This is actually week number three but I'm behind.
I think I'll do another post later in the week.
So,
The word for the week is Challenge.
It was a challenge for me all right-just deciding what direction to take it.
I finally decided to write about the "brick wall" I'm working on at the moment.
Phoebe Smith
That last name, that's a challenge right there!
Phoebe was born in 1810 (Maybe the 8th of February)
in Virginia, USA
Although, the Virginia is suspect to me as it comes from census data and it may be that someone else told the census taker he thought Virginia.
I've been looking at Smith's in Boone County, Missouri and they all seem to have come here from Kentucky so I'm keeping an open mind.
Some people think her parents were Henry Smith and Eve Hickam but I find that unlikely as Eve was only 15 when Phoebe was born. Not impossible but unlikely and she is never attached to information on those two.
There is a Henry Smith in Boone County at the time she married who had a daughter in the 1830 Census who would be about the right age-I'm still looking for probate on him-but his wife's name wasn't Eve. I actually have two Smith families that she could belong to and both came from Kentucky. There are also some Smith's in Howard County to look into.
More fun for me!
Phoebe married William Hickam, son of William (Billy) Hickam and Susannah Erton, on 28 December 1830 in Boone County, Missouri.
They had eight children:
Jinneta Hickam (F) who married James S Crum
Adeline Hickam (F) who married Samuel H Strother
Kesiah (F) who married John Huff
Francis Marion Hickam (M) never married--thought I'd struck gold here when I found a Francis Marion Smith in Boone County but NO.
William Jackson Hickam (M) who married Lucinda Elizabeth Sartain
Samuel Hardin Hickam (M) Married M.
Susan Hickam (F) married Melton Pemberton Vivian
and James Polk Hickam (M) who married Jaley Roann Birdsong.
Phoebe 's husband died in 1852 on his way to California.
A Gold seeker struck down by fever of another type.
The 1860 US Census for Moniteau County, MO show her living with Francis M as head of household.
Phoebe died 23 November 1891 in California, Moniteau Co., MO at the age of 81.
She is buried in the Old Lebanon Cemetery, McGirk, Moniteau Co., MO
There are still many of her descendants living in Moniteau Co., MO
I had never known any Hickam that I could not immediately place within my grandfathers family until one night at an meeting at The University of Missouri.
I turned around and was shocked to see the name on the girl behind me! She was from Moniteau and they consider my family the "Lost branch"
So,
My lineage:
Gail Sue Hickam> James Robert Hickam>Charles Lloyd Hickam>William Hamilton Hickam>James Polk Hickam> William Hickam and Phoebe Smith
2 comments:
Every family seems to have at least one. Women can ber very difficult to track. There are 3 chaps with exactly the same name who lived in the same town - one was my ancestor; one was famous horse breaker; and the third was a young American who was a policman. It just so happens that my anestor was a policeman too. Sigh. Then you get folks who change their name/identity to hide their past.
So interesting. My Dad was always led to believe that he was descended on his father’s side from the first religious minister that came to Australia in the First Fleet, as they had the same surname. Dad bought a biography of the man, only to find out he had no children and actually returned to England!! The truth was he was descended from a convict, but that was considered very shameful in years gone by, hence the fabrication.
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