Mary Snellgrove Rorie & Her Complicated Parentage

Say this with me slowly:

Don't
Trust
Ancestry
Trees

I can't emphasize this point enough. You just can't trust other people's trees on Ancestry or Rootsweb or even personal genealogy sites. Certainly don't trust FamilySearch trees and Wiki Tree and similar sites, where anyone can alter the trees willy-nilly. Can they be a good jumping off point? Absolutely. But you have to verify everything you find, every single morsel of information has to be proven with a credible source or you could really be setting yourself up for trouble.

NOT doing this is what landed us in the pickle we have today: sorting out the parentage (and their related families) of Mary Snellgrove, wife of Absalom Josiah "Jody" Rorie, my 4th great grandparents whose stories begin in Tennessee and end in Searcy, Stone, and Baxter counties in Arkansas. And guess what? Some of the problems are MY fault.

Mary Snellgrove's maiden name seemed questionable at best, and her parentage was completely unknown when I started heavily researching my Rorie lineage about ten years ago. My being a lover of "original genealogy" (doing research on families that have not already been pieced together by others in years past), I took it upon myself to figure exactly where and from whom Mary came. And I did! I succeeded and I was right...but I also made mistakes.

The main two mistakes I made were: 1) combining two different men to "make" Mary's father, and 2) allowing my research on my PRIVATE Ancestry tree to be absorbed by the PUBLIC trees of cousins I invited to view my tree, which then allowed others to absorb the information, and away it went!

I started making my tree private several years ago for two primary reasons:

A) I found that my tree was a constant work in progress (like most genealogists' trees) and so I was regularly adding and subtracting information and notes. Recognizing that sometimes information I added or theories I put in my tree to see how they "fit" could be interpreted by amateur genealogists as reliable information, I decided to make my tree private so my unverified ideas and theories, or information I got WRONG, would not be absorbed by others, and then it would not be my fault when the "bad" information spread around the internet like HPV.

B) I grew tired of finding my "original" research being absorbed into others' trees, right or wrong, and especially when people didn't just "save" an image I uploaded to their tree but actually downloaded it and re-uploaded it to their tree so it looked like they were the original contributors.

Alas, despite my efforts, some of my "working" or "in progress" information did end up slipping through the cracks when I invited trusted cousins to view my private tree. They then took my information and added it to their public trees, and so the wildfire had begun.

Now it is time to try to right one of these wrongs as best I can. I can't go and change the incorrect trees on Ancestry. And no doubt future lazy genealogists will continue absorbing the bad information into their trees because they don't VERIFY it. But if you found this page in the course of researching your family or our mutual families, you probably care enough to verify the information that is "out there", so this clarification is for YOU. It will let you see why I have come to the conclusions I have and why much of what is "out there" is wrong. So because YOU tried to VERIFY what you found online, your tree will be MORE correct than those that did not. Note that I am not saying "perfect" or "100% accurate" because no one has one of those, but your tree will at least be closer to "passing grade" than "big fat F".

The other purpose of this blog is to control the dialogue on the family to an extent. It is easy to allow assumptions and misconceptions to run rampant on the internet when doing genealogy. Those with well-sourced Ancestry trees or that control Find A Grave memorials control the dialogue surrounding certain figures and the information associated with them to the extent that those are oft-cited resources for casual genealogists building their trees. The other way to take a hold of the information being disseminated is to use genealogy blogs like this to share articles that dispel rumors and bad information and compile all the good and useful information into a single essay. This allows for easier and more reasonable conclusions than those reached by people basing their trees almost exclusively on the research of others.

So we'll start from Mary and work our way backward, and I will be sure to note my own previous errors and my THEORIES as THEORIES, while also dispelling some of the incorrect research of others who have shared information on these families.

Mary was the wife of Absalom Josiah Rorie, who also went by the nickname "Jody". She is buried at Table Rock Cemetery near Big Flat, Arkansas. Her original headstone states she was born 30 Jun 1839 (stone is broken right where her DOB is, so this date comes from older cemetery surveys and stone rubbings) and died 25 Jun 1914. The birthdate seems to reflect her Census records, which place her year of birth between 1838-1840 and her month of birth in Jun. The death date is questionable because of an obituary for her which would place her date of death as 2 Jul 1914.

My own picture of Mary's stone taken in 2017.

My picture zoomed in. You'll see where the stone is broken along her DOB and where her date of death says 25 Jun 1914, rather than the 26th. The 26th is what her Find A Grave Memorial and most Ancestry trees say, but that is a pretty clear "5" rather than "6" to me. 

We have to mention the "other" stone. A well-meaning cousin purchased new stones for various Rorie family members buried Table Rock a number of years ago. Not all of them were correct or placed in the right spots. This error was particularly egregious; it should have been 1839-1914, but instead was made to say 1914-1939, implying she was born when her youngest child was in their mid-30s. Pay no mind to this stone. 

Courtesy of Newspapers.com. The 10 Jul 1914 edition of The Baxter Bulletin (Mountain Home, Arkansas), page 4. If this is to be believed, Mary's actual date of death was 2 Jul 1914. Since it's a week's difference, it is possible this article just ran a week late, but it's hard to say. The family was not well-off, per Absalom's Federal Pension records, so it is possible these stones were not made until after his death in 1916 or even later, by which time surviving kin may have gotten the date wrong. 

