The family tree, part 5.

William H. Ward (b. about 1806 in South Carolina – d. between 1860 and Sept 1869)

Ahnentafel #178 · his father’s mother’s mother’s father’s father’s mother’s father (7 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established

William H. Ward was born about 1806 in South Carolina and died sometime between 1860 and September 1869, in Rowville Beat No. 5, Henry County, Alabama. He gave his written consent to his daughter's marriage in 1854. He died without a will, and a petition sworn before the Judge of Probate in September 1870 named his children as heirs.

Evidence

Of Rowville Beat No. 5, Henry County, Alabama. He gave written consent to his daughter’s marriage in 1854. ⭐ His death narrowed 6 Aug 2026 from 1860×1880 to 1860 × September 1869 by the dower proceeding of 18 Sept 1869 [TRUETT-24]. He died INTESTATE — Henry County Orphan Records p.774, petition sworn by C. J. Hutto 28 Sept 1870 before L. B. Appling, Judge of Probate, which spells his name out in full and names the children [TRUETT-23].

Outstanding: His estate file itself, and the Henry County Register notice by publication, autumn 1869.

Evidence images (described)

Syntha / Cyntha Ward (b. about 1813 in South Carolina – d. between 1880 and 1900)

Ahnentafel #179 · his father’s mother’s mother’s father’s father’s mother’s mother (7 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established

Syntha, also recorded as Cyntha, Ward was born about 1813 in South Carolina and died sometime between 1880 and 1900. As William H. Ward's widow, her dower share was allotted on 18 September 1869 in Henry County, Alabama, and she was later described in a sworn deposition as "Mrs Cyntha Ward the widow of deceased." By 1880 she was living, widowed, in the household of her son Isaiah, and that census recorded both of her own parents as having been born in North Carolina.

Her maiden name, despite appearing in several records connected to her husband's estate, has never been given, and remains unknown.

Evidence

Widow of William H. Ward. ⭐ Her dower was allotted 18 September 1869, Henry County — notice by publication in the HENRY COUNTY REGISTER, J. H. Simonton guardian ad litem for the minors [TRUETT-24]. Named as “Mrs Cyntha Ward the widow of deceased” in Abijah Wiggins’s deposition sworn 11 Nov 1870 at Abbeville [TRUETT-22]. In 1880 she is 66, widowed, keeping house in her son Isaiah’s household; that schedule gives both her parents as NORTH CAROLINA-born — Generation 9, placed but unnamed.

Outstanding: ⚠⚠ HER MAIDEN NAME IS THE PROJECT’S FOUR-TIME NEGATIVE — the dower proceeding, the 1870 petition, the Wiggins deposition and the estate file all decline to give it. PARKED. It will come from a Bible, an obituary, or a Ward estate in South Carolina.

Evidence images (described)

Colonel Gershom Tuttle III (11 Jun 1769 – 5 Sep 1823)

Ahnentafel #192 · his mother’s father’s father’s father’s father’s father’s father (7 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established

Colonel Gershom Tuttle III was born on 11 June 1769 and died on 5 September 1823. According to the 1883 Tuttle genealogy, he moved from Bristol, Connecticut, to Paris in Oneida County, New York, about 1790, and then around 1800 to Jefferson County, New York, where he opened a 275-acre farm near what became Watertown. He was one of the town's first highway commissioners, helped build the first grist mill in the town of Rutland in 1806, and opened a tavern on the main highway to the lake country that became famous during the War of 1812, in which he served as Lieutenant Colonel of the 76th New York Militia, a regiment that bore his name.

He married Pamelia Strong Clark on 8 July 1788 in Farmington, Connecticut, and the family later removed to Vigo County, Indiana, in 1816, where he served as county commissioner from 1820. He was described by his contemporaries as a man of excellent character and genial temper, fond of a joke and a capital storyteller, and he is buried at Otter Creek Union Cemetery, North Terre Haute, in Vigo County, Indiana.

Evidence

⭐ RENAMED 6 Aug 2026 at Alec’s correction: he was on this chart as “Gershom Tuttle Jr.”, which was wrong once the line ran deeper. There are THREE Gershoms in a row and “Jr.” belongs to none of them: I = Ensign Gershom, b. 1714, d. 1777 (node 768); II = Gershom the patriot, b. 1738, d. 1818 (node 384); III = this man, the Colonel of the War of 1812, b. 1769, d. 1823. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A LIFE, FROM THE 1883 TUTTLE GENEALOGY p.511 — entry no. 92514 [TUTTLE-29]: “rem. from Bristol, Conn., to Paris, Oneida Co., N.Y., abt. 1790; thence abt. 1800 to Jefferson Co., N.Y., and opened a farm of 275 acres abt. five miles from the site of Watertown, in the town of Rutland.” One of the first commissioners of highways; in 1806, with Seth Bailey, he BUILT THE FIRST GRIST MILL IN THE TOWN; 1808–1816 commissioner for loaning moneys of the state; 1810 a subscriber to the Black River Navigation Co. He traded, made potash, and opened a TAVERN on the great highway to the lake country — “the tavern became famous” in the War of 1812. Described as “a man of excellent character, genial temper, very fond of a joke, a capital story teller.” ⭐⭐⭐ THE MILL DESCENDS: his son Clark Strong Tuttle (node 96) was a MILLER at Otter Creek, Indiana — father builds Rutland’s first grist mill 1806, son is milling in Indiana forty years on. ⭐⭐ And it independently confirms the ONEIDA COUNTY stage that TUTTLE-15 had only from stray deed hits. m. Pamelia Strong Clark 8 Jul 1788 at Farmington, Connecticut; removed the family to Vigo County, Indiana in 1816; county commissioner from 1820; Lieutenant Colonel of the 76th New York Militia in the War of 1812 — the regiment bore his name. ⭐ Buried OTTER CREEK UNION CEMETERY, North Terre Haute, Vigo County (Find a Grave 123311856) — ⚠ no grave photograph exists. ⚠ His wife Pamelia is at Southview Cemetery, Brown County, about ninety miles away: two separate visits.

