A Slave Singled Out: 52 Ancestors 2023 Prompt “Lucky”

Not Lucky Enough: A Slave Receives Special Treatment in the Will of Peter Smith

Peter Smith: 1736-1797 (Maternal 4^th Great-Grandfather)

 

Willis Smith’s great-grandfather Peter Taylor Smith died in Caswell County, North Carolina in 1797, leaving a detailed will dividing his estate among his twelve children. Unfortunately, Peter Smith was a slave owner, and his will included numerous human beings amongst his property, human beings who were distributed among his children along with saddles and household furnishings. However, one enslaved man had a slightly different fate than Smith’s other slaves—a life with a few limited choices. But how fortunate was this “lucky” slave in reality? What can we learn from his fate?

Peter Smith’s will basically divides his enslaved humans into three categories. First were individual slaves given to one specific child. Peter’s two daughters were each given a female slave. Elizabeth received an adult named Jane, while Martha received a child named Bess. In addition, his son Jesse was given a “boy name Lewis” and son Moses was given a “boy name Edmond”. Aron (also Aaron) received a “Negro girl name Fanney.”

The will states that all Peter Smith’s remaining property, including the rest of his slaves, be divided amongst his six remaining sons. However, there was one notable exception:

“Except my Negro man Anthony who tho not absolutely free I will that he have liberty to have his own free choice from time to time to serve which of my children he shall chose and not to be confined to one-particular but if ill treated by one to have free liberty to go to another as he shall think fit & not to be sold to any other person.”

This is a fascinating passage. What can we learn from this?

Passage from Peter's will about Anthony

First, Anthony is described as “my Negro man”, which sounds like he was a personal servant, perhaps the equivalent of a valet. In addition, Anthony was an adult—Peter made a distinction between young slaves, referring to them as boys and girls, and adult slaves, referring to them as men or women.

Peter obviously felt a friendly attachment to Anthony and cared about his welfare. However, he did not see Anthony as a true friend or equal, for he kept him in bondage when he might have chosen to set him free in the will. He obviously saw Anthony as a valuable part of his estate, too valuable to be given away.

It is also obvious that Peter did not trust his children to treat slaves with decency or humanity. He obviously felt it likely that some of his children might abuse Anthony. Where would they have learned such callousness toward other human beings if not from him? Were his other slaves mistreated? Was this commonplace on his property and was Anthony’s “liberty” to be free from abuse a contrast from the manner in which other enslaved people were treated on Smith’s land?

Caswell County NC mid-1800s map

I wonder which of Smith’s children Anthony chose as his owner. And did he stay with that family, or did he exercise his right to switch households?

Many of Peter Smith’s children ended up moving to Kentucky. Did they take their slaves with them, or did they sell their slaves before they left North Carolina? Did Anthony end up in Kentucky, or did he spend his life in North Carolina?

And what of Anthony’s family? Did he have a wife? Children? Only Anthony was protected from being sold out of the extended family—any family members he might have had could have been sold away from him. Even for this “lucky” slave, his life was filled with uncertainty, misery, disrespect and terror.

Since Anthony was already an adult in 1797 when Peter Smith died, it is unlikely he lived long enough to benefit from the Emancipation Proclamation. I hope that his children achieved the freedom that Anthony was denied.

Sources:

Will Records, With Some Inventories, Estates and Settlements, 1777- 1963; Author: North Carolina. Superior Court (Caswell County); Probate Place: Caswell, North Carolina. Accessed via Ancestry.com. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/9061/images/004779974_00187?pId=2191221

Blog Post Leads to New Insights: 52 Ancestors 2023 Prompt “Social Media”

Kentucky Genealogy Blogger Gives Me a Critical Hint to New Branch of Family Tree

Peter Smith: 1736-1797 (Maternal 4^th Great-Grandfather)
Elias Guess Smith: 1775-1830 (Maternal 3^rd Great-Grandfather)

While researching a different blog topic, I tried the following Google search: “Muhlenberg County, Civil War”. I was trying to find out information about two Smith brothers, Samuel and Elias Guess Smith II, who served on opposite sides of the war. I wanted to learn about army units that were formed in their home county in Kentucky. The first search result was a post on “Kentucky Kindred Genealogy”, a blog by genealogist Phyliss Brown. The January 2019 post was titled “Muhlenberg County’s Civil War Soldiers” and profiled four soldiers who were included in a county history written by Otto A. Rothert. One of those four soldiers was William H. Smith. A Smith from Muhlenberg County—surely he was related somehow to my two Smith soldiers. But how? I decided to investigate—an investigation that led to a whole new set of family tree branches. That social media post led me to some amazing discoveries!

Ms. Brown’s post said that William Smith was the son of Leonard Smith and the grandson of “pioneer Aaron Smith.” That caught my attention, as my two soldier’s grandfather, Elias Guess Smith Sr., had also been described in materials I’d read as a county “pioneer”. Could Aaron and Elias Guess Smith be brothers or cousins?

I began researching Aaron Smith, and looked at other trees on Ancestry that included him. I discovered that his father appeared to be a Peter Smith, who was born in Virginia and died in North Carolina. Attached to those Ancestry trees was Peter Smith’s probated will, which was dated 1793 but was probated in October 1797 following his death at the age of 61.

