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Cynthia Ann Sorrels[1]

Female 1845 - 1891  (45 years)


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  • Name Cynthia Ann Sorrels 
    Born Aug 15, 1845  Arkansas, USA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    • Her birth date computed from her gravestone: "Died Feb. 6, 1891, Aged 45 yrs, 5 mos & 22 d's.".
    Gender Female 
    Census Jul 16, 1870  Jasper county, Texas, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [2] 
    Census Jun 15, 1880  Jasper county, Texas, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [3] 
    Died Feb 06, 1891  Texas, USA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Buried Wiess Cemetery, Wiess Bluff, Jasper county, Texas, USA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Notes 
    • The Jasper county marriage record lists her surname as "Cynthia SORRELLS".
      This researcher believes Cynthia to be the daughter of Green Matthew Sorrels and Rebecca Parks Tollett.  A search for other research to confirm this has been unsuccessful, but the evidence is convincing:
      - In 1861, Cynthia Ann Sorrels married Napoleon Bonaparte Wiess in Jasper county, TX.
      - In 1870 Jasper cty, TX census, Cynthia's age is given as 24 and her birthplace as Arkansas.
      - In 1880 Jasper cty, TX census, she is widowed and her age is 34 and birthplace Arkansas.
      Cynthia died in 1891, so the census is all the evidence this researcher has found as to her place of birth.
      - Cynthia Ann Sorrels was born 1845 in Arkansas and married Napoleon Wiess in Jasper county, TX in 1861.
      --
      Proofs that Cynthia is the daughter of Green Mathew Sorrels and Rebecca Tollett:
      - Their residence -- near Texas.  Cynthia and her family of Green Mathew Sorrels lived in 1850 near the Texas border at Texarkana.
      - Cynthia's name.  No other Cynthia Sorrels (or variant spelling) of the same age and birth place has been found (there is a Cynthia Ann Sorrels born 1840 in Sebastian county, AR which is near Fort Smith and the Texas state line, but this Cynthia was the daughter of James Little Sorrels and married Richard Huckaby and she died in Oklahoma.)
      - Cynthia's age and place of birth (see 1850 census reference below where she is 7 years old, b. ca 1843 and ca 1846 for 1870 and 1880 censuses).
      - The fact that her father was in Texas by 1846 (though it may have been temporary) and that her mother was permanently in Texas by 1859.
      - On the 1850 Washington, Ouachita cty, Arkansas census, Matthew and Rebecca Sorrels have a daughter named Cyntha A. Sorrels, 7 years of age and born in Arkansas.
      - On July 1, 1846 Green Mathew Sorrels enlisted in the Mexican War in Washington, Ouachita cty, Arkansas.  The regimental record (in the records of the National Archives) indicates they left Washington, AR on July 17 and reached San Antonio, TX August of that year (1846).
      - Matthew died before the 1860 census.  The data says he died in Ouachita cty, AR (which is about 30 miles NE of Texarkana).
      - His wife, Cynthia's mother, remarried Andrew Jackson Straley about 1858.
      - Rebecca Straley, Cynthia's mother, is in Springville, Wood county, TX in 1860 (about 110 miles SW of Washington, AR), in Clarksville, Red River cty, TX in 1870 (about 50 miles NNE of Springville and a little closer to Washington, AR), in Lampasas cty, TX in 1880 and in Stonewall cty for 1900 census, where she died in 1908.
      - All of Rebecca's children by Andrew Straley were born in Texas.
      - This proves that Rebecca and her children were in Texas by 1859, the birth date of her daughter Virginia Straley.
      Problems:
      - Cynthia Sorrels is not found in the 1860 census.  (Rebecca Tollett Sorrels Straley was in Wood county, TX in 1860 and Cynthia's younger siblings, Green, Joshua, David and Marcella, were living with her, but where is Cynthia?  Did she die or marry or is she living with someone else -- she would be 14 to 17?)  Her older sister Elizabeth married Henry Lax in 1856.  They were living in Shreveport, LA which is near where Cynthia would marry Napoleon Wiess the next year.  There is an S.H. Sorrels, Female, 17, seamstress, living with Henry Lax and Elizabeth -- could this be Cynthia? ... she is the right age and there is no Sorrels sibling of Elizabeth who has the initials S.H..)
    Person ID I1448  mykindred
    Last Modified Nov 21, 2014 

