Dinah, Randall, Joanna, Davy, Mary, Vina, and Daniel named in Thomas Thompson's estate

This post is part of an ongoing project to record names of enslaved people of Greene County, Georgia I find in historical records. 

This receipt is included among the probate estate documents for Thomas Thompson of Greene County, Georgia, who died in June 1856.

Georgia, Greene Co. Received this twenty-sixth of December eighteen hundred and fifty-six of Samuel H. Thompson and Henry E. Thompson, administrators on the estate of Thomas Thompson, late of said county, deceased, the following negroes by name: Dinah and her two children Randall a boy and Joanna a girl, Davy a man and his wife Mary, Vina a girl, and Daniel a boy, as my full distribution share of the negroes of said estate.

Sarah Thompson

Reference

Union Point, Greene County, Georgia, Probate Estate Case Files 1790–1943, image 759, FamilySearch. 

Jane Catherine Neal

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.

Jane Catherine “Janie” Neal was born October 8, 1846, likely in Bairdstown, Oglethorpe County, Georgia, the only child of George W. Neal and Eliza Jane French. Her life began with both promise and sorrow. When Janie was just four months old, her mother died at the home of her brother, Hiram L. French, on February 13, 1846, of what physicians then called “derangement of the bowels,” a severe intestinal illness marked by dehydration and pain. She was only 27.

Although Janie is not a direct ancestor, she connects to my family through a long collateral line—she was the wife of the uncle of the husband of the sister‑in‑law of the first cousin of the husband of my great‑grandmother, Alice Beman Lankford, linking her through the Wilson, Stephens, Mullins, Callaway, and Lankford families.

With her father unable to care for an infant while working, Janie was sent north to Hampton, Washington County, New York, her mother’s birthplace. There, the 1850 census enumerator found her living in a large extended household of French and Neal relatives, including Ann E. French and Alice Neal, women almost certainly connected to her mother’s family.

Her father remarried in July 1850 to Elizabeth “Eliza” Washington Edmondson, and Janie gained a half‑sister, Julia Ann Neal. By 1860, Janie was back in Georgia, living in Bairdstown with her father, stepmother, and half‑sister. George Neal, a Vermont‑born mechanic, owned real estate valued at $2,000 and personal property worth $6,000—a comfortable position for the time.

At 19, Janie married John “Jack” L. Wilson on October 3, 1865, in a ceremony performed by Rev. Patrick H. Mell, one of Georgia’s most influential Baptist ministers. Together they built a family of four children: George “Neal” Wilson, Blanche L. Wilson, Julia Lawrence Wilson, and Ellen “Nellie” H. Wilson.

Marriage record for Jane and Jack

The early years of their marriage were marked by financial strain. Jack was declared bankrupt, and his relative William R. Wilson was appointed to manage his property and debts. Despite these challenges, the couple remained rooted in Bairdstown, where Jack served as postmaster beginning in 1869. By 1870 they had moved to Penfield, Greene County, where Jack worked as a grocer merchant.

Throughout the 1870s and 1880s, Janie’s life blended domestic responsibility with the realities of running a working farm. Although Jack was a merchant, their household managed roughly 75 acres of tilled and woodland by 1880, raising corn, small grains, cotton, and livestock. The farm required hired labor, and tax records show Jack expanded his holdings to more than 300 acres over the next decade. Janie herself owned a small-town lot in Bairdstown.

Her home was also a social center. In January 1886, she helped decorate the church for a local wedding, creating a floral arch admired by all. In July 1893, she hosted a summer gathering illuminated by Japanese lanterns, with music, recitations, and ice cream—an elegant evening remembered fondly by the community.

The mid 1890s brought family milestones. Blanche married Rev. Joseph A. Thomas in January 1895, and Julia married Herbert Emory Choate later that year. By 1898, Janie and Jack had moved to the Fishing Creek community near Woodville, where Janie became active in the Ladies’ Missionary Society.

The turn of the century brought hardship. Jack’s health declined, and he died on September 3, 1901. Janie applied for Georgia’s traditional year’s support, receiving real estate valued at $1,201—including the Bairdstown home, town lots, and farmland. A creditor, William W. Dozier, contested the award, arguing the properties were undervalued and should be used to satisfy Jack’s debts. The dispute moved through the courts for more than a year.

