Or, Subtitled, Families from the Carolinas in the Florida Parishes of Louisiana and West Florida Area of Mississippi

As I noted in my previous posting, William Lindsey, son of Isaac Lindsey and Mary Tate, filed an appeal for the succession of his father’s estate on 19 July 1851 in St. Helena Parish, Louisiana — though it appears likely that Isaac had died in April 1833, leaving five minor children for Mary to provide for.[1] At some point before 1850, Mary remarried to Nehemiah Newman and appears with him on the 1850 census in St. Helena Parish.[2] William Lindsey’s appeal for the succession of the estate of Isaac Lindsey states that Isaac’s heirs were (in addition to widow Mary) Matilda Lindsey, wife of Jimeson Carter; Malinda Lindsey, wife of Jerry Thompson; Lucinda Lindsey, wife of Samuel Newman; Mary Lindsey, wife of John Brabham; Harvey Lindsey, minor; and William himself. In this posting, I will share the information I have on the children of Isaac Lindsey and Mary Tate.

First a prefatory note about Mary Tate: as I noted in the last posting (linked at the top of this one), Mary was the daughter of John and Nancy Tate of Spartanburg County, South Carolina. John sold his family’s landholdings in Spartanburg County in October 1809 and the Tate family then moved to St. Helena Parish by December 1809. Since John himself disappears from Spartanburg County records late in 1809 and does not appear in St. Helena Parish records, John Hawkins Napier, who has published a study entitled The Tates of Pearl River, thinks it’s likely that John Tate died as the family made its move to Louisiana, or perhaps soon after the family arrived there.[3]

John’s widow Nancy, whose surname has not been discovered, died 3 November 1833 in St. Helena Parish.[4] Napier thinks that John and Nancy’s daughter Mary was born about 1798,[5] and that she had a twin brother Harvey, who appears on the 1850 federal census near her with Isaac and Mary Lindsey’s son Harvey Lindsey living in his household.[6] The 1850 census indicates that Harvey Tate was born in 1797, while it suggests that his sister Mary was born in 1800. Both were born in South Carolina, according to the census. It appears the birthdate suggested for Harvey Tate is more accurate for both Harvey (who served as a War of 1812 soldier in 1814) and for his twin Mary than the one given by the census for Mary.

Napier thinks that Mary Tate died after 1857, though it’s not clear to me what source he’s citing for this information. Both she and Nehemiah Newman are not to be found on the 1860 federal census. Further information about Mary’s siblings is to be found in Napier’s Tates of Pearl River.[7]

Here’s what I know of the children of Isaac Lindsey and Mary Tate:

1. Matilda Lindsey: William Lindsey’s appeal for the succession of Isaac Lindsey’s estate lists Matilda and husband Jimeson/Jameson Carter first. If the children are listed in their order of birth, then Matilda was the oldest child of Isaac Lindsey and Mary Tate. I have not been able to find Matilda and her husband on the 1850 federal census or any subsequent census. The next child in William Lindsey’s list is Malinda Lindsey, whose date of birth is indicated as 1822 on the 1850 federal census.[8]

If Matilda was older than Malinda, then Matilda’s birth would seem to have occurred between 9 July 1816, when we know that Isaac Lindsey and Mary Tate married,[9] and 1822, when Malinda was born. Matilda’s husband Jimeson/Jameson Carter is, I think, a Jimmerson Carter found in Pike County, Mississippi, on the 1840 federal census.[10] He patented land in Pike County at the federal land office in Washington, Mississippi, in 1854 and 1859, with the land entries giving his name as Jamison Carter.[11]

Did Matilda Lindsey die between 19 July 1851 and 1860 in Pike County, Mississippi? Further research in the records of that county may disclose more information about her and her husband Jimeson/Jameson Carter.

