Household #144: Hiers, Jacob Hunter

Back to the 1900 Census & Household Index

In the 1900 Barney census, Jake Hines headed a 13-person household. The table below preserves the exact names, relationships, ages, birthplaces, and occupations recorded for the household.

Household Snapshot

Jake Hines headed a 13-person household in the 1900 Barney census with 12 children.

Jake Hines's listed occupation was Farmer.

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

• Census page: 14 | Lines: 25-37
• Head: Jacob Hunter Hiers, age 45, born Feb 1855 in Georgia, farmer
• Wife: Sallie Hiers, age 45, born Sep 1855 in Georgia
• Children in household: Malcom, Marcus D., John, Lula, Gussie, Sallie, Eunie, Willie, Harry, Thomas, and Ruby Hiers
• Later residence: Moultrie, Colquitt County, Georgia, by 1910; 119 6th Street SE, Moultrie, in 1920
• Later death and burial evidence: Jacob died in Moultrie on 12 Jun 1925 and was buried at Bethel Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery near Pavo; later burial material places Sallie there as well and gives her death as 18 Dec 1918

The 1900 Barney census shows Jacob Hunter Hiers and wife Sallie with eleven children still at home, ranging from adult sons in their twenties to Ruby, age three. The household can be followed with confidence into Moultrie, Colquitt County, by 1910 and 1920. In 1910 Jacob was still farming on the Moultrie and Quitman Road. By 1920 he was a widowed lawyer renting a house on 6th Street SE with three adult children still with him. That census sequence gives the entry its backbone and fixes the move from Brooks County to Colquitt County without needing much interpretation beyond what the records already say.

Jacob's identity is strong. The 1873 Brooks County marriage record places Jacob Hunter Hiers with Sarah or Sallie Strickland at the start of the family, the 1880 census gives an earlier household anchor, and the 1925 Colquitt County death certificate closes the line. That death record identifies his parents as Phillip Hiers and a mother from the Alderman family, which fits the broader Hiers material already associated with him. The occupation change from farmer in 1900 and 1910 to lawyer in 1920 and on the death record is unusual, but it is directly documented and does not need embellishment.

Sallie is also much clearer in the revised record trail. The marriage record identifies her as Sarah or Sallie Strickland, and the 1900 and 1910 censuses keep her in the same household with matching age, birthplace, and children. She was dead before the 1920 census, where Jacob appears as widowed. Later burial and family material place her death on 18 Dec 1918. Her mother appears to have been Jane or Jency Alderman Strickland, which means both Jacob and Sallie had Alderman mothers, but that network point should stay secondary to the direct household records.

The adult children are far better separated than they were in the older entry. James M. Hiers, the son indexed as Malcom Hines in 1900 and Jas. M. Huss in 1910, is the same man later found as James M. Hiers in Florida and Colquitt County records; his line is supported by the 1911 marriage to Ada Carlton, later census records through 1950, Social Security material giving a 21 May 1873 Brooks County birth, and a 1952 Georgia death index entry. Marcus P. Hiers is strongly documented from 1900 through 1950, with the World War I draft card giving the fuller name Marcus Phinnia or Pliny Hiers, born 28 May 1875, and the 1907 marriage record tying him to Annie Bailey. John I. Hiers is securely the son in the 1880 and 1900 households; he is probably the same man later buried as J. Irwin Hiers, but the post-1900 bridge is still thinner than for his siblings. Lula Hiers remains easier to place in the parental household than after it: she appears as Lula in 1900 and 1910 and as F. Lulu Hiers in Jacob's 1920 household, still unmarried.

The daughters are now documented with much less guesswork. Gussie, the eighteen-year-old daughter in 1900, is strongly identified as Laura Augusta or Gussie Hiers, who married Enoch Hall of HH#33 in Brooks County on 30 Dec 1900 and later appears with him across several Florida census records. Sallie V. Hiers can be followed from the parental household in 1900 and 1910 into single adult life in Tifton and Moultrie; the 1950 census still shows her never married, living with brother Harry. Eunice Hiers follows a similarly strong single-woman line from 1900 through 1950, with repeated work as a telephone operator or office bookkeeper and a 1979 Colquitt County death. Willie H. Hiers is securely the daughter who married Charlie Franklin Chitty in Brooks County on 17 Dec 1911 and later appears as Willie Chitty through the 1950 census, with a 1972 Colquitt County death record. Ruby, the youngest daughter in the 1900 household, is now strongly identified as Ruby Elizabeth Hiers Gaillard. Social Security claims material gives her birth as 17 Jan 1897 in Brooks County and names her parents as Jacob H. Hiers and Sally Strickland. She married Eugene M. Gaillard, lived in Jacksonville, Fort Pierce, and later Miami, and died in Dade County in 1954.

