All My Ancestors » Tennessee

14 March 2008

Women’s History Month–43rd Carnival of Genealogy

Filed under: Landrum Family, South Carolina, Tennessee — allmyanc @ 4:54 pm

Here are our marching orders for the 43rd version of the Carnival of Genealogy:

Write a tribute to a woman on your family tree, a friend, a neighbor, or a historical female figure who has done something to impact your life. Or instead of writing, consider sharing a photo biography of one woman’s life. Or create a scrapbook page dedicated to a woman you’d like to honor. For extra credit, sum up her life in a six-word biography (thanks to Lisa Alzo for the suggestion!).

There have been a lot of strong, admirable women in my family. I wish I’d been able to interact in person with many of them–I’ve written about some of them already– in another Carnival of Genealogy entry about which 4 ancestors I’d like to have dinner with, an early posting that included my paternal grandmother, multiple entries about my maternal grandmother, her sisters, the tragedy and legacy of my great-grandmother’s suicide, my great-aunt Margie and her sisters, her sister-in-law, my great-aunt Eva, and, of course, “the girls,” my great aunts Edna and Lorene. These women were resourceful and hard-working. I’m fortunate to have known most of them.

There are also some women in my family I’ve come to know through family stories and my own research. I’ve written about some of those as well. There are lots of candidates in my family deserving of a tribute–a 3rd great-grandmother who lost 4 sons in a Civil War she probably didn’t believe in, and who then reared the children of one of those sons; another 3rd great-grandmother who lost her parents as a young child, lost 4 sons as infants and who endured a husband’s wonder-lust and physical ailments, one of my great-grandmothers who saw to it that her own daughters went to college at a time when educating women wasn’t all that common.

The ancestor I will focus on for this entry is sort of a repeat–I’ve written about her before. I know her only through what I found in writing about her and through a story relayed to me by her great-granddaughter, my great-aunt Margie. This is a partial reprint from an earlier post, one I wrote for Mother’s Day last year, but honoring Delilah Jackson Landrum seem appropriate for this exercise. She has become one of my guiding lights–

Delilah Jackson (1780-1870) was my 4th great-grandmother. She was married to Merriman Landrum (1784-1826) and outlived him by several years. What I wouldn’t give for a photo!

I get the impression that Delilah was from a locally prominent family from Union County, South Carolina. She was born in 1780–her father was Ralph Jackson, Jr. and her mother was Delilah Murphy. Ralph Jr’s mother was Amy Williams. Amy is a patriot, in the sense that if I were so inclined, I could use her as my ancestor to join the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) since she is on record as having furnished forage to some of the Revolutionary soldiers’ horses. Delilah inherits, among other things, a “dutch fan” at her father’s death about 1817. I’ve spent some time trying to determine exactly what this item was, and I think it must have been a hand-held fan used by ladies in that day that came from Holland. Simple enough, but probably highly prized in those steamy South Carolina times. And she must have inherited at least some of her grandmother Amy’s strength as well.

Much of the information I have about Delilah comes from a book about her son. Her oldest son was John Gill Landrum (1810-1882), a Baptist minister of some note in South Carolina. He seems to have been a fairly conservative fellow, but I did like the fact that when he married a Methodist woman, he had no issues with her attending her own congregation while he tended his.

The book is entitled The Life and Times of Rev. John G. Landrum, written by H. G. Griffith in 1885. It was reprinted in 1992 by Brent Holcomb, to whom I am most grateful for making this book more readily available. The book was the result of an article Mr. Griffith was asked to write for the Baptist Courier, a South Carolina Baptist publication, about Rev. Landrum. Despite his birth in Tennessee, John Gill Landrum evidently made his claim to fame in South Carolina. After the death of his father, Merriman, he was sent back to South Carolina for schooling and as with many students who go off to study, he made his life where he was educated.

She was as good a woman as ever lived; well beloved by all that knew her. She was an exception–was kind and good to everybody.

Just after their marriage in 1805 in South Carolina, Delilah and Merriman moved to middle Tennessee. Delilah and her husband evidently worked for and lived in the house of Newton Cannon who was then the Surveyor-General of the state. He was later the governor of the state. As the surveyor, he was often gone from his home. The Landrums ran his household for him–the story indicates that Cannon sometimes teased Delilah that she “had not patched his clothes as she should have done, while the clothes exhibited many conspicuous specimens of her handiwork.” She must have had a sense of humor. This, and the fact that Cannon continued to visit in Merriman and Delilah’s home in subsequent years, tells me she must have been a warm, loving, welcoming person. When Merriman died in 1826, Cannon, governor-to-be, paid Delilah and their nine children “a special visit of sympathy and condolence.”

