Separating records of the older Elder Levi Isbell (1770-1850) from those of his nephew, "the Elder" (Rev.) Levi Isbell (1797-1868) is a challenge since both were members of the Mud Creek Baptist Association during the same period. Land deeds help to identify them. The earliest Mud Creek Baptist Assn. record (1821) of Levi Isbell of Jackson County, Alabama, was the older Levi Isbell. He and the other two delegates on the same record, John Owens and Hugh Gentry (1769-1840), lived at the head of Big Coon Creek at Matthews Cove/Maynard Cove. This Levi Isbell was a member of Providence Church in 1821 and Ebenezer Church in 1836. The younger Levi ("Elder Levi Isbell") was a member of Blue Spring Church at Larkinsville from at least 1827 until 1845. To complicate matters, members of the younger Levi's family also owned land at Maynard Cove until after the Civil War.

FIRST FAMILIES OF TENNESSEE
March 22, 1796: Zachariah Isbell Jr. was living in Sevier County, Tennessee (ref., Jefferson Co. TN Deed Book C, p. 232; Land Deeds of Jefferson County TN 1792-1814 (1991), by Boyd Holdaway, p.54; Sevier County, Tennessee Pre-1856 Courthouse Fire Records (2009), by George and Juanita Fox, p. 134).

1799 Sevier County Petition: Zachariah Isbell not listed among the signers(deceased), but three sons were: Levi, William, and Miller Isbell (ref., Petition of Sundry Inhabitants South of French Broad to the Honorable General Assembly of the State of Tennessee and To the Speaker of Both Houses.) The First Families of Tennessee (East Tennessee Historical Society) shows Levi (born 1770), William, and John Miller Isbell (born 1777) as sons of Zachariah Isbell Jr. and has accepted descendants of all three for membership.
FFT #7003-71 source lists these children of Zachariah Isbell Jr.: " Children: Levi, b. 1770 N.C., md. Sarah Jane ---; William Zachariah, b. 1771, md. Sarah ---; Jason L; Hannah; John Miller."

1800: Levi Isbell not found in the 1800 Federal census

1804: Levi Isbell was in Kentucky in 1804, ***if*** he was the father of Luvenia/Levinia/Lavinia Isbell Matthews who was said to have been born there in 1804 (and if she actually were born there as claimed). The book "Walker Matthews of Big Coon, Jackson County, Alabama: A Genealogy of the Matthews Family" (1993) by Thomas E Jacks, says she was born in Wayne County, Kentucky. Census records confirm she was born in Kentucky. Some researchers believe she was the daughter of Levi, but The Heritage of Jackson County, Alabama p.207 says she was probably the daughter of Levi's uncle Jason. Other researchers believe she was the daughter of William and Mary (Polly) Isbell and granddaughter of Capt. Godfrey Isbell. Godfrey lived in Tennessee and in Wayne County, Kentucky, and died in Madison County, Alabama. Note that Luvenia Isbell Matthews did have a son Godfrey Matthews. The most logical guess as to Luvina's parents is William and wife Polly or Jason and Polly Isbell. (Some family trees show the name of Godfrey's son William as William Levi Isbell.) Descendants of Godfrey Isbell and Luvenia Isbell Matthews and Walker Matthews are all eligible for First Families of Alabama.
Ladene Davis wrote: According to the Mathews family, Luvina was an Isbell, and had a brother Ezekiel who came 'tromping through the mountains' in Jackson Co, Ala to see his sister & her family." Both Luvina and Ezekiel both had sons named Godfrey. Ezekiel was the son of Jason "Jesse" Isbell, uncle of Levi.

1810: census record not found

1814: At what became known as "Matthews Cove," at the head of Big Coon Creek, adjoining Levi Isbell: "Walker Matthews settled on the land around 1814 and legally obtained title in 1830. The family owned the land until 1931. The cemetery (.5 acre) there is still family owned." (ref., Matthews Cove website.)

1820: Alabama census records not extant

FIRST FAMILIES OF ALABAMA
1821: At the organization of the Mud Creek Baptist Association in 1821, Hugh Gentry, John Owens and Levi Isbell were the delegates from Providence Church. (HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY, ALABAMA (1935) by John Robert Kennamer, Decatur, Al, does not show which churches the delegates represented, but those details are in The First Hundred Years, A History of Baptists in Jackson Co., Alabama from 1821 until 1921 by J. Nelson Varnell; orig. ms. at Samford University, Birmingham, AL.; microfilm at Tenn. State Library.) Varnell states that the church was near the property of Gentry, Owens, and Isbell (Varnell, v.2, p.11) and identifies Levi Isbell as the uncle of Elder (Rev.) Levi Isbell. (Also Old Land Records of Jackson Co., Ala., by Margaret Matthews Cowart, p.190.) See also: Mud Creek Association, Alabama, 1821-1990, compiled by Joann Thomas Elkin; and The Church of God From the Creation to A.D. 1885 (1886) by Cushing B. Hassell, p. 887.

