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The Barney History Project: The people, places, and stories of Barney, Georgia

Household #179: Flournoy, Wesley

Back to the 1900 Census & Household Index

In the 1900 Barney census, Wesley FL headed a 4-person household. The table below transcribes the household’s names, relationships, ages, birthplaces, and occupations; uncertain readings are noted below.

Household Snapshot

Wesley FL headed a 4-person household in the 1900 Barney census with 1 spouse or marital partner and 2 children.

Wesley FL'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

Dollie B.’s birth entry reads December 1899; her age appears to be 5/12. The small age fraction remains a qualified reading. Original census image: Brooks County, Georgia, ED 9, sheet 9B, lines 64–67.

Name Relation Age Birthplace Occupation
Wesley FL Head 35 Georgia Farmer
Dora FL Wife 20 Georgia —
Nonie FL Daughter 1 Georgia —
Dollie B FL Daughter 5/12 Georgia —

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

Wesley Flournoy (listed as Wesley FL in 1900 census, age 35, Farmer) - Full Name: James Wesley Flournoy (1880 census gave full name) - Born August 1864, Georgia (per 1900 census; 1870 census suggests ~1864) - Died After 1900; no death record located in Georgia Death Index for Brooks or surrounding counties - Occupation: Farmer (rented farm in 1900) - Parents: John Flournoy (b. ~1829-1830, Virginia) and Hannah (b. ~1835, Virginia) - Literacy: Cannot read or write (1880, 1900 censuses)

Dora Flournoy (age 20 in 1900) - Born ~1880, Georgia - Married ~1896 (4 years married per 1900 census) - Post-1900: Not found in 1910 Brooks County census; fate unknown

  1. Nonie Flournoy (Daughter, age 1) — b. ~1899, Georgia. Not found in subsequent records.

  2. Dollie B. Flournoy (Daughter) — birth entry December 1899, Georgia; age appears to read 5/12. Not found in subsequent records.

  3. 1870: Wesley Flournoy, age 6, in household of John (40) and Hannah (35) Flournoy, Quitman, Brooks County. Nine siblings: Elizabeth (19), Polly (14), Randal (12), Thomas (10), Daniel (8), Joanna (7), Anarchy/Anika (3), Charles (2), Sarah (7/12).

  4. 1880: James Wesley Flournoy, age 15, in household of John (51) and Hannah (42) Flournoy, Morven, Brooks County. Father born Virginia, mother born Virginia. Cannot read or write.

  5. 1890: Wesley Flurnoy appears on the Georgia Freedman Tax List, Hat, Irwin County, District 690 (Fletcher). This places him outside Brooks County during the 1890 gap between censuses.

  6. 1900: Wesley FL [Flournoy], age 35, b. Aug 1864, Farmer, married 4 years. Wife Dora (20). Daughters Nonie (1), Dollie B. (5/12). Rents farm. Parents born Virginia. Barney Precinct, Brooks County.

  7. 1910-1950: Not found in any federal census under plausible name variants (Wesley Flournoy, Wesley Flurnoy, Wesley FL, Wes Flournoy, J. Wesley Flournoy) in Georgia or surrounding states. No match in Brooks County or statewide searches. Wife Dora and daughters Nonie and Dollie B. also not located after 1900.

  8. June 2026 Ancestry follow-up: Targeted searches for Dora Flournoy with spouse Wesley and for Nonie Flournoy with parents Wesley/Dora did not produce a safe continuation. The strongest Dora hits belong to Alabama, Missouri, or California women with conflicting birthplace, parents, or household context. Nonie/Nannie hits were also geographically and demographically mismatched. No new record was attached.

  9. June 2026 FamilySearch follow-up: FamilySearch searches for Wesley Flournoy born 1863-1866 in Georgia with spouse Dora return the known 1900 Brooks County household as the only matching household. A later John Wesley Flournoy death/obituary cluster in Atlanta/Cobb/Fulton is eliminated because it names parents George Flournoy and Josephine Gallen, not John and Hannah Flournoy of Brooks County. No FamilySearch continuation was found for Dora, Nonie, or Dollie B.

