The following is an excerpt
from a book on early Alabama Settlers. Unfortunately, I currently only have in my
possession two pages of the book which related to Shankle settlers on Jackson and DeKalb
County Alabama, and I do not have the entire reference for this material. My copy starts
at page 220 and is titled "The Bear Went Over the Mountain", the
next page, number 221 is titled "Other Families". At this point
I do not know if these represent titles for the book as a whole or just these sections.
The portions in RED represent my own comments and notes.
Footnotes in Black are ones that actually appear in the source material. The material must
be dated 1983 or later since it does reference an article in the Ft. Payne News of July
16, 1983.
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Page 220
The
Bear Went Over the Mountain
Goble's first wife was Lucinda C. Shankles, said to be
three-quarters Cherokee. Thus, three of her four grandparents were full-bloods. Which
ones? Since Shankles, the name of her paternal grandfather does not appear among Cherokee
names and Fossett (Fawcett), the name of her mother and her parents, does, one can
conjecture Samuel Shankles was half-Cherokee, that Dora Adaline "Dody" Fossett,
his wife was the daughter of a full-blooded Cherokee parents, and that Samuel's father,
John Shankles, was a white man, who married a full-blood, Clarissa[1]. Samuel Shankle married
Dody Fossett, September 4, 1866. [19]
Also in favor of Dody Fossett being
Cherokee is the fact that her son, Seaborn, born out of wedlock about 1863, took the
Fossett name. He is found living in Kirby's Mill on Sand Mountain next door to his
adoptive father and biological mother, Samuel and Dody Shankles, in the Jackson County
Census of 1880, with his wife, Susan. According to the matrilineal family structure of the
Cherokee, he became head of the Lucinda Shankles' family; not Samuel Shankles; she named
her only son, Seaborn Goble, after him.
19 Early Alabama
Marriages, 1862-1868, p.216. They were married by S.M.Hastings, Justice of the Peace.
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Page 221
Other
Families
John Shankle entered into 40 acres of land between Big
Coon Creek and the Tennessee River, February 22, 1837, at the exact time of the removal of
the Jackson County Cherokees. Later, in 1852, sold some land he had settled in nearby. [20] By 1850, he had moved with his Cherokee wife,
Clarissa, into Valley Head area of neighboring DeKalb County. the eventually had 13
children, Sarah (born about 1835), Robert (about 1836), William (about 1838), Jessie G.
(about 1840), Mary (about 1842), Hannah (about 1843), James (about 1845), Samuel (about
1847), Catharine (about 1849), Martha J. (about 1851), Lucinda P. (about 1853 - evidently
the namesake of Lucinda C., her niece, daughter of Samuel Shankles), Delilah A (about
1857) and Ellen (about 1858).[2] The census records list him and his wife as coming
from Tennessee, the natural direction whence settlement of North Alabama proceeded.
Another Shankle settler, James, may have been his brother. In addition, other Shankles
seemed to move into the area from Georgia. By the 1860's there were numerous inhabitants
bearing both the name Shankle and Shankle, all apparently related. Many of the females
kept house by themselves - a vestige of Indian culture. Shankles and Fossetts were among
the earliest storekeepers and postmasters on Sand Mountain. [21].
In a word, they were pioneers. .....{the rest of the page continues on about
the Fossetts of the area}
20 Margaret Matthews Cowart, Old
Land Records of Jackson County Alabama (Huntsville, Alabama: 1980), p. 126: Township 3,
Range 5, Section 10.
21 John Robert Kennamer, History of Jackson
County (Winchester, Tennessee, 1935), chapter XXXI: Coffeetown, Langston and Sand
Mountain.
NOTES:
 | [1] Clarissa Proctor is almost certainly, not a full blooded Cherokee. Some Proctor
researchers trace the line of Clarissa's paternal grandfather, Micajah Proctor, back to
Ambrose Proctor on off the original settlers of Jamestown Colony in about 1610. This would
make Clarissa, at least in part, English. Additionally, I have an unconfirmed report that
Clarrisa's maternal grandfather, William Davis may be, in part, of Australian
descent.(Back) |
| [2] The most current information for the birtdates of John and Clarissa's children
are as follows: Sarah (born about 1835), Robert (about 1836), William
(August 18, 1837), Jessie G. (February 1839), Mary (about 1842), Hannah (about 1843),
James (about 1845), Samuel (about 1846), Catharine (about 1849), Martha J. (about 1851),
Lucinda P. (about 1853), Delilah A (about 1857) and Ellen (about 1858) .(Back) |
|
