Carroll County, Mississippi

June 10, 2013, 8:48 am

≫ Next: My Henry Davis made the History Books, The case of Martha Mason vs. Joshua Hearne

Carroll County, Mississippi was one of the popular destinations for citizens of Stanly, Montgomery and Anson County, North Carolina who headed west.

Carroll County swamp in winter

During my research, I've discovered members of the Tillman family, Howell family and Wall family who moved there. I am sure there were many others.

The Tillmans would settle in Carrollton after leaving Stanly County while the family of James Wall and his second wife, Nancy Baldwin Davis, oldest daughter of Henry Davis, oldest son of Job, settled near Black Hawk.

James G Howell migrated there from Stanly County. He was the son of Jordan Howell, who was the brother of Richard Howell, first husband of my ggggreat-grandmother Sarah Elizabeth Winfield Howell Davis. This Jordan, I have determined, married Martha Randle and had 3 sons, John Randle Howell, James G Howell and Richard Howell. Richard died while still a young man in Stanly County in the 1870's, John Randle Howell married a niece of Sarah Winfield Howell Davis, took care of his mother and raised a family in Stanly County, while James G Howell migrated to Carroll County, Mississippi.

Richard Howell and Sarah Winfield had 4 children, Peter Howell, Jordan Howell, John W. Howell and Charlotte. Peter Howell married Elizabeth, or Betsy, Floyd, daughter of Josiah Floyd and Mary Tillman Floyd, a couple who had migrated from Virginia with Sarah's second husband Job Davis in tow. Peter farmed on the opposite side of the Rocky River from his mother and step-father, on the Anson side, just north of present day Ansonville and south of Norwood, in what was known as Cedar Hill. Only daughter, Charlotte (named for grandmother Charlotte Freeman Winfield) married Levi Stancill and returned to his home area of Newton County, Georgia, where he was a minister. Middle sons Jordan and John W. moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina where both married widows and became businessmen, Jordan a merchant and John W. a lumberman and merchant.

Methodist Church in Blackhawk. As the Davis, Howell and related families were all Methodists, it is probably they attended this church.

What was interesting was the existence of another Jordan Howell, from the Cumberland/Fayetteville area, born approximately the same year as their uncle Jordan Howell, father of John Randle, James G and Richard Howell, sons of Martha Randle Howell, who migrated to Carroll County, Mississippi and lived to be an old man there. Only the wife was different. Could these Jordan's, both born around 1784-1786, have been the same man? Could he have signed lands in Stanly County, NC over to his children, leave his wife (who would later be declared an idiot, perhaps senile) in care of his oldest son, who was barely an adult, and head west, remarry and have more children?

Carroll County, Mississippi Courthouse and Civil War Monument.

At any rate, many Carroll County, MS citizens have Stanly/Anson/Montgomery county roots and many of these families intertwined.

Some might think they have no use to explore the lives of those who left, if they are descended from those who stayed. But that line of thought is so wrong. Oftentimes, following those wagontrains can lead to discoveries and knockdown brickwalls.

Childless aunts and uncles can leave property in wills to their nieces, nephews and siblings back east, that can establish family ties. Property suits can name ancestry. Sons can go back east to marry a cousin and bring her west in more or less 'arranged' marriages designed to keep property and wealth in a family line.

Marshall Family Cemetery, Carroll County, MS. Several individuals buried here were bon in Stanly or Anson County, NC.

Repeated naming patterns may not prove anything, but can at least hint at a path of research to follow.

At any rate, Carroll County, Mississippi has become important in my research. Soon, I will be digging there as much as in the red mud on the banks of the Rocky River.

Malmasion, mansion home of Greedwood Leflore, for whom Leflore County, MS was named. Last and greatest Chief of the Choctaw Nation.

Carroll County is located in the delta region of Mississippi and was at one time much larger, three times its present size. It was established after the signing of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek between the US Government and the Choctaw Indians. The last and greatest chief of the Choctaw, Greenwood Leflore, owned a beautiful mansion and plantation in Carroll County that has now burned down.

Link to story of Greenwood Leflore

Sadly, much of Carroll County, Mississippi's marks left in history books was of racial unrest and intolerance, dirt swept under a broad and discriminatory carpet.

Link to Carroll County Courthouse Massacre of 1886

This marriage announcement for the daughter of James Wall, was the James Wall, son of John of Anson County, NC who had married the oldest daughter of Henry Davis, and granddaughter of Job, Nancy Baldwin Davis. The Wall family migrated from Brunswick County, Virginia, to Anson and then some of the children later migrated west to Carroll County.

Wall-Harlin
Miss Sue H. Wall and Mr. Samuel O. Harlin, both of Carroll County, were married on November 7th at the residence of the bride's father, Col. James Wall, by Elder B. F. Manire. [The Weekly Clarion, Jackson, Mississippi, Published November 28, 1872 - Submitted by Debora Reese]

Yet to come, perhaps the darkness of Carroll County will shed some light on some genealogical mysteries.

↧

My Henry Davis made the History Books, The case of Martha Mason vs. Joshua Hearne

June 11, 2013, 11:11 am

≫ Next: Whispers of Eliza Winfield Lilly

≪ Previous: Carroll County, Mississippi

In the following book:

Cases at Law Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of North Carolina

By North Carolina. Supreme Court

there is a case referred to that carries mention of my great-grandpa Davis's grandfather, Henry Davis. Henry Davis, 1806-1862 of Stanly County was the oldest son of Job Davis and the 5th child of his mother, Sarah Winfield Howell Davis. His life was a full spectrum of respect to circumspect.

The case is that of Martha Mason vs Joshua Hearne.

The Hearne's were the founding family of Albemarle, North Carolina. In January of 1841, the western half of Montgomery County became Stanly County. The hazards of crossing the Yadkin/PeeDee to get to court and conduct business had cost countless lives and property loss and the citizens of the western side had petitioned to separate the two. Prior to 1800, both counties had been a part of Anson county, to the south.

To form a new county seat, which would be named 'Albemarle', the Hearne family, who held a great deal of property along Long Creek, near the center of the new county, and a handsome plantation, deeded 51 acres for the new town, upon a hill wading off from the Uwharrie Mountains terrain. A courthouse was built atop the ridge of this hill and First Street ran across the ridge. Main Street ran northeast to southwest, east to a small creek and then up another hill and west to Long Creek, from which another hill rose to the west from there.

The new town was near the Salisbury - Fayetteville Market road and lay about halfway in between the older town of Salisbury, in Rowan county, and Wadesboro, the county seat of Olde Anson.

The name Hearne stood prominent in the early records of the newborn county: Joshua Hearne was one of the first Justice's of the Peace, so was Henry Davis. David Hearne was Clerk of Court and Eben Hearne was the first Sheriff. Henry Davis's younger brother, Edward Winfield Davis was the second sheriff of the young county.

So when, Miss Mason, a single lady of little property, faced off against Joshua Hearne, former Justice and member of the most influential family in Albemarle, it was a David vs. Goliath kind of day.

The description of the case begins:

"Where A took an abosolute deed for a tract of land from B, then executed an agreement in writing with C., reciting that 'he had a deed for C's land' for which he had paid the purchase money, and therein bound himself to make C. a deed, on her paying back the said purchase money within two years; and it appearing thus, as well as from other facts, that A. was to hold the land merely as a security for his debt. Held that C., upon her payment of the purchase money, was entitled in this Court, to a reconveyance of the land from A., and to an account of the rents and profits-the time of payment not being of the essence of the contract."

In the above description, we can take it that A referred to Henry Davis, B referred to Joshua Hearne and C referred to Martha Mason.

Cause removed from the Court of Equity, Stanly County, Fall Term 1852.

The plaintiff by her bill, filed 11th of February, 1851, alleges that several years since, her father, John Mason,now deceased, contracted with one Henry Davis for a small tract of land at the price of 50 dollars. That her father, in his lifetime paid Davis a part of the purchase money, to wit $20; and finding himself unable to pay the balance, transferred his claim to the plaintiff, who states that she then made an arrangement with the defendant, by which it was agreed, that he should pay to Davis $30; and become her surety to him in a note for $5.55, the balance due for the land; which arrangement was carried into effect, and the defendant thereupon took a deed to himself for the land and executed the following agreement in writing with the plaintiff:

"No. Carolina, Stanly County, 13th Feb'y., 1843."

"Articles of agreement between myself and Martha Mason."

"I certify that I have a deed to her land for which I paid thirty"

"dollars for the land, on which no lives (sic), 50 acres, which I bind"

"myself to make her a deed for the same, if the said Martha"

"Mason pays me the thirty against the 13th day of February"

"1845. J Hearne."

Martha Mason goes on to say that she worked for Joshua Hearne 'from time to time', and earned $19.05. She had a statement or invoice to present in court to prove this. She also said that she went to Henry Davis with the note and said she offered to pay Joshua Hearne the amount in the agreement and asked for a conveyance of the land and her told her that it was too late. Miss Mason remained living on the land with her mother, and afterwards, Hearne evicted them from the land and Hearne had "sued out a warrant against her for the rent of the premises". Joshua Hearne recieved a judgement of $25 for that, and issued a credit to her of $17 for the work and services she had performed for him. Miss Mason stated that she was not required to pay rent and that the money he owed her should have been applied toward the payment on the land. Then she said that she came to him with tender in the form of gold coins to pay the balance on the land and asked for a conveyance and he 'absolutely refused'.

Name:

Martha Mason

Age:

Birth Year:

abt 1810

Birthplace:

North Carolina

Home in 1850:

Almonds, Stanly, North Carolina

Gender:

Female

Family Number:

439

Household Members:

Name	Age
Milla Mason	70
Martha Mason	40

The 1850 census shows Martha Mason living in the Almond community with 70 year old Milla Mason, undoubtedly her mother.

Martha Masons 'prayer' for the court was that Mr. Hearne be forced to set up and account and convey to her the land.

On his part, Joshua Hearne said that he had purchased the land from Henry Davis, but had refused to become a surety for Martha Mason. He admitted to making the agreement with her, but that she failed to pay the $30 within two years. He said after the death of her father, that she had agreed to pay rent on the premises for $5 a year, and that after she defaulted, he did bring her to court and "ejectment against her and evict her from the property'". He sued her and brought a warrant against her for $25 rent and then credited the work she did for him against the judgement, saying he had a right to do so.

As for refusing legal tender, he said that she did not offer to pay him until the agreement time of two years had expired, and he did refuse the gold, in order to hold onto the land.

The attorneys were J. H. Bryon for the plaintiff and the defendant did not have an attorney.

The Honorable J. Pearson decided that Martha Mason was entitled to the relief that she asked for. That the agreement she had made with Henry Davis was merely for a security. He ruled:

"Such being the intention of the parties, that time was not of the essence of the contract of this court.", the intention being merely to create a security.

"In taking account, the plaintiff will be entitle to credit for the amount paid by her, and also for the profits of the land since the defendant has been in possession, including the amount collected by him under claim of rent."

The original agreement between Henry Davis and the Mason family for the 50 acres in not found in the records of Stanly County, and must have been undertaken prior to Stanly becoming a separate county in 1841. However, the agreement between Joshua Hearne and Henry Davis is recorded in Book 2 Page 83 in the Stanly county deeds.

Henry Davis to Joshua Hearne Deed for 50 acres

The 1870 census of Stanly County shows Martha Mason, age 65, Farmer, living on her little plot of 50 acres.

ame:

Martha Mason

Age in 1870:

Birth Year:

abt 1805

Birthplace:

North Carolina

Home in 1870:

Almond, Stanly, North Carolina

Race:

White

Gender:

Female

Post Office:

Albemarle

Value of real estate:

View Image

Household Members:

Name	Age
Martha Mason	65

↧

Whispers of Eliza Winfield Lilly

June 13, 2013, 1:01 pm

≫ Next: A Great American Lady: Frances E. Goff

≪ Previous: My Henry Davis made the History Books, The case of Martha Mason vs. Joshua Hearne

Some peoples lives barely creased the paper of Early American records. Eliza M. Winfield Lilly and her son Thomas Winfield Lilly, were two of those individuals. Like the faintest breeze leaving small ripples on a pond, they lived and breathed upon the banks of the Rocky River within the Anson/Montgomery/Stanly County area of North Carolina. If it were not for a small bit of documentation, their names would not be known at all.

However, those small ripples can create a chain reaction of tremendous proportions.

While researching my Great-grandfathers grandfather, Henry Davis, oldest son of Job, I came across a lawsuit in a book that mentioned him. That book was:

Cases at Law Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of North Carolina

By North Carolina. Supreme Court

I downloaded the ebook and while scanning through, a found a case that involved Henry's first cousin, John Winfield. The case was in Anson County, and true, my family lived on both sides of the river at any point in time. Henry's mother was Sarah Winfield Davis and her only brother was Edward Winfield. Edward had 4 sons, Arthur Freeman, John, Peter and Milton and one daughter, Eliza Ann.

Arthur Freeman was in the War of 1812 and taking advantage of the land grants, he relocated his family to Perry County, Alabama. John had remained in North Carolina for most of his life, and then in middle age, he relocated to Arkansas. Peter had married Mary "Polly" Goldston of Randolph County and settled on this side of the river, which was Montgomery County in those days and had two small sons. He died in a lumber accident at a young age and his widow married a minister, John Barber, and raised his two sons, John Peter and William in Anson County with their half-siblings. Milton married Mary Ann Pickler and had no children. His widow would marry his first cousin and Henry Davis's younger brother, Marriott Freeman Davis, who was a widower with a young son. They would have no children either. And then there was Eliza M Winfield. My belief is that the "M" stood for Martha and at the end of my post, you will understand why.

As Eliza M. Winfield died before the 1850 census, the only record of her name was a wedding announcement from the following newspaper:

A big Thank You to Ms. Carolyn Shank for contributing this marriage announcement from the Raleigh Minerva to the Anson County marriage archives.

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Carolyn Shank Carolynshank@msn.com November 8, 2008, 5:04 pm

Raleigh Minerva
Friday, Aug. 29, 1817
MARRIED, on Thursday, on the 7th inst., by the REV. ARMSTEAD LILLY, MR. WM. 
LILLY, late of Fayetteville, to MISS ELIZA M. WINFIELD, daughter of EDWARD 
WINFIELD, ESQ. of Anson County.

This piece of information tells us a number of things. First, the date of the marriage, August 29, 1817. Second, that the groom, William Lilly, had been residing lately in Fayetteville, which is located in Cumberland County, North Carolina. Second, that the bride, Miss Eliza M Winfield was the daughter of Edward Winfield of Anson County.

Right away, I knew who Edward Winfield was. He was the only brother of my ggggreat-grandmother, Sarah Elizabeth Winfield Howell Davis and the only son of Peter and Charlotte Freeman Winfield. Eliza was his only daughter. In early census records, she was only a dash. Her marriage license was the only document that gave her name. Also, it would be a great probability that the minister, the Rev. Armstead Lilly, was a close relative of the groom, William.

A look at the early deeds of Cumberland County does not mention William Lilly. Instead, there are many, many documents mentioning Edmund J Lilly, Hannah Lilly and Henry Lilly. Even one involving the Methodist Episcopal Church where Job and Sarah Winfield Davis and Sarah's sons Jordan and John W. Howells sons and their families were members. They were a civic-minded family, donating land to the Fayetteville Female High School, the Methodist Episcopal Church, and donating property to the City Cemetery. And businessmen, involved in the Blounts Creek Manufacturing Company, the Western Railroad Company, the Cross Creek Manufacturing Company, the Beaver Creek and Buff Mills, the Cape Fear Steam Boat Company and the C F & Y V R R Co., or the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley RailRoad Company.

So, the search was on to find out who William and Armstead Lilly were. It did not take a great deal of searching through our local library to find out that this William and this Armstead, born at the time they were, were sons of John Lilly and Eleanor Dumas Lilly. The Lilly family was very prominent in Montgomery and surrounding counties. The Fayetteville Lilly's were relatives and William had likely gone there to school. In 1817, the year of their marriage, he would have been about 20 years old.

Now, let me trace Eliza as dashes in the early censuses.

Name:	Edward Winfield
Home in 1800 (City, County, State):	Fayetteville, Anson, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 10:	1
Free White Persons - Males -10 thru 15:	1
Free White Persons - Males - 26 thru 44:	1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 10:	1
Free White Persons - Females - 26 thru 44:	1
Number of All Other Free Persons:	5
Number of Slaves:	3
Number of Household Members Under 16:	3
Number of Household Members Over 25:	2
Number of Household Members:	13

In 1800, Eliza would have been the female under 10, meaning she was born between 1790 and 1800.

Name:	Edward Winfield
Home in 1810 (City, County, State):	Anson, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 10:	2
Free White Persons - Males - 16 thru 25:	1
Free White Persons - Males - 26 thru 44 :	1
Free White Persons - Females - 10 thru 15:	1
Free White Persons - Females - 26 thru 44:	1
Numbers of Slaves:	13
Number of Household Members Under 16:	3
Number of Household Members Over 25:	2
Number of Household Members:	19

By 1810, all sons had been born, the oldest, Freeman, was head of his own household and about to go to war, and Eliza was the only daughter, the female between 10 and 15, meaning she was born between 1795 and 1800.

Name:	Edward Winfield
Home in 1830 (City, County, State):	Anson, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - 20 thru 29:	1
Free White Persons - Males - 50 thru 59:	1

By 1830, Edward only had one son at home, Milton, as John and Peter were in their own households by then. There where 22 slaves in the household as well.

Name:	William Lilly
Home in 1820 (City, County, State):	Coppedge, Anson, North Carolina
Enumeration Date:	August 7, 1820
Free White Persons - Males - Under 10:	1
Free White Persons - Males - 26 thru 44:	1
Free White Persons - Females - 16 thru 25:	1
Slaves - Males - Under 14:	4
Slaves - Females - 14 thru 25:	2
Number of Persons - Engaged in Agriculture:	4
Free White Persons - Under 16:	1
Free White Persons - Over 25:	1
Total Free White Persons:	3
Total Slaves:	6
Total All Persons - White, Slaves, Colored, Other:	9

In the 1820 census, William and Eliza had been married about 3 years. She would have been the female between 16 and 25, meaning she was born between 1795 and 1804. Between the 3 censuses, she was born between 1795 and 1800. There is also a male under 10 in the home.

William H Lilly
Gender:	Male
Spouse:	Camilla C Tores
Spouse Gender:	Female
Bond Date:	11 Jan 1825
Bond #:	000126984
Level Info:	North Carolina Marriage Bonds, 1741-1868
ImageNum:	008033
County:	Rowan
Record #:	01 260
Bondsman:	Joseph B Ingram
Witness:	Hy Giles

In January of 1825, William married Camilla Caroline Torres of Rowan County. Her name sounded Hispanic and it was not difficult to find the family she came from. This meant that Eliza had died by late 1824.

Camilla was the daughter of Benjamin Smith Torres. He was born about 1767 in Middlesex, England to Moses Torres and his wife Sarah who had migrated to England from Portugal. Moses was a Physcian. Benjamin and several of his brothers immigrated to America via Pennsylvania. The 1800 census shows him in Essex, Virginia. By 1810, he is in Rowan County.

Benjamin Torez
Home in 1810 (City, County, State):	Salisbury, Rowan, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - 16 thru 25:	2
Free White Persons - Males - 26 thru 44 :	2
Free White Persons - Males - 45 and over:	1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 10:	2
Free White Persons - Females - 45 and over :	1
Numbers of Slaves:	6
Number of Household Members Under 16:	2
Number of Household Members Over 25:	4
Number of Household Members:	14

Camilla would have been one of the daughters under 10. By 1820, a "Widow Torres" shows up in Salibury as head of household, with two young females in the house besides herself.

Like alot of Carolina families, the Lilly's decided to pick up and move to Alabama, for reasons unknown. Either there or on the way, William Lilly passed away, because on July 7, 1835, his widow Camilla Caroline married his friend and fellow Montgomery Countian, James Allen.

Name:

James Allen

Age:

Birth Year:

abt 1815

Birthplace:

North Carolina

Home in 1850:

Russell, Alabama

Gender:

Male

Family Number:

1025

Household Members:

Name	Age
James Allen	35
Caroline Allen	47
Ellen Allen	12
Robert Allen	6
Sarah Lilly	17

The 1850 census shows the family now in Russell County, Alabama with a daughter that Caroline had with William Lilly, Sarah.

Caroline would have another son with James Allen after the census, James R. Allen and she would pass in 1851, possibly of childbirth. James Allen would marry a Mary Ann Key in Feb of 1852 and father 8 children with her. He would pass away in Gonzalez, Texas in 1868 at the age of 53. There were as many step-families and non-traditional families then as now, however, the reasons were mostly from early deaths then.

But back to the legal case that started me on this journey.

December Term 1852, Anson County, North Carolina

Oscar F. Dudley and wife and others vs John Winfield, Admin, & g.

The share of an infant in proceeds of real estate sold for patician under a decree of a Court of Equity, descends to the heir upon the death of the person entitled, unless upon arrival of age, he elects to take it as personalty. But the annual interest of such share, goes to the next of kin.

The bill was filed by the Next of Kin of Thomas W. Lilly, deceased, against the defendant as guardian and afterwards administrator, of the said deceased, for account and settlement. ........

One item of charge was the proceeds of certian lands, that had been left to the deceased by his grandfather, and had been sold for partition while he was an infant, under a decree of the Court of Equity in Anson County, and the price thereof paid to the defendant as guardian. It was stated in the bill, and admitted in the answer, that the intestate lived three or four years after he became of age, but the defendant never settled his guardian accounts with him, nor paid over to him his estate or any part thereof. The reason assigned in the answer, of the defendants' having not done so, was that the intestate, "was a man of insane mind, and incapable of making a settlement", but this was stated in answer only and no testimony was offered to prove it.

John Winfield claim that the proceeds of the sell of the land had been distributed among the heirs at law of Thomas W. Lilly, and that they were different from the next of kin. The ruling was against John Winfield and for Oscar F. Dudley and his wife. The judge did not take into account the state of Thomas W. Lilly's mind, or his abilities and said that the interest of the land since his death should go to the heirs-at-law and that his property "the interest that accrued during the infant's life in personalty, as the profits of the land during that time would have been."

I am not so interested in the case and results of the case, but very interested in the persons involved.

Thomas W. Lilly only shows up in the census records at one point, in the Mortality Schedule of 1850.

Thomas Lilly
Gender:	Male
Place of Birth:	North Carolina
Estimated Birth Year:	abt 1824
Age:	26
Month of Death:	Oct
Cause of Death:	Fever
Census Year:	1850
Census Location:	(City, County, State) Anson, North Carolina
Line:	8
Archive Collection Number:	M1805

He died of fever in October of 1850. In the column for occupation, his states "None".

What is very interesting are the few lines directly below Thomas Lilly's listing.

"John Winfield's Jack, Age 3, Gender Male, Color, B, S (for slave), Occupation: Slave, Month of death, November, Disease or Cause of Death: Sore Throat; Days of Onset 7.

John Winfield's Ben; Age 1, Gender: Male; Color, B, S, Occupation: Slave (a one year old can have an occupation?), Month of Death: November; Disease of Cause of Death: Sore Throat; Days of Onset 7.

Again, under the heading John Winfield," Child, Female, color left blank meaning white, as Thomas's entry was also left blank. She also passed in November, disease was listed as 'unknown' and the onset was one day.

It appears Johns household lost many members at one time. Thomas Lilly was 26 years old. He had suffered with a fever for 21 days before he died. The small children likely caught whatever he had, it possibly had a week or more incubation period and the two little boys died of sore throats, which may have been in the early stages of the disease. John's baby girl only lived a day. She must have been a newborn.

The information comes together to form a likely scenario. Thomas W. Lilly was born the year before William Lilly married Miss Torres. Eliza may have had a difficult labor and it effected the brain of the child and Thomas was born mildly retarded, 'unable to attend to his own affairs'. William Lilly probably passed him on to John who had a wife and two sons by the time Thomas was born. John would have been his uncle and became his guardian. The grandfather who had left Thomas property was either John Lee in 1825 or Edward Winfield in 1836. Most likely John Lee, because at that time, they may not have realized there was anything wrong with the boy.

But then the Question arises....who the heck was Oscar F. Dudley and how would he qualify as next of kin?

I look back at the header of the lawsuit: Oscar F Dudley and Wife.... perhaps Dudley was not the heir at all, perhaps it was his wife. Looking back at William Lilly in 1820 and 1830, there was more than one child in the household. There was a girl.

A google search of Oscar F Dudley brings up an 1850 census of Coosa, Coosa, Alabama.

