Richmond Hoggard
- Title
- Richmond Hoggard
- Creator
- Patrick Hoggard
- Publisher
- Midwest Genealogy Center, Mid-Continent Public Library, Independence, Missouri
- Date
- January 2016
- Rights
- Rights Information
- Format
- Portable Document File Format; 2.1 MB; 135 pages.
- Language
- English
- Type
- Text
- Identifier
- richmond-hoggard-ebook.pdf
- extracted text
-
Richmond Hoggard
(1794 – ca. 1847)
Patrick Hoggard
January, 2016
Foreword
Writing about family history is a never-ending quest to discover
clues about the lives our ancestors led, clues that tell us so much
less about them than just 15 minutes of face-to-face conversation
would be likely to reveal. Yet the deed buried among the
hundreds of large volumes in the basement of a courthouse, the
passing reference in someone’s will, the plat map that
miraculously has a name of an ancestor – these snippets are
usually all that remain to be found. When we discover
something more personal – for example, that Richmond
Hoggard played the violin – it almost seems by comparison like
a bay window into the life of an ancestor. For the most part,
however, it is seldom that we learn much more than where an
ancestor lived and who the spouse and children were. Still,
accumulate enough information like this and you have at least
hints about how that ancestor lived.
Family history is also subject to errors of fact and errors of
interpretation. I hope readers will make me aware of the errors
I’ve made, will share alternative interpretations, and will also
share documents and information they have uncovered. I can be
reached at phoggard@scu.edu.
Table of Contents
Introduction
1
North Carolina/Tennessee
8
Virginia
15
The James Hoggard Family
26
The Fletchers
35
The Bransons
38
The War of 1812
39
Kentucky
53
Missouri
70
The Fletchers
87
On the Move in Missouri
90
Texas
105
Afterword
119
Appendices
Appendix A: Bearings in Surveys
120
Appendix B: Hoggard-Fletcher Tree
121
Appendix C: Alternative Timeline
122
Appendix D: Grey Haggard
124
Appendix E: A Far-Fetched Hypothesis?
127
Introduction
The closest thing we have to a biography of Richmond Hoggard
stems from a story written in verse by his grandson and
namesake, Richmond Echles (or Echols) Hoggard, which he
entitled My Love of Ancestry. The relevant sections are
reproduced below.
And Grandsire Hoggard, so it seems,
played the fife at New Orleans
For Andrew Jackson in the ranks
when he so hard the British spanked
And this my father loved to tell,
how Grandsire Hoggard fifed so well.
Grandsire married an Irish girl
whose rosy cheeks red banners furled
Sallie Fletcher was her name,
and to them eleven children came;
My father, the last of all the lot
to locate in the graveyard plot.
My great Grandsire, who crossed the ocean,
left Scotland’s shores with no emotion.
And he would boast of his Grandsire
whom William Wallace made Esquire.
How he’d list to the Wallace horn,
and met him in the white hawthorn.
And fought with the Bruce at Brannocks Burn
and never once his charger turned.
I have no doubt being made Esquire
caused my good ancestor to aspire.
The historical information in the poem is questionable. William
Wallace and Robert the Bruce, for example, lived in the late 13th
and early 14th centuries, so whatever exploits the Hoggard
ancestors can boast of in that regard, they had to have taken
place many generations earlier than what is implied in the poem.
The genealogical information, on the other hand, I am inclined to
2
accept, and it provides an excellent starting point to this
narrative.
One of Richmond’s great-granddaughters, Jacqueline (Hoggard)
Richman, a niece of Richmond Echles Hoggard, apparently was
told a similar, but slightly different version of Richmond’s
ancestry:1
Richmond played the fife at the Battle of New
Orleans… Richmond’s father came from Scotland. His
father came from Norway (a Viking).
It must be admitted that the name Hoggard, though it is readily
identifiable as an occupational name (hog herd or hogyard),
resembles Scandinavian names ending in ‘gaard’ or ‘gard’ (=
yard), and probably, at great distance, derives from them. Thus
the Norwegian ancestry Jacqueline Richman was told about
probably goes back many generations, not one, just as do the
battles with William Wallace and Robert the Bruce.
As will later be clear, Richmond’s father was James Hoggard,
and we begin with the supposition that James Hoggard,2
emigrated from Scotland. They settled in the frontier area of
southwestern Virginia and northeastern Tennessee. To get there,
they probably followed the well-traveled route from
Philadelphia into central Pennsylvania, then down the
Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, possibly into North Carolina,
finally crossing the mountains westward. I have thus far found
no trace of this journey, that is, no record of their having lived
anywhere along the way.
1
Jacqueline Richman, letter to her nephew, Eric Hoggard, of Oklahoma
City, March 6, 1975.
2
In the records to be cited, the last name is spelled many different
ways. I will use the original spellings in all the quotations from these
records, but will use the Hoggard spelling in the narrative.
3
The first solid records date from 1793, a year before Richmond
was born. One is a land grant in Sullivan County, then in the
state of North Carolina, to James Hoggard. The original grant as
recorded is shown below.3
The text reads as follows (punctuation added for clarity):4
State of North Carolina
No. 578. Know ye that we have granted unto James
Hogard one hundred and fifty acres of land in Sullivan
County on the north side of Reedy Creek, including
the plantation whereon said Hogard lives. Beginning
at two white oaks on James Igoe’s line south thirty east
eighty six poles to two white oaks, then south thirty
west forty six poles to two white oaks, south eighty
west one hundred poles to a stake, then north twenty
west ninety five poles along William Simpson’s line to
a poplar and white oak, north forty eight west forty
poles to a stake, then a straight line to the beginning.
To hold to the said Hogard, his heirs and assigns
forever. Dated the 29th July 1793.
3
4
North Carolina Land Grants, Book 76, p. 473.
See Appendix A for a summary of surveying conventions for bearings
and distances
4
The process of recording land grants in the Sullivan County
offices was evidently slow. Circuit court records have an entry
dated March 13, 1794, recording a number of grants “that have
been lodged with John Shelby, Jr.,” among which was that for
“James Hogard”.5 The land grant was finally recorded in
Sullivan County in May, 1796, three years after the grant was
issued by the state, providing the additional information that the
price of the land was 50 shillings for every 100 acres, thus 75
shillings.6 The gold-backed dollar, instituted in 1792, had not yet
supplanted pounds and shillings.
As noted in the land grant, James Hoggard was already living on
this land. The problem for us is that in 1973 James Hoggard was
also living a few miles away, on the other side of the very
uncertain Virginia-North Carolina state line. A record in the land
entry book7 of Washington County, Virginia, shows that James
Hoggard was living several miles north of Reedy Creek, on the
north fork of the Holston River. Dated April 17, 1793, it reads:
James Eukin removes his former entry and enters the
same, being 100 acres on the North fork of Holston at
the mouth of the branch that James Huggart lives on
and running up and down the river on both sides for
quantity.
Two notes in the margin (which must have been added later),
say “ass’d to Jas. Huggart” and “surveyed”.
5
Sullivan County, Tennessee, Circuit
Sullivan County, Tennessee, Deed Book 3, p. 47
7
The second stage in acquiring title to land in Virginia, see below
6
5
Evidently James Eukin (spelled elsewhere Eakins and Akins)
was starting the process to obtain the 100 acres for himself in
1793, but at some point he ceded or sold the land to James
Hoggard, who was already living right next to it.
The conclusion to be made from the contents of this entry is that
there were two James Hoggards in this area. The evidence to be
presented is quite strong that they were related by descent, and I
will distinguish these James Hoggards by the designations James
I and James II. James I was also the father of Richmond Hoggard,
the subject of this narrative. The evidence for these connections
will be presented in the course of this narrative.
An important starting point is a gravestone in the Boatyard
Cemetery in Kingsport, on land donated for a Methodist
Episcopal Church in 1827.
The headstone reads
In Memoriam
JAMES HOGGARD
Was born March 24
1777 died August
14 , 1845
6
This James Hoggard was born too late to be James I, so it is
James II who is buried in the Boatyard and we now have his
vital statistics.
The evidence is fairly clear that James I was the James Hoggard
living on the Holston River in Washington County, Virginia,
from which I infer that many of the references to James Hoggard
on the Reedy Creek land from 1793 on refer to James II. From the
information on his headstone, James II was just 16 years old in
1793, which seems way too young to have been left by himself in
charge of a farm while the rest of the family moved away to
claim more land. Nevertheless, the evidence does indeed suggest
that this is at least partly true, and at least the distance between
James I and James II was probably not an obstacle to travel back
and forth.
7
North Carolina/Tennessee
8
Although the first Hoggard records date from 1793 in both
Reedy Creek and Washington County, Virginia, I suspect that
James Hoggard put down stakes first in the Reedy Creek
Settlement, if for no other reason than that the process for
obtaining a land grant in the frontier areas from the state of
North Carolina was a long one, thus James I had to have been
there for some time prior to 1793. The process began when a
settler, having located vacant land, “entered” for that land by
filing a land entry with the county. At some point thereafter, if
there was no conflicting claim, the county would issue a warrant
for the land to the settler, giving the settler the right to buy it
from the state of North Carolina. With the right to claim a
particular piece of land in hand, many settlers stopped at this
step, avoiding the cost of the survey and of the land itself. But if
they wanted to sell the land, they needed to have title to it,
though it was also possible, and much less formal, to sell, or
“assign” the warrant. Step 3 was to have the land surveyed and
the survey recorded. The surveyor had to be paid for this, of
course. Only after the survey was recorded and the money for
the land received at the state land office responsible for the area
would the land grant be issued by the state, under the name of
the governor (Richard Dobbs Spaight in this particular grant),
giving the settler title to the land.8
The 150 acre tract on Reedy Creek was first entered in February,
1780, by John Clendenin (also spelled Clendennen).9 In the same
year Clendenin obtained a warrant for the land and had it
surveyed.10 According to that survey, the land was adjacent to
8
W. Dale Carter, Sullivan County Land Grants issued by North Carolina,
2005,
http://www.historicsullivan.com/archives_manuscripts_0062_box0
02_item001.htm
9
State Archives of North Carolina, MARSID 12.14.17.580
10
J. Hobart Bartlett, private correspondence, November, 1981
9
that of Gilbert Christian and also James Clendinen,11 obviously
related to John. With warrant in hand, John Clendenin had the
right to live there, even without title. And that is apparently
what he did. The decision not to survey and buy the land might
have coincided with the closing of the North Carolina land
offices in 1781 because of difficulties with inflation of the
currency and the Revolutionary War in general.12 They reopened
in 1783, putting even more frontier land on the block, but
perhaps by then John Clendenin couldn’t, or didn’t want to,
come up with the funds.
James Hoggard bought the warrant from John Clendenin,
possibly in 1791 or 1792. This was normally done informally and
I don’t expect to find a record of the transaction. Probably
because so much time had elapsed since the Clendenin survey, a
second survey was made in 1792,13 and the text of that survey is
what appears in the land grant, including references to adjoining
land belonging to James Igoe and William Simpson. As noted
above, the North Carolina land grant was issued in 1793.
To be clear about which James Hoggard appears on the surveys
and the land grant, it had to have been James I. To be issued a
land grant, or to own property in general, a man (or woman,
under some circumstances) had to be of legal age, which was
21.14 It is not at all certain how much time James II spent taking
care of the land on Reedy Creek. A 1796 tax list for Sullivan
County does not have his name on it, or any other Hoggard.15
11
Ibid.
Gale Williams Bamman, This Land is Our Land!, Genealogical Journal,
24, No. 3, 1996, http://www.tngenweb.org/tnland/bamman.htm
13
J. Hobart Bartlett, op. cit.
14
Legal Age, Bob’s Genealogy Filing Cabinet,
http://www.genfiles.com/articles/legal-age/
15
http://www.tngenweb.org/sullivan/records/tl1796.htm
12
10
Yet he was not counted on a 1797 Washington County, Virginia,
tax list, either in a household of his own or with James I (see
below).
The geography of this area was problematic at the time.
Tennessee did not achieve statehood until 1796. The land on
Reedy Creek was near the border with Virginia, but the location
of that border was very uncertain, and often disputed. The
inhabitants on Reedy Creek for some time thought they were in
Virginia, and even had their land surveyed and recorded in
Washington County, Virginia. Later, well before Tennessee came
to be, the southwestern counties of Virginia (including
Washington) together with the northwestern counties of North
Carolina (including Sullivan) organized to form a state of their
own, named Franklin.16 The attempt was short lived.
Reedy Creek is a tributary of the south fork of the Holston River.
By the treaty of Lochabar in 1770, the British induced the
Cherokees to cede their lands north of the south fork of the
Holston and east of a north-south line drawn six miles east of the
Long Island of the Holston (at the confluence of Reedy Creek
and the south fork of the Holston),17 shown on the map below.
Settlers proceeded to flock in. The ceded Cherokee lands were
situated mostly in western Virginia, but the area depicted on the
map was (barely) within North Carolina. The Reedy Creek
settlement, one of the very first, was near the present town of
Kingsport, Tennessee.
16
Lewis Preston Summers, History of Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786,
Richmond, Va., J. L. Hill Printing Co., 1903, p. 391.
17
Treaty of Lochabar, Wikipedia
11
During the 1770s around a dozen families settled on the north
fork of Reedy Creek (now called Boozy Creek), including
Humphrey Hogan, William Anderson, John Clendenin,
Archibald McNeal, Gilbert Christian, and William King.18 This
particular stretch of water was considered most desirable
because of cascades that permitted water power to be harnessed,
and in fact a mill was built within the settlement that was known
as King’s Mill.19 James Hoggard apparently arrived after the first
wave, and found land that bordered on that of Clendenin and
Christian. A few years later, Gilbert Christian acquired a large
tract of land on the north side of the Holston and below the
confluence with Reedy Creek, and sold lots to others. William
King (from the Reedy Creek Settlements) bought two of the lots
and built an inn and a boat yard. The town of Kingsport grew
from this, and was named for William King (and/or his brother
James).
18
19
http://discoverkingsport.com/h-maps.shtml
W. Dale Carter, Reedy Creek Settlement and the Pendleton Patent,
Sullivan County Archives and Tourism,
http://www.historicsullivan.com/archives_manuscripts_0062_box0
02_item008.htm
12
James Hoggard’s land on Reedy Creek was referred to in several
places in Sullivan County records, and some of them add more
information about the location, and confer the certainty that it
was indeed in the area on the present Boozy Creek shown on the
map as the Reedy Creek Settlement. Issued the same day as was
James Hoggard’s, a land grant to William Simpson on Reedy
Creek, “including the plantation whereon the said Simpson
lives”, was adjacent to the lands of “James Hogard” and Samuel
Thompson.20 The same proximity was noted two years later,
when William Simpson sold his land to John and Balsen Roller.21
James Hoggard sold his 150 acres in 1807 to William Agee for 55
pounds, at which time his neighbors were Peter Catron, James
Agee, and Jacob Yest (or Yeast).22 Even after selling the land, his
name was still used as a reference. In 1807, Jacob Yeast sold land
to Leonard Yeast, and in the deed it was noted that it abutted a
boundary that was “formerly James Hoggards line”.23 In 1811
Leonard Yeast sold that property to Peter Catron, the survey
portion of the deed specifying “two white oaks formerly James
Hoggards, along John Catrons line”.
The two important names out of all of these are Thompson and
Catron. Samuel, John, and James Thompson settled in the Reedy
Creek Settlement, and John Thompson’s house, built in 1809, still
exists, though much improved.24 The Catrons were sons of
German immigrants by the name of Kettering. Those that
remained in northeastern Tennessee eventually adopted the
spelling Ketron. Their land was also part of the Reedy Creek
20
Sullivan County, Tennessee, Deed Book 2, p. 689.
Sullivan County, Tennessee, Deed Book 2, p. 818
22
Sullivan County, Tennessee, Deed Book 5, p. 55
23
Sullivan County, Tennessee, Deed Book 5, p. 13
24
Kari Roueche, History in Bloom(ingdale), Archives of the City of
Kingsport, kingsportarchives.wordpress.com
21
13
Settlement. A cabin purportedly built by John Ketron (Catron)
still exists there, and is shown in the picture below.25 The name
Catron will crop up again much later in this narrative.
By 1807, James II had reached the age of majority. Thus the
James Hoggard who sold the Reedy Creek land in 1807 might
have been either James I or James II. However, it is probable that
it was James I, since he was the owner, but especially because the
deed states that James Hoggard was a resident of Washington
County, Virginia.26
25
26
Ibid.