Peter T Smith will dated 1793, probated 1797, part 1

The images of this will proved to be a treasure trove of information, including, most importantly, the names of Peter’s surviving children. And this list of progeny included Elias Guess Smith and Aaron Smith.

The children and their inheritances were listed as follows:

Elizabeth: a slave named Jane, a horse saddle and bridle, and a feather bed.

Martha: a slave girl named Bess, a horse saddle and bridle, and a feather bed and furniture.

Jesse: a slave boy named Lewis.

Moses: a slave boy named Edmond

Aron: a slave girl named Fanney

Peter Smith Will probated 1797, part 2

The remaining “property & Estate consisting of land, Negroes, Stock, Household furniture” was to be “equally divided between the rest of my sons to witt James, William, Presley W. George, John B., Elias & Elijah”. One slave was not included in the property division, but had detailed instructions as to his fate which I will write about in a separate post.

I was thrilled by the information in this original document! Elias Guess Smith not only had a confirmed set of parents at last, but he also had two sisters and nine brothers! The tree was expanding at a phenomenal rate!

So due to a single social media post, I was able to not only confirm that the William H. Smith featured in the Kentucky Kindred blog post was truly related to Elias Guess Smith and his descendants, but I was also able to add Elias’ eleven siblings to the tree and start trying to verify accounts in other trees that possibly seven of Peter Smith’s children ended up moving to Kentucky. I am grateful to the work of other genealogy bloggers like Ms. Brown. Their posts not only help to answer questions I already have, but they can also identify entirely new paths of inquiry. I hope my own blog will prove helpful to other researchers in the future.

 

Sources:

https://kentuckykindredgenealogy.com/2019/01/13/muhlenberg-countys-civil-war-soldiers/

https://archive.org/details/historyofmuhlenb00roth/page/74/mode/2up

Will Records, With Some Inventories, Estates and Settlements, 1777- 1963; Author: North Carolina. Superior Court (Caswell County); Probate Place: Caswell, North Carolina. Accessed via Ancestry.com. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/9061/images/004779974_00187?pId=2191221

Echoes of Gone with the Wind: Post-Civil War Crime Riles Louisiana

 

Cordelia Vanlandingham Cheatham: 1841-1924 (Maternal First Cousin 4x Removed)

While reading Gone with the Wind recently for my book club, I was struck by Mitchell’s use of two attacks on white women by black men as a sort of justification for the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. I questioned whether such type of attacks actually took place. Did women truly fear black-on-white crime during Reconstruction and the following decades, or was it all a pretext to make the Klan seem like a necessary instrument of vigilante justice? While researching the Vanlandingham family, I ran across news articles from May 1907 describing an attack on the elderly Cordelia Vanlandingham Cheatham by a black man apparently intending to rob her family. I was surprised by the event itself, by some of the ugly references in the news articles, and also by the realization that I may have misjudged Margaret Mitchell.

Cordelia Vanlandingham, born in 1841 to Oliver Cromwell Vanlandingham and his wife Mary Drake, had married an editor and clerk named Edward Cheatham in 1860. They settled in the Baton Rouge area where they raised four daughters and a son. Following Edward’s death in 1899, Cordelia lived with her unmarried daughters Elizabeth and Clara (known as Cheappie and Tal for some reason) in a rather rural area of Baton Rouge’s Third Ward. According to the news account, the home “was on the Bayou Sara road, and is in a sparsely and somewhat isolated section” ten miles north of the city.  

On May 18, 1907, a black man came to the Cheatham door at 10:30 p.m., claiming to be an employee of Cordelia’s son Ed who needed to deliver packages to her. When Cordelia stepped outside, the man attacked her, saying, “If you holler or make any noise, I’ll kill you.”

Cordelia struggled with the man and called to her daughter Cheappie, who came running with an ax. According to one news account, she threatened to “split his head open if he did not let her mother go, and made an effort to brain him with the ax.” The other newspaper said she swung at the man several times and managed to get him out of the house so she could lock the door. The man, “still bent on his murderous design” according to one newspaper, shot a gun through a window at the women and then ran. The newspaper said that only his poor aim kept him from killing the women.

One news article had an interesting detail:

“The screams of Mrs. Cheatham by this time had attracted the attention of an old negro woman, who, with her husband, lived in the yard. She yelled out to ask what was the matter and said that the old man would be there in a few minutes.”

I found it interesting that both the perpetrator and some of the rescuers were black. I was also intrigued to not that one newspaper failed to include the black woman’s intervention.

The article noted that:

“Mrs. Cheatham can give no description of her assailant, owing to the intense darkness surrounding the scene of her struggle. She remembers that the negro was very black.”

Ed Cheatham’s employee named Robert Pigeon was grilled by the local sheriff and a whole posse of angry neighbors the next day, but luckily was able to prove his innocence—someone had impersonated him to get Cordelia to open the door. The other news report stated that the sheriff had actually arrested the employee, and only released him when Cordelia Cheatham denied he was the perpetrator.

Poor Mr. Pigeon had a lucky escape. It appears lynching the robber was a real possibility. There was a chilling line in the New Orleans article:

 “It is probable that if the perpetrator of the deed is captured by the residents of that section before the sheriff’s officers can secure his arrest and identification, there will be some public demonstration.”

Lovely euphemism: public demonstration. The Shreveport newspaper was more forthright, and called it a “lynching”.

