A Conundrum of Connections, Part 3

I am married to William McCardle. William's mother's third husband was Luther Vernon Land. William has two half brothers from this marriage. If you're thinking this familys' connections couldn't get any more complicated, think again! 
Luther Vernon Land's grandfather was Aaron Land. Aaron Land's father was Jacob Land. Jacob Land was born in Pendleton County, SC on September 5, 1809. He married Anna "Annie" Herron and by 1830 they were in Harris County, GA. They had eleven children:
1) Mary Charlotte 1829-1900 m. George Washington Harrison
2) Nancy 1830-1894 m. Henry George Washington Smith
3) Christian Cullen 1831-1904 m. Martha Bass
4) Aaron 1834-1901 m. Angeline Polk Lokey
5) Joseph Benjamin 1836-1911 m. Frances Ann Lokey
6) William Perry 1838-1881 m. Hattie Hembree
7) Elizabeth 1839-1870 m. Charles Pike
8) Jacob A 1844-1901 m. Charlotte Elizabeth Sharp
9) John Henry 1845-1923 m. Missouri Ann Winifred Lokey
10) Jasper M 1848-1911 m. Georgia Ann Wright
11) Thomas Jefferson 1849-1881 m. Frances Emily Adams 

Aaron Land

1834-1901

(Aaron and his brother John Henry served in the unit (Company H, 54th Regiment) with my great great grandfather Marcus Ely. If you read my first post A Conundrum Of Connections, Samuel Craig Rodgers and his brothers Adam, William and James were in this unit as well. You can imagine my surprise when I started my book and realized that my husband's brothers and his step father had ancestors in Marcus Ely's unit!)

Aaron Land's sister Nancy married Henry George Washington Smith. They had six children:

1) Nancy Ann Smith 1854-1881 m. Frank Olin Lumpkin
2) M M Smith 1859-1860
3) Cicero Larkin Smith 1859-1929 m. Lucy Jane Cannon
4) Zulie O. Smith 1867-
5) Minerva Smith 1869-
6) Thomas Smith 1873-

Cicero Larkin Smith and Lucy Jane Cannon Smith:  
1) Annie Mae Smith 1884-1969 m. Frank Olin Lumpkin
2) George Lemuel Smith 1887-1974 m. Virginia Lavinia Hubbard
3) Jesse Eugene Smith 1889-1974 m. Annie Mabel Reese
4) Opie Woodfin Smith 1891-1971 m. Lucy Eleanor Stevens
5) Henry Norman Smith 1893-1968 m. Carrie Lee Anderson
6) Nancy Bedell Smith 1897-1925 m. Tulian Clements Reese
7) Getzen Luther Smith 1898-1971 m Edith Sommers Reese

It took a while to get to my connection through my husband's stepfather Luther Vernon Land,  Aaron Land was Luther Land's grandfather. My grandfather Tulian Clement's Reese's first wife Nancy Bedell Smith was Nancy Land Smith's granddaughter. Nancy Smith and Clements Reese had four children Larkin Tulian "Blackie", Janie, Mildred and Arthur. I loved them so very much! 

Nancy Bedell Smith and Tulian Clements Reese

I also discovered that Nancy Bedell's brother George Lemuel Smith married Virginia Lavinia Hubbard. Her father Richard Jackson Hubbard was in the same unit as my great great grandfather as well! Another interesting connection to the Hubbard family concerns Tulian Clement Reese's second wife Dorothy Ethel McDaniel. Her sister Eugenia married Clay Hubbard, Richard Jackson Hubbard's grandson. 

Robert Edward Lee Land

1866-1946

The Land Home 

River Road

Columbus, GA

Exa Craig Rodgers

1862-1914

Seranus Morgan Rodgers

1866-1919

Estella Land Rodgers

1869-1935

I've also found connections in the Rodgers family to the Land family. Jacob Land's son, Joseph Benjamin Land had a son Robert Edward Lee Land. Robert married Exa Craig Rodgers the daughter of Samuel Craig Rodgers. Joseph Benjamin Land's daughter, Estella, married Seranus Morgan Rodgers. Seranus and Estella Rodgers were the parents of Roy Mitchell Rodgers and Susie Fannie Rodgers! If you read my first post A Conundrum of Connections  and A Conundrum of Connections Part 2, you will see the connections of the Land, McCardle, Rodgers, Reese, Smith, Hubbard, Self and Mehaffey families. It also amazes me that so many connections were found when I researched the men in Company H, 54th Regiment. 

Information form this post came from:
U.S. Federal Census
Marriage certificates
Family photos 
Ancestry.com
Fold3.com

A Conundrum of Connections Part 2

As I stated in my previous post I married William McCardle. His mother's second husband was William Andrew McCardel, Jr. William's grandfather was William Andrew McCardel who married Mollie Gallops. William Andrew's father was Charles Elmer McCardel, a veteran of the Mexican War and Civil War.  Charles McCardel was wounded at the Battle of Chickamauga.  The McCardel family lived in the Pine Knot area of Chattahoochee County, GA. Charles Elmer McCardel married Eliza Jane Parker and they had six children:
1) Charles Lamerle (1854-1932)   m. Laura Ford Mehaffey*
2) Alice Ann (1856-1923)  m. Jesse Pate
3) Martha   (1860-  ?)
4) Jefferson Davis (1862-1947) m.  (1) Frances Gallops (2) Ella Parkman
5) William Andrew (1866-1933) m. Mollie Gallops
6) James Benjamin (1876-1943) m. Nina Robinson

Eliza Jane Parker McCardel

Oct 20, 1836-Sept 26, 1911

Charles Elmer McCardel

Mar 7, 1821-Jan 31, 1881

*My first cousin, Donna Gayle Reese, (the daughter of my mother's brother John Blanchard Reese) married Lem Mehaffey. Lem was the great grandson of John Morgan Mehaffey, Laura Ford Mehaffey's first husband. Charles Lamerle McCardel owned Eelbeck Mill, Lem's grandfather C.R. Mehaffey (Laura's son by her first marriage) took over the Eelbeck Mill at the age of 21.   

