A Crack in the Wall

Moses Friddles - My Great Great Grandfather

My DNA test that I took from Ancestry has produced some unexpected but certainly welcome family links. There has always been one family that I have never been able to take beyond my great great grandfather - Moses Friddles has been a very difficult genealogy puzzle.  It seems that due to my DNA results, I am feeling as if I am finally making progress.

DNA is not a silver bullet...it will not solve all of your genealogical mysteries, but it can give you some guidance in the right direction.  I've always known that Moses Friddles was born about 1826 in South Carolina and spent some time in North Carolina before moving to Johnson Co., TN.  I've known that he was married four times.  The first time to someone with the surname of Munday, then Amanda McKee, Mary Ann Crosswhite (Clark) and lastly to Martha "Mattie" Brown.  I can trace him very easily from 1859 on fairly easily, but before that has always been a problem.  When you have an ancestor who probably doesn't have much in the way of money, there are few ways to track him because he doesn't leave that much of a paper trail.

Moses likely had four children in his first marriage with only two of them surviving to adulthood.  His daughter, Julia, married Sidney Prestwood and had three children and left her husband and ended up out west living near her brother, Albert.  Albert moved west in the 1880's and lived for the most part up at Grouse Flats near Troy, OR.  Not too long before he died, he moved down to Pomeroy, WA.  Since that first wife has always been a mystery, I obtained the death records for both Julia and Albert.  I can't remember which death record it was, but it  provided me with the name of Munday for the mother.  Every once in a while, I would check Caldwell Co., North Carolina for possibilities and did find some interesting connections.

So, now the DNA has pushed me into a different direction.  I know from the two cousins that I have discovered through the DNA tests some definite possibilities of family links.  This is leading me into the direction of looking at the Friddle family as I would a one - name study.  Meaning that if they live in a specific area, I am checking them out and adding them to my database.  I'm also adding Friddles who I know are connected but have moved elsewhere.  I'm not very far into this process but I have already discovered two very interesting coincidences.

Julia Friddles, Moses' daughter, was married to a Sidney Prestwood.  It is interesting to note that one of Sidney Prestwood's brothers, William Thomas Prestwood, married an Elizabeth Adeline Friddle.  She was the daughter of John W. Friddle and Caroline Harris.  John W. Friddle died during the Civil War but is of an age that he could definitely be a sibling of Moses.  When I first started researching genealogy, I was surprised at how many families intermarried multiple times.  Now it no longer surprises me but does make me look at the family differently.  What are the geographic similarities with the two families and what are the family connections?  Families intermarrying can definitely be a clue to something a whole lot more!

John W. Friddle had another daughter, Mary Ann Friddle whose marriage is also an interesting family connection.  She married a John C. Munday.  Now this John C. Munday was born in 1844 so he could be a brother or nephew of the woman that Moses was married to...but he could also be a cousin.  From what I have discovered about his family, there isn't a daughter who is of the appropriate age to have married Moses, but it looks like there still might be a family connection.  Munday is not that common of a name.

So now it looks like I am going to build a database that includes the Friddles as whole and not just those who are directly connected to me.  I will probably spend more time adding Munday's as well in hopes of finding that elusive first wife of Moses Friddles.  My efforts will most likely be concentrated in York Co., SC, Caldwell Co., NC, and Burke Co., NC.  With a little luck and some concentrated research, perhaps the crack in the wall will disappear and the brick wall will no longer exist.

Will Moses Friddle’s First Wife Identify Yourself? :)

For years I have been pursuing information about my great great grandfather.  I know about when he was born and where and the first time I find any record of him is in 1859.  So, where is he between 1826 when was supposedly born in South Carolina and 1859 when he marries Amanda McKee in Carter Co., TN…and who is his first wife? During my search I tried just about every type of resource I could find at the library, online, and any newslist I could find to post on.  I have come to the conclusion that Moses Friddles is a brick wall which I may never breach.  

One of my attempts was to try to find out who Moses Friddles married first.  I first find Moses in the 1860 census with his new wife and two of his sons and his new wife in Dist. 6, Johnson Co., TN.  His daughter Julia is not in this census with him and I presume that she must be with her mother’s family.  I find a Juliana Friddle in the 1870 census at Lenoir, Caldwell Co., NC, Pg. 543A listed as a domestic servant under a Melinda Lang.  However, the family located directly above this Lang is a Jane Mundy with a John Mundy above her.  So, I wonder if this is my Julia Friddle living with family in Caldwell Co., NC.  By the next census, Julia is married to Sidney Prestwood.  They were married in 1876 in Johnson Co., TN but are living in Caldwell Co., NC and sometime after the 1900 census, Julia leaves her husband and takes her two children west to homestead near her brother in Wallowa Co., OR.

