Genealogy
Many stories can be googled, just be careful to watch the dates, because there are dozens of people with the same name in the directory. Census records often had abbreviated names like Chas for Charles or Jno for John and sometimes they simply used nicknames, or even worse few people could read or spell so we have to use our imagination in spelling a name.
The internet has many records to study: wills, estate sales, tax records, marriage records, military documents, death certificates, census records, church tithings, state and county history books, land deeds, and family trees.
My great grandfather Jacob Benjamin Cochran was an interesting search - there was another guy using that name who had died in the Civil War - possibly a cousin. The family lore is that Jacob said his grandfather came from Scotland to Pennsylvania and fought in the American Revolution, then the Cochrans moved into Ohio with a military land grant. Jacob's dad, William served in the War of 1812. Jacob served in the Civil War and his military registration for pension shows his wife as Clora Jane ( Miller). Their son Frank served in WWI after he had married Luella Coonfield in Arkansas. The men in Luella's family tree were mostly military as well and easy to research. It would seem that the Coonfields came from Holland but nobody is certain. Isaac Coonfield was born about 1760 in Pennsylvania, found on the 1800 tax list of Henry County, Kentucky, then in 1824 moved to Indiana. His sons served in the Civil War.
Grandma Luella Coonfield Cochran's mother was Lattie Little of Kentucky and Lattie's father ( John ) served in the Civil War. John's father Hiram and many others in his family served in the Civil War. Hiram's grandfather, George Little, was born in 1733 Scotland and came to South Carolina, where he was a Captain in the American Revolution.
Our grandpa George is often confused by researchers as the man in Massachusetts but ours was never there.
Luella named a son Frankie Lavern Cochran ( my daddy ) born in 1927 in Chetopa Kansas. He was a co-pilot of a bomber plane in the Korean War, shot and wounded, and sent to Maxwell AFB in Montgomery Alabama, where he met my mom, Anne Alice Carter, and married in 1951.
Her dad Cecil Carter served in the Air Force at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. His parents were William Fenn and Anna Stone who's grandparents came out of Georgia in the 1800s.
Anne's mother was Emily Alice McClain, daughter of Lorena Bozeman and Charles McClain. Emily married young, had three children and died at the age of 19 giving birth to the third one. She was having seizures and probably had toxemia.
Her daddy served in WWI and the family could not be found on a 1920 or 1930 census record. The nickname of her husband, Cecil, was Nick. Cecil told the family that he was Cherokee indian and that one of his many grandfathers was a chief.
Charles was the son of Josiah Marion McClain and Elizabeth Broadway. Josiah had a previous marriage to Julia America King in Georgia, and then he served in the Civil War where he was wounded in the Battle of Franklin TN, and somehow ended up in Montgomery Alabama where he met the Broadways. Elizabeth's father, Abner Broadway had also served in the Civil War.
Julia is registered with the rolls, of the Cherokee Nation.
Josiah McClain's parents were "Anna" and James McClain. There is a military record of a James McClain who registered in the Choctaw Riflemen.
James and his family are buried near Stone Mountain Georgia in Indian Creek Cemetery. His grandfather was a Charles McClain who served in the American Revolution and married Elizabeth Moon in Virginia. The Moons also served in the AR.
Great Grandma Lorena Bozeman McClain was a beautiful lady, born 1890 in Dublin, Montgomery County, Alabama. She churned butter, sewed her own quilts, aprons, and bonnets. She always wore a bonnet when outdoors. She prayed and had a healing touch, like no one I had ever known.
My daddy had told me stories of the miracles he had seen her perform.
She lived to be 90 yrs old and had outlived 5 husbands and all of her children.
Lorena's parents were Alice Lorena Stephens ( an indian ) and John Thomas Bozeman. Alice died young, after birthing little John Jr. Her gravestone was found in the woods behind Hills Chapel Church in Dublin, home made of course, with an inscription of My Darling ALB.
John had to marry right away to have someone care for the children and his wife Ellen Bean had more children with him. She told the kids that she was related to the famous hanging judge Roy Bean.
