Edward "Ned" Scruggs, Veteran of the 13th USCT, Company F

Edward "Ned" Scruggs was born about 1836 in Williamson County, Tennessee.  He and his family were enslaved by a man named Ed Scruggs on the Scruggs family farm on Carter's Creek Pike west of Franklin and were probably born there as well.  According to Rick Warwick of the Heritage Foundation of Franklin and Williamson County this large farm was later called the Pigg-Haralson Farm and owned by E.G. Sellers.  For clarity, I'm going to refer to Edward "Ned" Scruggs as Ned to keep him distinct from Ed Scruggs, his former enslaver, although Ned did use both the name Ed and Ned throughout his life.

Close up of Section of 1878 Map of Williamson County,
showing J. Scruggs' farm along Carter's Creek Pike, west of Franklin
Tennessee State Library and Archives, D.G. Beers & Co.

Enslavement in Williamson County

Ned Scruggs served in the Army - in the 13th US Colored Infantry - during the Civil War.  In his pension application he stated this about his early life:

"I have no record of any kind of my birth. I do not know of any public record of my birth, neither baptism record, nor any family records. . . .[T]he people who owned me before the Civil War . . . lived in Williamson County, Tenn., near Franklin, Tenn.. . . I do not know whether they had a family record of my birth. . . . My parents were slaves; could not read or write and did not keep any record of the birth of their children."

It is impossible to downplay the horror of what slavery was like for Ned. For example, in 1836, the year of his birth, in Nashville a lottery was held. Much like today, various prizes were the possible rewards. However, at that time, in addition to the chance to win a horse you also could win another person. Four people were being awarded - probably the members of a family, a mother named Nancy, father Charles, and three daughters Matilda (12), Rebecca (11) and Maria (6). This was the world that young Ned was born into. 

Portion of the Announcement for the Tennessee Internal Improvement Lottery,
published in the Nashville Tennessean Saturday, March 26, 1836 

In 1847, when Ned was about 11 years old the man who enslaved him, Ed Scruggs, died leaving his large landholdings and slaves to his own wife and children. Ned became the property of Ed's son Theo, who was just 13 years old at this time - two years older than Ned.

1847 Inventory of Estate of Ed Scruggs (white)

1847 Inventory of Estate of Ed Scruggs (white) p2

The inventory of Ed Scruggs' estate included 12 horses and mules, one yoke of oxen, 18 head of cattle, 30 sheep 150 hogs and the 41 people he was enslaving.  

Inventory of Negroes of theMinor Heirs of Edward Scruggs

Williamson County, Tennessee Probate Records

Among those individuals I found an eleven year old Ned Scruggs along with his parents Alfred (52) and Felicia (45) and his siblings, Lucy (19), Henry/Harry (17), Burton (15), Harriet (13), Henderson (7), and Jenny (2).

Partial inventory of Ed Scruggs' slaves in 1847, showing Ned's family

I found a Freedmen's Bank record for a William Scruggs who was born in Franklin that I believe was another brother born after this inventory was taken.  William was a teamster in the Civil War and later lived in St. Louis working on a steamship.  You can see that he listed Ned and his sister Harriet as his siblings as well as their parents Alfred and Felicia (Lishy).  From what I have pieced together, Ned's family tree looks something like this:

His father Alfred (b. 1792) and mother Felicia (Lishy) (b. 1810) had 8 children who survived:

• Lucy (b. 1830)
• Harrison "Harry" (b. 1835)
• Edward "Ned" (b. 1836)
• Burton (b. 1837)
• Harriet (b. 1838)
• Henderson "Henry" (b. 1840)
• George (b. 1841)
• Jenny (b. 1842)
• William (b. 1848)

The next record I could find of Ned's childhood was in 1849; it appears as though he was hired out for $10 that year.  He was 13 years old.

For the next dozen or so years, Ned was hired out to work, sometimes with his brother Henry as a farm hand and rock mason. It appears as though he may have sometimes been hired out to the Scruggs' neighbors the Kinnards.  During this time, when he was a teenager, Ned married Mary Kinnard, another enslaved person, in what was described as a "regular slave marriage" in his pension documents.  They were recognized by "whites and blacks" and had the permission of their "owners" to marry.  Their first child,  London Scruggs, was born in 1851 when both Mary and Ned were just teenagers.  

