I am currently working on 'Our Brown Roots' which will be a book about my father's family.
This is a small portion of that book.
Note: This is a work in progress & may be changed as more evidence is collected.
Edwin is my 3rd great grandfather.
Edwin Barksdale Alford
25 Nov 1792 NC - 10 Mar 1878 MS
Son of Jacob Alford & Elizabeth Bryant
Edwin
Barksdale Alford, son of Jacob Alford and grandson of Julius Alford, was born
25 November 1792 in North Carolina. His mother, Elizabeth (Bryant) Alford, died
in 1793. His father soon married Frances (Seaborn) Alford.[i] The
family soon left North Carolina and moved to Georgia where the family can be
found in records from 1798 to 1806.[ii] Jacob
moved again, settling the family in Louisiana where they could be found in
1812.[iii]
The
War of 1812
Conflicts between Great Britain and Napoleon Bonaparte’s
France impacted the United States. Both countries tried to block the United States
from trading with the other. Great Britain required neutral countries to obtain
a license to trade with France. These trade difficulties hurt our economy. At
the same time the Royal Navy removed seamen from United States merchant vessels
and forced them to serve on their vessels. In 1812 Congress declared war against
the British. Many battles followed. In 1814 British troops landed in the Chesapeake
Bay area and marched to Washington, D. C. where they burned the White House and
the Capitol.
That same year Edwin Alford joined
the fight. On 23 December 1814 he enlisted as a private in Captain William
Brickham’s Company in the 13th Regiment of the Louisiana Militia. He
was a participant in the Battle of New Orleans on 8 January 1815.[iv]
The United States and Great Britain
signed a peace treaty on 24 December 1814 in Ghent, Belgium. However, the
fighting forces across the Atlantic Ocean did not know about this peaceful
resolution and the fighting continued.
On January 8, 1815, the two sides
met in what is remembered as one of the conflict’s biggest and most decisive
engagements. In the bloody Battle of New Orleans, future President Andrew
Jackson and a motley assortment of militia fighters, frontiersmen, slaves,
Indians and even pirates weathered a frontal assault by a superior British
force, inflicting devastating casualties along the way. The victory vaulted
Jackson to national stardom, and helped foil plans for a British invasion of
the American frontier.[v]
In February 1815 news of the peace between the
United States and Britain reached the fighting troops. Edwin was honorably
discharged soon after. Edwin received land for his service. Bounty land warrant
#75733 gave him 40 acres[vi] and
#33939 gave him 120 acres in Louisiana.[vii]
---
Pike County, Mississippi ---
Pike County, Mississippi was originally the home of
Chickasaw, Choctaw and Natchez Indians. The Spaniard Hernando De Soto came from
Cuba in 1539 to explore the area. The land passed from the hands of the French
to the English to the Spaniards and to the United States. In the early 1800s it
was Marion County.[viii]
At this period the county was comparatively an
unbroken wilderness with but few inhabitants who had been lured by the thoughts
of adventure to abandon their homes in the older States of Georgia, South
Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee, and with their families and
transportable property, penetrated the depths of this wilderness as pioneers,
to begin the foundation of new homes and a great State government.[ix]
Why did Edwin Alford leave Louisiana for
Mississippi? Was Edwin looking for adventure? He was in his mid twenties and
single when he crossed the border into Mississippi. Had he heard about the
abundant resources of the area?
The river and creek bottoms were covered with a
dense growth of wild cane and the pine hill regions with a wild pea commonly
known as partridge pea, beggar lice and other rich vegetation and grasses,
affording magnificent pasturage for horses, cattle, sheep, goats and hogs; and
the swamps with mast-producing trees, and the streams abounding with an
inexhaustible supply of fish. Wild deer, turkeys, bear, wolves, panthers, cats,
coons, opossums, beavers, otters, squirrels and the numerous feathered tribe
for game were practically inexhaustible.[x]
This area was, at first, Marion County, which was
divided on 9 December 1815 to form Pike County. On 10 December 1817 Mississippi
became the 20th of the United States and the Indian lands were
opened to white settlements. This available land may have been the lure that
attracted Edwin Alford from Louisiana into Mississippi.
