The Jeff Franklin Roberts Family

Joshua Roberts was born on July 21, 1795 in Albermarle County, Virginia.  On November 29, 1827, he married Annie Parks Little in Jackson County, Georgia.  Annie was born on March 14, 1807 in Butts County, Georgia.

Joshua Roberts died on July 21, 1876 in Cleburne County, Alabama.  Annie Parks Little Roberts died on March 7, 1885.  Both are buried in the Camp Creek Baptist Church Cemetery in Oak Level, Cleburne, Alabama.  (Editor's note:  tombstone photograph is courtesy of Mary Ann Baggett Ferguson at FindAGrave.com)

The following children were born to the marriage of Joshua and Annie Little Roberts:

James L. W. "Jim" Roberts, 1829 – 1911
William Columbus Roberts, 1832 – 1914
Atharilla Elizabeth Roberts, 1833 – 1908
Dr. David Parks Roberts, 1835 – 1911
Mary Ann "Polly" Roberts, 1837 – 1913
Nancy Jane Roberts, 1839 – 1901
Joseph Little Roberts, 1840 – 1935
M Roberts, 1841 –
Thomas Jefferson Roberts, 1843 – 1911
Robert W. Roberts, 1845 – 1870
Sarah A. Roberts, 1847 – 1914 

From Sweden to Sicily Island...The Claus Robert Wilson Family

Portions from Our Island Heritage, Vol. 3, 1978, compiled by Sophie Haley and Mickie Smith:

Claus Robert Wilson was born in Stockholm, Sweden on March 26, 1864.  He migrated to America in 1888 through the influence of an uncle who had come to the States a few years earlier.  By 1890, his work had led him to Mississippi where he met and married Annie Vaughn on January 4, 1893.  Annie Vaughn was a native of Utica, Mississippi where she was born on September 28, 1871.

By 1893, Robert Wilson had arrived on Sicily Island where in January of that year he purchased farm land to which he brought his young bride.  They first built a small house in which they lived until their permanent home could be built.  In 1904, that home was completed and occupied.  Here the Wilsons resided for the remainder of their lives.  

Robert Wilson maintained a successful farming operation and raised cattle.  He was also a director of Sicily Island State Bank for many years.  Annie Wilson is remembered as a devoted wife and mother and a gracious hostess. 

Claus Robert Wilson died on September 24, 1953 and Annie Vaughn Wilson died on August, 3, 1934.  Both are buried in the Old Pine Hill Cemetery in Sicily Island.

Record of death for Annie Vaughn Wilson:

Robert's younger brothers, Charles August and Ernest John, lived with Robert and Annie at different times between the 1920s-1940s.

Charles August Wilson was born in Stockholm, Sweden on May 22, 1868 and immigrated to the States in 1884.  He was a locomotive engineer with the railroad.  Charles died in Sicily Island on April 3, 1954 and is buried in the Old Pine Hill Cemetery.

Ernest John Wilson was born in Tidaholm, Sweden on November 29, 1875 and immigrated to the States in 1894.  He was an automotive mechanic.  Ernest died in Sicily Island on November 23, 1941 and is buried in the Old Pine Hill Cemetery.

The following children were born to the marriage of Robert and Annie Wilson:

Charles D. "Charlie" Wilson was born on November 16, 1893 and died on May 14, 1913.  He is buried in the Old Pine Hill Cemetery.

Blanche Wilson was born on December 3, 1895.  She married John Edward Wright who was born on July 6, 1884.  Blanche taught school at Sicily Island for many years.  She was also very active in the Order of the Eastern Star, becoming Worthy Grand Matron in 1946.  She was a charter member of the Sicily Island Woman's Club and served as president of the local club for several years.  She was elected and served as the District President for three years.

Blanche Wilson Wright died on August 12, 1985 and John Edward Wright died on July 31, 1956.  Both are buried in the Old Pine Hill Cemetery.  (Editor's note:  tombstone photograph is courtesy of Karen Klemm Pinckard at FindAGrave.com)

Emily Wilson was born on July 31, 1898.  She married Percy Jackson Spears (1890-1976) of Jackson, Mississippi and made her home there for many years.

Emily Wilson Spears died on August 16, 1989.  She is buried in the Old Pine Hill Cemetery.

