On my mother’s side of the family I have uncovered yet another mystery. My maternal great grandmother Pauline Battle Poe was the daughter of Benjamin Franklin Battle and Rena Merchant. She was raised in Six Mile, Bibb County, Alabama. Her mother and father were very enterprising individuals, owning the local store and blacksmith shop. Rena was actually appointed postmaster in 1938.
Despite a very honest life, Benjamin Franklin Battle descends from a myth. His grandfather, Benjamin Caswell Battle was the first of the Battle family to arrive in Bibb County, Alabama in the late 1830’s. He married Rebecca Cottingham in August of 1841. Benjamin Caswell Battle was supposedly the illegitimate son of female member of the Battle family in North Carolina and a Cherokee named Threadgill or Thrillkill. None of this can be proven…but yet another mystery for me to unlock…
Marrow 
Now you and hubby have something in common. I analyze the men in one of his lines–actually, I analyze their WWI registration cards–for hair and eye color, looking for traces of the rumored Native American influence. Plus the Bibb County connection you and hubby both have. Quite ironic. That is a gorgeous picture of Cowpens National Battlefield you’ve put up.
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That’s pretty cool – maybe we are related somehow?? I’ve got to be related to one of you somehow – there are way too many coincidences!I can’t take credit for the picture of Cowpens, but I agree – I thought it was beautiful!
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I love to read about other family histories. Like you I have an ancestor that was a blacksmith, mine was in New York. There is so much of the past that people want to clean up and then say “the good ole days.” I have found many myths and stories in my quest to know my ancestors. My niece’s 16th birthday was this week and my gift was a collected of family stories. She had never heard any of them and was thrilled with knowing where she came from.
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That’s really cool! I think my favorite part about genealogy is finding first person stories about people in my tree. Somehow it makes them come alive and live again. Check out the post I just did on John Bean – it’s a great example of stumbling across a jewel!
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