Edwin was described by his grandson Walter Edwin
Tynes as being remarkably strong in character and "one of the most
practical and industrious men I have ever known." Walter related how his
grandfather had begun his life as a poor farm boy, working for a neighbor
clearing land to put in cultivation and how he gradually began purchasing land
and buying settlements from "improvident neighbors" until he had
acquired some three or four thousand acres and some twenty or more Negro
slaves. Walter said his grandfather worked from twelve to fifteen hours a day,
had the best library of any man in the country at that time, was remarkably
well informed, and was a very public spirited citizen."[xi]
On 20 December 1818 in Pike County, Mississippi, Edwin
married Martha P. Smith[xii],
daughter of Jeremiah Smith and Joanna Dillon. [See Smith Chapter for more information
on this family.] Martha, born 25 March 1802[xiii], was
16 years old. The marriage of Edwin and Martha is the earliest record of their
life in Mississippi. Two years later he was one of four Alfords enumerated in the
1820 census. He was in Pike County with a wife and young son.[xiv]
Early home life in Pike County was “simple and
natural”.
The young husband, with his axe on his
shoulder, his clear sounding horn swung to his side, with his ever attendant
faithful dog, went about his duties with self-confidence and a buoyant heart.
The young wife, with rosy cheeks, a loving smile, a happy heart, made the
little home an Eden of joy and gave strength to his soul in the battle of life.
They drank from the sweetest and most sparkling fountains the inspirations that
cement marriage bonds.[xv]
Life for Edwin and Martha was probably not as
idealized as the description by Luke Ward Conerly. However, the couple did
prosper as evidenced by the value of his personal and real estate in census
reports. Mr. Conerly’s book includes a photo of the “Alford Bridge over the
Bogue Chitto River in the northern part of Pike County.” Mr. Conerly describes
Edwin Alford as “one of the finest mechanics of his time.”[xvi]
In 1841 and 1845 Edwin was included in the
Mississippi State census for Pike County.[xvii]
In 1850 the United States Census shows Edwin as a farmer in Pike County whose
real estate was valued at $2,000. He was living with his wife, Martha, and five
of their children. Sons, Jeptha Josephus Alford and Seaborn S. Alford, were
helping to work the farm.[xviii]
While they lived in the Progress and
Simmonsville area Edwin and Martha were surrounded by family. Their neighbors
included their son, Julius Newton Alford, Martha’s brothers, Wyatt Smith and
Calvin Smith and distant relatives of the Fortenberry family.[xix]
In 1840 there were 19 Alford households in Mississippi and in 1850 there were
45.[xx]
In 1860 Edwin’s real estate was valued at
$3,000 and his personal estate was valued at $30,000. Son, Julius Newton Alford,
was living at home and working as a teacher. Daughter, Martha Elizabeth
(Alford) Brumfield [then single], was also living at home.[xxi]
Edwin owned 28 slaves in 1860, ranging in ages from one to 45 years old.[xxii]
One of Edwin's ex-slaves Barney gave an oral
narrative in 1930, which became a matter of record. It described his life as a
slave on the Alford plantation. Barney gave a good description of the old home
place, which he said was near the Louisiana State line on State Line Road. He
described the house as big and being built of logs, which were in later years
covered with planks. Barney said the house was like two houses put together
with a big open hall and a shed room on both ends of the galley. It had brick
chimneys, glass windows and a front porch. The plantation had mules, goats,
cows, oxen, chickens and horses. Barney stressed that after the slaves were
freed at the end of the Civil War many (but not all) chose to stay at the
Alford plantation.[xxiii]
In 1870 Edwin Alford was 77 years old and
living alone in Osyka, Pike County. His son, Julius Alford, lived next door
with his wife, Mary and two children.
Edwin died 10 March 1878. He and his wife are
buried in the Edwin B. Alford Cemetery. The cemetery is a mile and a half
southwest of Silver Springs Baptist Church and less than a mile north of the
Louisiana border.[xxiv]
Edwin
and Martha were the parents of a dozen children, all born in Pike County,
Mississippi: Warren Jackson Alford, Cynthia Ann (Alford) Ball, Ira Payne
Alford, William Harmon Alford, Harriet Jane (Alford) Tynes, Lacey A. (Alford)
Ball, Jeptha Josephus Alford, Julia Ann (Alford) McEleveen, Seaborn S. Alford,
Elijah Hayden Alford, Julius Newton Alford and Martha Elizabeth (Alford)
Brumfield. “Edwin Alford was the progenitor of many present day Alfords."[xxv]
[i] Conerly, Luke Ward, and E. Russ Williams, Source Records from Pike County, Mississippi
1798 - 1910 and Misc. Legal and Family Records Pertaining to the Areas of Pike
and Walthall Counties, MS (Easley, South Carolina: Southern Historical
Press, 1978) 92 – 98.
