Follow that man--David T. W. Cook

For those that haven't been following my search to find the identity of Joseph S. Cook who died in Williamson Co TN here is the short version of that.  I've located two Joseph Cooks in the 1820 census in areas where my families were and I want to know if either of these is the Joseph Cook who married Tamar Northern in 1803 Granville Co NC.  I believe he is the one who is in Simpson Co KY and is listed with Northern families near.  The other Joseph Cook is enumerated in Wilson Co TN near others who have Granville Co NC ties and who will in a few years end up in Williamson & Bedford County Tennessee area.  Our Cook Y DNA points to descendants of Shem Cooke(he died in 1796 in Granville Co NC and was from Amelia Co VA).  I also want to determine if either one of them is the Joseph S. Cook from Williamson Co TN.   To add to the confusion, the probate papers of 2 other Joseph Cooks(one of which IS Joseph S Cook) have been combined and labeled as the Joseph S. Cook in Williamson County TN records and as such, that is how it appears within the Ancestry database.  Joseph S. Cook died without a will and Wm C Cook(my 2nd Great Grandfather) was appointed admin of Joseph S. Cook's estate and reported an inventory and sale of the estate.  The other Joseph Cook in that file folder left a will and the majority of the papers in that folder are for his estate detailing the division of his property among his children.  He died a few years after Joseph S. Cook and lived in Davidson Co and I believe he was a resident of Dist 2 Williamson Co TN.

So I had looked at the entry for the marriage of Joseph Cooke & Tamar Northern in Granville Co NC but never really looked at the marriage bond.  It was hard to find as it is incorrectly indexed as James Nothern instead of Tamar Northern.  I think part of that comes from an indexer who isn't familiar with the document that is being indexed and what to expect on it.  The first name on the bond is that of  James Turner who was Governor of North Carolina at that time.  The bondsman who signs with Joseph Cook is David T W Cook.

From Newspapers.com

Mississippi Free Trader(Natchez, MS) Jun 18, 1840 pg 3 Marriage to Miss Sarah Godley(Wilkinson)

Mississippi Free Trader(Natchez, MS) Nov 16, 1819 pg. 5 --an advertisement that he had placed in order to sell land. (appears to have run Nov 9-mid Dec)

• 10 Lots in the town of Woodville(including those I live on)
• 640 acres of land on the river Comite, Popular Springs improved 
• 350 acres of land well improved near the Mississippi 
• 4500 acres in West TN on Duck, Big Harper, and Elk Rivers.

Weekly Raleigh Register(Raleigh, NC) Dec 28, 1821, Pg. 4

A petition for divorce filed by Lydia Cook in Currituck Co. NC against David T W Cook.

(published for 3 months beginning Nov 8, 1821)

From Ancestry.com

Mississippi, Compiled Marriages, 1776-1935 marriage Elizabeth Collingsworth 13 Jan 1812(Wilkinson)

Mississippi, Compiled Marriages, 1800-1825 marriage Matilda Nelson 26 Oct 1815(Wilkinson)
Mississippi, Compiled Marriages, 1776-1935 marriage Matilda Nelson 2 Nov 1815(Wilkinson)
Louisiana, Compiled Marriages, 1718-1925 marriage Caroline M Nelson 14 Jan 1817(West Feliciana)

1813 Mississippi, State and Territorial Census Collection, 1792-1866 Wilkinson Co. MS
1820 Mississippi, State and Territorial Census Collection, 1792-1866 Wilkinson Co. MS
1820 United States Federal Census in Wilkinson Co. MS
1830 United States Federal Census in Tipton Co. TN
1840 United States Federal Census in Wilkinson Co. MS

U.S. Army, Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914 1798 May 17-1815 ----- "C"
6535 Cook David T W Capt Miss. Militia  Col Neilson

The Remarks column from that entry is shown in the image below

At FindAGrave.com

I found the entry for his wife Matilda Caroline Nelson Cook

This was a wonderful find as there are biographies for her, her siblings, and her father, John Nelson.  The bio entry has sources and while focusing on the Nelsons and their lives, has a bit about David Taylor Woodward Cook.  The story of where the Nelsons were from, why they came to Louisiana, Mississippi and for a time parts of Tennessee including, Williamson County, Tennessee is in the bios on the Nelsons memorial pages.  They are a great read separate and apart from this mystery.  Do yourself a favor and read them.

