Last week, I posted what I know about Jackie Patterson from his birth about 1794 in South Carolina up until his marriage to Jane Chapman in 1828 in Hall County, Georgia.  This is part of my attempt to pull everything together and make sense of all the bits of information that I’ve found so far.

1830 Census, Hall County, Georgia

1830 is the first year that Jackie Patterson appeared as head of household.  He is the only John Patterson enumerated in Hall County and the composition of the household perfectly matches his known family. (A John Patterson appeared in nearby Habersham County, but the ages of the family members aren’t even close; moreover, Habersham County John had 8 slaves, whereas my John never appeared with slaves, nor did his parents or any of his siblings).

John "Jackie" Patterson - 1830 Census

1834 State Census, Lumpkin County, Georgia

I found several references and transcriptions online of the 1834 Georgia State Census, which show John Patterson living in Lumpkin County with a total of four free whites.  This matches the make-up of his family at the time, with the four likely being himself, wife Jane (Chapman), daughter Nancy, and son Jerry.  Jackie’s brothers, William and Hiram Patterson, his sister Elizabeth (Patterson) Cantrell, and at least one Chapman cousin also appear on the 1834 census in Lumpkin County.  Lumpkin was formed in 1832 from parts of Hall, Habersham and Cherokee counties, so Jackie and his family either lived in the part of Hall County that became Lumpkin or they moved between 1830 and 1834.  (The 1834 Georgia State Census is available on microfilm from the Family History Library, so ordering a copy of the film is on my to-do list.)

North Georgia Map - 1846

1840 Census, Gilmer County, Georgia

By 1840, several of the Patterson/Chapman clan had moved to adjacent Gilmer County.  Jackie (enumerated as “John”), his brother Hiram Patterson, Jane’s brother Fields Chapman, and mother Christina Chapman, all appeared on the same census page.

Since we have one person employed in agriculture, it is reasonable to assume that John was a farmer.

1850 Census, Gilmer County, Georgia

Finally, an every-name census!  Jackie and Jane (enumerated as Jinny) were still in Gilmer County in 1850 with five of their children at home.  John Patterson (56) appeared as head of household.  He was a farmer who owned $1,000 in real estate (the neighborhood average was $244).  His birthplace was reported as South Carolina.  The household included Jinny (36), Jeremiah (17, a farmer)*, Malinda (14), Louisa (9), Henson (7), John (4), and Gallatin (4/12).  The children were all born in Georgia.

*Jeremiah “Jerry” was my third great-grandfather.

1851 Residence

Two of Jackie and Jane’s grandsons filed Eastern Cherokee applications; both stated that their grandparents resided in Gilmer County in 1851.

Jackie’s Death in the 1850’s

I have secondary information from two researchers that states Jackie died on April 18, 1854 in Fannin County, Georgia.  Fannin County was created in 1854 from parts of Gilmer and Union counties, so it is possible that Jackie and Jane lived in the part of Gilmer County that became Fannin.  However, I think Fannin County is unlikely, since Jane continued to appear in Gilmer County on the next three censuses.  I don’t have any primary information regarding Jackie’s death date, but he certainly died before 1860, as Jane appeared that year as head of household.

Next Research Steps:

• Probate records are the next logical step.  They will narrow the date of his death, as well as potentially providing other information.
• The 1850 census tells us that he owned real estate in Gilmer County, so deed records should be search there and in Fannin County, in case he did live in the portion of Gilmer that became Fannin.
• I also need to obtain the 1831 Hall County deed which names Nancy Patterson and her children.

I was in the neighboring county a couple of weeks ago when I realized I had about thirty minutes to kill, so I sped over to the library. Normally I would not have done this, because I didn’t have any genealogy information with me and I would have thought I didn’t have enough time to accomplish anything.  But I did have a few “to-do” items in my head based on some recent internet research on my Patterson line, so I decided to give it a shot.

I’m fairly familiar with this library, so I headed straight to the Genealogy Room and to the corner where I thought that land records were shelved. Fortune was with me and I quickly found three books that matched up with what I had in mind.

1. 1832 Georgia Gold Lottery – I had seen a reference online that Nancy (Chapman) Patterson was a fortunate drawer in the 1832 Cherokee Land Lottery, but I hadn’t been able to corroborate that. I wanted to see if the library had a book on the 1832 Gold Lottery to see if she drew land in it instead.  They did, and while I didn’t find Nancy listed, I did find three of her children, including John, my 4th great-grandfather.
2. 1834 and 1838 Georgia Census Records for Lumpkin County – following along a similar theme, I had found some of the Pattersons in Lumpkin County in 1840 and had seen online references that some were there in 1834 and some in 1838. The library did not have the 1834 Georgia census, but they did have a book that included 1827 Taliaferro County, 1838 Lumpkin County, and 1845 Chatham County. A quick look revealed William Patterson (my 4th great-grandfather’s brother) in 1838 in Lumpkin County.
3. A Random Book – The same section had a book called Indexes to seven State census reports for counties in Georgia, 1838-1845. That seemed promising so I took a look at the table of contents. It included Forsyth County, 1845. I had already found the above William Patterson in Forsyth County in 1850, but he did not appear there in 1845, so now I know that he moved between 1845 and 1850.

