An over-sized envelope arrived this week from Mississippi. Its content – photocopies of deeds recorded in Old Tishomingo County between 1845 and 1857. I am on the trail of my Goodger ancestors who lived in Old Tishomingo before it was divided into the counties of Alcorn, Prentiss and (new) Tishomingo. I had hopes that one of these deeds might reveal a familial relationship and identify the parents of Matilda Jane Goodger, my 3rd great grandmother and the wife of Ulysses Goodger. It was not uncommon for family members to sell land to one another or witness deeds for each other, etc. So, perhaps I would get lucky.

Deeds are like scratch-off lottery tickets. Most of the time, you lose. However, every once in a while you might win another scratch-off ticket just to keep you scratching. That’s what happened.

I did not win the lottery with this batch of deeds. But I didn’t walk away completely empty-handed either. From one of the deeds, I learned that Matilda Jane’s nickname was “Tiller”. Okay, now that made me smile. I have a feeling that “Tiller” was not present the day Grandpa Ulysses signed the deed in court. She’s either “Matilda” or “Jane” in all of the others. Thus, she might not have been amused that her pet name was used in a legal document for all of eternity.

From another deed, I learned that Ulysses’ middle name was “Martin”. It was his grandfather’s name so that didn’t come as a surprise. It was a bit odd, though, that both he and “Tiller” appeared on this particular deed as “Martin” and “Jane”, both having used their middle names instead of their first names. Most likely, neither one of them could read so they didn’t pay attention to whatever the clerk wrote down.

Ulysses Martin is yet another “Martin” who appears in my family tree. It’s a bit uncanny that I keep finding ancestors named “Martin”. When I selected the name of this blog, I was simply giving a nod to my four Martin Trentham ancestors. In addition to these four Martins and Martin Joyce on my mother’s side, I’ve discovered three more “Martin” ancestors in the last year – Martin Goodger and his grandson, Ulysses Martin, and Martin Nalle.

Who knew?

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relation: 3rd great grandmother
Common ancestors: Grrr