52 Ancestors – WEEK 1 – In the Beginning
By Cynthia Keefer Patton
In the beginning of my genealogy journey my husband had just lost his mother and he wanted to search more diligently for her ancestors and his birthfather, that he had been estranged from since his was a baby.
I sat by his side at the local LDS Genealogy Room
requesting films using the Soundex forms and returned for our allotted
appointments to review the rolls and rolls of film for people with the names
BAILEY (B400) or HAMNER (H560), KEEFER (K160) or MAHANNA (M500).
Today there is a nifty converter to help us determine the
Soundex if we still have a need for it.
https://www.creativyst.com/Doc/Articles/SoundEx1/SoundEx1.shtml#SoundExConverter
Once he determined that a lot of original vital records
would be in Barnwell, South Carolina for his Bailey family, we were off on a
journey. We took our Chevrolet van, or less than willing ten-year-old son and
mapped out where we needed to visit. There we found a wealth of information
about his forefather—Samuel Johnston Bailey, born in 1783 in Charlotte County,
Virginia and died on Valentine’s Day in 1862 in Barnwell, South Carolina.
We went to the South Carolina to libraries and archives. We
searched books and papers. We did get a xerox copy of Samuel Bailey’s will and
discovered that he was a doctor and others in his family had been lawyers.
Today, with just the click of the mouse I can review the
1850 census and learn more about this family that my late husband sought so
hard to discover. Another few clicks and I happened upon the 1850 census for
Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia[1]
where son Samuel Johnston, Jr. was with his new little family after the death
of his first wife during childbirth.
First I want to say, OMG what beautiful handwriting the census taker had. Would be that ALL census enumerators had that kind of penmanship. I studied the entries and transcribed what I found.
Samuel J. Bailey, 29, a timber merchant, born in Barnwell District, South Carolina
Georgiana H Bailey,
20, his wife from Mississippi with land a value of $5000 [she had the money in
this relationship]
Sarah,
5 ½ born in Barnwell. This is Georgiana’s stepdaughter
Elizabeth,
3, born in Barnwell. Her mother Elizabeth Ann Trotti died giving birth to her
on 13 Oct 1856.[2]
Anderson B. Bailey,
1 3/12, born there in Savannah, Georgia.
A younger, far less experienced genealogists would have missed all those clues. The fact that Georgiana was likely too young to be Sarah’s mother. And that it was her that had wealth, not Samuel the head of household. He had travelled from South Carolina back to Mississippi to get and marry Georgiana after losing his young wife. My new research question is: When and where did Samuel J. Bailey, Jr. meet his future wife Georgiana Bean from Maben, Mississippi?
So, in the beginning I was curious and eager to do genealogy research. Now I am more confident and ready to revisit the work done by my late husband and bring it up to the Genealogy Standards.
[2] Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/18750337/elizabeth-t.-bailey: accessed December 10, 2024), memorial page for Elizabeth Trotti Bailey (-1856), Find a Grave Memorial ID 182750337, citing Barnwell Baptist Church Cemetery, old Barnwell, Barnwell County, South Carolina, USA; Maintained by Wimsang (contributor 47338429).
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