James Reuben Broyles Gen. 6, id #767, Keith #1123 Edited 20140101
==================== Son of Thomas Broyles & Susanna Yeager |[1]
Born: 4 Jan 1819 TN, White |[1]
Died: 11 Dec 1905 CA, Contra Costa |[242]
Marr: 1) Martha Geer
m: c. 1837 TN, White |[6]
b: 1816 TN, |
+---born----+---------------++---died----+---------------+
1. Thomas Madison 1838 TN, White 2 Jan 1892 WA, Whatcom
2. James H. 23 Mar 1838 TN, White 30 May 1898 TN, White
3. (David) Vance 12 Oct 1842 TN, White 3 Aug 1916 TX, Fannin
Marr: 2) Elizabeth Pierce
m: 17 Apr 1842 MO, Andrew |[B]
b: 1826 TN, |[5]
4. Sarah Jane 1843 MO, 10 Jun 1888 IA, Page
5. Mary Ann 24 Jul 1845 IA, 18 Sep 1910 CA, Contra Cost
6. William 1846 MO,
7. James I.W. Feb 1849 MO, 18 Dec 1865 IA, Page
Census:
Age BP Occupation
1850?Broils, J. CA, Sacramento 22 TN Miner
1860?Broyles, J. CA, Placer 45 TN Miner
1870 Browls, James CA, Placer 51 TN Miner
1880 Broyles, Jas. CA, Placer 61 TN works in sawmill living with 8 men
1890 [No records available]
1900 Broyles, James CA, Placer 81 TN Ng
James is a bit of a puzzle. For starters his name is
supposedly James Reuben, but he had a brother named Reuben.
This would call his middle name into question yet his
supposed son Thomas had a son named James R., so perhaps
the story is true.
According to Keith [1] he married, had children, then
left them for the California gold rush in 1849. Keith
cites letters to and from his parents as proof that James
was in California and indeed we do find census records that
support this. Keith assigns but one son with certainty,
Thomas M., but he also suggests a second marriage
that resulted in a daughter Mary who married a Barefield.
James's first wife is given as Martha Geer. A Martha
Broyles and children James and Vance are found in the
census records of White Co., Tenn., living with the William
Mason family from 1850 onward, to the point that son Vance
ended up taking the name Mason. Note, and it's important,
there is no record of a son named Thomas M. in White Co.
In the 1880 census Martha is given as single (i.e. not married
and not a widow) and she is listed as William Mason's niece.
1836 - James Broyles is named to a road crew in
White Co. [245]149
3 Feb 1840 - Elias Wilhite is charged in a bastardy case
of fathering a male child upon Martha Ann Broyles and agrees
to pay "the same by which law she would be entitled to".
David Snodgrass and Jeremiah Wilhite provide bond. [245]352
The child was surely recently born and is therefore most
probably her son James. The few bastardy cases I've seen have
involved single women, not married women. The issue in cases
like this is support for the child. A married woman who
commits adultery generally does not have a support issue
unless her husband leaves her. This leaves us with two
interpretations: 1) she was married to James and he left her,
2) she was unmarried and had two children anyway and is
in no way connected to James Reuben Broyles. I favor this
interpretation and view it as likely that James married
Martha Geer, that she died young, and that he remarried.
In support of this, Keith believed that James's family was in
Missouri like so many of the White Co. Broyles. Though he
gives James's wife as Martha Geer he seems to have been unaware
of the Martha Broyles back in White Co. He cites an 1854 letter
from James Broyles to his father in Laclede Co., Mo. in which
James wishes he had his children with him in California. Thomas
asks his son Richard up in Nodaway Co., Mo., to locate them,
suggesting they are perhaps in that area. As we shall see,
they were. However, it doesn't appear that a grand reunion of
the family took place. All of James's California records show
him as single, but son Thomas M. and daughter Mary do eventually
make their way to be near him.
Regarding the possibility of a second marriage and a daughter
Mary, it turns out that a John and Mary Ann Barfield are
buried in Union Cem. in Contra Costa Co. in northern California.
Census research indicates Mary Ann was born in Iowa. This
meshes nicely with an 1850 census entry for a Hendrix Lee in
Page Co., Iowa. He has Elizabeth Broyles and her children in
his household, only one of whom, Mary, was born in Iowa and whose
age matches the date on her tombstone.
Hendrix Lee's wife was Martha Pierce, and it so happens that
an Elizabeth Pierce married James Brails in Andrew Co., Mo.,
in 1842. It therefore appears that James went to California in
1849 leaving his wife Elizabeth to move in with her sister
Martha and husband Hendrix Lee. The Lees eventually
moved to Kansas but I have not been successful at locating
Elizabeth past the 1851 state census of Iowa. (Perhaps she died
c. 1852, which is why James in the letter above spoke only of his
children.)
Note that daughter Sarah Jane may be the daughter of Martha Geer.
Her tombstone gives a birth year of 1840 and she was consistent
in the census of giving 1840 as her birth year. Yet the 1850
census has her as being born in 1843, the first of James and
Elizabeth's four children.
1849 - James makes his way to the Gold Rush in
California and eventually settles in the Dutch Flat and Alta
area of Placer Co.
1866 - California began recording voter registrations
and James is on the rolls in Placer Co. [246] These records
list only male voters since women were not allowed to vote.
James is on many such rolls over the years.
1896 - James Broyles, 77, miner, is on the California
voter registration rolls, Dutch Flat precinct in Placer Co.,
Cal. He is listed as 5' 7" in height with blue eyes and gray
hair. [246]
1900 - In the U.S. census he is a single head of
household, born January 1819, and a widower. Placer Co. [5]
James is said to have died at Byron Hot Springs in Contra
Costa Co., Cal. [4]
Sources:
[B] Brails, James; Pierce, Elizabeth; [238]
[1] Keith, Prof. Arthur Leslie, "The Broyles Family", typescript reprinted in [4]
[4] Broyles, John K., Sr., "The Broyles Family Newsletter" (periodical), self-published, 1982-2000
[242] California Death Index, Ancestry.com
[6] Broyles, Stephen H., deductions
[238] Marriage records by locale, Ancestry.com
[5] National Archives, U.S. Census Records
[245] various indexers, White Co., Tenn., Court Minutes, TNGenWeb.org
[246] California voter registration rolls, Ancestry.com
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