This is an excerpt of a “work in progress” by Fred Lindsey on the History of Josiah Lindsey and his family. There are still areas where he has made notes to himself, please overlook these.  Thanks.

 “Upon his return from Texas, in 1837, Josiah Lindsey moved his family from Tennessee to Guntown, Itawamba County, Mississippi.  (Add history of the area) Guntown is north-east of Tupelo, near the Alabama line—so they weren’t too far from Josiah & Eritty’s former “first home” in Florence, Lauderdale Co. AL, which was about 45 miles northeast along the Natchez Trace.  Josiah’s son, James Monroe, also bought a farm, nearby his parent’s farm.

The 1836 tax list presents the first families to pay taxes in Itawamba County. Among those on this first pioneer list were five “Linsey” (Lindseys). They were Josuh, Bazzel, Hollen, James, and William C.  We do not know at this time if any of these men were related to Josiah.  The 1840 census reveals some more basic information about each of these men.  Josiah is recorded as owning land (by registration) resulting from Treaties with the Chickasaw Indians.  In May 26, 1838, he had a deed showing purchase of a parcel of 90 acres in northwest quarter of Section 32, Township 10, Range 10 from a Dorn Patton for $250 (Book 2, page 126).  In August 1838, Josiah took out a mortgage deed with the Union Bank of Itawamba for $1,900 for another 90 acres in the northwest quarter of Section 30, Township 10, Range 10.

        Josiah farmed and raised his family, near Guntown, for thirty years.  Josiah was listed on the county tax lists for 1838, under the spelling of “Lindsy”; along with a James Lindsey, under the surname spelling of “Lincy”.  They were also listed on the 1839 tax rolls, this time with the spelling on “Lindsley”.  (This info is from tax index – get the info off the tax rolls on amount of taxes and description of property). Josiah & James M. were also listed on the 1840 Federal Census of the county as heads of households.  (Double-check this; the currrent census index on the Internet does not list Josiah!)  In the 1840 census, Josiah and Eritty were each listed as age 30-40, with Eritty (30-40), and children: 2 males, ages 5-15 (James Monroe & King Lemuel); one female, age 0-5 (Cinderella E.), 2 females 5-10 (Rhoda C. and Mary A.), 3 females ages 10-15 (Elizabeth Ann and Winnie).

        Eritty’s brother, John N.P. “Hardin” (Harder) was located nearby with his family, which included two sons and daughters, according to the 1840 census.  Their closeness is also demonstrated by the fact that Josiah & John N.P. were listed together as defendants in a Circuit Court Minute Book #1 Abstract in 1840.  We haven’t found what the case was about.  There was no listing in this 1840 census for Eritty’s parents, James Harder and wife Elizabeth.

        Other Lindseys listed in the county at that time of the 1840 census were: John W. (who lived in Guntown), Holland, Joshua, Hillard William C., Bazil, Littleton, James and Jesse Lindsey.  Jessie was age 50, with wife, son & 3 daughters.  James was age 40, with wife and 6 sons and 3 daughters. Holland was age 32, with wife, 2 sons and 3 daughters.  John W. was age 23, with wife and one daughter.  We need more research to determine what relationships, if any, there may have been between these other Lindseys with Josiah.

        We can also find evidence of other families who later would be related by marriage to Josiah’s children - the Beavers, the Stovalls, the Stephens and the Mackey families (then spelled “Maxcy”, “Maxey” and “Maxcey”). The Blains and other Stovalls, Phillips and Stephens families came into the area later.  John W. Beavers was the only Beaver family there in 1840.  He was listed as age 23, with wife, one son and 20-year old brother.  William Stovall was the only Stovall family there in 1840.  The

only Stephens listed was Theophilas.  The Mackey’s listed as heads of households in the 1840 Itawamba census include: Edward, Sarah, William, Alfred (Alford), Benjamin, and John W. Mackey

        In August 1841, Josiah was listed as a “chainman” for a survey made by J.B. Hunter for James West of Section NW 28-10-10.  In 1843, Eritty’s sister, Zelphia, married Robert Rice, the minister who would later officiate at many of the weddings of Josiah & Eritty’s children. When John died, she married Rice.  (Later, we will see that Robert & Zelphia traveled to TX with Josiah’s wagon train.)  On January 4, 1845, records show that

