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Milam County Historical Commission - Milam County, TX
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2017-05-20

Margaret Butler
maggiegirl51@gmail.com
450 Pryor Creek Loop
Chouteau, OK 74337
918-803-7508

I'm searching for the Milam Co. probate records for the time period 1875 to 1890. 

My ancestor, Green Taylor, died (drowned) August 5, 1885, in Milam County and the newspaper report stated he was involved in a Milam County probate case at the time of his death.  It was probably connected to his wife, Mary M. Taylor, who died between 1875 and 1880, OR connected to his late father, Lewis Taylor, who died May 8, 1882 in Milam Co. 

I'm interested in locating the probate records and seeing which are available and connected to my relatives named above. 

If you have the probate records, please let me know. 

Thank you.
Margaret Butler

*****

2017-05-20

Standard reply sent to Ms Butler.
Email forwarded to MCHC members and others interested in MC history.

*****

2017-05-25

Hello, Ms. Butler.

I visited the Milam County, County Clerks Office in Cameron yesterday to research your inquiry. Legalese is not my strong point, but I do believe that I've found some interesting, yet very conflicting, information. I hope that you're able to sort it out.
Mary T(?) Taylor expired intestate on the 28th day of May, 1881, according to Probate case # 288. Green H(?) Taylor was alive and presumed well in Grand Parish, in the State of Louisiana, on the 26th day of November in the year of our Lord 1888 in that same probate, if I understand it correctly. The children shown at that time were Jessie Augustus and Edward B. Taylor.


Mr. Green H. Taylor was requesting to be appointed and recognized as the natural tutor of the minor children(Jesse Augustus and Edward B. Taylor) both as their persons and property. Said property was 79 acres of land valued at less than $ 300. Additional property was involved.


The reference, Probate Case # 288, whose information is often redundant in the numerous probate pages, is found in Probate Volume B, pages; 192-195, 318-320, 326, 357-360, 388, 410-413, 516-517. The volume pages are quite large in size and are laminate sealed in high gloss archival type plastic sleeves. County Clerk Office guests are forbidden from removing individual pages from the large volumes for Xeroxing(Probate Room Only). A long hand scanner would have been ideal but unfortunately I didn't have one at my disposal. Therefore it was necessary to use a camera, with difficulty, since the overhead fluorescent lights caused significant glare on the high gloss sleeves. Also, for legibility, it was necessary to zoom in on the page and take 3-4 photos to document each page. The Volume binding seam contour also presented an additional challenge in the thick volumes. In summation, I did the best that I could with what I had to work with. I hope that you'll find the attachments satisfactory.


I did note your find a Grave posting for Green R Taylor;


https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Taylor&GSfn=Green+&GSbyrel=all&GSdy=1885&GSdyrel=in&GSob=n&GRid=93340494&df=all&


I'll attach a few sample attachments to this post but will send the numerous others to you in additional pp emails. I hope that you like a challenge.

Respectfully,


Jack Brooks

*****

2017-05-28

Ms. Butler,

Thanks so much for helping clear some of this up. I certainly was missing many of the pieces of the puzzle. You're correct, two Green Taylor's married two Mary's during the same general time period will certainly send you down a wrong path. I still need to process this some more and let it soak in to this mature gray matter. I am a struggling student of genealogy if you haven't already noticed.

If I may be of future assistance to you, please let me know.

Best regards

Jack Brooks

*****

2017-05-28

Margaret Butler

Correction:  Green H. Taylor, Sr. moved from FL to LA, not LF.  Sorry.


On Sat, May 27, 2017 at 11:16 PM, Margaret Butler <maggiegirl51@gmail.com<mailto:maggiegirl51@gmail.com>> wrote:
Mr. Brooks,

How nice to hear from you on a stormy Saturday evening.  Thank you for writing and still being interested in my research needs.  I really do appreciate it.

Let me think how I can write this so it will be easily absorbed.  We're discussing two separate Green Taylors and two different Marys.  Let me give a very quick synopsis of history and it will help, I think.

Three families began to connect by marriage back in Pulaski Co., GA, in the 1820s -- the Taylors, the Mountfords (called Mumford), and the Hollands.  They all moved into Jackson Co., FL during the 1830s.

The patriarch of the Mountfords was Jeffrey.  He had several children, and as I mentioned last time, Jeffrey Mumford, sons Jesse and David Mumford, and probably others left Florida and moved into the Republic of Texas by March 1832.  They were Texas Colonists, and Jesse & David, among other family members, are buried at Davilla in a cemetery out in a cow pasture.

David Mumford and wife Sarah Ledbetter Boren had daughter Mary T. "Molly" Mumford, who first married James M. Taylor.