2. Malinda Lindsey: As I just noted above, Malinda appears on the 1850 federal census with her age given as 28. She’s enumerated in Washington Parish, Louisiana, as head of her household, with children Mary, 12, Elijah, 10, Elizabeth, 8, and Hardy, 2. The census states that all family members were born in Louisiana. Three houses away on the same page is the household of her father- and mother-in-law Jeremiah and Sarah Thompson.[12]

The 1850 federal mortality census for Washington Parish shows Malinda’s husband Jeremiah Thompson dying of flux in July 1849, aged 30.[13] According to a WikiTree page for Jeremiah’s parents Jeremiah Thompson and Sarah Talley, maintained by Shannon Volz, the Thompson family moved to the Florida parishes of Louisiana from Chatham County, North Carolina, by 1802. This source appears to indicate that a family bible is extant, which states that Jeremiah and Sarah Thompson’s son Jeremiah was born 16 December 1816 and died 3 September 1848.

Malinda does not appear on the 1860 census, and it seems she died between 1850 and 1860, probably in Washington Parish. Mary Thompson, daughter of Jeremiah and Malinda Lindsey Thompson, married William Gill about 1853, and appears with him on the 1860 federal census in Washington Parish with her brother Elijah Thompson living in the household, along with Gill children Louisa, Marcus L., and Marshall M.[14] I don’t find either Mary or her brother Elijah on subsequent federal censuses. According to an Ancestry tree entitled “Reba Tate Family Tree,” Elijah married Emily, daughter of James Gill, and died in 1865.[15]

Elizabeth Thompson, daughter of Jeremiah and Malinda Lindsey Thompson, married Leroy Gill, a brother of William Gill, about 1858, and appears with him on the 1860 federal census in Washington Parish, as well as on the 1870 and 1880 census in Tangipahoa Parish.[16] Leroy is apparently buried in Gill cemetery in Tangipahoa Parish. I have not found death or burial information for Elizabeth. The three censuses just cited show their children as Pauline, Francis, and Johnson Gill.

Hardy McDuffie Thompson, son of Jeremiah and Malinda Lindsey Thompson, married Cordelia Ricks. Both are buried at the Killian Chapel cemetery in Hillsdale, St. Helena Parish, with tombstone markers giving dates of birth and death for each.

3. Lucinda Lindsey: If William Lindsey lists the children of Isaac Lindsey and Mary Tate in their birth order in his 1851 appeal for the succession of his father’s estate, then Lucinda was born after 1822, when her sister Malinda appears to have been born. Lucinda’s first child, Martha, seems to have been born about 1837, so it is not likely Lucinda was born very much after 1822 — and she could also have been a twin of Malinda.

Lucinda had died by 1850, when her husband Samuel Newman appears on the federal census in St. Helena Parish with their children in the household of his father Nehemiah Newman and step-mother Mary Tate (Lindsey).[17] Samuel and Lucinda’s last child, Ann, seems to have been born about 1840, so Martha died between 1840 and 1850. The 1850 census shows Samuel Newman and Lucinda Lindsey having the following children: Martha A., 13, Charles, 10, Thomas, 11, Theoflis/Theophilus, 10, and Ann, 4, all born in Louisiana.

Samuel Newman is buried in the Samuel Newman cemetery in Amite County, Mississippi. His tombstone (of which there is not a photo at his Find a Grave memorial page) apparently shows him born 1 February 1817 and dying 17 October 1871. Samuel’s second wife Louisa, whom he married after 1850, is buried with him; I have not found burial information for Lucinda.

Samuel Newman and Lucinda Lindsey’s daughter Martha A. married James Gill. A Find a Grave memorial page for Samuel and Lucinda’s son Theophilus M. Newman maintained by Ron Theriot indicates that, though this page links Theophilus to the Samuel Newman cemetery in which his father is buried, he may not be buried there. This source provides good biographical information about Theophilus, who married Aletha Ann Wall, 12 January 1865, in Amite County, Mississippi.

I have no information about Samuel Newman and Lucinda Lindsey’s children Charles, Thomas, and Ann beyond what is provided by the 1850 federal census.

4. William Monroe Lindsey: This is the William who filed for the succession of his father Isaac Lindsey’s estate in 1851. Valuable biographical information about William is to be found on his memorial page at Find a Grave, which is maintained by Amos Ezell. The page, showing him buried in the Lindsey cemetery in Amite County, Mississippi, states that he was born 19 May 1825 in St. Helena Parish, Louisiana, and died 25 May 1903. It appears William died at Gillsburg in Amite County, Mississippi.

