Samuel Murray Stover 1824-1897 My 2nd Great Granduncle on My Father's Side - Part 3

This is one of several documents found on Fold3
about Samuel's contributions during the Civil War

Role During the Civil War

Between 1861 and 1864 Samuel supported the confederate army during the Civil War. On September 2,1861 he was paid $947 for six mules, two horses and a wagon. Between 1862 and 1864 he received an additional $1165 for 334 pounds of beef, 150 pounds of pork, an unspecified amount of bacon, 210 bushels of corn, 5000 pounds of hay, and 300 pounds of iron. The iron likely came from the Speedwell Bloomary Forge on Stoney Creek that was owned by his father William Stover.

Samuel served as a physician under Robert E. Lee in Clarkson’s Battalion with the Independent Rangers. Pvt. Co. C. He was also a Commissary Officer and worked with quartermasters of Vaughn’s Brigade, 8^th Virginia Cavalry and Morgan’s Men. One of the slaves he owned, Robert Stover accompanied Samuel when he went to Virginia. Robert served as a cavalry teamster. Apparently, Robert was the only known black soldier to serve the Confederacy from Carter County. Robert was awarded a pension from the State for his service.[1]

During the war the Stover family suffered the deaths of the family patriarch, William Stover and Samuel’s younger brother Daniel who was serving with the Union Army as a colonel with the 4^th Regiment of Volunteers.

H.L. Stover May 1868

Shortly after the Civil War ended Charles Daniel Stover was born on October 25, 1865. Next was H.L. Stover, a son born in May of 1868. 

Charles Daniel Stover
1865-1897

More Land Transactions

Jacob Taylor and Pleasant Willams sold Samuel a 7-acre parcel on the south side of Stony Creek for $2000 in 1863. This parcel had been owned by Samuel’s father in 1857 when the meets and bounds were recorded in deed book N on page 483.

In 1865 Samuel sold 170 acres on the Watauga River to Charles P. Toncray of Carter County for $7500. This was the parcel he had purchased that was adjacent to his brother’s land. He also sold the parcel on Stony Point on Lynn Mountain as part of this transaction.[2] The following month Samuel sold an additional tract to David J Nave for $800.[3] These two sales were likely driven by the need to cover heavy taxation that was imposed after the Civil War.

In September of 1865 Samuel purchased another quarter interest in the 5000-acre parcel of land that had previously been owned by his father, from Pleasant Williams.[4]

The final land transaction I have found for Samuel occurred in May of 1866 when he sold a 50-acre parcel on the Watauga River for $1500 to William A.J. Pearce and John T. Pearce.[5] In total Samuel purchased twelve tracts of land during his lifetime (that I found records for) totally more than 1785 acres. All were located in Carter County – most in district 9 and a couple in district 10.

Late 1860s and the 1870s

Two news articles from 1867 demonstrate that Samuel continued to be actively engaged in civic affairs of the times. On May 17^th the East Tennessee Union Flag ran a story headlined “Convention of the Radical Unionists of Carter County”. In this column Samuel Stover was listed as a delegate from the 9^th District and as such attended a convention held at the Court House in Elizabethton to help nominate a representative for the county, and a candidate for senator in the first District of the State.

In July of the same year the Brownlow’s Knoxville Whig reported that Samuel Stover again represented the 9^th District from Carter to nominate a floater to represent Johnson and Carter counties in the representative branch of the next legislature.

A ninth child and last son, Henry Tucker Stover was born in November 1869 when the family was living in Sullivan County, Tennessee.

Headstone for Henry Tucker Stover

On the 1870 census Samuel was listed as S. Murray Stover which is unusual  in most records he is listed as Samuel M. Stover. He and Caroline were living in house number 105 along with their 6 children including Minnie 15, Belle 14, Amelia L. 12, William B. 11, Sallie D. 9 and Charles D. 4. Samuel’s mother Sarah M. Stover, 76 was living with them as was Charlotte Stewart 21 who was employed as a housekeeper. I cannot figure out why their youngest child Henry T. Stover was not listed on this census. On this census Samuel was identified as a physician but his assets had declined substantially – likely due to the Civil War. Their real estate value was shown as $2800 and personal estate as only $956 – a combined loss of $23,744 since the 1860 census. Also interesting to note is that all of the real estate was listed under Caroline’s name. 

