The forebears of the Ozarks Herndons

 

Submitted by Randy McConnell

April 2006

Randy has generously shared these for publication with the Christian County Mogen Web site.

No data may be reproduced or published without permission of the author.

 

 

The Herndon family originated in Normandy and crossed the English Channel when William the Conqueror invaded in 1066. The Herondons/Herndons multiplied in County Kent, England and nearby areas, and some who came to early VA said they emigrated from Wales.

The American line stems from William Herndon, who was born in 1649 in Tenterdon, County Kent, England and came to New Kent Co., VA as a young man. Unverified reports indicate he married first to Joan Benskin[1] of County Kent, but family records are more substantial on his 1677 marriage to Catherine Digges, the daughter of former Virginia Gov. Edward Digges and Elizabeth Page, in York  Co., VA.

A "favorite" of Gov. Sir William Berkeley, William Herndon received grants of 5,300 acres with the Bagbys on Mattapony River in 1673 as well as 430 acres for himself inland from the river for transporting colonists to Virginia.[2] These grants were valuable, although on the edge of the Indian frontier, because the Tidewater plantations' soil had grown thin already, and the owners needed new land for productivity and homes for new and growing families.

Although some ancestral societies have recently rejected memberships based on the Herndon-Digges marriage, family genealogies attest to between two and four sons for that marriage: Edward and James with Phillip and William sometimes listed.

William Herndon died in 1722 in King and Queen Co., VA while Catherine lived until 1729 in Caroline Co.

Their son Edward (1678, New Kent Co.-March 9, 1759, Caroline Co.) married c. 1698 Mary Elizabeth Waller (May 23, 1674-1727), the daughter of Dr. John Waller and Mary Pomfrett of England, and had about 10 children.

Their son James Herndon (1716, King and Queen-1764, Caroline Co.) wed Valentine Haley (1717-1799), the daughter of Edward Haley and Catherine Perrin. They eventually settled in Goochland Co., VA, and also had almost a dozen children.

Son John Herndon (1746-1821, Goochland) on Dec. 27, 1773 married Mary Ann Clarkson (1750-about 1838), daughter of David Clarkson and Patricia or Patti Redmond. John acquired his mother's holdings in Goochland and added other farms there.

John and Mary had an eldest son, Thomas Mann Herndon, in Goochland Co. in 1774 who was baptized in Dever Church. He married Dec. 16, 1798 to Susanna Britt, the daughter of John Britt and Susannah Holman and granddaughter of William Holman and Susannah Thompson.

Thomas Mann Herndon (1774-Dec. 17, 1853) married just after his father had given him a 164-acre farm. Thomas later apparently married Catherine Tandy, but Susanna was the mother of William Holman Herndon and most if not all of the other six children.

 

William Holman Herndon

(January 1814-Nov. 20, 1881)

William Holman Herndon was born near Fifesville, Goochland Co., VA on Jan. 10 or 24, 1814. He was named for his great-grandfather William Holman and married about 1836 to Margaret Ann Houchins, the daughter of Charles Houchins (1781-1825) and Sarah Bruce (d. 1833)  and granddaughter of James Houchins (1755-1833) and Margaret Johnson.

Margaret Ann died in Virginia shortly after the couple's sixth child, William Joseph, was born in 1846.

William H. then remarried to Emily Elizabeth K. (possibly Kidd) Barker (1825-before 1865), the daughter of David Barker and Mildred Thurston, on Sept. 25, 1848 in Cumberland Co., VA, and headed west to join his brother John Britt Herndon and other kin in Logan Co., KY. [3] The couple had one son there, John David, before moving to southwest Missouri about 1853.

Some of the Britt cousins moved to southwest Missouri after living in Kentucky. Cousin Randolph Britt (1798-1853), for example, had moved to Springfield by 1838, when he murdered Jonathan Reno at the urging of "grocer" Lucius Rountree of southern Greene Co., who was actually a saloon owner. Britt was tried for murder on a change of venue to Benton Co. and apparently acquitted. Britt’s  son William later married Melissa Ann Townsend, a cousin of the McConnells of Republic, MO, and moved to :Polk Township, Christian Co.

William Holman Herndon settled in Cass Township, Stone Co., when many of the county townships had no or few white settlers, and lived the remainder of his life there, getting his mail at Galena. He and Emily added three more sons in MO: Julian (May 1855), James R. (January 1857) and Jasper (1861-Sept. 1861).

William H. also may have had six children by a slave woman, who was 48, unnamed, living with the family in 1860. While the woman is clearly marked "black" under "color" in the slave schedule, the children/grandchildren are listed as "mulatto," ranging from ages 1 to 20. Of the six, three were daughters, ages 20, 15 and 8, and three were sons, ages 12, 6 and 1. This information was provided by the owner, William H., who surely knew they were part white.[4]

Like many small slaveholders, who seldom had cash for increasingly expensive slave purchases, particularly of males, William H. may have taken the course commonly followed: he fathered his own slaves. These ties helped account for close feelings between owners and slaves in border states, where small holdings were the rule. Many were freed when their owners died. Part of William H.'s decision to fight for the Union may have stemmed from his stance on his mulatto children's future.[5]

 

William H. Sr. and Martha J. Sink Herndon

Emily Elizabeth died after the 1860 census, and her burial place is unknown. But she likely is buried in the Herndon Cemetery, which is located in Christian Co., possibly on land where William farmed. Two of his children, Susan and Jasper, died during the war and are buried there; eight stones in the graveyard are not readable. William H. was buried there, too, when he died in 1881, but his third wife was not. So he lies in Herndon Cemetery likely near Emily Elizabeth Barker whose grave is unmarked.

