BEFORE TILL archival sealBefore TillThe Living Evidence Archive

Case · BT-PER-00268 · A living evidence case study

Mamie Elizabeth Carthan Till-Mobley

Daughter of Alma Smith Carthan Spearman. Born 23 November 1921 and died 6 January 2003; those dates are well established in published accounts, and the archive carries them on that basis rather than on a certificate it has examined.

Claims examined
3
Reached documented
0
Sources cited
2
Observations extracted
1
Family accounts preserved
6

Case at a glance

Mamie Elizabeth Carthan Till-Mobley

23 November 1921 — 6 January 2003

Documented in this archive

  • No claim in this case has yet reached documented status.

Research & interpretation

Amberly R. Carter-Mills

Founder, Creator & Descendant Archivist

01

What the family remembers

Accounts held and repeated in the family. They are preserved as accounts — they are not treated as proof.

  • The eighty-acre place

    Family Tradition
    “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 · First written down in: Bibliographic details pending — family history by Alma Smith Spearman

    BT-TRD-00097

  • Laura attended "Vicksburg College"

    Family Tradition
    “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 · First written down in: Bibliographic details pending — family history by Alma Smith Spearman

    BT-TRD-00098

  • Bishop C. H. Mason in the Smith home

    Family Tradition
    “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 · First written down in: Bibliographic details pending — family history by Alma Smith Spearman

    BT-TRD-00099

  • The five-year separation

    Family Tradition
    “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 · First written down in: Bibliographic details pending — family history by Alma Smith Spearman

    BT-TRD-00195

  • Choctaw ancestry in Bettie's line

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

    Earliest known teller: Not recorded

    BT-TRD-00605

02

What the records actually say

Every observation extracted from a source, grouped by the record it came from. Verbatim wording is shown where the record supplies it.

Widely published account of the Carthan–Till family

BT-SRC-00265

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

Evidentiary weight 2 of 4. Derivative sourceOriginal image: Citation entered — image review pendingA transcription, abstract or index standing in for a record BEFORE TILL has not yet examined directly.

  • This relationship is stated in widely published accounts. BEFORE TILL has not yet examined an original record for it, so it is held as under verification rather than documented.

    BT-EVD-00285

03

Where they conflict

Conflicts are preserved, not resolved by preference. Supporting, complicating and contextual readings are shown side by side.

No conflicting evidence has been recorded in this case.

04

Amberly's current conclusion

Conclusions are versioned. Nothing is overwritten — a new reading supersedes the last and the earlier version stays on the record.

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

    Under Investigation

    Version 1 · Current · Medium confidence · published August 12, 2026 · BT-CON-00284

    Researcher interpretation · Amberly R. Carter-Mills

    This relationship is stated in widely published accounts. BEFORE TILL has not yet examined an original record for it, so it is held as under verification rather than documented.

    What is known: This relationship is stated in widely published accounts. BEFORE TILL has not yet examined an original record for it, so it is held as under verification rather than documented.

    What is not known: No contemporary record establishing this relationship has been examined by this archive and entered as an original.

  • Was Emmett Louis Till the son of Mamie Till-Mobley?

    Under Investigation

    Version 1 · Current · Medium confidence · published August 12, 2026 · BT-CON-00288

    Researcher interpretation · Amberly R. Carter-Mills

    This relationship is stated in widely published accounts. It is entered here as a derivative statement pending an original record examined by this archive.

    What is known: This relationship is stated in widely published accounts. It is entered here as a derivative statement pending an original record examined by this archive.

    What is not known: No contemporary record establishing this relationship has been examined by this archive and entered as an original.

  • What records document the Carthan household's move from Mississippi to Chicago?

    Under Investigation

    Version 1 · Current · Low confidence · published August 12, 2026 · BT-CON-00356

    Researcher interpretation · Amberly R. Carter-Mills

    The Carthan household's move north is undocumented in this archive.

    What is known: Published accounts place Mamie's childhood in the Chicago area.

    What is not known: The years, the route, the household composition at each step, and any motive.

05

What could change this

The records not yet located, and the questions still open. If you hold one of them, the archive wants to hear from you.

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

    Was Mamie Till-Mobley a daughter of Alma Carthan?

    Next: Locate and examine a census enumeration, birth record, death record naming parents, marriage record, obituary, Social Security application, church record or probate file.

