Wren Kin

I just received a package from Ruth containing Civil War Pension records for the following individuals:

• Mrs. Anna K. Wren, Wood County, Texas
• Mrs. E.J. Wren, Wood County, Texas
• G.W. Wren, Lamar County, Texas
• Mrs. M.A. Wren, Brown County, Texas
• T.E. Wren, Brazos County, Texas
• W.B. Wren, Anderson County, Texas
• William B. Wrenn, Falls County, Texas
• William Henry Wrenn, Mills County, Texas

All I can say is: woo hoo!

I will scan these and put them online in our genealogy database, which I’ve almost finished preparing for public access. This database will provide scans of actual documents, but you’ll have to register with the W(R)en(n) Family Association in order to view any of them. Registration will be free, of course.

I’d like to have a complete collection of Texan Wren/Wrenn pension records, but we still need the pension files for:

• Eugenia Gilson, Application #36154, Travis County, wife to Thomas Lycurgus Wren
• Viola Wren, Application #31456, Hamilton County, wife to William Coleman Wren
• R.H. Wren, Application #13941, Madison County

Poor Parthenia Wren’s pension file has been missing for years (Application #08378, Kaufman County). It’s my dearest hope that one day it will turn up again, donated to the Texas State Library Archives, perhaps, or maybe even to Wren Kin—where I would photograph it carefully (without a flash, of course) and then donate it to the Texas State Library Archives…

Ah, well. I can dream, can’t I?

Seriously, folks, if any of you have copies of the above pension files (or if you have copies of ANY Wren/Wrenn/Ren/Renn pension files from ANY state, would you consider donating copies to WrenKin.com? We’re starting with pension files from Texas, but only because we have to start somewhere.

In fact, if you’re interested in donating any Wren/Wrenn/Ren/Renn-related material to Wren Kin, please drop me a line. I would love to hear from you.

The Wren - Rhoades Reunion (Olar W. Wren and Flora Elizabeth Rhoades) was started in 1986 and has always welcomed anyone claiming kinship to any and all Wren kin.

The Reunion will be held in the Holiday House at 908 East Fourth Street (east of downtown square) in Lampasas, Texas. Saturday June 16: 11 am to 9 pm.

11 am to 4 pm: water slide for the younger kids, dominoes, 42, horseshoes washers for the young and old fogies.

5 pm-7:30 pm: AUCTION (bring auction items by 4:30 pm).

6 pm: HOMEMADE ICE CREAM (bring your ice cream freezer and participate in the auction at the same time).

SUNDAY, June 17 Holiday House 10 am - 3 pm: (meats cooked by Wren chefs/bring your favorite salads, veggies, tea, desserts, bread, casseroles, etc.)

For more information contact: Worth Wren by email or phone: (817)-236-6454

Area Motels/Hotels:
Country Inn on the Circle - 1502 S Key Ave Lampasas TX 1-800-556-2322 or 1-512-556-9292
Saratoga Motel - 1408 S Key Ave 1-512-556-6244
Holiday Inn - 1200 Central Expressway (Hwy 190 Bypass) 1-512-556-9292

If you have a W(R)en(n) Family Reunion you’d like to publicize, let us know!

While unsourced genealogies are not considered “good” genealogies (in that every fact has a documented source to back it up) they can still be very helpful to other family researchers, especially if contact information is provided.

To that end, Ruth and I have decided to create a special category in the Wren Kin website, one that will offer readers some family histories which are not fully documented. This category will be called Breadcrumbs.

I would like to remind everyone, however, not to take information from Breadcrumbs as fact unless they can find documentation to back it up. Please contact the authors of these genealogies (contacts will always be provided) for more information on the specific genealogy.

And to inaugurate our Breadcrumbs category, Laura Lee Jaworski has given us her family information on the descendants of Vincent Wren, which you may download in PDF format by clicking here.

Here is my very rough genealogy on Vincent Wren. I’ve got TONS of information on the family, but at this point can only provide names. This information has been gathered from first hand knowledge of decendents and then backed up mostly by census records, published bible records, historical accounts, newspaper articles and obituaries. Where I can not provide sources in this email given the shear volumn of information and time contraints due to having two pre-school age children, they do exist. If anyone is interested, I am more than willing to provide sources in limited numbers. Most of my information, however, was gleaned from the internet and Ancestry.com. Woodson Wren and his brother Thomas died in Natchez, MS along with some of their children. After the Civil War, many of the family moved to New Orleans. Some are in Memphis, TN and others are in Michigan. Sally married McMurtry and some of her children went to Natchez, MS as well (or there abouts). Tabitha McMurtry, Sally Wrenn’s daughter, married Holtzclaw and stayed in Kentucky. Ally died in Kentucky and her daughter and husband moved to Indiana. Polly married a Spilman and they stayed in Kentucky as well. We have no idea what happened to Claibourne.

