Brothers at War

A couple of weeks ago my wife was gathering material for a presentation I would give to the Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County (Florida). All of GSPBC’s meetings in the 2010 – 2011 season are based upon Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak’s book “Who Do You Think You Are? The Essential Guide to Tracing Your Family History.” The book is a companion to the NBC television show “Who Do You Think You Are?” That particular presentation was based upon chapter five of the book: “Marching Orders: Did Your Ancestors Serve?”

One of the things my wife found was a photograph of my father (James Ralph Vick) and his brother (Robert Edward Vick, Sr.) at the memorial to war correspondent Ernie Pyle. The memorial is on the tiny island of Ie Shima which is off the western coast of Okinawa, Japan. The photograph was taken at the end of World War II when my father and his brother crossed paths on Okinawa and went out to Ie Shima. My father had been on Okinawa since the invasion of the island. His brother had come up from the Philippines after heroic action there that resulted in him receiving the Silver Star.

My dad and uncle were a long way from home in Greenville, Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, USA. Fortunately, they would return safely in a few months.

How Many VICK Lines Are There In Muhlenberg County, Kentucky?

In 2000, Muhlenberg Co., KY, had a population of almost 32,000 people according to the U.S. Census. Within that population were many descendants of Robert and William VICK two of the five sons of Joseph VICK of Lower Parish, Isle of Wight Co., VA. William’s great grandsons Isaiah and Stephen VICK were the first VICKs to settle in Muhlenberg Co. They were from Dobbs Co., NC., but they had stayed for awhile in Madison Co., KY, prior to moving on to Muhlenberg Co. Stephen last shows up in the Madison Co., KY tax list for 1814, and he first shows up in the Muhlenberg Co. tax list for 1816. Isaiah didn’t leave any descendants in Muhlenberg Co. (he wasn’t there very long), but Stephen still has many descendants there.

William Robert VICK, a second great grandson of Joseph’s son Robert was in Muhlenberg Co. by the time of the 1880 U.S. census. He also still has many descendants living in Muhlenberg Co.

Until last August I assumed that all of the VICKs in Muhlenberg Co. were descendants of either Stephen or William Robert. I had done quite a bit of research on Stephen and his descendants. When I encountered a record of a VICK in Muhlenberg Co. who I knew wasn’t one of Stephen’s descendants I assumed that person was one of William Robert’s descendants. That assumption changed with the realization that the 1910 U.S. census of Muhlenberg Co. listed a Joe VICK who did not appear to be a descendant of either Stephen or William Robert.

With help from the wife of a descendant of Joe, I reached the conclusion that he was Joseph Sire Jackson VICK, born about May 1874. The question then became what was his line? The 1910 census lists his wife as Sarah (she was Sarah B. WILLIAMS). A daughter “Ether” (age 10), and two sons, Herbert (age 8) and Conway (age 6), were in the household. Joe was on the 1900 U.S. Census of Todd Co., KY, along with his wife Eliza J. (DUKES) and their daughter Eather P. (age 1). Eather is the link between the two census records. Eliza J. was Joseph Sire Jackson’s first wife, and Sarah B. was his second wife. Unfortunately, there is no surviving U.S. census record for 1890, but Joe appears to be the one listed in the household of B.B. VICK in Trigg Co., KY, in 1880.

B.B. VICK is Benjamin B. VICK, born about 1830 in TN according to the 1880 census. He married Amanda (?Amelia) GEORGE on 17 Dec 1857 in Stewart Co., TN. According to page 388 of Joseph Vick of Lower Parish, Isle of Wight County, Virginia and His Descendants, Benjamin’s line was Benjamin6, William5, Robert4, Nathan3, Robert2, Joseph1. In Vick, Robert Son of the Immigrant Joseph Vick: An Account of Some of His Descendants, Dr. James A. VICK placed Benjamin as the son of Josiah S.6 (William5, Robert4, Nathan3, Robert2, Joseph1).

While Dr. VICK believed Benjamin was Josiah S. VICK’s son, John BEATTY and Di Ann VICK concluded Benjamin was Josiah S.’s brother. John and Di Ann used the fact that Benjamin was in Clarissa (PAGE) VICK’s household at the time of the 1850 U.S. census of Stewart Co., TN, to conclude she was his mother. Clarissa was the wife of William5 (who had died before the 1850 census).

