Don't discount in-laws, second spouses as leads to research

There are many different types of genealogists, historians and researchers out there, as I have mentioned before.

There are people who trace their mothers and fathers, grandparents and great-grandparents, great-greats, great-great-greats, and on and on no siblings, just direct descendants. There are people who deal mostly with one period in history, such as the Civil War, Revolutionary War, or Medieval times in Europe. And, there are those who methodically and painstakingly scrutinize every person in their family tree.

While I had always found that tracing siblings produced great results, I confess I had not placed too much importance on in-laws or second spouses until recently.

My mother's side of the family tree includes McWhorters, Paynes, Boyds and Wrens, among others, as I think I have mentioned before. Most of these families lived in the Atlanta area beginning in the early 1800s, many in Carroll, Douglas and Heard counties.

Like a good little researcher, I have methodically done research on each of these families, starting from the present and working backwards, finding and recording siblings, spouses, aunts, uncles and cousins. I also found many intermarriages within these families, some which gave me a good chuckle every now and then. Second-cousin-marrying was sometimes more the rule than the exception.

Last week, I received an e-mail from a Wren cousin, Chris Wren who lives near Birmingham, asking if I had come across the Griffis family in my search. He was attempting to gather more information on our GGgrandfather, William Wren, who migrated from North Carolina to Heard County, and later moved into Carroll County.

Well, I searched my records, and the only Griffis I could find was an in-law, Cora Griffis, who was the second spouse of George Washington Payne, son of Fleming Caleb Payne, and nephew of my great-grandfather, Joseph Joshua Payne. No mention of Wrens or any of the other families in my family tree. Cora was buried at Powell's Chapel Methodist Church cemetery, along with George and his first wife, Lula Beatrice Noles, and two more Griffis family members, Mary Griffis (no birth or death dates on gravestone) and Harriett Griffis, wife of C.H. Griffis. Then the bell went off in my head.

Lula Beatrice Noles was the daughter of William Dennis Noles and Polly Ann McWhorter, one of the Carroll County McWhorter triplets. (The others were Molly Ann and Dolly Ann.) Polly Ann's brother was my great-grandfather, William Leroy McWhorter who married (are you ready?) Eliza Wren.

Chris sent me more information and his theory that Mary Griffis, buried at Powell's Chapel, may have been Mary Ann Wren who married John A. Griffis and lived in Heard County, and that Harriett Griffis was their daughter-in-law and the mother of Cora. He had information on the children of John and Mary Wren Griffis and all the census information fit with the dates in the cemetery. What a sleuth he was! Never in a million years would I have made that connection.

But wait. There's more. It appears the above mentioned John Griffis, husband of Mary Ann Wren, was murdered about 1870 in Heard County, and the suspects were ... (are you ready again?) a man named Teal, a man named Griffis, and a woman named Susan Knowles. It has already been established that the Knowles and Noles names were interchangeable and belonged to the same family. Susan Knowles, Chris believes, was related to William Dennis Noles, who married my McWhorter relative, possibly even his mother.

This is still in the theory stage, but looks very promising as a family relationship. Cora Griffis, then, would not only be a Payne second spouse and in-law, but the first cousin of my great-grandmother, Eliza Wren, and the wife of my great-grandfather Payne's nephew. And I had just tossed her off as an in-law to casually research at a later date. Guess I wasn't very smart, huh?

The other in-law research involved the second husband of Lucy Ann Norris Fowler, widow of Zephania Fowler. Lucy was a double relative since she was not only the wife of my GGgrandfather John Fowler's brother, but also the sister of John's wife, Sarah ann Norris Fowler. Lucy and Zeph moved to Fayette County sometime before 1860, as they are found in the 1860 Fayette County census. Zeph died during the Civil War and Lucy remarried a Green B. McFalls in Campbell county in 1867. I found the marriage record accidentally when I was researching other relatives in Campbell County (now South Fulton).

Piece by piece, Lucy's story started coming together when I started doing research in Douglas County, which was formerly Campbell. Lo and behold, a few weeks ago, I finally found Lucy's final resting place at Union Grove Baptist Church cemetery in Lithia Springs. This gave me definite birth and death dates on her which I did not have.

The point is, had I not known the name of Lucy's second spouse, I never would have connected "L.A. McFalls" buried at Union Grove with Lucy Ann Norris Fowler who married Zephania.

Of course, I could never have done this without the help of other researchers who were seeking the same family and researching the same area. Sherri Jackson, a descendant of Lucy, Virginia Smith, a relative of Green B. McFalls, Mary Jean Fowler, wife of a descendant of Lucy, and Joe Baggett, my Douglas County expert, all helped me put the story together.

By the way, Joe has started a newsletter for those researching Douglas, Campbell and parts of Carroll County. I just received my first issue and it is jam-packed with information. If these areas interest you, e-mail Joe at baggettcj@aol.com or write to him at Joe Baggett, 8823 Rose Ave., Douglasville, GA 30134.

We're looking for stories about your genealogy success stories and your ancestors. Send them to The Citizen, Drawer 1719, Fayetteville, GA 30214; e-mail jkilgore@thecitizennews.com or jodiek444@aol.com.

Until next week, happy hunting!