John's parents were Nancy Jane Anderson and Peter Edward Bozeman. Peter is buried near Alice in those woods of Dublin. He had served in the Civil War and his wife Nancy got his military pension. That pension record was witnessed by our uncle, John Hill. John Hill had owned the land in Dublin and his son later used part of it for the Hills Chapel Church and Cemetery.
John Hill was the brother of Peter's mother, Martha Hill Bozeman. Their father was John Hil Sr. of South Carolina and also served in the great War.
Peter's father was William Henry Bozeman, often called Henry, born 1802 in Darlington SC. Henry's parents were Sarah Brown and Peter Bozeman, who married in Darlington in 1786. Peter had a huge plantation in Darlington after he had served in the American Revolution - he is recorded in SC history books and land deeds and also in the DAR.
They had lived near Evan Pugh, who was a minister and kept a diary which is also published online, and it included the 1786 marriage record.
Peter's mother may have been an indian because other researchers, working on his brother's line, John Bozeman, is often called half blood.
There is a book, Sketches of Bozeman, published in 1885 about us.
There are hundreds of Bozemans now in Alabama who descend from Peter and his son William. They had settled in Hope Hull, off McLean Road on land currently owned by Wm S. Newell. Peter's other son Jesse Bozeman, born 1793, is buried on that land, in a cemetery which has been named Stokes Cemetery. It is believed that Matthew Stokes married one of Peter's grand daughters, Martha Campbell.
Jesse's daughter, Lacy Jane Bozeman married a Thomas Randolph Carter and both are also buried there.
Peter had four daughters listed on the 1790 census and one Lucy Bozeman, married a Sterling Campbell. Martha Campbell Stokes was probably their child.
Also in Hope Hull were the Anderson families and the Sellers families who all became connected to my family tree. The Stephens had settled in Dublin which is really only a few miles away. These three families all came from the Carolinas after serving in the War and are noted in the DAR as well.
All are listed in the South Carolina Roster book of the war.
There is another book about the Stephens Family History in the Ramer Library written by cousin Clyde Stephens, that says our great great great grandfather John Stephens had married a full blood Cherokee, lived in South Carolina a while, then migrated to Alabama.
The Andersons had been settled first in North Carolina where GGG grandpa Elmore Anderson is listed as full blood indian. His sons Elijah and Elisha served in the War before migrating to Alabama. The same story goes for the Sellers families before they came to Alabama.
Surely there were large wagon trains leaving the Carolinas, venturing through Georgia, along the Old Federal Road, into Montgomery Alabama. At that time the Land Offices were in Georgia, where they made their purchases, as they traveled across the Alabama line into Creek Indian Territory. They crossed Line Creek which was a boundary at the time and later became a favorite swimming spot for me and my siblings.
Some settled along the Meriweather Trail in Dublin and Ramer and Grady, while some went on down the road into Hope Hull in Montgomery.
They brought tobacco, corn and cotton to grow, and their spinning wheels, a few cows and a few hogs.
The Montgomery Probate Office and the Montgomery Archives have many documents of the 1820s and 1830s belonging to my families. I have posted many of these records and stories, with pictures, on the genealogy webpage of Montgomery Alabama, found at www.usgenweb.com
The Thomas Randolph Carter mentioned above, secondly married Mary Josephine Hereford, of Virginia and became my husband's great great grandfather in the Brooks-Cooper family history.
His first wife, Lacy Bozeman died during an epidemic along with some of their children. Their daughter Lucy Carter married a Calloway and was well known among the family, according to Aunt Sissy Brooks.
Josephine had only one child, Sarah Elizabeth Carter. Sarah married Levi Benjamin Cooper of the Chambers County Cooper families. Sarah had Susie Mae Cooper who we all knew as Mamaw. Susie married James Brooks and named her son James Edgar Brooks, Jr. Susie's son married Mary Ella Thornton who is found on Park Avenue, Montgomery Alabama on the 1930 census. Her parents were Bessie Mae Hood and Milton Elijah Thornton. Milton's mother was an indian from Georgia, Mary Angeline Partridge. Bessie's parents were in Elmore County, Ella Olivia Baxley and L. W. Hood.
