25 Martha McCorkle's Fan Club: A Census-Based Revelation

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 25 – June 17, 2025

Prompt: Fan Club

Ancestor: Martha MNU McCorkle (b. ca. 1812, TN)

In genealogical circles, a FAN club doesn’t mean autograph signings or celebrity meet-and-greets—it refers to Friends, Associates, and Neighbors. Tracking the people who lived near your ancestor can often lead you to the truth about your ancestor’s origins. In the case of my third great-grandmother Martha McCorkle, it was three censuses and a wide cast of familiar surnames that revealed her likely place in the Overturf family.

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Martha appears as head of household in Warren County, Tennessee in the 1850, 1860, and 1870 federal censuses. In 1850, she’s listed with six children, including Daniel (b. ca. 1842) and Samuel (b. ca. 1849). No husband is present, and none of the children carry a middle name or suffix that might hint at a father’s identity. In each census, the household is modest, but it’s the neighborhood that matters most.

Back in 1850, I noticed a pattern. Just a few doors away were Stephen McCorkle, a possible younger relative, and several households with surnames that had shown up in my research before—Overturf, Cluck, and Roberts. In fact, a Sarah M. McCorkle appeared in one nearby home, living with a Roberts family. By 1860, Sarah Rea Overturf, a widow, was living next door to Martha. In 1870, Martha’s sons and daughter were living in close proximity to known McCorkle and Overturf descendants.

I began treating the neighborhood like a cast list, charting where each person lived and whether they connected to each other across decades. These families weren’t just neighbors—they intermarried, co-signed land records, and witnessed each other’s wills. I compiled “FAN Club” documents for each census year, mapping the movement and relationships of those clustered near Martha.

But what moved this from speculation to strong hypothesis was DNA. I already suspected that Martha was a McCorkle by marriage, not birth. The FAN club suggested a connection to the Overturf family, and my DNA results confirmed it: I now have 19 matches to known descendants of Philip Overturf and Delilah Barr, including lines through their children Margaret, Henry, Mary Polly, and Adam Jefferson.

Martha’s estimated birth year, ca. 1812, fits neatly into a 12-year gap between two of Philip and Delilah’s documented children: James (b. 1806) and Levina (b. 1818). She is the right age, in the right place, surrounded by the right people. And now, with the help of her FAN club and a growing DNA network, she may finally be in the right family.

This post doesn’t yet answer the question of which McCorkle Martha married—that’s still under investigation—but it does highlight how powerful census neighbors and quiet clues can be. Sometimes, all it takes is sitting down with three census pages, a highlighter, and an open mind.

And a fan club—because our ancestors didn’t live in isolation. They lived among kin, by blood or bond, and if you pay close enough attention, they will lead you home.