Monday, August 18, 2014

+James Wesley Brown

James Wesley Brown born Sept 29, 1829 Georgia, died Jan 24, 1896 McClardy, Blount County, Alabama.
James Wesley Brown
He was married twice first to Sarah Barnett born January 30, 1823, Georgia and died Oct 22, 1878, Blount Co Alabama. They were married Jan 13, 1853 in Forsyth, Georgia.



Marriage Record of James and Sarah







Marriage Record of Sarah and James


Next he was married to Mary Elizabeth Buckelew born Nov 9, 1840 Gwinnett Co Georgia and died July 24, 1905 Blount Co. Alabama. They were married in 1878. 
Mary Elizabeth Buckelew-Brown
I haven't found a photo of Sarah Barnett.

Children of James:



James and Sarah had 7 children:

Hannah Brown, 1851-?
John Alvin Brown, 1854 GA- Feb. 15, 1936 Alabama
Martha Ann Matilda Brown 1856-1945
Martha Ann Matilda Brown
Mary Susan Brown, Dec 2,1857 Cannan Al- Jan 29, Jaffa, Cullman co Al.1925


Mary Susan Brown
Lewis Brown, 1859-?
Lucinda Carolina Brown, 1863-1932
James Cornelius Brown, 1865- 1903


James and Elizabeth's  four children are:

Lexie A. Brown, 1880-1881
W. Samuel Brown, 1882-?
Eliza Eunetta Brown, April 23, 1884, 1972 Blount Co. Alabama
David Brown, 1886-?

Mary Elizabeth Buckelew was also married twice before it seems she has some children with two different husbands a T. Mardis and and Mr. Beasley



James Wesley Brown
1880 Census Record:




James living with Mary his second wife and their children and John Beasley which was Mary's son from another marriage. James occupation is a farmer.

I would like to find out who James Wesley Brown's parents were, their names, place of birth and if they had any more children besides James. Also I'd like to know what happened to some of his children, if they married, died in war or were never married at all.  The two photos of Martha and Mary Susan I know what happened to them and who they both married.  Lucinda Carolina married Joseph G. Green in 1883 and had 9 children, she's buried in Bethel Cemetery in Alabama.  I'll update as I find out any new information.






Sources:
1880 U.S Census, Ancestry.com
Georgia Marriage Records from Select Counties, 1828-1978, Ancestry.com









+Atlanta Georgia Colliers Part 1

   I was trying to decide who to write about for my next post when I came across some twin brothers on my husbands Collier side. Their story peaked my interest so I went to the internet to search for more information and discovered more than a handful of books written about these two brothers and their children. So this is what I found.

Merrell and Meredith Collier were born on May 10, 1782 in Randolph, North Carolina to John Jeremiah Collier and Sara Wood.
They were the first born children after which came:

Nancy Collier    b: 1783-1862
Jessie Collier    b:  1794-1870
Thomas Collier  b: 1798-1880
William Collier  b: 1802-1850
John Collier      b: 1805-?
Joshua Collier   b: 1808-1897

Merrell I found in the 1820 census:

He was married to Patsy Burton on Sept 22, 1807 Jackson Co. Georgia, but she must have died because he's already married to Elizabeth Ward by Nov 20, 1813, Jackson Co. Georgia.


Meredith Collier married Elizabeth Grey on Dec 21, 1806 in Wilkes, North Carolina.  I found him in the 1830.



Meredith is living in DeKalb, Georgia and unfortunately he owns 2 slaves.  Meredith and Elizabeth had 8 children:
Edwin Gartell Collier
Nancy Collier
Merrell Collier
Sarah Ann Collier
George Washington Collier
John Collier
Aaron Collier
Emiline Collier








Most of what I've learned about Merrell and Meredith has to do with them either buying up real estate, and building commercial buildings in the Atlanta Georgia area.
Merrell moved to Georgia about 1820 from what I've found so far he arrived with very little money to his person. Merrell raised one son and the rest girls. his daughter Laura married T.J. Flake, the other daughter Charlotte married Honorable Eli J. Hulsey his son Henry went to medical school and afterwards married and had two children. Merrell was justice of the peace for a while in Panthersville.