I found no articles relating to an arrest. Three days later, a posse was still searching. Another hapless man had been arrested but eventually released when they could find no evidence against him.

So how did this crime compare to those in Mitchell’s novel? Gone With the Wind featured two crimes. The first instance involved Tony Fontaine killing a former slave for verbally harassing his widowed sister-in-law in a sexual manner. The second instance was a physical attack on Scarlett as she returned from her sawmill. The perpetrators intended to rob her, but also probably intended to rape her as well. In that instance, the perpetrators included a white man as well as a black man, and Scarlett was rescued by one of her former slaves, also black. This paralleled the Cheatham incident, as black neighbors helped rescue Cordelia. In the novel, Scarlett’s husband Frank, a Klansman, gathered the Atlanta Klan members and sought to avenge her attack. The perpetrators were killed, but so was Frank.

I found it interesting that several of the articles relating to Cordelia Cheatham’s attack specifically stated that they believed the motive and intent of the criminal was robbery, not “a criminal assault” which must have been a delicate way of referring to rape. They were trying to calm the citizens of Baton Rouge, probably hoping to avoid the murder of a suspected perpetrator, where in Mitchell’s book, murder was the accepted fate of the perpetrators.

Still, the existence of these articles and the attention the attack on Mrs. Cheatham drew statewide shows that Mitchell was probably basing her novel’s crimes on real attacks that occurred in Georgia—crimes that would have been extremely rare, but would have inspired great fear and anger among white residents during Reconstruction and the decades that followed.  

 

Sources:

Newspapers.com - The Shreveport Journal - 21 May 1907 - Page 4 1907 Attack on Cordelia Cheatham

Newspapers.com. The Shreveport Journal. 21 May 1907, Tue · Page 4

Newspapers.com. Mrs Edward Cheatham assaulted, the Shreveport Times 20 May 1907.

Newspapers.com The Times-Democrat, New Orleans, Louisiana · Monday, May 20, 1907.

Confederate POW Brothers Escape Union Custody: 52 Ancestors 2023 Prompt “Flew the Coop”

 

Vanlandingham Brothers Among Mass Escape from Union Press Prison in New Orleans

Oliver Cromwell Vanlandingham: 1826-1905 (Maternal First Cousin 4x Removed)
Ezekiel Posey Vanlandingham: 1827-1895 (Maternal First Cousin 4x Removed)

 

The Vanlandingham brothers did nearly everything together, from running the cotton plantation their father bought near Baton Rouge, to enlisting in the Confederate Cavalry when the Civil War broke out. They served together, and both were captured by Union troops in 1864, and were sent to the same prison in New Orleans. But perhaps their most interesting and exciting shared adventure was breaking out of that prison along with nearly forty other Confederate POWs.

Oliver Cromwell “O.C.II” and Ezekiel “E.P.” Vanlandingham joined the 14^th Confederate Cavalry Regiment in 1862. They were privates in Company G under the command of Captain John B. Cage. The researchonline website describes the unit as follows:

“This unit was comprised of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama companies. It appears that this regiment did not serve together, but each company saw separate service….However, Co. A of Miles' Louisiana Legion refused to recognize its assignment to the new regiment as Co. E and maintained its independence; in fact, all the companies from Miles’ Legion tended to act separately from the rest of the new regiment."

Another site explained the Regiment was part of a group called Miles’ Legion, and was one of three cavalry regiments combined with six or seven infantry companies that served independently from the rest of the Confederate army. John Cage seems to have assumed command of the regiment in 1863, and at that time the Regiment was comprised of 250 cavalrymen.

It appears from the records that Company G spent most of the war in Louisiana and Mississippi, skirmishing with Union Troops led by Sheridan and Grant. In spring 1863, they were patrolling near Port Hudson north of Baton Rouge along the Mississippi River, and then moved into Mississippi to fight in the battle of Champion Hill and Big Black in mid-May, which the Confederates lost. The 14^th Regiment helped cover the Confederate retreat.

Louisiana 3rd Cavalry Regiment members--gives an idea of uniforms the brothers wore

Following that campaign, Company G and other Miles’ Legion cavalry companies apparently moved back and forth between the Meridian area and the site of the Big Black River Bridge battle just to the east of Vicksburg. In February 1864, Company G was patrolling along the Comite River as Sherman’s troops headed towards Meridian, Mississippi. Oliver Vanlandingham was captured during that campaign. His muster record cards contain two conflicting capture dates: February 1, 1864 and March 24. Both cards state “Comite River” as the location of his capture.

Just weeks afterwards, Ezekiel was also captured. Like O.C., Ezekiel’s muster cards show two conflicting dates of capture: March 30 and April 14, 1864. His location of capture was “Baker Farm”, which probably refers to the area near Baker, Louisiana. This area is not far from the Comite River, so obviously Company G was skirmishing slightly northeast of Baton Rouge. 

Comite River and Baker area where brothers were captured in 1864

The brothers were probably fortunate to have been captured when they were, as their unit went further east to fight in the Battle of Harrisburg near Tupelo in July 1864. The regiment suffered heavy losses, and commanding officer Lt. Col. John Cage was killed in battle.

