The work of Laccie and Ray Blevins of Knoxville, Tennessee was most helpful. They did a magnificent job of tracing the lineage of their great grandfather Jonathan Blevins, who I believe to have been a brother to Daniel Blevins.
The monumental research of Pasha Polumbi Smith on the Hicklin Family will never be surpassed. Her work was indispensable. Not only her written work but the long telephone conversations with her from her home in Everton, Washington. It is unfortunate that Pat, who had so much more to write, died at a much too early age from cancer which she battled heroically and courageously for years.
Several of my kinsmen contributed helpful information. My mother Lou Blevins Luce, my aunt Freda Blevins and my uncle Claude Blevins contributed valuable oral history,. My cousins Minnie Blevins Benbrook, Mary Morris, and Kenneth Waegener contributed help fid information.
I also wish to thank my friend Audrey Holland of Stockton, Missouri for valuable editing. Also, Betty Warren of SBU for creatively typing the manuscript.
To all who have contributed to this work I acknowledge thanks.
William L. Luce Springfield, Missouri
January 21, 1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ........................1 This essay has been long in the writing. Material and information contained herein is the result of a lifetime of research. I have long wanted to get this down on paper lest it be forgotten or lost.
It is my conviction that we cannot know or understand our present place in life without understanding and knowing about our heritage. Our past helps to explain us.
So this piece is a small contribution to the understanding of our family heritage. I want my children to have access to the fruits of my study and research.
Also, several of my cousins have expressed interest in knowing more about our family history. I sincerely hope that this essay is interesting and helpful to them in understanding their family heritage.
Not everything I know about the Blevins and Hicklin clan has been included in this work. Like all families, there are saints and there are sinners; some family knowledge is best left in the silence of the past.
I have not made any attempt to carry the family history beyond the children of Andrew Blevins and Nancy Hicklin Blevins. The difficult part of research was the very beginnings of the family in this country. Hopefully, each cousin has a beginning family foundation to build on and thus be able to easily complete his or her own family genealogy.
One reason this essay has been long in coming was that I was in hope of discovering the circumstances surrounding the death of my great grandfather, Daniel Blevins. Also, I wanted to clearly identify Elizabeth Blevins, the second wife of Daniel, and my great grandmother. And then, of course, the mystery of my probably naughty great grandmother, Tabitha Stroud. But as much as I tried through historical research, I have not been able to unravel these mysteries.
Perhaps future family historians will succeed where I have failed. I do believe that tile identity of Elizabeth Blevins can eventually be determined. The reason she is hard to find is that her maiden name was Blevins, and she married a Blevins. She no doubt was a cousin, perhaps distant cousin, to her husband Daniel. The secret is probably somewhere in Boone County, Missouri. The Blevins clan were numerous, multiplying like rabbits, thus complicating sorting out just who was who when they intermarried. The secret of Tabitha Stroud is buried somewhere in Kansas. Who murdered Daniel Blevins is a mystery that will probably always remain a mystery.
I wish I could have found more firm information linking my Blevins kin to a single ancestor whom we could claim as the progenitor of our branch of the Blevins family. This will probably never be done. It is my belief that the Blevins family, while perhaps not of the Scotch-Irish line, intermarried with the Scotch-Irish as they began their westward movement. We know this to be tree of their marriages with the Cox family who came directly from Scotland. In their westward migration they followed the path of the Scotch-Irish, and if the early Blevins women were known I am sure it would show their family names to be Scotch-Irish.
It's different with the Hicklins. We know Thomas Hicklin, Sr. to be the progenitor of the family in North America. The Hicklins were of pure Scottish origin, and these traits arc clearly seen in their descendants' speech and mannerisms, as well as temperaments. A picture of Will Hicklins shows a distinctly formed mouth, which I have noted as well in my mother and in several of my cousins.
Thus, this piece is offered for whatever help and enjoyment it might bring to all those in the Blevins and Hicklin families.
Springfield, Missouri
January 21, 1995
Page 3
In The Beginning...
. .
It is not known when the first Blevins arrived in North America. It is possible that several Blevins families left Wales and England within a few years of one another and settled at different points in the colonies. They probably were all related to one
another.
In the 1600's, some came to New England and settled in Westerly, Rhode Island. Others came directly to Maryland and Virginia. Later, many of the Rhode Island Blevins filtered southward into. southwestern Virginia and then later into some of the northwestern counties of North Carolina. In later years, some of their descendants moved to the west and into Alabama and Georgia. Eventually they would put down strong roots in Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois and Arkansas.
In 1661, Bartholomew Blevins arrived in Maryland and was awarded 200 acres of land for transporting himself and three others to the colony.
In 1721, Richard Blevins arrived in Virginia directly from England.
In 1734, Mary Blevins, acting as the agent of Thomas Blevins, settled Thomas' estate in Prince William County, Virginia.
