Littleberry Cheatham (August 1782 – 26 June 1855)

He was evidently the youngest of Benjamin Cheatham’s four children, only about five years old when his father died, leaving him without either parent.  At a court held on 1 December 1794 the court ordered that he be apprenticed to Thomas Jordan “to learn the art and mastery of a brick layer.”1 And on the same day, “Littleberry Cheatham came into court and chose Thomas Jordan his guardian.”2 Thomas Jordan posted a £200 bond as guardian.3

Birth year is uncertain: 1778? 1780? 1782?

The family Bible of Joseph A. Guy, who married Littleberry’s daughter, recorded his birth as August 1782.   However, he had to have been at least fourteen years old in 1794 in order to chose his own guardian, so must have been born in 1780 or earlier.

Further, on 26 April 1855 he was deposed at Tuscumbia in a court case (discussed elsewhere), stating his age to he “about 76 years”, suggesting a birth in 1779.4   The 1850 census, which is not particularly reliable as to age, listed him as 69 which is consistent with the Guy Bible.

Name recorded as both Littleberry and Little Berry

Although some descendants list him as “Littleberry B. Cheatham” it is doubtful that he had a middle name.  His name was recorded on a number of occasions, including his 1855 deposition mentioned above, as “Little Berry” Cheatham which explains the occasional recording as “L. B.” Cheatham.  Indeed, the bond for his guardianship in 1794 calls him “L. Berry Cheatam(sic)”.  That is, it seems more likely that his occasional rendering as “L B” reflects the name rendered as “LIttle Berry” rather than “Littleberry B.”  Further, there is no known instance of his name being recorded as “Littleberry B.”

In the vicinity of Robertson County, Tennessee by 1808

His whereabouts as a teen and young adult are mysterious.   But on 5 April 1808 a road order in Robertson County, Tennessee instructed “Berry Cheatham” and several others to improve the “Nashville Road from Springfield to where it intersects the old road south of Karr’s Creek.” which located him in central Robertson County.5   A few months later on 18 October 1808 “Berry Cheatham” bought a plow and some leather at the estate sale of one Solomon Squires in Robertson County.6  Five years later on 22 April 1813 he bought a cow at the estate sale of. a man named Frederick Ragsdale in adjacent Logan County, Kentucky.7  There is no record of his owning land in the area.

However, he married the daughter of an established Robertson County resident sometime before 1810, when his daughter Nancy Cheatham was born.

Marries Hannah Benson in Robertson County

There is no record of a marriage bond or license.  But his daughter Nancy Cheatham, who was born on 15 August 1810 according to her gravestone, was the daughter of this first marriage.  8  On 1 November 1832 in a Robertson County deed, she identified herself as “formerly Nancy Cheatham, daughter of Little Berry Cheatham and Hannah Cheatham his wife who was formerly Hannah Benson daughter of William Benson Senr. dec’d” when she gave her uncle Richard Benson permission to sell her inherited interest in slaves belonging to the estate of her grandfather William Benson.9.  William Benson’s estate inventory also included a “note on Joseph Stow payable to Littleberry Cheatham” for $20.87.10

William Benson had been living in Robertson County continuously since 1796, when he bought the plantation on which he died, so Littleberry Cheatham must have met and married Hannah there about 1808 or 1809.  However, other than his above-mentioned items,  his only other appearance in Robertson County records was an 1814 suit against Robert Mitchell over an $8 debt.  11.  He does not appear in the 1812 tax list (the only one extant) or in any other court or deed records..

The daughter Nancy gave her birthplace as Tennessee in the 1850 census, but as Kentucky in the 1860 and 1870 censuses. That suggests Littleberry Cheatham may have left Robertson County for one of the adjacent Kentucky counties about the time Nancy was born, but I found no trace of him in nearby Kentucky counties.

Moves to Huntsville, Alabama by 1816

On 22 July 1816 Littleberry Cheatham, now of Madison County, bought two acres on a road leading out of Huntsville, Alabama from LeRoy Pope and his wife Judith.12.  He sold that tract to Wyatt Bishop a year later on 23 July 1817. (Madison County, Alabama Deed Book B, p20.)). Two months later, Leroy and Judith Pope sold him Lot 9 in the town of Huntsville for $200. (Madison County, Alabama Deed Book E, p363.)).

