BEGATS AND BEQUEATHALS

But as has also been previously discussed, Moses left no estate record in Hopkins County, Texas, where he died, and no other extant document giving the names of his twenty children has been found. In the absence of such documentation, identifying Moses’ twenty children is for the most part a matter of informed guesswork. That is, one has to pay attention to Birdwells showing up in places in which Moses lived, who were in those places when he himself was there, who were of an age to be possible children of Moses, and who interacted with him or others associated with him in county records.

In the case of Moses’ children by second wife Hannah, there are several documents that do allow us to identify with fair certainty at least some of Moses’ children by wife Hannah. And by connecting those proven children to other Birdwells who appear to be very likely siblings of these children, we can build a good list of proven or likely children of Moses by wife Hannah. My list contains ten names, in fact, so if I’m correct in my deductions, we may well know the names of all ten of Moses’ children by wife Hannah.

One valuable document that allows us to identify a daughter of Moses Birdwell with fairly solid certainty has been discussed in detail previously and is mentioned above. This is the family history account compiled by Walter Dunn Cunningham, his sister Caroline, and their father Scott Cunningham prior to 1903. As the posting I’ve just linked explains, Scott Cunningham was a nephew of Calvin C. Cunningham, who married Nancy Wright Birdwell. The linked posting also indicates that Nancy was a primary source for the information that Scott Cunningham and his children Walter and Caroline compiled in the Cunningham family history. The Cunningham document states explicitly that Nancy Wright Birdwell was Moses’ daughter, his next-to-youngest child.

In addition, several letters written by a brother of Nancy, Henry Landers Birdwell, addressing her as his sister, are extant. These prove the name of another of Moses Birdwell’s children by his wife Hannah – their son Henry. These letters contain statements that also allow us to identify other siblings of Nancy and Henry, establishing the names of yet more of Moses’ children by wife Hannah. I’ll discuss these letters in more detail below.

The following is my list of proven and probable children of Moses Birdwell by wife Hannah Folkinson/Folkindon, with this posting discussing the first four children and the next discussing the final six children:

1. Elizabeth J. Birdwell was born in July 1815 in Madison County, Alabama. A family bible belonging to Sarah Georgianna Sullivan Powell, a daughter of Elizabeth’s husband Craven Sullivan by his second wife Mary Barnes, states that Craven Sullivan’s first wife was Elizabeth J. Birdwell, daughter of Moses and Hannah Birdwell, who was born in July 1815 and died 31 August 1840.[1] I have not found a record of Elizabeth’s marriage to Craven Sullivan, son of James and Elizabeth Sullivan, who was born 1 May 1809 in North Carolina and died 17 August 1882 at Denison in Grayson County, Texas. These dates are stated on Craven Sullivan’s tombstone in Oakwood cemetery at Denison, Grayson County, Texas.[2] The bible belonging to Sarah Sullivan Powell apparently gives Craven Sullivan’s death year as 1883, unless the transcriber of the bible misread 1882 for 1883.

The 1840 federal census shows Craven Sullivan and his family living in Marshall County, Alabama, where Moses Birdwell also appears on the 1840 federal census.[3] Craven Sullivan and Moses Birdwell are enumerated next to each other on this census, and as we’ve seen (see the posting I’ve just linked), when Moses made an affidavit on 10 April 1843 in Marshall County petitioning for a land patent, Craven Sullivan witnessed the affidavit.

Since Elizabeth Birdwell Sullivan died on 31 August 1840, her death would almost certainly have occurred in Marshall County, Alabama. I have not found burial information. Following Elizabeth’s death, Craven Sullivan remarried to Mary Barnes on 12 February 1846 in Marshall County, and then moved his family to Caddo Parish, Louisiana, prior to 1850 and to Grayson County, Texas, between 1870 and 1880.

In a letter that Henry Landers Birdwell wrote on 19 May 1869 from Xenia post office in Nodaway County, Missouri, to his “dear sister” Nancy Birdwell Cunningham at Onion Creek in Travis County, Texas, Henry states,[4]

I want to know if george Birdwell is living out thar and what has become of sister betcys children….

Note that this letter concurs with the testimony of the Powell family bible that Elizabeth J. Birdwell was Moses Birdwell’s daughter. It should also be noted that if Elizabeth was born in July 1815, as the Powell bible indicates, and was, as the bible register states, a daughter of Moses Birdwell and wife Hannah, her birth preceded Moses’ marriage to Hannah on 8 August 1816.

2. Joseph Allen Birdwell was born 20 February 1819 in Limestone County, Alabama. This date of birth is stated on Joseph’s tombstone in Salado cemetery at Salado in Bell County, Texas.[5] The tombstone states that Joseph died 8 July 1887.

