21 December 2009

Found the missing data about the Gatlin family

Tonight I stumbled upon someone with great Gatlin info on RootsWeb.  Macy Gatlin (Campbell)'s father, or G.W. Campbell's maternal grandfather, was Moses Allen Gatlin, born a twin in 1782 with the infant brother dying.  He apparently served in the War of 1812.  Macy G. Campbell's mother was named Chloe Rowe (Gatlin).

Moses surely was a popular name, with Macy's husband being Moses Campbell, and her daughter-in-law Eliza Jane Wright having a brother Moses Wright. --- Oh, and I just noticed that Macy married a man of her father's age, too, if the birth year for Moses Campbell of 1781 is correct!  Maybe there was a shortage of young men when the War of 1812 was over in 1815.  She was born in 1800 in Warren County, Ga., and lived until 1888, or until at least three years after Granny got married. 

This source also shows the next generation back was Jesse Gatlin, who is said to have served in the Revolutionary War.  This family seems to have had the same migration pattern as the Campbells: N.C. to Ga., then later to Ala.

If you look at the link below, "Mrs. McDuffie" refers to the author of a book cited, The Gatlin Family in America.

If you click on Pedigree, you'll find they trace the line back to about 1500 in Sussex, England, when the name was Gatland.

Another source had made me think that Macy's father was named Jeptha, but this was her brother's name.

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=klineclan&id=I8765


20 December 2009

A Revolutionary War soldier in the Walker family

Several months ago I bought a rare book called The Walker Heritage, which I found referenced on line when looking for info on the Wrights, Granny's mother's family.  John Walker was a teenager when he served in the Revolutionary War, and his family lived in Maryland.  After the war he moved to Lincoln County, Georgia, which is north of Augusta.  He was married three times, as the first two wives died.  He apparently was a successful planter and also a Baptist minister, and he is reputed to have served in the State legislature just after the turn of the 19th century.  The child of the second marriage was Elizabeth Walker (Wright), maternal grandmother of Ava Lucerne Campbell Hill ("Granny").

Anyway, John Walker moved his third (and extended) family from Lincoln Co. to Walton Co., Georgia.  He died soon thereafter, circa 1836 --- his will is very interesting reading ---but the Walker descendants evidently prospered there for generations, and our grandmother had a third cousin among them who was Governor in the 1920's.

What isn't clear yet is whether the Wright family ever lived in Walton County.  The material I'd found before implied that after his wife died, John Wright -- who also served in the Georgia statehouse -- and his children, including Granny's mother Eliza Jane who was about 13 years old, moved to Alabama directly from Lincoln County, in the late 1840's.  The will in the book gave a piece of land to the Wrights, but it doesn't say which county the parcel was in.  At any rate, I suspect Wright probably sold their Georgia holdings when they made the move to the Tuskegee area.



29 September 2009

Haynie-Cook House

Here is a larger image of the Haynie-Cook House, compared to the thumbnail-size one I previously posted to the blog.  This is a scan of a print I purchased from the Austin History Center.




25 September 2009

Aurora Gardens

Earlier this year, I was wondering where the name Aurora Gardens came from, for the first subdivision we lived in, in New Orleans.

It turns out there was an Aurora Plantation, established in 1742.  The house was probably among those quaint old homes we sometimes drove past on the road next to the levee, and my guess is that the very land on which the subdivision was laid out may have once been part of the plantation's cultivated fields.

11 August 2009

Shared ancient & colonial roots of Texas & Louisiana

Although not directly related to our family's history, here are two links which show the earliest colonial connections between Louisiana and Texas.

Natchitoches, La., and Nacogdoches, Tx., were ancient native American settlements, connected by a trail which would later become part of El Camino Real (the Royal Road), part of a network of roads leading to and from Spanish colonial Mexico.

The Spanish roads later defined the part of Texas which would be settled by Anglo-Americans. Bastrop, where our grandfather was born, was located on the old San Antonio Road where it crossed the Colorado River.

Natchitoches is the oldest permanent settlement in the Louisiana Purchase territory, as it was founded in 1714 by the French, after the founding of Mobile and before New Orleans was established.

According to the web page, the early French colonists needed a trade link to the western Spanish colonies. Hm, I wonder what the issues were around trading with the Spanish colonists in Florida at the time; perhaps the west Fla. settlements were too isolated. (Mobile is much closer to Pensacola than it is to northwest La.!)

As I remember, Natchitoches is pronounced "NACK-i-dish" and Nacogdoches is pronounced "NACK-a-DOE-chez."

http://www.elcaminorealtx.com/

http://www.natchitochestour.com/

Relative who died at the Alamo

I discovered recently that our grandfather Hiram had a great uncle who died in the Battle of the Alamo. (See link below.) He was Sam Evans, a brother of our ancestor Hannah Maria Evans, wife of Samuel G. Haynie. The fellow was 24 years old, and subsequently his father Musgrove Evans, who had moved to Texas with his children after his wife died, joined the army and fought for the Republic of Texas. I read this in another article, all of them sent to me by the man who put the Evans genealogy on line. There was another fairly young brother who was killed on the Chisholm Trail -- by bandits, I think.

Learning about this family particularly moves me because they were based in Pennsylvania, then upstate New York, and then Michigan. Here I had been thinking they were the only bona fide "Yankees" in our family tree! As Alexis de Tocqueville observed, there were many men on the move in the U.S. in the 1800's. In other words, you can't pigeonhole them by region, at least not the ones who lived their lives during that restless century.

Sam Evans was the namesake and grandson of "General" or Major Samuel Evans of the Revolutionary War period. On our mother's side of the family we have a Lt. William Evans ancestor from the Revolutionary period; in all likelihood these families were related --- because they were originally from Wales, were concentrated in two Pa. counties, and were all Quakers back in the day.

The Tillett book refers to an 1816 letter written by William Evans which indicated that he was very bothered by the institution of slavery. Said he wanted to move to Ohio, but it was "too late" for him. (He had moved from Pa. to Va.) --- His son-in-law James Wyche went to Ohio & looked things over, but decided that the free blacks were in worse condition than the slaves...

The following URL has been updated, as of 10/10/2016:

28 July 2009

Our Wyche great-great-great grandparents




Here are Gus Tillett's maternal grandparents, Pamela Evans Wyche (1789-1869) and James Wyche (1785-1845). These pictures are apparently part of the special collection at the Public Library of Charlotte-Mecklenburg in N.C.; they are posted on the Wyche family website mentioned earlier.

This couple's married life was divided between Brunswick County, Virginia, and Granville County, North Carolina. Most of their children were born in Va.

24 July 2009

Our Smith great-great-great grandparents

These images are also from the Smith book. They are Mary's maternal grandparents: Frances "Fanny" Martin Smith (1799-1862) and Samuel H. Smith (1795-1853). Fanny is at a disadvantage here next to such a young image of her husband!

