Anna E Mayes, born in 1864 in Ohio, was identified as "niece" to William Brown Mayes and Sarah Jane Cowan Mayes on the 1880 census for Jefferson, Greene, Iowa and as "adopted daughter" in Sarah's obituary. Unfortunately, she died just months before the State of Texas started officially recording deaths on certificates, so I don’t have that source to identify her parents.  

However, my recent autosomal DNA test has linked me to the great-grandson of Amanda Rebecca Mayes, born in 1862 in Belmont County, Ohio, daughter of John Mayes and Margaret Gray, per her death certificate information. The most likely scenario is that he and I are third cousins, which means we share the same great-grandparents. Thanks to communication with Amanda’s 2^nd great-grandchild, I know that Amanda married Charles Thomas Derry in 1880 in Arcadia, Carroll County, Iowa, however, I was unable to find any record of Amanda in Ohio or Iowa prior to the 1880 census, which was taken just after her marriage. Thanks to that and later censuses, I know that Amanda’s parents were also born in Ohio.

I ran a search for all Mayes’ marriages in Jefferson, Harrison, Belmont, and Carroll counties from 1825 to 1870 and compiled a list of potential Mayes’ relatives. Surprisingly, John Mayes and Margaret Gray weren’t among the marriage records but I discovered that there is a 6 year gap in records for Belmont County, during the most likely time period when they would have been married.

I reviewed all biographical historical records as well as county, state and federal records for Mayes families, and built Mayes’ trees, assigning them to the right family lines, slowly ruling out potential parents for Anna.

I found a John and Margaret Mayes living in Belmont County, Ohio in 1850 and 1860, and in Inland Township, Cedar County, Iowa in 1870, the same county where William Brown Mayes’ brothers Calvin and Alexander were living with their families. But, frustratingly, the 1870 census did not include an Amanda, born in 1862, only an Andrew, born in 1862.

Based on when their last two children were born and their places of birth, I determined that John and Margaret likely moved from Ohio to Iowa the fall of 1868, after Emma’s birth in September in Ohio and before Samuel’s birth in June 1869 in Iowa. (In those days, families generally moved after fall harvest and before spring planting.) John and Margaret were the last Mayes family to move from Ohio to Iowa. If they weren’t Anna’s parents, they were likely to be how she traveled from Ohio to Iowa as a young child.

Further research into John and Margaret Mayes revealed that Margaret must have died between the 1870 and 1880 censuses. John was living with William’s sister Eliza Mayes Carson’s son Thomas Carson in DeWitt Township, Clinton County, Iowa per the 1880 census. That association, plus the 1820 and 1830 census information that indicated that Joseph Mayes and Sarah Miller Mayes had a son born between 1821 and 1825, cemented John’s place in the Joseph Mayes’ family.

After Margaret died, the children seem to have scattered, never appearing to live with their father or with their siblings again.

I haven't been able to trace all of them but I have learned that their daughter, Emma, born in 1866, was adopted by David and Susan Thompson Lemmon before the 1880 census for Dayton Township, Cedar County, Iowa. She's identified as "daughter" on the census and was listed as Emma Lemmon but her father was identified as John Mayes on her Nebraska marriage records (mother's name left blank). I'm not quite sure how the Lemmons are associated with the Mayes yet but I suspect it's through Susan. Her parents were John Patterson and Margaret Thompson. Thompson is a surname that has shown up in connection to the Mayes’ and affiliated families a number of times; Sarah Jane Cowan Mayes's grandmother was Mary Thompson. Eliza Thompson married John P Gray in Belmont County, Ohio. These are somewhat distant connection but it shows that these families did intermarry so, with time, I'll likely uncover the connection.

Frustratingly, none of the above research provided a definitive answer about Anna or Amanda so I went back to the beginning: the 1880 census and Sarah Jane Cowan Mayes’ obituary for Anna, and Amanda’s marriage record and death certificate information.  

The only Mayes that could be Anna’s parents were John Mayes and Margaret Gray Mayes. They were living in Ohio when she was born and traveled to Iowa before she was recorded as living with William Brown Mayes and Sarah Jane Cowan Mayes in 1870. I considered whether she was the daughter of one of William’s sisters, or a daughter of one of Sarah Jane’s siblings but I was unable to identify any potential candidates. Additionally, her surname was consistently given as Mayes so it seemed most likely that she was indeed a Mayes.

Lastly, there was an empty slot in the birth order of John and Margaret’s list of known children where Anna could fit. I will admit to being puzzled that she’d go to live with an aunt and uncle while her parents were still alive but census information revealed that John and Margaret Mayes weren’t as well off as William and Sarah Mayes, and it wasn’t uncommon for less-well-off families to send children to live with more well-to-do relatives, especially childless relatives.

But what about Amanda? She doesn't appear on the 1870 census, living with John and Margaret or living with anyone else in 1870.

So I went back to the 1870 census for John and Margaret and looked more closely at the child identified as a son named Andrew, born in 1862, the same year as Amanda. I have been unable to find any further information about Andrew, and while it’s possible that he died in the 1870s, or that I’ve yet to find a record about him, it’s also very possible that the enumerator made an error and that Andrew, m, was actually Amanda, f. This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve discovered this type of error. I recently determined that a James, m, was actually a Jane, f, for another family.

I believe that Amanda went to live with William and Sarah Mayes and her sister, Anna sometime between 1870 and 1880 and lived with them until she married. Arcadia, Carroll County, Iowa, where Amanda and Charles Derry were married, is about 16 miles west of Jefferson, Greene County, Iowa where Anna, William and Sarah lived. I was at first puzzled about how Amanda and Charles may have met when they didn't live in the same town (or county) but I have identified many ways that they could have met.

Thanks to newspaper records of the time, I know that William traveled to Arcadia fairly regularly, likely due to his involvement with the Republican party (chaired conventions, ran as a candidate), the Railroad Convention (president), and his law practice and real estate and title search business.

He was also an active member with the Presbyterian Church in Jefferson (served as superintendent) and served as a incorporator of the Cemetery Foundation, along with Gordon Byron Dean, whose ancestral roots go back to 1639, Taunton, Massachusetts, just inland from Plymouth where the Mayflower landed a few years earlier. Charles Derry hails from the same region, with roots that also go back to the Mayflower era. Additionally, Charles and Amanda were married in the home of James Otis Dean and Augusta Dunbar Dean, another family whose roots go back to the Mayflower era.

Lastly, Amanda and Charles were married by Rev. John Hanna Sammis, a Presbyterian minister.

I believe their paths must have crossed through one or more of the above connections.  

While I’d still love to find a record or records to cement my conclusion that Anna and Amanda were sisters, daughters of John Mayes and Margaret Gray Mayes, given all the other corroborative information, I don't see any other reasonable conclusion than this one.

- Lisa Allison Albert, 29 September 2020