In 1741, William Blevins was among the earliest settlers of Pittsylvania County, Virginia.
In 1748, James and Daniel Blevins, well known hunters, had land along the Smith River in western Lunenburg County, Virginia.
By the 1760's, Blevinses were pushing westward into what is now Kentucky and Tennessee, the farthest cutting edge of the American Frontier.
The Blevins name was well established in the colonies over a hundred years prior to the American Revolution. The European origin of the family is uncertain. It is assumed they were from Wales as the Blevins name is Welsh and is known in Wales. There could have been an English branch of the family. This writer found a Blevins family living in Cornwall while there in 1989. The author is also aware of other Blevinses who immigrated from Northern Ireland after the American Revolution.
It is entirely possible that some of the early Blevinses could have been in the early phase of the great Scots-Irish migration that began in the late 1600's. We know that some Welsh people were settled in Ulster during the reign of James I, and later under Oliver Cromwell. They no doubt intermarried with the Ulster Scots and came to America on the great tide of immigration that began around 1690. The above, of course, is speculation, but certainly within the realm of possibility. Page 5
The Legacy of the Long Hunters
The Cherokee Indians had lived in peace for years with their white neighbors until the French began to stir them up. At this time, that is, in the 1750's and 1760's, the two great European powers, England and France, were vying for control of the North American continent. France sought Indian allies to help in her struggle with the English. The Cherokees, being a powerful and large Indian nation, would be a most welcome ally to the French. The French tried to persuade the Cherokees to join them in their war against the Virginia white settlers. Lavish promises were made to them in return for this military alliance.
The Cherokees and the Catawbas allied themselves with the French and went on the warpath against the white settlers, causing the colonies to raise militia to send against the Indians.
In 1761, the hostilities between the Indians and the white settlers were winding down. It was at this time that intrepid hunters began roaming the wilderness.
There were three leading families who participated in these remarkable "long hunts;" the Blevins, the Walden, and the Cox families. Henry Skaggs, William Pittman, and Deapre Newman joined William Blevins, Elisha Walden and Charles Cox to constitute the 18 men forming this hunting company.
In these early years there was a very close association between the Blevins, Walden and Cox families. Elisha Walden was the son-in-law of William Blevins, having married his daughter Mary.
David and John Cox came directly to Virginia from Scotland and settled in what is now Grayson County, Virginia. David had a son Samuel whose daughters married John and Samuel Blevins. The Waldens and Blevinses lived as close neighbors, not far from present day Martinsville, Virginia, on the South River at a place called the Round-a.Bout.
Within the Walden family there is a tradition that the Waldens left New Jersey and went along the Pennsylvania wagon trail across western Maryland and into Virginia accompanied by Blevinses from Rhode Island. This is very plausible as we know this was the common route of people moving south from the New England states.
These remarkable "long hunters" are described by an old hunter, John Read, as follows:
"The long hunters set out the first of October and each man carried two horses, traps, a large supply of powder, lead, and a small vise and bellows, files and screw plates for the purpose of fixing the guns, 'if any of them should get out of fix.' They usually returned about the last of March or April."
The long hunters roamed the Virginia, and what later became Kentucky and Tennessee wilderness, for as long as 18 months at a time, trapping and shooting game.
When the long hunters located an area ripe with game, they would establish a Station Campwhich actually was a headquarters. From there they would disperse into small groups of three or four hunters and go in different directions to hunt. This was done as to not arouse the fears of the Indians who would not feel threatened by the presence of small hunting parties. They would not fear that all the animals would be killed by so few men.
The parties would return to the Station Camp with their skins where they would be cleaned, salted, and then placed on high scaffolds to keep them safe from wolves.
To go on a long hunt required much physical stamina, courage, and endurance, but the payoff was tremendous. If the long hunt was success fill, it could result in a profit of 1600 to 1700 pounds for each hunter. This was an enormous sum of money in those days.
Colonel John Sevier, writing in his journal, referred to Jack (John) and Will Blevins as having hunted along the Obias River, in what is now Fentree County, Tennessee.
When the long hunters left on a hunt in the autumn of 1764, Daniel Boone, who was living on the Yadkin River iii North Carolina, met up with the hunters on the trail and accompanied them into the wilderness as far as the place where Abinggon, Virginia, now is, where he left them. Boone made his way from there into Kentucky.
When Daniel Boone finally did reach Kentucky he was guided through the Cumberland Gap by John Finley over a trail established earlier by Dr. Thomas Walker and the Blevinses, Waldens and Coxes, and file rest of the long hunters. Although Daniel Boone is the romantic figure of early Kentucky history, it was Dr. Walker's expedition in the 1750's that broke the first trail into this new country. It was the intrepid long hunters who braved Indian attacks, survived the biting cold of winter, blazing heat of the summer, living in the very heart of the wilderness. This hardy race of hunters explored the western country, named rivers and streams and mountains, and broke open the wilderness for other settlers to follow.
