Month: July 2020

Children of Dennis Lindsey (1794-1836) and Jane Brooks: John Wesley Lindsey (1814-1903) — Mississippi Years

William D. Lindsey1 Comment
Detail from Colton's 1855 Map of Mississippi
Detail from G. Woolworth Colton’s 1855 map of Mississippi showing Van Buren, Itawbamba County — from Colton’s Atlas of the World (New York : J.H. Colton, 1855-56), at the Library of Congress website

Or, Subtitled: Westward Ho As Businesses Falter and New Opportunities Beckon

In my first posting tracking the life of John Wesley Lindsey, son of Dennis Lindsey and Jane Brooks, in Wayne County, Kentucky, and Lawrence County, Alabama, up to 1840, I noted that John had long puzzled me: I could track his life up to the point that he disappears from records of Itawamba and Lee County, Mississippi, around 1870, but after that, I couldn’t follow him. I couldn’t follow him until I realized that he was the J.W. Lindsay who married M.A. Wester in Red River Parish, Louisiana, on 15 December 1878, and that he and Mary Ann Nobles Wester then settled at Marthaville in Natchitoches Parish, where John died in 1903. The families of John’s siblings Mark Jefferson Lindsey, Margaret Lindsey Hunter, and Rebecca Lindsey Kellogg had all settled in Red River Parish, and John had evidently gone out to Louisiana to join them by 1878. Continue reading “Children of Dennis Lindsey (1794-1836) and Jane Brooks: John Wesley Lindsey (1814-1903) — Mississippi Years” →

Children of Dennis Lindsey (1794-1836) and Jane Brooks: John Wesley Lindsey (1814-1903) — Wayne County, Kentucky, and Lawrence County, Alabama, Years

William D. Lindsey2 Comments
Lindsey, John W., Signature to Original Will of Thomas Brooks
John Wesley Lindsey’s signature as witness to will of his grandfather Thomas M. Brooks, 2 October 1838, Morgan County, Alabama (from loose-papers estate file of Thomas Brooks, Morgan County)

Or, Subtitled: Weathervane Turns on Fortunes of North Alabama Merchant Planters in 1830s

John Wesley Lindsey’s Birth in Wayne County, Kentucky, April 1814

In line with their strong Methodist commitments, Dennis Lindsey (1794-1836) and Jane Brooks named their first child (and eldest son) John Wesley, after the founder of Methodism. As we’ve seen, Dennis had a brother who also bore the name Wesley — Fielding Wesley Lindsey. Another brother, William Burke Lindsey, was named for the first Methodist circuit rider in Wayne County, Kentucky, at the time the Lindsey family lived there. John B. McFerrin, another Methodist circuit rider whom James Edmond Saunders mentions in connection with Mark and Dennis Lindsey in his Early Settlers of Alabama, as we’ve noted, provides abundant information about William Burke in his History of Methodism in Tennessee.[1] Continue reading “Children of Dennis Lindsey (1794-1836) and Jane Brooks: John Wesley Lindsey (1814-1903) — Wayne County, Kentucky, and Lawrence County, Alabama, Years” →

The Children of Mark Lindsey (1774-1848) and Mary Jane Dinsmore: Dennis Lindsey’s Wife Jane Brooks (1797-1852) and Their Children

William D. Lindsey6 Comments
Lindsey, Jane, Account for Boarding Mother and Father
Account of care Jane Brooks Lindsey’s provided nursing and lodging her parents in the final months of their lives, 13 November 1839, from loose-papers estate file of Thomas Brooks, Morgan County, Alabama

Or, Subtitled: Losing a Husband and Both Parents within Two Years and Carrying On

Notes About Jane Brooks, Wife of Dennis Lindsey

I have to admit that, in doing family history, I sometimes find myself being partial to one ancestor more than the rest. Jane is one of those ancestors to whom I’m partial. As I think about her life, what stands out is the amazing strength she displayed in trying times. I admire her. As I noted in a previous posting, when her husband Dennis Lindsey died at the age of 41, he left her a young widow of 39 with eleven children, four of them not over 10 years of age. One, the couple’s last son Dennis Edward, was a newborn, in fact. Continue reading “The Children of Mark Lindsey (1774-1848) and Mary Jane Dinsmore: Dennis Lindsey’s Wife Jane Brooks (1797-1852) and Their Children” →

The Children of Mark Lindsey (1774-1848) and Mary Jane Dinsmore: Dennis Lindsey (1794 – 1836) — Inventory of Notes Held by Estate and Estate Sale Account

William D. LindseyLeave a comment
Dennis Lindsey Estate Inventory of Notes, from Jane Lindsey v. John W. Lindsey and James B. Speake (1)
Dennis Lindsey, inventory of notes owed to estate, from case file, Jane Lindsey v. John W. Lindsey and James B. Speake as administrators, Lawrence County, Alabama, loose court case files 247, box, 171, folder 6 (1)
Dennis Lindsey Estate Inventory of Notes, from Jane Lindsey v. John W. Lindsey and James B. Speake (2)jpg
Dennis Lindsey, inventory of notes owed to estate, from case file, Jane Lindsey v. John W. Lindsey and James B. Speake as administrators, Lawrence County, Alabama, loose court case files 247, box, 171, folder 6 (2)