308.  Spier         Willis       50 GA  farmer          1600
                    Julia Ann    42 GA
                    John         16 AL
                    Harris       11 AL
      Elliott       Samuel C.    35 SC  physician
      Dudley        Oscar F.     29 AL  teacher
                    Evelina      20 NC
                    Ella       1/12 AL

In house number 308, Oscar F. Dudley, aged 29, a teacher, is living with his wife Evelina, who was born in North Carolina, and a one month old daughter named Ella. They are boarding with a farm family along with a Doctor, Samuel C. Elliott.

Tallapoosa County, Alabama, Marriages - Record Book 2. 1 ISAAC MORRIS and MARY B. SHARP, 1-20-1842, Oscar F. Dudley, bondsman, Wm. Cox,

In 1842 in Tallapoosa County, Alabama, he acted as bondsman for Isaac Morris and Mary B Sharp's marriage. A Peter Dudley is a Justice of the Peace there. Candidate for a possible relative?

Oscar F Dudley
Land Office:	Cahaba
Document Number:	40722
Total Acres:	40.1
Signature:	Yes
Canceled Document:	No
Issue Date:	2 Feb 1852
Mineral Rights Reserved:	No
Metes and Bounds:	No
Statutory Reference:	3 Stat. 566
Multiple Warantee Names:	No
Act or Treaty:	April 24, 1820
Multiple Patentee Names:	No
Entry Classification:	Sale-Cash Entries
Land Description:	1 NENW ST STEPHENS No 21N 13E 2

1852 was a big year for Mr. Dudley. In February he bought 40.1 acres of land. His deed to public lands states that he is Mr. Dudley of Bibb County.


Name:	Oscar F Dudley
Issue Date:	2 Feb 1852
Acres:	40.1
Meridian:	St Stephens
State:	Alabama
County:	Chilton
Township:	21-N
Range:	13-E
Section:	2
Accession Number:	AL1930__.358
Metes and Bounds:	No
Land Office:	Cahaba
Canceled:	No
US Reservations:	No
Mineral Reservations:	No
Authority:	April 24, 1820: Sale-Cash Entry (3 Stat. 566)
Document Number:	40722

Bibb County, Alabama Courthouse

View original image

A search for Oscar F Dudley of Bibb County, Alabama on Family Search brought up a record of estate papers. The cover was a treasure trove of its own.

Estate record of Oscar F Dudley

Bibb County   Dudely (sic) Oscar F 1857

O. F. Dudley Estate Papers

Evelina M. Dudley (widow)

Children

Ella Dudley

Sarah Dudley

Laura Dudley

Isabella Church Cemetery

Oscar F. Dudley

1820 - August 7, 1857

O. F. Dudley, Jr.

Son of O. F. and E. M. Dudley

15 Nov. 1857 - 25 Sept. 1885

Sarah G Dudley

13 Jan 1853 - 9 Aug 1857

Laura daughter of (illegible)

27 March 1855 - 22 April 1864

There was a reason I did not find Oscar F Dudley in the 1860 census. He did not make it.

So he was a teacher. He bought land in 1852. He hauled his happy a-self to Anson County, NC, probably on a train, to sue John Winfield by December. But why?

He had probably married Evelina in 1849. The 1850 census noted that he was from Alabama and she was from North Carolina. They had 4 children in rapid sucession: Ella in 1850, Sarah in 1853, Laura in 1855 and Oscar arrived in 1857, 3 months posthumously. There might have been an illness in the family in 1857, daughter Sara died 2 days after her father. He was only 37.

But what about Evelina, and Ella was not in the cemetery either, what happened to them?

Oscar F Dudley was not in the Civil War, but he took an interest in politics.

In Journal of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, 1861-1865. Volume III. February 1, 1904.  He was listed as a member of a committe that had been formed in Alabama prior to the war to discuss sucession. genealogybank.com

After the death of Oscar Dudley, it became a bit confusing, but ends up as a story of two brothers.

I found a marriage license of familysearch.org: On May 30, 1861, J. M. McCary married E. Martha Dudley.

I found information on J. M. Dudley in another ebook:


A Catalogue from 1834 to 1872 of the Professors, Other Instructors, and ...

 By Tulane University. School of Medicine

"Dr. Jarvis M. McCary, Class of 1858, died of wounds recieved in battle, at Atlanta, Georgia, July 22, 1864, leg amputated Pyaemia."

In the same book, under "Class of 1858, No. Graduated  68 ",

is: "Jarvis M. McCary, Elyton, Alabama, Death 1864, Forsyth, Georgia, Wounded at P. A. C. S. at Atlanta, Georgia, Leg Amputated."

It is clear that Jarvis M McCary died in service in the Civil War and that Evalina was left widowed again. Jarvis was not the only member of his family to serve in the Civil War. His father and a few of his brothers did as well. His father made it back alive, and so did his brother Fletcher. It is at this point that some descendants seem to have gotten the two confused.

The 1850 Bibb County, Alabama has this record:

Name:

S D McCarry

Age:

Birth Year:

abt 1801

Birthplace:

South Carolina

Home in 1850:

E C River, Bibb, Alabama

Gender:

Male

Family Number:

908

Household Members:

Name	Age
S D McCarry	49
Elizabeth McCarry	39
James F McCarry	18
Jarvis M McCarry	16
Martha McCarry	13
Mary McCarry	11
Frances C McCarry	8
Thos R McCarry	5
Rufus S McCarry	0

 James F McCary and Jarvis M McCary were only two years apart in age.

1860 finds them in these censuses:

Name:	J F McCary
Location:	Bibb, Alabama
Enumeration Date:	18 Aug 1860
Schedule Type:	Agriculture
OS Page:	43
Line Number:	33

Just a few months later, he was picked up again working as an Overseer for for the Crittendon family in Lauderdale County, home of the Kernachans.

Name:

J F Mccarry

Age in 1860:

Birth Year:

abt 1836

Birthplace:

Alabama

Home in 1860:

District 1, Lauderdale, Alabama

Gender:

Male

Post Office:

Center Hill

Value of real estate:

View Image

Household Members:

Name	Age
T J Crittenden	39
Octava C Crittenden	36
Ildefons Crittenden	11
Prudence Ann Crittenden	9
Joshua Crittenden	7
Elisabeth Crittenden	5
Lilly Crittenden	2
Benjamen F Crittenden	13
William H Crittenden	10
Moses H Crittenden	9
Martin Carrey	18
J F Mccarry	24

His brother, Dr. J.M. McCary is to be found in Autauga County, residing at the residence of a blacksmith named Lewis Jones, his profession listed as Physician and a woman who name is nearly illegible living with him. It ends in "Line" at least.

Name:

J M Mccary

Age in 1860:

Birth Year:

abt 1834

Birthplace:

Alabama

Home in 1860:

Kingston, Autauga, Alabama

Gender:

Male

Post Office:

Kingston

Value of real estate:

View Image

Household Members:

Name	Age
Lewis Jones	60
Eliza Jones	48
John M Jones	21
Samuel Jones	17
Susan Jones	12
David Jones	13
Elizabeth Jones	10
Mary Jones	5
B F Durden	26
J M Mccary	26
Hurhline Mccary	20

Fold3 carries very specific and divergent military records for the two brothers.

Pg 1: J. M. McCary  Company E, 53 Alabama Partisan Rangers: Private

Pg 2: Muster Roll: Oct. 31, 1862 Present

Pg 3: Enlisted: August 26, 1862 Independence, Alabama

By Captain Davis , Present, Bounty Due, Detailed as Physician

Pg 4 Montgomery, Alabama, Jan 15, 1863  Remarks:

       "  Recieved fifty dollars in full for my Bounty".

Pg 5: Muster roll dated June 15, 1863 Independence, Alabama

           Present

          Paid by Capt J. C. Dickerson Dec 31, 1863  Present

Pg 6 Register of Officers and Soldiers of the Confederate States who were killed in battle or who died of wounds or disease:

Jas. M. McCary  Co E 53 Regiment

When deceased: August 29, 1864

Hosp. Forsyth, GA

The Physcian in the family clearly died of wounds during the Civil War.

The Record of his brother, however reads a little differently.

James F Mccarry
Side:	Confederate
Roll:	M598_91
Roll Title:	Selected Records of the War Department Relating to Confederate Prisoners of War, 1861-1865

There is a record of a James F McCary held as a prisoner of war in Tennesee on ancestry.com

The Fold3 records read thus:

Pg 1: James F McCary  Company H 44 Alabama Infantry

          note at bottom: see also James Edwards

Pg 2: James F. McCary, Pvt. Co H, 44

          enlisted: May 12, 1862 by F. M. Goode, Bibb County, Alabama

          Period: 3 years

          Remarks: Discharged by a substite, James Edwards

Pg 3 Muster roll June 1 - Oct 31, 1862

         Present or Absent: Absent , Substituted by James Edwards

Pg 4 Nov & Dec 1862, Present or Absent: Absent and substitute James Edwards at home on

         furlough Bibb Co. Alabama.

Pg 5 Jany & Feb 1863 Remarks: Substituted by James Edwards and James Edwards absent without leave in Bibb County, Alabama.

Pg 6 April 1863. James Edwards is still AWOL

Pg 7

I had discovered the trail of Evalina Dudley McCary, but not yet discovered her maiden name. I was hoping to find the death certificate of a child that would give that information, or some information from a descendant who knew. Then I found:

CSA Military Men of Central Alabama by

mv_wright@yahoo.com


McCary, James Fletcher December 05, 1831 May 31, 1864 Dudley, E. Martha CSA, Pvt, Co H, 44th Ala. Inf. Enlisted at Bibb Co by F.M. Goode May 12, 1862


McCary, Jarvis M. February 06, 1834 May 31, 1864 Unknown, Evaline N. 'Lilly' CSA, died of wounds in 1864


and their younger brother, Thomas, who died in an Old Soldiers home, single. 


McCary, Thomas R. 1847 January 1930 CSA, Pvt, Co B, 20th Ala. Inf. Enlisted Oct 10, 1863.

At first glance, it would appear to be two separate wives, and I first thought that perhaps Martha Dudley might have been a sister to Oscar F. Dudley and that is how Evalina met Dr. McCary. More digging uncovered that fact that E. Martha Dudley and Evalina 'M' Lilly were one and the same. When she married Dr. Jarvis M. McCary, she was the widow Dudley. When she married his brother, her maiden name came to light.

The dates of James Fletcher McCary's death were incorrect, however. He was again confused with his brother, they did not die on the same day. He did enlisted, but sent a substitute who went AWOL. In fact, there is no record that James Fletcher McCary served one day in battle at all, personally.

The following newspaper article mentions Mrs. J. Fletcher McCary. It was not referring to Evalina, however, but the son of Mr. Fletcher, Sr. and herself, Mattie Smith McCary:

The Roanoke Leader April 1911
NEWSPAPER ABSTRACTS FROM "THE ROANOKE LEADER",  Roanoke, Randolph County, 
Alabama for APRIL 1911

NEWSPAPER issue of Wednesday, April  5, 1911

MR. J.A.W. SMITH TAKES OWN LIFE;  Former Randolph County Man Shoots Himself in 
Birmingham, Ill Health the Cause - - - Birmingham, March 29th

John Anthony Winston Smith, a prominent lawyer in Birmingham, was found dying 
about 11:45 o'clock yesterday in the law office of Julius W. Davidson, third 
floor of the Woodward building, as the result of a bullet wound behind the 
right ear which it is supposed was self inflicted.  Death occurred at 1:10 p.m.

Mr. Smith was about 55 years of age and a widower and leaves a mother and one 
daughter in Birmingham.  He was a son of Governor W.H. Smith who was governor 
during the period from 1868 to 1870 and was himself at one time widely known 
in politics, having run for governor on the republican ticket in 1903.

His daughter is Mrs. Ida Fillanon of Birmingham.  His four sisters are Misses 
Annie and Lula Smith, Mrs. Mary West, Mrs. J. Fletcher McCary of Birmingham; a 
brother Wm. Smith his law partner survives, and a nephew Will West.

Mr. Smith was born in Wedowee and moved to Birmingham 19 years ago.  Mr. Smith 
had been in bad health for some time recently and his friends stated that this 
was the cause of the act.
It is through the sons of Evalina Lilly that we learn more of her families existence.

McCary Homestead

From:

Notable Men of Alabama: Personal and Genealogical, Volume 2

edited by Joel Campbell DuBose

"James H McCary , a merchant of Birmingham, and a most dillegent worker on behalf of the cities welfare, was born in Maplesville, Chilton County, Alabama, March 11, 1862 (this would have been during Evalina's marriage to the younger brother, Dr. Jarvis M. McCary, who died in 1864). his father Jarvis Fletcher McCary, was a native of that county and a merchant (note: Jarvis's middle initial was 'M' and he was a physcian, not a merchant. Older brother James Fletcher McCary was a merchant. Here, the author has confused the two brothers.),. He was a member of the twentieth Alabama regiment, CSA and was wounded at the battle of Resaca, Georgia, and died in a hospital at Macon. He was the son of St. Clair D. McCary and wife Elizabeth (Atkinson). (Note: Actual records have the name as Sinclair David McCary), natives of South Carolina, who went to Chilton County during the 1820's and purchased land of the Indians. The great-grandfather was in the war of 1812. (note: Sinclair David McCary was born about 1800 in Edgecombe, South Carolina. He was the son of Richard Dudley McCary, born in 1763 in Amherst, Virginia and died April 28, 1858 in Isney, Choctaw, Alabama. He was a Revolutionary War Patriot and recieved a bounty land warrant.) Mr. McCary's mother was Evalina M. Lilly McCary. The education of Mr. McCary was in the common schools of his county, finishing his course at the Polytechnic Institute at Auburn, Alabama. On leaving school in 1883, he selected Birmingham, Alabama as his home, where he engaged in the business of merchandise broker.

The article goes on to record his accomplishments. As a wholesale grocer and produce dealer, proprietor of J H McCary and Co, President of the Board of Trade, Member of the Board of Police Commissioners, Director of the Building and Loan Association, organized the Birmingham National Bank and was the youngest bank director in the country at that time in 1888. He was a staunch democrat and a Methodist, as my family has been up until my grandfather, who passed in 1997, and many still are. J. H. McCary was president of the board of Elks, a Knight of Pythias, a member of the Ancient Order of  United Workman.  He was a Lieut. in the state militia and organizer of the Jefferson volunteers. He married a local girl, Frances Nabors in 1888 and had 4 children: William, James H. Jr, Helen and Carolyn.


FROM ALABAMA DEPT ARCHIVES & HISTORY


BIBB COUNTY AL, MCCARY RICHARD, AGED 81, AND A RESIDENT OF BIBB COUNTY, PRIVATE, VIRGINIA CONTINENTAL LIND; ENROLLED ON JUNE 12, 1819, UNDER ACT OF CONGRESS OF MARCH 18, 1818, PAYMENT TO DATE FROM MAY 3, 1819, ANNUAL ALLOWANCE, $96; SUMS RECEIVED TO DATE OF PUBLICATION OF LIST, $1,497.31; TRANSFERRED FROM EDGEFIELD DISTRICT, S.C. FROM MARCH 4, 1827, 23rd CONGRESS, 1ST SESS, 1833-34. ALSO RESIDED IN WASHINGTON COUNTY.--PENSION BOOK, STATE BRANCH BANK, MOBILE.

 The above is the pension record of Richard Dudley McCary (and there is that name Dudley again, probably not a coincidence). The following book had almost the same history of James H. McCary, except that it was followed by a story on his grandfather. :



History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography, Volume 4



By Thomas McAdory Owen, Mrs. Marie (Bankhead) Owen

Still insisting that his "great" grandfather was in the War of 1812, they nonetheless report on his grandfather "Richard McCary, soldier of the American Revolution, 81, and a resident of Bibb County, private Virginia Continental line, transferred from Edgefield District, South Carolina....

Then, there is this report:

MCCARY, JAMES H. is a representative of the class of educated Alabamians of the new era. Born March, 1862, when the war between the States was in its earliest stages, his whole life has been spent under the social influences into which he has so largely entered to shape.

Mr. McCary is a native of Chilton County, Alabama, the son of James F. and E. M. McCary, nee Lily. After passing through the common schools he completed his studies in the Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College at Auburn. For six years thereafter he was employed as clerk in the Hotel Jackson, at Blount Springs. In September, 18S3, he came to Birmingham, to engage as clerk in the Relay House. In 1884 he entered mercantile life in Birmingham as a grocer. In 1886 he formed a partnership with E. L. Higdon in the wholesale fruit and produce line. This business has been distinguished by rapid growth. The firm occupy a large and handsome building on Morris Avenue, the leading wholesale street, and perhaps the best in its line in the South. They do a large and increasing business along the trunk lines of railroads leading out of the city.

Mr. McCary is one of the directors of the Birmingham National Bank, owns valuable real estate in Birmingham, and blocks of many of the best local stocks in the market. He owns valuable agricultural lands in the Valley of the Mississippi, situated in the State of Mississippi. He is a Knight of Pythias, and a worker in the Methodist Episcopal Church Sunday school, of which church he is a member. Source: Jefferson County and Birmingham, Alabama: Historical and Biographical, 1887, Author: John Witherspoon Dubose. Submitted by C. Anthony

Being a big wheel in Birmingham, during the time period in which he was, it is easy to tell the clay that formed Mr. McCary. He was a Winfield and a Lilly, as well, after all.

Link to the Descendants of Richard McCary.

While older brother James H. McCary is making the news and joining every civic organization known to man, his younger brother, Jarvis Fletcher McCary is of a different vent.




East Lake Land Owner is Killed Birmingham, Ala, May 13









Date: Wednesday, May 14, 1919  





Paper: Montgomery Advertiser (Montgomery, AL)









Birmingham, Alabama, May 13. 


J. Fletcher McCary, a prominent land owner and mineral water proprietor near East Lake, was shot and killed and Grover C. Parker, a dairyman, was fatally wounded this afternoon, when the men quarreled over some cows which had broken through the fence into McCary's pasture. 





And that was the jist of the article. 





 




In the Descendants of James T. Atkinson on Rootsweb.com, a listing of the McCary's mother's line is made:





Children of ELIZABETH ATCHISON and SINCLAIR MCCARY are: 




23. i. NANCY ELIZABETH³ MCCARY, b. September 06, 1829; d. March 08, 1917.
ii. JAMES FLETCHER MCCARY, b. December 05, 1831, AL; d. May 31, 1864 (Source: Cemeteries of Chilton by Benjamin D. Roberts, page 311, McCary, J.F. 1831-12-5 1864-5-31.); m. E. MARTHA DUDLEY; b. April 21, 1838; d. July 20, 1862.



More About JAMES FLETCHER MCCARY:
Burial: Unknown, Isabella Methodist Church Cemetery, Chilton Co. AL
Military: May 12, 1862, CSA, Pvt, Co H, 44th Ala. Inf. Enlisted at Bibb Co by F.M. Goode May 12, 1862 (Source: Yours, Mine and Theirs, A listing of Civil War Soldiers connected with Chilton Co. AL by Ben Roberts w/ Nell Thomas, Betty Collins & John D. Glasscock, page 90.)
Occupation: 1861, Storekeeper and postmaster at Old Benson in 1861
Other-Begin: Aft. May 12, 1862, Discarged by substitute-James Edwards. (Source: Yours, Mine and Theirs, A listing of Civil War Soldiers connected with Chilton Co. AL by Ben Roberts w/ Nell Thomas, Betty Collins & John D. Glasscock, page 90.)
Other (2): Reference says he is buried at Mulberry Baptist Cemtery. (Source: Yours, Mine and Theirs, A listing of Civil War Soldiers connected with Chilton Co. AL by Ben Roberts w/ Nell Thomas, Betty Collins & John D. Glasscock, page 90.)




24. iii. JARVIS M. MCCARY, b. February 06, 1834, Chilton Co. AL; d. May 31, 1864, Macon, GA during Civil War.
iv. MARTHA MCCARY, b. April 24, 1838, AL; d. July 20, 1862 (Source: Cemeteries of Chilton by Benjamin D. Roberts, page 311, McCary, Martha 1838-4-24 1852-7-20 Dau/S.D. and E. McCary. Sleep on dear Mattie. You shall flourish and bloom in a spring of cassia in eternal Day.).



More About MARTHA MCCARY:
Burial: Unknown, Isabella Methodist Church Cemetery, Chilton Co. AL
Census: 1860, Bibb Co. AL, Household #1264, age 21, domestic




25. v. MARY ANN MCCARY, b. 1839, AL; d. March 13, 1908.
vi. FRANCES C. MCCARY, b. 1842; d. Unknown; m. RICHARD GARNER; d. Unknown.



More About FRANCES C. MCCARY:
Census: 1860, Bibb Co. AL, Household #1264, age 15



More About RICHARD GARNER:
Address (Facts Page): Their home in Bibb Co. AL was later known as the Luther LeCroy Place.

If you will notice, they do have James Fletcher McCary listed as a storekeep and postmater. However, they have E. Martha McCary listed as dying May 20, 1862. Then just a few lines down, they also have the Fletcher brothers sister, Martha "Mattie" McCary dying on the exact same date. Someone took the date off the tombstone for the single Mattie and assumed it was Evalina. However, when they went to research Mattie, they did not catch their mistake. 

Evalina Martha Lilly Dudley McCary did not die. Not yet.

Although her son became a rather important fellow, Evalina and her other children virtually disapear for 20 years. With the exception of the marriage license in Bibb County, I can not find her in the 1870 census. She shows back up in 1880, however.

E.M. Mccary

Age:

Birth Year:

abt 1835

Birthplace:

North Carolina

Home in 1880:

Beat 3, Sharkey, Mississippi

Race:

White

Gender:

Female

Relation to Head of House:

Mother

Marital Status:

Widowed

Father's Birthplace:

North Carolina

Mother's Birthplace:

North Carolina

Neighbors:

View others on page

Occupation:

Housekeeper

Cannot read/write:

Blind:

Deaf and dumb:

Otherwise disabled:

Idiotic or insane:

View Image

Household Members:

Name	Age
O.F. Dudley	22
E.M. Mccary	45
J.F. Mccary	15
E.A. Dudley	24
S.S. Baggett	67

Her older son, Oscar F. Dudley, Jr. is still alive and acting as the Head of Household. They are living in Sharkey County, Mississippi. This is perhaps where son James H. McCary has bought land that is mentioned in the above article. He is at school at this time and younger brother Jarvis Fletcher is still a teen. E. A. Dudley would be her firstborn daughter, Ella, who had not died yet.

J H Mccary

Age:

Birth Date:

Mar 1862

Birthplace:

Alabama

Home in 1900:

Birmingham Ward 7, Jefferson, Alabama
[Jefferson]

Race:

White

Gender:

Male

Relation to Head of House:

Head

Marital Status:

Married

Spouse's Name:

Francis Mccary

Marriage Year:

1889

Years Married:

Father's Birthplace:

Alabama

Mother's Name:

Evelyn Mccary

Mother's Birthplace:

North Carolina

Occupation:

View on Image

Neighbors:

View others on page

Household Members:

Name	Age
J H Mccary	38
Francis Mccary	32
William Mccary	10
Henry J Mccary	8
Helen Mccary	15
Evelyn Mccary	70
Ella W Mccary	32
Lizzie Bears	45
Beaula More

Jump ahead another 20 years and Evalina (Evelyn here) is living with James H. McCary and his wife and 3 children in Birmingham. Ella W McCary must be oldest daughter Ella, who was not a McCary, and her age is wrong as well.

Evalina appears in several Birmingham City Directories.

For instance, the 1914 Directory has the following McCary's listed:

McCary,

Evelyn E (widow JF) 1217 S 20th

Helen 1217 S 20th ....daughter of James H.

James H. (Fanny N) real estate 26 N. 19th, 1217 S 20th (note: Frances Nabors McCary)

James H. Jr slsman, J H McCary b 1217 S 20th (meaning he was working as a salesman for his father)

J. Fletcher (Mattie S. ) mfrs agent 1121 Empire Bldg h s S Kings Hwy 1 east of Vanderbuilt Road.

J Fletcher Jr. slsmn J. F McCary  b J F McCary

Wm H student b J F McCary (this is William Henry McCary)

Wm N ins. b 1217 s 20th.

But a final record on Evalina states where she was born:

Evelena M McCarey
Birth Date:	abt 1829
Birth Place:	Fayetteville, N. C.
Death Date:	8 Nov 1912
Death Place:	Bessemer, Jefferson, Alabama
Death Age:	83
Race:	White
Marital Status:	Widowed
Gender:	Female
FHL Film Number:	1894094

Fayetteville. Eliza and William must have returned there after their marriage.

As for Ella, she is in the 1896 City Directory for Birmingham,


Wednesday, September 3, 1902  


Paper: Montgomery Advertiser (Montgomery, AL) Miss Ella Dudley of Mobile is visiting Mrs. Charley Joseph.

