by Gary D Duke 2006

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Bartlett Smith Duke and Sarah Jane Foster had these children:

1. Moses born 2-1835 but died before 1840

2. Thomas Lloyd 12-10-1836 AL

3. Austin Peay 05-12-1839 AL

4. Elizabeth Foster 03-08-1841 AL

5. Susannah Ann 03-03-1843 AL

6. Bartlett Smith 07-05-1845 AL

7. Rebecca Jones 07-29-1847 AL

8. Nancy Keziah 11-17-1849 MS

9. James Hampton 01-15-1852 MS

10. Andrew Jackson 10-06-1855 MS

1. Moses Duke

Moses was the first child, born February of 1835. Obviously, he was named for Bartlett’s father. It was reported many years later by a relative that Moses was killed when a small child by an accident in a cotton gin. Certainly, Moses was dead before the 1840 census.

2. Thomas Lloyd Duke

Thomas L. Duke was born 12-10-1836 in Fayette, Alabama, the second son of Bartlett and Sarah. I presume he was named after Thomas Lloyd Foster who was Sarah’s father.

Thomas was moved from Fayette to Chickasaw County, Mississippi, when he was 13 years old and finished growing up there. At an early age, he decided to become a Methodist Minister and, by the time the Civil War began in 1861, Thomas was already ordained so he joined the 8^th Mississippi Cavalry and was made a Chaplain. He was later transferred to Company K, 19th Mississippi Infantry where he continued as Chaplain. Later in the war, the 19th Mississippi was in Virginia and the following quote is taken from "History of 19th Mississippi Infantry".

"....On April 29, after the Federal army had crossed at other points, the brigade withdrew to the Chancellorsville house, leaving five companies of the Nineteenth, with one of Mahone's regiments, to watch the ford. Next day the regiment was reunited and marched with the brigade to the intersection of the Mine and Plank roads, where they intrenched. May 1 they started out to co-operate with Jackson's flank march, and fought nearly all the day with a force of the enemy found on the Furnace road, pushing it back from a position which would have been fatal to the campaign, and after eleven at night, advancing almost to the Federal entrenchments. After skirmishing all day of the 2d the enemy disappeared from their front on the Furnace road. On the 3d they advanced by the furnace, capturing many prisoners, to the line of Confederate artillery, then deployed by flank to the right, the Nineteenth leading, and charged the Federal breastworks. Col. N. H. Harris led the attack, through a dense wood and over a wide abatis, and in spite of a murderous fire of musketry and artillery the Mississippians took the intrenched line. T.L. Duke, Chaplain of the regiment, was at the front with his musket during the series of battles, and mainly directed the movements of the skirmishers. The loss was 6 killed, 39 wounded, 6 captured....."

Taken from eHistory's Civil War Newsletter - Issue 05/20/2002 - Author: Alethea Sayers

****************** LEADING SOULS TO VICTORY *******************

Hundreds of clergymen left their flocks to go to the battlefield with the units mustered from their villages and towns. Most of them served faithfully in obscurity.

Not so the Reverend T. L. Duke of the Nineteenth Mississippi Regiment. Near Fredericksburg, Virginia, men of Brigadier General Carnot Posey's brigade wavered during hand-to-hand fighting. Reverend Duke seized a musket, raced to the front of his regiment, and there "mainly directed the movements of the skirmishers."

As a result, the Mississippi clergyman became the only Confederate chaplain to be cited officially for gallantry in battle.

While the war was still ongoing, Thomas married in Pontotoc County, MS, to Henrietta Stone on 2-9-1863 and their first child was born in 1865. Henrietta V. Stone was born 1842 in South Carolina. Her parents were John J. Stone, born 1813 South Carolina and Harriet H. born 1815 Tennessee. Thomas and Henrietta had these children:

Oscar Duke 1865m MS

Estell D. Duke 11-1868f MS

Thomas Lloyd Duke 1875m CO

Daisy Duke 1878f CA

I am unable to locate Thomas and Henrietta in the 1870 census. From the birthplaces of their children, they may have been traveling and/or living in the territory of Colorado at that time.

By 1878 they had moved to the town of Davis in Yolo County, California, just northwest of Sacramento. Thomas reported to the census that he was a minister. He also reported that Henrietta had “consumption” - now known as tuberculosis - and she died not long thereafter.