In the years that followed, Janie’s life was shaped by both loss and resilience. She hosted Nellie’s wedding in November 1901, and two weeks later her son Neal married Isabel Burdick Peck in Chicago. In 1903, she spent a period living in Athens, Clarke County, Georgia, staying close to extended family and finding steadiness in familiar surroundings as she adjusted to widowhood. But in 1904, tragedy struck: Blanche died, likely in childbirth, and her infant daughter, Annie Blanche Thomas, died five days later.

By 1920, Janie was living in Woodville with Nellie and her grandsons Neal and Albert Evans. Nellie’s husband, John R. Evans, died on June 29, 1913, and in the years that followed she increasingly relied on her mother for support. Sometime before the 1920 census, Nellie moved into Janie’s household, and the two women shared a home as they navigated widowhood together and raised Nellie’s sons. In 1923, Janie signed an affidavit for her son George’s passport application, listing her residence as 10 Park Lane, Atlanta—a home she maintained for several years.

Janie’s signature on George’s passport

During the 1930s, Janie lived as a roomer in Atlanta with her daughter Nellie and grandson Albert, who worked at Rich’s Department Store. For a time, they boarded in the home of the Gersham family, a household that provided stability and companionship during those years when all three were navigating life in Atlanta. In her later years she moved to the Candler Hotel in Decatur, a comfortable residence that offered companionship and routine. By 1940 she was 93, a widow for nearly 40 years.

She spent her final years back at 10 Park Lane NE, living with her daughter Julia until Julia’s sudden death in January 1944. Janie herself died on March 27, 1944, at age 97, after a long illness. She was buried beside her husband Jack at Bairdstown Cemetery.

Bairdstown (or Baird’s) Baptist Church

Born in the antebellum South, Janie lived through the Civil War, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, the boll weevil crisis, the Great Depression, and the transformations of World War II. Her life spanned nearly a century of Georgia’s history—from plantation culture to the beginnings of modern Atlanta—and she met each era with steadiness, devotion to family, and a quiet but enduring presence in her community.

References

• An Approaching Marriage, The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia, November 4, 1895.
• Atlanta, Georgia, City Directory, 1932.
• Attend Chicago Wedding, The Oshkosh Northwestern, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, November 23, 1901.
• Bairdstown, The Oglethorpe Echo, Crawford, Georgia, July 21, 1893, December 23, 1898, March 29, 1901, September 6, 1901, November 15, 1901, December 6, 1901, and October 9, 1903.
• Echoes by Mail: Fishing Creek, The Oglethorpe Echo, Crawford, Georgia, January 8, 1898.
• Elizabeth W. Edmondson, Georgia, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1754–1850.
• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/48522540/blanche-thomas: accessed August 7, 2026), memorial page for Blanche Wilson Thomas (25 Aug 1868–8 Jun 1904), Find a Grave Memorial ID 48522540, citing Greenwood Cemetery, Cuthbert, Randolph County, Georgia, USA; maintained by Fat Quarter Quilter (contributor 47229861).
• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/76965413/annie_blanche-thomas: accessed August 7, 2026), memorial page for Annie Blanche Thomas (8 Jun 1904–13 Jun 1904), Find a Grave Memorial ID 76965413, citing Greenwood Cemetery, Cuthbert, Randolph County, Georgia, USA; maintained by Fat Quarter Quilter (contributor 47229861).
• Funeral Notices, Mrs. Herbert (Julia) Choate, The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia, January 10, 1944.
• George Neal Wilson, U.S., Passport Applications, 1795–1925.
• Gone to Rest: The Soul of a Good Woman Departed This World, Athens Weekly Banner, Athens, Georgia, October 28, 1890.
• Greene County, Georgia, Court Records 1897–1907, images 315–318, FamilySearch.
• Greene County, Georgia, Deeds 1862–1871, image 217, FamilySearch.
• Greene County, Georgia, Homestead Records 1888–1935, 1868–1899, images 175–177, FamilySearch.
• H. E. Choate’s Widow is Dead, The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia, January 10, 1944.
• In a... Social ... Way, Society Personals, The Topeka Daily Herald, Topeka, Kansas, November 7, 1904.
• In Cupid's Meshes: Two Loving Hearts Willingly Pierced by the Little God's Arrows, The Oglethorpe Echo, Crawford, Georgia, January 22, 1886.
• Jack L. Wilson, U.S., Appointments of U. S. Postmasters, 1832–1971.
• Jane C. Neal, Georgia, Marriage Records from Select Counties, 1828–1978.
• Janie C. Wilson, Atlanta, Georgia, City Directory, 1927.
• Julia L. Wilson, Georgia, U.S., Marriage Records from Select Counties, 1828–1978.
• Julia Neal, Georgia, Marriage Records from Select Counties, 1828–1978.
• Married, The Greensboro Herald, Greensboro, Georgia, October 3, 1872.
• Mr. Thomas B. Wilson, Georgia, Marriage Records from Select Counties, 1828–1978.
• Mrs. Janie C. Wilson Dies in Hospital, The Atlanta Journal, Atlanta, Georgia, March 28, 1944.
• Mrs. Janie Wilson, The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia, March 28, 1944.
• News of the Society World, Gowns Worn at the Wedding of Miss Isabel Peck, Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, December 1, 1901.
• Obituary, The Christian Index, Washington, Georgia, p. 71, February 25, 1847.
• Oglethorpe County, Georgia, Court Minutes 1879–1882, image 39, FamilySearch.
• Oglethorpe County, Georgia, Court Records 1881–1897, image 112, FamilySearch.
• Oglethorpe County, Georgia, Deeds 1891–1893, image 281, FamilySearch.
• Oglethorpe County, Georgia, Mortgages 1877–1883, 1869–1877, image 215, FamilySearch.
• Patrick Hues Mell; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Hues_Mell. 
• Thomas-Wilson: Two Noble Young Lives are Happily Blended into One, The Oglethorpe Echo, Crawford, Georgia, January 4, 1895.
• U.S. Federal Census, Agriculture, District 138, Greene County, Georgia, 1880.
• U.S. Federal Census, Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, 1930.
• U.S. Federal Census, Decatur, DeKalb County, Georgia, 1940.
• U.S. Federal Census, Georgia Militia District 232, Oglethorpe County, Georgia, 1860.
• U.S. Federal Census, Hampton, Washington County, New York, 1850.
• U.S. Federal Census, Militia District 138, Greene County, Georgia, 1870, 1880.
• U.S. Federal Census, Woodville, Greene County, Georgia, 1860, 1900, 1920. 

