Tombstone Tuesday

 

Sarah "Sally" Page Horton

with her husband,

Josiah Joseph Jackson "Joe" Horton Sr.

buried at

Poplar Springs Methodist Church Cemetery

Adrian, Johnson County, Georgia, USA

Amanuensis Monday

 

What in the world is "Amanuensis"??? 

An amanuensis is a person employed to write what someone else dictates, or to copy what has been written. Essentially, it refers to a secretary, scribe, or literary assistant.

Here are a couple of details about the term:

• Etymology: The word comes from the Latin phrase servus amanuensis (a slave whose duty is to write), derived from a manu (meaning "at hand" or "of the hand").

• Historical Context: Historically, authors, composers, politicians, or individuals who were unable to write themselves (or had too much correspondence to handle alone) would use an amanuensis to take dictation, draft letters, or transcribe manuscripts.

So that is what I have been doing on Mondays.  Transcribing and sharing really old documents pertaining to my family that I have been fortunate enough to find. 

The following is a Land Warrant granted to Hosea Tapley in 1761 in Orange County, North Carolina.

NORTH-CAROLINA,

        THOMAS CHILD, Esquire, special Agent

        and Commissioner to the Right Honourable The EARL

        GRANVILLE, sole Lord or Proprietor of a certain

        District, Territory, or Parcel of Land, lying in the said 

        Province.

    TO William Churton Esqr His Lordship’s

    Surveyor for the County of Orange Greeting:

  YOU are forthwith to admeasure and lay out to Hosea

    Tapley a Tract of vacant Land, containing

    Seven Hundred

    Acres, lying in Orange County, within the said District;

    on Muddy Branch the waters of Flatt River

    Joining his former Survey

[Left Margin Note]:

Register-

ed in

Lib. [Book]

Fol. [Folio / Page]

    Observing my Instructions to you for running out Lands : Three

    just and fair Plans whereof, certified under your Hand, with the

    Day of your making the same, you are to return to the Person 

    mentioned in my said Instructions for receiving the same, within

    Six Months from the Date of this Warrant; In Order that the

    said Hosea Tapley ---------------------------------------- may, within

    Twelve Months ensuing the Day of such your Survey so to be

    returned as aforesaid, take out a Grant of the Lands therein

    contained for compleating [sic] his Title: Otherwise this Warrant to

    be void, and of no Force; and the said Lands to be deemed

    free, and at Liberty to be taken up by any other Person that

    shall apply to me for that Purpose. Dated the Twenty ninth 

    Day of January 1761

RETURNED, Executed the 9th

Day of April ---------------- 1761

                                                    By Order of the said Agent.

                                                    Ja.s Watson [James Watson]

There is a discrepancy between this Land Warrant and the Survey of this land that I posted on Saturday.  This Land Warrant states it is a tract of land of 700 acres, but the survey states it is a tract of 695 acres.  I do not know the reason for the 5 acre difference in acreage.

Black Sheep Sunday - Part 13 (1961-1964) of From small town Georgia boy to notorious Texas (and beyond!) con man

 

This post is the 13th and finale in a series of posts about the life of my cousin and con man Elridge Solomon Price, Sr.  You can find the other installments here:  

Part 1 (Preview up to 1913)  

Part 2 (1913-1930) 

Part 3 (1931-1934) 

Part 4 (1935-1939)  

Part 5 (1940) 

Part 6 (1941-1943) 

Part 7 (1944-1946)  

Part 8 (1947) 

Part 9 (1948-1950)

Part 10 (1951-1955)

Part 11 (1956-1957)

Part 12 (1958-1960)

This is the final post about Elridge Solomon Price Sr (1893-1964), infamous con man from Texas who just happens to be my cousin. It has been a rollercoaster ride, that's for sure.  The greatest thing I got out of this series is making contact with Elridge and Edith's granddaughter, Andrea. While I had the information about Elridge and his exploits for years, I had never written about him.  Andrea was the catalyst for getting me off my duff and starting writing and sharing.  It has been my honor to share the information I gathered with his descendents, who had little to no inkling of any of this.  

