Elizabeth Milliken married James Pate

right|300px
The parents of Elizabeth Milliken
The marriage of Elizabeth to James Pate is proven by the reference in the documents of 1850, but we have had a hard time proving that the following is the right family. In 1850, Elizabeth and James were said to be living in Mississippi "when last heard of" but the only couple with the right names and ages are found in Dyer County, Tennessee in the 1850 census. This location is well known to the Beard family, as it is not far from the western counties of Madison and Henderson, where others of the family were found. In fact, this couple could have lived in northern Alabama and then in Mississippi for a few years before heading to Dyer County, on the Mississippi River. We will include this line's information with the disclaimer that it is so far not proven, but included as the best possibility. If any researcher has any information regarding this family, please contact us by clicking on the "Talk" tab and leaving a message or contact information.
In the early 1800s, Millikens and Pates (as well as some Beards) were found in the lands of northern Alabama. Many families of Tennessee went down there to claim land in this time period, for it was rapidly developing. By 1830, several family groups had traveled up to Dyer County, Tennessee. There is listed on the 1830 census there a "James Milican" and the oldest male in the home is listed as 70-80. There are also many Pate households listed, including a James Pate, age 50-60. In 1840 again a James Millikin and many Pates were listed. In 1850, we find James Pate, age 72 with wife "E." age 53. Both are listed born in Tennessee, which is probably not so. In 1860, James is not listed anymore, and E. W. Pate, female, age 65 is a widow with property. She is listed as born in Kentucky, but this is the only census which lists that. All others give Tennessee as the birthplace of Elizabeth Milliken Pate. An interesting clue is found in 1850 and 1860. Listed very close by in 1850 is J. E. Anders, who was born in Mississippi. His wife is listed as "S." The clue is that there is a young woman named E. L. Pate found in their household, and also a twelve year old female named "N. L. Milican". Again, in 1860, J. E. Anders and wife S. are found---this time right next door to Elizabeth Milliken Pate. In 1870. Elizabeth W. Pate lived with this same Anders family in Little Black Township, Randolph County, Arkansas. She was 79 years old, born in Tennessee, and a widow. We feel that S. Anders is most certainly Sarah Pate Anders, Elizabeth's daughter. No death or burial records have been found yet for either James or Elizabeth Pate. Their children, also, have proved difficult to trace. Here is so far the best listing of their descendants we have been able to form:
1. G. W. Pate, possibly George Washington Pate, was born in about 1816 in Alabama. He was living with his parents in 1850 and in 1860 in Dyer County. It is possible that the female listed "A." age 28 in 1860 was a wife and the "A. D." one year old female was his daughter, but we do not know this. No records are found for him after 1860 in Dyer County.
1. Sarah Jane Pate was born in Alabama in 1822. She married before 1850 to James E. Anders. James was born about 1820 in Mississippi--possibly in Jefferson County, Mississippi. He was the son of Samuel Anders, who was from Bladen County, North Carolina. This couple could have married in Mississippi or in Dyer County. In 1850 Dyer County they were living close to Sarah's parents, the Pates. In the Anders home were a female Pate and a female Milliken (listed Millican) and this is very significant. Also living there was A. T. Anders, the younger brother of James. In 1860, they lived right next door to Elizabeth Milliken Pate, Sarah's mother. James L. Anders, their son, was born in about 1852. By 1870, this family appeared in Little Black, Randolph County, Arkansas. Elizabeth W. Pate, a widow of 79 and Sarah's mother, was living with them, as was a seven year old girl named Rosanna Daly, relation not known. We have found a record of an 1874 marriage in this township which "Jas E. Anders" performed in his capacity as a minister. In 1880, still in Little Black Township, James was listed as a "minister and farmer". Living in their home was their son James and John F. Anders, brother of the elder James. No further records are found after 1880.
: 2. James L. Anders was born in 1852 in Dyer County, Tennessee.
1. Stephen D. Pate was born in Alabama in about 1825. He appears in the household of James and Elizabeth Pate in 1850, aged 24. There were two Stephen Pates in Dyer County who were born about the same time. One died in May of 1860, and the family of a Thomas Pate seem to claim him as a son of Thomas. The other Stephen died in 1851 intestate and an administrator of his estate was appointed, William Miller. The order of listing of the individuals in the James Pate home in 1850 may be a clue that Stephen was a cousin or nephew and not a son, but we do not know this. Until further proof, we will record our Stephen Pate as the one who died in 1851.
