January Ancestor Line...Accidental, Coincidental or Astrological?

Frances Jackson Stone was born in Fluvanna County, Virginia, when the flowering dogwood tree was dormant and the Northern Cardinal flourished in the snow covered thickets long before either had been declared state symbols. 

She was named after her grandmother Frances Taylor Stone...which was the naming trend of the time. Elder Frances and baby Frances had another birth connection...they were both born in January...20 days and 68 years apart.

On January 6, 1783, Mary Julia Napier Stone gave birth to her fifth child and third daughter, Frances.  Julia would have two more sons after Frances.  One of which would make a life changing decision that made Frances my 3x great grandmother.  Before that reveal, let's tell Frances' story based on ancestry.com facts, some historical era events and my 'Creative Writers License'...which I believe is no accidental birth right.

Although there is some question as to the date of her parents marriage, Frances was indeed the fifth child of Mary Julia Napier.  Her father, Marvel Stone, may have had a wife and children prior to having married Mary Julia. 

Marvel, Mary Julia and their children lived in one of the Colonies fighting for independence during the American Revolutionary War.  Frances was 9 months old when the Treaty of Paris was signed.

When she was two years old her brother Washington Ware was born.  As a strong willed and unusually mature toddler, Frances was possessive and protective of her baby brother.  They developed a strong sibling bond that would see them through many difficult times including the death of a brother, separation of their parents and estrangement from their father. 

In March 1804, Frances (age 21) and Washington (age 19) left Fluvanna County for Oglethrope, Georgia, to settle the estate of their brother William after his untimely death at age 32.  Their mother Mary Julia had only months earlier given birth to her last child, Walter, without the support of husband Marvel, and could not make the journey.   William and his lifelong friend Ichabod Byrd Pittman from neighboring Amelia County, Virginia, had set out some eight years earlier in search of adventure and the settlement of the Pittman's claim to Land Grants for their service as Sons of Liberty in the Revolutionary War.

At the reading of brother William's Last Will and Testament, Frances and Washington were named as heirs to their brothers homestead, land and all his earthly possessions.  The homestead and land bordered Ichabod Byrd Pittman's land which had been deeded to both young men for their labors in settling and farming the Pittman's granted lands.  Frances Jackson and Washington Ware never returned to Virginia. 

Three years later on October 13, 1807, Washington Ware, as head of family and in the absence of a father, signed the Marriage Bond that united Frances Jackson Stone and Ichabod Byrd Pittman.  The 'Condition of Obligation' Certificate, which states what is assumed as her dowry of $875.14, would well and truly make and bind the couple together...if no lawful cause to obstruct the same occurred to cause the 'Obligation' to be void.  Otherwise the contract would remain full force and virtue. 

No doubt, Frances as a January Capricorn, was a willing partner in the marriage contract. Her no nonsense attitude and propensity for financial security along with being the woman behind a successful man made the union feasible in her mind.  Ichabod certainly must have learned and accepted early on in the marriage of Frances' devotion to her brother, mother and other family members as they all eventually became Georgia residents.

Obviously, the Marriage Bond held and remained in full force and virtue.  As a mother to their four children, Frances' innate Capricorn characteristics instilled both thrift and a respect for quality in her children.  To her it was a matter of "Eat it up, wear it out, make it do or do without", and economy did not mean it had to be cheap.  After all, she was the wife, and they the children of a prominent Georgia Pioneer Family.  Her four children were expected to be polite to relatives and elders, and display excellent manners.  Had she lived in the time of Dr. Spock and his book on child psychology, she most likely would have used the book as a paddle...and perhaps read it later.

The question of my January Lineage being Accidental, Coincidental or Astrological has yet another chapter to ponder with the birth of  Byrd and Frances' third child, Rene Marion, my 2x great grandfather.  Born on January 28, 1812 under the Zodiac sign of Aquarius. 

As a believer in Kismet...it was meant to be...Rene 'Rainey' Pittman was the only name I had to begin research on my Georgia ancestors. 

And just over the Aquarius Rainbow...another January Grandmother, Mary Ann Howell Pittman born January 28, 1822.  Wife of Rene Marion, mother of George Washington, grandmother of Chappell Columbus, great grandmother of Willard Carroll, and great great grandmother of January born 'Me'.

What do you think?

Accidental, Coincidental or Astrological.

