In Search of Isabel

It was an exciting time for me, the day I received the Thompson genealogy from my daddy. It was a work done for one of his Thompson cousins, Bob. A friend of Bob’s did a wonderful job tracing our ancestry way back to the 1400’s. We have affectionately come to call it--”The BIG Thompson Genealogy”--because, it is BIG!
I began to pour over every inch of it, dissecting every word, every letter, every name. It seemed at times to transport me to another time, another place, as I visualized what my long gone ancestors looked like; what they experienced; what they felt about their lives--and I wondered--if they ever had given any thought to their descendants with as much wonderment as I was doing with them. Perhaps they did, as they labored in the fields or worked over a hot wood burning stove--perhaps they wondered what it would be like in the far away future--perhaps they wondered if anyone would remember their contributions to the family legacy.
They say when you begin your search for your ancestors you start with the most recent events and people in your family lineage. You begin by asking questions of all the oldest living relatives that you have…so my search began with my uncle and daddy. Over the past two years we have had numerous
family history conversations and I feel that it has drawn us closer together. I hope they feel the same.
Back in the 1970’s, my uncle got Papa Jewel, my grandfather, to tell him what he knew about his grandfather. Papa told him that he never knew his grandparents and his father, William Wayne Thompson, wasn’t one to talk much about his early childhood back in Alabama and Georgia. Papa Jewel stated that he thought his grandfather was a “Doctor in the Civil” but he did not know his name, or the name of his grandmother. At this time we did not have any written Thompson genealogy, only verbal family history, and little of that.
You can’t begin to know how thrilled I was when I discovered in the “BIG Thompson Genealogy” confirmation of this small piece of verbal family history from Papa Jewel! Right there in black and white on the family group page for Alexander W. Thompson, he had been listed as a “Student of Medicine” in the 1860 Alabama Census! At that time, Great Grand Papa William Wayne was 2 years old and he had a one year old brother, Franklin and now we even know his mother’s name--”Isabel”.
And here my search really began…my two year intense quest--”In search of Isabel”…
It was troubling to me that we now had such a great genealogical work on our Thompson line--but nothing on Isabel--who was this woman with the fascinating name, born in South Carolina? Who were her parents? Who were her siblings? How did she come to meet Alexander? My mind traveled down every road imaginable as I thought of my Great Great Grandmother, Isabel--I so desperately wanted to know her.
I joined every genealogy email list I could join and put out queries to them, muddled through census for every state I thought that they could have lived in. But I found no traces of Alexander and Isabel with their sons after 1860. I was desperate for information on them--but ended up at a brick wall at every turn. And it seemed to me that I would never discover the illusive Isabel’s maiden name.
Then one day--someone answered one of my queries--a woman named Laura B.--gave me some interesting information--Below is an excerpt from her email:
“Is this Isabel?”
Alabama Marriage: A.W. Thompson married to Laura J.
McWhorter,15 July 1855 in Calhoun Co.,AL (Benton Co.
Was renamed Calhoun Co., marriage from Ancestry.com
Alabama marriage)
Laura went on to say, “This only works of course
If the bride’s name was misread and should be Laura I.
McWhorter.”

I was so excited by Laura’s email--because I had already found out that Calhoun County at one time had been Benton County and this is where Alexander W.’s family had settled when they moved to Alabama. He had been living there with his mother in the 1850 Benton Co., Al census; the “Big Thompson Genealogy confirms this too!
Now--I have a first and last name to work with—BUT--is this my Isabel? With this information, I made a call to the Anniston Alabama Genealogy Library. I spoke with a woman and asked her to look up the marriage of A.W. Thompson and Laura McWhorter--”Yes--it is on file”, she stated--”and the middle initial is a “J”.” Disappointment began to take over as I shared with the nice lady that I was hoping the “J” would have been an “I”…
“Don’t count Laura out yet as being your ancestor. Transcription errors are very common, especially with “J’s” and “I’s”--they are very similarly made and transcribers have always had a hard time deciphering the penmanship of past eras.”
With this in mind, I kept my search going, hoping that one day, I could find concrete proof that my “Isabel” was indeed, Laura McWhorter. I then started searching for McWhorter’s at rootsweb.com--and to my amazement---I found a family genealogy that someone had posted with Laura McWhorter’s information on it…
Laura McWhorter b. 30 Nov 1829
1st m. William Thompson
children: William W.Thompson;Franklin Thompson
2nd m. James M. Stowers children: Leroy Stowers
I then began looking at census for the name Stowers and found that in 1870 Corinth, Heard Co., GA in the James M. Stowers household--there was Laura, her two Thompson children; Wm.W.,age 12; and Franklin, age 9 and now she had another son by her second husband, Leroy Stowers,age 4.
With this information I was able to conclude several facts:
1. Her first husband, Alexander W. Thompson’s middle name is “William”.
2. A.W. must have died sometime between 1860 and 1860-64, most likely in the Civil War.
3. Laura most likely moved back to Georgia to be close to her family after his death and married 2nd husband, Marion Stowers around 1864-65.
1. Laura’s 3rd son, Leroy Stowers was born about 1866.

