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Genealogy: Finding Your Folks

The Elmores and Russells of Newberry and Coweta

By JUDY FOWLER KILGORE
jkilgore@thecitizennews.com

I learned late last week that the genealogy column got “bumped” from the Coweta and Peachtree editions (hard copy) of the Citizen Friday, but did run in the South Fulton edition and the Sunday Fayetteville edition. It was certainly understandable with all the news about Katrina and the gasoline crunch. However, whenever you miss a column you can always find it on the Internet. Those of you who don’t have computers might ask a friend who does to print one out for you.

Saturday morning, I received an e-mail from Valerie Freeman of California responding to the column. It mentioned the Elmore family of Newberry, S.C. and Coweta Co., Ga. which I had found in one of my new Newberry books and had written about last week. The Newberry Elmore family was definitely Valerie’s Elmore family of Coweta.

I had suspected as much, but was even more pleased to confirm it with Valerie. In addition, the records I mentioned in the column gave her information that she didn’t have. Valerie said all she had was Nancy (Elmore Wilson’s) birth date from an Elmore family Bible. With the Newberry records, she now has a spouse’s name, a marriage year, and a child. (I’m about to give her more.)

According to information sent by Valerie, Nancy Elmore Wilson’s parents mentioned in the court records in Newberry were actually Thomas Appleton Elmore (b. 20 April 1776, d. 15 July 1825 in Newberry) and Elizabeth Chapman (b. 15 Feb 1784, d. 22 Feb 1839 in Newberry). According to my Newberry cemeteries book (Vol. 1), Thomas and Elizabeth Elmore are buried in Newberry in the Chapman-Summer cemetery. The cemeteries book has Elizabeth’s birth date as 13 Feb. and Valerie has 15 Feb. Either could be a transcription error. Elizabeth Chapman Elmore’s parents were Giles Chapman (Rev.) and Mary Summers. Giles and Mary also are buried in the Chapman-Summer cemetery, as is Nancy Elmore Wilson (b. 19 Feb. 1813, d. 10 June 1861).

A quick search in my new 1850 Newberry census book with additional genealogical information (by Wicker) showed Nancy Elmore Wilson living with her brother, William Appleton Elmore, and her daughter, Elizabeth S. Wilson, b. 6 July 1839, d. 11 June 1859, who later married William H. Knight. Elizabeth was the only child of Henry and Nancy Elmore Wilson. Elizabeth, also, is buried in the Chapman-Summer Cemetery.

The genealogical information goes on to state that Elizabeth preceded her mother in death (1859) and when Nancy died in 1861, she left her estate to her siblings: William Appleton Elmore; Elijah Elmore (moved to Georgia); Eleanor Elmore Wilson; Ruth Elmore Rawls; Mary (Polly) Elmore Elmore deceased, so the estate went to her daughter, Fanny Elmore; Giles Elmore deceased so the estate went to his children, Thomas A. Elmore, Elizabeth A. Elmore Morgan, Frances Elmore, Elvira Elmore, Daniel R. Elmore, Morgan (?) Elmore and John C. Elmore.

There is a lot of information in these Newberry books on the Elmore family.

Here’s another Coweta family with roots in Newberry who left a lot of clues in court records there.

This is from Edith Greisser’s book on Equity Court records 1844-1862, page 31, and concerns the Russell family of Coweta. Records may be found on LDS Film No. 24209, or in Box 21, No. 38 in the Newberry Courthouse.

The petition was filed Sept. 5, 1850 with exparte petitioner James Russell vs. Henry Summer, and involves the estate of Clement Nance, whose daughter, Mary M. Nance Russell (wife of James Russell) had moved to Coweta County and died there prior to 1848. Mary and James had children named William Nance Russell, Elizabeth Jane Russell, and James Frederick Russell. Clement Nance, Mary’s father, died in Newberry in 1848 and a portion of his estate was set aside for Mary Russell’s children who were Clement Nance’s grandchildren. The funds were placed in the hands of Henry Summer of Newberry (relationship, if any, not noted).

James Russell of Coweta petitioned the Newberry court to transfer the estate’s distributive shares belonging to his children to the state of Georgia. Ms. Greisser notes that there were many legal papers in the packet from the state of Georgia attesting to the fact that James Russell was guardian of his children and a fit a proper person.

A hint here: a search at the Coweta County Courthouse for records in this same time frame may reveal further information on James Russell, his children and details on this legal matter.

To recap for those of you who missed last week’s column, my Newberry books were ordered from the Old Newberry District Chapter of the South Carolina Genealogical Society. The order form is found on the Web site, www.rootsweb.com/~scondc/index.html. Click on “publications” to view the complete list of books available. A membership application also is on the Web site. The Newberry quarterly newsletter (actually it’s more like a little magazine) included in the membership dues, is one of the best I’ve seen.

Next week I’ll give more information on other southside families which appear in some of the Newberry books.

I welcome all letters and e-mails about genealogy and info on south metro Atlanta families. Send them to The Citizen, P.O. Drawer 1719, Fayetteville, GA 30214; e-mail jkilgore@thecitizennews.com or jodiek444@aol.com. Any letters and/or e-mails I receive are subject to being used in the column.

Until next week, happy hunting!