Sullivan County, Tennessee, Deed Book 5, p. 55
14
Virginia
15
James Hoggard (James I) entered for a second tract of land in
Washington County, Virginia, in 1795. The record in the land
entry book is dated January 29, 1795, and reads:
James Huggard, assignee of Abraham Fulkerson,
enters 116 acres of land, on the place he now lives on,
on the South side of the North fork of Holston, running
up and down the Little Valley for quantity.
A margin note states “surveyed”.
The procedure to obtain vacant land on the frontier in Virginia
resembled that in North Carolina to some extent, but the order of
business was slightly different. The first step was to purchase a
treasury warrant (or acquire one through military service),
which conveyed the rights to a specified amount of state land
according to the Land Law of 1779, the price being £40 per 100
acres, unless the warrant was issued as a remuneration for
military service. In possession of a treasury warrant, the settler
located land corresponding to the amount purchased by
warrant, entered the land in the county offices, and then had it
surveyed. A grant from the governor of Virginia finally
conveyed title.27
There are entries in the Washington County, Virginia, Survey
Book corresponding to both of James Hoggard’s land entries,
27
Kentucky Secretary of State,
http://apps.sos.ky.gov/land/nonmilitary/LandOfficeVTW/.
16
both surveys dating from 1795. Unfortunately, I don’t have the
original records, only brief extracts.28 The first, dated April 13,
1795, reads
James Hogart, assignee of James Akins - 100 ac treasury warrant #10393 - on both sides of the north
fork of Holstein River - up the river to the end of a fish
dam.29
An assignee was a person who acquired land, the treasury
warrant for which had been issued to someone else. James
Hoggard may have purchased the warrant from James Akins, or
made a sharecropping arrangement, or any number of other
possibilities, the actual method, alas, unrecorded.
James Akins (or Eakins) himself was an assignee of the original
owner, Philip Pendleton, whose original warrant was for 1000
acres in 1781.30 Oddly, that warrant was apparently spread over
at least two locations, because another entry in the survey book
states that James Campbell, under the same treasury warrant
10393, entered 520 acres on Reedy Creek.31 There are many
Reedy Creek surveys recorded in the Washington County
Survey Book, emphasizing the uncertainty of Reedy Creek
residents as to whether they were in Virginia or North Carolina.
The second record from the survey book extracts is dated May
30, 1795:
James Hogart, Sr., assignee of Abraham Fulkerson –
116 ac – treasury warrant #2085 dated April 4, 1782 –
28
http://www.newrivernotes.com/washington_history_17811797_county_surveyors_record.htm
29
Washington County, Virginia, Survey Book 1, pg. 433.
30
Ibid.
31
Washington County, Virginia, Survey Book 1, p. 390.
17
on the south side of the north fork of Holstein River –
on John Fleming’s line – corner to Elijah Harts land.32
Aha! James Hoggard, Sr.! That confirms that there was indeed a
James Hoggard, Jr., and it is also evidence that the two were
father and son.
Many questions about where James I and James II were living
might have been answered by examining the census data from
1790 and 1800. Unfortunately, the census returns from 1790 and
1800 from both Washington County, Virginia, and Sullivan
County, North Carolina (1790) or Tennessee (1800), were lost,
and on top of that, the 1810 and 1820 Sullivan County censuses
have also been lost. There are a few extant tax rolls for
Washington County that provide some information, specifically
the rolls from 1787, 1797, and 1806.
In 1787 there was no Hoggard living, or at least taxed, in
Washington County, Virginia.33
In 1797, James Hoggard does appear on the roll.34 On that list it
was recorded that there was one white male in the household
above the age of 16, consistent with James II living on Reedy
Creek at the time. The entry for James Hoggard also shows that
he owned eight ”horses, mares, colts, and mules”.
32
Washington County, Virginia, Survey Book 1, p. 429.
Binns Genealogy,
http://www.binnsgenealogy.com/VirginiaTaxListCensuses/
Washington/1787PersonalA/06.jpg
34
http://www.binnsgenealogy.com/VirginiaTaxListCensuses/
Washington/1787PersonalB/07.jpg
33
18
In 1806, James I is again to be found on the list.35 Again there
was just one male above 16 in the household, further evidence
that James II was on Reedy Creek.
In the surveys for the 100-acre and 116-acre tracts on the Holston
River belonging to James Hoggard, there is little that would
allow us to pinpoint the location of their locations. Some other
land surveys, however, make mention of them and add a bit of
useful detail.36
March 4, 1799, John Preston, Jr., 109 acres
On both sides of the north fork of the Holston below
Montgomery’s bottom, adjoining the south side of
Little Mountain and the end of Hogard’s High Dam.
November 25, 1801, William King, 200 acres
Both sides of the north fork of the Holston, on corner
of lands belonging to Campbell, Hogard, and Moore.
March 14, 1811, Elijah Hart, 100 acres
Lying below the mouth of Hogarts Branch on the south
side of the north fork of the Holston.
35
New River Notes,
http://www.newrivernotes.com/washington_enumerations_1806_p
ersonal_property_tax.htm
36
Washington County, Virginia, Survey Book 2
19
In order to use the clues from the survey entries, we will
examine the 1810 census of Washington County, Virginia. Below
are listed 25 households enumerated consecutively, both before
and after James Hoggard. There were, by the way, 2,710
households counted in total in Washington County in 1810.
Assuming that the census taker had an efficient route, those
listed near James Hoggard on the census form were probably
close neighbors.
Valentine
Isaac
David
Gavin
Loving
Anthony
Gavin
Leonard
Elizabeth
James
Samuel
Mary
Jacob
Elijah
John
Alexander
John
James
Thomas
James
John
Abram
Samuel
Abram
John
Bledsoe
Bledsoe
Bittel
Bledsoe
Bledsoe
Bledsoe
Head
Branson
Burk
Hagart
McMurray
Loyd
Biddle [Bittle]
Hart
Holt
Smith
Hickam
Smith
Smith
Douse
Bufers
Bucklin
Lunin
Fulkerson
Fulkerson
20
A good starting point to an attempt to locate the Hoggards is
Abraham Fulkerson. Not only did James Hoggard live very close
to the Fulkersons, the 116-acre Hoggard parcel was obtained
directly from Abraham Fulkerson. As it turns out, we know a lot
about where Abraham lived. The sketch below of the region east
of the town of Hiltons, in Scott County, Virginia, was made in
the 1880s.37 It shows the area called Little Valley, which on the
survey was associated with the 116 acre James Hoggard parcel.
It shows the town of Fulkerson, which was named for Abraham
Fulkerson and his brother, but was short-lived. It also shows the
location of the Abraham Fulkerson house and cemetery. That
house is now on the National Register of Historic Places.38
With the help of a topographical map of this portion of the north
fork of the Holston River and several land surveys in
37
James L. Hilton, E. Frank Hilton, and Lelia Hilton Neal, Hiltons of
Scott County, Virginia, 1967, privately printed, accessed in Knox
County, Kentucky, Public Library.
38
http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/
register_counties_cities.htm
21
Washington County between 1785 and 1810 that mention
landmarks, especially the names of creeks or branches39 that
were tributaries of the Holston, we can zero in on the Hoggards.
The present town of Hiltons is in the top left of the topographical
map, and the Fulkerson home is almost due north of the
Darthula Baptist Church. We know that Elijah Hart’s land was
near James Hoggard and “Hogard’s Branch”, which must be one
of the several small unnamed streams flowing into the Holston
from the south on the topographical map.
The following surveys, in connection with the 1810 census,
establish reference points:
Loving Bledsoe, 89 acres on Catrins fork, a branch of Cove
Creek (1782)40 [Cove Creek is at the east end of the map]
Thomas Goff, both sides of north fork of Holston and both
sides of Cove Creek, beginning at the corner of Anthony
Bledsoe’s land.41
39
In southwestern Virginia, a branch was a stream too small to be
called a creek
40
Washington County Survey Book 1, p. 81
41
Washington County Survey Book 1, p. 401
22
Gaven Head, 78 acres on Keelring’s fork, a branch of Cove
Creek, waters of north fork of Holston.42
James Smith, mouth of Blue Spring Creek43 [on map flows
south into the Holston out of Eddington Gap]
William Hickam, 40 acres, both sides of Robert Creek [flows
into the Holston upstream of the Holston River Mill]
It should be noted that less than half of the names of the heads of
households on the census appear in survey records. Most of the
settlers probably bought their land from the persons for whom
the surveys were originally done. Nevertheless, we can follow
the census taker’s route pretty well from east to west, as he
moved from the Bledsoes on Cove Creek to the Fulkersons, near
the Darthula Church. The north fork of the Holston is not a large
river and it is shallow. It could probably be easily forded in
several places. James Hoggard was counted between Gaven
Head and James Smith, thus between the mouths of Blue Spring
Creek and Cove Creek. In addition, there must be a branch
(creek), unnamed on the topographical map, on the Hoggard
land, to the west of which (i.e., downstream) on the south side
lay Elijah Hart’s land. With this information I have annotated a
portion of the map above with my assumptions about the
locations of the various settlers mentioned, including, of course,
James Hoggard.
42
43
Washington County Survey Book 1, p. 398
Washington County Survey Book 1, p. 411
23
Thus we can make a pretty good guess about where James
Hoggard was living when he was enumerated in the census of
1810. We can also be fairly certain that this was the 116-acre
property, the one lying on Hoggard’s Branch.
Despite the treaty with the Cherokees, the Holston River settlers
were not immune from Indian attack. One renegade Cherokee in
particular, who went by the name of Benge, had a band of
followers with which he conducted numerous raids, most often
capturing slaves to be sold in the Cherokee villages.44 His last
raid took place at the farm of Peter Livingston, the approximate
location of which is shown on the annotated Holston River map
above (he was enumerated on the census about 20 households
before James Hoggard), on April 6, 1794. Peter and his brother,
who also lived on the farm, were away when Benge and his
band arrived. The Indians captured Peter’s wife, Elizabeth, plus
Elizabeth’s sister-in-law, one of Elizabeth’s children, and three
slaves. They killed Elizabeth’s mother-in-law and three of
Elizabeth’s children, and they burned the Livingston cabin. The
Livingstons organized a pursuit, under the command of a man
named Head (presumably one of Gaven Head’s brothers), which
was augmented by a party of militia from Russell County. Three
days after the kidnapping and murders, the Russell County
44
Lawrence Fleenor, Benge!, Big Stone Gap Publishing, 1998.
24
militia managed to anticipate Benge’s escape route over the
mountain, and they laid an ambush, successfully killing Benge
and saving the abductees, although Elizabeth was knocked out
and cut by a tomahawk blow during the melee.45
Elizabeth Livingston supplied a detailed account of the events,
which was recorded and sent to the governor with a plea for
protection.46 Following the attack on the Livingston farm, Benge
intended to raid the Fulkersons. When the raiding party arrived,
they observed through the bushes that a large group of settlers
had gathered for a house raising. It was precisely that day that
the forerunner to the Fulkerson-Hilton House was erected, and
we can be virtually certain that James Hoggard, an “assignee” of
Abraham Fulkerson as well as a neighbor, was there. Benge
remained for some time before deciding it was a lost cause, at
which point he started his retreat up the mountains.47
45
Ibid.
Lewis Preston Summers, History of Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786,
Richmond, Va., J. L. Hill Printing Co., 1903, pp. 437-439.
47
Ibid.
46
25
The James Hoggard Family
James Hoggard (James I) and his wife, of whom we have
absolutely no record (but see Appendix E), had at least seven
children. There were five children still living with James and his
wife when the 1810 census was taken:
males under 10
males 10 through 15
females 10 through 15
females 16 through 25
2
1
1
1
Unfortunately, we can only name four of the seven children of
which we have some knowledge. The seven are listed below.
1. James Hoggard (James II), 1777 - 1845
James II was probably the oldest child, and is the only one
whose birthdate we know. If James I were, hypothetically, born
in 1755, he would have been 22 years old when James II was
born, probably in Scotland.
As described above, James, despite his youth, seems to have
taken much of the responsibility for the Reedy Creek land when
he was just 16. By the time his father sold the 150 acres on Reedy
Creek in 1807, James was 30 years old, and it looks like he might
have married and moved in with his in-laws, that move having
perhaps precipitated the land sale.
We know that James II married Elizabeth Wright, due to a
remarkable bit of sleuthing by Jim Brown, who found a
document in the Library of Congress consisting of a veteran’s
26
questionnaire completed by James Amos Brown, a grandson of
James and Elizabeth Hoggard.48 In it, according to Jim Brown,
He stated that his maternal grandparents lived in
Jonesboro, TN. His mother’s maiden name was
Elizabeth Hoggard, whose own father was James
Hoggard, who immigrated from Scotland, and whose
mother was Elizabeth Wright, who came from Ireland.
Elizabeth Hoggard, daughter of James II, married Ephraim
Brown, and they lived their entire lives in Hawkins County,
Tennessee.
James Amos Brown did not reveal when James Hoggard married
Elizabeth Wright, and there appears to be no official record of
their marriage. The first child of theirs about whom anything is
known is John Hoggard, born in 1815, and even he has not been
shown with certainty to be their son. This birthdate has led
many of those with family trees posted on Ancestry.com to
assume that the marriage took place in 1814. If we had available
the lost 1810 census for Sullivan County and neighboring
counties in Tennessee, we could readily resolve the question of
whether or not James II married around 1807, rather than 1814.
There were two Wright households in Sullivan County at that
time. One was a family headed by David Wright, a large
landowner from Virginia who owned many slaves.49 The other
was Patrick Wright, an immigrant from northern Ireland, a good
match for the information provided by James Amos Brown.
Patrick was born in 1771, so it is highly doubtful that he was
Elizabeth’s father. Patrick emigrated with two of his brothers,
48
http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/
topics/hoggard/117/
49
Sullivan County, Tennessee, Deed Book 2, p. 435
27
whether all at the same time is unknown. Two of the three
located in Tennessee and one set down roots in Pennsylvania. It
seems a logical supposition that Elizabeth went with one or
more of them, lived with Patrick, the oldest, then met and
married James Hoggard. This conclusion is strengthened by the
fact that James Hoggard bought land adjacent to Patrick’s in
1813.
My conclusion then is that James II married Elizabeth Wright in
1807. They moved onto Patrick’s land and James I sold the land
on Reedy Creek.
In 1812 James II became a landowner in his own right in Sullivan
County, purchasing 100 acres on the south side of the Holston,50
and he presumably moved there with Elizabeth. The location on
the Holston was not specified in the deed, but there is reason to
think that it was near the present Bluff City. James II appeared
on the1812 Sullivan County tax roll (spelled James Hoggard),
owning 100 acres of land. There was one “white poll”, i.e., adult
white male, and the tax exacted was 25 cents.51 On the same list
was Patrick Wright, with 94 acres.
The following year James II sold the land to Henry Mauk.52 The
Mauks changed the spelling of the name to Mauck and remained
in the area of Bluff City, on the south fork of the Holston.53 James
50
Sullivan County, Tennessee, Deed Book 6, p. 190
Tennessee, Early Tax List Records, 1783-1895 [online database].
Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.
52
Sullivan County, Tennessee, Deed Book 6, p. 367
53
The Mauck Family of Sullivan County,
http://www.anamericanfamilyhistory.com/TennesseeFamilies&Plac
es/Mauck%20Family.html
51
28
used the money to buy another 100 acres, on land directly
adjacent to Patrick Wright.54
We know nothing about the children Elizabeth and James had at
that time, due to the loss of both the 1810 and the 1820 census.
2. Jesse Hoggard, ca. 1782 – 1814
Jesse Hoggard appears on the 1810 census in Washington
County, Virginia, with a wife and four children. His age was in
the category 26-45, while his wife’s was 16-25. Their four
children, three boys and one girl, were all under 10. From the
census, Jesse was born no later than 1784, and he too was
probably born in Scotland. He was not counted in the 1797
Washington County tax list,55 which listed only males 16 or
older, so if he was in Washington County he was living with his
father and mother and was born no earlier than 1780. He might,
however, have been living with James II on Reedy Creek in 1797,
in which case he could have been born before 1780. To make
things more confusing, Jesse does not appear on the 1806 tax list
for Washington County, Virginia, yet James I does, with just one
adult male reported.56 Jesse was married with children at that
time. Where was he?
