Before I Forget

         My maternal third great-grandmother Nancy Woolf married my 3xGGrandpa William James on March 11, 1841, in Cole County, Missouri. See the original record showing their marriage as written in the top upper right-hand corner. 

          Cousin/researcher Barbara Holst Maltby in her book "Follow in His Footsteps: The Adventures of My Father" (about John H. Holst) writes that her Great-Grandfather William James "was a Union man" during the Civil War. The James family was allegedly the only Union family in that neck of the woods. That would be in what is today Morgan County, Missouri. They farmed in the Osage Township. (You Coffee fans will recall that Versailles is also in Morgan County. And no, our family did not pronounce it "Ver-sigh.") 

          While William and two of his sons were away serving in the Union Army, his wife Nancy was left with the younger children. Alone on the farm. Once when Union soldiers were passing through en route to St. Louis, Barbara Holst Maltby writes:  

 "...the Gravois River suddenly reached flood stage and the army was unable to cross for three days. The eight thousand men camped on the James farm for that period. General Davis requisitioned all the cattle, all the wheat and corn and other commodities for the Union Army."  

Maltby adds that soon after their supplies were taken, Nancy's family came down with smallpox. A horrible illness that spread throughout the county. Of their ten known children, I don't find that any died during the War. They survived smallpox. However, there are two daughters, Hanna and Letitia, whose death dates are unknown. Perhaps they were casualties of the outbreak?

William and Nancy's seventh child was named after Nancy. She later married a Coffee. But that's for another post.

Mahlon Jordan James is my very photogenic maternal 3xGreat-Grand Uncle. Son of John Abraham James (born Barren County, Virginia in 1790) and Rachael Anne Bray James (born 1794 Chatham County, North Carolina), Mahlon was the eighth of 12 (known) children. Word! 

Hear me now, People! When in my dotage I'm asked what was the greatest achievement of the Twentieth Century? Two words: BIRTH CONTROL.

Allegedly born in Missouri 1828 (with only his grave marker as "proof"), Mahlon married Jane Campbell in 1860. They made a home in Moniteau County, Missouri for their ten children. Their last child was Jesse James (1877-1906). Pranksters that they were, I'm certain they named their youngest Jesse for one reason: to confuse descendants into believing they are related to the infamous bank robber. Not so. THAT Jesse lived in nearby Clay County. 

Uncle Mahlon and Aunt Jane lived long. I hope they prospered. She died in 1914 at age 75, and Mahlon lived to be 96 years. They are both buried in the Highland Cemetery in Moniteau County. I appreciate Larry Hutchison for sharing Mr. James' marvelous photo. 

NOTE TO COFFEE COUSINS: You too are related to Mr. James through John Willis Coffee's mother, Nancy James (wife of John Hanna Coffee). 

On May 19, 1812 in Barren County in the new state of Kentucky, formerly Virginia, Edward Bray (husband to Nancy Ann Dowdy Bray) wrote his permission for his 18-year old daughter, Rachael Anne, to marry John Abraham James (my maternal 4th G-Grandfather). Source: Kentucky Marriages, 1802-1850. 

          "This is to certify that John James has my consent" - John was 22 years old. 

But first, let me back up to 1800 when our John was age ten. His father had died, leaving his mother Mary with five children. I have the text copy of his Will.

In October of that year the court ordered three men to appraise Mr. James' estate "and slaves, if any, of James James, Deceased and make report thereof to the Court."

On March 13, 1801 appraisal of the estate was reported "worth of 100 pounds 7 shillings 6 pence." 

Two years later, "During April court of 1803," it was:

               ORDERED that the Clerk of this Court do bind out to James

               H. Rice, John James, orphan and son of James James, Dec'd,

               to learn the trade, art and business of farming according

               to law; and also, Polly James, orphan and daughter of James

               James, Dec'd, to the said James H. Rice according to law.

NOTE:  James H. Rice was an attorney for the Commonwealth of Barren County, Kentucky.

Yikes, indentured servitude? Our John, son of James James, was but 13 years old! His sister, Mary Anne "Polly" James, born in 1799, was only four years old.

But read more from the same court:

"ORDERED that attachment be issued against Mary James Belcher and Moses Belcher to appear at next Court to show cause why they should not be fined for contempt of the Court for not binding their children. (NOTE: Mary James, John's mother, had since married Mr. Moses Belcher.)

             And this in 1803 from "The November County Court:" 

ORDERED that _____ be issued to summons Mary James (alias) Mary Speakman, (alias) Mary Belcher to appear at next Court  to show cause, if any she can, why she shall not give county security or deliver up the Estate of James James, her late husband, into the hands of her security for his indemnity;"

This from the National Archives' "Prologue Magazine" -- Gold Star Mothers' Pilgrimage

During the 1920s, the Gold Star Mothers' Association lobbied for a federally sponsored pilgrimage to Europe for mothers with sons buried overseas. Although many of the women who belonged to the organization had visited their sons' graves, they realized that women often could not afford the trip to Europe. In their testimony, these women placed great emphasis on the bond between a mother and son. The bond between wife and husband seemed almost secondary in the congressional debates. The bond between fathers and sons was barely considered--the association maintained that the maternal bond surpassed that of the paternal bond.

In 1929 Congress enacted legislation that authorized the secretary of war to arrange for pilgrimages to the European cemeteries "by mothers and widows of members of military and naval forces of the United States who died in the service at any time between April 5, 1917, and July 1, 1921, and whose remains are now interred in such cemeteries." Congress later extended eligibility for pilgrimages to mothers and widows of men who died and were buried at sea or who died at sea or overseas and whose places of burial were unknown. The Office of the Quartermaster General determined that 17,389 women were eligible. By October 31, 1933, when the project ended, 6,693 women had made the pilgrimage.  

Thank you for popping in. I welcome your comments and/or "upvote."