The family tree, part 3.

Richard B. Tuttle (24 Mar 1858 – 17 Dec 1884)

Ahnentafel #48 · his mother’s father’s father’s father’s father (5 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established

Richard B. Tuttle was born on 24 March 1858 and worked as a miller. As a small child he appears, aged two, in the 1860 census of Otter Creek Township, Vigo County, Indiana, alongside an older brother named Dennis, aged four — the name he later gave his own son. He married Emma Fuerstenberger on 12 October 1881 in Vigo County, and died on 17 December 1884, only eight months after his son Dennis was born.

Evidence

Miller. m. Emma Fuerstenberger 12 Oct 1881, Vigo Co.; died eight months after his son Dennis was born. ⭐ His earliest record found 6 Aug 2026: aged 2 in the 1860 census of Otter Creek Township, Vigo County, in his father’s house — with an elder brother DENNIS, aged 4, after whom he named his own son [TUTTLE-13].

Outstanding: His actual death record and burial are still unpulled, and nobody knows why he and Emma were at Peoria, Illinois in 1884.

Evidence images (described)

Emma S. Fuerstenberger (Jul 1863 Terre Haute – 9 Apr 1926)

Ahnentafel #49 · his mother’s father’s father’s father’s mother (5 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established

Emma S. Fuerstenberger was born in July 1863 in Terre Haute, Indiana, and died there on 9 April 1926. Widowed young, she married three times in all — first Richard B. Tuttle in 1881, then Hamilton B. Martin in 1891, and finally Gifford H. Spear in 1894. Her son Dennis later named his own firstborn Gifford, almost certainly in honor of the stepfather who helped raise him.

Evidence

Married three times — Richard B. Tuttle 1881, Hamilton B. Martin 1891, Gifford H. Spear 1894. Her son named his own firstborn Gifford, almost certainly for the stepfather who raised him: a name that looked arbitrary for four generations is a small monument. Corroborated as Dennis’s mother twice over — the 1934 Andrews probate and the 1902 marriage register.

Evidence images (described)

William Alexander (of Clinton, Vermillion Co., IN)

Ahnentafel #50 · his mother’s father’s father’s mother’s father (5 generations back) · Probable — the IDENTIFICATION or the LINK rests on one source, or is in conflict

William Alexander lived at Clinton, in Vermillion County, Indiana. He is named as father of the bride in the 1902 Vigo County marriage register recording his daughter Leona's wedding — the record that identifies him, though it still awaits corroboration from census records.

Evidence

Named in the bride’s columns of the 1902 Vigo County marriage register [ALEX-03].

Outstanding: Read across a register fold — corroborate with the 1880/1900 censuses and the Alexander × Fletcher marriage.

Evidence images (described)

Mary Elizabeth Fletcher (d. 1934)

Ahnentafel #51 · his mother’s father’s father’s mother’s mother (5 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established

Mary Elizabeth Fletcher was widowed and lived in the household of her daughter Leona and son-in-law Dennis Tuttle across the 1910, 1920, and 1930 censuses — a forty-year presence in their home. Her death, recorded in the family Bible, came in 1934.

Evidence

Widowed, she lived in Dennis and Leona’s household in 1910, 1920 AND 1930 — a forty-year presence in the house that corroborates this generation independently of the register. Her death is in the family Bible.

Outstanding: Her 1934 Terre Haute death record would name the Fletcher generation above.

Evidence images (described)

Benjamin Nott/Knott (father of Joseph McGee Knott; Washington Co., Ohio)

Ahnentafel #52 · his mother’s father’s mother’s father’s father (5 generations back) · Probable — the IDENTIFICATION or the LINK rests on one source, or is in conflict

Benjamin Nott, or Knott, farmed in Adams Township, near Lowell, in Washington County, Ohio. The 1860 census there shows him, aged forty-three, with his wife Margaret, also forty-three, and an eleven-year-old son, Joseph M. — believed to be Joseph McGee Knott, though the household record does not spell out relationships, so the identification, while strong, is treated as probable rather than certain.

Evidence

⭐⭐⭐ ADDED at PROBABLE, 7 Aug 2026 (adversary: CONFIRMED at ‘part’) [KNOTT-06]; evidence base UPGRADED 8 Aug 2026 [KNOTT-10]: the decisive 1860 census test PASSED — Adams Twp. (P.O. Lowell), Washington Co., Ohio, p.1 dw.6: Benjamin Nott 43, farmer, with Margaret 43 and Jos M 11 — the ONLY compatible Nott/Knott household in the county, both index-sweeps read [KNOTT-10a]. Second adversary verdict: stays ‘part’ — the census’s b.~1849 vs the certificate’s 5 Mar 1851 is a live ~2-year conflict inside the chain (Erwin Lamb precedent), and 1860 lists no relationships.

Outstanding: the 1870 Marietta household READ [KNOTT-11]: Benjamin 53, Margaret 52, John W 23, Sarah 20 — Joseph out-of-house as an adult would be; the 1891 Marietta death record IMAGE (would name HIS parents); an 1860 Joseph KNOTT-spelling sweep; the FS-tree-attached Ohio County Marriages entry (Margaret’s maiden name) and 1891-era county death record.

