A new mystery

I started looking for census records for Martha Paralee McCarley White. There was no one in Fisher county, Montague, Cooke County, TX or Carter County, OK that is an ideal match for Martha Paralee White. First I checked the census records on HeritageQuest and then on Ancestry.com for 1920, 1910, and 1900. Here is the mystery.

1900 Census - Collingsworth County, TX
White, Martha head of household, age 48 bn April 1852 widowed born in MS parents born in TN
Bickley, Mamie B. daughter, age 9, bn Oct 1890 single, bn TX Father bn LA mother bn MS

This Martha White matches in every way. Parents born in right state, right age, but she has a daughter with a different last name. She is just in a county where I haven’t found any other family member. Why would she be there? If this is the correct person then between 1890 and 1900, her husband, Bickley either died or was otherwise out of the picture and she remarried White, then he died. I wonder if it was Bickley or White who was shot in the story.

Plus: Martha Paralee McCarley had a brother named, Sims Allen McCarley who married Martha Ellen Bickley. Is Martha Ellen Bickley kin to Martha Paralee’s first husband? It wasn’t unusual to have more than one sibling marry two other siblings.

Martha Paralee McCarley

Back in the 70s, when I was beginning my genealogy searches, I was in contact with Katherine B. Walters from Tyler, TX. Katherine helped me get started and told me several family stories. I believe she is the first one to tell me Paralee's story, although I have heard it from others since then with varying details. Katherine has passed away, but I have heard from other McCarley researchers that she helped them with their research too. I think she would be delighted at how many of Charles M. McCarley descendants are active genealogists.

As promised in an earlier post,here is Paralee's story:

Paralee married a Mr. White. One day he had a boundary dispute with a neighbor near Nocona, TX. After the argument, he went to the house for lunch. As was usual in those days, he was resting on the porch after lunch when the neighbor rode up on a horse. Without a word, the neighbor shot him. Paralee went into the house to get a gun. As she returned, the neighbor scooped up their young daughter and put her behind him on the horse as he rode away. Paralee could only watch as he rode away with her daughter. After he rode out of shotgun range, he put the child down and rode off.

Always Read it a 2nd time

I just realized in reading the obit again that there are some other things of interest in it.

It states that M.W. McCarley arrived in Texas in 1856. I knew from census records that he arrived before 1859 and after 1855, but this really pins the year down. It also lets me know which of his brothers and sisters had passed away before him.

The obit has his birthdate as March 16, 1846. That is a change from the Sept 1846 date found on a census record. And I should be able to figure out his exact death date once I find a calendar for 1916. Then I can update the Jan. 1916 date.

I guess it was too much to ask for them to list his grandparents.

Mitchel W. McCarley is my great great grandfather.

MITCHELL W MCCARLEY obit

January 21, 1916
The Nocona News
MITCHELL W MCCARLEY

Mitchell W McCarley, 69years old, died at home of his sister, Mrs S. M. BITER, Sunday evening. Funeral services were conducted by Rev J HENDERSON Monday morning and interment was at Nocona cemetery. Mr. McCarley was born near Holly Springs, Marshall County, Mississippi March 16, 1846. He came to Texas in 1856, settling near Tyler, Texas, then moved to Bowie, Montague County, then to Healdton, Oklahoma, his home at the time of his death. He came to Nocona in December to visit relatives and while here, he was taken with la grippe and pneumonia, ill for two weeks. He was a member of the Baptist church for 40 years. He is survived by nine children, one brother, S.A. MCCARLEY of Nocona, and two sisters, Mrs. S. M. BITER of Nocona and Mrs. M. P. WHITE of McCauley, Fisher County, Texas. Three children, his brother and both sisters were with him at the time of his death.

M. W. McCarley

As I watched TV tonight, I started searching rootsweb for McCarleys. I haven't checked it in a long time and basically was just wasting time. Except it wasn't a waste of time. I found an obituary for M.W. McCarley. I already knew most of the information. Mitchel Wilbern's granddaughter was a young girl when he died but she told me that he was visiting her house when he got sick and died. She said he rode a horse from Nocona where he lived to where she lived at Christmas. It was snowing and cold when he arrived. He got sick and died. He was buried there because the weather was too bad to take him home. The obituary confirmed what she told me. The obituary didn't mention that he looked like Santa Claus. His granddaughter said his full white beard made her think he was Santa Claus when he first arrived at their house.

