Sibling round — part C (results 1–9)

Ground truth compared against: 2026-07-20-wilson-tree-v0.md, 2026-07-21-lineage-research-partA.md, partB.md. Confidence discipline: single-source Find A Grave "CONFIRMED" downgraded to PROBABLE (FaG is user-contributed) unless the FaG page cites a real primary index for the specific fact.

Siblings of Rowena/Roinna E. Rowland (~1818–1895, m. Daniel Alexander Gibby 1840) (agent a0aca9d0)

Verdict: No siblings found; parents Malachi Rowland + Sally Caylor rest on ONE compiler site (martygrant.com) — PROBABLE, uncorroborated.

Siblings found: None. The Malachi+Sally group sheet lists Rowena as their ONLY documented child (grpf13226 — source silence, not proof; POSSIBLE).

Parents found: Malachi Rowland (no dates) + Sally Caylor (no dates) — martygrant.com only; "Malachi Rowland" has zero independent web footprint. PROBABLE. Sally's parents: Jacob Caylor (b.1760/65, Newfound Baptist Church 1814, Buncombe Co, minutes quoted) + Martha [PROBABLE].

Key facts:

• Gibby–Rowland marriage 3 (or 5) Mar 1840, Macon Co — NC Marriage Bonds index via WikiTree/FaG [CONFIRMED]
• Rowena b. 1817/18 Haywood Co; martygrant says only "d. after 1880, Swain Co" — the tree's ~1895 death NOT corroborated [PROBABLE]
• 8 children incl. George Washington Gibby b. 9 Oct 1844 — martygrant gives his death as 1915, tree says 1909 (see CONTRADICTIONS)
• 1860 census: Daniel marked "Pauper" [PROBABLE]
• Daniel's birthplace conflict: Haywood Co NC (martygrant) vs Anderson Co SC (WikiTree/FaG)

Top leads: (1) 1840 Macon Co marriage bond image — bondsman is often the bride's father/brother; (2) Haywood Co 1820/1830 census for a Malachi Rowland household; (3) Macon/Haywood estate + deed indexes naming his heirs.

Dead ends: Three distinct unrelated Rowland lines in Macon Co (George/Fouts, Andrew/Morgan, plus TN and Yancey strays) — ruled out, do not merge. WikiTree Gibby-52 has nothing on Rowena's family; one WebFetch summary false-merged a date, caught and discarded.

Josephine "Josie" Oakford Lambert (b. 1853/55, d. 13 Apr 1885 Manhattan) (agent abcc971d)

Verdict: No parents found; one POSSIBLE sibling candidate; a real birth-date/place conflict with the tree surfaced.

Siblings found: Jane E. Oakford — 1855 – Dec 1880 — Green-Wood Sec 81 Lot 1540 with John M. Oakford (1826–1898) + Almira Oakford (1835–1870) labeled parents on FaG, but those memorials cite NO primary source — POSSIBLE only.

Parents found: None. Her death index gives parents' birthplaces (both NYC) but no names.

Key facts:

• Her FaG page (166493900) cites a real primary index: NYC Municipal Deaths, ark:/61903/1:1:2WJG-6Q4 — d. 13 Apr 1885 Manhattan, age 32 → est. b. ~1853, birthplace New York City, both parents b. NYC [CONFIRMED for the cited index content]
• Green-Wood Sec K Lot 17634 = LAMBERT plot (10 burials, zero Oakfords) — buried with her husband's family [CONFIRMED]
• Exactly 8 Oakford burials at Green-Wood, 3 mutually unrelated plots; Sec 113's John D. ≠ Sec 81's John M. [CONFIRMED]
• Oakford–Rittenhouse: zero hits across three engines — negative only, not ruled out

Top leads: (1) The 1885 death CERTIFICATE image (FHL film 1,373,965, cn 524983) — era certs usually name parents incl. maiden name = the Rittenhouse unlock; (2) Jane E. Oakford's Dec 1880 death record — confirms/kills the sibling, names Almira's maiden name; (3) 1874 Lambert×Oakford marriage via Reclaim the Records / IGG free NYC indexes.

Dead ends: WikiTree's Oakford tree (NJ Quaker line) no match; Green-Wood's search JS-walled; she's indexed only under LAMBERT.

Susannah Jane Thomasson (1836–1881) + Martha Jane Watkins (1800–1871) — LeQuire wives (agent ad7741cb)

Verdict: Thomasson line cracked open (parents + 8 siblings, plot-cluster corroborated); Watkins line stays thin.

Siblings found (via WikiTree Thomasson-215): Lemuel Levi (1840–1899); Margaret Mary (Davis) (1849–1919) — same cemetery as father + sister, strongest; Isabella E (Davis) (1845–1906) — FamilySearch-corroborated; Mary Rachel (Dehart), Sarah A (DeHart), Elizabeth L (Duvall), Jacob LaFayette — no dates [all PROBABLE]; William Hiram — explicit HALF-sibling [POSSIBLE].

