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The Alderman Family

See also the Ryall family connections for Isaiah Ryall and Rachel Ann Folsom’s descendants and their marriages into other Barney families.

Audited family structure

The Alderman references in this project fall into three principal branches of the family reconstructed in Aldermans in America. The oldest links remain secondary-supported because no inspected original record yet names all of David Alderman and Jemima Hall's relevant children.

  • Daniel branch: Daniel Alderman → George Alderman → Jonathan Howell Alderman and William Alderman. Jonathan was the father of George Washington Alderman. The younger William and Catherine Wells were the parents of James Carlton Alderman.
  • Thomas branch: Thomas Alderman and reported sons James and Timothy. No direct descendant of this branch has been matched to a Barney household.
  • William C. branch: William C. Alderman → John A. Alderman → Mitchell Enoch Alderman and probably the Daniel Alderman in household #153.

The Daniel in household #153, born about 1860, was not the elder Daniel Alderman born in 1774. If the younger Daniel was John A. Alderman's son, he and Mitchell Enoch were probable half-brothers. The compiled genealogy instead calls the relevant child David Harrison, so that placement remains strong probable rather than verified.

Several references remain unplaced: the two James Alderman households in 1830, the two adult Timothy Aldermans in 1850, Susan Alderman after 1900, Hattie and a possibly duplicate Sidney in James Carlton's reported child list, the unidentified Mrs. Alderman who visited Douglas in 1908, Mrs. Mannie Alderman, Mrs. Hollis Alderman, and Frank Alderman, the informant on Mitchell's death certificate.

The full audit contains 60 controlled people or surname references. That is a research-control count, not a claim that all 60 represent separately proved individuals.

Barney households and marriage connections

The five 1900 household dossiers follow the principal Barney branches: Jonathan Howell and Amy Ann McKinney Alderman, their son George Washington and Isabel Coulter Alderman, James Carlton and Martha Ann Baker Alderman, Mitchell Enoch and Georgia Crosby Alderman, and Daniel and Margaret Register Alderman. The last household’s placement in John A. Alderman’s family remains strong probable.

James Carlton’s sisters Ruth G. and Mary W. Alderman both married Charles Wesley Ryall: Ruth on January 25, 1876, and Mary on February 25, 1886. The Brooks County marriage returns and the 1860–1880 Alderman census households support the two marriages and the sisters’ relationship. In 1880, Mary is explicitly James C. Alderman’s sister and Catharine his mother.

Jonathan Howell and Amy’s daughter Libbie Alderman married John H. Ryall on October 22, 1899. Other marriages followed in the Jonathan Howell household dossier include Nancy Ellen Alderman to Isaac McDaniel Turner, Lucy Alice Alderman to George S. Joyce, and Pearl Alderman to Thomas H. Norman.

A separate Lowndes County marriage return records Mary Alderman’s marriage to Emerson Westbery on January 7, 1905. Their Barney household included sons Homer and Leon. The Westberry dossier follows that family and its strong-probable identification with councilman W. E. Westbury. Mary’s parents have not been established in that record sequence, so she is not assigned here to one of the Alderman branches.

1908 visit to the Tomlinson family

A 6 September 1908 Douglas social column reported that an unnamed “Mrs. Alderman of Barney” was visiting Mrs. W. H. Tomlinson. Ancestry records identify the hostess as Sarah Jane Creed Tomlinson, wife of Elder William Henry Tomlinson. Sarah's 1880 census entry names her as the daughter of Darling Creed and Sarah Creed, and a 1849 Thomas County marriage record identifies her mother as Sarah Ann Alderman Creed.

The visit therefore had an Alderman-family context, but the article does not identify the Barney visitor or state her relationship to Sarah. Isabel “Belle” Coulter Alderman is the strongest circumstantial candidate because she later lived in Douglas. Amy Ann McKinney Alderman, Martha Ann Baker Alderman, Georgia Crosby Alderman, and several younger Barney wives also remain possible. No specific household assignment is justified yet.

Sources: The Macon Telegraph, 6 September 1908, page 6; Ancestry collections 7602:8515720, 7884:146860917, 4766:20062976, 6742:7441712, and 4766:1056782; Find a Grave memorial 33601687.

1910 Census

The current 1910 census household index includes six Alderman-headed households. Its household transcriptions remain marked for final review.

1920 Census

In the 1920 census, James C. Alderman, 69 and widowed, was listed as the father of household head Enoch Alderman. Enoch’s wife was Viola. The James Carlton dossier also follows Newton, Joseph, James Jr., and Brooks into their adult households.

Jonathan Howell and Amy Alderman were living in Robinson District, Colquitt County, both recorded as 72. Their son George W. Alderman’s 1920 household was also in Robinson District. Mitchell and Georgia Alderman appear in a separate Robinson District household. Daniel and Margaret Register Alderman’s continuing 1920 household is documented in the Daniel dossier.

1930 Census

George W. and Belle Alderman were living in Douglas, Coffee County, both recorded as 65. Mitchell and Georgia Alderman’s Brooks County household included granddaughter Geraldine, seven, and boarder Loma Mitchell. The Mitchell dossier follows Geraldine into the 1940 John F. Alderman household.

Margaret Register Alderman was widowed by 1930 and listed as a sister-in-law in William J. and Louisa Norman’s Brooks County household. Together with her earlier Register records, this supports her identification as Louisa’s sister; Daniel’s death record remains unlocated.

1940 Census

The 1940 Barney census lists Geraldine Alderman, 17, as a daughter in John F. and June P. Alderman’s household. Together with her 1930 placement as Mitchell and Georgia’s granddaughter, this supports her identification as John Franklin’s daughter, rather than Shelton Madison’s.

Other Alderman households in the older surname extraction have not been reconciled with the source images and are not assigned to these branches.