This couple lived in Wake County, North Carolina, for a while, later moving to Hardeman County, Tennessee, and finally to Dallas County, Arkansas. They had five children of their own, and later they reportedly helped raise the five children of Sam's sister Mary "Polly" Crisp after she died.

Later picture of Mary Smith Tillett

Here is a lovely picture of Mary "Mamie" Tillett, said to have been taken in 1913. It's in the online book, Smith of Abram's Plains.

The only photo we presently have of her husband Augustus "Gus" Tillett, is the one published in the Tillett book. He is shown with his siblings.

19 July 2009

Image of Anne William Smith (1830-1871)

Anne was born in Wake County, N.C., just a few miles north of Raleigh, on the plantation where her mother was born, Forest Hill [this according to info I found on line]. Her portrait was painted in 1847 by an artist named Grunewald while she attended the Moravian Seminary for Young Ladies in Bethlehem, Pa.; she turned 17 that year. The college is now named Moravian College & Theological Seminary. This copy is from the online version of Smith of Abram's Plains.


In December 1849, after the Smith clan & other North Carolina families had migrated to Arkansas, she married her father's first cousin, Benjamin M. Smith. Benjamin was said to have graduated from the University of N.C. in 1844. Anne's family actually lived in Hardeman County, Tenn., for several years, before making the move farther west.

Anne Smith had thirteen children, dying at age 41 after the birth of the youngest one on their plantation called Tulip Farm, just six years after the Civil War ended. Mary Benjamin Smith was 10 years old when her mother died; the following year her father married another cousin, Anne Wilson Smith.

According to Aunt Mame's notes, it was in 1894, the year before our grandfather Henry was born, that Mary Smith Tillett wrote a letter to the seminary to inquire about the painting of which she had heard her mother tell...Mary specified that the portrait was to be inherited by the eldest daughter in each generation of her daughters.







03 July 2009

Another Battle of New Orleans ancestor

According to the Rev. John Haynie family history book, John's father Spencer Haynie, Jr., was not only a Revolutionary War soldier who received a land pension in Tennessee, but he was with General Andrew Jackson for the Battle of New Orleans in 1814-15, the final confrontation of the War of 1812!

This means that we have a Battle of N.O. soldier on each side of our family, Henry Covington of Robertson County, Tenn., who lost his life in this service; and Spencer Haynie, Jr., of Knox County, Tenn.  This seems remarkable to me, and somehow especially so since we lived in New Orleans without being aware of this heritage.


Smith Clan of North Carolina and Arkansas

Before this year, I had relied quite a bit on The Reverend John Tillett Family History (1955), by C. W. Allison, for background information on the Smith family who moved to North Carolina from Virginia in the late 1700's. We have a "double dose" of the Smith lineage in our ancestry because our great-grandmother Mary Benjamin Smith's parents were first cousins, once removed.

There seem to have been quite a few Smith men who, during the 19th century and earlier, were bestowed with a military title, either officially or unofficially --- usually Colonel. And I've just learned that Mary's great aunt (of the Martin family) was married to a General Nathaniel Smith, one of the many extended family members who established the Tulip community in Dallas County, Arkansas. (He was of a different Smith line and hailed from Chatham County, N.C., instead of the more northern Caswell and Granville Counties.)

There's a Smith descendant named Jonathan Kennon Thompson Smith who has written at least two books: Smith of Abram's Plains (1988), which refers to the name of a large Granville County plantation established during the latter part of the 18th century, and The Romance of Tulip Ridge (1966). Both of these books are out of print and were possibly self-published. I recently looked at an online version of the Abram's Plains book, and the author has added pages quite recently!

J.K.T. Smith is widely regarded as an authority and has been quoted extensively on the RootsWeb Caswell County Family Tree. Accordingly, our most prominent Smith Revolutionary War ancestor was Samuel Smith (1729-1800); he was designated a Colonel in the Granville Regiment in 1778 and is the founder of the large plantation already mentioned. My 2008 blog entry named Col. Maurice Smith as a Revolutionary officer, but this was incorrect. Maurice (1776-1835) was one of Samuel's sons and served as the sheriff of Granville County, having been the paternal grandfather of Mary Smith Tillett. Col. Samuel Smith's wife was Mary Edmondson Webb, and Maurice's first wife (mother of Benjamin M. Smith) was Frances Goodwin.

Mary's maternal grandfather was Samuel H. Smith (1795-1853), who was a grandson of Col. Samuel Smith, through Maurice's elder brother Samuel, Jr. (1765-1816). Samuel Smith, Jr.'s wife was Elizabeth Harrison. This family established a plantation called Hycotee, after the Hyco River, in Caswell County. Their son Samuel Harrison Smith [or originally just H. for Hyco -- to distinguish him from a cousin born elsewhere] married Frances Alston Martin, of the Forest Hill plantation in Wake County, N.C.

Whereas Mary's paternal grandparents died long before the migration of some of the clan to Hardeman County, Tenn., and in 1848 or 1849 on to Arkansas, her maternal grandparents Sam and Fanny moved to Arkansas along with their daughter Anne William Smith and other family members.

Reportedly the Smith properties in N.C. are still owned and occupied by descendants (of family members who didn't move to Arkansas). At least one of the manor houses, the one at Hycotee, was recently demolished, however.

There may be Smith descendants living on the remnants of the Arkansas plantations, as well. The one established by Benjamin M. Smith (1824-1877) was called Tulip Farm and may have been quite prosperous before the Civil War. Dallas County took quite a beating during and even after the war, since many of the settlers left and did not return.

Our Smith immigrant ancestor is said to have been a Scotsman named Alexander Smith, who arrived in Virginia sometime during the 1600's.

Post script: Non-electric sewing machines

Since Alice Morgan Powell's letter of 1888 discussed her new sewing machine, it occurred to me that this was probably too early for electricity in rural Texas, so she must have been talking about a mechanical sewing machine.

I found a picture in Wikipedia of a treadle model, which apparently meant that a foot pedal was used to move the parts. That's interesting when you think about it, because the foot pedal was retained on 20th century electric models --- adapted as a way to engage the power.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singer_Corporation#Singer_Buildings

30 June 2009

Letter from Alice Morgan to her sisters

Ione Morgan Shapard (later Covington) had three sisters, Lizzie, Emma, and Alice.  Lizzie, the eldest, moved from Louisiana to Virginia in the 1870's and was married there.  Later she and her family moved to Arkansas.

The other three moved to west Texas in the early 1880's, after their father died.  (They had been long preceded to Texas by their mother's family, the Johnsons, who migrated there from Alabama about ten years before the Civil War.)  The youngest in the Morgan family, a brother named Haynes -- after his father and their Revolutionary War ancestor -- also moved to Texas.  At this time Haynes Morgan and Onie Shapard lived in Callahan County, whereas I believe that the Mixons resided in neighboring Taylor County.

