Margaret Eady Gay (1791-after 1860)

March is Women's History Month and my cousin, Sara Campbell (Remembering Those Who Came Before Us) challenged me to post 31 mini blogs about our female ancestors. Lisa Alzo at The Accidental Genealogist has compiled some prompts to make blogging about female ancestors a little easier.

March 9 — Take a family document (baptismal certificate, passenger list, naturalization petition, etc.) and write a brief narrative using the information.

John Eady to Henry Eady for Margaret Eady Gay 1832

In 1832 my 5 times great-grandfather John Eady deeded land to his son  -- and my 4 times great-grandfather -- Henry. What does this have to do with a female ancestor? The transcript from the Georgia Supreme Court Deed Mortgage Book (Vol C-D, 1833-1837) gives us a clue:

"Georgia, Wilkinson County} This indenture made this 27th of November in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty two between John Eady of the one part and Henry Eady of the other part witnesseth that the said John Eady for an[d] in consideration of the love good will and affection which I have and bear unto my daughter Margaret Gay do give and grant unto the said Henry Eady as trustee for my daughter Margaret Gay all that lot or parcel of land lying and being in the 24th district of formerly [sic] Muscogee, now Talbot County known by lot (No 7) seven with all that appertains thereunto in any wiss [sic] whatsoever to the only proper use benefit and behoof of him the said Henry trustee as above mentioned for the use of my said daughter Margaret Gay and after her death to be equally divided or sold for a Division among all her children. And I the said John Eady my heirs and assigns unto the said Henry Eady trustee as above the said land and promises to and will warrant and forever defend in writing whereof I have hereunto let my hand and seal the day and year above written" -- Recorded 26th March 1833 ---

John received this parcel of land and 3 others (one in Muscogee and two in Lee Counties) in 1827 as a fortunate drawer due to his service to Georgia in the Revolutionary War (Hitz, Alex M., comp.Authentic List of All Land Lottery Grants Made to Veterans of the Revolutionary War by the State of Georgia. Atlanta, GA, USA: n.p., 1955). Many of those who received land in the lottery sold the grants without ever taking procession of the land. However, John held on to the parcels in Muscogee, later Talbot County.

John Eady's children Henry and Margaret married siblings, John and Elizabeth Gay, the children of Allen Gay and Abigail Castleberry. Henry and Elizabeth married in October 1807 according to Henry's War of 1812 pension record. John and Margaret married a couple of months later on Christmas Eve of the same year. Both couples wed in Wilkinson County, Georgia.

At the time that John named Henry the trustee for Margaret and her interest in Lot 7, Georgia followed the common law doctrine of coverture in which a married woman had no legal rights of her own but rather her rights were subsumed by those of her husband. In 1832, John and Margaret Gay had been married for almost 25 years. From the language in the deed, it seems clear that Margaret's father, out of love and concern for his daughter, was trying to keep the land out of his son-in-law's hands. It was a strategy that worked until 1848. 

John Eady died in Wilkinson County in 1845, followed in 1847 by the death of Henry in the same county. It's possible that Margaret's land in Talbot County was addressed by one or both of their wills, though no record of such as been found to date. Many of Wilkinson County's probate records were destroyed during the Civil War. At any rate, in Talbot County in 1848, John Gay deeded Margaret's land to their son James S Gay (Talbot County Superior Court Deeds and Mortgages Volume G-H, 1841-1850). In the 1860 U.S. Census, Margaret was living with James and his family in Tallapoosa County, Alabama. She was 69 years old.

Six years later, the Georgia legislature passed the Georgia Married Women's Property Act of 1866, which challenged the principles of coverture.

My Mother Joyce

March is Women's History Month and my cousin, Sara Campbell (Remembering Those Who Came Before Us) challenged me to post 31 mini blogs about our female ancestors. Lisa Alzo at The Accidental Genealogist has compiled some prompts to make blogging about female ancestors a little easier.