Below is an article by Tommy H. Jones titled
G.W Collier House (c.1868)


Meredith Collier

Meredith Collier was born on 10 May 1782, in Randolph County in the central piedmont of North Carolina.[1] On Christmas Day, 1806, Collier married Elizabeth Grey in Wilkes County, North Carolina, in the mountainous northwestern part of the state, and according to family tradition, the couple moved to Georgia a short time later. They settled first somewhere in northeast Georgia, probably in southwestern Jackson County, and it was there that the first seven of their fifteen children were born, including their fifth child, George Washington Collier, born 29 November 1813. In 1818, Gwinnett County was organized out of newly-ceded Indian lands west of the Appalachee River in northeast Georgia and may have encompassed the Colliers’ old homestead, since Gwinnett County incorporated part of the southwest side of original Jackson County. They cannot be located in the Second Federal Census in 1810, but when the Third Census was taken in 1820, Meredith Collier and his family, including seven-year-old George, were among the 4,500 white residents listed in Gwinnett County.[2]

There were already several thousand white settlers in residence in DeKalb County when it was formally organized in December 1822. Earlier that year, Joel Pritchet hired Meredith Collier, one of his neighbors in Gwinnett County, to help him move to a new house that he had built a couple of miles northwest of what would become downtown Atlanta. In doing so, Collier is reported to have liked what he saw of the new country, especially the land along Clear Creek in Land Lot 104 and soon himself decided to move. His son George remembered during the course of two newspaper interviews in 1896 and 1897 that his father “went to law over some land he owned there [in Gwinnett County] and finally grew tired of the worry.” As a result, “he made a trade with the fellow that owned it and it came around that we moved down here from Gwinnett County.” Any record of Collier’s purchase of Land Lot 104 was apparently destroyed in 1842 when the DeKalb County courthouse burned, but his son remembered that Meredith Collier built a house for his family “on the spot” where the present Collier-Bentley House now stands at the crest of a small hill above Clear Creek in Land Lot 104, 17th District. He also remembered that he and his younger brother John planted two walnuts behind the house in 1826, trees that survived until well into the twentieth century and were the progenitors of a second generation of walnut trees that is still present on the site.

In the spring of 1823, the county’s Inferior Court justices began appointing men “to view and designate the different routes on which roads are intended to pass” through the county. Peachtree Road, which had been laid out in 1814 between Hog Mountain in northeastern Gwinnett County and Standing Peachtree, the site of an old Indian village on the Chattahoochee River at the mouth of Peachtree Creek, was one of the first roads formally designated, along with “the Shallowford road” that connected Decatur with “the Shallow Ford,” an important river crossing into Cherokee country, now submerged by the upper reaches of Bull Sluice Lake near present-day Roswell.





In July 1823, the justices instructed Meredith Collier, Charles Harris, Joel Pritchett, Joseph Morris, and Naman Hardman to survey a road from Decatur to Standing Peachtree, the site of another important river crossing where another of Collier’s old Gwinnett County neighbors James McConnell Montgomery would open a ferry in 1837.[3] Although it is difficult to trace the entire route of this road today, it left the Shallowford Road (now Clairmont Road) north of Decatur and survives generally in the existing routes of North Decatur Road, Rock Springs Road in Morningside, and continuing along Montgomery Ferry Road through Piedmont Heights into Ansley Park. After crossing Clear Creek in Land Lot 104, the route of the road as it continued in a northwesterly direction has been obliterated by modern development but can be picked up again in Collier Road, which took its name from Meredith’s son Andrew Jackson Collier, and DeFoor’s Ferry Road, which was named for a subsequent ferry operator at Standing Peachtree.



Meredith Collier had probably already built his house when he helped lay out the road between Decatur and Standing Peachtree. He built at the crest of a small hill just a few hundred feet above Clear Creek and oriented his house toward the west and Peachtree Road, the original route of which apparently ran somewhat east of its present route.[4] According to legend and Collier’s reminiscences in 1896, Peachtree Road followed an old Indian trail in the vicinity of the Collier’s house and survived as the long drive to his house until the construction of Ansley Park in 1904 and, in Land Lot 104, until the construction of Sherwood Forest in 1949. The road from Decatur to Standing Peachtree ran just north of the house as it passed in a northwesterly direction through Land Lot 104.



