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Hi Vicki,
Just in case you do not have this info, I show that the parents of Elizabeth
Pridgen, born 1775 were Jesse Pridgen and his wife Mary Batchelor. Jesse
was the son of William Pridgen, born about 1720, who married Mary Horn. I
am related to the Pridgen line through Drewry Pridgen, born about 1757 who
was the son of William and Martha Horn Pridgen.
It is interesting that I am also related to the Winstead family through
Baldy Cockrell, who married Selah Pridgen, the daughter of Drewry Pridgen.
Baldy's mother was Nancy Anne Winstead, born about 1758 whoo married John C.
Cockrell.
I hope this helps you in some way.
Best Regards,
Tom Green
TBGreen3(a)prodigy.net
----- Original Message -----
From: Vicki Sellers <VSellers(a)email.msn.com>
To: <PRIDGEN-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 28, 2000 2:22 AM
Subject: [PRIDGEN-L] New Member
> Hi Cousins, I'm new to your list and I have alot of catching up to do.
I've been researching my family roots for about six months. I think I must
have "willed" myself into the Pridgen family. Saw your website several
months ago and was so impressed by it I wanted to be a part of the Pridgen
family. I found my connection today! Thanks to you good people I've
discovered I'm connected by the way of Elizabeth Pridgen b. 1775 Nash Co,
NC, who married Jordan Joyner>Wright W. Joyner>Mary Catherine Joyner married
Flowers Leman Winstead>James Grey Winstead>James Edward Winstead>Grace Inez
Winstead (my Mom). Now I will disappear for awhile and read your archives -
you are quite active. Thanks again for all the information you have posted
to the web.
>
> Vicki Ellen Sellers
>
I am looking for more inform on the African American family of Moses Cockrell
born around 1833 in Northumberland. He died when he was a 108 years old. He
was married to Frances Hudnall. I have record of all of his children. But I
need more inform on who they married and their children. Also I know that his
parent were Polly Kenner and Isreal Cockrell. they were enslave to the Coles
and Burgess of Northumberland, Va
Hello List,
Read any good research articles lately? There are several good newsletters
out there and we all subscribe to a few.
This subject originated with one I read. The topic was unbricking walls.
Well, we all have had a brick wall or two. The suggestion is to search each
and every sibling for information about the parents to get a better picture.
In the Cockrell Family Histories that are written we find that a list of
children is part of any of the written genealogies. However, we see that the
information is normally about the one child who is a direct ancestor of the
author. I have seen some that only give information about the famous
children. It is generally only one child though. So how much is really
about the parents? Well, this is generally where we are all at a brick wall.
Now I have only one child who is my own ancestor so this is where I focus on
the entire document. If you do this differently then you are ahead. The
article says to treat every sibling equally. And to do this is not always so
simple. In the article it states that if you have a death certificate for
one child to get a death certificate on each child. Only it is advisable to
wait until they are dead. However the reasoning is sound. It also says to
get the obituary for each child. And it advises locating the burial of each
one. If you locate a marriage record for one child then locate the marriages
for each child and the marriage announcement in local papers as well as any
anniversary news. It is a good idea to get the census for every year of the
family in the census and the same for the children.
Now a lot of things will happen when you use this manner of research. Death
certificates show names of the parents as known to the grandchildren making
the report. If they knew they will report accurately. Even a response that
is not exact will be a clue. In the obituaries you can often find the
location of siblings. Now that leads to census records sometimes. If you
locate the burial you might very well find that others are buried in the same
plot. A plot consists of eight graves normally but can be more or less. Be
ready to find out things you never knew. Some findings have been that the
father was buried with a wife other than the mother you would like to find.
This can upset some folks but when they kick the stone or yell at the people
it shifts the hurt from the heart to the foot. We can take aspirin for a
sore foot but a sore heart is different. The frustration of the ones who are
not upset by this would be having to now find the wife they are seeking.
Death certificates are normally correct about who handled the body.