We can at least try to determine his approximate location at the
time of the 1810 census, by the same technique used above for
his father. Jesse’s household was the 45th enumerated after
54
Sullivan County, Tennessee, Deed Book 6, p. 521
http://www.binnsgenealogy.com/VirginiaTaxListCensuses/
Washington/1787PersonalB/07.jpg
56
New River Notes,
http://www.newrivernotes.com/washington_enumerations_1806_p
ersonal_property_tax.htm
55
29
James’, and the census taker was still moving down the north
fork of the Holston, detouring, however, to travel up and down
Big Mocassin Creek, which feeds into the north fork of the
Holston in the present town of Weber City. The person counted
just before Jesse was Mathew Cleek, whose land was on the
mouth of Big Mocassin Creek and also ran along the north side
of the Holston at that point.57
I therefore place Jesse Hoggard on the north fork of the Holston,
just downstream from the mouth of Big Mocassin Creek. In all
likelihood, it was the 100 acre tract that was surveyed for James I
in 1795, spanning both sides of the Holston. This land was
marked by a fish dam at that time, called Hogard’s High Dam in
the survey quoted above for the adjoining land of John Preston,
Jr. Fish dams were normally built just partway across a river, for
the single purpose of trapping fish (they are illegal almost
everywhere now).
Before 1807, when James II and Elizabeth moved in with Patrick
Wright, the three parts of the family were not very distant from
each other, less than five miles as the crow flies from Jesse to
James II, as can be seen on the modern map below, in which
Jesse is near Weber City, Virginia, and James II near the present
Bloomington, an eastern suburb of Kingsport, Tennessee. The
intervening terrain was inhospitable, but perhaps readily
traversed with a horse or a mule. Or they could have traveled by
water.
57
Washington County, Virginia, Deed Book 2, p. 1
30
Although we have no direct evidence for the name of Jesse’s
wife, there is some indirect evidence, stemming from the will of
Michael Click, who died in Hawkins County, Tennessee, in 1814.
The relevant sections are quoted here:58
First. I give and bequeath to my three daughters, viz:
Margaret, Elizabeth and Katharine all my cattle, sheep
hogs, beds, clothing and all household furniture. Also,
one bay mare known by the name of Cate, to be
equally divided among them (My sons John, George,
Michael and Matthias have all received their shares).
Also, I give to my son Jacob all my land including the
plantation whereon I now live and two small tracts
adjoining it, and one sorrel filly; also all my farming
utensils out of which he will pay all my lawful debts
and provide for and furnish his mother with
everything necessary to her comfort and support
during her life, leaving her to possess my new
dwelling house, garden, &c. Lastly. I constitute and
ordain my wife Margaret Click, my son Jacob Click,
58
Hawkins County, Tennessee, Will Book 1, p. 90
31
and Jesse Huggard my sole executors of this my last
will and testament.
Michael Click was a German immigrant. Three of the sons
mentioned in the will – Michael, Matthias, and Jacob – lived first
in Sullivan County, North Carolina (Tennessee starting in 1796)59
and then in Washington County, Virginia, based on the surveys
that were done for their land.60 In fact it was Matthias Cleek’s
household that was counted just before Jesse’s in the 1810
census, when he was living on the 100 acre parcel of land on the
north fork of the Holston near the mouth of Big Moccasin
Creek.61 The sons kept the original spelling Cleek, but the father
switched to Click at some point, as did several of his progeny
later. Michael Cleek family trees show that Jacob, Mathias, and
Michael (Jr.) Cleek were all near Jesse in age, and a match with
one of their sisters would be natural. It was perhaps also natural
that Jesse, as a son-in-law, would be named an executor of
Michael Click’s will.
Unfortunately, Michael Click forgot to provide the surnames of
his three daughters in his will. Family trees posted by
descendants of Michael Click are also bereft of surnames, but
indicate that Katharine and Elizabeth were some 20 years older
than Margaret, who, born about 1782, would have been about
the right age to marry Jesse Hoggard. The reliability of that
information, however, is suspect.
The children of Jesse and Margaret (perhaps) that we know
about are those listed on the 1810 Washington County census,
who were categorized by age as follows:
59
Sullivan County, Tennessee, Deed Book 3, p. 101
Washington County, Virginia, Survey Books 1 and 2
61
Washington County, Virginia, Survey Book 2, p. 1
60
32
males under 10
males 10 through 15
females 10 through 15
2
1
1
3. Unknown female child, born between 1784 and 1794
She might have died. She might have married without leaving a
definitive trace.
4. Richmond Hoggard, 1794 – ca. 1848
Richmond is the male, 10-15 years old, listed in the 1810 census
for James Hoggard’s household, which establishes his birth year
between 1794 and 1800. In the 1820 census, Richmond fell in the
26-44 age group, which yields possible birth years from 1875 to
1794. By good fortune, the only overlapping year is 1794.
The name Richmond has always been something of a puzzle.
Here is one potential solution. Around the same time James
Hoggard settled on the north fork of the Holston, several people
with the name Richmond settled in the same area, John
Richmond and three of his sons – John, James, and David. They
each acquired land, at first (surveyed in 1793 and 1794), in the
Caney Valley, perhaps ten miles upstream from James Hoggard.
Later (surveyed in 1795), David acquired a parcel on
Henderson’s Creek, only a mile or two upstream from the 100
acre parcel upon which Jesse later lived. Finally, in 1796, John
Richmond, Sr., had 50 acres surveyed on the north fork of the
Holston that passed John Richmond, Jr.’s corner and was
adjacent to James Fulkerson’s land.62 This places John Richmond
Sr. and Jr. in the vicinity of James Hoggard. None of the
Richmonds were still in Washington County in 1810. John
62
Washington County, Virginia, Survey Book 1, p. 457.
33
Richmond (age > 45) was in Knox County, Kentucky, in 1810,
and I presume he was John Richmond, Jr.
So the Richmond family might have been the source for
Richmond Hoggard’s name. It might even be that the “unknown
female” Hoggard married a Richmond, but that is carrying
speculation too far. See also Appendix E.
5. Elizabeth Hoggard, 1797 – 1855
From the 1850 census, at which time Elizabeth was 52 years old,
her birth year would have to be 1797 or 1798. Family trees
posted by her descendants specify that she was born in 1797 and
died in 1855, which is consistent with what little we know.
6. Unknown male child 1, born between 1799 and 1810
Probably died, because he was not with James I in the 1820
census.
7. Unknown male child 2, born between 1799 and 1810
Probably died, for the same reason.
34
The Fletchers
At some point, probably near the end of 1813, Richmond
Hoggard married Sarah Fletcher, the Irish girl “Sallie” described
in the poem by Richmond Echles Hoggard that introduced this
narrative. Their first child, James, was 35 when enumerated in
the 1850 census, and 45 in the 1860 census. The census takers
reached his household on October 1, 1850 and August 12, 1860;
thus he was born between October 2, 1814 and August 11, 1815.
This is consistent with a marriage in 1813 or 1814.
A great deal has been written about Sarah Fletcher’s father being
James Fletcher, a Choctaw Indian of fairly high standing, an
affirmation made by William Hoggard, another son of
Richmond and Sarah, in an effort to acquire land allotted to the
Choctaws (originally from Mississippi) in what was to become
Oklahoma. Sarah’s mother was said to be Nancy, also a
Choctaw.
Among the numerous reasons to reject this is the poem just
referred to, stating that Sallie (Sarah) Fletcher was Irish.
Richmond Echles Hoggard was William’s son and there is no
cause to doubt him. Another reason is that one need look no
further than Washington County, Virginia, to find James and
Nancy Fletcher. James Fletcher appears in the 1810 census of
Washington County, he and his wife both between 26 and 44
years of age, with eight children, among which is a female
between 10 and 15, i.e., born between 1794 and 1800.
In the 1820 census, Sarah’s age was reported as between 16 and
25, while Richmond was in the 26 to 44 group, so Sarah was
younger than Richmond, Sarah’s implied year of birth being
between 1794 and 1804 from that census. Sarah was listed on the
1850 census, taken October 1, 1850, as 56 years old, from which
35
her birthday had to lie between October 2, 1793 and October 1,
1794. Thus both Sarah and Richmond were born in 1794, and the
census taker in 1820 must have arrived at their house between
their birthdays, and definitely earlier than October 1. If the
census taker(s) also split their birthdays in 1810, we would
expect to find her in the age 10-15 category. James Fletcher’s
daughter appears to be a good candidate for Sallie.
In the neighboring household lived Jemima Fletcher, older than
45, presumably widowed, and almost certainly James Fletcher’s
mother. With her was a female between 16 and 25 years old, who
might be thought an alternative choice for Sarah Fletcher.
However, the two women were still living together in 1820,
according to the census, so that possibility can be discarded.
In the 1820 Washington County, Virginia, census, James was no
longer in the household. Instead it was Nancy Fletcher who
lived adjacent to Jemima Fletcher. With Nancy were four of the
children who had been on the 1810 census with James and
Nancy, along with four new children, in addition to which they
had four slaves.
The Fletchers did not live close to the Hoggards in Washington
County, Virginia. As far as I can tell by examining records of the
neighbors to the Fletchers in the Washington County survey
books, the Fletchers lived on the middle fork of the Holston.
Nevertheless, activities of some sort in Washington County –
visiting a relative, for example - still seem the most likely way
for Richmond and Sarah to have met.
There is a nearly complete void of information concerning the
ancestry of Jemima Fletcher and her husband. Fletcher is a
common name and it may simply be that the two of them
emigrated from Ireland. But there is one connection that stands
out in my view. There was a certain Vardaman Fletcher, born in
36
Washington County, Virginia, in 1776 by some accounts. What is
striking is that one of his daughters was named Jemima. A
tentative hypothesis would be that James Fletcher’s mother,
Jemima, was also Vardaman’s mother. This will be explored
further at a later juncture.
37
The Bransons
Elizabeth Hoggard was very young when she married Henry
Branson, the son of Leonard Branson, who was, according to the
census list posted above, practically a next door neighbor in
Washington County. We don’t know the date of the marriage, so
just how young she was is difficult to determine. Their first child
was Sarah (Sallie) Branson, who (according to Branson family
trees) married William Creech and in the 1860 census was
recorded to be 47 years old. This means that she was born in
1812 or 1813, so the marriage would have taken place when
Elizabeth was 15 years old at most.
But she might have been even younger. Leonard Branson, with
his sons Henry and Hezekiah, moved to Knox County,
Kentucky, and are all three to be found on the 1811 tax list for
that county. Either Henry and Elizabeth married before the
Bransons departed, in which case Elizabeth was (at most) 14, or
Henry went back a year or so later to marry her.
38
The War of 1812
39
In 1813, James Hoggard (James I) sold the 116 acre plot of land in
Washington County on which he and his family had lived for
about 20 years. A portion of the entry in the deed book is shown
below.63
The full text of the deed reads:
This indenture made this twelfth day of November in
the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred
thirteen by and between James Hoggard of the first
part and George Bittle of the County of Washington
and Commonwealth of Virginia of the other part
witnesseth that the said James Hoggard for and in
consideration of the sum of three hundred and forty
eight dollars to him in hand paid by the said George
Bittle, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged,
hath and by these presents doth bargain, sell and
convey unto the said George Bittle, his heirs or assigns
one certain tract or parcel of land containing one
hundred and sixteen acres more or less, surveyed for
James Hoggard the 4th day of April 1792, lying on
south side of the north fork of Holston River and
bounded as follows, to wit. Beginning near a branch at
a white oak and hickory sapling and running thence
S20E 60 poles crossing a branch to a large buckeye on
John Fleming’s line and with the same S80W 146 poles
63
Scott County Deed Book 2, pp. 267-268
40
to a white oak on the side of a hill, S70W 66 poles to
the Lyns [?] by a spring, S6W 18 poles to five sugar
trees corner to Elijah Hart’s land, N27W 162 poles to a
stake, N64E 210 poles to the beginning, to have and to
hold the said one hundred sixteen acres of land, more
or less, with all the appurtenances thereunto
belonging, and the said James Hogard doth bind
himself his heirs etc. to warrant and defend said land
unto said George Bittle his heirs or assigns forever. In
witness whereof the said James Hogard hath hereunto
set his hand and seal the day and year above written.
Signed, sealed and acknowledged
James Hogard [seal]
in presence of
John Anderson
Isaac G Anderson
Fielding Hensley
William Agee
The deed, unfortunately, gives us little information that might
confirm its location. From the 1810 census extract discussed
earlier, we see that the purchaser, George Bittle, was a very near
neighbor to James Hoggard.
After selling the 116-acre parcel on Hoggard’s Branch, the
Hoggards in Virginia presumably still occupied the 100 acre plot
near the mouth of Big Mocassin Creek. I have found no deed of
sale for this property, and it is possible that James (or Jesse)
Hoggard was unable to assert title to it. It was not at all
uncommon for someone who was not living on a particular piece
of land to acquire a grant from the state land office, or in other
ways claim the title.
41
This is very much what happened to the earliest pioneers in the
Reedy Creek Settlement, as described by W. Dale Carter.64 In
1756 a man by the name of Edmund Pendleton was able to
secure a land grant in Virginia to somewhere between 3,000 and
6,000 acres along Reedy Creek, extending 10 miles upstream
from the junction with the Holston and including the north fork
of Reedy Creek (now called Boozy Creek), and including a
chunk of what became the Reedy Creek Settlement. The Reedy
Creek settlers who arrived in the 1770s were unaware of this
claim. In 1792 a notice was placed in the Knoxville Gazette
demanding that everyone living within the Reedy Creek
settlements on the Pendleton Patent vacate their homes and
remove their possessions. Most of the settlers did neither, having
valid grants to their land from the state of North Carolina, or so
they thought. Somehow, Pendleton’s earlier Virginia land grant
superseded the patents of the Reedy Creek settlers, even though
their land was entirely within North Carolina. Pendleton sold
the land out from under some of the settlers and converted the
rest to tenant farmers.65 This maneuver, fortunately, did not
affect James Hoggard.
It seems likely that James I, Jesse, and Richmond Hoggard all
moved with their families to Sevier County, Tennessee, after
James I sold the 116-acre parcel of land in 1813. It is essentially
impossible to attain certainty on this, because all Sevier County
court records were destroyed in an 1856 courthouse fire, while
all federal census records from 1790 to 1820 are lost.
64
W. Dale Carter, Reedy Creek Settlement and the Pendleton Patent,
Sullivan County Archives and Tourism,
http://www.historicsullivan.com/archives_manuscripts_0062_box0
02_item008.htm
65
Ibid.
42
In November, 1814, near the end of the war, Jesse (as Jesse
Hoggard)66 and Richmond (as Richard Haggard)67 were both
enlisted at Sevierville in the 5th Regiment of East Tennessee
Militia, under the command of Col. Edwin Booth. That regiment
drew its soldiers from Knox, Sevier, Rhea, and surrounding
counties.68 At the same time, James II (as James Haggard)69,
enlisted in the 4th Regiment of East Tennessee Militia, under the
command of Col. Samuel Bayless, which drew its soldiers from
Washington, Sullivan, and other counties in the northeastern
corner of Tennessee.70
While Richmond and Jesse were privates, James II, perhaps
because of his age, was a corporal. Both the 4th and the 5th
Regiments began official operations on November 13, 1814, in
Knoxville. Both regiments were under the overall command of
Major General William Carroll. Both were sent to the area
around Mobile, Alabama, because Andrew Jackson feared a
possible attack from a large faction of the Creek Indians in
Florida, upon whom he had waged war during the previous
year.71 A short history of the activities of the 5th Regiment is
posted on the Tennessee Secretary of State’s website:72
66
National Archives Compiled Military Service Records for the
Volunteer Soldiers Who Served During the War of 1812. Washington,
D.C., Microfilm Set M602, Roll Box 101
67
Ibid., Roll Box 88
68
Tennessee Secretary of State,
http://sos.tn.gov/products/tsla/regimental-histories-tennesseeunits-during-war-1812
69
National Archives Compiled Military Service Records for the
Volunteer Soldiers Who Served During the War of 1812. Washington,
D.C., Microfilm Set M602, Roll Box 88
70
Ibid.
71
Wikipedia, Creek War
72
Tennessee Secretary of State, op. cit.
43
The regiment was organized at Knoxville and their line
of march took them to Lookout Mountain (present-day
Chattanooga), to Fort Strother, and finally to Mobile.
Many of the men may have been stationed at Camp
Mandeville, a military post located outside of Mobile.
Most of the companies were dismissed at Mobile at the
end of the war.
The progress of the 5th Regiment can be traced on this map.
44
Richmond was in the company commanded by Capt. John
Porter. While I have found no direct account of that company’s
specific actions, a pension application by one of its members,
William Whaley, contains an account that is basically in accord
with what is known of the overall regimental activity. According
to the National Archive records, Whaley served as a fifer in
Captain John Porter’s Company73 (evidently fifers were in great
demand). In 1871, his pension application stated that
He served the full term of Sixty days in the military
Service of the United States in the War of 1812. That he
is the identical William Whaley who was drafted in
Captain Wilson Maples Company, Col Booths
Regiment … at Sevier County, State of Tennessee on or
about … November 1814 and was honorably
discharged at Mobile, Alabama on or about the day of
March 1815 that he does not recollect the Numbers of
the Regiment or Brigade, that Captain Maples resigned
and the Company was then Commanded by Captain
John W. Porter.