On 26 September 1892 at Salado in Bell County, Texas, Joseph’s widow Mary Ann Phillips Birdwell filed an application for a pension for Joseph’s military service in Alabama during the Florida Wars.[6] Joseph was a private under Captain William T. Coffey in the North Alabama Regiment of Mounted Volunteers commanded by Colonel Benjamin Snodgrass, mustered at Bellefonte, Alabama on 26 October 1837.[7] I have not seen the pension application filed by Joseph’s widow Mary Ann. A Birdwell family history chart compiled in 1992 by Jerry H. Birdwell of Bryan, Texas, of which I have a copy, cites the pension file and states that Mary Ann’s pension application says that Joseph was nineteen years of age when he enlisted, was 5’8″ in height, and had light complexion, blue eyes, and light brown hair. I mention this pension application here because it may also state that Joseph was born in Limestone County, Alabama, and give his date of birth – but because I have not seen the application, I can’t verify that it contains this information.

Joseph Allen Birdwell can be placed as a son of Moses Birdwell and Hannah Folkinson/Folkindon by statements Henry Landers Birdwell made in a 25 August 1868 letter to their sister Nancy Birdwell Cunningham (see the images at the top of the posting). In this letter, which Henry sent from Mercer County, Illinois, to Nancy at Onion Creek, Travis County, Texas, Henry states,[8]

I received a letter from brother Joseph they was well I am going down to see him as quick as I get my corn gatherd….

In his 19 May 1869 letter to sister Nancy cited previously, Henry tells his sister that he had visited Joseph the preceding winter. Henry writes,

I went down to see brother Joseph last winter they had been very sick and had lost toe of their children I fond them living in the poorest country I ever seen in my life they worked hard and made nothing so I told him if he would leave thar I would move out her or go somewhere where so we could get land to gether as we had ben apart so long he promist me he would do it we did talk of going to texas but we heard so much bad news of people fiting and killing one another thar that we concluded to come here this spring and Joseph would come out next faul….

Joseph Birdwell and his family were living in Johnson County, Illinois, when Henry traveled from Nodaway County, Missouri, to Illinois to see his brother in 1868. Henry’s letter goes on to tell Nancy that he had brought one of Joseph’s sons, Matthew, to his farm but Matthew had written his father to say he was not satisfied with his new living arrangements and his sister and her husband and their brother Moses were going to come in the spring and the group would settle in southwest Missouri.

Jerry Birdwell’s 1992 Birdwell chart cited above states that Betty Jo Birdwell had indicated to Jerry that she had had a phone conversation with Gus Oliver, who stated that his mother Lottie V. Birdwell had told him that her great-grandfather was Moses Birdwell. Betty Jo Birdwell had also reported to Jerry Birdwell that she learned from a phone conversation with Walter Johnson Birdwell that his grandfather Moses Frank Birdwell had told him that Moses Birdwell was Moses Frank Birdwell’s grandfather. Moses Frank Birdwell was a son of Joseph Allen Birdwell.

On 15 June 1842 in Marshall County, Alabama, Joseph A. Birdwell married Mary Ann Phillips, daughter of Laban Phillips and Rebecca Garrett.[9] As we’ve seen previously, Joseph’s father Moses Birdwell was living in Marshall County at this point. After marrying, Joseph and Mary Ann went from Alabama to Illinois, settling by 1849 in Johnson County, Illinois. In 1876, Joseph sold his property there and moved to Texas, settling initially in Travis County and then in Bell County, where he died at Salado on died 8 July 1887, as stated above. Wife Mary Ann was born 15 October 1823 in Tennessee and died 25 January 1910 at Kendall, Whatcom County, Washington, where she’s buried in Kendall cemetery.[10] Mary Ann spent her final years with daughter Rebecca and her husband Hillery Jackson Boozer in Washington.

3. Amos Vinson Birdwell was born in 1820 in Limestone County, Alabama. This year of birth is indicated by the 1850 federal census, on which he is enumerated in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, aged 30, a laborer born in Alabama, with wife wife Sarah, 29, and children Mary, 9, John, 4, and California, 1.[11] Sarah and Mary were born in Alabama, and the children after Mary in Louisiana.

Researchers have not found any clinching proof that Amos was a son of Moses and Hannah Birdwell, but lots of pieces of information strongly point to that conclusion. On 26 October 1837, Amos was mustered into the same military company in which Joseph Birdwell served during the Florida Wars, Captain William T. Coffey’s North Alabama Regiment of Mounted Volunteers commanded by Colonel Benjamin Snodgrass. The two men were mustered in on the same day.[12] As I’ve just stated, letters Henry Landers Birdwell wrote to his sister Nancy Birdwell Cunningham, a proven daughter of Moses Birdwell and wife Hannah, prove that Joseph Birdwell was their brother.

