Blake Baggett Parentage Proof Study Completed

I’m still working on my proof to connect Burrell Baggett to his father, Blake Baggett, Sr.  I’m almost finished, after my “forensic” study of the four Baggett brothers in Edgecombe County in the 1780’s.  However, I want to check one more place for evidence.  I will be going down to the courthouse in Winchester, Tennessee, on Monday to check deeds … then swing by the Franklin County Historical Society at the local library to look for evidence on both Burrell and Blake.  (We know Burrell was there from about 1812-1817, and Blake by 1820.  I’m looking for any evidence of “overlap” in their time there.)

However, I recently made a VERY important discovery that knocked down my “brick wall” of finding the father of Blake Baggett.  I now have an abstract of a deed in which he and his father shared ownership of a property that they were selling.  That particular prof is complete.  I will post this proof, along with the associated documentation, later tonight.  BTW … those in my direct line have a CONFIRMED Baggett patriot ancestor.  Blake’s father was a drummer in the Edgecombe and Dobbs County militias, and fought at the crucial early battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge (with three of his brothers!).  Info to come …

Blake Baggett, Sr. – Father of Burrell Baggett

In the words of Mr. Spock,

“If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

We began this forensic study with the knowledge that Burrell Baggett was born ca 1785 in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, based upon the age reported on his 1813 U.S. Army enlistment form.  By cross-referencing with the first U.S. Census records in 1790, as well as one court record, we were able to establish that there were four Baggett men of child-bearing age remaining  in Edgecombe County in the 1780’s.  They were:

1. Nathan Baggett
2. Abraham Baggett III
3. Joel Baggett
4. Blake Baggett

In previous installments of this study, I have eliminated Nathan, Abraham, and Joel as possibilities utilizing census information and other available evidence.  Therefore, only one choice remains …

Mary Jane Hammock – Daughter of Jacob Hammock

This post is unlike most of my others.  Rather than focusing upon a Baggett ancestor, I am publishing this study on a member of my father’s maternal line.  His mother was Fannie Jo Hollingshead, daughter of Thomas Jefferson Hollingshead, son of Ezekiel Hollingshead.  Ezekiel (my gg-gf) was married to Jane.  The purpose of this study is to correctly identify her parentage and family line for further research.

Note:  This is all original research and a new discovery.  To the best of my knowledge the parents and lineage of Mary Jane Hammock (Jane Hammac) were previously unknown.

 

Problem

The earliest document naming the wife of Ezekiel Hollingshead is their marriage license from Autauga County, Alabama.  On that document, she is listed as, “Jane Hammac.”  This spelling has led to much confusion regarding her lineage.  Indeed, the name has seen many manifestations of spelling, including Hammock, Hammack, and Hammick.  Unfortunately, she has been wrongly identified on many family trees and web sites as, “Elizabeth Jane Hammac.”  The origin of the first name, Elizabeth, is unknown.  I will demonstrate, with sufficient and convincing evidence, that she was actually, “Mary Jane Hammock,” the daughter of Jacob Hammock and Hannah Jones Hammock of Georgia and Alabama.  The following pieces of documentary evidence build a structure of support for this conclusion.

Burrell Baggett – Hiding on the 1830 Census!

I have long lamented the fact that Burrell Baggett seemed to be a professional “census dodger.”  I have often accused him of being such, joking that he must have “shot the census man when he saw him coming down the road.”

But considering the circumstances, it seems that he did pretty well, after all.  He wasn’t old enough for the 190 or 1800 census.  Then, recently, we discovered that he was, indeed, on the 1810 census in Haywood County, North Carolina.  He was in Alabama in 1820, and the census records for Alabama that year are non-existent … but we (Jack Baggett, actually) did find him on the officer’s election and commissioning sheets in Lauderdale County, Alabama.  So we have him accounted for in that year.  But 1830 has always been a problem.

Until now …

Burrell Baggett – Officer in the Alabama Militia!

I have to tip my hat to my new research partner and telephone buddy, Jack Baggett.  He had two amazing documents in his box of stuff.  They are amazing, and I am blown away!  They give us yet another concrete piece in the mysterious puzzle that is Burrell Baggett.  He discovered these military records in the Alabama State Archives in Montgomery.  They appear here, on the internet, for the first time.

The records come from the 10th Regiment of the Alabama Militia, formed in Lauderdale County, Alabama, in 1820.  The first is a typed summary listed under the name “Bennall Bagget.”  This was, of course, one of the many misspellings of his name, and nothing more than a transcription error.  It is the register which shows he was elected “Ensign” in the regiment on March 10, 1820, and commissioned as an officer on May 22, 1820.

