When I began digging a little deeper into my Atkins ancestry, I slammed right into my Freeman ancestry. Then before I knew it, I found myself back in the midst of my Smith ancestry, which I had all but given up on. This isn't the first, or only, time I've ran into myself. My family tree is a midling little Charlie Brown sort of tree, unfortunately.
Mary Ann "Polly" Smith Mauldin isn't just my ancestor, she is one of my "MEGA ANCESTORS".
When I decided to take a lunge, and see what information could be garnered by taking the MtDNA test, which traces ones maternal heritiage from mother to grandmother to great-grandmother, ad infinitum, Family Tree DNA asked the question, "Who is the oldest ancestor you know of down your mother's line?" That would be Mary Smith Mauldin, and she's not that far back in time from myself. I've traced several paternal line ancestors back a respectible distance, but not so with this maternal line. There's been one nagging question in my mind, however. After the death of her husband, James O. Mauldin, Mary did not claim a dowery upon the land her husband left along Jacob's Creek, in the southern part of the county. She moved, along with her younger children, to an area north of the town of Albemarle, among a neighborhood of none other than a population of Smiths.
It is my intention to explore that undertaking, as logically as possible, and explore this person, this Mega Mother of Mine, with the meager evidence that remains.
What do I mean by Mega Ancestor? Well, it means I carry more of her DNA than I do other ancestors from her place in time. My mothers mother was born Annie Maude Mauldin on August 2, 1909. She would marry a Davis and become the mother of four.
Annie Maude Mauldin Davis was the daughter of Walter Jonah Mauldin (1879-1930) and Wincie Ann Mauldin (1884-1964). Being widowed young, Wincie Ann Mauldin Mauldin remarried - to James William Mauldin aka Papaw Jim, (1886-1966). If that sounds like a lot of Mauldins in one sentence, that's because it is.
So another step up the maternal line we would go to the mother of Wincie Ann Mauldin. She was the daughter of Frank Washington Mauldin (1850-1925) and Martha Catherine Margaret Russell (1848-1903). Finally a surname that is not Mauldin. Wincie had married her first cousin, though, Walter Jonah Mauldin, father of all of her children. His parents were James Duncan Mauldin (1842 -1909) and Margaret Winifred Solomon (1845-1910), but this isn't a straight up maternal line, but it is important because Frank and Duncan were brothers, sons of Thomas Alexander Mauldin (1821-1870) and wife, Mary "Polly" Blalock (1823-1882). Just keep that, or him, in mind.
Jim and Wincie Mauldin circa 1962
Back to the straight up maternal line, Martha Russell Mauldin. Martha Catherine Margaret Russell aka "Mattie", was the daughter of Eli Henry Russell and his wife, none other than Elizabeth Mauldin. I had thought Elizabeth was my oldest known female line ancestor until I found out who her parents were. Elizabeth was the oldest daughter of James O. Mauldin (1795-1847) and Mary A. "Polly" Smith Mauldin (1798-1865), making them my 4th Great Grandparents. Elizabeth had a brother, Thomas Alexander Mauldin, 'member' him?
Thomas Alexander Mauldin is my third Great Grandfather, twice over, because two of his sons, James Duncan Mauldin and Frank Washington Mauldin, are my second Great Grandfathers. This makes James O. and Mary Smith Mauldin my fourth Great Grandparents, not once, not twice, but three times! This is what makes Mary Smith Mauldin a MEGA-ancestor, more contributive to my genetics than just a regular ancestor.
Female ancestors are usually more difficult to trace than male ancestors, and Mary is no exception, so I have to go back to her husband to find any early trace of her. James O. Mauldin was born in Chatham County, NC on May 20, 1795. He was the son of Clairbourne Mauldin and his wife, Sarah Dowd. He would have had to travel south and west about 75 miles to end up where he would settle down in what is now Stanly County.
