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.

On 25 June 1908, the Russellville newspaper Franklin County Times published a list of “government voucher claims” yet unpaid in Franklin County. J.S. Brewer of Florence, Alabama, had compiled this list, stating that the claims were in his hands for collection, and people with an interest in them were invited to contact him.[2] Miles R. Lindsey’s name is in the list, as is that of his cousin Riley Sparks, so these voucher claims are apparently claims filed with the Southern Claims Commission, which the Commission rejected as barred and disallowed, as it did more than two-thirds of claims filed by citizens of the former Confederacy.

Documents in Miles’s Southern Claims Commission file show Jane pursuing reimbursement as late as 13 October 1901 through a lawsuit she filed with the U.S Court of Claims on 4 February 1888. A 3 March 1890 power of attorney in the claim file shows Jane giving power of attorney before her brother-in-law Robert D. Lindsey, a justice of the peace, to the Washington, D.C., law firm of L.M. Longshaw, who litigated on Jane’s behalf.

The 13 October 1901 date just mentioned is the date that the court dismissed Jane’s suit, and there are no further documents in the file showing that she ever received payment for the reimbursement Miles began requesting in 1872. Jane died 15 August 1904 in Colbert County.[3] The 1880 federal census had shown her living in Franklin County (township 6, range 12) and farming as a widow with children Amos, 24, Mary, 22, Cynthia, 21, Oscar, 16, Lawson, 13, and Modena, 12, living in her household along with a William Browder, 2, listed as Jane’s grandson.[4] By 1900, Jane was living with her son William R. Lindsey at Wheeler in Colbert County, where she appears on the federal census on 14 June in her son’s household as a widow born in December 1827 in South Carolina.[5]

We know Jane’s maiden name — Williams — from the death certificate of her daughter Martha Ann Malone, which states that her parents were Miles Lindsey and Jane Williams. This information was supplied by Jane’s husband Robert G. Malone to the doctor recording the death.[6] I have not found information about Jane’s parents or ancestry.

As I noted in a previous posting, Miles R. Lindsey and Jane S. Williams appear to have married around 1848. Their children were William R., George Franklin, Martha Ann, Amos Lafayette, Mary, Syntha/Cynthia Elizabeth, Amanda L., Oscar Robert, Lawson P., and Sarah Modenia Lindsey. A few brief notes about each:

