BRACKETT/WILSON/BLANKENSHIP/CARTER//MEECE

My late husband Terry Brackett was from Polk County, TN. My father-in-law, Hubert Brackett, is the son of Horace Brackett b. 1891, d. 1973, and Nola Belle Meece Brackett. Hubert has always said he did not remember the first name of his grandfather Brackett (Horace's father), but that his grandmother's name was Rosa Lee Brackett b.12/27/1873, d. 2/28/1951. I have been trying very hard to find out his grandfather's first name. Today I asked him about it again and he said it was John Polk Brackett he thought. He seemed very sure of the name Polk but not as sure about the name John. Now this is the first time he remembered it in 37 years so I am not too certain it is accurate information, but am asking for any info on him or Rosa Lee Brackett, who may have been a Wilson before marriage or married a Wilson after Horace's father died because somehow Hubert is related to many Wilsons in Polk County, TN and some people have told me Horace had half-brothers who were Wilsons. To complicate matters further, I know a gentleman named Charles Carter who says Horace's father's first wife died when Horace was a young boy and Charles says his own grandfather, who was also named Charles Carter, also died around the same time and Horace's father married neighbor Charles Carter's widow Margaret "Maggie" Carter, mother of Levi and John Carter, shortly afterward. This marriage was supposed to have taken place around 1908-1916. It is all very confusing to me and I am thinking Mr. Brackett may have been married three times since there is mention of a Rosa Lee, a Margaret "Maggie" and possibly another wife who died young.

To my knowledge all of the Bracketts and Wilsons from the Old Fort area are all related as are the Blankenships or Blankinships and Ledfords also. So if anyone is working on any of these families they might be able to help me.

Can anyone help me unscramble this jigsaw puzzle? I would greatly appreciate any help anyone can give me. I am disabled and in a brace and cannot go to the cemeteries but have been told Mr. Brackett and his wife Margaret Carter are buried in Cumberland Shed Cemetery in Old Fort, Polk County, TN, but
another source said Mr. Brackett and his wife Rosa Lee are buried in Dill Cemetery in Old Fort. I know the man can't be buried in two cemeteries beside two wives.

Thank you very much for any help you might give me..

Clarice "Reecy" Sandidge Brackett

Hello, Reecy.

I think this can be pretty easily sorted out. The 1900 census shows Rosa Lee's husband to be William Wilson. I haven't verified all the information on this tree: http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=brenda...
but it is fairly well documented for the Bracketts and collateral lines. I would urge you to verify what you can. Does your local library offer you remote access to Heritage Quest? Mine does and free of charge (aren't they wonderful?) and many have jumped on that. If they do, you will be able to look at census records at home. The search engine isn't as good as Ancestry's and does only head of household or members of the household with different surnames, but it's valuable none the less. In the meantime this information will get you started.

I think a lot of the confusion comes about because there is both a Horace Brackett and a Horace Wilson, both grandsons of James P. Brackett. James and his wife are next door and her brother Thomas is two doors away from William and Rosa on the 1900 census.

I can find Rosa with her parents in Murray Co., GA in 1880, but it's harder to pin down William Wilson. It's a fairly common name. The tree above has him as born in Polk Co, but the census consistently puts him born in GA, but that information may be available by phone call to the cemetery where he is said to be buried: Buried in Dill Cemetery, Polk Co., TN

Contact me privately, and I will be happy to walk you through Heritage Quest.

Patty, I'm still looking for your Wilsons. They are so good at hiding. This one is a bit late for yours although it might be a collateral line. Remind me - they were in TN and AL first, yes?

Happy time travels!
Susan

Susan, thank you so much. I really appreciate your finding that genforum page for me. I just downloaded the gedcom. I did not know there was both a Horace Brackett and a Horace Wilson. I really did not know much about the family at all. Thank you so much. Who are Horace Wilson's parents?

I do have Heritage Quest at home through the library and use it some but it seems very difficult since the census records there are only indexed by the head of household. I am thinking about getting a subscription at ancestry or genealogy.com Do you have a preference or have you used those census records before? I am trying to decide which site to subscribe to, but since I just bought Family Tree Maker 2005 I guess Ancestry would be better because I heard or read somewhere that the program will no longer search genealogy.com, just ancestry.com

I have not seen those census records on the Wilsons. I did not even know Rosa's husband's name until about a week ago.Thank you so much.

It appears you have found our Brackett line related to the Smith side of our family.
We have Nola, Rosa Lee, and others. But for the record it's James Knox Polk Brackett. Also have a Maggie Carter.
Visit the Brackett webpage at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~fritzzy/br...
AND please sign our guest book off of main page
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~fritzzy/