Hugh Gentry, John Owens, and Levi Isbell were all living near Providence Church at the head of Big Coon Creek (Matthews Cove near Maynard Cove) by 1821 and possibly as early as 1814, like Walker Matthews, though their land parents were not recorded until several years later. Many early settlers in this area were "squatters." John Gentry did not receive his patent on 240 acres in Sections 9 and 10 until September 1830, though his claim was staked before 1823 (1823 land survey; Varnell, v.2, p.11; Margaret Matthews Cowart, p.190).

This 1821 church record and the 1823 land survey show that Levi Isbell (born 1770) was in Alabama very early, but it would take another record predating Statehood (1819) to qualify his descendants for membership in First Families of Alabama through the Alabama Genealogical Society.

MUD CREEK PRIMITIVE BAPTIST CHURCH MEMBERS
(JACKSON CO. ALA.)
Taken from the original minutes book in the possession of the church clerk. (this copy belonged to a member of the church: Brooks Brown). Contributed by C. Haynes.
A LIST OF BROTHERS NAMES IN 1829: ...
FOLLOWING IS ANOTHER LIST OF MEMBERS IN THIS OLD BOOK, BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN NAMES OF THE MEMBERS BEGINNING WHEN THIS CHURCH WAS ORGANIZED IN 1814 AND KEPT UP UNTIL THE NEW LIST WAS MADE IN 1829
BROTHERS NAMES: ...
Sisters Names:...
MARY GENTRY dismissed by letter ...
ELIZABETH GENTRY dismissed by letter
FRANCES MATTHEWS dismissed by letter
MARY ISBELL dismissed by letter ...
NANCY ISBELL dismissed by letter ...

History of Jackson County, Alabama (1935) by John Robert Kennamer: "By 1821 the Mud Creek Association was formed at the Mud Creek Meeting House. This Association included all Baptist churches in Jackson and some in Sequatchie Valley, TN. The nine churches were located in Mountgilled, Mud Creek, Providence (Maynard's Cove), New Hope, Hopewell, Blue Spring, Friendship, Paint Rock (in the valley), and Union, in Sequatchie Valley.
"Isaac REED was elected first moderator, Josiah CONN, Clerk. Delegates were John KELLY, Shadreck HERRON, Samuel WILSON, John HAM, Andrew ESTES, Hugh GENTRY, John OWENS, Levi ISBELL, Elisha BLEVINS, Haden WILLIAMS, John BELVINS, David BRYANT, James DODSON, John JONES, David SETTLES, Richard WILSON, Daniel and John MORRIS, John WILLIAMS, John REED, Samuel MCBEE, Henry GOTCHER, Jabez PERKINS, David KENNAMER, John MOON, Moses MAPLES, Joseph and William MAPLES, S. STEPHENS."
"Preachers of this church who were well and favorably known in their day are: John WILLIAMS, John REED, Isaac REED, Samuel McBEE, Jabez PERKINS, Wesley SISK, Robert CHANDLER, Elijah BERRY, John J. PAGE, Peter MAPLES, Simeon HOUK, Andrew J. WANN, John BUTLER, George F. BULMAN and his grandson George W. BULMAN, m. R. LYON, James AUSTIN, Samuel BEAN, Robert MORRIS, Lorenza IVY, and son James Poke IVY, and John BRANNUM."

1824: The Mud Creek Baptist Association minutes in Oct. 1824 reported that Providence Church was dissolved.

1827: John Jones, (Rev.) Levi Isbell and Thomas Hargiss were delegates to the association from Blue Spring Church at Larkinsville.

1829: John Jones, John Isbell and (Rev.) Levi Isbell were delegates from Blue Spring Church.