First Son~Second Generation...Ichabod Byrd Pittman

Although there is not a great deal of documentation on the life of Ichabod Byrd Pittman, he was born in a well documented and historically significant time in the life of his parents and grandparents who were pioneers in the expansion of the American Colonies in Georgia and the pursuit of Religious Freedom.

The first son of John Ichabod and Lucy Eunice Marshall Pittman, his birthdate has not been definitely established.  His parents were married in 1781 and his brother Marshall is documented with a birth year of 1783, therefore, it is accepted that Ichabod was born in 1782.

Ichabods mother, Lucy Eunice was the daughter of Daniel Marshall, the Patriarch of the Marshall Family and the Kiokee Baptist Church whose rich history is well documented in the realm and the pursuit of Religious Freedom and the establishment of the first Baptist Church in Georgia. 

Ichabod's father John and his Colonial parents John and Mary Rowe Pittman were followers and founding members of Daniel Marshalls Kiokee Baptist Church established in Columbia County, Georgia in 1772. 

It is highly probably that Ichabod Byrd was Baptized in the Kiokee Baptist Church Baptismal Pool which today is recognized as a Georgia Historical Landmark along with the Church that occupies the original land of the First Kiokee Baptist Church.

Ichabod Byrd Pittman and Frances Jackson Stone were married on October 12, 1807.  Frances was the daughter of Marvel and Mary Julia Napier Stone who prior to 1807, had been residents of Wilkes County, Georgia. 

In the 'Condition of Obligation' Certificate, which states what is assumed as her dowry of EIGHT HUNDRED FIFTY-SEVEN DOLLARS and FOURTEEN CENTS, Frances' brother Washington Ware Stone signed, sealed and acknowledge the document.

The wedding was likely to have taken place in the Kiokee Baptist Church with the Reverend Abraham Marshall performing the ceremony.  Abraham was Ichabod's Uncle who would have taken over the Ministry of his father Daniel who died in 1784, two years after the birth of his grandson Ichabod.

 By 1820 Ichabod and Francis were well established in Capt. Horatio Gatrells District in Columbia, Georgia, as seen in the 1820 US Federal Census.  This early Census was numerical enumerator only with the only name that of the Head of House/Landowner.  The following matches names with the numbers:
~Free White Males under 10.......Rene Marion Pittman
~Free White Males 10-15............Thomas Augustus Pittman
~Free White Males 26-44............Ichabod Byrd Pittman (38yrs)
~Free White Females under 10....Selina Ann Pittman
~Free White Females 26-44...........Frances Jackson Stone Pittman(37yrs)
Ichabod and Frances would have one more child, Joseph Marshall Byrd Pittman born July 24, 1823.

Four years and one month after Joseph's birth, Ichabod Byrd Pittman died on August 23, 1827.  Records of his death and burial have not been found.  The cause of death is not known, but there was an epidemic of Yellow Fever that swept through Georgia in 1827 which could attribute to the lack of death certification and a quick burial. 

Ichabod Byrd Pittman...3xGreat Grandfather

Memorial Burial at Family Cemetery
Mount Carmel United Methodist Church Cemetery...Unmarked grave.

Both of his Parents, brothers Hiram and Jeptha and sister Lucy Eunice Jenkins are buried there.

Frances Jackson Stone Pittman...3xGreat Grandmother 

Lived another 30 years, remained a widow and lived in Gwinnett County, Georgia

for most of the rest of her life.
Died January 28, 1857...Buried Paulding County, Georgia
Flint Hill United Methodist Church Cemetery 

 

 Her four children all grew to adulthood with son

Rene Marion Pittman

becoming the next Direct Ancestor and the beginning of the

Third Generation of American Pittmans

featured in

Tracks of My Georgia Ancestors.

Time Hurried On for Hiram the Seventh Son

Hiram Pittman was the seventh son of John Ichabod and Lucy Eunice Pittman. At the age of 23 he was appointed a First Lieutenant in Georgia's 131st District Company Militia by Governor John Clark. His military career of four years ended in May 1824.

Two years passed before he married Elizabeth Daughtery in 1826.  It is after this marriage that Hiram first appears in the court records of Columbia County, Georgia.  Elizabeth was the sixteen year old daughter of Neail Daughtery whose estate settlement prompted Hiram to petition the court on behalf of his young wife.

