Polly Hobday Tinker Death Record Found

Today I made a discovery that I hope will finally set the record straight.

There is so much mystery and drama surrounding Polly HOBDAY-TINKER. What it all boils down to is its easier to grab somebody elses information and copy it to your own family tree than to do the work yourself. With that being said for years folks have tried and merged Edward TINKER Jr & Polly HOBDAY into Abraham Sr TINKER and his wife the Elusive Polly. Nowhere have I ever seen Abraham referred to with even so much as the initial E. Im sorry but Abraham TINKER and Edward Jr TINKER are two entirely different individuals. Are they related? Quite possibly, but more on that later. The purpose of this post is to give you the information on Polly HOBDAY-TINKER. Polly was born about 1775, nobody knows for certain her exact date of birth so this is just a guesstimate. On 21 July, 1803 in Craven County, North Carolina she married one Edward TINKER Jr. The marriage record specifically refers to the man she married as being named Edward TINKER Jr.  On 8 July, 1805 the above Death Entry was made in the Raleigh Register and if you notice it states the following:

TINKER, Mrs. Edward, Jr-Je.26. Newbern, R.R Jly.8.1805

Description

Section: Deaths, 1799-1825

Source Information

Marriage and Death Notices from Raleigh Register and North Carolina State Gazette, 1799-1825 [database on-line].

Edward TINKER remarries on 5 December, 1805 in Craven County, North Carolina to a Miss Betsy DRUREY as evidenced in their marriage record appearing on Ancestry website. 

This information tells us that Edward and his wives lived in Craven County North Carolina and were never in Greasy Cove or Unicoi/Washington County, Tennessee where Abraham Sr TINKER and his wife Polly lived. Abraham and Pollys oldest Child John P TINKER was born in 1801 in Washington County, Tennessee some two years before Edward even married Polly HOBDAY.  Questions? Leave them in the Comment box on this page. I will share more information on these two families at a later date.

52 Ancestors: #10-Leo Doyle Tinker

This week I struggled with who or what to write about for my weekly 52 Ancestors Entry. I decided to devote this post to my Father In Law. Over the course of these past few years there has been much mystery surrounding this man. I remember full well when we told my father in law that we were setting out to research his family history, back in the early nineties he made the following statement: You better be careful what you wish for, you might find something you didn't want to know.

We thought he was probably just being silly as he had a tendency to joke around with us so we really did not think anything of it at the time. Oh how we both wish we would have implored it further with him that day, while there was time to ask questions. We will always think that he knew something about the mystery surrounding his paternal ancestor. If only I could roll back time. Instead we are left with the answers hidden inside my husbands DNA matches. Day by day we get closer to unraveling the whole story.

Leo was born 25 June, 1930 in Parma, New Madrid, Missouri. His parents were Walter TINKER and Stella D BOUSE. Of that we are most certain, traditional genealogical research along with DNA evidence have substantiated that part of my husbands history. Leo worked for a time at Alexian Brothers Hospital in Saint Louis, Missouri. It was there that he met his first wife, Dianne, she also worked there. They were married in the late 1960`s. It was a second marriage for Dianne, she had two daughters from her previous marriage. The couple went on to have five children, my husband being the oldest.  They lost one son at the age of 17 months due to complications from Chicken Pox and the Measles.

Leo worked for a time at Flaton Brothers Machine Shop in Saint Louis, Missouri. He was an Independent Minister. He loved to visit African American Churches and worship with the folks there. My husband remembers traveling to various churches with his father and having a time of fellowship with the congregation.

Leo had a sense of humor about him. He never seemed to meet a stranger. His only daughter shares a birthday with him. I remember my mother in law telling me the story of the night my husband was born. She said that Leo was so nervous he caught a napkin on fire in the waiting room and the ashtray was just blazing and they had to come put the fire out. He was always getting into first one mishap and then another. Each of his kids could tell you stories about the silly antics their father was always getting himself into. My husband has most definitely followed in his fathers footsteps.

Leo and Dianne divorced in 1985. They both remarried after their Divorce. Leo married Carla "Jo Ann" LASATER and they resided in Charleston, Mississippi, Missouri. They attended the Assembly of God Church in Charleston.

In his latter years Leo liked to weave, an odd hobby for a man. But he built his own loom and would weave placements and blankets. He was always making something for someone. He loved to go Fishing and could often be found on the banks of Upper Big Lake in Charleston, Missouri with a fishing pole in his hand. When we were expecting our first child, we went fishing with him one day. I remember being the victim of a fish hook which got caught in my hair when Leo decided to cast his line. Needless to say after a few fishing trips with him, I decided it best to stay home and leave the fishing to the men folk.

Leo developed Bacterial Meningitis and passed away on 30 October, 1999 in Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, Scott, Missouri. He is buried at I.O.O.F Cemetery in Charleston, Mississippi, Missouri.

