Reverend Samuel Byers
THE REV. SAMUEL BYERS, (b.12/17/1807-d.8/08/1883. The Rev. Lt. Samuel Byers was born in Buncombe County, NC. The son of the Rev. Joseph Judson Byers, a Baptist minister, and Mary Ester (Polly) Kuykendall. Rev. Joseph Judson Byers was a traveling minister for the Baptist Association and traveled eventually to Alabama establishing churches. Samuel is one of the few children who did not eventually settle in Alabama near his parents.
Military records show that Samuel served under Capt. Wilkinson's Company in the Florida War as a Lieutenant. On 8/02/1841 Samuel was listed as 1st. Lt. in the Habersham Militia (Military Records,1829-1841).
Samuel married Mary Roberts and they had no children, but Mary had a child by a previous marriage. Samuel and Mary are buried at Amy's Chapel Cemetery, Habersham County, GA. Samuel's grave is marked but Mary's isn't. We assume the grave next to Samuel is Mary.
The 1860 Habersham census shows Sam Byers, 53, and Mary, 44.
Samuel's brother, Lt. James Kuykendall Byers, also lived in Habersham in the 1830's, but moved by about 1840, and Sam's nephew, Francis C. Byers settled here and is the forefather of the present Habersham County Byers family.
Sam's occupation was listed as minister and boxer, and we believe that he may have been pastor at Amy's Chapel at one time as it was established in 1834.
Sam was rumored to be 6' 9" tall and that a special coffin and grave were necessary. However, we have measured the distance between stones and the indentation of the grave and find that it is no longer than the other graves nearby, so we take Sam's size as rumor.
Submitted by Don Byers
This page was last updated on -07/11/2010
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