Census records, tax rolls, court minutes, and deeds - we've looked at enough Blackshear documents by now to get some kind of idea about the migration and financial status of Amelia Virginia's family. We have discovered that her father, Silas, owned 166 acres in Georgia, more than enough land for subsistence farming and cash crops as well. After selling that land, the family moved to Arkansas, but I haven't been able to find any records for them there other than the marriage record of Amelia Virginia's sister. After only one to two years in Arkansas, Silas had some sort of tie to land in Anderson County, Texas - he didn't own it, but was either farming, leasing, or managing it. The entire family seems to have settled in Anderson County on a permanent basis some time in 1852. Although Silas did not report any sort of property until 1856, he must have been successfully farming before that, because in that year he was suddenly taxed for horses, oxen, hogs and slaves. By January of 1857, Silas had acquired 1004 acres of land, which probably didn't come cheap. Maybe he had been doing a lease-to-own type of thing, or he was making a good profit from his crops each year and saved up enough to finally purchase land. So, for the first ten years of Amelia Virginia's life, the family seems to have been relatively prosperous. Then, for some reason, Silas appears to have taken out a loan that he was unable to repay, and he lost his land and most of his property.
Today we are going to take another look at the deed showing the sale of Silas Blackshear's Anderson County land. If you remember, the first half of the document was about his land being seized and liquidated to pay off his debt. The second half gave a description of the location of his land. For some reason, I love knowing exactly where our ancestors lived. Maybe because it helps me to better imagine what their life was like? Yeah, I think that's it, plus, you know, I just like being able to solve those little mysteries!
Before we read the second half of the deed, do you remember this?
Anderson County, Texas
Plenitude Postal District
Based on my sleuthing, this is the approximate area in which I figured "Plenitude" was located. I have since discovered that the postal area of Plenitude stretched from Montalba to the eastern border of the county. This means that our Blackshears' land could have been anywhere within that twenty mile stretch.
So let's see what the deed gives for the location of Silas' land:
And, in case you don't want to try to read the original, here is a transcription of the relevant part:
. . . Now therefore in consideration of the premises aforesaid and of the payment of the Said Sum of One Hundred and Twenty five Dollars the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged I, B. F Durham Sheriff as aforesaid have Sold and by these presents do grant and convey unto the said J J Davis all the Estate right title and interest which the Said Silas M Blacksher had on the 29th day of August A D 1860 or at any time afterwards of in and to the following described premises “Viz” One Tract of Land Situated in Anderson County on the waters of the Naches River being a part of a tract of one third of a League Patented to the heirs of W. B. Harrison Beginning at the N E Corner of Said Survey from which a Red Oak brs S 210 E 7 4/10 varas a Willow Oak brs N 45 to 5 8/10 varas both marked X Thence West 4277 varas to a Stake in the N Boundary to Said Harrison 1/3 of a League Survey from which a Post Oak 14 inches in dia brs N 55 E 7 1/10 vrs marked x a Black Oak 5 inches in diameter brs S 10 varas 7 5/10 varas marked x Thence South 1443 varas to a Stake in the South boundary of Said Survey from which a pine 20 inches in dia brs N 13 3/10 varas marked x and a Black Jack 10 inches in dia brs S (C 1) 10 51/10 Marked X Thence E 1583 varas to S E corner of Said Survey from which a pine 14 inches in dia bears S 49 W 3/10 varas and a Sweet gum bears S 30 W 6 varas Thence with the meanders of the Naches River 1615 varas to the place of beginning containing about one thousand and four acres To have and to hold the above described premises unto the Said J J Davis his heirs and assigns forever as fully and as absolutely as I as Sheriff as aforesaid can convey by virtue of Said writ of Execution – In Testimony whereof I have hereunto Set my hand this 2nd day of October A D 1860
B.
F. Durham
Sheriff.
A.C
When I first read this, I was thoroughly confused. I didn't think I was going to be able to make much sense of it, but I read it about five more times and I think I kinda, sorta understand it now. Apart from the lack of punctuation, it uses a lot of abbreviations and a word I was not familiar with. So here is a little glossary:
brs - bears
dia - diameter
vrs - varas
varas - a Spanish yard; in Texas, equal to 33 1/3 inches
The description is further complicated by the fact that it continually refers to posts and stakes and trees, no less, and thinks we need to know the diameter of each, as if the tree was going to stay that exact same size forever (never mind the fact that it was likely to die or get cut down at some point). If you ignore all of that, it makes a lot more sense. It pretty much says that the land sits on the banks of the Naches River (this is a very big clue!), and is a part of a 1/3 league tract of land originally patented to W. B. Harrison.