Evidence images (described)

Margaret Knott (maiden name unknown; mother of Joseph McGee Knott)

Ahnentafel #53 · his mother’s father’s mother’s father’s mother (5 generations back) · Probable — the IDENTIFICATION or the LINK rests on one source, or is in conflict

Margaret, whose maiden name has not survived, was the mother of Joseph McGee Knott. His 1932 death certificate names her only as “Margaret,” and the 1860 census of the family's household at Lowell, Washington County, Ohio, records a Margaret Nott, aged forty-three and born in Ohio, living with Benjamin and the young Joseph M. — probably her, though not yet proven beyond doubt.

Evidence

⭐ UPGRADED hyp → part, 8 Aug 2026, per adversary verdict [KNOTT-10]: the 1932 certificate’s bare “Margaret” (maiden line dashed out, informant by mark) is now independently corroborated by the 1860 census — Margaret Nott, 43, b. Ohio, in the same Lowell household as Benjamin and Jos M [KNOTT-10a]. First name only; no record of her own yet.

Outstanding: ⭐ maiden name LEAD [KNOTT-11]: “Benj. Nott × MARGARET KIRK, m. 13 Mar 1836, Morgan Co.” + a child’s record restating the couple (son John W. Nott, who sits in the 1870 Marietta household); pending the marriage image and discrimination vs the 1839 Washington-Co. Benjamin × Lavina Tewel. ⚠ Her birthplace wobbles Ohio (1860) vs Virginia (1870). Then — best shot is the FS-indexed “Benj. Nott” Ohio County Marriages entry; then the 1870 Marietta household; then her own death record.

Evidence images (described)

Erwin R. Lamb (b. 19 Mar 1840, Wayne Co., IN; of Newport, Vermillion Co.)

Ahnentafel #54 · his mother’s father’s mother’s mother’s father (5 generations back) · Probable — the IDENTIFICATION or the LINK rests on one source, or is in conflict

Erwin R. Lamb was born on 19 March 1840 in Wayne County, Indiana, and later lived at Newport, in Vermillion County. He was the son of Elias Lamb, who had married Susannah Bish in 1837, and grandson of Joseph and Lydia (Adamson) Lamb, Quakers who had moved from Randolph County, North Carolina, to Wayne County, Indiana, in April 1829. Erwin is believed to be the father of Martha Ellen Lamb — her death certificate names him, the 1880 census places her in his household, and an 1888 biographical sketch of the family lists her among his children — though a small conflict in the recorded dates keeps the identification at “probable” rather than fully settled.

Evidence

⭐⭐⭐ ADDED at PROBABLE, 7 Aug 2026, adversary verdict: CONFIRMED at ‘part’, not ‘ok’ [KNOTT-08]. Father of Martha Ellen Lamb by three converging legs: her 1945 death certificate (“FATHER: ERWIN LAMB”), the 1880 Vermillion Co. census household (“Mattie E., 17, daughter”), and the 1888 Biographical and Historical Record of Vermillion County sketch (verified verbatim by the adversary) listing “Martha E.” among his four children by his FIRST wife. Son of Elias Lamb (b. 1814; m. Susannah Bish 1837) and grandson of Joseph & Lydia (Adamson) Lamb, Quakers of Randolph Co., NC → Wayne Co., IN, Apr 1829. The family’s Wayne→Vermillion move ~1870 matches Martha’s 1865 Richmond (Wayne Co.) birth exactly.

Outstanding: ⚠ Held at ‘part’ by a live conflict: the 1880 census (“17” → b. 1862/3) vs the certificate’s self-consistent 27 Aug 1865 — a 2–3 year gap inside the identification chain. The bridge record: Martha × George Ford marriage (~1886–93) naming her father from outside the family’s self-reporting; also Erwin × Melissa Bailey 15 Mar 1860 Wayne Co. marriage record; Erwin’s own death/burial unfound.

8 Aug 2026 [KNOTT-11/KNOTT-11a]: the 1860 Wayne Co. license is now on file as an IMAGE (Vol. G img 320: “Irvin Lamb TO Melissa J. Bailey,” license 14 Mar 1860 + certificate return). Grade held at Probable per KNOTT-08-VERDICT — the 1870 household read (candidate “Irwin R Lyme,” Clay Twp) is still owed.

Evidence images (described)

Melissa Bailey (m. 15 Mar 1860, Wayne Co. – d. 29 Nov 1875)

Ahnentafel #55 · his mother’s father’s mother’s mother’s mother (5 generations back) · Probable — the IDENTIFICATION or the LINK rests on one source, or is in conflict

Melissa Bailey married Erwin R. Lamb on 15 March 1860 in Wayne County, Indiana, and died on 29 November 1875. An 1888 biographical sketch of the family describes her as Erwin's first wife, “leaving a family of four children — Alma S., Martha E., Frank A. and May Belle” — and she is believed, on that basis, to be the mother of Martha Ellen Lamb, though no independent record of her has yet been found.

Evidence

⭐⭐⭐ ADDED at PROBABLE, 7 Aug 2026, adversary verdict: CONFIRMED at ‘part’ [KNOTT-08]. Martha Ellen’s mother per the 1888 Vermillion Co. sketch (adversary-verified verbatim): Erwin’s FIRST wife, m. 15 Mar 1860, d. 29 Nov 1875, “leaving a family of four children… Alma S., Martha E., Frank A. and May Belle.” Martha’s 1865 birth falls squarely inside the marriage; the 1880 census’s “Mary E., wife” is the SECOND wife, Mrs. Mary Elizabeth (Jackson) Hall (m. 18 May 1879, a Civil War widow — her daughter Effie Hall is the census’s “stepdaughter”), which is what betrayed the earlier misreading [KNOTT-04, corrected].