On October 18, 1883 Thomas married again in Yolo County to Elizabeth C. Hill. Elizabeth was born in 1856 in California with her parents coming there from Kentucky. Their first and only child - Edgar H. Duke - was born in Yolo on August 22, 1884 and Elizabeth died, probably from childbirth complications, on August 30, 1884.

Thomas had a younger sister, Rebecca Duke who had married Ed Appling back in Mississippi and moved to Merced in the central California valley, south of Yolo County. By coming to California in 1849, Ed Appling had obtained prime land near the town of LeGrand and was a successful wheat farmer. Ed was born in 1825 so was getting along in age by the mid-1880's. After Elizabeth’s death, Thomas moved near his sister at LeGrand. (See Rebecca Duke story for details)

Thomas married for a third time on 9-8-1886 in Mariposa County to Charlotte Obarr. Charlotte, called "Lotta", was born in 1865 in California to A.A. and Sarah E. Obarr. Sarah's brother was J. M. Alsanson, also a Methodist Minister, and the Rev Alsanson performed the wedding. Thomas and Lotta lived in the town of Linden in San Juaquin County where Thomas was minister at the Linden Methodist Episcopal Church from 1887 to 1896. Lotta also had "consumption" and died in Linden on 12-8-1994 at the age of 29. They never had children.

Daisy Duke had always been “sickly” and had a spinal deformity, dying in 1888 when only 10 years old.

I have been told that Lloyd Duke was murdered in 1894 but I have no details about it.

Shortly after the death of his wife Lotta and his son Lloyd, Thomas L. Duke moved away from Linden, was 64 years old and, at the time of the 1900 census, living alone in Pomona, a town on the eastern side of Los Angeles.

In 1897 Estelle D. Duke had married Chatham McCausland in Pomona. He was a minister born in Missouri in 1864 and they lived in San Diego, California, at time of the 1900 census. They had a daughter Theodoria Elizabeth born December 1898 and with them lived Edgar H. Duke, Estelle’s half-brother, then 15 years old.

In 1900 Oscar Duke was still single and living in the central valley of California at Fresno working at a plant nursery.

In 1910, Estelle and Chatham McCausland had moved from San Diego, all the way north to Seattle, Washington. They’d had another daughter, Maurine in 1904 in California and both daughters lived with them:

Chatham McCausland 46m MO

Estelle 44f MS wife

Beth 11f CA daughter

Maurine 6f CA daughter

Thomas L. Duke 73m MS father-in-law

Sallie D. Duke 54f AL mother-in-law

Thomas Duke has married again . I have not found the record of this fourth marriage but it was probably in Los Angeles County. Sallie D’s maiden name was Stephenson. She was born in Franklin County, Alabama and had a twin sister named Elizabeth R. Her father was William G. Stephenson born in Tennessee. She had another sister named Maria L. who was born in Feb 1852.

Meanwhile in 1910, Oscar Duke was 45 years old, still single and still farming in Fresno. Edgar H. Duke did not go with his sister to Washington, he moved to Los Angeles, lived in an apartment, was still single at age 25, working in real estate.

On January 3, 1920 in the city of Glendale in Los Angeles County, Thomas L was then 83 years old. He and Sallie rented a house and Sallie was listed as the “head” of the family. With them lived Sallie’s sister, Maria L. Booker. Maria was a widow and from her record in Los Angeles in 1900, she said that she never had any children.

Thomas L Duke died in Los Angeles County on July 8, 1920. I don't know what happened to wife Sallie. Estelle and her husband and daughters still lived in Seattle. Oscar Duke moved to San Francisco and got married to Madge ___ a 40 year old woman born in Missouri. Oscar and Madge lived in Stanislaus County in 1930. They never had any children.

When World War I came along, Edgar H. Duke registered for the draft in 1917 and wound up in Iowa doing some kind of work for the US Government. In the 1920 census he was in Davenport, Iowa, where he was a roomer and worked as an accountant for a linograph company. The entry says that he is divorced and there are no children with him. At some prior time, he had married Alice Zaida Kane in California but they had soon divorced and she was living in Los Angeles, California with her parents in 1930. I don't find Edgar in 1930.

3. Austin Peay Duke

Austin Peay Duke was born May 12, 1839 in Fayette County, Alabama. Austin’s grandmother, Nancy Burge Duke, had a first cousin in South Carolina named “Austin Peay” and that is the origin of the name in the Duke family but Austin also had an uncle, brother to his father Bartlett, who was named “Austin Peay Duke” and it is likely Austin was actually named after his uncle Austin.

