Nielsen Hayden genealogy

William Richmond Workman

William Richmond Workman

Male 1875 - 1945  (69 years)

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  • Name William Richmond Workman  [1, 2, 3, 4
    Birth 4 Oct 1875  Fulton, Fulton, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this location  [5, 6
    Gender Male 
    Alternate birth 7 Oct 1875  [1, 6
    Alternate birth 18 Sep 1876  [7, 8
    Alternate birth 2 Oct 1876  Fulton County, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this location  [9
    Alternate birth 4 Oct 1876  Fulton, Fulton, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this location  [10
    Alternate birth 1877  [4
    Alternate birth 1878  [3
    Death 1 Jul 1945  Hot Springs, Garland, Arkansas Find all individuals with events at this location  [10, 11, 12
    Burial 3 Jul 1945  Fairview Cemetery, Fulton, Fulton, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this location  [10, 13
    Siblings 6 siblings 
    Person ID I1775  Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others | Ancestor of PNH
    Last Modified 8 Feb 2024 

    Father Jefferson Porter Workman,   b. 3 Mar 1835, Weakley County, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 25 Oct 1919, Fulton, Fulton, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 84 years) 
    Mother Narcissa Jeffers Hammonds,   b. 21 Aug 1845, Milan, Gibson, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 24 Nov 1922, Fulton, Fulton, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 77 years) 
    Marriage 27 Mar 1864  Gibson County, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this location  [2, 14, 15
    Family ID F1017  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Katherine "Kate" Jacobs,   b. 11 Mar 1887, Milan, Gibson, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 4 Jul 1964, Detroit, Wayne, Michigan Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 77 years) 
    Marriage 12 Nov 1903  Gibson County, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    SEPA Bef 1930 
    Children 
     1. Neville Workman,   b. 12 Dec 1904, Fulton County, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 22 Mar 1986, Detroit, Wayne, Michigan Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 81 years)
    +2. Mildred Workman,   b. 9 Mar 1911, Fulton, Fulton, Kentucky Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 30 Sep 1990, Detroit, Wayne, Michigan Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 79 years)
    Photos
    Jacobs-Workman marriage license
    Jacobs-Workman marriage license
    Workman-Jacobs marriage bond
    Workman-Jacobs marriage bond
    Family ID F752  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 12 Jan 2019 

  • Photos
    William Workman
    william workman
    Will R Workman death certificate
    Will R Workman death certificate

  • Notes 
    • Sometimes recorded as "William Richard Workman", but the only document we've seen that was filled out in his own hand, his 1918 World War I draft registration card, gives his middle name as "Richmond."

      Dates for William Richmond 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.

      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".

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

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

      His Arkansas death certificate gives his birth as 4 Oct 1876 in Fulton, Kentucky.

      All of the above notwithstanding, we believe he was born on 4 Oct 1875. First, because that's the date recorded in notes taken by Jeannette Hayden in conversation with his daughter Neville Workman. Second, because that's the date he recorded on his 1918 draft registration document. And third, because the closest census to his birth, the 1880 US census of Fulton County, Kentucky, gives his age in 1880 as 5.

      We long assumed that Detroit was his place of death because Patrick's mother recalled, 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 William R.'s wife Kate and his daughter Mildred wouldn't see him, but his daughter Neville would visit him and called him "Papa." A Wm R Workman is listed in the 1928 Detroit city directory, wife given as (Kath), factory worker, home address 6416 Helen Ave apt. B8. This might be him.

      But in fact he died in Hot Springs, Garland County, Arkansas, on 1 July 1945, the date stated on that aforementioned page about his Confederate-soldier father Jefferson Porter Workman. The subject of the Arkansas death certificate is absolutely our guy. "Will R. Workman", born 4 Oct 1876 in Fulton, Kentucky, son of Jeff Workman, occupation: retail grocer (!). The death certificate even specifies that he was buried 3 Jul 1945 in Fulton, Kentucky, which matches up to the Find a Grave page for "William Richard "Willie" Workman" buried in Fairview Cemetery, Fulton, Kentucky, under a group 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."

      The death certificate also states that he'd been living in Hot Springs for six years, i.e., since about 1939.

      The only false note in the death certificate is that he's described as "widowed" when in fact his wife Kate Jacobs outlived him by nineteen years. But this could easily reflect an imperfect understanding on the part of the death-certificate's informant, one W. C. Boyd. Perhaps William R. outlived a subsequent wife, such as the "Kath" who lived in Detroit with a Wm R Workman in 1928.

  • Sources 
    1. [S21] Kentucky birth records, 1852-1910, on ancestry.com.

    2. [S27] Tennessee, Marriage Records, 1780-2002, on ancestry.com.

    3. [S4023] 1920 United States Federal census, on ancestry.com.

    4. [S4021] 1910 United States Federal census, on ancestry.com.

    5. [S6] U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, on ancestry.com.

    6. [S2244] 1880 United States Federal census, on ancestry.com., year only.

    7. [S4552] Kentucky, Birth Records, 1847-1911, on ancestry.com.

    8. [S2232] 1900 United States Federal census, on ancestry.com., month and year only.

    9. [S2818] Find a Grave page for William Richard "Willie" Workman.

    10. [S5823] Arkansas, Death Certificates, 1914-1969, on ancestry.com.

    11. [S558] Jefferson Porter Workman, Co. E, 46th Tennessee Infantry., date only.

    12. [S2818] Find a Grave page for William Richard "Willie" Workman., date and county only.

    13. [S2818] Find a Grave page for William Richard "Willie" Workman., place only.

    14. [S558] Jefferson Porter Workman, Co. E, 46th Tennessee Infantry., "24th of March 1864".

    15. [S237] Jesse and Mourning Adams Family Bible., "3-26-1864".