Cathey Family – Page 3 – Digging Up Your Family

William Glenn Cathey

Are you ready for another mystery? Ok, then! Let’s go!

When I received a copy of the Cathey Family History and Genealogy written by Boyt Henderson Cathey in the mail last week I already knew that my Cathey, William Glenn Cathey, was not in it. I also knew that Archibald Cathey and Isabella Lankford, who are commonly thought to be William Glenn’s parents, are in the book. I had inquired before why William Glenn wasn’t listed with the other children and I was told by John Cathey, the secretary of the Cathey Reunion Association, that William was probably not found until after the book had been written. Which to me is odd, since he is on the census records. No, let me rephrase that…since a William is on the census records. What follows is what I have concerning William Glenn Cathey and William Cathey on the census records that may or may not be the same William.

William Glenn Cathey was born to Archibald Cathey and Isabella Lankford in Tennessee sometime between 1857 and 1864, depending on which source (Reflections From Our Past, A Pictorial History of Houston County, Tennessee © 2001) or census record (1870, 1880 or 1900) you want to believe. The only problem that I have with the 1857 date is that Archibald and Isabella married on February 7, 1857 (according the Reflections From Our Past) or February 8, 1857 (according to Family Search). That does give them plenty of time for Isabella to give birth to William Glenn before the end of 1857, provided that she got pregnant immediately after the marriage. Otherwise she would have had to be pregnant before the marriage since Reflection From Our Past, the source of the 1857 date, also says that Archie and Isabella’s daughter, May Ella Cathey, was born in February of 1858.

So, in the 1870 Stewart County, Tennessee census there was a William (Wm) listed as living in the household at age 8 years, estimated birth date about 1862. Archie, a farmer (of course), and Isabella are listed, along with their other children: Mary (age 12 years), George (age 10 years), Maude (age 6 years), Archibald (age 2 years) and John (age 3 months). So this census gives us quite a difference in the birth year of William, a difference of 5 years, actually, from Reflections.

In 1880 in Houston County, Tennessee we once again find the family with a William, age 17 years, estimated birth date in 1863. Parents Archie (Archable) and Isabella (Izabell) and their children listed: Marella (age 22 years), George (age 20 years), Maud (age 15 years), AK (age 12 years), Walter age (10 years), granddaughter Maud (age 2 years), and Udora Lankford (Eudora, age 35 years) who was Isabella’s sister and is listed on the census as Idiotic.

We already know that William Glenn Cathey married Margaret Elizabeth “Lizzie” Summers on August 26, 1889, even though Reflections gives the year as 1888 (I’m beginning to see a pattern of misinformation in this book…I would really like to get my hands on the book…the two pages I have seen from it were emailed to me from the Stewart County, Tennessee library).

In 1900 William Glenn and Lizzie are living in Indian Bayou, Lonoke, Arkansas. William, by now is 36 years old and this census gives his birth date as February of 1864. So that is now a 7 year difference from Reflections, a 2 year difference from the 1870 census and a 1 year difference from the 1880 census. William at this point has four children: Riley (Riley Leonard, age 10 years), Arthie (Acra Archie, age 6 years), Georgie (George Arlee, age 4 years) and Katie (Katie Clady, age 2 years). This is also the census that describes William Glenn’s occupation as “tipping block” which I don’t have the foggiest idea what that is (please, I am begging someone to tell me!).

William Glenn Cathey and Lizzie had at least 2 more children before his death: Ludie Mae Cathey and Willie Richard Cathey. There is another Cathey child listed on the 1910 census with widowed Lizzie by the name of Maggie Cathey, though I am still trying to determine if she might be the Maggie Smith listed on later census records (or not, I can’t figure it out yet).

According to Reflections, William Glenn Cathey passed away on July 4, 1906 in Houston County, Tennessee and he is buried in Nolan Cemetery in Hurricane Mills, Humphreys County, Tennessee. Since Tennessee was not required to keep vital records until 1914, there is no death record for him (that I have located). I put in a request at Find A Grave for someone to find his headstone and snap a picture of it for me, but no one has claimed it yet. Of course, I don’t even know if there is a headstone, let alone if he is really buried there.

So there’s another mystery that has yet to be solved. I still can’t figure out why the William on the census records wouldn’t have been included in the Cathey book unless Boyt did the research for the book only from sources other than census records. I also wish I could get better birth and death dates. And I also wish that someone would tell me what “tipping blocks” is for an occupation.

Margaret Elizabeth “Lizzie” Summers

I keep running across ancestors that make me scratch my head, and then make me want to pull my hair out. This is one of those ancestors (insert Law & Order “bomp bomp” here).

