Son of George and Mary Birdwell. His father was a Revolutionary War Patriot.
FIRST FAMILIES OF TENNESSEE (#15933)
FIRST FAMILIES OF ALABAMA (#430-432, 434)
DAUGHTERS OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS (#031544S, 033062R, 06371S)
SONS OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS
DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (#A098196)
SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
COLONIAL DAMES OF THE XVII CENTURY
He first came to Texas in 1838 by some accounts (The Mitchells of Linn Flat by Gwenneth A.M. Mitchell, pp. 184, 201), while one reference gives a date as early as 1835, although he did not move permanently until 1842 after the death of his wife. His son, Col. Allen B. Birdwell, wrote in his own notebook ledger that he moved to Texas in 1842 and that his father John Birdwell lived with him in Nacogdoches County. John Birdwell was still living in Allen Birdwell's household in Rusk County in the 1850 census. The HANDBOOK OF TEXAS by the Texas State Historical Association, says: "Allen Birdwell's father John may have moved to Nacogdoches County, Texas, in 1838, and Allen and his wife Lucinda (Ross) followed by 1842." (Jennifer Eckel, "BIRDWELL, ALLEN," Handbook of Texas Online, accessed June 27, 2015. Uploaded on June 12, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.)
John Birdwell was in Houston on July 8, 1838, when he wrote a letter of recommendation for George Nixon which is preserved in the George Antonio Nixon manuscripts collection at the University of Texas Arlington (Special Collections, George Nixon Collection, Box GA122, Document 00189).
A family history states that John Birdwell moved to Nacogdoches County in 1838 and "lived at Old North Church two years," then moved twelve miles to Mt. Enterprise in what became Rusk County when Rusk was formed from part of Nacogdoches.
"For My Children: Memoir of Rev. George Preston Birdwell" (1912): "My grandfather, John Birdwell,...died at my father's house near Mt. Enterprise, Texas, at the age of 84 years. He was never sick in his life, never had a chill nor a fever. There were nine boys in the family, and all died between the ages of 84 and 90. My father, Colonel Allen Birdwell, was born in West Tennessee…moved with his parents to North Alabama and settled about one mile from Raleville in Lawrence County…. In 1838 he came to Texas to look at the country. He was well pleased and in 1841, he moved to Texas. He settled first near Old North Church in Nacogdoches County. I think he made two crops there before he bought his home, three miles south of Mt. Enterprise, in Rusk County. This was all Nacogdoches County then, in Rusk County. This was all Nacogdoches County then…." ("Birdwell Family," East Texas Families, pp.233-34, 279-80.)
John Birdwell signed his will Jan. 24, 1854, and it was entered in Probate Court April 27, 1854.
Rusk County Deed Book N-O (1860), p. 367, states that he died Feb. 16, 1854.
The estate included $1,400 cash and included slaves and possibly other property since Col. Allen B. Birdwell posted a $4,000 bond with the Rusk County Probate Court to serve as administrator of his father's estate, a considerable bond in those days.
FIRST FAMILIES OF TENNESSEE
Descendants of John and Mary Birdwell are eligible for membership in the First Families of Tennessee, First Families of Alabama, the Sons of the Republic of Texas, and the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.
John Birdwell and Mary Allen grew up in Sullivan County, N.C., which later became Sullivan County, Tennessee. They married and lived there several years before moving to Alabama.
FOOTPRINTS, vol. 23-24 (Ft. Worth: Fort Worth Genealogical Society, 1979), p. 107: John Birdwell (born 1770 Virginia, died 1854 Texas) and wife Mary Allen... in 1781 were in Sullivan County, North Carolina (now Tennessee), 1809 Madison County, Alabama; 1819 Lawrence County, Alabama.
FIRST FAMILIES OF ALABAMA
1805
The Birdwells settled in Madison County, Alabama in 1805, where they were charter members of the Enon Baptist Church which later became First Baptist Church of Huntsville. John Birdwell was the first clerk. (Alabama Historical Society marker in Marshall County lists their daughter "Sarah Birdwell Isbell, one of the earliest settlers of Madison County, 1805." His son Allen Birdwell stated in his ledger that his parents took him to Alabama in 1805, when he was three years old).
Allen Birdwell wrote that he was born "in Roane County, East Tennessee," and "was brought to the Mississippi Territory in 1805, now Alabama, Madison County, 8 miles north of Huntsville. My F.(father) moved to Lawrence County 1818."
1808
"Birdwell Family Tree" by Velma Stovey Schonder, p. 59:
"JHB thinks that JB was living in Madison Co., AL by 1808. He was one of the organizers and first clerk of The First Baptist Church in Huntsville, AL. …The church minutes for 6-1-1811 state that the church authorized Brethren Watkins, Pruet Brock, Birdwell and Powell to view a place for a meeting house (Dale Langston, from microfilm notes at Madison Co. Library Heritage Room, Huntsville).
"JB is on the 1809 census Madison Co. Al/Ms Territory, p.7, with 2 males under 21, 1 male over 21, 6 females under 21 and 1 female over 21. According to JHB his last 4 children were born there, while his first 4 children married there."
Page 23 (different version, p.72): "John Birdwell...moved Tx 1838."
Enon Baptist Church Records (Huntsville, Madison County, Alabama), Sept. 2, 1809:
September, 1st Saturday 1809.
1st The Church Met & after Prayer proceeded to Business--
…5th The Church Appoints Brother Birdwell to Write the Association Letter & Bring the same to next meeting--
Enon Baptist Church Records, Sept. 1, 1810:
September 1st Saturday--1810
The Church met and after proceeded to business--
1st Opened a door for the reception of member--
2nd the church took up a reference from last meeting and laid it over till next meeting--
3rd The Church agree to delegate Bros. Hellums, Childress and Birdwell to The Association.
John Birdwell's land included 160 acres comprising the NW quarter of Sec 17, T2S R1E. This is SW of Fox Run Golf Course (SW of the First Flint River Baptist Church, Moores Mill Rd), and lying between the SW tip of Fox Run Drive (the SW corner of Fox Run Golf Course) running southwest to the Brier Fork of Flint River and the Madison County Executive Airport (Huntsville Ex. Airport on maps).
(This was Patent 1008 recorded 8-29-1963 when the new airport was built)
(ref., Family Maps of Madison Co., AL. by Gregory Boyd, pp. 122, 124; p.314 states: Sale-Cash Entry, Date & Act of Congress Apr 24, 1820. Group patent of 18 owners).
Madison Co. AL Deed Books A-E, 1810-1819, by Dorothy Scott Johnson (1976):
Madison Co. DB E, p. 133 #500:
item 500: dated 8-18-1818
Grantor, John & Mary Birdwell
Grantee, George Oglethorpe Gilmer
For the sum of $3300 Ind. SW/4 Sec. 18-2-E lying east of Briar Fork of Flint River, & 10 Ac. in 3/2 & 10 a. N/2 NW4 sec. 17-2-1E.
Proven 11-3-1818 & DR (Pope) (Note: 10 a. in S/2) purchased by Birdwell from Joseph Powell.
Witnessed by: Lewis B. Taliaferro, Jacob Pruett, and Levi Isbell.
1818, Aug. 18 - Madison Co., AL. John Birdwell and wife Mary deeded land to Geo. Oglethorpe Gilmer. Witnesses: Lewis B. Taliaferro, Jacob Pruitt, Levi Isbell. Levi Isbell was John and Mary Birdwell's son-in-law. (Book E Page 133.)
In January 1819 John and Mary Birdwell moved to Lawrence County where they purchased large tracts of land and were also founders of this church, Birdwell Springs Baptist Church, which later changed its name to Enon Baptist Church.
THE FIRST 200 YEARS OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF HUNTSVILLE by Joseph M. Jones, p. 2, gives the origin of that Enon Church as several years earlier: "All of Enon's very first members were squatters since the government's Nashville land office, which handled the sale of Madison County lands, did not even open for business in the Madison County area until August 1810, more than a year after Enon was established."
Page 3: "After having met in private homes for two years, the church in June 1811 appointed a committee —- William Watkins, Jack Prewit, Isaac Brock, John Birdwell, and Joseph Powell --‘to view a place for a meeting house.' That led to the start of construction of a log building on the western bank of the Brier Fork of Flint River, a few hundred yards north of the present terminal of the North Huntsville Executive Airport. The small building, exact location unknown, was close to the river bank…, affording a convenient place for baptismal services. For some reason, perhaps a shortage of funds, construction was halted short of completion. Almost two years later, Feb. 6, 1813, a new committee was named, consisting mostly of the first group plus William Hellums, to complete the work, and while there was apparently no fanfare to herald its conclusion, the structure was finished and in 1815 did accommodate the second annual meeting of the Flint River Association.
…"with regard to the squatter hypothesis, it is interesting to note that the providers of Enon's one-acre lot, John Birdwell and Joseph Powell, did not themselves receive title to their jointly-held property until April 1814, the church construction having begun on their proffered land three years earlier. But things were ‘looser,' less formal in those days."
"A History of Early Settlement: Madison County Before Statehood," The Huntsville Historical Review (2008) by the Huntsville-Madison County Historical Society, p. 69:
"The closest meetinghouse was Enon Baptist Church on the Briar Fork of the Flint Reiver. Established in 1809, one of its three founders, and its first pastor, was a preacher who lived and owned two pieces of property in the region, John Canterbury. There is no evidence that he was a slaveholder, but the second Enon pastor, Richard Shackelford, was a major landowner who at his death had more than a dozen slaves. He was called as a pastor in 1815 and served until his death in 1823. Enon's first meetinghouse was a lot building constructed in 1813 on the Briar Fork. (This is on land of the present Madison County Executive Airport.)
"Joseph Powell and John Birdwell, charter members of the Enon Church, jointly owned the land adjacent to land owned by both Canterbury and Shackelford. The church building had been erected and in use for a year before Powell and Birdwell themselves received title to the property that they had provided to the church." (James Record, "A Dream Come True, The Story of Madison County and Incidentally of Alabama and the United States, Vol. 1 (Huntsville: Hicklin Co., 1970), pp. 39-40.)
1819
1st Saturday January 1819 (Jan.2)
"John Birdwell and Mary his wife" were granted letter of dismissal from the Enon Church in Madison County on the first Saturday in January, Jan. 2, 1819. (ref., First Baptist Church Minutes, James K. Harrison,
First Baptist Church History Committee.)
They moved to Lawrence County near Moulton and established a new church.
The Alabama Baptist Historian (1970), p.20: "F.W. Helmbold, Curator of the Society, in his historical presentation, revealed the fact that the Enon church was constituted originally as Birdwell Springs Baptist Church on the third Monday in June (June 21), 1819."
1820 census:
Lawrence County, AL.: John Birdwell & wife over 21, 3 sons under 21, 6 daughters under 21.
Franklin County, AL.: John Birdwell listed there as well.
Giles County, TN.: John Birdwell's nephew John (son of Robert) and family --
this was probably the John Birdwell in Giles Co., TN.
1820
John Birdwell was assigned by an act of the Alabama legislature to review the Flint River in Cotaco Co. (later Morgan) AL, from its junction with the Tennessee to its main fork, to see if it was navigable (History of Morgan Co., Alabama by Knox, p. 54).
History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography (1921) by Thomas McAdory Owen and Marie Bankhead Owen page 595: "On December 6, 1820, an act of the Alabama Legislature was approved which designated David Parker, Jonathan Burleson, and John Birdwell, or any two of them, to make a careful "review" of Flint River, from its mouth to the main fork therein, and report the practicability of its navigation, the distance examined, and the expense necessary to improve the river for navigation. On the 20th of December an act was approved to incorporate the Flint River Navigation Co. The incorporators were Fleming Jordan, George Taylor, James McCartney, John Sprowl, Stephen Pond, John P. Brown, John Grayson, Dial Perry, David Walker, Ebenezer Byram, Stephen McBroom, William Derrick, and David Cobb, and they were authorized to improve the navigation of the Flint River in Madison County, from Capt. Scott's Mills to the Tennessee River. Section 2 of the act provided a penalty of $3 for each day a tree cut or felled into the stream so as to obstruct navigation was allowed to remain, the proceeds of such fine to be applied to the improvement of the river."
The Act is quoted in Alabama Genealogical Quarterly, vol. 1, p.216, and also the Alabama Genealogical Society, Inc., Magazine (1976) vol. 18, issue 1-4, p.38.
Owen, op. cit., p. 595: "It does not appear that much, if any, work was done under either of these acts. In any event, there was none of sufficient permanence to affect the navigation or other characteristics of the stream at the present time.
References.—Acts, 1820, pp. 33, 70; Betts, Early history of Huntsville (1916)."
1819
HISTORY OF THE MUSCLE SHOALS BAPTIST ASSOCIATION by Rev. Josephus Shackelford (1891), p. 165:
"Enon Church. This church is situated in Lawrence county, ten miles east of Moulton. It was originally called Birdwell's Spring Church. It was one of the constituent members of the association. It was organized in July, 1819, on nine members, whose names are as follows: Stephen Penn, Mary Penn, John Birdwell, Mary Birdwell, Ezekiel Thomas, Jenny Thomas, George Keys, Elizabeth Keys, and Sarah Simpson."
They left this church for a few years and helped organize Hopewell Church near Danville.