Children of Miles R. Lindsey and Jane S. Williams

1. William R. Lindsey was born in June 1849 in Franklin County and died 13 March 1922 in Tuscumbia, Colbert County, Alabama. On 31 August 1871 in Colbert County, he married Martha Clemmie, daughter of Travis Alexander and Margaret Bowles. Following her death about 1898, William married (about 1899) Aulena Anthem, daughter of John E. Hester and Sarah Malinda Bowen. Anthem was the widow of Monroe Allen Greenhill when she married William R. Lindsey. After Anthem died between 1910-1920, William R. Lindsey married Martha E., daughter of Valentine and Margaret Standfield.
2. George Franklin Lindsey was born about 1851 in Franklin County. George appears in his father Miles’s Southern Claims Commission file, giving testimony on his father’s behalf on 24 October 1872 and identifying himself as a school teacher.[7] This is the last record I’ve found of him. Since he is apparently not on the 1880 federal census, I think he likely died between the end of October 1872 and 1880.
3. Martha Ann Lindsey was born 5 April 1853 in Franklin County and died 12 December 1923 in Itasca, Hill County, Texas. About 1879, Martha married Robert G., son of Henry Addison Malone and Mary Richardson. This marriage likely took place in Franklin County. By 1900, this family had moved to Hill in Itasca County, Texas. Martha is buried in the Itasca cemetery.
4. Amos Lafayette Lindsey was born 20 November 1854 in Franklin County and died 1 April 1931 at Anson, Jones County, Texas. On 1 February 1883 in Franklin County, Amos married Ida Mae, daughter of Thomas Efford Martin and Anna Letitia Hawthorn. Ida died 31 October 1884, and Amos then relocated to Texas, where he married on 25 November 1885 in Tarrant County to Sarah Ann, daughter of John W. Bennett and Martha Jane Stanford. Sallie was the widow of Charles Arthur Ricks when Amos married her. Amos and Sallie are buried at Mount Hope cemetery in Anson, Texas.
5. Mary Lindsey was born about 1856 in Franklin County. I find no record of her after her enumeration in her parents’ household in Franklin County on the 1870 federal census.[8] I assume that Mary died between 1870 and 1880, or perhaps she married and I have not been able to find her after 1870 under her married name.
6. Syntha/Cynthia Elizabeth Lindsey was born in 1858 in Franklin County, the date of birth given on her tombstone in Crooked Oak cemetery in Colbert County, Alabama. The 1870 census gives her name as Cynthia, and in 1880, it’s given as Cinthia. Her tombstone spells the name Syntha. On 1 January 1884, Syntha/Cynthia married in Colbert County to Robert Pinkney, son of John H. Parker and Margaret Pounders. Syntha/Cynthia died in 1897 and both she and Pink Parker (who married again after her death) are buried with Robert in Crooked Oak cemetery. Cynthia’s grave was not marked until fairly recently, when a stone was placed over her grave.
7. Amanda L. Lindsey was born in May 1860 in Franklin County. She appears on the 1860 federal census in her parents’ household, but is not enumerated in their household in 1870, so it seems evident that she died between 1860-1870 in Franklin County.[9]
8. Oscar Robert Lindsey was born in 1864 in Franklin County, and died in May 1930 in Oklahoma, probably in Chandler, where he appears on the 1930 federal census, or at Chickasha, where he’s buried in Rose Hill cemetery. On 17 January 1886 in Colbert County, he married Josephine F., daughter of Presley S. Thorn and Mary Burrow.
9. Lawson P. Lindsey was born 3 October 1867 in Franklin County, and died 14 September 1938 in Ward, Johnson County, Arkansas. On 13 November 1892 in Johnson County, Lawson married Dora A., daughter of Robert M. Taylor and Julia A. Smith. Lawson and Dora are buried in Hess cemetery, Coal Hill, Johnson County, Arkansas.
10. Sarah Modenia Lindsey was born 22 February 1870 in Franklin County, and died 3 October 1934 in Mountain Park, Kiowa County, Oklahoma. On 26 April 1891 in Colbert County, she married Emanuel Lafayette Daily. Modenia is buried in Mountain Park cemetery, Mountain Park, Kiowa County, Oklahoma. 

Note: the transcription of the 1910 federal census census entry for Emanuel L. Daily (he and his family were at Goldsby in McClain County, Oklahoma) has misread his given name as “Marisch.” The census clearly gives his name as Manuel E. Daily. Unfortunately, family trees all over the place online have picked up the bizarre tag Marisch and have renamed this man Emanuel Lafayette (or Love or Lovin) Marisch Daily. His obituary in The Indian Journal (Eufala, Oklahoma), 15 June 1961 (p. 4, col. 3) gives his name as Emanuel Lafayette Daily.

Manuel or Mannen were common nicknames for men named Emanuel. Men with this name often appear on documents and in the census as Manuel E. or Mannen E. — with their nickname substituted for their actual name Emanuel, and with the E. from Emanuel as a tag in their name. One of my maternal great-grandfathers was Mannen Clements Simpson. He was named for an uncle Mannen Clements, who sometimes appears in documents as either Emanuel or Mannen E. Clements. The garbling of the name Manuel as Marisch by the transcriber of the 1910 census should not be replicated in family trees. It is nonsensical and totally incorrect.

[1] 1880 federal census, Franklin County, Alabama, p. 564B, ED 89, township 6, range 12 (family and dwelling 146).

[2] Franklin County Times (Russellville, Alabama), 25 July 1908, p. 4, col. 3.

[3] I cannot find my source for this date, unfortunately.

[4] See supra, n. 1.

[5] 1900 federal census, Colbert County, Alabama, p. 5, precinct 9 (Wheeler), ED 9 (dwelling and family 78).

[6] Death certificate of Marth Ann Malone, Itasca, Hill County, Texas, 12 December 1923 (#35790).

[7] File of Miles R. Lindsey, Southern Claims Commission file #16521, office 51, report 8, “Barred and Disallowed Claims,” NARA M1407.

[8] 1870 federal census, Franklin County, Alabama, p. 476, township 6, range 12, Frankfort post office (dwelling and family 38).

[9] 1860 federal census, Franklin County, Alabama, p. 588, eastern subdivision, LaGrange post office (dwelling 361/family 360); and ibid.