Little Harriet, Jane, Cherry, George, Jim, and Isaac named in Thomas Thompson's estate

This post is part of an ongoing project to record names of enslaved people of Greene County, Georgia I find in historical records. 

This receipt is included among the probate estate documents for Thomas Thompson of Greene County, Georgia, who died in June 1856.

Georgia, Greene County. Received this twenty-sixth day of December eighteen hundred and fifty-six of Samuel H. Thompson and Henry E. Thompson. Administrators on the estate of Thomas Thompson. late of said County, deceased, the following negroes by name: little Harriet and two children Jane and Cherry, George a boy, Jim a boy, and Isaac a man, as my full distributive share of the negroes of said estate.

William H. Thompson

Reference

Union Point, Greene County, Georgia, Probate Estate Case Files 1790–1943, image 761, FamilySearch. 

Charles Anderson’s Crown Land Patents in Colonial Virginia

I hadn’t set out to research Charles Anderson, my seventh great‑grandfather, when I began working through my Anderson line. In fact, I didn’t even know his name until I’d spent a week researching the lives of his son, Parsons Anderson, and grandson, Brazier Cocke Anderson. But once Charles appeared in the records, his story pulled me in, and I found myself pivoting from Parsons and Brazier to him. What emerged was a portrait of a man who left an extensive document trail that included 11 Crown land patents spanning more than three decades. I’ll share more of Charles’ story later—a Virginia landholder who later ties into my Wilson/Lankford line in Greene County, Georgia—but this sketch focuses specifically on his Crown land patents.

Over more than 30 years, Charles received 11 Crown land patents, showing how steadily he built and expanded his place on the Southside Virginia frontier. His first known grant, dated September 16, 1740, put him on Stone Horse Creek in Amelia County among long‑established neighbors like Mickie, Syme, Black, and Brooks. A 1734 patent issued to Thomas Haynes—covering 3,312 acres—confirms that Charles already owned a surveyed tract by that time, because several of its boundary lines ran along his land. From there, his patents show a gradual spread west and south through the Appomattox, Buffalo, Roanoke, and Meherrin River regions as counties such as Goochland, Amelia, Lunenburg, and Prince Edward were taking shape. Goochland originally covered a large area; Amelia was formed from it in 1735, Lunenburg from Amelia in 1746, and Prince Edward from northern Lunenburg in 1754, so Charles’s land stayed in the same region even as the county names changed around him.

