Did Rebecca Cheat?

One of the mysteries that has plagued my curiosity since I began my genealogical research with a passion had to do with my Third Great Granduncle, Edward Winfield Davis. Neddy, as he was affectionately known, was born December 11, 1811, and was the next to youngest child of Job Davis and Sarah Winfield Howell Davis. 

Uncle Ned, or E. W. ,as he was often seen, was the most civil minded of Jobs four sons and Sarah's 8 children. He was a devout Methodist Episcopal, a dedicated Whig, and the second sheriff of Stanly County, North Carolina, though those were not the only capacities he served in. Well-educated, he was often chosen by friends and neighbors to serve as the Executor of Wills, help with bonds and land - related issues, and in nearly every capacity, up to and serving as, without actually being, an attorney. His name is all over the every court records and deeds. 

When his parents died, Ned was the one his parents put into trust, the share of the estate of his older brother, Henry, who had started out most useful, nearly as Ned, but who, through his overuse of alchohol, had deteriorated to a state of ineptitude. So, Edward Winfield Davis became the Alpha of the Litter, most dominate of the 4 sons of Job Davis. 

In addition to being a bit of a politician and a civil servant, Ned was also, of course, a farmer. On top of all that, in his latter days, he ran a merchantile in the old Davis Community, which became named that between the last decades of the 1800's and early decades of the 1900's. Along with his brothers, James and Marriott, as Henry had already passed, he also owned a gold mine, which Henry had owned a share in during his more productive days. So, Edward became a man of substance and worth. He was even called "Colonel" Davis at times, though I've not found a record of his military service. He did not serve in the Civil War as an enlisted man, due to his age, over 50 when the war broke out, but he may have served in some sort of prior militia or in the Homeguard during the War. This, I do not know. I do know that in one paper I've read, that he was described as a most eligible bachelor.

Uncle Ned eventually did marry, but not until later in life. Why, I don't know, maybe he was just too busy with everything else, and obligations, that it never crossed his mind to do so, or he felt he just would not have the time or energy to put into a family. He certainly was a catch, as well as being fairly wealthy, Ned was also a very distinguished looking and handsome man. I do not have a copy of his portrait, that was passed on to a different branch of the family and is now lost to time, but I've seen it. Ned was tall and of average sized appearance. The portrait may have been made about the time of his marriage, so he was well into middle age and wore a fine, long horseshoe mustache. His hair appeared a lighter, but not blonde, even in black and white, you could tell it was not extremely dark, and he was well-dressed with a straight and upright bearing. 

Name:	Edward W Davis
Gender:	Male
Marriage Date:	22 Jan 1868
Marriage Place:	Stanly, North Carolina, USA
Spouse:	Rebecca Hathcock
Spouse Gender:	Female
Event Type:	Marriage

So in January of 1868, E. W. Davis would forfeit his long-held bachelorhood and marry the fair Miss Mary Rebecca Hathcock. He was 56 and Rebecca, a mere 10 days into being 18, having been born on January 12, 1850. Rebecca was the daughter of Solomon and Lavinia Rummage Hathcock, who lived along the Rocky River as well, near the current Mt. Zion Church. Her father, Solomon, was only 5 years her husband's senior, and also a wealthy local businessman, so they were of the same economic class. 

Branson's directory, solomon hathcock

According to Branson's North Carolina Business Directory, Solomon Hathcock also owned a Gold Mine, while the Davis one was actually across the Rocky River on the Anson County side. 

Rebecca would deliver their first child just 4 days over a year later, a girl she  named Sarah Hortense Davis, born on January 26, 1869, named no doubt for E.W.'s mother, Sarah Winfield Davis, and they called her Hortense. Two sons would follow, Edward Thomas Ashley Davis, in 1871, and John Teeter Davis in 1877.

