Children of Alexander Cobb Lindsey (1858-1947), Son of Mark Jefferson Lindsey and Mary Ann Harrison, and Wife Mary Ann Green

Children of Alexander Cobb Lindsey and Mary Ann Green at 1953 family reunion: front, l-r — Sam, Robert, Ed, Veta; back, l-r — Dennis, Clarence, Bloomer, Emma, Emmitt, Camilla

Or, Subtitled: “The fourth generation was represented, and there were 87 present”

As the previous posting, to which this posting is a footnote, indicates, the 1910 federal census states that Alexander Cobb Lindsey and Mary Ann Green had thirteen children,[1] but the birth and death register of their family bible, of which the posting I’ve just linked provides pictures, lists the names and birthdates of only twelve children.[2] The birth entries for all children except the last child of the couple, Emmitt, are in the handwriting of Alex C. Lindsey. No family records that I have seen provide the name of a thirteenth child.

The children of Alex C. and Mollie Green Lindsey are as follows:

Children of Dennis Lindsey (1794-1836) and Jane Brooks: Mark Jefferson Lindsey (1820-1878) and Mary Ann Harrison — Son Alexander Cobb Lindsey (1858-1947)

Alexander Cobb Lindsey and wife Mary Ann (Mollie) Green Lindsey, 1930s, Coushatta, Louisiana; photo in possession of Marilyn Lindsey Cope

Or, Subtitled:A Man of Service to Humanity in Red River Parish, Louisiana,” “Don Quixote Attacking a Spinning Windmill

Alexander Cobb Lindsey, the seventh child of Mark Jefferson Lindsey and Mary Ann Harrison, was born 10 March 1858 in Union Parish, Louisiana, and died 22 January 1947 at Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana.[1] His tombstone in Old Armistead Chapel Methodist cemetery at Coushatta, Red River Parish, gives his name as “Dr. A.L. Lindsey,” as does his obituary in the Shreveport Times newspaper on 23 January 1947.[2] The tombstone, which was erected by his children for both Alex Lindsey and wife Mary Ann Green Lindsey following his death, incorrectly gives his date of death as 6 February 1947.[3]

Children of Dennis Lindsey (1794-1836) and Jane Brooks: Mark Jefferson Lindsey (1820-1878) and Mary Ann Harrison — Son Benjamin Dennis Lindsey (1856-1938)

A photo of Benjamin Dennis Lindsey at the time he was elected sheriff of Bexar County, Texas, in 1908; the original apparently hangs in the county courthouse, and is reproduced in Robert W. Stephens, Texas Ranger Sketches (Dallas, 1972), p. 84

Or, Subtitled: “Adventure Seeking Benjamin Dennis Lindsey,” “By Any Man’s Gauging a Gentleman’s Gentleman”

Benjamin Dennis Lindsey, the fourth son (and fifth child) of Mark Jefferson Lindsey and Mary Ann Harrison, was born 21 January 1856 in Union Parish, Louisiana. He died 2 May 1938 in San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas.[1] His biography by Clarence Wharton in Texas Under Many Flags states that his parents were Mark J. and Mary Ann Harrison Lindsey, the father a native of Lawrence County, Alabama, and the mother of Talladega, Alabama.[2] According to the biography, the Lindsey family came early to the South from England,[3] and Mark J. Lindsey was a planter in Alabama, who moved to Louisiana and assisted widows and orphans during the Civil War. Wharton states that Mark J. Lindsey died in Red River Parish in 1876 (1878 is correct) and Mary Ann Harrison Lindsey in 1875 (1877 is correct).  

Children of Dennis Lindsey (1794-1836) and Jane Brooks: Mark Jefferson Lindsey (1820-1878) and Mary Ann Harrison — Sons Carry Samuel, Charles Henry, and Mark Jefferson

Charles Henry Lindsey, daughter Mattie Elizabeth Boles, her son Shelton Boles and his daughter Nelda, 1948; photo uploaded by Paula Duchesne to her Raulston family tree at Ancestry

Or, Subtitled: Bobby the Ill-Tempered Chihuahua and Aunt Roxie Who Loved Him

Carry Samuel Lindsey (1858-1935)

Carry Samuel Lindsey was born 10 March 1858 in Union Parish, Louisiana, and died 9 October 1935 at Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana. Carry’s death certificate gives the full date of death, but records his birthdate only as 1858, stating erroneously that he was born in Coushatta, Louisiana, though his family had not moved to Natchitoches (later Red River) Parish by the time of his birth. His tombstone in Old Armistead Chapel cemetery, Coushatta, Red River Parish, Louisiana, erected some years following his death, has his full date of birth, and gives his year of death as 1933.

Children of Dennis Lindsey (1794-1836) and Jane Brooks: Mark Jefferson Lindsey (1820-1878) and Mary Ann Harrison — Sons Michael, Thomas, and Jeremiah

Engraving entitled “Destruction of the Queen of the West by Union Gun-Boats,” Harper’s Weekly 7,335 (30 May 1863), p. 340, uploaded to Wikipedia by Son of the South website

Or, Subtitled: Captured Gunboats and Floating Cotton Bales

Mark Jefferson Lindsey and Mary Ann Harrison had the following children (all surname Lindsey): Michael Dorsey; Thomas Madison; Jeremiah J.J.; Emma C.; Benjamin Dennis; Carry Samuel; Alexander Cobb; Charles Henry; and Mark Jefferson.[1] In what follows, I’ll discuss the first three of these children, sons Michael, Thomas, and Jeremiah. In subsequent postings, I’ll discuss the other children of Mark and Mary Ann in “batches,” setting Alexander Cobb, my great-grandfather, and Benjamin Dennis aside for discussion in separate postings, since I have more information about those two children of Mark and Mary Ann than the others.