Photo of Absalom Josiah "Jody" Rorie and wife, Mary. I have already shared this before so I have no issue sharing it again. I have a second (very poor quality) photo of this pair, and a third photo with just Mary (also not the best quality, but at least as good as this one). I have stopped sharing many of my "finds" on my blog because people like to copy them and add them to Ancestry and Find A Grave and personal genealogy websites without crediting me as the person that provided the digital image, or crediting the person who provided the original. This particular photo comes courtesy of my cousin A. J. Rorie, son of Allie F. Rorie. If someone would like me to send them the other pictures I have, I will gladly respond to a polite request with a promise to credit the sources of the photos. 

So in working out Mary's parentage, I needed to start with what was definitively known about Mary, and that was all: first name, husband, place of burial, likely dates of birth and death. The names of her children were given in Census records, which also consistently reported her state of birth as Tennessee. Her oldest known child was born in 1857, and her youngest known child was born in 1882. We can presume based on her birth in 1839 and her eldest child being born in 1857 that she likely married Jody around 1855-1856 when she would have been 16-17 years old. Despite what some online trees would have you believed, marriages at age 15 and younger at this time were NOT commonplace.

Many places give her a middle name "Elizabeth". There is no proof of this name whatsoever. No record in Mary's lifetime even gives her the middle initial "E", much less a full maiden name. Someone at some point decided she MUST have had a middle name and since "Elizabeth" was such a common name and "Mary Sarah" just doesn't have the same ring to it, they decided her middle name HAD TO BE "Elizabeth". No proof, just nonsense.

Facepalm photo courtesy of Murray's Review of Medical Journalism (https://murraysreview.com). Get ready. There are going to be a lot of facepalms in this post. 

Don't give Mary a middle name. If she had one, records would bear that out and they don't.

Some trees did not have a maiden name for Mary. Most had the name Snellgrove/Snelgrove or a close variation to that. So it was time to figure out if that was true.

In the Rorie lineage, it was known that the Rories came from Hardin County, Tennessee. Unfortunately, due to courthouse fires in 1859, 1864, and 1949 (source: https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Hardin_County,_Tennessee_Genealogy#Record_Loss), marriage records prior to 1863 in this county have been lost. But since their oldest son was born in Arkansas, it was possible they were married in Arkansas instead of Tennessee. In 1860, they are in  Big Flat, Arkansas, which at the time was in Searcy County. Unfortunately, Searcy County was also subject to courthouse fires in 1864, 1877, and 1885, so the earliest marriage records from there start in 1881. (Source: https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Searcy_County,_Arkansas_Genealogy#Record_Loss)

In 1873, Baxter County was formed from parts of four counties, including Searcy, which led to the Big Flat area becoming split between Searcy and Baxter counties. This is worth mentioning because other than a stint Stone county, this family primarily lived in and around Baxter County, and often in places that used to be Searcy County, like Big Flat.

So no marriage record for this pair can be located in any surviving Tennessee or Arkansas statewide marriage records. Where does that leave us when it comes to determining Mary's lineage? Well, first we quash an old family myth.

It is NOT a myth that among Mary's and Jody's children were three sons that were either born blind, or ended up blind. James Albert "Buddy", John Absalom, and Henry Newton Rorie were blind.

Buddy, John, and Henry, known as the "Blind Rorie Brothers", made brooms.

It is also worth noting:

- In 1870, Buddy is listed as blind but John and Henry are not.

- In 1880, all three are listed as blind, as is a fourth brother: Hezekiah. Later census records show he was not blind, but it's interesting that he was marked as such when he was young. Perhaps he just had very poor vision.

- A fifth son, Hugh Alec, was hump-backed, but it is not clear if he was this was at birth or became that way due to an accident or condition.

The most believable version of how the brothers became blind is that they became so in an unfortunate accident as youths. Since Buddy was already listed as blind before Henry and John though, it is possible genetics played a role and that Henry and John succumbed to blindness after an accident possibly because of a genetic predisposition or other genetic condition. Whatever the genetic component, it is believed by many in the family that this was due to Mary and Jody being related and that these "defects" were due to incestual relations or "inbreeding".

There is absolutely no merit to this theory, which will be clear once we explore Mary's origins. But it needs to be mentioned since apparently some have barked up Jody's family tree in an effort to find Mary in it, but since they aren't related, she's not in Jody's tree other than as his wife. As my cousin Kenneth Rorie put it: "I have my doubts about the incest, although I don't know for sure.  It seems (even though I'm a Rorie) that the Rorie family just wanted to shift it to the Snelgrove side.  Back in those days, handicaps were viewed differently than they are today, as you know.  Often family would hide children they considered defective from others to see and rarely took them out in public.  It was also common to blame an early injury of some kind for any sort of mental handicap."

An additional rumor about why the boys succumbed to blindness was that Jody contracted syphilis in the Civil War and it ended up spreading to his sons. This is complete nonsense since I have more than 100 pages of Federal Pension files on Jody that include extensive medical records of any and all ailments Jody was experiencing late in life.

There was no penicillin in those days, so if he contracted it, he would have had it for life. His medical records cover all the issues he was experiencing and EMPHASIZED conditions incurred due to his Civil War service. Not one mention is made of his having contracted syphilis or any similar disease. It is an insult to his memory to further propagate this lie. If it had any standing in documentation, like his medical records which I have combed through thoroughly, I would not take issue with it. People were people, even our ancestors, and the best among us can make mistakes. But there is no proof whatsoever of this myth, so it should be put to rest.

Since the "incestuous relationship" rumors were prominent in this family's lore, I scoured Absalom's relatively well-documented Rorie and Meador family trees for where Mary could fit it and did not find her. So it was time to see if there was any stock to the family history that her maiden name was Snelgrove/Snellgrove.

