Jacobs Family – part 2
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.
Alva Jacobs Family Information.
Having drawn up family trees for the parents of Alva Jacobs and studied the information from the Alva Jacobs interview and analyzing it as a whole with the Lizzie Ward interview and the land purchase records provided by Dennis Simpson, the researcher again called Alva Jacobs to seek more names and marriages in the family line. All of the data indicated a connecting ancestor with Lizzie Ward. The second interview yielded the information that Alva’s maternal grandfather’s sister was Pearlie Jacobs, who married Alex Joiner. This name was added to the “family tree.” This connection took the Jacobs family back to the woman [Pearlie] who married Alex Joiner, the son of William Timmons. Furthermore, Pearlie was the mother that Lizzie Ward had described as being “set apart as a free Nation.” Lizzie was Alex’s sister. The connection between Alva Jacobs and Pearlie Jacobs had been determined. However, the questions remained: Was there a connection between Frank Jacobs and Pearlie Jacobs Joiner? Was Pearlie born free?
One More Look at Archival Documents.
As stated earlier, archival documentation is beyond the scope of this study. However, at times one cannot stop the pursuit. Thus, some of the documents found are presented and discussed. On June 4, 1934, Everett Horton signed a sworn statement in the Madison County Records regarding the ownership of a 22-acre tract of land in Pond Beat. Everett Horton swore that his grandfather, Burwell [Burrell] Jacobs, Sr., died about the year 1890 while occupying his homestead on that tract. He did not have a will, and “there was no administration had upon his estate.” Everett Horton attested to the fact that upon his grandfather’s death, his uncle, George Jacobs, became owner of the estate and lived upon it until his death about the year 1907. George Jacobs never married, and upon his death, “his heirs at law conveyed this land to Lucien Jacobs.” The statement goes on to state that Lucien Jacobs mortgaged the land to Steel and Cartwright, who Everett understood to have foreclosed on the mortgage, and then sold the tract to his [Everett’s] uncle, Burwell Jacobs, Jr. The completely detailed description of the land and its location can be read in the official record of Everett Horton’s sworn statement (preserved in the county court record archives and included in the Curry book) as photographed by John Rankin.
While Everett’s statement is enlightening about land ownership in the Jacobs family, it also reveals kinship ties. Everett states that Burwell (Burrell) Jacobs, Sr., who died in 1890, was his grandfather. None of the elderly people interviewed in this study could remember the name of the father of Amanda Jacobs. Since Amanda Jacobs was Everett Horton’s mother, identifying Burwell Jacobs, Sr. as his grandfather adds one more generation back on the family lineage that was compiled during the Horton family interviewing. This tie also connects the Horton and Jacobs family lines.
A Burrell Jacobs was in America as early as 1790, evidenced in the page excerpt copied below. (NOTE: The name has often appeared spelled as either Burwell or Burrell.) The researcher consulted John P. Rankin, and he explained the following: “Enumerators of the 1790 census were asked to include the following categories in the census: name of head of household, number of free White males of sixteen years and older, number of free White males under sixteen years, number of free White females, number of all other free persons, number of slaves, and sometimes town or district of residence. The categories allowed Congress to determine persons residing in the United States for collection of taxes and the appropriation of seats in the House of Representatives. This first United States census differs in format from later census material, as each enumerator was expected to make his own copies on whatever paper he could find.”
An excerpt from the 1850 Madison County census record documents the children of Burrell Jacobs. Amanda Jacobs was 11 years old in 1850, which puts her birth date at 1839. Her race is shown as “M”, which stands for mulatto. The names and ages of her siblings recorded in the 1850 census were added to the Jacobs lineage diagram. The question has not been answered about the possible relationship between Pearlie Jacobs and Amanda Jacobs. However, an even more significant issue remains to be resolved — records indicate Burrell Jacobs was a free man prior to the Civil War. Amanda Jacobs was Burrell’s daughter, and would be the right age to have been the one who had Jack Horton’s children. It would seem that if Burrell were free, then his daughter would have been free. However, in 1979, Ovoy Horton said: Amanda Horton was purchased as a slave and came to the United States sold to a White slave owner, Jack Horton. Even though slavery had been abolished [by the English?] by the time Amanda completed the journey from North Africa, around Portugal and along the coast of North Carolina, Jack Horton took her anyway. He sat her aside in a little house on 40 acres of land, which was intended for her in the very beginning. This settlement was in the Pond Beat community, which presently houses the Army Missile Command and NASA at Redstone Arsenal. (First Horton Family Reunion, 1979:6, as found in Shogren, Turner, and Perroni 1989). [This researcher questions Amanda being born in Africa.] Apparently, a Horton descendant also sought to learn more of the relationship between Jack Horton and Amanda Jacobs. Charles Burns is deceased. A folder held in the Heritage Room of the Madison County Library in Huntsville contains a letter written by Charles Burns to Ranee’ Pruitt in the Heritage Room. Burns was born about 90 years ago, so he must have been in his seventies when he wrote the letter in 1993. He had moved to Chicago, where he had inherited the insurance business of his father. His children are there. Rather than explain the interests and thoughts of Charles Burns, the researcher will let his own words speak for him — his letter is presented verbatim below: [From Charles Burns to Ranee’ Pruitt, Heritage Room, Madison County Library] July 8, 1993. I am writing to you in the hope of enlisting your aid again with the research I have been doing on my family history for the book I am writing. You have been very helpful to me in what I have been able to accomplish so far, but I still have some gaps in my information that I am hoping you will be able to help me clear up. Through the work we have already done we have come to the following conclusions: My great-grandmother, a mulatto woman named Amanda Jacobs Horton had four children: Yancy, Virginia, Celia, and Everett (whom I knew to be my grandfather). These children are listed along with her on an 1870 census report (copy enclosed). Amanda is listed as age 23; the children are ages 8, 6, 4, and 2. While these children are listed here with the surname Jacobs, (Amanda’s maiden name) they went by the surname of Horton as adults, and passed the Horton name on to their children. It has long been speculated in my family that these four children were fathered by the White slave owner named Horton to whom Amanda belonged.
