52 Ancestors - On the Farm: Jollett and In-Laws

Austin Morris Farm (1990s)
Greene County, VA

The 1880 Agricultural Census Schedule for Greene County, Virginia is not easy to read. The image is dark, the column headings are fuzzy beyond readability, and the entries look like they were written with a fat Sharpie. All in all, a somewhat discouraging document to plow through (pun intended – get it??).

1880 Agricultural Census Schedule

However, a blank form is available on the National Archives and Records Administration website (www.archives.gov). By following along, I was able to glean some insight into my 2X great-grandfather’s life as a farmer. 

I assume that the other 9 listed with him on the page were close neighbors, and some were relatives on his wife’s side. How did James Franklin Jollett and his wife Lucy shape up next to the in-laws? I compared them to the following:

• Austin Morris, husband of Lucy’s sister Susan Clementine
• Madison Shiflett, Lucy’s uncle, her father’s brother
• Miley Frazier, Lucy’s uncle, her mother’s brother
• Thomas J. Frazier, Lucy’s cousin

The first set of questions dealt with the nature of the farm itself. All 5 claimed to OWN their farm. None of them claimed any grass land or grass products such as clover and hay. They likely grew hay, at least, for their own use, but if they sold any, they had to report it.

	Acres Tilled	Acres Wooded	Value of Farm	Value of Farm Machinery	Value of Livestock	Value of Farm Production 1879
JF Jollett	40	28	$300	$35	$125	$115
A Morris	30	30	$250	$5	$240	$30
M Shiflett	6	100	$200	$2	$30	$60
M Frazier	50	180	$400	$5	$40	$111
TJ Frazier	41	100	$600	$5	$125	$190

James Franklin Jollett and his brother-in-law Austin Morris were about comparable in farm size and the value they put on their farm, but evidently Austin did much more with livestock than did James Franklin. Although he was a much smaller farmer than Uncle Miley and Cousin Thomas, James Franklin’s farm production was on par with Miley’s.

The next set of questions dealt with livestock. James Franklin and Thomas each had two milk cows. Madison Shiflett and Miley Frazier each had 1; Austin had 3. In 1879, James Franklin and Thomas produced 200 pounds of butter each. Austin claimed 300 pounds while Miley produced only 100 pounds and Madison none.

James Franklin Jollett and Austin Morris were the only ones who bothered with sheep, at least in 1879. James Franklin sold 5. Austin bought 2 and slaughtered 2. He also reported 20 pounds of fleece shorn in the spring of 1880.

All 5 were busy with swine and poultry. “Poultry” is assumed to mean chickens but it might mean ALL poultry which could include geese and ducks.

	# Swine	# Poultry	Egg production 1879
JF Jollett	2	12	50 dozen
A Morris	11	17	75 dozen
M Shiflett	1	12	60 dozen
M Frazier	12	5	20 dozen
TJ Frazier	4	5	30 dozen

It seems clear that Austin Morris was much more involved with livestock than others in the family. Jollett and Madison Shiflett depended heavily on their chickens for the production of eggs.

Morris’s emphasis on livestock is further revealed in the reports on “Cereals” and Sugar. He devoted only 4 acres to Indian Corn; all other columns were left blank.

	Indian Corn		Oats		Rye		Wheat		Sorghum
	Acres	Bushels	Acres	Bushels	Acres	Bushels	Acres	Bushels	Acres	Gallons
JF Jollett	10	???	6	41	4	21	1	8	1	77
A Morris	4	75
M Shiflett	6	100					2	10
M Frazier	5	43					10	25
TJ Frazier	7	250					4	50

James Franklin Jollett reported on his taxes that he was a distiller of spirits. I wonder if sorghum was used in that business. 

Finally, questions about orchards and forest showed the 5 to be relatively equal.

	Orchards 1879			Forest Products
	Acres	# Trees	Bushels	Cords cut	Value 1879
JF Jollett	4	90	100	10	$15
A Morris				10	$15
M Shiflett				10	$15
M Frazier	3	60	No report	10	$15
TJ Frazier	2	90	61	30	$20

REFLECTIONS

James Franklin Jollett always seemed to be able to keep up with the Joneses – or in his case, the Morrisses, Shifletts, and Fraziers. While egg production was important, the emphasis was on what he could grow whether it was corn, grain, or apples.

