THOMAS FRANKLIN BAZZELL'S ACCOUNT BOOK
With Notations from 1880 to 1902
Bazzell
Pond Area, Jackson County, Florida
Annotated,
with Family History
By
Randy T. Scott
Frank's
Great-Grandson
All
Rights Reserved
February 18,
2000
T. Frank Bazzell married his beloved
Sarah Jane Coonrod on this February 18th date in 1881. He proudly states this
on the opening page of his book. They would stay married, with seven children,
until his untimely death, June 28, 1899. He was guiding a raft of logs down the
river to Apalachicola when he contacted malaria.
Picture of
Sarah and T. Frank Bazzell with Marriage Record and Map of Store, Cemetery and
Homeplace
The Old Bazzell Account Book
Cover and examples of hand writing
The Bazzell Account Book
Index to Bazzell Account
Book
Lineage of Person's in
Bazzell Account Book - Complied by Randy T Scott 1985-1986
He was a farmer of crops and livestock as
were most other good folk in Jackson County. He was unique in another way in
that he also had a small country store that sat to the right of his pioneer
home on a country road. He then built another, larger home across the road that
sat upon 4' high cypress blocks and was a large home for the time. It was torn
down some years after Sarah Jane died December 7, 1935 by their son Relmon
Anderson Bazzell. These ancestral Bazzell home sites are now owned by Stanley
Pittman who married Linda Bazzell, daughter of Frank Bazzell, son of Ancil
Bazzell, son of Frank/Sara Jane. Several generations of the family kept the
Franklin name.
Frank was born in 1856 to John Thomas
Bazzell and Editha Kidd. John died between 1861-69. Editha raised her children
with Frank remaining with her through his marriage and child raising. her
brother, Robert Kidd, married John's sister, Susan. (confused yet?? sic semper
pioneer families of the old South)
The Kidd's came to J/C c. 1846/47 from
York County, SC. The Coonrod's c. 1846 from
Chester County, SC Isham H. Bazzell, our family scion
,was born somewhere in SC in
1801 and was in J/C c.1825, marrying Susan Trussell of
Georgia She was born 1803 and
died 1870. Isham died there in 1875.
A somewhat complete genealogy of the
Bazzell's, Coonrod's, Kidd's and others will follow the pages of the Account
Book.
Frank maintained entries in his book from
1880.1 do not know if there was a prior such book. He made entry's in ink,
pencil, and 'purple' leaded pencil. The book is 4" wide and 9 112" high with cream colored
paper containing two ledger columns, lined with red lines dividing the columns.
The cover's are a rich deep red with lighter shades in swirl patterns. I hope
that the photocopies will show the pattern design clearly enough for you.
In time, my paternal grandmother, Lillah
Bazzell Scott (Mrs. Charles Hartdridge Scott) obtained the book and many old
family photos. when she died in Greensboro (Gadsden County, Fla) on January 2,
1963 I instantly remembered her old trunk and these family treasures inside. I
have always had a sense of and love of history and at a few weeks before my
18th birthday I knew that if I didn't claim these items I might never see them
again.
In 19741 began my genealogy quest of my
family history in Jackson County with my Scott, Bazzell, and Coonrod families.
Eventually, I discovered my kinship, directly or indirectly, with the Dykes,
Hewitt, Brogdon, Cloud, McDaniel, Whiddon, and Parramore families.
Just in the past six months I have added,
thanks to the wonderfully amazing USGenWeb genealogy web site, the Cox and
Weeks family. In time I will probably claim everyone in the county as"
cuzzin'" !! (Hope so!!)
In the mid-1980's I decided to make an
exacting as possible copy of the account book, reproducing Frank's handwriting
and notations and doodles just as he did in pen and various pencils. A few
months later I got the notion to look-up every person listed in the book and
determine their genealogies in Jackson County from the 1830-1900 Census. You
will find my basic efforts at the end of the book along with an index of
surnames.
Most of the people buying (either with
cash, mostly with credit) and selling or 'putting a
mare to one's stud' were white but a few were black. I
believe these people lived within a
fairly close distance from Frank's store. His store
was probably not the only one in a
square mile area but the only one I know of as of now.