Edward Winfield Davis would pass away on October 30, 1882, at the age of 70. He was laid to rest in the Davis Family Cemetery off of what was then Winfield Road, and now known as Old Davis Road, along with his parents, Job and Sarah.  He did not live to see his children grow up. Hortense was 13, Thomas 11, but the youngest, John Teeter Davis, affectionately known as 'Jaspar', was only 5. His widow, Rebecca, still a young, vital woman, and now a wealthy one at that, waited nearly the traditional year of mourning, before marrying again. 

John T. Crump was a Tyson Township neighbor of the Davis family. He was born in the northern part of Anson County, around Cedar Hill, the son of Woodson D. Crump and Clementine Ingram Crump. His step-mother was actually Sarah "Sallie" Davis, a daughter of Henry Davis and a niece of Edward Winfield Davis. Another of Henry's daughtes, Victoria, would also marry one of the Crumps. 

Name:	John T Crump
Gender:	Male
Race:	White
Age:	32
Birth Year:	abt 1851
Marriage Date:	23 Sep 1883
Marriage Place:	Stanly, North Carolina, USA
Father:	W D Crump
Mother:	Tiney Crump
Spouse:	Rebecca Davis
Spouse Gender:	Female
Spouse Race:	White
Spouse Age:	32
Spouse Father:	Solomon Hathcock
Spouse Mother:	Vina Hathcock
Event Type:	Marriage

J. T. Crump, as he was known, would travel with a group of other Anson County men, to Shreveport, Lousiana, on some business adventure, where he is found working as a Carpenter in 1870. He had returned to North Carolina by 1880, where he is seen farming a small patch of land next door to his father, which was very forntunate, because by marrying the young widow, Rebecca, he acquired a great deal of money and property. 

J. T. Crump was a contemporary of Rebecca Hathcock Davis, just a little over a year her senior. They were probably more aligned generationally speaking. Rebecca would bear two more children, Travis Crump and Lavinia Crump, named for her mother. She and John would buy a lot in the town of Albemarle and move their, probably because Rebecca tired of being a farm wife and wanted to be near society and humanity. They left the farm in care of employees and sharecroppers, leasing some of it out and selling others. 

Rebecca lost her oldest daughter, Hortense, sadly, to pneumonia, after the girl suffered an anquishing divorce, and J. T. and Rebecca took in her only child, a daughter named Ouissa. 

The family appears in the first census to survive after the death of E.W. Davis in 1882 was the 1900 census. John and Rebecca are living in Tyson Township, probably on the old Davis plantation.

Name:	Rebecky Crump
Age:	49
Birth Date:	Jan 1851
Birthplace:	North Carolina, USA
Home in 1900:	Tyson, Stanly, North Carolina
Sheet Number:	8
Number of Dwelling in Order of Visitation:	141
Family Number:	146
Race:	White
Gender:	Female
Relation to Head of House:	Wife
Marital Status:	Married
Spouse's Name:	John Crump
Marriage Year:	1882
Years Married:	18
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina, USA
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina, USA
Mother: number of living children:	4
Mother: How many children:	6
Can Read:	Yes
Can Write:	Yes
Can Speak English:	Yes
Neighbors:
Household Members Age Relationship John Crump 51 Head Rebecky Crump 49 Wife Travis Crump 14 Son Viney Crump 8 Daughter Stewel Wessey 7 Granddaughter Claud Crump 32 Brother

The household of J. T. Crump is shown above. There's John, 51 and Rebecca, 49 and their two children together, Travis and Lavina aka 'Viney'. The absurdly decimated name of Ouissa Stewart, the 7 year old daugther of Sarah Hortense Davis Stewart, Rebecca's oldest daughter, was transcribed 'Stewel Wessey'. Ouissa was called 'Weezey' upon occasion and her surname was Stewart. One of J.T. Crumps younger brothers, Claude, also lived with them.

