IN BALDWIN COUNTY IN BALDWIN COUNTY IN BALDWIN COUNTY IN BALDWIN COUNTY REMEMBER AND HONOR FAMILY WHO HAVE COME AND GONE BEFORE YOU, BECAUSE THEY HAD A HAND IN SHAPING WHO YOU ARE. IN BALDWIN COUNTY IN BALDWIN COUNTY Heritage Families in Baldwin County Copyright © 2019 Baldwin County Department of Archives and History. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced mechanically, electronically, or by any IN HONOR OF THE DESCENDANTS other means, without written permission of the publisher. OF THE FAMILIES THAT SETTLED It is illegal to copy this book, put it on the internet, or distribute IN BALDWIN COUNTY MORE THAN it by any other means without permission. ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO, AND Cover Illustration © 2019 Dawn Wilson THE HISTORIC CONTRIBUTIONS Graphic Design © 2019 Dawn Wilson Studios THEY MADE. THIS BOOK IS Published by DEDICATED TO YOU. Baldwin County Department of Archives and History 312 Courthouse Square Bay Minette, AL 36507 Printed in the United States of America UBuildABook Printing, October 2019 THE BIRTH OF Baldwin County Table of Contents 1809 BALDWIN COUNTY WAS CREATED BY THE MISSISSIPPI TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE ON FOREWORD 1809 DEC. 21, FROM TERRITORY TAKEN FROM WASHINGTON COUNTY. 1817 THE COUNTY WAS INCLUDED IN THE PREFACE SEPARATE ALABAMA TERRITORY. 1820 THE COUNTY SEAT WAS TRANSFERRED ACKNOWLEDGMENTS TO THE TOWN OF BLAKELEY. 1868 THE COUNTY SEAT WAS TRANSFERRED HISTORICAL COMPILATION TO THE CITY OF DAPHNE. 1900 BY AN ACT, OF THE LEGISLATURE OF THE FIRST SETTLERS ALABAMA, THE COUNTY SEAT WAS AUTHORIZED FOR RELOCATION TO THE CITY OF BAY MINETTE, DESPITE THE CITY OF DAPHNE'S RESISTANCE. ANCESTOR REGISTRY EPILOGUE APPENDIX " We are not makers of history. We are made of history. " -MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. FOREWORD Baldwin County is a result of a very rich history. Around the turn of the century, immigrants from many regions of the PrefaceON JANUARY 17, 2017, THE BALDWIN COUNTY COMMISSION APPOINTED THIRTEEN MEMBERS TO SERVE ON THE ALABAMA United States and from other countries 200 BALDWIN COUNTY BICENTENNIAL STEERING COMMITTEE. began populating Baldwin County: Acknowledgments e offer special thanks to each descendant who has THE PURPOSE OF THE COMMITTEE WAS TO BRING KNOWLEDGE W Italians settled in Daphne, Scandinavians helped make this publication possible. Without your support AND AWARENESS TO BALDWIN COUNTY’S RESIDENTS ABOUT HER and participation, the names and stories of your ancestors in Silverhill, Germans in Elberta, Poles in HERITAGE. ITS EFFECTIVENESS BEGAN IMMEDIATELY. DURING might be forgotten. Summerdale, Greeks in Malbis Plantation, THIS TIME, THE COMMITTEE STROVE TO ENGAGE RESIDENTS AND and Bohemians in Robertsdale, VISITORS IN EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS, COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES, AND We’d also like to thank the Alabama 200 Baldwin County STATEWIDE INITIATIVES DESIGNED TO TEACH, ENTERTAIN, AND INSPIRE Bicentennial Steering Committee. For without their efforts, Summerdale, and Silverhill. Adherents PARTICIPANTS. The Baldwin County Heritage Families Project would never of the economic theories of Henry George have come to be. It is with great thanks that we offer them THIS BOOK WAS CREATED TO NOT ONLY TELL THE STORY OF HOW founded a Single Tax Colony called recognition for all their hard work and time spent on making BALDWIN COUNTY CAME TO BE, BUT TO TELL THE STORY OF HER Fairhope; Friends (Quakers) also settled this publication possible. PEOPLE. FROM THE FIRST SETTLERS AND WARS FOUGHT ON HER SOIL there, while Hooker Mennonites (Amish) AND WATERS, TO THE SPUR RAIL LINE AND THE MIGRATED FARMERS found their way to Bay Minette. Baldwin IT BROUGHT HERE. EVERY PERSON HAD A STORY. EVERY PERSON County a virtual melting pot of people. HAD A DREAM. AND EVERY PERSON HAD AN IMPACT. THESE ARE THE STORIES HANDED DOWN THROUGH GENERATIONS AND TOLD BY THE DESCENDANTS THAT STILL LIVE HERE TO THIS DAY. THESE ARE THEIR Felisha Anderson, County Archivist STORIES. THE ROOTS OF OUR HERITAGE. THE STORY OF US. September 2019, Bay Minette, AL FIRST AMERICAN SETTLEMENT NAMES PRESERVED The first American settlements in the county Historical Compilation were made on Lake Tensaw and on Tensaw River, mostly by Tory families which migrated from Georgia and South Carolina during the American Revolution, although some came aldwin County has always left a mark on her people. The earliest European explorers B after that struggle, leaving their homes in detailed the beauty of her thick, rich forests, and mapped her waterways. However, for consequence of Whig intolerance. Intermingled the most part, they did not make their permanent homes here. On the other hand, people with these Tensaw settlers, however, were Whig have also left their mark on Baldwin County. Native Americans established communities, families. Some of the family names of the