Another Civil War record

In May of 1873, the Bristol news ran an interesting article as follows: “A Curiosity - Dr. S.M. Stover has laid upon our table, a very rare curiosity, being a couple of iron ore specimens, which would ordinarily be pronounced petrifactions. In reality, they are beautifully exact imitations of oak roots, showing the bark, with every wrinkle and prominence. Evidently the wooden particles have been replaced by this pure article of brown hematite ore. They are one and a half inches in diameter, and show the peculiar internal structure of the wood in the most minute manner. They were obtained from the center of a solid rock which had been rent asunder. They were taken from Stover's Ore Bank on Stony Creek, Carter Co. Tenn., eleven miles from Elizabethton.”

On July 27, 1873 Samuel and Caroline had their last child – a daughter named Emma Brooks Stover. According to the Social Security Death Index, this child lived to the age of 93 and died in Knoxville in 1967.

Samuel’s beloved mother Sarah died while living with Samuel and Caroline on May 21, 1874. She is buried in the Drakes Cliff Cemetery in Elizabethton beside her husband.

Caroline’s Death and Marriage to Amanda Hopkins

In January of 1875 Samuel’s wife Caroline died at the age of 41 leaving him with three young children. He did not remarry until October 29, 1878 at which time he married Amada Hopkins, also a native of Tennessee. Amanda was the daughter of James F. Hopkins and Sarah J.E. Hopkins.[6]  Claude J. Stover was born March 24, 1880 when Samuel was 55.

Carrie Stover's marker

The 1880 Carter County census was taken in June. Samuel age 56 and Amanda age 20 were living at Stoney Creek with their son Claude age 1. Samuel was again listed as a physician. Later that year on June 12^th the Bristol News reported that the Samuel Stover family had returned to Sullivan County, Tennessee, “having bought the 1900-acre Palmer sawmill tract from Mr. M.L. Blackly, and the adjoining Hoffman-Blevins tract of 750 acres. He now has the finest forests of white pine and other timber in the county.” The reporter added, “I am glad he comes back to the neighborhood of Bristol. Our people always liked him and I am no exception to that rule. He is within eight miles of us.”[7]

Samuel lived to see at least five of his children be married. Almena in 1871, Belvadora in 1873, Amelia and William in 1884, and Charles in 1890. His son John Murray Stover was born February 6, 1889, and another son William Hopkins Stover was born November 6, 1895. 

Samuel's original headstone.

Samuel died on March 20, 1897 at the age of 72. He is buried in the Drakes Cliff Cemetery in Elizabethton along with several of his children, his parents, one brother and Robert Stover, the former slave who accompanied Samuel during the Civil War.

William Stover death certificate showing
Samuel and Amada as parents

Samuel and Amanda marriage

John Murray Stover and William Hopkins
Stover, sons of Samuel and Amanda

Claude J. Stover 1880-1939, Samuel 
and Amanda's son

Robert Stover, the African American who
accompanied Samuel during the Civil 

 

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[1] Information provided by W.C. Hicks, a Carter County history and Civil War buff.

[2] Registered in DB O, P. 570, 17 Aug. 1865

[3] Registered in DB O, p. 581

[4] 21 September 1865, registered in DB N, p. 485.

[5] Registered 7 May 1866, DB O, p. 647.

[6] 1880 Census Sullivan, TN. US marriage records for Tennessee 1780-2002, p. 225 found on Ancestry. Tennessee compiled marriages 1851-1900.

[7] On The Sidewalk, society news column Bristol News, 12 June 1880.

Lottie's Photos: Cousins 1954

This is one of my favorites of my mother’s photos because it depicts a group of family members that she very rarely captured. It was taken in 1954 not long after my parents had completed building our new family home in Castro Valley. From left to right are Jeanette Frink (Jo Pattillo’s daughter and my father’s cousin), Anna Pattillo, Marge Pattillo holding 2 ½-year-old Pat, Lottie with Laine Lawrence at 9 or 10 standing in front of her, Judy Gauger, 15 (Jeanette’s daughter), and Karen Lawrence, 16. I am standing in front of Judy and would have been 4 when this photo was taken.