The Richmond Echles Hoggard poem introducing this narrative
states that Richmond Hoggard played the fife at the Battle of
New Orleans. In fact, none of the Hoggards were there.74
Richmond was 140 miles away, near Mobile, then part of Florida.
Richmond may have played the fife during the battle, but not at
the battle.75 War stories tend to be enhanced as time passes.
73
https://www.smokykin.com/tng/
getperson.php?personID=I3131
74
There was a James Hoggard at the Battle of New Orleans, but he was
a captain in a West Tennessee regiment.
75
A list of all the American soldiers in the Battle of New Orleans is
available at http://www.nps.gov/jela/learn/historyculture/
upload/CHALTroopRoster.pdf
45
Without his having seen battle, the War of 1812 ended Jesse
Hoggard’s life. The scant record of his participation is shown in
the payroll and the muster roll below, which show him to have
been in the same regiment as Richmond but a different
company.
Jesse almost certainly died of disease, which in the southern
campaigns claimed at least ten times more lives than did battle
wounds. Overall, around three fourths of the soldiers who died
in the War of 1812 succumbed to disease,76 but in the southern
campaign of 1814-15 the fraction was much higher – well above
90%. Dysentery, typhoid, and malaria were just a few of the
diseases that ran rampant through the troops.
76
http://www.pbs.org/wned/war-of-1812/essays/militarymedicine/
46
James II’s unit, the 4th East Tennessee regiment, had an
assignment similar to that of the 5th:
This regiment, along with Colonel William Johnson's
Third Regiment and Colonel Edwin Booth's Fifth
Regiment, defended the lower section of the
Mississippi Territory, particularly the vicinity of
Mobile. They protected the region from possible Indian
incursions and any British invasion. These regiments
were under the command of Major General William
Carroll. They manned the various forts that were
located throughout the territory: Fort Claiborne, Fort
Decatur, and Fort Montgomery, for example. Sickness
was rampant in this regiment and the desertion rate
was high. The regiment mustered in at Knoxville and
was dismissed at Mobile.77
A pension application by the widow of William Dikes of this
regiment was summarized thusly by the pension board:
Mrs. Jane Dykes … declares that she is the widow of
William Dykes, who served the full period of sixty
days in the military service of the United States in the
War of 1812, and who was the identical William Dykes
who was drafted in Captain Joseph Hale’s Company,
4th Reg’t Tennessee Militia, Brigade of Gen’l Coulter,
Division of Gen’l William Carroll – in Greene County,
State of Tennessee, and was mustered into the service
of the United States at Knoxville, Knox County, State
of Tennessee, on or about the 13th day of November
AD 1814 for the term of six months, and was
honorably discharged at Knoxville aforesaid, on or
about the 19th day of May 1815; that her said husband
marched from Knoxville aforesaid through the Creek
Indian nation into the Mississippi territory, now the
77
Tennessee Secretary of State, op. cit.
47
State of Alabama, and as she has reasons to believe, to
Mobile, and was in service when peace was
proclaimed between the United States and Great
Britain, after which he marched back to Knoxville,
Tenn. and was discharged.
Tennessee, by one account, earned its nickname, the Volunteer
State, by providing a large number of volunteers during the War
of 1812, many of whom distinguished themselves at the Battle of
New Orleans.78 The War of 1812 is often thought to have been
fought completely by a volunteer army,79 but in fact the militia
regiments raised in Tennessee (as in many other states) used
conscription. Volunteer regiments were distinguished from the
others by the word ‘volunteer’ in the title. Some conscripted
militia regiments in Tennessee were called ‘drafted militia’.
According to Jesse Hoggard’s records, the 5th Regiment of East
Tennessee Militia was using the designation “drafted militia”
when the soldiers were mustered in, but the term does not
appear on the payroll slip. In any case, James II, Richmond, and
Jesse did not volunteer. But they may not have been drafted
either – see below.
Richmond was discharged on May 20, 1815, according to his
company payroll slip, just slightly over the six months term for
which he was drafted.
78
79
Wikipedia, Tennessee
Meghan H. Morgan, A Brief History of Conscription 1812-2002, Thesis,
University of Tennessee, 2002
48
Richmond had about $50 coming to him for his six months’
service, including the two days added for traveling allowance,
which was certainly not enough time to get home from Mobile.
In any case, he reached home in Sevier County, but the payroll
funds were being disbursed at Knoxville. Probably because it
was uncertain just when the money would actually be paid out,
soldiers commonly appointed someone local to collect it for
them. The document below was put into Richmond’s service file
after being presented for payment. It is a power of attorney to
allow David Stellis to collect his pay.
49
It is somewhat difficult to read, but in the section on the
command Richmond served under, it states that he was in
Captain John Porter’s Company as a substitute (apparently
written over the word ‘private’). That means it wasn’t Richmond
that was drafted. He served in someone else’s place. A typical
fee for a six-month tour of duty by a substitute was $100.80
The power of attorney states that Richmond (still using the name
Richard Haggard, presumably in order to agree with his
enlistment record) was a resident of Sevier County.
Besides demonstrating that after James sold their land in
Washington County, Virginia, Richmond was living in Sevier
County, probably with Sarah, it is indirect evidence that James I
was living there too, as, presumably, had been Jesse. There was
80
C. Edward Skeen, Citizen Soldiers in the War of 1812, University of
Kentucky Press, 1999, p. 44.
50
no corresponding power of attorney in Jesse’s military file. The
amount to be collected was only $8.77, but my assumption is that
Jesse’s wife went to Knoxville herself to retrieve it. We can only
speculate that Jesse, like Richmond, may have been substituting
for someone else.
What became of Jesse’s family after his death is unknown.
Clearly his wife was left in an unenviable situation. The total loss
of Sevier County records in 1856, together with the loss of the
Sevier County U.S. census records through 1820, pretty much
dooms the search for any traces there. In any case, it is likely that
Jesse’s wife, Margaret (perhaps), went to live with her
Cleek/Click relatives in Hawkins County, Tennessee, or
Washington County, Virginia. It is also likely that she remarried,
because I can find no Hoggard in the 1820 census or later that
might correspond with Jesse’s wife (though the 1820 Hawkins
County census was lost), nor any woman of the right age in a
Cleek or Click household.
Of course, there were also children involved – four of them in
1810, and probably more by the time of Jesse’s death. Three of
those on the 1810 census were boys, born between 1800 and
1810. If they lived to adulthood, they should show up on census
records, possibly as early as 1830.
One candidate does exist, a William Hoggard, born about 1806
according to later censuses, and located in Knox County,
Tennessee in 1830. His origins have puzzled his descendants. On
the 1850 census, his birthplace is given as Tennessee, which,
though possible, runs contrary to our expectation that Jesse’s
child would have been born where Jesse lived, that is, in
Washington County, Virginia. On the other hand, Jesse’s fatherin-law, Michael Click, was living only about two miles away, on
51
the north fork of the Holston in Sullivan County in 1806,81 so
Margaret (if that was the right Click/Cleek daughter) may have
preferred to stay with her parents for the birth. A second
impediment to this connection is that on the 1880 census,
William Hoggard’s parents are reported to have been born in
North Carolina, whereas my assumption has been that Jesse was
born in Scotland. The implied North Carolina birth has led his
descendants to look as far away as Bertie County, on the east
coast of North Carolina, where a large cluster of Hoggards
developed. However, there is also the possibility that James I
had immigrated much earlier than 1790 and was already living
in Sullivan County, North Carolina, in 1782 (see Appendix C).
A positive reason to believe that William Hoggard was Jesse’s
son is that William and his wife (Jane Oglesby) named their first
son Jesse. They named their first daughter Elizabeth, which
might mean that William’s mother was Elizabeth Cleek rather
than Margaret. Or she might have been named for one of the
grandmothers, or for someone else or no one.
Another potential child of Jesse Hoggard is John Hoggard, born
in 1815 in Virginia or Tennessee. His ancestry is also uncertain,
but he too named one of his children Jesse.
81
North Carolina Land Grants, Book 81, p. 630 and Book 84, p. 162.
52
Kentucky
53
Not long after returning from the war, James II moved with his
family to an area a few miles northwest of Jonesborough, in
Washington County, Tennessee, consistent with the recollections
of John Amos Brown, James II’s grandson. Washington County
borders Sullivan County on the east and south.
Although the 1820 census for Washington County, Tennessee,
was lost, an 1819 tax list has James Hogard.82 He was
enumerated on the 1830 Washington County, Tennessee, census,
having at that time five children and two slaves.
In 1834 he sold his property in Washington County, consisting
of a 332-acre parcel on Kendrick Creek, near Jonesborough, for
$1,660, reserving half an acre for a meeting house that had been
established there.83 On the deed his name is spelled James
Hoggard. I found no record of the original purchase (it might
have been inherited through the Wrights).
Upon selling the land in Washington County, James and
Elizabeth moved back to Sullivan County, where they are
recorded in the 1840 census, along with three children older than
15 and two slaves. And, of course, James II was buried at the
Boatyard Cemetery in Kingsport when he died in 1845. Of
Elizabeth’s death I can find no record, nor is there a record of her
in the 1850 census. The land they lived on upon their return to
Sullivan County was evidently passed on to their four children,
as evidenced by the sale of a one-quarter interest in the land by
their daughter Elizabeth and her husband, Ephraim Brown, in
1873. The land was in an area then called Rossville, now a part of
Kingsport:
82
Tennessee, Early Tax List Records, 1783-1895 [online database].
Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013
83
Washington County, Tennessee, Deed Book 20, pp. 493-494.
54
Mr. Ephraim Brown and wife Elizabeth Brown,
formerly Elizabeth Hoggard, have bargained and sold
and do hereby convey to James N. Green and wife
Adeline Green in fee simple all the rights, title and
interest, being a one fourth interest in the undivided
tract of land formerly owned by James Hoggard, dec d,
laying in the west end of Sullivan County Tenn. north
of Kingsport – on the east side of the north fork of the
Holston River ….84
Sometime in 1815, James I and Richmond decided to move to
Knox County, Kentucky, where Elizabeth, Richmond’s sister,
was living with her husband, Henry Branson, along with
Hezekiah and Leonard Branson. James I bought 80 acres from an
absentee landlord, John Gass.
84
Sullivan County Deed Book 27, pp. 553-554
55
The text reads as follows:
This Indenture made the 5th of March 1816 between
John Gass of the County of Green and state of
Tennessee of the one part and James Haggard of the
county of Knox and state of Kentucky on the other part
witnesseth that for and in consideration of fifty dollars
to him in hand paid, the receipt whereof is hereby
acknowledged, hath granted, bargained, sold, aliened
and confirmed unto the said James Hoggard, his heirs
and assigns, forever a certain piece or parcel of land
situated, lying, and being in the County of Knox and
on the poor fork of Cumberland river. Beginning at the
upper end of the said Hoggard’s improvement and
running up and down the poor fork not to interfere
with Jonathan Smith’s claim so as to include eighty
acres, it being part of a tract of land granted to John
Gass by the Commonwealth of Kentucky containing
2321½ acres receiving date the 7th day of February in
the year of 1801, with all and singular the
appurtenances thereunto belonging. To have and to
hold the aforesaid granted premises from me and my
heirs and from all other persons whatever will warrant
and forever defend. In witness my hand and seal the
date above.
The deed makes it clear that the Hoggards were already living
on the land and had constructed a house (an ‘improvement’).
The deed specifies (to us) the location only by naming the Poor
Fork of the Cumberland River, so called because the land was
relatively poor for agriculture.85 That may be the reason that the
price was only $50 for 80 acres, less even than the charge for
federal land grants.
85
Wikipedia, Cumberland, Kentucky
56
In 1819, Knox County was split into smaller counties, and the
Hoggards found themselves in Harlan County. In the 1820
census James and Richmond were counted in two separate
households. Unfortunately, the census taker recopied all of his
data, listing heads of household alphabetically by the first letter
of the last name. This was good for looking someone up, but we
have completely lost information about relative geographical
locations.
James I (written Haggard, James) was in a household
with only his wife, both over 45 years of age.
Richmond (written Hoggard, Richm or Haggard, Richm)
was in a household with his wife and three children
under 10 years old, one boy and two girls.
The Bransons listed on the 1820 Harlan County census
consisted of Henry (whose wife was Elizabeth Hoggard)
and one other, entered only as ‘Branson’, who appears to
have been Leonard, Henry’s father. There was no entry
for Hezekiah.
Absentee landowners, like John Gass, were often resented by
pioneering settlers. These settlers were squatters, but they built
cabins, paid taxes, frequently registered their land to be
surveyed, and often knew of no actual owners of the lands they
were on. And in many cases there weren’t owners at the time.
When later the state conferred ownership on someone who
didn’t even live there, settlers could find themselves with no
rights whatever to what they considered their homes and their
property.
James I was possibly aware that he would have to buy the land
when he moved there. The Bransons, who lived on adjacent
57
properties, had been there for five years before the Hoggards
came. By then the Bransons would have known that John Gass
owned the whole surrounding area. Eventually, in 1822, Henry
and Hezekiah Branson bought their own land, and it looks like
John Gass was not greedy about it. He charged them $100 for 250
acres. Of that, 200 acres was
on Clover Lick Creek, beginning at the upper line of a
tract which the said Gass conveyed to Robert Reed and
running up both sides of said creek so as to include the
plantation the said Hezekiah lives on and also the
plantation where the said Henry Branson now live on
and also all of a certain fifty acre tract that the said
Hezekiah now claims except so far as the said Gass
have made a deed to James Hoggard.86
This allows us to place the Hoggard land in Harlan County near
the town of Cumberland (not to be confused with Cumberland
County), where Cloverlick Creek flows into the Poor Fork of the
Cumberland River. As stated in the 1816 deed from John Gass to
James Hoggard, the land ran up and down the Poor Fork, and it
clearly intersected the land sold by Gass to Hezekiah Branson,
which spanned the mouth of Cloverlick Creek. Whether
upstream (east) or downstream (west) of Cloverlick Creek, we
can’t tell, but the general area can be seen on the map on page
66. James Hoggard was living either just to west or just to the
east of the USGS Gaging Station, which is exactly at the
confluence, on the left side of the map.
86
Harlan County Deed Book A, p. 52.
58
There appears to have been considerable confusion, and possibly
conflict, over the land title. Note that in the deed from John Gass
to Henry and Hezekiah Branson, reference is made to “a certain
fifty acre tract that the said Hezekiah now claims except so far as
the said Gass have made a deed to James Hoggard.” It is difficult
to know exactly what was going on. Possibly when the
Hoggards moved there, they were welcomed onto land the
Bransons considered their own. When it turned out not to be
theirs, James Hoggard purchased 80 acres, which seems to have
become 50 when mentioned in the deed to the Bransons.
James I died sometime after May 22, 1822, the date of the John
Gass to Hezekiah and Henry Branson deed that implies that
James was still living there. The death may have occurred in
1824, because it was in November of that year that Richmond
sold a 50 acre parcel to Thomas Creech, older brother of William
Creech, whom Henry and Elizabeth (Hoggard) Branson’s first
child, Sarah, would later marry.
59
The deed reads as follows:87
This indenture made and entered into this 27 th day of
November 1824 between Richard Hoggard of the one
part and Thomas Creech both of the County of Harlan
and state of Kentucky. Witnesseth that the said
Richmond Hoggard for and in consideration of the
sum of $200 to him in hand paid hath bargained, sold,
and conveyed unto the said Thomas Creech a certain
tract or parcel of land whereon the said Hoggard now
lives containing fifty acres more or less. Beginning and
bounded as follows. Beginning at a sugar tree and
87
Harlan County, Kentucky, Deed Book A, p. 103.
60
chestnut on the side of a hill on the north side of the
cave branch, N45E 22 poles to a sowerwood and
dogwood, thence N65E 32 poles to a chestnut, spruce
pine, maple and dogwood, thence S36E crossing the
cave branch 55 poles to a black gum, birch and maple
on the south bank of said creek. Then up the same S9E
9 poles, S31E 12 poles, thence S55E 24 poles to a maple
and two white oaks near the south bank of said creek
in a bed of laurel. Thence S98 poles to a stake. Thence
N37W 184 poles to the beginning which I will warrant
and forever defend from me and my heirs unto the
said Thomas Creech and his heirs. In witness whereof I
have hereunto set my hand and seal this day and date
above written.88
The deed was witnessed by Hezekiah Branson and William
Coldiron. It was recorded in the county clerk’s office on May 16,
1825.