Here are two more transcripts of documents from the estate records of Dennis Lindsey (1794-1836). The transcripts that follow are 1) the inventory of notes owed to the estate of Dennis Lindsey at the time of his death, which administrators John W. Lindsey and James B. Speake presented to Lawrence County Court on 9 December 1836, and 2) the account of the sale of Dennis’s estate, which seems to have taken place on 25 December 1836. In a previous posting, I shared my transcript of the inventory of Dennis’s estate compiled by commissioners appointed by the county court. Continue reading “The Children of Mark Lindsey (1774-1848) and Mary Jane Dinsmore: Dennis Lindsey (1794 – 1836) — Inventory of Notes Held by Estate and Estate Sale Account” →

The Children of Mark Lindsey (1774-1848) and Mary Jane Dinsmore: Dennis Lindsey (1794 – 1836) — Estate Inventory, October 1836

William D. LindseyLeave a comment
Dennis Lindsey Estate Inventory, from Jane Lindsey v. John W. Lindsey and James B. Speake (1)
Dennis Lindsey, inventory of estate, 21 October 1836, from case file, Jane Lindsey v. John W. Lindsey and James B. Speake as administrators, Lawrence County, Alabama, loose court case files 247, box, 171, folder 6 (1)
Dennis Lindsey Estate Inventory, from Jane Lindsey v. John W. Lindsey and James B. Speake (2)
Dennis Lindsey, inventory of estate, 21 October 1836, from case file, Jane Lindsey v. John W. Lindsey and James B. Speake as administrators, Lawrence County, Alabama, loose court case files 247, box, 171, folder 6 (2)

On 29 October 1836, an inventory of the estate of Dennis Lindsey was filed in Lawrence County Alabama, court. This inventory was compiled on the 21st of October by court-appointed appraisers Samuel Irwin, R.Puckett, P.A. McDaniel, and E. Thomas, and verified by administrators John W. Lindsey and James B. Speak. As noted in the previous posting, the original inventory is found in the loose-papers case file of a case Dennis’s widow Jane Brooks Lindsey filed against John Wesley Lindsey and James Beckham Speake as estate administrators (Lawrence County, Alabama, loose court case files, #247, box 171, folder 6.). A transcript is also in Lawrence County’s Orphans Court Inventory and Will Book for the period 1835-1841 (pp. 232-7).

The following items appear on the appraisal. I’ve preserved the original spelling and capitalizations Note that the abbreviation “do” stands for “ditto.” The original document uses both the ditto sign, “ , and the abbreviation “do” to indicate dittos. I’ve added explanatory notes for some items. The transcript in Inventory and Will Book 1835-1841 corrects the non-standard spelling of many items in the original document: e.g., “furniture,” “saucers,” “bureaus,” “chairs,” “reel,” “kettle,” “Wesley’s,” “Josephus,” “magazines,” “hymn,” “stretchers,” “yoke,” “steers,” “heifer,” “colt,” etc.

Continue reading “The Children of Mark Lindsey (1774-1848) and Mary Jane Dinsmore: Dennis Lindsey (1794 – 1836) — Estate Inventory, October 1836” →

The Children of Mark Lindsey (1774-1848) and Mary Jane Dinsmore: Dennis Lindsey (1794 – 1836) (4)

William D. Lindsey4 Comments
Dennis Lindsey Estate Inventory, from Jane Lindsey v. John W. Lindsey and James B. Speake (1)
21 October 1836 inventory of estate of Dennis Lindsey, from case file, Jane Lindsey v. John W. Lindsey and James B. Speake as administrators, Lawrence County, Alabama, loose court case files 247, box 171, folder 6 (1)
Dennis Lindsey Estate Inventory, from Jane Lindsey v. John W. Lindsey and James B. Speake (2)
21 October 1836 inventory of estate of Dennis Lindsey, from case file, Jane Lindsey v. John W. Lindsey and James B. Speake as administrators, Lawrence County, Alabama, loose court case files 247, box 171, folder 6 (2)

Or, Subtitled: A North Alabama Example of Jarndyce v. Jarndyce

Dennis Lindsey’s Death

I have found no information about the cause of Dennis Lindsey’s death on 28 August 1836 at Oakville in Lawrence County, Alabama. Dennis was a young man not yet 42 years of age when he died. He left a young widow, Jane, who was 39, and eleven children, the first two of whom — John Wesley and Sarah Brooks Lindsey — were married. Several of Dennis and Jane’s children were very young when their father died: the last child, Dennis Edward, was not a year old, and the next four daughters — Margaret Tranquilla, Frances Rebecca, Martha Ann, and Mary Jane — were aged 2, 5, 7, and 10. As we’ll see from Dennis’s estate documents, though he had acquired a rather substantial estate, it was encumbered by debt, so in addition to having the responsibility to care for a large family of children when her husband died, Jane also had to face financial worries. Continue reading “The Children of Mark Lindsey (1774-1848) and Mary Jane Dinsmore: Dennis Lindsey (1794 – 1836) (4)” →