BEGATS AND BEQUEATHALS

As noted previously, George’s will names the children he had by both wives, not naming his first wife and naming his living wife Mary and his children by her. In the case of his second set of children, in a bible that passed down (and see here) in the family of George’s son John Birdwell (1770-1854), these children by wife Mary are also named and their birthdates recorded.

The numbering of George’s children below starts at 4 because there were three children by his first unknown wife. As my posting about George’s children by his first wife says, I’m not sharing all the information I have on each of George Birdwell’s children, but providing a brief outline of salient data about each of those children, including when and where he/she was born and died, and marriage information.

4. George Birdwell, the first child of George Birdwell by wife Mary, was born 18 October 1760 in Augusta County, Virginia. This date of birth is recorded in the register of the Birdwell family bible cited above. Prior to 1784 and probably in Sullivan County, North Carolina (later Tennessee), George married his wife Jane, who is said by a number of researchers to have been the daughter of Brice or Bryce Russell and Rachel Thompson.[2]

As has been noted, when George Birdwell elder and wife Mary sold their land in Botetourt County, Virginia, and moved to Sullivan County, North Carolina (later Tennessee), in 1779 or 1780, their son George (and other children) made this move along with them, and begins appearing in Sullivan County land records in the early 1780s. On 6 June 1789, he witnessed a deed by his father-in-law Bryce Russell Sr. to Bryce Russell’s son of the same name, Bryce Russell Jr., both of them living in Sullivan County, for 640 acres on the north side of the Holston River in Sullivan County.[3] The other witness to this deed was Alexander Ford, who married George Birdwell Jr.’s sister Elizabeth.

The posting linked in the previous paragraph notes that George Birdwell Sr. made his son George executor of his will and that George younger then appears in Bedford County, Virginia, records being granted administration of his father’s estate and in subsequent estate records in which George and Mary Birdwell’s children quitclaimed their rights to their father’s estate to their brother George and mother Mary.

By 1798, George Birdwell Jr. had settled in Knox County, Tennessee, southwest of Sullivan County. In 1802, George bought land in Davidson County while living in Knox County,[4] and after this, moved to Middle Tennessee and settled in Davidson County, where he made his will on 30 July 1816 and had died by 21 November 1816 when the will was probated.[5]

George Birdwell is said to be buried in a Birdwell family cemetery located on George’s land near Nashville in Davidson County, Tennessee, though no marker has been found for either George or his wife Jane, who outlived George by several years and is also said to have been buried at this site.[6] I have no idea why various online sites including George’s Find a Grave memorial page, which I just cited in a footnote, give him a middle name that he never had — Isaac — or, for that matter, why various sites want to give his father George Birdwell the middle name Washington, which appears in no document anywhere. George Washington was not even born when George Birdwell was born.[7]

5. Elizabeth Birdwell was born 1 June 1764 in Augusta County, Virginia. This date of birth is recorded in the Birdwell family bible cited previously.

As noted above, Elizabeth is thought to have married Alexander Ford. I have not seen a record of the marriage, but have no reason to doubt this information. The couple appears to have married between 1790-1795 in Sullivan County, Tennessee. As stated previously, when Bryce Russell, father of George Birdwell’s wife Jane, deeded land in Sullivan County on 6 June 1789 to his son Bryce Russell Jr., Alexander Ford witnessed this deed along with George Birdwell.

On 23 August 1800, Alexander Ford, then living in Blount County, Tennessee, deeded land in Sullivan County to Jacob Lake, with John Anderson and Sanford Birdwell witnessing the deed.[8] Sanford is thought to have been a son of Elizabeth Birdwell’s half-brother Robert Birdwell, perhaps by a wife prior to Jane Robinson.

Alexander Ford’s Revolutionary pension file contains valuable biographical information about him.[9] The file contains affidavits Alexander made in Ralls County, Missouri, on 10 February 1834 and 5 August 1835, in which he stated that he was born in Maryland in 1754 and entered Revolutionary service in Baltimore County, Maryland. He then moved to Sullivan County, North Carolina, and enlisted there, remaining in Tennessee until he removed with his family to Missouri.

Well-documented research by Robert W. Barnes shows that Alexander was the son of Lloyd Ford, who was born 10 November 1727, per records of St. Paul’s parish in Baltimore County, and who died in 1816 in Washington County, Tennessee.[10] Lloyd married Mary Grant, daughter of Alexander Grant. Barnes traces the Ford line back three generations prior to Lloyd Ford to its immigrant ancestor, Thomas Ford, who settled in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.

