Fifth Generation

I am not quite through with my father’s line. Marshall Daniel Majors was born December 10, 1845 in Marion County, Georgia. His parents were Daniel Majors and Louiza Johnson. He passed away on March 23, 1932 near Mobile, Alabama.

There are a lot of questions about Marshall Daniel Majors’ ancestry. We assume that Louiza is Elizabeth Johnson who Daniel Majors is on record of marrying in 1824 in Wilkes County, Georgia. She is also known as Samantha. The bible record and census lists her as Louiza so that is what I will call her. I know nothing else about her family. Perhaps she is related to a Marshall. She also named one of her sons Albert Johnson Majors. Perhaps that is a clue. We don’t know much about Daniel either. He was born in South Carolina according to the census. His mother remarried a Castleberry. The Castleberry family is a German family that were associated with Quakers and lived in either Pennsylvania or Virginia, then to South Carolina, and finally into Georgia. Daniel’s father or grandfather might have been in the Revolutionary War and received some sort of land grant. If they were Quakers, then I don’t know how they came down, probably with other Quaker families that came to Georgia at the time. Marrying into the Landrum family, perhaps they followed a similar migration to them. We still have a lot of mysteries to solve in the Majors’ line.

Marshall Daniel Majors was raised on a farm in Georgia with his many brothers and sisters. By the time he was 15 years old, the family moved to Webster County, Georgia. He soon fought in the Civil War and surrendered in 1865 at the age of 20. My mother has a copy of his Civil War record. He came back to a war torn Georgia. I have copies of letters written by his grandmother, Elizabeth Castleberry, about the hard times the family suffered through during the war. Both Elizabeth Castleberry and Louiza Majors died soon after the war. As Marshall was now in his twenties, he needed a wife. I am not sure how he knew the Milners or the Landrums.  The Landrums and Milners were prominent land owners in Georgia and conencted to the very famous Lumpkin family. He married the young 17 year old orphaned Matilda Pope Milner (she probably lived with her step mother Elizabeth Sims Milner) in 1868 around the same time that his father remarried Nancy Moye.  Matilda had relatives that moved to a new town in West Tennessee along the Mississippi River that offered a lot of hope and promise. So in 1870, Marshall Majors and his young wife moved to Tennessee to start a new life. They lived in Fulton, Tennessee where he worked as a clerk for the A Lea & Company. Fulton, Tennessee never lived up to its promise and is currently under the Mississippi River, but at the time, it promised to be better than Memphis. Residents came from as far away as Maine (the Bacons) to settle in the new town. Marshall worked as a1873 they had a son who they named Lucien Leon. He lived nearby Mr. Lea, the Bacons and the Butlers. (The Butlers married into the Glass family whose head served as a Democrat Senator from Tennessee) The Landrums were the Majors’ neighbors and connected through Matilda’s (known as “Pope Milner”) sister Sara who married a Landrum. Sara’s father-in-law lived in nearby Fort Pillow. The were the respected relatives of the famous Rev. Landrum who risked his life serving the sick of the famous Memphis yellow fever epidemic. Sara Milner Landrum still lived in Oglethorpe County, Georgia. I am sure Matilda heard about her sister’s death in 1874 and worried about her orphaned nieces and nephews.

After 5 years of marriage, Marshall and “Pope Milner” had a son named Lucian Leon Majors. I have no idea where they got the name. Matilda Majors did not have children every two years like most at the time. Either MArshall Majors was out working a lot to support his family and saving up to buy his own farm, or Matilda had some sort of medical issue. Three years later in 1876, Pope Milner Majors was pregnant again but died in childbirth, the baby is presumed to have died soon after as well. Marshall had a young son to raise on his own. Perhaps the Landrums in LAuderdale county told Marshall about a young orphaned niece of Matilda Pope Milner’s the daughter of his sister-in-law Sara Milner Landrum. She was the young Ida May Landrum. He returned to Georgia to court the young lady named Ida May.  Ida had to care for her younger brothers and sisters so when Marshall married Ida she brought two of her sisters and her younger brothers. They all lived in Fulton together. Soon the brothers and sisters married into the Lea, Butler, and Bacon families who were all neighbors of Marshall Daniel Majors.