Sometimes the records of the mortuary are interesting. They have family
historical value at least. I have found the forms used to generate the
obituary in some files and for certain they know where the body is buried.
They also list the living relatives. It is discreet but they want to know
where to collect later.
The reason for locating the census of each child for every census year is to
show where they were and to see if a widowed parent or elderly parents are
listed with a family. Nursing homes became popular later but in the 1900s
the family kept the elderly with them. My own daughter thinks that I should
be around to baby-sit. I also am an asset at teaching children since I have
a limited social life. So what were the reasons that the older generations
had for keeping the parents in their homes? Whatever they were it is likely
that they will turn up there if you look. And the families did swap off
grandma and grandpa over the years.
So how does this find the parent family that we seek? Well, the children
each have a family history. In it are clues to finding this family. Some
will find wills and the probate is better. We think first of a will because
there might be a full list of children. Not really but we think this. The
probate will allow any of the children or their heirs to submit a claim for a
portion of the estate. Not all children are listed. If they died then only
their children will be listed. If you are looking for a connection to a
child who was not yet born when the probate was executed then there will be
no connection. Not unless you have a solid connection to the siblings or
their children and can connect that way. However the obituary may state the
siblings and children of the deceased and a residence at that time. It may
lead to a census connection and it may not. Some folks drifted around some.
On death certificates some of the grandchildren may not know who the parents
of the deceased were or do not really know where they were born. So a look
at all of the death certificates could finally give a solid lead. Death
records made by the state are called mortality schedules and they show
parents with maiden names of the mothers when possible. These will predate
death certificates and are a big help. There are times when the information
was delayed on a report. One reason might be similar to my own son's death
when his father went on a bender for a solid month and spoke to no one. I
guess this might have happened to any other father in any year. Most fathers
do not go on benders but this is a possibility. It is simple to rule this
out by checking the civil court records. Only if there is no information on
the death records.
So we visit the cemetery and find that the parents are buried together and on
a family plot of the sister married to a leading member of the community.
Now we look at the history of the son-in-law to see what they report about
the parents. Some biography may exist even if it is in the local genealogy
society library. Or we find only one parent and several plots of the
different children. So we look at all of these records and see who reported
what. Maybe we find the mother is named and the rest of the family moved on
and she is buried in another cemetery with several other families of her
children. We then check all of these records.
This will worry a couple of you out there because this means far more
paperwork than you ever intended to collect and store. Well, join Aunt Ida
Fern there because she likes for me to collect the information but only wants
the parts that are in her direct line. She is good at keeping me sorting the
records. I admire her for the persistence. Her guiding light has served me
well.
One source to lead to more information is the gossip column of the area where
the family shows up in the census. If you have anything on a sibling or two
you might find out more this way. Or you might learn that a sibling came to
visit in a year between census. A great way to overcome the missing 1890
records. Or you might find a notation that the parents visited and where
they traveled from. Newspapers date back to the early 1800s and gossip was
the most reported news. Events would name persons but family connections
turn up in the gossip columns. Community events and sale ads are great also.
Just because they were listed in the census as farmers does not meant they
lived in the fields. Also the census will suggest that the children or even
the parents attended school. This can be found as early as the 1840 census.
The second page should not be overlooked in the 1840 census. If they are
listed as involved in manufactures and trades they may also be listed in an
early history book.
Destroyed records should not cause the search to come to a halt. The
marriage records of some areas do not any longer exist but in one instance
the marriage was noted in a history book as the first to be performed. The
court record does not exist but a rather large collection of secondary
information does support the fact does exist. For genealogy all we need to
know is that the child is of this father and this mother.
The Pension records are great too. An ancestor in the Civil War often drew a
pension. It may also be a fact that one or the other of the parents drew a
pension as well. When a child died in the war the father or mother could
prove that the child was a provider and collect a pension. I have two
generations of family registers on one line this way. The mother had to show
the births of her children and one son drew a pension and had to list the
births of his children. The government demands lots of paperwork so these
folks will have the earliest death certificates. Everything had to be sworn
to with witnesses before anything could be collected from the government.
