Please excuse any grammatical errors.
(TO MY EAST FAMILY)
Sarah Speaks (1950's)
I recently had the opportunity to speak with the
granddaughter of Effie Blaylock asking me if I could help her find more
information on her family. Thought you
all might be interested in what I gave to her.
Everyone knows that I’m a proud member of the DAR and
therefore for me it’s all about the “PROOF”.
You can tell me something but if I can’t back it up with proof I can’t
fully believe it. I want to believe it,
but I want there to be a document that clearly says it or I want there to be
enough circumstantial information and there is no way I cannot believe it. Does this make me a “Doubting Thomas”;
probably. But I want proof!
I joined the DAR under my Dad’s family and have spent a lot
of time researching his line. It’s a
very old established family so information is easily obtained. My mom’s side on the other hand….Grrrrr! When researching and building your family
tree, you start with what you know and go generation by generation. You go up or back in time,
1st Generation: Cathy Sampson (m. William E
Sampson)
Cathy is the
daughter of:
2nd Generation: William Garnet Holt and Alice
Pauline East
Alice East is the
daughter of:
3rd
Generation: Albert
Holland East and Irene Doolittle
Irene Doolittle is the Daughter of:
4th Generation: George Washington
Doolittle and Sarah Speaks
Sarah Speaks is
the Daughter of: ?????
Let us stop here.
Everyone knows that Sarah Speaks was married before; she had two children
Effie and Richard when she married George. After marrying she had two more children Irene and Geraldine. That’s pretty much all I knew. Was
she a Speaks by birth or my marriage? I
asked my mom and my aunt and they both said, they didn’t know. She was just Sarah Speaks. When I started this process this was as
far and I could go. I didn’t know
anything about Sarah or George. I talked with someone who researched the
Doolittle line and they were stuck too.
George was a Doolittle living in Danville VA. Most other Doolittle’s where in NY or
CT. I was basically stuck. If I could find one, I could
probably find the other. Now you know why
I went back to researching my Dad’s line; it was so much easier.
I didn’t have a Birth or Death or marriage Certificate, not
even a grave marker. My mom said that
she was little when her Grandpa Doolittle died (of pneumonia) so I put his
death at around 1932. I was born in 1957 and my Great Grandmother
Doolittle was still alive and mom said she died when I was really little so we
just estimated her death at around 1959.
Let’s see how good our “guesses” were.
First let me say if
you are considering genealogy research, learn this; Genealogy is about
“instinct”. You need to follow your
instincts when researching. You will
either be right, wrong or hit a brick wall.
You must be willing to go down the wrong path in order to find the right
path. Think of it like a science
experiment. Make a hypothesis and follow
it until the end and then see where you are.
There you go, Amber, I brought science into Genealogy. The more you research the more you will
understand the dynamics of the time and be able to make a better “guess” on
where to go next.
It’s also about “perseverance” and
“tenacity”; you have to be willing to research and research and research and
research. Don’t give up. Put it away and come back to it later. That’s what I do. I
switch from maternal line to paternal line and ancestor to ancestor.
As I researched, I began to make assumptions that Sarah was
a Speaks by birth. I don’t know why, but
I couldn’t find anything that led me to believe that Speaks was her married
name. I started going thru census after
census. I looked in both VA and NC.
Here is a little bit of information that I used to help me research. My grandmother, Irene Doolittle, was born in
1902. So we can assume that
her parents (Sarah and George) were married before she was born; so let just say they were
married in 1901. Effie and Richard were
older so they would have had to been born in the late 1890’s. Right?
Women traditionally married between the age of 18-20, even younger. I'll put Sarah’s birth
in the mid 1870’s. 1874-1876 or so. Then I'll estimate her parents as being born approximately 20 years before that in the late 1840s and early 1850s. It's ok to make assumptions.
Now let’s talk Census.
Any census before 1850 only has
the name of the “head of house” it will
break down the house by age, sex and race.
The 1850 census is the first census that lists the names of those in the
house. But there is no relationship
listed between the people in the house so you have to start making assumptions
as to who these people are. Look at the
ages! If a person is listed a age 10 and
the assumed mother is only age 20, then
she isn’t the mother of that child.
