What’s Up with the Texas Birth Index?

In a post called Lucy . . . You Got Some ‘Splainin’ To Do I recounted a rather odd story of parentage. I noted that the information on which the weirdness is based came from the Texas Birth Index maintained by the Texas Department of State Health Services. I accessed the index through Ancestry.com, a subscription service. But don’t blame the Lucy story [or the following one] on the folks at Ancestry. They have actual, fairly clear images of the Texas index pages with the information exactly as reported. [The Texas Birth Index is available for purchase from the state. A complete set of the microfiche for 1903-1999 costs about $470.00]. After the story below, you’ll join me in wondering what’s wrong in Austin.

Researching one of my family names, I found that cousin L married P in 1983. According to the Texas Birth Index, L and P had a son, A, in November, 1984. Then, according to the same source, L and P had a daughter, B, in December, 1984! Well, this seems strange, but believe it or not, it’s not impossible. While very rare, there are cases of twins being born as much as 56 days apart. [If you want to see a few of the medical studies, Google "delayed interval delivery" site:.edu. For an easier read, see The Straight Dope: Can Twins Be Born A Month or Two Apart? ].

But then, according to the Texas Birth Index, L and P had another daughter, C, exactly eight months after B, the “delayed twin”, was born! C’mon! This I couldn’t believe. However, out of an abundance of prudence, I consulted a renowned childbirth expert. Her answer: “It would be rare and special,” which I took to be a judicious way of saying, “not likely.”

The more likely explanation is that we’ve come across an error [or two] in the Texas Birth Index. So what’s going on there?

My profile at the top of this page mentions in passing that I’m a lawyer, among other things. And naturally, whatever else they do, lawyers eventually will get around to thinking about the law.

There’s quite a lot to be said about genealogy and the law, as you might have guessed [or feared!]. At one level, genealogy and the law are fellow travellers; issues of marriage, sucession, parentage, and other familial relations are socio-legal questions that inform genealogy. Every first-year law student studying property is exposed to ancient genealogical issues that resonate in some forms yet today.

Then there are the practical researcher’s questions about privacy, libel, and copyright. What must one do to protect the privacy of living persons? Do the dead have privacy rights? [Not generally, but their heirs may have certain rights to exploit commercially--or prevent others from exploiting commercially--the likenesses of certain figures]. Can the living be cast in actionable “false light” by statements about dead relatives in a family history? [Probably not, but remember, the only safe answer to any legal question is, "It depends . . . ."]

So from time to time, I’ll explore a legal topic relevant to genealogy. I’ll keep it as straightforward as possible–and remember, please, this is for educational purposes only and is not intended as legal advice. If you need legal advice, go consult a lawyer on your own in your own town and state.

A Tip for Researchers

A potential interesting and rich area for genealogical research is the official reports of the appellate courts of the states and federal government. These reports are the compiled opinions of the state supreme courts and courts of appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court and the federal Courts of Appeals. They are available in law libraries and in some cases, general public libraries. [I noticed recently that the Virginia Room of the Fairfax City Regional Library, a branch of the Fairfax County Public Library, carries some volumes of Virginia cases.] Increasingly, opinions are available online, although most courts’ online resources only go back to the mid-1990′s. You can find them at a specific court’s website like Georgia’s, which is at http://www.ganet.org/appeals/opinions/, or through a central site like Findlaw.com.

The older cases tend to be the more interesting, and for them, you’ll have to go to a library or somehow get access to a fairly expensive subscription service such as Westlaw or LexisNexis.

What exactly is the genealogical value of the case reports? Well, let’s take the Georgia cases as an example. The name “Birdsong” appears in the Georgia reports thousands of times. We find Birdsongs as plaintiffs, defendants [both civil and criminal], victims, witnesses, lawyers, and judges! And each case is a little story that offers us a glimpse into an ancestor’s or relative’s world. [For example, what's the rest of the story in the 1976 case of Birdsong v. State of Georgia, wherein one Mrs. Birdsong, indicted and tried for murder of her husband's inamorata, was convicted of voluntary manslaughter?].

In a future post, we’ll discuss just how to research the caselaw.

Father’s Day 2005

Harold V. Manson, Quentin Vennis Harold Manson (1913-1987), Otis Manson (1874-aft 1930), George Preston Birdsong (1841-1905), George Lawrence Forsyth Birdsong (1821-1869), Benagah Birdsong (1792-1824), John Birdsong III (1750-1832), James Birdsong (1726-1798), John Birdsong II (1701-1785), John Birdsong (1683-1750) . . . .

William Edward Gines (1898-1955), Richard William Gines (1860-?) . . . .

Elias Bowie, Sr. (1874-1970), John Wesley Bowie (1845-1926), Rufus Bowie (1828-?), James Bowie (1791-1832), Rhesa Bowie (1762-1815), James Bowie (1739-1789), John Bowie (1708-1753), John Bowie (1688-1759), Jonathan Bowy (1651-?), Johne Bowy (c.1600/1620-?) . . . .

James William Long (1862-1940/1945), James “Old Man” Long (1831-?) . . . .