Josiah acquired three separate quarter sections of land (NW Qtr, Sec. 29; SW Qtr, Sec 32; & NE Qtr Sec 29) all in Township 10, Range 10.  The first two plots were “Federal Land Patents” of Chickasaw Cession lands.  Josiah’s father-in-law, James Harder, is also recorded as having a Federal land patent immediately adjacent at the same time on the NE Quarter of Section 29.  Josiah had another deed in 1849 in a purchase from James Thompson (of what land? of what date? for how much? (Book 8, pag 464.). (Find out what the requirements were to obtain land patents?)

        The last six of Josiah’s & Eritty’s 11 children were born in the Guntown homestead.  Daughter Rhoda Catherine born was born on September 1837; then on June 11, 1841, daughter Cinderella Emaline was born. Then Josiah & Eritty’s daughter Martha was born in October 1844; daughter Elizebeth Ann in 1846; daughter Zelphia Ellen was born on May 31, 1847; and son Robert Francis was born February 20,1850.

        Meanwhile, the Texas Revolution continued and this time Josiah’s son James Monroe went off as a volunteer  - at the age of 15, as a private in the Army of the Republic of Texas  -- from July 12, 1841 to October 12, 1841, with the Volunteer Regiment., 4^th Brigade, under a Captain William M. Williams.  (We do not yet know exactly where James Monroe served in Texas;

or if he had any contact there with his Uncle Isaac’s family in Rush County.  Isaac’s son Clairborne Barnett and Isaac’s son-in-law John J. Hammonds had fought the Mexicans in May-November, 1836.  We do not know if they subsequently served in the Army of the Republic of Texas when James Monroe was there.

        On January 31, 1845, Josiah gave a deed for two acres of his land, in NW Qtr, Section 32, to the Primitive Baptist Church for the James Creek Meeting House.  This was next to the home of Eritty’s mother, Elizabeth. The Rev. James Harder is believed to have been the pastor of that church before his demise on August 12, 1841. (We’ve not found the Harder’s on the tax rolls or the 1840 census.  Nor have we found a record of the Rev. OR MRS Harder’s death.)  Perhaps they were listed as living with Josiah or John N.P. Harder.  Rev. James Harder was still listed as owning land in 1845 for a Quarter Section right next to Josiah’s land—undoubtedly it had been passed on to his wife, Elizabeth, upon James Harder’s death. Elizabeth died 27 years after James, on February 4, 1868.  Both of Eritty’s parents are buried in Lee County.  We do not have a record of either of

their burial places.

        Josiah’s eldest son, James Monroe married Tibitha Catherine Mackey, in October 29, 1846.  (The Marriage Record spelled her name “Maxcy.”)  They were married by Robert Rice, MG (Minister of the Gospel), a Baptist Minister and future husband to Eritty’s sister, Zelphia.  Rice also presided at the later marriages of siblings Nancy Jane, Elizabeth Ann and Mary Adeline.  Tibitha was the daughter of Alfred Mackey and his wife Martha, who were listed in 1850 census of Itawamba with eight other children.  James & Tibitha raised 11 of their 12 children here in Mississippi.

        Several more of Josiah & Eritty’s other children also married and lived nearby in Mississippi.  Josiah’s daughter Elizabeth Ann married Allen Beavers Jr. on 30 July 1846 in Itawamba County, with R. Rice officiating. Allen Beavers was the son of Allen Beaver Sr. who was born in 1776 in Georgia. Daughter Nancy Jane was married at age 19 in Itawamba Co. on

November 28, 1850, to Francis M. Stovall, with R. Rice officiating.  Six of their nine children were born in Itawamba County.  Francis M. was the son of David Joseph Stovall Jr., b. 1803 GA, and Susan Barnett.  David Stovall Jr. was a fifth generation descendant of Bartholomew Stovall, b. 1665, who started the US line of Stovalls in VA in 1684.