At Hathitrust.org

A dictionary of all officers, who have been commissioned, or have been appointed and served, in the army of the United States, since the inauguration of their first president in 1789, to the first January, 1853,--with every commission of each;--including the distinguished officers of the volunteers and militia of the states, and of the navy and marine corps, who have served with the land forces --Gardner, Charles K. (Charles Kitchell), 1787-1869. pg. 125

The Austin papers / edited by Eugene C. Barker. 1919 v.2 pt.2. Austin, Moses, 1761-1821. pg 1751

David T. W. Cook to Austin, July __, 1822.  Came to Texas to see you "in behalf of myself and many others."  Wants land.

The Austin papers / edited by Eugene C. Barker. 1919 v.2 pt.1. Austin, Moses, 1761-1821. pg 355
The above-mentioned letter dated July 1822 is as noted asking for land and was delivered by Austin's brother.  David T W Cook says he will be "on the  River Brassos 3 weeks" and asks him to direct any communication to Mr. Andrew Robertson.

American State Papers: Documents, legislative and executive, of the Congress of the United States ... / selected and edited under the authority of Congress.  pg 63  and pg. 774  Listed among the settlers with claims west of the Pearl River.  

At the Bureau of Land Management site 

I found David T W Cook among a long list of names for Land Holders in Louisiana.  Louisiana Meridian 020N - 002E Lot/Tract 1 Section 20 Union Co.

Do I have the answers or the connection? Not yet. I have a lot more questions and a great number of resources to check.  Would I love to find one of his direct male descendants?  You bet.  My brother has taken the YDNA test and I'd love to compare.  We are currently waiting on our upgrade from Y-67 to Y-111.

Finis E Plumlee--Van Buren Co. TN

I found a book available at HathiTrust Digital Library  It's written by Thomas L. Wilson and titled Sufferings endured for a free government; or,  A history of the cruelties and atrocities of the rebellion.  Complete with a table of contents, it tells the stories of many folks who lost their lives during the time period of the Civil War.

Since the text is fully searchable I was able to find an incident from a county in which many of my maternal ancestors lived.  Though there is a difference in the spelling of his name,  I believe that the story "Murder of Phileneas Plumley" is detailing the events of the death of Finis E Plumlee of Van Buren Co TN.  Finis was married to Lucinda Sparkman.  I have numerous connections to the Sparkman family thru marriages of my cousins.

The page detailing the murder says

"He left a wife and seven little children(who all witnessed his murder) to mourn the loss of a good husband and father."

I was found the census entries for 1850, 1860, and 1870 for the family.  Finis is not listed in the household for the 1870 entry and his burial information including a picture of his headstone can be found at Findagrave.com.   It should be noted that the book says this happened in the early part of 1863 while Finis' gravestone gives February 5th of 1864 as his date of death.  (image of Plumlee household from 1870 Census shown below)

I did find another incident which was claimed to have taken place in Clinton County Tennessee.  While there is a Clinton, TN, there is no Clinton County TN.  I believe the author meant Kentucky instead of Tennessee as I was able to find a record of the person he mentioned living in that county in Kentucky.

This brings to mind Robert Scott Davis' Georgia Black Book, Vol. #1: Morbid, Macabre and Disgusting Records of Genealogical Value.  Davis' work and research is far more in-depth than Wilsons but I'll take research clues wherever I can get them

Sources:
Wilson, Thomas L.(of Tennessee), Sufferings Endured for a Free Government; Or, A History of the Cruelties And Atrocities of the Rebellion ... Philadelphia: King & Baird, 1865. (Online at https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008653811).

