blakai10 on Family Tree Circles

William H. Black was born on December 30, 1823, in Tennessee. He had six children with an Eliza between 1846 and 1859. I am not sure what happened to the first Eliza. He then married Eliza Jane Key Pate in 1868. They had three children together between 1869 and 1874. He died on February 7, 1913, in Lawrence, Tennessee, having lived a long life of 89 years. In 1900, Eliza Pate was 66 years old and lived in Civil District 8, Tennessee with her husband, William, 2 sons, and daughter. Looking at the 1840 U.S. Census in Tishomingo, MS, for Thomas Pate (in the U.S. Census they may have "Date" instead of Pate). You'll see Thomas Pate lists 3 daughters -- 2 girls under 5 years old and 1 between 5-9. So, it looks like this Census most likely shows the following 3 daughters: Elizabeth Jane (1836-1906), Eliza (1837-1896), and Nancy Letitia (1839-1920). Thomas Pate's wife most likely is Louisa Moore, who died on 29 Sept 1849 in Jacinto, MS. Thomas Pate was born on 24 February 1804 in VA. Thomas Edward Pate married Louisa Moore in 1826 in TN. Besides the daughters listed above, Thomas and Louisa also had at least 2 sons: Barnett Columbus Pate (1843-1864) and Dr. Jesse Americas Pate (1845-1929).
Now, this is where things start getting confusing...
I found Eliza Pate married O. W. Key on 23 March 1847 in Acorn, MS. It looks like Thomas Pate's parents may have been John Blackwell Pate, Jr (1868-1842) and May "Polly" Abston (1776-1854). So, while my third great grandfather, William H. Black, was the father of my second great grandfather, who was his mother, not Eliza Key/Pate, right? It was a woman named Eliza Pate, but not Eliza Key, who was also really an Eliza Pate. This is hard to believe, isn't it? That a man would marry twice to different women with the maiden name Eliza Pate. Now, are we sure the older Eliza was an Eliza Pate or is it possible your William H. Black married an Eliza in his first marriage, but she had a different surname than Pate and the 1840 marriage record is incorrect about her surname. But 3 of the older children all had Eliza Pate on their death certificate as their mother. Or were they identifying their stepmother, Eliza Pate Key Black? Would you not think they would be identifying their biological mother? I wish I could identify where (in which County) William H. Black married his first wife Eliza. That data might help me to find his parents or Eliza's parents or both.



My direct decendent is William and (the first) Eliza's (maiden name unknown) son, John William Black.
When John William Black was born about 1851 in Giles County, Tennessee, his father, William, was 27 and his mother, Eliza, was 29. He had four children with Pocahontas Childress and one child with Tennie. He died on January 24, 1932, in Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 81

Pocahontas was my great great grandmother.


Any information leading to the parents of William H Black- any information in general for any of these family members- would be a HUGE help!