Before I Forget

Ailsey Willhelm married Jacob Cline in Alabama on September 5, 1849.  Even though a marriage record exists, genealogy geeks find it way more fun to locate a newspaper spread describing the glorious wedding ceremony. 

Or not. I found only a paragraph on page 3. This Huntsville paper doesn't say where they wed or from which county the record was filed. Only that the couple lived in nearby Marshall County. See the third sentence that I clipped from Newspapers.com:  

It was a second marriage for both, as this couple's previous spouses had died. Neither Jacob nor the widow McCulley were spring chickens. Ailsey (how DOES one say that name?) was about 56, and is only identified as "Mrs. McCullouch." And no, I did not spend extra time reading later papers for a retraction of her misspelled name. Papers were (and are) often rife with errors. 

Should any cousins read this, Ailsey was our 4x GGrandfather's little sister, and the daughter of Tobias Wilhelm.

But, hey!  Let's not stop there. What's the news of the day in Huntsville, Alabama? See three clips from The Democrat's front page. Mind you, on the FRONT PAGE:

You saw the motto under the paper's "flag," right?    (stirring background music plays here)

                  "Unawed by the influence of the rich or the great, the People must be heard, 
                    and their rights vindicated."

Fine words for rich white guys. Not so much for females or those enslaved. 

In Madison County, Alabama on 5 Sep 1849 several enslaved people were mentioned in an ad in the Huntsville Democrat paper. Their slave-owner appears to be Richard Pryor. See the article below. 

Knowing this may appear in a Google search, I'm listing the names of the enslaved humans for family historians who may be looking for them:  Rachel aged 34, Nancy aged 45, Judy and child aged 16, Moses aged 10, Amanda aged 7, Patty aged 13, Eliza aged 8.

I hope their descendants can trace back to these seven people.


                  "A married woman or feme covert was a dependent, like an underage child or a slave, 
                  and could not own property in her own name or control her own earnings, except under 
                  very specific circumstances. When a husband died, his wife could not be the guardian 
                  to their under-age children."


#TheyHadNames

     This bit of Sunday morning research is for my friend and neighbor, John. 

      Here is your ancestor with his parents in the 1860 Federal Census. But first, please click ONCE anywhere on an image to enlarge it. And to return to this page, CLICK ONCE INSIDE AN IMAGE TO RETURN. Only once, mind you.  (If you mistakenly hit your back button you will be sent to who knows where)

     This shows proof of Buck's capture at Peach Tree Creek. The first of three pages shows the WHOLE page. The second is cropped to easily read the title/headings for each column. The third shows an enlarged snip from LINE 9--where Lt. Foster's info begins. Reminder, click once inside an image to enlarge it. CLICK AGAIN to return to this page:

SOURCE:  Selected Records of the War Department Relating to Confederate Prisoners of War, 1861-1865, via Ancestry


     A letter written--but never sent. Possibly written in 1862? On April 21st. Did Lt. Foster send other letters that were saved by your family? I hope so. 

     No image here, but I found this record showing he also served with a Tennessee unit:

Name: Thomas Theodore Foster

Birth Date: 27 Aug 1840

Birth Place: USA, Alabama, (Stevenson) Jackson County

Enlistment Date: Oct 1861

Enlistment Age: 21

Military Branch: Infantry

Regiment or Unit: 42nd Tennessee Regiment

Company Unit: H

Enlistment Info: Camp Cheatum, 3rd Lieutenant

Remarks: Served until captured at Ft Donaldson 1862/02. Exchanged in 1862/09. Reenlisted 1st Lieut in 55th Al Inf Co H in 1862/09 at Vicksburg Miss. and served until captured at Peachtree Creek 1864/07/20 remained in prison until 1865/04.; Address 1907 Stevenson, Alabama

Author: Census Tax Assessor Jackson Co 1907 and 08

Source:  Alabama, Civil War Soldiers, 1860-1865 via Ancestry


     This record has Lt. Foster "killed." The extract reads:

Name	T T Foster
Military Unit	55th Alabama Infantry Regiment
Military Unit - Company	H
Muster Roll Date	1864 - 08 Aug
Rank	Lieutenant
Place of Enlistment - State	Alabama
Roll #	556
Archive Collection #	SG025062-1

Source:  Alabama Civil War Muster Rolls, 1861-1865

     This is another terrific document. So grateful to archivists who preserve these records! First, the whole page. Then, a cropped image on Lt. Foster. This is a database of a 1907 census taken in Alabama of living Confederate veterans:

SOURCE:  Alabama Department of Archives & History; Montgomery, Alabama; Alabama Census of Confederate Soldiers, 1907 and 1921; Roll: Multiple Regiments (Jackson County #36); Roll Number: 200


     Awesome photo of Lt. Foster's dad, Thomas Boyd Foster. Findagrave tells me he was born July 20, 1810 in Wythe County, Virginia. Died February 9, 1895 in Stevenson, Alabama. Quite the Southern gentleman. I wonder which of his hundreds of descendants now has his Bible?

     My, oh my, Alabama is sharing Last Wills & Testaments on Ancestry. I hope you can read the small print from 2xGrandfather Thomas Boyd Foster's probate file:

Source: Alabama, Wills and Probate Records, 1753-1999, Will Records, Vol 1, 1892-1895 for Jackson County

     A generous researcher on Ancestry shared a photo of "Uncle Buck Foster's Home" and indicated it was "Between Edgefield and Stevenson, AL." As his or her source, she writes: "From the family photo collection with Dianne Wimberley Lee."  Great photo! I'm sure you've seen it before. Can you identify the people in it?

     I believe we only spoke of military records, but I'm smitten with this 19th century family and can't stop. I'm sure you have seen this before from January 8, 1879. By the way, is it Wimberley or Wimberly? I see it spelled both ways.


Source: Ancestry.com. Alabama, County Marriages, 1805-1967

How fortunate your family took and KEPT photos!  The description near this image below reads: 

     "Back row (L to R): Hugh Caperton Foster, Sallie Munford Mason, Margaret Tennessee Wallace (wife of R. A. Foster).  

      Front row (L to R): Nancy Brewer Foster, A. B. Foster (b. 1843), Thomas Boyd Foster, and Mary Katherine F. Wimberley Photo courtesy of Ron and Diane Lee. Woman listed as Sallie Mason is likely Louisa Josephine Jones Foster (wife of Hugh C. Foster)"

       You've seen these, I know. But your ancestors' final resting place appears to be in a beautiful setting. Is it on private property? In a rural area or near a town? I hope it is well preserved. First, Lt. Foster's mother, Eleanor Susan Cowan Foster:



12:31 p.m. NOTE:  I know of more records I can get on Fold3. But that will be for another time. Please check back. BTW, comments can be shared below. Email addresses are kept private, but used just to insure no bot is trying to infiltrate my wee blog. There is this dang captcha thingamajig that might be difficult to read. Don't you just loathe captchas! I most certainly do. But comments left below can be seen by others and corrections to my blog post can be helpful if read by other descendants.  This has been fun!