Outstanding: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ THE ROUTE PAST GERSHOM TUTTLE SR. IS NOW KNOWN [TUTTLE-29]. The 1883 genealogy numbers by descent — each digit is a child’s position. This man is 92514; so 9251 = the patriot (node 384), 925 = GERSHOM TUTTLE SR. (node 768, the wall), 92 = his father (a generation we do not have), 9 = his father, a child of William Tuttle the immigrant of 1635. ✅✅ CONFIRMED THE SAME NIGHT [TUTTLE-30] — ALL FOUR RUNGS EXIST AND ALL FOUR ARE THE RIGHT PEOPLE: 9251 = Gershom b. 1738, d. 5 Jan 1818 (image 616); 925 = Gershom Sr., b. 11 Aug 1714, Cheshire → Bristol (image 615); 92 = Dea. Timothy Tuttle of Cheshire (image 574); 9 = Simon Tuttle, bap. New Haven 28 Mar 1647 (image 560), the ninth child of William Tuttle the immigrant. The entry number really was a pedigree. ⭐ Page offset known from the SAR screenshot: printed p.511 = archive.org image 615 of 838; the earlier entries lie BEFORE it. His 29 Aug 1823 Vigo Co. will is still to be obtained. ⭐ Otter Creek Township is now independently documented as the family seat — his son Clark was milling there in 1850 and 1860.

Photographs (described)

Evidence images (described)

Pamelia Strong Clark (b. 4 Nov 1770 Farmington, Conn. – 15 Apr 1851 Nashville, Ind.)

Ahnentafel #193 · his mother’s father’s father’s father’s father’s father’s mother (7 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established

Pamelia Strong Clark was born on 4 November 1770 in Farmington, Connecticut, and died on 15 April 1851, by one account, or 15 November 1851 by another — sources disagree on the exact date — near Nashville, Indiana. She married Gershom Tuttle on 8 July 1788 in Farmington; according to the 1883 Tuttle genealogy, her brother was a United States Army officer who died while commanding the U.S. arsenal at Troy, New York, and her nephew was General Newman Strong Clark of the Department of the Pacific.

She outlived her husband by twenty-eight years, following one of their children south, and is buried at Southview Cemetery in Nashville, Brown County, Indiana, ninety miles from where he lies. Her middle name, Strong, was carried on through her descendants for four generations, though a search of the standard genealogy of the Strong family has so far failed to confirm any direct Strong ancestry for her.

Evidence

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ HER MAIDEN NAME IS CLARK. “STRONG” IS A MIDDLE NAME [TUTTLE-46, 7 August 2026]. G. F. Tuttle 1883, p. 512, in Col. Gershom’s own sketch: “He m. in Farmington, Conn., July 8, 1788, Pamelia Strong Clark of F., b. Nov. 4, 1770. Her brother was an officer of the U.S.A., and d. while in charge of the U.S. arsenal in Troy, N.Y. Gen. Newman Strong Clark of the Dept. of the Pacific, was her nephew. She d. at Nashville, Ind., April 15, 1851, a. 81.”

⛔⛔ THE STRONG DOOR IS SHUT. Dwight’s Descendants of Elder John Strong (1871) was searched in both volumes — no Pamelia Clark born 1770, no Tuttle marriage, no “Clark of Farmington.” The Elder John Strong descent that this chart has quietly assumed is not established and is now actively unsupported by the standard Strong genealogy. Her mother may still have been a Strong — that is a guess, not a finding.

⚠ Her death date is in conflict: Tuttle 1883 says 15 April 1851; Find a Grave memorial 16018171 says 15 November 1851. She is buried at Southview Cemetery, Nashville, Brown County, Indiana — ninety miles from her husband’s grave, because she outlived him by twenty-eight years and followed a child south.

Buried Southview Cemetery, Nashville, Brown Co., Indiana, with a headstone photograph. Her name is the “Strong Clark” carried down through Clark Strong Tuttle to Dennis Clark and Richard Clark — four generations of it.

Photographs (described)

Evidence images (described)

Joseph Lamb (c.1782 North Carolina – 1855, Wayne Co., IN (æ73))

Ahnentafel #216 · his mother’s father’s mother’s mother’s father’s father’s father (7 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established

Joseph Lamb was born about 1782 in North Carolina and died in 1855 in Wayne County, Indiana, at the age of 73. Two independent nineteenth-century local histories, written sixteen years apart, agree that he settled on land near Perry, Indiana, in 1829, and name his children, including Ezekiel, Esther, Smith, Elias, Mournen, Joseph, and Ithamar. According to one of those accounts, his own parents were Joseph and Lydia Adamson Lamb, and the family were members of the Society of Friends before leaving North Carolina; the particular county of North Carolina they came from is not recorded by either source.

Evidence

⭐⭐ ADDED at DOCUMENTED, 10 Aug 2026, adversary-confirmed [KNOTT-13/-VERDICT]: two genuinely independent histories 16 years apart — Young 1872 (“Joseph Lamb, from North Carolina, settled, in 1829, on land adjoining Perry, where he died in 1855, at the age of 73. His children were, Ezekiel, deceased; Esther, Smith, deceased; Elias, Mournen, Joseph, Ithamar”) and the 1888 Elias-informed sketch (“his parents, Joseph and Lydia (Adamson) Lamb, left North Carolina… members of the Society of Friends”) — different informants, different details (Young names the deceased children), converging. County of NC origin NOT stated by either source [self-correction #25].

Outstanding: the 1855 estate file (heirs list; NC county); a Quaker certificate of removal.

10 Aug 2026 [KNOTT-14]: candidate parents lead-grade: Henry (M.) Lamb × Ann Dennis; b. 25 Mar 1782; the 1806 “Lidya Addison” bond (bondsman her brother Samuel) and the 1829 Center MM certificate — all one compiled source pending the minute books.

Lydia (Adamson) Lamb (d. 1844, Wayne Co., IN)

Ahnentafel #217 · his mother’s father’s mother’s mother’s father’s father’s mother (7 generations back) · Probable — the IDENTIFICATION or the LINK rests on one source, or is in conflict

Lydia Adamson Lamb died in 1844, or possibly in 1837, in Wayne County, Indiana — the records disagree on the year. She is named as Joseph Lamb's wife in an 1888 biographical sketch of their son Elias, though an earlier 1872 history of the same family never mentions her by name. The family were Quakers, and her own Adamson family in the area has not yet been traced.

