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PART IV - The Delaps of Tennessee and Arkansas




The Delaps of Northwest Arkansas are decended from Joseph Hart Delap and Elizabeth M. Cabbage, who were the first Delaps to settle in this area. Joseph was the son of Robert Delap and Tabitha Marcum of Campbell County, Tennessee. Robert, who was the son of William and Jane Delap, was probably born in South Carolina and moved with his parents to Washington County, Virginia in 1794. Tabitha Marcum was the daughter of William Marcum. She was born in Virginia in 1790 and died in Campbell County, Tennessee in 1860. After Robert's death she married Andrew Hunter in 1826 and they had two sons, Jim and John.

The following is provided from The Cabbage/Cabage Family Association Yearbook, Volume 14, August 1993, pages 80 and 81.

In 1810 Tabitha Marcum was listed in a settlement for her father William, on a tract of land of 100 acres on Trace Fork Creek, a branch of Buffalo Creek.

Robert bought property in Campbell County in 1808. In 1822, property belonging to Robert was sold by the Sheriff for a debt of $1,461.31, 1/4 judgement. He was a convict in the Supreme Court of Errors and Appeals in Rogersville, Hawkins County, Tennessee.

In the 1818 Campbell County Tax List, Robert Delap owned 500 acres. In 1823 Andrew Hunter bought 200 acres in Powells Valley, the place formerly owned by Robert Delap.

The Land of the Lake states, "A Mrs. Eve Martin was killed on the straight fork of Buffalo Creek. A man named Mitchell Marcum shot Mrs. Martin in her cabin as she was holding her baby. He and Robert Delap, an accessory to murder, were arrested and tried. Mrs. Martin was a witness against Delap in a trivial case but he was afraid she knew too much about the activities connected with counterfeiting by the men on the river. Hence, Marcum was to get the witness out of the way. Delap was one of the early settlers in Campbell County, and was a prosperous farmer and trader. He was connected with the river traffic. Perhaps the whole story of the chain of events leading up to the murder will never be known." After two appeals to the Supreme Court, the lower court ruling was upheld, and he was executed in April, 1823. (Since Marcum was the maiden name of Robert's wife, perhaps Mitchell Marcum was his brother-in-law)




STATE vs. ROBERT DELAP





Joseph Hart Delap and his brother, George, married sisters from the Cabbage family. Joseph H. married Elizabeth Cabbage and George married Pheobe Ann Cabbage. Elizabeth and Pheobe were the daughters of John Cabbage and Catherine Moyers of Grainger County, Tennessee. Not much is known about the early years of that couple except that they were married in about 1811 and that John fought in the War of 1812 as a member of the Tennessee Militia. He died in 1836. Catherine was born about 1779 in Virginia. Elizabeth was born about 1813 and Pheobe about 1815. In the 1860 census of Campbell County, Tennessee Catherine is listed as living with her daughter Pheobe Delap and family.

George Delap was born about 1813 and died about 1877. He and Pheobe were owners of extensive parcels of land, not only in Campbell County, Tennessee but also in Page County, Iowa. Goodspeed's History of Tennessee refers to George Delap as the wealthiest and largest landowner in Campbell County around 1860. George and Pheobe had five children.

It is thought that they left Tennessee in 1853 for Iowa. It has been conjectured that, after an unknown time in Iowa, they went to East Texas. The story has been relayed down through the years that they were on their way back to Tennessee from Texas when they passed through Cane Hill, liked the area, and decided to stay. The first official record found in Arkansas is a reference in Goodspeed's History of Arkansas, 1898, stating that Joseph H. Delap was appointed Postmaster at Cane Hill in November, 1867. The Post Office was discontinued in February, 1868, to be re-established a short time later as the Boonsboro Post Office.

When Joseph and Elizabeth first came to Cane Hill, five of their eight children were with them. At that time, William Henry, who is the progenitor of all the succeeding Delaps in Northwest Arkansas, would have been about 18 years of age.

The first record of land purchased by a Delap in Washington County, Arkansas was 40 acres bought by Joseph Hart Delap from William Campbell for $500.00. This transaction appears under the date of march 4, 1868 in Book R, page 358, in the Washington County Clerk's office. The legal description shown is: SW 1/4 or NW 1/4 of Section 34, Township 15, N. Range, 32W. This property has remained in the Delap family to this day. Other land purchases shown on the County Clerk's records include, among others, the following:

40 acres bought by John Delap and William Delap from Joseph Delap for the sum of $500. This transaction is recorded in Book X, page 612, on April 15, 1873. Apparently this is the same acreage purchased by Joseph five years earlier, because the legal description is exactly the same.
40 acres bought by John Delap from Peter Carnahan for $200. This is recorded in Book X, page 546, on April 11, 1874.
52 acres bought by William Delap from J.T. Buchanan for $800. with a 20 foot right-of-way reserved on the North side of the property "for access to the public road." Recorded in Book X, page 570, April 24, 1874.
40 acres bought by John Delap from William Delap for $250. Recorded in Book D2, page 467, February 5, 1880.

There are several other recorded transactions involving the purchase of land by either John or William from other individuals and between the two of them. All of these appear to be parcels which were adjacent to, or very close to, the original 40 acres bought by Joseph in 1868. Prior to his death, William owned a total of about 260 acres, and at the same time John owned about 120 acres.

The Cabbage Family History states that Joseph and Elizabeth Delap were in Keokuk, Iowa in 1874. In April 1873, Joseph sold the land he then owned at Cane Hill to his sons John and William. It is assumed that Joseph and Elizabeth are buried in the Cane Hill Cemetary, although no grave markers can be found. The dates of their deaths were taken from the Cabbage Family History and cannot be verified.
*For more detailed information regarding the Arkansas Delap Family, please contact Cousins John & MaryAnne




TO PART III-Pennsylvania


CENSUS INFORMATION: 1840 | 1850 | 1860 | 1870 | 1880 |


ROBERT DELAP
Born: 1788
Died: 1823
TABITHA MARCUM
Born: 1790
Died: 1823
JOSEPH HART DELAP
Born: 1811
Died: 1888
ELIZABETH M. CABBAGE
Born: 1813
Died: 1896


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