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1891 Voters, Anderson County, Tennessee

These voting rolls can serve as a very poor surrogate for the 1890 census, which was destroyed by fire.

There are two sources for this page.  ancestry.com includes an index for the 1891 Tennessee enumeration of male voters.  In addition, there is a book at the library, Enumeration of male inhabitants of twenty-one years of age and upward, citizens of Tennessee, January 1, 1891, as provided for by an Act of General Assembly of Tennessee, passed January 15, 1891, and approved January 22, 1891, indexed by Sue S. Reed, that covers Anderson, Blount, Knox, and Sevier counties.  The ancestry.com index does not include the ages of the voters.  The book includes images of the original voter rolls, which do include the ages of the voters. 

                     age

Bray  Joseph         23   Dist. 10
      John           50   Dist. 10
      Wilson         39   Dist. 10

      Joseph H. Sr.  50   Dist. 11
      Joseph H. Jr.  22   Dist. 11
      J. T.          48   Dist. 11
The men in Dist. 10 were easy to figure out.  All three families were enumerated both in the 1880 and the 1900 censuses in Dist. 10.
  • Joseph H. Bray age 23 in Dist. 10 was the son of John Jacob (Jake) Bray and Winnie West, and the grandson of Joseph H. Bray and Sarah L. Duncan.  As such, he was the grandnephew of my third great grandfather Edward Payne Bray.
  • John Bray age 50 in Dist. 10 was the aforementioned John Jacob (Jake) Bray, nephew of my third great grandfather Edward Payne Bray.
  • Wilson Bray age 39 in Dist. 10 was Jake's brother, and another nephew of my third great grandfather Edward Payne Bray.  Wilson died in 1894, but his widow and children were enumerated in the 1900 census in Dist. 10.
The men in Dist. 11 were much harder to figure out than the men in Dist. 10, and I am by no means sure that I have them right.
  • I believe that "Joseph H. Bray Sr." age 50 in Dist. 11 was in fact Joseph D. Bray, son of Joshua J. Bray and Anne M. (Annie) Hall.  Joseph D. Bray was the nephew of my third great grandfather Edward Payne Bray.  There were a number of Joseph H. Brays and Joseph Brays with no known middle initial, but none of them were born the right year to have been 50 years old in 1891 -- not even close.  Joseph D. Bray was enumerated in Dist. 11, Anderson County in 1880, age 43.  There were very few Brays in Anderson County in 1900, and Joseph D. Bray was enumerated in St. Francois County, Missouri in 1900.
  • I believe that "Joseph H. Bray Jr." age 22 in Dist. 11 was in fact Joseph Daniel Bray, son of John H. Bray and Margaret Messamore.  John H. Bray was the son of my third great grandfather Edward Payne Bray.  Joseph Daniel Bray was enumerated in Dist. 11, Anderson County in 1880, age 11.  He was enumerated in Knox County, Tennessee in 1900.  Joseph D. Bray and Joseph Daniel Bray were first cousins once removed, and it might have been natural to designate one as "Sr" and the other as "Jr", meaning that one was elder and one was younger rather than that they were father and son.  I can't explain how the middle initial of "D" for both men would have become "H" for both men in the 1891 voters list, and indeed I may be interpreting the data incorrectly.  But Joseph Brays with an actual middle initial of "H" don't fit the data.  For example, there was a Joseph H. Bray in Anderson County in 1891, but he as born in 1874 and almost surely would have been too young to have voted in 1891.
  • J. T. Bray age 48 may have been Joshua F. Bray, son of Joshua J. Bray and Anne M. (Annie) Hall.  T's and F's often are written such that it's difficult to tell them apart.  Joshua would have been about 55 years old at the time of the 1891 special census.  But Joshua is the best fit to J. T.Bray. 
                    age

Peters, F.A.        55                          Dist. 9
Peters, James H.    32                          Dist. 4
Peters, S.T.        (age not given)             Dist. 6
Peters, W.D.        35                          Dist. 8
Peters, Dan A.      32                          Dist. 4
  • Francis Asbury (Frank) Peters was the son of my fourth great grandparents Henry Peters Jr. and Jane England.  As such, Frank was the brother of my third great grandfather John W. Peters.  I believe that Frank was about 60 years old in 1891 rather than being 55 years old.
  • James Harvey (Jim) Peters was the son of William F. Peters and Susannah Yarnell.  As such, Jim was the nephew of my third great grandmother Zipporah Peters and he also was the nephew of my third great grandmother Jane (Jenny) Peters.
  • Samuel Tobias (Sam) Peters was the son of Tobias Peters Jr. and Martha Miranda (Marthy) Mays.
  • I can't figure out who W. D. Peters was.  Going by the name, a possibility would be William Daily (Will) Peters.  But Uncle Will was only 25 years old in 1891, and it he probably had moved to Knox County by the time of the 1891 enumeration.  Based on the location in Dist. 8, this W. D. Peters should be one of mine.  But I can't figure it out.
  • The Dan Peters transcription comes from ancestry.com.  It is certainly not correct.  However, I have looked at the actual image, and I have no idea what the name really is. 
Cole, Julius        25
Cole, C.B.          24
Cole, W.C.          46

Cross, A.W.
Cross, C.W.
Cross, J.B.
Cross, J.F.
Cross, Joe B.
Cross, Sam
Cross, W.A.
Cross, Wm
Cross, Wm

I did not have time to transcribe the ages. Another trip to the library will be required for that. 

Scarbrough  C.J.      66   Dist. 9
            W.V.      52   Dist. 9
            J.W.      64   Dist. 9
            J.A.      41   Dist. 9
            Jno. W.   25   Dist. 9  (or Jno N.)
            T.R.      26   Dist. 9
            C.W.      30   Dist. 9
            R.H.      41   Dist. 9
            E.C.      34   Dist. 9
            T.C.      40   Dist. 9
            C.H.      23   Dist. 9 (C?.H., not sure of first initial)
            Wm.       22   Dist. 12
            J.L.           Dist. 7
            Wesley         Dist. 6
            W.L.           Dist. 6
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This page last edited on 13 Dec 2008.