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Thaddeus O'Malley's Timber Culture Grant

Earlier this year, I researched a man named Thaddeus O'Malley to determine if he could be related to my second-great-grandmother Catherine Ryan Gilbride. Thaddeus O'Malley and his wife Honora McNally are the common ancestral couple to several of my DNA matches. My hypothesis is that they are related to Catherine's line in some way, as I cannot account for them in any other direct line. This research at present is stalled...and a job for another day. I did learn something new, though, while looking into Thaddeus O'Malley's life. He was granted a land patent in Nebraska in 1892. It was a Timber Culture land patent—an unfamiliar type. The Timber Culture Act was passed in 1873, and followed the Homestead Act of 1862. It awarded up to 160 acres of public land after applicants made improvements, including planting 40 acres of trees on their land (later lowered to ten acres). The program aimed to provide lumber to residents of the Great Plains for building and fuel, and al
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Another Comanche Connection in the Story of Morning Dew

 


In 2021, I wrote “Who Was Morning Dew? A Family Legend,” regarding Elizabeth Kite Stephen, my husband's second great grandmother. Family lore related via a letter was that she was the daughter of a Comanche chief of the area near Erath County, Texas where she lived. A recent discovery may inform this family story.1

A birth affidavit was created in 1941 for Elizabeth's son, William Roy Stephen. In the section for the mother’s information, the affidavit lists William’s mother as Lizzy Elizabeth Kite whose birthplace was Comanche County, Texas. Comanche County is located to the southwest of Erath County Texas where William Roy Stephen was born. Could this be yet another piece of the puzzle?2




Other sources indicate that Elizabeth was the daughter of Caswell Kite and Harriet Kite, and that her birthplace was either Georgia or Alabama.3

When evaluating sources, it is always important to consider the informant. In this case, the affidavit informant was Mattie M. Stephen, William Roy’s aunt. She was the sister-in-law of Elizabeth Kite and James Howard Stephen, married to James’s brother Madison Leander Stephen.4

One way to assess the reliability of informants is to determine how likely they would have been to know the details of a specific event. In the case of the details of Elizabeth Kite’s birth, Mattie Stephen was far removed from that particular event. There are several factors which could have influenced her level of knowledge:

  • It is possible that Mattie heard stories about Elizabeth from her husband Madison, who may or may not have known Elizabeth's true origins. Her husband Madison had died in 1899. Had Mattie's known of the circumstances of Elizabeth's birth, by the time the affidavit was created those recollections could have been sketchy or fading.
  • Elizabeth died in 1901 and could not speak to her own birthplace at the time the affidavit was created some 40 years later. 5
  • It is also possible that Mattie heard the details of Elizabeth's origins directly from Elizabeth. Again, with the passage of 40 years before the creation of the birth record for William Roy, it is reasonable to wonder how accurate her recollections could be.

Mattie Stephen’s recollections on the birth of William Roy Stephen, however, are much more likely to be reliable. She lived in Erath County, Texas, in 1886, at the time of William Roy’s birth, and also had a child in 1886. She likely connected the birth of her son Edward Marian Frank Stephen with that of her nephew William Roy, and so remembered his birth very well.6

Earl Stephen, William Roy’s son, wrote the letter which indicated that his grandmother was an Indian princess of Comanche origin. It is possible that he heard this information from his father or saw the birth affidavit and connected Elizabeth with the Comanche tribe by extension.

Of course, we may never discover the true story behind this family tale, but it was eye-opening to find this reference to Comanche County in relation to Elizabeth Kite. With more research in the coming weeks, I hope to continue to get to the bottom of this family legend.

Until next time…

 

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NOTES

1 Nancy Gilbride Casey, Leaves on the Tree, "“Who Was Morning Dew? A Family Legend," 13 January 2021 (https://myleavesonthetree.blogspot.com/2021/01/who-was-morning-dew-family-legend.html : accessed 4 January 2023).

2 Erath County, Texas, affidavit birth record #505, William Roy Stephen, 19 February 1886; digital image, FamilySearch, “Texas Births and Christenings, 1840 – 1981” (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9VH-G9MB-B : accessed 4 January, 2023); citing County Courthouse, Stephenville. Also: Map of Texas (H.R. Page & Co.: Chicago, 1886); digital image, The Portal to Texas History (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth192759/m1/1/ : accessed 4 January 2023), citing University of Texas at Arlington Library.

3 Elizabeth Kite, LDRF-SQK, FamilySearch Family Tree (https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LDRF-SQK : accessed 4 January 2023).

4 Erath County, Texas, Marriage Book C, page 282, marriage out of M. L. Stephen & M. M. Case, 4 February 1885; digital Image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9P3B-SKM?i=449&cc=1803987 : accessed 4 January 2023); citing County Courthouse, Stephenville.

5 “Died—Madison L. Stephen,” The Dublin Progress, 28 April 1899, p. 1, col. 3; digital image, The Portal to Texas History (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth530120/m1/1/zoom/?q=stephen&resolution=4&lat=2639.000000000002&lon=2306.451871657755 : accessed 4 January 2023); citing Dublin Public Library. Also: Ancestry, Find A Grave, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Kite Stephen, (1854-1901), memorial 16219104 (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/16219104/elizabeth-stephen : accessed 4 January 2023); headstone photo by Ann Blaker-Killebrew, 30 November 2020.

6 State of Texas, Department of Health, certificate of death #17825, Edward Marion Frank Stephen, born 20 December 1886; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/22044479:2272 : accessed 5 January 2023); citing Department of State Health Services, Austin. Edward's death certificate notes his birthplace as Alexandria, Texas. However, there is no Alexandria, Texas. This is more likely meant to be Alexander, located in Erath County. Edward's parents had married in Erath County in 1885.



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  1. Diane HenriksJanuary 13, 2023 at 5:28 PM

    Interesting insights. :)
    Was this a delayed birth record? Maybe Elizabeth and Mattie were very close friends. Fun story to try to solve. :)

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    1. Nancy Gilbride CaseyJanuary 15, 2023 at 3:08 PM

      Yes, it was a delayed certificate created in the early 1940s. Elizabeth died in 1901. It is really interesting family lore. I'm sure there's a "kernel of truth" somewhere in there, but haven't found it yet.

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