The information that we have can be a bit questionable because the past did not have the technology and the processes we have now. Everything was done manually and records were handwritten. It is most likely our ancestors may have had little to no education. They may have misspelled the names and the person recording the information could have misread them. You also have to factor in the time period these events took place in which, slavery segregation and Jim Crow Laws existed. We’ve found relatives names misspelled by the recorder (i.e. Nannie was spelled correct on one census and Nonnie or Nanie on others.

Several family members have traced our family history starting with Will Franklin and Bell Barnett. According to the information that was discovered it appears Bell may or may not have been older than Will.

History of Will and Bell

Bell was born sometime between 1877 to 1880 and Will sometime between 1875 to 1885. They were married on 20 May1901 in Gibson County. There were two things that stuck out about their marriage license. The first is they were bound to the state in the amount of $1,250.00 in which they could make payments. The second is that Gibson County and the State of Tennessee was going to ensure they got their money because the license states that Will & Bell had to bind their heirs. We only hope they finished making all the payments. In our research we know Will & Bell had sixteen children however, we were only able to identify thirteen: Laura, Hosie, Mattie, Trula, Vera, Erma, Robert James, Mary, Nannie Mae, Juanita, Neva, Tyree, and Dora Bell. Looking through the census Will was a farm laborer and Bell was a wash woman and took care of the house. The various census also show the different family members that were in the house hold from their children, brother-in-law, step daughter, nephew, niece, and grandchildren.