Newspaper Article On the "Juiciest Scandal" of Early North Alabama Methodism

I have written about my ancestors, Rev. Isaac and Hannah Taylor, who were embroiled in what I call the "juiciest scandal" of early North Alabama Methodist history.

With the help of Artificial Intelligence, I found definitive proof that Isaac didn't murder Hannah. She left him and her children for another man.

For background, Isaac is buried in the middle of the Taylor Memorial Methodist Church graveyard near Trussville, Alabama. His grave is next to his brother, Rev. William Taylor, who founded the church. My mother's paper (see the link on the top left of this blog) describes the sordid affair around Isaac and Hannah. For additional information around the story, click his label on the left side of this blog.

The synopsis is that Isaac, my 3rd great grandfather, was one of three brothers who were prominent early North Alabama Methodist preachers. He was licensed to preach in 1824. But in about 1832, his wife Hannah (whose maiden name was, humorously, "Hopper") eloped with another lover and left him with three children, one of which was still nursing. My ancestor, the middle child, was only about 7 years old. Folks just couldn't imagine her leaving her children. Some bones were found nearby, leading to a conspiracy theory that he must have murdered her.

Never mind that Isaac had reported she eloped with someone. The "enemies of Methodism" took advantage of this to spread rumors and stain the reputation of the church. Whether they were eager for propaganda to antagonize the church because of their distaste for emotional revivals, the position of the church on temperance, or even issues emerging around slavery, we will never know.

Isaac was cleared of all charges, and eventually someone spotted Hannah with her new husband in Texas. Despite persistent slander, he was fully ordained four years after she left him and became a circuit rider, appointed from 1836-1840 in places such as Brandon, Mississippi and Decatur, Alabama. As a side note, my wife's ancestor, John G. Jones, was a church historian and reported that his approval at annual conference for ordination was tricky, because he was uneducated and uncouth. But he was ordained, riding the circuit for four subsequent years. 

In 1840 he "located" (a term for elders who no longer preached on horseback and settled, but often kept pastoring). According to his gravestone, he preached for 50 years. That means after he "located" and left the itineracy, he preached for some 34 more years in the Cedar Mountain (Trussville) area. Obviously, he recovered from all this.

BUT HERE'S WHAT MY MOTHER AND I NEVER KNEW!

I found an abstract of a news article published on April 22, 1842 in the "Western Weekly Review" of Franklin, Tennessee. It knocked my socks off. The editor had apparently received a letter from the lover my ancestor Hannah had eloped with a decade earlier. Her dying wish was to come clean. Here it is, with all the juicy details!

The Lost Wife

A STRANGE MYSTERY OF LOVE AND CRIME DEVELOPED

          Some 10 or 11 years ago, the wife of the Rev. Isaac Taylor, of the M. E. Church, Jefferson County, Ala., was residing. The circumstances of the case are somewhat as follows, as related by Mr. Taylor: She laid down at night as usual; some time in the night she was up and down two or three times, going out of doors and coming in again; she then took the least child an infant at the breast, kissed it and then laid it in Mr. Taylors arms, told him to keep it till she returned, and left the house and returned no more; the next day he made known her elopement to his friends; search was made from time to time, by perhaps hundreds of persons, but to no purpose. Various were the rumors put in circulation from year to year, and as various were the surmises of the public. Taylor was persecuted in some places, the church would not hear him preach, though he has continued to labor in the ministry and assert his innocency; yet public suspicion rested upon him.

          After the lapse of six years, he married a second wife, and it is said by his neighbors that all the time his moral character was without exception. After his wife was missing, he moved from the place, the premises was occupied by another family; they set fire to a large hollow stump in the field no great distance from the house; after the stump was consumed, there were bones found where it stood; the neighbors collected together, had a warrant issued for Taylor, he was arrested, taken before a Justice of the Peace, committed, and stood his trial at the regular term of the Circuit Court for Jefferson County; there being no proof against him, he was acquitted. The matter then rested until now. Very recently, the letter, (a copy of which I enclose in the present communication,) was received at Blountsville, directed to the Post Master of that place, post marked Brooklin, Mississippi, --

          The circumstances all together are so strange and singular, that I have thought they would be interesting to the public, and with a view that it may cast further light on the subject, I send them to you and request that you will give them a place in your valuable and widely circulating Journal.