She was visiting Mrs. Joseph again in 1904 and helping give a few bridal showers and other items on the society pages.

 So, Evalina had no apparent Dudley descendants, as Oscar Jr. died as a young man, and Ella apparently never married.

So in summary, the descendants of Eliza M (Martha?) Winfield were:

Thomas W (Winfield?) Lilly b 1824 d 1850

Evalina Martha Lilly abt 1829 -1912

m Oscar F Dudley

children: Ella A. Dudly

               Sarah G Dudly

               Laura Dudley

               Oscar F Dudley, Jr.

m Jarvis M McCary

    son James Henry McCary

m James Fletcher McCary

    son Jarvis Fletcher McCary

James Henry McCary m Frances Nabors

          William Nabors McCary m Nell M Moore  son William Moore "Billy" McCary

           James Henry McCary Jr. m Edith Orr  son James Henry McCary III

           Helen McCary m Wiley Perry Ballard  sons Wiley P Ballard, Jr, McCary Ballard

           Carolyn M McCary

Jarvis Fletcher McCary m Martha "Mattie" Simmons Smith

       children:

        Jarvis Fletcher McCary Jr. b 1893

        William Hugh McCary b 1894

In ending, the following is a sad post about Billy McCary, great-grandson of Evalina Lilly McCary, who was a Navy Musician and died during the sinking of the USS Arkansas.

WILLIAM MOORE MCCARY - Birmingham, AL (MUSICIAN 2) WWII

Name:	MCCARY, WILLIAM MOORE
Service Branch:	NAVY
Rank:	MUSICIAN 2
Date of Death:	N A
Hostile:	Kia
Home of Record City/County:	Birmingham
Home of Record State:	Alabama
Conflict:William Moore McCary MCCARY, William M. MUS2c "Swede" Age 17, Shades Mountain, AL, http://www.ussarizona.org/	WWII Bandmaster: Fredrick W. Kinney, MUS1c Frank Norman Floege "Flat-Foot Floogie" Oran Merrill Brabbzson "Buttercup" Ernest Hubert Whitson, Jr. "Ernie" Wayne Lynn Bandy "Buck" Neal Jason Radford "Brick" Jack Leo Scruggs "Scrooge" Curtis Junior Haas "Curt" Gerald Clinton Cox "Jerry" Charles William White "Whitey" Emmett Isaac Lynch "Rusty" William Starks Morehouse "Killer" Clyde Richard Williams "Oklmugee" Ralph Warren Burdette "Chowhound" Robert Kar Shaw "Peepee" Bernard Thomas Hughes "Bee" William Moore McCary "Swede" Wendell Ray Hurley "Lady-Killer" James Harvey Sanderson "Sandy" Alexander Joseph Nadel "Alexander The Swooze"

↧

A Great American Lady: Frances E. Goff

June 23, 2013, 9:47 pm

≫ Next: The Mystery of Eliza Ann Davis

≪ Previous: Whispers of Eliza Winfield Lilly

Frances E. Goff was one of Job's Children. The following is the train of descent:

Job Davis (1773-1852) and Sarah Winfield Davis (1773-1856) both born in Mecklenburg County, Virginia and died in Stanly County, North Carolina.

Henry Davis (1806-1862) and Martha Palmer Davis (1815-1877) Stanly County, North Carolina.

Martha J. Davis Ingram (Dec 27 1844 Stanly County, North Carolina to March 20, 1885 Rusk County, Texas and Joseph Alexander Ingram (1846 Anson County, North Carolina to January 3, 1933, Kenedy, Karnes County, Texas).

William Henry Ingram (Nov 1869 to 1910 Kenedy, Karnes, Texas) and Annie Elizabeth Parker Ingram (1874 - November 19 1954, Karnes County, Texas)

Henry Ingram and Annie Parker were married in 1893. They had 2 children before Henry passed away in 1902. They may have had 3. An infant grave for a Wincy Ingram, born in 1901 and died in 1902 is in the Kenedy Cemetery in Kenedy, Karnes, Texas along with Henry, his father Joseph A. Ingram and other members of the Ingram family. She may have been his daughter.

William Henry Ingram, Jr. was born May 18, 1894 in Karnes County and died Oct 12 1942. He married Hazel David Alexander and had one daughter, Madelyn, born in 1926.

Grace Elizabeth Ingram was born February 12, 1898 in Karnes County, Texas. She also had one daughter, Frances Elizabeth Goff.

Grace Ingram
[Grace Ingham]

Age:

Birth Date:

Feb 1896

Birthplace:

Texas

Home in 1900:

Justice Precinct 4, Karnes, Texas

Race:

White

Gender:

Female

Relation to Head of House:

Daughter

Marital Status:

Single

Father's Name:

William H Ingram

Father's Birthplace:

Texas

Mother's Name:

Annie E Ingram

Mother's Birthplace:

Texas

Occupation:

View on Image

Neighbors:

View others on page

Household Members:

Name	Age
William H Ingram	30
Annie E Ingram	26
William H Ingram	6
Grace Ingram	4
Sarah H Parker	18

View
Original
Record

Gracie Ingram

Age in 1910:

Birth Year:

abt 1896

Birthplace:

Texas

Home in 1910:

Kenedy, Karnes, Texas

Race:

White

Gender:

Female

Relation to Head of House:

Daughter

Marital Status:

Single

Parent's Name:

Annie Ingram

Father's Birthplace:

Texas

Mother's Birthplace:

Texas

Neighbors:

View others on page

Household Members:

Name	Age
Annie Ingram	34
Willie Ingram	16
Gracie Ingram	14

Gracie is shown with both parents, brother Henry and Aunt Sarah in 1900. In 1910, Annie is a single parent.

Grace married Alfred T. Goff, sometime before 1917 and was divorced from him by 1920, and living back with her mother and brother, with her young daughter, Francis.

Grace Ingram
[Grace Sageman]

Age:

Birth Year:

abt 1897

Birthplace:

Texas

Home in 1920:

Kenedy, Karnes, Texas

Race:

White

Gender:

Female

Relation to Head of House:

Daughter

Marital Status:

Divorced

Parent's Name:

Annie E Ingram

Father's Birthplace:

North Carolina

Mother's Birthplace:

Texas

Able to Read:

Yes

Able to Write:

Yes

Neighbors:

View others on page

Household Members:

Name	Age
Annie E Ingram	45
Willie H Ingram	25
Grace Ingram	23
Francis Goff	3 [25]

Sometime, shortly afterward, Grace married Graddis Grover Stripling. She passed away on June 28, 1929 at the age of 31.

Alfred T Goff would go on to marry Elizabeth Nave in 1923. He and his second wife would live in San Antonio, Texas. City Directories had him listed as an agent at the Magnolia Pet Company and later as a Traffic Manager. The 1940 census has Alfred and his wife Elizabeth living alone, and his occupation as Retail Sales Manager.

Alfred lived a long life, and passed away in 1971 at the age of 78 . He was divorced again by then, and the reason became clear in the papers of his daughter.

Alfred Goff
Death Date:	21 Apr 1971
Death County:	Bexar
Gender:	Male
Marital Status:	Separ/divorced (Divorced)

Frances Goff
[Frances Gaff]

Gender:

Female

Birth Year:

abt 1917

Birthplace:

Texas

Race:

White

Home in 1930:

Kenedy, Karnes, Texas
View Map

Marital Status:

Single

Relation to Head of House:

Granddaughter

Father's Birthplace:

Texas

Mother's Birthplace:

Texas

Occupation:

Education:

Military service:

Rent/home value:

Age at first marriage:

Parents' birthplace:

View Image

Neighbors:

View others on page

Household Members:

Name	Age
Annie Ingram	56
Frances Goff	13
Charles Crouch	45

But what about young Frances. In 1930, she was living with her maternal grandmother, Annie. Her mother had died the previous year.

Frances Goff

Respondent:

Yes

Age:

Estimated Birth Year:

abt 1917

Gender:

Female

Race:

White

Birthplace:

Texas

Marital Status:

Single

Relation to Head of House:

Granddaughter

Home in 1940:

San Antonio, Bexar, Texas
View Map

Street:

Rigsby Avenue

House Number:

720

Inferred Residence in 1935:

Kenedy, Kansas, Texas

Residence in 1935:

Kenedy, Kansas, Texas

Resident on farm in 1935:

Sheet Number:

Occupation:

Private Secretary

Industry:

Lawyer

Attended School or College:

Highest Grade Completed:

High School, 4th year

Hours Worked Week Prior to Census:

Class of Worker:

Wage or salary worker in private work

Weeks Worked in 1939:

Income:

1000

Income Other Sources:

Neighbors:

View others on page

Household Members:

Name	Age
P R Goff	73
Ida Goff	69
Frances Goff	23

By 1940, Frances is residing with her paternal grandparents and is working as a private secretary for an attorney. And shortly after, she joined the Armed Services, as a stenographer. WWII had began and this outstanding young lady went to serve.

Frances E Goff
Birth Year:	1916
Race:	White, citizen (White)
Nativity State or Country:	Texas
State of Residence:	Texas
County or City:	Tarrant

Enlistment Date:	22 Jun 1944
Enlistment State:	Texas
Enlistment City:	Camp Swift Bastrop
Branch:	Womens Army Corps
Branch Code:	Womens Army Corps
Grade:	Private
Grade Code:	Private
Term of Enlistment:	Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law
Component:	Womens Army Corps

Education:	1 year of college
Civil Occupation:	Stenographers and typists
Marital Status:	Single, without dependents

On June 22, 1944, Frances Goff enlisted in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) as a private... By early September 1944, she was assigned to the WAC detachment at the Fifth Ferrying Group of the Air Transport Command at Love Field in Dallas... Her duties included a brief stint in Washington, D.C. at the headquarters of the Transport Command in the months before she left the military... Her discharge from the WACs was dated July 2, 1946... For the patriotic Goff, her years in the Army Air Corps were some of the most rewarding of her life. (From Texas, Her Texas: The Life and Times of Frances Goff by Nancy Beck Young adn Lewis L. Gould)

Frances Elizabeth Goff served her country in more ways than one. She took on 3 careers during her lifetime and made great strides in each one. She had a book written about her,

TEXAS, HER TEXAS

The Life and Times of Frances Goff

By Nancy Beck Young and Lewis L. Gould
Forward by Ann Richards

Barker Texas History Center Series, no. 6
Don E. Carleton, editor

Texas State Historical Association
240 pages, 6 x 9 inches
75 illustrations, index
ISBN 0-87611-159-2, cloth
1997

Texas, Her Texas is the fascinating story of Frances Goff and her three remarkable careers: in Texas government as legislative aide and state budget director; at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center; and as director of the Bluebonnet Girls State Program of the American Legion Auxilliary. Based on Goff’s personal papers and interviews with those who knew her, the book provides inside glimpses of such leaders in state politics as Coke Stevenson, Allan Shivers, and Ann Richards. The fast-paced narrative also describes the founding and early years of M. D. Anderson and Goff’s key role as an aide to Dr. R. Lee Clark in building this world-renowned cancer treatment facility.

At the core of the book is the Bluebonnet Girls State Program, an annual citizenship session for young Texas women that Goff directed for four decades. More than twenty-thousand high school girls experienced Goff’s charismatic leadership and took to heart her message of public service and involvement. Texas, Her Texas makes a major contribution to a better understanding of how this voluntary women’s group is shaping present-day Texas.

Frances Goff knew the movers and shakers of Texas and became one herself. Goff’s biography will inspire those who knew her and those who are learning about her for the first time. She was, says Ann Richards, a "grand lioness of a woman."

Nancy Beck Young is a professor of history at the University of Houston.
Lewis L. Gould is the Eugene C. Barker Centennial Professor Emeritus in American History at the University of Texas at Austin.

She is listed in the Texas Hall of Fame:

Texas University, Texas Hall of Fame, Profile of Frances E. Goff

What in the life of this great-granddaughter of Stanly County Justice and rogue Methodist, Henry Davis, brought about this quest for public service and led from a child of divorce, during the early part of the twentieth century, when divorce was rare and shameful, this girl who was raised by her various grandparents and became a member of The Greatest Generation, to join the military at a time when women were kept out of most areas, and to become the honored friend of polictical movers and shakers, to have a book written about her, and foundations established in her name?

Frances graduated from the San Antonio business college in 1937. This was just before she was shown in the 1940 census living with her paternal grandparents, Percy Robert Goff, who was born in England, and his wife Ida Riedel, a Texas native. She was shown as being a secretery for an attorney. Records show that before joining the Service, where she obtained the rank of Sergeant Major, she had worked in the Texas House of Representatives, the State Senate, the Office of the Governor and also on the Texas Railroad Commission.

Then came the World War II. As a young woman with a rising career, she left all of that behind and served for two years, between 1944 and 1946. She used her office skills for the Commander of Love Field in Dallas, Texas and also worked in Washington, DC in the Air Transport Command HeadQuarters.

After the war, she went back to work for the Governors Office. At the suggestion of then Governor Allan Shivers, she changed careers and became an Assistant to Dr. R. Lee Clark at the Univeristy of Texas. Dr. Clark was the President and Director of Special Projects for Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, one the foremost centers for cancer research at the time.

Frances was over planning, development and fundraising. In such a capacity, she encountered many families for whom hope was slim and faith was strong. A year after beginning this career, she took on a lifelong volunteer activity.

The American Legion Auxiliary was established in 1919 to administer many volunteer programs and aid the American Legion. It's the world's largest women's volunteer organization.

The Bluebonnet Girls is a program of the American Legion Auxiliary. From 1952 to 1994, Frances was the director of this program. She planned and promoted the "Model Citizenship Program" for the Bluebonnet Girls State.

Among the honors bestowed upon Frances were the Ameican Legion National Commendation Award, she was inducted into the Texas Hall of Fame for outstanding volunteerism, the Valley Forge Freedom Foundation Award, a scholarship was established in her name at the University of Texas in Austin. Also,

Governor Ann Richards named her as State Chair of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation Inc.

A Collection of her papers are stored at the Brisco Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin.

A Guide to the Frances Goff Papers, 1914-1994

These papers are extensive. While they are informative and have mention of many of the political players of her day, they also give a glimpse into the personal life of this incredible lady, that the book does not.

The following is the Biographical prequel to the collection.

Frances Goff of Kenedy, Texas, began her career in 1937 as secretary to a Texas state legislator, became secretary to Governor W. Lee O'Daniel after his re-election in 1940, worked for the House Appropriations Committee in 1941, and was appointed the first personnel director of the Texas Railroad Commission. In 1944 she enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps, rising to the rank of sergeant major before her release and return to Austin in 1946, when she was named State Budget Director and assisted in writing the bill creating the Legislative Budget Board. In 1951 she was hired by Dr. R. Lee Clark, director of the newly-created M. D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute in Houston as his assistant and soon became director of special projects, overseeing the hospital's construction and supervising every expansion from 1951-1978. During the same period Goff became involved with the American Legion Auxiliary's education program, Texas Bluebonnet Girls' State and became the program's director in 1952. She retired from M. D. Anderson in 1982 and died in 1994.

Among the more interesting parts of the papers are letters written to and from Robert Barnnett, wherein she takes exception to his inquiring of her whereabouts and also some revealing information and interesting closings to the letters.

Her personal documents include a copy of her parents October, 1915 marriage license, with her July 1916 birth certificate, personal letters from a "Bill", a copy of an inspiring speech that her mother Grace gave at Frances's High School graduation, a 1924 letter from Frances to her mother Grace, and stepfather, G. G. Stripling, where she would have been only 8 years old, childhood letters from Frances to mother Grace, and grandmother Annie, whom she called "Big Momma" and from Grace to Annie.

Box 2 contains, among other things, letters written between Frances and her grandmother Annie after the death of Grace in 1929, and a telegram of condolence from her father. There is also the funeral program of her uncle William Henry Ingram, Jr. in 1943. One letter is described as "a wonderfully vivid account of why Frances preferred to live in Center over Kenedy",

There are scrapbook of her war days and of friends in the American Legion.

Box 3 is of particular interest. While there are records of the estate of her father, who passed away in 1971, and other business items of her father, one description was of particular interest.

Material, chronologically ordered, that pertains to property held by A.T. Goff and his Mr. G. Garcia; Mr. Goff's share of this property passed to Frances upon his death in 1971; this folder also contains Mr. Goff's health insurance records; land deeds for property Mr. Goff owned in Kenedy, as well as correspondence between lawyers and interested persons, 1928-1940.

Alfred Thomas Goff had married Gracie Elizabeth Ingram in October of 1915. They had divorced shortly aferward, by 1920, both are listed as divorced.

Alfred T Goff

Age:

Birth Year:

abt 1894

Birthplace:

Texas

Home in 1920:

Alice, Jim Wells, Texas

Race:

White

Gender:

Male

Relation to Head of House:

Boarder

Marital Status:

Divorced

Father's Birthplace:

England

Mother's Birthplace:

Texas

Able to Read:

Yes

Able to Write:

Yes

Neighbors:

View others on page

Household Members:

Name	Age
Parks Childress	52 [53] [33]
Lottie Childress	38
Schuman Childress	4 [4 11/12]
John East	35
Alfred T Goff	26
J P Murphy	28

Alfred is listed as age 26 and working as a clerk at a Railroad Office.

He married Elizabeth Nave in 1923 at the age of 30. There would be no children. Apparently, Alfreds "Mr. Garcia" held a close personal spot in Alfred's life and may be the reason for his brief marriages and lack of other children. The era in which Alfred Goff lived in was far less than accepting.

Frances, despite never marrying, had many relationships over the years and her correspondence collection verifies that. She was beloved. Most of her records have to do the the American Legion and the girls in her program.

One such folder is described as "

12. Loose leaf ring binder entitled, "A Tribute to Miss Goff." Material includes: newspaper tributes; short biographies, listing Frances's many accomplishments; 1986 material pertaining to Frances's nomination to the Texas Women's Hall of Fame, with many letters of recommend- ations, including one from Ann Richards; 1985 letters of recommendation for Frances to be chosen for a Freedoms Foundation Award; pictures of Frances in action; a copy of Goff's Prayer; a copy of Frances's honorable discharge from the U.S. Army, 1946; 1985 letter from Governor Mark White, recommending Frances for Freedoms Foundation Award; similar letters (often very revealing) from graduates of Girls State; 1985 letter of recommendation from Charles A. LeMaistre, President of The University of Texas System Cancer Center; copy of Toby Lynn Crockett's tribute to Frances, a ninth grade essay entitled "A Living Texas Woman I Admire;" undated tribute to Frances Goff, written by Girls State Graduate Linda Roper Sease, who named her daughter after Frances; photos of Frances in action at Girls State; copies of the Girls State Daily Program; brown envelope containing many of the letters and materials just described.

When Frances died in 1994, her funeral was attended by many of the persons whose lives she touched. What a great lady and proud descendant of Job Davis.

↧

The Mystery of Eliza Ann Davis

June 24, 2013, 2:56 am

≫ Next: The Sixth Descendant

≪ Previous: A Great American Lady: Frances E. Goff

Looking through the early deeds of Stanly County, I came across this interesting document:

This document was interesting in many ways. I knew that "Eleazer Jane" had to be a member of our set of 'Davis's' due to the witness of Edward Winfield Davis. Also, John Lee and other members of his family were closely involved with our Davis's. Edward Winfield, uncle of E. W. Davis, had married Susanna Lee and James M. Davis, brother of E.W., had married Rowena Lee.

This document was a transfer of a 7 year old girl from the possession of John Lee to that of Eliza Jane Davis. (Eleazer was likely how her name was pronounced in the old Southern syncopation). The fee involved was $1.00. A dollar was, even in 1845, a nominal fee, meaning, the transaction was more of a gift, and that the dollar involved was merely nominal, as in when one family member sells a house, or car, for $1.00, just to show a change of hands with the money and property. The 'property' in this case was a little girl named Clementine.

I have already done a post on Clementine Barringer who was found living with great, great grandfather H. H. "Hawk" Davis in 1880 with her 3 young daughters. Clementine Barringer was born a slave. The age given for Clementine in 1880 was 35, meaning she was born around 1845. In the document, the child is 7. The ages in census records can be far off, as census takers guessed an age, or was speaking to an individual who guessed an age. Could Clementine actually have been several years older than 35 in 1880? Could she have been the Clementine involved in this document? I've found that she had married a James Barringer. Could this have been her beginning with the involvement with the Davis family? Clementine "Tiny" Barringer is buried in the Old Davis cemetery on Old Davis Road in southern Stanly County, along with Job and Sarah and other members of the Davis family.

Horton Hampton "Haut" Davis

But who was Eliza Jane, exactly. I thought the best place to look would be the branch who had married a Lee, the family of James "Jim" Davis, second born son of Job.

Jim and Rowena had 13 children. Their oldest daughter was Elizabeth Jane. She was born July 12, 1829. Her first husband was Steven Crump, Jr. The Davis girls were much involved with the Crump family. Elizabeth's cousin Sarah "Sallie" Davis would marry Steven's brother, Woodson Crump and Sallie's younger sister, Margaret Victoria Davis, would marry Woodson's son William D Crump, a stepson to her sister.

Elizabeth Jane and Steven Crump, Jr. would have only one daughter, Charlotte Sophronia Crump and the Elizabeth would marry a widower, Ephraim Mauney, brother-in-law of her younger sister, Wincy Catherine Davis, or "W. C." She and Ephraim Mauney would have one daughter, Tallulah. They would move to Gold Hill, just up the road a short distance from Stanly County in southern Rowan. Gold Hill was a gold mining community.

But was Elizabeth Jane Davis and Eliza Jane Davis, the same?

Then I found this history of the Crump family.

47. STEPHEN5
CRUMP, JR. (STEPHEN4
, JOHN BUSHROD3
, ADAM2
, JAMES1
) (Source: 1850 U S Census NC, Stanley
County.) was born Abt. 1823 in North Carolina, and died Bef. 1858 in North Carolina. He married ELIZA JANE
DAVIS (Source: 1850 U S Census NC, Stanley County.) Abt. 1849 in Stanley County, NC, daughter of JAMES
DAVIS and ROWENE. She was born 12 Jul 1829 in North Carolina, and died 01 Jan 1880.
Notes for STEPHEN CRUMP, JR.:
Stephen, Jr. is in the household of his uncle James Crump just two doors away from his father, Stephen in the
1850 Stanley County census. ELC 4/2004
Child of STEPHEN CRUMP and ELIZA DAVIS is:
i. CHARLOTTE6

CRUMP (Source: 1850 U S Census NC, Stanley County.), b. May 1850.

The Crump family history has Elizabeth as "Eliza Jane" and not Elizabeth. This is most likely what she was known by. As others with this name were not born or not old enough in 1845 to have recieved such a gift, this has to be the case. in 1845, Eliza Jane herself was only 16 years old. Clementine was possibly a 'coming of age gift' from John Lee.

The following is the inscription on the headstone of Eliza Jane:

The pain of life is past.

warefare now is o'er

For God & sun & song

Triumphing in Paradice.

ELIZA JANE,

wife of

EPHRAIM MAUNEY

Daughter of J & R Davis

Died Jan 1, 1880,

AGED

50 yrs. 5 mos. & 19 dys.

Ther e is a simple Footstone bearing the initials E.J.M.

↧

The Sixth Descendant

June 26, 2013, 2:37 am

≫ Next: Oklahoma Territory Sutton, Fiddler ExtraOrdinaire

≪ Previous: The Mystery of Eliza Ann Davis

My second grandson arrived yesterday, June 25, at about 7:45 pm. His name is Tach Owen and he came in weighing 7lbs 12 oz and 22 1/4 inches long.

He is my 6th descendant as his father, my firstborn, was the first, followed by a brother and two sisters. My oldest daughter's son Eli was number 5 and now, 4 years later, Tach is the sixth.

He weighed approximately the same as his Dad and aunts and uncle, as they ranged from 7 lb 10 oz to 7 lb 13 oz. He is longer than any of them. He should grow to be a tall man. His paternal grandfather was 6 foot 2 and his maternal grandfather is 6 foot 3. I am told that his maternal great-grandfather, Settle Burris, was 6 foot 6 inches tall, so he gets it honest.

He is a cousin to the many hundreds of people in Stanly County and beyond who are descended from the prodigious Revolutionary War Soldier, Solomon Burris.

He is also a descendant of Job Davis, for whom this blog is named, and of noted Trapper and trader "Cherokee Jack Johnson" who migrated from Tennessee to Florida, making Tach 1/64 Cherokee as Cherokee Jack was half, his daughter Mittie, one quarter, his grandson one eighth, my first husband 1/16 and my son 1/32nd.

Happy Birthday Tach. Your Nanny loves immensely.