Court records show that Hiram's Hearing of the Petition took place on Monday, September 3, 1827.  He signed a receipt approximately six months later on February 23, 1828 for one fifth of the estate which included one lot of land valued at $660.67, negro slaves Betty, Peter, Tom, Sally and her three children, Peggy and Chebra with a value of $1900.  In addition Hiram and Elizabeth received $161.86 from the sale of personal property belonging to the estate. By this time Elizabeth had given birth to their first child, John M. born December 18, 1826.

John M. Pittman became one of the largest landowners in Gwinnett County with as much as 500 acres in the Pinkneyville area.  Some of his holdings were from land inherited from his father Hiram who died in 1839 when John was 13 years old.  He and his younger siblings Joseph, Emily and Louisa along with their mother Elizabeth (29 yrs.) appear in the 1840 Gwinnett County Census as living on the estate of Hiram Pittman along with 36 slaves.  One year later a notice releasing Administration of the Estate from young John and Elizabeth was published in the newspaper.

In November 1841, Peter F. Hoyle gave Bond in Gwinnett Inferior Court as Guardian for John,Joseph, Emily and Louisa Pittman, orphans and minors of Hiram Pittman.  Peter Hoyle was a wealthy and highly respected physician in Decatur and had a large estate of lands, Mills, and Negros.  In the DeKalb County 1850 Census he has listed the widowed Elizabeth as his wife and her children as members of his household.  Emily and Louisa were listed with real estate holdings of $800 and John M. now 24 yrs. old as a farmer with $1200 in real estate.  Son Joseph Hiram Pittman, migrated to Texas where during the 1880's he was elected District Clerk of Goliad, Texas.

The cause of Hiram's early demise is not known.  The inscription on his tomb suggests that perhaps he died of a sudden illness.  The tomb also is inscribed...In Memory of Hiram Pittman who died in the 42nd year of his age AD 1839.  Erected by Mrs. Elizabeth H. Pittman, His wife, AD 1841.   The inscription date is after Dr. Peter Hoyle was awarded guardianship of the estate and Hirams children.

Elizabeth and Dr. Hoyle had three daughters together.  They lived in Decatur for many years where he was a practicing physican and planter until he suffered a heart attack.  They moved to Jacksonville, Florida and lived with their daughter Fredonia and husband Doctor William Haddock.  Dr. Hoyle died in January 1871 and Elizabeth in February 1882.  They are buried in Jacksonville, Florida.

Hiram and Elizabeth's son John M. died at age 52 in Gwinnett, Georgia and is buried in a nearby cemetery to his father Hiram and his grandparents John Ichabod and Lucy Eunice Marshall Pittman.

Emily died in August 1852 at age 21 and is buried in Decatur's Old Cemetery.   Her Tomb, much like her father's is surrounded by a decorative iron fence and is inscribed  with words from a poem by L.H. Sigourney published in 1842...

Gone where no dark sin is cherished

Where no woes nor fears invade.

Gone are youth first bud had perished

To a youth that ne'er can fade.

 

Louisa Susan Pittman married William Augustine Green in 1853, had four children and last appeared in the 1860 Census with wealthy land owner husband listing his real estates value as $30,000 and personal estate of $12,000.  It is indicated that her husband died not long after the 1860 Census leaving Louisa a wealthy young widow.  It is likely she remarried and due to a change in her last name, the rest of her life and death can not be researched at this time.

 

Hiram and Elizabeth's youngest child and son Joseph Hiram Pittman as mentioned earlier migrated to Goliad, Texas where another branch of the Pittman Family has prospered.  Joseph died in February 1898 and is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Goliad, Texas.  He married Laura Word in Cass County Georgia and they had six children who became citizens of Goliad County, Texas.

 

Hiram Pittman   

1789~1839

Mount Carmel United Methodist Church Cemetery

 

As You this Mausaleum view

Think that a home as small awaiteth you.

Time hurry's on, nor long will death delay

To take the life and leave nothing but clay.

 

Oh Hiram, you left so much more than Elizabeth could possibly have known on that day!

Daniel~Trusted Son, Brother and Father

The Sixth Son of John Ichabod and Lucy Eunice emerged as the strongest link in their family chain of children.  Through out his adult life he was the one his siblings turned to and relied on to take care of family business. 

