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A genealogical brick wall is a dead end or a very difficult research problem. There may be a lack of records, few records, or no records. Many of us have spent years researching brick wall ancestors with little success. DNA testing is helping some of us break through those brick walls, but even DNA testing has its limitations. There are research methods to help break down those walls, though there are no guarantees. This case study is a good example of how to break down a brick wall, or at least a really good attempt.

Research Objective

The goal of this research is to find the parents of Darthula Ross.

Darthula Ross is one of the brick walls on my family tree. Three generations of my family have been looking for her parents. We have almost no evidence of her existence. The only record with her name is a marriage certificate between William Jasper Eaton and Darthula Ross.

Darthula’s Story

The first step in a brick wall is to write a simple life sketch of known facts. Darthula’s story is indeed simple. Darthula’s estimated birth date is 1840. She was likely born in Tennessee or Alabama. She married William Jasper Eaton 28 Jun 1860 at the home of the bridegroom’s father. The marriage was witnessed by Christopher Myers, Justice of the Peace. William and Darthula had one child, William Jasper Eaton born 1 May 1861 in Athens, Limestone, Alabama.

This is the sum total of what we know about Darthula. William Jasper Eaton, Jr., was connected to his parents through a process of elimination over many years of scouring records. There simply is not another set of parents that fit.

Hypothesis

There have been a lot of theories about Darthula. It is assumed that Darthula either died with the birth of her son or died during the Civil War. No headstone or other death record has been found for Darthula. There is also no other record of her husband and it is assumed he died in the war as well. Their son, of course, survived, but we don’t know much about his early life.

Family stories suggest that William Jasper Eaton Jr. had half siblings with the last name of Franklin. This would suggest that Darthula survived and remarried. This story has yet to be verified and no connection of Franklins and Eatons has been found.

Darthula may have some relation to Colby Ross (94QV-8B7). Colby Ross is the only known Ross in the area that could have had a child of Darthula’s age. Colby Ross owned property on the western edge of Athens. Colby’s daughter Cynthia Ann married a Thomas Edgemon. This couple lived in the same neighborhood as William Jasper Eaton’s family. Colby Ross has a daughter named Parthena who was born in 1839/40, but no daughter named Darthula. Could Darthula and Parthena be the same person?

The answer might only be found through DNA matching. Unfortunately, the only known child of Colby Ross to have survived long enough to have children and further descendants is Cynthia Ann Ross. None of Colby’s other children survived the American Civil War as far as we know. To date, there has been no DNA match found between Edgemon and Eaton descendants.

Another possibility is that Darthula may have married Thomas Ross. Thomas Ross is the son of Colby Ross. Thomas died in 1859, making Darthula a very young widow. There is a Darthula Langford the right age that is the daughter of William Langford and Drucilla Waits in Lauderdale County, Alabama. So far, no marriage record have been found between Darthula and Thomas.

Research Plan

My family has searched for Darthula’s origins for years. That search has included the searching of the same record sources, like the census, over and over again. With the two new possibilities for Darthula’s parents, it is necessary to expand the search in different directions. It is best to break down a project into smaller parts and then work on each of those parts individually. One way to start is to write down questions.

1. Is Colby Ross Darthula’s father? If not, is he connected to her in some other way?
   • Did Darthula marry Colby Ross’ son Thomas Ross?
2. Is Darthula Ross the same person as Darthula Langford, the daughter of William Langford and Drucilla Waits?
3. Are there DNA matches that can provide evidence for either of these theories?

In order to answer each of these questions, time will have to be spent researching Colby Ross and William Langford. Some things are already known about both of these men. Colby Ross lived near Athens, Limestone, Alabama. William Langford lived in Gravelly Springs, Lauderdale, Alabama. Both locations will need to be searched, so a locality guide will need to be created. Darthula, Colby, and William will need to be placed into historical context. And finally, DNA evidence will need to be evaluated. Here is a list of tasks:

1. Create a locality guide for Lauderdale County and Limestone County, Alabama.
2. Research the impact of the Civil War on Athens and Florence, Alabama.
3. Review the record sets identified in the locality guide.
4. Do FAN research on Darthula and William Jasper Eaton.
5. Descendency research for Colby Ross and William Langford to identify potential DNA matches.

Each of these steps entail a fair amount of work. It is easy to be distracted and follow research tangents — allied family lines can bring up interesting connections. Creating a research plan will help keep the research focused, even with a complex project such as this. As this research series progresses, I will share the research techniques I learn about and use to reveal Darthula’s story. Stay tuned for more.