Hezekiah's death certificate (Texas) gives his mother's maiden name as Snellgrace. Hugh's death certificate (Arkansas) gives it as Snellgross. Thomas's (California) says Snellgro. So these would lend credence to the genealogies that showed Mary's maiden name as Snellgrove.

I then wanted to find any other Snellgrove family members from our area around Searcy/Baxter counties, especially those with ties to Tennessee. Since we first find Mary in the 1860 Census in Big Flat, Searcy, Arkansas, it made sense to start there. The 1860 Census in Searcy County gave me two Snellgrove families with apparent Tennessee ties: G. Snelgrove (born 1801 in South Carolina) and Henry Snellgrove (born 1835 in Tennessee). G. Snelgrove's wife Rebecca (b. 1812) was born in Tennessee, as were several other members of his household from the Satterfield family, indicating Tennessee ties. G. Snellgrove would be old enough to be Mary's father, and Henry's too if he were Mary's sibling.

Deeper digging provided G. Snellgrove's first name: Gasaway. A Gasaway Snellgrove was on a member list of the Arkansas Peace Society, also called they "Yellar Rag Boys", a group based in the Searcy County area. This group was comprised of loyalists to the Union formed after Arkansas seceded and joined the Confederacy. Several members of the Satterfield were also members, including some residing in G. Snelgrove's 1860 household. A membership list and organization info can be found here: http://www.couchgenweb.com/civilwar/peacelst.htm

This group was betrayed and its members rounded up. From Yellar Rag Boys: The Arkansas Peace Society of 1861 And Other Events in Northwest Arkansas - 1861-1865 by Luther E. Warren (1992), page 7, a biographical sketch of noted society member Paris G. Strickland is recorded. The sketch was originally published on page 133 of Loyalty on the Frontier by Albert Webb Bishop (1863):

"Of the 'Peace Organization Society' he was a member, and labored industriously to disseminate its views, dominant among which was the assertion of the right of communities to combine together for the mutual protection of life and property. The society had its ramifications, especially in Conway, Marion, Pope, Searcy and Van Buren Counties, and members knew each other in the customary manner of secret associations. Although seeking tranquility amidst disturbance of the most alarming character, the order, if it may be so termed, was thoroughly loyal; and in a State and at a time, where and when armed opposition to the rebel powers would have been fruitless of good result, was quietly molding a public sentiment that in time would have been able to counteract the rebellious proclivities of the locality, had it not early been betrayed.

One John Holmes, of Van Buren County, and a Mr. Garrison, are entitled to this miserable distinction, and should they now be living can lay claim to an amount of misery and destitution altogether beyond their feeble power of atonement. Through their instrumentality, the names of a large number of men belonging to the order were reported to the State Militia, and the order itself was effectually broken up."

I should note that while John Holmes possesses the miserable distinction of having betrayed this group, I regrettably share that unfortunate distinction to a lesser extent due to that fact that Holmes was my relative. The Van Buren County Holmeses are my mother's kin; the Snellgrove/Rorie families were my father's. John W. Holmes of Van Buren County was the son of Benjamin Holmes, a 1st cousin of my 4th great grandfather Absalom Holmes, who lived in and near Van Buren County for several years. I do not know what became of John; he disappears from record after the 1860 Census and his betrayal of the society. Despite his being my kinsman, I rather hope his comeuppance was swift and violent.

Interesting that 125 years after my mother's kin betrayed my father's kin in Arkansas that they would marry in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It's a small world out there.

After the society was betrayed, all the outed members were chained together to form a "chain gang" and forced to march to Little Rock. There they were given a choice: be conscripted into the Confederate army, or go to jail. Most selected the former option, including Gasaway Snellgrove, who at age 50 according to his service record, enlisted in the 18th Arkansas Infantry (Arkansas). This age of 50 in December, 1861 would indicate he was born closer to 1810-1811 rather than 1801. Based on later records, I think this date more likely.

Courtesy of Fold3.com.

He was not the only enrollee of advanced age due to the conscription of Peace Society members; John R. Satterfield (age 60) and Nathaniel Satterfield (age 45) were also among the conscripts. Nathaniel would go on to volunteer to continue fighting in the war but the Union when he enrolled in the 3rd Arkansas Cavalry. It is not clear whether or not Gasaway or John returned home from the war. This Civil War service record is the last record I have found of Gasaway, and John's is the last record I have located for him as well. John is even absent from the 1860 Census, so if not for his service records he would be believed deceased, especially since 3 of his 4 youngest children were being raised by his brother in 1860.

The aforementioned Henry Snellgrove also served in the Civil War, but as a Confederate volunteer. This illustrates a fact all Civil War researchers are aware of: these conflicts divided families. Whatever the relationship between Gasaway and Henry, and they almost certainly were related since there was only ONE Snellgrove family in the state of Tennessee from 1820-1840, they were on opposite sides. Gasaway was a Loyalist who was forced into Confederate service and likely died there. Henry was a Confederate volunteer, as was Mary's husband Jody. He would later be forced the other way--he would be conscripted into the Union army later in the war. But by and large, the Rories were Confederates by choice and only begrudging members of the Union Army.

When searching for more Snellgroves with ties to the area, I found two more.

1. Martha, born 1838 in Tennessee, wife of Joseph Ward. She was in Searcy County in 1860 in Locust Grove, very near Henry Snellgrove. Her son Josiah Ward's 1945 Arkansas death certificate gives his mother's maiden name as "Snellgrose", which may be mis-transcribed doctor's handwriting and say "Snellgrove".

2. Rachel, born 1840 in Tennessee, wife of Arthur Rankin Sisk. At least two of her children's death records give their mother's maiden name as "Snellgrove" or a similar variation. She is near Mary in 1860 in Big Flat, still in Big Flat in 1870, and then in Locust Grove in 1880.

