This post is not going to deal with the past, but the present.
It breaks my heart when I see individuals in the media and public eye, who try to divide our very unique population by ethnicity or who use this device to prejudge or categorized someone.
But I am not blind to the fact that most Americans have no idea who they are.
But I do. I am an American mutt. My roots are ALL Southeastern Coastal USA. My most recent of ancestors arrived in America between 1720-1750. That's the most recent. Others have occupied this land for thousands of years. That why I can proudly and truthfully claim my inheritance as American.
These are the most recent results of my admixture testing.
Population
North_Atlantic
45.74%
Baltic
24.99%
West_Med
15.36%
West_Asian
3.67%
East_Med
5.51%
Red_Sea
0.83%
South_Asian
0.52%
East_Asian
0.98%
Siberian
-
Amerindian
1.34%
Oceanian
0.24%
Northeast_African
0.48%
Sub-Saharan
0.34%
I went with Eurogenes on this one as I am, as is visually evident, primarily of European decent.
My biggest block is nearly 46% North Atlantic
This incorporates the British Isles and theNordic/Viking countries.
My next largest block is "Baltic", at nearly a quarter. Some people don't realize that their ancestors traveled from Eastern Europe to Western Eurpoe, England, France, etc., and maybe lived there for a while, generations even, before seeking passage to America.
So, From there its about 15% West Mediteranian, which I have found mention of "Portugeuse" in my research.
After that, the percentages become smaller, 3% or less, but I've found several Great-Great Grandparents who carried multiple ethnicities by the mid --1800's.
Nearly 1% Red Sea
And over 5% West Mediterranean.
And I have been able to trace my Solomon ancestors to a Jewish merchant from Revolutionary Era New Jersey who changed his identity and came to North Carolina and started a new family.
After that it is 1.34 % Amerindian, , .52% South Asian, nearly 1% East Asian and .24% Oceanian.
These are my Native American roots. And maybe an Island girl picked up on a pirate voyage who was delivered to America.
Then there are my African roots. .48% North East African and .34% Subsaharan. These come from my Native American roots who intermarried with both Africans and Europeans.
These results are a little different from the more generalized test I had earlier. But they are also more in depth and specific. But the results are still relatively close and reveal the fact that I am truly an American mutt.
But my point is, if your ancestors have been here for more than a generation or two, you are probably a mutt as well. And we are one country and one people. Support your motherland, America,
Then, barely more than a child, she marries a Stanly County scoundrel, Joseph Marshall Herrin, at the young age of 15. Her father, F. F. Starnes, signed a consent for her to marry the man, and this has puzzled me. It does not appear something he would do.
After that, Daisy's story is told by way of newspaper articles.
First, they announce her marriage, then shortly afterwards, how it goes sour.
According to the above article, the marriage of Joseph Marshall Herrin and Daisy Starnes really did not last very long. Young Daisy, who was only 15 when she married Joe Herrin, was tired of waiting on a convict husband to get out of jail and took off with her cousin Josephine Starnes Wallace's husband James. The Evening Visitor Raleigh, North Carolina)7 Jun 1894, Thu • Page 3
The Story was reported around the state.
Two years later, in 1896, the couple went to court and were found "Not Guilty".
And that is the last I've found of Daisy Starnes Herrin. Her wayward husband, however, left more of a trail, and mentions her in abstract.
In the following article, it mentions that Joe Herrin had a living wife in either Mecklenburg County or Township 10, where Frederick Fincher Starnes lived, in Cabarrus County.
In this last off-handed mention of Daisy, she was "leading a life of ill fame" and at least alive in 1897. Joe Herrin divorced her and went on to marry 3 more times and his is a story of its own.
And what about Jim Wallace, the man Daisy took off to Gaston County with?
He at least went back to his wife Josephine "Josie " Starnes Wallace by 1900.
The census record tells us that the couple had a newborn daughter Beulah, and that Josie had been the mother of a second child that had already passed away. So Josie took him back. She was the daughter of Allen McDaniel (or A. M. D.) Starnes, son of Nathan T. Starnes. Josie, like her cousin Daisy, married early, and was only 14 when she married Jim Wallace. The marriage did not last long.
I have not yet discovered whether or not she divorced Jim Wallace or whether he died. He is hard to trace. Their marriage license gives his year of birth as 1867 and his parents as Robert D. and Elizabeth Wallace. The 1900 census gives his year of birth as 1850 and his place of birth as South Carolina and his parents as South Carolina. Wallace was a very common name in Cabarrus, Mecklenburg, Union Counties, NC and the northern counties of South Carolina. With the wide range of his possible birth date, it is difficult to determine which James or Jim Wallace he was.
What we do know is that Josephine married again, to the Rev. William H. Willeford on June 21, 1906. She may have been a widow, and her daughter had also passed away, because there is no other record of Beulah B. Wallace.
The following clip from The Carolina Watchman, a ancient and invaluable publication from Salisbury, NC, was included in a column entitled, "Albemarle and Stanly County".
It informs of an illness that was sweeping the community. I include it due to its genealogical value. Sometimes, descendants can find a tombstone or record that tells when an ancestor died, but never knowing how or why they died, especially if they were young.