1. Mathew D. Pate was born 13 August 1823 in Alabama. He first married Ann D.Sampson, probably about 1854 in Dyer County. They are listed on the 1860 census there with two small daughters. Ann Sampson Pate died on 27 March 1863 in Dyer County and is buried at the McCullough Chapel Cemetery in Dyer County. Elizabeth Moore Davis Shelton was the widow of Nelson P. Shelton who died in April 1863 in a Union prison camp at Alton, Illinois. She and Mathew Pate married in December 1867. In the 1870 census, they appear in Dyer County with his daughter Sarah, her son William and another child listed as "Shelton" Pate, but the census is obviously incorrectly stated, as the child of ten and William, who was eight are both Shelton children, not Pates. In 1880 yet another wrinkle appears in the census. Again in Dyer County, Mathew and Elizabeth have in their home Sarah Pate, age 25 and twin boys, Nelson and Mathew, age eighteen, and three sons named Thomas, John, and Lewellen/Lewallen. Sarah is Mathew's daughter. The three young boys are all Pates, sons of Mathew and Elizabeth. The twins have been reported to be Mathew's sons by his first wife Ann, who did die in the same month they were born; they have also been reported to be Elizabeth's sons by her first husband, Nelson Shelton. And, they are also reported to be the sons of Mathew and Elizabeth together, which is impossible since they were born in 1863 and those two were not married until 1867. Complicating matters is the fact that one son is named Mathew and one Nelson! It would help if we could locate the boys on the 1870 census, but they are not listed with Mathew and Elizabeth and so far not easily found! For now we will carry these boys as sons of Mathew and Ann Sampson Pate, because they are usually listed as Pates, but will change this status if conflicting information is found.
Mathew D. Pate died on 27 February 1892 in Dyer County. Elizabeth Moore Davis Shelton Pate died on 2 January 1893 in Dyer county. They are both buried at the Shelton Cemetery, also known as the Pate Cemetery, in Dyer County, Tennessee.
The children of Mathew Pate and Ann D. Sampson were:
: 2. Sarah Jane Pate was born in about 1855 in Dyer County, Tennessee. She is last found on the 1880 census with her father in Dyer County. She was 25. 
:
: 2. A. E. Pate, a daughter, was born about 1859 in Tennessee. No records are found after 1860. 
: 2. Mathew Watson Pate was born in March 1863 in Dyer County. He is so far not found in 1870, but in 1880 appears in the Dyer County residence of Mathew and Elizabeth Pate. We have not found him on the 1900 census. Could he be the Mathew W. Pate listed in 1910 Fort Smith, Sebastien, Arkansas? He is a dentist, married to Emma Lu, and they are still there in 1920 and in 1930 with no children. No other records are yet found.
: 2. Nelson Pate was born in March 1863 in Dyer County. We have not found him on the 1870 census; in 1880 he is listed in the Dyer County residence of Mathew and Elizabeth Pate. No further records are yet found.
: The children of Mathew Pate and second wife, Elizabeth Moore Davis Shelton were:
: 2. Thomas Pate was born about 1870 in Dyer County, Tennessee. No further records are found.
: 2. Lewellen Pate was born about 1874 in Dyer County, Tennessee. No further records are found.
: 2. John York Pate was born on 28 October 1877 in Dyer County, Tennessee. He grew up there and on his twentieth birthday in 1897 married Jane Elizabeth Agee, the daughter of Ephraim H. Agee and his wife Elizabeth Ann Eason. Jane was born on 12 February 1878 in Crockett County, Tennessee. In 1900 John and Janie Pate had two young children and lived in Dyer County. Her brother N. Lafayette Agee lived with them. They were still in Dyer County in 1910 and 1920, and in 1930 in Dyer County Jane's older brother Edmond W. Agee lived with them. Jane "Janie" Elizabeth Agee Pate died on 19 June 1958 and lies at the Fairview Cemetery in Dyer County. John York Pate died 2 June 1961 in Dyer County and is at Fairview as well. They lost two infants before 1910, Homer and Arnie/Amie. Their surviving children were:
::: 3. Mathew Hollis Pate was born 8 August 1898 in Dyer County. On his World War I draft card, his name was "Hollis Mathew Pate" and his signature was the same. He lived in Dyersburg and farmed for his father, John York Pate. He was on the census with his parents through 1920. Mathew married on 3 December 1921 to Bernice Williams, who was born in 1904 in Tennessee. In 1930, they lived in Dyer County with a six year old daughter. He moved to California before 1951. A California death record is found for Mathew Hollis Pate in Bakersfield, Kern County, California, mother's maiden name listed is Agee. Their children were Mary L. Pate and two other daughters.
