That does explain why Harriet Emmaline Ward's Aunt Sarah was at the residence of James Beverly Ward at her time of passing.
I apologize for the genealogy posts that probably bore most of you to death. My justification is that Robert Morris along with Thomas Beale are the two most prominent figures in the Beale treasure pamphlet. Robert, we know is a real person and Thomas Beale, we’re not at all sure about.
I think the more “facts” we can uncover, regarding Robert’s life, the better understanding we will have of his possible involvement in the story. No more of my soapbox!
I did a rough and dirty search on Shadrack Brown and his family. We find the following marriage.
Shadrack Brown married Hannah Mitchell on October 18, 1887 in Bedford County, Virginia. (Some indicate that they believe the date was actually October 15). They were married by James Mitchel and the record identifies Hannah Mitchell as the daughter of John Isaac Mitchell.
So far so good.
In our scenario, we have Hannah and Sarah Morriss as sisters. This would mean that Hannah and Sarah Morriss's father was John Isaac Mitchell.
We also have Shadrack and Hannah’s daughter as Angelina M Brown (Mother of Harriett Emeline Otey)
Looking a little farther, we find that Shadrack Brown and Hannah had left Bedford and were living in Abbeville, South Carolina by 1800 and on February18, 1815 Shadrack wrote his will in which he named Hannah Brown as his wife and he named his two children. The will was entered into probate on March 2, 1815 in Abbeville.
I’m posting a portion Shadrack’s will that names his wife and two children.
Source: Abbeville, South Carolina - Index and Will, Vol 1, 1787-1815 (Ancestry.com)
The problem is that
there is no mention of a daughter, Angelina M. Brown, which is critical to our scenario. I didn’t pursue the father of Hannah Mitchell and the alleged sister, Sarah Mitchell Morris since it appears to me we are on a false path.
There are numerous Mitchells and Browns that show up in the Bedford marriage records and I could find no compelling reason why Shadrack and Hannah were singled out to tie Angelina and Sarah to Shadrack and Hannah other than the fact that we have the Brown name and the Mitchell name being joined.
I could be wrong and I hope that if anyone who has additional information or different thoughts, they will share them.
Garry