Job's Children: A Quick Look at Lindsey

Some peoples lives brushed across the face of time like a loose lash, just waiting to fall. Thus was the brief life of Lindsey Frank Yow.

Most people accept records at face value and never really, really look at them. Just because a child is in the home of a pair of adults in the early years of the census, when relationships were not given, or even after they were, and named as a child, they were not always a child of the couple, who may have actually been guardians. This happened in the case of my paternal grandfather, whose mother died shortly after his birth, and who was raised by his mother's sister. He even went by her last name at times, as she and her husband were his guardians, but when he joined the army and later got married, he used his real surname and real parents. To someone who didn't know, he may have looked like a child of his aunt and uncle who disappeared. To those looking at his records after he became an adult, it would look like he had just dropped from the sky. Yet, he was there in plain sight the whole time.

Such is the case of Lindsey Frank Yow, sort of. Everyone had gotten him wrong, yet he told us who he was the whole time.

Name:

Linsey Tow[][]

Age in 1870:

Birth Date:

abt 1856

Birthplace:

North Carolina

Dwelling Number:

Home in 1870:

Tyson, Stanly, North Carolina

Race:

White

Gender:

Male

Post Office:

Albemarle

Occupation:

At Home

Attended School:

Yes

Inferred Father:

Dennis Tow

Inferred Mother:

Mary Tow

Household Members	Age
Dennis Tow	71
Mary Tow	70
Manoog Tow	30
Linsey Tow	14

Lindsey Frank first shows up in the 1870 census of Stanly County as a 14 year old, in Tyson Township, in the home of Dennis and Mary Yow. I recently did a post on DennisYow and his affair with Jane Williams, after they were convicted of Fornication and Adultery in 1849.

The Affair of Dennis and Jane

Dennis was a married man and a good 25 years older than Jane Williams. He is shown in the home with his dedicated wife, Mary in the 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1800 census. Dennis had been married to Mary Schoffner Yow for a very long time, since around 1825.

Every family tree has Lindsey Frank Yow as their youngest child, since he is living in their home. You can't blame them, because following, in the 1880 census, we find an 84 year old Dennis living with a 24 year old Lindsey, and the relationship given is 'son'. Mary Schoffner Yow has already passed on and the young man was definately taking care of the elder. Cut and dried, right? No.

Name:

Lindsey F. Yow

Age:

Birth Date:

Abt 1857

Birthplace:

North Carolina

Home in 1880:

Tysons, Stanly, North Carolina, USA

Dwelling Number:

157

Race:

White

Gender:

Male

Relation to Head of House:

Son

Marital Status:

Single

Father's Name:

Denis Yow

Father's Birthplace:

North Carolina

Mother's Birthplace:

North Carolina

Occupation:

Farmer

Neighbors:

Household Members	Age	Relationship
Denis Yow	84	Self (Head)
Lindsey F. Yow	23	Son

Just take a look at the math.. Dennis shows up in the 1830 and 1840 censuses in West Pee Dee, Montgomery County, the half that became Stanly. In 1850, his children are all listed in his home and his year of birth is given as 1798, which was most likely pretty accurate.

Name:

Dennis Towe[][]

Gender:

Male

Age:

Birth Year:

abt 1798

Birthplace:

North Carolina

Home in 1850:

Smiths, Stanly, North Carolina, USA

Occupation:

Laborer

Industry:

Industry Not Reported

Cannot Read, Write:

Yes

Line Number:

Dwelling Number:

663

Family Number:

666

Household Members	Age
Dennis Towe	52
Mary Towe	48
John Towe	24
Catharine Towe	21
Mary Towe	18
Delcey Towe	14
William Towe	12

His wife Mary is not far behind him. She was born between 1800 and 1802. Dennis and Mary actually had 7 children. Two of their daugthers had already married by 1850.