As a previous posting has noted, on 10 December 1842 Amos Birdwell appears along with Joseph and Moses Birdwell owing a debt to the estate of Hillian Kirby in Marshall County, Alabama.[13] This document and Amos’ marriage record in Marshall County, Alabama, place him in that county in which Moses Birdwell was living at the same time: on 19 April 1840 in Marshall County, Amos V. Birdwell married Sarah Barnes, daughter of John Calvin Barnes and Sarah Beville.[14]

I have little other information about Amos. As the 1850 federal census suggests, between 1842 and 1846, he moved from Marshall County, Alabama, to Caddo Parish, Louisiana. Caddo Parish is where Moses Birdwell’s proven son by his first wife, James Birdwell, died in December 1849. Amos’ choice to settle in a Louisiana parish contiguous to the one in which James Birdwell was living in the 1840s is another strong clue that Amos is Moses Birdwell’s son by second wife Hannah Folkinson/Folkindon.

A number of researchers state that Amos Vinson Birdwell died in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, on 24 May 1852.[15] I have not found a source for this claim, though it’s definitely plausible. By 1860, Amos’ wife Sarah and their children Mary E., John W., and Oregon are enumerated on the federal census at Van Buren post office, Richland township in Crawford County, Arkansas, with Sarah listed as a schoolteacher heading her household.[16] This census listing appears to corroborate that Amos had died prior to 1860. Further information about Sarah and her husband Amos Vinson Birdwell is to be found in Patricia L. Morgan, Descendants of John Calvin Barnes (n.p., 2006), pp. 225f.

4. Jeremiah T. Birdwell was born (I think) about 1822 in Limestone County, Alabama. This is quite frankly a guess. I have not found a federal census or other document providing a clear statement as to Jeremiah’s year of birth. Since Jeremiah married in 1844 after Amos Vinson Birdwell married in 1840, I think that Jeremiah was probably younger than Amos and that his birth falls between the birth of Amos in 1820 and the birth of another son of Moses Birdwell, Samuel J., in 1826. Jeremiah’s wife Sarah Ann Harper was born between 1823-6, per the 1850 and 1860 federal censuses.

I have found no absolute proof that Jeremiah was a son of Moses Birdwell and Hannah Folkinson/Folkindon, but quite a few pieces of evidence make this probable. First, on 19 November 1844 in Marshall County, Alabama, Jeremiah T. Birdwell married Sarah Ann Harper, with Amos V. Birdwell giving bond for the marriage with Jeremiah on the same date.[17] The marriage bond connects Jeremiah to another very likely son of Moses Birdwell whom I’ve just discussed, Amos V. Birdwell, and places Jeremiah in Marshall County, Alabama, at the same time that Moses Birdwell lived there.

Second, by 1850, Sarah, who appears to be a widow with two small sons, Harvey 5, and John, 1, was living in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, where Moses Birdwell’s son James Birdwell had settled in 1840.[18] As a previous posting notes, on this census, Sara Birdwell and her two children were enumerated next to a Daniel B. Smethers who testified in a lawsuit filed by Ezekiel Samuel Green against his father Samuel Kerr Green in 1856, two men closely connected to the family of James Birdwell: Samuel married James’ daughter Elvira and Ezekiel married two of James’ daughters in a row, Camilla and Hannah.

The 1850 federal census suggests to me that Jeremiah T. Birdwell and wife Sarah moved from Marshall County, Alabama, to Louisiana soon after they married in 1844, since their son Harvey was born in Louisiana in 1845, if the census has correct information. And if the census is correct in stating that Jeremiah and Sarah had a son John born in Louisiana in 1849 and Sarah was heading the household in 1850, it appears that Jeremiah died in 1849 or 1850 in Louisiana, probably in Natchitoches Parish. Note that these pieces of information have Jeremiah moving to Louisiana from Marshall County, Alabama, in the same time frame in which Amos V. Birdwell moved there. I think it’s likely that the two families went to Louisiana together around 1844, after Jeremiah married.

Caddo Parish, where Amos is said to have died in 1856, is joined by Red River Parish on the southeast. The section of Natchitoches Parish in which Sarah Ann Harper Birdwell was living in 1850 fell into Red River Parish when that parish was formed in 1870.

That Sarah Harper Birdwell was a widow by 1850 is confirmed by her marriage on 20 May 1851 in Cherokee County, Texas, to William H. Ridgell.[19] In 1860, Sarah appears on the federal census in William H. Ridgell’s (the name is given as Uridgel here) household at Rusk in Cherokee County, with her son John A. Birdwell, aged 11 and born in Louisiana, living in the household.[20] The census shows Sarah as 37 and born in Alabama.

As a previous posting has noted, Jeremiah Tucker (1782-1841) was a founding pastor of Round Island Baptist church in Limestone County, Alabama, which Moses Birdwell joined in 1820. The linked posting also notes that Jeremiah Tucker was selected as Limestone County’s building commissioner in 1819. I think it’s likely that Jeremiah T. Birdwell was named for Jeremiah Tucker.