I did learn one important thing from the obituary. His sister, Martha Paralee McCarley White, was living in McCauley, Fisher County, Texas. I have not been able to find her and I couldn't confirm her husband's name. The obit confirms her married name is White and gives me a place to search. There is an interesting family story about her that I will share in another post. Her story inspired me to choose the name Paralee for my SASS alias.

Other records

Still in search of I. Dotterys maiden name, I searched death records. There were no Dotterys listed in the Montgomery County Cemetery book. Of course it would be a long shot that her maiden name would be listed on her gravestone, but it does happen sometimes. I also checked the Choctaw co. Cemetery book at the Dallas Public Library. And I checked the 1887 newspaper index for Montgomery county for an obituary. That is the only year I found at the library.

So why did I check Choctaw County in particular? I found a Nimrod Dottery in the Choctaw County, MS census record of 1860 with a son, Thos Dottery who was the right age to be the T. Dottery who married I. If they are the same person, it is possible that T & I married in Choctaw before moving to Montgomery County.

I need to check the slave census in 1860 for a female the right age near the Dotterys.

I Dottery

The first thing that I want to know is "What is I. Dottery's maiden name?"

What I know about her:
1. She was born about 1856 in MS
2. She was married to T. Dottery
3. She had a son, Odum E. Dottery born about 1877 in MS
4. She had a daughter, Minnie Lee Dottery, born about 1880 in MS
5. She was in Montgomery co., MS in 1880 with her husband and 2 children.

From that information I am assuming she married in MS around 1875-1877. Since a marriage record is the easiest way to find a maiden name, I first concentrated on finding a marriage record for I and T Dottery.

I searched the marriage records at the MSGenWeb county site for Montgomery County, the MSGenWeb and the USGenWeb archives. I also searched ancestry.com.

Then I spent two days at the Dallas Public Library searching for their marriage record in microfilm and in books on both the county and state level. Dallas owns the MS state marriages index which you would think has all of the marriage records for MS. I'm not convinced. If I Dottery really was 1/4 black, their marriage may be recorded in the colored books. I don't know that all of the colored books have been included in that index.

She may have been born into slavery and they moved from somewhere else to Montgomery county where no one knew her so she could pass as Indian. The marriage record may not even be in MS. At one time, it was illegal for interracial marriages in MS and some went to LA to get married. I need to investigate the laws during the 1870s to see if it was illegal then.

My next step is to do some research on the MS Marriage index. I plan on contacting the state archives in MS to see what they have to say about it. There are also other places that marriages might be recorded.

African American Genealogy

I did a program on African American Genealogy last week at the DeSoto Public Library. I was a little concerned since I don't look like I have the creditials or knowledge to do a program on AA genealogy. I was pleased with the response though. Besides going through the major records sources and explaining how they are different for African Americans, I also laid out a research plan for a line that I am working on. Unfortunately like many AA lines, I have it back to 1880 and have hit the brick wall. I haven't given up yet as there are some avenues that I just haven't had time to research yet.

To lay out the problem. I am researching a woman named I. listed on the 1880 census in Montgomery County, MS. She is with her husband, T. Dottery. According to her age on the 1880 census, she would have been born about 1856 and she and her parents were born in MS. Family stories passed down say she was Indian, wore Indian clothes and was even known to do Indian rain dances in the yard. I've always admired her because how many Indians during that time period flaunted their race. However DNA has pretty much ruled out that she was Indian. Her great granddaughter and great great great grandson's DNA results indicate she may have been about 1/4 Black. At least she seems to be the most likely candidate of that generation. This opens up some record searches that I hadn't thought about exploring before, so I'm hoping that one of them reveals more information about I Dottery. I'll let you know how it goes.

Whoo Hooo

I came in this morning and found the folder with my information from the last program. There were a few things I left out of the new one so I can add those in. The good news is that I have a few new things added to the program because of my recreation. I still haven't found the electronic file for it but at least I have the print out.

So come Google with us tonight at the Ellis County Genealogical Society.

Googling for Genealogists

Tomorrow I'm doing a program for the Ellis County Genealogical Society,"Googling for Genealogists". I'm excited about it but a little frustrated. I did this same program for the Lancaster Genealogical Society in the Fall. It went over very well. However this last week I've been trapped at home because of the ice and snow. All of my program information is in a file at work. I even went by the university on Saturday but it was locked up tight. I'm recreating the entire program this weekend, so it probably won't be the same. Hopefully it will be even better.