A Fresh Look at Determining the Pedigree of Claiborne HALL

Claiborne HALL’s age is given as 61 in the 1850 census, as 72 in the 1860 census, and as 82 in the 1870 census records of Smith County, Tennessee.  This equates to a birthdate of about 1787 or 1788.  It is well documented that his wife was Elizabeth HEROD, daughter of Revolutionary War soldier William HEROD (born 25 December 1748 Stafford Co. VA; died 4 March 1836 Smith Co. TN).  Circumstantial evidence and information from Smith County historian Carmack KEY in 1989 indicate that Claiborne HALL had a brother Nathan (or Nathaniel) HALL (born ca. 1791 VA; died after 1860) who was married to Elizabeth HEROD”s sister Frances. 

The first record I have located for Claiborne HALL is a dead letter notice published in the Smith County, Tennessee newspaper Carthage Gazette on 12 January 1810.  The letter was addressed to Nathan or Claibourne HALL.  From 1810 to 1813, there were a series of six notices published in this newspaper regarding dead letters at the Carthage post office addressed to either 1) Nathan AND Claiborne HALL or 2) Nathan OR Claiborne HALL.  This would tend to indicate perhaps a relative was writing to them together and that they were likely brothers.  The last of these dead letter notices was published on 23 July 1813.

Question: Why were two young men, about 19 to 22 years old, living apart from their relatives?  How did they get to Smith County, Tennessee and why did they come there? 

The Carthage Gazette provides a few additional clues.  The 19 October 1810 issue refers to a mare taken up by Nathan HALL on Taylor’s Branch.  Taylor’s Branch is north of the Tanglewood community near to where Claiborne HALL will be purchasing land in 1812 and then he will live on the same for the remainder of his life.  The same issue of the paper (19 October 1810) also contains a notice for a runaway horse taken up by William FAGG, also on Taylor’s Branch.  This is significant in that William FAGG was married to Charity HEROD, another sister of Elizabeth HEROD HALL and Frances HEROD HALL.  

William HEROD migrated from Spotsylvania County, Virginia to Smith County, Tennessee in 1808.  Deed records indicate he sold his 150 acres in Spotsylvania County to Reuben DANIEL  on 22 September 1808.  The 21 November 1808 issue of the Carthage (Tennessee) Western Express indicates approximately when he had arrived in Smith County as there was a dead letter at the post office awaiting him in Carthage. William HEROD was listed as a juror in Smith County on 5 September 1809.  

Question: Is it possible that the HALL brothers, Nathan and Claiborne, came to Smith County, Tennessee with their father-in-law William HEROD in 1808 from Spotsylvania County, Virginia? 

William HEROD, Sr. purchased 111 acres in Smith County on the west side of Peytons Creek on 9 August 1811 from Samuel THOMASSON.  This land is about eight miles north of Taylors Branch in Smith County.  This is the land on which William HEROD was later buried and was at a place known as Herod’s Crossroads which later became known as the village of Pleasant Shade in Smith County.

Question: When he first arrived in Smith County, Tennessee, is it possible that William HEROD lived near Taylor’s Branch and that is how Claiborne HALL ended up in that vicinity when the HEROD’s settled several miles further north?  Below are a few clues to support this supposition:

            1) The 19 October 1810 issue of a Carthage newspaper indicated that William FAGG, William HEROD’s son-in-law and Claiborne HALL’s brother-in-law, took up a runaway sorrel horse on Taylor’s Branch.

            2) Nathan HALL, presumed brother of Claiborne HALL, who was married to Elizabeth HEROD”s sister Frances, took up a mare on Taylor’s Branch in 1810.  Nathan HALL later lived to the northwest of this area in Smith County.

