Listen my children and you shall hear the epic tale of two Alexanders. At issue is an Alexander Babbs who is found in the 1860 Census for Clay County. There is not one, but two claims to Alexander’s ancestral lineage. The struggle is real, and both have their pros and cons.
He could be the child of William Lane Babbs who is currently attributed to the Green Men of Maryland. William’s family occupies the remainder of the county.
Or, he could be the son of James Babbs and Barbara Knealy, who are currently attributed to the VA/NC Babbs.
I find that I’ve inadvertently contributed to the confusion as a portion of my earlier research. He is currently located in two different parts of the tree. I should have noticed the overlap but missed it and created a new person in the tree.
Who was right? Jean A. Sargent, founder of the Babb Family Association or me, her successor? We are here to find out!
Let the battle begin!
Below you will find the Family Group Sheets for each of the competing Alexander Babbs.
Alexander #1 (White Stag)
I added this line upon “discovering” a new branch that didn’t appear to be in my predecessor Jean A. Sargent’s records.
Alexander #2 (Green Man)
Jean A. Sargent added this Alexander (3-2-6-5) and he is covered in her book Babb Families of America, p. 460. In her work, Alexander had a birth date of 1827, but no other information was available for him. Over time the entry has been overlapped with Alexander #1 and the birth dates had been adjusted accordingly. This is what we call foreshadowing.
You will note that they currently share much of the same information. The difference amounts to an episode of “Who’s your Daddy?”. Let’s dig into it:
Both Alexanders are associated with the same record pattern, but a person can only have one set of biological parents. I’ve traced him back a little bit to help clarify the family unit. These facts are NOT in dispute.
We start in 1845 with the marriage of Alexander to Lucinda Carter. They married in Washington Co, OH on 13 Aug 1845.
Moving forward to the 1850 Census we find Alexander and Lucinda raising a family of 4 children. There is an elderly woman living with them by the name of Barbara [Barbary] who was born approximately in 1788. Note the name of the first son Carter as you’ll see that again. It’s not only Lucinda’s maiden name, but also the given name of their first child.
Next, we find them in the 1855 in the Clay Co, IL State Census. While this doesn’t show the members of the family, it does demonstrate that the family has relocated to Clay County by the time of this record.
In 1860 we find what at first appears to be a confusing record. At first glance it appears to be a different person. Given the two Alexander possibility it isn’t easily assigned.
The record is at once confirming and confusing. Lucinda is gone and a woman named Minerva who is far too young to be the mother of the children has replaced her. She is only 4 years older than Carter. We know it is the same family though because of Carter’s presence and that of his siblings.
The column to the right of the State names shows that Minerva and Alexander had been married within the last year. There is also a child, Nancy who is just 1 year old. Who is this, Minerva? Despite her presence the rest of the family unit is there with some new additions since 1850.
Her presence is explained by their marriage record, which brings into perspective that her parents are living next door in the 1860 Census above.
We find out from this document that Lucinda died of Typhoid Fever in November 1859 after a 14-day illness. Note that in this day and age it was not uncommon for a widow(er) to remarry immediately. It was often a matter of survival.
So far all that we have discussed is not in dispute. The question boils down to which of the two Alexanders this story belongs to. Or, is there only one Alexander? Either seems to be up for grabs.
I have climbed all over his tree looking for a shred of information that would give us a tidbit of additional info on him with little success.
A tiny shred of information regarding what happened to the family is shown in his son Stokley’s obituary (aka Stokes). The story that he was orphaned at as an infant aligns to a number of trees that show Alexander as having died in 1863. Fold3.com shows nothing of a service record for Alexander, so there is no evidence that he died as part of the Civil War.
Obituary for Stokley Babbs
Stoke Babbs, son of Joseph [correct name is Alexander] and Lucinda [Carter] Babbs, was born in Ingra[ha]m, Ill., Oct. 15, 1850[1852], departed this life at Alfries, Florida, Feb. 23, 1930.
His father and mother died when he was an infant, and he was raised in Indiana by his uncle George Barnett. He later came to Illinois where he met and married Anna Chaney and they moved to Clay City. To this union three children were born. His faithful wife and companion preceded him in death January 4, 1908.
This record finally settles the answer as to the parents of the Alexander who married Lucinda Carter and Minerva Self.
This record shows Alexander to be the son of James & Barbara (Knealy) Babbs. James’ estate was handled in Washington Co, IN and the documents could not be more clear. His parents are James & Barbara. James appears to have used his brother George to administer his estate. This is the unequivocal ancestry of Alexander. We know from my copilot Travis that this branch is part of the VA/NC White Stag lineage and is confirmed by a Y-DNA test. However, that is not the end of this story!
We now, must ask the next tough question. Is there another Alexander that is the son of William Lane Babbs? More on that in my next post.