Page 169: "Hopewell Church, Morgan County. This church was received into the association in July 1825. It was constituted on the first Saturday in December, 1824. The presbytery was Elders Featherstone, Walden, Stephen Penn and John Birdwell. …We suppose it is the place where the church house now stands, about two and one-half miles east of Danville."
SOME EARLY ALABAMA CHURCHES (ESTABLISHED BEFORE 1870) (1973) by Mabel Ponder Wilson, Dorothy Youngblood Woodyerd, Rosa Lee Busby, Daughters of the American Revolution Alabama Society, p. 95: "Organized in 1819, this church was first known as Birdwell's Spring Church. The nine organizing members were Stephen Penn,...John and Mary Birdwell...."
Page 130: "Hopewell Baptist Church (located two and one-half miles east of Danville) Hopewell Baptist Church was constituted... l824, with the Presbytery composed of Elders Featherstone, Walden, Stephen Penn, and John Birdwell."
LIFE AND LEGEND OF LAWRENCE COUNTY, ALABAMA, by Dorothy Gentry (Tuscaloosa, 1962): "Enon, originally called Birdwell's Spring Church, located ten miles east of Moulton was organized in July, 1819 on nine members, whose names were Stephen Penn, Mary Penn, John Birdwell, Mary Birdwell, Ezekiel Thomas, Jenny Thomas, George Keys, Elizabeth Keys and Sarah Simpson."
1823
In October 1823, one William Birdwell (1766-1823), age 57, was executed at Moulton, Lawrence Co., AL. for the murder of Mr. Rhea. Thought to be the son of John Birdwell's older brother Robert Birdwell (1751-1815) of Giles County, Tennessee. The two had had a dispute 10 years before.
1824
The Morgan Baptist Association: "One of the oldest churches in Morgan County, Hopewell was organized on the first Saturday in December 1824. It is mentioned in Hosea Holcombe's 1840 A History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists of Alabama. The presbytery was composed of Elders John Birdwell, Stephen Penn, Walden, and Featherstone. Charter members were Barkley Ballard, Polly Ballard, William Johnson, Sarah McDowell, Martha Rodgers, James Simmons, Stacy Simmons, Elizabeth Simmons, Polly Simmons, Solomon Simmons, Mary Simmons, Nicholas Gillentine Sr., Jane Gillentine, Richard L. Gillentine Jr., Martha Gillentine. Annie Gillentine, Gideon Spalden, and Nancy Spalden." The first deacon was Nicholas Gillentine and the first clerk was William Johnson. The first recorded pastor was Henry W. Hodges in 1827.
The church was located on land deeded to the church by William Johnson, "near the well of Brother Simmons" about two and one-half miles east of Danville, eight tenths of a mile south of what is now Highway 36, between Hartselle and Danville. The church was received into the Muscle Shoals Association in July, 1825."
1828
Lexington (KY) REPORTER, July 23, 1828, p.1 contains a letter John Harris of Moulton, Lawrence Co, AL., to Andrew Jackson on the character of his late father John Harris, Justice of the Peace of Lawrence County. Column 1 cites "John Birdwell, Esq." among those vouching for him.
Column 5 is signed by John Birdwell, Allen Birdwell, and others.
John Birdwell received letter of dismission from Enon in 1842 when his wife Mary died and he moved to Texas. He was known to have visited Texas already by 1838 and probably made several other trips between Texas and Alabama.
Daughters of the Republic of Texas
Accepted Ancestors
Ancestor Name: Birdwell, John
DOB: 9-24-1770
POB: VA
DOD: 1854
POD: Rusk Co., TX
Spouse Name: (Allen), Mary
Alabama Genealogical Society, Inc. magazine, Volume 21, Issue 1-2 (1958), (reissue? 1989)
p. 24: "The First Meeting House. On Saturday, June 1, 1811, the church appointed the following committee 'to view a place for a meeting house': ...John Birdwell and Joseph Powell."
p. 25: "...west bank of the Brier Fork of the Flint River, on a triangular piece of land about one acre in size. It was in the Northwest Quarter of Section 17, Township 2, Range 1 East of the prime meridian. This entire section (160) acres) was patented (or deeded) by the United States of America to John Birdwell and Joseph Powell..."
p.26: "John Birdwell was the son of George Birdwell and Mary. John Birdwell was born in 1770 in Virginia. He married Mary Allen in Tennessee. Some of his children were born there. He moved to Mississippi Territory, Huntsville Meridian about 1805. According to the minutes of Huntsville First Baptist Church, his last Sunday as clerk was January 2, 1819. From there he moved to Lawrence County Alabama where he donated land and helped form the Birdwell Springs Baptist. About 1836 he moved to Fayette County, Alabama, then into Walker County, Alabama. Around 1845, after the death of his wife, he moved with his son, Col. Allen Birdwell, to Rusk County, Texas, where he died in March 1854. He has many descendants in Texas."
FOOTPRINTS (Ft. Worth Genealogical Society, 1979), vol. 23-23, p. 107 says John Birdwell moved to Rusk Co, Texas in 1845.
His will is published in Alabama Genealogical Society Magazine (Birmingham, AL: 1985), Vol. 19, Issue 1. (Reissue 1989?)
Isbell Country: Genealogy of an Isbell Family by Odessa Morrow Isbell (2000), pp. 11, 19-20: "John Birdwell was in Alabama by 1805; settling north of Huntsville in 1805. He owned land in Sullivan Co., Tennessee and kept two homes so he could homestead Alabama property. He came to Texas in 1842-43 with son Col. Allen Birdwell. ..."
1842
George W. Birdwell administered the estate of Robert Bell in 1842 in Rusk County, Texas (the Mallory book cited below states incorrectly it was John Birdwell).
Robert Bell (27 May 1797 TN-13 June 1842 Rusk Co, Tx) was former sheriff of Cherokee County, Alabama. His wife Belinda Scott (b.4 Jun 1795 TN d. 1842) also died in 1842 not long after her husband.
Some Mallorys and Bells (Greenville, Tx.: 1950) by James Robert Mallory, pp. 21-22: "Robert Bell…sent down to Cherokee County, Alabama, for John Birdwell, who was County Judge when Robert Bell was Sheriff." (Correction: Robert Bell was sheriff of Cherokee County when John Birdwell's nephew George (son of Joseph) was county judge there.)
Page 22: "The three families, Bell, Gray and Birdwell came out to Texas together, arriving in 1839. Bell's headright joined that of Houston…." The author recites his grandfather's descriptions of Sam Houston visiting the Bell home when he was a young boy.
p.26: "John Birdwell, who had come to Texas with Robert and Belinda Bell and had been very close to the Bell family since their days in Alabama, was made Administrator of the Estate of Bell, at Bell's dying request. Creditors immediately asked for an accounting and Birdwell auctioned off the farm and all the personal belongings of the family for benefit of the creditors."
p.27: "Birdwell, who had taken a headright and then bought up several more from disgruntled settlers, saw that it was impracticable for the Howeths to try to take care of all these children, so he ordered that the two boys, James, fifteen, and William, eleven, be bound out to Robert Gray, who had married Cynthia Scott, a sister of Belinda Scott Bell."
1854
Rusk Co., Tx. Deed Book N-0, p.367: Sworn affidavit of daughter Sarah H. (Birdwell) Isbell says John Birdwell died Feb. 16, 1854, Rusk County, Texas.
Birdwell family records show that John Birdwell died Feb. 16, 1854, at age 83 years, 4 months, 23 days, in the home of his son, Col. Allen Birdwell, Mt. Enterprise, Rusk Co., Texas, and was buried in the family cemetery there on the farm. A great many Birdwell family members were buried in the cemetery, along with some related families and slaves. After the farm had passed out of the Birdwell family, the log house was removed to Monte Verdi Plantation and later owners of the Birdwell farm rather callously plowed the cemetery under. Trees marking some of the graves were cut down, while the gravestones were thrown into a ditch and covered. A partial list of those known to be buried there was supplied by Mrs. Bohannon of Mt. Enterprise, and a descendant of the Birdwell family, and printed. Some burials were recorded in the Birdwell family bible and appear in the book The Mitchells of Linn Flat by Gwenneth Mitchell, including the notation that John Birdwell's grave is there.
Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Texas, 1854-1857, by A.S. Ruthven, Grand Secretary and Past Grand Master, vol. II (1857), p.242:
Mount Enterprise Lodge, No. 60.
p.243: Past Masters.
Master Masons. …Allen Birdwell, John Birdwell
The Mitchells of Linn Flat, by Gwenneth Aenone Marshall Mitchell (Austin, 1981), refers to the Birdwell Cemetery on pp. 174, 202, 214 and 215. Page 174: John Birdwell, his grandson John C. Birdwell, and John A. Birdwell Jr. were buried in a row, side by side, "at the Birdwell family burying ground on the Allen Birdwell place, not far from the family residence near Orton Creek," three miles from Mt. Enterprise. On p. 202: "The cemetery has been abandoned for some years and pine trees grew over it. Some twenty years ago the ground was smoothed over and seeded in range grass."
From Gwenneth Aenone Marshall Mitchell (posted 10-29-1999 on Birdwell List, on Rootsweb.com): "Rusk Co., Texas History by the Rusk Co. Historical Society, 1982: page 112: John Birdwell, "old great-grandpap", John C., his grandson, and John Birdwell (Old Uncle John) are all 3 buried in a row side by side. John C. in the middle, Grandpap on the southside, and Uncle John on the north side. Lucinda Ross Birdwell was most likely the first buried there."
1809 census (Madison County, MS/AL Territory) shows 2 sons and 6 daughters born 1788-1809. (Total household 10)
1820 census Lawrence County, AL.: John Birdwell & wife over 21, 3 sons under 21, 6 daughters under 21.
1830 census Lawrence Co., AL.: John Birdwell & wife, 1 son (John), 2 daughters 15-19 (Lucinda & Ann), 1 dau 5-9 (Talitha).
1840 census shows all children gone from home.
The combined censuses of 1809, 1820 and 1830 show these children:
1 m b1788-1809 Moses 1796
1 m 1788-1809 Allen 1802
1 f Nancy 1795
2 f Eliz 1797
3 f Sarah 1799
4 f Mary Polly c1800-1804
5 f Susan c1805-7
6 f Jane 1807
1 male 15-19 (1811-1815) John 1814
1 f 15-19 (1811-1815) Lucinda 1812
1 f 15-19 (1811-1815) Ann 1813
1 f 5-9 (1821-1825) Talitha 1821
Children of John Birdwell and Mary Allen:
1 Nancy Birdwell b Nov. 3, 1795 m.James S. Romine
2 Moses Birdwell b 1796 m.1815 Sarah Duncan
3 Elizabeth Birdwell b Dec.31, 1797 (Jan. 1, 1800?) m. 1813 James Isbell
4 Sarah H. Birdwell b Feb 14, 1799 m. Levi Isbell
5 Allen B. Birdwell b Mar 22, 1802
6 ? Mary/Polly Birdwell c1800-5 (on some lists), (died young?)*
7 Jane Birdwell 1806- m. Samuel Neal (Jane Birdwell m. 10/27/1825 Samuel Neal (10/29/1825 recorded Lawrence Co. Marriage Book 1A, p.226; Gandrud, p.27); lived there 1830 w/ 1 son under 5. Lived in Panola Co., MS in 1850.
8 Susan Birdwell 1807- Joel S Watkins
9 John Alexander Birdwell 1812-1871
10 Lucinda Birdwell b1809-1811 m. James M. Vaught
11 Ann Birdwell Feb. 15, 1813-1868 m. James B. Fowler
12 Son bc1816 (1810-20) on 1820 census, d 1820-30*
13 Talitha R. Birdwell June 18, 1821 m. James Smyley Wright
*It is possible that one of the married daughters and her husband (Romine or Isbell?) was living with them in the 1820 census and there was no son who died young. However, both James Romine and Levi Isbell were born well before 1800 and do not fit the 1810-20 age bracket.
Some lists of children online include these:
1 Mary Birdwell 1800-1888 m1 John McCormack,2Josiah Phelps. This Mary was the daughter of John, son of Robert Birdwell
2 George William Birdwell 1811-1831, some lists show him as another son, and some say died at Moulton, Lawrence Co., AL. (confusing him with Moses?), but he was not in the household in the 1830 census.
3 Matilda Birdwell Jan 20, 1816-d 1895 Bristol, Ellis Co, Tx is on some lists as another daughter, but note that Talitha R. Birdwell's name is incorrectly transcribed as Matilda by some researchers. The Matilda Birdwell of Bristol, Tx. was the daughter of John Birdwell of Giles Co., Tn.; granddaughter of Robert and Ellen (Sanford) Birdwell, Robert being the brother of John Birdwell who married Mary Allen. Matilda married in Giles CO., TN. 12 Dec 1834 Neal C. Dever (1802-1878).
4 Judge Thomas Gaines Birdwell b1804 Giles Co, TN was not a son. He was a son of John Birdwell's nephew John (son of Robert), and a brother of Mary and Matilda above. Interestingly, his son Thomas J. Birdwell's daughter Pearl married John William Culver, son of Susannah (Culver) Isbell Culver, widow of Zach Isbell, son of Elizabeth Birdwell Isbell Conway.
