Richard A. Pittman-Son, Soldier, Husband, Railroad Man

Richard A. Pittman

Dec. 4, 1841~Dec. 20, 1882

Son~Soldier~Husband~Railroad Man

 

Nancy E. Boyd Pittman

1845 ~May 11, 1910

Daughter~Wife~Widow

 

Marriage~ 1870

Richard 30 yrs.~Nancy 23 yrs.

Residence

Ward 4, Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia

 

Richard A. Pittman was the second son and fourth child of  Daniel N. and Asenath Baber Pittman.  He was born and raised near and around Atlanta, Georgia, with his siblings Eunice, Abigail, Daniel, Lucy and Henrietta where his father was a prominent and respected Judge...story...Daniel~Trusted Son, Brother and Father.

As a Confederate Soldier, Richard was a Sergeant in Captain Witt's Company of the Georgia Infantry at the time of his mustering out.  Georgia Civil War Records place him in Rigdon Guards and Capt. Russell's Company at Newton Factory Employees.  Other assignments include Whiteside's Naval Battalion, a Local Defense station.  At the end of the war in 1864, Richard was 23 years old, single, and from all indications remained in Atlanta where in 1867 his residence was confirmed. 

The confirmation is documented in his Returns of Qualified Voters and Reconstruction Oath Books.  Richards name is listed at #32, one of seven Whites to register on page 49 in Precinct 4.  The other 33 names were listed as Colored, who were registering for the first time since the passing of the new Reconstruction Law on March 23, 1867.  Among the changes called for in the law was state-wide elections in each of the former rebel states, except Tennessee, among registered males, black and white, over the age of twenty-one.  Almost all adult males were allowed to vote in these elections after taking the oath of allegiance to the United States.

 Three years later in the 1870 Atlanta City Directory, Richard is listed immediately below Judge Daniel Pittman, Ordinary, whose residence was on Collins Street.  Apparently, at printing time of the directory,  Richard was living at the same address with his parents, was single and working as a conductor for the Western Atlantic Railroad of Georgia.  Sometime before August of that year, Richard married Nancy E. Boyd and established a new residence in 4th Ward of Atlanta as enumerated on August 11th by the Census Taker, J.S. Smith.  On that same day in August, Richard's brother, Daniel J. Pittman, wife Louisa and their two children were enumerated just four doors down from Richard and Nancy.  Daniel had followed in their father's footsteps as an Ordinary Court Judge and was a lawyer. 

Richards employment with The Western & Atlantic Railroad would become the focus of his work history in more ways than is officially documented.   The W&A RR became a key link to the chain of Southern railroads connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the Mississippi River.  It was the foundation for Atlanta's emergence as a rail center. 

By the time of the Civil War, the W&A had 46 locomotives, two of which were to become participants in the 'Great Locomotive Chase' of April 1862.  It played a major role in the Atlanta Campaign. It's loss to the South in 1864 was devastating to the Confederacy's hopes of victory, but at the same time played a major role in the rest of Richard Pittmans's life.  It is likely he was there as a part of his military assignments when Sherman marched through Atlanta.   It is possible that he began his railroad career with the W&A and was instrumental in getting it back on the tracks during the Reconstruction Era.  We know from the 1870 US Census that he was a Conductor when the W&A's stock was leased for 20 years to a corporation made up of officers of the W&A's connecting roads headed by former Governor J.E. Brown.

By 1880, Richard had been in W&A employment for more than ten years and had changed positions a number of times, most likely due to opportunities for better wages.  The fact that he was the son of a well known city official did not seem to have an impact on his railroad career of moving up the ranks in an administrative capacity.  On the contrary, he remained a part of the day to day work force which is indicated in the 1880 Census where he declares his occupation as 'Watchman'. 

