When researchers have paternal and maternal ancestors who have been in these United States since the 1770's then it is bound to happen. Ancestors migrate and eventually land in the same vicinity and marry. This story is a sequel to Week 47 (the stories on my blog of my paternal ancestors of East Tennessee) and one that I stumbled upon because of a Bray DNA match. The match was initially exciting (since I am trying to prove this connection) but ended up confusing me as the shared matches were to my maternal ancestors. In fact, the DNA connection was actually to my Watkins' line. I hope you enjoy the continuation of Benjamin Bray's story.
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| Benjamin Bray's Probate document. Source: Familysearch.org |
After Benjamin died in January 1862, Avarilla begins her widowhood at age 40. The family was living in Lawrence County, Arkansas where probate paperwork is filed in court but by 1870 the family is residing Washington, Sharp, Arkansas. A little pop culture - this is near a town named Evening Shade that was the name and setting of a popular comedy in the 1990's. Since Sharp County wasn't created until 1868, then perhaps the family didn't move as Sharp County was formed from Lawrence County. At this time, Avarilla has three children remaining in her household (she had given birth to at least 10); a daughter named Matilda who is 16, and two sons, Columbus age 14 along with Jefferson age 9. A daughter, Mary, lives nearby with her husband, John Johnson. Son Henry is also in the area with his wife, Jemima Clark. Her son Peter Bray is working as a farm laborer and enumerated as a single man, head of household. Another son, Thomas, also resides nearby with his wife, Sophronia Vance, and family.
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| Source: Mapgeeks.org |
Avarilla would appear on the census records for the last time in 1880 but her paper trail continued as she filed for a widow's pension and received it in July, 1896. However, her grave marker was engraved with a death year of 1880 but the marker was most likely installed many years after her death. Her grave is located in the Macedonia Cemetery located in Newark, Independence, Arkansas and with her son, Thomas Bray and his family.
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| A. V. Bray, Widow's Pension, July 1896 in Independence Co., MO. Source: Familysearch.org |
Back to the son named Peter Bray, around 1879 he married Eliza Ann Carbo and this is where my paternal family line unites with my maternal family line in Arkansas. The couple had four children before Peter passed away around 1892. According to a story passed onto a descendant named Lessie Joyce (source notes published on Ancestry.com), Peter died when his oldest daughter, who was born in 1880 and named Nancy Parilee Bray, was 12 years old of pneumonia. Eliza remarried on July 21, 1895 in Sharp County to William Troy Brashers and gave birth to two additional children. She passed away in 1923 (according to a Rootsweb discussion).
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| Peter Bray born about 1846 in Hawkins Co., TN and died about 1892. Photo source: Thomas Tucker (Ancestry.com) |
How is Eliza Ann Carbo related to me? Luckily, a few trees had paved the way to her ancestry. She was born in Lawrence County, Arkansas about 1858 to William Alexander Carbo and Nancy Elizabeth Watkins. My mother's maiden name is Watkins so I knew, given the vicinity of this family's location and my mother's family connections to Craighead County, Arkansas that the "chunk" of Watkins DNA passed down to me was shared with Eliza and my DNA match. Eliza's parents were born in Alabama. Her mother, Nancy, hailed from St. Clair County, Alabama being born in 1839 to Bennett Watkins and Ann Emily Shirley. Bennett is my fourth great-uncle and the son of Evan Watkins and Polly Dill who are my fourth great-grandparents. This makes Nancy Watkins my 1st cousin 4x removed and Eliza my 2nd cousin 3x removed. Peter Bray, husband of Eliza, is my 1st cousin 3x removed and his father, Benjamin B. Bray is my third great-uncle. How about that!
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| Seated are Eliza Ann Carbo & William Brashers (2nd husband). Standing may be Nancy Parilee Bray (Eliza and Peter Bray's oldest daughter). |