At any rate, the youngest of the sisters, Alice, had married a man named Powell and moved to Fort Davis, which is roughly 300 miles southwest of Abilene & about 5000 feet in elevation.  Emma (Mixon) had been married the longest and had several children.  Onie had recently become a widow for the second time and had a ten year-old son & a month-old daughter at the time this letter was written.  Alice herself was eight months pregnant with her first child:

Ft Davis, Tex.
Apr. 11th, 1888

Dear Emma and Onie

As Bud is fixing to [go] out there, I will just send my letter by him, as I reckon he will want to take you a little by surprise.  It makes me feel so lonely to think he is going away but know he will want to see you all and do what he thinks best.  I wanted to send the babies something, but couldn't go down in town 'tis so cold and wet, and I feel so awfull bad today I can hardly navigate.  I got Emma's ans. to my card, do hope you will all get on alright with the measles, 'tis a good time to have them.

Hope Onie is alright by now.  Think Cassie's hair looks so sweet, nearly as long as Lawrence's was, would like so much to see the sweet little thing.  Will send you all a pattern to make little shirts, under shirt waists, or you can cut it on down, and make little chemise for Vera and Mattie.  Trim round the top, and button on top of sleeve.  I made the waists of all my little shirts by it.  Have got all of my little things made at last, made one like Emma's pattern, one like Onie's, and one Mother Hubbard with embroidered yoke and sleeves, bottom ruffled with embroidery.  All think them real pretty.

Jim bought me a new machine, called the Premium, like it so well.  Runs nearly like the Singer but has all the late improvements.  Gave a Mrs. Dr. Isaacs of _____ City $25.00 for it, she got it last summer.  And I needed it right then.  Thought I would rather take it than send off and get one like Aunt Fanny, as it is nearly the very same machine.  Have got me a rocking chair also.

Drura, Wagner, Wert, and _____ are fixing to go to a dance to night.  Guess they will have a cold trip.

I want you all to be sure and write to me how you get on.  And Bud will tell you all the news, and I am bound to stop and fix up his things.  I will close for I feel so bad I can't write worth reading.  Kiss all the little children for me and be sure to write soon.

Your loving sister
Alice Powell










17 June 2009

Cemetery in Callahan County, Texas

There are a few graves of interest listed on line as being located in Tecumseh Cemetery, Callahan County, Texas. Tecumseh was probably a tiny rural community. It is where Ione "Onie" Shapard lived, before she married Leroy Bascom Covington.

The family's graves are as follows:

Haynes J. Morgan (1863-1890), age 26, the young brother of the Morgan sisters who moved with them to Texas from Caldwell Parish, Louisiana, in the early 1880's.

Charles R. Shapard (1840-1888), age 47, second husband of Onie Morgan and father of Aunt Cassie Shapard.

Mary A. Martin Covington (1853-1890), age 36, second wife of Bascom Covington who moved with him & their children to west Texas from Robertson County, Tennessee, in the late 1880's. This is a new discovery on my part, to confirm the date of death for Mary and to know that Bascom did not arrive in Callahan County as a widower. He and Onie were said to have married each other in 1890; they lived in the community called Dudley, later moving to Abilene in Taylor County.

[Another Charlie Shapard is buried in Tecumseh, who may have been a son of Dr. Shapard from an earlier marriage. The years listed here are apparently incorrect as they are shown here, for both of the Shapard men.]

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~clearcreek/tecumseh.html

Three library collections of family papers & another book

I've just discovered a book called Tulip Evermore, which contains letters written by Emma Butler Paisley* & her husband/others, in the mid-1800's. These were the Butlers who were Wyche descendants, second cousins of H. A. Tillett. They lived in the vicinity of the community called Tulip or Tulip Ridge, Dallas County, in south central Arkansas. The Butlers, Smiths, and other North Carolina families had moved here in the late 1840's, some taking their slaves with them, about twelve years before the Civil War.

The War Between the States was very destructive for this part of Arkansas, and in some ways it was never the same, having had an antebellum reputation for fine educational facilities. According to Wikipedia, at the 2000 census there were only about 9,000 people living in the entire county, with the largest employer being Georgia-Pacific Corp.

A nearby town to Tulip was Princeton, and it was to this area Gus Tillett went in 1881 after having finished at the University of North Carolina. Here he met and courted Mary Benjamin Smith, who was born and grew up on her family's plantation, called Tulip Farm.

One of Emma Butler's brothers, Ira Wyche Butler, had married Mary Smith's sister. This was the couple in Abilene, Texas, who sent a telegram to Mary and Gus in June of 1885, causing them to get married a little earlier...Fannie John Smith Butler died the next month.

One of Emma Butler's sisters married a Reverend Matthews and lived out her life in the old Butler home place; the Butler-Matthews Homestead is on the National Register of Historic Places.

*The Butler-Paisley Family Papers, including the published letters, are in a special collection at the University of Arkansas's library in Fayetteville:

http://libinfo.uark.edu/SpecialCollections/findingaids/butlerpaisley.html

The central Arkansas library system in Little Rock owns a collection of Smith Family Papers, which revolve around the household of Maurice Smith, a younger brother of Samuel Harrison Smith, or Mary Smith Tillett's great uncle on her mother's side & first cousin once removed on her father's side. The papers were donated only about six years ago, and they're located in a place called the Butler Center. --- I don't know whether this name is connected to the Dallas County Butlers...I would love to look through this collection someday:

http://www.cals.lib.ar.us/butlercenter/manuscripts/collection/mss02-20.html

In the main Charlotte-Mecklenburg library, North Carolina, there is a collection of Tillett papers and albums, donated by our relative Charles Allison, the Tillett book's author. (On my recent N. C. visit, I didn't have enough time to go inside this library.) They are located in the Carolina Room Collections & Archives.

27 May 2009

Correction: Wyche-Tillett book authors' kinship

Clarence A. Wyche (1878-1947), whose picture is shown here, was a dedicated genealogy researcher and a first cousin, once removed, of author Charles W. Allison (and of Aunt Mame & Poppa Henry).

Charles W. Allison, son of Jeannette Tillett Allison and Rev. Thomas J. Allison, was named after his uncle Charles Walter Tillett of Charlotte, N. C., and compiled The Reverend John Tillett Family History.  (Our great-grandfather was another of his uncles; therefore, Charles Allison was a first cousin of our grandparents.)

Wyche Ancestry

We have one family name which can be traced back in history much further than any other surname (to the 12th century & earlier), and that is Wyche.  This was the maiden name of Poppa Henry's grandmother, Elizabeth Jenkins Wyche Tillett.