Outstanding: Single compiled source (subject-submitted 1888 mug-book) + arithmetic; no independent record of the 1860 marriage reachable yet. Her parents unknown — no Bailey sketch in the 1888 book fits. Burial likely Wayne Co. (d. 1875, pre-move… or Vermillion — the sketch has the family in Vermillion by 1870; check both).

8 Aug 2026 [KNOTT-11/KNOTT-11a]: the 1860 Wayne Co. license is now on file as an IMAGE (Vol. G img 320: “Irvin Lamb TO Melissa J. Bailey,” license 14 Mar 1860 + certificate return). Grade held at Probable per KNOTT-08-VERDICT — the 1870 household read (candidate “Irwin R Lyme,” Clay Twp) is still owed.

Evidence images (described)

George Frost (Paterson, New Jersey)

Ahnentafel #56 · his mother’s mother’s father’s father’s father (5 generations back) · Probable — the IDENTIFICATION or the LINK rests on one source, or is in conflict

George Frost lived in Paterson, New Jersey, where an 1882 industrial history of the city describes “George Frost & Sons” and names his two sons, Frank and Harry B., tracing the family's origin to Macclesfield, England. He is named as Harry B. Frost's father on Harry's 1896 Detroit marriage record, and heads an 1880 Paterson census household that includes Harry, then recorded as born in England around 1860, along with siblings Frank, Charles, Mary, and Morris. The link between this Paterson mill-owning family and Harry the bridegroom is well supported but not yet locked down by a single decisive record.

Evidence

Named as Harry B. Frost’s father on the 1896 Detroit marriage record [FROST-19], and heads the 1880 Paterson census household with Harry (b. 1860 England) and siblings Frank, Charles, Mary and Morris. ⭐ 8 Aug 2026 [FROST-23/-VERDICT]: Trumbull's 1882 Industrial Paterson ('GEORGE FROST & SONS… his two sons, Frank and Harry B.', Albion Mill, Macclesfield origin) and the 1917 Cedar Lawn brothers' lot independently corroborate the family — adversary held the grade at Probable: neither ties the mill's Harry B. to the Detroit bridegroom.

Outstanding: FLIP CONDITION — the 1880 Paterson census IMAGE or the 1896 Wayne Co. marriage IMAGE = the second leg to ok. Held at Probable — one index source names the link; the Wayne Co. marriage image and the 1880 image are the records to pull. (The earlier note that “no supporting record appears in FROST-00” was corrected 7 Aug 2026 — the record was in the file’s other fork; see self-correction #19.)

Evidence images (described)

Frances W. Bell (Paterson, New Jersey)

Ahnentafel #57 · his mother’s mother’s father’s father’s mother (5 generations back) · Probable — the IDENTIFICATION or the LINK rests on one source, or is in conflict

Frances W. Bell lived in Paterson, New Jersey, and is named as Harry B. Frost's mother on his 1896 Detroit marriage record. Her surname is a coincidence — this Bell family has no connection to the Alabama Bells elsewhere in this history — and no further record of her has yet been found.

Evidence

Named as Harry B. Frost’s mother on the 1896 Detroit marriage record [FROST-19]. (The surname is coincidence — no relation to the Alabama Bells: two unrelated Bell families in one pedigree.)

Outstanding: Same single source as her husband — held at Probable until the marriage image or the 1880 census image is pulled.

Evidence images (described)

Mathew Chalmers (fl. Orange/East Orange, Essex Co., N.J.; b. Scotland per his daughter's censuses)

Ahnentafel #58 · his mother’s mother’s father’s mother’s father (5 generations back) · Probable — the IDENTIFICATION or the LINK rests on one source, or is in conflict

Mathew Chalmers lived in Orange and East Orange, in Essex County, New Jersey, and was, according to his daughters' census records, born in Scotland. He is named as Katharine Chalmers's father in the parents' field of her own 1896 marriage record in Wayne County, Michigan. Two of his grandchildren later carried names echoing their grandparents — a grandson called Harry Bell Frost and a granddaughter called Katherine King Frost — and his other daughters, Margaret Jordan and Sarah Chalmers, are recorded living in East Orange as late as 1932.

Evidence

PROBABLE, adversary-confirmed 10 Aug 2026 [FROST-28/-VERDICT]. Father of Katharine (29) per the bride's-parents field of her own 1896 Wayne Co., Mich. marriage register (p. 436, rec. 21032 — image on file, T2 sweep) — first-person, contemporaneous. Corroboration: grandson “Harry BELL Frost” / granddaughter “Katherine KING Frost” carry both grandmothers’ maiden names; daughters Margaret (Jordan) and Sarah Chalmers of East Orange (1932 obit). ⚠ The Paterson/Markinch Chalmers clan is a KILLED same-name trap [FROST-26/28] — do not re-attach.

Outstanding: a second record naming him (the NJ 1866 birth registration — the $10 request, re-targeted to Orange; Essex Co. censuses/directories for the household; the sisters’ marriage records).

Evidence images (described)

Ellen (King) Chalmers (fl. Essex Co., N.J.; b. Scotland per her daughter's censuses)

Ahnentafel #59 · his mother’s mother’s father’s mother’s mother (5 generations back) · Probable — the IDENTIFICATION or the LINK rests on one source, or is in conflict

Ellen King Chalmers, like her husband Mathew, was born in Scotland according to her daughters' census records, and lived in Essex County, New Jersey. She is named as Katharine Chalmers's mother on Katharine's 1896 marriage record, and her own maiden name, King, echoes on in her granddaughter Katherine King Frost's name.

