Thomas James Hood b. c1840 Jackson Co. GA
The text below was also posted on the Sims BB today, in response to http://genforum.genealogy.com/sims/messages/6149.htmlhttp://genforum.genealogy.com/sims/messages/6149.html.
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I noticed that the Sims family you mentioned had members in both Jackson Co. GA and Cherokee Co. AL.I know of another connection between those two places which may involve a Sims family.You may find this data useful, and perhaps someone can help me with my own puzzle.
1860 census Etowah Co. AL (formed in part from Cherokee Co.), 1st dist., Turkeytown PO
- no. 172: Jeremiah Sims 37 GA, Savilla 35 SC, Mary 15 AL, Amanda 12 AL, Asa 9 AL, Robert 7 AL, Jeremiah 1 AL
- no. 173: John B. Hall 37 SC farmer $8000 $8400, Eliz. 34 AL, Sarah 12 AL, Talitha C. 8 AL, Mary E. 3 AL, John B. 1 AL, plus Thomas Hood 22 GA farm hand; John B. Hall's wife was Elizabeth Hood, a somewhat distant relation of the farm hand Thomas Hood.This Thomas Hood is my 2g-gfather.
John B. Hall is a son of Merry Hall and Nancy _?_.Merry Hall and close relations of John B. Hall's wife Elizabeth Hood both settled in St. Clair Co. AL after the War of 1812, and many of both families are enumerated there in 1820.Some of the same names are on the 1809 tax list of Jackson Co. GA.Other related Hood families remained in Jackson Co. GA, but were apparently in touch with the AL families for decades after.After 1850, other Jackson Co. GA Hoods moved to Cherokee Co. AL (formed 1835 from Indian lands and adjacent to St. Clair Co. formed 1818) and are enumerated in Cherokee Co. AL in 1860, in the part which a few years later became Etowah Co. (around Gadsden).So here is another connection between Jackson Co. GA and Cherokee Co. AL.
The farm hand Thomas Hood is Thomas James Hood b. c1840 Jackson Co. GA, 4th of 10 children of Reuben Harvey Hood and Emily J. Cook of Jackson Co. GA.Thomas is enum. with his parents in 1850, age 10 (his age 22 in the 1860 census is a year or two high).Thomas Hood's uncle Rev. Stephen Reed Hood then moved from Jackson Co. GA to Cherokee Co. AL sometime betw. 1855-57 - perhaps Thomas came with him at that time; also, Thomas Hood's father Reuben had died 1856 in Jackson Co. GA, so perhaps that had something to do with it.
In Jun 1860, Thomas is enumerated with the John B. Hall family as noted above.In August 1860 Thomas was sent $300 from his father's estate which had been been settled in Jackson Co. GA, where all Thomas' siblings remained.With this money in hand, I believe Thomas married almost immediately a woman named Mary.Her surname is not known, and no marriage record has been found for them in that part of AL.They had one known ch. Reuben Harvey Hood b. May 1861 (most censuses say born in AL, but one census and his death cert. say born in GA); Reuben is my g-gfather (although family lore mentions a younger sister, there is no proof of it).In Mar 1862 Thomas Hood returned to Jackson Co. GA, where he enlisted with a number of relations and friends in co. H. 43rd GA vol. inf. (CSA) (the "Jackson County Blues"); the whereabouts of his wife Mary and child Reuben at this time are not known - it is assumed they remained in AL, but it is also possible they had returned to GA, and it also possible that they were married in GA (this seems unlikely because she seems to be from AL).Jul 1862 Thomas Hood died of disease in a hospital in Atlanta, 7 others from his company having died during the preceding 4 days.Jan 1863 in Cherokee Co. AL, his wife Mary gave power of attorney to John B. Hall to handle her husband's estate, and nothing more is known of her.Their only known child Reuben is enumerated with John B. Hall in the 1870 census of Etowah Co. AL, but Reuben's mother is nowhere to be found.She may have died or remarried.I have looked for later marriages of a Mary or Polly Hood in this area of AL, or for other possible matches, but have not yet found a match.Now I am looking at neighboring families in the 1860 census for a possible match.
So back to the 1860 census of Jeremiah Sims in Cherokee Co. AL.Jeremiah's daughter Mary was listed as age 14 in Jun 1860; if that age is accurate, she would have been of marriagable age soon after.She is a candidate for the wife of Thomas Hood, who was living next door to her in 1860.So there's my puzzle - did Mary Sims, dau. of Jeremiah and Savilla Sims, marry Thomas James Hood sometime late 1860 or early 1861?Or is it known that she married someone else instead?If a marriage is recorded for her after 1862, it could be her second marriage.If she remarried after the death of Thomas Hood, the marriage record would likely give her surname as Hood, not Sims.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.