Vol.I, The Hall and Overstreet Families Carrol Carman Hall, Springfield, IL, 1981
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Chapter 20, Page 222
…at this point in the text the discussion
Our Southern Cousins - I they were called 'orphans'
As previously told, the death of William Hall in 1757 at the hands of the Cherokees made his oldest son, John, the head of the family. By November, 1758 the estate had been appraised and in accordance with the law of 'primogeniture' then in force, John had everything.
From the Bedford county, Va., Order Book 1B, 1754 - 61, p. 103, the following is taken: 'Churchwardens bind out Elisha, Charles, William, Thomas, Sarah, Rebecca and Susanna Hall, orphans of William, according to law 22 January, 1759.'
From this order we learn the names of William's children that at that date were under twenty-one years (or legal) age. (Hezekiah, our ancestor, is assumed to be 21 at that date, or so near so, that the authorities do not bind him out.) In the order the boys are named first as was the custom and presumably in the order of their ages. The girls are named last in order of their ages. We do not have nor know the exact order of the childrens' births. From the ensuing orders, it is assumed that several of the children were nearing the legal ages. In order Book 2, 1761-62, page 1, there is an attempt by Elisha to obtain release from Jeremiah Early (the party he was bound out to) relative to an apprenticeship --- perhaps Early was to teach him a trade and failed to do so. Order Book 3, July, 1766, William has a complaint against his master, George Grundy - another apprentice situation - and William asked to be removed to a new master. This was on page 262. William was successful as on page 274 the Court says they will do something about it at their next session. On page 327, he gets a new master, Robert Clark. Likewise at the same session Elisha turned over to the churchwardens to be bound to a new master, one Donathan.
Trouble with the 'orphans' continues. In August, 1768 the churchwardens take Thomas Hall away from Nicholas Hayes, his new master is not named. Apparently the girls were unhappy too. During the 1763-71 period Rebecca along with William are bound out to new parties. + The records are fragmentary and incomplete. In time, the girls would marry and no traces of them would ever be found. They boys would become men in the frontier society and stand on their own feet.
There are in existence some fragmentary records of this group. As a whole they seemed to be orientated to the are of Bedford county that became Campbell county. The Thomas Hall listed as a participant in the Point Pleasant Indian Battle of 1774 could well have been of this group --- he would have been of the right age for military service. There is record of a marriage of a William Hall to Elizabeth Campbell on March 5, 1787 in Campbell county with Charles Hall as the Surety. Elizabeth was a daughter of Archibald Campell, the Minister, the Rev. Archibald McRoberts. There are a number of Campbell county entries for a Charles Hall, but there is no way of knowing which party is involved. It is also a possibility that members of this family migrated to the area which became Franklin county as there are a number of similar Hall names. Consequently, of the minor children or 'orphans' of William Hall, d. 1757, very little is known of their lives and of their descendants.
This involves his son, Elisha, who in c. 1774 married into the Estes family of Bedford county. This Elisha had a son also named Elisha, 1775-1851, who in 1795 married Alice (Alsey) DePriest, a member of a family that lived in the part of Bedford county that became Campbell county. This Elisha removed from Virginia, to perhaps Fayette county, Kentucky. While there he served in the War of 1812 and is known to have been at the Battle of New Orleans. He may have moved westward in Kentucky, living on that side of the state for some time. By the early 1820s he moved to Clay county (Gallatin Township) near Liberty, Missouri. He was a true pioneer of this area, serving on the county Constitutional committee, as well as on the first grand jury and he was the first road commissioner. It is likely that there was a large party of this Hall family in the Missouri migration. Elisha's sons John, Jeremiah and Samuel, along with Estes kin were included.
Of his children we know most of his son, John DePriest Hall, 1800 - 1865, who in 1826 married Nancy Duncan, d. c. 1847, and after her death married a widow, Eliza Nutter, 1817-1899, in 1848. John D. Hall had nine children by his first marriage and at least five more by his second marriage. This family along with the four children of widow Nutter made quite a household! John's brother, Jeremiah, d. 1840, married Nancy Duncan's sister, Eleanor, in 1835, but had no children. The brother, Samuel, married Agnes Estes in 1825 --- a typical southern cousin marriage. John De Priest Hall also know as Col. John D. Hall was a rabid secessionist and an accounting of his sympathies is given in Part III of this section of the Hall-Overstreet history. This area of Missouri was the scene of the most vicious 'bushwhacker' activities as it was near the Missouri-Kansas state lines. Samuel was also known as Col. Hall --- possibly an honorary militia title.
Considerable is known of J.D. Hall's family. His oldest child, Mary Ellen made a cousin marriage into the Duncan family. His daughter Adaline "Ada" married Samuel Hardwick, 1833-1895, in 1860 linking the Halls with one of the most prominent families of the area. Hardwick was a leading member of the Clay county Missouri bar. In 1866, John D's daughter, Alice, married Thomas Jenkins a merchant at Platte City, Missouri and at one time County Treasurer. An old account of this marriage reported that 'Alice was the refined and accomplished daughter of the late John D. Hall, formerly a leading and wealthy citizen of the county.' The 1850 census showed him as worth $14,000! The Clay county Halls were Baptists and were founders of one of the rural churches. ++ The children and grandchildren of J.D. Hall, had among them a number of the early physicians of the area. Until the Civil War they were slave owners. The name Elisha persisted in this family: J.D.'s son by that name lived until 1924.
Children of John DePriest Hall -- all generations (5)
Nutter Children:
+Ben Butterworth |
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