7- Laura Lee Bauerle Jaworski - myself
6- Virginia Lee Edwards - James Robert Bauerle - parents
5- Virginia Lee Davis - Harold Alonzo Edwards - grandparents
4- Susie Wren Allen - Sumpter Boyer Davis - greatgrandparents
3- Sarah Walworth Wren - Charles Henry Allen - 2nd great grandparents
2- William Wren - Susan Van Allen - 3rd great grandparents
1- Woodson Wren - Mary “Polly” Grant - 4th great grandparents
Vincent Wren - Tabitha Crenshaw - 5th great grandparents

Laura Lee Jaworski
Spotsylvania, VA

Over at the Wren Family Surname Forum at Genforum, I found this statement:

It is said Randolph Wren signed off on the marriage of Binns Jones Wren and Elizabeth Betsy Depew in Kentucky. I have never been able to document this information.

The record of this marriage may be found in the book Warren County, Kentucky marriages, 1797-1851: from the original marriage bonds and consents, by Helen Thomas, Mary Rabold, Elizabeth Price (Bowling Green, Ky. c1970).

(Some interesting background on this book: Mrs. Thomas found the original marriage contracts in the trash—if I remember the story correctly—and rescued them. She and Mrs. Rabold and Mrs. Price abstracted the contracts and published them in this book, thereby saving a segment of Warren County’s genealogical history for future generations. Hooray for Mrs. Thomas!)

This book of marriage contract abstracts is an incredible resource, to be sure, but the researcher trying to document the Binns Jones Wren marriage wanted to be absolutely certain of the facts.

I have come across this data before. But I was wondering have you seen (either online or in person) this actual document? (Warren County, Kentucky marriages, 1797-1851 ) Is there somewhere I can I view the document?

It’s something every family researcher should do: let the abstracts and transcriptions reveal the location of the original record, and then hunt down the original and read it for themselves.

So where were the original Warren County, Kentucky marriage bonds, the ones Helen Thomas abstracted for her book? After abstracting the records, did she return them to the County Clerk’s office? Donate them to a library? Give them to her local genealogical society to maintain?

A quick Google search found this Rootsweb thread, in which a poster says that the original marriage contracts are currently in the Manuscripts Room of the Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Excellent! I phoned the WKU library and spoke with a helpful librarian who said the Manuscripts Room did contain the marriage contracts abstracted in Helen Thomas’ book, but horror of horrors, not all of them.

According to the librarian, before the original marriage contracts were donated to the library, the authors of the book gave some of the contracts to descendants who asked for them. Ugh!

How will descendants of the couples mentioned within these missing Warren County documents ever locate the originals now? Abstracts are better than nothing, but the original documents are the gold standard in genealogy. Any contracts given to individual researchers are now lost to other descendants.

As a family researcher, I understand the desire to own an original ancestral document, especially if I didn’t believe the collection would ever make it into a library. But I see far too many family Bibles, photographs and documents sold by estate liquidators to trust in my own mortality. If a library can take the documents and keep them safe and available to other researchers, then that is the best place to put them.

With that in mind, what do you do if you need a copy of an original Warren County, Kentucky marriage contract from 1797-1851?

The WKU librarian recommended researchers try email contact first:

1. Name up to five marriage contract requests
2. Include the names of the couple mentioned in Helen Thomas’ book and the date they were married, and
3. the page in Helen Thomas’ book the marriage abstract was found on, if possible. Then
4. email this request to Amanda Hardin.

The staff will determine if they have the record or not and email you back with an estimate of photocopying costs. At the time of this writing the costs are minimal: ten cents per one-sided copy (twenty cents for double-sided) and $1.25 for postage.

When you order the photocopies, specify whether or not you want front and back, and any attachments (some marriage contracts do have attachments). In the case of Binns J. Wren, there are four pages to be photocopied, which would come out to a total of $1.65.

Amanda asked that the check be made out to Manuscripts & Folklife Archives and sent to:

Amanda L. Hardin, Archival Assistant
Manuscripts/Folklife Archives
1906 College Heights Blvd. #11092
Western Kentucky University
Bowling Green, KY 42101-1092

And if you live in Bowling Green, Kentucky, consider volunteering your services to the Manuscript Room at the WKU library. The librarian said the marriage contracts would be the first of their collection to be digitized if they had the funding. They do have the equipment to digitize the collection, but no money for labor costs.

This sounds like an excellent project for the local Bowling Green genealogical society. (As it turns out, the local genealogical society did organize the contracts when they first arrived, but now the collection needs to go digital!)

Source Citation: Thomas W. Wren will (1924), Wood County Clerk, Quitman, Texas. Transcription by Bonnie Wren, from a photocopy of the original. Downloaded from WrenKin.com on [insert today’s date].

