History of Union Parish Louisiana

Although many French and French-Canadian hunters and trappers traversed the region in search of game during the 1700s, none of them made what later became Union Parish their permanent home. Even after Jean Baptiste Filhiol founded Fort Miro (modern Monroe) as the Poste d'Ouachita headquarters in the mid-1780s, only a handful of European settlers made the piney woods to the northwest their permanent home prior to 1830. Many families undoubtedly settled in the region briefly before moving on to other locations, leaving no record of their stay. The list below gives the earliest documented settlers of what became Union Parish in 1839, including modern-day Union and northeastern Lincoln Parishes.

John Honeycutt, Sr. & John Honeycutt, Jr.

John Honeycutt, Sr. arrived in the Bayou d'Arbonne region of what is now northern Ouachita and southern Union Parishes in the early 1790s, the earliest recorded person of European descent to permanently settle in this area. For the first ten or twelve years after his arrival in the Ouachita Valley, the Honeycutts lived alone on the outskirts of the Ouachita Post, first under Spanish rule and then American. Honeycutt obtained several Spanish grants for land along Bayou d'Arbonne. In 1797, he sold one grant that included frontage on the bayou, and he then obtained a second Spanish grant for around 300 acres located a few miles inland, due west of the mouth of Bayou d'Arbonne. John Honeycutt, Sr. died sometime after 1820.

John Honeycutt's presumed son, John Honeycutt, Jr., was born in Tennessee about 1774, and he married Mary Feazel in 1814 in Ouachita Parish. In the late 1790s or early 1800s, John Honeycutt, Jr. received a grant from Spain for 528.92 acres of land in modern Union Parish one mile west of Bayou d'Arbonne, with Congress confirming his grant and that of his father in 1811. John and Mary apparently lived on his Spanish grant in the 1810s, but by the 1820s they had moved about five or six miles west and settled beside Mills Farmer, a few miles east of the site of modern Downsville. John and Mary Honeycutt lived there until the early 1850s, when they moved to Hunt County Texas. John died there on 24 March 1857, but Mary returned to Union Parish and lived there in 1860 [1].

John & Dorcas Stow

Both born in 1780 in South Carolina, the Stows arrived in the Ouachita Valley between 1808 and 1810 and settled on land located very close to the modern Union/Lincoln Parish line. In 1814, John Stow paid taxes on 25 horned cattle, but he did not obtain a clear title to the land on which he settled until 1823. John and Dorcas Stow lived on their Pine Hills farm until their deaths, with Dorcas' occuring on 8 November 1856 and John's on 28 July 1861. Both were buried in the family cemetery on their farm, along with several of their children [2]. The other Stow males who lived in the region between about 1814 and the 1830s, Ferdinand W. Stow, Hardy Stow, and Derrel B. Stow, are probably John's brothers, but we have no documentation of this [3].

Mills Farmer & Susannah Wood

Farmer arrived between 1810 and 1812 and settled a few miles east of what later became the Town of Downsville in extreme southern Union Parish. He married Susannah Wood McGowan on 13 February 1812 in Ouachita Parish [4]. In late 1814, he joined a company of soldiers raised by William Wood (his father- or brother-in-law), serving as the unit's sergeant. The men went south to help defend New Orleans against the British invasion, and saw service around Baton Rouge and New Orleans before returning home [5]. Although he practically lived isolated in a wilderness, Farmer somehow managed to educate his children well, for his eldest son grew up to become a Pine Hills justice of the peace, serve two terms in the Louisiana Legislature, and the lieutenant governor [6]. Mills Farmer lived on his Pine Hills plantation until his death in 1834. After the creation of Union Parish in 1839, the police jury named the parish seat "Farmerville" in Farmer's honor.

The Colvins & Hueys

Revolutionary War veteran James Huey, Sr., together with his son-in-law Daniel Colvin and their families, left Chester District South Carolina on 1 January 1812 headed towards the Ouachita Valley of north Louisiana [7]. There they appealed to the Georgia Governor for passports to travel along the Federal Road through the Creek Nation in present-day Alabama on their journey. The Georgia government approved the passports on 15 January 1812, and the families went on towards Louisiana [8]. They passed through the Creek Nation a mere eighteen months prior to the 1813–1814 Creek War that began with the massacre at Fort Mims, Alabama on 30 August 1813. Daniel Colvin and James Huey, Sr. settled near what is now Vienna, the region that soon became known as the Upper Pine Hills. This area remained in Ouachita Parish until the creation of Union Parish in 1839, then became Jackson Parish in 1845, and it was put into Lincoln Parish in 1873. Daniel's son, Jeptha Colvin, opened the first United States Post Office in the region on 24 March 1838, called Colvin's Post Office. The name was changed to Vienna in 1850 [9]. James Huey, Sr. acquired land very soon after arriving in the Pine Hills, but the location of his land and how he obtained it are unclear [10]. James Huey, Sr. lived in the Upper Pine Hills with his sons, James Huey, Jr. and John Huey. He applied for a pension in 1838 at the age of 96 years of age, shortly before his death [11].