When we left Elridge in 1960, he had been captured by the FBI and was being held in an El Paso, Texas jail, awaiting transfer to a federal prison to serve seven years on a fraud conviction he received in 1957. 

There was not a whisper about Elridge in the newspapers between 1961 and 1964.  Nothing about his transfer to federal prison, his bankruptcy, IRS liens, what happened in the bad checks case against Edith...nothing.  

Elridge died of a heart attack on June 17, 1964 at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Seagoville in Seagoville, Dallas County, Texas, USA. 

"Because he died while incarcerated, a traditional family obituary detailing surviving members or funeral arrangements is not widely published in standard public records. However, his passing was heavily noted in local Texas news due to his reputation as the "kingpin among all Southwestern confidence men". - Google Gemini

However, I was unable to locate an obituary for Elridge at all, even in the local Texas newspapers. 

He was buried in Crown Hill Memorial Park, Dallas, Dallas, Texas, USA.  

FCI Seagoville 

Photos courtesy of Andrea's son who moved to the

Dallas area recently.  He was kind enough to

go take these pictures of the FCI and Elridge's 

grave for us - August 2026

Edith Shanklyn Wynn died in January 1970 in Oklahoma. I'm told she worked as a housekeeper after Elridge's death.

Their oldest child, Alsace, passed away in 2009, also in Oklahoma. She never spoke of the things that her father did and would probably be scandalized by this series of blog posts.

Elridge Solomon Price, Jr. passed away in 2004.  He changed his name, presumably to distance himself from his father's legacy. He served in the U.S. Marines during World War II.  He never spoke of his father either. His son, Elridge Solomon Price III, also changed his name.

Alvin Armington"Al" Price passed away in 2014. He served in the U.S. Army during  World War II and Korea. As far as I know, he was never in the oil business.

Sterling Woodrow Price passed away in 2006 in Tyler, Texas. He served in the U.S. Navy and according to his obituary, he retired as an Oilfield Businessman.

Elridge and Edith's youngest child (the subject of the ugly child custody case), Jeamisean Edith Price, a/k/a "Jeamsie" or "Jeep" never married.  She was a reverend in New Mexico.  She was never willing to speak about her childhood or her father either. She passed away in 2023. 

A legacy of family secrets, lies, and possibly threats to "keep your mouth shut" passed down.  Hopefully, the information shared here has helped the grandchildren understand their grandparents and their own childhoods more.  Secrets are like cancer.  They are insidious; they spread; and ultimately they help no one. They just put off the inevitable.  

Thank you for coming along on this journey with us.  All families are full of good, bad, and everything in between.  It's real life.  I am glad to be able to share my family's stories with others.

Thank you to those who have stayed until the end.  I just wanted to share one more little tidbit that doesn't really mean anything, but is interesting.  Turns out that ole Elridge was buried in the same cemetery as the infamous Bonnie Parker!

Also, Andrea received some information, unverified as yet, that she is related to Clyde Barrow on Edith's side of the family!

Oh the irony!  

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Transcribe and/or Translate a Record on MyHeritage Scribe AI Tool

 From Randy (my cousin) over at Genea-Musings:

it's Saturday Night - 

time for more Genealogy Fun!!!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1)  MyHeritage introduced the Scribe AI Tool to analyze, transcribe, translate, and provide historical context to a record or photographic image.  Have you used it?

2) Pick one record image or photograph from your collection and ask Scribe AI to do its task list for you.  How did it do?

NOTE:  If you cannot access Scribe AI for whatever reason, please access another AI tool (such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Transkribus) that can transcribe, translate or analyze a record of photographic image.

3) Please share your selected record or photo image, plus what Scribe AI told you about the image as a comment on this post, on social media or in your own blog post! Please leave a comment with a link on this post so others can check it out.

