I'm managing the McFatter One Name Study, and attempting to record as many McFatters and variants as possible here on Wikitree. This is a difficult task, as this is a fairly rare surname and it seemed to confound census-takers. I've found McFatters and McPhatters recorded as McFadder, McFathy (!?), McFarler, McFarther, McFalter, and even similar surnames such as McFarlin and McFarland. You almost have to develop a sixth sense to detect McFatters and McPhatters wherever they migrate.
The branch of the family that migrated to Georgia seemed to settle on the variant McFather. I badly need help to track this branch and figure out where they all ended up.
We'll start with William McFatter. There are actually two William McFatter profiles here on Wikitree that I suspect are the same man but can't prove it. Born about 1790-1794-ish, William was (like all other McFatters of that generation) born in North Carolina. He's found living in Horry co. SC in 1820, along with a 16-26 year old woman, presumably his wife, and a boy under 10. In the 1840 census, I think I have him in Decatur co. GA. By then, he's between 50-60, he's got one woman his own age in that household, plus a 5-10 year old girl, a 10-15 year old girl, a 20-30 year old woman, and a 30-40 year old woman.
Now, in 1845 Decatur co. GA, a marriage is recorded between William McFatter and Elizabeth Hubbard. I suspect this to be the same William, widowed and marrying a second wife. On the 1850 Decatur co. GA census, a 50-year-old William McFatter appears with a 30-year-old wife, Elizabeth, and a two year old boy named Kader. I can find no further trace of any of them.
Let's backtrack to 1841. In Randolph co. GA, not so far from Decatur county, a young lady named Caroline Hughes married a "Daniel McFadden". This Daniel is a rather confounding sort, as sometimes his name is Daniel and sometimes it's David, and his surname mutates more often than his given name. However, he does seem to be a McFatter, although his descendants would adopt the McFather spelling. I believe this Daniel aka David is the young boy in the 1820 Horry co. SC census, the son of William from Decatur county. In one census, his birthplace is South Carolina, and the only McFatter living in SC at the right time was William (the only other possibility, Archibald McPhatter, had only daughters). I've even identified what I believe is a younger sister for Daniel aka David: Margaret, who married Allison Scott in 1843 Stewart co. GA. Stewart county had split off from Randolph county in 1830.
I wish I could put all the clues together!
Was William McFatter of 1850, the husband of Elizabeth and father of Kader, also the same William from 1840? I'm 90% convinced, even though he drops a few years off his age.
What happened to Kader, the 2-year-old in 1850?
Even if Margaret was Daniel aka David's sister and William's presumed daughter, what happened to the other women in his household from 1840?
How are the Randolph-Stewart-Decatur McFatters/McFathers related to the McPhatters living in Richmond co. GA in 1850?
In 1850, another family of McPhatters pop up somewhat north of the aforementioned bunch, in Richmond county, GA. They're headed by Alexander McPhatter, and in his household are John (26), Margaret (24), Mary Anne (22), Malcolm E. (13), and William J. (11). All are born in North Carolina. I cannot find any trace of these McFatters again, aside from the patriarch Alexander, who appears in 1860 living with what appears to be his elder son, Archibald, in Mobile, Alabama. What happened to the five young people from 1850?