The giant camellia that now fills the corner behind where they are standing either hadn’t been planted or it was very small. Our grandfather developed hybrid camellias and he gave several plants to our parents for their new home. Unfortunately, he failed to convey how large they would grow so mom and dad were forever brutally pruning them back so we would be able to walk around the side of the house.

No one knew at the time this photo was taken that Laine and I would both develop a passion for family history and that our connection and friendship would develop many years later. One of the highlights of my genealogical research was an afternoon Mom and I spent with Laine and her mother Elma at their home in Brentwood. It was at  that time that Elma told me about our great grandmother Carrie Brooks Stover and our connection through her to the White House. At the time it seemed rather fanciful but years later when I found documentation that proved the story, I knew it was true. 

Sarah E. "Sallie" Stover 1848-1926 My Great Grandaunt on My Father's Side - Part 1

I believe this is a photo of Sarah E. Stover
If anyone seeing this bio can confirm my
identification I would like to hear from you

Sarah E. Stover[1] was the eldest child of David Lincoln Stover and Joanna Gaines. She was born on November 15, 1848 in Elizabethton, Tennessee.[2]  Sarah was one year old when her brother William “Win” was born and two when the 1850 census was taken. Sarah was three when my great grandmother, Carrie Brooks Stover was born, five when their sister Mary was born, seven when David “Bud” Gaines Stover was born, and ten when her youngest sibling, Elizabeth was born. That same year their father died on November 28, 1858 of an unknown cause.

According to the Lincoln Family Magazine Sarah spent time at the White House as a young girl when Andrew Johnson was president. She and her siblings apparently visited regularly to play with their cousins, the children of their uncle Daniel Stover who had married Mary Johnson, daughter of Andrew Johnson. According to Sarah’s obituary “She lived in the White House at Washington during President Johnson’s Administration, living with her aunt, Mrs. Mary Stover, daughter of the President. She was a young woman in her teens at the time and was popular with the White House fold, friends here said…. The days she spent in the White House were exciting ones, according to Mrs. A.G. Wilmore, Oklahoma City, Mrs. Tipton’s daughter.” [3]

When the 1860 census was taken the family was living in the same place in Elizabethton – on the family farm and next door to Sarah’s aunt, uncle and four of her cousins. Sarah was 11 and her mother, now a widow, was 35 years old. Her brother Win had died thus was not listed on the census.

Elizabethton covered bridge draped in snow

Ten years later, Sarah now twenty-one was still living at home, with her mother who mysteriously had only aged 8 years according to the census record that showed her as being 43. The youngest child, Elizabeth was not listed on the 1870 census – presumably she had died as well.

Marriage, Children and Move to Handley, Texas

Later that same year, Sarah married Winfield “Wynn” Scott Tipton on November 15, 1870.[4] Wynn was the son of Isaac Perry Tipton and Ann Pricilla Powell. He was born in Elizabethton on April 25, 1847. Prior to marrying, he served in the Civil War with the Confederates.

Sarah and Wynn had three children – Maude P. Tipton born on December 12, 1871, Eugene Tipton born March 14, 1873 and Robert Wheeler Tipton born July 11,1874. All three of their children were born while they were living in Elizabethton. Shortly thereafter the family moved to Handley which is in Tarrant County, Texas in 1877, one year after the Texas and Pacific Railway extended a line to the town.[5]  They built the first home in Handley and Wynn established a mercantile business.[6] Wynn’s obituary noted that he and his brother-in-law, David Gaines Stover had gone to Tarrant County prior to having the rest of the family join them.[7] According to the obituary they “were held up in  a stagecoach robbery … believed to be by the outlaw Sam Bass.” A separate obituary explains that part of the reason the Tiptons chose to move to Texas was to avoid the disputes that arose in Tennessee after the Civil War.[8]

West Handley Train Station

According to the Handley website, the town was a thriving community settled when the Texas and Pacific railroad came to town. It was named after James Madison Handley who was a Confederate soldier in the Civil War and owned a very large plantation east of Handley. Handley is located east of Fort Worth and is now part of Fort Worth. They chose Handley in part because they guessed that it would eventually outgrow Fort Worth but such was not the case. Today, Handley is a small community within Fort Worth.

