When it Appears No Records Exist for an Ancestor, Research Possible Father Candidates Instead

One of my 3rd great-grandfathers on my maternal line was a man named Daniel Pate. He lived a relatively short life. According to his gravestone, his middle initial was “S” and he was born February 18, 1856, and he died March 8, 1904. He is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Arcadia, Florida. 

Gravestone for Daniel S Pate.

Photo courtsey of Donna McPherson, findagrave memorial 29317330.

Not much is known about his life. He doesn’t appear to be a man of much means during his lifetime and records have been few and far between for him. I haven’t even had much luck locating him in census records. He appears on the 1900 Federal Census in Sarasota, Manatee County, Florida a few years before his death with his wife Margaret and four of his children. I’ve had no luck locating him and his family on the 1885 Florida State Census or the 1880 Federal Census. And I can’t find him in the 1860 Federal Census either! Thank goodness he was located on the 1870 Federal Census because that gave me the clues I needed to determine his parents.

Daniel Pate, age 14 and born in Alabama, living in the household of Wilson Stephens in Manatee County, Florida in 1870. Year: 1870; Census Place: Township 35, Manatee, Florida; Roll: M593_132; Page: 161B; Township: Township 35; Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.Original data:1870 U.S. census, population schedules. NARA microfilm publication M593, 1,761 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.Minnesota census schedules for 1870. NARA microfilm publication T132, 13 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.

In 1870, Daniel Pate is living in Manatee County in the household of Wilson and Mary Stephens with an infant, John Henry Stephens, and an older gentleman, Benjamin Stephens. 

Daniel Pate is listed as 14 years old, born in Alabama. But Wilson and Benjamin Stephens are listed as being born in Alabama too. This is typically when I would jump into some FAN Club research of Benjamin, Wilson, and Mary Stephens, but I got to cheat a bit on this part. Daniel Pate is a 3rd great-grandfather on my maternal side, but Wilson Stephens is one of my paternal 3rd great-grandfathers. And Benjamin Stephens is the father of Wilson Stephens and thus one of my 4th great-grandfathers. So, in short, I knew who these folks were!

The Stephens family migrated to Florida from Alabama. Benjamin Stephens had married a widow named Silence Davenport in Montgomery County, Alabama in 1842. I could probably do a stand-alone blog post on Daniel Pate’s mother’s name, but it appears that her name really was “Nancy Mary Ann Davenport”. And it shows up in any combination and any order of these three names on each and every document that I have found for her. And she was married twice, so she has three surnames to use in conjunction with these three given names as well. But a correlation of all the documents does confirm that even though she shows up named differently in almost every mention of her, this is the same woman.  

There is an indexed marriage record for a "William H Pate" and an "Ann M Devenport" from 1856 in Montgomery, Alabama. It was likely that this was the father and mother of Daniel Pate, but it wasn’t until I requested that the original record be pulled through a Family Search Library Lookup and sent to me that I could be sure.

Marriage license and bond for William H Pate and Ann M Davenport in Montgomery County, Alabama in 1856. The bondsmen were William H Pate himself and Benjamin Stephens. familysearch.org DGS film #7251076, image 257, page 224. "Alabama County Marriages, 1809-1950," database with images, FamilySearch.

To me, I can clearly see that her last name was mis-indexed and was, in fact, “Davenport,” but the item that truly ties everything together is at the bottom where it lists the bondsmen for the marriage. This information was never indexed, so it was unknown without the original record. The bondsmen for the marriage were listed as William H Pate <i.e., the groom> and Benjamin Stephens. And this is the correlation that we need to prove the parentage of Daniel S Pate: His father was William H Pate and his mother was Nancy Mary Ann Davenport.  

I tell you all this in order to get to the meat of the genealogy adventure that I want to tell you about today. I finally had the name of my 4th great-grandfather, William H Pate, and I set about researching him. But there were lots of William Pates in Alabama in 1850. There was only one William Pate in Montgomery County, Alabama in 1850, but I lost him on the 1860 census.