In the 1880 Heard Co., GA census:
Marion Stowers,48, head of house
Laura Stowers,52, wife
Wm.W.Thompson,21, stepson
Franklin Thompson,19, “
Leroy Stowers,13, son
Every piece of evidence kept my excitement growing! In the meantime another person emailed me, Kathryn M., who was a descendant of the McWhorter’s. She had information on Laura’s father, mother and siblings as following:
Leroy McWhorter was the son of Moses Allen McWhorter Jr.
Leroy married Mary Elizabeth Thomasson or Thompson b. 1795/1800;d. 9 Oct 1875 in Carroll Co., GA.
Leroy and Elizabeth McWhorter’s children:
1. Moses Allen b. 1820 Greenville SC d. 1902 Carroll Co., GA
2. Sarah M. b. 1822, SC
3. Mary Ann E b. 1822, SC
4. Johnson b. 1826
5. Laura b 30 Nov 1827 GA; married 2 X’s (1) A.W.Thompson; (2) James M. Stowers
6. Thomas Benson b. 1829 GA
7. Elizabeth b.1831 GA
8. Newton Alex b 1833 GA

Again, further documentation that A.W.Thompson was married to Laura McWhorter. So--is Laura’s middle name “Isabel”? I strongly believe it is!!!
For nearly two years I had stopped researching, until this past July 2008, when I attended the Thompson family Reunion. After viewing the death certificate of William Wayne Thompson, I was puzzled by some of the information that was on it.
On his death certificate it stated that his Father was Frank Thompson and mother, Elizabeth Thompson. The informant was his wife, Lucy Matilda, my great grandmother; surely she knew the names of his parents--or did she?
This blew everything that I had already settled in my mind nearly 2 years ago about Great Grand Papa’s parents! So, I began my search again--back to the websites--back to the genealogy mailing lists, back to the census--back to sending out queries for help to anyone who would listen to me, looking here and yonder for Frank and Elizabeth Thompson now.
I looked in every state census from 1860 to 1900, that I thought the Thompson’s could have lived in--and some that I knew for sure they couldn’t have lived in--but I could find no family with all these names together as a family unit.
Late one night as I was viewing some old archived posts at the rootsweb.com message board, I came across a post that dated back to 2001. It was about Laura McWhorter--someone was trying to find information about her. I wondered if after 7 years, had she given up her search, since I also noticed that no one had posted a reply to the query?
“Well”, I said to myself--”what could it hurt to reply, I’m sure not having any luck finding Frank & Elizabeth Thompson....”
The very next day I became acquainted with Judy K., descendant of Leroy McWhorter, through his eldest son, Moses. She has helped me more, since Aug 14, 2008, to understand genealogy discovers than any person or website I’ve been too since 2006.
After sharing all my finds with her, she agrees that there are just too many pieces that fit together, about A.W. and Laura being the parents of William Wayne Thompson.
Judy K. is the religion and genealogy writer for The Citizen, a newspaper in Georgia and has been doing research on her McWhorter family for years, along with writing a weekly genealogy column.
She very graciously shared her McWhorter family history/notes with me. We were both excited to find the McWhorter/Thompson connection. It has been such a joyful experience getting to know Judy and finding that I have another cousin to add to my family-- if my calculations are correct, Judy is my 4th cousin through our McWhorter connection.
After several days of correspondence, Judy was inspired to feature our McWhorter/Thompson family in one of her articles for The Citizen. She titled it, “Anyone seen Laura McWhorter Thompson Stowers?”
In my search for “Isabel” I have found another wonderful family line in my heritage--the McWhorter family. It was exciting to discover that Laura’s father was a Baptist minister, who had pastored several churches in South Carolina and Georgia throughout his lifetime. I can just picture the Rev. Leroy McWhorter with head bowed, on bended knee, praying for his family and future descendants (of which I am one) to know his Savior. What a comforting thought to behold and to know that your ancestors were God fearing, Christian people and one day--I will be united with them in Heaven and know them face to face, as we worship our blessed Savior together!
Yes, I have searched for and found my Great, Great Grandmother--Laura “Isabel” McWhorter Thompson Stowers--but I have found so much more. A Spiritual Heritage that will go on and on from generation to generation!!!
6 September 2008