Continuing Adventures of Neighborhood Land Search Part 2

I’ve finished reading through vol. N online, but haven’t platted more deeds since then.  Instead, I looked through what deeds I’ve found including those from my visit to my local Family History Center and looked through what tracts I’m missing by using the spreadsheet I’ve created of people enumerated in the 1870 Hardeman County, TN census.

Since some of the acreage amounts don’t match deeds and tax records I’ve found, I decided to go with the theory that those amounts are for multiple tracts of land and then build on that theory with the idea that these multiple tracts of land are next to each other—unless it’s explicitly mentioned in the documents that they’re not.  This may be a bad theory to make, but I feel that it’s logical since that seems the only reasonable explanation for the tax records I’ve found to agree with the deeds.  Also, my theory seemed to work when I was able to “tie” 3 deeds together for one land owner when their cumulative acreage matched exactly to the acreage they were taxed on in the tax records.

Raiford Bizzell listed in 1870 tax list.

Raiford Bizzle's platted deeds in DeedMapper.

Raiford Bizzell compiled taxed acreage and plats listed in spreadsheet.

 As I compared the records I’ve found with the spreadsheet, I found tracts that were possible matches for what I was missing and indicated this on the spreadsheet.  I still haven’t found deeds for all of the land owners listed on my spreadsheet, but still feel that I’m making progress on this project—albeit slowly.

Once I finished reading through vol. N, I began on vol. M, Sept. 1853-July 1855.  In this vol. I found some interesting deeds that may help me in placing some of the other plats I’ve found.  One of these is the deed for 189 acres that Wm. Fulgham sells to Pitser Miller.  This mentions a 2000 acre tract belonging Thomas Claiborne that seems to stand out in some of the land records I’ve viewed and also shares a boundary with one of my ancestor’s deeds.

Another deed I found was Stephen Childress’ 127 acres that he sold to Robert H Goad.  Goad later sells part of this land to Henry Bizzle.  In the deed to Henry, it mentions a road that runs from Bolivar to Simpson’s Ferry and states that it was once part of Childress’ entry.

I don’t know if I’ll find the time to plat out the deeds that seem pertinent to recreating my ancestor’s neighborhood.  But my plan is to definitely review more closely those deeds I’ve found to see if they will fit into the puzzle and help create an accurate depiction of the neighborhood.

The Further Adventures of the Womble Neighborhood Land Search

I was able to resume my search for John Washington Womble’s neighbors earlier this year.  The microfilm that I’d requested last fall and resulted in a minor snafu with the FHL was resolved in February.  I was able to make copies of the tax records for Civil District 12 for the years 1869-1872 and took note of the amount of acreage the neighbors owned.

I then used this information when imputing the information into the spreadsheet I created about John Washington Womble’s neighbors.  The spreadsheet lists out the individual land plots that the neighbors owned and whether or not it’s been platted out.  Then I listed out what plots of land I’m still missing.  The list also contained the land acreage based on the findings from the tax records I viewed.

After I’d viewed the tax records, I ordered the next deed books that I felt I needed to read through in order to find the remaining neighbors’ land. While waiting for the microfilm to arrive, I checked out topographical maps on the U.S. Geological Survey's website at http://www.usgs.gov/. Maps can be searched for and downloaded for free from their site. I've wanted a more detailed map and one that I knew the scale or a least could determine the scale better that I could place my plats on.
I selected the section of Hardeman County, Tennessee that I'm interested in and then began downloading. I selected 4 maps and then needed to find a way to piece them together. Once they were downloaded, I used a graphic editing program to clip away the white borders surrounding each of the map images. Then pieced the images together and created a larger image or map which was then imported into DeedMapper.
Hopefully this new background map will help me more when placing the plats.

Part of Hardeman County, Tennessee topographical map

Hardeman County, Tennessee Tax Records

In my review of the roll of Tax Records for Hardeman County, Tennessee, I discovered something I’d missed on my earlier viewings of this roll—a section titled, Additional Tax Reported. These lists cover only the years 1870-1872 and lists out what I’ve theorized only as people that were missed on the previous lists or perhaps they’re delinquent tax payers. I somehow doubt the latter and more believe the earlier theory.

The people are listed in non-alphabetical order, so are basically randomly listed. The civil district they lived in was noted by their name and then the other usual information was given as on the other tax lists. These lists are categorized by year, but that’s really the only organization to them.

Excerpt from Additional Tax Reported section.

Research recap and where I’m headed part 2

At first in my research of the Hardeman County tax records, I thought that I could just view a small portion of them and get the information I wanted.  I found that this wasn’t possible because of the fact that it appeared that John Washington Womble never left Hardeman County because some version of his name always seemed to appear in the tax lists.