Evidence

ADDED at PROBABLE, 10 Aug 2026 [KNOTT-13/-VERDICT]. Named only by the 1888 sketch (Young 1872 never names Joseph’s wife). Quaker.

Outstanding: a monthly-meeting record; her Adamson family (a Samuel Adamson bought in the same 1832 land list — unexplored).

⚠ 10 Aug 2026 [KNOTT-14]: death-date CONFLICT — 11 Nov 1837, Economy (compiled KaysAncestry) vs 1844 (the 1888 sketch, this node’s source). Unadjudicated. Candidate parents named lead-grade: Enos Adamson × Mary Love (single compiled source; the Center MM minutes are the primary test).

John Bish (of Fairfield Co., OH → Wayne Co., IN 1836; d. “on the old homestead”)

Ahnentafel #218 · his mother’s father’s mother’s mother’s father’s mother’s father (7 generations back) · Probable — the IDENTIFICATION or the LINK rests on one source, or is in conflict

John Bish lived in Fairfield County, Ohio, before moving to Wayne County, Indiana, in 1836, and later removed to Miami County before returning to what is described as "the old homestead," where he died. He and his wife raised ten children. This identification currently rests on a single biographical sketch.

Evidence

ADDED at PROBABLE, 10 Aug 2026 [KNOTT-13/-VERDICT] (251-Rickard precedent — a genuine single-source identification with dates/places, not a bare candidate). Ten children; removed to Miami Co. and back.

Outstanding: everything record-side.

Ann Elizabeth Bish (d. Miami Co., IN)

Ahnentafel #219 · his mother’s father’s mother’s mother’s father’s mother’s mother (7 generations back) · Probable — the IDENTIFICATION or the LINK rests on one source, or is in conflict

Ann Elizabeth Bish, whose maiden name is not known, died in Miami County, Indiana. She was John Bish's wife, named alongside him in the same single biographical sketch that records their family.

Evidence

ADDED at PROBABLE, 10 Aug 2026 [KNOTT-13/-VERDICT]. Same single sketch; maiden name unknown.

John Roush (22 Nov 1785 – 21 Jan 1861, Meigs Co., Ohio)

Ahnentafel #240 · his mother’s mother’s mother’s father’s father’s father’s father (7 generations back) · Probable — the IDENTIFICATION or the LINK rests on one source, or is in conflict

John Roush was born on 22 November 1785 and died on 21 January 1861 in Meigs County, Ohio. He was the son of George Roush and Catharine Zerkel, and on 18 May 1808 he married his own cousin, Regina Roush, with Justice of the Peace Francis Watkins presiding. The couple settled in the Nease Settlement of Sutton Township, Meigs County, Ohio, moving there from Graham Station, Mason County, Virginia, sometime between the births of their children Benjamin, born in Virginia in August 1816, and Hannah, born in the Nease Settlement in May 1820.

They are buried in a family plot beside Regina's father, Jonas, though their graves are unmarked. Their son Benjamin's place in the family is recorded in a 1928 genealogy, though this last link has not yet been confirmed by an original record.

Evidence

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ NEW NODE, 7 August 2026 [ROUSH-54]. This is the rung that opens two Revolutionary patriots.

Son of George Roush and Catharine Zerkel. Married 18 May 1808 — “Francis Watkins, Justice of the Peace, pronounced the words that made them one” — his own cousin Regina Roush. A baptismal register printed in the 1928 genealogy records “John, Nov. 22, 1785. Bap. Wit. John Roush, wife Susannah, Jan. 5, 1786.”

He and Regina settled in the Nease Settlement, Sutton Township, Meigs County, Ohio — ⭐ the same few square miles where their great-great-grandson John G. Roush was born in 1877, and where the Roush and Nease families that later intermarried were founding neighbours. They lie in a family plot beside Regina’s father Jonas, with no stone marking their graves.

The move is dated by their children. Benjamin was born at Graham Station, Mason County, Virginia in August 1816; his sister Hannah was born in the Nease Settlement in May 1820. So John and Regina crossed from Virginia into Ohio between those two dates — which is exactly why Benjamin’s birthplace is Virginian and his siblings’ are not.

⚠⚠ GRADED PROBABLE ON PURPOSE. Everything above this couple is DAR-verified; everything below Benjamin is ours from records. The one link still resting on a single source is Benjamin as their son — the 1928 genealogy, p. 464: “5. BENJAMIN ROUSH, fifth child of John and Regina Roush, was born August 30, 1816.”

Outstanding — and this is the single most valuable document left on the Roush line: the Meigs County, Ohio probate death record for Benjamin Roush, 1897, or John Roush’s 1861 Meigs County estate file naming son Benjamin. Either one converts this node to Documented and the whole patriot descent with it. ⛔ Benjamin is not in the West Virginia death index — searched Mason Co. 1897 and Benjamin Roush statewide, all years. He died in Ohio.

Regina Roush (30 Nov 1788 – death not established)

Ahnentafel #241 · his mother’s mother’s mother’s father’s father’s father’s mother (7 generations back) · Probable — the IDENTIFICATION or the LINK rests on one source, or is in conflict

Regina Roush was born on 30 November 1788, the daughter of the Revolutionary War patriot Jonas Roush and his wife Barbara Fox. She married her cousin John Roush on 18 May 1808. In her later years her father lived in her household in the Nease Settlement, a detail recorded independently both in a 1928 family genealogy and in Jonas's own Revolutionary War pension file. Her date of death was not known even to the compilers of that genealogy and remains unrecorded today.

Evidence

⭐⭐⭐⭐ NEW NODE, 7 August 2026 [ROUSH-54]. Daughter of the patriot Jonas Roush and Barbara Fox; married her cousin John Roush on 18 May 1808. A Roush married a Roush — both of them grandchildren of the same Shenandoah Valley family, which is a pedigree collapse waiting to be drawn once the generation above is proved.

⭐⭐ The DAR has approved this exact person twice — on Jonas Roush’s ancestor record the approved lineages include “child REGINA — spouse JOHN ROUSH” (National Nos. 569934 and 1076887).

