Tibitha Gover

Photo Discovery

In looking through and sorting a collection of photos and other memorabilia, we found a photo of an unidentified person that was probably related to my wife, Anita. The name on the back of the photo was “Tabitha Gover?” Anita could not recognize the person in the photo. So, I went to New Familysearch as I only had a name to search for. The search resulted in the name being found with three different entries all with the same birth date, 14 February 1897. One entry produced the same birth date but the place was Gilmer, R #2 Texas. The “contributor” for these entries was “ LDS Church membership Records”. However, each of these entries showed that she was not connected to anyone, i.e. no parents, husband, just a single name.

Isabelle Josephine Crouch, Anita’s great grandmother, was married three times, one of which was to Samuel Banks Gover. That marriage produced three children: Maggie Armenta, Olive Belle, and Leonard Crouch. The previous marriage of Isabelle Josephine Crouch was to William Hector Lee which produced two children: Brunson Lester Lee and Chester Arthur Lee. William Hector Lee died in 1884 leaving his wife with two boys, Brunson and Chester. Isabelle Lee remarried Samuel Banks Gover in 1886 after which three more children were born. Samuel Banks Gover died in 1898 and Isabelle Josephine Gover was again left with children, this time five children.

The 1900 census indicated that Mrs. I.J. Gover had five children and all were living at that time and they were listed in this census as sons and daughter. An additional child, one year of age, Hector Gover, was also given and noted as being a grandson. Obviously Tabitha Gover did not fit into the Crouch/Gover family. Tabitha Gover, therefore must be a married name. Leonard Gover was the only male child that could produce a Gover descendant.

Sure enough, new familysearch produced a Leonard Gover married to a Tabitha Head. Thus it appeared that the photo we have is of Tabitha Head Gover, wife of Leonrad Gover. That marriage produced seven children, the last of whom was Reba Josephine Gover. A note on the back of our photo said, “ give to Reba Cartchner”. Returning again to familysearch it showed the Reba was married to “Dean Laws Kartchner”. The last name spelled with a K instead of a C. This confirmed that we have the photo of Reba’s mother.

Upon reflection, Anita remembered that Aunt Tabitha and Uncle Leonard were frequent visitors to her family when she was a young child. We also remembered when we spent a summer living with Aunt Armenta, Uncle Leonard’s sister. We called her Aunt Menty and she was married to Luther Bailey. I worked for Del Monte canning tomatoes that summer. One day I found a ten dollar bill walking to their home from work. Before going to their place, I stopped and bought a gallon of ice-cream and Uncle Luther thought I had brought them the greatest gift imaginable, a wonderful memory.

The other children living in the Gover home in 1900 was Brunson Lee, Chester Lee and Hector Gover, a grandson, (to Isabelle Josephine Gover), born in1899. Who were his parents? Of course, Chester Arthur Lee was the grandfather of Anita and the father of her mother, Edna Magnon Lee Loe. This interesting discovery occurred at the early morning hour of 1:30 am, Jan 13, 2012, a few hours after the birthday of our son Kevin Ross Brooks.