Repeated Given Names Often Confuse Genealogy Searchers ~ Or: Which Person Do You Mean?

This week I’ve spent time back-tracking to an article I wrote for this column on June 2, 2005 about John Little Ingram’s family. He was my great, great grandfather who was born in 1788 in South Carolina, died in 1866 in Union County, Georgia, married three times, and had a total of twenty-one children, nine by his first wife Mary “Polly” Cagle, ten by his second wife, Cynthia Kittle, and two by his third wife, Catherine Cameron.

A question and additional research came about the tenth child by John Little Ingram’s second wife, Cynthia Kittle. This child was named Martin Ingram, born in 1844 and, according to Watson B. Dyer in his family history book, died in Jackson, Mississippi in 1863 during the Civil War.

A very fine genealogy researcher, Dr. Charles Ingram, read my article online at the GaGenWebProject and saw the name Martin Ingram. He immediately thought that the birth and death dates were wrong, because his ancestor by the same name, Martin Ingram, he had documented well. He knew that his particular Martin was born December 26, 1816 and died November 13, 1891 and was buried at the Four Mile Cemetery, Pickens County, Georgia—not in far away Mississippi during the Civil War.

One of the difficulties seemed to revolve around the name of the wife listed for each of the Martin Ingrams. Both were listed as marrying a Rebecca Bozeman, and to further confuse, Rebecca had a nickname, Beedee or Becky. Now is that coincidence, or an error in listing? Dr. Charles Ingram has a family Bible showing his 1816 Martin Ingram married Rebecca (Beede/Becky) Bozeman on November 24, 1842 in Cherokee County, Georgia. He also has authentication from Cherokee County marriage Book A, page 46, a listing for the marriage of Martin Ingram and Beedy Bozeman.

The only record I’ve found for the 1844 Martin Ingram’s marriage to Rebecca Bozeman is a listing on page 408 of Watson B. Dyer’s “Dyer Family History, 1600’s to 1980.” He did not give a source for the marriage record. Maybe the younger Martin Ingram married a cousin by the same name of the wife of his first cousin, 1816 Martin Ingram. I looked in the Union County marriage records and did not find the younger Martin’s marriage listed there. Could this be an error? Perhaps Watson Dyer found a listing for the 1816 Martin Ingram’s marriage, and assumed that the younger Martin married a Bozeman, too. Since the 1844 Martin died young, at age 19, he evidently married young, too, if, indeed, he wed before he went to the Civil War and was killed. I did find a listing of Martin R. Ingram in the 52nd Regiment of the Georgia Infantry Volunteers, Army of Tennessee, Company G. They called themselves “The Alleghany Rangers,” from Union County. They enlisted for six months and their commanding officers were Lewis B. Beard and Julius H. Barclay [Reference: “Sketches of Union County History, Volume 2, 1978, p. 41]

John Little Ingram’s son, Martin, lived only nineteen years, and whether he married before he went away to war (to a Rebecca Bozeman or not?), we do not have a record that he had children.

On the other hand, the Martin Ingram (1816-1891) who is definitely known to have married a Rebecca Bozeman, was the son of Tillman Ingram (1794-?) and Elizabeth “Betsy” Dalrymple Ingram (1799-?). Tillman and John Little Ingram were brothers, so the two Martin Ingrams were first cousins. The 1816 Martin Ingram became a Baptist minister and preached in churches in Cherokee and Pickens Counties, Georgia for more than thirty years. They had eleven children, nine for whom we have names: Isaac N., John H., Samuel T., Nancy E., Hester A., James P., Thomas K., Mary, and Loan. Rev. and Mrs. Martin Ingram were buried at the Four Mile Cemetery, Pickens County, Georgia.

Given names in any family are important. Maybe the babies are named for someone in the family, a grandparent, parent, aunt or uncle, or even going farther back to another ancestor. The fact that brothers give their sons and daughters family names causes confusion at times, because there are multiple people with the same name. That’s how we got confused over the name Martin Ingram. We could say the same of John, Little, Isaac, Tilman and other given names, carried through several generations.

c2011 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published October 6, 2011 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

John Little Ingram, Father of a Large Family

John Little Ingram (1788-1866), the father of twenty-two children, twenty-one of whom lived to be adults, was the ancestor of many with Union County, Georgia connections.

John Little Ingram was married three times and had children by each wife. First he married Mary “Polly” Cagle (1793-1829). Their ten children included one child that died as an infant and nine more, seven daughters and two sons: Rebecca, Isaac, Elizabeth, Sarah, Tillman, Nancy, Mary Jane, Louisa and Malinda.

After his wife Mary “Polly” died, John Little Ingram married Cynthia Kittle in 1830. To them were born ten children, five sons and five daughters: Lucretia, Little, Jr., Ginsey, Allen, Clary, Cynthia, Jeremiah, Benjamin, Ruth and Martin.