Sue Carol Bozeman was the niece of Mary Ella and told me about the grandmother Partridge and took me to her grave in Central Alabama, past the flashing caution light.
Sue Carol's husband, Wayne Bozeman, has helped me with the Bozeman research, as we both descend from Peter and William. Wayne and I both have met with Jimmy Ray Bozeman, who's daughter, Allison, got the DAR to recognize Peter.
Levi's father Charner P. Cooper served in the Civil War and married Sarah F. Lee of Chambers County. Coopers and Lees were early settlers of Chambers, buying land from the Creek indians after serving in the War of 1812.
The Brooks family had come out of Tennessee. James was the only son of Annie Clark Ballard and John Brooks. John was the son of Roxanna Permilia Smith and the elder John Brooks of Pennyslvani born 1837. Their marriage record of 1861 is online. "Roxi" 's ancestors were very early settlers of Tennessee after their journey out of Virginia and North Carolina. Their census record of 1870 shows John's father was born in Holland and his mother in France. John died of tuberculosis and his widow Roxanna then married Dr. Terry Crittendon Smith so look out for half sibings being born there.
The Fenn family was also in Virginia in the 1600s where John Fann married Mary Stone, daughter of William Stone. They participated in the great war and ventured into North Carolina and into Georgia. Georgia was rich in minerals that the indians lost to the white man. Here I found Zachariah Fenn and son Travis, with military land grants, and wives of indian blood.
Son of Travis, Elijah Fann married Martha Rich and their children were John and Leticia. Leticia is listed in the Indian Rolls of the Cherokee Nation. John served in the Civil War, married Emeline Harrell and moved to Tuskegee, Alabama. This is where they had my great grandpa William Fenn.
Elijah's brother Matthew Fenn was famous in the history of Eufaula. He could not legally employee indians on his farm in Georgia but he could in Alabama. So he bought up hundreds of acres for farming and is written about in the History of Barbour County, about his plantation and the indians working it.
I had talked on the phone with one of Matthew's descendants, Nancy Fenn Compton, who had done much family research and actually went to court there to protect Matthews grave from being moved by a new owner of that land.
There is a Fenn family history book out, titled Wagon Tracks.
Great grandpa Wm Fenn's wife Anna Stone only stayed with him about ten years, having six children, then left and joined her family in Georgia where she married a Carter and then a Dasher. Anna had taken baby Cecil with her and gave him the Carter name. Her name was Anna Lou Stone but often called Annie Lee. Her parents were Augustus Marvin Stone and Mary Ann Hendricks. Their death certificates are online in the Georgia Vault webpage.
The Stone families came to Alabama in the 1850 census of Macon County. Augustus' father was Benjamin and then his father was Michael from Maryland. Michael Stone was in the 1820 and 1830 census of Georgia in a Captain John Stone district.
Michael had another son, Charles Stone who named his sons Osceola and Tecumseh, so should we speculate there is indian blood in this line....
They were famous indians like Chief Red Eagle and I know that one of my Sellers cousins married a Cherokee Chief Dennis Bushyhead.
This takes me back up to the Little lineage of Kentucky. Grandpa Hiram Little had married Catherine Wright, a daughter of Catherine G. Weatherford. The Virginia records indicate that Catherine's father was Charles Weatherford. So was this the same Charles Weatherford who came to Alabama and fathered William Weatherford, who is known as Chief Red Eagle....Charles did have a sister named Catherine and their mother is listed as Mary Half Blood on many other family trees.
Hiram's brother, Douglass Little married Catherine's sister, Martha Ann Wright and she named a son Lucius Powhatan Little. L.P. became a famous lawyer, judge and writer. Much of his work is found in the history books of Kentucky. The Powhatan name was passed on in his family. Some of my cousins before me claim we descend from a daughter of the famous Powhatan, thru Cleopatra, not Pocahontas.
L.P.s daughter Laura Simmons Little Bright did much genealogy in the 1920s with her father's assistance.
