William Lindsay is a fourth great grandfather. His line reaches down to us by way of the Sherburne and Sentell families. He lived in Mississippi in the territorial days passing away the month before his adopted home became a state. He was Virginia born to Sarah and Jacob Lindsay in 1772. William's father was a revolutionary patriot having served as an Ensign in the Frederick County Militia, though he didn't live to see the end of that war.
When William was born, the Lindsay family had been in the colony of Virginia for three generations. William's great great grandfather, James, left from Scotland in the mid 1600's landing along the James River in the new world. In 1674 he patented a 390 acre plat of farmland in Gloucester County, Virginia.
I haven't determined when William set out west but we know he had left Virginia by at least 1797. William was 25. That year he assigned power of attorney to a brother-in-law, Jacob Michaux, in order to secure interest in his Grandfather, Colonel James Lindsay’s estate settlement in Caroline County, Virginia.
When William was born, the Lindsay family had been in the colony of Virginia for three generations. William's great great grandfather, James, left from Scotland in the mid 1600's landing along the James River in the new world. In 1674 he patented a 390 acre plat of farmland in Gloucester County, Virginia.
I haven't determined when William set out west but we know he had left Virginia by at least 1797. William was 25. That year he assigned power of attorney to a brother-in-law, Jacob Michaux, in order to secure interest in his Grandfather, Colonel James Lindsay’s estate settlement in Caroline County, Virginia.
William is next found in the Natchez area of the young Mississippi Territory. 1798 had seen the last of the Spanish withdrawal from the lands east of the Mississippi river and north of the 31st parallel. The land had been transferred to American control as a result of the 1795 Pinckney Treaty. It was there in the Natchez area in 1805 that William became betrothed to Miss Martha Brashear.
Martha's family had been living on her father’s Spanish Land Grant along the Big Black River since the 1780's. This was a fairly remote location in the Natchez District- about 10 miles north of the fledgling settlement of Port Gibson and 6 miles west of the Natchez Trace. Her father, Tobias, a Maryland native had served with General George Rogers Clark in the Illinois campaign during the Revolutionary War. Tobias became a standout in the Natchez District. By the time of Martha's wedding, Tobias was Captain of Infantry in the county militia and Justice of the Common Pleas.
Actually, the whole Brashear family including Martha’s grandfather, several aunts and uncles and numerous cousins had settled in the area. The family had travelled with Clark’s troops during their excursion to the northwest. Martha was born at Fort Cahokia in the Illinois Territory in 1788. The family moved to the Natchez district and settled lands along Bayou Pierre, the Big Black and Second Creek. They were well situated by the time of the Spanish withdrawal.
Actually, the whole Brashear family including Martha’s grandfather, several aunts and uncles and numerous cousins had settled in the area. The family had travelled with Clark’s troops during their excursion to the northwest. Martha was born at Fort Cahokia in the Illinois Territory in 1788. The family moved to the Natchez district and settled lands along Bayou Pierre, the Big Black and Second Creek. They were well situated by the time of the Spanish withdrawal.
In 1811, the Governor of the Territory of Orleans, W.C.C. Claiborne, appointed William Lindsay Judge of the new parish of Warren. This parish was located in the extreme northeast corner of the current State of Louisiana. It was bordered on the east by the Mississippi River. It covered all of current day East Carroll Parish and parts of current day Madison Parish. Three years after its incorporation, the young State government dissolved Warren Parish and it was absorbed into neighboring parishes. William no longer had a jurisdiction.
There is a publication of that time that gave Mississippi river travelers a detailed description for navigating the Mississippi river- like a travel guide. I suspect this excerpt might describe William and Martha's home during his stint as Judge in the Parish of Warren...
"Walnut Hills" is the original name for Vicksburg. Warren Parish was right across the river.
Shortly after the 1814 dissolution of Warren Parish, I believe William and Martha moved to the Choctaw Agency near present day Ridgeland, MS. They had family already there. Martha's uncle, Turner Brashear, had operated a stand on the Natchez Trace, 4 miles east of the Choctaw Agency. He had been there for 10 years.
