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This information sent to MSGENWEB by Dan Fedric, February 08, 2006

R. J. Fedric was born August 9th, 1819 near Charlotte N.C., being of French descect . Near the age of two his Father was accidentally killed by a falling tree limb leaving his Mother a widow with three young children. One girl, the oldest, at the time of his death was 10 years old. One brother, 8 years old, who was six years older than R.J. The law in that state at that time required all male orphans without a Father be bound out at 7 years of age, and taught some useful trade. They were to be clothed, fed, and given three years of schooling. This contract was recorded at the Court House. A bond was issued as a Contract to be fulfilled, and was binding on the one that took the boy. Father was bound to a Mr. Waldon, a carpenter and a contractor at the age of seven. Waldon has a grown son who was also a carpenter. A few years later, Waldon’s son, and Father’s sister married. It happened he was raised under the influence of his sister. Young Waldon soon had Father working with him at such jobs as he could do. It so happened the Waldon company had all the work they could do. He made such a good hand that Waldon failed to give him the promised three years of schooling by about half. He picked up from his trade as much as he lost, and perhaps more, making Waldon a fateful hand for fourteen years. Carpentering all the time, he left him the next day after he reached age twenty-one, his majority year of legal age. He had plans all laid out as to what he would do after he was a man of his own. There were two young men, friends of his, preparing to make a trip down in Georgia about that time. They had an old hack and a couple of ponies, and had agreed that he could go with them. The evening of his last day, and it being his twenty-first birthday, he asked old man Waldon if he was not twenty-one years old? The old man said he would have to see the records before he could give him an answer. Mr. Waldon went to the court house and examined the records. Finding Father to be correct, he asked him what he intended doing? Father told him he was going down into Georgia, and would be off in a day or two. Waldon wanted him to stay 8 or 10 days until they finished the house they were working on. Father asked him what he would pay him. He said he would give him his board as he had in the past. Father then asked him if he would give him a little expense money. He would need more than he had, and his friends didn’t have any to spare. Mr. Waldon told him no, that he would never get to Georgia and that he would be back in a week or less. Mr. Waldon thought this to be a bad business, and a foolish move on his part. The next morning Father said he stuffed a shirt or two, three pairs of socks, and a half dozen hankercheifs in an old sack and six or seven dollars in his pocket. The dumped the sack in the hack and bade all adieu. Off to Georgia, but before leaving the Waldon home, he said to Mr. Waldon, “You failed to give me one half the schooling you agreed to, and no cash to defray my expenses. Now I am a man of my own and will try to look out for myself,” and left them a badly used man. He said to Mr. Waldon, “If I keep my health, in twenty years I expect to be able to buy you out.” He didn’t write for ten years as to where he was or what he was doing. Then he wrote to his sister, but never received an answer to his letter. He never wrote again or heard anything until the Civil War between the North and South. While in Tennessee, under ‘Old Bedford Forrest Command’, and a Lieuntenient in Captain Trotter’s company, he met up with a relative of Waldon’s. He knew all of his kinfolks in North Carolina. He told all that had transpired since R.J. left the old state. His mother, Old Man Waldon, and his sister, were dead. His brother had left there some years ago, but didn’t know where he went. I’m sure that is the last he heard of any of them, or he would have mentioned it to some of us.

Now to connect up to his life:

