Amanuensis Monday: McAdams Family Record, page 3

Thanks to John at Transylvanian Dutch for providing a framework (and nudge) for transcribing family records, news clippings and other treasures.

This is the third page of the McAdams Family Record I scanned and posted separately.  It details the family of Thomas C. McAdams (1806-1881) of Washington County, Tennessee.

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Marriages

__________

Hugh McAdams and Isabella Bryson,                             June 12, 1800

Matthew J. McAdams and Sarah E. Sevaney                   July 19, 1855

John C. McAdams and Sara J. Mahoney                         July 13, 1856

David B. McAdams and Margaret J. Gibson                     Aug 16, 1860
Samuel  B. McAdams and Rachael Mulkey                      May 9, 1866
Robert N. McAdams and Mary M. Good                          Nov 9, 1876
Charles A. H. McAdams and Alice V. Nave                      Jan 7, 1880
Alexander Moody and J. Eula McAdams                          May 10, 1905
J. D. Kilgore and Hester V. McAdams                            Sept 7, 1908

__________

John Stephenson and Elizabeth Cloyd                            Sept 13, 1808

William B. Strain and Martha A. Stephenson                   Sept 5, 1832

Thomas C. McAdams and Cynthia Stephenson                 Sept 18, 1834

Samuel G. Wyly and Mary N. Stephenson                       Sept 28, 1841

Jonathan C. Mitchell and Emily H.  Stephenson                May 21, 1845

John Stephenson and Polly Nelson                                 Sept 9, 1802


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Summer Frolics

One of my great-aunt's favorite words was frolic. I would ask her what they did before summer camp and movies and Girl Scouts and she would laughingly say, "Why we would frolic!" The word would roll off her tongue and dance about my head as she told stories of picnics and parties and car rides through the Tennessee countryside. She was the youngest of ten high-spirited children who grew into high-spirited adults.

I remember her voice as I look through the photo albums she and her sisters kept. They certainly did frolic during those long ago summers.  She remained ready for frolics and adventure well into her eighties, though the photographic evidence of those later frolics seems to have vanished. 

Frolic in the creek c. 1918.  Note the stylish newspaper hats.

Frolic with Ice Cream Cones, c. 1918

Baseball Frolic Gone Bad, c. 1925

Motor Frolic, c. 1930

Beach Frolic after WWII.

The next generation frolics at Myrtle Beach about 1948.

Catching Some Z's or What's in a (sur)Name?

Graphic Z courtesy of FCIT. 

Apologies to Shakespeare, but in my case what's in a name is often a Z - and I don't mean the name is so boring that I doze off.  My resurgent interest in my Carpatho-Rusyn ancestry has me scouring church and census records from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire.  In almost every case my ancestors' surnames have been recorded in the Hungarian version - Magyarized - and the spelling changed so that every S becomes an SZ.  Reasonable, I suppose, given that they were running the show.  But it's beginning to frustrate me.

With each new discovery I weigh how I record the name.  Is it Szidor or Sidor?  Perekszta or Pereksta?  Kommiszar or Kommisar?  Szmolyak or Smolyak?  Given names are often recorded in the Hungarian version.  Do I use Janos (the Hungarian) or Ivan (the Rusyn)?  Helena or Olena?  For that matter, were they born in Sztarina or Starina?  Toss in a few Latin or cyrillic versions and I feel a migraine coming on.

It's easy enough to decide on those names recorded in my grandfather's family record - I use the spelling he used (no Zs).  For the others I'm having to make an educated guess.  I do note the spelling variations in the source references, but I find I'm reluctant to record state imposed variations under alternate names.  And so I'm doing it - I'm opting for the Rusyn version and standardizing spelling.  Call it a political/nationalist awakening (something I have studiously resisted over the years) or pure laziness - I just can't take any more Zs!  And no matter how many documents record my great-grandfather's name as Janos, I know he was Ivan.

I was about to write that this was one reason I preferred to use United States records when I read one of Cynthia Shenette's What's In A Name? postings.  It left me giggling and remembering that census and immigration records in this country can be even more challenging.  Most of us with 19th & 20th century immigrant ancestors have come across wildly creative spellings.

At least the Hungariansz were conszisztent.

Amanuensis Monday: McAdams Family Record, page 2

Thanks to John at Transylvanian Dutch for providing a framework (and nudge) for transcribing family records, news clippings and other treasures.

This is the second page of the McAdams Family Record I scanned and posted separately.  It details the family of Thomas C. McAdams (1806-1881) of Washington County, Tennessee.