Turner Brashear was a significant and well known trader among the Indian nations. From the 1790's he had been an agent of the Panton and Leslie Company and travelled extensively throughout the Mississippi Territory, and what is today Louisiana and Florida. He married into the Choctaw Nation. In that time he developed many important relationships with influential Indians and government officials alike. As a result, the Spanish authorities contracted him act as interpreter on official matters between His Majesty's gov't and the Choctaw Indian Nation. He did the same for the Americans when they took control of the territory.
The youngest Brashear brother, Eden Brashear, is found to have also served the Agency in some official capacity. Eden was a very successful planter who held impressive land holdings in the state by the time of his death. His will is an interesting read. Never married, he bequeathed large sums to philanthropic endeavors and also gave handsomely to his surviving nieces and nephews.
Indian Agent, John McKee, assigned part of the agency farm to William in January of 1816. The assignment of the farm does not preclude William from having already been in the area "near what is now Clinton" as Dr. John Sherburne Anderson suggests. --Dr. Anderson was a 3rd great grandson of Martha Brashear Lindsay and an amateur yet thorough genealogist. He and grandmama Lucy collaborated a bit during her DAR application process. He passed away in 1998.
There are several reports written for the Natchez Trace Parkway and the Cobb Institute of Archeology at Mississippi State University regarding the Choctaw Agency. The Agency served as the official United States government presence within the Indian Nation. Between 1807 and 1823, it was located on the Natchez Trace at what is Ridgeland, Mississippi today. The Agency provided a means of preventing and resolving conflicts between settlers and Indians and to see to the proper distribution of annuities granted the Indians. Certain times of year it was the destination of tribal leaders who came to collect the annuities.
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| This is a view of the Choctaw Agency indicated on an 1820's plat map overlaid on Google Earth. The red line is the path of the Old Trace. As it passes the Agency, it is today's "Old Agency Road". Interstate 55 can be seen just to the right of the shaded Agency Field and "downtown" Ridgeland is just to the right of that. |
I toured the Agency site in 2016 with the Natchez Trace Parkway Association. An historian of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History lead the tour. The site is an interpretive stop on the Parkway today although there is not much to see. There is parking and signage that briefly describes its historical significance. It's less than a mile from Beth's house. (Hillview can be seen in the upper left corner of the map above). We were told at the site there are some things that remain buried for safekeeping (says the Archives guy). They showed us the top of a brick cistern that served the Agency house. We saw pictures of a few items retrieved during an archeological dig in the 1990's. There were pictures of a brick floor. We stood over it on our visit though it lays buried under two or three feet of dirt.
Since that day, I found a receipt our William Lindsay signed that authorized the agency to pay a mason for service of constructing a cistern at the Agency House in 1816. 202 years ago! Good chance this was the cistern I saw. The Archives guy says there are plans to excavate the cistern when funds allow. It was filled in with debris over the years. It was not dug during the previous excavation.
We don't know exactly where the Lindsay's lived at the Agency. Unfortunately, there were no land records created at that time. The area still belonged to the Choctaw Nation. Not even the most notable agent, Silas Dinsmoor's, farm can be located definitively. There are no land records to verify when exactly the Lindsay's came to the area or where they lived during that time. By the way, the records seem to indicate there was some tension or general dislike between our people (Lindsay and Brashears) and Silas Dinsmoor.
Martha and William Lindsay had three children by the time they moved to the Agency. A fourth child was born at the Agency in 1816. She was 3rd great grandmother, Margaret Newton Lindsay. Margaret would later marry Eugene Amedee Sherburne and reside in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana.
Martha and William Lindsay had three children by the time they moved to the Agency. A fourth child was born at the Agency in 1816. She was 3rd great grandmother, Margaret Newton Lindsay. Margaret would later marry Eugene Amedee Sherburne and reside in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana.