These even have a bit of the medical reports and some interesting facts about
the places where the pensioner lived each year. When these things are
searched in the local newspapers and local history items the records become
very detailed. Before you know it all of the family traditions are based in
some facts when placed into context. Those tall tales from around the fire
place in the evening or around the dinner table on a dull Sunday afternoon
make sense finally.
The library is crowed now with the folks who came to see the St. Patrick's
Day parade or to see the basketball games, but once this slows down I will be
back under the flickering light getting dizzy on microfilm records. Life has
its natural highs. What are drugs for? <grin>
More later, hope to hear from you soon.
Bella
Hello,
I have never really commented on the searches for census in 1900, 1910 and
1920. These and the 1880 have a Soundex finding method. Now this is great
for finding where a family is in the census and choosing by age and where
born. Also by the family group.
I have not commented because the COCKRELL in my family are mostly in any
census 1870 and earlier. Those all have a nice book to look things up in and
if you can magnify that page enough you can figure out where they were.
(maybe)
With the Soundex you can find a person by surname within a given state. So
you begin with a name and state. Before you can look at anything you have to
figure out this code they use. Some wizards have this memorized. Not me
though, I have to keep one of those coding charts in my hand.
I talked to the librarian about our visit and mentioned that I had found very
little of my own search notes that day. She informed me that some folks come
in and when they cannot navigate the library well enough to find anything at
all they become discouraged and quit. I have noticed that after all the work
to locate the Soundex, some will stop there and call it good. I encourage
you not to give up.
On the Soundex the information is about the same as any 1850 or 1860 census
and this is why some quit there. However, there are so many things to use in
the actual census. I hit 11 times on my family search. This is the family I
have been working on for five years. I still do not know where they were in
1870 but I jumped over that for this date at the library.
Working from an obituary of the mother of the family dated 1917 I found
census on the 8 living children and their families. I located the mother in
the family of one of her children for 1910 and for 1900. This and the fact
that I have now census for 1900, 1910 and 1920 for nearly all of the children
has narrowed down the time span for the death of the father to any time after
1880 to sometime before 1900.
In the process I learned that the men worked mostly as painters of houses.
One census I found that the School board hired one brother to paint the
school houses. I know that the sisters were seamstresses and that the
children attended school. In some instances the parents also attended
school. The designation is not for primary education or for higher learning
but attendance is noted. I also learned addresses and who was renting and
who owned a mortgage. If they rented Bill says you cannot find any land
records in the court books. I did find a homeowner or two though.
This group is in the local newspaper here. The Kansas City Star and Times
covers both Missouri and Kansas. It is the only local paper. We are not
like New York with several newspapers to cover the area. Just a big cowtown
here.
The entries for occupation are actually elaborate. One entry was Painting -
School Houses and another was Conductor - Street Car. The nice thing is the
addresses are included for city families. There is one address in the
obituary and others in the census. It is obvious these people moved from
time to time. Aunt Ida asks why she never heard of them and why she never
met them. I suspect that they moved a time too many and forgot to send out
forwarding addresses to family. Naturally she is not in the 1920 census but
she will be in the 1930. I hope that when the 1930 census comes out in 2002
that I am ready to get the family records by having figured out where to look
next.
Only 21 states are covered by the federal Soundex. I found that Oregon had
made their own Soundex and it works just fine. So that increases the list.
The other states in 1910 we have to actually search the original census to
locate anyone. Washington State here I come.
After 5 years looking for something impossible to find I managed to get
something findable. I can fill in the blanks later on and like a cross word
puzzle or even a jigsaw puzzle the bits that fit help locate the bits that
are missing.
I am nearly ready to dig out the reels of newspaper and set the record for
the span between 1880 and 1900 straight.
Does anyone know anything about searching school records?