My maternal great aunt, Susie Editha
Bazzell Whiddon ( Mrs. Conley Whiddon)
1894-1990 told me that the store was not too big,
maybe 20'xlO'and made of wood.
Eventually, the store as well as the first Bazzell
home of John and Editha 'went to seed'
and were torn down and the old well near by filled in.
In 1970 my Dad (E. Earl Scott Oct, 1923
Jackson County, died Christmas morn, 1996 Jacksonville), my late brother, Dale
(1951-1992), my aunt Ruby Scott Clark, (1908 JIC -1991 Gadsden Co ) visited
these old sites and I found their old 'dump' site and found some neat bottles.
To our amazement Dad spotted his initials high up an oak tree that he carved
when he was 14! Being a family historian and nostalgic collector I wanted to
take the tree home with me. Dad, however, was more practical! I hope it still
lives on Mr. Pittman's land.
By the way, the original family name was
pronounced, BAZ-zel. In the 1930's it was changed to ba-ZELL for reasons still
not definite. Growing up I heard it pronounced both ways and would always ask
if it was the same people. I jokingly indicate that, today, we have the ba-Zell
family cemetery across the road from the BAZZ-ell Pond!
Same confusion for me when my Coonrod
family changed it to Conrad by
1920.1 can remember my grandmother and her sisters discussing their Coonrod
grandparents and their Conrad cousins! C'est la vie!
The old dirt road, so used and open in
the 1800's is now long grown over. I also include a rough map of this area
drawn by Aunt Susie's late son' David Whiddon, who was long researching the
Whiddon's.
I hope you find one or more of your
ancestors in the book and I am pleased to share it with you. Hopefully, it will
give you a sense of their life at any given time and a little of what was
needed by them to supplement their own farm outputs.
A number of years ago I shared some of my
research with an individual for their own knowledge they said, and soon they
published a document incorporating primarily my data and they began
successfully selling it without a thank you. Therefore, this current project
you are viewing has been copyrighted.
As to the mini-genealogies I include
there are probably some incorrect data. I apologize in advance and hope you can
update/correct it. This was a labor of love for me, believe me.
I also hope that many of you may have
family accounts, Bible family listings, old letters, old newspapers, other
documents and photos that you would share with other Jackson County
researchers, especially on the J/C web site I would personally like to see old
photos / Confederate service
materials. I really got started in 1974 wanting to know if I had any War
ancestors. Soon I claimed 14 from J/C, 2 in the Navy ( on the CSS
Chattahoochee; Charles E. Bazzell, g-g-uncle and Lorenzo Davis Coonrod, g-ggrandfather)
and 12 in the Army (James Franklin Scott, Sherwood (Sherrod) Scott, Samuel F.M.
Scott, Jessee Brogdon, William, John, T. Fillmore, Joseph, Andrew, Charles, and
Darling Coonrod and Robert Kidd). I have now added several Cox, Dykes, Weeks,
and other Scott's in Florida and Georgia.
I'd like to think that Frank
would be pleased with you sharing his little book. I know my grandmother,
Lillah, would be. She was always very proud of her Jackson County roots and her
ancestral families.
Please feel free to contact me with any
corrections, comments, or sharing data with me.
One final offering; In August, 1998 I
finally proved my Scott family's Georgia roots (Screven County and eventually
in Decatur County by 830. By 1842, at least they were in J/C ). From 1981, not
being able to find my early Scott's, I began collecting data on every Scott
family I could find in Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina, 1700's -1900's.
My" Scott Families in Georgia Research Guide" is now over 6"
thick with Census, marriage, cemeteries, land, Civil War data, and much more.
The purpose was to have such a guide available to help other Scott researchers
and maybe, perhaps, just possibly, I would locate my missing kin. I add to it
almost daily, and mostly thank you to additional availability of knowledge
through the various web sites. I can't thank the Jackson County organizers and
contributors enough! Other county sites in Florida and other states have a lot
to learn from this one. I would hope that many of you would compile a similar
research guide on your family line(s).
Thank you!
Randy
Randy Scott Entertainment Agency, Inc.
8453 Lynda Sue Lane West
Jacksonville, Fl 32217
904-731-7065
904-739-2370 fax
[email protected]
www.randyscott.com
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