The above mentioned grandmother Clora Jane Miller Cochran descends from a Reverend Alexander Miller from Ireland who in the 1700s is found settled in Rockingham Virginia. His cemetery is listed in the Virginia records online. The Millers spread out through Illinois, Iowa, and Kansas. There is a book available, written by cousin Milo Custer, with photos of this family.
Recently the Broadway family is becoming more fascinating as my daughter is engaged to one and my sister is married to another one of the Broadway descendants. The parents of our great great grandmother, Elizabeth Broadway McClain born 1853, are Mary Stephens and Abner Broadway. He was the son of Abner Broadway of South Carolina and "Nancy".
Abner, his brothers and their father all served in the American Revolution.
Elizabeth's father served in the Civil War.
It seems that Abner was the only one who migrated to Alabama at first and settled in Dublin around the Stephens families in 1837.
There is a family cemetery that I have yet to survey but on the way out of Dublin I stopped at a Pine Level church cemetery to photograph the headstones of Chief Herman Broadway and his wife OOTCHA.
Elizabeth's son, Charles McClain was a farmer, worked in the church, made caskets during the epidemics, and was known to have visions. He was a small dark man, with lazy eye. He is buried at Dublin Church of Christ Cemetery and there is no headstone, but should be a military stone for his service in WWI.
Elizabeth's sister, Rebecca Lou Broadway married Clopton Gibson. Her son Jace Gibson married Ethel Mae Bozeman, the sister to Lorena. I had spoken on the phone to some of Ethel's daughers, Ruby and Peggy and Ida, for assistance with my family tree. They all confirmed that Jace and Charles, were first cousins.
They spoke of picking cotton and hauling it by horse and wagon to sell on a very bumpy dirt road called Dexter Avenue.
obtained information on the Abner Broadway (sometimes Broadaway) family from Ron Head of the Montgomery Alabama Genealogical Society, who had researched this family some time ago:
In the 1830 census, (page 96) he and his family are shown living in Sumter
Co., S.C. In 1840, the family is listed in Montgomery Co., Alabama (Page 187),
and in 1850 the census shows them again in Montgomery Co., Alabama (page 173).
Montgomery County., AL Probate record N. page 32: Abner Broadway estate; list of heirs: James T. Broadway, Wade H. Broadway, Abner Broadway, Wesley Broadway, Benjamin Broadway; Martha, wife of John Timmons; Caroline, wife of Mosley Dickey; Mary, wife of Joseph Jenkins; and Jane Broadway; all residents of Montgomery Co., AL.
Montgomery Co., AL probate Record L page 126: Abner Broadway estate: personal property sold to John W., Joseph A., and Moses T. Timmons, and others. Thomas J. Orme, adm. (30 May 1857).
Listed in WFT Volume 13, Ed. 1, Tree # 1499 as a child of William Pool Broadway and Mary James
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Soldier Name Side Function Regiment Name
Broadaway, A.
Confederate
Infantry
23rd Regiment, Alabama Infantry
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William Pool Broadway and Mary Polly James
Listed as the wife of William Broadway in the South Carolina census of 1820,
Abbeville Co., age 45 & Up; and in the 1830 census for Sumter Co., age 60-70.
Listed in Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution, by
Bobby Gilmer Moss as wife of William Broadway: "m. Mary (or Polly) James, 12
May 1785"
Mary Broadway was awarded a widow's pension based on husband William's Revolutionary service (S. C.)as a private, "Inscribed on the Roll at the rate of 20 dollars per annum, to commence on the 4th day of March, 1848." This certificate of Pension was issued the 16th day of July 1855. Other pensions were awarded, each at $20 per annum, were shown to commence on March 4, 1831, Feb. 2, 1839, March 4, 1843
On June 23, 1855, Mary Broadway applied for Bounty Land in the Sumter District, S. C., based on her husband's service in the revolutionary war.
SC DAR A200425
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There are many records, and stories, such as that one above, in my genealogy. There are search boxes provided on my webpages to assist .
Happy Hunting!