However, if the father is age 30, then the child could be his. Oh what a tangled web ..but is the assumed
older woman the mother or is she the sister and all of the people listed are
siblings. Who knows? Not you until you keep researching!
Why do we keep at
this, because all “genealogists” have a thirst for knowledge that goes
beyond who our parents and grandparents were.
We ask those other questions, who were the other people our ancestors
surrounded themselves with? In many
cases, these other people may end up being one of your long lost grandparents. DYNAMICS!
Understand the time period, what is happening, where people are living,
how available is transportation, did a sibling marry into a family that lived
in another county, state, etc. The
farther back in time you go the smaller the “Marriage pool” is and the closer
knit the community is. Yes, you will
find that your grandparents are first cousins.
You will find a grandfather whose wife died and he remarried “her
sister” or “cousin”. That’s life at the
time. Deal with it!
If my assumptions are correct, I will need to look in the
1880 census for the first glimpses of Sarah.
I’m assuming she was born in NC not VA.
Why I don’t know, but that’s where I start. I used ancestry and Familysearch.org to
research. I didn’t find a lot of Sarah
Speaks in my search so based on the 1880 census I went with the assumption that
Sarah was the daughter of Richmond Speaks.
By the way for all those just starting out: There is NO 1890 Census! It’s our stumbling block and we research
around it. .
This is a transcription of the census. Note the “mother” Tabitha M Speaks. This name will drive me crazy in future
searches. Always, and I mean Always look
at the actual census.
So I kept researching...hoping to find something, anything on Sarah. Look what I stumbled upon. A Obituary of Effie.
Now I have a path to follow. But that still doesn’t connect me to George
Washington Doolittle. And who are Effie
and Richard’s father. The search continues,
but it doesn’t affect me so I keep on going.
Mama said that Effie was Effie Doolittle. Was she adopted or is this just the name mama
assumed was Effie’s last name. She
married Walter Blaylock so that how I knew her.
I’m on the right track.
Sarah is Sarah Speaks.
Now I need to “officially” find the proof connect her to George Doolittle. (fyi the
DAR would accept this obituary as proof since it was written by someone who knew
her. It gives all the right info, name,
spouse, parents, children and siblings.
A little more dates would be nice).
Since all of this started I’ve managed to find a lot of
other information on Sarah Speaks and George Doolittle. George was still a mystery until my Aunt
sent me an article that my Great Aunt Geraldine gave to the local paper.
Now we are getting somewhere. Thanks to Great Aunt Geraldine Bailey for the article and Aunt Bonnie for forwarding a copy to me. So much information. But hearsay! Need those proofs. So I'll keep researching..
Next I found the marriage records for George and Sarah. Guilford County, North Carolina.
Note the parents of Sarah are Richmond and Malinda
Speaks. (Darn couldn’t they have said what Malinda’s maiden name was…..a search
for another day). Also gives the
name of parents of George as Isaac
Doolittle and Huldah Doolittle (Grrrrrr).
So I keep researching and a volunteer from Findagrave.com was nice enough to take a picture of George and Sarah's grave markers and post it for me.
Note, the dates for George will come back to haunt me later on. George and later Sarah were buried on their
own property as were most people who owned pieces of land. Later they were be re-interned to a local
cemetery.
I'll switch to researching George for a while. I could never figure out why George decided to come down
to NC. What was the impetus? If I take these dates into consideration, I
might assume that he was in the Northern Army during the Civil War and liked
the area so decided to move here.
However, if you take in the time period, what would make a man, who
lived in NY State want to move to NC.
There is always a reason. You
just have to find it.
So we have Sarah in the 1880 census, but where is
George. I’ll start with the first known
census of George with his parents Isaac and Huldah. The first time I find him is in the 1860
census.
It says that George W is age 5……that would make him born in
1855….but the grave marker says 1846.
So let's look at the 1850 census for Isaac and Huldah and see what we
find.
If you look at the 1850
census, George isn’t there. But he is in
the 1860 leading you to the understanding that whoever put in the grave marker
didn’t have the correct information.
Still tracking George.
