Sarah Womack, daughter of Alexander Womack III and Mary Neal

One of many Womack genealogy errors floating around the web is that Alexander Womack III and his first wife Mary Neal had a daughter named Angeline Womack who married James Hammonds.  In many online trees, Angeline is shown with the same death date and place as Dillie Ann Womack Williams (link to her gravestone), a known daughter of Alexander and Mary.

The James Hammond this supposed Angeline married is sometimes listed as 'James F Hammonds' or 'James Isham Hammonds'.

The reality is that there was a James T Hammond/Hammonds (grave here) who married Angeline Marler (grave here), and that James T Hammonds was the son of Isham T Hammons (grave here) and Sarah Womack, daughter of Alexander Womack III and Mary Neal.

Interestingly, the stones for James T Hammonds and his wife Angeline are on the same base, but they are not listed as husband and wife.

Isham T Hammons was on the 1850 Federal Census of Polk Co, TN, listed 2 households from the family of brother-in-law James Alexander Womack.

• Isom T Hammons 30 - M W Farmer $250 NC
• Sarah - 25 F W NC
• Moses A - 8 M W TN
• James T - 6 M W TN
• George W - 5 M W TN
• Henry - 4 M W TN
• Jonathan - 2 M W TN

By 1860, Sarah had died, and Isham had married second wife Mary:

1860 FC Polk Co, TN, District 6, Family 681

• I T Hamon - 40 M W Farmer $4000 $6000 NC
• Mary - 24 F W TN
• James - 16 F W TN Farm Labor TN [mistakenly listed as female]
• Jessy - 9 F W TN [mistakenly listed as female]
• Sarah - 6 F W TN
• Samuel - 4 M W TN
• Mariah - 2 F W TN
• Infant - 6 months F W TN
• Moses Hamon - 80 M W Farmer NC
• Martin James - 22 M W Laborer NC

Death certificates show that Jesse (grave here) was the child of Sarah Womack, and Sarah (grave here) was the child of Mary Morgan.

• TN Death Certificate - Jessie Hamonds, died 24 Jan 1923 in Polk Co, TN, age 73, born Apr 1850, born in TN, father Isam Hamonds born in TN, mother 'Miss Wamick' born in TN.
• TN Death Certificate - Mrs S J Waldrop [incorrectly indexed as 'Waldrof' on ancestry] , died Blount Co, TN on 21 Nov 1925, date of birth not given, age 65, born in TN, father Isaac Hammond born in TN, mother 'Morgan' born in TN.

So, Sarah Womack, wife of Isham T Hammonds, died soon after son Jesse was born (25 Apr 1852, according to his gravestone).  Isham remarried to Mary Morgan who had daughter Sarah, born circa 1854 (her gravestone just gives the year 1854).

James T Hammonds, born 24 Jan 1844, son of Isham Hammonds and Sarah Womack, married Angeline Marler.  She is in the 1850 FC of McMinn Co, TN with parents George and Nancy Marler.  Angeline Marler is shown as 11 in the 1850 census, and her sister Francena is 6.  Francena Marler later married Elijah Thompson Womack (grave here), Sarah Womack's younger half brother.  After Francena's death, Elijah Womack married second wife Sarah Foster.

The family of James 'Hamon' and wife Angeline and children are on the 1870 FC of McMinn Co, TN.  I cannot find them in 1880, but from birth places of children, it appears they moved to Arkansas, then on to the Indian Territory before it became Oklahoma.  Marriage records of some of their children in the 1890s and early 1900s are in Muskogee Co, OK.

Before moving from Tennessee, James Hammonds was a buyer at the estate sale of his grandfather, Alexander Womack III, in 1874, see earlier post.

The Idaho death certificate of Minnie M Hammonds Hammack (her grave), daughter of James & Angeline, lists her parents as James Hammons and Angeline Marlow, a variant of Marler.  A newspaper obituary listed her place of birth as Servilla, TN, which is a town in Polk Co, TN.  Minnie married John A Hammack, and they are listed on the 1910 FC of Osage Co, OK; her father James Hammons, age 66 living with them.

Another daughter was Effie Jo Hammonds (her grave), who married William Dallas Williams; her Social Security application lists her parents as Jim Hammons and Angeline Marlow.

In short, Alexander Womack III and Mary Neal did not have a daughter named Angeline who married James Hammonds.  Rather, they had a daughter Sarah, born circa 1825 in North Carolina, who married Isham Hammonds, and their son James T Hammonds married Angeline Marler.  Angeline's sister, Francena Marler, married Elijah Thompson Womack, who was the son of Alexander Womack III by his second wife, Freelove Thompson.

Probably, the family lore got confused along the way because of the Hammonds and Marler connections.

