After a five year hiatus, I'm back! And I assure you the wait will prove to be well worth it, as you'll see with this current post!
So I had left off on my last post discussing the life and times of Benjamin McClusky and his wife Sarah Howard. At the time, not much was known about the origins and early life of Sarah Howard and she had proven to be a pretty solid brick wall. But not anymore!
Up until just recently, pretty much all that was known about Sarah was that she was born in Virginia in either 1813 or 1818 according to the 1850 and 1860 federal census reports, she first appears in earlier records with her marriage to Benjamin McClusky in Lincoln County, Tennessee on September 28, 1840, and then presumably dies at some point prior to 1870 in Pontotoc, Mississippi. End of story. Even after an exhaustive search through the existing records in both Lincoln County and Pontotoc County, no clues seemed to surface pointing to her parents or earlier life prior to marrying Benjamin McClusky in 1840.
When researching this particular family, one thing has always stood out to me that seemed to be a possible important clue and connection; and that one thing is the constant and close proximity of this family to people with the surname Kidd and to a lesser degree the name Walker. In 1840, you see the McCluskys living along what is now known as the Walker Branch of the west fork of the Flint River in southwestern Lincoln County alongside many families with the name Walker, as well as an elderly widow by the name of Sarah Kidd. Between 1840 and 1850 you then see Benjamin McClusky and his wife Sarah migrate south to Pontotoc County, Mississippi. Pontotoc County marriage records show that on December 10, 1845 a woman named Susan Kidd marries a man named Japheth Walker who was the son of John Walker who lived in very close proximity to the extended McClusky families back in Lincoln County and directly next to the widow Sarah Kidd. Interestingly enough, on the 1850 Census for Pontotoc County you find Japheth and his recently married wife Susan Kidd living directly next to Benjamin and Sarah McClusky. On this same census you also find a woman named Nancy A. Kidd living in the home of Benjamin and Sarah McClusky. Four years later Nancy Kidd would marry a man named James Cox on January 12, 1854 in Pontotoc County, and by the 1860 Census you find a young man named Robert Kidd residing in their home. This same Robert Kidd can be found ten years earlier living in the home of a local merchant named William Walker working as a clerk. Also around this period of time you see a John D. Kidd relocate to Pontotoc County from Lincoln County, and the appearance of Greenberry L. Kidd in the county by 1860.
Greenberry L. Kidd was born in Virginia around 1820 and had relocated to Pontotoc County from Tuscaloosa County, Alabama where he and his family had resided since at least 1847. Based on the birth locations of his three oldest children, records show that Greenberry Kidd had also lived in Lincoln County, Tennessee as early as 1840. Prior to that he can be found in Blount County, Alabama where he married Sarah Brown on February 7, 1839. It's important to note that at the time of his marriage he had a legal guardian named Caleb Hartgraves which would imply that Greenberry's father had passed at some point prior to the marriage in 1839. With the coming of the Civil War, Greenberry Kidd would accept payment from a man to serve as his replacement in service which would ultimately lead to him being shot and killed at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863. Seven years later you then find Benjamin and Sarah McClusky's daughter, and my great great grandmother Mary McClusky, residing in the home of Greenberry's widow Sarah (Brown) Kidd in 1870.
So what does all this have to do with the origins and early life of Benjamin McClusky's wife Sarah Howard? Well, if you go back to the 1839 Blount County, Alabama marriage record for Greenberry Kidd, six years prior you'll find another marriage record in the county for a Sally Kidd marrying a James Howard on May 12, 1833. The witnesses on the record are listed as John Howard, Henry Parham, and her father John Kidd. It is generally accepted that the name Sally is a nickname for Sarah and generally used when the mother is also named Sarah to help differentiate the elder from the younger Sarah. It is also important to mention that at this point in time you find a William Walker from Pittsylvania County, Virginia living in Blount County, Alabama and by 1840 the arrival of a Jeremiah Walker also from Pittsylvania County. Both of these men are believed to be related to the Walker families you find residing near the McCluskys back in Lincoln County, Tennessee. And in fact, you find this same Jeremiah Walker residing near a John Kidd in Lincoln County, Tennessee on the 1830 Census.
(1833 Blount County, AL Marriage Record for James Howard and Sally Kidd)
With all the connections I've just presented, this would strongly suggest that when Sarah Howard married Benjamin McClusky in Lincoln County, Tennessee in 1840 she was on her second marriage and her maiden name wasn't actually Howard, but instead, she was actually born Sarah A. Kidd. Historical records coupled with DNA evidence also indicates that she was the older sister of Greenberry L. Kidd, Susan A. Kidd that married Japheth Walker, Nancy A. Kidd that married James Cox, Milford Robert Kidd that you find living in the home of William Walker in 1850, and most likely John D. Kidd who had relocated to Pontotoc County from Lincoln County by 1850. It is also highly likely that the widow Sarah Kidd you find living in close proximity to the McCluskys back in Lincoln County in 1840 is their mother who had relocated there after the death of her husband John Kidd in Blount County, Alabama prior to 1839. As you'll later see, this would be the most logical move for her considering the family had lived in the county before, as well as, the large number of Walker families living there and her connection to that name.
With the evidence presented, I strongly believe that Benjamin McClusky's wife Sarah A. Howard was actually born Sarah A. Kidd in Pittsylvania County, Virginia around 1813 to John Kidd and Sarah "Sally" Walker. Pittsylvania County marriage records show that John Kidd and Sarah "Sally" Walker were married on September 13, 1812. They can still be found living in the county as late as 1820 for the birth of their son Greenberry and eventually migrating to Lincoln County, Tennessee with several other Walker families by 1830. By 1833 the family had relocated to Blount County, Alabama where other related Pittsylvania County Walker families were already living, and then back to Lincoln County after the death of John Kidd sometime prior to 1839 where Sarah (Walker) Kidd would live out her days.
The evidence and case I've provided should also dispel the notion that Greenberry L. Kidd was the son of a John Kidd and Sarah Isabelle McCleskey (the younger sister of Benjamin McClusky's father William McCleskey).
More to come........
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