Thomas Brooks (1775-1838) and Wife Sarah Whitlock (1774-1837): Alabama Years, 1836-1838

Original will (holographic, page 1) of Thomas Brooks of Morgan County, Alabama,, 2 October 1838, in loose-papers estate file of Thomas Brooks held by Morgan County Archives

Or, Subtitled: The Mystery of an Estate Selling Land to Which the Decedent Does Not Have Title

With this posting, I’ll provide information about the final phase of the lives of Thomas Brooks and wife Sarah Whitlock, after they moved in November 1836 from Wayne County, Kentucky, to Morgan County, Alabama, to join their adult children who had settled in adjoining Lawrence County, where Thomas’s brother James had died in 1835and Wayne County neighbors including Rev. Elliott Jones.  As I state at the end of the previous posting, because both Thomas and Sarah died not very long after they made their final move to Alabama, and doctors’ receipts in Thomas’s estate file indicate that medications like laudanum and morphine were prescribed for what appear to have been painful illnesses, I suspect that both were already sick at the time of their move, perhaps both with a lingering, debilitating illness such as cancer.

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

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)”

The Children of Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795): Mark Lindsey (1774-1848) (3)

Lindsey, Mark, Sons Fielding and David D. 1839
Signatures of Mark Lindsey and sons Dinsnore and Wesley, 13 September 1839 mortgage of Wesley (Fielding W.) Lindsey to Mark, Lawrence County, Alabama, Circuit Court #49, #50, #51, box 173; folder 41

Or, Subtitled: Yallow Mares, Mortgages, and Boom-Bust Fortunes of Alabama Planters in Depression of Late 1830s

Lawrence and Morgan County, Alabama, Records for Mark Lindsey, 1830 to Death in 1848

In this posting, I’ll continue listing records I’ve found for Mark Lindsey in Lawrence and Morgan Counties, Alabama, after he moved his family from Kentucky to Alabama in 1819. In my previous posting, I listed records from 1819 to 1830. This posting will focus on the period from 1830 up to Mark’s death in Morgan County on 10 April 1848. Continue reading “The Children of Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795): Mark Lindsey (1774-1848) (3)”