The Marks of Richmond County, North Carolina

For updated research be sure to read the Blog, I found your daddy, William Buck Marks

Richmond County, NC formed from Anson County in 1779 and named for Charles Lennox, third Duke of Richmond and Lennox who was an Englishman and a member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom who sided with the colonists in America during the American Revolution. Kader Keaton, a colonial American officer in the American Revolutionary War, was a founder of Anglo-American settlement in Richmond County. Known for its railway history in the southeastern sector of Richmond County is the city of Hamlet. Prior to the turn of the 20th century, the Seaboard Air Line Railroad moved to Hamlet, helping the town become a crossroads for rail spurs extending from Florida to New York and all points east and west. In 1900, the SAL Railroad constructed the Hamlet Historical Depot Seaboard Air Line Passenger Depot, a Victorian architecture train station that is one of the most photographed train stations in the eastern United States. The depot added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and fully restored in 2004. In 2009, the city of Hamlet dedicated a new building to the Tornado steam engine locomotive—the first one in the State of North Carolina. D.J. Burr & Associates of Richmond, Virginia built the original locomotive in 1839. Federal forces briefly captured it during the American Civil War before repatriation. In 1892, Raleigh, NC featured the Tornado in its Great Centennial Celebration. Hamlet is also home to the National Railroad Museum and Hall of Fame, a striking collection of artifacts from the Seaboard Air Line Railroad spanning decades of time. (Wikipedia)

 

The Marks of Richmond County, NC began with Elias Marks from Stanly County. Read more about Elias Marks in my Blog, The Marks of Stanly County, North Carolina. The available documentation tells the story that Henry Marshall Marks, second oldest son of Elias Marks and Judith Allen, was born 8 Apr 1848 in Stanly County, NC. On the 1850 Census for Stanly County, NC, Henry, noted as being two years old, has two older sisters, Mary (14) and Sarah (10) and one older brother, James (11). Henry’s father, Elias, is 42 and his mother, Judith, is 37. Elias’ listed job is a laborer and the three older children are in school. 

In 1860, Henry is now 13 years old and he has two more siblings, William E (9) and Judith A (6). Big brother, James (21) is still living at home. 

Henry Marks would be 23 years old in 1870. I know he has left the area, as I am not able to find him on the Census record for Stanly County. Thinking he might have moved across the river to Montgomery County, I searched for him there but was not able to find him. I searched for him in Anson, Rowan, Davidson, Union, Richmond and Cabarrus counties but to no avail. It took me quite some time to figure it all out, and it was not until I began researching the children that I discovered Henry must have married and moved to Mississippi as at least one of the children’s death certificates state she was born in Mississippi. However, as is the Marks’ theme, he magically reappears in Stanly County in 1880 with his wife and six children. I continue to search for this Marks family in Census records in Mississippi. I will update this Blog if and when I find them. 

Henry Marshall Marks married Ann E Calloway, listed as age 33 years on the above 1880 Census, she was the daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth Mann Calloway. She was born in Albemarle, Stanly County, NC on 23 Oct 1845. She married Henry Marks around 1869 (I have never found a marriage license) and Jane A was born shortly after, in 1870. Sally A came two years later in 1872. William H (1874), Martha E (1875), Ida J (1877), and Julian A (1879). Sometime between the 1880 Census and 1887, this Marks family moved to Richmond County, NC. Ann E Calloway died at the age of 40 on 22 Mar 1887. I do not know the cause of her death. Ann was buried at Green Lake United Methodist Church Cemetery in Rockingham, NC. 

It is in Richmond County that I found a marriage license, dated 19 Oct 1887, for Henry Marshall Marks and Mary E Thrower. Mary, born 1 Jul 1840, is the daughter of John Thrower and Sophronia C Jenkins.  

The 1900 Census for Beaver Dam, Richmond County shows the other children that Henry Marshall and Anne Calloway Marks had between the Census years. Benjamin F was born in Sep 1881 and Mary E was born in Jul 1883. 

The year 1910 shows the family still in Beaver Dam, Richmond County. The older children have married and left home. Ben and Mary, the two youngest children, remain at home with their father and stepmother.

Henry Marshall Marks died on 28 Sep 1919 while driving his car from Ledbetter to Hoffman. 

His death certificate only states that he died suddenly after having a severe attack of the head.

Henry is buried alongside his first wife, Anne Calloway Marks, at Green Lake United Methodist Church Cemetery in Rockingham, Richmond, NC.

I found a Newspaper clipping from the Rockingham Post-Dispatch dated 23 Oct 1919 written by ‘A Friend’ who had many nice things to say about Henry Marshall Marks.

Henry Marshall Marks and Mary E Thrower

Mary E Thrower Marks lived with her stepson, William Marks, until her death on 26 Jun 1921. Mary was buried in the John Thrower Cemetery in Beaver Dam, Richmond County, NC alongside her parents, John and Sophronia Jenkins Thrower. 