5 William McElree Birdwell 1837-1906 was a grandson (son of John A.), rather than a son as some lists incorrectly show.
FIRST FAMILIES OF TENNESSEE (#15933)
FIRST FAMILIES OF ALABAMA (#430-432, 434)
DAUGHTERS OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS (#031544S, 033062R, 06371S)
SONS OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS
DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (#A098196)
SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
COLONIAL DAMES OF THE XVII CENTURY
He first came to Texas in 1838 by some accounts (The Mitchells of Linn Flat by Gwenneth A.M. Mitchell, pp. 184, 201), while one reference gives a date as early as 1835, although he did not move permanently until 1842 after the death of his wife. His son, Col. Allen B. Birdwell, wrote in his own notebook ledger that he moved to Texas in 1842 and that his father John Birdwell lived with him in Nacogdoches County. John Birdwell was still living in Allen Birdwell's household in Rusk County in the 1850 census. The HANDBOOK OF TEXAS by the Texas State Historical Association, says: "Allen Birdwell's father John may have moved to Nacogdoches County, Texas, in 1838, and Allen and his wife Lucinda (Ross) followed by 1842." (Jennifer Eckel, "BIRDWELL, ALLEN," Handbook of Texas Online, accessed June 27, 2015. Uploaded on June 12, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.)
John Birdwell was in Houston on July 8, 1838, when he wrote a letter of recommendation for George Nixon which is preserved in the George Antonio Nixon manuscripts collection at the University of Texas Arlington (Special Collections, George Nixon Collection, Box GA122, Document 00189).
A family history states that John Birdwell moved to Nacogdoches County in 1838 and "lived at Old North Church two years," then moved twelve miles to Mt. Enterprise in what became Rusk County when Rusk was formed from part of Nacogdoches.
"For My Children: Memoir of Rev. George Preston Birdwell" (1912): "My grandfather, John Birdwell,...died at my father's house near Mt. Enterprise, Texas, at the age of 84 years. He was never sick in his life, never had a chill nor a fever. There were nine boys in the family, and all died between the ages of 84 and 90. My father, Colonel Allen Birdwell, was born in West Tennessee…moved with his parents to North Alabama and settled about one mile from Raleville in Lawrence County…. In 1838 he came to Texas to look at the country. He was well pleased and in 1841, he moved to Texas. He settled first near Old North Church in Nacogdoches County. I think he made two crops there before he bought his home, three miles south of Mt. Enterprise, in Rusk County. This was all Nacogdoches County then, in Rusk County. This was all Nacogdoches County then…." ("Birdwell Family," East Texas Families, pp.233-34, 279-80.)
John Birdwell signed his will Jan. 24, 1854, and it was entered in Probate Court April 27, 1854.
Rusk County Deed Book N-O (1860), p. 367, states that he died Feb. 16, 1854.
The estate included $1,400 cash and included slaves and possibly other property since Col. Allen B. Birdwell posted a $4,000 bond with the Rusk County Probate Court to serve as administrator of his father's estate, a considerable bond in those days.
FIRST FAMILIES OF TENNESSEE
Descendants of John and Mary Birdwell are eligible for membership in the First Families of Tennessee, First Families of Alabama, the Sons of the Republic of Texas, and the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.
John Birdwell and Mary Allen grew up in Sullivan County, N.C., which later became Sullivan County, Tennessee. They married and lived there several years before moving to Alabama.
FOOTPRINTS, vol. 23-24 (Ft. Worth: Fort Worth Genealogical Society, 1979), p. 107: John Birdwell (born 1770 Virginia, died 1854 Texas) and wife Mary Allen... in 1781 were in Sullivan County, North Carolina (now Tennessee), 1809 Madison County, Alabama; 1819 Lawrence County, Alabama.
FIRST FAMILIES OF ALABAMA
1805
The Birdwells settled in Madison County, Alabama in 1805, where they were charter members of the Enon Baptist Church which later became First Baptist Church of Huntsville. John Birdwell was the first clerk. (Alabama Historical Society marker in Marshall County lists their daughter "Sarah Birdwell Isbell, one of the earliest settlers of Madison County, 1805." His son Allen Birdwell stated in his ledger that his parents took him to Alabama in 1805, when he was three years old).
Allen Birdwell wrote that he was born "in Roane County, East Tennessee," and "was brought to the Mississippi Territory in 1805, now Alabama, Madison County, 8 miles north of Huntsville. My F.(father) moved to Lawrence County 1818."
1808
"Birdwell Family Tree" by Velma Stovey Schonder, p. 59:
"JHB thinks that JB was living in Madison Co., AL by 1808. He was one of the organizers and first clerk of The First Baptist Church in Huntsville, AL. …The church minutes for 6-1-1811 state that the church authorized Brethren Watkins, Pruet Brock, Birdwell and Powell to view a place for a meeting house (Dale Langston, from microfilm notes at Madison Co. Library Heritage Room, Huntsville).
"JB is on the 1809 census Madison Co. Al/Ms Territory, p.7, with 2 males under 21, 1 male over 21, 6 females under 21 and 1 female over 21. According to JHB his last 4 children were born there, while his first 4 children married there."
Page 23 (different version, p.72): "John Birdwell...moved Tx 1838."
Enon Baptist Church Records (Huntsville, Madison County, Alabama), Sept. 2, 1809:
September, 1st Saturday 1809.
1st The Church Met & after Prayer proceeded to Business--
…5th The Church Appoints Brother Birdwell to Write the Association Letter & Bring the same to next meeting--
Enon Baptist Church Records, Sept. 1, 1810:
September 1st Saturday--1810
The Church met and after proceeded to business--
1st Opened a door for the reception of member--
2nd the church took up a reference from last meeting and laid it over till next meeting--
3rd The Church agree to delegate Bros. Hellums, Childress and Birdwell to The Association.
John Birdwell's land included 160 acres comprising the NW quarter of Sec 17, T2S R1E. This is SW of Fox Run Golf Course (SW of the First Flint River Baptist Church, Moores Mill Rd), and lying between the SW tip of Fox Run Drive (the SW corner of Fox Run Golf Course) running southwest to the Brier Fork of Flint River and the Madison County Executive Airport (Huntsville Ex. Airport on maps).
(This was Patent 1008 recorded 8-29-1963 when the new airport was built)
(ref., Family Maps of Madison Co., AL. by Gregory Boyd, pp. 122, 124; p.314 states: Sale-Cash Entry, Date & Act of Congress Apr 24, 1820. Group patent of 18 owners).
Madison Co. AL Deed Books A-E, 1810-1819, by Dorothy Scott Johnson (1976):
Madison Co. DB E, p. 133 #500:
item 500: dated 8-18-1818
Grantor, John & Mary Birdwell
Grantee, George Oglethorpe Gilmer
For the sum of $3300 Ind. SW/4 Sec. 18-2-E lying east of Briar Fork of Flint River, & 10 Ac. in 3/2 & 10 a. N/2 NW4 sec. 17-2-1E.
Proven 11-3-1818 & DR (Pope) (Note: 10 a. in S/2) purchased by Birdwell from Joseph Powell.
Witnessed by: Lewis B. Taliaferro, Jacob Pruett, and Levi Isbell.
1818, Aug. 18 - Madison Co., AL. John Birdwell and wife Mary deeded land to Geo. Oglethorpe Gilmer. Witnesses: Lewis B. Taliaferro, Jacob Pruitt, Levi Isbell. Levi Isbell was John and Mary Birdwell's son-in-law. (Book E Page 133.)
In January 1819 John and Mary Birdwell moved to Lawrence County where they purchased large tracts of land and were also founders of this church, Birdwell Springs Baptist Church, which later changed its name to Enon Baptist Church.
THE FIRST 200 YEARS OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF HUNTSVILLE by Joseph M. Jones, p. 2, gives the origin of that Enon Church as several years earlier: "All of Enon's very first members were squatters since the government's Nashville land office, which handled the sale of Madison County lands, did not even open for business in the Madison County area until August 1810, more than a year after Enon was established."
Page 3: "After having met in private homes for two years, the church in June 1811 appointed a committee —- William Watkins, Jack Prewit, Isaac Brock, John Birdwell, and Joseph Powell --‘to view a place for a meeting house.' That led to the start of construction of a log building on the western bank of the Brier Fork of Flint River, a few hundred yards north of the present terminal of the North Huntsville Executive Airport. The small building, exact location unknown, was close to the river bank…, affording a convenient place for baptismal services. For some reason, perhaps a shortage of funds, construction was halted short of completion. Almost two years later, Feb. 6, 1813, a new committee was named, consisting mostly of the first group plus William Hellums, to complete the work, and while there was apparently no fanfare to herald its conclusion, the structure was finished and in 1815 did accommodate the second annual meeting of the Flint River Association.
…"with regard to the squatter hypothesis, it is interesting to note that the providers of Enon's one-acre lot, John Birdwell and Joseph Powell, did not themselves receive title to their jointly-held property until April 1814, the church construction having begun on their proffered land three years earlier. But things were ‘looser,' less formal in those days."
"A History of Early Settlement: Madison County Before Statehood," The Huntsville Historical Review (2008) by the Huntsville-Madison County Historical Society, p. 69:
"The closest meetinghouse was Enon Baptist Church on the Briar Fork of the Flint Reiver. Established in 1809, one of its three founders, and its first pastor, was a preacher who lived and owned two pieces of property in the region, John Canterbury. There is no evidence that he was a slaveholder, but the second Enon pastor, Richard Shackelford, was a major landowner who at his death had more than a dozen slaves. He was called as a pastor in 1815 and served until his death in 1823. Enon's first meetinghouse was a lot building constructed in 1813 on the Briar Fork. (This is on land of the present Madison County Executive Airport.)
"Joseph Powell and John Birdwell, charter members of the Enon Church, jointly owned the land adjacent to land owned by both Canterbury and Shackelford. The church building had been erected and in use for a year before Powell and Birdwell themselves received title to the property that they had provided to the church." (James Record, "A Dream Come True, The Story of Madison County and Incidentally of Alabama and the United States, Vol. 1 (Huntsville: Hicklin Co., 1970), pp. 39-40.)
1819
1st Saturday January 1819 (Jan.2)
"John Birdwell and Mary his wife" were granted letter of dismissal from the Enon Church in Madison County on the first Saturday in January, Jan. 2, 1819. (ref., First Baptist Church Minutes, James K. Harrison,
First Baptist Church History Committee.)
They moved to Lawrence County near Moulton and established a new church.
The Alabama Baptist Historian (1970), p.20: "F.W. Helmbold, Curator of the Society, in his historical presentation, revealed the fact that the Enon church was constituted originally as Birdwell Springs Baptist Church on the third Monday in June (June 21), 1819."
1820 census:
Lawrence County, AL.: John Birdwell & wife over 21, 3 sons under 21, 6 daughters under 21.
Franklin County, AL.: John Birdwell listed there as well.
Giles County, TN.: John Birdwell's nephew John (son of Robert) and family --
this was probably the John Birdwell in Giles Co., TN.
1820
John Birdwell was assigned by an act of the Alabama legislature to review the Flint River in Cotaco Co. (later Morgan) AL, from its junction with the Tennessee to its main fork, to see if it was navigable (History of Morgan Co., Alabama by Knox, p. 54).
History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography (1921) by Thomas McAdory Owen and Marie Bankhead Owen page 595: "On December 6, 1820, an act of the Alabama Legislature was approved which designated David Parker, Jonathan Burleson, and John Birdwell, or any two of them, to make a careful "review" of Flint River, from its mouth to the main fork therein, and report the practicability of its navigation, the distance examined, and the expense necessary to improve the river for navigation. On the 20th of December an act was approved to incorporate the Flint River Navigation Co. The incorporators were Fleming Jordan, George Taylor, James McCartney, John Sprowl, Stephen Pond, John P. Brown, John Grayson, Dial Perry, David Walker, Ebenezer Byram, Stephen McBroom, William Derrick, and David Cobb, and they were authorized to improve the navigation of the Flint River in Madison County, from Capt. Scott's Mills to the Tennessee River. Section 2 of the act provided a penalty of $3 for each day a tree cut or felled into the stream so as to obstruct navigation was allowed to remain, the proceeds of such fine to be applied to the improvement of the river."
The Act is quoted in Alabama Genealogical Quarterly, vol. 1, p.216, and also the Alabama Genealogical Society, Inc., Magazine (1976) vol. 18, issue 1-4, p.38.
Owen, op. cit., p. 595: "It does not appear that much, if any, work was done under either of these acts. In any event, there was none of sufficient permanence to affect the navigation or other characteristics of the stream at the present time.
References.—Acts, 1820, pp. 33, 70; Betts, Early history of Huntsville (1916)."
1819
HISTORY OF THE MUSCLE SHOALS BAPTIST ASSOCIATION by Rev. Josephus Shackelford (1891), p. 165:
"Enon Church. This church is situated in Lawrence county, ten miles east of Moulton. It was originally called Birdwell's Spring Church. It was one of the constituent members of the association. It was organized in July, 1819, on nine members, whose names are as follows: Stephen Penn, Mary Penn, John Birdwell, Mary Birdwell, Ezekiel Thomas, Jenny Thomas, George Keys, Elizabeth Keys, and Sarah Simpson."
They left this church for a few years and helped organize Hopewell Church near Danville.
Page 169: "Hopewell Church, Morgan County. This church was received into the association in July 1825. It was constituted on the first Saturday in December, 1824. The presbytery was Elders Featherstone, Walden, Stephen Penn and John Birdwell. …We suppose it is the place where the church house now stands, about two and one-half miles east of Danville."