↧

Oklahoma Territory Sutton, Fiddler ExtraOrdinaire

June 29, 2013, 5:57 am

≫ Next: Martha Ingram Letsinger

≪ Previous: The Sixth Descendant

Oklahoma Territory Sutton, or O. T. was the husband of a descendant of Job Davis, Elizabeth Ingram. The following is his obituary:

O.T. Sutton
Funeral services were held on Wednesday, September 28, 1988 at Eckols Chapel in Kenedy for O.T. Sutton. The Rev. W.R. Menke Nad Robert L. Wimpee officiated. Interment was in the City Cemetery.
Pallbearers were Jimmy Sutton, Roxie Robinson, Ralph Sutton, Glen Sutton, Mark David and Douglas Wood. Arrangements were by Eckols Funeral Home of Kenedy.
O.T. was born in Sayre, Oklahoma on April 21, 1902 to LaFayette Fate and Abida Hawkins Walton Sutton and died on September 26, 1988 in Kenedy. He was 86 years, 5 months and 5 days of age.
O.T. had lived in Kenedy since 1954. He was married to Elizabeth Ingram on September 21, 1954 in Kerrville, Texas. He was a retired gauger and welder. He was active in Lone Star Fiddler Association, Old Time Fiddler Association, and United Fiddlers.
Survivors include his wife, Elizabeth Sutton of Kenedy; two sons, Russell W. Sutton of Brazoria, and Dell Sutton of Seguin; a sister, Oma Curl of Jourdanton; 6 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren and 3 great-great-grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his parents, 12 brothers and sisters, a wife, Ruby Sutton and a daughter, Virginia Reed Sutton.
Parents:
  LaFayatte Fatie Sutton (1861 - 1948)
  Abida Hawkins Walton Sutton (1862 - 1956)

Spouses:
  Elizabeth Ingram Sutton (1908 - 1993)
  Ruby Reed Sutton (1901 - 1954)*

Whomever thinks that Genealogy is boring was not an apple that fell off the Davis tree. In researching the descendants of Job Davis, I have came across a wide-range of characters, and possibly none more colorful or charismatic than Mr. O. T. Sutton. Beginning with his name.

Every family tree is full of stayers and goers. America was founded by "Goers", persons with enough derring-do, desperation or hope to make the long journey from whatever their country of origin over to a new and unknown land. Even those sent against their own will, whether children kidnapped and sold off the streets of London, poor Irish, convicts, or enslaved Africans, the survivors of which were the strong, the hopeful, the adventurous. The ones who had enough inner continence to persevere, to believe in a better future, the will to survive, are the ones today's Americans are descended from.

Their children were also born divided between those who were divided between those who were satisfied right where they were....the conservatives, and the adventurers: those who dreamed of something bigger, better, different, more exciting, than where they were. And it was that group who tamed the wild west and migrated off the east coast to the lands beyond.

One trait I've noticed about our Western cousins were the unique and descriptive names they gave their children. Place names were very common. I've came across many girls named Missouri, or Florida, or Louisiana or Texie or Texanna. But "O. T. Sutton" was the only fella named Oklahoma Territory I've ever came across.

His unique moniker also fit his personality well. He was such a warm person, his descendants decided to convey this message on his tombstone.

"A Man Who Never Met A Stranger", what better statement could anyone ask to leave this world with?

Job Davis of Mecklenburg County, Virginia and Stanly County, NC, had a son named Henry.

Henry and his second wife Martha Palmer Davis had a daughter named Martha J. Davis.

Martha J. Davis and her husband Joseph Alexander Ingram migrated to Kenedy, Texas and had a son named Van Swearingen Ingram.

Van Swearingen Ingram married a Texas born girl of Mississippi born parents named Ruth Ellen Butler. They had a daughter named Elizabeth Ingram.

Elizabeth Ingram married O. T. Sutton.

Old Bottle

Oklahoma Territory Sutton, born to be a character, was born on April 21, 1902 in Beckham County, Oklahoma. He was the son of Lafayette "Fatie" Sutton and his wife Abida Hawkins Walton Sutton.

Fate and Abida Sutton

An 1892 Interview with "Fount" Sutton, grandfather of O. T. and father of Lafayette Sutton, told of how he left Texas with his family when he had heard of the free grassland in Oklahoma. He brought a wife, 6 children and 40 head of cattle with him. He made the run, planted his stake and was the first man with a family on Timber Creek. They lived from a tent and wagon until he was able to build a dugout. Two more children were born on the claim until 1898, when he would bury his wife, with another infant, in the first factory made casket in the town cemetery. His children were educated in a dugout school.

Fate, one of the older children, would marry one of a set of twins, Abida Walton, and have 8 children. Okalahoma Territory would be the youngest son, and 7th child.

By 1910, Fate and Abida had moved their now complete family to Chaves County, New Mexico, were he farmed.

Fate and Abida with their greyhounds.

1920 would find the family on the move again and coming full circle from Founts trip from Oklahoma, back into Texas.

In 1921, in Pleasantville, Atacosta County, Texas, O. T. would marry a Texas girl and start a family of his own. The couple would have three children together, Russel Warren in 1923, Virginia Louise in 1925, and Rutherford Dale in 1928. Sadly, young Virginia would die of bronchial pneumonia at the age of 18.

O. T. would loose his first wife, Ruby, to cancer in February, 1954. The family had settled in Bee, Texas.
Later that same year on September 21, 1954, he married Elizabeth Ingram.

Location of Kenedy, Texas. The Devil's Box available for purchase here!

O. T. Sutton was known as a kind-hearted, larger-than-life and very talented man. Everyone who met him instantly took to this old-time Western musician. Oklahoma Territory would pass away in 1988 at the age of 86 and Elizabeth Ingram Sutton would pass away in 1993 at the age of 85.

↧

Martha Ingram Letsinger

June 30, 2013, 9:16 am

≫ Next: The Shocking Murder of Jodie Ingram Lauterbach, a Child of Job

≪ Previous: Oklahoma Territory Sutton, Fiddler ExtraOrdinaire

The following is an obituary for Martha Ingram Letsinger. Mrs. Letsinger was a descendant of Job Davis.

MARTHA I. LETSINGER - KENEDY

May 28, 2006

KENEDY - Martha Ingram Letsinger, 88, of Kenedy died Thursday, May 25, 2006.

She was born Feb. 28, 1918, in Kenedy to the late Van S. and Ruth Butler Ingram. She was a rancher and a member of First United Methodist Church.

Survivors: son, Ralph W. Letsinger of Victoria; two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Preceded in death by: husband, Ralph W. Letsinger Sr.; sister, Elizabeth Sutton; brother, Pleas Van Butler.

Visitation will be 6-8 p.m. tonight at Eckols Funeral Home Chapel.

Graveside services will be 10 a.m. Monday at Kenedy Cemetery, the Rev. Bard Letsinger officiating. Eckols Funeral Home Inc., 830-583-2533.

Memorials: Kenedy Cemetery Association.

This is her direct line from Job and Sarah:

Job Davis born 10 April, 1773 Mecklenburg County, Virginia

married Sarah Elizabeth Winfield Howell b June 1773, Mecklenburg County, Virginia

married 1803 in Marlboro County, South Carolina by Ordinary Joel Winfield

Resided along the banks of the Rocky River, Stanly County, North Carolina, owning land on the Anson side as well. Summered in townhouse on Hay Street in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Members of the

Methodist Episcopal Church. Job died in 1852. Sarah died in 1856. Both buried at the Job Davis cemetery on Old Davis Road near Cottonville, Stanly County, North Carolina

Henry Davis, son of Job and Sarah, born in April of 1806, served in Civil War, died June 7, 1862
and second wife, Martha Palmer Davis, born June 1, 1815 in Stanly County and died July 16, 1879

Henry and Martha lived along Cloverfork Creek, north of Albemarle, North Carolina.

Henry had two known sons by his first wife, Sarah Kendall, daughter of Reuben Kendall.
He and Martha Palmer, daughter of James Palmer, had 9 known children.

Their 5th child was Martha J Davis, born December 27, 1844 in Stanly County, North Carolina.

Sometime soon after the Civil War, Martha J Davis married Josesph Alexander Ingram, of Anson County, son of Jeremiah Ingram and Mary "Polly" Crump Ingram.

Joseph A Ingram was a member of the PeeDee Wildcats. The following link traces the movements of this prestigious group.

Story of the PeeDee Wildcats

Mentioned in the article on the PeeDee Wildcats is the death of John P Winfield, a cousin of Martha J Davis. John Peter Winfield was the son of Peter Winfield and Mary Goldston Winfield. His father died about 1835 and his mother remarried a Rev. Barber. Peter was a middle son of Edward Winfield, brother of Sarah Winfield Davis, Henry's mother.

Jeremiah's application for Conferderate Service Pension

Request for records by daughter Josephine Ingram Lauterbach

Letter from the Mayor of Mt Gilead, North Carolina testifying to the fact of Joseph A. Ingrams

and his brother W. S. Ingram's service in the Civil War as Confederate Soldiers and members of the PeeDee Wildcats.

Joseph Alexander Ingram was born in Cedar Hill, Anson County, North Carolina. By the time he was in his early teens, his family had moved to the bustling town of Wadesboro, County Seat of Anson. He returned to North Carolina from Virginia in 1865. His marriage to Martha J. Davis took place shortly afterwards.

In his 1929 statement applying for his pension, he stated that he had lived in Texas for 60 years. That would put the young families arrival there at 1869.

Joseph A. Ingram and Martha Davis Ingram had 6 children:

1) Nannie Stephen Ingram b Jul 3, 1867 d April 2, 1946 Married Howell Blanton

2) William Henry Ingram b Nov 1869 d Nov 21 1902 m Annie Elizabeth Parker

3) John Alexander Ingram b Jul 1870 d Nov 22 1952 m Tennie H Owen

4) Van Swearingen Ingram b Nov 20 1874 d Jan 3 1921 m Ruth Ellen Butler

5) Josephine E "Jodie" Ingram b Nov 1880 d 1966 Louisiana m Frederick A. Lauderbach, Sr.

6) Wincie T Ingram b Jul 7, 1875 d Jan 31, 1874 m Thomas Benton Greenwood.

The youngest son of Joseph A. and Martha Davis Ingram was Van Swearingen Ingram. He carried on his shoulders the name of a thick Southern Stanly County, NC family, the Swearingen's, who had heavily married into the enormous Hudson family along Ugly Creek, a long trail of tributary water that poured soon into the Rocky. Somewhere in his mother or father's family tree, among the Crumps, Easley's and Ingrams perhaps was a Swearingen.

The death certificate of Van Swearingen Ingram indicates that he was a Planter and a Rancher involved in the Merchantile industry. Van Swearingen Ingram died at the relatively young age of 46 of Tuberculosis.

Van S. Ingram selected a bride from one of the top ranching families of Karnes County, the Butlers.

Butler Family Mansion in ruins, Karnes County, Texas

Ruth Ellen Butler was the daughter of Pleasant Burnell Butler and Sarah Jane Elizabeth Ammons. The following link is to memories of Cattleman and Gentleman, P. B. Butler.

The Story of Pleas Butler

Van S. Ingram and Ruth Butler Ingram became the parents of 3 children, two daughters, Elizabeth and Martha and one son named Pleas Van Ingram, for his father Van and his grandfather, Pleas Butler.

Pleas Ingram lived a shorter life than his father. He died of Tuberculosis of the throat at the age of 31 and had not yet married.

Daughter Elizabeth would marry a member of another reknown Karnes County family, Oklahoma Territory Sutton, a farmer and fiddler.

The Sutton-Taylor feud was so reknowned, they wrote a book about it.

The Sutton-Taylor Feud

So Van Ingram and his children were thoroughly embedded in the ranching and wild western lifestyle of turn-of-the-century Texas.

The youngest daughter of Van and Ruth was one of several granddaughters named for Martha Davis Ingram.

Martha Davis Ingram II was born on Feb 18, 1918, ten years after her sister Elizabeth and 13 years after her brother Pleas.

Karnes County TX Courthouse / Helena School 1900s

First Karnes County Courthouse, located in Helena and also used as a school.

The Ingram girls were strong, independent ranchers daughters. Both married later than normal for the times.

Elizabeth married at age 46 and had no children of her own, but had step-children.

Martha Davis Ingram married Ralph William Letsinger, Sr. on an Army base in Greenville, South Carolina. She was 29.

Ingram, Martha Davis

Letsinger, Ralph William

07/17/1943

Ralph William Letsinger was born in 1918 into a typical Texas family, son of John William and Mary Eliza Telford Letsinger of Lubbock, Texas. He enlisted in the Army on January 19, 1942 and after being released on March 6, 1943, he re-upped the next day on March 7, 1943. A few months later on July 17, 1943, he would marry Martha Davis Ingram at Donaldson Air Force Base in Greenville County, SC.

He was released from service on November 8, 1945.

Ralph and Martha would settle in her hometown of Kenedy, Texas. They would continue in the Ingram family business of ranching and farming. A subsidy list names their farm business as Escondido Creek, Ltd.

Ralph and Martha would have one son, Ralph William Letsinger, Jr. born a year after their marriage.

Ralph Jr. would grow up on the ranch and enter into the Farm Insurance industry, eventually founding his own business, B. F. Ram Inc. of Victoria, Texas, a Tire Manufacturing Company. He and his wife Carol Bard Letsinger would have 2 sons, the Rev. Bard Ingram Letsinger and Brek William Letsinger, who would follow Ralph into the family business of B. F. Ram, Inc.

Martha Davis Ingram Letsinger died on May 25, 2006, survived by her son Ralph and his wife, his two sons and 4 great-grandchildren.

↧

The Shocking Murder of Jodie Ingram Lauterbach, a Child of Job

July 3, 2013, 8:03 am

≫ Next: Mariah's Divorce

≪ Previous: Martha Ingram Letsinger

Lately, I've been researching the descendants of Henry Davis and more specifically, his daughter Martha J. Davis. Martha married Joseph Alexander Ingram from across the river in Anson County and they migrated west to Texas, settling first in Rusk and later, in Kenedy in Karnes County.

In researching genealogy, you never know what you are going to find. Some family stories contain interesting tales of adventure, travel or triumph. Others contain tragedy. The story of Josephine "Jodie" Ingram Lauderbach was one that ended with a shocking and tragic finale.

The article below begins this tangled web, from the Sunday, August 21, 1966 edition of The Dallas Morning News Section A Page 5.

Josephine Lauderbach was murdered by James Hugh Lucas, a librarian with the University of Houston, in Texas. He was identified as a distant cousin. I wanted to know who he was, how he was connected to her, and I did not have far to look. He wasn't a cousin and he wasn't distant.

Martha J Davis Ingram was the granddaughter of Job Davis, via his oldest son Henry and second wife, Martha Palmer. She married Joseph Alexander Ingram in 1867 and migrated to Texas shortly afterwards. Martha and Joe had 6 children, 3 sons and 3 daughters. The oldest daughter was Nannie Stephens Ingram, born in 1867, who married Howell Blanton and the other two were Josephine E. Ingram, born in 1880, who married Fred Lauterbach and Wincie T. Ingram, born in 1885, who married Thomas Benton Greenwood.

Josephine, the next to the youngest child, was known as Josie. She was born in November in 1880, in Kenedy, Karnes County, Texas.

Early Post Card from Kenedy, Texas

By 1900, the family would relocate to the town to the community of Henderson in Rusk County, Texas.
Her mother had died and Joseph Ingram had returned to Charlotte, North Carolina to marry a young North Carolinian, Mary Katherine McCormick, known as Katie.

ame:

Jodie Ingram

Age:

Birth Date:

Nov 1880

Birthplace:

Texas

Home in 1900:

Henderson, Rusk, Texas

Race:

White

Gender:

Female

Relation to Head of House:

Daughter

Marital Status:

Single

Father's Name:

Joseph Ingram

Father's Birthplace:

North Carolina

Mother's Name:

Kate Ingram

Mother's Birthplace:

North Carolina

Occupation:

View on Image

Neighbors:

View others on page

Household Members:

Name	Age
Joseph Ingram	55
Kate Ingram	36
Van Ingram	25
Jodie Ingram	19
Wincie Ingram	15

Jodie would marry after school to a young, first generation American whose family haled from Germany, Frederick Augustus Lauterbach. Fred was from Galveston and had worked as a bookkeeper for a firm called Tuller and Fith.

They were married in Cherokee County in a lovely June 6 wedding in 1905. Fred was 25 and Jodie was 24.

Three sons would follow in rapid succession:
Joseph Ingram Lauterbach in 1906, named for his maternal grandfather, Frederick A Lauterbach, Jr. in 1908, named for his father, of course, and Richard Forman Lauterbach, likely named for his paternal grandfather whose name was Frederick Richard Lauterbach, in 1909.

The family would swing back and forth between Texas and California. By 1920, the family had returned to Cherokee County, Texas and Fred had decided to try his hand at farming, as his profession is listed as a farmer.

Fred A Lauterbach
[Fred C Lauterbach]

Age:

Birth Year:

abt 1875

Birthplace:

Texas

Home in 1920:

Justice Precinct 3, Cherokee, Texas

Race:

White

Gender:

Male

Relation to Head of House:

Head

Marital Status:

Married

Spouse's Name:

Jodie Lauterbach

Father's Birthplace:

Germany

Mother's Birthplace:

Germany

Home Owned:

Own

Able to Read:

Yes

Able to Write:

Yes

Neighbors:

View others on page

Household Members:

Name	Age
Fred A Lauterbach	45
Jodie Lauterbach	38
Joe Lauterbach	13
Fred Lauterbach	11
Richard Lauterbach	10

By 1927, the family had moved to San Antonio. The City Directory has them listed at 222 Alta Drive in San Antonio. All the sons are still at the same address. Fred Jr. was working as a clerk at Greenwood Pharmacy, and Joe was working as a stockman at McCrory Grocery. Richard was listed, but without a profession. As Jodie's younger sister had married a Greenwood, perhaps the Pharmacy was a family business and Fred Jr. was working for his Uncle, or his Uncle's family.

Just two years later in 1929, Fred Sr. is working in the Circulation Department at Express Publishing, sons Fred Jr. and Richard are living with them at a new home, 522 Cleveland Court. Son Joe is not. In fact, Joe disappears from the records....until his death.

The 1930 census finds the family now living in Bexar, Texas.

Fred A Lauterbach
[Fred A Lanterbach]

Gender:

Male

Birth Year:

abt 1877

Birthplace:

Texas

Race:

White

Home in 1930:

Alamo Heights, Bexar, Texas
View Map

Marital Status:

Married

Relation to Head of House:

Head

Spouse's Name:

Josephine E Lauterbach

Father's Birthplace:

Germany

Mother's Birthplace:

Germany

Occupation:

Education:

Military service:

Rent/home value:

Age at first marriage:

Parents' birthplace:

View Image

Neighbors:

View others on page

Household Members:

Name	Age
Fred A Lauterbach	53
Josephine E Lauterbach	48
Fred A Lauterbach	22
Richard F Lauterbach	20

Fred Sr. is a 'News Carrier' for the 'Daily Paper'. None of the rest of the family is employed, although the boys are all now in their early 20's.

The 1931 San Antonio City Directory repeats the same information as before, as does the census. Fred is a carrier for the newspaper. The family is still living at 522 Cleveland, and no one but Fred is working.

Current view of 522 Cleveland Court, San Antonio, Texas.

The current house at 522 Cleveland Court was built in 2002. No doubt the home the Lauterbach's lived in was long gone and the lot available.

Sometime after this, the family moved to Riverside County, California.

Fred and Jodie were avid fishermen. This print from the San Diego Evening Tribune shows Jodie in 1928, before they had returned to Texas in 1930.

Name:

Josephine Lauterbach

Age:

Estimated Birth Year:

abt 1881

Gender:

Female

Race:

White

Birthplace:

Texas

Marital Status:

Married

Relation to Head of House:

Wife

Home in 1940:

Beaumont, Riverside, California
View Map

Street:

Magnolia Avenue

House Number:

890

Inferred Residence in 1935:

San Antonio

Residence in 1935:

San Antonio

Resident on farm in 1935:

Sheet Number:

14B

Father's Birthplace:

Texas

Mother's Birthplace:

Texas

Woman Marriages:

Woman Age at First Marriage:

Number of Children Ever Born:

Attended School or College:

Highest Grade Completed:

College, 4th year

Weeks Worked in 1939:

Income:

Income Other Sources:

Native Language:

English

Veteran:

Social Security Number:

Usual Occupation:

Housewife

Usual Industry:

Home

Usual Class of Worker:

Unpaid family worker

Neighbors:

View others on page

Household Members:

Name	Age
Fred H Lauterbach	65
Josephine Lauterbach	59

The 1940 census shows Fred and Jodie alone, and gives quite a bit of information about her. It tells that she completed 4 years of college, while on Fred's side, it says that he only finished the 8th grade and only worked 26 weeks that year as a machine operator. They were renting the house in Riverside.

Fred and Jodie were not the only ones in California, by 1940, Richard had married and was living in Los Angeles County.

Richard Lauterbach

Age:

Estimated Birth Year:

abt 1911

Gender:

Male

Race:

White

Birthplace:

California

Marital Status:

Married

Relation to Head of House:

Head

Home in 1940:

San Antonio, Los Angeles, California
View Map

Street:

Liberty

House Number:

3723

Farm:

Inferred Residence in 1935:

San Antonio, Los Angeles, California

Residence in 1935:

Same Place

Resident on farm in 1935:

Sheet Number:

19A

Number of Household in Order of Visitation:

463

Occupation:

Chemical Engineer

House Owned or Rented:

Rented

Value of Home or Monthly Rental if Rented:

Attended School or College:

Highest Grade Completed:

College, 4th year

Hours Worked Week Prior to Census:

Class of Worker:

Wage or salary worker in private work

Weeks Worked in 1939:

Income:

2400

Income Other Sources:

Neighbors:

View others on page

Household Members:

Name	Age
Richard Lauterbach	29
Dorothy Lauterbach	26

Fred Jr., however, remained in Texas. He had married Myrtle Eloise Stokely and was a Geographer. Both of these sons had went to college for 4 years. Fred Sr. must have delivered a great number of newspapers.

Name:

Fred Lauterbach

Age:

Estimated Birth Year:

abt 1909

Gender:

Male

Race:

White

Birthplace:

Texas

Marital Status:

Married

Relation to Head of House:

Head

Home in 1940:

Kenedy, Karnes, Texas
View Map

Street:

Block 9

Farm:

Inferred Residence in 1935:

Brownfield, Texas

Residence in 1935:

Brownfield, Texas

Resident on farm in 1935:

Yes

Sheet Number:

Number of Household in Order of Visitation:

Occupation:

Georgrapher

House Owned or Rented:

Rented

Value of Home or Monthly Rental if Rented:

Attended School or College:

Highest Grade Completed:

College, 4th year

Hours Worked Week Prior to Census:

Class of Worker:

Wage or salary worker in Government work

Weeks Worked in 1939:

Income:

2400

Income Other Sources:

Neighbors:

View others on page

Household Members:

Name	Age
Fred Lauterbach	31
Myrtle E Lauterbach	26
Fred Augert Lauterbach	3

The 1953 City Directory of Houston, Texas has the family living on Cason St. Fred Jr. and Fred III, his son, a student, are both living with Fred and Jodie. Joseph Ingram Lauterbach, had evidently followed his parents to Riverside County, California, but did not follow them back. He is buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Beaumont, Riverside County.
Joe I Lauterbach

The above is a view of the town of Riverside, in Riverside County, California. The county is located in southern California, along the Santa Ana River, just an hour east of LA. At this point, it is not known what took the Lauterbach family to this area. Perhaps dreams or business, but whatever the dream, it failed them, as they retired back to Texas.

Jodie's husband, Frederick Augustus Lauterbach Sr. died May 3, 1962 in Houston, Harris County, Texas.

He was 87 and had heart disease.

Just a few years later, her second son, Fred, Jr. would die, on April 19, 1964, in Liberty, Texas.

He was 55 and also died of Coronary Heart Disease.

The Dallas Morning News reported in 1966 that a relative of the victim was sought. Did Josie have any relatives at the time? Her husband and two of her sons had passed. She did indeed.

Fred Jr and his wife, Myrtle Eloise Stokely Lauterbach had two sons, Fred III and Arthur Dan Lauterbach. They were 12 years apart in age.

Youngest son, Richard Forman Lauterbach was also still alive and living in California. He traveled a great deal, but settled finally in Penn Valley, California. He married Dorothy West and had 2 children, however, his daughter Linda passed away in 1945 at age 3. Shortly after, he and Dorothy would have a son named Guy. At the time of her death, Dorothy had one son and three grandsons living, and a few great-grandsons in infancy.

