Wednesday, May 30, 2018

An Impressive Member of the FAN Club

Most genealogists recognize the acronym FAN popularized by Elizabeth Shown Mills. For those not acquainted with the term, FAN represents your ancestor's friends, associates, and neighbors.

Micah Taul, then clerk of courts in Wayne County, Kentucky, granted marriage bonds on 22 Jan 1811 to two couples. The bondsman for Charles Harris to wed Dicey Davis was John Harris, believed to be his father. The bond states Dicey was "of age" and that Charles' parents were present and consented. The other marriage that day was Joseph Mays to Nancy Davis. Presumably Nancy was Dicey's younger sister for John Davis, presumably their father, consented to that marriage. Nicholas Banes served as bondsman. Mays' parents also consented according to the record.

I wondered who Micah Taul was. Born in Maryland in 1785, he moved with his parents to Wayne County, Kentucky, in 1787. His admission to the bar at the age of sixteen in 1801 is notable. He began serving as county clerk that same year. He served as a Colonel in the War of 1812. He served a term as United States representative from 1815 to 1817. He later moved to Winchester, Tennessee where he practiced law and eventually to Talladega County, Alabama where he owned a plantation near Mardisville. Taul's son Micah later served as Alabama's Secretary of State.

Taul wrote memoirs. The originals no longer exist, but they were serialized in the Register of Kentucky State Historical  in 1929 and typescripts are available at University of Kentucky and Appalachian State University. Appalachian State's special collections contain letters from a Taul descendant.

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Sources:

Find A Grave, database with images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25309452/micah-taul : accessed 28 May 2018), memorial for Micah Taul (1785-1850), memorial no. 25309452, citing Taul Family Cemetery, Mardisville, Talladega County, Alabama; memorial created by Bill McKern, 16 Mar 2008.

"Kentucky, County Marriages, 1797-1954," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-893Y-BLFB?cc=1804888&wc=QD3Q-H3V%3A1589735718 : 17 May 2018), Charles Harris to Dicey Davis and Joseph Mays to Nancy Davis, 22 Jan 1811, Wayne County, Kentucky, FHL film 005773126 > image 172 of 707; citing record at Madison County Courthouse, Richmond.

"Memoirs of Micah Taul," Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society, vol. 27, no. 79 (Jan. 1929): 343-380; vol. 27, no. 80 (May 1929): 494-517; vol. 27, no. 81 (Sept. 1929): 601-627. 

"Micah Taul," Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micah_Taul : accessed 28 May 2018).

Micah Taul Papers, 1848-1978. Belk Library, Appalachian State University, W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Collection 170. 2 folders. At the time of writing, the special collections web site did not load. Information obtained from Worldcat (https://worldcat.org/ : accessed 28 May 2018).


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