More later,
Bella
Bella,
In reference to replies being sent to an individual instead of the whole
list, let us all hope that the format does not change! I belong to
several other lists in which it seems all answers are posted to the list.
Sometimes these answers go to great length while others contain only a line
or two. In either case, it is almost as if (for those "oldies" of us on
line) we have just picked up on a party line and have intruded on a private
conversation which makes absolutely no sense! At other times, the replies
lend themselves to a cheering squad at a high school football game.
Granted, some replies should be sent to the list if they are of interest to
all of us. However, I personally do not wish to receive personal
communication exchanged between parties.
Have a good day,
Rosemary
----- Original Message -----
From: <BHughes721(a)aol.com>
To: <COCKRELL-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2000 10:55 PM
Subject: [COCKRELL-L] Libraries in general
> Hello List,
> There is nothing like a visit to the library for finding tidbits of
> information. Little local libraries and big state funded genealogy
libraries
> too.
>
> Again with the census. Have you noticed any interesting abbreviations
> lately? Hey, you! Stop laughing, I have not told the story yet! (some
> library patrons just crack me up).
>
> I remember when I was first on the list back in the dark ages, someone
> brought up the abbreviations for Iowa, Indiana and Illinois. How they all
> look alike and you can go off in the wrong direction if you think about it
> too much.
>
> How about some nice familiar abbreviations like col. We all know this
means
> short for Colonel. I have read enough military records to know that.
Only
> this is not about things that are simple.
>
> Looking along at the census it came up that this col. was not listed in
his
> own home. In fact the only people listed there were the colored folks.
So I
> start thinking where could the man really be? Oh, I forgot to mention to
the
> experienced listers that this was in the 1840 census of Kentucky. Now the
> pages of the census unfolded and what do most of you think we found? A
whole
> neighborhood of cols. What a great military concept.
>
> No, we found out that we are not so smart, someone had placed a
designation
> beside the names to signify that these were families of free folks not
slaves
> in that county of Kentucky. I felt real dumb and I know who is laughing
at
> me. But the fun is I am laughing back.
>
> It has been pointed out to me that the list seems to be silent to most
folks.
> I think one problem could be that once long ago in the past it was simple
to
> get things on the list. Now it is not so easy. In the beginning we just
> chose the reply button thing and our answer went to the list. No matter
what
> we chose as the posting to respond to. It is not set up that way anymore.
> Now it is necessary to add this address to your list of addresses and
begin
> form scratch. If you chose reply to a list posting you are only speaking
to
> one person.
>
> Now I am flattered that all of you answer me. However, I ask Tom if there
is
> anything that can be done about this. Is there a choice for the list
leader
> to have the reply option go direct to the list or is the reply only to go
to
> an individual.
>
> Please, Tom explain if you will.
> Sincerely,
> Bella
>
>
> ==== COCKRELL Mailing List ====
> Please Support RootsWeb.com
>
>
Hello List,
There is nothing like a visit to the library for finding tidbits of
information. Little local libraries and big state funded genealogy libraries
too.
Again with the census. Have you noticed any interesting abbreviations
lately? Hey, you! Stop laughing, I have not told the story yet! (some
library patrons just crack me up).
I remember when I was first on the list back in the dark ages, someone
brought up the abbreviations for Iowa, Indiana and Illinois. How they all
look alike and you can go off in the wrong direction if you think about it
too much.
How about some nice familiar abbreviations like col. We all know this means
short for Colonel. I have read enough military records to know that. Only
this is not about things that are simple.
Looking along at the census it came up that this col. was not listed in his
own home. In fact the only people listed there were the colored folks. So I
start thinking where could the man really be? Oh, I forgot to mention to the
experienced listers that this was in the 1840 census of Kentucky. Now the
pages of the census unfolded and what do most of you think we found? A whole
neighborhood of cols. What a great military concept.
