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Hana,
It was very common until the the 1870s-1880s or so, for a person, male or female, to use “both” of their family names…. i.e., “Emery Hughes”, instead of their “given” name., i.e., “Richard Hughes”.
A female’s middle initial was most often the begining letter of her maiden name.
Bill
As reported on my Wimberley thread, my cousin confirmed that her grandma also said the Hugheses are Indian, that Nathan Emery dressed up as an Indian sometimes, that she Josephine Hughes, lived with Indians awhile as a child. So my grandpa wasn’t the only one in his generation to say this is true. And Karen’s child apparently bears this out in her looks.
Did I already report that a Richard Hughs in Union in 1800? had 3 FPCs in his household? And did I already report this part? Will have to come back and edit.
“It is interesting to me that they clearly moved to Union/96th while it was still Indian territory (your notes said Indians only ceded in 1767?) and they moved in 1755? I’ll have to dig the info back up but some local social history says that the area they moved into around Broad River was a sort of native-american no-man’s land or boundary for warring tribes, which was only lived in by mixed breeds, and perhaps, settlers.
So, another possible but wildly speculative explanation for an early foray into Indian Territory, besides the obvious family nerve, is the fact that many early American settlers married Indian women. (Often because there just weren’t many Anglo women around, and the Anglo women weren’t as acclimated, and thus as hardy as the native women.) Another advantage of marrying Indian women that i hadn’t realized, is that many of the Eastern tribes were matrilinear, and once a man married in, he was considered part of the tribe and could own and inherit tribal rights, such as land use rights.”
Family Search listed a Mary Emory (b.1730) as marrying a Richard Hughes. The earliest Richard Hughes on that search engine is one born in Pinckney (like many other Hugheses) in 1730-1783, who married a Mary (last name unknown) in 1750. between 1752-59 they were reported to have had sons John, Joseph, Thomas, William, and according to this report, Captain Richard (jr.) in 1752.
Anecdotal but corroborative: Josephine Hughes, my cousin once removed, lived with Native-americans in Nevada, Texas and Washington, while her father, Wayman, traveled to find work as a stonemason. (Her mother left the family, so there was no one to care for Josephine while her dad worked. This likely means they were his relatives, and not Josephine’s mother’s.)
Another newfound cousin, tells me his Grandma was half Cherokee (and that as a child she had to wait for the schoolbus on the other side of the street from the other kids). While this wasn’t on my direct line, like tends to marry like.
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I’m still trying to figure why these Hugheses of mine lived in Cross Keys instead of Pinckney near Brown’s creek, like the other Hugheses around 1800. There seem to have been lots of Richard Hughes in the area. I don’t know if mine is the Richard Hughs with the 3 free persons of color living in his household in 1800?
And no clue where they got the Emery.
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I’d tried to figure out which Jane Brandon, Thomas Jefferson Hughes married, and found a website that says her name was really Jensie BOBO! I have other Bobos on another family line so this caught my attention.
Richard Emery Hughes, b. 26 Mar 1791 Cross Keys SC married
Jane Brandon, b. 26 April 1799 Cross Keys.
Thomas J. Hughes, b. 30 Oct 1825 SC married
(probably in Lincoln Co., Tenn, but maybe Tippah Co, Ms.)
Mary Ann Meeks, b.abt. 1825 Tenn.
Mary Meeks’ father Nathan was the brother of Mary Meeks, b. 22 Apr 1802 Ga., who marr’d in Lincoln Co., Tenn, Thomas Childs, b. 1796 Caswell Co., NC and were the parents of Nacy Meeks Childs of Tippah Co., Ms, where Nathan & Sarah (Jones) Meeks are in 1850 and next door is Thomas J. Hughes, wife Mary A., daughters Sarah J. and Mary E. – John W. Meeks, Mary (Meeks) Hughes’s brother, is next door to the Hughes’ on that 1850 Tippah Co Ms census. They all turn up next door to each other in 1860 Texas but Nathan Meeks had died in Feb of 1860 (of Palsy) before that census was taken and Sarah (Jones) Meeks is widowed.
