1860 Census, Dinwiddie County, VA:
Joseph N. Brooks 37 M 1120 300 VA
Elizabeth Z. Brooks 48 F VA
Benj B Brooks 12 M VA
Mary D Brooks 10 F VA
Franklin Brooks 8 M VA
Patrick Moody 19 M VA
Robert Moody 17 M VA1870 Census, Dinwiddie, Dinwiddie County, VA:
Brooks Joe M. 48 M W Farmer 500 200 VA
Brooks Elizabeth Z.? 59 F W Keeping House VA
Brooks Benjamin W. 20 M W Farm Hand VA
Brooks Mary D. 18 F W VA
Brooks Franklin P. 16 M W VA
Kirk John 14 M W VA1880 Census, Sapony, Dinwiddie County, VA:
Joseph N. BROOKS Self M Male W 57 VA Carpenter VA VA
Elizabeth BROOKS Wife M Female W 69 VA Keeping House VA VA
Minerva HARRIS Other W Female B 60 VA Servant VA VA
Bettie HARRIS Other S Female B 33 VA Servant VA VALliving 3 dwellings down from Franklin Brooks and family.
The Navasota Examiner & Grimes County Review
Serving Navasota and Grimes County, Texas, since 1894
Saturday, February 21, 2004J.C. "BYRD" McGINNIS
Graveside services for J.C. "Byrd" McGinnis, 86, of Andrews were held on Jan. 19 at Pool's Cemetery in Richards with Rev. Floyd Hoke, pastor of Singleton Bible Fellowship Church, officiating. McGinnis died on Jan. 17, 2004, at his residence in Andrews. He was born on Feb. 10, 1917, in Cleveland to George Allison McGinnis and Katherine Elizabeth Isaacks McGinnis. He married Charlene Grissom on June 10, 1939, in Humble. They moved to Oklahoma in 1954, and to Andrews in 1961. He was retired from Mobil Pipeline after 40 years of service as a field guager. He was a Master Mason, and had been a Mason for 56 years with the Masonic Lodge No. 1116 in Richards. He was a member of the First Baptist Church in Andrews. He was preceded in death by his parents, by three brothers, Gene, Donald and George; by two sisters, Dorothy Bailey and Ruth Kinser. McGinnis is survived by his wife, Charlene McGinnis of Andrews; a son, Al McGinnis of Ferris; two daughters, Jolene Brunson and Sherry Barton of Midland; one brother, Leo McGinnis of Richards; one sister, Ada Strange of Kingsland; six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Memorials may be sent to Home Hospice, 516 North Texas, Odessa, Texas, 79761. Services were under the direction of McNett Funeral Home of Andrews.
Copyright © 2004 The Navasota Examiner. All rights reserved
James BARNES was in Wayne Co., MS 1810, 1816, 1820, and in Rankin Co., MS in 1830.
He migrated to Texas in 1836 and settled in Tyler Co.
Names of known children were Nancy; William R.; Samuel Huff; Mary A; James P.; Tabitha Adeline; Calvin A.; Narcissa; Lucinda; and Sarah Day.
There is a tradition in this family that Tabitha was captured by Indians while a young girl but was ransomed by her future husband.
There is a family monument in Mount Hope Cemetery , near Chester, TX, which records some of the family history as well as names and dates of birth for the ten children.
The family home, built of logs in 1846, was about 100 yards from this cemetery.
1850 Census, Tyler County, TX:James Barnes 69 M Farmer 2500 NC
Tabitha Barnes 58 F GA
Calvin A. Barnes 24 M MS
Sara Barnes 15 F MSLiving near the Samuel H. Barnes household.
1860 Census, Woodville, Tyler County, TX:
S. H. Barnes 42 M Farmer 3000 8900 MS
M. L. V. Barnes 38 F SC
J. J. Barnes 17 M MS
J. R. C. Barnes 15 M MS
M. E. M. Barnes 12 F TX
M. A. R. Barnes 11 F TX
L. M. D. Barnes 8 M TX
A. L. Barnes 5 M TX
D. L. Barnes 3 M TX
James Barnes 80 M SCLiving near W. R. and C. A. Barnes housholds.
From "Family Ancestry" by Dave Hamerly:
Born in the revolution
We know little about the origins of the Barnes family. What we do know is that Josiah Barnes was born about 1755 to Abram Barnes (1730-1794) and Martha Forte Barnes. Though we know nothing of Josiah's wives, we know that he had 13 children - six boys and seven girls, including James Barnes, born in a "fort" in Bladen (now Robeson) County, North Carolina during that bitter winter of 1780-81 when Nathaniel Greene was leading a weary band of Continentals and militia against Lord Cornwallis and the British Army in some of the most savage fighting of the revolution.