Richards relationship with his Pittman Family appears to have had a separation of ways, perhaps personally, but certainly in residence during the 1870's.  In the 1880 US Census Richard and Nancy are residing at 76 North Calhoun at the residence of Nancy's widowed sister Martha Cordelia Boyd Smith (age 35).  Also, living there are Nancy's mother, Martha A. Boyd (58) and another sister Mary K. Boyd Adams (39), both marked as being widows.  Two other males are enumerated there as well.  One is Hugh Adams (17), the son of Mary and nephew of Nancy and Richard.  The other is a 9 year old boy named Willie who is declared a 'servant' and errand boy.  Hugh Adams was fortunate to have Richard as a relative working for the W&A and most likely a strong reference for his position with the RR as a 'Clerk'.

Richards railroad career and life ended tragically two years later on December 4, 1882.

As reported in the Augusta Chronicle almost three weeks after the accident, the first article reveals the 'horrible manner' in which Richard was called an unfortunate man.  This newspaper circulated widely to the smaller farming communities outside of Atlanta where many of Richards friends and relatives lived.  Had they not already known about the accident, the Chronicles report no doubt was read as insensitive and gory in the details and greatly lacking in relating Richards many years as an employee of the railroad.  The second article printed on page 1, four weeks after the accident, certainly showed a lack of information and disregard for all involved in what was certainly a tragic event for the Pittman Family and the Western & Atlantic Railroad. 

To date, no information has been found or researched from the Atlanta Constitution which would have, in all likelihood, reported a more accurate account of the accident and possibly an Obituary for Richard A. Pittman, for the owner of the Atlanta Constitution was a relative of the Pittman Family.  Then there was Richard being the son and brother of Judges Daniel N. and Daniel J. Pittman.  His death would have been front page news and probably the beginning of an investigation into the circumstances of a trained watchman with years of experience in and around the workings of the railroad.  Hardly one to disregard safety rules or be less than cautious of passing trains, as is insinuated in the Augusta Chronicles report of December 24, 1882.

Nancy E. Boyd Pittman, as the wife and widow of Richard, no doubt was devastated and overwhelmed with the arrangements and subsequent events that one would expect after such a tragic death.  Fortunately, Nancy had the support and help of her widowed sisters Martha and Mary as well as her mother Martha and nephew Hugh.  Richards father Judge Daniel N. Pittman died some nine years earlier and left Richard's mother Asenath a widow living on a pension while turning her home into a boarding house.  This left Richard's brother Judge Daniel J. Pittman and sisters Abigail, Lucy and Henrietta as his closest next of kin, and Nancy to make the decisions about his final resting place in the Boyd Family Plot at Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, Georgia.

In the next several years, Nancy E. Pittman's name appears in the Macon Telegraph newspaper.  The Pittman-Elder Case presented in City Court in October of 1885 was reported to have ended in a mistrial.  The case was settled the next year in November 1886 with Mrs. Dick Pittman receiving a settlement of $700 on a note of $4,000.  No details to the nature of the suit were reported, but it was stated that Nancy was the widow of Mr. Richard Pittman.  Another report from Ordinary Court was published May 8, 1888 granting letters of dismission to Nancy E. Pittman.  Six years after her husbands death, it seems Nancy was relieved of her duty as the executor of his estate with the settlements in all cases.

In 1889, Nancy is listed in the Atlanta City Directory as (wid Richard A), bds 74 N. Calhoun.  She was in the boarding house business.  This same listing continued through 1891.  After 1892, Nancy resumed her residence with her sisters Martha and Mary.  Mary died in 1909 leaving Martha as the Head of House in the 1910 Census and owner of their home on Courtland Street.  The Census taken on April 25th listed Martha Cordelia Smith (66), Nancy E. Pittman (64), both having (0) children, and Hugh Adams (45) Single, occupation Office Clerk for a Chemical Company.  Hugh was their nephew, son of Mary.

