Tombstone Tuesday~Caroline Purvis Franklin

Caroline Purvis Franklin

b. 1823

d. 1874

bu. Antioch Cemetery, Rankin County, MS.

This past Christmas the wife and I drove to Dallas to spend Christmas with our daughter and son-in-law. On the return trip I planned a 2-day stop in Jackson, Mississippi to do some research at the Mississippi Archives. If you have ancestors in Mississippi and haven’t visited the Archives, I highly recommend you pay them a visit. The staff there is  terrific in their assistance. Antioch Cemetery was on my agenda because of the number of Purvis’ buried within the county.¹

Caroline Purvis was born about 1822 or 1823 according to the 3 census that she was enumerated within – 1850, 1860 and 1870. ^{2 3 4}

No document has been found that names her parents; but, my research led me to to believe that her parents are Joseph Purvis and his wife Elizabeth Cook.

Joseph & Elizabeth had a very large family, mostly daughters.

1840 CENSUS: Rankin County, Mississippi; Roll: 183; Page: 217; Image: 820; Family History Library Film: 0014841; Household of Joseph PURVIS. ⁵2 Males - Under 5:
1 Males - 10 thru 14:
1 Males - 20 thru 29:
1 Males - 40 thru 49:
2 Females - 5 thru 9:
3 Females - 10 thru 14:
2 Females - 15 thru 19: Could be Caroline Purvis
1 Females - 40 thru 49:
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Joseph Purvis died sometime before May 1842 and by 1844 his widow, Elizabeth, had married Richard Oldham/Odom and moved to Rapides Parish, Louisiana.

On 24 February 1845 Carolina Purvis allegedly married Thomas J. Franklin.

The 1850-1860-1870 census shows Thomas J. Franklin and Caroline together as husband and wife  with a growing family that by the birth of their last child in Dec 1865 had grown to 8 children; 4 sons and 4 daughters.

I said allegedly married because according to a Genforum posting by Frank F. Thompson “the marriage license bears the name T. J. ALLEN as being the groom. Bond posted by Alexander Purvis. T. J. Franklins' name only appears once, at the bottom of the license, where it is signed by the minister”. This is also confirmed by the Ancestry entry. ^{6 7}

Mississippi Marriages, 1776-1935
about Thomas I Allen
Name:     Thomas I Allen
Spouse:     Caroline Purvis
Marriage Date:     24 Feb 1845
County:     Rankin
Source Information
Hunting For Bears, comp.. Mississippi Marriages, 1776-1935 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.
Original data: Mississippi marriage information taken from county courthouse records. Many of these records were extracted from copies of the original records in microfilm, microfiche, or book format, located at the Family History Library.

The Franklin Family Researchers United Newsletter, Charter Issue, October 1991, page 54 (2nd edition)  records a married between Thomas J Allen and Caroline Purvis, 27 Feb 1845, Rec Bk 2 pg 23. ⁸



Marriage Book 2, page 23 reports that she married Thomas J. Allen. The Franklin Researchers United Newsletter reports that the marriage is recorded between Thomas J. Allen and Caroline Purvis. The 1850-1870 Census shows that Caroline was married to Thomas J. Franklin and together they has six children.

Was T. J. Allen a real person or an alias. I can find no one by the name of T. J. Allen in Rankin County between 1840 and 1855. There is a T. J. Allen in Copiah County, Mississippi in 1860 but he is a single man and much younger.

The parents of Caroline Purvis and these marriage discrepancies have been a real puzzle for many years. If you have any information about Caroline Purvis Franklin born about 1822, please contact me.   

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[1] Find A Grave, Inc., Find A Grave, database and digital images, (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 31 December 2014); Memorial page for Carolina Purvis Franklin; (1823–1874); Find a Grave memorial # 49777084, Citing Antioch Cemetery; Rufus, Rankin County, Mississippi, USA.
[2] 1850, Smith County, Mississippi, population schedule, Smith County, Mississippi, Page: 334A (stamped); Line 36, Dwelling 113, Family 113, Household of Thomas FRANKLIN; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : viewed 6 June 2010); citing NARA publication Roll: M432_381.
[3] 1860 U. S. Census, Smith County, Mississippi, population schedule, No Twp Listed, Smith County, Mississippi, Page: 326 (penciled); Line 15, Dwelling 598, Family 598, Household of T. J. FRANKLIN; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : Viewed `10 June 2010); citing NARA publication Roll: M653_591.
[4] 1870 U. S. Census, Rankin County, Mississippi, population schedule, Brandon PO, Rankin County, Mississippi, Page: 65 (stamped), Line 37, Dwelling 476, Family 476, Household of Thomas J. FRANKLIN; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : viewed 10 June 2010); citing National Archives Microfilm M593 Roll 748.
[5] 1840 US Census, Rankin County, Mississippi, population schedule, Rankin County, Mississippi, page 183, Household of Joseph Purvis; digital images, www.ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : viewed 2009); citing NARA micro-film Roll: M704_217.
[6] http://genforum.genealogy.com/ms/messages/7569.html
[7] http://goo.gl/DvpHkb
[8]http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ffru/Docs/FFRU_back/charter.pdf