Parents found: Susannah Jane ← James Madison Thomasson (1809–1891) + Susannah Rebecca Truitt (b. 25 Jun 1817; d. 16 Dec 1890 vs 16 Nov 1896 — unresolved), m. 7 Dec 1832 Franklin, Macon Co [PROBABLE]. Martha Jane Watkins's parents: only YourRoots' "Reta Allen Watkins" + Sarah Ann Greene — "Reta" smells like transcription artifact [POSSIBLE, quarantine].

Key facts:

• Susannah Jane: 30 May 1836 – 2 Aug 1881, Sawmill Hill FWB Cemetery, Bryson City — plot cluster with father + sister [CONFIRMED]
• Martha Jane Watkins is Susannah Jane's MOTHER-IN-LAW (Wm Nathaniel LeQuire's mother), not a peer [PROBABLE]
• 7 named LeQuire children of Joseph Sr + Martha [PROBABLE]
• WikiTree renders Joseph Sr's wife "Jane Watkins GREEN" — prior-marriage clue [POSSIBLE]
• FamilySearch: 11 Thomasson children total; ~2 still unnamed

Top leads: (1) Margaret Mary Davis's 1919 NC death cert — primary-source parent confirmation; (2) the "Green" prior-marriage record — could name Martha's Watkins parents; (3) James Madison's FaG #20892495 children list (bot-blocked).

Dead ends: Zero Martha-Watkins siblings by any method; FaG memorials CAPTCHA-blocked; wncfamilies.com (Riddle's LeQuire book) SSL-dead.

Julius Calloway Foster (1878–1947), Towns Co GA (agent a89fb568)

Verdict: Sibling-first paid off — a brother's 1927 death certificate REVERSES partA's "Hooper struck as unsourced": mother = Mary Adeline HOOPER, primary-sourced.

Siblings found (10-child household, Lower Hiwassee): Erastus Hoyt (1882–1927, White Co) — GA death cert #23057 image viewed, names "Gather Foster" + "Mary Adeline Hooper" [CONFIRMED]; Florence (c.1876) + Adaline (c.1877) — 1880 census only, untraceable after [POSSIBLE]; Lassa C. (c.1885), Franklin L. (c.1888), Lizzie/Elizabeth A. (c.1891-93), Lona (c.1893-95), Lavenia/Edna V./"Vonie" (c.1896-98), Thomas G. "Tom" (c.1898-99) — multi-census continuity [all PROBABLE].

Parents found: Lumpkin Gaither "Gather" Foster (1856 – 3 Jun 1925) — own death-cert image (#18757) viewed [CONFIRMED]; Mary A. "Adaline" née HOOPER (c.1856-58, living Jun 1925) — son's cert + husband's cert + 1920 census [CONFIRMED, primary source].

Key facts:

• Grandfather = Franklin C. "Frank" Foster (b. c.1830 GA), 1860/1870 census [CONFIRMED]
• Franklin's wife unresolved: census "Harriett" vs son Osborn's 1926 cert "Malindy Osbon"; Lumpkin's informant wrote "Dont know" [POSSIBLE — two-wives question]
• GA Archives Virtual Vault death certs: free, no CAPTCHA, pre-transcribed parent fields — the project's best new tool
• Hooper candidates: Thomas (1845–1921, parents Benjamin + Elizabeth Cathey), J.W. (1838–1920) [POSSIBLE]

Top leads: (1) Virtual Vault "Hooper" sweep, Towns + adjacent counties → Mary Adeline's parents; (2) re-read Lumpkin's cert informant name ("Goodram/Woodrum"?) — possible undocumented sibling; (3) trace Tom Foster into 1930/1940 + obituaries.

Dead ends: FaG + WikiTree unreachable (Cloudflare/POST forms); Florence + Adaline vanish after 1880; USGenWeb Towns file connection-refused.

Rachel Strain (1773–1851) + Betsy Kirkland (1822–1905) — sibling-first round (agent a1958e3b)

Verdict: Rachel Strain gets parents and a 13-child sibling frame (PROBABLE core); Betsy Kirkland's parent set rests on one FaG contributor network with two red flags — POSSIBLE only.

Siblings found (Rachel): Nancy (McClure, 1783–1848/50), Sarah (McClure, 1787–1866), John Frederic (1787–1864/65), Andrew Jr. (1791–1871), James Samuel (1770–1844) — dual-sourced (FaG 83078622 + FamilySearch/RootsWeb/Geni) [PROBABLE]. Margaret, Lucinda, Rozine, Richard, Mary, Thomas, Eleanor, David Sr., Elizabeth Eliza — single-source only [POSSIBLE]. (Betsy): Felix Hampton Kirkland (1820–1896), William E. Kirkland (1830–1910) — same-contributor FaG cross-links [POSSIBLE].