The two brothers were sent to New Orleans and were imprisoned in one of the city’s several POW facilities run by the Union Army. Some soldiers were held at the old Parish Prison, while others were held at various warehouse-type facilities, including a “cotton press” and a Customs House where many Confederate officers were held. An illustration of that facility was published in Harpers’ Weekly. The reporter found the conditions to be reasonable if not comfortable, noting that the nearly 250 officers were decently fed and had plenty of space to move around and socialize. I expect conditions for privates like the Vanlandingham brothers were not as decent, especially during the hot, muggy summer days in New Orleans. The enlisted men’s prisons were more crowded.

Customs House Prison for Confederate Officers; Illustration from Harpers' Bazaar

 Oliver and Ezekiel’s service records include a quite extraordinary muster card. The cards read as follows:

“Roll of Prisoners of War who escaped from military prison, New Orleans, La., Aug. 14, 1864.

Roll dated N. Orleans La. Aug. 15, 1864.”

Below was another passage with some incredible details:

“REMARK: ‘The prisoners borne on this Roll escaped from one of the prisons in this City on the night of the 14 inst. Their escape was effected through a vault in the room where they were confined.”

I immediately noticed that the information on the form was printed rather than handwritten. Typesetting in the 19^th century was done by hand, making it an expensive, time-intensive proposition. So to have printed these cards, there had to have been a large number of soldiers to whom the card would apply—a large prison break, in other words.

I tried to find mention of the event in historical records, but information on smaller Union prisons is difficult to find. However, I was able to find reports written by the Union Commissary of Prisons in New Orleans, and found a lengthy letter to his superiors that includes his report of escapes during the month of August 1864. I have transcribed the letter as best as I could as follows:

 “I ____ to report that of the 68 Prisoners of War who escaped during the month of August, 40 of the number escaped from the Camdelot (or Earndelot or Rampart?) St Prison and before I entered upon the duties of Commissary of Prisoners. The Majority of the others escaped from the Union Press by cutting through one of the brick walls.

At the time of their escape I had made repeated applications for the Guards at that Prison to be relieved as they had been on duty for eight (?) consecutive days and nights and although I attributed their escape to the negligence of the Guard I could not expect men to be as vigilant and watchful whose labors had been so severe as the nature of the service demanded.”

I am unsure which of these two prison breaks involved the Vanlandingham brothers. I have determined that the “Union Press” was a Cotton Press building (sort of a cotton warehouse) that was pressed into service as a temporary prison. The detail in the letter about cutting through the wall sounds similar to the Confederate Army record that referred to escaping through a “vault”. Either way, the brothers were among the boldest and bravest prisoners who were willing to risk death to escape.

I found no further muster cards indicating the two brothers had returned to service following the prison break. Records from the Louisiana Soldiers Military Index show that both Oliver and Ezekiel were paroled in Gainesville, Ala., May 12, 1865, which means that following the final surrender of the Confederate armies, the Vanlandinghams, like all other Confederate troops, were required to sign a parole slip that read:

“May ________, 1865. In accordance with the terms of the Military Convention, entered into the twenty-sixth day of April, 1865, between General Joseph E. Johnston, commanding the Confederate army, and Major-General W. T. Sherman, commanding the United States Army in North Carolina, [soldier's name] has given his solemn obligation not to take up arms against the Government of the United States until properly released from this obligation, and is permitted to return to his home, not to be disturbed by the United States authorities so long as he observes this obligation and obeys the laws in force where he may reside.”

It is unclear if the Vanlandinghams actually travelled to Gainesville to sign these documents, or if the paperwork was signed in Baton Rouge and sent to Gainesville for Union signatures.

What we do know is that once the paroles were signed, Oliver and Ezekiel were free to go home and try to pick up their lives.

After so many years of working and living side by side, the brothers elected to part ways. Oliver collected his family and moved to Vanlandingham land in Kentucky. Ezekiel moved his family west to Rains, Texas. I have no idea if the two brothers ever saw each after they parted, or if they ever visited their two sisters who remained in Louisiana with their husbands and children. However, I am sure that Oliver and Ezekiel shared one last thing:  regaling their families with the tale about the day they flew the coop from a Union prison in New Orleans—the one victory they could claim against the Union.

Sources:

Miles’ Legion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles%27_Legion#Organization

Letter from Capt. Duffy, Commissary of Prisons. https://archive.org/details/selectedrecordso0104unit/page/n162/mode/1up?view=theater

Conditions at the Customs House where POW officers were held. Picture/drawing in file Harpers Weekly, Aug 29 1863. Pg 551. THE REBEL PRISON IN NEW ORLEANS.

https://laahgp.genealogyvillage.com/MilitaryIndex/louisianasoldiersv1.html

Selected records of the War Department relating to Confederate prisoners of war, 1861-1865 [microform] (Volume Reel 0001 -SELECTED RECORDS OF THE WAR DEPARTMENT RELATING TO CONFEDERATE PRISONERS OF WAR 1861-65 -Registers of Prisoners, Compiled by the Office of the Commissary General of Prisoners: 1 OCGP 1 1863-65) -United States. National Archives and Records Service. Accessed via https://www.ahgp.org/military/confederate-prisoners-of-war.html

https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/louisiana.htm

Rich Men, Poor Men: 52 Ancestors 2023 Prompt “Adversity”

The Vanlandinghams Meet Adversity Head-On:

Pioneer Poverty to Antebellum Wealth to Post-War Struggles

Oliver Cromwell Vanlandingham: 1785-1856 (Maternal Third-Great-Uncle)
Oliver Cromwell Vanlandingham: 1826-1905 (Maternal First Cousin 4x Removed)
Ezekiel Posey Vanlandingham: 1827-1895 (Maternal First Cousin 4x Removed)

 

Oliver Cromwell “O.C.” Vanlandingham arrived in Kentucky under desperate circumstances. His parents, Ezekiel Vanlandingham (1762-1796) and Elizabeth Brumley Vanlandingham (1765-1833) had set out from their home in Northumberland County, Virginia in 1796 with a party of settlers bound for new land in Kentucky. The Wilderness Road had just been opened that year, enabling wagons to travel to the new state; Kentucky had achieved statehood just four years earlier.

