A while back, I saved this photo on my computer because I liked it so much and planned to figure out who these people were when I giot a chance. I forgot about it until I ran across it again recently, and once again it captured my imagination.
I originally got the photo from my cousin Janet Marbury, who helped me with some key information about the Marbury line of my ancestry. She was not certain who all the people in the photo were, but someone had written “MS Fate Gunter’s” on the back.
Photo: Janet Marbury.
Fate Gunter and Family, click to download a larger version.
Another photo in Janet’s collection helped crack the case. On the back of that photo, someone had written: “Great Grandpa (Claiborne Gunter), Great Grandma (Martha Gunter), reared Papa (Andrew Francis Marbury) until he was 4 years old.”
Photo: Janet Marbury.
The Clayborn and Martha Gunther Family
Back row: John Wesley Gunter, Robert Joshua Gunter, Arch Fiddler (a neighbor, 1900 census lists him as an “orphan” living with Claiborne and Martha), Isaiah Lafayette “Fate” Gunter, and Perry Oliver Gunter. Front row: Bertis Tommie” Gunter, Claiborne Gunter, Martha Caroline Dallas Gunter, and Jeanetta “Netta” Gunter around 1800. Click to download a larger version.
My cousin Janet Marbury shared several old family photographs with me a while back, and I recently ran across them again on my computer. One photo especially caught my attention because of the quality and the way the family as standing. A note was written on the back: “MS Fate Gunter’s.”
With help from Janet, information preserved by her aunt Allie Marbury Cobb, records from Arkansas and Tennessee and additional details shared by Gunter family researcher Karen Hunter, the people in the photos now tell a much clearer story about how the Marbury family of Haywood County, Tennessee, connects to the Gunter family of Faulkner County, Arkansas.
The connection begins with Claiborne Gunter (1827-1903) and Martha Caroline Dallas Gunter (1836-1913). Claiborne and Martha married on Aug. 23, 1850, and moved from Tennessee to Arkansas, where they lived first in Conway County and later in the Cypress community of Faulkner County. Claiborne died Aug. 23, 1903, in Vilonia, Arkansas, and Martha died May 15, 1913. They are buried in Cypress Valley Cemetery, where many members of the Gunter family are also buried.
Fate Gunter, their son, appears in both the Gunter family photographs. He was born Feb. 26, 1858. Fate married Martha “Nettie” Wooley on Oct. 14, 1880, in Faulkner County, and they had several children. He died Dec. 21, 1937, at age 79 and was buried in Vilonia Cemetery.
Several Arkansas news reports include reference to a Fate Gunter in their coverage of the 1928 Mama Coal Company mine explosion near Jenny Lind, Arkansas, where 13 miners died. I have not found enough evidence to prove that this was the same Fate Gunter. If it is, he was working as a substitute manager on the day of the explosion.
Family researchers believe this is Mary Alice Gunter with her brother John Wesley Gunter.
Fate’s sister Mary Alice Gunter Marbury is responsible for the connection to the Marburys of Haywood County. On Feb. 16, 1882, she married Rush Marbury (1853-1935) in Faulkner County, Arkansas. Rush was the son of Robert Green Marbury (1809-1904) and the brother of my third great-grandfather, Benjamin Franklin Marbury (1830-1899). Benjamin was the father of Hardy Joyner Marbury (1872-1932), who was the father of Allie Ern Marbury Brantley (1893-1971), who was the mother of Virginia Brantley Lovelace (1918-2004), who was the mother of my mother, Shirley Lovelace Williams (1939-present).
Rush and Alice had one son, Andrew Francis Marbury (1883-1955), born May 5, 1883. Alice died before 1888 when her son Andrew was a toddler. After her death, Andrew lived for a time with his mother’s family in Arkansas, while Rush returned home to Haywood County. That must have been hard to lose your young wife then have to leave your son behind.
Rush married Delilah Jane Womble Mann, the widow of R.T. Mann, on Oct. 17, 1888, in Haywood County. In an 1889 letter, a relative wrote, “I see Rush is married again. Well I hope he and his dear companion will live a long and peaceful and happy life and be prosperous and kind to each other.”
When he was four, young Andrew left Arkansas and the home of his maternal grandparents and returned to live with his father in Haywood County.
In the 1900 census, Rush was back in Haywood County and living with his parents in District 5. The household included his then 17-year-old son, Andrew Francis Marbury.
I can find no further records regarding Delilah, but she either died or they divorced because Rush married Emma L. Smith on Dec. 1, 1900.
By 1930, he still lived in District five of Haywood County, among many of the families that show up throughout my research, including Castellaw, Williams, Cobb and Brantley. Rush died Nov. 15, 1935, in Haywood County and was buried in Zion Baptist Church Cemetery.
Andrew and Adien Cain Marbury
The young boy who lost his mother and spent part of his childhood with the Gunters in Arkansas did well after returning to Haywood County. Andrew married Frances Adien Cain (1844-1972), and they had five children: Alice Marbury Cobb, May Anne Marbury, Owen Marbury, David Marbury and Andrew Earl Marbury.
It was fitting that Andrew named his first daughter Alice, a meaningful tribute to the mother he lost as a child.
Photo: Janet Marbury.
Left to right, back row: Alice Marbury Cobb, Jesse T. Cobb, May Anne Marbury, Owen Marbury, David Marbury, Juanita Marbury, Janet Marbury, Mable Ruth Holladay Marbury, May Ethel Marbury, Andrew Earl Marbury, Clarice Marbury Overton, Marcia Overton, and Charles Horace Overton Jr., Front row: Andrew Frances Marbury, Frances Adien Cain Marbury and Charles Phillip Overton
Andrew and Adien lived in Haywood County for the rest of their lives. He worked as a mail carrier for 50 years, was active at Zion Baptist Church and earned the description “substantial citizen” in his obituary. He died July 5, 1955, and was buried in Zion Baptist Church Cemetery.
The Gunter and Marbury families lived in different states, but these old photographs, a few handwritten notes and a bit of research helped reconnect the two family lines.
For more of my genealogy research, visit rscottwilliams.info.
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