While his older brothers established their own homes and families on the Pittman Plantation lands, it appears from records that Daniel was the son who spent his life as the caretaker of his father's original home in what finally became Gwinnet County, Georgia.  He was educated, motivated, capable and dedicated to his family and country.

Certainly, Daniels handling of the Pittman Plantations during the 1820's into the 1840's was a period of significant financial growth as well as accumulations of land and prestige among Southern Plantation owners.   In the 1830 Census, Daniel, his wife Asenath, infant daughter and his father John Ichabod age 78, were listed as residents of the home with thirty-five slave workers...the majority of them being women and children.  Daniel was thirty-two when he married Asenath Haynes Baber, twenty, on March 17, 1826.  Their first child was named Eunice Marshall after his mother Lucy Eunice Marshall Pittman who died in 1821.

Daniel and Asenath had five more children...two sons and three daughters.  Three years after Eunice, Abigail Baber was born.  Abigail lived to the age of 96 and was the source of much of the family history being preserved in her letters to later generations.  One of which has been included in Eight Is Enough...Second Son's Testament to The Scriptures. 

Daniel J. was born in 1837, and as an adult he was probably instrumental in the legal complications that would befall the Pittman land holdings by the 1840's through the 1860's as the US government began what is generally accepted as Pre-Civil War land taxes.  Known as the Honorable Daniel J. Pittman of Atlanta, he followed in his father's footsteps, not as a farmer, but as a well educated and civic minded Attorney and Judge. 

The two younger daughters, Lucy Asenath and Henrietta Lucinda were born in 1844 and 1846, respectively.  Lucy married Billings Socrates Ivy who had the distinction of being the first male child born in Atlanta, Georgia.  His family were early Pioneers in Atlanta and Lucy and 'Sock' lived their entire married life in the city where he was a Foundry Foreman.  Lucy's mother Asenath was listed as residing with them in the 1880 Census which would have been nine years after Daniel's death in 1871.  Lucy and 'Sock' had four children, one son Lyman and three daughters Cora, Mary Ellen and Rosamond.  These four 2ndCousins3xRemoved, along with other Cousins from this Second Generation will be profiled in 'Georgia Cousins'...a later section to come.

Before I lay Daniel to rest, there is the matter of what is referred to by previous family historians as the 'Financial Reversals of the Wealthy'.  A National Financial Crisis in 1829 through 1838 resulted in multiple Court Judgments against Daniel Pittman et. al, in the sale of land by Gwinnet County Sheriff's Land Sales.  Lots of Pittman Land were sold off in 150 to 500 acres at a time. The  Court Judgments were conducted well into the 1840's with hundreds of acres of the Pittman Family land sold to satisfy Banks and private citizens claims.  Also during these years, Daniel represented Gwinnett County in the State Legislature and served in the State Senate. 

In the 1850 Census, Daniel lists himself as a farmer on property valued at $800.  His land dealings had to do with the donation of five acres for the formation of Mount Carmel Methodist Church where his parents are buried as well as other family members.  Missing from the 1860 Census, it is presumed that Daniel, Asenath and their children continued their lives on the same property as was enumerated in 1850.  However, it is known that Daniel served the Confederacy during the 1860's Civil War.  His daughter Lucy Pittman Ivy wrote that he was stationed in Pensacola and Mobile.  He was in several battles but was not injured. 

At the end of the Civil War and documented in the 1870 Census, Daniel and Asenath were living in Evans District in DeKalb County which was next to Gwinnett County.  It is not known by this author if the lines of the counties were redrawn or if Daniel and Asenath were on a different property, which Daniel listed as valued at $1000 and personal property valued at $745.  On this property, Daniel had one farm hand, 18 year old John M. Tweedy.  The ravages of the Civil War and the beginnings of the Re-Construction of the South had taken a toll on Daniel and the Pittman Family holdings in Georgia. 

Daniel died on August 18, 1871 at the age of 78.  He is buried at Stone Mountain Cemetery near Stone Mountain Baptist Church where he and Asenath were founding members.  Stone Mountain is in DeKalb County, not far from Atlanta where Asenath went to live with daughter Lucy and husband Socrates Ivy.  Asenath died ten years later on October 29, 1881.  Her obituary appeared in the Atlanta paper.

