Russell County,
Alabama
The following comes from a variety of sources.
I am posting in hopes someone can take the clues and run with them
Information on the James Thomas Smyrl family can be found in the 1880
Census of Daviston, Tallapoosa, County, Alabama.
Smyrl, J. T, 45 SC
Caroline 40 GA
Mamie 12 AL
Anna 8 AL
Fannie 5 AL
Lula 1 AL
Wm. Grandberry , stepson, 20 AL
The 1850 Census of Russell County, Alabama shows two families living in the John Parker Smyrl
household. The second group of children are part of the family of
Bill Platz. Some of his notes appear below.
A descendants of the second family have sent me the
following notes on this line. I can not verify all this information.
Journal and Notebook
Of
Mary Isabelle Harris
Compiled between January 8,
1930,and 1958
Transcribed from the original document found among
her
papers April 10, 2005
by her
Grandson William Edward Platz
NOTE
The
original was written in pencil in a 3” by 5”Memorandum Book
During
the family’s trip from Birmingham, Alabama
To Los
Angeles, California in 1930.
It
consisted of an account of her trip and notes on her family history as
well
As
budgets, birthday lists, and addresses.
Entries
have been organized into separate sections for clarity
I.
Family History
On the mother’s side:
The Horne and Smyrl Lines: The
Hornes
Mama’s (Elizabeth Smyrl Sullivan, ed.)
grandmother was a Miss Thompson born in Virginia about 1819. Her
grandfather was Michael Horne, born around 1810 and died during the
Civil War at Lake City, Florida. Their children were Harrison, James,
Pamelia Nicholas (Aunt Nic), Polly, Elijah, Robert, Martha (my
Grandma), Carrie (Aunt Sis), and Michael (Uncle Bud) Horne.
Aunt Nic married Jim Cobb near Crawford,
Alabama, several years before the Civil War. They had many children.
Elijah, Solon, Victoria, Robert, Hati (?), Hood, Kirby, Molly, Florella (Tinsey),
George Cobb – these are living now (1930).
Mollie (Molly)
married to Mr. Geo. Wilmot living in Thomaston, Ga. They have several
children: Mollie, Safronia, Myrtle, Jemima and George Wilmot.
Florella (Tinsey) married
Rev. Mr. Hoyle. They live in Thomaston, Ga. Children are Annie May, Jim,
Robert and two younger children.
Hood is living in some
soldier camp. He was in the World War.
Aunt Polly Horne married Geo
Jarrell and moved to Texas. Both died there.
Uncle Robert Horne lived and died near
Crawford, Alabama. He had many children of which Jim and
Lizzie known.
Uncle Jimmie Horne was killed in the
Civil War.
Aunt Sis (Carrie) Horne married
Mr. Archdeacon and died in St Louis, Missouri.
Uncle Bud (Michael) Horne went out
West right after the Civil War. His Address was Parker Station,
Arizona. He came back to Ga. & Fla. after he’d been gone 50 years. He
was very wealthy, supposed to have copper mines. He came around the
water route and was in Havanna, Cuba when he died. Was on his way to
Florida. He was around 75
(circa 1919). Must have been robbed as he had
nothing.
Martha (Grandma Damour) married Thos.
Smyrl when about 14 years old at Crawford Alabama in 1859. Grandpa went to
the Civil War. They had three children Elizabeth (my mother), Nancy (Aunt
Sis) (not to be confused with Carrie Horne), and Thomas (Uncle
Tommie). My mother was born in 1860, Aunt Sis in 1861, and Uncle Tommie in
1862. Mama was born at Crawford, Alabama; Aunt Sis at Lake City, Florida;
and Uncle Tommie at Crawford, Alabama.
When Grandpa (James Thomas Smyrl
a.k.a. Tom Smyrl) came home from the war, Grandma was in West Point,
Ga. They didn’t live together any more. Grandpa took Mama and Aunt Sis and
left Uncle Tommie with Grandma. He took the two little girls over to his
sister (Aunt Rebecca Freeman) near Crawford.