Research Project: A Clean Slate

Sometimes when you have done all you know to do, it is time to regroup and begin again. I am a big advocate of after having worked on a particular ancestor for a while, putting them away for a spell and trying again at a later date.
For years I have been trying to locate information on my husbands 4th Great Grandfather: Abraham TINKER Sr.
There is a lot of controversy and mystery surrounding this individual. At times during the course of my research I felt as though I was batting my head against a brick wall.
It has been some time since I have really done any major work on the TINKER genealogy in general due to that fact. I recently decided to pick up where I left off and use a new approach.
If you have been here before you may notice that I have made some recent changes to the blog, once again. I have added a page at the top entitled: Abraham Sr Tinker. I am going to be posting some content there about my research endeavors to undercover the truth about Grandfather Abraham. Those last two words there sort of remind me of the old Sunday School song:
Father Abraham, had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham....Just how many sons did Abraham Tinker have? What were there names? Is there some document somewhere that tells us those facts? Those are some questions that I have been asking myself as of lately and I hope to find the answers to them sooner, rather than later.
In order to do that I am going to wipe his name clean in my database and start from scratch with him once again. Carefully noting and evaluating each document that I can find that relates to him. I am going to be examine message board content, correspondence with known relatives and other Tinker family researchers. I will leave no stone unturned. DNA is beginning to tell us a story about this gentleman, and I will share some of what I have found in the near future on his page. Stay tuned and if you have any stories to share about this ancestor, I would love the hear them!

Tinker Family Washington County, Tennessee

A TINKER family descendant sent me this photograph several years ago. It was in her grandmother's collection. This is the same photograph which appeared in a book that others have listed on ancestry and elsewhere. She also copied the writing on the back and sent that to me as well.

Transcription by me: Phillip Parks Tinker (Our Great Grandpa). Wife Alice Tinker, Our Great Grandma. Aunt Hess Tinker (our Great Aunt) Frank Tinker, (Our Grandpa) Grandpa`s brothers Barnett, Phil, Willie, Jake, Boone, Bernie. White Coat, has grapes in his hand. Aunt Sallie Phillips, grandpa`s other sister is not in this picture. Our Great Grandma Alice Tinker was a Graham before she married and Grandpa Phillip Parks Tinker mother was a Parks before she married.

This photograph is of the Phillip Parks TINKER Sr. family. Phillip Parks TINKER Sr married one Anne Hessaltine GRAHAM daughter of John GRAHAM and Mary BAYLESS.  Apparently this family member referred to Anne as Alice. This is the first time I have seen her called Alice, she is usually referred to as Anne in the documents pertaining to the family. Anne GRAHAMS line of the Graham family can be traced back to Scotland. In a future post I will be sharing a little of the GRAHAM genealogy that I have traced thus far. Phillip Parks TINKER Sr was the son of James Abraham TINKER and Nancy A. PARKS. This couple made their home in Washington, then Unicoi County, Tennessee area.

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.



 

William Alexander Tinker

William Alexander Tinker was the son of Phillip Walter Parks Tinker Jr and Rosetta Rosie Tinker nee Pope. William was born 9 May, 1892 in Parma, New Madrid, Missouri.

In 1915 in Parma, New Madrid, Missouri William married his first wife Alice Neal daughter of Louis Rye Neal Esquire and Emma D. Neal nee Baker.

William and Alice had three children born to their union a daughter Violet Tinker who married a man by the name of John Archie Neil. A son named Claude Leon Tinker and another son named Earl Tinker. Violet was born in 1916 and Claude in 1918. Shortly after the birth of Claude, William and Alice separated. In 1920 we find William living in Kansas City, Ward 2, Jackson County, Missouri. William was residing in the household of Melissa Keith and her daughter Naomi Josephine Keith. William was listed as still being married and a Lodger. Meanwhile back in Como, New Madrid County, Missouri Alice was living with her two children Violet and Claude and she was expecting her third child with her now estranged husband William.  The couple eventually divorced because William married Melissa Keith on 18 November, 1921 in Parma, New Madrid, Missouri. Alice went on to marry a man by the name of David A Kinney on 10 December, 1925 in Centerville, Reynolds County, Missouri.

In 1927 there is a directory listing for William Tinker in Flint, Gennessee, Michigan. By the time 1930 rolls around we find Alice living with her new husband David and her three children who are listed on the census with their last names being Kinney. One can assume that Mr. Kinney must have adopted the children. In 1930 we find William listed as an Inmate in the Michigan State Prison system in Blackman, Jackson, Michigan. His marital status is listed as widowed. So Melissa must have passed away by then.

On 10 December, 1932 William takes a third wife, Rosie Atterbury nee Little. William and Rosie were married in Parma, New Madrid, Missouri.
According to the 1940 Census William was living in Como, New Madrid, Missouri in 1935.
William and Rosie divorced and on 2 August, 1936 in Gideon, New Madrid, Missouri William took his fourth wife Anna Williams nee Headrick.

By 1940 William is living in Parma, New Madrid, Missouri with his wife Anna and his mother in law. On 23 April, 1952 William Alexander Tinker passed away. He was fifty-nine years of age at the time of his death.