1830: Jackson County, Alabama census: two Levi Isbells, (Rev.) Levi Isbell by his mother Sarah near Blue Spring and the other near Big Coon Creek/Providence Church, John Owens and Gentrys (page 42):
Lewis Green, Allen Bryant, Dillard Collins, Wm Morgan, Joseph Cargyle/Cargile, Wm. Dudley, JOHN OWENS, Isaiah Horton, James Horton, Harriet Whitehead, Thos. Williams, WILSON ALLEN, JOHN GENTRY, HUGH GENTRY, John SLOAN (who m. Nancy Isbell, dau of Levi Isbell b.1770), POLLY ISBELL (widow of Jason, uncle of Levi Isbell b.1770), Ezekiel Isbell (married Hugh Gentry's daughter), Zach. Isbell (son of Jason). These were near neighbors of Levi Isbell (b. 1770) although not on the same page. This is evidently in Section 2S, Range 6 E, in parts of sections 10-11,14-15.
Page 20: (Evidently the census taker went a long way around, because land plats show these were not so distant neighbors of page 42 above) Wm Bray, Benj. Stap, John C. Tate, Jackson Dudly, LEVI ISBELL, Joseph Williams, Zach. Isbell (son of Levi), James Paine, Wm Snodgrass.
FAMILY MAPS OF JACKSON COUNTY, ALABAMA (2007) by Gregory A. Boyd, pp. 214-215 show these all as near neighbors.

1830: The younger (Rev.) Levi is shown on p.58 as Levi Isbel 30-40, four doors from his widowed mother Sarah Isbelle's household (which then included her son Zachariah), near Wm Dotson (Dodson), Hiram Ross, Sampson Howk (Houk). Near neighbors on p.57 include John Wright, John Peters, Wm & Henry Fry. This was at Blue Spring near Larkinsville.

June 1, 1831: Levi Isbell (b. 1770) received patent for the land to which he had staked claim before 1823 at the head of Big Coon Creek adjoining John Owens and John Gentry (see 1823 record). In 1834, Walker Matthews acquired title to land adjoining Levi Isbell on Big Coon Creek which became known as Matthews Cove, where the Matthews Cemetery is located (ref., Richard Matthews, May 31, 1999). Walker Matthews married February 24, 1818, to Levinia/Luvinia Isbell when she was only 14 and he was 29 if the dates reported (supposed to be from a bible) are correct. She died there 12 April 1878.
Levi's 1831 land patents were in Sections 9 and 10, neighboring John Gentry in both sections, as well as several Matthews tracts in Section 8 at Matthews Cove which is in Sections 8 and S7; Walker Matthews' (Mathis) tracts lay in Section 7 where the Matthews Cemetery is.

1834: Ebenezer Church was received into the Mud Creek Baptist Association in 1834. The older Levi Isbell was a member here.

1836: delegates from Blue Spring were John Johnes, Levi Isabel and William L. Reynals (Reynolds).

1836: delegates from Ebenezer Church were James Downey, Levi Isabel, Joel Coffey and John Burket. This shows that two different Levi Isbells were delegates to the Mud Creek Baptist Association that year.

1837: delegates from Blue Spring were L. Isabel (Rev. Levi Isbell), S. (Samuel) Summers (Rev. Levi Isbell's brother-in-law), J. Woosley and E. Potter; the 1837 association minutes name Levy Isbell as an Elder, that is, he was an ordained minister by that time.

1840 census:
Marshall County, AL.: shows the older Levi Isbell with 1 male & 1 female (60-69) and four children. A researcher once stated that they moved to DeKalb County near the Marshall County line. 1840 neighbors were William Isbel next door, and James (K)Night, John Duncan, George Miller, Sarah McKain,George Connally, Jane Taylor.

Jackson County, AL: (Rev.) Levi Isbell (40-50) still living near Larkinsville/Blue Spring/Isbell Spring/ Isbell Cemetery, and near brother Miller Isbell, mother Sarah Isbell, William Berry, Lucretia Moon, Wm Gentle (Gentle's Cove), etc. This (Rev.) Levi Isbell later moved to Marshall County in 1855.

1843: Blue Spring delegates included (Rev.) Levi Isbell.

1845: Ebenezer Baptist Church was reportedly established in 1845 at Bryant, in Jackson County, about 20 miles from Larkinsville (according to the church's website). It is a member of the Sand Mountain Baptist Association. It is unclear whether the present location is the same site of the church building existing at the time that the older Levi Isbell attended.


The 1850 census:
Jackson County, AL.: The older Levi Isbell (age 80) and wife Jane were back in Jackson County now, next door neighbors of son Jesse Isbell (60), Wm. Sloan, Hugh Coffey, John Tate, Bynums, etc., in what appears to be the same area as they were in 1830.

1850-60: Levi Isbell (born 1770) died at Matthews Cove, Jackson County, Alabama. Some family trees say c1853 (source not shown)

In 1845 the delegates from Bethlehem Church were (Rev.) Levi Isbell, John Wright, and M. Summer. (Matthew Summer was Rev. Levi Isbell's brother-in-law.)

In 1846 the delegates from Bethlehem Church to the ass. were L. Isbell and W. C. Isbell.

In 1849 the delegates from Bethlehem were L. Isbell, John Wright, S. Houk and James Isbell.

