Before I Forget

Source: Ancestry.com. Tennessee, Marriage Records, 1780-2002 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008. Original data: Tennessee State Marriages, 1780-2002. Nashville, TN, USA: Tennessee State Library and Archives. Microfilm.


          This couple married in Wilson County, Tennessee on February 19, 1819, They MAY BE my maternal 4th GGrandparents. I can't say for certain. Do you have a source showing Abraham's parents or children? Grrrr, locating proof of people prior to the 1850 Federal Census is challenging. 

          Family lore is that Mary Ann Prim(m), wife of William Flemon Cowan, was born to John Abraham Primm.

          But family lore is OFTEN incorrect. I don't find a Prim or Primm by that name--only an Abram or Abraham in Tennessee. Several censuses record Mary Ann Prim Cowan as having a birthplace of Tennessee before moving to Arkansas, and later Texas. 

          Do I know more? No. Will update should the genealogy gods throw me a sign. 

          Until then, I'm re-doing my tree. Chopping limbs' worth of ancestors who have no sources. Or shared DNA. Leaving only those with whom I share blood kinship (and their spouses). 

          Finding proof that supports a family mystery? That's what I call a great day! But learning that your ancestor murdered a man? It's a sobering feeling.

          Read what The Galveston Daily News reported on June 2, 1893 about Welcome Wilhelm:

          Just a few days earlier, this paper reported that the perpetrator had been captured. Wait, who was the poor fellow who was wrongly accused of murder. What a fright he had! 

          In her Willhelm Family Record, my Great-Aunt Beatrice Willhelm Steeves wrote this about Welcome's flight from Texas:

My grandfather, William Welcome Willhelm, at about the age of 18 joined the war between the States in Co. C, 15th Northwest Arkansas Infantry.  In one of the battles the flag bearer was shot and grandfather rescued the flag before it hit the ground and carried it through the battle.  A bullet aimed at him, hit a coin in his pocket and made it look like a thimble.  He was captured in the battle of Vicksburg, when on July 3, 1865, General John C. Pemberton, commanding the 50,000 Confederate troops around Vicksburg forced to surrender 37,000 men and 172 cannons to U.S. Grant Commander of the Union Army.  After the war, grandfather went to Texas, married and had a family of 3 boys and 5 girls.  Just before the birth of his youngest child in 1883, some trouble came up and grandfather's life was threatened.  Due to the lack of law and order on the Texas frontier, grandfather was advised, for his sake and the sake of the family, to move his family.  He left to look for a place to move to and then returned to await the birth of his daughter.  When the baby was born, he left again and went to Arkansas to his father's place.  In December of that year he sent grandmother some money.  That was the last the family ever heard of him.

           Welk's parents, Pleasant and Jane (Lockmiller) Willhelm, were living in the Boston Mountains in Madison County, Arkansas. (near Fayetteville)  A pretty but rugged place. I would think it a good place to hide. But it would also be the first choice of the Williamson County Sheriff should he care to send in "the law."

          I saw True Grit. Did any Texas Rangers try tracking my ancestor?


WHAT WILHELM LEFT BEHIND:

          William Welcome Wilhelm married Mary Elizabeth Cowan in Florence, Williamson County, Texas just before Christmas in 1866. Having grown up in Arkansas, Mary and Welk were new Texas residents. Both had many relatives living in the same counties in Texas and Arkansas. Did they know each other as children or meet after Welk's service in the War? Perhaps their families knew each other from Tennessee before the Wilhelms had moved to Arkansas in the late 1840s?

          Mary had eight children with Welk in Texas:  

                    Addie Martha "Mattie" born 19 Oct 1867 in Bell County, 

                    William Edgar born  28 Aug 1869 in Bell County, 

                    James Arthur born 15 Oct 1872 in Granger, Williamson County, 

                    Mary Virginia "Jennie" born 26 Feb 1875 in Bell County, 

                    Grace Idena born 8 July 1877 Circleville, Williamson County, 

                    Joseph Flemon born 4 Jan 1879 Williamson County, 

                    Ollie Josephine born 30 March 1881 Williamson County, 

                    and Alice Emily born 20 April 1883 in Williamson County.

          The 1880 Federal Census records Welcome and Mary's young family living in Precinct No. 6 in rural Williamson County, Texas. Welk is working as a blacksmith. Their oldest "Mattie" is 12, and little Joseph is two years old. 

          As of this writing I do not find a "W. Berry" in the 1880 Census for Williamson County or surrounding counties. There ARE several families with the surname Berry. But none named "Barry." Knowing names and dates are often incorrect in newspapers, I look for variations. Among the many archived newspapers from that time, I've not found any mention of Mr. Berry's untimely death. I will update here when I learn more of Mr. Berry at Donahue Creek.

          Imagine Mary's horror when Welk left her five months before the birth of their last child. My heart goes out to her!

          To the best of anyone's recollection from elders now long gone, Mary last heard from Welk a few months after he had fled to Arkansas in 1883. She had the support of her parents and siblings, but to our knowledge did not remarry.

          She died June 1, 1894 at the age of 51. She is buried in the Katemcy Cemetery in Mason County, Texas near her father, William Flemon Cowan. I've long wondered how her family coped after losing Welcome. My great-grandfather, Welk's son, grew to be a stern, exacting man who was later estranged from his brothers and sisters. He was but 13 when his dad had left home.