Tragically, Ezekiel died during the long wagon journey, so Elizabeth arrived in Kentucky a widow with three children: eleven-year-old Oliver, 14-year-old Easter, and eight-year-old daughter Elizabeth or“Betsey”. According to a county history,

“After burying her husband Mrs. Vanlandingham and the other members of the party resumed their trip and finally arrived near Paradise where she procured some land. There she and her…children worked hard and soon placed themselves in comfortable circumstances. She was a well-educated woman, and up to about the time her children were married devoted practically all her evenings to their education.”

What isn’t mentioned in this account is that Elizabeth Vanlandingham very prudently remarried shortly after her arrival in Kentucky. Her new husband, Samuel Fulton, doubtless helped her build up her farm. The couple may have also used slave labor, as by 1820, O.C. was farming in Gallatin County, Illinois and had two slaves, both of whom were older than O.C. was, so they may have accompanied O.C.’s parents from Virginia.

Still, even though the Vanlandinghams may have had the help of two slaves and a new husband, the family had to work extremely hard to establish their farm. I expect they had to clear land to make fields for planting, and they had to build a home and outbuildings. Harvests and getting their produce or grain to market would have required more effort. It would have taken years to achieve the “comfortable circumstances” alluded to in the book passage.

Easter and Elizabeth both married in 1813—Easter, 30, married farmer Francis Kimbley, and Elizabeth, 25, married farmer Samuel Miller Weir. Samuel Weir had a brother, James Weir, a successful area businessman. The county history stated,

“O.C….was for a few years associated in the mercantile business with pioneer James Weir. After he and Weir dissolved partnership, he made a number of trips to New Orleans, where he sold the hides and produce he bought in the eastern part of the county.”

Oliver Cromwell Vanlandingham

This trade helped consolidate his finances, enabling him to marry in 1825. His bride, Mary Drake, was a southern belle nearly 20 years his junior. The newlyweds moved to his Illinois property, which was about 80 miles from the family’s Muhlenberg County property. The county history noted:

“In the meantime, he retained the property he owned in Muhlenberg, including the place on which he had erected a large log dwelling. His wife, during one of their many visits to Muhlenberg, died on their farm near Paradise, December 22, 1844.”

The following year, O.C. moved his five children to Baton Rouge, where he’d bought a cotton plantation. The plantation was listed on the 1850 census as having a value of $27,500; today’s equivalent would be $1.1 million.

O. C. Sr. had his son Ezekiel running the plantation, while O.C. II was in Kentucky managing the farm and property there. The 1850 census shows the Kentucky property was also sizable, with a value of $5,900, far higher than the value of any of the neighboring properties on the census.

The plantation seems to have done well. An item in the August 4, 1853 Baton Rouge Advertiser newspaper compliments Ezekiel on the fine cotton he was growing on “Peru Farm”, noting:

“The bolls are large and the texture and appearance of the cotton excellent. Vanlandingham ranks among the ‘model farmers of our parish’—and is always able to ‘up cotton’. May he prosper beyond his expectations.”

The family also owned land in New Orleans. An 1860 ad listed “valuable land” for sale owned by the Vanlandinghams, bounded by Levee, Philip, Water and Jackson Streets. I have been able to locate Philip and Levee on old maps; they intersect quite near the river. Levee Street is now Decatur, but Water and Jackson have proved elusive, although modern day’s Jackson Square is nearby, so Jackson Street was probably near there and Water Street probably ran along the riverfront. This land would have truly been valuable today, lying right on the banks of the Mississippi.

O.C. Sr. died in October 2, 1856 at the age of 72. His body was carried back to Kentucky for burial.

Following his death, O.C. II moved down to Baton Rouge to help Ezekiel with the plantation. By 1860, he was listed as the head of the household, in charge of the majority of the property. His land was valued at $16,500, while Ezekiel’s property was valued at $5,000. The personal property, which would have included slaves, showed an even greater disparity in value. OC’s personal property had a value of $75,500, which Ezekiel’s was worth only $7,000, ten times less. The slave schedules for 1860 show O.C. owning 78 human beings, ranging in age from 70 years to two months. Most of the slaves—55 of the 78-- were under 30 years of age. 

Part of the 1860 Census Slave Schedule for O.P. Vanlandingham's plantation

Ezekiel, in contrast, owned only five slaves, a man, woman, child and two young teens.  

1860 Slave Schedule showing Ezekiel's five slaves below O.C.'s 78 slaves

The brothers’ three younger sisters, Mary, Elizabeth and Cordelia, were living with OC II, his wife and children in 1860. Perhaps OC’s huge share of the family wealth included provisions for his sisters that were paid out at the time of their marriages in 1860 and 1861.

