Boggledy Family History: James Henry Thompson

James Henry Thompson -- my great-great-grandfater -- lived in Newnan, Cowetta County and also in Carroll County, Georgia for a large portion of his life. According to Google Maps, that's less than an hour's driving time away from where I live now! This will be the first time since I started doing family history that I've lived close enough to the places my ancestors lived to actually visit them and look at records of my family members that are not online. Wooo!

Sarah Burke Thompson, probably Hoyt Thompson, James Henry Thompson

James Henry is the man on the right. The woman in the picture is his third wife, Sarah Burke. Many women died young from complications during childbirth, and I believe that is what happened to James's first two wives. It was difficult in those days to raise children as a single parent, just as it is today, so many men remarried not just for company, but also to help raise the children.

Parents: John Henry Thompson, Martha V. Benford
Birth: October 3, 1866 in Heard County, Georgia
Marriages:

July 1 1888 to Callie Anita Nolan in Newnan, Georgia. Callie was about 20 and James was 21.
Children: James Oren Sr., Lillie Belle, and Susie Ella
February 12, 1905 to Lena Lenderman. Lena was 19 and James was 38.
Children: Siddie Odessa, Oliver Glen (Glen), and Clarence Richard
June 1, 1919 to Sarah Jane Burke. Sarah was about 32 and James was 52. This was Sarah's second marriage.
Children: John B, Roy John, Elizabeth, and Harvey Hoyt

Death: February 14, 1943. James was 76 years old.

Since James, Henry, and Thompson were all pretty common names, at first all I found was the 1940 census and the record of his marriage to Callie Nolan. However, when I searched using James Henry's children's names or siblings' names, I was able to find many more records for him.

As you can see in the censuses, James Henry Thompson was listed as Henry or Henry J. This leads me to believe that he was called by his middle name, Henry. Several of his siblings also primarily used their middle names. This is probably another reason I found it so difficult to find records for J. Henry Thompson.

As I've been doing family history work, I've noticed that censuses records seem to be more of a casual record than records such as a marriage record. Census records tend to have less accurate ages and nicknames, while marriage records have more accurate ages or birth dates and names. Therefore, although I've only come across one record that lists J. Henry as James H. Thompson while the others list him as Henry J., I feel that it is more credible since it's a marriage record.

So J. Henry lived in western Georgia, really close to the Alabama border. In 1880, the area that he lived in was so far west that it was called New Mexico! New Mexico was/is located in the south west corner of Carroll county, right next to the Alabama border.

Henry is listed as living in Carroll County up until about 1930, where we see he's living in Coweta County. Coweta is closer to Atlanta and further east than Carroll County. However, Henry's marriage to Callie Nolan took place in Coweta County, and at least their first child (James Oren Thompson, Sr.) was born in Newnan, Coweta County, Georgia in 1892. It seems like Henry moved around some. I don't know how or where he met Callie, but I'm guessing that they lived in Newnan to be closer to Callie's family (She lived in Clayton County in 1880. That's east of Coweta County.)

You may have noticed that J. Henry's three oldest children were not living with him and his second wife in 1910, although his youngest from his first marriage would have been only 15 years old. I don't know where they went, but I'm guessing that J.O., Sr and his two sisters were sent to live with relatives since their widowed father didn't have the means or ability to raise his young children. I'm going to ask Grandma if she knows anything about it.

J. Henry passed away at the age of 76 years old. His youngest child Harvey Hoyt was only 14 years old.

1880 Census:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M8L6-F1J