"She married a rich old man".
Those words, written by our first 'Family Historian' my Aunt Irene, came back to me as I was digging through archives both in Ancestry and Irene's notes. She wasn't sure of her spelling of Savana, but she was positive it was her grandfather's sister. Sure enough, she misspelled the name, but got the 'old man' part right. The 'rich' part?...we will see.
Until just today, I thought I had my great aunt Savannah's profile and timeline all lined up to begin writing about her for her place in Generation 4 on Tracks of My Georgia Ancestors. I didn't, but I do now...after hours of digging in that "rich old man's" archives. Savannah was not the mother of their listed first born son. Nor was she his first wife.
Here is where assuming that Ancestry's Public Family Tree's have it right, and you proceed to transfer names and dates without really paying close attention. It's easy to do when you are so excited to finally get that information. I am going to go with that as my reason for not closely scrutinizing her profile...until now. I will say though, it was a fun and challenging several hours of research....I do love a challenge!
From 1860, as a boy on his fathers farm, until 1920 'Old Man Brown' had owned his farm/farms of a modest number of acreage. After his marriage at age 43 to Savannah, age 32, his farm was substantial enough to support the couple, their sons and several of Savannah's aging, bachelor and spinster siblings that lived with them off an on for many years.
Things changed sometime before the 1920 Census which showed Mr. Brown, Savannah, son Silas, and two of Savannah's aging siblings, James and Elizabeth, living with them in East Point, Georgia, near Atlanta. Their home was mortgaged and the only wage earner was son Silas who worked for an automobile company...the others were all retired.
I suppose Aunt Irene was just as excited to learn about her aunt with the Old School tools, as I was with 21st Century technology. She noted that her information came from a family members recollection and she,"was not positive, but it seemed so, according to the way I put it down."
Did Savannah marry "a rich old man"?
I guess it's all in how you 'Put it down.'
And I thought I enjoyed research. What a window into the world of our near past. One day, perhaps, I will have the timeto do something like this. Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com
ReplyDelete"Rich" is in the eye of the beholder. I suppose since he had a farm and could take in all of Savannah's family, he must have been "rich."
ReplyDeleteWendy above said what I was thinking. "Rich" is all up for opinion. Cool post and history
ReplyDeleteI just love trying to find out new things about my old ancestors. Your like me, branching out to Aunt's. Yes you have to be careful with Ancestry, sometimes it gets things wrong. What is in black and white may not be correct.
ReplyDelete