1. Callie Elsie Carter 24 Apr 1874 Waverly, Tennessee -14 Mar 1966 Union City, Tennessee

SECOND GENERATION

2. John M. Carter 1849 Montgomery County, Tennessee- 1883 Waverly, Tennessee

3. Hannah M. Cotham 1850 Hickman County, Tennessee died unknown

THIRD GENERATION

4. Benjamin E. Carter 1811 Montgomery County, Tennessee Died Humphreys County, Tennessee year unknown

5. Martha E. Cooley 1817 Tennessee- Year Unknown in Humphreys County, Tennessee

6. James Cotham 1820 in Hickman County, Tennessee Died 1876 Kentucky

7. Susannah Sparks 1826 Hickman County, Tennessee - 1872

FOURTH GENERATION

8. Martin Carter 1782 North Carolina - 1871 Waverly, Tennessee

9. Nancy Cooley 1793 Halifax, North Carolina- 1845 Waverly, Tennessee

10. Seabourn Cooley 1795 North Carolina- 1866

11. Mary Davies 1791 South Carolina - 1860 Tennessee

12. Stephen Cotham 1788 Franklin, Georgia- 1828

13. Mary Shipp 1793 North Carolina- 1844 Tennessee

14. Jesse Sparks 1773 Rowan, North Carolina- 1858 Perry County, Tennessee

15. Susan May 1798 Tennessee - died in Hickman County, TN

FIFTH GENERATION

16. 17. Carter unknown

18. James Cooley 1758 Charles City, Virginia- 1834 Turkey Creek, Tennessee

19. Penelope Gargus 1768 Halifax, North Carolina- 1825 Humphreys County, Tennessee

20. 21. Same as 18 and 19

22. 23. unknown Davies

24. Thomas Cotham 1755- 1808 Franklin County, Georgia

25. Elizabeth Griffin

26. Josiah Shipp 1770 - 1843 Mississippi

27. Esther Joyce 1774- 1860 Holly Springs, Mississippi

28. Matthew Sparks 1732 Rowan, North Carolina - 1793 Franklin, Georgia killed by Indians

29. Sarah Thompson 1745- after 1828

30 William May 1760

31. Hannah

SIXTH GENERATION

36. James Cooley

37. Ruth Parsons

38. Matthew Garrigues (France?)

39. Sarah

52. Josiah Shipp 1717 Caroline County, Virginia- 1800 Stokes County, North Carolina

53. Nancy Ann Cox 1724 Lunenburg, North Carolina- 1828 Stokes County, North Carolina

54. Thomas Joyce d. 1780

56. William Sample Sparks 1700 Talbot, Maryland- 1765 North Carolina

57. Rachel

SEVENTH GENERATION

104. Josiah Shipp 1693 St. Anne’s Parish, Essex, Virginia-1739

105. Elizabeth Hodgson 1676 Essex County, Virginia

106. John Cox 1698 Henrico, Virginia

107. Mary Coleman 1702

112. William Sparks 1674 Queen Anne’s, Maryland- 1735 Queen Anne’s, Maryland

113. Margaret Sample 1676-1730

EIGTH GENERATION

208. Josiah Shipp 1664 Essex County, Virginia- 1705 Essex, Virginia

209. Elizabeth Brooks 1662 Essex County, Virginia

210. John Hodgson

211. Elizabeth

212. Richard Cox 1678 Henrico County, Virginia- 1734 Henrico County, Virginia

213. Mary Trent

224. William Sparks 1646 Hampshire, England- 1709 Queen Anne’s, Maryland

225. Mary 1640-1730

226. William Sample 1643- 1682

227. Josine Boyer 1649-1696

NINTH GENERATION

416. William Shipp 1637 Elizabeth River, Norfolk, Virginia

417, Sarah Jane 1642

418. Thomas Brooks 1636

419. Susannah Wyatt 1640

424. John Cox 1640-1691 Henrico County, Virginia

425. Mary (disputed)

426. I don’t have any info about the Trent Family at this time

448. Thomas Sparks 1615 Hampshire, England

449. Joane Davis 1619 Fareham, Hampshire, England

454. Alexander Boyer 1618 Netherlands

455. Swedish woman died before 1655 in Delaware

TENTH GENERATION

832. William Shipp 1606 Kent, England 1657 Elizabeth River, Norfolk, Virginia

833. Sarah 1608

848. William Cox

ELEVENTH GENERATION

1664. William Shipp 1571 Suffolk, England

1665. Margaret Balls 1575 Suffolk, England

Callie Elsie Carter was born on April 24, 1874 in Waverly, Humphreys County, Tennessee. She died o March 14, 1966 in Union City, Obion County, Tennessee. Her parents were John M. Carter and Hannah Cotham both of Tennessee. Callie had two sisters, Lillie and Gillie and one brother Isaac Anderson Carter. Callie was the third child.

She grew up in Humphreys County Tennessee where her father was a farmer. She grew up around her cousins and aunts and uncles from both sides of her family. Her father died when she was 9 years old. Her mother remarried to a man named Isaac Flannery a year later in 1884. Isaac Flannery was marred to Callie’s aunt Nancy who died a couple of years before. So her cousins were now her step- sisters, Erie, Eva, and Lillie Flannery. She now had two sisters named Lillie! She was good friends with her sisters throughout her life. Soon after her mother’s marriage to Isaac, she had three young brothers Riley, Elmer, and Clarence.

Callie received some education for she could read and write. She was a small woman with light colored hair (light brown?).  At 20 she met the young handsome widower Willaim Henry Etheridge. I am sure they knew each other at some point. She had 10 healthy children who all lived into adulthood. Around 1906 she moved with her husband to Kentucky. He died in 1919. Her parents-in-law also died in 1918 and 1917. I don’t know when her mother died.

After her husband died she moved with her children near relatives in Gibson County, Tennessee. That is where one of her sons, James Ollie met his beautiful wife Lena Irene Burns.  She lived the rest of her life in Obion, Tennessee. My mother remembers visiting her once as a child. She only remembers that there was not a bathroom and that you had to go to an outhouse to use the bathroom. She was very small when she went to visit her great grandmother.

I have met some of Callie’s children at family reunions. They are the sweetest ladies and always talk so quiet. One thing I notice about the family is that they are all so humble. It was teaching her children these great values that prepared my grandfather to accept the gospel later when he was in his twenties.

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)