Latest discoveries in Bibb County

Nada, really.

But sometimes finding nothing can mean a lot.

I returned to Bibb County anxious to look at all their indexes and reverse indexes for land sales and probate issues. I was hoping ot find more information about Joseph Green and Nancy Smitherman Garner Green to either confirm that they were Britta's father and step-mother, or that they weren't. I found nothing definite on that score.

When her first husband died, Nancy Smitherman Garner was the executrix of husband Andrew's will and inherited everything with her son William. Andrew died in March 1837, and Nancy married a much younger Joseph Green in September 1837 (Cougar? Marry in haste, repent at leisure??). In the same year Nancy gave up her rights to a certain piece of Bibb County land, as did daughter-in-law Olef (Olive Latham Garner). Their husbands then sold this land to Chamblin Davis, who also happened to be married to a Smitherman woman.

Andrew's will is here:

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-23189-23237-76?cc=1978117

While the Smitherman connection is interesting, the more important point is that Nancy inherited a share  of Andrew's wealth.

Nancy Ann Elizabeth Garner married Harris Brantley Ray on March 28, 1855.

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FQFM-YY9

Discoveries in Bibb County

If Nancy inherited some of Andrew's money in 1837, where was it? Did new husband Joseph blow it? He did sell off some of her land. And with son-in-law William Garner (who was about the same age,  heh, heh, heh, you go, Nancy girl) he borrowed money from Martha Ray and an unknown other person. We know this because Joseph and William were sued in court in 1840 and 1841.


Nancy's son William shows up in Bibb County in 1850, but Joseph disappears from the records after 1841, the last time he was sued. (What a way to be remembered). A Nancy Greene shows up in Shelby County in 1850 living in the household of John P. McKinnie (McKinney), who married  Mary Ann Green in Shelby in 1841. We don't know that this Nancy Greene is the same as Nancy Green who married Joseph, but her age as recorded in the 1850 U.S. Census (56) matches the age range of the younger woman in Joseph's 1840 household and Nancy Smitherman's likely birth year.

For a more in-depth discussion of why I think this two Nancys are the same person, see my earlier post.

So where did Joseph go? He's not in any neighboring counties or in any 1850 Census entry in the entire U.S. that I can find. I think it's likely that he died, but if he did, did he leave a will in Bibb County? No, he did not — at least not under the name of Joseph Green. And I've not been able to find any traces of a will in any surrounding county.

Maybe his will was burned at the courthouse. But wait —  Bibb County Courthouse wasn't burned, because I looked through all those documents myself. The originals, no less.

Or maybe he died intestate. Certainly possible.

And let's look at Nancy. Assuming that Nancy Green and Nancy Greene are the same person, why doesn't she have any money? Why is she living with John McKinnie un 185o instead of in her own household? Why isn't she living with son William Garner who so blithely sold off her land in 1850?

The Bibb County records hold no answers.

Maybe Nancy S. G. Green remarried? I found a Nancy Ray associated with William Garner in the records, but this Nancy was the daughter of William Garner who had married xoxoxoxoxox Ray. William Garner gave his daughter a slave.

There was a Nancy Garner who married Johnson Ferguson. But "this Nancy" was clearly a sister or relation to Andrew and not "our Nancy" because "this Nancy" married Samuel Smitherman in 1841 when "our Nancy" was still married to Joseph Green, who died after 1841.

Maybe "our Nancy" reverted to an earlier name like  Zilpha Emily Ellender Edins Pope Freeman, who was buried as Ellen Pope? I found another Nancy Garner, but was able to identify her as Nancy Latham who married William Garner, Sr. No other record in Bibb County seem to refer to "our Nancy."

If Nancy S.G. Green died, where's her will? Not in the Bibb County records.

Because of the lack of records, we may never be sure what happened. But we can make some guesses based on what we do know PLUS what the lack of records tells us:

Joseph Green probably died intestate between 1841 and 1850, leaving Nancy so impoverished that she had to live with another family of tenuous relationship. Was Polly Green McKinney sister to Joseph and thus sister-in-law to Nancy Green and aunt to Britta? It's a good theory and fits everything we know.

I wasn't able to get into the Miscellaneous Records. So that's first on the next trip. And the Brent-Centreville Library, which has a good selection of genealogy materials on local families was closed by the time I finished at the Judge of Probate office. At least one other researcher agrees that Nancy Garner Green ended up living with the McKinneys, so I'll be looking for a researched and published Smitherman family tree for confirmation.

And there you have it. Amazing what new discoveries you can make from a lack of records!