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.

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

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.

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. 

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

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.
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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?

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.

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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.)

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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.

Two More Patriotic Ancestors

I obtained confirmation from the Daughters of the American Revolution look-up service that our ancestor John Covington (1735-1809) provided "Patriotic Service" during the Revolutionary War.  They said that this included such contributions as providing supplies to the army or repairing guns or other equipment.

 

On the Haynie side of the family, our great-great grandmother Hannah Maria Evans, wife of Dr. S.G. Haynie, was the granddaughter of a General Samuel Evans (this is from the book about the Rev. John Haynie and family).  Therefore, we're descended from officers named Evans on both sides of the family, since Lt. William Evans was an ancestor on the Tillett side.        

Post script: First Generation Covingtons

I found an item about Nehemiah Covington which states that he emigrated to the New World in 1643; if this is correct, he was 15 years old at the time. He may have been following older brothers who arrived during the 1630's. Online entries by various descendants provided these additional details:

Nehemiah was a stonemason, a grist mill stonecutter and builder of grist mills, blacksmith, furrier, and tobacco planter. He lived in Virginia for a number of years, where he signed an Oath to the Commonwealth in 1651, Northampton County, and registered his Owl's Head trademark in the town of Eastville.

Nehemiah Covington I is said to have been a "prominent Quaker." The Quakers apparently encountered religious discrimination in Virginia, whereas the Maryland colony was established with the specific intent of providing religious tolerance. Our ancestor moved his large family (back?) to Maryland about 1662, and the following year acquired a 300-acre tract in Somerset County next to Great Monie Creek that he named Covington's Vineyard. During the 1660's and 1670's he reportedly served twice as county constable, which was probably the equivalent of sheriff.

In 1667, after his first wife died, he married our ancestor Anne Ingram. They had four children together including Thomas Covington, our 7th great-grandfather. Nehemiah died around 1681, outliving Anne Covington by three years, and was buried at Covington's Vineyard.

Covington History

I don't know whether anyone else has a copy of a one-and-a-half page document typed by Ione two years ago outlining what she knew of the Covington family history. The early part of it is sort of bungled up as far as the dates and relationships. I have been wanting to track our exact lineage and to ascertain whether we are related to Brigadier General Leonard Covington, one of the monumental heroes of the War of 1812 and whose home Propinquity is in Natchez, Mississippi.

Today I finally lucked into someone's meticulous documentation of our ancestral line. Although we are tenth generation Haynies in America, we Tillett cousins (Ione's five, Sandra's four, and Dub's two children) are among the eleventh generation in the Covington line. [Ditto for Lynne & Becky Sangster and any Farnum cousins.] The first generation was Nehemiah Covington I, of Covington, Huntingdonshire, England, born in 1628. Mom's information said that he is supposed to have arrived in 1647 during or shortly after Lord Baltimore's arrival. --- It turns out that Covington, England, is still just a picturesque village in the south of England, that area now being part of Cambridgeshire. See www.covington.org.uk for an aerial photo!!

A Google search on "Nehemiah Covington" yields over 600 results, as yet unexplored by me; although there is no article on him or his sons in Wikipedia.org. He was married twice, the first union providing the line of descent for General Leonard Covington (1768-1813). The second marriage, to an Anne Ingram, provides our line of descent. The first five generations of both families remained in Maryland. Excerpts of some of the men's wills are on line, as I bumped into a website about slave genealogy that quotes passages detailing the fate of the slave families upon their owner's death and listing the slaves' first names.

Many of our direct Covington ancestors had large families, sometimes again with two different mothers. Therefore, no doubt we have hundreds of distant relatives! In our line, John Covington, Jr. (1735-1809) moved the family to Richmond County, N.C. Then his son Henry L. Covington (1781-1815) moved to Robertson County, Tennessee, where some of the descendants still live. There is a Covington family cemetery there in a location called Pleasant Grove.

I don't know yet whether the Covingtons fought in the American Revolution. Henry L. Covington served in the War of 1812 as part of the Tennessee Regiment, and I surmise that he may've been either seriously wounded or perhaps contracted an illness during the war, as he died early in 1815 following the conclusion of the fighting. Maybe he fought with Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans! Eventually, I'll look for more on his military service, if there are detailed records.

Brigadier General Leonard Covington, who was several years older than Henry and (I figure to have been) his fourth cousin, moved his plantation and small family from Maryland to Natchez, Ms., around 1810, but he did not get to enjoy his life there for long...There is a website with his complete memoirs and letters, very fascinating stuff, at www.rainbowoman.com. (He had fought in the earlier Indian campaigns of the Midwest and served for a few years in Congress, as well.)...The decision makers in Washington sent him north to fight in the region of Ontario, and he was mounted on his horse when killed by a British sharpshooter in 1813.

The Wikipedia entry on this man has yet to be written, but it does say that all of the towns, counties, and forts named Covington that we have heard of are named after him. So, every time we have visited Covington, Louisiana, and when the Duncans lived there, we were in a town named after our fourth cousin, five times removed!! (Only four times removed, for Sandra.)

Our children are twelfth generation Americans in the Covington line of descent...Leroy Bascom Covington, Mema's father, was evidently #10 of 11 children in the family of Leroy Covington, son of Henry, and Elizabeth Frey Covington of Robertson County, Tn. I have a hunch that the name Leroy was pronounced "La-ROY," not "Lee-roy;" but our great-grandfather may have gone by "Bascom." Don't know exactly why he migrated to Texas; perhaps the land was free for the settlers. Both he and our great-grandmother, Mary Ione Morgan, had children by prior marriages and were widowed twice before marrying each other in or near Callahan County, Tx., and producing four children: Uncle Alto, Uncle Morgan, Emma, and Aunt Marie.