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Births

__________

Margaret McAdams,     August 29, 1802

Mary McAdams,     August 25, 1804

Thomas C. McAdams, Sr.,     Dec. 5, 1806

Samuel B. McAdams, Sr.,     January 18, 1809
Hugh McAdams,     August 23, 1772
Isabella Bryson,     September 14, 1776
Jane McAdams,     April 13, 1811
Anna S. MCAdams,     (nee Duncan)     February 6, 1813

__________

Margaret Jane Gibson,     March 10, 1839

Louretta Stephenson McAdams,    July 21, 1866

Flora Jane McAdams,      June 3, 1868

Maggie M. Good,     Feb 3, 1854

Bessie E. McAdams,    March 18, 1878

Hester V. McAdams,      June 19, 1879

Ralph E H McAdams,     January 15, 1882

Hugh Thomas McAdams,     November 11, 1884

__________

* Matthew Judson McAdams,     August 15, 1835

* John Cloyd McAdams,     December 20, 1836
   Hugh Morrison McAdams,    November 30, 1838
* David Brainard McAdams,     Feb 3, 1841
   William Plummer McAdams,     March 14, 1843
* Samuel Bryson McAdams,     Feb 3, 1845
   Robert Newton McAdams,     December 3, 1847
   James Houston McAdams,    Feb 14, 1850
   Chalmers Stephenson McAdams,     Feb 16, 1853
   Thomas Cunningham McAdams, Jr.     August 29, 1855
   Charles Alexander Hodge McAdams,     April 5, 1858

* In Civil War on Federal side (1861-1865)

__________

Matthew Stephenson,     Feb. 7, 1777

John Stephenson,     May 27,  1779

Elizabeth Cloyd,     October 15, 1781

William Stephenson,     September 18, 1812

David Stephenson,     August 6th, 1815

Cynthia Stephenson,     April 30, 1817

Mary N. Stephenson,     November 7, 1819

Emily H Stephenson,     March 13, 1823

William S Strain,     June 22, 1833

Jonathan C Mitchell,     July 13, 1821  (Capt.  Iowa Reg.  Civil War)

S. G. Wyly,    May 26, 1815           (Presbyterian Minister)

Polly Nelson,     July 29, 1779

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Notes:

1. The names Thomas and Cynthia used for their eleven sons include family names and those of famous ministers.  Cloyd, Bryson, Houston, Stephenson, and Cunningham are known family names.  David Brainard, Robert Newton and Charles Hodge were famous ministers.  
2. The first section includes births of Thomas McAdams siblings, parents and at least one sister-in-law.  Ann Duncan married Thomas' brother Samuel B. McAdams, Sr. 
3. The second section includes births of David B(rainard)'s wife and two daughters and of Robert N(ewton)'s wife and children.
4. The third section mirrors the information on page 1 about the McAdams sons, but adds middle names.  John C(loyd)'s birthdate is transcribed December 20, 1836 here as opposed to December 30, 1836 on page 1.  
5. The last section includes the births of Cynthia Stephenson's family.  In addition to her parents and siblings, an uncle (Matthew) is included, as are the spouses of her sisters.  Polly Nelson was her father's first wife.  

East Tennessee Slaves Named in the 1860 Census

The 1860 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules (Schedule 2) for Washington County, Tennessee contains 953 slave entries, including age, gender, race (black or mulatto), owner and location. It appears that many of these slaves were included by name (given name and master's surname) in the households of their owners on the regular census form. Those entries were then crossed out and notations added moving the entries to the Slave Schedules. 

1860 Census listing for Thomas C. McAdams, Washington County, TN

1860 Slave Schedule for Thomas McAdams, Washington County, TN

For example, the household of Thomas C. McAdams (Household 1144, Campbells District, Washington, TN) includes Sarah McAdams, aged 24, and Martha E. McAdams, aged 3.  Both were listed as black and born in Tennessee.  They were then crossed out and a faint notation made "Sched 2" which refers to the Slave Schedule, which does show McAdams with two female slaves, one aged 24 and one aged 3.  


Though I've known about the McAdams slave listing for sometime, I only recently noticed similar entries on other pages throughout the 1860 Washington County Census.  I planned to record those entries on my Slaves referenced in family research page at WeRelate.org until I realized that most, if not all, the slaveowners listed on the Slave Schedule near to McAdams also had their slaves enumerated in the Census and the numbers were far beyond my list capacity.  


If the double listings occurred throughout the county census a more detailed study should be done.  So, a new item for my "To Do" list.  I will examine the census and Slave Schedule carefully to see how many slaves were listed in both.  It would be interesting to compare the names in the 1860 Census to those in the 1870 Census following Emancipation.  Not sure I'll get to that in the near future, but I should be able to do a preliminary survey this summer.