Sarah’s sister Carrie either went with them or joined them in Handley about the same time because she married James W. Pattillo in Handley in November of 1879. The Tipton family moved ninety miles west to Stephens County, Texas in 1879, so that Wynn could start a ranching business with his brother-in-law David Gaines but after a three-year drought Winfield gave up ranching and returned to Fort Worth in 1886.[9]

Stephens County, Texas

On the 1880 Stephens County census Wynn was listed as 33 years of age and a farmer. Included in the household along with Sarah were their three children, Sarah’s mother and brother David, who was shown as a “stock raiser”, and a boarder named William Morrel who helped on the farm. James Pattillo was also involved with cattle when he was in Tarrant County, so I wonder if Carrie was introduced to her future husband by her brother David. During the time they were in Stephens County their sons attended school  there and their daughter Maud was a teacher in the Albany School District.

Stephens County, Texas 1890

In 1887, when Sarah was 39, her household was directly impacted by a major event that likely disturbed everyone in the household. On January 23^rd the people riding on the Texas-Pacific Railroad were victims of a daring train robbery. It was a well-executed theft that began with two men approaching the engineer with pistols and demanding that he stop the train on a high trestle bridge where six more masked men were able to board. They forced the engineer to give them the key to the train’s safe and stole the contents which was reported to be worth between $10,000 and $15,000. From there they moved to the mail car on the train where Winfield and his colleagues H.M. Price and Richard Griffin were busy hiding pieces of register mail among the mail bags. They estimate that there were 66 pieces of such mail of which all but 25 they succeeded in keeping from the thieves. The news reports include a detailed account of the thieves’ brazenness, “They (the train’s mail staff) had only one revolver among them, and the command, "open up" given in an elevated animated tone, was promptly obeyed. As the door flew open the tall, thin man remarked: "Boys, you might as well give up: I have been in two or three affairs of this kind, and while I never killed anybody, I'll be G___d d___d if I am afraid to do it. The order was quickly obeyed, and the tall, thin man held up his hand for a light, at which Price remarked: "See here, don't you think it is a little tough to have to pull a man into your car to rob it?" "That's all right," replied the robber, "Pull me in," and he was pulled in, Mr. Tipton as he entered taking off his hat and remarking: "How do you do, Sir?" As the robber was going through the car he was asked, "You do not seem to be much afraid. Why do you not work with a mask?" One of his companions replied: "You see, the captain don't live around here, and he is not in danger of being recognized." The tall, thin man was then asked if his gang proposed to rob the passengers, and he replied: "No, the sons of B-----s have had time to hide away everything.”[10]

Albany park and courthouse, Stephens County, TX

Thanks to the Portals of Texas History website and the intrepid reporters for The Albany News, I can report that Winfield paid a visit to his family living in Albany, Texas on June 27, 1889. That would have been his brother-in-law, David “Bud” Gaines and his wife Nancy “Nannie” Williams Stover who owned a ranch in Stevens County, Texas. There were similar snippets of news about family visits on October 17 and November 14^th in 1890.

Also found on the Portals website were multiple promotional ads for McAllister's Red Front Shoe Store. They ran several large print ads promoting their give-away programs. Each of these ads stated that Mr. W.S. Tipton had already won a Wheelock Piano valued at $500 with his winning ticket number 17,981. The ads also noted that Mr. Tipton was an employee of the Railway Service.[11]

McAllister's Red Front Shoe Store Ad

At the 1891 Railway Postal Clerks Convention, held in Fort Worth, W.S. Tipton was elected Vice President of the organization.[12] A July 3, 1891 article in the Fort Worth Gazette noted that Winfield’s salary as a Clerk in Charge for the Railway Mail Service on the Texarkana and El Paso line was $1300. In 1891 I presume that was their annual salary – not monthly.

