The conclusion of a tutorial on deductive reason when branching your family tree using Hiram Fee as the example.
If you happened upon this blog, recommend you read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. Having performed the prior steps, it’s time to move on to Step #8.
STEP #8: NEVER STOP SEARCHING
Searching for answers on Hiram Jones Fee has been a two-year undertaking. When I first encountered Hiram as the “son” of Henderson and Sarah, he just sat there on the branch… just a leaf that needed to be completed later.
Then a few months ago in branching Stephen Farmer’s son, Lewis C. Farmer (1798-1870), I find a great granddaughter Sarah Elizabeth “Sallie” Farmer (1888-1986). Sarah was the daughter of Lorena Jane Yeary (1861-1945) and Leonard Farmer (1857-1938) who was the son of Catherine Fannie Branson (1831-1920) and William C. Farmer (1824-1910). William was the son of Lewis. Then I find another Hiram Fee as the wife of Sallie Farmer. It was through more searching that I was able to conclude that the two Hiram’s were one and the same.
Never stop searching, especially if you continue to have that nagging question that your leap of faith may have been in error. By continually searching, I found additional information about Hiram Fee that really helped with the assumptions and conclusions.
Websites are constantly updated or added. Pay attention to the emails from Ancestry.com, Family Search, or Newspapers.com about their records updates. New records added to their repository may have what you are searching for. The same goes for the notices that someone has added a story, photo, or record to someone in your family tree. That’s how I came across a “Stephen F. Lee vs. David Lee” lawsuit from 1903 that was added by another Ancestry member. In it,
“Hiram Fee above named was a son and an heir of the decd. [John Fee]… that said Hiram Fee left two other children and heirs whose names and place of residence these plaintiffs cannot after diligent inquiry ascertain, they are here sued as ‘Unknown defendants’…”
“Stephen F. Lee vs. David Lee“
Search engines are fallible. Type in some search words on Ancestry.com and nothing. Do another search, and there it is. The same goes for Newspapers.com. After typing in numerous variations of Hiram Jones Fee, Hiram J. Fee, H.J. Fee, Hiram Fee, etc., I find another obituary for Hiram Jones Fee… and I wasn’t searching for Hiram. The obituary explicitly states Lee is his son… information omitted from the other obituary. The leap of faith was correct!
Source: The Tribune, IN (29 May 1950), p.1
Countless times I’ve done a Google search and have nothing come up. Then out of the blue, conduct another search using the same phrases and, voila, there’s the information you’ve been looking for. Like this website on John Fee and Jane Lee with this additional information [edited for content and errors]:
“Hiram Fee was born ca 1843 – he was killed 188_ ‘when a gun went off accidentally in Pineville.’ He married #1 1861 Sarah J Daniels born ca 1847 daughter of __; md?? #2 Rebecca Ann Jones [Hiram and Rebecca were indicted for adultery in 1875, ‘the parties being married but not to each other’] and #3 1871 to Joyce Howard [1852-1915] daughter of James T and Minerva Lee Howard. [check marriage order – Joicy had married Jasper Jones by 1903 Circuit Court LEE case] Hiram’s children, Hiram, Sally, Polly Jane and Boyd are named in the LEE vs LEE Circuit Court case in 1903 which also states that there were 2 more children of Hiram, whereabouts and names unknown!”
“Hiram J FEE was born 16 Feb 1876 and was raised from the age of three by his uncle and aunt, Henderson and Sarah OSBORN FEE. He married first in June of 1892 to Louisa “Ludie” Adeline HENSLEY born April 1879 died 1967. They set up housekeeping on Henderson’s farm on Turtle Creek. When she and Hiram divorced, Ludie took Annie Ethel with her and left the other six children with Henderson & Sarah. Hiram married #2 17 Feb 1907 to Sallie FARMER who is believed to have married next to a HUDSON [sic, HUTTON]. Hiram married thirdly to Susie REED who had been married to an EVERSOLE by whom she had two daughters, Maud and Flora. Hiram deserted her and she married Lewis HENSLEY. Hiram spent his last years in the homes of his son J. Lawrence and daughter Arta, dying at the former’s home in Brownstown, Indiana 27 May 1950.”
I wish the website had a better bibliography. The search is on for the 1875 indictment!!
Join or search as many online sites that you can. For example, even though you have a Newspapers.com account, search the digitized newspapers at the Library of Congress. Newspapers.com doesn’t have the Harlan Daily Enterprise, but NewspaperArchive.com does!
Fulton History has obscure newspapers that have solved countless brick walls. For many years, my mother and her cousin have searched state libraries and many, many dead ends to find information on their grandmother, Sallie (Sexton) Addington. With newspaper articles on “Little Johnny has a runny nose today,” surely there is some article about a woman who died from a stove explosion? Within a few minutes on Fulton’s, there it was as front page news.
Connect with other family members by joining a Facebook group, or contacting the owner of a tree, or contacting living relatives. Since publishing this blog series, I’ve been in contact with Ms. Jan Fee, the granddaughter of Hiram Jones Fee through Hiram Jr. Her personal accounts of the family history have been very educational and fill in a lot of blanks that records don’t disclose. After countless fruitless searches, she sends the 1920 Kentucky marriage bond for Hiram Jones Fee in which he marries widowed Susie Eversole and discloses that his mother is Rebecca Wells. Another leap of faith was correct!
Go old school and get offline. Even if distance prevents you from searching paper records, contact local historical and genealogical societies for their assistance. Find someone local who is willing to volunteer their time. Make a tax deductible donation that benefits your search, and their cause. Additionally, new books are published that may have what you are looking for.
The take away from this blog series is that you should never copy another person’s family tree. Looking back at the fifteen trees that Ancestry presented as their leafy hint, my family tree would have been a total mess had I accepted all of the suggestions! Worse, I would have been perpetuating the same errors that lead to brick walls, as was the case in determining the ancestors of Stephen Farmer.
Just go slow, document, verify, and never give up.
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