SOME EARLY ALABAMA CHURCHES (ESTABLISHED BEFORE 1870) (1973) by Mabel Ponder Wilson, Dorothy Youngblood Woodyerd, Rosa Lee Busby, Daughters of the American Revolution Alabama Society, p. 95: "Organized in 1819, this church was first known as Birdwell's Spring Church. The nine organizing members were Stephen Penn,...John and Mary Birdwell...."
Page 130: "Hopewell Baptist Church (located two and one-half miles east of Danville) Hopewell Baptist Church was constituted... l824, with the Presbytery composed of Elders Featherstone, Walden, Stephen Penn, and John Birdwell."
LIFE AND LEGEND OF LAWRENCE COUNTY, ALABAMA, by Dorothy Gentry (Tuscaloosa, 1962): "Enon, originally called Birdwell's Spring Church, located ten miles east of Moulton was organized in July, 1819 on nine members, whose names were Stephen Penn, Mary Penn, John Birdwell, Mary Birdwell, Ezekiel Thomas, Jenny Thomas, George Keys, Elizabeth Keys and Sarah Simpson."
1823
In October 1823, one William Birdwell (1766-1823), age 57, was executed at Moulton, Lawrence Co., AL. for the murder of Mr. Rhea. Thought to be the son of John Birdwell's older brother Robert Birdwell (1751-1815) of Giles County, Tennessee. The two had had a dispute 10 years before.
1824
The Morgan Baptist Association: "One of the oldest churches in Morgan County, Hopewell was organized on the first Saturday in December 1824. It is mentioned in Hosea Holcombe's 1840 A History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists of Alabama. The presbytery was composed of Elders John Birdwell, Stephen Penn, Walden, and Featherstone. Charter members were Barkley Ballard, Polly Ballard, William Johnson, Sarah McDowell, Martha Rodgers, James Simmons, Stacy Simmons, Elizabeth Simmons, Polly Simmons, Solomon Simmons, Mary Simmons, Nicholas Gillentine Sr., Jane Gillentine, Richard L. Gillentine Jr., Martha Gillentine. Annie Gillentine, Gideon Spalden, and Nancy Spalden." The first deacon was Nicholas Gillentine and the first clerk was William Johnson. The first recorded pastor was Henry W. Hodges in 1827.
The church was located on land deeded to the church by William Johnson, "near the well of Brother Simmons" about two and one-half miles east of Danville, eight tenths of a mile south of what is now Highway 36, between Hartselle and Danville. The church was received into the Muscle Shoals Association in July, 1825."
1828
Lexington (KY) REPORTER, July 23, 1828, p.1 contains a letter John Harris of Moulton, Lawrence Co, AL., to Andrew Jackson on the character of his late father John Harris, Justice of the Peace of Lawrence County. Column 1 cites "John Birdwell, Esq." among those vouching for him.
Column 5 is signed by John Birdwell, Allen Birdwell, and others.
John Birdwell received letter of dismission from Enon in 1842 when his wife Mary died and he moved to Texas. He was known to have visited Texas already by 1838 and probably made several other trips between Texas and Alabama.
Daughters of the Republic of Texas
Accepted Ancestors
Ancestor Name: Birdwell, John
DOB: 9-24-1770
POB: VA
DOD: 1854
POD: Rusk Co., TX
Spouse Name: (Allen), Mary
Alabama Genealogical Society, Inc. magazine, Volume 21, Issue 1-2 (1958), (reissue? 1989)
p. 24: "The First Meeting House. On Saturday, June 1, 1811, the church appointed the following committee 'to view a place for a meeting house': ...John Birdwell and Joseph Powell."
p. 25: "...west bank of the Brier Fork of the Flint River, on a triangular piece of land about one acre in size. It was in the Northwest Quarter of Section 17, Township 2, Range 1 East of the prime meridian. This entire section (160) acres) was patented (or deeded) by the United States of America to John Birdwell and Joseph Powell..."
p.26: "John Birdwell was the son of George Birdwell and Mary. John Birdwell was born in 1770 in Virginia. He married Mary Allen in Tennessee. Some of his children were born there. He moved to Mississippi Territory, Huntsville Meridian about 1805. According to the minutes of Huntsville First Baptist Church, his last Sunday as clerk was January 2, 1819. From there he moved to Lawrence County Alabama where he donated land and helped form the Birdwell Springs Baptist. About 1836 he moved to Fayette County, Alabama, then into Walker County, Alabama. Around 1845, after the death of his wife, he moved with his son, Col. Allen Birdwell, to Rusk County, Texas, where he died in March 1854. He has many descendants in Texas."
FOOTPRINTS (Ft. Worth Genealogical Society, 1979), vol. 23-23, p. 107 says John Birdwell moved to Rusk Co, Texas in 1845.
His will is published in Alabama Genealogical Society Magazine (Birmingham, AL: 1985), Vol. 19, Issue 1. (Reissue 1989?)
Isbell Country: Genealogy of an Isbell Family by Odessa Morrow Isbell (2000), pp. 11, 19-20: "John Birdwell was in Alabama by 1805; settling north of Huntsville in 1805. He owned land in Sullivan Co., Tennessee and kept two homes so he could homestead Alabama property. He came to Texas in 1842-43 with son Col. Allen Birdwell. ..."
1842
George W. Birdwell administered the estate of Robert Bell in 1842 in Rusk County, Texas (the Mallory book cited below states incorrectly it was John Birdwell).
Robert Bell (27 May 1797 TN-13 June 1842 Rusk Co, Tx) was former sheriff of Cherokee County, Alabama. His wife Belinda Scott (b.4 Jun 1795 TN d. 1842) also died in 1842 not long after her husband.
Some Mallorys and Bells (Greenville, Tx.: 1950) by James Robert Mallory, pp. 21-22: "Robert Bell…sent down to Cherokee County, Alabama, for John Birdwell, who was County Judge when Robert Bell was Sheriff." (Correction: Robert Bell was sheriff of Cherokee County when John Birdwell's nephew George (son of Joseph) was county judge there.)
Page 22: "The three families, Bell, Gray and Birdwell came out to Texas together, arriving in 1839. Bell's headright joined that of Houston…." The author recites his grandfather's descriptions of Sam Houston visiting the Bell home when he was a young boy.
p.26: "John Birdwell, who had come to Texas with Robert and Belinda Bell and had been very close to the Bell family since their days in Alabama, was made Administrator of the Estate of Bell, at Bell's dying request. Creditors immediately asked for an accounting and Birdwell auctioned off the farm and all the personal belongings of the family for benefit of the creditors."
p.27: "Birdwell, who had taken a headright and then bought up several more from disgruntled settlers, saw that it was impracticable for the Howeths to try to take care of all these children, so he ordered that the two boys, James, fifteen, and William, eleven, be bound out to Robert Gray, who had married Cynthia Scott, a sister of Belinda Scott Bell."
1854
Rusk Co., Tx. Deed Book N-0, p.367: Sworn affidavit of daughter Sarah H. (Birdwell) Isbell says John Birdwell died Feb. 16, 1854, Rusk County, Texas.
Birdwell family records show that John Birdwell died Feb. 16, 1854, at age 83 years, 4 months, 23 days, in the home of his son, Col. Allen Birdwell, Mt. Enterprise, Rusk Co., Texas, and was buried in the family cemetery there on the farm. A great many Birdwell family members were buried in the cemetery, along with some related families and slaves. After the farm had passed out of the Birdwell family, the log house was removed to Monte Verdi Plantation and later owners of the Birdwell farm rather callously plowed the cemetery under. Trees marking some of the graves were cut down, while the gravestones were thrown into a ditch and covered. A partial list of those known to be buried there was supplied by Mrs. Bohannon of Mt. Enterprise, and a descendant of the Birdwell family, and printed. Some burials were recorded in the Birdwell family bible and appear in the book The Mitchells of Linn Flat by Gwenneth Mitchell, including the notation that John Birdwell's grave is there.
Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Texas, 1854-1857, by A.S. Ruthven, Grand Secretary and Past Grand Master, vol. II (1857), p.242:
Mount Enterprise Lodge, No. 60.
p.243: Past Masters.
Master Masons. …Allen Birdwell, John Birdwell
The Mitchells of Linn Flat, by Gwenneth Aenone Marshall Mitchell (Austin, 1981), refers to the Birdwell Cemetery on pp. 174, 202, 214 and 215. Page 174: John Birdwell, his grandson John C. Birdwell, and John A. Birdwell Jr. were buried in a row, side by side, "at the Birdwell family burying ground on the Allen Birdwell place, not far from the family residence near Orton Creek," three miles from Mt. Enterprise. On p. 202: "The cemetery has been abandoned for some years and pine trees grew over it. Some twenty years ago the ground was smoothed over and seeded in range grass."
From Gwenneth Aenone Marshall Mitchell (posted 10-29-1999 on Birdwell List, on Rootsweb.com): "Rusk Co., Texas History by the Rusk Co. Historical Society, 1982: page 112: John Birdwell, "old great-grandpap", John C., his grandson, and John Birdwell (Old Uncle John) are all 3 buried in a row side by side. John C. in the middle, Grandpap on the southside, and Uncle John on the north side. Lucinda Ross Birdwell was most likely the first buried there."
1809 census (Madison County, MS/AL Territory) shows 2 sons and 6 daughters born 1788-1809. (Total household 10)
1820 census Lawrence County, AL.: John Birdwell & wife over 21, 3 sons under 21, 6 daughters under 21.
1830 census Lawrence Co., AL.: John Birdwell & wife, 1 son (John), 2 daughters 15-19 (Lucinda & Ann), 1 dau 5-9 (Talitha).
1840 census shows all children gone from home.
The combined censuses of 1809, 1820 and 1830 show these children:
1 m b1788-1809 Moses 1796
1 m 1788-1809 Allen 1802
1 f Nancy 1795
2 f Eliz 1797
3 f Sarah 1799
4 f Mary Polly c1800-1804
5 f Susan c1805-7
6 f Jane 1807
1 male 15-19 (1811-1815) John 1814
1 f 15-19 (1811-1815) Lucinda 1812
1 f 15-19 (1811-1815) Ann 1813
1 f 5-9 (1821-1825) Talitha 1821
Children of John Birdwell and Mary Allen:
1 Nancy Birdwell b Nov. 3, 1795 m.James S. Romine
2 Moses Birdwell b 1796 m.1815 Sarah Duncan
3 Elizabeth Birdwell b Dec.31, 1797 (Jan. 1, 1800?) m. 1813 James Isbell
4 Sarah H. Birdwell b Feb 14, 1799 m. Levi Isbell
5 Allen B. Birdwell b Mar 22, 1802
6 ? Mary/Polly Birdwell c1800-5 (on some lists), (died young?)*
7 Jane Birdwell 1806- m. Samuel Neal (Jane Birdwell m. 10/27/1825 Samuel Neal (10/29/1825 recorded Lawrence Co. Marriage Book 1A, p.226; Gandrud, p.27); lived there 1830 w/ 1 son under 5. Lived in Panola Co., MS in 1850.
8 Susan Birdwell 1807- Joel S Watkins
9 John Alexander Birdwell 1812-1871
10 Lucinda Birdwell b1809-1811 m. James M. Vaught
11 Ann Birdwell Feb. 15, 1813-1868 m. James B. Fowler
12 Son bc1816 (1810-20) on 1820 census, d 1820-30*
13 Talitha R. Birdwell June 18, 1821 m. James Smyley Wright
*It is possible that one of the married daughters and her husband (Romine or Isbell?) was living with them in the 1820 census and there was no son who died young. However, both James Romine and Levi Isbell were born well before 1800 and do not fit the 1810-20 age bracket.
Some lists of children online include these:
1 Mary Birdwell 1800-1888 m1 John McCormack,2Josiah Phelps. This Mary was the daughter of John, son of Robert Birdwell
2 George William Birdwell 1811-1831, some lists show him as another son, and some say died at Moulton, Lawrence Co., AL. (confusing him with Moses?), but he was not in the household in the 1830 census.
3 Matilda Birdwell Jan 20, 1816-d 1895 Bristol, Ellis Co, Tx is on some lists as another daughter, but note that Talitha R. Birdwell's name is incorrectly transcribed as Matilda by some researchers. The Matilda Birdwell of Bristol, Tx. was the daughter of John Birdwell of Giles Co., Tn.; granddaughter of Robert and Ellen (Sanford) Birdwell, Robert being the brother of John Birdwell who married Mary Allen. Matilda married in Giles CO., TN. 12 Dec 1834 Neal C. Dever (1802-1878).
4 Judge Thomas Gaines Birdwell b1804 Giles Co, TN was not a son. He was a son of John Birdwell's nephew John (son of Robert), and a brother of Mary and Matilda above. Interestingly, his son Thomas J. Birdwell's daughter Pearl married John William Culver, son of Susannah (Culver) Isbell Culver, widow of Zach Isbell, son of Elizabeth Birdwell Isbell Conway.
5 William McElree Birdwell 1837-1906 was a grandson (son of John A.), rather than a son as some lists incorrectly show.
Son of George and Mary Birdwell. His father was a Revolutionary War Patriot.