(Thomas Childs descends from the line of Henry Chiles, b.1661 New Kent Co., Va; d.1720 Hanvoer Co., Va.)
There are several reasons to consider Nacy Meeks & Francis Holt to be Nathan Meeks’ parents.
(p.s… Nacy Meeks’ parents William and Molly (Nolin) Meeks were from Virginia.)
Bill
Originally posted by Bill Childs
Richard Emery Hughes, b. 26 Mar 1791 Cross Keys SC married
Jane Brandon, b. 26 April 1799 Cross Keys.
Yeah, these are basically the same dates I’d seen before (didn’t recall the month for Jane though — and have two marriage dates — one in 1812 and one in 1819. There are two Jane Brandons who are cousins, so they get confused.) So I guess I’ll have to reluctantly go along with Jane being a Brandon, not a Bobo (who are early settlers in Cross Keys). It just seems weird, Jane and Richard being born in Cross Keys. I can’t find anything historical or in the family to explain why they weren’t across the county with the rest of the Hugheses and Brandons.
I have a couple of possibilities for parents for them but am really Much more intrigued by that unexplained ‘Emery’ name, which gets passed down. The Emory/Emerys in SC have a native-american connection through John Amory’s kids.
Family Search listed a Mary Emory (b.1730) as marrying a Richard Hughes. The earliest Richard Hughes on that search engine is one born in Pinckney (like many other Hugheses) in 1730 (d.1783), who married a Mary (last name unknown) in 1750. between 1752-59 they were reported to have had sons John, Joseph, Thomas, William, and according to this report, Captain Richard (jr.) in 1752.
Any thoughts about the Hughes/Emery connection?
Originally posted by Bill Childs
Mary Meeks’ father Nathan was the brother of Mary Meeks, b. 22 Apr 1802 Ga., who marr’d in Lincoln Co., Tenn, Thomas Childs, b. 1796 Caswell Co., NC and were the parents of Nacy Meeks Childs of Tippah Co., Ms, where Nathan & Sarah (Jones) Meeks are in 1850 and next door is Thomas J. Hughes, wife Mary A., daughters Sarah J. and Mary E. – John W. Meeks, Mary (Meeks) Hughes’s brother, is next door to the Hughes’ on that 1850 Tippah Co Ms census. They all turn up next door to each other in 1860 Texas but Nathan Meeks had died in Feb of 1860 (of Palsy) before that census was taken and Sarah (Jones) Meeks is widowed.
(Thomas Childs descends from the line of Henry Chiles, b.1661 New Kent Co., Va; d.1720 Hanvoer Co., Va.)
There are several reasons to consider Nacy Meeks & Francis Holt to be Nathan Meeks’ parents.
(p.s… Nacy Meeks’ parents William and Molly (Nolin) Meeks were from Virginia.)
Bill
So Nathan’s sister names one of her kids Nacy? I know there were some other reasons the family researchers believe Nacy to be Nathans father, such as his living next door to him in the 1830 census. The courthouses in MS and TN burned so they can’t prove parentage or place of marriage.
These Meekses worked on proving Nacy to be the father for some 26 years. They think our Meekses care the ones who come from Pendleton Co. SC in 1790, moved to Franklin Co GA by 1805 and are in Bedford Co TN around 1820.
From Nathan and Sarah down, they’re well-documented. (Wrote a book.) But they have Nathan as born Jan.21, 1802 in Sc and Sarah as June 22, 1801 in GA. They gave one of their kids the middle name of Holt, btw, so probably is a Francis Holt connection there.
Don’t know that there is an NDN connection with these Meekses but if so, looking at the pics, I’d say it’s from Nathan Meeks’ side, not Sarah Jones’. She looks like a typical English or German lady. Her daughter Mary very much doesn’t.