Perhaps Dr. VICK believed Benjamin was Josiah S.’s brother because Benjamin was born about 1836 and Josiah S. was born in 1814. Census records seem to point to Benjamin being born around 1830 which would make it unlikely Benjamin was Josiah S.’s son. Perhaps another researcher has records which can confirm who Benjamin’s father was.

Either way, I know now that there was at least one VICK line in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, that I had not identified as being there. Given the mobility of today’s population, perhaps there is even another VICK line there that I haven’t found.

Solving Puzzles and Meeting Fellow Researchers

Back in 1991 when I first became interested in my VICK family’s history, John BEATTY was working on a book that would cover the first five generations of the Joseph VICK family. Since my ancestor Stephen5 was in the generation where John (and Di Ann VICK who later joined John as co-author) planned to end volume, I thought if John ever published a second volume it might be helpful if I documented all of Stephen’s descendants. So I set about to do that starting with those in Muhlenberg Co. It was when I poured through the census records that I discovered there were VICKs in the county censuses that I could not place in a tree of Stephen’s descendants.

My ancestor Stephen5 (Jacob4, Isaac3, William2, Joseph1) is on the 1816 tax list of Muhlenberg Co. (although he and his probable brother Isaiah5 may have been there earlier since Stephen last appears on the Madison Co., KY tax list for 1814). As I moved through the Muhlenberg Co. census records from 1820 to 1880, I was able to place all of the VICKs I found in a tree of Stephen’s descendants (Isaiah left Muhlenberg Co. for greener pastures without leaving any descendants in the county although he did leave his wife behind). Then on the 1880 census I found a William Robert VICK that I could not place. I learned he was William Robert6 (Josiah5, ?Robert4, Nathan3, Robert2, Joseph1). He is on the 1870 U.S. Census of Logan Co., KY, so he arrived sometime after he was counted in Logan Co. on 19 Jul 1870.

As I continued through the census records I found other VICKs that did not fit in Stephen’s tree, and I entered them in my notes as likely descendants of William Robert. In 1880 all of William Robert’s surviving children lived with him, so it was easy to account for everyone. As I recorded the VICKs in the 1900 census the task got a little more complex (especially since there is no surviving census for 1890). A lot of things happen in 20 years. Nonetheless, I knew I could easily identify Stephen’s descendants, so I figured the other VICKs were descendants of William Robert.

Simply recording names and dates with the little information in census records does not make for an interesting family history. To learn more about my VICKs in Muhlenberg Co., I subscribed to The Leader-News, the local newspaper. As I found stories or pictures of Stephen’s descendants I recorded them in my notes. Sometimes it was hard to figure out from the names in the articles, though, if the person discussed was a descendant of Stephen5 or William Robert6. The task seemed to get even harder over time. So, I started building a tree for the William Robert6 line to keep things straight.

A few weeks ago there was an obituary in The Leader-News that mentioned a Joe VICK. I knew this Joe was not a descendant of Stephen5, so I looked at my notes for William Robert6’s descendants. I discovered I could not place the Joe mentioned in the William Robert6 line. I was puzzled. I wondered if I could have made an incorrect assumption so many years ago that all the VICKs in Muhlenberg Co., who were not descendants of Stephen5 were descendants of William Robert6.

As I searched the records I came to realize that there was, in fact, another line of VICKs in Muhlenberg Co. that I had not noticed. It seemed so unlikely that there could be two lines of VICKs in a small county. How could there be three? VICK is not an unheard of surname (my Google search finds lots of stories on THE Michael VICK everyday), but VICKs (counting all the other VICK clans besides Joseph1’s family) only account for about .007 percent of the U.S. population. As I poured through the records, what it appears happened was that Joseph Sire Jackson7 VICK, probably the son of a first cousin of William Robert6 (there are so many unproven lines from Robert2), moved to Muhlenberg Co. around 1897. Since Joseph Sire Jackson7 lived near the descendants of William Robert6, I missed this new arrival.

In the process of trying to trace Joseph Sire Jackson7’s ancestry and his descendants, I have already made new contacts, and traded e-mails with other researchers and a family member of this line. Beyond finding all of the puzzle pieces and putting them together, meeting new people is one of the things that makes family history so interesting. If you are researching VICK family history, I hope you will contact me. If you are researching the Joseph Sire Jackson7 VICK line, I would especially like to compare notes.