FIRST FAMILIES OF TENNESSEE (#15933)
FIRST FAMILIES OF ALABAMA (#430-432, 434)
DAUGHTERS OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS (#031544S, 033062R, 06371S)
SONS OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS
DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (#A098196)
SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
COLONIAL DAMES OF THE XVII CENTURY
He first came to Texas in 1838 by some accounts (The Mitchells of Linn Flat by Gwenneth A.M. Mitchell, pp. 184, 201), while one reference gives a date as early as 1835, although he did not move permanently until 1842 after the death of his wife. His son, Col. Allen B. Birdwell, wrote in his own notebook ledger that he moved to Texas in 1842 and that his father John Birdwell lived with him in Nacogdoches County. John Birdwell was still living in Allen Birdwell's household in Rusk County in the 1850 census. The HANDBOOK OF TEXAS by the Texas State Historical Association, says: "Allen Birdwell's father John may have moved to Nacogdoches County, Texas, in 1838, and Allen and his wife Lucinda (Ross) followed by 1842." (Jennifer Eckel, "BIRDWELL, ALLEN," Handbook of Texas Online, accessed June 27, 2015. Uploaded on June 12, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.)
John Birdwell was in Houston on July 8, 1838, when he wrote a letter of recommendation for George Nixon which is preserved in the George Antonio Nixon manuscripts collection at the University of Texas Arlington (Special Collections, George Nixon Collection, Box GA122, Document 00189).
A family history states that John Birdwell moved to Nacogdoches County in 1838 and "lived at Old North Church two years," then moved twelve miles to Mt. Enterprise in what became Rusk County when Rusk was formed from part of Nacogdoches.
"For My Children: Memoir of Rev. George Preston Birdwell" (1912): "My grandfather, John Birdwell,...died at my father's house near Mt. Enterprise, Texas, at the age of 84 years. He was never sick in his life, never had a chill nor a fever. There were nine boys in the family, and all died between the ages of 84 and 90. My father, Colonel Allen Birdwell, was born in West Tennessee…moved with his parents to North Alabama and settled about one mile from Raleville in Lawrence County…. In 1838 he came to Texas to look at the country. He was well pleased and in 1841, he moved to Texas. He settled first near Old North Church in Nacogdoches County. I think he made two crops there before he bought his home, three miles south of Mt. Enterprise, in Rusk County. This was all Nacogdoches County then, in Rusk County. This was all Nacogdoches County then…." ("Birdwell Family," East Texas Families, pp.233-34, 279-80.)
John Birdwell signed his will Jan. 24, 1854, and it was entered in Probate Court April 27, 1854.
Rusk County Deed Book N-O (1860), p. 367, states that he died Feb. 16, 1854.
The estate included $1,400 cash and included slaves and possibly other property since Col. Allen B. Birdwell posted a $4,000 bond with the Rusk County Probate Court to serve as administrator of his father's estate, a considerable bond in those days.
FIRST FAMILIES OF TENNESSEE
Descendants of John and Mary Birdwell are eligible for membership in the First Families of Tennessee, First Families of Alabama, the Sons of the Republic of Texas, and the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.
John Birdwell and Mary Allen grew up in Sullivan County, N.C., which later became Sullivan County, Tennessee. They married and lived there several years before moving to Alabama.
FOOTPRINTS, vol. 23-24 (Ft. Worth: Fort Worth Genealogical Society, 1979), p. 107: John Birdwell (born 1770 Virginia, died 1854 Texas) and wife Mary Allen... in 1781 were in Sullivan County, North Carolina (now Tennessee), 1809 Madison County, Alabama; 1819 Lawrence County, Alabama.
FIRST FAMILIES OF ALABAMA
1805
The Birdwells settled in Madison County, Alabama in 1805, where they were charter members of the Enon Baptist Church which later became First Baptist Church of Huntsville. John Birdwell was the first clerk. (Alabama Historical Society marker in Marshall County lists their daughter "Sarah Birdwell Isbell, one of the earliest settlers of Madison County, 1805." His son Allen Birdwell stated in his ledger that his parents took him to Alabama in 1805, when he was three years old).
Allen Birdwell wrote that he was born "in Roane County, East Tennessee," and "was brought to the Mississippi Territory in 1805, now Alabama, Madison County, 8 miles north of Huntsville. My F.(father) moved to Lawrence County 1818."
1808
"Birdwell Family Tree" by Velma Stovey Schonder, p. 59:
"JHB thinks that JB was living in Madison Co., AL by 1808. He was one of the organizers and first clerk of The First Baptist Church in Huntsville, AL. …The church minutes for 6-1-1811 state that the church authorized Brethren Watkins, Pruet Brock, Birdwell and Powell to view a place for a meeting house (Dale Langston, from microfilm notes at Madison Co. Library Heritage Room, Huntsville).
"JB is on the 1809 census Madison Co. Al/Ms Territory, p.7, with 2 males under 21, 1 male over 21, 6 females under 21 and 1 female over 21. According to JHB his last 4 children were born there, while his first 4 children married there."
Page 23 (different version, p.72): "John Birdwell...moved Tx 1838."
Enon Baptist Church Records (Huntsville, Madison County, Alabama), Sept. 2, 1809:
September, 1st Saturday 1809.
1st The Church Met & after Prayer proceeded to Business--
…5th The Church Appoints Brother Birdwell to Write the Association Letter & Bring the same to next meeting--
Enon Baptist Church Records, Sept. 1, 1810:
September 1st Saturday--1810
The Church met and after proceeded to business--
1st Opened a door for the reception of member--
2nd the church took up a reference from last meeting and laid it over till next meeting--
3rd The Church agree to delegate Bros. Hellums, Childress and Birdwell to The Association.
John Birdwell's land included 160 acres comprising the NW quarter of Sec 17, T2S R1E. This is SW of Fox Run Golf Course (SW of the First Flint River Baptist Church, Moores Mill Rd), and lying between the SW tip of Fox Run Drive (the SW corner of Fox Run Golf Course) running southwest to the Brier Fork of Flint River and the Madison County Executive Airport (Huntsville Ex. Airport on maps).
(This was Patent 1008 recorded 8-29-1963 when the new airport was built)
(ref., Family Maps of Madison Co., AL. by Gregory Boyd, pp. 122, 124; p.314 states: Sale-Cash Entry, Date & Act of Congress Apr 24, 1820. Group patent of 18 owners).
Madison Co. AL Deed Books A-E, 1810-1819, by Dorothy Scott Johnson (1976):
Madison Co. DB E, p. 133 #500:
item 500: dated 8-18-1818
Grantor, John & Mary Birdwell
Grantee, George Oglethorpe Gilmer
For the sum of $3300 Ind. SW/4 Sec. 18-2-E lying east of Briar Fork of Flint River, & 10 Ac. in 3/2 & 10 a. N/2 NW4 sec. 17-2-1E.
Proven 11-3-1818 & DR (Pope) (Note: 10 a. in S/2) purchased by Birdwell from Joseph Powell.
Witnessed by: Lewis B. Taliaferro, Jacob Pruett, and Levi Isbell.
1818, Aug. 18 - Madison Co., AL. John Birdwell and wife Mary deeded land to Geo. Oglethorpe Gilmer. Witnesses: Lewis B. Taliaferro, Jacob Pruitt, Levi Isbell. Levi Isbell was John and Mary Birdwell's son-in-law. (Book E Page 133.)
In January 1819 John and Mary Birdwell moved to Lawrence County where they purchased large tracts of land and were also founders of this church, Birdwell Springs Baptist Church, which later changed its name to Enon Baptist Church.
THE FIRST 200 YEARS OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF HUNTSVILLE by Joseph M. Jones, p. 2, gives the origin of that Enon Church as several years earlier: "All of Enon's very first members were squatters since the government's Nashville land office, which handled the sale of Madison County lands, did not even open for business in the Madison County area until August 1810, more than a year after Enon was established."
Page 3: "After having met in private homes for two years, the church in June 1811 appointed a committee —- William Watkins, Jack Prewit, Isaac Brock, John Birdwell, and Joseph Powell --‘to view a place for a meeting house.' That led to the start of construction of a log building on the western bank of the Brier Fork of Flint River, a few hundred yards north of the present terminal of the North Huntsville Executive Airport. The small building, exact location unknown, was close to the river bank…, affording a convenient place for baptismal services. For some reason, perhaps a shortage of funds, construction was halted short of completion. Almost two years later, Feb. 6, 1813, a new committee was named, consisting mostly of the first group plus William Hellums, to complete the work, and while there was apparently no fanfare to herald its conclusion, the structure was finished and in 1815 did accommodate the second annual meeting of the Flint River Association.
…"with regard to the squatter hypothesis, it is interesting to note that the providers of Enon's one-acre lot, John Birdwell and Joseph Powell, did not themselves receive title to their jointly-held property until April 1814, the church construction having begun on their proffered land three years earlier. But things were ‘looser,' less formal in those days."
"A History of Early Settlement: Madison County Before Statehood," The Huntsville Historical Review (2008) by the Huntsville-Madison County Historical Society, p. 69:
"The closest meetinghouse was Enon Baptist Church on the Briar Fork of the Flint Reiver. Established in 1809, one of its three founders, and its first pastor, was a preacher who lived and owned two pieces of property in the region, John Canterbury. There is no evidence that he was a slaveholder, but the second Enon pastor, Richard Shackelford, was a major landowner who at his death had more than a dozen slaves. He was called as a pastor in 1815 and served until his death in 1823. Enon's first meetinghouse was a lot building constructed in 1813 on the Briar Fork. (This is on land of the present Madison County Executive Airport.)
"Joseph Powell and John Birdwell, charter members of the Enon Church, jointly owned the land adjacent to land owned by both Canterbury and Shackelford. The church building had been erected and in use for a year before Powell and Birdwell themselves received title to the property that they had provided to the church." (James Record, "A Dream Come True, The Story of Madison County and Incidentally of Alabama and the United States, Vol. 1 (Huntsville: Hicklin Co., 1970), pp. 39-40.)
1819
1st Saturday January 1819 (Jan.2)
"John Birdwell and Mary his wife" were granted letter of dismissal from the Enon Church in Madison County on the first Saturday in January, Jan. 2, 1819. (ref., First Baptist Church Minutes, James K. Harrison,
First Baptist Church History Committee.)
They moved to Lawrence County near Moulton and established a new church.
The Alabama Baptist Historian (1970), p.20: "F.W. Helmbold, Curator of the Society, in his historical presentation, revealed the fact that the Enon church was constituted originally as Birdwell Springs Baptist Church on the third Monday in June (June 21), 1819."
1820 census:
Lawrence County, AL.: John Birdwell & wife over 21, 3 sons under 21, 6 daughters under 21.
Franklin County, AL.: John Birdwell listed there as well.
Giles County, TN.: John Birdwell's nephew John (son of Robert) and family --
this was probably the John Birdwell in Giles Co., TN.
1820
John Birdwell was assigned by an act of the Alabama legislature to review the Flint River in Cotaco Co. (later Morgan) AL, from its junction with the Tennessee to its main fork, to see if it was navigable (History of Morgan Co., Alabama by Knox, p. 54).
History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography (1921) by Thomas McAdory Owen and Marie Bankhead Owen page 595: "On December 6, 1820, an act of the Alabama Legislature was approved which designated David Parker, Jonathan Burleson, and John Birdwell, or any two of them, to make a careful "review" of Flint River, from its mouth to the main fork therein, and report the practicability of its navigation, the distance examined, and the expense necessary to improve the river for navigation. On the 20th of December an act was approved to incorporate the Flint River Navigation Co. The incorporators were Fleming Jordan, George Taylor, James McCartney, John Sprowl, Stephen Pond, John P. Brown, John Grayson, Dial Perry, David Walker, Ebenezer Byram, Stephen McBroom, William Derrick, and David Cobb, and they were authorized to improve the navigation of the Flint River in Madison County, from Capt. Scott's Mills to the Tennessee River. Section 2 of the act provided a penalty of $3 for each day a tree cut or felled into the stream so as to obstruct navigation was allowed to remain, the proceeds of such fine to be applied to the improvement of the river."
The Act is quoted in Alabama Genealogical Quarterly, vol. 1, p.216, and also the Alabama Genealogical Society, Inc., Magazine (1976) vol. 18, issue 1-4, p.38.
Owen, op. cit., p. 595: "It does not appear that much, if any, work was done under either of these acts. In any event, there was none of sufficient permanence to affect the navigation or other characteristics of the stream at the present time.
References.—Acts, 1820, pp. 33, 70; Betts, Early history of Huntsville (1916)."
1819
HISTORY OF THE MUSCLE SHOALS BAPTIST ASSOCIATION by Rev. Josephus Shackelford (1891), p. 165:
"Enon Church. This church is situated in Lawrence county, ten miles east of Moulton. It was originally called Birdwell's Spring Church. It was one of the constituent members of the association. It was organized in July, 1819, on nine members, whose names are as follows: Stephen Penn, Mary Penn, John Birdwell, Mary Birdwell, Ezekiel Thomas, Jenny Thomas, George Keys, Elizabeth Keys, and Sarah Simpson."
They left this church for a few years and helped organize Hopewell Church near Danville.
Page 169: "Hopewell Church, Morgan County. This church was received into the association in July 1825. It was constituted on the first Saturday in December, 1824. The presbytery was Elders Featherstone, Walden, Stephen Penn and John Birdwell. …We suppose it is the place where the church house now stands, about two and one-half miles east of Danville."