In searching for information to support this speculation, I found an Appraisement of a George Horton’s property taken at the time of his death in 1859 (copy enclosed) that lists among his belongings a girl aged 9. I showed you this when I met with you, and you pointed out that because she was only 9 when George Horton died, she could not have borne children for him. However, I now come to suspect that it was not George Horton, but his son, an Andrew Jackson Horton who fathered Amanda’s children. And while I may never be able to prove this as an absolute fact, I would like to research Andrew Jackson Horton as thoroughly as I can. Andrew J. Horton aged 31 is listed in the same 1870 census in which Amanda aged 23 and her children appear. He is listed as living in a household with whom I identify as his two younger brothers and his sister. His two older brothers, William H. and James appear on the same census report in a different household. I am able to discern this because their names and ages match with information taken from an 1870 census report (also enclosed). I would like to find whatever else I can on Andrew Jackson Horton, i.e. birth and/or death certificate, property deeds, wills (did he inherit George Horton’s property and slaves, and did he deed any property or give his name to Amanda’s children) marriage license (did he ever marry, or have legitimate children) and any other valuable information. I would also like any information available on his father George Horton, birth/death certificates, property deeds, etc. Census reports list him as being from North Carolina, if that is so, can it be established when he came to Alabama? And I would also like any information on his other, Andrew J.’s, siblings. Amanda’s father, Burrill Jacobs is listed on her death certificate and on the 1870 census report as also being from North Carolina; could there be some connection between him and George Horton reaching back to North Carolina?
I sincerely hope that you will be able to help me in this research. Your services have been invaluable in helping me to come this far, and I am now very anxious to complete this project. I am also writing to Mrs. Addie Shavers to enlist her aid as well. Please contact me at your earliest convenience if you can be of assistance in this matter. Sincerely, Charles W. Burns.
George Horton’s will answered some of these questions. Will Book 1, page 206, shows the Last Will and Testament of George Horton, dated “July A.D. 1856.” In his will George wrote [Paragraph 1] that it was his “will and desire” that his three older children, George, William, and James, having property of their own, have no further interest in his estate. In the second paragraph of his will George Horton said it was his “will and desire” that all his just debts be paid, including “what may be due for two Schollarships [sic] in the North Alabama College at Huntsville, should I die before paying for said Schollarships.” In the third paragraph George stated it was his “will and desire” that “my Son, Thomas, who is lame, shall have the two Schollarships aforesaid and forty shares of Stock of the Memphis and Charleston Rail Road Company, which I now hold, unless I give them to him before I die.” In the fourth paragraph, George Horton bequeathed the balance of his property of every kind to his wife Mary and his children, Andrew [Jackson], Alfred, Thomas, John, Sara, Elizabeth, Mary Ann, Fredrick, and any children born thereafter. This shows that Andrew [Jackson], who has been referred to as “Jack,” did inherit from his father. However, the property “of every kind” was divided. An appraisement of George Horton’s property after his death [No. 2221, Probate Court Minute Book No. 6, page 435] provides an extensive list of his property, which includes a Negro girl named Amanda, whose value was listed as $900.
Whether or not Charles Burns unraveled the history of Amanda and Jack before he passed away is not known. Ranee’ Pruitt (now deceased) did not know of any book that he completed. It is reasonable to assume that had he completed his book, he would have provided a copy to the Heritage Room in the Huntsville Public Library. An interview of Charles Burns that appeared decades ago in the Redstone Rocket was presented (along with his autobiography) in another section of this manuscript. The name Burwell Jacobs is found in South Carolina and Alabama across the timeline of three centuries (1790 through the time of sale of land on RSA to the government). Burwell Jacobs owned land prior to the Civil War, owning land in Madison County in 1858. Was the Burwell Jacobs shown on the 1858 land deed the same one who was the father of Amanda Jacobs? His name on the 1850 census indicates he was a free Mulatto. Was this the Burwell Jacobs who was the grandfather of Yancy Horton, Sr.? Was Burwell Jacobs a free Mulatto and his daughter a slave because her mother had been a slave? (Actually, it was the free or slave status of the mother of the children that was passed to the next generation. If the father was a slave, the children would be a slave. If the mother was free, then her children were free. Children of free White men born through mothers who were Black slaves were not free, giving rise to the Mulatto class of people in the old South. More about this in the next issue…. JPR)