Evidence

PROBABLE, adversary-confirmed 10 Aug 2026 [FROST-28/-VERDICT]. Mother of Katharine per the same 1896 register field; the KING surname echoes in granddaughter Katherine King Frost’s name. One document; same tests as node 58.

Evidence images (described)

Moses B. Roush (1842 – 23 Aug 1925, Mason Co. WV)

Ahnentafel #60 · his mother’s mother’s mother’s father’s father (5 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established

Moses B. Roush was born in 1842 and served as a private in Companies A and B of the 28th Ohio Infantry, known as Ohio's “2nd German Regiment,” enlisting on 23 July 1864 and discharged on 6 July 1865. He filed for an invalid pension in 1880 based on his service. He married Sarah Duckworth on 1 September 1870 in Orange Township, Meigs County, Ohio. He died on 23 August 1925 in Mason County, West Virginia; his death certificate is the record that named both of his parents.

Evidence

Private, Co. A and Co. B, 28th Ohio Infantry — Ohio’s “2nd German Regiment” — entered 23 Jul 1864, discharged 6 Jul 1865. Invalid pension app. 347,662 / cert. 323,081 filed 1880; widow’s app. 1,236,693 / cert. A 8-19-26. His 1925 West Virginia death certificate is what named both his parents. m. Sarah Duckworth 1 Sep 1870, Orange Twp., Meigs Co., Ohio [ROUSH-20, ROUSH-28, ROUSH-30].

Outstanding: His NARA pension file — the widow’s file especially, which had to prove the 1911 remarriage. NATF Form 85 worksheet written [ACTION ⑧].

Evidence images (described)

Sarah Mary Duckworth (c.1851 Pennsylvania – 1881)

Ahnentafel #61 · his mother’s mother’s mother’s father’s mother (5 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established

Sarah Mary Duckworth was born about 1851 in Pennsylvania — the only one of her siblings born there, in the gap between her family's crossing of the Atlantic and their later move to Ohio, which dates that crossing to sometime between June 1850 and 1851. She married Moses B. Roush on 1 September 1870 at Orange Township, Meigs County, Ohio, and died in 1881.

Evidence

Born in Pennsylvania between the family’s Atlantic crossing and their move to Ohio — the only one of the children born in that gap, which is what dates the crossing to c. June 1850 × 1851. m. Moses B. Roush 1 Sep 1870 at Orange Township, Meigs Co., Ohio [ROUSH-29, ROUSH-30].

Outstanding: ⚠ No document names her father outright. The Duckworth parentage rests on the 1860 Syracuse household plus her siblings’ records — very probable, not proven.

Lewis J. Nease (20 Nov 1854 – 17 Feb 1917, Waggener District, Mason Co., WV)

Ahnentafel #62 · his mother’s mother’s mother’s mother’s father (5 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established

Lewis J. Nease was born on 20 November 1854 and died on 17 February 1917 in the Waggener District of Mason County, West Virginia. For years the family record carried the wrong name in this place — a mistaken “J. W. Nease” — but the puzzle was solved by reading two records closely: his daughter Bertha's 1897 marriage license, on which he gave the information as “L. J. Nease,” and his own 1917 death register entry, which recorded his exact age at death and worked back precisely to his 20 November 1854 birth date, matching the family genealogy published in 1928. The 1900 census confirms his marriage to Martha (Love) in 1877, and county birth records from the 1890s likewise name him and Martha as parents. His own parents are not yet known.

Evidence

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ THIS NODE WAS “J. W. NEASE” UNTIL 7 AUGUST 2026. IT IS NOW SETTLED [ROUSH-53]. Two threads had closed this slot with two different men and both closures were still on disk. Three record images were read at native resolution and the answer is Lewis J. Nease.

The decider — his daughter’s own marriage licence, Mason County, 22 February 1897 (WV VRR marriage Id 12211313): “The name of the party giving the foregoing information is L. J. NEASE of Mason County, State of West Virginia.” The looping capital L is unmistakable beside the J of “John Roush” written three lines above in the same hand — and the party who gives a bride’s age and birthplace to the clerk is her father.

And his own death register entry dates him exactly. WV VRR death Id 5286043, Register of Deaths p. 120 line 6: “Nease, Lewis — Waggener — married — 62 [yrs] 2 [mos] 28 [days] — Laborer — Heart trouble.” Work the age backwards and it lands on 20 November 1854 — to the day, the birth date the 1928 Roush genealogy gives Lewis Nease. An age in days on a register and a date in a book, agreeing exactly.

Corroborated four more ways: the 1900 census (Lewis Nease, married 23 years ⇒ 1877, wife Martha born Ohio, one page from Bertha’s own household); the county birth index for 1891 and 1895, both naming Lewis Nease and Martha as parents; and the 1928 Roush genealogy pp. 416–417, whose child list matches the 1900 census nine names out of ten.

⚠ The 1878 birth register really does read “J. W. Nease”, and so does the county’s later typed copy of it — but those are ONE source recorded twice, not two witnesses. Why the assessor wrote the wrong initials is left open rather than smoothed over.

⛔ James W. Nease (1852–1906) is retired as a candidate [ROUSH-53]: no death record anywhere in the West Virginia index for Mason County 1901–1911, and no James Nease anywhere in the 1928 Roush genealogy — a book that reconstructs these very households.