The problem is, this isn’t the same 50 (originally 80) acres
specified in the deeds of John Gass to James Hoggard and to
Hezekiah and Henry Branson. Instead of being on the Poor Fork
of the Cumberland River at or near the mouth of Cloverlick
Creek, it is on Cave Branch, a tributary of Cloverlick Creek about
two miles south of the Poor Fork.
To place the location within Harlan County, I have added a
marker for Cave Branch to the map below. Note that the town of
Cumberland is not shown, but is about two miles northwest of
Benham, where Looney Creek, the stream pictured on the map
on which Benham and Lynch are located, flows into the Poor
Fork. Harlan County itself borders on Lee and Wise Counties in
Virginia. The map is, appropriately, of the coal fields in Harlan
88
Consult Appendix A for an explanation of bearings and distances
used in surveys.
61
County, coal being by far the county’s biggest resource. The
town of Lynch was at one time the biggest company town in the
U.S., though its population has since shrunk by more than 90%.
Cloverlick Creek extends more or less straight southward from
Cumberland to Cave Branch.
The references to Cave Branch in the deed from Richmond
Hoggard to Thomas Creech allow us to find the exact location of
the land, because there is only a relatively small area around
Cave Branch flat enough to be farmed. It is interesting to look at
a satellite view to see what has become of the Hoggard land.
62
The remains from strip mining seen on the left (they prefer to
call it “mountaintop removal mining”)89, is long done with and
is relatively unimportant compared with what is going on on the
“Hoggard Farm” in the flat area. What you see is the Cave
Branch Prep Plant (in the center of the picture) and a flood
loader called the Lynch #3 Loadout (at the top of the picture).90
Underneath the ground, running several miles north and south
at a depth up to 2,200 feet, is the Lynch #37 mine. Coal from
other mines is trucked in, blended with the Lynch #37 coal, and
cleaned in the prep plant. A flood loader fills rail cars in a
continuous stream while the train moves under the loader at low
speed.91 The rail line can be seen to the west of College Road. It
ends east of the prep plant, but there is a spur into the prep plant
itself. So much for the Hoggard farm.
89
Wikipedia, Mountaintop Removal Mining
Robert Vaughn, W&H Main Yards: Guide to Appalachian Coal Hauling
Railroads, Vol. 2d, CSX’s Cumberland Valley Subdivision, Harlan County
Branch Lines, www.spikesys.com/Trains/App_coal
91
Ibid.
90
63
After selling the land, Richmond moved his family north to
Floyd County. Whether or not his mother was still alive at that
time is unknown, but she did not live to be counted on the 1830
census. It’s a mystery why Richmond decided to move. Possibly
the land just didn’t produce enough. Possibly there was friction
with the Bransons over the tract James I had lived on, which
Hezekiah apparently considered his. That same general area was
the subject of a deed executed the following year, from John
Creech, Sr. (Thomas and William’s father), to Hezekiah Branson.
In it he conveys
all that part of his survey or claim of land that he
bought of Robt Reid that lies below the mouth of
Cloverlick Creek and on the south side of the poor fork
bounding on said creek and river, including the place
where John Harrison now lives.
Robert Reed, as described in the earlier deed from John Gass to
the Bransons, had also bought his land from John Gass, and
lived adjacent to the tract the Bransons purchased, out of which
was excepted James Hoggard’s 50 acres. That 50 acres does not
appear to have been sold – perhaps it was given to Elizabeth,
and thus to Henry Branson. Or maybe Hezekiah pressed his
claim to the land successfully.
What seems peculiar to me is that after James and Richmond
bought and sold land in both Washington County, Virginia, and
Harlan County, Kentucky, there is no record of a purchase or a
sale by Richmond in Floyd County, or in Johnson County, which
split from Floyd County after the Hoggards were gone, but in
which area they lived.
We do have a few clues about their location. In the 1830 census
form there was a column for the name of the county, city, town,
or other designations. Next to the five names on the census sheet
64
above Richmond, who is listed as Richard Hoggard, there is the
notation ‘Paintsville’, but next to Richmond (Richard) is written
‘Floyd County’, which apparently applied to the rest of the
names below him. Thus we can surmise that Richmond lived
somewhere in the vicinity of Paintsville, which is now the
county seat of Johnson County.
In addition, we find Richmond mentioned twice in the Floyd
County court records.92 In March, 1825, it was recorded that
A report of a road as opened by Andrew Rule is
received. Richard Hogard is appointed surveyor
thereof and that he call on James Elam and Henry
Easterling, Robert Porter, James Fleetwood, Jesse
Brown, Isaac Fleetwood to keep the same in repair.93
This occurred just a few months after Richmond sold the Harlan
County land. The second entry is more useful and dates from the
summer of 1829:
Ordered that all the hands residing on Jennys Creek
before Ezekil Stone inclusion do assist Richard Hagard
to keep his road in repair according to law.
Jennys Creek (without the apostrophe) was named for Jenny
Wiley, a pioneer woman in western Virginia who, while her
husband was away, was captured by a group of Indians from
several tribes in 1789. They killed her brother and her five
children, one of which was born shortly after she was captured.
After 11 months she escaped and, following the path of a small
stream, eventually came across some settlers in Floyd County.
That stream was later named Jennys Creek. It flows into Paint
92
James Alan Williams, County Court Records 1821-1835, Floyd County,
Kentucky, Vol. I, 4th Ed., Banner, KY, Williams Publishing,
93
Ibid., p. 83
65
Creek just west of Paintsville, which in turn flows into the Levisa
Fork of the Big Sandy River on the eastern edge of Paintsville.
There is now a Jenny Wiley State Resort Park near Prestonsburg,
Kentucky.
Settlement on Jennys Creek probably proceeded from the mouth
upwards. Richmond was certainly not the first settler, and the
road he was appointed surveyor for was probably an extension
of what road there might already have been on Jennys Creek.
The dirt road shown paralleling Jennys Creek on the left side of
this 1954 topographical map was the successor to Richmond’s
road, but it has now been replaced by the 4-lane U.S. Highway
23. The red circle at the bottom of the map indicates one place,
out of many, Richmond may have lived.
In his poem, Richmond Ecchles Hoggard states that Richmond
and Sarah had eleven children. Seven of them are to be found on
the 1830 census, unnamed of course. By age category there were
66
males under 5
males 10 through 14
females under 5
females 5 through 9
2
1
2
2
We can try to match the census data with what we know about
the children of Richmond and Sarah.
1. James Hoggard, b. 1815
Aged 35 on the 1850 census and 45 on the 1860 census, the first
one counting the family on August 12 and the second one on
October 1, one would suppose that he would have to have been
born between October 1, 1814 and August 11, 1815. However,
both the 1850 and the 1860 census were supposed to record the
ages as of June 1 on that year. Whether that was done or not
cannot be ascertained. If so, it would shift the window to June 2,
1814 through June 1, 1815. The 1830 census was also supposed to
refer to June 1. James was evidently 14 years old when counted,
implying a birthdate after June 2, 1815. I assume that the 1850
and 1860 census takers ignored the June 1 reference point and
recorded the current age, in which case James was born around
July of 1815. This is consistent with Richmond’s military service
between November, 1814, and May, 1815.
On both the 1850 and 1860 census, James reported his place of
birth as Virginia. Since Richmond’s power of attorney, discussed
above, stated that he was a resident of Sevier County, Tennessee,
on August 1, 1815, we can only assume that Sarah had returned
to relatives in Washington County (or elsewhere) when
Richmond went off to war, and remained long enough to have
the baby there.
67
2. Matilda Hoggard, b. between 1816 and 1819
Matilda was recorded as 31 years old on the 1850 census (i.e.,
born in 1818 or 1819), but 45 years old on the 1860 census (born
in 1814 or 1815). She was in the 5 to 9 age group on the 1830
census, which would mean (if the census taker arrived on, or
referenced, June 1) that she was born no earlier than June 2, 1820.
Matilda was married on March 5, 1833, at which time, if the 1830
census were correct, she was 12 years old. I doubt that, and I
think the 1830 census taker made a mistake. Unfortunately, that
leaves us with a nothing but contradictory information. In the
1840 census she was in the 20 to 29 age group (born between
1810 and 1820), which makes more sense.
An additional clue to her birthdate is her place of birth, which
was recorded as Kentucky in both the 1850 and 1860 census. This
means that she was definitively born after James, i.e., no earlier
than 1816.
3. Elizabeth Hoggard, b. abt 1818
Aside from the 1830 census, the only one on which Elizabeth
appears is 1850, where she is recorded as being 31 years old. This
is again inconsistent with the 1830 census, which makes me
believe that the 1830 census taker should have recorded both
Matilda and Elizabeth in the 10 to 14 group, rather than 5 to 9.
That would mean that she was born between 1815 and 1820.
Judging by the 1850 census, she was born in 1818 or 1819.
4. Unknown male child, born between 1819 and 1825
The boy probably died young.
68
5. William Hoggard, b. 1825
William’s gravestone shows his date of birth as September 11,
1825, and he was born in Kentucky.
6. Unknown female child, born between 1824 and 1830
She might have died, but she also might have married without
an official record having been left, or with a record that was
subsequently lost to fire.
7. Rachel Hoggard, b. 1827 or 1828
Rachel was listed as 22 years old on the 1850 census, thus she
was born in 1827 or 1828. She has not been found on any census
after 1850.
It might seem that life in the Appalachians during the 1830s was
grim, far from the conveniences of a city, or even a town of
medium size. But the settlers knew how to keep themselves
entertained.
Jacqueline Richman, Richmond’s greatgranddaughter, recalled family stories that Richmond, having
purportedly fifed at the Battle of New Orleans, “gave violin
lessons later, and dance lessons”.
69
Missouri
70
Perhaps lured by stories of free land in Missouri, the Hoggards
loaded the wagon and headed west in 1832. The land wasn’t
actually free, but the federal government, in several installments,
had set aside millions of acres in the western territories
(Missouri and Indiana especially) to encourage settlement.
Settlers could find vacant land in Missouri, and provided they
filed intent with the appropriate land office, they were
guaranteed first right of purchase and clear title when they did
buy it.94 No more absentee landlords coming out of the
woodwork.
We can speculate that Richmond may have left Kentucky
because someone else claimed his land in Floyd County and he
had had enough of the uncertainty of land titles that was the
common experience of the frontier settlers.95
Possibly with a group of like-minded settlers,96 Richmond and
family traveled until they reached Lafayette County in western
Missouri. The general area the Hoggards would live in while in
Missouri was within the counties shown on the maps below. The
county names and boundaries changed rapidly before assuming
their final form in 1855. Those depicted are Jackson, Lafayette,
Rives, Van Buren, Bates, St. Clair, Johnson, Henry, Cass, and
Vernon.
94
Missouri Secretary of State,
http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/land/info.asp#describe
95
Arthur K. Moore, The Frontier Mind, University of Kentucky Press,
1957.
96
It is possibly a coincidence that James and Isaac Fulkerson, nephews
of the Abraham Fulkerson from whom James Hoggard obtained his
land in Washington County, Virginia, settled not far from the
Hoggards, around 1833.
71
1833
1837
1842
1855
The first records of the Hoggard presence in Missouri stem from
Lafayette County, a large, mostly uninhabited area when they
arrived. It appears that during the years they spent in Missouri,
though they lived in several different locations, the Hoggards
acquired title to only two pieces of land. Richmond and James
each owned a parcel, following the strategy begun by James I,
whose sons Jesse and James II occupied their own land in
southwestern Virginia and northeastern Tennessee at very
young ages, and who later, after moving to Kentucky, installed
Richmond on his own farm.
The two properties the Hoggards owned were on federal lands
and were eventually patented, that is, granted by the U.S.
government. Both were in Rives County (now Henry County) in
what is now Bogard Township, but was then Big Creek
Township. Both patents were issued on May 1, 1843, one to
James Hoggard and one to Richmond Hoggard. Richmond’s
patent was for 40 acres in section 31 of township 43 and range
28, using the public land survey system that made it possible to
accurately locate property without reference to dogwood trees
and the owners of neighboring properties.
72
James Hoggard’s patent was for 42.76 acres in section 31 of
township 44N. As mentioned, both fell within the boundaries of
73
the present Bogard township.97 With the help of an 1895 atlas,
we can locate them exactly.98 First, examine the location of
Bogard Township within Henry County:
Bogard is in the northwest corner of the county, adjacent to
Johnson County to the north and Cass County to the west. A
map of Bogard Township by itself reveals more detail:
97
In the Midwest the named townships frequently had dimensions
similar to those of the numbered townships in the Public Lands
Survey System (6 miles square, i.e., 36 square miles), but there is no
direct correspondence between named and numbered townships.
Richmond and James, for example, had land in different numerical
townships (43 and 44) but the same named township.
98
Historic Map Works, Henry County 1895, North West Publishing Co.
74
James Hoggard’s patent was in Section 31 in the upper left
corner, and Richmond’s was in the Section 31 near the lower left
corner. Blowing up James’ section, we can locate his parcel from
the description in his land grant:
75
In 1895 the 42.76 acre property was still intact, as was another
42.76 acre lot just to the north of it, which also provided the
nearest water source, Walnut Creek.
Richmond’s land was six miles south of James’ land grant, in
section 31 of township 43. The John Catron who in the 1895 atlas
was recorded as the owner of this land was the son of the John
Catron who lived on Reedy Creek adjacent to James Hoggard.
See below for more on the Catrons.
76
The Hoggards, especially James, lived in several places besides
the two secured by federal land patents. We have evidence for
their presence at these locations, but in most cases we cannot
ascertain when, or in what order they may have moved from one
to another.
We have indirect evidence that very early on James was in what
would now be in the northeastern part of Chilhowee Township
in Johnson County. At the time James settled there, it was in
Lafayette County. In December, 1834, Johnson County was
formed. The county seat, Warrensburg, was first laid out in 1835.
James was barely 17 years old when the family moved to
Missouri, but he seems to have been a formidable pioneer from
the outset.
An 1877 publication that discussed early settlements in
Chilhowee Township, stated
77
Most of the earliest settlers came about 1833, and from
that on. Any previous to this date have about passed
out of memory, and were merely settlers for a season.
They collected near the present western line, in the
vicinity of Bear creek, and upon the headwaters of Post
Oak in the eastern part. A few settled in a more central
location in the township near the southern line, on the
headwaters of Panther creek…. A settler by the name
of Hogard is thought to be the first. 99
Considering especially that the Hoggards moved around a lot in
Missouri, and left no deed of purchase or sale in Johnson
County, it is remarkable that in 1877 there were still people that
remembered them. Of course, this Hoggard could have been
either Richmond or James or both, but we have further
testimony that it was James, living alone, and that, of the three
earliest settlements mentioned in the extract above, the land
James was living on was on the headwaters of Post Oak Creek. It
should probably be noted that Chilhowee Township did not
come into existence until 1868, and that after Johnson County
was formed from Lafayette, the place where James Hoggard was
living was in Madison Township.
In a history of Johnson County published in 1881, there is also a
section on Chilhowee Township, which states:100
The following is a list of some of the earliest settlers,
headed with the first: James Hogard came in 1829; James
Arnold came in 1830; Finis and John Foster came here from
Kentucky, in the year 1832, and since moved to Texas; Geo.
99
Atlas Map of Johnson County, Missouri, St. Louis Atlas Publishing
Company, 1877.
100
A History of Johnson County, Missouri, Kansas City Historical
Company, 1881, p. 575
78
D. and John A. Wright came from Howard County,
Missouri, in 1832, and are now dead.
The added precision on the name is accompanied by a loss of
precision on the date. If James had settled there in 1829, he
would have been 13 or 14 years old, depending on when in 1829
he arrived. We can rule out the possibility that James hooked up
with other emigrants headed to Missouri in 1829, because he was
recorded on the 1830 census in Floyd County. The most probable
explanation for the mistaken date is that the recollections of the
old settlers on whose stories this account was based, had become
a little foggy.
The general area in which James was residing is indicated with
the large circle on the map on page 88.101
Obviously, the exact location on Post Oak Creek is uncertain.
The two certain locations in Bogard Township (Henry County)
in which Richmond and James lived are shown for reference, by
small red circles.