In 1775, white settlers in upper Tennessee worked out a land purchase with the Indians in order to obtain a clear title to their land. This was known as the Wataugah Purchase. William Blevins was among the signers of this land purchase. Page 9
The War for Independence
When the North American colonies broke with Mother England in 1776, not all Americans were certain as to where to place their loyalty. Many families were torn apart by conflicting loyalties as would happen later during the Civil War. Some could not bring themselves to take up arms against King George, as he was anointed by God to be their rightful sovereign.
It is thought by some that many of the Blevinses were loyal to King George III, at least in the beginning. This is not hard to understand when we keep in mind that many Blevinses were economically tied to the hunting grounds belonging to the Cherokee Nation. The Cherokees were allied with the British and it would be in the interests of the long hunters to stay on good terms with them.
But we do know that several Blevinses served the revolutionary cause. King's Mountain was one of the bloodiest, bitterest, and fiercely fought battles of file war. It was all the more ugly because it was fought between Americans. The patriots were fighting for American independence, and the American Tories for King George III. No regular British troops were engaged in this battle. The combatants were entirely American frontiersmen. Often it was neighbor fighting neighbor. Henry Blevins was a private in Captain Elliott's company of Shelby's regiment. Henry Blevins was not personally engaged in file fighting, but was assigned to the rear guard with the baggage. Many Tories were killed and very few prisoners were taken. Most of the combatants were neighbors but had chosen different sides and the rancor was very bitter between them.
Those engaged at King's Mountain consisted almost entirely of Scots-Irish frontiersmen. A list of the names of the participants leaves no doubt that the majority could trace their roots to Scotland and Ireland.
On October 7, 1777, the clerk of Henry County, Virginia, lists persons renouncing aIlegiance to Great Britain and swearing allegiance to the Commonwealth of Virginia. Among the signers were James Blevins, Jr., William Blevins, Sr., William Blevins, Jr., Samuel Blevins, William Blevins, Elisha Blevins, John Blevins, and Dillon Blevins.
We have learned of more Blevins men who served the American Cause because they applied for pensions for service rendered. James Blevins who, in June 1832, lived in Laurence County, Indiana, filed his papers for his pension and said at that time that he was seventy years of age. He stated he was born somewhere in New England from whence his father moved to the county of Henry in the state of Virginia when he was an infant, and also whence his father removed to the county of Montgomery in the state of Virginia when James was ten years of age, as he is informed in the tradition of the family.
This James Blevins volunteered in the Revolutionary Army in Montgomery County, Virginia, in the summer of 1770. He served in the Virginia volunteers in a regiment commanded by a Colonel Campbell. His company commander was Captain William Law. His regiment saw service in both North and South Carolina, where his regiment guarded prisoners taken at King's Mountain.
This soldier was discharged in South Carolina, and on April 7, 1781, he re-enlisted in a regiment commanded by a Colonel Cleveland.
His company commander was Captain John Carroll. He was action at the battles of Camden and Ninety-Six. After serving out his enlistment, he was taken sick as he made his way home to Virginia. Friends came to his aid and helped him home. After the war he lived in Virginia, moved to Tennessee, and finally to Laurence County, Indiana. This solder was severely wounded in the hand by a sword at the battle of Eutaw Springs. His friends who knew him well after the war stated there was a very visible scar on his left hand that was noticeable to the end of this life.
On October 29, 1823, Daniel Blevins applied for his Revolutionary War pension at Kingston, Tennessee. At that time he was sixty-three years old. Daniel Blevins enlisted for five years in 1779 in the regiment commanded by Colonel Benjamin Cleveland. He served his five-year enlistment and saw action in several minor engagements.
Another Daniel Blevins applied for a pension from Morgan County, Tennessee, in March of 1834.
Other Blevinses making applications for Revolutionary War pensions were: Nathan Blevins of Ashe County, North Carolina; William Blevins of Vermillion County, Illinois; and Henry Blevins of Hawkins County, Tennessee.
From pension records it is clear that these Blevins men trace their family ties to the southwestern counties of Virginia. All seemed to have served in the southern campaigns, several were wounded, and from all accounts gleamed from the pension papers, they served honorably and bravely.
There were other Blevins men who served in the Revo!utionary War, but those mentioned above are representative of the whole group. Page 13
The Western Movement
After the successful end to the Revolutionary War when the thirteen colonies got their independence, the great western migration began.
The Allegheny Mountains were no longer a barrier to western movement. The British had prohibited settlement beyond the mountains, but the British prohibition no longer existed. Thus, the lure of the wilderness called and thousands swarmed across the mountains and through the Cumberland Gap in Kentucky seeking cheap land.
Kentucky became a state in 1792 and Tennessee in 1796. People began to find their way into what is now present day Ohio. This great western migration was led by the Scots-Irish who were always on the cutting edge of the wilderness.