⭐ Her father spent his last years in her house. The 1928 genealogy says Jonas Roush “spent his last years in her home in the Nease Settlement” — and Jonas’s own Revolutionary pension file, independently, records that he removed to Meigs County, Ohio to live with a daughter. Two sources that never met, agreeing.

Outstanding: her death date. The 1928 book says plainly that it “has not been ascertained,” and the grave is unmarked.

David Altman (b. about 1788 in Pennsylvania – d. between 1850 and 1870)

Ahnentafel #242 · his mother’s mother’s mother’s father’s father’s mother’s father (7 generations back) · Hypothesis — a candidate, not tied in

David Altman is believed to have been born about 1788 in Pennsylvania and to have died sometime between 1850 and 1870. He farmed in Sutton Township, Meigs County, Ohio — the same township where the Roush family lived — and is recorded there in both the 1840 and 1850 census with a household that includes children named Jacob, Solomon, Mary, and Samuel. He is a leading candidate to be the father of Sophia Altman, whose birth year fits neatly into a gap between two of his other children, but no document has yet been found that states this connection directly.

Evidence

LEADING CANDIDATE, NOT ESTABLISHED. Farmer of Sutton Township, Meigs County, Ohio — the Roushes’ own township — with $1000 in land in 1850; also there in 1840, indexed “ATTMAN.” Household 1211: David 62, Margaret 56, Jacob 23, Solomon 19, Mary 14, Samuel 12. Sophia b. 1823 drops exactly into the gap between John (b. c.1819, his own household nearby) and Jacob (1827) [ROUSH-37].

Outstanding: ⚠⚠ No document connects Sophia to him. Surname + township + generation + a gap — the same shape of reasoning that failed at TRUETT-15/16. Proof or kill: his Meigs County probate; an heirs list would name Sophia Roush outright.

Evidence images (described)

Margaret Altman (b. about 1794 in Pennsylvania)

Ahnentafel #243 · his mother’s mother’s mother’s father’s father’s mother’s mother (7 generations back) · Hypothesis — a candidate, not tied in

Margaret Altman is believed to have been born about 1794 in Pennsylvania. She appears in the same 1850 census household as David Altman, presumably as his wife, with several Ohio-born children. Her maiden name is not known.

Evidence

Same household, same status. Both she and David were Pennsylvania-born; every child in both Altman households is Ohio-born from c.1819 on [ROUSH-37].

Outstanding: Her maiden name is unknown and would be a Gen 9 name. Best route: the post-1908 Ohio death certificates of her children Jacob, Solomon, Mary and Samuel — each names both parents.

Evidence images (described)

George Duckworth (a hatter of the Bury district, Lancashire)

Ahnentafel #244 · his mother’s mother’s mother’s father’s mother’s father’s father (7 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established

George Duckworth worked as a hatter in the Bury district of Lancashire, England. He is named in the marriage register at his son James's wedding on 21 January 1839, in the column recording the father's rank or profession, as "Hatter." His own marriage and details of his life have not yet been traced.

Evidence

Named in the register at his son’s marriage, 21 January 1839, in the column “Rank or Profession of Father” — Hatter. A wholly new generation, opened 6 Aug 2026 [ROUSH-34].

Outstanding: His own marriage, Bury district c.1805–12, and his son James’s baptism c.1810–18. Both are named searches now.

Evidence images (described)

Adam Collins (of Freetown, Bury, Lancashire)

Ahnentafel #246 · his mother’s mother’s mother’s father’s mother’s mother’s father (7 generations back) · Documented — person and parent-link established

Adam Collins lived at Freetown, in Bury, Lancashire, England. He is named in the marriage register at his daughter Ann's wedding in 1839, because she was a minor and his consent to the marriage was required. The Ohio branch of the family later named a son Adam, born 14 March 1847, in what appears to be a tribute to him.

Evidence

Named in the register because his daughter was a minor and his consent was required — the same mechanism that gave us Wm. H. Ward on the Truett side. ⭐ The Ohio family named a son ADAM (b. 14 Mar 1847) after him, an independent corroboration of the whole identification [ROUSH-34].

Outstanding: ⚠ His occupation is written in the last column but is not securely read — recorded as unread rather than guessed. Second pair of eyes wanted on image ROUSH-34b.

Evidence images (described)

George Nease's father (recorded as Samuel, and as Emanuel — the records conflict)

Ahnentafel #248 · his mother’s mother’s mother’s mother’s father’s father’s father (7 generations back) · Known unknown — the person existed; the name does not survive

The identity of George Nease's father is not settled; two records disagree on his name, one giving Samuel and another Emanuel Nease. A documented Nease couple in the 1850 census of Mason County, Virginia — Emanuel, born about 1792, and Catharine, born about 1797, both in Virginia — is recorded elsewhere as the parents of George Nease, born 21 November 1820, but which record is correct has not yet been determined.

Evidence

KNOWN UNKNOWN. Lewis J. Nease’s 1917 death register entry leaves both parent columns as ditto marks running down from “not given.”

⭐ There is a documented candidate pool, not a blank. The 1850 census of Mason County has EMANUEL NEASE (b. c.1792, Virginia), farmer, and CATHARINE (b. c.1797, Virginia), and the 1899 county death register names “Emanuel & Catharine Nease” as the parents of George Nease (b. 21 Nov 1820) [ROUSH-45/46/48]. Their sons George and Levi A. are documented brothers. Lewis belongs somewhere in that family; which man was his father is not established.

Outstanding: Emanuel Nease’s estate, Mason Co., 1850s. A Nease marriage return of c.1853 — Mason County returns of that period do name both parties’ parents.

RELOCATED from mislabeled node 126, 8 Aug 2026 (self-correction #22) — these are GEORGE’s parents (Lewis’s grandparents). ⚠ George’s 1899 death-register zoom reads parents “SAMUEL and CATHERINE NEASE” [ROUSH-43b]; the 1850 candidate household is EMANUEL Nease 58 & Catharine 53, next door to Jacob M. Roush [ROUSH-46]. Samuel-vs-Emanuel unresolved.