His wife Hannah may have died about this time, if not while he was still in Tennessee, because no wife is mentioned in his sales of Huntsville land in 1817 and 1818.  He may have briefly returned to North Carolina, as at least one unclaimed letter to Littleberry Cheatham was in the Nashville Post Office in Nash County, North Carolina in 1822.13.

He may have married Mary Battle in Nash County, although Nash marriage records are largely missing for this period.

Marries again to Mary Battle

The family Bible of Joseph Albert Guy, husband of Martha Framces Cheatham, mentions his father-in-law on two pages that may be viewed by clicking here.14   Under “Deaths” was written:

L. B. Cheatham died 26 June 1855.   Mary Cheatham wife of L. B. Cheatham died 22 of June 1879 at 20 minutes of nine A. M.

And on the following page was written:

L. B. Cheatham was borned Northampton County North Carolina in August 1782.  Mary Battle was born Nash County North Carolina July 11th 1785 the wife of Littleberry Cheatham.

A journal entry in 1945 repeats some of the same information:

Joseph Albert Guy married a daughter of Littleberry and Mary (Battle) Cheatham. Mr. Cheatham was a native of Northampton County, North Carolina.  Miss Battle was his second wife and Mrs. Guy was the only child of that marriage.  Littleberry Cheatham owned a plantation on Bear Creek southwest of Tuscumbia in the ante-bellum days.  There were also other Cheathams in that section who were probably relatives of his. 15

Mary was presumably the daughter of James Battle, who left a will in Nash County dated 7 April 1803 and proved that November.16  It left bequests to several unmarried sons and daughters the first-mentioned of whom was “to my daughter Mary Battle one negro named MIlley and her increase, one boy named Sam, one bed and furniture, and one hundred dollars...”   Mary was about 18  in 1803 but Littleberry Cheatham could not have married her until after Nancy, his child by Hannah Benson, was born in 1810 — and likely closer to Martha Cheatham’s birth in 1825. Unfortunately, the 1820 Alabama census is lost.

They probably married after 1818, for on 2 January 1818 Littleberry Cheatham sold a 30 by 150 foot segment of Lot 9 in Huntsville “on which said Littleberry Cheatham now resides” for $250.  ((Madison County, Alabama Deed Book E. p57.)). No wife was mentioned, though spousal participation was common in other Madison County deeds of the period.

Moves to Tuscumbia, Alabama by 1825

He sold the remainder of Lot 9 with his wife Mary Cheatham on 19 January 1825 for $2,650.  ((Madison County, Alabama Deed Book K, p360.)). They identified themselves as residents of Franklin County, Alabama and acknowledged the deed there.

He appears in the 1830 census of Franklin County, Alabama as “L. B. Cheatham”  with a household of one male 30-40, one male 50-60, a female 5-10 and a female 40-50.  The females were evidently his second wife Mary Battle and his daughter Martha from that marriage. The second male is unknown.  His daughter Nancy was either married or had been left behind, perhaps in the care of her Benson in-laws.

As Littleberry Cheatham of Franklin County, Alabama he was issued a grant for 80 acres on 1 November 1830. 17 Another grant, for a nearby 40 acres, was issued to Littleberry Cheatham in 1834.18  He probably purchased by deed the land that connected the two plots, as he owned 286 acres in 1850, but deed records for Franklin County no longer exist.

The grants place his plantation on Bear Creek, perhaps including the mouth of Smith’s Creek, just south of Tuscumbia in what became Colbert County several years after his death.  An 1896 map of Colbert County shows the Bear Creek Baptist Church on what may have been his land, as well as a location marked “Cheatham”.   A third grant, for 162 acres several miles away, in what is now Franklin County, was issued posthumously in 1856.19

Speculated in Mississippi land

In 1832 and early 1833 he claimed a half-dozen parcels in northern Madison County, Mississippi more that 200 miles from Tuscumbia.20  The land grants for the six parcels, issued in 1834 and 1835, totaled 400 acres.21  In each case he was identified as “of Madison County”, although whether he actually lived there isn’t clear.  Oddly, in one of the six claims his name was recorded with the middle initial “R.”

He paid just $1.25 an acre but sold the land for more than $400 per acre three years later. On 20 January 1837 Littleberry Cheatham and his wife Mary, identifying themselves as residents of Franklin County, Alabama, sold all six parcels to Edmund H. Powell of Madison County for $16,720.22. They acknowledged the deed before an Alabama State Supreme Court judge in adjacent Limestone County.