The Murder:

The descriptions in the various papers, of the murder, were bizarre and confounding.

The Dallas Morning News reported that they had had the murderer in custody on the night of the murder, prior to its occurance.

Jodie was 88, never a big woman, she was likely frail and helpless. One paper referred to her murder as the Molasses Murder. The Dallas Morning News stated that "Her body was smeared with food stuffs, including oatmeal, syrup, catsup and powdered coffee." The scene had been set by a very disturbed person. The home was destroyed, ransacked, papers and other objects thrown about. "Officers said canned foodstuff had been placed on the victim's body in the shape of a cross". Dallas Morning News.

The murderer was obviously distraught and religious, and possibly shamed. He turned photos to face the wall and placed religious objects all over the house.

The Advocate (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) reported that "Famed Attorney" Percy Forman had been hired to defend the murderer. Jodie was described as an "86 year old widow, whose body was left stretched on her kitchen floor in the shape of a cross." The murderers fingerprints were found "on objects near the molasses-covered body of Josephine Lauterbach. The woman was killed Friday in her three-bedroom home and foodstuffs were also smeared over her in the shape of a cross. Officers said they impounded Lucas' automobile and found a book of religion in it inscribed with such words as 'God is Love', and 'Ever Here and Never Changes'.

But who was this crazed killer? Why had he chosen the elderly Jodie Lauterbach?

The Dallas paper had called him a distant cousin. The Houston paper would repeat that error.
The article was brief. "Librarian Accused of Killing Kin Houston, TX. Aug 29 -(UPI)- Police filed murder charges today against a University of Houston librarian, accusing him of strangling a widow. The charge named James Hugh Lucas, 40, a distant cousin of the victim. Police say they found fingerprints on objects near the body of Josephine Lauterdale, 86. The woman was killed yesterday in her home. Police say they were looking for Lucas, who had been seen near the police station not long before a fingerprint check led to charges. Police impounded the automobile he had been driving."

The Baton Rouge article on the hire of Attorney Forman gave a bit more information on who James Hugh Lucas was. "Forman said Saturday that Mrs. Elise Cravey, 'a woman of very modest means' interrupted his dinner to ask that he represent her son." Forman agreed to take them as clients 'for the time being'.

James Hugh Lucas was a librarian at a University, giving hint that he had a college education. He had been obviously bothering people earlier in the day, as the police had been called, and he was arrested and released on vagrancy charges. The police did not know what they had in their hands. The article goes on to say that " Mrs. Cravey told him (officer) 'I tried to talk to my son Thursday night on the telephone and tried to talk him into going to the Veterans Administration Hospital for treatment'" and later, "quoted Mrs. Cravey as saying her son 'was very mixed up....having severe headaches."

The final depostion of the case revealed that Lucas was a paranoid schizophrenic and also that Jodie's arm had been "pinned to the floor with a knife." It also correctly identified Josie as his great aunt. James Hugh Lucus was sent to the state mental hospital.

So, how was James H. Lucas and/or his mother Mrs. Cravey, related to Josephine Ingram Lauterbach?

Above, I mentioned Josie was one of 3 daughters of Joseph A. Ingram and Martha Davis Ingram. Their oldest daughter was Nannie Stephens Ingram. Nannie had married Howell Blanton in 1886 and raised a large ranching family.

1 886 Abstracts from the Rusk County News, Rusk Co. Tx

Rusk County – "Abstracts from Rusk County News" Provided by John Dulin, Henderson, TX. ... Howell Blanton, on Sunday (Feb. 2 1st.) took for himself a wife ...

Howell and Nannie had 7 children, Persis, Joseph B. , Hermione Tewmey., Blanche Elise, Teller, Robert and Howell Jr.

Blanche Elise was the very middle child would become "Elise Cravey". First, she would marry James Wesley Lucas.

James W Lucas

Gender:

Male

Birth Year:

abt 1893

Birthplace:

Texas

Race:

White

Home in 1930:

Precinct 7, Nacogdoches, Texas
View Map

Marital Status:

Married

Relation to Head of House:

Head

Spouse's Name:

Elsie Lucas

Father's Birthplace:

Texas

Mother's Birthplace:

Texas

Occupation:

Education:

Military service:

Rent/home value:

Age at first marriage:

Parents' birthplace:

View Image

Neighbors:

View others on page

Household Members:

Name	Age
James W Lucas	37
Elsie Lucas	34
Sunshine Lucas	10
James H Lucas	4 [4 6/12]

In the 1930 census, James, who was from Rusk, was working as a lumber contractor and the family owned their home. They had two children, Marion Sunshine, b 1919 and James Hugh, b 1925. From all outside appearances, the family appeared to be very typical and normal for the era. Both children were sent to college and daughter Sunshine appears to have had a very happy life. James William Lucas lived to age 70, dying 3 years prior to the murder.

James Hugh would not marry. His sister Sunshine, however, went forth into the world with a glow.

Sunshine married Fred Wilkerson, Jr. a pipefitter for Gulf Oil Company Project. They had a son, and Sunshine outlived Fred by 24 years. She would remarry at age 81 to Thomas Floyd Hayes. The papers tell of her college achievements, her role as a beauty queen and her place as bride maid in the weddings of her cousins and friends. She died a well-like and well-rounded lady. But what happened to James Hugh?

Marian Sunshine Wilkerson Hayes: Newspaper Obituary and Death NoticeLongview News-Journal (TX) - Friday, October 3, 2008Deceased Name: Marian Sunshine Wilkerson Hayes

HENDERSON - Services for Marian Sunshine Wilkerson Hayes, 89, will be at 2 p.m. today, October 3, 2008, at Crawford-Crim-Bryan Funeral Home. Interment will follow in Lakewood Memorial Gardens. Mrs. Hayes died October 1, 2008, in San Antonio.

Born September 9, 1919, in Sacul, she was a former Miss SFA , member of Daughters of the American Revolution and longtime educator. Survivors include her son, James Fred Wilkerson Jr. Visitation will be from 1-2 p.m. today, prior to service

Elise Lucas Cravey did not share her daughters good fortune. The newspapers described her a being 'of modest means'.

Two years after the death of Mr. Lucas, Blanche married a man named Charlie Cravey. It was a year before the murder. She was 70. Blanche Elise would live to be 95. Charlie Cravey, somewhat younger than she, would outlive her by 4 years and live to be 94.

Records have James Hugh Lucas living at "Quiet Lane" in Houston, Texas in 1987. Either he was still in the Institution or released to live on a fitting street on medication.
He would die the same year as his stepfather, in 1994 and be buried in the Sacul Cemetery in Nacogdoches County, with his mother.

His military record describes him as 66 inches tall and 106 lbs when he enlisted for duty in WWII, lying about his age. A small man, and possibly a delicate one, he was not fit perhaps for the military, and while he physically survived, apparently mentally, he had not.

Descendants of Elise and her Aunt Jodie reside happily in Texas and California today, perhaps unaware of each other and perhaps ignorant of this horrific murder that tied them together as well as their family connections. What tripped in the mind of middle-aged librarian J. Hugh Lucas, to make him want to murder his elderly aunt will always remain a mystery.

↧

Mariah's Divorce

July 5, 2013, 3:04 am

≫ Next: The Short but Important Life of Peter Winfield II

≪ Previous: The Shocking Murder of Jodie Ingram Lauterbach, a Child of Job

Waiting on microfilm from Utah can be a timely, but rewarding, matter.

Earlier I had many posts on the 'Scarlett O'Hara' of my family tree, Mariah Booth Winfield Moffett/Maffett Booth. I had found her in Lawrence County, Alabama, where she had filed suit in a Civil action against her second husband and first cousin, Dr. George Washington Boothe. Both Mariah's mother Mary "Polly" Booth and G. W.'s father Harper Booth, were children of Thomas Booth of Mecklenburg County, Virginia.

The marriage was not a happy one. In the suit, Mariah had accused George of being a drunk, a gambler and a spend thrift, having his way with her slaves left to her by her father, Joel Winfield and grandfather, Lt. Joshua Winfield. She said his actions toward her, and her only daughter, Mary Ann Newland Moffett, were 'cruel' and 'indifferent'. Two years after the marriage, she had filed suit.

The suit and legal actions in court took place between 1838 and 1840. During this period, Mariah had turned guardianship of her affairs and property over to Robert Kernachan, her uncle by marriage, in neighboring Lauderdale County, Alabama. She had nearly every notable person in 3 or 4 counties to testify as to the misconduct of the good doctor, who promptly took off to Mississippi, after burying his mother Nancy Booth in Franklin County, Alabama, and settling in and around Itwamaba and Lee Counties in Ole Miss with his father, Harper and brothers John Fletcher and Thomas. His father seems to have owned property in 2 counties in Alabama and 4 in Mississippi.

Just a few years after, in 1842, for unknown reasons, Mariah turned her affairs over to another relative, John Nicholas Malone, after having been defended in court by her couisn, Vinkler Jones.

The papers had stated that a divorce was sought, but I had not been given a final date on the outcome.

Then arrived the microfilm. It can not be copied, as the machines are not set up for that at the Mormon Church, which graciously allows researchers to use their library and equipment, but it could be photographed. Through the glass is not the best shot, but there it was, the defining information.

Under the lists of Alabama divorces of that era, a misspelled "Marian Boothe" from George Washington "Boothe" January 21, 1843 Lawrence County.

Mariah recieved her divorce. Her freedom from tyranny would be short-lived however, as she would die in Limestone County, with the Malone family, before the decade was up.

Several ladies of her standing and in her family filed for divorce during that era. I had seen many within the Booth/Jones/Malone family on the divorce list. These independent Scarletts had the resources and gumption to "not take no crap', even in the early years of America.

John Booth and Lucy are listed just above her. This was probably John who married Lucy Gilliam Malone.

The story of Mariah does not end here. I will be returning to her shortly, and continuing with the saga of her daughter Mary Ann, and how their noted cousin, the great navigator and blockade runner, John Newland Maffet, Jr. sewed it all together.

↧

The Short but Important Life of Peter Winfield II

July 7, 2013, 12:36 pm

≫ Next: The Moods and Mores of Henry Davis

≪ Previous: Mariah's Divorce

Most people have overlooked the brief life and scarce records of young Peter Winfield. His appearance in the 1830 census of Montgomery County, North Carolina, they take it as a nod to his grandfather, Peter Winfield I, without realizing through the benefit of a timeline, that his grandfather, per land records and estate records that name a will, that must have burned in one of the many Montgomery County Courthouse fires, reveal that Peter Winfield, the

grandfather, died in 1802, before his grandson Peter was ever born.

Peter was the son of Peter Seniors only son Edward. The only son that lived to adulthood, perchance. There are no records of any other sons being born in Virginia prior to their journey to North Carolina.

Peter Winfield, son of Edward, and his wife Charlotte Freeman Winfield, daughter of Arthur and Agnes Freeman, had resided in Mecklenburg County, Virginia where their 4 known children were born; Edward and his 3 sisters, Sarah, Ancena (or Arena) and Virginia.

Peter appears to have traveled back and forth between Anson County, where he bought property along the Rocky River from Hugh Ross on April 7, 1787 near White Oak Branch. He also was named as a witness on deeds in Mecklenburg and Brunswick County, Virginia.

Edward, son of Peter and Charlotte and named for his paternal grandfather, was born about 1866 or 1867 in Mecklenburg County, Virginia. He married Sussannah Lee, the daughter of Robert Lee, Jr. and Argent Culpepper. The Lee's had also migrated from Virginia to Anson County along the Rocky and PeeDee Rivers.

The first census of the United States in 1790, shows Edward with one male over 16, one male under 16 and one female in his household. These figures would most likely represent Edward and wife Sussanah and their firstborn son, Arthur Freeman Winfield, named for Edwards maternal grandfather, Arthur Freeman.

Name:	Edward Winfield
Home in 1790 (City, County, State):	Anson, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 16:	1
Free White Persons - Males - 16 and over:	1
Free White Persons - Females:	1
Number of Household Members:	3

By 1800, the family had grown considerably.

Edward Winfield
Home in 1800 (City, County, State):	Fayetteville, Anson, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 10:	1
Free White Persons - Males -10 thru 15:	1
Free White Persons - Males - 26 thru 44:	1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 10:	1
Free White Persons - Females - 26 thru 44:	1
Number of All Other Free Persons:	5
Number of Slaves:	3
Number of Household Members Under 16:	3
Number of Household Members Over 25:	2
Number of Household Members:	13

The adults between 26 and 44 would have had to have been Edward and Susannah. The male 10 to 15 would have been Arthur Freeman Winfield and the male under 10, John Winfield, second born son. The female under 10 would have had to have been only daughter Eliza.

John and Eliza are noted in a lawsuit in my earlier post: Whispers of Eliza Winfield Lilly .

Ten years later, the family had grown again. Slaves had increased from 3 to 13 and children from 3 to 4.

Name:	Edward Winfield
Home in 1810 (City, County, State):	Anson, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 10:	2
Free White Persons - Males - 16 thru 25:	1
Free White Persons - Males - 26 thru 44 :	1
Free White Persons - Females - 10 thru 15:	1
Free White Persons - Females - 26 thru 44:	1
Numbers of Slaves:	13
Number of Household Members Under 16:	3
Number of Household Members Over 25:	2
Number of Household Members:	19

Edward and Sussanah are still between 26 and 44. Arthur Freeman Winfield between 16 and 25 and John and third born son Peter under 10. John, born in 1800, was a newborn during the 1800 census, and was still counted as under 10 in 1810, but probably had just turned 10. Peter, next to the youngest had been born.

The 1820 cenus of Anson County lists Edward "Edw" and Freeman Winfield next to each other. The image can be pulled up on ancestry. com, but is not transcribed. It also exists in the book "1790-1840 Census of Anson County, North Carolina". Edward was no males under 10 in his household. The next category is 10 to 16, he has one. The next category is 16 to 26. He has one. The next category is over 26, he has 2. For females, he has one 10 to 16 and one over 26. The youngest male would be youngest son Milton. The one 16 to 26 would have been Peter. The two over 26 would be Edward and second son John. The female 10 to 16 would be Eliza and the one over 26, Susannah.

Freeman had married Mary Burroughs, daughter of Bryan Boroughs and Sarah Waddell in 1818. This is important in the brief life of Peter II.

The 1820 shows Freeman with just 2 adults, himself and wife Mary or Polly, and the oldest of their daughters having been born.

This would have been Susan Lee Winfield, born 1819.

Freeman Winfield
Home in 1830 (City, County, State):	Anson, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - 30 thru 39:	1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 5:	3
Free White Persons - Females - 5 thru 9:	1
Free White Persons - Females - 10 thru 14:	1
Free White Persons - Females - 30 thru 39:	1
Slaves - Males - Under 10:	5
Slaves - Males - 10 thru 23:	1
Slaves - Males - 24 thru 35:	1
Slaves - Females - Under 10:	5
Slaves - Females - 10 thru 23:	3
Free White Persons - Under 20:	5
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49:	2
Total Free White Persons:	7
Total Slaves:	15
Total - All Persons (Free White, Slaves, Free Colored):	22

By 1830, Freeman had 5 daughters and 15 slaves. Freeman served in the War of 1812. He was a Quarter Master Sergeant. As thus, he qualified in the Alabama land lottery, and relocated his family to Perry County, Alabama. He is shown as obtaining 6 land patents near the community of Sprott between 1835 and 1837. He likely traveled with relatives, William Boroughs and Thomas Billingsley, among others.

By 1830, Susannah had passed and father Edward was living with only youngest son Milton Winfield, who would own property in both Anson and Stanly County, and marry Mary Ann Pickler, a German girl, and remain childless. Milton would be the last Winfield in the area, except for the sons of Peter. His widow would marry first cousin, Marriott Freeman Davis.

Name:	Edward Winfield
Home in 1830 (City, County, State):	Anson, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - 20 thru 29:	1
Free White Persons - Males - 50 thru 59:	1
Slaves - Males - Under 10:	3
Slaves - Males - 10 thru 23:	4
Slaves - Males - 24 thru 35:	3
Slaves - Males - 36 thru 54:	3
Slaves - Females - Under 10:	4
Slaves - Females - 24 thru 35:	3
Slaves - Females - 36 thru 54:	2
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49:	1
Total Free White Persons:	2
Total Slaves:	22
Total - All Persons (Free White, Slaves, Free Colored):	24

On November 14, 1822, thirty year old John M. Winfield started his own family by marrying Eliza Beard, daughter of Micheal Beard of Rowan County. Her brother John Beard would also join the family by marrying the Winfield's cousin Annabelle Morrison, daughter of Ancena Winfield, Edwards sister.

John remained in North Carolina most of his life, but would migrate to Pope County, Arkansas in the 1850's, while he was in his 50's. John and Eliza had 10 children.

1830 was the only census Peter would be in as head of his own household. He is shown with a wife and two little boys under 5 in his household, and 6 slaves. He was a farmer and lumberman. His plan was to float lumber down the river to South Carolina. He was shown as living in Montgomery County, meaning he lived in what is now the Stanly County side of the Rocky River.

Name:	Peter Winfield
Home in 1830 (City, County, State):	Montgomery, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 5:	2
Free White Persons - Males - 20 thru 29:	1
Free White Persons - Females - 20 thru 29:	1
Slaves - Males - Under 10:	2
Slaves - Males - 10 thru 23:	1
Slaves - Females - Under 10:	1
Slaves - Females - 10 thru 23:	2
Free White Persons - Under 20:	2
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49:	2
Total Free White Persons:	4
Total Slaves:	6
Total - All Persons (Free White, Slaves, Free Colored):	10

Peter had went to Randolph County to find his bride.

ame:	Peter Winfield
Gender:	Male
Spouse:	Polley Goldston
Spouse Gender:	Female
Bond Date:	7 Nov 1825
Bond #:	000115195
Level Info:	North Carolina Marriage Bonds, 1741-1868
ImageNum:	002999
County:	Randolph
Record #:	01 299
Bondsman:	Bryan Boroughs

Bryan Boroughs was the bondsman. Bryan was the father of Peter's sister-in-law, Mary Burroughs Winfield, wife of his older brother Freeman.

Polly, whose Christian name was Mary, as many Mary's were called Polly instead, was the daughter of Thomas Jefferson Goldston and Lydia Waddell. If you recall, Bryan Burroughs was married to Sarah "Sally" Waddell. Both were daughters of Edmund Waddell and Lucy Birdsong. Both families made important marks in Virginia and North Carolina history. Edmund Waddell was a member of the 1788 Ratification Commitee, fought in the Revolutionary War, serving as a Lieutenant and was a State Senator from North Carolina between 1793 and 1798. His wife Lucy, was the daughter of Major John Birdsong and his wife Mary Armstead. Major Birdsong was a member of the Provencial Congress, Served as sheriff of Chatham County, a Member of the Assemby, and a member of the House of Commons, among other offices and honors.

So Mary Bouroughs Winfield's mothers Sarah "Sally" Waddell Bourgouhs and Mary "Polly" Goldston Winfields mother Lydia Waddell Goldston, were sisters. That is how Peter found his wife from Randolph County. Family connections were of great importance in those days.

The Goldston or Gholston family was centered in Chatham county, North Carolina, not far from the counties of Moore, Montgomery and Randolph.

There is even a small town named for the family.

Chatham is a mostly rural county, but a very early, political county in North Carolina. Many families of central N. C. camped out in Chatham before spreading out. It's green, hilly and full of grand old homes that have been abandoned as citizens have left for larger venues that Chathams small towns.

Some times important things can be found while looking for something entirely different. While attempting to find information on Mary A. Davis, daughter of Henry Davis and wife Martha Palmer, my great, great, great grandparents whom I have been concentrating on recently, I came across these little gems in a book on excepts from The Carolina Watchman, an early Salisbury, Rowan County, Newspaper.

Death Notices: Peter Wintfield, aged about 27, Aug. 23 1830, on Rocky River in Rowan County. (Sept 7, 1830 issue).

Note: The Rocky River does not flow through Rowan County and did not at that time either. They likely meant Montgomery County as Stanly did not yet exist. It does also flow through Cabarrus County, but the Winfield family did not live in this area.

The Rivers connected the early families of North Carolina and the rivers were also the cause of death as many people attempted crossing or in transporting goods and animals up or down them. Rivers became common county boundaries to prevent death while attempting to get to the county courthouse, as in the case of the split between Montgomery and Stanly County, NC in 1841.

Chatham County Courthouse

The Carolina Watchman also mentioned the marriage of brother John Winfield to Eliza Beard in 1822, as her family hailed from Rowan County. Other marriage of notes were those of the Crump sisters, a family closely associated to the Davis's and Winfields:

Miss Ann Crump to William Allen 1835
Miss Camiline Crump to Newberry F Hall 1840
Miss Caroline Crump to Shepherd Lee 1840

Note: Shepherd Lee was the son of William "Rocky River Bill" Lee and Rosa Crump. Also, a relation of Sussanna Lee Winfield and Rowena Lee Davis, wife of James M. Davis, Sarah Winfield Davis's son.

Another interesting marriage I found announced in this paper was that of Bethany Delamothe to Willis Morgan in 1839. This couple was feature in my post: Jobs Children: Bethany.

As a lesson hard learned, always remember to record your sources when researching your family history. I have stacks of papers from years past of looking into the Winfields', are they were one of the first families I dug into very thoroughly. I remember finding in some old record, of Peter Winfield being killed in a logging accident. It did not mention his age, or give his date of death, as the newspaper article did. The age of 27 also synchs his year of birth.

Peter's life was short but important. Every current Anson County Winfield is descended from him. Freeman moved his family to Alabama and John to Arkansas. Milton died childless as his wife was barren. Peter was the only one to leave descendants along the Rocky River. He and Mary had two sons. Those two sons were John Peter Winfield and Willilam Winfield.

In 1833, 3 years after her husbands death, Mary Polly Goldston Winfield married a farmer and minister, John Richardson Barber. Mary had been a young bride, only 16 when marrying Peter Winfield. She was also a young widow, only 22 when Peter died, and 25 when she married John Richardson Barber.
John R. Barber was a farmer, but also performed many marriages. He may have even taught at Brown Creek Church, where the family is buried. After having 2 sons with Peter Winfield, Polly and Rev. Barber had 8 children of their own. The Barbers are another post.

Since Peter died while Stanly was still Montgomery and Montgomery is a "Burnt County", his estate records do not exist that is known. Mary and sons probably inherited whatever propery he had accumulated, as both Mary and sons are seen in later census records as owning slaves.

Name:	John Barber
Home in 1840 (City, County, State):	Anson, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 5:	2
Free White Persons - Males - 10 thru 14:	2
Free White Persons - Males - 15 thru 19:	1
Free White Persons - Males - 30 thru 39:	1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 5:	2
Free White Persons - Females - 30 thru 39:	1
Slaves - Males - 10 thru 23:	2
Slaves - Females - Under 10:	1
Slaves - Females - 24 thru 35:	1
Persons Employed in Agriculture:	4
Free White Persons - Under 20:	7
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49:	2
Total Free White Persons:	9
Total Slaves:	4
Total All Persons - Free White, Free Colored, Slaves:	13

The 1840 census shows the John Barber residence with 7 children. This would include John Peter Winfield , William Winfield, Lydia and Sarah Barber, Robert Barber and James Barber, born in 1840.

Name:

John R Barber

Age:

Birth Year:

abt 1806

Birthplace:

North Carolina

Home in 1850:

Dumas Shop, Anson, North Carolina

Gender:

Male

Family Number:

1024

Household Members:

Name	Age
John R Barber	44
Mary Barber	42
William Winfield	21
John Winfield	20
Peter Hight	20
Lydia A Hight	16
Robert Hight	14
Sarah Hight	11
James Hight	9
George Hight	7
Sydney High	5
Walter High	2

The 1850 census shows the young Winfield men still living with their mother and stepfather. A Peter High was living with the family and the transcriptionist incorrectly listed the Barber children as "Hights". Peter was the son of Benjamin High and Polly Richardson High, a relative of John R. Barber. The High family of Anson are also tied into the Davis family later on.