When the Civil War broke out, both brothers enlisted in the Confederate Cavalry. As Baton Rouge was captured by the Union early in the war, I suspect their wives and children evacuated to other holdings in Louisiana or back north to Kentucky.

Ezekiel and OC II’s war experiences will be covered in a separate post. Following the war, the family basically had to start over. The plantation’s buildings had been destroyed during the war, and the nearly 100 enslaved people had quite understandably fled, leaving the family with fields returning to scrubland, and no labor for the labor-intensive cotton crop. Apparently the family simply abandoned the land, probably unable or unwilling to pay the tax bills the victorious Union imposed.

Two of O.C.’s three surviving daughters, married to Louisiana men, chose to stay in Louisiana. Mary’s husband James Elam returned to his political life, struggling to hold the office of mayor of Baton Rouge during a contentious Reconstruction period, described in an earlier post. Cordelia and her husband, E.D. Cheatham, were living near the Elams in Baton Rouge, where E.D worked as an editor in 1870, and a clerk by 1880. Sadly, both women ended up widowed. James Elam died in 1873, and E.D. Cheatham in 1899.

O.C.’s third daughter, Elizabeth, had married her first cousin, Samuel Miller Weir Jr., who owned land back in Kentucky. They settled in Muhlenberg County before the war, and remained there. While Samuel registered for the Union draft, it appears he never fought in the war, so never had to take arms against his brothers-in-law.

O.C. II left Louisiana, and moved his family back to the farmland in Kentucky that he had managed before his father’s death. Both he and his wife, Samuel Miller Weir’s sister Margaret, had family in Muhlenberg County, and built their life there—a more modest life than in Baton Rouge, but still quite comfortable.  The county history noted that, “He owned a large library and was regarded as one of the best-read men in the county.” OC II and his wife had eight children who spent most of their adult lives on the family’s Paradise area farm.

Following the war, Ezekiel, like his brother O.C., chose to leave Louisiana. He didn’t follow O.C. back to family lands in Kentucky, however. He headed northwest, ending up in Rains County, Texas, where he took up farming near the county seat of Emory, Texas. I’m not sure what led him to the area. His wife’s family was from Alabama; they had no obvious Texas ties. He and his wife Amelia Blount had six children, four of whom survived to adulthood, and three of whom remained in the Rains area lifelong.

Ezekiel and Amelia Blount Vanlandingham

The Vanlandinghams faced adversity several times over two generations. Patriarch Oliver Cromwell Vanlandingham built up a sizable fortune in land over the course of fifty years. However, war destroyed much of that wealth, probably rightly so since it was built on the forced labor of dozens of men, women and children. The next generation of Vanlandinghams faced this disaster with the same grit as their father and grandmother had in 1796.  One son, Ezekiel, chose to start fresh in a totally new state, and Oliver Cromwell’s namesake son returned to the first farm Oliver Cromwell and his mother had acquired and developed: a literal piece of Paradise—Paradise, Kentucky, that is.

 

 Sources:

A History of Muhlenberg County by Otto A. Rothert. John P. Morton & Company. Louisville, KY 1913. Accessed through Google Books.

Vanlandingham plantation sale notice. Baton Rouge Tri-Weekly Gazette and Comet, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 05 Jan 1861, Sat  •  Page 8. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116154246/sale-of-vanlandingham-plantation/#

Ezekiel Posey Vanlandingham grows excellent cotton on Peru Farm Concordia Intelligencer 13 Aug 1853, quoting Baton Rouge Advertiser of 4 Aug 1853. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116154616/ezekiel-posey-vanlandingham-grows/#

Census data, birth, death and other records accessed from Ancestry.com.

Eight Siblings, No Spouses: 52 Ancestors 2023 Prompt “Solitude”

 

The Vanlandingham Singular Siblings: Six Bachelor Brothers and Two Spinster Sisters

Oliver Cromwell Vanlandingham: 1826-1905 (Maternal First Cousin 4x Removed)

Margaret Jane Weir: 1830-1915 (Maternal Second Great-Grandaunt)
Their Children, all Maternal double First Cousins 3x Removed:
            Samuel P. Vanlandingham: 1850-1925
            Oliver Cromwell Vanlandingham: 1854-1916
            Mary Elizabeth Vanlandingham: 1856-1900
            John D. Vanlandingham: 1858-1937
            Elias S. Vanlandingham: 1864-1943
            James A. Vanlandingham: 1865-1946
            William B. Vanlandingham: 1868-1944
            Margaret S. Vanlandingham: 1872-1937
 

Every large family has one or two siblings who never marry and never have children, but I have never encountered a family where all the children chose to go through life without partners and without having their own families. The eight children of Oliver Cromwell Vanlandingham II and Margaret Jane Weir spent most of their lives living with their parents and each other. They chose unwedded solitude, with only each other for companionship.

Oliver Cromwell Vanlandingham was born in Louisiana, and was named after his father, O. C., who later bought a cotton plantation there, but also owned land in Kentucky and Illinois. The family moved between those states during Oliver’s childhood. O.C. had two sisters who married men from Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. Easter Vanlandingham married Francis Kimbley and had six children, and Elizabeth “Betsy” Vanlandingham married Samuel Miller Weir (parents of Lorene Jandy’s grandmother Nancy Vanlandingham Weir) and had seven children.