My favorite story from this book is that of Delilah after the death of her husband and while she was still living in Tennessee. Her youngest daughter Mary wanted her mother to go to a neighborhood revival meeting. This was not the church they usually attended, but she agreed to go with her daughter. This description took me right back to my own youth in way too many revivals

“The preacher soon rose to fever heat, and his audience indicated their sympathy by shouts and groans, and many other noisy demonstrations. When the excitement had reached its climax, the preacher, in the tones of a trumpet, demanded that all who wanted to go to heaven should rise from their seats and clap their hands. The whole congregation, with the single exception of Mrs. Landrum, rose and gave the required response. The quick eye of the preacher noted the defalcation, and he immediately added: “And all who want to go to hell, will please keep their seats.” Mrs. Landrum still calmly kept her seat to the grat horror of the zealous worshipers, and especially to that of the little daughter Mary. The latter, on reaching home, came to her mother with a heavy heart, and, in childish simplicity, said: “Mother, do you want to go to hell?” “No, my child,” replied Mrs. Landrum; “but that preacher is not my captain. God knows the hearts of all his people, and it is not necessary to make unnatural and unbecoming demonstrations in order to merely gratify the curiosity of others.”

I don’t know if this passage would have eased my way as I navigated through the religious minefield that comprised my own youth, adolescence and young adulthood. I do know that it mightily soothed me when I found it a few years ago. Part of me wanted to proclaim, “See, it’s genetic!” when I recalled how I couldn’t bring myself to pray aloud when called upon in church to do so, or to stand and give a “testimony,” to resent having to “shut my eyes and bow my head” and to raise my hand when the evangelist was taking some sort of heaven-bound poll. I didn’t have Delilah’s strength, but I like to think some of it has come my way as I’ve worked out my own spiritual path. And I’ve thought about her often as I’ve also worked out my role as the wife of a minister–I’m so glad to have found her and her story.

Some forty years after the death of her husband Merriman in Tennessee, Delilah died and is buried in Texas in an unmarked grave. She probably rests beside that youngest daughter Mary and Mary’s husband Thomas Ballenger in New Prospect churchyard in Rusk County, Texas. She is only one of my great-grandmothers who need a tombstone–another of my projects.

A 6 word bio? Based on what her children and grandchildren had to say and my own conclusions from research: wise, secure, loving, resilient, honorable, revered.

Comments (4)

25 January 2008

Dinner with 4

Filed under: Alabama, Anderton Family, Arkansas, Ball Family, Carnival of Genealogy, Cemeteries, Indiana, Iowa, Landrum Family, New York City, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas — allmyanc @ 8:15 pm

This version of the Carnival of Genealogy asks which 4 ancestors I would invite for dinner, whether we would meet in my time or theirs, and what I would tell them. I can’t hope for my version to be as clever as The Genealogue’s conversation over pizza rolls, but I’ve chosen 4 of my ancestors that I have some questions for. We’ll meet in “my” time and it probably won’t be all that enjoyable an event for them as I plan to quiz them hard!

Jonathan Osborne (c 1771 NC-1826 NC) 3rd great-grandfather
Jonathan’s father Christopher is my brickwall–the family brickwall for over 50 years. I just want to know where he came from and why he didn’t leave deeper tracks. My theory is that if I talk to Jonathan rather than his father Christopher I can find out more about the succeeding generation as well as the preceding one–conservation of resources, don’t y’know? Christopher

I want to know if Jonathan’s brother Christopher had children in his first marriage. I want to know why this Christopher’s mother-in-law, Mary Stutts Furr, disinherited her daughter, Catherine, his wife–did it have anything to do with Christopher’s first marriage or that in 1818 he moved to Alabama with other families to start Valley Creek Presbyterian Church in Dallas County, Alabama?

sign

I want to know if Jonathan and Christopher had another sibling born after their father’s death in 1789–their father says something in his will about his belief that his wife might be pregnant. I also want to know who all his sisters married–there are names like Brown and Smith and Polk among Jonathan’s brothers-in-law and I want to know first names, marriage dates, and where this tribe ended up. Not too much to ask, do you think?