In this western migration were to be found several families of Blevins who would put down strong roots in Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, northwestern Arkansas and southwest Missouri. Later they would be found in Oklahoma, Texas, and other western states.
Many of the Blevins families who had been firmly established in Virginia and North Carolina were among early families who settled in Kentucky and Tennessee.
It is my purpose in this study to briefly attempt to trace the origins of my grandfather Andrew Jackson Blevins. The father of Andrew was Daniel Blevins who is found in Whitley County, Kentucky, in 1822, when he is on the Tax List for that County. Other Blevins families were to be found in Pulaski, Wayne, and Lincoln Counties in Kentucky. These were early county settlements and, as the years passed, Blevins families were to be found in many other Kentucky counties.
It is my belief that all the Kentucky, Tennessee, and probably the North Carolina Blevinses were all kin. There is strong evidence there was a lot of intermarriage between them. Certainly those Rhode Island Blevinses who remained in that state had a blood connection with their southern cousins.
Many people who were a part of the great western migration were suspicious of documents. They were reluctant to base their security in deeds, wills, and other legal documents. They had a strong distrust in government, and this was particularly true of the Scots-Irish.
Because of this, many Blevins families left a poor "paper trail." If they had trusted more in written documents, it would be easier to trace their movements and establish family identities.
Andrew Jackson Blevins was the son of Daniel Blevins. We know for sure that Daniel was the son of Stephen Blevins, Sr., and it is my belief that Stephen Blevins, Sr., was the son of Daniel and Sarah Blevins of Grayson/Montgomery County,Virginia. Page 16
Stephen Blevins, Sr.
Stephen Blevins, Sr. was probably born in Virginia somewhere around the years of 1787-90. Although it cannot be proven, it is my belief that he was the son of Daniel and Sarah Blevins of southwest Virginia. Jonathan and Daniel Blevins, Jr. were probably his brothers.
We know that Stephen, Sr. was in Wayne County, Kentucky, as he appears on the Tax List from 1806-1809. He was probably in Bedscoe County, Tennessee, from 1809 until 1819 when he returned to Wayne County, Kentucky. By this time Whitley County had been formed from Knox County in 1818, and Stephen is found listed on the Whitley County, Kentucky, Tax List in 1819.
Stephen, Sr. was undoubtedly married two times. We know that he married Sally Mounts in Wayne County, Kentucky, April 9, 1806. Sally could not have been the mother of the children we know to have been those of Stephen, as the ages of the children preceded the marriage to Sally.
In January of 1819, Stephen received fifty acres of land through a Kentucky Land Warrant. This land was along the Gallico Creek in Whitley County. He received another fifty acres in February 1822, in the same area.
We know very little about Stephen Blevins, Sr. We do know that in 1830 he sold his land and moved his family to Johnson County Missouri, in the vicinity of present day Warrensburg.
We know that the following were his children: Talton (Tarelton?), Daniel, Stephen, Jr. (born April 30, 1799 in Virginia, died March 20, 1888), Elisha, Andrew, Ezekiel, Rebecca, William, Riley, John and Rachel.
The name "Talton" is very interesting. This name pops up among the Kentucky Blevinses. Jonathan Blevins had a son named Talton--I have never been able to determine where this name came from.
During the American Revolution there was a famous, and notorious, British cavalry commander who operated in the Carolinas and who was very much disliked by the Americans because of the ruthless methods he employed. It is very hard for me to imagine that Balastre Tarleton would be a Blevins hero to the extent that one would name sons after him; thus, the name "Talton" remains a mystery.
Tarleton Blevins, the eldest son of Stephen, Sr. died intestate probably in early 1841 in Missouri. Stephen Blevins, Sr. was appointed as administrator of his estate on October 2, 1941. Security was posted by Andrew Blevins and Davis B.Wood. Tarleton Blevins' heirs were Stephen Blevins, Sr. and the following brothers and sisters: Daniel Blevins of Caldwell County, Missouri; Elisha Blevins of Bates County, Missouri; Edward Corder, Ezekiel Blevins, Rebecca Woods (formerly Rebecca Blevins), Rachel Blevins, William Blevins, Riley Blevins, and John Blevins, all of Johnson County, Missouri.
William Blevins, son of Stephen Blevins, Sr., died intestate in 1842, and Stephen Blevins was appointed administrator of his estate on August 29, 1842. Security was posted by Andrew Blevins and Davis B. Wood. His heirs were his widow Cassandra and his daughter Polly, both of Johnson County, Missouri.
Apparently Tarelton Blevins never married, or perhaps he survived his wife, as they are not mentioned as his heirs. If he had been married, no doubt he and his wife were childless.
Daniel Blevins, son of Stephen, Sr., married Frankie Corder in Whitley County, Kentucky, March 23, 1822.
