A Short Teagarden Genealogy

I recently visited the State of Washington for the birth of my first grandchild Elora Pearl and had the pleasure of staying at a Pam’s house who had the last name of Teagarden. She felt that the name was German. I said that I could do some genealogy for her.

Nine Generations of Teagardens

In not too long, on my cell phone, I was able to find (including my host) nine generations of Teagardens:

I’ll call Pam generation 1 and go back from her.

Generation One – Pam

Here is Pam’s Senior High School photo from San Antonio, Texas:

Generation Two – Pam’s Father

Here is Gilbert Darwood’s photo a little cut off on the left:

The photo was from a Teacher’s college in Alpine, Texas, though Pam says her dad did not pursue teaching as a career.

Generation Three – Weldon John (Jack) Leo Teagarden (1905-1964)

Pam surprised me by pulling out a phonograph collection that featured her grandfather:

Jack Teagarden was a famous jazz trombone player. I found this short bio at Ancestry:

Born in 1905 in Vernon, Texas, Jack Teagarden was an influential jazz trombonist and singer, regarded as the “Father of Jazz Trombone.” His musical abilities were largely self-taught and for that reason, unrestricted. He developed innovative positions and effects on the instrument, and was known for his bluesy-style. He recorded with Louis Armstrong, among other notable jazz players.

Here is a snapshot of Weldon Leo (Jack) in 1920:

Jack is the oldest son. His father died in 1918, so when he was about 12. At this time, they were living in Nebraska.

Pam’s grandmother was Dee Ora Binyon. In 1930, she was living in her sister’s house in Rankin, Texas with her two children and working as a telephone operator while Jack pursued his musical career. Ora married Jack in 1924. At the time of the 1930 Census, Ora was listed as not married.

Generation Four – Charles Woodbury Teagarden (1878-1918)

The Wikipedia biography for Charles’ famous son Jack says:

His father was an amateur brass band trumpeter and started him on baritone horn; by age seven he had switched to trombone. His first public performances were in movie theaters, where he accompanied his mother, a pianist.

Here is Charles in 1910:

If my Google Map is right, Vernon is between Amarillo and Dallas:

In 1910, Charles’ occupation was listed as a ginner in the cotton gin industry. I was able to find an extensive biography of Charles at Ancestry:

Birth: Dec. 12, 1878 Grapeland Houston County Texas, USA Death: Nov. 3, 1918 Vernon Wilbarger County Texas, USA Son of John McGuire Teagarden and Sarah Beatrice Durham. Married Helen Giengar. Together they had four children. All of their children were top flight Jazz musicians. The most noted was Jack Teagarden. Charles was a “cotton gin man” – an outstanding oil mill engineer and mechanic; Chief Engineer for the Vernon Cotton Oil Co. Some say he was also a musician down in the Red River Country on the Texas-Oklahoma boarder, where they lived. It was “Woodie” who gave Jack a baritone horn when he was seven. Helen was a musician who used to play the piano in theatres in the days of silent movies. Abour her, Jack said, “I guess I was luckier than most fellows – my mother’s a teacher, a piano teacher, and still is (1963). She is only 16 years older than I am…she’s a very talented girl…she taught me how to read music and the first training I had was the right training.” From Teagarden Book – Vogt – 1988 “Woodie” died in the flu epidemic on 1918.

Generation Five – John Maguire Teagarden (1851-1928)

I found this photo of John at Ancestry:

This information is from findagrave.com:

John was the son Oswin Teagarden and Mehitable Baker.

John married Sarah Beatrice Durhan, Jan 10, 1878 in Floyd, Texas.
Together they had seven children
Charles Woodbury(twin), Mary Francis(twin) Lula Rose , William Albert (b. Sept 3, 1898 d. 1954), Minnie Bernice, Joseph Moore, and John Bailey.

Sarah died Nov 10, 1898 in Elctra, Texas and is buried there.

The oldest son, Charles Woodbury married and had 4 children before his early death in 1918. These children, Weldon, Norma, Charles and Eugene would become noted Jazz musicians. Weldon is known today as Jack Teagarden.

