Welborn Family Research
In presenting an overview of our research into the Welborn Branch of our Family Tree,
we will cover history, current efforts, road blocks, and acknowledgments:
History
In chronological order, we present here the highlights of progress made toward
understanding more about this branch of our family tree:
- Records of Nancy Zufelt: Early on in my search for
our family ancestry, I came across the family group sheets of Nancy (Hart) Zufelt in the
collections found in the famous Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. She
specifically had submitted a family group sheet with the family of Timothy James Hart, the
father of our Saphronia "Fronia" Hart. This was in the early 1970s and the
author was very "green" at all involved with this "hobby," so he has
no real details or records of that period, other than the original correspondence we
briefly maintained.
Nancy's records indicated that the wife of our Timothy James Hart was Sarah Amelia Wilborn
[or Wilburn]. At that time, the author took such bits of information as
"gospel" and assumed they were correct. Only with time has he learned to
validate everything, as much as possible, with original sources, if they still exist.
Sadly, once the author had achieved a significant breakthrough on our Hart family
ancestry, Nancy could not be reached. While successful in locating her again, after
the lapse of so much time, repeated attempts to call her at her home in Phoenix, Arizona
were refused by the male answering, with no explanation for the behaviour!
- Census searches: Armed with the information from
Nancy's records, off and on for the next several years, the author attempted to find the
right family in the various U. S. Census records for the state of Texas. As Sarah's
records were discovered on the 1880 and 1900 U. S. Census records [no small feat to find
even these ...], it indicated her father was born in North Carolina and her mother was
born in New York.
The most likely fit seemed to be a Dr. John T. Wilbourn / Wilburn who had emigrated to
Grayson Co., Texas shortly before 1850 and had later settled in Cooke Co., Texas, where he
lived out his life. As Sarah and Timothy James Hart had been married in Cooke
county, this seemed a good fit. Others researchers also seemed to indicate this was
the right family. But the census records discovered over time alone did not fit
well. John was, in fact, from North Carolina, but his wife was not. Other
problems also made it seem less likely as time went by.
- Road trip: After so many years of dead-ends, a rare
business trip opportunity taking me into the Dallas-Fort Worth area gave the author the
chance to head north, taking a couple of days off to visit the courthouses of Cooke,
Grayson, Collin, and Denton counties. If there was a connection between our Sarah
and this Dr. John T. Wilbourn, he would find it. Nothing!
The only discovery was the embarrassing oversight made years before of passing by the fact
that on the 1870 U. S. Census in Cooke Co., Texas, Sarah is found with her Timothy living
alongside a "Newton S." Welborn! So here was a different spelling of the
name, along with an apparent brother, born two years before Sarah in the same state of
Indiana!
This was quickly followed up by a discovery in the Denton County Historical Society of a
burial in neighboring Collin county of this same Newton S. Welborn. The author
visited the picture post-card perfect little country cemetery [Chambersville Cemetery] and
spent a wonderful Spring afternoon in search of Newton's gravesite. Upon finding it,
he noted the cemetery was named for the Chambers family who had settled and prospered in
that local area from the great state of Indiana! A link to the Welborn family?
The next several days afforded the author the opportunity to try and find a connection
between this large Chambers family and a Welborn family in Indiana. No connection
could be made.
- Lubbock visit: On this same trip, the author had
chosen to drive, although a distance of about 1,200 miles each way, to enhance the family
history search opportunities and headed back home through the city of Lubbock.
Having determined the Hart family had settled in this area before 1900 and likely still
had descendants in the area, he spent a considerable amount of time going through the
county courthouse and historical society records of Hale [north of Lubbock] and Lubbock
counties. After two days, he had discovered enough information to begin finding
some old obituaries. From there, he was able to check some local phone listings for
possible "cousin connections." The first call he made was to a
sister-in-law of Sidney Field, who referred me to Sidney.
We were later able to put together a small Hart family reunion of sorts in Lubbock and
from there Sidney offered to visit the oldest known surviving Hart relative in April 2001
- Mrs. Nita Overton - after the author had made his way back home. At the time, Mrs.
Overton was 96 years old and in frail health. Sidney had a good visit with Mrs.
Overton and discovered, through her conversation, the existence of some old family photos.
These photos were not Hart family photos, but Welborn family photos. After
this visit, Sidney graciously agreed to and followed through on getting these photos
scanned and sent to the author. The most important is found here on these pages - a
photo of Sarah's brother, David A. Welborn and his wife, Mary.
- World Connect breakthrough: With this new
information, the author went to the Internet and began to search to see if there were any
records of a David A. Welborn. There was only one, but one
is all it takes! [Note: There had not been even one located after the earlier
discovery of brother Newton] This one belonged to the recently published database of
Larry Kingsley, who just happened to live in Cooke Co., Texas. Too bad the author
didn't know this when he was making his tour through the area months earlier!