PITTMAN.~Mrs. Asenath Haynes Pittman, widow of the late Daniel N. Pitman, deceased, died at the residence of her son-in-law, Mr. B.S. Ivy, No 113 Walton Street, Atlanta, Georgia, at sunset, Saturday evening, October 29th, 1881.  She was born in Oglethorpe county, Georgia, August 24, 1805, and died in the 78th year of her age. 
Funeral services at her grave in the cemetery at Stone Mountain, 10 o'clock a.m., Monday, October 31st, 1881.  Rev. H.C. Hornady, of the Baptist church, will officiate.  Friends and acquaintances affectionately invited to attend.  Train leaves the union passenger depot at half-past eight o'clock Monday morning.

Daniel a Hebrew name meaning 'God is my judge'.

Inscription on his headstone...

He trusted in the Lord God of Israel.

Jefferson~Born In Time of Peace~ Died In Time of War

By 1820 Jefferson 'Jeffery' Pittman, the fifth son of John Ichabod and Lucy, had married his brother's wife's sister, had two children, and was farming in Columbia County.  His farm was most likely in close proximity to his fathers and brothers and for all practical purposes was probably still land owned by his father and sectioned off for Jeffery and his wife Rachel's home.

Jeffery and Rachel were married on July 7, 1814 when he was just twenty-two years of age.  In those days that was considered quite young for a male to marry.  However, in Jefferson's case, he was the son of a wealthy land owner, and was financially stable.  Rachel was the sister of Priscilla Harden Pittman, the wife of her husbands older brother Marshall...his story Eight Is Enough...Second Son's Testament to The Scriptures.

In the next ten years, by 1830, Jeffery and Rachel had completed their family of six children with the youngest Mordecai having been born in 1829.  Jeffery was now thirty-eight, a successful farmer in his own right whose farm supported his family of eight and several families of slaves numbering thirteen.  As was his fathers and brothers, Jeffery's farms main crop was cotton, and by this time, Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin in 1793 was making a major impact on the Pittman Plantations.  Although the cotton gin was not  patented and validated until 1807, Whitney's early model had a monumental impact on the Cotton Industry of the South.

By the 1840 Census, Jeffery's family structure and numbers had changed only slightly with only one of his older children, Henry Harden, having married and established his own home.  Still at home and shown on the 1840 Census as employed in agriculture were eight persons.  Daughters, America and Lucy would not marry for several years more, and younger children, Jabez Pleiadas, Martha and Mordecai were in school which was also documented for the first time on the Census Form.  Schools-Primary and Common and Schools-No. of Scholars (Pri/Comm): were the two categories enumerated.  As has been noted previously, the Pittman's interest and endeavors in education were of great importance.  In the category of No. of Scholars, 60 was the number listed.

In 1850, Jeffery and Rachel were in their late fifty's.  All their children had married and settled in homes and communities nearby.  Their daughter Martha and her husband, Benjamin Franklin Miller, a school teacher were living with them on the farm.  Daughter America had married in 1846 to Jackson Boyd Sloan, who would later become a Second Lieutenant and survivor of the Civil War.  They had five children, three sons and two daughters, with daughter Mary living until 1943.

Rachel died on February 12, 1858 at the age of 65.  Two years later her daughter Lucy died at age 37.  Lucy had married Bodwell E. Wells, a Civil Engineer and had six children before her early death in 1860.  Her husband remarried and left Georgia for Texas where he was laid to rest at age 80 in 1900 at Fairview Cemetery, Hubbard County, Hill, Texas. 

Jefferson 'Jeffery' Pittman died at age 71 on August 29, 1863.  He was born at a time of prosperity, lived during the golden age of cotton in the South, and died with the knowledge that life as he had known it and hoped it would be for his children and grandchildren would be forever changed with the outcome of the Civil War.  This he knew a year before President Abraham Lincoln said:

"There is more involved in this contest than is realized by every one. 

There is involved in this struggle the question whether your children and my children

shall enjoy the privilege we have enjoyed."

August 22, 1864 ~ Speech to the 160th Ohio Regiment

He died in Resaca, Gordon County, Georgia, most likely at the home of his daughter America and son-in-law Second Lieutenant Jackson Boyd Sloan, Confederate Army, Resaca, Georgia, a short three months after one of the best documented and described battles of the Civil War...The Battle of Resaca.

The Missing Life of Jeptha

Born in 1787. Died in 1864. That is all. There's not one record of anything inbetween for John and Lucy's fourth son, brother of Ichabod, Marshall and John.  Not a scrap of information that he was even on the roll of the early census when the count was determined by the number of  Free White Males living in a household.

