Elias and Elizabeth Vickers, LA to MS to
TX
Others researching this line:
Ann Vickers Hefner, jmhfnr@earthlink.net
Nancy
Harwood, ndhar@ix.netcom.com
From Nancy Harwood Houston, TX:
Kelly, I don't think I've sent you my Vickers information -- I don't have
much, but this is a line I need to work on.
My paternal grandmother was Lydia Bets Vickers, born 1883 in Bell County, TX.
She was the daughter of Henry E. (nobody seems sure whether he was Edward or
Edwin -- I'm not sure he knew, either) Vickers, born Caddo Parish, LA in 1850
and Lucy Ann Simons Hood Hunt Vickers.
Henry Vickers (who, btw, was a trail driver for much of his early life) was
the son of Reddin(g) Vickers, born Marion County, MS 20 Dec. 1819, died 26
March 1877. His tombstone says that he lived for 8 years he lived in Louisiana and Arkansas;
he was in Texas
by 1858. He married Sarah Elizabeth Norris (born 22 September 1828, died 15
December 1910) in Caddo Parish, LA 2 October 1845. They are buried at Independence, in Washington
County, TX.
In searching the Washington
County cemetery records
recently, I found a record for (Mrs.) Elizabeth Vickers, 27 July 1797- 24
February 1859.
Since there seem to have been no other Vickers families in Washington Co. at
this period, I would assume that this Elizabeth
was Redding Vickers' mother.
I also found a record for "Vickers, daughter of Elias and
Elizabeth", 23 January 1824 - 15 June 1843
I am wondering, because of the dates, if this may have been a sister to Redding. I have never
found a record of his father's name, but think now he may have been the Elias
referred to in this record.
I have a good bit of info on the siblings of Henry Vickers and their
descendants if you would be interested in having it in the Vickers files.
Nancy Harwood
Houston, TX
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Letter from Ann Vickers Hefner, dated May 1, 1997, to Nancy Davis Harwood
with copy to Kelly from Ann:
I suppose I have a great advantage over many amateur genealogists in that my
grandmother Vickers ("Aunt Lizzie") entertained me as a child with
stories of her youth and family and of the Vickers and Norris families. My
children have not been so blessed. They have always had television! Much of
what I have found has been the result of a tradition of family lore which has
given me invaluable clues about where to search. And ... I have inherited some
letters from a family of pack rats. I wonder what future generations will do
about tracing us down without the benefit of personal correspondence.
At any rate, I will try in this letter to outline what I know about Elias
and his decendents and will save Norris until a later
date. I won't send copies of the documents I have but will save them until we
can meet in person...one day soon, I hope.
Elias Vickers was born 1775-1790 in So. Carolina or Georgia (census
records). He first appears in census records in 1820 in Marion Co., Mississippi. On 22 Oct
1816, he purchased land as assignee of Joseph Price in Marion Co. (patent
awarded 1908), and on 31 Oct. 1818, he purchased additional land as assignee of
William McGrew (patent awarded 1825). 1 have a copy of another document, very
difficult to read and dated 1820, in which Joseph Vickers assigns to Elias
Vickers his rights and titles to a certificate, entitling him to bounty lands,
I think. For awhile I was corresponding with Dixie Wheelock,
granddaughter of Elizabeth Vickers Young, sister to Redding. She believes that Joseph was Elias's
father and a Revolutionary veteran. Elias later bought land in Hinds Co. and
eventually moved his family there.
His wife, I know from my grandmother, was Elizabeth Cobb. According to her
gravestone in Independence Cemetery in Washington Co., Texas, she was born 27 July 1797. (Her stone
is no longer there, by the way.) I found a marriage record for Elias Vickers
and Elizabeth Gibbs in Laurens Co., Georgia, dated 27 March 1811. The copy I
received showed that the marriage was not recorded until 1813 (a common
practice, I'm told) and so I am guessing that perhaps the recorder misread
"Cobb" as "Gibbs." According to census records, she was
born in So. Carolina.
Dixie thought that Elizabeth
was a second, and much younger, wife of Elias and that he had children by the
previous marriage. The 1820 census shows additional males, too old to be the
children of Elizabeth,
residing in the household. The following are children I know to be those of
Elias and Elizabeth (from census records and from her will):
James, born c. 1813, died btw 1850-8 in Ouachita Parish Louisiana
Mary, born c. 1816 and died after 1888.
Redding, born 20 Dec. 1819 (or possibly 1818) and died 26 March 1877, in Independence,
Rhoda, born c. 1820. Death unknown, but she lived to be quite old and died in Texas,
Matilda Caroline, born 23 Jan. 1824, and died (in childbirth?) 19 Jun 1843 in Independence,TX.
John, born c. 1827 and died by 1858.
Littleton, born 17 Jul 1836, in Mississippi
and died 11 Aug 1855 in Independence,
TX.
Henry, born c. 1837 .... (I have some information
about Henry somewhere, but I have temporarily
misplaced it. I do know
he served with the CSA in the Civil War.
Matilda Caroline, I believe, is the "Babe" found in the Indpendence
Cemetery. She married
John MacKnight in Hinds Co. on 22 May 1839, and they
moved to Independence, Texas. Family tradition has it that her
family was not very happy about this, although Redding and John MacKnight
were later associated as business partners. She has a gravestone as Matilda
Caroline MacKnight, but there are no dates on it. A
child, Redding,
is buried near her (1841-2), as is another child, Delila
(no dates). It is my rather romanfic notion that Elizabeth wanted her to be remembered as a
"Vickers" and erected the "Babe" headstone when she moved
to Texas.
Elias is found in the 1840 census (in Mississippi)
but not in any later census. On 9 March 1841, Elizabeth Vickers sold several
slaves to John Vance of Hinds Co. and on 1 Aug 1842, a petition for dower was
entered in Hinds Co. by Elizabeth Vickers as widow of Elias Vickers. I am
assuming, therefore, that Elias died c. 1840-42 in Hinds Co.
Elizabeth moved to Ouachita
Parish, Louisiana, near Monroe, sometime before
1850, to be near her son James. After James's death, there may have been some
kind of falling out between Elizabeth and Amanda, James's wife. Family
tradition has it that with rumblings of abolition and the prospect of war, Elizabeth wanted to
protect her slave holdings. Thinking they would be less likely to be taken from
her in Texas, she moved there, sometime before
1855 (the date of Littleton's
death). The last census in which she is found is the 1850 census, in Ouachita
Parish.
Our great-grandfather, Redding, married Sarah
Elizabeth Norris in Caddo Parish, Louisiana,
9 Oct 1845 (family bible). I know quite a bit about him because Sarah Norris
Vickers ("Nanny") and my grandmother were very close. I will send you
more information about their union later. This is probably enough to write and
to absorb in one session. The Norris's are another story. There is more about
them than the Vickers line because Samuel, our great-great grandfather was alcalde in Nacogdoches
during the Fredonian Rebellion. More
on them later, too.
For now, I'll sign off. I am glad to have found you and to know that you,
too, are interested in-finding out about our roots. Maybe together we can find
a duke, or least a minor noble, in our background.
Sincerely,
Ann Vickers Hefner
3403 Sleepy Hollow Blvd.
Amarillo, TX 79121
jmhfnr@earthlink.net
(806)355-9357
(806)355-0888 (fax)
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Kelly G. Vickers, 50 Trembly Bald
Drive, Toccoa, GA 30577
Phone (706) 886-0012 Email
kvickers@tfc.edu