Category Archives: Alberty

Alberty

Rev. Nathan Alberty & Alberty Clues in Surry County, NC, 1800s

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Rev. Nathan Alberty was born c1812, probably in Surry County, North Carolina, where he married Rebecca Bray, 15 March 1832 in Surry County and appears in each Surry County census through 1880.

Fina-A-Grave has a memorial for him, but no photo of his gravestone. There is also a birth date of 11 April 1812, but absolutely no source can be found for that date.

Rev. Nathan Alberty reportedly died in 1893 in Surry County. His wife, Rebecca died between then 1880 and 1900 censuses.

Nathan, or Nathaniel as he was styled in the 1860 census, and Rebecca were the parents of seven children:

1. Martha E., born c1837; died after 1860 when she and Edward were newlyweds with no children at home in Surry County, North Carolina; married Edward W. Bray, 17 May 1857, Surry County, North Carolina. Edward may be the man who married Mary Duncan, 20 November 1864, Indiana and Lollie Ophelia Edwards, 14 February 1873, Newton County, Missouri. It doesn’t appear that Martha had any children.
2. Daughter, born c1839; died before 1850
3. Lemuel Bramlet, born 11 May 1842; died 5 May 1916, both in Surry County, North Carolina; married Lucinda White, 20 January 1864, Surry County, North Carolina. They were the parents of seven children, with six living in 1910.
4. Jerusha C., born 31 August 1843 or 1844; died between 1870-1880 and probably c1873, giving birth to her daughter; married King Hiram Bray, 16 September 1869, Surry County, North Carolina. Grandchild Araminta N. Bray, born 1873, lived with Nathan and Rebecca Alberty in 1880.
5. Araminta Ida, born 1846; died before 1870; married William White, 8 October 1867, Surry County, North Carolina. She was probably the mother of Mildred White, one year old, living with Nathan and Rebecca Alberty in 1870.
6. Rebecca Jane, born 20 February 1849; died 18 May 1824, both Surry County, North Carolina; married James Van Buren Melton, 4 January 1872, Surry County, North Carolina
7. Naomi, born 1851; died before 8 April 1895, when Ruffin married (2) Mildred White, Surry County, North Carolina; married Ruffin Wilmoth, 15 December 1884. Naomi was the mother of Allie and William Wilmoth.

While the information about Nathan Alberty, his wife, Rebecca, and their children is fairly complete, there are few clues pointing to any parents for Nathan.

I’m always hopeful that children’s names might be a clue to identifying extended family members. In this case, Nathan and Rebecca didn’t repeat any of the given names found among Frederick Alberty’s children.

Alberty is a unique surname in the post-Revolutionary War area of North Carolina. In fact, Frederick Alberty is the only man with the surname who appears in any records.

In fact, there are only three men who are possible fits to be the father of Nathan Alberty – Frederick, Sr., who has a son David, born 3 September 1812, per county register information in Frederick’s Revolutionary War pension application, Henry Alberty, son of Frederick Sr. by his first wife and born 1777 and Moses Alberty, son of Frederick Sr. by his second unknown wife c1787,

A few days ago, I updated the family sketch of Henry Alberty and his wife, Rebecca. With children born in 1802, 1806, 1811, 1813, 1815, 1817, 1818, 1824 and 1826, there is really no place to add a son who consistently reported being born in 1812.

Another factor against Henry being Nathan’s father is that Henry is no where to be found in North Carolina before he appears in the 1820 census in Rowan County.

In 1850, Henry’s son, George, reported being born in Georgia, which might place Henry living among the Cherokees with his half brother, Moses.

That brings us to Moses, born c1787. Moses was living in Hightower, Georgia 9in today’s Floyd County, Georgia) in 1817 when the treaty was signed and he received a reservation of Cherokee land in the right of his wife.

Moses hasn’t been found in a single North Carolina record and apparently lived among the Cherokees at least from the time of his marriage to Sallie Wright.

In 1817, his land rights stated he had a family of four – himself, a Cherokee wife and two children.

There is no indication that Nathan Alberty had a Cherokee mother.

Some online trees assign a Jacob Alberty as the father of Nathan, with Jacob dying in 1837. However, I have found NO EVIDENCE that this Jacob ever existed. He was supposed to be a brother of Moses Alberty.

Frederick’s pension application has sworn statements that Frederick had one son born to his first wife and one son born to his second wife, in addition to the children born to his third wife. That was in 1821, which would be during Nathan’s lifetime.

That only leaves Frederick Alberty Sr., who died 29 August 1831, Surry County, North Carolina as a possible father to Nathan.

What do Surry County tax records tell us? Not much that helps with Nathan.

