Children of Thomas Brooks (abt. 1747 – 1805) and Wife Margaret: James Brooks (1772 – 1835) and Wife Nancy Isbell (1)

Wayne County, Kentucky, Marriage Bonds 1801-1813, p. 66

Or, Subtitled: From Virginia to Alabama by Way of Kentucky and Tennessee

We’ve met the second child of Thomas and Margaret Brooks, their son James Brooks, in previous postings. As we’ve seen, James’s year of birth, 1772, is recorded in the register of a bible belonging to James and his wife Nancy Isbell. A transcript of this bible register was published in November 1952 by Memory Aldridge Lester in the Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, with a note that the bible belonged at that time to Nettie Raymond Brooks Young of Moulton, Alabama, and Lester had transcribed the bible at Mrs. Young’s house in June 1951.[1] Lester published the same transcript again in 1974 in a book entitled Old Southern Bible Records.[2] The posting linked above provides digital images of both transcripts.

The Conundrum of Sorting John Lindseys, Spartanburg County, South Carolina, Latter Half of 1700s and Early 1800s

South Carolina Colonial Plat Bk. 9, p. 1

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.

The Children of William Lindsey (abt. 1733-abt. 1806): William Lindsey (1760/1770 – 1840) (1)

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.

The Children of Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795): Mark Lindsey (1774-1848) (1)

Lindsey, Mark Biography, James Edmond Saunders, Early Settlers of Alabama (New Orleans, 1899), pp. 122-3.
Mark Lindsey biography in James Edmond Saunders, Early Settlers of Alabama (New Orleans, 1899), pp. 122-3

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)”

The Children of Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795): Dennis Lindsey (1793-1855/1860) (1)

Screen Shot 2020-02-26 at 1.53.28 PM

Or, Subtitled: Tracking Families from Spartanburg County, South Carolina, to Alabama

As I’ve noted previously, the only child of Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795) for whom we have definitive proof is his son Dennis, who was born in 1793 in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, and died between 1855 and 1860 in Franklin County, Alabama. Unfortunately, though we know with certainty that the younger Dennis is son of the older Dennis, there’s much that is unclear about the life of Dennis younger. Continue reading “The Children of Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795): Dennis Lindsey (1793-1855/1860) (1)”

The Children of William Lindsey (abt. 1733-abt. 1806): Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795) (4)

Dennis Lindsey Probate File 1
12 January 1795 bond of Mary Lindsey with Nathaniel Woodruff and William Moore, in loose-papers estate file of Dennis Lindsey, Spartanburg County, South Carolina, Probate Court, estate file 1111

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)”

The Children of William Lindsey (abt. 1733-abt. 1806): Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795) (2)

Woodruff, Thomas, Plat, 49, 127
December 1829 plat for Thomas Woodruff, for 863 acres, Spartanburg District, South Carolina, at site of contemporry Woodruff, South Carolina, South Carolina Plat Bk. 49, p. 127

Or, Subtitled: Plats and Churches with Shifting Names

From The Revolution to 1790: Land Records Situating  Dennis Lindsey and His Father

At the end of my previous posting, I told you that I’d then move on to discuss Dennis Lindsey’s life from the Revolution up to his death in 1795. As I began working on this posting, I saw, however, that the material I wanted to discuss here is so voluminous that I’ve now decided to cut my final postings about Dennis Lindsey’s life into several pieces. This next piece will focus on the period from the Revolution to 1790, and will show you how land records can be used to draw conclusions about where Dennis very likely lived up to the early 1790s, and about probable neighbors of his. Continue reading “The Children of William Lindsey (abt. 1733-abt. 1806): Dennis Lindsey (abt. 1755-1795) (2)”

The Children of Dennis Linchey/Lindsey (abt. 1700-1762): William Lindsey (abt. 1733-abt. 1806) (3)

Lindsey, William, Account Audited (File No. 4600) Of Claims Growing Out Of The American Revolution 2
William Lindsey (Lindsay), South Carolina Account Audited (File No. 4600) of Claims Growing Out of The American Revolution (indent 479)

Or, Subtitled: Land Grants and Payments for “Sarvis Done”

From the Revolution to the End of William Lindsey’s Life

We ended the previous posting, the second in our three-part series about the life of William Lindsey (abt. 1733 – abt. 1806), son of Dennis Lindsey the immigrant, noting that he acquired a 200-acre land grant on 9 November 1774 in what would become Spartanburg County, South Carolina. The land was on a branch of the Tyger River that was almost certainly Jamey’s Creek, and a number of indicators suggest that this land may have been between that creek and Ferguson’s creek near what would eventually become Woodruff, South Carolina. Continue reading “The Children of Dennis Linchey/Lindsey (abt. 1700-1762): William Lindsey (abt. 1733-abt. 1806) (3)”

The Children of Dennis Linchey/Lindsey (abt. 1700-1762): William Lindsey (abt. 1733-abt. 1806) (2)

Spartanburg County 1825 Mills Atlas Map, Library of Congress
Robert Mills, “Spartanburgh District, South Carolina,” from Mills’ Atlas of the State of South Carolina (Baltimore: F. Lucas, Jr., 1825); in the Library of Congress, call number G3913.S7 1820.M5, and digitized at the LOC website

Or, Subtitled: A Reminder of How Much We Can Learn from Migration Patterns and Land Records

Settling in South Carolina

By July 1768, William Lindsey was claiming land north of the Enoree River in what would later become Spartanburg County, South Carolina. For those interested in the currents of migration that brought early settlers to Spartanburg County, a good research aid is Frank Scott’s essay entitled “Migrations into Spartanburg Co.” at the SCGenweb site for Spartanburg County. As Scott notes, “After the French and Indian War, the Snow Campaign and a treaty that ceded the Cherokees’ claim to Spartanburg County, the area was finally opened to permanent settlement.” This brought an influx of settlers to the area between 1765-1770. Continue reading “The Children of Dennis Linchey/Lindsey (abt. 1700-1762): William Lindsey (abt. 1733-abt. 1806) (2)”