He first appears, to my knowledge, in the 1830 census. He's in West Pee Dee, listed in his 30's, and he would have been 35. He is listed with a wife in her 40's, which makes me wonder if he may have had a first wife, or if this was an error. Mary Mauldin would have been only 32. If he had an older wife, early on, and had remarried, it seems like he would have married a younger woman. We may never know, however, I'm standing on that it was probably an error. His name is sandwiched in between Richmond McDaniel and Henry Marshall, yet he's not far from another of my ancestors, Samuel P. Morton, who was living on David's Creek, and next to William Lee, whom I have all been researching, and he also lived in this area just north of the current town of Norwood. So this is likely the Jacob's Creek area he is in.
In the 1840 census, James Mauldin is listed in between Thomas Rice and Nelson Pennington. He's not far from Robert Smith, who near the end of his life lived near Morrow Mountain. This seems to have been a rather random listing, as Hezekiah Herrin is not far, who was known to live near the Stanly/Cabarrus line not far from Mount Pleasant, Daniel Sides, who was also in the western end of the county and Alexander Biles, who lived near the current town of New London.
James O. Mauldin recieved a land grant for 100 acres on Jacobs Creek on January 13, 1842.
"Pursuant to a Warrant No. 45 surveyed for James Mauldin 100 acres of land on the waters of Jacobs Creek adjoining his own lands Beginning at the said Mauldins corner stake in a drain and Henry Shankles line."
It was signed by W. H. Randle, Surveryor and "CC", or chain carriers were Thomas Mauldin, and Archibald Mauldin, sons of James O. Mauldin. Thomas would have been about 21 and Archibald, 15.
Jacob's Creek is a stream that flows between Hwy 52 and Indian Mound Road and into the Pee Dee River north of Norwood, NC and southeast of Albemarle, NC. I don't know who Jacob's Creek was named for, but as it has that name in very old records, I can assume it was a very early settler upon the creek.
Stanly County was formed from the side of Montgomery County that was located on the west side of the PeeDee River, in 1841. A tax listing was taken that very same year and James Mauldin was listed as having held 300 acres on Lick Branch and Jacobs Creek. The property was evaluated at $150 with 35 acres under cultivation and 200 unimproved, or meaning, wooden, uncleared and uncultivated. He was a yeoman farmer, keeping just enough property cultivated that he could handle with the help of his sons.
The James Mauldin Cemetery is located off of McNeil Rd, which connects Hwy 52, seen meandering in a north to south gallivant, and Indian Mound Rd., seen in the top eastern corner of the map. This puts the cemetery exactly where the land grant would have been.
James Mauldin didn't live long after recieving the land grant. He was probably the first body planted in the abandoned ground that now bears his name, unless there were litle ones he and Mary lost first. The tombstone for James states he was born in March of 1795 and died in June of 1849, aged 53 years and 9 months. A Family Bible held by his twin brother, Benjamin Mauldin, gave their birthdates as May 2, 1795.
The estate was settled in February of 1848. Mary had to sue the administrator of the estate, and the heirs, her own children, in order to claim her widow's dower, and support for her minor children still at home.
The estate settlement came in waves. The first papers were dated February 2, 1848. In the Stanly County Court of Pleas and Quarters, in the August session of 1850, Mary Mauldin was appointed guardian of James, Benjamin, Eliza, Parham and Franklin Mauldin, her minor childen, giving a $200 bond, with John Mauldin, Thomas Mauldin and John F. Stone, as securities. John and Thomas were her adult sons.
Also in the same session of court, Benjamin Ivy, John R. Ivy, Henry Shankle and Abram J.Shankle, Esq., were appointed a committee to settle the estate of James Mauldin, deceased, with Administrators John F. Stone and Archibald Mauldin, Archibald being another adult son.
James O. Mauldin's second estate file is found dated 1858, a decade later than the first.
"Mrs. Mary Mauldin guardian of the minor heirs of James Mauldin, deceased, In Acct with her wards".
To amount returned to Nov. sessions 1858 $56.97.
Cr amount paid to Parham Mauldin for this report $28.28 1/2.