101
R. A. Campbell, Missouri State Atlas, 1873, Historic Map Works
79
Clearly some of the settlers still around in 1877 and 1881
remembered James Hoggard as being the first resident of the
area that would later be designated Chilhowee Township. The
situation is muddled when the same 1881 history of Johnson
80
County, in another portion of the township history, names
William Norris as the first resident:102
In the day when the first settler kindled his campfire
on Norris Fork103 the red man watched with a jealous
eye the intrusion, and determined before a dozen
moons had come and gone to molest the solitary, palefaced pioneer. This was the family of William Norris,
who settled here before the government land was
sectionized. He settled near the Walnut Grove
cemetery, otherwise called the Carpenter graveyard, in
the year 1829. His two brave and noble daughters
assisted in opening up a farm in the brush, and that
year planted twenty seedling apple trees in the brush
thickets, and when they got time cleared away the
brush.
It may have appealed to Richmond and his family that the land
they found in Missouri was sparsely wooded in comparison to
Kentucky and southwestern Virginia, and the effort to clear it,
however substantial, much less than what had been required
back where they had come from. The same county history notes
that104
The old settlers say that they can remember when this
township was a vast ocean of grass, four to seven feet
high… The greater portion of the year deer, elk, wolves
and other wild animals could hide in the tall grass. It is
said that when once this wild grass has been killed out
it never takes root again. It belonged to the red man,
the buffalo, deer, antelope, and other wild animals.
102
A History of Johnson County, Missouri, Kansas City Historical
Company, 1881, p. 570
103
Now called Norris Creek
104
A History of Johnson County, Missouri, Kansas City Historical
Company, 1881, p. 569
81
Cattle lived all winter on the little streams without any
domestic food. Hogs ran wild on the creeks, and
frequently the hunter took his pork from the mast. 105
While the Indians in western Missouri were not generally
hostile, altercations did occur, and the exposed positions of the
first settlers caused them to bear the brunt of them. The same
William Norris family had just such an incident:106
While the girls and father were at work, the Indians
stole their mother, who was tied by them on a pony,
and kept for several days. A company of white men
were gathered and put in pursuit. By this time Mrs.
Norris was untied, and made to follow in their trail.
They would often raise their tomahawks over her head
and threaten to kill her if she attempted to escape. It is
said that she would break twigs and branches of
bushes and drop them in the trail to let her pursuing
friends know she was still alive. With great precaution
she watched for a chance to escape, but none offered.
Finally, when she believed the Indians were making
preparations to meet their foe, she lagged a trifle
behind, and just as soon as the white men were in sight
she fled for her liberty, but in her flight the Indians
hotly pursued and threw several tomahawks after her,
one cutting a frightful gash in her shoulder. She was
safely rescued and soon after joined her family.
A later history of Johnson County, obviously based in large part
on the first one, did not decide between William Norris and
James Hoggard, saying
105
This refers to the practice of letting domestic pigs feed on mast, i.e.,
nuts and fruits in the forest
106
A History of Johnson County, Missouri, Kansas City Historical
Company, 1881, p. 571
82
The first settlement that was made in what is now
Chilhowee township was probably in 1829. It appears
that James Hogard and William Norris came that
year.107
The 1877 history was much closer to the mark when it named
1833 as a probable time for the earliest settlements.
My assumption is that shortly after arriving in Lafayette County
in 1832, proceeding southwards from Lexington, the county seat,
beyond other settlers, Richmond stopped at Post Oak Creek.
They built a cabin, then left James to his own devices and moved
on to the site that Richmond afterwards patented. James would
later show himself to be very vigorous in the search for new
land.
Shortly after they got to Missouri, two of the girls, Matilda and
Elizabeth, got married. Matilda married Perry Chesney on
March 5, 1833. She was somewhere between 13 and 17 at the
time.
107
Ewing Cockrell, History of Johnson County Missouri, Historical
Publishing Company, 1918, p. 240
83
The marriage took place in Tebo Township, according to the
marriage certificate. That, however, tells us little, because at the
time of the marriage, Tebo Township included the entire area
now encompassed by Johnson and Henry Counties, both of
which would split from Lafayette a year and a half later (Henry
County was then named Rives). Little is known about Perry
Chesney, and he apparently died within a few years. Matilda
also outlived her second husband (Amariah Hanna) and married
a third time (M. K. Selvidge). Perry Chesney was in the age
group 20 to 29 on the 1830 census, thus he was considerably
older than Matilda.
Elizabeth, following the Hoggard tradition already apparent,
was 16 or 17 years old when she married James Fletcher. The
marriage was of some note because the old pioneers from
Chilhowee Township, whose recollections were used in the 1881
history of Johnson County, recalled it as the first:108
The first marriage of the township was at the house of
James Hogard, in the year 1831, when Mr. Fletcher and
Miss Hogard were united in matrimony. Mr. Wm. D.
King and Miss Elizabeth Gillum were the attendants,
and Rev. Robert D. King solemnized the marriage.
Ewing Cockrell, in the 1918 history of Johnson County,
rephrased these observations, mistaking James Hoggard for
Elizabeth’s father:109
The first marriage in the township was performed in
1831 when a Mr. Fletcher and Miss Hogard were
united in marriage at the home of her father, James
Hogard. Rev. Robert D. King performed the ceremony,
108
A History of Johnson County, Missouri, Kansas City Historical
Company, 1881, p. 575
109
Ewing Cockrell, op. cit., p. 241
84
the witnesses were William D. King and Elizabeth
Gillum.
There is yet a third account of this event, deriving from
testimony before the Dawes Commission around 1903 by
Elizabeth’s brother, William Hoggard:110
James and Elizabeth Fletcher were married by a justice
of the peace in Johnson Co., Mo., four miles south of
Warnesburg. The way they came to marry, uh, there
was that they ran away together and I went with them,
that was about 1833. Betsy Fletcher was my sister and
her maiden name was Hoggard.
No county record of this marriage has yet been found. The
location specified by William Hoggard matches well with the
Post Oak Creek settlement circled on the map above.111 William
seems to have been guessing about the marriage taking place in
1833. If it did, Elizabeth was about 15 years old. I don’t know
what the minimum age to marry without a parent’s consent was
at the time, but I doubt it was that young. There was no Johnson
County in 1833, though it would have been well known to
William that when Johnson County did form (in 1835), his
brother James’ house and farm were within it. William recalls
the marriage taking place before a justice of the peace, whereas
whoever contributed the memory to the 1881 history (possibly
one of the individuals mentioned) states that they were married
by a minister. I will assume that they actually were in Johnson
County, and married in 1835. Their first child, John, was 14 years
old on the 1850 census, which is consistent with this.
110
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/CHOCTAWSOUTHEAST/2002-03/1016602059
111
Warnesburg is Warrensburg, as William Hoggard must have
pronounced it
85
William’s observations leave us with an impression of how the
events must have unfolded. Having decided to marry, and
lacking permission from Richmond and Sarah (or knowing it
would not be forthcoming), James Fletcher and Elizabeth
Hoggard (9 years younger than James), decide to elope. They
plan the event carefully, bringing into the conspiracy Elizabeth’s
brother James, who agrees to use his house in Johnson County
for the marriage. James Fletcher arranges for a minister and
witnesses, then takes a wagon down to Rives County to pick up
Elizabeth at an agreed location. Elizabeth takes William along
for the adventure.
Or not. Stories tend to change on the retelling. Perhaps it was
simply easier to arrange for a minister in Johnson County,which
was where James Fletcher lived. William may indeed have
ridden north with James Fletcher and Elizabeth Hoggard, but it
is also possible that Richmond and Sarah went with the rest of
the family in a second wagon.
86
The Fletchers
The James Fletcher that married Elizabeth Hoggard was born in
Kentucky in 1810, probably in Knox County, where his father,
William Fletcher, is found on the 1810 census, a short distance
(28 names on the census list) from his grandmother (i.e., William
Fletcher’s mother), Sarah Wilburn (she had remarried). William
Fletcher was just three households from Robert Reed, whose
property was adjacent to that of Henry and Hezekiah Branson
and James Hoggard (James I) on the Poor Fork of the
Cumberland River, after the Hoggards and the Bransons moved
to Knox County.
Earlier in this story, the ancestry of Sarah Fletcher, wife of
Richmond, was discussed, with the hypothetical conclusion that
Sarah’s father, James Fletcher, and a Vardaman Fletcher, both of
whom lived in Washington County, Virginia, were brothers. The
mother, still hypothetically, was Jemima, who was counted in
her own household in the 1810 and 1820 censuses of Washington
County, Virginia.
A connection between James Fletcher, the husband of Elizabeth
Hoggard (daughter of Richmond Hoggard) and Sarah Fletcher,
Elizabeth’s mother, suggests itself, but is far from obvious. This
James Fletcher’s father, William, was born in Lee County,
Virginia, in 1789, and his parents were Drury and Sarah
(Benham) Fletcher.112 Drury Fletcher married Sarah Benham in
Washington County, Virginia, in 1786.113
112
Ruth F. Wiley, Sarah Fletcher Hoggard, privately printed, p. 27; also
available on the web as Fletcher – Hoggard
113
Ibid., p. 2
87
Without any actual historical indication of a relationship,114 the
Fletcher lines in this story, traced backwards, all intersect in
Washington County, Virginia, as do, of course, those of the
Hoggards and the Bransons. I will go out on a limb and
hypothesize that Vardaman, Drury, and James (father of Sarah,
wife of Richmond) Fletcher were all brothers.
Vardaman Fletcher, while not a known or proposed ancestor to
any of the Fletchers in our story, is the potential link between
James Fletcher, the proposed father of Sarah, and Drury, the
father of William and James Fletcher, from whom the Fletchers
in Missouri were descended. The link to James (father of Sarah)
is that Vardaman named a daughter Jemima, while Jemima lived
next door to James according to the 1810 Washington County,
Virginia, census. The link with Drury Fletcher is that Drury’s son
William, as stated above, was living in Knox County, Kentucky,
in 1810, and so was Vardaman Fletcher. So too was a John
Fletcher, who was over 45 years old at the time. My guess is that
John was an uncle to Drury, William, and James, but he
obviously could have been a parent of any or all of them.
The welter of repeated names makes it almost impossible to keep
the Fletcher family tree in one’s head or the relationships with
the Hoggards. For convenience, Appendix B has a short version
of the tree and the Hoggard-Fletcher marriages.
114
Actually, there is one indicator - male line descendants of Vardaman
Fletcher and Drury Fletcher belong to the same Y-DNA haplogroup
(R-M269), though this is not evidence of a close connection, because a
number of other Fletchers fall in the same haplogroup. At least it
doesn’t rule out a connection. See Fletcher DNA Project,
https://www.familytreedna.com/public/fletcher/
default.aspx?section=results
88
Although the story told so far seems to yield a hopelessly inbred
family tree, the inbreeding is not yet over with.115
In 1837, James Hoggard married Sarah Fletcher in Lafayette
County, where Sarah lived.
Sarah Fletcher was the daughter of James Fletcher (not the one
who married Elizabeth Hoggard), another son of Drury Fletcher
and Sarah Benham.116 Thus this Sarah Fletcher was a first cousin
to the James Fletcher who married Elizabeth Hoggard, and who
lived near Warrensburg in Johnson County. The James Fletcher
who lived in Lafayette County (Sarah’s father) was well to do. In
1830 he owned three slaves. By 1850 his property was worth
$10,000, according to the census returns.
115
And for still more Hoggard-Fletcher inbreeding, see Ruth F. Wiley,
op. cit.
116
Ruth F. Wiley, op. cit., p. 2
89
On the Move in Missouri
Southwestern Missouri was almost completely devoid of white
settlers when the Hoggards arrived. There were several different
Indian tribes in the area at various times, but the histories all
point out that there were virtually no hostilities, the kidnapping
reported above being an obvious exception. Often the Indians
would outnumber the white settlers when preachers came by
and gathered the inhabitants.
It had to have been very hard work to break the land, plant crops
and survive on one’s own resources. The early settlers recalled,
however, that there were compensations. For example,
Cockrell’s history of Johnson County recounts that117
Judge J. B. Mayes emigrated from [Kentucky] to this
county in September, 1834, while … Johnson county
was wild and unsettled. The Kaw Indians were quite
numerous here yet, but had changed their residence to
Kansas, and would come back in hunting squads. He
was married to Miss Gillum … in this county.118
He states the following: “It took six pair of oxen to
break the prairie land; now, two horses can do the
work. Then deer, bear, and many kinds of wild
animals were here in abundance, and people were
happy and all loved one another, and neighbors were
well known who lived five miles apart. In those days, I
never knew a man to charge another, even a stranger,
for staying all night, nor never knew a bushel of
potatoes sold. If one neighbor raised more than he
117
A History of Johnson County, Missouri, Kansas City Historical
Company, 1881, p. 575
118
Possibly the same Miss Gillum who witnessed the marriage of
Elizabeth Hoggard and James Fletcher
90
wanted, he told his fellow to come and get what he
wanted. One man would kill a beef and send for his
neighbors to come and get what they wanted, ‘without
money and without price’.”
Returning to the peregrinations of the Hoggards in Missouri,
shortly after marrying Sarah Fletcher, James Hoggard evidently
left Chilhowee Township in Johnson County and moved to what
was then Deepwater Township in Van Buren County, but is now
Sherman Township in Cass County, where a county historian
recounts, from the recollections of the oldest settlers in Sherman
Township, that
James Hogard, from Kentucky, was among the earliest
settlers in the township, but went away prior to the
war of 1861.119
James apparently just walked away from the Chilhowee
Township land without selling it, possibly because he hadn’t
filed and someone else did. The same history relates how the
first two settlers in the township, James Stewart and Moses
Strong, arrived in 1836 and 1837, the latter settling on Knob
Creek, so it is reasonable to suppose that James got there in 1837.
When the 1840 census was taken, it was Richmond who was
living on the land in Deepwater Township (Sherman Township
had not yet been formed), rather than James. The three
households counted before Richmond’s were those of Moses
Strong, Samuel Prewitt, and Isaac Strong, so if the county history
was correct, Richmond was also living on Knob Creek in 1840.
Three households after Richmond’s was that of John Gregg, and
because of that I will make the assumption that Richmond was
living in the vicinity of the land belonging to Martha Gregg,
119
The History of Cass and Bates Counties, Missouri, St. Joseph, Mo.,
National Historical Company, 1883, p. 267.
91
located on Knob Creek in this extract from an 1877 map of
Sherman Township.120 The name Gregg was frequently spelled
Gragg in Van Buren and Cass County records.
The 1840 census showed James Hoggard to be living in the
Springfield census district in Rives County (later Henry County),
the same county in which James and Richmond’s federal land
patents would be issued, but about 15 miles east of James’
patent. The bounds of the Springfield census district have been
lost to posterity, but it appears to have been in the northeastern
quadrant of Rives County, encompassing all or parts of three or
four of the townships that existed at the time.
The modern townships are shown on this 1895 map of Henry
County. By examining the individuals that were enumerated
before and after James Hoggard on the 1840 census, we can form
120
Atlas of Cass and Bates Counties, Missouri, 1877, in digital collection of
State Historical Society of Missouri,
http://statehistoricalsocietyofmissouri.org/
92
at least some idea of his location within the Springfield census
district. Some of these individuals are named in a county history
dating from 1881.121
This approach is not without its difficulties. These were settlers
like James and Richmond Hoggard, and many of them may have
moved around as frequently as the Hoggards did. Choosing one
person enumerated several households before James, George W.
Lake, and giving his household the number 1, what follows is a
list of just the households with names to be found in the Henry
County history, together with that work’s description of where
they lived, as best it could be determined, based on the township
designations that existed in 1881.
121
History of Henry and St Clair Counties, Missouri, St. Joseph, Mo.,
National Historical Company, 1883.
93
#
1
Household
George W. Lake
Township
Fields
Creek
Fields
Creek
4
Nathan Fields
16
24
James Hogard
B.W. Stevenson
Windsor
25
26
John Taylor
John A. Pigg
Windsor
Tebo(?)
30
William Goff
Tebo
33
George Squires
Tebo
Section 20; first settler within
Fields Creek township
had been Rives County Sheriff
Colby Stevenson ran the
school in the area of Windsor
township
probably in Calhoun, though
he was one of first settlers in
Leesville Twnship
in Calhoun; first county judge,
postmaster, treasurer
in Calhoun
It appears that the census taker was working in what is now
Fields Creek, then traveled to Windsor Township and worked
his way generally southwest. Unfortunately, none of the
households in the immediate vicinity of James Hoggard were to
be found in the county history. Because in the census James was
closer to the people in Windsor Township than those in Field
Creek Township, I will make the very tentative assumption that
he was in Windsor Township, possibly in the middle or
northern half.
In addition to the census, we have another snapshot, probably
taken in late 1842, of the Hoggard locations, as specified on the
certificates for the land grants issued to Richmond and James.
Although the grant was for land in Henry County, Richmond’s
certificate states that he was a resident of Van Buren County.