William Pate, age 14 and born in North Carolina, living with Henry Pate in Montgomery County, Alabama on the 1850 Federal Census. The National Archives in Washington D.C.; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M432; Residence Date: 1850; Home in 1850: District 2, Montgomery, Alabama; Roll: 12; Page: 168b. Township: District 2. Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

I knew that Nancy Pate had migrated to Florida and remarried by 1866. I assumed my William H Pate probably died in the Civil War, but I had no proof. I couldn’t be sure that the William Pate living in Montgomery County, Alabama in 1850 was MY William Pate.  

I researched William H Pate from various angles, but nothing was giving me anything definitive. I finally decided to theorize that the William Pate living in Montgomery County, Alabama on the 1850 Federal census, was the correct William Pate and thus begin researching the man that was listed as the head of household on that same census as if he was my William H Pate’s father. 

I figured that this man would at least be an uncle or a cousin and would fit in my tree somehow anyway given the surname, the timeframe, and the location all matching up.

The head of household was listed as Henry Pate, age 44, born in North Carolina. And that’s when I found Henry Pate’s probate record. Yep. If you’ve read some of my other blog posts, you are starting to figure out how much I love probate records. They are a treasure trove of genealogical information.  

Two of the pages of Henry’s probate record list all his children and some of his grandchildren. The full probate record can be found here. Of main interest to me is the section where it lists William H Pate as the deceased's son and then lists William's children as Daniel F, Martha D, and Delarah who are all in the custody of their mother, Nancy Pate who now resides in Manatee Co, Florida. These pages of the document are dated 1866.

The children of William H Pate are listed in the probate for Henry Pate. William H Pate is deceased by 1866. Estate Papers, 1817-1949; Author: Alabama. Probate Court (Montgomery County); Probate Place: Montgomery, Alabama. Page 495 of 1438; Ancestry.com. Alabama, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1753-1999 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Alabama County, District and Probate Courts.

Now we are getting somewhere! My Daniel Pate and his mother were certainly in Manatee County, Florida by 1870 (according to census records) which is just 4 years later! Henry Pate had a son named William H Pate. A William H Pate married Ann M Davenport in Montgomery, Alabama in 1856 and that marriage was bonded by Benjamin Stephens who was the step-father of Nancy Mary Ann Davenport.  

I had conclusive evidence that William H Pate was my 4th great-grandfather and that Henry Pate was my 5th great-grandfather.

A newspaper search in Alabama for Henry Pate netted me some finer details.

Probate announcement for the estate of Henry Pate listing his son, William H Pate, and his two sons-in-law, dated in late 1863. The Weekly Advertiser; Montgomery, Alabama · Wednesday, November 18, 1863; Page 3. Alabama Department of Archives and History.

A November 18, 1863 posting notes that on October 26, 1863, T Pate presented what was purported to be the Last Will and Testament of Henry Pate to a Special Court of the Probate. This same posting notes that William H Pate, William J Holmes, and George P Wingate are in the army and are “beyond the limits of the State” for the posting of this notice. A search of marriage records shows that William J Holmes was married to Martha D Pate and that George P Wingate was married to Mollie Delaura Pate. The boys were obviously off fighting in the civil war in 1863! And William H Pate was still alive at that point.

An additional advertisement was run in September of 1866 noting the 3 children of William H Pate, deceased, as heirs of the estate of Henry Pate. The article also notes that they are now living in Florida.  

Delarah, Daniel F, and Martha D Pate are listed as the children of William H Pate, deceased, and are heirs to the estate of Henry Pate and now currently reside in Florida. The Montgomery Advertiser; Montgomery, Alabama · Sunday, September 23, 1866; Alabama Department of Archives and History

Searching on Fold3.com, I found confederate service records for seven different William Pates who served in Alabama. Most have a middle initial listed and none of them are “H” but I don’t like to narrow down my search that specifically this early on in the process. I want all the options in front of me. Plus, I want to make sure that I agree with the transcriptions.  So I checked each record looking for clues.