Name:	John T Davis
Age:	18
Birth Date:	May 1882
Birthplace:	North Carolina, USA
Home in 1900:	Albermarle, Stanly, North Carolina
Sheet Number:	7
Number of Dwelling in Order of Visitation:	1
Family Number:	119
Race:	White
Gender:	Male
Relation to Head of House:	Brother
Marital Status:	Single
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina, USA
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina, USA
Occupation:	Farm Laborer
Months Not Employed:	0
Attended School:	0
Can Read:	Yes
Can Write:	Yes
Can Speak English:	Yes
Neighbors:
Household Members Age Relationship Tho A Davis 28 Head Eliza A Davis 25 Wife Lawson E Davis 1 Son John T Davis 18 Brother

The two surving sons of Ned and Rebecca are shown above. Tom is married and living in Albemarle and has a little boy, Lawson. He had married Eliza Deese and his younger brother, John, is living with them.

Rebecca would pass away in 1905 of Thyphoid Fever. She had caught it from her youngest son, Travis Crump, who had survived the terrible disease. She was buried in the Old Job Davis Cemetery beside of EW. 

Name:	John T Crump
Age in 1910:	60
Birth Date:	1850[1850]
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1910:	Tyson, Stanly, North Carolina, USA
Race:	White
Gender:	Male
Relation to Head of House:	Head
Marital Status:	Married
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Native Tongue:	English
Occupation:	Farmer
Industry:	Home Farm
Employer, Employee or Other:	Employer
Home Owned or Rented:	Own
Home Free or Mortgaged:	Free
Farm or House:	Farm
Able to read:	Yes
Able to Write:	Yes
Years Married:	25
Neighbors:
Household Members Age Relationship John T Crump 60 Head Vinia Crump 19 Daughter Steph Crump 17 Niece

It's in 1910 that things get a little spooky. J. T. Crumps is still living in Tyson on the old plantation with his daughter  Lavinia and the 17 year old 'niece', ' Steph Crump' is actually his step-granddaughter, Ouisa Stewart, whom he had guardianship of, as is proven in guardianship and estate papers. He sought at one time to sell a portion of her land, inherited via her mother of E. W's property, in order to buy her a piano and help pay for her education. Looking at actual document, for her name, it actually says 'Ouisa' and out beside of it, 'step' for step niece, which was inaccurate. Perhaps Lavinia had answered the questions as Ouisa was her half-niece to be accurate. 

1910 was the year I had not been able to find John Teeter Davis. While Tom still lived in Albemarle and his family had grown, John was no where to be found. Then, I noticed, when looking at the name of Ousia on the actual document, that right up above the John T. Crump household was the family of John T. Crump, Jr.. Who was that?

Name:	Travis Crump
Age in 1910:	24
Birth Date:	1886[1886]
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1910:	Albemarle, Stanly, North Carolina, USA
Race:	White
Gender:	Male
Relation to Head of House:	Step Brother[Half Brother]
Marital Status:	Single
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Native Tongue:	English
Occupation:	Laborer Dye
Industry:	House Hosiery Mill
Employer, Employee or Other:	Wage Earner
Able to read:	Yes
Able to Write:	Yes
Number of Weeks Out of Work:	0
Neighbors:
Household Members Age Relationship Tom A Davis 38 Head Eliza Davis 32 Wife Lawson Davis 11 Son Mary Davis 6 Daughter Steve Davis 3 Son Clay Tom Davis 1 Son Travis Crump 24 Step Brother

It wasn't Travis, as he was living in Albemarle with Tom Davis and working in the cotton mills.

The other issue was the family names. The wife was named Nannie, with a little boy named Dewey.

Name:	John Davis
Gender:	Male
Race:	White
Age:	23
Birth Year:	abt 1881
Marriage Date:	20 Jan 1904
Marriage Place:	Stanly, North Carolina, USA
Father:	E W Davis
Mother:	Rebecca Crump
Spouse:	Nannie Farmer
Spouse Gender:	Female
Spouse Race:	White
Spouse Age:	25
Spouse Father:	George Farmer
Spouse Mother:	Elizabeth Farmer
Event Type:	Marriage

In 1904, John T. Davis had married Nannie Farmer, the daughter of neighbors George and Elizabeth Farmer.