Austin’s parents moved west from Fayette to Chickasaw County, Mississippi when he was about 10 years old. In the 1850 census he lived at home with his parents.

The 1860 census for the western portion of Chickasaw County was lost so Austin is not seen at that time.

When the Civil War began in April 1861, Austin was at the prime fighting age of 22 and he joined the 8^th Mississippi Cavalry in March 1862 for “three years or the war”. His war career was inglorious, however, as he was discharged in July 1862, after only four months, because he had, from birth, an inguinal hernia, “which prevented him from performing the duties required of a soldier”.

When the 1870 census was taken, Austin was not with the family who still lived in Chickasaw, Mississippi. His younger brother Bartlett Jr, still single and only 16 years old, had also left the family and had gone somewhere into Texas and I suspect that Austin and Bartlett Jr went to Texas together. Neither of them are found in 1870 anywhere.

In 1873, Austin’s father & mother and most of his siblings all left Mississippi and moved to Baxter County, Arkansas. His brother Bartlett Jr in Texas met and married a woman in 1873 and Austin decided to join his family in Arkansas. (Note this is conjecture about him going to Texas......he may have remained near the family in Mississippi but cannot be located)

Baxter County had just been created in March 1873 from territory taken from the east side of Marion County and, by 1879, Austin married in nearby Marion County to Sarah Jane Gay. Sarah Gay was born in Alabama in 1848 so was 32 years old when they married and Austin was almost 40 but this seems to have been the first marriage for either of them. Sarah’s father was John W. Gay, born 1818 in Tennessee, and his family had been living in Jackson County, Alabama, before moving to Arkansas about the same time as did Bartlett Duke Sr.

In the 1880 census for Marion County, James Creek township, is found:

Austin Duke 39m MS

Sarah Jane 33f AL

and next door to them lived her brother:

John W. Gay 25m AL

Margaret 21f AR

James 4m AR

Samuel 2m AR

Thomas 1/12m AR

three houses away lived:

Lewis Day 56m NC

Ellen 40f AL

and three kids and

John W. Gay Sr 62m TN father-in-law

and another couple of houses away lived:

A. W. Gay 24m AL

Sarah J. 22f GA

William J. 3m AR

Lucinda 1/12 f AR

In May 1883 Austin and Sarah had their first, and only, child. Mary Alberta Duke was born - usually called “Birdie” in later life.

On May 10, 1893 a land grant was record by - or for - Austin P. Duke in Marion County. It was 161 acres located at NW1/4SE1/4 and N1/2SW1/4 and SW1/4NW1/4 of section 4, township 19n, range 16w. This land was just inside Marion County, on the southwest side of the White River, about 12 miles west of the town of Mountain Home in Baxter County. By this time, Austin’s brother Bartlett Jr had also moved from Texas to Baxter County and Bartlett Jr had land 10 miles east of Austin. No record of these federal land grants was made until the recipient went to a local land office and actually filed the deed for recording. It was not uncommon for many years to pass, sometimes 30 or more, if the person didn’t want to sell the land, before the grant would be recorded. So the fact that Austin’s land was “recorded” in 1893 does not tell us when he actually got it. I expect he got the grant around the time he was married. It is my “guess” that Austin may have died around 1893 and the land grant was recorded in order that the property could be sold.

In 1898 Mary “Birdie” Duke, only 15 or 16 years old, married to Adam Sylvester Madewell in Marion County. Adam - usually called “Ad” - was born in Arkansas in May 1876. They are found in Madison County, Arkansas, Lincoln township in 1900:

Ad Maidwell (sp) 05-1876 AR

Mary 05-1883 AR

Belle 10-1899 Indian Territory

The “Indian Territory” birthplace for daughter Belle might be significant because I cannot locate either Austin or Sarah Jane Duke in 1900. I point out that Madison County, Arkansas, is only a few miles east of the eastern boundary of Indian Territory. One of Austin’s sisters, Nancy K. Duke who married Jarrett Luther, was, in 1900, living in James Creek township in Marion County and near to the Luthers was Sarah’s brother John W. Gay and his family. (I wonder if Jarrett Luther bought Austin’s land?)

In the 1910 census for Madison County, Kings River township, is found:

A. B. Madewell 33m AR

Birdie 25f AR

Belle 10f AR

Henry 8m AR

Roy 5m AR

Brodey 1m AR

Sarah Duke 63f AL

as is seen, Sarah Gay Duke is now living with her daughter Birdie.

