By Staff
I have been sent some material that ran in the last issue of Echoes, the newsletter that is published by the Escambia County Historical Society.
I have been asked to include it here also.
Blakely Barton is one of 17 children born to Edd Loffon Barton and Dorothy Hill. His father worked for Jack Hines from 1946 until his death in 1988.
It is his mother's ancestry that this information is about. Dorothy Hill was the daughter of Rufus Hill and Elsie Alford. Elsie Alford was the daughter of Susannah Jackson Taylor and Simon Alford and Susannah Taylor was the daughter of Andrew and Elsie Jackson.
Blakely says his story begins with his great-great-grandmother, Elsie Jackson, who came to America from Kingstown, Jamaica, when she was 11 years old. According to information given by the late Dorothy Hill Barton, Elsie spoke very little English when she arrived. She learned English from the family she lived with and worked for as a wet nurse. This family first settled in New York and then moved to Tuskegee.
Elsie eventually married a man named Andrew Jackson and her daughter, Susannah Jackson, was born at Gen Creek March 15, 1875. When her husband left the area, Elsie and her daughter moved to the Boykin community where Elsie met and married James Taylor. Elsie was now Elsie Jackson Taylor and Susannah took the name of her mother's second husband, becoming Susannah Jackson Taylor.
Elsie and her husband moved to Brewton and had two sons, Samuel Jackson Taylor and Wyatt Taylor. Wyatt moved to the North as a young man and never came back to the area. Sam worked with many of the logging camps around the Brewton area and was known by many as Uncle Sam. A photo of him appears in the book, "Bicentennial of Brewton," where he is shown as the camp's cook.
Susannah Jackson Taylor, Elsie's daughter, married Simon Alford in Pollard at the beginning of 1900. They became the parents of four children, Lottie Alford, James Taylor Alford, Maggie Alford and Elsie Alford, who was born Nov. 7, 1910, in Brewton.
Susannah, now Susannah Jackson Taylor Alford, soon became known as "Miss Susan" around the Brewton area. She worked for many years for many of the well-known families in Brewton. When her husband, Simon Alford, left her, she supported her children by taking in sewing and ironing. She later married Richard Williams and they became the parents of six more children, Rosa Lee Williams, James Ervin Williams, Lizzie Mary Williams, Dulley Mae Williams, Leila Alafare Williams and Spurl Lewis Williams.
I will continue with this family next week. As I have told you many times, if you have information on your family or anyone's family and want to see it in this column, get in touch with me.
I can be reached by phone at 867-4876, email at lydia.grimes@brewtonstandard.com or mail at P.O. Box 887. The more people you reach, the more information you are able to collect.