Martha Brown Friddles Tester Dyson?

On the whole, I have been pretty successful in finding and gathering information pertaining to my various family lines.  However, there are a few brick walls that have presented themselves through the years, especially with the Friddle family.  I don’t know if I ever will make much progress on Moses Friddles past his supposed 1826 birthdate – but I have had almost as difficult a time on my great grandfather’s mother as well.

Martha “Mattie” E. Brown was born Sep 1862 in North Carolina probably either in Ashe Co., NC or Watauga Co., NC.  She was the daughter of a John Brown born abt 1836 in North Carolina and his wife, Margaret J. b. abt 1844 in North Carolina.  Her family is recorded in the 1870 census in Taylorsville, Dist. 2, Johnson Co., TN Pg. 3, #18.  By the 1880 census, Martha is married to Moses Friddles.  I have to wonder on a personal note if the pickings were pretty slim.  When she married Moses Friddle on 12 Oct 1878, she was 16 years old and he was 52 years old and she was his 4^th wife.   Moses died in 1890 and by that time, they had had six children in 10 years.  The youngest was my great grandfather.  Their children were:

• Roby B. Friddles b. 23 Mar 1879 Johnson Co., TN d. 25 Aug 1928 Johnson Co., TN m. Dora McLain
• Jesse C. Friddles b. 16 Mar 1881 Johnson Co., TN d. ?
• Calia Friddles b. 16 Mar 1883 Johnson Co., TN d. bef 1910 m. Clayton Matherson
• James Blaine Friddles b. 29 Sep 1884 Johnson Co., TN d. 10 Oct 1928 Johnson Co., TN m. 1 25 Dec 1901 Dora Nevada Heck m. 2 4 Nov 1917 Emeline Guy
• Roy Friddles b. 4 Feb 1887 Johnson Co., TN d. bef 22 Apr 1891 Johnson Co., TN
• David Carl Friddle b. 1 May 1889 Johnson Co., TN d. 4 Jan 1955 Lewiston, Nez Perce Co., ID m. 22 Dec 1908 Sophia Vestelle Dollar.

The only reason that I have definite dates on their children is because the information came from Moses Friddles Civil War pension.  Evidently, Martha attempted to claim a few children who were no longer living.  I’ve never been able to find out much on her siblings or her parents after the 1880 census when they are still recorded in Johnson Co., TN.

By the 1900 census, Martha has remarried to John M. Tester (m. 18 Jun 1899) and is living with him, however her children are not.  My great grandfather is located in the household of Richard A. Wilson and is listed as a servant at the age of 11.  A short distance away, Calia is listed as a servant of Nathaniel Ward in his household.  Roby is listed in the military at Balincaguin, Philippine Islands, Military and Naval Forces, Pg. 1 - 36th Inf, Co H.  I’ve never located James and I believe that Jesse and Roy are both dead at this time.  I don’t know if Martha and John Tester divorced or separated, but John Tester is remarried after 1903 and Martha marries a T. F. Dyson on 29 Nov 1908 and she herself dies on 16 Jun 1909.  I’m not really positive about the third marriage, but I know that the first two did occur and that John M. Tester marries a Virgie in 1903.  According to the death record that I found for Mattie Dyson, she died of paralysis at about the age of 50.

My great grandfather never really wanted to go back to Tennessee especially after his brother, James died in 1928.  The bare facts of his childhood support the fact that he didn’t have a happy childhood and probably never really had a real childhood or a close relationship with his mother.  I know that she worked as a servant for a while for a Judge Vaught and that the old Judge taught my great grandfather how to read and write and that was probably the most formal education he had until he married my great grandmother.

Mattie still remains a mystery.  I have some clues to what happened to her but few facts.  I can’t seem to find the right section of Browns that would include her family.  In this area of Tennessee and North Carolina, Brown might be a more common name than Johnson and then to stick the first name of John on the front really makes it difficult.  I was excited a few years ago to finally get a copy of a picture of her.  It must have been taken at about the time of Calia’s marriage.  Perhaps someday, I will find out more about who she was and who her family was.

Upper level - James Blaine Friddles next to Calia Friddles - Lower - possibly Clayton Matherson, Dora  (James'  wife holding baby Jessie)  and Martha Brown Friddles Tester on the lower right.

Jacob C. Smith...

Some family names seem almost impossible to research; such as Johnson, Smith or Jones…I have all three.  My father’s great grandmother was Mary Ann Smith – growing up I heard her name as Polly Smith or Schmidt or Mary Ann Schmidt.  Eventually, I found her name really was Mary Ann Smith and that she was the daughter of Jacob C. Smith…now the real research was to follow.