James’ land was also in Henry County, and he too was a resident
of Van Buren County. Both certificates were signed by President
Tyler on May 1, 1843, the information on residence having been
supplied some unknown time previously.
94
Richmond was probably still living with his family on Knob
Creek in Deepwater Township, where he was in 1840, and I
think I know where James was. An entry in the 1883 Cass
County history states that Spruce Township
is watered by Stewart’s Creek and its tributaries in the
southeast, central and southwest portions, by Hoggard
Branch in the northeast, and by the headwaters of
Cove and Peter Creeks in the north.
It is impossible to imagine that Hoggard Branch got its name
other than from James or Richmond Hoggard, and James being
the more restless of the two, it was probably from him. A map of
Spruce Township in an 1877 atlas shows Hoggard Branch quite
clearly in the northeastern corner.122
122
Atlas of Cass and Bates Counties, Missouri, 1877, in digital collection of
State Historical Society of Missouri,
http://statehistoricalsocietyofmissouri.org/
95
Spruce Township is now in Bates County, but in 1840 the
dividing line between Bates and Van Buren Counties was farther
south than it is now, hence James was a resident of Van Buren
County. This segment of the Spruce Township map is in its
northeast corner. Hoggard Branch flows northeast through the
northwest corner of Walker Township in Henry County into
White Oak Township, where it empties into White Oak Creek. In
an 1877 map of White Oak Township, in the southwest corner, it
is called Hoggard Creek.123
By the time the U.S. Geological Survey first named Hoggard
Creek on a topographical map, in 1953, it inexplicably chose to
drop a ‘g’.
123
Map of Henry County, Missouri, Sedalia, Mo., Warner & Foote, 1877;
96
As recorded in the 1840 census, James was living with his wife
(Sarah Fletcher) and two children, both males five years old and
younger. The boys can be identified as William Calvin and
George B. Hoggard.124
Richmond and his wife (also Sarah Fletcher) had six children
living with them at the time of the 1840 census. By age category,
these were
males 10 through 14
females under 5
females 5 through 9
females 10 through 14
1
1
2
2
Comparing these children to those on the 1830 census and to the
eight known names among the ten children that appear on
censuses, we can match them as follows.
124
Ruth F. Wiley, op. cit.
97
Name or
description
James
Matilda
1830 census
1840
male 10-14
female 5-9125
Elizabeth
female 5-9
Unknown
male child
William
Unknown
female child
Rachel
Maranda
Nancy J
Mary C
male under 5
male under 5
female under 5
in own household
married Perry
Chesney
married James
Fletcher
not in household,
presumed dead
male 10-14
female 10-14
female under 5
not yet born
not yet born
not yet born
female 10-14
female 5-9
female 5-9
female under 5
born
in
VA
KY
KY
KY
KY
KY
KY
KY
MO
MO
Summing up, we have found evidence for four separate
locations in western Missouri where the Hoggards lived at
various times:
1. Chilhowee Township, Johnson County, based on a
county history and a statement made by William
Hoggard about his sister’s marriage.
2. Deepwater Township (present Sherman Township) on
Knob Creek, Van Buren County (now Cass), based on
county history and neighbors in 1840 census.
3. Springfield census district (possibly in present Windsor
Township), Rives County (now Henry), based on
neighbors in 1840 census.
125
It is likely that the census taker ticked the wrong box for Matilda
and Elizabeth, and they were actually in the 10-14 age group.
98
4. Deepwater Township (now Spruce Township) on
Hoggard Branch, Van Buren County (now Bates), based
on name of stream and James’ residence in Van Buren
County on his federal land patent certificate.
In addition there were the two land grants in Rives County (now
Henry County) in what was Big Creek Township then, Bogard
Township now. We have no independent evidence of the
Hoggards actually residing on either of the two land grants. Yet
they must have lived there in order to fulfill the requirements to
purchase federal lands.
There is an 1839 document in which Richmond pledges his yet to
be issued land grant in Rives County as security for a $60 loan,
yet even in this document he is stated to be a resident of Van
Buren County. Still, in order to be able use the land as collateral,
it is fairly clear that Richmond must have lived there at some
earlier time. The full text of the document, which is on file in
Cass County, rather than in Henry County, where the property
in question is located, reads as follows:126
This indenture made and entered into this eleventh
day of July in the year of our Lord one thousand eight
hundred and thirty nine between Richard Hoggard of
the county of Van Buren and State of Missouri of the
one part and John Cartion of the county of Lafayet of
the other part witnesseth that the said party of the first
part for and in consideration of the sum of sixty dollars
to him in hand paid by the party of the second part, the
receipt whereof is duly acknowledged, hath granted,
bargained and sold and by these present doth grant,
bargain and sell unto the said party of the second part
and to his assigns the following described tract or
parcel of land lying, situated and being in the county
126
Cass County, Missouri, Deed Book B, pp. 167-168
99
of Rives, State of Missouri, to wit the north west
quarter of the north east quarter of Section No. thirty
one in Township No. forty three of Range No. twenty
eight, containing forty acres to have and to hold the
above described tract or parcel of land to him the said
John Cartion, his heirs and assigns forever, together
with all and singular the appertanances thereunto
belonging or in any wise appertaining, provided
always, and these presents are upon this express
condition that Whereas the said Richard Hoggard,
party of the first part, is indebted unto the said John
Cartion, party of the second part, in the just and full
sum of sixty dollars, now therefore if Richard Haggard
or his assigns shall well and truly pay or cause to be
paid unto the said John Cartion or his assigns the
above sixty dollars according to the terms and effect of
a certain promissory note, bearing even date with these
presents, executed by the said Richard Haggard to the
said John Cartion for the above mentioned sixty dollars
and payable on or before the first day of January next
to the said John Cartion or his order with interest from
date at the rate of ten per cent per annum, then and in
that case, this deed and everything herein contained
shall cease and be entirely void. In testimony whereof
the said Richard Haggard, party of the first part has
hereunto set his hand and seal the day and date above
written.
Richmond Hoggard (his mark)
The “John Cartion” in the deed was actually John Catron, the
same John Catron whose name was on this land in the 1895 map
above. You may recall that Peter and John Catron were
neighbors of James Hoggard on Reedy Creek and, in fact, Peter
Catron in 1811 bought the land that James I had sold in 1807.
Peter and John were brothers, and the John Catron who loaned
the $60 to Richmond was the son of the John Catron on Reedy
100
Creek. Richmond was about seven years older than John Jr., but
they must have known each other as children.
The locations, some general and some specific, of all six of the
Hoggard locations, are shown on the 1873 map below.127 James
Hoggard is associated with five of them and Richmond with
two, both of them having apparently lived on the Knob Creek
land in the present Sherman Township in Cass County.
In 1842 Richmond sold his Henry County land grant to John
Catron, the same person to whom he had earlier pledged the
land as security on a $60 debt:128
127
Historic Map Works, Campbell’s New Atlas of Missouri, 1873,
www.historicmapworks.com
128
Cass County, Missouri, Deed Book D, pp. 86-87
101
The text reads:
Know all men by these presents that I, Richmond
Hoggard, and Sarah Hoggard, his wife, of the County
of Henry and State of Missouri, for and in
consideration of the sum of eighty dollars to us in hand
paid, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged,
have granted, bargained and sold, and by these
presents do grant, bargain, and sell, unto John Catron
of Lafayette County and the aforesaid state, and his
heirs all our right title and interest in and to a certain
tract or parcel of land lying, situated and being in the
County of Henry and State of Missouri and designated
and known by the following boundaries, to wit, the
northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of Section
No. 31 in Township No. 43 north of the base line of
Range No. 28 west of the 5 principal meridian,
containing forty acres, together with all and singular
the appurtenances thereunto belonging and in any
wise appertaining, to have and to hold unto the said
John Catron or his heirs forever, and the said
102
Richmond Hoggard and Sarah Hoggard, his wife, do
for ourselves and our heirs forever warrant and defend
this title or claim to the above described tract of land
unto the said John Catron and his heirs against all titles
or claims whatsoever, in testimony whereof the said
Richmond Hoggard and Sarah Hoggard, his wife, have
hereunto set our hands and our seals this, the 25 th day
of April in the year of our Lord one thousand eight
hundred and forty two.
Richmond Hoggard (his mark)
Sarah Hoggard (her mark)
To the deed is appended the following statement by the justice
of the peace, Alexander Gragg:129
Be it remembered that on the 25th day of April in the
year of our Lord eighteen hundred and forty two
before me, one of the Justices of the peace within and
for the county aforesaid, appeared Richmond Hoggard
and Sarah Hoggard, his wife, both personally known
to me to be the persons whose names are signed to the
foregoing instrument of writing, and having executed
the same and severally acknowledged this to be their
act and deed for the purposes therein mentioned, she,
the said Sarah Hoggard, being by me first made
acquainted with the contents thereof and examined
separate and apart from her husband, whether she
executes the same and relinquishes her dower in these
lands and tenements therein mentioned voluntarily,
freely and without compulsion or under influence of
her said husband, acknowledged and declared that she
executes the same and relinquishes her dower in the
129
Alexander Gragg was no doubt a relative of the John and Martha
Gragg (Gregg) who were Richmond’s neighbors on Knob Creek
according to the 1840 census.
103
said lands and tenements therein mentioned
voluntary, freely and without compulsion or under
influence of her said husband. Taken and certified the
day and year above mentioned.
Richmond collected $80 for the land he had originally paid $50
(($1.25 per acre) for, if indeed he had yet paid it. Note that
Richmond sold the land before he obtained the official land
patent, which was signed by the president on May 1, 1843. Note
also that in the 1895 plat map displayed on page 85, the parcel
was still owned by John Catron. John’s son, John Catron Jr.,
owned adjacent land, and both were living elsewhere, while they
presumably rented out the land. John Sr. was, in fact, still living
in Lafayette County in 1895, just as he was in 1842, when the
deed from Richmond Hoggard was drawn up.
Presumably, Richmond and his family continued to live on the
place on Knob Creek that they had been occupying for some
years. James, however, had moved from Chilhowee Township in
Johnson County, to Tebo Township in Rives County, to
Deepwater Township in Van Buren County, and probably yet
again to Henry County, as will be discussed shortly.
104
Texas
105
At some point in the early 1840s the news reached western
Missouri that there was land to be had in north Texas, not for the
$1.25 an acre charged for federal land grants in Missouri, but for
nothing. The news was of a land development in northwestern
Texas called the Peters Colony. Texas was an independent
republic at that time, but kept much of the Mexican
administrative structure. One element of the Mexican system
was to develop land by granting large parcels to “empresarios”,
who were then responsible for finding people to move there and
cultivate it. The Peters Colony was by far the largest such land
development in Texas, and it was enormous. The “empresario”
in this case was a group of mostly English investors, who were
mainly in it to make money (despite the large tracts they
acquired, almost none of them actually settled there).
The investment group, led by William S. Peters, obtained an
empresario grant from the Republic of Texas in 1841, and over
the next two years added three more contracts. The Peters
Colony encompassed a vast area roughly north, south, and east
of what is now Dallas. By the terms of the contract the
empresarios were required to bring in 800 families, allotting to
each 640 acres of free land (320 for single men), provided that the
family remain in the colony for three years, cultivate 10 acres
and build a cabin. The Republic of Texas was to profit by
increasing its population and agricultural base and the
empresarios were to profit by retaining land that would
eventually be sold.130
For James Hoggard, as for a number of other residents of
western Missouri, this was an opportunity not to be passed up.
James took off for Texas in the summer of 1844, taking his
younger brother William, 18 years old at the time. William
130
Texas State Historical Association, Peters Colony, in The Handbook of
Texas, tshaonline.org/handbook
106
Fletcher and William K. Fletcher, the father and brother,
respectively, of the Hoggards’ brother-in-law, James Fletcher,
went down to Texas around the same time, possibly with the
Hoggards. Presumably, James and William Hoggard left on
horseback and reached Texas in a few days. They found the
headquarters of the Peters Colony at Bridges Settlement (now a
town called The Colony), where James and William each
registered for land in the colony, James for 640 acres and William
for 320.131 They met John Neely Bryan and helped in building a
log cabin, the first in Dallas.132 Both of the Fletchers also
registered for land in the Peters Colony.
A few months after they left, James and William returned to
Missouri. James sold the only land he actually owned, the
federal land grant in Henry County, to his father-in-law, James
Fletcher (recall that both father-in-law and brother-in-law were
named James Fletcher, uncle and nephew), who still lived in
Lafayette County, for $75. Considering that the land had cost
James $50 to begin with (plus a filing fee) and James had no
doubt erected a cabin, it certainly cannot be said that he profited
on the deal.
In the deed James and Sarah are listed as residents of Henry
County, which probably means that they had left their home on
Hoggard Branch in Van Buren County, possibly moving onto the
land grant itself.
131
Nancy T. Samuels and Barbara R. Knox, Old Northwest Texas,
Historical – Statistical – Biographical, Fort Worth Genealogical Society,
1980, pp. 461-462
132
Dallas Morning News, July 30, 1903, p. 4
107
It was probably at this time, in late 1844, or perhaps in 1845, that
Richmond and James loaded their families and their earthly
goods onto wagons, a routine they were all familiar with, and
proceeded to Texas.
James left behind a strange debt. Alexis Truman raised and sold
horses, and in 1840 lived in Deepwater Township in Van Buren
County, where on the census he was enumerated 11 households
before Richmond. James Hoggard borrowed five dollars from
Alexis Truman in 1842, possibly representing that portion of the
cost of a horse that James was at that time unable to pay. Alexis
Truman died in early 1843, and evidently that debt had been
weighing on his mind, because the will he drew up in February,
the first will ever recorded in Van Buren County (the initial part
of it is shown below), addresses the collection of that debt before
108
going on to specify the disposition of his property and his
remaining horses.133
By the time the executors of the estate got around to James
Hoggard’s debt, they deemed it uncollectable, because no one
knew him, as is recorded in the loose probate records.
The $5 debt (as recorded elsewhere in the probate files) was
recorded as $5.75 in the list of debts yet to be collected,
representing one and a half years’ interest at the common rate of
10%, calculated from the due date, October 10, 1842. This
probably means that the executors began to collect debts around
April, 1844. By that time James had moved with his family to
Rives County. An additional 2% of the $5.75 (11½ cents) was
133
Cass County Will Book A, p. 1
109
tacked on in the list, representing some amount of time spent
trying to locate James, who was probably in Texas during the
period. Given that old settlers living in Sherman Township in
1881 remembered James Hoggard, it seems odd that the
executors didn’t know him.
There are a few records to indicate where the Hoggards were
after they reached Texas and before the 1850 census. A particular
problem, however, is the difficulty in determining where in the
Peters Colony they had taken land. The colony comprised some
or all of about 12 current counties, and it appears that James and
William never got title to their Peters Colony land, so we have
no record of a sale. We have no records to indicate that they ever
occupied their Peters Colony headrights, though it is quite
possible that they briefly put down stakes there when they first
arrived in Texas.
Probably before James and William returned to Missouri from
their scouting expedition, but certainly by the time they
returned, they would have learned about a second gigantic land
grant from the Republic of Texas, the Mercer Colony, the
territory of which was south of the Peters Colony. The two
colonies were involved in one legal fight after another, between
them and the Republic, later the State, of Texas, between the two
colonies, among their investors, and between them and their
colonists, many of whom lost or walked away from their lands.
It was in the Mercer Colony that Richmond, James, and William
settled. We don’t know exactly when.
Before discussing what we do know about that, it is helpful to
see how the county boundaries changed during the years after
the Hoggards arrived.
110
1845
1846
1849
1855
Richmond, James, and William all eventually settled within
what was Robertson County (Rsn) when they arrived in 1844 or
1845. Approximately the northern third of Robertson County
was in the Peters Colony and the rest was in the Mercer Colony.
Robertson split in July, 1846, and the areas in which the
Hoggards came to settle were in Navarro County (Nro). In
December of 1846, Texas became a state. Navarro County itself
split in 1849, at which time the property Richmond had settled
on was in Ellis County (Els), while James and William were still
in Navarro County. Navarro split again in 1852 and 1855, at
which time the counties within the former Robertson County
adopted limits that coincide with modern boundaries. The land
on which William and James had settled was then still in
Navarro County.
All three of the Hoggard homesteads were 640 acres in size. All
three of them were acquired under the auspices of the Mercer
Colony, which issued each of the Hoggards a certificate. All
three were acquired at no cost, except for whatever they might
have been charged for surveying.