So we have potentially four Snellgrove siblings and possibly their father all in Searcy County in 1860. The four are five years apart in age and all share the same birthplace, so it seems to plausible but more research is needed. Collectively, I will refer to this cluster as the Searcy County Snellgroves.

A closer examination of Mary Rorie's census records showed an error in Ancestry.com's record transcription in 1870. If one looks at the summary of her household on Ancestry, it would show Josiah, Mary, and their children. If you look at the actual image, however, you find an additional household member.

1870 Census - Big Flat, Searcy, Arkansas - Slide 4 of 12. Courtesy of Ancestry.com.

You can see that the census-taker started to enumerate Rebecca Satterfield in her own household, crossed it out, and started the next household with that number. That means Rebecca was living in the Rorie household. She was born in 1812 in Tennessee. She could be a relative, or she could be a non-relative. But when we find her again in 1880, the pieces start to come together.

1880 Census - Locust Grove, Stone, Arkansas - Slide 15 of 18. Courtesy of Ancestry.com.

Here is Rebecca Satterfield, again born 1812 in Tennessee, this time living with Martha Ward and listed as her mother. This is the same Martha Ward whose son Josiah's (also listed in this household) death certificate says his mother was a Snellgrove. So if Mary Rorie's kids say she was a Snellgrove, and Martha Ward's son says she was a Snellgrove, and Rebecca Satterfield lived with both of these women and in 1880 is listed as Martha's mother, that would indicate that Mary and Martha are indeed siblings. It would further indicate that before her married name was Satterfield, Rebecca was married to a Snellgrove.

Here is where things start to get complicated, and where I admit to having originally let my own assumptions get the better of me and went on add information into my tree that later proved to be incorrect. Before I realized my error, the information had been absorbed into public trees and then absorbed by other armchair-genealogists. I can do nothing about that now, but I can try to fix it the only way I can--through this blog. TO BE FAIR, I definitely had a disclaimer as a note to myself that the name of Mary's father was tentative, but those notes did not carry over when the basic information was absorbed by others' trees.

So back to Gasaway Snellgrove. Very conveniently, in the 1860 Census, he happened to have a wife named...Rebecca who was born...about 1812 in Tennessee.

1860 Census - Campbell, Searcy, Arkansas - Slide 5 of 11. Courtesy of Ancestry.com. The barely-legible first half of the household of N. [Nathaniel] Satterfield. 

1860 Census - Campbell, Searcy, Arkansas - Slide 5 of 11. Courtesy of Ancestry.com. The second half of the household of N. Satterfield, including G. and Rebecca Snellgrove. 

My assumption was that Gasaway died in the Civil War or before 1870 and Rebecca remarried to one of the Satterfield family, with whom she is living in 1860, and then may have been widowed a second time by this unknown Satterfield. I even considered John R. who would have been the closest potentially-single Satterfield to her age. Perhaps Gasaway died, John returned home, married Rebecca, and then died himself. I couldn't prove it but it wasn't an implausible theory.

You can see where I'm going with this. It all seemed to fit so perfectly. Gasaway and Rebecca had to be the parents of my Snellgrove sisters who may have had an additional brother (Henry) and sister (Rebecca). BUT there was also another interesting household that I could not entirely satisfactorily explain away.

1860 Census - Big Flat, Searcy, Arkansas - Slide 5 of 13. Courtesy of Ancestry.com. The household of Peter M. Sutterfield, followed by the households of James A. Rorie and Josiah A. Rorie.

There actually was a Rebecca Satterfield born 1812 in Tennessee in Searcy County already. And she lived two households from Josiah and Mary. So who was Mary's mother? Rebecca Snellgrove or Rebecca Satterfield?

For answers, I began looking into the Satterfield family, who one way or another appear to be connected to both of my Rebeccas. What I found was a maiden name for Rebecca in Satterfield records. The authoritative book on the family, Satterfield-Sutterfield American Records by Errol T. Lewis, gave the wife of Peter M. Satterfield as Rebecca Sisk. Sisk was also the married name of the aforementioned Rachel who was also probably a Snellgrove.

The book made no mention of the Snellgroves. I found considerably less information on them than the Satterfields. It was not completely "original genealogy" but it was close when I started delving into that family. There was very little on the family online and what was available was largely unsourced, so I had to piece together the family little by little in order to get back to Gasaway and Rebecca Snellgrove.

As it turns out, there was only one Snellgrove family (MAYBE two) in Tennessee during the timeframe I was looking, and the primary family were all residents of a pair of adjacent counties: Wayne and Hardin counties, Tennessee. The Rories were also from Hardin County, so this seemed to fit together well. The apparent progenitor of this Snellgrove family was Hillery/Hillary Snellgrove/Snelgrove [Senior].

There was also a Samuel Snellgrove in the 1820 Census of Warren County, Tennessee. It is unclear who he is or where he fits into the greater Snellgrove family. Since Hillery named a son Samuel, many believe Hillery and Samuel are one in the same and that Samuel is his middle name. There is no proof of this assumption and anyone that lists him as Hillery Samuel Snellgrove in their tree does so to their own detriment. I cannot find records of this Samuel elsewhere, nor of any other Snellgroves in that area. By the 1830s, the only documented Snellgrove family in Tennessee I can find is that of Hillery Snellgrove.

