The history of our Whitsett family who came from Tennessee to Lauderdale County in about 1824, from Adam Whitsett who died in 1825 to the contemporary families of Alabama, Arkansas, California, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas

The History of Our Whitsett Family of Lauderdale County, Alabama

By Ronald N. Wall, March 2007

Part 1

The Origin of Our Whitsett Family

The Whitsett/Whitsitt surname was originally Whiteside. Through the 17th-19th centuries it gradually evolved into Whitesite, Whitesit, Whitsitt, and Whitsett. Both in Ireland and America all the versions of the name were used. Records of the Quakers in northern Ireland recorded the name usually as a version of Whitsett.  The Whiteside surname was a location derived label for families living on the "white side" of a hill, probably a hill with significant white limestone outcroppings. The Irish and American Whiteside clan originated in Cumberland county in northwestern England near the Scottish border.  Like many Scots they were primarily Calvinist Presbyterians. Because of persecution of non-Anglicans by the English during the 17th century, many English Presbyterians followed the Quakers and removed from England and southern Scotland to Ulster, the northern district of Ireland; they were first refered to as Ulster-Scots and in American Scots-Irish.  The Whiteside/Whitsett/Whitsitt families settled near Antrim and Armagh. The American family emigrated from northern Ireland to American and settled in the area of today's Lebanon County, Pennsylvania.  A decade or two later several members dispursed south to Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. One prominent branch remained mostly in Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia.

The Origins of the Whitsett Family of Lauderdale County, Alabama

Whiteside Family Association's DNA project yDNA results for a male first cousin of my wife Carolyn Sue (Whitsett) Wall shows that the Fort Smith, Arkansas Whitsett family are the descendants of William Whiteside and Elizabeth Stockton of Tyrone and Rutherford County, North Carolina. This family was labeled Whiteside family 9000 by Don Whiteside (1931-1993), who was President of Donald Whiteside And Associates, Inc., of Ontario, Canada.  His research papers are perservd by the Whiteside Family Association.  Their website is https://whitesideancestry.net/. The cousin's DNA was compared with DNA results of descendants of Don Whiteside's family 9000.  This is the evidence that Adam Whitsett was the descendant, I believe likely the grandson of William Whiteside and Elizabeth Stockton.   The Whiteside Family Association documented many of the family members and descendants of William Whiteside and Elizabeth Stockton.  Adam Whiteside/Whitsett of Lauderdale County was probably the son of Adam Whiteside who died near Duck River, Maury County, Tennessee between 1820 and 1830.  This is largely speculation on my part, but seems to best fit the evidence.

Adam Whitsett came to Lauderdale County, from Maury County, Tennessee about 1824, the year the earliest pioneers came Lauderdale County.  Maury County is the county north of Giles County, where family tradition claims the family originated (see the 1929, J.E. Whitsett letter below).  Adam died in the Waterloo area of Lauderdale County on February 17, 1825 and his estate was appraised and inventoried that same day by Simon Williams, James Bury (or Berry) Sr. and John Martin. The return from the estate sale was recorded on April 26, 1825 and Benjamin Price signed his name as the administrator of the estate. Among the buyers of the estate was a young Wilson Whitsett who purchased a book and razor, spending about 44 cents. Many of the names on these estate sale documents are found on Lauderdale County census returns, generally in the townships surrounding Waterloo and Wright. Click here to see an image of the Inventory of the Estate. Click here for the Estate Sale Record.

Although I and other researchers have been unable to adequately document the family to my satisfaction before Adam Whitsett's death, we do have several clues to the solution to this puzzle. Mrs. Maida Whitten of Shawnee, Kansas, with whom I corresponded for several years, was a descendant of John Whitsett, brother of the Lauderdale County family.  She sent me a copy of a letter written in 1929 to her great uncle James Edward Whitsett (1879-1967) of Weatherford, Texas from his uncle Jesse James Whitsett (1850-1924) of Durant, Oklahoma (below). James Edward and Jesse J. were the grandson and son of John Whitsett and Cynthia Tankersley.

Durant, Oklahoma, Nov. 17, 1929

Mr. J. E. Whitsett
Dear Nephew:

Got your letter yesterday. Glad to hear from you. Your grandfather, John Whitsett, the youngest of four brothers and two sisters. Wilson Whitsett, the oldest, Isaac Whitsett, the second, Joe Whitsett, the third and John Whitsett, the fourth and youngest, born in 1828. Do not know any dates. Their Farther and Mother came from Virginia to Jiles [Giles] County, Tennessee, and died there when the children were small and no dates were kept of anything. They were all adopted by one man and wife, a Mr. Ben Price, brought to Lauderdale County, Alabama, and raised there and lived and died there around Waterloo, except Father. He died in Pope County, Arkansas, when I was 6 years old. Your Father was 6 months old. There was one Brother, the oldest one never adopted, he being old enough to take care of himself and went to Georgia and raised up a family of boys there, all being railroad men. I saw a man who knew them after they were all middle aged men.
Jim, this is all I know about our direct people. Doctor Whitsett, of Fort Worth, has a biography of the Whitsetts, 330 years old. If he is still living, he is 55 or 60 years old. Please give me the outcome of this.
Your affectionate uncle,
J. J. W.

