Month: March 2020

The Children of Dennis Lindsey (1793 – 1855/1860): Robert D. Lindsey (1829 – 1892)

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Lindsey, Robert D. Tombstone, Hovater Cem., Franklin Co., Alabama
Tombstone of Robert D. Lindsey, Hovater cemetery, Franklin County, Alabama; photo is by Find a Grave user Old Bwana at the Find a Grave memorial page for Robert D. Lindsey, created by Mollie Ann Lindsey Studenroth

Or, Subtitled: “Farewell My Wife and Children All, From You a Father Christ Doth Call”

Robert D. Lindsey, son of Dennis Lindsey (1793-1855/1860) and Anna Woodruff, was born 3 June 1829, according to his tombstone in Hovater cemetery, Franklin County, Alabama.[1] The tombstone also states that Robert died 6 September 1892. All federal censuses from 1850 through 1880 state that Robert was born in Alabama.[2] Since we know that Robert’s father Dennis Lindsey sold land that appears to have been his homeplace in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, in February 1827, and then disappeared from Spartanburg County records, showing up in a record indicating that he patented land with William Moore in Franklin County, Alabama, in May 1828, it seems likely that Robert was born in Franklin County, Alabama. Continue reading “The Children of Dennis Lindsey (1793 – 1855/1860): Robert D. Lindsey (1829 – 1892)” →

The Children of Dennis Lindsey (1793 – 1855/1860): Miles R. Lindsey (1820/1 – 1878/1880) (3)

William D. Lindsey1 Comment
Lindsey, Miles R., Southern Claims Commission File, Jane's Petition
Miles R. Lindsey, Southern Claims Commission file #16521, office 51, report 8, “Barred and Disallowed Claims,” NARA M1407, 4 February 1888 petition of Jane S. Lindsey
Lindsey, Miles R., Southern Claims Commission File, Letters of Adminstration to Jane
Miles R. Lindsey, Southern Claims Commission file #16521, office 51, report 8, “Barred and Disallowed Claims,” NARA M1407, 20 June 1890 letters of administration, Jane S. Lindsey

Or, Subtitled: Unpaid Civil War Voucher Claims and Migration of an Alabama Family West to Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma

The Final Years of Miles R. Lindsey’s Life

After Miles filed his claim with the Southern Claims Commission on 24 October 1872, I don’t have a great deal of information about the rest of his life, because of the paucity of records in Franklin County, Alabama, after its courthouse fire in 1890. As I noted in a previous posting, testimony that Miles gave on 13 December 1878 in his Southern Claims Commission file shows him still alive on that date, but by 18 June 1880, when his family was enumerated on the census in Franklin County, Alabama, his wife Jane appears as a widow, so it seems clear that Miles died between those two dates, almost certainly in Franklin County.[1] Other documents in this file show Jane filing, on 4 February 1888 as administratrix of Miles’s estate, in a legal appeal to have his Southern Claims Commission claim honored. The file also shows Jane receiving letters of administration on Miles’s estate on 20 June 1890. These are valuable documents, since the 4 December 1890 courthouse fire destroyed the county’s estate files prior to that date. Continue reading “The Children of Dennis Lindsey (1793 – 1855/1860): Miles R. Lindsey (1820/1 – 1878/1880) (3)” →

The Children of Dennis Lindsey (1793 – 1855/1860): Miles R. Lindsey (1820/1 – 1878/1880) (2)

William D. Lindsey2 Comments
Lindsey, Miles R., Southern Claims Commission, Summary Page 1
Miles R. Lindsey, Southern Claims Commission file #16521, office 51, report 8, “Barred and Disallowed Claims,” NARA M1407 — page summarizing the claim

Or, Subtitled, Mules, Mares, and Barbecues: Proving Claims of Loyal Union Men and Women

Miles R. Lindsey’s Southern Claims Commission File

As I noted in my previous posting, Miles R. Lindsey filed a claim with the Southern Claims Commission on 24 October 1872, stating that he had been a Unionist during the Civil War, and asking for reimbursement for property confiscated by federal troops from his farm.[1] As the guide to using Southern Claims Commission files for genealogical research at the FamilySearch wiki site states, Southern Loyalists (that is, Unionists) who qualified to file claims before this Commission in the states of the former Confederacy between 3 March 1871 and 3 March 1873 filed 22,298 claims for property losses totaling $60,258,150.44, but only 7,092 claims (32%) of these claims were approved, for reimbursements totaling $4,636,920.69. Miles’s claim was among the majority of those disallowed by the Southern Claims Commission. Continue reading “The Children of Dennis Lindsey (1793 – 1855/1860): Miles R. Lindsey (1820/1 – 1878/1880) (2)” →

The Children of Dennis Lindsey (1793 – 1855/1860): Miles R. Lindsey (1820/1 – 1878/1880) (1)

William D. Lindsey2 Comments

Miles R. Lindsey Relationship Chart

Or, Subtitled: Land Plats and Tax Assessments as Genealogical Resources

When I finished my account of the life of Dennis Lindsey (1793-1855/1860), son of Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795) of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, I told you I’d move on to an account of the children of Dennis younger and wife Anna Woodruff. As my postings about Dennis have indicated, due to the loss of early Franklin County, Alabama, records in a devastating courthouse fire in 1890, there are many gaps in the documentation of Dennis and his family after he moved to Franklin County, Alabama, about 1827-8. No estate record naming his children has survived. Continue reading “The Children of Dennis Lindsey (1793 – 1855/1860): Miles R. Lindsey (1820/1 – 1878/1880) (1)” →

The Children of Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795): Dennis Lindsey (1793-1855/1860) (2)

William D. Lindsey1 Comment
CV_Patent_0127-238
15 May 1828 federal patent to Lindsay Allen, Franklin County, Alabama, Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office, Credit Volume Patent Bk. 127, p. 238

Or, Subtitled: Entering the Thicket of Allen-Woodruff Kinship Ties

Dennis Lindsey Family Settles in Franklin County, Alabama

As I noted in my last posting, after Dennis Lindsey (1793-1855/1860) sold Benjamin Goodman 100 acres on Ferguson’s Creek in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, on 22 February 1827, he dropped out of Spartanburg County records. It seems likely to me that the land he sold was his homeplace and that he moved his family to Franklin County, Alabama, not long after this land sale. In an article on the Lindsey family of Franklin County in Olden Times of Colbert and Franklin Counties in Alabama, Beatrice Russell states that the Lindsey family came to Franklin County, Alabama, from South Carolina and settled in the Crooked Oak-Frankfort area of the county.[1] This is in the north-central part of Franklin County, near the Colbert County line. Continue reading “The Children of Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795): Dennis Lindsey (1793-1855/1860) (2)” →

The Children of Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795): Dennis Lindsey (1793-1855/1860) (1)

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Screen Shot 2020-02-26 at 1.53.28 PM

Or, Subtitled: Tracking Families from Spartanburg County, South Carolina, to Alabama

As I’ve noted previously, the only child of Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795) for whom we have definitive proof is his son Dennis, who was born in 1793 in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, and died between 1855 and 1860 in Franklin County, Alabama. Unfortunately, though we know with certainty that the younger Dennis is son of the older Dennis, there’s much that is unclear about the life of Dennis younger. Continue reading “The Children of Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795): Dennis Lindsey (1793-1855/1860) (1)” →