#16-52ancestors Mahala (Vanderpool) Vanderpool

16-52ancestors

Mahala (Vanderpool) Vanderpool

Identifying female ancestors properly especially when cousins marry

One of my pet peeves is finding family trees where the woman's husband's surname is given as her maiden name. Or her first husband's surname is recorded as though it were her maiden name with no clue that her maiden name has not yet been determined. Even worse is to find her listed as Mrs. John Smith. Novices are often guilty of not listing females correctly by their maiden names and when that name is unknown, many fail to list her as Mary [ —?—] Smith or as Mary [—?—] Jones Smith. It is especially important when cousins (or relatives) with the same surname marry to indicate that the bride’s maiden name is the same as her husband’s. The way to do this is to put parentheses around her maiden name and to include her married name when writing about her. You probably will have to tweak your computer-generated reports to produce these results. Cousin marriages are much more common than today's genealogists seem to think.

An article that includes the way used by many U.S. scholarly genealogical publications to show unknown maiden names (as well as other unknowns) can be found in the archives of the RootsWeb Review here: http://ftp.rootsweb.ancestry.com/pub/review/20030827.txt

These scholarly periodicals use em dashes rather than two hyphens, but because many genealogy software programs are unable to produce them (much like old typewriters’ incapability), it is acceptable to record an unknown given name or surname by using two hyphens separated by a question mark inside of brackets. If your word processor (or blog) has the capability to create em dashes, use them instead of two hyphens.

William VANDERPOOL was born in 1808 in Ashe County, North Carolina. He married first Mary “Polly” Fuson about 1828, probably in Tennessee, but no marriage record has yet been found. Born in 1803, probably in Smith County, Tennessee, Polly was the daughter of Thomas Fuson, a Revolutionary War soldier, and Rachel Permelia Roberson (Robinson). In the 1830 Campbell County, Tennessee census they (only the head of household is actually named, but William is shown with a female of the right age to be the wife and one young male are in the household) appear. William and Polly removed to Indiana in the early 1830s as William is mentioned in probate records of Marion County, (where his parents died) as of then being of Parke County, Indiana and his second son, James was born in that state about 1831. It was a short stay in Indiana as they relocated back Kentucky between 1835 and 1840 evidently to reside near where Polly’s Fuson family lived in Knox County.

In the early 1840s William and Polly moved again, this time to Missouri. In 1844 and 1846 he was Missouri State Legislature, representing old Putnam County, Missouri. What part the border boundary reorganization between Missouri and Iowa might have played in his Missouri political career ending is not known. Polly died 18 August 1849 near Leon, Decatur County, Iowa, probably in childbirth with her 10th child. She is buried there.

Less than three weeks after his first wife died William Vanderpool, 41, married his cousin, 20-year-old Mahala Vanderpool, on 3 September 1849 in Sullivan County, Missouri. Mahala is believed to be the daughter of Elijah Vanderpool (William’s uncle) and Hannah Bates Fuson, although no documentary evidence has been found yet to support this. However, if the genealogy is accurate, Mahala and William were first cousins via the Vanderpool line, plus Mahala was also the niece of William’s first wife, Polly Fuson. That made Mahala (Vanderpool) Vanderpool a 1C1R (first cousin once removed) on the Vanderpool side and a first cousin on the Fuson side to her stepchildren.

Mahala Vanderpool was born about 1830 in Kentucky. In the 1850 census, William and Mahala are enumerated twice — first in Dade County, Missouri on 26 August and a bit later that year —on  6 November — just over the state line in Decatur County, Iowa. They appeared in the 1859 Kansas state census and in the 1860 federal enumeration in Davis County, Kansas at Fort Riley. Moss did not grow under William’s restless feet.

William, a blacksmith, served for a time during the Civil War in the Union Army shoeing horses in Missouri. However, in the summer of 1864 he was back in Decatur County, Iowa, according to a letter he wrote to Rachel, a daughter by Polly. In the 1870 and 1880 censuses he and his second family are in Newton County, Arkansas where James, one of his sons by Polly, had settled.

William (with a family of eight) last appears on a Cherokee Nation intruder list in the early 1880s with 20 acres and listed as residing in Sequoyah District of the Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory. He died on 5 August 1884 in Redland, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory, according to the Civil War pension claim which his widow, Mahala, filed. Mahala died about 1900, probably in Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory.

Mahala (Vanderpool) Vanderpool

 

William VANDERPOOL and Mary "Polly" FUSON had 10 children with seven of them surviving to adulthood. They have been researched extensively. By his second wife, Mahala Vanderpool, William had nine more children and additional research needs to be done on this family. They are:

 i. Isabella VANDERPOOL was born about 1852 in Dade County, Missouri and is listed as idiotic in the 1870 census Some claim (and a marriage record so indicates) that she married a Henry Rodgers in Laclede County Missouri on 18 March 1867. However, that marriage record also says the parties are of sufficient age, and Isabella would have been only 15. Moreover, she is enumerated with her family in 1870 and she always enumerated with her parents. Additionally, there is no indication that her family was ever in Laclede County, Missouri. They mystery of the marriage record has not been solved. Evidently Isabella died between 1881 and 1885 probably in the Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory.

ii. Josephine Ellen VANDERPOOL, born on 5 July 1854, Arkansas, married (as his second wife) John D. NIXON on 23 February 1877 in Newton County, Arkansas. She died 5 January 1940 in Boone County, Arkansas.

iii. Benjamin Franklin VANDERPOOL, born about 1857 in Missouri; married Lavina (or Lorna) Jane "Jane" GATLING (also spelled GATLIN), on 25 February 1877 in Newton County, Arkansas. He died after 1880, probably in Arkansas. No additional information about Jane.

iv. Henrietta VANDERPOOL, born about 1860 in Missouri, married J. T. "Lewis" HUGGINS (or HIGGINS) 11 July 1878 in Newton County, Arkansas; she died after 1910, probably in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma.

v. Hannah M. VANDERPOOL, born 22 October 1861 in Arkansas, married George William Henry KILE, about 1887, probably in Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory. She died 16 December 1894 in Redland, Sequoyah District, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory. Her two surviving children by KILE went to New Mexico.

vi. Doctor Martin VANDERPOOL was born about 1864 probably in Iowa. He died between 1881 and 1900 probably in Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory.

vii. Arrena A. VANDERPOOL was born in 1866 in Missouri. Evidently she died young, probably in Newton County, Arkansas between 1871 and 1880.

viii. Jonathon Ellsworth “John” VANDERPOOL was born between 1867 and 1870 in either Missouri or Arkansas. He married first Elizabeth SULLIVAN on 30 March 1893 in Newton County, Arkansas; he married secondly Mamie HEATHCOCK, on 14 June 1898 in Vireton, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory. He died between 1921 and 1930 probably in Pittsburg County, Oklahoma.

ix. Stephen Alexander “Steve” VANDERPOOL, born 11 March 1872 in Newton County, Arkansas, married first Hannah HARRIS, on 21 May 1900 in Vireton, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory. He married secondly Nancy MATHIS 19 April 1913 in Newton County, Arkansas. He died 5 February 1938 in Newton County, Arkansas.

 

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Additions and corrections are most welcome. Sources and citations are available upon request by contacting me: myravgormley@gmail.com