My search for William Pate on Fold3. I ignored his middle initial and looked only at Confedrate Civil War Records in Alabama.

The soldiers and sailors database gave me the same names and results. So, I started looking at each regiment and looking at locations of enlistment. I wanted to focus on William Pates enlisting in or around Montgomery County, Alabama. Nothing seemed to fit exactly. I felt comfortable eliminating a few of the ones who had the wrong middle initial and didn’t enlist close to Montgomery County, but the rest were still viable options which required more research.

My next thought was to research all the William Pates in Alabama in 1860 and see if I could match up some of the service records to each of these guys, thereby eliminating some of them as not being my William Pate because I could locate them and verifying that they each lived a completely different life from my William H Pate.

But then I wondered…William H Pate was in the army and so were his brothers-in-law, William J Holmes and George P Wingate. Maybe I could find their service records and see if any of the William Pate service records correlated.  

An search for “George Wingate” serving in the Conferacy in Alabama on Fold3 initially netted me no results.

A search for “George Wingate” serving in Alabama in the Confederacy netted no results. The same thing happened for William Holmes.

An initial search for “William Holmes” serving in the Conferacy in Alabama on Fold3 netted me no results.

I was starting to think that I was not interpreting the information I collected from the probate and the newspaper articles correctly. So, I went back and read everything carefully. Something that jumped out to me was that a middle initial was listed for each man. So, I tried a different search.

Searching for “G P Wingate” serving in Alabama in the Confederacy gave me just one result.  

The index of Confederate soldiers serving in Alabama listed G P Wingate serving in Company K, 2nd Regiment Alabama Calvary. Source: https://www.fold3.com/image/304650875/wingate-g-p-private-page-1-civil-war-service-index-cmsrconfederate-alabama Publication Number: M374 Publication Title: Index to Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations From the State of Alabama Content Source: NARA Content Partner: NARA Source Publication Year: 1962 Fold3 Publication Year: 2012 Fold3 Job: 12-047 Nara Catalog Id: 595144 Nara Catalog Title: General Index to Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, compiled 1903 - 1927, documenting the period 1861 - 1865 Language: English Country: United States Publication Browse Title: Civil War Service Index (CMSR) - Confederate - Alabama Record Group: 109 Short Description: NARA M374. Alphabetical card index to the compiled service records of volunteer Confederate soldiers belonging to units from the State of Alabama. State: Alabama

This looked promising. 

G P Wingate enlisted on May 5, 1862 in Montgomery, Alabama. He was enlisted as a private in Company K, 2nd Regiment of the Alabama Calvary by Captain Marks.

G P Wingate muster roll for Co. K, 2nd Regt Alabama Calvary. He enlisted on May 5, 1862 in Montgomery County, Alabama. Source: https://www.fold3.com/image/6687916/wingate-g-p-page-2-civil-war-service-records-cmsr-confederatealabama Publication Number: M311 Publication Title: Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Alabama Nara Catalog Id: 586957 Nara Catalog Title: Carded Records Showing Military Service of Soldiers Who Fought in Confederate Organizations , compiled 1903 - 1927, documenting the period 1861 - 1865 Publication Browse Title: Civil War Service Records (CMSR) - Confederate - Alabama Publisher: NARA Record Group: 109 Short Description: NARA M311. Compiled service records of Confederate soldiers from Alabama units, labeled with each soldier's name, rank, and unit, with links to revealing documents about each soldier. State: Alabama

Searching for “W J Holmes” serving in Alabama in the Confederacy gave me three results. But one quickly looked like the correct one when correlated with G P Wingate’s.