On May 11th, just seventeen days after the 1910 Census taker visited and enumerated Nancy E. Boyd Pittman, she died.  Her Obituary was in the Atlanta Georgian and News on May 13, 1910.
PITTMAN-The friends of Mrs. N.E. Pittman, Mrs. Cordelia Smith, Mr. Hugh B. Adams, Miss Mattie E. Boyd, Mr. Roger Boyd, and Dr. E.W. Boyd are invited to attend the funeral of Mrs. N.E. Pittman from the residence, 204 Courtland St., Saturday afternoon at 3 o'clock.  The following gentlemen are requested to act as pall-bearers and meet at Barclay & Brandon Co's parlors at 2:30:  Mr. John Gatins, Mr. R.M. Hayne, Dr. Amos Fox, Mr. O. Wingate, Mr. Frank Ridge, Professor J.H. Smith, Mary Harry Green.  Interment at Oakland.

She was laid to rest in the Boyd Family Plot beside her husband Richard and near her mother Martha, and sister Mary.  Sister Martha Cordelia would live another eight years until May 17, 1918.  Her nephew Hugh B. Adams died two years before his aunt Martha on December 9, 1916.  Both Hugh and Martha are buried in the Boyd Family Plot.  The other Boyd family names listed in Nancy's Obituary were probably cousins, the children of Thomas J. Boyd. They too are buried in a nearby Boyd Family Plot in Oakland Cemetery.

For Richard and Nancy, the most painful goodbye was the one

 they never got to say and was never explained.

They left no heirs to tell their story, but it has been told none the less,

by one who believes that every person in a family tree is significant in time.

Rest in Heavenly Peace Richard and Nancy.

You are remembered in The Pittman Family Tree, and

your story told by your First Cousin 4xRemoved.

James Allison Pittman Part III...Safe In The Hallowed Quiets of the Past

From the Columbus Daily Enquirer we learned that James Allison Pittman's General Store narrowly escaped a disastrous conflagration of a fire.  Rats playing with matches were blamed for the trifling amount of damage done before the flames were extinguished.  (That newspaper article HERE).

In the years following the death of his wife in 1903, J.A. Pittman, as he was most often referred to in the newspapers, continued to run his **General Store and raise his three children.  He also ran for a county office and was elected or appointed Judge of Ordinary Court.  He affirmed this hearsay in our family history in the 1910 US Census where he listed his occupation 'Ordinary' and employed by the County Offices.  At home were two of his children...Hattie (22) and Emil (16)...Mamie Lizzie (25) married earlier in the year.  Also of interest was his change in residence since the last Census in 1900.  He declared his residence a House at 137 Birmingham Street, but also had marks in the Farm Schedule indicating his farm may have been leased. 

Between his business and his duties as an Ordinary Court Judge, he was in the news often. However, as the 1920's approached, Judge Pittman was nearing his 70's and by all indications had retired from public life and from the mercantile store and was experiencing health issues.  His daughter Hattie married in 1920 and son Emil was a Pharmacist in Atlanta.  By the time the 1920 Census was taken, he was listed as living with his sister, Savannah Pittman Brown and her husband in East Point, Georgia...near Atlanta. 

At the time of his death James Allison Pittman was living with his daughter Mamie Lizzie and her husband Dr. D.L. Bridges.  Her signature is on his death certificate which states the cause of death as cardiovascular and renal disease terminating in pneumonia.  He died on October 12, 1928 and was interred in the Douglasville City Cemetery with Masonic Rites performed by the local lodge as indicated in his obituary from the Atlanta Constitution.

 

His Obituary is a wealth of information in the revealing of those relatives who survive him and are invited to attend his funeral.  This wording was the norm of the day in naming a persons survivors.  The following is a brief summary of those named in the obituary.

~Dr. and Mrs. D.R. Bridges...daughter Mamie Lizzie and husband of Atlanta.  Mamie and Daniel had four children, Alice, Daniel, Elizabeth and James.  Daniel died in 1967 and Mamie lived to the age of 89.  She died in November 1974.