William Liles & Letitia Wood

Along with Daniel Colvin and James Huey, William Liles (Lyles) and his wife Letitia Wood also lived in Chester District South Carolina in 1810. Liles moved to the Ouachita Valley between 1810 and 1814, either before or after the Colvin/Huey party migration. His son, John Liles, enlisted in the same Louisiana Militia company from north Louisiana as Mills Farmer. William and Letitia separated sometime prior to 19 July 1825, when she petitioned the Ouachita Parish Court that her husband had sold their home, took her to the house of her children by her first marriage to Mr. Wood, and indicated no intention of providing her with any future means of support [12]. William Liles died between 1825 and 12 October 1833, when his children agreed for Letitia to sell William's slaves. John Liles, born in the 1790s, apparently did not marry. His mother Letitia lived with him in 1830 and 1840 in the Jackson Parish portion of the Pine Hills, but they disappear after 1840 [13].

William Honeycutt & John Honeycutt

Between 1810 and 1814, a third John Honeycutt appeared in the Ouachita Valley and settled near John Honeycutt, Sr. and John Honeycutt, Jr. He is undoubtedly the John Honeycutt who lived on the d'Arbonne and paid 1814 taxes on one slave, and lived near the other two John Honeycutts in 1820 [14]. This John Honeycutt died between 1820 and 1824, leaving one heir, James Honeycutt, who claimed his father's 20 head of cattle and 12 hogs, a sorrell mare, one stud horse, and one mare. Between 1814 and 1820, this John's brother, William Honeycutt, followed him to the Pine Hills. William Honeycutt married Seneathea and had several children, including a daughter, Dicey, who married Shepherd Wood, son of War of 1812 veteran Captain William Wood, and brother-in-law to Mills Farmer. William Honeycutt lived in the Pine Hills just south of the modern Union Parish line until his death after 1850. The relationship of brothers William and John Honeycutt to John Honeycutt, Sr. and Jr. remains unclear [15].

Johannes Gorge (George) Feazel

Feazel arrived in Ouachita Parish in early 1814 and settled near the Honeycutts in the Pine Hills neighborhood along Bayou d'Arbonne in the southern portion of modern Union Parish. Soon after his arrival in the region, Feazel's daughter Mary married John Honeycutt, Jr. In 1822, George Feazel traveled from north Louisiana to Texas, where he had a meeting with Stephen F. Austin. To prepare letters of introduction to Mr. Austin, Feazel had two Ouachita Parish judges write him letters of reference. One judge stated that Feazel had lived in the region for the past eight years and

"...has conducted himself as an honest industrious citizen... Mr. Feazle being about to visit the Province of Texas for the purpose of making arrangements to move his family. I recommend Mr. Feazle as a good industrious farmer and deserving the patronage of the government of this said province..."

Although Feazel made the trip to Texas and met Mr. Austin, he decided to not settle there and soon returned to north Louisiana [16]. In 1824, Feazel's son John married Christina Ferguson, the daughter of Revolutionary War soldier John Ferguson, who arrived in what is now southern Union Parish in 1821 from Mississippi. George Feazel died in the Pine Hills about 1834 [17].

Abraham Pipes

Reportedly born about 1786 in what is now Mississippi, Abraham Pipes moved to the Ouachita Valley area by 1814. He enlisted in the same Louisiana Militia company in which Mills Farmer and John Liles served in anticipation of the British invasion of south Louisiana. Abraham Pipes settled in the Upper Pine Hills, a short distance east of Vienna, near the Colvins and John Stow [18].

John Hancock

Born about 1788 in South Carolina, John Hancock moved into the Ouachita Valley between 1814 and 1820. Hancock settled in the Pine Hills near Daniel Colvin and John Stow, in the region just south of the modern Union Parish line that was put into Union Parish in 1839, Jackson Parish in 1845, and Lincoln Parish in 1873. In November 1832, John Hancock served as a deacon of the Pine Hills Baptist Church. He and his wife Mary were listed in Jackson Parish in 1850, and they died sometimes after that [19].

Elders James Brinson & Arthur McFarland, Alexander F. Nelson, and Christopher Koonce

Baptist minister James Brinson and his wife Patience Elizabeth Purser, together with their daughter Holland and her husband Arthur McFarland, arrived in the Upper Pine Hills shortly before 1820 from Wilson County Tennessee. Accompanying them were Brinson's brother-in-law, Alexander F. Nelson, and son-in-law, Christopher Koonce. Together with the Honeycutts and Farmers, these Tennessee newcomers founded the Pine Hills Baptist Church in the Upper Pine Hills, in the vicinity of modern Vienna and Downsville. Brinson preached the first documented Baptist sermons in the Ouachita Valley, and he ordained his son-in-law, Arthur McFarland, soon after arriving in Louisiana. Brinson established churches across northwestern Louisiana in the 1820s, including many in modern Claiborne and Webster Parishes. In addition, he became active in the Louisiana Baptist Association in the early 1820s after his church joined that body. The delegates elected him as the moderator of the 1827 Associational Meeting held near Minden at the Black Lake Church that Brinson had helped to found a few years earlier. When they first arrived in Louisiana from Tennessee, Brinson, McFarland, Nelson, and Koonce first settled in the Upper Pine Hills, on the upper reaches of the waters of Bayou d'Arbonne near Vienna and Downsville. By 1826, Brinson had temporarily moved to Natchitoches Parish, leaving McFarland in Ouachita. By 1830, Brinson, McFarland, Nelson, and Koonce moved into the far reaches of Bayou d'Arbonne into Claiborne Parish, where Brinson died on 5 September 1831. In November 1832, Arthur McFarland, Haywood Alford, and John Impson served as ministers of Pine Hills Baptist Church. McFarland continued his ministry in Claiborne Parish until sometime after 1860 [20].