I am, with respect,

Yours &c.

San Augustine, Texas, Nov. 26th, 1841.

--

To the Citizens of Blountsville, Ala. and its vicinity.

          I expect you will be very much surprised to receive a communication of this kind; but my conscience compels me to disclose the matter. I expect you all will recollect the circumstances of Isaac Taylor's wife leaving the county, and no person knew how, when nor where she went. By this, you will see that about two weeks previous to her leaving, I happened at Taylor's house and he was absent. His wife and I got to talk over old matters — Before I go any further I will tell you how she and I were engaged to be married before Taylor ever courted her, and she told me that in her present situation she was perfectly miserable, and that she had rather die than to live with Taylor another year. She at last said I was the object of her love and Taylor the cause of her misery. — She also said if I was willing, she would start with me to Texas. The next day I told her to prepare herself with men's clothing by that day two weeks, and between 10 and 3 o'clock at night I would be there and ready to start to Texas. She then insisted to carry her youngest child; I told her it would not do, and she agreed to leave all, so the time arrived and according to agreement I came and found her in readiness. I had two first rate horses, and they well rigged; she mounted one and I the other, and we set sail for the Mississippi. After we had traveled about four miles, we left the road about 250 yards and alighted, and she put on her coat, waistcoat and pants and I cut off her hair, and we mounted and again set sail, and by daylight we were about twenty miles from Taylor's. We cheerfully pursued on our journey, and arrived in Vicksburg on the 6th day after we started; by this time she was a very snug looking man. We sold our horses and took passage for New Orleans; the 5th day we arrived safe in New Orleans; we then got passage on board of a schooner to Galveston Island in Texas, and owing to the unfavorable winds, were 19 days getting to Galveston, then we arrived safe and sound. After staying there four days we went to San Phillippi on horses; she was still a man; we did not like this, and we started back to Nacogdoches, and on the way she shifted clothes, and became a woman again. We lived in the vicinity of Nacogdoches until 1836, and during this time a host of the Boxes, from Blount, moved in. I accordingly met with Wm. Box, and lay at old Pullin's and my wife was present, and Bill eyed her so close, we moved immediately to the Sulpher Fork of Red River, and there remained until last fall, when my wife took the congestive fever and died. On her death bed she requested me to do what I am now doing. I was back in Nacogdoches in '39 and '40, and I found half of Blount county there; even little Henderson, Parmer, Green, Harrison, Jim Brown, and all the Boxes in the world. I leave the matter with you, without giving any names. I would give names but I am afraid of being murdered by some of the friends of the parties. Adieu! Adieu!

Hamby Letter

This is a handwritten letter by Laura Francis Clark Hamby or George Washington Hamby, sent to their son James Earley  Hamby and his wife Charlotte Goins Hamby after the death of their three year old daughter, Stella. The writers were Stella’s grandparents.

This was found in Jesse M. Hamby’s (1920-2012) photos by his daughter, Jean Suico. She copies it as it is written without changing or interpreting their words.

The poem quoted is an Isaac Watts hymn text. The "Jessie" referred to was the two year old child of the writers, deceased just a decade earlier.

---

 

Birmingham, Alabama, Feb. 19, 1899

Mr. and Mrs. J.E. Hamby

Winnsboro, S.C.

 

Dear Ones,

    Words fail to convey our feelings of sorrow on receipt of the sad intelligence of the death of your darling Stella. Our own grief at the loss of this precious one teaches us how crushing must be your affliction. We feel like we would do or say something that would comfort your hearts in this sad hour, if we only knew how. However, we will attempt to write a letter of condolence, feeling it a necessity to do so, though very difficult to compose, since the more earnestly and touchingly it is written the more deeply will it probe the wounds still bleeding under the stab of affliction.