        In the 1850 census of Navarro County, TX, lists John J. Hammonds and his wife Nancy, with six children living at home.  Also in that census was Clabourn B. Lindsey, merchant, with wife C. B. The story of Isaac and his extended family as noted below is probably typical of pioneers of that time and place:

Back in Mississippi, the 1850 Itawamba census listed Josiah & Eritty with their children, along with the families of James Monroe Lindsey, and Alford Mackey Sr.  Eritty’s father had evidently died prior to the 1850 census, as her mother, Elizabeth was registered as living with son John N.P. and wife

Sallie and their children: Franklin (and his wife Elizabeth J.), James, Zalphy, and Joseph.  John N.P.’s eldest son William C. Harder lived nearby with his wife Margaret and her sister Nancy West - from Georgia.  Other Lindseys in the area who might have been related were Thomas Lindsey, Micajah Lindsey, James Owen Lindsey, and Simon Lindsey.

        Other related families shown in the Itawamba County 1850 census included James Pitts, Alfred Harder, three Mackey and three Stovall families.  David John Stovall, b 1827 (son of William) and his wife Sophia and one child.  (Upon Sophia’s death, David John later married Margaret Elizabeth Colvin in 1853 in Itawamba and they had five more children.) William W. Stovall, (son of Benjamin) and his wife Emily (Orr) were on the

census with five children.  David Joseph Stovall Jr. (son of David Sr.) and wife Susan Barnett are noted as ages 47 and 45, with all their ten children living in Guntown.  (David Joseph Sr.’s son by his first marriage, Thomas Pinkney (Pink), will later go on to Kaufman Co. TX with Josiah Lindsey. Several of David Joseph’s children will later marry Josiah’s children.

Daughter Martha E. will marry Joseph Tyre Mackey and they will travel to TX with Josiah.  John Calvin will marry Mary Adeline Lindsey, have four children and then disappear after the Civil War.)  The Mackey families on the 1850 Itawamba census were: Benjamin Mackey, wife and four children; John W. Mackey, wife and four children; and William Mackey, wife and eight children.

(add history of agriculture in the area)

Other possible Lindsey & Thigpen relatives just east across the

border in Alabama were noted on the 1850 Lauderdale Co., AL census taken in November.  This was the area where Josiah and Eritty married.  Several Thigpens lived with Josiah and Eritty and one later married into their family.  These possible relatives include:

        (1) Elizabeth “Betsy” Lindsey and her husband Green Berry Vickers. The Vickers were in dwelling 319 on S.W. of Military Road, Lauderdale Co., AL the Nov 5, 1850 census.  Betsy was b. @1800 in NC and they were mar. in Jan 27, 1824 in Lauderdale Co. by S. Howard JP.  Vickers was born in Georgia.  (Just a few months after Josiah & Eritty).  Betsy & Vickers had 2 sons, one b. 1815 in TN and one b 1837 in AL..

        (2) Polly Lindsey and her husband Howell Hammonds were mar. Feb 24, 1820 in Lauderdale Co., AL.  They were mar. by John Waddell JP.

        (3) Samuel B. Thigpen and his wife Elizabeth (?) were at dwelling 254 on 2^nd Div E of Military Road.  They had both been b. @1826 in AL. They had one son John b @1850.

        (4) William C. Thigpen and wife Mary (?) were in dwelling 653 on 2^nd Div. E. of Military Road.  They had 3 daughters: Zelphy b 1845; Sarah @ 1847 and Mary b. Sept 1850.  William had been b. 1818 in TN and Mary b. @1829 in AL.

        (5) George W. Thigpen and wife Elizabeth (?) were in dwelling 268 on 2^nd Division E. of Military Road.  He was b. @1813 TN and she b. @1814 in NC.  They had 10 children, all born in AL: Lecie 1833; Margaret 1835, Bluford 1836, Gilford 1838, Amanda 1840, Mary 1841, Amos 1843, Sarah 1845, George 1847 and Zelphy 1849.

        (6) Amos Thigpen and wife Elizabeth (?) lived in dwelling 255 on 2^nd Division E. of Military Road.  Amos was born @1790 in NC and Elizabeth b. @1795 in SC.  They had five children, all b. in AL: Jane, 1823; Green Berry 1824, Joshua 1828, Joseph 1833, and Riley 1836.  (The name “Green Berry” was probably indication of relationship to Betsy Lindsey and husband

Green Berry Vickers, noted in (1) above.

