Children of Thomas Brooks (abt. 1747 – 1805) and Wife Margaret: Susanna Brooks and Husband Ezekiel Harlan (2)

Pennsylvania Gazette (20 September 1753), p. 3, col. 2

Or, Subtitled: “Wears a cap or wig, black velvet jacket and breeches, and ruffled ſhirts, but may change his apparel”

My previous posting tells you that Susanna Brooks and her husband Ezekiel Harlan have led me on a merry chase as I’ve tried to figure out even the most basic facts about them on the basis of limited evidence, including which particular Ezekiel Harlan Susanna married, when she was born, when and where the couple met, and when and where they died. I’ve become fairly confident that the Ezekiel Harlan whom Susanna married was an Ezekiel Harlan who was born in 1769-1770, and was the son of Ezekiel Harlan (born 1732-6) who was son of Ezekiel Harlan (1707-1754) and wife Hannah Oborn of Chester County, Pennsylvania. To add to the confusion created by the plethora of Ezekiels in this line, the Ezekiel Harlan born in 1769-1770 had a son Ezekiel, too, who was likely born around 1787-8, and who appears in records of Hardin County, Kentucky, along with his father.

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 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)

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.