Hillery appears in the 1800 Census in the Newberry District of South Carolina. He is shown to have two males under 10, one female under 10, and one female between 16-25 in his household. By 1810, when he is in the same location, he has 3 males under 10, one male 10-15, one male 16-25, and two females under 10. He is absent from the 1820 Census; I have scoured both South Carolina and Tennessee to no avail. In 1805, he purchased items from the estate of Joab Langford in Newberry District along with Edward, Mark, and John Snellgrove. The same year, he acted as a bondsman along with Josias Duckett for a bond between James Williams and Baruch Odell.

Hillery was married to Patsy Rogers, daughter of Nicholas Gassaway Rogers and Margaret Odell. Both the Rogers and Odell families were among the early prominent families of colonial Maryland. There has been debate as to whether Hillery's wife Patsy was truly the daughter of Nicholas and Margaret Odell Rogers; there were some that applied a different Patsy to the family. It is no longer a point of debate though, because it has been completely proven that Patsy Snellgrove was the daughter of Nicholas Rogers--and the discovery was made by a descendant of the "other" Patsy who believed is ancestress belonged to the Rogers family and disproved himself.

D. Michael Elkins descends from Martha, also called Patsy, who was married to both Jonathan Blakely and later Henry McKelvey, all of Laurens County, South Carolina. Mr. McKelvey later remarried to Nancy Gasaway. His DNA research led him to believe Martha was the daughter of Nicholas Gassaway Rogers and Margaret Odell. Interestingly, this made THREE potential Martha's or Patsy's applied as the daughter of Nicholas and Margaret. The other was supposedly the wife of a Moses Whitten. He set out to prove his theory and ended up...proving that it truly was Patsy Snellgrove who was their daughter.

I was actually ready to rule Patsy Rogers out as Hillery's wife myself due to a record transcription I found online that appeared to indicate a FOURTH possible husband for Patsy, a George Nichols.

[http://genealogytrails.com/scar/newberry/common_pleas.htm]

Honorius Shepard & wife & others vs. Samuel Rodgers
Filed October 1813
Gassaway Rogers died and left the following children: Patsy who married George Nichols, Peggy who married Honorius Shepherd, Polly who married Peter Saterfield, Holly who married James O’Dle, Gassaway Rogers, Sally who married Joseph Shettle, Linah who married Thomas Shepherd, John Rogers, Rachel who married Reginal O’Dle, and Samuel Rogers. (Box 1, Folder A-7)

Michael pointed out that most genealogies of the Rogers family stated that a daughter named Massey Rogers was the one married to George Nichols, but I had no reason to not believe this record transcription. Turns out, the record was indeed mis-transcribed. Michael ordered the original record and found the following [this is his transcription]:

"Shewith that Gassaway Rogers, late of the State and District aforesaid, on or about the [blank] day of [blank] in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and [blank] died intestate leaving a widow who is since dead and the following children to wit: Patsy Rogers who has since intermarried who has since [unintelligible] with Hillary Snelgrove, Nancy Rogers who has since intermarried with William Sheppard, Massey Rogers who has since intermarried with George Nichols, Peggy Rogers who has since intermarried with Honorius Sheppard, Polly Rogers who has since intermarried with Petter Saterfield, Lotty Rogers who has since intermarried with James Odel, Gassaway Rogers, Sally Rogers who has since intermarried with Joseph Shettle, Linah Rogers who has since intermarried with Thomas Sheppard, John Rogers, Rachel Rogers who has since intermarried with Rignal Odle and Samuel Rogers.”

And in order to rule out ANY doubt about this connection for any other researchers, here are scans of the actual documents, courtesy of Mr. Elkins. The pages were on legal-size paper and his scanner only was made for standard size, so there is some overlap to get all the information. Regardless, Hillery's and Patsy's names stand out perfectly removing any doubt of Patsy's connection. And if you haven't already, I hope you'll also note the names of Polly Rogers and Peter Satterfield.

Hillery's parentage is less clear, but I'm not exploring that here. We know based on this^ record that the he was still in South Carolina in 1813. By 1830, he is in Wayne County, Tennessee. His household shows 1 male 15-19, 4 males 20-29, 1 male 30-39, 2 females 15-19, and 1 female 20-29, not including him and his wife. By the 1840 Census, he is still in Wayne County and all children have left his home.

The 1800, 1810, and 1830 Censuses--IF all the enumerated younger people are indeed Hillery's children--indicate his family looks something like this.

1 female likely born between 1780-1784 (probably not his daughter, but possibly step-daughter)
1 male born about 1785-1795
1 male born about 1795-1800
1 female born before 1800 but deceased by 1810
1 female born about 1800 (deceased or married by 1830)
3 males born between 1800-1810
1 female born between 1800-1810
1 male born about 1810
1 male born between 1810-1815
2 females born between 1810-1815

This indicates a probable minimum of 13 children in the family, at least one of whom did not live to adulthood and another of whom was likely not Hillery's child. The 1830 Census indicates that Patsy was older than him, though we don't know by how much. She is 60-69, and he is 50-59. If he is not yet 60 by 1830, then he was born in or after 1770. Therefore even if the 16-25 year old female in his 1800 household was the youngest possible age, she would have been born in 1784 when he was 14 or younger, so she would not be his child. Depending on how much older Patsy was (probably not by too much), perhaps she had a child by a previous marriage, or the woman was a sister, servant, or other relative. So at best, we are looking for at least 12 children of Hillery Snellgrove, 11 or more of whom appear to have reached their teens or adulthood.

Unfortunately, I have only tentatively identified one of the daughters in this family. That would be Martha, born 1809. In the 1840 Census, you can find all the Snellgrove households clustered together side-by-side. Smack in between them all is the household of Wesley Scribner. We find Wesley later in Illinois with his wife Martha, a native of South Carolina. No documentation proves she is a Snellgrove but I believe this circumstantial evidence indicates that.

