Nunnally's of Chestnut Ridge

03/02/2024

Don't these look like brothers?

William Jones and we are thinking William GW Jr

02/13/2024

Topic for today is Zilphy.

Zilphys parents were Jones and Mary Griffin. They were one of the original settlers of Helena. Mary Griffin and William GW homesteaded land around present day Hoover Met in the 1850s.

Zilphy was William GW 2nd wife. They were married in 1849 and she raised the family after his death in 1873. She remained in the original house until her death in 1906.

Over time, they merged the 2 homesteads and ended up with a total of 400 acres.

Zilphy went through the civil war and reconstruction. They struggled as a family after the civil war with GW ending up being taken to court a couple of times. She was able to keep the family together and raise the younger ones.

06/04/2023

Interesting little nugget. . John was born in 1852 and was killed in the mines

http://www.hueytown.org/historical/dolomite_pt2.htm

The D. W. Brown Mercantile Co
I have a ledger from my father's store dated 1883-1884. Some of the
names listed in the book are:

Will Jordan, Blake Jones, William Johnson, A. S. Brown, Harley Caldwell,
B. F. Plotte, John W. Brown, John Nunnalley, Isiah Herrin, Dave Belle, Dock
Dowdelll, W. I. Brown, E. R. McElroy, Frank Harrison, E. A. Harrison, Jasper
Howard, Reubin Robertson, William Meridith, Jim Blackwell, Edd Tarrant, Mrs.
Joe Vance, Alex Glasgow, James Spencer, Tomm Crooks, E. M. Bratton, James A.
Goolsby, William H. Snow, Lewis Chapman, Lucius Anthony, Ike Caldwell, J. E.
Brown, Jim Gray Snow, Dock Galsgow, Asberry Chapman, Andy Murdock, Alex
Alley, Marion Hallman, F***y Winston, Joe Alley, Bill Harrison, Curry Huey,
Sam Howton, Whit Thompson, John Powell, John Earley, John Roberts, William
Johnson, Allen Cost, John Kelley, E. M. Bratton, Cutt Hamilton, Dave Belle,
A. Wolf, John Thompson, J. N. Milstead, Rob. Boyd, Reubin Salter, Morgan
Thomas, A. Omsted, Nely Meigs, Bill Justice, Jim Warnic, Mrs. Caroline Hodge,
Bill Shivers, and John Gallagher.

William Brownblazed his way to Jefferson County, Alabama, Possum Valley (Dolomite) ca. 1815.  He came from Lincoln County and Giles County, Tennessee.  He searched around and liking the area, he went back to Tennessee to get his family.  He applied for land in 1819.  Recorded in the Alabama trac...

02/26/2023

By 1910, things had changed at the homeplace

The older children had married but remained close. The youngest child was 7.

Zilphy had died in 1906 and the original house was unoccupied unless Sarah was still living there. According to the census she was not but the Nunnallys were not the best census takers

They raised hogs and chickens, grew what they needed to eat and hunted game and fished for extra meat. They had a spring near the house and were able to keep things cool by lowering things into the spring.

They had a barn and black smith shop. We have found old fence post, signs of a root cellar and several old roads between Jones house and Williams house. We have found several water wells.

Oh yeah, signs of stills too

11/30/2022

The document in question is Harriet's stay at Bryce. We have heard stories of her going to Bryce but did not know of a date, length or reason.

Bryce still had the records. This fills in a lot of blanks with dates and sets the record straight.

The admission part of the document listed 11 total children with 8 surviving. Their adult son John E Nunnally is buried at Mars Hill church. Stories of a son named Clyde choking on a marble or piece of candy around the 1890s make sense. The piece of information that doesn't make sense is the 3rd deceased child. No family member ever mentioned that.

Harriet was at Bryce for approximately 6 months. She was under severe mental duress from an attack that happened in the mid 1890s. Her last child was born in 1903. By 1911 they had to lock her in at night to keep her from wondering outside. She was convinced a evil spirit was trying to kill her family.

Jones and his daughter Kate, took her to Bryce with the help of the local Helena doctor. Jones corresponded by telegram to the Dr at Bryce and at one point went to go get Harriet. He wanted to bring her home but she decided to stay. She was so malnourished she never recovered.

The majority of the children were living at home during this this time but I am sure it was most impressionable on the 3 younger ones including my grandfather

11/06/2022

11/06/2022

By 1890 the set up of the place is like this: blacksmith shop, fresh water spring and the house. The fresh water spring was between the blacksmith shop, barn and house. The house was built around 1881 right after William Jones and Hattie were married.

North of the house was the Mars Hill Baptist Church. South of the house was Cahaba River and fords/crossings that led toward Helena. West Genry's Gap which led to Bessemer.

Families that were close by were Roy, Griffin and McClendon.

During 1880's several of William Jones uncles were still alive and helped pay the property tax. Technically is was still in the estate of William G W as Zilphy still lived on the property. William Jones was the farmer of the land and helped provide for his mother. The younger siblings and a older aunt (Sarah) stayed with Zilphy.

Next we will discuss the tragedies of the 1890 decade

09/03/2022

In family tree searches it was always stated that William Jones and Hattie had 11 total children. The family members that I have worked with to get the personal stories of their families (the grandchildren of William Jones) have always said 11 children. Everyone knew of the adult son, John Edward, that caught pneumonia building a bridge in Hoover. Family lore always told of a baby choking on a marble or piece of candy.

A 1911 document, which we will discuss later, shows Hattie with 12 children. That would mean another young child that didn't show up on the census records. Most likely born and died between 1880 and 1890. I know the census records for 1890 was destroyed. I say this because the parents of the family members that helped me with their personal stories were born between 1888 and 1904. They never mentioned another baby.

The personal stories were great insight into how daily life was on a 400 acre farm in the 1880's.

More on the next post