In 1920, still at Kings River, was:

Ad Madewell 42m AR

Birdie 36f AR

Henry 18m AR

Roy 15m AR

Broddie 11m AR

Josie 8f AR

Elsie 6f AR

Willis R. 3m AR

Glenn 1m AR

Sarah Duke 68f AL mother-in-law

By 1930, still in Kings River, the family had changed. Adam Madewell died in 1921 and Sarah Duke died sometime before 1930.

Mary B. Madewell 49f AR widow

Elsie J 17f AR

Ira W. 13m AR

Glenn 11m AR

Nellie 9f AR

4. Elizabeth Foster Duke Elizabeth Foster Duke, the oldest daughter of Bartlett & Sarah, was born 3-8-1841 in Alabama, named after Sarah’s mother, Elizabeth Duke Foster.

While they were all still in Mississippi, Elizabeth married Rufus Alexander Nichols on 10-15-1862. They had five children:

Sarah A. Nichols 1863f MS

Mary Ella Nichols 1865f MS

Thomas Nichols 1867m MS

Charity Nichols 1870f MS

Rufus Nichols 1873m MS

Rufus bought 111 acres of land on 11-8-1870 in section 7, township 16w, range 4e, from his wife’s cousin, Thomas L. Foster and his wife Mattie H. Foster. This land was all in Chickasaw County.

Rufus Nichols died in Clay County, Mississippi, about the time his last son was born, and Elizabeth married again on 11-29-1876 in Clay to Samuel M. Thompson. They had one child:

Minnie Thompson 1878f MS

Samuel Thompson then also died before 1880 and Elizabeth decided to join her family in Baxter County, Arkansas..

By 1880 Elizabeth Duke Nichols Thompson was living near Whiteville Township, west of Mountain Home, in Baxter County with her five Nichols kids - 7 to 16 years old - and her only Thompson child, a 2 year old daughter.

Sarah A. Nichols married John M. White in Baxter in late 1880 and they had two kids in Arkansas.

Mary E. Nichols married William F. Barnett in Baxter in late 1880 and they had two kids in Arkansas.

About 1884 the entire gang of them moved to Lexington, in Morrow County, Oregon, where, by 1900, they all lived near each other. Charity Nichols had married Norris Leach and had three kids. John & Sarah White had two more kids in Oregon. Minnie L. Thompson married William E. Leach and they had a daughter. Rufus A. Nichols had married and had a daughter. Thomas H. Nichols was there but still single.

Except for Rufus who had moved to Walla Walla, Washington, all of the family was still in Lexington in 1910 and Elizabeth Thompson was still there in 1920, living alone but next door to William & Mary Barnett.

I don’t find Elizabeth Thompson in 1930 and presume she died before that date.

5. Susannah Ann Duke

Susannah A. Duke was born in Fayette, Alabama on 3-3-1843 and moved with her parents to Chickasaw County, Mississippi, in 1849. She married Perry C. Smith in Chickasaw on 1-15-1868. Perry Smith was born in Fayette, Alabama, in 1840. His father was Joel Smith who was born 1804 in South Carolina. This Smith family may well have come to Alabama at the same time as did Moses Duke and his sons.

Susannah and Perry Smith had three children:

Joel Lee Smith 1869m MS

Elizabeth Smith 1873f MS

William Jefferson Smith 1876m MS

Susannah’s parents and many of her siblings left Mississippi in 1873 but Susannah remained until Perry Smith died about 1876. Then Susannah with her three kids joined the family in Baxter County where she married again in 1879 to Jasper Weldon Allen and they lived near Independence township. Susannah and Jasper had two children:

John V. Allen 1880m AR

Andrew B. Allen 1884m AR

In 1894 many of the family members began moving away from Baxter and so did Susannah and Jasper. They moved to southern Indian Territory, near the town of McAlister, where Susannah died before 1900.

On June 21, 1900, Jasper Allen testified before the Indian Commission about his family in support of the claim made by many family members seeking benefits on the basis that they were Choctaw Indians. Jasper Allen married again on 9-26-1901 to Martha Davis.

6. Bartlett Smith Duke (Jr)

Bartlett Smith Duke was born July 5, 1845 in Fayette County, Alabama. His parents moved from Fayette to Chickasaw County, Mississippi when he was only 4 years old.

