At the close of my previous post, I mentioned that Joseph White was my third great grandfather and John Bouchillon was my fourth great grandfather. Of course, these two were not blood-related. However, both men knew each other from their early years in South Carolina. They formed a bond that would carry on throughout the entirety of their lives, which was more or less the whole of the 19th century.
John being born in 1799 and Joseph in 1808, the two men witnessed a youthful America going through the adventures and growing pains that characterized the fledgling nation in the 1800s. Some of the founding fathers were still living, two or three of them serving as presidents. Major conflicts such as the War of 1812, the war between the states, and the expulsion of native tribes from their respective territories - these events no doubt had come to them in the form of news or even right to their doorsteps. The building of the transcontinental railroad, the California Gold Rush, the end of slavery and subsequent Reconstruction period, even the invention of the light bulb were just a few of the developments that would parallel the timelines of Joseph and John's days on earth.
With humble beginnings, both men were raised in an agrarian economy for which the primary crop was cotton. By 1830, Joseph was living in Greene County, Alabama. He and his wife Margaret Means were building a family. John and his wife Elizabeth Doolittle (1805-1871) settled in the same area shortly thereafter. Records suggest that they were married in Abbeville, SC before moving to Alabama. One source says the couple had a total of twelve children. My research thus far only accounts for eight.
John being born in 1799 and Joseph in 1808, the two men witnessed a youthful America going through the adventures and growing pains that characterized the fledgling nation in the 1800s. Some of the founding fathers were still living, two or three of them serving as presidents. Major conflicts such as the War of 1812, the war between the states, and the expulsion of native tribes from their respective territories - these events no doubt had come to them in the form of news or even right to their doorsteps. The building of the transcontinental railroad, the California Gold Rush, the end of slavery and subsequent Reconstruction period, even the invention of the light bulb were just a few of the developments that would parallel the timelines of Joseph and John's days on earth.
With humble beginnings, both men were raised in an agrarian economy for which the primary crop was cotton. By 1830, Joseph was living in Greene County, Alabama. He and his wife Margaret Means were building a family. John and his wife Elizabeth Doolittle (1805-1871) settled in the same area shortly thereafter. Records suggest that they were married in Abbeville, SC before moving to Alabama. One source says the couple had a total of twelve children. My research thus far only accounts for eight.
By 1850, John and Joseph had established cotton plantations adjacent to one another in the Union precinct of Greene County. This went on successfully until the Civil War broke out.
Management of the lands under the prevailing circumstances was unsustainable. As a result, both men were reduced to sharecropping as tenant farmers, with their offspring working the fields and picking cotton for the benefit of others. |
Joseph's wife Margaret passed away around 1862 while the family was still in Alabama. She was buried there. Now the fifty-four-year-old Joseph was on his own, taking care of at least three or four of his children who were still between ages of ten and eighteen.
Feeling the unenviable burden of being a single parent and, one supposes, the need for companionship, Joseph was able to find a helpmate in Sarah Jane Bouchillon. She was the second youngest child of Joseph's friend John. The two were united in marriage on November 1, 1864. Born in 1843, Sarah Jane was nearly thirty-three years Joseph's junior. Five of Joseph's children from his first marriage were older than his new wife. See the marriage record below.
Feeling the unenviable burden of being a single parent and, one supposes, the need for companionship, Joseph was able to find a helpmate in Sarah Jane Bouchillon. She was the second youngest child of Joseph's friend John. The two were united in marriage on November 1, 1864. Born in 1843, Sarah Jane was nearly thirty-three years Joseph's junior. Five of Joseph's children from his first marriage were older than his new wife. See the marriage record below.
Despite the great difference in age, Joseph's and Sarah's marriage was apparently solid enough to produce another large crop of children from the mid-1860s up to 1885. The year for the firstborn Benjamin's is still debatable. At any rate, this would suggest that Joseph was around 77 years old when his last child Alma was born. I guess if Abraham was capable,...
Here's a list of their children. Another account says there were eight, but I cannot confirm that number at this time.
Here's a list of their children. Another account says there were eight, but I cannot confirm that number at this time.
*Interesting side note The source of a lot of the information I have included above comes from a man named John J. Parker, who wrote a lengthy and well-researched article (over 25 pages) on Joseph White and John Bouchillon. The preponderance of the article focuses on the history of the Bouchillon family and its origins in France. Mr. Parker is the grandson of Joseph Gray White (see left) and the second great grandson of John Bouchillon. He mentions in passing that his grandfather was very proud of his Irish descent. I had always assumed that our surname 'White' originated out of England or maybe Scotland. But there is evidence of this name coming from Ireland. This will be a question to be considered at another time. |
It goes without saying that the aftermath of the Civil War had presented many hardships. In the late 1860s, John and Joseph gathered their families and possessions and headed to Mississippi, eventually taking the Old Natchez Trace in search of new land around the Chickasaw area. We'll finish things up in the next post. |