Check, Check and Check Again!

 Photo Credit: RexxS, Wikimedia Commons

In my children's paternal line of Kitts, every generation seems to have men who are named very similar, if not exactly the same. For instance in today's post I will be discussing William Kitts and William G. Kitts. I have run into a same name issue that is driving me crazy! I thought if I write a post about it laying out what I know of these two men it might make more sense to me. 

Well, I have spent the whole day going over what records I had for these two William Kitts and looking for additional information to help me with my dilemma. What didn't help were the numerous incorrect public trees available on Ancestry.com, including my own. My tree is private so I can only hope that anyone I shared my tree with will forgive my errors!

When I am having trouble reconciling information, I find it helps me to write it all out or in this case type it all out so that I could share my findings with someone else. As I began typing everything, I thought why not make this a blog post! Maybe I can help someone else by presenting my case of the two William's and how I finally figured out which was which.  As I was pouring over my records it hit me like a ton of bricks! I had the wrong birth year for William Gordon Kitts, how did I not see this before?? 

Moral of the story? Check, check and check again!

William Gordon Kitts (c. 1838-15 October 1862)
 
Here is what I know of William G. Kitts, who was born in Bland County, Virginia in what I thought was circa 1819, however his actual year of birth is circa 1838. It should be noted that Bland County was not formed until 1861 from Wythe, Tazewell and Giles counties. I believe he may have actually been born in one of these counties most likely, Wythe. He is the son of Henry Hiram Kitts and his wife, Mary "Polly" Cline Kitts.

• Born circa 1838 in Wythe County, Virginia
• Marriage: No record found
• 1850 US Census¹ , William is listed as Gordon Kitts and is 12 years of age, living in District 68, Wythe County, Virginia. Also in his household are his father, Henry who is 59 years old and his occupation is listed as a farmer; his mother Polly who is 55 years old; brother Rufus is 21 years old and his occupation is listed as farmer; his sister Mandana is 18 years old; brother Alfred is 16 years old and his sister Matilda is 14 years old. Also living in the family home is Elizabeth Cline who is 75 years old and Gordon's maternal grandmother. There is also Joseph Oury who is 35 years old and his occupation is listed as laborer.
• 1860 US Census ², William is 21 years of age, living in District 68, Wythe County, Virginia and his occupation is listed as a farm laborer. Also in his household are his father, Henry who is 74 years old and his occupation is listed as a farmer; his mother Polly who is 63 years old; his brother Alfred who is 25 years old and his occupation is listed as a farm laborer and his sister Jane (Matilda in 1850) is 23 years old. Also living in the family home is his maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Cline who is 83 years old.
• Civil War ³ - William G. Kitts, enlisted as a Private, Company G, 36th Virginia Infantry on 3 May 1862 in Bland County, Virginia by Captain Harner. William died on 15 October 1862 (of disease) in Red House Shoal, Putnam, West Virginia. His father, Henry filed a claim for his pay and in his affidavit, Henry states that William did not have a wife and/or children.

Based on the census records above, I can at least summarize that William Gordon Kitts was born circa 1838.

William G. Kitts (c.1819-bef 1900)
 
Here is what I know about William G. Kitts, who was born circa 1819 in Wythe County, Virginia to Jacob Kitts and his wife, Mary Perkey Kitts.

