The Jacobs Family

The following is a continuation of excerpts from the book “The People Who Lived on the Land that is Now Redstone Arsenal” by Beverly S. Curry.

THE JACOBS FAMILY. One of the illustrations herein is a drawing of the family genealogy chart of Zera Jacobs. Another illustration is the chart of her husband, Dock Jacobs. Jacobs was Zera’s maiden name as well as her married name. Dock and Zera Jacobs are the parents of Alva Jacobs, whose interview is also presented herein. The family charts were drawn as information was gathered. The researcher (Beverly Curry) sent the charts to a Jacobs family member who had said she would look at them and give feedback, but a follow-up call indicated that the person had good intentions but a busy schedule. No further calls were made after the researcher retired and left Huntsville in 2006 ZERA JACOBS. In the chart for Dock Jacobs notice that the Isaac Jacobs shown was born in 1847. According to historic researcher John Rankin, another Isaac Jacobs was born August 1845, so distinguishing them could be confusing. John says they were likely cousins — part of a group of Jacobs families from South Carolina that came with matriarch Fanny Jacobs (b. 1778 in SC). Rankin speculates that other Jacobs families were headed by her children who were: Burrell (1801), Unity (1817), Thomas (1801), Isaac (1803), Oliver (1808) and (Rebecca 1807). They were born in South Carolina. All of the above people were listed as “Mulatto” in the 1850 census, and Rankin asserts that they must have been free then, or they would not have been named on the census records prior to the Civil War.

(Their freedom may well have resulted from an ancestor having fought in the Revolutionary War, as history has noted that several Black soldiers also did, and freedom was granted to them because of that service having been performed. The Jacobs family came to Madison County in the earliest day of settlement with my own ancestors of the Lemley and associated Kennamer lines. In fact, in the 1970s I met many times on a mutual military project with Don Jacobs, a fellow Boeing engineering manager in Seattle whose appearance suggested that he might be of Mulatto descent. We often left the offices for lunch together in local restaurants, but we never even discussed family histories back then because I was residing in Texas at the time and had never yet had occasion to research the Jacobs family of Madison County in Alabama. However, the mutual migration connections of these Mulatto families to Lemley and Kennamer pioneers suggests that this Jacobs line in America may possibly have initially been connected to my own ancestors, who in turn may have freed them whether they fought in the Revolutionary War or not.… JPR.)

The pre-arsenal property owned by the Jacobs family members discussed in the following interview is shown as highlighted in an excerpt of a later-developed RSA map, but it is not inclusive of all Jacobs land ownership. The Yancy Horton property can be seen adjoining that of the Jacobs.

ALVA JACOBS [INCLUDING A DISCUSSION DRAWING FROM OTHER SOURCES] Interview July 2005. Alva’s Family. Alva’s wife is Gladys Taylor Jacobs. Alva Jacobs was born in March of 1923, the son of Dock Jacobs and Zera Jacobs. Dock was born in 1892 in Mullins Flat. He was a soldier in World War I. Dock’s brothers and sisters were George, Frank, James, Joe, Tarrie, Beulah, Charity, and Mildred, who died at a young age. Dock’s brother George Jacobs married Laura; their children were Elle, James, and Frank Jacobs.

Zera and Dock’s children were Alva, Juanita, Nathaniel, Mildred, and Zena. Juanita was a half -sister to Alva (different mothers). Juanita was born prior to Dock’s marriage to Zera, and her mother was Bessie Ward. Zera and Alva both had the family name of Jacobs. The fact is noted to avoid confusion in understanding the relationship between landowners. When asked if his parents were related, Alva said he was not certain. Alva’s maternal grandmother (Zera’s mother) was Emily Walls Jacobs, who died “in the early 1930’s when she was between 80 and 85 years old.” Emily’s sister Sophie was married to Yancy Horton. Zera’s father was William Jacobs. Pearly Jacobs was William’s sister. Alva’s paternal grandfather (Dock’s father) was Isaac Jacob and his paternal grandmother was Elizabeth (Betty). They were married December 23, 1878 Dock and other family members of Isaac Jacobs are shown on the 1900 census index presented on the next page. The index shows that Elizabeth (Betty) was born in 1859 and was 40 years old when the census was taken. Her husband, Isaac, born in 1847, was a few years older than she. From this index we have the birthdates of their children: Frank (1879), James (1881), Elle (1884), George (1889), Joseph (1890), Dorothy (1892), Tyra (1895), and Charity Ann (1897). Alva listed a sister Beulah, who must have been born after 1900. (Beverly Curry’s book as published for the Army includes many pages to show the detailed census records provided to her by John Rankin.)

CONNECTING THE PUZZLE PIECES. Rather than presenting the sections about daily and community life as it is remembered by Alva Jacobs immediately following the family history information that he related, this section breaks from form. The Jacobs family provides the opportunity to show how various pieces of research can be brought into “rebuilding” the past. As the archaeologist records each artifact and the context in which it was found, the ethnographer collects verbal and written “artifacts” and so must analyze their context and place in time. This section analyzes the family history as presented by Alva Jacobs, the memories of the late Lizzie (Bessie) Ward, and documentation obtained from Dennis Simpson about his ancestors supplemented with the research on those buried in a White cemetery conducted by John Rankin.