Elder John Impson

John Impson arrived in the Pine Hills just before 1820 and joined the Pine Hills Baptist Church. He and James Brinson preached across northwest Louisiana, including churches located near Minden in modern Webster Parish, and several in Claiborne Parish. In March 1826, Impson helped to constitute the Catahoula Church, the first Baptist Church in that portion of the state. Impson helped constitute Bethel Church in Caldwell Parish on 25 April 1831, and then helped to constitute the Concord Baptist Association in the Ouachita Valley. When the association held its first meeting at the Pine Hills Baptist Church in November 1832, and they chose Elder John Impson as moderator. Impson settled in the Pine Hills on land that adjoined the plantations of Mills Farmer and John Honeycutt, just east of modern Downsville in what is now southern Union Parish. On 1 October 1832, Impson purchased 40 acres of land at the Ouachita Land Office. He died shortly thereafter, for on 25 May 1833 his heirs sold his land to John Honeycutt for $300 [21].

John Ferguson, Richard Austin & William Austin

Born on the Roanoke River in Virginia on 30 September 1763, John Ferguson moved at an early age with his parents to Kershaw District South Carolina. In 1782, he served in the militia, fighting for the patriots during the American Revolution. After a few years in Kentucky, Ferguson moved to Warren and Amite Counties, Mississippi in late 1810 or 1811. On 18 October 1821, he sold his property in Amite County and moved to the Pine Hills along Bayou d'Arbonne, together with his daughter Joannah and her husband Richard Austin. The government rejected his 1833 pension application since he served less than six months. Ferguson remarried on 5 December 1841 in Union Parish and later moved back to Amite County Mississippi to live with his children. He died there on 26 December 1850 [22].

John Ferguson's daughter Joannah married Richard Austin on 5 January 1818 in Amite County Mississippi, and just a few days later, on 8 January 1818, Ferguson's daughter Polly married to William Austin. The brothers Richard and William travelled with their father-in-law to the Pine Hills in northern Louisiana. They lived along the branches of Bayou d'Arbonne in the 1820s and early 1830s, prior to the general opening of the land offices. Richard Austin died on 7 November 1835 leaving many descendents in what soon became Union Parish. It is unclear what became of William Austin [23].

Elder Lawrence Scarborough

Family tradition claims that Lawrence Scarborough witnessed the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, where he had gone to take supplies to his father, Major James Scarborough. Descendents claimed that his birth occurred on 22 October 1767, in Edgecombe County North Carolina. Scarborough immigrated in the latter 1780s to Georgia and lived in Burke and Bulloch Counties. He obtained a passport from the Georgia governor to travel through the Cherokee and Creek nations in October 1807, and he immigrated to Mississippi [24]. Scarborough settled in the Jefferson County region by 1809, and remained there until July 1820, when he distributed his property to his children. In the record, Scarborough stated that

"I intend to depart from this state and travel in other states, for a long time, and perhaps forever, and wish to make preparation for my children and step-children."

Scarborough distributed to them his land and improvements thereon, all horses, sheep, cattle, hogs, household furniture. He retained only one riding horse for his own use [25]. Scarborough remained in Mississippi through 1822, but soon afterwards crossed the Mississippi River and moved into north Louisiana. Although by then about fifty-five years of age, Lawrence traveled widely across north Louisiana and south Arkansas for the rest of his life. In the mid-1820s, Scarborough became the first white man to settle on Bayou Corney, in what is now northwestern Union Parish Louisiana. In 1829, he gave his last wife Sarah his preemption claim to his farm on Bayou Corney, plus one slave. He remained in good health into his 70s, and died on his farm on Bayou Corney on 1 October 1846 [26].

Lawrence Scarborough was a Baptist minister, and he preached in Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas. Little is known about his ministry in Georgia, although several Bulloch County judges certified to his good character in 1807, referring to him as "Reverend Laurence Scarborough". Scarborough was active in several Mississippi Baptist churches and associations between 1809 and 1822. Initially, Scarborough was regarded as one of Mississippi's leading ministers. When a group of Baptists from Opelousas, Louisiana petitioned the Mississippi Baptist Association, requesting assistance to ordain a minister, the association sent Scarborough to Opelousas to assist. In 1812, the Mississippi Association sent Scarborough back to Opelousas to ordain their minister and to constitute a Baptist church there [27].

