"The Family Banyan Tree"

If someone refers to their ancestry and their descendants as "The Family Tree", then I must refer to mine as "The Family Banyan Tree". For those who are not familiar with the Banyan Tree, it begins life as an epiphyte on a host tree, gathering its nourishment and water from the air as it grows, its lateral branches send down supporting roots that become absorbing roots when they reach the ground. Eventually, the host tree is smothered as the Banyan continues to send out more branches and roots. The Banyan Tree is known for it’s many strong roots. Well I hardly think that in the past our family attached itself to a host that in time we smothered but the fact that the Banyan has so many roots and it’s branches produce even more roots, the rest of this comparison can be used.

The effort of tracing my family roots can be explained at the best as confusing and difficult. These family surnames of Shackleford, Nichols, Dean, Barrington, Coe, Sport, and Weatherford are so intermingled it is confusion at it’s worse just to read through them, to actually research them can be a genealogical nightmare.

Let’s start with my immediate surname Shackleford, my father Iry Zeddie Shackleford and his mother’s side of the family.

Eva Naomi "Nonie" Dean, grand daughter of Annie Iola Barrington, married on December 23, 1930 to Iry Zeddie " Zed" Shackleford, a son of Young Lee Shackleford and Mary Alice Nichols.. Nonie Dean was born in Dozier, Crenshaw County. She was a daughter of Marion Robert Dean and Amanda Harville. Now to go back one and two more generation: Zed’s mother, Mary Alice Nichols was born in Dozier, Crenshaw County, a daughter of George Marion Nichols and Mary Tabitha Ingram. George Marion Nichols was a son of Joel Layfayette Nichols, born in Wilkes County, Georgia and he married Susan Elizabeth Wellmaker. Nonnie’s father Marion Robert Dean was a son of Samuel MacDonald Dean , born in the Blackrock Community of Crenshaw County, Alabama. He married Annie Iola Barrington on September 05, 1882 at Ivy Creek in Crenshaw County.

Marion Robert and Amanda Dean had nine children, however I would like to mention only three for the sake of lack of confusion. Nonie Dean is already mentioned: The other two are one of her sisters and one brother: Bertie B. Dean, married on September 18, 1943 in Crenshaw County to Dixon Etheridge. Dixon was a son of Benjamin F. Ethridge and Effie Elma Sport, born in Leon, Crenshaw County. Nonie’s brother, Marion Durwood Dean, married in Crenshaw County to Eva Oleta Sport. Eva Oleta Sport was a daughter of Marvin Thomas Sport, Effie’s brother. Effie and Marvin Sport were children of Thomas Benjamin Sport and Adaline Augusta Weatherford. Effie and Marvin’s sister Annie married J. B. Tompkins who was a son of Bradford Tompkins and Myra Taylor. Myra was a daughter of Marvin Taylor and Lula Nichols and she was a daughter of Joel Lafayette Nichols and Susan Elizabeth Wellmaker, Zed Shackleford’s great grand-parents.

Joel Nichols had another son, Job Francis Nichols who married Lola Underwood and they had a son Etheldred who married Sallie Walker. Ethel and Sallie had a daughter, Ethel Lucille. Ethel Lucille Nichols married Harry Dennison Holley and they had a daughter, Joyce who married John Frank Barrington. John Frank was a son of John M. Barrington and Janie Atkins. John Frank Barrington was a son of John Madison Barrington and Elizabeth "Lizzie" Eleanor Moore. John Madison Barrington was a son of Marion Madison Barrington and a brother of Annie Iola Barrington, the grandmother of Nonie Dean who was the wife of Zed Shackleford who was a great grandson of Joel Nichols.

On to the Weatherford family. Adaline Augusta Weatherford (the wife of Thomas Benjamin Sport) had a sister, Elizabeth Prudence Weatherford who married John P. Coe. These two Weatherford sisters were daughters of Seaborne Weatherford. They had a brother, John William Weatherford who married Martha Melvinia Jackson. John and Martha had a daughter, Fannie Lou who married James Arthur Barrington. James Arthur was a son of John Madison Barrington and Elizabeth "Lizzie" Eleanor Moore. John Madison was a son of Marion Madison Barrington and Anne Margaret Heidt. Marion and Anne Barrington were the parents of Annie Iola Barrington, the grandmother of Nonie Dean who married Zed Shackleford.

And now to continue the Coe connections to all of this confusion. The John P. Coe, listed in the above paragraph, and who married Elizabeth Prudence Weatherford. John Coe was a son of William A. Coe who married Permelia Hastings. William was a son of Isaac Coe and Rebecca Champion. . William’s brother Isaac W. Coe married Elizabeth "Eliza" Olive Barrington who was a sister of Marion Madison Barrington. William and Isaac Coe had a sister, Sarah Coe who married Arthur Weaver and they had a daughter, Rhoda Adeline. Rhoda married William Winfield Barrington and William Barrington was a brother of Marion Madison Barrington. William Winfield and Rhoda Barrington had a daughter, Sarah Cebelle Barrington who married William Jasper Wren. This was William Wren’s second marriage, his first was to Ann Elizabeth Coe, daughter of William A. Coe, the brother of Isaac W Coe. The brother of William Wren was George Washington Wren and he married Ann Elizabeth Coe’s sister, Emily.

If there is one thing to be learned by all of this, when you are researching on family, look for the other. For example, researching the Barrington surname, pay attention to the Coe, Dean, Nichols, Weatherford and Wren families, chances are when you find one, one or more of the others may be close by. Isaac Coe, from Edgefield, South Carolina, Willis Barrington, Arthur Weaver, David Wren, John Nichols all from South Carolina. You can find these families in Georgia, Alabama and Texas, all at about the same time and all in the same areas.

http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/s/h/a/Kendrick-W-Shackleford/