I have searched for any Whitsett men in Georgia who might be related to the Lauderdale County families with no luck. I wonder if maybe uncle Jesse James Whitsett was mistaken about the state.  Mrs. Whitten also has a handwritten note by her uncle James Edward that gives the names of Wilson, Isaac, "Joe" and John and the names he remembered of some of their children. This evidence, although not conclusive, makes me believe that Adam Whitsett was the father of the four Whitsett boys. It could well be that the family lived for awhile in Giles County, Tennessee before moving south to Lauderdale County. Except for the exception mentioned below, neither Maida Whitten nor I have found any records of the family in Giles County, Tennessee. The date 1828, which Maida's uncle gave for the birth of the youngest brother John Whitsett is probably wrong. According to the 1850 Census, Phillips County, Arkansas, Spring Creek Township, pg. 160 he was born about 1821, and is more in line with the ages of his brothers. He was very young when his parents died, and any information he passed on to others about them was probably inaccurate. John's place of birth is given as Tennessee. The older brother Wilson Whitsett was probably born about 1808, in North Carolina. Some of Wilson's children on the 1880 and 1900 censuses give his place of birth as Tennessee, which is where Adam settled after moving from North Carolina and before comming to Alabama. Other sources, far less reliable, say that he was a "Kentuckian." I have not found a scrap of evidence that our Whitsett family members ever lived in Kentucky; however, Benjamin Price and his wife, who "adopted" Wilson, were originally from Kentucky and probably accounts for the belief that Wilson was also from there. Our Whitsett family ancestor, Isaac Whitsett was born about 1812 in Tennessee; brother Josiah M. Whitsett was born in 1814, also in Tennessee. The oldest brother, mentioned in Maida's uncle's letter, was probably born about 1806. As to Virginia as the origin of their parents, the Whitsett families of North Carolina came there from Virginia in the 1760's. Other family historians claim that the family came from Ireland between 1730 and 1740, first to Pennsylvania, then Virginia and then North Carolina. My own research documents some of this.

Adam W. Whiteside, who died in Maury County, Tenn. between 1820 and 1830, was a son William and Elizabeth (Stockton) Whiteside of Rutherford County, North Carolina. Adam is listed on the 1810 Rutherford County, North Carolina census. He removed from North Carolina and settled in Maury County, Tennessee. Although many of the William and Elizabeth Whiteside family group settled on the spelling Whiteside, it is known that several members did use the Whitsett form of the name on occasion, especially during the eighteenth century. There was a John Whitsett and family in Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina as early as 1753 and a Whitsett family in Mecklenburg County by 1769. I believe that they were part of the same family group.

The 1820 census in Maury County, Tennessee of the "Addam" Whiteside household consisted of two males under 10, one male 10-16, one male 16-18, one male 16-26 and one male 45 years of age or older. The 1820 U.S. census has the extra 16-18 age category for males not the head of household and a 16-26 category for males which could include the head of household. Unfortunately, this is very confusing and one can never be sure if the individual in the 16-18 category is also listed in the 16-26 bracket. Three young females 16 or younger and a female between 26 and 45 are also listed in the household. These age categories for children is a good fit for our Lauderdale County family.

Perhaps another clue to the ancestry of our Whitsett family is a comparison of the 1830 census of Giles County, Tennessee and the same year for Lauderdale County, Alabama. On the Giles County return is William Whitesides. This is the one exception to the lack of records in Giles County. In the household is one male between 5 and 10 years of age, one male between 10 and 15, and a male between 60 and 70 years of age. Also in the household is a female between 20 and 30 and one between 40 and 50. Could this William be an uncle or a cousin of our Whitsett brothers? John (age 9) and Joe (age 15) would be the two boys in the household. The Lauderdale County census lists Ben Price and in his household is only one young male between 15 and 20 (probably Isaac, age 18) and an older male between 40 and 50 (almost certainly Benjamin, the head of the household). Females in the household is one 5 or under and one between 40 and 50. Wilson Whitsett is listed on the same page of the census as "Wilson Whiteside" with only one male between 20 and 30 (Wilson age 22) and one female between the ages of 15 and 20 (wife, Elizabeth age 18). This census clearly shows that young Joe and John Whitsett were not in the Ben Price household in 1830. My guess is that they are in Giles County, Tennessee living with William Whitesides, whom I believe was a close relative of Adam Whiteside of Maury County.

