Abraham & Edward TINKER Jr. Research Project

For a few years now I have been researching my husbands 4th Great Grandfather, one Abraham TINKER. When I first began my research on him I was given a lot of erroneous information. I had an extensive tree on a popular website. I was asked to share with another user and when I did she came in and since I had unknowingly given her rights to edit my tree, she added a bunch of information that later turned out to be unsourced and incorrect. I was heartbroken when I began to research everything and found out what had happened. I had to go in and make me a whole new account and start building a new tree from the ground up. This person has since passed away so there is no way to have all that incorrect information that is out there corrected.

The purpose of this blog is begin my research on Abraham TINKER and to find his wife, the elusive Polly UNKNOWN. This project has a dual purpose, that being to prove that Abraham TINKER is NOT Edward TINKER Jr and that Abraham did NOT marry Polly HOBDAY.

First I want to reference the Photo above, this photo has been spread around online as being Polly HOBDAY-TINKER`s tombstone. It also has been stated that Polly HOBDAY married Abraham TINKER. I am here to prove that that is false. Let me explain:

1. There is a marriage record between an Edward TINKER Jr and a Polly HOBDAY. The two were married 21 July 1803 in Craven County, North Carolina.

Source Information:

Ancestry.com. North Carolina, Marriage Bonds, 1741-1868 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000. Original data: State of North Carolina. An Index to Marriage Bonds Filed in the North Carolina State Archives. Raleigh, NC, USA: North Carolina Division of Archives and History, 1977

What the above source proves is that Edward TINKER Jr DID marry one Polly HOBDAY. No where in the record does it refer to Edward`s name being Abraham! I have NEVER found Abraham referred to as Edward or even with the intital E in any records I have checked!

2. We find a marriage record for Abraham TINKER and woman named Polly. There is no maiden name listed in this record. I have tracked down the source of this record and I am waiting on hearing from the gentlemen who submitted it to the database, to see if he can ascertain as to its actual source. If there is a record out there I want to find it.

 Source Citation: Source number: 794.000; Source type: Electronic Database; Number of Pages: 1; Submitter Code: WRP.

Back to the marrige of Edward TINKER Jr and Polly HOBDAY. The two were only married all of two years as I can best find. He later married a woman named Betsey DRURY.

He and Betsey were married 5 Dec 1805
 Source Citation: Data Source: County Court Records - FHL # 0296803-0296808.

Given the above information let me pose this to all who argue that Abraham TINKER IS Edward TINKER Jr and his wife is Polly HOBDAY:

Edward Jr and Polly were only married a total of 2 years and 5 months before he married Ms. DRURY. Yet, I can put Abraham TINKER and his wife Polly on many census records AFTER this date! Here is a census record that lists Abraham TINKER and his wife POLLY in 1850 in Cocke County, Tennessee:

Source Citation: Year: 1850; Census Place: District 11, Cocke, Tennessee; Roll: M432_874; Page: 416A; Image: 370.

To me the facts that I have stated above should be enough to prove that Abraham TINKER and Edward TINKER Jr are two seperate individuals. I have posted my findings a few years ago on several message boards yet I STILL see it being circulated that these two men are one and the same. Thus the reason I am once AGAIN posting this information online hoping someone will finally "get it".

3. Now, lets look again at the tombstone posted above. I put it into my image editing software in order to try and blow it up to see if could make out the wording on it. Here is what I found:

 This is about as good as it gets folks. Lets start trying to decipher what we see here:

POLLY
Daughter of
(First name is illegible but it loks like it might contain a G and an R) & I_________
TINKER
died May 7?? 18?0
aged 4 ???





So it would appear the above individual was born a TINKER and was not a TINKER by marriage as it lists that she is a daughter of a TINKER vs. wife of TINKER.  I have no clue where this tombstone is? If anyone knows anything about this stone and where it is located I would love to hear from you. I think one can conclude that THIS stone does not belong to Polly HOBDAY wife of Edward TINKER Jr nor does it belong to Polly UNKNOWN wife of Abraham TINKER.

If anyone else can decipher more of this stone please, by all means leave me a message here, I would love your input.

4.
Edward TINKER was executed in October of 1811 in Craven County, North Carolina. In 1800 Abraham TINKER was living in Washington County Tennessee, because his first son James Abraham TINKER was born there. He and Polly went on to have numerous other children all born in Washington County, Tennessee, he couldn't be two places at once

5. Abraham TINKER and his wife Polly had several children, their youngest son was named Eli TINKER and Eli was born abt 1820 in Washington County, Tennesse. If Edward TINKER Jr was hanged in 1811 then there is NO WAY he could be the father of Eli TINKER! Eli TINKER married one Rebecca MILLER.

Finally in closing this post I want to call your attention to a message board post about Edward TINKER Jr. I have linked his name to that post as opposed to copying it here. I will create a second post on this subject a little later as soon as progress is made. I am open to questions on this subject and by all means if you have some legal documentation that disproves this, please let me know.