One of their neighbors was Wiley Scruggs (whom I've written about before)- another one of the Scruggs slaves.  He lived on the Scruggs farm with his mother and was enslaved by Joe Scruggs - Theo's older brother.  In 1909 he said that he remembered Ned and his wife Mary:

"I knew them or can remember them about the time of the breaking out of the war. . . . Ned Scruggs belonged to either Theo or his brother Ned [Ed] Scruggs. I don't know which as they were all in one place. Mary belonged to [the] Kinnard[s] & Newton[s] both, I don't know which owned her last. When I first knew Mary she belonged to Kinnard and was living as the wife of this Ned Scruggs."

Deposition of Wiley Scruggs

The Scruggs families lived next to Claiborne Kinnard (just to the south) - this may be who Wiley Scruggs is referring to in regards to Mary.  

Mary and Ned would have two boys London (b. 1851) and Jarvis (b. 1859) during this time.  This is what their oldest son, called "Lundy", said about them in a pension record:

"I can remember my parents before the war & they lived as man and wife & everybody regarded them as such til he went into the army. They had their owner's consent to live as man and wife then or they could not have lived together."

In 1855, Theo Scruggs, the young enslaver of Ned Scruggs, was granted disbursement of his share of his father's estate - including Ned Scruggs - who was now 19 years old.  In the estate papers, Ned was valued at $950. 

Portion of Probate Records for Theo Scruggs, showing Lot No. 2 - Ned is listed as 17 years old and valued at $950. The "Mary and child" listed is perhaps his wife Mary (14) and oldest son London (4); they are valued at $1,100.
Ned's siblings Harry, Harriett, and Henderson are also valued.
His parents Alfred and Letitia, who would have been elderly were valued at $200 along with Jerry..

The Civil War

On December 20, 1860 South Carolina seceded from the United States.  This news surely sent shock waves throughout Williamson County and likely reached Ned Scruggs.  By now, Ned and Mary were 24 years old and the parents of two young sons - Lundy (9) and Jarvis (1).  The following April, US troops fired upon Fort Sumter and men from Williamson County began organizing into militias.  Across Virginia the enslaved had begun to flee toward the US army troops at Fort Monroe, and US Army General Butler coined the term "contraband of war" in May 1861 to describe them and the authority under which he allowed these refugees to seek safety within his lines.   

Meanwhile, back in Williamson County, white men were starting to form Confederate militia units in preparation for an expected war involving Tennessee.  On May 9, 1861 Theo Scruggs' brother Young Scruggs joined the Confederate Army in Company D of the Tennessee First Infantry - better known as the Williamson Grays. On June 8, 1861 Tennessee seceded from the United State of America.  

On February 24, 1862 Nashville fell to US forces.  Many slaves in Williamson County (contrabands) began to emancipate themselves and gather around the arriving Army camps for protection, employment, shelter, and food. This was a very chaotic time.  Williamson County was a war zone.  

The history of Sixth Regiment Ohio Volunteers, written by E. Hannaford, includes this recollection of their time in Williamson County in March 1862: “On the 18th, the Fourth Division marched nineteen miles, through Franklin, halting for the night near Spring Hill. The command was now traversing the fertile and highly-cultivated cotton regions of Middle Tennessee, and gangs of slaves were seen at work upon almost every plantation, or else clinging to the fences by the road-side, whence they watched the marching column with wondering eyes and unmistakable delight, as long as it remained in view.”

These US soldiers would have marched right near the Scruggs farm on Carter's Creek Pike in Franklin. Other US forces were also in the area occupying Franklin.  Ned Scruggs surely would have seen them out foraging and on patrols, and perhaps been inspired and emboldened to leave for Nashville - maybe even enabled by them. Skirmishing continued throughout the year – with control of Franklin changing hands repeatedly. 

In July 1862, Congress passed the 2nd Confiscation Act which stated that “. . . All slaves of persons . . . engaged in rebellion, escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the army . . . shall be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever free of their servitude, and not again held as slaves.” On September 22, 1862 President Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation. Its hard to know how or when Ned Scruggs would have first learned of these seemingly impossible declarations. Both documents laid out a tantalizing dream for so many enslaved people across the South. 