Outstanding: his parents. His 1917 death register carries ditto marks running down from “not given” in both parent columns.

Evidence images (described)

Martha Jane Love (30 Jan 1860, Ohio – 12 Aug 1941, Mason Co., WV)

Ahnentafel #63 · his mother’s mother’s mother’s mother’s mother (5 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established

Martha Jane Love was born on 30 January 1860 in Ohio and died on 12 August 1941 in Mason County, West Virginia, at the age of eighty-one. The 1928 Roush family genealogy records her marriage to Lewis Nease on 12 April 1877, which fits exactly with the 1900 census and makes her daughter Bertha, born the following year, the eldest of the couple's children. Her own death record confirms her birth date and age precisely; she was buried, a widow, at Broad Run cemetery two days after she died.

Evidence

⭐⭐⭐ WAS “Martha Nease — married name only” UNTIL 7 AUGUST 2026 [ROUSH-53]. Her maiden name is LOVE, from the 1928 Roush genealogy (“Lewis Nease… Married Martha Love Apr. 12, 1877”) — a marriage date that matches the 1900 census’s “married 23 years” exactly, and puts Bertha, born 1878, as the first child.

Her own death record (WV VRR Id 5290412): died 12 August 1941 at Mason, aged 81y 6m 13d, born 30 January 1860 in OHIO, a widow, buried Broad Run, 14 August 1941 — the same cemetery as the Roushes. The age arithmetic checks out to the day.

⚠ Correction logged: an earlier note cited this record as giving her husband as “Lewis Nease.” The index does not carry a spouse field value — do not cite it that way until the image itself is read.

Evidence images (described)

John (F.) Bell (13 Jan 1807 South Carolina – 21 Nov 1890, Barbour Co., Alabama)

Ahnentafel #64 · his father’s father’s father’s father’s father’s father (6 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established

John Bell was born about 1807 in South Carolina and had moved to Barbour County, Alabama before 1837, where all of his children were born. The 1850 census finds him at forty-three, farming, with his wife Laney — also South Carolina born — and five children at home.

Two of those children matter to this family: William, aged eleven, who would die a Confederate pensioner in 1924 leaving an estate that scattered across his nieces and nephews; and John, aged nine, who would become John T. Bell and father Thomas Jefferson Bell.

His son’s obituary says he came to Alabama from Darlington, South Carolina, about 1830, and settled in the neighbourhood where the family stayed for the next century. He is the point at which this line leaves Alabama — and Darlington District is where everything before him has to be looked for.

Evidence

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Re-graded probable → documented, 12 Aug 2026 [BELL-132], on adversarial review. The link is carried by four independent instruments: his son William’s 1924 death record naming the father John F. Bell; the 1891 partition, whose guardian-ad-litem notice calls the Farrior children “minor heirs of John Bell deceased” and so records descent rather than mere co-ownership; the 1925 estate dividing per stirpes with John T. Bell’s line in the same generational row as his sister’s; and ⭐ John T. Bell’s own 1915 obituary — “His parents moved to Alabama from DARLINGTON, S.C., about 1830 and settled in the neighborhood where he lived at his death.”

⭐ His farm is named [BELL-129]. In November 1891, the year after he died, his heirs petitioned to sell 604 acres in Barbour County for division — land described as containing “the John Bell homestead and out houses” and “the John Bell old home place.” It went in equal thirds to W. W. Bell, Jno. T. Bell and the five children of a daughter who had married a Farrior. The boundaries name the neighbours, and they explain a good deal: the Daniel Norton land lay to the south, which is why two Bell wives later married a Norton; the old William Beasley place too, and his son William was buried in the Beasley family cemetery.

Head of a Barbour County household in the 1850 census — John Bell, 43, born South Carolina — with his wife Laney, 42, also South Carolina, and children Mary 13, William 11, John 9, Kervin 4 and Laney 2 [BELL-123]. His son William W. Bell’s 1924 death record names his parents as John F. Bell and Viney Bell, sixty-four years later and independently.

Outstanding: ⚠ Probable rather than documented for one specific reason: the step from “John Bell, aged 9” in this household to the John T. Bell who died in 1915 rests on name, age and county, and Barbour County held more than one Bell family. His own dates, his wife’s maiden name, and where in South Carolina he came from are all unknown.

⭐ 13 Aug 2026 [BELL-151] — the 1870 census, never read before, puts him and his son on adjacent lines of one page. Township 10 Range 25, Barbour County, page 183, enumerated 8 August 1870, post office Louisville: John Bell, 63, farmer, born South Carolina, with Laney, 64, and the two grown children still at home, Mary 29 and Archibald 22. ⭐⭐ The very next dwelling is John T. Bell, 27, farmer, with Sarah, 27, and their children John 8, Mack 4, William 2 and Sarah 1 — the four eldest of the eight sons and daughters a probate court would name in 1915. ⭐ And the dwelling before his is Martha Beasley: the 1891 partition bounds the 604 acres “on the south by the old William Beasley place,” and his son William W. Bell would be buried in Beasley Family Cemetery. The neighbour on the schedule is the neighbour in the deed.