 Before the Civil War ended, William  H. remarried to Martha J. Sink in Christian Co. where the courthouse burned. Martha and her parents lived in Christian Co. in 1860.

Martha J. (August 1836, Pokagon Township, Cass Co., MI-Jan. 3, 1916, Nixa) was the daughter of David Sink who came to Porter Township, Christian (then Greene) Co. in the 1840s from Michigan.  Her mother likely was his third wife, shown in some family records as Lucinda Moffett, who was born in Virginia.

While no courthouse records prove the match of Martha and William H. Herndon, the circumstantial evidence is incontrovertible. Martha J. Sink was known to have married a Herndon, and she disappeared from Christian Co. census records from 1860 until she resurfaced as a Herndon widow in 1900. William H.'s wife in 1870 is shown as Martha J., age 33, b. Michigan — a rare place of birth in the Ozarks. The age and place of birth match Martha J. Sink exactly.

William H.'s daughter Harriett Jane, too, had just married Irvin W. Edwards of Christian Co., whose father James Wright Edwards took as his second wife in 1866 Susan Ellen Sink, Martha's sister.

 

The war years

Despite his slaveholdings, William and his oldest sons quickly joined Union forces in the Civil War. The residents of the Stone Co. area — though ravished by federal and Confederate troops as well as bushwhackers — were heavily pro-Union like Christian Countians; the counties lay, however, between Arkansas, a secessionist state, and the plantation owners of central Missouri where Confederate sympathies were preponderant as far south as Dade and parts of Greene Cos.

William H. is first possibly shown as a private in the Ozark Co. Home Guard under Capt. Martindale from June 28 to Oct. 13, 1861. He then enlisted as a private in Co. G of the 14th Regiment, Missouri State Militia Cavalry Volunteers on March 1, 1862 and mustered in March 7 in Christian Co. on the same day as neighbor John Inman of Rainbow Valley and Inman's Arch in Stone Co. The 14th Regiment, according to historian Frederick Dyer's account, saw little action during this time.

A notation on William H.'s unit card says he had been home, "sick since Oct. 5, 1862," but on Feb. 4, 1863, he and 2nd Lt. John Inman were transferred to the 8th Regiment, Missouri State Militia Cavalry Volunteers. Inman resigned that December to attend to his family and new Ozark store, but William H. served in Cos. I and H until April 13, 1865.[6]

His unit captured Ft. Smith, AR on Aug. 31, 1863. Co. I engaged at Bee Creek on May 2, 1864 and scouted from Forsyth through Douglas and Ozark Cos. that June. A series of battles followed at Carthage, Jefferson City (Moreau Bottoms), Little Blue, Independence, Big Blue/State Line and Westport as the troops linked up with the 2nd Arkansas Cavalry and 6th Provisional Militia. The 8th Cavalry camped at Lebanon, Neosho and Springfield until William H. was mustered out in the waning days of the war in southwest MO.

His active duty must have hampered his ability to campaign and launch a political career. The Capital Fire Documents collection shows that William H. ran for state representative from Stone Co., but was bested in the November 1864 election by incumbent Rep. and former County Clerk Patrick C. Berry of Galena,[7] 86 to 10.[8] No party affiliation is cited in the county clerk's report to the state, but William H. likely ran as a Radical Republican because Berry held numerous offices as a lifelong Democrat. Berry headed the Union-affiliated militia of Stone Co. as a captain while his brother was a Confederate soldier. (Many counties in the area held no elections in 1864 because of the general chaos and depopulation of the war; the Democratic party ceased to exist in many Ozark counties during the war.)

 

The final years of William H. Sr.

The emancipation of William H.'s slaves coincided with the wartime duty and eventual marriages of his eldest sons, leaving the farm sorely short of manpower.

Before the war, William H. had been a major tobacco grower in southwest Missouri — a labor-intensive crop that required many hands. In 1860, the agricultural census schedule shows he raised 6,000 pounds of tobacco and 2,000 bushels of wheat on the 100 acres he cultivated — a vast improved acreage for the Ozarks.

He also had 180 acres in grazing and woodlands. The Stone Co. farm was valued at $2,500, and William H. ranged four horses, five milk cows, two oxen, 12 other cattle, 18 sheep and 40 hogs, valued altogether at another $608. The year before he also sheared 50 pounds of wool, slaughtered $125 in livestock, and raised 180 bushels of wheat, 5 pounds of peas, 50 pounds of Irish potatoes and 50 pounds of sweet potatoes. He churned 50 pounds of butter and collected $5 in honey.[9]

The farm production plummeted by 1870. He was only cultivating 40 acres of the now shrunken 200-acre farm, valued in the lawless, depressed economy at only $600. Tobacco production had ended, and he raised the less labor-intensive crops of winter wheat (100 bushels), oats for the seven horses (100 bushels) and corn (500 bushels). He reported $20 in orchard produce (apples, peaches?) and ranged five mules, four milk cows, four other cattle, six sheep and 30 hogs, all valued at $930. Essentially pigs were worth more than land. Total agricultural production for 1869 was valued at $561.[10]

William may have hired Francis Marion Keltner of Porter Township to help on the farm; in 1870, Keltner and wife Mary Ann Glidewell were living next door to William.

