Mariam Hannah Barrett was born April 25, 1821 in Greenville, South Carolina. Her parents were David Barrett and Elizabeth, or Betsy, Whitten. There is a lot of information on David Barrett, seems he was in a bit of a court battle over his father, Reuben Barrett's, will. But we'll get into that on another post.
The family moved by 1826, to Fayette County, Tennessee. In a letter postmarked "Wolf River, Tennessee April 26...accepted for posting in Fayette Co TN on May 23, 1826," David Barrett wrote to his father-in-law about their life in Tennessee. A transcribed copy of the letter can be found on the website for the Tennessee Genealogical Society (letter contributed by Arthur M. Reagan for the TN Genealogical Magazine "Ansearchin'" News, TN Genealogical Society, Memphis, TN; Summer 1986; Vol. 33, No. 2).
Anyhow, the family was now making a new start in Tennessee, and can also be found in Fayette County on the 1830 Federal Census. By July 18, 1839, Mariam marries Hansel Benton Coburn in Fayette. A copy of this record can be found on Ancestry.com, Tennessee State Marriages, 1780-2002. However, not long after they were married, we find Hansel in Houston County, Texas. I've read online that they may have followed one of her brothers to Texas. Her parents, David and Betsy, also moved too.
They stayed in Houston County until sometime in the 1860s. By the 1870 Federal Census, you can see they moved to Bell County, Texas. Sometime after 1870, Hansel died, because we can see Mariam in Bell, Texas listed on the 1880 Federal Census as a widow and head of household, living with her son-in-law Wm. McCreary, her daughter Mattie Bell, and granddaughter Ada Bell.
By 1900 she moves in with her son William Coburn and his family. They are still living in Bell, Texas. She was 79 years old. I can't find any other records on her after the 1900 Federal Census.
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