~Mrs. W. A. Parrish...daughter Hattie.  Hattie married William Alderman Parrish.  They had three children, William Allison, James, and Julia.  William and Hattie spent their lives farming in Brooks County, Georgia and in the 1940's Hattie petitioned  the courts for property in Cobb County that had been in the Pittman Family for generations coming to her through her father and his brother Isaac Marion Pittman.  She died at age 84 on September 25, 1971, and is buried in McDonough Cemetery in Henry County, Georgia, beside her husband who died in 1979.

~Emil Marion Pittman...son.  At age 18 Emil graduated from the Atlanta College of Pharmacy and worked as a pharmacist in Atlanta.  In 1918 he registered for the draft and volunteered to serve in the Medical Corp.  In April 1921 he was medically discharged with active pulmonary tuberculosis and spent several years in treatment at National Hospital/Homes for Disabled Soldiers.  He returned to Atlanta in 1935 and worked as a drug store sales clerk until his death at age 56 on July 9, 1950.  He is buried in the Douglasville City Cemetery.  He never married.

~Morden Allison Pittman...relationship undetermined.  Research to date: His name follows James and Alice Kennedy Pittman's known children of Mrs. D.R. Bridges, Mrs. W.A. Parrish and Emil Pittman which indicates his position in the family as son...according to most obits of the time. Research proved that he was born in 1906 after the death of Alice in 1903 eliminating her as his mother.  He is found for the first time in the 1930 Census in Ohio listed with Mary E. Morden Pittman as her son age 22. Again in the 1935 Census for Dade County, Florida with Mary E. Morden Pittman as well as in the city directory. His final documentation is of his death in Dade County, Florida and his burial in Douglasville, Georgia. On Find A Grave he is listed in the Douglasville City Cemetery along with other Pittmans James, Alice, Emil, Little and his mother Mary E. Morden Pittman with whom he shares a headstone. To date, I have found no records of his birth, a marriage of his mother to a Pittman, or any other reference to him before the 1930 Census. 

~Mrs. Hiram Brown...Savanna Pittman Brown, sister.  She was the youngest of James' siblings and they remained close through out their lives.  

~Mrs. Hampton Howell...Mary Eugenia Pittman Howell, sister.  Eugenia was three years younger than James and married to James Hampton Howell.

~Mr. George Pittman...brother.  George Washington Pittman was James' oldest living sibling having out lived his older brother William who died in 1909 and younger brother Albert who died in 1921.  At the time of James' death George resided in the Confederate Soldiers Home in Austin, Texas and was 85 years old.  

 

Quite unexpectedly, James Allison Pittman's story, the research it entailed and the historical, personal and genealogical information it revealed has been of great significance...proving once again...

 

Every person in your Family Tree is Significant in Time for

‘there is no such thing as a life not meant for the person living It.’

~ Louis Simpson ~

Rest In Peace Great Uncle James Allison for you have earned your

'Safe haven in the hallowed quiets of the past'.

 

**General Store photo-a representation only...not intended to be JA Pittman or his store.  Photo from Douglasville Genealogy Society website.

James Allison Pittman Part II...Life of Fundamental Changes

James Allison Pittman is presented in three parts as his life in Georgia history spanned three historically significant eras in American History.  James was born and raised in the Antebellum Era and became an adult during the Reconstruction Era.  At the end of Part I, James was in his late 20's, still living on the family farm and making his way through the aftermath of the Civil War.  Those were the years after the 1870 US Census and history's declared end of the Reconstruction Era in 1877.   Much has been written about the failure of the Reconstruction of the South.  No doubt the issues of that era had a major impact on those ancestors living during that time and consequently affected their descendants for generations to come.

The third historical era of James' life was also one for all Americans...a time of fundamental social, economic, political and geographical change.  We will call it The Migration Era.

Even though he didn't go far, James left the economically struggling family farm for work in town.  It was a move that fundamentally changed his life economically, socially and geographically.  He migrated to Douglasville.