In 1880, the now 66-year-old William H. was tilling only 40 acres and another 80 was woodland, all valued at $1,000; his acreage had fallen to less than half the 1860 totals. He planted 11 acres in corn, raising a paltry 90 bushels, and scrounged 10 bushels of potatoes from a 1-acre garden plot. He had sold off the milk herd to concentrate on his 40 hogs and 12 chickens, who produced an estimated 100 eggs in 1879. He also chopped 10 cords of wood that year and, somehow, valued total production at $500 on the farm.[11]

The acreages, especially in 1880, differ significantly from William H.'s holdings when he died. In the most likely explanation, he had rented out or allowed William Joseph, whose family was living with William H., to farm these other tracts; he almost certainly owned about 280 acres during his entire life in Stone Co. When he died, William H. had substantial landholdings of 240 acres plus the "east half No. two of the northwest fractional quarter" of another section, or as much as 80 acres more.[12]

Neither William H. nor his sons owned land in Christian Co. in 1875, according to tax records.

 

The estate of William Holman Herndon

William H. died Nov. 20, 1881 and son Julian was appointed administrator of the estate by Probate Judge William E. McDowell; Julian inventoried the property on Nov. 29, 1881 with William Patrick Crumpley, formerly of Christian Co., and Ed M. Hawkins as witnesses.

Crumpley and Hawkins as well as T.J.M. Hawkins appraised the estate as worth $389.88, not counting the real estate.

These probate documents are unusually readable for early Ozarks records. Of the greatest interest is the record of the estate sale held Dec. 3, 1881 at William H.'s home with Thomas A. Isham as clerk. The purchases, mostly made by his Christian Co. friends and relatives, were:

 

Item                                   Buyer                                               Price

1. One plow                         James Herndon (son)                             $1.15

2. "                                      Jacob Crossols (?) (Castletoe, Casto)             .25

3. "                                      J.W. Edwards of Nixa                               2.50

4. Harrow and plow             David Inman (brother of John Wesley of Nixa)                                  1.00

5. Gears and collars              Carroll Johnson of Nixa                           3.85

6. Gears and single trees       Jacob Crossols                                          .95

7. One halter                       J.A. McConnell of Nixa                              .40

8. Three planes                    C.L. (Charles Leroy) Johnson (m. McCafferty)                                    1.70

9. Saw square, drawing knife                                                             J.A. Ghan of Nixa             1.00

10. Augurs, chisels                David Inman                                          1.00

11. Hand axe                       Julian Herndon (son, admr.)                       .80

12. Froe                               David Inman                                          1.00

13. Broad axe                       Carroll Johnson of Nixa                           2.10

14. Chucks, breast straps       Joseph Herndon (son)                              3.25

15. Saddle, bridle                 Joseph Herndon (son)                              7.30

16. Steel trap, Negro foot       David Inman                                            .20

17. Grindstone, crank           L.C. (Levi Carl) Faught of Nixa                    .30

18. Wedge, chains                 David Inman                                            ..80

19. Fish lsig (?) lug?               James Herndon (son)                                 .10

20. Shovel plows                  Henry Barnhart                                        .15

21. Box, fixtures                   David Inman                                          1.15

22. Hohd (?) (solid?) barrel    J.W. Edwards                                          1.00

23. Scoop shovel                   Mrs. V. Sink (daugher Sarah Victoria)         .90

24. Fork                               Julian Herndon (son)                                .96

25. Spade, mattock               Granville Bolin                                       1.00

26. Bell, collar                      John Edwards                                           .60

27. Brush scythe                   Frank McConnell (he was only age 10)        .15

28. 3 hogs                            David Inman                                          3.75

29. 5 hogs                            Joseph Herndon                                     6.50

30. 5 hogs                            C.N. (Columbus) Faught                           5.00

31. 4 hogs                            Julian Herndon                                       2.75

32. one calf                          David Inman                                    (torn)

33. buggy, harness                Julian Herndon                                     48.00

34. one mare                        M.J. Herndon (widow)                           75.00

35. single tree                      Frank McConnell                                      .10

36. one pony mare                Jane Edwards (daughter, Mrs. Irvin Edwards)                                  16.00

37. 10 bushels corn               David Inman                                          8.70

38. "                                    Carrol Johnson                                       8.15

39. "                                    J.G. (Jinkin) McCafferty of Nixa              10.00

40. "                                     "                                                           10.00

41. "                                    John Gooch of Nixa                                 9.00

42. One scything cradle         Julian Herndon                                      1.40

43. "                                    Harrison Edwards (neighbor)                     .80

44. Five fat hogs                   Sampy (likely former slave)                    35.00

45. 23 bus., 40 lbs of wheat    C.J. McMaster                                        14.95

46. 10 bu of corn @ 80¢/bu     Jane Edwards                                         8.00

47. "                                    Joseph Herndon                                     8.00

48. 2 bu of wheat                  Jane Edwards                                         2.00

49. Rasp hammer                  James Herndon                                        .50

 

                                          Total Sale Bill                                      306.90

 

As per one note on M.G.  (Marion) Gwaltney (of Nixa) as per inventory 15.00

                                          Interest on same to Nov. 29, 1881               1.43

One note on W.J. (Jay, a Riverdale mill hand) McConnell (of Nixa)        35.48

                                          Interest on same to Nov. 29, 1881               3.97

 

                                          Grand Total                                       $363.78

 

The list of buyers indicates how closely William H. was tied to the Porter Township community of Christian Co., despite his residence in Stone Co. Virtually none of his neighbors, except Harrison Edwards, participated in the auction.