    Family Capt. Napoleon Bonaparte "Nap" Wiess, CSA,   b. Mar 10, 1839, Port Neches, Jefferson county, Texas, USA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Mar 12, 1872, Wiess Bluff, Jasper county, Texas, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 33 years) 
    Married Jul 20, 1861  Jasper county, Texas, USA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Notes 
    • Napoleon apparently died without a will and all fiscal and probate papers relating to the Wiess brothers "were removed at some time in the past and were never returned".  His wife and children got nothing from his death, the description and disposition of his property, if any, is unknown.  One of the riverboats he owned, the "James L. Graham", was in service for several years after that until it blew near Redfish Reef in Galveston bay in May of 1876.  In a lawsuit filed by Cynthia A. Wiess, et al against Margaret Sturrock Wiess, she alleged that 160 acres taken over by Margaret were Napoleon's and hers as his widow.
      -
      1870 census, TX, Jasper county, sub 23, p 29; 497, July 16
      -
      213/214
      WIESS, Margaret, 56, F, W, Keeping House, Scotland
      WIESS, Valentine, 24, M, W, Dry goods merchant, Texas
      WIESS, Mary E., 19, F, W, Texas
      WIESS, Massena, 21, M, W, Dry goods Merchant, Texas
      WIESS, Elizabeth E., 19, F, W, Texas
      WIESS, Ann E., 18, F, B, Domestic Servant, Texas
      Burks, James, 18, M, W, Farm Laborer, North Carolina
      -
      216/217
      WIESS, Joseph, 27, M, W, North Carolina
      WIESS, Catherine, 21, F, W, Texas
      WIESS, Matilda, 6, F,, W, Texas
      WIESS, Laura, 5, F, W, Texas
      WIESS, Milton, 4, M, W, Texas
      WIESS, Kittie, 2/12, F, W, Texas, b. April, 1870
      WIESS, Julius, 2/12, M, W, Texas, b. April, 1870
      -
      219/220
      WIESS, Napoleon, 31, M, W, Steam Boat Captain, $400 property, $2000 personal, Texas
      WIESS, Cynthia, 24, F, W, Keeping House, Arkansas
      WIESS, William S., 8, M, W, Texas
      WIESS, Edward S., 6, M, W, Texas
      WIESS, Martha A., 4, F, W, Texas
      WIESS, Margaret, 2, F, W, Texas
      -
      1880 census, Jasper county, Texas, ed 39, pct 4, (T9-1313, 12), p. 164B
      June 15, 1880, HH 99/99
      WIESS, Cynthia A., W, F, 34, widowed, keeping house, AR, AR, AR
      WIESS, William S., W, M, 17, son, mail carrier, TX, TX, AR
      WIESS, Margarett I, W, F, 11, daughter, 1, at home, TX, TX, AR
      WIESS, Walter, W, M, 5, son, single, TX, TX, AR
      PICKEL, Thomas R, W, M, 30, boarder, single, rafting timber, GA, NC, GA
      McVAY, Isabele, W, F, 30, boarder, widowed, TX, NC, Ireland
      McVAY, Robert L, W, M, 9, boarder, TX, Ireland, TX
      McVAY, Mary E, W, F, 3, boarder, TX, Ireland, TX
      -
      (There is no indication of the marital status of William -- he married Amy Sims circa 1880, but she is not living with them if they're married at the time of the census.)
      -
      lines 38-41; dwelling/household 100/100
      ???, Joe, B, M, 35, farmer, NC, NC, ??
      ???, Lossia(?), B, F, 40, wife, keeping house, Gia, Gia, Gia
      SAUNDERS, Matilda, B, F, 18, Ward, at home, TX, NC, MS
      SAUNDERS, Lossia, B, F, 15, ward, at home, TX, NC, MS
      -
      lines 42-44; dwelling/household 101/101
      WIESS, Margaret, W, F, 65, widowed, merchant, Scotland, Scotland, Scotland
      COFFIN, Pauline, W, F, 40, daughter, widowed, keeping house, TX, Poland, Scotland
      SAUNDERS, James W, W, M, 40, single, boarder, clerk in store, FL, GA, GA
      -
      lines 45-47; dwelling/household 102/102
      PIERCE, Aaron, W, M, 65, widowed, farmer, MS, TN, TN
      PIERCE, Thomas, W, M, 7, son, TX, MS, IL
      MILLER, John N, W, M, 46, working in farm, Via, Via, Via
      -
      lines 48-50; dwelling/household 103/103
      FIELDER, Em??? R, W, M, 45, works in timber ???, AL, AL, GA
      FIELDER, Martha A.R., W, F, 18, wife, keeping house, LA, AL, AL
      FIELDER, Early P, W, M, 2, son, TX, AL, LA
      -
    Children 
     1. Willie Simon Wiess,   b. Jun 20, 1862, Wiess Bluff, Jasper county, Texas, USA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Nov 14, 1893, Hooks Switch, Hardin county, Texas, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 31 years)
     2. Capt. Edward Sorrell Wiess,   b. Dec 14, 1865, Wiess Bluff, Jasper county, Texas, USA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Jun 09, 1922, Boerne, Kendall county, Texas, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 56 years)
     3. Martha Ann "Mattie" Wiess,   b. Jan 09, 1866, Wiess Bluff, Jasper county, Texas, USA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Apr 01, 1948, Beaumont, Jefferson county, Texas, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 82 years)
     4. Margaret Isabell "Maggie" Wiess,   b. Jan 24, 1869, Wiess Bluff, Jasper county, Texas, USA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Mar 10, 1960, Beaumont, Jefferson county, Texas, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 91 years)
     5. Napoleon Bonaparte Wiess, II,   b. Oct 29, 1871,   d. Nov 08, 1874  (Age 3 years)
     6. Walter Wingate Wiess,   b. Dec 24, 1874, Hardin county, Texas, USA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Aug 24, 1954, Longview, Texas, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 79 years)
    Family ID F547  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Documents
    Wiess, Napoleon B. & Sorrells Cynthia A.    		Wiess, Napoleon B. & Sorrells Cynthia A.
    Wedding license of Napoleon Bonaparte Wiess and Cynthia Ann Sorrells.  This is in the possession of Robert Wiess.

    Headstones
    Wiess, Cynthia Ann (Sorelle)    		Wiess, Cynthia Ann (Sorelle)
    Wiess Cemetery, Wiess' Bluff, Jasper county, Texas    		Wiess Cemetery, Wiess' Bluff, Jasper county, Texas

  • Sources 
    1. [S2126] Napoleon Bonaparte Wiess; W.T. Block, http://hans.wtblock.com/wtblockjr/n_b_wiess.htm.

    2. [S14] 1870 US federal census, 1870 census, TX, Jasper county, sub 23, p 29; 497, July 16.

    3. [S135] 1880 US federal census, 1880 census, Jasper county, Texas, ed 39, pct 4, (T9-1313, 12), p. 164B.