| SPOUSE | CHILDREN | ||
|---|---|---|---|
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Winifred Mildred "Milly" McCoy m. 1762 Anson Co. NC b. 1740 ?NC d. after Oct 3, 1786 ?Davidson Co. TN |
Elizabeth (Elise or Elsie) b. 1764? ?NC d. 1827 Jefferson Co. MO |
Frances "Frankey" b. 1766 Natchez Dist. d. 1807 Adams Co. Miss. Terr. |
John McCoy b. 1767 GA? d. 1856 Claiborne Co. MS? |
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Philip Lewis (Jr.) b. 1767? Natchez Dist. d. after 1806 |
Peter b. 1765/70 ?NC executed Feb 8, 1804 Greenville, Jefferson Co. Miss. Terr. |
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Philip was born in Edgecombe Co. NC in the year it was formed in 1741 from Bertie Co.
(Map), then became part of Granville
Co. in 1754 (Map), and
Warren Co. was formed in 1779 (Map),
See Map of the region in 1746
from the Granville County 1746 Society's website. |
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In Oct or Nov, 1776 Philip was living in a house in Petit Gulf along the Mississippi
River between Natchez to the south and Big Black and Bayou Pierre to the north.
A boat transporting the Phelps family up the river had to stop there because of
the illness of the wife, Jerusha Phelps, who died at Philip's house which he had
"opened his home" to them [Journal of Capt. Mathew Phelps, McBee, pp. 591-2]. |
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Joshua Howard was among those who petitioned
the British Govt. of West Florida for land on Nov 6, 1776. He was given a warrant
for 200 acres on Second Creek in the Natchez District and the receipt for surveying
fees was dated Jan. 22, 1777. After the Spaniards took possession of the territory,
Howard left the Natchez District for the Cumberland Settlement in an area of far
western North Carolina that later became Nashville TN. He returned to Natchez
at the end of 1788. |
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On Nov 11, 1776, the petition of Absalom Hooper
for pardon,he being "accused of robbery on the Mississippi" was considered by the
West Florida government. On the same day the land grant petition of Philip Alston
was considered. On Dec 10 and 16, the land grant petition of John Alston was also
considered [David Library of the American Revolution, West Florida Records,
vol 593, no. 107]. |
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On Oct 19, 1778 Philip bought 200 acres from Philip Barbour. The land was located
just below Petit Gulf and above Natchez along the Mississippi River. He had asked
for 1,100 acres five days earlier from
West Florida. His brother John Alston had also requested land "but no locations
were designated" [McBee, pp. 591-2]. |
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Map of
the Natchez District as it may have looked between 1779 and 1799, showing
the locations of Petit Gulf and Second Creek. |
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In January and October 1779, Absalom Hooper
signed Loyalist petitions to the governor of British West Florida. On 27 Oct 1780,
he was named in a deposition now held in Seville, Spain. Several others named in
depositions in the record series in late 1780 include
Joshua Howard, Thomas Holmes, and Philip Alston,
whose son John McCoy Alston married Hooper's daughter Sinia in 1795. |
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Frederick Stump likely marched over land with
his family toward the mountains after the British destroyed is home in Augusta GA
and joined the Amos Eaton party that
left the NC mountains in Dec 1779 for the Cumberland Settlement. The Eaton
party arrived at the beginning of 1780, just a week after the leading James Robertson
party of men, horses and dogs. Frederick received one of the Cumberland
Settlement's 1,410
Pioneer
Land Grants. This part of Washington Co. is now Middle Tennessee. |
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The land in Cumberland that Frederick Stump
claimed bordered that of
William White, the eldest son
of John White and a private on the NC
Continental Line, thereby receiving an original land claim in the Cumberland
Settlement in Washington Co. NC, but may never have actually settled on the land.
This may be why
John Holloway was there in 1780.
The claim John Holloway attempted with a James Scott the year before on Long
("Glady") Creek (shown on
Map)
appears to be the same as Whites Creek which ran through the lands claimed by
Frederick Stump, William White,
Joshua Howard and Absalom Hooper, before
flowing into the Cumberland River. See
Topolographical Map
showing Whites Creek area Land Claims [Drake, p. 23 and map E7].