Rockford District, 1822 – Frederick and Jesse Alberty
Jarvis District, 1826 – Jesse Alberty
Pilot District, 1826 – Frederick Alberty
Jarvis District, 1827 – Jesse Alberty
Rockford District, 1827 – Frederick Alberty
Rockford District, 1828 – Jesse Alberty
Pilot Districts, 1828 – Frederick Alberty
Capt. Fultz District, 1829 – William Alberty
Capt. Fultz District, 1829 – Frederick Alberty Jr.
Baltimore District, 1836 – George Alberty
Pilot District, 1836 – Elizabeth Alberty
Pilot District, 1837 – Elizabeth Alberty
Stanley’s District, 1837 – Nathan Alberty
Pilot District, 1838 – Frederick Alberty Jr.
Jones District, 1840 – Nathan Alberty
Jones District, 1841 – Nathan Alberty

There are gaps with missing lists for various districts in Surry County through the years. After 1841, they are missing until 1862.

Even though Nathan Alberty married in 1832, he doesn’t appear on any tax list until 1837. There are a number of men with no land ownership listed on those rolls because they are charged with one white poll. Not so for Nathan until 1837, when that is exactly how he appears on the list.

In 1850, Nathan and Elizabeth (Raper) Alberty both lived in the town of Siloam, Surry County, although they were not neighbors.

By 1860, Nathan was living in the neighborhood where Elizabeth had lived, with many of the same surname families were found in the 1850 census.

Frederick Alberty’s third wife left a will dated 1858 and she died in May 1859 in Surry County. However, she left what she had to one William Lewis in thanks for caring for her.

She had one daughter, Mary, married to Robert Marion living in Surry County at the time, but neither Mary nor her husband received a bequest.

Therefore, not mentioning Nathan in her will doesn’t necessarily indicate that he wasn’t her son.

That leads to only two possible conclusions:

1. Nathan Alberty wasn’t the son of Frederick and Elizabeth (Raper) Alberty. If so, who was his father?
2. Nathan Alberty was the same person as David Alberty, born 3 September 1812, the youngest child of Frederick and Elizabeth. The clerks who reported the list of children born to Frederick and Elizabeth in the Revolutionary War pension application might have erred in calling the youngest child David instead of Nathan or David had, and went by, a middle name as an adult. With Frederick Alberty being German in ethnicity, it is very possible that his son was given both a first and middle name. Aside from being named in the pension application, the name David Alberty appears in not a single record ANYWHERE.

Although I have no proof in hand, at this time, I lean towards the idea that Nathan is the same person as David. Whether any solid proof will ever be found is unknown.

Readers, what do you think?

 

 

 

 

Alberty

Was Rebecca (MNU), Wife of Henry Alberty, a Cherokee?

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As I complete another round of updated research into the Alberty family, specifically looking at the children and grandchildren of Henry and Rebecca (MNU) Alberty, I find I am once again somewhat disappointed.

My in-laws were from Oklahoma and my mother-in-law often repeated the (very common) story that somewhere in the family was a Cherokee connection. No, it wasn’t an Indian “princess,” but I have to admit that the only photo known of her paternal grandmother, Martha Susanna Alberty, doesn’t preclude the possibility, based on her looks.

She’s definitely not a blue-eyed blonde, but that certainly doesn’t prove anything.

However, there is some documentation that leaves the door slightly open to Native American ancestry.

Martha’s grandfather, Henry Alberty, lived in all the right places at the right time. Born c1775, he is not found in any census until 1820. He lived in Surry County, North Carolina, Georgia and Washington County, Arkansas by 1840.

Henry’s half brother, Moses Alberty, married Sally Wright, a Cherokee woman and their descendants appear on the Dawes Roll.

Not a single clue has been found pointing to the maiden name of Henry’s wife, Rebecca. Online family lore calls her a Bryan (which I think I’ve eliminated as a possibility) or a Wright, based on Moses’ wife’s maiden name. I’ve found nothing to corroborate or disprove that theory.

So, what else might make me wonder about her origins? Well, in the 1800s, it certainly was the in thing to claim Native American citizenship or apply to be recognized as a member of the Cherokee Nation.

Many of Henry’s descendants moved to Oklahoma, but they were no different than thousands of other Sooners and Indian Territory residents, as the area was known prior to statehood in 1907.

What seems very atypical is that several of Henry’s grandchildren and great grandchildren all applied for citizenship in the Cherokee Nation. All of their applications were denied and, from those I could access online, it wasn’t clear why they thought they might qualify.

Rebecca (MNU) Alberty was still living at the beginning of the Civil War so there were grandchildren who knew her. If they applied in her right, I don’t know why they wouldn’t have said that their grandmother was Native American.

On the other hand, without them specifically identifying why they thought they had a claim, Rebecca can’t be ruled out either.

