October 21, 2008 - Mayberry

Uncle Justin and me are still planning to visit Georgie on Nov 1st. He told me he was going to call her this week to verify this with her. I still have not heard back from the historical society about the cemetery listing. I don't know if they are very small and do not meet often. I will either try and call or get another letter out to them. Also since I found the info and picture about Frederick Mayberry's gravestone I will try and contact the person who submitted the info to Findagrave.com. Perhaps they might have details of other Mayberrys buried in the same cemetery.

I am hoping that we do end up making contact with the Owens sometime soon. I think that there is a good chance that Nancy still has grandchildren that are alive who might remember hearing about the Shay/Mayberry background. Since Nancy was the oldest surviving daughter of James & Margaret and the first to get married...there might be a good chance that there is a family bible, family tree or may even be old pictures from that lineage. I will consider it a jackpot if I ever came across a picture of either James Shay or Margaret Mayberry. They both lived until the late 1860's. My father's family has several ancestor photos from the 1860's so I know there is always a slight chance that one exists.

I looked into the slave census of 1850 and sure enough I found that Frederick Mayberry was indeed a slave owner. In fact, his wife Elizabeth still owned the slaves as of 1860. Since he took on a slave woman and her small daughters, I think the slaves were probably more like domestic servants. Also he seems to have taken them on when he was over the age of 50 and had to go out of state to get them. My theory is that he might have inherited the slaves from a relative. Perhaps a father, brother or an in-law. We do not know Elizabeth Mayberry's maiden name so there is always a possibility that she still had brothers or a father that owned slaves in the late 1840's.

I think that the Native American connection comes through Mary Ashley's line. She had direct contact and resided with her granddaughters Nancy and Jane until they were grown. She could have filled them in about having relatives or a grandmother that was a Native American medicine woman. Also I know Mary Ashley's father's name and the name of her step-mother but I still cannot find a single piece of information on her birth mother. There could be a good chance that Mary Ashley's maternal line was Native American.

I wouldn't be surprised if the husband of Mary Ashley and father of Margaret turns out to be a man named John Mayberry. I am using logic with this reasoning. There was a John S. Mayberry that purchased land in the county around the same time that Frederick Mayberry purchased land...circa 1820's-1830's. In my opinion, John was either a father or brother to Frederick. Frederick has a least 3 sons. I know the names of 2 of them which were George & William. The other son that is unnamed is most likely the father of Margaret. William, son of Frederick had 2 sons that he named George and John. I think he named both of them after brothers. That is twice that the name John Mayberry shows up. I bet the unnamed older brother of William is a man named John who lived circa 1820-1845...married to Mary Ashley and most likely father to Delphia & Margaret.

One day soon I think I will uncover the identity. Thats all I have for now.

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