Three records in thirty minutes. Not bad, huh?

Have you had any luck researching in short “found” blocks of time?  Tell me about it in the comments.

I made an interesting discovery while working on census records for some of the Pattersons/Chapmans.  I was looking at the 1840 record for my fourth great-grand uncle, Joseph Patterson (born 1790/1794).  The 1840 census is two pages wide, so make sure you always look at that second page.  I almost missed this find, myself, and I’m not sure I would have caught it if I weren’t referring to the index, as well as the actual document.

The index indicated that one member of the household was employed as a miner. At first, I assumed it was a transcription error (I had found one on Joseph’s 1830 census index), so I flipped over to the original and sure enough, mining was checked.  I’m so used to my ancestors having been farmers, that I hadn’t noticed that the check was not in the agriculture column, but was mining.

Then it dawned on me.  Joseph lived in Lumpkin County, Georgia.   The Gold Rush.  Joseph must have been a gold-miner.  I looked back at the census and almost every household on the page had at least one person who was employed in mining.

The Georgia Gold Rush was the second in the United States, after the Gold Rush in Cabarrus County, North Carolina.  Gold was discovered in Georgia in 1828, near Dahlonega in what is now Lumpkin County, although Native Americans had told the European explorers that there was gold in the North Georgia mountains centuries earlier.  Word spread quickly and the Gold Rush began in earnest in 1829.  Gold was found in numerous North Georgia counties, and in fact, the Georgia Gold Belt begins in Alabama and extends to Rabun County, which is the northeastern-most county in the state.  Georgia’s gold was almost 24 karat and was easy to collect.   Congress established a branch of the United States Mint in Dahlonega, which operated from 1838 until it was closed by the Confederate government in 1861.

Various pieces of evidence indicate that Joseph, his mother, and most of his siblings came to Georgia in or before 1828. I never knew why they left South Carolina, but gold could be the reason.

Deaths

• Hans Michel Dellinger died in 1666.
• Alfred M. Whitener died in 1844 in Catawba County, North Carolina.
• William T. Wofford died in in 1884 in Cass County, Georgia.

Marriages

• James B. Butler and Ruth C. Malinda Gerrin were married in 1871 in Lumpkin County, Georgia (my 3rd great-grandfather and his third wife).
• James W. Gregory and Rhoda A. Hemphill were married in 1910 in Murray County, Georgia.

Births

• Mary Jane McEntire was born in 1845 in Murray County, Georgia.
• Olean Milton Roberts was born in 1918.

Deaths

• Levi Mote died in 1900 in Lumpkin County, Georgia.
• Alfred O. Flowers died in 1976.

Marriages

• Elijah Marion Ellis and Elizabeth McKinney Tucker were married in 1852 in in Murray County, Georgia (my 3rd great-grandparents).

In honor of women’s history month, I’ll be writing a number of posts honoring the female half of my family tree.  Today’s post is part of the Fearless Females blogging prompt series created by Lisa Alzo, The Accidental Genealogist.

Do you have a favorite female ancestor? One you are drawn to or want to learn more about? Write down some key facts you have already learned or what you would like to learn and outline your goals and potential sources you plan to check.

A favorite female ancestor?  How could I pick just one?  I would feel so disloyal to all the others.  But I can pick one that I want to learn more about.

This is Anna (Carnes) Forrester, my great-great-great-grandmother.  A note written by my mother on the back of this photo reads “Mama’s Grandma Ward’s Mother – Anna Cearns Forester – lived 100 years.”  I always think of her as “Anna,” but the census enumerators captured her name as “Anny” or “Anie,” so I know that she went by the nickname.

Annie lived in North Georgia, for most, if not all, of her life.  I don’t know anything about her prior to her marriage to Coleman Forrester in 1842 in Lumpkin County. In 1850,  she was living with Coleman and their children in Union County, Georgia.  By 1860, they had moved to Fannin County, where she remained until her death in 1914.

The 1900 census reports her as a widow, who had borne ten children.  Nine of them were still living, which I think is a feat, in and of itself.

I would very much like to learn about Annie’s life before her marriage.   I don’t know her parents’ names.  There was a Martha Carnes living in her household in 1850; I assume this is her sister.

I haven’t focused much on Annie yet, so there are lots of opportunities for research.  I need to look at records for Lumpkin County, since she and Coleman were married there.  I’ve seen her last name spelled Cearns as well as Carnes, so I need to research both those names in the various North Georgia counties where she lived.  I’m lucky to know about Martha, because she gives me another name to research.  I need to look for all her adult children in the census – there may be a grandparent living with one at some point.

Anna (Carnes) Forrester.  One of many Fearless Females in my family tree.

This post was written for Women’s History Month.  To see all posts in this series, click here.