No. 1493n
Last Will and Testament
of
T. W. Wren.
Filed for Record
Feb 27 1924
J. J. McLeod, Clark County Court
Wood County, TEXAS

THE STATE OF TEXAS

COUNTY OF WOOD KNOW ALL KEN BY THESE PRESENTS: that I, T. W. Wren, of the County of Wood and the State of Texas, being in good health, and of sound and disposing mind and memory, do make and publish this my last will and testament, hereby revoking all wills by me at any time heretofore made.

FIRST. I direct that upon my death, that my body have a Christianlike burial.

SECOND. I direct that all my just debts shall be paid by my executor hereinafter named.

THIRD. I give to certain of my children, named as follows; George W. Wren, Mrs. Marietta Moore, N. Craig Wren, J. Ezra Wren and to my two grandchildren Lester Brown and Ana (sp?) Brown, children of my daughter Mrs. Ludie Brown, after my debts are paid, each the sum of Five Dollars.

FOURTH. All the residue of my estate, real personal and mixed, of which I shall die possessed, I hearby give, devise and bequeath to my other three children, to each share and share alike, named as follows; W.G. Wren, who resides in Wood County, Texas, Mrs. Parthenia Edwards, who resides in Van Zandt County, Texas, and Mrs. Azzaline Sanders, who resides in Van Zandt County, Texas. The real estate now owned by me and contemplated herein being my undivided one-half, my community interest, in the West one-half of the E.A. Evans Survey, but it is hereby directed that in the event of a sale, exchange or other disposition of said real estate during my life, or the acquisition by me of other or additional real estate, the whole of such property of which I may die possessed shall pass and be vested in said W.G. Wren, Parthenia Edwards and Azzaline Sanders, after the payment of my burial expenses, my debts, and the above mentioned legacies of five dollars each to my first named children, and two grandchildren.

FIFTH. I hereby constitute and appoint W.G. Wren sole executor of this my will, and direct that no bond or other security be required of him as executor.

SIXTH. it is my will that no other action shall be had in the county court in the administration of my estate than to provee and record this will and to return an inventory and appraisement of my estate and list of claims.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this the 30th day of September, A.D. 1912, in the presence of E.A. Tharp and M. H. Landers who attest the same at my request.

T.W. Wren

The above instrument was now here subscribed by T.W. Wren the testator, in our presence, and we, at his request and in his presence sign our names hereto as attesting witnesses, this 30th day of September, A.D. 1912.

E.A. Thorp
M. H. Landers

From:

TENNESSEE TIDBITS
1778-1914
VOLUME III

by Marjorie Hood Fischer
Ruth Blake Burns

Ram Press
1239 Coventry Road
Vista, CA 92084

Page 415

“WREN, Nicholas
Taxes were not collected for 1832 as this person has removed from the County. (Crl TN, Co Ct Min, 2/505)”

In the July 1991 issue of the original Wren Kin Newsletter, Bobby Joe Wren’s column “Rememberin’” discussed his brother, Worth Sylvester Wren, Sr.

We regret to inform you this gentleman has passed away.

February 13, 2007

Mr. Wren

Funeral services for Worth S. Wren Sr., 83, of Lampasas were Feb. 11, 2007, at Briggs-Gamel-Wilcox Funeral Home Chapel in Lampasas with his son, Carl Wren, officiating. Burial was at Oak Hill Cemetery in Lampasas.

Mr. Wren died Feb. 7 from complications of cancer.

He was born April 25, 1923, in Somervell County, between Glen Rose and Granbury, to Olar W. and Flora Elizabeth Wren Sr.

Mr. Wren grew up in Hamilton County and attended school in Hico, where he graduated from high school in 1942.

He joined the U.S. Army in January 1943 and was assigned to the 483rd Anti-Aircraft Battalion. As a non-commissioned officer, Mr. Wren served as a half-track commander and gunner. Among several assignments, his unit was deployed to provide anti-aircraft cover for units of Gen. George Patton’s Third Army during the Battle of the Bulge. Mr. Wren fought in several campaigns, including five major battles across France, Belgium, Austria and Germany.

In December 1945, Mr. Wren was honorably discharged at Camp Fannin and traveled to Lampasas to visit relatives.

On Dec. 15, 1945, he met Johnnie Mae Lunsford, and they were married on Dec. 22, 1945.

Mr. Wren began his career with AT&SF Railway Co. in 1948. He started as a Lampasas section gang trackman and worked his way into management while using his G.I. Bill education benefits to study basic railroad engineering, accounting and other job-related courses at night.
He retired from Santa Fe in 1982, after serving as the roadmaster responsible for track maintenance from San Angelo to Presidio.

Mr. and Mrs. Wren called Lampasas home from 1945-69, despite the family often traveling with him on his foreman job assignments across Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri in 1950-54.

In 1969, the couple moved to San Angelo when Mr. Wren was promoted to roadmaster.

