Samuel Kerr Green (1790-1860): The Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, Years and Death in Grimes County, Texas (1848-1860)

Tombstone of Samuel Kerr Green, Green family cemetery, Hegar, Waller County, Texas, my photo

Or, Subtitled: This father’s attempt to bastardize his son “came with a bad grace” since “it is sometimes impossible for a child to know with certainty whether he be legitimately begotten or not”

In the previous two postings (here and here), I discussed the life of Samuel Kerr Green during his years in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, from 1835 to 1848. As the second posting I’ve just linked states, in or shortly after 1848, Samuel moved with his wife Elvira Birdwell Green (the widow Grammer when he married her), his son Ezekiel Samuel Green, and his and Elvira’s children Albert B. and Cornelia Jane Green to Pointe Coupee Parish, where they settled on a plantation of 650 acres on the Atchafalaya River. How Samuel and Elvira acquired this land, I have been unable to find. Following Elvira’s death before 13 December 1855, the land was sold as part of her succession, and this has caused me to conclude that it came to Samuel when he married Elvira Birdwell Grammer.[1]

Samuel Kerr Green (1790-1860): The Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, Years, 1835-1848 (2)

Promissory note of Samuel K. Green to Ezekiel C. Green, James K. Huey vs. Samuel K. Green, Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, 9th District Court case #932

Or, Subtitled: “Maj. Samuel K. Green, an old veteran in the cause gave a splendid ball in the evening”

So with the previous posting, we’ve gotten Samuel Kerr Green from New Orleans to Natchitoches Parish in northwest Louisiana by October 1835, when he bought 640 acres there from Dr. John Sibley. As the conveyance record for that land sale states, Samuel was already living in Natchitoches Parish by 1 October 1835 when he purchased the land.[1] I do not have precise information for the exact time frame in which Samuel worked at his last overseeing job in south Louisiana on James Hopkins’ plantation, but Hopkins’ testimony in the Ezekiel S. Green vs. Samuel K. Green case Samuel’s son Ezekiel filed in Pointe Coupee Parish against his father in March 1856 suggests it was in the early 1830s.[2] And the testimony of Joseph Biddle Wilkinson and his wife Catherine Andrews Wilkinson in the same case states that Samuel worked in 1829-1830 for George Bradish and William Martin Johnson in Plaquemines Parish. So Samuel’s work for Hopkins in New Orleans occurred in the first part of the 1830s and at some point before October 1835, he left New Orleans for Natchitoches Parish.

Mary Ann Green (1861-1942) and Husband Alexander Cobb Lindsey (1)

Death certificate of Mary Ann Green Lindsey, Louisiana Department of Health, Division of Vital Records, Red River Parish #1620, 194

Or, Subtitled: A Family History Full of Twists, Turns, and Confusion

When I began Begats and Bequeathals back in January 2018, I stated that my goal here would be to share some 40+ years of research on my family lines, in the hope of providing accurate documentation to anyone who might be researching these families and looking for good documentation and not the junk genealogy too often found in various places. My initial posting also says that I wouldn’t be following any logical plan in choosing a particular family line to work on at any given time, but would be skipping from line to line.

“The Reputed Father of a Child … Will Not Be Permitted Afterwards to Bastardize Such Issue”: The Case of Ezekiel Samuel Green (and His Father Samuel Kerr Green) (1)

Louisiana Reports, Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Louisiana, vol. 4
Louisiana Reports, Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Louisiana, vol. 4, A.N. Ogden, reporter (New Orleans: Price Current, 1850), p. 39.

Here’s an experience I’ve had, oh, once or twice (including in my several decades of doing family history): I’m motoring along, absolutely certain I know where I’m headed, and all of a sudden, a signpost appears by the roadside telling me I’ve been on the wrong road all the time. When I was certain I knew where I was going — certain that I knew what I knew. . . . Continue reading ““The Reputed Father of a Child … Will Not Be Permitted Afterwards to Bastardize Such Issue”: The Case of Ezekiel Samuel Green (and His Father Samuel Kerr Green) (1)”