James Scott did receive a land grant but John Holloway never did. |
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Map of
the Cumberland Settlement in 1780 [Summerville]. |
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By May 1780, Philip was in the new Cumberland Settlement in
Washington Co. in western NC territory (now TN). Philip, along
with about 250 other men over the age of 16, signed the Cumberland Compact created
May 1, 1780. It was finalized on May 13 and established a provisional government
for the isolated area; provided for the election of twelve representatives from
the eight stations or forts; provided for a Sheriff, a Clerk, a Militia that
required service by all men over age 16, and for the adjudication of causes, the
administration of estates, and the awarding of executions.
Image of
page 4 of what survived of the original Compact. The signature of
"Philip Alston" is next to last of all signatures, just below that of
"Howard Lucas". It appears to be written with his own pen and in perfect script. |
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A possible son or nephew of Philip also signed on a different page of the Cumberland
Compact in May 1780.
Image of
page 3. The signature of "Thos W. Alston" is third of the
signatures on the page. |
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Washington Co., previously Washington District, was formed by North Carolina in
1777 and extended west to the Mississippi River, mostly containing land inhabited
by five different tribes of Native Americans, but mostly Cherokee. In 1779, the
Cumberland Settlement was created by the granting of land by the NC government.
In 1783 this settlement was mostly contained in the newly formed Davidson Co. and
surrounded by Indian Lands, and Virginia and Kentucky to the North.
Map of
the Cumberland Settlements showing Forts, known as Stations, in present-day counties. |
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Joshua Howard arrived in the Cumberland
Settlement from the Natchez District by the beginning of 1781. He eventually was
assigned Captain of the Freeland's Station on Mar 15, 1783 [Clayton, p. 37]. |
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On Jun 17, 1782 two lands of brother John Alston were
confiscated "for use of the King" of Spain. One was 800 acres on Second Creek in
the Narchez District very near the British grants of
Joshua Howard and
Absalom Hooper. |
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Daughter Frances married James Dromgoole in 1782, in the Natchez District. |
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On Aug 14, 1784, Philip was described as a "planter" in Nashville, when he sold
20 slaves to a "John Turnbull, late of the Chickasaw Nation, trader" [Davidson Co.
TN Wills, website]. |
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Early on the morning of Jul 4, 1786, the McIntosh brothers
William and
James, administrators of the estate
and guardians of the children of brother John Alston,
declared to the Natchez District Commandant that a 20 year old slave named
King had been stolen by James Drumgoole
and Philip Alston. King had "formerly belonged to the
'robber' Philip Alston" [McBee, p. 34]. |
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On Oct 3, 1786 wife Mildred, daughter Frankey and her husband James Drumgoole,
were witnesses in Davidson Co. (TN) in a case against
Joshua Howard [McBee, p. 592]. |
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On Dec 31, 1788, "Joucha Hayward" arrived in
Natchez from "Cumberland/Tennessee", not listed among the flatboats and without
family. In a letter dated Mar 2, 1790, from
Carlos de Grand-Pré, Natchez, Mar 2, 1790
to Governor Don Estavan Miro, the amount of tobacco was reported by growers of
Natchez. A "Joshua Houvard" reported
producing 5000 pounds of tobacco [MS Dept of Archives & History, website]. |
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Daughter Elizabeth married John Gilbert (1758?-1807). They had a daughter
Elizabeth Alston Gilbert born about 1789 in Edgecombe Co. NC, who married
Edmund Duggan by Jul 1813 in Jefferson Co. MO. |
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According to the 1792 Spanish Census for Natchez District, "Phelipe Luis Alston" was
a head of household in the District of Buffalo Creek, which was replaced by
parts of Adams and Wilkinson Cos. MS [MSGenWeb, 1792 Census Index]. A different
translation has a "Thelyre Luce Alton" with 1300 arpents of land (about 1,100 acres)
of land in the same area, which was south of Natchez [Adams Co. Miss. Gen. & Hist.
Network]. |
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In Oct 1792, the Stump distillery was burned down by one of the area tribes.
Frederick Stump was the first to distill
whiskey in the region. By 1795 the rebuilt distillery along Whites Creek was
producing up to 600 gallons of whiskey per year.
