Thomas Jefferson is found on the 1870 census in the home as age 2. He is
shown on the 1880 census as age 12. His mother Martha will die when he is 13
years old. He will marry first Emma Jane Smart on 28 November 1886. She was
born 23 May 1868 in Scottsboro, Alabama. and she will die 29 August 1902 at
Indianola, Tobucksy County, Indian Territory. TJ was eighteen years old when
he married Emma Jane and she like wise.  They will be married in her father
and mother's home in Scottsboro, Jackson County, Alabama. Emma Jane is the
daughter of  Daniel E. Smart, II and Sarah M. (maiden name unknown).

In perspective they were just kids starting out. One year after they were
married they will have their first born, a girl named Maggie. Their second
year of marriage a son will be born named Edgar. There will be a two year
gap and then they will have Mary Etta on 14 Aug 1890. The 1890 census is
non-existing but based on Mary Etta's place of birth we know that Thomas
Jefferson and family were still in Maynard's Cove as of August. It appears
that the urge to move on to greener pastures was in the making. It is
assumed that the family will leave Jackson County shortly after Mary Etta's
birth and remove to Jonesboro, Craighead County, Arkansas. Thomas
Jefferson's older brother Isaac Hugh was living there at the time with his
family.

When they arrived in Jonesboro is not known, but based on the birth of their
next child Lula Mae we know the family was there by 18 July 1894.  The rest
of Thomas Jefferson's children by Emma will follow while they are residing
in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Those issues are Franklin Alexander, Charles Hugh,
Charles Hugh's twin, Serena L. This family will stay in Jonesboro till the
spring of 1900. The urge or itch to move on will strike Thomas again. But
now he does something that is unexplainable.  Instead of moving on to the
west like other Bynum's before him he will take his family and return to
Jackson County. For the year 1900 T.J. will appear on two censuses. In
January 1900 he and his family will be enumerated in Jonesboro, Arkansas.
Then in June of 1900 he and his family will be back in Maynard's Cove,
Jackson County, Alabama. This cannot be explained, other than that is the
way it happened.

It is obvious the itch to move on had not been cured by the move back to
Jackson County. Sometime after the census was taken in June 1900, Thomas
will take his family by covered wagon and oxen and head for the Choctaw
Nation, in Indian Territory (Indianola) where other uncles, cousins, a
brother and a sister were already living, The exact date for his departure
from Jackson County is not known, but I would assume it was in the fall of
that year (1900). The trek to Indian Territory will take two years by wagon
and oxen. The route he took is not known. I would assume he went back to
Jonesboro and then due west towards Little Rock and on to Fort Smith as this
was the trail that most of the settlers took of that period.

My half first cousin Harold Bradford Haggard, the fifth child of Lula Mae
Bynum and Daniel Mason Haggard started his research on the Bynum's of
Jackson County in the latter part of 1989. Harold was racing with time and a
major health problem. It is unfortunate, but Harold lost the race, he ran
out of time and his health problem won as is usually the case. But Harold's
research is sound and very accurate considering the short amount of time he
spent rresearching. In a letter to Albert Proctor Bynum of Fackler, Alabama
dated 18 September 1991, he states on the last page of a six page letter,
"My mother made that trip, at approx. age 7. There were five (5) of us
children and not one of us had the presence of mind to ask her about that
journey. One of our aunts was age 13, she would have remembered a lot."

Harold was correct, those children would have remembered what happened on
the journey. But no one ever asked, so we will never know. Those ancestors
are all dead now. Harold's research is in narrative form and is in the form
of a story. Well written, I am sorry that he never got it published.

The exact time frame that my grandfather TJ and his family actually arrived
in Indian Territory is at best a guess. Assuming it took him close to two
years to get there, the time frame would have to be the early or middle part
of 1902. The year 1902 will bring both joy and saddness to Thomas Jefferson.
Joy in that he probably feels that part of his dream is coming true. A fresh
start, new lands, different people, in essence the spring of his youth. But
that will be short lived, like all things in life agony lurks around waiting
to take its turn at center stage. His baby daughter Serene L., is thought to
have died that year. No one knows exactly how it happened. Two accounts of
Serene's death as told by family members. This is the only documented
informattion pertaining to Serene L. Bynum. Did she die in Alabama before
the family displaced to Indian Territory?  Did she die enroute?  Did she die
in Indian Territory?  Muriel Butler Compton a daughter of Mary Etta and
Hudson D. Butler just stated, Serene died.  Mary Lyndell Bynum Harrelson,
daughter of Franklin Alexander Bynum states the following:  "Emma Jane Bynum
the mother was sewing and her two year old daughter was playing with her
thread. The child disappeared and when Emma Jane went looking for her, she
followed the thread and it lead her to a tub of water, where Serene had
fallen in and drowned" (sic).

The second tragedy that will occur about the same time frame as far as the
year Thomas Jefferson will lose his eldest son, Edgar. The exact date of
death is not known but appear to be about 1902. The last tragedy for TJ will
occur 29 August 1902, his wife Emma Jane will die.  A year that started with
high hopes and great expectations has now taken a back row seat. Thomas
Jefferson is alone with six children at home of which three of them are very
small children, after fifteen years of marriage.

TJ Bynum will marry a second time to a widow named Laura Viola Nobles
Franklin.  They were married 26 January 1910 in McAlester, Oklahoma. Her
husband William Levi Franklin had died the previous year and Laura will step
in as stepmother to the six children of TJ's and with her she will bring six
more children by Franklin into the Bynum home.

On 26 February 1915 they will have one issue born of them. William Thomas
Bynum he will be the father of the grandson named after Thomas Jefferson
Bynum.

TJ Bynum will die 30 November 1933 in McAlester, Oklahoma. The Obituary
was printed in the McAlester News Capital (newspaper) on 1 December 1933
reads...  THOMAS JEFFERSON BYNUM whose leg was amputated some days after the bone snapped midway between his hip and knee, due to a cancerous condition, died at a local hospital Thanksgiving Day morning.  He leaves a family.  The family home is five miles west of Scipio.  Internment was at Indianola.

TJ Bynum is at rest next to his first wife Emma Jane in the Indianola
Cemetery, Indianola, Oklahoma.