Life as a Paid Laborer

It seems likely that Ned Scruggs took the leap of faith afforded to him by these two laws and took "refuge within the lines of the army."  He seems to have left the Scruggs farm for a chance at something better.  However, in the pension records, one person recalled that Mary did not accompany Ned to Nashville.  She appears to have stayed in Franklin with their two young children; perhaps the farm seemed like a safer more stable place than Nashville's growing refugees camps.

As early as August 1862, Ned obtained (or was perhaps impressed into) work building the fortifications for the US Army, including Fort Negley. His name appears on the Employment Rolls and Nonpayment Rolls of Negroes Employed in the Defenses of Nashville, Tennessee, 1862-1863. He was assigned #923 and his "owner" is listed as "T. Scruggs" - Theo Scruggs. Ned Scruggs was employed for 5 months at a rate of $7/month. He was one of the relatively few men who actually received his wages of $35. Its not clear if he was able to send some of this money home to Mary and their sons, but if he did it surely would have been a huge help to them.

Enlistment in the US Colored Troops

After completion of the forts in December 1862,its not clear what Ned did for work, but on September 24, 1863 in Nashville, Ned Scruggs enlisted in Company F of the 13th US Colored Infantry.  This was the first day that enlistment opened for this regiment.   The 13th USCI was just the second Civil War-era federal black regiment of infantry soldiers in the United States.  Men were recruited into its ranks from among the laborers like Ned Scruggs who had worked to build forts in places such as Nashville, Gallatin and Murfreesboro and lived in the contrabands camps in those areas. 

In his enlistment papers Ned Scruggs was described as a 24-year-old farmer who was 5'11" tall.  After his enlistment, he mustered into Company F at "Camp Rosencranz" on November 19, 1863.   Camp Rosencranz was probably referring to Fortress Rosencrans in Murfreesboro.   This sketch showing "negro recruits" boarding train cars for Murfreesboro likely depicts men such as Ned Scruggs heading to Fortress Rosencrans for their initiation into Army life.  

"Negro recruits taking the cars for Murfreesboro, Tenn., to join the federal army", From a sketch of C. F. Hillen.
Tennessee State Library & Archives. Image in the public domain.

The day they were mustered, in the men of the 13th USCT Regiment were presented with their Regimental flag.  It was described as a beautiful vibrant blue flag with a blazoned eagle and shield, marked "Thirteenth Regiment U.S. Colored Infantry" and "Presented by the colored ladies of Murfreesboro." 

A recreation of the 13th US Colored Infantry regimental flag.

The day after Ned Scruggs mustered in (November 20, 1863) he was promoted to be a corporal - which indicates that he was literate.  He signed up for a three-year term of service under the command of Colonel John A. Hottenstein. 

March 10, 1864 Nashville Daily Union

From its formation in the fall of 1863 until May 1864, the men of the 13th were primarily used as laborers on the Nashville and Northwestern railroad 30 miles west of Nashville near Kingston Springs. This March 10, 1864 correspondence to the Nashville Union, written by "J. W. R." , presumably an officer of the 13th USCI, states that the railroad they are building is a "military necessity" and points out that the men of the 12th USCI and 13th USCI who have been working to build it had been "gathered . . . from such a horrid state of slavery and wrong that even now they claim to be free."  This is interesting to me, because it implies that the writer understands, or maybe implies, that despite their service in the Army they are still not entirely "free."  He goes on, "They cheerfully submit to the rigors of military rule, saying, 'We were never so happy before. Our old masters would get angry with us and sometimes punish us almost to death; and we do not understand why; but here if we are punished, we know why, for the officers tell us our duty, and never punish us unless we disobey. If we disobey, we know it; and if we are punished, we know what it is for.' . . . I have seen this regiment march a whole day without observing a single instance of straying or breaking ranks for pigs and poultry.  . . . Our record in the army is just as good as any other and better than that of white troops on fatigue or road building. . . . It is quite a satisfaction to me to know that while some men consider the men of this organization to be unworthy because the soldiers have been negro slaves, they have shown as much bravery in proportion to their experience in mortal combat as the white troops, and more proficiency in the schools of the company and soldier."