• Born  circa 1819 in Wythe County, Virginia
• 1st Marriage ⁴ to: Elizabeth Dunn, daughter of Thomas & Catherine (Steele) Dunn on 7 June 1843 in Wythe County, Virginia
• 1850 US Census ⁵, William is listed as 31 years old and his occupation is listed as a farmer in District 68, Wythe County, Virginia. His wife Elizabeth is listed as being 24 years old. They are family/dwelling number 1570. I am making this distinction because his parents are listed as family/swelling number 1569 and his father in law is listed as family/dwelling number 1570. William's real estate value was $1000.00
• 1860 US Census ⁶, William is listed as 42 years old and his occupation is still listed as a farmer in District 68, Wythe County, Virginia. His wife Elizabeth is listed as 34 years of age. It would appear however, that there are multiple families living in the home of William & Elizabeth. Rhonda Havens is listed as age 45 and her occupation is listed as serving (servant?); James Dumm is listed as age 34 (31?) and his occupation is listed as laborer in the family. I believe that his last name is Dunn and that he is the younger sibling of Elizabeth Dunn Kitts; G.W. Green is listed as age 30 and his occupation is listed as minister, M E C South (no clue what the initials mean at this time) and his wife Elizabeth is listed as being 27 years of age; N. Waddle is listed as 21 years old and his occupation is as a farm laborer; Eli Steele is listed as 23 years old and his occupation is as a laborer, presumbly, Jane Steele is his wife and 22 years old. There is a child, Erastus Steele, age 7 which would make Eli and Jane in their teens if he is their son so I am thinking that possibly 7 should be a 1 and that the error was in the transcription process. There is also a baby, John Green who is listed as age 2 months out of 12 and I presume he is the son of G.W. and Elizabeth Green. Williams's real estate value is listed as $6000.00 and his personal estate is listed as $1000.00.
• Civil War 1860-1865 - William was certainly old enough to have served but I have not found any documentation that he served as of yet but there are three William Kittses who served from Virginia one of whom is William Gordon Kitts above.
• 1870 US Census ⁷, William is listed as 51 years old and his occupation is still listed as a farmer in Seddon, Bland, Virginia. Elizabeth is listed as 42 years old and her occupation is keeping house. There is a young girl, Florence Bogle who is 9 years old living in the home. Since William & Elizabeth do not appear to have had children of their own I can only presume to think that perhaps she is a relative. There is also a Cary Edwards age 20 years old and she is listed as a servant. William's real estate value is listed as $2256.00 and his personal estate is listed as $829.00.
• 1880 US Census ⁸, William is listed as 61 years old and his occupation is still listed as a farmer in Seddon, Bland, Virginia. Elizabeth is listed as 54 years old and her occupation is keeping house. Victoria Neel is listed as 21 years old, her occupation is listed as servant/cook and her younger brother Zachariah Neel age 15 years old is listed as a laborer. All of the occupants were born in Virginia.
• Elizabeth's Death ⁹, from a Find-A-Grave memorial I learned that Elizabeth died on 30 August 1885. The memorial page lists William G. Kitts as her husband.
• 2nd Marriage ¹⁰ to: Victoria J Neel, daughter of Thomas A Neel and Sarah Fortner (Faulkner?) Neel on 20 October 1887. I have unresolved issues with Victoria I will dwell on another day!
• Birth of Son ¹¹: William and Victoria had one son, James Martin Kitts who was born on 6 March 1889.
• Death ¹²: I have had nothing but negative results for William's death. I do know that his death was before 15 June 1900 because his second wife Victoria is listed as a widow on this census. Even phone calls to both Wythe and Bland County courthouses yielded no results for any will or probate records for William.

Sources:

1. 1850 United States Census,  District 68, Wythe, Virginia, pop. schedule, p.334B; dwelling:1549, family: 1569, line 6; entry for Gordon Kitz, house of Peter Kitz; database & digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 July 2016); from National Archives microfilm publication M432, Record Group 29, roll M432.

2. 1860 United States Census,  District 68, Wythe, Virginia, pop. schedule, p.129; dwelling:973, family: 864, line 16; entry for William Kitts, house of Peter Kitts; database & digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 July 2016); from National Archives microfilm publication M653. 

3. Compiled Service Record, William G. Kitts, Pvt. Co. G, 36 Virginia Inf., pp. 1-14; Carded Records, Volunteer Organizations, Civil War, Fold3 (www.fold3.com : accessed 25 July 2016); citing Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations From the State of Virginia,  Record Group 109, Publication Number M324, National Archives, Washington, D.C. 

4. "Virginia Marriages, 1785-1940", database FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 25 July 2016), entry for William Kitts and Elizabeth Dunn, 7 June 1843, Wythe County. 

5. 1850 United States Census,  District 68, Wythe, Virginia, pop. schedule, p.336B; dwelling:1570, family: 1570, line 24; entry for William Kitz, database & digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 July 2016); from National Archives microfilm publication M432, Record Group 29.

6. 1860 United States Census,  District 68, Wythe, Virginia, pop. schedule, p.860; dwelling:1044, family: 923, line 12; entry for William Kitts, database & digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 July 2016); from National Archives microfilm publication M653.

7. 1870 United States Census, Seddon, Bland, Virginia, pop. schedule, p. 10; dwelling: 66, family: 66, line 24; entry for William Kitts, database & digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 July 2016); from National Archives microfilm publication M593.

8. 1880 United States Census, Seddon, Bland, Virginia, pop. schedule, Enumeration District (ED): 6, p. 1A, dwelling 8, family 8, entry for William Kitts, database with images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : 25 July 2016); from National Archives microfilm publication T9, Record Group 29.

9.  Find A Grave, database (www.findagrave.com : accessed 25 July 2016), memorial page for Elizabeth Kitts (1826-1885). Find A Grave Memorial # 118540555, citing Dillow-Bogle Cemetery, Bland, Bland, Virginia; Memorial Created by James E. Snyder on 11 October 2013.

10. "Virginia Marriagers, 1785-1940", database FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 25 July 2016), entry for William Kitts and Victoria Neel, 20 October 1887, Bland County.

11. "Virginia Death Records, 1912-2014," database with images Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 July 2016), certificate image for James Martin Kitts, Date of Birth 6 March 1889, Bland County, Virginia, no. 28749.

12. 1900 United States Census, District 00004, Sharon, Bland, Virginia, pop. schedule, Enumeration District (ED): 4, sheet 7B, dwelling 107, family 109, line 82; entry for Victoria Kitts, database with images Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 July 2016); from National Archives microfilm publication T623.

13. "Blue Check PD", Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_check_PD.svg : 25 July 2016), submitted by RexxS.