Household #14: Gornto, William¶

Back to the 1900 Census & Household Index

In the 1900 Barney census, William Gornto headed a 5-person household. The table transcribes the original household entries; uncertain readings are marked below.

Household Snapshot¶

William Gornto headed a 5-person household in the 1900 Barney census with 1 spouse or marital partner and 3 children.

William Gornto's listed occupation was Farmer.

All listed household members were reported as born in Georgia.

Newspaper and Public-Record Trail¶

This section flags public-record leads separate from the census table. The detailed discussion stays in the family narrative, research status, and source citations below.

1900 Census Household¶

Children and Later Trails¶

Original census review. The 1900 sheet, ED 9, sheet 1B places Cordelia’s “10” in the years-married column. Her age is faint and is left unclear here; it must not be replaced by the marriage duration. Her birth entry reads November 1862, which differs from the June date in the later biographical identification below. The youngest son’s handwritten name is read as Joel C, birth February 1899, age 1; the earlier transcription was “Bill C.” This reading does not by itself establish his full name. William C remains William C on this sheet.

The 1910 original, ED 9, sheet 9A, household 176/177 in Morven district 660, lists Wille Gornto, 45, Kerdelia, 46, and children Calvin, 14; Fannie, 12; Joel, 10; Colin, 8; and Henry, 5. The family sequence supports household continuity. It does not alone prove that William C and Calvin are the same person, expand Joel or Colin’s names, or decide between competing Henry identifications. Cordelia is reported as mother of eight children, five living; that is not a complete named child list.

Fannie’s direct link. The Brooks County marriage return, page 108 records George Wilkins and Fannie Gornto married January 3, 1915, by J. H. Culpepper, J.P. The license was issued in December 1914; the recording date is blank. The marriage record does not name her parents.

Fannie Caroline Wilkins’s Georgia death certificate, no. 19052 explicitly names her father as W. B. Gornto Jr. and mother as Delia McRae. It reports birth August 16, 1897, death at Barney on April 16, 1925, and burial at Mt. Zion Cemetery on April 18. George Wilkins is the husband and informant. Together with the census daughter and marriage entries, these particulars identify Fannie as a child of this junior William and Cordelia—not the senior William next door. Birth and parent details are informant-reported; the burial entry is not a present-day grave inspection.

Cordelia’s dates and early census evidence¶

The photographed marker reads CORDELIA Mc GORNTO / JUNE 17, 1863 / NOV 30, 1949. Its installation date and informant are unknown. The memorial metadata instead supplies June 17, 1862, November 29, 1949, and Cook County as the death place. Those are different source statements, not interchangeable transcriptions.

The Georgia death index for Delia Gornto records age 86, death November 30, 1949, and Lowndes County as both residence and death place. This supports the marker’s death day but does not establish a precise birthday. The original 1949 certificate has not been inspected; the record page exposes no certificate image or certificate number. November 30 is supported by the index and marker, but the contemporary notice below instead places her death on Tuesday night, November 29. The exact day remains disputed.

In the 1870 original, Brooks County, page 115/74A, Cordelia McRae is listed at age 7 in Cornelius and Lucy McRae’s household. That schedule has no relationship column. The 1880 original, Quitman, ED 4, page 37 lists her at age 16, granddaughter, in C. W. and Lucy McRae’s household. These are original-image rechecks of previously cited records, not new discoveries. They support an early-1860s birth and the stated grandchild relationship, but neither names her parents or resolves the competing birth dates. The 1900 index reads May 1862, separately from the November reading of the handwritten entry above.

Contemporary death notice and surviving sons¶

The November 30, 1949 Valdosta Daily Times, page 12, headed “Services For Mrs. Willie Garnto In Hahira Thursday,” identifies her as “the former Delia McRea of Brooks county” and reports birth in 1863. It says she died at her son Calvin’s home “Tuesday night”. In this Wednesday issue, that means November 29, conflicting with November 30 in the death index and marker. The record image—not the search result’s erroneous December 6 death date—controls this reading. Her exact birth date and death day remain unresolved.