Year Child Mary's age if we keep her at 1802

1826 John W. Yow 24

1829 Malinda Catherine 27

1830 Lucynthia 28

1832 Jincy Lucia 30

1838 Mary Polly 36

1839 Dorothy Dulcie Dolly 37

1840 William A. 38

If you scroll back to the 1870 census, you see the 16 year age difference between Willaim A. and Lindsey F.

Mary Schoffner Yow was 54 years old when Lindsey Frank Yow was born. Menopause baby? Possible, I suppose, but not likely.

Name:

Dennis Yow

Age:

Birth Year:

abt 1795

Gender:

Male

Home in 1860:

Stanly, North Carolina

Post Office:

Albemarle

Dwelling Number:

539

Family Number:

541

Occupation:

Farmer

Real Estate Value:

100

Personal Estate Value:

150

Cannot Read, Write:

Household Members	Age
Dennis Yow	65
Mary Yow	63
Polly Yow	23
William Yow	22

Another odd thing about Lindsey was although he was born in 1856, he isn't in the home in the 1860 census, the only one I have not featured. He was alive, so where was he? I don't know, but maybe they hid him. Why would they hide him, well, keep reading and the answer may become clear.

The next step in Lindsey Frank Yow's life was a wedding. It's not ver yeasy to read, but on December 13, 1833, L. F. Yow, aged 27, son of Unknown and Mary Yow, married Ellen Huneycutt, age 16, daughter of Nicie Hunycutt and Unknown. That Unknown was certainly a popular guy. So it appears that both bride and groom were 'Children of the Dust', which happened quite often, two of them marrying each other, as they were in the same social class.

Name:	L F Yow
Gender:	Male
Race:	White
Age:	27
Birth Year:	abt 1856
Marriage Date:	14 Dec 1883
Marriage Place:	Stanly, North Carolina, USA
Father:	Unnown
Mother:	Mary Yow
Spouse:	Eller Huneycut
Spouse Gender:	Female
Spouse Race:	White
Spouse Age:	16
Spouse Father:	Unnown
Spouse Mother:	Nisy Huneycut
Event Type:	Marriage

The wedding took place at the home of J. W. Honeycutt, Justice of the Peace. He may have been related to the bride. Witnesses were C. D. Lowder, P. L. Honeycutt and Lina McIntyre.

Name:

Hunycutt[][]

Age:

Birth Date:

Abt 1842

Birthplace:

North Carolina

Home in 1880:

Big Lick, Stanly, North Carolina, USA

Dwelling Number:

206

Race:

White

Gender:

Female

Relation to Head of House:

Self (Head)

Marital Status:

Single

Father's Birthplace:

North Carolina

Mother's Birthplace:

North Carolina

Occupation:

Keeping House

Cannot Read:

Yes

Cannot Write:

Yes

Neighbors:

Household Members	Age	Relationship
Hunycutt	38	Self (Head)
Ellen Hunycutt	8	Daughter
Rebaca Hunycutt	7	Daughter

In the 1880 census, Ellen is just 8, and she has a little sister, Rebecca. How young was this girl actually?

Name:

Frank ?? Yow[Frank Grow]

Age:

Birth Date:

Jul 1856

Birthplace:

North Carolina, USA

Home in 1900:

China Grove, Rowan, North Carolina

House Number:

Sheet Number:

Number of Dwelling in Order of Visitation:

242

Family Number:

245

Race:

White

Gender:

Male

Relation to Head of House:

Head

Marital Status:

Divorced

Father's Birthplace:

North Carolina, USA

Mother's Birthplace:

North Carolina, USA

Occupation:

Day Laborer

Months Not Employed:

Can Read:

Yes

Can Write:

Yes

Can Speak English:

Yes

House Owned or Rented:

Own

Farm or House:

Neighbors:

Household Members	Age	Relationship
Frank ?? Yow	43	Head

The marriage obviously was not a happy, as the next time we see Frank, in the 1900 census, he's working as a Day Laborer in China Grove in Rowan County, and he is divorced.