We know from family history that James Barnes lost his natural mother early in life. As a young boy growing up, it has been told, he did not get along with his stepmother, and he left home when he was nine years old traveling with a bachelor friend of the family. The pair headed for the frontier - the Northwest Territory. They traveled through what we now know as Tennessee and wandered down into Alabama. In 1803, as Lewis and Clark began their travels west along the Missouri River, President Jefferson's emissaries to Paris closed the deal on the Louisiana Purchase for about $15 million.
As the more famous pioneers continued on their expeditions to explore new territories and find a route to the Pacific Ocean, James Barnes and his traveling companion were helping to settle the Northwest Territory. It was during these travels that James Barnes nearly froze to death, but was revived.2
Settling the southern frontier
We know that by 1807 the Barnes family was living in the Choctaw Indian Territory (now Mississippi). James wrote a letter to President Jefferson regarding the appointment of an appropriate man to administer territorial affairs there. This letter is preserved in Mississippi state records.2 At about this time, he met Tabitha Hough, of Scottish descent. They were married about 1810 in Claybourne or Wayne County, Mississippi, and had ten children who lived to adulthood. The first son, William Robert Barnes, was born January 28, 1813, in the Choctaw Territory.
Mississippi gained statehood in 1817 and the next year James Barnes helped survey the site of Jackson as the new state capital. The family lived in Dixon, and the farm is easily located from records in Jackson. 2
The Barnes family remained in Mississippi through the War of 1812 and the military campaigns of Andrew Jackson in 1813-1814 that broke the power of the Creek Indians in the South. They remained as the young state grew in population and were there in 1828 when Jackson was elected President.
While living in the wilds of Mississippi, James Barnes left on one of many, frequent hunting expeditions. In his absence, Tabitha was captured during a Creek Indian uprising and "forced to dance the war dance under scalps of whites," but later was "released through the friendship of husband and Indians."
William Barnes became the first chancellery clerk of Neshoba County, Mississippi, in the former Choctaw Territory. In 1835, the first records of the county (Deed Book A) were established from the Barnes family diary, given to his oldest son by James Barnes. Among the hand written family notations contained in the book are the birth dates of all the Barnes children. The book has been rebound and kept in good condition in the county courthouse.2
Moving to a new republic
By this time the elder Barnes had already begun seeking new frontiers. In 1834-1835, he ventured west again, crossing the Mississippi, Sabine and Neches rivers into a new frontier called Tejas by the Native Indians, a land that belonged to Mexico. He apparently liked what he saw and began to set the foundation for his family's new home.
On his return to Mississippi, he closed out his business there (a matter of record)2 and prepared for his return to Texas. According to an account by Bascom Barnes, grandson of James, his grandfather had freed most or all of his slaves in Mississippi. Some, however, chose to travel to Texas with Barnes, and, because they could not travel the territies as free men, were declared slaves again.
One son, Samuel Hough Barnes, had fallen in love with Lucinda McKee, a young lady recently arrived from Charleston, South Carolina. Lucinda did not like the idea of a new wilderness home, so she and Sam bought a home in Mississippi and on October 6, 1836, were married.
The day after the wedding, October 7, 1836, seven months after an imperiled convention at Washington-on-the-Brazos created a declaration of independence for Texas, James Barnes and and a group 11 slaves, including their kids left the old Choctaw Indian Territory, now Mississippi, heading west. It was time to settle a new frontier..
It was about this same time that William Barnes married Isabella C. Tipton, daughter of Eli and Peggy (Margaret) Walker Tipton. They remained in Mississippi with the rest of the Barnes family, where their first two children, sons William E. (1837) and Eli J. (1838), were born. In 1839, the family joined their father in Texas.
The lost family fortune
It was during the journey to East Texas that one of the most often recalled anecdotes of family history occurred. When the family of pioneers left Mississippi headed west, they carried $3,600 in gold. It was while they were camped west of the Mississippi, somewhere in Louisiana that they discovered the gold missing. Someone recalled it had been placed in a stump at a camp back in Mississippi. One of the sons (one version says William, another James Jr.) was sent hurrying back to retrace the trail and try to recover the family money. He told his mother to tell anyone they owed for accommodations that "in a few days a tall red-faced fellow on a horse will come along and pay your bills."
All the way back to Mississippi he traveled but did not find the money. He borrowed enough to get the family west of the Neches, where they were to establish a home and the names of Barnes.