In the 1880 Census, Douglasville, Georgia, James (age 32) is enumerated as Head of House, Single with occupation as Dry Goods and Grocer, and most interesting are the household members listed.  Sisters Eugenia (24) keeping house, and Savannah (16) at school.  Already James has made a significant impact on the family's future then and for generations to come.

James' life changed dramatically when he  married Marion Alice Kennedy.  According to the Georgia Marriage Records of Fulton County, James and Alice were married on September 4, 1884, but for some reason was not recorded until April 5th, 1886.  A possible reason could have been the upheaval in the states governmental reconstruction.  At any rate, the 37 year old bachelor and 32 year old Alice from Atlanta, were married and eleven months later their daughter Mamie Lizzie was born.  When Mamie was two, Hattie was born and three years later Alice gave birth to Little Allison. The couple would have one more son, Emil Marion born when Alice was 42 years of age.  In less than ten years, Alice would be dead, but not before she created some mysteries with her answers to the Census Taker in the 1900 US Census.

 In the 1900 US Census, the J.A. Pittman family appeared for the first time as a family unit, even though they had been so since 1884 with their marriage and 1885 with the birth of their first child.  They of course would have been enumerated in the 1890 Census as a family of James, Alice, Mamie and Hattie, but due to the loss of the entire National 1890 Census in a fire at the headquarters in Washington, D.C. those records are missing from the Census Archives. 

The 1900 Census, therefore, was of great importance in it's assessments of the population as well as a tool for gathering more information about each individual than had ever been recorded before.  With that in mind an evaluation of the 1900 Census and the information it revealed about James and Alice is quite relevant to the telling of James' story.

~In the 1900 Census...J.A. Pittman is listed on page 14 of 44.  In 1880 on page 2 of 6....attests to growth of Douglasville, Douglas County, Georgia.
~James' occupation listed as Merchant.  **Suggests the possibility of business ownership with 0 missed months at work.
~Ownership of Home marked...Owns Free of Mortgage FARM.
~Since Alice answered Yes to the Education portions and James did not, we can assume that Alice was the only one at home when the Census Taker knocked on their door. 
~Not only did Alice not know or was unsure of James' education, she did not know the birth place of his Mother.  She answered North Carolina when Mary Anne Howell Pittman was born in Cobb County Georgia.
~Lastly, Alice stated she was mother of 5 children with 3 of these children living.  We know from the Family Tree (photo) that Little Allison died at the age of one year, but who was and where is the 5th child of Marion Alice Kennedy Pittman? 

James and Alice lived their married life within the historical constraints set forth by

The Fundamental Social, Economic, Political and Geographical Guidelines of the day.
 

**Ownership

~continued in Part III~

James Allison Pittman~ Part I~Antebellum Born

By 1847 Rene Marion and Mary Anne Howell Pittman were well established on their farm in Coxes, Cobb County, Georgia.   At the time of his birth, James' mother, Mary Anne, who is noted as wife keeping house in Census Records, was indeed keeping house and raising their three older sons, William, George, and Albert while his father toiled the fertile Georgia soil.  James' first official documentation was in the 1850 Census.  He was 3 years old, William was 8, George was 6, Albert was 5, and Mary Eugenia was 1 year old.  His parents R.M. and Mary Ann were 38 and 28 respectively.

James' childhood was spent in what is referred to as the Antebellum Era...the period before the Civil War.  I suppose he was somewhat shielded from the events leading up to the Civil War, and the family stayed close to their land and away from the dramas of the pre-war years.  That might explain their absence in the 1860 Census when James would have been 13...to young to join the Confederacy with his brothers William and George the following year.  There is no documentation or hearsay that James Allison or Albert Singleton...two years older...were soldiers in the Civil War.

In 1870 the United States Census reflected for the first time in American History the Constitutional Right To Vote in the form of the 'Fifteenth Amendment'.  Ratified on February 3, 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment prohibited federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote on the basis of race, color or previous condition of servitude.  It was the third and last of the Reconstruction Amendments.  James would have to declare his right to vote to the Census Taker on August 22, 1870.