In 1850 the delegates from Bethlehem were Levi Isabell and A. J. Talkington.

In the minutes of the Wills Creek Ass., Levi Isabell brought correspondence to the Wills Creek Ass. from their sister ass. Mud Creek. This would mean that he traveled from his home church in the Mud Creek Ass., as a visitor to the meeting of the Wills Creek Ass.
This Rev. Levi Isbell moved to Sand Mountain in 1855.

"Hugh Gentry, a Deacon and possibly an Elder, was a delegate from Providence Church in Maynard's Cove in 1821, the first year of the Mud Creek Association. John Owens and Levi Isbell, two other pioneers, were also delegates from that Church." (ref., The First Hundred Years, A History of Baptists in Jackson Co., Alabama from 1821 until 1921 by J. Nelson Varnell (Samford University Library, Special Collections), Vol. 2, p.9. Vol. 2, p.17 indicates this was Levi Isbell (1770-c1850s) who lived near that church and patented land near John Owens and Hugh Gentry. Providence Church later dissolved.)

His grave site is uncertain, but perhaps in the community cemetery or a lost family cemetery on his farm at Matthews Cove, or one of the Matthews family cemeteries, a particular possibility being the one on the adjoining farm where Lavinia Isbell (his possible daughter?) lived.
It seems less likely he is buried at the present-day Ebenezer Church at Bryant, so far away from the community where Providence Church was first located. Either the Allison Cemetery where Hugh Gentry may be buried or the nearby Allen Cemetery may have been a community cemetery and original church site, both located on an old main road.

The children of Levi Isbell and Sarah Jane (Todd) are said to be:
William R. Isbell 1797-60 (some say b.1813)
Nancy Isbell 1796 NC/TN -77 m John Sloan
Zachariah Isbell 1799-abt. 1855
James R Isbell 1804-80 Humphreys Co, TN
?Luvina Isbell 1804 KY-1878 (m.Walker W. Matthews of Matthews Cove)
Margaret Todd Isbell 1805-75 (m.1 Robt Wilson, m.2 John Pate)
Ailsey Isbell 1808-1872 m. Elijah Sanders
(some say William Zechariah b.1810)
Jesse Isbell Sr 1810-80+
Mary Jane 1816-1850+ (m. John Sloan?)
Some family trees include Elizabeth Isbell (b.1790 TN) who was unmarried, living with them in 1850. (Could she be a widowed daughter-in-law?)

Line of Descent:
1 John Isbell (England to Gloucester County, Virginia by 1664), presumptive father of
2 William Isbell of Isbell Spring, St. John's Parish, King William County; father of John, William Jr., Henry
+ Mrs. Wm. Isbell; next door to Enfield Plantation
3 Henry Isbell b.c1690 of Orange Co.; constable of Caroline Co., d. c1760
+ daughter of "James Cox, Gent.," d c1739 St. Mark's Parish, Orange Co.; sons: James, William, Henry Jr., Zachariah
4 Hon. Capt. Zachary/Zachariah Isbell b c1722-6
+ Elizabeth
5 Lt. Zachariah Isbell Jr.
+ Elizabeth Miller
6 Levi Isbell born 1770
+Sarah Jane Todd
5th-great-grandfather of singer/songwriter Jason Isbell.

References
First Families of Tennessee source #7003-71 listing Levi Isbell (b.1770) as son of Zachariah Isbell Jr

"Descendants of Zachariah Isbell, First Families of Tennessee" (2013) ms. by Ann Blomquist, p.8

secondary sources listing Levi isbell (b.1770) as a son of Zachariah Isbell II or Jr:

"Descendants of Zachariah Isbell" by Wanda L. McKinney, Arkansas Family Historian vol XV, #2 (1977), p.68;
Heritage of Jackson County, Alabama (1989), p.208
Walker County, Georgia Heritage, 1833-1983 (1983), p.228;
"The Isbell Family of Washington County, Tennessee" by John Miller, Watauga Assn of Genealogists Bulletin (Johnson City, TN) vol. 25, no. 2 (1996), p. 115
The Heritage of Mobile County, Alabama (2002), p. 209

Other references:
"The First Hundred Years. A History of Baptists in Jackson County" by J Nelson Varnell, v.1 p.33, v.2 pp.9-12, 17 (Samford University Archives)
"Isbell Family, First Families of Tennessee: Descendants of Zachariah" by Ann Blomquist (ms.)
Mud Creek Association, Alabama, 1821-1990, compiled by Joann Thomas Elkin
The Church of God From the Creation to A.D. 1885 (1886) by Cushing B. Hassell, p. 887.