Here's mine:  

I chose a land survey from 1781 for my 6th great-grandfather, Hosea Tapley (1691-1778). This survey goes with a land warrant that I am planning to post in Amanuensis Monday's blog post. 

I uploaded this image to Scribe AI, and this is what it told me:

1)  Historical context

This document is a colonial-era land survey plat and description from North Carolina, created on April 9, 1761. It visually and textually outlines a 695-acre tract of land surveyed for Hosea Tapley in Orange County. Land surveys like this were a crucial step in the land grant process, occurring after a warrant was issued and before the final patent or grant was finalized. The document includes a hand-drawn map of the property boundaries (metes and bounds) using chains and links as measurements, referencing natural landmarks like oaks, hickories, and poplars. It also lists the "Sworn Chain Carriers," who physically measured the land; it was common practice for family members (like Hosea Tapley Junr.) or neighbors to serve in this role.

2)  Details mentioned

Principal Individual:

• Hosea Tapley: Landowner and subject of the document. He is having 695 acres of land surveyed on the Muddy branch of the Flat River in Orange County, North Carolina. The document notes the survey runs along "his former line," indicating he already owned adjacent property.

Associated Individuals:

• Hosea Tapley Junr.: Sworn Chain Carrier. Likely the son of the principal individual, assisting in the physical measurement of the land.
• John Camp: Sworn Chain Carrier. Likely a neighbor or relative assisting with the survey.
• W. Churton: Surveyor who drafted the plan and recorded the measurements.

Key Events:

• Land Survey: Dated April 9, 1761, in Orange County, North Carolina.

3) Key findings

• The document is a land survey for 695 acres in Orange County, North Carolina, conducted on April 9, 1761, for Hosea Tapley.
• The land is located on the Muddy branch of the Flat River and adjoins land already owned by Tapley.
• Hosea Tapley Junr. and John Camp served as sworn chain carriers, suggesting a close relationship (likely son and neighbor/relative) to the landowner.
• The survey was completed by W. Churton, a known surveyor of the period

4) Suggested next steps

• You should search for the corresponding land warrant and final land patent/grant for Hosea Tapley in the North Carolina State Archives or online land grant databases to complete the picture of this transaction.
• Look for Hosea Tapley and Hosea Tapley Junr. in early Orange County, North Carolina tax lists, court minutes, and deed books to establish their timeline and community network.
• Investigate John Camp in local records, as chain carriers were often close neighbors or relatives by marriage.
• You can use MyHeritage to search for family trees and historical records linking Hosea Tapley Sr. and Jr. to trace their descendants and origins before 1761.
• Since the document mentions Tapley's "former line," you should look for earlier land acquisitions by Hosea Tapley in Orange County or surrounding areas prior to 1761.

5) Full text transcription

By a Scale of 40 Cha in an inch 

No Carolina Orange County 

[Map annotations: Hosea Tapley 695 Acres, Muddy br, Flat river] 

This plan represents a tract of land survey'd 
for Hosea Tapley; on Muddy branch of 
flat river. Beginning at a red oak, of 
the sd Tapley's, & runs thence with his 
line, North 20 Chain, to his Corner white oak. then his line East 21 
Chain, to his Corner hiccory. then his line North 52 Chain. to a red 
oak. on his line. then West 47 Chain 50 Lin. to a post oak, then North 
90 Cha to a Saplin Corner: then West 54 Chain 50 Lin. to a post oak 
then South 52 Chain. to a stake, on his former line, then East 4 Cha 
to his former Corner poplar. then South along his former line 
110 Chain to a white oak. then East 57 Chain, to the first 
station, Containing 695 Acres; survey'd the 9th Day of April 1761 

Sworn Cha Carriers 

John Camp 

Hosea Tapley Junr. }                                                                                             W: Churton

I loved this!  It was so much faster than uploading  the file to Gemini and then having to get my magnifying glass and try to transcribe the words that Gemini did not understand! I only had to correct the line cut-offs and one word in the entire transcription.