The 1870 Census was one of the most significant Census taken to date as it was the first to provide detailed information the black population only years after the culmination of the Civil War when slaves were granted freedom.  the population was said to be 38,555,983 individuals, a 22.62% increase since 1860.  The 1870 Census' population estimate is controversial as many believed it underestimated the true population numbers.

The Pittman Family was back in the 1870 Census with R.M. (mistakenly recorded as Henry) age 56, occupation farmer, real estate valued at $2500 and personal estate $500.  When comparing his financial status with his neighbors on the same page, only one other was a land owner with equal numbers, and that was his brother-in-law William Howell, Mary Anne's brother.  The Civil War had taken it's toll and turned prosperous land owners into tenant farmers and farm hands.

For those like the Pittman's and Howell's their real estate and personal estates were in the throes of the Reconstruction Era's issues of taxation which levied heavy taxes on land owners forcing them to sell their land to pay taxes.  This reduction of their estates, once large productive Plantations, were now reduced to much smaller farms, producing smaller incomes to support a large family.  They were forced to take on other occupations to subsidize their farms.

 Rene M. Pittman, James' father, worked as a US Post Master in Cobb County receiving his appointment in 1859.  James became a Grocery Merchant.

The Antebellum Era was over and in it's place a period of change they could not have imagined just a few years before...the Reconstruction of the South and their own migration to the West. 

Two Chirugeons..One for King~One for Colony

During the 17th century, 'chirurgeons' were closely related to barbers and other craftsmen who learned their trade through apprenticeships.  So began the appointments of Patrick Napier, Chirugeon to King Charles I and Patrick Napier, Colonial Surgeon in Jamestown, Virginia.

King Charles, the monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1625 until his execution in 1649, was a weak and sickly infant who by the age of three was finally able to walk without assistance.  No doubt, he was well indoctrinated and dependent on the 'Royal Staff of Physicians and Chirurgeons'. 

On Tuesday, January 30, 1649, King Charles put his head on a block and was beheaded with one clean stroke.  A moan rose from the crowd and some of them dipped their handkerchiefs in the king's blood as a memento.

Among the crowd, in all likelihood, was Patrick Napier, the kings surgeon.   He would have served his king in death as he did in life...on the day after the execution, the king's head was sewn back onto his body, which was then embalmed and placed in a lead coffin.  Patrick Napier was my 8x's Great Grandfather, born in 1608 in Edinburgh, Scotland and died at age 51 in London, England in 1659...ten years after the beheading of his King.

Colonial Dr. Patrick Napier was born in Scotland about 1634.   When of age, he was apprenticed to Alexander Pennycuik, chirurgeon.  Pennycuik was surgeon to Sir Alexander Leslie's Scottish Troops who were defeated at the Battle of Dunbar by the army of Oliver Cromwell.  Young Patrick Napier joined with other Scottish Royalists and emigrated to Virginia soon after their defeat in 1650. 

Dr. Patrick Napier, Colonial Royalist to his father's king Charles I, remained loyal to the crown which was eventually restored to Charles' eldest son Charles II in 1660.  That, however, was not the center of his professional or personal life in Colonial America.  His life as a Colonial Surgeon is well documented in Jamestown, Virginia, as seen by the 'Historical Marker' on Merrimac Trail in York County, Virginia.  (link to marker...Marker History.com )

More posts on Napier Blood Line

Napier Progenitor...A Planter, Officer, Attorney and Vestryman

Rene's Maternal Lineage To Napier Family Tree

Rene Marion...A Given Name That Broke With Tradition

   

Albert Singleton Pittman...Farmer and Family Man

Albert Singleton was the third born son of Rene Marion and Mary Anne Howell Pittman.  At the time of his birth the family lived in District 846 of Cobb County, Georgia.  Five years earlier, his father was listed in the 1840 Census as the head of house with wife, and 4 slaves...a couple with 2 male children.  Albert's older brothers, William Howell and George Washington were born in 1842 and 1843, respectively. 