Grandma went to Macon (Georgia)
with Uncle Tommie. She worked at Mrs. Lynche’s Dress Making
Establishment where she met Dr. Damour and married him two or three years
later. (Note: 1870 Census shows Dr. James H. Damour living with a M. A.
Smyrl, a Charles Damour age 1, an I. Rutledge a domestic servant and a
Paul Rutledge age 10 in Macon)
Grandpa Smyrl kept Mama (Elizabeth)
and Sissie (Nancy) out in the country near Opelika at a little town
called Youngsborough until Mama was about 11 years old (about 1871).
While he was gone to Salem one day Grandma Damour and Aunt Sis Horne (Caroline
S. Horne) came on the train to Salem and walked three miles and found
them. Aunt Sis (Nancy Smyrl) said she saw a lovely lady all dressed
up with a little boy dressed in a little straw hat with white long pants
with black alpaca coat and nice shoes and stockings (Uncle Tommie). She
told Aunt Sis and Mama that she was their mother. They didn’t want to go
with her very much but they took them anyway. They walked all the way to
Youngsborough about a mile and a half and got on the train. They saw their
father at Salem but he didn’t see them. They never saw him any more for
over 20 years. Grandma took them to Macon and put them in the convent for
3 years
Grandpa Smyrl married Mrs. Carrie
Grandberry (Caroline Arminta (Haynes) Grandberry) who had 3
children when he married her – Alice, Docia & Willy. Docia and Willy are
still living. Grandpa had five children by her.
Mamie, who married John
Laney. They live at LaGrange, GA.
Annie who married Ruben
Evans. They live in Roanoke, Ala.
Fannie who married Dan Lanie,
They live in Tuscaloosa Ala.
Lulu died of T.B.
Johnnie who married Eveline
Hand. They live in Wadley, Ala. and have 3 children – Eleanor,
Annie and Clifford.
Grandma Damour took Uncle Tommie with her
when she married. She had four children by Dr. Damour.
Charlie Damour who
married Claude Hollis at Macon, Ga. They had one child Martha who married
Prof. Holbert and live in Cincinatti, Ohio. They have one child. Charlie
and Claude are both dead. (Apparently this is contradictory)
Julia Damour married
Eugene King of Perry GA. They have 3 sons – James, Frank and Charles.
James married Katherine Lucky of south Georgia. Frank and Charles are
unmarried. Frank is Francis Marion King, a descendant of “The Swamp Fox”
of Revolutionary War fame – Francis Marion. Frank has the old silver plate
and the camp chest of Francis Marion. Julia also has the old Slave Ledger
of the Kings.
Mettauer (Metta) Damour
married Phil Arrington of Louisville, Ky. They had one child Louise who is
married to Edwin (Pat) Dodd. They have two children – Phillip and James.
Harry Damour was an
invalid from birth suffering with epilepsy from a shock in infancy. He was
a twin but the other child was still born. He was ruptured and paralyzed
from birth Died in Ohio about 30 years of age.
Uncle Tommie (Thomas J. Smyrl)
ran away from home when a young boy and went to Texas to cousin Solon
Cobb. He married Leila Cooper near Tyler, Texas. They had 3 children born
to them while in Texas – Mary, Annie and Charlie. After coming to Macon,
Ga., they had one child born there Martha (Mattie). They then moved
to Decatur, Ala. where three other children were born to them – Lizzie,
Ruth and Tommy. Uncle Tommie died in Decatur in1903 (March 9th).
Aunt Leila died in 1918 of the flu.
Mary Smyrl married Hilliary Wells
of Decatur. They had 6 children:
Horace Wells who
married Aliene Fuller of Cullman, Ala.
Harry
Neil
Thomas
Mary Louise
Ruth Elizabeth
Hilliary wells left Mary
when the youngest child was unborn. She divorced him and he married
another woman and lives there in Dacatur.
Annie Smyrl married
Turner Eaves (sp?) They have 2 children - Francis and
Fred
Charlie married a girl from Sheffield and
died 1 month later.