Marshall and Ida had 11 children together but only Herbert, Dan, Ida, Jack, Tom, and Henry survived. During this time Marshall was able to have his own plantation where he had a dairy farm and he grew berries. By 1890, Ida began to grow ill, probably because of constant child birth and her sister, who was recently widowed, Minnie Landrum Bacon, came to help her sister. She came with her two young children, Milton and Myra. In 1895 while giving birth to her last child, Ida May Landrum passed away and the child, a daughter soon died as well. Ida’s sister Minnie Landrum Bacon took over the care of Ida’s children along with her own two children Milton and Myra.  Marshall left his farm in 1898 to live with his son Herbert in Arkansas. I think he moved back and forth between Ripley and Arkansas. “Aunt Minnie” married Judge Joel Estes. Other members of the family stayed with Marshall from time to time including his daughter Ida Pope who married Joe Tucker. I heard that Marshall and Joe Tucker did not get along too well. In 1917, Herbert died, I am guessing from the flu that was going around. Marshall returned to Ripley, TN in 1917. It was then he met Ella Bacon who was a widow of William Alexander. Ella’s older sister was the sister of Marshall’s old boss, Albert Lea and the half sister of Minnie Landrum’s husband, Thomas Bacon. They spent the rest of their years in a resort in Citronelle, Alabama. He would come to Ripley to visit his family andI have pictures of a family reunion. He died on 23 March 1932 and is buried in Ripley, TN.

A good way to do genealogy is to pick a focus ancestor. I made the mistake of picking Ninian Magruder. I soo found that his children married into the Beall family. I tried to figure them out but was sorely disappointed. It became a confusing mess. Everyone is trying ot connect to Col. Ninian Beall so that lines are crossed and knotted into a mess. It would take a lot of research and time to figure the mess out. I have three young children and at this time am unable to do tha kind of work. I know my mother could fix it but she is so far away. I notice that many times when you get a line back to 1650 things become confused. It is impossible to connect back to the old country which was usually England and sometimes Scotland. It is so tempting to connect your ancestor with those of the peerage, but these are usually wrong. It is best to just go by what research is found.

I honestly do not think it is a stretch that Alexander Magruder’s mother had royal lineage especially since those connections are through an illegitimate line and it goes back to Robert the Bruce. Saying that he was related to James IV is probably incorrect however and the fact of him being a cattle theif is not a stretch either. I like the Alexander Magruder who is a Drummond and a Campbell not a MacGregor who was an adventurer and soldier, whose mother with the timy bit of royal lineage through illegitimate lines There is some speculation that Alexander fought in wars on the continent before coming to Maryland and that he came to Maryland earlier than previously thought. All the stories of Alexander Magruder once he came to Maryland prove to be true. He worked hard, he became rich, he had friends in high places, and he was well educated. He also doesn’t seem to be a fan of the English and did not serve in the local government. He owned more than 4000 acres and his son Samuel became good friends with Col. Ninian Beall. Just based on facts and not speculation, Alexander Magruder is an interesting man. You don’t need to make up stories about him and he doesn’t even need to be connected to the MacGregor clan. The Magruders are interesting without them, even without connections to royalty or Lords and Ladies.

I have learned a lot about this family in the past month. Some not so flattering. Sarah Magruder the wife of Samuel appears in court documents where the court sentences mulatto girls to whippings and lashings for getting pregnant and selling their illegitimate children to other neighbors. As a Southerner, you have to accept the fact your ancestors were slave owners and forgive them, but it was still hard to read. A mullato free girl got pregnant by one of Sarah Magruder’s slaves. She asked the girl who the father was but the girl refused to name a father. She brought the girl to court and she was whipped and her child given to a neighbor for 30 years. Such a tragic story. Another interesting thing is that it was a fashionable thing to have an East Indian slave bought from England. I know of at least one Magruder who had an East Indian slave. We have interesting cousins like General John B. Magruder. I think he is my favorite cousin and he is related through Samuel Magruder son of Alexander the immigrant through his son William. (my line is from Ninian)

This is General John B. Magruder. You can read about him in Wikipedia.