    We recognize the fact this morning that never before has providence in his wisdom sent a great grief or a more bitter sorrow into your hearts and house than in the present dispensation. Never before since the death of little Jessie has our house been sadder or our hearts been made to act with such severance than now.  Therefore, our grief is mutual and you have our deepest sympathy and earnest prayer.

May God sustain you in this trying hour by putting you to remembrance that he has only taken back to himself what was sent you for a short while. He has plucked the little bud from your home that it may blossom and bloom around His throne up yonder. Yes, it was a sweet tender little plant, so delicate that God saw it could not withstand the fiery darts of this troublesome, unkind and unfriendly old world, and He has only come and taken from you to replant it in the Garden of Eden to care for it for you until the dawning of that great morning when all nations and tribes of the earth shall be gathered together that God may from the great assembly make up his jewels.

    The sweet consolation is for you that your darling one who has already preceded you to that throne will be, beyond all questions, one of His brightest jewels. Its little sun had hardly risen from the Easter morning of life before death pleased its shinning.  For about four years its little rays have been peeping over the Eastern hill of life, shinning in your home churning your hearts and brighten all prospects for a useful happy life.  But just after passing the fourth milepost of life and ever before reaching the meridian of time, death overtook it that it might be invested. And today it shines in God’s home with a celestial brightness that it could not have possibly demonstrated here below.  Yes she was a little sunbeam, and now that her light is out the home is dark. But be comforted. For if God left her here just long enough to fasten tight the golden cord of love around your hearts, then be well assured that he holds the other end near his great throne of Grace and after a little while you may meet her.

She is not dead, but asleep in Christ.

 

As the poet says:

“Hear what the voice from heaven proclaims

For all the pious dead:

Sweet is the savior of their names,

And soft their sleeping bed.

They die in Jesus and are blest,

How calm their slumbers are!

From sufferings and from sin released.

And freed from every snare.

Far from this world of toil and strife,

They’re present with the Lord:

The labors of their mortal life

And in a large reward.

 

    May God’s richest grace help and sustain you both and help you to bare in submission to His sweet will and feel that the cord of blessed kinship binds you closer to the skies.

No more will its sweet voice be heard on earth tho’ it be dead still it continues to speak.  Its voice used to be heard here below calling pa-pa and ma-ma. But today the same words are murmured in its new home.

    Be faithful father and mother that by-and-by you may meet and have a happy reunion in the sweet hereafter.

   God bless and comfort you both is the prayer of your folks at home.  

 

Your

Father, Mother & family  

 

Grandpa C.P. Hamby Quoted in Book About Revivalists

It's amazing what you can find on the internet. Our grandfather, Rev. C.P. Hamby, was quoted in the book "Five Years in the Firing Line: A Book on Earnest Evangelism" by James Oscar Hanes, published in 1913. Here are the two pages that reference him, twice.

George W. Hamby's Confederate Service

At long last, here's the last of the ...

"Top Ten Things a Hamby Should Know"

#10  - GEORGE W. HAMBY'S FASCINATING CONFEDERATE SERVICE RECORD

Did you know one or our direct ancestors had a lengthy Confederate service record, from being both infantryman and artilleryman, to being captured in the Battle of Mobile, to serving as a Chaplain for Confederate veterans in his old age?

In the graveyard next to the Bryant-Denny Stadium, at the University of Alabama, is the grave of George Washington Hamby and his wife Laura Clark Hamby. George was my Great-Grandfather on Mom's side, the father of Grandpa, Rev. C.P. Hamby, Sr.

George was born in Decatur, Georgia and grew up nearby, until a few years before the war when his family moved to the Alexander City, Alabama area. The family story, supported by his enlistment date, is that he joined the Confederate war effort a few months shy of his 18th birthday in 1862, lying about his birthday so he could join as a company was was recruited and organized from Tallapoosa County.