The older brother whose name J.J. Whitsett did not know, might have been this William. On October 18, 1829, Justice of the Peace William Bradshaw married William Whitsett and Parmelia Hunter in Lauderdale County. This marriage is recorded in Lauderdale County Marriage Book 2, 1825-1833. This William does not appear on the 1830 census of Lauderdale County; however, the Reverend William Whitsett who lived and preached in Florence is on this census. He removed from Lauderdale County to Memphis about 1833. On the 1840 U.S. census in Lauderdale County, in addition to W. Whitsett and I. Whitsett, is listed a W. Whitesides. The household consisted of one male between 20 and 30; one female between 40 and 50 and two females between 50 and 60. There is no other record, that I can find, of William and Parmelia Whitsett. Although this William may have been the fifth unidentified brother, he could have been a son of Rev. William and Jean Harden Whitsett. Rev. William Whitsett married Jane Harden in Orange County, North Carolina. He died about 1855 in Memphis and Mrs. Jane Whitsett died in Memphis on April 2, 1876. I have no evidence to link them to our Lauderdale County family.

Tennessee and The War of 1812

The young Whitsett family left North Carolina for Tennessee probably about 1809. I do not believe that they went directly to Giles County, but that is just a guess. I feel that they probably settled first in Maury County, just north of Giles. Unfortunately for us, the 1810 census for Maury and Giles counties have been lost. The 1820 census returns for both counties do exist and there are no Whitsett families listed in Giles County. In Maury, as I have mentioned before, is an Adam Whitesides and a few other Whiteside families. I think it is likely that the Maury County Adam Whiteside is the father of our Adam Whitsett of Lauderdale County. The family tradition that they came to Alabama from Giles may stem from the fact that the two youngest boys, Joseph and John, may have lived for awhile with a relative, William Whiteside in Giles County after the death of their father.

I think it is important to understand the times in which our ancestors lived. Knowing the history of the time and area can provide us with valuable insights into the lives of our ancestors and helps us analyze clues to their origins and identities. For that reason, I hope you will indulge me while I talk about the War of 1812 as it effected people in Tennessee. I think it was a watershed event that may have played a part in Adam Whitsett's eventual move to Alabama.

Our Whitsett family had only been in Tennessee for a couple of years when the War of 1812 erupted. Most of the fighting was far to the north of Tennessee, but President James Monroe called on Tennessee to help defend the "lower country" against a British invasion from the Gulf of Mexico. Masses of Tennessee men of all ages rushed to join companies being formed. They volunteered in such numbers that Tennessee earned its nickname as the Volunteer State. I think it is probable that some adult males in our Whitsett/Whiteside family were among those eager to get into the war. However, I have found only scant evidence to support this idea. We do have a record of Private James Whitsett in Coffee's Regiment but I have not been able to determine who he was. Also, an Absalom Whitsett (ancestor of the Whitsett family of Marshal County, Tennessee) died during the Creek Campaign about 1814.

In December 1812, General Andrew Jackson put together an expedition with orders to move to the gulf coast to defend Mobile and New Orleans. Two volunteer regiments were formed in Nashville under Colonels Thomas Benton and William Hall. In Columbia, Maury County Colonel John Coffee gathered a regiment of mounted riflemen. Among John Coffee's volunteers was the Private James Whitsett whose name appears on muster roles for Coffee's regiment. Andrew Jackson with Benton and Hall set out in January for New Orleans on a flotilla traveling down the Cumberland, Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Coffee's men marched overland south through Mississippi territory. The entire expedition made camp in Natchez, but in March 1813, General Jackson received orders to disband his army. An angry and frustrated Andrew Jackson was determined to take the men back to Tennessee himself and led the march back north. It was during this difficult trek back to Tennessee that Andrew Jackson earned the nickname Old Hickory for his stubbornness and determination. The march was along what is known as the Natchez Trace and it went through what was to become Lauderdale County, Alabama near present day Florence.

After returning to Tennessee Jackson's army had little to do except to protect against local Indian raids. That changed in late August 1813. Civil war had broken out among the Creek Indian tribe between traditionalists, who were called the Red Sticks, and progressive factions who advocated pro U.S. Government plans to change their society from hunting to agriculture and a conversion to Christianity. The latter group contained many of mixed Indian and white blood. In August the Red Sticks attacked and massacred 250 men, women and children of the pro U.S. Creeks at Fort Mims near present day Mobile. The Tennessee legislature ordered Jackson to take his army and quell the warring Red Sticks. Andrew Jackson and now General John Coffee took 2,500 men south into the Mississippi Territory (today's Alabama). At Huntsville they crossed the Tennessee River and established Fort Deposit, a supply base for the expedition. From there the Tennessee volunteers entered rugged Creek Indian territory. For the men from Tennessee this was the War of 1812.