Margaret Elizabeth “Lizzie” Summers supposedly was born on March 15, 1870 in Tennessee. I say supposedly, because I cannot find her on any census from 1870 and by the time most were enumerated that year she would have been several months old, thus appearing somewhere. And I get that date off of her death certificate and the 1900 census. Where was she? If someone can find her in 1870 I will be forever grateful.

So, by all accounts she was born to mother Amanda. In 1870 Amanda is found in Danville, Stewart County, Tennessee living with her parents, Pink (Basil Pinkney Summers) and Emily (Duffel) Summers, and her siblings, Greenberry, Clementine, Anderson and Rufus. The census was enumerated on August 12, 1870. So where is Lizzie? The census also states that Amanda is Single. Not Widowed. Not Married. Not Divorced. Single. So from this we can gather that Lizzie was illegitimate. Well, if she actually existed at that point, I mean.

In 1880 Lizzie finally shows up on the census enumerated in June 1880, either on the 15^th or the 5^th, it’s kind of hard to read. By now Houston County, Tennessee (ca. 1871) had been formed, part of it from Stewart County, and that is where they are shown living. Amanda is now living with her mother (Widowed), her brother Greenberry (Single) and a 19 year old boarder named “Ritchard”. Also living in the household are Amanda’s THREE children: Lizzie (age 10 years), Leona (age 6 years) and “Infant” (Leon Edward, age 1 month). Amanda is still Single. Not Widowed. Not Married. Not Divorced. Single. Which means that all three of her children were illegitimate.

So who was Lizzie’s father? Did all three of Amanda’s children at this point have the same father?

After 1880 we don’t see Amanda on the census records. She apparently died in 1889, after having married James Anderson Proctor late in the year of 1880 after his first wife, Paralee, died of consumption in February the same year. Lizzie married William Glenn Cathey August 26, 1889. Depending on exactly when Amanda died (which we don’t know…the Mortality Schedules were also destroyed for the years following 1885 along with the 1890 census…sigh), I think that the marriage may have been set up. On the same day, by the same person, Leona also married. Lizzie would have been 19 years old and Leona would have been 16 years old. Amanda’s brother Greenberry had signed and witnessed both bonds for the marriages. James Anderson Proctor remarried for a third time to Sarah Hamm (Sallie J Hams on Family Search) on December 26, 1889 in Montgomery County, Tennessee. I don’t know where Amanda’s other illegitimate child, Leon, is at the time but I am assuming he stayed with Greenberry. Her other children that she gave birth to after marrying James Anderson Proctor continued to live with him, moving to Missouri with him later.

In 1900 Lizzie and William Glenn Cathey are in Indian Bayou, Lonoke, Arkansas. Will’s occupation is shown as “tipping blocks”, which if anyone knows what that is, please enlighten me. Lizzie is at home with their four children: Riley (age 10 years), Archie (age 6 years), George (age 4 years) and Katie (age 2 years). Katie is their only child born in Arkansas.

In 1910 Lizzie shows up on the census as Elizabeth Cathey, widowed, living in Humphreys County, Tennessee. Apparently William Glenn Cathey died in 1906 (and is buried in Nolan Cemetery in Humphreys County, Tennessee near Hurricane Mills), though I have yet to find proof of his actual death and I have not seen his headstone as of yet. The children living with Lizzie are: Alvy (Acra Archie, age 16 years), Arlee (George, age 13 years), Katie (age 12 years), Lorine (Ludie Mae, age 7 years), William (Willie Richard, age 4 years) and Maggie (age 2 ½ years). All of the children also carry the Cathey surname. I had seen one source that pinpointed Lizzie and William “Bill” Green Smith’s wedding to a specific date in 1909, but we can see that as of April 27, 1910 Lizzie was not shown as having remarried, nor had she changed her last name to Smith. There were two Smith families living on either side of her, but neither of them had him living in their household.

I still haven’t seen exactly when Lizzie married William “Bill” Green Smith, but I am hoping to find it, or have it shown to me, soon.

By 1920 they had married. Lizzie and Bill are living in Humphreys County, Tennessee with their children: Maggie Smith (age 9 years), Luda Pearl Smith (age 7 years), Walter James Smith (age 4 years), Arlee Cathey (age 24 years) and Willie Cathey (age 14 years). So, I guess I can ask the obvious here: Maggie Cathey in 1910, Maggie Smith in 1920? Were they the same person? If so then she lost 3 ½ years somewhere along the way. And if they are the same person then she was illegitimate since Lizzie and Bill were not yet married by her birth. Two other scenarios for her birth: Maggie Cathey was a different Maggie and William Glenn Cathey is her father, thus making his death date NOT 1906 or Maggie Cathey’s father is a “mystery man” (much like Lizzie’s father). If Maggie Cathey and Maggie Smith are not the same person, then what happened to Maggie Cathey? On a separate note, Ludie Mae, one of Lizzie’s daughters with William Glenn Cathey, is living next door to the Smith family with her husband, Cam Daniel.