        Josiah’s daughter Mary “Martha” Adeline, at age 19, married John Calvin Stovall, a farmer, in August 1851, with R. (Robert) Rice again officiating.  Mary & John had four children born in Mississippi: Katie C., b 1855; Josiah Richard, born 1860; Martha Adeline, born 1862 in Tishimingo Co (just north of Itawamba); and Robert, birth date uncertain. (Describe the tenor of local government)(Look up Thigpen and Stephens and Phillips families in Itawamba during this time, when they came in etc. before their kin married into Josiah’s family.  Need info on parents of George Stephens and Rueben G. Phillips.)

        Then daughter Rhoda Catherine married Reuben G. “Joe” Phillips in October 2, 1853 in Itawamba and they had five children.  Rhoda’s marriage is not recorded in the Itawamba Marriage Records.  The above date was noted in her civil war pension application.  Reuben was the son of Zacariah Phillips and Susannah (Coleman), who were both born in Georgia.  Reuben was born in Alabama.  He was on the 1850 Itawamba Co. census, at age 15, living in the household of Zachariah and Susannah.  Zachariah was a blacksmith.  Josiah’s son, King Lemuel, married Mary Elizabeth Henderson in 1858.  Four of their 10 children were born in MS.

        At some time between 1850 and 1860, the families of Rhoda Phillips and her sister, Elizabeth Ann Beavers, evidently moved from Itawamba to Pontotoc County, just west of Lee County.  It was in the southwest part of Pontotoc County that the treaty of Pontotoc was earlier concluded, whereby the Chickasaws relinquished all their remaining lands in the state of Mississippi.  In the Pontotoc 1860 census, Rhoda’s husband, Reuben Phillips, was listed as a blacksmith.  He and Rhoda and their five children lived next door to his parents, Zachariah and Susannah.   Reuben & Rhoda’s children were:Mary Elizabeth (Mar. 1855), Geneva A. (1856), Sarah Adeline (May, 1857), Josiah Z. (May 1859).  (Their last daughter, Ida Cinderella would be born a year later in Sep 1861).

        Elizabeth Ann and Allen Beavers Jr were listed as being farmers in 1860. (Look for his burial place & date of death.  It is reported that he died in Lee County in 1869?  (There is no listing of Allen’s will in Pontotoc Internet site) They were listed on the census with seven (of their nine children): Josiah Benton (Jul 1847), James Alsey (Aug 1849), William Judkins (Mar. 1851), John Lafayette (Feb. 1853), Silas Jefferson (Nov. 1854), Lemuel Francis (Oct. 1856), Americus Hill (Oct. 1857).  (Their

children born later were: Calvin Robert (Jun 1862) and Albert Louis (Sep.1865.)  Living with Elizabeth and Allen was his father, Allen, Sr. (age 84).  Next door was Allen’s younger brother Jesse and wife Martha and their two children James W. and John C.  Other Pontotoc county residents in the census of 1860 who may have been related were the families of Joseph and Moaning Lindsey, Newton and Malinda Lindsey, Clement and Margaret Lindsey, Levi and Rachel Phillips.

        In the 1860 census of Itawamba County, Josiah was listed with wife & five children and a farm laborer, William Tobe, as living in Campbellton. His real estate was valued at $1,600 and personal property of $4,555. Also listed in this 1860 Itawamba census were Josiah’s children: James Monroe Lindsey, wife and 5 children, plus a 15 year old Zelpha E. Thigpen (her relation unknown)(She was the same age and possibly the dau. Of William and Mary Thigpen noted in the Lauderdale AL 1850 census; King (Lemuel) Lindsey, wife and one child, plus a 13 year old girl, E.M. Henderson - probably a sister to King’s wife, Mary Henderson; and Francis M. Stovall (age 35) and wife Nancy Jane (Lindsey) with four children.  Also in that census was Eritty’s brother, John NP Harder and his family located nearby in Fremont.  In their household was son James with wife Elizabeth

and their four children: Mary A.J., Sarh M.J., Jesse B, and Susan U. Harder.  Eritty’s sister, Zelphia, and her husband, Robert Rice, and their five children: Martha Ann, Josiah Joseph, Henreitta E., John A.H. and Sarah C. Rice, lived in Campbellton.