Evidence images (described)

Catharine Nease (b. about 1793–97 in Virginia)

Ahnentafel #249 · his mother’s mother’s mother’s mother’s father’s father’s mother (7 generations back) · Known unknown — the person existed; the name does not survive

Catharine Nease was born about 1793 to 1797 in Virginia. She is named as George Nease's mother in more than one record, alongside a father recorded inconsistently as either Samuel or Emanuel Nease, but her own maiden name and identity have not been established.

Evidence

RELOCATED from mislabeled node 127, 8 Aug 2026 (self-correction #22). “Catherine/Catharine” agrees across George’s 1899 register [ROUSH-43b] and the 1850 census [ROUSH-46]; surname and identity not established; the 1870 “Catharine Neas, 74” of Graham District [ROUSH-50] is the same candidate pool.

Evidence images (described)

Anthony Roush (23 Jan 1792 Shenandoah Co., VA – bur. Rickard Cem., White Church, Mason Co., WV)

Ahnentafel #250 · his mother’s mother’s mother’s mother’s father’s mother’s father (7 generations back) · Probable — the IDENTIFICATION or the LINK rests on one source, or is in conflict

Anthony Roush was born on 23 January 1792 near Solomon's Church in Shenandoah County, Virginia, and is buried at Rickard Cemetery in White Church, Mason County, West Virginia. According to a 1928 family genealogy, he was the seventh child of Henry Roush and his wife Dorothy, and he married first Elizabeth Rickard around 1810 and later Catherine Hoffman. He was an heir to a portion of the family's 6,000-acre Graham District estate, and his daughter Nancy, from his first marriage, was the eleventh of his numbered children.

Evidence

⭐ ADDED at PROBABLE, 8 Aug 2026, adversary-confirmed [ROUSH-64/-VERDICT]. The 1928 Roush genealogy, two internal threads agreeing: his own entry (printed p.365 — “seventh child of Henry Roush and wife, Dorothy… born… near Solomon’s Church, Jan. 23, 1792, baptized Mar. 18, 1792”) and the minute-book sons table (printed p.61), both carrying sponsor Michael Levermore. Nancy (node 125) is child 11 of his numbered sequence. m.(1) Elizabeth Rickard ~1810, (2) Catherine Hoffman. Heir to a portion of the 6,000-acre Graham District estate. ⚠ The 1812 Gallia deed proves co-location only — its Anthony clause lacks “his son” (verdict-ordered caveat).

Outstanding: Nancy’s 1848 marriage record (father named?); the 1840 household tally; an independent Solomon’s Church register transcription.

Elizabeth (Rickard) Roush (m. c.1810; “a sister to the Rickard brothers”)

Ahnentafel #251 · his mother’s mother’s mother’s mother’s father’s mother’s mother (7 generations back) · Probable — the IDENTIFICATION or the LINK rests on one source, or is in conflict

Elizabeth Rickard Roush married Anthony Roush around 1810 and was, by family tradition, a sister to the Rickard brothers of the same area. She was the mother of his numbered children, including Nancy, the eleventh, born in 1832. No dates or gravestone for her have yet been found, and her identity currently rests on the family genealogy alone.

Evidence

⭐ ADDED at PROBABLE, 8 Aug 2026 [ROUSH-64/-VERDICT]. First wife of Anthony; mother of the numbered children incl. Nancy (11th, b. 1832). Identity rests on the book alone — no dates, no stone found yet; the Rickard Cemetery at White Church carries the family name.

Outstanding: her vitals; the Rickard family of Mason Co. (a Gen-9 opening).

William Rasor Bell (planter of Claremont County by 1784, later of Salem, Sumter District; will 26 Dec 1803; d. about 1808–09)

Ahnentafel #256 · his father’s father’s father’s father’s father’s father’s father’s father (8 generations back) · Hypothesis — a candidate, not tied in

He appears in 1784 in Claremont County, already styled “Planter,” buying a neighbour’s entire personalty — an enslaved woman named Ann, the horses, the beds, nineteen cattle — and three years later giving every bit of it back to that neighbour’s children “for love, good will and affection,” which in the language of that century usually means family. He farmed the Black River country beside Frederick Bell and the Newmans, proved deeds across the line in Darlington, and on the day after Christmas 1803, “very sick & weak in body,” divided a plain farmer’s world — a plantation, stock, feather beds, a cow already called his daughter Elizabeth’s — among a wife, two daughters and nine sons, the second of whom was Archibald.

Evidence

⭐ The one link on this branch that is ASSERTED in a document: his will of 26 December 1803 — “I give & bequeath unto my beloved sons, John Bell, Archibald Bell, Thomas Bell, William Bell, James Bell, Drury Bell, Jesse Bell, Benjamin Bell, & Robert Bell…” — recorded 15 March 1809, executor Moses Gordon, witnesses Lewis Bell, Mary Stuckey and a Douglas [BELL-152, BELL-181]. Wife Mary took a life estate; the land was to be sold at her death or remarriage and divided among the nine sons — that sale, not yet found, would name the whole sibling generation in one instrument.

⭐ His documented life: buying Micajah Stokes’s whole personalty in 1784; settling it on Stokes’s children “for love, good will and affection” in 1787 (the language of kinship); land co-surveyed with Frederick Bell — a documented Revolutionary claimant — on the North Branch of Black River in 1787; co-signing a Darlington-proved deed with Frederick, Mary and John Bell in 1794 [BELL-182].

