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Coweta’s Banks family By JUDY FOWLER KILGORE A couple of years ago, somebody told me that I would really get a good response and meet a lot of new relatives when I submitted my family tree to Rootsweb/Ancestry. So, I did — and they were right. The only problem is, since I keep an awful lot of collateral information (in-laws, uncles, aunts, cousins and their families), many of the responses are from people seeking information on these lines and not my direct line. However, I welcome all responses and not only have met a lot of new researchers, but also have met a lot of new distant cousins. One of these was a new McWhorter cousin, Abigail Banks Dennison, who was seeking information on her ancestor, Jessie Lenora McWhorter who married Thomas Charles Banks. Jessie McWhorter’s parents were Abbott Milton McWhorter and Mahala Jane Davis who moved from Carroll County to northern Alabama. I was happy to share what I had on the McWhorters behind Abbott Milton (even though it was not my direct line of McWhorters), but I got a surprise when Abigail told me her Banks relatives were right here in the area and lived in Grantville. (Abigail lives in North Carolina.). So, I took my Coweta books off the shelf and started looking and, sure enough, there was the Banks family, nice and neat and tied up with a bow in the Coweta history book. Some of this information may be found on page 202 of that book, and some I gleaned myself from census and cemetery records. I got a couple of bonuses out of this one too, in that Mahala Jane Davis’ family was related to the Norris Candy company folks, and there is a still-not-quite-figured-out Arnold connection to these Banks folks. I love a good mystery! Thomas Charles Banks was born in 1866 in Palmetto, the son of Thomas Leonidas Banks, originally from South Carolina, and Sarah Eleanor Arnold who was born in Georgia. Thomas Charles was one of 12 children who were all raised in Coweta from the 1850s. They included the following: Ida Banks was born 8 Nov. 1851, died 20 April 1897 and married J.B. Sims. Nathaniel Overton Banks was born 22 July 1853, died 22 May 1901 and married Theopa Bobo. They are both buried in Grantville City Cemetery. Lucy Banks was born 27 July 1855 and died 7 Feb. 1856. She is buried in the S.M. Arnold Cemetery on U.S. Hwy. 29 south of Palmetto. William Arnold Banks was born 12 March 1858 and died the following October. He, also, is buried in the S.M. Arnold Cemetery. Mary Frances Banks was born 1 May 1860 and died 19 Nov. 1900. She married Olin S. Peacock and is buried in Grantville. Sarah Eleanor Banks was born 8 Feb. 1862 and died 22 Sept. 1905. She married John R. Sims. Mina Antoinette Banks was born 12 Feb. 1864 and died 17 April 1940. She married Ira Palmus Bradley and is buried at Oak Hill in Newnan. Lillie Banks was born in 1869 in Campbell County and died in 1871. Samuel Banks was born 31 Jan 1872 and died 11 Oct. 1919. He married Irene Murph and is buried at Oak Hill. Enoch Marvin Banks was born 27 Nov. 1877 and died 21 Nov. 1911 in Coweta County. He is buried at Oak Hill. Thomas Charles Banks and Jessie Lenora McWhorter had five children: Nathaniel McWhorter Banks was born 1891 in Alabama and died in 1951. He married Marion Robinson. Jessie Len Banks was born 1894 in Alabama and died in 1966. She married Unknown Holloway. Horace Glenn Banks was born in 1897 in Alabama and died there in 1947. Thomas Charles Banks Jr. was born in 1900 in Alabama and died there in 1961. He married Katherine Hughes. Samuel Alston Banks was born in 1906 in Alabama and died in 1972 in Polk County, Florida. He married Mary Gatewood Pulliam. Jessie Lenora McWhorter’s mother, Mahala Jane Davis, was the daughter of Jesse Davis (1790-1844) and Mahala Harris (1796-1886). Jesse Davis died in Randolph Co., Ala. and Mahala Harris died in Villa Rica. The connection to Norris Candy Company founder, Arthur Leland “Buddy” Norris, comes through this Davis family. Buddy’s first wife, and the mother of his children, was Minnie Bell Davis, granddaughter of Jesse and Mahala. Jessie Lenora McWhorter’s father, Abbott Milton McWhorter, was a doctor who completed medical school in Atlanta in 1857, then moved to Alabama about 1860. His parents were Allen Marlin McWhorter (1795-1864) and Elizabeth Ann Baker (1798-abt 1863). Allen Marlin was the son of Moses McWhorter of Edgefield Dist., S.C., whose will I featured a couple of years ago in this column. And the Arnold mystery? Well, those two Banks children who died as children are buried in the same cemetery (S.M. Arnold Cemetery) as one of the Arnolds in the family I featured in a previous article (William Glenn Arnold, son of Owen Arnold and Levicey Pollard), so their mother, Sarah Eleanor Arnold, must be connected somehow. But, I’ll be darned if I know how. Maybe someone out there knows the answer. I’m still looking for your genealogy stories about south metro Atlanta area families. Send them to The Citizen, Drawer 1719, Fayetteville, GA 30214; E-mail 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.]
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