Household #199: Lawrence, Ancil

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Read the full Ancel Lawrence land and family dossier.

In the 1900 Barney census, Ancil Lawrence headed a 9-person household. The table below preserves the exact names, relationships, ages, birthplaces, and occupations recorded for the household.

Household Snapshot

Ancil Lawrence headed a 9-person household in the 1900 Barney census with 1 spouse or marital partner and 7 children.

Ancil Lawrence's listed occupation was Farmer.

All listed household members were reported as born in Georgia.

1900 Census Household

Marriage and earlier household

The Brooks marriage return, Book B, page 398, lower entry, records Ansil Lawrance and Tira Baalam married January 15, 1880, following a January 14 license. This supplies Tira’s recorded surname at marriage; it does not name her parents. It is stronger evidence than the later index’s bracketed maiden-name suggestion.

The June 26, 1880 census, Brooks ED 4, page 50, dwelling 458/family 471, lists Ansel Lawrence, 22, and Tyre, 16, wife, with the married-during-census-year mark. The next Lawrence household has a separate number; proximity alone does not establish parentage.

The 1900 original gives Tirah December 1862, age 37, and 21 years married, with 12 children born and 8 living. The reported marriage duration differs slightly from the January 1880 return. It does not, by itself, identify every child she bore or prove her maternity for every child listed under the head.

A possible earlier record

The August 16, 1870 Brooks census, page 114, dwelling/family 846, lists Ansell Walker, 12, a Black farm laborer born in Georgia, in the household headed by Norman Campbell. Samuel Walker, 16, is also listed. The 1870 schedule does not state relationships: it does not make the two Walkers brothers or identify their parents.

An Ansel Lawrence row in the Brooks 1878–1882 tax volume, Morven district 660, explicitly names Norman Campbell in the employer column. The given name, locality, compatible age in 1880 and repeated Campbell association strengthen the 1870 candidate. They do not yet prove that Ansell Walker and Ancil Lawrence were the same person, explain the surname difference, or connect either man to the John Walker named in the 1925 death certificate. The tax row’s individual year has not been securely established within the volume’s date range. A blank land field is not a deed or proof of landlessness.

The separate Harry Lawrence household immediately after Ansel and Tyre in 1880 is not assigned as Ansel’s family. Neither adjacency, shared surnames nor an employer relationship establishes kinship or a history of enslavement.

Later household, death and burial

The 1920 household places Ansil and wife Tyra with Ellen, Lena, Silvester and Robert. In the 1930 original, Barney town, ED 14-16, sheet 2B, Tyre Lawrence, 68, widowed, is explicitly mother of head Missouri Davis, 35. Mary E., Sylvester and Charley M. Davis are recorded as Missouri’s children. The Sylvester in that household is not automatically the Silvester listed as Ansil’s son in 1920.

A Brooks death certificate, no. 32937, records Tyre Lawrence’s death in Barney on December 26, 1938, and burial at Rock Hill, Barney, on December 29. It describes a Black widow born in Georgia, names Robert Lawrence of Adel as informant, and gives both parents as unknown. The informant’s relationship is not stated. Name, locality, widowhood and the Robert lead support the connection to this family, but the certificate’s age 87 conflicts with the census ages; it is not used to assign an 1851 birth year. A grave marker, plot and independent burial-register confirmation remain to be located. The certificate was filed January 5, 1939, which is not the death date.

The 1925 certificate for the husband, file 6384, records April 7, 1925, Barney, wife Tyrie Lawrence, father John Walker, and mother unknown. Its age 68 differs from the 1900 age 49. It does not explain how or why the Lawrence and Walker surnames were used. An index entry under Tyrie in this collection identifies her as the deceased man’s spouse; it is not her own death record.

Children and later trails

The Social Security Applications and Claims index entry for Missouri Lawrence Godfrey names father Ancil Lawrence and mother Tara Bellum. It reports birth December 15, 1893, at Morven, Brooks County, and death October 27, 1988. This is a derived index of application/claim information, not an inspected original SS-5. Together with the 1930 mother-to-head statement, it supports a specific Missouri trail, distinct from her sister Mohalia.

Missouri Lawrence, Davis and Godfrey

The Brooks marriage register, Book G, right-hand third entry, records Charles Davis and Missouri Lawrence married June 29, 1919, following a June 27 license. The 1920 Barney original, ED 46, sheet 16A, lists Charley Davis, 45, and Masouri, 25, wife, with his mother Henrietta and two Bradley relatives. It does not list the three children later with Missouri in 1930; this does not establish where those children were in 1920 or make Charles their father.

A stronger link to the Godfrey name is Sylvester Lawrence’s original draft card. Sylvester, born October 20, 1916, in Brooks County, names Mrs. Missouri Godfrey of Barney as his mother. The reverse dates registration October 16, 1940. His age and mother support the connection to Missouri’s 1930 son, not to Ancil and Tyra’s older son Silvester.

In the 1940 original, ED 14-19, sheet 10B, household 164, Mose Godfrey, 50, heads the household with Missouri, 36, wife. Charlie Mae, Bertha Lee, Mose Jr. and Shellie are recorded as his children; Billie McMillan is a grandson and Robert Baker a son-in-law, not the grandson shown in the index. These are relationships to the head, not independent proof of Missouri’s maternity or Mose’s biological paternity for each person.

The 1950 original, ED 14-28, sheet 7, household 45, again lists Mose—misindexed as “Thore”—with wife Missouri and Bertha Lee, Mose Jr. and Shellie James. Missouri is recorded as 60, compared with 36 in 1940 and 35 in 1930. The Georgia death index reports October 27, 1988, Lowndes County death and Brooks residence, but age 86, also inconsistent with the Social Security birth date. These disagreements remain unresolved; the original death certificate has not been inspected.

The Godfrey marriage date, the end of the Davis marriage and the original 1988 obituary remain unverified. The obituary index’s original-image link was unavailable through two routes; its extracted child list and the apparent place-name suffix “Barney” have not been adopted as family evidence.

Missouri and Mohalia are separate daughters in the 1900 original. The Missouri index does not identify Mohalia or justify merging the two. Other later child identities remain open unless a direct record establishes the connection.

Sources still needed and research limits

• Original evidence resolving both spouses’ age conflicts, without choosing a convenient birth year.
• Tyra/Tirah’s parents and a grave or burial-register confirmation at the Rock Hill named in her certificate.
• Missouri’s original Social Security application, death certificate, Godfrey marriage and evidence for the end of the Davis marriage.
• Separate adult trails for the other children; similar given names and household proximity are not sufficient.
• Evidence explaining the Walker/Lawrence surname difference and a deed chain for the competing land-lot readings.

Status: Original marriage, census and death records now extend the family’s trail. Parentage, age discrepancies, some adult identities and land title remain unresolved. The earlier “source-exhausted” label is withdrawn: the preserved searches did not establish exhaustion, and this follow-up recovered additional originals. The old June 14 search-history claim has not been independently reproduced.

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