Butler Ancestors in 1808

Following up on the challenge from Lisa of 100 Years in America, Donna of What’s Past is Prologue has issued a challenge to describe where our ancestors were 200 years ago.

In searching through my database, I've discovered so many people who were alive in 1808 that I've decided to turn this into a series, focusing on one branch of the family in each post. This post will focus on the Butler ancestors, almost all of whom were in the western part of North Carolina, with a few in South Carolina and one in Virginia.

John Butler - He is my 4th great-grandfather. I know almost nothing about him, other than his wife's name was possibly Polly and he died in Hall County, Georgia in 1845. His son, James, my 3rd great-grandfather, was born about 1820 in North Carolina, so John may have been in North Carolina in 1808, but a twelve-year spread of time is too wide to make assumptions, with no other information available.

John Qualls - Another 4th great-grandfather. He was in Spartanburg County, South Carolina at the time of the 1800 census and in Pendleton District, which is part of Spartanburg in 1810.

John's wife , Frances Winters, was also in Pendleton District in 1810, living with her parents, John and Mary Winters. The family lived in Hillsboro, North Carolina in 1800. I don't know when they moved to South Carolina.

Thomas McEntire Hemphill, a 4th great-grandfather on the Butler side (he will make another appearance when I write about the Hemphills) lived his whole life in Old Fort, North Carolina, which was part of Burke County in 1808. In 1808 he was 14 years old. His father was Captain Thomas Hemphill, who fought in the American Revolution and with whom T. M. was living in Old Fort in 1808.

Malinda Burgin was Thomas McEntire Hemphill's first wife and my 4th great-grandmother. She, too, lived her whole life in the Old Fort area. She was seven in 1808. Malinda's parents were John Burgin and Elizabeth Mann, both of whom spent their lives in the Rowan County/Burke County, North Carolina area (Burke County was created out of Rowan County in 1777). They had a son, Robert Pitt Burgin, who was born in 1808 in Burke County. John's father, Benjamin Burgin, was also living in Old Fort in 1808.

Thomas Lytle and Jennie McEntire, another set of 4th great-grandparents also lived their lives in Burke/McDowell county (McDowell County was created from Burke and Rutherford counties in 1842). (I've just noticed that I have the same birthdate for Thomas and Jennie, which seems unlikely.)

Thomas' father was Revolutionary War officer, Captain Thomas Lytle. He and his wife, Susannah Potillo, lived their lives in Rowan/Burke County. In 1808, Thomas was 58 years old and Susannah was 52.

Jennie McEntire's parents were Thomas Young Hemphill McEntire and Martha Hemphill. They were also residents of Old Fort in 1808. Thomas emigrated from Ireland as a young man. Martha lived her whole life in Burke County.

Johannes Wilfong Whitener and his wife Margaret Dellinger, another set of 4th great-grandparents were very likely in Lincoln County, North Carolina (adjacent to Burke County) in 1808. There were both born there, as were all their children. Johannes was 24 and married to Polly Mull in 1808.

Margaret was 15 and probably lived with her mother Katherine Setzer, who was widowed in 1802. Her grandfather, Henry Dellinger, died in Lincoln County in 1820, so was probably there with the rest of the family in 1808. Margaret's maternal grandparents, John Setzer and Catherine Barringer also lived and died in the same region of North Carolina and were both alive in 1808.

Hiram Searcy, the last 4th great-grandfather for whom I have information on the Butler side, was likely in Rutherford County, North Carolina in 1808, as he was born there in 1796 and acquired property in 1824. Hiram's parents, William Searcy and Frances Dalton, were enumerated in Rutherford County in both 1800 and 1810.

Hiram's wife, Anna Debord, was born in Rutherford County in 1804, but may have been living in Wilkes County, North Carolina in 1808, as she had a brother who was born that year. Her parents were John Debord and Martha Edwards. Anna's grandfather, George Debord, probably lived in Virginia in 1808.

The next installment in this series will focus on my Hemphill ancestors. I can't wait to see where they were in 1808. I know that North Carolina will, again, be a popular locale.

To Do List

One of the challenges I face when working on a new project is that I want everything completed right now. For some reason, I'm fine with the genealogy research being long-term, but I become overwhelmed with all the things I want to do on the website. It would be easy for me to focus all my short-term time and attention on the website and ignore the research, but I don't really want to do that.

So, I decided to make a to-do list and post it here. Sort of a "coming attractions" trailer. I may add this as a sidebar list.

• Military page, detailing veterans of the American Revolution, Civil War, other American wars, etc.
• DAR-approved lineage proofs of all American Revolution ancestors.
• Unite the blog and the website, possibly through a content management system like Joomla or postNuke.
• Possibly add a wiki.
• Add Google Maps for places and cemeteries.
• Add a website search feature, possibly Google search.
• Possibly add charts like those on the Roy-Reyes site.
• Possibly add some marriage charts for common counties, like this.
• Customize the photo in the header bar.
• Continue customizing the home page. In fact, I need to really think about the home page, because I'm not sure if the current layout is effective in drawing people into the site. Here is an example of another TNG site that I really like. This is not one of the standard TNG templates and, frankly, may be beyond my meager php abilities, but I can probably manage to replicate a few of the elements that I like.

That's ten things, which will surely keep me busy for weeks, if not months, to come.

And now, since it's 10 pm on Christmas Eve, I think I'll check out where Santa is on his journey.

Merry Christmas to all!

Welcome to Tonia's Roots

The purpose of this blog is to be a companion to my genealogy website, http://www.toniasroots.net/. It will be a narrative record of my journey in searching for and documenting my ancestry. The genealogy website is a pedigree study of my ancestors and includes a wide range of information including surnames, lineage, photos, histories, and much more. Please check out both. I am pleased to share any information that I have that may further your own research. If you see errors or omissions, please contact me. Email admin at toniasroots.net.

A little about my background in genealogy. . .my mother has been researching the family for years. I did some work several years ago, but fell out of the habit for a number of reasons. A few months ago at a family reunion, the topic came up and the person mentioned Ancestry.com. I had used Genealogy.com years before, so I was curious to see what had changed in online genealogy research.

Wow. It was like a whole new world. I signed up for Ancestry's free trial period, and after only a few days, I was hooked. It's a great tool, not only for research, but also as a repository for personal information. However, there is a fee. . .

During my research, I found so many personal genealogical websites with great information - not only people and pedigrees, but also stories, photos (including one of my great-grandmother!), cemeteries, and more. Because I found so much through the generous sharing of others, I wanted to give something back. And that's where Tonia's Roots started.

I hope to keep both the website and the blog updated frequently. Check back often and I hope you'll drop me a comment to say hello, ask a question, or share some insight.

Tonia