Mary Franklin Spring born 1808 South Carolina died 1858 Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana

A few years ago, I visited the graves of Mary Franklin Spring and her husband, William Spring at the Spring Cemetery in Amite, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana. Mary was the eldest daughter of my ancestor, Henry Franklin, and his wife known as "Sarah "Sally" McGuire."

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Mary's gravestone shows her birth date as 1796, although others believe the correct date is 1808. In the 1850 census of St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, Mary was shown as age 42, which would indeed make her birth date 1808. Her birth place on the census was noted as South Carolina, although again, others believe she was born in North Carolina. Mary died in 1858 so there is no information on her on the 1860 census.


Mary was the only one of Henry Franklin's children who remained in Louisiana rather than moving with the family to Rankin County, Mississippi. She married William Spring in St. Helena Parish on July 18, 1825, when she was 17 years old. The 1830 St. Helena census shows a male age 30-39 (William) a female age 15-19 (Mary)  two male children under age 5 (George K. Spring and Henry Franklin Spring) and one female child under age 5 (Feraby Horatia Spring.) By this time Henry Franklin's family was on the Rankin County, Mississippi census.


It is clear from legal papers that Henry Franklin remained close to Mary and her husband. While I was at the St. Helena Parish Courthouse in Greensburg, I came across a document in which Henry transferred his ownership of a slave woman and her children to William Spring, shortly before he planned to join his other daughters in Texas and before his death in Mississippi in May 1852.

There is a noticeable gap in ages of Mary, born in 1808 in either North or South Carolina and Henry and Sarah "Sallie's" other children, born in Louisiana. The eldest child born in Louisiana was Jemima, on March 16, 1814. Sarah "Sally" gave birth to a new baby every 2 years after the birth of Jemima, with the exception of her last child, Alice. Why was there a 6 year gap between Mary and Jemima? Were there that many children who died, or were the records on this early family lost?

Or was Mary actually Sarah's child? When did Henry and Sarah "Sallie" actually marry? Is the 1808 date assumed based on Mary's birth date? Is there any proof of marriage? Might Mary be a child from another marriage or an adopted child? If so, her DNA might reflect the Native American heritage which we cannot find in our own lines.

The 1810 Richland South Carolina census for Mima Franklin is not very helpful in solving this problem. There are 13 people living in Mima's household. One is Mima (Jemima Morris Franklin) a female over 45. There are 3 males 16-25 and 3 females 16-25. There are 2 males 10-15. There are 2 males under 10 and 2 females under 10.

Jemima's immediate family in 1810 would have included
Henry b 1786 (age 24)
Thomas b 1788 (age 22)
Elnora b 1790 (age 20)
Francis b 1792 (age 18)
Mary Rosa b 1795 (age 15)
William Plummer b 1796 (age 14)
Ralph b 1798 (age 12)
Allen b 1803 (age 7)
Ailcy b 1806 (age 4)
James Benjamin b 1807 (age 3)

So the 2 males under 10 would be James Benjamin and Allen, and the 2 males 10-15 would be Ralph and William Plummer. The 3 males 16-25 would be Thomas, Henry and ?

The 2 females under 10 would be Ailcy and ?
The 3 females 16-25 would be Mary Rosa, Francis, and Elnora.

The ? could be children who died after 1810.

However, this census does not show another woman aged 16-25 who would be Sarah "Sallie" McGuire Franklin unless one of the daughters, Elnora, had already married and moved out of the home. (I have no information at all on Elnora and she apparently did not make the trip south to Louisiana with the rest of the family.) In that case, perhaps Henry and Sarah were likely living with Jemima and  the ? female under 10 could indeed be Mary Franklin, aged 2.

Looking for marriage certificates for Henry and Elnora would be one way to tackle this problem, but these have likely been searched for in the past.

If Native American ancestry is the issue at hand, perhaps exploring the DNA of Mary's offspring might prove useful, although of course William Spring may had Native American ancestry as well as subsequent offspring's spouses. Still, such a search may be interesting!