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-----Original Message-----
From: JHenry6309(a)aol.com [mailto:JHenry6309@aol.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 23, 2004 6:53 AM
To: London2005(a)charter.net
Subject: Childress/Childers
My great grandmother Susan (Susannah) Childress/Childers, born about
1817 TN, married Hilliard J. Hand before 1840 Hillliard J. Hand,
probably in Alabama. Her parents were born in Tennessee. She died after
1880 MS. Does anyone have Childress/Childers parents with a daughter
named Susah/Susannah?
Jeanne
Query by Eldon J. Edgin:
On 4 Sep 2004, list subscriber Eldon J. Edgin wrote:
I am planning to visit Knox County, Tennessee in October. I am searching
for information concerning: 1. My 4th great grandfather, John Childress,
who died in Knox County [11 Jan] 1849. He was a Revolutionary War
Veteran. He is buried in Mt. Harmony Cemetery. I understand that he has
a Revolutionary War Marker. 2. My 3rd great grandfather, Lindsey
Childress [born 21 Mar 1795, d. December 1839] who died in Knox County
prior to 1849. I do not know where he is buried. 3.. My 2nd great
grandmother Mary A. D. "Polly" Childress May, the wife of Thomas J. May.
She died in 1903 and is buried in Sharon Cemetery. I have found Sharon
Cemetery on the map of Knox County. Can anyone tell me how to locate the
Mt. Harmony Cemetery or where Lindsey is buried? Are there any
particular places I should research in Knox County for information?
/s/ Eldon J. Edgin 14908 Woodbriar Drive Dallas, Texas 75248-4551 Phone:
(972) 991-4891 FAX: (972) 991-4893
* * * * * * * * * *
Reply by Mark Childress, co-Listowner CHILDRESS-L:
Mount Harmony Baptist Cemetery is located on the North side of Raccoon
Valley Road, approximately 1 mile west of Exit 117, Interstate 75, 14
miles NW of Knoxville, TN. Bull Run Valley (and Creek and Road), where
John Childress (b. 2 Dec 1759) had his farmstead, lies south and
parallel to Raccoon Valley Road on the other side of the ridge. [See
Complete Street Guide of Knoxville with All of Knox County, 2nd Ed.
(Knoxville, TN: Minitmap Company, 1998), pp. 6 & 13]
While it is true that a simple bronze grave marker for John Childress
(b. 2 Dec 1759) does exist at the Mount Harmony Baptist Church cemetery,
on the top of the cemetery hillock, he is assuredly not buried beneath
it nor anywhere else within the cemetery confines. That's because the
cemetery was laid out in 1850, a year after John Childress died and was
buried by his family. The gravemarker that is there was emplaced 2 Jul
1976 by the Rev. Philip Ausmus Chapter, Daughters of the American
Revolution. [see The Knoxville News Sentinel, Friday, July 2, 1976, p.
16] What one sees for John Childress (b. 1759) at the Mount Harmony
Baptist Church cemetery is properly a "cenotaph" (sen e taf): a
monument or empty tomb honoring a person or persons whose remains are
elsewhere. [see Michael Agness, ed., Webster's New World College
Dictionary, 4th ed. (Cleveland, OH: IDG Books Worldwide, Inc., 2001),
p. 237]. The Childress descendant who was instrumental in having the
DAR emplace a gravemaker for John Childress (b. 2 Dec 1759) at Mount
Harmony Church confided at the time that she "didn't know where he was
actually buried but was determined to "put" him at Mount Harmony Baptist
Church."
It is probable and very likely that John Childress (b. 1759) was buried
in the family plot on his farmstead, next to his late wife and other
kin. To my knowledge the location of that family graveyard (and the
grave of John Childress b. 1759) is no longer recalled by any of his
descendants today. His family plot may have been that "lost Childress
cemetery" that is reported to have been at the intersection of Bull Run
Valley Road and Pedigo Road on what was once his farm.
Likewise, to my knowledge the burial place for Lindsay Childress (b. 21
Mar 1795, d. December 1839, Knox Co., TN) is also no longer recalled by
Childress descendants. Whether he was buried on his own farm in Bull
Run Valley (which is likely) or elsewhere, is unknown.
As for research sites, I would suggest the East Tennessee History Center
[housing the McClung Historical Collection], located at the southeast
corner of Clinch Avenue and Market Street in downtown Knoxville, at 314
West Clinch Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37902. In their Jeannette Trotter
Collection is a handwritten transcript of the family Bible of Nancy (nee
Childress) DeArmond, daughter of Lindsay Childress which gives the names
of his children by first wife Polly (nee ___ ), including Mary A.D.
Childress, and dates of their births. Lindsay Childress left no will
but the McClung Library has his estate sale records on microfilm. The
Knox Co., TN Minute Books contain little about him; essentially
tracking the shifting guardianships of his youngest children following
his death and mentioning Lindsay Childress as a Justice of the Peace and
occasional tax collector.
