Searching For My Hannah Ancestors

Research on the Hannahs of Cass County and Christian County Missouri.

All though I have not been able to prove the parentage of Alvin Edward Hannah. I have gathered information from several different sources. From these sources I have been able to come up with the following information and hope that someday I will be able to prove his parentage.

We know that Alvin was born on February 26, 1870 in Harrisonville, Cass County, Missouri. This information is from his Missouri State Death Certificate # 13846, which I obtained from the Missouri State Board of Health.

It was believed that Alvin's father's name was Mathias. To this I have no knowledge of where this name came from. From Alvin's death certificate his father's name is listed as Patterson Hannah. His mother's name was listed as Ellen Cole. (Later there will be more on his mother) Mary Alice White Hannah, widow of Alvin, gave the information that appeared in the death certificate.

Family oral history tells us that both of Alvin's parents died when he was a child. I wrote the county of Cass to find probate records for Alvin's fathers. The only record that was found in the archives of Cass County was the estate papers  for Alvin, Clarence and Etta J. Hannah as minor heirs of Patterson Hannah.

Patterson Hannah the father of Alvin Edward, Clarence and Etta J. Hannah apparently died with out a will as no will in Cass Co., Missouri can be found. Guardianship records for the three minor children  and heirs of Patterson Hannah have been found. Philip Corrigan was appointed their guardian and curator of their estate.

The date of death for Patterson Hannah has not been found. The first date I have been able to find in the probate records is Aug. 15, 1885. This date comes from the Guardian and Curator's Inventory and Affidavit filed in Harrisonville, Cass County, Missouri  by  Philip Corrigan on that date. Their mother is believed to have died several years earlier but I have no proof of this fact except from the family oral history.

From census records we have found that Alvin's father was born in Indiana. In the 1870 census for Grand River TWP in Cass Co. page 587a  family #203 we find Add Hannah. I have not seen the photo copy of the census this is from transcribed records. He is listed as 49 years of age and born in Indiana. Martha is listed as his wife, age 31 and born in Indiana also. With them are two sons, Clarence age one and Alvin age four months both born in Missouri. This census is probably that of Alvin's family. Since the census was taken sometime around June of the year, Alvin would have been four months old when the census was taken.

The father of Alvin, Clarence and Etta J. Hannah is said to have fought in the Battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas during the Civil War. So far I have not been able to find any thing about his military service. Family oral history says that he lost an arm while in the service.

Octa Ellen Hannah Dixon, daughter of Alvin and Mary Alice, said that she was named for her two grandmothers. This is where the name of Alvin's mother is confusing. In the census records it shows his mother's name as Martha. My grandmother Octa Ellen Hannah Dixon told my cousin that her grandmother was full blooded Indian. To date I have found no Indian connection to the family but when looking at Alvin's picture this is a possibility.

In the estate papers of the children I found that they received $552.32 from the estate of Tollin Dailey. I decided to check the marriages in Cass County and I found the following marriage. Patterson Hannah and Martha E. Daley was married on Sept. 1, 1867. This marriage is recorded in Book C. on pg. 456. Does the E stand for Ellen?

There is a Talton Dailey listed in the 1860 census for Cass Co., Missouri Grand River TWP. Is this the Tollin Dailey listed in the probate records for the three Hannah heirs of Patterson Hannah? Talton Dailey had a daughter Martha age 22 b. in IN living with him in the 1860 census year. Martha would be the right age to have married Patterson Hannah and listed with him in the 1870 census at age 31.

Later a marriage between Patterson Hannah and Mary J. Parker took place on Dec. 19, 1875. This marriage was recorded in Book D pg.176. Is this another marriage for Alvin's father? Further research into the census records of Cass Co. needs to be undertaken to find out if this is his father or another Patterson who was living in Cass Co. at the same time.

From the probate records, census and marriage records we are closer to finding the parents of Alvin Hannah. More research will have to be undertaken to be able to finally say we have found his parents.

Other information has been found in the estate papers of Alvin and his siblings which can lead up to finding out about his parents. On July 2, 1885, $100.00 was paid to their estate from the Treasurer of Indiana. This payment was from the estate of their great-grandfather John Bass. Research in the state of Indiana will be done to find the probate records for John Bass. Is this John Bass the grandfather of his father or mother?

It is not known why Alvin and his siblings moved to Christian Co., Missouri. The first record of them in Christian County is in the court records. Clarence and Alvin are without a guardian and they chose J. D. Brazeale as their guardian on July 21, 1888.

Etta J. Hannah had already married while living in Cass County. On May 24, 1888, Philip Corrigan made payment to Etta J. Henderson late Hannah and her husband S.H. Henderson in the amount of $452.55 from the estate of her father Patterson Hannah, decd.

Etta and her husband moved to Christian Co. where they bought land with the money she had received from her father's estate. Is this the reason Alvin and Clarence moved to Christian County? Were they living with Etta? We may never know whom they were living with since all of the 1890 Federal census were destroyed by fire.

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