Eliza Thompson: The mystery of your family tree is no more!

 

I'm really ecstatic to have finally figured out the paternity of Eliza Thompson, buried in Gibson Cemetery #2. 

I knew Eliza was raised by her "adoptive" parents - James William Gibson and his wife, Mary Royster. 

Then I finally found James' will, which referred to Eliza was the 'daughter of Willie Thompson, desc'd.' Somewhere in the will it also states that Eliza had been in James' and Mary's care since she was "about a year old." 

Well, MY Thompson's pretty much stayed in the Union County, area.. but the Thompson's married into the Gibson's via my 2x Grandparents -- John Rowan Thompson marrying Mary Janella Nally, daughter of Vandalia Gibson. 

So I decided to look at neighboring families in the 1870 census of James William Gibson (who already had Eliza Thompson in his care by this point). Well, no Thompson's lived near by.. but sure enough a few doors down is Thomas Nally and his wife, Martha.. the parents of Henry Oliver Nally - who married Vandalia Gibson. 

I decided at that point... Eliza has to be from my Thompson's. Well. John Rowan Thompson's brothers are too young to be Eliza's Dad... so I looked at John Rowan's uncles. Hmm. He has an Uncle named Willis Thompson who was born about 1844 and died about 1870..

Jackpot. 

Willis Thompson's wife was Emily Adeline Pritchett -- and let's face it, the Pritchett's marry into the Gibson's umpteen times. Emily's second marriage was Jack Koonce, and the Koonce's are buried in Gibson Cemetery #1. Emily's sister, Sudia, married Robert Benjamin Gibson, who was a brother of Vandalia Gibson!

I already had Willis' daughter Elizabeth in my tree - birth date October 20th, 1868, and baptism (christening in the Catholic church) May 11th, 1869.. and Eliza's birth date is supposedly October 20th.. so jackpot. This is the correct person. 

Her tombstone looks more like a birth year of 1869, but, with some cleaning, it may reveal 1868 not 1869. Tombstones can sometimes be a year or two off, anyway. It lines up that 1868 is the correct birth date since she was christened in 1869 and is already a year old in the census of 1870 (she would have turned two after the census was taken that year.) 

So Eliza is my 1st cousin 4x removed. The mystery of your family tree is no more, cousin!!