        Other seemingly unrelated Lindsey families in the county during this census included Micajah (age 36); James (age 30); widow Rachall (age 53); and a John W. (age 46).  There were also numerous Stovall families living in the same county. These included Ansell Henry (age 35) (son of Benjamin) with family of seven; George W (age 51) (son of John Sr.) with six children; George W.’s sister Mary A. and her husband Thomas M. Carothers; John (age 37) with six; Peter W. (age 38) with eight children; the widow of William W. (son of Benjamin) - Emily (Orr), (age 9) with four children; Robert (age 32) with 2; and William Peeler (age 42) with wife and three Stovall children.  (Note - who were the parents of Francis M.Stovall.!

        Most of the households in Itawamba County did not own slaves. Neither Josiah, nor any of his married children, nor the Harders, nor the Mackeys had slaves.  There are 1850 and 1860 “Slave Schedules” for the county that noted who the “owners” were.  There was quite a large growth of the number of slaves acquired from 1850 to 1860.  In 1850 there were very few property owners who had 20 or more slaves.  In 1860 there were 27 such property owners.  George Washington Stovall was among this group - adding 15 slaves since the 1850 recording.  There was a James J. Lindsey and a John N. Lindsey listed as having less than 20 slaves in the 1860 recording.  We have no evidence of their relationship to Josiah.  (Add more detail here on the cost or value placed on slaves and the few very large plantation owners such as the Stovalls who have many slaves.)  Those who

did have slaves passed along their ownership, like livestock or other property, in wills or sales.

        Meanwhile, in Texas, Josiah’s brother Isaac’s son, Claiborne Barnett, had moved from Navarro to Hill Co. by 1860.  He lived with wife Candace and son Milton, age 7, near his sister Docia and her husband Newell Hodges.  Claiborne is lised in the Hill Co. deed book on Dec. 1863.  His brother, Alfred, had evidently moved his family there also, as he is listed in the same deed book.  (In June 26, 1861, a Josiah L. Lindsey, of

McLennan, TX, executed a power of attorney to John R. Billingsly to make application to the State of Texas for compensation due him for service as “a Ranger and Blacksmith in the company of Rangers that Capt. Thomas Harrison commanded against the hostile Indians of Texas in 1861.”  Josiah L. was the son of ----- (We do not know if this Josiah L. is related to our Josiah.)  On April, 1864 a C. B. Lindsey enlisted at Camp Murrah for a period of six months in Capt. R. Fielder’s Co. B, lst Regt., with Col J. F. Davis, commanding officer of the 2^nd Brigade of TX State Troops.(add prelude, maps & history of civil war in area.)

        All of Josiah’s immediate relatives seemed to have fought for the Confederate State of America (CSA).  Son King Lemuel served for the Confederacy in the Civil War from 1861-1865. (Find out what unit??!) Son-in-law Reuben G. Phillips was also in the Civil War, enlisting on May 26, 1861 with the Confederacy with Co. ‘K’, the 19^th Infantry MS Volunteers (the same unit as the Stovall brothers).  His Muster record shows he was a Private, detailed as a “Smith” (assumed to be blacksmith) in Sept 1863. (We have a payment certificate that shows Reuben was paid for rations at the rate of 25 cents per day at a camp near Fredricksburg, Virginia, in March 1863.)  Reuben was killed at Spotsylvania Courthouse in Virginia in “the most bloody and critical battle” on May 12, 1864, leaving Rhoda with five children.  Two Southern brigades, one from Mississippi (Harris’

Brigade - which included the 19^th MS Infantry) and one from South Carolina, bore the brunt of the 18 hour attacks of “the most horrifying close-quarters combat ever witnessed on the continent spilled the lifeblood of numberless Americans.  See Appendix ?? for a description of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Campaign.  Losses during the two weeks at Spotsylvania added 18,000 names to Union casualty lists; and 10,000 to the Confederates.

