Restarting Research: Who was the Father of Benjamin W. Jones of Rankin County, Mississippi?

In October, Jan Joyce gave a webinar to the Writers SIG of the Association of Professional Genealogists, titled “Restarting Research: Writing Your Way Back after a Break.” I was finally able to view the recording this week. It was a great interactive webinar, and I’m sorry I missed it live. She had five tips: recall, review, prompt, write, and recap or restart, which she expanded on with the help of the audience.

Recall was basic. Try to remember what the research goal or objective was. It’s a big picture approach to the original problem. We were to consider why we were working on it, and to try to remember any challenges we had, and if we remembered what our next steps were going to be.

For my project, I want to find the parents of Benjamin W. Jones, born about 1822 in Virginia, who married Amanda A. Haley on 26 June 1845 in Rankin County, Mississippi. I know her parents, but not Benjamin’s. One of the challenges is that I have no idea where in Virginia he is from, nor do I know when he came to Mississippi. Did he come alone or with his parents? Another challenge is the lack of names, except for the head of household in pre-1850 census records.

Review all notes, sources, logs, and previous research. In the process, jot down possible next steps, but don’t research yet!

I have sources for Benjamin between the 1845 marriage and his entering the military in July 1864. These include:

• tax lists between 1845 and 1855 (but why not later? – An action item),
• census records for 1845, 1850, 1853, and 1860 (are there no ag schedules? – An action item),
• land transactions in 1851, 1852, 1856, and 1863

It has been a while since I worked on this project, and I may need to use FamilySearch's full-text search to see if I can tease out more documents that name him. I would search him as “Benjamin W. Jones,” Benj W. Jones,” and “B W Jones.”

Prompt by creating smaller research questions. These will be more manageable. We also need to consider some external factors, such as the law, politics, migration, religion, economics, and more, that affected the decisions they made to migrate.

Trying to locate his father is the big picture. Maybe I need to search for other Jones families in the same county he is in. Could any of them be kin? Have I fully researched all the children who might have a biography that reveals their father’s origins? What about other people in the county who have origins in Virginia? Could searching them give clues to possible localities in Virginia to search? 

Besides the above ideas, I need to know what resources are available for Rankin County and be aware of any gaps in records. Creating a locality guide would be useful. This guide would also include offline resources such as historical societies, archives, university libraries, and others that might hold resources not online.

Writing helps us see any gaps in our thinking and research. I have known that for years. I am constantly asking myself, “How do I know that? What resources can support that information?” When I write, I will note what is missing by changing the type color to red, either in the text or in the footnote. The key here is just to write. Do not stop writing to do research. Make a note of what research should be done, but keep writing. This writing could be a research report to myself, a proof argument, or a biography of an ancestor. 

Here is a start of a bio for him. At this point, I’m just writing and using the sources I currently have, whether they are in the correct format or not. For a polished piece, I would relocate the sources to write a fuller citation.

Benjamin W. Jones was born about 1822 in Virginia. [census] He first appeared in Rankin County, Mississippi in the 1845 tax list, being taxed for a poll and a watch.[1] [Are there other Jones men in the tax list?] He was also listed as a single man in the 1845 state census.[2]

He married Amanda A. Haley on 26 June 1845.[3] By 1848, he was taxed for two enslaved people besides the poll and watch.[4]

His household in 1850 consisted of himself, his wife, and two children, Mary, age four, and Walter, age two. There were no other Jones families nearby.[5] The slave schedule clarified the two enslaved people as two females, aged eleven and fourteen.[6]

In December 1851, Benjamin purchased land in Rankin County from the estate of his wife’s father, Thomas Haley.[7] In November 1852, he and his wife sold a portion of the land to Michael Harvey.[8]

In 1853, he was enumerated in the state census as B. Jones with five males and seven females. The census is listed in rough alphabetical order, and there are other Jones names: Wiley Jones, E.M. Jones, James Jones, Henny Jones, Gordon Jones, and Amos Jones.[9] [need to look at them]

He was taxed in 1855 for one clock, one poll, and five enslaved people.[10] The following year, he sold land to John B. Kornegay.[11] And on the same day, land to James T. Kornegay.[12]

His family makeup in 1860 consisted of himself, with a real estate value of $2842 and personal property value of $8323, his wife, five children (girls M.F., 13; E.B., 5; and O.J., 1; and boys W.A., 11; and T.W., 9), and another male, David Gilman, a dressier.[13] I deduced from later records that M.F. was Mary F, E.B. was Bettie E, O.J. was Olivia Jane, W.A. was Walter A, and T.W. was Thomas W.