Unfortunately, Lawrence Scarborough became embroiled in a scandal, one that may have prompted him to leave Mississippi for Louisiana in the early 1820s. After his second wife's death, he remarried to a widow, but the union was not harmonious, and so Scarborough and his wife separated. Soon afterwards, he married a young woman, without attempting to obtain a divorce from his living wife. According to a church historian writing in 1866, this action

"...brought down on him, not only the censure of the Church, but the indignation of the community, in consequence of which he precipitately left the country in disorder and settled in Northern Louisiana, west of the Washita river, where he soon commenced preaching among the Baptists in that region..."

Scarborough left Mississippi soon after 1822 and moved to the Pine Hills, then in Ouachita Parish Louisiana. He joined the Pine Hills Baptist Church located near modern Vienna and Downsville on 4 January 1827, and he then began an unusual Baptist ministry that attracted significant followers. Much of the population growth during the 1820s had occurred in modern Claiborne and Webster Parishes, and Scarborough preached at a number of churches in that region, including Black Lake Church near Minden. When the Mississippi churches that had excluded Scarborough learned he was preaching in Louisiana, they sent representatives to investigate. His Mississippi church excluded Scarborough from fellowship, but the Pine Hills Church took no action due to the support Scarborough had there and in the Black Lake Church. In fact, the Pine Hills investigating committee acquited Scarborough. The situation came before the Louisiana Baptist Association, which threatened to withdraw fellowship from the Pine Hills Church unless they excluded Scarborough, which the church did in 1830. Several members of Pine Hills Church and from Black Lake Church attempted to withdraw from those churches in support of Scarborough, but the churches excluded those members as well. Scarborough continued performing marriages and preaching in Claiborne Parish, but his ministry evolved into a Campbellite and anti-missionary one. At his death, his church in Claiborne Parish had well over sixty members [28].

Elder Haywood Alford

Haywood Alford lived in Burke County Georgia by 1806 and they remained there until shortly after 1820. He and his wife, Elizabeth, belonged to Bark Camp Baptist Church there, receiving their letters of dismission in December 1821. They moved west to Amite County Mississippi, where on 30 August 1822 they joined the Ebenezer Baptist Church by letter. The Alfords requested letter of dismission on 5 December 1823, with the church finally granting the letters on 30 July 1824. They moved to the Pine Hills in late 1824 or early 1825, where they joined the Pine Hills Baptist Church. Alford was ordained as a Baptist minister about this time, apparently upon his arrival in Louisiana, for by 1826 Alford, John Impson, and Arthur McFarland were listed as the three Baptist ministers living in Ouachita Parish. A Baptist historian wrote:

"He was a zealous and popular preacher, whose praise was in all the churches, if we may judge from the number of persons in that part of the State who bear his name. He was a successful evangelist" [29].

Haywood joined Brinson and Impson in constituting many of the first Baptist churches across north Louisiana. He served on the constituting presbytery for Bethel Church in Caldwell Parish on 25 April 1831, and on 22 February 1834, he helped to ordain a minister there. In 1830 or 1831, Alford helped to constitute Bayou Bartholomew Church near modern West Monroe, and served them as pastor for several years. Alford worked hard to promote the missionary movement among Baptists during their divisions with the Primitive Baptists. Haywood Alford's education and penmanship led to his serving as a census enumerator for Ouachita Parish for both 1830 and 1840; much of the finished version of these censuses is believed to be in his own writing. Haywood Alford sold his 592-acre plantation on 7 October 1841 and moved his family north into Union County Arkansas, where he died prior to 1850 [30].

John Ferby Ailes

John F. Ailes married on 4 August 1822 in Ouachita Parish to Mahala H. Andrews, the widow of Micajah Ratliff. They lived in the Pine Hills on Bayou d'Arbonne. Mahala apparently died by 1830, and in March 1833, John purchased the high ground along the banks of the Ouachita River at the mouth of Bayou d'Loutre, plus the ½-mile strip extending north from the Loutre's mouth. The property he purchased became the site of Port Union settlement. His purchase suggests that he may have opened a store of some sort there, but this is speculation. Ailes died on 2 April 1838 "...at his residence on Bayou Darbonne in the Pine Hills...", leaving two minor children [31].

Although they did not live in what became Union Parish, Jeremiah Gresham (Grisham) (c1764 – Sept 1858) and his family settled near the modern Union Parish line in northern Ouachita Parish between 1812 and 1814. They lived in the Lower Pine Hills along Bayou Choudrant, in what is now northwestern Ouachita Parish. Gresham had close ties with several Union Parish families, including the Hueys and Pipes. The Gresham and Huey families lived near each other in Chester District South Carolina, and Gresham apparently followed the James Huey and his son-in-law Daniel Colvin to the Ouachita Valley via Adams County Mississippi. In addition, Gresham's presumed daughter, Elizabeth Gresham, married in Mississippi on 7 July 1810 to Abraham Pipes, and they settled in what became Union Parish. The Greshams left numerous descendents in the region [32].