In 1930 Lizzie is living in Humphreys County, Tennessee with Bill. Their son, Walter James (age 14 years), is also living with them. The other two people listed as living in the household are Ludie Mae’s son Raymond (age 3 years, ALSO listed as living in Ludie’s household!) and Lizzie’s uncle, Greenberry Summers (age 84 years, though his death certificate for the same year says 86 years).

The census records end there (for now…they are released every 72 years, so next year in 2012 the 1940 census will be released…yay!).

Bill Smith died October 5, 1946 of lobar pneumonia at Western State Lunatic Asylum (as it was known then) where he had been for 26 days (he only had pneumonia for 3 days before his death).

At some point, from what my mother and I have been told, Lizzie lived with her daughter Ludie Mae. I am not sure if that is where she was living when she died or not. From her death record I know she was living in Waverly, Humphreys County, Tennessee.

Margaret Elizabeth “Lizzie” Summers died in at Weakley County Hospital in Martin, Weakley County, Tennessee on October 20, 1952. The cause of death was cerebral hemorrhage due to hypertension. She is buried in Crockett Cemetery, Hurricane Mills, Humphreys County, Tennessee along side her husband, William “Bill” Green Smith.

Going back to the matter of Lizzie’s father: the Proctor family, for some reason, wants to claim Lizzie, Leona and Leon as James Anderson Proctor’s children. I’m not sure why they want that. I figure it would be more savory to say that JA Proctor was nice enough to take into his home this woman with three illegitimate children rather than say that he was such a bastard that he cheated on his first wife and fathered not one, not two, but THREE children with some other woman. Lizzie’s death certificate says that James Franklin Summers is her father. James Franklin Summers, at least the one I know about that is connected to the Summers family, is Amanda’s uncle, her father’s brother, who was, at the time of Lizzie’s birth, married to Tennessee Porter Outlaw. There were plenty of other James Summers that lived in Tennessee, in or near Stewart County, in 1870, also. When I inquired at the Tennessee Archives about Lizzie’s parents’ names having been written in on the death certificate Chuck Sherrill sent me an email saying

“Regarding the handwritten addition of the names of Mrs. Smith's parents, it appears to me that someone reviewed this certificate after it was typed and noted that there was missing information. This reviewer marked the omissions with a star. Someone then went back and obtained the needed information and wrote it in by hand. Whether that additional data came from the original informant (Walter Smith), or from some other source, is not clear.

I looked through about 50 certificates surrounding this one and found only one other with a red star on it. That person did not die at the hospital. I had thought the review might have been done by hospital staff, but apparently it was done at the Health Department.”

So either way, we still have no clue who Lizzie’s father was. And I can’t honestly say that Amanda Summers was Lizzie’s mother, either. Why, you ask? Because so far my autosomal DNA that I submitted has not matched anyone that is related to the Proctor family. If any of the descendants of James Anderson Proctor (and his Proctor Family) and Amanda Summers (and her Summers family) or their children submitted DNA, I would match up to them somehow. So far, nada.

We also understand that Lizzie may have been Native American. Neither Lizzie or her daughter Katie wanted anyone to know that they were “Indian”, going as far as to keep themselves covered from the sun in order to not tan. Another time my grandmother, when she was young, repeated a derogatory remark she had heard from her father about Native Americans to Lizzie. Lizzie turned around and backhanded my grandmother off the porch.

Let’s recap:

Who was Lizzie’s biological father?

Who is this mysterious Maggie Cathey?

When did William Glenn Cathey die?

When did Lizzie marry William “Bill” Green Smith?

Is there anyone out there that can answer the mysteries of Margaret Elizabeth “Lizzie” Summers?

Katie Clady Cathey

Katie Clady Cathey was born on December 18, 1897 in Indian Bayou, Lonoke County, Arkansas to parents William Glenn Cathey (1861-1906) and Margaret Elizabeth “Lizzie” Summers (1870-1952). She was the only child of her family that was not born in Tennessee.

On the 1900 census Katie is living in Indian Bayou with her parents and three older brothers: Riley, Acra Archie and George Arlee. She is listed as two years old. The occupation of her father is, if I am reading this correctly, “tipping blocks”. I’m not really sure what that means. Under occupation for her brother Riley it says “play only”, which is pretty amusing. This census also says that Katie was born in December of 1887.