Delilah Jackson Landrum (1780 SC-1870 TX)4th great-grandmother
I’ve written about Delilah before. I first wanted to know here when I read my great Aunt Marge’s memoirs. She was writing about going to a youth camp where there were racial tensions. She was very much for accepting everyone, regardless of color or creed. She was discussing this with her father and he tells her, “You are very much like my Grandmother Delilah.” I found that statement fascinating because as far as I knew, her father, born and reared in Texas, did not have contact with his Grandmother Delilah who lived in Tennessee. On the other hand, she did spend her later years in East Texas with her youngest daughter, so perhaps he did know her. I love her self-possession when she refused to join the frenzy at the revival as I wrote about here. I have lots of questions about her Jackson family back in South Carolina, and I particularly want to know about the “Dutch fan” that her father left her in his 1817 Union County, South Carolina, will.

William Green Ball (1806 NYC-1881 IA) 4th great-grandfather

Dr. Ball is chosen as another bridge between generations. I definitely want to know more about his father–even though he was a young boy when his father died, he must know about his origins, and those of his mother. His parents were married in Baltimore, I think, in 1797, and then his father was a shipwright in New York City. After the death of his father, his mother and family moved to Clark County, Indiana and then some went on to Delaware County, Ohio. His sisters married well–one married twice, first to the district attorney and state congressman, and then to another attorney who was a national congressman. What was the basis of these sorts of alliances? And I also want to know what kind of medical training Dr. Ball went through–I believe he did that while he was living in Indiana, but who was his mentor and how did he come to that profession?

What can Dr. Ball tell me about his wife’s family? Why did they move from Tennessee to Indiana? Who was the minister, John M. Dickey, who appeared on so many of their records? How did his being an abolitionist fit in with their own beliefs?

It was Dr. Ball and his wife who reared their granddaughter Martha Jane after her father was killed enroute to “the West” and then her mother died shortly thereafter. How did they learn of their sons’ deaths? What were the circumstances under which those two sons were moving? Did Dr.and Mrs. Ball plan to join them in the west?

And, finally, what was the impetus for this man to move from New York City to Indiana to Missouri to Iowa to Kansas to Arkansas and then back to Iowa?

Sarah Ann Davis Anderton (1841 AL-1915 OK) Great-great grandmother
I don’t know very much about my Anderton and Davis lines from Alabama. There were about a zillion Anderton families in Marshall County and most of them were named John or James. I believe I have the right line back to a James Anderton, b. Virginia about 1760. This is not work I’ve done myself, but I believe it’s probably correct.

I don’t even have all of Sarah Ann and her husband James’ children all documented. Some of the older daughters stayed in Alabama when they came to Oklahoma after the Civil War. I always have questions about what makes a family move that far to an area that must be unfamiliar to them, not to mention what would possess them to move to the Oklahoma panhandle, aka “No Man’s Land.” Their granddaughter, my grandmother, told me that they did logging back in Alabama–they floated the logs down the river. That kind of work was certainly not a big draw here in Oklahoma. I suppose it was the opening of the land that drew them. They were still in Alabama on the 1900 census, but by 1910, they had “proved up” on their land in Beaver County, Oklahoma. I have their homestead files and they worked hard.

I found this picture of them in a county history, she’s on the left and he’s on the right. One reason she is dear to me is that she doesn’t appear to be “dainty.” And doesn’t he look like the stereotypical Civil War vet?

Andertons

Sarah Ann is buried out in Blue Mound Cemetery in Beaver County, Oklahoma. Sarah's tombstone

My grandmother told me she really wanted to go back to Alabama but she died before that could happen. Her husband James got his Civil War pension here in Oklahoma– he’d served in the artillery back in Alabama. He was approved and apparently went back to Alabama. Years ago, I sent for his death certificate only to be told that it could not be located. Then a few years ago, I was at Samford Institute in Birmingham, Alabama with some friends. The husband of that group was going out to do some research and I told him if her ran across a tombstone for James Anderton, to be sure to let me know. Amazingly enough, he did. He’s been my genealogical hero ever since. James evidently died in March 1918 and he’s buried in Cochran Cemetery.

Anyway, I have lots of questions for Sarah. Her mother’s maiden name was Campbell–another name I haven’t pursued due to the overwhelming amount of info and my lack of familiarity with records in that part of the country. Her father left all of his 1868 estate, 1450 acres, to his youngest son, Joseph Montgomery Davis, with the proviso that he care for the oldest son, William B. Davis. What were the circumstances that required this sort of care? The will did not stand and the estate was eventually equally divided among the widow and 8 children, including Sarah.

