Ancestor Archives: James Mayberry Scarbrough (Circa 1833)

by Rocky Macy

James Mayberry SCARBROUGH was born around 1833, probably in the state of Kentucky.   He married Mary Jane SMITH on August 7, 1856, in Logan County, Kentucky, migrated to Missouri within a year of their marriage, and probably passed away sometime around 1868-1870, most likely in the state of Texas.
 
James Mayberry SCARBROUGH was my great-great-grandfather.
 
As of this time there are only two known public documents that reference James M. SCARBROUGH and were recorded during his lifetime.   One is the 1856 record of his marriage to Mary Jane SMITH in Logan County, Kentucky, a document in which his name is listed as “J.M. Scarbrough," and the other is the 1860 US Census of Sarcoxie, Jasper County, Missouri, in which he was listed as "James M. Scarboro."
 
The 1860 census lists James and his family as #68 living in dwelling #71.   The entry reflects James as being 27-years-old and a farm laborer who was born in Kentucky.  Also in the household were his wife, Mary J. (age 30, born in Tennessee), and daughters Sallie A. (7, born in Kentucky) and Nancy A. (3, born in Missouri).
 
The SCARBROUGH family was still living in Missouri (or at least Mary Jane was) when a third daughter, Catharine, was born sometime around 1862.
 
James’ middle name of “Mayberry” was established through the December 19, 1899, marriage record of his son, James W. “Scarbough” to Matilda Louise Gonterman at County Line, Jefferson, Iowa.  That document listed James’ father as Mayberry “Scarbough” and his mother as Mary Smith.
 
James Mayberry SCARBROUGH’s place of birth was listed as “Kentucky” on the 1860 census, the only census on which he has so far been found, but the death certificates of his son, James W., and his daughter, Nancy. A., both indicate that he was born in England.  The death certificate of James William SCARBROUGH who died in Kirwin, Kansas, on August 12, 1911, and was likely filled out with information from his sister, Nancy, who was visiting in his home at the time of his death, states that his father was “George Scarbrough” who was born in England, and that his mother was “Mary Jane Smith” who was born in Tennessee.  The death certificate for Nancy who died in Newton County, Missouri, on July 2, 1935, states that her father’s name was “Scarobrough” and that he was born in England, and that her mother’s name was “Smith.”  The informant on that document was Nancy’s son, Claude ROARK.
 
The time frame for the date of death of James Mayberry SCARBROUGH was established through the date of birth of James William SCARBROUGH, the youngest child in the family who was born on December 13, 1868, and the 1870 census in which the four children of James and Mary Jane (Sarah A. age 22, Nancy A. age 13, Catharine age 8, and William age 4) were all residing in the home of their maternal uncle, William C. SMITH of Newton County, Missouri, and their parents were not part of that household.   James William SCARBROUGH’s obituary in 1911 said that he had been born in Sien, Texas, and that his parents died young.  (Again, the informant for that obituary was likely his sister, Nancy, who was staying in his home at the time of his death.)
 
That basically represents all that is currently known and provable regarding the life of James Mayberry SCARBROUGH.  He was born in Kentucky (or England) circa 1833, was probably living in Kentucky around 1853 when his oldest child, Sarah (Sallie) A. was born, and he was in Logan County, Kentucky, in August of 1856 when he married Mary Jane SMITH.   James Mayberry SCARBROUGH and his wife and oldest daughter migrated to southwest Missouri sometime between the time of his marriage to Mary Jane and the birth of their second daughter, Nancy Anthaline, who was born in Missouri nine-and-a-half months after the marriage on May 28, 1857.
 
Finding James Mayberry SCARBROUGH on the 1850 census, or in immigration records from that period, would certainly help to flesh out the details of his personal history, as would any record of his death.  At this point the personal history of James Mayberry SCARBROUGH remains very much a work in progress!