Household #122: Rountree, Coleman

Back to the 1900 Census & Household Index

Under review: One or more details on this page conflict with an inspected source record. Corrections are being prepared.

In the 1900 Barney census, Coleman Rountree headed a 7-person household. The table below preserves the exact names, relationships, ages, birthplaces, and occupations recorded for the household.

Household Snapshot

Coleman Rountree headed a 7-person household in the 1900 Barney census with 1 spouse or marital partner, 4 children, and 1 cousin.

Coleman Rountree's listed occupation was Laborer Farm.

All listed household members were reported as born in Georgia.

1900 Census Household

Children and Later Trails

Walter Rountree's 1920 death certificate names Coleman Rountree and Maggie Clark as his parents. Cora is strongly supported as Coraetta Rountree Wright by a Social Security Applications and Claims Index entry naming the same parents. Coleman's recorded relationship as father-in-law to James Shellie Godfrey in 1950 strongly supports Mary Etta Godfrey as another daughter. Adult records for Nancy and George remain unresolved. The records are discussed below under Current Findings.

Family Narrative

Household in 1900

Coleman Rountree appears in Barney in 1900 with the following household: - Coleman Rountree, head, born May 1865 in Georgia, laborer on a farm - Maggie Rountree, wife, age 35, born in Georgia - Cora Rountree, daughter, age 6 - Walter Rountree, son, age 4 - Nancy Rountree, daughter, age 3 - George Rountree, son, age 1 - Charley Rountree, cousin, age 17

Current findings

This household can now be followed much more fully than the earlier entry suggested. Coleman Rountree married Maggie Clark in Brooks County on 23 February 1893. By 1900 they were in Barney with four young children and Charley Rountree, whose relationship was recorded as cousin. The 1900 census also gives Coleman's birth month as May 1865.

Maggie's Clark-family placement is now well supported. In 1870 a Margaret Clark, age 6, appears in the Brooks County household of Fortune and Mary Clark, with Malinda Rountree also present in the home. In 1880 a Margaritte Clark, age 16, appears in Morven as daughter of Fortune and Mary J. Clark. By 1910, Mary J. Clark appears as head of household with Maggie Rountree listed as daughter and Coleman Rountree as son-in-law. That sequence ties Maggie of HH#122 back to the Clark family with good confidence.

Later censuses extend the household across several decades in Barney. In 1920, C. O. Rountree appears with a mixed household that includes son Walter, younger household members Willie and Marietta, adopted children Harry Allen and Willie Allen, grandson John B. Rountree, and granddaughter Bulah C. Hill. In 1930, Coleman O. Rountree appears in Barney as a carpenter with wife Katy. In 1940, Colman Rountree remains in Barney with wife Kate and daughter Gloria. A Georgia death-index entry for Katie Rountree, a Black woman born about 1889 who died in Brooks County on 22 June 1945 under certificate 17497, fits this later household well and strongly supports the reading that Katy or Kate was a later wife rather than a stray census variant for Maggie. In 1950, widowed Coleman appears in the household of James Shellie Godfrey and Mary Etta Godfrey, where he is listed as father-in-law. That 1950 relationship makes it very likely that Mary Etta Godfrey was another daughter of Coleman.

Several child identifications are now supported by direct records outside the census. Walter Rountree's death certificate, dated 13 April 1920 in Barney, names his parents as Coleman Rountree and Maggie Clark and gives Little River as the burial place. A later military-era record for Walter also names Coleman Rountree as his father at Route 3 Box 9, Barney, Georgia. Cora of the 1900 household is now strongly supported as the later Coraetta Rountree Wright. The Social Security Applications and Claims Index gives Coraetta Rountree Wright's birth as 26 September 1896 at Barney and names her parents as Colman Rountree and Maggie Clark.

The end of Coleman's life is partly anchored by the Georgia death index, which records Coleman Rountree, resident of Brooks County, dying on 20 November 1951 in Baldwin County under certificate 24405. The index is useful, but the full death certificate is still needed.

An earlier Coleman candidate also remains worth keeping in view. In 1870, a young Colman Rountree of about the right age appears in the household of Josiah and Delphia Rountree. That is a plausible early-life anchor, but the connection has not yet been proved with a direct bridge.

The main unresolved problem is the change from Maggie in the early household to Katy or Kate in 1930 and 1940. The later-wife reading is now much stronger. Katie Rountree's 1945 Brooks County death-index entry fits the 1930 and 1940 household well and supports a likely remarriage after Maggie's death, although the marriage record and full death certificate are still needed for direct proof.

Coleman Rountree and Barney’s Black lodge

A July 4, 1914 deed names C. O. Rountree, W.M., and Wesley Baker, N.G., as grantees, together with their successors in office. The census trail from C. O. Rountree to Coleman O. Rountree identifies Coleman as a Black Barney resident. His title strongly supports identifying him as the lodge’s Worshipful Master and supports the presence of a Black Masonic body at Barney by 1914.[1]

The seller, Ancel Lawrence, appears in the deed as “Ansle Larrance.” The tract lay in Land Lot 321 in northwest Barney, beginning about fifteen feet from the southwest corner of the Masonic lodge. This locates it relative to an existing building, but does not establish the hall’s modern address.[1]

Baker’s name is written “Wessly” in the deed. N.G. ordinarily means Noble Grand, an Odd Fellows office, so the record suggests an Odd Fellows connection alongside the Masonic one. It does not establish that Baker was a Mason or supply a membership roster. Coleman’s lodge name, number, and governing jurisdiction remain unknown; a Prince Hall affiliation has not been verified.