Name:

Frank ?? Yow[Frank Grow]

Age:

Birth Date:

Jul 1856

Birthplace:

North Carolina, USA

Home in 1900:

China Grove, Rowan, North Carolina

House Number:

Sheet Number:

Number of Dwelling in Order of Visitation:

242

Family Number:

245

Race:

White

Gender:

Male

Relation to Head of House:

Head

Marital Status:

Divorced

Father's Birthplace:

North Carolina, USA

Mother's Birthplace:

North Carolina, USA

Occupation:

Day Laborer

Months Not Employed:

Can Read:

Yes

Can Write:

Yes

Can Speak English:

Yes

House Owned or Rented:

Own

Farm or House:

Neighbors:

Household Members	Age	Relationship
Frank ?? Yow	43	Head

He returned to Cabarrus County, after that and sought a living in mining, as the Concord newspapers espoused that he was pretty good at it.

CLIPPED FROM

The Concord Times

Concord, North Carolina

01 Jul 1903, Wed • Page 3

He escaped the 1910 census, probably from being single and fluid. I find no sign that he ever remarried, however, the informant on his death certificate, J. L. Towell, stated that he was married. I looked to find out who J. L. Towell of Cabarrus County was, and in the 1920 censu, discovered he had been apppointed Superintendant of the County Home, which tells me that Frank was probably sick, and unable to work and had probably been admitted to the County Home.

Name:	Frank Yow
Gender:	Male
Race:	White
Age:	60y 10m 25d
Marital Status:	Married
Occupation:	Farmer
Birth Date:	25 Jul 1856
Birth Place:	Stanly Co.
Death Date:	20 Jun 1917
Death Place:	Cabarrus, North Carolina
Burial Date:	21 Jun 1917
Burial Place:	MT. Olive
Father:	U
Mother:	Polly Yow

Frank died on June 21, 1917, in Cabarrus County at 60 years old. Again, he names his mother, Polly Yow and father 'U" for unknown. Polly is a nickname for Mary. He was buriedat Mt. Olive Church, near Mount Pleasant.

So who was Polly Yow? Well, for one, she wasn't Mary Schoffner Yow, wife of Dennis Yow. Let's go back to that 1870 cencus real quick.

Name:

Manoog Tow
[

Age in 1870:

Birth Date:

abt 1840

Birthplace:

North Carolina

Dwelling Number:

Home in 1870:

Tyson, Stanly, North Carolina

Race:

White

Gender:

Female

Post Office:

Albemarle

Occupation:

At Home

Inferred Father:

Dennis Tow

Inferred Mother:

Mary Tow

Household Members	Age
Dennis Tow	71
Mary Tow	70
Manoog Tow	30
Linsey Tow	14

See the mangled anem of the 30 year old woman in the home of Dennis Yow, Manoog ? Looking at the actual document, its 'Mary Yow', not "Mannog Tow". These transcribers (head shaking)....at any rate, this was Mary "Polly" Yow, daughter of Dennis and Mary Yow, Sr., and the mother of Lindsey Frank Yow. She shows up as 18 in the home of her paretns in 1850, 23 in 1860 and 30 in 1870, notice how she keeps getting younger?

Name:	Mary Gow
Gender:	Female
Marriage Date:	17 Jul 1870
Marriage Place:	Stanly, North Carolina, USA
Father:	Dennis Gow
Mother:	Gow
Spouse:	John Carpenter
Spouse Gender:	Male
Spouse Father:	Thomas Carpenter
Spouse Mother:	Betsy Carpenter
Event Type:	Marriage

Shortly after this census was taken, Polly got married, leaving her son with her parents. Dennis and Mary Schoffner Yow were the grandparents of Lindsey Frank Yow, not his parents, but they raised him. Mary "Gow", daughter of Denniw and Mrs. "Gow" married John Carpenter, son of Thomas and Betsy Carpenter. They were married in Albemarle at the office of the Justice of the Peace, W.G.Green.

John grew up in Tyson Township, the son of Thomas Jackson and Elizabeth 'Betsy' Broadway Carpenter.