Disambiguation: Two Wesley Flournoys in Georgia.

A different Wesley Flournoy lived in Jefferson County, Georgia, and is not the same person as our Brooks County subject. The Jefferson County Wesley can be distinguished by multiple factors:

  • Factor: Birth year; Brooks County Wesley (HH#179): Aug 1864; Jefferson County Wesley: Aug 1871 (1900)
  • Factor: 1900 wife; Brooks County Wesley (HH#179): Dora (age 20); Jefferson County Wesley: Amy/Annie (age 26)
  • Factor: 1900 children; Brooks County Wesley (HH#179): Nonie, Dollie B.; Jefferson County Wesley: Jinnie, Claudius, Rosa
  • Factor: Parents' birthplace; Brooks County Wesley (HH#179): Virginia; Jefferson County Wesley: Georgia
  • Factor: Literacy; Brooks County Wesley (HH#179): Cannot read or write; Jefferson County Wesley: Can read and write
  • Factor: Home ownership; Brooks County Wesley (HH#179): Rents; Jefferson County Wesley: Owns farm
  • Factor: Mother-in-law; Brooks County Wesley (HH#179): None listed; Jefferson County Wesley: Sarah A. Morris

The Jefferson County Wesley appears in every census from 1900 through 1940 (Bartow and Phillips districts), with wife name variants Amy/Annie/Amil/Amine (same person), and died July 24, 1946, Jefferson County, age 78, certificate #16640.

Connections to Other Barney Families

Wesley Flournoy belongs to one of the larger Black family networks in the Barney community. His parents John and Hannah Flournoy had at least ten children, and several of Wesley's siblings appear as heads of other Barney households:

  • Elizabeth Flournoy (b. ~1851) — married Thomas Lightsey (HH#12) on July 20, 1874, Brooks County. Died before 1900. Their children married into HH#10 (William Betts, via daughter Ella Lightsey) and HH#13 (George Wright, via daughter Lucy Lightsey).

  • Polly Flournoy (b. ~1852) — head of HH#185, widow with nine children (Mary, Arthur, Lula, Thomas, Cora, Earnest, Moses, Ella, John, Nettie). Living in Barney in 1900.

  • Elsie Flournoy (b. ~1875, not yet born in 1870) — married James Bailey (HH#51) on December 15, 1895, Brooks County. Mother Hannah Flournoy (age 50, widowed) was living in the Bailey household in 1900, which confirms the family link directly. The Baileys migrated to Leon County, Florida by 1910.

  • Thomas Flournoy (b. ~1860) — listed in 1870 at age 10. Not yet linked to a specific Barney household but appears in the Flournoy sibling list from HH#12's documentation.

  • Charles Flournoy (b. ~1868) — listed in 1870 at age 2. Appears in the Flournoy sibling list from HH#12's documentation.

Through these siblings, HH#179 connects to a cluster of nine other households: HH#9 (Ceily Davis, born Celey Lightsey), HH#10 (Betts), HH#12 (Lightsey), HH#13 (Wright), HH#51 (Bailey), HH#104 (Phillip Lightsey), HH#126 (Jasper Lightsey), HH#165 (Henry Lightsey), and HH#185 (Pollie Flournoy). The Lightsey-Flournoy-Davis-Betts cluster is one of the densest Black family networks documented in Barney.

Father John Flournoy died between 1880 (age 51, living in Morven) and 1900 (Hannah listed as widowed in HH#51). His Reconstruction-era voter oath record (Wesley Flornoy, Baker County, July 17, 1867) may belong to John rather than our Wesley, who would have been roughly three years old at the time. That record requires verification against the original image.