As I mentioned earlier, I looked at Hardeman County tax records from 1865-1880 that I ordered on microfilm from the Family History Library.  I made copies of the records that seemed pertinent to my research and then transferred that information into Excel spreadsheets.

Hardeman County Tax Records

According to the 1869 tax record book, the taxes collected were recorded on 30 May 1869.  The only explanation I can give for why John Washington Womble is not listed in the 1869 tax records is because he may not have owned land when the taxes were collected or perhaps he lacked sufficient income and so was considered to be exempt from paying taxes that year. 

 His oldest daughter, Ellen married Isham Bowling in that same county on 4 August 1869, so it seems likely that John Washington Womble and his family moved to Hardeman County probably in 1867 or even as late as winter 1868.

The J W Wamble listed in the 1870 tax list must be John Washington Womble.  The reason being is that the only item he’s taxed on is 83 acres of land. This property correlates to the 83 acres that is sold to P J Tranum in 1873.  I did find the record where John Washington Womble purchased 83 acres from Chalkley Grantham and his wife, Abby in a deed registered March 1872.  No other deeds were found for John W Womble in Hardeman  County before the deed recorded in 1872.

John W. Womble is listed in the 1870 U.S. census as living in Hardeman County, TN in the 12^th Civil District. 

•  A person with the same name appears in the 1871 tax list in District 12.

•  A J H Womble is listed in District 12 in the 1872 tax list.  The letter H is probably just a misspelling on the tax collector’s part.

•   J W Womble is listed in District 12 in the 1873 tax list.

John W Womble appears in the Nashville City Directory from 1874 to 1875.  The 1880 census does list a John Wash. Wamble the 11^th Civil District and the 1880 Agriculture census indicates that he is renting the land he’s farming.  This evidence suggests to me that John W. Womble left Hardman and when he moved back, moved to a different civil district. 

What I also found in looking at the census records, both population and agriculture schedules, was another Womble family living in Hardeman County.  This family is headed by a J J Womble who I believe to be John Jobes Womble.

John Jobes Womble

A J W Womble or an individual with similar name or initials appear in subsequent tax records after 1870 up until 1878 when I found a John Wamble listed living in district 11.

It’s my belief that John Jobes Womble is the son of John Washington Womble’s brother, Warren.  This belief is based on previous research that I’ve done on the Womble family line.  According to census records, John Jobes Womble had a son named John W Womble.  I haven’t been able to figure out if his middle name was also Washington; however, the name similarity creates the illusion that my ancestor never left Hardeman County, Tennessee.

                     

The only Womble/Wamble I found listed in the tax records from 1865 to 1869 was John Jobes Womble.  In 1870, there are three people with the Wamble surname, J J Wamble, A W Wamble, and J W Wamble.  The person named J W Wamble is paying tax on 83 acres of land.  Neither of the other two Wombles paid taxes on any land and all three are listed in District No. 12 just like the 1870 census.

According to the 1870 Tennessee constitution, Article II, section 28 that’s posted at http://www.tngenweb.org/law, all males between the age of 21 and 50 were taxed.  Because of this law, I believe that the J W Wamble listed on the tax lists after 1873 is John W. Womble, John Jobes Womble’s son.  In the 1870 census the John W listed in John Jobes’ household is said to be 16; therefore, by 1874, the son would have been about 21, so he must be the J W Wamble listed on the 1874 tax list and also those subsequent years.  John Jobes Womble is not listed in the tax records after 1878 so he must’ve aged out.  He’s is also listed in the 1880 U. S. census living in the 11^th Civil District and in the Agriculture census renting his farm.

Conclusion

It would seem that because tax records were found for people of the same name or similar variation of the name J W Womble between the years 1870 to 1881 that even though my ancestor sold land in 1873 that he somehow eked out an existence in Hardeman County during a period in this country’s economic history that prior to the Great Depression of the 1930’s was considered the greatest economic crisis that the United States had ever faced.

However, it’s doubtful that John Washington Womble stayed on in Hardeman County after selling his land to P J Tranum.  He was skilled as a tailor and likely believed that he could fall back on this by obtaining work in Nashville where he lived from 1874-1875.  This scheme of course didn’t work out and he must’ve sorely underestimated the economic impact of the financial crisis’ impact on his ability to hold onto a job.

At this date, it’s still unclear whether or not he received the remainder of the money owed Tranum owed him.  Nevertheless, he returned to Hardeman where his son, Adolphes, his daughter, Ellen and her husband, and his nephew John Jobes Womble were living and likely returned to farming, by renting land on which to farm.  Possibly, when he moved away he was unsure of the likelihood of his ability to stay employed, so saved part of the money obtained from the land sale to Tranum and used this to rent land.