So those are the folks I want to interview, two from the maternal and two from the paternal. I want them to know how much I’ve enjoyed learning more about them and how much I honor their lives and their sacrifices. It’s not surprising that I’ve already written about some of these folks–their lives and times are the targets of some of my greatest curiosity.

I don’t know yet what we’ll have to eat, but I’ll definitely cook. I’ll bet those grandmothers could use the rest.

Comments (2)

28 October 2007

What do you know?

Filed under: Osborne Family, Photos, Tennessee — allmyanc @ 6:11 pm

Here’s a good example of answering one question but getting at least two more. When was this photo taken and who is the subject?

entire image

Due to my recent posting about John Wright Osborne, I’ve made another family connection. I’ve very glad as one of my goals is to find descendants for each of the generation that has 10 Osborne sons–the sons of Jonathan Osborne and Martha Roland. I believe that at least one of them had no descendants–Archibald Magruder Osborne died before he was married and I assume he had no children. I’m not sure about the oldest son, named Christopher for his paternal grandfather. I’m certain I’ve found descendants from 3 of the 9 who are known to have had children, so I have plenty more work to do.

This photo came from a descendant of John Wright Osborne’s father, Thomas. I believe I’ve mentioned that he married twice–his first wife, Mary Jane Wright, was John Wright’s mother. His second wife, Eveline Matlock, bore 9 more children for a grand total of 13. Thomas was just younger than my own ggreat-grandfather, John Osborne, and was his business partner in some land deals in west Tennessee, though Thomas lived in the eastern part of the state.

Thomas’ descendant wants this to be a picture of Eveline. The subject’s clothing, hairstyle, and jewelry are the main clues from the photo itself. There is no photographer’s stamp or mark on it–nothing is on the reverse. The original is small, about 2.5″ x 4″. The cardboard backing is not thick but it is rigid.

Eveline was born in 1824, so even if this photo was made in the early days of photography in the 1860s, that would make Eveline in her mid to late 30s. I’ll admit that I have a hard time estimating today’s ages, much less those of folks a century or two old, but I don’t think this person looks 35 or so. I have some books on reserve at the library to see what I can find about the jewelry and the dress style. Her hair looks like its in a snood, but my research on snoods indicates they’ve been used since the middle ages, so that doesn’t help narrow the date. From the little research that I have done, the fact that there are no props in the picture and that it’s a bust shot rather than a full-length shot, and that it’s a small photo, make me think this photo is earlier rather than later.

But what do you think about a date? I’d be happy to hear from anyone with a tidbit of info about photography history, and I’ll be happy to be contradicted–not a common event, trust me.

Here’s another cropped version of the photo–maybe it helps

closeup

Is there a hint of a high waist line at the bottom of this image?

We’d love to know what you think.

Comments (4)

15 October 2007

John Wright Osborne and the Tennessee Civil War Veterans’ Questionnaires

Filed under: Cooper Family, North Carolina, Osborne Family, Tennessee — allmyanc @ 9:52 am

John and I are first cousins, 3 times removed. His father Thomas (1810-1871) and my great-great grandfather John (1808-1865) were brothers. They were two of the ten (!) sons of Jonathan and Martha Roland Osborne of Mecklenburg and Haywood Counties, North Carolina.

I first found John years ago when I was searching through the Tennessee Civil War Vet’s Questionnaires (the index is available there as well). I’d heard about these documents and since so many of my Osborne ancestors went to Tennessee from North Carolina, I thought I should take a look. Sure enough, Cousin John took the time out in Tacoma, Washington, to fill out his form and send it in. As the website says, these questionnaires are a rich source of information about family and life in the early 19th century in Tennessee. He was a veteran of Company F, 43rd TN Infantry, serving from Roane (now Loudon) County. As far as I know, these questionnaires are not available online, but the forms used (questions asked) can be viewed here.

This is a rich resource that not many people seem to know about. The information has been transcribed and published in a multi-volume set and is available in many libraries (published 1983 by Southern Historical Press is one printing). The originals have been microfilmed and are available at the Tennessee State Library and Archives. They are also available through the Family History Library.

