I think I have finally found Barfield Koonce’s mother! Barfield was my great grandfather and the beginning of my interest in my family genealogy. When my aunt died back in 1984 (I was 9 at the time), she was buried in Mitchell Cemetery – where I would then learn that we had a lot of family buried there. Her burial is my first recollection of knowing/learning of my father’s family tree. In the same cemetery, his father is buried, along with his father’s father. Barfield was his father’s father and he never knew him. I remember looking at Barfield’s headstone and wondering about who he was.
Well, since I started gung-ho again on my genealogy last year, I have been trying to find out more about Barfield. Problem was, I couldn’t find his parents! Though, I knew who his grandfather was from census records. But tonight, I received the death certificate of whom I think is his brother (Richard Koonce) and on Richard’s death certificate, parents are listed.
As I sort through things, I decided it would be helpful to compile a list of my “preoponderance of evidence” for tying Richard & Barfield together.
Evidence for:
- My father’s aunt told me that her father (Barfield) had a brother named Richard.
- I can only locate one Richard Koonce in that county throughout the 1900-1930 censuses. This Richard that is listed is a few years older than Barfield.
- In the 1910 census, Richard is listed 5 families away from James & Mariah Koonce. Given this close proxmity, in my experience so far from looking at census records, this leads me to believe Richard is related to James.
- There is only one James Koonce in Craven County in the 1870-1910 census records for Craven County.
- In the 1900 census, Barfield is living with James & Mariah Koonce and he is listed as their grandson.
- Richard’s death certificate lists his mother as Caroline Koonce (and his father as Mike Davis).
- In the 1880 census, James & Mariah have in their household a Charlotte and Caroline Koonce.
- The Caroline Koonce in that census is of right age to have had Barfield and Richard.
So, from all of this information, I am truly inclined to believe that Caroline is Barfield and Richard’s mother! Who know is this Mike Davis is also Barfield’s father (Barfield’s death certificate does not list any parent). However, I am going to put him as his father for now.