On the Coosa River near a spot known as the Ten Islands, Jackson's army built Fort Strother. This was the main base of operations during the Creek Indian War. Fifteen miles away was a Creek town where many of the Red Sticks had gathered. Jackson ordered Coffee to take his Mounted Rifles and destroy the town. Coffee's men circled the town and quickly overpowered and eliminated the Indian warriors. Afterwards Coffee wrote, ""... the enemy fought with savage fury, and met death with all its horrors, without shrinking or complaining: no one asked to be spared, but fought as long as they could stand or sit." The legendary Davy Crockett, one of Coffee's soldiers, said simply, "We shot them like dogs."

Shortly after this engagement, a friendly Creek village at Talladega sent Jackson a plea for help. The town was under siege by Red Sticks. The Tennesseans immediately set out for the town. Again the Red Sticks were soundly defeated with over 300 enemy Indians dead. Jackson's losses were fifteen killed and 86 wounded. Nine days later an army of East Tennesseans and allied Cherokee Indians under General James White attacked the Hillabee Creek village. The Hillabee's had been talking to General Jackson about terms for surrender. Jackson tried to notify White of the negotiations but the message reached the East Tennessee army too late. Nearly seventy surprised Hillabee men were killed and 250 women and children taken prisoner. The Hillabee's felt betrayed and became some of the most dedicated Creek fighters against the American army during the rest of the war.

In December 1813, enlistments for Jackson's original army began to expire. Jackson dismissed the men after the aborted Natchez campaign but they were recalled in September.

Jackson demanded that his men stay on; he said that the time between April and September when the were not in the field did not count as part of their one year enlistment agreement. The men disagreed. Despite threats from Jackson most of the men left for home. To make matters worse, militia units that had enlisted for three months were also at the end of their terms. Jackson was left with a drastically reduced force. He was advised to give up the campaign until the following spring, but Jackson was nothing if not stubborn. In January two regiments of raw militia troops arrived from West Tennessee to replace the men that had gone home. These green troops saw some of the worst fighting of the war.

During January Jackson's army engaged the Creeks at Emuckfau and Enotochopco. General John Coffee was wounded in these engagements. At the end of the fierce fighting Jackson's army suffered twenty killed and seventy-five wounded. The Creeks suffered more than 180 killed.

In February Jackson dismissed his veterans. 5,000 more volunteers from Tennessee and the 39th U.S. Infantry, replaced the veterans. Cherokees allied with the regiment from east Tennessee also came. Among the Tennessee volunteers was Absalom Whitsett whose family later settled in Marshal County, Tennessee. Absalom died in the Mississippi Territory during the Creek Campaign of 1814 .

With his new army, Jackson attacked the Creek Indian fort at Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River. When the fighting was over more than 900 Creeks were dead. It was the most devastating defeat of Native Americans in history.

The warring Creeks, by now starving and with no hope of victory began to surrender. A treaty was signed at Fort Jackson in August 1814. That same month Jackson was commissioned a Major General in the regular U.S. Army for his successes during the campaign against the Indians.

A few remaining Red Sticks fled to Florida where they allied themselves with the British. In September 1814, the Red Sticks and their new British allies attacked the U.S. fort near Mobile. The attack was unsuccessful. Next Jackson, without authorization from the U.S. government, captured Pensacola, then a Spanish possession and eliminated the British base of operation in Florida. From Pensacola Jackson marched his army to New Orleans.

In December 1814, Jackson occupied New Orleans and set up fortifications to defend against the immanent attack by elite British forces fresh from their victory at Waterloo over Napoleon. New Orleans was an important strategic port and the British needed it to consolidate their position in the south. The Battle of New Orleans was actually a series of battles running from December 1814 into January 1815. The final defeat of the British actually came after the treaty of Ghent was signed, ending the war on December 24, 1814. News of the end of hostilities did not reach Jackson or the British commanders until after the British defeat on January 8, 1815. However, the battle which would have been unnecessary if communications had traveled more quickly, firmly established the United States as a power to be reckoned with. The young United States defeated, or at least fought to a draw, one of the most powerful nations on earth.

As for the Creeks, they were forced to surrender 20 million acres to the U.S. in retribution for their part in the war. It mattered little to politicians that much of that land belonged to the friendly Creeks. In fact, wealthy politicians and land speculators were the major supporters of the Creek War. They hoped that a defeat of the Native Americans would make available large tracts of land in the eastern Mississippi Territory. This is exactly what happened. Not all of this land was wilderness by any stretch of the imagination. The Creeks and other tribes were farmers as well as hunters and they had much land near their villages under cultivation. Some of these farms belonged to white men, or their descendants, who had married Creek brides. None of that mattered to the land speculators. Shortly after the war a land rush began. By 1819 hundreds of thousands of white settlers swarmed into the territory and in that year the state of Alabama was admitted to the Union as the 22nd state.

