Joseph was Born About 1789 in Russell County, Virginia
He Died after 9/22/1860 (last census record he is included on in Mississippi). At last report Joseph was 72 and Sallie was 57 (52 per Ancestry's translation). I did not know that Joseph was 20 years older than his wife.

Sarah "Sallie" Long Counts Is listed on the 1850 Russell County census as being 51, 10 years younger than her husband Joseph. However, on the 1860 census from Burnsville Mississippi, Sally is listed as 52 (possibly 57?) and her husband Joseph is 72.

SOURCE INFO (unless otherwise noted by writer) from Elihu jasper Sutherland's, "Some Descendants of John Counts of Glade Hollow".

Joseph is said to have been born in 1789, approximately two years after his parents (John Counts of Cleveland VA and Margaret "Peggy" Kelly Counts) moved from Shenandoah County, VA (now Page Co) to Russell County Virginia.

"Joseph married Sarah "Sallie" Long who was born in 1798, and was the daughter of (** editor added: Elizabeth Burney Long**) and James Long of Russell County Virginia." **PLEASE NOTE: We were advised on 8/26/2021 by descendant, Lori Long Dingus, that Sarah's father was not James but is actually Richard Barton Long. James was Sarah's brother. I simply copied what was in the Sutherland book. **

"His education was above average for his day. He taught several schools on Clinch River and at Sandlick. On 6/3/1817, he was appointed a constable of Russell County and executed a $500 bond with John Howard as surety.

"About this time, he moved to Tilda Anderson bottom near Sandlick, the home of his brother-in-law, Richard Kelly. They lived there about eight years. His nearest neighbor was Henry Sutherland, 20 miles away across Sandy Ridge on campus creek.

"In October 1835 Joseph became a member of the reeds Valley Baptist Church. The following day he moved his membership to Castlewood Baptist Church where his wife had been a member since December 1835. He represented his church as a messenger to the Washington District Baptist Association in 1837.

"On June 15, 1827, he bought from True Love Brown and others, an interest in a 100 acre tract of land at Carterton on Clinch River and moved to this homeplace. Then, on 8/21/1832, he bought from Polly Brown and others, their interest in the same tract known as the Brown Farm.

"He was overseer of the poor in 1852. About 1859, a brother in law, James Long, who was a large slave owner in Alabama, willed five of his slaves to Joseph and Sallie Long Counts. Joseph, Sallie, son Andrew Andy and dau, Mary *Pop* made a trip down there to secure these and other slaves bequeathed to Russell County by James Long. He liked the country so well that he soon moved to Tishomingo County Mississippi, where his brother in law, Henry Long had been living for several years.

"Joseph conveyed a track of land in Russell county to John H Jesse on 4/2/1860 ( Tishomingo County, Mississippi Deed Book 14, page 449).

"His last years were spent at the home of his son, Andrew J. Counts, near Burnsville and Iuka, Mississippi, where he and his wife Sarah "Sallie" are buried.
Long descendant, Lori Long Dingus, indicates that Sarah lived with her brother, James Long, during and after the Civil War. The last census we find Joseph is on 9/22/1860 with Sallie, their sons Andrew J., his wife, and James K.P.

Joseph's granddaughter, Margaret Kelly Rasnick who was the daughter of Elizabeth Counts and Joseph Kelly, recalled that her grandparents moved to Luca Mississippi in about 1860 (first census in Mississippi that Joseph is recorded in). He was 72. Joseph's son, Andrew, had gone there when he was a young man. (Note: Andrew is included on the 1850 Russell County census with his parents and siblings indicating he went after 1850 and was there with a wife by 1860). Andrew was 27 and married on the 1860 census.

She reported that when her grandfather, Joseph, was 21 he had been whipped by his father (John Counts of Cleveland) with a big hickory root because while they were still clearing the bottom at Cleveland just across the Clinch River, he left the house before the job was completed without asking. It had made Joseph so angry that he tried to trap a big tree down on his father but it didn't fall correctly. He left and went to the salt works at Southdale (?) where he stayed for sometime.

Joseph and Sarah raised enough cattle to buy a farm at Carterton from Truelove Brown.

She informed researcher Sutherland that Joseph & Sarah's children William Lewis Counts, Elizabeth Counts, Thomas Counts and Joshua Counts were born at Sandlick.

She explained that her grandparents, Joseph and Sarah, had lived at Carterton until they moved south to Mississippi. The Old farm was in a big river bottom and was later owned by Jack Carter.

Editors note: No one seems to have done the research to locate the former homesteads of Joseph Counts or Andrew Counts. Thus, the whereabouts of their graves are unknown.