After the 1900 census, Wesley, his wife Dora, and their two young daughters vanish from all available records. No death certificate appears in the Georgia Death Index for Brooks or adjacent counties. No census match appears under any plausible spelling variant through 1950. This pattern echoes what happened to his sister Elizabeth (died before 1900) and the general mortality the Flournoy family experienced in the 1890s and early 1900s. The family may have moved out of state, died in an unrecorded event, or been enumerated under a name that does not match standard Flournoy variants.

Research Notes

  1. 1910 and later census trail for Wesley, Dora, Nonie, and Dollie B. under Flournoy/Flo(u)rnoy/Flurnoy and possible remarried or step-household surnames.
  2. Death, burial, church, probate, tax, or newspaper source for Wesley after the 1900 census.
  3. Dora's maiden name, marriage record, death/burial, or remarriage record.
  4. Adult or death trails for Nonie and Dollie B. Flournoy.
  5. Original-image review of the 1890 Freedman tax-list entry and the 1867 oath entry to decide whether either belongs to Wesley or to another Flournoy, likely father John.
  6. Secondary/local sources for Black Brooks County families, church cemeteries, and migration into Florida, if primary records remain absent.

Open Research Questions

  • Resolve the open items flagged in Research Notes above with direct records before expanding this household narrative.

Research Status

Source-researched, not source-exhausted. The 1870-1900 census framework and family-network placement are strong, and the Jefferson County Wesley Flournoy has been separated out. The whole 1900 household still disappears after 1900, so the entry needs more negative-search documentation and any local church, cemetery, probate, tax, or newspaper source that can close the post-1900 gap.

Sources

  • 1870 US Federal Census, Quitman, Brooks County GA (Ancestry 7163:2670263)
  • 1880 US Federal Census, Morven, Brooks County GA (Ancestry 6742:40730219)
  • 1900 US Federal Census, Barney Precinct, Brooks County GA (Ancestry 7602:52873600)
  • Georgia Property Tax Digests, 1793-1892, Freedman Tax List, Hat, Irwin County GA, 1890 (Ancestry 1729:611551)
  • Georgia Returns of Qualified Voters and Reconstruction Oath Books, 1867-1869, Baker County (Ancestry 1857:801092) — possibly father John's record, not Wesley
  • 1900 US Federal Census, Bartow, Jefferson County GA — different Wesley Flournoy (Ancestry 7602:34360755)
  • 1910 US Federal Census, Jefferson County GA — different Wesley Flournoy (Ancestry 7884:3516844)
  • 1920 US Federal Census, Bartow, Jefferson County GA — different Wesley Flournoy (Ancestry 6061:63981513)
  • 1930 US Federal Census, Bartow, Jefferson County GA — different Wesley Flournoy (Ancestry 6224:19356055)
  • 1940 US Federal Census, Phillips, Jefferson County GA — different Wesley Flournoy (Ancestry 2442:48700418)
  • Georgia Death Index, 1919-1998, Wesley Flourney, d. Jul 24 1946, Jefferson County — different Wesley (Ancestry 5426:894732)
  • No 1910 census match for Brooks County Wesley in statewide Georgia search
  • No 1920 census match for Brooks County Wesley in statewide Georgia search
  • No death record for Wesley Flournoy in Georgia Death Index for Brooks or adjacent counties
  • Cross-household network documented from HH#12 (Lightsey), HH#51 (Bailey), and HH#185 (Pollie Flournoy) entries in the encyclopedia baseline
  • June 2026 negative Ancestry searches for Dora Flournoy and Nonie/Nannie Flournoy with Wesley/Dora family context; no safe post-1900 continuation found
  • June 2026 FamilySearch negative searches for Wesley Flournoy with spouse Dora and daughters Nonie/Dollie; only the known 1900 Brooks County household matched. John Wesley Flournoy of Atlanta/Cobb/Fulton was eliminated by conflicting parents George Flournoy and Josephine Gallen.

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