John’s questionnaire provided me with an interesting picture of his family life and his schooling. Here’s a summary of his response:

John Wright Osborne is living at 1706 N. Alder in Tacoma, Washington, and gives his age as 79 yrs., 8 mos. & 11 days. He was born in Roane, now Loudon County, Tennessee, states that his father, Thomas Osborne, was a farmer and a trader. Thomas was born in Haywood County, North Carolina, and lived 4 miles from Philadelphia, Tennessee, where he had a white man for an overseer of his 22 slaves and 5000 acres of land. He placed a value of about $110,000 on his father’s property at the beginning of the War. Their home was described as built of bricks, two full stories, 9 rooms, with a full basement and attic. He says that his mother had a white seamstress.
His mother was Mary Jane Wright, and her parents were John Wright & Mary Hines who lived at Wrightsville in Roane County on the Tennessee River. John Wright Osborne states that his grandfather Johnothan [sic] Osborne was of English descent, lived in NC and fought with the patriot army against the British in the American Revolution. His grandfather John Wright was born in Ireland, and came to American about 1810.
He states that he attended a school partly supported by public money, and partly by private subscription. His total schooling is described as 27 months in the semi-public district school, 18 months in private high school, and two years at Ewing & Jeff College.
Of his military experience, he says that he enlisted in June, 1861, in Co. F, 43rd Tennessee CSA. This company of infantry was afterward mounted. His company was first sent to Loudon to guard the railroad bridge across the Tennessee River. About six months after his enlistment, his company was engaged in its first battle at Harrodsburg, Kentucky.

His account of the war:
From Harrodsburg we went back to East Tenn. Then to Vicksburg, was sent from there to exchange camp in Georgia. Then became on of Capt Tom Osborne’s scouts, operating in Upper Tennessee. After his death rejoined my old command in Valley of Virginia with Gen. Earley. Took part in battle of Kernstown, White Post, Newtown, Bunker Hill, Perryville Pike and Winchester. Returned to east Tennessee, was captured near Bristol and sent to Camp Douglas (Chicago). Had small pox and suffered from lack of clothes, medicine and nursing.
He was discharged 8 Mar 1865 at Richmond. He was exchanged as a prisoner and sent to Richmond. There he was put on a freight train, taken a short distance east and dumped off. From there he walked to a sister’s home at Franklin, NC, where he was at the time of the surrender.
After the war, he worked with his father on his farm for 2 years and then went to his own place on Post Oak Island which had been confiscated for Freedman’s Co. for 3 years. He engaged in farming on his own land which he inherited from his mother in 1867. This land was the fertile Post Oak Island in the Tennessee River twelve miles from Knoxville. He remained there until 1882 when he sold out and started west. He went through Texas, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho to east Washington. This trip took about 2 years. He settled on some government land in eastern Washington, but went on over to western Washington about 1885. He resided there except for about a year spent in Arizona, and about 2 years in Alaska–1896 to 1898. The first four years in Washington were spent farming government land and in a mail contract. After his return from Alaska in 1898, he engaged in lumber business with nephews in Pacific County, Washington. “I have been exceedingly fortunate in the lumber business and my financial affairs are in very good shape at present.” He attends First Presbyterian Church.
Among those listed in his Co: Walter Lenoir, James Jones, Lt. Reps Jones 2nd, Hardy Jones. He suggests that a complete roster might be had from Mr. Walter Lenoir, Sweetwater, Tennessee. He lists about 6 other vets as living in Tacoma–indicating that he may have been active in some sort of veteran’s organization.

His account is a fascinating depiction of life leading up to the Civil War and his life afterward. He is also not my only ancestor to serve time at Camp Douglas, sometimes known as the “North’s Andersonville.” Three Cooper brothers from Texas’ 18th Cav., Co. A, were captured at Arkansas Post and sent to this dreadful place where two of the three died. More about them later.

I’ve always thought the Osbornes had a wandering gene, connected to seeking land. John certainly exhibits such traits, though his movement west was fairly typical of the time after the War. I thought it was fascinating that he had been such disparate places as Arizona and Alaska.

John never married. He is listed on the 1920 census as living with his niece Harriet Siler, in Tacoma. He is 77 and she is 43. I believe Harriet is probably the daughter of John’s older sister Martha J., who married David W. Siler in Roane County, Tennessee in 1862.

In December of 1922, John Wright Osborne dies in Tucson, Arizona, of a skull fracture, on a railroad right of way. His death certificate is online at the Arizona Department of Health Services site (thank you, Arizona).