The year before Alabama became a state, James and Lawrence Whitsett brought their parents, John and Sarah (Thompson) Whitsett from Sumner County, Tennessee and settled in the newly formed Greene County (now Hale County). John and Sarah were the grandparents of Sarah Childress Polk, wife of future President James Knox Polk. John died there on August 11, 1819. He and Sarah are buried just south of Havana where today you can still see their graves.

The Civil War in Lauderdale County

Forty-two years later, an even more destructive war changed the course of history in Lauderdale County. The grandchildren of Adam Whitsett would bare the brunt of it.

In January 1861, the Alabama legislature voted to succeed from the Union. In the northern counties, a majority of the citizens favored remaining in the Union but the southern counties, dominated by large plantation and slave owners who had the majority of representatives, carried the vote. The southern counties were more heavily represented in the legislature because three-fifths of the slaves in the county were counted when determining the number of representatives elected. This system ensured that the wealthy plantation owners controlled the politics of Alabama. Interestingly, John Childress Whitsett of Sumter County was one of these men. He was the son of James Whitsett and grandson of John and Sarah Thompson Whitsett. John and Sarah were the grandparents of Sarah Childress Polk, former first lady and wife of President James K. Polk. John Childress Whitsett served in the state legislature and was a land speculator. He dealt mostly in ceded Indian lands in Mississippi. He also made good use of his connection to President Polk.

The Whitsett families in Lauderdale County supported the Southern cause. Perhaps the first to enlist was John Harvey Rousseau, husband of Wilson Whitsett’s daughter Camilla. I have been unable to find his service record but Inez Jane Dennis in the ROUSSEAU BIOGRAPHIES (1965) states that he enlisted in a cavalry unit, perhaps in Huntsville probably about 1861. Although his name does not appear on company rolls, I have a hunch he was in the 4th Alabama Cavalry, which was responsible for the defense of the Tennessee River. The 4th was known as Roddy's Alabama Cavalry and later Johnson's Alabama Cavalry. Private Christopher C. Simpson, husband of Wilson’s oldest daughter Jane, joined Company H of the 4th Alabama Cavalry. Also in this company was Private John William Whitsett, son of Joe and Kissiah Whitsett. Private Thomas Jefferson Webb, husband of Wilson’s daughter Sarah Price Whitsett, joined Company B of the 27th Regiment of Alabama Infantry. Two of Isaac Whitsett’s sons, William Wallace and Phillip W. Whitsett joined the Confederate Army in April or May 1861. Wallace Whitsett joined Robinson’s 2nd Tennessee Infantry in Memphis that year and Phillip joined Company D of the 9th Alabama Infantry, known as the Lauderdale Rifles, when it was organized in Lauderdale County.

The 4th Alabama Cavalry was organized in Tuscumbia, Alabama in October 1862 and took a leading role in defending Lauderdale County. They were involved in several actions in Lauderdale and Franklin counties.

The 27th Alabama Infantry was organized in December 1861 at Fort Heimen in Tennessee. The unit was first sent to defend Fort Henry where they were defeated by General Grant's army, then to Fort Donelson where most of the men were captured (later released in a prisoner exchange).

Company E of the 2nd Tennessee Infantry saw action along the Mississippi River in Missouri and Tennessee, fought in the Battles of Shiloh and Chickamauga, Georgia.

The Lauderdale Rifles joined with the Army of Virginia and saw most major actions, including Gettysburg.

Except for William Wallace Whitsett and possibly Christopher Simpson, the men survived the war. Tradition in the Simpson family states that Christopher died before 1866 but the details are not known. I believe that he died in the war.

On February 6, 1862 Fort Henry in Tennessee, the only fortification defending the upper Tennessee River from the Union Army, fell to General Grant's (Union) Army of Tennessee. Two days later Union gunboats arrived at Florence. The citizens asked the Union commander, Andrew Foote, not to burn the town or the Florence Bridge. Commander Foote agreed. His main goal was to capture or destroy Confederate gunboats, two of which were burned and 20,000 pounds of supplies captured. However, in March, Confederate General Albert Johnston ordered the bridge destroyed to prevent an invasion by Grant's Army of Tennessee into Alabama. In April, Johnston's Confederate forces met Grant's army some twenty miles north west of Waterloo in what has become known as the Battle of Shiloh at Pittsburgh Landing, Hardin County, Tennessee. Shiloh was one of the bloodiest battles in the west with over 23,000 Union and Confederate dead or wounded. The South took the initial victory but ultimately lost because of miscalculations by Confederate commanders and their failure to press their advantage, giving the Union Army time to reinforce. The loss at Shiloh eventually cost the South the entire Tennessee River Valley, including the northern counties of Alabama, northern Mississippi and western Tennessee.