The notice explicitly names four surviving sons: Colon of Adel, Calvin and Joel of Hahira, and Henry of Ray City. With the given names, maiden name, husband and earlier census sequence, this strongly identifies the deceased as this household’s Cordelia and directly reports these men as her sons. It does not expand Colon, Joel or Henry’s names, establish their birth dates, or supply a complete lifetime child list. Fannie had already died in 1925.

The obituary describes a surviving husband and a marriage 61 years earlier; that duration differs from the cited December 27, 1889 marriage record and is not substituted for it. Services at Friendship Church in Hahira were announced for Thursday, December 1, at 3 p.m., with burial in the church cemetery. This is a prospective announcement, not confirmation that the service or burial took place.

The December 1 Hahira column, page 22 reports Calvin Garnto Jr. and Miss Margaret Garnto returning because of their grandmother’s illness and death, without naming her in that paragraph. A separate item calls Mrs. Will Garnto the grandmother of Mrs. G. C. Hodges. The December 7 column, page 10 repeats that relationship and reports the Hodgeses’ return to Atlanta after the death. Neither supplies Mrs. Hodges’s given name or the intervening parent; those links remain unassigned.

Henry’s name and the two memorial entries¶

The 1942 draft original reads Henry Casper Gornto, born July 1, 1903, at Barney, living at Ray City. It names Mrs. Delie Garnto as an address contact, without stating her relationship. The 1949 obituary’s son Henry of Ray City strengthens the household correlation; that identification remains a correlation across sources, not a parent statement on the draft itself.

The two memorial entries should not be counted as evidence of two separate sons. Memorial 44712201 labels him Henry Jasper, born 1905, but its own marker photograph reads HENRY C. GORNTO / JULY 1, 1903 / NOV. 3, 1974. The photograph attached to memorial 190185202 has the same inscription. Neither stone expands the middle initial to Jasper or Casper. These are probable duplicate memorial representations; the records are retained separately, and no external merge has been made.

The Georgia death index reports Henry C., 71, died November 3, 1974, in Lowndes County, with Berrien residence. It provides no original certificate image here. The marker and draft support 1903, while the earlier census ages and Jasper memorial metadata retain a 1905 conflict. The indexed 1974 obituary has not been inspected: the tested newspaper title’s current browse coverage ends in 1963.

William’s 1961 death and funeral notices¶

The September 30, 1961 Valdosta Daily Times, page 3, headed “W. B. GORNTO,” reports that William B. Gornto, age 94, died that day at Smith Hospital in Hahira. It names four surviving sons: Colon of Brooks County, Calvin of Hahira, Joel of Miami, and Henry of Ray City. The names, places and earlier family records strongly identify this as the junior William of HH14, not his father, whose original death certificate gives 1927. The notice says he was born and had lived most of his life in Brooks County, farmed there, and belonged to Salem Methodist Church. These are reported biographical details, not a land-title record.

The October 3 report, page 2, “W. B. GORNTO RITES,” says services for Willie B. Gornto of Route 2, Adel were held Sunday afternoon at Friendship Primitive Baptist Church, with burial in Friendship Cemetery. Relative to this Tuesday issue, the service was October 1 and the reported Saturday death was September 30. This is a report of completed services, unlike the earlier prospective announcement. It prints age 83, conflicting with the first notice’s 94. The search sidebar’s October 7 death and October 8 service dates are erroneous and are not used.

His marker photograph reads WILLIAM B. GORNTO / AUG. 1, 1868 / SEPT. 30, 1961, whereas memorial metadata gives 1867 and Adel as the death place. The marker’s installation date and informant are unknown. The preserved 1900 original’s birth year appears to read 1868, consistent with its age31; the exact birth date remains qualified rather than silently resolving these conflicts. Neither newspaper notice nor the marker expands the middle initial to Blair. The 1961 civil death certificate has not been inspected.

The funeral report names Edgar Gornto, Raymond Gornto, Cecil Keith, Eugene Vann, G. C. Hodges and Calvin Gornto Jr. as pallbearers. That establishes their reported funeral role, not their kinship. No relationship is assigned from the list alone.

