Sweet Home Alabama

In the summer of 2011 I convinced one of my best friends to travel to Alabama with me to look at cemeteries, libraries, and court houses.  I had to sweeten the pot by promising to see some non-genealogical attractions, so we 1) ate dinner to live music and shopped the courthouse square in Oxford, Mississippi, 2) made a pilgrimage to William Faulkner’s house, 3) visited Helen Keller’s home in Tuscumbia, 4) saw a restored Frank Lloyd Wright house in Florence, 5) had a couple of quintessential Southern lunches, and 6) shopped for shoes.

Rosenbaum Home in Florence

William Faulkner's house in Oxford, MS

Helen Keller's house in Tuscumbia

Schoolhouse at Old Alabama Town

We met two of my Mansell cousins in Florence, and they took us to the cemetery at Waterloo where Elizabeth Simmons might be buried in an unmarked grave.  We visited Pope’s Tavern, an inn where Andrew Jackson stayed on his way to the Battle of New Orleans, and the Rosenbaum Home, a beautiful restored home-turned-museum designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  Jean and Laura were the epitome of Southern hospitality. On our way out of town the next morning we finally found—after thoroughly searching the wrong cemetery—the grave of Ella Smith Beckham, the only one of Stephen’s children to stay in Alabama.

Laura, me, and Jean at
Pope's Tavern

In Montgomery we spent the morning at Old Alabama Town, an authentic 19^th century village, and ate the best Southern lunch at a nearby restaurant—baked chicken, fried green tomatoes, and yummy coconut cream pie.

On that trip I also had one of the most perfect days I’ve ever had, genealogical or otherwise. 

After eating breakfast at our hotel in Montgomery, we drove to Troy in Pike County and Elba in Coffee County, two of the towns in which my Smith relatives lived.  Outside of Troy I found the graves of my great-great-grandmother Mary E. Smith and my great-grandfather’s sister Cynthia. 

Mt. Moriah Baptist Church Cemetery outside
Troy, AL

At the wonderful Troy Public Library, the librarian in charge of the genealogy section was so helpful, and in two hours I found a purchase of land by John A. Smith in 1849; Mary E. Smith and Cynthia Smith on the 1855 Alabama state census; and three marriage licenses:  of Amanda Lindsey to Melvin King, of Cynthia Lindsey to James King (Melvin’s father), and of Amanda Lindsey King to W.J. Register.  (I had begun to think that the marriages of all the Smith girls were figments of their imaginations!) 

After a morning in the library we ate wonderful chicken salad at the Byrd Drug Store on the courthouse square.  From there we drove to Elba and then on the highway on our way back to Montgomery we found a shoe mall!  A steak dinner and a swim in the hotel pool put an end to my perfect day in Alabama.

The Smiths in Alabama II

Eventually, I traced Stephen Albert Smith back to Coffee County, Alabama, and found the names of his mother and siblings.  On the 22^nd day of August in 1860, the Smith family was enumerated in Coffee County in the town of Elba.

            Mary E. Smith                        age 48             born SC

            Sintha A. Smith                      age 28             born AL

            Jackson Smith                        age 19             born AL

            Jefferson Smith                      age 17             born AL

            Stephen A. Smith                   age 14             born AL

            Moses C. Smith                      age 9                born AL

            Amanda L. Smith                   age 7                born AL

            Wallis P. Smith                       age 6                born AL

Miner J. Williams, age 42, and his wife Martha lived next door.

At that time, I had no idea what Mary E.’s maiden name was, but I noticed that her next-door neighbor was also born in South Carolina and was about the right age to be her brother.  As became apparent on the 1850 census, her son Jefferson’s name was actually Minor Jefferson.  These clues made me consider that Mary’s maiden name might be Williams. 

Mary E. was also the head of the household in 1850.  The family was enumerated in Coffee Co. on the 19^th of November and included:

            Mary E. Smith                        age 37             born S.C.

            Synthia A. Smith                    age 18             born AL

            John                                        age 16             born AL

            Jackson A.                               age 9               born AL         

            Minor J.                                   age 7               born AL

            Stephen A.                              age 4               born AL

Next door is James King and his family.

By 1880 Stephen Albert had left Mary E.’s home to start his own family, but I found his sister Cynthia as the head of household on the 1880 census in Pike County and some of the family relationships on the 1860 census became clearer.

            Cinthia Lindsay                      age 49             Head of household

            Willis Lindsay                        age 24             Son

            Mandy King                            age 30             Daughter

            Cinthia King                           age 6               Granddaughter

            Jordan King                            age 4               Grandson

            Willis King                              age 4               Grandson

            Jane Lindsay                          age 23             Daughter-in-law

            Lizzie Lindsay                        age 4               Granddaughter

            Thomas Lindsay                    age 2               Grandson

            Malissia                                  age 2 m           Granddaughter

            Mary                                       age 70             Mother

Apparently, Mandy (Amanda) and Willis (Wallis) from the 1860 census were not Mary’s children, but children of her daughter Cynthia.  The household also included Willis’s wife Jane and their 3 children, and Mandy and her 3 children. 

The 1880 census is the first time we see the Lindsay surname for Cynthia and at least one of her children, Willis.  (Amanda used it later—see below.)  Cynthia did not use the Lindsay name for herself or her children on the 1860 census but did on the 1880.  Some have put forth the name of Jordan Lindsay as father for Cynthia’s two children.  Jordan Lindsay is listed on the 1850 and 1860 census with wife Elizabeth Rials.  One of his daughters, born in 1849, was named Cynthia. Circumstantial, but if something was going on between Cynthia Smith and Jordan Lindsay, the timing for the birth of Cynthia’s children is right.  Elizabeth Lindsay died of bilious fever in 1860.  Jordan enlisted in Company A, 18^th Alabama Infantry, in the Civil War.  A muster roll posted in the USGenweb Archives shows his death date as 8 May 1862.

Two years ago in the wonderful genealogy section of the Troy Public Library, I found marriage licenses for Amanda Lindsay to Melvin King and for Cynthia to James King at age 52.  I have never been able to find a marriage license for Cynthia and anyone named Lindsay. 

Mary was still alive, age 90, living with Cynthia on the 1900 census in Pike County.  On that census Cynthia is referred to as “Smithy” King.  On the 1910 census Cynthia was living with her son Willis.  At age 92, on the 1920 census, she was living with Cynthia King who is married to Andrew Walker.

Both Mary and Cynthia are buried at Mt. Moriah Cemetery outside Troy, Alabama.