Madison Shiflett seems like he was just a small-time farmer, but it might be a sign of his age. He was nearly 70, definitely an older man then who likely farmed just enough to get by. The farm size and value were about half  that of what he reported in the 1850 agricultural schedule.

The Fraziers were clearly the big landowners. At one time Miley owned over 1000 acres. At his death he gave each of his children 200 acres. Today the Frazier land is part of the Skyline Drive. You can read about the Frazier Discovery Trail HERE.

Amy Johnson Crow continues to challenge genealogy bloggers and non-bloggers alike to think about our ancestors and share a story or photo about them. The challenge is “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.”

Wendy

© 2021, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

52 Ancestors - QUITE THE CHARACTER: Tom Frazier

House in Boonesville, Albemarle Co, VA
where some deserters were kept in the basement 
and then killed near the end of the Civil War.
Tom Frazier escaped from here.
photo courtesy Norm Addington

The first statement in the Thomas J. Frazier lineage posted on the Shiflet Family website says everything about my 2X great-grandmother’s cousin: “reportedly had 32 children.”  He married twice and lived openly with his good friend’s widow. According to legend these three women were not the only ones in his life, and not all were white – not a big deal today but surely scandalous in his time.

Along the Skyline Drive

A gentleman named George Foss interviewed many older residents of Greene County, Virginia to collect the tales that had been passed down from generation to generation. His book From White Hall to Bacon Hollow includes stories of moonshine operations, black magic and witch-women, feuds, childhood games and riddles, and more. Tom Frazier featured in several of those stories, mostly about his dodging the Civil War.

Here is an excerpt of one story told by Robert Shiflett about Linus/Linkus Shiflett and Tom Frazier, both considered war dodgers or deserters during the Civil War:

At various times Tom Frazier had been captured but he always escaped, but when they captured him and Linkus Shiflitt on this occasion they carried 'em to the outskirts of Staunton in a little brick buildin' I have heard Tom Frazier himself, I have set on his knee and heard him tell about it. They were to be shot at sunrise next mornin' and they had the coffins brought in -- pine boxes. So that night when they manacled 'em together, all the guards were asleep. There was only one door to this little brick buildin' leadin' out of it and there's one sentinel at the door. Tom Frazier said that he begged Linkus all night to make a break for it. Tom Frazier's hands were smaller than his wrists so he had slipped the handcuffs off of his hands which freed Linkus as far as bein' burdened with another man. He had nothin' but the handcuffs on his wrist. Tom Frazier told Linkus he'd kill the guard at the door if he would go with him. Said Linkus kept sayin' "No," he was going to trust in the Lord. And Old Man Tom, I know he lacked a lot from bein' a righteous man at the time, but he told Linkus that the Lord helps them that help themselves. "If you trust in the Lord you gonna be shot at sunrise if you don't try to help yourself." And accordin' to his narration, there was a rail fence 'bout a hundred yards maybe from the cabin across open fields. He'd waited till daylight and then the other guards begin to stir and he couldn't go. Linkus still had his fiddle accordin' to Tom. They had heard of his reputation as a violin player -- as a fiddler -- and so, accordin' to Old Man Tom Frazier, they made Linkus set on his own coffin and play the fiddle for 'em. And when they came in to serve breakfast, Tom said all the guards' rifles was stacked in front of the door in the yard. He said naturally he didn't have much appetite so he got up from the table ahead of ev'rybody else and he moved around the table toward the guard standin' in the door. And said he was movin' like he was unconcerned till he got near the door. He knocked the guard down, jumped through the door and made for the woods about a hundred yards away on the other side of a rail fence. And said all of the guards ran out and one by one they grabbed the rifles and started shootin'. He said he jumped to the right, jumped to the left, zig-zagged and bullets was passin' him and he said when he heard six rifles fire he knew that they were out of guns for the time being…. So when they called for the other rifle -- they had to run inside to get it -- he'd almost reached the woods and when he got to the rail fence instead of tryin' to jump it or climb over it, he just dived over the top of it. And he said as he did, the rifle ball busted the top rail right under his stomach but he fell to the other side unhurt. He said while they had the empty rifles -- ev'ry rifle was empty -- Linkus still wouldn't run. And they come back and tied him and shot him. 

