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.

Pearl Gray Jakes Cooke--TN Delayed Certificate of Birth

 My paternal grandmother was born in 1891 in Bell Buckle, Bedford County, Tennessee, USA.  The state of Tennessee did not began keeping birth records statewide until 1908.  It was 1951 before my grandmother applied for her delayed certificate which means she was 60 years old at the time of her application. 

It's interesting to see what documents are used for evidence.  The image below shows what my grandmother used.  I've marked thru the certificate number and the date for item 2 because it is that of my Aunt Bobbie who is still living.  I left the date on the column to the far right which is the date the original document was made which can vary a good bit from the date of birth.  

1. Original Family Bible--I have no clue where this Bible is but think it would most likely be that of James Jakes, Pearl's father.  He died 10 yrs prior to her application and did live with her the last few years of his life. Her mother died 31 years prior to her application.
2. Cert. Copy--Child's Birth Cert- This is the birth certificate of her youngest daughter who is still living.
3. Cert. Copy--Child's Birth Cert- This is the birth certificate of her next to the youngest daughter, June.
4. Orig. Death Cert. of Sister--This is the death certificate of her oldest sister Ella Ruby Jakes Pirtle.  

Tennessee's Delayed Certificates of Birth are two sided forms but this particular one didn't have a notarized statement from a witness or witnesses so the back of the document was blank other than the vital records office's not of address at the top left.  

Source:

Ancestry.com. Tennessee, Delayed Birth Records, 1869-1909. Database with images.  Ancestry http://www.ancestry.com : 2012. Imaged from Tennessee Delayed Birth Records, 1869–1909. Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee.

1940 US Federal Census Findings

My shocker from the 1940 US Federal census.

Finding my Dad's maternal Grandfather, James Jakes. alive and living with my Grandparents in 1940. When I first began researching over 20 yrs ago I found a Date of death on microfiche for a James Jakes in the area in which he had lived and I incorrectly ASSumed it was him. The date was within 2 yrs of his wife's death and it seemed logical to me(the whole dying of a broken heart bit after losing a spouse). I knew where he was buried however his tombstone did not have a year of death. So I never really gave much thought to researching any more on him other than his children and his ancestors. After finding that he was still alive in 1940 I was able to search FamilySearch's online death records for TN and come up with the correct Death Cert and the correct date of death which happened the following yr. It also gave his birthdate. Prior to that I only had the yr from the tombstone and a month from census records which is off by one from what his Death Cert listed. The certificate also told his place of death-- Davidson Co. Hospital(TN). and gave M as his middle initial...something I'd never seen. Makes me wonder if it is Morrow which was his mother's Maiden name. The informant on the death cert. listed his father as James Jakes...which is probably an error. I have several records showing his father was George Jakes although I don't rule out the possibility that George's middle name might have been James.

Now I'm off in search of his 1930 census entry and also going to find out who Martha Gibson, the informant on his death certificate is. Two Gibson brothers married two of James Jakes' daughters and his Aunt Ann Jakes married a Gibson. Lots of possibilities.


I love learning :-)

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1940 US Federal Census at National Archives And Records Administration