At the time of his death at age 77, Jeptha surely would have been buried near someone in his family even if he had never married or fathered any children.  He was one of nine children....five younger than he, and with many nieces and nephews who as family tradition dictated took care of old uncles.

Gone But Not Forgotten for old Jeptha, did not seem to be written on any tombstone, either.  Instead it seems he was 'Gone and Forgotten' for his name does not appear in any of the cemeteries that were the final resting places of his family.  There are several that bare his family name and Mount Carmel Methodist Church Cemetery where his parents are buried on land donated by his brother Daniel for the church and cemetery.

So for Jeptha, we will have to be satisfied knowing that his early years were lived much like his brothers, and he grew up with the same values and good intentions for living a Christian life with the idea that he too would marry, have children and grandchildren and be buried in a family plot.  Most likely all of that did happen for Jeptha.  However, there is always the possibility that a completely unforeseen turn of events sent him down a different path...at least at the end of his life.  It was, afterall, during the Civil War.

The one bit of information that hints at the possibility of his death being related somehow to the Civil War is the place of his death....Whitfield County, Georgia.  Whitfield was a hotbed of  skirmishes  in 1864 from January through October, and Whitfield organized almost 20 outfits of Infantry, Volunteer and Guard Units.  Even at age 77 Jeptha could have been in one of the Home Guard Units or a Volunteer fighter at the Battle of Buzzards Roost or the Battle of Nickajack Gap.  Perhaps one day, another scrap of information will be found, and the missing life of Jeptha will be found.  Until then...

Rest In Peace, Uncle Jeptha in your virtual cemetery beside your parents at Mount Carmel.

You may be Gone but You are Not Forgotten in Tracks of My Georgia Ancestors...for as I continue to say....

"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."

Your 4th Great niece from Texas

John...Son of John, Grandson of John and On and On John's

If one was inclined, one could trace their family John's all the way back to Yochanan ben Zechariah aka John the Baptist.  The names John and William shared the most popular names in English-speaking countries from around 1550 until the middle of the twentieth century. 

Since John was the MOST popular name given to male infants in the US until about 1924, it is no surprise to find fifteen John Pittman's from 1726 through 1882 in our Direct Line only.

John, son of John Ichabod and grandson of John and Mary Polly, the Colonials, was born September 11, 1784 in Gwinnett County, Georgia, the third son of Lucy Eunice and John Ichabod. From birth through his youth, what as been said about his brothers Ichabod Byrd and Marshall also applies to John as boys raised by a successful farmer father and a mother who instilled a strong Christian faith on one hand with a firm grip on discipline on the other.

There are not many records to shed light on this John, as has been the case with his father and grandfather, however it is known that in his 58 years of life in Georgia, he was married twice,  fathered at least eight children and laid to rest one wife and three children before his own death on January 14, 1843.   At the age of 29, he married Mary Nobles in January 1814 and by June that same year he was a widower.  The cause of Mary's death is not known and it is also not proven that she was somehow related to John's Aunt Zilpha through her marriage to Blanton Nobles.  That story titled Colonial Daughter's Biblical Name Prophecy.

In 1819 at the age of 34, John and Martha Drucilla Johnson, 18 years of age were wed.  Martha gave birth to eight children from 1821 through 1842.  She outlived all of them and her husband, John.  Two of the children died as infants including son John, their only daughter Martha Elizabeth died at age ten, other sons died in their twenty's including Columbus C., a casualty of the Civil War.  His profile sketch will be in the Civil War section.

John, son of John, Grandson of John died on January 14, 1843.  His namesake, grandson John Anderson born in 1853, the son of John's son Joseph, would be the last hope for this line of John's to pass on the name John.  John Anderson's father Joseph was the longest living of John and Martha Drucillia's children.  He died at age 39 in August 1864...possibly another son lost to the Civil War.

This John's most notable contribution to the Pittman Family Tree may have been his second wife Martha Drucilla.  Without her, there would not have been  his namesake John Anderson and a direct line of descendants.  Martha Drucilla remarried after John's death to a man whose last name would change only tree letters of her last name....Isaac Pitts.  Thankfully his first name was not John. 

She died in 1868 at age 68 in Dooly County, Georgia where records indicate her son and grandson John Anderson resided.  She and all John's are perfect examples of.....

