Dade County History Book

Last year I gave Verenice Hawkins the following short summary of the 3 Tinker families that settled in the Dade county area. Do not see it on the list, didn’t know if it was lost or didn’t make the cut.

THE TINKER FAMILIES
James C. Tinker

Nearly all of the Tinkers in Dade County, Georgia and Dekalb County, Alabama are descendents of one of three Tinker families that settled in the Rising Fawn area prior to 1860. It appears that they were poor dirt farmer and records indicate that at least one of the families homesteaded his land.

Benjamin Tinker (1806-1888) moved with his wife, Elizabeth Louisa Ann, from Marion County, Tenn. sometime during the 1840’s. They had 11 Children (10 sons, 1 daughter): Melvina, Henderson, Houston, James W., Jacob, William, Obadiah “Obie”, Abraham, Winfield Scott, Riley Cobb, and Taylor. (Houston, William, James, and Jacob died during the Civil War.)

By 1850 Abraham Tinker (1809-1887) and his wife, Sarah Steele, were living in the area. They had ten children (3 boys, 7 girls). William Melvin, Smith, Elizabeth, Malinda Parazaida, Mary Ann, Lucretia, Amanda, Sarah Catherine, Jacob Pierce and Paralee. Abraham, his wife and several descendents are buried in the Tinker cemetery (Gass Cemetery) next to the interstate off Byrd’s Chapel Road.

In 1847, William Tinker (1795-1847) was living in Knox County, Tennessee and was killed by lighting. He left a widow, Margaret Robinson, and eight children (5 boys, 3 girls): Henderson Callaway “Calvin“, Isaac, Ellendor, Serena, William, Jane, Nathaniel R., and Obediah. By 1860, Margaret and most of the children moved to the Rising Fawn area and settled next to Benjamin.

Although we do not know for a fact that Benjamin, Abraham and William were brothers, we can be sure that they were related. They all came from East Tennesee and probably had ancestors in Greasy Cove, Tennessee. Census records show that the Tinkers and Blevins lived close to each other in several other locations and migrated about the same time to the Dade County area. Records also show that the Tinkers, Blevins and Adkins families intermarried many times. All three families lived in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee at different times. These facts along with the tendency for all three families to give their children the same name, has made tracing the Tinker roots a challenge.