During this time, the 13th had furnished an average of five hundred men as construction workers; other USCT and white regiments also provided laborers to this massive military effort.  Confederate guerrillas periodically attacked the soldiers attempting to disrupt their work, but despite their efforts, the US Army completed the rail extension to Johnsonville (west of Nashville at the Tennessee River) quickly. These soldiers also built warehouses, barracks, a rail station, fortifications, and other facilities at Johnsonville. Between 5,000 and 7,300 African American soldiers are estimated to have worked on the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad project. By May 10, 1864 the 13th USCI soldiers completed their work on the railroad and were dispersed along the railroad line to provide guard duty at blockhouses.  

At some point during his time in the Army,   Ned's oldest son Jarvis visited him with provisions.  In the pension file, he says this: 

"My father went in the army but I do not know his regiment. I was sent by my mother while my father was in the army at Nashville, Tenn. to take him six chickens and I took them to him."

I'm sure Ned really appreciated receiving the care package of those birds!

From Jarvis Scruggs' deposition in Ned Scruggs' widow's pension application, dated May 17, 1909

The 13th USCT under Colonel Hottenstein guarded Johnsonville, Waverly, and other key points along the line between May and December 1864, and again from mid-January 1865 to the end of the war. The Record of Events indicates that Company F (Ned Scruggs' Company), along with other Companies were summoned to Johnsonville in July 1864 from various points along the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad to help construct and garrison the Lower Redoubt portion of Fort Johnson at Johnsonville. In the course of that work, Ned "incurred injury of [his] back caused by lifting logs to build breastworks."

Later in life, Ned Scruggs would write in his pension application that he had injured his back while lifting logs to build these breastworks.

African American troops occupied this Lower Redoubt at Fort Johnson on the eve of and during the Battle of Johnsonville. On the morning of November 4, 1864, Confederate Lt. General Nathan Bedford Forrest attacked Johnsonville in an attempt to disrupt the supply routes provided by the railroad.  The Battle of Johnsonville was a significant and unique land and water battle - a full description of which is beyond the scope of this blog post.  I encourage you to learn more about it.  

Colonel Mussey of the 100th USCT wrote in a report of the day:

The behavior of the colored troops at Johnsonville, Tenn., during the recent attack upon that place was, I am informed by several eye-witnesses, excellent. . . . . Some of the Thirteenth U. S. Colored Infantry, who were at Johnsonville, were upon the river-bank as sharpshooters, and armed with the Enfield rifle, and did good execution. The affair was slight, but it has gained credit for the colored troops.  Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, Report of Col. Reuben D. Mussey, Series I, Vol. 39, Part I, Serial no. 77, 868

Johnsonville, Tenn. Camp of Tennessee Colored Battery
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
https://www.loc.gov/item/cwp2003000850/PP/

On November 30, 1864 (the day of the Battle of Franklin) the entire regiment was withdrawn from Johnsonville to Nashville in preparation for Lt. General Hood's anticipated attack.  Ned Scruggs, as far as I can tell, was among them.

On December 7th, the men of the 13th USCI were placed into the 2nd Colored Brigade, along with the men of the 12th USCI and 100th USCI.  The men dug-in and threw up rifle pits where they skirmished with the Confederates over the next week near Nashville. Col. John A. Hottenstein, commander of the 13th USCI Thirteenth gave this nonchalant account of their movements in mid December 1864 including their service on the first day at the Battle of Nashville:   

During the time from the 7th to the 13th [of December] this regiment was occupied in throwing up rifle-pits along the line and preparing for a campaign. The men were reclothed and refitted in everything necessary for a long campaign. On the 13th regiment was ordered out with the rest of the brigade on a reconnaissance near Rains' house, and had a lively skirmish during the afternoon, retiring at dusk. In this skirmish the regiment lost 1 man killed and 4 wounded. On the night of the 14th I received orders to be ready to move at 5 o'clock the following morning. Soon after daylight on the morning of the 15th we moved with the brigade and occupied the works thrown up on the right of the Chattanooga railroad and near the Nolensville pike. During the 15th the regiment lay behind those breast-works, under a severe fire from a battery in our front, without sustaining any loss.

On December 16, the Second Brigade, including the 13th USCT, participated in the fierce assault on the right wing of General Hoods Army of Tennessee at Overton Hill (Peach Orchard Hill). The battle site can be seen today just west of I-65 at the Harding Place exit, where a historical marker has been placed. You can read more about the Battle of Nashville and the role of the men from Williamson County in this blog post.  It is hard to adequately describe the significance of the role that the men from Williamson County and the 13th USCI played in the Battle that day.  You can learn more here.