When the Civil War began in 1861, Bartlett was barely 16 years old and no record has ever been found that he fought in the War. (There was a Bartlett Smith Duke in the CSA from Mississippi but that man was a first cousin, a son of Austin P. Duke, and that Bartlett Smith Duke was killed in 1862)

I am also unable to locate Bartlett in the 1870 census but we know he left the family before that census and went somewhere into Texas where he married Parlee Catherine Wilson about 1873 and their first child, a son named Lycurgis Cully Duke - usually called “Cully” or “L.C.” - was born 7-9-1873.

Parlee Wilson Duke died in Texas about 1877 and Bartlett took his son and moved to Baxter County, Arkansas to join the rest of his family there.

In Baxter, Bartlett married again on September 6, 1878 to Mary S. Jones. As will be seen, she was born about 1852 in Mississippi and her mother’s name was Mary Jones born 1824 in Alabama. I don’t know if she was related to the Rebecca Jones who married Bartlett’s uncle Burrell Duke or to the Mary M. Jones who married Bartlett’s first cousin Martain H. Duke.

On July 29, 1879 Bartlett filed a homestead claim on 120 acres in Baxter County, land located at W1/2SE1/4 and NE1/4SW1/4 of section 3, township 19n, range 14w. This land was one mile west of the town of Mountain Home.

On July 23, 1879 Bartlett and Mary had their first child, a girl they named Sarah B.

In the 1880 Baxter census, Bartlett, Mary and their two children, L. C. and S. B. lived next to his father and mother Bartlett Sr and Sarah Duke.

On August 30, 1880, daughter Tabitha A. Duke was born

On 3-8-1882, son Edward J. Was born.

On January 30, 1885, daughter Nancy R. Duke was born

On October 23, 1885, Bartlett filed his Proof of Homestead claim in Baxter County. His affidavit says “built house in fall of 1879, actual residence Oct 26, 1879. Have cleared & fenced 17 acres for crops. Wife and five children have resided continuously since then”.

On March 10, 1886 his homestead claim was approved.

On February 11, 1890 son James Andrew Duke was born and in 1894 Bartlett moved his family from Baxter to McLennon County, Texas.

In McLennon, daughter Geneva Pearl Duke was born in December 1895.

On June 27, 1900 Bartlett lived in McLennon, town of Harrison:

B. Duke 07-1848 Ms

Mary 06-1854 MO

Nancy K. 06-1885 AR

Bertha A. 08-1886 AR

James A. 02-1890 AR

Geneva P. 12-1895 AR

Lilly M. Andrews 08-1899 TX grand-daughter

We know he moved from McLennon to near Durant in Indian Territory in August of 1900 because he then testified before the Indian Commission on 9-21-1900.

On July 29, 1901 he filed an affidavit in the Indian claim filed by Thomas P. Duke.

He continued living near Durant through 1907 but, by the 1910 census, he had moved to Atoka County, Oklahoma, Caney township:

Bartlett Duke 62m MS

Mary 56f MS

Mary Jones 85f AL mother-in-law

next door lived his son

Andrew Duke 20m AR

Pearl 18f TX

As is seen, his mother-in-law Mary Jones now lived with them. It appears that this same Mary Jones had, in 1900, been living in McLennon County:

Francis G. Dill

Alice J. AR

Mary Jones 02-1825 MO mother-in-law

Although I have not seen the stones and don’t know the exact dates of death, both Bartlett Smith Duke and Mary Susan Jones Duke are buried in Westview Cemetery in Atoka, Oklahoma.

7. Rebecca Jones Duke

“Becky” Duke was born in Fayette County, Alabama, on 7-29-1847, shortly before her parents moved west to Chickasaw County, Mississippi. It is believed that she was named after Rebecca Jones who lived with Burrell Burge Duke’s family in 1850 and became his second wife about 1855.

(The following information was given to me by a grand-daughter of Becky Duke and Ed Appling who was born and lived in California all her life) In Chickasaw County, as a teen-ager, Becky became friends with a girl her age named Susan Appling. Some of Susan’s older brothers had gone to California in 1849 to search for gold and, after the Civil War ended, one of these brothers, Edwin R. Appling, returned to Mississippi to “rescue” the rest of the family and move them all to California. Susan suggested he marry her chum Becky and take her to California, too. Becky’s grandmother (Elizabeth) Foster tried to get Ed Appling to, instead, take one of Becky’s older sisters but Becky insisted on going. So, on March 14, 1867, 42 year old Ed Appling married 19 year old (almost 20) Rebecca Jones Duke.