References

1. John Honeycutt did not live in the Ouachita Valley in 1790 (he was not listed on the census of the Ouachita Post), but his 1797 sale of land granted from Spain puts him there prior to 1795. References for the Spanish grants obtained by the Honeycutts:
   • Ouachita Parish Louisiana Conveyance Book Z, folio 46, Deed 68.
   • Lowrie, Walter and Walter S. Franklin, eds. American State Papers – Public Lands: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States, from the Second Session of the Eleventh to the Third Session of the Thirteenth Congress, Inclusive: Commencing November 27, 1809 and ending March 3, 1815, Volume II. Washington: Gales and Seaton, 1834, pp. 816, 818. The land granted to John Honeycutt, Sr. lay in Sections 5, 6, 7, and 8 of Township 18 North, Range 3 West, just a few miles south of the modern Union Parish line in northern Ouachita Parish and one mile due west of Bayou d'Arbonne. The 1813 survey indicates that his claim consisted of 308.53 acres, but the claim approved by Congress indicated that he only owned 270.8 acres. John Honeycutt, Jr.'s property lay in Sections 9, 10, 15, and 16 of Township 19 North, Range 2 East, some six or seven miles upstream from the grant of John Honeycutt, Sr.
   No known source proves conclusively that John Honeycutt, Sr. fathered John Honeycutt, Jr., but strong circumstantial evidence points to this connection. In 1810, John Honeycutt's household included only two males, one over 45 and one aged 26–45. Undoubtedly these were John Honeycutt, Sr. and Jr. John Honeycutt, Jr.'s age and place of birth come from the 1850 Union Parish Louisiana Census, household #474. Ouachita Parish Louisiana Marriage Book C, p. 62, gives the marriage of John "Hunnicutt" and Mary Feazel on 31 March 1814. On the 1860 Union Parish Census, Mary Honeycutt lived in the Marion Post Office region, household #1100.
2. Williams, E. Russ Jr. Spanish Poste d’Ouachita: The Ouachita Valley in Colonial Louisiana 1783 – 1804, and early American Statehood, 1804 – 1820. Monroe, Louisiana: Williams Genealogical Publications, 1995, pp. 286–287, gives the names of those who paid 1808 Ouachita Parish taxes, and John Stow is not listed. However, the 1810 Ouachita Parish Louisiana census enumerated John Stow on page 346. Stow's household included one male under 10, 1 male 16–26, 1 male 26–45, 2 females 10–16, 1 female 45 and over (probably a clerical error, for Dorcas was born in 1780 and would have then been 30 years old), and no slaves. In 1814, Stow paid taxes only on 25 horned cattle. Buried in the John Stow Family Cemetery, today in Lincoln Parish very near the Union Parish line, are:
   • Abraham Stow (2 Apr 1802–7 Nov 1829) "son of John and Dorcas Stow."
   • Talitha Cumi Anderson (5 Dec 1805–5 Feb 1830) "daughter of John and Dorcas Stow; Remember as you pass by, you must die." She was the wife of James Anderson.
   • Mary J. C. Roane (9 Feb 1811–26 July 1850) "daughter of John and Dorcas Stow."
3. Ferdinand W. Stow's purchase of property adjoining John's and his appearing two household away from John's on the 1830 census implies that he had a close family connection; Ferdinand was born 1790–1800 according to the census, probably making him too old for John's son. Williams, pp. 289–290, gives Hardy Stow as a soldier in the Louisiana Militia under Captain William Wood. Derrel B. Stow paid 1814 Ouachita Parish taxes on 240 acres of land valued at $1000. Derrel later moved to Union County Arkansas and lived there between the latter 1820s and 1858.
4. Farmer's marriage in February 1812 is proved by Ouachita Parish Louisiana Marriage Book B, p. 205. Susannah was a widow. Their residence is given by Tracts Book for what are now Union and Lincoln Parishes Louisiana, on file in the Clerk of Court's Office in Union Parish Courthouse in Farmerville, Louisiana, and the Lincoln Parish Courthouse in Ruston, Louisiana.
5. Williams, pp. 289–290, contains a description of the company from Ouachita Parish formed in late 1814 to fight the British.
6. Union Parish Louisiana Police Jury Book 1 shows that Justice of the Peace William W. Farmer certified the election of one of the earliest police jurors for the new Parish of Union in May 1839. William Wood Farmer (27 Apr 1813–29 Oct 1854) became a successful lawyer and surveyor, often performing surveying work for the United States government. After serving two terms in the Louisiana Legislature, William W. Farmer was elected as the lieutenant governor on the Democratic ticket with Governor Paul Octave Hebert. While on a trip to New Orleans to collect surveying debts from the United States government, Farmer contracted yellow fever and died. He was first interred in the Protestant Girod Street Cemetery in New Orleans, but a joint legislative committee appointed 15 January 1855 authorized the removal of his remains to the Farmerville City Cemetery.
7. Huey, James Sr. Revolutionary War Pension Application #S31148, for service in the State of South Carolina, National Archives, Washington, DC. Huey made his application on 19 April 1838, stating that he was ninety-six years of age, was born in Augusta County Virginia, moved at the age of fourteen years to Chester County South Carolina and that he

   "...remained in Chester until he started for the Parish of Ouachita State of Louisiana which was on the first day of January 1812 and arrived in the Parish of Ouachita some time in the month of April 1812 where this deponent has resided ever since and now resides..."