To my knowledge no biographical/genealogical essay/article of general
circulation has been written about Lindsay Childress. As for ancestor
John Childress (b. 2 Dec 1759), information about him which was left at
the East Tennessee History Center by others decades ago is unreliable
and superseded by more careful research and recent DNA testing. So it
must be approached warily. No accurate and comprehensive
biographical/genealogical essay has been written about John Childress
(b. 1759); some information [like purported parents John Childress m.
Elizabeth Perkins, and purported brother Mitchell Childress b. 1750] is
discredited. John Childress (b. 1759) left a detailed pension
application declaration which can be found at the National Archives,
Washington, DC. [see "Declaration of John Childress (dated 9 Jan
1833)," in Revolutionary War Pension Application of John Childress
(militiaman), File No. S-2423, National Archives micropublication M804,
Roll 535]. I recommend his pension declaration as the bedrock of your
research on John Childress (b. 1759).
* * * * * * * * * * *
Hello Con,
The diary of John Williams Childress, grandson of John Whitsett
Childress (brother of Sarah Childress Polk) wrote a diary in 1960 and
published 1981 which makes reference to the following
"The second son of William [William Sumner Childress] was Levi Wade
[Childress], who lived nearly all his life in St. Louis, Mo. He died
about three years ago, leaving one daughter and two sons: Wade,
Jr.[Childress] and
Fielding [Childress], and his widow all of whom I believe to be alive."
This is the St. Louis family, descendants of John Whitsett Childress,
that was alive in 1960, in St. Louis MO.
We think we have found a few of their descendants but they don't respond
to e-mails.
Regards
Gary
-----Original Message-----
From: Conduff Childress [mailto:cchldrss@mindspring.com]
Sent: Friday, September 17, 2004 6:27 AM
To: CHILDRESS-L(a)rootsweb.com
Subject: RE: [Childress-L] salient points of the Childress-Childers DNA
project
Gary,
On what evidence have you identified any of this group
as related to
Sarah Childress Polk?
>
> Of the 10 remaining DNA Childress families not related to the above
> Viking group and not related to each other, the Sarah Childress Polk
> related families seems the next group most capable of combining DNA
with
> paper researched records to better understand their lineage. This
> lineage appears to be a "Celtic" DNA Haplogroup called "R1b"
indigenous
> to the British Isles. This DNA Haplogroup survived the last ice age by
> living in the Western Mediterranean around Spain. The Sarah Childress
> Polk related families left evidence of immigrating to North America in
> 1745, nearly 100 hundred years after the Viking Childress-Childers
> family. Some living descendants of this Sarah Childress Polk related
> lineage were identified as living in St. Louis MO about 40 years ago.
> Mark Childress is offering FREE DNA tests (12 markers) to any
> Childress-Childers family whose family lived in St. Louis, MO circa
> 1960. The DNA Project would appreciate anybody who can identify a
> contact address for any modern Childress-Childers families currently
> living in St. Louis, MO today.
>
Con
==== CHILDRESS Mailing List ====
Contact List Owners Mark or Gary Childress at
NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS
London2005(a)Charter.net
Gary,
On what evidence have you identified any of this group as related to
Sarah Childress Polk?
>
> Of the 10 remaining DNA Childress families not related to the above
> Viking group and not related to each other, the Sarah Childress Polk
> related families seems the next group most capable of combining DNA with
> paper researched records to better understand their lineage. This
> lineage appears to be a "Celtic" DNA Haplogroup called "R1b" indigenous
> to the British Isles. This DNA Haplogroup survived the last ice age by
> living in the Western Mediterranean around Spain. The Sarah Childress
> Polk related families left evidence of immigrating to North America in
> 1745, nearly 100 hundred years after the Viking Childress-Childers
> family. Some living descendants of this Sarah Childress Polk related
> lineage were identified as living in St. Louis MO about 40 years ago.
> Mark Childress is offering FREE DNA tests (12 markers) to any
> Childress-Childers family whose family lived in St. Louis, MO circa
> 1960. The DNA Project would appreciate anybody who can identify a
> contact address for any modern Childress-Childers families currently
> living in St. Louis, MO today.
>
Con
September 11, 2004.
37 people have completed their Y-chromosome test. 2 new people have
tests pending.
There is a current promotion by the Childress-Childers DNA Project,
offering FREE 12 marker DNA tests to any Childress-Childers family
living in St. Louis, MO. (more below)
The following is how I would summarize the salient points of the
Childress-Childers DNA project.
There are 11 Unrelated-by-DNA Childress-Childers families.