On April 9, 1862, only two days after the Confederate defeat at Shiloh, Union Calvary entered Lauderdale County and attacked the community of Rawhide (now Cloverdale). Throughout 1862, raids into Lauderdale County became more frequent, led many times by local men in the Union Army. Confederate deserters also preyed upon the local populace. Most of the population of Lauderdale County was left destitute before summer arrived in 1862. At first, the county tried to help those who were suffering the most, but by early 1863, there were no more money available and people were left to fend for themselves. In June 1862, the Union’s 10th Kentucky Regiment occupied Florence and its commander immediately took brutal measures to intimidate the citizens of Lauderdale County. In July, an angry citizen of Waterloo took pot shots at Union gunboats passing town, doing little or no damage. The boats responded by shelling the town.

About this time, Harvey Rousseau was on his way to Waterloo and met a small band of Federals. Ms. Dennis in ROUSSEAU BIOGRAPHIES tells the story.

"They shot his horse out from under him, but he escaped capture and made his way home on foot, arriving dirty and exhausted to find his family unharmed. Early one morning a day or two later, Cam and Harvey were at home and she was combing her long hair when the Federals broke in and dragged Harvey outside. They were getting ready to hang him in the yard when Cammie - her hair still down and streaming about her - ran out of the house and flew at them. Taking advantage of the confusion caused by Cammie's attack Harvey threw off the soldiers; leaping over the fence that encircled the house, he vanished into the woods toward Whitsett Hollow with Federalists' bullets singing around him. He hid either on one of the now submerged islands in the Tennessee River, or in Second Creek, which at that time also had several islands. Second Creek, or Big Second Creek, is a wide, long inlet of the Tennessee River that overflows into Little Second Creek at the upper end. The inlet, sometimes referred to in old deeds as the Tennessee River, was one of the boundaries of Wilson's property.

"Cammie's men folk at home took turns swimming a horse out to the island at night with supplies for Harvey. After the Federals finally stopped looking for him, Cammie provided Harvey with another horse and he went back to the army. This horse - called Pomp - was blind in one eye. At the time, it was difficult to keep or buy a horse. Federal soldiers, bushwhackers and renegades roamed the area and took whatever they could lay hands on. The owners of horses and cattle kept them hidden away from their homes in herds watched by one or two of their younger boys."

On her death bed in 1922, Sarah (Whitsett) Webb, daughter of Wilson and Elizabeth Price Whitsett, and widow of Thomas Jefferson Webb, told how the Yankee soldiers would hunt down local Confederate soldiers and shoot them on the spot. Local people, including the Webb’s, would try to hide the southern soldiers as best they could. She told how the Yankees would come into the house while they were eating and yank the tablecloth off the table, sending the dishes and food to the floor, and then laugh about it. During those desperate times Sarah saw a woman walking barefoot along the railroad tracks. When Sarah went up to the woman she saw that the woman’s feet were sore from going barefooted. Sarah took off her own shoes and gave them to the woman. Just before she died, Sarah laughed and said that she had never had to go barefoot since then. Sadly, Sarah suffered a sudden and fatal heart attack immediately after telling the story.

In May 1863, a Federal force of almost 1,400 men again entered Lauderdale County near Cloverdale. This raid was intended to destroy the production of cotton, wool, iron foundries and food production in Lauderdale County. Confederates commanded by General Wood of Florence resisted the Federals but the Union soldiers succeeded in destroying many of their targets and reached the outskirts of Florence before retiring back across the border into Tennessee.

Various skirmishes between Confederate and Federal units continued in Lauderdale County until the end of the war. People of the county were plagued by roving bands of Federals raiding and looting civilians. They suffered almost beyond description. Many of the local soldiers deserted the Confederate Army not because of disloyalty, but because of the terrible hardships their families were suffering back home.

William Wallace Whitsett was murdered “by a Yankee” near Wright, Alabama. I believe this happened shortly after his enlistment expired in 1864 and while he was returning home to his family. A few months earlier, his brother Phillip deserted the Confederate Army. He was captured by Union troops while attempting to return home and spent the remainder of the war in a prisoner of war camp near Nashville.

