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I am looking for my 2nd Great Grandfathers family in the 1900 Census.
DB Hightower is also possibly known as George or William.  

According to DBs marriage certificate with Mary E Woods, he was born in about 1860.  He was 22 when he married her in 1882.  They married in Carroll County Tennessee.

According to the 1910 Census, Mary, who had remarried as Mary Riddle, had given birth to 7 children, and 7 were still alive at that point.  She only had 1 child with WT Riddle, so the first 6 would have been with DB Hightower.  

I have found 4 of these children.
William M - my direct ancestor b. 25 May 1891 d. 08 Jan 1945    
Virginia Myrtle Hightower b. 09 Jul 1895 TN d. 07 Feb 1975 TX
Grover Hightower b. 28 Sep 1893 TN  d. 09 Dec 1969 AL
Ulysses S Grant Hightower b. 09 Jul 1885 TN  d. Unknown

The other 2 children between DB and Mary are unknown, and the reason the 1900 census is so important for me to find.

It seems everyone was in Tennessee for all of the 1880 and 1890s, Sometime around 1900, something happened in the family, and everybody began to leave TN.  William moved to Kentucky, Virgina moved to TX, Grover moved to Alabama with his mother when she remarried, and Ulysses joined the Navy, before going to Denver, CO.  

I do not know what happened to DB, but Williams marriage certificate shows him as being dead by 1921.  
It is also unclear, but interesting how Virgina Myrtle met and married somebody who had lived their whole lives in Texas.  
Thank you in advance for any ideas, or directional help anybody can offer.
Sincerely, 
Brian Hightower

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Hi Brian-
I've done some searching and I'm not getting any hits on any of them, I only found one Hightower in 1900, not yours, so is it possible the census taker missed them, or they were moving when the census was taken? I notice that Mary remarried about 1907-8 as they had been married 2 years in the 1910 census in Alabama. Any possibility that Mary moved her children in with a relative after DB left or died? Could they be listed under Woods or any other name?
It's possible, but I would think they would still come up in the search if they had, right?
She did marry WT Riddle in 1907, and she had Grover with her in 1910. Ulysses Hightower joined the Navy. My thinking was that DB might have taken Virginia, and maybe the 2 kids I haven't identified yet, and gone to Texas.
Thanks for helping me look into this mystery! :)
Brian Hightower
Hi Brian-

I did find a passport application for Ulysses in 1922, so he lived that long, it appears that he wanted to go to Argentina, Brazil and Chile for employment. Let me know if you'd like the images, a photo of him is included in the file.
I do have the passport and his photo. My wife thinks he looks more like my father than a Great Grand Uncle.
His mothers probate records say he was living in California in 1950, but were unable to contact him for the proceedings.

I probably should have added some info about that probate.
William M Hightower died in a car accident in 1945.
She had 4 living heirs in 1950. 2 sons, 2 daughters.
The sons were Grover and Ulysses.
The daughters were Evie and Virgina.
So the 2 missing children also must have died between 1910 and 1950.
Brian Hightower
I also see a Virgie Hightower as a ward in a Widows and Orphans home in Tarrant County, Texas in 1900, but her age is off 5 years and she was born in Texas, nothing on the parents.
That is an interesting record, but I think it would be very difficult to mistake a 5 year old with a 10 year old. I don't know how I would verify or exclude that record either. Gonna have to keep it in the shoebox for now. :)
Brian Hightower
Brian, I found this family, not sure if he might be yours but he was born in Apr 1861 in TN:

William L.?, white, male, born Apr 1861, age 39, married 12 yrs, parents born TN, farmer.
Mary A. , dau. born Dec 1888, age 11, born TX.
William D., son, born July 1890, age 9, born TX..

William is very close to the right age...???? no wife with him and doesn't say widowed...??


HIGHTOWER WILLIAM L 39 M W TN TX WOOD 3 J-PCT 1900
Surname GivenName Age Sex Race Birthplace State County Location Year
HIGHTOWER GEORGE W 56 M W KY KY HICKMAN MCALISTER DIST 1900

wife Mary , ummm it says she's 23, born 1877...???
dau. name I can't make out, looks like G _ J , born 1897.

I just thought G.W. ; George William.....
This G*W couldn't be the right one. She was married in 1882. He would also be too old. Born in 1844.
While he may have lied about his age when they got married, I don't think a 36 year old man would get away with saying he is 22.

I looked at the first post you made. While this could turn out to be the right family, it seems difficult that they would be traveling back and forth such a great distance. Mary still had more children in Tennessee after William D would have been born.
I'll have to find William L's wife in order to be able to verify them as the correct family.
Thanks!
Brian Hightower
Well, was a thought since I'd read ^^ about him possibly have gone to TX. couldn't find any others that fit at all. Still hunting.....
Lisa
ps: as for the other one, I didn't know if they might be connected, but I'm sure you realize that all the info in censuses can be quite wrong. Some of my rellies were the same exact ages in 1861 &1871, wonderful!!! and kids names changed with the census, like Henry on one, Harry on another, You sure have to get creative.
What was the county they were living in at time of marriage, it wasn't the same one they actually married in. Anyhow there's got to be some kind of record there of them too!

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