Eli English: a few more thoughts

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Jerry and his grandmother's adopted daughter, Gladys

In my previous post about Eli English, my great great uncle and Hannah's brother, I wrote about how I came into contact with a man named Jerry through Ancestry.com. Eli's generosity and kind heart left a huge impact on Jerry's life, and I couldn't be happier Jerry shared his story with me.

During the course of our emails, Jerry mentioned an old video I might be interested in. Created in 1967, Beyond These Hills shows the North Carolina Fund and WAMY Community Action bringing water to Blevins Creek, where Eli lived with Minnie and Jerry. Until this time, residents would walk miles to fetch water every day from a nearby spring for their basic needs. At about 10 seconds into the video is Jerry's grandmother's house: a white house with a storage shed in the foreground with a board walkway leading to it. I really love how this video captures the dialect of the region. The North Carolina Fund celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2013.

Ancestry.com Connections: Eli English and Finding Friends Beyond Your Tree

One of the great things about joining Ancestry.com has got to be finding other members to connect with. I've found distant relatives, photos, stories, and all sorts of information from other contributors who are related to me in some kind of way. And sometimes you find something extra special.

Eli English

My paternal great grandmother, Hannah, was the oldest of 10 children. I've written about her brother, Fate, and I've often wondered about her other siblings. When I traveled to Bakersville in the spring of 2014, I took as many pictures of the family grave sites as I could. Many, many of my relatives are buried in the Bear Creek Baptist Church cemetery, and they weren't difficult to find. I took a picture of Hannah's brother Eli's tombstone and put it on my Ancestry.com tree.

A man named Jerry Hartley saw the picture and left me a comment. Jerry knew Eli and had some great stories and wonderful things to say about him. I am so grateful to put together the picture of who Eli was and what kind of impact he had on others.

Born in 1882, Eli English grew up as the third born child to David J. English and Susan Sparks. In the 1900 census he lived with his parents and siblings . But 10 years later, the 1910 census lists him as widowed and living with his parents in Bakersville, NC. I discovered Eli married a woman named Elvah Dellinger, but she succumbed to tuberculosis in 1907, as did their infant child. Looking at all the censuses, it doesn't appear he ever married again. He lived with his sister Dolly's family in 1920 and then moved to Avery County, where he's listed in 1930. In 1940, the census shows he lived as a lodger with a woman named Minnie Holtzclaw (Jerry's grandmother) and her family near Cranberry, NC. Eli lived in a room under the garage, unless it was too cold, and he then joined the family in the main house. The area, known as Blevins Creek, had a shrinking population due to the closing of the nearby iron mines.  Jerry doesn't recall Eli ever paying rent but working on the farm to earn his keep, as well as driving Minnie to different places since Minnie didn't have a driver's license. Jerry remembers the car being a shiny black Chevrolet with lights sticking out of the fenders. 

Jerry and his grandmother's adopted daughter, Gladys

When Jerry was five, he and his mother went to live with his grandmother, Minnie, in North Carolina. Some time after, Jerry's mother had to move to Kentucky to care for a sick aunt, but soon became sick herself. Minnie then had to leave North Carolina and take care of both of them in Kentucky, and unfortunately, no adult relative lived in the area to look after Jerry. The family made the decision to send Jerry to an orphanage called The Grandfather Home in Banner Elk, NC (still in existence today). Jerry remembers this as a very traumatic experience; he cried for much of the time there and refused to play with any other children.

Jerry spent nine months at the Grandfather Home. For the first several months, the only familiar face he saw was Eli's. Every Sunday, Eli would bring Jerry fresh eggs from the farm so Jerry could enjoy some extra food for breakfast. Eli came to visit Jerry every single Sunday for those nine months, often leaving with tears in his eyes when it came time to go. Jerry remarked again and again at how touched his life became because of Eli's kindness. Just the small act of visiting him once a week made an enormous impact on a nine year old boy.

Jerry's aunt and uncle. Eli in the background in front of his rented room

Minnie, cousin, Jerry's mother, cousin, and Eli

Two men in front of the room Eli rented

Bear Creek Baptist Church Cemetery the day of Eli's funeral in 1956

Eli died from bronchial asthma on March 18,1956 when Jerry was nine years old. Eli is buried in the Bear Creek Baptist Cemetery in Bakersville, NC, close to his siblings and other relatives. 

Thank you, Jerry, for sharing your story. May Eli's kindness and generosity always be remembered. 