This is Col. Hottenstein's account of that day:

At daylight on the morning of the 16th the regiment was under arms ready to move, and about sunrise I received orders from the colonel commanding to move across the Nolensville pike and feel the enemy in our front. I advanced my skirmishers to a piece of woods in our front, but the enemy had retired. I then received orders to move over to the Nolensville pike, where the remainder of the brigade then was, and to form my regiment as a reserve, in rear of the other two regiments of the brigade, and to regulate my movements by them. The brigade then moved to the right and front, and after considerable maneuvering joined the right to the left of the Third Division, Fourth Corps, where the men were ordered to lie down. In this position we were shelled considerably, by the enemy without any material damage. At about 2.30 I received notice that we would assault the works in our front, and in a few minutes afterward the order to advance was given. The regiment advanced with the brigade in good order, but before we arrived near the rebel works the troops in our front began to lie down, and skulk to the rear, which, of course, was not calculated to give much courage to men who never before had undergone an ordeal by fire. The fire of the enemy was terrific, but nevertheless the men, led by their officers, continued to advance to the very muzzles of the enemy's guns, but its numbers were too small, and after a protracted struggle they had to fall back, not for the want of courage or discipline, but because it was impossible to drive the enemy from his works by a direct assault. Before falling back all the troops on our right had given way, and it was to continue the struggle any longer. The regiment reformed on the ground occupied just previous to the assault by the One hundredth U. S. Colored Infantry, and was ready to again advance when a staff officer of the colonel commanding ordered me to take my regiment over to the left, where the remainder of the brigade was formed. I moved to the left, as ordered, and joined the brigade, which moved about miles to the front and encamped for the night, in the meantime the enemy retiring toward Franklin. The regiment went into action on the morning of the 16th, 556 men and 20 commissioned officers, lost 4 commissioned officers and 55 enlisted men killed, and 4 commissioned and 165 enlisted men wounded; total loss, 220.

Next, the 13th USCI participated in the pursuit of Hood during his retreat south through Williamson County.  This is what Col. Hottenstein said about those days beginning on December 17, 1864 and their subsequent return to Nashville:

On the morning of the 17th we marched in pursuit of the enemy and reached Franklin in the evening.  Source: Official Records PAGE 548-93 KY., SW. VA., TENN., MISS., ALA., AND N. GA. [CHAP. LVII. [Series I. Vol. 45. Part I, Reports, Correspondence, Etc. Serial No. 93.]

I wonder what Ned Scruggs and the other previously-enslaved men from Williamson County were thinking - to be returning in US Army uniforms, triumphant, to Franklin?  As Ned Scruggs and the rest of the 13th USCI (including almost 60 other men from Williamson County) marched through Franklin, Colonel Thomas Jefferson Morgan recounted the scene in his memoir as they saluted their top commanding officer, General Thomas:

Col. Hottenstein continued his description of the men's march in pursuit of John Bell Hood's defeated Confederate Army of Tennessee.

The next day the regiment moved with the brigade toward Murfreesborough and arrived there on the 20th; thence to Stevenson and Decatur, where we arrived on the 25th, and drove the enemy out of the place, . . . Source: Official Records PAGE 548-93 KY., SW. VA., TENN., MISS., ALA., AND N. GA. [CHAP. LVII. [Series I. Vol. 45. Part I, Reports, Correspondence, Etc. Serial No. 93.]

During this portion of the march, Ned was apparently injured.  He said that his foot was trapped between railroad cars when they were "en route from Murfreesboro to Decatur" and his foot was "mashed" and his back injured. 