Apparently there was a seventh parcel needed to complete the transaction. More than a year later LIttleberry Cheatham, again as a resident of Franklin County, bought an adjacent 40-acre tract for $175 and on 27 April 1838 he and Mary executed a restated deed to Edmund H. Powell for all seven parcels.23 They again acknowledged the deed in Limestone County.

All three deeds in Madison County style him “Littleberry B. Cheatham”.  He was also sometimes recorded as L. B. Chatham and as Little Berry Cheatham, so it isn’t clear if he actually had a middle name.  Middle names were still uncommon when he was born.

Few Records in Alabama

The Franklin County courthouse burned in 1890, destroying virtually all records and denying us additional insight into his life there.  Littleberry Cheatham was enumerated in Franklin County in the federal censuses of 1830, 1840, and 1850.  In 1830 he headed a household that included a second male aged 30-40 and females aged 5-10 and 40-50 as well as 14 slaves.  He was aged 50-60. 24  In 1840 his household included only the daughter Martha and his wife, and he was again aged 50-60.25

In 1850 his age was recorded as 69 and his birthplace as “N. Carolina”.  The only other person in the household was Mary Cheatham, age 16 (sic) and born in Alabama.  Unless she was another daughter, this may have been a clerical mistake by the Census Marshall in copying the record, as his wife Mary would have been 65 in 1850.   Indeed, the Alabama state census the same year recorded him with just one female, aged over 21, in his household.  As “Polly Cheatham” she was enumerated as age 75 in the household of Joseph A. Guy in 1860.

The 1850 Alabama Agricultural Census listed him as Littleberry Cheatham, with 286 acres of land (of which 126 acres were unimproved) worth $2,500, with $75 in farm implements and $1,100 in livestock.  The 1850 Slave Schedules list him as the owner of 18 slaves, nine male and nine female.

Testimony in Court Case

In 1848 his thrice-widowed daughter Nancy Cheatham Bishop Bradley Beaumont, along with her children from all three marriages, moved from Springfield, Tennessee to Tuscumbia, Alabama to be near her father.

A dispute over the Bradley children’s inheritances was occasioned by this move away from Tennessee.  When Nancy moved to Alabama, Benjamin W. Bradley retained both his guardianship of the children and possession of their slaves.  Indeed, he continued to file annual accountings and to forward modest cash payments to Nancy for their board.  Nancy naturally wanted the slaves and cash transferred to Alabama.  Her brother-in-law Joseph A. Guy successfully petitioned the Robertson County court to be named guardian of Nancy’s Bradley children and demanded that Benjamin Bradley turn over their property.  Benjamin Bradley countered that this was a thinly veiled attempt by Nancy to gain control of the slaves.  Depositions in the case were taken in 1849 from three residents of Franklin County, Alabama: Mrs. Nancy Beaumont (giving her age as 39), B. Y. Hooper (aged about 35), and Mrs. Mary E. Hooper (formerly Bishop, age 20).   Burrell Hooper’s deposition states that he had recently moved from Robertson County, Tennessee to Franklin County, Alabama.11

Death in 1855

The Joseph Guy Bible lists his death on 26 June 1855.  However, the Tuscumbia Enquirer reported that he died a day earlier on 25 June 1855:

Died at his residence in this vicinity on Tuesday the 25th after a short illness, L. B. Cheatham aged about 80. Among the eldest and most highly respected citizens of the county, member 60 years of the Primitive baptist Church.  ((Tuscumbia Enquirer issue of 5 July 1855, reported in Alabama Records, Vol 56 (Colbert County), p65.)):  .

Only Two Children

In an 1850 court case,  Joseph A. Guy wrote that his sister-in-law Nancy Beaumont moved to Alabama to live with her father who was “a man of wealth and able to assist her, having only two children.”26. In addition, Nancy Bishops’ 1832 deed clarifies that she was the only living child of his marriage to Hannah Benson and the journal entry quoted above states that Martha was the only child of the marriage to  Mary Battle.

  1. Nancy Cheatham (15 August 1810 – 8 April 1890) was thrice married with children from all three marriages.  She is buried, as “Nancy Beaumont”, in the Oakwood Cemetery in Tuscumbia, Alabama. See this separate page on Nancy Cheatham for much more detail.