CONFIRMED! Burrell Baggett in Haywood County, NC – 1810 Census

I, and others, have long suspected that Burrell Baggett was on the 1810 Federal Census in Haywood County, North Carolina.  There is a listing on ancestry.com for a “Berrell Beggett” at that location.  Unfortunately, two pages of that census (pages 58 and 59)  were, basically, destroyed and somehow made unreadable.   And wouldn’t you know it … his entry was second from the top on page 59.

Recently, however, I learned about a 2010 publication by the Old Buncombe County Genealogical Society of a transcribed census from Haywood County, written and complied by Sandra Samz.  I contacted the organization and spoke to the sweetest lady on the phone.  I told her that I was interested in obtaining a copy if my ancestor was in the listing.  I asked her if a Burrell Baggett was in the new publication.

She told me, “I don’t think so.  The name doesn’t sound familiar.  But let me grab a copy and check.”

As she thumbed through the booklet, she mumbled, “No, no, there’s no Burrell Baggett on the list …”  I was so disappointed.

Then, suddenly, she blurted out, “Wait a minute!  Here he is right here.  Burrell Baggett, top of page 59!”

I was elated.  I told her, “I want a copy!”  And she proceeded to tell me how to go to their Ebay store and order one.  Three days later I had it in my hands.

Here’s the cover:

In the introductory comments Samz explains how she had access to two older documents with lists from the census.  The author of one of those lists had direct access to the microfilm in the National Archives, which is apparently more readable than the one available today to the public.  It is from this earlier list that she gleaned the previously unknown names.

And Burrell Baggett was one of those!

Here he is, in black and white, on the transcription.  He’s the second listing down on page 59.

According to the notes of the census enumerator, Thomas D. Love, there were only 384 households totaling 2780 people within this HUGE geographical area (now encompasses 5 counties in western North Carolina).  Burrell Baggett was one of those heads of household.

Unfortunately, the author who had access to the original microfilms did not record the family enumeration numbers (ages, sexes, etc… of all family members).  So we have no definitive knowledge of the makeup of Burrell Baggett’s household in 1810.

But I tried a little computer magic, and I think I came up with something.

I saved an image of the faded microfilm page from ancestry.com and opened it in a basic photograph enhancement program.  I played with the contrast, brightness, and yellowing of the image.   Here are two versions of my amateur enhanced photos.  I have outlined the line which held Burrell Baggett’s information.  And I think you will notice that you can make out very faint “tic” marks under columns 3 and 8.  These are the columns for “Males 16 and Under 26” (column 3)  and “Females 16 and Under 26.”

Which makes sense, because we know that Burrell Baggett’s correct date of birth was approximately 1785 (based upon his army enlistment paper recording him as 28 years of age in November 1813).  So Burrell was married in 1810, but with no children … as we already suspected.

But I still do not believe that his wife was named Elizabeth McLemore, though folklore says he married Elizabeth McLemore in 1809.  Of course, this same folklore says that he was 12 years old when he did so (popular info says he was born in 1797).  Again, something is amiss.  A possible corroboration of my hypothesis is the fact that there is not a single McLemore family listed in the 384 households of Haywood County in 1810.  Not one.  Clearly, more research is needed.

I have discovered that marriage records are available from Haywood County beginning in 1808.  My next stop is Haywood County, North Carolina, where I plan to search their early book of marriage records.  Hopefully, he was married there!

Discovered! The Wife of Nathan Baggett of Edgecombe County, North Carolina!

I am taking a brief break from my investigation to discover the ancestry of Burrell Baggett because of a rather significant discovery that I made today.  It is a previously unrecorded and unrecognized marriage connection, as evidenced by the absence of this relationship on any tree at ancestry.com.   This discovery does not have any significance for my direct ancestral line, but it is very significant for all descendants of Nathan Baggett.  Indeed, if they are unaware of their heritage, there is also some helpful news for the descendants of Joel Baggett, Sr. and Martha Amason.

I was doing some research on the Amasons of Edgecombe County in order to find out the name of the father of Martha Amason, the wife of Joel Baggett, Sr.  I somehow managed to stumble across the last will and testament of William Amason of Edgecombe County, dated 1793 and executed in court in 1797.  Here is the text of his will, found at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~amasonamerson/ncwills.htm:

Father of Burrell? – Joel Baggett, Sr. of Edgecombe County, North Carolina

Joel Baggett, Sr. (ca. 1753 – ca. 1820)

The Joel Baggett that appears on the 1790 Edgecombe County, North Carolina, census is best known as Joel Baggett, Sr.   Most sources place his date of birth around 1753 in Northampton County, North Carolina, though I am not sure of the origin of this date.  The location, however, seems to fit the time line.  Descendants list his wife as Martha Amason, and claim that they married in 1771 in Northampton County, North Carolina, though Edgecombe County is a possibility.