I keep hoping DNA will help, although at six generations back, Rebecca’s DNA might not have passed down to my husband’s. He has more than 100 matches to the Alberty line, but none of the matches are intriguing enough to make me want to look more closely.

Then there is mtDNA – mitochondrial DNA passed from mother to daughter only through the female line.

That door hasn’t slammed shut yet either, but it’s been difficult trying to push it open. Although Henry and Rebecca Alberty had nine children, only three were daughters and one of them was still unmarried well into her 40s. A second proposed daughter, name unknown because of the pre-1850 censuses, appears to have died young.

That leaves just one possibility – daughter Sarah Alberty, born 1824, who married Thomas Douthit, c1844.

Thomas and Sarah Douthit were the parents of seven children, but only two daughters, Nancy Valinda and Mary Elizabeth.

Nancy married Jerome Felix Jobe, but had only one daughter, Elizabeth Catherine, who married Ira S. Lawrence.

Elizabeth had two daughters, Helen, who married but had no children, and Roberta, who married and had one daughter. It’s possible this daughter is still living, appears in the 1950 census unmarried, has the surname of SMITH and is living in Oklahoma. I’ve been unable to pick up her trail after the 1950 census.

If this daughter is still living or married and had a daughter, then there is a descendant today carrying Rebecca’s mtDNA, which could help answer the question as to whether or not she was Cherokee.

The other potential mtDNA source would be a female descendant of Mary Elizabeth, who married William Virgil Jobe.

William and Mary Jobe had a daughter, Flora Evaline, who married Francis Macklin Drake.

Francis and Flora, in turn, had four daughters – Fannie D., Beulah, Martha Elizabeth and Dorothy Florence. Three can be eliminated immediately. Beulah had no children, Dorothy had only one son and Martha had only one son.

Fannie D. , whose birth name was Francesca Delphia, married James Clifford Moore. Per her father’s 1941 obituary, they lived in Drumright, Oklahoma.

Clifford and Fannie had two daughters. One, Marjorie, married, but apparently had no children. The second daughter, Patty, married and also had two daughters. Both are living and I’ve found an address for one of them.

They are the only hope for carrying the mtDNA of Rebecca (MNU) Alberty today. I wonder if either, or both, have taken an mtDNA test?

Alberty, Douthit

Thomas Douthit & Sarah Alberty of NC and AR

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Today’s family sketch will conclude the stories of the children and grandchildren of Henry Alberty and Rebecca (MNU). John S. Alberty who married Susannah Douthit is the next child in birth order, but their story has already been told, as that is my husband’s direct line.

Therefore, today we will finish with Sarah Alberty, the 8th of nine children born to Henry and Rebecca Alberty. Note that the 9th child, Mary, born c1826, lived to adulthood, but apparently never married and has no descendants.

Sarah Alberty was born 11 April 1824 in North Carolina. As a young girl, she traveled with her family first to Indiana and then to Arkansas. Many of her family members married and left Arkansas for Newton County, Missouri.

However, Sarah apparently never left Arkansas as all her children were born there and she died in Evansville, Washington, Arkansas on 12 May 1899.

Sarah Alberty married Thomas Douthit about 1844 when she was about 19 or 20 years old. Thomas, like the other Albertys and Douthits, was a small farmer and, for whatever reason, this couple chose not to leave with so many of their other kinfolk when they migrated to Missouri.

Children (all born in Washington County, Arkansas):

  1. Mary Elizabeth, born about 23 October 1845; died 6 August 1910, Hulbert, Cherokee, Oklahoma; married William Virgil Jobe, 1866
  2. Henry Abraham, born 20 August 1846; died 1 March 1930, Ardmore, Carter, Oklahoma; married Candace Rebecca Dobson, 28 June 1868, Washington County, Arkansas
  3. William Andrew, born 5 November 1848; died 21 May 1917, Muskogee County, Oklahoma; married Isabel Bowden, 12 November 1872, Pope County, Arkansas
  4. Nancy Valinda, born 16 September 1852; died 27 June 1934, Muskogee County, Oklahoma; married Jerome Felix Jobe, 11 October 1868, Washington County, Arkansas
  5. John Thomas, born 11 November 1853; died 9 December 1913, Newton County, Missouri; married Eliza Alberty, 23 November 1869, Newton County, Missouri
  6. George Nathaniel, born 2 January 1856; died 21 August 1924, Siloam Springs, Benton, Arkansas; married Mary Elizabeth Fields, 1877
  7. James, born c1858; died between 1850-1860

Thomas and Sarah (Alberty) Douthit have many descendants today.

This concludes the series on the children and grandchildren of John Henry Alberty and Rebecca (MNU). If you are related to this family and can add to this information, I would love to hear from you. Please leave a comment.