A section of the 1880 census of Tyson township, Stanly County.

In the 1880 census, they are living right next door to Mary's father, Dennis, who has Lindsey living with him. Mary was quite a bit older than John, and near the end of her childbearing years, so they only had one child together, a son, named William J. Carpenter.

The neighbors were mostly Mabry's, Mauldins and Kimreys, which places them in an area south of Albemarle and North of Aquadale, the northern part of Tyson Township.

John and Mary would relocate to Coddle Creek in Iredell County by 1900, where John was farming. They still just had the one son, William J., now a teenager. This was the year Lindsey Frank Yow would be found working in China Grove, in nearby Rowan County, and listed as Divorced, however, I've not yet found Ellen still alive.

William J. is not the only child in the home, there is an 8 year old Della Yow, listed as a boarder, but who is she?

Name:

William J Carpenter[William J Carpinter]

Age:

Birth Date:

Nov 1875

Birthplace:

North Carolina, USA

Home in 1900:

Coddle Creek, Iredell, North Carolina

Sheet Number:

Number of Dwelling in Order of Visitation:

254

Family Number:

257

Race:

White

Gender:

Male

Relation to Head of House:

Son

Marital Status:

Single

Father's Name:

John Carpenter

Father's Birthplace:

North Carolina, USA

Mother's Name:

Polly Carpenter

Mother's Birthplace:

North Carolina, USA

Occupation:

Farm Laborer

Can Read:

Yes

Can Write:

Yes

Can Speak English:

Yes

Neighbors:

Household Members	Age	Relationship
John Carpenter	55	Head
Polly Carpenter	65	Wife
William J Carpenter	24	Son
Dalla Yough	14	Boarder

After a considerable amout of digging, I can only come to one conclusion, she was their Granddaughter. Ellen may have been deceased, and 'Dalla Yough" , who was actully Della Yow, was born about 2 years after the wedding of Ellen and Frank. Polly had let her parents raise Frank, and now she and John were raising Della.

Coddle Creek is on the southernmost end of Iredell County, a very elongated county. Apparently, it did not work out well there for the family, as by 1910, Jon and William had moved to Mt. Ulla in Rowan County.

Name:

John Carpenter

Age in 1910:

Birth Date:

1849[1849]

Birthplace:

North Carolina

Home in 1910:

Mount Ulla, Rowan, North Carolina, USA

Race:

White

Gender:

Male

Relation to Head of House:

Father

Marital Status:

Widowed

Father's Birthplace:

North Carolina

Mother's Birthplace:

North Carolina

Native Tongue:

English

Occupation:

Laborer

Industry:

Home Farm

Employer, Employee or Other:

Wage Earner

Able to read:

Able to Write:

Neighbors:

Household Members	Age	Relationship
Will Carpenter	37	Head
Laura Carpenter	25	Wife
May Carpenter	4	Daughter
Jim Lu Carpenter	3	Son
Glenn Carpenter	2	Son
John Carpenter	61	Father

Mary Yow Carpenter died sometime between 190 adn 1910. I don't know where she was buried or even what county they were in at the time. It was most likely either Iredell or Rowan. John is now a widowed father, living with his son. William has married, to Laura Mary Alice Rogers and has had three children already.

Name:	Della Yow
Cemetery:	Amity Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery
Burial or Cremation Place:	Iredell County, North Carolina, United States of America

There's also another person missing. Della Yow has passed away ,too, very young. She is buried at Amity Evangelical Lutheran Church in southern Iredell County. This beautiful little church is located southwest of the town of CLeveland, but it's just north of Mount Ulla, which is in Rowan County, but it no longer has a post office.

John Carpenter died sometime before 1920, probably closer to 1910, as he does not have a Death Certificate, which picked up during that decade, nor do we know where he was buried. Prboably, like Polly,somewhere around Mt. Ulla, and without a stone,or with a stone that weathered away.