He was in the 47th Alabama Infantry, Company F, until at some point during the war he was transferred to the 1st Alabama Artillery Battalion, Company E.

In the 47th Infantry, he was sent to Virginia and undoubtedly fought in the battles of Cedar Mountain, Manassas #2, Chantilly, Sharpsburg, and the Siege of Harper's Ferry. It is unclear when he was transferred to artillery battalion so we are not sure if he fought with the 47th at Gettysburg, Chickamauga, and Lookout Valley.

As artilleryman, he was stationed at Fort Morgan and was one of the 400 men captured in the Battle of Mobile in August 1864. This is the pivotal battle, re-enacted each year, when Union Admiral David Farragut piloted his ironclad into dangerous waters with the famous phrase "Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead!"

During the bombardment, the battalion, "moved by no weak fears," handled their guns until they were knocked out of position. We are unsure what George's exact position was, but he was a private so he was probably servicing and firing the artillery.

While many of George's battalion companions were sent as prisoners of war to New York where a number of them died of Smallpox, he and a few others were sent to Ship Island to be held as a Prisoner of War for the remaining 8 months of the conflict, which ended in April of 1865.

Sandy and I have toured the ruins of Fort Morgan and imagined him busy at work at one of the cannons that were stationed at various places around the fort, until his cannon was hit by enemy fire from the bay and disabled.

The name of his unit is listed on the monument by the entrance of Fort Morgan, and he appears in the unit's muster rolls in permanent records with the misspelled name "George W. Hanby."

After the war was over and he was released a few weeks later, the family story is that he "followed the mills" working in cotton mills during reconstruction. He married Laura in 1868 and they moved to Autauga County (north of Montgomery), then to Wesson, Mississippi and finally (after our Grandpa was born) to Cottondale, near Tuscaloosa.

Here he finished raising his family and was active in Brandon Memorial (now called Trinity UMC on Alabama's campus). One of his sons is memorialized as an outstanding layman with a stained glass window in the church, and two of his sons (including Grandpa C.P. Hamby, our pistol-swinging revivalist ancestor) became Methodist preachers.

His obituary in the Methodist Christian Advocate notes that "he was a brave Confederate soldier and at the time of his death was the chaplain at Camp Wilcox U.C.V." This refers to the association United Confederate Veterans, which was organized into camps. His obituary did not indicate that he was ordained; rather, it was a lay position.

But it says a lot about his religious leadership and compassionate spirit.

God Never Wastes a Hurt - Marvin Hamby, C.P. Hamby, and Jim Goodwin

Recently, on Memorial Day, I posted a picture of my Uncle Marvin Hamby on Facebook and honored his sacrifice for our country. Unfortunately, I never met him. My mother's brother was lost in World War II in October of 1942. He was serving in the navy on a tanker in the North Atlantic, supplying oil to the British. A German torpedo struck the tanker, and since there is a likelihood of explosion, my uncle and most of his crewmates jumped ship into the freezing water. Ironically, the ship did not explode but very few survived to tell the story.

My cousin Warren, who in his younger days resembled Uncle Marvin greatly, shared with me an inspirational family story that I had never heard. I share it with you in hopes that it helps us all see God at work in all things, even terrible things, if we keep our spiritual antennas up.

When my grandfather, Rev. C.P. Hamby, was a country preacher on Sand Mountain, he got a telegram saying Marvin was declared dead. It confirmed the family's greatest fears after having previously heard he was missing. It happened to be a Sunday morning when he got word, and Grandpa Hamby went on to the church he served. Before preaching, he shared with the congregation the terrible news he had just heard. He led the church in prayer, in which he asked God to forgive the enemies responsible for sinking Marvin's ship. He prayed that God would protect them so that their parents in Germany would not have to go through the great pain he was going through.