Emily and P. J. Spears, Sr. had two children, Percy Jackson, Jr. and Gloria Dean.

Percy Jackson "P.J.", Jr. was born on November 5, 1921 and is currently living in a nursing home in Wisner, Franklin, Louisiana.

Gloria Dean Spears was born on August 6, 1925.  She married Ellis R. Price (1922-1985) and lived in San Antonio, Texas where she raised three children.  Both she and Ellis are buried in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, Bexar, Texas.  (Editor's note:  tombstone photograph is courtesy of CynC at FindAGrave.com)

In the late 1970s, Blanche, Emily, and P.J., Jr. resided in the Wilson home on Hill Road where they engaged in farming, cattle raising, and raising registered quarter horses for showing.

The Catahoula Parish Descendants of Dr. Nathaniel Bowman

Dr. Nathaniel Bowman was born in 1767 in Massachusetts.  In October of 1799, he married Sarah Johnson who was born on April 15, 1768 in Andover, Massachusetts.  Her parents were Col. Samuel and Elizabeth Gage Johnson. 

Nathaniel was a 1786 graduate of Harvard College where he studied medicine.  After marrying Sarah, they settled in Gorham, Maine, where he died of a casualty, the fall of a part of a steeple, at the raising of a meeting house, June 8, 1797.  Nathaniel is buried in the Gorham Cemetery, Gorham, Cumberland, Maine.  Sarah died on May 8, 1858 in Bath, Maine and is buried in the Maple Grove Cemetery, Bath, Sagadahoc, Maine.  (Editor's note:  tombstone photographs are courtesy of Alan&Jane and Wayne Cappen at FindAGrave.com)

The following children were born to the marriage of Nathaniel and Sarah Johnson Bowman:

Samuel Gardner, 1790-1841 (m. Marcia Stockbridge)
Sarah, 1792-1828 (m. Samuel Winter)
Joshua, 1795-1823 (m. Hannah Flagg) 

Leonidas Punchard Descendants

Leonidas Hill Punchard was born circa 1838 in Mississippi.  On December 3, 1863, he married Mary J. Osborn (b.1848) in Green County, Alabama.  Leonidas later married Elizabeth Squyres on November 13, 1873 in Catahoula Parish.  No children were born to this marriage.  His third marriage was to Narcissus Caroline Piety on November 11, 1877.  Narcissus was born in 1848 in Louisiana.

When Leonidas came to Sicily Island, he acquired land on Black Bayou near Leland and farmed there.  He died on November 30, 1902 and was buried in the Natchez Cemetery, Natchez, Adams, Mississippi.  (Editor's Note:  tombstone photograph is courtesy of Karen Bink at FindAGrave.com)

 

There is no record of death or burial location for Mary J. Osborn Punchard or Elizabeth Squyres Punchard at this time.  Narcissus Piety Punchard died on January 15, 1921.  Her burial location is unknown at this time. 

The Kempe Families of Catahoula and Tensas Parishes

Colonel James Kempe was born in 1760 in Castlefin, Donegal, Ireland.  He married Margaret "Peggy" Graham who was born in 1780 in Prince William County, Virginia.  Colonel Kempe died on September 18, 1819 in Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi and Peggy Graham Kempe died on July 10, 1818 in the same location.

The following children were born to the marriage of Colonel James Kempe and Margaret "Peggy" Graham Kempe:

Thomas Byrd, 1800-1894 (m. Margaret P. Lee Bowen)
Jane Rawlston, 1802-1882 (m. 1. Francis Spain Girault; 2. Charles N. Rowley)
Frances Elizabeth, 1804-1892 (m. Sturges Sprague)
Margaret Louisa, 1806-1867 (m. William Burr Howell)
James, 1810-1835
David Beckett, 1815-1832

(Editor's note:  The above information was provided by Julia Mills)

Thomas Byrd Kempe was born in Prince William County, Virginia.  He and his family relocated to Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi.  On April 9, 1849, he married Margaret P. Lee Bowen in Mobile, Alabama.  Margaret was born August 8, 1820 in Tensas Parish, Louisiana to Charles S. Lee and Elizabeth Bass.  

Their family home at Kempe's Bend near Waterproof, Louisiana was swept away into the Mississippi River in the late 1800s.  Margaret Kempe owned much of the land between St. Joseph and Waterproof.