Mildred Workman

Mildred married James Delbert Hayden on 31 Jan 1935 in St. Gregory, Detroit, Wayne, Michigan. James (son of Clarence Eugene "E. C." Hayden and Sarah Frances "Fannie" Newton) was born on 23 Sep 1901 in Owensboro, Daviess, Kentucky; died on 30 Nov 1962 in Warren, Macomb, Michigan; was buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Southfield, Oakland, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. James Elbert Hayden was born on 17 Jan 1936 in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan; died on 13 Feb 2021 in Oro Valley, Pima, Arizona.
2. Judith Lynne Hayden was born on 24 Jul 1941 in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan; died on 28 May 2017; was buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Southfield, Oakland, Michigan.

Other Events:

• Alternate birth: 18 Sep 1876, Fulton County, Kentucky

Notes:

Dates for William Richard Workman:

Kentucky Birth Records, 1852-1910, on ancestry.com, gives his birth date as 7 October 1875.

Kentucky Birth Records, 1847-1911, on ancestry.com, gives his birth date as 18 Sep 1876. But the handwritten record of 1876 Fulton County births is peculiar. The births are in neither name nor date order, which suggests that this ledger was made well after 1876 by copying a stack of individual records. And while most of the records show the name and birth state of both parents, Wm. Workman's shows only that his father was J. P. Workman. So we're not sure how much stock we can put in this record.

Notes taken by Jeannette Hayden in conversation with his daughter Neville Workman give his birth date as 4 October 1875.

The 1880 Fulton County, KY census lists him as "W. R." and gives his age as 5, which is consistent with that.

The 1900 Fulton County, KY census gives his birthdate as "Sept. 1876" and his age as 23.

The 1910 census gives his birth date as "about 1877"; the 1920 census says "abt 1878".

And the Hammonds family tree page gives his birthdate as 4 October 1877.

The Hammonds page is our only source for his death date. We've put Detroit down as his place of death because Patrick's mother recollects, based on conversations with his father's family members, that in later years he came up north and had a small store -- "a little candy store, which could have been a sort of convenience store, in Detroit." Evidently his wife Kate and his daughter Mildred wouldn't see him, but his daughter Neville would visit him and called him "Papa."

There is a Richard Workman listed in the 1940 US Federal census as living at 1012 Clay St. in Detroit, born in Kentucky, estimated birth date "abt 1877", listed as "married" but evidently living alone. His occupation is given as "salesman" for a "supply shop"; he is shown as self-employed; he worked all 52 weeks of 1939, and he worked an eye-popping 90 hours in the week of March 24-30, 1940. (This is an actual question in the 1940 census.) All for an income of $300 a year. This certainly could be our William Richard Workman.

(1012 Clay Street is about a half-mile southeast of the GM Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly. The street today is at least half composed of vacant lots; there is no building standing at number 1012, but it's clear that it was never an affluent area.)

-----

This, which is primarily about his father, gives his dates as 4 Oct 1877 - 1 Jul 1945. It also calls him "Willie R. Workman."

We're going to go with 4 October 1875 for these reasons:

(1) It's what his daughter Neville remembered
(2) The Kentucky record (7 October) may actually be a christening
(3) It's also the date given by the rootsweb page cited just above, albeit in 1877, not 1875

-----

There is a Find a Grave page for William Richard "Willie" Workman, who would appear to be our William Workman. There is no genealogical information shown -- neither parents, nor spouse, nor children -- and the only date shown is a birthdate of 1876. But it does claim that he's buried in Fairview Cemetery, Fulton, Kentucky, and it shows a headstone which reads:

WORKMAN

GRACE HORACE WILLIE JEFF SIS

Our William Workman had siblings named Grace and Horace; his father was named Jefferson; and his mother Narcissa was generally addressed as "Sis." So wherever and whenever he died, he would appear to be buried here.

William married Kate Jacobs on 12 Nov 1903 in Gibson County, Tennessee. Kate (daughter of Monroe Marshall Jacobs and Mary Frances "Fannie" Butler) was born on 11 Mar 1886 in Milan, Gibson, Tennessee; died on 4 Jul 1964 in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan; was buried on 7 Jul 1964 in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Detroit, Wayne, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Alternate birth: 1887
• Alternate birth: 11 Mar 1887, Tennessee
• Alternate birth: 1888, Tennessee

Notes:

"FULTON, Ky., July 7 — Mrs. Kate Workman, former resident of Fulton and an aunt of Mrs. Mary Owens of Fulton, died Saturday morning in Detroit. Surviving are two daughters, Mrs. Mildred Hayden and Miss Neville Workman of Detroit, two grandchildren and several great-greandchildren. Funeral services and burial were held in Detroit today." [Paducah (Kentucky) Sun, 7 Jul 1964, p. 17]

Her father Monroe Marshall Jacobs died when she was about five years old. Then when she was nearly eight, her mother married Uriah Jasper Hammonds.