Tennessee, Van Buren County. 1850 U.S.Federal census, population schedule. Database with Images. Ancestry http://ancestry.com Tennessee .> Van Buren > Dist 3  > Pg 374, line 18( image 4 of 8).

Tennessee, Van Buren County. 1860 U.S.Federal census, population schedule. Database with Images. Ancestry http://ancestry.com Tennessee .> Van Buren > Not Stated > Pg 3,  Line 1(image 6 of 60).

Tennessee, Van Buren County. 1870 U.S.Federal census, population schedule. Database with Images. Ancestry http://ancestry.com Tennessee .> Van Buren > Not Stated > Pg 2,  Line 15(image 2 of 7).

Find A Grave, database, and images (https://www.findagrave.com: accessed 04 September 2018), memorial page for Finis Ewing Plumlee (5 Jun 1820–5 Feb 1864), Find A Grave Memorial no. 19885633, citing Sparkman Cemetery, Van Buren County, Tennessee, USA; Maintained by Ash Far (contributor 46913275).

Down the Rabbit Hole: Several Williamson Co TN Kings

D. Hamner King was the son of George Peay & Lucinda Tate Gooch King.  There is a short biography about him included in the Madison Co TN section of Goodspeed's History.  [I scanned down the biographies and noticed that there seem to be several of them with Williamson Co. TN ties.  The information listed below is a timeline of the events listed in the Goodspeed bio.]

A native of Williamson Co TN 
1835 Birth: Feb 14th 
1849 Residence: Moved to Carroll Co TN & Farmed
1852 Residence: Moved to Madison Co TN
1855 Residence: Jackson 
1855 Occupation: clerk
1856 Occupation: Engaged in the liquor business
1858 Married: Miss Sarah C Wilson(TN Marriages Ancestry.com)
1864 Military: Enlisted Forrest's Calvary(in Quartermaster's Dept prior to this) 
1874 Business: Built King's Opera House
1883 Business: In March, Opera House burned down.
1891 Death: Oct 14th
1891 Burial: Riverside Cemetery(Jackson, TN Find A Grave)

From a section of the paper devoted to Jackson, TN
The Times-Democrat (New Orleans, LA)20 Nov. 1882 pg. 8 column 1 (1)
Images at www.newspapers.com

While the bio lists his years as mayor as 1872-1876 an article about the Mayors of Jackson lists him as mayor for the years 1873, 1875 and 1876.(2.)

D. H. King also ran the King's Palace Saloon in addition to the Opera House. (3.)

The younger brother of D. Hamner King was David Gooch King whose bio is listed below.
History of the Twentieth Tennessee Regiment Volunteer Infantry, C.S.A.
By William Josiah McMurray, Deering J. Roberts, Ralph J. Neal pg 423

The aunt who is mentioned as having raised David Gooch King was a maternal aunt as she was Elizabeth Gooch before her marriage to Beverly Ridley in Williamson Co TN. David Gooch King's bio carries over onto the next page(424) "David Gooch King came of good parentage than which, on the Gooch side there were none better in the state" (4.)

I found conflicting information as to whether their father, George Peay King, went to Mexico. An unsourced statement in several online trees at Ancestry.com says he left for California in 1849 during the gold rush and was killed in Texas.

Also, there seems to be another Lucinda Tate Gooch who married Joseph Kimbro in Rutherford Co TN in 1822. That's ten years prior to the marriage of George Peay King and Lucinda Tate Gooch who marry in neighboring Williamson Co TN in 1832.(5.) Maybe the elder Lucinda is a paternal aunt of the younger Lucinda. I'm fascinated by seeing the Kimbro connection as the Kimbro/Kimbrough family was around my own King lines who were in Williamson, Rutherford and Bedford Counties in TN. Some of my Kings moved on to Weakley and Carroll Co TN area as well.   Not sure if these Kings are related to my King line. A male from our King line is currently doing the YDNA testing and hopefully, that should provide some insight into our Kings.