Who was my great great grandfather? My search for F.B. Vines

Many family trees start with information given by relatives, stories and facts passed down from generation to generation.  One such story told again and again focused on my paternal great great grandmother, Nancy Collins.  (Nancy belongs to my paternal grandmother's line, not related to Hannah.)  The story constantly reiterated about her was that she had five kids and never married.  My family said he was a judge, and I knew the man's name:  Brown Vines.  After finding Hannah on Ancestry.com, I set out my search for my great great grandfather.

I didn't have much trouble finding Nancy Collins in 1880 when she was 16 years old; on page 16 of the census marking District 8 in Washington County, Tennessee, she lived with her father and mother, Calvin and Mary, and her sister.  I did a search for Brown Vines and didn't really come up with much, but I figured if they eventually had children together, they probably lived near each other.  And my guess paid off:  page 18 of the District 8 census shows a Brownlow Vines living on a farm with his father and mother, Andrew and Lucretia, and his five siblings. 

At this point, I knew I was on to something.  However, the next available census doesn't show up until 1900.  One of the most discouraging things facing genealogists researching the late 19th century in the United States is the absence of the 1890 census.  The 1890 census, taken in June 1890, was the 11th census taken in the U.S.  You can read more about the fate of the 11th census here and here, but to make a long, complicated story short, a fire broke out at the National Archives on January 10, 1921, and subsequent flooding destroyed much of the information.  So I have a 20 year gap in their lives, but I still can take the information given in the 1900 census and make some sense of it.

In 1900, Nancy still lived with her parents, and five grandchildren have joined the household:  John, Lottie, Henry, Pearl, and Elizabeth.  Her family appears on page 14.  On page 13, the record shows Brown still living with his parents.  Again, they still live very close to each other.  In 1910, the story stays pretty much the same:  both close neighbors and living with their parents. 

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Nancy Collins, her parents, and her five children in 1900.

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Brown Vines and his family in 1900.

Before I go further, I just want to state the obvious:  having five children out of wedlock between 1880 and 1900 could not have been well accepted by society.  Even today single women face a stigma of having a child without a partner.  When I first heard of my great great grandmother and her situation, my young, former evangelical mind went awry.  In other words, I judged her.  I figured she had to be a woman of loose morals and character.  Shame on me.  Shame on me for adding to the oppression of women.  I hope I never do it again.

Discovering and researching documentation can clear up misconceptions and can sometimes send you on a different path to clear up confusion.  First, I have found no documentation supporting the rumor Brown Vines was a judge.  All of the census records state "farmer" as his profession.  When researching your family history, documentation is essential in making claims.  If you can find no proof, you have to chalk it up to hearsay until otherwise noted.

Finding Brown Vines's death certificate answered some questions, raised more, and offered perspective.  First, he had gotten married by the time he died.  And he died relatively young, even for 1915.  And his death certificate reveals alcoholism and cirrhosis of the liver contributed to his death. 

So here's the obvious question:  why did Nancy Collins and Brown Vines never marry?  Maybe there  was an economic disparity between the families.  Maybe one or more of the families didn't approve.  Or maybe Nancy loved a man enough to have five children with him but refused to marry and live under the same roof as an alcoholic.  The answer will probably never be found.  I think she did have to be brave with her circumstances, and it looks like she made the best of what life dealt her.

When I initially began this idea for a post, I thought I had all the information out there.  Then my cousin told me he had Brown Vines's will, and I couldn't wait to get a hold of it.  This document is fascinating.  Completely fascinating.  And it reveals a lot about his character.  His will is extensive and goes on for pages.  He owned a lot of property in Tennessee and North Carolina and had specific instructions on how to handle each piece.  First, he bequeaths money to his ailing father for his care in his father's last years.  Second, he gives all five of his children $1,000 in real estate (equal to about $23,000 today.)  One of the things I love, love, love about him is he makes sure the property given to his daughters does not fall into the control of their husbands:

I give and bequeath to Henry Collins, John Collins, Lizzie Collins, and Pearl Collins, children of Nancy Collins, each one thousand dollars ($1000.00) in real estate, the same to be selected and purchased for them by my executor the title to which shall be vested in there, respectively, for life and, in fee, at their death to their respective children.  The estate given to the said Lizzie and to the said Pearl, respectively, shall be constituted a separate estate to each free from the control of her husband and not subject to his debts or obligations.  The purpose being to provide for each of these persons a home so long as each may live that will descend at death, to his or her children as the case may be.

