Monday, June 29, 2015

The Youth of American Pioneers: Cousin Sam Brasher as an Example

The Mobile REGISTER on 23 June 1868 printed this little notice:

Samuel Brasher, of Columbiana, died on the 12th, inst., in his 66th year. He was probably the oldest resident of Shelby county, where he settled in 1817.

Shelby County Guide, Thursday, June 18, 1868
It is our painful duty to record the death of Mr. Samuel Brasher, of this place, who died on Friday last, the 12th instant, in the 66th year of his age. He was, perhaps, the oldest citizen in the county, having moved to it in 1817, and merchandized in this place over thirty years. He leaves a family and a large circle of friends to mourn his loss.
 


That part of Alabama had just been opened in 1817. Less than a decade earlier Madison had sent soldiers from Fort Hampton to burn out the Sims Settlement in what became Lauderdale County, Alabama.

When the ox-drawn Richardson wagon train of 150 people from Moore Co. NC arrived in Lauderdale County around 1822 they had with them the matriarch, the patriarch having died along the way, near Knoxville. In this case, some had gone before to prepare the way, so that old folks could be brought. Did that not happen in Shelby County?

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