Or, Subtitled: “[They] settled on the unbroken prairie, prepared to cultivate the soil; there were spent the last days of the old folks”
This post is a continuation of a previous post tracking the family of Margaret Brooks, daughter of Thomas Brooks and Sarah Whitlock, and her husband Ransom Van Winkle in Wayne County, Kentucky. An obituary of their son Alexander Van Winkle confirms that Ransom and Margaret Brooks Van Winkle moved their family to Morgan County, Illinois, in the fall of 1829.[1]
Or, Subtitled: “A Rough Hardy Race of Men, Very Large & Stout, & Altogether an Excellent Population, for a New Country”
Thomas and Sarah Brooks Establish Their Young Family in Kentucky (1798-9)
In the previous posting about Thomas Brooks (1775-1838), I track him up to 1798, when he moved with wife Sarah Whitlock and infant daughter Jane from Wythe County, Virginia, to Pulaski (soon to be Wayne) County, Kentucky. As that posting notes, when the Brooks family made that move, Thomas and Sarah were a young couple, he 23 and she 24. You may have noticed that the previous postings discussing the Virginia beginnings of this Brooks family cited no records for Thomas in Wythe County other than tax records — with the exception of the record in his family bible stating that Thomas and Sarah married 14 February 1796.
Or, Subtitled: “’Curiouser and curiouser!’ Cried Alice”
These notes about the challenge of sorting men named John Lindsey in records of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, in the latter part of the 1700s and early part of the 1800s begin with the conundrum of a 20 March 1817 deed of William Lindsey to Spencer Bobo, both of Spartanburg County.[1] I discussed this deed in detail in a previous posting. As that posting notes, William Lindsey deeded to Spencer Bobo 200 acres on which William was then living, stating that he was selling “all the plantation and tract of Land where I now live supposed 200 acres more or less with every appurtenance thereunto belonging N. adjoining said Bobo’s land, E. joining Brewton, S. joining John Lindsey, and W. joining John Crocker.” The witnesses to this deed were John Lindsey and James Brewton/Bruton.
Or, Subtitled: Five John Lindseys Representing Three Distinct Families – Trials and Tribulations of Researching Lindseys in Spartanburg County, South Carollina, in 1700s/1800s
In a lengthy series of postings, I have followed the descendants of a Dennis Lindsey (about 1755 – 1795) who is the known son of a William Lindsey (about 1733 – about 1806) of Spartanburg County, South Carolina. As the posting I have just linked and postings about Dennis’s father William linked below state, we know that William and Dennis were father and son because records in the South Carolina Revolutionary audited account files of both men state that relationship.
Or, Subtitled: Spartanburg County, South Carolina, Families Move to Wayne County, Kentucky, and Then to Lawrence County, Alabama
Spartanburg County, South Carolina, Records for Mark Lindsey
We’ve met Mark Lindsey in previous postings. As I’ve noted, when the estate of Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755 – 1795) was sold on 12 February 1795 in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, Mark shows up as a buyer at the estate sale. He and Mary Lindsey, Dennis’s widow, lead the list of buyers, in fact, both buying horses from the estate. As the posting I’ve just linked also tells us, an 11 April 1796 account of money received by Dennis’s estate lists Mark as one of those who had made payments to the estate, as noted in the estate’s book accounts. Continue reading “The Children of Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795): Mark Lindsey (1774-1848) (1)”
Or, Subtitled: Spartaburg County, South Carolina, Families Head to the Florida Parishes of Louisiana Before War of 1812
The story of Isaac Lindsey illustrates what important genealogical breakthroughs are now possible through DNA research. Until genealogical DNA testing came along, no one (at least, no one of whom I’m aware) had any inkling that the DNA of male descendants of an Isaac Lindsey who died in April 1833 in St. Helena Parish, Louisiana, matched that of known male descendants of William Lindsey (abt. 1733 – abt. 1806) of Spartanburg County, South Carolina. Then along came DNA testing and that match became apparent, and it left researchers of the set of Lindseys tagged group 10 in the International Lindsay Surname DNA project with some questions to answer.
Chief among these: who is this Isaac Lindsey who would seem, given DNA findings, to have roots in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, but who is an unattached outlier living in distant St. Helena Parish, Louisiana, in the early 1800s? And how does he fit into the Spartanburg County Lindsey family where DNA findings suggest he somehow fits? Continue reading “The Children of Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795): Isaac Lindsey (abt. 1776 – 1833)? (1)”
Or, Subtitled: Land Plats and Tax Assessments as Genealogical Resources
When I finished my account of the life of Dennis Lindsey (1793-1855/1860), son of Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795) of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, I told you I’d move on to an account of the children of Dennis younger and wife Anna Woodruff. As my postings about Dennis have indicated, due to the loss of early Franklin County, Alabama, records in a devastating courthouse fire in 1890, there are many gaps in the documentation of Dennis and his family after he moved to Franklin County, Alabama, about 1827-8. No estate record naming his children has survived. Continue reading “The Children of Dennis Lindsey (1793 – 1855/1860): Miles R. Lindsey (1820/1 – 1878/1880) (1)”
Or, Subtitled: Cittles, Chears, Coffy Pots, and Canters: What Can Be Gleaned from an Estate File
Dennis Lindsey’s Estate Documents: Prefatory Comments
Estate or probate files (or, in Louisiana, they’re called succession files) can, in my experience, run the gamut from genealogically astonishing — they can name all the heirs of the decedent and identify them as full or half-siblings, for instance — to disappointing. Too many of my ancestors left wills naming “my wife and all my children,” and estate files that show their estate being inventoried, appraised, and sold, without including any division of the proceeds of the estate naming the heirs of the decedent. Continue reading “The Children of William Lindsey (abt. 1733-abt. 1806): Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795) (4)”
Or, Subtitled: Land Deeded Before Being Granted
From 1790 to Dennis’s Death by 12 January 1795
In this next posting chronicling the life of Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795), son of William Lindsey (abt. 1733-abt. 1806), I’d like to focus on records pertaining to a 248-acre tract of land between Jamey’s and Ferguson’s Creeks of the Tyger River granted to Dennis in November 1792. This is the only piece of land I find Dennis owning at any point in his life — and it appears that, even before he acquired the grant, he had signed half of the land to George Bruton by a bond he made before the grant was made. Before we look at records about that piece of land, I want to remind you of some points I made in my previous posting, which are important to keep in mind as we look at records regarding Dennis’ land grant of 248 acres: Continue reading “The Children of William Lindsey (abt. 1733-abt. 1806): Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795) (3)”
Or, Subtitled: Documenting Lives with “Receets” and Tombstones
As I told you when I began my postings about William Lindsey (abt. 1733-abt. 1806), son of Dennis Lindsey the immigrant, I have not found absolute proof that the William Lindsey who claimed land in 1768 on the Enoree River in what was later Spartanburg County, South Carolina, is the son William named in Dennis’ 1762 will in Granville County, North Carolina. I am persuaded, however, that these two Williams are the same person, and in the posting I have just linked, I provided you with my reasons for concluding this — compelling ones, it seems to me. Continue reading “The Children of William Lindsey (abt. 1733-abt. 1806): Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795)”
Begats and Bequeathals 