Sarah Womack, born circa 1825, was likely the first daughter of Alexander Womack III.  He named her after his mother, Sarah McDearmon, who his father, Alexander Womack Jr, married 27 Dec 1798 in Prince Edward Co, VA.  Alexander Womack III was not born in 1797 as is erroneously all over the web; rather he was born closer to 1800, which will be the subject of another post.

Will of Robert Bolton mentions John Warnock, not John Womack

The 1789 will of Robert Bolton in Chatham County, Georgia has been cited as proof that a John Womack lived there.

Luckily, we have both the recorded will and the original.

Chatham Co, GA original wills. Etc - LDS Film # 005765219, image 639 - 644, Robert Bolton, Sr will, dated 24 July 1786, recorded 22 May 1789. This is the original will. One paragraph mentions John Warnock, not Womack. The name ‘Warnock’ is very legible: “I devise to my afflicted neighbour John Warnock such of my old waring apparel as my Executors shall think proper to give, and that my executors shall pay to John Warnock Twenty Shilling annum during his natural life to be paid out of my Estate not before bequeathed.” 

The recorded will, in Chatham Co, GA Will Book C:61 (LDS Film # 005759791, image 61) is much harder to read, and “John Warnock” looks more like “John Womack”.

The John Womack who lived in Savannah, Chatham Co, GA in the early 1800s was the son of Wiley Womack and Elizabeth Shuman.  He married first Mary Hudson, and after they divorced, he married Ann Black (who had recently divorced her first husband, Edmund Warren).  John Womack had a daughter, Mary Ann Womack, Mary Hudson, but no known children with second wife Ann Black.  John Womack and wife Ann are in the 1850 Federal Census of Burke Co, GA, living with Ann's son-in-law and daughter, James Griffin and Lucy Warren, Ann's daughter from her first marriage.  John is shown as age 60, but was older, likely born circa 1785 or a little earlier.

Subsequent posts will give more documentation on this.

Death Certificate of Alexander Crockett Womack

 The death certificate of Alexander Crockett Womack is in the Arkansas Death Certificate, 1914-1969, collection on Ancestry.  The digitized film is '1919, 049-063', and his death certificate is at image 851 of 2922.

It says that 'A C Wammac' died 9 Nov 1919 in Harrison, Boone Co, AR.  His date of birth is 20 Mar, no year given, but he listed as 70 years old at death.  The informant was Mrs A C Wammac of Harrison, AR.  His place of birth is listed as White Co, TN, and his parents as 'G Wammac' and 'Rachell Trapper'.

His Find-a-Grave memorial is here.  From various sources, we know his full name was Alexander Crockett Womack.  He appears in the 1850 FC of White Co, TN as Crockett Womack, age 3, with his apparently widowed mother Rachel, and his older siblings.  This family later moved to Arkansas.

I have always suspected Rachel was Rachel Cropper, the widow of Granville Womack.  The marriage bond of Granville Wammack and Rachael Cropper was made 17 June 1823 in Wilson Co, TN, with Mansfield Massey as the bondsman.  Granville Womack was listed in the will of his grandfather, Richard Womack of Wilson County, Tennessee, dated 16 Mar 1819, in which Richard lists Granville Womack as the son of Richard's daughter Susannah Hubbard.  Thus, Granville was an 'illegitimate' child, born out of wedlock.

Somehow, lazy researchers have mixed things up, and have Richard Jr as Richard Granville Womack, which means (by their silly logic) that Richard Sr was also named Richard Granville Womack.  There is no proof that Richard Womack who died in 1819 in Wilson Co, TN was named anything other than Richard, and the same goes for his son.  From a careful reading of Richard Sr's will, the only Granville was his grandson Granville Womack, who was the son of Richard Sr's daughter Susannah Womack, before she married Joseph Hubbard (Wilson Co, TN marriage bond dated 22 Mar 1809, with Richard Wamack as bondsman).

James Cropper's will is in Wilson Co, TN Will Book 1848-1853, p.24, Aug Term 1848, will of James Cropper:  wife Rhoda Cropper, daughter Polly Cunningham, daughter Sally Donnell, daughter Betsey (no surname given), daughter Lovey Massey, daughter Rachel Wommack, son James Cropper, son Hiram L Cropper, daughter Jane (no surname given), step-daughter Mary Holland, executor Elijah Wommack, signed 20 Nov 1843, witnesses Hardin Ragland, H A Johnson, Terrell Davis; proved Aug Term 1848 by oaths of Harden Ragland and H A Johnson.

Although I have been unable to find Granville Womack in tax lists or census records, he had a large family.  His wife Rachel was alive in 1843 for the writing of her father, James Cropper's, will.  By 1850, it appears Granville was dead, and Rachel was the head of the family in White Co, TN.

