The More You Dig . . .

. . . the bigger the skeleton you find! Ha! Kidding.

. . . the bigger the mystery you might discover.

Case in point: Great-Great Grandpa Alexander Sweat, son of Israel Sweat and ??????

Yeah . . . ??????

According to what my grandfather (Papaw, for those in the know) knew, Alexander Sweat was the son of Israel Sweat and Lotty Hare (more on her in a later post - boy, do I have more about her in a later post).

Well, fine, dandy, and all that jazz. Except . . .

. . . Great-Great-Great Grandpa Israel Sweat was married . . . multiple times.

First to Sally Russell who died after the birth of her sixth child, John Wesley Sweat, in May 1823.

Fine, dandy, no problem.

Alexander Sweat was allegedly born July 2, 1822 . . . or is it 1824 . . . or is it 1832. Well, therein lies the mystery my digging into records discovered.

First - ancestry lists his birth as 1822. Ancestry is suspect, so . . .

Second - A census record, showing Charlotte (aka Lotty aka . . . just wait until you read the post on her), Israel was deceased by this time, and some others, Alex included, lists his birth date as 1832.

Third - Alexander's death certificate lists his birth as July 2, 1824.

So, now I have three potential dates-of-birth for Alexander Sweat.

Find, dandy . . . CRAP!

Now, if he was born in 1822, then Sally Russell and not Lotty Hare was most likely his mother.

But . . .

If he was born in 1824, well . . . Israel and Charlotte didn't marry until October 1827.

Uh, huh, you do the math.

Now, if he was born in 1832 . . . fine, dandy, no problem, except . . .

. . . his death certificate lists his birth as 1824.

Fine, dandy . . . CRAP!

So who in the heck is Alexander Sweat's mommy dearest? Sally? Charlotte? Some unknown woman?

I don't have a clue, but . . .

My best guess is that Israel, with an infant on hand, married the first available woman to a) care for the infant and b) care for his other children who were all of a young age.

Hey, trust me, from the research I've done, multiple marriages way back when were the norm. Heck, Great-Great Grandpa Miles Nicholas Boone only waited 2 1/2 months after his wife's death during childbirth to remarry. Eeeewwww! But, seriously, it's what seemed to happen a lot back then.

So, it's highly likely he remarried, got his wife with child, and then she died either in childbirth, or some time soon after, and definitely (well, hopefully) before he married Charlotte, who was already a widow and had a young child of her own, in 1827).

So, as you dance with your ancestors, prepare to run into roadblocks and find mystery after mystery.

Fun times, people, fun times!!!

S