        Josiah’s eldest son James Monroe also fought in the Civil War for the C.S.A.  He was with Company E, 12^th Regiment of the Mississippi Cavalry under Capt. George E. Walker, from the spring of 1863 until about six months prior to the close of the war.  He was then transferred to General Forrester’s command until the war ended in 1865.   At the end of the war he became a prisoner and was then “paroled” to return back home - along with his horse,  by the United States authorities on May 10, 1865 in Gainsville, AL.  Prior to his release, James Monroe had to swear allegiance to the United States on August 5 and sign an affidavit which read: “I, J M Lindsey do solemnly swear (or affirm,) in the presence of Almighty God, that I will hereafter faithfully support, protect and defend the Constitution of the UNITED STATES, and the union of the States thereunder, and that I will, in like manner, abide by, and faithfully support all laws and proclamations which have been made during the existing rebellion with reference to the emancipation of slaves.  So help me God.” This affidavit was sworn to by a Justice of the Peace, presumably back in Itawamba County.  It is presumed that King Lemuel and other surviving members of the Confederate Army also had to swear to the same oath (Find out if sons-in-law Francis M. Stovall and Richard S. Stovall, and Allen Beavers fought in the Civil War, if so with what units, etc.)

        John C. Stovall, husband of Mary “Martha” Adeline, is somewhat a man of mystery.  According to a book - Moving On, The Stovalls, written by G. Spencer Beasley of Colorado Springs, Colorado (1981), it was reported that John C. had two other wives after he married the first Lindsey wife, Mary Adeline.  This is a confusing and fascinating saga, which reports that

John C. went off to fight in the Civil War with the CSA and was reported at one time to have died in Georgia.  However, he was reportedly badly wounded at Savannah, GA and wandered off to AL and married a woman there.  His second wife was named Martha and she was the same age as Mary Adeline.  His first child of this marriage was born in Georgia, supporting his being sent back there, at one time, to GA during the war period.  He is reported to have even gone for a while to East Texas.  Then one of his younger brothers reportedly - to uphold the family honor, took John’s place in the Confederate unit but the brother was then killed in battle in 1864.  Later, John C. went back to his unit but was found medically unfit for combat, and so was assigned to a rear echelon support unit in Columbus, Georgia, where he spent the rest of the war making shoes for the CSA soldiers.  John reportedly had 8 or 9 children by his second wife.  Later, after the end of the war he went to Etowah County, Alabama and married his 3^rd wife, (name unknown).  We do not know what happened to his second wife and her children.  The third wife was supposedly some 13 or 14 years younger than his first wife, Mary Adeline. The third wife bore him three more children.  There is no record of him ever returning to Itawamba and to Mary Adeline. John supposedly died in 1899 in Etowah County, but his burial place is unknown.

        The saga of John C. ends with two of the wives - from different states (one from AL and Mary A. from Texas), applying for his Civil War pension at the same time.  In her first application, dated 27 July 1899, she mentioned that her general health was failing; she had married John C. in 1852 in Itawamba Co; and John C. had served in Co ‘K’, 19^th Miss. Infantry; she owned 40 acres of land near Elmo valued at $320, had two head

of cattle and one buggy.  She also received an income of “about $80 from the rental of the farmland but was unable “by her labor to earn a support.” Mary A.’s initial application was sent to Mississippi for a copy of John’s service record, and was then turned down in 1899 - because she owned too much property to be eligible for qualification.  Her first pension application was accompanied by affidavits by her cousin, J.J. Rice, and John’s brother- A.J. Stovall.  J.J. Rice, identified himself as “ a cousin of the applicant.  Her mother and mine were sisters.”  (That would be Eritty & Zelphia Harder.)  J.J. swore that he served for two years with John C. Stovall as a member of Co. ‘K’, 19^th MS regiment; enlisted under Capt. W. H. Tyson; and his “first colonel was C. H. Mott.; serving in Virginia.  He served with that unit from January 1862 until the close of the war.  J.J. indicated that John C. was transferred to “another regiment

in George.  A.J. Stovall’s affidavit on behalf of Mary A. indicated that he lived in Terrell and was a practicing physician.  He also served with his brother, John C., who enlisted in Co. ‘K’, 19^th MS Infantry in “the spring of 1861”, until “nearly two years” later when John C. was “wounded” at Sharpsburg, Maryland, Battle of Anteeham,” after which John was detached and sent to Columbus, GA; whereupon he was killed “while in the defense of the City of Columbus.”  A. J. stated that all he knew of his brother’s death was that “he was seen alive before the battle and was among the missing at its close.”  The official comment which disapproved the pension was “Too much property and does not seem be indigent under the law.”

