Information learned in Tennessee Part 3 – the Honeycutts
The Honeycutts
Trulene and I started to search for Janie Honeycutt in 1920. Once again, I had no success because of being too literal. Trulene found her family on the 1920 census and discovered Janie was actually Eliza Jane.
[table id=5 /] [wpdm_file id=17]
Some things I noticed — Ida Belle was probably 15 when they married because she was 16 when the first child was born. The Honeycutts lived on Capuchin Creek Rd. and Trulene told me it’s so remote that even today no one hardly ever goes out that far.
1910 Census
Trulene found the 1910 census next, even with a change in names. This census was taken on May 2nd where the 1920 census had been taken on January 19th so there was a slight shift in ages. If you look at the census page image note the 11 and 13 year old boys are farm laborers now but listed as still attending school. Eliza Jane could read but not write at 8 years old.
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1900 Census
Some observations — Ida Belle was 17 years old with a 3 and 2 year old on June 14, 1900. The census said both James and Ida Belle could read but not write.
[table id=7 /] [wpdm_file id=19]
1895 Marriage of James Honeycutt and Ida Bell Roysden
There’s several things about this document that annoy me. Ida Belle’s name isn’t even spelled correctly, no signature was required by the bride-to-be, and it’s almost like she was sold to him. What can I say? It was 1895 in rural Tennessee. Ida Belle was born on 7/13/1880 and James on 4/26/1875 so Ida Belle was 4 months short of her 15th birthday when she married. The entire entry is in the same handwriting so this would back up that neither James nor Ida Belle could write.
[wpdm_file id=20]
1930 Census
Trulene, being a thorough researcher, wanted to find the 1930 census to verify that Eliza Jane was no longer listed there. Despite the census taker entering the name as James Heneycutt Trulene was able to find the record.
One the 1930 census they asked the age at marriage and the put 18 and 14. That is incredibly young. Apparently the son John who was 1 year old on the previous census did not survive. Daisy, the youngest child, must have been on the next page of the census and wasn’t listed. She was born in 1922.
[table id=8 /] [wpdm_file id=21]
One last document I found from the Honeycutts — the WWI draft card for James Honeycutt. Look at the eye and hair color. Yellow eyes and black hair. Yellow eyes? That’s a new one and I wonder if it was true.
Question remains
This was all interesting genealogy of my dad’s maternal side, but it didn’t get me any closer to finding out who the father may have been to Eliza Jane’s child.
Trulene and other ladies at the historical society told me it was common practice back then that when a daughter got pregnant out of wedlock the child would be raised as the parent’s child, not the daughter’s. This was viewed as more socially acceptable.
They also told me it was common place for the girls to never tell anyone who the father was. I couldn’t understand why a case of teenage hormones had to be kept in such secrecy until they explained that more often than not the father was a married man. So the girls protected the cheating, predatory male with their secrets.
But what little dad said about his early childhood sounded like it was he and his mother and no mention of anyone else around so I wondered if she had left home after the birth of the child. Trulene said there was a chance there might be a court record if she had to apply for welfare for herself and the baby so I decided make a trip to Scott county.
Oct 27, 2015 @ 22:23:52
Hi, James Harrison Honeycutt and Ida Bell Risden-Honeycutt were my Great-Grandparents. My Grandfather was Rev. George Harrison Honeycutt. I have a lot of pictures, if you would like to have them. I would love to see more of your family tree and pictures. Thank you in advance, Jamie Honeycutt-Ploskunak. Email: jamiep@twc.com or jamie00s@yahoo.com
Oct 31, 2015 @ 07:34:43
My GreatGrandparents were James Michael Honeycutt & Ida Belle Risden-Honeycutt , and my Grandparents were Rev. George Harrison Honeycutt & Louisa Jane Jones-Honeycutt.
Oct 31, 2015 @ 07:44:05
I noticed that it said John Honeycutt age 1 must have died before the next census. This is not true. He married and had several children.
Oct 31, 2015 @ 08:43:49
John Honeycutt which you gave posted that he must have passed after the first census, he didn’t die. He grew up to marry and had several children.
Oct 31, 2015 @ 09:29:35
I have Janie as marrying a Cross. HUNNEYCUTT, IDA BELLE RISDON – was July 13, 1880, died July 29, 1962. Survivors are her husband, JAMES HUNNEYCUTT, four sons, GEORGE of Robbins, EBREIN Norma, JOHAH [Jonah?] of Oneida, JOHN C. of Covington, Ky.; four daughters, JANIE CROSS, Elk Valley, MARY ANN YADON of Detroit, Mich., FLORA LEE THOMAS of Covington, Ky., DAISEY MAYES, of Helenwood, Tenn. She joined the New Salem Church in 1907, February 22, 1948, moved her letter to Tunnel Hill Baptist Church where she remained a member until death. Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord. (Source: West Union Association of United Baptists Minutes, 1962, p25)
Oct 31, 2015 @ 10:46:52
The marriage to cross was later in life. I would really like to know what happened when she was a teenager and got pregnant and several years later married a Smith.