Next, according to Col. Hottenstein,

The regiment moved with the brigade down the river in the direction of Courtland and arrived there on the 30th of December, and from thence to La Grange, Ala., on January 1, 1865. January 2 moved back toward Decatur and arrived there on the 5th. On the 7th we embarked on the cars for Nashville. Arriving at Scottsborough we were ordered in pursuit of the rebel Gen. Lyon, who had been on a raiding tour through Kentucky and Tennessee. The regiment marched in pursuit to--Landing, and returned thence to Larkinsville, Ala. Nothing of note occurred on this march, except the suffering of the men for the want of shoes and other clothing, which from the length of the campaign were worn out. Many of the officers and men were barefoot, and never did men display more soldierly than on this march; without shoes and a great time without rations, they performed their duty cheerfully and without murmur. The regiment arrived at Nashville on the 15th of January and lay there until the 29th, when I received orders to move and reoccupy our former stations of the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad. The regiment moved by easy marches to its former stations on the road, arriving at this place on the 2d of February, and on the 4th all of the different companies had arrived at the posts assigned them.  Source: Official Records PAGE 548-93 KY., SW. VA., TENN., MISS., ALA., AND N. GA. [CHAP. LVII. [Series I. Vol. 45. Part I, Reports, Correspondence, Etc. Serial No. 93.]

After this arduous march and injury its not surprising that Ned Scruggs eventually became sick.  On October 12, 1865 his military records show that he was sick in the hospital in Nashville.  He was absent from his company through November and December.  He was admitted to the Hospital in Nashville with small pox and returned to duty January 3rd 1866 in Nashville.

Just one week later, Ned Scruggs mustered out of service on January 10, 1866 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Post War Life and Reconstruction

According to his pension, Ned returned home to Williamson County and lived for a short while with Mary and their two sons - Lundy (who was now 14) and Jarvis (now 6).  During this time, a daughter Delia was conceived and born to the couple.  

Ned's father Alfred appears to have stayed on the Scruggs farm with their former enslaver's widow Alpha Scruggs and her sons Ed Jr, Theo and Young (the Confederate veteran) in the Southall area of Franklin, although by the 1870 Federal Census Ned's mother seems to have died. 

1870 Federal Census from Williamson County, District 5, showing Alfred Scruggs heading a household of various perhaps unrelated members and living next door to Alpha Scruggs, the widow of their former enslaver, as well as her children Ed, Theo and Young.

Ned's brother Harry had married and was also living in Williamson County working as a stone mason.  Ned's brother Burt also married and remained farming the Scruggs farm through at least the 1880s. 

However, the strains of slavery and the wartime separation appear to have been too much for Ned and Mary's relationship and the marriage ended soon after his return from the War. This what their oldest son Lundy said in a pension request:

When he [Ned] got out of the army he came back to my mother and they lived again as man and wife till he left this county. I think he stayed with my mother a year or two after he came back from the army. I know they called themselves man and wife here after the war & were so recognized till they parted. I do not know why they parted. I never saw my father after he left here, but he went to Giles County from here. I never heard if he went to Nashville. I know my father and mother never were divorced. He married again though in Giles County. I heard of it and heard of him again 3 or 4 times a year. I think he married another Mary after he left my mother that we heard was in Giles Co. Tenn.

Lundy was right - Ned did marry another Mary in 1868 in Giles County.  But sadly she and their young son died in 1872.  Ned married a third time, to Celia Ann Suttles on "Zach Bradshaw's place" in Giles County, Tennessee.  The couple had a son George, but then Celia died as well.  In 1874, Ned - who seems to have been an incurable romantic - rolled the dice again and married Elvira Maples on December 12, 1874 when he was 38 years old - almost exactly ten years after he had participated in the Battle of Nashville.  This time his luck had changed and the marriage would last the rest of his life.

Ned settled down as a farmer in Giles County, Tennessee with Elvira raising his son George.  In the 1880 Census, Ned was listed as being 49 years old, Elvira was 24 and Ned's son George was 9 years old.  

In 1883 Ned Scruggs filed for a pension based on the injuries he received during Hood's retreat and his injury sustained while working to build breastworks at Johnsonville.  

Around this time, Ned and Elvira moved to Limestone County, Alabama and started their own family of three children - Martha Ann (b. 1884), Joseph (b. 1887) and son Neshy (b. 1891).  The year that their youngest son Neshy was born, Ned was 54 years old.  Ned was working as a "stone or rock mason and farmer" according to his pension records.

In the 1900 Federal Census, Ned and Elvira were renting a farm in Gilbertsboro, Limestone County, Alabama where they were farming.  Their sons Joseph & Neshy and daughter Martha Ann were living with them.  Ned and Joseph could read and write.  Ned was listed as 77 years old, although my calculations put it him at 64 years old.  He died on February 6, 1908 in Elmont, Limestone, Alabama.  I have not been able to locate his grave.

SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave