The best answer is: maybe yes and maybe no.
In earlier posts I reported what I currently know about the Greens and Smitherman families of Bibb County, AL.
• Selenea Green married Wiliam Smitherman
• Thomas Green married Margaret Lawrence, whose mother Sally was a Smitherman
• Joseph Green married Nancy Smitherman Garner, who was old enough to be his mother.
• The Smithermans are related to the Lathems through intermarriage.
In the 1840 U.S. Census for Bibb County, AL, Joseph Green is living in Bibb County. In the household are two males 20 - 30 (Joseph & ?); and one female 5 - 10, one female 40 - 50 (Nancy Smitherman Garner Green), and one 50 - 60 (Joseph's mother?). According to this census, Joseph’s birth year would be between 1810 - 1820. The range for Nancy's birth is 1790 - 1800 (also confirmed in the 1830 Census with Andrew Garner).
http://interactive.ancestry.com/8057/4409668_00209/1241647?backurl=&ssrc=&backlabel=Return
Why is this important? Just wait.
Neighbors include James Samples, William Garner, Nancy Pearson, Ransom Whatley, Jones, Acheson, Walker, Campbell, Matthew Cox, George Bolen, Thomas H. Abney, Benjamin Tucker, Thomas Lawrence. I mention these neighbors to prove that it's the right Joseph Green. Most of the men were married to Lathem or Smitherman women. William Garner was Nancy's son from a first marriage. James Samples was a witness to the will of Nancy's first husband.
Nancy Green is likely not the mother of the 5 - 10-year-old in Joseph's household. Joseph married Nancy on September 21, 1837 (Marriage records, Bibb County, AL). Any child born in wedlock to them would be under four, and more likely three under at the time of the 1840 Census. Of course, it's possible that Nancy was pregnant out of wedlock, but I've found no record of that in bastardy cases in Bibb County.
It's more likely that the female 6 - 10 is either Joseph's child or the child of the unidentified male in Joseph's 1840 US Census for AL household. Since Joseph and the unknown male occupant in his household were born 1810 - 1820, they would be 20 - 30 in the 1840 Census. Certainly old enough to have a six-year-old daughter.
We know very little more about Joseph Green of Bibb County, other than he was bondsman on the marriage license of Joseph Lawley and Samuel Smitherman. He lived until at least 1841, when with son-in-law Andrew Garner he was a defendant in the Bibb County courts. After 1841 he disappears from all the records I have seen, but another trip to the Bibb County Courthouse will tell me if there's any more to find.
If Joseph died, as he probably did, it would be natural for his widow and child to be living together in a household. Moving forward in time, in the 1850 U.S. Census we find Nancy Green and Beauty Ann Green living in the household of John P. and Mary Ann Green McKinney in Shelby County, AL. They are list after the other members of the original household, indicating that they are outside the family of origin: a mother-in-law and daughter; or aunt and sister; or mother and step-daughter.
More importantly, both Nancy and Britta's ages are within the birth year ranges established earlier. In the 1850 Census, Nancy Green's age is 56, so she would have been born about 1794. This fits within the range 1790 - 1800, which is the same range in which Nancy Smitherman Garner Green was born. Ditto for Beauty/Brittie. The female child in Joseph Green's 1840 household was between six and 10, born between 1830 and 1834/1835. In 1850 that female would have been about 16. Et voila! Beauty/Brittie was born in 1834 (various censuses, her grave marker) and was 16 in 1850.
So, at the moment, this is my best theory about Britta's parents:
Her father was Joseph Green of Bibb County, AL.
Her mother was an as yet unidentified female near Bibb County.
Her step-mother was Nancy Smitherman Garner Green.
