Mitchum genealogy - North Carolina. Brick walls.?

I can't find him either but a clue as to why Sarah's husband's name is listed as "James Wesley" and not Nicholas Mitchum is looking at father's name. It too is listed as "James Wesley" Childress. Either the informant had a lapse of memory or the person filling out certificate wrote it wrong.

Ancestry's databases and indexes are not complete, they "miss" people all the time. Contact the cemetery as they have to have a copy of at least a burial permit and who the funeral home was. Also the county may still have the death certificate.

I looked at all the people indexed by Ancestry that died January 1915 and still no one that can be Nicholas Mitchum. With a son named Nicodemas, you might look at this first name for his father too. Try doing a search for Nic* Mitchum and soundex to cover most spellings of either name.

Looks like son George filed a WWII Draft Registration Card in Pittsylvania, VA 1917. He stated wife death and has one child to support. Could be Nicholas died in VA. 1920 George A Mitchum is remarried and still living in VA (Danville, independent city) with mother Sarah and daughter Carrie O born in VA who is age 5, not 25 as Ancestry's index has so 1915 so Nicholas could have died while visiting his son George in VA to see new born granddaughter or help with her if mother died at birth.

The basic rule in genealogy research is that you move from the known to the unknown. First off, pose a question to yourself that sums up ONE piece of information that you would like to obtain. Such as: what is the parentage of [names of the siblings you mention in your question]. Write down everything you know about them - all the known facts. Even tiny things that you think are not important. Family tradition too - because though it is usually fraught with errors (like a game of 'telephone') there is often a grain of truth in there somewhere (again like 'telephone'). As others have said, you are probably now going to need more than stuff on the internet. As we do not know what time period or national origins or anything about these ancestors, it is hard to help you in a more specific way. But you will need archival records - land records, wills, probate, census maybe - basically things that link the members of families together. You will be looking at researching the family as a whole, rather than one ancestor in a lineal sense, because it is through the web of known proven connections betweeen people that you will place your ancestors in a family group with their parents. And if we are talking about 17th century immigrants from England or the Netherlands - well, you might not be able to make the leap at all, not with any certainty. Some 'gateway' ancestors are well documented and some have rather dubious and unproven connections to people with similar names in their home country (I know, because I have plenty of ancestors like this!) Best of luck and do give us some more details if you would like more specific help.