Elisha Blevins, sons of Stephen, Sr., married Polly McKee in Whitley County on August 16, 1819.
Stephen Blevins, Jr. married Mahalla Young on February 20, 1834, in Johnson County, Missouri.
Ezekiel Blevins, son of Stephen Blevins, Sr., married Thurza Young, sister of Mahalla Young, on February 3, 1833, in Johnson County, Missouri.
Riley Blevins, son of Stephen Blevins, Sr., married Matilda McCrary on July 13, 1843, in Johnson County, Missouri.
William Blevins, son of Stephen Blevins, Sr., married Cassandra Perman on October 3, 1839, in Johnson County, Missouri.
Stephen Blevins, Sr. died sometime between 1843 and 1850, as he is not listed in the 1850 census of Johnson County, Missouri. I have not been able to find his grave, but it is probably somewhere on his farm or in Liberty Cemetery, six miles north of Warrensburg.
Page 20
Steven Blevins, Jr.
Stephen Blevins, Jr was born in Virginia, April 30, 1799. He was the son of Stephen Blevins, Sr.
In 1830 he came with his father, stepmother and brothers and sisters to Johnson County, Missouri. He eventually became a large landowner, and in the 1860 census of Missouri, is listed as the owner of 23 slaves.
Like so many Blevins men he was long-lived. He died on March 20, 1899, at 89 years of age.
His wife was Mahalla Young whom he married on February 20-, 1834. Mahalla was born April 21, 1807, and died on March 4, 1902, at the age of 95.
Stephen and Mahalla had the following children: Lucinda married Frank Carleton; Christian married Miles Wriston; William Riley (born January 1, 1834, died April 17, 1902) married Caroline Ailor; Ezekiel (born April 7, 1847, died 1923) married (1) Missouri Blevins, (2) Susan Corder; Robert E. (born December 25, 1849, died April 20, 1929) married Georgann Show; Rebecca married George M. Duncan; Andrew J. married Nancy Houton; McDonald married Mollie Blevins; Polly "Mary" (born February 11, 1830, died February 6, 1896) married John T. Sivils. Page 21
Ezekiel Blevins
Ezekiel Blevins was the son of Stephen Blevins, Sr. Along with his father, brothers and sisters, he moved from Whitley County, Kentucky, in 1830 to Johnson County, Missouri.
Ezekiel married Thurza Young on February 3, 1833, in Johnson County. He became a large landowner and slave owner in Henry County. He died in 1865 at the age of 53.
Ezekiel had several children whose names are unknown to the author. He did have three sons, Robert Preston Blevins, Stephen C. Blevins, and Jeremiah Blevins. Page 22
The Confederates
Stephen C. Blevins, son of Ezekiel Blevins, was born in 1834, and on October 22, 1857, he married Pedura A. Ailor. Stephen and Angeline, as his wife was called, had at least two children. Sarah C. was born in 1858 and another child, name unknown, was born in 1860.
Jeremiah Blevins, brother of Stephen C. Blevins was born in Johnson County and married Mary Dunn on September 28, 1857, in Henry County, Missouri. Jeremiah and Mary had five children, but only four known to the author: Virginia Ann, Stephen E., Elizabeth, and Robert E. Lee Blevins.
When the War Between the States broke out, the sympathies of Stephen C. Blevins and Jeremiah Blevins were definitely with the South. Their father and at least one of their uncles were slave holders. It is not true, of course, that all slave holders supported the South, as many believed in preserving the Union. We do not know the political sentiments of Stephen Blevins, Jr. and Ezekiel Blevins.
What we do know is that Stephen C. and Jeremiah Blevins were staunch Confederates, as they both left young wives, young children, and their farms to go to Lone Jack, Missouri, and enlist in the Confederate Army. They found themselves in the command of Col. Cockrell, and this command eventually became a part of the famous Missouri Iron Brigade composed of the first and second Missouri Volunteer Infantry, Confederate States Army.
Stephen C. and Jeremiah managed to get themselves captured at the battle of Prairie Grove in Arkansas. These two prisoners-of-war were sent to a prisoner-of-war camp in St. Louis, where Stephen C. got the measles and died. Jeremiah was eventually exchanged and found himself at Richmond, Virginia, where he served and waited for forty days and then made his way to Meridian, Mississippi, where he rejoined his old command of the First Missouri Brigade.
Jeremiah Blevins served out the balance of the war as an honorable and brave soldier of the South. The famous military command to which he belonged was involved in the hard fighting in Tennessee and Mississippi, and in the fighting in Alabama.
After the war Jeremiah Blevins returned home to his family and became the owner of large farms in Missouri and Texas. He remained an unreconstructed rebel and named one of his sons in honor of Robert E. Lee. Page 24
Daniel Blevins
There is much mystery surrounding the life of Daniel Blevins. Daniel was born probably in 1800 in Virginia, the son of Stephen Blevins, Sr. He appears in the Tax List of Whitley County, Kentucky, in 1822, mid remains on the list until 1830. He married Frankie Corder in Whitley County on March 23, 1822.