According to his descendants Georgia Boughton and Harley J. Starrett, Alexander Ford moved his family from Blount County, Tennessee, to Pike County, Missouri, in 1818 along with the family of Nehemiah Bonham, three of whose sons married daughters of Alexander and Elizabeth Birdwell Ford.[11]

A 7 June 1841 Ralls County, Missouri, probate court record states that Alexander Ford died in Pike County, Missouri, on 2 November 1838.[12] Documents in Alexander’s Revolutionary pension file confirm that pension payments to Alexander ended on this date, and that his widow, who is not named, survived him and received pension payments for his service after Alexander died.

Alexander’s wife’s name is given as Elizabeth when she and Alexander deeded land in Pike County on 2 March 1832 to their son Lloyd, with Elizabeth relinquishing dower the same day.[13] Elizabeth Birdwell Ford is said to have died in Pike County on 9 February 1843. I have not found a documentary source for this date of death.[14]

Elizabeth and her husband Alexander Ford are said to be buried in Fairview cemetery at Frankford in Pike County, Missouri. Elizabeth’s grave appears not to be marked. Alexander’s is marked by a military headstone for which his great-great-grandson La Verne Starrett applied on 11 May 1970.[15]

6. Benjamin Birdwell was born 24 December 1765 in Augusta County, Virginia. This date of birth is recorded in the Birdwell family bible cited previously. This date of birth is also inscribed on his tombstone in the Birdwell cemetery at Colonial Heights in Sullivan County, Tennessee.[16]

On 3 March 1791 in Sullivan County, Tennessee, Benjamin Birdwell married Mary Perry, daughter of David and Elizabeth Perry. This date and place of marriage are stated by Mary Perry Birdwell in an affidavit she gave in Sullivan County on 6 February 1845, asking for the Revolutionary pension awarded to Benjamin to be continued to her as his widow after his death on 17 October 1840.[17] The affidavit states that Reverend Richard Murrell, a Baptist minister, officiated at the marriage.

According to Goodspeed’s History of Tennessee, the first Baptist society in Sullivan County was Kendrick Creek Church, organized prior to 1786. Its first members included David Parry, the surname spelling used here. In 1795 a congregation was formed at the Ferry Meetinghouse at Long Island by Richard Murrell and Abel Morgan.[18] David Perry was a large landholder on Kendrick Creek near Kendrick Creek church.[19] As a previous posting has shown, when George Birdwell moved to Sullivan County and began acquiring land there in 1780, the land was on Kendrick Creek.

The 3 March 1791 date for Benjamin Birdwell’s marriage to Mary Perry is also stated in another affidavit Mary gave in Sullivan County on 20 December 1843, which is filed in Benjamin’s Revolutionary pension file. The pension file also contains a transcript of a family record of births and marriages that Mary submitted with this February 1849 affidavit, in which the date of her marriage to Benjamin Birdwell is also recorded. In her affidavit, Mary states that this document is a transcript of an original record in Benjamin’s handwriting that had been lost, and which he had someone transcribe before it was lost. The transcribed family record states that Benjamin and Mary married in Sullivan County.

Benjamin’s pension file contains other valuable pieces of information about his life, including information about his Revolutionary service and date of death. In an affidavit he gave in Sullivan County on 25 September 1832, which is in the pension file, he states that his age is 67 and that he entered service in Sullivan County, where he was living, in the fall of 1781 under Colonel Isaac Shelby and Captain Cavitt. As a previous posting notes, Captain Cavitt was Moses Cavett, who moved his family from Botetourt County, Virginia, where the Birdwells also lived, to Sullivan County, North Carolina, just before the Revolution.

Mary Perry Birdwell’s December 1843 and February 1849 affidavits cited above, found in the pension file, both state that Benjamin Birdwell died 17 October 1840. This date of death is also recorded on his tombstone discussed above. Benjamin and Mary are both buried in the Birdwell family cemetery at Colonial Heights, Tennessee, which is on land that belonged to Benjamin and is situated behind the house in which the family lived, according to notes sent to me in 1997 by Aggie Birdwell of Lubbock, Texas. Mary, who was born about 1772 in Virginia, was still living in 1860, when she was enumerated on the federal census heading her household in Sullivan County.[20] She is thought to have died between 1861-5, and her tombstone in the Birdwell cemetery is thought to be one of the tombstones in the cemetery that are now unreadable.[21]

Prior to his death, Benjamin Birdwell made his will in Sullivan County on 9 October 1840.[22] The will appears not to have been recorded until 21 March 1856, with a copy of the will recorded in February 1891 — the copy now on record in Sullivan County. The will states that Benjamin died owning a plantation, grist mill, and sawmill in Sullivan County, and that he wished for his wife Mary and daughters Elizabeth, Jane, and Nancy to be maintained from the proceeds of his plantation and half the proceeds of the grist mill.

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[1] Bedford County, Virginia, Will Bk. 1, pp. 408-9; and Bedford County, Virginia, Court Order Bk. 6, p. 332.