W J Holmes also served in Co K, 2nd Regt Alabama Calvary. Source: https://www.fold3.com/image/304406785/holmes-w-j-private-page-1-civil-war-service-index-cmsr-confederatealabama Publication Number: M374 Publication Title: Index to Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations From the State of Alabama Content Source: NARA Content Partner: NARA Source Publication Year: 1962 Fold3 Publication Year: 2012 Fold3 Job: 12-047 Nara Catalog Id: 595144 Nara Catalog Title: General Index to Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, compiled 1903 - 1927, documenting the period 1861 - 1865 Language: English Country: United States. Publication Browse Title: Civil War Service Index (CMSR) - Confederate - Alabama Record Group: 109 Short Description: NARA M374. Alphabetical card index to the compiled service records of volunteer Confederate soldiers belonging to units from the State of Alabama. State: Alabama

W J Holmes enlisted on May 4, 1862 in Montgomery, Alabama. He was enlisted as a private in Company K, 2nd Regiment of the Alabama Calvary by Captain Marks.

Wm J Holmes’ muster roll for Co. K, 2nd Regt Alabama Calvary. He enlisted on May 4, 1862 in Montgomery County, Alabama. Source: https://www.fold3.com/image/6659417/holmes-william-page-4-civil-war-service-records-cmsr-confederatealabama Publication Number: M311 Publication Title: Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Alabama Nara Catalog Id: 586957 Nara Catalog Title: Carded Records Showing Military Service of Soldiers Who Fought in Confederate Organizations , compiled 1903 - 1927, documenting the period 1861 - 1865 Publication Browse Title: Civil War Service Records (CMSR) - Confederate - Alabama Publisher: NARA Record Group: 109 Short Description: NARA M311. Compiled service records of Confederate soldiers from Alabama units, labeled with each soldier's name, rank, and unit, with links to revealing documents about each soldier. State: Alabama

And guess what happened when I searched for “W H Pate” serving in Alabama in the Confederacy?

A search for “Pate, W H” in Confederate records for those serving in Alabama on Fold3.

The search returned just one result.  

W H Pate also served in Co K, 2nd Regt Alabama Calvary. Source: https://www.fold3.com/image/304512561/pate-w-h-private-page-1-civil-war-service-index-cmsr-confederatealabama Publication Number: M374 Publication Title: Index to Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations From the State of Alabama Content Source: NARA Content Partner: NARA Source Publication Year: 1962 Fold3 Publication Year: 2012 Fold3 Job: 12-047 Nara Catalog Id: 595144 Nara Catalog Title: General Index to Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, compiled 1903 - 1927, documenting the period 1861 - 1865 Language: English Country: United States Publication Browse Title: Civil War Service Index (CMSR) - Confederate - Alabama Record Group: 109 Short Description: NARA M374. Alphabetical card index to the compiled service records of volunteer Confederate soldiers belonging to units from the State of Alabama. State: Alabama

So, there they were. All 3 brothers-in-law were serving together in Company K, 2nd Regiment of the Alabama Calvary. Per the Soldiers and Sailor’s Database, the “2nd Cavalry Regiment was organized in May 1862, at Montgomery, Alabama. Its companies were from the counties of Calhoun, Shelby, Greene, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa, Butler, Coosa, Monroe, and Dallas. The regiment operated for a time in Florida, then skirmished in Mississippi under General Ruggles before being assigned to Ferguson's Brigade. Under this command, it was active in the Atlanta Campaign, the defense of Savannah, and the campaign of the Carolinas. Later the 2nd Cavalry formed part of President Davis' escort when he moved southward during the last days of the war. It surrendered at Forsyth, Georgia, in May 1865, with about 450 officers and men. Its commanders were Colonels John N. Carpenter, R.G. Earle, and F.W. Hunter; Lieutenant Colonels James Cunningham, Josiah J. Pegues, and John P. West; and Majors Richard W. Carter and Leroy Napier.”

Something that jumped out to me on William H Pate’s service records was that he was enlisted in Autauga County, not Montgomery County. On all the other pages, it lists the place of enlistment as Montgomery County, but on the first muster roll, it listed Autauga County.

