This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.
Surnames: Chaffin, Chafen, Chafin
Classification: Query
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/4NI.2ACEB/410.1.1
Message Board Post:
Thanks for sharing. Some questions come to mind.
Any idea who Ruth's husband was (the father of the boys)? That might help to tie them
in to my Chaffins.
What in the world was the attraction in Pope County, Illinois? Has anyone left a letter or
diary that might tell us why so many Tennesseans from the Smith/Jackson/Wilson area went
there? Is there a certain town in Pope County for me to look through? My Martin Thomas
& Jane Clark Chaffin family is in Tompkinsville (Monroe County), Kentucky, in the 1870
census, and then they just disappear. They were in Jackson County, Tennessee, until
sometime between 1850 and 1870 (I cannot find them anywhere in the US on the 1860 census).
The only thing that I know further than this is that Martin entered the Confederate Tenn
Vol Inf in 1861, answered roll call twice, and was listed as AWOL (as a deserter) six
months later. Even his sons: John, William, and George, have simply vanished after the
1850 census. I keep wondering if they all went to Pope County, Illinois. Are there any
good sites for on-line records for Pope County?
As for on-line guardianship records for Smith County 1850-1857 . . . the records for
1854-58 are on-line at the Rootsweb tngenweb Smith County site. If you are not aware of
this site, then you are missing the most extraordinary genealogy website on the net (in
the opinion of many folks). DEFINITELY get on the list for mail; it is a meaty-discussion
list. As for the other years, you might get some kind soul from that list to look in a
book or at the library the next time that they go. There might be someone who actually has
your record, too. You never can tell . . .
Thanks for responding. After the new year, I would love to get a copy of what you have on
Jason's descendants. I figure I may have to just work up all of the Chaffins from that
area, in order to find my own. More later . . .