Ed Appling had no found gold in California but had acquired much land near LeGrand, about 15 miles southeast of Merced in the central valley of California where he was a successful wheat farmer. Land records show that he and his brothers John, Robert & William owned several hundred acres in township 80s, range 17e in Merced county.

About 1885 Ed Appling decided that he was getting too old to continue farming so he sold his land near LeGrand and decided to purchase other land near Selma where vineyards were being developed. Becky’s older brother, Thomas Lloyd Duke who was a Methodist Minister and recently widowed, had come to live near (or with) Becky and Ed about this same time. Ed Appling entrusted his money to Thomas Duke to purchase the Selma lands. Without informing Ed Appling, Thomas Duke bought land in Appling’s name and some more in his own name, using Ed’s money, and only made “down payments” on all of it. Before the mortgages could be paid off, a “crash” came and the lands were lost. And all of Ed Appling’s money was lost, even his home. (I must comment again that this story was related by descendants of Ed Appling...Thomas Duke might have told it differently ! )

Records, however, confirm at least the basic story. In the 1870 census, living in Merced County was:

E. R. Appling 46m GA

Rebecca 25f AL

Sarah Belle 2f CA

Gleeson 4/12m CA

and next door lived:

William Appling 70m GA (Ed’s father)

Martha 69f VA (Ed’s mother)

Susan Jackson 25f MS daughter (Becky’s “chum”)

Samuel W. Jackson 1m CA grand-son

In 1880, still in Merced County was:

Edwin Appling 56m GA

Rebecca 35f AL

Belle 12f CA

Gleeson 10m CA

Antoinette 8f CA

Martha 6f CA

Ruthrow 4m CA

Suzanne 1f CA

John Appling 52m GA brother

In 1900, after the land deals, they were living in Fresno County near the town of Selma:

Edwin R. Appling 03-1824 GA

Rebecca J. 07-1845 AL

Elizabeth A. 09-1871 CA

Ruthven J. 07-1876 CA son

George L. 05-1883 CA

Percy E. 04-1886 CA

By 1910, Ed had died but Rebecca still lived at Selma

Rebecca Appling 65f AL

Ruthven 37m CA

George 27m CA

Percy 24m CA

And, in 1920, the final census for Rebecca, she was in Madera County, California:

Percy Appling 33m CA head

George 36m CA brother

Rebecca 75f AL mother

Rebecca Jones Duke Appling died in California in December, 1927.

8. Nancy Keziah Duke

Nancy Keziah Duke, was born in Chickasaw County, Mississippi on 11-17-1849. She was named after Bartlett’s mother. On 2-9-1869 in Chickasaw she married Jarrett H. Luther and their first child was born in July, 1870.

At the time of the August 8, 1870 census they were living in Chickasaw County, next door to Bartlett and Sarah Duke.

Jarratt Luther 22m MS

Nancy 20f MS

Sarah 1/12 f MS

Elizabeth Foster 90f SC

Elizabeth Foster is the sister of Bartlett Duke’s father and she is also the mother of Bartlett’s wife Sarah Foster. So Elizabeth is Nancy Luther’s grandmother and grand-aunt (if there is such a thing).

In 1873 Bartlett Duke and most of his children all decided to move away from Chickasaw, northwest to Baxter County, Arkansas, and Jarratt & Nancy went along at the same time.

Land records of Baxter County show a purchase of 40 acres by Jarrett H Luther at the NW1/4SE1/4 of section 17, t19n, r14w. And a second homestead original in Baxter County, AR for 160 acres E1/2SE1/4 of section 17, t19n, r14w and the S1/2NE1/4 of section 17, t19n, r14w. I don’t have the dates for these land acquisitions.

In the 6-5-1880 census of Baxter County, Jarrat and Nancy lived in the Whiteville township, only a few doors away from Nancy’s sister, Elizabeth Nichols Thompson.

Jarrett Luther 31m MS NC GA

Nancy K. 30f MS

Sarah 11f MS

Elizabeth 8f AR

William W. 4m AR

Jarrett 1/12 m AR

In 1900 they had moved a little to the west and were in Marion County at James Creek township

Jarrett H. Luther 50m MS

Nancy K. 49f MS

Roy S. 13m AR

Roxie M. 9f AR

Lila A. 6f AR

After 1900, like the rest of their relatives in Arkansas, they sold out and moved to southern Oklahoma. By 1910 they were in the town of Ada, in Pontotoc County.