The Wyches even had a saint in the family.  In the 13th century, the brother of one of our direct ancestors was Richard de Wyche, Bishop of Chichester & Saint Richard in the Roman Catholic Church.  The name Wyche is supposed to mean salt spring.  It is also short for the town of Droitwich, which is located in an area of Worcestershire where salt has been extracted since ancient times.

Our 17th century emigrant ancestor was Henry Wyche II (1648-1714).  He was born in Surrey County, England, traveled to America in the late 1670's, and settled in Surry County, Virginia.  Henry's grandfather was Richard Wyche (1554-1621), Gentleman and Mercer; Richard was a shipowner, merchant, and one of the charter directors of the English East India Company.

According to a Wikipedia entry, Richard was also "among the adventurers of the Muscovy Company," chartered in 1555 and the first major English joint-stock trading company.  It monopolized English trade with Russia for about 150 years and survived as a trading company until the Russian Revolution of 1917, after which it became a charity.  I just found this information today...I am moved that this ancestor of ours was involved, early on, with a private organization which reportedly has sustained a 450 year history, or the entire period during which the twelve or so additional generations of this man's descendants have lived...The Wikipedia item on Richard Wyche says that several locations in the Arctic region were named after him:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wyche_(merchant)

Richard Wyche married Elizabeth Saltonstall, daughter of Sir Richard Saltonstall, Member of Parliament and Lord Mayor of London.  [She had a first cousin Sir Richard Saltonstall who established a Massachusetts colony in 1630.]  The couple had many sons; the Honorable Nathaniel Wyche lived in India and was President of the East India Company in the late 1650's.  Another son was the Right Honorable Sir Peter Wyche, Ambassador to Constantinople (Ottoman Empire),  who married Jane Meredith. Their children included (another) Sir Peter Wyche, Sir Cyril Wyche, and Lady Jane (Wyche) Granville.  Rt. Hon. Sir Peter Wyche was one of the Chancellors of Oxford University, and his sons Sir Cyril and Sir Peter were among the founding members of the British Royal Society.  Lady Jane was Countess of Bath and Lady of the Bedchamber to Henrietta Maria of France, Queen Consort of King Charles I.* 

Sir Cyril Wyche, scholar and longtime Member of Parliament, was a first cousin of our ancestor, Henry Wyche II.  His portrait, whose image is shown here, hangs in the National Portait Gallery of London.  Henry was the son of Henry Wyche (1604-1678), Rector of Sutton in Surrey, England, and his wife Ellen Bennett, daughter of Ralph Bennett, Esquire.

According to the Tillett book, "one of the oldest streets in the old walled city of London proper was Wyche St."  Today, there is a Wyche St. in Henderson, North Carolina (Vance County), which was named after either James Wyche or his sister Sally Wyche Reavis. 

There is a new, interactive website developed by and for descendants of James & Pamela Wyche of North Carolina:

http://www.benwychefamily.com/

*I added the above paragraph about Richard Wyche's family to expand the short Wikipedia article on him, since this information was documented in the James Wyche Family History, a section of The Reverend John Tillett Family History, published in 1955.

The Wyche section of the Tillett book is dedicated to Clarence A. Wyche, a first cousin of our great-grandfather Henry A. "Gus" Tillett.  Clarence, who died in 1947, did most all of the research about the early ancestry of the Wyches.  Charles W. Allison, the book's compiler, was another first cousin of Gus and Clarence, being a son of Jeannette Tillett Allison (Gus' big sister who looked after him following their mother's death).





25 May 2009

Picture of & letter written by Mary Smith Tillett



Here is a transcription of a letter written by our great-grandmother a century ago. It was addressed to Miss Nellie Cannon in Abilene, Texas, who later became Nellie Parramore, mother of Nellie Sellers. The Tillett and Parramore families were apparently very close! Nellie Sellers transcribed the letter; later on her daughter shared it with Sandra, who shared it with our mother Ione. Ione jotted on it that as children they called Mrs. Parramore "Aunt Nellie."

Mary Tillett, or Mamie as she was called by her husband, was in her late thirties and away from her four "dear children." Poppa Henry, the youngest, would have been only two-and-a-half years old then. (I don't know what kind of ailment put her in the hospital.) Oh, and the reference to war evidently refers to the Spanish-American War:


Galveston, Texas
March 8th, 1898

My dear daughter:

Your nice letter came yesterday & I am so delighted that you came out so well in your examination. I do feel hurt tho' because Sam is not next to you (I mean because he is not second best). Yesterday I came to stay at the St. Mary's Infirmary because I could not like the Sealy Hospital. They are not prepared for private patients-____. I do not like to have ____ (that is the nurses and all do not) except Dr. Paine & he didn't want me to come here, but I came anyhow. He is a fine old gentleman, but he has a head as hard as a rock. I wish you could walk into my pretty room with its large east window & elegant furniture tho' simple after all. The Sisters of Charity do all the nursing & oh they are so gentle and kind. My meals are beautifully served in lovely china. I can look down on a pretty yard with green grass, trees, and pretty flowers growing in it. Among other things there are such handsome palms with leaves as long as a parasol. The day we got to Galveston we went out for a sail on a real sailboat. It would roll & dip about on the waves & I was so 'fraid it would turn over, but it didn't. How I did wish for you all & the dear children. We also viewed the big gun & I talked with one of Uncle Sam's soldiers a little. He was mighty proud of his blue coat & gun & I told him if we did have war I expected they'd be in front of the whole crowd of runners except me, for on such occasions as fire etc. I generally lead everything as a person "of fleetfootedness." Enough of foolishness for one letter. Tell your dear mother that her fame as a cakemaker has spread abroad in the land & is fully established at Sealy Hospital. All who tasted it praised it greatly. Here I waited to listen to a voice oh so sweet! chanting somewhere, I suppose over in the Chapel. I can't hear the words but the sweet rich melody rises & sweeps over the air like great billows of melody. For fear of tiring you, I will stop. Any time you can write, any of you, I shall be grateful. Give my love to all the friends and kiss the little ones for their homesick mother. With love for you all I am as ever
Yours, Mary Tillett -







23 May 2009

Mississippi & Alabama coast travel nostalgia

Does anyone besides me fondly remember eating at the Friendship House Restaurant, on the way to Gulf Shores?

This is the only image I could find on line.  If you ignore the artsy woman with dog, it does look vaguely like I remember.  I didn't know it was a motel, too.  Wonder what happened to the restaurant.

This is kind of funny, but do y'all remember how everyone got excited about eating the free crackers (& butter) that most restaurants provided when you sat down?

In Gulf Shores in the early days, I loved The Dunes restaurant.  I have a black and white picture of the front of it somewhere, if it didn't get torn up by the non-archivally safe album it was in.  Jumbo fried shrimp---yum.

And does anyone remember how we used to have to use dirty, un-air-conditioned "filling station" bathrooms when traveling?  But then we could get a soft drink (in a glass bottle), from the vending machine.  What a treat!  I can still taste the Nehi grape, for some reason, and the occasional Barq's root beer!

22 May 2009

Historic Abilene buildings

The City of Abilene, Texas, has some photos of historic buildings & historic sites on their website, including two Texas Pacific Railroad buildings and the Elks Club, which is presumably the one to which our great-grandfather David Graham Hill belonged:

http://www.abilenetx.com/About/tpdepot.htm

20 May 2009

Tillett - Wyche - Smith family history in North Carolina & my visit there

On Mother's Day, I was in Charlotte, North Carolina! While there I looked for Reverend John Tillett's grave at Elmwood Cemetery, but I couldn't find it. The place is huge, and I haven't located any directions to his grave.

I used the inspiration of a national genealogy meeting in Raleigh to make a six-day visit to the state...to see a few of the places the Tilletts and Wyches lived, and also to consider whether I might want to move there. I took the train and rented a car; just attended about a day & a half of the conference.

I do love the scenery in the Piedmont region: endless green hills and forests. And I like the fact that the state has actually put money into the passenger train system!

I started out in Richmond County east of Charlotte on Saturday, May 9th. [Ione's notes had indicated that Richmond Co., Virginia, was the Covingtons' location after Maryland but that was an error.] I found and took pictures of the graves of Elizabeth J. Wyche Tillett and her daughter Laura Tillett in Rockingham.

Then I located the old church which the Covingtons attended in the late 1700's (Cartledge Creek Baptist)--- according to a library book I'd consulted [A History of Richmond County by J.E. & I.C. Huneycutt, 1976]---and took a look at the Blewett Falls area of the Pee Dee River, with two old Blewett graves. William Blewett came from England in the early 1700's, having obtained one of the earliest land grants in the area and is probably one of our ancestors through Winifred Stone Covington, widow of Henry Covington who died in the War of 1812. A dam was built at Blewett Falls about a hundred years ago, so there is more of a lake with a spillway than a waterfall.

Another day I stopped in the town of Burlington, formerly Company Shops, from which some of the Tillett letters were written. The town is in the Greensboro vicinity and was established by the North Carolina Railroad as their maintenance site. Next I found the historic marker for the Bingham School for boys in Mebane, formerly Mebaneville, where Gus Tillett attended secondary school. (Happened to find out at the conference this is pronounced "Mebbin.") I made a swing through Pittsboro in Chatham County, where he was born and where there is now an organic grocery co-operative...Didn't ever make it to Chapel Hill to see the university.

Tuesday I found our ancestor James Wyche's grave in the woods of Granville County, about 40 miles north of Raleigh, thanks to the directions someone had put on line; although it took a while since the headstones aren't visible from the road. (He died in Raleigh at the age of 59, in 1845.) Then I took pictures of a house that may have been theirs; I so much wanted to find the "old Tar River plantation home," established in 1825 after the Wyches moved from Brunswick County, Va. If it was the right house it's been drastically remodeled as a hunting lodge.

I believe their plantation must have been a tobacco plantation, as this area was big in tobacco and James was part-owner of a tobacco warehouse. There used to be an old mill on their land, but I didn't know where to look for the ruins. James and Pamela Evans Wyche had 14 children, 13 of whom lived to adulthood; all of their children (two daughters and eleven sons) attended college. Elizabeth J. W. Tillett later returned to the Tar River home to have at least two or three of her babies. She had been about seven years old when they moved here.

John and Elizabeth Tillett had nine children, six of whom lived to adulthood: Jimmy, Laura, Jeannette, Wilbur, Charlie, and Gus. During the War Between the States the eldest, James Wyche Tillett, was away serving in the Confederate Army. Elizabeth died during this period, when Gus was about two; the next year John Tillett married Elizabeth's widowed sister, Louisa Young Wyche (Speed). All of the Tilletts attended college, as well, although the war prevented James from finishing his formal education.

After I came back to Florida I realized there was a Smith plantation and graveyard in Granville County, also (Mary Benjamin Smith Tillett's forebears on her father's side); I hadn't remembered that during the trip. They were farther north. The other Smith ancestors (her mother's side) were located in Caswell County,* farther west along the Va. state line.

In Raleigh I found the 1862 Raleigh & Gaston/ Seaboard RR building, which has been preserved, and took a lot of pictures inside the State Capitol (1840). James Wyche was involved with both of these entities, as railroad president and legislator, although he died before the RR building was built.

*In reviewing online Smith information, it appears that the Samuel H. Smiths may have lived in the Raleigh area for a few years, as Wake County is supposed to be where Anne William Smith was born and where her parents married...There sure was a lot of intermarrying among that clan. It looks like, in marrying Benjamin Men Smith, Anne married her father's first cousin. Many of the Smiths moved to Dallas County, Arkansas, probably during the 1840's.

16 April 2009

Quotation from Wilbur F. Tillett

Wilbur F. Tillett (1854-1936) was one of Henry Augustus (Gus) Tillett's older brothers.  He was a minister and Dean of the School of Religion at Vanderbilt University, in Nashville.  A book published in 1949, Wilbur Fisk Tillett: Christian Educator, describes his life and views on various Christian doctrines.

The following passage is taken from 1001 Things Everyone Should Know About the South, by John Shelton Reed and Dale Volberg Reed (1996).  I was delighted to find it but haven't been able to determine the original source from which the Tillett quotation is taken.  This is found in item number 944 of the Reeds' book, The Southern lady. 

Wilbur Fisk Tillett wrote in 1891 that "American civilization has nowhere produced a purer and loftier type of refined and cultured womanhood than existed in the South before the war....In native womanly modesty, in neatness, grace, and beauty of person, in ease and freedom without boldness of manner, in refined and cultivated minds, in gifts and qualities that shone brilliantly in the social circle, in spotless purity of thought and character, in laudable pride of family and devotion to home, kindred, and loved ones---these were the qualities for which Southern women were noted and in which they excelled."

04 February 2009

Heritage Trails Map

Here is a link to a map which has a list of many of the locations which are significant as part of the heritage of one or more branches of our family.


http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=110453443066540687236.0004619232c3997f33d25&z=3one

Picture of Dr. Samuel G. Haynie

Here is the scanned version of the portrait print I bought from the Austin History Center, depicting our ancestor Dr. Samuel Garner Haynie (1806-1877).

02 February 2009

Covingtons of Tennessee and Texas

Onie Shapard's second husband Charlie Shapard died of tuberculosis; after only two years of marriage & one week after the birth of their daughter Cassie Shapard, in March 1888.  Cassie was apparently named after Dr. Shapard's sister-in-law, Cassandra or Mrs. Henry Shapard of Shelbyville, Tennessee.  So at this point in time, 30 year-old widow Onie had a ten year-old son, Lawrence Hill, and an infant daughter. 

