Of special note is that the Old Valley Head Cemetery is now on the Alabama Cemetery Historical Register.
An effort is underway to make the cemetery more accessible and to identify the dozens of unmarked graves.
Also, a historical maker is in the planning stages.
Any information that would help identify those buried in the cemetery would be greatly appreciated.

http://vhhgfamilyhistory.org/COMMON/oldvhcemrestor.html

Tamara,

Thomas and Lucretia Dean are my ancestors, too.  I found their graves in the old Valley Head Cemetery when I was looking for some other ancestors, James and Lucinda Cooper who are also buried there.  My g-g-grandmother was their oldest daughter Mary Ann Dean who married William Gifford.  I have information on most of their children.  Contact me if you're interested in exchanging info.  lanew@tvn.net

Linda Hawkins Wilson

William Muriel Ballard and Milly Lea/Lee are also my ancestors.    According to a researcher I have corresponded with,  Milly's parents are William Lee II and Ann Brock.  William Lee II parents are William I and Elizabeth Ingram.  I have not done this research myself, so I can't confirm this.

John White and Clara Keith are my husband's ancestors.  Clara's parents are Duncan Keith and Kissiah Paine.  She also had a brother named Wiley Keith.

Linda Hawkins Wilson

Alcey Ellis was my gg-grandfather's sister (James Ellis).  She also had sisters Martha, Elizabeth and Sarah.  She could not be the same Alcey married to Edward Long.  She married Alfred Long who was in the Union Army in the Civil War.  She did not remarry. 

Hey
I'm trying to find out information on William B. Campbell, He is my Grandfather Jerry Campbell's Grandfather. If anyone has any pictures or information that would be great.

Hi Davenport Cousins,

It's been a while since my last message to the list, and a lot has
happened!

Another of our Davenports was DNA tested - David Byron Davenport of
Burleson, TX - and is a fairly close match to the rest of us. He traces
his line to Joseph Davenport (1789-1876) and the De Kalb CO, AL line.
It is quite satisfying to see the family lore about the 4 brothers
(Joseph, Henry, James, Charles) confirmed thru DNA.

Meanwhile, I've continued to add living descendants of our Davenports to
my database, which now numbers 1,150 Davenports.

Last year, Kay Davenport and Beverly Weagley made a potential connection
between Joseph Davenport and the James River Davenports of Prince George
County, Virginia. Because of the unusual name of Joseph's daughter,
"Adaline Ledbetter Davenport", they looked for a marriage between
Davenport and Ledbetter, and found one - Daniel Davenport married
Elizabeth Ledbetter before 1787 in Prince George County. There are a
couple other coincidences too, which Kay might like to share.
Unfortunately, John Scott Davenport has done an exhaustive study of the
records in those counties, and no paper trail identifies the children of
Daniel and Elizabeth.

But, all is not lost. Beverly identified Daniel's brother as Matthew
Davenport, who moved to Giles Co, TN and thence to MS. These Davenports
identify themselves with a consistent spelling of "Deavenport" and have
many male descendants. I have just been contacted by Samuel Deavenport
of Greenville, MS who can trace his line to Matthew Deavenport. I'm
hoping to convince him to get the Y-DNA test, which will establish
without a doubt whether the 4 brothers (and all of us!) are related to
the James River Davenports. If anyone would like to help defray the
cost, and encourage Samuel to get tested, please let me know.

By the way, Samuel sent me a curious biography I hadn't seen before,
which I have pasted below -
"In the year of our lord 1766, a child was born in the State of
Virginia, and he wash Christened Matthew. His farther was of English
descent and his name was Davenport.
During early boyhood, after his mother had married the second time, he
and his stepfather seems could not agree, so he went elsewhere, and as
the educational facilities in those days were bad, he failed to receive
much benefit therefrom,so in the spelling of his name,later on, he was
told to spell it Deavenport,which he ever did, and it was so handed
down to his descendants,who are proud of it, for its individuality and
untraceable beyond,father Matthew Davenport.

Matthew Deavenport, while living in Virginia married Mary Johnston.
There were seven children.
James J.(Lawyer) married Caroline E. Dotson
Matthew (Doctor) married Margarette Dameron
Thomas married Mariah Lucas
Sallie married James Wheeler
Nancy married to a Wheeler first, later a Gatlin
Mary married to a Lucas.

He and his family moved to Giles County,Tennessee, later on he came
to Mississippi and settled five miles Southwest of Okolona, Chickasaw
County, Mississippi.