Name:

John R Barber

Age in 1860:

Birth Year:

abt 1807

Birthplace:

North Carolina

Home in 1860:

Wadesboro, Anson, North Carolina

Gender:

Male

Post Office:

Wadesboro

Value of real estate:

View Image

Household Members:

Name	Age
John R Barber	53
Mary Barber	51
William Winfield	30
Robert Barber	23
James Barber	20
George Barber	18
Sidney Barber	15
Walter Barber	11
Mary Barber	7

1860 finds William Winfield still living with his mother and stepfather, but brother J. P. has gotten married.

ame:

John P Winfield

Age in 1860:

Birth Year:

abt 1830

Birthplace:

North Carolina

Home in 1860:

Diamond Hill, Anson, North Carolina

Gender:

Male

Post Office:

Wadesboro

Value of real estate:

View Image

Household Members:

Name	Age
John P Winfield	30
Susan Winfield	25
Edward Winfield	8
William Winfield	5
John Winfield	2

In 1851, at age 19, John Peter Winfield married a young lady with a considerable family history and a long southern name "Sussanah Sarah Virginia Liles". The Liles were one of the leading families of Anson county, founding the town of Lilesville. Susan was the daughter of Jesse Liles and wife Eleanor Dumas McClendon. The Dumas and McClendons were also Anson county royalty, along with the Wades, the Walls, the Ingrams, the Flakes, the Lilly's, the Burns, the Kikers and the Thomas's. And the small, but affluent Winfields.

In 1860, the oldest 3 of the 4 sons of John Peter and Susan were born. In all the 4 were: Edward, William Liles, John Goldston, and Robert Jesse. These 4 would be the source of all the current Winfields in Anson. John Peter, like his father before him, would not live a long life. He would die in the Civil War. His widow would marry a Thomas and his brother would also die young, and without issue. The tale of John Peter and his sons are another post. But without the short life of Peter Winfield II, no Winfields would be found in these parts today.

↧

The Moods and Mores of Henry Davis

July 12, 2013, 10:47 am

≫ Next: Lost Children born in Shades of Gray

≪ Previous: The Short but Important Life of Peter Winfield II

Henry Davis was the Grandfather of my Great-Grandfather, William Hampton Davis. He was also the oldest son of Job Davis. He was a man of many moods and many stories. We have little actual documentation with which to make a conjecture on the why he was the way he was, just documentation of his deeds, and old family stories passed down concerning his behavior.

What is evident about Henry is that he was had a big personality and something changed drastically in his life and in his mind, between 1842 and 1862.

Henry Davis was born in 1806 on the Davis plantation along the Rocky River below Cottonville, Stanly County, NC. The plantation was part of the old Winfield plantation, his mother Sarah's share of it, and Job, his father, had added to it with grants and purchases over the years. Deeds and other documents show a Ford across the river at the southernmost end of the plantation, a border along Rocky River Springs, a Gold mine on the property, and a mill.

Henry was Job's oldest son, but the fifth child of his mother. Little is known of his character and comings and goings until Stanly County was established in 1842, and Henry shows up in the very first lines of records.

One mention of Henry prior to this date is in the records of Cabarrus County, North Carolina and the establishment of Olivet United Methodist Church. The Davis's and connecting families, Howells, Winfields, Floyds etc., were all members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The 1833 document in which Elizabeth Patterson transfers title of a piece of property to the Trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Montgomery County, NC, list Henry Davis as a Trustee. He would have been 27 years of age. What is now Stanly, was part of Montgomery County between 1799-1842. Prior to that, it was part of Anson.

The following is an excerpt from the History of Mt. Olivet United Methodist Church "The Coming of the Methodists"

On 8 August 1833, Elizabeth Patterson transferred five acres of land to a number of Trustees prominent in Stanly County Methodism: “Wyatt Randle, Benjamin Hinkle, Henry Davis, Allen Huckaby, Edwin C. Smith, James Barker, Donald McMichan, William Caswell, Trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church Trustees in trust all of the County of Montgomery . . . .” (Cabarrus County Deed Book 14 at page 53) Curiously, Elizabeth Patterson conveyed the same property again in 1858 to Trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and referred to the church as Union Meeting House. The conveyance might be explained by the 1844 division of the Methodist Church over the slavery issue into a northern and southern church. The church members may have wanted to be certain that they held title to their church in proper form. That there was a church early on the land is confirmed by a deed from Elizabeth Patterson to John Hileman in 1839, referring to a corner of the "meeting house land." (Cabarrus County Deed Book 22 at pages 285 and 409)

Link to History of Mt. Olivet United Methodist Church.

So, early in life, Henry was known as a good Methodist. By the time his mother died in 1856, her Obituary in the Southern Christian Advocate admitted she had born and raised 8 children, and all except one were outstanding members of the Methodist Church community. That one was Henry.

A report on the Palmer family of Stanly County, that Henry had married into, gives a few glimpses into his later personality. It reads "Evidentally, Henry was a colorful character. Public records indicate that he had more than one run in with the law, including court appearances for assault and battery and affray. .......the fall term of 1846 states "The Jurors for the State present upon their oaths Henry Davis for an assault upon Archibald C. Freeman (Esq.) and also disturbing of wedding guests at James Palmers on 3rd day of September 1846". The Palmer history goes on to suggest that it may have been Henry's own wedding to James Palmer's daughter Martha. This could not have been the case. Henry and Martha were originally good Methodists and would not have had over half of their children before they married. 1846 was the year that my great, great-grandfather Hawk Davis was born and Henry and Martha had had 5 other children before then: Nancy, Sarah, Hampton, Martha and Mary.

It might have been the wedding of Martha's younger sister Sallie who married Richmond Gage Davidson (RGD) Pickler. RGD Pickler's sister, Mary Ann would marry first, Henry's first cousin, Milton Winfield, then after Milton's death, his youngest brother Marriott Freeman Davis.

I decided to check the book," Abstracts of the Minutes of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions of Stanly County 1841-1850." This book was abstracted and edited by Helen Lefler Garner and published by the Stanly County Genealogical Society in 1991. Henry Davis appears on nearly every page. Perhaps the breakdown of these 9 years will show a progression in the degression of Henry Davis.

Some of the records are just where he is standing bond for someone or the other to hold office, or of another sort. Those I will not repeat. Some show his standing in the community as in the first entries of the February session, 1841.

William Swaringen, Edmund F Lilly, Eldridge Parker, Henry Davis, Joshua Hearne, Jacob Austin, Richmond G. Snuggs, James Allen, and John F. Stone Assembled at the house of Mrs. Nancy Hearne near house of Eben Hearne on 2nd Monday in February AD 1841.

Eben Hearne appointed sherriff. Henry Davis one of the securities.

Henry Davis and Eldridge Parker appointed Rangers.

Tuesday, Feb 9. 1841 Henry Davis present in the committee, deemed an esquire.

Judges and Managers for Congressional election and next August election appointed were:
District 8 - Henry Davis, James Crump and John T. Easley.

P 15 Henry Davis, Michael Fesperman, David Kendall appointed Commissioners of public buildings.

May 1842
Following appointed to superintend and manage election for members of General Assembly in their respective districts on March 11 next: District 8: Henry Davis Esq., James Crump, John Easley.

May 10 "His worship" Henry Davis, present in court.
The Stanly County Courthouse

James Palmer appointed Coroner (Henry's father-in-law). Gave bond of $2000 with Henry Davis, Mathias Moose, J. R. Hargrave securities.

Henry Davis, Esq. , ranger, returned the following" a yearling by Jacob Little valued at 7 April 1842- $4.

August Session, 1842

Edward W. Davis elected sheriff for Stanly County, he entered into bond and security and qualified. Job Davis, James M. Davis, Henry Davis, Eben Hearne, Parham Smith, and Joshua Hearne, securities for sheriff's bond. (among those names, 3 of the 4 brothers and their father, Job Davis).

November Session 1842, Henry Davis, among Justices of the Peace.

Land sold for taxes due for 1840 and 1841 at Courthouse:
Henry Davis listed 4 times: $1.45, $1.80, $2.17, $3.30.

May 1843

Henry Davis among men appointed commissioners to revise jury box.

Henry Davis, esq., appointed for District 8 to take list of taxable property.

February 1844 Among "their worships" present for court: Henry Davis.

May 1844 Same

Also in 1844, present for all sessions. Again went bond for brother E.W. Davis as sheriff.

Nov 1844, Henry Davis on Committee with Myrick Harward, James Crump and Josiah Floyd to allot Margaret Efird, widow of George Efird, her years provision (Efird spelled Eford in the book. The family is now all known as Efird.)

May 1845 Again, elected Magistrate for District 8.

Gave bond with his father-in-law James Palmer as coroner.
Gave bond again for his brother as Sheriff.
On committee to settle estate of Michael Shoffner.
On committee to settle estate of Jones Green.

Went bond with others for Davidson Hearne to serve as Clerk of Court.

May 1846. Gave a report as a ranger to the following strays: Jeremiah Adderton, one stray sow $2, Richard Carter, one stray sheep $1, John H. Treadwell, one stray sow and pigs $4.

Nov 1846: Deeds: Timothy Ragsdale to Henry Davis, Thomas Rice to Henry Davis

The incident at the wedding took place in September of 1846. To his credit, Henry wasn't the only person to be involved in an incident of affray or assault with A. C. Freeman. Old Archibald seemed to be a regular combatant. The old records are rife with tails of them. But it was in this era that things seemed to have taken a downturn for Henry. I have many old court papers buried somewhere from earlier research, that I will one day drag out and peruse for further information. But the Good Methodist, the Justice of the Peace, the Magistrate and the Ranger Henry around this time changed and his life with it. 1846 was the year his son and my ancestor, Horton H. Davis was born.

May session 1847 "Office of Ranger held by Henry Davis being vacated in consequence of his removal, Daniel Efird being appointed in his stead. "

Next session of court, he was still present as a Justice.

November 1847 Deed for 50 ac. from Henry Davis to Joshua Hearne proved by Edmund Almond and ordered to be registered. This was the transaction mentioned in my post:Henry Davis - Martha Mason case

Feb 1848 : Listed as Juror,

Serving as security for Clerk of Court candidate Col. David Kendall (former brother-in-law).

August Session 1848
Henry Davis fined $25 for disorderly conduct and for disturbing the court, ordered in custody of sheriff until fine is paid. Remitted. This must have been an embarrassing situation for the family as the sheriff was his younger brother, Edward Winfield Davis.

State vs. Henry Davis - called and failed to appear. Judgement Nisi.

August 1848: Present in court as a Justice. ??

Feb 1849. State vs Henry Davis guilty. Ordered into court until fine and costs are paid. Fined 5 cents. Ordered by court that Henry Davis be fined $5.00 for Contempt of Court, which fine was subsequently submitted. Evidentally, my old ggg- Grandpa did not like being brought to court that day. He was about 43 years of age by then, and his alchoholism, if that was indeed and most likely the problem, was setting in. Albemarle was full of "grog shops". In just one session in 1848, the court had issued licenses to sell 'spirituous liquors' for a year to 3 different vendors, Joseph Marshall, Henry Marshall and Newton Howell, all of whom Henry had a relationship or kinship. The Marshalls had a close relationship with the Winfields, his mother's family, from Virginia on down. His mother's first husband had been a Howell.

Henry's condition had evidentally gotten much worse by this time:

Feb 1849 Edward W. Davis-exparte- Petition as to Henry Davis, - lunacy- Henry Davis found incapable from mutual infirmity to transact ordinary business of life. Ordered that a writ issued to sheriff to summon a Jury to inquire into the state of Henry Davis's mind and sheriff to report to court. Whereupon Edward W. Davis, James M. Davis, Merriott F. Davis and Benjamin Ivy entered into bond of $2000. All of those listed were his brothers, except for Mr. Ivy and his reason for involvement is unknown.

Aug 1849 State vs Henry Davis. Bond of $100 given by Henry and E. W. for his appearance.

Feb 1850 State vs Henry Davis Assault and Battery. Submitted and fined 1 cent.

There is a second book on Stanly County court sessions;"Abstracts of Minutes, Stanly County Court of Equity (Superior Court)." Henry is only in this book in one instance.

March 1853 E. W. Davis v James Davis, Henry Davis et all Judgement pro confesso against Defendants. Set for hearing ex parte with leave to take testimony.

This lawsuit probably had something to do with the settlement of the state of their father Job, who died in 1852. 1852 was also the year of birth of Henry's youngest child, Margaret Victoria Davis.

For all the cause and circumstance of Henry's downfall, he, with his sons, had enough wherewithall to fight in the Confederate Army in the Civil War. Henry Davis died of disease during service on June 7, 1862 at the age of 56.

↧

Lost Children born in Shades of Gray

July 14, 2013, 7:51 am

≫ Next: The Father of Rowena Lee Davis

≪ Previous: The Moods and Mores of Henry Davis

This photo is one from Louisiana and the caption was a confusing one. These little girls were born into slavery. They obviously don't fit the stereotype that we, in our age, would imagine for slave children. I chose this photo to illustrate this post of Stanly County, North Carolina who were born in "Shades of Grey". These girls, however, probably came into the world in the most imagined way of 19th century racial mixing. They were born to mothers who were slaves. Louisiana was notorious for a mix of persons who were multi-racial and then the multiracial daughters became the most sought after consorts for wealthy men who kept separate families from their generic ones, until, after a few generations, the children showed no trace mixed heritage, but appeared completely Caucasian.

A mixed-race family that worked on a tobacco farm.

The children of Stanly County came a different route, one not popularly touted by persons interested in mixed-race studies, or by African-Americans to explain the occurrences of lighter colors of hair, skin, or eyes in their families. They came from a source that is common today, but not thought of as having existed during the 19th century, or prior to the Civil War, in particular.

While reading the Abstract of the Minutes of the Court of Pleas and Quarters of Stanly County, 1841-1850, in search of mention of my Third Great-Grandfather, Henry Davis, I found several mentions of children brought to court to be bound out, that had captured my attention. How did these children come into existence, I wondered, and what became of them? Certainly some of them grew up. Did they marry and have descendants? Did they head out west never to be heard from again? And, if they married and had families, who did they marry? What would their descendant look like today?

The number of entries were astounding. More than a dozen families were identified. The Murrays were one in my own family tree. Mariah Murray had died leaving 7 children identified as mulatto. While Mariah's siblings and parents were identified as white, her children were identified as mulattos. In research, I had found the course of 2 of her children, Albert and Lydia Adeline. Those two had taken similar courses, at first, but then divergent. Albert and Lydia Adeline had both moved to Cabarrus County, North Carolina, after being released from the state of being 'bound' to intact families in order to learn a trade. Often, the only trade these children learned were to be labored to death. Sometimes, 'bound' children became members of the family, however, and treated as one of the 'borned' children.

Albert and Lydia Adeline lived near their mother's sister Sophia, who had married Nelson Samuel Whitaker. Albert married his cousin, Mary Ann Whitaker, daughter of Nelson S. and Sophia. In one census, living right next door to her parents, both Albert and Mary Ann, with the first of their children, were identified as black, while her parents and siblings were identified as white, and that was a 'taint' that Albert had ran from. With the names and ages of the children matching, knowing I had the right Albert and Mary Ann Murray, I had traced the family to South Carolina, where they had moved around between counties a bit, Albert buying a farm in Chesterfield county, and his family being considered white. In the records, Albert had identified his mother as 'Mariah Murry' and his father as an unknown man named Henry Wilkerson.

His sister Lydia Adeline had two children named John and Jenny. On John's two marriage licenses and on Jenny's one, both identified their father as a man named Pink Carpenter and their birthplace as Stanly County. I found Pink Carpenter, a young white man, who lived near Lydia Adeline when she was still a 'bound' teenager. She was in her early teens when her two children were born and Pink Carpenter died a young man. She would marry a man named Adam Faggott in Cabbarrus County, who was not a white man, being identified in different records as mulatto or black, but by then, she was older and they would have no children together. Albert died a white man, his sister died a black woman.

Further research showed that the Murrays were of Scottish and Native American decent, so they were not entirely white, and the Native American part of them was not pure, but instead, tri-racial, having mixed for generations with both British Isles and African descended persons.

Priscilla Murray Aldridge, my second-great grandmother, and sister of Mariah and Sophia, had an illegitimate child after the death of her husband Garner. This child was the daughter of a man with the surname "Love", whose family was labeled mulattoes, but were free prior to the Civil War. The area, in which they lived in 1850 was 50% labeled such a way and Richmond county history has them as "Croatans" that had came from neighboring Scotland and Robeson Counties to work in the turpentine industry. Today, the Croatans are known as Lumbee.
Washington, District of Columbia. Group in front of Christian Commission storehouse

Washington, District of Columbia. Group in front of Christian Commission storehouse

This is concerning the other persons listed in the records, other than the Murrays, however.

The children I found, were mentioned in the earliest pages of these records. If I go through the entire book, I am sure I might find more.

The term "bind" was meant to mean, "to indenture as a servant." Some poor persons who could not afford their children, had them bound out themselves, in order for the child to learn a trade and to alleviate the parent of the burden of care and education of the child. However, most bound children fell into one or two categories. One, orphans, or half-orphans. Mothers were not so much allowed care of the children on their own. Women in the 19th century had no rights and little right to property and few prospects of careers or self-support. They had to rely on fathers, husbands and later sons or sons-in-law, or even perhaps, brothers, uncles or nephews. Women who were widowed often attempted to marry relatively soon, often to much older men, in order to keep their family together.

Orphaned children who were set to inherited property were often appointed guardians and caretakers, instead of being bound, who would readily take them on to control the benefits of the property. Children who were not heirs would be bound to intact families as servants or apprentices.

Two, illegitimate children. When county officials learned that unmarried women had children, they would order that these children be brought into court, no matter the race, to be bound out. Prior to the Civil War, children born into slavery would just became slaves, and were not the concern of the courts unless being sold or as part of an estate settlement.

The children brought to court to be "bound out", were freeborn children, whether white or otherwise.

These entries are from the Stanly County court soon after its inception in 1841:

May Session, 1841

Allen Melton, a boy of color, aged 18, to be bound to William Boysworth when he enters bond.

August Session, 1841

Sheriff to bring to next term of court:

Eliza, Whitson and Wincie, colored infant children of Tilda Shankle.
Robert, infant child of Polly Melton
Elbert, infant chile of Charlotte Melton
John E. Soloman, colored boy, now living with Edmund W. Lilly.

November session 1841, second day:

Indentures:
Eliza and Whitson Shankle were bound to William Biles
Winsey Shankle was bound to Truxton Kirk
Franklin Randle was bound to Edmund Lilly

Did any of these children show up later in these court records?

Yes, on an earlier page:
John W. Soloman, sheriff to bring to court next term to be bound out.

May Session, 1850

Edmund Lilly brought into court a free boy, Frank, son of Betsy Randle, bound to him as an apprentice and surrendered him to the court and bond cancelled except for $25 to be paid to boy Frank upon his arrival at age. Frank to be bound to W.H. Randle for balance of term of his Indenture upon his entering into bond to pay the boy $100 when he comes of age.

And later:
A free mulatto boy, Frank, son of Betsy Randle, previously bound to E.F. Lilly, now bound to W. H. Randle who enters into usual bonds with condition to pay Frank $100 upon his arrival at age.

Earlier:

November, 1841
Sheriff to bring into next court colored child , Franklin Randle, son of Elizabeth Randle (widow) to be bound out.

As for the Milton or Melton children:

Elisha H. Milton bound to William Boysworth, gave usual bond-filed. (recall that Allen Melton was also bound to William Boysworth).

Feb. Session 1846

Mary Caroline Melton bound to Benjamin Lindsey Whitley until she attain the age of 18- vide bond filed.

Nov. 1846 Margaret Melton bound to John Perry until she shall attain the age of 18 years.

Nov 1847 Henry Melton bound to John Perry who entered into bond and obligated himself to give said Henry Melton one suit of clothes and $10 when he shall have attained the age of 21.

Name:

Margaret Milton

Age:

Birth Year:

abt 1842

Birthplace:

North Carolina

Home in 1850:

Smiths, Stanly, North Carolina

Gender:

Female

Family Number:

703

Household Members:

Name	Age
John Perry	43
Margaret Perry	45
Lewis C Perry	22
Silva Perry	19
Caswell Perry	18
Margaret Milton	8
Henry Milton	6
Elizabeth Perry	70
Elizabeth Perry	85

Now, onward to discover who these children were exactly, how were they related to others persons of their surname in the county. Who was Tilda Shankle, Elizabeth "Betsy" Randle, Charlotte Melton and Polly Melton? How were the Melton children related to one another? Who was William Boysworth and John Perry, to whom they were bound. Was W.H. Randle related to Frank or his mother Betsy? Did these children disappear from records or can any of them be traced into adulthood?

Some of them could be found in the 1850 census. Others can not.

ame:

Elbert Melton

Age:

Birth Year:

abt 1825

Birthplace:

North Carolina

Home in 1850:

Albemarle, Stanly, North Carolina

Race:

Mulatto

Gender:

Male

Family Number:

839

Household Members:

Name	Age
Wm Volentine	31
Elbert Melton	25

Elisha Melton

Age:

Birth Year:

abt 1840

Birthplace:

North Carolina

Home in 1850:

Albemarle, Stanly, North Carolina

Gender:

Male

Family Number:

845

Household Members:

Name	Age
John F Stone	43
Nancy Stone	48
Mary H Stone	21
Lucy A Stone	17
Adam W Stone	16
Sarah C Stone	14
Damarias Palmer	16
Elisha Melton	10

Whitman Milton

Age:

Birth Year:

abt 1835

Birthplace:

North Carolina

Home in 1850:

Freemans, Stanly, North Carolina

Gender:

Male

Family Number:

156

Household Members:

Name	Age
Thos Biley	32
Caroline Biley	25
Martha Biley	4
Tistia Biley	2
Whitman Milton	15

me:

George Milton

Age:

Birth Year:

abt 1843

Birthplace:

North Carolina

Home in 1850:

Albemarle, Stanly, North Carolina

Gender:

Male

Family Number:

950

Household Members:

Name	Age
James Hinson	48
Nancy Hinson	47
Sarah Hinson	21
Adaline Hinson	19
Larry Hinson	16
George Milton	7
Margaret Hinson	5
Rebecca Hinson	3
Robert Blalock	50
Nancy Blalock	30

Name:

Franklin Randle

Age:

Birth Year:

abt 1832

Birthplace:

North Carolina

Home in 1850:

Centre, Stanly, North Carolina

Race:

Mulatto

Gender:

Male

Family Number:

Household Members:

Name	Age
Mathew J Waddill	29
Mary Waddill	24
Julia F Lilly	7
Cornelia Lilly	4
Franklin Randle	18

These were free-born non-white children born prior to emancipation. They were children almost ignored by current history. They were non-white children born to white mothers. A sector of the population wholy if not partially ignored by history. Children lost in shades of gray.

↧

The Father of Rowena Lee Davis

July 16, 2013, 2:57 am

≫ Next: The Troublesome Life of Robert Kernachan Jr.

≪ Previous: Lost Children born in Shades of Gray

I had made the mistake earlier in my research of the Davis family, of accepting already existing research as fact.

As Rowena Lee had married into the Davis family, with James M. Davis, the brother of my 3rd Great-Grandfather, Henry Davis, both sons of Job, and she was not a direct ancestor in my family tree, I had no reason to research further and had just accepted the popular opinion that she was the daughter of the renown "Rocky River Bill" aka William Lee.

However, this was wrong.

Stretching out my research of the Davis family has helped a great deal. My first discovery was the land left to Eliza Jane Davis from John Lee and witnessed by another Davis brother, E. W.

The Mystery of Eliza Jane Davis

I knew this girl had to be a member of the family and sought to determine exactly who she was. I determined that she was the oldest daughter of James and Rowena Davis.

While that document did not clarify the relationship between John and Eliza Jane, another I have discovered has. Certainly great-uncles and even complete strangers can transfer 'property' to someone, but between a Grandfather and Grandchild makes much more sense.

And he was her Grandfather. While Rocky River Bill and John Lee were certainly from the same 'set' of Lees. Brothers, I believe, John Lee was the father of Rowena Lee Davis. The will of James Lee mentions a grand-daughter named Rowena, but that Rowena was a good generation or two younger than our Rowena.

The document that proves this is from the Stanly County, North Carolina Register of Deeds, dated February 27, 1851.

"John Lee to James M. Davis
State of North Carolina

Know all men by these presents that I, John Lee of the County of Anson the state aforesaid for the natural love and affection which I have for my son in law James M. Davis of the County of Stanly and State aforesaid do give and bequeth unto him one negro woman named Lucy about forty years old also three negro boys, one by the name of Wade about twenty years old, one by the name of Tom about seventeen years old, one by the name of Jack about fifteen years old, to have and to hold as his own.......seal this 12th day of November 1850 in presense of Abraham Hinson, M. F. Davis.

John Lee (seal)
Stanly County, proved in court by the oath of Abraham Kimrea and ordered to be registered.
Registered the 27th of Feby, 1851 R. Harris clerk S. S. Stone Regr.

As distasteful as this document is, is it still a document of historical fact, and shows that John Lee was the father of Rowena Lee Davis, not his kinsman and probable brother, Willilam Lee. The following is a link to the will of Robert Lee, who mentions his beloved brother John Lee, as well as sons John and William, among others. As this will is from 1766, the John Lee above, father of Rowena was most likely John the son, not John the brother. John is such a common name as to be most annoying while doing research. There were far too many of them.