Approximately ten years earlier in Robertson County, Tenn., north of Nashville, Leroy "Bascom" Covington (b. 1851) married his second wife, after first wife Julia Jernigan died.  The first union had produced a son, W. Leonard Covington, born in 1875.  His second bride was Mary A. Martin; they had four children:  Annie May, Olivia Adelle, Leroy "Roy," and a little boy Robert who lived only one & a half years. 

Here is a picture of Bascom & Mary Covington, circa late 1870's, in Tennessee.  Mary Martin Covington may have died when Robert was born, in 1887.  Bascom moved his children to Texas about that time.

Bascom Covington married Ione Morgan Shapard in 1890, in Callahan (or perhaps Taylor) County, Texas.  He was about 39 at that time, and she was about 32.  This couple had four (more) children, all born during the 1890's in Callahan County.  At some point while the children were growing up, the family moved into Abilene, in Taylor County.

Here is shown a picture of Bascom Covington in Abilene, circa 1900-1914.  (He died in 1915.)

Finally we have a portrait of Onie Covington with five of her children, which was taken around 1920.  Back row:  Alto Bascom Covington, Cassandra Morgan Shapard, Morgan Talmadge Covington.  Front row:  Emma Alice Covington, Mary Ione Morgan Hill/Shapard/Covington, Marie Dovie Covington. 


Picture of Mary Ione Morgan - Circa 1879

This picture was taken in Monroe, Louisiana.  I believe it shows Ione "Onie" Morgan at about age 21, with her first husband Oliver Hill and son Lawrence Hill.

Mary Ione Morgan was born in 1858 and married Mr. Hill in 1877.  Lawrence was born in 1878.

Around December 1882, after Dr. Haynes L. Morgan had passed away, Ione Morgan Hill and three of her siblings moved to Texas. 

Oliver Hill died some time between 1879 & 1886; because 1886 is the year in which Onie married Dr. Charles Shapard of Tennessee.

1860-61 Morgan purchases

I love this!

The Morgan family history, written by Aunt Emma Morgan (Mixon), states that the family of Dr. Haynes L. Morgan moved to Caldwell Parish, Louisiana, south of Monroe, in November of 1859. This shows their purchases starting in January 1860, in Pine Bluff, Ouachita River, La....Isn't it wonderful that the Covingtons saved this 150 year-old item for us? It is the oldest item of family life that we have, I believe.

Words I can identify, after the lady's saddle
: 1-1/2 yds. linen, 6 yds. domestics (cloth), 1/2 doz. fine goblets, tobacco, 2 prs. shoes, 22 yds. calico, 20 yds. muslin, 1 pr. hose, 1 doz. buttons, 5 spools thread, 1 gal. soda, salts, grind____, small book (10 cents), red russets (potatoes), 33 yds. calico, snuff, handkerchiefs, file [?], 10 lbs. nails, 1 sack salt, 5 lbs. nails, 2 yds. flannel, 1 umbrella, tobacco, coat, dishes, plates, saucers & cups, 10 lbs. nails, and 4 lbs. shot.


For the New Orleanians among us, note that Rial & Company had their forms printed at a shop on Magazine Street in N.O. This is right before the Civil War.

Morgans in Louisiana

Here is the story of the Morgan family, told by Mema's first cousin Mattie or "Patty" McCluer, in a memoir kept by the Rogers, Arkansas, Museum. I've corrected a few errors:

...Not long after Papa took over this project, he met and married Elizabeth Morgan, a native of Louisiana. Her father was Dr. Haynes Morgan, and her great grandfather was Col. Haynes Morgan, who was at the Battle of Guilford Court House in North Carolina. He was a Virginia landholder. Mama's father, Haynes III, later moved to Alabama, where Mama was born, at Talladega.

The Texas fever was spreading over the Southeastern states about this time. Our grandfather, Haynes III, decided to go West. He and a large party of immigrants started to Texas. They were delayed at Jackson, Mississippi, where Aunt Ione was born.

By the time they reached Monroe, Louisiana, all their money was gone, so they rented a place near Monroe and put in a cotton crop. They were getting along fine, and had every prospect of moving on to Texas as soon as the cotton was picked, but the Civil War broke out and the Yankee soldiers drove off all the stock; the slaves were scattered; and the big general store grandpa owned was burned. His wife died in childbirth for want of a doctor. Everything except the house they lived in and one old mule (too old for the Yankees to use) was carried off or destroyed.

Grandmother Morgan was Lucinda Johnson before her marriage. She had two brothers, one named Patrick. Her family were directly from Ireland, settling in Virginia not far from the Morgan estate. There is nothing told of why Haynes went to Alabama to live.

After Lucinda's death, grandpa was indeed in a sad state. He was well past middle age, being much older than his wife, and left with four young daughters and an infant son, with no one to care for them. Mama, the eldest, was ten. A negro ex-slave, called Aunt Julie, came to him and said, "Dr. Morgan, (he was a dentist), I'se gwin stay with these chillun." So, from that day, Aunt Julie was the only Mother they ever knew...

Colonel Haynes Morgan

Here is a website established by a man named Danny Ricketts in Virginia, which describes the Revolutionary War contributions of our ancestor Colonel Haynes Morgan:


http://pittsco.rdricketts.com/morgan.html

31 January 2009

More: George W. Campbell

Apparently the Library of Congress owns a copy of our ancestor's picture, as part of its historic collection of Booker T. Washington papers.  This is what is indicated by the caption under George W. Campbell's likeness in the book: The Booker T. Washington Papers, Volume 2.

The business which was operated by our great-great-grandfather, other than his position as President of the Macon County Bank, was called Campbell & Wright.  Since the term merchant was applied to him, I imagine that the firm Campbell & Wright was engaged in some sort of retail trade.  Eliza Jane Wright Campbell's brother William Wright was the other partner in this operation.

I just found another fascinating fact about George W. Campbell and his brother-in-law William H. Wright.  In the book History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography (1921) by Thomas & Marie Owen, it is stated that these men and several others established the Tuskegee Railroad Company in 1860, with the object of connecting the town of Tuskegee to the Montgomery & West Point Railroad.  However, the Civil War interrupted this project, and the track was torn up during hostilities.  In addition, William Wright joined the Confederate cavalry in 1863; by the War's end he had been promoted to the rank of army Captain.

In 1871, the railway's "franchise and property" were sold to three parties who formed a partnership: E. T. Varner, Mrs. L. V. Alexander, and Campbell & Wright.  Their corporate name was E. T. Varner & Co.; with E. T. Varner serving as its president, G. W. Campbell as first vice-president, and Capt. W. H. Wright as secretary, treasurer, and general manager.  The railway project was completed, and the Tuskegee Railroad was put into operation effective January 1, 1872.  There were about seven miles of track, a locomotive engine, and six cars including one passenger car.  The total investment [cited in 1915] was $106,150, with no indebtedness. 

