THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
By way of review, last week’s
introductory
story on the Self early settlers to Union County told of three families
with
the surname Self that were here in 1834:
Job, Thomas and Francis, with a total of 16 people.
In 1834, too, was one household, that of Isom
Seffle, that unusual spelling, with 6 males and 2 females.
Was this a misspelling of Self? Seffle
was
not found listed again in Union census records.
By 1840, the households listed were those of
Job, Thomas R. Robert B. and William, with the Self population swelling
to 28
persons.
I am always glad to come to the 1850
census record, the first one to list the name of wife and children
rather than
just the number by ages, not just the name of head-of-household.. By the time the county was 18 years into its
life as a division of the state of Georgia, the Self population was as
follows:
Household 163: Self,
William, age 37, born in North Carolina
Wife,
Elizabeth, age 43, born in North Carolina
The first four children
listed had been born in North Carolina:
David, age
17
Berryman,
age 14
John, age
12
Sarah, age
10
The next
three children were born in Georgia:
Mary, age
8
Franklin,
age 6
Barbary
(Barbara?), age 4
Of these children of William and
Elizabeth Self, marriage records in Union that possibly are for these
Self
offspring are David Self to Polly Long on December 20, 1855 by William
M.
Duncan, Justice of the Peace. John Self
to Rebecca Seabolt, January 1, 1860, by Rev. Thomas M. Hughes. On the other hand, this John could be the son
of Francis and Hester Self who was 10 in 1850, or John the son of
Thomas and
Nancy Cook Self who was 12 in 1850.
With so many children in Self families
named John, Francis and Job, to trace those wed back to the right
parents takes
more adequate family records than I have available on the Self
descendants. For example, there are four
Sarah Self marriages listed in the records.
The three possibilities for William and Elizabeth’s Sarah was to
T. E.
Jenkins on March 13, 1870; or the Sarah who married James L. Smith on
January
2, 1868; or the Sarah who married M. H. Monroe on March 27, 1879. This Sarah definitely is not the Sarah Self
who married Allen Simpson on February 2, 1845.
This couple must have left the county soon after their marriage,
for in
1850 I could not find a Simpson household with Allen as the head and
Sarah as
the wife and mother. A Mary Self married
W. W. Hix on May 4, 1872, with Rev. J. B. Parham officiating. This could be the daughter of William and
Elizabeth. Barbery (sic) Self married
John Medaris on November 8, 1866, with Rev. S. H. Waters officiating.
Household 542: Self,
Robert, age 30, born in North Carolina
Wife
Martha, age 29, born in North Carolina
Their five children had all
been born in Georgia:
James, age
13
Susan, age
8
Elisha,
age 7
Jane, age
4
Job, age 2
Union County marriage records
indicate that
Robert Self married Martha Cook on January 25, 1838, with Jarrett
Turner,
Justice of the Peace, performing their ceremony.
The two James Self marriages
listed in the
record take place in 1889 and 1896, a little late, it seems for this
13-year
old son of Robert and Martha Self. I do
not find marriage records that seem to match the ages of the other
children of
Robert and Martha.
Household 534: Self,
Francis, age 32, born in North Carolina
Wife
Hester, age 31, born in North Carolina
They had five children by
1850, all born in Georgia:
Job, age
12
John, age
10
Thomas,
age 10
John (yes,
a second named John), age 4
Joseph, age
1
Evidently Francis and Hester
were married
before they settled here, because no marriage record is listed for this
couple
in Union. The Job Self, son of Francis
and Hester, might be the Job Self who married Caroline Hix on January
22, 1860
with James R. Hood, Justice of the Peace, officiating.
In a message from Pat Self, she told
me that Job M. Self and Mary Samantha Plott married.
I find a J. M. Self and Mary M. (Samantha not
as part of her name in marriage record) married on October 8, 1871,
with Rev.
Alfred Corn performing their ceremony.
Pat Self reported that Job M.
and Mary
Samantha Self helped to organize the Old Union Baptist Church at Young
Harris
when it was founded, and were active there until their deaths. But was the Job who married Mary Samantha a
son of Francis and Hester? I hope Pat
Self will help me clarify who were the parents of this Job Self.
Household 646: Self,
Thomas, 34, born in North Carolina
Wife,
Nancy, age 35, born in North Carolina
Eleven children, all born in
Georgia:
William,
age 16
Sally,
age 15
Caroline,
age 13
John, age
12
Elizabeth,
age 10
Francis,
age 9
Jehu, age
7
Monroe,
age 6
Newton,
age 5
Thomas,
age 3
Infant
(male), age 2 months
Marriage records show that
Thomas Self and
Nancy Cook were married in Union County on July 11, 1833 by John
Thomas,
Justice of the Inferior Court. Searching
for names of these children and their marriages, the records show: Caroline Self married Michael Lance on July
12, 1853.
There are two John Self marriage
listings:
one John to Margaret Daniel on February 10, 1856 performed by Charles
Crumbly,
Justice of the Peace; and another John, which by age and time of
marriage must
have been Thomas and Nancy’s son John, age 12 in 1850, who married
Rebecca
Seabolt on January 1, 1860, when he was 22, with Rev. Thomas M. Hughes
performing their ceremony. But this
John’s marriage could also have been for William and Elizabeth Self’s
son,
John, who was also 12 in 1850. Francis
M. Self married Rebecca Daniel on August 6, 1863, with Thompson
Collins,
Justice of the Peace, officiating.
Household 662: Crumbly,
William, age 31, born in North Carolina
Wife,
Jane, age 28, born in Alabama
They have in the household with
them a
child, Celia Self, age 6.
In the marriage records, William
Crumbly and Jane Self are listed, marrying on February 25, 1849, with
Charles
Crumbly, JP, performing their ceremony.
This article has given mainly census
and marriage records, with little help from family research and history
that
would tie the marriages to the right parents for the brides and grooms. Maybe someone who reads this article knows
the puzzles and can clarify and help set the record straight.
[Ethelene Dyer
Jones is a retired educator,
freelance writer, poet, and historian. She may be reached at
e-mail edj0513@windstream.net;
phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708 Cedarwood Road, Milledgeville, GA
31061-2411.]
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