  • Was Emmett Louis Till the son of Mamie Till-Mobley?

    Was Emmett Louis Till the son of Mamie Till-Mobley?

    Next: Locate and examine a census enumeration, birth record, death record naming parents, marriage record, obituary, Social Security application, church record or probate file.

  • What records document the Carthan household's move from Mississippi to Chicago?

    Which census, school, directory or employment records place the Carthan household in Mississippi and then in Illinois, and in which years?

    Next: Search the 1930 and 1940 censuses, Chicago-area city directories and school records.

Do you hold a record, a photograph, or a family account bearing on this question? Submit it for review. A submission becomes a research lead; it does not change a published conclusion on its own.

Attach files (optional)

Scans, photographs, or a recorded account. Up to 5 files, 25.0 MB each — images, PDF, or audio. Attachments are stored privately and are never published without review.

Please do not send Social Security numbers, account or policy numbers, unredacted identification for living people, financial information, private medical records, or records about a living person who has not agreed to it. Everything you send is stored privately and reviewed before anything is published — nothing you submit appears on the site automatically. See the records and documents policy.

06

Evidence trails

Follow any claim from the claim itself, through each observation and its source, to the conclusion it produced.

Step 1 · Claim

Was Mamie Till-Mobley a daughter of Alma Carthan?

Under Investigation· 1 source

BT-CLM-00283

Parent-child relationship between alma-smith-carthan and mamie-till-mobley, held as a single generation link rather than as part of a lineage assertion.

Step 2 · Evidence & Source

  1. Partially Supports · Weak weight

    This relationship is stated in widely published accounts. BEFORE TILL has not yet examined an original record for it, so it is held as under verification rather than documented.

    Widely published account of the Carthan–Till family · Not yet examined by this archive · Abstract

    BT-EVD-00285 ← BT-SRC-00265

    Researcher interpretation · Amberly R. Carter-Mills

    Family knowledge and documentary verification are recorded separately. Both are shown; neither is presented as the other.

Step 3 · Conclusion

Under InvestigationVersion 1 · Current · Medium confidence

Researcher interpretation · Amberly R. Carter-Mills

This relationship is stated in widely published accounts. BEFORE TILL has not yet examined an original record for it, so it is held as under verification rather than documented.

What is not known: No contemporary record establishing this relationship has been examined by this archive and entered as an original.

What could change this: Locate and examine a census enumeration, birth record, death record naming parents, marriage record, obituary, Social Security application, church record or probate file.

Step 1 · Claim

Was Emmett Louis Till the son of Mamie Till-Mobley?

Under Investigation· 1 source

BT-CLM-00287

Parent-child relationship between mamie-till-mobley and emmett-louis-till, held as a single generation link rather than as part of a lineage assertion.

Step 2 · Evidence & Source

  1. Partially Supports · Weak weight

    This relationship is stated in widely published accounts. It is entered here as a derivative statement pending an original record examined by this archive.

    Widely published account of the Carthan–Till family · Not yet examined by this archive · Abstract

    BT-EVD-00289 ← BT-SRC-00265

    Researcher interpretation · Amberly R. Carter-Mills

    Family knowledge and documentary verification are recorded separately. Both are shown; neither is presented as the other.

Step 3 · Conclusion

Under InvestigationVersion 1 · Current · Medium confidence

Researcher interpretation · Amberly R. Carter-Mills

This relationship is stated in widely published accounts. It is entered here as a derivative statement pending an original record examined by this archive.

What is not known: No contemporary record establishing this relationship has been examined by this archive and entered as an original.

What could change this: Locate and examine a census enumeration, birth record, death record naming parents, marriage record, obituary, Social Security application, church record or probate file.

Step 1 · Claim

What records document the Carthan household's move from Mississippi to Chicago?

Under Investigation· 0 sources

BT-CLM-00348

Mamie Elizabeth Carthan moved with her family from Mississippi to the Chicago area as a child.

Step 2 · Evidence & Source

No evidence has been weighed into this claim yet.

Step 3 · Conclusion

Under InvestigationVersion 1 · Current · Low confidence

Researcher interpretation · Amberly R. Carter-Mills

The Carthan household's move north is undocumented in this archive.

What is not known: The years, the route, the household composition at each step, and any motive.