Where is the family in 1870. I
can’t find an 1870 Census, but I can find the 1875 New York Census….I’ll take
that….Note George W is age 20. (born
1855)
If George is 20 in 1875, he would have been too young to be
in the Civil War. So why does George
leave everything he knows to go south.
My Great Aunt says he comes after his father dies. Maybe.
INTERESTED YET! What About Sarah! Don’t worry about Sarah she hasn't been born. So let’s keep going
and learn more about George. We’ll get back to Sarah later.
Let’s take a look at George in 1880.
Surprise, Surprise, Surprise. George is seen living next to his parents
with a “WIFE”. He is
living in his own home, but on the same land as his parents. SHOCK!
We all knew Sarah had been married before, but George? (check the next page of the census)
So in 1880, George is married with 2 year old daughter. Let’s go forward to 1890…NO there is no 1890
Census. What about the 1900 census. Haven’t found him there either nor have I
found a Maggie Baker Doolittle. Never
saw Maggie again. I did find an Annie May McDowell age 21,
married 1 year born in 1878. This is
the last time that I’ve found Annie May McDowell.
Here is what I think
happened. George’s wife dies, his
father dies and maybe his daughter dies. There
is nothing to keep him from heading to a new life.
So where is George in 1900.
I HAVE NO CLUE! He might be
in NC as my aunt says or in transition from NY or still in NY. I will probably never know why George moved
south or when, but I’m glad he did.
So what is happening with Sarah. Since there is no 1890 census, lets jump to
1900 and see if we can find her. Here is
the story. Sarah is living with her
parents Richmond and Bither (not Tabatha) Speaks, her sister Mary J and her
children and nieces and nephews. Take a
look further. Mary J is listed as a “Widow”
and Sarah is listed as “Divorced” having 2 children. Sarah’s children are Ethey L (Effie Lee) age
4 and William R (Richard) age 4 months.
The assumption is that the rest of the children are Mary J’s.
Can you imagine what Sarah’s life must have been like to be
divorced in 1900? Richard is born in 1900, Sarah and George are married in 1901 and
another child is born in 1902. Boy they worked
fast in those days.
*****************
Last year Virginia Governor, Terry McAuliffe, released (sold) many of the vital records to Ancestry. Before that point, we had to pay to get a copy of Death Certificates at $12.00 each. If you can image the money that could involve. If they can't find the DC, they keep the money. In one night I was able to get DC's for most of my Grandparents, Great Grandparents and even some of my Great Great Grandparents. It was a good day and I don't think I went to bed that night at all.
*****************
George Washington Doolittle’s Death Certificate.
Died in 1932 – my mom would have been 5 at this point
Died of Pneumonia - so far my mom’s memory is correct.
Parents: Match the
marriage records AND it lists his mom as Huldah Bennett of Middletown NY. (I
sent all of this information to the Doolittle family historian and he was
delighted.)
*****************
Sarah Speaks Doolittle Death Certificate
Died in 1959 – I was born in 1957
Born Aug 1875
Parents: Richmond Speaks and Melanda “RASH”
So There you have it; the Story of Sarah Speaks and George Doolittle.
This is no way the end of Sarah and George. These are the basic facts. There is so much more to their history and I plan to keep on researching. How and when did George and Sarah meet. I don't know. But I will tell you that my research into the Speaks family has led me to St. Mary's City in Maryland to the "Smoots". Re-read Aunt Geraldine's article, it mentions the "Smoot Plantation". Coincidence? I don't know because I'm still researching.
*****************
Perhaps you have information, pictures or insights to share. If so, I would love to talk with you.
*****************
Wait! You started out saying that Effie's granddaughter wanted information. Did you ever find it?
*****************
Just to finish the story.
I found a Tennessee marriage record for Sarah Ann Speaks to Gilbert
Sammons for Nov 1, 1894. Effie was born in June 16, 1895. (You do the math.... but everyone knows that a
newly married women can do in 8 months what takes other women 9
months to do). Who was Gilbert
Samons/Samuels. I don’t know and unless
Effie’s granddaughter asks for help.
This is as far as I’ll go.
***************
Hoped you enjoyed the walk thru my research and weren't too bored.
More to come in the next months on other members or our family.
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