Three NEWMAN Sisters And A Mystery.

Today is Wednesday, December 16, 2020. It's currently 32° and I'm looking out my dinning room window at a blanket of snow that fell three days ago! It's been six years since we've had a significant snowfall and I'm loving it.

But enough about that.

The reason for this post goes back to the fabulous dresser I wrote about last.

I've continued corresponding with my new cousin, Mr. SHUPE. I've had a few questions to ask regarding lineage and documentation.

I had traced his line back to our common ancestor, Jonathan NEWMAN. As I pointed out in my last post, he descends from Jonathan's daughter Delilah Jane, and I from Jonathan's daughter, Arminta. But while emailing back and forth with Mr. SHUPE he kept refrencing his father's maternal line, while my research showed that it was his father's paternal line that connected to Jonathan Newman.

I had asked him who had written the letter he sent with the dresser and who exactly it was written to. He said it was written to his father. He remembered two aunts but he felt it had to have been from his Aunt Susie Dunlap; his father's mother's sister. His exact repsonse was:

The Aunts I remember are Pete Dowsett and Susan (Susie) Dunlap. Guessing I would say Susie, since she relocated to a smaller house at some point and was very fond of my Dad. He was her first nephew. The letter was written to my Dad.

I began to research a little more. I was just about to give up when I finally looked at his great Aunt Susie's husband, Mr. Dunlap. As it turns out Mr. Dunlap was the son of Francis DUNLAP and Bessie Fair LYDA. Bessie Fair LYDA was the daughter of William Washington LYDA and Elizabeth NEWMAN. You guessed it. Elizabeth was also a daughter of Jonathan NEWMAN. If the dresser was made for Delilah Jane, we may never know why a descendant of her sister, Elizabeth, had it, but it's nice to know I can at least connect the dots. Below is a picture of four of the NEMAN sisters. My Arminta is not one of them. The order is not known but the sisters are Amanda, Elizabeth, Jane and Susan.

BUT...

There is still one more mystery as far as this dresser is concerned. It arrived at my house late at night, about half an hour past my bedtime. The next morning, I woke up eager to take it all in. I began washing it with Murphy's Oil Soap,

and then polished it with Pledge Furniture Oil.

I glued in the few pieces of trim that had fallen off

and while doing all of this, I noticed on the inside back panel of the bottome drawer in old style cursive was the name Ellen Shepherd, Henderson-ville, North Carolina

I've researched this woman and have only discovered that she at some point lived in the same community (Mud Creek) as our ancestor Jonathan NEWMAN. Ellen SHEPHERD was born 25 July 1847, the daughter of Abner SHEPHERD and Susannah BARNETT. She died 25 April 1917. Her estate records state that she was an "incompetent person" and was under the guardianship of a Mr. J. D. DAVIS. But why is her name written on the inside of one of the drawers? Also written in pencil are numbers on the side panels of each of the drawers. I assume they're measurements but I'm not certain. I'm putting this mystery out there in hopes that someone may have a clue to offer. Until then, I'll keep researching a little here and a little there. I may never get answers but the thrill is in the chase.



I am distantly related to Ellen SHEPHERD. Her father's mother was Penelope MERRILL. Penelope was the daughter of Benjamin MERRILL who was the brother of my 5th great grandfather, Jonathan MERRILL. Until next time, Becky

Oh! And Merry Christmas