But two sections of his will stand out and give insight on who Brown Vines really was.  First, he seems to have had a rift with his nephew, Silas, and wants to make sure Silas gets absolutely nothing:

The Bayless farm, referred to in Item number (7) of Paragraph VI hereof is not to be sold except in this way, to wit; it is to be valued or appraised at $3000.00, and included at that price in one of the five equal parts herein specified. This said farm ...I give and bequeath to my brother L.J. Vines for the term of his natural life; and, at his death, in fee to his heirs as Tenante-in-common, share and share alike.  Except that his son, Silas Vines, shall have no interest, share, lot, part, or parcel thereof, and if the other heirs shall undertake or attempt to divide or share with (illegible) Silas, there, this devise to them shall become and be void and shall revert to my estate to be distributed equally amongst the other beneficiaries of this will.  The cash part of said share shall be, at the option in of the said L.J. Vines, invested in real estate and the title taken in the same form and manner, so far as the law permits, as I have fixed the title to the Bayless tract.  If the said L.J. Vines (illegible) to have (illegible) stipulated, then, my executor shall loan the same upon good and sufficient, security, collect and pay the interest thereon to said L.J. Vines during his life; and, at this death, pay the principal to his heirs, share, and share alike, excepting the said son, Silas Vines, who shall have no interest, share, lot or parcel therein.  And the same penalty herein as above set out to those who may undertake to divide with him.

But the best part of the will lies in the section about the secret safe.  What I wouldn't give to know what hid inside of it! 

There is in my safe at home a secret written agreement between me and W.E. Uptegrove, which is valuable.  It is not my desire to give publicity to that secret private agreement; but it is of much importance and represents great value to my estate.  I bequeath and direct that my executor stand in my shoes and represent me with reference to that agreement and distribute the proceeds thereof in the same way that the balance of my estate has hereinbefore been bequeathed and devised. 

Nancy Collins never married and lived to be 88 years old, dying in 1952.  I hope her years were happy.  I only have one picture of her taken in her later years.  What I wouldn't give to listen to her stories.

Finding Hannah

What I found stopped my heart and changed my life completely.

Genealogy is a puzzle, a mystery that unravels and sorts itself out (sometimes with more questions than answers) the more you research.  Finding missing pieces continually drives me forward.  The more dead ends I encounter, the more compelled I am to push forward and discover my ancestors and the lives they lived. 

When I started researching my family tree with Ancestry.com, I couldn't wait to find answers about my paternal great-grandmother, Hannah English Stafford.  Very little was known about her.  I knew she died when my grandfather, Frank Stafford, was little boy, and my father said the cause of death (from what he understood) was a brain aneurysm.  All that seemed a little vague to me, and I began the journey trying to discover more about her.

My grandfather came from a small town in western North Carolina called Spruce Pine.  Shortly after his mother's death, the 1930 census shows he moved with his father, John Stafford, and John's new wife, Sadie, to Washington County, Tennessee.  Several years later, he met and married my grandmother and finally settled in Baltimore, Maryland, until he died in 1982.

I began with my grandfather's birth certificate.  The state of North Carolina started recording birth certificates in 1913, but I assumed since my grandfather lived in a rural area and was born in 1913, no birth certificate was filed.  Therefore, in 1941, he applied for a delayed birth certificate. 

(Can we just pause for a moment at the fact the midwife was named Biddie Buchanan?  Could a midwife get a better name than that?)

From this, I had his father and mother's names.  My aunt also gave me her birth date, November 9, 1878, and death date, January 15, 1921.  I plugged all this information in.  And those little leaves started to show up.

I found her in the censuses for 1880, 1900, and 1910 when she lived in an area near Spruce Pine called Snow Creek.  In 1920, the census states she lived in the Grassy Creek area of Spruce Pine.  This census particularly interested me because this is the last census before she died.  Hannah was forty at this point, and my grandfather was a little boy of eight.  She had a total of six children in her home in 1920, the oldest being 20, the youngest six.  I can see they rented their home, and my great-grandfather worked as a laborer at the Harris Clay & Mining Company.

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Now I really needed to find her death certificate.  Even early on in my research, I realized how important death certificates are.  Not only do they list the cause, date, and place of death, but they usually will give you the deceased person's parents' names and places of birth, a little gem taking you into the next generation. 

What I found stopped my heart and changed my life completely.

Hannah died in Morganton, North Carolina, a town a little over forty miles from her home.  And she died at a psychiatric facility called Morganton State Hospital. 

No one ever mentioned this.  Ever.  The idea of a state hospital started all sorts of feelings and emotions running through me.  Why was she there?  What happened in her life to get her there?  How much did my grandfather know?  What was this hospital like?  Who went there?

I knew a journey had started for me.  I needed as many answers as I could possibly find, and I would exhaust every resource until I found them.