Mattie (Martha) married a Mr. Cox
Lizzie married Henry Davidson
Ruth married Harry Collier
Tommy married (Unknown)
Aunt Sis (Nancy Smyrl)
married Jim Harrison in Macon Ga. on June 1st, 1884. They had
one son Clifford who married Sadie Warren of Memphis, Tn. She ran away and
left him in Jacksonville Fl. He (Clifford Harrison) got a divorce
from her and married Susie Lanier Calhoun who had one child Judson. They
all live in Macon Ga.
Elizabeth Smyrl
married Robert E. Sullivan in 1878, May 7th , at Ashville,
Alabama. They had 3 children Mary, Annie and Charlie.
Mary married Ed Black in
Birmingham Alabama in 1898. They had 4 children –
Mary Edna, Elizabeth Dorinda,
Eleanor Lucy, and Robert Edward. Ed Black died in 1906. Mary married
Archie Freeman in 1907. He was killed in Hopewell Virginia in 1918, May 3rd
, and brought back to Birmingham and buried. She (Mary) then moved
to Dallas Texas for a year returning to Birmingham in 1919.
In 1920 was married to Chas.
W. Harris who died in 1927, (July 2nd ).
Mary Edna Black, who was
known as Freeman, as all the children were after their mother’s marriage
to Archie Freeman, married Miles Levegood in 1917, (Feb. 18th
). They married in Tuscaloosa, Ala. from her grandmother’s home at Holt
Ala. (Mrs. Morgan) (Note: Elizabeth (Smyrl) Sullivan married J. V.
Morgan after Robert died May 20, 1900) They had 4 children: Mary
Elizabeth, Nancy & Miles (twins), and Catherine. Miles (her husband)
died Jan 3, 1929. One year later they all moved to Los Angeles,
California, where Mary Edna married John Bowdoin in 1932.
Eleanor Freeman (Black)
married John Waterman in Birmingham Ala. on June 30, 1925. They have 3
children Louise born Oct 24, 1926; John, Jr. (Sonny) born June 15, 1930;
and Frank Brown (Zipper) Waterman, born Feb 4, 1933. A fourth child
Diane (Waterman) Hogan was born after these entries in 1942.
Annie Sullivan married Sam D.
Reynolds in 1902, was divorced from him and married Harry M. Owens in
1912. Harry Owens was an investigator for the Los Angeles County
District Attorney’s Office during the 1920’s and 1930’s
Charlie Sullivan married Minnie Hall of
Columbus Ga. in 1914 – one son Robert.
Charlie died in Virginia in 1915.
The Horne and Smyrl Lines: The
Smyrls
Grandpa Smyrl’s father
married a Miss Peach from Alabama. They moved to Camden, S.C. Their
children were Rebecca, Nancy, John, Thomas, Will, Mary (who married Jimmie
Horne, the brother of Tom’s wife “Grandma Damour”) My great grandmother
and father are buried at Jamestown Ga. near Columbus. They died
when grandpa was about 12 years old (Circa 1845).
Note: Great grandparents subsequently identified
as William and Delilah Smyrl.
Grandpa Smyrl’s sister Rebecca Smyrl
Freeman had two children Johnie and Georgie Freeman born near Crawford
Alabama. Last known address was near Gadsen.
Uncle William Smyrl died during the Civil
War.
Uncle Johnie was wounded in the knee and
disappeared after the war.
Aunt Mary Smyrl married to James Horne
and lived near Cochran Ga. They raised a big family one
daughter Mary, sons Elija, Jimmie. Uncle Jimmie Horne was fighting
in the Civil War and a minne’ ball cut his head off. A comrade turned to
him & said “Stop, Horne, and pick up your head.” Note recently
discovered this occurred on July 2, 1863, at Cemetary Ridge, Gettysberg
PA. from 3rd Georgia Infantry Regt records.
Aunt Nancy Smyrl was
an old maid and didn’t marry till late in life – don’t know who she
married.
------I
New info from Bill:
By the way, I have established that James B. Horn(e) was killed on July
2, 1863 at Cemetery Ridge Gettysberg, PA. Here appears on the list of
veterans of the 3rd Georgia Inf.Regt website.
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