Hilda Yates told this story about Tom Frazier:

They'd come to take him to the war and every time they'd get him and start with him, he'd always outdo 'em….The way he got away, he had a little black mare, he said all he had to do was just pull up on the reins and lay his hand behind him and she let into kickin' so fast you couldn't count it…. Said they had him just fixin' to take him and he just pulled up his reins, laid his hand on this little mare and she let into kickin', throwin' her feet ev'ry which-a-way. And those officers scattered and then she just whirled and said she was like a bird -- she was gone. Just sailed away with her. And they said that he got away so many times that they even dug graves and buried logs and said that was the grave Old Man Tom Frazier was buried in. I 'member when old man Tom Frazier died. They caught him I don't know how many times. He got away ev'ry time.

Robert Shiflett told yet another story about Tom Frazier:

Civil War bullets
from wikimedia commons

Tom Frazier was about the only man that survived in this section from the war as a hunted man. They
captured him innumerable times and he always managed to escape. Once they decided to take him to Richmond when they caught him and handcuffed him beside a guard on the train, and Tom picked a seat beside the window. And he was a slight built man, very wiry and strong but of small stature. And so when the guard dozed off, Tom slipped the handcuffs off -- as I mentioned before, his hand was smaller than his wrist; he could expand the tendon in his wrist when they handcuffed him and the handcuffs would be tight, but after he relaxed he could slip them off. So when the guard began to nod, Tom raised the window -- it was hot weather -- and he waited until the train was crossin' the river and he dived off the train into the river. Left the guard sittin' there with the empty handcuffs. He had a bullet -- a mini-ball -- right against his skull, right under his scalp, and I used sit on his knee when I was a kid and looked like I could push that ball back and forth a little ways. Great big lump, there. A mini-ball is pretty good sized bullet, you know. He was a wild character and he was pretty tough all of his life. He was a fightin' man any time anybody saw fit to challenge him....

Tom Frazier was definitely a legend in his own time. I wish I had a picture of this most interesting character.

Amy Johnson Crow continues to challenge genealogy bloggers and non-bloggers alike to think about our ancestors and share a story or photo about them. The challenge is “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.”

Wendy

© 2020, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

52 Ancestors - MIDDLE: House Divided

My poor 3X great-grandmother Helena Eppard – she was truly caught in the middle. It was 1860 and war was declared between the North and South. As residents of Rockingham County, Virginia, the Eppards sided with the Confederacy declaring the right to secede from the Union.

Helena’s two sons, Thomas and George, both served in Company L, 97 Virginia Militia under Col. Mann Spitler. Thomas rose to the rank of Sergeant while George remained a private, probably because he was unable to fight after breaking his leg in 1863.

While no doubt Helena worried about her sons, she probably was equally concerned about “the enemy,” some of them anyway. Across the line in Tennessee, Helena’s brothers and nephews donned the blue uniforms of the Union. 

Being caught in the middle was not unique to the Eppards. In neighboring Greene County, Thomas Frazier, nephew of my 3X great-grandmother Nancy Frazier Shiflett, was himself torn about the issues that had divided the nation. He wrote a short book called The Olive Branch in which he explained how he had wished to side with the Union because he opposed slavery but did not want to fight and kill his friends and neighbors. As a result, he ran. After he was caught and imprisoned as a deserter, he managed to escape. A rather long excerpt is available on the Shiflet Family Website. It is quite a lively story.

When I studied the Civil War in American History in high school, I thought the Mason-Dixon Line marked a true division in politics. I thought the entire North was anti-slavery and the entire South was pro-slavery. But no. Within Virginia and within families, sentiments were frequently in conflict.

House divided.

Amy Johnson Crow continues to challenge genealogy bloggers and non-bloggers alike to think about our ancestors and share a story or photo about them. The challenge is “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.”

Wendy

© 2020, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.