Jarret H. Luther 60m MS

Nancy K. 59f MS

Roxy M. 18f AR

Lila E. 16f AR

next door lived

Roy S. Luther 23m AR

Virginia 19f

Margaret 2f OK

In 1920 all of them still lived in Ada in Pontotoc County, but, by 1930, Jarrett Luther had died. Nancy Keziah Duke Luther still lived there, at age 80, and with her was her daughter Roxie with her new husband Marshall Blankenship.

Nancy Keziah Duke Luther died in Ada on 6-15-1931.

9. James Hampton Duke

This man was my great-grandfather. For the first 30 years of my life, it was understood in my family that his middle name was “Preston”, even to the extent that more than one descendant was given the middle name “Preston”. Some 25 years ago, I was informed that his middle name was “Wiley”, then another source said it was “Hampton”. In census reports his name is listed as “James H.” so I concede that his middle name was Hampton. Some now claim his name was James Wiley Hampton Duke......which I neither concede nor dispute.

James - called “Jimmy” or “Jim” - Duke was born in Chickasaw County, Mississippi, on January 25, 1852. He was still single and lived with his parents at the time of the 1870 census but, in Chickasaw on August 20, 1873, he married Charnella Fereba Rebecca Hightower. “Ella”, as she was always called, was born 1855 in Chickasaw County, a daughter of Charnel Hightower and Alpha Ayers. Her family had come to Chickasaw County in 1846 from Walton County, Georgia. Charnel Hightower had died in Chickasaw in 1857 and her mother remarried in 1860 to John Willis. John Willis was then killed in the Civil War in 1865 so he and Alpha Ayers Hightower Willis only had one child - a girl born in 1865 named Alpha Dora Willis.

The marriage between Jimmy Duke and Ella Hightower might have been a “rush” job as Jimmy’s parents and many relatives left Chickasaw county right about that time and moved northwest to Baxter County, Arkansas. Jimmy and Ella went to Arkansas with the rest of the family and they took along Ella’s mother Alpha and half-sister Dora Willis.

In Baxter County, Jim and Ella started farming near Independence township, near to his father and mother. Their first child, a son they named Charnel Duke, was born 9-25-1875 in Baxter but he only lived six weeks, dying on 11-04-1875. They had a total of five children, all boys:

Charnel Duke 09-25-1875

Bartlett Smith Duke 05-02-1877

Andrew Jackson Duke 04-04-1879

Braddy Simpson Duke 08-06-1880

Thomas Pleasant Duke 02-02-1883

Son Andrew Jackson only lived five months, dying on 9-23-1879 and, more tragedy occurred because James Hampton Duke died in Baxter on January 9, 1884. The story handed down in my family was that he had gone out with friends on an all-night fox hunt, caught a cold which turned into pneumonia, and died a few days later.

After Jimmy died, Ella, only 29 years old and the mother of three young children, married again on 9-2-1886 in Baxter to 50 year old John Reed. They continued living near Mountain Home and had five more children:

Neta Alpha Reed 07-17-1887

Mattie Hogan Reed 12-02-1889

Barney Alexander Reed 02-17-1893

Andrew Reed 1891 Died young

Della Rebecca Reed 07-31-1897

This last child, Della, was born near Durant in Indian Territory where John & Ella had moved about 1895 when many members of the family also moved away from Arkansas.

John Alexander Reed was born in May 1835 in Hardin County, Tennessee. His parents were David K. Reed, born 1807 in Tennessee and Mary Catherine Reed, born 1809 in North Carolina. John is in the 1850 Hardin census, living with his parents and seven brothers. In 1854 he married to Mary E. Southern. In 1870 John & Mary lived in Hardin County with Mary’s parents but John & Mary already had three children:

Jessee Southern 66m KY

Minerva “ 46f TN

Josephine “ 20f TN

John Reed 35m TN

Mary E. Reed 30f MS

James Reed 13m TN

Jinnetta Reed 9f AR (born in Washington Co, AR)

Hiram Reed 7m TN (actual name Abraham L.)