Sarah and Winfield's marriage record

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[1] Some family trees show her as Sarah Murray Stover but I think they are confusing her with her grandmother, Sarah Murray Drake Stover. She was listed as Sarah E. on the 1850 census, Sarah E.M. in 1860, just Sarah in 1870,1880 and 1910, and on her death certificate, Sallie S. in 1900, and Sarah S. in 1920 – where the “S” probably refers to “Stover”.

[2] Sarah’s birth year is consistent on the 1850, 1860 and 1870 censuses as being 1848. Her death certificate shows 15 November, 1848 as her date of birth but her engraved headstone shows 20 November 1848.

[3] Obituary for Mrs. W.S. Tipton “Grandniece of Ex-President Buried Here”, 14 April 1926 p.8

[4] Tennessee Marriage Records Dec 1796-Feb 1879 found on Ancestry.

[5] W.S. Tipton Obituary, Fort Worth Star-Telegram 31 Dec 1941 p.15.

[6] The year they moved to Texas is from Mary Wallace, a descendant of Sarah Stover Tipton. Ms. Wallace believes that Sarah’s brother David and their mother moved to Texas with the Tiptons in 1877. This date is also noted in Wynn’s obituary, and the obituary for Mrs. W.S. Tipton “Grandniece of Ex-President Buried Here”, 14 April 1926 p.8

[7] I believe that Winfield and Sarah as well as Sarah’s siblings David and Carrie and their mother all moved to Texas at the same time. The only other living child of David and Joanna Stover, Mary Stover left Tennessee and moved to Los Angeles in about 1900.

[8] Albany News, Jan. 8, 1942, Vol. 57 “Former Resident Dies at Ft. Worth”.

[9] Winfield’s obituary.

[10] Galveston Daily News, Jan. 24, 1887, p. 2 and The Dallas Herald Vol. 2 same date.

[11] Fort Worth Gazette, May 2, 1890, Vol. 14.

[12] Fort Worth Daily Gazette  “The Postal Clerks: A Division Association Formed Here Yesterday”, 2 Sept 1891, p. 2

Sarah E. "Sallie" Stover 1848-1926 My Great Grandaunt on My Father's Side - Part 2

This is the Tipton home at 3800 Mattison in the 
Arlington Heights neighborhood of Fort Worth

Fort Worth, Texas

On September 18, 1891 the Fort Worth Gazette ran a short article announcing that Mr. and Mrs. W.S. Tipton had moved from Albany, Texas to Fort Worth three weeks earlier. This article mentioned that Mrs. Tipton was a cousin of City Attorney Powell. It also mentioned her time spent at the White House during President Johnson’s administration noting that she was known as the “Little Fairy of the White House”. The piece described Sarah as, “refined and modest, but proud of her White House days.”

This home is at 3804 Mattison - the address given
on some of the Tipton documents

Sarah visited her brother Bud Stover at his Stephen’s County ranch the week of August 25, 1893.[1] Several similar visits were reported by The Albany News in 1898, 1899  and 1900. During these trips she sometimes went alone and on other trips she took one of her sons with her or both she and Winfield went together.

An 1895 directory shows Sarah and Wynn living at 1101 Burnett Street in Fort Worth. Wynn and their son Eugene were both working as clerks for the Railway Postal Service.[2] When the 1900 census was taken, they were at the same location. On this census Sarah was listed as “Sallie S. Tipton”. Their son Robert was living with them – he was 24 and still single. They had two black female servants. Grandville Nelson, age 20 was from Mississippi, and Beatrice L. Snooker of Texas was 22. There were also two white boarders in the household – Clinton J. Taylor and Frank H. Hurt. Wynn was employed as a clerk for R.M. Sevier as was Clinton. The other boarder was a railroad postal clerk, and their son Robert was listed as a stenographer.

