Our Nutbush, Tennessee Family Heritage (Update 06/16/2009) Home
Nutbush, Tennessee Wild Onion Ridge Heritage Website
Woodlawn Missionary Baptist Church Congregation 1966 picture
Wild Onion Ridge Birthday Party 1952 picture
Thank you Melva Renee Bond for the work you did compiling our extensive Nutbush Family Heritage on the Leigh/Beard/Smith/Tyus/Estes/Reed/Reid/Bond related families, completed by you May 13, 1990 and given to my mother, Sarah Leigh-Doyle July 22, 1995. The Tyus Family Tree given us by you was completed July 30, 1995.
Since then there have been new births, marriages, etc. that have yet to be included. There is also a Tyus Family extension that includes numerous family members recently discovered and is presently being included on our family tree. (Leroy Nelson, child of Lu Tyus and Lee Nelson married Fannie Baker and had 9 children. Lu Tyus was one of the 10 children of Martha Tyus) Martha Tyus was my great-great grandmother through my Leigh family heritage. Thank you Carlotta Algee-Standcil of St. Louis, Missouri for compiling this information for us. My great-grandfather William A. Leigh married Eliza Tyus and had 9 children. Eliza was one of the daughters of Martha.
Juanita Austin has also done extensive family research and compiled a list of the Leigh Family Descendants in 1993. The surnames below are included.
The following are names included on our Nutbush Heritage Family Tree compiled by family members, Melva Renee Bond, Juanita Austin and Carlotta Algee-Standcil. Only DNA testing can determine how closely related we are to each other if you were one of our few family members who married their related kin.
As you know, the institution of slavery prevented us from verifying who our early ancestors were. Haywood County had the largest slave population in Tennessee. Slaves were brought here from Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Orleans, Africa, etc. Following slavery we retained the names of our slave owners, some are also our family ancestors. We are initiating testing through Family Tree DNA. www.familytreedna.com Find your related family member from Europe to Africa through Maternal (mother) or Paternal(father) pathway testing.
The following list of names are from our Nutbush Family Tree core related families.
Core Surnames of Related Families:
Estes/ Wood/ Beard/ Tyus/ Leigh /Reed /Evans/ Reid/ Bond/ Perkins/ Mann/Smith
The following are surnames of immediate family + cousins + relatives + distant relatives on our family tree from Haywood/Lauderdale Counties Settlement to 2008:
Smith
Tyus
Leigh
Nelson
Evans
Robinson and/or Robertson (needs to be verified) Early Census reports lists Robertson in family (Check spelling change following Civil War)
Farmer
Mann
Stewart
Wade
Minor
Perkins
Outlaw
Reed
Rogers
Flagg
Doyle
Lee
Austin
Taylor
Campbell
Rawls
Estes
Reid
Hayes
Russell
Currie
Gause
Burnett
Owens
Peebles
Napolean
Wood
Sangster
Moorer
Jelks
Hawkins
Hampton
White
Harrison
Brack
Williams
Lawson
Spriggs
Jarrett
Jones
Willis
Thompson
Cox
Hicks
Jackson
Hall
Bland
Mayrack
Cane
McClure
Morris
Scarbrough
Connors
Becessil (?)
Simpson
Neal
Wilson
Nixon
Newben (?) or Newbern
Yarbrough
Daniels
Adams
Lockert
Mason
Cane(?)
Henderson
McNicholson
Bush
Newson
Boyd
Skates
Somah
Baker
Shaw
Proctor
Mickens
Waller
Harris
Spetner
Barlow
Franklin
Norris
Colman
Thorton
Wilson
Young
Givens
Hampton
Huey
Whitelow
Matthews
McCoy
Ruffin
Short
Sloan
West
Tucker
Wheeler
Wilcox
Bates
Brown
Bullock
Caldwell
Chatman
Cohill
Coran
Craig
Cravens
Davis
Douglas
Easley
Edwards
Gardner
Lanier
Jackson
Fuller
Summers
Sloan
Purham
Cook
Estrada
Graves
Singleton
Bursey
Chase
Winters
Fanning
Morrow
Hall
Moore
Bartmer
Wolfolk
Epps
Sprolls
Franks
Sardis
Victor
Shabazz
Green
Johnson
Ward
Randle
Riley
Armstrong
McGee
Moody
Brooks
Dickerson
Browder
Lewis
Banks
Hayes
Algee
Algee-Stancil
Armstead
Bell
Lundy
Clark
Jarecki
Randanovich
Snowden
Rodgers
Tinsley
Walker
Woodson
Haynes
Simms
Sproaps
Searcy
Hampton
Harrison
Pickett
Nixon
Leggett
Collins
West
Waller
Newsom
James
Bland
Spriggs
Wesley
Alexander
Ward
Scarbrough
Neal
Lanier
Daniels
Adams
Baker
Burnett
Green
Horn
Smitherman
White
Hayes
Williamson
Moorer
Bowens
Whitelaw
What a Reunion This Could Be!!!!