SOME EARLY ALABAMA CHURCHES (ESTABLISHED BEFORE 1870) (1973) by Mabel Ponder Wilson, Dorothy Youngblood Woodyerd, Rosa Lee Busby, Daughters of the American Revolution Alabama Society, p. 95: "Organized in 1819, this church was first known as Birdwell's Spring Church. The nine organizing members were Stephen Penn,...John and Mary Birdwell...."
Page 130: "Hopewell Baptist Church (located two and one-half miles east of Danville) Hopewell Baptist Church was constituted... l824, with the Presbytery composed of Elders Featherstone, Walden, Stephen Penn, and John Birdwell."
LIFE AND LEGEND OF LAWRENCE COUNTY, ALABAMA, by Dorothy Gentry (Tuscaloosa, 1962): "Enon, originally called Birdwell's Spring Church, located ten miles east of Moulton was organized in July, 1819 on nine members, whose names were Stephen Penn, Mary Penn, John Birdwell, Mary Birdwell, Ezekiel Thomas, Jenny Thomas, George Keys, Elizabeth Keys and Sarah Simpson."
1823
In October 1823, one William Birdwell (1766-1823), age 57, was executed at Moulton, Lawrence Co., AL. for the murder of Mr. Rhea. Thought to be the son of John Birdwell's older brother Robert Birdwell (1751-1815) of Giles County, Tennessee. The two had had a dispute 10 years before.
1824
The Morgan Baptist Association: "One of the oldest churches in Morgan County, Hopewell was organized on the first Saturday in December 1824. It is mentioned in Hosea Holcombe's 1840 A History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists of Alabama. The presbytery was composed of Elders John Birdwell, Stephen Penn, Walden, and Featherstone. Charter members were Barkley Ballard, Polly Ballard, William Johnson, Sarah McDowell, Martha Rodgers, James Simmons, Stacy Simmons, Elizabeth Simmons, Polly Simmons, Solomon Simmons, Mary Simmons, Nicholas Gillentine Sr., Jane Gillentine, Richard L. Gillentine Jr., Martha Gillentine. Annie Gillentine, Gideon Spalden, and Nancy Spalden." The first deacon was Nicholas Gillentine and the first clerk was William Johnson. The first recorded pastor was Henry W. Hodges in 1827.
The church was located on land deeded to the church by William Johnson, "near the well of Brother Simmons" about two and one-half miles east of Danville, eight tenths of a mile south of what is now Highway 36, between Hartselle and Danville. The church was received into the Muscle Shoals Association in July, 1825."
1828
Lexington (KY) REPORTER, July 23, 1828, p.1 contains a letter John Harris of Moulton, Lawrence Co, AL., to Andrew Jackson on the character of his late father John Harris, Justice of the Peace of Lawrence County. Column 1 cites "John Birdwell, Esq." among those vouching for him.
Column 5 is signed by John Birdwell, Allen Birdwell, and others.
John Birdwell received letter of dismission from Enon in 1842 when his wife Mary died and he moved to Texas. He was known to have visited Texas already by 1838 and probably made several other trips between Texas and Alabama.
Daughters of the Republic of Texas
Accepted Ancestors
Ancestor Name: Birdwell, John
DOB: 9-24-1770
POB: VA
DOD: 1854
POD: Rusk Co., TX
Spouse Name: (Allen), Mary
Alabama Genealogical Society, Inc. magazine, Volume 21, Issue 1-2 (1958), (reissue? 1989)
p. 24: "The First Meeting House. On Saturday, June 1, 1811, the church appointed the following committee 'to view a place for a meeting house': ...John Birdwell and Joseph Powell."
p. 25: "...west bank of the Brier Fork of the Flint River, on a triangular piece of land about one acre in size. It was in the Northwest Quarter of Section 17, Township 2, Range 1 East of the prime meridian. This entire section (160) acres) was patented (or deeded) by the United States of America to John Birdwell and Joseph Powell..."
p.26: "John Birdwell was the son of George Birdwell and Mary. John Birdwell was born in 1770 in Virginia. He married Mary Allen in Tennessee. Some of his children were born there. He moved to Mississippi Territory, Huntsville Meridian about 1805. According to the minutes of Huntsville First Baptist Church, his last Sunday as clerk was January 2, 1819. From there he moved to Lawrence County Alabama where he donated land and helped form the Birdwell Springs Baptist. About 1836 he moved to Fayette County, Alabama, then into Walker County, Alabama. Around 1845, after the death of his wife, he moved with his son, Col. Allen Birdwell, to Rusk County, Texas, where he died in March 1854. He has many descendants in Texas."
FOOTPRINTS (Ft. Worth Genealogical Society, 1979), vol. 23-23, p. 107 says John Birdwell moved to Rusk Co, Texas in 1845.
His will is published in Alabama Genealogical Society Magazine (Birmingham, AL: 1985), Vol. 19, Issue 1. (Reissue 1989?)
Isbell Country: Genealogy of an Isbell Family by Odessa Morrow Isbell (2000), pp. 11, 19-20: "John Birdwell was in Alabama by 1805; settling north of Huntsville in 1805. He owned land in Sullivan Co., Tennessee and kept two homes so he could homestead Alabama property. He came to Texas in 1842-43 with son Col. Allen Birdwell. ..."
1842
George W. Birdwell administered the estate of Robert Bell in 1842 in Rusk County, Texas (the Mallory book cited below states incorrectly it was John Birdwell).
Robert Bell (27 May 1797 TN-13 June 1842 Rusk Co, Tx) was former sheriff of Cherokee County, Alabama. His wife Belinda Scott (b.4 Jun 1795 TN d. 1842) also died in 1842 not long after her husband.
Some Mallorys and Bells (Greenville, Tx.: 1950) by James Robert Mallory, pp. 21-22: "Robert Bell…sent down to Cherokee County, Alabama, for John Birdwell, who was County Judge when Robert Bell was Sheriff." (Correction: Robert Bell was sheriff of Cherokee County when John Birdwell's nephew George (son of Joseph) was county judge there.)
Page 22: "The three families, Bell, Gray and Birdwell came out to Texas together, arriving in 1839. Bell's headright joined that of Houston…." The author recites his grandfather's descriptions of Sam Houston visiting the Bell home when he was a young boy.
p.26: "John Birdwell, who had come to Texas with Robert and Belinda Bell and had been very close to the Bell family since their days in Alabama, was made Administrator of the Estate of Bell, at Bell's dying request. Creditors immediately asked for an accounting and Birdwell auctioned off the farm and all the personal belongings of the family for benefit of the creditors."
p.27: "Birdwell, who had taken a headright and then bought up several more from disgruntled settlers, saw that it was impracticable for the Howeths to try to take care of all these children, so he ordered that the two boys, James, fifteen, and William, eleven, be bound out to Robert Gray, who had married Cynthia Scott, a sister of Belinda Scott Bell."
1854
Rusk Co., Tx. Deed Book N-0, p.367: Sworn affidavit of daughter Sarah H. (Birdwell) Isbell says John Birdwell died Feb. 16, 1854, Rusk County, Texas.
Birdwell family records show that John Birdwell died Feb. 16, 1854, at age 83 years, 4 months, 23 days, in the home of his son, Col. Allen Birdwell, Mt. Enterprise, Rusk Co., Texas, and was buried in the family cemetery there on the farm. A great many Birdwell family members were buried in the cemetery, along with some related families and slaves. After the farm had passed out of the Birdwell family, the log house was removed to Monte Verdi Plantation and later owners of the Birdwell farm rather callously plowed the cemetery under. Trees marking some of the graves were cut down, while the gravestones were thrown into a ditch and covered. A partial list of those known to be buried there was supplied by Mrs. Bohannon of Mt. Enterprise, and a descendant of the Birdwell family, and printed. Some burials were recorded in the Birdwell family bible and appear in the book The Mitchells of Linn Flat by Gwenneth Mitchell, including the notation that John Birdwell's grave is there.
Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Texas, 1854-1857, by A.S. Ruthven, Grand Secretary and Past Grand Master, vol. II (1857), p.242:
Mount Enterprise Lodge, No. 60.
p.243: Past Masters.
Master Masons. …Allen Birdwell, John Birdwell
The Mitchells of Linn Flat, by Gwenneth Aenone Marshall Mitchell (Austin, 1981), refers to the Birdwell Cemetery on pp. 174, 202, 214 and 215. Page 174: John Birdwell, his grandson John C. Birdwell, and John A. Birdwell Jr. were buried in a row, side by side, "at the Birdwell family burying ground on the Allen Birdwell place, not far from the family residence near Orton Creek," three miles from Mt. Enterprise. On p. 202: "The cemetery has been abandoned for some years and pine trees grew over it. Some twenty years ago the ground was smoothed over and seeded in range grass."
From Gwenneth Aenone Marshall Mitchell (posted 10-29-1999 on Birdwell List, on Rootsweb.com): "Rusk Co., Texas History by the Rusk Co. Historical Society, 1982: page 112: John Birdwell, "old great-grandpap", John C., his grandson, and John Birdwell (Old Uncle John) are all 3 buried in a row side by side. John C. in the middle, Grandpap on the southside, and Uncle John on the north side. Lucinda Ross Birdwell was most likely the first buried there."
1809 census (Madison County, MS/AL Territory) shows 2 sons and 6 daughters born 1788-1809. (Total household 10)
1820 census Lawrence County, AL.: John Birdwell & wife over 21, 3 sons under 21, 6 daughters under 21.
1830 census Lawrence Co., AL.: John Birdwell & wife, 1 son (John), 2 daughters 15-19 (Lucinda & Ann), 1 dau 5-9 (Talitha).
1840 census shows all children gone from home.
The combined censuses of 1809, 1820 and 1830 show these children:
1 m b1788-1809 Moses 1796
1 m 1788-1809 Allen 1802
1 f Nancy 1795
2 f Eliz 1797
3 f Sarah 1799
4 f Mary Polly c1800-1804
5 f Susan c1805-7
6 f Jane 1807
1 male 15-19 (1811-1815) John 1814
1 f 15-19 (1811-1815) Lucinda 1812
1 f 15-19 (1811-1815) Ann 1813
1 f 5-9 (1821-1825) Talitha 1821
Children of John Birdwell and Mary Allen:
1 Nancy Birdwell b Nov. 3, 1795 m.James S. Romine
2 Moses Birdwell b 1796 m.1815 Sarah Duncan
3 Elizabeth Birdwell b Dec.31, 1797 (Jan. 1, 1800?) m. 1813 James Isbell
4 Sarah H. Birdwell b Feb 14, 1799 m. Levi Isbell
5 Allen B. Birdwell b Mar 22, 1802
6 ? Mary/Polly Birdwell c1800-5 (on some lists), (died young?)*
7 Jane Birdwell 1806- m. Samuel Neal (Jane Birdwell m. 10/27/1825 Samuel Neal (10/29/1825 recorded Lawrence Co. Marriage Book 1A, p.226; Gandrud, p.27); lived there 1830 w/ 1 son under 5. Lived in Panola Co., MS in 1850.
8 Susan Birdwell 1807- Joel S Watkins
9 John Alexander Birdwell 1812-1871
10 Lucinda Birdwell b1809-1811 m. James M. Vaught
11 Ann Birdwell Feb. 15, 1813-1868 m. James B. Fowler
12 Son bc1816 (1810-20) on 1820 census, d 1820-30*
13 Talitha R. Birdwell June 18, 1821 m. James Smyley Wright
*It is possible that one of the married daughters and her husband (Romine or Isbell?) was living with them in the 1820 census and there was no son who died young. However, both James Romine and Levi Isbell were born well before 1800 and do not fit the 1810-20 age bracket.
Some lists of children online include these:
1 Mary Birdwell 1800-1888 m1 John McCormack,2Josiah Phelps. This Mary was the daughter of John, son of Robert Birdwell
2 George William Birdwell 1811-1831, some lists show him as another son, and some say died at Moulton, Lawrence Co., AL. (confusing him with Moses?), but he was not in the household in the 1830 census.
3 Matilda Birdwell Jan 20, 1816-d 1895 Bristol, Ellis Co, Tx is on some lists as another daughter, but note that Talitha R. Birdwell's name is incorrectly transcribed as Matilda by some researchers. The Matilda Birdwell of Bristol, Tx. was the daughter of John Birdwell of Giles Co., Tn.; granddaughter of Robert and Ellen (Sanford) Birdwell, Robert being the brother of John Birdwell who married Mary Allen. Matilda married in Giles CO., TN. 12 Dec 1834 Neal C. Dever (1802-1878).
4 Judge Thomas Gaines Birdwell b1804 Giles Co, TN was not a son. He was a son of John Birdwell's nephew John (son of Robert), and a brother of Mary and Matilda above. Interestingly, his son Thomas J. Birdwell's daughter Pearl married John William Culver, son of Susannah (Culver) Isbell Culver, widow of Zach Isbell, son of Elizabeth Birdwell Isbell Conway.