The 1940 Census report is significant at the time of Albert's birth as it sets up the family's position on slavery which began two generations before when the Pittman Families were prominent planters.  During the 1840's and 1850's, farmers in Cobb County and surrounding counties were greatly influenced on the slavery issue by two prominent politician brothers, Thomas R. Cobb and Howell Cobb.

The names Howell and Cobb are names that from this time into the next generation of Pittmans was bestowed on a good many children.  Howell was also Albert's mother Mary Anne's maiden name.  A connection to the political Cobb brothers and the Howell family has not been researched in depth.  However, Albert's life was greatly influenced by his birthplace and his families surnames of Pittman and Howell.  One of those influences was discovered on his marriage certificate.

 Albert married Sarah Jane Pope on February 2, 1879.  He was 33 and Sarah was 26, and by standards of the day, were a bit late in marrying.  It was likely quite an event in the Pittman Family and was celebrated by relatives near and far.  So indicated by the signature on the Marriage License of Albert's Great Uncle, Judge Daniel Pittman of Atlanta.

Albert and Jane lived in Cobb County for the rest of their lives.  They had three sons and two daughters...all who remained close to the family farm, Cobb County and closely connected to both of their Family Surnames of Pittman and Howell. 

 

~Autrey Wells never married and devoted his life to farming in Cobb County Georgia. In 1920 he and his father farmed 91 acres in the Howells District of Cobb County. After the death of his father Albert Singleton in 1921, Autrey inherited 48 acres of the Family Farm which he continued to farm until his death in 1934. In the 1930 Census he is listed as Head of House with his mother Sarah Jane Pope Pittman age 76. She preceeded Autrey in death just one year before in February 1933. Autrey was the great grandson of Isaac Howell, and is buried in the Howell Family Cemetery near his parents, siblings, grandparents and great grandparents.   

~John Richard also lived on the farm, but worked as a merchant when he returned to Cobb County after the death of his son and the subsequent end of his marriage.  Those stories HERE and HERE.  John and his son John Reynold are also buried in the Howell Family Cemetery near his parents, siblings, parents and great grandparents. 

~Savannah Gertrude was named after her fathers sister, Savannah Pittman Brown.   She went by her middle name of Gertrude and married Albert J. Jordan at age 20 in 1906.  Gertrude and Albert lived their lives in nearby Douglas County.  They had 3 known children...one son died at one year old.  A second son lived well into the 20th Century until 1988.  S. Gertrude Pittman Jordan is also buried in the Howell Family cemetery beside her husband and young son.

~Rena Mabel was named after her grandfather Rene Marion.  She married into a neighboring farm family, the Jenkins, and moved there with her husband James Kenzie Jenkins. The couple lost several children in the early years of their marriage, but had at least two known daughters, Marion and Mable.  She and her husband are buried in the Howell Family Cemetery beside their two infants.

~Charlie Abbott, like his siblings remained close to his roots.  His first wife, Lillie, died in 1931.  He remarried Ruby Wade and they had two sons.  Charlie died in 1964 and Ruby in 1974.  They are buried in Davis Chapel Cemetery in Mapleton, Cobb County not far from the Howell Family Cemetery where his parents, grand parents and great grandparents are interred.

 

Father Albert S. Pittman and Mother Sarah J. Pope Pittman

Gone but not forgotten.

Fourth Generation-The Antebellum Era

Antebellum is a term used to describe a period of time occurring or existing before a particular war. In this case, the Civil War.  The Antebellum Era 1800-1860, in Georgia's history was fraught with drama and conflicts over issues of slavery, land fraud, the gold rush, the railroad, the Cherokees' forced exile known as the 'Trail of Tears, population growth and political discontent.

