In Memoriam: Alonzo Birt Loyd (1896 - 1947)

 

Alonzo B. Loyd
Born: July 28, 1896
Died: November 13, 1947

Parents:  William Jefferson Loyd and Martha Rebecca Davis Loyd

Funeral Held at Rover Baptist with

Burial in Simpson Cemetery

Survivors

Mom-- Rebecca Loyd

Wife Edna Loyd

Daughter--Mildred Loyd of Mobile,  AL

Son-- Evans Loyd of Nashville, TN

Sisters:

Mrs. Lena Helton of Murfreesboro, TN

Mrs. J. W. Trott of Murfreesboro, TN

Mrs. Johnnie Walls of Murfreesboro, TN

Mrs. J. S. Vinson of Old Hickory, TN

Mrs. J. E. Blackburn of Florence, AL

Mrs. J W Drumwright of Chapel Hill, TN

Mrs Ruth Smith of Fosterville, TN

Brothers:  

Richard Loyd of Nashville,TN

Walter Loyd of Murfreesboro, TN

Lytle Loyd of Murfreesboro, TN

Clarence Loyd of Bristol, TN

Wayne Loyd of Bell Buckle, TN

Two Grandchildren

Sources:

The Tennessean, November 14, 1947, p 4, col 3; image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tennessean-obituary-for-alonzo-b-lo/205459169/ : accessed September 6, 2026), clip page for Obituary for Alonzo B. Loyd.

Find a Grave, database and images  (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/196675489/alonzo_birt-loyd: accessed 6 Sep 2026), memorial page for Alonzo Birt Loyd (28 Jul 1896–13 Nov 1947), Memorial ID 196675489, citing Simpson Cemetery, Bedford County, Tennessee, USA.

More Pieces of the Puzzle: Cook and Harrison

While continuing to work on the paper trail to identify Elizabeth Harrison's Cook husband, I went ahead and connected her as Wm C. Cook's mother. I also attached the census data, the link to my blog post(s) with the reasoning, and a note in the Suffix field of her profile.  

I revisited the YDNA matches of my brother for the COOK(E) Project and went over my notes and corresponded with one of the project admins.  While we do match a group of Pattersons as close as we match Cooks, the Pattersons lived near the GA & NC Cooks that descend from the Shem Cooke and there seems to be a connection to his line.  If our connection is thru Wm Pope Cooke that married Betsy Harrison, then we would likely connect all the way back to Shem Cooke thru a line of men with the given name of William. Prior to the BigY testing the 37, 67, and 111 marker tests were all we had.  There is representation more so from Shem's son James thru his children  Roland(d. 1842 West TN) and Shem(d.1862 Carroll Co GA)  There is one tester who descends thru the elder Shem Cooke(d. 1796)'s son William but he only tested at 37 markers.  His result contains no differing mutations with my brother at that level so he is an exact match at 37 markers.  This is an older test so I'm unsure if an update is possible but I am trying to make contact with others from that line who might be interested to see if we can come up with a way to compare.  At the same time I'm working further on his paper trail to see if it crosses with ours.  When my brother's test came in, I worked the matches trees to figure out exactly how they all were the connected.  Many of them didn't have trees...so I had to do a lot of sleuthing to figure it out but for the most part I have a very good picture of how they connect.  

I have access to AncestryDNA match lists of several descendants of the Shem Cooke(Carroll Co GA) and I have been looking at their closer matches to see if I could find an intersection with our clusters of unknowns which are likely Cook/Harrison related.   I did find one where I started noticing surnames that were familiar among those matches and have now identified more Harrison matches.

After having Elizabeth Harrison Cook connected for 2 days I am now seeing matches that descend from her siblings.  The great thing is that those matches are not all thru Rebecca Harrison who would match with the Cook Putmans because of their connection to Hiram Putman(Elizabeth Putman Cook's brother).  There are descendants of Nancy Harrison Hight, Gideon V Harrison, Edward Cannon Harrison and Martha Harrison Smith.  I think too somewhere back in there is another HIGHT connection or a connection to the Nichols(wife of a Hight).  The relationships of those matches are mostly 5C & 5C1R and are all well in range for those relationships.  Checking the shared matches is helpful as well to make sure none of them matched her(they didn't.)  

It should be noted that Thrulines® is a Tool that works using our DNA match list along with the trees on Ancestry.  It's still up to us to document and prove our conclusions so that our research is solid.  

A few pre-1820s Deeds--Hights in Franklin Co NC

I've previously blogged about the Hight family specifically John Hight of Franklin Co NC. You can see those posts at the following links.

Will of John Hight--Franklin(1796)Co NC(1795) https://mariegen.blogspot.com/2020/07/will-of-john-hight-franklin-co-nc-1795.html Purchasers from the Estate Sale of John Hight--Franklin Co NC(1796) https://mariegen.blogspot.com/2020/02/purchasers-from-estate-sale-of-john.html

Looking at the elements of the deeds along with the two previous blog post about John Hight you can see surnames repeating.

Hights in the index of Deeds of Franklin Co NC in the earlier years(not all inclusive)

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G96S-QS1R?i=53&cat=181225

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-896M-WJB4?i=84&cat=181225

Franklin Co NC--John Hight Sr.  to Francis Taylor Franklin Co. NC Deed Book 8  pg 23  (1796)

Amount of Land: 100 acres

Purchase Price:  60 pounds current money of Virginia

Bargain made:  14 Oct 1795

Recorded:  Sept Court 1796

Witnesses: Harbird Hight & Daniel Edwards

Direct Link

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L96M-JLNX?i=25&cat=181225

Franklin Co NC-- Francis A.Hight to Goodman Smith Franklin Co NC Deed Book 17 pg 201

Amount of Land: 92 acres

Purchase Price:  56 pounds

Bargain made:  11 March 1808

Recorded:  March sessions 1817

Witnesses:  Harbird Hight and Cliff Finch

Others mentioned in Land Description:  Gracy T Hight,  Reuban Huff, and _______ Power

The signature at the end of the deed reads Francis Ann Hight

Direct Link  

https://www.familysearch.oHrg/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-996M-H4MY?i=334&cat=181225

Franklin Co NC--Harbird Hight to John Fuller Franklin Co NC Deed Book 15 pg 113 (1810)

Amount of Land: 2 acres

Purchase Price:  3 pounds

Bargain made:  17 Dec 1808

Recorded:  June Session 1810

Witnesses: Cliff Finch and James H Hight

Direct Link  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-896M-WQH9?i=672&cat=181225

Franklin Co NC-- James H.Hight to Goodman Smith Franklin Co NC Deed Book 17 pg 191

Amount of Land:  92 acres

Purchase Price:  $207

Bargain made:  28 Oct 1812

Recorded:  March Session 1817

Witnesses: John Y Jones, John Young

Direct Link  

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G96M-HW15?i=328&cat=181225

Book Recommendation: A History of England--John Thorn, Roger Lockyer, & David Smith

For those of us who are researching our family history and who have English ancestry, one of the best resources is the book, A History of England by John Thorn, Roger Lockyer, & David Smith.  I was lucky enough to find a 1963 printing at a thrift sale for 99 cents about 15 years ago.  It has 600 pages including the index and many maps of the area for the time period covered in each of the sections.  This could really be helpful to those doing DNA research to give them more information about what was going on in England during the time in which their ancestor was there. Also if your ancestor immigrated from England it could be helpful in determining why your ancestor decided to leave England.