Peach Tree Village
James Barnes built his first Texas log cabin in Angelina County, near the banks of the Neches River along the edge of the Big Thicket between Buck and Biloxi creeks. It was while living there that, on one hunting expedition, he killed 14 panthers. He was to be known as "Panther" Barnes thereafter.2
In his pursuit of a more suitable home for his family, James "Panther" Barnes discovered an area of black hills near two freshwater springs, not far from a site often used as an Indian village. The Native Indians called their village by a name which meant "peach tree." Peach Tree Village, as it became known by the white settlers, was near a crossroads surveyed by the Spanish and near old Fort Terán.
This is the story of Peach Tree Village, in the words of pioneer John Henry Kirby, as displayed on a signboard in the center of the community:
"In the early Nineteenth century the Alabama Indians, then a numerous tribe, made their headquarters at this point and called their village by a name which meant 'Peach Tree.' At this point two trails blazed by the early pioneers crossed each other. A north and south trail leads from the Gulf at Sabine Pass through what is now Beaumont, Kountze, and Woodville, on the south and passing north through Moscow, Sumpter, and Crockett and onward across the Trinity and into the heart of central Texas. The other trail ran east and west, beginning at Alexandria, Louisiana, passing through Jasper on the east, and what is now Livingston, Huntsville, and Brenham to San Antonio on the west. From this trail other trails diverged into South Texas and notably to the Galveston Bay district. The crossing of these trails here made this point an early trading center of considerable interest.
"With the coming of white settlers the Alabama Indians withdrew and what remains of that tribe is now located in Polk County. While this locality has always been known as Peach Tree Village, there has never been anything of the nature of a village since the Indians withdrew."
(Many Alabama Indians still live in Polk County, on the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation, established by Sam Houston during the Republic.)
Barnes, reunited with his wife and family, would established his new home near Peach Tree Village, at what would become known as the community of Mount Hope. The two springs were later known as Barnes Spring and Whitehead Spring. They remain accessible today.
James BARNES was in Wayne Co., MS 1810, 1816, 1820, and in Rankin Co., MS in 1830.
He migrated to Texas in 1836 and settled in Tyler Co.
Names of known children were Nancy; William R.; Samuel Huff; Mary A; James P.; Tabitha Adeline; Calvin A.; Narcissa; Lucinda; and Sarah Day.
There is a tradition in this family that Tabitha was captured by Indians while a young girl but was ransomed by her future husband.
There is a family monument in Mount Hope Cemetery , near Chester, TX, which records some of the family history as well as names and dates of birth for the ten children.
The family home, built of logs in 1846, was about 100 yards from this cemetery.
Elizabeth (c 1785 GA - 1861 Angelina Co, TX) had married by 31 Dec 1801 in Greene Co, GA, Stephen L. STANLEY, prob. son of an early STANLEY in GA from VA. On 31 Dec 1801, Stephen and Elizabeth STANLEY joined in selling 75 acres of land on the Oconee River to Meriman POUND. Their STANLEY children were born in Miss Territory and AL. By 1804 they were in Tombigbee area of Miss Territory, by 1811 in Wayne Co, then in AL in Monroe Co by 1830. Alexander JOHNSON sponsored Stephen L. STANLEY to enter the Province of Texas, Republic of Mexico, in 1835. (Box 621, No. 662, Texas State Library, Certificates of Entry into Texas in 1835.) So by 1835 Stephen and Elizabeth were in Texas where Stephen died shortly afterward. Elizabeth STANLEY claimed a league of land in Wichita Co, TX, and it became known as the Elizabeth STANLEY grant. Names of known children were Peyton (1803 GA or AL), in DeSoto Parish, LA, in 1850; Willafred, married Julia Ann ?????; Olive (1807 MS Territory), married Thomas SMITH, Jr; Lucretia Bachiba 19 June 1810 Washington Co, MS Territory) married John F. CHEAIRS, Jr; Stephen Jefferson (1813 Wayne Co, MS), married Mary Ann CHEAIRS; William Carroll (1820 AL) married Margaret Rebecca CHEAIRS; Greenberry (1823 AL) married Margaret MCFADDIN; Mary (1824 AL), married Jackson EDDINGS; and Sarah (1828 AL) married John F. MCFADDIN. Of the above, Olive, Stephen J., William C., Greenberry, and Mary had their families in Angelina Co, TX, in 1850.
1835 Claimed league of land, Witchita, Texas, aka Elizabeth Stanley Grant1860 Census, Homer, Angelina County, TX:
Elizabeth Stanley 75 F 4125 500 GA
Olive Stanley 44 F AL
Bershuba Stanley 42 F AL
Stephen Stanley 40 M Farmer AL
Stephen Stanley 21 M Farmer AL
Samuel Stanley 19 M Farmer TX
John C. Stanley 17 M Farmer TX
Elizabeth Stanley 16 F TX
Patten Stanley 14 M TX
Ellen Stanley 12 F TX
William Stanley 10 M TX
Alabama Stanley 8 F TX