Early relationship evidence and marriage original¶

The 1880 original, ED 4, page 36/301D, dwelling 330/family 342, lists W. B. Gornto, 35, M. J., 31, wife, and W. B., 11, son, followed by three daughters. The database indexes the surname as Grant; the handwritten surname reads Gornto. The younger W. B.’s age, initials and local family sequence strongly support his identification with HH14’s junior William. The schedule explicitly reports him as the head’s son; it does not directly label M. J. as his biological mother or expand either William’s middle name.

The Brooks County marriage original, Book D, page 63, names W. B. Gornto Jr. and Cordelia McRae in the license and records their marriage on December 27, 1889. The original therefore supplies the junior designation missing from some abbreviated citations. It gives neither parents nor birth dates; the indexed spelling Goneto is not a different-person conclusion.

The 1961 Georgia death index lists Willie B. Gornto, 93, estimated birth 1868, Cook County residence and September 30, 1961 death in Lowndes County. Age93 supports the marker’s 1868 year, separately from the conflicting newspaper ages94 and83. The record page does not expose a certificate image or number. Residence in Cook and death in Lowndes are different fields, not a contradiction.

A bounded 1870 search has not yet located the younger William. A possible senior William25/Martha20 pair appears on page93/63A, but the inspected page and its continuation do not list a younger William with them. That is an unresolved candidate and a limited search result, not proof that the child was absent from the census or that the couple lacked children. No relationships are inferred from the website’s aggregated household list.

Family Narrative¶

• Head: William Gornto (age 31, Georgia, USA, Farmer) — the original birth entry appears to read August 1868; conflicting later age and memorial evidence is discussed above.
• Household identification: William B. Gornto, the junior William, commonly identified in compiled sources as William Blair Gornto Jr. Died September 30, 1961, according to the contemporary notices and marker. The marker gives August 1, 1868 for birth; the exact birthday/year and the expansion of B. require further direct evidence.
• Parents: William Blair Gornto Sr. (March 30, 1845 – November 25, 1927; death certificate and burial evidence discussed in HH#15) and Martha Jane Taylor (1848–1906)
• Spouse: Mary Cordelia "Delia" McRae Gornto. Her exact birth date is unresolved. The photographed marker gives June 17, 1863–November 30, 1949; the Georgia death index also gives November 30. The memorial metadata instead gives June 17, 1862–November 29, 1949, and the contemporary notice reports death on Tuesday night, November 29. See the source comparison below.
• Marriage: Married Dec 27, 1889 in Brooks County, Georgia. The original license names W. B. Gornto Jr. and Cordelia McRae; its return supplies the ceremony date. The database indexes the groom as "W B Goneto Jr". The middle-name expansion is not on this record.
• Children in the 1900 household:
• Fannie Gornto (daughter)
• Two sons whose given names are inconsistently rendered in the available transcriptions
• Later child evidence: Fannie Caroline Wilkins is directly linked by her death certificate and marriage/census records above. Cordelia’s compiled memorial also names Joel Cornelius, John Colon, Henry C., and Henry Jasper. The contemporary obituary names Colon, Calvin, Joel and Henry as surviving sons. Henry’s draft reads Casper; both Henry memorial photographs read Henry C. with 1903 birth, despite one entry’s Jasper/1905 metadata. The duplicate-memorial problem and remaining expanded-name limits are discussed above.
• Family Lineage: Son of William Blair Gornto Sr. (HH#15) and Martha Jane Taylor
• Grandfather: Joel Gornto (1806-1860, died of smallpox in Quitman)
• Grandmother: Mary Blair (1810-1889). Her proposed parents were William Blair and Mary Joyce, but no inspected record gives Mary Blair the middle name Joyce.
• Aunt: Hannah Elizabeth Gornto (1847-1933) married Enoch Hall Jr. and was the mother of Sion L. Hall (HH#7)
• Cordelia McRae identification:
• Cordelia's maiden name is established by the Brooks County marriage record.
• 1870 Brooks County census: Cordelia McRae, age 7, in the household of Cornelius McRae and Lucy McRae.
• 1880 Brooks County census: Cordelia McRae, age 16, listed as granddaughter in the household of C.W. McRae and Lucy McRae.
• A FamilySearch compiled profile identifies her as the daughter of Phillip W. Calvin McRae and Martha Caroline Olliff. That parental placement is probable, not proven, because no direct primary-source relationship record has been located.
• Documentary Evidence:
• 1900 census household in Barney
• Brooks County marriage record for William B. Gornto and Cordelia McRae (Dec 27, 1889)
• Sworn witness on his father's Confederate pension affidavit (May 20, 1911)
• Informant on brother Thomas Norwood Gornto's death certificate (Georgia DC #26388, Jun 29, 1924)
• Historical Context: The Gorntos were one of the established landholding families in the Barney area, with father and son enumerated in adjacent 1900 households.
• 1899 newspaper context: A 14 Oct 1899 Valdosta Times article names "William Gornto" among the Barney-area farmers. Because the article does not distinguish senior from junior, the reference fits the Gornto farm network but cannot yet be assigned with certainty to HH#14 or HH#15.
• Family Network: HH#15 (father William Blair Gornto Sr.), HH#7 (cousin Sion L. Hall through aunt Hannah)
• Burial Context: Cordelia is memorialized at Friendship Cemetery, Hahira, Lowndes County, Georgia. The family's long-term land association in Brooks County remained centered around the Gornto property and cemetery tract.

Connections to Other Barney Families¶

• HH#14 to HH#15 William Blair Gornto Sr.: William Blair Gornto Jr. is directly tied to HH#15 as son of William Blair Gornto Sr. and Martha Jane Taylor.
• HH#14 to HH#7 Sion L. Hall: HH#14 connects to HH#7 through Hannah Elizabeth Gornto Hall, who was William Jr.'s aunt and Sion L. Hall's mother.

Open Research Questions¶

• Parentage audit: confirm both parents of the household head for HH#14 through direct or near-direct records where possible; mark derivative-only parent links as unresolved until supported.
• Child census audit: confirm every child named in the 1900 household against later census, marriage, death, obituary, cemetery, probate, or draft records; separate proven child links from same-name candidates.
• Other household member audit: verify boarders, servants, in-laws, stepchildren, grandchildren, and unrelated residents in HH#14; document the exact relationship instead of assuming kinship.
• Spouse and marriage audit: locate marriage records, death records, divorce records, or later census records for spouses or absent spouses tied to this household.
• Direct image review: re-check the 1900 census image and any cited index-only sources before treating ages, relationships, birthplaces, or name spellings as final.

Research Status¶

• Status: Well-researched.
• Strengths: Core identity resolved.
• Remaining cautions: Cordelia’s parental placement remains probable rather than proven. Her 1900 age and conflicting birth-date evidence remain unresolved; the 1949 death certificate remains unchecked, and the contemporary November 29 death reading conflicts with the November 30 index and marker; the sons’ expanded identities and the complete child list are not established. William’s conflicting birth-year/age evidence and middle-name expansion remain qualified; his original 1961 death certificate is unchecked.

Sources¶

• Original 1900 census, ED 9, sheet 1B, household 14: Ancestry 7602:52872804, image 4119687_00709. Native-image transcription review; age and name cautions above.

• Original 1910 census, ED 9, sheet 9A, household 176/177: Ancestry 7884:146495667, image 31111_4327473-00049.

• Brooks marriage return, page 108, Fannie Gornto/George Wilkins: Ancestry 4766:20065682, image 40951_294518-00089.

• Georgia death certificate 19052, Fannie Caroline Wilkins: Ancestry 2562:218023, image 004179252_00045.

• 1900 Census; Brooks County marriage record (Ancestry 4766/20282231); 1870 Brooks County census (Ancestry 7163/2670957); 1880 Brooks County census (Ancestry 6742/11966523); Confederate Pension Application (May 20, 1911); Georgia Death Certificate #26388 (Thomas N. Gornto); Find a Grave memorial 44691002 for Mary Cordelia "Delia" McRae Gornto; FamilySearch profile LT5Q-44D (compiled, used as secondary support)

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