Ten - 10-1-2018

This week, Amy has given us the word "Ten" as our food for thought.  That word/number is rather general, but I immediately thought of one person in my family tree who had ten children!  Well, actually, she had more than that, as you will see!

My great, great grandmother, Margaret Ann (Hill) Ferguson had three sisters and one brother.  They were:

1. Erastus Horry Hill - abt 1840 - Nov 7, 1861, a Confederate soldier killed in the Battle of Belmont, Belmont, Missouri.  
   
2. Nancy Caroline "Callie" (Hill) Boothe - Jun 1842 - Nov 23, 1909, who married Alexander Franklin "A. F." Boothe.  
   
   Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 02 October 2018), memorial page for Nancy C. Boothe (7 Jun 1843–23 Nov 1909), Find A Grave Memorial no. 160504140, citing Knox City Cemetery, Knox City, Knox County, Texas, USA ; Maintained by Shawn The Grave Hunter (contributor 46481676) .
3. Mary Elizabeth (Hill) Williams -  Jul 23, 1850 - June 20, 1924 who married Rev. John Jackson Williams, brother of William Lanchroe Williams.  

   

   Mary Elizabeth (Hill) Williams

4. My great, great grandmother, Margaret Ann (Hill) Ferguson - Jan 29, 1853 - Apr 3, 1932. who married James Ezekiel Ferguson.  

   

   James Ezekiel and Margaret Ann (Hill) Ferguson

5. Virginia Tennessee "Tennie" (Hill) Williams Berrier - Apr 8, 1858 - May 5, 1928, who married William Lanchroe Williams and Irving Alexander Berrier.  And it is the youngest sister, Tennie, who is the subject of our story today.  

Virginia Tennessee "Tennie" (Hill) Williams Berrier

On Nov 16, 1874, at the tender age of 16, Tennie was married to William Lanchroe Williams  in McNairy County, Tennessee by her uncle, her mother's brother, Rev. Robert Young.  Tennie's mother had died in April 1873.  William was only 19.  John Hill and his family were members of the Mount Vernon Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and very possibly, William's family was also.  

McNairy County Clerk; Volume F, Page 250. Accessed in McNairy County June 11, 1992.

William Lanchroe (W L) Williams

The Hill sisters were always very close and at the time of the 1880 census, Margaret, Callie and Tennie were living next to each other, each having married and started their own families.  

Source Citation: Year: 1880; Census Place: District 5, McNairy, Tennessee; Roll: 1268; Page: 54D;Enumeration District: 120. Description: ED: 120; Description: Fifth Civil District. Source Information: Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA.

In this census, William (W L) and Tennie had two children, Estill and his sister, Alice. They also had a cousin, George W T White living with them. Sometime between August 3, 1888, when Robert Hill Williams, (child number eight) was born, and Feb 22, 1890, when Mattie Williams, (child number nine) was born, Tennie and W L, and most likely, Callie and W F Boothe, moved from Ramer, McNairy County, Tennessee to Ellis County, Texas. Not long afterward, sister Margaret and her family joined her sisters in Texas. Here is the story in the words of Ancil Ferguson, a grandson of Margaret Ann (Hill) and J E Ferguson.

Jennie [Margaret's oldest daughter, Ancil's sister] always said that she and Henry had planned to be married when she was seventeen, since that was the age of our mother when she was married. However, our family was moving to Texas in January 1892, so their marriage date was advanced more than a year. She and Henry Ramer were married at Ramer, Tennessee December 19, 1891. Three weeks later, January 10, 1892, Jennie and Henry with her parents, brothers and sisters boarded the train at Ramer, Tennessee for Waxahachie, Texas. We arrived at our destination January 12, 1892. Mother had two sisters living a few miles southwest of Waxahachie. We moved to a farm near Aunt Callie Boothe and Aunt Tennie Williams. Papa and Henry made and gathered one crop in Ellis County (Jennie and Henry were living with us). SOURCE: Autobiography/Biography of Nancy Jane "Jennie" Ferguson Ramer - begun by herself and completed after her death by her younger brother, James Ancil Ferguson, 1960.

On Jan 22, 1892, W L died at the age of 37, just 10 days after their 10th child, Willie, a daughter, was born. I have not been able to determine the cause of death. He is buried at Maypearl Cemetery, Maypearl, Ellis County, Texas.  

Maypearl Cemetery, Maypearl, Ellis County, Texas

Here is a photo of Tennie and her ten children, after the death of W L Williams.

So, that is the story of Tennie and her FIRST TEN children! But it doesn't end there! A single woman in the 1890's raising ten children on her own was a very difficult task. So, on Nov 17, 1897, Tennie married Irving Alexander (I A) Berrier, a widower with eight children. Tennie's daughter, Alice was already married and at least one of I A's children was married, but that still left 16 children in the household! WOW!! And then, Tennie and I A had a daughter, Jewel Berrier, born Oct 8, 1899 and died ten days later.

Jewel's gravestone in Maypearl Cemetery, near her mother and father.

So, by the 1900 census, I A and Tennie were living in Ellis County with 12 of their children. I guess some of them were living with other relatives or already married.  

1900 Ellis County, Texas Census

Ruby Pearl Berrier, Tennie's twelfth child, and the twentieth child in the blended family, was born Feb 17, 1902, but she also died within a year on Dec 9, 1902.

Ruby Pearl's gravestone in Maypearl Cemetery, near her mother and father.

Here is a gathering of the blended family, with names of those in the photo.

Here are the censuses for 1910 and 1920 for I A and Tennie.

1910 Ellis County, Texas Census

1920 Ellis County, Texas Census

I A lived to be 78 years old and Tennie lived to be 70.

I A and Tennie Berrier

Tennie (Hill) Williams Berrier outlived her second husband. I A Berrier died Jul 5, 1927 and is buried near his first wife, Julia, and Tennie and W L Williams in Maypearl Cemetery, Maypearl, Ellis County, Texas.

Tennie died May 5, 1928 and is buried in Maypearl Cemetery, also.

An interesting twist to this story is that two of Tennie's children married two of I A's children. After all, they were unrelated teenagers living in the same house! And then there was the marriage of James Newton Berrier, I A's son and Margaret Elizabeth "Lizzie" Ferguson, the daughter of Margaret Ann (Hill) Ferguson! 

"Til Next Time

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