Before the end of the war, industry in Waterloo and Lauderdale County was destroyed. The area did not begin to recover until after the Tennessee Valley Authority projects in the 1930's. The terrible economic condition in Lauderdale County was probably the leading motive for many Whitsett family members to leave Alabama after the war, removing to Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

Adam Whitsett and Lauderdale County, Alabama

In 1816, the Cherokees, Chickasaws and Choctaws were also forced to cede their lands to the United States. In the end, the Indians were left with only one forth of their territory in Mississippi. The government then sold the ceded land to speculators. A land rush ensued as people from Tennessee, North and South Carolina and elsewhere eagerly flocked to the fertile lands along the Tennessee River Valley. Nothing like the rush to obtain land would be seen again until the Oklahoma land rush seventy years later. The trails through Tennessee leading to northern Alabama were clogged with wagons and settlers as people made their way south. One traveler wrote that he was never out of sight of wagons and people on the Military Road into northern Alabama. When the State of Mississippi was formed in 1817, the eastern portion of Mississippi Territory was split off as the Territory of Alabama. The territory was named for the Alibamu tribe of Native Americans who considered it home from pre-columbian times.

The population grew so fast in the new territory that Alabama became a state only two years later. Wealthy slave owners purchased large plantations on the best of the land, but most people settled on less fertile land in the hills of the north. They were simple farmers with few or no slaves and marginal resources. Many of these people squatted on their land until it was available for purchase from the government or from land speculators.

The territorial legislature created Lauderdale County in 1818. It was named for Colonel James Lauderdale who was killed in the Battle of New Orleans while serving under General John Coffey. Coffee made the original survey of the Tennessee River Valley in Lauderdale and Limestone counties. He moved to Lauderdale County and purchased the land for the town of Florence and laid out the plans for the village. General Andrew Jackson and President Monroe both purchased lots in the town. Coffee's home site and grave can be seen today near Florence in Lauderdale County.

Land for the village of Waterloo was purchased by a group of investors who included Gabriel Bumpass. Bumpass was a well known and well educated physician from North Carolina. There is some evidence that he may have been an acquaintance of Wilson Whitsett. Bumpass lived to an extreme old age.

Town lots in Waterloo were first offered for sale just when the national economic collapse of 1819 occurred and the land rush stopped dead in its tracks. Banks, enticed by a heated real estate market, had overextended credit and with the crash many speculators were unable to make their payments when they came due. Scores of banks and land companies went bankrupt. The crisis began to improve only after Congress passed the land act of 1820, which cut in half the price per acre and also cut the minimum amount of land that could be purchased from the government from 160 acres to 80 acres. The first significant number of settlers came to the Waterloo area about 1824. It is about this time that Adam Whitsett removed from Tennessee to Lauderdale County.

Lauderdale County Whitsett family, the children of ADAM WHITSETT:
WILSON W. WHITSETT, b. 1808, North Carolina; d. Abt. December 1878, Lauderdale Co., Alabama; m. Elizabeth B. PRICE February 11, 1830 in Lauderdale Co., Alabama, daughter of BENJAMIN PRICE and JANE SIMPSON. She was born 1812 in Kentucky, and died 1870 in Lauderdale County, Alabama; eleven children: Jane Whitsett; Benjamin Whitsett; Margaret Whitsett; Camilla Whitsett; Nancy Whitsett; Sarah Price Whitsett; Harriet Whitsett; Isaac Jones Whitsett; Florence Whitsett; Catherine Whitsett; William Shanner Whitsett.
ISAAC WHITSETT, b. Abt. 1812, Tennessee; d. June 14, 1865, Lauderdale Co., Alabama; m. ELIZABETH WILSON July 20, 1837 in Lauderdale Co., Alabama, daughter of JAMES W. WILSON. She was born Abt. 1816 in Tennessee, and died Bef. 1870 in Probably Lauderdale Co., Alabama; seven children, only one (William Wallace) had offspring: William Wallace Whitsett; James Whitsett; Philip W. Whitsett; John Whitsett; Samuel Whitsett; Isaac James Whitsett; Owen Whitsett.
JOSIAH (JOE) M. WHITSETT, b. Abt. 1814, Tennessee; d. Bef. 1891, Probably Lauderdale County, Alabama; m. (1) KIZZIAH. She was born Abt. 1814 in Tennessee. He married (2) MARGARET ANN GRACEY March 20, 1881 in Lauderdale County, Alabama. She was born June 1845 in Tennessee, and died Aft. 1910 in Probably Lauderdale County, Alabama; four children we know of: John William Whitsett; Elizabeth Whitsett; William D. (Gracey) Whitsett (stepson); Joseph Wheeler Whitsett.  Josiah is also found in Lauderdale County associated documents as Joseph Whitsett.
NANCY WHITSETT, b. Abt. 1816, Kentucky or Tennessee, d. December 15, 1872, Monroe County, Arkansas; married  (second) Joab Langston (1806-1849), March 30, 1844, in Phillips County, Arkansas; at least six children born between 1842 and 1848 (first two by unknown father, but all listed on 1850 census with the surname Langston): Rachel, b. in Tennessee; Lucinda, Malinda, Joseph, Susan, Joab, b. in Arkansas.
JOHN WHITSETT, b. Abt. 1821, Tennessee; d. Abt. 1855, Pope County, Arkansas; m. CYNTHIA MARY ANN TANKERSLEY Abt. 1848 in Possibly Phillips County, Arkansas, daughter of ROWLAND TANKERSLEY and MARGARET DAVIDSON. She was born April 28, 1824 in Alabama, and died February 26, 1900 in Lauderdale Co., Alabama; three sons: Jesse James Whitsett; John Whitsett; Joseph Wilson Whitsett. Cynthia remarried in 1858 to Ephraim Reed in Lauderdale County and had two children, son Francis M. and daughter Mary, twins born in 1859 in Lauderdale County.

