My Newbern Ancestors

   My great great grandmother was Mary Elizabeth Newbern. She first appears on the census in 1850. She is listed with her parents and siblings in Madison County, Florida.

1850 census in the 11^th Division, Madison County, Florida

Thomas Newbern 45

Martha 40

Mary 19

Sarah 5

William 6

Thomas 2

All reported Georgia as their state of birth.

Next to this family is the oldest Newbern daughter:

 

Nancy (Newbern) Lamb 23 and her children Thomas 5, Henry 4, Elizabeth 2, Nancy 1

   Going forward it is easy to follow this family and prove their connection on my family tree. Nancy and Mary moved around north Florida, usually living near each other.  Their grandchildren confirmed they were sisters. William was killed in the Civil War in 1863. The other brother Thomas, married and stayed in the same Florida area. No trace of what happened to Sarah has been found. Tracing their ancestors though is another matter.

1830

   Since Mary’s father, Thomas was born about 1805, the first census he would be listed on as head of household is 1830. There is a Thomas Newbern living in Lowndes County Georgia in the 1830.      There is one male 20-29, one female 20-29, and one female under 5.

   I believe this could be my Thomas with Martha and their oldest child Nancy Newbern, who would have been about 4 at the time.

   Two other Newbern’s are living in Lowndes County in 1830, namely William and Dread. It is possible that Thomas is related to one or both of them. Dread Newbern is Etheldred Newbern a known son of Thomas Newbern born 1770 in Edgecombe County, North Carolina.  Some family trees have shown our Thomas as being part of this family. At present there isn’t enough evidence for that assumption.

1840

   In 1840, a Thomas Newborn is listed in Middle Florida, Madison, Florida Territory. The family is listed as:

1 Male 20-29, 1 female 20-29, 1 female 5-9, one female under 5.

   This listing is could be the young Thomas from 1830 Lowndes County, Georgia. There are two female children which could be Nancy and Mary even though the ages aren’t exactly right.

There is another Thomas Newbern listed in Lowndes County, Georgia in 1840, however, this Thomas is age 60-69. Also listed with him is a female age 60-69, male age 15-19, female age 15-19. This Thomas wasn’t listed in 1830 in this county. Is he from another county or state?

   Thomas and Martha’s first child, Nancy was born about 1825. Nancy always reported she was born in Georgia. Since Thomas was born in Georgia (as was reported in the 1850 census), it is possible Martha was born in Georgia also. Her maiden name is unknown.

   I am hoping DNA will provide some clues to the ancestors of both Thomas and Martha.

The Genealogy Maze

Searching a family surname is like going through a corn maze. You never know where a turn will lead you. Will that path end in a dead end or lead to another path to search?  This is what I encountered when I decided to find more ancestors to add to my Conner family tree.

I had a small amount of information that I had gleaned from having grown up in the area where they had lived since 1875. I had visited my great grandparents’ graves and knew their birth and death dates. 

 James Conner born 1816 in Georgia, died 1896 in Lake County, Florida.

Mary Vanzant Conner born 1832 in Georgia, died in Tavares, Lake County, Florida

They are buried in Glendale cemetery in Umatilla, Florida along with other family members.

Over the years, I talked to relatives, ordered death and marriage certificates and filed all the information away. Using all this information, I turned to a new tool to use, DNA.

My brother and I have both had our DNA tested at Family Tree DNA and I turned to the cousin matches to search for Conner and Vanzant (my great grandmother) surnames. I downloaded my Family Finder matches as a spreadsheet and did a search for these surnames. The easiest way to find someone's family tree is to contact them via email. If this doesn't generate a response, a google search or search at one of the genealogy sites may turn up family trees or information. These trees are in various places including, ancestry.com, wiki family trees, individual web pages, Family Search.org and many more.

I ended up discovering some Blackburn descendants in some peoples trees.  My great grandmother, Mary Vanzant Conner, was born in Georgia to William Vanzant and Lavina Blackburn. While looking at some of these Blackburn family trees, I found one that linked to William Miller RS. He had a DAR file number.

After going to Daughters of the American Revolution website and using their ancestor search, I found a descendant of Lavina’s brother, Martin, had applied for DAR membership. Their application included family Bible records and other proof of relationship. I had now found Lavina’s mother, Mary Ann Miller Blackburn, and her family. Mary Ann’s parents were William Miller and Amy Barker. I am now working on adding the various members of all these families. Considering how many children people had back then, I have a lot of work to do. The most exciting find, so far, for my family tree. Oh, yes I still need to find those elusive Conner ancestors.

Coming up soon:  William Miller, RS and his ancestors.