Brick Wall Busting

 

My great grandmother Celia Bell was hard to find! I mean, I have several pictures of her plus stories of her being an amazing grandmother as she helped my grandma’s aunt raise the Wilhelm girls and the Howell boys alongside Aline’s own daughters. That is partly why Corene and Charlene resented my grandma, her sisters, and our Howell cousins. Jealousy of sharing their mother. But when I set out to search “Celia Coker” in the census- nothing. Not even a birth record. I had to travel to Boone County to dig through the old books with cursive writing. I found her death certificate. Celia Putman.

Putman??? Where did that come from? I’ll look it up and see if I can find a Celia Putman. I did. Celia Putman, marrying Lewis Putman in 1899 then she’s a widow in 1900. So I find Lewis Putman’s death record and see that his wife Celia’s last name was McCullough, daughter of Charles Erwin. 

 Huh??? Erwin, who’s this Erwin? And McCullough as her last name? I looked up this Charles Erwin and found that he married Celia’s mother when Celia was 8 years old. Now that I had a location, I found that church’s records, Carrollton Hollow - which by the way is NOT Carrollton, but in  Lead Hill area, it’s now underwater, they all moved down to the Carrollton we know when it got flooded repeatedly in the 1900s, before it stayed underwater for good due to the damming of the white river in 1940s, anyways, now that I knew the right church records to look through, I found  Celia’s birth in the church records.

“Celia Bell McCullough, born to the widow Nettie, daughter of JMCoker on 30 March 1881.” Oh, so she was born Celia Bell McCullough, never having known his father since he died before Celia was born. On the census, Jenettia goes back to “Coker”, but she’s incorrectly listed as daughter in law on the census, but when I check the previous census, she’s James Marion Coker’s daughter. And James Marion does have a daughter Celia, that’s why someone else kept trying to say Celia is this same person, but no, that’s actually 2 Celia’s- this Celia Ann Coker is Celia Bell’s aunt. 

Anyways, since her mother went back to her maiden name, Celia probably went back and forth using McCullough and Coker as her surname until her mother married Charles Erwin. When I found “Nettie Erwin”, I found many records mistakenly recording Benjamin Erwin as Jenettia’s son when Benjamin and Celia were step brother and sister and the records completely left off Celia, not understanding she’s Nettie’s daughter from her deceased first husband. Now that I knew what I was looking for, I found her father Isaac F. McCullough. 

But Charles Erwin is the only father she’s ever known. Anyways, back to Isaac McCullough- 

Isaac McCullough was born in Randolph, Missouri. He was marked as Deaf in the census rolls and the military records. This guy was either brave or crazy. At only 13 he enlisted into the Missouri Volunteeer Calvary. That’s what I wanted help with. Is this a mistake? Only 13? But yes, there were child soldiers in the Civil War and his job was to assist the quartermaster by running messages back and forth. He served from August 14, 1862 to July 5, 1867.  He then married Jenettia on July 15, 1879 in Carrollton Hollow, Arkansas. He then died in 1880. His grave is gone, because there were graves that the civil engineers needed to relocate to make way for damming the White River to create lakes. I will never be able to properly document his buriall, but a professional genealogist said I can mark it as assumed this, never to be proven by anyone and that she would’ve made the same conclusion as well. 

James Marion Coker was a stagecoach driver along the old Dubuque Road back and forth from Springfield Missouri to Arkansas as far as Eureka Springs, AR and Nettie likely accompanied him to Springfield on his job and that’s likely how Nettie met Isaac. Isaac lived in Springfield in 1870 and he drew a pension for being “disabled veteran” and helped load/unload stagecoaches in Springfield, Missouri. He then does not show up in Springfield’s 1880 census which supports he is the same man that married Nettie and died the following year. I found a story about people freezing to death duing those stagecoach runs to Springfield. I don’t have a record of Isaac’s death, but I have records of JM Coker losing a son in law frozen to death, then only one of his children is a widow the following year- Nettie. It fits. I will never be able to say here’s Isaac’s death certificate and burial records. However, a professional genealogist has checked my research and says she does the same “leaps” and then adds footnote “Unproven, but educated assumption.” So this is my unproven but education assumption- Isaac McCullough was assisting his father in law JM Coker on a stagecoach run and froze to death the winter of 1880, while Nettie was pregnant with Celia. 

I am still trying to find all the places that the Missouri Sixth Regiment Union Company D had to go fight in, exactly what a quartermaster’s messenger is, and what Isaac’s duties likely were- he was only 13 years old when he enlisted and 17 when he mustered out, with an injury to his leg. I wonder if he signed. It blows my mind a teenager Deaf boy was in the Civil War and that he’s MY direct ancestor. Was his deafness an asset or an hindrance? Was his youth an asset or hindrance? He worked as a stagecoach loader/unloader in his 20s, so his leg injury must not have been that bad. Did Celia know her dad was deaf? If she was still alive when I was born, would she’ve been like, oh, of course Tishia’s deaf, my dad was. 

I want to learn more about his time in the war- I am just stunned they used boys as young as that and deaf ones at that? I asked the librarian if this is a mistake and she pointed me to several resources- the youngest documented child in the Civil War was only 9 years old. So yeah, 13 year olds wasn’t a stretch especially as it was a volunteer cavalry for the union. They were desperate. So there it all is- the brick wall I was so excited I broke through. 

Carroll County Cokers 

Carroll County Families, by Jim Lair 

Crooked Creek Association of Missionary Baptist Traveling Preachers Annuals, Sugar Loaf Church, Boone County Arkansas (a book of roll calls from revival meetings travelling preachers hosted) 

Carrollton Hollow Missionary roll records 

Pioneer Life and Pioneer Families of the Ozarks by Earl Berry 

Supporting information at this website https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/dubuque-boone-county-7374/

James Marion Coker  drove a stage coach over the old Dubuque Road from Carrollton, Wilson Springs (now Harrison), Crooked Creek (also part of Harrison) to Dubque (now Diamond City) across a ferry on to Springfield, Missouri and back. 

I have found no relation between my Cokers and the infamous Cokers of the area. As far as I can see, they just coincidentally have the same surname. People who link our William Coker to the infamous William “Buck” Coker clan are mistaken. It is very possible they’re distant cousins, but I have found no proof. Cokers from Buck came from North Carolina, our Cokers came from Tennessee via Illinois.