George F. Baggett – Korean War DD Form 62

I recently discovered this document in a box full of family stuff.  I can’t believe that my mom saved it.  This is my father’s DD62 showing that he was rejected for military service when drafted for Korea.

My parents had only been married four months when he received his draft notice.  He left for the army that morning, with his devastated, sobbing bride wondering if she would ever see him again.  Imagine her surprised when he was back home before supper!

I always through it very curious that he was rejected.  He was an ultra-healthy man, and was even playing semi-professional baseball for a local team at the time.  He always swore that when he was having his physical and the doctor told him to bend over and grab both cheeks, he bent over and grabbed both sides of his face.  The doctor told him, “Bless your heart … son, you can just go home.”  But somehow I still don’t believe that story.

The historical / genealogical significance for me is that it shows the address of my parents’ home in 1951: 710 McLemore Street in Brownsville, TN.  They were living in a garage apartment at the home of my mom’s parents, Rob and Ebbie Lee Williams.  The fact that his selective service number is on it is pretty cool, too.

As you find these documents in your own records, please do not hesitate to upload them online on your own blog or on Ancestry.com to share with all.  They will have historical significance to genealogists and historians in the future.

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Baggett DNA Project

I am pleased to announce that I am the new Project Administrator for the Baggett DNA Project at worldfamilies.net.

The Baggett DNA Project is a Y-Chromosome study that identifies and maps specific genealogical DNA markers.  Obviously, such a project does not map ones’ entire genome, nor does it reveal any other “secret” genetic information.  It does not look for cancer genes or markers.  It merely identifies the known genealogical markers that identify kinship.

Since this is a Y-chromosome study, it is for men with the Baggett surname only (not to be sexist or anything … it’s simply a test for genes on the male chromosome inherited from the father).

So … if you’re a Baggett-born woman, all you have to do is get a brother or your father, or even a first cousin, to test and get mapped.  This will demonstrate your place in the Baggett family lineage.

My goal is to get as many Baggett men as possible from as many branches as possible to get “on board” and get tested.

It’s not all that expensive, all things considered.  The cost right now is $129 for the Y-DNA37 kit (this is what we need, minimum, as it goes back 8 generations).  Here is the link where you can order a kit and get in on the project.

I’m still getting up to speed on the web site and what it will take to administer the project.  Meanwhile, please (if you are a Baggett male) consider going to the site and ordering your kit.

Let’s map the Baggett genome and settle our lineage questions once and for all!

Abraham Baggett II – Father of Blake Baggett, Sr.

Problem

Blake Baggett lived in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, through the year 1790, as demonstrated by the first United States Census.  Unfortunately, there exist no documents, censuses, or wills that explicitly name the identity of his father.  I will examine the available evidence and demonstrate through deed records, geographical proximity, and name analysis that the father of Blake Baggett was Abraham Baggett II, patriot, soldier in the Dobbs County Militia Regiment, and veteran of the early Revolutionary War battle at Moore’s Creek Bridge.

Context

Edgecombe County, North Carolina, was the established family home of the Abraham Baggett family by the 1750’s.  The name Abraham Baggett, however, causes some difficulty when analyzing the Baggetts of the area.  It was a popular name in the colonial Baggett family.  I will utilize the designations I, II, and III to describe the three consecutive generations of Abraham Baggetts in this particular family line.  They are as follows:

1. Abraham Baggett I  – Second son of Nicholas Baggett, born ca 1700, who settled in Edgecombe County before 1752, when he received his first deed on property there.  He was often referred to as Abraham Baggett, Sr.  He died in late December 1767 or January 1768.
2. Abraham Baggett II – Son of Abraham Baggett I.  The date of his birth is unknown, but based upon his militia service as a drummer in Edgecombe County Militia in the 1750’s, he was probably born between 1720 and 1730.  Most genealogists and family historians estimate his birth around 1725.   He was called Abraham Baggett, Jr., in deeds until 1768, after his father’s death, when he signed documents as Abraham Baggett, Sr.  He is the father of Blake Baggett, Sr, Joel Baggett, Sr., Nathan Baggett, Sr., and Abraham Baggett III, all residents of Edgecombe County in the 1780’s.  He died around 1800 in Marlboro County, South Carolina.
3. Abraham Baggett III – Son of Abraham Baggett II, and brother of Blake Baggett, Sr.  He departed Edgecombe County in the late 1780’s and eventually died after 1830 in Conecuh County, Alabama.

Deed Evidence – Edgecombe County, North Carolina

In order to identify and separate the different generations of Abraham (Abram) Baggetts, and make the documentary connection between Abraham Baggett II and Blake Baggett, we must examine a few deeds.  Abraham Baggett I received his first deed on land in Edgecombe County from the Earl Granville in March 1752.  The tract of land was on “Little Contentnea Creek,” the epicenter of the Abraham Baggett clan, and a land description that would show up on several future deeds as the property passed from one generation to the next.  I will attempt to include the minimum number of deeds possible for the sake of simplicity, though I may refer to and explain other deeds in my analysis of each reference document.

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.

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.