Ramblings: John Flemming Justice born 1829

John Flemming Justice was born in 1829 and supposed died in Maryland in the Civil War in 1864. There was a J. F. Justice who fought and died, but what he this John? Why would he be fighting in the North and South Carolina armies when he is from Kentucky? (though after typing this, apparently Greenville Justice did the same?) Also, there is a Flemming on the census records in Boyd County (1870 and 1880) who matches this Flemming in age and there is a marriage record to back it up. I do not show another Justice family with a Flemming born around that time. The Flemming listed in 1860 seems to have had a wife prior to his wife on that census and it matches perfectly if Fleming married both to Lucinda Blackburn, then she died after having a daughter and then he married Mary in 1856 to have the rest of the children.

Maybe there are two Flemmings born around 1830, one who married Lucinda and died in the civil war and one who married Mary and had the family in Boyd county. If there are 2 Flemmings then why can't I find them both in 1850 and 1860? I have one record in each year, and the one for 1860 seems to show that Flemming had a first wife which would support the two Flemmings being one.

If anyone has any data to show more information on John Flemming Justice, please let me know! At the moment, I feel that there was only one John Flemming and that the J. F. from the civil war was another person. I have not read the civil war documents as I do not have access to them to review them myself, so if anyone has, please tell me what they actually say! The indexes I see only list him as J. F., so those two letters could stand for many different things.

Flemming Justice

Most researchers list a John Flemming Justice as the son of Greenville and Rebecca based on a death record that states that John Flemming Justice was born in 1861 and died in 1944 and his parents were listed as John Justice and Lucinda Justice. There is NO census record that states a John EVER being in Greenville's home. There is a John Flemming and Lucinda Blackburn Justice who were married in 1851, but that John had remarried in 1856 and there is no son who would match the aforementioned record in the census data for that family either.

So who is this John Flemming Justice? He does not seem to fit with the only two families in the area who had a mother named Lucinda at the time he was born. My conclusion in the matter is that I do not think his name was John, but feel that James was the name he was given and that he is indeed the youngest child of Greenville.

I feel that this child of Greenville (how John and Greenville look the same I do not know, but without seeing the actual hand written record, I cannot determine the name for sure) is the best match for this Flemming. In the 1870 census record, the letter after James's name is easily read as A, H or F, as all the loops in the census takers writing and the poor copy of the record makes the letter hard to discern. On his marriage record, his name is recorded as James F. Justice. Why his death record is the only one which lists John as his name I do not know. Jas. and Jhn. of abbreviated can look similar if the handwriting is sloppy. Again, without seeing the death record to see how the name was written, I will not know for sure. On all other records, he is recorded as Flem or Fleming or some variation of that name. No where else is he referred to as James or John.

In my file, I have included James Fleming Justice, son of Greenville and Rebecca Lucinda Ferrell Justice unless someone can provide me with proof otherwise.

Sources:
1870 - 1940 censuses - Pike County, Kentucky
Marriage Record - James F. Justice and Mary Ann Robinson
Birth/Death/Marriage Records of Flem and Mary Ann Robinson Justice's children