Will of Robert Lee from Angelfire, Benjamin Thomas research

These early families from the Rocky River are rampant through the blood of current generations of this area. If anyone knows more on the illusive Lee and Randle families of Virginia and then Anson and Montgomery Counties, please contact me.

↧

The Troublesome Life of Robert Kernachan Jr.

May 16, 2013, 8:00 am

≫ Next: Bob Two Part II: War and Amnesty.

≪ Previous: The Father of Rowena Lee Davis

Robert Thomas Kernachan II was born in Lauderdale County, Alabama in 1827. He was a young man with a great burden. Named for his uncle, and perhaps a further back relative, he was the son of Abraham Kernachan, who had arrived as a teen from Corrigan, Donegal, Ireland to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and had traveled first to Tennessee, where he probably arrived to the Colberts Reserve area of Alabama with a group, perhaps of Indian fighters in the wars with the Creek, and in 1822, claimed 22 patents in Lauderdale County, Alabama.

Robert Jr's father passed, his mother Martha W. Booth Kernachan married his like-named Uncle, and young Robert became the only male heir to a household of nearly 90 souls and a massive amount of land near Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

In the 1850 census, he is shown as living Next door to his Uncle Robert, by then a widower.

R T Kernahan
[Robert Thomas Kernachan jr]

Age:

Birth Year:

abt 1827

Birthplace:

Alabama

Home in 1850:

District 1, Lauderdale, Alabama

Gender:

Male

Family Number:

800

Household Members:

Name	Age
R T Kernahan	23

Robert I Kernochan
Spouse:	A E E Simmons
Marriage Date:	10 May 1854
County:	Lauderdale
State:	Alabama
Performed by Name:	S C Posey
Source information:	Jordan Dodd, Liahona Research

In 1854, Robert marries a relative, Ann Elizabeth Ellen Simmons. Ellen Simmons was the daugther of John J. Simmons and his wife Rebecca Ann Charlotte Jones. Recall that Rebecca A. C. Jones was mentioned in the will of Rebecca Booth Elliott, as her namesake niece. Rebecca was the sister of Robert T. Kernachan's mother, Martha Booth Kernachan, making Robert and Rebecca first cousins, and his wife Ellen, his first cousin once removed.

Robert had been a troubled young man before his marriage.

On April 2, 1847 he recieved a Grand Jury Indictment along with William H Key (Robert's son William Jones Kernachan would later marry Jenny Key) for Affray.

On April 12, 1853 #1047
State vs Robert T Kernachan
Assault with intent to commit murder.
Robert T Kernachan and William M Jackson gave bond of $1000.00

On April 23, 1855 #1047
State vs Robert T Kernachan
Indicted for assault with intent to murder - pleads not guilty. Jury found him guilty of an assault and battery-fine of $500.00 plus costs of suit.

It seems his uncle served on the jury, and several other jurors were neighbors and brothers-in-law.

Robert and Ellen had 3 sons in rapid sucession:

Robert T. Kernachan III in 1855
John Simmons Kernachan in 1857
William Jones Kernachan in 1859

And then came the war.

↧

Bob Two Part II: War and Amnesty.

May 20, 2013, 3:00 am

≫ Next: A Full View of the Tragedy in Tuscumbia

≪ Previous: The Troublesome Life of Robert Kernachan Jr.

In my last post, I made mention of the problematic early life of Robert Thomas Kernachan, Jr. born abt 1827 in Lauderdale County, Alabama.

Early Life of Robert Kernachan II

His father, Abraham, had died in 1833, when Robert was around 6 years old. Within a year, his mother had married his fathers younger brother, for whom he had been named, Robert T. Kernachan, Sr. Robert Sr., raised Robert Jr., his mother passing away while he was ending his teen years. Being the next to the youngest child, and the only son, a heavy burden was passed to Robert, Jr. and he did not wear it well.

While his father and uncle were born in Ireland and had traveled quite a bit, Robert Jr. was a Southern man, an Alabaman, raised in what luxury and wealth that time period had to offer. His father was one of the earliest landowners in the area and had built a large plantation. His uncle had added to the growth of the plantation, and had also built a mill, serviced by a railroad, and had bought stock in the growing industry of the railroads, and the cotton industry.

Cotton would continue to be an important substance in the family for years to come.

Robert Jr. was born into the affluence and attitudes of the time. It would be his undoing.

Robert Jr. was a veteran of the Civil War. He recieved amnesty from President Andrew Johnson and took the oath of amnesty in 1865.

The letter written by his attorney to the President states:

To His Excelllency Andrew Johnson
President of the United States

Sir

The undersigned respectfully states that he is a citizen of Lauderdale County, Alabama and as such is an applicant for relief from....your Excellency's proclaimation of the 29th of May, 1865. In behalf of his application begs leave to represent

1) That he is not under arrest by any authority for any offence whatsoever.......undersigned sole service....private soldier in February 1864 ....until paroled.

Remains of Fort Morgan after the War

2nd The undersigned did not order the taking of Fort Morgan or Mount Vernon....

The document then fades into illegibility. Certain words are discernible: charge with disloyalty, aided in shooting or hanging any person for real or supposed disloyalty to the Confederate States (I believe it is saying that he did not participate in this.)

The document continues for several pages and through the legalese seems to state that Mr. Kernachan was a loyal citizen, but not leader in any offense, but just a gentleman soldier who took up arms in the latter days of the fighting to defend his state and county. His Uncle Robert/Stepfather would have been much too old to fight and therefore was likely not at odds with the government, who probably confiscated a great deal of the younger Kernachans' property.

Fort Morgan site

Robert Jr. had been troubled before the war. He had gotten in several fights, charged with affray and even charge with attempted murder, of which he was found not guilty, but found guilty of the lesser charge of battery.

Mount Vernon arsenal

Afterwards, he was one of the many men in the South, who fell into depression and despair as their lives had been sent into a tailspin and turned upside down. The government was taking everything they had. They could no longer operate their farms and businesses, and could not see the end of the tunnel.

Native Americans take refuge at Mt. Vernon, Alabama

Robert Jr. did not live to see the end of the 1860's play out. On Friday, April 3, 1868 the Memphis Daily Avalanche of Memphis, Tennessee reported the following event in an article entitled ," The Tuscumbia Tragedy".

The Next Post will be about his murder.

↧

A Full View of the Tragedy in Tuscumbia

May 21, 2013, 2:35 pm

≫ Next: Ann Elizabeth Ellen Simmons Kernachan

≪ Previous: Bob Two Part II: War and Amnesty.

The year was 1868. No flags go up in the minds of people walking the earth today of any important events that happened that year. They may recall from history class a few things from earlier in the decade, but not 1868.

But 1868 was as tumultuous a year in American history as 1968 would be a century later. And it would be the events of this year and the few prior to it, that would lead to the tragic and untimely death of 40 year old Robert Thomas Kernachan II.

In 1865, Robert had been given a pardon for his part in the Civil War by then President Andrew Johnson. In 1868, on February 24, Andrew Johnson would be impeached. Johnson was the first President to be fully impeached by the House, however, the Senate would later offer him an aquittal.

Andrew Johnson was a stern looking man whose visage would never grace a form of American currency.

U. S. Grant would be elected President that year, but 1868 was one of the most firey and passionate years of the era of Reconstruction.
Large Photo

Three years earlier, in 1865, a Reconstruction government was set up in all of the former Southern states with the exception of Texas. Measures were taken to transform the slave-holding south into a land of equality and to sew the torn nation back together. The wide gap in the North and South did not heal quickly or fully, however. To this day, the rip still bears the scars and at times, she bleeds.

In the late 1860's, the gulf between the executive and legislative branches of the American Government were huge. Agencies like the Freedmen's Bureau and Civil Rights Bills were passed into existence, just to be stifled by acts known as "Black Codes" meant to keep the newly freed persons out of positions of power.

A Political Ad promoting the 15th Amendment

Alabama was as deep as the Deep South gets, and after the war, she had suffered as much desolation as any. How a family or individual fared depended on the situation they were in before the war, how diversified their sources of income, their station in life and what amount of human and material loss they had suffered during the war. Widows and orphans fared the worse, of course and newly freed slaves had immediate decisions to make based on survival, and no tools or adequate information on which to make them with.

Those who had little and knew how to survive with it, seemed to fare the best. They had nothing to take, so it was not taken and their lives changed little during the decade, if they did not lose a son or a father. If they did, then they fared much worse.

But for families like the Kernachans, their way of life was turned upside down, their material possessions were taken and taxed, their farms left to ruin and they became resentful, as any wealthy person is when it suggested that they share. Alabama was called 'The Heart of Dixie'. Her main export was cotton. And the Kernachans grew cotton.

In June of 1860, the Schedule 4, Productions of Agriculture for District Two, County of Lauderdale, Post Office, Florence, showed the following for Robert T. Kernachan:

Acres of Land: 980 improved, 1557 unimproved

Livestock: Horses 8, Asses and Mules 12, Milch (sic) Cows 7, Working Oxen 7, Other cattle 19, sheep 23, Swine 100.

Produce: Bushels of Wheat 190, Bushels of Rye 150, Bushels of Indian Corn, 2500, Ginned Cotton bales of 400 lbs each , Lbs of Wool 110.

This was not including crops in the field or the legacy in waiting of his Uncle/Stepfather Robert T Kernachan, Sr of whom Robert Jr was willed to be the only heir, but Robert Sr. would outlive Robert Jr by about a year and add a codicil to his will.

The 1865-1866 Tax list shows Robert Kernachan Sr, being taxed for a Buggy and Robert Kernachan Jr, being taxed for a Gold Watch and a Silver Plate, both living 12 miles west of Florence.

1865-1866 Tax List of Lauderdale County, Alabama

The District Three Tax List of Lauderdale County, for the month of December, 1865, showed Robert T Kernchan as Cotton 13 RTK, 4800 G's and Robert Kernahan, Sr as Cotton 23 RK, 9300 G's. Robert Jr. was taxed $96.00, while his uncle was taxed $184.00. While this does not seem like a lot of money in todays standards, think about how much a penny could buy in 1865...

1865 State Tax, Lauderdale County, Alabama

Robert T Honachan
[Robert T Kernachan]

Age in 1860:

Birth Year:

abt 1828

Birthplace:

Alabama

Home in 1860:

District 2, Lauderdale, Alabama

Gender:

Male

Post Office:

Florence

Value of real estate:

View Image

Household Members:

Name	Age
Robert T Honachan	32
A E Ellen Honachan	30
John S Honachan	3
William J Honachan	1
Rebecca A C Simmons	49
Salley Noel	76

The 1860 census had shown Robert T Kernachan (named mispelled by transcriptionist) with his wife Ellen, their 2 younger son (older son Robert the III had been sent off to school), Ellen's mother Rebecca Ann Charlotte Jones Simmons (her mother Judith Booth Jones was sister to Robert Jr.'s mother Martha Booth Kernachan), and his elderly aunt Sarah Booth Noel (Sarah, or Sallie as she was called first married William Norville in Mecklenburg County, Virginia and then married William Noel and migrated with a large section of the Booth/Jones family to Alabama, some via North Carolina, others via Tennesee, but all ending up in Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Franklin and Colbert Counties of Alabama), sister of his mother Martha and Rebecca's mother Judith.

The 1865 tax for Livestock and Produce had shown mother-in-law Rebecca A. C. Simmons as owning 2 horses valued at $150, but no such listing was shown for Sallie Noel. She likely died between 1860 and 1865.

The 1850 Slave Schedule had shown Robert Sr with 28 slaves between the ages of 6 months and 70 and Robert Jr. with 39 between the ages of 1 month and 50.

1850 Schedule, Kernachans

In 1840, Robert Sr. had commanded a household of 88 people, over 80 labeled as slaves. By 1850, he had dispersed many of them and their increase, to his 4 nieces and their spouses as well as his nephew Robert, Jr, as wedding gifts.

In 1850, Frances Harwood Jones, of Lauderdale County is shown with 22 slaves between the ages of 3 months and 51, widower of Eliza Kernanchan. His brother James Carey Jones, husband of Matilda B Kernchan, in Limestone County, is shown with 8 slaves between the ages of 11 and 50. He was more of a politician and businessman than planter. So was John Nicholas Malone of Limestone County, husband of Mary Lucy Kernachan, who is shown with 23 slaves between the ages of 2 and 70. The Williams abode, in Lauderdale County, who are buried at the Kernachan cemetery in Colbert, Mariah Kernachan and her husband, are shown with 18 slaves between one and 90.

In 1860 schedule has Robert Jr with 10 slaves between the ages of 35 and 60, all black, 11 between the ages of 19 and 30, 3 mulatto and 8 black, 11 between the ages of 8 and 15 1 mulatto and the rest black, and 15 under the age of 6, all black.

He was a Planter of the old south, where conservative meant tyranny and the old order. Robert, a son of the Old South, did not like change, did not like the new taxes, did not like the Government stepping in and taking what he felt belonged to him and ordering a change in his life and lifestyle. Robert was an angry man.

So the years between Robert Jr's pardon and amnesty in 1865 and 1868 had been filled with new government regulations, new taxation and confiscation of property, new offices and administrations being set up, his enormous property going largely untended, and Robert began drinking.

The impetus to his drinking was a Convention held at Montgomery, Alabama between November 5 and December 6, 1867. The following are the delegates from the Booth/Jones/Kernachans area of Alabama, Limestone, Lawrence, Lauderdale, Colbert, Franklin and Madison Counties:

Forty-First District: Thomas M. Peters (Lawrence), Benjamin O. Masterson (Lawrence)
Forty-Second District: Lafayette Robinson [B] (Madison), Andrew J. Applegate (Madison), Columbus Jones [B] (Madison)
Forty-Third District: James W. Stewart (Lauderdale), James T. Rapier [B] (Lauderdale), Daniel H. Bingham (Limestone)
Forty-Fourth District: William Skinner (Franklin), H. H. Russell (Colbert)

The Constitution of Alabama of 1868 was the document that led to the death of Robert Thomas Kernchan, Jr. of Lauderdale County, Alabama.

The Constitution of 1868

Name:	A B Collins
Race:	White
County:	Franklin
Census Year:	1866

A B Collins, the alledged murderer of Robert Kernachan, was shown living in Franklin County, Alabama in the 1866 state census.

The article in the Memphis Daily Avalanche speaks for itself. The article continues:

"were engaged in conversation in reference to the election in Arkansas upon the Constitution. Some one of the number remarked that the Constitution had been defeated. Collins, who was unacquainted with the gentlemen engaged in conversation, asked "from what source they had their information". He was answered "from the Memphis papers". Collins then said "the Constitution had been ratified by from two to three thousand majority." He was asked from what source his information came. He replied, "from Memphis POST." Mr. Kernachan then said to Collins: " You are one, I believe, who thinks a negro is as good, if not better, than a white man." Mr. Collins said: "I don't know; I am in favor of every man having his rights and keeping his place." Kernachan said: "If I had you out doors, I could clean you out." Some other conversation then took place between them in a low tone of voice, not heard by persons who sat next to Kernachan, when Kernachan was seen to draw his pistol As soon as he got his pistol nearly presented, Collins shot him; the ball entering the breast. As Kernachan was sinking, his pistol was fired, entering and passing through the table to the floor. No one seemed to be noticing Collins, and his movements were not seen until he was up and shooting. The room was filled with ladies and gentlemen at dinner. The parties were not acquainted with each other. Kernachan was so drunk that he made several efforts to get his pistol before he drew it. Collins made no effort to evade the difficulty, or to get out of the way of the pistol, fired and killed him. As soon as Collins fired he started for the door and left the house. He was arrested by J. B. Skidmore, Esq. in front of the hotel, and carried to the Court House, where he was placed in charge of the Sheriff, J. W. Ligon, Esq.

Joseph II. Sloss, Esquire, before proceeding to try the case, asked Collins if he had counsel, and being answered in the negative, and that he was unable to employ an attorney, appointed William Cooper, Esquire and Colonel L. B. Thornton to defend him. Alex. McAlexander, Esquire, the State Solicitor for this circuit, prosecuted the case. The Court, after hearing the evidence and arguments of counsel, ordered the prisoner to be discharged upon giving bail for his appearance to appear at the next term of the Circuit Court of Colbert county to answer unto the charge of manslaughter in the second degree, in the sum of fifteen hundred dollars. The Sheriff held him until Sunday morning and gave him every opportunity to obtain security; but upon his failure, took him to Florence jail for safe keeping , there being no jail in this county.

This terrible affair has cast a gloom over our city and Lauderdale county, and is another sad arguement against intemperance and carrying concealed weapons.

Mr. Kernachan leaves a widow and three children, besides a host of devoted friends, to mourn his sad and tragical death. "

In the 1865-1866 Tax Listing of Alabama, A. B. Collins of Tuscumbia is charge $25 in tax total, with $15 being income tax and $10 tax for being a physcian.

A B Collins, Physcian, Alabama Tax Records

Dr. A B Collins, the man who shot R T Kernachan, Jr, is shown on the Board of Regents of the University of Alabama in 1870, and other near years, as being of Lawrence County, Alabama.

University of Alabama Board of Regents

The University of Alabama was established in 1820.

His legal problems did not stop him from continuing on with his life. He married Miss Sarah Smith in Lawrence County, on August 18, 1868, just months after he shot Bob II. She must have been his second wife, as he is shown with a wife and two slaves in the 1840 census.

He was even elected to the school board the same year as he shot R. T. Kernachan.

The Huntsville Advocate
Contributed by klstacy_home

Description: District Convention in the Sixth Congressional Dist.;
Mass Meeting In Lawrence;
Grand Outpouring of the Masses;
6th Congressional Dist Convention

Date: January 17 1868

Newspaper published in: Huntsville, AL

Source: Library

Page/Column: Pages 1 & 2

================ Page 1, Column 5 =================
District Convention in the Sixth Congressional District
This body met in Moulton on the 8th inst. All the counties in the District were represented, except Limestone and Jefferson. Maj. T. M. Peters was chosen President; A. J. Ingle and Alex. Logan Vice Presidents; John S. Leach and S. G. Thomas Secretaries.
Upon motion a Committee on Nominations was appointed, consisting of the delegates from each county.
The Convention then adjourned until 2 ½ o’clock P. M.
Upon the reassembling of the Convention, the Committed on Nominations, reported the following, which were unanimously ratified to-wit:
For Congress in the 6th District, F. L. CRAMER.
For Board of Education, G. A. SMITH, A. B. COLLINS.
For Circuit Judge, JAMES S. CLARK.
For State Senator, FRANK W. SYKES.
The meeting was addressed by Messrs. Peters, Sheats, Snelling, and Smith, and adjourned amidst grate enthusiasm.
T. M. PETERS, President.
J. S. LEACH, S. G. THOMAS } Secretaries

Before you start thinking it well and good that Dr. A. B. Collins shot and killed the highly intoxicated, former confederate, hot-blooded Irish Planter Bob Kernachan II, it was not long before Dr. Collins was making the headlines in Southern newspapers again.

ABSTRACTS FROM LAWRENCE COUNTY ALABAMA NEWSPAPERS

1855-1890

Abstracted by

Myra Thrasher Borden

Friday August 6, 1869

HOMICIDE

We are pained to hear of another homicide at Courtland, which

originated, as we are informed, in the following manner: On

Saturday last Hon. Thomas HAUGHEY, a candidate for re-

election to Congress, was speaking in Courtland, and A.B.

COLLINS gave him the lie about something, and struck HAUGHEY

knocking him off his stand; soon afterwards a pistol was

fired and wounded Dr. HAUGHEY - from which he has since died.

We understand that before Dr. HAUGHEY died he made affidavit

that COLLINS shot him. COLLINS we are informed has fled.

Friday September 3, 1869

The preliminary trial of A.B. COLLINS, charged with the

murder of Thomas HAUGHEY, is now in progress at Courtland,

before Esquires W.J. GIBSON, D.L. DINSMORE, Thomas MASTERSON,

E.S. MASTERSON and J.T. THRASHER. The trial commenced last

week, was continued several days, and adjourned to Wednesday

of this week.

The attorneys for the prosecution are, C.C. HARRIS,

Solicitor, G.S. HOUSTON, Luke PRYOR, J.C. & W.W. BAKER, and

E.H. FOSTER. For the defense: Jos. H. SLOSS, D.C. HUMPHREYS

John PHELAN, and R.O. PICKETT.

Friday December 24, 1869

Dr. A.B. COLLINS, charged with the murder of Dr. Thos.

HAUGHEY, broke Jail on Sunday evening last and made his

escape. About 9 o'clock, of the same night, a band of

disguised men made their appearance at the jail and demanded

the prisoner. We understand that they were leading an extra

horse. COLLIN'S friends will, doubtless, report that the

K.K.'s were after him.

Date: Thursday, August 19, 1869 Paper: Mobile Register (Mobile, Alabama), Volume II Issue 173, page 2

Arrest of Dr. A. B. Collins

The arrest of this man Collins, on the charge of murdering Dr. Thos. Haughey in Courtland, on the 2d of August, has created quite a stir among his Radical associates and companions, a number of whom are at present in our city, in attendance as members of the Board of Regents of the University of Alabama, of which body this assassin Collins is also a member. They first endeavored to prevent his arrest, by asserting that he was priveleged from arrest by virtue of being a member of this Board of Regents; allegin that this was a legislative body, and that he could no be arrested while attending its deliberations. Deputy Sheriff Scott refused to listen to such a pretence, and placed Collins in jail for safe keeping until yesterday morning, when he could be started for Lawrence county, the place where the killing took place. During Friday night great efforts were made by Collins' friends to get him out on habeas corpus in order to prevent his being carried off the next morning. But their efforts were unsuccessful and when early yesterday morning the prisoner was roused up to go to the train, he complained on being too sick to travel. A physician was called in, and pronounced him able to travel. Collins then positively refused to go. In order to gain time, or for some other object, he literally, so we are informed, tore off his clothes, leaving himself almost naked. A jail suit was then put on him, and he attempted to tear this off also. He was then manacled and forced to go to the train.

It is difficult to concieve why this man should have so far forgotten himself as to have offered this resistance to the officers of the law. Being a carpet-bagger and a Radical, he must have imagined himself above the law. The truth is, it was all intended for effect. His Radical friends have tried to produce the impression that if he goes to North Alabama he will be mobbed. They have telegraphed to Chattanooga for a guard of United States soldiers, to escort him through North Alabama, pretending that there is danger of his losing his life by a mob. What low mean trickery these Radicals resort to! This carpet-bag Radical politician who has been allowed to go over the whole of North Alabama slandering and abusing the good people of that country, and who is the slayer of one man supposed to be a member of the Ku Klux Klan- is now forsooth, at this late day, in danger of losing his life at the hands of that people, and that too, while in the hands of the lawful officers of the State of Alabama, and for the offence of killing Dr. Thomas Haughey, an enemy of the people of North Alabama, and of the so called Ku-Klux organization, and a Radical of the deepest dye! --Montgomery Mail

Date: Friday, August 27, 1869 Paper: Galveston Tri-Weekly News (Galveston, Texas) Vol XXVII Issue 158 Page 1

"One of the reported Ku-Klux- Outrages. -Dr. A. B. Collins, the Carpet-bagger who killed Dr. Haughey, the radical candidate for Congress at Courtland, Alabama was arrested in Montgomery on Friday last by Sheriff Scott. It is said tht he acknowledges that he did the shooting.

The Huntsville Advocate
Contributed by klstacy_home

From the North Alabamian.]
Grand Outpouring of the Masses
In response to a call signed by many of the best citizens of Lawrence County, Alabama, there assembled in the town of Courtland, on the 11th inst. about a thousand of the true and tried friends of the government. Speeches were made by Dr. Haughey; Dr. Frank Sykes, Lieut. David R. Snelling, Mr. F. L. Cramer, Col. Sheats, Mr. McCawley, Hon. James S. Clark, Louis Chardavoyne, (col’d); all of whom sustained the law and the Reconstruction policy of Congress with ability, dissipating all fears that the opposition had engendered by their criticisms Old Lawrence is all ablaze. She will give two to one for reconstruction, despite all efforts to get up opposition by the fault finding opponents of reconstruction. There were a full corps of county officers nominated whose names I don’t now remember. Hon. James S. Clark’s nomination for Circuit Judge was ratified. Dr. Frank’s nomination was approved. Col. C. C. Sheats was nominated for Congress, unanimously.
The meeting passed off agreeably, great enthusiasm prevailing among the people, all seeming to be determined to use their best efforts to restore Alabama to her proper place in the Union of States. Mr. Editor, Sir, please give this a place in your columns, and oblige the friends of Reconstruction.
A SPECTATOR.