The third estate file for James O. Mauldin is dated 1862. This one has a widow named Sarah, and is not the estate of James O. Sr., but James O. Mauldin, Jr., his son.
| Name | Mary Mauldin |
|---|---|
| Gender | Female |
| Race | White |
| Residence Age | 52 |
| Birth Date | abt 1798 |
| Birthplace | North Carolina |
| Residence Date | 1850 |
| Home in 1850 | Freemans, Stanly, North Carolina, USA |
| Occupation | Farmer |
| Industry | Agriculture |
| Real Estate | 100 |
| Line Number | 7 |
| Dwelling Number | 125 |
| Family Number | 126 |
| Name | Age |
|---|---|
| Mary Mauldin | 52 |
| James Mauldin | 19 |
| Mary Mauldin | 21 |
| Benjamin Mauldin | 17 |
| Eliza Mauldin | 15 |
| Parham Mauldin | 12 |
| Franklin Mauldin | 8 |
In 1850, the widow Mary Mauldin is running a farm in Freemans District, Stanly County. She is 52 years old with six children still at home, James, 19, Mary, 21, Benjamin, 17, Eliza, 15, Parham, 12 and Franklin, 8.
A different view identifies her neighbors.
The page begins with Mauldins, so I want to start on the page before this one.
Household 120 The family of Washington Thompson.
Household 121 William Solomon.
Household 122 David Laton.
Household 123 John (30) and Sarah (40) Mauldin, son of Mary, with children; Mary E. 9, Martha 7, James H. 5, William P. 1 and Lucy Carter, Sarah's sister, 29, boarding with them.
Household 124 Archibald Mauldin, 24 and Mary, 23, another son of Mary and James O. Mauldin, with Joseph I. Mauldin just 1 month old.
Household 125 is Mary Mauldin, aged 52, widow of James O. Mauldin, with son James Jr., 19, Mary, 21, Benjamin 17, Eliza 15, Parham 12, and Dowd Franklin 8.
Household 127 is Henry Shankle.
Household 128 is Abram P. Ross.
Household 129 is Catherine Thompson, 130 William S, Swaringen, 131 William C. Thompson, 132 Frances Hobble, 133 George Shankle. These are the neighbors and the area where James O. Mauldin had obtained his land grant.
Over the course of the next decade, the years following the passing of James O. Mauldin several events occured. Despite the fact that the actual document declaring the division of the property of James O. Mauldin, Sr., we can know that it had existed, as several other transfers and sales of property between his heirs make mention of it.
Dated July 17, 1849 and found in the Stanly County, NC Register of deeds in Book 4 Page 104, Thomas A. Mauldin sells to his brother Archibald C. Mauldin, for $50 "a tract belonging to the estate of James Mauldin decd'. He sold his rights to property in the estate and lands of James Mauldin, including the widows dower, to Archibald.
Then there is a deed dated May 12, 1857 between Henry Russell and Eliza Russell 'his wife' on one part and Parham Mauldin, 'executor of A.C. Mauldin, deceased". It was an exchange between Henry Russell, and his wife, Eliza Mauldin Russell, concerning her right to a 9th of the property and Parham, representing their brother Archibald Claiborne Mauldin's right to his share of their father's estate.
"all our right title interest and claim in three hundred acres of land belonging to James Mauldin dest (sic) including the lifetime dower of Mary Mauldin widow of the said James Mauldin decd being an undivided interest of one ninth part of the land lying & being in the aforesaid County of Stanly on the waters of Jacobs Creek adjoining the lands of Henry Shankle Senr and others."
In Book 4 page 421 Parham Mauldin sells to his brother, James Mauldin (Jr.), for $50.00, his interest in the lands of James Mauldin decd....consisting of one ninth part of same. It is mentioned inside the deed "for meets and bounds reference may be made to a deed made by John Rummage to said James for 300 acres also 20 acres devised to me by the last will and testament of A. C. Mauldin to be laid off out of the land the said A. C. Mauldin decd. " was entitled to in the undivided interest in the lands of his deceased father, James O. Mauldin.
It is very clear now, that at the time of his death, James O. Mauldin was the father of 9 children; John Wesley Mauldin, Thomas Alexander Mauldin, Archibald Claiborn Mauldin, Mary Ellen Mauldin, James O. Mauldin, Jr., Benjamin Mauldin, Eliza Mauldin Russell, Parham Mauldin and Dowd Franklin Mauldin. This group is not without its mysteries.