On 2 Jul 1921, Henry’s son, William H Marks, entered Probate court requesting Letters of Administration on the estate of Henry Marks. All of the children, with the exception of Julian, who died in 1891, are listed as entitled heirs of the estate.

The children of Henry Marshall Marks and Anne E Calloway:

Jane Alice b: 26 Apr 1869 d: 30 Dec 1947 m: John Pitman Gibson

Sallie Ann b: 14 Nov 1870 d: 16 Nov 1923 m: John McDonald

William Henry b: 21 Aug 1872 d: 4 Sep 1933 m: Mary Catherine Breedan

Martha Eugenia b: 13 Dec 1874 d: 3 Oct 1953 m: Charles C Gibson

Ida Jeanette b: 5 Mar 1877 d: 22 Mar 1938 m: John McDonald

Julian A b: 21 Apr 1879 d: 13 Jun 1891

Benjamin Franklin b: 8 Sep 1881 d: 20 Feb 1973 m: Mary Abigail McKay

Mary Elizabeth b: 31 Jul 1883 d: 17 Sep 1978 m: Sidney Alvin Lovin

Finding What You Didn't Know Was Lost

For updated research be sure to read the Blog, I found your daddy, William Buck Marks

Have you ever lost anything before? I have! I once lost my wedding ring and spent the whole day looking for it only to find it right where I forgot I had left it. I have been lost in a different country, which is scary. I have never found anything I did not realize I had lost until a few weeks ago when I was browsing around my Ancestry tree looking at my Marks relatives. I came across Jarvis and Ida Mitchell Marks and began looking at the empty space beside their son, Curtis Marks. My family had told me that Curtis had never married and he had no children, so, I had never really tried to find out anything about him. As such, his space on the tree just sat there empty and I did not know much about him. I am going to use this Blog to tell what I uncovered about Curtis – and it is something big!

First, though, let me remind everyone that the reason I started the Blog, Uwharrie Roots, is to explore ideas and research my third great grandfather, William Buck Marks. Having determined that there was not much recorded evidence of William Marks existence, I decided to start a Blog about all the people who lived around him in hopes of discovering anything about him. The Blog has worked thus far and I have uncovered a lot that I did not know before. With that said, we will jump right into learning about Curtis Marks and how, through him, I found exactly what I was looking for in the person I never knew existed.

Curtis Thomas Marks was born to Thomas Jarvis and Ida J. Mitchell Marks on 16 Dec 1908 in Montgomery County, NC. He was the fifth of eight children. I do not know why but Curtis did not make the 1910 Census, which, at first, led me to believe that he was probably not born in 1908 but maybe in 1910, after that Census had been enumerated. The 1910 Census shows Jarvis (35), Ida (30), Mary (8), Buddy James (Johnie) (6), and Ida (3). I checked the Stanly County 1910 Census for Tom and Barbara Lefler Marks, the parents of Jarvis, just to see if baby Curtis was visiting with the grandparents the day of the Census, but he was not there. I am not able to find Ida’s parents, John W and Lillie Frances Mitchell on the 1910 Census. It is possible that baby Curtis could have been visiting with his maternal grandparents. 

Curtis does make it on the 1920 Census and shown as age 11, born about 1908/9. 

Ida Mitchell Marks died in 1925 and is buried at Uwharrie United Methodist Church Cemetery Troy, Montgomery County, NC; Jarvis Marks followed in 1928.

By 1930, Curtis, now 22, is living as a boarder with his sister, Mary and brother-in-law Clarence Cecil. You can see that Curtis’ grandparents, Tom and Barbara Lefler Marks, live next door. Bettie L, Clarence’s mother lives in this household, as well as L.T. (Tebe Marks), the brother of Mary and Curtis. 

Up until this point of my search, I am finding everything to be exactly as the family had always believed. That Curtis lived with his sister or other family members into adulthood and never married. It is when I was not able to find Curtis on the 1940 Census that I began to search for military records thinking that perhaps Curtis served in WWII. I did find Curtis’ draft card and on it, he lists his wife, Mary Elizabeth (Cox) Marks. Curtis and Mary are living in Rockingham, NC. It is 1939, Curtis, now 31 years of age, has a wife.

Super excited, I begin to look for children and I did find them. Due to privacy concerns, I will not go further in this blog. I can tell you that I am in touch with the descendants of Curtis Thomas Marks, my third cousins, and we are arranging to meet in person very soon. One descendant has agreed to take a Y-DNA test so that we can learn the paternal Marks line of our third great grandfather, William Buck Marks!    

Curtis Thomas Marks died on 12 Mar 1992 and I am very happy to report that his marital status has changed from ‘Never Married (Single)’ to ‘Married.’