On petition to the court

Continuing with the case of Hickey v Henson, in October 1859, the Jefferson County Court granted the petition submitted by William P. Henson to have his son Theodore Hickey be declared legitimate and renamed Theodore Henson.

Source: TSLA, Hickey v Henson case file.

The court summoned A. P. C. Bettis, John Skeen and Thomas Green (my 4th-great-grandfather, husband of Sarah Sally Hickey) to appear before the court in Dandridge on 2 January 1860. Apparently Rachel Cannon Hickey had refused to turn over her grandson to be placed in the home of William P. Henson, and her efforts were supported by the court, as Henson had not yet paid his previous court costs. Richard Thornhill's wife Margaret Thornhill was named as a witness and provided a deposition at the home of Richard Thornhill on 24 January 1860.

Henson appealed the bastardary case and put up a $500 bond to cover the costs and damages. In March 1860, the court heard testimony from witnesses on behalf of Henson, who said he was a man of good character, owned one or two farms and had two other children. Three witnesses said "Mrs. Hickey was too old to control the child."

David Kidwell testified on behalf of Rachel, confirming Martha Hickey had died in 1859 and Rachel had been caring for the boy. He was now helping around the farm, "going to the mill, plow and being great service to his grandmother." Kidwell also noted how Rachel had inherited her husband's farm, how Thomas Hickey had provided for Theodore in his will, and how Rachel had sent the child to school so he could read and write.

Source: TSLA, Henson v Hickey appeal.

Benjamin Click testified how he had taken the child from Rachel to Henson's home, how the child did not want to go live with him and how Rachel was distressed and in tears when this occurred. Click also provided hearsay testimony that Henson had fathered "a negro child belonging to the widow Massengill."

Henry Ryan testified that the child returned to Rachel's care after being at Henson's one day, had blisters on his hands from working all day. Ryan noted he was Rachel's son-in-law (married to Nancy Jane Hickey), lived 100 yards from her and had 6 boys of his own, implying that he was also nearby and able to help with the boy.

The court reconvened on 21 August 1860. After reviewing the evidence and testimony, it awarded custody to William P. Henson. The court also noted that Rachel had not been at fault in the case, and ordered Henson to pay her court costs. On 24 August Rachel appealed, requesting a new trial. This was rejected and discharged by the court. Through her counsel, Rachel appealed the case to the Tennessee Supreme Court in Knoxville. Richard Thornhill and Edward Snoddy appointed S.S. McCristian as counsel for Rachel (he was clerk of the court at the time). Samuel Thornhill and Henry Ryan served as witnesses in the request for appeal.

The appeal was filed on 6 September 1860. Counsel for Rachel argued that the court ruled in error. It is not clear what the final disposition of the case was. Rachel Cannon Hickey died in 1861. I have not been able to find Theodore Hickey or Henson in the census records, so I do not know what happened after he was placed into the care of his father William.

The case again shows how intertwined and connected the relationships were among the Thornhill, Hickey and Ryan families in Jefferson County. With the next post I'll take a look at the family of Thomas D. Hickey and Rachel Cannon Hickey.

Another case in the family goes to the Tennessee Supreme Court

Last August I wrote about the Cannon family in Tennessee (see Between the Holston and the French Broad and New Finds in Tennessee). At the time I hinted at the family of Thomas D. Hickey and Rachel Cannon, but apparently I did not dive too much into a recap of their family. Between 1850 and 1860, my 5th-great-grandmother Rachel Cannon Hickey fought a court case in Jefferson County that wound its way up to the Tennessee Supreme Court. I found the case on the Tennessee State Library and Archives website, and was able to order a PDF of the case file online. The case provides more information on the family of Rachel Cannon Hickey, and how she took care of her grandson Sheadrick Theodore Hickey (later Henson) during the years of the court action.

Hickey v Henson, Tennessee Supreme Court, 1860.

On 4 June 1850, Martha Hickey, daughter of Thomas D. Hickey and Rachel Cannon Hickey, delivered an illegitimate son named Theodore Hickey. The father was identified as William P. Henson, a married farmer in Jefferson County, Tennessee. The County brought an action for bastardy against Henson on 2 September 1850. Henson appeared in court, and paid the security via a bond with Richard Thornhill and William Ryan (another family connection, father of Jacob Ryan, who married Sarah Jane Thornhill, sister of my 4th-great-grandmother Elizabeth Thornhill Jones). Theodore Hickey was allowed to remain with his mother Martha, who lived with her parents Thomas D. and Rachel Hickey.

