Will the real Joseph & Mattie Helton please stand up??????

There are lots of entries on Ancestry.com's Public Family Trees for Joseph and Mattie Helton.

And I think most of their facts are incorrect.

Most of what's there is people reposting other folks' unsubstantiated data. So here are several posts detailing what I KNOW about the Heltons. Facts have sources. My theories—what I THINK—are labeled as such.

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To begin with facts:

Joseph Helton was born about 1780 in South Carolina. (1850 U.S. Census for AL) His birth name may have been Helton, but he was also known as McDaniel because his mother remarried. He married Martha Colvin on March 19, 1811, in Washington County, GA. (Martha "Mattie" Helton's application for pension from War of 1812.) 

Some people list William Indian Helton as his father and Betsy Moore as his mother. Considering that William Indian was born in 1775 and Betsy Moore was born in 1800, Joseph's birth would have been a miracle.  There appears to be a William Indian Helton whose son was William Joseph Helton, but WJ was born in 1799—so ain't no way he could have married Mattie Colvin in 1811. Moreover, "our" Joseph Helton died in 1854 (Mattie's 1812 application), but WJ apparently died in 1891. So there's no way these two are the same. 

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Here's a theory:

Joseph's real parents were probably Mr. Unknown Helton and Mary MNU (Maiden Name Unknown), who married secondly John McDaniel. John McDaniel died in 1811; Mary McDaniel lived until after 1838. I haven't found the "smoking gun" to prove this yet, but the preponderance of evidence strongly suggests this theory is correct. Sources include Mattie's 1812 application, a book on the McDaniels, census information, and tax records. I'll list the details in a follow-up posting. 

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More facts:

The first child that most people recognize as their daughter was born in 1817. Which seems strange to me, because Joseph never seemed to own any land or do much of anything other than create babies. There were at least nine children in the family. I bet there were more who either died before 1817 or got married and thus changed their last names. 

Continuing with the names of children most people believe to be Joseph and Mattie's:

• Mary, born 1817 in GA

• Martha, born 1819 in GA

• Allen, born between 1822 & 1825 in GA

• Elizabeth, born 1826 in GA, probably Pike County

• John H., born 1831 in GA, probably Pike County

• James W., born 1834 in GA

• Eliza, born about 1836 in GA

• Nancy, born 1836 - 1838 in GA

• Henry, born about 1840 in AL

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The known travels of Joseph:

He was born in South Carolina, moved to Georgia by at least 1811 (Mattie's 1812 application) and was living in Pike County by 1825 (Georgia Tax Digest). 

In 1830 a Joseph Helton with a family conforming to the known children lived in Pike County, GA. 

http://search.ancestry.com/iexec/?htx=View&r=an&dbid=8058&iid=4409442_00256&fn=Joseph&ln=Helton&st=r&ssrc=&pid=932423

In 1840 Joseph and family lived in Kimbrel's, Coosa County, AL:

http://search.ancestry.com/iexec?htx=View&r=an&dbid=8057&iid=4409668_00630&fn=Joseph&ln=Helton&st=r&ssrc=&pid=1427589

In 1850 Joseph and Martha Hilton lived in Tallapoosa County with John, Eliza, and Henry. 

http://search.ancestry.com/iexec/?htx=View&r=an&dbid=8054&iid=4191540-00605&fn=Joseph&ln=Hilton&st=d&ssrc=&pid=16808489

Joseph died on May 10, 1854, in Tallapoosa County (Mattie's 1812 application). He probably died intestate, as he never seemed to own land or have money. Just children. In widowhood Mattie lived first with son Allen in 1860 and then daughter Eliza in 1870. Mattie died after 1880, when she was living in the household of her son-in-law Blakely Eddins in Randolph, Bibb County. 

http://search.ancestry.com/iexec?htx=View&r=an&dbid=6742&iid=4239763-00016&fn=Blakley&ln=Eddins&st=d&ssrc=&pid=5708262

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That's the information I know is true.

If anyone can disprove any of this material, PLEASE let me know. I am ALWAYS happy to change my trees to reflect the correct, proven facts.  

BTW...

To keep this entry a manageable length, I've left out some material on Joseph's real parents, and on Mattie's, which I will post in the not-too-distant future. Promise.

Try and stop me.

NO, NO, NO, please don't!! I love doing this stuff!!!!!!  :-)))))