To add to the equation, I knew from other research that John's oldest child was a son named George Dewey Davis, named for grandfather, George Farmer, but called Dewey.

Name:	J T Crump[J T D Crump][I T Sr Crump][]
Age in 1910:	29
Birth Date:	1881[1881]
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1910:	Tyson, Stanly, North Carolina, USA
Race:	White
Gender:	Male
Relation to Head of House:	Head
Marital Status:	Married
Spouse's Name:	Nannie Crump
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Native Tongue:	English
Occupation:	Farmer
Industry:	Home Farm
Employer, Employee or Other:	Employer
Home Owned or Rented:	Own
Home Free or Mortgaged:	Free
Farm or House:	Farm
Able to read:	Yes
Able to Write:	Yes
Years Married:	6
Number of Children Born:	2
Number of Children Living:	1
Neighbors:
Household Members Age Relationship J T Crump 29 Head Nannie Crump 30 Wife Dewey Crump 5 Son

Yet, here we have this family listed above, living right next door to John T. Crump. So I ran to the land records. Guess whose property adjoined that of John T. Crump? John Teeter Davis! Yet, I also found transactions between John T. Crump and John T. Davis. 

Adding to that is the whole issue of the map. Recall the clipping of a map at the top of the post? See the two tracts of land labeled ' J. T. Crump?. Look below that and above that of Matt Aldridge, there it is again, J. T. Crump Jr. 

For years, I have tried to find the middle name of John T. Crump. Was it Teeter? Had young Rebecca cheated on old Ned and even named her son for her lover and future husbamd.

I have not suceeded in finding out if John T. Crump was John Teeter, like John Teeter Davis, or even John Travis, like Rebecca's youngest son, that was actually a Crump. All I really had to go on is that the children of John Teeter always carried the surname of Davis.

John T. Davis would lose his young wife, Nannie Farmer Davis, at the age of 32, and they would only have the one son, George Dewey Davis.

He would remarry the next year, on December 12, 1912, to Jennie Lenora McSwain, and they would have 6 children together, Ray, Christine, Maxine, William Wooten, Esau and Jewel Lee Davis.

Jennie would pass  away in June of 1929, at the age of 37. She was buried in the Old Davis Family Cemetery.

John would marry a third time to Alta Valedia Kinney of Davisdson Couny. They would have a set of twins, James and Jenny, who were born posthumously 4 months after John T. Davis's death in 1932.

In all of his following records, and those of his children, John Teeter went by Davis. The question remained though, who was his biological father, Ned Davis who had robbed the cradle by marrying a woman nearly 40 years his junior, of John T Crump, who would become his stepfather and whose name he would go by as a young man?

I skip over and checkout Thrulines on ancestry.com occasionally, just to see if there are any updates. When I break down a wall, or make a step forward, I will add it in my genetic tree, then check occasionally if the algorithms have followed, if anyone has joined me and if we share DNA. Out of curiosity, I had decided to check out E. W. Davis, because that question had again crossed my mind. And the Daddy is: Edward Winfield Davis.

I share DNA with decendants of all of the three children of  Ned and Rebecca. If you notice to the right, I share DNA with descendants of both Dewey and Esau. New people are taking DNA tests everyday, so new additons to family trees happen steadliy if not gradually. 

Ned died when John was just a small boy. It was indeed John T. Crump who raised him. That may have been why he went by the Crump name for awhile. But his DNA says that he was a Davis. Most of the children of John T. Davis settled in the areas of Moore and Hoke Counties, near Vass. His daughter Jewel married a Morris and remained in Albemarle. The twins, children of his last wife, lived out thier lives in Davidson County, under the care of their mothers brother. 

Rebecca did not cheat.