Also in 1895, I found an article headlined “The South was Slighted” that reported that few southerners were represented in the Republican caucus. In the article it reported the group would support Gen. Henderson of Illinois for the position of clerk and W.S. Tipton of Tennessee as sergeant-at-arms.[3] It is hard to know for certain that this reference is of our W.S. Tipton. A similar topic was covered in 1900 with the headline, “The Split Occurred – Tennessee Republican Convention Followed Time Worn Precedent”. In that article W.S. Tipton was nominated for railroad commissioner. [4]

Article describing the Tipton's move 
to Fort Worth from Albany, Texas

I found an article from 1898 promoting the Washington Hotel in Galveston, Texas that described how it had undergone a major renovation costing $5000 and now boasted of having “one of the handsomest dining rooms in the state with excellent service. Rates $2.00 a day.” One of the recent arrivals at the hotel was none other than W.S. Tipton.[5]

There was a short snippet in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 1904 that noted that Sarah had “returned home from a trip to Chicago, St. Louis and Niagara Falls.” It included no explanation for why she apparently made the trip alone. Given that Niagara Falls was part of her itinerary suggests that this was a vacation rather than a trip to visit family. In 1906 Sarah’s son Robert move to Los Angeles, California to take a position with the Illinois Central Railroad.[6] He left his position with the Fort Worth and Denver Railway where he had served as Passenger and Ticket Agent for four years and was Secretary of the Fort Worth City Passenger Agents’ Association.[7]

On August 3, 1900 The Albany News reported that “Mr. and Mrs. T.S. Tipton spent last Friday in Albany on their way home after spending two weeks at their ranch near Crystal Falls.”[8] A separate article explained that when they moved to Fort Worth, they retained their ranch property in Stephens County until Winfield died. Three months later in November of 1900 Sarah and her son Eugene spent time at her brother’s ranch which was also near Crystal Falls.

Sarah would have been 52 in 1900 when her daughter Maude married Arthur G. Wilmore. Amazingly, this event did not seem to make the newspaper – at least I have not found anything about it which I imagine was well celebrated at the time. The following year Sarah’s son Robert married Jennie Emerson Pearson. In March of 1902 Sarah’s mother, Joanna Gaines Stover died and was buried in the Tipton Family Cemetery. In December of 1905 son Eugene married Emily Caroline Colston.

Eugene Tipton is on the left in this photo
from the Fort Worth Sun-Telegram, 1953

Winfield was part of a week-long fishing party in 1904. He went deep sea fishing with a group of railway mail service men in Galveston, Texas. Their objective was to catch tarpon and sharks.[9]

The Tipton family moved to the Arlington Heights neighborhood of Fort Worth in 1907 and that is where they were when the 1910 census was taken. They were shown living at 175 Arlington Heights Road on the census. Wynn was 62 and working as a Superintendent for the railroad. His son Robert was living with them and was an auditor for the railroad. Sarah was 61. Robert’s wife Jennie P. and their three children Winnie R. 7, A.W. (Arthur Wilmore Tipton Jr.) 5 and J.P. (John Pearson Tipton) 2 were also living with Wynn and Sarah. According to the Fort Worth directory they had a telephone at this home.

While they lived in Fort Worth Sarah was actively engaged in community affairs. She was mentioned in the society column of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on November 10, 1912 as having been a guest at the T.A.G. Club.

Mrs. Eugene Tipton, second from the right
Fort Worth Sun-Tribune, 1928

In 1916 Sarah suffered the loss of her younger sister Carrie, my great grandmother, who died in Los Angeles, California. Sarah was 67 at that time.

On January 6, 1920 Wynn and Sarah were living with their son Robert and grandchildren at 1108 W. 5^th Street in Fort Worth. At that time Robert was widowed and there were four children in his household – a daughter Wynne 17, Wilmore 14, John 12 and a daughter Sarah L. age 8.

A city directory lists Winfield S and Sarah residing on Mattison Avenue in Arlington Heights in 1923. According to Wynn’s obituary, their home was one of the first three homes built in the new neighborhood. In 2021, Arlington Heights is still considered one of the nicest neighborhoods in Fort Worth. Their son Robert, who was working as a carpenter, was living with them and their son Eugene, a clerk at RMS, and his wife Emily were living nearby in Arlington Heights. When the 1925 directory was published it showed their street address as 3804 Mattison Avenue. That is where they were living when Sarah died on April 12, 1926 from stomach cancer. She was 77.