⭐ 25 Aug 2026 [BELL-529]: his later life recovered — ALIVE at 72 in the 1880 census (Clayton Beat 7), widowed (so Laney died 1870×1880), declaring both parents born in South Carolina — the necessary condition on node 128, sworn in his own household. On 1 August 1890, aged 83, he divided the home place by deeds of gift — 203⅓ acres each to son Curvin A. and daughter Mary O., reserving “the ownership and comfort of said above described lands during my natural life time” — which is why he has no probate file; died 1890×1900. A second John-and-Lany deed surfaced (to Wm M. Bounds, 1858, acknowledged 1889), and the 1890 deed fixes the home place exactly: “the big gate leading to the house” on the Clayton–Louisville road, Sections 11–14, T.10 R.25.

Evidence images (described)

Laney Bell (b. about 1806 in South Carolina; died between August 1870 and June 1880, Barbour Co., Alabama)

Ahnentafel #65 · his father’s father’s father’s father’s father’s mother (6 generations back) · Probable — the IDENTIFICATION or the LINK rests on one source, or is in conflict

She was born in South Carolina about 1806 and came to Alabama as a young wife. In August 1840 she is a tally mark in a column — one woman aged thirty to forty in John Bell’s house in Barbour County, with a baby boy and a little girl. In 1850 she has a name, Laney, and five children. In 1860 she is fifty-three, and the family is prosperous: her husband returns four thousand dollars in land and ten thousand in personal estate. In 1870 she is sixty-four, keeping house, with her grown daughter Mary and her son Archibald still at home, and her son John T. Bell farming the next place along with a wife and four small children.

Then she is gone. By June 1880 her husband is enumerated as a widower, living with a lodger and a girl of fourteen, his children grown and scattered. A gravestone in the Beasley family’s little burying ground is said to give the date as 17 June 1873, though no one has photographed it.

Fifty-one years after she died, her eldest son’s death certificate called her Viney. Three census-takers had called her Laney. Nobody now alive knows which she answered to.

Evidence

⭐⭐ Her name is LANEY, and as of 13 Aug 2026 that is a manuscript reading rather than an index transcription [BELL-149, BELL-151]. Three census images have now been rendered at native resolution and read by eye — 1850 (aged 42), 1860 (53) and 1870 (64) — in three different hands, all writing Laney. ⭐ The 1860 enumerator wrote “Post Office Louisville” in his own header and “S. Carolina” in the birthplace column of the same line: the capital in her name is his L, not his C. ⭐ The FamilySearch index reads her 1870 age as 44; the manuscript reads 64, formed like the 6 in her husband’s 63 on the line above, and that correction has been checked twice.

⭐ She is in the household before the children were born. The 1840 Barbour schedule, whose female columns were unread until now, tallies one female aged 30–40 beside John at 30–40, with one boy and one girl under five — William, born February 1839, and Mary. ⭐ Her death is dated by record: the household is intact in August 1870 and John Bell is enumerated widowed in June 1880.

⚠ Held at probable on a second adversarial review, 13 Aug 2026 [BELL-151], and the reason is precise. Everything above establishes who she was. Nothing states that she was John T. Bell’s mother in words — the schedules of 1850, 1860 and 1870 carry no relationship column, so four enumerations are one kind of evidence four times over. And the single record in this family that does name a mother — William W. Bell’s 1924 Alabama death record, certificate 4736 — calls her Viney. ⚠ Viney is a clipping of Lavinia; Laney is a clipping of Elaine or Delaney; no one name yields both, so the easy reconciliation does not exist. The live alternative is two wives, and it requires no misreading of anything.

Outstanding: ⭐ She has a grave: Find a Grave memorial 68717758, “Laney Hurst Bell,” died 17 June 1873, BEASLEY FAMILY CEMETERY, Barbour County — the same small burying ground as her son William W. Bell, on the farm that bounded theirs. ⚠ There is no photograph, the entry is contributor-made, and the surname Hurst is a hypothesis only — it is also the mother’s surname on the death record of a different C. A. Bell, so it may be a compiler’s error carried across. It is not on this chart as her name. ⭐ What would settle her: a photograph of the stone; or Alabama certificate 475 of 1915 for John T. Bell, the only document that would name his own mother; or certificate 4736 of 1924, to see whether Viney is the informant’s word or the indexer’s.

Evidence images (described)

John Eakins Sr. (b. ~1795 New Hanover Co., NC – aft. 1880)

Ahnentafel #72 · his father’s father’s mother’s father’s father’s father (6 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established

John Eakins Sr. was born about 1795 in New Hanover County, North Carolina, and was still living there after 1880. As a young man he took on the guardianship of his own younger siblings at the February 1819 court term. He is documented in the 1850 census and, later, in a sworn affidavit he gave in 1863, which survives inside his son's Confederate service file.

Two of his sons served in the 18th North Carolina Infantry during the Civil War; John J. B. was killed at Sharpsburg and Owen J. at Chancellorsville.

Evidence

1850 census [BELL-07]; his own sworn 1863 affidavit survives inside his son’s Confederate service file [BELL-04]. As a young man he took over as guardian of his own younger siblings at the February 1819 court term.

Outstanding: Two of his sons died in the 18th North Carolina — John J. B. at Sharpsburg, Owen J. at Chancellorsville.

Nancy Costin (1807–1870)

Ahnentafel #73 · his father’s father’s mother’s father’s father’s mother (6 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established

Nancy Costin was born in 1807 and died in 1870. Little else about her life has yet come to light, and her Costin family origins remain unexplored.

Evidence

Outstanding: Costin family unworked.

