Life History

Notes

• Thomas L Terry is one of the many Terry men with the middle initial L.  I had surmised that this was Lewis (Louis) or possibly Lafayette.  I later found a note on a Terry Family discussion in the Terry Family Historian list that did indeed report his full name as Thomas Lewis Terry.
  
  1860 Federal Census, Murray County, Georgia, 6 July, Militia District 972, PO Rock Creek, Page 53, Hse #367, Fam #361
  Joseph Terry 46 M Farmer-Baptist Preacher  SC (b abt 1813)
  Dovina Terry 37 F NC (b abt 1822)
  Thomas L Terry 13 M GA (b abt 1846)
  
  Thomas and his father Joseph were registered in the 1864 census for reorganizing the Georgia Militia.  They were living in Terrell County at that time.
  
  1864 Census for Re-Organizing the Georgia Militia, Terrell County, Georgia, p 598
  Joseph Terry, Age 51, Preacher, born South Carolina (abt 1813)
  Thomas L Terry, Age 17 yrs 4 mos, Farmer born Georgia (abt 1847)
  
  Thomas moved to Texas before the 1870 census.  In the 1870 census, Thomas was reported as a single man Farming, in a household apparently with his farmer, a J Roach, in Brazos County, Texas.  Thomas is living next door to his sister Mary Ellen Terry Connally and her second husband Jones Connally.  Just a couple of houses further past the Joneses is Mary Ann Thomas and her children.  Thomas later married Mary Ann's daughter Mary Elizabeth Thomas.
  
  1870 Federal Census, Brazos County, Texas, 16 June, PO Bryan, page 2, Hse/Fam #15
  Terry, T 23 M W Farmer [No Real Estate value] $100 Personal Estate b Georgia.
  
  Thomas' parents moved to Texas later.  His father sold land in Georgia in 1878, in preparation for moving to Texas.  In 1880 Thomas and his parents are together again with other family members nearby in Milam County, Texas, near San Antonio, which is in Bexar County.  It is likely several families of the Terrys moved together or in close succession.  There are several family units in Milam County, Bexar County, and farther north in McLennan County in the 1880 census.  He is living 3 houses away from Mary Elizabeth's family and they are recorded on the same page of the 1870 census.
  
  Thomas married a Texas-born woman after he got there.  But we learn from other sources that her parents were from Germany.  See details in Notes for Mary Elizabeth Thomas.  In the 1880 census Thomas L Terry is 33 years old and is married to Mary E, age 26.  They have no children yet.  This census does not report how long a couple have been married.  Living with them is Thomas' younger brother William Walker Terry, listed as William W, age 19.
  
  Their first cousin Thomas Duncan Terry, son of William and Julia Terry, is in McLennan County, and he also married a local girl, Martha (Mattie) Wiley Wall, whose family had migrated from North Carolina, where Mattie was born.  Their first child Julia Virginia (Jennie) was born there in December 1880.
  
  This family later moved back to the Terry home county of Murray in Georgia, but about 1900 moved to Oklahoma, where Jennie married a Texas man who had moved to Indian Territory, Joseph Asa Jenkins.  They became my grandparents.  Our family has all these Terry cousins strung from central and western Texas to northern Oklahoma and western Arkansas.
  
  1880 Federal Census, Milam County, Texas, 24 June, District 103, District 103, page 46, Hse/Family #233
  Terry, Thomas L W M 33    Merchant  GA SC SC (b abt 1847)
  Terry, Mary E  W F 26 Wife Kpg Hse TX -- --  (b abt 1854)
  Terry, William W W M 19 Brother Clerk in Store  GA SC SC
  
  Living with them in the same house are Thomas and Wiliam's parents Joseph and Dovina, and their daughter Martha Missouri, age 22, still unmarried and at home.  The are not reported in relationship to Thomas L, even though this is all one household and numbered as all one family.
  
  1880 Federal Census, Milam County, Texas, 24 June, District 103, District 103, page 46, Hse/Family #233
  Terry, Joseph W M 65    Farmer SC VA VA (b abt 1815)
  Terry, Dovina  W F 55 Wife Kpg Hse NC VA VA  (b abt 1825)
  Terry, Martha M W F 22 daughter AL SC GA
  
  Before the 1900 census, Thomas had moved farther west, to San Angelo, where he lived the rest of his life.
  
  1900 Federal Census, Tom Green County, Texas, 14 June, San Angelo, District 156, page 14B, Hse #268, Fam #276
  Terry, Thomas L    W M  Sept 1846  53 Head  Married 26 years  Clerk in Store  GA SC SC
  Terry, Mary E  Wife W F  Feb 1855  44  Married 26 years  TX Germany Germany
  Terry, Thomas L  Nephew  W M  Apr 1883 56  TX TX TX
  Kelly, J O  Servant W M June 1873 26  TX AR GA  Day Laborer
  
  Note their 26-year-old servant, J O Kelly, living in their household.  Besides being listed in the relationship of Servant, his occupation is shown as Day Laborer.
  
  This census tells us that Mary E's parents came from Germany.  Their birth place was unreported in the 1880 census.  There are many German families in Central and northern Texas.  There were still whole German towns, with schools taught in German during my lifetime.  Only in the late 1900s has this changed appreciably.  The Oktoberfest is now an even bigger state celebration in Texas than it was when I was younger.  Even the Irish and Scottish families celebrate Oktoberfest.
  