5 William McElree Birdwell 1837-1906 was a grandson (son of John A.), rather than a son as some lists incorrectly show.
FIRST FAMILIES OF TENNESSEE (#15933)
FIRST FAMILIES OF ALABAMA (#430-432, 434)
DAUGHTERS OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS (#031544S, 033062R, 06371S)
SONS OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS
DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (#A098196)
SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
COLONIAL DAMES OF THE XVII CENTURY
He first came to Texas in 1838 by some accounts (The Mitchells of Linn Flat by Gwenneth A.M. Mitchell, pp. 184, 201), while one reference gives a date as early as 1835, although he did not move permanently until 1842 after the death of his wife. His son, Col. Allen B. Birdwell, wrote in his own notebook ledger that he moved to Texas in 1842 and that his father John Birdwell lived with him in Nacogdoches County. John Birdwell was still living in Allen Birdwell's household in Rusk County in the 1850 census. The HANDBOOK OF TEXAS by the Texas State Historical Association, says: "Allen Birdwell's father John may have moved to Nacogdoches County, Texas, in 1838, and Allen and his wife Lucinda (Ross) followed by 1842." (Jennifer Eckel, "BIRDWELL, ALLEN," Handbook of Texas Online, accessed June 27, 2015. Uploaded on June 12, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.)
John Birdwell was in Houston on July 8, 1838, when he wrote a letter of recommendation for George Nixon which is preserved in the George Antonio Nixon manuscripts collection at the University of Texas Arlington (Special Collections, George Nixon Collection, Box GA122, Document 00189).
A family history states that John Birdwell moved to Nacogdoches County in 1838 and "lived at Old North Church two years," then moved twelve miles to Mt. Enterprise in what became Rusk County when Rusk was formed from part of Nacogdoches.
"For My Children: Memoir of Rev. George Preston Birdwell" (1912): "My grandfather, John Birdwell,...died at my father's house near Mt. Enterprise, Texas, at the age of 84 years. He was never sick in his life, never had a chill nor a fever. There were nine boys in the family, and all died between the ages of 84 and 90. My father, Colonel Allen Birdwell, was born in West Tennessee…moved with his parents to North Alabama and settled about one mile from Raleville in Lawrence County…. In 1838 he came to Texas to look at the country. He was well pleased and in 1841, he moved to Texas. He settled first near Old North Church in Nacogdoches County. I think he made two crops there before he bought his home, three miles south of Mt. Enterprise, in Rusk County. This was all Nacogdoches County then, in Rusk County. This was all Nacogdoches County then…." ("Birdwell Family," East Texas Families, pp.233-34, 279-80.)
John Birdwell signed his will Jan. 24, 1854, and it was entered in Probate Court April 27, 1854.
Rusk County Deed Book N-O (1860), p. 367, states that he died Feb. 16, 1854.
The estate included $1,400 cash and included slaves and possibly other property since Col. Allen B. Birdwell posted a $4,000 bond with the Rusk County Probate Court to serve as administrator of his father's estate, a considerable bond in those days.
FIRST FAMILIES OF TENNESSEE
Descendants of John and Mary Birdwell are eligible for membership in the First Families of Tennessee, First Families of Alabama, the Sons of the Republic of Texas, and the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.
John Birdwell and Mary Allen grew up in Sullivan County, N.C., which later became Sullivan County, Tennessee. They married and lived there several years before moving to Alabama.
FOOTPRINTS, vol. 23-24 (Ft. Worth: Fort Worth Genealogical Society, 1979), p. 107: John Birdwell (born 1770 Virginia, died 1854 Texas) and wife Mary Allen... in 1781 were in Sullivan County, North Carolina (now Tennessee), 1809 Madison County, Alabama; 1819 Lawrence County, Alabama.
FIRST FAMILIES OF ALABAMA
1805
The Birdwells settled in Madison County, Alabama in 1805, where they were charter members of the Enon Baptist Church which later became First Baptist Church of Huntsville. John Birdwell was the first clerk. (Alabama Historical Society marker in Marshall County lists their daughter "Sarah Birdwell Isbell, one of the earliest settlers of Madison County, 1805." His son Allen Birdwell stated in his ledger that his parents took him to Alabama in 1805, when he was three years old).
Allen Birdwell wrote that he was born "in Roane County, East Tennessee," and "was brought to the Mississippi Territory in 1805, now Alabama, Madison County, 8 miles north of Huntsville. My F.(father) moved to Lawrence County 1818."
1808
"Birdwell Family Tree" by Velma Stovey Schonder, p. 59:
"JHB thinks that JB was living in Madison Co., AL by 1808. He was one of the organizers and first clerk of The First Baptist Church in Huntsville, AL. …The church minutes for 6-1-1811 state that the church authorized Brethren Watkins, Pruet Brock, Birdwell and Powell to view a place for a meeting house (Dale Langston, from microfilm notes at Madison Co. Library Heritage Room, Huntsville).
"JB is on the 1809 census Madison Co. Al/Ms Territory, p.7, with 2 males under 21, 1 male over 21, 6 females under 21 and 1 female over 21. According to JHB his last 4 children were born there, while his first 4 children married there."
Page 23 (different version, p.72): "John Birdwell...moved Tx 1838."
Enon Baptist Church Records (Huntsville, Madison County, Alabama), Sept. 2, 1809:
September, 1st Saturday 1809.
1st The Church Met & after Prayer proceeded to Business--
…5th The Church Appoints Brother Birdwell to Write the Association Letter & Bring the same to next meeting--
Enon Baptist Church Records, Sept. 1, 1810:
September 1st Saturday--1810
The Church met and after proceeded to business--
1st Opened a door for the reception of member--
2nd the church took up a reference from last meeting and laid it over till next meeting--
3rd The Church agree to delegate Bros. Hellums, Childress and Birdwell to The Association.
John Birdwell's land included 160 acres comprising the NW quarter of Sec 17, T2S R1E. This is SW of Fox Run Golf Course (SW of the First Flint River Baptist Church, Moores Mill Rd), and lying between the SW tip of Fox Run Drive (the SW corner of Fox Run Golf Course) running southwest to the Brier Fork of Flint River and the Madison County Executive Airport (Huntsville Ex. Airport on maps).
(This was Patent 1008 recorded 8-29-1963 when the new airport was built)
(ref., Family Maps of Madison Co., AL. by Gregory Boyd, pp. 122, 124; p.314 states: Sale-Cash Entry, Date & Act of Congress Apr 24, 1820. Group patent of 18 owners).
Madison Co. AL Deed Books A-E, 1810-1819, by Dorothy Scott Johnson (1976):
Madison Co. DB E, p. 133 #500:
item 500: dated 8-18-1818
Grantor, John & Mary Birdwell
Grantee, George Oglethorpe Gilmer
For the sum of $3300 Ind. SW/4 Sec. 18-2-E lying east of Briar Fork of Flint River, & 10 Ac. in 3/2 & 10 a. N/2 NW4 sec. 17-2-1E.
Proven 11-3-1818 & DR (Pope) (Note: 10 a. in S/2) purchased by Birdwell from Joseph Powell.
Witnessed by: Lewis B. Taliaferro, Jacob Pruett, and Levi Isbell.
1818, Aug. 18 - Madison Co., AL. John Birdwell and wife Mary deeded land to Geo. Oglethorpe Gilmer. Witnesses: Lewis B. Taliaferro, Jacob Pruitt, Levi Isbell. Levi Isbell was John and Mary Birdwell's son-in-law. (Book E Page 133.)
In January 1819 John and Mary Birdwell moved to Lawrence County where they purchased large tracts of land and were also founders of this church, Birdwell Springs Baptist Church, which later changed its name to Enon Baptist Church.
THE FIRST 200 YEARS OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF HUNTSVILLE by Joseph M. Jones, p. 2, gives the origin of that Enon Church as several years earlier: "All of Enon's very first members were squatters since the government's Nashville land office, which handled the sale of Madison County lands, did not even open for business in the Madison County area until August 1810, more than a year after Enon was established."
Page 3: "After having met in private homes for two years, the church in June 1811 appointed a committee —- William Watkins, Jack Prewit, Isaac Brock, John Birdwell, and Joseph Powell --‘to view a place for a meeting house.' That led to the start of construction of a log building on the western bank of the Brier Fork of Flint River, a few hundred yards north of the present terminal of the North Huntsville Executive Airport. The small building, exact location unknown, was close to the river bank…, affording a convenient place for baptismal services. For some reason, perhaps a shortage of funds, construction was halted short of completion. Almost two years later, Feb. 6, 1813, a new committee was named, consisting mostly of the first group plus William Hellums, to complete the work, and while there was apparently no fanfare to herald its conclusion, the structure was finished and in 1815 did accommodate the second annual meeting of the Flint River Association.
…"with regard to the squatter hypothesis, it is interesting to note that the providers of Enon's one-acre lot, John Birdwell and Joseph Powell, did not themselves receive title to their jointly-held property until April 1814, the church construction having begun on their proffered land three years earlier. But things were ‘looser,' less formal in those days."
"A History of Early Settlement: Madison County Before Statehood," The Huntsville Historical Review (2008) by the Huntsville-Madison County Historical Society, p. 69:
"The closest meetinghouse was Enon Baptist Church on the Briar Fork of the Flint Reiver. Established in 1809, one of its three founders, and its first pastor, was a preacher who lived and owned two pieces of property in the region, John Canterbury. There is no evidence that he was a slaveholder, but the second Enon pastor, Richard Shackelford, was a major landowner who at his death had more than a dozen slaves. He was called as a pastor in 1815 and served until his death in 1823. Enon's first meetinghouse was a lot building constructed in 1813 on the Briar Fork. (This is on land of the present Madison County Executive Airport.)
"Joseph Powell and John Birdwell, charter members of the Enon Church, jointly owned the land adjacent to land owned by both Canterbury and Shackelford. The church building had been erected and in use for a year before Powell and Birdwell themselves received title to the property that they had provided to the church." (James Record, "A Dream Come True, The Story of Madison County and Incidentally of Alabama and the United States, Vol. 1 (Huntsville: Hicklin Co., 1970), pp. 39-40.)
1819
1st Saturday January 1819 (Jan.2)
"John Birdwell and Mary his wife" were granted letter of dismissal from the Enon Church in Madison County on the first Saturday in January, Jan. 2, 1819. (ref., First Baptist Church Minutes, James K. Harrison,
First Baptist Church History Committee.)
They moved to Lawrence County near Moulton and established a new church.
The Alabama Baptist Historian (1970), p.20: "F.W. Helmbold, Curator of the Society, in his historical presentation, revealed the fact that the Enon church was constituted originally as Birdwell Springs Baptist Church on the third Monday in June (June 21), 1819."
1820 census:
Lawrence County, AL.: John Birdwell & wife over 21, 3 sons under 21, 6 daughters under 21.
Franklin County, AL.: John Birdwell listed there as well.
Giles County, TN.: John Birdwell's nephew John (son of Robert) and family --
this was probably the John Birdwell in Giles Co., TN.
1820
John Birdwell was assigned by an act of the Alabama legislature to review the Flint River in Cotaco Co. (later Morgan) AL, from its junction with the Tennessee to its main fork, to see if it was navigable (History of Morgan Co., Alabama by Knox, p. 54).
History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography (1921) by Thomas McAdory Owen and Marie Bankhead Owen page 595: "On December 6, 1820, an act of the Alabama Legislature was approved which designated David Parker, Jonathan Burleson, and John Birdwell, or any two of them, to make a careful "review" of Flint River, from its mouth to the main fork therein, and report the practicability of its navigation, the distance examined, and the expense necessary to improve the river for navigation. On the 20th of December an act was approved to incorporate the Flint River Navigation Co. The incorporators were Fleming Jordan, George Taylor, James McCartney, John Sprowl, Stephen Pond, John P. Brown, John Grayson, Dial Perry, David Walker, Ebenezer Byram, Stephen McBroom, William Derrick, and David Cobb, and they were authorized to improve the navigation of the Flint River in Madison County, from Capt. Scott's Mills to the Tennessee River. Section 2 of the act provided a penalty of $3 for each day a tree cut or felled into the stream so as to obstruct navigation was allowed to remain, the proceeds of such fine to be applied to the improvement of the river."
The Act is quoted in Alabama Genealogical Quarterly, vol. 1, p.216, and also the Alabama Genealogical Society, Inc., Magazine (1976) vol. 18, issue 1-4, p.38.
Owen, op. cit., p. 595: "It does not appear that much, if any, work was done under either of these acts. In any event, there was none of sufficient permanence to affect the navigation or other characteristics of the stream at the present time.
References.—Acts, 1820, pp. 33, 70; Betts, Early history of Huntsville (1916)."
1819
HISTORY OF THE MUSCLE SHOALS BAPTIST ASSOCIATION by Rev. Josephus Shackelford (1891), p. 165:
"Enon Church. This church is situated in Lawrence county, ten miles east of Moulton. It was originally called Birdwell's Spring Church. It was one of the constituent members of the association. It was organized in July, 1819, on nine members, whose names are as follows: Stephen Penn, Mary Penn, John Birdwell, Mary Birdwell, Ezekiel Thomas, Jenny Thomas, George Keys, Elizabeth Keys, and Sarah Simpson."
They left this church for a few years and helped organize Hopewell Church near Danville.
Page 169: "Hopewell Church, Morgan County. This church was received into the association in July 1825. It was constituted on the first Saturday in December, 1824. The presbytery was Elders Featherstone, Walden, Stephen Penn and John Birdwell. …We suppose it is the place where the church house now stands, about two and one-half miles east of Danville."
SOME EARLY ALABAMA CHURCHES (ESTABLISHED BEFORE 1870) (1973) by Mabel Ponder Wilson, Dorothy Youngblood Woodyerd, Rosa Lee Busby, Daughters of the American Revolution Alabama Society, p. 95: "Organized in 1819, this church was first known as Birdwell's Spring Church. The nine organizing members were Stephen Penn,...John and Mary Birdwell...."