    My great-great grandfather, George Washington Baird, was hired in 1848 to take Nancy and her children from Springfield, Tennessee to be with her father in Tuscumbia.  In an amazing coincidence, seventy years later George Baird’s grandson met and married  a great-granddaughter of Nancy Cheatham’s. They were my grandparents.

  2. Martha Francis Cheatham (2 February 1825 – 13 February 1895) married Joseph A. Guy (1814-1898), probably in or near Tuscumbia on 6 February 1842 according to the Joseph A. Guy family Bible.  Joseph Guy’s parents were another Northampton County family which had moved to Franklin County.  Both Martha and Joseph are buried in the Guy Cemetery in Tuscumbia, Alabama.

 Other relations in the vicinity?

Josph a. Guys’s statement that he only had two children explains the records we can find.  But he may have had nephews or other relatives in the vicinity.   The male in his 1830 household may have been the Jesse Cheatham (aged 40-50) who appeared in the Franklin County 1840 census.   How he was related to Littleberry Cheatham , if at all, is unknown.

There was also a John Cheatham (33, born Tennessee) and a John M. Cheatham (27, born Alabama) enumerated as heads of families in the 1850 Franklin County census located in the same general geography as Littleberry Cheatham.  How they might have been related — if at all — I do not know.

 

 

  1. Northampton County, North Carolina Court Minutes Volume 1792-1796, p132. [↩]
  2. Northampton County, North Carolina Court Minutes Volume 1792-1796, p133. [↩]
  3. Northampton County, North Carolina Guardian Records, FHL Film #4966611, image 53 of 378. [↩]
  4. Robertson County, Tennessee, Chancery Court Papers, Vol. 176-258, Case #183 “Guy, gdn. vs. Pepper, admin”, FHL Film #004126792, images 456 and 459 of 3103. [↩]
  5. Robertson County Court Minutes, Vol. 2 (1808-1811), p16.  Carr’s creek is a few miles south of Springfield. [↩]
  6. Robertson County, Tennessee Will Book 1, p306, p307. [↩]
  7. Logan County, Kentucky WIll Book 1, p277. [↩]
  8. She is buried in the Oakwood Cemetery in Tuscumbia, Alabama with a gravestone giveing her birth and death dates. [↩]
  9. Robertson County Deed Book W, p321. [↩]
  10. Robertson County Inventories & Wills Book 8, page 258. [↩]
  11. Robertson County Court Minute Book 3, p456. Note that, as plaintiff, he need not have been a resident of the county. [↩]
  12. Madison County, Alabama Deed Book E, p372. [↩]
  13. “Post Office Records, Nash County 1819-1923”, FHL Film 105503900, image 63 of 326. [↩]
  14. Loose pages in a folder located in the North Carolina Archives stacks, filed under MARS ID 400.976. [↩]
  15. Alabama Historical Quarterly, Vol. 7, No.4, page 525. [↩]
  16. Nash County Will Book 1, p242. [↩]
  17. Grant # 2901, in Township 5S and Range 11W, northeast side of Section 6.  He was the assignee of Henry W. Rhodes, who was assignee of Isaiah McDill, who was assignee of Malcolm Gilchrist. [↩]
  18. Grant #5156, same Township-Range on  the southwest side of Section 5. [↩]
  19. Issued 20 August 1856, fourteen months after his death, this grant was in Township 7S, Range 14W, in Franklin County some distance away from the earlier parcels. [↩]
  20. Bureau of Land Management Tract Books, Mississippi Vol. J2, p68. [↩]
  21. BLM Accession Numbers MS0220_.299, MS0240_.372, MS0260_.115, MS0270_.410, MS0270_.419, MS0290_.050. [↩]
  22. Madison County, Mississippi Deed Book E, p411. [↩]
  23. Madison County Deed Book F, p463 and 533. [↩]
  24. 1830 Franklin County census:  L. B. Cheatham 00000101 – 0100001 +14 slaves. [↩]
  25. 1840 Franklin County census: Littleton (sic) B. Cheatham 00000001 – 0010001. [↩]
  26. Robertson County Chancery Case Loose Papers: Case 19, Virginia A. C. Bradley and William L. Bradley (by their guardian Joseph A. Guy) vs. Benjamin W. Bradley et al.  This at image 1198 of 2955 in FHL Film #008743230. [↩]