  At this point I still did not know Mary E's middle or maiden name.  In September 2008, a cousin in the Terry line contacted me with the information that she was a great great niece of Mary Elizabeth and Thomas.  She wrote:
  
  "I think that your Mary Elizabeth was my ggreat aunt. Her last name was Thomas. I found a death certificate for Mary Elizabeth Terry d on May 14, 1920 in San Angelo buried in Fairmont cemetery."  The maiden then appears to be Thomas.  This is a bit puzzling, since I was unaware of Thomas as a German surname.  I finally found this Thomas family in the 1870 census in Brazos County, Texas, about 2 doors down from T Terry, who matches our details for Thomas Lewis/Louis Terry.  See more details about this Thomas family in Notes for Nicholas Thomas and for his daughter Mary Elizabeth Thomas, wife of Thomas Louis Terry.
  
  The 1900 census also now tells us when Thomas and Mary married.  They have been married 26 years according to this report.  This would mean they married about 1874.  However, their marriage is recorded with an exact birth date of 08 January 1871, Brazos County, Texas at Mr. Thomas' home by Elder Ball. I first got this information from Jacque Watkins in September 2008.
  
  Note that the third person in the household would appear to be their son, Thomas L Terry, Jr.  He is even listed as Terry, Thomas L Jr.  And yet he is listed as a nephew, not a son.  The birth states of his parents would also indicate a different father.  I have not been able to figure out who among Thomas' brothers might have had a son also named Thomas L.
  
  This is quite likely, however, since there is a distinct pattern in this Terry line of brothers naming their sons after brothers.  But in that case, the enumerator erred in listing him as "Jr."  If this is really Thomas L, Jr, this would have to mean he is the son of this Thomas L Terry.  If this is really a nephew of Thomas L, this would have to mean that this Thomas L also had a brother named Thomas L, which we know is not the case.
  
  The birth of the younger Thomas L's father in Texas, though, still presents a puzzle, since none of this Terry family had been there long enough to have been born in Texas before 1880.  The younger Thomas is 17, born in May 1883, according to this census.  He is in the first generation of Terrys in this line to have been born in Texas.  There are simply errors of one sort or another in this census (surprise, surprise!), which I will need more information to unravel.
  
  After writing the above analysis, I went back over some old discussion groups to review old names on which I earlier had information, to try to make connections to new information I had later complied.  I found notes from Jacque Watkins, also researching this family line, referring to Thomas Lewis Terry, who matches the details of the person listed as "Thomas L Terry, Jr" in the 1900 census.  She has that person's birth as April 1882, which is one year different from my reading of the birth date in the 1900 census.
  
  It appears in a list of names of this family, and place names in Texas and Arizona match.  It seems from these notes that it would be safe to interpret the mixed census identification in 1900 to mean that Thomas Lewis Terry.
  
  I have not yet found this family in the 1910 or 1930 census.  But in 1920 they are still in San Angelo.
  
  1920 Federal Census, Tom Green County, Texas, 2 January, District 194, San Angelo, Precinct 1, page 1B, 512 Oakes Street, Hse #21, Family #22
  Terry, Thomas L Head M W 73 GA SC GA Bookkeeper, Store [born abt 1847]
  Terry, Mary E Wife F W 63 TX Germany Germany [born abt 1857]
  
  Also with them are other family members I have not yet been able to identify:
  Ross, Carmi A Nephew M W 36 TX US US Fireman [born abt 1884]
  Ross, Tommie L Niece F W 20 TX GA TX None [born abt 1900]
  Ross, Lillian S Niece F W 3yrs 0mos TX GA TX None [born December 1916]
  
  Texas, Death Certificates, 1903-1982
  T L Terry
  Birth 3 Sep 1845 Georgia
  Male, White, Widowed, Retired
  Parents name and states of birth unknown
  Informant A B Terry, San Angelo, Texas
  Age at Death 83 yrs, 9 mos, 22 days
  Residence 512 No Oakes St, San Angelo, Tom Green
  Death 25 Jun 1929 at home, San Angelo, Tom Green, Texas
  Cause of Death Apoplexy, Contributory Senility
  Burial 26 June 1929 Fairmount Cemetery, by Johnson's Funeral Home, san Angelo, Texas
  Certificate #32770 filed 31 August 1929

Sources

• 1. Terry Family
• 2. 1880 Federal Census, Milam County, Texas
  • 24 June, District 103, District 103, page 46, Hse/Family #233
• 3. 1860 Federal Census, Murray County, Georgia
  • 6 July, Militia District 972, PO Rock Creek, Page 53, Hse #367, Fam #361
• 4. 1870 Federal Census, Brazos County, Texas
  • 16 June, PO Bryan, page 2, Hse/Fam #15
• 5. 1900 Federal Census, Tom Green County, Texas
  • 14 June, San Angelo, District 156, page 14B, Hse #268, Fam #276
• 6. Texas, Death Certificates, 1903-1982
• 7. 1864 Census for Re-Organizing the Georgia Militia
• 8. RootsWeb Trees
• 9. 1850 Federal Census, Murray County, Georgia
  • 14 November, Page 535/527 (scan p 264), Hse/Fam #1613
• 10. 1920 Federal Census, Tom Green County, Texas
  • 2 January, District 194, San Angelo, Precinct 1, page 1B, 512 Oakes Street, Hse #21, Family #22
• 11. Terry Family Historian -- discussion
  • Location: http://www.terry-family-historian.com/guestlog.htm;
  • Jacques Watkins
• 12. Texas, Death Index, 1903-2000
  • Mary E Terry
• 13. Email Sources
• 14. Jacque Watkins, email correspondence to Orville Boyd Jenkins, September 2008