William Payne (b. about 1791 in Virginia; possibly a Parrish)

Ahnentafel #74 · his father’s father’s mother’s father’s mother’s father (6 generations back) · Hypothesis — a candidate, not tied in

William Payne — possibly a Parrish — is believed to have been born about 1791 in Virginia. In 1850 he headed a blended household in Lauderdale County, Mississippi, that included young Sarah Hudson Payne, four orphaned boys born in North Carolina with the Eakens surname, and several Mississippi-born children. Whether he was Sarah's father or her stepfather is not yet settled, so his place in the family is recorded as a candidate rather than a certainty.

Evidence

ADDED at HYPOTHESIS, 10 Aug 2026, at the adversary’s own sanctioned framing [BELL-55/-VERDICT]. Sarah Hudson Payne, 8, verifiably sat in his 1850 household (ark 1:1:M4LD-SDZ) — with four orphaned NC-born Eakens boys and the MS-born younger children incl. “Origon P” and “Joel P.” Paternity contested: the “P”-marker reading makes him her father; the unbroken-ditto reading makes him her STEPfather (her blood father an unidentified Eakens, Mary’s first husband). ⚠ Ann J carries no “P” — the inconsistency that capped this at hyp.

Outstanding: the census IMAGE (re-written vs dittoed surname at Sarah’s line); the Lauderdale probate case files (the decider); “Parrish”/“Jr.” = tree labels, unverified.

Mary Payne (b. about 1820 in North Carolina; maiden name unknown)

Ahnentafel #75 · his father’s father’s mother’s father’s mother’s mother (6 generations back) · Hypothesis — a candidate, not tied in

Mary, whose surname is not known, is believed to have been born about 1820 in North Carolina. She appears as the thirty-year-old wife in the 1850 Payne household in Lauderdale County, Mississippi, and, under either reading of that household, was old enough to have been Sarah Hudson Payne's mother. A Lauderdale County record names a "Mrs. Mary Payne" as administratrix of an Eakens estate, which may reflect an earlier marriage before she was Mrs. Payne, though this is not yet resolved.

Evidence

ADDED at HYPOTHESIS, 10 Aug 2026 [BELL-55/-VERDICT]. The 30-year-old wife of the 1850 household; chronologically clean as Sarah’s mother (aged 22 at her birth) under EITHER paternity reading — as William’s wife or as the widowed Mrs. Eakens who remarried him. The Lauderdale index verifiably names a “Payne, Mrs. Mary, admx.” on the Eakens estate file #14.

Outstanding: her own surname-history (Eakens first?); the case files.

J. T. Swain (b. 1838, Alabama)

Ahnentafel #76 · his father’s father’s mother’s mother’s father’s father (6 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established

J. T. Swain was born in Alabama in 1838 and was recorded in the 1880 census at Cuba, in Sumter County, Alabama. His two eldest children were born in Mississippi, while every child born from 1866 onward arrived in Alabama, marking the family's move across the state line to the first months after the Civil War.

Evidence

1880 census, Cuba, Sumter Co. [SWAIN-03]. His two eldest were born in Mississippi and every child from 1866 on in Alabama — dating the family’s move across the state line to the first months after the war.

Outstanding: Mississippi before 1866.

Nancy E. J. Swain (b. 1838, Mississippi)

Ahnentafel #77 · his father’s father’s mother’s mother’s father’s mother (6 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established

Nancy E. J. Swain was born in Mississippi in 1838. Her maiden name has not yet been discovered.

Evidence

Outstanding: Maiden name unknown.

Ben Simmons (b. ~1819 Georgia; living 1880, Cuba, Sumter Co., Alabama)

Ahnentafel #78 · his father’s father’s mother’s mother’s mother’s father (6 generations back) · Probable — the IDENTIFICATION or the LINK rests on one source, or is in conflict

Ben Simmons was born about 1819 in Georgia and was still living in 1880 in Cuba, Sumter County, Alabama. The 1880 census probably records him as the father of a daughter in his household, though the record leaves some question about exactly which of two sisters that entry describes. His Georgia birth fits with a family of Simmonses known to have come from that state, though the connection to them is not yet established.

Evidence

PROBABLE, adversary-confirmed 10 Aug 2026 [SWAIN-09/-VERDICT]. Father of node 39 per the 1880 census relationship column (Cuba ED 176, household 11952807 — “Dellon, 16” a stated daughter; image SWAIN-09a). ⚠ Wording required by the verdict: the parent-pair is ROBUST to the open Eugenia-vs-Dillon sister-fork (both are his daughters); the fork itself stays open; this is the FS index reading — the original census leaf not yet pulled. Georgia birth fits the Robert-Simmons-Esq. Georgia-origin cluster (candidate grandfather line, NOT asserted — the estate heir-list is the test).

Outstanding: the Bloebaum 1985 death certificate (the one-stroke resolver); the original 1880 leaf; the Robert Simmons estate heir-list (Book 9-187); the 1870 household (the four elder daughters incl. M.A./Rebecca).

Evidence images (described)

Adeline Simmons (b. ~1829 Alabama; living 1880)

Ahnentafel #79 · his father’s father’s mother’s mother’s mother’s mother (6 generations back) · Probable — the IDENTIFICATION or the LINK rests on one source, or is in conflict

Adeline Simmons was born about 1829 in Alabama and was still living in 1880. She was probably the mother of the same daughter recorded with Ben Simmons in the 1880 census; her childbearing years and the family's brief sojourn in Mississippi in the early 1850s fit together consistently. Her maiden name is not yet known.

