Skeeter's Family: The Dilemma: Solved!

After talking with my siblings about the two Julias, (see this post if you need a refresher) I was still no better off. Only the eldest sister could remember the Dozier name as familiar. That was all I could glean from the collective brain of my siblings.

So, back to the drawing board. One thing I have picked up in the genealogy groups I hang out in is when you have an issue like this, work on siblings of the person you’re having the problem with. Luckily, I do have siblings for both Julias.

Starting with the Julia I have as “Jewel” I checked all the known siblings. They all showed William or Henry Sawyer as a father, and Therese, Treacy, Tressie (so many variations) as a mother. So I knew I had the rest of her family correct. The 1880 census was the key in this problem. All the children, except the youngest are listed.

What about Julia V.? I could only find her in the 1870 census. Looking at the siblings listed in that census, they all have Thomas Sawyer and either of his two wives. But I would like more documentation. I found death certificates for three of her siblings. They all had Dozier as mother, although I found it interesting that only Lena Jenette’s certificate has a given name for the mother. The others just have a “?”.

Where does that lead me? About two steps closer to proving which Julia is which. And for me, that’s close enough to say I had the two Julias backwards. It only took three tries, and about an hour (thank you time change!), in my software to get everyone in the correct places. Well, at least what I’m calling the correct places.

Naturally, this made big changes to the tree. As I mentioned previously (this post), the lady I had as Jewel was a Turbeville. Welp, not any longer. I had a concern that since I have so many atDNA matches with Turbeville folks that I wasn’t sure how they fit in if I moved the Julias around. Going back and writing everything down showed me the answer to the Turbeville issue. The fathers of the Julias are uncle (Thomas) and nephew (William Henry). Which means they both carry DNA from Levi Sawyer and his wife Mary Leathers. And so do I. Levi and Mary are my 3^rd great grandparents. The means that I will match with any descendants of this couple. Whew!! That was a major concern.

Now, let me answer the question I posed that’s at the heart of this dilemma; are the two Julias the same person? And as is usual in genealogy, the answer is yes and no. Yes, in the fact that the lady I had as Jewel was indeed the same person I had as Julia V. But, no, because there is another Julia Sawyer needed as a child of William Henry and Therese. In the end, I still have two Julias. But I’m good with that. I can confidently say that Julia V. “Jewel” Sawyer is my great grandmother.

SVG Family Tree TreeSawyer-Dozier