Next Steps on the Free Family

I am attempting to identify the parents of William Free, my 4th-great-grandfather, using my Mom's DNA matches on the various platforms. I had previously built a network of Matthews-Free matches descending from my 3rd-great-grandparents William Matthews and Martha Jane Free. A complication in looking for descendants of William Free and Nancy Hayden Clark, among their four children, only Martha Jane had children of her own. In order to separate out the matches who may descend from William's parents, I need to peel off all the Matthews matches from the Clark-Hensley matches. This should leave "leftovers" who descend from the families of William's parents.

This approach worked well to identify the parents of Bridget on my Dad's Irish side, so I'm attempting a similar method on my Mom's side of the tree, one generation back. Another challenge is the presence of multiple relationships and endogamy among these Kentucky-Virginia settlers. I can clearly see overlaps among my Mom's Whitley/Wheatley, Read/Cain/Gibson and Matthews branches.

Among the groups I'm building on Ancestry, there already over 1100 matches in the Matthews-Free group. I'm in the process of building out the Clark-Hensley group, and then need to separate off the Matthews side from the Free side. I am hoping to have another update later in the week on separating these groups and working with the mystery matches who might point to the Free network.

Rountree v Free

FamilySearch. Warren County, KY. 1 Nov 1900.

After the death of William Free, Pleasant P. Rountree brought a suit against William's heirs, Nancy Hayden Free (my 4th-great-grandmother), his daughter Elizabeth Clark Martin, and my 3rd-great-grandmother Martha Jane Free Matthews. Rountree later added to the lawsuit William Jacob Free, son of William and Nancy.

Rountree claimed William Free purchased a plot of 32 acres of land in Warren County from him in August 1879, and agreed to pay a promissory note over the years for the land. The heirs of William challenged the suit, denying the claims from Rountree.

It looks like the court ruled in favor of Rountree, and the property was sold in 1904 for $300.

William and Nancy

Before diving into the Warren County, Kentucky Court case involving my 4th-great-grandparents, William Free and Nancy Hayden Clark Free, I need to step back and properly introduce William and Nancy. William is currently a brick wall, I do not know his parents or where he came from in Kentucky. I do not have a marriage record for William and Nancy, but I do have the names of their children, and US Census entries in 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880 for William and Nancy together. Let's start there.

In the 1850 US Census, William and Nancy appear in Division 2, Barren County, Kentucky, living two houses down from Nancy's parents Jonathan and Martha Clark. My 3rd-great-grandmother Martha Jane Free is listed in the household with her older sister Elizabeth C. Free.

Ancestry. 1850 US Census. Barren County, KY.

By 1860, the family had moved to neighboring Metcalfe County with Nancy's mother, Martha Patsy Clark, and added a son, William Jacob Free.

Ancestry. 1860 US Census. Metcalfe County, KY.

Martha Jane married William Matthews on 27 June 1861 in Metcalfe County. My recap on the family of William and Martha Jane is here from 2017. The marriage entry lists Martha's parents as born in Russell County, Kentucky (for William Free) and Virginia (for Nancy). 

In the 1870 US Census, William Free, Nancy and son William appear in Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky. Nancy is listed as cannot read or write.

Ancestry. 1870 US Census. Barren County, KY.

By 1880, the family is shown in Roseville, Barren County, Kentucky. The 1880 entry states William's father was born in Kentucky and mother in Virginia, so those are leads to pursue on another search.

Ancestry. 1880 US Census. Barren County, KY.

This exhausts the census records for William, who died before 16 June 1900. Nancy appears as a widow in the 1900 US Census in Elk Spring, Warren County, Kentucky, living with her daughter Elizabeth.

Ancestry. 1900 US Census. Warren County, KY.

The census entries provide some hints of where to look next using FamilySearch Full Text Search, for records involving William and Nancy in Barren, Metcalfe and Warren County, Kentucky.

Another source of information on William and Nancy may be found in the Civil War pension files. It looks like William H. Free enlisted in the Union Army, 15th Kentucky Cavalry. There is a pension card on Fold3, and another on Ancestry listing Nancy with a widow's pension file number.

Fold3. US Civil War pensions index.

Ancestry. General index to pension files.

Martha Jane's Testimony

FamilySearch. Warren County, KY.

Thanks once again to FamilySearch Full Text Search, I've found a page of testimony signed by my 3rd-great-grandmother Martha Jane Free Matthews, in the case P. P. Rountree vs Nancy Free in Warren County, Kentucky Court, dated about 1903. While I've looked at the Matthews side, Martha Jane's side has some brick walls after her father William Free. I'll be diving into this case, and peeling back the layers on this mystery branch.

RootsTech 2027 session notices going out

At the end of May I submitted two session proposals for RootsTech 2027. This afternoon, the decline notices arrived from the RootsTech team. I'm really ok with it. I know they receive a ton of proposals each year and need to weigh the proposals with the themes, and talks from established names in the space. I'll still attend in person and I am looking forward to seeing which sessions made it through the competitive process.