On Aug. 21, 1882, Julian was authorized to rent the farm for 1882 and 1883 and to sell anything of value that came into the estate that year. These transactions spurred an 1883 lawsuit by Martha Jane Sink Herndon over rent. Julian received at least two extensions on the annual settlement due in November 1882. On Feb. 18, 1884, Judge McDowell approved the final settlement and discharged Julian as administrator; Julian was awarded the note from Jay McConnell, a Riverdale millhand in Christian Co., which "cannot be collected because of insolvency."[13]

The final settlement papers from Stone Co. have not been microfilmed and stored at the Missouri State Archives; only the originals are available at the Crane courthouse.

After his death, Martha J. moved back near her family — sister Susan Ellen Sink Edwards and brother Stephen Sink — in Christian Co. Martha was living alone beside Narcissa (Mrs. William Carroll) Edwards in 1900. Sister Francis A. Sink Hunt returned to Nixa from Taney Co. during the next decade, and she and Martha resided in 1910 with Irvin Edwards, the first husband of Martha's stepdaughter Jane Herndon. In 1910, Martha was living on her "own income," which in Christian Co. almost always meant a federal pension. She apparently had drawn a widow's pension for William H.'s war service. Otherwise she was living off rental or sale income from the Stone Co. farm.

Both Martha and Francis are buried in Payne Cemetery.

 

Children of William Herndon

 

-- Lucy A. (1837, VA-June 10, 1911, Springfield) shortly after the family moved to the Ozarks married on April 16, 1854 to Dr. Marshall H. Mack, the son of John Armenius Mack and Sarah Sophia Mack, in Greene Co. The Macks had just moved to Greene Co. from Maury Co., TN and were closely tied to the Edwards family that eventually became part and parcel of the Herndon clan.

Marshall (May 4, 1831, Maury Co., TN-March 1888, Springfield) and Lucy had 11 children who remained largely in Springfield rather than on farms outside of town: Victoria, Lina L. (m. James Monroe Payne), Ali O., Harriett, Osman M., Claude Evert (m. Elizabeth Catherine McCroskey), Luella L., Arminta, Clyde B. (m. Flora Porter), Clinton A. and Zuileka Isadora (m. Millard Hedgpeth).

The Macks lived in the southwest section of the city, and they are buried in Hazelwood Cemetery, Springfield. Marshall died of pneumonia.

Son Clyde became a Springfield grocer, and he was shot through the neck and killed by a robber in front of his Boonville Avenue home in February 1927.

• Charles Thomas (June 30, 1839, Goochland Co., VA-Jan. 8, 1910) married Matilda E. Hedgpeth (Dec. 8, 1842-July 3, 1895), daughter of Wiley Hedgpeth and Charlotte Edwards of Porter Township, during the Civil War, but the papers were destroyed in the Christian Co. Courthouse fire. He was named for his grandfathers from Goochland Co., VA -- Thomas Mann Herndon and Charles Houchins.

His incomplete service record shows he served from Aug. 9, 1862 at Ozark until Feb. 2, 1863 as a private with Co. A, 72nd Regiment, EMM. He then enlisted in Co. H, 6th Provisional Militia through Sept. 14, 1863, when he transferred to Co. L until March 1, 1864 under Col. F.S. Jones.

He and Matilda were living in Porter Township in 1870 with sons William (Aug. 8, 1865-July 19, 1891) and Thomas (1869). Living with them was Louisa Caroline "Aunt Lizzie" Inman Glover Wilson (later Mrs. William Sanders) as a domestic.

Charley's wartime units qualified him for a Civil War pension. He, Matilda and son William are buried in Hunt-Dodson Cemetery, east of US 160 on Route NN. They are not found in Stone, Greene or Christian Cos. in 1880 or in Christian or Greene Cos. in 1900 or 1910. Apparent son Charles T. Jr., then of Greene Co., married Susie Holland of Webster Co. on Oct. 21, 1900 and took out the license in Christian Co.

-- Sarah Victoria (March 10, 1843, or possibly 1841-Sept. 13, 1901) married David Marion Wallace of Christian Co. during the Civil War and had a lone daughter, Ella Jane.

Then, on March 5, 1867, Sarah V. remarried to her step-uncle Stephen Raleigh Sink (Feb. 18, 1823, MI-July 7, 1888), a Mexican and Civil War veteran. They had at least four children: David A. (1868), Lucy A. (1869), Arminta Emily (April 1871) and Edward Holman (November 1872). Stephen was the son of David Sink of Christian Co. and his second wife, Delilah Dillon of Franklin Co., VA.

Stephen served for slightly more than a month in 1846 in the Mexican War at Ft. Leavenworth, KS as a member of the Third Regiment, Missouri Volunteers. By mid-September, the War Department rescinded its request that MO Gov. John Cummins Edwards raise extra forces. Stephen was discharged Oct. 1.

He began the Civil War as a private in the Christian Co. Home Guards and served less than a month before he was discharged, along with a handful of other neighbors like Carroll Edwards. Stephen enlisted in Co. A, Enrolled Missouri Militia in August 1862 and served until the next February, leaving as a private. He re-upped under government order in May 1864 — and in September became captain of the unit containing virtually all the Christian Co. recruits. Records of the Fourth Missouri Military District show that Stephen and his forces were in charge of keeping order and fending off rebel forays in Ozark Co. — a bastion of bushwhacking — under the direction of Brig. Gen. Colley B. Holland.

Within two months, Stephen's moment in the sun had passed, and the 72nd Regiment disbanded in November 1864.