Bryan, Mary G. Passports Issued by Governors of Georgia, 1810–1820. Arlington, Virginia: The National Genealogical Society, 1965, p. 91.

Records of Appointment of Postmasters, 1832–September 30, 1971, located in the National Archives, identifed as Record Group 28, Microfilm Publication M841, Reels #51 & 52. See this transcription of the information on Colvin's Post Office.

Williams, Spanish Poste d’Ouachita, pp. 352 & 361, shows that James Huey, Sr. paid 1814 Ouachita Parish taxes on 20 acres of third quality land valued at $10 and 10 slaves, whereas James Huey, Jr. paid taxes on one slave. The location of James Sr.'s 1814 land remains unclear, but he apparently purchase a portion of another person's grant from Spain.

The 1820 Ouachita Parish Census shows James Huey, Sr., James Huey, Jr., and John Huey on page 108. James Huey, Jr. purchased property in Jackson Parish (Section 13, T17N, R1W) on 2 September 1826 (Ouachita Land Office Cash Entry #47). James Huey, Sr. married Sarah Mason, and after her death, on 23 January 1822, their children distributed among themselves the personal estate of James Huey, Sr. (Ouachita Parish Conveyance Book F, pp. 124–125; Mills Farmer served as one witness to this transaction. On 14 November 1835, James Huey wrote a will. The will was filed in Ouachita Parish Succession #A-571, but there was no date of probate to indicate exactly when James Huey, Sr. died. He apparently died in 1838 or 1839, prior to the creation of Union Parish.

Ouachita Parish District Court Case #432: Letitia Liles vs. William Liles, Petition for Separation. This document is quoted in Williams, E. Russ., Jr. Encyclopedia of Individuals and Founding Families of the Ouachita Valley of Louisiana From 1785 to 1850: Organized into Family Groups with Miscellaneous Materials on Historical Events, Places, and Other Important Topics, Part Two L – O, Williams Genealogical and Historical Publications, Monroe, Louisiana, 1997, p. 64.

Ouachita Parish Louisiana Conveyance Book H, p. 62. On 12 October 1833, Sarah Liles and her husband Thomas Stapleton, John Liles, and Nancy Liles, widow of Adam Barnes, all heirs of William Liles, "...late of the parish, deceased, recognize the right of Letitia Liles to convey property..." John's household on the 1830 and 1840 Ouachita Parish censuses includes no young children and no female that could be John's wife. There was, however, an older female living in his household in both years that is probably Letitia. William's daughter Sarah married Thomas Stapleton on 27 March 1824 (Ouachita Parish Marriage Book F, p. 340). Nancy Lyles McCowen married Adam Barnes on 25 September 1824 (Ouachita Parish Marriage Book F, p. 364). In both 1830 and 1840, John Liles lived in the portion of Ouachita Parish that later became Jackson Parish; Liles purchased land there (Section 33, T16N, R1W) on 3 June 1829 and on January 21 and February 4, 1834 (Ouachita Land Office Cashy Entries #103, 1506, 1516).

Williams, Spanish Poste d’Ouachita, pp. 352, 361, shows Jno. Hunicutt (Derbonne) paid 1814 Ouachita Parish taxes of $1.00 on one slave. John Honeycutt, Senior paid taxes on 2 slaves and 20 horses, which helps distinguish the three John Honeycutts on the 1820 Ouachita Parish census (page 113).

William Honeycutt was listed with the three John Honeycutts on the 1820 Ouachita Parish census. John Honeycutt's estate comes from Ouachita Parish Conveyance Book F, p. 393, which indicates that William and John had sisters Lydia who married Daniel White, and Massey, who married Daniel Burkett. The record was witnessed by John Honeycutt, Jr. and Agnes Honeycutt. Presumably, this Agnes was John's widow, but the precise identity of John Honeycutt, Jr. is unclear. He is probably the son of William Honeycutt who died in May 1838 (Ouachita Parish Succession #A-548; in this petition, William Honeycutt reported the death of his son) rather than the orginal man by this name in the Ouachita Valley, the John Honeycutt, Jr. who arrived in the early 1790s with his father, John Honeycutt, Sr. Ouachita Parish Succession #A-547 gives more information on John Honeycutt's estate (the John who died in the early 1820s); John Honeycutt, Jr. served as an appraiser of the estate. The children of William Honeycutt come from Ouachita Parish Succession #A-550, which is a petition filed by William Honeycutt stating that his wife Sena died and naming her heirs. According to the 1850 Ouachita Parish Mortality Schedule, William's wife, "Seneathea", was born about 1785 in South Carolina and died in December 1849 of unknown causes. William, also born about 1785, presumably died after 1850 in Ouachita Parish.

George Feazel obtained a Certificate of Character in 1822 as he prepared to leave Ouachita Parish and moved his family to Texas. The certificate, signed by two Ouachita Parish judges, stated that he had lived in the parish for the past eight years. It is today found in the Austin Papers, University of Texas Library, Austin, Texas. A transcription is available. Feazel did not move his family to Texas for long, as his son John married Christina Ferguson in Ouachita Parish on 17 June 1824 (Ouachita Parish Marriage Book F, p. 340).