          How did that event shape Edgar's history--and ours? 


UPDATE:  Found a similar article in a Dallas, Texas newspaper. This account has a different year for the murder:

Sources: 

--  The Galveston Daily News, Galveston, Texas, published June 2, 1893, Fri., p. 7  from The Portal to Texas History via https://texashistory.unt.edu/ 

--  Citation: Year: 1880; Census Place: Precinct 6, Williamson, Texas; Roll: 1333; Family History Film: 1255333; Page: 541A; Enumeration District: 161.

--  Steeves, Beatrice Willhelm Reiswig, 1907-1995. Willhelm Family Record & Hurley Family Record. 1973. Raw data.fdfdrf St. Helena, Napa, California, USA.  A family history and genealogy of Tobias Willhelm (1760-1834) and Daniel Hurley (1817- 1859) and their descendants

--  The Dallas Morning News (Dallas, Texas), published Sat., 27 May 1893, p. 5

          My mother's Aunt Bea was a family historian and quite a storyteller.

          Beatrice Willhelm, born 1907 in Santa Anna, Texas, was by occupation a registered nurse. Her work in health care took her to Texas, Montana, and California. I don't know when she became interested in genealogy, but am so very grateful for her effort in compiling this Family Record. 

          Over the years I've spoken online with others familiar with her manuscript. Some reported it had been passed down from older relatives--now deceased. Imagine the amount of time Bea spent in writing distant cousins asking for birth and death dates, pictures, and stories about their grandparents. Did she give a happy shout when the mailman brought her photos of ancestors by return mail? Or when she was mailed torn obits from faded newspapers?

          Attached are 21 pages of Bea's Willhelm Family Record and Hurley Family Record that she combined into one manuscript. I scanned my copy of a copy from another copy. I've never seen an original manuscript of Bea's work.

          I have omitted info on living people as you will see from pages containing but a few typed sentences. (Copies are available to family by request n the Comment box below). Hold your cursor over the gallery of images to find the horizontal scroll bar. Move the scroll bar to the right to see ALL of the 21 pages. Feel free to download each image. I know Aunt Bea would want you to have a copy for personal use--not commercial use.

          As to where Bea's trove of research is now, I would love to know. What a treasure she may have had in her collection of old letters and documents from the 19th century. WHERE are they now?

          Meet Aunt Bea in two photos below. One image from her later years. Another as she appeared in 1928 Lubbock, Texas with my grandmother, Audrey Coffee (on the left):

          In 2002 another researcher and a second cousin, Marsha F. White, mailed photos of my ggrandparents' family. I do so appreciate Marsha's generosity!  She too descends from George Freeman Hurley and Nancy Abigail Smith--parents of Beatrice's mother, Lena.

          Lena's legal name was Rebecca Orlena Hurley. She married William Edgar Willhelm in Katemcy, Texas on December 8, 1889. But you can read all that in Bea's document. (George and Nancy Hurley appear elsewhere on my blog. Find them with a keyword search).  I'll hush now and show the marvelous photos from our Hurley cousin. Attached are scanned copies of the originals she sent. I also have copies that have been touched-up, but want you (family) to see the originals. 

         First, from left to right, are the children of Lena & Edgar Willhelm:  Olive, Glenn, Arch, Bea, May (standing), Fred, and Art. Little Beatrice appears to be about four or five, don't you think? That would put this photo around 1912. The duplicate pic below is one that my sister touched up a bit. Remember to click ONCE inside a picture to enlarge it. Click just once to return to this page.

          Second, from L to R, sisters Lois & Edna May Alexander--daughters of May Willhelm. Then Glenn and his sister Frieda, with their brother Harold behind them. (Children of Fred and Bertha Willhelm). 

          3.  My Grandpa Art said his mother Lena was a "ginger." Here is Lena with her husband Ed Willhelm.

          4.  I think these are the youngest Willhelm children Beatrice, Art, and Olive with what may be school books. My grandfather Art is in the second photo. I am so happy to have these early photos!


          5.  Two photos of Lena and Ed Willhelm's entire family. Dates and locations are unknown. Do you know more? 

Source:  Steeves, Beatrice Willhelm Reiswig, 1907-1995. Willhelm Family Record & Hurley Family Record. 1973. Raw data. St. Helena, Napa, California, USA.  A family history and genealogy of Tobias Willhelm (1760-1834) and Daniel Hurley (1817- 1859) and their descendants.


Thanks for stopping by!
    

My genealogy app's relationship calculator came up with that mouthful of a title. Emily Edgin Hail and I both descend from a common ancestors--her maternal grandparents, William Flemon Cowan and Mary Ann (Primm) Cowan. Meet Emily's family with husband Robert T. Hail. Date unknown. I copied this from Brian Atwood's memorial for Emily on Findagrave dot com. Emily was born in Arkansas in 1864 and had only 49 years before passing on March 11, 1914 in Texas. 

I wonder what color her new dress is, and don't her eyes look pretty. How did the photographer get all those boys to stand still? And what might he have been dangling to get those wide-eyed expressions?