Absalom Hooper was also producing
whiskey as he was taxed for doing so by the end of the century [Tenn. State
Museum]. |
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Son John McCoy Alston married Sinah Hooper, daughter of
Absalom Hooper, on Jun 3, 1795 in
Davidson Co. (TN) [Tenn. Co. Marriages, 1790-1950]. They named a son
Absalom H. McCoy, who was born in Claiborne Co. MS in 1803 and was married and
had children in St. Landry Parish LA. They had another son named Philip born in
1804. |
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| A John M. Alston [son] was listed in Jefferson Co. MS records in 1805 and 1808. He is listed in the 1810 Claiborne Co. MS census in 1810. | |||
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Petit Gulf where the Alston family owned land is now part of Jefferson Co., created
from Adams Co., Mississippi Territory, in 1796
(see present day map). |
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While often described as a counterfeiter or robber, Philip was never convicted
of any crime nor did he have any land confiscated by the Spanish Govt. |
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Joshua Howard had become "Conservator of the
Peace for the Southern District, Mississippi Territory" by Oct 27, 1798 when two
men swore to the truth of statements made re: suit involving
Elizabeth Still Lee lending a slave girl Peg
to her son-in-law Alexander Freeland in the Summer of 1796. She had made her
deposition before Cato West, Howard's counterpart in the Northern District
[Ragland p.6]. |
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Son Peter was an associate of the outlaw Wiley Harpe and was hanged in
Old Greenville in Jefferson Co. MS on Feb 8, 1804, after Wiley was identified
when they tried to collect a reward for Harpe's capture by bringing in the
severed head of the leader, Samuel Mason, of the gang the two belonged to. |
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On Mar 24, 1804 Capt. John Stump claimed a lot
in Natchez. Lot no. 4, Square no. 26 in the town of Natchez was originally granted
on Oct 3, 1795 to Louisa Higdon before she became the wife of John Wylie. Louisa
and John Wylie deeded the lot to John Stump "of Davidson Co. Tennessee"
[McBee, p. 450]. John's sister, Anna Guice, named her daughter born in 1807 Louisa. |
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In the 1816 Franklin Co. MS Census,
page 4
(line 17), there is a household headed by "Jonathan Guice" with: 2 males over 20 [Jonathan], 1 male under 20 [son Nathaniel], 1 female over 20 [Anna Stump, John's sister], 4 females under 20 [daughters Salome, Elizabeth, Barbara, Louisa], and 10 slaves. |
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Franklin Co. MS was founded in 1809
(see present day map
for location). |
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Sources: Adams Co. Miss. Genealogy & History Network, "1792 Census for the Natchez District". Clayton, Prof. W.W., History of Davidson County Tennessee, reprod. 1971 by Charles Elder, Nashville TN. Corbitt, D. L., The formation of the N.C. counties, 1663-1943, Dept. Arch. & Hist, Raleigh NC, 1950, 323 pp. Cumberland Compact, original document signed May 13, 1780, Washington County NC, website. David Library of the American Revoution, "British Colonial Office Records CO5 West Florida Reords", website, vol 593, item 107. Drake, Doug, Jack Masters and Bill Puryear, Founding of the Cumberland Settlements, The First Atlas, 1779-1804, Warioto Press, 2009, pp. 23, map E7. Imbert, J. Leopold, map maker, Carte des Possessions Angloises... 1777, reprinted by the Museum of the American Revolution from map image at the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center, Boston Public Library. McBee, May Wilson, comp., "Land Claims", in Natchez Court Records, 1767-1805, Book F, p.21. McBee, May Wilson, comp., Natchez Court Records, 1767-1805, Greenwood MS, 1953, v. 2, pp. 34, 343, 450, 541, 591-2. MS Dept. of Archives & History (MDAH), Jackson MS, rootsweb, Americans Arriving in Spanish-Held Natchez 1780-1790. MSGenWeb, Natchez District 1792 Census Index, comp. by Ellen Pack, Head of Household Index, transcribed and translated from Spanish. Rowland, Dunbar, "1816 Census for Franklin Co. Miss.", taken from The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi,Centennial Edition, 1917, rootsweb website. Summerville, James, Southern Epic, Gloucester Point VA, Hallmark, 1996. Tennessee Co. Marriages, 1790-1950. Tennesse State Museum, Tennessee Distillery Tax Ledger, years 1795-1802, inside display case. Tennessee, County Marriages, 1790-1950, "John Alston" Marriage Record, p. 8. USGenWeb Archives, contr. by Houston Tracy Jr., "Deposition of William Wall, 20 Dec 1780", microfilm folio 458-9. Wells, Carol, Natchez Postscripts 1781-1798, Heritage Books, pp. 101, 144-5, 151, Will Books 3 and 4, Wilkes County, North Carolina, 1811-1848, The Genealogical Society of "Original" Wilkes County), Will Book 3, "Estate of Joahua Howard", Oct 1814, page 89, 120. |
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