William Sanford (1810-?) . . . .

Lewis LeJay (1835-?) . . . .

Guy Bryant (1858-1910/1920), Alfred Bryant (1825-?) . . . .

William Brayboy (1795-?) . . . .

Isaac Martin (1825-?) . . . .

Ezekiel Johnson (1846-?) . . . .

Sam McCray (bef 1830-?) . . . .

An under-utilized research source is the online Access to Archival Databases system of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The AADS makes available electronically about 400 databases consisting of millions of records. These represent only a portion of the National Archives’ voluminous holdings of government documents. Topics covered range from AIDS to tax returns of private foundations to various military records.

Genealogists will find fascinating many of the databases, but the military records are especially useful. The largest of the military records databases is the World War II Army enlistment records. This database consists of nearly 9 million records, searchable online. Data in the records includes date and place of enlistment, educational level, civilian occupation, marital status, and race.

The one downside is that by NARA’s own admission, about 35% of the enlistment records suffer from some scanning error. NARA says that less than 5% of errors are name errors. In fact, my experience is that while the number of name errors is low, those errors are significant; most mis-scanned names are rendered unintelligible. Other errors are “intuitively correctable” by users, says NARA. And some 13% of the original source documents could not be scanned at all. All that having been said, it’s still an excellent resource.

The military records also include records of World War II POW’s, Korean War casualties, and Vietnam War casualties, as well as Vietnam War decorations.

Our cousins at The LifeTimes Family Research Center in McLean, Virginia, have extracted data by surname from the World War II enlistment records and have begun posting data on their site, Our Lifetimes. The first one available today is the Brayboy surname, posted right here.

A Little More on Nathaniel Brown

Got an e-mail message asking for any detail on Nathaniel Brown. Here’s all I know: Nathaniel Brown apparently was born in North Carolina around 1787. He may have married one Elizabeth Smith in Oglethorpe County, Georgia, in about 1815, although I’m not certain that this is the same person. Nathaniel Brown first appears in GA census records in 1830 in Talbot County. At that time, he’s enumerated with two children (a boy & a girl) each between 10-15 years old, and a woman [presumably his wife], 40-50 years old. His age is given as 40-50 years old, which would be consistent with a birthdate in the 1780′s.

Nathaniel Brown next appears in the 1850 census for Talbot County, where he’s listed as head of a household that includes 26 year old John Searcy, 19 year old Emilia Searcy, and William, 3, and Mary, 1. No occupation is given for Nathaniel Brown.

According to court records in Taylor County, Nathaniel Brown at one point owned more than 2,600 acres in Appling, Baker, Dooley, Marion, and Taylor Counties.

A Major Breakthrough

The following entries appear in the 1850 census of Talbot County, Georgia:

1261 Jane Manson 24 F M Ga
Matilda 6 F M Ga
Mary 3 F M Ga

I’ve previously written about Matilda Manson, who in 1884 absconded to Rockdale, Milam County, Texas, with her son Otis, and George Preston Birdsong, the son of the former sheriff of Upson County, Georgia. But until recently, I knew very little about her mother, Jane.

A Wild Goose Chase?

“Jane Manson” is not an uncommon name in the southern United States. My first plausible hypothesis was that the 24 year old mulatto woman in the 1850 Talbot census was somehow associated with the prominent Norwood family of Georgia. The basis of the hypothesis was this: Caleb Merriman Norwood of Blount County, Tennessee, married a Jane Manson in 1818. [Blount Marriages 1795-1858, by Surname]. . She is described in some sources as being “a Tennessee lady, of Scotch-Irish parentage” [see History of Monroe County, Georgia, by Elizabeth Robertson, 2005. The family appears on the 1820 census in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, but is said to have settled in Culloden, Monroe County, Georgia, in 1830. They are enumerated in Talbot County, Georgia, on the 1830 census. Indeed, their most famous offspring, judge and U.S. Senator Thomas Manson Norwood, was born in Talbot County in 1830.

Of course, Jane Manson Norwood is not the Jane Manson we're looking for. But my thought was that our Jane Manson may have been a slave or servant brought into the marriage by Mrs. Norwood. While plausible, and not unheard of, I couldn't find any evidence to support that theory after many months of searching. Still, given the geographical proximity, the name similarity, the temporal coincidence, and the apparently inexplicable "free" status of Jane and her daughters (suggesting perhaps a powerful or influential patron), this was a theory worth further examination.

All in All, Just Another Brick in the Wall?

After my recent trip to Upson County, Georgia, and a conversation with Penny Cliff, I was even more perplexed about the origins of Jane Manson. I obsessively re-traced my own cyber-footseps and spent sleepless nights pouring over previously examined documents for clues. And one night last week, this document turned up on the Georgia GenWeb site for Taylor County. It purports to be from the Taylor County Deed Book A, page 563. [Thanks to Virginia Crilley!].