::: 3. Cenith Elizabeth "Betty" Pate, born 1 October 1899 in Dyer County, married a local doctor on 2 January 1921 in Dyer County. He was Clyde Thomas Nash, the son of Charles Thomas and Fannie S. Nash of Dyer County. In 1930 they were listed at Dyer County with their four children, Frances E., Clyde M., Sue E., and Ann M. Nash. Dr. Nash died on 1 April 1946 in Dyer County and was buried at Friendship Cemetery in Crockett County, Tennessee. Betty Nash died in 1989, almost a hundred years old, and was buried at Friendship as well.
::: 3. Ora Lee Pate was born 29 March 1901 in Dyer County. On 20 March 1922 she married Harvey Milton Carter. Harvey was born 16 March 1888 in Carter County, Tennessee. His parents were Jesse Leroy Carter and Mary Jane Williams. In 1930, Harvey and Ora lived at Friendship, Crockett County, Tennessee with their daughter Miriam Vada and son Harvey P. Carter. At some point, Ora and Harvey moved to Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona, and Harvey died there on 30 April 1966. We have no further information about Ora Pate Carter as yet. Their daughter Miriam married Marvin Edward Leggett.
:::
::: 3. Hassie Alline Pate was born 28 February 1903 in Dyer County. She married on 22 September 1925 in Crockett County, Tennessee to Gordon Elihugh Watson. Gordon, born 17 March 1887 in Stokes County, Tennessee, was the son of Robert G. Watson and wife Mollie Elizabeth Manley. Hassie and Gordon moved up to Michigan soon after they were married, where he found work in the automotive industry. In 1930, they are listed in Pontiac, Oakland, Michigan; Gordon was a metal finisher in an auto factory and Hassie a saleslady in a department store. Gordon died on 4 May 1973 in East China, St Clair County, Michigan. Hassie died in 1996. They were both laid to rest back in Tennessee at Belle Vernon Cemetery in Friendship, Crockett County, Tennessee.
:::
::: 3. Thelma Ray Pate was born on 23 December 1907 in Dyer County, Tennessee. She married on 24 October 1928 to Guy Earlscourt Jester. Guy, born 21 August 1897 in Henderson County, Tennessee, was the son of Charles Berten Jester and Mary Frances "Fannie" Fish. Guy is on a list of Dyer County veterans of World War I. In 1930, they lived at Dyersburg with a baby son, Guy E. Jester, Jr. Guy died on 10 June 1942. Thelma Pate Jester died on 21 August 2001. They are both at Fairview Cemetery in Dyer County, Tennessee.
:::
::: 3. Stoy Lester Pate was born on 20 May 1910 in Dyer County. He grew up to be his lifelong dream, a minister of the gospel. He attended Freed-Hardeman College, Memphis State College, and Harding College, graduating in 1934. Stoy was a preacher of some reknown, and a complete biography of his 55 years in the ministry may be read at this site: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=45479181. He married on 22 December 1937 to Edith Francis Sawyer. She was born on the 4th of July in 1915 in Tennessee. He passed away on 13 December 1984 in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee. Edith died on the anniversary of her wedding, on 22 December 2001, also in Shelby County. They are at rest at the Memorial Park Cemetery in Memphis.
:::
::: 3. Katie Lou Pate was born 19 June 1912 in Dyer County. She married on 28 July 1934 to Walter Monroe Fowler, Jr. Walter was born on 4 March 1897 in Dyer County, the son of Walter Sr and Mattie Sue Derrick Fowler. He was a veteran of World War I and went into the shoe business. He and Katie owned a shoe store on the square in Dyersburg for many years before they sold it to the Burnette's chain. They lived in Florida for some years, but moved back to Dyersburg. Walter died there on 10 November 1969, after suffering a heart attack. Katie passed away in Dyer County on 27 February 1983. They are buried at Hall's City Cemetery in Lauderdale County, Tennessee. Walter and Katie had no children.
:::
::
:: 1. Mary E. Pate was born about 1822 in Tennessee. She was listed in 1850 with her parents. No further record has been found.
::
:: 1. Robert A. Pate was born about 1824 in Tennessee. He was listed with his parents in 1850 but has not been found on any further records.
:: 1. E. Pate, a daughter, was born about 1830 in Tennessee. We believe that in 1850, she may have been listed twice in the census, once in her parents' home as "E. Pate", age 20, and once in her sister Sarah Anders' home as "E. L. Pate", age 20. Her name may have been Elizabeth after her mother. No further records are found for this daughter