After his second wife’s death, John Little Ingram married, third, Catherine Cameron in Franklin County, Georgia on February 22, 1845. He and Catherine had two sons, Joseph (1846) and William (1847). His third wife died before 1860. By then, several of the twenty-one children of John Little Ingram had already married and established homes of their own, with the first of his and Mary Cagle Ingram’s children, Rebecca, herself marrying a Cagle—Joseph Roland---in 1834.

At the age of 78, John Little Ingram died at the home of his daughter, Lucretia Ingram Rhodes in the Ivy Log District of Union County. She was the first child of Little’s second wife, Cynthia Kittle Ingram. Lucretia had married George Rhodes, a widower with two small sons, Grant and Wiley Rhodes. Even though John Little Ingram had been an early member of Choestoe Baptist Church (listed in the 1836 membership rolls), he was buried at the Ivy Log Baptist Church Cemetery, because transporting the body to Choestoe in 1866 would have been a long journey by wagon. His first wife Mary had been buried in Hall County. His second wife Cynthia may have been buried in the Gaddistown District of Union County where the family lived at the time of her death. The place of interment of his third wife, Catherine, is unknown.

There is no stone marking the grave of War of 1812 patriot John Little Ingram. I wish we knew the exact location so we could erect a monument to his memory.

My interest in the Ingram family stems from my great grandmother, Louisa Eliza Ingram (1827-1907) who married James Marion Dyer (1822-1904) on June 18, 1846. Louisa was the eighth child of John Little Ingram and Mary “Polly” Cagle Ingram. The sixth of the twelve children born to Louisa and James Marion Dyer was Bluford Elisha Dyer (1855-1926), my grandfather, who married Sarah Evaline Souther (1857-1959). The tenth of the fifteen children of Bluford and Sarah was my father, Jewel Marion Dyer (1890-1974) who married Azie Collins (1895-1945).

The Ingrams in America were patriotic. John Little Ingram, my great, great grandfather, was a soldier in the War of 1812. His first service was near Nashville, Tennessee for six months. He enlisted again from Franklin County, Georgia and fought at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in Alabama with General Andrew Jackson in 1814. It was there that the Creek Indians known as “The Red Sticks” rose up against white settlers. General Jackson and his soldiers were dispatched to put an end to the Indian uprising at Horseshoe Bend.

We can only imagine the stories John Little Ingram told his many children of his experiences as a soldier in the War of 1812 and his service in the Indian uprisings. Little Ingram was discharged at Augusta, Georgia in 1814. He brought home with him a small hymn book that became a family treasure. It was passed on through his youngest son, William P. Ingram (son of Little and Catherine Cameron) who lived in Culberson, NC. As late as 1935, George Ingram, son of William P., still had the old hymnbook in his possession.

Five of John Little Ingram’s sons served in the Civil War and three of them lost their lives in that conflict. Tillman Ingram (1822-1863) was the fifth child of Little and Mary “Polly” Cagle Ingram. His first enlistment ended in discharge with the notation that he was “too old for service.” However, Tillman, wishing to “defend against the enemy,” reenlisted, giving his age as younger than his actual years. He died of a raging fever in Trinity, Texas during the war. Four of Tillman’s sons, John Robert, Thomas B., John C. and Edmond Dale, fought in the Texas War for Independence against Mexico.

Little Ingram, Jr. (1832-1863), son of Little’s second wife, Cynthia Kittle, died at the Battle of Vicksburg, Mississippi and was buried there. He had married Mary King on March 8, 1855. She was left a widow with little children, but information about their family has not yet been gathered by this researcher.

Jeremiah Ingram (1838-?) was a brother to Little, Jr. and the seventh child of John Little and Cynthia Kittle Ingram. He enlisted in the Confederate Army and fought at the Battle of Chancelorsville, Virginia where he was captured May 3, 1863. He was paroled from Fort Delaware (probably in a prisoner-of-war exchange) that same month. His record showed that he deserted the Confederate Army September 21, 1863. He married Elizabeth Henson on December 3, 1857. Further information about their family is unknown to this writer.

Benjamin Ingram (1840-?) married Charity Gilbert on July 15, 1856. He enlisted in Company B of the Georgia 23rd Regiment at Camp McDonald on August 31, 1861. He was at the Battle of Charlottesville, Virginia. He was hospitalized with consumption in December, 1862. He was captured at the Battle of Fredericksburg in June, 1863. He was paroled and rejoined his company. On July 21, 1864 he was captured at Winchester, Virginia and sent to military prison in Wheeling and from there transferred to a prison at Camp Chase, Ohio September 16, 1864 where he remained a prisoner-of-war until the surrender of Lee at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. He returned to Georgia but further information on his family has not been researched by this writer.

Martin Ingram (1844-1863) married Rebecca Bozeman prior to enlisting in the Confederate Army. He was a casualty of the war, dying at Jackson, Mississippi in 1863.

John Little Ingram learned the importance of patriotism from his father, Pvt. John Little Ingram of South Carolina who was a patriot in the American Revolution. Next week’s column will go further backward in time to trace the service of this soldier.

c2005 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published June 2, 2005 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.