Jeffrey's daughter, Sarah Mumford, who married Lewis B. Taylor (a brother to James M. Taylor), didn't arrive in Texas until 1850s(?).  Lewis and Sarah were my gr-gr-gr-grandparents.

Lewis B. Taylor and wife Sarah Mumford had son Green R. Taylor, born 1847 in AL and who married Mary Margaret V. Moore.  Her children later said her nickname was "Mollie" and sometimes she was called "Margaret."  She died between 1875 and 1880, probably in Davilla, TX.  Green R. & Mary Moore were my gr-gr-grandparents.

Then James & Lewis' brother, Green H. Taylor, Sr. (he moved from LF into Bienville Parish, LA and remained there), married his cousin, Elizabeth Holland.  Their son was Green H. Taylor, Jr., who was probably born 1852 in Bienville Parish, LA; hence, he moved back to LA after obviously leaving wife Mary (Mumford) Taylor.

Green H. Taylor, Jr. and Green R. Taylor were first cousins.

After James M. Taylor died in Milam Co., TX on 4-27-1869, his widow, Mary (Mumford) Taylor, married James' nephew, Green H. Taylor, Jr.  I can only presume that that's when Green H. Taylor, Jr. moved from LA into Milam Co., TX.  He was known as "Louisiana Green."

(Until you wrote, it never hit me that in Milam Co., TX, there were two Green Taylors who were married to two Marys.  It must have been confusing to their neighbors.)

Until last night, I didn't know that Green H. Taylor, Jr., left wife Mary Mumford, and moved back to LA.  I did know he soon married his 2nd wife, Ms. Rebecca Brazil (Caskey) Holland, in 1882.  Maybe that's why he was living in Grant Parish, LA.  I can only guess that he had to file for guardianship of his two sons since they were involved in a Texas probate case and he was living in Louisiana.  Maybe Mary had full custody.  I have no idea what went on in his marriage to Mary Mumford.

I did learn, however, that on 12-29-1893, Green H. Taylor, Jr. allegedly died of pneumonia while serving time in the LA penitentiary in Angola, LA.  He died there and is believed to be buried next to some of his children and other family members in Arcadia Cemetery, Bienville Parish, LA.  I noticed Green H. Jr. received the sale money for his sons' Texas property in 1890 and then was dead about 3 years later.  Hum.

As for my gr-gr-grandparents, my family knows that Green R. Taylor drowned in the Little River while fishing -- fell off the bank in the dark is what I've always heard.  He and his wife Mary Margaret Moore had three children -- Margaret Louella "Lula", Annie Cordelia (my gr-grandmother), and son Leroy (born January 26, 1875).  Since Green R. Taylor married his 2nd wife, Selatha Bunge, before 1880, Mary Moore had to have died between 1875 and 1880.

I also noticed a mistake in the newspaper clipping announcing the death of "Green Taylor" who drowned.  It said he was residing in "Minden" at the time of his death, which I have never ever heard.  (He's buried at Davilla.)  I think Minden is in LA, not Texas.  That might be proof that two Green Taylors in Milam County was indeed confusing???

I would just draw a little outline for you but that's hard to do online.

I hope this helps.  But if this is too confusing and too difficult, just set it aside.  I'll understand.

Thank you very much!
Margaret

*****

Ms. Butler,

Yes, the Milam County Genealogical Society is partnered with the Lucy Hill Patterson Memorial Library in Rockdale, TX. We would be most appreciative if you would share your rich heritage with our library. Thank you for thinking about doing the same.


This is not a current M/C Genealogical Society Legacy Newsletter, but thought that you might enjoy the levity. 
(this is a pay site):
https://outlook.live.com/owa/?viewmodel=ReadMessageItem&ItemID=AQMkADAwATY0MDABLWIwMTktM2YxYS0wMAItMDAKAEYAAAMfapNmJM3mSaGPF%2Fh672vkBwDB6FI%2FPwAK5U61hdOQWGRSBAAAAgFaAAAAwehSPz8ACuVOtYXTkFhkUgQAAAKPpgAAAA%3D%3D&wid=9&ispopout=1&path=/attachmentlightbox

The reason that I asked about the Graham-McQueen Cemetery is that when it was inventoried by Mr. Perry Holder in 1982, he didn't list Green Taylor as being interred in the cemetery. The CSA markers are always very prominent and much more "durable" than other markers of the day. It's just about impossible for one to fall over since the ones that I've leveled in the past have about a yard of concrete as a base foundation.  That means digging a deep 5 ' hole around it before it may be leveled. Best to save for a cool day or an early morning venture!. How could Perry have not seen it?.   https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=93340494&PIpi=93496934

Best regards

Jack

*****

20127-05-28
Margaret Butler

By the way, does your genealogical association have a library?  I should send you a copy of my Taylor-Mumford-Holland genealogy manuscript, if there's a library.

