Alma Smith Carthan Spearman

Daughter of George Smith in the family account, mother of Mamie Elizabeth Carthan Till-Mobley, and the family historian whose written family history is one of the archive's cited sources. Carthan and Spearman are both her married surnames: the records once kept separately under those names describe one woman. The archive has not yet examined a contemporary record establishing her parentage, so that generation link is carried as under investigation.

No claim in this case has reached documented status.

• The eighty-acre place

  “John and Laura acquired approximately eighty acres, with a house, barns, livestock, a blacksmith shop, wells, orchards, pastures, streams, gardens, trees, and poultry.”

  Earliest known teller: Alma Smith Spearman · BT-TRD-00097

• Laura attended "Vicksburg College"

  “Laura Tolliver, while yet a student of Vicksburg College, was given in marriage to John Smith, a country farmer.”

  Earliest known teller: Alma Smith Spearman · BT-TRD-00098

• Bishop C. H. Mason in the Smith home

  “Around 1897 John and Laura Smith welcomed Bishop C. H. Mason into their home, extended an ongoing invitation for him to stay when in the area, their son Joe cared for his horse and buggy, and their oldest grandson Mason Harrison Smith was named for him.”

  Earliest known teller: Alma Smith Spearman · BT-TRD-00099

• The five-year separation

  “Hilliard was sold to another enslaver in Arkansas and separated from Bettie. Bettie's grief was so constant that her enslavers purchased Hilliard back, ending a separation the family remembers as lasting about five years.”

  Earliest known teller: Alma Smith Spearman · BT-TRD-00195

• Choctaw ancestry in Bettie's line

  “Family memory identifies Choctaw ancestry in the ancestry of Bettie Alexander Taliaferro, born about 1837.”

  Earliest known teller: Not recorded · BT-TRD-00604

• Shawnee ancestry in Hilliard's line

  “Family memory identifies Shawnee ancestry in the ancestry of Hilliard Taliaferro, born about 1823 in Virginia.”

  Earliest known teller: Not recorded · BT-TRD-00605

• Was Alma Smith Carthan a daughter of George Smith?

  Under Investigation

  Was Alma Smith Carthan a daughter of George Smith?

• Was Mamie Till-Mobley a daughter of Alma Carthan?

  Under Investigation

  Was Mamie Till-Mobley a daughter of Alma Carthan?

• Whom did Alma Smith Carthan marry, and when?

  Under Investigation

  What marriage record or census household documents Alma Smith's marriage and her husband's full name?

• Are Alma Smith Carthan and Alma Smith Spearman the same person?

  Under Investigation

  What records fix the birth, marriage and death of each Alma separately, so that neither can be collapsed into the other?

• · Locate and examine a census enumeration, birth record, death record naming parents, marriage record, obituary, Social Security application, church record or probate file.
• · Locate and examine a census enumeration, birth record, death record naming parents, marriage record, obituary, Social Security application, church record or probate file.
• · Search Cook County and Mississippi marriage records; check the 1930 and 1940 census households.
• · Establish birth, marriage and death records for each Alma independently.

1. Family knowledge supplied by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

   Amberly R. Carter-Mills · BEFORE TILL research files · Authored Narrative

   Primary oral history — for the interviewee · Original image: Transcript verification pending · BT-SRC-00264

2. Find a Grave memorial 92711754 for George Smith (21 Apr 1881 - 3 Mar 1936), Lincoln Cemetery, Blue Island, Cook County, Illinois

   Contributor AR Jackson (member 47847137), memorial maintainer · Find a Grave (database and images), online · Find a Grave Memorial ID 92711754 · Index

   Research lead — derivative source · Original image: Derivative source only · BT-SRC-00041

3. Widely published account of the Carthan–Till family

   Various published accounts · Not yet examined by this archive · Abstract

   Derivative source · Original image: Citation entered — image review pending · BT-SRC-00265

4. Bibliographic details pending — family history by Alma Smith Spearman

   Alma Smith Spearman · Authored Narrative

   Authored family history · Original image: Publication details pending · BT-SRC-00040

2 discrete observations were extracted from these sources for this case.