        Subsequently it was submitted again in June 1911and approved in March 1912, but with difficulty because they did not know than exactly when or where John C. died.  Mary’s second application, mentioned that John C. supposedly drowned in St. John River, near Savannah, in about 1865; but she did not remember the designation of his unit; she was 78 years old.  The

second application had the affidavits by J.J. Rice and A.J. Stovall; and was witnessed by her daughter and son-in-law, M.A.(Martha “Mattie” Adeline (Stovall) and L.. E. (Frank) Cauthen. In this later affidavit by J.J., he mentioned that John C. was “at Savannah, GA in Dec 1864 when Savannah was captured by Sherman.” It also contained an Ex-Parte deposition by another one of John’s brothers, William J. Stovall.  William lived in Dallas at the time of his testimony.  William stated that John C. had been “discharged and afterward re-enlisted in a company of the 12^th MS Infantry and was killed in the Battle of Columbus.  To add to the confusion of John Calvin Stovall, he is listed on the College Mound cemetery printout but there is no record of internment.

        After the Civil War, the Disabled Soldiers Report of June 1866 shows Josiah’s daughter, R.C. (Rhoda Catherine) Phillips and M.A. (Mary Martha Adeline) Stovall were on the list of “disabled or destitute soldiers and/or suvivors.”  Rhoda with six dependents was awarded a pension of $120.00.  Mary was listed with her four children and was awarded a pension of $80.00.

        In October 1866, Lee County was formed (into five districts) out of the western part of Itawamba County, MS.  The newly formed Lee County was a six-mile wide strip of land running north and south the entire length of Itawamba County.  A few years later, a two-mile wide strip of land running the entire length of the (Lee) county east and west was given to the counties of Tishomingo and Prentiss.)  (The current Lee County goes from the cities of Baldwin & Bethany in the north to Nettleton in the south.).

        In December 1866, Josiah was named to the Board of Supervisors, then officially a “Board of Police,” for Lee County, representing District #1.  Daughter Martha Angeline married George Stephens in about 1866.  George died prior to 1870, leaving one child.  In February 1867, daughter Cinderella Emaline married Calvin Casper Blain.  (Casper was the son of William Yancy and Lucy Ann Watson Blain.)  Calvin had also fought with the Confederacy in the Civil War. (See if can find his service record.) Josiah then served in the Mississippi House of Representatives for one term, in 1868.  In early 1869, daughter Elizabeth Ann’s husband, Allen Beavers died in Lee County, leaving her with seven children. (Was this the result of a Civil War wound or from a disease?) (Where is he buried?)   We need to research deeper into the postwar conditions affecting Josiah’s family and relatives.  We do know that during the Reconstruction days, there were very bitter feelings among the veterans and their families of both sides of that bloody struggle.  Also, any large plantation holders who had depended upon slave labor before the war were mostly left unable to farm their large land holdings.

        It is believed that the hard conditions of the post-War South and the lure of more free or inexpensive land out further west resulted in a large number of Mississippi citizens leaving the state, with most immigrating to Texas.  This migration included the uprooting of the Josiah Lindsey extended family.  In the Fall of 1869, Josiah, Eritty & their 11 children, in the company of many relatives and neighbors, moved from Mississippi to a new farm area 4 miles south of what is now the town of Elmo in Kaufman County, in East Texas.  Elmo was about 10 miles from Terrell and College Mound, and about 12 miles from Rose Hill, and 15 miles from Kaufman.  Kaufman County is the county just east of Dallas.  The move from Mississippi was made in a convoy or wagon train of 16 covered wagons.  We do not have any personal remembrances of our hardy ancestors on this voyage but we do any a good description from excerpts of a diary about another group, which made a similar move at about the same time.