52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #47 Matilda Glasgow Hairston and Her Sisters

The solid lines indicate that the connection to the family is documented while
the dotted lines indicate that direct evidence has not yet been found to
make the connection. Click on the family tree to see a larger image.

Matilda Glasgow married Samuel B. Hairston (#12) on August 7, 1851. How long she had been acquainted with Samuel is not known, but the 1850 census places Matilda, her mother, and three sisters living very near Samuel's brother, James M. Hairston, in Troup County, Georgia.

No Story Too Small

Matilda's mother was reported on the census as Mary H. Glasgow. Her maiden name was recorded as Belcher on daughter, Nancy's death record. She was a widow and born in Virginia in about 1810. Daughters, Mary Jane, Matilda, Susan Rebecca, and Nancy F. were born in Virginia as well. On a Civil War pension application, it was written that Nancy was born in Patrick County near Richmond. 

Mary Jane Glasgow married Nathan Davis in Troup County on October 29, 1851. Susan Rebecca Glasgow married William D. Wills in Troup County in 1858. Nancy F. "Nannie" remained single until the 1860s.

In 1860, Matilda Glasgow Hairston is living in Randoph County Alabama with her husband and five young children. Mary Jane and her husband, Nathan Davis are living in nearby Chambers County, Alabama with a child (Nannie L. - age 2), two of Nathan's siblings (William R. and Henry W.), and Nancy F. "Nannie" Glasgow. Sister, Susan Rebecca and her husband, William D. Wills, are recorded on the same page. 


During the war, both Matilda's husband, Samuel B. Hairston, and Susan's husband, William D. Wills, joined infantry divisions in Georgia. William D. Wills, died at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863. Samuel was captured and more of his story can be found by clicking on this link. 

Nancy "Nannie" Glasgow married Marshall Brown Hurst on November 7, 1865 and, a year later, Susan Rebecca Glassgow Wills married Benjamin F. Davis on December 9, 1866.  

In 1870, Matilda, Mary Jane, Nancy, and Susan Rebecca and their families were all living in Chambers County. 

Susan Rebecca Glasgow Davis died on August 11, 1876 and is buried in the Bethel Baptist Cemetery with her husband, Benjamin.

In 1880, Matilda, Mary Jane, and Nancy lived in the Bloomingdale community of Chambers County with their families. 

By 1886, it is suspected that Matilda and Samuel B. Hairston along with all of their children moved to Texas. An S. B. Hairston along with sons, E.V. Hairston and Jesse B. Hairston, paid taxes in Falls County, Texas between 1886 and 1889. All of Matilda and Sam's children ended up in Texas at about the same time. Click on the following to see posts about each of their children.

• #13 James Hairston
• #16 Ella Hairston Simonton
• #19 Edward Vinson Hairston
• #23 Jesse B. Hairston
• #42 Sarah Jane Hairston McBurnett
• #45 Mary Elizabeth "Mollie" Hairston White
• #46 Peter/Perry Melvin Hairston

Mary Jane Glasgow Davis died on June 21, 1894; just a few months after her husband, Nathan Davis. They are buried in the Bethel Baptist Church Cemetery in Chambers County.  
Sister, Nancy F. "Nannie" Glasgow Hurst is buried along with her husband, Marshall Brown Hurst, in the Five Points Belcher Cemetery in Chambers, County. 

All three of Matilda's known siblings can be found from before marriage to their time of death and place of burial. So, what happened to Matilda? Matilda is last found, as a widow, on the 1910 U.S. census in Bell County, Texas. Her husband may be the S. B. Hairston found in Falls County, paying taxes beginning in 1886 and last found in 1889. 

Hairston family researcher, Carl Greenway, wrote that Samuel and his wife, Matilda were said to have been buried on a plantation near Wedowee in Randolph County, Alabama. 

With all of their children and grandchildren in Texas, did Matilda and Samuel have the desire or the means to return to Alabama?

If Matilda or Samuel died in Texas, would their children have made the 800+ mile trip back to Alabama for a burial? 

Diana

© 2014

Sources

Alabama Department of Archives and History; Montgomery, Alabama; Confederate Pension Applications, 1880-1940; Collection #: Microfilm in the Research Room; Roll Description: Dauphin, Daniel M. - Davis, Green F.

Ancestry.com. History of Troup County [database on-line]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.

Ancestry.com. U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Georgia. Original data from: The National Archives

Dodd, Jordan, Liahona Research, comp.. Georgia Marriages, 1851-1900 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000.
Original data: See Description for original data sources listed by county.

Greenway, Carl (New York, New York) to "Dear Bill" [William H. Hairston, Jr.]. Letter. 22 November 1965. Formby Family Genealogical Collection [Manuscript]. Georgia Archives, Morrow, Georgia. 

Historical Data Systems, comp. U.S., Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009.

"Map of Georgia & Alabama. / Burr, David H., 1803-1875 / 1839." Map of Georgia & Alabama. / Burr, David H., 1803-1875 / 1839. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. <http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~1620~140007:Map-of-Georgia-&-Alabama-Exhibiting?cic=RUMSEY~8~1&widgetType=detail&nsip=1>.

Quinn, D. (n.d.). Moments in Time, A Genealogy Blog. Retrieved December 22, 2014, from http://momentsintimeagenealogyblog.blogspot.com/ 

Year: 1850; Census Place: District 735, Troup, Georgia; Roll: M432_84; Page: 96A; Image: 79 

Year: 1860; Census Place: Northern Division, Chambers, Alabama; Roll: M653_4; Page: 774; Image: 496; Family History Library Film: 803004

Year: 1860; Census Place: Southern Division, Randolph, Alabama; Roll: M653_22; Page: 683; Image: 289; Family History Library Film: 803022.

Year: 1870; Census Place: Fredonia, Chambers, Alabama; Roll: M593_6; Page: 87A; Image: 176; Family History Library Film: 545505.

Year: 1880; Census Place: Bloomingdale, Chambers, Alabama; Roll: 5; Family History Film: 1254005; Page: 240D; Enumeration District: 178.