If I have left out any names please contact me.
Sharon Norris
Some Haywood County Leigh Family History: From Haywood County Court House Records
My mother's name was Sarah Ruth Leigh of Nutbush who married David Doyle
Her mother was Mabel Beard-Leigh born and raised in Nutbush Wild Onion Ridge. Her father was Frank Beard and mother was Sarah Smith-Beard of Nutbush. Her grandfather was Rev. Hardin Smith (Mulatto whose father was Abner Smith of Hanover County Virginia, and his mother, the Mutatto slave Lettie from Virginia)
My mother's father was Alvin Jasper Leigh of Nutbush. His father was William A. Leigh (Mulatto slave born around 1854 in Nutbush Haywood County) and William A. Leigh's father is said to be slave *(William Leigh?)
The Leigh slaves (pronounce Lay) were first owned by John Reeves Leigh (pronounced Lay) of North Carolina who married Eliza H. also of North Carolina. According to North Carolina records, he owned a home and 4 lots possibly in Cumberland County, North Carolina where he left his will. (Will Book. 1, Page 1842.) Two other lots were in Raleigh, N.C. The names of slaves were: Dinah, Gilford, Betsy, Nancy, Mary; There was a nearby slave market in Fayetteville, North Carolina where they may have been purchased.
John R. Leigh was a lawyer who with others helped set up the Haywood County judicial system from 1824 until his death in 1827. Intimate correspondance was held between him and best friend (brother in-law?) John Haywood, Treasurer of North Carolina. Haywood married Sarah Leigh (who died 1791) and had one son(Leigh Haywood died 1795) both of whom died while he was in office. Sarah was his first wife.
Following the death of John Reeves Leigh in 1827, Eliza H. Leigh managed the slaves who they brought here together from North Carolina sometime between 1822 and 1824. They had one son named William Reeves Leigh.
In 1831 she gave the Leigh slaves as gift to minor son William Reeves Leigh. He and the Leigh slaves became wards of the Haywood county court under the guardianship and management of John P. Perkins. The slaves were hired out to the community. She may have returned to Carolina without her son. (Why?) Don't know. The slave names were: Gilford 25,Anthony21, Betsy 21, Eliza 3,Dina1, Nancy 18, Henry 1, Emily 19, Wilson 20, Jack 15, Mary 16, Easter 14, Lucy 38, Jacob, Frank 9, Billy 7, Caly 5, Tiffany 10 months.
William R. Leigh grew up, became a lawyer and married Jane Wood of Virginia. They had two children William R. Leigh, Jr. (born 1848)and Eliza Jane Leigh (born 1847). Around 1845, Jane Wood's family (Brothers) moved into Haywood County and purchased property. William R. Leigh died in 1849 and slaves were inheritance of minor children William R. Leigh and Eliza Jane Leigh; The Leigh slaves, as part of the W.R. Leigh estate, became wards of the Haywood county Court under the guardianship and management of John P. Perkins and Judge William P. Bond. Included on slave list (1858) Emily + children, Mary + children, and William. No age for William and I don't know who the children of Emily or Mary are.
By 1860 the widow Jane Wood had married Judge William P.Bond of Haywood County who alone, became manager and guardian of the Leigh slaves until the end of the Civil War. The Leigh slaves retained the surname Leigh instead of Bond because they belonged to the Leigh estate until they gained freedom following the Civil War.