This last deed was between Mary Allen Mauldin, the widow of Archibald Mauldin and her neighbor, J. R. Ivey.
Book 4 Page 432 Mary Mauldin to J. R. Ivey
'This Indenture made this 12th day of September A.D. 1860 between Mary Maulden of the County of Stanly and State of North Carolina of the one part. .....John R. Ivey....one dollar paid in hand...the following property to wit, All my life estate or interest in the lands of my deceased husband A. C. Maulden, lying on the waters of Jacob's Creek, adjoining the lands of James Maulden, Deced., F. A. Laton and others containing Two hundred acres more or less, five head of hogs, three head of cattle, my present crop of corn & fodder, and also the crop wheat oats corn & C now sowing or to be sowed and planted during the present season of sowing and the next season for planting, one cupboard, and lot of planks, Together with all the increase...".
Mary was in debt and listed her debts, a note to Henry Shankle, another to Daniel Freeman, another to G. I. Swaringen and $6.25 to her brother, Asbury S. Allen., and had sold all her worth to John R. Ivy.
In the course of a decade Mary Smith Mauldin had lost three children.
John Wesley Mauldin had died September 10, 1857.
Archibald Clabourne Mauldin also died some time in 1856, his Will probated on January 16, 1857.
Eliza Mauldin Russell died on November 14, 1857.
1860
The 1860 census, taken on the 4th of July by James M. McCorkle, found Mary Smith Mauldin with the following household.
| Name | Mary Maulden |
|---|---|
| Age | 62 |
| Birth Year | abt 1798 |
| Gender | Female |
| Race | White |
| Home in 1860 | Stanly, North Carolina |
| Post Office | Albemarle |
| Dwelling Number | 621 |
| Family Number | 628 |
| Occupation | Farmer |
| Real Estate Value | 350 |
| Personal Estate Value | 275 |
| Cannot Read, Write | Y |
| Inferred Child | Frank Maulden; Elizabeth Maulden |
| Name | Age |
|---|---|
| Mary Maulden | 62 |
| Frank Maulden | 20 |
| Elizabeth Maulden | 5 |
| Ellen Smith | 21 |
| Mary F Smith | 1 |
Mary was now 62, her youngest son, Dowd Franklin "Frank" Mauldin, was 20. Elizabeht Mauldin, age 5 was actually, Mary Elizabeth Russell, daughter of Mary's daughter, Eliza Mauldin Russell. I have not yet solved the mystery of who Ellen Smith, 21 and Mary F. Smith age 1, probably Ellen's daughter, were.
Mary's daughter, Mary Jr., is only seen in the 1850 census. I believe she may have married, as she was one of the 9 heirs of her father and maybe somewhere there is explained what happened with her 9th share, maybe passed to a grandchild, child of Mary, or listed as a portion to a husband. There is not a tombstone in the Mauldin cemetery for her. Maybe, although the age is off a little, which is not unpresented, Ellen Smith was actually Mary Ellen Mauldin.
A different look shows that Mary had Henry Byrd for a neighbor, and that son Parham was living near her with his young family. Next in the list was Green Smith, followed by his mother, Lovina Smith, widow of John, followed by Bailey Smith. Having already looked into Bailey Smith, as he had married into my Palmer familly, I quickly realized that while some of her children and grandchildren were living back on the lands of James O. Mauldin, Mary had moved. Mary had moved in amongst the cluster of Smiths that I have been researching, along Town Creek and off the Salisbury Road, north of Albemarle. She was no longer on Jacob's Creek.
This post is not about the Native American tribe known as the Creek, although the Creek, who were centered in the Georgia and Alabama area, were mound builders and very likely past this way. In fact, by the time any major settlement of the Stanly/Anson/Montgomery County, NC area was taking place, there were no organized bands of Native Americans passing through, nonetheless living here. There were likely some individuals and families with Native background who had assimilated in with the settlers of European and African heritage. Records of 'old timers' from around the turn of the century remembering seeing Native Americans traveling down the paths near the rivers, when the old timers were children, perhaps on their way to a archaeological site near Morrow Mountain, were they found rocks for making spears and arrowheads, or to the Mound, in Montgomery County, which was a site of religious and ceremonial significance.