Outstanding: ⛔ This node is on the chart at Alec’s direction and stands or falls with node 128 — no document yet ties OUR John Bell to Archibald, so everything above Archibald is conditional on that link. ⛔ His own parents are unidentified; the leading frame is the Raccoon Swamp Bell clan of Albemarle Parish, Surry/Sussex Co., Virginia — narrowed hard on 14 Aug 2026: Rev. James Bell’s will (Sussex WB C p.310, proved 15 Oct 1778) was read off the will book and names six children — no William, no Frederick, no Lewis — ELIMINATING the patriarch’s heir-branch [BELL-193]. Hannah Bell’s will (WB B p.153, proved 17 Mar 1768) reveals the two places a father can still hide: an unnamed SON WHO DIED before 1765 (father of grandsons Silvanus & Zadock Bell), and an ABSENT son Benjamin — “provided he comes himself in person” — gone from Virginia by 1765 [BELL-194]. The patriarch’s own 1746 will, read the same day [BELL-196], names FIVE sons — John Jr., Burrell, Benjamin, Balaam, James — no William in the clan’s senior generation; if WRB belongs here it is as an unnamed grandson via BURRELL or BALAAM — the adversary-verified register work [BELL-197, BELL-199] closed John Jr.’s issue at two sons (Sylvanus & John, by PHOEBE STOKES — Micajah’s sister), and found the second dead son: Balaam Bell d. 1755, widow Mary, posthumous daughter Phoebe — his 1745×55 window fits WRB’s birth. Silvanus STOKES Junr witnessed the 1746 will — the Stokes intimacy begins in Virginia, a generation before WRB’s kinship-language settlement on Micajah Stokes’s children. Otherwise the descent runs outside the clan, e.g. Richard Bell of Lawne's Creek, d. 1734, whose sons include a William [BELL-183–185, BELL-191, BELL-196]. ⛔ The “Rasor” name — likely his mother’s or grandmother’s family — has no located source; no Rasor appears in the parish register. ⭐ His own Patriot case is ONE PRINTED INDENT — Book G No. 30, “Issued the 22d. April 1784 To Mr. William Bell for Eleven pounds Eight Shillings and Seven pence Sterling for two Horses impressed for Militia Use in October 1780.” It is the only William Bell indent in South Carolina unattributed to any man, and no DAR or SAR lineage claims it. ⚠ Nothing yet ties its claimant to him rather than to one of at least six other South Carolina William Bells, and the Chester “W:^m Bell Sen:^r” is not excluded. Frederick’s is now PROBABLE: three indents incl. 50 days at the Siege of Charleston in Capt. John Nelson’s company — a company three pensioners place in the Black River / Salem country of old Camden District [BELL-192, BELL-195].

⭐⭐ Where the case stood after the sweep of 19–20 August 2026 [BELL-382–406]. Book G No. 30 survived three separate attempts to take it off the board in four days and remains unseated and unexcluded. What strengthened: the printed text was transcribed from the surviving counterfoil itself — Wates’s asterisk/dagger marks are a survival map, Book G’s stubs go missing only from No. 251, and No. 30 is unmarked, 220 entries inside the intact run [BELL-385]. The evidence type is pre-approved with an exact precedent: DAR ancestor A008802 carries 46 approved lineages on a single stub-entry citation [BELL-392]. The rival Abbeville claimant is now excluded on his own itemised schedule, and the Chester man’s claims fell from three to two — one of them proved to be William Ball — so £11.8.7 no longer sits between his sums but above both [BELL-395]. What was closed off: no second October-1780 impressment claim exists anywhere in the twelve printed volumes [BELL-384, BELL-391]; his neighbours left six indents between them in 12,242, so no cohort argument can be built [BELL-394]; and the numbered Treasury returns were alphabetical work-batches, never geographic [BELL-396]. Book G No. 30 is cited by nobody in either lineage society, checked against the full source citation of every South Carolina Bell in both [BELL-392].

⭐ And his own paper trail was pushed back and sharpened. There is no South Carolina record of him before 1785, tested across seven name-forms — the apparent 1777/1778 hits are index frames carrying the 1785 judgment roll [BELL-400, BELL-406]. He has two 1785 surveys, not one: 150 acres on Bane Branch, 30 April, and 400 acres on Lynches Creek, 15 June — and both grants issued to Samuel Boykin, who paid the treasury fee, which was the local norm [BELL-400]. ⭐ His own plat survives and is cited to the page — Surveyor-General, Land Plats vol. 9Q p. 383 — and the Surveyor-General’s own index dates it 30 April 1784, a year before the grant’s recital. Volume 9Q is one of six Q-volumes never microfilmed; it is the arbiter of whether his South Carolina floor is 1784 or 1785 [BELL-406]. The Micajah Stokes transaction is four instruments over two days in April 1787, including a gift of land to a seventh child, Drury Stokes, not previously known [BELL-406]. ⚠ Origin, still hypothesis: a royal warrant of January 1773 lays out Duplin County, North Carolina land to Fredrick Bell “on the S. side of Bare Swamp joining his own & W:^m Rasor Bells Line” — read at the ink, and it is a Bell, not a Ball. Frederick Bell is documented in Camden District, South Carolina on 8 May 1777 [BELL-404], so the brother’s crossing is proved; William’s is not. ⛔ The survey run on that same warrant fourteen months later names a different neighbour, so his entire North Carolina footprint is one clause in one clerk’s hand [BELL-397, BELL-402].

Mary (widow of William Rasor Bell; living, unremarried, when his will was proved in 1809)

Ahnentafel #257 · his father’s father’s father’s father’s father’s father’s father’s mother (8 generations back) · Hypothesis — a candidate, not tied in

Evidence

Named in her husband’s will of 26 December 1803 with a life estate in the plantation and stock “for the benefit of my children, if she remains single” [BELL-181]. A “Mary x Bell” signs by mark on the 1794 Darlington-proved family deed [BELL-182] — possibly her, possibly Frederick’s wife.

Outstanding: ⛔ Her maiden name is unproven — the “Mary English” of online trees is an unverified compiled claim [BELL-148] and is not adopted here. ⛔ Her death date — which triggered the sale of the land among the nine sons — is unknown and is itself a research target. ⛔ On the chart at Alec’s direction; stands or falls with node 128.

William Pigford Sr. (known in family tradition as “Lost Billie”; will proved March 1803, New Hanover Co., North Carolina)

Ahnentafel #290 · his father’s father’s mother’s father’s father’s father’s mother’s father (8 generations back) · Probable — the IDENTIFICATION or the LINK rests on one source, or is in conflict

William Pigford Sr., remembered in family tradition as "Lost Billie," is believed to have been a shipwrecked orphan who was bound out by court order to Benjamin Fussell in March 1740 or 1741, on the petition of Rebecca Perry. He grew into a landowner on both banks of Sill's Creek in New Hanover County, North Carolina, where he wrote his will on 27 March 1801; it was proved in March 1803. That will named nine children, including "my daughter Elizabeth Aiken." The identification rests on a later transcription of the will rather than the original document itself, so it is probable rather than fully proven.