Evidence

PROBABLE, adversary-confirmed 10 Aug 2026 [SWAIN-09/-VERDICT]. Mother of node 39 per the same 1880 stated-relationship record; childbearing ~age 20–39, internally consistent, the family’s Mississippi sojourn bracketed ~1850–56 by the children’s birthplaces. Maiden name unknown.

Outstanding: her maiden name (the Ben × Adline marriage record, ~1847–48 AL or MS); same tests as node 78.

Evidence images (described)

Henry H. Stephens (8 Aug 1822 North Carolina – Oct 1879, Gaston, Sumter Co., Ala.)

Ahnentafel #80 · his father’s mother’s father’s father’s father’s father (6 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established

Henry H. Stephens was born on 8 August 1822 in North Carolina and died in October 1879 in Gaston, Sumter County, Alabama. He is the best-documented man on this line, traced through census records from Sumter County, Alabama in 1850, to Newton County, Mississippi in 1860, and back to Cuba, in Sumter County, Alabama, by 1870. In 1850 he was a young farmer living just six houses from his father, Moore Stephens — the first record to tie the two men directly together — and his household included his wife Sarah and infant son Calvin.

Evidence

The best-documented man on this line — 16 sources — with a trail that reads as one continuous migration: 1850 Sumter Co. AL → 1860 Newton Co. MS → 1870 back at Cuba, Sumter Co. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 6 Aug 2026 — the 1850 census read directly: Henry Stephens, 27, born NORTH CAROLINA, Sumter county, household 1214 / house 1184, with Sarah, 17, born North Carolina and Calvin, 1; boarder Redden Marshall, 23, N.C. ⭐⭐⭐ His father MOORE STEPHENS is in household 1220 / house 1190 — SIX HOUSES AWAY. This is the first census evidence tying node 80 to node 160 directly; everything before it was tree-derived [STEPHENS-16].

Outstanding: ⭐⭐ CALVIN STEPHENS, b. c.1849 — an elder brother of Caswell, and he was not in these notes at all. Follow him into 1860, or find that he died young. ⭐ Next: Henry and Moore in the 1860 Sumter Co. census; and the Sumter Co. 1850 slave schedule for Henry.

Evidence images (described)

Sarah Ann Jones (b. about 1833 in North Carolina; m. 4 June 1846, Sumter Co., Alabama)

Ahnentafel #81 · his father’s mother’s father’s father’s father’s mother (6 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established

Sarah Ann Jones was born about 1833 in North Carolina and married Henry H. Stephens on 4 June 1846 in Sumter County, Alabama, when she was only about thirteen. She was the mother of Caswell Stephens, born in January 1852, and possibly of his brothers Calvin and John as well. A Daniel Jones, who died around 1869 in Sumter County, is a promising but not yet confirmed candidate for her father; her own sons were bonded as his minor heirs after her death.

Evidence

m. 4 Jun 1846, Sumter Co.; mother of Caswell (b. Jan 1852). Henry’s second wife was Elizabeth Jones, m. 1854. ⭐⭐⭐ 6 Aug 2026: the 1850 census gives “Sarah Stephens, 17” — born NORTH CAROLINA, which matches her recorded 1833 birth exactly and adds a birthplace that was not previously recorded. She married at about thirteen and had Calvin at about sixteen [STEPHENS-16].

Outstanding: ⭐⭐ Her North Carolina birth opens the JONES line. Look for a Jones household of North Carolina origin in Sumter Co., Alabama, 1850 — that is her parents, and a whole unopened generation. Also: boarder Redden Marshall, 23, b. N.C., in her house — possibly kin.

10 Aug 2026 [STEPHENS-33/-VERDICT]: a Daniel Jones, d. ~1869 Sumter Co., is a named, well-evidenced LEAD for her father — her sons Caswell, Calvin, and John were bonded 31 Dec 1869 as his “minor heirs” (per-stirpes through their dead mother) — but the record is generation-blind (father vs. childless brother), so the adversary refused a node. The decider: Daniel’s own 1869 administration/distribution (same volumes) — a “daughter Sarah” recital confirms slot 162 at part; a sibling-heir recital kills it.

Evidence images (described)

John Wesley Truett (20 Oct 1833 – 17 Apr 1914)

Ahnentafel #88 · his father’s mother’s mother’s father’s father’s father (6 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established

John Wesley Truett was born on 20 October 1833 and died on 17 April 1914. He served as a private in Company D of the 32nd Alabama Infantry during the Civil War, enlisting on 15 October 1862 at Coffeeville, and was hospitalized within weeks with chronic rheumatism that kept him listed as absent for the rest of the war. A voucher he signed himself at Dalton, Georgia, on 30 May 1863 is the oldest surviving signature of a direct ancestor in this family's records, and he was later enumerated, at age 73, in the 1907 Alabama Census of Confederate Veterans.

Evidence

Private, Co. D, 32nd Alabama Infantry (CSA). Enlisted 15 Oct 1862 at Coffeeville — not May 1862 at Mobile — was in hospital at Dalton, Georgia within 23 days with chronic rheumatism, and is marked absent on every muster roll in the file. Page 11 is a voucher he signed himself at Dalton on 30 May 1863: the oldest signature of a direct ancestor recovered in this project. Enumerated in the 1907 Alabama Census of Confederate Veterans, aged 73.

Outstanding: His 1907 Confederate pension application at ADAH would add unit detail and a physical description.

Photographs (described)

Evidence images (described)