In 1743, Charles secured 400 acres in Goochland County on Dry Creek of the Appomattox River. In 1745, he added two more grants—one in Goochland County and one in Amelia County—totaling 530 acres near Green Creek and Dry Creek, both adjoining prominent families such as the Woodsons, Michauxs, and Davis. These mid‑1740s patents show him consolidating land in a region experiencing rapid survey activity and shifting county boundaries.

400-acre Crown land patent (1743)

His largest single grant came on June 25, 1747, when he received 3,122 acres in Amelia County on the branches of the Buffalo and Mayo Rivers—a massive tract that marked him as a substantial planter with the resources and labor to improve frontier acreage. That same year he added another 400 acres in Goochland County on Wallory’s Branch of the Appomattox River, continuing his foothold in the watershed.

By 1748, county lines had shifted, and Charles’ holdings appeared in newly formed Lunenburg County, where he received part of an 886 acre tract on Little Roanoke. Two years later, on August 16, 1750, he expanded again in Lunenburg County with 315 acres on Stanley Branch, a small creek that feeds into the Meherrin River—issued the same day as a patent to Francis Anderson, suggesting coordinated surveys and a clustered Anderson presence in the area.

In 1751, Charles secured two more tracts: 400 acres on the South Fork of Buffalo River in Amelia County, and 240 acres on both sides of a small creek in Lunenburg. These grants reinforced his long standing position in the Buffalo–Roanoke corridor and his continued engagement with familiar neighbors such as Richey, Bibb, Morton, Begger, Davis, Harvey, and Duggins.

His final and second largest patent, issued June 30, 1760, granted 1,420 acres in Amelia County between Bryery Creek and the Buffalo River, combining previously patented acreage with 400 acres of new land. This late grant demonstrates that Charles remained an active landholder into the 1760s, continuing to consolidate and expand his holdings across the same frontier zone where he had been present since at least the early 1740s.

It may seem unusual for one man to receive 11 Crown land patents, but in colonial Virginia this was normal for settlers who had the money, labor, and reliability to keep improving new tracts. Patents were not special awards—they were routine transactions. As long as a man paid the fees, met the improvement rules, and had the ability to manage more land, he could apply for as many grants as he could handle. Charles fits that pattern, which is why his patents stretch across more than 30 years.

Charles’ patents show a steady, capable man who built a long‑term presence on the Southside Virginia frontier. Starting with a surveyed tract noted in 1734 and continuing through more than 5,000 acres of Crown‑granted land, his record shows reliability, resources, and strong ties to the families who shaped Amelia, Goochland, Lunenburg, and later Prince Edward County as the boundaries changed. All of his grants were issued under King George II and required him to clear land and pay quit rents—a small yearly tax of one shilling per 50 acres—obligations he consistently met. Together, these patents create a clear picture of a man who played a meaningful role in settling and stabilizing this part of colonial Virginia.

References

• Land Patents Book 15, 1732-1735, State of Virginia: Virginia. Land Patents 1732–1735, images 479–481, FamilySearch.
• Land Patents Book 19, 1739-1741, State of Virginia: Virginia. Land Patents 1739–1741, images 227–228, FamilySearch.
• Land Patents Book 21, 1742-1743, State of Virginia: Virginia. Land Patents 1742–1743, image 158, FamilySearch.
• Land Patents Book 23, 1743-1745, State of Virginia: Virginia. Land Patents 1743–1745, images 519–521 and 525–529, FamilySearch.
• Land Patents Book 26, 1747-1748, State of Virginia: Virginia. Land Patents 1747–1748, images 91–92, FamilySearch.
• Land Patents Book 28, 1746-1749, State of Virginia: Virginia. Land Patents 1746–1749, image 147, FamilySearch.
• Land Patents Book 30, 1750-1752, State of Virginia: Virginia. Land Patents 1750–1752, image 452–456 and 461–462, FamilySearch.
• Land Patents Book 33, 1756-1761, State of Virginia: Virginia. Land Patents 1756–1761, images 319–320, FamilySearch.
• Land Patents Book 34, 1656-1762, State of Virginia: Virginia. Land Patents 1756–1762, image 99, FamilySearch.