Evidence

⭐ ADDED at PROBABLE, 10 Aug 2026, adversary-confirmed [BELL-50/-VERDICT]. The shipwrecked orphan of the family tradition — bound by court order to Benj. Fussell, March 1740/41, on Rebecca Perry’s petition — who died a landowner on both banks of Sill’s Creek. His 1801 will (known through the 1967 family book’s transcription, re-verified word-for-word) names nine children incl. “my daughter Elizabeth Aiken” — the record naming node 145’s father in his own words. Probable, not Documented: the will-book image is unread.

Outstanding: the New Hanover will-book image (FS full-text); Sill’s Creek located vs Moores Creek; nclandgrants (AJAX, headed browser).

Sarah Pigford (named in her husband's 1801 will; maiden name unknown)

Ahnentafel #291 · his father’s father’s mother’s father’s father’s father’s mother’s mother (8 generations back) · Probable — the IDENTIFICATION or the LINK rests on one source, or is in conflict

Sarah was the wife of William Pigford, named in his 1801 will as "Sarah, my dearly beloved wife," who was left a life estate in the home plantation and named executrix. Her own surname was never recorded; family tradition passed down around 1896 described her only as "a woman of Dutch descent." She and William are believed to lie in unmarked graves in the Penderlea area, near the old Pigford burying ground.

Evidence

ADDED at PROBABLE, 10 Aug 2026 [BELL-50/-VERDICT]. “Sarah, my dearly beloved wife” — life estate in the home plantation, executrix. ⚠ The circulating “Sarah FUSSELL” is a KILLED TRAP: Fussell was the master her husband was apprenticed to as a boy (court order 1740/41); the family book states her surname is “beyond the reach of this recorder.”

Outstanding: her surname — a marriage bond if one survives; her death.

10 Aug 2026 [BELL-60]: the 1967 book's whole text swept — NO maiden name exists in it; family tradition (Cevilla, ~1896) styles her “a woman of Dutch descent”; graves unmarked, Penderlea area (Potts Memorial / Old Pigford Cemetery). Tradition, not record.

Moore Stephens's father (of Orange Co., North Carolina by 1817; family removed to Greene Co., Alabama, 1819×1824; name not recorded)

Ahnentafel #320 · his father’s mother’s father’s father’s father’s father’s father’s father (8 generations back) · Known unknown — the person existed; the name does not survive

The father of a large family of Stephens children lived in Orange County, North Carolina, by 1817, before the family moved to Greene County, Alabama, sometime between 1819 and 1824. Ten of his children shared equally in an estate settled in 1846, proving that such a man existed and headed this family, but his own name has not survived in any record found so far.

Evidence

KNOWN UNKNOWN, 10 Aug 2026, adversary-confirmed [STEPHENS-31/-VERDICT]. The ten equal heirs of 1846 — Moore among five sons, with three daughters’ own marriage records cross-confirming the birth-surname — prove a Stephens father under EITHER reading of Mary Thorn (mother or sister of the ten): the inference is independent of node 321’s open question. Candidate pool mapped: the lone “STEPHENS, John” of the 1779 rump-Orange tax list (the right generation); the 1755 pair David & William; the Caswell cluster held as texture only.

Outstanding: the Chilton deed-blog Stephens sweep 1790–1825 (a patriarch deeding to the five sons = named in one document); the un-OCR’d 1800 Orange census reel; the Caswell will books past their truncation points.

Mary Thorn / Thorne (widow of James Thorn; d. shortly before 23 Jan 1844, Greene Co., Alabama)

Ahnentafel #321 · his father’s mother’s father’s father’s father’s father’s father’s mother (8 generations back) · Hypothesis — a candidate, not tied in

Mary Thorn, also spelled Thorne, was the widow of James Thorn of Greene County, Alabama, and died shortly before 23 January 1844. She is believed to have been born a Stephens and to have been the mother, by an earlier marriage, of ten children — Moore, James, Lewis and William Stephens, and daughters Esther Hitt, Lucinda Ball and Elizabeth Bevers — who inherited her estate in equal shares. Among her possessions was an enslaved woman named Jane, sold for $700 in April 1844, easily the largest part of everything she owned. The tie between Mary and these ten Stephens children is a strong hypothesis rather than a settled fact, since no surviving document actually calls them her children.

Evidence

⭐⭐⭐ STEPHENS-21, folded into the chart 7 August 2026 — the strongest indication yet that she was a SECOND WIFE whose own next of kin were Stephenses.

The final settlement of James Thorn’s estate, Greene Co., Alabama Orphans’ Court Minutes, 14 October 1844 (p. 274), distributes his legacies to Jesse W. Thorn, Nazareth Thorn, James Thorn, William Henry Thorn and Elizabeth Crisp, plus the seven children of a predeceased son Kennedy Thorn. ⭐ Mary Thorn is not among the legatees — as widow she took a widow’s share, a different thing — and the Thorn sons formally released all claims against her estate, which was administered by a STEPHENS. Had she been their mother, her estate would have gone to them and no Stephens would have been appointed to it.

