History of Pope County, Arkansas Vol. I

There is a whole section in this book of local history on the Austins. A link to a PDF of the work is at the bottom of this posting.

I could have entitled this posting, Who Is Nancy Ann Austin for Real? There is a bit of a mystery here.

In this book it uses the LePetree last name for Nancy Ann (FamilySearch ID: LRHC-NVY) and calls George Trobaugh her step father.  Again none of this makes sense.  Nancy’s mother Martha Qualls (FamilySearch ID: LTTS-2YH) married George Trobaugh (FamilySearch ID: LHF1-RNF) when she was 16 in 1853.   Nancy’s birth date is November 1854. Another source, without documentation, stated that Martha was pregnant when she married her cousin George Trobaugh. No reference to any possible father if not George.

Maybe the two of them  took Nancy in???  I think those sort of arrangements were loose back then.  There would be ways to prove if she was the child of both or either of her listed parents, but it would involve DNA testing people I have no idea who they are or where they are.

And I cannot find LePetree or LaPetree in any genealogy or list of surnames.  Surnames tend to morph over time, so I am leaning to thinking it is a phonetic spelling of Lepetre or LiPetri or… which would make sense if her ancestry was Dutch and Italian. I also cannot find this name in Census records from the time.  That is not to say that they are not there, but I have not been able to locate them. I have searched a bit on possible variants of the surname, also without luck.

From the book:

John Franklin Austin was the son of Elihue (Elike)  and Matilda Austin. They lived in Illinois. John Austin was born March 29, 1850 in Shelby County, Illinois. The Austins were of Irish and English descent.

The wife of John F. Austin was formerly Nancy Ann LaPetree. She was sometimes called Nancy Ann Trobaugh because she had a stepfather — Mr. Trobaugh. The LaPetree clan is of Italian and Dutch descent.

Nancy Ann (LaPetree) Austin was born November 15,1854 in Richland County, Illinois. John F. and Nancy Ann were married December 12, 1872. They must have lived in Linn County, Missouri for a while after they were married because their first child, a son William Arthur, was born Sept. 30, 1873 in Linn County, Missouri. They must have moved back to Shelby County, Illinois sometime in 1874 because their second child, a son Charles Franklin was... and it goes on.

To see the complete book for this link: History of Pope County, Arkansas Vol. I