In Coxes District, Cobb County, Rene Marion Pittman and his family of wife Mary Ann Howell and five children are listed in the 1850 Census.  The Census does not state the value of Rene's property, but it is assumed from earlier records that he and his brother Joseph were heirs to their father's property which had been handed down through the generations from a Colonial Land Grant.  In the next ten years before the onslaught of the Civil War, much if not all of the Pittman land holdings in Gwinnett, Cobb and Paulding counties was lost. 

 

During the Antebellum Era Rene or 'Rainey' as he was called, and his wife Mary Anne Howell Pittman's family grew to nine children between 1842 and 1859.  They would have one more child during the height of the Civil War. 

Their ten children are the Fourth Generation of Tracks of My Georgia Ancestors.

William Howell Pittman

1842-1909

George Washington Pittman

1843-1938

Albert Singleton Pittman

1845-1921

James Allison Pittman

1848-1928

Mary Eugenia Pittman Howell

1850-1934

Fannie Margaret Pittman

1850-1934

Emma Pittman

1854-1979

Elizabeth Lizzy Pittman

1857-1921

Isaac Marion Pittman

1859-1919

Savannah Bartow Pittman Brown

1862-1937

A Post of Firsts and Fresh Starts

First Month...First Week...First Post Generation 4...First Cousin
'Bessie's Fresh Start'

Normally I would begin my ancestors story at the beginning, but in the case of my First Cousin 2xRemoved John Richard Pittman, his ending in the Howell Family Cemetery lead to 'Bessie's Fresh Start'.  But first, a brief beginning and the answer to the 'what ever happened to JR' question.

JR was the second son of my Great Uncle Albert.  He was born, raised and died in Cobb County, Georgia.  In 1909 he married Bessie Queen and they quickly left their Family Farm Roots for the big city of Atlanta. 

JR shed his overalls for a street car conductors uniform and Bessie tied on her prettiest aprons, kept house, yearned for a baby, and spent time with her mother Eula Belle and grandmother Cynthia.

On April 24, 1915 Bessie's arms were filled with a baby boy, John Reynolds.  They watched as his budding personality developed and he discovered new things.  Bessie's life revolved around her son and husband.  Life was good.

Two years later, the unthinkable happened.  John and Bessie's two year old son died. ( Find A Grave Memorial-Obituary HERE)  The young couple was devastated and from all indications so was their marriage.  For in the 1920 Census John was listed as 'Single', a resident of Cobb County and working in a General Store.  Bessie resided with her grandmother in Atlanta and was working as a seamstress in a pants factory. 

Then she disappeared.  Bessie was lost from our Family Tree.

I wonder if John Richard even knew what happened to her in the years between baby JR's death and his own demise from Tuberculosis at age 38. (Find A Grave Memorial HERE) 

I wondered if Bessie knew of John's illness and death.  I wanted to know for his sake and the documentation of baby JR's maternal lineage.

My search began with Bessie's mother Eula Belle. 
(that story...Lost and Found...HERE.)
 

As in the beginning of this post, my search ended in yet another cemetery.

After all those years, Bessie was not lost, she simply got a 'Fresh Start'

 

 

~Sometime between 1920 and 1924 Bessie married for the second time
~In 1925 Bessie gave birth to a daughter Mildred.
~By the 1930 Census the Melton's had moved to Alabama.
~In the 1940's Bessie was a housewife and her husband was employed as a policeman.  He later became the Chief of Police.
~Bessie's 'Fresh Start' gave her a long and full life. 

She died at age 81 and is remembered and documented in her 'Fresh Start Family Tree'.

Post Privacy Statement ~ References to Bessie's full names are intentionally missing from this post in deference to her living descendants.  There is no mention of her life as John's wife or as mother of baby John in her 'Fresh Start Family Tree'. 

 

As for my mission to document baby John's maternal lineage...it has been accomplished. 

Perhaps one day Bessie's descendants will follow the

 Beginning and Ending Clues of

Bessie's Fresh Start.