Nine years later, William P. Henson brought an action in Jefferson County Court to declare Theodore Hickey his legitimate son and to change his name to Henson. Martha Hickey had recently died, leaving Theodore under the care of his grandmother Rachel Cannon Hickey. By this time, Rachel was nearly 75 years old, and maintaining the remains of her husband's estate and farm in Jefferson County. Rachel had put young Theodore through school, and he had grown up under her household for the first nine years of his life. I'll cover the next part of this case in the following post.

Samuel Pollock

Going back one more generation on the Pollock line, my 6th-great-grandfather was Samuel Pollock. He was born around 1756, and died on 6 January 1835 in Muskingum County, Ohio. Samuel was from Pennsylvania. In October 1824 he patented 160 acres in Muskingum County. The land patent states that he was from neighboring Guernsey County at the time.

In the 1820 US Census, Samuel Pollock appears in Westland Township, Guernsey County, Ohio. I currently have a request in with the Guernsey County Recorder's Office on land records for Samuel Pollock in the county.

According to several other Pollock researchers on Ancestry, and Samuel's Findagrave entry, his wife was Jane Thompson (1760-1841). I was not able to locate a will or other disposition of Samuel's estate in the Ohio Probate files on FamilySearch, but I did locate references to a land deed in Guernsey County executed on 1 December 1828 from Samuel and Jane Pollock to their son John Pollock. The deed granted Samuel and Jane a life estate on the land they were residing, and granted John the land upon their death. The deed was recorded on 7 March 1836, after the death of Samuel, and it included Henry Davis as a witness to the deed.

Samuel and Jane Pollock had at least the following children:
- Rachel Pollock (1785-1848)
- Abraham Pollock (1787-1842)
- John Pollock (1796-1860)
- William Pollock
- Samuel Pollock Jr.

Other Pollock names who may be linked to Samuel include Joseph Pollock (in Guernsey County, Ohio in the 1840 US Census) and Sarah Pollock.

There is more work to do on this line. Posting this for now while I wait for additional documents from Guernsey County.

Correcting errors and following the Pollock line

While checking my tree on Ancestry I noticed an error for the parents of my 3rd-great-grandmother, Emily Rachel Davis. For some reason, the tree had reverted to an earlier error which listed different parents instead of the correct Azariah Davis and Jane Conner. I fixed this by making the correct parents set as preferred and deleting out the parents listed in error. Then I went the next level up in the tree and had another look at Azariah's parents, Henry Davis and Rachel Pollock. For Rachel, I have her father as Samuel Pollock and mother listed as Jane. From here I pick up on the Pollock line.

Rachel's brother, Abraham Pollock, was born in 1787 in Pennsylvania. Abraham served in the Ohio Militia during the War of 1812, attaining at least the rank of Sergeant in Col. Miles Stephenson's 2nd Regiment. According to Lorle Porter's book, A People Set Apart: Scotch-Irish in Eastern Ohio (found via Google Search), Abraham was a sergeant in Joseph King McCune's company. This company served between 12 February and 12 August 1813. I have not yet gone to the National Archives to see a copy of Abraham's service record, but I may do that later this summer.

After the War of 1812, Abraham married Jane Bigger, and appears in the 1820, 1830 and 1840 US Census in Muskingum County, Ohio. Abraham patented 157 acres of land in Muskingum County in 1820. A short reference to Abraham appears in the Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Muskingum County:

Pollock was later elected to the Ohio House of Representatives, serving for Muskingum County in 1839 and 1840. He appears in the Huron Reflector on 25 February 1840, quoted as arguing on behalf of William Henry Harrison, who was running for President in 1840.

Huron Reflector (Ohio), 25 Feb 1840.

Abraham died in Muskingum County sometime before May 1842.

As the calendar shifts to August

Tomorrow marks the start of another month, and our summer is picking up speed as we head into the the last few weeks of camps and vacations. I am now three weeks away from the Reykjavik Marathon and the calendar shift also marks the start of an extended taper for the big run.

Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida, 1905. Under the Awning, on the beach at Zarauz.

After returning from Iceland we have some plans for a family trip to the beach. Family history research is a bit slow. In the meantime I am taking this as an opportunity to revisit a few branches of my tree and correct some errors. New posts to follow on these corrections.