Post script: George W. Campbell

George W. Campbell is mentioned in the history section of the Tuskegee University website, www.tuskegee.edu, and also in the www.wikipedia.org article about Tuskegee University.

The best place to read about his contributions is in the multi-volume set, The Booker T. Washington Papers, Louis R. Harlan, Editor, published by the University of Illinois Press, 1972. Volume 1 is a compilation of Washington's biographical writings. George Campbell is mentioned many times in both Up From Slavery and The Story of My Life and Work. Volume 2: 1860-89 also contains many references to our ancestor and has his picture in the illustration section.

Here is the title of one example from Volume 2, taken from pages 212-13:

ANNUAL REPORT OF GEORGE W. CAMPBELL, CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE TUSKEGEE COLORED NORMAL SCHOOL, FOR THE YEAR ENDING AUGUST 31, 1882

In 1881 the State legislature appropriated $2,000 for the school, and this report for the first year accounts for every penny expended, with $226.71 as an ending balance!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In 1981, the college was commemorating its Centennial Year. On February 12, 1981, or Charter Day, the descendants of George Washington Campbell and of the ex-slave Lewis Adams were recognized and honored with the Tuskegee Institute Centennial Award. These two men, along with M. B. Swanson, were the original,designated State Commissioners, as well as Trustees. Responding to the recognition for the Campbell family were Mrs. Flora Campbell Woodruff and Mr. Charles W. Campbell, children of George Lee Campbell. Our grandmother Lucerne, or Mrs. Hiram G. Haynie, was in attendance as another of the grandchildren of Mr. & Mrs. George W. Campbell, being the daughter of Mrs. Lucerne Campbell Hill. Gloria Hopkins, or Mrs. George D. Hopkins, was in attendance as a granddaughter of Lucerne Campbell Hill.

This program was held in the Tuskegee Chapel. Speakers included the Governor of Alabama and the President of Virginia's Hampton Institute, the place which originally educated Booker T. Washington and recommended him to George W. Campbell for the post of heading up the new normal school, which used to be the term that was used for schools which educated teachers. This school taught many different subjects and trades, right from its beginning. It evolved into a world-class university.

30 January 2009

Vincent Shelton Morgan's 1892 letter

Here is the third letter in the trio having to do with the trip made by Lawrence Hill to visit his Aunt Lizzie and cousins in southwest Virginia. Vincent S. Morgan (1818-1894) was the patriarch of the Morgan clan at this point in time; he had served as a State legislator, as well as Smyth County sheriff. He was called Uncle Vint by his nieces and nephews.

His great-grandson told me recently that Vincent Shelton Morgan was wealthy, at least in terms of land ownership. He lives today on part of that land, the Morgan farm, in the vicinity of Saltville.

"Mattie" referred to here was one of V. S. Morgan's three children, Martha Elizabeth Morgan Miles. She was a first cousin of Lawrence Hill's mother, Onie Morgan Covington. The son-in-law referred to here was Mattie's husband and quite an accomplished man, George Miles.

Marion, Va.
Nov. 22nd, 1892
Dear Onie,

I just got home yesterday from a visit to Mattie & found your letter awaiting me. Lawrence is here & well & hearty. He can stay here until it is convenient for you to send him money to go home, he is no incumbrance to us. I would lend him the money to go home if I were in a condition to do so provided he wanted it, but I will say in all frankness that I am not able to do so. Money matters are closer with me now than they have been for many years. One reason is I have been trying to help my son-in-law put up buildings for a school, I feel that I am almost compelled to go South this winter if I am able & I shall be pressed to arrange my business & raise the money to pay my expenses.

I was very glad to hear you were all well & getting along fairly well. I am getting quite feeble & my eyesight very bad- rest of my family all well. With best wishes & hoping to hear from you whenever convenient. I remain your uncle,

V. S. Morgan

29 January 2009

Reverend Uncas McCluer's 1891 letter




                                                                        Osceola  Va.                                                                                                      
                                                                                                            12. 12. 1891.

Dear Onie -

Your letter arhavd today and is answered forthwith -

We are glad to hear that Lawrence is coming to Va - the "Old Dominion."  Your plan will be to get a Ticket to Bristol Tenn.  Bristol is on the State Line fifteen miles from
Abingdon Va.
  And both on the Main Line of R.R. from the South West to the North East - Abingdon is (7) seven miles from our house over a good road.

I will meet him at the Depot or if he comes in the night, or very early in the morning, tell him to take the Hack, & go to the "Colonade Hotel" and wait their till I come.  Mr. & Mrs. Harris - the Hotel people are great friends of ours, and if Lawrence will just call my name he will be all right.

Lizzie says, feed that Baby, Morgan, some so you will not break down.  Also, if you have plenty, send us a few pecans. - The children here do not know what they are -

We are as well as usual.  As ever your Brother,
                                                                        U. McCluer
P.S. Tell Lawrence to get off at Bristol,  & have his Trunk rechecked to Abingdon, & get another ticket -  There is usually plenty of time for that -


Lawrence Hill's letter - Circa 1892

A few editorial notes to go with this letter:

Lawrence was about 14 years old in 1892, the year of his trip from Texas to Virginia. He may have been "slow" for his age. Nonetheless, I think this is a charming letter; and I'm so glad that it was saved for us to enjoy, along with the two letters from the adults in Va. [After Ione Morgan Covington died, these things were kept by her son Alto & his wife Effie Covington.]

Lawrence's reference to "cars" means, of course, train cars.

Agnes and Kate are Rev. McCluer's daughters, half-sisters to the children of Lizzie Morgan McCluer & Uncas McCluer. Evidently Kate was away from home during this period; she was 17 yrs old. The other McCluer children & their approx. ages in 1892 were Lacy, age 10; twins Netta & Patty (given name Mattie), age 8; Morgan, age 3; and Robert "Dabney," infant....These five children were first cousins to Onie Covington's children.

An endearing bonus is the page devoted to Lawrence's little sister Cassie Shapard, who was 4 years old at the time. And the reference to "brother" would be to Morgan Covington, who was 1 year old. The last postscript is inquiring about their dog & horses, I presume! Oh, and "Mattie & Vera" are other Texas cousins, children of Emma Morgan Mixon, I think.

I couldn't understand the postscript he wrote to his mother.