1. "Jackson, TN: The second city in size and business importance in West Tennessee" The Times-Democrat, 20 Nov 1882, pg 8 col. 1; digital images, Newspapers.com (https://newspapers.com: accessed 21 Aug 2018).

2. “Milestones of Progress Have Marked Administrations of 32 Mayors,” The Jackson Sun, 29 May 1972, p. 70, col. 2; digital images, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 17 Aug 2018).

3. "Jackson, TN: The second city in size and business importance in West Tennessee" The Times-Democrat, 20 Nov 1882, pg 8 col. 3; digital images, Newspapers.com (https://newspapers.com: accessed 21 Aug 2018).

4. McMurray, William Josiah, Deering J. Roberts, and Ralph J. Neal. 1904. History of the Twentieth Tennessee Regiment Volunteer Infantry, C.S.A. Nashville, Tenn: Publication Committee, consisting of W.J. McMurray, D.J. Roberts, and R.J. Neal. pg 424 (https://books.google.com : accessed 21 Aug 2018)

5. "Tennessee Marriage Records, 1780-2002" Database with images. Ancestry. (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 Aug 2018) Williamson 1830 - 1839: Marriages, (Loose) Jo-Pr Image 108 of 1277.

Unmailable Letters in Nashville PO--Mon. July 18, 1870

Unmailable Letters at the Nashville PO(TN) on July 18, 1870

This article is particularly interesting to me because it gives the explanation of the reason the letters are not being mailed.  The reasons range from No Stamp to Illegally Stamped.  

Published in The Tennessean Tues. July 19, 1870  Page 4. 

https://www.newspapers.com

1836 Tax list-Williamson Co TN-Dist 25

I've been studying the 1836 Tax list of Williamson Co TN's Dist 25 (click on the image to zoom)  Others who are also interested in Williamson Co TN Dist 25 can view 1840 Williamson Co TN Dist 25 Heads of Household from the US Federal Census.

Above are the names I transcribed from the images at Ancestry.com.

Dist 25 begins on Image 126 of 133 in the Williamson Co TN 1836 section of the database.

Ancestry.com. Tennessee, Early Tax List Records, 1783-1895 [database on-line: https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=2883 Williamson 1836], Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

Original data: Early Tax Lists of Tennessee. Microfilm, 12 rolls. The Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee.

Apprentice Bond Recorded: Gideon Pope Rucker

Ancestry.com. Georgia, Wills and Probate Records, 1742-1992  Georgia. Court of Ordinary (Oglethorpe County); Oglethorpe, Georgia Bonds, 1799-1830 pg 68(of book) Image 99 of 365

Know all men by these presents that we Wiley Hill
and Isham Rainey are held & firmly bound
unto the judges of the court of ordinary for the
county of Oglethorpe & state of Georgia & their
successors in office in the sum of two hundred
dollars for the payment of which sum to the
said judges & their successors in office we bind
ourselves, our heirs, executors & administrators
firmly by their presents sealed with our seals
& dated the first day of September 1806

The conditions of the above obligation is such
that whereas the court aforementioned, has at September
term on the above date bound an apprentice
by the name of Gideon Pope Rucker orphan
& son of Willis Rucker deceased unto Wiley Hill
farmer, for the term of 10 years & five months
Now if the said Wiley Hill, shall & do in all
things will & truly perform the duties required
of him by law as guardian & the agreement
made between the parties in the application
for the apprentice, then the above obligation
to be void else to remain in full force power
& virtue according to the true intent & meaning
hereof

signed & sealed Wiley Hill
signed & sealed Isham Rainey
Recorded September 3rd day of 1806

MARainey c clk  (signature image below(loop above r is from word above the signature)