March 5 — How did they meet? You’ve documented marriages, now, go back a bit. Do you know the story of how your parents met? Your grandparents?

My parents Joyce and Charles met and married in 1957. She was 20 and he was 24. I'm not exactly sure how they met, but I know they were both living in Birmingham at the time. Joyce graduated from Cullman High School in 1956. In her senior year book, her plans were to work as a telephone operator. She moved to Birmingham after graduation and went to work for Ma Bell.

Charles grew up in Jasper, Walker County, Alabama. He got into a wee bit o' trouble with the law when he was 17. As sometimes happened at that time, he was given the choice of the military or jail. He served in the Korean War. When he was discharged, he returned to Alabama. He was working as a mechanic for Hayes Aircraft when I was born and for several years afterwards.

They eloped to Tupelo, Lee County, Mississippi (I'm seeing a pattern here). My aunt Francis went along as the matron of honor and witness. The picture at the top of this blog is the two of them  in front of the church where they were married. Not being familiar with Tupelo, they drove around looking for a church where they might be able to persuade the minister to conduct the ceremony. They got lucky. The church custodian acted as the second witness.  

Gladys Girstle Guthery (1908-1984)

March is Women's History Month and my cousin, Sara Campbell (Remembering Those Who Came Before Us) challenged me to post 31 mini blogs about our female ancestors. Lisa Alzo at The Accidental Genealogist has compiled some prompts to make blogging about female ancestors a little easier.

March 4 — Do you have marriage records for your grandparents or great-grandparents? Write a post about where they were married and when. Any family stories about the wedding day? Post a photo too if you have one.

I'm a little behind on posting as I was out-of-town over the weekend but I plan to catch up. 

Marriage License for Juston and Gladys

My maternal grandparents, Gladys Guthery and Juston Eady eloped. The story I was told was that Gladys ran away from home and Juston's mother hid her in the smokehouse until Juston could make the arrangements for them to travel to Tennessee. They were married 23 Mar 1925 in Lawrence County, Tennessee. 

Juston was 20 years old and Gladys was a few months shy of her 17th birthday. Juston's cousin C.W. Methvin signed the bond with him and likely drove them from Cullman County, Alabama where they all lived, north the 100 miles or so to Lawrenceburg. 

They had 11 children -- 4 boys and 7 girls. All but two survived to adulthood.

Welcome to My Blog!

You may have arrived here by accident or you may have gotten here through a search engine. Regardless, I'm happy you're here. If you are curious about the title, it is based on a quote from George Bernard Shaw's Immaturity: "If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you'd best teach it to dance."

Let me introduce myself. I'm Teresa Brewer Devine, an amateur genealogist and my family's historian. I've been researching my father's Brewer line and my mother's Eady line for several years. I've had some success. I've been accepted as a member into the United Daughters of the Confederacy based on the service of my paternal 2nd great-grandfather, John Augustus Travis Uptain. I've submitted an application to the Daughters of the American Revolution on the service of George Uptain, John AT's grandfather. I'm waiting (not very patiently!) to find out if I will be accepted.

Both sides of my family have been in Alabama for quite a few generations. My mother's Speegle and Lentz ancestors arrived before statehood in 1819. My father's ancestors arrived later, about 1840. Mostly, they settled in Cullman, Limestone and Walker counties. They came to Alabama by traveling from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, through the Carolinas, westward through Tennessee or southerly into Georgia before settling down in Alabama. I was born and grew up in Cullman County.

Many made their way to America from England, Scotland, Ireland and Germany, and I'm trying to track down an alleged "French Connection." The men supported their families by farming the land they received through land grants and outright purchases and, when called upon, the women did, too.

My family has served our country in most of its wars, from the Revolution up to and including Iraq and Afghanistan. Brother fought brother in the War Between the States.

This blog gives me an outlet to talk about my family,  the places that mattered to them, their experiences and lives. If any of the names or places I write about are familiar to you or you are curious about them, let me know.  I hope this also serves as "cousin bait."