Of the 37 completed tests, 24 persons belong to one DNA related family,
labeled as "Viking" Childress-Childers. This "Viking" DNA group is
largest in number perhaps because they were the first to migrate to
North America circa 1650 and their numbers expanded faster in bountiful
America than did other lineages in the impoverished British Isles. The
"Viking" label was chosen by the project managers (Gary and Mark) to
emphasize the fact that this DNA pool is not indigenous to Britain. This
Viking Childress-Childers DNA is mostly found in Continental Northern
Europe and is likely to be part of the Continental Northern European
invasion of Britain by either Norse or Danish Vikings or by Germanic
Saxons. This DNA pool is called Haplogroup letter "I". Prior to
migrating to Northern Europe and during the height of the last ice age
10,000 years ago, this DNA haplogroup lived in and around Turkey. After
the last ice age this haplogroup migrated from the Eastern Mediterranean
into Continental Northern Europe, principally Germany and Scandinavia.
Subsequent invasions of Britain brought limited amounts of this DNA to
the British Isles. But this DNA is a foreign intrusion into "Celtic"
DNA already in Britain. When surnames were acquired perhaps 800 years
ago, the Childress-Childers British surname was adopted by one or more
families in this haplogroup that was then living in the British Isles.
There is a case to be made that this Viking group can be subdivided into
an Abraham lineage (born circa 1630) and a Philemon lineage (born circa
1630) because of a mutation at DNA site "CDY-b". Abraham descendants
appear to have a value of "38" at CDY-b and Philemon descendants appear
to have a value of "37" at CDY-b. Of the 24 persons included in the
Viking DNA group, 16 spell their name a "Childress". Of the 8 testing
"Childers" in the Viking group, 4 "Childers" appear to link to the
Philemon lineage (born circa 1630), one "Childers" appears to link to
Abraham and 3 yet to be determined. All genealogical paper research is
done by the testing parties and its accuracy has not been verified.
DNA site CDY-b can be examined on Family Tree DNA's 37 marker
Y-chromosome test. Mark and Gary, Project Managers, would like to see
the following "Viking" group people, who took the 25 marker test,
upgrade to the 37 maker test so that they could be classified as
descendants of Abraham (b. 1630) or Philemon (b. 1630):
Bradd M. Childress,
Steve Childress,
Bruce C. Childress,
Indiana Jack Childers,
Robert E Childers,
Larry Wayne Childress,
Maurice A. Childears
Of the 10 remaining DNA Childress families not related to the above
Viking group and not related to each other, the Sarah Childress Polk
related families seems the next group most capable of combining DNA with
paper researched records to better understand their lineage. This
lineage appears to be a "Celtic" DNA Haplogroup called "R1b" indigenous
to the British Isles. This DNA Haplogroup survived the last ice age by
living in the Western Mediterranean around Spain. The Sarah Childress
Polk related families left evidence of immigrating to North America in
1745, nearly 100 hundred years after the Viking Childress-Childers
family. Some living descendants of this Sarah Childress Polk related
lineage were identified as living in St. Louis MO about 40 years ago.
Mark Childress is offering FREE DNA tests (12 markers) to any
Childress-Childers family whose family lived in St. Louis, MO circa
1960. The DNA Project would appreciate anybody who can identify a
contact address for any modern Childress-Childers families currently
living in St. Louis, MO today.
Lastly, there is one Haplogroup of "Jewish" DNA called Haplogroup "J2".
There are two unrelated Childress-Childers families that have this "J2"
DNA. The Roman occupation of Britain brought this "J2" DNA Haplogroup
to the British Isles as Roman slaves.
Regards
Gary Childress
Dear List,
The following is from James W. Ely, Jr. and Theodore Brown Jr. editors, Legal Papers of Andrew Jackson, Univ. TN Press, 1987.
page 212. "On November 13, 1801, the Mero District grand jury returned a true bill upon the indictment of Childress, a 'Hatter' who resided in Sumner County, for the murder the previous September of one John Regan (Document I). The defendant pleaded not gullty on November 16. When the case went to trial two days later, a jury returned a verdict finding Childress not guilty of murder, but guilty of 'the felonious slaying' of the deceased (Document II). On November 19, Childress appeared before Jackson and Judge White for sentencing and entered a plea of benefit of clergy. Jackson and White granted the plea and sentenced the defendant to be branded on the left hand with the letter M (Document III)."
Document I is the Indictment of Joel Childress, found on page 214 of Ely and Brown.
Document II is a Minute Book Entry in the Mero District Superior Court for November 18, 1801, found on page 215.
Document III is a Minute Book Entry in the Mero District Superior Court for November 19 1801, also found on page 215.
Benefilt of clergy is an ancient custom holdover from English Law which was effectively eliminated in TN in 1829. It was used to mitigate the harsh English criminal laws in England and remained in use during the colonial era for a few capital crimes such as larceny and manslaughter in the colonies.
While it is not 100% certain that this Joel is Sarah's father, I have seen no evidence of another Joel Childress in that county at that time. If it was her father, then we need look no futher for an explanation as to why she never seemed to know anything about her ancestry. It was not something to be talked about and delved into at great length.
The importance of this for us, if it is the Joel we have examined and argued about at length, is that there is now a possible additional clue to help us bridge the time gap between age 12 in Surry Co NC and his marriage to Sarah's mother. How and where did he become a "hatter"?
Con