By Michael L. Hogue Hi and welcome back to The Hogue Connection! This Martha Hogue was not necessarily missing; I just didn’t have any information about her after the 1860 census. I never did the research needed to follow her life in detail. Luckily, my new cousin Carmen, who I met through this blog and WikiTree, did. She read the clues right and at least got her to adulthood. I had Martha disappearing from the face of the earth at age 7.
First, Take Another Look at That Census Record!
I always thought Martha was 7 years old based on this census record. I did think it was strange that the children weren’t listed in birth order. That is usually the case on these reports. I can’t replicate it here with this copy, but if you zoom in real close on Ancestry.com, you can see that Martha’s age is 9, not 7. This means that she is likely her sister Mary’s twin.
These children belong to Sarah Hogue (listed on the previous page). It is from the 1860 Census of Murray County, GA, Militia District 1013. Sarah is head of the household because her first husband, my great-great grandfather, William M. Hogue, left this family to start his second one back in Tennessee. I’ve written about this split many times in this blog.
Land Records Show the Strawn Family Migration…
Our cousin Carmen made many important discoveries about the migration of Sarah Strawn Hogue to Texas by researching land records in that state. First, she discovered that Sarah’s mother, Elizabeth (Coggin) Strawn, along with daughter Mary Ann her husband Wiley Ledbetter, went back to Titus, TX to secure property there via homestead in 1853. Elizabeth’s husband Jackson M Strawn had passed away on 28 Oct 1852. Leaving Mary Ann and Wiley in Texas, she returned to Murray County, GA and continued farming in that area until around 1878.
Sarah Strawn Hogue moved to Montague County, TX and established a homestead there, receiving a patent on 160 acres of land (later referred to the Sarah Hogue Tract) in 1873. You can read a more detailed bio of Sarah here. Four of Sarah’s children mentioned in the above census followed her out to Texas soon after. No doubt it was difficult work for a woman to be a successful farmer/rancher in those days. After the death of her second husband Hugh Anderson in 1879, Sarah and her heirs attempted to sell her homestead.
Missing Martha Resurfaces…
The first attempt to sell came on 25 Dec 1883. They sold it to D.L. Davenport, who was supposed to make regular payments over time, but ended up defaulting on the agreement. The only people mentioned in this Davenport deal were Sarah, Jackson, Jesse, and Mary. Martha is still missing at this point. When a new deal was reached with another buyer on 28 Mar 1890, we finally get the information we need. Here is the part of the land record that mentions Martha:
Turns out Martha Hogue married John O. Mahoney on 20 May 1872 in Cooke, TX. They had a daughter, Ellen, also mentioned here. Ellen becomes a party to the sale because she was the only child of Martha Hogue Mahoney, and the granddaughter of Sarah Strawn Hogue Anderson. So, since Martha was not mentioned in the 1883 sale, it is likely she died before that date. John and Ellen were living in Campbell County, Kentucky at the time of the 1890 sale. So, either Martha died there or back in Texas before they relocated. Ellen married John O’Brien and moved to Ohio. We haven’t found any more info on her or her father, however.
Mysteries Remain…
Many things are still unclear about the life of the formerly missing Martha Hogue Mahoney, but at least we know she made it to adulthood. What about Louis? He is the only of Sarah and William’s children listed on the 1860 Murray County census that has no adult story. Oddly, that’s the only census that Martha or Louis ever appeared in. At least to this point. Research goes on. Thanks again to all my dedicated readers out there. Many thanks to my cousin Carmen for all the work she has done on the Jackson Hogue branch of our family. Thanks for these land documents as well. You just never know when something is going to turn up! If you would like to return to the Home Page, click here.