In 1992, the Wrens returned to Lampasas to be nearer many of their relatives.

Mr. Wren was a member of First Baptist Church of Lampasas and Hillcrest Baptist Church in San Angelo.

He enjoyed golf, fishing, gardening and hunting, and was an ardent fan of the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Longhorns.

He is survived by his wife, Johnnie Mae Wren; by sons Worth Wren Jr. and wife, Nelda, of Fort Worth, James Wren of San Angelo, and Carl Wren and wife, Katherine, of Manchaca; a daughter, Ann Harmon, and husband, Bruce, of Kempner; nine grandchildren, Clinton Wren and Johnnie Jacqueline Wren of Fort Worth, James Wren Jr., Michael Wren, Christopher Wren and Jennifer White, all of Rowlett, Kaulean Harmon of Arlington; and Claire Wren and Kara Wren of Manchaca; and one great-grandson, Bryce White, of Rowlett.

The family requested memorials be made to the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association or to the charity of one’s choice.

Arrangements by Briggs-Gamel-Wilcox Funeral Directors of Lampasas.

The Lampasas Dispatch Record, P.O. Box 631, Lampasas, Tx 76550-2940, 512/556-6262, 512/556-3278 (fax).

If you have obituaries or other records you would like to share with other Wren/Wrenn/Ren/Renn descendants, please contact me.

WILLIAM BOYCE—Will Book B, Page 348—Names wife, Elizabeth; sons, John and William; daughters, Betsey Wilson, Patsy Moody and Nancy Wrenn. Written December 9, 1811; probated February 1812. Executors—John and William (sons) Thomas Wren (son-in-law). Witnesses—William Smith, Stephen Smith.

“Fayette County Will Abstracts, Contributed by Mrs. Joseph Beard and Mrs. Ernest Dunlap, Bryan Station Chapter)” pg. 31.

SOURCE: Kentucky records: early wills and marriages copied from court house records by regents, historians, and the State historian; old Bible records and tombstone inscriptions; records from Barren, Bath, Bourbon, Clark, Daviess, Fayette, Harrison, Jessamine, Lincoln, Madison, Mason, Montgomery, Nelson, Nicholas, Ohio, Scott, and Shelby counties, by Julia Spencer Ardery, Genealogical Pub. Co., 1965-72.

VINCENT WREN–Book B, age 46–Names three eldest children, Sally McMurtry, Woodson Wren and Polly Spillman, daughter Temperance Wren, son, Thomas Wren. Grand-son, Vincent Wren McMurtry. Wife, Tabitha Wren. Exec’s., Wm. Brown, Sr. and Alexander McMurtry. Written Mch. 14, 1810. Witnesses, Wm. Lobb, Nathan Pulliam, Robert Pulliam. Probated Aug. Court 1810. “Garrard Co, Kentucky, Copied by Mrs. H.K. McAdams, Will Abstracts, Book A,” page 44.

SOURCE: “Garrard Co, Kentucky, Copied by Mrs. H.K. McAdams, Will Abstracts, Book A.” Kentucky pioneer and court records : abstracts of early wills, deeds, and marriages from court houses and records of old Bibles, churches, grave yards, and cemeteries copied by American war mothers : genealogical material collected from authentic sources : records from Anderson, Bourbon, Boyle, Clark, Estill, Fayette, Garrard, Harrison, Jessamine, Lincoln, Madison, Mercer, Montgomery, Nicholas, and Woodford counties, by Mrs. Harry Kennett McAdams, Southern Historical Press, 1998, c 1929.

My goal is to create a Wren/Wrenn/Ren/Renn database and stuff it full of all the vital records, family group sheets, etc. that we can gather.

Until that day comes, we’ll work with this temporary index. At present it only contains marriages from a few counties in Kentucky and Tennessee from the following sources:

• Carroll County, TN marriages, 1860-1873, Byron Sistler, Barbara Sistler, Nashville, Tennessee, 1988.
• Dodd, Jordan. Kentucky Marriages, 1802-1850 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: MyFamily.com, Inc., 1997. Original data: Electronic transcription of marriage records held by the individual counties in Kentucky.
• Marriages of Maury County, Tennessee, 1808-1852, compiled by Edythe Rucker Whitley, with an Index by Judith McGhan, Baltimore, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1982
• Warren County, Kentucky marriages, 1797-1851 : from the original marriage bonds and consents, by Helen Thomas, Mary Rabold, Elizabeth Price, Bowling Green, Ky. c1970.
• Marriages of Gibson County, Tennessee, 1824-1860, compiled by Edythe Johns Rucker Whitley, with an index by Judith McGhan, Baltimore, Genealogical Pub. Co., 1982.

If you have any marriages (or other records) you’d like to add to this database, or if you have family group sheets for any of these families, please contact me or leave a comment.

Thanks!