The Eelbeck mill (no longer exists), was located in Chattahoochee County on pine Knot Creek. The land where the mill existed and the communities of Eelbeck, Pine Knot and other small communities are now part of the Ft. Benning, GA reservation. The mill was begun in the 1840's by Henry Cook. The McCardel-Mehaffey connection to the Eelbeck Mill began with Charles Lamerle McCardel courting and marrying Laura Ford Mehaffey ( a widow with four chhildren) in Phenix City, AL where he was running a general store. They eventually moved back to the Pine Knot area. They had one child, Elmer. Charles Lamerle purchased the old mill and a small store. In 1917, Charles sold most of his property and sold the mill to his stepson C.R. Mehaffey, who turned Eelbeck meal into a household name in the south. Elmer McCardel (Charles and Laura's only child) was listed in the 1920 census as a truck driver (He probably drove for the Eelbeck Mill company). Elmer died in Hillsborough, FL on October 25, 1925 of Acute parenchymatous nephritis ( in laymen's terms complications of strep infection, causing his kidneys to shut down). 

The back of Eelbeck Mill

Clifford Rhoy Mehaffey

Eelbeck Mill Store

William McCardle's grandfather William Andrew McCardel (Mollie Gallops) had eleven children: 

1) Ruby (1896-1975) m. Thomas J. Anderson
2) Rufus Charles (1897-1964) m. Rosa Watson
3) William Andrew, Jr. (1900-1956) m. 1) Arie Harris 2)Beulah Jones
4) Wiley Julie ( 1902-1954) m. Frances Madeline Mehaffey*
5) Nancy Jane "Nina" (1905-1983) m. Grady Brown
6) Alma (1909-1988) m. Robert Brown
7) Alice (1911-2000) m. William Stringfellow
8) Lily Mae (1913-1971) m. Willard Stringfellow
9) Alva Edward "Bud" (1914-1984) m. Mildred Wright
10) Grace (1917-1993) m. Arthur Freehling
11) Eva (1921-1985) m. Cecil Roy Davis

*Lem Mehaffey's aunt Madeline Mehaffey (daughter of Clifford Rhoy Mehaffey) married Wiley McCardle, my husband's uncle. So, while my cousin's husband and my husband aren't related they share 1st cousins, the children of Madeline and Wiley!

Finding family connections are the very best part of my research! 

Background information on this post came from:
Fort Benning: A Land and It's People
History of Chattahoochee Co., GA,  Norma Kate Rogers, Southern Historical Press, 1976
History of Stewart County, GA, Columbus Office Supply, 1958
U.S. Federal Census Collection
Florida Death Certificate (Charlie E. McCardel)
Pictures courtesy of James McCardel and Donna Mehaffey

A Conundrum of Connections

     

When you research your family you are bound to find interesting connections. But, I think my family connections might be unique! I married William McCardle, his mother’s first husband was Roy Mitchell Rodgers.  When I started looking into my family, I found out that my father’s sister, Esther Self had married Cuthbert Rodgers, Roy Mitchell Rodger’s son! Further research led me to find out that another one of my father’s  sisters , Edith Self had married Julian T. Anthony whose mother was Susie Rodgers Anthony, the sister of Roy Mitchell Rodgers.  

     A few years ago, I was gifted more than 150 letters written by my 2nd great paternal grandparents Marcus and Martha Dumas Ely during the Civil War. The correspondence of Marcus and Martha turned into a book, A Just and Holy Cause?. I researched all the men in the unit with Marcus and found some very interesting connections. Samuel Craig Rodgers was in the unit (54th Ga., Infantry, Company H) along with his brothers Adam, William and James.  Samuel Craig Rodgers was the grandfather of Roy Mitchell Rodgers and the great grandfather of my brothers-in-law, James, Will and Curtis Rodgers and sister-in-law, Dorothy. 

     Roy Mitchell Rodger's first wife was Inez Reese, the daughter of Frank Reese. Frank Reese was the son of Edmond Head Reese, my maternal grandfather Tulian Clements Reese's great uncle. 

     I thought that was the end of my connection with the Rodger's until I started researching Tulian Clements Reese's children from his first wife, Nancy Bedell Smith. Mildred Lavinia Reese married Edwin Talbot, the son of Gabe and Mamie Rodgers Talbot. I have found that Mamie Rodgers was the daughter of Oscar Pickney Rodgers. Oscar Rodger's father was Samuel Craig Rodgers*. 

   I found Marcus Ely's obituary among the letters of my great great Ely grandparents. It stated that Oscar Rodgers was a pall bearer! I think this connection has come full circle. It is connected through the Civil War, relatives and marriages! I hope you'll find connections in your family research.  


*You can read more about Samuel Craig Rodgers in my blog A Just and Holy Cause?. Just follow this link   
http://www.ajustandholycause.org/2020/05/samuel-craig-rodgers.html