New marker for Elizabeth Birdwell Isbell Conway erected by descendants.

Elizabeth Birdwell was born in Tennessee Dec. 31, 1797 or Jan. 1, 1800 (two censuses prove birth place).
In 1813, Elizabeth Birdwell married James Isbell in Madison County, Alabama. John Birdwell and family moved to Madison County in 1805 FROM TENNESSEE (see historic marker, Old Bethel Church, Marshall Co., AL).
The 1809 census shows he had 6 daughters. Elizabeth fits as one of these, and probably Mary/Polly. The other four known daughters born before 1809 were Nancy, Sarah, Susan, and Jane.


In 1812, John Birdwell's brother Moses Birdwell moved FROM GEORGIA to Madison County and his was the only other Birdwell family in the county in 1813. Moses lived in Georgia 1791-1812 and all his children were born in Georgia and Alabama. Moses and 2nd wife Hannah Falkindon had a daughter Elizabeth born 1822 in Limestone Co., AL.
In 1818, Elizabeth Birdwell Isbell's husband James Isbell sold land in Limestone Co., AL. to his wife's uncle Moses Birdwell.

Jan. 4, 1956 letter from Maud McLure Kelly to Ethlyn Rainey quotes a previous letter from Ethlyn stating "Elizabeth Birdwell who married James Isbell was the daughter of John Birdwell and sister of Sarah H. Birdwell Isbell." Maud McLure Kelly was the first woman lawyer in Alabama and first woman lawyer qualified to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Letter from Ethlyn Isbell Rainey dated Sept. 12, 1978, p. 7, again stated that Elizabeth Birdwell Isbell was the daughter of John Birdwell and sister of her great-grandmother Sarah Birdwell Isbell.
Ethlyn Rainey was a member of the Heroes of Kings Mountain Chapter DAR, along with two sisters, one of whom (Mrs. Dorsett Davis) was also the Regent.
In 1954 Ethlyn Rainey was the GOP nominee for State Treasurer of Alabama.
Ethlyn's grandfather Elijah Miller Isbell was a double first cousin of the children of Elizabeth Birdwell Isbell and as the administrator of the estate of his uncle Zachariah Isbell, he documented all the known children of James and Elizabeth Birdwell Isbell on his list of heirs. Ethlyn Rainey grew up in the home with Elijah Miller Isbell's widow, her grandmother, and was well educated in the Isbell-Birdwell family histories so she was very qualified to state the family relationships correctly. She wrote of two family legends: (1) that the Isbell brothers worked for John Birdwell and married his two daughters; and (2) that John Birdwell gave slaves to his children before moving to Texas, that Levi and Sarah Birdwell Isbell refused theirs but that James and Elizabeth Birdwell Isbell accepted theirs (also reiterated by Ethlyn's sister Cora Walker, D.A.R. member, in Heritage of Marshall Co., AL. (2000), p.199; also, Families and History of Sullivan County, Tennessee [Vol. 1 1779-1992; Vol. 2. 1779-2006] (Holston Territory Genealogical Society, 1992), p. 349; and Isbell Country by Odessa Morrow Isbell, pp. 19, 20, 229.

The 1830 census shows James and Elizabeth Birdwell Isbell owned 2 female slaves, and the 1840 census shows 1 female slave. These were probably housekeepers for Elizabeth.