Children of Dennis Lindsey (1794-1836) and Jane Brooks: Mark Jefferson Lindsey (1820-1878) — The Louisiana Years

Mark Jefferson Lindsey in 1870s; photo is reproduced in Henry C. Lindsey, The Mark Lindsey Heritage (Brownwood, Texas, 1982), p. 46; original in possession of John Ewan Kellogg, Coushatta, Louisiana, in 1980s

Or, Subtitled: The Lure of the New Cotton Frontier in Northwest Louisiana Prior to the War

In my last posting, I told you of a letter my uncle Henry C. Lindsey (Carlton to his family, but Henry professionally) sent me on 18 November 1980, in which he recounted what several elderly relatives he had just visited in Coushatta, Louisiana, told him about the move of Mark Jefferson Lindsey and wife Mary Ann Harrison to Louisiana in 1849 or 1850. These relatives told my uncle versions of stories I myself heard a number of times at the annual family reunion of descendants of Mark and Mary Ann in October each year in Red River Parish.

Children of Dennis Lindsey (1794-1836) and Jane Brooks: Mark Jefferson Lindsey (1820-1878)

Pen-and-ink drawing of Mark Jefferson Lindsey from “an old family bible,” reproduced in Henry C. Lindsey, The Mark Lindsey Heritage (Brownwood, Texas, 1982), p. 3

Or, Subtitled: Migration of Alabama Families to Northwest Louisiana, Late 1840s and Early 1850s

Establishing Mark’s Birthdate

In the bible of his sister Frances Rebecca Kellogg, Mark Jefferson Lindsey recorded his birthdate, stating that he was born “in the year 1820 Oct the 9,” son of D. and Jane Lindsey. Above the diary entry, Mark has written the date on which he made this record: “December the 4 1853.” We’re able to know that Mark himself wrote this entry since his handwriting matches that of other documents he wrote. In the signatures of Mark below, note the stylized J, for instance, with the loop running back through the top of it, and the stylized capital M. The first is from a 15 September 1838 deed of trust between Jacob H. Huffaker and John M. Davis in Oakville, Lawrence County, Alabama, for a debt Huffaker owed Davis, with Mark signing as trustee.[1] The second is Mark’s signature as he gave bond on 19 October 1839 for his marriage to Mary Ann Harrison in Lawrence County.[2] The birth record for Mark in his sister Frances Rebecca’s bible is, it’s easy to ascertain, written in the same hand — by Mark himself.

Children of Dennis Lindsey (1794-1836) and Jane Brooks: Dennis Edward Lindsey (1836-1863) — Dennis Edward Lindsey Jr. (1862-1935)

Dennis Edward Lindsey, photo in Robert W. Stephens, Texas Ranger Sketches (Dallas, 1972), p. 87

Or, Subtitled: “A Determined, Self-Composed, Fearless Man Unaffected by the Dangers and Challenges of Life on the Border”

As the 15 November 1907 remembrance of Dennis Edward Lindsey Sr. and his wife Sarah Jane Barnes by W.L. Clayton discussed in the previous posting states, Dennis and Jennie Barnes Lindsey had only one child, a son Dennis Edward, who appears to have been a junior.[1] Clayton notes that when his mother died in November 1907, her son Dennis was living “somewhere in the West.” He also states that Jennie had raised the two daughters of her second husband William B. Fulton, who was a widower when she married him in 1869. The 1870 federal census lists William and Jennie Fulton with her son Edward in their household, along with William Fulton’s daughters Margaret and Jimmie.[2] The two Fulton daughters are found in the household of William and Jennie again in 1880,[3] with Jennie’s son Dennis Edward Lindsey no longer enumerated there, since he had apparently left for Texas at this point, as his Texas Ranger Sketches biography discussed in the last posting indicates.[4]

Children of Dennis Lindsey (1794-1836) and Jane Brooks: Margaret Tranquilla Lindsey Hunter (1834-1921)

William and Margaret Lindsey Hunter, abt. 1870, photo uploaded by Kelly Browne to Margaret’s Find a Grave memorial page, Liberty cemetery, Martin, Red River Parish, Louisiana

Or, Subtitled: “Prominent as Planters, Merchants, Ministers of the Gospel”

Margaret Tranquilla Lindsey, daughter of Dennis Lindsey (1794-1836) and Jane Brooks, was born 14 January 1834 at Oakville in Lawrence County, Alabama. This date of birth is found on her tombstone at Liberty Baptist cemetery, Martin, Red River Parish, Louisiana.[1] Margaret’s son William Marshall Hunter pastored Liberty church for a number of years. It was founded by Reverend John Dupree, grandfather of Marshall’s wife Laura Jane Dupree.

Children of Dennis Lindsey (1794-1836) and Jane Brooks: Thomas Madison Lindsey (1821-1898)

Ancestry user Evelyn May has uploaded this photo to her tree Evelyn May/McCoy Family tree, with a caption stating that it is a photo of Thomas Madison Lindsey. Since photography came along after 1860 for the most part, this photo would have to date from the 1860s, I think, before he turned 50 years of age.

Or, Subtitled: “Jumping High into the Air and Touching His Toes with His Hands, He Gave a Loud Yell or Yodel”

In my account of the children of Dennis Lindsey (1794-1836) and Jane Brooks, I am going to skip from their second child, Sarah Brooks Lindsey Speake, to the couple’s fourth child, Thomas Madison Lindsey. I’m setting Dennis and Jane’s third child, Mark Jefferson Lindsey, aside for now. He’s my direct ancestor, my 2-great-grandfather, and because I have more information about him than about most of his siblings, I will save my account of his life until last, as I discuss the children of Dennis Lindsey and Jane Brooks.