According to documents and maps found in Haywood County, the Baird (Beard) and Judge W.P. Bond estates were adjoined off old Fulton Road and Bailey Road in the Nutbush area within walking distance from Nutbush Wild Onion Ridge and Flagg Grove. The slaves who lived/and or worked there were owned by Judge W.P.Bond, Mrs. Baird (Beard) and Mrs.Jane Wood Leigh-Bond. They were Leigh, Bond, Beard and Wood slaves all mingled together. Judge W.P.Bond had a house on Main Street in Brownsville as well. I think he was the brother of Thomas Bond of Brownsville. Thomas Bond was the largest holder of slaves reported in Haywood County. Judge Bond only had a few in his Bond estate.
The slave William A. Leigh born 1854, following slavery, married Eliza Tyus and had 9 children. One was my grandfather Alvin.
Refer to Black America Series, Haywood County Tennessee book for pictures. Home
1880 Census District 7 Black
Household:
Willliam Leigh 44 Head (Not mentioned in the list of slaves of William R. Leigh in Haywood County between 1831-1857; May have moved in area following slavery from Montgomery County, Tennessee) Born around 1836
Born TN Mother NC Father NC
Anne Leigh Wife 35 TN SC SC
Frank Leigh Son 15 TN TN TN
Elias Austin age 18 AL AL AL
1880 Census District 9 Black (Census takers guessed the ages if a freed slave wasn't sure)
Household:
William Leigh husband age 28 Born TN Mother NC Father-Unknown Left blank
Eliza Leigh wife age 21 TN SC VA
Maggie Leigh Daughter age 6 TN TN TN
Joella Leigh Daughter age 5 TN TN TN
Dave Whitlock
1910 Census Household (All listed as Mulattos by census taker Milton B. Wood who changed parent info.) District 9
William Leigh 54 Head (MU) Born TN Mother SC Father Virginia
Lizza(Eliza) 47 Wife TN SC Virginia
Irene Bond 26 child TN TN TN
Callie 18 child TN TN TN
Freddie 14 child TN TN TN
Kathie 13 child All the children and grandchildren were born in Tennessee
Frank10 child
Alvin 8 child (my grandfather)
Nelson Bond 8 Grandson
Agusta Bond Granddaughter 6
Lee Bond grandson 2
Harris Bond grandson 2
Nancia Robertson Niece 23
Charlie Robertson Nephew 21
Edd Robertson Nephew 14
1880 Census
Household (W)
William P. Bond Lawyer 65 birthplace NC mother NC father Nc
Jane Wood Bond wife 52 NC Va. Va.
Eliza Leigh 33 TN NC NC
W.R.Leigh Lawyer 31 TN NC NC
K. Jacobs Music Teacher Daughter 24
Georgia Bond Daughter 19
Spencer Bond Son 16
Hale Bond Son 14
Charles Jacobs Son L. 30
*In Montgomery County Tennessee 1850 slave records, there was a slave (aged 13) who was owned by the estate of William R. Leigh. He was the age to be William A. Leigh's father, but there is no name given or any mention of William Leigh the slave in Haywood County around the time Mulatto William A. Leigh was born. (around 1854) The only mention of William Leigh the slave in Haywood County was on the slave list in 1858. No age given.
*Question: Is William A. Leigh the son of the slave William Leigh of the William R. Leigh Estate?,(no William Leigh on slave record before 1858 in Leigh Estate);a son from the Baird Estate?; the son in the William P. Bond Estate?; or a son in the Wood Estate from Virginia or the overseer's estate? Unanswered questions like this result in marriages of unknown close family members and physical and mental disabilities that plague our families for generations. If you can verify who his father is, contact me and I will update the William A. Leigh family tree. www.familytreedna.com We are planning to get in the DNA data base before our next Leigh/Tyus family reunion 2010.
Learn of area heritage through "Black America Series: Haywood County Tennessee" book Author: Sharon Norris
Purchase through:
Arcadia Publishing barnesandnoble.com Amazon.com ISBN: 0-7385-0605-2
Most Information compiled courtesy of Reese Moses (Deceased) Elma Ross Library Geneology, Haywood County Tennessee,Haywood County Tennessee Courthouse, North Carolina open files and records. Thank you Mrs. Moses for the dedication and long hours you spent documenting historical events in pictures, answering e-mails, seeking, sharing and compiling very informative and much needed information for Haywood County residents who compiled family trees; Some by you. Your assistance with Black America Series: Haywood County Tennessee was appreciated.
Sharon Norris nutbush1@newwavecomm.net