Re: MASSEY, Alabama book
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In reply to:
Re: MASSEY, Alabama book
Barbara Riemenschneider 2/15/02
Good afternoon,
I live on Cedar Creek Lake, near Belgreen Alabama.I am kin to Hezekiah Massey from my grandfather's side, Walter Ezzell.My great grandmother was a Massey.Below is some information that I have about the Hezekiah Massey history:
Hezekiah Massey was born in North Carolina.The name of his father was Lige (Elijah) Massey, and his grandfather was named Hezekiah Massey.Our Hezekiah Massey, of Franklin County, was named for his grandfather.His mother’s maiden name was Thanie Bolton.
Lige Massey had a large family.There were eight children, five boys and three girls.Without attempting to name them in order their names were:
Barton Massey
Bryant Massey
William Massey
Jimmie (James) Massey
Hezekiah Massey
Betsy Massey
Sookie Massey
Catherine Massey
Just which one was the oldest, and which one was the youngest, I do not know.Neither do I know whether all of them was born in North Carolina or not.Some of them might have been born in South Alabama after the family moved to the State. The family moved from North Carolina to Alabama in a two-wheeled cart, drawn by one animal.I do not know whether that animal was a horse, a mule or an ox.
Hezekiah Massey was about nine years of age when his father moved to Alabama, instead of five or six as previously stated.Up to that time he had never worn shirts and trousers.He told his family that he wore a homemade dress and a homemade bonnet on the trip from North Carolina to Alabama.The small children rode in the two-wheeled cart and the older ones walked.There were no bridges along the route and when they came to a stream the older ones waded it.Some of the streams were waist deep.
Betsy Massey, one of the girls, married David Gregory, one of the men who witnessed the marriage of Hezekiah Massey and Margaret Bonds in Pickens County, Alabama.She was burned to death on Trace Branch near Hezekiah Massey’s home.Sookie Massey married a Mr. Bolton in South Alabama.Catherine Massey married a man by the name of Mr. Langley on Cedar Creek.Lige Massey and his family, and the Bonds Family, moved from Pickens County to Franklin County, and settled on Cedar Creek, with the exception of Hezekiah Massey.
When Hezekiah Massey married in Pickens County he had lots of hogs.He could not bring them with him to Franklin County.He could not bring them with him to Franklin County.It is said that he traded all of them to his father for a horse, and the old two-wheeled cart, in which they moved from North Carolina to Alabama.In this two-wheeled cart Hezekiah Massey and his bride of a few months moved to Franklin County in 1850 and settled on Trace Branch.One of the hubs of this old cart is in the possession of Gillie Massey now, one of Hezekiah Massey’s grandsons.The hub and no iron thimble inside of it like wagon hubs have now-a-days, and the hub was mortised, and the spokes fastened in with wooden pegs.There is a single iron band around the hub and it was homemade.The old hub seems to have been made from the body of a small black gum.It was made in North Carolina more than one hundred years ago.There is some difference between that two-wheeled cart and the wagons of the present day.It is said that when Hezekiah Massey and his bride moved to Franklin County in that two-wheeled cart they had no bedstead, and only a few household furnishings of any kind.But by hard work and saving they accumulated a great deal more than the average family.
William Massey, on of the Hezekiah Massey’s brothers, moved to Texas, and after he moved out there, it is said that he sat at night and looked at the moon, and cried, and said to himself, over and over again, “They can see the moon and I see the moon, but I cannot see them”.
If you have anymore information about the Massey's, please let me know.
Thanks,
Pamela
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