In all probability he came to Missouri in 1830, along with his father, brothers and sisters, in 1840 he was in Buchanan County, Missouri, and in 1841 was thought to have been in Caldwell County, Missouri.
Sometime prior to 1842 his wife Frankie must have died, as he remarried August 14, 1842 in Boone County, Missouri, to Elizabeth Blevins.
We do not know who Elizabeth Blevins was. We do know she was born in 1824 in Kentucky. She was 24 years younger than Daniel; she may have been a cousin or possibly she had been married to a Blevins and widowed early.
Daniel Blevins appears in the 1850 census of Carroll County, Arkansas. His wife Elizabeth is listed as well as ten of his children. The first six of his children are obviously by his first wife Frankie Corder, as his older son Stephen is the same age as Elizabeth, his wife. These are the children of Daniel Blevins
Daniel Blevins as they are listed in the 1850 Carroll County, Arkansas, census: Daniel and Elizabeth had another child born in December 1861. This was Andrew Jackson Blevins from whom the author is descended. Andrew was born November 20, 1861.
Daniel Blevins was killed by Bushwackers sometime after February 1861.
Family knowledge has known that grandfather A.J. Blevins grew up an orphan. It is not known if Elizabeth was also killed, or if she returned to Missouri and got sick and died.
Daniel could very well have been killed in Arkansas. Daniel did not live far from the author's O'Neal ancestors, and from O'Neal family history it is known that pro-southern raiders moved through the northwestern Arkansas counties frequently murdering and plundering. Many of the families of this section of the state were for the North. The author's O'Neal ancestors served in the Northern Army, as did many of their neighbors.
There is no way of knowing what Daniel Blevins' political beliefs were. We know that some of his brothers were slave owners and two of his nephews were in Confederate service.
He could very well have been killed by Northern raiders who knew of his slave-holding brothers and Confederate nephews. We shall never know the mystery of Daniel's death or of Elizabeth's early demise.
Not too much is known about the children of Daniel Blevins. particularly those by his first wife.
We do know, however, that Stephen Blevins was an early doctor in Carroll County, Arkansas. Stephen lived in Long Creek Township of that county and practiced medicine throughout the area.
We also know that Mary Ann and Edward lived in Carroll County after the Civil War. Their places of residence are not known, but we know that Mary and Edward lived near one another.
Mary Ann Blevins married John Spencer O'Neal who was born in Carroll County, Arkansas. John Spencer O'Neal had served in the 24th Missouri Volunteers during the Civil war. After the war he was elected to the Arkansas State House of representatives as a Republican from Northwest Arkansas.
John Spencer O'Neal was my great uncle from my father's side, and Mary Ann Blevins was my great aunt from my mother's side. Page 28
Andrew Jackson Blevins
(born November 20, 1861, died 1947)
Andrew Jackson Blevins was the son of Daniel Blevins and Elizabeth Blevins. Census records indicate he was born in Missouri.
We do not know where his early years were spent. We know he was orphaned at an early age, so it is assumed that he was under the care of older brothers and sisters.
In the 1880 census of Lawrence County, Missouri, he is listed in the household of James H. Hicklin; he would have been 19 years of age.
James H. Hicklin was his brother-in-law, as he was married to his sister Louisa. James H. Hicklin was the half-brother of Nancy Angeline Hicklin, who would become Andrew's wife.
From oral family history there seems to have been a very strong brotherly attachment between Andrew and his older brother George. Apparently Andrew was in the home of his sister Louisa for several years who perhaps mistreated Andrew, or else, at least, didn't treat him well, as it is said that brother George admonished his sister to treat their little brother properly.
This very close relationship between Andrew and George continued as long as they lived. Family oral history relates how they wept when they parted after visits. Perhaps their brotherly affection was fine-tuned as a result of the very difficult years that the young orphans faced together as boys.
George Washington Blevins lived in Willard, Missouri, where he farmed. George was born November 3, 1842 and died November 17, 1922. He is buried in Robberson Cemetery, seven miles north of Springfield. George's wife was named Rachel, and is buried beside him.
In 1883, Andrew Jackson Blevins married Nancy Angeline Hicklin. He purchased 120 acres of land which, according to family lore, was all timber and which he cleared himself.
Two houses were eventually built on this land. The first house was set back about a half mile from the road which ran along the west edge of the farm. This came to be known in later years as the "old house" as it was later replaced by another house built on the road. Some of the early children of Andrew and Nancy were born in the "old house."
Andrew's farm was in Lawrence County, Missouri, in Turnback Township. It is said that Andrew Blevins paid for his farm by raising hogs. This seemed to be his farming specialty. Even in later years of life he seemed to always have numerous hogs and "shoats" running about.