Julia Friddles Prestwood's Death Record

I know from Julia Friddles Prestwoods’ death record that her mother is a Munday…so my next step is to trace the Munday family that I found living close to Julia in 1860.  I find a John Munday who is possibly the younger brother of Julia’s mother.  Interestingly enough, his wife is listed as Mary Friddle. When I take it back even further to the John Munday in the 1850 census – I find two young women that could possibly be a mother of Julia.  There is a Jane b. abt 1836 and a Lina b. abt 1838.  Now…I’ve found Julia living with a Melinda in the 1870 census as a servant.  I would almost guess that Lina and Melinda ar the same person as they would also have the same birthdate.  Jane is listed in the 1870 census as well.  So – I suspect that a daughter of John Munday is probably born and married to Moses Friddles before the 1850 census.  Since John and Isabell were both born in the early 1800’s this a definite possibility. 

However, my problem still exists – who is the mother of Julia and her brother Albert.  She is most likely already married to Moses Friddles but as yet – I don’t have a census record or marriage record to establish her name.  All I have is a death record of her daughter that tells me her surname.  So, you might wonder what my next move will be.  I am trying to find out someone who his research John Munday’s family who might have more information.  I am also interested in finding out who the Mary Friddle was who married the younger John Munday who is mentioned in his death record.

As you can see – Moses Friddle’s first wife is yet another brick wall.  Their son Albert was incredibly important to both of my great grandparents.  He provided a parenting presence for both of them even though he was David Carl Friddle’s brother and not father.  I will keep plugging away and perhaps someday – I might finally figure out who Moses Friddle’s first wife was!

Aunt Doodles

I used to call my uncle Claude to ask him questions about the past and old family members.  He used to always caution me that he really didn’t know all that much because he was so much younger.  Claude was the youngest of three children and was 15 and 13 years younger than his older brother and sister.  However, Claude was my only resource so I would continue to question him.  One day I called him and asked him if he remembered his Dad’s sister, Julia.  Claude told me that he didn’t remember and then we got into a discussion about where they lived at Pomeroy.  During this story, he mentioned “Aunt Doodles”  - I asked him who she was and he replied “Pop’s sister!”  Ahh…I had my answer!

Julia Friddles was born August 27, 1852 in Lenoir, Caldwell Co., NC to Moses Friddles and his first wife.  She was the eldest of the 10 known children of Moses Friddles with at least 4 wives.  She married Sidney Plaskia Prestwood on September 14, 1876 in Jefferson Co., TN.  They had three known children two of whom survived to adulthood.  I’m not sure if she and her husband divorced or separated but after 1900, she is no longer with him and he has remarried.  Her younger brother, Albert, came west with his family in the late 1880’s and he encouraged his sister to make the move as well, and she came west in 1901.  Julia and her son both applied for a homestead up on Grouse Flats, Wallowa Co., OR near her brother’s place.   However, by 1920, she had abandoned the home place and had moved to Pomeroy with her son.  She is in the 1920 census with her son and two granddaughters through her daughter Rosie.  That time period between 1910 and 1920 is somewhat hazy.  Rosie was molested at some point by one of her cousins and the case became fairly well known in the early teens and is listed online as an early court case for rape in Oregon.  Rosie married and had two children but left them with her mother and I haven’t as yet been able to locate her in 1920, although I think I have found her in California in 1930.  That is still something I am researching.  Julia is found in Walla Walla, Walla Walla Co., WA in 1930 and she passes away on April 5, 1932 at her son’s home.

Julia's grave at the Walla Walla Cemetery.

Somehow she got the nickname of Aunt Doodles…Mom remembered that her mother mentioned Aunt Doodles several times, but she was never quite sure who she was.  Once Claude realized who she was, he was able to give me information that became very valuable in locating her.  He told me that he and his mother had boarded a bus and had gone to Walla Walla when he was a little kid to go and visit her.  She was ill, and Mom Friddle thought they needed to visit her.  Claude said that it was around Easter time when they made their visit and he thought he was about 7 or 8.  Years ago, I went down to Walla Walla and located the cemetery and found out where Julia was buried as well as her son, Albert and his three wives.  There I found her death date and was pleasantly surprised at how close Claude was on the date of when she died.  I went to the library and got a copy of her obituary.  While it didn’t give me much in the way of further information, it did give me a location to look at more closely; Lenoir, Caldwell Co., NC.

Julia’s family continues to be a topic of research for me.  Every once in a while, I find something that somehow leads me into a new direction.  As I have never located in record concerning her father before 1858, I was anxious to get a copy of Julia’s death record.  Her brother Albert’s record had not given any further information on death location or the identity of the mother.  Julia’s death record lists a mother with the name of Munday.  I still don’t have the full name, but perhaps it is a clue.  It bothers me that I have never been able to locate Moses Friddles in the 1850 census nor anything else on his background.  I had always hoped that I might make progress by searching through these two older children.  While there are clues, I’m still not quite there yet.  However, I am much closer than I was years ago before I had the conversation with my uncle.  I am glad that we had that talk so long ago…he has since passed away and there is no one else to ask.  Aunt Doodles only existed in the deep recesses of his memory from his childhood – but after questioning him on other topics, he was able to remember quite a bit.  All I can say is if you have the opportunity to talk to your older generations about family members, take the opportunity and do it now.  You may never have the opportunity again!