In 1863, Benjamin and his wife quitclaimed land to Thomas L. Sumerall, due to the lost deed from the sale to Michael J. Harvey.[14] [Has all the land he bought been accounted for?]

It is possible that Benj. W. Jones, who enlisted in Co. A of the 3rd Regiment Cavalry State Troop, was our Benjamin W. Jones. A muster roll, dated August 14 to September 14, 1864, listed him as enlisted on 4 July 1864 at Brandon, Rankin County, Mississippi.[15] This is the last record for him. [Need to research this regiment to learn more]

An article from the Comanche Chief, Nov 29, 1979, an interview with Oral D. “Pig” Johnston, said his grandfather “was a physician with the Confederate Army and was stricken with an illness and died during the siege.  His widow left Tennessee with five girls and one boy, and headed for Central Texas.” This last part is true about going to Texas, as Amanda Jones can be found in Hays County, Texas, living with her younger children, and near her older children.[16] However, nothing has been found about Tennessee.

Recap or Restart. The important thing after a bit of research and writing is to record what was done and what future research might be. This way, when one picks up a research project, they can see what the next step will be.

For Benjamin W. Jones, I have a small task list that I have created after writing the biography.

• Use full-text search in Rankin County, Mississippi, records to be certain I have found everything I could have.
• Check the FamilySearch catalog to see which collections are available at home and note the ones I should check that are only available at the FamilySearch Center.
• Create a locality guide for Rankin County.
• Make note of other Jones families in Rankin County in the 1845 tax list and state census.
• Complete the tasks noted in the bio.
• Update the citations.

Do any of these tips resonate with you so you can jumpstart the genealogy projects you have?

#WebinarWednesday
This is a new series where I further investigate a topic after attending a webinar. This way, I am applying what I learned.

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Note: Many of these citations need to be updated with current URLs once the images are viewed again.

[1] "Mississippi, county tax rolls, 1818-1902," digital images, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org), Rankin Co, 1845, p. 9, B.W. Jones.

[2] 1845 Mississippi state census return, digital images, "Mississippi, State Archives, Various Records, 1820-1951," FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org), citing Mississippi State Archives in Jackson, Mississippi, Rankin Co, p. 9, B.W. Jones.

[3][3] Rankin Co, Mississippi, marriages, vol. 1, p. 285, 1845, Jones-Haley; FHL film 879737.

[4] "Mississippi, county tax rolls, 1818-1902," digital images, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org), Rankin Co, 1848, p. 11, B.W. Jones.

[5] 1850 U.S. census, Rankin Co, Mississippi, p. 237b, household 480, fam 480, Benj W Jones.

[6] 1850 U.S. census, Rankin Co, Mississippi, slave schedule, p. 717, Benjamin W. Jones.

[7] Rankin Co, Mississippi, deed records, v. 11, 1851-1854, p. 148-49, deed, Wm Haley, et al to Benjamin W. Jones, 1851; digital image, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org), citing digital film 8201506.

[8]  Rankin Co, Mississippi, deed records, v. 11, 1851-1854, p. 447-48, Deed, BW Jones to Michael Harvey, 1852; digital image, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org), citing digital film 8201506.

[9] 1853 Mississippi state census return, digital images, "Mississippi, State Archives, Various Records, 1820-1951," FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org), citing Mississippi State Archives in Jackson, Mississippi, Rankin Co, B. Jones.

[10] "Mississippi, county tax rolls, 1818-1902," digital images, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org), Rankin County, 1855, p. 14, B.W. Jones.

[11] Rankin Co, Mississippi, deed records, v. 13, 1856-1858, p. 190-91, deed, B.W. Jones to John B. Kornegay, 1856; digital image, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org), citing digital film 8201508.

[12] Rankin Co, Mississippi, deed records, v. 13, 1856-1858, p. 191-92, Deed, B.W. Jones to James T. Kornegay, 1856; digital image, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org), citing digital film 8201508.

[13] 1860 U.S. census, Rankin Co, Mississippi, Brandon P.O, p. 74, 482/501, B.W. Jones.

[14] Rankin Co, Mississippi, deed records, v. 16, p. 17, Quit Claim Deed, BW Jones to Thomas L Sumerall, 1863; digital image, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org), citing digital film 8201524.

[15] Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Mississippi," NARA M269, roll 23, Benj W Jones, 3 Cav, Co A.

[16] 1870 U.S. census, Hays Co, Texas, Precinct No. 2, San Marcos P.O., p. 215, dwelling 40, family 23, Amanda Jones. 

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