Stephen and the family are not found in the census for 1880, but he died near Nixa in July 1888.  Son Edward reappears in the 1900 census, single, with mother Sarah V. in southern Porter Township. Of her five children, four were still living.

Stephen and Sarah Victoria (March 10, 1843-Sept. 13, 1901) are buried in Payne Cemetery, Nixa, but his date of death was never added to the stone.

Son David A. married first to Nettie Connett (October 1863, IN), apparent daughter of the Rev. Alfred Connett of Riverdale, on March 7, 1893. He remarried Jan. 23, 1910 to Mary Guthrie (July 27, 1873, IL-Jan. 18, 1917) of Nixa before JP Jim Wright McConnell. David and Nettie had at least two children, Lloyd (January 1895) and Leslie (September 1897); however, the couple divorced, and David lost custody. David and Mary (1874, IL) are shown without children in the 1910 census in Porter Township. Mary is buried in Payne Cemetery.

Son Edward Holman Sink (Nov. 4, 1872-Jan. 20, 1942) married Myrtle Killian and had three children, Juanita, Leland and Wynona.

Among the daughters, Minta married Thomas J. Daugherty of Ozark in 1894, and Lucy A. took F.A. Toney of Nixa as her husband on Feb. 15, 1896 before JP Irvin W. Edwards. Minta (April 6, 1871-Jan 16, 1940) and Thomas J. (April 30, 1872-Dec. 14, 1942) are buried in Payne Cemetery.

Sarah's daughter by her first marriage, Ella Jane (May 22, 1864-Dec. 30, 1926), married John C. Wasson, and they are buried at Glenn Cemetery near Nixa.

• Susan E. (Oct. 15, 1843, Goochland Co., VA-Jan. 12, 1863, Christian Co.). Susan is buried at Herndon Cemetery in Christian Co.

• Harriett Jane (July 15, 1844, Goochland Co., VA-Jan. 19, 1936, TX). See separate section below.

• William Joseph Holman, known as Joseph, (Feb. 15, 1846, Goochland Co.,VA-Dec. 30, 1923, Nixa), then living in Stone Co., married Frances N. Hedgpeth (Jan. 21, 1849-March 29, 1938, Springfield)[14] on Feb. 10, 1867 before the Rev. James W. Edwards in Porter Township. Frances was the sister of Matilda Hedgpeth, who married Joseph’s brother Charles Thomas.

By family legend, Joseph — then using the name William J. — had enrolled in a Civil War unit on the same day as his father. William J. or Joseph doesn't appear on Home Guard muster rolls because of his youth, but he enlisted in Co. A, 72nd Regiment, Enrolled Missouri Militia, — a largely Christian Co. unit — from July 28, 1862 in Springfield to Feb. 1, 1863. The unit's major clash came with Confederate Gen. Marmaduke, who attacked Springfield on Jan. 8.

William J. then enlisted as a private in Co. H., 6th Regiment, Provisional Missouri Militia, a federal unit, from April 1 to Sept. 14, 1863, when he was discharged at Ozark but immediately reupped in Co. L of the same regiment until Dec. 30, 1863 under Col. F.S. (or A.) Jones. He then was "transferred to U.S. service" but the card fails to mention the unit, although it carries him on the roster of the 6th Regiment until June 7, 1864.

The research of his great-great-grandson Lyle Sparkman of Green Forest, AR discovered that Joseph volunteered as a private in 3rd  Battery I,  2nd Missouri Light Artillery, a federal unit, on Dec. 22, 1863 and was mustered in Dec. 28, serving until his honorable discharge Aug. 23, 1865.

The unit saw little action until it was sent to Nashville, TN where on Dec. 13, 1864, tens of thousands of Union and Confederate troops squared off for possession of the city. Routed by federals under Maj. Gen. George Henry Thomas and Maj. Gen. John Schofield, who had been chief of staff under Gen. Lyon at Wilson's Creek, the Confederate forces under Gen. John Bell Hood fled Davidson Co.[15]

Joseph was discharged at Benton Barracks in St. Louis.

By 1870, Joseph and Francis had a son Joseph  or "Jode" (Dec. 7, 1868-Oct. 24, 1935, m. Cora/Cordie Hoffman of Nixa, Dec. 8, 1891) and lived in Porter Township. By 1880, the family had moved to Cass Township, Stone Co. to help Joseph's father. In 1892, Joe was operating the first livery stable in Nixa. In 1900, they are not found in Christian Co. but had returned in 1910 with son Robert (1885).

Altogether, the Herndons had eight children, although only seven reached adulthood.

Their other known children were: Margaret Elizabeth or Maggie (Dec. 10, 1870-Nov. 22, 1954, m. George W. McDaniel, Sept. 15, 1888); Cordelia Jane (Oct. 22, 1873-May 19,1918, m. T.B. Bolin, Oct. 1, 1889 and then Elijah McWilliams); Walter Franklin (March 28, 1877-Dec. 7, 1947, m. Eva Painter, Dec. 23, 1900); Appolonia (Sept. 12 1879-June 8, 1943, m. Albert Faught); and Robert C. (Nov. 16, 1884-Oct. 20, 1920, m. Anne Pope).

The final known daughter was Ella Bell Herndon (Nov. 16, 1884-1957), the twin of Robert, who married James Isom Tyler (1869-1940), the abandoned child of Rufus Benjamin Tyler and the late Margaret Wilson. James was part of the extended Inman clan of Porter Township with three Wilson aunts who married sons of Elkanah Dulaney and Sarah Jane Moore Inman; when his father remarried and moved back to Arkansas, James Isom remained with the Inmans. Ella and James moved to Anadarko, Caddo Co., OK after they married in 1907 with an influx of emigrants from Christian Co.