The name Cropper was often rendered Crapper.  In fact, in James Cropper's will, the cursive handwriting seems to say Cropper sometimes, and Crapper others.  The name may have been Crapper, or at least pronounced that way sometimes.  

Alexander Crockett Womack's widow, Sarah Elizabeth Daniel, was the informant on his death certificate, and said his mother was Rachel Trapper.  Trapper, oddly enough, does not seems to be a real surname, or one that was very rarely used.  More likely, Alexander's widow misread from a family Bible the name Cropper or Crapper as 'Trapper', or misheard Alexander's mother's maiden name.  Or, the person who filled out the certificate with the information from Alexander's widow misheard.

Anyhow, Alexander's parents listed as 'G Wammac' and 'Rachell Trapper' make me certain he was the son of Granville Womack and Rachel Cropper.

Elijah Thompson of Rutherford County, North Carolina

 Rutherford Co, NC Will Book E:63, LDS Film # 004779261, image 472/687.  March Court 1840.  Will of Elijah Thompson, dated 4 Dec 1839, mentions wife Margaret Thompson and other heirs, relationship not stated:  Elijah Thompson Senior [sic, must be a mistake for 'Junior'], Ransom Thompson, Elvira Thompson, Ambrose Thompson.  At the death of his wife, remainder of his estate divided amongst his 'Eares' [sic, 'Heirs'].  Witnesses:  John Ellison & William Garrett.

These Thompsons lived in the part of Rutherford Co, NC which became Polk County, NC in 1855.  

Alexander Womack III lived in this area until about 1839, and married Freelove Thompson after the death of his first wife, Mary Neal.  Alexander and Freelove moved to Polk Co, TN.  This research can be confusing, because of two Polk counties.

See my post on James Alexander Womac's Goodspeed biography for proof his father Alexander Womac/Womack married Mary Neal.  See also the death certificate of Margaret (Womack) Staton, born 19 Sep 1835 and died in McMinn Co, TN on 23 Apr 1915, which lists her parents as Alexander Womac and Freelove Thompson.

Alexander and Freelove had a son named Elijah Thompson Womack as well as a daughter Margaret Womack.  Though not mentioned by name in Elijah Thompson's will, it is clear Freelove was his daughter, and Freelove named children after her parents.  She also named a son Ransom Womack after her brother Ransom Thompson, who witnessed a deed for Alexander Womack (III).  Additionally, Freelove had daughter Elvira Sarepta Womack, named at least partially for a sister, Elvira Womack.

Also, Freelove had a daughter named Lucinda Rella or Cinderella Womack.  She is listed variously in the census and other records as Sinda, Lousinda, Lucinda, Rella, Cindy (death certificate of her son James William Farris), and Cinderella (death certificate of her daughter Nancy 'Nannie' Bell Brown).  Her tombstone lists her as Sinda Farris and the tombstone of her husbands says he was Free M Farice and that he married Sinda R Wamack.

Elijah Thompson Jr, brother of Freelove Thompson Womack, was married to a woman named Cinderella (see 1850 Federal Census of Rutherford Co, NC).  It is likely Freelove named a daughter Cinderella after her sister-in-law.

Elijah Thompson Jr had a daughter named Freelove Clarisa Thompson, according to family tree data that I have not yet verified.  She married Elias Lingerfelt, and Elias & Freelove C (Thompson) Lingerfelt are listed in the 1850 FC of Polk Co, TN, as are Alexander and Freelove (Thompson) Womack.

The preponderance of evidence makes me fairly certain that Freelove Thompson, wife of Alexander Womack III, was the daughter of Elijah Thompson Sr and his wife Margaret or Rutherford Co, NC.

As always, do your own research to verify this for yourself.

Georgia Archives, General Names Index

 Here are the variant spellings of Womack in the GA Archives General Name Index.  I will do the ones spelled 'Womack' later.

Note I skipped some that were from the late 1800s or 1900s.

Note also that some info was provided by library patrons, not staff, and may be dubious.

My comments in [].

Some abbreviations in the index cards:

• MR = Military Records
• JP = Justice of the Peace Records
• SJ = Senate Journal