            3) The 1811 deed of Samuel THOMASSON’s sale of 111 acres of land on Peyton’s Creek to William HEROD was witnessed by Charles NICKSON, Richard TAYLOR, and John WALTERS.  John WALTERS sold land to Claiborne HALL in 1812 on Taylor’s Branch and gifted land there to his daughter Jean (Jane) that same year, indicating a likely residence in the area.  John WALTERS disappears from Spotsylvania Co. VA records and appears in Smith Co. TN records at the very same time as William HEROD (1808!). Richard TAYLOR is listed as an adjoining landowner on Taylor’s Branch in the same deeds, TAYLOR, having purchased his 254 acres of land from William WALTON on 15 March 1802 (Smith Co. TN Deed Book B, pages 66 – 67). William WALTON had received the original land grant of 3,840 acres at the confluence of the Cumberland River and Caney Fork Rivers where he operated a tavern and ferry. (It seems likely Taylor’s Branch was named for Richard TAYLOR, a native of Cumberland County, Virginia, who deeded land in Buckingham Co. VA in 1827 along with his wife Susannah.  See Smith Co. TN Court Minutes of 10 April 1827).  

            4) In Smith County Court on 5 June 1810, William HEROD (likely William, Jr.) entered a bond for the maintenance of a base born child by Nancy TAYLOR.  Nancy’s relationship relationship to Richard TAYLOR is unknown.

Claiborne HALL had apparently lived on the road from Carthage to Dixon Springs as early as 24 December 1811 (per Carthage Gazette when he found a note on the road and indicated he lived there).  The road ran right by Taylors Branch.

On 25 March 1812 Claiborne HALL purchased 37 acres of land by estimation for $100 on the waters of Taylors Branch from John WALTERS.  The deed mentions WALTERS and TAYLOR’s lines.  Witnesses to the deed were William HEROD (father-in-law) and Daniel M. LANE (who had married Mary Ann HEROD, another daughter of William. Daniel M. LANE and Mary Ann HEROD were married in 1809 in Spotsylvania Co. VA and were still there in 1810 census). 

John WALTERS of Smith Co. TN deeded a gift of land to his beloved daughter Jean WALTERS (also listed as WATERS and later as Jane WALTERS who married John MORRIS in 1818) of Smith Co. TN.  This gift of 270 acres is described as “all the tract or parcel of land (exclusive of 25 acres thereof by him heretofore conveyed to Claiborne HALL by deed bearing date on the __ day of ___) where I now live in Smith Co. bounded by Richard TAYLOR.”  WALTERS states he reserves the use and privilege and free occupation of said premises to himself during the said John WALTERS’ natural life.  The deed was witnessed by Joel DYER and James MCNUTT. 

Since this deed to Jean WALTERS is dated 7 February and the Claiborne HALL deed is dated 25 March, it is apparent that Claiborne HALL had already intended to purchase the land. 

Question: Why would John WALTERS sell land to Claiborne HALL in the middle of land he intended to gift to his daughter Jean/Jane???  Is there a relationship here?  He did not deed anything to Nathan HALL though!   Did Claiborne HALL perhaps work for WALTERS?  Did he know him in Virginia and travel with him to Tennessee – Nathan just tagging along as his younger brother??  It is obvious from the 7 February deed that John WALTERS had intended to convey a parcel of land to Claiborne HALL however the date of deed is left blank – it seems to have not happened until 25 March. 

From later court records, it appears John WALTERS deeded this land as a gift to his daughter Jean and intended to be looked after the rest of his life. Jean (or Jane) married John MORRIS in 1818 and died in 1819.  MORRIS lived in Carthage at that time and took in John WALTERS for a while.  Smith County court records indicate WALTERS sued his own son Jesse WALTERS and his former son-in-law John MORRIS who were supposed to maintain he and his wife throughout their lifetime but did not.  These court records do indicate he was from Virginia.  I have followed John WALTERS to his death in 1832 in Smith Co. TN and have found no further reference of a connection with Claiborne HALL.    

John WALTERS had purchased this 270 acres of land from Thomas K. HARRIS for $1000 on 15 December 1808. That deed mentions adjoining property owners of Richard TAYLOR and WALTON (obviously William WALTON). The property had been sold by Joel DYER to Joseph FLEMING in June 1808 and then same date by FLEMING to Thomas K. HARRIS.

From all of the above evidence, it seems clear that Claiborne and Nathan HALL fit one of the following two circumstances. 