The Magruders were interesting and I would like to read more about them, but for now I will pick another ancestor who is not so complicated. Maybe one from the Tucker line. (but NOT Moses Tucker!)

As I search the records of my ancestors I notice that there are times I get quite frustrated. The records before 1750 are confusing and rarely are women even mention. Maryland genealogy is the most frustrating for everyone is fighting to be related to a certain group of people. Why even do the genealogy, I thought, since for hundreds of years no one yet has figured out the people of Colonial Maryland? So many people have researched Colonial Maryland so why should I give it a try?

I was reading a biography on Chaucer and then I realized that history, including family history is never dead.  The book is written by a Chaucer scholar and in the preface he explains that he thought all of the information on Chaucer was aready found and the biographies were already written by the 1960s. As the years went on, mistakes have been found, years were seen as incorrect and new discoveries just in the past 40 years have opened up new information on Chaucer. I also did some reading on the Pipe Rolls of England. Officially the records begin in 1130. Recently, however, more rolls were found back to 1124 opening up new information.

So that is why family history must continue. New items might be found, and common stories passed down through the generations will be seen as myths. Reading the biography of Chaucer gave me new hope. I plan to start back over with the Maryland genealogy with what I know as fact and research the gaps that currently have been filled with myth.

This is what I know

Alexander Magruder had a wife named Sarah. They were good friends with the Bealls, Clagetts, and Taylors among others. Alexander died in 1677. He had sons named James, John, and Samuel. Sons Alexander and Nathaniel and a daughter Elizabeth had a different mother named Elizabeth. He was a Magruder who lived on Drummond lands in Scotland not a MacGregor that we can see at this time.

Samuel also married a woman named Sarah. After Samuel’s death, Sarah was still active in her comunity and appears in court several times. There are business transactions (with slaves) between herself and several other prominent men in Prince George’s county. I just read one between Sarah and Thomas Clagett concerning the birth of an illegitimate child by one of her servants. Thomas Clagett received the child in his care. Sarah and Samuel Magruder’s  children married into the prominent families of Maryland and her daughter married the son of Col. Ninian Beall. Her grandchildren by this daughter were very dear to her. She also cared for another granddaughter, Sarah Clagett. I just found records showing that her mother Mary Magruder Clagett had died and her father, George Clagett was in prison. (for debt?) Sarah Clagett is mentioned in Sarah Magruder’s will.

Sarah and Samuel Magruder had a son named Ninian Magruder named after his family’s good friend, Ninian Beall. He married Elizabeth Brewer who is related to the Brewers, Ridgely’s, and possibly the Howard’s and the births of their children are well recorded. They had a son, Samuel. Samuel Magruder married Margaret Jackson and granddaughter of an Alexander Beall who so far I cannot connect to Col. Ninian Beall. This continued the Beall/Magruder friendship.

They had Joseph Magruder who name has passed down through my family. He married Catherine Fleming who was related to John Burgess. They had Catherine Magruder who married Thomas Watkins. They had Joseph Magruder Watkins who lived in Tennessee. Joseph Magruder Watkins married Margaret Linster whose mother was a Campbell. They had Annie Watkins who married William Tucker. They had Joseph Magruder Tucker who married Ida Majors. They had Frances Tucker who married Charles (Keith) Lee. They had Charles Lee Jr my father. He named one of his sons Joseph.

I also found other ways of connection. Joseph Belt married Ninian Beall’s daughter Hester who was the sister-in-law to Elizabeth Magruder daughter of Sarah and Samuel Magruder. Jospeh Belt’s mother was Elizabeth. This Elizabeth remarried a Lamb. Their daughter married Nicholas Watkins the grandfather of Thomas Watkins who married Catherine Magruder.