Post offices were established at Standing Peachtree in 1823 and at Decatur in 1825, and as the county grew, a third post office, called Clear Creek, was established in November 1831.  In July 1833, Meredith Collier succeeded Ulysses Montgomery as postmaster of the Clear Creek Post Office, which was apparently operated out of Collier’s house in Land Lot 104 until the post office was discontinued in February 1839. The position helped make Collier well-known, and in 1838 he was elected to the State House of Representatives, where he served two or three terms.  He was also later elected to the State Senate and served as Justice of the Peace for a number of years.



Meredith Collier died on 28 February 1863, and was buried in the family cemetery near his first homestead in Land Lot 104.






One of Merrell's children George mentioned in Wikipedia Free Encyclopedia below:



George Washington "Wash" Collier (29 November 1813 – 20 June 1903) was one of the first recognised settlers in the Atlanta area.
Wash Collier came to the Atlanta area when his father, Meredith Collier, purchased Land Lot 104 in 1822.[1] On that land Meredith Collier built a four room house. Wash Collier was one of 15 children and he purchased the house and land from his father. Around 1868, Wash Collier built on the site of his father's house a new house, which still stands today in what is now Ansley Park.[2] He was the first postmaster in the area running mail from the fort at Standing Peachtree on the Chattahoochee River. He held on to his undeveloped land lot 104 most of his life which left the northern part of Midtown in a rustic state.
In 1899 he gave an extensive interview to the Atlanta Journal which is an important primary source for the early history of the area.
Collier built and owned the Hotel Aragon, one of the city's principal hotels.

About Merrell Collier Excerpts  from the Atlanta Environs:











Sources:
 1) Wikipedia free encyclopedia on Wash Collier;
2)  1820 US Census from Ancestry.com
3)  1830 US Census from Ancestry.com
4) gmeaders from Ancestry.com
5)  Atlanta Environs, A Chronicla of it's People & Events, 1820. - 1870 by Frankliin M Garrett
6)  The Chinaberry Tree Chronicles ( A Collier Genealogy) an unpublished by Dwight A. Collier  
7)  DeKalb County Minutes of Inferior Court 1822-1842.      
8)  G.W. Collier House (c.1868) by Tommy H. Jones.   




Saturday, February 15, 2014

+Hiram McDuffy Collier

  The past few weeks have been very exciting, I've found more information on the Collier side plus an extra bonus, "Photos"  Yea!!!!!!!!! . No longer do we have to wonder what Hiram looked like, and the icing on the cake, Photos of his wife, his brother, and his brother's wife. That was the "Jackpot" of finds.  Thank you to a 3rd cousin of my husbands for sharing these photos on Ancestry.com site.


Left to right are: Martha Ann Brown, Francis Marion Collier, Mary Susan Brown, Hiram McDuffy Collier

The brothers in the photo married the sisters in the photo.  Hiram McDuffy Collier is my husbands gr grandfather.

Hiram McDuffy Collier b: Feb. 2, 1865 Marion Co. AL
                                             d: Mar. 22, 1936 Vinemont, 
                                                  Cullman Co. Alabama 

Parents: Joshua Collier and Rebecca Ann McClung
The 1870 Census showing Hiram at age 4.



The census shows Hiram living with his parents and siblings:
Rebecca b: 1828 Georgia, she can read and write.
Joshua Collier b: 1808 N.C. cannot read or write
The children:
Malinda F Collier   b:  1859 Al
Nancy C Collier       b:  1862 Al
Francis M. Collier  b:  1863 Al
John Collier             b:  1867 Al
Mary E. Collier        b:  1869 Al

In the 1880 Census:
It shows Joshua a Farmer
Hiram : farmer
John: farmer
and Joshua and Rebecca have a new son named:
Joseph b: 1871 Al
Malinda isn't living at home.







In the 1900 Census:
Hiram has been married to Mary Susan Brown for 15 years. They married August 3, 1884 in Marshall, Alabama. They have seven children:

Wesley J.    b: May 1884 Al
John H.       b: Sept 1886 Al
Riley N.       b: Nov 1888 Al
William P   b: Mar 1890 Al
George T.    b: Sept 1891 Al
Susan C.      b: Oct 1895 Al
James M.    b: Oct 1899 Al

Hiram is still a Farmer, Wesley is farming, and Riley is farming.
Neither Hiram or Mary Susan can read or write.
The 1910 Census:
Hiram is 45 years old, he's still doing General Farming,  Wesley and John have moved out living on their own.
James McDuffy Collier my husband's grandfather is 10 years old.