[2] See Effie N. Birdwell, “The Bryce Russell Family,” in Families and History of Sullivan County, ed. Holston Territory Genealogical Society (Marceline, Missouri: Walsworth, 1992), family 1278; Jennie and Alice Russell, “Brice Russell and His Family,” in the Russell family file of the Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection of Knox County, Tennessee, Public Library; and Bob Dillard, “Russell (1995).” I have a copy of both the article by Jennie and Alice Russell, which was compiled in 1932, and Bob Dillard’s, written in 1995, and think that neither has been published. These materials speak of an attack by Cherokees on the Brice Russell family soon after the family moved to what would become Sullivan County, North Carolina, from Augusta County, Virginia, at the time of the American Revolution. It’s said that Rachel Thompson Russell, wife of Brice Russell Sr., was taken prisoner by the Cherokees in this attack, along with her daughters Rachel and Isabella, and that two sons of Brice Russell, Hugh and George, were killed in the attack.

[3] Sullivan County, Tennessee, Deed Bk. 1, p. 346. Note that Erbon Wise misidentifies the George Birdwell witnessing this deed by Bryce Russell as George Washington Birdwell (1794-1847), son of Joseph Birdwell and Rachel Russell: see Erbon W. Wise, The Bridwell Family in America (Alexandria, Louisiana: Louisiana Offset Printers, 1968; rev. 1978), p. 48.

[4] Davidson County, Tennessee, Deed Bk. E, p. 403.

[5] Davidson County, Tennessee, Will Bk. 7, pp. 108-110.

[6] See Find a Grave memorial page of George Isaac Birdwell, Birdwell cemetery, Davidson County, Tennessee, created by Ray Isbell,

[7] See “George Isaac Birdwell Jr.” and “George Washington Birdwell” at FamilySearch’s Family Tree.

[8] Sullivan County, Tennessee, Deed Bk. 4, pp. 435-6.

[9] NARA, Case Files of Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Based on Revolutionary War Service, compiled ca. 1800 – ca. 1912, documenting the period ca. 1775 – ca. 1900, RG 15, file of Alexander Ford, Maryland, S16806, available digitally at Fold3.

[10] Robert W. Barnes, Baltimore County Families, 1659-1759 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publ. Co., 1989), pp. 222-3.

[11] See Elmer B. Hazie, Bonham Family, 1631-1973 (Hazie, 1973), pp. 197-8, transcribing material written by Georgia Boughton and Harley J. Starrett.

[12] Ralls County, Missouri, Probate Records Bk. B, p. 243.

[13] Pike County, Missouri, Deed Bk. D, p. 118.

[14] See e.g. Find a Grave memorial page for Elizabeth Birdwell Ford, Fairview cemetery, Frankford, Pike County, Missouri, created by Edwin Poor, which erroneously has Elizabeth born in Stafford County, Virginia, though numerous records place Elizabeth’s father George Birdwell in Augusta (later Botetourt) County, Virginia, in the 1760s, and before that from 1745 in Augusta’s parent county of Orange County — counties far removed from Stafford County. On the erroneous link of George Birdwell to a Bridwell family in Stafford County, see here and here.

[15] See La Verne Starrett’s application for a military headstone for Alexander Ford, 11 May 1970, in NARA, Applications for Headstones, January 1, 1925–June 30, 1970, RG 92, available digitally at Ancestry collection U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1861-1985; and Find a Grave memorial page of Sgt. Alexander Ford, Fairview cemetery, Frankford, Pike County, Missouri, created by Krauss/Gonek, maintained by Army Mom, with tombstone photo by Krauss/Gronek.

[16] See Find a Grave memorial page of Benjamin Birdwell, Birdwell cemetery, Colonial Heights, Sullivan County, Tennessee, created by Lori Briggs, with a tombstone photo by Lori Briggs.

[17] NARA, Case Files of Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Based on Revolutionary War Service, compiled ca. 1800 – ca. 1912, documenting the period ca. 1775 – ca. 1900, RG 15, pension file of Benjamin Birdwell, North Carolina, W218, available digitally at Fold3.

[18] Goodspeed’s History of Tennessee (Chicago and Nashville: Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1887), p. 914.

[19] Muriel C. Spoden, Historic Sites of Sullivan County (Kingsport: Kingsport Publishing Company, 1976), p. 98.

[20] 1860 federal census, district 13, Gails Crossroads, p. 108B (dwelling/family 293, 6 July).

[21] See Find a Grave memorial page of Mary “Polly” Perry Birdwell, Birdwell cemetery, Colonial Heights, Sullivan County, Tennessee, created by Ray Isbell.

[22] Sullivan County, Tennessee, Will Bk. 1, pp. 594-6.