Consider that back in Missouri, Richmond and James had each
had 40-acre land grants, for which they had paid $50, and they
also occupied previously vacant lands that were likely to have
been smaller than that. Now here they were in Texas with three
gigantic tracts of land, by comparison, obtained for free. The
work involved to clear and plant even a portion of that 640 acres
111
may have been quite daunting, and especially so for Richmond,
who was getting on in years and lived on his farm in Navarro
(Ellis) County with Sarah and four or five girls.
Did any of the Hoggards begin life in Texas on the properties
reserved by James and William in the Peters Colony? And where
were they? I have found nothing to pinpoint the location of those
Peters Colony entries. The colony was vast, but it extended
southwards to a line that, roughly speaking, split what was to
become Ellis County in two equal parts. It was common, it
seems, for Peters Colonists in the southern part to move into the
Mercer Colony, one of the reasons being that the Peters Colony
investors were attempting to get some of their investment back
by reserving part of each parcel for themselves and by exacting
hefty charges for the mandatory surveying.
There are a few tax rolls from Robertson and Navarro Counties
that have been published,134 from which we can deduce a little
about when the Hoggards were living on their Mercer Colony
farms.
1845
1846
1847
Robertson County
Navarro County
Navarro County
1848
Navarro County
1849
Navarro County
James
Richmond (Richard)
James
Sarah
James
William
James
William
The fact that Richmond was not on the 1845 tax roll of Robertson
county could mean that James emigrated permanently to Texas
in advance of everyone else. Since James does not seem to have
134
Nancy T. Samuels and Barbara R. Knox, op. cit., pp. 725-735
112
been on the 1846 Navarro County tax roll, however, there are
other possibilities, one of which is that James and Richmond
were on just one Mercer Colony tract to begin with.135 In either
case, William had not yet contracted for his piece of the colony.
Richmond must have died in 1846 or, more probably, 1847,
leaving Sarah in charge of the household (and the taxes). By 1847
there were clearly two separate properties. After that it looks like
James constructed a house on his farm for his mother and sisters
to live in. Sarah left the Ellis (then still Navarro) County
homestead and moved onto James’ land, thereby no longer
appearing on the tax roll.
In September, 1848, William married Perlina (as she then said it
and spelled it) Shults. She was the daughter of Martin Shults,
who was a lieutenant in the same regiment in which Richmond
Hoggard served in the War of 1812, though in a different
company.
William acquired his own Mercer Colony tract, two or three
miles west of James’, and he must have applied for it after
getting married, because it was a 640-acre parcel, yet only
shortly after the marriage, because he still appeared on the 1848
tax list.
Richmond’s certificate from the Mercer Colony was issued in
1850, after he died.
135
Yet another possibility is that a name was illegible, Ibid., p. 725
113
After a Mercer Colony certificate was issued, the land upon
which the colonist had actually settled had to be surveyed in
order for the colonist to obtain title to it. Without title, Sarah
could not sell the land, so she quickly arranged to have the
survey done and filed. A portion of the surveyor’s report is
shown here.
114
There being as yet no towns in the area, the land was stated to lie
17½ miles southeast (S67E, to be precise) of Waxahachie and 12
miles southwest of Porter’s Bluff, at the time a ferry on the
Trinity River. It’s exact position is noted on a 19th century map of
Ellis County which, although it was issued in 1857, apparently
labeled the plats by the names on the respective surveys, rather
than the current occupants, which would have required much
more work.136
136
Texas General Land Office, General Map Collection, Ellis County,
Map #3510, created 1 Nov 1857.
115
Richmond’s homestead (near the top of the map) was near
Cummings Creek (now spelled Cummins), and using current
landmarks, was about three miles north of the Navarro county
line and a mile west of the town of Alma. A closeup shows the
relationship of Richmond’s land to that of William Atkinson, as
pictured on the survey.
On the 1850 census, Sarah was living with four daughters, next
to James. The last two daughters were born in Missouri.
Although Richmond Echles Hoggard states that Richmond and
Sarah had eleven children, only ten of them lived long enough to
be recorded on at least one census. Here is a list of these ten.
Name or
born
born
116
description
James
Matilda
Elizabeth
Unknown male
child
William
Unknown female
child
Rachel
1815
abt 1816
abt 1818
btw 1819
and 1825
1825
btw 1824
and 1830
1827 or 1828
Maranda
1830 or 1831
Nancy J
1832 or 1833
Mary C
1834 or 1835
married Sarah Fletcher
married Perry Chesney
married James Fletcher
in
VA
KY
KY
died before 1840
KY
married Perlina Shults
KY
KY
KY
possibly married
Michael Faren
married George
Linney
married John Goodwin
KY
MO
MO
While Richmond, Sarah, and the four girls were living in what
was to become Ellis County, James and William were in Navarro
County, near the present town of Kerens and about 30 miles
south of Richmond’s homestead. In 1850 there were several
households on James Hoggard’s farm. Beside his own – with
Sarah and five children – there were:
Sarah Hoggard (his mother) with four children
James Fletcher (his brother-in-law) with Elizabeth
(Hoggard) and seven children
George Bryan (or Bryant) with wife Catharine, three
children, and a Margaret Gragg137
William Bryan (or Bryant) with wife Nancy and four
children
James Fletcher and the two Bryants were all three Mercer
colonists. Each had acquired 640 acres, but they had sold their
137
Recall that John Gregg (Gragg) was one of Richmond’s neighbors on
Knob Creek in 1840.
117
land. There was probably more than enough land on James
Hoggard’s tract for everyone to plant as much as they could take
care of, but it seems as though the economic situation may have
forced them to sell. William Hoggard, meanwhile, was living
about three miles away, with an infant girl in the household, in
1850. However, he had just sold his land in May, and perhaps he
too was preparing to move onto James Hoggard’s land.
Richmond’s land grant in Ellis County (as it was by then) was
sold sometime before 1856 to a William Hamilton, as is apparent
from this handwritten note in Richmond’s Mercer Colony files.
We have even less record of Sarah’s death than of Richmond’s.
The 1850 census is the last record I’ve found of her existence. The
notation above that the “heirs of Hoggard” transferred the title
to William Hamilton might be an indication that Sarah was also
dead by that time. The Hoggards had moved on to Parker
County in 1855, but whether Sarah was still alive to go with
them is unknown. She was not recorded in the 1860 census. Had
she been alive, she would most likely have been found living
with her son, James in Parker County.
118
Afterword
Richmond Hoggard died at the relatively young age of 53 or 54,
the whole of it spent on the American frontier, pushing to new
frontiers when the old ones started to fill up. He grew up along
the Holston River in southwestern Virginia. He moved briefly to
Sevier County, Tennessee, then shortly after the move was paid
to take a draftee’s place in the Tennessee Militia during the
closing moments of the War of 1812.
He married Sarah Fletcher and moved, as did his parents, to
what became Harlan County, Kentucky. He remained in
Kentucky for more than 15 years, relocating to Floyd County
during that period. A long wagon trek brought the large family
(9 or 10 at the time) to western Missouri, where Richmond
settled down on Knob Creek while his son, James. and his wife,
also named Sarah Fletcher, flitted from one new piece of land to
another, twice being recorded as one of the earliest inhabitants of
a township.
The entire clan emigrated to Texas in 1844 or 1845, lured by huge
amounts of free land. Unfortunately, Richmond died about two
years after reaching Texas.
Richmond played the fiddle and taught his neighbors how to
dance to the music. He told stories to his children and (as
Grandsire) to his grandchildren, stories that condensed the
fabled history of the Scots into the two generations before
Richmond’s father emigrated to America; stories that retold the
most famous battle of the War of 1812 as if he had been there;
and, doubtless, stories of the many other pioneers in Virginia,
Tennesse, Kentucky, Missouri, and Texas he had seen in person
or heard about on the pioneer grapevine. All stories it is our loss
not to have been able to hear ourselves.
119
Appendix A
Bearings in Surveys
In the surveys reproduced in this narrative, directional bearings
are represented by an angle within one of the four quadrants of a
circle. For example, S80°W represents a direction that is 80°
away from due south towards the west or, alternatively, 10°
away from due west, toward the south. In the figure below are
several examples. In the survey, the bearing will be followed by
the distance to be paced off along that direction, for example,
N66°E 66 poles (a pole is 16.5 feet).
120
Appendix B
The Fletcher-Hoggard Tree
The following schematic of the Fletcher-Hoggard marriages is
based on a hypothetical relationship between Drury, James, and
Vardaman Fletcher, all of whom lived in Washington County,
Virginia, at times between about 1770 and 1810.
121
Appendix C
Alternative Timeline
Was the James Hoggard Family in Southwestern Virginia or on
Reedy Creek Much Earlier than 1790?
In the narrative I have presented the view that James Hoggard
(James I) and his wife, with children James II and Jesse,
emigrated from Scotland around 1790, ending up in 1792 in the
Reedy Creek Settlement in Sullivan County, North Carolina.
From a neighbor, John Clendennin, James acquired a warrant,
with which James commissioned a survey and acquired a grant
for the land from the state of North Carolina.
There is some evidence, however, that might place the Hoggards
in the area much earlier. The first is the 1880 census for Ephraim
and Elizabeth Brown in Hawkins County, Tennessee. Elizabeth
was the daughter of James (II) Hoggard and Elizabeth Wright. In
the 1880 census the birthplaces of her father and mother are
given as Tennessee and Ireland, respectively. If James II was
born in Tennessee (or North Carolina, as it was in 1777), then, of
course, James I and his wife had settled there – on Reedy Creek
or some other place in what was to become Tennessee – at least
13 years earlier than I have been assuming.
If that is what Elizabeth said on the 1880 census, then why not
assume that the information is true? It turns out that the data
recorded on the census forms was frequently incorrect.138 There
were several reasons for this, but the most common is that
information was being provided by someone other than the one
listed. This could be as simple as a husband giving information
138
https://familysearch.org/blog/en/census-taker-wrong/
122
about his wife, but it could even be a neighbor, which was
permitted when the occupants weren’t at home. The 1940 census
was the first to address this, by requiring the census taker to
make a mark specifying who the responder was.139 In the
narrative I chose to accept the statement of Elizabeth’s son, John
Amos Brown, even though he was one generation further
removed, because the statement was directly attributable to him.
He stated that James II was born in Scotland. Obviously, John
Amos Brown’s memory could have been faulty and it would be
very helpful to have confirmation.
A second, very tenuous, clue is a single, isolated reference to a
William Hogart on the list of privates engaged in the 1776 War
on the Cherokee, also called the Second Cherokee War.140 The
expedition was commanded by William Christian and Isaac
Shelby, and drew its soldiers from the Holston and neighboring
settlements.141 It seems, however, that there is no further trace of
William to be found.
There are several possibilities for where this William Hogart
came from, but one would be that he came with James I from
Scotland, but died without progeny.
Neither of these clues seems strong enough to derail the story
line presented, but if corroborating evidence could be found,
that could easily change.
139
Ibid.
Lewis Preston Summers, History of Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786,
Richmond, Va., J. L. Hill Printing Co., 1903, p. 237.
141
Ibid.
140
123
Appendix D
Grey Haggard
There was a man named Grey Haggard who lived in Sullivan
County, North Carolina, and possibly in Washington County
Virginia in the last part of the 18th century. Most of what is
known about him, and it is very little, stems from a genealogical
book published in 1899 entitled History of the Haggard Family in
England and America, in which there is a chapter on Gray
Haggard and his descendants.142
According to this source, a James Haggard emigrated while still
a minor to Virginia from England in 1698 and settled in Stafford
County. Gray Haggard was the third of four sons of James
Haggard.143 He married Mary Gentry in Albermarle County,
Virginia, then moved to North Carolina and finally to Powell’s
Valley in Virginia,144 that being the end of what was known to
the author. Many family trees on Ancestry.com list his death in
1765, in Powell’s Valley.
Powell’s Valley (now called Powell Valley), through which the
Powell River flows, lies to the west of the Holston River Valley.
The few settlements there were even more exposed to Indian
attack than those on the Holston, and many settlers left their
lands after claiming them and building cabins. Even that initial
sparse settlement occurred in the middle of the 1770s, so the
1765 date of death in Powell Valley is dubious – it would require
that Gray Haggard died while exploring the area, several years
before Daniel Boone got there to boot.
142
David D. Haggard, History of the Haggard Family in England and
America, privately printed in Bloomingdale, Illinois, 1899.
143
Ibid., p. 22
144
Ibid., p. 105
124
Besides that, we know that Grey/Gray Haggard was in Sullivan
County, North Carolina. The land grant to William Treadway,
shown below, refers specifically to its boundary on “Gray
Haggerts line”.145
Gray Haggard originally entered for this land in 1780.146 By the
time the grant was issued, in 1787, he was dead, as can be seen in
another land grant, to John Holloway, referring to boundaries
with William Treadway and “Widow Haggard”.
145
146
North Carolina Land Grants, Book 61, p. 465
Ibid.
125
There are several deeds that refer to either Gray Haggard or the
Widow Haggard (or Hagard), but they have in common that
they are all spelled with an initial ‘Hag’. On the other hand, the
deeds in which James Hoggard is mentioned, both James I and
James II, without exception are spelled with an initial ‘Hog’.
While that cannot be taken as conclusive evidence that James
and Grey were unrelated, given the vagaries in spelling at the
time, the fact that Gray Haggard’s ancestry is known to be
English, while James Hoggard’s must almost certainly be
Scottish, is enough to rule out any genealogical connection.
126
Appendix E
A Far-Fetched Hypothesis?
I have already presented the idea that Richmond’s name was
acquired from interactions with the Richmond family in
Washington County, Virginia, some of whom lived not far from
James I. I also speculated that there might even be a connection
by marriage, for example to Richmond’s unnamed sister.
What if the Hoggard that hypothetically married a Richmond
was not Richmond’s sister but his father James? The reason that
the suspicion even arises is because of the twelve-year gap
(approximately) between Jesse’s birth and Richmond’s, with just
one sister (that we know of) in between. Of course, it may have
just happened that way or there might have been other children
in the gap that died before the 1810 census.
But yet another possibility is that James’ first wife died not long
after having borne Jesse (or possibly the “gap daughter”), and
James subsequently remarried. If so, a marriage to a Richmond
offers an ample explanation for how Richmond got his name.
Considering that the Richmond that James Hoggard might have
married would almost certainly have been a daughter of John
Richmond, Sr., it could also explain why so many descendants of
Richmond who post family trees write his name as John
Richmond, even though no ’John’ ever shows up on any of the
many records in which he is mentioned. Assuming that
Richmond actually was a grandchild of John Richmond, he
might have been christened John Richmond Hoggard, which in
turn might have been written in some family bible or passed
down in some other way. If so, as an adult, Richmond had
certainly discarded his first name permanently.
127
The 1797 tax list for Washington County, Virginia, has four
Richmonds – John Sr. and Jr., David, and James.147 These are the
same four that appear on a number of Washington County
surveys, the first one in 1793, which states that at least one
Richmond was already living there (in Caney Valley) at the time.
When the 1806 Washington County tax list was compiled, none
of the Richmonds was on it, because they had moved to Russell
County. On an 1803 tax list of Russell County there were two
John Richmonds, a James Richmond, and an Isaac Richmond.148
James and David Richmond appear on an 1809 Russell County
tax list,149 at which time John Sr. had died, and possibly John Jr.
as well.
According to several family trees posted on Ancestry.com, John
Richmond Sr. was born in 1730 in Henry County, Virginia.150
Taking the vital statistics from one particular tree, the children of
John Sr. were
Child
John Jr.
Year of Birth
1755
147
Binns Genealogy, http://www.binnsgenealogy.com/
VirginiaTaxListCensuses/Washington/1797PersonalA/12.jpg
148
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~varussel/
census/1803upper/19.jpg
149
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~varussel/
census/1809tx.html
150
Some show him as born in 1736 in Caswell County, North Carolina,
but this was probably a different John Richmond
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Lydia
James
David
Elizabeth
Fanny
Sarah
Mary
1757
1758
1762
1764
1766
1768
1770
The husband of Lydia is known, but not the husbands of the
other four, if they were indeed married. As long as we are
speculating, any of the four could be a candidate for James’
second wife and Richmond’s mother.
Is there any evidence at all for this hypothesis? Yes, there may be
“emerging” evidence in the form of DNA matching. I placed
Elizabeth Richmond on my Ancestry tree as Richmond
Hoggard’s hypothetical mother and John Richmond, Sr., as his
grandfather. This produced DNA matches to two individuals
descended from John Richmond, Sr., both through his daughter
Lydia, via two different daughters of Lydia. This does not
constitute proof, because my DNA connections to these
individuals may be through other ancestors entirely. In my view,
this hypothesis deserves continued attention.
129
Part of Richmond Hoggard