Sarah was buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Fort Worth, having lived in Texas for 49 years and in Fort Worth for 40 years. Services were held at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church.[10] At the time of her death her sons were living in Texas and her daughter Maude was residing in Oklahoma City. “Mrs. Tipton’s four grandsons and two nephews were pallbearers. They are Wilmore, John, Colston Tipton , and John L. Cassell, grandsons and Howard and Sidney Oates nephews, all of Fort Worth”.[11]

Sarah S. Tipton Nov. 20, 1848-Apr 12, 1926

Sarah’s daughter Maude died five years later. She was 60 years old and died while living at 3800 Mattison Avenue, so at some point she apparently had returned to Fort Worth from Oklahoma City.

Maud P. Wilmore, Dec. 12, 1871-May 22, 1931

Fifteen years later Sarah’s husband Wynn was laid to rest with her at Greenwood Cemetery. Winfield Scott Tipton died on December 30, 1941 at the age of 94. According to his obituary Winfield was “survived by two sons, Eugene Tipton of Fort Worth, assistant division superintendent of the Railway Mail Service, and R.W. Tipton of Breckenridge.” He had six grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.

W.S. Tipton, Apr 25, 1847 - Dec 30, 1941

Sarah Tipton's death certificate

Winfield S. Tipton death certificate

Stover Sisters. I am confident of the identification of Mary and Carrie
Stover. The question is whether the third image is of their sister Sarah.
I would be grateful to anyone who can confirm this.

[1] Albany News, Vol. 10.

[2] On 20 February 1915, Eugene and eight others filed a suit against the Railway Postal Clerks’ Investment Association in the District Court of Tarrant County. The case was appealed in 1914 – Tipton v. Railway Postal Clerks’ Investment Company, but the appeal was denied.

[3] Fort Worth Gazette, Nov. 29, 1895, Vol. 20.

[4] Houston Daily Post, April 21, 1900, vol. XVI.

[5] Galveston Tribune, July 4, 1898, p. 4

[6] “Tipton in California”, Fort Worth Star-Telegram 13 July 1906.

[7] “Passenger Men Esteem Tipton: City Ticket Agents Present Letter to Former Associate”, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 21 June 1906.

[8] Albany News, Aug. 3, 1900, p. 6

[9] Galveston Tribune, May 26, 1904, Vol. 24.

[10] Tipton – Mrs. W.S. Tipton obituary Fort Worth Star-Telegram 13 April 1926.

[11] Obituary for Mrs. W.S. Tipton “Grandniece of Ex-President Buried Here”, I 14 April 1926 p.8

 

 

Lottie's Photos: Chris 1950

 

Anna and Lewis Pattillo holding Chris,
Christening Day

This photo is from volume two of Lottie’s ninety-four photo albums. It covers the period April 1950 to August 1957. Volume one started in January of 1938 and stopped in October of 1949. So, there is no photographic evidence of what happened during the two months before my birth until three months after I was born. Sadly, Mom’s written journals also stopped in 1947, so we’ll probably never know how she felt about my conception or birth.

The photo was taken on April 1, 1950 – the day I was christened. I love the hat my grandmother Anna is wearing and that four-inch-wide tie looks like something Grandpa might have purchased at the San Francisco World Fair. Grandpa Lewis has a pocket watch on a chain that is looped over a button and hanging down from that is what looks like a mechanical pencil or a plumb bob. Anyone know what that is?

Emma & John Thornally, my
maternal grandparents

Here I am with my maternal grandparents Emma and John Thornally. Grandpa seems to be bursting out of his pants and Gramma is wearing the pair of glasses I had remade and wore during the 1970s while attending college at UC.

Just three months after I was born and mom is looking very slender in her glamorous dress – no doubt one of her own creations. Dad looks pretty spiffy in his white shirt and suspenders. Mom was 30 and Dad nearly 37.