Page 130: "Hopewell Baptist Church (located two and one-half miles east of Danville) Hopewell Baptist Church was constituted... l824, with the Presbytery composed of Elders Featherstone, Walden, Stephen Penn, and John Birdwell."
LIFE AND LEGEND OF LAWRENCE COUNTY, ALABAMA, by Dorothy Gentry (Tuscaloosa, 1962): "Enon, originally called Birdwell's Spring Church, located ten miles east of Moulton was organized in July, 1819 on nine members, whose names were Stephen Penn, Mary Penn, John Birdwell, Mary Birdwell, Ezekiel Thomas, Jenny Thomas, George Keys, Elizabeth Keys and Sarah Simpson."
1823
In October 1823, one William Birdwell (1766-1823), age 57, was executed at Moulton, Lawrence Co., AL. for the murder of Mr. Rhea. Thought to be the son of John Birdwell's older brother Robert Birdwell (1751-1815) of Giles County, Tennessee. The two had had a dispute 10 years before.
1824
The Morgan Baptist Association: "One of the oldest churches in Morgan County, Hopewell was organized on the first Saturday in December 1824. It is mentioned in Hosea Holcombe's 1840 A History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists of Alabama. The presbytery was composed of Elders John Birdwell, Stephen Penn, Walden, and Featherstone. Charter members were Barkley Ballard, Polly Ballard, William Johnson, Sarah McDowell, Martha Rodgers, James Simmons, Stacy Simmons, Elizabeth Simmons, Polly Simmons, Solomon Simmons, Mary Simmons, Nicholas Gillentine Sr., Jane Gillentine, Richard L. Gillentine Jr., Martha Gillentine. Annie Gillentine, Gideon Spalden, and Nancy Spalden." The first deacon was Nicholas Gillentine and the first clerk was William Johnson. The first recorded pastor was Henry W. Hodges in 1827.
The church was located on land deeded to the church by William Johnson, "near the well of Brother Simmons" about two and one-half miles east of Danville, eight tenths of a mile south of what is now Highway 36, between Hartselle and Danville. The church was received into the Muscle Shoals Association in July, 1825."
1828
Lexington (KY) REPORTER, July 23, 1828, p.1 contains a letter John Harris of Moulton, Lawrence Co, AL., to Andrew Jackson on the character of his late father John Harris, Justice of the Peace of Lawrence County. Column 1 cites "John Birdwell, Esq." among those vouching for him.
Column 5 is signed by John Birdwell, Allen Birdwell, and others.
John Birdwell received letter of dismission from Enon in 1842 when his wife Mary died and he moved to Texas. He was known to have visited Texas already by 1838 and probably made several other trips between Texas and Alabama.
Daughters of the Republic of Texas
Accepted Ancestors
Ancestor Name: Birdwell, John
DOB: 9-24-1770
POB: VA
DOD: 1854
POD: Rusk Co., TX
Spouse Name: (Allen), Mary
Alabama Genealogical Society, Inc. magazine, Volume 21, Issue 1-2 (1958), (reissue? 1989)
p. 24: "The First Meeting House. On Saturday, June 1, 1811, the church appointed the following committee 'to view a place for a meeting house': ...John Birdwell and Joseph Powell."
p. 25: "...west bank of the Brier Fork of the Flint River, on a triangular piece of land about one acre in size. It was in the Northwest Quarter of Section 17, Township 2, Range 1 East of the prime meridian. This entire section (160) acres) was patented (or deeded) by the United States of America to John Birdwell and Joseph Powell..."
p.26: "John Birdwell was the son of George Birdwell and Mary. John Birdwell was born in 1770 in Virginia. He married Mary Allen in Tennessee. Some of his children were born there. He moved to Mississippi Territory, Huntsville Meridian about 1805. According to the minutes of Huntsville First Baptist Church, his last Sunday as clerk was January 2, 1819. From there he moved to Lawrence County Alabama where he donated land and helped form the Birdwell Springs Baptist. About 1836 he moved to Fayette County, Alabama, then into Walker County, Alabama. Around 1845, after the death of his wife, he moved with his son, Col. Allen Birdwell, to Rusk County, Texas, where he died in March 1854. He has many descendants in Texas."
FOOTPRINTS (Ft. Worth Genealogical Society, 1979), vol. 23-23, p. 107 says John Birdwell moved to Rusk Co, Texas in 1845.
His will is published in Alabama Genealogical Society Magazine (Birmingham, AL: 1985), Vol. 19, Issue 1. (Reissue 1989?)
Isbell Country: Genealogy of an Isbell Family by Odessa Morrow Isbell (2000), pp. 11, 19-20: "John Birdwell was in Alabama by 1805; settling north of Huntsville in 1805. He owned land in Sullivan Co., Tennessee and kept two homes so he could homestead Alabama property. He came to Texas in 1842-43 with son Col. Allen Birdwell. ..."
1842
George W. Birdwell administered the estate of Robert Bell in 1842 in Rusk County, Texas (the Mallory book cited below states incorrectly it was John Birdwell).
Robert Bell (27 May 1797 TN-13 June 1842 Rusk Co, Tx) was former sheriff of Cherokee County, Alabama. His wife Belinda Scott (b.4 Jun 1795 TN d. 1842) also died in 1842 not long after her husband.
Some Mallorys and Bells (Greenville, Tx.: 1950) by James Robert Mallory, pp. 21-22: "Robert Bell…sent down to Cherokee County, Alabama, for John Birdwell, who was County Judge when Robert Bell was Sheriff." (Correction: Robert Bell was sheriff of Cherokee County when John Birdwell's nephew George (son of Joseph) was county judge there.)
Page 22: "The three families, Bell, Gray and Birdwell came out to Texas together, arriving in 1839. Bell's headright joined that of Houston…." The author recites his grandfather's descriptions of Sam Houston visiting the Bell home when he was a young boy.
p.26: "John Birdwell, who had come to Texas with Robert and Belinda Bell and had been very close to the Bell family since their days in Alabama, was made Administrator of the Estate of Bell, at Bell's dying request. Creditors immediately asked for an accounting and Birdwell auctioned off the farm and all the personal belongings of the family for benefit of the creditors."
p.27: "Birdwell, who had taken a headright and then bought up several more from disgruntled settlers, saw that it was impracticable for the Howeths to try to take care of all these children, so he ordered that the two boys, James, fifteen, and William, eleven, be bound out to Robert Gray, who had married Cynthia Scott, a sister of Belinda Scott Bell."
1854
Rusk Co., Tx. Deed Book N-0, p.367: Sworn affidavit of daughter Sarah H. (Birdwell) Isbell says John Birdwell died Feb. 16, 1854, Rusk County, Texas.
Birdwell family records show that John Birdwell died Feb. 16, 1854, at age 83 years, 4 months, 23 days, in the home of his son, Col. Allen Birdwell, Mt. Enterprise, Rusk Co., Texas, and was buried in the family cemetery there on the farm. A great many Birdwell family members were buried in the cemetery, along with some related families and slaves. After the farm had passed out of the Birdwell family, the log house was removed to Monte Verdi Plantation and later owners of the Birdwell farm rather callously plowed the cemetery under. Trees marking some of the graves were cut down, while the gravestones were thrown into a ditch and covered. A partial list of those known to be buried there was supplied by Mrs. Bohannon of Mt. Enterprise, and a descendant of the Birdwell family, and printed. Some burials were recorded in the Birdwell family bible and appear in the book The Mitchells of Linn Flat by Gwenneth Mitchell, including the notation that John Birdwell's grave is there.
Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Texas, 1854-1857, by A.S. Ruthven, Grand Secretary and Past Grand Master, vol. II (1857), p.242:
Mount Enterprise Lodge, No. 60.
p.243: Past Masters.
Master Masons. …Allen Birdwell, John Birdwell
The Mitchells of Linn Flat, by Gwenneth Aenone Marshall Mitchell (Austin, 1981), refers to the Birdwell Cemetery on pp. 174, 202, 214 and 215. Page 174: John Birdwell, his grandson John C. Birdwell, and John A. Birdwell Jr. were buried in a row, side by side, "at the Birdwell family burying ground on the Allen Birdwell place, not far from the family residence near Orton Creek," three miles from Mt. Enterprise. On p. 202: "The cemetery has been abandoned for some years and pine trees grew over it. Some twenty years ago the ground was smoothed over and seeded in range grass."
From Gwenneth Aenone Marshall Mitchell (posted 10-29-1999 on Birdwell List, on Rootsweb.com): "Rusk Co., Texas History by the Rusk Co. Historical Society, 1982: page 112: John Birdwell, "old great-grandpap", John C., his grandson, and John Birdwell (Old Uncle John) are all 3 buried in a row side by side. John C. in the middle, Grandpap on the southside, and Uncle John on the north side. Lucinda Ross Birdwell was most likely the first buried there."
1809 census (Madison County, MS/AL Territory) shows 2 sons and 6 daughters born 1788-1809. (Total household 10)
1820 census Lawrence County, AL.: John Birdwell & wife over 21, 3 sons under 21, 6 daughters under 21.
1830 census Lawrence Co., AL.: John Birdwell & wife, 1 son (John), 2 daughters 15-19 (Lucinda & Ann), 1 dau 5-9 (Talitha).
1840 census shows all children gone from home.
The combined censuses of 1809, 1820 and 1830 show these children:
1 m b1788-1809 Moses 1796
1 m 1788-1809 Allen 1802
1 f Nancy 1795
2 f Eliz 1797
3 f Sarah 1799
4 f Mary Polly c1800-1804
5 f Susan c1805-7
6 f Jane 1807
1 male 15-19 (1811-1815) John 1814
1 f 15-19 (1811-1815) Lucinda 1812
1 f 15-19 (1811-1815) Ann 1813
1 f 5-9 (1821-1825) Talitha 1821
Children of John Birdwell and Mary Allen:
1 Nancy Birdwell b Nov. 3, 1795 m.James S. Romine
2 Moses Birdwell b 1796 m.1815 Sarah Duncan
3 Elizabeth Birdwell b Dec.31, 1797 (Jan. 1, 1800?) m. 1813 James Isbell
4 Sarah H. Birdwell b Feb 14, 1799 m. Levi Isbell
5 Allen B. Birdwell b Mar 22, 1802
6 ? Mary/Polly Birdwell c1800-5 (on some lists), (died young?)*
7 Jane Birdwell 1806- m. Samuel Neal (Jane Birdwell m. 10/27/1825 Samuel Neal (10/29/1825 recorded Lawrence Co. Marriage Book 1A, p.226; Gandrud, p.27); lived there 1830 w/ 1 son under 5. Lived in Panola Co., MS in 1850.
8 Susan Birdwell 1807- Joel S Watkins
9 John Alexander Birdwell 1812-1871
10 Lucinda Birdwell b1809-1811 m. James M. Vaught
11 Ann Birdwell Feb. 15, 1813-1868 m. James B. Fowler
12 Son bc1816 (1810-20) on 1820 census, d 1820-30*
13 Talitha R. Birdwell June 18, 1821 m. James Smyley Wright
*It is possible that one of the married daughters and her husband (Romine or Isbell?) was living with them in the 1820 census and there was no son who died young. However, both James Romine and Levi Isbell were born well before 1800 and do not fit the 1810-20 age bracket.
Some lists of children online include these:
1 Mary Birdwell 1800-1888 m1 John McCormack,2Josiah Phelps. This Mary was the daughter of John, son of Robert Birdwell
2 George William Birdwell 1811-1831, some lists show him as another son, and some say died at Moulton, Lawrence Co., AL. (confusing him with Moses?), but he was not in the household in the 1830 census.
3 Matilda Birdwell Jan 20, 1816-d 1895 Bristol, Ellis Co, Tx is on some lists as another daughter, but note that Talitha R. Birdwell's name is incorrectly transcribed as Matilda by some researchers. The Matilda Birdwell of Bristol, Tx. was the daughter of John Birdwell of Giles Co., Tn.; granddaughter of Robert and Ellen (Sanford) Birdwell, Robert being the brother of John Birdwell who married Mary Allen. Matilda married in Giles CO., TN. 12 Dec 1834 Neal C. Dever (1802-1878).
4 Judge Thomas Gaines Birdwell b1804 Giles Co, TN was not a son. He was a son of John Birdwell's nephew John (son of Robert), and a brother of Mary and Matilda above. Interestingly, his son Thomas J. Birdwell's daughter Pearl married John William Culver, son of Susannah (Culver) Isbell Culver, widow of Zach Isbell, son of Elizabeth Birdwell Isbell Conway.
5 William McElree Birdwell 1837-1906 was a grandson (son of John A.), rather than a son as some lists incorrectly show.
Family Members
Siblings
Children
-
![]()
Nancy Birdwell Romine
1795–1885
-
![]()
Moses Birdwell
1796–1832
-
![]()
Sarah H. "Sallie" Birdwell Isbell
1799–1876
-
![]()
Elizabeth Birdwell Isbell Conway
1800–1872
-
![]()
Col Allen B. Birdwell
1802–1893
-
![]()
Susan Birdwell Watkins
1809–1888
-
![]()
Lucinda Birdwell Vaught
1811–1873
-
![]()
John Alexander Birdwell
1812–1871
-
![]()
Ann Birdwell Fowler
1813–1868
-
![]()
Talitha R. Birdwell Wright
1821–1905
Advertisement
Records on Ancestry
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
