Ok My Head is Starting to Spin as I Look up the Ancestors...

If you recall a few weeks ago me and my mom made a cemetery visit. We were looking for some folks, my Granny Wallace's people. She was related to the Nerrens and Albritions. I found this guy George Massingill and have been researching him. Let me see if I can tell this story and get it straight because sometimes looking way back it can get confusing. 

One thing we know for sure is that Granny was kin to the Massingills. Her great Grandfather Elam Albrition married Mary and possibly Ruth Massingill. It's hard to tell they may have been the same person or sisters. Their birth dates are close and we do have a record of Mary filing at the Angelia County Courthouse for Elam's Confederate pension. The Father of this or these persons was John Massingill. His Father was the person under this headstone George Massingill who was Granny's great great great grandfather on her mother's side. I think I have that right and here is what I have been able to find out about George. 

George served in the 3rd Tennessee Militia in the war of 1812 under General Nathaniel Green Taylor. These men were mustered in at Knoxville and marched to Mobile Al. serving as wagon  guards and road builders. The record I found shows that George was in "combat situations" at Mobile Bay and New (I thought I was the only one in the family to fight the battle of New Orleans) Orleans. A quick little research shows That the first battle of Mobile, an attempt to outflank New Orleans resulted in a British loss. The Battle of New Orleans then occurred and history tells it was after the treaty ending the war was signed and there was still a second battle of Mobile after this that resulted in a British win. George was apparently involved to some extent in these situations.  

In 1813, before all this took place George had married Hannah Gann. By 1816 she had enough of him for unknown reasons and filed for divorce requiring the stand in of an adult because she was under 21. The Friend's name incidentally was Pleasant Wallace. George never showed in court, the divorce went through but in 1822 filed a suit against Hannah and her new husband Moses Nelson to recover the cost of the divorce which totaled $12.90. There is no record of the money being recovered.

Records show that George and a new wife Polly were living in Hardin County in 1820 and by 1830 were in Henderson county. There they answer a call by Sam Houston for free land for permanent settlers to Texas and they and their 10 children joined a wagon train of 101 people "related by blood or marriage" and arrived in Nacogdoches Texas in 1837. George and his three sons Issac, John and Henry were each granted 1280 acres of land.  By 1840 George and Polly mover to the Walker Community (now Redland) in Angelina County and opened a  gristmill/sawmill on a creek four miles north of Lufkin. Following the death of Polly George lived with son John until his death in 1884. 

This gravestone is in the McKindree Cemetery off highway 103 east in Lufkin.  

After this cemetery visit my mom remembered the location of this old Albrition place nearby belonging to Giles who was the son of Elam. Giles Jr. was one of my dad's running buddies as young men. 

I do have a Wiley relative from my mother's side that was a vet of the War of 1812. His name is Alexander F. Wiley and I though I had a blog post on him but I can't seem to locate it. I was hoping to find if their paths ever crossed but I think I have had enough of the past tonight. There is a lot of War of 1812 info on troops and units and some interesting politics and subplots as well. I think when it comes to war there always is. I wonder how much these guys knew of the overall picture.