It would, indeed, be reasonable for Joel Baggett to marry an Amason.  There are eight Amason households in the immediate vicinity of the Baggetts of Edgecombe County in 1790, as they were all enumerated on the same census sheet (in the same column!).

On the 1790 census in Edgecombe County, NC, the entry for Joel Baggett includes himself, his wife, two sons under age fifteen, and three daughters.  He is, therefore, certainly a candidate to be the father of Burrell Baggett, who was about age five in 1790.

Interestingly, Joel Baggett, Sr. was included on two federal census reports in 1790.  He also appeared on the census list for St. Thomas, Cheraws District, South Carolina (later known as Marlboro County).  There is a historical reason for such a possibility.  The state of South Carolina was quite tardy in completing its census enumeration for the 1790 count.  Indeed, they completed the census in 1792.  The Joel Baggett, Sr., family, as well as several other Baggett family units, apparently relocated to South Carolina in 1791 (supported by multiple deeds).  His family size is reduced by one person by 1792.  He and his wife apparently lost one of their young sons sometime between 1790 and 1792.  The lone surviving son is, without doubt, Joel Baggett, Jr., born ca 1786.

Therefore, we can automatically eliminate Joel as the father of Burrell Baggett, simply through the process of mathematics.  However, we must delve more deeply into the identity of Joel Baggett, Sr., because of the potential familial relationship to Burrell Baggett and his predecessors.

Allow me to explain …

Father of Burrell? – Abraham Baggett of Edgecombe County, North Carolina

Abraham Baggett (ca. 1753 – ca. 1835)

I considered Abraham Baggett as a potential father of Burrell because of his inclusion in the Edgecombe County court minutes in a road work order in August 1786.  He was, obviously, a contemporary of Nathan, Blake, and Joel Baggett, all enumerated in the 1790 Edgecombe County, North Carolina, census.

We must consider Abraham as a potential “candidate” for Burrell’s father, since one of his (conjectural) sons was named Abraham.  However, we must also remember that Abraham was one of the most popular names used by the Baggett clan in several of its branches.  Still, we must consider the Abraham on the 1786 work crew and work to eliminate him from consideration.

First, before analyzing his potential to be the father of Burrell Baggett, he must be correctly identified.  I believe that this Abraham Baggett, the contemporary of the other three men in the 1790 Edgecombe County census, is Abraham Baggett III, son of Abraham Baggett II, son of Abraham Baggett I, son of Nicholas Baggett II.

Census and Documentary Evidence

By the time of the 1790 census, Abraham Baggett III was located in St. Thomas, Cheraws District, in South Carolina.  This census was actually completed in South Carolina in 1792, but his absence from the Edgecombe County 1790 census shows that he was already in South Carolina by that date.

Father of Burrell? – Nathan Baggett of Edgecombe County, North Carolina

Nathan Baggett (ca. 1745 – 1803)

Deed and Abstract Evidence

The earliest documents naming Nathan Baggett of Edgecombe County are deeds that he witnessed for a land sales in 1766 and 1767, listed in the Edgecombe County, NC, Extracts, Volume 2 (1764-92).   Here are the texts of these abstracts:

Deed Book O, Page 152.
Jesse Baggett of Edgecombe County, planter, to Abraham Baggett, Jr. of same, 11 July 1766, for £9 a tract of 60 acres on the head of Little Contentnea Creek at the mouth of Quilet Branch and on Baggett’s Branch along the line of his father’s deed. Witness: Joseph Strickland and Nathan Baggett.

Deed Book C, Page 431. (May be same deed)
Jesse Baggett to Abram Baggett, 11 July 1766, for £9 proclamation money, a tract of 60 acres on Quilet Branch and Baggett’s Branch at the head of Little Contentnea Creek. Witness: Nathan Baggett.

Deed Book O, Page 122.
James (X) Baggett of Edgecombe County, planter, to Abraham Baggett, Jr. of Edgecombe, planter, 1 December 1767, for £25 a tract of 100 acres on the head of Little Contentnea Creek at the mouth of Tar Trough Branch. It was part of a tract that James Baggett purchased of Elisha Baggett, which was given to him by deed of gift from Abraham Baggett, Sr. out of a deed he purchased from Earl Granville bearing date 25 March 1752. Witness: Shadrack Baggett and Nathan Baggett.

Found at: http://baggetthistory.com/wills_deeds.html

In colonial times, even though a person was considered an “infant” until age 21 for legal purposes, a minor age 14 or older could perform certain legal tasks.  Witnessing a deed was one of those tasks. (http://www.genfiles.com/legal/legalage.htm)  Therefore, this indicates that Nathan Baggett had a date of birth no later than July 1752.  Based upon his inclusion in a 1769 North Carolina census, he was, most likely, born sometime around 1745.