My name is Charles Downing. I am posting this rather long document in hopes of finding someone that knows about the people mentioned here. This article spans across North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Illinois. I would like to generate some discussion. I have a lot of information about people in Richland County, Illinois, where three of my Groff relatives married three of the Eaks sisters mentioned in this article.
Thank you
The Mystery Of William C. Eaks and Frances Allen Tucker Eaks Herrold
By Charles Downing
This article will give evidence that the death date of 1862 for William C. Eaks is incorrect and that the date of birth, 1862, of Cora Alice Eaks Groff is also incorrect. William C. Eaks was born in 1825 in North Carolina. He married Frances Allen Tucker on 23 January 1848 in Wilson County, Tennessee. She was born 31 January 1833 in Granville County, North Carolina, and died 24 December 1901 in Richland County, Illinois. Her place of burial is not known. William and Frances Tucker Eaks are the great, great grandparents of the author.
Most family trees found on Ancestry.com and other sources give the date of death of William Eaks as 1862. The day, month, and location are not listed. Also, these trees do not list the parents of William Eaks. The youngest daughter of William and Frances, Cora Alice Eaks Groff, according to most family trees, was born 17 Oct 1862 in Kentucky. She died 05 March 1950 in Claremont, Richland County, Illinois. She is buried in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Richland County, Illinois.
I have been searching for information about William C. Eaks for several years. Recently, I found a record about a person that I believe to be him. The reference for the death record of William C. Eaks is" Kentucky Death Records 1852-1953", page 55, found on the web site, Ancestry. com. The date of death is 04 August 1859. The cause of death is somewhat confusing. The cause is first listed as follows; " shot by another man". These words are marked through by one line. Above the word "man" there are some words written that are faded so much it is very difficult to read. However, the words seem to read "killed in crowd" It appears that whatever happened to William C. Eaks, his death was not by natural causes. It was an accidental death.
On the same page and listed next to William C. Eaks are three other Eaks who died in 1859. They are children. George Eaks is 2 months old who's cause of death on 03 September maybe scarlet fever. His father is George Eaks from Cannon County, Tennessee. William ? (hard to read) Eaks is 6 years old. He died on February 7 of scarlet fever. His father is William Eaks from Simpson County, Kentucky. The third child listed is John Eaks. He died 01 February at the age of 4 months. No cause of death is listed. His father is also William Eaks of Simpson County, Kentucky. All of these children are identified as males. Also, William Eaks is listed in this record as a shoe maker. In the 1850 census, the William Eaks of our family was listed as a shoe maker. I believe these men are one and the same. I also believe that the two Eaks boys who died belong to William and Francis Eaks.
There are two sources from family members that have written a few things about William Eaks, his wife Frances, and their children. Cleo Charlotte Groff (1908-2006) is considered by our family to be the best source of Groff family history. She wrote an extensive document listing birth, deaths, and marriages, along with comments about many of the people. Grace A. Perry Walker (1896-1990) wrote a history of the Groff and Eaks families. Grace’s grandmother was Frances Allen Tucker, wife of William Eaks. Frances later married Samuel Herrold.
In a letter to Benjamin Groff from Grace Walker dated January 24, 1977, she stated "Ben, I found our Grandmother's obituary in a box of papers I had put away long ago. It is very worn, but I think I have it written off right only I can't read the date. "
Obituary of Francis Allen Tucker Eaks Herrold
“Francis Herrold, Wife of Samuel Herrold, departed this life December 24, 1901. Age, 68 years,10 months, 24 days. She was born in Grandville County, North Carolina, on January 31, 1833. In 1840, she moved with her parents to Tennessee where she was united in marriage to William Eaks and to that union were born six children. Her husband dying, she then moved to Richland County, Illinois in 1861 and in July___, 1862 she was married to Samuel Herrold and to that union were born three children. Four children had gone on before to await her coming. She leaves five children and five brothers, and a host of relatives and friends to mourn her loss. She united with the Church Of Christ in 1888 and has lived a faithful Christian until her death.