In the same paper, different page, as Dr. Collins was elected to the school board, Dr. Haughey gave a speech. But who exactly was Dr. Haughey, the second victim of the murderous Dr. Collins?

The University of Alabama has a letter on file of Dr. Thomas Haughey, then of Washington, DC to Ben Purley Poone, dated December 28, 1868, detailing his own life, career and credentials. He might should have stayed in D C.

Digital view of Dr Haughey's letter

Dr. Thomas Haughey

Facts on Thomas Haughey

-Born in Glasgow Scotland

-Emigrated with father to NYC

-Moved to Jefferson County, Alabama in 1841

-Taught in St. Clair County, studied Medicine

-Granted a diploma by the New Orleans Medical College

-Practiced at Elyton, Jefferson County, Alabama

Wikipedia has this to report about him:

He served as a surgeon in the Third Regiment, Tennessee Volunteer Infantry, in the Union Army 1862-1865. He resumed the practice of his profession in Decatur, Alabama. He served as delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1867. Upon the readmission of the State of Alabama to representation was elected as a Republican to the Fortieth Congress and served from July 21, 1868, to March 3, 1869. He was a candidate for renomination and while making a political speech was assassinated in Courtland, Alabama, on July 31, 1869, and died on August 5, 1869. He was interred in Green Cemetery, near Pinson, Alabama.

So, whatever happened to Dr. A. B. Collins after his second murder? I don't exactly know. I've not found much else on him, aside from his crimes. Perhaps he is this druggist, who set up a Pharmacy in Lamar County, Alabama, and became the victim of an arson:

1903

KENNEDY SUFFERS FROM A TEN THOUSAND DOLLAR FIRE

Kennedy was visited by a disastrous fire Monday morning, causing a loss of about ten thousand dollars. The losses that can be figured are: W. H. KENNEDY’S hotel, $2,000; M. W. HODGE, grocery story, $1500; J. L. KENNEDY, store house and stock, $2250; E. P. PHILLIPS, store house and stock, $950; PLOTT & LONG, store and stock $2300; W. F. CARAWAY, damage to stock $299; Dr. A. B. COLLINS, drug store, loss on building $500; Dr. D. J. COLLINS, store and house $200

The post office was burned. The amount of insurance carried cannot be learned but the losses are partially covered. - (Source: Marion County Democrat, Marion County, AL, April 9, 1903)

In ending, I leave with this song:

Does my ancestry always lead back from or up to the Civil War? The answer to that is, apparently, Yes.

↧

Ann Elizabeth Ellen Simmons Kernachan

May 27, 2013, 3:03 am

≫ Next: Ellen's Will

≪ Previous: A Full View of the Tragedy in Tuscumbia

In the histories of Lauderdale County, Alabama, mentions are made of very early cotton mills, that drove the post-Civil War economy. In a chapter entitled "Producing After the Civil War", the following statement was made ' A lady named Kernachan was one of the three proprietors of Brandon Mills.' That lady was Ellen Kernachan.

Ann Elizabeth Ellen Simmons Kernachan was born about 1829 in Lawrence County, Alabama. She was the daughter of John J. Simmons and Rebecca Ann Charlotte Simmons. Rebecca was the daughter of Francis Jones and her mother was Judith Booth Jones.

Ellen, as she was known, first shows up in the 1850 census as a young lady, age 21, living with her mother Rebecca and sister Minerva, with her uncle James C Jones and his wife Matilda B Kernachan Jones, their young daughters, and Sarah Noel, the sister of Judith Booth Jones.

Ellen Sammond
[Ellen Simmons]

Age:

Birth Year:

abt 1829

Birthplace:

Alabama

Home in 1850:

Athens, Limestone, Alabama

Gender:

Female

Family Number:

644

Household Members:

Name	Age
James C Jones	31
Matilda B Jones	25
Eliza A Jones	4
Mary L S Jones	0
Sarah noll Jones	67
Rebecca Sammond	39
Ellen Sammond	21
Rebecca M Sammond	17
Amanda Harriet	36

On May 10, 1854, she marries Matilda's brother, her first cousin once removed, Robert Thomas Kernachan II. His mother Martha was a sister to Judith Booth Jones and Sarah Booth Noel. All daughters Thomas Booth of Mecklenburg County, Virginia.

A E Ellen Honachan
[A E Ellen Kernachan]

Age in 1860:

Birth Year:

abt 1830

Birthplace:

Alabama

Home in 1860:

District 2, Lauderdale, Alabama

Gender:

Female

Post Office:

Florence

Value of real estate:

View Image

Household Members:

Name	Age
Robert T Honachan	32
A E Ellen Honachan	30
John S Honachan	3
William J Honachan	1
Rebecca A C Simmons	49
Salley Noel	76

By 1860, she has had three young sons, Robert T III, born 1855, who was likely at school, John Simmons Kernachan 1857 and William Jones Kernachan 1859. Her mother and Great-Aunt Sallie are living with them as well.

Name:

Ellen Kernachan

Age in 1870:

Birth Year:

abt 1829

Birthplace:

Alabama

Home in 1870:

Township 3 Range 11, Lauderdale, Alabama

Race:

White

Gender:

Female

Post Office:

Florence

Value of real estate:

View Image

Household Members:

Name	Age
Ellen Kernachan	41
Robert Kernachan	15
Jno Kernachan	13
Wm Kernachan	11

By 1870, her husband has been murdered and she is shown living with her 3 young sons.

Name:

Ellen Karnahan

Age:

Birth Year:

abt 1830

Birthplace:

Alabama

Home in 1880:

Florence, Lauderdale, Alabama

Race:

White

Gender:

Female

Relation to Head of House:

Self (Head)

Marital Status:

Widowed

Father's Birthplace:

Virginia

Mother's Birthplace:

North Carolina

Neighbors:

View others on page

Cannot read/write:

Blind:

Deaf and dumb:

Otherwise disabled:

Idiotic or insane:

View Image

Household Members:

Name	Age
Ellen Karnahan	50
William Karnahan	21
Judy Noel	68
Mattie Laywood	14

By the 1880 census, only youngest son, William, is living at home with her. He will later become a surgeon. The other members of the household are employees.

Ellen Kernachan became the sole proprietor of her husband and uncle-in-laws plantation and Cotton Mill. She would merge her business with that of Charles Brandon.

From the Florence Herald, Thursday, September 28, 1899.
CHAS. M. BRANDON SCHOOL.

Board of Education Honors Memory of This Lamented Citizen.

The board of education of this city has honored itself in naming the East Florence school "The Charles M. Brandon School." This action was taken at the meeting of the board on Monday night, and it is a graceful compliment to the memory of one who was, until his death, one of Florence's most highly esteemed citizens.
In order to fittingly dedicate the new building to the memory of the lamented gentleman for whom it has been named, exercises will be held at the school building next Monday afternoon, when the following program will be carried out:
"Sketch of the Life of the Late Chas. M. Brandon," Dr. W. J. Kernachan.
Chas. M. Brandon was one of the most popular men who ever lived in Florence, and the dedicatory exercises will prove of especial interest to those who knew and honor him. He was a friend of the people of East Florence and showed his interest in them in many ways, being a leader in the cause of education and christianity [sic] in that section.

Dr. Kernachan gave a short sketch of Mr. Brandon's life, which was not only appreciated but heartily endorsed by all, for they all knew Chas. M. Brandon and loved him.

From "A Walk Through the Past":

COFFEE HIGH SCHOOL

Named for Camilla Madding Coffee and her husband Capt. Alexander Donelson Coffee. Camilla gave the land for this original school in memory of her husband wo was a son of General John Coffee. This campus faced Hermitage Drive at the intersection of North Walnut Street. In 1939 the Kernachan Estate, consisting of 32 acres bordering Royal Avenue and Hermitage Drive, was purchased for the modern Coffee High School which opened August 29, 1951. The old Coffee High School building became the Appleby Junior High School when the upper grades moved to the new location.Excerpt of "A Walk Through The Past"

By all accounts, Charles Brandon was a good man and Ellen Kernachan did wise by collaborating her business interests with him. She set her descendants off to a good life for generations to come, by not failing or faltering as many of this era had. She picked up her skirts and set off to business and sent her sons to college. She had grand-daughters and great-granddaughters named for her.
After the death of her husband in 1868, Robert Sr., his uncle, added a codicil to his will naming Ellen as executrix and primaty heir. Ellen and Robert Jr., had 3 sons: Robert Thomas III, John Simmons, and William Jones. Robert and John would marry sisters: Blanche and Elva Moore from Mecklenburg County, Virginia. They were educated young ladies with connections to the Simmons family.
They were the daughters of Samuel T. Moore and Elva Harwell. Samuel T Moore was the son of Robert Moore and Elizabeth James "Betsy" Simmons, all of Mecklenburg County, Virginia. I have not researched the Simmons family trees, but with a common surname and a common origin, the likelihood that Betsy Simmons was related to Ellen's father John J Simmons is very probable.
William Jones Kernachan married Jenny Keyes Jones, yet another relative, related through the Virginia Jones line and also a descendant of the prominent Keyes family, who were also early planters in the Shoals area of Alabama. Jenny was the daughter of Henry Cox Jones and Martha Lousia Keyes.
The following is the obituary for Henry Cox Jones"Henry Cox Jones, lawyer, was born January 23, 1821, near Russellville, Franklin County, and died June 20, 1913, at Florence, son of William Stratton and Ann Harris (Cox) Jones, the former a native of Amelia County, Virginia, born in 1798, and died in 1874, came from Virginia in 1813, and located at Huntsville, moved to Franklin County in 1819, and settled on a large plantation near Russellville; grandson of Thomas Speck and Prudence (Jones) Jones, who lived in Amelia County, Virginia, the former a colonel in the Revolutionary army; and of Henry and Judith (Eldridge) Cox, who lived at Huntsville, Madison County; great-grandson of Peter Jones, of Dinwiddy County, Virginia, an officer in the British army who was sent to America to fight the Indians, and of Thomas and Martha (Bolling) Eldridge, the latter a descendant of John Rolf and Pocahontas, fourth generation."The ancestors of the Jones family came from Wales. He was raised on a plantation near Russellville, and obtained his early education in the schools of that place, under the instruction of John Wyatt Harris. (He was the father of Colonel John Wyatt Harris) and was graduated from LaGrange College in 1840. He studied law in college under Prof. Tutwiler, and later under Hon. Daniel Coleman of Athens. He was admitted to the bar in 1841 in Franklin County. He was elected Probate Judge of the county, and resigned the office after eighteen months to become a representative of Franklin County in the state legislature. He was re-elected to the legislature in 1844, and was sent to the State Senate in 1853. He moved to Florence in 1856, and continued his law practice. In 1860 he was a Douglas elector, and the following year represented the county at the Secession Convention, where he refused to vote for or sign the Ordinance of Secession. Through he was an opponent of secession, he was elected to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States of America and served in the body for one year. During the war he was engaged in the manufacture of cottons and woolens under a contract for the Confederate government. After the war he resumed the practice of law at Florence. He was associated at times with Sydney C. Posey and the Hon. Josiah Patterson. During the reconstruction period he was chairman of the Democratic Central Committee for five years. In 1876 he was a Tilden elector, and later in that year he was elected solicitor for the eighth district. He was re-elected to that office for two more terms, holding the position in all for eighteen years. He was a Democrat, a Methodist and a Mason. Married, October 13, 1844, at Athens, to Martha Louisa, who died at her home in Florence, May 6, 1887, daughter of George and Nelly (Rutledge) Keys, who lived in East Tennessee. ***** Children: (1) William Stratton, who served in the C. S. Army under Forest and was killed at Pulaski, Tennessee; (2) Bertha, married Lindsey Melbourne Allen; (3) George Pressly; (4) Ellen Rivers; (5) Henry Cox, deceased; (6) John Rather, deceased: (7) Jennie Keyes, married William Jones Kernachan; (8) Martha Bolling, married Thomas Sadler Jordan; (9) Robert Young; Wade Keyes, deceased."The above biographical sketch of Judge Jones is taken from Dr. Owen's "History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography." Mrs. Bertha Allen, his eldest daughter, still resides at Phil Campbell and is one of the oldest residents of the town. Her husband, Lindsey Melbourne Allen, was the pioneer settler and merchant of Phil Campbell.From the book: "Distinguished Men, Women and Families of Franklin Co., Alabama," by R. L. James, pub. cir. 1927-1929, pages 56-57. Copy of book located in the Franklin County Library, Russellville, Alabama.

Ann Elizabeth Simmons Kernachan's will was probated on November 14, 1892. The contents will be the next post.

↧

Ellen's Will

May 28, 2013, 4:12 am

≫ Next: The Missing Kernachans: Robert IV and Moore

≪ Previous: Ann Elizabeth Ellen Simmons Kernachan

The Last Will and Testament of A. E. Ellen Simmons Kernachan gives away a lot of detail concerning her personality, her devotion and her business accumen. She was one sharp lady, it's very clear. Well-educated, well-situated, religiously devout and moral, and full of horse-sense.

She out-lived her husband by nearly 30 years and her oldest son by ten. She was survived by only two sons, John Simmons Kernachan I, and Dr. William Jones Kernachan and by the two sons of her oldest son Robert III, named in the will as Robert and Moore.

The easiest way to detail her will, as it is so clear, is just to present it in its entirety. I give you, Mrs Ann Elizabeth Ellen Simmons Kernachan:

Last Will and Testament of A. E. Ellen Kernachan

I A. E. Ellen Kernachan do make and publish this as my last will and testament hereby revoking all former wills by me made.

1st I wish all my just debts paid.

2nd I give and bequeath to the Board of Church Extention (sic) of the Methodist Episcopal Church South Five Thousand dollars of the Capitol Stock of the Florence Land Mining and Manufacturing Company to be used by said Board for Purposes of Church Extention(sic) in such manner as in the opinion of said Board the best interest of the M. E. Church South may require.

3- I hereby give and bequeath to the Board of Missions of the Methodist Church Episcopal Church South Five Thousand dollars of the Capital Stock of the Florence Land Mining and Manufacturing Company to be used by said Board for Missionary purposes in such way as in their opinion the best interest of the M. E. Church South may require.

4- I give and devise to my sons John S. and Wm J Kernachan in Equal parts the quarter acre of land owned by me in Florence, Alabama & being a part of the Brandon tract of land.

5- All the remainder of my Estate I give and devise to my said sons John S and Wm J Kernachan and to my grandchildren Robert and Moore Kernachan. Each of my said Sons taking one third and my two said grandchildren the other third.

6- It is my intention to give the 100 shares of Stock mentioned in items 2 and 3 of this will to the Methodist Episcopal Church but the same is to be paid over to said Board as soon as practicable after my death to be by them used for the purposes herein before indicated.

7- My Executor herein after named is given full power to manage and control, sell or otherwise dispose of the property herein given to my said grandchildren and to make such investments of the same as he may think best. In a word my said Executor shall have as much power in the management, control, disposition investment and reinvestment of said interests as if they were his own until the youngest of my said grandchildren shall arrive at the age of twenty-one years when their said interests or estates shall be turned over to them. Should either of said grandchildren die before the period last named the survivor shall take his interest in estates.

8- I hereby appoint my son John S Kernachan the executor of this my last will and testament and direct that he be not required to give bond as such and that he be not required to make any settlement or settlements of his Executorship in any Court.

Signed sealed published and declared to be my last will and testament at Florence, Alabama on this 7th day of January 1888 in the presence of Henry C. Jones, & George P. Jones who in my presence and in the presence of each other have subscribed the same as witnesses given under hand and seal.

A. E. Ellen Kernachan

↧

The Missing Kernachans: Robert IV and Moore

May 31, 2013, 3:08 am

≫ Next: The Sisters Kernachan

≪ Previous: Ellen's Will

The Obituary from the Nashville Christian Advocate for Robert Kernachan III, son of Robert Kernachan Jr and A. E. Ellen Simmons Kernachan reads:

ROBERT T. KERNACHAN died near Florence, Ala., Nov. 20, 1885 in his 31st year of age of accidental gunshot wound; married Blanche Moore, Jan. 18, 1881; 2 children.

The Florence Observer noted that they had lost one of their "most promising young men", that he was cleaning a gun and that it had accidentally discharged. He, leaving, a widow and 'two little children'.

It was not noted whether or not these two children were male or female. However, in her will dated 1888, Robert's mother, Ellen, mentions a division of property in thirds, one third for son John S. Kernachan, one third for son William J Kernachan and one third to be split between grandsons Robert and Moore.

Robert and Moore were the surviving minor children of eldest son Robert, who had passed 3 years prior to Ellen devising her will. Her will was witnessed by H. C. Jones and George P Jones. They were brothers of Jenny Keyes Jones Kernachan, who married William Jones Kernachan. Or perhaps father and brother, as both were named Henry Cox Jones and George was brother George Presley Jones. They were also distant relatives of Ellen's, being out of the the same old Virginia Jones/Simmons tree.

These witnesses verified that the will was Ellen's and that she was of sound mind when the will was probated in 1992. There were no changes nor codicil's indicating that Robert and Moore were still alive in 1892.

I can find several mentions of their mother, Blanche Moore Kernachan, in records and newspapers, but no more mention of Robert or Moore.

Blanche returned to her home county of Mecklenburg, Virginia, by 1920 and is also in the 1930 and 1940 censuses. However, she can not be located in the 1900 or 1910 census records.

The November 14, 1891 edition of the Times Daily, of Florence, Alabama records:

Mrs. Blanche Kernachan, who has been attending the New England Conservatory of Music, returned last Saturday, and is now at her home in the Reserve. Coming south, she spent several days at her old home in Virginia.

This was the year before her mother-in-law Ellen died.

We find out that in 1897, she had been "absent in Boston for two years past" and had returned home.

Blanche's return home from Boston

She is listed in the Boston University Catalogue as being in Dorchester, Massachusetts:
Boston University Catalogue

We learn that in 1903, she was leaving Alabama again to 'pursue her studies in music'.

Article from Florence Times

Ms. Blanche made the newspapers in both Alabama, her husbands home state; Virginia, her home state, and Massachusetts, where she attended school and taught. She also attended college in Tennesee.

Before her marriage, she is listed as attending Belmont College in Nashville, Tennesee.

Milady in Brown Yearbook.

Her nieces by marriage, Carrie Moore Kernachan and Ellen Simmons Kernachan II also attended Belmont.

Sale of Lots 5 and 9 in Florence, Alabama

In 1916, she sold two lots in Lauderdale County. She does not show up in either the 1900 or the 1910 census.

In 1927, she is listed as an instructor at the College of William and Mary, one of the oldest in Virginia.

Catalogue College of William and Mary

In the census records, we can pick Blanche up as a child. She and her sister Elva both married Kernachan brothers. They were distant relatives through the Simmons line. Their father, Samuel T. Moore was the son of Robert Moore 1800-1836 and Elizabeth James "Betsy" Simmons 1802-1852 from Mecklenburg County, Virginia.

Blanche Moore

Age in 1860:

Birth Year:

abt 1859

Home in 1860:

Regiment 98, Mecklenburg, Virginia

Post Office:

Tanners Stone

Value of real estate:

View Image

Household Members:

Name	Age
Saml T Moore	25
Elvira Moore	22
Cora Moore	2
Blanche Moore	1

Blanche Meere
[Blanche Moore]

Age in 1870:

Birth Year:

abt 1859

Birthplace:

Virginia

Home in 1870:

Flat Creek, Mecklenburg, Virginia

Race:

White

Gender:

Female

Post Office:

Boydton

Value of real estate:

View Image

Household Members:

Name	Age
Samuel T Meere	36
Ehara A Meere	34
Carrie Meere	13
Blanche Meere	11
Mattie Meere	10
Liucijus Meere	5
Lucy Meere	4
Samuel T Meere	2
Robert H Meere	6/12
Margaret L Wonn	22
Lucy Simmons	14
Florence Simmons

It is after this census that Blanche Moore disappears from the censuses until 1920. Her family appears in the 1880 Mecklenburg County, Virginia census without her, even her older sister Carrie.

She may have been in college at this time. What is on record is her marriage to Robert T. Kernachan in Mecklenburg County, Virginia on January 18, 1881 noted as the daughter of S. T. Moore. Robert had traveled to Virginia to marry her. How had he met her? Or did the Simmons distant cousins keep in touch and decide this to be a proper match?

The two sons would have been born between the 1881 marriage and the 1885 death of their father as they are mentioned in the obituary.

They were alive in 1888 when their grandmother Ellen Simmons Kernachan died and mentioned them in her will.

By 1902, Blanche shows up as a music teacher in Roanoke, Virginia.

Mrs Blanche Kernachan
Gender:	F (Female)
Residence Year:	1902
Street Address:	355 Highland Av SW
Residence Place:	Roanoke, Virginia
Occupation:	Music Tclir
Publication Title:	Walsh's Roanoke, Virginia City Directory

By 1916, She has been nominated as

Blanche Kernachan
Post Office Location:	Radcliffe, Mecklenburg, Virginia
Appointment Date:	13 Mar 1916
Volume #:	80
Volume Year Range:	1891-1930

the Postmistress of Radcliff, Virginia. She held that position for a number of years.

Then by 1920, she is back living in the town of her birth, South Hill, with her younger sister Nina Moore Allen.

Birth Year:

abt 1865

Birthplace:

Virginia

Home in 1920:

South Hill, Mecklenburg, Virginia

Race:

White

Gender:

Female

Relation to Head of House:

Sister-in-law

Marital Status:

Widowed
[Widow]

Father's Birthplace:

Virginia

Mother's Birthplace:

Virginia

Able to Read:

Yes

Able to Write:

Yes

Neighbors:

View others on page

Household Members:

Name	Age
Tom W Allen	37
Nina Allen	41
Thomas E Allen	8
Caroline Allen	6
Sam Harrigen Allen	4
George Allen	2
George Allen	24
Edmund Allen	20
Blanche Kernochan	55

In 1930, she and another sister, the never-married Willie, are living together.

Blanch Kernachan
[Blan A Hemacan]

Gender:

Female

Birth Year:

abt 1859

Birthplace:

Virginia

Race:

White

Home in 1930:

South Hill, Mecklenburg, Virginia
View Map

Marital Status:

Widowed

Relation to Head of House:

Head

Father's Birthplace:

Virginia

Mother's Birthplace:

Virginia

Occupation:

Education:

Military Service:

Rent/home value:

Age at first marriage:

Parents' birthplace:

View Image

Neighbors:

View others on page

Household Members:

Name	Age
Blanch Kernachan	71
Willie H Moore	46

A 1922 Lawsuit Moore v Kernachan, is brought up as a cited case and took place in Mecklenburg County, Virginia. It is a suit involving S. T. Moore, in his own right, as executor of E. A. Moore, deceased against one Kernachan and others. As S. T. Moore was likely Samuel Moore, Jr. and E. A Moore, their mother Elva and the Kernachan he vs. was likely Blanche, the only known Kernachan in Mecklenburg County, Virginia at that time.

Moore vs Kernachan, Mecklenburg County, Virginia

Blanche Kernachan

Age:

Estimated Birth Year:

abt 1859

Gender:

Female

Race:

White

Birthplace:

Virginia

Marital Status:

Widowed

Relation to Head of House:

Sister

Home in 1940:

South Hill, Mecklenburg, Virginia
View Map

Inferred Residence in 1935:

South Hill, Mecklenburg, Virginia

Residence in 1935:

Same House

Sheet Number:

Attended School or College:

Highest Grade Completed:

College, 1st year

Weeks Worked in 1939:

Income:

Income Other Sources:

Yes

Neighbors:

View others on page

Household Members:

Name	Age
Nine M Allen	59
Samuel H Allen	25
George R Allen	22
Blanche Kernachan	81
Willie H Moore	57
Howard Baswell	34
Preston Ozmor	18

In her last census, Blanche is back living with Nina again.

She is buried in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, and noted as the wife of Robert T. Kernachan, but where are her sons? They are not buried with her.

Blanche Moore Kernachan
Birth Date:	1859
Age at Death:	83
Death Date:	1942
Burial Place:	South Hill, Mecklenburg County, Virginia, USA
URL:	http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-...

Her sister and at the same time, sister-in-law Elva, named for their mother, died young at age 59. They had married brothers. Blanche is mentioned in her obituary, yet an obituary for Blanche can not be located. Elva named her son Robert T. Kernachan. He would have the the fifth Robert in the known line.

Link to Elva's Obituary

So what happened to the young sons of Robert and Blanche? Did they die between 1888, when mentioned by their grandmother and their mother's return to college? Did she leave them with relatives?

What happened to Robert 4 and Moore? Two little boys of no further mention.

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