I believed I have identified five of the seven sons and POSSIBLY a sixth, but probably NOT. The "unlikely" son is a Reginal Snellgrove. If he was a son of Hillery, he would be the oldest because he was old enough to serve in the War of 1812. He came to my attention because he purchased items from the estate of Nicholas Gassaway Rogers. But he more likely belongs to one of the Snellgrove families that moved to Georgia, where his wife later drew a widow's pension for his service.

The other five are pretty straight-forward because they can all be traced back to Wayne and Hardin counties.

1. Samuel Snellgrove, born about 1795
2. Barruch Snellgrove, born about 1805
3. Hillery Snellgrove [Jr.], birth unknown but likely between 1805-1810
4. Gasaway Snellgrove, born about 1810
5. William Snellgrove, born about 1811

That would leave the son born between 1785-1795 (if he was a son and not the spouse of the other 16-25 year old residing in their home), and one son born between 1800-1810.

Barruch appears in the 1840 Census in Hardin County, and after that is found in Cass County, Texas. Samuel and William are both in Wayne County in 1840 and Hardin County in 1850. We have discussed Gasaway. And that brings us to Hillery [Jr.].

Hillery immediately jumps to the front of the pack of "candidates" for Mary's father. His 1840 Census shows 4 children in his home: 1 male 5-9, and three females under 5. Not sure if it can be a coincidence that those perfectly match the ages of Henry, Mary, Martha, and Rebecca.

So here's the facepalm moment for me.

I was thrown off by an 1840 Census entry for "Gashua" Snellgrove in Wayne County. I interpreted the name to be a misspelling of Joshua and that he must be an additional son in the family. It never occurred to me that he would be "Gasaway", and therefore Gasaway was absent from the 1840 Census in my mind. Because I believed Gasaway's appearance in Searcy County with Rebecca b. 1812 was too much of a coincidence, I concluded that Gassaway and Hillery could be the same person. I made him "Gassway Hillery Snellgrove" in my tree WITH A NOTE by his name that said this was a tentative name that needed more research.

That name was absorbed into some public trees, and now a good dozen or more trees reflect this name.

Like I said, nothing I can do about it now. NOW I know there was no "Joshua" Snellgrove. "Gashua" was a phonetic spelling of Gasaway based on how the Census-taker heard the name spoken. We know that because a Gasaway SATTERFIELD was also in Wayne County in 1840, and his name was also written as "Gashua". So Gasaway Snellgrove appears in the 1840 Census, single and childless at age 30-39; he was not the father of the Searcy County Snellgroves all born between 1835-1840. Gasaway and Hillery are two different people, there is no doubt, and Hillery is the best candidate as the father of the Searcy County Snellgroves.

Samuel, William, and Barruch all had daughters named Martha too young to be the one that married Joseph Ward. They all also had daughters named Mary who were all too young to be Mary wife of Jody Rorie. So unless one of the two unknown/missing Snellgrove brothers is the father, none of the remaining known Snellgroves fit. Hillery had daughters of the right age and appears to be our winner. The problem is that he is missing from the 1850 Census.

To backtrack a little, since we now know that Gassaway Snellgrove was the not the father of the Searcy County Snellgroves, we now have sufficient doubt that his wife Rebecca was the mother of our cluster of four. It is plausible that Rebecca was widowed by Hillery, remarried to Gasaway and widowed again, and remarried to a Satterfield and widowed a third time. But the simplest answer is often the best one, and the simplest answer is that Rebecca, the wife of Peter M. Satterfield, was the mother of the Searcy County Snellgroves. She remarried to Peter M. Satterfield, and that is the simplest solution to all this.

So now we have parents for our little cluster. So we're done, right? Not quite. Questions remain that need answering.

When did Rebecca remarry to Peter? Well, I think probably in the early 1840s. Having four children in five years is quite a tear for Hillery and Rebecca. I think the only reason they would have stopped would be because Hillery died. Otherwise, as in Hillery's 12+ sibling family, they would have kept growing their family as much as they could. Sometime after Hillery's death and likely before 1850, Rebecca remarried to Hillery's COUSIN, Peter M. Satterfield. This cousin relationship is proven by the previously shared document naming Polly Rogers Satterfield and Patsy Rogers Snellgrove sisters.

Peter is also missing from the 1850 Census, as are Rebecca and the four children. They were likely all together--wherever they were--which is why they are all absent. Further indicating that Peter came into the (probable) siblings' lives early on is the fact that Henry R. Snellgrove named his first son Peter M. Snellgrove. Peter likely raised Henry from a young age. I think this fact pretty firmly ties Henry as a third sibling to Mary and Martha. Nothing quite so solid ties Rachel to the other three other than genetics--numerous descendants of Rachel Snellgrove Sisk are relatively close DNA matches to my Snellgrove-Rorie lot. My grandmother matches at least two of them at 32/2 and 27.2/2 centimorgans respectively, indicating a 4th-5th cousins relationship indicative of Rachel being Mary's sister. Is it possible Rachel was a cousin to Mary, Martha, and Henry? Technically, yes, but she does fit as a child to any of the known Snellgroves, and again, the simplest answer is often the best one. I do believe Rachel is the fourth and likely final child of Hillery and Rebecca Snellgrove.

So we can reasonably believe Hillery is the father of the Searcy County Snellgroves. And we can believe even more strongly that Rebecca is their mother. But who was Rebecca other than the wife of Hillery Snellgrove and Peter Satterfield? And while we're at it, who was Rebecca, the wife of Gasaway Snellgrove? Disclaimer: From here on out, we venture further from documentation and fact than anywhere else in this article--due to a lack of records, we will be operating in the realm of educated guesswork.