            1) They were already married and came with their father-in-law William HEROD from Spotsylvania Co. VA to Smith Co. TN in 1808

            2) They were living in Smith Co. TN by 1810 without family (who was continually writing to them) and so happened to marry William HEROD’s two daughters Elizabeth and Frances sometime between 1808 and 1810 – (Claiborne HALL’s oldest daughter in 1820 census was 10 and under 16 years of age indicating a birthdate of 1810 or previous).    

Which seems the most likely scenario? All marriage records from Spotsylvania County, Virginia and Smith County, Tennessee during this time frame are not extant.

The tax records of Spotsylvania County, Virginia provide us with an intriguing possibility.

Understanding that the Virginia legislature did not provide for an 1808 tax list, I began with 1807 and worked my way backward. 

In 1807 (List B), William HEROD was taxed on March 14 with 2 free white males above 16 and 2 horses.  On that same date (March 14) Thomas HALL was taxed with 1 white tithable and 1 horse and Asa HALL also had 1 white tithable and 1 horse. On that same list and all taxed on March 12 were William HALL and John HALL, each with 1 white male tithable.  Also taxed on March 12 were William FAGG and John DAVENPORT (father-in-law of the young Thomas HALL who had married Elizabeth DAVENPORT in 1802 in Spotsylvania County).

The 1806 tax list B indicates William HEROD with 3 white male tithables above 16 and 2 blacks above 16 (on March 12).  Also on March 12 were Thomas HALL (1 white male tithable above 16 and 1 horse), William HALL, James HALL, and John HALL (each with 1 white male tithable and horse column illegible).  Asa HALL with 1 white male tithable and 1 horse were taxed on April 7 that year.  William HEROD’s 3 tithables could be himself, son William, Jr. (born 1784), and son Peter (born 1787).

The 1805 List (B) indicates William HEROD again with 3 white male tithables, 2 blacks above 16, and 4 horses on same date (April 2) as Asa HALL and Thomas HALL (each with 1 white male tithable and 1 horse).  William HALL and James HALL were each taxed on April 15 with 1 white male tithable and John HALL on April 18 with 1 white male tithable.

In 1804 (List B), William HEROD again with 3 white male tithables, 3 blacks above 16, and 4 

horses.  Asa HALL on April 3 with 1 white male tithable and 1 horse; Thomas HALL on April 2 with 1 white male tithable and 1 horse; James HALL on April 2 with 1 white male tithable; and William HALL on May 29 with 1 white male tithable.

In 1803 (List B), William HEROD has 2 white male tithables (Likely Peter not yet 16), 2 blacks above 16, and 3 horses.  Asa HALL on April 5 had 1 white male tithable and 1 horse.  Thomas HALL on April (blank date) with 1 white male tithable and 1 horse.  William HALL and James HALL each on April 23 with 1 white male tithable. 

William HEROD is consistently on the tax rolls of Spotsylvania County from 1793 onward with the exception of 1801 in which he is missing.  Asa and Thomas HALL are on the same list as HEROD in 1802 and 1800.  In 1799, they seem to be on a different tax list from William HEROD as they are also on a differen list in 1798 and 1797 as well.  Thomas HALL first appears in 1797.  Asa HALL first appears in 1794.

William and James HALL first appear in Spotsylvania County in 1803 and lastly in 1807 (no 1808 list).  John HALL first appears in Spotsylvania County in 1805 and lastly in 1807 (no 1808 list). 

Asa HALL is believed to have been the one from Louisa County who married Elizabeth Broadnax COSBY, daughter of Charles COSBY and Rebecca WOOD or Elizabeth WINGFIELD.  Thomas HALL who married Elizabeth DAVENPORT, daughter of John DAVENPORT, is likely his son.  This Thomas HALL is dead by 1812 – estate in Spotsylvania County.  Asa is in the 1810 census of Spotsylvania County but disappears after that. It seems very likely that Thomas HALL was the son of Asa HALL.  I suspect William, John, and James are also related.  There is an Asa HALL in Louisa County, Virginia from 1777 (tax list) to at least 1786 deed). 

Question: Who are William, John, and James HALL found in the Spotsylvania County, Virginia tax lists from 1803 to 1807?  They are NOT there in 1809 or 1810 nor are they in the 1810 Spotsylvania County, VA census.