On Sat, May 27, 2017 at 11:33 PM, Margaret Butler <maggiegirl51@gmail.com<mailto:maggiegirl51@gmail.com>> wrote:
Mary (Mumford) Taylor Taylor is buried in what I call the Taylor-Mumford Cemetery outside of Davilla -- that miserable cemetery in the cow pasture.  I've been there once and it was a little nerveracking walking near cows and worrying about snakes (I'm a city girl).  We were thrilled to find our family's old cemetery but wish that there was some kind of recognition sign stating that two TX Colonists are buried there.  I know how you Texans are proud to know such things.  :)

As for my gr-gr-grandparents, Green R. Taylor, is the one buried in the Graham Cemetery.  I don't know the correct name of it.  (The Grahams were also related to the Mumfords through Jesse Mumford.)  Anyway, Green R. Taylor's military tombstone is there but there is no headstone or record of wife Mary Moore's grave.  I can only assume he would be buried next to her.  I could be wrong, but since they residents of Davilla, it's quite possible she's there.  I wish I knew for certain.


*****

2017-05-27
John Brooks

Ms. Butler


In your 2012 posting of Green Taylor to Find a Grave, it was stated that wife Mary might be interred in the Graham Cemetery. She is interred in the miserable Mumford Cemetery. Please see attachment courtesy of Norinne Holman's  170 Years of Cemetery Records in Milam County, Texas.  Volume # 1, pg. 644-645. I had the misfortune of visiting this cemetery with owner Johnny Richter, who is a veterinarian in Rogers. We both paid the price while trying to deal with the very heavy overgrowth of thorny vines while visiting the cemetery. I will never go back. It is the most inhospitable cemetery that I have visited in Milam County, and I've been to some beaut's.

http://www.milamcountyhistoricalcommission.org/cemetery_taylor_mumford.php

http://www.milamcountyhistoricalcommission.org/info_sought_06.php

I noted your photo of Green Taylor's military headstone. You wrote that it was in the Graham Cemetery. Is that the Graham-McQueen cemetery that is on Jack Hilliard's (old H.H. Coffield) property?.

Thanks

Jack Brooks

*****

Ms. Butler,


I was just clearing out my junk mail and found this in it. No wonder I was further in the dark prior to my last two emails.


I made a note to get by the County Clerks Office again when I get a chance to check out Probate Volume A, 1874-1885. As you probably know, we lost most of our County records with the Courthouse fire of 1874. I have been told that it was started by a gentleman charged with forgery and was burned to rid the county of the evidence.

Http://www.milamcountyhistoricalcommission.org/info_sought_30.php

Absolutely no compensation expected or accepted. I'm honored to assist our MCHC guests during historical or genealogical type research. I have limited experience in both subjects, but this helps broaden my knowledge of Milam County history as well.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Jack

*****

2017-05-26

Margaret Butler

Mr. Brooks,

I was bored this evening and got online and was happy to find all the documentation you sent me.  Thank you so much!  It is information that I haven't seen, although some of the other family members may have.  I don't know, but I didn't have the exact death date of Mary T. (Mumford) Taylor Taylor (David Mumford's daughter), so that's great.  And it appears that she and 2nd husband Green H. Taylor, Jr. had separated, of which I was not aware.

You found documentation which is connected to a large Texas Colonist family -- all distant relatives of mine and a family I have researched and written about.  The colonists were 1) their father, Jeffrey "Jesse" Mountford, who died in 1832 in Jasper Co., TX, after six months in Texas, 2) Jeptha "Jesse" Mountford/Mumford, and 3) David R. Mountford/Mumford.

One funny tidbit is, Green H. Taylor, Jr. was the nephew of Mary and her dec'd 1st husband, James M. Taylor.  Yes, she married her nephew.  I've never heard of that before.  :)

Anyway, I appreciate all that you sent and will put it in my family tree.  However, this is not the Green Taylor I was looking for.  Like I said, it was a big family and sometimes hard to follow.  It was my fault for not sending more specific information, but I didn't expect anyone to do research for me so quickly.  Thank you!!!

This Green H. Taylor, Jr. was actually a first cousin to MY Green R. Taylor (who drowned in the Donahoe River in August 1885).  Their parents were brothers -- Green H. Taylor, Sr. of northern Louisiana and Lewis B. Taylor of Davilla, Milam Co., TX.  And Mary T. Taylor's first husband was a brother to Green Sr. and Lewis B.

I was wishing there was probate documentation on either Green R. Taylor's deceased wife, Mary (Moore) Taylor (a/k/a Mollie or Margaret), OR on his father, Lewis B. Taylor.  But I'm not asking you to search further.  I assume you didn't see any of those names in the index books.

How much do I owe you?  You went to a lot of trouble to send me this information.  Please let me know asap.

Thank you again!
Margaret Butler

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