Joseph Sr., Francis, Jode, Maggie, George and Robert are buried at Payne Cemetery. Cordelia is interred at Ozark Cemetery. Ella Bell and James are buried in Memory Lane Cemetery in Caddo Co.

• John David (Aug. 3, 1849, KY). John David is shown living in Dallas, TX in the obituaries of his siblings after the turn of the century. Missouri sources report he married Josephine Hobbs

• Julian J. (May 15, 1855, Stone Co.-March 26, 1928, Nixa) married Lundy or Lunda Jane Pendleton on Jan. 3, 1877 before the Rev. Joseph P. Roberts. Lundy Jane (Oct. 14, 1855-Aug. 10, 1928) was the daughter of Andrew Anderson and Lydia Brown Pendleton of Nixa. The Bank of Nixa, a casualty of the Depression, opened in 1903 with Julian as president and his son, Holman, as cashier. The first board of directors included William Rose, William Wasson, James Tindle, John Taylor, John Rogers and Julian.

Julian and Lundy had nine children, of which eight reached adulthood: Lonnie J. (December 1879-Aug. 26, 1961), Holman Wesley (November 1881-June 29, 1967, m. Laura Johns Shelton), Florence A. (February 1884, m. Henry S. Jones, July 4, 1903); I. Ella, (1886), son C.A. (July 1888-Dec. 18, 1962, m. Roma May), A. Geraldine (September 1891, m. Mooney), daughter W.Gertryde (August 1893, m. McFarland) and Julian E. Jr. (April 21, 1897-March 30, 1979).

• James R. (Jan. 12, 1857, Stone Co., MO-March 9, 1947) married Manerva Cynthia Aven, daughter of John Duff Aven and Sarah Ann Rose of Porter Township, on Jan. 16, 1879 before the Rev. L.F. Skaggs. He is consistently shown as a farmer.

James and Cynthia had eight childen, of whom seven were living in 1910, including:  Oscar Edwin (November 1878-1919, m. Mary Ellen Sellars, Sept. 1, 1899); Josie Victoria (June 5, 1883-Nov. 5, 1955, m. William Franklin Hartley, Feb. 21, 1904); Ann N. (July 5, 1885-April 17, 1925, m. Elisha Willoughby of Griffin, Sept. 3, 1903); John R. (February 1887, m. Bessie); Clyde (June 27, 1890-Dec. 14, 1966); and James Clint (Nov. 29, 1905-June 3, 1916).

·  Jasper was born in 1861 and died that September. He is buried at Herndon Cemetery.

 

Harriet Jane Herndon Edwards

 

Jane married the two eldest sons of the Rev. James Wright Edwards, a minister, mill owner, county judge and shoemaker of Christian Co. who brought his family there from Maury Co., TN in 1852. 

Jane married.:

• Irvin Wright Edwards (Dec. 15, 1836-July 11, 1914), a Union Civil War veteran who drew a pension for his service as an infantry officer and served as the Nixa postmaster from 1889 to 1893. Irvin was elected Nixa's justice of the peace in 1894, with his nephew James Wright McConnell, and re-elected at least in 1896.

Irvin began the war as a sergeant under Capt. William Vaughn in Co. B of the Christian Co. Home Guard, from May 8, 1861 to July 27, 1861. He then joined Co. A., 72nd Regiment, Enrolled Missouri Militia, as a private under Capt. Jackson Ball from July to October 13, 1862 when he enlisted in the U.S. service. But his service card does not indicate the unit, which qualified him for a pension.

Irvin married Jane on Nov. 20, 1862 in Stone Co., MO before the Rev. Mathew Duff McCroskey Sr. of Porter Township, Christian Co.[16] Irvin and Jane had at least one son, John Irvin, in 1866.

The 1880 census shows that Jane was living by herself with two sons: John I. (Irvin) and William H. (Holman), born in 1879. William or Willie was the apparent son of another man, probably Irvin's brother Martin. Irvin had split with Jane before 1880, when he was living with his brother John R. "Pete," a store owner. Jane finally divorced Irvin in a contested case filed in 1883, and she married his brother, Martin "Sant" Edwards, another mill hand.

Irvin lived with his aunt Narcissa (Mrs. William Carroll) Edwards at the turn of the century. She died in 1906 and by 1910, he resided with two sisters of his stepmother: Martha J. Sink Herndon and Francis A. Sink Hunt.

Irvin is buried in McConnell Cemetery with son John Irvin and daughter-in-law Ona A. Faught Edwards.

John Irvin Edwards (March 26, 1866-Aug. 20, 1923) married Ona  (Jan. 22, 1869-Sept. 22, 1944), daughter of John W. “Jack” Faught and Mary Ann McConnell, on Oct. 14, 1886.  They lived on an 80-cre farm southwest of Nixa.

Records show that John I. took out a $55 loan from the county school fund to help buy his farm, and it was repaid in April 1897. Ona and John Irvin are buried in McConnell Cemetery. The couple had seven children:

— Ernest (July 26, 1887-March 27, 1960) married Alpha Pruitt (Feb. 28, 1892-May 9, 1955), daughter of William Riley Pruitt and Millicent Arminta Bolin.  They were parents of Ellis, who married Evelyn Robb in 1915; and Clay (m. Cleda Bell Leach).