As the biographical section of his Find a Grave memorial page states, he married Elizabeth Day, daughter of John S. Day and Jane Sibly, on 15 August 1848 in St. Helena Parish.[18] Elizabeth died about 1868, possibly in December 1867, and William then remarried to Cecilia Margaret Johnson on 10 September 1868 in Amite County, Mississippi.

From 1860 to 1900, William and his family are on the federal census in Amite County, Mississippi.[19] The 1860 census shows William’s wife as Elizabeth, and all censuses after that show Cecilia as his wife. Census and other data indicate that William and wife Elizabeth Day had the following children:

1. Nathaniel A. Lindsey (29 June 1849, Amite County, Mississippi – 17 November 1923, St. Helena Parish, Louisiana), who married Mary Ann Evaline Bridges on 25 April 1871 in St. Helena Parish, and who is buried in Days United Methodist cemetery in St. Helena Parish with a tombstone giving his dates of birth and death.
2. Mary Ann Lindsey (1852, Amite County, Mississippi – 18 September 1926, St. Helena Parish, Louisiana), who married John M., son of John and Sarah Ann Butler, and is buried along with John in Center Methodist cemetery at Greensburg, St. Helena Parish with a tombstone giving her years of birth and death.[20]
3. John Day Lindsey (10 November 1854, St. Helena Parish, Louisiana – 8 March 1898), who married Mollie Vining on 23 November 1880 in St. Helena Parish and is buried in Lindsey cemetery, Amite County, Mississippi, with a tombstone giving his dates of birth and death.
4. Isaac M. Lindsey (about 1856, Amite County, Mississippi – after 1880), who married Martha Elizabeth Vinas on 7 June 1885 in Amite County, Mississippi.
5. Martha C. Lindsey (20 March 1859, Amite County, Mississippi – 4 February 1902, Amite County, Mississippi) who married Clarence Byrd, son of Elijah Byrd Wall and Mary Elizabeth Gordon on 26 October 1883 in Amite County, Mississippi, and is buried along with Clarence in Stewart cemetery, Amite County, Mississippi, with a tombstone giving her dates of birth and death.
6. William Monroe Lindsey (7 January 1861, Gillsburg, Amite County, Mississippi – 4 September 1935, West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana) who married Susan Anne, daughter of Andrew Lazarus Zeagler and Mary J. Davison, on 13 October 1881 in Amite County, Mississippi, and is buried with his wife in Zeagler cemetery, with a tombstone giving his dates of birth and death.
7. Mozella Lindsey (about 1864, Amite County, Mississippi – after 1880), about whom I have no further information.
8. Cinderella Lindsey (about 1864, Amite County, Mississippi – after 1880), about whom I have no further information.

It appears that William Monroe Lindsey and second wife Cecilia Margaret Johnson did not have children.

5. Mary Lindsey: The 1850 federal census indicates that she was born in 1827, but the 1860 federal census implies a birth year of 1812 for her.[21] In both censuses, she’s enumerated in the household of her husband John Brabham in Amite County, Mississippi. After 1860, she disappears from federal censuses, and it appears she has died, since John is found without a wife on the 1870 census.[22]

The censuses just mentioned along with other sources indicate that John Brabham and Mary Lindsey had the following children: Lavina Caroline, who married William Joseph Brown, 24 October 1865, Amite County, Mississippi; Mary Ann, who married Gayden Wrenn Morgan, 4 January 1872, Amite County, Mississippi; Theodore, who married Andora Louise Swearingen, 24 December 1872, Amite County, Mississippi; William C., who married Ada J. Wall, 24 March 1881, Amite County, Mississippi; John B., who married Octavia E. Wall; and Aletha Minerva, who married 1) Aquila G. McElveen, 28 December 1879, Amite County, Mississippi, and 2) William D. Cutrer, 8 October 1884, Pike County, Mississippi.