Parents found: Rachel ← Andrew Strain Sr. (c.1750 – bef. May 1826, Burke/Haywood) + Mary, maiden name DISPUTED: Burgin (FaG) / Cathey (FamilySearch) / Reed (RootsWeb) [father PROBABLE, maiden POSSIBLE]. Betsy ← John Haulk Kirkland (1802–1903 — 101-yr-lifespan red flag; "b. Swain Co" anachronism, county formed 1871) + Naomi Mae "Oma" (1798–1886) [POSSIBLE].

Key facts:

• Richard + Rachel's nine children incl. Levi Wilson (1810–1900) — matches tree spine [PROBABLE]
• Widowed Rachel in daughter Isabella Tatham's household, 1850 census [PROBABLE]
• Published book exists: "The Strain Family" (Parker/Wood/Strain, 1985) — content unexamined
• Jason Holland Wiggins's parents dual-sourced: Abraham Wiggins Sr. + Nancy Colvard [PROBABLE]

Top leads: (1) NC Estate Files 1663–1979 for Andrew Strain — heirs list = primary anchor; (2) the 1985 Strain book via WorldCat; (3) 1840 Wiggins–Kirkland marriage bond + bondsman.

Dead ends: WikiTree Strain-127 = unrelated MS/AL line, do not reuse; no Andrew Strain under Surry Co FaG filters; no marriage bond found for either couple.

Richard Wilson (1767–1850), Macon Co NC — brick-wall assault (agent a7c9c6b4)

Verdict: Brick wall HOLDS, but productively — three independent Surry Co record sets show ZERO Wilson wills/estates, a meaningful negative that redirects the hunt to Surry's daughter counties.

Siblings found: None of Richard himself. Nine children of Richard + Rachel confirmed as a set (Levi 1810–1900 = our line) [PROBABLE]. One cohort lead: Ezekiah Wilson Jr., the ONLY Wilson household head in the partial 1810 Surry census transcription (pp. 630–702) — no established link [POSSIBLE].

Parents found: "John (b.1745) + Mary (b.1747) Wilson" remains undocumented tradition — the source itself says so. Stays QUARANTINED/POSSIBLE, matching tree v0.

Key facts:

• 1850 Mortality Schedule (federal): d. Apr 1850, age 82, farmer, pneumonia 14 days, b. Surry Co NC [CONFIRMED] — vs FaG "born Ireland" tradition [conflict stands, flag both]
• Negative sweep [CONFIRMED]: SAMPUBCO Surry will-books — no Wilson testator ever; NC Estate Files Surry index — only "Wilson, John H (1908)"; USGenWeb will abstracts 1771–1807 — no Wilson, no Strain
• 1786 Surry tax lists (2 districts checked): no Wilsons [PROBABLE, partial]
• Note on Rachel's mother: "Mary Reed... discounted. Now believed Mary Burgin" — active revision, Burgin provisional

Top leads: (1) Will/estate indices for Wilkes, Stokes, Rockingham, Ashe — carved from Surry, all unchecked; (2) untranscribed 1810 Surry census pp. 1–629 + Ezekiah Wilson follow-up; (3) Iredell/Burke ~1794 Wilson–Strain marriage bond.

Dead ends: FaG memorials Cloudflare-blocked, no Wayback copies; Geni pages JS-empty; rootsweb Surry decommissioned; usgwarchives.net host unreachable (Wayback-only).

Catharine Sayles (m. William Olney, 1692, Providence) — the Roger Williams question (agent a23cff3e)

Verdict: MAJOR — Austin's 1887 RI Dictionary finally read as page images: the OLNEY entry (p.353) names Catharine "of John & Mary (Williams) Sayles" — RW chain upgrades from unproven to PROBABLE, one honest asterisk.

Siblings found (Austin pp.370-71): Mary (1652–1717; m. Greene then Holmes); John Jr. (1654–1727; m. Elizabeth OLNEY — a second Sayles×Olney union, symmetric in both addenda) [both CONFIRMED in-source]; Deborah (m. Caleb Carr) — Austin's own hedge "probably had also" [POSSIBLE].

Parents found: John Sayles (1633–1681) + Mary Williams (b. Aug 1638 per Austin, d. 1681), "of Roger & Mary ( ) Williams" [PROBABLE]. The asterisk: Catharine appears ONLY in the Olney entry — the Sayles entry omits her, an internal inconsistency.

