TARWATER-L Archives

From: Mary Inglis <>
Subject: [TARWATER-L] TARWATER - is NOT an Indian surname.
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 08:21:16 -0700

Vickie: Thank you. Since you were able to supply the name of
Beadie's husband as William
THOMPSON, I can now tell you that without a doubt, your "Beadie" was NOT
Indian!

She was born Beday Ann TARWATER 1839 in Alabama. She was shown in 1850
census with her family
, Yellville, Fayette Co., ARK as follows:
Hiram TARWATER 35 b TN
Catheriine (wife) 30 b TN
Bisha (son) 12 b ALA
Bede (daughter) 10 b ALA
Mary S. (daughter) 8 b ALA

NOTE: A printed 1850 index shows head of household incorrectly spelled
as TORWALTER - Fayette
Co., ARK census, pg 5; 1830. Hiram died 1859 of Cholera. 1860 his
wife was head of household.
1867 Lamar County was created from Fayette Co. So from that time on
Beday (Beadie) did indeed live in Lamar County. She married there and
her children were born in Lamar County, but she was not Indiana.

Bede (as shown in 1850 census) and Beadie (as you show her name
spelled) are the same and she was
born as Beday Ann TARWATER on Sept 18 1839 (1840?). Her mother was
Catherine TAYLOR.

Beday Ann (Bede/Beadie) TARWATER married William THOMPSON 18 Aug 1867.
They had at least
2 children:
Mary Francis THOMPSON b 12 May 1869 Lamar Co., ALA who married Henry
Rufus REEVES
William Sampson THOMPSON b 4 Nov 1870 Lamar Co., ALA, married Mary Eliza
TAYLOR (daughter of Stephen TAYLOR and Kassias/Keziah? HOLLIDAY.

Beday's brother, Bisha William TARWATER married 3 times and had a large
number of children, including Bisha Alexander TARWATER..

The above can verified by widow's pension application by Catherine
(TAYLOr) TARWATER, census records, marriage records, etc.

PLEASE, let's put a stop to the untrue, unverifyable rumor, that goes
round and round and round, that TARWATER is an Indian name. It was
originally THEURWACHTER when the first men arrived here from Germany.
They spoke no English and did not write. The immigration, tax, census
men could not understand the German accent so wrote it the way they
thought it sounded and it because TARWATER.
But by following individual men thru all kinds of records you will see
at various times, the name of the same man was spelled several ways:
TORWATER, TARWALTER, TAXWATER (the r was written to look like an "x"),
TANWATER ("r" mistaken for "n"), TAWATER, etc. etc.

Please let's not pass on to others that any of these people were Indian,
although the name TARWATER might sound Indian.

An example of how these stories could happen was with my own mother.
When young she had long, dark hair she wore on a big bun at back of her
head. She had dark eyes. When she first met her new mother-in-law (a
rigid, unyielding Scottish lady), my grandmother told her oldest
daughter (my aunt) that she didn't see why her son (my father) married
that Indian woman, even if she was pretty! Well, everyone knows that
story so my mother will not go down in history as being Indian - but
that's probably how the original story about Beday got started - maybe
dark hair, etc.

Mary Inglis
TARWATER listmistress

Vickie Ashley wrote:

Beadie Tarwaters married William "Billy Gene" Thompson. They lived in

Lamar County, Alabama.

Mary Inglis wrote:
>
> Vickie, I just re-read your message. Since Beadie TARWATER was your

> husband's gr-gr-grandmother, I wonder if he knows what Beadie's
husband's
> first name was. I have files of TARWATER research and will try to
search
> this.
>
> Mary Inglis

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• [TARWATER-L] TARWATER - is NOT an Indian surname. by Mary Inglis <>