In the article, members of the community, including Howell Harwood, have taken ill with symptoms of a disease mimiciing typhoid fever. This article was from the October 14, 1908 issue.
Mr. Harwood, a Civil War vet, and son of Absalom Harwood and Dovey Burleson, survived this illness and passed away at the ripe old age of 83 on September 5, 1925
Oftentimes, a bit of our heritage can be found in short blurbs in old books. Church histories make excellent references to our ancestors and offer invaluable insight into their way of life.
Rocky River Presbyterian Church is an old and well documented congregation located in Southwestern Cabarrus County, along the Rocky River, from which so much of my heritage sprang.
Several books of been written on it, and with mention of it, among the best and most thorough, one called "The Presbyterian Congregation on Rocky River". The author was Thomas Hugh Spence and it was published in 1954 by Rocky River Presbyterian Church of Concord, North Carolina.
through the Univeristy of North Carolina Chapel Hill library.
It includes over a paragraph on and an extensive review of the career and family of my 5th Great-Grandfather, Rev John McKemie Wilson. His middle name can be found spelled any number of ways, from McClema to MaKemie to McKamy and so forth. But it is not the reknowned Rev. Wilson that this post is on.
Instead, it's on a singular mention of an elderly and blind lady who had joined the church. That lady was my mysterious Fourth Great-Grandmother, Martha.
Now, I hesitate to give Martha's surname, even her married one, as I am not altogether positive what it was.
I have been researching it as "Byram", because the available information seemed to point in that direction. I also have only been able to find Martha in one census, the 1880 one, living with her daughter and son-in-law, Mary Louise and Frederick Fincher Starnes, my third Great-Grandparents.
This census, luckily, gives quite a bit of information on her. First, it identifies her as being 70 years old, having been born in South Carolina and her parents being born in South Carolina. It also names her as the mother-in-law of F. F. Starnes, meaning she was Mary L.'s mother.
I do know that prior to F. F. Starnes showing up in Union County, NC in the 1860 census, living next to his father, Fred Jr. (son of Fred Sr.), he had purchased land along the Rocky River Road in Lancaster County, South Carolina and that his Civil War records identify him as being from both Union County, NC and Lancaster County, S.C.
The documentation I've found on the children of Mary Louise Starnes seemed to corroborate the information in the census that her maiden name is Byram, or something very close, as the spellings vary.
And now, I've found this mention of her in the Rocky River Presbyterian records.
"A special meeting of the session was held at the residence of Frederick Starnes in February of 1875, at which time Mrs. Martha Bryson, "a blind and aged lady" was recieved into the membership of the Church on confession of her faith. " pages 113-114, The Presbyterian Congregation at Rocky River.
This was without any doubt, my Martha. First, at this time, Grandpa Finch was the only Fred Starnes living in that area, and he did live very near the church. Second, his wife and Martha's daughter, Mary Louise, is buried there, along with several of the children who died young. I am sure they were members of the church.
Third, the 1880 census also identifies Martha as blind and her 7 year old granddaughter, Georgia, who would die young, as having rheumatism.
I should be able to find Martha in an earlier census record, as the 1850, 1860, and 1870 census records all list women and children. By 1860, her daughter Mary Louise was married to F. F. and in 1850, we find a 14 year old girl, Mary L. Byrum, living with a 33 year old Elizabeth Byrom, a 70 year old Mary Byrom, and 28 year old laborer, Ephraim Starnes. Further research on Ephraim Starnes shows quite a bit of earlier interaction with a Willliam Byram, who was more than likely related to these 3 ladies. But no Martha, born around 1810. Was her name reallly Byram, as is shown in the census, or could it have been Bryson, as shown in the book?
On Mary L. , in the 1880 census, it reveals that she was born in North Carolina, as was her father, and verifies that her mother was born in South Carolina.
The Death Certificate of Frederick Lafayette Starnes, known as "Fate", and shown as a 5 year old in the above census record, gives his mothers maiden name as "Brooms". Of course, the informant was son Silas Grier Starnes, who may not have been completely familiar with his Grandmother's maiden name, just the sound of it, and he also gave both of his father's parents as having been born in South Carolina.
In contrast, the death certificate of daughter Della (or Delphia) A. Starnes McAnnulty, gives her parents as "Fred Starnes" and "Mary Barren", the informant being her daughter, Stella. This 1948 death certificate is in typed print, so there is no mistaking the lettering and granddaughter Stella gives the birthplace of her grandparents as "North Carolina".
The 1936 Death Certificate of their brother, Thomas Mellon Starnes, gives his mother's maiden name as "Mary Byrums" and birthplaces for both parents being in "N. C." with the informant being his son Herbert Phillips Starnes.
The death certificate for eldest daughter, Sarah Alice Starnes Linker, or Mrs. Wiley Monroe Linker, names her parents as F. F. Stearns and Mary Byron. Oddly, although my Second G-Grandmother Leavy, lived the longest other than one brother, passing in 1939, I've yet to locate a death certificate for her. Either the year is wrong on her tombstone, her name was horribly mangled on the certificate, or she just slipped by without one. Also missing is daughter Daisy L Starnes who married Joseph M. Herrin. I can not locate her past her 1893 marriage license, but her story does not end there. So what was Grandma Martha's last name? Byron, Bryson, Byram, Barren? ......the search goes on.