I think the answer for who Rebecca, wife of Gasaway Snellgrove, is is the easiest one of the two. Based on their residence in 1860, I think it highly likely Rebecca was born a Satterfield. That's weird, isn't it? She was likely Rebecca Satterfield Snellgrove, and the other Rebecca was Rebecca ____ Snelgrove Satterfield. Funny how that works, eh?

In his aforementioned Satterfield-Sutterfield American Records book, Errol Lewis states there was an unknown daughter in the Peter M. Satterfield [Sr.] family born about 1814, spouse unknown. In corresponding with Mr. Lewis, he agreed with the assertion that this woman was likely Rebecca b. 1812, wife of Gasaway Snellgrove. Gasaway is still single in the 1840 Census, and Peter M. Satterfield Sr.'s 1840 Census household includes a 20-29 year old woman (and a 20-29 year old man who would be Peter Jr.). Based on Gasaway and Rebecca living with Nathaniel Satterfield and children of John R. Satterfield in 1860, Mr. Lewis and I believe Rebecca is Peter Sr.'s unknown/missing daughter.

John R. Satterfield's children residing in Nathaniel's home in 1860 is noteworthy again because we have no idea where John is. He clearly was a member of the Arkansas Peace Society and conscripted into Confederate service in 1861, but why he is absent in 1860 and his children are dispersed among relatives is a mystery. Three of John's youngest children are residing with none other than Peter Jr. and Rebecca in the 1860 Census, so clearly John is MIA for some mysterious reason but he is not dead. I don't know if we'll ever have the answer to this question, and I have no theories other than...prison or a hospital or other facility, maybe? I really have no clue but thought it worth mentioning.

Before moving on from the Satterfield family for the most part, I want to make one more mention of Nathaniel. For some bizarre, inexplicable reason, he is listed on Find A Grave and numerous Ancestry trees as Nathan Jason Satterfield. Let's get another one of these up in here.

Say this with me slowly, folks: There is not a single record that has been found indicating Nathaniel even had a middle initial, much less had the middle name of Jason. The ONE eyebrow-raising occurrence is that in 1880, Nathaniel appears to have been enumerated on Ancestry.com on the 1880 Census as "John Sutterfield". Unfortunately, the writing on the Census has faded almost entirely. I'm actually pretty impressed that anyone read the name "Sutterfield" through the barely-legible scribbling. Knowing Nathaniel had a daughter named Tennessee based on the 1870 Census and the name Tennessee is pretty legible is really the only way I can find that this household could be identified as that of Nathaniel Sutterfield.

Regardless, if you look at his name on the image itself, it doesn't look anything like John. You can be looking for it to read John, and you won't find it. But if you are looking for it to read Nathaniel, you CAN make out the name Nathaniel.

1880 Census - Campbell, Searcy, Arkansas - Slide 6 of 9. Courtesy of Ancestry.com.

There is no John in this household, only Nathaniel. But someone took this transcription and ran with it, altering the name to Nathaniel John Sutterfield. That magically became Nathaniel Jason Sutterfield, despite the complete absence of any documentation indicating a middle initial, much less a full middle name of Jason. I'm sorry, but I just have to do this again about this whole mess.

Please folks--we have got to stop making up imaginary names for people. Who cares if someone didn't have a middle name?! Not everyone does. But certain researchers over the years have apparently operated under the assumption that EVERYONE MUST have a middle name. And if they can't find one or even an indication of one, they just MAKE IT UP. And that's what this is: a made-up name. Find me a genuine record created while he was still alive that gives a middle initial and I'll Fed Ex you a candy bar of your choice and a handwritten apology for having ever doubted you. I would gladly eat that crow if there was one.

Headstone? N. Sutterfield. 1850 Census? Nathaniel Sutterfield. 1860 Census? N. Sutterfield. 1870 Census? Nathaniel Sutterfield. 1880 Census? Nathaniel Sutterfield. Civil War Service Record? Nathaniel Sutterfield. Civil War Pension record? Nathaniel Sutterfield.

Anyone see any Nathaniel J.'s in there? How about an N. J.? No? Then STOP PRETENDING HIS MIDDLE NAME IS JASON. Jeez folks, just look at your documentation.

Moving on back to Rebecca. There are two main theories online regarding her maiden name. One can be pretty easily disproved, but the other cannot.

Mr. Lewis's book, and at least one other publication as well as numerous online trees give the maiden name of the wife of Peter Moore Satterfield/Sutterfield [Jr.] as Sisk. This is not true, as acknowledged by Errol Lewis himself in our correspondence.

There was only one Sisk family from Wayne County, that of Allen R. Sisk. His son Arthur went on to marry one of our Searcy County Snellgroves, Rachel. Allen was born about 1807, and therefore clearly too young to be Rebecca's father. There are no other known Sisk family ties to this area, so the only other logical conclusion IF Rebecca were a Sick would be to assume she was Allen's sister. The problem with that is that Rebecca gives her birthplace as Tennessee. Not once, not twice, but three times. And Allen's father was Elijah Sisk who can be found in the exact same county in both the 1810 and 1820 Censuses: Surry County, North Carolina. There is zero indication that he went to Tennessee for a couple years, had Rebecca, and came right back to North Carolina. Therefore, there is no reason to believe Rebecca's maiden name was Sisk.