— Roscoe (March 5, 1901) married Illa Wiggins (Aug. 2, 1916-Jan. 31, 1986). Their children were Roscoe Jr. and Shirley (m. Ray McPeak).

— Girtie (Oct. 9, 1889) married Alva Assa Bolin (June 7, 1888-May 23, 1967), son of Isaac Marion Bolin and Sarah Ann Harp, and raised Blon, Leon (m. Grethel Emlet), Herman (m. Dorothy Smart), and Wallace (m. Opal Watson), Ilene (m. Leon Watson), Norman Lee (m. Ethel Mae), Carol Lee (m. 1. Jenkins and 2. Howe), and Wanda Mae (m. 1. Rathman and 2. Craig).

— Bertha (Aug. 9, 1893-Aug. 21, 1947) married Clarence Livingston (Oct. 8, 1901-October 1976), and they had one daughter, Reba, who married Philip Hughes.

— Vesta (March 23, 1896-May 12, 1973) married Allen Glenn (Jan. 16, 1893-Oct. 6, 1963), and the couple had five children, Ward (m. Ruth Nix), Nell (m. Ben McDonald) and Irene (m. Johnny Warren), Dorothy, and Doris (m. Keith Young).

— Birdie (Nov. 15, 1896-Nov. 26, 1896).

— Reba (Dec. 15, 1906-Feb. 28, 2003) married 1) Grady Thompson, who committed suicide, and 2) W. Jennings "Sandy" Baumberger (Sept. 1, 1905-July 14, 1995). Reba and Sandy owned a farm near Brookline, MO; she retired after a long teaching career in Greene Co. public schools.

— Lorene (Dec. 4, 1909) married Lloyd Flood (January 1906) and raised Donald, Wilma Jean (m. Robert Gamble), Betty Dean (m. Jim Green), Rollin D. (m. Barbara Powell) and Ervin (m. 1. Mary Sharpton and 2. Judy Reynolds).

• Martin Luther "Sant" Edwards (1840-1930). Martin first made his mark on north-central Christian Co. when he was arrested twice around 1860 for disturbing religious worship – camp meetings north of modern Nixa – with Thomas B. Payne (son of Larkin) and his cousins Young Lafayette Stubblefield and William Hedgpeth. Backed by the resources of his well-to-do father, Martin gain a split on decisions by the Missouri Supreme Court on his appeals.

Standing 5-feet-11 with dark hair and blue eyes, Martin soon became a so-called three-year volunteer in the Civil War — one of the soldiers that formed the backbone of the Union effort. Martin began the war as a sergeant in Co. B. of the Christian Co. Home Guards under Capt. William Vaughn from May to July 1861.

He then enlisted in Co. G of the 24th Infantry Volunteers Nov. 25, 1861 at Rolla, transferred to Co. D and mustered out on Oct. 14, 1864, near the end of the war in the West. Martin began as a private, but was promoted to sergeant in February 1863.

The regiment advanced on Gen. Sterling Price in Springfield just as Martin became sergeant and pursued Price into AR where Martin fought at the Battle of Pea Ridge in March. His unit patrolled across northern Arkansas and southern MO until it was assigned to KY for the last half of 1863. The troops then moved into Mississippi and the 10-week Red River campaign. They occupied Alexandria, LA, in April and May before moving to Vicksburg and Memphis; Martin mustered out in St. Louis.

He first married Martha Tennessee "Cynthia" McConnell (May 7, 1844-Jan. 14, 1913), daughter of Alexander and Mary D. Wood McConnell and granddaughter of Walter and Mary Elizabeth "Polly" Parker McConnell, on Oct. 8, 1865. The couple lived on an 80-acre farm northwest of modern Nixa that, by 1870, had 20 acres in cultivation. Martin mainly raised corn and wheat as well as a few hogs and milk cows.

In his early years, this war veteran was a rising star in county politics, following in his father's footsteps. Martin was elected sheriff of Christian County in 1870 but the office was declared vacated in April 1872. The Radical Republican governor had given circuit courts unparalleled powers to remove local officials when they couldn't control disorder, and Martin's alcoholism became a growing problem in his early 30s.

The office of sheriff at the time included ex-officio duties as county tax collector – a combination of responsibilities that extended back to early days in England. In 1872, the state sought to collect against the bond posted on behalf of Martin as sheriff and collector, which included security by his father, brother Irvin, cousin William Carroll Edwards, brother-in-law John W. McConnell, apparently George M. Ray (later county assessor) and a Faught. In 1872, Martin further was charged with failing to turn over funds to the county treasurer and a year later with fraud related to his actions as sheriff.

Martin and Martha were separated in February 1876, and she filed for divorce later that year. Descendants recall that Martin drank and gambled and, after Martha caught him with another woman, she filed for divorce.

The handwritten divorce petition, drafted by a local lawyer, contains the allegations (marked out but legible) that "on sundry occasions, (Martin) cursed the plaintiff and used offensive language in her presence and by calling her a damned liar. She further stated that defendant is addicted to habitual drunkenness and that he has been so addicted to habitual drunkenness for more than one year." Martha complained that Martin had "wholly refused and neglected" to support her and the two children.

Martha asked for custody of her children — Homer Mordecai "Mord" Edwards, 9, and Dora, 7 — because, she alleged, Martin's alcoholism had made him unfit to care for the children. She also sought the restoration of her maiden name, which was granted. She appears as Martha McConnell with the children as Edwardses in 1880, living with her brother William C. and his wife Lydia Ollie Kerr McConnell.