Name:	William Carpenter Jr.
Gender:	Male
Race:	White
Age:	54
Birth Date:	20 Nov 1872
Birth Place:	Stanley
Death Date:	6 Feb 1927
Death Place:	# 4, Cabarrus, North Carolina, USA
Father:	John Carpenter

William J. Carpenter, Lindsey Franks half brother, moved to Cabarrus County by 1920, like alot of farm families, to work either for the railroad or in the Cotton mIlls.. He died there in 1927, at the age of 54, of Chronic Nephritis, just like his half-brother did. He is buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Concord. His wife, Laura, survived until 1951. Together they had 8 children: Ona Mae 1905, James Lee, 1906, Floyd Glenn, 1907, Molly J. 1914, Martin Elbert, 1915, Ralph Eugene, 1918, Ruby Virginia, 1920, William Robert 1924.

So, the line of Mary Polly Yow Carpenter lived on, but that of her son, Lindsey, did not. One mystery remains, however, the identityof the father of Lindsey Frank Yow. Or does it? Frank might not have known who his father was, but I do.

The survivng bastardy bonds for Stanly County are spotty. There can be found the existing ones for two years, and then a gap of twelve years, and then again, another 7 years available. Also, may families just 'took care of things themselves', hiding illgetimate children in their ranks, grandparents or siblings of the mother, raising them as their own, without the authorities being notified. Other couples solved the problem by getting married, but Polly Yow was taken to court and the Batardy Bond Survived.

On the 6th day of August, 1858, in the Superior Court of Stanly County, Polly Yow swore that she was with child, and that Henry Easley, son of M. W. Easley, was the father.

I knew exactly who Miller W. Easley was, as he had he married my third Great Aunt, Margaret Aldridge. She became his third wife and he was much older than her by then. She was not Henry's mother, but his stepmother, although he may have been older.

We first find Henry Adkins Easley in the 1850 census of Stanly County, as a 14 year old in the home of his parents, Miller and Francis Easley. They are living in Center Township, which borders Tyson, where the Yows were living in that decade.

Name:

Henry Easly

Gender:

Male

Age:

Birth Year:

abt 1836

Birthplace:

North Carolina

Home in 1850:

Centre, Stanly, North Carolina, USA

Attended School:

Yes

Line Number:

Dwelling Number:

Family Number:

Household Members	Age
Miller W Easly	42
Frances Easly	39
William Easly	19
John Easly	16
Henry Easly	14
Mary Easly	12
James Easly	8
Sarah Easly	5
Delpha Easly	3
Warham Easly	0

Six years later, he would be in court and about to be a father. These situations were always on a case by case situation. Some fathers embraced their children and gave them their names, others didn't, but the parenthood of the child was wiley known in the community and the child may have been known by both surnames, mothers and fathers, their entire lives. Most fathers were like Henry, however, and seemed to just take care of their immediate financial obligation, ignore the woman and the child, and go on with their lives. Some children were never told who their fathers were, or they knew, but were told to never mention it in public. Soeme children created nonexistent fathers just to be socially acceptible, which frustrates descendants trying to trace family trees, and now with DNA evidence, confounds people trying to figure out how they are related .

Two years after his court appearance, Henry Easley would marry Elizabeth J. Smith of Cabarrus County, daughter of Louis H. and Doracs T. Sawyer Smith.

The couple was found in Albemarle in 1860 and 1870, had moved down to Tyson, where he had inherited land in 1880, buut by 1900, the had moved to Cabarrus County, where they are found in 1900 and 1910. Shortly after the 1900 census, Henry Atkins Easley passed away, in Decmeber of 1910, and is buried at Rocky Ridge, near the old Jackson Training School, where many members of my family are buried.

With his wife, Elizabeth, Henry had 8 children, who would be Lindsey Frank Yow's half-siblings.

They were; Mary Francis, James Lewis, Delpha Adeline, John, who must have died as a child, William Henry, Jacob Filmore, Thomas Boggan and Tabitha.