When she was sixteen, she herself married William Richard Workman, her stepfather's nephew, twelve years older than her. (William's mother Narcissa was Uriah Hammonds's sister.)

Sometime in the late 1920s, when she was about forty and her younger daughter Mildred was still in her teens, she bundled up both daughters and left for Michigan (legend says, in the middle of the night), never to see her husband again.

According to PNH's father, Neville stayed in occasional touch with her father, but Kate and Mildred had nothing further to do with him.

We've always wondered if she was pressured into marrying her stepfather's nephew while she was still in her teens, and if the marriage ultimately worked out as well as such an arrangement might have been expected to. The abruptness of her departure does suggest some kind of sudden and unpleasant discovery or event. (Alternately, her mother's death in 1926 might have been what finally set events in motion.)

One of the witnesses to the record of William Workman posting marriage bond was a "J. T. Hammonds". Possibly William Workman's cousin James Thomas Hammonds (1863-1914), son of Younger Hammonds -- or possibly William's cousin Thomas James Hammonds (b. 1865), son of Kate's stepfather Uriah Jasper Hammonds by his previous wife Mary Elizabeth Bobbitt. At any rate, it does seem like Kate Jacobs spent a lot of her early life overwhelmingly surrounded by Hammondses.

Notes:

US Civil War, Confederate. Enlisted 29 Nov 1861 at Paris, Tennesse. Company E, 46th Tennessee Infantry. Captured at Island No. 10 on 8 Apr 1862, sent to Camp Douglas, Illinois. He took the oath to the U.S. while in prison, and was discharged 30 August 1862.

Jefferson married Narcissa Jeffers Hammonds on 27 Mar 1864 in Gibson County, Tennessee. Narcissa (daughter of Jesse Hammonds and Martha Mourning Adams) was born on 21 Aug 1845 in Milan, Gibson, Tennessee; died on 24 Nov 1922 in Fulton, Fulton, Kentucky; was buried in Fairview Cemetery, Fulton, Fulton, Kentucky. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Alternate death: 1917, Fulton County, Kentucky

Notes:

Often called "Sis" Hammonds.

Other Events:

• Alternate birth: 1846, Tennessee

Monroe married Mary Frances "Fannie" Butler on 1 Jan 1867 in Gibson County, Tennessee. Mary (daughter of Christopher Columbus Butler and Mary Ann McHaney) was born on 8 Aug 1851 in Coffee County, Tennessee; died on 1 Dec 1926 in Gibson County, Tennessee; was buried in Hope Hill Cemetery, Medina, Gibson, Tennessee. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Alternate birth: 1852, Tennessee

Notes:

Email sent 29 Nov 2014:

Hello, [email address redacted]!

Mary Frances Butler is one of my great-great grandmothers. You created the FindAGrave.com page about her, so I'm hoping you won't mind a question. Do you have any documentation or source that proves that she was a daughter of Christopher C. Butler (1810-1858) and Mary Ann McHaney (b. 1817)?

I ask because I have a copy of Judge Edward F. Butler's book The Butler Family, and while it lists six children for Christopher C. Butler and Mary McHaney (who he calls "Mary C. McHaney"), including both of the brothers you show on the FindAGrave page, he doesn't list Mary Frances.

Judge Butler also shows Christopher C. Butler marrying his second wife, Eliza Jane Sexton, on 8 March 1851, which is doesn't reconcile with Mary Frances Butler being born of Mary Ann (or Mary C.) McHaney on 8 August 1851, five months later.

My own relationship to Mary Frances Butler is:

Mary Frances Butler = Monroe Marshall Jacobs
Kate Jacobs = William Richard Workman
Mildred Workman = James Delbert Hayden
James Elbert Hayden = Jeannette Mary White
Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Many years ago my mother took notes while talking with Neville Workman, sister of my father's mother Mildred Workman, and Neville clearly remembered that Mary Frances Butler was her mother's mother, and said that Mary Frances's father was Christopher C. Butler--who she remembered as "Christopher Columbus Butler." And I certainly know that Judge Edward F. Butler's book has its share of mistakes. But I'm wondering if you have any further evidence that Mary Frances Butler was the daughter of this particular Butler/McHaney couple.

Naturally, if there's any question I can answer for you about anybody in this particular cluster of relatives, I'll be happy to do so.