Key facts:

• Wm Olney m. Catharine Sayles 28 Dec 1692; six children 1694–1711 [CONFIRMED in-source]
• Full-OCR grep: exactly ONE Sayles family in Austin — no same-name-family conflation risk [CONFIRMED]
• Austin's "1638 Aug" for Mary Williams vs ~1633 commonly cited for RW's daughter — must resolve before the RW link settles [POSSIBLE]
• Austin p.352 carries the "Mary Small" passage — known transcription error, quarantine holds
• John Jr.'s 1726 will names only Thomas, Richard, Mary Smith — no help on Catharine

Top leads: (1) Providence town/church records for a Catharine Sayles birth c.1671; (2) John Sayles Sr./Mary's 1681 estate naming children; (3) LaFantasie's RW correspondence to pin daughter Mary's birth year.

Dead ends: Addenda birth-year correction note ink-damaged, unreadable; single-Sayles-family question closed permanently.

Clara Whiteside (1859–1916), Rutherford Co NC (agent add9a05a)

Verdict: Full 11-child sibling set recovered plus two more Whiteside generations — all FaG-cross-matched, none primary-sourced; block caps at PROBABLE.

Siblings found (reciprocal on BOTH parents' FaG memorials #37609734/#37769506 — FaG-only, PROBABLE): John Bynum (1854–1933), Ellen Elizabeth (McKinney) (1856–1931), Alonzo Noah (1858–1936), Flora (Clarke) (1859–1900 — shares Clara's birth year: possible twins), Barzilla L (1861–1906), Charley H (1863–1903), Solon Lee (1865–1953), Effie (Norris) (1867–1929), William Marion Jr (1870–1922), Minnie Belle (Williams) (1873–1957).

Parents found: Confirms tree's pair, now with dates: William Marion Whitesides Sr (1829 – 25 May 1919) + Sarah Ledbetter (1827 – 17 Apr 1919), Green Hill; Rock Springs Baptist Church Cemetery [PROBABLE].

Key facts:

• New generation: Wm Marion Sr ← Noah Whiteside (1806–1858) + Malinda Lynch (1809–1875) — reciprocal FaG memorials [PROBABLE]
• Another: Noah ← Wm Franklin Whiteside (1781–1869) + Elizabeth LEDBETTER (1788–1862) — single page [POSSIBLE]
• QUARANTINE: two Ledbetter women married Whitesides two generations apart — don't assume Barzillai and Elizabeth are kin without an anchor
• Sarah's parents: Barzillai Ledbetter (1805–1875) + Sarah Elliott (1809–1856), +8 named siblings [POSSIBLE — Barzillai's page Cloudflare-blocked]
• Seven siblings died in NC's 1913+ death-cert window — cheap verification queue

Top leads: (1) NC death certs for the 7 post-1913 siblings — primary-sources the parent pair; (2) Barzillai Ledbetter memorial retry; (3) 1850–1870 census check of the 11-child set.

Dead ends: Sarah Whiteside LEDBETTER (1819–1893, GA — surname order reversed) unrelated; Clara Belle Whitesides b.1856 = same-name contamination, not merged; digital.ncdcr.gov 404'd — tooling, retry via browse.

Eva C. Brown (Foster) (1885–1938), Towns Co GA (agent ad54d2a8)

Verdict: Brick wall holds — no parents, no siblings — but the 1900 census gives the decisive filter: BOTH her parents were born in South Carolina.

Siblings found: None. All 5 Towns Co Browns in the death-cert index (1919–1927) eliminated: India (née Alexander), Pleashie (née Self), two infants; William Shannon Brown (b.1851) is uncle-generation — not a sibling, NOT ruled out as kin.

Parents found: None. Her FaG memorial (16161990) lists neither; "zero Brown burials at Woods Grove" reconfirmed — her natal plot is elsewhere.

Key facts:

• 4 Sep 1885 – 2 Nov 1938, Woods Grove Memorial Cemetery [PROBABLE — FaG-only, no primary index]
• m. Julius C. Foster 10 Oct 1899 — she was 14 [CONFIRMED — genealogytrails index]
• 1900 census GA-SC-SC codes: BOTH parents born South Carolina [PROBABLE]
• 8-child set incl. Bertha Foster Gibby (1923–1995) — matches the FaG side of the open Bertha death-year tension (1995 vs ~1999)
• Lindsey Carson Brown family provisionally RULED OUT — Eva absent; father GA-born, not SC
• Stray "Julius Foster d. 1933" = unrelated Julius, disregard

Top leads: (1) 1900 census page images — the Brown household with 14-yr-old Eva (login-walled, not absent); (2) William Shannon Brown branch (father James Brown + Vira Parker — SC-born?); (3) Eva's 1938 / Julius's 1947 certs — outside the searchable vault range but would name her parents; the 1899 license likely carries parental consent.

Dead ends: No rootsweb Brown page for Towns Co; Wayback hard-blocked here; FaG locationId searches silently redirect to wrong counties — use cemeteryid scoping; four Browns eliminated, don't re-surface.