52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Strong Woman

This post is part of Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks for 2018. The prompt for the week of March 5, 2018, is Strong Woman.

For every female ancestor I considered for this prompt, Strong Woman, I discovered I’d already written about her in previous posts, so I had a hard time coming up with someone unless I went even further back in the generations. And the further back I go, the less information I have and the harder the women are to research. 

Any of my female ancestors who survived long enough to give birth to a healthy child who became my ancestor was a strong woman indeed. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here. In fact, any woman who survives to adulthood is a Strong Woman, whether she leaves behind children or not. 

So as I perused my family tree and looked up a few ladies, I settled on my maternal 6th great grandmother, Amy Goodwyn/Goodwin, for no other reason than I haven’t written about her before nor have I done any research. As soon as I began researching, I found that she’d been married twice and had children by each husband.

I don’t know if the dates of birth and death that I have for Amy are correct. I don’t even remember where I got them, probably from someone’s family tree on ancestry.com before I knew better than to just copy trees. She may have been born on August 31, 1732. A findagrave memorial says she married my 6th great grandfather, Thomas Mitchell, in 1747 and they had seven children: John, Henry, Thomas Goodwin (my 5th great grandfather), Tabitha, Winifred, James, and Richard. Amy’s first husband, Thomas, died about 1762 or maybe before, as she married her second husband, John Raines, that same year, on October 5, 1762. After marrying John, she gave birth to four more children: Thomas, Robert, Cadwallader, and Amy. 

Amy died February 14, 1773, in Sussex County, Virginia. 

Here’s my descent from Amy:

Amy Goodwyn/Goodwin and Thomas Mitchell (my 6th great grandparents)
Thomas Goodwin Mitchell and Ann Raines (my 5th great grandparents)
Susannah Mitchell and Littleton Wyche (my 4th great grandparents)
Thomas Clark Wyche and Catharine MacIntyre (my 3rd great grandparents)
Mary Barry Wyche and Remer Young (my 2nd great grandparents)
Catherine Young and John T. Roberts (my great grandparents)
Leona Roberts and William Redles (my grandparents)
Leona Redles and Albert Pendleton (my parents)

I also didn't find much online about Amy's first husband Thomas. Maybe one day I'll get back to this research.

Catherine

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - #7 Ann Raines

My maternal 5th great grandmother Ann Raines was born on September 3, 1762, in Sussex County, Virginia, to Nathaniel Raines and Susannah Parham. Nathaniel was a Revolutionary War soldier in Virginia. Ann married Thomas Goodwin Mitchell, who also fought in the Revolution. Ann and Thomas had 11 or 12 children. As I noted in my post about their daughter Susannah (my 4th great grandmother), besides Susannah, according to Huxford, their children were Amy Goodwin, Hartwell, Nathaniel Raines, Richard, Thomas G., Tobitha, Nancy Green, Taylor, John, and Robert.[1] I have Edward listed as a child of theirs in my tree but I don't have Tobitha listed as a daughter. While researching for this post, I found a genealogy website about the Raines family that notes "Tabitha" died in infancy. Edward is listed as a child and died in Jasper County, Georgia, in 1824, but Robert isn't listed as a child of theirs. See Descendants of William Raines http://zdraines.homestead.com/files/w_raines.htm. Looking at this website, I see many connections between the Raines family and several of my surnames: Goodwin/Goodwyn, Wyche, and Mitchell. Apparently these relationships go way back.

Ann and Thomas moved to Hancock County Georgia after the Revolutionary War and then moved to the portion of Montgomery County that was later included in Telfair County. Thomas may be the Thomas Mitchell in the 1806 Montgomery County, Georgia, tax digest below. It notes "Do [ditto Montgomery], Hancock" next to his name. Below his name is a Thomas Raines who may have been a relative or sibling of Ann's. Listed above Thomas Mitchell is Edward Blackshear who may be the same person who married their daughter Amy.[2]

1806 Montgomery County tax digest for Thomas Mitchell (click on image for a larger view)

In 1825, Ann and Thomas moved to "newly formed" Thomas County, Georgia, where Thomas died the following year. Ann died there in 1830.[3]

Catherine

This post is part of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge by genealogist Amy Crow at No Story Too Small.

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[1] Folks Huxford. Pioneers of Wiregrass Georgia. Vol. 1. Cooper Press, Jacksonville, Florida, 1966, 184-185.

[2] Ancestry.com Georgia Property Tax Digests 1793-1892. Militia District Number 51. Citing Georgia Tax Digest [1890]. 140 volumes. Morrow, Georgia: Georgia Archives.

[3] See footnote 1.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - #6 Susannah Mitchell

My maternal 4th great grandmother, Susannah Mitchell was born September 20, 1780, in Sussex County, Virginia, to Thomas Goodwin Mitchell and Ann Raines. She was the oldest of 11 or 12 children. Her siblings were Amy Goodwin, Hartwell, Nathaniel Raines, Richard, Thomas G., Tobitha, Nancy Green, Taylor, John, and Robert.[1] I have a brother named Edward in my tree but I don't have Tobitha listed as a sister.

Susannah married Littleton Wyche on May 2, 1798, in Richmond County, Georgia.[2] She gave birth to daughter Nancy in 1799, and by the birth of their second child Thomas Clarke in 1801 (my 3rd great grandfather), they were living in Montgomery County, Georgia, where the rest of their children were born: Rebecca Taylor, Martha Susannah, Maria, Elizabeth, Henry, Margaret Bryan, William, Patience, and Littleton.

By the 1830 census, Susannah and Littleton had moved their family to Thomas County, Georgia. Littleton died in 1834, and Susannah may have moved in with their son William. There's a female of the right age (about 60) living with William and his wife in the 1840 Thomas County census. Susannah is enumerated in the 1850 Thomas County census as living with son Thomas and his family.[3]

This is an 1863 Georgia-Alabama map that I've labeled with the counties to show the migration of Susannah Mitchell and Littleton Wyche from Richmond County, to Montgomery County, and finally to Thomas County Georgia (A. J. Johnson's map of Georgia and Alabama from http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/histcountymaps/ga1863map.htm)

1830 Thomas County, Georgia, census for Littleton Wyche (click on image for a larger view)

1840 Thomas County, Georgia, census for William Wyche (click on image for a larger view)

1850 Thomas County, Georgia, census for Thomas C. Wyche. Susannah is listed as living in his household (click on image for a larger view).

Susannah died when she was nearly 70 years old on July 29, 1850. According to her memorial on Findagrave.com, she and Littleton are buried in the Gatlin-Wyche home cemetery four miles east of Thomasville, Georgia.

Catherine

This post is part of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge by genealogist Amy Crow at No Story Too Small.

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[1] Folks Huxford. Pioneers of Wiregrass Georgia. Vol. 1. Cooper Press, Jacksonville, Florida, 1966, 184-185.

[2] Ancestry.com. Georgia Marriages 1699-1944

[3] 1830 U.S. census, Thomas County, Georgia, population schedule, Not Stated, p. 17, Littleton Wyche, digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 February 2014), citing NARA microfilm publication M19; 1840 U.S. census, Thomas County, Georgia, population schedule, Thomasville, p. 292, William Wyche, digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 February 2014), citing NARA microfilm publication M704; 1850 census, Thomas County, Georgia, population schedule, District 81, p. 35B, dwelling 504, family 54, Thomas C. Wyche, digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 February 2014), citing NARA microfilm publication M432.