The son of Revolutionary War soldier Michael Feazel, George lived in Virginia during his childhood. Although too young to see active service during the Revolution, he did furnish beef to the Continental Army. Feazel married Margaret Pear (Pierce) on 13 January 1790 in Shenandoah County Virginia, and within a few years they had moved to Hawkins County Tennessee. In 1799, Feazel sold his farm and returned to Virginia, possibly due to his father's death a few years earlier. George Feazel cannot be documented in either Virginia or elsewhere for the period 1807–1812, but in 1822 a Ouachita Parish judge swore that Feazel had arrived in the Ouachita Valley in 1814. Information on George Feazel comes from a descendent, John N. Feazell.

Both the 1850 and 1860 censuses indicate that Abraham Pipes was born in Mississippi. Very few white families lived in Mississippi in the 1786–1789 period, which was the range of his birth given by those censuses. Pipes' military service comes from his Bounty Land Application File, with the information in that file also available in Williams, Spanish Poste d’Ouachita, pp. 268, 289–290, Pipes and his wife, Elizabeth Gresham Pipes (c1793–after 1860) lived near John Stow in modern Lincoln Parish, a few miles east of Vienna and south of the modern Union/Lincoln Parish line. His residence is given by Ouachita Land Office Cash Entries #2141, 2142, 2143, as well as the 1838 Ouachita Parish Tax Assessment. Both Abraham and Elizabeth died after 1860.

Hancock's age, birthplace, and the name of his wife come from the 1850 Jackson Parish Louisiana Federal Census, household #350. Hancock lived near the other Pine Hills residents in Ouachita Parish in 1820 and 1830, in Claiborne Parish in 1840, and in Jackson Parish in 1850. The location of his farm comes from the government property he purchased in 1835, proved by the Ouachita Land Office Cash Entries #1159, 1987, 1988, and 2121.

Paxton, Rev. W. E. A History of the Baptists of Louisiana from the Earliest Times to the Present. St. Louis, Missouri: C. R. Barns Publishing Co., 1888, pp. 177–179, 184, 238–239, 244, 515. Harris, D. W. and B. M. Hulse. The History of Claiborne Parish Louisiana. New Orleans: W. B. Stansbury & Co. Press, 1886, pp. 132–134. Williams, Encyclopedia of Individuals and Founding Families of the Ouachita Valley of Louisiana , pp. 95–96. Paxton stated that this group settled in the Upper Pine Hills, and they were listed on the 1820 Ouachita Parish census next to other known Pine Hills residents. On 11 June 1825, Brinson, Christopher Koonce, Patience Brinson, Polly Koonce, and a few others constituted the Providence Baptist Church located a short distance south of Athens in Claiborne Parish. Brinson, Haywood Alford, and Arthur McFarland served Providence as pastors. About the same time, Brinson and McFarland helped to constitute Black Lake Church near modern Minden. Between 1826 and 1830, this extended family moved further west into Claiborne Parish, where they were all listed in adjoining households on the 1830 census. In 1850, Arthur McFarland (c1792–after 1860) and his wife Holland Brinson (c1795–after 1850) lived in Claiborne Parish with their children and her mother, Patience Brinson (c1771–4 Oct 1850). Arthur and Holland still lived in Claiborne with their family in 1860, but they were not listed in 1870. Williams' work gives more family details: James Brinson (c1761–5 Sept 1831) married in Craven County North Carolina on 14 April 1783 to Patience Elizabeth Purser, daughter of Philip Purser. The Brinsons moved about 1794 to Sumter County Tennessee, where he helped petition for the creation of Wilson County in 1799. Patience was buried in the Brinson Family Cemetery in Athens, Claiborne Parish.

Paxton, pp. 238–240, 244, 247, 249. Impson's household was enumerated on the 1820 and 1830 Ouachita Parish censuses. The 1830 census indicates that he and his wife were born between 1760 and 1770. Impson's land purchase comes from Ouachita Land Office Cashy Entry #859 for the SE¼ of NW¼ of Section 22, T19N, R1E, for 40.04 acres for $50.05. Some six months later, Leticia Impson, Josiah Impson, John Neely, William Impson, and Thomas Impson, all of Ouachita Parish, sold this 40 acres to John Honeycutt, Snr. for $300 (Ouachita Parish Conveyance Book H, p. 34).

Williams, Encyclopedia of Individuals and Founding Families of the Ouachita Valley of Louisiana , pp. 270–271, gives information on John Ferguson's children. Other information comes from Revolutionary War Pension Application R3504, for service by John Ferguson in South Carolina. Ferguson's 1821 land sale is recorded in Amite County Mississippi Deed Book 1, p. 179. Ferguson's first wife died by 1840, and remarried on 6 December 1841 to Mrs. Mary S. Cason (Union Parish Marriage Book M, p. 13.

Amite County Mississippi Marriage Book A, p. 308 and Ouachita Parish Probate Book E, p. 427. For more information, see Williams, Encyclopedia of Individuals and Founding Families of the Ouachita Valley of Louisiana , p. 27. Censuses prove that Richard Austin's children were born in Louisiana about 1821 and 1825. The date of William Austin's migration to the Pine Hills is more uncertain, but he did arrive by 1830.