Jeremiah T. Birdwell is in the right place and time to be a son of Moses Birdwell, and I know of no other Birdwell living in Marshall County, Alabama, in 1844 when Jeremiah married there who would be a likely candidate for Jeremiah’s father. Jeremiah’s evident ties to Amos V. Birdwell incline me to think that Jeremiah and Amos are brothers and that Jeremiah is one of Moses Birdwell’s children by Hannah Folkinson/Folkindon.

In my next posting, I’ll provide information about the final six children of Moses Birdwell and Hannah Folkinson/Folkindon.

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[1] A transcript of register of this family bible is in Louisiana Society DAR, “Collection of Bible and Family Records,” (1965-6), available digitally at FamilySearch. As this source indicates, the bible register was transcribed in 1954 by Edna Blanchard. The bible is identified as the Powell bible: Sarah G. Sullivan married James F. Powell on 26 November 1868 in Caddo Parish, Louisiana.

[2] See Find a Grave memorial page of Craven Sullivan, Oakwood cemetery, Denison, Grayson County, Texas, created by cjgriffith, maintained by Find a Grave, with a tombstone photo by Christian Sumner.

[3] 1840 federal census, Marshall County, Alabama, p. 80A.

[4] Letters that Henry Landers Birdwell wrote to his sister Nancy Birdwell Cunningham on 25 August 1868, 19 May 1869, and 2 May 1875 are extant. I have photocopies of these letters that were sent to me either in August 1996 by Shannon Birdwell of Houston, Texas, or in 1995 by James Bryant of El Paso, Texas. I do not have information about who owned the original letters in the 1990s or may own them now. Jim Bryant published transcripts of these letters in his Cunningham-Birdwell-Bryant Newsletter 2 (April-May 1995), and Shannon Birdwell sent me the same transcript in August 1996.

[5] See Find a Grave memorial page of Joseph Allen “Joe” Birdwell, Salado cemetery, Salado, Bell County, Texas, created by Stephen Peters, with a tombstone photo by Abby Streight Birdwell.

[6] NARA, Index to Indian War Pension Files, 1892-1926, RG 15, available digitally at Fold3; and .

[7] NARA, Indexes to the Carded Records of Soldiers Who Served in Volunteer Organizations During the Indian Wars, compiled 1899 – 1927, documenting the period 1817 – 1858, RG 94, available digitally at Fold3. See also Virgil D. White, Index to Volunteer Soldiers in Indian Wars and Disturbances, 1815-1818, vol. 1 (Waynesboro, Tennessee: National Historical Publishing Company, 1994), p. 106.

[8] See supra, n. 4.

[9] Marshall County, Alabama, Marriage Case Files (loose-paper files), Birdsong, George B. – Bishop, G.W., available digitally at FamilySearch; Marshall County, Alabama, Marriage Bk. 1836-1846, p. 132.

[10] See Find a Grave memorial page of Mary Ann “Polly” Phillips Birdwell, Kendall cemetery, Kendall, Whatcom County, Washington, created by Carolyn Farnum, with a tombstone photo by brendal. See also Washington State Board of Health, Death Certificates 1910, Whatcom County, certificate 23, file 1343.

[11] 1850 federal census, Caddo Parish, Louisiana, Albany district, p. 358 (dwelling 50/family 53; 16 November).

[12] NARA, Indexes to the Carded Records of Soldiers Who Served in Volunteer Organizations During the Indian Wars, compiled 1899 – 1927, documenting the period 1817 – 1858, RG 94, available digitally at Fold3

[13] Marshall County, Alabama, Final Record Bk. 3, p. 97.

[14] Marshall County, Alabama, Marriage Case Files (loose-paper files), Birdsong, George B. – Bishop, G.W., available digitally at FamilySearch; Marshall County, Alabama, Marriage Bk. 1836-1846, p. 73.

[15] See Find a Grave memorial page of Amos Vinson Birdwell, burial details unknown, created by ivanell chesser. In a 1 November 1996 letter to me, Lucille Mehrkam of Houston, Texas, also stated this date of death for Amos, without citing a source for the information.

[16] 1860 federal census, Crawford County, Arkansas, Richland township, Van Buren post office, p. 651B (dwelling 365/family 363; 3 July).

[17] Marshall County, Alabama, Marriage Case Files (loose-paper files), Birdsong, George B. – Bishop, G.W., available digitally at FamilySearch; Marshall County, Alabama, Marriage Bk. 1836-1846, p. 236.

[18] 1850 federal census, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, p. 31 (dwelling/family 505, 13 November).

[19] Cherokee County, Texas, Marriage Bk. A, p. 187.

[20] 1860 federal census, Cherokee County, Texas, Rusk post office, p. 420 (dwelling/family 141/141. 12 June).