Tallapoosa County, Alabama
Tallapoosa County, Alabama is a place that I had never
heard of until I started researching. Genealogical research has led me to
Tallapoosa County where the Carmack, Lee, Edwards, Meadows, Oliver, and White
families have lived at one time or another in the past.
Tallapoosa County was land that the Creek Indians
ceded in the Treaty of Cusseta in 1832. The Legislature created the state
December 18, 1832. The name of the county was named after the Tallapoosa River.
The settlers to the new territory came from the Carolinas, Georgia, and
Tennessee. The Lee family from Richland,
South Carolina settled in Tallapoosa County sometime after 1830. The settlers
and traders traveled the Okfuskee Trail or the Upper Creek Trading Path to the
area. The trail and path is a southern route below the Appalachian barrier to
the Mississippi Valley.
The Treaty of Fort Jackson was a treaty where the
Creeks ceded territory that opened much of central Alabama for settlers. That
Treaty took place August 1814. Alexander City was in that territory and is where
William Alfred Lee was born; and his father the son of Jordan Lee and was born
in Richland District, South Carolina. Alexander City was one of the first towns
established as was Dadevile where other Lee families settled. Elmore County was
created from parts of Tallapoosa County. The Lee family were farmers and came
to the area looking for more opportunities and land. The first textile mill was
established in Tallassee Falls in 1840. Farming was the main occupation of the
settlers to Tallapoosa County. Goldmining also was another occupation that
settlers did in Goldville and New Site preceding the Civil War. Did goldmining bring the Lee family to
Tallapoosa County, Alabama? Did they come because of the Textile Mill? Or did
they come for the farm land? Jordan Lee purchase land in 1845 in Tallapoosa.
Jordan Lee the father of Benjamin Lee migrated from
Richland District, South Carolina sometime after the 1830 census was taken and
arrived in Tallapoosa County, Alabama in time to be enumerated on the 1840
Tallapoosa County Census. He purchased land in 1845 in Tallapoosa. Benjamin Lee
son of Jordan also made his home in Tallapoosa County. However, Jordan Lee died
in 1847. I don’t know the cause of his death, but I would love to know if it
was a natural death, accidental, or from an illness or disease. I assume it was
an unexpected death though.
Tallapoosa County is where several of the Lee
ancestors settled and made their home. Jordan Lee died and left a widow Lydia
Hodge Lee. Lydia would have been about fifty-seven years old when Jordan died. She is living alone in 1850 Township 24,
Tallapoosa County, Alabama and her value of real estate is one hundred and
fifty dollars. Living near her is her youngest son Zachariah Lee, his wife and
one year old daughter Susan F. Zachariah and wife Martha E. had not been
married long. They married 29 October 1848 in Tallapoosa County, Alabama. Living
in the same area is her son Benjamin, Drucila, and their children, Elizabeth,
Jourdan Thomas, Benjamin W. H., Lettie, and Charlotte S.
The Lydia Lee lived
in Tallapoosa County until sometime after 1850 Lydia’s circumstances changed
and she moved to live with her children. On the 1860 Precinct 6, Butler County census,
she is living with her daughter, Neome Hastin. In 1870 Township 22, Randolph
County census she is living with another daughter Elizabeth “Betsy” Fetner. Then
by 1880 Lydia wasn’t on the census. Lydia Lee died after the 1870 census but
before 1880.
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| Image from Google Images |
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