A Emery/Hembree researcher, named Larry Petrisky, sent me the following:
“I believe these Union County Hughes are related to the Cherokee traders
Bernard Hughes
and Richard Hughes but they could also be pioneers from Virginia or
Pennsylvania in mid 1750’s.
Richard Hughes Sr. died with his son John Hughes at Ninety Six in 1780 as
captured Patriots.
The Hughes, like most families in that area, were on both sides of the
Revolution and definitely
married into the Cherokee. A Martin Brandon (Brannon) was a minor trader in
the 1750’s.
The Emery name could come from my ancestor, John Emory, (mixed CHerokee
blood) or from
the Virginia Hembree family (often spelled Emery) who settled in the upper
part of Union
County that was part of Spartanburg. (Actually, my John Emory also settled
in that area, making
a distinction very controversial and confusing to both families.)
Charles Hughes came out of the Greenville/Union SC area and settled near the
Emory/Hembrees
in Pendleton District. He was of the Bernard Hughes family and also a half
breed.”
Larry
He has looked into this stuff for a long time and has an impressive site. Will get link later.
Meanwhile, I looked through his stuff and found another one of those odd ‘coincidences,’ possibly connecting my Wimberleys with Hughes/Emerys, via — surprise, surprise — a native-american connection.
Because the name James occurs in first sons on this line several times I looked for early Jameses in that area. First James Hugheses, then James Emerys. Turns out there is a James Emery/Hembree in the right area — whose father turns out to be “Joel Bird Hembree.”
Now, I’d been looking for Joel Bird, who is the key to my Wimberley relations for a long time. (Other names probably associated with that line were Sarah Bird, John and some others, from SC, that also happen to match, too. ) I know it’s not very clear yet, but the times, places and some of the names are so close it makes my brain itch. Could mean nothing, could be significant.
Thanks for the additional information.
I think I’ve found Joel Bird’s family but there isn’t any place to go from there with the resources I have on hand so I’m still working on them.
I have ordered some earlier colonial tax record and Will books for the time period and location in question but that’ll take a couple weeks. Those books will also cover several other lines I’ve been trying to crack.
Bill
That is so cool!
Thank you, Bill!
And something you said on an old post to someone else struck me — that sometimes who ‘they’ marry is as important and meaningful as the names they use… or something like that.
So, seeing that the list of Richard Emery Hughes’ kids is apparently from a family bible, I’ve decided to believe those really are TJ’s sibs — and instead of just looking at the middle names Richard had given those kids (Cooper, Atkins and Bobo (that one, from what I’m learning, after his other – first? — wife’s family) I looked at who all those siblings married. Especially the ones who didn’t migrate to Texas, the ones who went (back?) to Ashville, Buncomb Co. NC and/or married people in NC from SC.
Which is when it got interesting. At least 3 of them married Redmon/Redman kids. I traced one of them, James, whose parents are Morgan Redman/Redmon and Susanna Pressly (of SC), who, btw, married her when she was 14 and he was quite a bit older, as is common on that line. Surely it’s not true of all the Redmons, but quite a few, particularly it seemed, from NC, showed up as mulatto or black on the 1880 census. Other name, which seems to come from either Buncomb NC or Cross Keys SC, is Lominack. The other two that marry in NC or MS are more common — Thomas Wilson and Jane Merrell.
Have I got something here?
Originally posted by Hana
From Nathan and Sarah down, they’re well-documented. (Wrote a book.) But they have Nathan as born Jan.21, 1802 in Sc and Sarah as June 22, 1801 in GA. They gave one of their kids the middle name of Holt, btw, so probably is a Francis Holt connection there.
Don’t know that there is an NDN connection with these Meekses but if so, looking at the pics, I’d say it’s from Nathan Meeks’ side, not Sarah Jones’. She looks like a typical English or German lady. Her daughter Mary very much doesn’t.
