Wallingford/Jarlov Family Trees

Written by Nick Wallingford, November 2008, to Arthur Moore:

Thomas Ginn with both Evaline and later with Annie, was a great one for using names to, seemingly, reconnect with his early times in Kentucky, or to recognise other signficant relationships in his life.

Some examples include his children Alvin Monroe (named after a nephew who was a doctor in Kentucky), Minnie Devoss (named after the child of niece), and John Pinckney (named after his friend who later became politically well known). Many of the earlier family of children carried forward Evaline's maiden name Debell as a middle name, too.

So here is my guess for Eliza Owens Wallingford...

While the Eliza could come from any number of places, I would incline to thinking it may have been from the daughter of his older brother Hiram. Eliza and her twin Alicia were born in 1837 in Fleming County, KY, before Hiram and his wife moved to Indiana.

One can only assume that T.G. would have known these nieces through their early childhood, and up to the time they were late teenagers, when T.G. and Evaline moved to Texas.

T.G. obviously kept up with her even in the later years, having visited with her on the trip back to Kentucky in 1884, then by correspondence afterward (We have a letter from Eliza to T.G. dated 11 January 1885).

So when T.G. and Evaline had a daughter, about 5 years after moving to Texas from Kentucky, it seems like it might be something he would do - use the name of one who appears to be a close and favoured niece...

Now for the middle name: Owens.

One of T.G.'s older half-sisters was Elizabeth, who was 27 years older than T.G. She married Benjamin Reeder and had a first family with him. One of those was George Washington Reeder - he, T.G. and T.G.'s brother Lewis remained in contact for most all of their lives. Lewis referred to him several times in letters, in the context of him expecting a letter from T.G.

At any rate, Benjamin Reeder died some time in the 1820's, leaving Elizabeth with three young children. In 1831, when she was 30, she married Aaron Lewis Owens. Aaron was 66 at the time, but they went on to have two more children before he died five years after the marriage! (There is also a third reported child who was apparently a mulatto, likely born to one of their slaves...)

The Owens family originated in Fauquier County, Virginia - the same place that the Debell family came from. There were a number of inter-marriages between Owens and Debells through the years.

Whether out of respect for Aaron (who would have died when T.G. was only 8) or his half-sister Elizabeth - or any number of other Owenses who would have been in the area (!) - I'm guessing that T.G. and Evaline decided to name their daughter Eliza Owens Wallingford...

Completely guesswork on all of it, and I guess we'll never know for sure...