And, of course, this document raises so many more questions–what in the world was a man of his age doing in Arizona? Was he hit by a train? How did this happen? Who was the John Owen who provided the information for his death certificate?

John Wright Osborne’s life is an interesting bridge from pre-Civil War time in east Tennessee to the early 20th century migration to the northeast, with at least a couple of interesting side trips to the southwest and Alaska. Along the way are mentions of schooling, Freedman land dealings, and the timber business. His Civil War Questionnaire is unique in that it meets that desire we genealogists frequently express, to be able to interview those who have gone before.

Comments (1)

13 May 2007

Delilah Jackson Landrum

Filed under: Cemeteries, Cooper Family, Landrum Family, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas — allmyanc @ 1:17 pm

Delilah Jackson was my 4th great-grandmother. She was married to Merriman Landrum and outlived him by several years.

I get the impression that Delilah was from a locally prominent family from Union County, South Carolina. Her father was Ralph Jackson, Jr. and her mother was Delilah Murphy. Ralph Jr’s mother was Amy Williams. Amy is a patriot, in the sense that if I were so inclined, I could use her as my ancestor to join the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) since she is on record as having furnished forage to some of the Revolutionary soldiers’ horses. Delilah inherits, among other things, a “dutch fan” at her father’s death. I’ve spent some time trying to determine exactly what this item was, and I think it must have been a hand-held fan used by ladies in that day that came from Holland. Simple enough, but probably highly prized in those steamy South Carolina times.

Much of the information I have about Delilah comes from a book about her son. Her oldest son was John Gill Landrum, a Baptist minister of some note in South Carolina. He seems to have been a fairly conservative fellow, but I did like the fact that when he married a Methodist woman, he had apparently had no issues with her attending her own congregation while he tended his. My “genealogical advice” here, however, is to repeat the “search the whole family” mantra–if I hadn’t found this biography of my grandmother’s brother, I would be much the poorer for it. Another serendipitous path discovered through the reading of this book is that John G’s son, John Belton O’Neall Landrum, usually referred to as JBO Landrum, authored a history of Spartanburg County, SC, and in the preface to one of his books, he notes he is writing it from Guthrie, Oklahoma Territory. whoddathunkit?

Not all of the family information in The Life and Times is correct–but the general outline is there. The author evidently went to great length to contact Landrum descendants–there is a quote from my 3rd great grandmother, his older sister, Elizabeth Landrum Cooper who was living in Texas at the time. Delilah’s daughter, John G.’s sister, Elizabeth was among the first of my relatives to come to Texas, resulting in my being a 6th generation Texans. Elizabeth and her husband Job Cooper were my entre into the Daughters of the Republic of Texas

My favorite story from this book is that of Delilah after the death of her husband and while she was still living in Tennessee. Her youngest daughter Mary wanted her mother to go to a neighborhood revival meeting. This was not the church to which they usually went, but she agreed to go with her daughter. This description took me right back to my own youth in way too many revivals

“The preacher soon rose to fever heat, and his audience indicated their sympathy by shouts and groans, and many other noisy demonstrations. When the excitement had reached its climax, the preacher, in the tones of a trumpet, demanded that all who wanted to go to heaven should rise from their seats and clap their hands. The whole congregation, with the single exception of Mrs. Landrum, rose and gave the required response. The quick eye of the preacher noted the defalcation, and he immediately added: “And all who want to go to hell, will please keep their seats.” Mrs. Landrum still calmly k3ept her seat to the grat horror of the zealous worshipers, and especially to that of the little daughter Mary. The latter, on reaching home, came to her mother with a heavy heart, and, in childish simplicity, said: “Mother, do you want to go to hell?” “No, my child,” replied Mrs. Landrum; “but that preacher is not my captain. God knows the hearts of all his people, and it is not necessary to make unnatural and unbecoming demonstrations in order to merely gratify the curiosity of others.”

I don’t know if this passage would have eased my way as I navigated through the religious minefield that comprised my own youth, adolescence and young adulthood. I like to think it would have, but I do know that it mightily soothed me when I found it a few years ago. Part of me wanted to proclaim, “See, it’s genetic!” when I recalled how I couldn’t bring myself to pray aloud when called upon in church to do so, or to stand and give a “testimony,” to resent having to “shut my eyes and bow my head” and to raise my hand when the evangelist was taking some sort of heaven-bound poll. I didn’t have Delilah’s strength, but I like to think some of it has come my way as I’ve worked out my own spiritual path.