Larry's database did not contain any reference to Sarah, but had David A. Welborn and his
wife, Mary, as the son of a John Chipman and Frances (Smithson) Welborn [the author was
later able to straighten out this mistake in the records, as her name was Frances
Annable]. Larry helped provide contacts to other Welborn researchers and it was Joe
Welborn who provided the critical information that John Chipman Welborn could be found on
the 1850 U. S. Census in Lafayette Co., Missouri. There, at long last, the author
discovered his Sarah, in the home of her parents, along with her brothers, David and
Samuel N(ewton)!
Current Efforts
As time permits, an effort is still underway to discover our Welborn family on the U.
S. Census records of 1860 and 1870. While Joe Welborn had provided a critical piece
of biographical information gleaned from his contact with Mrs. Hazel Shelton of Denton,
Texas, to date no index search has turned up a listing for John Chipman Welborn, although
every possible permutation of the name has been tried. Something must be unusual
about these records, which we will only understand, once they are actually uncovered.
Ultimately, the author will attempt to find every "crossing" of our Welborn
family with the U. S. Census records, as a starting point to a later effort to obtain as
many local county records [birth, marriages, deaths, wills, property, etc.] as can be
found.
Road Blocks
The only major road block currently before us is to uncover the ancestry of Edward
Wilbourne, born ca 1660 in Maryland. Some records indicate he was born in
England. If so, then we have achieved our ultimate goal of reaching back to our
Immigrant Ancestor in this branch of our Family Tree. If not, then considering the
early date, we can speculate his parents must've come from England. This will not be
easy to do, as if it were easy, it would have already been done!
Acknowledgments
We wish to acknowledge here our indebtedness and appreciation for the following people,
who have helped us reach our present understanding of this branch of our family tree:
- Nancy Zufelt: Without Nancy [a distant Hart cousin],
we would have encountered a tremendous barrier to finding out about our Hart and,
subsequently, our Welborn ancestry. There is no record of a marriage for our
Saphronia Hart [probably took place in Indian Territory] and she had separated from the
rest of the family, moving up into Oklahoma, a "no-man's land" for family
historians. No telling how we would have made the connection to the Hart family, as
the author has never seen her information published anywhere else!
- Sidney Field:
Without Sidney {a distant Hart cousin] visiting Nita Overton and uncovering some valuable
photos in Mrs. Overton's possession, we would not have been provided the
major link - an old portrait simply labelled as being from "Uncle David and Aunt
Mary" Welborn, taken in a studio in Pilot Point, Denton Co., Texas.
- Nita Overton: Without Mrs. Overton [the oldest
surviving grandchild of our Sarah Ann (Welborn) Hart] carefully preserving the family
treasures contained in her photo collection, we may never have had the opportunity to make
the connection between our Sarah and her brother, David A. Welborn, in Pilot Point, Denton
Co., Texas.
- Larry Kingsley:
Without Larry [a distant Welborn cousin] posting his family information on RootsWeb's
World Connect pages, the author would still not have readily identified the connection
between David A. Welborn and the older Welborn family to which he belonged. Larry's
database contained the only reference available on the day the author first searched for
David A. Welborn, after learning of the discovery of the aforementioned photo. In
fact, Larry had posted his work only a short time before the author went on the Internet
to search. Yes!
- Joe Welborn:
Without Joe [a distant Welborn cousin] gathering the valuable records kept by Mrs. Hazel
Shelton [now deceased] at the Denton County Historical Society in Denton, Texas, we would
have had great difficulty piecing together our Welborn family's movements from Indiana to
Texas. Joe specifically provided the author with the lead that our John Chipman
Welborn was in Lafayette Co., Missouri on the 1850 U. S. Census, where we finally had
formal confirmation of our Sarah being a member of this family.
- Ann Beason Gahan:
Without Ann [a distant Welborn cousin] doing so much original research into the
Welborn families [the extent of which I am still uncertain, but know it is considerable!]
of North Carolina and Indiana, we may not have had Larry's records to see on RootsWeb's
World Connect pages. As the author has done his share of slogging through
cemeteries, crawling through seeming miles of microfilm, and poring through old records in
numerous courthouses, I have a special appreciation for what Ann has done. Thanks so
much Ann!
May each of you enjoy many happy returns on the helpfulness you have provided and
kindness you have demonstrated to your extended family members and distant cousins!
Without the assistance of each of you in your own indispensable way, we would never have
come to our present understanding of our family ancestry.
The author would be most grateful if anyone uncovering more
information would be so kind as to pass it on.
E-mail the Robersons
Author: Roger L. Roberson, Jr. Last updated: 05 July 2003