Atkinson's report says William, like Eden and Turner, performed as an Assistant Agent. William's signature is found on many receipts for purchases made by the Agency (like the cistern). He was definitely involved in official activities. His farm would have provided sustenance for travelers and their livestock making their way along the trace and likely served as an agricultural teaching aide for the Choctaws. William assumed the duties of the Agent when the official Agent was away. Eden and Turner Brashear were heavily involved in the everyday actions of the agency during this time as well. Both were on the payroll as interpreters. Their names show up on pay receipts and other documents frequently.
Some of the Agency documents are a fun read. Most interesting are the claims recorded. Indians and Whites alike came to the agency for assistance when wronged by the other. Sometimes it was a Choctaw who had been robbed or beaten and/or killed by a white man and sometimes it was the other way around. White homes were sometimes destroyed by unruly Choctaw. In one case, a white settler, John Montgomery, asked for recompense from the US govt. for the loss of his home and farming utensils at the hands of a number of Choctaw. Among the items listed as destroyed was a pet bear.
William Lindsay and Eden Brashear were very close. Their relationship went back several years at least. In 1810 William Lindsay donated 24 acres for the first school in the area of Port Gibson. The school was called Madison Academy and was incorporated by the Territorial Legislature by an 1809 Act. The Act provided that students of all denominations should enter the institution on equality and be admitted to the same advantages. The same act appointed Eden as one of the trustees for the school. William's property gift included the buildings in which the school operated. Unfortunately, by 1814 the school was forced to remove to a new location as the site was found inaccessible during high water.
According to an affidavit found in William's probate records, William asked Eden to manage his affairs shortly before his death (which points to William having been sick and dying of illness in lieu of some kind of accident or worse.) The affidavit says, "The undersigned (Eden) having long been friendly and intimate with the dec'd and a relative by marriage with his niece - undertook to transact and manage the affairs of the dec'd in the true spirit of his request." Eden also mentions that William had left "property to a considerable amount within the jurisdiction of the said Agency." Again, there's no way to know where that property was exactly.
According to an affidavit found in William's probate records, William asked Eden to manage his affairs shortly before his death (which points to William having been sick and dying of illness in lieu of some kind of accident or worse.) The affidavit says, "The undersigned (Eden) having long been friendly and intimate with the dec'd and a relative by marriage with his niece - undertook to transact and manage the affairs of the dec'd in the true spirit of his request." Eden also mentions that William had left "property to a considerable amount within the jurisdiction of the said Agency." Again, there's no way to know where that property was exactly.
William had requested that Eden conduct the affairs of his estate "to the best advantage for the support and education of his children." Margaret was only 1 year old at the time of her father's death. Her mother, Martha Brashear Lindsay, was still alive. Martha fell under her Uncle Eden's protective watch as well. Uncle Eden took Martha and her children back to his home in Port Gibson right after William's death.
Three years after the death of William Lindsay, Martha married John Gibson, the 40-year-old son of the founder of Port Gibson. Presumably, Margaret, still a toddler, joined them at the Gibson home in Port Gibson. Martha passed away only a year later. Five years after Martha's death, we find Eden still dutifully administering William's estate. He mentions in the affidavit, written in June of 1826, that Margaret (then 9yo) was living with him--
"There are four children: the Eldest is now in New York completing his Education for the Practice of Law [William Brashear Lindsay (1806-1866) became a prominent Physician in New Orleans after a brief law career in Claiborne County, MS], the three younger ones within this State- two of whom have been at School and the youngest one [Margaret] living with this undersigned and do and will go to school whenever their health and Opportunity will allow."
Dr. Sherburne Anderson's notes show Margaret attending school at "Mississippi Academy" (predecessor of Mississippi College) at Clinton, a couple years later. She was there from 1828 to 1830 and studied "under the tutelage" of a man named Landon Lindsey. He was an Educator, Planter and Builder. Dr. Anderson’s notes claim Landon Lindsey built the Penitentiary and the Old Capitol building in Jackson. There is no mention if Landon Lindsey was related to Margaret. The surnames are spelled differently.
Judge William Lindsay is most likely buried somewhere around the Choctaw Agency. Unfortunately, I have found no record or indication for his burial location.
Judge William Lindsay is most likely buried somewhere around the Choctaw Agency. Unfortunately, I have found no record or indication for his burial location.
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