Evidence for the Parentage of Andrew M. Rackley

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Pendleton, South Carolina, United States
Surname/tag: Rackley

The birth year of Andrew M. Rackley is somewhat ambiguous. In 1850, his age was reported as twenty-seven, giving him a birth year of about 1823.^[1] However, he aged seventeen years between 1850 and the 1860 census when he was reported to be forty-four. Considering that his wife was born in 1830, and he volunteered to serve in the Confederate Army in 1861, he was probably born closer to 1823.

Since the publication of Rackley, A Southern Colonial Family, Andrew M. Rackley has been shown to have been a son of Reuben Rackley and his wife Jane and to have had the middle name William. The connection to Reuben Rackley and his supposed middle name seem to have been based primarily on recollections by a descendant of Matilda Rackley Weaver, a daughter of Reuben Rackley, that she “is said to have worried about her brother William, who married an Indian girl and went west” and that “she would never see him again.” The authors surmised that “this man appears to be the Andrew William Rackley who headed a household in Gilmer County in 1850 and moved to Fannin County, Ga., prior to 1860.” However, the known facts about Andrew M. Rackley do not correspond to the “brother William” mentioned by Matilda Rackley Weaver.^[2]

There is no evidence that Andrew M. Rackley had the middle name William. Both the 1850 census and his service file show him only as Andrew Rackley. The only time he appears in a primary source document with a middle initial is on the 1860 census when he was recorded as “Andrew M. Rackley.”^[3] Also, he did not “marry an Indian girl.” He married Nancy Godfrey about 1845. Her family had also made their way from upstate South Carolina. There is no indication in any primary source that she was Native American. On all of the census entries in which she appeared, she was shown to be “white.” Furthermore, he did not move west. While it is true that he appeared on the 1850 census in Gilmer County, Georgia, and he appeared on the 1860 census in Fannin County, Georgia, he never moved. Fannin County was created in 1854 from parts of Union County and Gilmer County. Where Andrew M. Rackley lived was actually north and east of where Matilda Rackley Weaver lived.

Andrew M. Rackley does not appear as a head of household on the 1840 census. There are only two Rackley households in Gilmer County, Georgia, in that year. One of them was Richard Rackley, supposedly a son of Reuben Rackley and his wife Jane. He was not yet married, and it appears that his mother and other relatives were living in the household. However, the only other male in the household was born between 1830 and 1835 and was far too young to be Andrew M. Rackley. However, there was a male the right age in the household of Jesse Rackley in 1840 and on earlier censuses.

In 1840, Jesse Rackley had, in his household in Gilmer County, Georgia, two males between twenty and thirty, one male between fifteen and twenty, and one male between ten and fifteen.^[4] The male between ten and fifteen was William R. Rackley who was born in the 1826. The male between fifteen and twenty was probably Jesse B. Rackley who was born about 1825. One of the males between twenty and thirty was probably James M. Rackley who was born about 1816. This leaves one male born between 1810 and 1820 unaccounted for the only other male Rackley in the area born within that period was Andrew M. Rackley.

In 1830, the only unaccounted-for male in the household of Jesse Rackley in Pickens District, South Carolina, was between five and ten years old giving him a birth year of 1820 to 1825.^[5] As mentioned above, Andrew M. Rackley was born about 1823 per the 1850 census and about 1816 per the 1860 census. Taken with the information from the 1830 and 1840 censuses, it seems that he was probably born about 1820.

Based on the available documents, and the analysis above, it seems that Andrew M. Rackley was the unaccounted-for son who appeared in the household of Jesse Rackley and Dicey Wilbanks on the 1820, 1830, and 1840 censuses.

Sources

1. ↑ "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch, Household of Andrew Ratcliff, Gilmer County, Georgia, (accessed 2 October 2021); citing NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
2. ↑ Eloise F. Potter and Timothy W. Rackley, Rackley, A Southern Colonial Family: The Descendants of Edward Rackley of Virginia, (Zebulon, NC: Potter Publications, 1996), page 323.
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1860," database with images, FamilySearch, Household of Andrew M. Rackley, Fannin County, Georgia, (accessed 2 October 2021); citing NARA microfilm publication M653 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
4. ↑ "United States Census, 1840," database with images, FamilySearch, Household of Jesse Ratliff, Gilmer County, Georgia, (accessed 3 October 2021); citing NARA microfilm publication M704, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
5. ↑ "United States Census, 1830," database with images, FamilySearch, Household of Jesse Rackley, Pickens District, South Carolina, (accessed 3 October 2021); citing NARA microfilm publication M19, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).