In the congregation was a young man named Jim Goodwin. He was inspired by the spirit of forgiveness Grandpa Hamby had, and this inspiration led to his decision to become a missionary. He told this story in worship one Sunday, knowing that my cousin Warren was in the congregation.
I have known Jim Goodwin and his brothers in ministry most of my life and his brother Bert did my mother's funeral. Jim became a missionary in Brazil and retired there to stay among the hundreds of people in that country that he led to Christ.

God can even use something as terrible as war, death, and tragedy for his purposes.

I do not believe that war is God's plan for humanity. However, I am also fond of saying "God never wastes a hurt." What is going on in your life that God might be using for good?

Our Macfarlane Clan

Top Ten Things a Hamby Should Know

#9 – WE ARE DESCENDED FROM THE SCOTCH IRISH CLAN MACFARLANE

If you enjoy St. Patrick’s Day, there’s a reason.  Did you know our ancestors are from an important Scotch Irish clan, the Macfarlane clan? And our ancestors fought in the name of Protestantism, almost to the point of clan extinction? And that we are related to first lady Elizabeth Truman and author George Eliot?

Granny Louie Hamby’s maternal grandmother was Mary Paralee Price Arendale. Mary’s parents were Daniel Price, infantryman in the War of 1812 buried near her grave at Mt. Carmel in Jackson County, and Ann Washington MacFarlane Price, buried 50 years later with a daughter in Texas. It is through Ann, the maternal great grandmother of Granny Hamby, that we are of the Macfarlane clan.

Let me briefly trace the MacFarlane name from Ann to our fascinating origins (note spelling variations). Ann’s father was Joseph McFarlane from Augusta, Virginia, who located in Jackson Co., Alabama. Joseph’s father was Robert Henry McFarlane. Robert’s father was Alexander McFarland, patriot who fought in the Revolutionary War. Alexander, my 6^th great grandfather, was wounded in the Battle of Point Pleasant in October of 1774 and lost sight in one eye. He re-enlisted after the war as a military scout and fought the Cherokee along with McFarland relatives. He owned 200 acres in the meadows on the north side of the Nolachucky River.

Alexander’s father was Duncan McFarland, the original immigrant of our Scotch Irish family born about 1700 in Weter County, Ireland. He migrated to Augusta, Virginia and is buried in an unmarked grave near Warm Springs. He was a creative man, a weaver by trade. He married the daughter of a sea captain, Anne Porter. They had to abandon their cabin cave in 1773, on the east side of the Jackson River opposite their cabin, after seeing their home, livestock, and belongings destroyed by Cherokee. They moved to an area now in Tennessee, not far from Jackson County where Duncan’s son (our ancestor) Alexander located.

Duncan McFarland was from the Macfarlane clan, one of the Highland Clans in Scotland. Some say there is no clan with more interesting history. The name originated from the first Celtic colonists from Spain. The clan was founded by Gilchrist in about 1150 A.D. He was brother of Malduin, the third Earl of Lenox who inherited the position of Earl. The chief castles of the clan were Dumbarton and Ballock. There have been at least 23 Lairds (owners of large estates) of Macfarlane. Gilchrist, founder of our clan, received from his father, second Earl of Lenox, a large tract of land north of Lenox at the head of Loch Long, in the highlands of Scotland. This tract, called Arrochar, was the hereditary possession of the clan for almost 600 years (1200-1784). One of the original Lairds was named Duncan, a popular clan surname eventually given to our immigrant ancestor. One Duncan, the 13^th Chief of the clan, was killed in 1547 in the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh against the English.

The entire clan became Protestant starting in the 1500’s, and often got in trouble for that. After the murder of a Laird, they joined civil warfare against Queen “Bloody” Mary in the conflict between Protestants and Catholics. Members of our clan captured three of Queen Mary’s standards, which were long preserved in the family. The Macfarlane war cry was “Loch Sloy” and their badge was the cranberry. Their crest motto reads “This I’ll Defend.”