Jane Manson, commonly called Jane Brown is and ever was a free born person
her mother being a white woman married to James Curington of Marion County formerly now Taylor. Her mother’s maiden name was Chalotte Manson. Jane is I suppose about Twenty Six or seven years old from the best information I can get and that she said girl’s color came from the father’s side who was the Creole or Indian race as information says which her appearance indicates references Starling Barlett, Eliakim Rhodes, Absolem Rhodes, former Tax Receiver of this county and many others of this county who knew her mother and Jane before I did.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

N. Brown
Wit: John Sturdivant, JP
May 30, 1856

And there was this deed at page 169:

Taylor 8 Oct 1853
Nathaniel Brown to Mary C. Manson, daughter of Jane Manson
Love and affection 1/2 acre Pine land where Jane Manson now lives.
Southwest corner of lot of land conveyed to me by J.C. McCants, A. McCants, & J.T. Gray three acres

Wit: W.W. Wiggins, Isaac Mulkey, JJC
Recorded: 14 Nov 1853

Clearly, there was some relationship, probably other than Platonic, between Jane Manson and Nathaniel Brown. And one wonders if “Mary C. Manson” is “Mary Charlotte Manson.”

The 1830 and 1850 censuses show Nathaniel Brown in Talbot County [Talbot was one of the counties from which Taylor was formed]. The 1880 and 1900 censuses show Jane Brown [of the same age as Jane Manson would be] in Talbot County.

Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte

Charlotte Manson could be the link back to the entire Scots-Irsh line of Mansons for this family. Here’s some out-loud thinking: On the 1900 census, Jane Brown’s mother’s birth plcae is given as South Carolina. I have yet to find a Charlotte Manson in either North Carolina or South Carolina. But I do find “Jane Manson” in South Carolina. In 1767, Jane Manson arrived in Charleston from England. [See Jones, J. M. and Warren, M. B., South Carolina Immigrants, 1760 to 1770. Danielsville, GA: Heritage Papers, 1988, p. 228]. In 1768, Jane Manson was granted 100 acres in Granville County, South Carolina. [See Dobson, D., Scottish Quakers and Early America, 1650-1700, p. 86]. Perhaps this Jane Manson was an ancestor of Charlotte Manson.

So time to validate the source documents and go the next step . . . .

Today, I’m in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. It’s a beautiful spot, much cooler than Northern Virginia, though all the locals are complaining about the heat. Left my laptop at home, so we’re doing this via an alternative means that may or may not work out. If you ever get here, check out the Queen’s Landing Inn. And believe it or not, there’s “wine country” nearby! Did a little “phone boook genealogy”; lots of Bowies and Mansons—no LeJays, Gineses, Birdsongs, or Brayboys.

Ontario Genealogy Links

Ontario Genealogical Society

Cyndi’s List – Ontario

Ontario Genweb Sites

Coming this weekend: Who was Jane Manson? A Major Breakthrough.

When Matilda Manson and her son Otis left Hootenville, Upson County, Georgia, in the mid-1880′s, they settled in Rockdale, Milam County, Texas. See the 1900 federal census of Milam County, Texas, Roll: T623 1657; Page: 11A; Enumeration District: 75. Rockdale owed its existence to the International & Great Northern Railroad.

When George Preston Birdsong left Hootenville, Upson County, Georgia, in the mid-1880′s, he settled in Cameron, Milam County, Texas. See the 1900 federal census of Milam County, Texas, Roll: T623 1657; Page: 6B; Enumeration District: 65. Cameron, the seat of Milam County, was then about 20 miles north of Rockdale.

Quentin Vennis Harold Manson [1913-1987], one of seven children of Otis Manson and grandson of Matilda Manson, would tell the story that on Sundays, the family went to the train station and waited for a train to arrive. When the train came, a white man would disembark, spend a few minutes with the family, give them money, and then take the next train back to wherever he came from.

Who was this man?

Well, one comes across some strange things in genealogy . . . . Here’s one:

[In the following scenario, a single initial represents both a first name and a surname.] S was born in 1932. My initial research discovered an S-jr born in 1965 in the same county as S. I could not determine a spouse for S or a mother for S-jr. Some weeks later, I discovered that S-jr’s mother was M. Yet no record of marriage for M and S turned up. Nonetheless, I was prepared to assume that M and S were S-jr’s parents. That assumption seemed confirmed months later when I found a record of marriage for M and S, although the marriage took place in 1974, some nine years after S-jr’s birth. That wasn’t all that strange, after all, and I recorded S, M, and S-jr as a family.

Things got weird this week when I for the first time looked into Ancestry.com’s new Texas Birth Index [Ancestry.com subscription required to view database]. This database lists births from 1903 through 1997. The data is from the Texas Department of State Health Services. [My original source of data about this family came from county files that were not as complete as the state records are]. In the Texas Birth Index, S-jr’s mother is M, but his father is H! What’s more, H and M have another child also with S’s surname! While it’s not unheard of for a woman to give a child her husband’s surname when the child is not her husband’s, it’s downright weird to give a child a surname of someone other than the man named as father on the birth certificate.

The other twist here is that in 1964, the year before S-jr was born, according to the Texas Birth Index, S had a child with J, a woman he never apparently married. That was the same year H and M had their first child with S’s surname.

What’s going on here?