We will drop back to where he and his two friends landed in Georgia, but I don’t remember the town. He had used all of his pile (money), and had to find work for awhile in order to go further. It was but a day or two after making inquires for work as a first class carpenter that he met a man by the name of Allen. Mr. Allen owned a large farm with slaves. He owned one slave that was a pretty good carpenter, and a full set of good tools that Mr. Allen had bought to build him a nice residence. His negro carpenter had the building up, covered, and the outside about complete, but neither Allen nor his negro was willing to tackle the inside finishing of it. For in those days, all paneling, doors, transoms, sashes, blinds, and molding had to be made by hand. A man had to know the trade in order to undertake such a job. Hearing of Father, Mr. Allen sent for him and of course he went down. After a thorough investigation of lumber, tools, and seeing the plans, Father told him he could do the work and give him a first class job. To prove it, R.J.F. agreed to make him two front panel double doors, and hang them with a transom overhead and side transom as a proof of his workmanship. If he was pleased, and they could agree, he would take the job with the negro as a helper. Mr. Allen was well pleased with the trial job, and agreed to furnishing all the tools, the negro helper, board him, give him $1800, and nine months to complete the house. He did the work in a little less than nine months. Mr. Allen sold him a good horse, paid the rest in cash, and was well pleased. Here he made him first money, owned his first respectable clothing, and a horse at the age of twenty-two. He remained in the viscinity one more year, after the Allen job, before going into Alabama. There he met up with Daniel Turnipseed, my Mother’s father, at that time a big slave owner. He owned three large cotton farms all controlled by overseers and worked by negros. On the home place, at that time, Felix, his son, was the manager. Felix was studying medicine on the side. And that fall, had to go to Mobile and take a course of lectures. Father was employed to take his place. There he got acquainted with Emma Turnipseed, my Mother. Father managed that farm two and a half years, and built Grandpa a nice two-story residence. At or near his twenty-sixth year he married, and soon thereafter bought a section of prairie land, in Lowndes County Mississippi. Grandpa gave him seven or eight negros, and he moved over on his own land. That was another star added to his cap. There I was born, the fourteenth day of February, 1850. I was six or seven years old when we left there. About 1855-1856. The Mobile and Ohio railroad was built. Father and Grandpa with fifty or sixty negros of their own, graded a mile or two of that railroad, as it was right through our farm from south to north. Father had the bridging contract on it up to Westpoint, Mississippi about thirty miles. And around 1856 he moved to Westpoint, Mississippi. Father contracted, and built in that town 1857 and 1858. When he sold out down in Lowndes County, he bought a farm up in Chickasaw County, and sent all the stock and negros up there and moved to Westpoint. A Mr. Tom Gannon had charge of the farm for two years and in the winter of 1858, Father moved on the farm and we made one crop. He sold it and bought 900 acres of land in Choctaw County, and in January 1860, moved out there. He said his reason for leaving Chicksaw County was that there were so many negros there. He saw that a war was inevitable, and he would be drafted and did not want to risk the family so wholely unprotected. The Choctaw County farm and country were thinly settled with a few slaves. In 1861, I believe, Father had made a trip to Red River County, Texas to collect some notes due on slaves that had been run out west. They were property of Daniel Turnipseed’s. While out there, an independent company was formed in Red River County and father was elected captain. This company, known as the Independent Lone Star Company, had sixty to sixty-five men and horses. They made their way to Memphis, Tennessee. There, they reorganized and larger companies formed. Father was added to Captain Trotter’s company and elected second Leuitenient and was thrown into Chalma’s brigade, Forrest Calvary, and was in it until April 1865. At the beginning of the war, Grandfather Turnipseed and Father owned stock in the Ohio Mobile railroad to the amount of 300,000 dollars. A man by the name of Strong bought his Chickasaw farm, giving him notes in the amount of 12,000 dollars, and paid him 8,000 in cash. Grandfather Turnipseed died about 1862-1863. It was said his real estate was valued at more than a half million dollars. A good portion of it was in slaves and was soon thereafter confiscated. In 1866, the estate was settled up after a fashion and possibly Father received 1,500 dollars out of it. He lost the whole of the Strong notes as far as I know. The railroad stock was under two or three managers at the end of the war. Slaves were set free, the South demoralized, bankrupt, and the whole business not worth fifteen cents on the dollar.

After Father came out of the war:

He set twenty seven negros free, rolled up his sleeves, told us five boys to follow him. I was the oldest at age fifteen. He had good land, teams, and in four years, when I left home heading for Texas, we were out of debt and had money. He then sold out the Choctaw farm, bought in Tallahatchie County, and died there in 1891. He was a mason, missionary Baptist, strictly honest, stable, and a leader. Father was a man of fine form, carriage, proud, condescending, and could handle any number of men with less friction than any man I knew. He was 5’11” in height and his weight 160-5. There were seven children in his family. Six boys and one girl. The oldest boy, D.T., named after my grandfather, was two years older than I. He died in 1865 of a congestive chill when about fifteen years old. S.B., David, J.B. (Ike, a nickname, John Booker was his name), H.K. (Henry Kirk), Willie Jones, and Margaret Emma, (our sister and the baby of the family).

Now there may be some “little error guys” in dates, but slight.

S. B. Fedric

One of the most fascinating stories I’ve ever read. Hopefully, I did not destroy the meaning in any way by making a few small changes to read similar to the way we speak today. Thanks to a loving Grandfather that I never knew for leaving such a legacy. This should be a lesson for us to do the same for the generations that will follow.

D.F.W.

I didn’t quite catch which line you ere from. Was it Daniel Turnipseed Fedric? Whatever, hope this gives you information on the Texas Fedrics.

Reading through the material, I find it interesting that Radford was a carpenter, then S.B. Of his children, I know Byron and Ennis were both carpenters. Byron built several homes here in Stratford, and my mother-in-law still lives in one.

My husband Claude N. didn’t inherit the carpenter abilities. He is a good mechanic, but don’t give him a hammer! He is a Vietnam veteran, and works at the Texas Department of Transportation.

We would be glad to hear more from you, and your side of the family.

Sincerely,

Leonda Fedric

Updater: This page was last updated Wednesday, 08-Feb-2006 08:44:22 MST

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