By 1910 Katie’s father had passed away. When the census was enumerated that year she was living in Humphreys County, Tennessee with her widowed mother; older brothers Acra Archie (listed as “Alvy”) and George Arlee, both of who were employed as farm laborers; and younger siblings Ludie Mae (listed as “Lorine”), William Richard and Maggie.

(note about Maggie: on the 1910 census it has Maggie Cathey age 2 1/2 years. on the 1920 census, after Lizzie remarried to Bill Smith, there is a Maggie Smith age 9 years. I am not sure at this point if they are the same Maggie or two different Maggies. some sources have said that Lizzie married Bill in 1909, yet he is not living with her and her last name is still Cathey on the 1910 census. Maggie on this census may still be his and they may be the same person.)

Katie Clady Cathey married Henry Corbett Craft on July 18, 1915 in Humphreys County, Tennessee.

It took a while to find the family on the 1920 census. One reason, though not the most obvious for location difficulty, is that their name is written in as “Croft”. Their first names made the search take longer, though. Henry Corbett is named as “Aubrey”, though the reason behind that is not apparent to me right now. Katie is listed as “Katty”. That’s not terribly different, so I think the Aubrey threw off the search. On this census Katie and Corb are living in Gibson County, Tennessee with two daughters, Nettie Sue (2 years and 10 months) and Louise (one month).

On October 25, 1923 we know that Katie gave birth to a stillborn daughter. The cause of death was due to strangulation. This child, who was not named, was buried in Bethel Cemetery in Gibson County, Tennessee.

I think the 1930 census is by far the most fun to deal with. Family Search has the last name correct as Craft. Ancestry has it as “Eraft”. I can see, kind of, where the transcriber would see the C as an E, though. The family is living in Madison County, Tennessee. Katie’s name on the census is listed as “Kati”. Her children living with them are Nettie S (age 13), Louise (age 10), Maggie N (age 8), my grandmother Ruthie M (age 4 years and 7 months, listed as “Raethi” on Family Search and “Rarthi” on Ancestry) and Jessie P (age 1 1/2 years).

Katie Clady Cathey passed away November 25, 1935 in Trenton, Gibson County, Tennessee from peritonitis due to a ruptured appendix. She was buried in Double Springs Cemetery in Gibson County, Tennessee. As far as I know there is no headstone for Katie.

Katie and Corb had at least three more children after 1930: Mary Katherine in 1931 and twins, one named John, in 1934. John’s twin, as we understand it, was a stillborn calcified fetus, not very large. Katie or my grandmother apparently buried the twin in a kitchen matchbox.

We are not really sure how many other stillborn children Katie may have had. The doctor had told her that she should not get pregnant anymore because it could kill her, but she did anyway.

Katie worked in fields and picked cotton. My grandmother, who adored her mother, was always with her “fast on her heels”. Katie was a dog lover, too. Katie was a religious woman who once said “damn” and fell to her knees begging my grandmother and God for forgiveness.

Louise Craft

Louise Craft was the daughter of Henry Corbett Craft and Katie Clady Cathey. She was born on December 12, 1919 in Gibson County, Tennessee. Louise only lived to the age of 26 years, so I don’t really have any stories about her.

Louise can be found on the 1920 census in Gibson County, Tennessee. It has her listed as a month old. Her sister, Nettie Sue, is also on the census, listed age 2 years and 10 months. Her parents are listed as “Katty” and “Aubrey”. The family’s surname is misspelled as “Croft”. I have no idea why Henry Corbett is listed as “Aubrey”.

In 1930 Louise is on the District 3, Madison County, Tennessee census. She’s 10 years old and living with her father, listed as Henry C Craft; her mother, listed as Katie Craft; and her siblings: Nettie S (age 13), Maggie N (age 8), Raethi M (misspelled or misread, actually Ruthie M, age 4) and Jessie P (age 1). (Ancestry has them listed as surname “Eraft”)

Louise married AG Harris (born in Gibson County, Tennessee 1915/1916-possibly 2010). Together they had a daughter, Wretha Jane Harris, on January 26, 1939 in Gibson County, Tennessee. At age one month and eleven days, on March 7, 1939, Wretha Jane died in Gibson County, Tennessee of streptococcus endocarditis.

Louise was admitted into John Gaston Hospital, the Memphis City “charity” hospital, in Memphis, Tennessee on December 29, 1945. Four days later, on January 2, 1946 at 8:30pm, Louise passed away from toxemia (“type and cause undetermined”) due to lung abscesses and basilar meningitis.