Mother’s Day 2007 seems like an appropriate time to express gratitude for strong foremothers, and for the satisfaction that comes my way when I find such gems as The Life and Times of Rev. John G. Landrum to make her come alive and inform my own 21st century existence.

Comments (3)

13 June 2006

Merriman Landrum and his “negro fellow Dick”

Filed under: Cooper Family, Landrum Family, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas — allmyanc @ 10:31 pm

I’ve been looking again at my 4th great-grandfather, Merriman Landrum. Depending on the source, Merriman was born in Union County, South Carolina, in 1774 or 1784–some sources say at the time of the Revolutionary War and other say at the end of that war. He married Delilah Jackson in 1805, and the year after, along with some of his siblings and extended family, he moved to Middle Tennessee.

Much of the information I have about this man has come from a biography of his son, Rev. John Gill Landrum, written by H.P. Griffith in 1885. Merriman Landrum is one of those ancestors who, despite not living very long, seemed to have had enough offspring and an interesting enough life, and perhaps enough force of character, that he’s documented in various places. I’ve done my own research on him, of course, and have discussed him with relatives who are also seeking info about this line. My great-aunt Marge had some stories about him that had come to her through her father. Her father (George C. Cooper 1859-1935) had been reared by his grandparents who were Merriman’s daughter Elizabeth and her husband Job Cooper.

Merriman’s will is only about 3 sentences long, which may indicate he was very ill when he wrote it. It was presented for probate shortly thereafter. He mentions only his wife Delilah and his “Negro boy” Dick by name. None of his 9 children are named nor are they mentioned. Many of his brothers and sisters also lived nearby but are not addressed in the will. My assumption is that he said what seemed the most expedient at the time, and the brevity is both informative and curious.

Williamson County, Tennessee Wills and Inventories, Book 4, page 138

I Meriman Landrum of the State of Tennessee and County of Williamson calling to mind the mortality of my body, make and ordain this my last will and testament.

1^st my will as [t?]ing such worldly estate as it hath pleas’d God to bless me with is as follows

1^st I give unto Delilah Landrum my wife all my household furniture during her natural life and all the rest of my estate, during her widowhood.

My will is secondly is that my wife shall not trade her rights to my land or negro fellow Dick during her natural life.

I nominate and appoint my well beloved friend Azariah Kimbro executor to this my last will and testament.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal. Oct 24^th day of 1825.

Test. Isaac D. Robinson and Christopher Robinson

Family lore said the Landrums were anti-slavery and so I was surprised when I saw “my negro fellow Dick” mentioned in one of the 3 sentences of Merriman’s “last will and testament.” My first assumption was that this had been an inheritance of Delilah’s — she was from a fairly well-to-do family in South Carolina. But her father’s (Ralph Jackson 1752-1817) will yielded no clues.

The 1839 will of Merriman’s brother Benjamin sheds some light. It seems that Benjamin was indebted to Merriman and so he sent Dick to live with Merriman and his family until the debt could be repaid. Benjamin makes it very clear in his will that if Dick can pay Merriman’s widow the $500 Benjamin owed Merrimen, then he is “to be freed from servitude”, that it was never his intention that Dick be a slave for life.

I wonder about the sincerity or at least the viability of this offer. Five hundred dollars seems like an awful lot of money for that day, and especially for a black man in the 1830s to try to earn to buy his freedom. And it is also interesting to me that his will addresses only this debt and the circumstances under which Dick came to live to Merriman and Delilah. He appoints a third brother, John, to be his executor, and makes no other comments nor bequests in his will.

I don’t know how this particular part of the story came out. A cousin has written a short article about this man Dick. I can’t lay hands on my copy of the article at this point, nor can I find the accounts of Dick being in the Cooper household. Court records indicate that Job Cooper is at some point accused of harboring a runaway slave–

This is an example of the “messiness” of doing family history research. The whole repugnant idea of slavery appears in the midst of studying this family–the family who was supposedly anti-slavery in fact had one. I’ll post more later on Merriman–he was a minister and a teacher, and I rather like the story I found about Delilah. But there’s Dick, standing in the shadows. What of his family and his ancestors? I hope at least his being mentioned in so many records of my ancestors has allowed his family to find him in a time when surnames were prohibited and humans were used to secure a debt.

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