Enoch Reeves Cheney

The 52 Ancestors theme this week is “at the cemetery.”

This blog post is another in a series connecting the dots in my tree to the souls buried at Bairdstown Cemetery in Bairdstown, Oglethorpe County, Georgia.

Enoch Reeves Cheney, son of William Owen Cheney Sr. and Elizabeth Ann Callaway, was born in Bairdstown, Oglethorpe County, Georgia on November 12, 1830. He had at least nine brothers and sisters—Martha Sarah Cheney, Almarine Catherine Cheney, William Owen Cheney, John F. Cheney, Mary Elizabeth Cheney, Rhoda Anne Cheney, Reuben Sumpter Cheney, Howell Cheney, and Patrick Mell Cheney. Enoch was the oldest child in the family. The book Descendants of Richard Cheney of Anne Arundel County, Maryland by R. L. Orrell lists several other children—Thomas Butler Cheney, Felicia Melanie Cheney, Melissa Lurine Cheney, Joseph Benson Cheney—all of whom apparently died in infancy. I have found no other mention of these children in my research.

Enoch’s connection to my tree is a distant one—he is the grand uncle of husband of 2nd cousin 3x removed. We have no common relative.

Still living at home, Enoch was a farmer in 1850. He married Sarah Haseltine English, parents unknown to me, in Greene County, Georgia on October 5, 1852. Sarah was born in nearby Penfield, Greene County Georgia. Together they had six children—William Henry Cheney, Anna Irene Cheney, James S. Cheney, Mary E. Cheney, Enoch Callaway Cheney, and Charles English Cheney.

By 1860, Enoch had obtained real estate valued at $4000 and a personal estate valued at $8000. He was doing well. Enoch and Sarah lived in Woodville, Greene County, Georgia, two houses from my 3rd great grandparents, James Meriweather Lankford and Caroline Hobbs Lankford. During the Civil War, he served as a private in Company C, Third Georgia Infantry (Dawson Grays) C.S.A. with James Lankford.

Enoch was a farmer his entire life. He stayed in Greene County for many years but eventually moved back to Bairdstown where he was enumerated during the 1900 U.S. federal census and where he most likely died on March 21, 1902 at the age of 71. He was buried at Bairdstown Cemetery.

References

• E. R. Cheney, Georgia, Wills and Probate Records, 1742–1992.
• Enoch C. Cheney certificate of death no. 27595, Georgia Department of Public Health.
• Find A Grave Memorial no. 24039420, Sarah Haseltine English Cheney.
• Marriage license for Enoch R. Reeves and Sarah English, Georgia, Marriage Records from Select Counties, 1828–1978.
• Orrell, R. L., Descendants of Richard Cheney of Anne Arundel County, Maryland.
• The Dawson Guards, “Weekly Chronicle and Sentinel,” Augusta, Georgia, April 24, 1861.
• U.S. Federal Census, Bairdstown, Oglethorpe County, Georgia, 1900.
• U.S. Federal Census, District 138, Greene County, Georgia, 1880.
• U.S. Federal Census, District 161, Greene, Georgia, 1850.
• U.S. Federal Census, Militia District 141, Greene County, Georgia, 1870.
• U.S. Federal Census, Woodville, Greene, Georgia, 1860.