No, we found out that we are not so smart, someone had placed a designation
beside the names to signify that these were families of free folks not slaves
in that county of Kentucky. I felt real dumb and I know who is laughing at
me. But the fun is I am laughing back.
It has been pointed out to me that the list seems to be silent to most folks.
I think one problem could be that once long ago in the past it was simple to
get things on the list. Now it is not so easy. In the beginning we just
chose the reply button thing and our answer went to the list. No matter what
we chose as the posting to respond to. It is not set up that way anymore.
Now it is necessary to add this address to your list of addresses and begin
form scratch. If you chose reply to a list posting you are only speaking to
one person.
Now I am flattered that all of you answer me. However, I ask Tom if there is
anything that can be done about this. Is there a choice for the list leader
to have the reply option go direct to the list or is the reply only to go to
an individual.
Please, Tom explain if you will.
Sincerely,
Bella
W A Glenn writes:
There is going to be a Cockerell reunion in Harker Heights (Fort Hood) Texas
on June 10th. These are the descendants of John C. and Nancy Ann Winstead
Cockerell. If you need more info contact me Bill Glenn. I married into the
Cockerell before I knew there were so many,grin
waglenn(a)aol.com
Do not choose reply to this email. You must open write mail and make a new
letter to answer Bill Glenn. I just passed it on after he made a reply to my
posting. BMH
Hello List,
Tom is back and I have another episode of research to share with all.
So often I read a message that begins with, "I have been looking for this
person for 15 years." In my mind I see a person faithfully searching census
state by state day after day with only a few weekends off just to locate a
single person. My minds eye flashes to someone driving all around the state
checking for court records to find nothing and leaving empty handed to move
on to local cemeteries and searching from sunup to sundown. The picture of
this researcher losing sleep to rise early to view records before others who
want them also passes before my eyes. The Civil Court records, the tax
records of every place, day after long day with zero results and all
searching for a single person. Searching Church records, school records, and
funeral home records and all the while finding not a single shred of evidence
must be frustrating. Reels of newspaper articles that never reveal a single
reference to the lost one and queries in great mountains that are never
answered. This is what I see when I hear this sort of remark.
Other lists of excuses like having a car, not having a car. Being on time
and not being on time. Being older than someone else, or not being as old as
another person. How about the one who lives in an area with no library.
That must be the same place that has no post office and no telephone service.
They seem to have chosen their current residence unwisely.
Once I was told that research cost money and they did not have money. All I
could think was that they might try a hobby that involves no expense. You
know like picking up aluminum cans.
Then there are the great letters from someone who has done 45 years of
research, one of the siblings of the same area was my ancestor and offers to
send it to me because someone was kind to them. I offer to lookup anything
in the area for them and they say that they have it already, thank you. I
accept, say thank you, send copy expense, and off to the library to recreate
the research.
Yes, I recreate the research of all I can. Not because I doubt anyone.
Well, I doubt some of them. I do it because I find other things that were
missed the first time around. I have read the actual census for Johnson
County, Missouri 1850, 1860, 1870 all each at least 10 times. Every time I
find something I missed. I make a copy and I transcribe the pertinent
record, and still I find something new everytime.
I went back to visit an old property of mine in Johnson County, MO today and
learned that a neighbor was related and I never knew it. All we were doing
was driving around Missouri to pass an afternoon. My step-dad looked at me
and I looked at him when our friends told us the names of the old neighbors
and passed along the gossip. I have been looking for that family for 5
years! Just last week someone sent me a 637 page package on that exact
family line. I spent two days making a perfect package of half as many pages
to honor the bargain. I shipped it off to the West Coast feeling very
satisfied with myself. All the time it may have been that neighbor who might
have shared with me. What will happen next?
Well, picture me sitting at the library day after day looking at microfilm,
making copies of pages from old history books, reading miles of microfilm
newspapers, collecting copies of ancient maps, visiting courthouses and
cemeteries in the middle of nowhere. I am still looking for that person.
Later,
Bella