What could change this: Search the 1930 and 1940 censuses, Chicago-area city directories and school records.

07

Historical context and how researchers read it

The world these records were made in, and the reasoning used to interpret them. Kept apart from the evidence on purpose: nothing in this section proves anything about this family, and nothing here can change the status of a claim.

09

Provenance, access and use

Every source this case rests on, with its provenance metadata and reuse terms. Compiled web pages, derivative transcriptions, oral histories and original records are labelled separately and never flattened together.

Source creator
Varies by record — see each source
Who made the original record.
Researcher of record
Amberly R. Carter-Mills — Founder, Creator & Descendant Archivist
Located, transcribed, weighed and interpreted the evidence.
Publishing archive
BEFORE TILL: The Living Evidence Archive
Holds the object, its identifiers and its revision history.

Widely published account of the Carthan–Till family

BT-SRC-00265
Evidentiary weight 2 of 4. Derivative sourceOriginal image: Citation entered — image review pendingA transcription, abstract or index standing in for a record BEFORE TILL has not yet examined directly.
Creator
Various published accounts
Date created
Twentieth century onward
Repository
Not yet examined by this archive
Collection
Not recorded
Record form
Abstract
Source type
Other
Accessed
Not recorded

Access and use

Derivative. Named here so the pathway is honest about what has, and has not, been examined in the original.

BEFORE TILL publishes description, transcription and analysis. Reuse of the underlying record is governed by the holding repository. Cite this archive by its persistent identifier when quoting our reading of the record.

Bibliographic details pending — family history by Alma Smith Spearman

BT-SRC-00040
Evidentiary weight 2 of 4. Authored family historyOriginal image: Publication details pendingA descendant-authored account. Evidence that the account exists; not automatically contemporary proof of the events it describes.
Creator
Alma Smith Spearman
Date created
Not recorded
Repository
Not recorded
Collection
Not recorded
Record form
Authored Narrative
Source type
Book
Accessed
Not recorded

Access and use

COMPLETE BIBLIOGRAPHIC CITATION NEEDED. Published family history / descendant-authored narrative. Title, publisher, and publication date have not yet been supplied. A valuable family source; it is not automatically contemporary documentary proof for events predating the author's lifetime.

BEFORE TILL publishes description, transcription and analysis. Reuse of the underlying record is governed by the holding repository. Cite this archive by its persistent identifier when quoting our reading of the record.

11

Research history of this case

Every logged research action against this case, in the order it happened. Conclusions supersede; they are never quietly overwritten.

No research actions have been logged against this case yet.

The archive-wide audit trail, including corrections, is in the research ledger.

For press, researchers & institutions

How to cite and verify Case

Subject
Mamie Elizabeth Carthan Till-Mobley
Persistent identifier
BT-PER-00268
Researcher of record
Amberly R. Carter-Mills, Founder, Creator & Descendant Archivist
Publishing archive
BEFORE TILL: The Living Evidence Archive
Sources underpinning the case
2
Discrete evidence observations
1
Stable URL
/case/mamie-till-mobley

Safe to report as documented

  • Nothing in this case has reached documented status.

Must be attributed as unresolved

  • · Was Mamie Till-Mobley a daughter of Alma Carthan?
  • · Was Emmett Louis Till the son of Mamie Till-Mobley?
  • · What records document the Carthan household's move from Mississippi to Chicago?

BEFORE TILL does not describe any finding as “proven” or as “fact.” Statuses are Documented, Corroborated, Family Tradition, Under Investigation and Corrected, and each is defined on the methodology page. Please carry the status with the finding.

Research brief (printable)Evidence standardRequest verification or interview

Why this case matters

One life, reconstructed to a standard

For most people enslaved in the United States, the surviving record is a line in someone else’s ledger: an age, a sex, no name. Mamie Elizabeth Carthan Till-Mobley’s case shows that a life can still be reconstructed from those fragments without inventing a single detail — and that the gaps, the conflicts and the family memory can be carried forward honestly alongside what the records prove.

This is slow work. Every observation on this page was located, transcribed, weighed and attributed by hand. Support pays for archive access, image orders, repository travel and the research hours that turn a name into a documented life.

What further support unlocks next

  • 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 the 1930 and 1940 censuses, Chicago-area city directories and school records.
Support this researchContribute a record or lead