Adam Whitsett died in Lauderdale County on February 17, 1825. Simon Williams, James Bury, Sr. and John Martin conducted an inventory of his estate. The aplpraisers conducted the inventory and swore to its accuracy on February 17th, the same day that Adam died. This indicates to me that his death was not a surprise. Although the estate was small, the appraisers still would have needed some time to organize and record an inventory. An analysis of the inventory and the estate sale record indicates a couple of things. First and most important it shows that Adam was a family man. This is evident by the fact there were two sets of beds and bedroom furniture. Other items are more indicative of a family household than that of a single man, such as a spinning wheel, kitchen utensils and so forth. There is no mention of or provisions set aside for a widow. This clearly shows that Adam's wife was no longer a factor in the estate settlement. It is my guess that she died in Tennessee before Adam and his children came to Alabama. There is some support (albeit, slim) for this theory from a biographical sketch of Wilson Whitsett which states that he came with his father to Alabama (no mention of a mother).

The inventory also indicates that Adam had brought in at least one crop of corn and cotton on his plantation. Enough time had elapsed since he had settled in Lauderdale County for him to clear some land, plant a crop and harvest it. It seems to me that he must have arrived on his homestead no later than the spring of 1824.

Names on his estate bill of sale are familiar ones in the Waterloo area. Although we have no precise location, I am confident that Adam Whitsett had settled near Waterloo in western Lauderdale County. Apparently, there are no land records for Adam Whitsett in Alabama. This is not a surprise. Many of these early settlers purchased their land from the U.S. Government and the title was not recorded by the BLM until the land was paid for in full. Also, as mentioned before, many squatted on the land until they had the time or money to take care of the legalities. Titles for Benjamin Price's lots were not recorded until the late 1840's and early 1850's when he finally paid the debts in full. The same is true of Wilson Whitsett who probably purchased land in the early 1830's but did not pay off the debts until the early 1850's.

The sale of Adam Whitsett's estate was held on March 4, 1825. Benjamin Price was the administrator of the estate and certified and swore to the correctness of the inventory of the sale. The sale inventory lists the same items as the February appraisal along with the names of the buyers and the amounts paid for each item. Interestingly, Benjamin Price purchased one of the beds and sets of bedroom furniture. Family tradition says that the Whitsett boys were raised by Ben Price after the death of their parents. Ben Price probably found he suddenly needed an extra bed. The estate sale is also the very first record of Wilson Whitsett, who was then about 14 or 15 years of age. Wilson bought a book and a razor for 43 cents. This single book is a clue that Adam and Wilson were able to read and write.

I find interesting what is not listed in the estate. Farm implements are listed, such as a plow, but no draft animals such as a horse or oxen. These were absolute necessities on farms of that era and Adam had harvested at least one crop; he somehow had access to these animals. A cow and yearling calf were sold to Philip Bryan but that was the only livestock listed in the estate. There is no wagon listed. I assume that Adam brought his household goods, farm implements, seed cotton, seed corn and his family from Tennessee in a wagon of some sort. Did the Whitsett family travel with another family perhaps who provided the transportation?   In most estates of this era are usually a musket and powder horn. It would be strange if the Whitsett family did not have at least one. On the frontier, hunting wild game usually provided meat.

Family tradition in the descendants of Adam's son John says that there was an older brother and two sisters, names not stated. The oldest brother was old enough to be on his own when their father died. Supposedly, the older brother left for Georgia and raised several sons who turned out to be railroad men. It may be these men later went to Texas where the acquaintence of Jesse J. Whitsett met them. I have searched for Whitsett males on various censuses whose occupation indicated they worked with the railroad, but to date have not identified any possibilities.

Nancy Whitsett married Joab Langston In Phillips County, Arkansas in 1844. During the 1840's, Adam's sons Josiah (Joe) and John both lived for awhile in Phillips County. This is evidence that Nancy was one of the unnamed sisters. Wilson Whitsett named one of his daughters Nancy when she was born in 1835, more evidence Nancy Whitsett-Langston was a sister.

Ronald N. Wall

Modified: 15 August 2025