Well Mamma I wrote you a letter last night and will write some more to night. I went to the Store this eve and got a par of drawers you sent me. I had to send 9ct. to Abilene to the P.O. Master to put on that bundle. he wrote me a card that there was not a nough Stamps. You thought Agnes was little. She is biger than I. I got acquainted with Some boys here. Aunt Lizzie looks like Aunt Alice. Lacy got a letter from Kate. She said I [was] bold to come here by myself. At Memphis I saw the lectricity. Cars crosed the Mississippi River at night but got to see it. did not take any cold. did not get sick. any way enjoyed my trip fine. went throu one Tunnel it like to made me deaf the Cars sound so loud. I am sory Mr. Harrel house got burnd down heap rather it would have ben Trents. is halken rider or what ever his name is going to mary Julia Trent? it has ben cold and wet wether untill the last 2 or 3 days but think it is fixin up for bad agane. I haven't ben homesick any yet feel like I am at home. well I can't think of any more so I will close. your ever loving Son Lawrence Hill

Postscript I guess you think I can back the boss [?] letters.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Sister I will write to you a litle letter. Morgan is a bout your size. have you got your litle Waggon and your tu dolls? Aunt Lizzie says you are geting pretyer than you was. are you and brther well? Uncle Mc. says I will hft to [be] a litle patent with Morgan. he is so much like I usted to be. the Twins are so much a like that I can't tell them apart without examimine closely. have you ben to see Mattie and Vera? I will close. your loving broter good Night Lawrence Hill

Postscript how is Shep ageting a long and the Horces?


28 January 2009

Covington and Tillett History & Their Intersection in North Carolina

Henry Covington almost surely participated in the Battle of New Orleans on the 8th of January, 1815, which repelled the British invaders once and for all. Natalie & I visited the Chalmette battlefield in 1999, out of general interest; and later Lisle and Ione sent me Robert Remini's book published that same year about the historical events involved. The book is The Battle of New Orleans: Andrew Jackson and America's First Military Victory.
I've found general information on line about the Tennessee Militia units which served at the Battle, under General Jackson. The typewritten book Covington Cousins (1956) asserts that Henry died at Camp Henderson, five miles above New Orleans. It just occurred to me that, in 1815, "above New Orleans" meant upriver from the City; so that helps slightly to identify where the military encampment was. Online information about Camp Henderson is scarce to non-existent. Wasn't the location marked? When the soldiers died of infectious disease (there were very few battlefield casualties), where were they buried?
There is a woman in Tenn. who has been researching the Covingtons, and either she or I will probably order the National Archives file that has Winney Covington's war widow pension application in it. Maybe that would have the details of his service; it would be very gratifying, if so.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About 50 & 70 years, respectively, after our branch of the Covington family left Richmond County, North Carolina, for upper middle Tennessee, the Tillett family lived in Richmond County. I found the listing on line for the graves of Poppa Henry's grandmother and his Aunt Laura, who are buried there in the county seat town of Rockingham...Richmond County is east of Charlotte, bordering South Carolina...The Tillett book doesn't really say what Elizabeth J. Wyche Tillett died of in 1862 during the Civil War; she was in her forties. But about 20 years later her daughter Laura taught in a private academy in Rockingham for 2 or 3 years --- upstairs in the Covington store building, reportedly. She was in her thirties and engaged to be married, but tragically, she died of roseola in 1881...At least her father was able to take the train down to be with her. There's a letter written by Rev. John Tillett at the time to his eldest son James that says at the end something like, "Gus is here but he leaves tomorrow for Arkansas."
We know that Henry Augustus "Gus" Tillett had recently graduated from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and would meet his bride in Arkansas & move to Abilene, Texas. (The book states that he didn't see his father again until nine years later when Rev. Tillett was dying, in Charlotte.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Someday I might join or at least write to the National Society, Daughters of the War of 1812, because I want to know how we can find out where Henry Covington is buried. They have a program for decorating the graves of the soldiers.

07 January 2009

Correspondence about Mary Benjamin Smith & Anne William Smith

Dear Becky,

How wonderful that you have the painting and the inheritance tradition.

To refresh my memory, I've pulled out the Tillett book (pp. 94, 96) to check the women's names again. The mother of our grandparents was Mary Benjamin Smith Tillett, who apparently was called "Mamie," at least by her husband. She in turn was the 8th child of Benjamin Men Smith and Anne William [or Williams] Smith. Before the Civil War the Smiths had moved from the vicinity of Granville County, North Carolina, to Dallas County, Arkansas, taking their slaves with them.

Anne Smith died two months after her 13th child was born, in 1871. The next year, when Mary was about 12 years old, her father married "Annie Wilson Smith, a cousin of his first wife." Annie Wilson Smith "held together and reared this large family of children."

Here is what Aunt Mame wrote about her and Poppa Henry's mother's youth: Mary had gone through the Reconstruction days, had seen her father's slaves leave when they wished to; had learned to cook and sew; she could paint pictures, and had God's gift of growing beautiful flowers; she could make little go far. She was a devout Presbyterian, a profound student of the Bible and a devoted helpmate to her young husband.

Well, now it's midnight. Becky, now I'm even more excited about your painting; because I realize that it must indeed be of Anne William(s) Smith! Mary was born in 1860, according to what Sandra wrote down; Anne was born in 1830. So, if the portrait was painted around 1848, Anne [who was destined to live only about 41 years] was a young woman of 18, presumably from N.C. like her husband. The fact that she attended a "female seminary" school is fascinating, too; perhaps it was the equivalent of a college education. And holding sheet music!

Love,
Sandi



On Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 11:40 AM, Becky wrote:

Sandi – What lovely, wonderful photos! Thank you for sending them. I have a beautiful portrait of my great-great grandmother (Mamie Augusta Tillett's grandmother) and I think it may be Mary Benjamin Smith (or her mother), painted in about 1848. I have a file on it at home and will check.

This painting hung in Gamama (Mamie)'s home until she died, when it went to my mother. When Mama died, it came to me (it is to go to the oldest daughter in each generation, which I love). So it will go to Jeannie's daughter Leigh when I die. We had the painting cleaned and restored and discovered much more color in it than it had before. Jeannie and I always thought it looked rather grim, but now she has pink cheeks, a sparkle in her eyes and yellow sleeve lining. I will try to scan in a photo of it and send it to you. The portrait was painted by a traveling German artist (we have his name), while she was a student at a "female seminary" somewhere up north. The story is that he chose her to paint because of her beautiful hands. In the painting, she is holding some sheet music. It is very unusual for a portrait of that era to include the hands, because they are hard to paint.

I'll get back to you, probably tomorrow after I find the file!

Becky


From: Sandi
Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2009 7:10 PM
To: Sandra
Cc: Jeannie; Becky
Subject: 3 photos that I received from Boulder

Dear Sandra,

Are these pictures of Mary Smith Tillett, your grandmother? There was a Post-It note written by Mom that said something like, "I think these are of Mary B. Smith Tillett."

Love,
Sandi

05 January 2009

Haynie-Cook House

Architect Abner Cook built this house for Dr. Samuel Haynie around 1852; it stood for a century at 1104 Colorado, adjacent to the Texas Governor's Mansion which was also designed by Cook, in Austin.