William Dikes---
Grandma Etta Mae's father's father. To catch everyone up to what I am investigating:
I am researching my great great grandfather
my father's (Claude William Hayley Jr (b) 1924 Hutchinson Kansas)
mother's (Etta Mae Dikes (b) 1905 Little Rock, Arkansas)
father's (Charles Bell Dikes (b) 1870? LA. dies in 1940s Los Angelas California)father: William ? Dikes. See previous Blog for confirming data.
This is called a "brick wall", An elusive ancestor, or just a pain in the neck ---- literally.
Researching this guy on Internet, in books, in libraries, in cemeteries, newspaper articles, military records, land deeds, church records, and asking my dad, my aunt and my uncle what they remember being said about him. Not only researching him but researching his wife, his wife's family, his children, his neighbors, and anyone having close to the names of any of the above.
What is so ironic is the notion that we all thought researching Grandpa Claude's father's father was going to be difficult and it turns out Grandma's grandfather is proving to be difficult.
I am compiling a special notebook now---- taking him out of my Hayley Book --- and giving him his own notebook. I continue to journal and add the "not this way" signs around this maze of a journey. Yes I have doubled back up on myself several times!!!!
They say for all unsuccessful searches - you should call them successes because you know at least he is not there........I have a lot of unsuccessful successes in the last 4 months. Here is a small list including but not limited to my so-called
unsuccessful successes----
FHL call no. 976.4 M22b, 6 volumes: Robert's guide & index to Texas confederate pension application and payment records, 1899-1979.
FHL call no. 976.4 M22k: Index to applications for Texas Confederate pensions
FHL call no. 976.4 M22w: Index to Texas CSA pension files, by Virgil White
FHL call o. 976.42815 V3e, 11 volumes: Ellis County, Texas, cemetery records
FHL call no. 929.273 P223j
FHL call no. 976.4736 V3h: Haskell County cemetery records
FHL call no. 976.4 M2y: Reminiscences of the boys in gray, 1861-1865
FHL call no. 976.4736 H2sh: Haskell County history
FHL call no. 976.4736 H2s: Just passing through Weinert : a history of Northeastern Haskell County, Texas
FHL call no. 976.4736 H2f: Haskell County and its pioneers
FHL call no. 97.4736 H2sb: Cow pokes and sod busters: a history of rural communities in Haskell County, Texas 1885-1940
FHL call no. 976.42815 V2h: Ellis County, Texas, marriage records, 1850-1886
FHL call no. 976.42815 P22t: Index to the probate packets, 1850-1930, of Ellis County, Texas
FHL film no. 1034589: Deeds, 1845-1901; index, 1845-1913, Ellis County, Texas
FHL film no. 1651039: Marriages, 1850-1911; index, 1850-1921, Ellis County, Texas
FHL film no. 1575590: Haskell County Marriages and Index 1885 – 1980
FHL call no. 929.273 P223j: Parker by the Watters Sisters
www.cemeteriesoftexas.com/wtx/haskell/listhaskell.html
http://haskellco.viobibgen.com
www.ancestry.com: California Death Index
www.wikipedia.org: Nathaniel Macon Burford
www.ancestry.com: 1870 U S Census was also printed in order to see if any additional information might have been available. In this census he stated he owned $1500 of real estate property, with $100 in personal property. He was living in Cummins Creek post office area. The search in the grantee and granter (buyer and seller) indexes to deeds in Ellis County, did not mention his name. This was surprising in that the 1870 U S Census stated he owned property in the county. A search for William on the 1850 U S Census also was unsuccessful. In Gonzales County, Texas is a Dikes family who lived there for many years. Their person named William was born in 1843 in Texas which would make him five years younger than our William.
So I decided to chase Abigail after William's death----She, William’s wife moved to Haskell County, Texas, a search was done in all of the published cemetery records with no results. This did include two websites that had the cemeteries for Haskell County. No Dikes were mentioned the records at all. Because Ann could have moved to Haskell County after his death a search in the published records at the Family History Library of Ellis County’s cemetery records did not have a person with the surname of Dikes. This search included the different spelling of this surname.
I did find the Dikes cemetery but William nor Abigail are listed as being buried there.
I am not 100% convinced about concerning William military service in the Civil War. He may have served in 19th Regiment, Texas Cavalry (Burford’s Cavalry). So I looked up this Captain--Nathaniel Burford, the captain of this unit, was born in Tennessee and became a lawyer in Tennessee. He migrated to Texas and later became a judge in Waxahachie, Texas. His Civil War military service begins in Ellis County, Texas. From the personal history of Nathaniel Burford, we can now be assured that William joined the Civil War from Ellis County, Texas. This would mean that he was living in the county prior to the Civil War. According to Harpers Weekly (a newspaper/magazine from the 1860’s), this unit fought in Virginia.
It seems that after the end of the war he went back to Ellis County, to his family. Research in the various Texas Civil War Pension Indexes was done and did not find the correct William Dikes.
Research in the Ellis County Marriages for a marriage between William Dike and Ann Johnson was also done. This was unsuccessful. If the reason Ann/Aby moved to Haskell County was because her family might be from there, a search in the Haskell County marriages was also completed. This search was also unsuccessful. By using the California Death Index posted to Ancestry.com we can be assured that William’s wife’s maiden name was Johnson. Both of their sons (William M and Charles B) who lived in California stated the same. And Abigail Clementine Johnson's name is in Grandma Etta Mae's Bible as his wife.
A catalog search for published family histories in the Family History Library Catalog, involved the surname Dikes and Texas. The Watters Sisters wrote a book about the Parkers’ from Texas and mentioned the Dikes surname. This family moved to Texas from Georgia, Alabama, Illinois, Tennessee & Kentucky. I could not find a mention of a William Dikes,
So what now::::
Next steps:
In Van Zandt County a man named W. F. Dike filed for a pension. I will send for those records.
I have ordered several more family books from the FHL which I am hopeful.
I have contacted the Nazarene archive files for William's son application papers and Etta Mae's application papers to see if they could help me trace some more data.
Also researching a Dike family living in Nacogdoches County during the 1850’s? This family did not have a son named William.
And needless to say; I am planning a genealogy trip back to these places to research some records.
I have been asked on occasion exactly what am I doing to find this guy----well--here is 4 more months of searching this guy like a dog after a bone. At least once a week I check the ancestry hints, several message boards, and converse with other genealogist. I have met some other great people also following the Dikes line. There seems to be more than one Dikes who is there and then disappears and ends up at neighbors, at work houses, hospitals, orphanages or friends homes.
Of course when and if I find this guy---I will post immediately so we can all celebrate-----but until then I hope to post my fustration (oops I meant journey) in another few months.
So Happy Trails to you----Until we meet again----
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