The Echols family of Coweta and Heard counties

Well, another Christmas has come and gone and I am writing this in the wee hours of the morning the day after, trying to meet my Thursday morning deadline.

For my Christmas present (to myself) this year, I bought more genealogy books, several from Gwinnett County and one more for Coweta. I found the Gwinnett books online at the Gwinnett Historical Society's Web site but Scott's Bookstore in Newnan has become my Coweta genealogy gold mine. I found the Coweta County Cemeteries book there last week and couldn't resist. That made my Coweta resources almost complete since I now have census, cemetery, history and marriage books for Coweta County. With those resources, you can gather enough initial information on a family to put it together in a flash. Then, by coordinating dates, events, other resources and family stories, you can "flesh out" the family and put together a fairly decent story of your own.

When I was researching the Echols family, I found that Mahala Echols, daughter of Samuel Dorrell Echols and Elizabeth Wood, married Mercer Babb in September of 1830 in Coweta County. The name "Mercer," not your usual run-of-the-mill name, stuck in my head since my grandfather's sister, Cecil Mary Fowler, married Joseph "Mercer" Hand over in Cleburne County, Ala. in 1894. Joseph was the son of Edward Solomon Hand and Eliza Babb.

Uh-huh. You guessed it. Eliza Babb Hand was the daughter of Mercer Babb and his second wife, Lodisky McGee. Mahala Echols Babb, his first wife, died young. I had also found Mercer Babb mentioned in the Annals of Newberry (S.C.) when I was researching my Boyds. So, I now had found two family connections while researching a family which was not in my direct ancestral line.

I think (at least for me) that's what makes this genealogy thing so much fun. Not only do you find your own folks, but you see how they tied into other families in the community.

Also, when I was researching the Echols family after their move to Heard County, I came across the 1850 Heard County census entry for Samuel and Elizabeth Echols with a wide range of ages of the people living in the household. First, there was Samuel, age 58, and Elizabeth, age 57, then Alfred M., age 39; Susan E., age 17; Samuel J., age 16; William J., age 12, and Antoinette Babb, age 16. Although Antoinette Babb was a no-brainer, she had to be the daughter of Mahala Echols and Mercer Babb, the relationship of the other family members was questionable. There was a 12-year age difference between Alfred M. Echols, age 39, and Susan E. Echols, age 17. Both could have been children of Samuel and Elizabeth, but were they?

This is where Ruth Wilson's family story in "The History of Heard County" helped. She explains the 1850 census entry thus:

"The 1850 Heard County census listed those living with S.D. and Elizabeth Echols; Alfred N. (their son, divorced from wife Sally Ann Hairston), the orphans of Wood Echols (Susan E., Samuel J., and William J.), and Mary Antoinette Babb, orphan of Mercer Babb and Mahala Echols Babb."

Mrs. Wilson goes on to explain that Alfred N. Echols, second son of Samuel Dorrell and Elizabeth Wood Echols, had one child, Amanda (Maud), who married a Williams.

I also would like to insert here the meaning of the term "orphan" as it applied in days of long ago. Today, when we use the term "orphan," we usually are referring to children who have no parents. Back then, people often referred to an "orphan" as a child who may have lost both parents, or only one parent. Mercer Babb remarried after Mahala Echols Babb died and lived until about 1878 (reference: "The History of Coweta, County, Georgia"). Obviously, here, in 1850, the grandparents had assumed the responsibility for raising Mary Antoinette Babb, the child of their deceased daughter.

The name "Antionette" carried on into the family of Eliza Babb, daughter of Mercer Babb and his second wife, Lodisky McGee, as my Joseph Mercer Hand had a sister named Eliza Ophelia Antionette Hand.

Mary Antoinette Babb married Zachariah Alman, died in 1881, and is buried in the Echols Cemetery in Heard County.

If I have my family connections straight, a Zachariah Alman also married Delaney Jane Wood, daughter of William Thomas and Nancy Blake Wood. And we are right back to another family connection for me, since Delaney Jane Wood was my first cousin, twice removed, the daughter of my great-grandfather's sister. (This can drive you crazy after a while.)

There is one more thing in Mrs. Wilson's story that confuses me. She mentions that Samuel Dorrell Echols drafted his will in 1869 and it was administrated by his son-in-law, Levi Hollingsworth. I quote from her story in the Heard County history book:

"The will on record in Franklin, Ga., shows that Samuel Dorrell Echols had accumulated 2888 acres of land in Carroll, Coweta and Heard counties. His residence and the Echols Cemetery were situated on lot 189; he owned 170 acres of Lot 191 on which he operated a mill; also in Heard County he owned 100 acres in the 4th District, lot 134, and half of the bridge across the Chattahoochee River and 652 acres adjoining. In Coweta County, he had 350 acres on the East side of the Chattahoochee."

Now, my question is this: If the Heard County courthouse burned, where in the heck did she get her hands on those records? Did they come from family records that Samuel had kept himself?

That question can only be answered with further research on my part. More next week. If you have an interesting story about your early southside Atlanta family, I'd love to hear it. Send stories to The Citizen, Drawer 1719, Fayetteville, GA 30214; jkilgore@thecitizennews.com or jodiek444@aol.com.

Until next week, happy hunting!

(Judy regrets that time does not permit her to do personal research for others. She will willingly share research information on her own family lines, including collateral and allied lines.)