--
Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Other Events:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1805, North Carolina

John married Dorothy Alan Cates in 1835. Dorothy was born in 1800 in North Carolina; died before 1859. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Jesse married Martha Mourning Adams on 29 Aug 1823. Martha (daughter of Jesse Adams and Unicy) was born on 2 Oct 1806 in Franklin, North Carolina; died on 8 Nov 1893 in Gibson, Gibson, Tennessee; was buried in Chapel Hill Cemetery, Gibson, Tennessee. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Alternate birth: 13 Nov 1806, Franklin, North Carolina

Notes:

Martha Mourning Adams is currently the earliest-born direct ancestor of PNH for whom we have a photograph, albeit an obviously-retouched one.

Greene married Mary Ann H. Wallingsford on 23 Oct 1834 in Gibson County, Tennessee. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Said to have been a daughter of Isaac Wallingsford or Wallingford, born in Spotsylvania, Virginia about 1790, died Gibson, Tennessee 25 Nov 1851, and his wife Nancy Ball.

Notes:

Bondsman, Isaac Wallingsford.

Other Events:

• Alternate birth: 1806, Rutherford, Tennessee

Notes:

Death date: Judge Butler says 26 Mar 1857. The Find A Grave page shows a gravestone that clearly says "Mar 20, 1810, DIED Mar 26 1858".

From The Descendants of Thomas Pincerna, Progenitor of the Butler Family:

"Christopher was in the 1840 Rutherford County, Tennessee, census in the 30-40 age group. His wife was in the 20-30 age bracket. They had two sons, both under 5 years of age.

"Christopher C. Butler was apparently named after his grandfather. He was listed in the 1850 Gibson County, Tennessee, census, as C. C. Butler, age 40, from North Carolina, a farmer. His wife was Mary, age 32, from Tennessee. The children were all bom in Tennessee. At home were William, 12; James, 10; John, 8; Van Buren, 6; Benjamin, 4; and Ann, age 2. Nearby were living James Butler, age 48 from North Carolina (and a son named Christopher); Elias T. Butler, age 33 from Tennessee; William Butler, age 61 from North Carolina, and next door to him, W.G. Butler, age 20 from Tennessee; and another C. C. Butler, age 23, from Tennessee.

"One well published history of Gibson County, Tennessee [History of Tennessee, Nashville: Goodspeed, 1887, p. 865] contained the following account of Christopher Butler's family:

"'J. F. Butler is a son of C. C. and Mary A. (McHaney) Butler, who were bom in Rutherford County, Tenn., in 1806 and 1818 respectively. They moved to Marion County, 111., and became the parents of seven children. The father was a farmer, and came to Gibson County, Tenn., in 1846, where he died, in March 1857. He was a Democrat, and a member of the Missionary Baptist Church....'"

*****

Note that Judge Butler's birth date and place for Christopher C. Butler (20 Mar 1810, Montgomery, NC) differs from that given in the History of Tennessee that he himself quotes (1806, Rutherford County, TN). Unfortunately this is far from the only place where Judge Butler's massive Butler book contradicts itself.

Judge Butler also has Christopher C. Butler marrying one Eliza Jane Sexton, as his second wife, on 8 March 1851 in Gibson County, TN, which contradicts all the other evidence we have that he was outlived by his wife Mary McHaney. I'm beginning to suspect that we have a case of two C. C. Butler's being conflated. UPDATE, 2 April 2015: Further information from Malania Reynolds, aunt of the person I initially emailed about the parentage of Mary Frances "Fannie" Butler, indicats that it was a Christopher Lafayette Butler who married Eliza Jane Sexton, not the Christopher C. Butler who married Mary McHaney. Malania Reynolds also says she has found no evidence that "our" Christopher C. Butler's middle name was Columbus.

However, to the question of his middle name, sometime in the 1970s, Patrick's mother interviewed his father's aunt Neville Workman (1904-1986) about her forebears, and we have her pencilled notes from that conversation. Neville stated quite clearly that her mother's mother's father was named Christopher Columbus Butler, and as of 2014 Patrick's mother remembers her being quite firm on that point.

Christopher married Mary Ann McHaney on 19 Nov 1836 in Wilson, Tennessee. Mary (daughter of William Wilshire McHaney and Sarah "Sally" Word) was born on 12 Apr 1817 in Wilson, Tennessee; died after 1880 in Gibson County, Tennessee. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Judge Butler shows her as "Mary C. McHaney".

The Goodspeed History of Tennessee gives her and C. C. Butler's marriage date as 8 Dec 1836, in Wilson County, Tennessee.