Finding Your Folks: William Tidwell and Nancy J. Orr

As I struggled and plowed my way through these many Tidwell families over the past months, I took some comfort in a message Phil Tidwell left on one of the Internet message boards. Phil is probably one of the best and most thorough Tidwell researchers I know. He has been doing this for many, many years and said something to the effect that these south Atlanta area Tidwells had such large families, named their children similar names and lived so close together, that it was difficult even for their descendants to get them straight.

That made me feel so much better when I couldn’t decide which William, or which John (or in last week’s case, which Benjamin) married which Mary, which Nancy, even which Milly, since there were a few of those too.

We have one more Tidwell family to explore, this one requested by Mary Harper of Florida who, you remember, helped out so much with the Bethany families.

Mary has an aunt who lives in Fairburn and she was curious, Mary said, about a Tidwell family she remembered, wondering if they were connected to the Tidwells we have been researching.

Well, I really can’t give you a definite answer and neither can Mary, but maybe someone out there is related or descended from this Tidwell family and can help us out.

Mary tentatively attached these Tidwells to the family of John J. Tidwell, son of William Tidwell and Mary Amelia Jones and they did live in the Hopeful Community of Fayette County, along with Thornton, Boyd, Harper, Jones and Milam families, among others. This John J. Tidwell was married to Nancy Camilla Byram (or Biram ... we think) and Martha Westmoreland.

Also, I could not find another William Tidwell who fit the age category (except the son of John J.) using Ancestry’s census search engine. Of course, he could have been indexed under another name, on a page that was completely faded out, or simply missed.

The other glaring inconsistency is that the 1880 census says this William was born in Tennessee while the William, child of John and Martha Westmoreland Tidwell, was born in Georgia, according to the 1850 and 1860 Meriwether censuses. But the 1880 census shows him living among all those Bethany folks and most all of them are relatives. Most perplexing, to say the least.

Mary sent me a lot of information she had gathered but she neglected to send me her sources, so I don’t know where some of it came from. If I come to one of those places I’ll let you know the source is uncertain.

One thing I’m not sure of is whether or not John J. Tidwell was married twice. This is similar to the situation with Benjamin Tidwell and Nancy Boyd in that a John Tidwell married Mary “Biram” in 1832 in Coweta County. In 1838, John J. Tidwell married Martha Westmoreland, indicating that something may have happened to the first wife. There also may have been one child from this marriage. All this happened between censuses and it’s hard to tell. We’ll set those possibilities aside for now.

Assuming this is the son of John J. and Martha Westmoreland Tidwell, I found William in the 1850 and 1860 Meriwether census, age 7 (b. abt 1843), with his parents. His siblings were James, 13 (1837), Ann Mariah, 11 (1839) and Nancy S.., 2 (1848). The family had not changed in 1860, no new children were added and they were still in Meriwether County.

In 1865, A William Tidwell married Nancy J. Orr in Henry County (Henry is adjacent to Fayette and Spalding). Nancy was the daughter of John Bunyan Orr and Rebecca Kiziah Scott (Mary’s research, source unknown). The census shows Rebecca as Rebecca A.C. and K.A. Orr.

In 1870 William Tidwell in this age range is nowhere to be found (not even in Tennessee) and I have no idea where he was. But, in 1880, this couple is in Fayette County, living in the Hopeful District in north Fayette. Their children were John B. Tidwell, 13, Cara A. Tidwell, 11, William H. Tidwell, 5, and Matthew Tidwell, 1.

In 1900, Nancy is still in Fayette but William is gone. Matthew is still living at home and there are two additional children, Linton, 16, and Mattie, 13. Nancy stated she had given birth to 9 children and 6 were still living, so I guess that was all of them.

In 1910, Nancy is living with her son, Matthew, who had married Rebecca Cooper, Matthew and Rebecca are both buried at New Hope Baptist Church cemetery in Fayette County as are Matthew’s brothers, John B. Tidwell, and his wife Anna Spear, and Thomas Leonard Tidwell (married Minnie Barrow).

Mary’s research says that William Henry Tidwell, son of William and Nancy Orr Tidwell, married (in Fayette County) Martha Lou Ella Wallis, daughter of Nicholas Wallis and Nancy Howard. William Henry died in 1944 and is buried at College Park Cemetery near the airport. Nancy Howard Tidwell died in DeKalb County.

Mattie Tidwell, daughter of William and Nancy Orr Tidwell, married Albert Landers and Mattie’s sister, May, married Thomas Barnett. Those facts also are from Mary’s research.

I checked the early censuses but have not checked 1900 or later. A search for Tidwells in 1850 Tennessee yielded 240 hits, so there were plenty of them there. One William born in 1843 lived in Henderson County, Tenn., but I could find nothing on him after that. His family names were not similar to those of the William and Nancy in Fayette. I tend to agree with Mary in that this William is probably the son of John J. and Martha Westmoreland Tidwell. We may discuss this family more next week. Your comments are encouraged.

I welcome stories about your ancestors who lived in the south metro Atlanta area. Send them to The Citizen, P.O. Drawer 1719, Fayetteville, GA 30214, or e-mail jkilgore@thecitizen.com or JodieK444@aol.com.

Until next week, happy hunting!