After his wife, Mary, died he married four times, yet had no issue.

He was a minister of the Primitive Baptist faith. He was of large
frame but not fleshy, near seven feet tall. He died near Okolona,Miss.
in 1866, in the one-hundredth year of his age."

Samuel says he also has the family bible "that came from Scotland"!

Kyle Davenport
Dallas, TX
http://quickening.zapto.org/gramps

From: Kyle Davenport <kdavenpo@tx.rr.com>
Sent: Mon Apr 26 0:39
Subject: Fwd: Re: James River Davenports


Hello Davenport Cousins,

Samuel LeRoy Deavenport has not yet committed to taking the DNA test.
To encourage him, I contacted Bill Davenport at davenportdna.com. He
has most kindly offered to donate a FREE 37 marker test if we split the
$99 cost of an upgrade to 67 markers.

LeRoy, age 72, was forced to close his business last year and is now
retired, so I can't really expect him to pay for it. Lee Davenport and
I are willing to contribute, so I'm hoping someone else will also help.
If 4 of us split the cost that's only $25 each. Kay and Beverly, I'm
sure you'd like to confirm your research!

Kyle

> Last year, Kay Davenport and Beverly Weagley made a potential
> connection between Joseph Davenport and the James River
> Davenports of Prince George County, Virginia. Because of the
> unusual name of Joseph's daughter, "Adaline Ledbetter Davenport",
> they looked for a marriage between Davenport and Ledbetter, and
> found one - Daniel Davenport married Elizabeth Ledbetter before
> 1787 in Prince George County. There are a couple other
> coincidences too, which Kay might like to share.
>
> Unfortunately, John Scott Davenport has done an exhaustive study
> of the records in those counties, and no paper trail identifies
> the children of Daniel and Elizabeth.
>
> But, all is not lost. Beverly identified Daniel's brother as
> Matthew Davenport, who moved to Giles Co, TN and thence to MS.
> These Davenports identify themselves with a consistent spelling
> of "Deavenport" and have many male descendants. I have just been
> contacted by Samuel LeRoy Deavenport of Greenville, MS who can
> trace his line to Matthew Deavenport. I'm hoping to convince him
> to get the Y-DNA test, which will establish without a doubt
> whether the 4 brothers (and all of us!) are related to the James
> River Davenports. If anyone would like to help defray the cost,
> and encourage Samuel to get tested, please let me know.

I am directly related to "John" George Hartline and Betsy Bostian are my
grandpa's (Jasper, "Jack" Waymon Hartline) grandparents.

Attached is the PDF document on my ancestry in the Hartline Family.

Timothy Ellis' response to me about his translation of the document and what it contains:

It appears to me that Mrs. Willis could not write her own name. You can see where there is an X with the notation of mark. Back then when people could not write their name they would just put down an "X" to show that they have consented. The two names I do not know and I am guessing from a legal stand point that these two people were witnesses.

This would be just in case she came back and told them that she had never consented to the adoption and wanted the boy back. From what my father told me he had a sister that was put up for adoption as well. The rest of the story was that she was so mentally afflicted that she spent the remainder of her life in the asylum. Luther had a reputation as a good man so the Ellis must have done a pretty good job of raising him. Who his father was is also a mystery.

No one talked that much about his past.

Venus B. Fillmore's response to me of an inquiry if we had more information on these Ellis and Willis'.

We know and have reason to believe, based on census information, that Paralee Willis' mother was annotated on the census as being "insane". That is was institutionalized in Bryce Hospital in Tuscaloosa, AL, where she died about 1906 and is probably buried in the cemetery at the hospital.

The sister is rumored to be Evergreen, but not proof of that has been found, yet.
Luther O'Neal Willis Ellis, had three half siblings "Wootens" and at least four step siblings, also "Wootens".
Because Paralee named her son O'Neal, I suspect this is a family name.
Either the biological father was an O'Neal, or it was the maiden name of either the maternal grand mother or paternal great grand mother.

It is important to remember that psychology was a new science in those days, so there was no differentiation between mental conditions, like psychosis verses dementia. People that were different were just "insane".

Paralee's father was mute and deaf from childhood, maybe even from birth.
So as the oldest child much responsibility was placed on her. In those days there was no support groups, only the occasional compassion of the community. Judging from the census, I suspect that the grandfather William Fountain Wooten and his
wife Jane, where the ones that held things together until they passed away.