6. Harvey Lindsey: As noted above, Harvey Lindsey is enumerated on the 1850 federal census in the household of his uncle Harvey Tate. He appears to have been born about 1831 in St. Helena Parish. He is named as a minor son of his father Isaac Lindsey in the 19 July 1851 appeal of his brother William for the succession of their father’s estate. I find no record of Harvey after that point, and think that he must have died between July 1851 and 1860.

[1] Ernest Russ Williams Jr., Genealogical and Historical Abstracts of Legal Records of Saint Helena Parish, Louisiana, 1804-1870, Including: Successions (Probates and Wills), 1804-1854, Tax Assessment Rolls, 1823, 1824, 1828, and Marriages 1811-1870 (priv. publ., Monroe, Louisiana, 1995), p. 81. The original succession file, which I have not seen, is apparently St. Helena Parish Succession File L-1.

[2] 1850 federal census, St. Helena Parish, Louisiana, Eastern Division, p. 203B (dwelling and family 372, 18 September).

[3] Napier first wrote this study in 1984. A revised version is now online at Google. In a foreword to the online version, Napier states that the online version corrects errors he made in the previous conventionally published version.

[4] See Genealogical and Historical Abstracts of Legal Records of Saint Helena Parish, p. 124.

[5] See Tates of Pearl River, “John Tate of NC, SC, and La.”

[6] 1850 federal census, St. Helena Parish, Louisiana, Eastern Division, p. 203B (dwelling and family 368, 18 September).

[7] See Tates of Pearl River, “John Tate of NC, SC, and La.”

[8] 1850 federal census, Washington Parish, Louisiana, p. 463A (dwelling and family 363; 7 November 1850).

[9] See Ancestry’s Louisiana, Compiled Marriage Index, 1718-1925, a digitized version of Hunting For Bears, comp., Louisiana, Marriages, 1718-1925; and Ancestry’s Louisiana Compiled Marriages, 1728-1860, a digitization of Jordan R. Dodd, et. al., Early American Marriages: Louisiana to 1850 (Bountiful, UT: Precision, 19xx).

[10] 1840 federal census, Pike County, Mississippi, p. 216.

[11] Washington County, Mississippi, State Volume Patent, p. 44, # 8450; and ibid., p. 452, # 11635.

[12] See supra, n. 8. J. and Sally Thompson are dwelling and household 360.

[13] 1850 federal mortality census, Washington Parish, Louisiana, p. 723.

[14] 1860 federal census, Washington Parish, Louisiana, Bailey’s Mill post office, p. 797 (26 June 1860; dwelling 338, family 319).

[15] This tree is maintained by Ancestry user rivvymcfeller.

[16] 1860 federal census, Washington Parish, Louisiana, Roberts post office, p. 798 (28 June 1860, dwelling 236, family 227); 1870 federal census, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, ward 2, Tangipahoa post office, p. 119A (12 July 1870; family and dwelling 6); 1880 federal census, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, ward 4, p. 480B (4 June 1880; ED 181; dwelling 8, family 35-6).

[17] See supra, n. 2.

[18] The Find a Grave memorial page cites Genealogical and Historical Abstracts of Legal Records of Saint Helena Parish, p. 236, for this information.

[19] 1860 federal census, Amite County Mississippi, Liberty post office, p. 152 (dwelling and family 28, 5 June1860); 1870 federal census, Amite County, Mississippi, Liberty post office, p. 500B (dwelling and family 1834, 3 September 1870); 1880 federal census, Amite County, Mississippi, beat 5 p. 541C (ED 47, dwelling and 374, 30 June 1880); 1900 federal census, Amite County, Mississippi, southern part of beat 5, p. 13 (dwelling 230, family; 30-31 July 1900).

[20] Mary Ann’s tombstone states that she was born in 1852, but her Louisiana death record gives 1854 as her birth year.

[21] 1850 federal census, Amite County, Mississippi, p. 93 (dwelling and family 612, 10 December 1850); 1860 federal census, Amite County, Mississippi, Liberty post office, p. 193 (dwelling and family 313, 25 June 1860).

[22] 1870 federal census, Amite County, Mississippi, p. 496.