Martha took the couple's 80-acre farm, which now would lie in northwest Nixa, as part of the settlement.

Martha, using the name McConnell, remarried to Andrew Anderson Pendleton (March 4, 1821-March 7, 1910), the member of a large landowning family in Porter and Finley Townships, in 1889. The couple was living on a Porter Township farm in 1900. In 1910 Martha was living with her daughter Dora Aven after Andrew died.

After his divorce, Martin moved into the home of Homer G. and Lucy A. Gilmore next door to father James W. Edwards; Martin, in 1880, worked at the Riverdale mill that James W. had owned, but control had passed into Gilmore's hands. Martin remained active in the community and headed the county grand jury in the early 1880s. But he is still remembered by descendants as "an old drunk."

Living nearby in 1880 was his sister-in-law Jane, then separated from brother Irvin.

In 1879, Jane had a son, William Holman or "Willie" who may have been the son of Martin — and is so attributed in at least one family genealogy. It is possible that Jane and Martin had been involved for several years, but the McConnell and Edwards families didn't risk the scandal of citing that relationship in Martha's public divorce papers. (The father of Willie Edwards also could have been one of several millhands at Riverdale.)

Martin and Jane married after her divorce was final from Irvin c. 1885, although the record is not found in Christian Co. The couple moved to Sherman, TX; Jane never mentioned him in talks with her grandchildren in Missouri.

Jane and Martin had one more child, Roscoe, in TX. Jane died in 1936, when she was age 91, at the home of Roscoe and Pearl Edwards in Sherman. When granddaughter Reba Edwards Baumberger visited in 1928, Jane complained persistently about Pearl's cruel treatment of her; but Reba said Pearl was simply overwhelmed by the extra duties, often washing both in the morning and evening because she did not have enough linens to deal with the incontinent Jane.

Martin and Jane are buried in Shannon Cemetery at Sherman.[17]

By Jane Herndon, Martin had two attributed sons:

-- William Holman Edwards (1879, Nixa-1975, Sherman, TX) married Lena Cherry (Nov. 11, 1882-September 1941, Sherman, Grayson Co., TX).

-- Roscoe Herndon Edwards (1885, Nixa-1960, Sherman, TX) married Pearl McDaniel (July 18, 1885-April 1957, Sherman, TX). 

A son by his first marriage repeated many of Martin's mistakes or at least inherited his illness. Homer Mordecai Edwards, known as Mord (Feb. 10, 1867-March 27, 1940), moved with his father  and aunt-stepmother to Sherman, Grayson Co., TX where in 1890 he married Erma or Enner Pauline Moore, a native of Mississippi. The couple had at least nine children: Pearl Flora (1891-1969, m. Duke); Herschel E. (January 1894); Clemmie or Clementine (1896, Nixa-1993, Wichita, m. Clarence Drake Sanders and Peter Stroberg); Harrol or Harold Glenn (1899-1985, m. Lillie Price);  Britton T.; Russell Lowell; Nora Tennessee (m. Arthur Knox and Joseph M. Park); Carrie Modean (1910-1998, m. Walter Wesley Stephenson); and Vallie (m. Ennis Leverette).

After their marriage, Mord brought his wife back to MO by 1896.

A prominent Republican with close connections to the courthouse crowd, Mord was appointed a federal census taker in the spring of 1900 for Porter and Logan Townships. Such jobs paid cash wages far above the prevailing level in the county and were prized. After that appointment, a Nixa correspondent of the Ozark newspapers began reporting each week that a prominent citizen and farmer was acting strangely and had been seen outrageously drunk in town; the reporter publicly threatened to expose the man.

On July 30, 1900, the Christian Co. Court — which had jurisdiction over such matters then — ordered Mord Edwards taken to Nevada State Hospital, then known as a state lunatic asylum, by Sheriff D.R. Walker. Dr. G.P.S. "Shack" Brown, married to Mord's cousin Eva Edwards, was paid $10 for the examination.

Either before or during his hospitalization, Enner Pauline left Missouri and moved back to her family in Texas. Martha McConnell Pendleton told her son that she would give him a farm if he stopped drinking, gambling and otherwise parroting his father’s behavior. Otherwise, she would give the farm to his estranged wife.

Upon his release, Mord went to Caney, OK where he rejoined Enner Pauline. He returned on occasion, including August 1905, when the Ozark newspaper reported that he and County Recorder of Deeds Frank Edwards, his cousin, had been on a picnic to Bengal (MO), a tiny and forgotten Christian Co. village.

Martin’s fourth child, daughter Dora Ica Edwards (March 8, 1869-Jan. 4, 1947), married William A. Aven of Nixa on Sept. 27, 1885, and the couple farmed several places in Porter Township. William (April 3, 1868-March 27, 1960) was the son of John Duff Aven and Sarah Rose.  William and Dora had at least eight children: Claude Elmer (August 1886-March 17, 1960, m. Bessie McCroskey), Elsie (September 1888), Virgie M. (Feb. 15, 1891-Feb. 2 1893), Florence (September 1893), Iva (March 1896), Mattie (1900), Merle (Dec. 1, 1902-Dec. 25, 1990) and Archie (1907, m. Ward).

Merle married George "Buster" Owen of Nixa and had two children: Georgia (m. Lowell Sanders of Nixa); and Leon, who had two children, Larry Owen of St. Louis and Lana Gordon of Nixa.

Dora Edwards Aven, her mother and most of her family are buried at Payne Cemetery.