Andrew Blevins could read but could not write. This educational deficiency was undoubtedly due to the rough years of childhood, where educational opportunities were neglected. He signed all documents by making his mark, which was an "X."
Andrew Blevins was known to his neighbors as an honest man who paid his debts. He had a good reputation for integrity and moral uprightness. He was always addressed as Mr. Blevins, out of respect for his age and community standing.
As a young man, Andrew was converted in a Cumberland Presbyterian revival meeting, and he remained a life-long Presbyterian.
Andrew was also remembered for his "thriftiness," and some might be more inclined to call it stinginess. He carried a long, deep pocketbook in which he kept his money. He was very secretive about his pocketbook, and nobody was ever given the privilege of looking inside--only he knew what it contained.
He also chewed tobacco. Often he would send one or more of his grandchildren to Red Hot, a country store about a mile away, to get him a supply of Pick chewing tobacco. Sometimes, if he felt "less thrifty," he would allow the grandchildren to buy a piece of "stick candy."
He had a distrust of lawyers, but he supported visiting evangelists who came to hold brush arbor meetings in the area, and he would have them to his house for dinner.
It is said that he was always reluctant to turn away anyone passing by who asked to spend the night. He often permitted strangers to sleep in his barn on the hay if they promised they would not smoke and jeopardize his barn.
Some of his daughters later in life can remember two horses that Andrew had while they were children for which he had great affection: one was named Dan, the other one, several years later, was named Deck.
After the death of his wife Nancy Angeline in 1939, after 56 years of marriage, tie spent time visiting in the homes of his children. In later years his mind failed due to arthereosclerosis. He died peacefully in his sleep while staying in the home of his son Lee, on the same farm that he spent early years in the home of James H. Hicklin and his sister, Louisa Blevins Hicklin. He died in 1947 and is buried in Camp Ground Cemetery at Chesapeake, Missouri.
The following are the children of Andrew Blevins and Nancy Angeline Hicklin Blevins: Elmer Lee Blevins and his wife Rena had no children.
Frank and Josie Blevins had the following children: Olive, Knowles, Vester, Ava, Earl, Emory, Minnie, Lewis, George, Charles, and Thelma. Nancy Hicklin was the daughter of William Hicklin and Tabitha Stroud Hlicklin. She was the twin sister of Martha Emaline Hicklin (known as Aunt Matt). She was born November 14, 1865, probably in Emporia, Kansas.
She married Andrew Jackson Blevins in Lawrence County, Missouri, on December 11, 1884. She died of cancer in Kansas City, Missouri, at the home of her daughter Lucy in October, 1939. She is buried in Camp Ground Cemetery at Chesapeake, Missouri. At the time of her death, she had been a member of the Chesapeake Baptist Church for fifty years.
Nancy Blevins is remembered as a short, pleasant little woman who had silver gray hair which she wore in a bun to the back of her head. Some of the grandchildren can remember her combing long strands of silver hair that she put up in this bun to the back of her head.
She wore a small pair of spectacles when she read. She often silently moved her lips while reading, as if she were silently pronouncing the words that her eyes were following. She devoured the newspapers and had a keen interest in politics. She read of all the political happenings and formed opinions of the leading politicians of the day. She was a strong admirer of the demagogue Huey Long, who was the raucous governor of Louisiana in the 1930's.
Nancy had a big, black iron kettle sitting in the yard in which she made lye soap. She wore a large flimsy bonnet and gathered eggs in her apron.
She was the mother of eleven children. When she became seriously ill with cancer, she went to the home of her daughter Lucy, where she was lovingly cared for in her last days by her daughters.
Nancy grew up without her real mother, Tabitha Stroud, playing a significant role in her life. She always said that her stepmother, Mary Lucinda Stogsdill Hicklin, treated her as though she were her natural child and was like a real mother to her.
Of the children Andrew and Nancy Blevins, some of them.lived short lives and some lived up into their nineties.
Emory Blevins, the third son, was killed in a tragic accident at the ages of 21. Pictures of him show him to have been a very attractive young man. He was not married when he died.
One child, Minnie, died while an infant.
Elmer Lee worked for awhile as a policeman, then for the railroad, then spent the balance of his life farming and in retirement living in Aurora, Missouri, where he died.
Frank George was a farmer all his life, and upon his retirement lived in Mt. Vernon, where he passed away in 1966.
Claude Ellis was a farmer all his life, living his entire days on the home place. Claude acquired the farm on the death of this father. He died in a Mt. Vernon hospital in 1983.
Lucy Jane Blevins moved to Kansas City as a young girl, where she spent most of her life until she moved to Springfield, Missouri, in 1978. She died ht Springfield in 1990, at tile age of 95.
