| Name: | Tom Lee Stinnett |
|---|---|
| SSN: | 500091178 |
| Gender: | Male |
| Race: | Black |
| Birth Date: | 27 May 1874 |
| Birth Place: | Yellville MA, Arkansas |
| Father Name: | Ben Stinnett |
| Mother Name: | Nan Jefferson |
| Type of Claim: | Original SSN. |
| Notes: | Jun 1937: Name listed as TOM LEE STINNETT |
This is the first place I have a record for Tom that includes his mother's name (death certificate records Ben Stinnett as his father). It is also the first place I have seen any reference to the Jefferson surname; or a middle name for Tom. So of course I had to start looking for Nan/Nancy Jefferson in Marion County, Arkansas.
The 1870 U.S census for Union Township (post office - Yellville), Marion County yields this tidbit:
The Wickersham household - Alfred, Loucinda and Jefferson Wickersham - also lists a family of Jeffersons - Nancy, Shaly, William, Ann and George. Could Nancy, William and Ann be my Stinnetts? I've never heard of Shaly or George, though there are a couple of Georges later on down the John Stinnett family line.
The 1880 census got me excited:
Nancy Jefferson with William, Ann, Richard, Thomas, John[ey] and Marion - all names I recognize as my great-grandmother Ann and her brothers (all Mulatto). This is the first record I have seen with them all together; and the first time I have seen Marion in a census record (I have his marriage to Sadie Duncan). Is it too much to hope that these are my Stinnetts?
Incidentally, they are neighbors not only to Shulia Upton, the future wife of Bryant Coker Sr. of Springfield, Missouri, but also to Elizabeth Wood Stinnett, widow of David Stinnett, progenitor to the Stinnetts of northwest Arkansas. Their son Benjamin Stinnett lives with her. Could this be the Ben Stinnett named as father in Tom's records?
Some say Ben never married. Others say he married a Mary Duncan in Franklin County in 1857 though Mary does not appear with him in the 1860, 1870 or 1880 census records. He was in the Arkansas 2nd Mounted Rifles in the Civil War, was wounded in the Battle of Pea Ridge and had his left leg amputated. He lived with his mother until she died in 1896. I have not yet found a death record for him. The above link just says he died "some years later" after his mother.
I haven't found any of the Jeffersons as Jeffersons in any other records as yet. If these are my folks I need to figure out when they became Stinnetts. I also need to determine whether Nancy Jefferson was ever the Nancy Lee Thursday listed as mother on John Stinnett's death certificate.
Where do I go from here?
UPDATE 23 Aug 2015
Nancy Jefferson (colored) testified in a hearing before the Southern Claims Commission in 1878 on behalf of claimant Thomas Jefferson who claimed the Union army had taken a mare and 200 pounds of bacon in February 1864. Nancy stated that she was 42 years old, had lived in Marion County for about 20 years and had been a slave of Jefferson's grandson Albert D. Jefferson. She was familiar with the horse but did not witness its removal from Jefferson's farm. She did, however, see the soldiers take the bacon.
UPDATE 23 Aug 2015
Nancy Jefferson (colored) testified in a hearing before the Southern Claims Commission in 1878 on behalf of claimant Thomas Jefferson who claimed the Union army had taken a mare and 200 pounds of bacon in February 1864. Nancy stated that she was 42 years old, had lived in Marion County for about 20 years and had been a slave of Jefferson's grandson Albert D. Jefferson. She was familiar with the horse but did not witness its removal from Jefferson's farm. She did, however, see the soldiers take the bacon.