SEARCHING FOR "HARVE'S" MOTHER

Harve is Andrew Jefferson Harve Franks, father of Thomas Napoleon Franks and the great, great grandfather of my children.

      I started on this journey about 30 years ago when I first heard the story of the Franks. Seems like their granddaddy, Andrew Jefferson "Harve" Franks, liked to tell stories and the main one concerned the family heritage. He always stated that he was not a Franks but an Emerson. That his mother had been married before Wes and this man died leaving his mother with 2 sons. I hadn't done much on the family history at that time. Randall Franks had done some research and a family tree so I read a copy. It always stuck in my mind and I wanted to do some research in Tennessee but just couldn't find the time. After I retired, I acquired a computer and started a family tree on ancestry.com. I started searching out all the census records in TN to no avail. I was checking any message boards on Emerson's and just couldn't find any information. I did find Wes' dad, Hamilton Frank and all his siblings but nothing else. I found a marriage record for Wesly Frank and Rebecca Coon. Now I had a name to go with the mother. This went on for about 2 years and nothing more. One day, I decided to google Rebecca Coon Frank just by chance that I had missed something in the past 5 years. I came up with a Wiley Frank in TN who just happened to have a daughter named Rebecca E. who had married a George Coon.. I did a basic search and found that Rebecca's father, Wiley, and Hamilton Frank's father, James, were brothers. This made Rebecca and Ham, as he was called, first cousins. A little more search and I found a marriage record for Rebecca Frank and George Coon. On the 1870 census record, Rebecca is living in the home with her father and she has a son named John Coon. To add more interest, Rebecca's mother died and her father, Wiley, has married a woman named Elizabeth Emerson. Also, Rebecca has a brother named Robison. He has 2 children that marry Emersons'. Addie Frank married Jesse Emerson and William married Ellen Emerson so Harve would have had first cousins that were Emerson's. This had to mean something in this history. I have never believed in coincidence and they were cousins no less. The last record I had for Rebecca is in 1900 and she is called Rosey which could have been a nickname from childhood. She has been married for 27 years. Father-in-law, Hamilton, is living in the home. I don't know if this is the end of this brick wall, but it answers alot of questions. I just wish that Ruby, my mother-in-law, had known this before she died. However, she had all her answers when she reached Heaven.

      I did find a possible location for the burial of Wiley Frank. Murray's Baptist Church Cemetery in Loudon County, Tennessee. There is no record on findagrave.com but I did find Addie Frank Emerson. Hoping a search of the genwebproject.com will have a record and I can add it to his page. I have found death locations of three of the siblings of Wesly Frank. Originally, this name did not contain an "s" but Harve added it when he moved to Georgia.