The three families probably socialized together frequently, which probably explains how Betsy’s youngest daughter Margaret Jane Weir ended up marrying her first cousin, Oliver Cromwell Vanlandingham II. The marriage of these true “kissing cousins” took place in Muhlenberg County on December 10, 1847. Margaret was 17; Oliver was 21.

 

Their first child, Ezekiel, was born a year later in December 1848, but died before his second birthday. The couple’s first surviving child, Samuel, was born in 1850. However, Margaret states on the 1910 census that she gave birth to eleven total children, so they probably lost at least two more children between Samuel’s birth and that of their final child, Margaret S., in 1872.  

I speculated that Margaret and Oliver’s close genetic relationship may have left the children of their marriage with brain defects or some genetic issue, which would have made them poor potential marriage partners. However, I found no evidence to support that. Census records show that all the siblings could read and write, and they worked together to operate a farm and support themselves. Two of the brothers, William and Oliver, also worked as carpenters. Additionally, recent research shows that first cousin marriages only increase birth defects by about 4-7 percent, so it is unlikely that the parents’ first cousin relationship caused some unidentified congenital problem.  

 

1910 Census showing Vanlandingham siblings

So we are left with no answers as to why these eight siblings chose to go through life without marrying. We don’t know if they had romantic relationships that failed before a marriage occurred, or if there was some problem with their upbringing that left them wary of marriage. I have found no obituaries for any of the eight, so I lack any details about their daily lives and community ties.

Whatever the reason for their choice to remain unwed, the Vanlandingham siblings’ unmarried state was unusual for their time and place in history. Their failure to wed and have children meant that their branch of the family tree ended with the death of the last of the eight siblings, James Vanlandingham, in 1946.

 

For All the Worst Reasons: 52 Ancestors 2023 Prompt “In the News”

Suicide or Murder? Tragic Death of Essex Elam Leads to Speculation and Accusations

Essex Mason Elam: 1873 or 74-1909 (Maternal Second Cousin 3x Removed)

 

Essex Elam shared his father’s name, and his father’s short life. Like his father, he also made headlines, but for all the wrong reasons.

Essex Mason Elam was born following his father’s unexpected death in August 1873. He was the baby of the family, and grew up in a household headed by his mother, Lorene Smith’s cousin Mary Vanlandingham Elam, and his older brothers, William Day Elam and James O. Elam, who were over a decade older than Essex.  

In 1897, Essex married Eugenie Labadie. He was 23, while she was 19. By the 1900 census, he was working as an insurance agent, and the couple had a son, James Essex Elam, who was born August 18, 1898.

Just after little James’ ninth birthday in 1907, Eugenie died, leaving Essex a 33-year-old widower. Since he was working full-time at his insurance business, James went to live with Essex’s mother.

Essex began seeing a widow living in the area, a Mrs. Marguerite Landry. On October 8, 1909, he married Marguerite. Unfortunately, his family members did not approve of his new wife. We can get hints as to the family’s objections from the manner in which the newspapers described her. One reporter called her “a dashing young widow”. Another one wrote:

“Mrs. Elam is a handsome young woman. She is of the Spanish brunette type, with beautiful black hair and brown eyes…She came to Baton Rouge eight or nine years ago, but up to within a little over a year ago had not lived here. She was originally from New Orleans.”

An article in a New Orlean’s paper noted that she was the “niece and adopted daughter of the late Severin Sanchez of this city and is a beautiful woman of the Spanish type.”

The newspaper went on to describe Essex, subtly contrasting his background with the wild widow’s:

“Mr. Elam came from one of the best families in Baton Rouge. A little over a year ago his first wife died.” Another article noted, “Elam had been in the insurance business, was regarded as a model of sobriety, and almost as a ‘working machine’.”

Obviously the family suspected Marguerite was a fortune hunter, leaving the wilder city of New Orleans and turning up in Baton Rouge just after Eugenie’s death to entice the lonely widower. “Dashing” is probably a euphemism for sexy and provocative. In addition, in post-war Baton Rouge, marrying a woman with dark hair and eyes and possibly a “Spanish” complexion would have been considered quite risqué. Marrying someone of a different skin tone and culture was “beyond the pale”, so to speak. Essex had taken his new bride over to his mother’s house after the ceremony, apparently intent on introducing her to his son and making arrangements to move the boy to the rented rooms where they planned to live. An argument apparently ensued. The newspaper describes the situation as follows:

“Mr. Elam was married shortly after 6 o’clock yesterday evening by Father Solignac. After the marriage he went to the home of his family. They declined to receive in their home the woman whom he had married. Mr. Elam wanted to take his boy home with him, but the little fellow cried to stay with his grandmother.”   

It is all too easy to imagine this ugly scene. Mary Vanlandingham Elam had once been at the top of the social ladder in Baton Rouge, wife of the mayor and friends with the richest and most influential people in the state. And here was her son, married to an upstart of dubious origins. Even though Mary’s social standing and wealth had diminished following her husband’s death, she probably still considered herself superior to the average Baton Rouge resident. She must have been livid.

Essex apparently took the rejection poorly. The headline the following morning read “Twelve Hour Groom Suicides—No Cause Given for Rash Act”.

