Family Maps

One of the really cool things that my wife brought back from the genealogy library were these family maps of the various counties where my ancestors lived.  One in particular was from Tangipahoa parish that showed my family after Jacob had died or ran off or whatever he did.

 

It shows James Gill, Loama Pittman, and Nancy Pittman living in the same section, and surrounding area.   I highly suspect that Loama is the same Loami covered in an earlier blog post.  That would give further evidence to him being related, and possibly another son of Jacob and Nancy.

There is also an Isaac Brumfield in the mix too.  I'm not sure if his residence coincided with my relatives, because the land patent is a full forty six years after Nancy's was filed.

The Worst Marriage Certificate Ever

I have entertained the idea, for a long time, that Jacob did not die between 1845 and 1850.  Rather that he ran off for some reason or another.  On Ancestry.com I had seen a record where  a Jacob Pittman married a Martha Moore in Rankin County in 1846.  I always wondered what this record might contain (it was just an index on Ancestry).

Then, I got an opportunity to go to Snowbird Utah for work recently.  My wife tagged along with me so that she could go to the Family History Library there.  I asked her to search for this marriage record, and this is what she found:

Anyone who has spent a little time searching through historical records knows that a lot of them are inconsistent.  This record, however, might be the worst one that I have ever seen.  Let's look at who it says is getting married:

1. The certificate might be a marriage between Jacob Williams and Martha Levia Moore.  (Marthas first name is shoehorned in)
2. Jacob Pitman (Notice the 1 "t") first appears midway through the document by the "L.S." box
3. Then The document decides that it is a marriage certificate between Jacob Pittman and Martha Levia Moon
4. Finally, at the very bottom, it seems that this is a marriage between Jacob Pittman and Martha Levia Moore (or Moone, or something)

So I am not sure what this is.  I cannot find records of a Jacob Williams or a Jacob Pittman with a wife named Martha in Mississippi other than this record.

Unlike most of the marriage certificates that I've found over the years, this one doesn't list any birthdays or ages, or really anything that could be used to identify the couple other than their names.  

No Convergence

I've been going back over my Ancestry DNA matches lately.  I just can't help but think that there should be a clue there somewhere.

Below are some of my closest matches, and a bit about their ancestry, and where their trails go cold.

* R Bedford (MRCA 1: All Markers Match)  This one is an odd one.  I've been contacted by the owner of this test before.  There are no Pittmans in their tree.  So either an adoption or some funny business is going on.

* Everett Pittman (MRCA 1: All Markers Match)  Everett (1807 - 1879) is hypothesized to have been Jacob's brother.  But that's just a hypothesis (by the world's foremost experts on both Everett and Jacob)  Little is known about him other than he was probably born in NC and settled in LA.  He seems to have lived very near to my ancestors for most all of his life.

* L Pittman (MRCA 1: All Markers Match)  These guys end with Joseph Berry Pittman (1849 - 1934) who was born in TN.  he was born well after Jacob and even some of his children.  This simply isn't far enough back.  A cursory search shows that JB's father may have been Joel Pittman (1804 - ?) also born in TN.  They were living in Alabama in 1860 if so.  This is a lead to follow up.

* R Pittman (MRCA 7: 1 Differing Marker)  This tree ends with James M Pittman (1847 - ~1910) who was born in AL.  He also lived in Sumner MS which is a long way from Marion Co.  In the 1900 Census, his father's birthplace is listed as South Carolina

* J Pittman (MRCA 8: 1 Differing Marker)  This tree is quite a mess.  It starts with a group of Pittmans (Pittmen?) that settled in Kentucky, and goes through North Carolina all of the way to Thomas Pittman of Virginia.  I'm not sure that I trust the tree, but it does have the most leads (as well as red herrings) in it.

* J A Pittman (MRCA 15: 3 Differing markers)  At 15 generations back, it is now officially silly to be comparing these trees.  This group starts in Arkansas and goes back through Georga to Virginia.