The 1920 Census below:
Hiram is farming, James McDuffy Collier and  Bertie M, Wise are living with Hiram and Mary Susan.
Bertie married James but at this time it appears that they aren't married yet.







1930 Census:


Hiram's wife Mary Susan dies on January 29, 1925 in Jaffa, Cullman Co. Alabama.  On Nov 1, 1927, Hiram married Ethel Bevins Jordan and they have a son named:










Henry Holt Collier b: 1928 or 29 Al
                                     d: 2001 
Also living with Hiram are his step-children 
Annie Jordon
Rufus Jordon
Marvin Jordon
Alabama Death and Burial Index for Mary Susan Collier:

Mary is buried in New Canaan Church Cemetery. 













Hiram McDuffy Collier Dies March 22, 1936





                                   







Hiram is buried East Point Presbyterian Cemetery Cullman, Alabama



Ethel Bevins Jordan-Collier
dies Aug 20, 1978, she's buried in:
Flint Creek Baptist Church Cemetery, Cullman, Al
Plot: sec 2 row 16



More information about all the children:

Wesley Joshua Collier ( May 26, 1885 Marshall, Alabama, Dec 30, 1956 Cullman, Alabama)

John Henry ( Sept 12, 1886 Marshall, Al, July 31, 1968, Blount, Alabama)

Riley Nathan Collier ( Nov. 24, 1888 Alabama, May 15, 1970 Cullman, Alabama)

William Presley Collier ( Mar. 4, 1890, Marshall, Al, April 13, 1965  Loxley, Alabama)

George Tillman Collier ( Sept 30, 1891 Marshall, Al, Jan 25, 1943, Hattiesburg, Forrest, Mississippi)

Susan Catherine Collier ( Oct 22, 1895 Marshall Al, Dec 30, 1945 Cullman, Alabama)

James McDuffy Collier ( Oct 5, 1899 Marion Co. Alabama, Feb 29, 1960, Cullman Alabama)















Sources:
1870 United States Federal Census, Ancestry.com
1880 United States Federal Census, Ancestry.com
1900 United States Federal Census, Ancestry.com
1910 United  States Federal Census, Ancestry.com
1920 United States Federal Census, Ancestry.com
1930 United States Federal Census, Ancestry.com
Tennessee State Marriages 1780-2002, Ancestry.com
Alabama Death's 1908-59, Ancestry.com
Alabama Deaths & Burials Index 1816-1974, Ancestry.com
Alabama, Select Marriages, 1816-1957, Ancestry.com







Sunday, February 2, 2014

+Thomas Jefferson Fortner Sr.

We never new what Thomas Jefferson Fortner Sr looked like nor his wife Lucy Ann Reynolds, then the other day I was on ancestry.com and was updating some of the people on the site with documents when I saw this hint flashing at me.  So I go check it out and guess what?



There he is on the front left with his wife Lucy and their three children, they had more children than this though.
Roxie Fortner Sailors on the back left..her name is mentioned as Rosie but my husband new her and she went by Roxie. also Monty which his full name was Montezuma Fortner and Martha Ann Fortner. What a nice surprise to find all of them. I have to say too that my husband I think really resembles his grandfather very much. They even have the same type mustache and hair and shape face.  I could tell right away that they are related, no doubt.

So then while researching I find another leaf moving so I check out that hint as well and there is Alice Emma Fortner in three photos another nice surprise.
Alice Emma Fortner
Alice Emma Fortner


Alice Emma Fortner
Alice Emma Fortner born about 1880 GA, and died Jan 6th 1960 Atlanta, GA.  She married Henry Williams in 1896. They had nine children listed below:

May Williams                  b: 1899-1900
Elizabeth Bell Williams:  b: 1900- 1997
Dora Inez Williams          b: 1902-1941
Bessie Dean Williams      b: 1905- 1987
Lucille Williams              b: 1906-?
Madge Williams              b: 1908-?
Henry Grady Williams     b: 1911-?
Lois Williams                  b:1912-2005
Jennie Williams              b: 1914-2002






Tuesday, January 14, 2014

+Thomas Jefferson Fortner

    Thomas Jefferson Fortner was born August 1, 1881 in Georgia, to Thomas Jefferson Fortner Sr and Lucy Ann Reynolds. In researching I find Thomas Jr. in the 1900 Census living in Hulett, Carroll, Georgia, married to Ludie L. Fortner (Boyd maiden name).  They are both living with Ludie's father William M Boyd and her mother Julia A.C.Boyd, also living in the house is Andrew J Adderhold age 81 born in Germany who is the father in-law of William. Thomas Jr is 18 years old and Ludie is 16 years old when they marry.