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. 

Eight Is Enough...Second Son's Testament to the Scriptures

To say that Lucy Eunice Marshall Pittman must have been one tough woman would be an understatement. With her right hand on the Bible and the left carrying a switch, it's not hard to imagine her riding roughshod over a bunch of boys.

After all, Lucy was raised with seven brothers who as youngsters lived among a tribe of Mohawk Indians on the Susquehanna River. Her father, Daniel Marshall felt called to the Missionary service of converting the Mohawk to Christianity.  That experience and Lucy's education on living with a tribe of wild children has been written about in the Colonial period...Making Tracks Out of Virginia.

It is with this background, a strong moral character, and prominent and successful husband that Lucy Eunice raised eight sons and one daughter.  Her husband as a large land owner and farmer, relied on those sons to become caretakers of their properties and to carry on the family ethics of hardworking, Christian and community minded citizens.

The first born, and my direct ancestor was Ichabod Byrd, and although there is a question as to the exact date of his birth was born  about 1782.  Because he is the Direct Ancestor and the link to the next  generation of Pittmans in Tracks of My Georgia Ancestors, his 'Profile and History' will be last in the list of Second Generation Pittmans.

That brings us to Marshall, the second son, third great uncle and father of  eleven First Cousins 4xRemoved.   His given name of Marshall was his mother Lucy's maiden name and bestowed in honor of her father the Reverend Daniel Marshall.  He shared that namesake honor with  brother Daniel, ten years younger.  Marshall was born in March 1783 in Franklin County, Georgia, most likely at home on the property his father had earned for his service in the Revolutionary War.  His birth would have been remarkable and memorable as he was one of the first children born in the newly formed county.

Franklin County, located in Northeast Georgia was the first county established in the state after the American Revolution.  At that time members of the Lower Cherokee Indian tribe lived there until the Treaty of Augusta established the land claim from the native residents.   The county was named after Declaration of Independence signer Benjamin Franklin.  Marshall's father Ichabod was no doubt one of the first settlers to make a claim to the heavily forested land that was covered with mainly oak and hickory trees which were cleared for large tracts of land devoted to agriculture.

At age 29, Marshall married 19 year old Priscilla Ann Harden on November 17, 1812.  Two years later on July 7, 1814 his brother Jefferson married Priscilla's sister Rachel making their combined 17 children 'Double Cousins' with 9 sons to carry on the Pittman name.  Marshall and Priscilla's  eleven children were all born in Georgia.  Several of their sons headed west to Arkansas and Nevada, son Calvin died at age 15, and son John died at age 41 on June 18, 1865, a casualty of the Civil War.  His biographical sketch will be presented in the Civil War section. 

Marshall and Priscilla were residents of Macon, Georgia in the years after their marriage in Columbia County.  Sometime after the birth of their last child, a daughter, the family moved to Mississippi.  The reason for the move West has been documented by earlier family historians as a way of protecting the property rights of their daughters.  At the time, these rights were better protected by Mississippi statues than those of Georgia.  This change to an out of state residence was common among wealthy land owners.

Priscilla died in January 1845 in Mississippi.  She was 52 years old, and Marshall was 62.  Her death took a toll on Marshall, and not long after he returned to Georgia.  The last years of his life were fraught with bouts of erratic behavior as described in a letter written by his niece Abigail, daughter of his brother Daniel.

 In 1914 she wrote to her Pittman cousin, "Your grandfather Marshall was immensely wealthy and lived in Macon, which is a hundred miles south of here.  He was a southern cotton planter and buyer and his wife, Aunt Cilla, said he went wrong.  I remember when he passed our house and she begged my father to persuade him to buy a farm near us on the Chattahoochee River, but they could not do a thing with him.  He seemed to quote scriptures all the time, and was down on Masons and Methodists.  He was as fine a looking man as you ever saw.  He was well educated and talented but got wrong, his daughters said...or he would have never left Mississippi." (this in part letter submitted to ancestry.com on July 23, 2010)

Marshall Pittman died on September 14, 1861 in Milledgeville, Baldwin County, Georgia, where he had been confined in the Milledgeville State Hospital.  He was interred at the Central State Hospital Cemetery #2...Find A Grave Memorial. 

Through out his life and to the very end, Marshall's one constant was

his namesake minister grandfather Marshall's legacy of devotion to the scriptures.