According to the new Mrs. Elam, Essex woke fretting over not being able to see his son. He asked her to make him coffee, and while she was in the kitchen he shot himself with a handgun.

Sounds straightforward, right?

The family pointed out some curious elements of Marguerite’s story, which were backed up by evidence at the inquest.

“No pistol was found by Mr. Elam’s side when neighbors came over to render assistance. L. S. Harrell, who was the first outside party called in, said the body was nearly cold when he got in the room and that the man had no pulse at all.”

The new wife had an interesting explanation for the missing gun. She testified, “Mr. Elam had always said that he was going to kill himself and that he would take me with him. It was for this reason that I took the pistol away from him and put it in the armour. ..As I got near the room (after hearing the shot) I saw Mr. Elam falling, with a pistol in his hand. He had always said that we would die together. I thought that after shooting himself he was going to try to shoot me, and I attempted to take the ‘gun’ away from him.”

She was asked where the gun had come from, and she claimed, “It belonged to the house. I had it in the top of the wardrobe. I don’t know how he ever found it.”

I certainly understand why his family was suspicious. Why in the world would you hide the gun? Her excuse is pathetic. She claimed to have gone for help immediately, within five minutes of the shot, so how was the body already cold when the help arrived? She claimed that Essex spoke to her before she sought help, yet he had no pulse and seemed to have been dead for a while when neighbors arrived. And why would the rented rooms come with a gun? And why was she in charge of it?

And the biggest question of all: why had she married a man who repeatedly threatened to kill both her and himself? It makes no sense whatsoever.

The Elam family also told the press the angle of the shot made the suicide claim shaky. “The fact that he was shot in the stomach, and that the bullet ranged upward toward the left shoulder, is regarded as the most suspicious. It is claimed that a suicide would never shoot himself in the position that Elam did, and if he did it would be almost a physical impossibility for him to fire a shot himself that would range upward to the heart.”

Brought before a grand jury, the widow stated that “Mr. Elam had threatened often to take his own life, and had told his family that he was going to kill himself.” The news report stated “there are a number of persons who say that they have heard him declared that he intended to commit suicide.”

However, there was also some suspicion cast against the rental home’s owners, a Mr. and Mrs. Turnley. According to Mrs. Turnley, “her husband had come home at midnight, but had left shortly afterward on a hunt, and she declared that he was not at the house at the time of the tragedy…The pistol with which Elam is supposed to have killed himself did not belong to him, but belonged to ‘the house’. “ To further complicate things, Mr. Turnley abandoned his wife following the Elam suicide. Is it possible the two men fought and Elam was shot in the struggle?

Despite all the red flags, the grand jury agreed with the authorities and returned a verdict of suicide. Perhaps they were as taken with the young widow as poor Essex had been.

The widow took out her anger at the Elam family by initially refusing to release Essex’s body to them for burial. However, she eventually relented, probably because she didn’t want to pay for a funeral herself.

This tale leaves me with so many questions. Did Essex really tell his mother and family that he was going to kill himself if they wouldn’t let him see his son? If poor little James heard him make such a threat, no wonder he was crying and refused to leave his grandmother’s house. Did Marguerite decide to use Essex’s suicide threats to her advantage and murder him? What was really going on with the Turnleys, the home’s owners? What was the true nature of Essex’s emotional state—was he really a sober “working machine” or a wild, erratic depressive? What happened to his estate? Did Marguerite ever get any money? Where did she go after this horrible incident? Back to New Orleans?

Essex’s family was obviously ashamed of his tragic death and the adverse publicity that swirled around it. This was not how they wanted the family to be “in the news”. They buried him in an unmarked grave in Magnolia Cemetery in Baton Rouge.

Little James Essex came to be known as “Essex” in memory of his father. He attended boarding school in Pineville, and lived with his grandmother during school breaks. As an adult, he moved to Oklahoma where he worked as an engineer. He married an Oklahoma woman and had a daughter, and lived until 1972.

Sources:

“Twelve Hour Groom Suicides” The Town Talk, Alexandria, Louisiana · Saturday, October 09, 1909 https://www.newspapers.com/

“Funeral of Essex Elam” The Town Talk, Alexandria, Louisiana · Tuesday, October 12, 1909

“Elam’s Relatives Not Convinced” Weekly Town Talk, 23 Oct 1909, Sat · Page 4 https://www.newspapers.com/image/212972446/?terms=essex%20elam&match=1

“Tragic End of a Newly Wed Husband” St. Landry Clarion, Opelousas, Louisiana · Saturday, October 16, 1909. https://www.newspapers.com/image/174380518/?terms=essex%20elam&match=1

“Story of the Suicide: Full Account of Sad Death of Essex Elam.” Weekly Town Talk, Alexandria, Louisiana · Saturday, October 16, 1909 https://www.newspapers.com/image/212972431/?terms=essex%20elam&match=1

“Did Not Change Verdict”, The Town Talk, Alexandria, Louisiana · Friday, November 12, 1909. https://www.newspapers.com/image/213475233/?terms=essex%20elam&match=1

“Affidavit of Non-Support against T.B.Turnley” The Times, Shreveport, Louisiana. 04 Nov 1909, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116350880/turnley

“Bullet in His Heart: Sensational Suicide in Baton Rouge.” The Times Democrat, New Orleans La, Sunday October 10, 1909