Scarborough, Jewel Davis. Southern Kith and Kin: A Record of My Children's Ancestors; Major James Scarborough: His Ancestors and Descendants, Volume 3. Abilene, Texas: Abilene Printing Company, 1957, pp. 81–113; Bryan, Mary G. Passports Issued by Governors of Georgia, 1810–1820. Arlington, Virginia: The National Genealogical Society, 1965, pp. 21, 45.

Jefferson County Mississippi Deed Book A, p. 131, dated 28 July 1820, gives the record of Lawrence Scarborough transferring his property via a deed of trust for the benefit of his children. Scarborough named his son-in-law, Bryan Gardner, husband of Zillah Ann Scarborough, and Gardner's father, Ashel Gardner, as trustees to fulfill the provisions of the deed.

Scarborough's settlement on Bayou Corney comes from Union Parish Louisiana Civil Suit #124-D, "Lawrence Scarborough to Sarah Scarborough, wife", and also Ouachita Land Office Cash Entries #5863, 5072, and 7170 dated April 15 and November 4, 1839, and 27 April 1841. Scarborough was listed on p. 143 of the 1830 Union County Arkansaw Territory Census, where his sons Silas and John lived. Scarborough's death and children are proved by Union Parish Louisiana Succession Book A-3, pp. 99–101.

Jones, Rev. John G. A Concise History of Introduction of Protestantism into Mississippi and the Southwest. St. Louis: P. M. Pinckard, 1866, pp. 53–54.

Jones, pp. 63–65; Paxton, p. 34, 142, 1552, 180, 183, 516; Harris and Hulse, pp. 141–144. Jones and Paxton give scathing condemnations of Scarborough's actions in regard to his separation from his wife and remarriage to Sarah Conn without obtaining a divorce. Jones calls him a "fallen" and "unworthy" minister who "committed a blunder that overthrew him completely in this country." Rev. J. B. Davis wrote the article in the Harris and Hulse work, and it had a very different tone than Jones and Paxton; Davis wrote as if Scarborough was exonerated of his charges and greatly admired by many Claiborne Parish citizens. Scarborough, p. 88–89 gives the record of Lawrence Scarborough as a member of the Pine Hills Church, quoting from Union County Arkansas marriage records, which give numerous marriages performed by Scarborough.

Paxton, pp. 151, 177–178, 239. At their associational meeting at Cheneyville on Bayou Boeuf on 24 September 1825, the Louisiana Baptist Association appointed Alford and Impson to serve on a committee to collect funds for an itinerate missionary. The 1826 meeting listed Alford, Impson, and McFarland as Ouachita Parish ministers.

Williams, Encyclopedia of Individuals and Founding Families of the Ouachita Valley of Louisiana, pp. 3–7. Details about Alford's ministry come from Paxton, pp. 244, 246, 249–250, and 252. See the 1830 and 1840 Ouachita Parish censuses and 1850 Union County Arkansas census, which indicates that Elizabeth Alford was born about 1780. Alford's sale of his Ouachita Parish plantation occurred on 7 October 1841, recorded in Ouachita Parish Conveyance Book I, p. 654.

Ouachita Parish Conveyance Book F, p. 444 gives Ailes' marriage. Williams, Encyclopedia of Individuals and Founding Families of the Ouachita Valley of Louisiana , pp. 19–25, gives the 1838 Ouachita Parish Tax Assessment. This shows Ailes owning 528 acres of land and three town lots, all worth $828, situated along Bayou d'Arbonne. He also owned 121 acres on the Ouachita River, apparently that at Port Union. It is unclear where Ailes' property on Bayou d'Arbonne lay. Ouachita Land Office Cash Entries #1164 and 1165 give Ailes' government purchases on 11 March 1833. His death date comes from Ouachita Parish Succession #A-103. Nothing is known of Ailes' son, James Thomas Ailes, but his daughter, Mary L. Ailes, married in Ouachita Parish on 9 November 1843 to Richard W. Lovett (Ouachita Parish Marriage Book A, p. 230).

Williams, Spanish Poste d’Ouachita, pp. 289, 351, 359, 364 shows that Jeremiah and John Gresham paid Ouachita Parish taxes in 1814, Jeremiah on one slave and 124 acres of land valued at $150, and John on 25 horned cattle. Between January and April 1815, Jeremiah's sons John and James served in Captain William Wood's company formed to defend Louisiana against the British invasion. For a detailed analysis of the Jeremiah Gresham family, see Williams, E. Russ., Jr. Encyclopedia of Individuals and Founding Families of the Ouachita Valley of Louisiana From 1785 to 1850: Organized into Family Groups with Miscellaneous Materials on Historical Events, Places, and Other Important Topics, Part One A – K, Williams Genealogical and Historical Publications, Monroe, Louisiana, 1996, pp. 354–356.

Timothy D. Hudson researched and wrote this history of the Earliest European Settlers of
Union Parish and submitted it to the Louisiana USGenWeb Project.

To read about the early history of Union Parish, go to:
Early Union Parish History

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This page was last updated on 27 July 2008.

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