Births

• Floyd David Butler was born in 1907 in Quanah, Texas.

Deaths

• Israel Leander Hemphill died in 1862 in the Civil War.
• Elijah Marion Ellis died in 1865 in Spring Place, Georgia (my 3rd great-grandfather).
• James Madison Ellis died in 1909 in Roundtop, Georgia.
• John N. Hemphill died in 1957 in Chatsworth, Georgia.

Deaths

• George Watson Lytle died in 1864 in the Civil War.

Marriages

• Prentis Anne Mullinax and William Adolphus Whitener were married in 1916 in Murray County, Georgia.

Click on any link above to see more information about these individuals, including source citations.

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Births

• Martin LaFayette Langston was born in 1867 in Tennessee.
• Olen McEntire Butler was born in 1906 in Georgia.

Deaths

• Israel LaFayette Hemphill died in 1864 in the Civil War.

Marriages

• Michael Bollinger and Catherine M. Whitener were married in 1835 in Lincoln County, North Carolina.

Births

• Sarah (Morrison) Hemphill was born in 1778 in Silver Creek, North Carolina.
• William Camille Chable was born in 1878.

Deaths

• Radford Asberry Ellis died in 1863 while serving in the Civil War.

Marriages

• Elizabeth Jane Brookshire and Cyrus Long were married in 1869 in Gilmer County, Georgia.

My Roberts family line starts with my great-grandmother:

Nancy Alice Roberts was born January 9, 1877 in Murray County, Georgia.  She married James Alexander Hemphill on Christmas Day in 1897.  They had nine children between 1898 and 1916.  Alice was a charter member of the Chatsworth chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star.  Three of her sons served in World War II.  She died March 24, 1965.  Alice appears in two of the collage photos; in the upper left corner, she is holding her first grandchild, and she appears with her three daughters in the bottom right corner.

Alice was the third child of Martin LaFayette Roberts, who was born May 2, 1853 in Bradley County, Tennessee.  Martin moved with his mother and siblings to Spring Place, Murray County, Georgia in 1865 after their home and businesses were burned by the Yankees during the Civil War.  He remained in Murray County for the rest of his life.  He married Rosa Ellis on January 28, 1872.  They had eight children.  Martin was a member of the Chatsworth Masonic Lodge and the Masonic logo appears on his headstone.  He died April 2, 1925 in Chatsworth, Georgia and is buried at Spring Place Cemetery.

Martin’s father, Monteville Roberts, was born April 27, 1827 in McMinn County, Tennessee.  He and Mariah Langston were married on July 18, 1852.  They had six children.  He enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1863 and fought in the battles around Dalton, Resaca, Dallas, and Pickett’s Mill (all in Georgia).  He was shot in the left arm and side with a minie ball at the Battle of New Hope Church, whereupon his arm was amputated just below the shoulder.  Before the war, Monteville was a wealthy man; he owned a mill and a blacksmith shop.  He was also a Mason, perhaps being the one to start this family tradition.  He died on December 1, 1895 and is buried at Spring Place Cemetery.  That’s Monteville in the top right corner of the collage.

To the best of my knowledge, Monteville’s father was John M. Roberts, who was born about 1786 in Virginia.  His wife’s name was Rebecca (possibly Sammons) and they had nine children.  They appeared in Buncombe County, North Carolina on the 1820 census and by 1830 had moved to the part of McMinn County, Tennessee that later became Bradley County.  John died about 1855.

Roberts Surname Fun Facts

Roberts was the 43rd most common surname in the United States in 1990.  5% of the nation’s Roberts households lived in Georgia in 1920.  In 1880, there were 3,552 Roberts in Tennessee and 4,746 in Georgia.  In 1840, the Roberts surname was most heavily concentrated in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York; nevertheless there were more than 700 families in Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, representing 15% of the Roberts families in the United States.

More about the Roberts Family

• A complete list of deceased Roberts family members in my database.
• Posts about Roberts ancestors and relatives in this blog.
• Roberts documents, photos, and headstones.

Research To-Dos

• Check Social Security Death Index for Nancy Alice (Roberts) Hemphill.
• Check “Georgia 1790-1890 Census” database on Ancestry.com for Martin Roberts and Monteville Roberts.
• Check Murray County Probate records for Martin Roberts.
• Check Civil War Service records on Footnote.com for Monteville Roberts.

If you have any additional information (or corrections) on this Roberts line, comments are most appreciated!