An earlier lodge deed, executed October 30, 1900, names Henry M. Wooten, J. F. Johnson, and L. M. Hester, collectively described as the Master and Wardens of the Masonic Lodge at Barney. They are documented lodge officeholders, but the deed does not assign each man a particular office. Whether their lodge was the same Black body represented by Coleman in 1914 remains unresolved.[2]

The earlier records should also be kept separate from Barney Lodge No. 609, which Folks Huxford dates to a November 2, 1911 charter. His roster names different officers, including A. Morrison as Worshipful Master and W. C. Edenfield as Junior Deacon. No inspected record establishes institutional continuity between No. 609 and the lodge associated with Coleman.[3]

Lodge sources

1. Brooks County Deed Book Y, page 20, Ansle Larrance to C. O. Rountree and Wesley Baker, July 4, 1914, recorded July 6, 1914. Original deed. See the census sources below for Coleman’s identity trail.
2. Brooks County Deed Book O, page 583, Ancil Lawrence to Henry M. Wooten, J. F. Johnson, and L. M. Hester, October 30, 1900, recorded November 9, 1901. Original deed.
3. Folks Huxford, The History of Brooks County, Georgia, 1858–1948 (1948), p. 401. Huxford records No. 609’s charter surrender on August 28, 1924; that date is not established as the closing date of Coleman’s lodge.

Connections to Other Barney Families

HH#122 belongs to the same Black Rountree cluster in Barney as HH#115, HH#119, and HH#120. The exact kinship among those households is still not documented, but the local cluster is real.

The Clark connection is now one of the strongest parts of this entry. Maggie can be placed in the Fortune and Mary J. Clark household before her 1893 marriage to Coleman, and in 1910 she appears again with Mary J. Clark as daughter.

Charley Rountree, listed as cousin in 1900, remains an important lead for linking this household to another Rountree branch already present in the Barney census. The possible connection to the Charley Rountree seen in HH#99 remains suggestive, not proved.

Open Research Questions

• Coleman Rountree's full 1951 death certificate is still needed to confirm the exact death details, informant, burial, and parent field wording.
• Maggie Clark Rountree still needs a death or burial record.
• The record trail now strongly suggests that Katy or Kate was a later wife, probably the Katie Rountree who died in Brooks County on 22 June 1945, but a later marriage record for Coleman and Katie's full death certificate are still needed for direct proof.
• The 1870 young Colman Rountree in the Josiah and Delphia Rountree household remains a good candidate, but not a proved identification.
• The exact parentage links for Arthur McLeod, Harry Allen, Willie Allen, John B. Rountree, Bulah C. Hill, Marietta, and Gloria still need more direct documentation.
• Adult records for Nancy and George Rountree would help close the family more fully.

Research Status

SOURCE-EXHAUSTED online: Coleman Rountree and Maggie Clark are now documented through their 1893 Brooks County marriage record, the 1900 through 1950 census trail, Walter Rountree's death certificate, Coraetta Rountree Wright's Social Security claims record, Maggie's Clark-family placements in 1870 and 1880, Katie Rountree's 1945 Brooks County death-index entry, and Coleman's 1951 Georgia death-index entry. The household is now well documented as a family unit, and Mary Etta Godfrey is strongly supported as Coleman's daughter by the 1950 father-in-law relationship. The later Katy or Kate household wife is now strongly supported as a second wife, probably the Katie Rountree who died in Brooks County on 22 June 1945, though the marriage record and full death certificate are still needed for direct proof. The remaining questions are no longer basic online identification problems. They center on Maggie's death, a fuller account of the younger generation, and county-level death, burial, probate, land, or marriage records that would finish the reconstruction.

Sources

• 1870 U.S. Census, Brooks County, Georgia, household of Fortune and Mary Clark, including Margaret Clark and Malinda Rountree
• 1880 U.S. Census, Morven, Brooks County, Georgia, household of Fortune and Mary J. Clark, including Margaritte Clark
• Brooks County, Georgia, marriage record for Coleman Rountree and Maggie Clark, 23 February 1893
• 1900 U.S. Census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, household of Coleman Rountree
• 1910 U.S. Census, Brooks County, Georgia, Mary J. Clark household including Maggie Rountree as daughter and Coleman Rountree as son-in-law
• 1920 U.S. Census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, household of C. O. Rountree
• 1930 U.S. Census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, household of Coleman O. Rountree
• 1940 U.S. Census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, household of Colman Rountree
• Georgia death index entry for Katie Rountree, Black female, age 56, died 22 June 1945 in Brooks County, certificate 17497
• 1950 U.S. Census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, household of James Shellie Godfrey and Mary Etta Godfrey, including Coleman Rountree as father-in-law
• Georgia death index entry for Coleman Rountree, 20 November 1951, Brooks County residence, Baldwin County death place, certificate 24405
• Georgia death certificate for Walter Rountree, 13 April 1920, naming parents Coleman Rountree and Maggie Clark, burial at Little River
• U.S. Social Security Applications and Claims Index entry for Coraetta Rountree Wright, born 26 September 1896 at Barney, Georgia, naming parents Colman Rountree and Maggie Clark
• Military-era Walter Rountree record naming Coleman Rountree as father at Route 3 Box 9, Barney, Georgia
• 1870 U.S. Census entry for young Colman Rountree in the household of Josiah and Delphia Rountree

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