Louise Craft is buried in Double Springs Cemetery in Gibson County, Tennessee. Also buried in Double Springs is her daughter, Wretha, and her parents, Henry Corbett Craft and Katie Clady Cathey.

The Craft Family and the Melungeons

Several years ago a descendant of the the Craft family presented to my mother in an email the theory that the Craft line extended back to the Melungeons that originated in the Southeastern part of the United States: North Carolina and South Carolina into Tennessee and parts of Virginia, Kentucky and so on. If you don’t know about the Melungeons there is a website with a ton of information that I found through the Lost Colony/Melungeon Lore DNA Project, Melungeon Heritage Association.

There are several theories on the origin of the Melungeons, one being that the members of the Lost Colony of Roanoke may have travelled to Croatan Island and blended with the Native inhabitants. Another theory, of course, is that the colonists were attacked and murdered by the Natives.

In general it is thought that the Melungeons are a grab-bag mix of Native Americans, freed black slaves, Portuguese and white European settlers. DNA tests show that the genomes of known Melungeon descendants correlate with all of these groups.

Census records show us that these families all had appearances that did not allow them to be categorized into mainstream society. They were usually listed as black, Indian or mulatto. In general they may have had European features, but with darker skin. Or some of their features may have been more African than European. There are photos that can be found online of known Melungeons. Some I see and I think that I never would have noticed a difference. Some I see and, though the features are clearly European, their skin is very dark. I have even seen photos of people with blonde hair and very dark skin. As time went on and the Melungeons mingled and married those with predominately European ancestry their successors slowly became accepted as “white”.

So when my mother introduced me with this family theory, I decided to check it out. Because my autosomal DNA matches so many different world populations I am comparing it to different people of known Melungeon origins. This, of course, takes more research, but it’s pretty intriguing. This may explain why members of my direct Craft family get so dark in the sun so quickly. And though we know there is Native American blood, there may also be Melungeon.

A woman in the Lost Colony/Melungeon Lore DNA Project also has Crafts in her family. If I can find if and how her Crafts are from the same line I may be able to say unquestionably that, yes, our Crafts are descended from Melungeons.

I am still researching them, but here’s what I have so far (that I am certain of), following my direct line (this in no way represents all of the offspring from each couple, only my direct line):

Thomas Craft (abt 1810-?)

Dicey Unknown (abt 1822-?)

According to census records Thomas was born in North Carolina. Both his mother and father were born in South Carolina. Dicey was born in Tennessee and both her mother and father were born in South Carolina.

John Craft (1867-1931)

Epanetes (Eppy) Willhite (1869-?)

John Craft was born in Tennessee. Census records state that his father was born in Tennessee, so either the census taker or John himself made a mistake.

Henry Corbett Craft (1895-1971)

Katie Clady Cathey

Corb was born in Hickman County, Tennessee. Katie was born in Indian Bayou, Lonoke, Arkansas.

Ruthie May Craft (1925-2007)

James Paul Stalls, Jr (1917-1987)

Both Ruth and Paul were born in Tennessee.

I have read on websites many different surnames for Dicey. I have also seen many different fathers listed for Thomas, with the most promising being a Charles Craft from South Carolina. Until I have confirmation on these names, however, I cannot actually add them.

On an interesting side note, I read on Wikipedia that an anti-illegal immigration group is using Virginia Dare, the child of , more or less, illegal immigrants (the Native Americans sure didn’t want them on their land) as the namesake and symbol of their group.

Jesse Porter Craft

My grandmother, Ruth May Craft, adored her brother Porter. Jesse Porter Craft was born March 11, 1929 in Tennessee, more than likely Gibson County, to Henry Corbett Craft (1895-1971) and Katie Clady Cathey (1898-1935).

I am, as of this posting, unable to find him on the 1930 census, nor have I located his parents on that census.

My grandmother told a story about how her and Porter used to go and dig up Mayapples to sell. One day when they were spreading them out on the barn roof to dry she accused Porter of stealing some of the Mayapples she had dug up. They got into a scuffle and he knocked her off of the barn!

Jesse Porter Craft died at 1pm on April 27, 1941 in Waverly, Humphreys County, Tennessee at the age of 12. His cause of death was bronco pneumonia, which he had for three days, due to having had the measles for 12 days.

His stepmother, Maudie Berkley, had said that an angel was standing next to his bed when he passed, ready to take him home. She told my mother that after his death they found a feather death crown in his pillow. Maudie still had it and showed it to my mother. Lore has it that feather death crowns form when the soul leaves the body destined for Heaven and that only the very good, pure and holy leave them behind.

I would love more stories of Jesse Porter Craft and of feather crowns!

Category: Cathey Family