Spelling other than Womack

• Wamack, John, Lieut, Newton Co, 3 Mar 1826 - 7 May 1829 (MR 1808-1929, p 164)
• Wammack, James, Lieut, Jones Co, 16 May 1828 - (MR 1808-1929, p 199)
• Wammack, John, JP 267th Dist, Franklin Co, 21 Apr 1813 - (JP 1813-1817, p 351)
• Wammack, John, Capt 267th Dist Co, Franklin Co, GM 21 Apr 1813 -
• Wamock, Benjamin, Capt, Scriven Co, 23 Mar 1822 - 15 July 1815 (MR 1808-1829, p 82)
• Wamock, M, Lt 1st Co, 2nd Batt, 4th Reg, 3 Apr 1793 -
• Warmack, Jesse, B in VA, 1730 - 1815, 1st Lt, 10th Co (Capt Blassengame Harvey), Col John James, Regt, 3 Feb 1778 - (SOA 1754-1827, p 226). M Dorothy Prior (born 1740 - ) 
• Warmack, John, Priv, Capt Thos W Harris’ Co GM, 11 Nov 1813, 1814, Ft Mitchell (MR 1779-1839, p 128)
• Wommack, Allen, Priv, Capt Francis Jones Co, Eff Co M, - 1793 - (MR 1784-1815 - Eff Co)
• Wommack, Jesse, JP 358th Dist, Jones Co, 30 Jan 1817 - (JP 1813-17 p 742)
• Wommack, John, Ens, Laurens Co, 22 July 1819 - 21 May 1823 (MR 1808-1829, p 40) [probably Warnock]
• Wommack, Wyley, 1st Lt, Wilkinson Co, 7 May 1834 - 25 Jan 1837 (MR 1829-1841 p 61); Capt, Wilkinson Co, 25 Jan 1837 (MR 1829-1841 p 125)
• Wommock, Mary. Mr Scruggs notifies the Senate that he will tomorrow move for the appointment of a committee to prepare & report a bill to secure to Mary Wommock, formerly Mary Hudson, a ngro woman given to her by deed from her grandfather, Robert Hudson, and to secure to the said Mary Wommock, formerly Mary Hudson, any property which she may hereafter acquire by Deed, Will or otherwise. SJ 1809, p 11.
• Womoch, Benjamin, Lieut, Emanuel Co, 28 Mar 1826 - 23 Mar 1830 (MR 1808-1829, p 166) [probably Warnock]

Alexander Womack of McMinn County, Tennessee

 There is a Find-a-Grave memorial for 'James Alexander Womack':  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27677828/james-alexander-womack

It shows a tombstone engraved with 'Womack, James Alexander, 1797-1877' and 'Freelove Thompson '1805 - 1877'.

This was not, of course, the original tombstone, but one added fairly recently, probably within the last 50 years, by well-meaning descendants meaning to honor their ancestors.  However, most of the information on the tombstone is incorrect.

Over the next few posts, I will go over mistakes on the tombstone, as well as some recently discovered information.

Topics:

• He did not die in 1877
• He was not born in 1797
• His name was not 'James Alexander Womack'
• Probable parents of second wife, Freelove Thompson
• Some clues to family of first wife, Mary Neal

To start with, he died in 1874, not 1877.

His will is a little hard to read, but says the will was probated in November 1874:

McMinn Co, TN Will Book G:259 (LDS Film #830196, image 159/507)

Last Will and Testament of Alexander Womac

State of Tennessee

McMinn County

Know all men by these presence that I Alexander Womac in the presents of mind do make this day my Will. I give to my wife Freelove, my land & stock, household & kitchen furniture, after the funeral expenses is paid and for Free Paris [sic, 'Farris'] still to work the farm and keep up the repairs & pay the taxes and take care of my wife so long as she lives and at her death I want all sold and equal divide made with all the children alike and Elizabeth to have to make her equal.  I wish this to be faithfully executed and in order that it be done I appoint James A. Womac to tend my business and to attend to my wifes trading and to attend at the death of the old woman to wind up this my will. Signed, Sealed, and delivered the presents of us this 11th day of May 1874. I also give my mare colt to Free Paris [sic, 'Farris'] & his wife Lucinda the loom day and date above for the

services in waiting on me.

Alexander his X mark Womac (Seal)

Witness

Thos Prince

Wm Calhoun

Probated Nov/74.

There is also the Bond for his son J A Womack, to be executor of the will.  The bond is clearly dated 5 Nov 1874, and signed 'James A Womac'.  (McMinn Co, TN, Bonds, Administrators & Executors, p.10, LDS Film # 004776241, image 37/843).  Also signing the bond were Daniel Wamack and S H McWhirter - from census records, this was Samuel H McWhirter, a physician in McMinn Co.

Also, McMinn Co, TN Court Minutes, Vol 1:134 (LDS Film # 008478623, image 100/532) - 2 Nov 1874, will of Alexander Womack proved by witnesses James Prince and William Calhoun, and James A Womack appointed executor.

Note that the clerk who copied the will into the will book made a couple mistakes:  Free Paris instead of Free Farris, and Thos [Thomas] Prince instead of James Prince.

Estate sale, 21 Nov 1874, by James A Womack, administrator, buyers were James Hammond, Free Farris, R A Womack, E L Womack and D Womack.  (McMinn Co, TN Inventories of Estates, 1:34, LDS Film # 004776242, image 36/403)

Thus, Alexander Womack died between 11 May 1874, when he signed his will, and 2 Nov 1874, when his will was probated.