.  The Cooke, Fuller and Winston families  appear to be connected in a number of ways.

Will of Bartholomew Fuller
Source: North Carolina, Wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998 Franklin Co NC Original Wills Askew, Wiley - Leonard (Lennard), Scota
Img 1002-1006 of 1933
https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/9061/images/007640018_01002?

Omelia Jones Fuller--U.S. Special Census on Deaf Family Marriages and Hearing Relatives

Octavus Fuller and Omelia Jones
From special census forms on Deaf Families information on the marriage date place for the couple and the name of their parents are given with listing of their children as well as siblings of Octavus and Omelia.  This one in particular left more questions than answers so I had to read over what I know of Omelia's early life and go looking for more information in various records to see if I could piece together the picture.

Omelia Jones was one of the daughters of Thomas Jones and Rebecca Hitchcock.  She and her husband Octavus Fuller are listed in the U.S. Special Census on Deaf Family Marriages and Hearing Relatives, 1888-1895.  Thomas and Rebecca raised their family in White County Tennessee  The information from the forms show that Octavus and Omelia  married in Peeled Chestnut, TN in 1874.  While the day and month are correct, they are off by a year according to White County TN Marriage records which give the year as 1875.  Octavus and Omelia were both deaf and dumb from birth.  She attended the Tennessee School for the Deaf in Knoxville during 1855-1856  and then again after the war in 1866.  It is unclear how she met Octavus.  He grew up in Maine.  Octavus appears to be well traveled as he is in San Francisco in 1870 working as a shoemaker and his deafness is not noted on that census.  In 1870 Omelia is living with her older sister, Catherine(also deaf mute) and Catherine's husband and children in Franklin Co Indiana.  Another sister, Almedia(also deaf) lived there as well. By 1880 Octavus and Omelia are in the area of Maine in which he grew up and are starting a family.  They would have two sons, both of whom could hear.  This is noted in the Special census on Deaf Family and Marriages as well as in the 1880 Supplemental Schedule of Defective, Dependent and Delinquent Classes(see snippet from below.)

Ancestry.com. U.S. Federal Census - 1880 Schedules of Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes [database on-line, http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1634, search on Octavus W Fuller in Maine]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
Maine State Archives; Augusta, Maine; U.S. Federal Census - 1880 Schedules of Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes; Year: 1880; Roll: 19-161 Paris Oxford County, Maine, USA

Their oldest son Edward dies in 1900 at age 23 from Diabetes.  Omelia is widowed in 1911 when Octavus dies from Cancer of the Liver.  I find her next in Chicago where sister Almedia and her husband live.  Omelia marries Richard Tracy in 1915 and this is where she is living when she dies Christmas Eve of 1924.    I still don't know exactly how she came to met Octavus.  I thought maybe it might have something to do with schooling or function for deaf persons.  Maybe some day.