Freda Marie Blevins went to Kansas City as a young girl and worked for the Western Union Company for fifty year On her retirement she moved to Mt. Vernon and then Springfield. She died in Dade County Nursing Home on January 21, 1994, within a few days of being 98 years old.
Dollie Blevins also followed her sisters to Kansas City where she spent many years. She then moved with her family to Paola, Kansas, and then to Wichita, Kansas, where she died at the age of 96.
Effie Blevins died at the early age of 45. She lived on farm in Lawrence County.
Tennie also died young, at the age of 29, leaving four young children.
Lou Blevins also went to Kansas City where she lived most of her life. During retirement years she moved to Mt. Vernon, Missouri, and then to Springfield. She died in her sleep at the age of 87 in October, 1992. It's different with the Hicklins. We know Thomas Hicklin, Sr. to be the progenitor of the family in North America. The Hicklins were of pure Scottish origin, and these traits arc clearly seen ha their descendants' speech and mannerisms, as well as temperaments. A picture of Will Hicklin shows a distinctly formed mouth, which I have noted as well in my mother and in several of my cousins.
Thus, this piece is offered for whatever help and enjoyment it might bring to all those in the Blevins and Hicklin families.
Springfield, Missouri Note by Betty: This story was contributed by Venita Terherst Wingate. She copied the
article from a pamplet found in the Public Library in Springfield. Mr. Luce was a adjunct instructor of history at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo. at the time this was
published. Venita did not copy the section on the Hicklin family. Some pages are missing because of this. Venita is a descendent of Squire White Blevins.
THE BLEVINS HICKLIN CONNECTION
By: William L. Luce, A.B., M.A., M. Div.
Adjunct Instructor of
History
Philosophy
American Government
Southwest Baptist University
Bolivar, Missouri
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In the Beginning .....................4
The Legacy of the Long Hunters .........6
The War for Independence ............l0
The Western Movement .............. 14
Stephen Blevins, Sr .................17
Steven Blevins, Jr ................... 21
Ezekiel Blevins .....................22
The Confederates .................. 23
Daniel Blevins .....................25
Andrew Jackson Blevins ..............29
Thomas Hicklin Sr ................35
Thomas Hicklin, Jr ................38
Jonathan Hicklin .................41
William Hicklin ..................43
The Mystery of Tabitha Stroud .......45
Nancy Angeline Hicklin Blevins .......48
INTRODUCTION
Stephen ........... age 26 ..... born in Kentucky
Edward ........... age 18 ..... born in Missouri
Mary (Polly) Ann . . . age 16 ..... born in Missouri
Francis S .......... age 14 ..... born in Missouri
Julia Ann ......... age 12 ..... born in Missouri
Edy (f) ........... age 10 ..... born in Missouri
The children of Elizabeth Blevins:
George Washington . . age 6 ...... born in Missouri
l,ouisa ........... age 5 ...... born in Missouri
Cinda ............ age 4 ...... born in Missouri
Ermaline .......... age 2 ...... born in Missouri
(1) Elmer Lee (November 19, 1885-1959) married Florenia Isom (1897-1982)
(2) Minnie E. (September 4, 1887-July 8, 1888)
(3) Frank George (January 19, 1889-1966)
married Josephine Pryor (1891-1966)
(4) Emory (August 29, 1891-June 19, 1912)
(5) Tennie (January 17, 1893-March 16, 1922) married Ovis Johnson
(6) Effie (May 9, 1894-September 22, 1930) married Charles Strohfeldt
(7) Lucy .lane (October 31, 1895-February 23, 199) married Overton French Maupin
(8) Freda Marie (March 9, 1896-January 21, 1994)
(9) Dollie (January 21, 1898-May 2, 1994) married Carl Herman Waegener
(10) Claude Ellis (August 2, 1901-March 2, 1983) married Genetta Harmon (1902-1956)
(11) Lou G. (May 5, 1905-October 7, 1992) married Alva Loyd Luce (1903 - 1973)
Tennie Blevins and Ovis Johnson had the following children: Ralph, Willis, Mary and Floetta.
Effie Blevins and Charlie Strohfeldt had the following children: John, Mildred and Freda May.
Lucy Jane Blevins and Overton French Maupin had the following child: Howard D. Maupin.
Dollie Blevins and Carl Waegener had the following child: Kenneth Albert.
Claude Blevins and Genetta Harmon had the following children: Juanita, Betty Lou, Donald, Jack and Dale.
Lou Blevins and Alva Luce had the following child: William Lee Luce.
Page 34
Nancy Angeline Hicklin Blevins
Page 51
done. It is my belief that the Blevins family, while perhaps not of the Scotch-Irish line, intermarried with the Scotch-Irish as they began their westward movement. We know this to be tree of their marriages with the Cox family who came directly from Scotland. In their westward migration they followed the path of the Scotch-Irish, and if the early Blevins women were known I am sure it would show their family names to be Scotch-Irish.
January 21, 1995
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