Josephine Derrick

AUDITED 15 Aug 2026 - FATHER PROVEN ONLY; MOTHER NOT SET. [507] William Sharpless Derrick is named as her father by the Daily National Intelligencer (Washington City), 2 November 1855, page 1, MARRIED column, read on the page image: "In Springfield, Hempstead county, Arkansas, on the 16th October, at the residence of J. W. FINLEY, Esq., A. D. FOWLKES, of Lafayette county, Red River, formerly of Virginia, to JOSEPHINE, daughter of WM. S. DERRICK, Esq., late of this city, deceased."* WHY THIS IS THE EVIDENCE OF RECORD AND COPE IS NOT. The notice was printed in her father's own city 17 days after the wedding and 32 years before Cope's Genealogy of the Sharpless Family (1887), so it does not descend from the compiled genealogy this tree had been resting on.* CROSS-CHECKED IN THIS DATABASE BEFORE THE FLAG WAS SET: F66's marriage event E8146 is dated 16 Oct 1855, the notice's exact date; [507]'s death event is 15 May 1852, which is why a November 1855 notice reads "late of this city, deceased"; the groom is [104] Abner D Fowlkes; and the place is Hempstead County, Arkansas, where she is recorded resident in 1860.* THE ALEXANDRIA GAZETTE OF 3 NOVEMBER 1855 IS THE SAME NOTICE REPRINTED - ONE INFORMANT, NOT TWO. Its single edit, "late of this city" becoming "late of Washington city", is what proves the copying. Do not count the Alexandria Gazette of 3 November 1855 as corroboration.* THE MOTHER LINK IS NOT SET AND IS NOT EVIDENCED. [508] Anna Patterson Lyons is named as Josephine's mother ONLY by Cope 1887, page 766, entry 2428 - a compiled genealogy that does not cite its sources for this family, although elsewhere in the same section Cope names his authority ("according to his Bible", "furnished by her brother Eli"). A printed federal document, 35th Congress Senate Report Committee No. 235 of 1858, calls "Mrs. Ann P. Derrick" the widow of W. S. Derrick - but a wife is not a mother.* THE NEXT DOCUMENT, AND IT WOULD SETTLE THE MOTHER: William S. Derrick died TESTATE. His executor's notice ran in the Daily National Intelligencer of 15 June 1852, page 4 ("letters testamentary ... Orphans' Court of Washington county"), and Provine's Index to District of Columbia Wills 1801-1920, page 51, gives the citation "Derrick, William S. - 1852 - Box 21", D.C. Archives Record Group 2. No Anna or Ann P. Derrick appears anywhere in that index, so the widow left no D.C. will and Box 21 is the only probate route.Register row: documents-read-index.md K193. Agent report: agent-report-derrick-josephine-parentage-2026-08-15.md.18 AUG 2026 - TWO OF HER CITED-NEVER-READ RECORDS NOW READ (registers K222/K223): (1) Cope 1887 p. 766, entry 2428, on the page image: William S. Derrick 'm. 8, 9, 1827, Anna P. Lyons. Children,- ... 6938. Josephine, b. 1, 13, 1834; m. 10, 16, 1855, Abner D. Fowlkes' - the mother-child statement outright, but STILL A COMPILED GENEALOGY; the mother link stays ungraded per the 15 Aug decision. (2) The 1850 census, 1st Ward Washington City, dw 780/fam 829 (M432_56 folios 102-103, the tree's own media images): Josephine 16 with Wm S 48, Ann 40, and the seven Cope children one-for-one - and MARGARETTA LYONS, 30, b. Pennsylvania, IN THE HOUSEHOLD: the first record-class tie between wife Ann and the Lyons surname (associational; 1850 has no relationship column). The settling record remains the 1852 D.C. will, Box 21, RG 2 (Owen order).