Jacob Smith's grave - Taken by Lowell & Bonnie Johnson

Eleanor Wilson Smith - Taken by Lowell & Bonnie Johnson

 

New Market Church & Jacob Smith Memorial - Taken by Lowell & Bonnie Johnson

It is funny that I have exact dates on Jacob Cunningham Smith but no notion of who his parents were or where he was born exactly.  I have the dates from his gravestone which is at the New Market Presbyterian Cemetery, New Market, Jefferson Co., TN.   (He was b. 15 Oct 1801 in VA d. 4 May 1848 Union, Sullivan Co., TN) I know that he married Eleanor Wilson on 12 Feb 1824 and that they had five children.  I don’t know who Eleanor’s parents were either but she was born 10 Dec 1803 in TN and died 15 Nov 1834 in Jefferson Co., TN and is buried at the same cemetery as her husband.  Their children were:

• Amanda Alvira b. 17 Dec 1824 New Market, Jefferson Co., TN d. ?
• Sumner W.  b. 28 May 1826 New Market, Jefferson Co., TN d. 1863 in AL or AR
• John James b. 1 Mar 1828 New Market, Jefferson Co., TN d. Jul 1874 Gaylesville, Cherokee Co., AL
• Mary Ann b. 16 Apr 1830 New Market, Jefferson Co., TN d. 14 Mar 1916 Kirkman, Shelby Co., IA
• Margaret E. b. 7 Jan 1833 New Market, Jefferson Co., TN d. ?

A little over a year after Eleanor’s death, Jacob married a widow – Catherine Kelly Moser Jarnigan.   Her husband William Calvin Jarnigan died on 26 July 1833 and their son (William Calvin Jarnigan was born 7 Nov 1833 in TN d. 30 Apr 1920 Jefferson Co., TN.)  Catherine married Jacob on 4 Feb 1836 in Jefferson Co., TN.  They were parents of the following children:

• Francis Morgan b. 14 Sept 1839 Jefferson Co., TN
• Edward Hamilton b. 8 Jan 1843 Jefferson Co., TN d. 19 Jan 1892
• Sarah Eleanor b. 14 Dec 1844 New Market, Jefferson Co., TN d. 26 Jul 1850 New Market, Jefferson Co., TN
• Jacob Cunningham, Jr b. 19 Jul 1846 Jefferson Co., TN d. 10 Aug 1911 Jackson, Madison Co., TN
• Catherine Kelly b. 17 Jun 1848 Jefferson Co., TN d. 23 Jul 1850 Jefferson Co., TN
• Nicholas Keffer b. 19 Jan 1851 New Market, Jefferson Co., TN d. 25 Mar 1929 Memphis, Shelby Co., TN
• Emma Regina b. 29 Jun 1852 New Market, Jefferson Co., TN d. 3 Jan 1912 Horry Co., SC
• Hugh Calvin b. 4 Dec 1854 Jefferson Co., TN d. 13 Mar 1939 Evanston, Cook Co., IL

Catherine Kelley Moser Smith  - taken by Lowell & Bonnie Johnson

Catherine Kelley Moser died on 25 Jul 1857 in Jefferson Co., TN and she too is buried at New Market Presbyterian Cemetery, New Market, Jefferson Co., TN.    Almost a year later, Jacob married July Arants on 5 Jul 1858 and she was born 17 Dec 1824 in TN and d. bef 1870.  His last marriage was too a Sarah whose name appears with his in the 1870 census.  She was born about 1836.

There are few clues about Jacob’s place of birth.  Virginia is a common location that covered two modern day states (Virginia and West Virginia).  He is close enough to the Virginia border that it might not be all that far away.  I suspect that his middle name of Cunningham has some significance…but I don’t know what that might be.  I was contacted recently and told that he was a carpenter and had some furniture that someone was looking in to.  But…there is little information on him.  Few of his known 14 children stayed in the New Market area…in fact only his stepson is buried at New Market alongside his Jacob’s two daughters who died young.  Since there are some new databases, I will probably try to follow up on some of his children again – but Smiths from TN are very plentiful.

Jacob C. Smith - Owned by Lowell & Bonnie Johnson

One thing I am fortunate to have is a photograph of him.  Several years ago, while we were visiting some Johnson cousins in North Dakota they showed me some wonderful tin types of Mary Ann Smith and Washington Abraham Smith, my great great grandparents.  They had never noticed it before, but at the bottom of the box of that held those two old tintypes was another tintype of an older man who we believe to be Jacob Cunningham Smith.  So…who knows – perhaps someday I will be able to smash through that Smith brick wall and perhaps even that of Eleanor Wilson.