I know I promised you Frances Boyd and Mark Tidwell this week and the above is a strange title for a column, but a situation has come up and this is the only way I know how to handle it.

Later in the column I want to give you a little more information on the Orrick family we discussed last week.

Most of you know that my “real” job around here is religion editor. On Mondays and Tuesdays I sit with my nose to the computer writing, rewriting, editing, sizing pictures, designing my two pages ... in other words, doing absolutely nothing that pertains to genealogy.

So, when Carla appeared at my desk and told me she had a caller on the phone who wanted to know if I did research for individuals, I replied that I did not, Carla left, and I thought nothing more about it. I rarely make or answer phone calls until I get my work done. And the caller had not asked to speak with me.

Later, when I completed my pages and the pressure was off, I went downstairs and asked Carla, just out of curiosity, if the person who inquired about research had left her name and/or phone number. Carla said she had not but, fortunately, she had talked to the lady who explained that she was a resident of Fayette County but her ancestors lived in Old Campbell County. She wanted to find out more about her ancestors but no one in her family had the time to help her. Apparently she had called to see if I would research her family.

If this person fits your description and you called our office last Tuesday, please call back and leave your name and a phone number so I can call you. I won’t be there but I will call you from home as soon as I can.

I still don’t do research for other people but I would love to talk with you and point you in the right direction so you can at least get started. I also am curious about your Campbell County ancestors since mine were there too.

Please, please, call back.

Now, for the other topic this week, the Tidwell family, in particular the family of Grace Tidwell and Henry Orrick.

There were a couple of “gray” areas last week which I was able to investigate a little more. One was that elusive child, Seaborn or Sebra, who kept getting enumerated as a male, then a female, then a male again, and finally showed up as her true sex, a female, married and with children.

It would appear that the Orrick family (still Tidwell descendants, remember), living together in Tallapoosa County, Ala., began to break up after Henry died, which we estimated was sometime before 1880. Grace does not appear in the 1870 census and we assume she died before that time. I checked the cemeteries in Tallapoosa County available online and neither Henry nor Grace’s burial location was found.

I also could not find the names of the children born between 1828 and 1850 who may have left home before the 1850 census was taken. However, there were other Orricks in Pike County, Ark., who may have belonged to this family.

My main discoveries involved the children William D., Sarah, Mary Ann and Sebra Orrick who definitely moved to Pike county, Arkansas and are found there in 1880. Sebra almost slipped by me.

Sarah and Mary Ann never married, it would appear. Both were living with William in 1880 in Pike County, Ark., then, in 1900, Mary Ann (the younger sister) was living with her sister, Sebra Orrick Moran (Aha! Found you, you slippery girl!), still in Pike County. Sarah Orrick was nowhere to be found, so I assume she died. Sarah was born in 1831 and would have been 70-ish so her death is a likely answer to her disappearance.

William D. Orrick, b. Sept. 1839, married a woman named Nancy Louisa who was born in Florida. I searched Alabama marriage records online and couldn’t find one for them, but, according to the ages of their children, they were married about 1866, probably in Tallapoosa County, where they were found in 1870. They had eight children, seven of whom were still living in 1900. All went to

Arkansas with the family. The children were Bedford, Gracy, Watts(?), Henry L., Jennie, Cleburn E., Sallie T. and William E. Orrick.

Sebra T. Orrick (the one who was sometimes seen as Seaborn) married Taylor Moran about 1873, probably in Tallapoosa County, and had six children, four of whom were still living in 1900. Children who appear in the census are John H., Ophelia W., Grady? F. and Virgil T. Moran. There were several Moran families living near the Orrick families. It is interesting to note the appearance of this family name (Sebra) which also appeared in the family of Milly Tidwell and James Boyd.

The child I could find absolutely no trace of was Mark Orrick, son of Henry and Grace Tidwell Orrick, who was born about 1847. Mark would have been 16 in 1863 and may have been lost in the Civil War. A Google search turned up nothing, however, and those who are listed in online CW rosters usually come up on a Google search.

So, we didn’t do too badly, did we? Of nine children born to Henry Orrick and Grace Tidwell between 1828 and 1847, we know the names of six and the whereabouts of five. For just a couple of weeks’ research, most of it on the Internet, I think that’s not a bad score at all.

Okay. Next week I promise. Mark Tidwell and Frances Boyd.

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

Until next week, happy hunting!

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