You know what that means - map time!
Anderson County, Texas
Survey Map - 1855
This is a portion of a larger map from the Portal to Texas History website. You can find it and use the zoom feature here. Notice the town of Palestine in the bottom left corner - that is about the middle of Anderson County. The highlighted portion is about twelve miles NE of Palestine. It is labeled as "Wm B Harrison ptd" (patented?). Not only is this the only section I found on the map that says William Harrison, but it is also bordered on the east by the Neches River (I know, the county clerk spelled it Naches), so I am 100% confident that this is the exact tract of land described in the deed.
The deed goes on to give that complicated spiel with posts and trees and bearing all different directions, which I don't really understand, but it does say at one point, "to a stake in the N Boundary" of the survey and at another, "to a stake in the South boundary of Said Survey," so it seems to stretch pretty much from top to bottom of the original survey. Now, the original survey was 1/3 league, which is 1476 acres, so Silas did not own about 472 acres of the original survey. I think, if I read the deed right, that it was a portion on the western end of the original tract that did not belong to him. And, if I did my math correctly, that means he owned a little more than the eastern 2/3 of the section marked on the map. So, on the first map I showed you, if you go straight across from the red star to the banks of the river (near the modern town of Neches), that is where the family actually lived.
In my first Blackshear post I gave a description of Anderson County that basically just said the terrain is hilly, the soil is good, and the eastern half of the county is heavily forested. (Actually, that's exactly what I said!) So here is a little more information, some of which came from the Genealogy Trails website, to help you get a mental picture:
The eastern half of Anderson County had rolling hills and timber land, mostly pine, but a lot of oak and other types of trees as well. The county had an important logging and sawmill industry, and I would guess that anyone wanting to farm was going to have to clear some land first. Maybe that's why Silas reported only 10% of his land as being improved on the 1850 agricultural census. And maybe it also had something to do with the reason he reported such an increase in value during the last year he held on to his land. So here are a few (modern) photos of this area, as well as photos of some of the types of trees mentioned in the deed above:
| Black Oak |
Sweet Gum |
Willow Oak |
Neches River
(from the Anderson County side)
And here is a photo I came across that doesn't really show us much, but I really liked it and so I thought I'd share it anyway:
This was taken in the early morning from on the river a few miles north of where our Blackshear ancestors lived.
I can just imagine a six year old Amelia Virginia tagging along behind her older brothers Seaborn (age 13) and James (age 10, if he was still living at that point) as they went down to the river to go fishing.
And while we are talking about the river, did you notice on the map that it said "Cherokee" on the other side? That's Cherokee County, where our Cheathams were living. So Amelia Virginia's future husband was growing up somewhere on the other side of the river at the same time.
Okay, what else? Anderson county was full of spring-fed creeks, which means they never suffered the effects of a drought, and the climate was so mild that they had two growing seasons, which I'm sure contributed to the family's prosperity. And also, even though it was a bit hot and humid in the summer, it was usually breezy, making the weather more than tolerable.
I have one more map to show you before we wrap things up:
Anderson County, Texas
Survey Map - 1876
This map was made about thirteen years after we last see Silas Blackshear in Anderson County. Do you see how the town of Neches(ville) was located right by the land he had owned? The town was created in 1872, when the railroad came through. (That's the railroad cutting very close to the (probable) border of Silas' former tract of land. And guess who donated land for the new townsite? J. J. Davis, the same guy who bought up Silas' land at auction. I wonder how far ahead of construction the railroad company was trying to acquire land? Maybe the reason we see the family disappear in 1864 had something to do with that. Maybe Davis allowed the Blackshears to remain on the land until he was ready to sell at a profit when the route of the railroad lines was determined. I say this because I am pretty sure that I have found evidence showing that Silas Blackshear didn't fall off the tax rolls because he had died, but instead because he had moved.
And with that being said, I'm going to wrap this up. Next time, we will examine the probate records of Amelia Virginia's mother as well as the records from an associated court case.
- Therese
Update: Some of the conclusions mentioned in this post later turned out to be incorrect. The mistakes are corrected in subsequent posts, along with an explanation and documents showing how the mistake was discovered.
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