Looking at other pics tonight — if William Jones, Sarah Jones Meeks father, isnt native-american, I’ll eat my hat. There are pics of Sarah and her mother Mary at about the same age and for Sarah to look like she does, coming from that mother, her father would pretty much have to be native-american, or she’s a pretty extreme throwback. Mary looks like a classic, pale, pale-eyed, roundfaced, soft, elderly Englishwoman. Sarah is dark, square-jawed, straight lines, heavy brow ridge, blackeyed and haired.
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On the Hughes line, there are lots more clues. More and more probable mixed-blood cherokee. Too much to get into here, as I’m still trying to tease out what is proveable and truly significant from what is just an interesting distraction. For instance, a distant family member says their family bible has my Thomas Jefferson Hughes as having H. for his middle initial. As Thomas’s father’s middle name was Emery, as was his son’s, and as the father went by EH instead of Richard later, and whereas Hembree was the local SC version of Emery, and as Hembree seems to be the Emery line with the most Cherokee mixed-blood connections, the H. could be significant if it’s true. Or not. :rolleyes:
Originally posted by Hana
At least 3 of them married Redmon/Redman kids. I traced one of them, James, whose parents are Morgan Redman/Redmon and Susanna Pressly (of SC).
The speculation is that James is the Cherokee connection, via Morgan.
When I get to outskirts of my family line there always seem to be these mixed-blood stories floating around. True on every line I’ve checked into so far. Seems more than coincidental that family lines with the same stories hooked up. (Specially because when I look back to the late 1700s, seemingly unrelated lines have relatives in the same towns at the same times. It starts to look like a damn web. Betting 1750-90 is when my family all started ‘passing’ and whistling out of town, casual like.)
A distant Hughes cousin I found online called, and it turns out that her genealogical hunt started because of family rumors she’d heard all her life of Native-American ancestry. She is the gg-grandchild of Thomas Jefferson Hughes’ sister, one of the lines that went to Buncombe NC . Two of those lines married Redmonds, and the NDN connection seems fairly strong, though not completely corroborrated, on that line.
I’m still not connecting many of the dots, but it has been interesting to find these other relatives who’d heard the same stories.
Originally posted by Bill Childs
… were the parents of Nacy Meeks Childs of Tippah Co., Ms, where Nathan & Sarah (Jones) Meeks are in 1850….
(Thomas Childs descends from the line of Henry Chiles, b.1661 New Kent Co., Va; d.1720 Hanvoer Co., Va.)
Bill
Did I completely miss what it looks like you’re telling me, that we’re distant cousins? Hey, Cuz!
Btw, I tried to attach a pic of Sarah (Jones) Meeks and her daughter Sarah but couldn’t get it small enough, or find another way to send. Based on the pics of Sarah and Mary, William Jones, Sarah’s husband, seems a likely Native-American line. (Those folks are hard to trace though. Either lots of contradictory incorrect info out there, or they moved around a lot and had kids in various states, from Tenn, to Ms, to Georgia, to probably Ky.)
(I haven’t been on here for a while because I got a job outside the home — and because while I’ve found more suggestive info and oddities, I haven’t found more solid leads.)
Btw, do the names Tiposay or Thimapa mean anything to anyone?
One name shows up on a Hughes family will (Thimapa), and my great-great-grandmother, who married a Moore, appears to have had the middle name Tiposay, unless it’s one of those strange misspellings of something that got passed on. I haven’t been able to find those names on any names lists to even have a guess about country of origin or ethnicity.
I have a Thomas Jefferson Hughes, son of Richard Emery Hughes.
Thomas was born October 20, 1825 in Cross Keys, Union County, SC; he died in 1877 in Knobbs, Lee County, TX. No further info on Thomas.
Thomas was the 4th of 13 children born to Richard and Jane Brandon Hughes.
Sometime before 1850, Richard, Jane and children at home moved to Bumcombe County (Ashville), NC.
In 1870, Richard was living with the family of James and Martha Hudson in Bumcombe County and is a house painter. He is not shown in the 1880 census. Jane was alive for the 1860 census, but is not in the 1870 census. I have no clue who the Hidsons are.
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