ceremonial mounds, and left shell middens all along the coastlines. Likewise, when the settlers have been preserved— Byrne, Easley, county came under the divided rule of Spain, France, and England, white men established Hall, Kilcrease, Linder, Mims, Pierce, Sibley, several colonies, and awarded numerous land grants. Today, descendants of these early Alexander Baldwin, namesake of Baldwin County, AL. Steadham, Stockton and Holmes. colonials only make up a small part of the county population. Baldwin County has also had its share of conflict. The Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, Creek Indian Wars, and the Civil War were each fought, in part, on her soil, and in her waters. Each of these historic events involved people who should be remembered, not forgotten. Early settlers first came to the northern part of the county in the eighteenth century. “IF WE KNOW Having originally been part of the Mississippi Territory, Baldwin County became founded on December 21, 1809, making it older than the state it calls home. Andrew Ellicott marked WHERE WE CAME FROM, the boundary between the United States, and Spanish West Florida, by a Mound Line on WE MAY BETTER KNOW the 31st parallel, which runs through Stockton. By the time Alabama became a state, on The flag of Alabama’s 6th Calvary. December 14, 1819, the county had extended to the eastern shore of Mobile Bay, and down WHERE TO GO. to the Gulf of Mexico. IF WE KNOW Most settlements in Baldwin County grew near places with easy access to the water. Several WHO WE CAME FROM, were colonies, developed by leaders, having the intent to attract people, most sharing similar cultures to their own. Then, with the completion of the spur rail line, which stretched WE MAY BETTER from Bay Minette to Foley, the central part of the county opened up. Thousands of settlers UNDERSTAND migrated inland to find rich farmland, and make their homes. WHO WE ARE.” Map of Bon Secour Bay and Fort Morgan. By the first part of the twentieth century, Baldwin County had experienced tremendous – UNKNOWN growth. Towns developed, leaders emerged, and people who considered themselves everyday citizens left their marks as well. The names of people, who have made our county the amazing community that it is, must be preserved. This meager collection is only a drop in the bucket, compared to those who will live on forever as legends in the legacies they have left. HERITAGE FAMILIES HISTORICAL COMPILATION The First S ettlers This book will explore the families that settled here more than 100 years ago. This publication is in honor of the people who have made our county the amazing place it is today. We are looking at some of the families who were among the earliest settlers. The Baldwin County Department of Archives and History with the support of the Baldwin County Commission are pleased to be able to sponsor this program. We strive to preserve the legends created by our earliest families. Information in this publication received from descendants of those who helped build this county are treasures that will help tell the story of our history. IN BALDWIN COUNTY The first Europeans to come to our area were French and Spanish. Bienville was said to have stayed in Bon Secour before founding Mobile. It was reported that he had a fishing and hunting camp in Bon Secour for the soldiers from Fort Conde in Mobile. Bienville had a good relationship with the Native Americans in Baldwin County. His body was tattooed in the local tribal fashion-snakes. Of course, Native Americans who hunted, fished, and “IT IS NOT THE HONOR farmed this area were abundant. Many inland people came to the shorelines in the summer to gather mussels. They left shell mounds or middens all along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, Mobile Bay YOU TAKE WITH YOU, and in the Mobile Delta. BUT THE HERITAGE By the time white settlers began to move in, the primary culture was Muskogean or Creek. When Baldwin County was yet a part of the Mississippi Territory, many came from the East Coast which YOU LEAVE BEHIND.” was colonized by the English. These communities were in the northernmost part of the county along IN BA– LDBRANCHWIN RICKEY COUNTY the Alabama and the Tensaw Rivers. Many came by Federal Road which ran from the East Coast to Stockton, the southernmost point in the territorial lands. There were only a few plantations that used slavery as workforce, but some of the earliest residents were indeed slaves. There were many free African Americans who settled here to work in the mills and forest industries as well. Baldwin County is certainly the home of people with a wide variety of backgrounds and heritage. The Baldwin County Heritage Families Program is a way of preserving the legacies left by our ancestors. The earliest settlers highlighted in this project just scratch the surface of the history of the people of our county. Many people came to Baldwin County as part of a group of people or a colony.