In 1900, John was a widowed farmer in Wilbarger County, Texas:

Vernon was also in Wilbarger County. This shows that John was born in Louisiana. However, by 1860, the family was living in Sumpter, Texas:

Generation Six – (1812-1887)

Here is Oswin and his wife Mehitabel Baker:

This couple got around a bit. The first useful US Census was in 1850:

Here, Oswin and Mehitabel and their young family are in Shrevesport, Louisiana. A Laborer was living in the house also but no age is given. I found this biography at Ancestry:

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That covers a lot. The Census lists Oswin’s birthplace as Virginia, but the findagrave index lists his birth as Pennsylvania:

This web site on the Teagarden family refers to Oswin as a confederate smuggler.

Generation Seven – John B Teagarden (1779-1830)

I don’t have quite as much on John B Teagarden:

I did find this short account:

From Find A Grave:

John was born near Old Redstone Fort. His parents are William Teagarden and Bethia Craig. He married twice. First marriage was to Rosanna McGuire in 1805. They had 6 children; Louisa, George, Bethia, John Marion, Oswin, and James U. 
After Rosanna’s death in 1817, John remarried Sarah Ripley Hartwell. Together, Sarah and John had one child, a son, William.
John died about 1830 

Generation Eight – William Teagarden (1746-1814)

Here we are in the Revolutionary period. Again, I rely on the findagrave.com website:

Private Pennsylvania Militia, Revolutionary War
William Teagarden, son of Abraham and Mary (Parker) Tegarden, was born in 1746, probably at “Tecart’s Delight” near Hagerstown, Maryland. He inherited land along the Monongahela River, near present-day Fredericktown, Pennsylvania. In addition to farming, he operated the Monongahela ferry at Tenmile Creek.

During the War for Independence, he served as a private in Captain James Mc Lean’s Company of the “Invalid Regiment,” Pennsylvania Militia, in 1783, and saw action in the defense of Washington County. Such resistance on the part of the frontiersmen in the rear helped make possible the Continental Army’s success on the front. He served also as a Frontier Ranger in the Pennsylvania Militia under Captain James Seals 1793-94, the unit responsible for the defense of Greene County against the Indians.

Family lore tells that William, intending to follow his friend John Hardin to new settlements opening in Kentucky after Independence, sold the Monongahela property and received payment in Continental currency, which soon thereafter became worthless. In a state of near-bankruptcy, he was forced to abandon his plans, and instead settled on land he claimed on Wheeling Creek in the West Finley Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania, where he remained until his death.

William married Bethia Craig, daughter of John Craig of Harford County, Maryland, and had 13 children.

Here is Greene County in the SW part of Pennsylvania:

Here is the Wheeling Creek in West Finley:

According to this website, William was buried in the Teagarden Cemetery in Richhill, PA:

Here is the family cemetery, not far from West Finley:

Generation Nine – Abraham Teagarden Born 1718 Germany

Pam knew that her ancestors went back to Germany, but perhaps didn’t realize that it was such a long time ago. I see this entry in Ancestry for Abraham Teagarden:

The question here is whether the Senior or Junior Teagarden is the father of William Teagarden. A Teagard Early History posted at Ancestry indicates that it was Abraham Teagarden II who married Mary Parker:

That gives us two more generations back to Christian Tegarden. I have a reference to the website here. The author was interested in an Elizabeth Teagarden who was the sister of William Teagarden. The parents through great-grandparents listed above were for Elizabeth Teagarden.

The Tegarden family was from the area of Solingen, Germany:

Solingen was famous for the making of blades or swords. The above genealogy notes that some of these Tegardens were from Meigen and associates Meigen with Meissen, Germany. However, I believe that Meigen was a part of Solingen. There is currently a Meigen and Meigener Street to the East of the City of Solingen:

These Streets are also near an area called Theegarten.

That finished my brief genealogy of the Teagardens. I actually went back 11 generations. Christian Tegarden was born in 1650.