⚠⚠ A strong indication, not a proof. This node stays a hypothesis. ⭐ But it dates the document that should name JANE: Mary was James Thorn’s widow, so he died first, and Jane must have come to Mary out of his estate at the assignment of the widow’s share — a proceeding that itemises people by name and value. Greene County, probably 1841–1843.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ SHE HAD A HUSBAND, AND HE IS NAMED — 7 Aug 2026 [STEPHENS-20]. Greene County Orphans’ Court Minutes 1839–1845, ark 3:1:3Q9M-C91H-HSD8-M, image 723, page 274, 14 October 1844: “This day came Jesse W Thorn and William H Thorn administrators with the will annexed of JAMES THORN deceased … and JAMES STEPHENS administrator of the Estate of MARY THORN deceased (WHO WAS THE WIDOW OF THE SAID JAMES THORN) also appearing in open Court … the said James Stephens administrator as aforesaid acknowledge satisfaction in full of THE SHARE OF THE SAID WIDOW, his said intestate, to the estate of the said James Thorn deceased, and the said Jesse W Thorn and William H Thorn … release and discharge all claim or claims which they have or hold against the Estate of the said Mary Thorn deceased.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ AND THIS BEARS ON THE VERY DOUBT WRITTEN INTO THIS NODE. The outstanding note has said for days: “NO document yet uses the word ‘children.’ A childless woman’s next of kin can be nephews and nieces.” She now turns out to be a woman who died bearing the surname THORN BY MARRIAGE, whose next of kin are all named STEPHENS. The most economical explanation is that STEPHENS was her FIRST married name and THORN her second — which would make Moore, James, Lewis, William, Esther, Lucinda and Elizabeth her CHILDREN by the first marriage, exactly as the ten equal shares and Esther Hitt’s per stirpes “Representatives” already suggested. ⚠⚠ STRENGTHENED, NOT PROVED. The alternative survives: Stephens could be her MAIDEN name and the Stephens heirs her brothers and their families. The node stays ‘hyp’ until a document says so. ⭐⭐⭐ AND THE TWO DOCUMENTS THAT WOULD SETTLE IT ARE NOW NAMED AND LOCATABLE: ① a marriage of MARY STEPHENS to JAMES THORN (Greene Co., Ala., or earlier in Orange Co., North Carolina, where Moore Stephens married in 1817); ② JAMES THORN’S WILL — the court calls his administrators “with the will annexed,” so a will exists, and a will names a wife and usually her children. ⭐ NEW NAMES: JESSE W. THORN and WILLIAM H. THORN, his administrators and very likely his sons. ⚠⚠⚠ AND IT REACHES JANE. Mary’s estate was paid the widow’s share of James Thorn’s estate. In Alabama in 1844 a widow’s share of an estate that held people WAS people. JANE — sold out of Mary’s estate on 29 April 1844 for $700 [STEPHENS-13] — may well have come to Mary out of JAMES THORN’S estate, and his WILL is the first document that could name her before the sale. ——— Earlier note: NEW NODE, 6 Aug 2026 — and NOT yet proved. The Greene County Orphans’ Court cited Moore, James, Lewis and William Stephens, Esther Hitt, Lucinda Ball and Elizabeth Bevers as her NEXT OF KIN on 23 Jan 1844 [STEPHENS-07], and distributed her estate among TEN heirs in equal shares in 1846 [STEPHENS-06]. Three of the sisters are proved born Stephens by their own Greene County marriage records [STEPHENS-08], and Esther Hitt’s share went per stirpes to her “Representatives” — the treatment a court gives a predeceased CHILD. ⭐ She held promissory notes on Charles Stephens ($15.13, $32.40) and Lewis Stephens ($100) — she was banking her sons [STEPHENS-12]. ⭐ Her inventory of 27 Apr 1844 lists her whole world down to an 18-cent umbrella and a woman’s saddle — and “1 Negro woman JANE — 475.00,” worth more than everything else combined [STEPHENS-11].

Outstanding: ⚠⚠ NO document yet uses the word “children.” A childless woman’s next of kin can be nephews and nieces. She is drawn here as a HYPOTHESIS. The petition to sell land, or a Stephens × Thorn marriage, would settle it. ⚠⚠⚠ JANE, 6 Aug 2026 — FOUND: the account of sales reads “1 Negro Woman Jane ... James Stephens ... 700.00,” sold 29 April 1844 to the administrator, Moore’s own brother [STEPHENS-13]. She was 65% of the whole estate ($700 of $1,075.86), so roughly $70 of Moore’s $107.39 share was her price. In 1850 James Stephens held 13 people in Greene Co.; Jane is very probably the 38-year-old woman, but that schedule names no one [STEPHENS-14]. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ HER NAME IS ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE FILE [STEPHENS-19]: the clerk endorsed the packet “1105 · Greene County, Ala. · 1 NEGRO WOMAN JANE · Inventory of Notes · Estate file · Thorn, Mary · 1844 · James Stephens, administrator.” Everything Mary Thorn owned was summarised in two lines on the wrapper, and the first line is Jane. ⛔⛔ The packet is now BOUNDED — images 591–600, all read. The HIRE BOND and any PETITION TO SELL LAND are NOT in the loose papers (601 starts an 1825 estate; 589 is an 1861 guardian bond). Both must be sought in the GREENE CO. ORPHANS’ COURT MINUTE BOOKS 1844–46. ⚠ And the land was sold at the ordinary sale (Andrew Norwood, $127.09) — so a separate petition may never have existed, in which case this node may not be movable off ‘hyp’ by that route at all. Still owed: the 1870 census of Greene & Sumter Cos. for Jane.

Evidence images (described)

Elisha Truitt or Noel Truett (1786–1864 / 1769–1850 — disputed)

Ahnentafel #352 · his father’s mother’s mother’s father’s father’s father’s father’s father (8 generations back) · Hypothesis — a candidate, not tied in

Two men have been proposed as the father of Rev. William Hampton Truett: Elisha Truitt, who lived from 1786 to 1864, and Noel Truett, who lived from 1769 to 1850. Elisha is thought the more likely candidate, since a grandson, John Wesley Truett, named his own son Elisha Dozier Truett in 1877, a naming pattern common when honoring a grandfather. The question remains unsettled and awaits South Carolina and early Alabama land and probate records.

Evidence

The tree offers two conflicting fathers for Rev. William Hampton Truett. One piece of real evidence points to Elisha: John Wesley Truett named a son Elisha Dozier Truett in 1877, and families of this period named children for grandfathers with great regularity.

Outstanding: Not settled — needs South Carolina and early Alabama land and probate records. “Dozier” is itself a surname and may carry another connection.

Susan Wiggins (1789–1860)

Ahnentafel #353 · his father’s mother’s mother’s father’s father’s father’s father’s mother (8 generations back) · Hypothesis — a candidate, not tied in

Susan Wiggins lived from 1789 to 1860. She is carried in the family record alongside both of the men proposed as her husband, since it has not yet been determined which of the two candidates she actually married.

Evidence

Shown with both candidate husbands.