Where have I been and what am I working on?

Yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything here.  I noticed in the last year or so that I tend to work on all my projects in waves.  I’ll work on building my model railroad for a month or two, then I’ll sort stamps for a few weeks, then knock a couple books off my reading list, then spend some time with my record collection, then do some volunteer work, and….  You get the picture.

So in November, I had a three-week trip to visit family in California (took pictures, talked to family, had Thanksgiving dinner, saw some sights, showed our son some sights; some details will come later).  When I got back from there, I spent most of December and January working on a scanning project for the American Topical Association, so much of that time was spent with my stamp collection and posting to my stamp blog, Stamps Marching Forth.  Thrown in there were various meetings for the upcoming Midwest Region NMRA spring convention, long-range planning committees at WORT and education committee meetings to set up class schedules for the Center for Photography at Madison.  I’ve also got more work to do on my next Rip Track Podcast episode.  Now that it’s February, my next paid work assignment has begun.

But with all that, I’m still looking around at various genealogy resources.  This week, I thought I’d take a look to see what else I can find on my Horne line.  To recap the connection, Orran A. Horne is my 2nd-great grandfather.  He was born on 4 October 1846 in Pulaski County, Georgia, and died on 31 October 1923 in Hawkinsville, Pulaski Co., GA.  His father, Orrin Carstarphen Horne was born in the 1810s (one source says 1814, another says 1819; I still need to work on analyzing the sources), and died on 12 October 1882.  Both Orran A. and Orrin C. served in the Confederate Army, with Orrin C. being promoted to Captain of the Georgia Rangers.

Like most of my searches, I started looking on FamilySearch again last week.  Putting the names and dates that I have into the search boxes brought up the same references that I had seen earlier.  That was no big surprise; but then I looked at some of the other results that were listed and I noticed a couple U.S. census records for other Horne families in Hawkinsville during Orran A.’s lifetime.  As we know from the “FAN club” research theory, if there are two households in the same small town at about the same time, the likelihood of relationships between them increases.  In the 1900 U.S. census for Hawkinsville, Georgia, I found this family:

This is an extract from sheet 19-B of the 1900 U.S. census in the 542 G. Militia District, Hawkinsville Town, Pulaski County, Georgia.  Henry Horne (born October 1859 in Georgia and married for 25 years) is listed as the head of household, and both of his parents were born in Georgia.  His wife was Lily Horne (born May 1854 in Georgia, married for 25 years, the mother of 8 children with 5 of them still living in 1900), and both of her parents were also born in Georgia.  Three children were still living with Henry and Lily in 1900: Frank Horne (M; born Feb 1882 in Georgia), Pearl Horne (F; born Sep 1885 in Georgia), and Addie Horne (F; born Sep 1887 in Georgia).  The census record also lists the occupations (Henry was a farm laborer, Lily a cook, Frank a day laborer and Pearl and Addie both students), and that everyone was able to read, write and speak English.  The family lived in a rented house.

Another search result shows Henry’s household in the 1910 U.S. census, but as the original image was available on Ancestry (where I don’t have a subscription right now), I only got the extracted data.  The household included Henry, Frank and Addie, but did not list Lily or Pearl.  Henry is listed as widowed, so we can guess that Lily died sometime between 1900 and 1910.  I haven’t looked for Pearl in the 1910 census yet, so I don’t know if she married and moved away or if something else happened yet.  The 1910 household included a new entry for Emma Horne, listed as the daughter-in-law of Henry (which I am guessing makes her Frank’s wife, especially since she’s listed as 27 years old, matching Frank’s age).  Amusingly, the family members show in the 1900 census as a white family, but the 1910 index entry shows everyone as a black family.  Since the first three family members match up, it seems likely to me that this the same family and the 1910 enumerator was maybe just lazy in recording the race on that page of the census.  I’ll have to take a look at the microfilm sometime to see the image; the Wisconsin Historical Society library (where I am a member this year) has these films available as well as a library subscription to Ancestry, I just need to find the time to go look it up.

What I don’t know yet is how Henry Horne’s family connects into my Horne family.  It is possible that Henry could be Orrin Carstarphen Horne’s son; I know of three children born in the 1840s, and 1859 is within the realm of possibility for another child.  The connection could be further back too.  Wherever the connection lies, Henry Horne and his family are now in my database and as soon as I find the connection, I can link to them.  Now if only I could find out more about Orran A.’s wife Lottie McCorkle or Orrin C.’s wife Mary Ann Lowe…