Marshall Hitt
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth Date: Abt 1802 - South Carolina Christening: Death: 1870-1880 - (Coryell Co., Texas) Burial: Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: Unknown Hitt ( - ) Mother: Unknown Hamilton ( -Bef 1811)
Spouses and Children
1. *Nancy (Abt 1812 - ) Marriage: Children: 1. Eunice Hitt (Abt 1833-1863/1867) 2. Harriett Hitt (Abt 1838- ) 3. James M. Hitt (Abt 1842- ) 4. Charles Hitt (Abt 1846- ) 5. Ophelia Jane Hitt (Abt 1848-1876) 6. Sarah Emeline "Fanny" Hitt (1850- ) 7. Austin M. Hitt (1854-1916)
Notes
General:
One can plausibly argue that Marshall is a son of Rev. Benjamin Hitt (1779 -- after 1860). See notes under Rev. Benjamin. This assignment has the defect that it leaves Daniel Hitt without a father and it leaves the orphan Marshall Hitt mentioned in the 1811 will of Robert Hamilton without a future. I think that the orphan is probably the same person as the Marshall Hitt who shows up in Greene Co., Alabama in 1830 and who in 1840 in Sumter Co. is surrounded by descendants of Lazarus Hitt ( -- 1823).
The will speaks of "all my children and my grandson Marshal Hitt", and a report of the executor in 1816 identifies the living children. Marshall's mother must have been a daughter of Robert Hamilton who was dead when the will was written in 1811. In 1816 Jesse Hitt received a legatee's share in right of his wife Nancy Hamilton and an additional share as guardian of Marshall Hitt. Why was Jesse Marshall's guardian? One possibility is that by 1816 Marshall's father was dead. In that case Marshall's father could have been any man named Hitt, but since a guardian is more likely to be an uncle than a cousin, Marshall's father is more likely to be a son of Lazarus than a son of Peter. Jesse Hitt is Lazarus's son. In 1790 Lazarus has 5 males, apart from himself, in his household. If John was born after 1790, then Lazarus has 4 identified sons born before 1790. Marshall's father can be the fifth.
Another possibility is that Jesse Hitt was married twice, first to a daughter of Robert Hamilton whose name is unknown and by whom he had one child (Marshall) and then second after her death to Nancy Hamilton, a sister of his first wife. It was normal for a child who owned property to have a legal guardian, usually his father if his father was alive, who would manage the property. In this case the property is the bequest in the will of Robert Hamilton to his grandson Marshall Hitt. An attractive feature of this hypothesis is that we need only one unnamed person instead of two. However, it has a serious problem because in this case Marshall, born in about 1802, has to be the only child of Jesse and his first wife. I have argued that Elizabeth Hitt married to Drury Sims was a child of Jesse (who else can be her father?), and she was born in about 1796.
CENSUS:
<pre>1830 Greene Co., Alabama
Marshall Hitt 00112 -- 1102001; no slaves
male female
< 5 1
5-10 1
1 10-15
1 15-20 2
2 20-30
30-40
40-50 1 </pre>
He is in the sequence David Hitt, x, x, x, Benjamin Hitt, Marshall Hitt, x, x, Benj'n Williams. Benjamin Hitt is Benjamin B. Hitt (son of Lazarus) and David (son of Peter) is his first cousin. Benj'n Williams is David's son-in-law.
This census entry is clearly not the usual nuclear family. Rev. Benjamin Hitt's sons Charles (b. 1808, m. 1839), Austin (b. 1811, m. 1832), and Daniel (b. 1805) are not in their father's household in 1830, and it may be that Austin and either Charles or Daniel are living with Marshall. One of the females 15-20 is Marshall's wife Nancy and the female <5 is the female 10-15 in 1840. Even so the male 10-15, the female 5-10, and one of the females 15-20 are unaccounted for.
<pre>1840 Sumter Co., Alabama; pg 76
Marshall Hitt 1100001 -- 12101; no slaves
male female
1 < 5 1
1 5-10 2
10-15 1
15-20
20-30 1
30-40
1 40-50 </pre>
He is in the sequence David Hill, Ephraim L. Banks, x, Marshall Hitt, x, Nancy Hitt, Drury Sims, 9x, John Altman, 4x, John Hitt, Laz Hitt, Aswell Hitt, Alford Hitt, Willis Ball, Moore Stephens, x, x, Henry Hitt, Benj'n Hitt, 6x, Richard Hitt.
The Hitts are David (1800-1880), Marshall (1802-1870/80), John (1790-1846), Lazarus (1814-1872), Oswell (1812-1877), Alfred (1819-1866), Henry H. (1812- ), Benjamin B. (1786-1850), and Richard (1812-1843).
One of the girls 5-10 is Eunice and the girl <5 is Harriett. The other girl 5-10 and the girl 10-15 may have married by 1850, probably in Newton Co. We will never know who they were. The boy 5-10 may be his nephew Daniel M. Hitt, son of David, and the boy <5 perhaps died before 1850.
The people in the sequence are mostly associated with old Lazarus (died 1823) rather than with his brother Peter (died 1806). Benjamin B. (1786) and John (1790) are sons of old Lazarus. Lazarus (1814), Alfred (1819), Oswell (1812) are sons of John (1790), and John Altman is a son-in-law. Richard (1812) and Henry H. (1812) are sons of Benjamin B. (1786), and Moore Stephens is a brother-in-law of Richard. Willis Ball is a son of Lewis Ball, who is a son-in-law of old Lazarus, and Nancy Hitt is probably the widow of Lazarus's son Jesse. The wife of Drury Sims is probably Jesse's daughter.