This post is part of an ongoing series focusing on specific surnames. To see all posts in the series, click here.

On the 13^th of October 1909, Mr. B. B. Hemphill, one of the oldest and best citizens, departed this life at the ripe old age of 88 years, 8 months, and 3 days.  He was born in McDowell county, North Carolina, and came to Murray county, before the Civil War.  He enlisted in the Southern cause and made a brave and fearless soldier serving four years in the prime of his life.

In the year 1860 he enlisted in the service of Christ after having served for half a century, (using his words) “If my Master calls I am ready to go.”

He leaves his wife, Mrs. Fannie Hemphill, and two daughters, Mrs. Mary Stroud, of Texas, and Mrs. Josephine Butler, of this county, with a host of other relatives and friends to mourn his departure.

A Friend

This article was originally published in The Murray News on Friday, November 5, 1909.

Source:  Hemphill Scrapbook; privately held by D. H. Davis, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] , D. H. Davis, “Death of B. B. Hemphill”, 05 Nov 1909, The Murray News, 13 Jul 2009.

Note: the collage was created with pieces from the Stace Scrapkit by Heather Johnson at 3Scrapateers, the Happy Go Lucky kit from Shabby Princess, and Torn Paper Embellishment Template by Diane Miller at Scrap Girls.

Twice Told Tuesday is an ongoing series featuring family-related articles republished from old books, magazines, and newspapers. To see all posts in the series, click here.

Births

• Malinda (Burgin) Hemphill was born in 1801 in Burke County, North Carolina (my 4th great-grandmother).
• Robert West was born in 1871 in Polk County, Tennessee.
• Florence (Stanley) Henry was born in 1889.
• Jessie Malinda (Roberts) Childers was born in 1897 in Murray County, Georgia.
• Ruby V. (Kendrick) Sanford was born in 1921, probably in Murray County, Georgia.

Military

• Benjamin Burgin Hemphill was captured at the seige of Vicksburg in 1863 (my 3rd great-grandfather).
• William M. West was also captured at the seige of Vicksburg in 1863 (my great-great-grandfather).

Updated July 2, 2011.

Deaths

• Martin V. O’Neal died in 1927 in N. Chattanooga, Tennessee
• Annie (Cavendar) Roberts died in 1942.
• Edna Rose (Hemphill) Pendley died in 1990.

Marriages

• Mary Elizabeth Patterson and William Everett Whitener were married in 1883 (my great-great-grandparents).

Military

• William Osborn Searcy enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1861.
• Phillip B. Whitener enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1861 (my 3rd great-grandfather).

Post Updated: 7/3/2011

My last couple of Surname Saturday posts have been about families for whom I can’t go back very far, so I’m excited to write about the Whiteners – they are a well-documented bunch.

This line starts with my great-grandmother, Maud Angeline Whitener (1885-1975).  I’ve written extensively about Maud in “Timeline for Maud Whitener Butler.”

Maud’s father was William Everett Whitener.  Bill was born Dec 1855 in Gilmer County, Georgia.   He married Roxy Sinyard about 1872 and after her death, he married my great-great-grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Patterson on July 3, 1883.   Bill had five children with Roxy and eight with Mary.  Bill moved from Gilmer County to Murray County, Georgia sometime between 1880 and 1900.  By 1910, he and Mary had moved their family to Foyil, Oklahoma, presumably to be near Mary’s Native American people.   After Mary’s death, Bill moved back to Murray County, where he died on January 5, 1937.

Bill’s father was Phillip B. Whitener.  He was born about 1833 in Lincoln County, North Carolina.   When Phillip was a little boy, his family moved to Gilmer County; they appear there on the 1840 census.  He married Levina Searcy on September 9, 1852.  He served as a private in the Civil War.  He made it back home to Gilmer County at or near the close of the war, then was tragically killed by a roving Union gang in 1865, leaving a widow and five small children.

Phillip’s father was John D. Wilfong Whitener.  I recently wrote about him as the “Most Prolific Father” in my database.  John was married three times and had 22 children.  He was born in Lincoln County, North Carolina about 1784, where he lived until moving his family to Gilmer County in 1839.  John left a great paper trail; he frequently bought and sold land, was involved in court cases (once for adultery!), served on juries and in slave patrols,  and was a constable and justice of the peace.  He died in 1855 in Gilmer County.