[ii] Heard, Ruby Alford, Gil Alford. Early Mississippi Alfords (AAFA Action, III, 1990) 35.
[iii] Williams, E. R., A Potpourri of Historical Data Concerning the Founding Families and
Individuals of Washington Parish, Louisiana, 1798 – 1860. (Monroe, LA:
Northeast Louisiana University, 1990) 1.
[iv] NARA, War of 1812
Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files; Fold 3 (fold3.com) Cpt. Wm.
Brickham’s Co., LA Militia; Edwin Alford.
[v] “The Battle of New
Orleans”; History (history.com:
accessed 2016).
[vi] US Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, General Land
Office Records, Land. Bounty Land Warrant #75733 for Edwin Alford in Tangipahoa
Parish, LA; 12 February 1857.
[vii] NARA, War of 1812
Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files; Fold 3 (fold3.com) Cpt. Wm.
Brickham’s Co., LA Militia; Edwin Alford.
[viii] Conerly, L. W., Pike
County, Mississippi, 1798-1876: Pioneer Families and Confederate Soldiers,
Reconstruction and Redemption. (Southern Lion Books, Historical Publications,
2008 Reprint) 10 – 11.
[ix] Conerly, L. W., Pike
County, Mississippi, 1798-1876: Pioneer Families and Confederate Soldiers,
Reconstruction and Redemption. (Southern Lion Books, Historical
Publications, 2008 Reprint) 11 - 12.
[x] Conerly, L. W., Pike
County, Mississippi, 1798-1876: Pioneer Families and Confederate Soldiers,
Reconstruction and Redemption. (Southern Lion Books, Historical
Publications, 2008 Reprint) 13.
[xi] Saunders, C. A., My
Alford Heritage [Limited Edition] (Texas: Morgan Printing, 2005) 47.
[xii] NARA, War of 1812
Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files; Fold 3 (fold3.com) Cpt. Wm.
Brickham’s Co., LA Militia; Edwin Alford.
[xiii] The Bible of Jeremiah
Smith Sr.; Pages copied by Patricia (Brock) Smith and given
to author, Dec. 2005; Bible in possession of Mrs. W. C. Uhlman, Tylertown,
Mississippi. Martha Smith.
[xiv] Heard, Ruby Alford, Gil Alford. Early Mississippi Alfords (AAFA Action III 1990) 36.
[xv] Conerly, L. W., Pike
County, Mississippi, 1798-1876: Pioneer Families and Confederate Soldiers,
Reconstruction and Redemption. (Southern Lion Books, Historical
Publications, 2008 Reprint) 33.
[xvi] Conerly, L. W., Pike
County, Mississippi, 1798-1876: Pioneer Families and Confederate Soldiers,
Reconstruction and Redemption. (Southern Lion Books, Historical
Publications, 2008 Reprint) Pages 12 and 36.
[xvii] 1841 & 1845 MS, Pike, Census Index; Ancestry (ancestry.com: accessed 2016) Edwin Alford.
[xviii] 1850 US Census, MS, Pike, Police District 1; digital image, Ancestry (ancestry.com: accessed
Sept. 2016) Edwin Alford family.
[xix] Boyd, Gregory A. Family Maps
of Pike County, Mississippi. Deluxe. (Norman, Oklahoma: Arphax Publishing
Co., 2005) 164 - 5. Land patents for Edwin Alford in Pike, MS.
[xx] Heard, Ruby Alford and Gil Alford. Early Mississippi Alfords, Part 2 (AAFA Action IV, Number 1,1991)
p. 22.
[xxi] 1860 US Census, MS,
Pike; digital image, Ancestry
(ancestry.com: accessed Dec. 2016) Edwin Alford family.
[xxii] 1860 US Census,
Slave Schedule, MS, Pike; digital image, Ancestry
(ancestry.com: accessed Dec. 2016) Edwin Alford.
[xxiii] Saunders, C. A., My
Alford Heritage [Limited Edition] (Texas: Morgan Printing, 2005) 47.
[xxiv] Parish, Ray and June Sartin, Cemetery
Inscriptions Pike County, Mississippi 1750 – 1978 (MS: Privately Printed,
1979) Page 1.
[xxv] Heard, Ruby Alford and Gil Alford. Early Mississippi Alfords (AAFA Action, III, 1990) p. 36.
Related Posts:
