Household #67: Trison, Dave

Back to the 1900 Census & Household Index

In the 1900 Barney census, Dave Trison headed a 3-person household. The table below preserves the exact names, relationships, ages, birthplaces, and occupations recorded for the household.

Household Snapshot

Dave Trison headed a 3-person household in the 1900 Barney census with 1 spouse or marital partner and 1 child.

Dave Trison's listed occupation was Laborer at turpentine still.

All listed household members were reported as born in Georgia.

1900 Census Household

Children and Later Trails

This section is reserved for later-life child evidence. No later spouse, death, burial, obituary, probate, separate household, or descendant-line identification has been added here yet from direct records.

Family Narrative

This household is documented securely in the 1900 census, but almost nothing beyond that single record has been tied to the family with confidence. Dave Trison appeared in Barney as a Black laborer in the turpentine industry, with wife Lula and son James. The census states that Dave was born in North Carolina, that both of his parents were also born in North Carolina, and that Lula was born in Alabama. Those details suggest migration into south Georgia, but the family's path has not yet been reconstructed from earlier or later records.

Dave's occupation places the household within the naval-stores economy rather than the more common farming pattern seen in many nearby households. The census reports steady work, with no months unemployed during the year, and indicates that Dave could read and write. Those details may help distinguish him from other men of similar name if additional records surface.

The main problem is identification. The 1900 household is indexed as Trison, and the available screenshot supports that reading at the index level. Even so, the original handwriting appears faded enough that the surname should not be treated as fully settled without another record. For now, the safest course is to treat Trison as the documented census reading while leaving open the possibility that the original name was read incorrectly.

No firm connection has been established between this household and any other Barney family. The record remains useful because it captures one Black family tied to the Brooks County turpentine workforce in 1900, but the household is still thin and should be handled cautiously until the name can be verified and the family tracked beyond this single census entry.

Open Research Questions

• Parentage audit: Keep head-of-household and spouse parentage as unresolved unless a cited direct record names the parents or the entry explains the census chain supporting the identification.
• Child census audit: Continue direct-record tracking for each child named in the 1900 household where later census, marriage, death, burial, obituary, or other parent-link proof is not already cited above.
• Other household member audit: Verify every non-nuclear household member, including in-laws, boarders, servants, laborers, uncles, grandchildren, and collateral relatives, before treating the stated relationship as part of the proved family structure.
• The original census image should be reviewed again at the highest available resolution to test whether the surname truly reads Trison.
• The surname should be retested under close variants, including Trison, Tison, Tyson, Tryson, and other plausible readings from the faded handwriting.
• Dave should be searched in 1910 and 1920 under both turpentine and farm-labor patterns in Brooks County and nearby counties.
• Lula and James may be easier to trace than Dave if the surname shifted in later records.
• The reported marriage about 1891 should be tested against Brooks County and nearby county marriage records.
• North Carolina origin for Dave and his parents should be treated as a clue, not a proved migration chain.
• No cemetery, death, probate, land, church, or labor-camp records have yet been tied to this household.

Research Status

This household is still lightly documented. The 1900 census gives a solid snapshot of Dave, Lula, and James in Barney, but no supporting record has yet been linked with confidence. The next gains are most likely to come from surname-variant work, marriage records, later censuses, and labor records connected to the turpentine industry.

Sources

• 1900 U.S. census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, Dave Trison household.
• Indexed census screenshot showing the household under the surname Trison.
• Negative FamilySearch searches under Trison and related variant spellings.
• Negative Find a Grave search in Brooks County-area cemeteries as of May 2026.
• Negative or unrelated WikiTree results under the Trison surname.

Share Additional Information

If you have photographs, family records, oral history, corrections, or additional information about this family, please contact the project with the details.