Britta in the 1866 Census, Part 1

What hints can the 1866 AL State Census give us about Britta's relatives?
In the 1866 State Census for AL, Mrs. Brittan McGuire is living in Shelby County at Township 24, Range 12 East. This location may be in Shelby County, but it’s right next to Bibb County. It’s just below Montevallo and just above Brierfield. In the household are one female over 20 (Britta, 32), one female 10 - 20 (Ellen), two females under 10 (Mary Drucilla and Unknown), and one male under 10 years (Douglas).

Neighbors in the same township and on the same page are E. M. Carlton, R.D. Campbell, Henry Backus, J.M. Whitfield, T. Hatcher, and Jacob Howser (Hauser). Neighbors on the page before include Robert Dennis, T. P. Merony, James Adams, Willis Woods, L.V. Fancher, A. Woods, James Coshatt, George R. Allen, Mrs. Mary Large, J. B. Broadhead, Mrs. Adaline Holsombeck, Mrs. Ellen Garrett.

This blog entry could run really loooooooonnnnnnnnnnnngggg if I put all my notes here. So let's look at just the six people on the same page as Britta for the moment. Here's how each of these people relate to Britta:

I. E. M. CARLETON

A. Edward Moore Carleton was a bigwig in Bibb and Shelby Counties. He performed  the marriage ceremony of Susan Green Stringfellow to Joseph D. Neely in Bibb County in 1853. He was witness and executor of the will of Richard Fancher in 1849.

II. R. D. CAMPBELL

A. In 1850 R. Davis Campbell lived in the same Shelby County neighborhood as Elijah Green, McKeithen, Jesse Coshatt, Joseph Neeley, Phillip Meroney, Broadhead, George Allen, Fredrick Smith, Robert Dennis, Moses Johnson, William Deshayso. Possible connections to Britta:

• Joseph Neeley was married to Susan M. Green, daughter of Joscelin B. Green.

• Frederick Smith lived a few doors from Britta and John McGuire in Jefferson County in 1860.

• Moses Johnson and son Alphonzo were taken to court in Shelby County in 1851 for assault and battery on John L. McGuire.

B. In 1860 R. D. Campbell is living in the same neighborhood as:


• Noah Haggard & his daughter Lucy, who married Willis Wood;


• J. D. Neeley, who married Susan M. Green, daughter of Joscelin B. Green,


C. In 1870 Dennis is living in the same Shelby neighborhood as Alamoth Woods, James M. Whitfield, both in the same township and range as Britta in 1866.

III. DR. HENRY BACKUS

A. Henry Backus was a physician.

B. Henry Backus's daughter Kate married the son of Nancy Ellen Elizabeth Green Garrett.

 

IV. JAMES M. WHITFIELD

 

A. James Whitfield is living in Monevallo in 1860.

B. In 1870 Whitfield is living in the same neighborhood as Alamoth Woods (married to Noah Haggood's daughter) and J. Hatcher.

 

V. T. HATCHER  = J. HATCHER

A. Andrew Jackson Hatcher married Sarah Bisheat May 24, 1866. The marriage certificate is here:

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-9821-37462-15?cc=1743384

Judge Gardner approved the ceremony; F. M. Fancher performed it. The marriage bond shows that Jackson Hatcher married Sarah Reinheart, not Bisheat. James Barnes is the bondsman on May 24, 1866.

V. JACOB HOWSER/HAUSER

A. Was born in Rowan County, NC. The birthplace of Britta's parents is consistently listed as either NC or SC.

 

B. In Shelby County in 1850. In Mapleville, Bibb, East Side Cahaba River in 1860.

The children of Britta Ann Green McGuire Flynn

How many children did Britta Ann have?


That depends on which source you believe. 


We know that Britta had four children who grew up and themselves had offspring. She had three with John L. McGuire:

• Ellen Nora McGuire, born 1857
• 
  
• Mary Drucilla McGuire, born 1858
• 
  
• Stephen Arnold Douglas McGuire, born 1860

After the death of John L., she married Mike Flynn and had:

• Margaret Ann Flynn, born about 1874

These children are well documented and have living descendants. 


However, several censuses suggest that Britta had several other children. The 1900 Federal Census for AL says that she had seven pregnancies, of whom four are still living. The 1910 US Census for AL says that she had six pregnancies, of whom three are still living (Ellen Nora died in 1904).


When were the other children born?


It's possible to identify only one other child, a girl. In the 1866 State Census for AL, Mrs. Brittan McGuire lives in Twp 24, Range 12 East in Shelby County. In the household are one male under 10 (Douglas), two females under 10 (Mary Drucilla and Unknown), one female 10 - 20 (Ellen), and one female over 20 (Britta).


This child was most probably the daughter of John L. McGuire, as he was home in Jefferson County until February 1, 1863, when he joined the Alabama Infantry mustering at Cedar Grove. She was probably born between September 1860, when Douglas was born, and October 1863, nine months after John L. left for war. She had most certainly died by 1870, as she is not listed in the household for Mike and Britta Flynn in the Shelby County Census. 


Britta's sixth/seventh child could have been with either John McGuire or Mike Flynn. Britta married John L. on January 24, 1854, but Ellen wasn't born until May 4, 1857. In those three years Britta and John could easily have had a child—even two—who died. Mike Flynn married Britta on December 19, 1868, but Margaret (Maggie) wasn't born until May 24, 1873. In the intervening three years Mike & Britta could have had a child who died, too. 


When you look at the Mortality Schedules for that time, you see dozens of children who died of diphtheria, typhoid fever, teething, and other causes. Makes you happy that anyone at all survived. And it REALLY makes you happy for the modern medicine that keeps our children alive and spares us the sorrow Britta must have felt at the deaths of at least two and maybe three children.