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

Note that he had to be at least 14 years old to choose his own guardian, which suggests a birth at least two years before the date in Joseph Guy’s family Bible.  A birth in August 1780 would also be consistent with the 1850 census, when he would have been 69. according to the “as of” date of that census.

In Robertson County, Tennessee by 1808

His whereabouts over the next several years is mysterious.  But on 18 October 1808 “Berry Cheatham” bought a plow and some leather at the estate sale of Solomon Squires in Robertson County, Tennessee.4  At about the same time he married the daughter of a Robertson County resident, and had a daughter in 1810.

Marries Hannah Benson

His daughter Nancy Cheatham, who was born on 15 August 1810 according to her gravestone, was the daughter of this first marriage.  5  On 1 November 1832 she described 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 gave her uncle Richard Benson permission to sell her inherited interest in slaves belonging to the estate of her grandfather William Benson.6.  William Benson’s estate inventory included a “note on Joseph Stow payable to Littleberry Cheatham” for $20.87.7

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 purchase at the Squires estate sale in 1808, his only other appearance in Robertson County records was an 1814 suit against Robert Mitchell for $8.  8.  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.

Moves to Tuscumbia, Alabama by 1830

He moved to northwestern Alabama sometime in the 1820s, apparently leaving his daughter Nancy 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. 9 Another grant, for a nearby 40 acres, was issued to Littleberry Cheatham in 1834.10  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 1856.11

Speculated in Mississippi land

In 1834 and 1835 he was issued 400 acres in six land grants located in Madison County, Mississippi more than 200 miles from Tuscumbia.12. In each case he was identified as “of Madison County”, although whether he intended to relocate isn’t clear.

On 20 January 1837 Littleberry Cheatham and his wife Mary, identified as residents of Franklin County, Alabama sold all six parcels to Edmund H. Powell of Madison County for $16,720.13. Oddly, they acknowledged the deed before an Alabama State Supreme Court judge in Limestone County.

Apparently there was a seventh parcel needed to complete the transaction. More than a year later LIttleberry Cheatham, again 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.14 They again acknowledged the deed in Limestone County.

All three deeds in Madison County style him “Littleberry B. Cheatham”, the only occasions in which a middle name is suggested.  Middle names were still quite rare when he was born, so it isn’t certain that he truly had one.

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. 15  In 1840 his household included only the daughter Martha and his wife, and he was again aged 50-60.16

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.  This may have been a clerical mistake in copying the census record, as his wife Mary would have been 65 in 1850.   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.  The Alabama state census of 1850 contained similar information.

Second wife was Mary Battle

The family Bible of Joseph Albert Guy, husband of Martha F. Cheatham, mentions his father-in-law on two pages.17   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.

These two Bible pages may be viewed by clicking here.

A journal entry in 1945 repeats some of the same information and adds the statement that Joseph A. Guy’s wife was the only child of Mary Battle who was Littleberry Cheatham’s second wife:

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. 18

When and where he married Mary Battle is somewhat mysterious.  She was presumably the daughter of James Battle, who left a will in Nash County dated 7 April 1803 and proved that November.19  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…”  Since Littleberry Cheatham could not have married her until after Nancy was born in 1810, and likely closer to Mary Cheatham’s birth in 1825, it isn’t clear whether he returned to North Carolina or she migrated to Kentucky or Tennessee.

Two Known Children

Only two children, one by each wife, are known:

  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 the separate page on Nancy Cheatham for much more detail.
  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 children by a third marriage?

It appears that he only had two children.  Nancy Bishops’ 1832 deed suggests that she was the only 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.  Was there a period during which he might have been married to a wife in between the two?  It doesn’t seem so.

The male in the 1830 household may have been the Jesse Cheatham (aged 40-50) who appeared in the Franklin County 1840 census.   How he was related 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 Will Book 1, p306, p307. [↩]
  5. She is buried in the Oakwood Cemetery in Tuscumbia, Alabama. [↩]
  6. Robertson County Deed Book W, p321. [↩]
  7. Robertson County Inventories & Wills Book 8, page 258. [↩]
  8. Robertson County Court Minute Book 3, p456. Note that, as plaintiff, he need not have been a resident of he county. [↩]
  9. 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. [↩]
  10. Grant #5156, same Township-Range on  the southwest side of Section 5. [↩]
  11. 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. [↩]
  12. BLM Accession Numbers MS0220_.299, MS0240_.372, MS0260_.115, MS0270_.410, MS0270_.419, MS0290_.050. [↩]
  13. Madison County, Mississippi Deed Book E, p411. [↩]
  14. Madison County Deed Book F, p463 and 533. [↩]
  15. 1830 Franklin County census:  L. B. Cheatham 00000101 – 0100001 +14 slaves. [↩]
  16. 1840 Franklin County census: Littleton (sic) B. Cheatham 00000001 – 0010001. [↩]
  17. Loose pages in a folder located in the North Carolina Archives stacks, filed under MARS ID 400.976. [↩]
  18. Alabama Historical Quarterly, Vol. 7, No.4, page 525. [↩]
  19. Nash County Will Book 1, p242. [↩]