Archival records photographed by John Rankin were examined. This section illustrates the steps made in connecting the various points of research during the course of this study. The Rankin-Dixon Cemetery Research. A few years ago, Mr. John Rankin finally agreed to photograph all of the cemeteries on RSA as a volunteer . Having completed that task, he went on to conduct archival research on those who owned the land and the families who were buried in the cemeteries. John has shared his research, in the former communities of Mullins Flat and Pond Beat, with the largest landowner in the family being Frank Jacobs. The cemetery listed by RSA as the Rankin-Dixon Cemetery is within the parcel of land D-196 that was owned by Frank Jacobs. Thus, the researcher conferred with John Rankin regarding the history of the cemetery.

Through e-mail, John Rankin introduced the researcher to Dennis Simpson. In an email dated April 21, 2005, Dennis Simpson provided information about the property where the cemetery is located and the history of the land’s ownership. This history of the buying and selling of this property is typical of what was happening in Madison County during the 1800’s. The excerpt from Dennis Simpson’s e-mail letter, dated April 21, 2005, presented below will acquaint the reader with Frank Jacobs’ land purchase and the context in which it occurred. The property where the cemetery is situated was purchased by John Simpson on June 23, 1855. He purchased the property consisting of 435 acres from [the] Dr. John Henderson Hundley family. The Hundley’s were a wellknown family who moved to the southeastern section of Limestone County, Alabama. They were very wealthy, but like so many Southerners, lost everything when Union Soldiers stripped them of everything they owned during those dark days of the American Civil War. John Simpson paid the Hundley’s $3000 for the property. It remained in the family all the way up to 1918 when after the death of Uncle Henry Clay Simpson on February 26, 1918, his brother-in-law, John Alexander Steger, petitioned the court to be administrator of the estate. He sold the land on August 19, 1918 to Robert Murphey for the bidding price of $12,650.00.

John Alexander Steger was Madison County’s last Confederate Soldier. He died in Birmingham, Alabama and is buried beside his wife, Mary Ella (Simpson) Steger, at the family cemetery in Ryland, Alabama across the street from Shiloh Methodist Church. The land apparently did not stay with Robert Murphey long, for it was sold to a wealthy Black man by the name of Frank Jacobs. The Jacobs family lived in the area before the Civil War as free men. Frank Jacobs also owned the Dickson-Graham- Rankin plantation. This was the property of Margaret Ann (Dickson) Simpson’s parents, James Dickson and Keziah Wood. James Dickson entered Madison County, Alabama before February of 1818. On that date, he purchased 79.78 acres in the West half of the Southeast quarter, Section 14, Township 5, Range 2, West.

The fact that Jacobs family members were classified as “Mulatto” but were free during the time before the Civil War makes it reasonable to assume a White male ancestor. This could explain financial backing that enabled the Jacobs family members to own a significant amount of land. Dennis Simpson noted (e-mail 4/27/05) that Dr. William Simpson, Hopkins Lacy, Thomas Austin, and William Robinson founded Ditto Landing, which was near the old town of Liberty back then but now gone. William Simpson died in 1816. Both Austin and Robinson died in 1819 [Lacy purchased their interest]. Dennis Simpson then added: “Thomas Austin’s widow married Joseph G. Jacobs, who I believe was the White father of Frank Jacobs.” [However, the name Frank Jacobs occurs in the generations of the Jacobs family prior to the Frank Jacobs of Pond Beat who has been introduced in this manuscript.] COMBINING ARCHIVAL AND ETHNOGRAPHIC INFORMATION–SPECULATING. Having reviewed information from Dennis Simpson, the researcher studied the interview of Lizzie Ward, whom she recalled as being descended from a Jacobs, and wrote the following speculation: This study has found that many of the well-known families of Pond Beat and Mullins Flat descended from the union of Pearlie Jacobs and Alex Joiner. [Alex Joiner was the son of William Timmons (White) and Luisa (Timmons’ slave), who gave Alex the name of Joiner when she later married “a man named Joiner.”] Lizzie (Bessie) Ward, born in 1900, a daughter of Alex Joiner and Pearlie Jacobs, who passed away at the onset of the 21st century only months after she was interviewed, told the researcher that Pearlie wasn’t White, but she was “set aside as a free nation.” Lizzie Ward, a “Black” woman whose complexion was so light that she more accurately could be described as White, had the warm and kindly disposition and manner that fits the image our society has long associated with that of the ideal grandmother. She was alert of mind, but weak of body and easily tired, as she sat in her wheelchair by her bed in the home of her niece Lucille Rooks. The researcher questioned what “set aside as a free Nation” meant. Lizzie said that was just what she was always told. She was not pressed further to remember because of her fragile condition.

Nevertheless, the association of Pearlie Jacobs, who was described as being “set aside as a free Nation,” and Frank Jacobs, who was a free Black man before the onset of the Civil War and who also bought property that was once “set aside as a free Nation” lends itself to speculation and further inquiry. [Note: “Set apart as a free nation” refers to Indian possession of the land. The Indians ceded the land in 1816. While the land encompassed in RSA was once part of the Indian hunting grounds, no historic Indian villages were located there. In 1816 a survey of the ceded land was initiated, but the first date of legal sale was in February of 1818.]