My great grandfather Claude Cye Hager was born in 1889 in Benton, Arkansas. His father was John S. Hager and his mother was Martha Collins. I will talk about Martha in a post on the Collins and Mangrum families. Claude had one full brother, George Washington Hager.
There is an earlier post on Claude Hager. My grandfather never knew him, and he died in prison in 1933. Claude had two sons, my grandfather and Spencer Hager, whose mother was Minnie Jones. I have tested both Spencer's son and my mother at 23 and me and they are on gedmatch.
John S. Hager was born around 1868 to William Daniel Hager who went by Dan Hager and his wife, Eda Martha Barnett. He was born in Little River county, Arkansas and died in 1905 as best as I can tell. He applied in Benton for a marriage certificate that year, and later his children were made wards of their maternal grandmother. Thus I assume he died.
Dan Hager and Eda had three children, Margaret Rena Hager, Mary Magdeline Hager and John S. Hager. Eda died and Dan married a much younger woman, Martha E. Hall with whom he had two daughters, Dovie May and Lillie. In 1882 Margaret married George Washington Brazil, and Mary Hager applied for a license (age 12!) to marry H. M. Mills. A year later Mary Mills married William Henry Tong. In 1885 Isaiah Wood of Benton applied for guardianship of Lillie Hager because she was not being taken care of by her relatives. I assume this was either her brother or sister. She was adopted by James Cameron and his wife, and as Lillie Cameron she married in Benton Joseph Tarpley. Supposedly Dovie May was also adopted but I can't find her.
So Dan Hager had died between 1881-1885. Grandchildren of Margaret Rena stated that she said her stepmother treated Dan's children horribly. Maybe they got back at their half siblings, I don't know. I can't find any guardianship or estate papers in Little River, surrounding counties in Arkansas or Texas. I have looked.
Dan Hager along with his mother and brother are first found in Arkansas in 1860 in Franklin County Arkansas. His mother is living in 1880 (no estate etc found) in Little River, so we can reliably trace this family. Members of this family are missing in many censuses, so it's a difficult family to track.
Dan Hager is the son of Steely Hager and his wife, Mary "Polly" Whitley. He was born about 1840. In 1847 his father died because I find a years support for the widow in Lauderdale County, Tn, but no apprentice records or guardianship for the boys are found there. Around that same time the elder sons of Steely and Polly marry in Lauderdale.
Steely Hager and his wife Polly had the following children, Sterling Alexander Hager, John Alexander Hager, Samuel Thomas Hager, Benjamin F. Hager and William Daniel Hager. I know a lot of people have Sterling as the son of the other Sterling Alexander Hager, but that is a brother of Steely. Oddly enough, he shows up as one of my DNA circles on ancestry.
Dawes testimony for the failed attempt by one of the sons of Samuel Thomas Hager give the name of Steely and Polly. The couples marriage is recorded also in Tennessee marriages. I have a blog about the testimony here. There are a two more posts on the family from the same day.
Mary Polly Whitley is the daughter of Alexander Whitley and Peggy Stokes. Steely and his wife closely follow the family of the Whitley's and are living near them from 1820-1840. She was born around 1798 and died 1880-1885. Her siblings were Pierce Stokes, Marcus, Alexander, Thomas George, Benjamin, John and Elizabeth Whitley (Wheatley sometimes in records).
I don't know the parentage of Steely. I do know he has a brother Sterling Alexander and possibly some sisters. I do know that all of the trees that name these to be descended from John Hager and Sally Stratia are wrong, that is Starling Hager and he is in Missouri as the history states and is traceable. I is my opinion our Hager's come from the other line in North Carolina, George Hager and likely also a Steely but at this time I have not been able to find anything.
Eda Martha Barnett the wife of Dan Hager was born around 1849 to Joseph Barnett and Elizabeth Bagwell. Her parents died in Sevier County, Arkansas and were from South Carolina. The estate of Elizabeth's father, Jesse Bagwell occurred in Forsyth County, Georgia where the family moved 1850. It is from here that the Barnett's emigrate to Arkansas. I believe Joseph may be a son of Joseph Barnett of Spartanburg. We do appear to share DNA with a family who settled in Arkansas that goes by the name of Burnett and it's shared by descendants of Dan and Eda Hager. I haven't been able to figure the connection though.
Jesse Bagwell's wife was Mary Polly Raybourne. His parents were William Bagwell and Elizabeth Sara Stone.
Hello, I enjoyed reading your commentary on the Hagers. My great grandmother was Mary Magdalene "Mollie" Hager, daughter of William Daniel and Eda Hager. I read another account on FindAGrave.com about his second marriage to Martha and the belief that she was unkind to Eda's children. Did you post it? https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=59712159
ReplyDeleteMy mother is Mollie Hager's granddaughter and remembers her grandmother talking about their Choctaw heritage. I found a document someone else posted on Ancestry.com referring to an application to the U.S. Department of the Interior by Steely's descendant, R. Hager to be recognized as a member of the Mississippi Choctaw Tribe (this is the group of Choctaw that were allowed to stay in Mississippi whereas the Choctaw Nation were the first group who made the journey - Trail of Tears to Oklahoma Territory). In the document, R. Hager is referred to as Steely's grandson and claims that Steely was a half-breed Mississippi Choctaw and that his wife was full blood Mississippi Choctaw.
This verifies my great-grandmother's claims and is possibly the reason you can't find a birth certificate for Steely Hager or Mary Ann "Polly" Whitley.
I find it interesting that my grandmother, Mollie's daughter, was named Pauline Lillie (known as Polly), and wonder she was named after Polly Whitley and Lillie Hager (half-sister).
My line is: Steely Hager > William Daniel Hager > Mary Magdalene "Mollie" Hager > Pauline Lillie Tong > Marsha Youngblood > Melissa Briggs
William Daniel Hager and his first wife, Eda Martha Barnett are my 3rd Great Grandparents. I have family interviews reflecting generations back. When Eda Martha died, Dan remarried, marrying Martha E. Hall (his 2nd wife). It was Martha Hall who treated her step children Horribly! The above info saying that Eda was cruel is incorrect! I descend through Eda and Dan's daughter, Margaret "Rena" Hager who married George Washington Brazil. From them, through Mary Jane Brazil, to Edith Irene "Rena" Tennant, and down.
ReplyDeleteIf you read it it says "her stepmother" which would be Martha
ReplyDelete