These are my godparents – Dorothy Menge and her husband Bill McTigue. Mom was very close to all her cousins – particularly Dorothy and Marion. In her diary she wrote about going out dancing with Dorothy, they're having a fight that lasted several days, Dorothy asked Mom to be one of her bridesmaids, then she threatened to elope but instead had a church wedding on November 5^th 1937. When Dorothy was pregnant Mom hosted a baby shower. Mom wore Dorothy’s veil when she was married and after she and Dad were married, they continued to socialize with Dorothy and Bill and spent time with them at Ben Lomond.

Mary Lincoln Stover 1796 - 1859 My 3rd Great Grandaunt

Daniel Stover Sr. home where Mary grew up

Mary Lincoln Stover was the second child of Daniel Stover Sr. and his wife Phoebe Ward. She was one of seven sisters of my third great grandfather, William Ward Stover. Mary was born on January 20, 1796 in what was then considered the Southwest Territory and today is part of Carter County, Tennessee.

When Mary was nineteen, she married John Teter Bowers on February 3, 1815[1]. John was also born in the Southwest Territory on January 27, 1792. He was the son of John Leonard Bowers and Rebecca Nave. John enlisted in the Tennessee militia on January 5, 1814 and was discharged on May 18, 1814. This was during the War of 1812. He served as a private with Captain Adam Winsel’s Company.

Pension application for War of 1812 service

Mary and John had ten children. They were Mary Lincoln Bowers born ca. 1815, Daniel Stover Bowers b. ca 1817, David B. Bowers b. 1820, William Carter Bowers b.1823, Teter Nave Bowers b.1826, Jemima Bowers b.1829, Rev. John Leonard Bowers b.1830, Christian Nave Bowers b.1836, Isaac Stover Bowers  b.1839 and Samuel Murray Stover Bowers b. ca. 1841.

In 1850 Mary appeared on the census for Carter County. She was fifty-four at the time and was living with John 58 and four of their children. The children were listed in this order on the census form: Christian 14, Isaac 11, and Murry 7, followed by John 19, Mary 21 and Isaac N. one month. Since their daughter Mary Lincoln Bower would have been 35 in 1850, I believe the Mary listed below their son John Leonard was his wife and the one-month-old Isaac N. was John L. and Mary’s son – John Teter and Mary L. Stover’s grandson.

John T. and Mary Bowers on the 1850 census

 John Tater was identified as a “Collier” in the occupation column whereas every other male aged 15 or older on the page was identified as a farmer. A collier is a coal miner.

According to Robert Nave, a Carter County historian, Mary and John were divorced  - a somewhat unusual occurrence for the time. Then on April 20, 1856, John Bowers married a second time to Mary Jane E. Crawley, the widow of Griffin Pearce. John T. Bowers and his wife Mary (Crawley) applied for a pension based on John’s service during the War of 1812. John died sometime before 1870 in Carter County.[2]

Bond for John's marriage to Mary Crawley

Most records suggest that Mary Lincoln Stover Bowers died in Elizabethton in Carter County in 1859 at the age of 64.

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[1] Tennessee US Marriage Records 1780-2002, TN State Library and Archives shows this marriage date as 3 Feb 1811. Other sources show 1814. The 1815 date comes from Robert Nave’s book on Teter Nave whom I trust.

[2] Dale Jenkins, a descendant of Solomon Hendrix Stover, one of Mary’s brothers, says John died after 1871 but Nave says before 1870.

John Bowers and Mary Lincoln Stover marriage record

John Bowers and Mary Pearce (Crawley) marriage record

David B. Bowers and his wife. Two of his brothers below

Sources for this Post: 1850 Census, Teter Nave East Tennessee Pioneer His Ancestors and Descendants bu Robert T. Nave and Margaret W. Hougland, War of 1812 Pension document, Carter marriage records, FamilySearch, Ancestry, Google, Watagau Historical Association,  a family history of Phoebe Ward, a page from the family bible of Daniel Stover Sr. (given to me by Robt. Nave), and correspondence with Dale Jenkins.