Only David is clearly related to Peter. He is the eldest son of Peter's son Rev. Benjamin. It is noteworthy that Rev. Benjamin and his other sons are missing from the 1840 census. They are Charles (m. 1839), Austin (m. 1832), Daniel (m. late 40's), Benjamin L. (m. 1838), and Henry J. (m. 1841). It may be that Rev. Benjamin and his sons (except David) were living close together at some place in the county that was overlooked by the census taker.
In 1845 in a Mississippi state census B. L. Hitt (2,3), Marshall Hitt (3,4), and Benjamin Hitt (1,1) are in Newton Co. There are 3 males and 4 females in Marshall Hitt's household.
<pre>1850 Newton Co., Mississippi; Sept 4; pg 357
349/349
Marshal Hitt 49 MW SC $600 Farmer
Nancy " 39 FW SC
Unice " 16 FW Al
Harriet " 14 FW Al
James " 8 MW Al
Charles " 4 MW Ms
Ophelia " 2 FW Ms
Sarah " 1/12 FW Ms </pre>
He is not in the Slave Schedule.
<pre>1860 Newton Co., Mississippi, p.o. Union; Aug 7; pg 112
754/769
Marshil Hit 57 MW SC $2000/$755 Farmer
Nancy " 47 FW SC
Harriet " 20 FW Al
James " 18 MW Al Farm Laborer
Charles " 14 MW Ms
Jane " 12 FW Ms
Faney " 9 FW Ms
Austan " 7 MW Ms </pre>
He is not in the Slave Schedule. His nephew Daniel M. Hit lives at 755/770, and his brother Benjamon Hit lives at 764/779.
<pre>1870 Coryell Co., Texas, Precinct 3rd, p.o. Leonville; Oct 9; pg 1
8/8
Marshal Hitt 68 MW SC --/$250 Farmer
Nancy " 60 FW SC Keeping house
Harriet " 30 FW Al
Orphelia " 18 FW Ms
Sarah E. " 16 FW Ms
Austin " 15 MW Ms </pre>
In 1880 Nancy is living in the household of her son Austin in Coryell Co.
CENSUS COMPARISON:
<pre>
Greene Sumter
1830 1840
male:
<5
5-10(10) Daniel M., b. 1830
10-15
15-20(19) Austin, b. 1811, m. 1832
20-30(22) Charles, b. 1808, m. 1839
20-30(28) 40-50(38) Marshall, b. 1802
female:
<5 (2) Harriet, b. 1838
5-10
5-10(6) Eunice, b. 1834
<5 10-15
5-10
15-20
15-20(18) 20-30(28) Nancy, b. 1812
</pre>
The parenthesized numbers in previous columns represent real ages to be compared with the age categories that appear in the census. Daniel M. is Marshall's nephew, a son of David Hitt.
LAND:
The following tracts were patented to Marshall Hitt:
<pre>
E1/2SW S12 T21N R1W 80 acres 6/20/1825 Greene Co., Alabama
W1/2NW S13 T21N R1W 80 acres 9/1/1831 Greene Co.
</pre>
In August 1832 he sold the E1/2 of the first tract (H/173), and in April 1836 he sold the remainder plus 80 acres between them (W1/2E1/2SW S12 + W1/2SW S12 + W1/2NW S13, G/281). W1/2SW S12 was patented to Rufus G. Lewis 5/30/1833 and it is not clear how Marshall Hitt came to own it.
<pre>
NW S10 T19N R3W 159.65 acres 3/15/1837 Sumter Co., Alabama
NW S32 T18N R3W 160.68 acres 3/20/1837 Sumter Co.
E1/2NE S31 T18N R3W 120.75 acres 3/30/1837 Sumter Co.
SWNE S31 T18N R3W 3/30/1837 Sumter Co.
</pre>
In September 1838 he sold the first tract for $16 to Wilson Hodges, to whom it is jointly patented as the assignee of Marshall Hitt (E/62). The other 3 tracts are contiguous (380 acres in all).
<pre>
E1/2NE, SWNE S11 T8N R13E 119.89 acres 9/1/1848 Newton Co., Mississippi
SWNW S12 T8N R13E 37.83 acres 5/1/1860 Newton Co.
</pre>
These are contiguous (157.72 acres in all). They are about 6 miles from Charles Hitt, Oswald Hitt, William J. Reese, Hubbard N. Reese, and John B. Munn. Since the courthouse burned in 1876, there is no local record of Marshall Hitt's land transactions in Newton Co.
MINISTER:
The following is from "The Hitts of Sumter County" by Annie Land Hitt (1966; self-published). Emelle is in the north-central part of Sumter Co.
"Marshall Hitt, born in South Carolina, was a Hardshell preacher and in 1834 he preached in the school house at old Payneville, which is near the present site of Emelle. He was the first minister to officiate in that neighborhood and 'he broke the bread of life to them in a plain and matter of fact manner and style, without the flower of rhetoric, and during the summer it was his custom to preach in his shirt sleeves and without a cravat.' (From articles on the early settling of the County by Chancellor Dillard, written in 1859)"
Chancellor Dillard is A. W. Dillard, who was appointed Chancellor of the Western Division of Alabama in 1868.
Note also:
http://magnolia.cyriv.com/greenealgenweb/documents/obits/DeathNoticesWhig1859.asp
"1 Oct 1880Dillard We regret to announce the death of Mrs. Chancellor Dillard, which occurred on the 1st inst., after long and severe suffering, during which the sympathies of the community were enlisted on her behalf."
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