In 1594 the MacFarlanes were denounced as robbers and oppressors. They had become among the most savage of the Highland clans and raided the Lowlands. The clan was noted for its daring night time cattle raiding of neighboring clans, so much so that it is said the full moon became known in the Scottish Highlands as "MacFarlane's Lantern." In 1608 they were declared rebels by law, and by 1624 many of the clan were driven out of Arrochar. During these decades, many took advantage of tempting offers to immigrate to Ireland, including our family’s direct ancestors.  When a large part of the clan went to Ireland in 1601, the spelling became McFarland. This spelling identifies our branch of the family, which located primarily in the Ulster Province of Northern Ireland. Eventually, our Duncan McFarland was born in about 1700 and migrated to America.

It is interesting to know of our famous distant cousins. One is first lady Elizabeth “Bess” Truman is a cousin from a common McFarland ancestor, our Duncan McFarland’s father Robert. Author George Eliot is also descended from the same common McFarland ancestor. “This I’ll Defend.”

Hamby's at the Oglethorpe Settlement

Top Ten Things a Hamby Should Know

#8 - WE ARE PROBABLY DESCENDED FROM THE OGLETHORPE SETTLEMENT OF EARLY GEORGIA HISTORY

Did you know it is possible that our Hamby ancestors knew John and Charles Wesley personally? And that they were loyalists who fought on the “wrong” side of the Revolutionary War?

According to Uncle C.P. (the last remaining Hamby of his generation on our line), the Hamby’s are descended from the Oglethorpe Settlement, establishing the colony of Georgia in the 1730’s. He couldn’t remember details, but was sure that this was the family story. When he told me this, I began research on the validity of his claim.

If true, this would be how our Hamby surname came from England. This settlement is well known in Methodist history, because it’s where John and Charles Wesley came and did missionary work as young pastors in the 1730’s. Since the settlement had some 2,000 people in it, if this is true, then it is likely that our Hamby ancestors there were acquainted with the Wesleys.

Unlike the other items on my list of “top ten,” I can’t prove this one. Everyone I know working on Hamby genealogy has hit a brick wall and can’t identify the parents of Jesse N. Hamby, grandfather of Grandpa C.P. Hamby, born about 1792 in South Carolina. However, since I have found evidence that there were indeed Hamby’s there in Georgia shortly after the Oglethorpe time period, and since history shows that after the settlement disbanded many of the settlers went to South Carolina, I believe the family story is probably true. Our ancestor Jesse would have been born a generation or two later in South Carolina.

Here are a few facts that support my theory that the family story is correct. On a list of original colonists of South Carolina, two of the names are “Samuel Hanby” and “William Hanvey” who were residents in 1779. Our Clark ancestors were clearly on this same list, and since marriages tended to happen between familiar families, this supports the idea that one of these was also our ancestor, and father or grandfather of Jesse.

Another supporting fact is that there were Hamby’s in Savannah who fought on the side of England. A list of “Loyalists in the Southern Command of the Revolutionary War” included a Thomas Hamby, Nathaniel Hamby, and an Isaac Hamby on the Savannah muster roll. The Camden, SC muster roll included a Thomas Hamby, William Hamby, and Jeremiah Hamby who were listed as “prisoner of rebels.” Several Hamby’s were tried for “sedition” (just short of treason) in 1776 in South Carolina. They were listed as loyalists or “royalists,” condemned to be hanged but later acquitted in 1781. Their names were John Hamby, Isaac Hamby, Nathaniel Hamby, Jeremiah Hamby, and Thomas Hamby.

Another supporting fact is that there was an early Methodist circuit rider named Rev. Milford Gilead Hamby from Oglethorpe County, Georgia, born a bit later in 1833.

So though I can’t prove it because of the brick wall above Jesse N. Hamby, I’d say Uncle C.P.’s family story that our Hamby’s descend from the Oglethorpe settlement of Georgia is probably true, and our ancestors would have known the Wesley brothers.