The younger sons are also well anchored. Harry Livingston Hiers, born 6 Jul 1891, appears in the parental home through 1920, registered for World War I as a carpenter, later worked as a salesman and tax collector, married Audrey Lucille Johnson, and died in Colquitt County on 23 Feb 1960. Probate material identifies his children Warren Royce Hiers and Mildred Hiers Moon. Thomas Watson Hiers, born 1 May 1894, can be traced from the 1900 household into a longer work migration through Quitman, Anniston, Norwood, and Smithfield. His World War I and World War II draft cards, the 1950 census, later Virginia records, and death certificate all identify the same man. He married Bessie May Wallace, worked in meat packing and plant supervision, and died in Isle of Wight County, Virginia, on 19 Dec 1964.

Connections to Other Barney Families

• HH#33 Enoch Hall. Gussie Hiers, daughter of Jacob Hunter Hiers and Sallie Strickland, married Enoch Hall on 30 Dec 1900. That marriage creates a direct link between HH#144 and HH#33.

Open Research Questions

• Sallie's reported death date of 18 Dec 1918 is supported by later burial and family material, but a full death record should be cited if one can be found.
• John I. Hiers still needs a firmer bridge from the 1900 household to the later J. Irwin Hiers burial material before the later identification should be treated as fully proved.
• Lula Hiers is secure in the 1900, 1910, and 1920 household trail, but her later life still needs direct end-of-life documentation.
• If Jacob's Spanish-American War service is discussed again, it should be cited from the underlying military record rather than repeated from derivative summaries.
• The exact wording of Jacob's mother field on the 1925 death certificate should be checked from the original certificate image whenever the parentage discussion is revisited.

Research Status

Well-researched. The core household is strong from 1880 through Jacob's 1925 death, the Brooks County to Colquitt County move is secure, and most of the adult children can now be followed with confidence into their later lives. The main remaining gaps are Sallie's direct death record, John's post-1900 bridge, and Lula's later documentation.

Sources

• 1873 Brooks County, Georgia, marriage record for Jacob Hunter Hiers and Sarah or Sallie Strickland.
• 1880 U.S. census, Brooks County, Georgia, household of Jacob Hiers.
• 1900 U.S. census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, household of Jake Hines.
• 1910 U.S. census, Moultrie district, Colquitt County, Georgia, household of Jacob H. Hiers.
• 1920 U.S. census, Moultrie, Colquitt County, Georgia, household of Jacob H. Hiers.
• Georgia death certificate for Jacob Hunter Hiers, 12 Jun 1925, Colquitt County.
• Burial and related later records for Jacob Hunter Hiers and Sarah or Sallie Strickland Hiers at Bethel Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery, Pavo, Brooks County, Georgia.
• 1900, 1910, 1920, 1940, and 1950 census records; Social Security claims material; Georgia death index entry; and Brooks County marriage record for James M. Hiers.
• 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940, and 1950 census records; World War I draft card; Georgia death index entry; Tampa directory entry; and Colquitt County marriage record for Marcus P. Hiers and Annie Bailey.
• 1880 and 1900 census records and later burial material for John I. or J. Irwin Hiers.
• 1900, 1910, and 1920 census records for Lula or F. Lulu Hiers.
• Brooks County marriage record for Gussie Hiers and Enoch Hall, 30 Dec 1900; later Florida census records; Social Security claims material; and family death records for Laura Augusta or Gussie Hall.
• 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940, and 1950 census records for Sallie V. Hiers.
• 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940, and 1950 census records; Social Security and Georgia death index entries for Eunice Hiers.
• Brooks County marriage record for Willie H. Hiers and Charlie Franklin Chitty, 17 Dec 1911; 1920 through 1950 census records; Social Security and Georgia death index entries; and burial records for Willie H. Chitty.
• World War I draft card, 1920 through 1950 census records, probate records, Georgia death index entry, and burial records for Harry Livingston Hiers.
• World War I and World War II draft cards, 1920 through 1950 census records, city directory entries, Virginia death certificate, marriage-related records for Thomas Wallace Hiers, and burial records for Thomas Watson Hiers.
• 1910, 1920, 1930, 1935, and 1940 census records; Fort Pierce directory entries; Social Security claims material; Florida marriage-related records; Miami Herald obituary index entry; and Florida death index entry for Ruby Elizabeth Hiers Gaillard.

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.