Before 1880 they had moved to Pigeon township, Baxter County, Arkansas:

John A Reed 46m TN

Mary E. Reed 39f MS

Abraham L. Reed 17m TN

And his son James C. Reed was married and also lived in Baxter County.

Mary E. Reed obviously died after 1880 and John married again to Ella Duke in 1886.

When John Reed and Ella moved away from Baxter County, Braddy and Thomas Duke both went with them but son Bartlett was involved with a girl in Baxter so he remained behind and married there to Rosa Marie Conditt on 1-22-1896. In 1900 he was still living in Pigeon township of Baxter County and already had two young children. John Reed’s two sons by his first wife also moved to Indian Territory and, in 1900, Abraham lived in Greer County and James lived in Custer County with their families

About 1900 many members of the Duke-Foster families who were all descended from Moses or Elizabeth Duke, filed claims in Indian Territory for benefits alleging that they were part Choctaw Indian. I’m not sure just who originated these actions but they solicited other relatives and, ultimately, there were 56 relatives who filed claims or testified on behalf of those who had filed. The US Department of the Interior established a Commission to hear these, and other, claims. Among the claimants were members of Duke, Foster, Mixon, Boucher, Perry, Luther, Cooper, Sparks, and other families. Specifically included were all three of Ella’s Duke sons, Bartlett, Braddy and Thomas, and, on 7-29-1901, Ella testified on behalf of her son Thomas as he was still only 20 years old. In his claim the record notes that a supporting affidavit was filed by Alpha Willis but I have never seen this document.

On 7-25-1900 the census shows, living in the Choctaw Nation (near Durant)

John Reed 05-1835 TN TN SC

Ella 02-1856 MS

Neta A. 07-1887 AR

Mattie H. 12-1889 AR

Barney A. 02-1892 AR

Della R. 07-1897 I.T.

Thomas P. Duke 02-1883 AR

John Reed died in Indian Territory on 4-11-1902.

On 4-28-1910, still near Durant:

Ella Reed 55f MS

Neta A. 22f AR

Mattie H. 20f AR

Della 12f OK

After 1900, Thomas P. Duke had married and moved to Comanche County, Oklahoma, and Barney Reed, 17 years old, was living with Thomas in 1910. (see later about Duke descendants)

In January, 1920, Ella still lived in Bryan County, but was a boarder in the home of Helen Edwards.

In April, 1930, Ella had moved to Okmulgee, Oklahoma where she lived with her daughter Mattie who had married Carroll L. Hall. Ella was then 75 years old.

Ella died 12-29-1931 in Okmulgee.

10. Andrew Jackson Duke

This final child of Bartlet & Sarah was born 10-6-1855 in Chickasaw County, Mississippi. In 1873, when he was almost 18 and still single, his parents and many relatives left Mississippi and moved to Baxter County, Arkansas.

In Baxter County he married on 8-15-1874 to Lucinda Jane Cooper. Lucinda was born 2-18-1855 in Marion County, Arkansas (in March, 1873, the eastern portion of Marion was cut off to form Baxter so she was probably born in what was later Baxter). Her parents were George W. and Lucinda Susannah Cooper.

In 1800 Andrew and Lucinda lived in Baxter and already had two daughters. They ultimately had eight children:

Mary Kaziah 10-30-1876 AR died 1976 OK

Sarah Angeline 09-17-1878 AR died 5-5-1962 OK

Elizabeth Caroline 12-28-1881 AR died 6-18-1962 OK

Millie Ann 02-12-1883 AR

Elsie Jane 11-02-1886 AR died 8-1-1951 OK

George Bartlett 09-29-1889 AR died 6-15-1969 OK

Lillie Green 08-29-1892 AR died 6-15-1969 OK

Alma Alberta 02-27-1895 I.T. died 2-26-1981 Redland, CA

On 6-21-1900 Andrew J. Duke testified before the Indian Commission concerning the family claims for benefits alleging they were part Choctaw Indians. At that time he lived in Kennady, Indian Territory, where he had moved in 1894.

Andrew J and Lucinda Duke continued living in Oklahoma for the rest of their lives. Lucinda died in the town of Summerfield, LeFlore County, on 8-9-1921, and Andrew died in the town of Wilburton, Latimer County, Oklahoma, on 5-8-1927.

I will do a separate report on the next generation for these families but it will only concern the children of James Hampton and Ella Duke Reed with children of other siblings only reported if they lived near, and continued to interact, with the subjects.

Gary D Duke 2006