Sams-Jakes Marriage(Jan. 1950)

Sgt. & Mrs. Tom B. Sams

Old Hickory Record Clipping Thur. Jan 26, 1950

Old Hickory, TN

Down the Rabbit Hole--Wades of Rutherford Co TN

This "rabbit hole" adventure starts out with me finding this snippet shown below on  Newspapers.com and wanting to know more about this Wade family.

The Tennessean 29 Dec 1889 Sunday morning edition  pg 15 People and Events Murfreesboro section  (www.newspapers.com)  listed as The Tennessean Paper at the time it was The Daily American (Nashville, TN)

Fount and Eth B. Wade appear to be sons of Levi Wade.  Just out of curiosity I pulled their 1850 Census entry where they are living in their father's household.

1850 US Federal Population Census, Rutherford Co. Tennessee Wilkinson Crossroad Dist. Stamped pg #191 written pg #381 https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=8054 images reproduced by FamilySearch  (household entry carries over onto the top of the following page)

This Levi Wade's place of birth is given as Maryland.   He appears to be the one who is listed as a son of James Wade and Ann Magruder in Ancestry's North American Family Histories Collection 1500-2000 with the information noted as coming from Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage Book : NSDAR: Volume 159: 1920.  This entry also shows his connection to Maryland as he appears to be the great-grandson of Joseph Magruder who died in Montgomery Co MD in 1793.

I found 4 marriages for a Levi Wade all in Rutherford Co. TN.  The DAR lineage book noted that Mary Henderson was his 2nd marriage

1st Marriage to Mary A E. Bedford 17 Jan 1821
2nd Marriage to Mary Henderson 8 Jan 1828
3rd Marriage to Virginia Barksdale 5 Nov 1839
4th Marriage to Catherine E Thompson 7 Jan 1864(one compiled Ancestry.com source says 1863)

Virginia's FindAGrave entry says that Levi Wade was a widower with 12 children when he and Virginia married(see above link-Click on her name). She died sometime prior to Levi's marriage to Catherine likely around 1863 though her Find-A-Grave entry gives 1868 and is not sourced.

Imagine the number of descendants.  This is something to think about if you are a descendant and have done DNA testing.  You'd have 21 other possible lines of descent for cousins as Virginia and Levi went on to have 10 children.  According to some of the info I ran across while trying to see how many times he married, he was a TN state senator who voted for succession at the last minute and was away in Virginia when the Yankees took over his plantation. Levi filed a claim in 1876 with the Southern Claims Commision but it was disallowed.  He lived to be in his mid-80s.  There were many mentions of him in the Tennessee newspapers which you can read if you have access to Newspapers.com.  Virginia's family cemetery(Barksdale) has some details about the Union troops taking over the family plantation.

When less is more--Newspaper Searches

While you are searching for your ancestors in newspapers, don't miss out on finding them by failing to search for them under the initials of their given names.  My paternal grandparents lived in Old Hickory, TN from 1920s up til about 1950.  My Grandfather, Thomas DeWitt Cooke is usually listed as T.D. Cook in the Old Hickory social news column.  His father, William Green Cook is listed as W. G. Cook and in some cases Wm G Cook in real estate transfers, community news, and family celebrations.  Of course, there is a bit more involved in verification so that you can be sure you have your man(or woman).  See the example below from a paragraph which listed persons in attendance at a birthday celebration. 

The Daily News-Journal, (Murfreesboro, TN) 16 Mar 1938, Wed,  Page 3

available at www.newspapers.com

Early Newspapers great source for marriages and deaths

Most of Bedford County Tennessee's marriage records prior to 1861 did not survive so locating a marriage mentioned in a newspaper is a wonderful find. 

Nashville Whig (Nashville, Tennessee)
Davidson County, TN
Wed. 17 Oct 1821 Page 3
www. newspapers.com

Unionville TN residents subscribe to The Kansas Herald

This bit of information from The Kansas Herald peaks my curiosity as to why there were so many new subscribers from Unionville TN.  Was Mr. T.J. Fain THAT good of a salesman?  Were there folks from Unionville considering moving there or who had family there?

Kansas Weekly Herald  Leavenworth, Kansas  Fri, Dec 29, 1854 – Page 2

Newspapers.com (accessed Dec 5, 2017)

Humorous news article Hickman, Fulton Co., KY, USA April 1892

It is a mystery to me why my Grandfather, William Richard Luna, was born in Fulton Co. KY.  Why was his mother in Fulton Co.  We have no known family connections there.  His mother Nancy Florence Pitman Luna's  lines were in Dekalb Co. TN along with her husbands lines.  I thought maybe that my Great Grandpa might have been there for work but that would not explain why my Great Grandma was there.  This would have been in March/April of 1892.  Another example of when the 1890 Census could have really helped me out.  This article won't solve that mystery for me but I found this snippet of local news from The Hickman Courier entertaining.

The Hickman courier. (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, April 08, 1892, Image 3
Image provided by University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
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