Mamie, Thomas, John Preston, Ludie
Thomas Grady, Ruby, William Hobson

Thomas and Ludie were married in Georgia but so far I haven't been able to find out the place. They had fifteen children:

John Preston b: 1901-1973
Mamie Gertrude b: 1903-2002
Ruby Bell b: 1906-1991
Thomas Grady b: 1908-1981
William Hobson b: 1910-1990
Horace Timothy b: 1912-1970
Raymond Wilson b: 1914-1994
Joseph Stephen b: 1916-2000
Living brother     b: 1918-
Marvin Austin b: 1920-1981
Miriam Lovina b: 1920-1985
Enola Mae b: 1923-1923
Earl b: 1924-1995
Earlene b: 1924-2011
Boyd Dowdy b: 1926-1993

 Most of the people that probably knew anything about Thomas's private life have all passed away.  I heard from some family members that he worked for the railroad but because of the Depression of 1920, he lost his business with the Railroad and moved from Georgia to Alabama.  In the 1910 census, Thomas and Ludie are living in their own home, married 9 years, Ludie's parents are living next door and Thomas is a general farmer able to read and write. There is one child listed as the youngest named Theodore Fortner who they might have changed his name after the census was taken, because the next child that we know of is William Hobson. It could be that the child either died, or the parents changed his name to William or it was a mistake by the census taker.  Since no one has mentioned a Theodore in the family as of yet, we will have to do more research on baby Theodore.



By the 1920 census, Thomas age 37 and Ludie age 34 are living in Villa Rica, Carroll Co. Georgia with their nine children.  The 1930 census Thomas is 48 years old, Ludie 45 yrs, living in Weltie, Cullman, Alabama with their ten children, four children have left home. More about Thomas in next post.





Sources: 
1900 United States Federal Census ( data base on-line) Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations Inc. 2004.

1910 United States Federal Census ( data base on-line) Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations Inc. 2006.



Welcome to Fortner and Collier Ancestors

   When I was thinking about starting a blog for the Fortner and Collier ancestors, I knew this would be a monumental undertaking. The family goes back a lot of generations on both sides.  Since I'm writing this blog about my husband's ancestors I'm having to get stories, and pictures from him as well as other members of his family. 
  From what I know the family has roots in Germany, Ireland, Prussia, as well as South Carolina, Virginia, Alabama, Georgia and I'm sure other places that we haven't discovered yet.
Emil , Jacob & Paula Schwarz
Fritz Wise












There is Jewish and German background, from the census reports a lot of the families moved back and forth from Germany to England and Scotland.
The Fortner side has been the most difficult to trace back, there is a story that was told about how the Fortner's arrived in the America's.  Apparently there were 7 brothers that came over from Germany, when they arrived in America, they split up each going their own way, some stayed north, others migrated to South Carolina and on down to Georgia and Alabama, also the story goes that one brother went to Texas.  I find a lot of Fortner people in all these states but so far I haven't been able to verify that any of the this story is true, or how far back this event took place.


William Wise and Lucy Chandler-Wise

        Rebecca Rothchild married William Collier, they lived in Scotland after both of their families pretty much disowned them because Rebecca is Jewish and William is Episcopalian. They eventually moved to North Carolina settled there and their families moved to Alabama.
One other story is that some of the Collier side is also Redbone Irish and or Scotch Irish so I can see more research in my future.

I'm going to try and follow the families, and record their places of birth, death, marriages, arrival's in America, occupations and tell some stories that were told to me about the families.
Hopefully some one that knows more about this family will read this and add or correct any information that I have acquired so far and share photos as well.
Isaak Stiebel, Langenschuarz Jewish Cemetery ,
Germany