Orlena LEFFEW ²

  Research Notes:

Danette Welch, my Leffew research colleague, was the first to suggest that Orlena might have been the daughter of John Farmer and Phebe Leffew. Although circumstantial, I find the evidence she developed to support her thinking to be very persuasive:

1. There is oral family history to the effect Phebe had a daughter by a husband before she married Thomas Majors.

2. A Bastardy action was brought by the State of Tennessee against John Farmer on 22 May 1832. Since Orlena was born about 1831 and John Farmer and Phebe married 20 May 1832, it seems likely Orlena was the child that was the subject of the Bastardy action and that the marriage probably mooted the issue.

3. Orlena probably took her mother's surname and married under that name because the marriage to John Farmer failed.

4. Orlena and her family lived close to Phebe and her family in the census records.

5. Orlena's children had several namesakes in Phebe's family, namely Thomas, Pheobe and Daniel A. In turn, Daniel A. Majors named a daughter Orlena.

³

Orlena married Samuel BUNCH on 30 Nov 1848 in Grainger County, Tennessee.¹

  Marriage Notes:

Marriage Bond was dated 27 Nov 1848. Orleana was indexed as Orlena Seffens. ⁴