My grandfather Charles Lee might also have a connection to the Maryland families. There is a theory he might be related to the Keene family who later came to Virginia. Also, there is a theory that Moses Tucker was from Prince George’s County before moving to Virginia.  There might be another connection to a Maryland colonist John Neville, but I think that has been now disproved. Our Nevilles first show up in Virginia not Maryland. If there are anymore family in Maryland, I do not know. We haven’t gone back that far in all of our lines. (Moses Tucker being an example)

I have this book on British Kings and Queens. It is the best one I have ever seen because it doesn’t just list the kings after William the Conqueror. It also lists the Kings and Queens of all of Britain and Ireland including those of pre-history and of the Dark Age.

There are many definitions of what exactly the “dark ages” were but my definition is after about 500 AD until Charlemagne.  For some reason the records go”dark”. There are many explanations for this. This craziest is that there was never a Dark Age. Anything before 1600 was made up! Then there is the theory that a volcano erupted causing the world to literally go dark. Lastly, the best explanation is that after the fall of the Western Empire, Europe went into a sort of Balkanization much like what happened after the Soviet Empire fell. There was constant war and as a result, famine and later plague.

Britain was not immune to this. It was quickly broken up into several kingdoms some weaker than others. The Saxons and Angles and Danes took full advantage of the weakness of the British Isles.

The British were not entirely weak, for about 100 years they were able to unite and fight off the Germans. This is the time that many historians believe was the time of Arthur. The time after the fall of the Roman Empire to about 600 AD is turned into myth, though a lot of the myths are based on facts.

The book I have tells the stories of these mythological kings as well as those that we have found evidence for historically. The myths,  however, make genealogy difficult, especially since genealogy must be based on some record.  Basing your genealogy on a bard’s song is very tricky however interesting it might be.

Unfortunately, even the songs and poems of times past are only about royalty. Most of us are not royal. Perhaps though, you can trace your ancestors to that area of the mythological king. However, in England, what if you are Norman or Saxon?People moved around a lot and lived like nomads at this time trying to find a safe place to live.

Well, it is still a lot of fun to read Dark Age genealogy of the kings of a long time ago. Including those on the continent. We can get some clues on the people who lived at that time.  The people of that Dark age can teach us today how to avoid passing away into darkness and myth.

People determine history, history does not determine people.

William Henry Etheridge was born on September 7, 1867 in Waverly, Humphreys County, Tennessee. He died on July 14, 1919 in Mayfield, Graves County, Kentucky.

His parents were William Thomas Etheridge of Humphreys County, Tennessee and Mary Jane Baker. William Henry Etheridge grew up on a farm. I am sure he went to school at some point. He had 9 brothers and two sisters. William was the fifth child of 11. He grew up helping out on the farm.

I hope to be able to talk to my grandfather this summer to see if he can tell me more about William Henry Etheridge. The Etheridge family is a quiet, humble family. Even going to the reunions, it is more quiet and organized compared to other reunions I have gone to. They usually have blond hair and huge blues eyes that glare where they are angry. The picture of William Henry Etheridge is an example of the typical Etheridge look.

He was born right after the Civil War a tough time in the South. People were usually poor and suffered much loss. People moved around a lot during this time looking for good land and tried to survive. Many went West to seek their fortune. The Etheridges stayed in the general area but moved a few times.

They moved to Hickman County, Tennessee at some point. In 1885, when he was 17 years old, he married the 20 year old Winnie Forrester who was a Hickman county native. They had two children, Orie and Elmer. The young family went back to Humphreys County. Somehow Winne got sick. She had no more children after 1889 and died before 1895 leaving William with two young children to raise.

He married the young Humphreys County native Callie Carter. They had 10 children together. My great grandfather, James Ollie Etheridge was their 6th child and was born in 1908.

Sometime in 1906, the family moved to Calloway County, Kentucky where they continued to farm. William Henry died young at 51 years old in Kentucky. My guess is that he had heart disease, a common problem in the Etheridge family. His son, James Ollie died at 60 of a heart attack. William Henry was sent to the hospital in Mayfield, Kentucky and died there. He was buried in Lynn Grove, Calloway County, Kentucky.