That brings us to the next option. Some Wayne County, TN researchers pointed me to the name Shipman. Specifically, they posited that she was the daughter of Jacob Shipman. Now, the Snellgrove family does have one documented connection to the Shipman family. Samuel Snellgrove was married to Susan Shipman. But she was not the daughter of Jacob; she is said to be the daughter of David Walden Shipman. Susan was apparently (and I need to stress that I have not personally verified this genealogy work) the half-first cousin of Jacob Shipman. She was reportedly the daughter of David Walden Shipman, son of Daniel Shipman by one of his wives. By another of his wives, this same Daniel was said to be the father of a Jacob, who was the father of another Jacob that is believed to have been the father of Rebecca.

This would not be a terribly close connection between Susan and Rebecca, but it is worth mentioning.

Jacob Shipman was the progenitor of a large Shipman family, many of whom made their way from Wayne County, Tennessee to Searcy County, Arkansas and the surrounding areas, just like the Sutterfields. This family includes Isaac, John, William, James Ervin, and Matthew Shipman. Some also believe that John R. Satterfield's wife, Martha, was a Shipman and daughter of Jacob; other researchers give her maiden name as Treece, but there is no proof for either name. Another woman, Elizabeth wife of Daniel Berry of Wayne County is believed to be a daughter of Jacob.

It is necessary to note that there were TWO Jacob Shipmans in adjacent counties whose records are often mixed together. Jacob Shipman of Perry County is NOT Jacob Shipman of Wayne County. A Jacob Shipman is in the 1820 Census of Perry County at age 45+. Our Jacob Shipman [the one who could be Rebecca's father] is not located in the 1820 Census, but in 1830 he is aged 40-49, so these are not the same man. Two Isaac Shipmans also appear with Jacob of Perry in 1820. A possible third Jacob appears in Perry County in 1840 as a 50-59 year old. For this to be the same Jacob as the one in Perry in 1820, he would AT LEAST have to be in the 60-69 category if not older if he was already 45 or older 20 years before 1840.

It is likely all these Shipman families intersect at one place or another. They may all connect back to the aforementioned Daniel Shipman, I'm not sure. I have not thoroughly researched this family. But Jacob of Wayne does name one of his sons Isaac as well. It will take research that I don't have the time to undertake currently to work out how all the Shipmans might connect to one another. But it was important to clarify that there were two Jacobs in relatively the same age range in adjacent counties, though the Jacob of Perry was older and appears to have had more children than Jacob of Wayne.

The aforementioned Daniel Shipman, a supposed half-uncle of Jacob of Wayne, is also in Wayne County in 1830 among a family of 14. His household is four pages from that of Jacob and another Shipman, an unknown William who would be an age to be Jacob's son but a different William b. 1821 is more likely Jacob's son. This 1830 Census appears to be one of the main reasons it is believed Rebecca was a Shipman because Jacob Shipman and Hillery Snellgrove [Sr.] are enumerated as living next door to one another.

Add that to the theory that John R. Sutterfield's wife Martha was a Shipman (this seems to be at least in part based on their son Isaac having a middle initial S., and another Isaac S. Sutterfield in the family has a documented middle name of Shipman) and there are some interesting coincidences at the least. Jacob's son Matthew Shipman was yet another member of the Arkansas Peace Society along with the Satterfields and Gasaway Snellgrove. There is also the fact that Jacob Shipman certainly has a 15-19 year old daughter in the 1830 Census that has not been identified.

Lastly, we know that the Shipmans and Satterfields were linked by familiarity at a bare minimum. In 1851, Mary "Polly" Rogers Satterfield, now the widow of Peter, applied for a Bounty Land Warrant based on Peter's service in the War of 1812. Among her witnesses was none other than Jacob Shipman, who stated he had known Mary for 26 years (so since roughly 1825, indicating both families had arrived in Wayne County, TN by that time). [Source: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/shipmanresearchers/message/3902]

Was Rebecca a Shipman? That is not proven or clear. Genetically, it seems highly likely. My grandmother, her brother, and their first cousins were 3rd great grandchildren of Rebecca, probable wife of Hillery Snellgrove and wife of Peter M. Satterfield. If Jacob were her father, he would be their 4th great grandfather and just within range of being picked up in autosomal DNA. We match numerous descendants of Jacob Shipman, in particular one cluster provided by researcher Don P. Shipman, who has submitted numerous relatives' DNA. We match many of his provided samples, all of whom appear to be Jacob Shipman descendants.

In closing, I need to dispel one last case of bad genealogy. Here is our last one of these.

Our ancestress Rebecca, mother of the Searcy County Snellgroves and wife of Peter Sutterfield, is buried in the Freeman Cemetery in Stone County, Arkansas. She is buried near her daughter, Rachel Snellgrove Sisk. She died 30 Apr 1893 according to the stone which says "Aunt Becca Sutterfield". It appears to have been placed not by her children by nieces or nephews for whatever reason. Three of her nieces by marriage to the Sutterfield family are also buried there.

For some bizarre, inexplicable reason, the Find A Grave memorial for Rebecca has been linked to a Nathaniel Sutterfield. Not the aforementioned one, but a much younger one, born 1857, the son of Henry P. Sutterfield. This younger Nathaniel did married a Rebecca in 1881 in Searcy County. This might all work if not for the fact...that Nathaniel's wife Rebecca is STILL ALIVE IN 1900. You know, 7 years after the stone says Becca Sutterfield died. Funny enough she's still alive in 1910...and 1920...and 1930 in Oklahoma! But some genius thinks that someone gave her a stone and said she died more than 35 years before she did. People just astound me sometimes.

I lied, I gotta throw one more of these in for good measure because this is just such a ridiculous error.

Okay, I really am done this time.

I hope this essay has provided some measure of clarity for those researching this family. If additional information comes to light, I will add it as-needed. If anyone has additions or corrections, feel free to contact me.