W H Pate’s muster roll for Co. K, 2nd Regt Alabama Calvary. He enlisted on April 24, 1862 in Autauga County, Alabama. Source: https://www.fold3.com/image/6722024/pate-w-h-26-page-1-civil-war-service-records-cmsr-confederatealabama Publication Number: M311 Publication Title: Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Alabama Nara Catalog Id: 586957 Nara Catalog Title: Carded Records Showing Military Service of Soldiers Who Fought in Confederate Organizations , compiled 1903 - 1927, documenting the period 1861 - 1865 Publication Browse Title: Civil War Service Records (CMSR) - Confederate - Alabama Publisher: NARA Record Group: 109 Short Description: NARA M311. Compiled service records of Confederate soldiers from Alabama units, labeled with each soldier's name, rank, and unit, with links to revealing documents about each soldier. State: Alabama

Looking at a map, Autauga is next to Montgomery, so this is a good sign because it is still close geographically.  

I was hoping to find William H Pate and his wife Nancy Mary Ann Pate with their son Daniel and maybe one or both of his daughters, Martha D and Delarah, on the 1860 Federal Census in Autauga County, Alabama but I had no such luck.  

I turned to the Alabama Department of Archives and History. Searching for W H Pate, William H Pate, and William Pate gave me various results. But I did find him in the Alabama Civil War Service Record Database. However, no new information was gleaned from this.  

But I did find the additional two entries:

These were great because they confirmed that the W H Pate that enlisted in Autauga County was actually named “William H Pate”. But what was this Indigent Fund? I submitted a research request. I don’t remember exactly how much it cost, but I think that it was around $45.  The archivist sent me a copy of the original Act of Alabama Congress from 1861 explaining the Indigent Fund for Families of Alabama Volunteers in the Confederate Army.

Information from The Volunteers Aid Fund obtained and provided by the Alabama State Archives.

Wm H Pate listed as a Volunteer in the Confederate Army from Autauga County, Alabama. He has a wife and two children with “no means” as of the payment date in May of 1862. The probate judge (whose initials were “HB”) paid William H Pate’s family $4. Information from The Volunteers Aid Fund obtained and provided by the Alabama State Archives.

Information from The Volunteers Aid Fund obtained and provided by the Alabama State Archives.

Information from The Volunteers Aid Fund obtained and provided by the Alabama State Archives.

A search of the newspapers in Alabama for W H Pate nets the following article in the Selma times from 1869.

W. H. Pate of Company K, 2nd Regiment Alabama Calvary is found in the list of confederate soldiers buried in the cemetery near Atlanta. Selma Morning Times Selma, Alabama · Thursday, April 29, 1869, page 4.

So, William H Pate perished and is buried near Atlanta. I don’t know why his death is not recorded in his Civil War Service records. 

The last date that we see in his compiled service records is May 14, 1864, after he is transferred to Ferguson's Brigade, when he received a Pair of Pants, a hat, and a jacket. He likely died during the actual Battle of Atlanta and that is why he ended up buried in “the cemetery near Atlanta.” This is the Marietta National Cemetery in Marietta, Georgia. The markers for the bulk of the Confederate Soldiers were wooden and have since rotted away. These graves are presently unmarked.

The archivist at the Alabama Department of History and Archives checked the probate records in Autauga for me, and there was no probate file for William H Pate. Nancy Mary Ann Pate was down in Manatee County, Florida, and remarried by 1866. Their son Daniel F or S Pate was living with his uncle Wilson Stephens by 1870 and his sisters were enumerated as “Darcas Elizabeth Weeks” and “Laura Weeks” in the household of their mother Nancy Weeks and step-father Madison Weeks in the 1870 Federal Census.  

The household of William H Pate and his wife Nancy Mary Ann Pate and children in 1860 has yet to be located on the Federal Census. Without researching the proposed father of William H Pate, I just don’t think that I would have found the records necessary to confirm the correct William Pate. 

“Giving up” and researching a hypothetical father gave me the records that I needed to confirm William’s identity and the details of his life and death.