Caroline, Brag, Abram, Fanny, Madora, Charlotte, Amilla, and Milly named in Thomas Thompson's estate

This post is part of an ongoing project to record names of enslaved people of Greene County, Georgia I find in historical records. 

This receipt is included among the probate estate documents for Thomas Thompson of Greene County, Georgia, who died in June 1856.

Georgia, Greene County. Received this twenty-sixth day of December eighteen hundred and fifty-six of Samuel H. Thompson and Henry E. Thompson, Administrators on the Estate of Thomas Thompson, deceased, the following negroes by name: Caroline and child Brag, Abram a man, and Fanny his wife, and two children Madora and Charlotte, Amilla a girl, and Milly a woman, as my full distributive share of the negroes of said estate.

Thos. Thompson.

Reference

Union Point, Greene County, Georgia, Probate Estate Case Files 1790–1943, image 763, FamilySearch. 

Living Left in a Right‑Handed World

I was reminded by another blogger today, August 13, that it’s Left‑Handers Day, and that prompted me to revisit a post I wrote 16 years ago about the adventures of being left‑handed. It’s still very much a right‑hander’s world, and lefties learn early that ordinary tasks come with their own set of challenges.

I think back to first grade, when my teacher insisted I write with my right hand. I tried, but my brain revolted—I turned every letter backwards. My hand simply rebelled, flipping each letter the second I was told to use the “wrong” hand.

School never got much easier. Spiral notebooks were torture devices, with those metal rings digging into the side of my hand. I was lucky enough to avoid the classic pencil‑smudge problem, but desks, scissors, and even simple classroom tools were designed with right‑handers in mind. And don’t get me started on the number pad on a keyboard—always on the right, as if left‑handed people don’t exist.

Life outside the classroom wasn’t much kinder. At restaurants, my left‑handed son and I try to sit beside each other so we don’t play elbow wars with right‑handed diners. At work, I’d return from vacation to find all my supplies moved to the right side of the desk. My wireless mouse baffled every right‑handed IT guy who tried to use it without switching it over. Even the measuring cup in my kitchen seems determined to make me look through the glass to read the markings.

Household tools are their own adventure. Most handheld can openers are built for right‑handers, so making a pot of chili becomes a workout. Gravy ladles often have a single pour spout—on the right, of course—so pouring gravy with my left hand is a comedy routine. And while backward checkmarks feel perfectly natural to me, they look like hieroglyphics to everyone else.

Outdoor hobbies weren’t immune either. Fishing reels were made for right‑handers, and as a child I remember thinking about flipping the pole upside down just so I could crank with my left hand. Golf was no better; I never figured out which side of the ball I was supposed to stand on, which probably explains my lifelong disinterest in miniature golf.

Even everyday interactions take a little extra thought. Handshakes are expected with the right hand, so I have to consciously switch. When someone hands me paperwork to sign, it’s always angled to the right, requiring me to rotate it back. At the dinner table, I keep my glass on the left — and keep an eye on it so the right‑hander beside me doesn’t accidentally drink my beverage.

Some moments still make me laugh. My boss spent 20 years wondering why papers in the file folders were always upside down when he opened them. And when I was a teenage cashier—back in the days before scanners, when every SKU and price had to be typed in by hand—I had to remind my floor manager to assign me to the register where I could enter numbers with my left hand and move products with my right. Otherwise, every transaction took twice as long.

There are bright spots, of course. A few relatives share my left‑handedness—a son, two nieces, my late uncle, and my late mother‑in‑law. And I’m watching my grandson closely; he often favors his left hand. Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but I’d love to welcome another lefty into the club.

So, to all my fellow left‑handers: Happy Left‑Handers Day. We manage just fine in a world built for right‑handers. 

Winney, Sena, Granville, and Lucius named in Thomas Thompson's estate

This post is part of an ongoing project to record names of enslaved people of Greene County, Georgia I find in historical records. 

This receipt is included among the probate estate documents for Thomas Thompson of Greene County, Georgia, who died in June 1856.

Received four Negros to wit Winney a woman, Sena a girl, Granville a boy, & Lucius a boy as my full shair of the Negros of the Estate of Thomas Thompson, Deceased this Decr 26th 1856.

S. H. Thompson

Reference

Union Point, Greene County, Georgia, Probate Estate Case Files 1790–1943, image 766, FamilySearch.