AMANDA FUSON
One of the ancestors we have a photo of is Amanda Fuson. It
shows a young woman with blue eyes and brown hair. I include here a cleaned-up, closeup version of the original shown at the end of this blog. She was my husband’s great-grandmother
on the Jobe side of the family.
Having a photo is fortunate since we don’t know much about
her. She lived in a time and place where few records survived, and even fewer
were about women, since it was rare that a woman owned anything in her own name
or had any occupation other than housework and childrearing. Her life was short,
and she experienced loss and upheaval.
Amanda’s family lived in the area where the borders of
Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee come together. Her father William Fuson lived
in Wayne County, Tennessee (due north of Lauderdale County, Alabama) in the
1830s and 1840s, but by the 1850s he was living in the northeast corner of
Mississippi, in Tishomingo County.[1]
The horizontal dashed line on the map is the Tennessee-Mississippi border.
U.S.
War Department, “Official Records Atlas: The Tennessee-Alabama-Mississippi
tristate area during the Civil War,” 1891; Wikipedia (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tennessee-Alabama-Mississippi_tristate_area_map,_Civil_War,_cropped_from_Official_Records_Atlas.jpg:
accessed 4 Mar. 2024).
A granddaughter of Amanda’s brother David Jahu Fuson wrote
that Amanda was born on September 20, 1857.[2]
In 1850 William Fuson’s wife was named Hannah, and she was
born about 1822 in Tennessee.[3]
In 1860 William’s wife was named Sarah, who was born about 1820 in Tennessee. There
is no documentary evidence of who Amanda’s mother was, but because there was a
long gap between William’s older children and Amanda, it’s most likely that
Hannah died, and Amanda’s mother was the second wife Sarah. When Amanda was
born, she had a fifteen-year-old sister Margaret, a thirteen-year-old brother
John, and a ten-year-old brother David.[4]
When Amanda was a little girl, the Civil War came to her
part of Mississippi. The Battle of Corinth and the Battle of Iuka were both
fought in 1862 not far from where they lived. Union and Confederate armies
crisscrossed the county, often raiding the crops and livestock of local
farmers. Probably during the fighting, but certainly sometime between 1860 and
1866, they moved over the state line, to Franklin County, Alabama, presumably a
safer place.[5]
After that, I could not find any record until 1880 that
showed where Amanda and her parents lived. By that time, she was 22 years old.
Her brother David Jahu Fuson had married and started a family, and Amanda and
her father lived with them. They farmed in Hill County, Texas, about midway
between Dallas and Austin. Her mother was not living with them; the last record
I found for her was in 1860. The most likely time they moved to Texas was
between about 1877 and 1879.[6]
On May 15, 1881, Amanda married Joseph Albert Colville, a
widower with a three-year old son.[7]
A year later, she became the mother of Ott Ashward Colville.[8]
That is a very unusual name; perhaps it was a name used in Amanda’s mother’s
family. A little more than a year later, Amanda had a baby girl, named Donnie
Belle Colville.[9]
Finally, and there is no official record, just oral history, on July 6, 1887,
Amanda died after giving birth to a third child, which did not survive either.[10]
Using the usual genealogical sources, I have not been able
to confirm this date, nor have I been able to find where Amanda was buried, or
whether her father survived her.[11]
Her birth family was no longer living nearby; her sister Margaret had probably
also died before Amanda did, and her brother David had moved to Arkansas by 1886.[12]
Her father was born about 1811 and probably had also passed away.[13]
Her Colville family may not have had the financial resources to erect a
tombstone for her or her father; no stone for her husband’s first wife has been
found either.
Anonymity and poverty like this were not unusual for people,
especially women, in that time and place. Their lives were much harder than
ours are today. If I could do time travel, I would not want to visit the “good
old days.”
Note: any further questions you may still have are probably
addressed in the footnotes.
[1] For evidence of parentage, “1880 United States Federal
Census,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com:
accessed 1 June 2021) > Texas > Hill > Precinct 2 > E.D. 72 >
image 6 of 48; William and Amanda Fuson in household of Jahu Fuson, p.309B,
lines 42-43, dwelling 54, family 54, from NARA RG 29, Pub. T9, roll 1311.
For residences, “Tennessee,
U.S., Early Tax List Records, 1783-1895,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2883/:
downloaded 2 June 2021) > Wayne > 1836 > image 22 of 71, Fuston,
William; p. 144, Tennessee State Library and Archives. Wayne County, Tennessee,
Survey Book, Vol. B, Jan. 1842-Nov. 1851, B: 299, William Fuson, 23 Mar.