She was loved by all her knew her.” Author’s note: Francis and Samuel were married on July 15. This obituary states William and Francis Eaks had six children. I know about the four girls who were with Francis when she moved to Richland County in 1861. They were: Martha Allen (1849-1906), Sarah Jane (1850-1922), Mary Elizabeth (1857-1915) and Cora Alice (??-1950). The two boys listed in the Kentucky Death Records will fit as the two other children. They were: William, age 6, died 07 February 1859 (born about1853) and John, age four months, died 01 February 1859 ( born about October 1858).
Grace Walker writes, “ I am Grace Perry Walker and will try to explain what I am going to write about. This is going to be what I know of the family history of five sisters. My grandmother was Frances Herrold. She married first to William Eaks and four girls were born to them. Their names were Martha, Mary, Jane and Alice. William Eaks died when these girls were small.
While the girls were still small, Frances married Samuel Harrold and two girls and a boy were born to them. The girls were Captola and Emma and I think the boy was Johnnie. Captola was my mother and a half sister to the four Eaks sisters but all married and lived like sisters. All had families and we were a happy bunch of cousins (27 in number).”
Later, Grace writes that Emma and Johnnie died young. Grace did not write about the two little boys who died in Kentucky. The obituary of Frances Herrold states that “ four children had gone on before to await her coming.” I believe that those four children are William and John Eaks and Emma and Johnnie Herrold.
This is a story written by Cleo Groff ( 1908-2006) about the Eaks family:
" Our great grandmother Francis Eaks was originally from the Carolinas. She married our great grandfather Eaks in Nashville, Tennessee. From my childhood memories, great grandfather Eaks was at an election in Nashville, Tennessee. A fight broke out and a duel ensued. A stray bullet or "richocet" hit our great grandfather killing him instantly. Uncle "Jun" Tucker , when I was a small kid, always stopped to visit Grandpa Groff when he was in the vicinity or area. From their conversation, Uncle "Jun" was a brother to great grandmother Eaks and a circuit rider or preacher so he brought great grandmother Eaks and her four girls to the Dutch Flat area : Great Grandmother Frances Eaks, Martha Allen, Mary Elizabeth, Alice, and Sarah Jane. So Samuel Harold had lost his wife, Barbarry. She is buried in Dutch Flat. So Great Grandmother Frances Eaks and Samuel Harold were married."
The Kentucky Death Record and Cleo's story seem to refer to same incident about the death of William C. Eaks. It is noteworthy that both Grace and Cleo wrote that the four small girls came to Richland County, Illinois, with their mother.
Now for some speculation. If the obituary of Frances Eaks Harrold is correct about moving to Illinois in 1861, then the youngest Eaks girl, Cora Alice, would not have been born in 1862. In the 1900 Federal Census, Cora Alice states that she was born in Kentucky. Again, it appears that she was born before 1862 if she moved to Illinois in 1861. If William Eaks was indeed killed 04 August 1859, then Cora Alice might have been born before that date. Perhaps Frances was pregnant at the time William was killed. If so, then Cora Alice could have been born as late as April 1860. This seems to be a reasonable explanation. If Cora Alice Eaks was born before 1862, then there is the question of why the real birth date was not used. We may never know.
In Cleo Groff’s story, she referred to “Uncle Jun Tucker”. This is Junius Alexander Tucker, the younger brother of Francis Allen Tucker Eaks. He and other members of the Tucker family later moved from North Carolina to Richland County, Illinois and lived there until their deaths.
Other questions to be answered are:
1. Who are the parents of William C. Eaks?
2. Who is Sarah Ann Eaks, born 1813 in North Carolina? She married George Tucker(1813-1880) and is the mother of Francis Allen Tucker.
3. In the Kentucky Death Records, George Eaks is listed as the father of the baby(George) who died. Is this George Eaks kin to William C. Eaks?
4. What type of illness or epidemic happened in Kentucky in 1859 that would kill three young children? Scarlet fever?
5.I wonder why several members of the Tucker Family moved to Richland County,Illinois.