John’s father, Daniel Whitener, was born October 14, 1750 in Anson County, North Carolina.  He lived in North Carolina his whole life, except for a brief period in childhood, when his mother moved with the children to South Carolina after they were burned out of their home by Indians.  Legend has it that Daniel fought at King’s Mountain during the American Revolution, but the DAR has decided they can accept no more of his descendants without new proof of his service, so that may be a myth.

At this point, the surname changed to Whitener from Weidner (Daniel is referred to by both surnames).  I’ll continue this line in a future post titled “Surname Saturday:  Weidner.”

Whitener Surname Fun Facts

The 1990 census reported 4,974 Whiteners in the U. S., representing .002% of the population. The 1920 census reported 355 Whitener families, with high concentrations only in North Carolina and Missouri.  In 1880, there were 440 Whiteners, over half of whom lived in North Carolina.   In 1840, there were only 21 Whitener families in the U. S.  and 16 of them lived in North Carolina.  I’ll bet money that I’m related to all 16 of them.  There were only 64 Whiteners who fought in the Civil War and 56 of them were on the Confederate side.  I think this further demonstrates that the name was still in the process of migrating from Weidner to Whitener and that Whitener is a Southern variant.

More about the Whiteners

• A complete list of deceased Whiteners in my database.
• Posts about Whitener ancestors and relatives in this blog.
• Whitener documents, photos, and headstones.

Research To-Dos

Writing this post has made me realize that I’m missing a lot of primary documentation on this line:

• Order a copy of Daniel Whitener’s will from the North Carolina Archives.
• Visit Gilmer County Probate Court and look for letters of administration and land records for John Whitener.
• Look for a copy of Phillip Whitener’s Civil War records on Footnote.com.
• Find out where Bill Whitener is buried and get a photo of his headstone.
• Enter Bill’s death certificate info in my database.

If you have any additional information (or corrections) on the Whiteners, comments are most appreciated!

This post is part of an ongoing series focusing on specific surnames. To see all posts in the series, click here.

West is another of the family lines for which I only have three generations of information.  I’ve only known about the Wests for a couple of years.

Lizzie West (1886-1973), my great-grandmother, was the second wife of Francis Taylor Kendrick.  As far as I know, she lived in Murray County, Georgia all her life.  She and France were married in 1917 and had four children together.  For more information on Lizzie’s life, read “Lizzie West Kendrick Timeline.”

Lizzie’s father was William West.  I have a wide divergence of birthdates for William – anywhere from 1830 to 1846 – but he is consistently reported as having been born in South Carolina.  He lived in Polk County, Tennessee from at least 1850 to about 1875, when he and his wife, Leaty Caroline Lankford, moved their family across the state line to Murray County, Georgia.  William was a private in the 3rd Tennessee Infantry during the Civil War and was captured at Vicksburg.  He died on May 4, 1928 and is buried at Mt. Sumach Cemetery in Cisco, Georgia.

William’s father was Robert West, born about 1795 in South Carolina and died sometime after 1880, probably in Polk County, Tennessee.  So far, the only residences I have for Robert are in Polk County, where he appears on the census in 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880.  He was married to Mariah Cook, also from South Carolina, born about 1810 and who apparently died before 1860.  I believe he had eight children with Mariah, then married a woman named Malinda about 1865, with whom he had one more child.

West Surname Fun Facts

West is a medieval English or Germanic surname, generally referring to people who lived to the west of a main settlement or who came from the west.  In 1990, there were 198,960 Wests in the United States, making West the 108th most common surname.  The 1880 census enumerated 46,185 Wests, with heavy concentrations in the mid-Atlantic states and the midwest.  The 1840 census enumerated 2,840 West households; there were 79 in South Carolina and 168 in Tennessee.  My Robert, along with William, is surely in one of those.   The Confederate Army claimed 1,214 West soldiers, compared to 2,172 in the Union Army.

More about the Wests

• A complete list of deceased Wests in my database.
• Posts about West ancestors and relatives in this blog.
• West documents, photos, and headstones.

Research To-Dos

• Break the 1840 census barrier for both William and Robert.
• Order SS-5 for Lizzie.
• Get a photo of Lizzie’s headstone.
• Try to locate William and Leaty’s marriage license ( may not be possible, due to burned courthouse).
• Find death information for Robert.

If you have any additional information (or corrections) on this line of Wests, comments are most appreciated!

This post is part of an ongoing series focusing on specific surnames. To see all posts in the series, click here.