1844; “Survey books, vols. A-C 1820-1907,” FamilySearch
(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9P4-672H?i=512&cat=405100:
accessed 5 June 2021), image 513 of 709, FHL film 1012382, DGS no. 007643993. “1850
United States Federal Census,” database with images, Ancestry
(https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 31 May 2021) > Mississippi >
Tishomingo > Northern Division District 4, image 51 of 171; William Fuson
household, p. 26A (penned), line 1-2, dwelling 341, family 341, from NARA RG
29, Pub. M432, Roll 382.
[2] Email to the author by her son, dated Dec. 16, 2001.
It appears to be a Bible transcription.
[3] 1850 census cited above.
[4] “1860 United States Federal Census,” database with
images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 31 May 2021) >
Mississippi > Tishomingo > Not Stated, Post Office: Burnsville, image 290
of 481; William Fuson, p. 289 (penned), line 32, dwelling 1933, family 1933,
from NARA RG 29, Pub. M653.
[5] “Alabama, U.S., State Census, 1820-1866,” database
with images, Ancestry
(https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1576/images/31075_174431-00017?pId=544439:
accessed 1 June 2021) > 1866 > Franklin > image 11 of 333; Fractional
Township No. 5, Range 15, p. 11, line 3, William Fusson. There were two males
and three females in the household.
[6] David’s three-year-old son was born in Mississippi, so
about 1877, and Amanda’s sister Margaret married in Hill County in 1879. “1880
United States Federal Census,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com:
accessed 1 June 2021) > Texas > Hill > Precinct 2 > E.D. 72 >
image 6 of 48; Elexander Fuson in household of Jahu Fuson, p.309B, line 41,
dwelling 54, family 54, from NARA RG 29, Pub. T9, roll 1311. For marriage, "Texas,
County Marriage Records, 1837-1965,” database and images, FamilySearch
(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV14-6CNQ : accessed 2 March 2024),
Entry for G W Stanford and Margaret Fuson, Hill County, Texas, 3 Aug 1879.
[7] Hill County, Texas, Marriage license, 2:482, J. A.
Colville – Amanda Fuson, 15 May 1881; “Hill County, Texas, marriage records,
1873-1934; index, 1873-1941; general birth index, 1903-1956,” database and
images, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org: downloaded 30 May
2022) > Marriage records v. 2-3 1876-1886 > DGS 004820310 > image 283
of 606. For three-year-old son, “Texas, U.S., Death Certificates, 1903-1982,”
database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 14
June 2022) > Crosby > 1959 > Jul-Sep > image 8 of 17, certificate image, James Woody
Colville, 30 August 1959, no. 43060, citing “Texas Department of State Health
Services, Austin.”
[8] Social Security Administration, “U.S., Social Security
Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007,” database, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com:
accessed 12 June 2022), entry for Ott Ashword Colville, July 1941, SS no.
462-22-4464. Note: his WWI draft card did not name his parents, but he signed
it Ott Ashward Colville.
[9] For birthdate, Find a Grave, database and
images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/66556867/donnie_belle-jobe:
accessed March 4, 2024), memorial page for Donnie Belle Colville Jobe (27 Aug
1884–20 Aug 1971), Memorial ID 66556867, citing Ninnekah Cemetery, Ninnekah,
Grady County, Oklahoma, USA; Maintained by Jan Fendley (contributor 46948369).
For parentage, The Southwestern Reporter, V. 118 (St. Paul, MN: West
Publishing Co., 1909), 871; images, Google Books (books.google.com:
downloaded 20 June 2022).
[10] For date, email Dec. 16, 2001.
[11] Negative searches in online newspapers and burial
websites.
[12] "Texas, County Marriage Records, 1837-1965,"
FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV14-6CNQ : accessed
4 Mar. 2024), Entry for G W Stanford and Margaret Fuson, Hill County, 3 Aug
1879. "Texas, County Marriage Records, 1837-1965,", FamilySearch
(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV14-6GMG : accessed 4 Mar. 2024),
Entry for G W Stanford and E J Williams, Hill County, 6 Oct 1885. Note:
normally, a remarriage was not available until the death of the prior spouse. For
move away by 1886, 1900 United States Federal Census, Yell County, Arkansas,
population schedule, Danville Township, ED 152, p. 16, dwelling 198, family 201,
Charlie Fuson in household of David J. Fuson; “1900 United States Federal
Census,” database and images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com: accessed 4 Mar. 2024)
> Arkansas > Yell > Danville > District 0152 > image 31 of 32;
from NARA microfilm publication T623, roll 80. Note: Charlie was the earliest
child born in Arkansas, in Aug. 1886.
[13] From ages recorded in 1850, 1860, and 1880 censuses.
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